BBC World Service calls an end to the Cold War, shifts broadcasting priorities elsewhere.

My formative Eastern European travel experiences came during the 1980’s, when the hard line was still the main line on the other side of the Iron Curtain, in the strange byways of the Bloc, where onion domes, security police, greasy goulash, cheap beer and red stars came together to conjure fevered daily visions of spy novels and intrigue.

In those times, the BBC World Service was first revealed to me as a cherished exemplar of precise, objective news delivery in places where such offerings could not be taken for granted.

From Ljubljana to Budapest, from Bratislava to Warsaw, and at most points in between, an ordinary AM-FM walkman generally could be relied upon to deliver the BBC’s continental English-language signal. It was an auditory delight best consumed judiciously, because dependable replacement batteries were hard to find in locales far removed from the reach of the Energizer Bunny.

At the same time, along with the Voice of America, the BBC provided news and commentary in the languages of the region -- Bulgarian, Slovak, Hungarian, Czech, “old” Albanian -- and in dozens of other languages in Europe and the world.

For many decades, people with access to radios have listened to the BBC, and they continue to listen now, even in the Internet and mobile communications age, partly to hear the news read in their own languages, but moreover, and perhaps most importantly, to learn English by hearing the Mother Tongue spoken in the classic way, and by the original speakers.

Yesterday I listened intently to the BBC’s announcement that it will institute an Arabic-language television service, and pay for it by finally discontinuing radio broadcasts in most of the Eastern European, “Cold War” languages. Most of the countries in question are now members of the European Union, or will be soon, and with homegrown media sources thriving, listening to the BBC no longer means what it once did.

Consequently, it's time for a change -- and the times, they are.

Good for them, I say; it’s progress, and I pull for the future success of these lands, places I visited in times that perhaps weren’t the best, but usually revealed the essential goodness of their peoples far more often than not.

World Service comes full circle

World Service confirms Arabic TV

NABC's fermenters and serving tanks finally arrive.

Now the heavy lifting really begins.

A day later than expected, the truck from Canada (via Chicago) arrived this morning and disgorged two fermenters and four serving tanks from DME, which are now safely housed in the brewery until the next stages of the installation process unfold.


We are extremely thankful to the folks at Feeder's Supply, who let us borrow a forklift (with driver) and a pallet jack. In the photo above, the serving tanks are standing, and one of the fermenters lying on its side. Here's another view:


On Monday, Jesse and Jared cleared the decks in the brewery to make room for the tanks, and it looked like this:


Now things have become crowded again. The two fermenters will join the two already in place, and be plumbed into the glycol chiller.

The four serving tanks will be moved from the brewery into a space being readied for their occupancy. Those familiar with the Sportstime seating area will recognize the now former game room.

John and the good people from AAA Plumbing Doctor are cutting a floor drain today and tomorrow, and we'll do some waterproofing of the walls before removing two panes of the glass between the brewery and the seating area, and moving the serving tanks into their permanent home.

Special long-draw draft lines, a standard feature in most brewpubs, will connect the serving tanks with a draft station, which probably will be located in the area of Rich O's known as the (now former coffee room).

As if all this weren't enough for a chilly October morning, the roofers returned from a rain delay to resume work. Here they are, with the plumbers merrily jack-hammering beneath them:

To top it off, two out of the three big weekly beer deliveries came in within minutes of each other. Once the new equipment is installed and working, it is our hope to slightly reduce the amount of beer purchased from outside, to increase the amount of house-brewed beer and be able to offer six to eight draft NABC beers at all times, and to have a proportion left over to sell to the outside account that I still can't divulge at this time, but which is well on its way to fruition.

It would be nice to stop for the day ...

In the spirit of fairness, we provide equal time to the eloquent spokespersons of "the rules."

What a great thrill it must be for parents when their wee toddler -- previously restricted to various incoherent verbal expressions, nonsensical babbling, goo-goos and gah-gahs – finally is able to gaze purposefully at the world outside, harness the physical properties of speech, and utter a word.

“Potty.”

In an unrelated development, this morning an admirer e-mailed NA Confidential the following bit of commentary.

We’d love to attribute the author, and to provide encouragement; the muscles used in thinking should become stronger with regular use apart from television watchin’, and soon you'll be using two-syllable words with ease.

Alas, in the grand tradition of Nawbanian cowardice, the author wishes to remain anonymous.

Here it is, unedited.

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C.R.A.P. ---- Of New Albany

Each member of C.R.A.P. of New Albany has a secret superpower that will help them in ridding the City of New Albany of all of our problems.

Mayorman: This caped crusader's special weapon is "I don't know" which can spout 3rd-wave cyber-goop empowerment nonsense so fast it will make a taxpayer die of either boredom or laughter. The source of his extraordinary powers are secret book slush fund. His weakness is exposure on the blog..too much of this and he will self-destruct.

Randy Ranch-Dude: With his lightning-fast keyboard and his trusty equine companion Roger "Hip-O-Krit" Ranch-Due saddles up and rides whenever Mayorman C.R.A.P. calls. Quick to fight against the "Gang of Four" from the Evil Federals even as he suckles up to their generous butts, Randy Ranch-Dude leads the way.

Roger Slayer of Trees: This mighty superhero can smite acres of old-growth forest with one stupid swoop. His secret powers are the results of being dropped on his head as a boy. His arch-nemesis is Commander Bluegill of the Progressive Forces.

Greg Greenback: This superhero was one of the founding members of C.R.A.P. and can destroy entire communities with one sweep of his mighty pen. His strength comes from "Conflict of Interest" and his only point of weakness is his back pocket. Only a well-timed grab in this spot by one Taxpayer can defeat the great Greg Greenback.

Tim Commander Stupor: Known to his closest friends as Mayor's Boy. Commander Stupor is known for being a bold lap dog. He wants to trade in his day job to be come a full-time member of Mayorman and Roger "Hip-O-Krit" C.R.A.P. out to fight the Taxpayers wherever they may be. His secret weapon is his Stupor-Skeeter Ray Gun, which makes us all laugh..

Minister-Boy: Minister-Kroger Boy is the spiritual advisor to Mayorman C.R.A.P. but he also packs a mighty wallop of his own. Using magic powers beyond the pale of any mortal, Minister-Kroger Boy can directly talk to God and solve all of our City problems. As a powerful sorcerer, Minister-Kroger Boy then can cast spells on his many enemies,forcing them to worship him and believe as he wants them to.

This is the C.R.A.P. In New Albany.

But again, that's my opinion...

"Storm Water Advisory Committee Report."

Storm Water Advisory Committee (SWAC) member Tim Deatrick submits this report on last night's meeting. Readers, if you have questions, please use the comments section, and we're sure Tim will respond in due time.

"The SWAC has begun the process of evaluating a potential ordinance to address the Illicit Discharge element of Rule 13.

"Committee members present included myself, Dutch Vigar, John Gonder, Melanie Hughes, Yvonne Kersey and Kevin Zurschmeide. The only absent member was Paul Hanka.

"City councilmen in attendance were Larry Kochert and Bill Schmidt.

"It was a productive meeting and one marked by harmony and a genuine desire to move the city toward compliance, a refreshing change from the last meeting.

Fact, not opinion: Don't forget the downtown historic district building tour and tax credit field day this Wednesday.

As we wait for the arrival of the truck that bears our fermenters and serving tanks, here’s a reminder of this week’s downtown historic district building tour and tax credit field day on Wednesday, Oct. 26.

Link to the original story: PHOTO UPDATE: Downtown historic district building tour and tax credit field day on Oct. 26.

Meanwhile, the Historical Preservation Commission's Ted Fulmore is posting helpful background information at his blog, Our History in New Albany:

Helpful info for Wednesday Workshop.

More info for workshop.

If your ear’s currently to the ground, you know that there’s an increasingly healthy buzz about downtown revitalization prospects. Let’s hope that Wednesday’s seminar contributes to the good vibes.

Hand over that police report – or the haiku gets it!

Late Saturday night, acting on a warrant issued by the U.S. Department of Trite and Cutesy Pie Doggerel, New Albany police detained a local woman calling herself Ima Winner and charged her with improperly imitating a poet.

Officer J. Glitz of the NAPD explained to reporters that the indiscriminate use of sugary limericks to issue thinly veiled threats against freedom of speech, while favored by GOP strategists like Karl Rove, nonetheless is a direct violation of taste and decency, and is punishable by stays of up to two hours in the Admiral Bicknell Inn.

In a press conference, Ms. Winner’s Atlanta-based attorney, Hiram J. Froutz, played a videotape of a recent city council meeting to which the original soundtrack had been dubbed to make it appear that participants were lip-synching “Love Shack” by the B-52’s, and commented, “now, that’s art.”

Froutz added, “The use of bad poetry to create an atmosphere of intimidation prior to the commencement of an ill-fated mayoral campaign is constitutionally protected hate speech, and is precisely what you’d expect from the troglobyte apologists on the candidate’s payroll. We need more, not less, rampant fear of crushing lawsuits in this, the greatest nation in the history of the spot on the continent located between Canada and Mexico.”

Abruptly speeding away down Main Street in a open-sided, wheeled vehicle somewhat approximating, but perhaps not exactly to be defined in a way suggesting any obvious comparison to a form of conveyance often seen in the vicinity of golf courses, Froutz deferred all questions to a passerby whose name rhymes with "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” who stated:

The moral of this tale – purely political
The potential litigant – quite hypocritical
‘Cuz if you want to be queen
Your affairs must be clean
Lest your reform platform be nonsensical

Speaking locally, who are the faces of GOP "glasnost"?

In an article appearing in today’s Courier-Journal, syndicated columnist David Brooks of the New York Times surveys “Scenes from America’s Meltdown.”

According to Brooks, congressmen have been gauging the mood back home in their districts, and some are finding that President Bush has become “radioactive”:

The most interesting tales came from Republicans elected from districts President Bush carried by fewer than 10 points. Those districts were once moderately supportive of the President, but now, as one member of Congress said, the anger at Bush is so deep it’s almost indescribable.

Today’s Doonesbury comic enumerates the reasons for this discontent, although it should be noted that Brooks dismisses these objections in any specific sense, preferring to describe the current situation as an amalgam of uneasiness that has led to Americans feeling unsafe.

Talk radio personality Mark receives a listener call: “All the Democrats can do now is play this blame game.”

Mark responds, “That’s because you Republicans make it so easy.”

Let’s recall you’ve controlled all three branches of government for the past five years, so an endless bloody war – your fault. Torture – your policy. The ruin of America’s standing abroad – yours! Turning budget surpluses into record deficits – your fault! Huge increases in poverty and uninsured rates – your watch! Cancelled treaties, trashed environmental laws, the gutting of FEMA, bungled disaster relief – all your fault!

The caller replies, “Traitorous liberal media – your fault,” and Mark concedes, “oops, I keep forgetting. Okay, so it’s not a shutout.”

Returning to the analysis of Brooks, who doesn’t spare the rhetorical rod in describing the performance of opposition Democrats as “pathetic” and the party as “run by imbeciles,” the GOP is seen as experiencing a “moment of Republican glasnost,” with the party’s central leadership inert, and ideas, rebellion and innovation bubbling up from “all fronts.”

His conclusion?

The Republicans are going to end up localizing the election … (people) want achievable ideas. The best ones I heard were from members who wanted to promote open-space initiatives and suburban livability, members who wanted to reduce medical paperwork. This is politics on the aldermanic level, probably right for the moment.

As noted yesterday, city and county Republicans as an entity generally have stepped courteously aside in recent months and permitted local Democrats like the City Council’s tone deaf Gang of Four to warble the Luddite mating call of obstructionism, blind rage, and societal dysfunction, merely awaiting the inevitable moment when a nominal Democrat like the scentless 3rd district uncouncilman Steve Price chooses to echo Pol Pot and announce to the world that people wearing glasses are guilt of too much book learnin’ and are ripe for reeducation.

An exaggeration, perhaps, but you wouldn’t bet against it, would you?

The Brooks article prompts a question: If in fact we’re witnessing the phenomenon of Republican “glasnost,” and if this rethinking is emanating from the ground up, then who are the local practitioners?

In this context, can an argument be made for 9th District congressman Mike Sodrel, who reversed course on the Greenway project, but who otherwise is uncomfortably close to the Dick Cheney imperialist wing of the GOP?

Does it remain the case that in local terms, both Democrats and Republicans are so fundamentally conservative as to rule out innovative thinking from genetic predetermination, and that consequently, there is no difference between the two when it comes to positions?

Like we’ve said from the start, it may be something in the water that numbs some minds and leaves others free to think.

Cheering throngs welcome timely Tribune web site updates.

Since we've lashed the Tribune for so long over the regular absence of weekend web site updates, we're delighted to report that today, Sunday's main stories are duly archived -- today, not Tuesday!

Accordingly, here's good reading from yesterday's newspaper:

Historic building, unused for decades, begins a new life, by Kyle Lowry -- Tribune staff writer.

But some things never change. Sunday's editorial slot tackles the topic of what youth can learn ... from sports. That's, uh, different, isn't it?

For those who appreciate a good discussion on an important topic, have a look at the article and thread here: NA Health: ER abuses.

Healthblogger's politics aren't always to our taste, but the subject matter is important, and the exchange of views literate and civilized.

Trogs or progs? Local Democrats face the future.

There will be a Democratic Party function at the Grand Convention Center next Thursday night, and it is my stated intention to don a media cap and attend -- mind you, as an observer, and not as a party loyalist.

Readers may recall an earlier effort to chart NA Confidential’s general political orientation, an article written in a state of supreme pique at contemptible efforts by Indiana State Republicans to renege on the payout for counties hosting riverboat casinos:

Partisan at last: I'd vote for Miller Lite before I'd vote for a Republican.

Six months later, and having carefully considered matters, I’m forced to admit that absolutely nothing has changed, and I still feel the same way – if anything, more strongly than before. Paraphrasing a much-loved Republican president, I wrote:

If I could defeat these Republicans without voting for any Democrat I would do it, and if I could defeat them by voting for all the Democrats I would do it; and if I could defeat them by voting for some Democrats and leaving others alone I would also do that.

Needless to say, nary an ounce of the world’s absolute worst mass-market beer – jet fuel for the lowest common denominator -- has passed my lips since then, either.

Around the same time, in another piece, I put it this way:

Emotions aside, it all comes down to a simple comparison, one that I intend to continue using as the best means of examining the New Albany scene and the participants therein …

Progressive or regressive?

Days later, when Randy Stumler was elected to the chairmanship of the Floyd County Democratic Party at the head of what amounted to a contextually youthful leadership slate of fresh, educated faces, I will freely admit to rejoicing, and not because he and I are acquainted; in fact, to my knowledge, we’ve not been formally introduced, although we’ve shopped in the same bookstore at the same time.

Rather, in spite of my lifelong skepticism … given my philosophical and political objections to the two party system … acknowledging that the possibility of my choosing to be a Republican is as remote as selecting an ice cold Bud in a can … it was because, like most people, I’d prefer the option of being “for” the Democrats in some (any) manner rather than settling for the party as a convenient vehicle for use “against” the Republicans.

In Randy and his “slate” that wasn’t, such an option began to look attainable.

Libertarians, Greens, Constitutionalists, Monarchists – you have my attention, but the fall of the Berlin Wall taught me that change certainly is possible in one’s lifetime, and in narrowing my gaze to the two monoliths, I’m merely being pragmatic with my time and interest.

However, in some ways, the intervening six months have muddied the waters.

After all, it hasn’t been Mark Seabrook, the city council’s lone Republican, who has staged a continuous, anti-intellectual, ill-tempered insurrection against literacy, decency and progress – it has been the council’s obstructionist Gang of Four, councilmen Coffey, Price, Kochert and Schmidt, registered Democrats to a man, ones seemingly determined to imprison an entire 21st-century city within their own reactionary 19th-century hues, and in order to so, seeking succor from terminally disaffected, only nominally Democratic voters who in the harsh light of day might as well be Republicans, such is the weight of the regressive tendencies implicit in their conspiratorial, thuggish, Luddite view of the world.

Let’s be perfectly clear about the nature of this mean-spirited, rear-guard action.

During the most recent chapter in the political history of New Albany, when it has come to base instincts triumphing over noble ideals … when it has come to the frantic race to pander to the worst angels of our natures … when it has come to a tragic, self-defeating advocacy of fear … when it has come to consistently providing the most irredeemably wrong message to the city’s next generation, those for whom we must provide reasons for moving forward by staying here and assisting us in making New Albany and Floyd County better places to live, to work, and to achieve – when it has come to these flagrantly unsuitable indicators of mediocrity, the poster children for societal regress have all been Democrats, and while there may be Republicans capable of far worse (given that most currently are employed by the illegitimate national regime), they’ve not unwisely held their tongues and permitted the far lesser lights of the Democratic Party to wreak havoc on themselves.

Obviously, there is a cruel, almost nativist strain to all this, one that is incapable of articulating a coherent program for the future because it remains mired in New Albany’s congenitally wretched, self-loathing, “little people’s” mindset of “it’s the way we’ve always done it,” and one that exhibits little recognition that New Albany and Floyd County can succeed only by getting smarter, and while getting smarter admittedly is a nebulous and evolving concept, certain components of it are crystal clear, i.e., a Democratic Party that still harbors whiffs of racism and homophobia will not be the political organization that ultimately retains influence here.

Exaggerations? Hyperbole? Rhetoric? Don’t take my word for it; turn to the Democratic Dullard’s On-Line Guide, settle in, and read all about it. You’ll probably have the same bemused reaction as noted political thinker Pat Sajak:

Political pornography is not unlike the sexual kind: difficult to define, but you know it when you see it.

But the times have changed, and they continue to change. There will be a Democratic Party function at the Grand Convention Center next Thursday night, and it is my stated intention to don a media cap and attend -- mind you, as an observer, and not as a party loyalist.

Maybe that will change … even for me.

Social chaos fetishists swoon at Thursday night's City Council meeting.

Just a passing thought ...

When does the image in the magnifying glass cease to be that of the sum of a column of numbers, and becomes instead a ready made, self-referenced ethical system, complete with dry arcana of sewer audits magically transformed into decrees fit for publication on stone tablets, conspiratorial decade-old meeting minutes blossomed into manna suitable for roasting over a burning bush, and colorless accountants converted into matinee idol Moses clones?

Obviously, a mass movement is one thing, and a bowel movement something else entirely.

Speaking of last evening's performance by Trog Sham and the Brambleberries, here's today's media coverage.

Shall We Gather at the River?, by Randy Smith (Volunteer Hoosier blog).

Somehow, Li'l Stevie's fan-girls define shall as some exotic weasel word. Hey girls! Maybe next time, instead of muttering "bullshit" (I kid you not) all night, you could pick up a dictionary. Some experts!

But Randy, precious little expertise is required to throw a brick through a plate glass window --- you merely need be "mad as hell."

Here's the C-J's take:

Council action may spur sewer rate hike, official warns; New Albany won't repay board's money, by Ben Zion Hershberg (short shelf life for Courier-Journal links).

The council also rejected that proposal (for interim user fees to pay for storm-drainage improvements), with opponents citing concerns about the additional cost for taxpayers and doubts about whether all the money raised by the proposed fees would be needed to meet state and federal requirements for drainage improvements.

Finally, prior to the usual three-day weekend gap in Tribune on-line updates, here's Council vote could bring big fines, by Amany Ali, Tribune City Editor.

Before voting down the ordinance that would have established a fee to fund the interim stormwater management plan, Schmidt suggested using Tax Increment Finance (TIF) dollars or money from the Redevelopment Commission. Redevelopment Director John Rosenbarger said after the meeting that he hasn’t researched whether TIF dollars can be spent in such a way, but said it is highly doubtful.

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Previously, we wrote:

There were things to be done, and they needed to get done, so I did them.

Consequently, NA Confidential missed tonight’s City Council meeting, and we’ll rely again on reports from observers and the city’s other bloggers to fill in the gaps.

Did you attend tonight's meeting? Give us the skinny.

Redevelopment Commission "signs off" on Scribner Place as Luddites begin hoarding lighter fluid.

Recently, a customer asked me to explain the meaning of the phrase, "waving the bloody shirt."

Here's a definition from the lamented Mr. Gore's World Wide Web.

Bloody Shirt

A term used by Democrats to describe the Republican party's charge in the years between the end of the Civil War and 1900 that the Democrats were to blame for the war and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The term comes from the phrase "waving the bloody shirt," which itself is a reference to the scene in Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar in which Mark Antony holds up the murdered Caesar's bloody toga to inflame the people of Rome against his assassins.

Meanwhile, according to today's Courier-Journal:

Scribner Place gets final local approval; New Albany panel signs off on plans, by Grace Schneider (short shelf life for C-J links).

The New Albany Redevelopment Commission has endorsed a financing agreement for the Scribner Place development, providing the final local approval before it's reviewed by a state agency.

Why is it that the closer we get to fruition for this project, the more it seems certain that the Siamese Councilmen are going to be waving it like you know what at every opportunity until the end of their electoral time?

City's sanitation imbroglio examined in New Albany Today series.

Over at his New Albany Today blog, former 3rd District Councilman Maury Goldberg is making a game (and appreciated) effort to clearly explicate the fundamental issues that pertain to the Great Sanitation Primal Scream of 2005, including a consideration of the origins of municipal involvement in garbage collection and the pros and cons of privatization.

Mind you, this hasn't been a "debate" in any relevant sense, as there's no more of an appreciation for such a reasonable concept hereabouts as there is for simple irony, Gaelic football or movies without car chases.

From the beginning of this highly politicized chapter in recent New Albany history, there has been little willingness on the part of public officials or concerned residents to consider just one fundamental question: Given that municipalities in the state of Indiana have the right to collect garbage, is this a right the cities should exercise to the exclusion of other options?

Knee-jerking aside and political flim-flammery aside, neither is it an attack on hard-working sanitation workers, nor is it some variety of blasphemous scriptural heresy, to merely ask the question, "why?"

At least Maury's taking a stab at answering, and we thank him for the effort.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to institutional obstructionism in New Albany.

Uncouncilman Price giggled, "Every time I

hear the word 'progress," I reach for my cliche."

Flame broiling is one thing, but this is ridiculous -- and dangerous.

Congratulations and condolences to the suddenly ascendant Tacos La Rosita restaurant on Charlestown Road.

On September 7, NA Confidential reported on Charlestown Road fire damage, and a new taqueria.

On my way to and from work, I usually bicycle across Charlestown Road from Terry, and take Ormond to hit the back streets on the north side. Yesterday, I was surprised to see a smoldering hulk where the tanning salon used to be.

On the brighter side, looking roughly southbound toward Shireman Produce, here's a view of the latest Mexican eatery in town, Tacos la Rosita.

Six weeks later, Tacos La Rosita is on a major critical roll. Why is this important? As reader Brandon Smith noted after Monday's posting on this topic:

We are amassing quite a little restaurant scene in New Albany, with more rumored to be on the horizon. The impact of these local restaurants goes far beyond just having a fun place to eat. It helps create the kind of atmosphere and lifestyle ammenities that attract and retain professional types, young folks, creatives, etc. The unique "feel" these places help give New Albany (and the region) is priceless.

First, LEO’s Marty Rosen wrote approvingly of La Rosita:

New Albany expands with flavorful barbecue and Mexican fare.

Then today, Robin Garr of the essential Louisville HotBytes web site followed suit with a great blog review of the establishment:

A bouquet for La Rosita

Think of all the people who’ll venture over the river to New Albany to take the recommendation offered by Marty and Robin, and undoubtedly they’ll get a great meal … but they’ll pass this to get there:

Yes, that's right.

Six weeks later, the burned-out Sun-Sation salon looks exactly the same, still vaguely reminiscent of a scene from a war zone, except I noticed today that someone has thoughtfully wedged a beam between the sidewalk and the façade to keep a portion of the roof from falling completely down.

Yo, Steve L. and the Board of Public Works -- can you tell us why nothing whatsoever is being done about a structure that’s not only an eyesore, and a sad commentary for visitors to survey, but quite plainly poses a safety hazard to children (or drunks) who may be tempted to play in the ruins?

I'm sure there's an explanation.

I'm so busy that there hasn't been time to dine at Applebee's.

On Monday afternoon, we received word that the money's safely in the bank somewhere on Prince Edward Island, the customs paperwork is almost finished, and our new fermenters and serving tanks will be loaded and shipped within the next two days.

Gads ... and it took only a year, three different point people, two banks and six months off my life.

Now comes the fun part -- figuring out the installation procedures.

You really didn't think we'd planned it in advance, did you?

After all that, we begin brewing more beer, and start looking for an off-premise account somewhere. Maybe downtown New Albany? In the meantime, we've decided to simplify the brewing schedule to suit the approaching chaos.

In other work-related news, the roofers have started ...


... and three of us took two trucks and went to a warehouse in Louisville's west end to pick up 2,000 square feet of oak laminate flooring for the banquet and conference room that is taking shape in our building.


On Monday night, there was a beer dinner at the Irish Rover Too in LaGrange, Kentucky. I'd been amused to hear my name on public radio promos for the event, which referred to me as a beer "guru," but of all the terms used to describe us, i.e., nuts, geeks, aficionados, fans, and the like, my favorite remains "enthusiasts."

Busy times ahead ... but things are looking good.

A steady march of progress: Three yards, a cloud of dust, and the anguished wailing of the Luddites.

As we await the weekly Tuesday afternoon conclusion to the annoyingly customary three-day weekend gap in updating non-sporting material on the Tribune’s web site, the C-J’s reportorial gaze returns to the Wizard of Westside’s realm and the next phase of Scribner Place.

Work at Scribner location targets contaminated dirt; Environmental cleanup likely 'a six-week job,' by Ben Zion Hershberg (short shelf life for Courier-Journal links).

Speaking of the C-J, earlier this week Volunteer Hoosier’s Randy Smith pithily considered the newspaper’s tone in covering Southern Indiana in general and New Albany in particular. Randy’s thoughts triggered a typically insightful discussion, so if you’ve not read it already, take a look.

Investigative Journalism?

In today’s C-J piece, one photograph shows the façade of the Shrader Stables building, reminding us that next week, this and two other buildings will be the subject of a tour and tax credit seminar: PHOTO UPDATE: Downtown historic district building tour and tax credit field day on Oct. 26.

LEO takes notice of two New Albany eateries.

Apologies for being slow to cite this link, but in last week's LEO, peerless restaurant reviewer Marty Rosen found two good places to eat in New Albany.

New Albany expands with flavorful barbecue and Mexican fare.

I've eaten several times at Hoovie’s Real Pit Bar-B-Q, which is at 3417 Grant Line Center in New Albany (just across Grant Line from NABC/Rich O's), but haven't yet tried Tacos La Rosita, located at 2535 Charlestown Road in New Albany, right next to the burned out hulk of the tanning salon that has been sitting untouched since it burned six weeks ago.

Meanwhile, the establishment now known as California Mexican Kitchen (1515 E. Market, a half-block west of Tommy Lancaster's) seems to have finally settled into somewhat of a predictable operation, with seating now being expanded to include the entire first floor, and reasonably priced food and espresso.

I'm hoping the best is yet to come.

CFP and Destinations Booksellers to screen "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" documentary film on Nov. 16.

New Albany's Constituency for Progress (CFP) is pairing with the city's only full service bookstore to screen "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price," a documentary from director and producer Robert Greenwald, maker of Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism," and "Uncovered: The War on Iraq."

Details are at the Destinations web site: CFP and Destinations Present Documentary.

Here are excerpts:

The screenings – on Wednesday, November 16, 2005, at 6 and 8 p.m. – will take place at the Farmers Market Pavilion on the corner of E. Market and Bank streets in New Albany. Immediately following, there will be a group discussion about the effect Wal-Mart is having on New Albany, Southern Indiana, the Louisville Metro region, and the entire nation.


The event is open to the media. Please RSVP to attend. You can RSVP online by clicking this link.

Calisthenics about to commence? Editorial passion, and a new face at the Tribune.

A careful reading of the local newspapers is a long Sunday morning tradition in the NA Confidential household, with abundant supplies of thick black coffee available to hone analytical skills, a bagel topped with kippers or a generous dollop of cream cheese, and audio provided by the best of the big band era.

And, today, a wonderful table-setting op-ed article in the Courier-Journal.

The editor's passionate pen; Gartner's new book lauds the best editorials, by Warren Buckler (special to the Courier-Journal … short shelf life for C-J links).

The newspaper editorials Michael Gartner has collected and discusses in this engrossing new book buttress his case that today's opinion pages would be a lot more compelling if enriched with "passion," "outrage" and literary flair.

When he turns to the editorial columns of a newspaper, including, presumably, the one he edited and published in Ames, Iowa, he wants to find points of view, even those he dislikes, backed by facts, given context, and gracefully or forcefully or artfully or bluntly or colorfully expressed, or all of these. Preferably, the writer should have been around long enough to understand, feel affection and want the best for the town in which she works and in turn to be well-known to his readers.

Duly inspired to conduct a search for Gartner’s “passion” and “outrage,” we turned to the Sunday Tribune, where, somewhat disappointingly, today’s editorial slot is occupied by “guest columnist” Lee Hamilton, who writes of public diplomacy, America and the world.

Running alongside the former congressman’s thoughts, Tribune managing editor Chris Morris does a workmanlike job with a topic more common than the televised fast food advertisements that contribute to the problem he seeks to explicate, namely, that “kids don’t play like they used to, and ‘bad’ food is too accessible to them in this high-paced society we live in today.”

A cynic (moi?) might suggest that a cerebral condition paralleling that of insufficient physical exercise, i.e., a dangerous intellectual atrophy borne of a failure to exercise the muscles of the mind, has afflicted the Tribune’s own editorial pages for quite some time, perhaps even before the discredited Eddie LaDuke made an art form out of nostalgic remembrances of his boyhood shotgun house, 10-ft snowdrifts and ill-suited sporting metaphors.

The players come and go, but the institutional attitude remains. It isn’t that everyone involved doesn’t mean well or fails to do the best they can, but that the end results so often are uninspiring and utterly lacking in the integral components discussed in Gartner’s excellent op-ed contribution.

There have been exceptions, sometimes very good ones … but where’s the beef? The fire in the editorialist’s belly? The determination to change the world?

However, the cavalry has arrived ... or so we’ve been told.

Readers will recall that recently NA Confidential listened intently as John Tucker, publisher of the Tribune, spoke of reforms on the horizon.

Tribune publisher outlines bold reform plan at symposium.

Today on the front page, we learn that “Steve Kozarovich (has been) named executive editor of Tribune, Evening News.”

An editor with a history of success at revitalizing community newspapers is stepping in as the newsroom leader of the Tribune and the Jeffersonville Evening News.

Publisher Tucker’s effusive praise for editor Kozarovich’s skills was a recurring feature of the aforementioned symposium. Now he's here and on the job.

The viewpoint from New Albany’s current window of opportunity stands to be expanded and enriched immeasurably by a community newspaper running at peak performance, not because it need be avowedly “progressive” or espouse one political viewpoint over another, but because elevating the debate and doing justice to a community-wide discourse – “inspiring,” in the words of Gartner – are by definition “progressive” qualities.

PHOTO UPDATE: Downtown historic district building tour and tax credit field day on Oct. 26.

Readers, the following announcement was submitted by Jane Alcorn at Develop New Albany. Please feel free to pass it along to anyone you know who may be interested, and contact Jane at 812-941-0018 to reserve a place.

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Tax Credits and other Incentives for Locating in the New Albany Downtown National Register Historic District

Field Day - Wednesday, Oct. 26, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Tour three historic buildings and learn of ways that National Register properties can earn you tax credits through rehabilitation.

Field Day Leaders:

David Duvall ... historic architect with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archeology, and a specialist in tax credits for the State of Indiana.

Paul Wheatley ... New Albany's Economic Development Director will discuss other incentives, including tax abatements and the Urban Enterprise Zone.

The day begins at the White House Center, 222 Pearl St.

Buildings to be toured include Shrader Stable (c. 1875) on Main Street:

The Reisz Building (c. 1850) on Main Street:

and the Baptist Tabernacle (c. 1879) on East Fourth Street.

Lunch from Ermin’s French Bakery and Café will be $6.00.

This event is sponsored by:

Develop New Albany, an Indiana Main Street program
Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana, Southern Regional Office
City of New Albany Historic Preservation Commission

Please return your registration by Oct. 24 to Develop New Albany, 222 Pearl St., New Albany, IN 47150.

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NA Confidential cordially invites 3rd District Uncouncilman Steve Price to accompany us for the field day, and to cast a ceremonial "no" vote at the conclusion of the program.

An infusion of governmental intrusion might be the solution.

Today at NA Health, Healthblogger considers a recent report in the local media to the effect that a handful of public figures and politicians in the city of Jeffersonville are considering some form of a smoking ban in public places.

Here’s the article: Smoking Ban.

There is little doubt that smoking contributes to significant health related problems and that it costs taxpayers and anyone who pays insurance a significant amount of money.

But is it Government’s role to legislate this in private businesses? As most people know who have read my comments, I believe in less Government intrusion and more in personal choice and responsibility.

Previously, NA Confidential covered some of the same ground in Smoke 'em if you got 'em, says the 'Bune -- but not while you're pumping that $3.00 a gallon gas.

On the topic of government intrusion versus human imperfection, I’ve been waiting for a while to post the following, which has come back to me every time I've picked up Rally’s and White Castle litter from the street in front of our house, or when I've noticed the gum on the sidewalk and cigarette butts scattered everywhere throughout the parking lot at work.

It is reprinted from The Economist’s “The World in 2005.” As is the newspaper’s habit, individual authorship is not indicated.

Nobody was more intimately acquainted with or eloquently responsive to the grubbiness of Dublin than James Joyce. “Dear, dirty Dublin,” he called it. But the great novelist would barely recognize the place if he saw it today. It’s not just the turbo-charged economy, the sky-high property market and all the other trappings of rude good health that, in “The World in 2005’s” ranking, make Ireland such a terrific place to live. It is also setting the pace in cleaning up the urban environment.

In 2004 it banned smoking in pubs and outlawed drinking in the street. In 2005 it may well become the first country in the world to introduce a tax on chewing gum.

The government has announced plans for a levy of 10% on every one of the 80 million or so packets of chewing gum sold annually in Ireland. The 4-million Euro ($5 million) this would raise would be used to help fund the cost of cleaning the republic’s gum-encrusted streets.

A tax on plastic shopping bags has already been a great success in Ireland. Similar plans are afoot to reduce fast-food packaging and ATM receipts. “Dear, dirty Dublin” may soon be a place you can only read about in books.

Finally, a solution to the sanitation impasse! If we tax the sources of litter, we'll have enough money to pay workers to pick it all up.

Even Congeal Taxpayer might approve.

"Storm Water Advisory Committee Reaches Consensus."

(Committee member Tim Deatrick authors this report on Thursday night's meeting, and we thank him for taking the time to do so)

It took nearly three hours of spirited discussions, including commentary and questions from city councilmen Dan Coffey, Steve Price and Mark Seabrook with observations from Bill Schmidt, but at the end of the evening it was a consensus that this committee supports and recommends the passage of the interim fee ordinance at the next council meeting.

The issue of accurately assessing commercial properties was discussed and it was listed as the first priority in establishing a true rate structure after the interim fee is adopted. Regarding the city council concern that the interim fee should not be an 18-month process, the engineers feel that a 6-month window is more probable.

Despite the occasional issues of sanitation somehow coming up in this discussion, Chad McCormick and his team did an excellent job in keeping the committee on track to discuss the agenda and keep the politics to a minimum.

I am happy to report that the committee made major strides Thursday night and now the city council has unified voice from this committee that says loud and clear -- move forward on this ordinance, and get the program off the ground!

George Clooney's “Good Night, and Good Luck” will lure NA Confidential to the multiplex.

On average, NA Confidential views one film every two weeks.

Recent choices have included the documentary “When We Were Kings,” foreign films “The Dreamers,” “Goodbye, Lenin,” and “Colonel Redl,” and “Beyond the Sea,” Kevin Spacey’s bizarre paean to the singer Bobby Darin.

“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” fell into the play list somehow, and although it was amusing, one cannot do justice to the concept without explaining exactly why travelers must carry a towel.

To be truthful, if it were not for the convenient “order history” feature at http://www.netflix.com/, it would have been difficult to compile the preceding list.

When it is suggested that I accompany Mrs. Confidential to an actual movie theater, my astonished reaction invariably apes that of fictional detective Nero Wolfe’s annoyance at being asked to walk from his brownstone out onto the street.

“Out there? To the theater?

Merry disclaimers aside, when the opportunity to see George Clooney's “Good Night, and Good Luck” comes around, I’ll not only go to the theater to see it, but I’ll offer to drive.

That’ll confuse her.

The movie is reviewed in the current issue of Rolling Stone, and here are excerpts.

Does George Clooney have a box-office death wish? You have to wonder why the star of Ocean's Eleven would risk his standing as a pinup for ka-ching to direct, co-write and co-star in a movie set in the 1950s, shot in black-and-white and focused on a fifty-year-old battle between TV newsman Edward R. Murrow, indelibly played by David Strathairn, and the Commie-hunting Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

Wonder no more. Clooney knows exactly what he's doing: blowing the dust off ancient TV history to expose today's fat, complacent news media as even more ready to bow to networks, sponsors and the White House. As Murrow said in a 1958 speech, which frames Clooney's dynamite film, the powers that be much prefer TV as an instrument to "distract, delude, amuse and insulate." Challenge is a loser's game …

… For a paltry $8 million, Clooney has crafted a period piece that speaks potently to a here-and-now when constitutional rights are being threatened in the name of the Patriot Act, and the American media trade in truth for access.

Obviously, the subject matter of Clooney’s film is a fastball in NA Confidential’s socio-political wheelhouse.

Journalist Edward R. Murrow was referring to the McCarthyism of the 1950’s when he said, “We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason," but I’m certain that he’d have no objection to my applying this sentiment to the vacuous populism of New Albany’s Siamese Councilman, Dan Coffey & Steve Price -- but where's the Tribune's Murrow when we need him?

Besides that, it’s always enjoyable to view the reaction when handsome Hollywood idols turn inexplicably subversive and craft important films about genuinely significant historical topics.

In 1981, at the height of the Reagan Revolution, Warren Beatty completed and released “Reds,” a three and a half hour dramatization of leftist American journalist John Reed’s life and times during the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent red baiting of the post-Great War era.

A quarter century later, “Reds” remains a great favorite, but my elderly videotape is shot, and a replacement DVD purchase looms.

Murrow said, “Difficulty is the excuse history never accepts.”

He might have added, “especially when it comes to ideas.”

Ideas are the currency and the lifeblood of progress, and proliferate when the human mind is challenged and stimulated – by conversation, reading, playing … and sometimes even watching movies.

Next up for Clooney: Ocean's 13, in which he leads the gang to New Albany to help UCM Price uncover those missing nickels and dimes, because as you know, nickels and dimes add up ... to inanity.

Tim Deatrick - please read.

If you want to contribute a report on the storm water meeting Thursday night, e-mail it to me and I'll put it up on the marquee Friday morning.

Lost your “steelies”? So has Trog Sham.

Loyal readers will recall the dark and ominous scene yesterday at the Luddite Bar & Grill, where a half-dozen “mad as hell” undersized underachievers were in the process of being whipped into a foam-flecked frenzy at the campaign appearance of the caped Trog Shaman (for convenience, henceforth to be known as Trog Sham) and her personal Sancho Panza, otherwise known as the Anti-Grammar, or Congeal Taxpayer (CT), the androgynous scribe and wielder of the magic crayon.

“Yes, indeed,” demand(ed) the Trog Shaman, “Show me any sane person out there who truly believes this administration is not a train wreck, and I'll show you a person with a vested interest.”

Thoroughly amused, NA Confidential intervened to ask if Trog Sham might answer a question:

I, Roger A. Baylor, truly believe that this administration is not a train wreck -- so, tell me, Laura, what’s my “vested” interest?

Later in the day, several others joined us in asking the same question. Now, we have an answer:

Vested interests? That's easy.
Destinations Booksellers, Sponsor: James the Cleaner (bankrupt).
Roger Dodger/Rich O's, Expansion:
Prime Downtown Location.
Tim: wannabee anything.
bluegill, Will you be running for City Council?
Greg, Roger's already working the crowd for your run at office.
There's a price on Steve Price's head. He KNOWS there's no money.
ekin, T.Toran takes real good care of you guys doesn't he?
We were promised, during campaign, we wouldn't be paying for an 'Assistant Mayor' (stop spliting hairs), and everyone knows this. How much in city salaries & perks does the 'Director of City Operations' cost us per year?

Etc., etc.

In essence, Trog Sham’s ongoing primal scream constitutes a genuine platform for the future of New Albany – a platform far more worthy of Pol Pot than progress, but so be it.

Now, for perhaps the very first time, we can see how very sad it is to grapple unsuccessfully with the demons of fear, envy and spite that motivate the worldview of those who’ve resigned themselves to a position in life that, in fact, is by no means fixed – this is America, land of social mobility -- and who wish to consign the city itself to the same lonely fate.

But there’s good news.

Just this week, a visiting expert on urban renewal and economic redevelopment met with Paul Wheatley and is impressed with the possibilities in New Albany.

Scribner Place took another incremental step forward.

A young couple from out of state was spotted shopping for a building on Market Street.

Every day, these and other little things – not little people – are combining to create momentum forward, into the future.

NA Confidential’s “vested interests”?

Progress, not regress. Reason, not superstition. Economic development, not squalor. Civility, not violence. Human rights, not institutional wrongs. Trust in the capable, not their emasculation at the hands of the incapable.

As Trog Sham unintentionally illustrates, the choice of who is best suited to advance progress is dazzlingly clear.

Councilman Cappuccino fights for the right to be small, laments plague of book learning that has descended on the city.

On Tuesday, procedural reasons delayed New Albany’s Redevelopment Commission from voting on the issuance of bonds as part of the city’s commitment to Scribner Place, but it isn’t expected to delay the commencement of the project, clean-up for which is beginning soon.

For a full description, consult Scribner Place bonds to be sold, by Amany Ali, Tribune City Editor.

At the Redevelopment Commission meeting, Mark Sanders of the dynamic East Spring Street Neighborhood Association joined groundbreaking local businessman Carl Holliday in supporting Scribner Place.

At the same time, a city resident, evidently confusing economic development and revitalization with the huge portions of Honey Baked Scrapple available during the recently concluded Harvest Homecoming, accused the city of “biting off more than we can chew.”

Of course, for some of our city's veteran obstructionists, attempting to turn the pages of the calendar forward to 1975 is biting off more than they can chew.

Councilman Dan Cappuccino, he of the postage-stamp sized principality of West Endia, immediately joined the aforementioned citizen in condemning the Scribner Place project and everyone it stands for, noting that many of the impoverished residents of his own fiefdom – people he has failed to enrich in any measurable way during decades of grating self-aggrandizement on the political stage – wouldn’t be able to afford membership in a YMCA, and for this reason, the remainder of the city should immediately be pulled down to the councilman’s level.

Councilman Cappuccino then proposed a voter referendum on whether snooty educated people who insist on accomplishing better things should be allowed to ruin the barbecued bologna for the rest of us.

Meanwhile, unaware that the Redevelopment Commission and the City Council aren’t the same body, and unable to attend owing to a prior commitment to “Play Some Skynyrd” for the annual Slumlord Benevolent Society ball at Hugh E. Bir’s, 3rd district Uncouncilman Steve Price courageously voted “no.”

When asked what he was voting against, UCM Price said it doesn’t matter, and launched into a rousing rendition of “That Smell.”

The odor is familiar.

On the nature of paranoia, Messianic complexes, bats in the belfry, and other dysfunctions masquerading as argumentation.

In bucolic Trogland, the “little people of New Albany” are going about their daily tasks, blissfully accepting their purely apocryphal “rules,” and are forever unencumbered with considerations of modernity, higher education, the post-Coolidge era, and commonly accepted rules of grammar.

At the Luddite Bar and Grill, late model tricycles are tethered to a fire hydrant, cocktail wieners crafted from Asian potbellied miniature/a> pigs are vended as “foot longs,” and wee thimbles of liteweight swill are hoisted as the denizens sit atop upholstered cigar boxes and discuss the “big” world that keeps them downsized in their middle-class, lily-white squalor.

Suddenly the beige plastic saloon doors, which in their previous incarnation had functioned as pet portals, swing violently open, and into the room strides the mystical Trog Shaman – the self-appointed intermediary between the material world and the haunted, other worldly realm of ghouls, ghosts, devils and evil planners.

In other words, those detested public figures who in the absence of necessary information and prescribed ritual electoral sacrifice are intent on wreaking havoc and depriving the “little people” of their right to wear sacks over their heads and do the Sewer Dance, the Stormwater Shuffle, and other cleansing rituals.

The denim-clad Trog Shaman is accompanied by her loyal scribe, the frighteningly androgynous CT, whose change purse backpack is filled with spittle-encrusted crayons, postage stamp post-it notes and vials of populist venom.

“I’m the ‘Bitch on Wheels,’" screams the Shaman, “Go ahead and hook your carts to the wrong horse boys, where will you be then?”

The bar erupts in the throaty wailing of tiny voices: “Praise East Ender!”

(The house band strikes a chord: “You’re the meaning in my life/You’re the inspiration/You give meaning to my life/You’re the inspiration.”)

“I’ll write. That down. And obey,” whispers CT. “Because we are. The Little People. And we’re mad as HELL.”

“But, don't dare assume you know me. I will NOT stand still for this, and I will NOT go away,” bellows the Trog Shaman, wagging a finger at the throng.

The crowd erupts in joy.

“NOT! NOT! NO! NO!,” they chant, while across town, a disheveled Li’l Stevie peeps out from beneath his security blanket and says, “hey, wait – that’s my line … somewhere, they’re playing my song.”

“If you want to hear me do my thing/Pull my string,” sings the councilman.

Meanwhile, the Luddie Bar and Grill grows ominously quiet.

Ceremonial hatchet in hand, the Trog Shaman breathes deeply, fixes a medicinal, hazy gaze on the panting crowd, their thimbles hoisted aloft, blue veins bulging, wee minds inflamed with malaprops and rhetoric, eager to be told which external symbol of their own inadequacies and failures must be assaulted first.

Panties and sewer board minutes are tossed at the feet of the Trog Shaman, who fondles the hatchet and mysteriously murmurs, “That is more of a reflection of the collaborative cooperation and growing structural integrity of the systems that have come into operation in our intents to inform the public to the best of our abilities, and support efforts to protect the best interest of the taxpayers and their obligations to the City.”

Overcome with emotion, the “little people” spontaneously fall to the floor and do the Alligator.

“I’m Mad as Hell. And I have A Clue. For you,” cries CT, nervously crumbling spent crayons from behind the soiled Rally’s bag with the greasy pie hole slit: “These are some of New Albany's finest elected. Office Holders. As well as some Appointed Department. Heads.”

Bottles are shattered in the feverish pitch of the evolving lynch mob.

“Yes, indeed,” demands the Trog Shaman, “Show me any sane person out there who truly believes this administration is not a train wreck, and I'll show you a person with a vested interest.”

"Eeeecccck!"

A blood curdling scream comes from the corner, Tim enters the room, and …

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Back to the real world, says NA Confidential, which herewith issues a challenge to the Trog Shaman.

Ms. Laura Oates, here’s your big chance.

I, Roger A. Baylor, truly believe that this administration is not a train wreck.

So, tell me, Laura, what’s my “vested” interest?

Think carefully. Either you must accuse me of insanity, and be prepared to prove it, or you must identify my “vested” interest in feeling the way I do about this administration.

To be fair, here are the relevant definitions of “vested interest.”

1. A special interest in protecting or promoting that which is to one's own personal advantage.
2. A group that seeks to maintain or control an existing system or activity from which it derives private benefit.

Your accusation of “vested interest” may not have been directed at me, but no matter. You’ve made the accusation, and now you must prove it.

Or retract it.

To do so, you’ll probably have to focus on the nature of “personal advantage,” and whether such an advantage couldn’t be a simple interest in bettering the community. Conversely, you might seek to explain my “private benefit” as it is somehow derived from the “existing system.”

Remember, don’t make the mistake of confusing facts with opinions, as you've made a self-aggrandizing career of doing up to this point.

Have fun.

(Disclaimer: The author apologizes to the songwriters of Chicago and the Fifth Dimension for putting your words in these mouths, but it was in my vested interest as a writer to do so.)

Read all about it at Volunteer Hoosier.

Today, fellow blogger Randy Smith devotes Volunteer Hoosier to an eloquent, accurate and absolutely essential consideration of New Albany's political condition as we approach the mid-point of the terms in office of Mayor James Garner and the City Council.

I Really Always Thought It Was Trite, But ...

NAC offers two small excerpts.

And now, inexplicably, (Mayor Garner) is attacked by the willing tools of the Gang of Four, accused of withholding information (FALSE), of seeking to enrich himself (FALSE), and of somehow desiring to burden the city's residents with, what his critics say is a manufactured storm water management fee ...

... No thing is clearer than that a cabal of venal, self-interested politicians (ward-heelers) and hangers-on (you know who you are) are intent on creating a miasma of discontent in New Albany. Relying on their experiences from the past, they believe that Rove-ian propaganda can ensure that, come election time, all of that discontent will be poured out indiscriminately toward whoever is the incumbent mayor. After all, isn't that the norm. Don't try to improve things, just blame whoever's in there at at the top of the ticket?

We've nothing to add to Randy's masterful summation, other than to urge that you read it, consider the implications for the future of progress in New Albany, and when the time comes, exercise your right to vote.

Rolled oysters? New Albany's lunatic fringe never sleeps.

Harvest Homecoming 2005 is over and done. All that remains is the cleanup, as the eternally renewable committee meets to begin preparations for 2006, and longtime aficionados contemplate life without funnel cakes and elephant ears for another long, seemingly endless year.

A bountiful Harvest in New Albany; Some see festival expanding in 2006, by Christopher Hall (short shelf life for Courier-Journal links).

As I slowly pushed through the youthful Saturday night crowd and admired a brilliant autumn sunset, my thoughts turned to Vodka-Thons past.

(Either you know what I mean, or you don’t. There’ll be no further elaboration here.)

Last week, the Tribune’s editorialist rightfully lauded New Albany’s annual festival, cheerfully reminding readers that when Harvest Homecoming is in session, cultural and political differences are forgotten, and the city’s residents join with visitors in observing a certain unity of caloric intake, if not ultimate purpose.

Such a sentiment is noble, and it’s one to which lip service is readily paid, both out of habit and hope, but in truth, we’re all forced to concede that, in the words of the sultry jazz vocalist, “it ain’t necessarily so.”

For your consideration, unedited, we submit the following, as submitted to us by a hooded troglobyte known only as WELCOME NEW BLOG:

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NEW ALBANY TODAY BLOG.

We have another Mayor's Blog on line now. It's is called New Albany Today. It just seems they just keep popping up everyday. Mr. Maury Goldberg and Former Council Member is the newest Blogger....

Mr. Steve Price is now the Great Councilman in his place. I think one of the first articles on New Albany Today. Was an attack on Councilman Price.

Well it just seems the more the New Blogs coming out. Maybe between them all the Mayor will have enough people to speak for him?

Of course Mr. Randy Smith is being seen coming and going to the Mayor's Office quite often. I guess THE MAYOR HAS ANOTHER "PITCH BOY" FOR HIS PLEASURE.

Maybe Baylor can teach them all to have a few buddies and just talk amoung them self. Seems like with Roger Dodger having his new Digital Camera he just loves shooting pictures. Especially when he tries to attack someone. Maybe a bunch of us needs to meet and go have a Bud Light Beer and a chat with Roger Dodger.Maybe we could get him doing something right on film.

Maybe even a Group Picture with The Little People and Roger Dodger to hang in his Cheer's Bar?

I sure hope their business does better than their Blogs. Like us little people say....Progressive guy's don't any of you all give up your day jobs. Cause you sure don't have much business on your blogs. And welcome Mr. Goldberg. I never really thought you and James Garner got along? But would you and the other's stop knocking Mr. Price. Now you are more than welcome to go after Dan Coffey!!!! He's more your guy's style and class....

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Our Unknown Correspondent. Is right. About one thing.

There are a number of blogs originating in New Albany, and they're presenting commentary, entertainment and local issues in a manner that wasn't possible before Al Gore invented the Internet.

So, with Christmas still more than two months away, here's your early one-stop shopping list of New Albany blogs.

Diggin' in the Dirt
Ann Streckfus
Commentary and reflections on gardening and life in small-town New Albany, Indiana.

NA Confidential
Roger A. Baylor
You don’t need a gumshoe with rotten breath and one too many alimony payments to figure out the problem with this town. It’s something in the water that causes people here to lose their vision. Q: What do New Albanians call Southside's mashed potatoes? A: Freedom Foie Gras. Well, we’re here to change all that. If it’s true that a pre-digital stopped clock is right twice a day, then when will New Albany learn to tell time?

NA Health
Anonymous
I am looking forward to corresponding with the people of New Albany about healthcare issues in and around our city. I have major concerns about the current structure and political issues related to our hospital and our healthcare. We compete with the Louisville service area and I believe we have the potential to excel in many areas but we are hampered by the current shortsightedness of our city leaders, our county leaders, the hospital administration and its board. We need forward thinking people to compete with this rapidly changing environment.

New Albany Renewal
Anonymous
New Albany Renewal is intended to serve as a repository for ideas relevant to preserving and restoring historic buildings, cleaning up neighboorhoods, revitalizing downtown, and improving the quality of life in New Albany, Indiana.

New Albany Today
Maury K. Goldberg
To boldly seek the truth.

Our History in New Albany
Ted Fulmore
This blog is a place for all to deposit their experiences and memories relating to New Albany and Floyd County.
Reminisce: To recollect and tell of past experiences or events.
Experience: An event or a series of events participated in or lived through.
Heritage: Something that is passed down from preceding generations; a tradition.

Volunteer Hoosier
Randy Smith
With a heart and mind shaped in the shadow of Big Orange Country, this adopted Hoosier brings a little Volunteer spirit north of the Ohio River to the environs of New Albany, Ind.

Proof that good beer at Harvest Homecoming does exist.

Is New Albany's anti-intellectualism spiced with homophobia?

Taking coffee intravenuously, soaking my aching feet and leafing through the morning Courier-Journal, I was delighted to see a photo of realtor Curt Morrison on the front page of the business section.

Gays find real estate assistance; homosexual agents help same-sex couples, others, by Bill Wolfe (short shelf life for Courier-Journal links).

Here's an excerpt from the article, which begins by spotlighting the first-time home buying experience (in suburban Louisville) of a gay couple, whose purchase came with a hidden price:

When J. Pat Riley and David Vogel bought a house in a suburban community near Louisville 18 years ago, they never thought to ask their real estate agent how their new neighbors would receive a gay couple.

The agent, who was straight, never suggested there might be a problem.

It soon became clear, though, that "we weren't welcome there," Riley said. "We had problems with neighbors and people trying to vandalize and destroy things and make fun of us."

Hmm. Readers will recall that earlier in the week, NA Confidential offered a consideration of anti-intellectualism in New Albany.

Overt anti-intellectualism? Well, that would explain CM Price's votes against the interests of his own district.

Seeing as doltish anti-intellectualism and a virulent intolerance of diversity go together like beer and peanuts, like fundamentalism and hypocrisy (or like the Siamese councilmen, for that matter), are we correct in detecting a latent strain of homophobia in the foam-flecked utterances of the neolithic "no progress at any price" faction in New Albany?

It seems to us that New Albany's longtime sewage problem is not restricted to the effluent flowing beneath the streets. Rather, much of the difficulty lies with the type of sewage that stagnates between the ears of some, who apparently are "playing" their reactionary games by a discredited set of "rules."

A new blog: New Albany Today.

With little writing time today owing to the commencement of our Lupulin Land 2005 Harvest Hop Festival, and of course Harvest Homecoming -- these coming in addition to a two-day conference in our facility being held by the World Class Beverage beer wholesaling house of Indianapolis, permit us to offer a link to a new blog (as reported earlier by Volunteer Hoosier).

It's New Albany Today.

Should be very interesting.

Overt anti-intellectualism? Well, that would explain CM Price's votes against the interests of his own district.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, comes this quote from a long-forgotten 19th-century writer and pedagogue, Bayard R. Hall:

In 1843, Hall wrote of frontier Indiana that "(w)e always preferred an ignorant bad man to a talented one, and hence attempts were usually made to ruin the moral character of a smart candidate; since unhappily, smartness and wickedness were supposed to be generally coupled, and incompetence and goodness."

162 years prior to New Albany’s summer of infantile troglobyte discontent, and even long before that time in 1980 when future councilman Steve Price strummed himself to sleep at night to the pleasing chords of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall” (“We don’t need no education” … sang Roger Waters, and murmered CM Price -- in the dark, as always), Hall accurately glimpsed and correctly diagnosed a cankerous sore on the American body politic, which Wikipedia proceeds to describe:

Anti-intellectualism is a term that in one sense describes a hostility towards, or mistrust of, those who call themselves intellectuals, and intellectual pursuits. This may be expressed in various ways, such as an attack on the merits of science, education or literature.

Those progressing beyond the literary realm of Bazooka Joe comics and the dubious merits of reality television will at some point come into contact with the ideas of historian Richard Hofstadter's, whose 1964 book, “Anti-Intellectualism in American Life,” surveyed America’s past and identified the malign influence referred to in the title.

The common strain that binds together the attitudes and ideas which I call anti-intellectual is a resentment and suspicion of the life of the mind and of those who are considered to represent it; and a disposition constantly to minimize the value of that life.

Eric L. McKitrick writes:

If any one theme could be said to unite all (Hofstadter's) his writings, it was the importance of ideas in history; more precisely, it was the relation between the way people behaved, in politics and other realms of effort, and the use they made of their minds.

Further elaboration is provided by writer Ariel Dorfman, who paraphrases Hofstadter’s findings.

Anti-intellectualism had its origins … in American traits that anteceded the nation's founding: the mistrust of secular modernization, the preference for practical and commercial solutions to problems and, above all, to the devastating influence of Protestant evangelism in everyday lives. Anybody who cares to read (Hofstadter’s) masterful book today may be astonished to see how it anticipates and even predicts the rise of the neo-conservatives and Christian fundamentalism in contemporary Washington.

Anti-intellectualism in American life is a sufficiently common phenomenon that it need not be discussed exclusively within Dorfman’s neo-conservative, fundamentalist context, although the connection is a point well taken.

In political terms, New Albany’s most renowned practitioners of the anti-intellectual craft are registered as Democrats, although it remains difficult to imagine most of them voting for John Kerry in 2004 – or, more accurately, it is difficult to imagine them voting against George W. Bush’s convoluted grammar, Karl Rove’s simplistic, kindergarten slogans, and the GOP’s Orwellian fables of the deconstruction.

Beyond the collateral damage incurred by other Democrats, why does this matter?

To paraphrase McKitrick’s reading of Hofstadter, “the relation between the way politicians like Dan Coffey and Steve Price behave, in politics and other realms of effort, and the use they make of their minds,” is of central importance for the future of New Albany.

Speaking only for myself, CM Coffey can remain the ward-heeling emperor of his tiny West End electoral district – one ripe for immediate and unforgiving redistricting if not for the desire of most involved with local politics to see him remain in relative isolation – for as long as his supporters are content to endure their ongoing impoverishment, but the 3rd District is a different story entirely, if for no other reason than it being my district of residence.

The only plausible explanation for 3rd District CM Price’s abysmal voting record, one that grows more bizarrely predictable each month, is a strident and growing anti-intellectualism.

A permanent state of distemper and incomprehension seems to have spiked CM Price’s landing gear, leaving a steady stream of knee-jerk “no” votes as the only way of him coping with a future direction for this and other cities of its size that he is ill equipped to understand, and detests all the more for his confusion.

Neither for CM Price nor for his conjoined counterpart is there sentiment for the idea that life’s difficulties are best confronted “with an intelligence of which no human should ever be ashamed,” as Dorfman puts it.

Rather, they warn us to be ashamed, but even more so, to be afraid, always afraid – afraid of a pantheon of imaginary enemies, of shifty, phantom withholders of vital information, of the smarty-pants engineers, of those who read, of those who write … afraid of those who can “do,” and not merely posture for the benefit of the congenitally incapable in order to gain re-election.

My councilman, Steve Price, relishes his role as poster child for anti-intellectualism – and for class warfare, mistrust and plain envy. By doing so, he sends a loud, clear and tragically, utterly mistaken message to the community that he is perfectly willing to condemn our children to an uncertain future -- to the same atmosphere of unaccountability and low common denominators that brought us to the state we’re in (and CM Price accidentally to office) -- rather than to learn, to improve and to succeed.

Anti-intellectualism in this context is little more than the enraged epithet of the slumlord, cynical and exploitative, fearing a change in the “natural” order of things – when a change in this unacceptable order constitutes this city’s best, and perhaps only, hope for enrichment and progress in a competitive, changing world.

It is sadly likely that CM Price consistently and brazenly votes against the interests of his own 3rd District out of sheer spite, because he loathes the very ideas, the very strategies – the very people – who are best placed to lift it up beyond his own abilities to achieve.

He refuses to undertake the necessary process of reform and renewal within the narrow capabilities of his own stunted political worldview, and as long as this remains the case, he cannot be expected to do so outside the boundaries of these self-imposed, damning limitations.

Whatever one's political affiliation, anti-intellectualism is unacceptable. Those in politics who espouse it are making the most fallacious promise of all – that somehow we "the people" can make things better by attacking the possibilities of the human intellect rather than bolstering, furthering and trusting them.

It’s easier to be mad as hell than it is to think … but only the latter can lead to a better tomorrow.

NABC beer will be on tap at the House of Bread Thursday through Saturday during booth days.

Frank Zappa once wrote:

You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.

He might have added, "a real festival."

For those of us who've been living here for a while, an alternative to mass market swill during Harvest Homecoming is rather hard to fathom, given the eternal inertia of ostructionism and the low common denominator generally espoused hereabouts.

Fortunately, people are working to achieve it.

Accordingly, it gives me great pleasure to report that in conjunction with the House of Bread restaurant (corner of Bank and Market in downtown New Albany), locally brewed craft beer from the New Albanian Brewing Company will be available in the restaurant's excellent outdoor seating area during the Harvest Homecoming festival's "booth days" (Thursday, October 6 through Saturday, October 8).

A necessary disclaimer: NABC is a small brewery in terms of capacity, and depending on demand, we might deplete available stocks and have nothing left to sell to the restaurant. We'll play it by ear.

We're projecting two beers on tap: Community Dark and Elector.

Community Dark is brewed with English barley malt, hops and yeast, and is a dark-colored, light-bodied ale known in the U.K. as Mild. Originally, the style was decidedly blue-collar, being brewed for miners and factory workers to replenish fluids after work.

Elector is reddish-amber, with the same base malt and yeast as Community Dark, but stronger, and with American hops used at a much higher hopping rate. In terms of style, Elector traces a lineage to England, but is to be considered a stylistic hybrid in keeping with the artistic license fostered by the microbrewing revolution in America.

Remember, it's the House of Bread's gig and licensing, and they'll be determining serving sizes and pricing. I hope to be there at various times during the weekend, so perhaps I'll see some of you and celebrate the breakthrough.

Just vote "no" to the 3rd District's ongoing city council embarrassment.

Louisville's Courier-Journal opted out of reporting on last evening's first of two city October council meetings, and so we turn to our hometown newspaper's Tuesday edition for coverage, in City could face fines for stormwater, by Amany Ali, Tribune City Editor.

Here are excerpts:

Last night, the New Albany City Council heard from stormwater advisory board members who want a proposed ordinance to establish fees to fund the plan to be postponed. Mayor James Garner, on the other hand, emphasized the importance of the May 6 (federal) deadline. City Council member Beverly Crump pointed out to the council that it could face penalties of $25,000 a day if it misses the deadline ...

... The council ultimately approved the first reading of the ordinance with a vote of six for and two against. Kochert, Crump, Seabrook, Donnie Blevins, Jack Messer and Jeff Gahan voted for the ordinance. Coffey and Steve Price voted against the ordinance. Council member Bill Schmidt was absent.

For a far more detailed rendering of council events on Monday night, blogger Volunteer Hoosier (Randy Smith) is not to be missed:

Why does Steve Price continue to vote against everything the consituents of the 3rd District want? Given the opportunity to renew the Urban Enterprise Zone that essentially defines his district, Mr. Price voted "no." What's the plan, Steve? Scare off a few more neighbors and convert their homes to flophouses? Importing new registered voters may be your only hope for getting a respectable 26% in the Democratic Primary.

The selected excerpt is from Government in Abstentia, etc.

A "no" vote from the 3rd District's accidental councilman has become as common an occurrence as a George Steinbrenner tantrum or unkempt rental properties (see Cause for Alarm in today's Diggin' in the Dirt blog).

But, of course, there are the ones who seem to be cash cows for the landlords. There's little or no maintenance performed. The grass only gets cut when it's approaching knee-high. And because the landlord obviously doesn't care about the condition of his property and its negative impact on the surrounding neighborhood, neither do the tenants.

Back now to the rental property owner in question, CM Price. How many times has he voted "no," or abstained, when called upon to represent the views of his 3rd District constituents?

We're not sure, either, but when there's time for diggin', the minutes of city council meetings are available on-line, and there's still a whole year and a half for us to begin compiling the evidence that will illustrate in abundant clarity why Mr. Price needs to return to the private sector.

Of course, there's always a chance that our folksy half of the Siamese Councilmen will come to his senses, reach down deep for a previously untapped reserve of sense and sensibility, and stage a comeback.

Until then, is anyone reading a resident of the 3rd District, and interested in running for city council in 2007 with the simple platform of expressing and voting to uphold the progressive views of the district's residents?

Let NA Confidential know, confidentially, and the necessary work can begin. As of this moment, such editorial policy as this blog possesses is dedicated, at least in part, to ridding the home district of its current council embarrassment, and restoring some semblance of representation to a group of voters who currently are receiving little to none.

UPDATED: Monday city council coverage is at Volunteer Hoosier.

(Note: This article originally was titled, "CM Price invokes the Second Amendment -- and other hilarity I'll be missing tonight.")

Tuesday morning update: Go to the Volunteer Hoosier blog for thoughts on last night's meeting:
Government in Abstentia, etc., by Randy Smith.

The thread's still open below, if you'd like to use it, or pick up the discussion at Randy's.

----

Original article text:

Sincere apologies to loyal NA Confidential readers, but I was held over at work tonight, and with a very real prospect on the horizon of the same thing happening every other night this week, I decided to "just say no" to an evening of Coffeyesque bloviation on the third floor.

Consider this an open thread; did you attend the City Council meeting tonight, and if so, is there anything to report?

Volunteer Hoosier notes that extremist venom rained on at least part of the Harvest Homecoming Parade.

If, as we have, you've found yourself wondering exactly what type of person would be so rude as to sanction hijacking New Albany's much-loved Harvest Homecoming Parade for the staging of obnoxious political theatrics, then there's must reading for you over at Volunteer Hoosier, in Process Matters, Redux, by Randy Smith.

Here are edited excerpts:

Boorishness is not usually the norm for Harvest Homecoming in Floyd County. At least that’s what folks tell me. You see, this was my first Harvest Homecoming parade, and I found it inspiring ...

... Yet, reports continue to filter in that some city residents, conditioned to the generation of random objections, saw in this unifying event an opportunity to pollute the atmosphere with personal animosity toward those with whom they purport to disagree ...

... But then, isn't that the hallmark of all those who hide in the bushes and launch anonymous diatribes, of all those who refuse to be accountable themselves? Why would they make any efforts to be accountable to their fellow citizens?

Hmm, we're guessing that this absence of acccountability might have something to do with a consistently (and proudly) stated contempt for knowledge and the the veracity of human reason, which are the foundation of our system of laws and of civil society itself.

The chest-thumping "mad as hell" element described by Randy insists on conjuring grandiose, conspiratorial and entirely imaginary scenarios of a local political situation so desperate that the rule of law can no longer be relied upon as a corrective, which in turn absolves those involved from responsibility when they take matters into their own hands and begin to perpetrate the real-world violence that they are, in fact, encouraging each and every day through their anonymous (and, yes, cowardly) incitements of hatred.

Shrug.

At the same time, while it's true that ill-tempered, semi-literate rantings uttered by hysterical folks with bags on their heads who are fostering a lynch mob mentality are in extremely bad taste, poor judgment isn't yet illegal.

It's sad, but almost certainly intentional, that an otherwise unifying community event like a parade was politicized and chosen as a forum to express hatred for those facets of the world that elude the ones whose veins bulge with anger.

Let's just hope that any children present were focused on the acceptable, fun activities taking place in the street, and not too closely observing the sidewalk behavior of self-loathing adults who should know better -- but choose not to, and take pride in their ignorance of civility.

ESSNA float scores during Harvest Homecoming Parade while we watch from the porch.

It would be hard to imagine a better day for a parade than the one we had yesterday, and the Confidential household thanks all of the sixty or so people who stopped by throughout the day to watch the festivities, eat chili, enjoy a beer, engage in conversation and smoke a cigar (kudos to Greg for the latter).

Especially enjoyable was the success of the East Spring Street Neighborhood Association's parade float. As the assocation's president, Greg Roberts, writes:

I would like to congratulation the float committee for all their hard work and winning the Henry Ramsier Award, 2nd place, in the Harvest Homecoming Parade. Also, a big thank you to Mark Sanders for coming up with the idea and bringing the committee together. Again, my hat off to the ESNA float committee on a job well done! Please see the attached picture. What a wild and crazy group ...


And now, it's time to go and clean the garage!

Harvest Homecoming parade is today.

It’s Harvest Homecoming parade day, and NA Confidential plans to be right there on the front porch taking notes, eating chili or drinking beer, whichever seems appropriate at the time.

"Parade leads way in Floyd for fest; 9-day Harvest Homecoming begins today," by Harold J. Adams, hjadams@courier-journal.com (short shelf life on Courier-Journal links).

"Parade largest in festival's history," by Kyle Lowry, Tribune staff writer.

We’ve been informed that a special delegation of undersized, masked exiles from the Land of Misfit Trogs is planning to meet at Rally’s, and if that symbolism weren’t enough, they’ll be symbolically turning their backs on the 21st century as the parade rolls past the home of the Big Buford.

Talk about showing ‘em your good side …