Thanks, Arco! It’s comforting to know that even if this whole “debt crisis” thing continues to spiral us into a vicious, barren, Mad Max-style future, we’ll still have stuff like this around to remind us of the nuanced, measured, and informed political opinions that once fueled America’s robust and fruitful political dialogue.
$$$
Posted in$$$
USPS to Close Almost 4,000 Post Offices?
Ah, crap: The financially beleaguered Postal Service announced Tuesday that it would consider closing more than 3,600 of its 32,000 post offices…In communities that lose post offices, the Postal Service may outsource basic services, like selling stamps and shipping flat-rate packages, to local businesses like pharmacies and groceries… The USPS spokesman in the New York […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Netflix Raises Rates
Apparently, everyone is in a huff because Netflix is splitting their Watch Instant and DVD plans into two separate services and raising their rates accordingly. So for instance, our current $9.99 a month membership for unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs will be split into 2 distinct plans: Plan 1: Unlimited Streaming (no DVDs) for $7.99 […]
Posted inPolitics
Obama: No Guarantees Social Security Checks Will Go Out If the Debt-Ceiling Deal Doesn’t Go Through
What will the teabaggers do now? I would love it if they had to march on Washington D.C. to get their checks. In an interview with CBS Evening News, President Obama says he can’t guarantee Social Security checks will go out Aug. 3rd if a debt-ceiling deal is not reached by the Aug. 2nd deadline. […]
Posted inPortland
Hey, Prominent Oregonians! Come Get Your Money Already!
Apparently tired of holding the bag, vainly waiting for millions of Oregonians to figure out they’ve collectively left behind hundreds millions of dollars worth of their hard-earned money, the state has gone ahead and done the governmental equivalent of snapping its fingers in front our blank faces, hoping to get our attention. The state, joining […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Wheeee! Transformers Math!
MICHAEL BAY “HEY CRITICS CAN YOU HEAR ME? OKAY COOL. SHUT UP. NO ONE CARES.” “I don’t understand movies!” a frustrated Sarah Mirk told me last night as she and I and a waited for an advance screening of Page One: Inside the New York Times to start. “Why do the good ones not make […]
Posted inMusic
Buy Super Cheap Pickathon Tickets Right Now!
Every year we talk about how great Pickathon is, and every year some commenter complains about the price. (At least it seems that way.) The sheer wrongheadedness of those complaints aside—Pickathon ordinarily costs $145 for three days of music, including camping, which breaks down to less than $50 per day, which is less than just […]
Posted inPortland
Portlandia Needs Extras
“We’re still here.” Love it, hate it, or apathetically tolerate its continued existence, Portlandia‘s back for another season… and they need extras! They pay $70 a day, too, so this works out well for everybody, considering Portland’s unemployment rate is still at like 98 percent. Go here for more info, and here for a quick […]
Posted inCity Hall
Revised Portland Budget: More Cash for Rent Aid, Housing Inspectors
ILLUSTRATION BY NICK PATTON With a just few adjustments, and after a brief but sparkling burst of acrimony, the Portland City Council today largely advanced the same $408 million general fund spending plan that Mayor Sam Adams first unveiled earlier this month and brought to the council last week. The changes voted on this morning—amounting […]
Posted inPolitics
Cogen’s County Budget: No Major Program Cuts—Yet
Jeff Cogen The really difficult work on Multnomah County’s budget will come this summer—and then again next year—once the state and federal governments solve their respective fiscal crises and figure out how much money they’ll be pulling back from the local governments that rely on that cash over the next two years. But budgeting rules […]
Posted inPolitics
Do High Taxes Really Make People Pick Up and Move?
It’s obviously been a while since Oregonians passed Measures 66 and 67, ballot items that hiked taxes on the wealthiest among us and also increased the minimum tax that corporations must pay, to plug a part of a state budget gap and avoid other cutbacks. But the claim offered up by opponents of the measure—that […]
Posted in$$$
Travel Troubles
Between snoozy aircraft controllers, post-9/11 security measures, and the high cost of fuel air travel has gotten suckier at almost (but not quite) the same rate as it’s gotten more expensive. You’d think that taking away all the meals and legroom and free baggage check-ins would save enough money that you wouldn’t have to worry […]