Kirk Douglas... Van Gogh... ear.

A little example of why I love Portland...

Yesterday I took a break from work and walked the block or so from my office to the greatest used book store in the world. In the course of that one block journey...

...I passed a pair of beautiful women pulling along a wiener dog on leash...

...listened to the guys in front of me talk about Star Trek...

...stopped in front of the book store to talk to a pair of young ACLU volunteers working to promote gay marriage while...

... a few feet away a street fiddler was playing "Yesterday" by the Beatles...

...laughed at the surreal moment that occurred when our conversation (and the fiddler) were interrupted when one of those "sculpture vans" where an artist has turned a vehicle into a work of art drove by. In this case it looked like he'd created a miniature city on the roof of his van. If this wasn't weird enough he was hanging out the driver's window using a monkey hand puppet to yell something.

Did I mention our city slogan is "Keep Portland Weird?"

...Say it!... Say it!... Say it!

Back to the real world after a wonderful vacation at the Washington coast with my family. From the sound of it we picked the perfect week to get out of town. 100 degree plus weather is atypical for Oregon. Six days in a row of that weather is unheard of. Yeesh.

There's a lot of crap going through my head right now. Frankly there's too much going on in the world to write about. I'm just going to share a memory that's forced it's way to the forefront of my thoughts as I've been reading about the faux industry-sponsored protests greeting democratic congressmen back in their districts for townhalls.

On July 23, 1994 I was at this rally (*) at Pioneer Square in downtown Portland. I had waited for several hours in 100-degree heat to see then First Lady Hillary Clinton speak as she kicked off the Health Care Express in the Clinton's doomed effort to modestly reform the health care system in this country.

Clinton was the key note speaker and the reason I was there. I really liked both Clintons and was eager for a chance to see either of them speak live. From what I had seen on the news I knew she had a commanding knowledge of health care and an ability to put a personal perspective on that complex issue. Unfortunately I didn't get to hear a word of what she had to say.

As soon as she took the stage a group of tractor rigs that had been circling the square for hours began blowing their air horns. Unless you were very close to the stage or the speakers you would only catch snippets of what Clinton had to say. (On a related note I had much the same experience a year or so later when I went to see Vice President Al Gore speak at PSU and some wingnut about 10 feet from me spent the entire speech screaming, ruining the experience.)

I struggle with this issue in the context of the First Amendment. On the one hand I loathe the sort of selective crowd control that became commonplace under the Bush administration. Does a bumper sticker on your car, t-shirt, sign or even a provocative question to the president when handed a microphone by organizers really mete expulsion and an arrest? Most of us would probably answer "no" to that question.

When you break it down isn't the difference between those who would shout down a congressman talking to his constituents about health care or a First Lady speaking at a rally and those who would wear an anti-Bush t-shirt to a Bush speech the difference between exercising one's right to free speech or trying to keep others from exercising that same right? Bush supporters may not have enjoyed having to stand next to somebody in such a t-shirt but at least they still had the chance to hear the incoherent babblings of the chimpanzee they lionized.

Does the First Amendment protect the right to shout down those you disagree with? Conservatives and their toadies on the court seem to think so. Much of the continued torpedoing of campaign finance reform laws on First Amendment grounds are based around this idea.

Personally I see shouting down the opposition, whether it's through smothering their message via the airwaves or yelling to the degree that they can't be heard, as a violation of their basic right to free speech. It makes speech solely the province of those who can afford it or those who are willing to be the biggest bullies.

In a larger sense our democratic society cannot function unless all participants are willing to listen. Those that are fighting against health care reform shouldn't be included in the debate at all unless they're as willing to hear as they are to be heard.

(* For bonus fun read through that contemporary account of the rally and see if you can catch the reporter's unmasked disdain for the event expressed through phrases like "...the populism has been carefully crafted." Then, as now, the establishment press tries to make it look like those that want to reform health care are just a front for powerful and shadowy forces. Of course then, as now, the exact opposite is the case.)

Boy. What a softshell I'm turning out to be.

It's that time of the year- the sound of bagpipes and drunken drunken Irishmen is in the air.

That also means the giant crab is up at Jake's Famous Crawfish a couple of blocks from my place of business. The crab appears during their St. Patrick's Day party. I snapped this with my camera phone yesterday...

The crab goes up every year like clockwork and every year I get a chuckle out of the fact that there's little rhyme or reason to this tradition. It's St. Patrick's Day not some other seafood-centric holiday. St. Patrick drove the snakes(*) out of Ireland, not the Dungeoness crab.

You could sort of make a case that crawfish are sort of like crab. They have shells. They have pinching claws that are fun to stick on a buddy's nose while he's sleeping off a bender on a wild weekend camping trip at the Nehalem Bay state park. (Too specific?)

But Jake's is really famous for crawfish. Thus the name: "Jake's Famous Crawfish." The restaurant is about 100 years old and legend has it they grew their own crawfish in rancid pools in the basement of the place during the first couple of decades. Before there were things like health departments.

If I really wanted to know why they have the crab up I could easily waltz in and ask the manager. I'm sure he would give me some boring story about how they don't make giant inflatable crawfish and they do serve crabcakes on the menu, so there you are. But what's the fun in that?

I'd rather stick to the explanations bouncing out of my imagination. For instance: Jake won the crab playing poker with Dillinger when he was visiting Portland on a bank robbing spree throught he Northwest. THAT'S a good story. The real story will never stand up to that.


(*) And those snakes moved to the United States to practice law. Lawyer joke! (Rimshot.)

You know, a basketball hero around here is treated like a god.

I just heard word that former Trailblazer Kevin Duckworth passed away suddenly while at the coast to teach a children's basketball camp. R.I.P. Kevin.

If you don't recall the former Blazer center he was a big guy that made Shaquille O'neal look graceful. He didn't so much shoot as try and drill the ball through the hoop. Indeed it often appeared as if he was playing prison ball instead of hoops.

Duckworth was part of the last Blazer team of greatness which included Clyde Drexler. They, and Kevin, were a class act. Rest in peace big guy.

If you think that Mick Jagger will still be doing the whole rock star thing at age fifty, well, then, you are sorely, sorely mistaken.

Oh for God's sakes.

Gavin over at Sadly, No! catches wingnuts blowing smoke out of their asses for the umteenth bazillion time over the 75,000 person count of people who went to see Barack Obama speak in Portland last weekend.

Apparently those people were there to see the rock band The Decembrists instead.

Question: Didn’t 75,000 people show up to hear him in Oregon?
Answer: Not really. A free rock concert preceded his appearance, News Busters reported. Oops.

I didn't make it to last Sunday's rally but I did make it a similar rally for John Kerry at the exact same location in 2004. The Kerry rally was on a weekday and drew only 50,000 people.

Kerry was accompanied by actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Jon Bon Jovi who sang "Livin on a Prayer" acoustically. I've always suspected that the majority of those people at that rally were actually there to see DiCaprio or Bon Jovi rather than the guy they hoped would replace George Bush. Now these conservatives sleuths have confirmed my suspicion.

(50,000 fans of "Titanic.")

(These Coast Guard guys kept yelling "I'm king of the world!" at DeCaprio.)

(Bridge trolls dig Bon Jovi.)

(Secret Service Snipers had Bon Jovi t-shirts on.)

(Even John Kerry was there to see Bon Jovi.)

INCONCEIVABLE.

We didn't make it down to the Obama rally yesterday as we simply ran out of time to do all the other stuff we had to do this weekend. I was at the Kerry rally in 2004 which was also at the waterfront and drew 50,000 people. No where near Obama's 75,000. :-)

Not to take anything away from Obama but I do think the eventual democratic nominee would've seen these sort of numbers here. The Portland/ Metro area is about as blue as it can get. It also was a confluence of a whole number of different things that came together perfectly for this event including the weather which has been unseasonally crappy for the last month.

A couple of picks I stole from Kos that I like below. This one reminds me that we may have kids in the White House again. It's been a long time since we had that.

Here's the rally from what looks like the top of the bridge or a copter. They do a Blues festival and Cinco de Mayo celebration at that area of the waterfront every year. A little bit further down the waterfront we have the Navy ships and fair for our Rose Festival. Portland really is beautiful.

I can't decide if I want to be the the girl or the Chihuahua in this picture. I'll probably go with the dog but it's a toss up.

My dear Bagginses and Boffins, Tooks and Brandybucks, Grubbs, Chubbs, Hornblowers, Bolgers, Bracegirdles and Proudfoots!

If you're looking for something to do Saturday night and you live near Portland you may want to check out the McMenamin's Kennedy School J.R.R. Tolkien Birthday Celebration.

Saturday, January 19 J.R.R. TOLKIEN BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

With jugglers, live music by Sneakin' Elves, the entire LOTR trilogy and more! Come in costume to compete for prizes! 11 a.m. 'til close Free; trilogy free with canned goods donation All ages welcome

Ever been to a J.R.R. Tolkien tribute party? Yeah, we didn't think so (unless you came last year, or the year before that…).

Celebrate Tolkien's birthday by coming dressed as your favorite Hobbit, elf, wizard, ent or other character from one of his amazing novels. We'll have Hobbit-inspired food specials, the entire film trilogy in the Theater (please bring canned goods to donate to the Oregon Food Bank), a performance of "Rings Greatest Hits" by Willamette Radio Workshop, jugglers, a balloon guy and much more. This is a one-of-a-kind party that you won't find anywhere else in Portland!

In the Theater: $3 admission, free if you bring two canned goods to donate to Oregon Food Bank. 11 a.m. – "The Fellowship of the Ring" 3 p.m. – "The Two Towers" 7 p.m. – "The Return of the King"

Throughout the property: 2 p.m. – "The Rings' Greatest Hits" by Willamette Radio Workshop 3 p.m. – Juggling and balloon craziness 3:30 p.m. – Costume contest 7 p.m. – Live music by Sneakin' Elves

*** MENU *** My Precious Onion Rings - Return of the King Burger Shire Stew - Middle Earth Pizza - Cracks of Doom Molten Lava Cake

When you do that Frankie, you're enemies don't respect you. You got no friends no more. You got nobody, Frankie.

Some comments on local stuff-

* There have been a ton of articles about the construction going on downtown but they don't come close to covering what a FUBARED mess planners have made out of the core. Bridges closed for construction, major roads down to one lane - it is a complete disaster and more that a little bit of a pain in the ass to those of us who work nearby. I literally took 45 minutes to get out of downtown last Friday and THAT was after planning a strategic route out of the city. Yuck.

* It looks like Gordo is in trouble in the polls with voters not buying his "I'm a moderate" bullshit. Check out Michelle Neumann's takedown of the Junior Senator from Oregon at the linked article. As a reminder - Gordo spent a lot of time in the last Presidential election calling John Kerry a waffler, particulary in regards to the war. Live by the bullshit soundbite, die by the bullshit soundbite I say. I'm going to permalink StopGordonSmith so you ought to check it out.

* I predicted Greg Oden would be a bust but even I'm surprised at how quickly I turned out be right. How many NBA players were able to stage a comeback after major tonsil surgery? I could count them on one hand.

It's not a question of enough, pal. It's a zero sum game, somebody wins, somebody loses.

There are some things the government should be doing and there are some things that are better left to the free market.

Utilities are one of those sectors that should almost always be run by the government.

In today's Business section of The Oregonian there's this little tidbit-

PGE takes on utility tax law

2006 sale - A filing argues money from equipment bought in 2001 should go to shareholders, not ratepayers.

Ratepayer advocates are voicing concerns about what they see as an attempt by Portland General Electric Co. to turn back the clock to tax accounting machinations employed by Enron and subsequently outlawed by Oregon legislators.

Filings PGE and customer groups made to utility regulators in the past week could, in fact, presage a legal challenge to a controversial tax law commonly referred to as Senate Bill 408. The 2005 law requires utilities to match the taxes that they collect from customers in rates with what they actually pay the government, and offer a refund or surcharge to customers if the gap is too large.

PGE collects taxes as part of our electric bill. The law passed by the state legislature in 2005 says that if those taxes aren't forwarded to the government in turn then they should be returned to ratepayers. This is basic, common sense to anyone outside of those who own oodles of stock in the electric utility company. The 2005 bill is about as "controversial" as the idea that you shouldn't leave your dog in your car on an August day with the windows rolled up.

PGE is giving Oregon voters the finger yet again. This is the same PGE that's continually getting stroked by the state Utilities Board that's supposed to be looking out for ratepayers as they rubber-stamp every planned rate increase by the company. They get away with this because they are a virtual monopoly so they have no free market competition and because they know how to play the political system so they have no real chance of competition from the government.

Not that legislators haven't tried to make the utility a public entity. Most recently the city of Portland tried to put together a bid to purchase the company which was thoroughly defeated by PGE and it's threatening political muscle. It's absolutely absurd that given PGEs constant abuses of Oregon ratepayers - from transferring the costs of shutting down Trojan to ratepayers to the Enron tax scam they're continuing to try and apply here - that the state hasn't privatized the wayward company. I simply cannot understand this thinking.

The idea that the free market is some sort of panacea that automatically means better service to customers, lower cost to customers and greater returns to shareholders all at the same time is just nuts. Corporations pay nothing but lip service to trying to balance those three competing interests and if they hold a monopoly on the industry not even that. Something will always suffer and it will never be the shareholder aspect of the equation.

Yet governments continue to do exactly the opposite of what would be good for citizens as they rush towards transferring public assets into the private sector without a second thought to how the customers, sorry citizens, will come out of the deal. Consider this story from Business Week-

In the past year, banks and private investment firms have fallen in love with public infrastructure. They're smitten by the rich cash flows that roads, bridges, airports, parking garages, and shipping ports generate — and the monopolistic advantages that keep those cash flows as steady as a beating heart. Firms are so enamored, in fact, that they're beginning to consider infrastructure a brand new asset class in itself.

With state and local leaders scrambling for cash to solve short-term fiscal problems, the conditions are ripe for an unprecedented burst of buying and selling. All told, some $100 billion worth of public property could change hands in the next two years, up from less than $7 billion over the past two years; a lease for the Pennsylvania Turnpike could go for more than $30 billion all by itself. "There's a lot of value trapped in these assets," says Mark Florian, head of North American infrastructure banking at Goldman, Sachs & Co.

There are some advantages to private control of roads, utilities, lotteries, parking garages, water systems, airports, and other properties. To pay for upkeep, private firms can raise rates at the tollbooth without fear of being penalized in the voting booth. Privateers are also freer to experiment with ideas like peak pricing, a market-based approach to relieving traffic jams. And governments are making use of the cash they're pulling in—balancing budgets, retiring debt, investing in social programs, and on and on.

But are investors getting an even better deal? It's a question with major policy implications as governments relinquish control of major public assets for years to come. The aggressive toll hikes embedded in deals all but guarantee pain for lower-income citizens—and enormous profits for the buyers. For example, the investors in the $3.8 billion deal for the Indiana Toll Road, struck in 2006, could break even in year 15 of the 75-year lease, on the way to reaping as much as $21 billion in profits, estimates Merrill Lynch & Co. What's more, some public interest groups complain that the revenue from the higher tolls inflicted on all citizens will benefit only a handful of private investors, not the commonwealth.

Why would investors be "clamoring" to buy these assets if they weren't worth more than what the governments that own them are raking in on these deals? Infrastructure should remain under the government's control. All of us, as well as future generations, own these assets. They are better owned and managed by the public sector.

Private industry is very good at a number of things, especially when they face competition. Shoes, jeans, soda, televisions and cars are all things that government should stay the heck out of. But when it comes to basic necessities - electricity, water and the very roads we commute daily on the government is the best, if imperfect manager, of those resources.