Weekend fun

It's the weekend (and what a weekend -- a massive Harvest Homecoming turnout that does little or nothing to rejuvenate the year-round merchants, but that does enrich the coffers of the [now] two national beer purveyors, plus numerous gypsy festival vendors. Yes, a Boy Scout troop or two and a varied mix of churches pick up a buck or two, but it seems as if the permanent residents of the business district have to write off the weekend...well, not the swill-bars, but then that is further enrichment of the mega-corp brewers, isn't it?)

I chuckled when reading the illogic exposed over at NA Confidential this week. "Self-proclaimed" blog tsar Roger Baylor was taken to task by someone who self-proclaims him/herself "HoosierPundit" and by FC Repub chairman Matthews. The "HP" shows his ignorance first by using the term web blog. A first-year newspaperperson will tell you that it's always "Web," with a capital "W." And the term "web blog" is pretty much a redundancy. "Blog" is the shortened form of Weblog, or 'blog. You simply can't write a log on the Web without being a 'blog. But I digress.

Baylor, more than any other commentator (including, notably, the local newspaper of record), has accurately reported the reality of the local political situation. Considering the fact that "The New Albanian" obtains absolutely no benefits from his efforts, his critics show infantile tendencies in their feeble attacks on his commentaries. Rather than engage Mr. Baylor, they resort to the "so's your mother!" caliber of retort.

I've met the senior editor of NAC and spent a considerable amount of time conversing with him and enjoying his fine craft beers. I would venture to guess that if the reluctant mayoral candidate put forward by the Republican Party had presented a platform that indicated any kind of understanding of the the needs of this city (no, Steve, they aren't "wants," they are crying needs.), Mr. Baylor may have swallowed his instinctive repulsion to the GOP creed and lent his voice to support a Republican candidacy for the office of mayor.

By all accounts, Mr. Hubbard not only doesn't want to be mayor, he doesn't even intend to serve as mayor. Already, rumors circulate that he will resign for "health reasons" and step aside for his party to appoint his successor. His nominal campaign manager, a man who calls himself a Democrat, is superceded by the county party chairman, who campaigns against the city's brilliant investment in Scribner Place. Hubbard himself blithely boasts about his ignorance of the issues important to New Albany and promises to "let the people decide."

Let the people decide??? That quote came in response to a question about reverting the city's downtown traffic patterns to two-way traffic, something that would immediately revitalize the business district, calm traffic, and make our core neighborhoods eminently safer. Can we expect drivers to take the decision into their own hands as to whether to turn left or right at the corner of Bank and Spring? Would some moron driving east from Bank Street on Spring Street be able to cite "Mayor Hubbard's" inanity as a defense for driving east on "East" Spring?

Like The New Albanian and many others, it is irrelevant to shadowna5 what high school a candidate may have graduated from. I don't care how many children a candidate has or how many years he or she has been married to the same spouse. And I most assuredly don't care to hear what church the candidate attends. The mere fact that a candidate feels like it's relevant to tell me he or she attends a particular church offends me. That's about as relevant as what make of car the candidate drives or which NASCAR driver is his or her favorite. UK, U of L, IU? Coke or Pepsi? Latin Mass or vernacular? Who cares?

[In the interest of full disclosure, shadowna5 lives and dies with Tony Stewart. Go "Smoke!" And to provide T.M.I., this blogger cannot fathom the "Tsar's" adoration of the NBA. I do like "Elector," though.]

Weekends should be fun. And the manufactured attack on NAC and its senior editor is nothing but frivolity. It insults the intelligence. Had it not been for Roger Baylor's entry into the fray, readers of The Tribune would not have been entertained OR informed.

And speaking of the much-improved local press organ, where are those promised endorsements and issue editorials? Your Indiucky Pride slogan is cool, but even the Courier-Journal expresses an opinion from time to time. Doesn't The Tribune have the balls to take a stand?