worldwide pablo

Here in Portland, Oregon, it’s been a terrific summer – the best ever, in Worldwide Pablo’s estimation. Oh, there’s been the occasional cloud, the errant cloud or two, even some mischievous rain. But by and large, it’s been a spectacular summer, one of the warmest and sunniest on record, according to the weather gurus. In fact, can anyone remember when all three holiday weekends of summer (Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day) all had dry, warm/hot summer days? Let it be recorded that Summer 2003 provided just that (assuming Zaffino’s weather forecast holds out for the upcoming weekend).

Truly, summer’s wind-down has begun. It’s easy to tell: Hits are down on this and other websites. [And so are the blog posts; many a blogger is “missing in action” this week.] News anchors are away too. [When’s the last time you saw Jim Lehrer at his news desk?] Rush-hour traffic is a breeze. E-mails have dwindled to a techno-trickle. Even the trusty telephone is largely silent this week.

Yes, these are the “dog days of summer.” Such an odd phrase that is. Did you know that it comes from the ancient Romans, who noticed that the hottest days of the year (late July and early August) coincided with Sirius, the Dog Star (aka The Great Dog) being in the same part of the sky as the Sun? They thought the star contributed to the heat of the day. Thus, the expression that most of us never give second thought to, lo, these two millenia later.

It will be over before we know it, of course. The summer heat and the longish days will yield to autumn soon enough. [WWP himself noticed the “autumn air” just last week in Seattle; can Portland be far behind?] In just a few days, the lazy news cycles will return to the pressing issues: reforming the Portland police bureau, winning the peace in Iraq, restoring privacy at a home, tackling joblessness, reclaiming the environment, sorting out the politics of the already full-blown presidential race, defining the bounds of civil rights, and so much more.

So enjoy the weirdness that only late summer can bring. Does “gay TV” help or hurt the cause of homosexuals? Is Taco Bell rigging the California recall election? Will Judge Moore win his case for the Ten Commandments monument?

Ah, yes. The Dog Days. Relish ’em while you can.

A note: Don’t expect many more posts between now and Labor Day. Worldwide Pablo is taking his own advice and will be enjoying a few days off. And that includes posting to this blog. In the meantime, have a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend.

All of Oregon's news media are reporting today the results of an independent audit of the Portland Police Bureau and its involvement in 32 police shootings in the last six years. And guess what, Alice? There's little or no documented command review in many cases, policies are frequently violated, administrative review is found lacking, officers are afraid to suggest improvements, the "deadly force" policy needs an overhaul, officers involved in shootings are improperly isolated and coached before they are investigated by authorities, evidence has gone missing or is not collected … and well, you get the idea. Read it for yourself here.

The fact that these failings are so wide-ranging and have occurred for so long is hardly a surprise to Portlanders outside the Blue Zone. From the various failed schemes at police bureau oversight to the community protests that almost always follow these shootings, the City of Roses has fashioned a record of official neglect and contempt for its citizens that is rivaled by only the worst of America's urban war zones. What now? Will the police bureau, its allies and its union allow the needed remedies? Or thwart them, as in the past? Will citizens finally say "enough" and demand change and accountability? More importantly, will city leaders listen? Or care?

Here's a clue: This morning, Worldwide Pablo flicked on the car radio to hear KINK's Les Sarnoff interview none other than Mayor Tweedledee herself. Ah, the perfect opportunity to hear Her Smallness put the matter into perspective, to address the smoldering fury and contempt average citizens increasingly have toward the Police Bureau. But no, the topic was … the baseball stadium. That, the mayor says, will be "her biggest challenge" in the remaining months of her service as mayor.

Or as the original Tweedledee says: “If it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.”

Ain't it?

Speaking of logic: It takes a lot of gall (or another plural word that rhymes with gall) to stand in front of a fish-blenderizing hydroelectric dam and tout your record as a champion of salmon recovery. Or, for that matter, to extol a "forest protection" plan that actually means cutting it down? One doesn't have to look any further than last week's presidential visit to discern the depth of pretense that passes for presidential environmental policy. Joel Connelly of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer aptly describes the willful disconnect between word and deed as "green-washing."

Speaking of Seattle: Zounds! The slings and arrows of outrageous taxes (aka, "The Tempest in the Coffee Pot").

False idols and false martyrs: The other tempest of the day, the one in Alabama over the replica of the Ten Commandments in the state judicial building rotunda, has spawned no shortage of rhetoric. Supporters of the monument have likened their behavior to the civil disobedience of none other than Martin Luther King Jr. himself. Here's a thorough dissection of that specious argument.

One of the truths in gay life, as recent events in Oregon politics occasionally demonstrate, is that the fiercest opponents to gays and their acceptance in public life often comes from the mostly deeply closeted would-be gays themselves – those who apparently have the most face to lose, WWP surmises. This came to mind while reading about the multifaceted tragedy of the pedophile priest, implicated in dozens of sex-abuse cases in Massachusetts, who was murdered in prison over the weekend. It's grim all the way around, no matter how you look at it. But check out the old photograph (taken in 1986) of the priest's accused killer, who is reported to have strong anti-homosexual opinons. He looks a tad, well, gay himself, don't you think?

And you thought lawyers spoke a weird language: Were you an "FLK" when you were growing up? Or perhaps you're a "GPO" these days? No matter the label, were all "CTD," one way or another, as Overlawyered.com reports.

The Days of August… Dalene over at Terra Firma Diaries has some new posts, and it got WWP to thinking about getting back into the yard, taking a peek at the heavens and simplifying his life. Best quote: "Self-reliance is about owning things without them owning us." Amen to that.

The good, the bad, the queer: You knew it had to happen: homos with handguns. They've even got a website. Let's see that in the Pride Parade!

Swish and swoosh: Here's one reason to have some Nike pride.