Chris Dudley: Nice guy gettin' mixed up with the wrong people

Great work ethic, but not the guy to run the play

When I think back on Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Dudley's career as a Portland Trailblazer, I remember him being a good guy both on and off the court.  He certainly wasn't a big scorer; he was a very bad free-throw shooter and his ball-handling skills were negligible (to say the least).  But, he was a good defender and rebounder, and he had a great work ethic.

Since that time, Dudley has also proved to be a man of fine character in his prominent role in the community.  He's a well-known philanthropist who has done much for diabetic kids with his Chris Dudley Foundation.  In short, Chris Dudley is a good guy.

And that's why I'm so sad to see him running for Governor of Oregon as a Republican.  'Cause once you get that GOP stink on your hands, it's gonna be with ya for a while.  (Just ask Gordon Smith.)

It is disappointing to see Dudley getting mixed up with the Republican party.  But there is no denying that he's going all the way with it.  His campaign ads are standard GOP drivel:  tax cuts for businesses, fiscal austerity, yadda, yadda, yadda.  Willamette Week reported last December that Dudley, before he had publicly announced his intention to run, hired two big time GOP operatives to help him with his campaign.  Quoting Willie Week:

Dudley’s campaign manager is Chris Gulugian-Taylor, the former head of the Nevada GOP and in 2008, the Republican National Committee’s state director for Washington.

Dudley has also brought in Brittany Bramell, who served as spokewoman for New Jersey governor-elect Chris Christie, who defeated incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine last month. --Willamette Week, December 9, 2009

Those are some relatively Big Guns for little ol' Oregon.  By hiring two Republican operatives with national prominence and adhering to the GOP boilerplate for his campaign, Dudley appears to be hoping to associate himself with some "national movement" toward Republicans this November.  He apparently aims to come riding in on some national anti-Obama backlash.  There are certainly many in the national media who anticipate something of the kind.  (Personally, I have my doubts.)

But Dudley's decision to run his campaign by following the advice of national Republican operatives seems clumsy and politically tone-deaf with respect to Oregon and Oregonians.  Then again, Dudley has little to choose from if he's looking for help from Oregon Republicans.  The GOP is effectively dead in this state.

Remember the great Republican leaders in Oregon's history?  They have very little in common with the neo-Confederates and Bible-thumping hypocrites leading today's national GOP.  How would  Tom McCall, Vic Atiyeh, or Mark Hatfield fare in the post-Junior Bush Republican party?   

No, I'm afraid today's national Republican party has almost nothing in common with the Oregon Republican party that dominated state politics through much of the 70s and 80s.  To see how far the GOP has fallen in Oregon, consider:  Oregon has not had a Republican governor since 1987.  The state has not voted for the Republican candidate for President since 1984.  Both US Senators are Democrats.  Four of five congressional representatives are Democrats. Both houses of the state legislature are controlled by Democrats.  Oregon is as blue as it gets.

And yet, Chris Dudley imagines that the way to the governor's mansion is by hooking up with the toxic schmucks that Oregonians so universally reject.

It's a poor decision.  A brain hiccup.  To put it in perspective, imagine Chris Dudley, back in his days as a Trailblazer. He has the ball at the top of the key.  One point down, two on the clock.  He sees an open Clyde Drexler streaking down the baseline!  He motions as if to pass, and then --to the appalled horror of Blazer fans everywhere --he puts the ball on the floor and drives for the hoop!

It's that kind of a decision.

I'm not going to hold it against him, personally.  Like I said before, Chris Dudley is a good guy.

But I sure as hell ain't gonna vote for him!

Saturday night at Milagro Theater

 El Milagro Theater on Stark Street

Saturday night, I went to Milagro Theater, just down the street, as it were, to see a production of El Quijote.  The play was billed as a bilingual adaptation of a work written by Santiago García based on the novel by Miguel de Cervantes.  That description piqued my curiosity for a number of reasons.  Firstly, I'm always looking for new ways to improve my Spanish and a bilingual play seemed like a good alternative for doing so.  Secondly, I read the original Cervantes novel some 25 years ago and remembered it as poignant, profound, and hilarious.

Entreaties to friends and spouse for accompaniment were fruitless, and so I made a solo trek down to SE Stark Street, a mere mile and a half from my house, to see the play. 

Milagro Theater

Tasteful, thematic decor

This was my first visit to Milagro Theater, but I don't intend for it to be my last.  The anteroom included a small coffee shop adorned with Spanish-themed artwork apropos of the current show.  The staff was friendly, informative, and welcoming. The atmosphere was casual, easy-going.  I did not feel under-dressed in my sandals and tee-shirt attire.

The theater itself is intimate.  I'm not sure of the capacity, but I estimate there were some five score persons at the show I attended, and there were only a scant few empty seats.  The stage was small, and the set simple.  Sound and lighting were quite good.

El Quijote

Sancho Panza (Danny Bruno) y el Don Quijote (Gilberto Martín del Campo)

La obra, como se anunció, es bilingüe, lo cual significa que el diálogo consiste de líneas en ambos inglés y español.  Por la mayor parte, comprendí el castellano, aunque, en algunas escenas, estuve perdido.  El reparto de actores trabajaron con mucha dedicación.  No quiero mencionar nadie en particular, por que todos hicieron muy bien.  Me gustó el diálogo entre los dos actores primeros, Danny Bruno (Sancho Panza) y Gilberto Martín del Campo (Don Quijote).  Hubo muchas escenas cómicas, y bajo todo, las preguntas planteadas en la obra de Cervantes no se habían ocultado.  Don Quijote y Sancho Panza continuan preguntarnos ¿cuál es el equilibrio adecuado entre el idealismo y el pragmatismo? 

En mi opinión, la obra fue un poco demasiado largo, corriendo dos y media horas, incluyendo un intermedio de quince minutos.   Pero, encontré el trabajo ser un esfuerzo sincero y con éxito.  ¡Felicidades a directora Olga Sanchez y a todos del Grupo de Milagro Teatro!

Best man

Time for another spell of introspective rambling.  It's good to do this every so often... cleans out the pipes, so to speak. 

I guess right now I'm thinking about this August, when I will stand at the side of my good friend and former bandmate David Thompson when he gets married.  Gonna be Dave's best man. (For the second time, no less!)

This will be the fifth occasion in my life when I have had the honor of being "best man."

In 1992, I was best man for the very best friend in all my life, my brother Eric.  He married his high school sweetheart, Linda Fifield.  If there is one person in this world who understands the complex relationship that my brother and I have, it is Linda.  She was right there in the thick of it.  Not always the easiest place to be.  Not for any of us.  Eric and Linda got married in January, with me as best man.  Then, that June, Eric stood for me when Michelle and I got married.  Eric and I were both just finished up with college and I imagine we both figured marriage was next on the agenda.  When you're that age, you don't know any better. 

I was also best man for my dear, old friend, Patrick Edward Yadon, when he married Deanna Cooper in 1987.  (Or was it '86?)  If I ever work up enough nerve, I might write a story or two about the times that Pat and I had together.  We were a couple young tomcats, laid-off from the lumber mill.  Rascals.  Rakes. Rapscallions.  We were such regulars at Roger's Bar down in Klamath Falls that if we didn't show up on a given night, the bartender was likely to notify Oregon Search and Rescue.  I can't say I'm proud of everything we did back then.  But, then again, I'm not ashamed of it either.  We did a lot of laughing and a lot of drinking, Pat and I did.

As I stated earlier, I was best man for Dave Thompson another time.  That was when he married Tiana Foreman in 2004, just a year or two after the Mahatma Candy daze.  Dave and I were bandmates for two years and roommates for another.  We played a lot of guitar together.  We got to where we could play off each other pretty damn well, if I do say so myself.  Dave and I are kindred spirits in a lot of ways, I think.

And, then, I was best man for Dad, for Ross Cariaga, when he married Tami McClain in 1989.  I got the assignment by virtue of seniority within the Tribe of Ross.  (I was the oldest son, after all.)  But now is not the time for me to try to hammer out a few sentences to characterize the relationship between Dad and me.  Not gonna open any of those doors right now.  No, sir.  Save that for another time.

Of course, each of these occasions was a rare honor.  I plan to carry them with me for the rest of my days.  Like Bruce Cockburn says, "To be held in the heart of a friend is to be a king."

I also want to mention my high school friend, Frederick Taylor Means (alternately "Rick" or "Fred"), who asked me to be his best man shortly after we graduated from high school in 1980.  He and his girlfriend, Kim Barnes, were in something of a hurry to get married.  For some reason that I can no longer recall, I had to decline the honor that day.  But I was gratified, nonetheless.

Hmm... now that I think about it, not a single one of the marriages I mention has survived.  Apart from Dad's marriage (Dad and Tami were married up to his passing in 2001), every marriage for which I served as best man has ended in divorce.

What does that tell ya?

Stinky Joe and the gang: Time to purge the citizenry!

 Senator Lieberman soaring, soaring, soaring towards freedom!

Since I long ago wrote him off as nothing but a self-promoting, cowardly political hack, I had thought Stinky Joe Lieberman was incapable of offending me.  Shows how much I know...

Because, in the wake of the to-do revolving around the arrest of Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized American citizen alleged to have set a car bomb in Times Square, there was Stinky Joe proposing obnoxious new legislation. Lieberman's idea would be to strip Americans of their citizenship if they are deemed to be affiliated with a terrorist organization.

Mustering as much gravitas as is possible for a man of such --er --"pragmatism," Lieberman moped: “I’m now putting together legislation to amend that to [specify that] any individual American citizen who is found to be involved in a foreign terrorist organization, as defined by the Department of State, would be deprived of their citizenship rights.”  Read more here.

For a wretch like Lieberman to get all holier-than-thou with anyone is revolting to begin with.  But what is most offensive is that he is part of a certain bi-partisan gang in the US Congress which has lately been pretty cavalier in its attitude about who gets to be considered an American citizen.

Take, for example, the remark made the other day by US Representative Duncan Hunter, speaking at one of the tea-bagger rallies.  From the Los Angeles Times:  "Would you support deportation of natural-born American citizens that are the children of illegal aliens," Hunter was asked. "I would have to, yes," Hunter said. "... We simply cannot afford what we're doing right now," he said. "... It takes more than just walking across the border to become an American citizen. It's what's in our souls. ..."  (Read more here.)

And then, of course, there is the recently enacted legislation in Arizona that requires that individuals carry proof of citizenship with them at all times.

So, are you ready for this, Americans?  Joe Lieberman and Duncan Hunter and the Arizona state assembly advocate that we start sorting through American citizens and determining which of us are real Americans and which are fakes.  But not based on all that legal mumbo-jumbo in the US Constitution.  No.  Rather, the authenticity of our citizenship is determined by our associations and by what they deem to be in our souls.  The fakers get stripped of their Constitutional rights and may then be deported or subjected to military tribunal.  A good, old-fashioned purge!  Every tea-bagger's dream!

Lieberman and Hunter may be simply pandering to particulars within their respective constituencies or they may actually believe what they're saying.  Either way, neither man would say things like that if he didn't believe he had a receptive audience.  And tea-bagger ears are fertile ground for this kind of claptrap.  Remember, there is still a significant portion of them that believe President Obama was born in Kenya (and, is therefore presumably not a "real" American).

But if the tea-baggers are really too stupid to see how this kind of thing can quickly get out of hand... well, I don't really know what to say.

2010 Primary ballots are here

It's primary time, here in Oregon.  The big race, of course, is to see who will replace Ted Kulongoski in the governor's mansion in 2011.  I am undecided between former governor John Kitzhaber and former Secretary of State Bill Bradbury.  An informal poll of my (mostly liberal) neighbors indicates that it should be a close primary contest between those two gentlemen.  Two of my neighbors expressed support for Governor Kitzhaber; two others indicated they would be voting for Secretary Bradbury.  (And then, there's my neighbor down the street with the Chris Dudley sign in his yard...)

Well, I'm off the hook for the primary, since, at the moment, I am registered in the Working Families party.  It's just as well, since I couldn't really make up my mind.  It's almost a certainty that I will be voting for the Democratic nominee in November, regardless of which man gets the nod.

Other than that, I took the lazy man's way out and voted for "down ticket" positions according to endorsements made by the Oregon League of Conservation Voters.

Here's how I went:

• Ballot Measure 68, Yes.  Amends the Oregon Constitution to allow Oregon public school districts to use bond proceeds to buy land and other assets, and would create a state matching fund to help finance school district capital costs. The measure would have no financial effect on either state or local government expenditures or revenues. 
  
  
• Ballot Measure 69, Yes.  Amends Constitution: Continues and modernizes authority for lowest cost borrowing for community colleges and public universities.
  
  
• Metro President, Bob Stacey.
  
  
• Portland City Commission, Position 2, Nick Fish.
  
  
• Portland City Commission, Position 3, Dan Saltzman.
  
  
• Multnomah County Sheriff, Andre Danielson.  The dream won't die, Andre.  Not as long as I can wave the flag.

Give this man a badge and a gun and let him get to work!

It all shapes up for an interesting November.  Early speculation is that Republicans will make big gains in the US Congress and across the country.  I withhold judgment.  People may be unhappy with the Democrats, but I don't think that means that they are therefore suddenly enamored of Republicans. 

We'll see...

To do what I want to do

A state such as this:

 Chasing down ev'ry dark rabbit hole--

 Seeking a way, to make it okay,

To do what I want to do;

And now here I am:

 Blowing on red glowing embers--

Flame lick to tease, so long as it please,

To do what I want to do;

But who would I be:

     Trampling out grapes in the vineyard--

Singing my psalm, free of all qualm,

To do what I want to do?

BP trying to weasel out of Gulf Spill consequences

 Aw, shucks. 

Pay attention, people!  BP is offering a textbook example of how it works with these big corporations:

1. Work behind the scenes to cover up the bribes and shortcuts that led to the disaster;
   
   
2. Dip into the petty cash drawer to buy off the poor schmucks whose homes and livelihoods have been destroyed;
   
   
3. Seek penance publicly, to give cover to media hacks like Britt Hume and Bill Kristol when they go to bat for you;
   
   
4. Back to business as usual.

Although the Obama administration and BP itself proclaim that it (BP) will pay entirely for the clean-up, I'll believe it when I see it.  The first indication of BP intentions to limit its own liability came with the news that BP has been offering payments of $5000 to residents on the Alabama coastline in exchange for those residents signing an agreement that waives their rights to sue for damages resulting from the spill.

Cheap cash pay-offs.  Get desperate people to sign away their rights and you're home free, BP.

Keep your ears open.  There will be more such underhanded efforts.

Global corporations, which comprise the ruling class of these United States, just like the feudal overlords of yesteryear, never suffer consequences for their murderous, destructive behavior.  No, sir.  They do as they please. 

BP executives are undoubtedly rueful at the mishap in the Gulf of Mexico.  But not because eleven worker drones died in the explosion.  Nor indeed because it will destroy the fragile ecosystem of the Mississippi Delta, nor because it will poison some of the world's most productive shellfish beds, nor because it will destroy a multitude of small businesses that rely on Gulf Coast tourism.  The real pity, from a BP perspective, is that this colossal f*ck-up will dampen public appetite for off-shore oil drilling in the future.

Alas, for them!  All that bullying and market manipulation and public misinformation that Big Dick and his gang did back in the day gets thwarted by damnable accident!  And things looked so good, just a year ago.  They actually had moronic tea-baggers shouting "Drill, baby, drill" at the GOP convention in 2008.  They even had Obama singing their tune.

And now, this! 

Well, sad as it is, we can imagine that Tony Hayward, Group Chief Executive for BP, is probably not going to get his accustomed place with the opening foursome at Myrtle Beach for a few Sundays.  You know that's got to hurt.

Poor guy.