Justice denied, place names mangled.
Table of Contents: | Bruce Springsteen At The Rose Garden, March 28 | Bill Clinton In Oregon, March 31
May 14th, 2008
Home improvement for elephants. Protesters and kids out in the cold.0 comments
May 7th, 2008
No Justice, No Peace.1 comment
April 30th, 2008
Pranks drunken and otherwise. 0 comments
April 23rd, 2008
Web-only Edition1 comment
April 16th, 2008
Dead writers edition.0 comments
April 9th, 2008
Combo No. 1: College Athletics Scandals With a Side of Illiteracy2 comments
March 26th, 2008
Here's Our Bracket For The Week0 comments
March 19th, 2008
First tuna, now salmon—sushi menus get smaller every week.0 comments
March 12th, 2008
Hot Jeff and Cold Beavers. 2 comments
March 5th, 2008
This week’s 3 R’S: RIEKE, RECESSION AND A REVISITED ROGUE.2 comments
![]() |
[April 2nd, 2008]
WINNERS
1. Jeff Merkley’ s U.S. Senate campaign staged a winning stunt when it celebrated the closing of a Portland payday lender with balloons and “bubbly” (in the form of sparkling cider). The well-publicized gag highlighted the Democratic hopeful’s success as House Speaker to limit payday lenders in Oregon, a push many progressives can applaud.
2. Queer mag The Advocate scored a hit with its first-person profile of a “pregnant man” in Bend. Thomas Beatie was born a woman and had a partial sex change—and isn’t the first transgender male to be “with child”—but People, Oprah and newspapers worldwide ran with the story like they’d taken candy from a baby.
3. Seems like David Lee Simmons has a pretty good federal lawsuit working. The 19-year-old Central Oregon man spent a month in jail and had to register as a sex offender after pleading guilty to charges stemming from his relationship with a girl three years younger than he. Problem is, neither the Jefferson County DA nor Simmons’ original attorneys noticed a grand jury had declined to indict him. A judge voided that conviction, but the DA—with help from the state AG’s office—wants to try him again on lesser charges. Now The Oregonian reports that Simmons is suing all of the above for $3.5 million.
LOSERS
1. How would Bill Clinton like it if we introduced him as the man from Hope, “Ar-KAN-zuhz”? And how would Bruce Springsteen —once married to an Oregonian—like it if we sent greetings from “Ass-BERRY” Park? Both visiting bosses called our fair state “Or-ee-GONE” last week, when they deigned to visit us rubes on the Will-uh-MET River. (See below for slideshows of Bill Clinton's and Bruce Springsteen's visits to Portland.)
advertisement
2. Lake Oswego’s retired Air Force Gen. Merrill “Tony” McPeak, a national co-chairman for the Barack Obama campaign, got some bad press for comparing Bill Clinton to Joe McCarthy. Then right-wingers dredged up alleged anti-Israeli remarks by McPeak. (For more, go to WWire at wweek.com.) At least Obama got “OR-uh-gun” right.
3. In news slightly less shocking than the Trail Blazers’ recent collapse, ex-Jail Blazer Isaiah Rider was arrested again. Rider’s most recent run-in came last week in California, where he was busted on charges of driving a stolen car.
4. The ol’ Gray Lady ain’t as quick as she used to be. The New York Times got around to writing a vegan-sex trend story featuring Portland’s vegan strip club—after wweek.com reported that Casa Diablo is up for sale (see “Boobs with a Side of Soy,” WW, Feb. 6, 2008). Hey, it’s an improvement. After all, how long did it take the Times to wise up about Judith Miller?
^Bruce Springsteen at the Rose Garden, March 28
^Bill Clinton in Oregon, March 31
If the company's business model is usury, and they don't want to do business otherwise, they're not benefiting the economy. Credit unions offer advance loans to anyone with any or no credit at 18.5%. I'd rather people go to local, ethical companies than these out-of-state parasites.
I'm amazed at the elitist rhetoric being thrown around regarding Payday Loan shops. Sure, they may charge horrendous interest rates, but those inflated figures are based on ANNUAL rates. Payday loans must be payed back in two weeks, in which case you are paying 15% interest; better than any lending institution. Most important, however, is the badly needed stop gap they provide for lower income families who are short on rent by just a hundred or so dollars. Paying the loan shop fifteen bucks as opposed to fifty to a hundred to the landlord for late rent is certainly preferable to someone who must make every penny count, of which our area is filled whether or not the espresso drinking, sushi eating, art gallery lingering Portland intelligentsia wants to admit or not. The only danger that actually exists with Payday Lenders is the trap of taking out multiple, consecutive loans which gradually bleed a person's bank account dry. Washington has the benefit of laws addressing these instances which force the lender to allow a gradual payback once someone has amassed X number of loans. This does a great job of allowing a badly needed service to exist for those who fall on the all too frequent hard times while disallowing overuse and abuse.
Hopefully Oregon, and Portland especially, can follow suit and not throw out the baby with the bathwater when it comes to limiting Payday Loan stores.











Why does it make Merkley a winner to see him celebrate the closing of a business that was operating legally, I presume? I have nothing but praise for the Legislature's ending of usury practices at such lenders--but that law having passed, weren't the places that Merkley cheered for their closure operating under the terms he set down?
If some payday lending outfits go under because much of the profit has been taken out of it, I suppose that's a natural economic shift. One needn't bemoan the closing of those stories. But to CELEBRATE the closing of 13 retail stores, the loss of whatever jobs were being held in those stores, and the loss of rent income for the building owners, is political grandstanding that rings an off note to me. I thought this was about predatory lending, not payday loan shops. Why is Merkley going personal against these retailers who are just trying to make it under the new rules?
Again: predatory lending bad. Boo. Payday loan shops: bad when charging 500% interest, but maybe not so bad at 36%?