Seen something AMAZING? Email us: todayinpdx@portlandmercury.com!I-PHONE: Predicting the weather…just like GOD…

This time in North Portland, and not so controversial. Submitted anonymously:OFFICER: THESE ARE NOT THE SIGNS YOU’RE LOOKING FOR…

With the legislative session now nicely wrapped up, over the next week or so we’ll be bringing you interviews with a handful of local state representatives and senators to talk about the session—the highs, the lows, what’s changed since Democrats took over, and, maybe more importantly, what hasn’t.

To kick it off, we chatted with N/NE Portland’s “bleeding heart liberal” Rep. Chip Shields, who’s in his second term. He’s well known around Portland for his stance on the need to reform the criminal justice system.

First off, are you running for a third term?

Yes.

Have you given yourself a term limit?

I haven’t. I basically ran because I was concerned that we’re now spending more on prisons in this state than community colleges and higher education. So my goal is to make a significant dent in that, in part by garnering support for advances in sentencing reform. Hopefully, I can get that done next term and go back to a quiet, normal life. We’ll see.

How successful were you in advancing that agenda this session?

It was of limited success. With these types of things, you have to lay the groundwork. I did pass a bill, HB 3563, that would create a public safety strategies task force, which will allow us to take a look at these things over the interim—take a look at whether or not we’re getting the proper investments in early childhood intervention, the proper investments in drug and alcohol treatment. Are we using jail beds to the best capacity that we can? And do we need to make changes in sentencing to enhance public safety? We’re going to look at all those things and hopefully come back with some recommendations for next session.

How big a part of that is repealing Measure 11?

Repealing Measure 11, I don’t think, is a possibility, but improving it is. For the first time ever, there has been some back and forth with the district attorneys’ association regarding that. I think we’re going to need to continue those negotiations and discussions in the interim. But Measure 11 clearly is driving the $1.3 billion we spend on prisons in this state.

What was the biggest difference between your first session and this one? Obviously, the major difference was that Democrats gained a majority in the House, but how did that affect things in a practical way?

I don’t even know where to begin. There’s been a sea change in the fundamental assumptions of what the common good is. We’ve been able to increase K-12 education, which is one of my top priorities, by 18 percent. We’ve been able to increase funding for higher ed and community colleges by almost 18 percent. We have doubled the amount of treatment dollars in the Department of Corrections. We have $2 million more for domestic violence services, and we are on the path toward universal health care by at least getting the Healthy Kids plan out to the voters. We’ve had 16 years of corporate control of the legislature, and that’s certainly changed. Corporations and special interests, of course, still have incredible influence, but it’s not the stranglehold that they once had.

How much power were corporations and corporate lobbyists able to maintain, even with the shifted majority?

I think you have to look at some of the things that would never even have gotten a hearing in the past that passed this time, like the 36 percent cap on predatory loans. Last session, Speaker Merkley said, “If we could have just gotten a cap at 70 or 80 percent, we would have thought we were in heaven." But to move this far against such incredibly wealthy and powerful interests, that now hate our guts, was remarkable. There’s tons of those things. The budgets wouldn’t have been anywhere near what they are. There are powerful people and there are powerful institutions, and they’re going to do their best to make sure things don’t get out of hand.

Were you surprised by how much compromising you had to do this session? In your first session, you didn’t have to worry about it—you could go in with very clear, progressive goals…

And lose.

But now you’ve got moderates in newly won seats, in a majority that’s slim to begin with.

I actually look at it in about a 90-degree shift from that. Being in the majority, the powerful interests knew that our hand was much stronger. When two interests are looking at each other and they have their guns drawn on a bill, you’re making calculations. How far can I push and still get the votes to pass this? Even if I pass it in one chamber, will I be able to pass it in another, where the other guys have more influence? What we’ve found is a willingness to come to the table and negotiate in good faith, whereas before they would have just tried to kill the bill. An example of the bill is the condo conversion bill. [Attorney/lobbyist] John De Lorenzo would have just smashed me last session; this session I could continually poke him and say, “This is going to pass. You can either get with the program, or your clients can be in much worse shape. You can roll the dice and maybe kill it in one chamber, but I’m going to be here a while, and maybe you should try to work with me on a compromise that can pass in both chambers.”

Retrospectively, is there bill you can think of where you underestimated how strong your hand was?

Nothing, really. The big part of my session was all about budgets. For the first time, I was on the ways and means committee, so I was doing my best to make sure that treatment got funded first, that domestic violence survivors were taken care of, that we weren’t just building more and more prisons as economic developments for rural Oregon. That was an incredibly steep learning curve, so I was immersed in figuring out how the budget works. I had maybe three or four, five policy bills. Other than that, I was trying to make sure we had good budgets to help people.

What was your biggest success of the session?

The k-12 budget. That, at the end of the day, is the result of some of the criminal justice reform ideas that I have.

What’s your biggest disappointment?

The affordable housing bill, HB 3551, which died last week. We thought we had the votes, I carried it on the floor, and when push came to shove, the Republicans didn’t honor their promises.

Who killed the grand jury disclosure requirement for cases of deadly force by police?

The biggest resistance came from the front line police officers association, the Oregon Council of Police Officers Association. Their lobbyist is a guy named Brian DeLashmutt. Both of us were feverishly lobbying in the last week. So you had Brian on one side, and on the other side myself, the attorney general’s office, Sen. Gordly, Sen. Carter, both of whom were instrumental in keeping that bill alive, Partnership for Safety and justice, the Oregon Law Center. The guns were blazing, and we were trying to figure out how to get to 31, and it looked like an uphill battle. So DeLashmutt approached Sen. Gordly with this last compromise that would get him neutral on the bill, she made the decision, I supported it, and we decided to get what we could. This is an important advance, but not as much as I would have liked.

What happened to the Drug Free Zones bill (which would have required all drug- and prostitution-related exclusions be tied to convictions, not just arrests)?

It died a painful death in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

What do you mean by "painful death"?

Well, I’m being a little dramatic. Sen. Burdick was good enough to give it a hearing, and it became clear that it didn’t have the support. We’ll have to come back and either address it at city council or come back to the legislature again.

During the hearing, it struck me that Sen. Burdick and Sen. Walker sounded very supportive, although I’m sure that was before the bulk of what I assume to be furious lobbying by the city or the Portland police association.

Yes. The Portland Business Alliance were lobbying it hard. I don’t know all the mechanics, but I’m sure that had something to do with it.

Interestingly enough, Sen. Burdick was the PBA’s handpicked candidate to run against Erik Sten for city council.

(Silence)

I just think that’s interesting, don’t you?

I’ll take your word for it.

One last thing: If you’re trying to make the case for annual sessions, do you think the best strategy is to have the shortest session in more than a decade, and then crow about how productive it was in such a short amount of time? Isn’t that a counterargument?

I’m actually not an advocate for annual sessions, but I think the best thing you can do if you want annual sessions is to make sure the sessions are addressing the needs of everyday people. And I think we did that this session.

Does anybody know anything about Bobby Hacker, the YouTube member who is posting some of my favorite videos in recent memory, most of which are shot here in Portland? They’re not for the easily offended, but they’re raw as hell and genuinely funny. He has plenty of them, if you like the flavor of this one (which I’m guessing many of you won’t).

Watch the following video and decide for yourself: Is this guy the worst iPhone thief in the world, or what?

I love the awesome Simpsons Movie website! You can make crazy Simpsons avatars… like Nelson’s head on Marge’s body (Is that a Bouvier Muntz-ter?).

Plus according to Editors Erik Henriksen and Chas Bowie the new trailer is WAAAAY better than the other crappy ones you saw a couple months ago. Check it and see…

“Spider-Pig, Spider-Pig…”
Thanks to RT for the website link.

This just in from Le Pigeon:

Subject: Press Release: New Le Pigeon hours!

Beginning Monday July 9th Le Pigeon restaurant will be open for dinner service 7 nights a week. We regret to inform that in addition Le Pigeon will also close it’s doors during brunch service, making Le Pigeon’s last day of brunch Sunday July 8th. Le Pigeon will continue to open for dinner nightly at 5pm and continue to maintain the newest reservation policy for parties of 2 or more. All of us here at Le Pigeon look forward to giving all of our guests more opportunities to experience what we’ve always done best: dinner. We hope you can all join us all the more often from here on out.

Le Pigeon
738 E Burnside
Portland, OR 97212
(503)546-8796
7 nights a week @ 5pm

This is a good call on their part. Their brunch was good, but there’s plenty of good brunch in this town—dinner is definitely a better use of their resources.

Just over a week ago, Mayor Tom Potter’s approval ratings were reported at just over 50 percent—as it stands today, though, he’s apparently getting booed.

According to OregonLive’s Blazer blog, Potter got a chorus of boos when he took the mic during the Greg Oden Blazergasm at Pioneer Courthouse Square this afternoon. (That link has an mp3 of the whole affair—Potter’s part is just past half way.)

“Calm down, calm down,” he told the crowd.

Was anybody there? Care to share the context, or was this just genuinely a spontaneous outpouring of dissatisfaction with the mayor? Or was it simply that he isn’t Greg Oden?

There is little I can say about Austin’s riot grrrl revivalists Finally Punk that would be better than Lizzie Ehrenhalt’s show preview from this week’s issue. It’s pasted below for your reading enjoyment.

But, I will beg you to go see the band tonight at Dunes. They have the same raw-punk coolness of early Bikini Kill, plus they’ll be sharing a bill with Portland’s very own The New Bloods, who just signed to Kill Rock Stars.

Finally Punk - What the Fuck, Missle?

THE NEW BLOODS, FINALLY PUNK, SHEARING PINX, ROMANCING
(Dunes, 1905 NE MLK) You can tell Finally Punk are the real riot grrrl deal from the way their cover of Nirvana's "Negative Creep" matches the original's vitriol rasp for rasp—surpasses it, even, since Cobain's refrain "Daddy's little girl ain't a girl no more" delivers twice the sting when sung by a woman. It seals the bargain that the Austin, Texas quartet flail about while performing, scream bloody murder, switch instruments after every song and list obscure but legendary feminist post-punk outfit Ludus as an influence alongside the Raincoats, Kleenex and Lora Logic. Their best song, "Penguin," bounces and jitters to the spastic rhythms of a squeaking children’s toy, and "Boyfriend Application" (“Do you wanna/ be my boyfriend?/ Fill out/ an application!”) promises to get yr toes tapping. Missing them live with the New Bloods would be a shame indeed. LIZZIE EHRENHALT

Yesterday we got an email from Portland Police Bureau Sergeant Kyle Nice. Check it out here.

In light of it, the attorney acting for Richard Prentice, whom Nice allegedly questioned and intimidated in a holding cell in central precinct after he was arrested for putting up anti-cop posters, says the email is likely to add to controversy around his client’s case.

“I think this new information will polarize the discussion significantly,” says Benjamin Haile, of Haile Greenwald. “It will divide people who care about the protections to free speech and those who can be distracted by attacks on Rich’s character, giving fuel for indignation on both sides.”

Nice emailed the Mercury with a flier retrieved from Prentice’s backpack, showing a cop with a gun to his head, asking “how come you didn’t show Mr.Prentice’s other poster?”

“I think for anyone to imply that this somehow justifies what was done to Richard Prentice, it’s just classic blaming the victim,” says Haile.

A message left an hour ago for Portland Police PIO Brian Schmautz, asking to be put in touch with Nice, is yet to be returned. Kyle: It’s 503 294 0840. Or you can email news@portlandmercury.com. I admire your guts in speaking out.

And no, I’m not talking about those of you who spend more time in a given day playing Wii than talking to other human beings, or those of you who stood in line for seven hours for the Transformers sneak preview, or even those of you who can recite every minor difference between the original Battlestar Galactica and the new one. I’m talking about honest-to-geekness, reverse-engineering, hardware-hacking DORKS.

Last Sunday, on a promise of witnessing pure, unrivaled dorkness, I went with a couple of friends to Vendetta for the inaugural DorkbotPDX event, which brought together a bunch of dorks—and I use the term lovingly, and with all due respect—to talk about their latest projects.

My first impression was that I hadn’t seen so many bespectacled dudes with ponytails in one room since the last Personal Telco meeting I went to. Lucky for me, two of the featured presenters, Jason Plumb and Jesse Fox, were showing off some crazy-ass hardware projects that centered around experimental music production.

Plumb presented his modification of the Essential Reality P5 glove controller, which has now gone obsolete. He wrote/hacked a whole host of open-source programs to turn the glove into an open-air synthesizer controller, complete with a few sound palates (paired oscillators, a corny percussion patch, etc.). The effect was something like a cross between a theremin and Casio keyboard. Blogger Mike and the Green Lady has a video from the presentation and an interview with Plumb about the project here.

There were some obvious bugs in the software--every time he went "out of range" from the glove's receiver, the program would lock until it was reset, and not all of the programmed commands were quite functioning. But the implications were obvious--if Plumb, or some other geeky entrepreneur with too much spare time, were to put some serious, ongoing effort into perfecting the glove's software, it could become a fairly awesome instrument, and not just for noisy avant-garde productions.

Jesse Fox's presentation consisted largely of a video--of an all-robot symphony orchestra playing an obscure 1924 composition (Ballet Mecanique) by Dada composer George Antheil, which was performed at the National Gallery of Art. Fox helped create some of the robot instruments, including the xylophones. The result was a mind-fuck of a musical piece, as gorgeous and weird as anything I've ever heard--and it was all played by robots.

Ballet Mechanique calls for "three xylophones, four bass drums, tam tam, two pianists, seven (or so) electric bells, a siren, three airplane propellers, and sixteen synchronized player pianos." It's a kind of brutal composition, all hyperactive pre-Looney Toons xylophones and industrial cacophony--hear part of it here--from an era when a composition could actually be considered "revolutionary" and cause riots.

Mike Merrill has video of Fox's presentation here.

I'm not gonna lie to you--every single technical bit of both presentations was lost on me. I might be a geek, but I'll never be smart enough to be a dork. But it was fascinating to see the results of such dorkery, and the $1 pints of Rainier served up by Vendetta didn't hurt either. DorkbotPDX members meet every other week for informal gatherings, plus bigger events less frequently--head over to their website to check out the calendar.

I have a few suggestions…

FRIDAY
Berbati’s Pan–Charmparticles, Jonah, Oh Darling, 9:30 pm, $7
Dante’s–MC Chris, Boy Eats Drum Machine, The Greater Midwest, 9:30 pm, $10-13
Doug Fir–The Prids, The Sun the Sea, Go Fever, 9 pm, $8
Dunes–The New Bloods, Finally Punk, Shearing Pinx, Romancing, 10 pm
Floating World Comics–Floating World Animation Fest: E*Rock, Hooliganship, 9 pm
Grapedrink–Chris Merrill Band, Russell Stafford, Sarah Angela & A Bad Influence, 7 pm, $5, all ages
Holocene–Nightclubbing: Glass Candy, Chromatics, Mike Simonetti, DJ Linger, DJ Quiet, 9 pm, $8
The Know–Show Me the Pink, Bitchin’ Summer, Flee the Century, 8 pm
Ohm–House of Om CD Release Tour: Mark Farina, Ravi, Mercedes, Mena, Matt e Starr, 9 pm, $15-20
Rose Garden–Fall Out Boy, +44, The Academy Is…, Paul Wall, Cobra Starship, 5 pm, $35, all ages
Slabtown–Parks & Recreation, Elk Teeth, Little Beruit, Acadia & The Asteroid, 9 pm, $5
The Funky Church–Natural Bridges, Please Step Out of the Vehicle, Mikah Sykes, 8 pm
Tiger Bar–Closing Party: Animal Farm, Ro Deezy, Xavier Burton, Drew Slum, Brown Rice, Jammotron, DJ Nik Fury, Deena B, Pauly Paul, Venom 33.3, 10 pm, $6
The Waypost–Diana Joy, Rush’n Disco, 8 pm

Check out Saturday and Sunday’s listings after the jump.

SATURDAY
Aladdin Theater–The Tubes, Cellar Door, 8 pm, $25, all ages
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall–Norah Jones, M. Ward, 8 pm, $40-60, all ages
The Artistery–Evolutionary Jass Band, Baptist Arms, Red Herring, 8 pm, $6, all ages
Clark County Amphitheater–Willie Nelson, 40 Points Band, 8 pm, $33.50-53.50
Doug Fir–Lifesavas, Libretto, 9 pm, $15
Fez Ballroom–Andaz: DJ Anjali, The Incredible Kid, DJ E3, 9 pm, $8
Grapedrink–At The Spine, Change it to Jack, 8 pm, $5
The Know–The Nightmares, Shiny Things, 8 pm
The Recyclery–The Sprockettes, Here Comes a Big Black Cloud, The Spokes, free
Roseland–E-40, 8 pm, all ages
Rotture–Curious Hands, Les Flaneurs, Last American Buffalo, The Procession, Imafuckinggymnist, 10 pm, $6
Slabtown–The Tall Birds, Pure Country Gold, The EEgos, DJ Joe, DJ Colin, 9 pm, $5
The Tiger Bar-Closing Party: Serge Severe, DJ Kez, DJ Izm, Venom 33.3, Crate Badgers, Seoul Bro #1, Unified Theory, Metro League All-Stars, True Consumers, 10 pm, $6

SUNDAY
Ash Street Saloon–With a Bullet, Yakima Nation, Only Zuul, Poseidon, 9:30 pm, $5
Dante's–The Mooney Suzuki, Photo Atlas, 8:30 pm, $7; Sinferno Cabaret, 11 pm, $6
Doug Fir–The Portland Cello Project, Gideon Freudmann, Nick Jaina, Musee Mecanique, John Weinland, 9 pm, $7
Ground Kontrol–Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls Benefit: Criminal Damage, The Revenants, The Tramps, Pocket-Sized Surgeons, 3 pm, $5
Holocene–Horse Feathers, Whip, The Builders & The Butchers, 9 pm, $8
Rotture–Richard Pinhas Trio, White Rainbow, Mome Raths, Soup Purse, Renegade, 9 pm, $6

Mouse: PLUTO CAN’T SAVE YOU NOW…

From the Associated Press, by way of Mercury promotions director Zach Hull, who appropriately comments, “this is just so weird.”

Hamas TV Kills Off Mickey Mouse Double

Article Tools Sponsored By
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 29, 2007

Filed at 2:48 p.m. ET

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A Mickey Mouse lookalike who preached Islamic domination on a Hamas-affiliated children’s television program was beaten to death in the show’s final episode Friday.

In the final skit, ”Farfour” was killed by an actor posing as an Israeli official trying to buy Farfour’s land. At one point, the mouse called the Israeli a ”terrorist.”

”Farfour was martyred while defending his land,” said Sara, the teen presenter. He was killed ”by the killers of children,” she added.

The weekly show, featuring a giant black-and-white rodent with a high-pitched voice, had attracted worldwide attention because the character urged Palestinian children to fight Israel. It was broadcast on Hamas-affiliated Al Aqsa TV.

Station officials said Friday that Farfour was taken off the air to make room for new programs. Station manager Mohammed Bilal said he did not know what would be shown instead.

Israeli officials have denounced the program, ”Tomorrow’s Pioneers,” as incendiary and outrageous. The program was also opposed by the state-run Palestinian Broadcasting Corp., which is controlled by Fatah, Hamas’ rival.

Fortunately, arch celebrity warmonger Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is about to sort out the Middle East. He might want to take some mushrooms first, just so he’s at an appropriate “baseline.”

From Ralph Chilton:

digging up SW 9th and washington, the original streetcar lines are still there, cobbles and everything. (this was from last week, but meh)

Original street car lines: FROM LAST WEEK, BUT MEH…

Seen something INCREDIBLE? Email us: todayinpdx@portlandmercury.com

Once again, draft night in Portland is always an exciting place to be. Last night’s draft landed the Trail Blazers a franchise player (Greg Oden), a pair of foreign point-guards (Rudy Fernandez and Petteri Koponen), a two-time NCAA champion (Taurean Green), and one token white guy (Josh McRoberts). Okay that was mean, McRoberts is solid, and if anything, he is Greg Oden’s pal.

Speaking of the Big O, he will be at Pioneer Courthouse Square today at noon, where you can meet our new star player and get one free piggyback ride from him around the square. Just one, don’t get greedy.

Also, the almost-as-big news is that we shipped off Zach Randolph. Farewell, my doughy friend, may you and the Hoop Family find peace in New York, a city far more forgiving than ours.

Wankers!

When people wait six hours to see giant robots beat the sweet bejeezus out of each other, you better respect. You don’t come in at the last minute, just as the doors are opening up, and pretend your friends are somewhere in the front of the line.

I hope you’re proud of yourself. The little kids near the back of the line? The ones waiting for three hours? They didn’t get in. Thanks to you. Sure, they could go when the film actually comes out—in six days. You know what six days feels like to a kid? A year in Guantanamo.

I bet you tape spots off for a parade.

P.S. This isn’t an official review… but Transformers is like a ninja wailing on a 1961 Gibson EB-0 studded with canary diamonds… and firing lasers.

UPDATE: Bus driver cited in collision! As usual Jonathan Maus has the bike story scoop.

ORIGINAL POST, 08:11:
In the Blogtown inbox this morning:

Thought you’d be interested…yesterday afternoon, a friend of mine, Drew VanHousen was hit by a Tri-Met bus. The accident happened near NE Grand & Multnomah. Drew was hit by the front of the bus as the bus made a left turn right into him. His track, fixed gear bike got lodged under the bus and he was thrown off his bike. The bus driver immediately came out of the bus yelling at Drew accusing him of “coming out of nowhere” and swearing that she had the right of way. The bus driver was going to move the bus out of the way until an onlooker told her to leave the scene as-is and then called 911. An ambulance took Drew to the ER and during the entire ordeal he felt people were dismissive of his situation because he was just another biker screwing around. Drew is completely jacked up with a broken clavicle, tons of scrapes, cuts & bruises & his right hand is all mangled though not broken. His self-assembled, completed about a week ago, $1,000 bike is completely totaled as well. The police are trying to blame Drew because of having a track bike but the bike locked up because of his intense back-pedaling (braking) and left a ridiculous skid-mark in the street. I believe he is looking into getting a lawyer because of the accusations that he’s at fault and in case Tri-Met tries anything else in the insurance wranglings.

I’m sure there’s more information out there but this is what I know as of this morning. If you pick up this story, I’d love to be kept informed as to what you uncover. Until then, I’ll stay tuned to
Blogtown.

Josh

You forgot to leave your phone number, Josh. We’re on 503 294 0840.

GOT A NEWS TIP? Email: news@portlandmercury.com

You may or may not have noticed something new appear on your computer screen today: A little link called MOD (on the navigation bar to your right). It’s the portal to BlogTown’s first splinter blog, M.O.D.: Mercury on Design. here you’ll find all the fashion postings that appear on BlogTown, plus more—not just more fashion and more pictures, but also posts on related subjects, from home decorating to crafts to makeup. Myself and Merc colleagues Amy Rosko and Leanne Marshall will hold down the fort with daily postings, plus occasional contributions from guest bloggers. Look for everything from architectural musings to fitness experiments. (And yes, I have used this corporate ladder to (finally) transform the Mercury into a fashion magazine.)

I’ll still be posting fashion items here too, so you’ll still know about sales and other local events, as well as for the benefit of those who love to comment on models’ hotness/need for sandwiches or fugliness of the clothes, so don’t worry.

Click here to check out MOD now!

You know and love the rap hit from UNK entitled “Walk It Out”—but trust me, you’re going to love it SO MUCH MORE after watching this mash-up of the song and a choreographed Bob Fosse dance routine starring Gwen Verdon from the ’60s!
So very perfect.

Everybody’s blogging for the weekend.

Can you believe that a top Republican candidate for president is actually urging President Bush to keep the American Gulag open? Oh, wait, Duncan Hunter? Who? Uhhhh, good luck with that campaign, dude.

Eeeeep. A car bomb was found in London’s theater district (seriously—the theater district?), which authorities could have caused “potentially massive” damage.

Hard to believe a product called “Veggie Booty” could possibly be tainted with salmonella.

Mitt Romney: Dog abuser? PETA thinks so.

Standing in line to buy an iPhone? Say hi to Amy J. Ruiz for me. And try not to trample her. Thanks.

This afternoon, just before the close of the 2007 session, state representatives and senators managed to usher through Senate Bill 111-C, which requires local governments to set up ways to plan for instances in which police officers use deadly force.

It sets up requirements for planning boards, and certain procedures following deadly use of force. But its most tangible—and therefore most controversial—requirement bit the dust in a last-minute compromise to get the bill through both houses.

SB 111 would have made public all transcripts from grand jury trials in officer-involved deaths; since grand juries are run by district attorneys, and since there hasn’t been a successful case against an officer in pretty much forever, there is widespread belief that the testimony and evidence given to grand juries is weighted in the officer’s favor. This is only the latest effort—and latest failure—to get those transcripts made public, in order for the community to gauge the fairness and accuracy of the trials.

In the case of James Chasse, or Fouad Kaady, or any other case in recent history in which someone’s encounter with law enforcement officers ends in that person’s death, police agencies are able to determine how much, if any, of the grand jury transcripts to release. Frequently, it’s zero—in the Chasse case, police chief Rosie Sizer allowed some of the documents to come out.

The effort to unveil the grand juries in cop cases has been going on for years, but is now dead in the water until at least 2009.

SB 111 was carried by Portlanders—Rep. Chip Shields, and Sens. Avel Gordly and Margaret Carter.

So someone purporting to be Portland Police Sergeant Kyle Nice has just emailed the Mercury. (From a portlandpolice.org account…) Kyle, come in for a chat? Or we’ll meet you somewhere.

From: Kyle Nice .KNice@portlandpolice.org.
Date: June 28, 2007 5:13:42 PM PDT
To: lovenotes@portlandmercury.com
Subject: Thought Police

How come you didn’t show Mr. Prentice’s other poster? The one picturing the gun to an officer’s head.

Sgt. Kyle Nice

“Sergeant Nice,” and we here in the newsroom are leaning towards thinking it really is him, attached the following scanned picture:Here’s the story Nice is referring to.

“Yeah but I never put those up,” says Prentice, in response. “Those were in my backpack, but Nice would never have seen them if I’d not been unreasonably arrested.”

What is that, Portuguese? I don’t know, but if today was any indication, it’s some foreign language for “I quit!”

So, the legislative session ended today with a bang… and with a series of retirement announcements. Here’s the list, from those folks at BlueOregon.com and Loaded Orygun:

Leading the pack is the infamous former House Speaker Karen Minnis, who barely—though heartbreakingly—beat Democratic challenger Rob Brading last November. She’s slinking out after having lost her leadership position when the Dems took over the House. There’s a not-insignificant blue edge in voter registration in her district (HD49, Troutdale-ish), so with her name-recognition gone, it could give Brading or another Dem a chance to take the seat.

State Rep. Donna Nelson (R-McMinnville) appears to have just finished up her legislative career. Republican bloggers had been whispering about her leaving the Republican party due to dissatisfaction with GOP leadership.

And State Senator Vicki Walker (D-Eugene) is now running for secretary of state.

If you’re still waiting to find out what other shoes will drop, and which member(s?) of the legislature are planning to run for U.S. Senate (if any), you can head over to a last-minute, special sine die edition of Progressive Happy Hour, happening right now until whenever, at rontoms, 600 E Burnside.

Hello friend.

Luckily I don’t have much credibility to lose, so I’m going to come right out and say this: I kind of like the bar American Cowgirls. Granted, I’ve only been there once, but: I think flair bartending is totally radical; the song on their MySpace page is, hilariously, Cocaine Blues; and the bartenders and bouncers (this is KEY for me) were completely friendly and welcoming when I went, despite the fact that I wasn’t exactly dressed for the scene.

Anyway, they’re hosting a Guitar Hero Tournament tonight, registration at six, details after the jump

Guitar Hero Tournament . 1
Category: Games

American Cowgirls Bar & Grill is having our first Guitar Hero Tourniment Thursday June 28th. Do you think you have what it takes to be a Guitar Hero Champion? Sponsored by RedOctane. Rules are as follows:

Free admission/$5 registration fee/Registration starts at 6:00pm

The Tournament will be set up in a 1 vs. 1 format with rounds consisting of a " best 2 out of 3 songs" format for the winner to advance to the next round.

the songs being played in each round will be determined by the participants in the round. A coinflip will be used to determine who gets first song choice. The loser of the coinflip will choose the 2nd song and in the case of a 3rd sond tie-break, the tournament organizer will pick a song at random.

Song difficulty will begin at the Medium level for the opening round of play, and as the tournament proceeds, the difficulty levels will increase to Hard.

Tournamrnt seeding will de determined at random by the tournament organizers after registration has closed.

Tournament will be single-elimination. Free play will be avaiable after the completion of the tourniment.

To sign up reply to this bulletin or e-mail name to info.acbg@comcast.net registration fee collected at venue.

American Cowgirls is located at 500 NE MLK blvd at Lloyd across from the Convention Center. 503-233-2211

Blogtown readers, I’d like you to meet Richard Prentice:I know it’s so “last year” to read our paper version these days, but Prentice’s story forms the basis for this week’s news lede—which is likely to be ignored by every other media outlet in town, unless his lawsuit against the Portland Police Bureau succeeds.

Prentice, a 200lb former linebacker, complained to the Independent Police Review (IPR) last September—alleging he had been badly beaten by cops in North Portland in March. Part of the complaint was an on-street beating, then he alleged he was taken to a holding cell, held against a wall while his kidneys were systematically punched, one at a time, so badly that he couldn’t tie his shoe laces for weeks afterwards. Prentice’s attorney at the time described the alleged incident as “torture.” The IPR rejected his complaint, and the city denied his tort claim, saying he was “intoxicated” on the night in question, and had a bad memory of what happened.

Ever been drunk? I know I have. Scary, though, isn’t it, to imagine that Prentice might have been telling the truth…

Anyway, that incident, coupled with the controversial death in custody of James Chasse, last September, is what led Prentice, he says, to create anti-cop posters, and try to post one on the wall of the Federal Courthouse on June 14th.

This is a city where plenty of people have a problem with the Police Bureau. “The cops are THUGS, maaaaan.” Yeah, whatever. But do Prentice’s allegations about what happened to him as he was putting up his poster make a difference to your rational, balanced perception of the Bureau? I’m assuming, since you’re reading Blogtown, that you don’t give too much credence to Indymedia’s rantings. But what about this story? Does it bother you? Do you care?

Read it, please. And make up your mind.

Sure, it might be a few weeks old now, but Mikey Merrill of Urban Honking (and, formerly, Portland Mercury Users Group) has posted some awesome video of the project, set to—appropriately—Andrew W.K.

It’s part of UrHo’s “Make It Happen” project.

You were probably there, so here’s a chance to enjoy it all over again.

The Great Tape Ripping of ‘07 from kmikeym and Vimeo.

Big congratulations are in order for Casey Perez, who beat out the entire city of Portland in the Mercury’s Second Annual Coloring Contest with his psychochromatic vision of the 4th of July as a nightmarish flashback of hallucinatory menace. (Did you catch the evil clown reaching up from the gutter?)

While Perez took home all the glory and a sweet $200, many other Portlanders sent in some great entries, making our jobs hard and extremely enjoyable. Here are our three favorite runners-up.

Addie Collins (age 8) and Sheila Baraga (AKA Mom)

In a visually complex composition that synthesizes two- and three-dimensional form, Addie and Sheila created a “stacked” drawing made from multiple color copies of the same page, which were then doused liberally with every 8-year-old’s favorite medium, glitter. The result is a visual concussion of color and sparkle that manages to encapsulate the gunpowder starbursts of celebratory patriotism.

Tali Purkerson

If there’s something to be said for good old fashioned craftsmanshp, it’s got to be said about Salem Crayonist Tali Purkerson. Many contend that since the death of Jacques-Louis David in 1825, the appreciation of skilled draughtsmanship has given way to the fetishization of antiaesthetic concept, but Purkerson uses crayolas with a pre-modernist grip—using chiaroscuro, deft color blending, and a subtle restraint that honors the original illustration.

Katisyn Sweeney

Katisyn Sweeney claims to be only two years old, a falsehood as preposterous as it is unnecessary. This work of art was clearly made by an individual of a refined sophistication, the likes of which we rarely have the pleasure of encountering in one lifetime. Sweeney’s art is a uniquely post-9/11 creation that captures the specific ennui of life after “Mission Accomplished,” while acknowledging that it is no longer possible to experience collective dread without a self-conscious nod to crowdsourced behavioural memes of grieving. In Sweeney’s emotional landscape, we are simultaneously the pint-sized aggressor and the purple-eyed canine loosed from his chain. And the key to unlocking this symphony of visual information is, of course, the single blue burst of explosion that Katisyn has colored in completely, just below the “E” in “Mercury.” A crystalline blue spark. A perfect solitary tear.

This is so hilarious on SOOOOO many levels. Okay. I’m a big Battlestar Galactica fan, and that goes for BSG’s Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff). So check out this FANTASTIC clip from the 1998 Lifetime movie “Fifteen and Pregnant” (that also stars Kirsten Dunst—YES!!) and features Katee as a teen mom who looks like she’s ready to throw that baby into a Viper and fly it right into the lake. (GODDAMMIT! Stop watching the clock, Kirsten! Katee is saying something important!!)

The deleted scenes from Knocked Up keep on coming. This hilarious clip expands of the film’s funniest scenes, adds some abortion talk, and is definitely not safe for work.

Unless you work here.

Just in case you hadn’t heard yet… Seu Jorge cancelled his Tuesday, July 10 show at the Crystal Ballroom. Get your refund at point of purchase.

A disabled Beaverton woman claiming she was unfairly targeted and pursued by the Recording Industry Association of America and asked to pay thousands of dollars in compensation for illegal downloads she never even made is counter-suing this week. RIAA: Orwell would be proud.

The woman’s suit, brought by Washington law firm Lybeck & Murphy, offers insight into the seeming (and alleged!) relentlessness of America’s recording industry in its efforts to threaten and intimidate the public to maintain its distribution monopoly.

Lawsuits can be complex, obscure, but this one’s bloody interesting, I think—especially for anybody with an interest in the music industry. I’ve written about it after the jump to save your eyes, but I guarantee if you can last to the second paragraph, you’ll be reading to the end.

Tanya Andersen alleges she was sitting down to dinner with her eight-year-old daughter on August 26, 2005, when a legal process server knocked at her door to serve a federal lawsuit, falsely claiming she owed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), a Washington-headquartered trade group claiming to represent the interests of the country's biggest record companies—as penalty for illegally downloading music.

Andersen initially received a letter from an LA-based law firm falsely claiming she had illegally downloaded music. When she contacted the lawyer's agent, she was allegedly told that unless she immediately paid $4,000-$5,000, the RIAA would ruin her financially. She said she had never downloaded music and even offered to let someone inspect her computer. Instead, the RIAA sued her on June 24, 2005, alleging that its cyber-investigation body, MediaSentry, had caught her sharing files online at 4:20am on May 20, 2004, and identified her as "gotenkito@kazaa."

After doing a two-minute search on Google, Andersen found that "gotenkito" belonged to a young man in Everett, Washington, whose MySpace webpage, "Chad's Wacky Life Stories," allegedly described his interest in computers and even admitted downloading copyrighted materials. Andersen furnished "gotenkito's" details to the RIAA, hoping the lawsuit against her would be dismissed. But instead of dismissing their claims against her, the RIAA continued in their alleged malicious prosecution of Anderson. The suit says:

They repeatedly and publicly claimed that Ms.Anderson stole and possessed songs with titles such as "shake that ass bitch," "dope nose," "die motherfucker die," "bullet in the head," "fuck y'all hoes," "n**ger fucker," and "i stab people."

The suit says Andersen was offended and outraged by the RIAA's allegations, and that she had no interest in the "violent, profane, misogynistic, and racist music that the RIAA and its controlled member companies monoplize." Andersen, according to the suit, "listens only to country music and soft rock."

Furthermore, the suit alleges that the lawsuit exacerbated Andersen's pre-existing disabilities—prior to the suit, she had been forced to leave her position as a case manager at the Department of Justice and was surviving on disability benefits for painful physical illness, emotional and psychological problems. "Before the lawsuit, she had hoped to return to work," the suit alleges. "But her psychological and physical symptoms seriously worsened due to defendants' malicious and outrageous conduct."

When a court order eventually ordered the RIAA to inspect Andersen's hard drive, it found that it had not been used to infringe copyrights. But even then, Andersen's counter-suit alleges the RIAA refused to drop its case against her—the RIAA allegedly saying it would not do so unless Andersen paid an undisclosed amount of money. "They wanted it to appear publicly that they had prevailed," the suit alleges.

When Andersen refused to pay, the RIAA's investigators allegedly began calling her apartment building looking for her daughter, trying to get her to testify against her mother, the suit alleges. "Phone calls were also made to [Andersen's daughter's] former elementary school under false pretenses," the suit further alleges.

After again refusing to drop its lawsuit, the RIAA was required to submit proof of its claims against Andersen in court, but could not do so, and was forced to finally dismiss its case against her on June 1. Now she's suing the shit out of them.

With the legislative session winding down, expect to see a number of announcements from legislators about their future plans—Kate Brown has already announced she won’t seek the majority leader position again—including maybe an announcement or two about who’s running for U.S. Senate.

The latest announcement: State. Sen Avel Gordly (Independent, from NE/SE Portland) has declared that she won’t be running for reelection next year, bringing her legislative career to an end in January 2009. She’s accepted a position as adjunct associate professor in the Black Studies department at PSU.

Even though she’s unaffiliated, Gordly normally votes with Democrats—still, her departure could very well give the Democrats an opportunity to pick up another seat next year, improving their numbers, at least, on paper. Her announcement this early gives plenty of time to potential candidates for the seat, unlike certain other politicians I could name who are dragging out their reelection decision until this fall, just months before the May primary.

Sen. Gordly’s full press release is after the jump.

On Looking Forward

Senator Avel Louise Gordly

Today, I publicly announce that I will not run for re-election to the Senate seat representing District 23 when my current term ends in January 2009.

I am deeply grateful to the people of my district and to all of the people across the state of Oregon who have provided support and encouragement to me and this office over these past 16 years. My beloved family, church family and dear friends have provided a consistent cloak of prayer for which I feel blessed to receive.

It is my belief that public service is a noble calling and profession. To be granted this opportunity to serve has been a humbling honor and a privilege, and has also been an opportunity full of rich learnings about our state, its history and its people.

The working relationships and friendships from the far corners of the state and everywhere in between that I have been blessed with over the years have enriched my life immeasurably. I plan to write a book about that one day.

It is now time to transition to my alma mater and share those learnings in another great institutional setting—with students at Portland State University, where I have been appointed an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Black Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and where my focus will be on public policy analysis and development.

Nelson Mandela, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, said that “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

I look forward to taking on new challenges, to seizing the opportunities that Portland State offers to expand the role of African Americans and other people of color in the legislative process and to develop a youth leadership institute to help Oregon groom and retain potential leaders for our state. We are losing too much of this talent to other states, because as a State, we are not working aggressively enough to keep it.

I look forward to being active in an academic setting, in the heart of a great urban and international university, in the center of a beautiful city and in the state where I have lived my entire life.

I look forward to sharing my life and professional experiences to benefit the educational growth and development of students who are not only preparing to take their places in a world that increasingly requires culturally competent people, but who can also engage cooperatively in a nation challenged by the gift of becoming more diverse.

I have also gifted my papers, covering a period of activism reaching back to 1979, jointly to the Portland State University Millar Library and to the Department of Black Studies. These papers are being organized as the Senator Avel Louise Gordly Collection.

I thank my Chief of Staff, Sean Cruz, for contributing his service, and I wish to honor his talent, creativity and enlightened world view that has served my office and our constituents so well through the past three legislative sessions.

I thank all of the fine people who have answered the call of public service and served as legislative assistants and interns throughout my 16 years of service. Their contributions to my office, to the constituents of Senate District 23 and to the state of Oregon were often—as all who work in this institution can appreciate—above and beyond the call of duty.

It is my desire to take a more active role in the development of a mental health ministry at my church—Highland Christian Center, home of a multicultural congregation—many of whom have been uprooted from familiar neighborhoods, homes and schools by the forces of gentrification.

Finally, I thank Senate President Courtney for every effort he personally made to ensure that my return to the Senate this session as an independent member was successful.

Senate President Courtney’s love for this institution and all of the people who serve here is unmatched. I am particularly grateful to have had the opportunity to serve with this true servant leader.

Again, I thank my constituents in District 23 for their trust in my service to our great state.

I look forward to participating in the modernization of the legislative process and of the Legislature itself as we move towards annual sessions. We as a body have an opportunity to build on the fine work of this 74th Legislative Assembly when we reconvene in February 2008, and I look forward to what we may accomplish for this great State and its people in that historic session.

It is my hope and prayer that the next legislative session will focus on revenue reform, a rejection of partisan politics, securing a quality, culturally competent education for all of our students, and on setting an Oregon table that values all of its people, including the people who put the food on that table, and those who clean up afterwards.

Someone once said that “service is the rent that we all pay for living on this earth.”

The legislative process belongs to the People—it is my fervent hope that more people will claim this process and actively participate in it.

I believe that by each of us embracing and acting on this thought we can lift this State to greatness—and keep it there.

Of all the kickass stuff happening at the Platform Festival, the thing I’m most excited for is this afternoon’s presentation by Gary Rydstrom, a seven-time Academy Award winning (!) sound designer who recently jumped into directing, helming the Academy Award-nominated short film Lifted. (That’s an image from Lifted to the right; and the short will be shown in front of Pixar’s Ratatouille starting tomorrow.)

This afternoon, Rydstrom will be presenting Pixar’s revolutionary early shorts, showing Lifted, and giving Platform attendees a behind-the-scenes look at what it was like to make the film. I just had a quick phone conversation with Rydstrom, a really nice guy whose filmography reads like a list of my favorite blockbusters. My first question was a pretty obvious one.

MERCURY: Where do you keep all those Oscars of yours?
GARY RYDSTROM: What’s nice about having that many is I could finally give one to my parents. A couple of years ago I gave one to my parents and it’s now the most handled Oscar in the world. Everyone who comes anywhere near their home has their picture taken with it. So it’s turned into a pile of dust. I keep a lot of ’em at Skywalker Sound, where I did a lot of that sound work, and they’re placed there, since it was kind of a group effort, so it’s nice to be able to do that.

I bet the mailman comes by and gets his picture taken with your Oscar.
There’s one person who came over to the house once knowing we had an Oscar there. He had, in his car, the top half only of a tuxedo. And at some point after dinner, he said, “Do you mind if I go and get changed?” [He changed] into his shirt and the tux coat, and had his photo taken from the waist up with the Oscar. That’s the sort of thing that happens.

How did the shift come about from you doing sound stuff to directing a short for Pixar?
One of the first things I did sound for was [early Pixar short] Luxo Jr. So I was connected with John Lasseter and Pixar for doing sound for them. So I was part of that group from the beginning. So I think what happened was, I got to my midlife crisis era, and wanted to do something more, or something different. I wanted a different challenge. And Pixar was nice enough to give me a chance to make movies there.

I’ll always love sound, but sound comes at the end of the process. And I went to film school, I wanted to make films, and I was yearning to get involved at the beginning of the process. Sound is great, but there’s so much that happens before then. So it’s really just due to having a lucky break and an opportunity that Pixar gave me at an opportune time in my life. I was very lucky.

Something that struck me about Lifted, as well as Ratatouille, was how much physical comedy is going on. How do you go about having all that physical comedy when you’re working in such a labor-intensive, drawn-out process as animation?
That’s one of the reasons I’m really happy to be tied to Ratatouille, ’cause Ratatouille has great physical comedy. And I love that. To tell you the truth, I went into film because I liked physical comedy. That’s my love. My career in sound was ironic, because I got into film because I love Chaplin and Keaton. And then I ended up doing sound for 20 years.

How did you end up getting into sound?
I’d done some sound in film and I got offered a job at Lucasfilm in 1983. You’re a film student, you know, and [Return of the] Jedi had just come out, and they say, “Do you want to work at Lucasfilm?” Two easy decisions in my career: One, somebody asked if I wanted to work at Lucasfilm, and then later, they asked if I wanted to work at Pixar.

Yeah, you can’t really answer other than “Yes” to those questions.
I like telling stories without dialogue as much as possible. And as a sound guy too, I liked the early Pixar shorts because they told stories without dialogue. They used physical action, and you got a sense of character just through the animation and the facial expressions. And I wanted to do that too, because that’s what I love.

Rydstrom and I talked a bit more, including just a bit about one of Pixar's upcoming features, Up, which he'll be writing. Here's the official synopsis:

From the Academy Award-nominated team of director Pete Docter and co-director Bob Peterson comes Up, an action-adventure starring an old man. In this “coming of old age” story, our hero travels the globe, fights beasts and villains, and eats dinner at 3:30 in the afternoon.

That's all we've got here, but I'd heartily advise cutting out of work a bit early to check out the Pixar presentation this afternoon. There'll be some great short films shown, and--if talking with Rydstrom was any indication--there'll also be plenty of smart, fun insights into what it's like to make films for Pixar. Like the rest of Platform, it'll likely be a world-class event, but in Portland. Which is awesome.

Pixar Animation Studios: Screening and Behind-the-Scenes Look at Lifted, presented by Gary Rydstrom
Thursday, June 28 from 4-5:30 pm, Newmark Theatre, 111 SW Broadway, $10

Think bike activists have forgotten Mayor Tom Potter’s nonchalant gutting of the funding of the Platinum Bike Master Plan? Not a chance. This town may be full of overwhelming niceness, but it’s got a long, long memory, and an uncanny ability to hold grudges.

For instance! These stickers were circulating around the Multnomah County Bike Fair last weekend, photographed by BikePortland.org headmaster Jonathan Maus:

Youch! If Potter decides to run for reelection, he’s going to have a nearly impossible time trying to win back the bike vote.

Peep the full photo here, and Jonathan’s coverage of the fair here.

On a related note, what with this fresh batch of rain ruining what has otherwise been a great week for (fair-weather) bike riding, and what with Sam Adams trying to drum up support for more transportation funding, I’ve got a little informal, unscientific survey:

If you don’t normally ride a bike—and by “normally,” I mean something along the lines of commuting to work at least three times a week—what is the primary reason? What would have to change in order for you to become a regular biker? (I’m not looking for answers from people who have to drive a truck full of tools to work everyday, or commute to, say, Salem, but from people who live and work in Portland.) How do you normally get around?

There are plenty of “official” surveys on this, but I’m curious what Blogtown readers have to say. So, have at it in the comments.

In the above video for “Mistaken For Strangers,” New York’s the National jump on a few beds, look sullen and linger about in a claustrophobic apartment. Fun times!

The band will be spreading the gloom at Berbati’s tonight, and then after the show, hotel bed jumping party at the Travel Lodge! Weeeeeeeee!!

What to read when your iphone breaks…

Did we really just run an article on Fall Out Boy? Since when did this become Tiger Beat? Next week: Who’s hotter, Aaron Carter or Ne-Yo! Also, lets play dress up with ‘lil Pete!
MP3: Fall Out Boy - The (After) Life Of The Party

Two Gallants take on the world, fight cops and then ride off into the sunset in an old boxcar.
MP3: Two Gallants - All Your Faithless Loyalties

We attempt to explore the wild Portland world of Blitzen Trapper. Wish us luck.
MP3: Blitzen Trapper - Summer Town

With Battles, you get all the good parts of Don Cab, but without that jerkhole Damon Che on drums. Hey, everyone wins!
MP3: Battles - Race_In

Is this a scam, or a brilliant idea?

It comes down to this. If we can’t raise the $50,000 in the next 3 months, we’ll have to choose abortion. We don’t like it, and we don’t like the nature of our appeal, but it is what it is. We’re asking you to donate money to us using the link to your left. Anything you can give would be appreciated.

Over at the locally based Makool Loves You web store, you can now find 25% off Babbu Bags. What on earth is a Babbu Bag, you say? Well, they’re cheery, funky, and somewhat childish Italian-made handbags and messenger bags. My favorite are the roomy carry-alls, perfect for packing all your soup-to-nuts beach or park summertime goodies, from a sunscreen to snacks.

While we prefer not to bore you with the tedious details of last night’s Larry King episode where he interviewed a post-prison Paris Hilton, let’s just say she showed about as much personality and sincerity as a slightly moldy sponge. HOWEVER! Paris did shock us with her profoundly deep and intricate knowledge of the Bible. Here’s the clip…

Too bad this one didn’t make it into this week’s Mercury SUMMER DANGER ISSUE:

This morning, at about 3:39 am, Southeast Precinct officers responded to a possible car prowl in progress in the area of Northeast 77th Avenue and Northeast Pacific Street. Officers arrived and contacted a citizen who had chased someone who appeared to be a teenager out of the area. The officers set a perimeter and applied a k-9 in the hope that the suspect my have been contained. Unfortunately they could not located a suspect. As the officers were in the area they saw several cars with the back windows broken out. Upon further inspection it appears that this was not a car prowl but was really a series of vandalisms with no attempt to steal anything. Several of the cars had baseball to softball size rocks in the back of the cars.

Officers have found about 25-30 cars that appear to have been vandalized in the same way. The general area of the vandalism’s is from 77th Avenue to 122nd Avenue between Northeast Halsey Street and Southeast Start Street. Officers have no suspect information. One citizen believes that a silver car may be involved but officers can not corroborate that information.

I don’t know about you, but I love the part where it says the officers “applied a k-9.” It reminds me of that James Belushi movie. Anyway: If you own a car in SE, please do not, on any account, sell it and buy a bicycle. Or switch to Flexcar. That would be GIVING IN TO THE TERRORISTS. Do you hear?

From Banana Lee Fishbones at Portland Metblogs:

I love Portland for stuff like this!

A Parking meter with “Cheese” written on it.
A tall bike.

Seen something similarly amazing? Save us the trouble of leaving the office! Send your pics to: todayinpdx@portlandmercury.com…we’d appreciate it.

Sigh….Is there anything that dreamy President Bush can’t do? Now he’s asserting executive privilege in refusing to answer subpoenas in the ongoing investigation of whether the White House fired federal prosecutors for political reasons. Before 2008, I can guarantee we’ll see him sprout wings and fly…or at least gain the power to disappear.

You win this round, DeLay!

Surprise, surprise—federal bureaucrats have sided with corporations and against the interests of the public. The chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission has issued a recommendation to lawmakers against net neutrality regulations.

Finally, the Die Hard franchise is getting the respect it deserves, with props from the movies ending up at the Smithsonian, next to Dorothy’s red slippers.

Is the Senate’s immigration package dead? It appears so, with a vote of 46-53; 60 votes were needed to close down debate and vote on the compromise. That could make the issue dead until after the 2008 elections.

Tony Blair is already catching heat on his new role as a peace envoy to the Middle East—Arab leaders apparently don’t have any confidence in him. Go figure.

In better news, the Spice Girls are reuniting.

Honk once for Oden! Honk twice for Durant!

Well, looks like the Blazers honked once. ESPN is reporting that the team will take big Greg Oden as the first pick of the 2007 NBA draft. Thanks for ruining the party, ESPN.

But knowing GM Kevin Pritchard, there still might be a whole lot of draft action to come. The fun starts at 4:30pm on ESPN, or on the giant JumboTron at the Rose Garden, which will be open (for free) at 3pm.

Alright, so Real Food author Nina Planck probably isn’t going to tell you anything you don’t already know (butter>margarine, etc). That’s not to say you should miss her reading at Powell’s tonight—she’s a savvy, experienced food writer and advocate for farmer’s markets and local eating. Plus, she’s controversial! Planck’s recent NY Times editorial Death by Veganism asserted that it’s impossible to raise a healthy vegan baby, and unsurprisingly prompted an immediate and vehement outcry—both from vegans, and from those who questioned Planck’s qualifications for writing the piece at all (she’s not a nutritionist—guess that’s why it was an op-ed).

I don't even begin to pretend to understand how to feed a baby correctly (something about boobs?), but I do find it frustrating that so many proponents of the local/sustainable movement can't figure out how to coexist with vegans and vegetarians, or even how to talk about their diets without being condescending or dismissive, and I got a whiff of that attitude off her article.

But anyway, here's a little Planck on Planck:

Only the open-minded need apply; skeptics welcome. Nina Planck is 'the antidote to the fadists and kooks who all too often dominate American food discourse.' That's David Kamp, author of The United States of Arugula, talking. I'm a nutrition geek, a local food entrepreneur, and a monomaniac about the operational details of farmers markets. I come to all this as the daughter of working farmers. I grew up in Virginia, selling our ecological vegetables at farmers markets. After some years as a vegan and vegetarian, I now eat beef, eggs, butter, raw milk, and other taboo foods - the foods I grew up on - with impunity. In Real Food, I explain why they're all good for you. (So are fish, olive oil, and vegetables.) Mark Bittman called Real Food 'compellingly smart' and Michael Pollan said it was 'persuasive and invigorating.' I like to think of real food as The Omnivore's Delight. So many good foods to eat.

Powell's on Burnside, 7:30 pm, FREE

Don’t forget—Blitzen Trapper plays Holocene June 28th with Shaky Hands and Pseudosix!

Remember the Platform Animation Festival—the kickass, world-class festival that’s having it’s inaugural event right here in Portland? Well, it’s still going on, and there are about a bazillion events popping off every day. One that sound particularly fun happens tomorrow night down in the Pearl, in conjunction with PNCA: It’s a street party that includes tons of outdoor animation installations throughout the Pearl District. You can show up at PNCA (NW 13th & Johnson) around 8 pm and bum around until midnight or so, hunting for 17 different site specific pieces by animators from around the world. Check out more on the event and a list of all the participating artists here.

A lot of people keep asking me if Live Free or Die Hard is any good, at which point I say “It’s alright” and then I refer them here. The big thing about this Die Hard is that it’s rated PG-13, unlike its R-rated predecessors, and it feels it: Bad guys don’t bleed as much, the action is cartoony and light, and John McClane’s catchphrase “Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker” is awkwardly interrupted by a well-timed gunshot. (“Yippie-ki-yay, motherf[KA-BLAM!]” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.)

And while Die Hard might be the most recent PG-13 action flick, it’s hardly the first—as Bruce Willis himself noted in Vanity Fair, “That’s a studio decision that is becoming more and more common, because they’re trying to reach a broader audience. It seems almost a courageous move to give a picture an R rating these days.” But while action flicks are being made kid-friendly, horror pictures are going the other way, with torture porn flicks like Hostel, Saw, and the upcoming Captivity pushing the envelope as hard as they can for more gore and blood. Cinematical has a pretty interesting story up, though, suggesting that the trend might be reversing—are future horror films going to be kinder, gentler affairs too?

I can’t stand the torture porn genre—it actually makes me kind of sick to my stomach—but I am a fan of the R rating in general. I like that there are some movies for everyone, and some movies for grown-ups, and I don’t like feeling like stuff that should be for grown-ups (Die Hard) is being edited down into something that’s more acceptable for a broader, younger audience (Live Free or Die Hard). But what do you guys think? 300 proved that R-rated action movies can still make money, but that seems to be the exception rather than the rule. Does Die Hard’s PG-13 rating affect your desire to see it?

Liz Claiborne died of cancer yesterday, at the age of 78, close on the heels of fellow designer Gianfranco Ferre and magazine contributor/career discover-er Isabella Blow. If death really does come in threes, maybe this is it for a while for high profile fashion people passing away. While the name Liz Claiborne might make you think of the more matronly sections of department stores now, she was pretty kickass back in the day, and her Working Woman ensembles ruled the office in the ’70s and ’80s.

If you’re the kind of person who needs music throughout your workday, or loves snooping around on your co-workers’ iTunes, then check out my new favorite time waster, SOUNDPEDIA.
It’s in the same realm as Pandora and other streaming music servers, but with Soundpedia you can listen to entire albums by artists (right now I’m spinning Salt-N-Peppa’s “Very Necessary”), create your own playlists to listen to later, watch music videos, create your own profile