If this doesn't get you in the mood for the Super Bowl, nothing will.
And the legend of Shamwow speaks. And it's as funny as his infomercials.
Finally, congrats to Rudy, Greg and Brandon for their All-Star berths. Brandon is playing in the big game, Rudy is in the slam dunk contest, and Rudy and Greg are playing in the Rookie - Sophomore game. It's a great day to be a Trail Blazer fan, and a big weekend on February 13th through the 15th in Phoenix.
Darius Miles will be with an NBA team for the rest of the year. Sucks for our bottom line, but perhaps he's learned something and he really wants to work hard. He's got talent, but talent alone doesn't make an NBA career. We'll see how this goes, and who knows, I might be surprised.
I don't care who wins the Super Bowl, just simply that the game is entertaining. Otherwise, it could make for a long Sunday. Go Bud Dry!! Wait, what do you mean they aren't playing?!#$? Ok, got to go get ready for the game. Only 26 hours to go!!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
It's A Damn Blanket With Arms
You've seen the commercial, heck you might even know someone that has bought a Snuggie for their home, because it's the hottest thing in pop culture right now. And honestly, I can't figure it out. I suppose if you are going for the fleece covered monk look, Snuggie has you covered, but for me, I'm already proficient at operating a blanket when needed and if I'm that cold, I usually put on a sweatshirt and long pants. I'm not sure I would want one of these things, much less be seen in public wearing one of these, but apparently, I'm wrong in dissing on the Snuggie because they are selling like crazy, and stores can't keep them in stock.
I can't completely explain how some products become almost cultish in their appeal, like the Snuggie and the Shamwow, and others are doomed to end up at garage sales for a nickel, but the one thing that they all have is a catchy advertisement, and it plays everywhere. You can't watch any basic cable shows without seeing an ad for either the Snuggie or Shamwow, the special shammy towel that is super absorbent. At least with the Shamwow, I can say I've seen it work because girl's mom bought some to help clean up the cat pee that appears every once in a while in the house. And I can give the best testimonial ever to the Shamwow that it cleans up cat pee better than any other towel I've used. I'm not completely sure that would work for a commercial, but when you see something like this work, it makes you feel better about buying something. Plus, there's something about the Shamwow pitch guy, who talks with his fast food drive through headset, talking about the most absorbent towel on the market. He talks fast, he does crazy demonstrations that show amazing results, they have testimonials from people who have bought them, and then cue the 800 number and start the feeding frenzy.
Admit it, we've all bought crap from the store or television, sucked in by the outlandish claims that somehow promise magic things, like being able to set your car polish on fire, scramble an egg inside the shell, or spray on hair that looks and feels real, but only to find that if you're dumb enough to set your car on fire to prove its shine, well, you probably shouldn't be driving. But part of marketing is making something seem like you can't live without it, and these commercials do that very well with catchy demonstrations and testimonials.
But while some might say this is capitalism at its best, I would say that's hardly the case. A true capitalist should be paid for their talents, which is the essence of capitalism that people's worth is calculated by talent and they are compensated for that. Where the current run of Americanistic commerce comes into play is adding unbridled greed to the desire to be paid for talent, and then it turns into wanting to make more so you can have everything, then rinse and repeat. Some of these infomercials prey on people's insecurities for the simple reason of lining someone's pocket out of greed, and you hear the horror stories of getting ripped off all the time. While my capitalistic roots love people doing what they love and being compensated for their talents, I also have the ethical side of not wanting to screw with people, which is why I'd be a terrible telemarketer. Well, actually, I was one for about two weeks, and while I had the great phone voice, I sucked at scamming people.
But while the world of marketing has dozens of failed inventions that toil in obscurity, there are those that not only rise to the fame of actually having people buy them, but they gain a loyal coltish following. Heck, even CNBC created a competition between beloved products from the infomercial world, and the winner was a towel that sucks...really well. I think I still have my George Foreman grill around here somewhere, and it actually works really well. Plus, and I have trouble admitting this, but I like seeing what crap Billy Mays is pitching this week, because the guy is hysterical and his beard is a true black hole of commerce. Granted, I can also avoid most of the appeal for these by saying I don't really need them and besides, they'll be on sale at the store in about 3 months anyway under some other brand name. But I can appreciate the cult factor of these products by truly calling them what they are: legendary.
Postscript - I read my friend Heather's blog, Mile 73.com, quite a bit because the stories are really funny, and she presents them in such an unusually entertaining way. Plus, she hangs out at Timbers matches with daveknows, who really knows about Portland, so she's in good company. She posted something about lite rock a few days ago, complaining about a certain band named after a city that has a team of Red Soxs and Celtics running about because there is a certain song that she's not fond of. While I can relate to her turmoil, I can do her one better, by being tormented this morning by the worst song in the history of rock, as voted on by Blender and Vibe magazine, and I think VH1 referred to it terribly as well. It was a song by a band that should have known better. Cause don't you remember, don't you remember, we built this city on rock and roll!! Just say no to craptacular 80s music.
I can't completely explain how some products become almost cultish in their appeal, like the Snuggie and the Shamwow, and others are doomed to end up at garage sales for a nickel, but the one thing that they all have is a catchy advertisement, and it plays everywhere. You can't watch any basic cable shows without seeing an ad for either the Snuggie or Shamwow, the special shammy towel that is super absorbent. At least with the Shamwow, I can say I've seen it work because girl's mom bought some to help clean up the cat pee that appears every once in a while in the house. And I can give the best testimonial ever to the Shamwow that it cleans up cat pee better than any other towel I've used. I'm not completely sure that would work for a commercial, but when you see something like this work, it makes you feel better about buying something. Plus, there's something about the Shamwow pitch guy, who talks with his fast food drive through headset, talking about the most absorbent towel on the market. He talks fast, he does crazy demonstrations that show amazing results, they have testimonials from people who have bought them, and then cue the 800 number and start the feeding frenzy.
Admit it, we've all bought crap from the store or television, sucked in by the outlandish claims that somehow promise magic things, like being able to set your car polish on fire, scramble an egg inside the shell, or spray on hair that looks and feels real, but only to find that if you're dumb enough to set your car on fire to prove its shine, well, you probably shouldn't be driving. But part of marketing is making something seem like you can't live without it, and these commercials do that very well with catchy demonstrations and testimonials.
But while some might say this is capitalism at its best, I would say that's hardly the case. A true capitalist should be paid for their talents, which is the essence of capitalism that people's worth is calculated by talent and they are compensated for that. Where the current run of Americanistic commerce comes into play is adding unbridled greed to the desire to be paid for talent, and then it turns into wanting to make more so you can have everything, then rinse and repeat. Some of these infomercials prey on people's insecurities for the simple reason of lining someone's pocket out of greed, and you hear the horror stories of getting ripped off all the time. While my capitalistic roots love people doing what they love and being compensated for their talents, I also have the ethical side of not wanting to screw with people, which is why I'd be a terrible telemarketer. Well, actually, I was one for about two weeks, and while I had the great phone voice, I sucked at scamming people.
But while the world of marketing has dozens of failed inventions that toil in obscurity, there are those that not only rise to the fame of actually having people buy them, but they gain a loyal coltish following. Heck, even CNBC created a competition between beloved products from the infomercial world, and the winner was a towel that sucks...really well. I think I still have my George Foreman grill around here somewhere, and it actually works really well. Plus, and I have trouble admitting this, but I like seeing what crap Billy Mays is pitching this week, because the guy is hysterical and his beard is a true black hole of commerce. Granted, I can also avoid most of the appeal for these by saying I don't really need them and besides, they'll be on sale at the store in about 3 months anyway under some other brand name. But I can appreciate the cult factor of these products by truly calling them what they are: legendary.
Postscript - I read my friend Heather's blog, Mile 73.com, quite a bit because the stories are really funny, and she presents them in such an unusually entertaining way. Plus, she hangs out at Timbers matches with daveknows, who really knows about Portland, so she's in good company. She posted something about lite rock a few days ago, complaining about a certain band named after a city that has a team of Red Soxs and Celtics running about because there is a certain song that she's not fond of. While I can relate to her turmoil, I can do her one better, by being tormented this morning by the worst song in the history of rock, as voted on by Blender and Vibe magazine, and I think VH1 referred to it terribly as well. It was a song by a band that should have known better. Cause don't you remember, don't you remember, we built this city on rock and roll!! Just say no to craptacular 80s music.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Karma's a Bitch
I'm not exactly sure what God is, or if there is a God out there, but I do believe there is a higher spirit that keeps things in order. Things happen for a reason, and sometimes, it's not very apparent, but the reasons always become known at some point. Granted, it's a simplistic point of view based on my own experiences, but I also believe that there are lessons that we all need to learn, and there's some greater force that is out there keeping track of it.
Saturday night, Girl and I were driving to the Trail Blazer game, and we'd left the house a touch later than usual because we were busy moving furniture and computers about the house. Our new office location is rather nice, and our cats spend a lot of time sleeping in here, keeping an eye on us when they aren't getting into trouble, plus girl's computer and my computer aren't right next to each other in a corner, so we basically sit back to back to each other in a cramped L shape. But, we got the move done, and then it was off to watch the Trail Blazers versus the Wizards.
Our normal parking spot for the games is in the Lloyd Center Cinemas parking lot. I know, it's supposed to be for the mall and the theatre, but it's very well known that the place is packed full of Trail Blazer fans who don't want to pay $20 for parking, and so they park here for free and then catch the MAX to the game. We pulled into the lot at about 6:35 pm on Saturday, which is a bit later than our usual early arrival, so I knew the competition for spots would be tough. And it was so tough, we never found one there. Seriously, going up and down the rows, it was jam packed, and so it was time to move to another parking lot and see if we could still make the game on time.
It was then that I turned from the cinemas parking to get onto Wiedler and then I turned into the regular mall parking lot. I'm not entirely sure why I just didn't go up to NE 15th, but I ended up going into the mall. I was so focused on trying to think of parking spots and where to park that I didn't even realize that as I sped along, I was passing through a crosswalk near Sears with people to my left as I was traveling north. There are parking spots on both sides of the crosswalk, so really it's a pathway between cars but it's marked as a crosswalk. I went rather slow, but I never stopped for a moment, and I heard the thunk from the back of our car as I sped by without stopping. Apparently, I had gotten too close to them, and they let me know they were there by smacking the back of our car.
Girl told me that I really needed to pay more attention about what was going on, and then I realized my mistake. I never intended on blowing through the crosswalk, but I did and it wasn't pretty. I didn't have a chance to really stop and apologize, but I felt bad for my mistake. I tend to get a little stressed with a compressed time frame because I hate to be late to things. I picked up a very bad habit from my mom, who was 30 minutes late to everything she did, and for years, I was always 10 to 15 minutes late for everything I did. When my friends finally started commenting, I did a 180 and became preoccupied with being early at any cost. Not a smart thing to be, but hey, we all have our hangups.
We continued on to eventually find parking at the Convention Center for $6 and we made it to the game right as the National Anthem was being sung, and by the time we hit our seats, it was only a few minutes into the game. Not bad for leaving so late, but my earlier driving mistake was still bugging me. I don't like to do things wrong, even if I do a few things wrong each day. We all like to be perfect, but being human, we make mistakes because that's part of being human. We learn from our errors so that we don't do them again, but for some of us, that doesn't stop our obsession in being perfect. But I have a feeling that the guys and gals upstairs keep track of things like this, and bring them up as lessons for us. I don't know if you could call it fate, but it's certainly something with a higher power than you or me.
For today, I went to Fred Meyer Wood Village to get the new Franz Ferdinand album, which just went on sale. The weather around here today was a bit snowy and cold, then it turned to rain by the afternoon, so it ended up being a rather typical winter day in Portland. I had an incident on Sunday trying to get to soccer practice on time, and I was late again and running around like a crazy person, so I'm already a bit aware of my most recent actions about time and paying attention. As I left the store with my purchase, I walked from Fred Meyer to my car when I encountered the service road that runs in front of the store. I stopped at the crosswalk, looked both ways, and proceeded to enter because it was safe. I saw on my right a gold SUV that was coming, but I assumed they would slow down as I waved at them that I was walking.
But apparently, the driver's phone call was entirely more important than seeing where they were on the road, because she blew through the crosswalk with me still in the middle. I had stopped walking as soon as I realized that she wasn't stopping, and I just stood there in amazement at her actions. I even saw the color of her eyes as she drove by, and I'm sure she saw me waving at her, but she kept driving by without stopping. I was floored by her actions, and muttered to myself how could someone be that callous about pedestrian safety until I recalled my driving mistake on Saturday.
The feeling of being taught a lesson in a practical but abrupt way stuck with me as I got into my car. Yes, it was a rather dramatic example and one that had a bit of danger associated with it, but it definitely proved a point to me in no uncertain terms. It's important to pay attention to where you are going at all times, because you don't know if the other guys are even paying attention or not. I'm sorry that I scared the shoppers at Sears with my driving, it certainly wasn't intentional, and I don't even have an excuse of being on the phone, I was simply trying to find a place to park and wasn't paying as close of attention as I should have been. And karma or fate or whatever was smacking me on the head today to remind me to pay more attention to what's going on.
And it's a lesson that I can appreciate, because it validates that someone or something is really looking out for us, and trying to make sure we don't do things we shouldn't or trying to ensure that we learn lessons about life that we should. I'm not sure if it was God or Jeebus or whatever making their point today, but they made it very well. So just remember that karma is indeed a bitch, and you should be careful about what you do because things have a way of evening out.
Saturday night, Girl and I were driving to the Trail Blazer game, and we'd left the house a touch later than usual because we were busy moving furniture and computers about the house. Our new office location is rather nice, and our cats spend a lot of time sleeping in here, keeping an eye on us when they aren't getting into trouble, plus girl's computer and my computer aren't right next to each other in a corner, so we basically sit back to back to each other in a cramped L shape. But, we got the move done, and then it was off to watch the Trail Blazers versus the Wizards.
Our normal parking spot for the games is in the Lloyd Center Cinemas parking lot. I know, it's supposed to be for the mall and the theatre, but it's very well known that the place is packed full of Trail Blazer fans who don't want to pay $20 for parking, and so they park here for free and then catch the MAX to the game. We pulled into the lot at about 6:35 pm on Saturday, which is a bit later than our usual early arrival, so I knew the competition for spots would be tough. And it was so tough, we never found one there. Seriously, going up and down the rows, it was jam packed, and so it was time to move to another parking lot and see if we could still make the game on time.
It was then that I turned from the cinemas parking to get onto Wiedler and then I turned into the regular mall parking lot. I'm not entirely sure why I just didn't go up to NE 15th, but I ended up going into the mall. I was so focused on trying to think of parking spots and where to park that I didn't even realize that as I sped along, I was passing through a crosswalk near Sears with people to my left as I was traveling north. There are parking spots on both sides of the crosswalk, so really it's a pathway between cars but it's marked as a crosswalk. I went rather slow, but I never stopped for a moment, and I heard the thunk from the back of our car as I sped by without stopping. Apparently, I had gotten too close to them, and they let me know they were there by smacking the back of our car.
Girl told me that I really needed to pay more attention about what was going on, and then I realized my mistake. I never intended on blowing through the crosswalk, but I did and it wasn't pretty. I didn't have a chance to really stop and apologize, but I felt bad for my mistake. I tend to get a little stressed with a compressed time frame because I hate to be late to things. I picked up a very bad habit from my mom, who was 30 minutes late to everything she did, and for years, I was always 10 to 15 minutes late for everything I did. When my friends finally started commenting, I did a 180 and became preoccupied with being early at any cost. Not a smart thing to be, but hey, we all have our hangups.
We continued on to eventually find parking at the Convention Center for $6 and we made it to the game right as the National Anthem was being sung, and by the time we hit our seats, it was only a few minutes into the game. Not bad for leaving so late, but my earlier driving mistake was still bugging me. I don't like to do things wrong, even if I do a few things wrong each day. We all like to be perfect, but being human, we make mistakes because that's part of being human. We learn from our errors so that we don't do them again, but for some of us, that doesn't stop our obsession in being perfect. But I have a feeling that the guys and gals upstairs keep track of things like this, and bring them up as lessons for us. I don't know if you could call it fate, but it's certainly something with a higher power than you or me.
For today, I went to Fred Meyer Wood Village to get the new Franz Ferdinand album, which just went on sale. The weather around here today was a bit snowy and cold, then it turned to rain by the afternoon, so it ended up being a rather typical winter day in Portland. I had an incident on Sunday trying to get to soccer practice on time, and I was late again and running around like a crazy person, so I'm already a bit aware of my most recent actions about time and paying attention. As I left the store with my purchase, I walked from Fred Meyer to my car when I encountered the service road that runs in front of the store. I stopped at the crosswalk, looked both ways, and proceeded to enter because it was safe. I saw on my right a gold SUV that was coming, but I assumed they would slow down as I waved at them that I was walking.
But apparently, the driver's phone call was entirely more important than seeing where they were on the road, because she blew through the crosswalk with me still in the middle. I had stopped walking as soon as I realized that she wasn't stopping, and I just stood there in amazement at her actions. I even saw the color of her eyes as she drove by, and I'm sure she saw me waving at her, but she kept driving by without stopping. I was floored by her actions, and muttered to myself how could someone be that callous about pedestrian safety until I recalled my driving mistake on Saturday.
The feeling of being taught a lesson in a practical but abrupt way stuck with me as I got into my car. Yes, it was a rather dramatic example and one that had a bit of danger associated with it, but it definitely proved a point to me in no uncertain terms. It's important to pay attention to where you are going at all times, because you don't know if the other guys are even paying attention or not. I'm sorry that I scared the shoppers at Sears with my driving, it certainly wasn't intentional, and I don't even have an excuse of being on the phone, I was simply trying to find a place to park and wasn't paying as close of attention as I should have been. And karma or fate or whatever was smacking me on the head today to remind me to pay more attention to what's going on.
And it's a lesson that I can appreciate, because it validates that someone or something is really looking out for us, and trying to make sure we don't do things we shouldn't or trying to ensure that we learn lessons about life that we should. I'm not sure if it was God or Jeebus or whatever making their point today, but they made it very well. So just remember that karma is indeed a bitch, and you should be careful about what you do because things have a way of evening out.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Timbers Schedule is Out!!
It was a huge red letter day on Friday when the 2009 Timbers schedule finally was posted, and members of the Timbers Army (myself included) can now plan our summer accordingly.
The schedule has every team playing 30 games total, and facing each team 3 times with everyone playing at each other's park at least once. So you get to travel once or twice to each team's home, depending on the schedule.
Immediate Observations from myself on the schedule:
The schedule has every team playing 30 games total, and facing each team 3 times with everyone playing at each other's park at least once. So you get to travel once or twice to each team's home, depending on the schedule.
Immediate Observations from myself on the schedule:
- We only play up in Vancouver once to start the season. Swangard hasn't been very friendly to us in the past.
- We play in Austin twice, which could be good or bad. The team is new, so we don't know much about them, but the Texas summers can be brutal, and we play there in July and September.
- We play Miami FC and Puerto Rico twice on the road back to back, which is new for us. It does save travel costs by having to go there only once, but it does mean that you hope the guys can get one of two there.
- We host Carolina and Cleveland City (another new team) twice in a row at home, with a day between each home game. Again, a new thing for the league, probably to save travel costs. It could work well if you get the first game and put pressure on the other guy.
- We don't play any back to back games at all, as we have at least one day between games all year. That is a first that I can recall.
- We get 3 Fox Soccer Channel games, two at home, one on the road, and a total of 5 games on Fox Sports Northwest. Not bad for coverage, to be honest. The status of USL Live, the site that you could watch all USL games is up in the air, so we don't know if there will be a way to watch away games or not.
Friday, January 23, 2009
A Lesson in Politics
Tuesday was a red-letter day for me in many ways. I saw the good in some people assuming leadership of our country, while I saw others in charge of our community watch their political clout fall apart like falling dominoes. I’ve spent a few days trying to figure out how to write about it, and this is probably the twentieth draft I’ve come up with, but that’s how significant I consider what happened.
While the country focused on Barack Obama becoming our 44th President, Portland became embroiled in scandal as our current mayor, Sam Adams, admitted to having a relationship with an 18 year old man he had been mentoring, and they had met when he was 17. Adams had denied any wrongdoing up until Tuesday, even saying that allegations of misconduct were grossly exaggerated because the relationship was platonic. However, Willamette Week, a local alternative newspaper in Portland, presented new evidence earlier in the week and they were ready to go to press on Wednesday to break the news that Adams had indeed lied. Before that happened, Adams changed his story and even admitted that he had asked the boy to lie about the situation if asked. The past few days have seen a crazy media frenzy, web posts calling for support or resignation, and a near paralysis of city government.
As I read through and listened to Obama’s speeches on Tuesday, his demeanor, language choice, and composure struck me in giving a speech of that much significance. The first African American taking office as the President, and he showed mettle that even I didn’t believe he had. He basically admitted that as a country, we’ve lost our way and it’s not going to be easy to get back on course. Some of our allies don’t like us very much, the parts of the world that want us to suffer have grown over the past 8 years, our credit rating and reputation around the world have sunk to new lows, and everyone, business and personal included, are struggling to make ends meet. Getting out of this mess won’t be easy at all, and yet, his words filled me with optimism and hope. I know things are pretty bad right now, it’s hard not to pick up a newspaper or watch a newscast and not see the reports of job layoffs and, bad economic news, and come to the conclusion things are OK, unless your math skills are suspect. What Obama showed more than anything was true leadership, saying that while things are bad, they can get better and I will do what I can to make that happen. It won’t be easy, because there are obstacles in the way, and our choices will involve short term pain and suffering, but we must go through this to realize the end success. It was an incredible honest and forthright display, and one that makes me proud to have this guy as my President. He’s not Black, he’s not African American, he’s the President, and I am ready to see what he will do during his presidency. So far, closing Guantanamo Bay prison and freezing salaries of some White House staff is a good start, and agreeing not to torture prisoners I think adds some icing to the cake.
What our previous President failed to realize what that the rules apply to everyone, including himself, and his various decisions about the War, corporate oversight, torture, and diplomacy as a whole were all grossly wrong. Hindsight will do that to some people, but until the very end, there was no admission of guilt, no real regrets until it was towards the very end when he admitted, “we probably shouldn’t have declared victory when the job wasn’t done.” It was a surprising admission, but I think received entirely too late, because the damage was already done.
Which bring me to the tale of Sam Adams. The depth of this story is becoming very clear over the past few days, as the general timeframe and events are being put together. He met the teenager, who was an aide of a State Senator and agreed to mentor him. In spending time together, they grew fond of each other, and apparently, they hooked up after he turned 18. They have remained in some contact, but nothing more since then. When asked about the boy, Adams said the relationship was above board, and he was simply mentoring him because he was struggling with coming out. The allegations never went any further until recently, when Adams was forced to admit the true nature of the relationship and admit that not only did they have sex, but that he asked him to cover it up. This information, had it been known before the election last year, probably would have affected the voting, but we don’t know for sure. One of the reporters from the Mercury, another alternative newspaper, became a sustainability chief for Adams recently, despite questions about her background and the fact that she was the main investigator for their publication into this story when she was a reporter. Oregon’s Attorney General has indicated he’ll investigate the situation to see if there was any wrongdoing, and Adams hasn’t decided whether he’ll resign or fight, but the entire situation is a true mess. There's even been talk of a recall happening later this year. If you read the various links I’ve posted, you can see that this is one truly messed up situation.
From my own experience, I’ve mentored young people from my university, and I think the idea is one of the best gifts you can give a young person. I don’t think anyone in college can fathom what it is like in the working world, and having someone guide you through the trials can be a wonderful thing. But then again, most of the mentees are high school or college aged, and so they may be naïve to how things really work. Some of my mentees were female and attractive, but I was more struck by their talent and desire to succeed, and I didn’t view them in any other way but as a person asking me for help. I’m also reminded of their age when girl and I recently attended a Portland State football game, and I was caught staring at the cheerleaders, and girl pronounced to me, “Hey, you are old enough to be their father!” The staring immediately stopped, and I sat there, embarrassed at my gawking.
But then again, I’m a straight male. The whole issue here is dealing with a gay mayor and a gay young male. Things work a lot differently in that world, as I have learned in talking with some of my friends who happen to be gay. Hookups happen a lot, and it’s nothing for them to have one night stands with random folks, much like what you might see in any other bar anywhere in the world. People meet up and sometimes they have sex, right after they meet. It happens, and there’s not a whole lot that people offended by that can do. The best hope you can do for children about sex is to educate them on the dangers, and hope they make the right choice. Needless to say, I’ve made some smart choices, and some rather dumb choices, but nothing bad has happened. I consider myself lucky in that respect.
I’m not a public figure, though, I’m a guy living in Portland with my wife and cats. My background matters to her, my employer, but I don’t have to face the intense scrutiny that folks in the public eye face daily. There isn’t a whole lot of things that are considered taboo anymore, and so anyone interested in politics should prepare themselves to have their private life ripped apart, examined to no end, and then put out on display for all to see. It’s a tough existence, and I applaud anyone with the stomach to actually put up with the process. But we’ve made this process ourselves, by allowing quick snap judgments to determine a candidate’s likeability, and information can be distorted in efficient 30 second snippets. That happens when people allow single issues to determine their thoughts about potential candidates, or voters don’t take the time to actually read and try to understand the issues at hand, so they choose either not to vote or vote based on the quick snippets. Trust me, you can do some effective damage with simple, short ads. Just look back at the Smith - Merkely campaign for Senate, and watch the carnage from that campaign, as both sides took shot after shot, and in the end, Merkely was left standing, barely.
I can understand why Sam Adams chose to bend the truth when asked, because he felt like the alternative would be distorted and lessen his chances of winning. But he also had a chance to do something truly noble that day, and not play the game of politics like everyone else, and instead he answered a political question, albeit a risky one, with an even riskier political answer. I’d expect someone with 20 years of experience in politics to take that tact, and personally, the part about him having sex with the boy doesn’t bug me. As far as we know, it was an act between two consenting adults, and it’s none of my business. Things like this happen all the time, but in this case, it’s a public figure involved and he originally told a lie to cover it the facts.
We expect our leaders to perform with integrity and humility, and what Sam Adams did shows neither. He should have displayed the tenacity to live with the truth, and let things fall where they may, but he didn’t. And now, the city waits to see what happens next. Selfishly, I really want MLS to come to town, and Adams is a major proponent to this idea, and now I’m not sure of it’s future with this. While we have the desire and passion, there isn’t a true political heavyweight involved with this if Adams resigns. And for something like this, you have to have someone with the foresight, integrity and ingenuity to make it work, and while Adams has two of the three, the integrity is now called into question.
But does that mean he won’t be a good mayor and he can’t get past this? Absolutely not, which is why I am hoping he remains in office long enough for the facts to come out and the investigation to be completed. People make mistakes, and part of showing integrity is admitting to an error in judgment and then doing everything possible to restore people’s confidence. Politicians are human, and I think anyone that expects them to be completely without baggage is just being unrealistic. I don’t even think Gandhi or Jesus could survive some of the true attacks that some people have endured running for office. But true leadership means standing up and taking responsibility for what you’ve done, and I’m hoping that he does that, for the good of the city. Running way now just makes things worse for everyone.
While the country focused on Barack Obama becoming our 44th President, Portland became embroiled in scandal as our current mayor, Sam Adams, admitted to having a relationship with an 18 year old man he had been mentoring, and they had met when he was 17. Adams had denied any wrongdoing up until Tuesday, even saying that allegations of misconduct were grossly exaggerated because the relationship was platonic. However, Willamette Week, a local alternative newspaper in Portland, presented new evidence earlier in the week and they were ready to go to press on Wednesday to break the news that Adams had indeed lied. Before that happened, Adams changed his story and even admitted that he had asked the boy to lie about the situation if asked. The past few days have seen a crazy media frenzy, web posts calling for support or resignation, and a near paralysis of city government.
As I read through and listened to Obama’s speeches on Tuesday, his demeanor, language choice, and composure struck me in giving a speech of that much significance. The first African American taking office as the President, and he showed mettle that even I didn’t believe he had. He basically admitted that as a country, we’ve lost our way and it’s not going to be easy to get back on course. Some of our allies don’t like us very much, the parts of the world that want us to suffer have grown over the past 8 years, our credit rating and reputation around the world have sunk to new lows, and everyone, business and personal included, are struggling to make ends meet. Getting out of this mess won’t be easy at all, and yet, his words filled me with optimism and hope. I know things are pretty bad right now, it’s hard not to pick up a newspaper or watch a newscast and not see the reports of job layoffs and, bad economic news, and come to the conclusion things are OK, unless your math skills are suspect. What Obama showed more than anything was true leadership, saying that while things are bad, they can get better and I will do what I can to make that happen. It won’t be easy, because there are obstacles in the way, and our choices will involve short term pain and suffering, but we must go through this to realize the end success. It was an incredible honest and forthright display, and one that makes me proud to have this guy as my President. He’s not Black, he’s not African American, he’s the President, and I am ready to see what he will do during his presidency. So far, closing Guantanamo Bay prison and freezing salaries of some White House staff is a good start, and agreeing not to torture prisoners I think adds some icing to the cake.
What our previous President failed to realize what that the rules apply to everyone, including himself, and his various decisions about the War, corporate oversight, torture, and diplomacy as a whole were all grossly wrong. Hindsight will do that to some people, but until the very end, there was no admission of guilt, no real regrets until it was towards the very end when he admitted, “we probably shouldn’t have declared victory when the job wasn’t done.” It was a surprising admission, but I think received entirely too late, because the damage was already done.
Which bring me to the tale of Sam Adams. The depth of this story is becoming very clear over the past few days, as the general timeframe and events are being put together. He met the teenager, who was an aide of a State Senator and agreed to mentor him. In spending time together, they grew fond of each other, and apparently, they hooked up after he turned 18. They have remained in some contact, but nothing more since then. When asked about the boy, Adams said the relationship was above board, and he was simply mentoring him because he was struggling with coming out. The allegations never went any further until recently, when Adams was forced to admit the true nature of the relationship and admit that not only did they have sex, but that he asked him to cover it up. This information, had it been known before the election last year, probably would have affected the voting, but we don’t know for sure. One of the reporters from the Mercury, another alternative newspaper, became a sustainability chief for Adams recently, despite questions about her background and the fact that she was the main investigator for their publication into this story when she was a reporter. Oregon’s Attorney General has indicated he’ll investigate the situation to see if there was any wrongdoing, and Adams hasn’t decided whether he’ll resign or fight, but the entire situation is a true mess. There's even been talk of a recall happening later this year. If you read the various links I’ve posted, you can see that this is one truly messed up situation.
From my own experience, I’ve mentored young people from my university, and I think the idea is one of the best gifts you can give a young person. I don’t think anyone in college can fathom what it is like in the working world, and having someone guide you through the trials can be a wonderful thing. But then again, most of the mentees are high school or college aged, and so they may be naïve to how things really work. Some of my mentees were female and attractive, but I was more struck by their talent and desire to succeed, and I didn’t view them in any other way but as a person asking me for help. I’m also reminded of their age when girl and I recently attended a Portland State football game, and I was caught staring at the cheerleaders, and girl pronounced to me, “Hey, you are old enough to be their father!” The staring immediately stopped, and I sat there, embarrassed at my gawking.
But then again, I’m a straight male. The whole issue here is dealing with a gay mayor and a gay young male. Things work a lot differently in that world, as I have learned in talking with some of my friends who happen to be gay. Hookups happen a lot, and it’s nothing for them to have one night stands with random folks, much like what you might see in any other bar anywhere in the world. People meet up and sometimes they have sex, right after they meet. It happens, and there’s not a whole lot that people offended by that can do. The best hope you can do for children about sex is to educate them on the dangers, and hope they make the right choice. Needless to say, I’ve made some smart choices, and some rather dumb choices, but nothing bad has happened. I consider myself lucky in that respect.
I’m not a public figure, though, I’m a guy living in Portland with my wife and cats. My background matters to her, my employer, but I don’t have to face the intense scrutiny that folks in the public eye face daily. There isn’t a whole lot of things that are considered taboo anymore, and so anyone interested in politics should prepare themselves to have their private life ripped apart, examined to no end, and then put out on display for all to see. It’s a tough existence, and I applaud anyone with the stomach to actually put up with the process. But we’ve made this process ourselves, by allowing quick snap judgments to determine a candidate’s likeability, and information can be distorted in efficient 30 second snippets. That happens when people allow single issues to determine their thoughts about potential candidates, or voters don’t take the time to actually read and try to understand the issues at hand, so they choose either not to vote or vote based on the quick snippets. Trust me, you can do some effective damage with simple, short ads. Just look back at the Smith - Merkely campaign for Senate, and watch the carnage from that campaign, as both sides took shot after shot, and in the end, Merkely was left standing, barely.
I can understand why Sam Adams chose to bend the truth when asked, because he felt like the alternative would be distorted and lessen his chances of winning. But he also had a chance to do something truly noble that day, and not play the game of politics like everyone else, and instead he answered a political question, albeit a risky one, with an even riskier political answer. I’d expect someone with 20 years of experience in politics to take that tact, and personally, the part about him having sex with the boy doesn’t bug me. As far as we know, it was an act between two consenting adults, and it’s none of my business. Things like this happen all the time, but in this case, it’s a public figure involved and he originally told a lie to cover it the facts.
We expect our leaders to perform with integrity and humility, and what Sam Adams did shows neither. He should have displayed the tenacity to live with the truth, and let things fall where they may, but he didn’t. And now, the city waits to see what happens next. Selfishly, I really want MLS to come to town, and Adams is a major proponent to this idea, and now I’m not sure of it’s future with this. While we have the desire and passion, there isn’t a true political heavyweight involved with this if Adams resigns. And for something like this, you have to have someone with the foresight, integrity and ingenuity to make it work, and while Adams has two of the three, the integrity is now called into question.
But does that mean he won’t be a good mayor and he can’t get past this? Absolutely not, which is why I am hoping he remains in office long enough for the facts to come out and the investigation to be completed. People make mistakes, and part of showing integrity is admitting to an error in judgment and then doing everything possible to restore people’s confidence. Politicians are human, and I think anyone that expects them to be completely without baggage is just being unrealistic. I don’t even think Gandhi or Jesus could survive some of the true attacks that some people have endured running for office. But true leadership means standing up and taking responsibility for what you’ve done, and I’m hoping that he does that, for the good of the city. Running way now just makes things worse for everyone.
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