Donate To Jeff Merkley Via ActBlue

Matt, from the comments in the last article, suggested that if I love Jeff Merkley so much, then why don't I marry him ...

... no, no, joke! joke! I maek funnay joak!

Anyhow, he suggested I set up a donation page at ActBlue, so I did.

My pitch is, ever since Jeff got to Washington he's actually been doing the things we elected him to do, and money makes the world go round. I'm saying, every time he takes action on credit cards, or mortgages, or any one of the many things he said he'd promise us he'd do, we should go and toss him a bone or two ... whatever you have.

Because I'll bet he'll notice that, the little thank you's (and the big ones too).

Anyway, the quick-donation box is in the sidebar there, and my own page at ActBlue to donate to Jeff is here:

https://secure.actblue.com/page/friendsofmerkley

Give Jeff Merkley Mad Props, Yo!

He's actually doing what he's promised to do, taking on the credit card companies.

Do they allow that in Washington any more?

Play Ms. Bachmann Out, Keyboard Cat

From Chinuk Studios, a Chinuk Production, Directed by The Chinuk, Written by the Chinuk, and starring Michele Bachmann (R-Venus or maybe Saturn) and Keyboard Cat in ..

Play Michele Bachmann Out, Keyboard Cat!

This had its world premier over on PK a few hours back, but I want to celebrate my triumph here too!

Buffoon EPIC FAIL "Hoot Smalley" Bachmann + Keyboard Cat = AWESOME!

Janet Jackson's Breast: Still Public Enemy Number One

And the Supreme Court demands that a lower court take another look at it:

The Supreme Court today ordered a lower court to revisit the case of pop singer Janet Jackson's so-called "wardrobe malfunction" in which she inadvertently exposed her breast during the 2004 broadcast of a Super Bowl halftime show.

The Federal Communications Commission had fined CBS, the show's broadcaster, $550,000, and found that the show was indecent because it depicted a sexual organ for nine-sixteenths of one second.

Nearly 90 million viewers watched the performance of "Rock Your Body" by Jackson and singer Justin Timberlake. CBS challenged the fine, arguing that such fines by the FCC could chill the free speech of broadcasters.

Some days, it's tough to be a jurist.

And by tough, we mean AWESOME!

This could be the start of a new era in BROADcasting, amirite?

I better stop now.

That's How They Roll

Republicans sure are a funny bunch. They'll ignore you, ostracize you, vilify you, put you down, and diss you.

But just one Republican Senator goes Democratic, and all of a sudden, they're buying you ice cream:

Oh hey there, remember last year when, during the election, John McCain’s pathetic campaign resorted to offensive yet hilarious attacks against those of us who live in Northern Virginia? Remember how they called us communist and “fake Virginia.” Yes!? Well guess what!! Now the tool bags are coming here to hold the first in a series of events where they will feverishly try to figure out why they suck and what they can do to fix it.

Congratulations, Northern Virginny! You're fashionable now!

You want Republicans to start celebrating Teh Gay?

As soon as Teh Gay becomes instrumental in getting Republicans elected, male-on-male pegging (warning: That link goes to an unexpectedly adult Wikipedia article) will become a sacrament. You can bank on that.

My salute to those in "fake Virginia". Work those bastiches for all you can, then kick them to the curb so you can watch them cry.

They earned it.

Now, THIS Is A "Fair" Tax

The President is going after Cayman Islander "POBox" Corps, amongst others:

Going after companies and individuals who funnel money to tax havens in the Cayman Islands or Swiss banks is just one part of the proposal. Much of Mr. Obama's plan aims to limit what the president considers the tax avoidance of multinational corporations who use subsidiaries and foreign branches to avoid paying higher taxes in the United States.

The White House, in a release detailing the plan, said the current tax system "is rife with opportunities to evade and avoid taxes through offshore tax havens."

There's no essential sin in trying to pay the minimum tax one is entitled to. Also, nobody deserves to get fleeced.

But corprations have been getting away with sucking profits out of America for so much and for so long that, even though it's legal, it's un-American. And it's you, me, and every one we know (speaking for us proles, that is) that's paying for it – either through increased taxes or decreased services. Usually decreased services.

I don't know about any of you folks, but I get tired of sacrificing so that some "too-big-to-fail" corporation gets to have even bigger profits.

Legal tax reductions can be good. But just like you can actually get poisoned if you drink too much water too fast, too much of any good thing isn't eventually good at all.

Corporations have been making bank for a very long time now on a favorable business climate (so favorable, for instance, that Oregon will allow you to skive on out of here for a single $10 bill), and its time that they pitched in thier fair share to maintain the edifice that made their success possible.

It's past time, actually.

Kicking It Blogstyle

A bit of a mention here about thanking BlogBurst for activating this here blog. I just visited the dashboard and found that an article I posted, noting the grim state of the Chinook salmon runs here in the Northwest, was picked up by a newspaper's blog, the Gary, Indiana Post-Tribune.

Nifty! Thanks BlogBurst!

I am still posting like mad over at Preemptive Karma, so don't forget to join me there too!

Ahh, Persephone, Returned From The Depths To Us

Good news if you, as I, have been missing la belle Rhodes...

She's coming back! Back on The POJ mid-May.

And the nifty party?

She's being syndicated by Premier Radio Networks ... the same syndicator which runs the Unavuncular Carbuncular Creepy Uncle of America – Rush (we call him "Mr") Limbaugh.

She's gonna eat him alive. As big as he's gotten, she'll need a doggy bag.

But what doggy would have him?

I invite discussion on Preemptive Karma. Join me there.

Simple Answers To Simple Questions Re: Cash Gifting Refunds

In scanning my hit counter, I noticed I got a hit on the following query:

"possible to get money back from cash gifting"

Which I interpret as the following question:

Q: Can I get my money back from a cash gifting pyramid?

and the simple answer:

A: I don't think so.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, your mileage may vary. If you want to risk your nuts in a "cash gifting" scheme, by all means, go balls-to-the-wall.

But the reading I've done ... some of it documented in my earlier post on the subject ... suggest that the only players likely to get anything out of it are the ones who got on on the ground floor.

An easy way to find out if you've gotten in on the ground floor: if someone's inviting you on board the airplane, you ain't it, bunky.

And if the network collapses and you find yourself out in the cold, are you going to complain to someone that you got burned in a scheme designed to make you a bunch of money without paying taxes and without working for it? Pretty embarrassing. Would it get you some government attention? I don't know. Do you? Are you willing to take the risk?

And by now, the money is long gone anyway, spent by the people upline of you that got it already. It's gone.

Better you stay away from this stuff, and remember what Mom Always Said: if it sounds too good to be true, it is. This sort of carp is the reason why Mom came up with that saying.

Randy Leonard Needs To Go, Too.

In the last several days we've seen several reminders as to why, regardless of how Sam Adams conducts his private life, why he's proven himself to be the exact opposite of a visionary, thoughtful steward of the city's future.

But let's look at Randy Leonard just a little. Up until quite recently, we were a huge fan of Randy. We liked his scrappy style, and liked the way he took on Dave Frohnmayer over the "Made in Oregon" sign issue.

But latterly, he's been just a little too much the bully. Over on Preemptive Karma, I commented on Sam Adams's crass equivalency of a luxury hotel that I couldn't possibly afford to stay in to a significant regional transportation link in urgent need of reconstruction. And, despite Randy's newfound enmity for Sam, apparently they can remain freinemies: Randy will happily, apparently, back Sam's play for "support my hotel, or the bridge gets it".

I came to the conclusion that Randy's no longer looking out for the town but for other interests when I watched this report on KGW. At the 1:53 mark, Randy accuses Ted Wheeler, County Chair, as "someone who's having a temper tantrum because he's not having his way."

Let's go to the map, shall we?

1. Wheeler asked for figures
2. The City Council sat on the request for six weeks.
3. On Monday, the Council finally delevered the request – and gave Wheeler until Thursday ... that's tomorrow ... to make his decision.
4. When Wheeler objects and takes his case to the media, he's throwing a temper tantrum.

I could be missing something here.

But I don't think I am.

Randy doesn't deserve to be on the City Council anymore. Since he's not in as much public hot water as Sam is, I don't think he'll be recalled. I doubt that anyone with sufficient gumption will challenge him for re-election either.

Which is sad, because Randy doesn't deserve to serve anymore.

To threaten to pull support on a good for all the people unless you support something that very few of the people will enjoy in an economy that can't support it is simply to play the "big kid in the room" card, and we're already supporting one hotel I can't afford to even walk through the door to visit (I'm looking at you, "The Nines").

The Portland City Council, as expressed through the power plays of Sam Adams and Randy Leonard, has evolved into one big bully. I'm sorry I voted for Sam and Randy.

An Addition To the Reading List

So far, in this blog, I've recommended two books for those who want the properly cynical footing to cope with the cynical political landscape – if you can't keep up, you can at least keep an eye on things.

I've decided to add two books to the assigned reading in this course. The complete list is:

1. Dune, by Frank Herbert
2. Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell
3. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
4. Stand on Zanzibar, by John Brunner

Each is important for diffferent reasons. Dune matters because Herbert had immense insights into power blocs and power struggles, and what might tilt things one way or the other – and that a random chaotic event can cause amazing results. Also, Herbert understood, perhaps better than any popular author, the explosive mix that religion and politics can make – and this, is the most important message, because he does it without making it a preachy cautionary tale.

Nineteen Eighty-Four is important for all the obvious reasons – the cynical manipulation of the population by a power elite, the evil deleterious effect on the zeitgeist and the human animal that opression can bring. But the real lesson I want people to take away from it, and the source of my sarcastic caption on the cover picture, is the effects of a power elite for whom power is the only object. They speak of addictive substances, nicotine, methamphetamine, what have you. Kissinger glibly commented that power is the ultimate aphrodesiac (not without reason). But more than that, power is the most addictive substance known to man and woman. You can't have it without wanting more, you can't have more without wanting to keep it all for one's self, and you can't keep it without greedily scheming to order affairs so that you never lose it.

When I say the Republican Party's main platform can be found there, it's the addiction to power and the need to get it for its own sake, at any cost. They would kill our country for it if they had to, and events suggest to me, they are still trying.

Stranger In A Strange Land was suggested by reader Phil. He recommends it highly, and my review of the plot suggests it has much to say about community and power. I've not read it yet, because I've never been much of a Heinlein fan, to be quite frank. But it's on my list now.

Stand on Zanzibar is a challenging book to read. John Brunner's visionary classic challenges the reader with a layered structure, an army of intertwining characters, and the strife of what was then the distant future time of the 2010s to paint a picture of a planet going crazy under the strain of overpopulation and technology that's zooming ahead of Man's capacity to reason with it all. With its piercing insights on what makes man tick, it's not predictive, but it does have Mankind's number, and is as relevant now as when it was written back in the 1960s.

Those are your assignments, if you care to take up the challenge. Since my topical work is being done over at Preemptive Karma for the nonce, we can use this area as a sort of reading and book discussion club. I'm going to go back through Dune soon and make public notes. Everyone is welcome to come along.

I think we can all learn something from each other. I believe this.

Yay BlueOregon!

Blue Oregon's really cleaning up this year.

First that blogger on The Fix named BO to his 50-State Blogroll, now I hear that the George Washington University Institute for Politics, Democracy, & the Intarweb got what, if it isnt the Oscars or the Emmy at least it has to be the Golden Globe for public policy intarweb commentary, the Golden Dot as best damn state political blog for 2008.

Blue Oregon's one of those things that got me inspired to start DIY punditin'. I admire Kari's work and quite frankly think this is a very deserved honor, so I'm not only commenting on this in my capacity as part of the PK posse but also here.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Blue Oregon!

Pacific Wonderland Vintage Plate? I Am Totally There For That!

One of these would look soooo cool on my '72 VW:



Over on Oregonlive (where I nicked the above image, lensed by Randy Rasmussen) they've broken the story of a proposal to bring back the old Pacific Wonderland plates for a 25,000 limited edition.

I mentioned this to my wife and she said it was, well, a fait accompli. We weren't alive when the PW plates happened, but both our families were the kind to keep cars - and plates - around for an awful long time.

Not everyone is impressed: a commenter opined:

Since Oregon museums are reducing hours and laying off staff, I believe we don't really need a new history center.

Legislators. This may come as a surprise to you in the ivory tower but we have real issues to deal with in Oregon.

Yeah, whatevs, buzzkill.

I'm going to be lining up for them plates! Maybes they can get prisoners to stamp them like they used to ...

I Reach Teh Big Time ...

... or at least the medium-sized time.

I've been a fan of Preemptive Karma since I started reading local blogs. I admire wit and clever prose, and it had it in spades. It was one that really challenged me to think, dammit! It's always been a ground of great reading, and at least one PKer has gone on to greater things.

I'm speaking of course of Carla "The Unimpeachable" Axtman, who's currently Fellow at Blue Oregon.

That Carla wears the title of Fellow is cosmically funny to me since, after all, Carla's apparently a woman*. I know. I've seen a picture of her.

Anywhoozle, one can imagine my surprise when Kevin at PK contacted me and asked me if I wanted to join the PK crew.

Flattered? You bet. Excited? Hells-to-the-yeah!

After talking with him and figuring out things, I've decided to take him up on the offer. I am now offically affiliated with the PK crew, and will be taking my comedic wit and nimitable style there too.

This blog will remain, and will have postings of a more personal and abstruse nature from here on out, just updated a little less frequently.

I plan on tripping the light fantastic over on PK; please, please join me and book mark both places!

* yes, I know what "Fellow" is. I maek funnay joak. You Laff Now!

I Evolve Upwards ...

Details to follow presently.

Stay tuned to this channel. This one, too.

Portia Di Rossi Knows How To Take Responsibility

At least someone does.

Another lesson gay people can teach us straights. Pay attention!

First Black President? Not Good Enough For ASU

Someone once told me an easy way to sense BS.

"Do you know why it doesn't make sense?" he said to me. "Because it isn't true."

This will do nothing but p*ss you off, and I'm sorry to have to share it, but I've had an ab-so-lute gutful of organizations that do the little weasel dance to avoid looking like they wanted to have President Barack Obama speak.

First it was the pained fretting of Catholic priests who moaned about President Obama (and I'm going to use that name repeatedly if it makes some people cry so much) speaking at Notre Dame which was painted as being all principled and stuff but actually had more than the whiff of hypocrisy about it.

I didn't think anyone could top the childishness of that move. But ASU did.

Arizona State University has invited President Obama to deliver the commencement address on May 13th. It's tradition (and, I understand, the "done" thing) to award the commencement speaker with an honorary degree.

As of this writing, according to and broken by the Politico, ASU has decided not to award the country's first black President an honorary degree. He just hasn't worked hard enough yet, you see:

The university decided against awarding Obama the degree because it is customarily awarded for “lifetime achievement,” ASU spokeswoman Sharon Keeler told POLITICO.

“It’s normally awarded to someone who has been in their field for some time,” she said. “Considering that the president is at the beginning of his presidency, his body of work is just beginning.”

***BOGGLE***

A man of Barack Obama's stature and achievements hasn't rated the honor yet?

This is like refusing to call Neil Armstrong the first man on the moon because he hasn't done it twice yet.

If this man hasn't rated your respect yet, he never will. And ASU doesn't even have the courage to come up with a reason based on a solid debating point. At least Notre Dame did that. And they gave him an honorary degree.

WTF, ASU? Neocons on the board? Fear of a black planet? What? And you actually announced that and expected it not to look like weasel words and embarrass you? Are your PR people on vacation or payyy-ote or something?

There's buzz out that they're reconsidering. Thats as maybe. Damage is already done though. Well played, Asinine State University, well played.

Actual Smart Person Roger Ebert Pwns Bill O'Reilly

This is kind of neat, actually. One doesn't get two beautiful examples of textbook pwnage in one week. First, it was "Charlie" knocking Mr. Limbaugh off his routine so much that "sticking it" at the end was simply not possible, then, Roger Ebert dials Bill O'Reilly's number ... and nails it utterly.

One point of reference in my universe is that Roger Ebert is a national treasure. He is an incredibly gifted and readable writer. Yeah, I know, he does all that movie reviewin' and stuff, but can you name any other movie reviewer that's won the ever-loviin' Pulitizer for his reviewing?

Trick question. There isn't another (at least not at this writing).

Now comes along Mr. O'Reilly, who's a very important pivotal sort of person (and if you don't believe him, just ask him). He has taken it upon himself to compile a "Hall Of Shame" of doubleplusungood media outlets that he doedn't like, nosirree. And Ebert's employer, the Chicago Sun-Times, is new on the list, in the "Media Outlets That Traffic in Defamation" list.

At this point, it may be helpful to note that to get on this list, all one has to do is, they believe, to have "regularly helped distribute defamatory, false or non-newsworthy information supplied by far left websites".

By that metric, one can cut and paste three words from a Media Matters press release and qualify. And I may not be a lawyer but I have a feeling that defamation might not mean what they think it does. But for the moment we'll concede the point.

How does an Actual Smart Writerly Pulitzer-Prize-Winning Person return the favor? With reality, served with a side of dry wit and a droll chaser:

I understand you believe one of the Sun-Times misdemeanors was dropping your syndicated column. My editor informs me that "very few" readers complained about the disappearance of your column, adding, "many more complained about Nancy." I know I did. That was the famous Ernie Bushmiller comic strip in which Sluggo explained that "wow" was "mom" spelled upside-down.

Your column ran in our paper while it was owned by the right-wing polemicists Conrad Black (Baron Black of Coldharbour) and David Radler. We dropped it to save a little money after they looted the paper of millions. Now you call for an advertising boycott. It is unusual to observe a journalist cheering for a newspaper to fail. At present the Sun-Times has no bank debt, but labors under the weight of millions of dollars in tax penalties incurred by Lord Black, who is serving an eight-year stretch for mail fraud and obstruction of justice. We also had to pay for his legal expenses.

So there. I'll not show you the rest, as that would be rude (and legally actionable); use the above link to read it yourself.

As for the rest of us, I think Mr. O'Reilly can consider himself pwned.

I doubt it will make much of a difference; after all, in Mr. O'Reilly's world, he never actually loses.

Somebody's Gotta Go: New Reality Show Makes Me Hate Us All

I think I've just seen proof that our civilization does not deserve to survive.

The buzz is that FOX is coming up with something on the order of an abomination. No mere trifle this, the show, said to be titled Somebody's Gotta Go, is all about people losing their job, and their fellows slipping the knife in.

Bob Sassone at TV Squad:

Someone's Gotta Go will feature employees of a real company who give a pay cut to a fellow employee and vote out a fellow employee at the end of each show. Please note that these are real employees at a real company who are really going to lose their jobs, not to mention have their personal details revealed on national television.

I was going to link to what Sarah Ball at Newsweek's PopVox column said about it, but she seemed to enjoy the idea too much. If this idea wasn't appalling enough on its face not to make its sordid way from the Netherlands (where worldwide TV purveyor Endemol concocted this foul thing) to be pitched, straight-faced and unironically, to a TV network in the USA, then what it says about us as a culture is too ugly to put to words.

Seriously, I don't have a funny rejoinder to this one. This just makes me sad. Seriously, it makes me sad.

But don't let me harsh your vibe. If this sort of program sounds like fun to you, watch away. You're the one who'll have to look yourself in the mirror.

Abandon handbasket; we've arrived in Hell.

If Ed Orkney Hadn't Died Back In '76, This Would Have Killed Him

When we heard that (GI)Joes was going into bankruptcy, a lot of us hoped the handwriting wasn't on the wall, though deep down, a lot of us knew it was.

How did we know? The seeds were planted when an equity firm bought what was then GI Joe's, a Northwest friend since all of us can remember. GI Joe's was forever, man.

In retrospect, I think the surprising thing was how fast Joe's collapsed. From cherry property for expansion and competition on 2007 to failing company by the end of 2008, mere weeks after opening its 31st location in Nampa, Idaho – that's fast enough to make one's head swim.

We maybe really knew it in our gut when they did the "G.I"-ectomy, turning G.I. Joe's , the friendly Northwest friend, into Joe's Sports, Outdoors, and More, a name generic enough to go up against any sports retailer in any market.

Trouble is, there were already too many of them.

I don't know how long the late Mr. Orkney figured his business would last when he started it in that tent on North Vancouver Avenue in 1952. And I'm pretty sure that Norm Daniels didn't figure that when Gryphon got a controlling interest in Joe's that they would go and de-Oregonize the name and then see the company into a swift decline.

But that's what we got.

One of my first memories was the store opening in Salem in 1976, when we could finally go to G.I. Joe's whenever we wanted and not just on our all-to-infrequent jaunts to Stumptown. It was the first store opened outside the Portland area, and the fifth G.I. Joe's, on the way to 31 locations across the Northwest.

Those were good times, my friends. Good times.

G'bye, G.I. Joe's.

Cash Gifting is Back. Don't Fall For It!

So, I'm getting ready to go to bed, getting one more check in on the email, stuff like that, and I'm listening to The POJ, and I hear a report on an old scheme designed to separate the desperate from their money.

It's "cash gifting". The report mentioned some staggering amonut of videos online, so I surfed on over to YouTube.com, and plugged in the words "Cash Gifting" – and the response said it was able to come up with just over twenty thousand videos about cash gifting.

And it's tempting to think that "well, yes, that's the sort of thing you expect to see in hard times", and write it off. As liberals and Official Smart People™, I'd like to point out that we can do better.

I've never been in a pyramid or cash gifting program. I don't know anyone who ever was, and I don't want to know anyone who ever does. So I speak as I find here. Here's what it's all about.

"Cash Gifting" is yet another case of old wine in new skins. Ever since the original chain letters (you know, the one where you send $5 to each of five names on a list and add your name to the bottom of a list and mail that off to five or so friends) and Make.Money.Fast, the chain letter-pyramid scheme has morphed just enough to seem legal and stay ahead of people who find out about it.

The current idea is a variation on an old theme. The way the schemes make the dodge look legit is to use the concept of a gift or a game to establish consent amongst participants and evade taxes (you can't tax a gift, after all, right?).

In the 70s and 80s, something called the "Airplane Game" was popular. This was a four-level tree, the top being the "Captain", the second level (2 participants) being the "co-pilots", the third level (4 participants) being the "Crew", and the fourth level (8 participants) were known as "passengers". When the passenger level filled out, each paying typically $1000 to get on board (that was usually it, but there were probably as many different costs-of-admission as there were schemes out there), all the money gets passed up the tree to the Captain, who "pilots off" and goes away with his gifted loot. The tree splits in two, the two "Co Pilots" become "Pilots", and each tree works to fill its passenger level.

It seems a reasonable plan. Since the money is gifts, they can't be taxed; since you only have to get 8 suckers on the bottom to complete the tree, it seems to be immune to that geometric progression that makes pyramid structures untenable because by the thirteenth generation you need over 13 Billion members to keep the pyramid going.

But when you think about it, the limited nature of the gifting tree doesn't prevent saturation, just forestalls it a bit. Because when that pilot flies off with his cash, the two airplanes now have to find sixteen people to let the new pilots take wing. And sixteen more for each if that pilot can take off. And so on.

It's not too long before enough burned people exist to bring the whole airline down.

Now, I told you all that to tell you this. Based on my hearing about the new programs on The POJ and my search on YouTube, it would seem gifting programs are back. These days, they're called The People's Program, and they call them a a gifting program. Video after video with similar claims, loaded with similarly-worded positive reviews, and links to similar websites, many of whom use identical graphics! Images of happy smug people fanning Benajmins in front of yo face and having their pictures on DVD cases promoting the program abound.

The catch these days to try to make it legal is that they try to leverage the searching power and self-selecting nature of internet users to promise you that only people looking to get into and profit from gifitng programs will see your appeal. This is supposed to keep it legit by not attracting people who don't know what it is you're talking about.

It will still get you in trouble. I've read a lot about these programs, and it seems that the "tax free gift" claim and the targeted interest concept has been used so much that the IRS sees it for what it is; an attempt to get money and evade paying taxes for it.

And even if you are daring and bold and desperate enough to give it a shot, consider that at least one estimate I've seen suggest that no matter how large the model becomes, 88% of participants will likely lose money.

The only way to be sure you're going to make money in a gifting scheme, really, is to start one. And then you're (sorry for the bluntness) just hoodwinking money away from other people who are just as desperate as you. Can you look yourself in the mirror and live with yourself? I know I couldn't.

Once again, I've never been in such a scheme (nothing magical about that, just my morbid interest in toxic social structures leading to voluminious reading, so I was luckily forewarned) and I never will be because it's logically and ethically suspect. And I've never known a person to be suckered by a Gifting Club, and I never want to know one.

But when I hear that there are tens of thousands of videos on YouTube with a high-tech version of the same old pyramid plan, I have to speak up.

And that's what I'm doing.

If you're tempted, don't do it. Please.

You only think you're badly off now. If you're lucky, you'll just lose your money.

Don't do it.

If You Think TriMet Service Cuts Are Bad ...

... just be glad you don't live in St. Louis, where the transit system is getting ab-so-lute-ly gutted:

The service area for this multibillion-dollar regional asset will shrink by two thirds, literally overnight.

The Metro transit agency faces an operating deficit of $45 million this year, which is expected to reach $50 million next year. Nearly one in every four of its 2,300 employees will be laid off in the coming weeks. Many highly skilled and productive employees already are being poached by transit systems in other regions.

Service will end at 2,300 of the 9,000 bus stops and shelters on Missouri’s side of the system; service in Illinois, which is fully funded, won’t be affected. A bus fleet of 320 will shrink to about 140. MetroLink light rail riders will see one-third fewer trains during rush hour. Call-A-Ride service for the disabled will be slashed.

Most city and inner-ring suburban service will be cut 25 percent to 75 percent. Most of St. Louis County outside the Interstate 270 loop will receive no service. Limited service to the Chesterfield Valley was salvaged through the end of the year as a result of a last-minute deal between Metro and far-sighted municipal leaders and local businesses.

The article at StLouisToday was written on the 27th. These service cuts are already in effect. Now, I'm no transit planner and have actually not enough knowledge to be useful, but I'm guessing if you reduced weekend TriMet service to a handful of Portland-only routes, permanently on Sunday schedules, cut back MAX service to half-hourly on all lines, reduced fixed-route service to Portland Only except during rush hours, restricted TriMet LIFT customers to 8 am to 5 pm service, six days a week, you might come close to the pain that St Louis is feeling right now.

I'm not a fan of the cutbacks TriMet's proposing, but – for now, anyway – we're doing better than most, even with the much-criticized (but still beloved) Streetcar and Aerial Tram.

If the Federal Government really wants to step up with our tax dollars and rebuild the country the Republicans have been tearing down since Reagan, a good place to start would be by funding mass transit so that all cities have decent (if not ideal) service levels.

In other words, start treating mass transit as a necessity, not as an option or a luxury. Because, if you're interested in having viable cities, it really is a necessity.

Chinook Salmon: Outlook Still Grim, Fishing Season Cancelled

Via Salem-News.com:

With northern California chinook salmon runs forecast to be at historic lows, the sport salmon season south of Cape Falcon scheduled for March 15 through April 30 has been closed.

“Chinook salmon forecasts for runs that contribute to ocean salmon fisheries off Oregon are estimated to be at very low levels,” said Eric Schindler, ocean salmon supervising biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. “Critically low numbers of fall chinook within the Sacramento River and a very low forecast for Klamath River three-year-old chinook head the list of problems facing salmon managers this year."

What could I possibly add to that?

The Long UO-PDX Made In Oregon Sign Nightmare Is Over

It's just going to read Oregon.

The compromise with UO which gives the City right of purchase if UO ever quits the building is a nice touch, I thought.

Free Stuff: Worth What You Pay For It

Screenclipped from one of the far-too-many aggregate sites that I waste my life at each and every day:

Well, Mom Always Said that free stuff is worth what you paid for it, but in this case I'd say it's a bit overpriced.

No, silly ... don't click on the ad. While I acknowlege that there are douchbags in the world that get way too much importance, I don't actually link to them. Jeeze.

WaPo Columnist Names The Best Oregon Political Blogs ...

... and the envelope please!

The Fix, Chris Cizilla's (wasn't that a Japanese movie monster?) blog on the WaPo, has laid out the best reads amongst the politiblogs infesting the noosphere like a plague (did I say that?), and of Oregon's amazing population, he could only come up with two:

1. The Shadout Mapes On Politics at The Oregonian
2. Blue Oregon

That's it, people. Just two. I am a little miffed that mine didn't make the cut, but I'm a sprout, so I'll get over it. But there are others which were quite worthy (LoadedO for at least one).

And so it goes.

We'll try for it next year, of course.

The Exquisite Pain Of The Dwindling Bourgeosie Spreads To Willamette Week

The double-edged sword of modern times just keeps writing my blog posts for me.

For instance, a few posts ago, I mocked The Oregonian for their quaint, dear idea of what down-market means. I found it terribly, terribly dear ... in the way the mortal whistles as they pass the graveyard.

It shows a certain decadence amongst the decreasing members of the middle class that they regard some things ("staycations", economy packs, cheap beer and the like) as a big discovery when the underclass that supports them sees them as everyday life. It's like telling that awkward joke in the hopes of "identifying" with some "underpriviledged class" and makes them look, well, kinda silly.

I don't mean to take the piss out of them so much. It's tough in the newspaper biz these days. But its just kind of galling when you see people who voted for Republicans and waxed on their intellectual offal for years panic when the bill comes due and break their own arms patting themselves on the back for surviving so brilliantly when the shell game is a way of life for most everyone who hasn't even gotten their chances.

Nobody was ever poor before they were poor, you see. They're redefining poor. Poor people just ain't been doin' it right.

And that brings me to Willamette Week. I am very reluctant to kick someone when they're down (remember, they got layoffs and deep salary cuts very recently), but their latest interactive initiative just comes off as a little out of touch in the above ways, as well as simply cribbing something the New York Times is already doing.

Picturing the Recession is a call for readers to send in their photos of how everyone around them is coping. WW's version is called Shuttered Portland, and since people love being intarwebs-famous for at least two minutes, I'm guessing they'll get a good amount of photos (even though the NYT version already accepts photos from just about anybody), but the text punched the same buttons on me that The Oregonian's gently-condescending attempt at humor did.

Just because I'm an irritated curmudgeon, I'll cherry pick some rhetorical questions from the article and answer them, and maybe my point will become clear:

Are you playing Wii at home with friends instead of meeting them at bars? You can afford a Wii and friends? This is hard done by to you?

What’s in your refrigerator now? Leftovers, bargain buys from Food 4 Less, and stuff past its expiry. If we're feeling flush, we chill up some water (at the rate Portland bills us, it's pretty much a luxury anyway

What used to be there? See last question.

Has your favorite store closed? Food 4 Less? No, it's still open.

What’s become of it? It's gotten more crowded with middle-class people who never thought they'd be poor, and whose faces alternate between the self-congratulatory look of being brave enough to shop with the black, brown, and white proles and a momentary glaze of terror that maybe this isn't a temporary economic reset for them.

Is the store vacant? No.

If not, what moved in? See the answer two questions back, chump.

Okay, so I'm sour grapes and all, whatever. I never got the chances that some have gotten and all that, call me what you will. But this bizarre fascination with being Newly Poor and the strictly bourgeosie way of looking at it (by newsers that expect me to lend them crediblity) just sticks in my throat like a bone.

What I'd like to see from the news is more actual serious reporting on the deteriorating economy and the dwindling middle class (and consequently, the dwindling chances to become part of it) and more riding on the people pulling the levers to do the right thing and stop playing games, and less droll ironic commentary on what it's like to be poor these days.

I can save you a lot of tedious work.

Three words: being poor sucks. There. Your job's done for you.

I'm not saying you shouldn't take pix and send them to WW. Hell, why not? Sounds like fun anyway.

(Hat tip: Carla "The Unimpeachable" Axtman at BlueOregon)

Limbaugh Pwned By Republican LIstener Who's Had A Gutful

If you haven't heard this one yet, you need to. It's the story of a man forced to look in the mirror and recoiling at what he saw.

You know him as Rush Limbaugh. Add your own epithets.

Thank God, incidentally, for Media Matters for America. They need no introduction around the liberal noosphere, of course, but I mention them because they are heroes to me, if only because someone over there listens to Limbaugh so we don't have to.

That is one crappy job. Must be just below Assistant Crack Whore on the crappy jobs scale. But it's a public service to be sure.

Anyway, I just heard this on Malloy, But all the stuff is over at the Media Matters site, including a recording. The caller is someone named Charlie, who identifies himself as someone who votes conservative and didn't want to see Obama elected and who served in the Marines and the Army, and all of a sudden, apparently, he had a gutful of it all, and it centers on that thing we don't do, torture:

Thanks, Rush. Rush, listen, I voted Republican, and I didn't -- really didn't want to see Obama get in office. But, you know, Rush, you're one reason to blame for this
election, for the Republicans losing.

First of all, you kept harping about voting for Hillary. The second big issue is the
-- was the torture issue. I'm a veteran. We're not supposed to be torturing these people. This is not Nazi Germany, Red China, or North Korea. There's other ways of interrogating people, and you kept harping about it -- "It's OK," or "It's not really torture." And it was just more than waterboarding. Some of these prisoners were killed under torture.

And it just -- it was crazy for you to keep going on and on like Levin and Hannity and Hewitt. It's
like you're all brainwashed.

And my last comment is, no matter what Obama does, you will still criticize him because I believe you're brainwashed. You're just -- and I hate to say it -- but I think you're a brainwashed Nazi. Anyone who could believe in torture just  has got to be - there's got to be something wrong with them.

Yes, that's right. You just heard a Republican call Rush Limbaugh a brainwashed Nazi. It took several minutes for Rush to get back on his pins but he was never able to regain the initiative, so he ended the call and lept off the deep end into the river of de Nile:

Charles, Barack Obama is president of the United States today because of stupid, ignorant people who think like you do. You pose -- you and your ignorance are the most expensive commodity this country has. You think you know everything. You don't know diddly-squat.

You call me a Nazi? You call me somebody who supports torture and you want credibility on this program? You know, you're just plain embarrassing and ludicrous. But it doesn't surprise me that you're the kind of Republican that our last candidate attracted. Because you're no Republican at all based on what the hell you've said here.

When confronted with the truth of what he's done, Rush Limbaugh recoils in horror at it ... and projects it on the messenger. The mistake here would be to assume that Mr. Limbaugh holds only liberals or people who don't agree with him in contempt. He holds all his listeners in contempt. If he didn't he would hand out such intellectual offal.

Of course I didn't excerpt it all ... that'd just be rude of me. Go to Media Matters to read the whole thing and listen to the clip.

It's historic, in a way. There may well be no better exposition of the corruption that is Rush Limbaugh and exactly what he does when confronted with it. It deserves a listen. It deserves two listens.

Simple Answers To Simple Questions on: Wingnuts Fomenting Open Rebellion

Kari at BlueOregon:

Will the responsible Oregon Republicans denounce these dark demons that stoke the fires of revolution?

No.

This has been another edition of Simple Answers To Simple Questions.

We would answer the question Is There Such A Thing As A Repsonsible Oregon Republican, but we do not run a series called Oregon Political Koans. Maybe someone else will. I"m just not that smart.

A Completely Tasteless and Insensitive Statement About The Nature Of Desperation These Days

Making the below is wrong and tasteless and sad and I apologize in advance, but the moment I saw the story on the news I couldn't get it out of my head.

It's wrong, and once again, I apologize:

I am a rotten person.

Update: they got the dude in northern Cali.

On Public Assistance In TN? Forget About Winning The Lottery.

In our latest example of the pure hatred and disdain the Republicans have for the poor, comes this amazing concept from the state of Tennessee. According to reports we've heard over the weekend, Tennessee State Rep. Stacey Campfield (R-But What Did You Expect) wants to harsh one of the few buzzes poor folks get:

"This bill prohibits issuance of lottery prizes in the amount of $600 or more to any person who receives state or federal economic or medical assistance due to indigency."

Arrie Chamberlain says the measure is unfair. She plays the lottery every week, is on the government's food stamps program and has a job.

"If I work and go out and earn a living, why can't I spend the money? Everybody else gets to. Just because I make less money and have more obligations doesn't mean the state can tell me how to spend my money. "

If there's anything that makes my blood boil, I mean really boil, it's the way we expect The Poor to be more virtuous than us, and if we don't, well, we despise them. The Poor aren't Poor because they're evil, they're poor because, unlike you (the editorial You, please note, not the personal You) their chances didn't work out. And we aren't necessarily any better than them, just a bit luckier.

Now, I don't condone addiction or frittering away, but I also don't begrudge poor people the occaisional drink or lottery ticket. If my tax money is supporting someone having just a little fun, so be it. The mass of poor people who dissipate themselves themselves through drink and fun is a myth, just like the Cadillac-driving "welfare queen" that the Reagan cosmology gave us.

(for the record, I drink sparingly, and never play the Lottery.)

Think about it. Just because you're poor doesn't mean you don't want to just kick back, enjoy, and dampen the pain for a little while.

And that's not all, of course. Rep Campfield's idea of social engineering is to tell poor people who are taking any public assistance, even if they earn most of thier own money and just can't make ends meet, that they can't win the lottery.

Poor? Tough. Suck it. Win the lottery? Screw you.

The only thing Stacey Campfield deserves for this is the big middle finger.

Can Unicorns Save Our Made In Oregon Sign?

I don't know. Kinda scary actually:



Yea, I'm late to the gathering as usual.

Stole it from here. You know actualy, after that last curmudgeonly rant, one look at that sign and I'm feeling better already.

What The Oregonian Thinks of As Frills ...

I admit, sometimes beating up on The Oregonian is a bit too easy to do. It is sometimes real hard to see through the veil to the disdain it's had for the working people of its constituency though the endless Macy's ads or the celebration of boutique-y food tastes in the FOOD(you can't afford)Day section.

The mango chutney is a nice touch, though.

Now, we must be aware that there is a upper-middle crust in town that think of themselves as The Real And Struggling Portlanders. There is a certain sort of mental illness that falls on these types. They, for some odd reason, believe that everyone sees the world as they do, and that everyone else they don't know is on their level.

Therefore, if they aren't hurting, nobody else is. The general cultural level of a place doesn't go down until it goes down for them.

They're terrified of that.

Every now and then, someone with The Oregonian attempts, awkwardly to show how aware they are of how hard it's getting for the commonfolk, and of course, it comes off wide of the mark and ... well, awkward. No better example can be found than the article written for the front page of The Oregonian's "How We Live" section (I throw up in my mouth a little every time I see that section name) titled "The Frill Is Gone" (A play on The Thrill Is Gone by BB King? How witty!), which is supposed to be "a light look on how life in the Northwest is shaking out in lean times".

Oh, goody. Let's see how light. Here's a selection:

Out with the old ... Grande chai latte with extra whip.
In with the new ... Thermos of Folger's.

Oh, good Lord, you're kidding me, right? Thermos of Folgers? Are you people feeling that sorry for yourselves? You can get Cascade Pride whole bean coffee for a good price at WinCo, and it looks like you haven't priced the coffee at Dutch Bros (very nice, resonable price).

Let's look at another one:

Out with the old ... Pint of organic microbrew made from locally grown hops.
In with the new ... Six-pack of PBR.

Six-pack of PBR? Is that when you've hit rock bottom? No, when you've hit rock bottom is when you're drinking Milwaukee's Best. Nice try. When's the hair shirt coming out?

Out with the old ... Private school.
In with the new ... Public school.

That one's just as well and actually an improvement: I think private school graduates have gotten us into enough trouble lately. On a related note, I think I know where all that money to run the public schools have gotten off to.

Out with the old ... iTunes.
In with the new ... Free music podcasts.

Already there, bucko. Well, actually, not exactly. iTunes is free. And you don't have to buy a whole damn album. 99 cents a song remember? With money management skillz like that, I'm not surprised y'all think PBR is the same as economizing.

Out with the old ... Powell's New York Times best-seller shelf.
In with the new ... Any shelf at the Multnomah County Library.

... or any shelf at Powells that has books that say used on them. Crimony.

Just a couple more ...

Out with the old ... Satellite dish.
In with the new ... Recycled rabbit ears.

Oh, now you're down with the common man. Welcome to our world. But wait ....

Out with the old ... Portland Opera tickets.
In with the new ... Free Metropolitan Opera on cable.

I thought we just got rid of pay TV. You figure out how to get that on rabbit ears, baby you will be rich!

Out with the old ... Shopping for clothes at Pioneer Place.
In with the new ... Shopping for clothes at Goodwill Industries

I'm not going to mock this one. It's just kicking someone when they're down.

A light look at the new Northwest frugality? This is so shallow it makes my stomach hurt.

And I actually do like the Oregonian. Ohman's cartoons are incomparable. Editorial writing–when they aren't penning anti-working class missives and chiding the rabble for wanting a higher mimium wage-–is usually first class. And that too, is my opinion.

Maybe I out to try to get to my point here. I'm always amused when someone from the middle-upper-classes gets to downsize their personal economies. Now, I'm quite aware that a lot of people have indeed worked quite hard and deserve the lifestyle that they're now losing. Perhaps even the staff of The Oregonian numbers among many of them.

So why is it that whenever the paper comments on the New Lean Times they give me the impression that they're people who've never not been a little too well-paid at something all of a sudden seeing that they're on a long glide path into The Land Of The Rest Of Us ... and it's scaring them to death?

Just maybe they're waking up to the reality that what they consider reasonable pay for honorable work is something that a lot of us who live and work on the socioeconomic floors below them only wish we had a chance at. And some of us have striven quite hard for it. The Clinton boom? Passed us by. The dotcom boom? We fantasized about working in a company that had a pingpong table and hot and cold running lattes. Never happened to us.

Prepare to get your perceptions enlarged.

Welcome to our world, Sparky. There's not much here, but it's ours.

Broadway, 39th, Grand: Not Only No, But Hell No

The buzz: The city of Portland has just released results of a postcard survey poll on the possibility of the three target streets – Grand Avenue, Broadway, or E. 39th Av – would wear the moniker Cesar Chavez. And the results are ... urgh.

• Broadway: support, 73; opposed, 1,276
• Grand Avenue: support, 69; opposed, 372
• 39th Avenue: support, 91; opposed, 694.

The idea is to now go back to Council with recommendations based on this. Since stop the insanity has been deemed an unacceptable result, the one with the weakest opposition will probably get the nod.

That means you, Grand Avenue.

That'd by my prediction, anyway.

You know, the memory of Cesar Chavez deserved better than this. Read Sean Cruz' blog here, and here, to find out why that is. The quote to me that illustrates exactly the shallownness and arrogance of the advocates that needs repeating is this one:

The Committee-Once-Bent-on-Renaming-Interstate-Avenue has never asked the City or the County or the State to put other possible public property naming options on the table, and Portland remains stuck in the mire largely because the White Folks in Charge at all levels of
Oregon government have been so fearful of alienating a potential voting bloc.

The street-focused effort will win no awards for creativity or imagination, in part because there is no major street in Portland that is a natural fit for a Mexican American hero.

Nothing underscores this point more than the fact that the Committee is equally
good with Broadway, 39th, Grand or Interstate Avenue, so far….

The process has been hopelessly ruined by power center after power center bypassing through-going rules put in place by people concerned that just the sort of thing would happen that, in fact, has happened, because they are justified enough.

We now face the ironic proposition that, in Portland, a city justifiably reputed for a progressive outlook, we are having an ugly argument over whether to name a street after someone who embodies a great many qualities that we all hold quite dear.

Bizarre.

Mom Always Said it's fun and games until someone loses a limb.

And to add an observation of my own, from Cervantes:

Hay más mal en aldea que se sueña.

My translation may be a bit off. Apologies if so.

Mannix: You Know Their Tired Of You When They Won't Even Laugh At Your Jokes Anymore

So it seems that Kevin "Not The 1970s TV Detective" Mannix knows how to see in April – with a rather high-quality joke:



Because Oregon doesn't have an LG, you see. In case you aren't in on the joke.

Read here at the WW Kev's press release. I don't appreciate Republicans (and Kevvy less than most) but I do appreciate a healthy sense of humor, and this was a good one.

But boy, do his Republican cohort wish he'd just enjoy retirement. One editorial in the Oregon Catalyst and the disdain just happens. It ain't pretty. You can read it at this URL:

http://nwrepublican.blogspot.com/2009/03/kevin-mannix-is-back.html

which I'm going to make you cut and paste because I'm not going to sully my beautiful blog with links to a place like that.

Kevin, you are now an outcast in your own party.

Didn't think that would happen, did you?

That's the way your party rolls, though. Anyone on the outside could have told you that.

But anyone on the outside is an enemy, amirite?

But seriously, I thought it was a good one.

But everyone knows that, out of respect, John Lim was going to get to be LG first.

You Can't Go To Europe Either? Damn.

(via) I can't afford to take a vacation any farther away from here than Salem. I'm certainly not going to Europe in the forseeable future.

So I'm totally feeling the Bush Admin Republicans who won't be going to Europe anytime soon. Seriously. Of course, I can't go because there's no money, honey. They can't go because it just wouldn't be a good idea, in the staying-out-of-international-jail way.

Just so you guise know, if you need ideas about how to take time off in America, I can help you there. Staycation? We just call that life around here.

And, no, it's not because I'm bitter that all the fomerly-prosperous people I see are breaking their arms patting themselves on the back in self-congratulation on discovering the joys of the "Staycation" when that's pretty much all the vacation I've ever known.

Okay, I lied just there. It is, in fact, because I am amazingly bitter about it. [Sam Kinison Primal Scream] Welcome to MY WORLD!!!! [/Sam Kinison Primal Scream]

Who says NOLA's dying?

Population back up over 300,000 in the city, 1.3 megapersons in the New Orleans metro area.

Mom Always Said you can't keep a good city down.

That sound you hear is Republicans softly crying because a Democratic stronghold is rebuilding itself. I don't imaging NOLA will forget how the Republicans let them down either.

They still got about 150,000 to get past us, though.

Hey, hometown pride, you guise. Deal with it.

Right Now, Mayor Sam's Strategy Seems To Be Working

And what is that strategy?

Play it cool. Wait it out.

Back on January 20th, which should have been the best G-d d-mned day this country ever had, Mayor Sam Adams blew a whole lot of good will when he revealed that he did, in fact court Beau Breedlove–in contrast to his protestations of earlier.

There's been a great deal of water under that bridge since. And, at first, it looked very much like Sam would conclude what a great many people had–it was a breach of trust that fundamentally changed the nature of the Sam Adams-Portland polity's relationship.

A lot of people sprang to Sam's defense when the meme was mooted that he was being smeared because he was gay. A lot of people felt used afterwards.

But there was an entrenching afterwards. After about a week's worth of seculsion, Sam came back to City Hall and just got back to work, L'Affaire Ruiz came (and went). Calls of "Recall!" were heard from the east side to the west side and it seemed like the perfect career-ending storm. Randy was no longer Sam's friend.

Come with us back up to the present. What do we have?

• Randy Leonard (still stylishly sans 'stache) heartily holding forth on the plans to condemn the Made In Oregon sign in the lobby of City Hall. Sam's on board but we don't see him.
• Amy Ruiz unironically holding forth on something or other that's sustainable on KATU News.
• Most of the Student Council celebrating the ascension of PDX to MLS. Sam's out front.
• Someone from the Recall Sam Adams campaign finally testifies in front of Student Council. Forgets to dress for success. Goes off like a wet fart; is savaged by the commenters as PMerc's Blogtown.
  
• That zombie of Portland politics–the Convention Center "Headquarters" Hotel–stalks the landscape again. They say it's a sure thing. Also, again. You can pop this tape in the Teddy Ruxpin of city gubmint and rerun it every so often. It's a golden oldie.

In short, City Hall's kind of back to normal, mostly.

Will there be a credible recall challenge to Mayor Sam? There could be, I suppose. The statutory 6-month waiting period for the recall is giving the whole thing a chance to cool off. Sam's doing what Sam does. Randy's making noises about–well, seems to be about wanting to be Mayor, but things are so odd around here lately, I could have misunderstood them.

Sadly to say, Jasun Wuerster pretty much shot himself and what recall movement there is left in the foot with his underwhelming City Hall testimony.

A long time ago, there were radio ads for a company's product called "Verbal Advantage". They make you talk pretty. You may remember they began It's alarming but true ... people do judge you by the words you use!"

Well, back on the 18th, Jasun learned to his dismay that it's alarming but true: in politics, people do judge you by the image you project. And Portland is a pretty laid back place, it's true. But when you get into the chambers of power you better look like you've suited up to play your "A" game. In the comments, Jasun himself averred that his financial situation (we can relate) and his health (we can also relate) dictated his choice of attire. But we've also latterly been to Value Village and Goodwill, and it's not that hard to find an acceptable looking jacket and tie for really fricken' cheap. And the way they take pictures, hey, he could have gone in in tattered jeans and still accorded himself.

There's not a dress code for democracy, no. There's not a dress code for life, either. But there is a dress code for important events. Ignore it and you lose face. By showing up by looking like he just rolled out of bed, he delivered what might be a shot below the bowline of the only recall campaign that seems to be out there. And it didn't have a great deal of credibility to begin with. You can be whatever you want, but when you show up to City Hall, you better look like you mean business. Perception is the reality.

And I can see I've gotten distracted by what the Blogtown commenters (who, I think–for the record–were really a bit too cruel on Jasun) got caught up in. Like I said, Perception is the reality.

Now, back to the nut of things: Sam's back at work; the Portland Student Council is back to its charming old dysfunctional self; the Sam Adams recall campaign is looking like a group of tyros; the scene has cooled off considerably.

Already I see the conventional wisdom swinging over in Sam's favor.

Sam getting recalled? He's stood pat and kept his head down.

Magic 8 Ball say outlook not so good.

Maybe Sam understands PDX better than we know.

The Republican Road To Recovery: Idaho, We're Looking At YOU!

(via a blog in the other state slated for elimination) The national GOP proves it's great at designing a slick pamphlet (and not much else) with the "Republican Road To Recovery", which has all sorts of nifty circles filled with handwavy promises you can't disagree with.

With all the good will the reputation the Republicans have buy them, I'm having trouble not believing that you could fill the pretty circles with things like "Kittens", "Puppies", "Apple-cheeked Kids", and "Corn Dogs" and really change the substance of the report much. I mean, am I for More Jobs and Sustainable Power? You bet! Do I think Republicans are sincer about ever delivering on it? How many ways I can hell no!

Anyhow, the incomparable Nate Silver has "leaked" the substance of the refined plan. Sorry to let you know, Idaho – even though you're redder than red, you're on the chopping block. Sucks to be you!

We'll have to get our potatoes from somewhere else.

Tap The Rockies. Or, Better Yet, Don't

Something that caught our eye in passing: In a story designed to make you feel fortunate you live in Oregon, where you don't (yet, anyway) have to worry about where your drinking water comes from (and where you can feel fortunate if you live in PDX) we find that there's enough hydrocarbons in the drinking water in an area northeast of Denver that you can have a little pyrotechnics show erupting from your water faucet, if you want.

Yay, resource extraction.

Also it provides another reason to shun bottled water: Nestle's water grab will apparently do no small amount of damage to Colorado's water table.

Ironic for a state who's signature consumer product is a beer touted as superior because of its legendary Rocky Mountain Water. I'm old enough to remember when the folks would sneak home Coors from a state where it was legal to sell it (Oregon had strict rules about beer purification which seem, in retrospect, quaint) and surruptitously quaff a few, only to have the joy of breakin' the law blunted by the fact that Coors sucks (well, some things don't change anyway).

A Short Tale About Arlen Specter, The Democrats, and The Employee Free Choice Act

Once upon a time, near the edge of the political wilderness, a Democratic Party with a 9-vote Senate Majority (but not quite enough to prevent a Republican filibuster) saw a poor, battered Arlenspecter just by the side of the road.

While still greatly sustained by his constituency, he was very mindful of the fate of another member of his local ecosystem, the Ricksantorum, who was foolish and took his niche for granted, so he was stepping carefully, lest he be consigned to the political wilderness forever with the rest of this species.

"Excuse me, Democratic Majority?" he asked plaintively. "I know I'm a Republican and all, but I'm a moderate Republican – heck, I'm almost one of you, and I sure would appreciate it if you could help me stay out of that there political wilderness."

"Well, I don't know," said the Majority. "I remember how you treated me when I was the Minority. You talk reasonably now but back then, others in your species all but tried to kill me. I know you're a reasonable member and all, but you can't help but deserting me when me and the American people need you to do the right thing. Because of your species, we have two pointless wars in which we're still losing blood and treasure and an economy that's hollower than a Republican promise (sorry, no offense). You'll tell me this but you actually have a poisonious bite thats fatal to working-class Americans and a toxin would stop at no lie to tell a posionous untruth about what my party's trying to to rebuild America."

"Look", said the Arlenspecter, "Though your words sting, I'm not going to insult your intelligence by saying you're wrong. I understand your reluctance. But if you pick me up and bear me away from the boundary of this wilderness, I'll be your friend. I'll treat you better. I'll help you by making sure that the Employee Free Choice Act doesn't get filibustered by others in my species."

"Well, I'm still not sure. Your colleagues have given insincere promises before"

"Okay, I'll tell you this one thing", the Arlenspecter said, almost desperately. "You've heard whisperings in the Beltway Press that I might join your side to stay in my seat? Whether there may or may not be a truth in that is yours to ascertain. But it certainly may happen if you help me. So what do you say?"

The Democratic Majority was still unsure. To say that the Republican Party has been dreadful to them over the last two administrations would be to severly gild the lily. But the Majority was made of compassionate stuff. Don't we all love America? Do we not have more in common than we have in difference? Doesn't even the most sincere Republican deserve a chance to make it back out of the wilderness if they do the right thing? were all thoughts that went through the Majority's mind in and out of committees and debates.

And he was a particularly snappy dresser–Republican or Democrat, he was clearly, by the couture of his kind, one of the tribe.

"All right, I will save you. All living things and decent Senators deserve kindness, a lift out of the wilderness, and a chance to remain relevant."

And the Democratic Majority picked up the Arlenspecter and, placing it under its cloak close to its EFCA, confident that it did a Good Thing, carried it right up to the boundary of the political wilderness.

All of a sudden, as they got to that amazing line, the Majority felt a sharp pain right in its EFCA, and felt the venom start to spread. It dropped the Arlenspecter in betrayed shock.

"Arlenspecter! You gave me your word of honor that you wouldn't do that!"

"People make a lot of promises in this town," the Arlenspecter said as it crawled off. "Next time, get it in writing. And don't wait up for me to join your side when I run for re-election either, ha!"

"But ..."

"Hey, hey, hey there. You said it yourself. You knew what I was when you picked me up."

Know Your RealAge™? So Does Big Pharma.

(Hat Tip) The New York Times:

But while RealAge promotes better living through nonmedical solutions, the site makes its money by selling better living through drugs.

Pharmaceutical companies pay RealAge to compile test results of RealAge members and send them marketing messages by e-mail. The drug companies can even use RealAge answers to find people who show symptoms of a disease — and begin sending them messages about it even before the people have received a diagnosis from their doctors.

While I generally resent the commoditization of our lives and the commercialization of the American experience the problem here isn't so much that here for me.

The problem I'm having is that Big Pharma didn't have the courage to say that they were doing it. They hid behind trusted people in the media and a happy shiny message.

I have a problem with the fact that every facet of my life is available for marketing by some company or another. I have a bigger problem with a lack of good faith and honesty. It bespeaks, in the end, a general contempt by manufacturers and business in general about the people it, on the face, strive to serve and provide for.

I think American culture, as it is, is going to hell in a handbasket. Some would say I'm an optimist, pointing out it's already there.

If we don't have basic honesty, which is supposed to be a core American value, then we've really got nothing but a sham.

The Reasons I'm Still Not 100% Thrilled About MLS In Portland

1. They're not all that honest about abosolutely, positively having to ZOMG remodel Piggy Park.
2. I know they're saying that this is all guaranteed 'n' stuff and that the taxpayer exposure on this is at a minimum, but people on that stratum of society have been lying to me for so long they've forgotten how to tell the truth. It's probably gone so far that when they lie to us that actually think they are telling the truth. So they say there's going to be a deal in place that'll prevent taxpayers from being harmed. Well, maybe. I'll believe it when it doesn't happen.
3. New sports stadia don't really help the local economy. It's always used as a reason and it's been debunked time and again (and it the situation I've linked it was disproved by actual smart people with actual degrees and stuff) but this zombie bullet point just Will. Not. Die.
   
4. One less just-affordable entertainment opportunity for me and mine. Major league sports = major league ticket prices, it doesn't matter what sport it is (fortunately, we've recently reconnected with the Winter Hawks, which is a hell of a team). We're poor. In 2011 we'll probably have no chance to see a Timbers game live, because we're no longer able to afford it
   
5. No more Beavers at the Piggy? I suppose I can accept this in concept but on a gut level, it just doesn't make sense.
6. The NASL Timbers drew 20,000 fans a game. The NASL folded anyway.
7. The whole quest for some sort of triumph on this issue distracted the mayors office and the Student Council from taking care of essential things. Now the city's going to be spending an extra megabuck a month while they work out some issue they should have already taken care of.

I'm sure Mom Always Said something about this, but I can't quite figure out what it might have been.

TriMet Adjusts Service Cuts; More Public Meetings On Tap

TriMet, after taking in a whole lot of public commentary (and maybe reading a blog or two, who knows?) has refined its service cutback initiative. Here's the executive skinny:

Routes Eliminated down from twelve to five. And here are the losers: 41-Tacoma, 74-Lloyd District/Southeast, 86-Alderwood, 153-South End Loop Road and 157-Happy Valley.

That 41 elimination is what caught my eye. It's just as well; with only morning and afternoon service and no weekend service at all, it was a pretty lame replacement for the old route which was discontinued when weight limits made using the Sellwood Bridge out of the question.

The rest of the lines proposed for elimination will run on reduced hours/days or will be combined into new routes. Notable here is the 33-Fremont, which will remain but in a foreshortened form: only running weekdays with no evening or weekend service, and only between Emanuel Hospital and the Gateway Transit Center.

Emanuel Hospital? If you're going to end the line at Emanuel, why not go for broke and go to the Rose Quarter TC? More connections available there, one fewer transfer for line 33 riders. And you want to go somewhere after hours or on weekends? C'est la guerre, mon cher; C'est la vie, mon ami.

Another interesting bit of bus route alchemy: the 18-Hillside and the 63-Washington Park will be combined, and 63-Washington Park will elminate weekend service.

Many lines will lose weekend service. Lines 1-Vermont, 10-Harold, 34-River Road and 51-Vista will lose Saturday service but retain weekday service. Lines 17-NW 21st Ave/St. Helens Rd, 48-Cornell, and 67-Jenkins/158th Ave.will lose Sunday service but still have weekday and Saturday service. A few other lines will see drastic changes in weekend coverage.

There will be three public meetings on the 6th, 7th, and 8th of April in SW and downtown Portland and the Clackamas Town Center area respectively. TriMet has a press release on their site which has more complete details on the proposed service reductions and times and locations of the meetings.

Feel your area's getting the short end of the transit stick? Show up and make yourself heard!

Malloy News: New Website/Podcast Subscriptions ETA, This Coming Monday

Just heard on the Malloy show; all new stuff coming on Monday next, including a less expensive (Mike really stressed that) podcast subscription, and apparently Ben Burch at White Rose Society is going to archive them for free access with a 7-day embargo (if you want it now, then pay Mike what is supposed to be a more reasonable subscription fee than NovaM asked, which if you can, you oughta).

White Rose is really hoppin ... they now have 7-day embargoed podcasts of Thom Hartmann and Stephanie Miller. You should also support Ben Burch if you have a few bucks.

Republicans On Pretty Much Everything: "We Must Have Tax Cuts"

It's been beat pretty much to death on The POJ, but it was said of the news today that State Senator Brian Boquist (R-Reading From A List Of Talking Points) of Polk County said Republicans had great ideas on how to get Oregon's economy turning over again.

So, I thought "hey! Any idea that The POJ has the guts to announce as being from teh Republicans has got to be a game-changer!"

Well, you can all go home again. Clear out the auditorium:

Tax cuts. Withholding tax cuts. Tax credits for remodeling your home (should go over like a shot with renters and people who have low incomes). Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts.

Let's set the scene: let's say that, due to a revolution in science, it was found that, instead of four billion years in the future, the Sun was going to enter its red-giant phase, scouring all the Earth of live, in only four years. You can picture the headlines now:

REPUBLICANS ON SUN GOING NOVA; WE MUST HAVE MORE TAX CUTS

They're all like big, fleshy Teddy Ruxipins that only have one tape. It's the answer to everything.

To save everyone a step from here on out, please review the following comic I stumbled on today. It should explain everything about the Republican response to the economy, AIDS, poverty, scoliosis, tooth decay ...

(Image hotlinked from the Big Fat Whale site:
click here to embiggen)

Can Someone Again Explain To Me Why a 51-Year Old Woman Had To Go To Jail Over A Bike Light?

Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm the one that just doesn't get it.

By now, we've all been 'round the roses in the bizarre case of Freedom Child, the 51-year-old woman who had to go to jail over not putting her bike-light on. I've read the news articles, I've read Steve Duin's column today, and I just don't get it.

It's particularly hard for people like me. You see, quite contrary to the straw-man pre-mis-conception of the lefty that the conservative witling lets themselves be convinced exists and cuddles so close to their breast to keep them enraged.

I like the cops! I adore law and order. My father was a prison guard and he was in the National Guard. In my family, until you knew what was going on, the only proper response to a man in blue was Yes, officer!.

When me and my wife watch COPS, we root for the uniform.

So, I'm looking over the facts as we've been allowed to see them ... the unmarked car coming up to a woman, hassling her, and then the physical confrontation. Even if you don't buy the fact that Freedom Child didn't understand the men were police before they physically restrained her, even though, as Duin reported in his column:

Child testified Dorn and Harris never identified
themselves as police on that dark and lonely night; the
officers insisted they did so fairly quickly. Yet if
we're weighing everyone's relationship with the
truth, the officers never mentioned the unmarked car in the
arrest report and each claimed he popped on the
"overhead" lights so Child could see they were in
uniform.

There were no overhead lights in the car.

Even if you don't think Freedom Child was being straight with us about not knowing they were the cops, you've got to wonder what's going on here. It's really starting to look like the two officers are being given a pass. The revelations that Duin shares with us in his column give the strong impression that the citizen was being treated as the enemy here in a system that is still unwilling to admit it went over the line and made a mistake.

But I'm willing to admit I'm wrong. I've always–seriously–always ready to give the man and woman in the uniform the benefit of the doubt (you'll have to give me the benefit of the doubt on this, people ... it's easy for someone writing an anonymous blog to say whatever sh*t they want and claim sincerity, and I realise that. I'm being straight-up with you here).

So why should I believe that what happened to Freedom Child should have happened to her? Is running a woman that you spooked the heck out of into jail really a justified use of my tax money?

Or, what am I getting wrong here?

And don't bore me with the well, you never know what a person's going to do argument. I know that one. If there were an epidemic of fifty-something female bike-riders luring police into situations where they look all harmless and busting a cap in the cop's ass, then you'd have a point. But there isn't. So you don't.

I hope our Portland Police officers strive to be above reproach. I doubt they're 100% successful–after all, they're human beings. But was this trip necessary?

The Ontario Argus-Observer Takes A Hit

Down from six days/week (Mon-Fri and Sun) to five days/week (dropping Monday)

Publisher Steve Krehl said dropping the Monday paper was an alternative to a price increase during a recession that has cut into advertising. He says the cost of single newspaper copies won't increase and home delivery rates won't go up in 2009.

So it's either give up a daily issue or take a bigger hit elsewhere.

Big town paper it isn't, it's a community thing. Paid circulation is about 5,000.

It's sad, though expected, that this spectre should be stalking the small-town papers too. Very sad.

Malloy Econ Contributor Prairie2 Now Has Own Blog

Regular listeners to and fans of the Mike Malloy program know to listen for economic insights from a regular email correspondent known only by the email moniker Prairie2.

The correspondent, dubbed by Mike the shows "Economics Bureau Chief" (regular callers to the Malloy program occaisionally get dubbed some Bureau Chief or another, it's a show custom and a sign you've arrived) is known by regular listeners as someone who obviously thinks long, deeply, and hard about the economy and the danger we're all in, and writes honestly and, moreover, simply enough the be read by anyone. He's kind of a Paul Krugman for the blog set. Most of us find his (hers?) thoughts and opinions challenging and thought-provoking, and one of the other reasons why the Malloy program is a regular listen.

If you don't hav the time or inclination to listen to the Malloy program to get your dose of Prairie2, P2 has finally set up their own blog where you can get the goods direct/subscribe via RSS/whatever.

Your points of contact are:

• Blog: http://prairie2.com
• RSS Feed (Atom): http://www.prairie2.com/feeds/posts/default
• RSS Feed (RSS): http://www.prairie2.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Worth your while, I say.

First, The Willy, Now, The O

I'm late to the party here, so just put this down to jotting this down in this, my public political self-education notebook, but I'm jolted to find out what's going down at The Oregonian: staff reductions, pay cuts, unpaid furlough days ... oh, boy.

I've had my seasons of unhappiness at the management of The Oregonian before, as I have with the WW, but I can't deny their putting skin in the game: they're taking 15% off their salaries, which is going to hurt a bit when you make as much money as they (I guess) do.

But if you think things are bad here, it's worse elsehwere in the Advance constellation: The Ann Arbor News is going down. Last issue–July.

At least we still have a daily. I'm still fond of The Oregonian, even with its (rather unignorable) flaws.

Mother Nature Hates Governor Teleprompter

March 22nd, 2009, 10:30 pm; Mount Redoubt in Alaska erupts.

(This was actually a photo of the 1990 eruption)

February 25th, 2009: Bobby "Teleprompter" Jindal, Governor of Louisana, criticizes necessary spending in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, saying:

It includes $300 million
to buy new cars for the government, $8 billion for high-speed rail
projects, such as a “magnetic levitation” line from Las Vegas to
Disneyland, and $140 million for something called “volcano monitoring.”

Wikipedia, on Mount Redoubt:

The 1989 eruption is also notable for being the first ever volcanic eruption to be successfully predicted by the method of long-period seismic events developed by Swiss/American volcanologist Bernard Chouet.

Ah ... so that is what it's good for, that rascally volcano monitoring.

Quod erat demonstrandum, baby.

Teh Lars's New Syndicator Not Quite Sure What Teh Lars Is

Well, to be honest, he's puzzled us for a long, long time:

Lars Larson announces the selection of Compass Media Networks as its exclusive representative for national radio syndication effective March 30, 2009.

(Italics, larger font size, bolding are ours, nest-say-paw. I mean, it was all I could to to not use the blink tag here)

Peter B Collins: Thanks For The Pledges, Moves To The Web

Peter B. Collins, one of the most underrated liberal talkers out there, as everyone by now knows, has ended his show.

However ...

After a brief appeal, some 200 people pledged an average of $10 by the each to support his program. Sadly, this was not enough, but was encouraging, and especially to the broadcaster.

Activist listeners rallied to try to save the PBC Show, and I’m
gratified by more than 200 people from all over the world (including
Japan, Costa Rica and Hawaii) who emailed to pledge an average of $10 a
month to support the program.

While this isn’t enough to reverse course, most of those who pledged
said they would subscribe to our podcast in the future.  At this
difficult time, it buoys me to see so many people who value what we do
and want to keep it going.

If you'll miss Peter B, though, you won't miss him for long. He's planning to create a regular podcast and its debut is apparently mooted for June sometime. He's planning a live stream of it and also perhaps a subscription which, if you have the money to do so, I think people should support.

Jane Lubchenco In As NOAA Administrator

NOAA has announced that OSU's Jane Lubchenco has jumped from academia completely to awesome:

Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., was confirmed by the U.S. Senate this evening as the under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere. In this capacity, she will serve as the ninth administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the nation’s top science agency for climate, oceans, and the atmosphere. Dr. Lubchenco is the first woman and the first marine ecologist to lead NOAA.

"Dr. Lubchenco is an outstanding and accomplished environmental scientist with a proven ability to communicate, lead a dynamic team, and inspire action," White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley said. "Dr. Lubchenco joins a distinguished group of scientific leaders in the Obama administration that will ensure that science plays its proper role in shaping policy."

Call it home-state pride but it seems appropriate that a Pacific Northwesterner and a member of the faculty of a particularly prestigious Land and Sea Grant university be named Undersecretary for Commerce on Oceans and Atmosphere.

I suggest raising a glass of cool, clear Bull Run water to celebrate ...