"What better way to show that we're people out here in need of housing who have respect for the community?" he asked. (Bishop is second from right, in blue).

"My stuff goes with me," said Donald Yates, left, who has been homeless for about 6 years. "I carry a bag of trash out with me every morning, but I always end up picking up other people's trash. There's homeless people like me who don't believe in mess."

Bishop has been out on numerous nights over the past week telling people he plans to do the clean-up. He says he wanted to be sure that if there was anything people needed, they'd have time to take it with them. "Most of this stuff was soaking wet and had been lying here for a long time," he says.

"In this progressive liberal city I've come across numerous articles that put homeless people in a bad light," says Paul De Jean, right, who has been homeless since his home was foreclosed on in January. "So when we saw this place we thought, next time they say homeless people are doing this or that, they'll be able to see we're doing something positive."

"I think this is a real good idea so we can show people that not all homeless people are trash," said Cindy, who didn't give her last name, but who has been homeless since May 2005.

When I left at 2:30, the unofficial campground was spotless.

I mean, check this out: I was going to write about Auditor Gary Blackmer's move to enshrine the city ombudsman's office into the city charter. YAWN.

But it's August. City hall is slow. Charter amendments are kinda sexy, right?

Well, this one sure got sexy. Or depressing. I'm not sure.

I spoke with Ombudsman Michael Mills this morning, and got quite an education on his role at the city. It's obvious he cares a great deal about what he does, and fully believes that the job is "an important service in accountable governance," as Blackmer wrote in a resolution supporting the charter amendment. Mills told me about the time his office discovered an issue with the Bureau of Development Services, "where people were being fined thousands of dollars for minor infractions," apparently to generate revenue for the bureau. The Commissioner in charge of the bureau at the time--Charlie Hales--didn't find out about the issue until it hit the media, after the bureau director essentially ignored Mills' recommendations to fix things.

Of course, Mills was excited about a public vote to put the ombudsman role into the charter, which "provides some permanence and stature" to the job he and deputy ombudsman Kristen Erbes do. "This is sort of the final chapter in the way that best practices dictate that an ombudsman should be set up." Man, this guy bleeds good government.

As our conversation wrapped up, I asked Mills if there was council support for putting the charter amendment on the ballot. Who could possibly object to something so innocuous?

Commissioner Dan Saltzman, that's who. Mills told me Saltzman had his concerns, and Blackmer was going to try and meet with him this afternoon to talk about it.

Mills called me back an hour later. Blackmer and Saltzman had met. And Saltzman "didn't see the need to amend the charter," says Mills.

"It wasn't supposed to be controversial," Mills added. "This is a surprise and a disappointment."

"If we're asking voters to change our what's essentially our constitution, he'd like to have a little more discussion about it," says Saltzman's policy advisor Matt Grumm. The charter amendment "kind of came out of nowhere. We just saw it Monday."

From what I learned in speaking with Mills, however, this isn't a new idea. It was originally on a list for the Charter Review Commission to consider in 2006. Since the commission was dealing with much bigger issues--like changing the city's form of government--"they never got to it," Mills explains.

Now, it might not come back up until May 2010, leaving Mills and Erbes as just another city code. (But hey! The council has a history of totally respecting the city code.) I told you this story was depressing.

Screw you, Tom Wolfe: This is the new journalism in action.

First, PG quotes former Adams staffer Jesse Beason from Adams' blog, who wrote in November 2006 (remember, when the possibility that property could fall in value was just, well, ludicrous?!) that Milepost 5 will provide: "permanently affordable place for artists of all media to create their work, learn from each other, and focus on professional development." PG got into it with Beason on the blog, asking what mechanisms were in place to ensure that Milepost 5 will, indeed, be "permanently affordable." Or:

If someone like Beason is going to sling around lovely unicorn ponies like the phrase "permanently affordable," I think it's pretty much a travesty that nobody's talking about how that permanence is in fact structured. I asked Beason on the Adams blog about this and his response was unsatisfyingly vague.

PG goes on to question whether Milepost 5 is even an "artists colony," after all.

The fact is, though the project is described as though the whole idea is simply, space for artists, the total number of units is 54, and of that number, only the smallest 22 units are going under what is called the "Pay It Forward" program...Yes, most of the units are actually something quite other than, as Jesse Beason describes it, "the first of what we hope will be many places that offer affordable rental and ownership opportunities for artists." Truth is, the lion's share of this project is really not in fact "being turned into something of an artist incubator out on 82nd and Glisan."

And this is the meat of it:

Even if it's a little too generous to go around saying that "an old, abandoned nursing home in the Montavilla neighborhood could soon be a hip new live-work space for local artists." When you're actually talking about fewer than half the units, it's probably just realpolitik, Portland-Arts style.

He said "realpolitik!" About Sam Adams! And then, he got into square footage!

The reader is invited to check this math, but the way I see it, in terms of space rather than units, when all these folks from Adams and Beason on down are talking about Milepost 5, they're actually talking about something like 30% of Milepost 5. The other 70% of this Mp5 "entrepreneurially"-funded catastrophe will be, you guessed it, condominiums priced at something around $400/sq ft just like every other condo building in town.

PG goes on to compare Milepost 5 to more successful similar projects in Sacramento, and to slam an alleged Nike Developer who is "houseblogging" his housing experience at Milepost 5, to generate extra marketing cache for when he ultimately flogs the place. The blog concludes:

Matt Davis, and all of us, have plenty of reason to be a bit nauseated by Milepost 5's hype. Because we all know there are better ways to make community than via entrepreneurs doing what entrepreneurs do. We've seen, here and there, if briefly, what people can do when they need the real thing enough. Really, aren't we just about fed up with this kind of shit?

Why, yes, PG! Yes, we are! Now, if only a local reporter could be bothered to get out to Milepost 5 and research the shit out of the place, I'm sure there'd be more troubling, Adams-platitude-undermining realities to be found. Well, okay, then. Since you asked so nicely...

Bonus: We'll be playing bingo during the speech. For prizes.

This event is going to be so cool, it's even listed on Obama's very own website!

The speech starts at 7, but we'll be at Roots Organic Brewing Company (1520 SE 7th) at 6 pm (or even earlier, to catch happy hour), tossing back a pint or two, and watching the beginning of the last throes of the Bush Administration.

Hat tip to Blue Oregon. Have a great weekend!

I had a great interview with Frank last week, and we talked about Sen. Barack Obama, the man who accepts the Democratic presidential nomination in two weeks. Could Obama turn the federal government ship around? Will he be a liberal president, in the tradition of JFK or FDR?

A highlight:

Mercury: Do you think it is likely Obama will be able to make a paradigm shift in D.C.? Are the conditions right?

TF: The public attitude is right. And he is the right guy. I don't know if he has that ambition though.

He talks about change, and if anybody could rebuild the federal government--which would require youth, energy, idealism--he is the guy that can bring that. I don't know whether he wants to do that or not. I don't know if that is what he has in mind. I sure hope so.

But look, the public opinion is there, people are so angry at the Bush administration, they are sick of conservatism. In my opinion, Obama's task is to give it the knockout blow. I hope he does, I would like to see it. But he hasn't done it yet, he has shown any inclination to do it yet. But I hope he does.

More about Frank's thoughts on Obama after the cut. And check him out tonight at Powell's on W Burnside at 7:30 pm!

The court wrote:

Plaintiffs, Oregon voters who signed Referendum 303, appeal the district court's denial of permanent injunctive relief against Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury ("Secretary"). The Secretary determined that Referendum 303, which sought a statewide vote on a legislative act establishing same-sex domestic partnerships, did not have enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. Plaintiffs contend that the Secretary's procedures for verifying referendum petition signatures violated their equal protection and due process rights. The district court held that no constitutional violations occurred. We affirm.

Which means that vote isn't going to happen, so the domestic partnership law--which went into effect in February, after an initial court ruling in the state's favor--is safe for now.

With at least one of anti-gay groups behind the effort lacking cash, it's unclear if they'll make an effort next year to repeal the law (their only option now that it's in place; the early effort was technically a 'referral' before the law took effect). Otherwise, I suppose they could appeal the case to the Supreme Court...

"Many appreciate what a 24 hour downtown convenience store brings, but there are also concerns about the element that has been attracted to the stores," says Saltzman. "But it is my hope that we're turning a new leaf here, and that the relationship between Doug Peterson and the downtown public safety community will improve."

In addition to withdrawing his threat of a lawsuit against the city, Peterson has signed a month-to-month lease with eight conditions, number 3 of which requires him to call the Portland Business Alliance's private security firm if there are any problems:

1. Cooperating with the DA's office on prosecution.
2. No sales of individually packaged malt alcohol or single cigarettes.
3. Report to the PPB and downtown Clean & Safe anyone engaged in illegal behavior.
4. Rules of conduct for customers and trespass agreements for non-compliance.
5. Provide onsight security at 922 SW Morrison. (Hire a rent-a-cop? prediction, Portland Patrol Services, Inc?...)
6. Owner, store mgr + security to attend a monthly meeting with police and deputy district attorney.
7. Compliance with health regs.
8. Creation and compliance with good neighbor agreement.

"I'd just like to thank Commissioners for their faith that I can do this and I will do this and their faith in small business," said Peterson.

Gentrification has been an ongoing part of the debate, particularly the role of Brooks Brothers convenience store in calling for Peterson's eviction. Commissioner Nick Fish called out the Brooks Brothers assistant manager who emailed the mayor, writing: "I fail to see why a disgusting store such as Peterson's is able to stay open. It caters to the dregs of society."

"I certainly hope that that does not reflect the official corporate policy of Brooks Brothers," said Fish. "And I would remind the person who sent that email that the so-called 'dregs' of the city include homeless veterans. And I think it is a sad day when we use disparaging language about people who, through no fault of their own, are homeless on the streets of Portland."

In other words? Brooks Brothers can eat it.

ORIGINAL POST, 10:38: I'm sitting in City Council watching the Mercury's former managing editor, Phil Busse, present movies by students from the NW Institute for Social Change to city council. The projects were introduced by mayor-elect Sam Adams, who happens to be on the board of Busse's project, and boy, it seems like he bought a degree of editorial sympathy from the makers of the first documentary, which wholeheartedly praised Adams' controversial artist's housing project, Milepost 5, for providing affordable housing for artists.

The "former nursing home" on 82nd Avenue, claimed the documentary, was better suited to helping struggling artists than, well, you know, unsightly retired folks. It quoted someone saying "82nd avenue is famous for three things, porn shops, pawn stores, and Asian groceries," without seeming to reflect on why Asian grocery stores like Fubonn might be a better reason to visit the street than to watch some fucking half-witted video installation project or smoke a bowl with a dude in Birkenstocks.

In my opinion, Milepost 5 has nothing to do with the affordable housing debate. Nor do the city's so-called "struggling artists."

"Great project," said Adams. "Great films..."

[is sick in own mouth]

As predicted, the mayor's Street Access for Everyone oversight committee listening session this afternoon was separated into ten groups, each attended by a facilitator who presented back to the larger group at the end. This made it difficult for me, as a reporter, to listen to all of what was being said, and several of those who spoke left before I could get their names. Nevertheless...

The chief architect of the sit/lie law, Mike Kuykendall of the Portland Business Alliance, showed up and sat at a table opposite the law's chief opponent, Sisters Of The Road's community organizer Patrick Nolen. Nolen pointed out that 133 of the, so far 159 total police contacts associated with the law have been made by two officers paid for by the PBA; Dobson, and Cox.

In addition, Nolen's survey of 169 people, asking how they had been treated by the officer enforcing the law, shows that 15 said "friendly," 28 "firm but fair," 32 "unfriendly," 46 "rude or disrespectful," and 22 "aggressive." 29 didn't respond. 2 specific people mentioned Dobson and Cox as either rude or specifically targeting them.

The majority of those present appeared to be testifying against the ordinance, but I did manage to catch up with two retail employees who were big supporters. Read all about the meeting after the jump.

Now this afternoon at 3pm, the mayor's Street Access For Everyone Oversight committee, at which Potter, personally, has not appeared one single time since its inception last year, is holding an official "listening session" for two hours, to hear about the community's response to the controversial sidewalk obstruction ordinance, at the First Presbyterian church on SW 12th. The session will be facilitated by the mayor's public advocate, Jeremy Van Keuren, who has been trained by Portland's facilitator extraordinaire , Judith Mowry, about whom I have written here, before. She's the person Portland government brings in after everything's fucked up, and it wants someone to pretend to listen while the disgruntled citizens blow off steam. She's a paid "listener." Whether it's public art, gentrification, street renaming, or hell, even what happened to New Orleans, Mowry's usually there with a flip pad, a talking piece, and a patronising holier-than-thou attitude. And until she was hired by the city, an invoice, too.

But not today. Fortunately, the dwindling mayor's office has decided that Van Keuren, who strikes me as a sincere person, not only because he showed up last Thursday night to the truth commission at Sisters of the Road cafe, should lead the discussion. Obviously Potter had a prior engagement. Yep, according to his schedule, he's on vacation.

There will most likely be no appearance this afternoon from the chief architect of the sit/lie ordinance, the Portland Business Alliance's vice president for downtown services, our city's private mayor, Mike Kuykendall. I say again: I would be surprised if he showed up. Because he doesn't get paid to listen to people complain, and from watching him over two years, push this ordinance through, I've rarely seen him do anything that didn't appear to be motivated by advocating on behalf of his paying constituents. So Van Keuren is paid to listen on not only Potter's, but also, Kuykendall's behalf.

Second prediction: This afternoon's "listening" session will be broken down into small groups, to avoid the possibility of confrontation. Never mind that the issue is inherently controversial, the deck is rigged against people expressing their outrage. Instead, small groups of already dis-empowered individuals will be required to say how bad they feel, while people take notes and later, "report back" to the group.

"What I'm hearing you say," Van Keuren will have to respond, "is that you think the ordinance is unfair and unconstitutional, that it targets homeless people for special treatment, and that you want it suspended."

"Yes," the reporter will say.

"Thanks for your input," Van Keuren will be paid to respond.

Then, we'll see a report back to council in September, where the reservations of the people affected by the ordinance will be "listened to" by a reverent council paid to pretend they care. Then Kuykendall will say how good the ordinance has been for downtown, and how, really, the sit/lie ordinance is good for Portland, and council will renew it. Because money talks louder than any man. Even in Portland, Oregon. For shame.

Well, I'm not listening. There's an article in this morning's Eugene Register Guard that challenges Oregonians to reconsider the Old West's rich history of boosterism with a new sense of reflection that moves beyond blind hubris. I'd encourage those involved in the SAFE process to read it. And think about what it might mean.

He also notes that the city's $35,000 as-yet-unnamed consultant "is not for the applicants." The consultant will assist the panel of historians and the planning commission with outreach, for whatever street renaming proposals come along in the next year.

Finally, the proposal to rename 42nd for Douglas Adams can carry on, Adams says, while the Chavez application also goes through the pipeline. The city engineer is currently looking at the Douglas Adams application, and if it meets the basic city criteria, the proponent can decide if they'll be gathering signatures from 75 percent of 42nd's property owners, or from 2500 people city wide. Aaron Duran of Rename42nd.org posted an update on the group's blog, and tells me:

I had a short conversation with Sam Adams regarding the process.

He was very helpful in explaining the situation. He also went on to explain that this consultant is not just for the Chavez group. He claims this consultant is going to work with any group attempting a street renaming process. I have no reason not to believe him.

We should have an official answer [from the city engineer] within a week or two.

On August 7th, Pastor Thomas Robb, National Director of The Knights Party (aka Knights of the Ku Klux Klan) issued an invitation to presidential hopefuls, Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain to speak to their annual leadership conference over the week-end of August 29, 30 &31. While the invitation is sincere and an acceptance by the candidates would be welcome, Pastor Robb is confident that both candidates are more interested in pandering to ethnic minorities than addressing the issues of concern to White Christians.

The context of both invitations were similar in content and read as follows.

Dear Senator McCain:

Recently you have received and accepted invitations to speak to various groups regarding your qualifications to be President of the United States. In each of these meetings you would address issues that were of concern to the particular group you were speaking to.

On June 2nd you appeared before AIPAC - American-Israel Political Affairs Committee. On July 14th you appeared before National Council of La Raza. On July 16th you appeared before the NAACP - National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

I am confident that each of these meetings produced positive results for your campaign. We would like to submit a similar invitation for you to speak to our group.

For the most part White people are ignored during election campaigns and, unfortunately after elections. The White population is generally ignored because of the persuasive attitude that it doesn't really matter as the white vote is always split down the middle and the block votes of other ethnic people always decides the election outcome.

That, however, is likely to change as more and more whites are feeling a sense of disenfranchisement and displacement. A white block vote may well be in the development. Only time will tell.

I would like to extend an invitation to you to come and speak to our national leadership conference taking place on August 29,30 & 31. I am confident that your appearance will create an exciting and lively discussion and can produce a national buzz for your campaign.

I assure you that this is a sincere invitation and you will be afforded the respect that is deserving any candidate for the highest office in the land.

Please contact me directly at 870-427-3414 and let me know of your acceptance of our invitation.

Sincerely,

Thomas Robb

We just called the number. Unsurprisingly, it was engaged. There's a fascinating old Mike Wallace interview with 50s klan leader Eldon Edwards on the University of Texas' website, if you're interested. I, personally, would be fascinated to attend the group's so-called "leadership conference" at the end of the month. But so far, no invitation.

[Meanwhile, for clarity: I'm assuming Caldwell wrote this piece, because it's signed on the O's blog. But I could be wrong. Still. Being from the generation that doesn't bother, I'm not going to worry too much about it. Y should I?!]

I came to Portland having graduated college in Brighton, England: a town rather like Portland, with a progressive bent but few well-paying jobs. I moved back to my parents' house in South London and worked a graduate job at a bank to pay off my credit cards and bank overdrafts, and build some capital. Then I quit to work for a photographer, and ultimately, got a postgraduate journalism certificate and a job at a financial trade paper. I still have $20,000 in student loans, but fortunately, in England, you have to be earning a certain amount before you have to start paying them off. So last year, for example, I had to write a check for $850, and call it square. They charge 2% interest. Who cares.

My wife was able to get a job here in Portland, and when we eventually got together and were looking at whether to live in Portland or London, Portland seemed an obvious choice, if only for economic reasons, and because I didn't fancy sharing my parents' attic with her to avoid joining generation debt.

I can't speak for wifey, but I came here because Portland seemed like one of the last places in America or the UK where it might be possible to live the kind of life my parents had lived in their 20s, independent and excited, without having to depend on them, or on a credit card, for financial support.

But Portland is changing. They're not planning the new I-5 bridge for nothing. This is a city, I think, with massive economic potential. And that means the young'ns are going to get priced out. There's going to be more competition for the same jobs. Portland's "laid back" character will be nothing but a facade masking a ruthless tussle for the limited opportunities on offer. Just like New York.

If you need a metaphor for what I'm suggesting, just look at mayor-elect Sam Adams. He may be gay. Hell, he may even be "nice." He rides a bike! He was Oregon raised, for crying out loud. But mark my words: The guy is ambitious as all hell. And if you're in his way, he'll close you down. Just ask convenience store owner, Doug Peterson.

I don't expect people like Caldwell to care, of course. After all, the worst he'll be facing over at the O is a buyout settlement when the paper eventually decides it can't afford to employ him any longer, and he'll probably have enough to retire to the coast. But for us young, ambitious Portlanders, those of us who came here to get started, rather than to live in our parents' basements (or attics) any longer, it rather sticks in the craw to have some old hack attack a whole generation based on a stereotype from 1992.

I was 13 in 1992, Bob. And people like me are about ready to drink your milkshake...whether you like it or not.

But, what taxpayers want is to save their own money - not to give the legislature the opportunity to spend public safety dollars on something else. Many studies have shown that failing to remove serious criminals from the streets costs citizens more per person than actively incarcerating the prisoners. That is, for each dollar the state spends incarcerating bad guys, citizens save more than that dollar in reduced society costs. The most obvious costs are the direct costs imposed on crime victims, but society pays other costs: security services, alarm systems, increased insurance rates, increased costs of goods as merchants recover for thievery, increased costs for identity theft protection programs, etc.

"I'm Paris Hilton and I approve this message, because I think it's totally hot."

Commissioner Dan Saltzman, as you may be aware, is trying to save Peterson's convenience store from eviction. But it appears he's getting the cold shoulder from our "business friendly" mayor-elect, Sam Adams.

Commissioner Saltzman is understood to be considering filing a council resolution for next Wednesday, requiring the bureau of general services to place some specific requirements into a month to month lease with Peterson's.

But so far, Saltzman has had what aide Matt Grumm characterizes as a "very tepid to limited response" from his council colleagues. Randy Leonard and Tom Potter are not in council next week, Nick Fish is understood to be on Saltzman's wavelength, meanwhile commissioner Sam Adams appears to be content to miss this opportunity to help one of Portland's small businesses.

"I would not necessarilly characterize it that way," says a typically diplomatic Grumm. "There are a lot of important things going on in the city, but this doesn't appear to have risen to a high level of priority for Dan's council colleagues at this point."

In other words, Sam Adams hates small business. And he's content to let the issue slide. Right? I've got a call into his chief of staff, although most likely, there'll be no response. Because it's best to try to duck away from issues like this than be honest about what you think, right, Sam?

1:17 pm. I'm huddled with a few reporters at Waterfront Park, waiting for the crew from Convergence for Climate Action to set up some street theater--something involving long bamboo poles, cutouts of cars, and lots of anti-bridge posters--and to pull the trigger on a bigger act of civil disobedience (hint: cops are hovering, and I don't doubt someone's going to get arrested).

UPDATE 2:35 pm! A "climate activist" is currently suspending herself from the Morrison bridge and is getting ready to unfurl a banner. Read the activists' press release after the jump! (We mean the blog jump, not the activist... you know what we mean.)
Stay tuned for the latest, with pictures forthcoming!

UPDATE 3:05 pm! The protester is in position and has unfurled her banner. Firefighters and cops everywhere... Fire rescue is the water and looking ready to rappel from the bridge deck.

UPDATE 3:20 pm! That was a short protest. The cops offered Maya Smeloff the chance to avoid arrest and a night in jail if she'd come down. After yelling over the water with her cohorts, Smeloff agreed to climb down--but she left her banner behind. A trio of firefighters in mountain climbing gear scrambled up the bridge trusses to remove the sign.

As Smeloff and the other guy who assisted in the protest--he blocked the maintenance access to the bridge--were being written up, the crowd moved on, to the NW Natural building a few blocks away. There, three woman have "occupied the headquarters of NW Natural Gas Co. in Portland to protest the company's involvement in Liquefied Natural Gas development (LNG). The climate activists have locked themselves to each other in a circle, blockading the entrance to the building providing an opportunity for interaction with the growing crowd."

Brian Sloan, one of the spokespeople for today's actions, noted that these two events were just a warm up, for bigger climate-related action yet to come in the next few days. (P.S. - I asked why they climbed the Morrison Bridge instead of, say, the I-5 bridge. "More charges," he said; the Interstate bridge is state property.

August 1, 2008

On Tuesday July 27, Street Roots interviewed 27 individuals experiencing homelessness and two canvassers on Portland street corners.

Fifteen of the 27 individuals had been given verbal or written warnings or citations for the sidewalk obstruction ordinance. Twelve of those interviewed say they have also been warned by some form of private security or building owners not to sit on the sidewalks. Almost everyone Street Roots talked to had been given a park exclusion notice in the last 30 days - many of which came from Portland Patrol Inc.

Street Roots will be spending two more days on the streets this weekend and next week interviewing individuals on the streets about their experience with the sidewalk obstruction ordinance. Interviews will be published in next weeks Street Roots coming out on August 8th.

The notes on the sit-lie (AKA sidewalk obstruction) law are shocking enough, and are further evidence that the city's talk on this law not targeting the homeless don't match the city's walk. But what really grabbed my attention was the parks exclusion bit: Almost everyone of the 27 Street Roots spoke to had received a parks exclusion notice in the last month? Geez.

See, Crowe apparently has two email lists. The one he hasn't scrubbed of media folks--there, I'm subscribed with my Mercury email address--and the one that he thinks is just his true followers. Usually, everything he sends out, like Sunday sermons, goes out to both lists.

Tonight, I got an email to the true followers list (which, obviously, has folks in there who aren't). It's panicky, and paints a picture of an organization that's extremely low on cash. Emphasis his...

Restore America exists to mobilize the millions upon millions of professed evangelicals to get up off their posteriors, REGISTER to VOTE, and VOTE!

There has never in my lifetime been a more important election to determine the future of America.

But I need your help! I cannot do this by myself with a few volunteers. We have less than $4000 in our bank account to:

1. Continue functioning as a ministry and pay our bills
2. Prepare, print, and mail the Value Your Vote, Vote Your Values Campaign information and challenge to 2000 Bible believing, God honoring Oregon churches this month and twice again before the election
3. Meet payroll and expenses
4. Expand our email reach

We need $50,000 more to serve all Oregonians, register and turn out the Christian VOTE, and restore the legislature to sanity in the face of what will happen in 2009.

When I KNOW that whoever is elected President will determine who is nominated to the Supreme Court and that those nominations will determine the nations future policy on abortion, homosexual intolerance, marriage, family, morality, freedom of speech and association, the law, and more, I shudder when I contemplate the possibility that Christians will continue to refuse to be good citizens on behalf of their children and neighbors.

Back in April, Crowe sent a similarly the-sky-is-falling note, chastising his flock: "Of the 8,000 Oregonians on this email list, only 40 have made contributions toward our efforts, totaling $4,385.00. That is not enough."

And that was when Crowe was raising money for the petition drive. This time, he's asking for payroll and marketing funds. I have a hard time believing his "Bible believing, God honoring" followers are going to open up their wallets to the tune of $50K for that.