Dohiyi Mir

Am I Blu-Ray?

I'm still gonna watch porn the old fashioned way: on my iPod.

ntodd

BREAKING NEWS!

All three of E's companions joined Edwards in endorsing Obama today ahead of the Oregon primary...

Gracey doesn't like press conferences

Pearl was a DK supporter, but has come around to Obama.

Look, I endorsed him, okay?  Now will you take me for a walk?

ntodd

Wednesday Portlandblogging

After a lovely dinner with ErinPDX and Sarah Deere last night, E and I waited for MAX.  Chess dude was just gathering up his pieces for the evening and we chatted a bit about Vermont.

Lounging at E's, nursing my sore Achilles heel while she's at work today.  She tells me I've officially arrived because Gracey is rolling around on the back of chair as I blog.

ntodd

Run, Hillary, Run!

Jesus fuck, John, who's the horrible human being?

Good God. What is wrong with her? The Clintons and their campaign staff don't give a damn that they are now hurting our electoral chances in the fall against McCain and against the Republicans in Congress. Their campaign isn't happening in some vacuum, and they know it. Our candidates can't fundraise because of her. Obama can't focus on McCain because of her. Obama is wasting money on HER, rather than spending it on McCain, because of her. EMILY's List, and AFSCME, and the American Federation of Teachers and others are wasting their members' money on her now-failed race - money that they could be spending, should be spending, on other real races, races that haven't already lost. She can't win, the math says she lost the nomination, but she doesn't give a damn. She's going to stay in the race like some spoiled hateful egotistical brat.
...
The Clintons don't give a damn about our party. Their party, their church, is themselves. To hell with everyone else. I actually liked Hillary up until a few months ago. Other bloggers used to tell me that Joe and I were too nice to Hillary. People just assumed that we were endorsing her. Now I actually loathe her. She makes me yell at the TV like she's George Bush, and no one other than George Bush makes me yell at the TV - until now. I actually can't stand her or her husband any more. I defended her. I defended her husband. And now I'm actually wondering if the Republicans weren't right about them. That's how bad she has damaged her reputation. People who actually liked you, who actually helped you, who actually defended you, LOATHE you now. Call me a Clinton-hater all you like, but people like me were the ones who had your back. And we never will again.

The spoiled hateful egotistical brats are the Clinton-haters who can't seem to get it through their thick fucking skulls that this is democracy in action.  It's messy.  It involves allowing folks in West Virginia--who BTW gave Clinton a more than 2:1 victory over Obama--and Oregon a chance to weigh in before you petulantly demand a candidate should leave because you don't like her. 

The party still has lots of fundraising opportunities as the campaign continues, and if you can't figure out how to multitask and attack McCain whilst fighting off a fellow Democrat in a goddamned primary, then you ain't the shit.  All of this might be why a vast majority of Democrats want her to remain in the race.

So go cry in your fucking beer because you can't declare victory.  I mean, hell, elections are all about your feelings...

ntodd

PDX Update

The protesters were back at City Hall as of this AM.  Lots of them wearing "I DON'T KNOW WHERE [ELSE] TO GO" signs around their necks.  Bought a copy of Street Roots this afternoon to find a flier inside telling us to stand with them in the Council Meeting today at 915AM.  D'oh!  Apparently we missed a bit of drama.

We're going to head back there when E gets done with some errands after work.  I want to see if I can get some audio this time and maybe more info about plans--the HLF, Street Roots and Mercury blogs aren't really keeping ahead of the game and just reporting stuff really after the fact.

ntodd

Disbanding For Now

Blogtown:

The homeless protesters outside city hall have decided to disband and leave for tonight, to regroup and return in the morning and avoid being swept by the cops. Representative Art Rios, Sr. told the crowd, and three different TV cameras, at 7:30 that the protesters can claim a series of “great big victories,” including a conversation with the mayor, and “great support from the community,” but that by cleaning up and returning in the morning, the protesters can create a “win-win situation.” Behind him, a 12-foot banner read “Repeal the Sit/Lie Ordinance.”

This was what I thought would happen after we dropped by yesterday.  It appeared people were gathering things, and there was some significant debate about what to do.  For example, a person selling Street Roots was in a passionate-yet-muted argument with another person about prior sweeps/arrests and whether that meant they should move on for a time.  I think it is probably a good idea to regroup and consider the next tactical steps, get more info out to the wider community, etc.

If I have any critique from my imperfect perch it's that I found it difficult to get any information about how best to support the protest.  Didn't appear to be any media/outreach contact person(s), and even when asked to air their grievances by an OPB sound person almost everybody refused until one person reluctantly took up the microphone. 

I understand a certain reticence given their precarious position, but if you want to beat City Hall you need your message spread far and wide.  Hopefully the blogging that's sprung up will mature a bit and be a part of communicating what their goals and such are rather than mere recapitulation of news from other sources.  There are plenty of people on the ground who can share their own experiences, insights and whatnot that will have more value than what the fucking Oregonian has to say.

One seemingly positive sign we saw made mention of Vera Katz engaging protesters a few years back, so I did a little research into some of the history of how Portland has dealt with homelessness.  The exact timeline is unclear, but it looks like the camping and "sit/lie" ordinances (yes, I spelled it right this time) in question came up because of some constitutional issues with City Code back around 2000 when Dignity Village was established:

Initially confronted by police for their unlicensed use of public land, the initial group of eight men and women had the benefit of a forceful voice in the person of homeless activist Jack Tafari, and the early support of a few local politicians and associated coverage in the local media. The Portland police department eventually realized that the group, then calling themselves Camp Dignity, was engaged in complicated Constitutional issues of redress of grievance, and deferred the political issue to the local political authority: The Portland City Council and Mayor.

Once established in the gray area of political speech, the fortunes of Dignity Village increased and picked up significant media coverage and popular support, but at the same time, they faced a compromise that the group found hard to swallow, having initially fought against.

Pressure on Mayor Katz continued in 2001 and as late as 2003, I was still able to find articles about the encampment.  Local folks might be able to tell me if there was a bit of detente when the city came up with a 10-year plan to end homelessness, but a few years into this it appears very little has been accomplished and is the genesis of the current protest along with, I suspect, an election year increase in police enforcement of the anti-homeless laws.

Regardless, the long struggle is clearly an excellent example of strategic resistance, from nonviolent invasion to occupation to establishing parallel social, economic and political systems.  We can all learn from this principled action.

ntodd

Tuesday Photoblogging

Pearl.

Gracey (apparently I've been spelling it wrong).

The Toon.

Mayor Tom Potter is a liar.

Speaking with OPB about the protest.

More stuff about the City Hall demonstration later.  Was hard to get info about what's going down today, plus I want to research a bit about the previous mayor who had a hand in the ordinances at issue...

ntodd

Unresolved

Well, the best laid plans and all that.  We ended up not going to the City Hall protest last night--more on that in a moment--but it looks like we'll have further opportunities:

In a letter sent Monday afternoon, Potter agreed to meet with the protesters for a second time this afternoon. But he rejected their request that the meeting be open to the public and reiterated that he intends to begin enforcing city law.

"I strongly support your right to protest. However, the City has the right to make reasonable time, place, and manner rules for the conduct of protests in public spaces, and can also act to protect the public from unnecessary obstructions as well as health, sanitation, and safety problems," he wrote. "Protests must comply with the City's camping and sidewalk obstruction ordinances."

The camp-in began April 25 in response to a confluence of events. Every spring, after extra winter shelter space has closed for the season, miniature tent cities spring up under bridges and in city parks. About the same time, police go through and warn occupants that they'll soon sweep out the camps. The sweeps usually coincide with the start of the summer festival season, which began earlier this month with Cinco de Mayo.

This year, a group of campers responded to the police demand that they move along by taking their complaints -- and their stuff -- straight to City Hall. City laws prohibit camping on public property and loitering on downtown sidewalks, but protect people who are protesting.

For the first two weeks, the mayor ordered police to allow the camp-in to continue. But over the past few days, police say, the crowd became more unruly.
...
Rios and other protesters want Potter to temporarily lift the -camping ban, perhaps for a few weeks. They talk about a "green zone," a centralized campsite where homeless men and women could meet with mental health workers, nurses and social workers in addition to spending the night.

Potter has said he won't -- and can't -- lift the anti-camping ordinance.

"We're encouraging them to find other lower-impact camping spots," Reese said. "Typically, we don't go looking for campers unless we get complaints."

On Sunday and Monday, protest organizers went through the crowd seeking volunteers willing to risk arrest if it comes to that. More than two dozen spoke up. Yet even people who are arrested are likely to be back on the street -- and back to square one -- within a matter of hours: Rios, for example, was arrested Saturday afternoon and released six hours later.

"We're assuming they're coming and they're going to sweep us out, and we're going to have to respond," Rios said Monday afternoon. "We've done everything they asked us to do so far. All that has changed has been how the mayor and the police have responded to us."

Our suspicion is that Potter's letter was a direct result of the CD threat.  That's one point of announcing such things: you create a response from the regime, making them react to everything you do because as Gandhi said, you are in control, they aren't.

Anyway, I took ill last night so we stayed in.  Not sure it counts as irony so much as karmic retribution, but it was after we'd had a nice dinner about which E felt a bit guilty.  I'd observed, as I often do, that people don't always have to go to Tibet to set themselves on fire or fast to change the Washington racist mascot or be camping with the homeless in Portland every minute of every day to not be hypocritical, fraudulent posers.  I stand by that, but perhaps I should not have had very salty, rich duck prior to our going to City Hall.

Before all that went down, E and I had talked about the possibility of my joining the resisters in their CD.  She was cool with my getting arrested, and we prepared things so I could hand off my camera and iPod (I've got a microphone for it to capture audio) to her in the event the organizers would allow me to participate--not sure if they'd want an outsider/potential provocateur in their midst or would even prefer somebody there to document things instead. 

It was all kinda spur of the moment and maybe nothing will come of it after all the anticipation, but I'm still going to try getting involved because, you know, that's what out-of-town guests do when they visit, right?  This afternoon while E's at work I'm going to attempt navigating MAX so I can check out City Hall to see what's happening with the meeting, etc.  Maybe I will get a chance to Twitter about my adventure...

ntodd

Slumber Party

Homeless posers, holding a silly slumber party that won't change anything, are going to engage in civil disobedience tonight.  Somebody please have bail money ready, because we're going to be there...

ntodd

Terra Incognita

E doesn't have a car, but she rented one for a few days so we could go do The Meeting at her folks' place yesterday and enjoy some stuff outside of Portland.  Today we visited Multnomah Falls.

The falls in full. 

Yeah, gotta do the touristy thing. 

We weren't that close, shooting from the footbridge, but my lens kept misting up. 

I think you can see why. 

Still not understanding the chain concept as he waits for the family outside the gift shop and restaurant. 

Lots of families out enjoying Mother's Day. 

Yes, that's nice "Good Ole Southern Boy" (another sticker on his truck). 

ntodd

Sunday Neptuneblogging

Some places aren't so dog friendly as Coffee Time, but Neppy's used to waiting patiently for us.

ntodd

Pink Poseurs

What, they want people to pay them for walking, and do they really think walking will cure breast cancer? 

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer of Portland

May 10, 2008
8:00 AM Registration, 9:00 AM Program
Location: Rose Quarter Commons

Together we've raised $96,248.24, and there are still 1 days to go! 

American Cancer Society Announces Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Investment Program

With funds raised through Making Strides Against Breast Cancer events across the Great West Division, grants will be available to support the increase of breast cancer screenings among underserved women. These grants support strategies that reduce breast cancer screening disparities and increase breast cancer screening among women.

This is a waste of time and clearly just something that the participants are doing to lord it over the rest of us.  I could tell looking at them in their pink t-shirts with cute team names as they walked by us on the sidewalks today that they were self-righteous frauds.  This is as silly as a bikeathon...

ntodd

It's Neppy Time

Neptune hangs with us at Coffee Time.  He got treats.

ntodd

sidebar

on the plane waiting for boarding to finish, reading a real copy of saturday review from aug 29, 1970 that i bot online.  in an article about the first hundred days after kent state it quotes the new democrat:

"our society must change radically, but cannot change unless its *people* change.  to make them puppets of a different order, as many so-called radicals are prone to desire, is to betray both them and the radical ideal.  we must try to radicalize the american people as so many of us have been radicalized--not by pushing them up against the wall, but by helping them to regain the sense of power over their destiny that should be their birthright."

i liked that so much that i typed it out on the fucking little keyboard on my q phone.

peace out, bitches!

ntodd

Friday Lolablogging

Next week's catblogging will be from PDX and involve the future additions that Lola will have to adjust to in July.

ntodd

Poseurs (Where Have All The Paxcasts Gone?)

In which NTodd observes there is no hiding place for imposters.  (17:39)  Features: Elvis Costello.

Bonus links: Elvis Costello's newest, 'Momofuku,' may be best.

Subscribe, vote and donate!

ntodd

(x-posted at Pax Americana)

Aeolus Is A Bastard

I certainly thought it might take ten years to get home today, thanks to the winds.  I had a bit of an assist at the start of my ride, and some at the end when I was too tired to really take advantage, but most of the loop I either had wicked crosswinds that made me fight for balance or strong stuff blowing right into my teeth that took about 5-7 mph off my usual pace (at one point about 9-11 mph). 

Roughly 15 consecutive miles seemed like I'd been riding uphill the entire way and when I did finally arrive home my legs felt as though I'd done another 40-miler.  Instead, it was a mere 24 miles at 14.9 mph.

Here's where I rode:

If you'd like to see the track in Google Earth so you can zoom in and see POIs and such, I've uploaded it as a KMZ (compressed KML) file and have also posted a detailed version with clickable waypoints where you can see my Lat/Long, altitude and speed (or lack thereof).  Probably not interesting to normal humans, but I found it neat because I remember just how much I was cursing the wind at some of those points and it might even be instructive for me.

Anyway, this brings the Bikeathon total to 149.5 miles!  And with a couple more pledges in the last 24 hours, we've shattered the unannounced dollar-per-mile goal I had in mind and hit 374 bucks, for which I am incredibly grateful.  I hope I can do some good in DC in a couple weeks, even if the wind does sometimes blow against us.

ntodd

Wednesday Kaylablogging

Been a tiring day running errands with Daddy, barking at the bulldozer out back, and gnawing on disgusting old beef joints. 

ntodd

I Officially Endorse Grandpa Simpson In 2008

Stolen from Gromit's Superwall on Facebook.

ntodd

The Big Four-Oh

E will sometimes gently remind me that I'm almost 40--it's only fair because I always add a year to her age and, well, it also has the virtue of being true.  I'll be 39 this August, though some languages look ahead and would note that I'll actually be in my 40th year.  This time I'm pretty happy to stick with the cultural chauvinism and my native tongue since it doesn't make me feel quite so old.

Anyway, I had in mind a goal of getting to Johnson, which is the home of Johnson State College.  As it turns out, there was some construction backing up traffic just as I was getting to town, so I did my turnaround about a half mile from where I'd intended.  Still, that little jaunt got me to just over 40 miles on just under 40-year old legs.

It was a very pleasant ride, temp in the 60s, sunny, a light breeze.  I like this route because it's got a nice mix of flats and hills through a lot of farm country--I see alpacas, miniature ponies, donkeys, cows, goats and all sorts of wildlife to boot.  It's also interesting because sometimes the ride is punctuated by sheer terror as I see a semi or a manure truck barreling toward me in the mirror when I've got about 3 inches of room between me and a fall into the river below.

Today's tally: 40.3 miles at 15.3 mph.  For those of you following the Bikeathon, that brings the total mileage to 125.5 and just under the halfway point.  Thanks to everybody who has already contributed a total of 214 bucks to the Pink Cause!  And there's still plenty of time for people people to throw some coin in the kitty...

ntodd

Tuesday Morningblogging

Along the road as we took care of morning business.

ntodd

Cinco de Kent State (Where Have All The Paxcasts Gone?)

In which NTodd marks an important day and the lessons therein.  (17:07) 

Features: Yes, CSNY, Country Joe and the Fish, Pete Seeger.  Bonus links: Kent State shootings, Tangled Morning and Dismal Twilight.

Subscribe, vote and donate!

ntodd

(x-posted at Pax Americana)

Nukes^2

Two pieces at Pax: Nuclear Waste?: The Last Part by Glenn, The Problem of Peace - Nuclear Giants and Ethical Infants by Rip.

ntodd

Sunny D Has Lots Of Iron

Just got back from seeing Iron Man with NTodd's Pa.  Two thumbs up.

In my mail: Florida wants my affections.  I don't think I want to visit because there are lots of weirdos down there.

ntodd

NTodd Bikeathon

The Virtual Bike Trip To DC is off to a nice start!  I haven't done an exact tally, but thus far there are at least 4 pledges/donations amounting to over 100 dollars, for which I am extremely grateful.  If I haven't sent you my thanks yet, it's either an oversight or perhaps aggressive spam filters causing problems, but please know how much I appreciate the help.

Later I'm going to try creating some sort of graphical representation of progress toward my goal.  I was thinking about a road map, but it might be too hard to fit into the sidebar space and easily update.  Will ponder.  In the meantime just like with public radio/TV, if you like what I do then make a pledge for later when I hit the mileage goal, or you can use Paypal (or other means) now assuming I'll make 280 miles!

Peace.

ntodd