The fate of our state’s strippers is now in the hands of the Oregon Supreme Court justices. Last week, two cases dealing with strippers and live-act sex shows were argued in front of the court. Unlike 48 other states, free-speech allowances in Oregon are so liberal that strippers can take it all off and can […]
Phil Busse
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NOW Are You Telling the Truth?
Terrorism Task Force Vote Reveals Fibs of the Past
With eyes glazed over from boredom, the small crowd at the city council meeting last Wednesday barely flinched when a sudden plot twist came into full view. As expected, city council voted unanimously to reauthorize the Joint Terrorism Task Force; a controversial agreement allowing local law enforcement officers to work and share notes with federal […]
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Shame on Us!
PGE Unplugs a Populist Movement
More than anywhere, Portland should have celebrated a power-to-the-people fairytale ending in the struggle for PGE ownership. Instead, the special election on Tuesday–a chance for citizens to own their electricity company–unfolded as expected, with a well-funded campaign crushing the hopes of a handful of ordinary residents. Proponents of Measures 26-51 and 52 had hoped to […]
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My Dinner With Lance
Equinox: A Slightly Pretentious Deconstruction
Equinox N. Shaver at Mississippi 460-3333 For the past year, the buzz around North Portland has been that Mississippi is the new “it” neighborhood. The proof to back this claim seems to be the steady stream at the Fresh Pot and a nightly bustle at Mississippi Pizza. But in the past week, Mississippi’s claim as […]
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Old World Charm
Caldera Speaks Simply
Caldera 6031 SE Stark 238-8242 At the beginning of last century, the acres that skirt Mt. Tabor bristled with apple orchards. It was one of the far outreaches of the city. A streetcar ran from downtown and crested along the hills. In 1910, as downtown started to sprout tall buildings, at the top of Stark […]
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A PUD We Can Live With
Vote “YES” for Electrical Justice
Old habits apparently die hard. Two years ago, Enron set a new benchmark for corporate swindling when they gutted pension funds and outright lied to shareholders. Now it seems as if PGE, Enron’s corporate lapdog, has learned from its master. In the campaign to halt the formation of a people’s utility district (PUD), PGE has […]
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Spies Among Us
Council Expected to Re-Approve Terrorism Task Force
Members of Peace Fresno were bewildered when they saw the obituary for Aaron Kilner. The photo accompanying the article was familiar: Mid-20s, short cropped hair, and shaggy goatee. But the activists in Peace Fresno, a progressive California-based organization, knew the man as Aaron Stokes, a regular at their meetings and peace vigils. He died in […]
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Me For Mayor
Oh, To Be Liberal Again!
This week Portland could become as politically liberal as Grants Pass. On Wednesday, city council is scheduled–finally–to take a vote on an ordinance denouncing the USA Patriot Act. This is a position that nearly 200 city councils throughout the U.S. long ago approved, including most cities along I-5. In fact, when the ordinance was first […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Portland Wants More Keanu
What Will it Take to Get Hollywood to Come to Oregon?
A quick hop from LAX, Oregon sounds like an ideal second home for Hollywood. Stars like Keanu Reeves can shoot scenes during the day and easily return to his Southern California mansion by late evening. Moreover, the diverse landscape–from Portland street scenes to the windswept coast–covers almost every imaginable set, from the urban grit of […]
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Garden of Evil?
Police Project Tears Down Community Garden
Until last week, the small sliver of ground wedged between SW 13th Avenue and the I-405 overpass had been a bustling and colorful garden. It was transformed nearly a decade ago by a group of children from the church across the street on a then-vacant plot of city property. In springtime, marigolds and asters bloomed […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Objection Denied!
Runaway Jury is Your Civic Duty
Runaway Jury dir. Fleder Opens Fri Oct 17 Various Theaters When I was in law school, I tried to piece together a library of movies, each one representing a different legal concept. Maybe I’m lazy, but I just learn so much better visually than from actually reading and taking notes. I spent three months sitting […]
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Staying Put–Again
Dignity Village Holds Out and On to Their Homes
Over the past three years, a group of nearly 50 homeless men and women have become some of Portland’s best-known celebrities. The makeshift squatters’ camp on the fringe of town has been featured in the New York Times Magazine, as well as the news section of the same paper–twice. They’ve been spotlighted in a “vogue […]