Mayor Sam Adams had a very, very, very long day yesterday. Some of it was pretty good: City council approved the "Made in Oregon" sign deal his staff helped assemble, and he (reportedly) agreed with Chief Mike Reese's decision to fire the police officer who shot Aaron Campbell. Some of it was awkward: Multnomah County Chairman Jeff Cogen accused Adams of making outrageous demands and holding up work to replace the dangerous Sellwood Bridge. And some of it was rather embarrassing: The Oregonian found out the mayor had defaulted on a home loan last month. Again.

Beaverton has refused to just say no, and, now, so has Portland. But the most awkward celebration anywhere of Mexico's bicentennial might be in Mexico itself. Joy will be tempered by the sorrow and sadness of spiraling drug violence.

You history buffs may recall: The English don't much like the Catholics. So, it seems that Pope Benedict XIV, making the first ever papal state visit to the apostate British Isles, may have tried to warm up his reception by making his strongest statements yet condemning priestly sex abuse.

Bears are hungry. Lock your car doors and coolers and gas-guzzling, 90-wheel, air-conditioned camper coaches. That is all.

They crisscross neighborhoods, silently, all around the country: natural gas pipelines like the one that tragically exploded south of San Francisco last week. The utility company that controls that pipe is being asked whether it raised rates to fix aging pipes but then never actually, you know, fixed anything.

Boeing wants to send you into space! The aerospace company wants to sell commercial seats on a space vehicle it's developing for NASA. Exciting, except that, these days, Boeing can't be bothered to build working airplanes. But, hey, why sell your dreams short!

In continuing news, the economy still sucks. The proportion of Americans living in poverty—14.3 percent—is the highest since 1994. And that doesn't capture the many more millions of Americans who aren't in poverty—the poverty line is shockingly low—but who are suffering economically. How should Uncle Sam respond? Blame China?

The fine folks fattening our asses with sweet food at International House of Pancakes have sued the International House of Prayer (the spiritual equivalent of empty calories, no doubt) for use of the pancake chain's cherished acronym: IHOP.