There are so many fine blogs out there. Here's one called {A} , from somewhere down Eugene way. Full of heart and soul.

The DJ in me has been working to come up with the world's best Motown compilation CD. The trick is, you get only 80 minutes max to tell the Motown story. It's hard. Even without the Jackson 5 and Gladys Knight & the Pips (I'm awaiting acquisition of some of their stuff in digital format, rather than messing with my old vinyl), I've got this:

Thoughts, anyone?

Craig over at MT Politics says today's the end of his blog. If it holds up, it will be a big loss for the blogosphere.

I can definitely relate, however. I wish I had a nickel for every time I pondered this blog and said to myself, "What the heck am I doing?"

...then I assume you've seen this. LOL!

The O broke a nice little story the other day. Two paid assistants to U.S. Rep. Earl "the Pearl" Blumenauer are also on the payrolls of local agencies back home in Portlandtown. Tom Markgraf (right), a Blumenauer aide, also pulls down $100 an hour as a consultant to Tri-Met. And he puts in enough hours for Tri-Met that he makes some serious dough there:

Markgraf has received about $100,000 in no-bid contracts from TriMet since joining Blumenauer's staff six years ago, where his salary climbed to $65,000 last year for advising the congressman on transportation and other needs.

was elected to the Metro Council in November but continues to work in Blumenauer's office as a part-time adviser on "livable communities" while helping set policy on urban planning, land use and transportation for the regional government.

To me, the Markgraf situation is just another example of a plain truth. Any time you see a "semi-autonomous" public agency like Tri-Met -- run by people who are not publicly elected, but appointed by elected officials who are their cronies (in Tri-Met's case, Governor Teddy-Neil) -- you can be sure that hanky-panky with public money is in the vicinity. It's like the Portland Development Commission, which has been outed for some of its own howlers in recent weeks. "Semi-autonomous" is synonymous with "not accountable," and you see the results.

Records show Markgraf has received five no-bid "public outreach" contracts from TriMet and the Washington state Department of Transportation, and one bid contract from the city of Portland, since 2000. Of those, five were paid with federal funding.

I used to think that Oregonians were just naive. But now I'm beginning to think that they just don't care, and besides, the hideous conflicts just run too deep.

Anyway, it was an uncharacteristically sharp reporting job by The Oregonian. And then, true to form, the editors ran it on the Saturday of a holiday weekend, thus insuring that the fewest possible readers would see it. If you hurry, you can still catch the link before the World's Lamest Web Site makes it disappear from the free internet forever.

Our federal tax system is so messed up; it badly needs an overhaul. The former frat president, now our President, has a blue-ribbon panel working on tax reform. But they're all economists, which to me means they're detached from reality and likely to come up with something utterly unworkable.

In contrast, late last year I mentioned that I was intrigued by Yale Law Professor Michael Graetz's plan for fundamental federal tax reform. The Graetz plan is eminently do-able, if the political will were only there:

1. Repeal the regular federal income tax on individuals, leaving only what is now the alternative minimum tax (AMT) in its place. Fix it so that single people with incomes under $50,000 and married copuples with incomes under $100,000 don't pay income tax at all. For everyone else, impose a flat rate of 25 percent on the excess over $50,000 or $100,000, as the case may be. "Index" all the income figures in the system so that they rise every year with inflation. Replace the earned income credit (a tax benefit for the working poor) with an equivalent break on low-wage-earners' Social Security and Medicare taxes.

2. Institute a European-style value-added tax (essentially, a sales tax collected and paid by manufacturers and distributors) of 10 to 14 percent on all goods produced or sold in the United States.

3. Drop corporate tax rates to 25 percent, but require corporations to pay tax on the profits that they're showing investors and creditors on their books, not the much lower profits that are now showing up on their cooked tax returns.

Can you imagine a world in which most people would no longer be filing federal tax returns? And one in which corporations pay taxes based on the rosy picture that they're painting for their investors? Graetz can. And he's one smart dude.

The Oregonian reporters who claim to have the "definitive" story on the 1989 murder of Oregon Corrections chief Michael Francke have responded to the Portland Tribune's challenge that they've overlooked crucial facts. The response, which mentions this blog, is here. (I had expressed extreme skepticism about the O's latest coverage here.)

Try as they might to convince that convicted murderer Frank Gable killed Francke, the O reporters essentially reargue the largely circumstantial case that convinced a jury of that fact years ago. They pooh-pooh an alternate theory that makes a great deal of sense and has never been disproved. What we're left with is a "Lee Harvey Oswald, crazed gunman, acting alone" kind of official story, which will never be very persuasive. And so we all muddle along with our suspicions. The fact that the O sent people out to look at everything again, and they didn't find anything to detract from the official view, doesn't add much.

I will say this -- if I were on a jury that saw everything that the O and others have written over the years, I never would have found Gable guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Erin Brockovich-Ellis was in town today, and I had the pleasure of hearing her speak. It was all about pursuing justice, trusting one's heart, being persistent, getting to simple truths, giving people the chance to make informed choices, and sticking up for the underdog. She was warm, smart, funny, and very real.

I've sat through quite a few speeches in the same setting, where I looked at my watch a few times. Not today.

I've been reading with great interest about how reliant the U.S. economy is on China nowadays. Specifically, how China continues to lend us billions of dollars every month. You wonder how we're financing the federal deficit? The money's coming from China. And when the Chinese, led by Premier Wen Jiabao, decide to stop lending so much money into this country, there's going to be hell to pay.

Interest rates are sure to rise, and housing prices are likely to fall.

Which gets me thinking about our own overheated little housing market here in the Rose City. We're slapping up luxury condo tower after luxury condo tower, with price tags for the units that are utterly ridiculous. $800,000 to live in an apartment at NE 16th and Weidler? Are you kidding? Three-million-dollar units in South Waterfront? Lunacy.

If Wen pulls the plug on his dollar-lending machine soon, there are going to be some empty condo towers. And if he waits a year or two, the folks who run up here from Cali and pay those prices are going to wish they hadn't. Their precious units will be worth a fraction of what they paid for them.

Thery'll get no sympathy from me. Although they'll probably get some kind of handout from the Portland City Council.

Will the housing crash happen? It very well might. Indeed, U.S. manufacturers are screaming that China's monetary policy unfairly subsidizes Chinese exports by keeping the value of the Chinese yuan low against the U.S. dollar. The U.S. companies want the yuan to rise and the dollar to fall against it, and they've got friends in Congress pushing hard to have that come to pass.

But if it does, China's likely to lower drastically the credit card limit that it's been granting to the United States. And that does not bode well at all for ludicrously overpriced housing. Enjoy, neighbors.

I see that the capable folks at my favorite quasi-accountable public money slush fund, the Portland Development Commission, are at it again. Outed for entering into a series of highly questionable no-bid contracts for "management coaching," and "consulting" by a recent college grad with no relevant experience, now they're commissioning an "audit" of their own contracting practices.

And who will perform the "audit"? An experienced national accounting firm, hired in a transparent competitive bidding process, with no previous ties to the PDC?

Bwahahaha! Surely I jest. It will be the same folks who already audit the PDC's financial statements. And as far as I can tell, they were hired for the latest "auditing" job by, you guessed it, a no-bid contract of the very kind that they're supposed to be scrutinizing.

The PDC version of "process" is funny. Appeals of the agency's actions -- including protests on issues of alleged conflicts of interest -- are decided by the same people who made the original decision. Now the audit of their contracting practices is being conducted by a firm with pre-existing ties to the very group they're supposed to be checking up on. It makes you wonder if there isn't something ugly under every rock that a thoughtful investigator would turn up.

You know who ought to be auditing the PDC? Someone with criminal jurisdiction.

Of course, the prospect of having Teddy's ODOJ or Team Goldschmidt Field General Schrunk do it is laughable. But where is the U.S. attorney? Too busy authorizing illegal searches of Muslim homes, I guess.

If you have a rule that a 60-percent-plus-1 vote is required for something, but that rule can be changed by a 50-percent-plus-1 vote, then it isn't much of a rule to begin with.

I was only half-kidding yesterday when I suggested that if the City of Portland needs to buy Portland General Electric, then it needs to acquire Pacific Power as well. As the impending Buffett takeover (alas, that's Warren, not Jimmy) illustrates, potentially greedy private interests are out there waiting to take Portlanders' utility dollars, beyond the ratepayers who buy their electricity from PGE.

The city doesn't trust Enron's creditors from setting in motion a series of events that will hurt PGE customers, even with the state Public Utility Commission overseeing the proceedings. Why should they trust Buffett any more with Pacific Power's customers? And what happens when Buffett (aged 74) dies, and a grubby Enron-type group takes over his holdings?

If you're going to buy PGE, city commissioners, why stop there? Why not Pacific Power, too? And why not Northwest Natural, which supplies natural gas across the city, as well? Where does the "logic" (if you can call it that) stop?

Pril caught this story, which is very cool.

Hey, Warren Buffett just bought Pacific Power! Wow! Erik, time to blow a few more millions! We must replace the corporate robber barons with the genius bureaucrats of Portland City Hall!

We'll condemn them if necessary! Call our out-of-state lawyers and Wall Street sharpies! Ryan Deckert, man your pea shooter! We must protect our future!

It's for the children!

I see that while I was away, The Oregonian ran its "definitive" story about the murder of Oregon Corrections Director Michael Francke. And I also note that, by golly, they didn't find anything to cast doubt on the official version of that tragic event. And hey, they spent a lot of time and money on it:

the deepest examination of the case since Gable's conviction in 1991. Over five months, reporters reviewed thousands of pages of documents, tracked down dozens of key figures, and spent more than eight hours interviewing Gable.

Frank Gable, the guy who's doing time for the murder, hasn't got a good alibi, so I guess he must be guilty.

Thank goodness. For a minute there, the official version sounded a little fishy. But if the hard-hitting investigators at The O say not to worry, it's a closed case as far as I'm concerned. When there's corruption in high places in Oregon, they're always all over it, and so if they're happy with the court verdict on this "affair," there's really nothing more to look at.

Did I miss anything?

I heard there was a bogus story in the WW about Sten and Potter flushing a copy of The Wealth of Nations down a toilet. Oh, and the "Portland" Trib is moving its offices to Clackamas County? Did I dream that? It's too rich. Let's see, Lars is cleaning his pistol in the Couv, Dwight Jaynes is commuting to beautful downtown Mollala, the Boyles have started lobbing in the grenades from Washington County, NG's banished from public view -- is there anybody left? Just Avel Gordly passing out St. Mark Hatfield holy cards.

By now I'm sure we've got "voter-owned elections," though, eh? So cute. I'm afraid the voters are going to have to show these boys just how much they still do own things around here. Excuse me, guys, there is going to be a public ballot measure of some kind on this soon. Way before 2010, or whatever the nonsense date you're flashing around. Your forcing the taxpayers to do it the hard way isn't going to help you. It's going down. All the OSPIRG kids you can bus up here from Eugene won't be able to save it.

But anyway, that's for another post. Right now, I'm just so glad to be back in the damp, musty, 55-degree weather. I've been killing myself this last week and a half with the countless decsions -- SPF 30, or just 15? Strawberry margarita, or mango daiquiri? Shamu, or Pooh? Time to get off that treadmill.

Guess what? I'm outta here. Barring unforeseen developments, I'll be gone until May 24. No blogging. Strictly Routine 288.

Now, everybody, behave yourselves while I'm away.

Jack Peek, keep your finger off the caps lock key.

Fireman Randy, don't let them hyp-mo-tize you any deeper.

Erik, stop pestering for toys and do your chores.

B!X, clean your room.

Lily, no potty talk when you're angry. (But I do love it when you're angry. You too, Sally.)

Betsy, if you have a kid-free weekend, avoid even the appearance of impropriety.

Mellow, no staying out too late with those guys playing the bongo drums out on Hawthorne.

Lars, be nice to teacher.

Dave Lister, show pity on the misguided among us.

Ron Ledbury, please limit all off-topic PERS-related comments to 1,000 words or less.

Schopp and Karlock, no more than two property tax scam links a day.

Than, no more scaring people.

Nick Fish, more pancake makeup, less lipstick.

Phil Stanford, don't stop raising hell.

And all you City Hall minions who lurk here every weekday -- you think I don't know that's you behind the "or.us" IP addresses? -- don't get too comfy. I'm still watching you.

It's time for me to check in again with Marqui, the communications software company that's been paying me good money to blog about it and link to its website once a month.

Things seem to have settled into a groove lately at Marqui. The uproar that its "pay to blog" program created appears to have largely subsided, and now the Marqui folks are all busy with the harder work of their "software as a service" for internet marketers.

Marqui's been getting some good and regular posts on its own blog, from marketing diva Janet Johnson and media contact Tara Smith. Perhaps that's why I haven't heard from them myself in a while -- I suspect my services may no longer be needed after my current contract runs out on Sunday.

If that's the case, it's been fun, Marqui. What a deal. Thanks a lot.

I've been so busy with exams, grades, and the end of the school year that I haven't gotten into downtown Portland enough. Apparently they are handing out smart pills down there.

The Oregonian editorial board took some this week. Not only did they roast the City Council for spending scarce tax dollars on politicians' campaigns without first putting the matter up for a public vote, but they also called them out on the shutdown on the Buckman Pool -- a clear breach of the public trust. Good for the O.

However, their editorial staff apparently missed the smart pill handout. Today they mistakenly reported that the City Council had "voted 3-1 Wednesday to let voters decide in 2010 whether they want to keep offering public campaign financing to City Hall candidates, assuming they approve the funding plan next week." Actually, as has been reported more capably elsewhere, that's legally impossible. What was actually passed was a weasel resolution that calls on somebody or other to draft up language that a future City Council can use to refer the matter to voters. But there's no guarantee that will ever happen. What is guaranteed is that we'll start blowing public money on local politicians' TV ads immediately.

But back to the smart pills. My pal, Commissioner "Fireman Randy" Leonard, apparently took a smart pill within the last week or so. He voted no on the campaign finance matter, and he's in the paper today demanding that the Buckman pool get fixed and stay open. Damn right, bud -- you're entitled to my opinion.

Obviously, no one gave a smart pill to Commissioner Erik "Opie" Sten. If he took one, it would kill him.

Ditto for Matt Hennessee, chair of the Portland Development Commission for 51 more days and counting. Recall that Mayor Tom Potter has called foul on the PDC commissioners' bogus decision to award the Burnside Bridgehead development contract to Opus Northwest rather than Beam. Well, today wise old Constable Tom called for the two companies to build the project together -- an extremely cool idea. Responded Hennessee: "I'm very happy that the mayor has exerted his leadership on this issue." No kidding, Matt. There hasn't a drop of leadership in any of the suits at the PDC any time in recent memory. Watch Potter and learn.

The late spring/early summer season has surely arrived. Today we made our first graffiti cleanup run of the year around the block. Six small tags -- no match for Graffiti-X and a scrubby. Take that, you mentally ill tagger fools!

While the recent demise of oldies station KISN-FM has been mourned here, a nice byproduct has been the inauguration of a streaming version of the station's AM successor. Go here, click "Listen Live" in the upper right corner, and there you have it.

It will still sound tinny in the car, but now we've got it in stereo on the internet, which is a very good thing.

It's that time of year -- I'm grading exams. And with a self-imposed deadline looming, I'm not coming up for air for a while.

As Linda Richman used to say on Coffee Talk, "Talk amongst yourselves."

Just a few minutes ago, we had our 350,000th visit to this blog since we opened in July 2002. Number 350K was a mainstream visitor -- an Earthlink user on the West Coast (a former Mindspring subscriber, perhaps) running Windows 98 and Internet Explorer. Whoever you are, please come forward and pick up your prize, a lifetime free subscription to this blog.

We hosted our last 50,000 visits in 54 days. Thanks for stopping in here, everyone, and now on to 400,000.

As I recall, tomorrow's the day when our fearless leaders on the Portland City Council are going to vote to spend our property tax dollars to finance local political campaigns.

That's right. Take more than a million bucks each election (including six figures in administrative overhead, I'm sure, if you were honest about it) and hand it over to politicia