A wonderful wisecrack from Robert Ted Hinds, one of several folks challenging for one of the Portland City Council seats in the May primary:

An ominous e-mail message has arrived from State Sen. Vicki Walker of Eugene, who's been pretty-much-running against Gov. Ted Kulongoski and the Goldschmidt Old Boy Network in the upcoming gubernatorial primary. She writes:

After five months of exploring a candidacy for governor, I will make an announcement at noon tomorrow, Wednesday, February 1st, at the State Capitol in Hearing Room 50.

As of today, I still have a speech with three different endings. The first says I will run for Governor and challenge Gov. Ted Kulongoski in the May primary because I believe Oregon needs strong leadership. The second is that I will run for reelection to the State Senate to help my colleagues build on a better future for Oregon. And the third option is that I will not run for either office, that I will instead return to spending more time with my family and my small business.

I have a few more phone appointments today in order to make my final decision. Whatever the outcome, I appreciate the continued support I’ve received from all of you. You have been there from the beginning, and I will not forget that. We will send a newsletter out tomorrow letting you know of the outcome before you read it in the newspaper on Thursday morning.

As mentioned here before, she was royally shafted by John Kitzhaber, who pulled a phony diva act and stalled her fundraising at least a bit. I'm sure he'll be rewarded if Ted gets re-elected -- probably with the OHSU president's job.

If I'm right and Vicki's out of the governor's race, it's really too bad. Without her, the three front runners are Ted and the Usual Crooks, Ron Saxton-Goldschmidt, and Grouchy Old Mannix. Heaven help us. Ted Sorenson and Jason Atkinson show some faint signs of life, but I doubt either one can make it to the general election.

Without Vicki, it will be hard to muster much enthusiasm for the race, or much hope for our dysfunctional state government. Anybody care to join me in a "Draft Potter" movement?

Where does it say that the City of Portland has to build OHSU an aerial tram [rim shot] or else pay huge bucks in damages? Does the rise and fall of the Swiss franc really have anything to do with the huge cost overruns on the project? Why will pay to operate the thing? Is the City Council out of its mind?

In seeking to answer these and other fascinating questions about the Gonzo Gondola, inquiring minds have been asking Commissioner Sam "the Tram" Adams to see the original documents by which this boondoggle became law. To his credit, Adams posted some of them on the web, but he complained that the complete set was so thick that he couldn't do them all.

Now a wonderfully pesky local tax gadfly, Jim Karlock, has borrowed the whole stack from Adams and posted the incriminating papers himself. If you're ready to step through the looking glass, here's where to start. Please report back on what you find digging around in there.

UPDATE, 12:30 p.m.: So far, based on a half-day's reading, no one has found the place where the city commits to deliver the tram by a set date. And readers have complained that a key document -- the Construction Fuinding Agreement -- has not been produced.

Advice columnist Amy Dickinson of "Ask Amy" fame had these words of wisdom to impart today to a reader whose boyfriend had developed an unhealthy addiction to his Myspace account:

Your story is yet another reason why life online has become not only messy but also so boring. People who live a virtual life don't have actual experiences. Their blogs tend to reflect that.

I can't understand why people are so hungry to share their every waking thought with the rest of the world -- and I certainly don't understand why people are interested in reading these musings, personal details and lies.

I support the proposed new Portland schools tax -- a 0.95 income tax to be imposed on residents of the city, with all the funds dedicated to the public schools. I'm not looking forward to writing that check, but on the whole, I think it's the right thing to do.

Education is crucial to the success of our city and metropolitan area, and without these tax funds, the school districts would take a major budget cut, leading the public schools further down the slippery slope to which they have been clinging for a decade or more. I'm happy that Mayor Potter has taken the initiative on this -- he's a much more palatable champion of the schools than his predecessor, or the strange folks who are running the county these days.

I have already heard many negatives being circulated about the tax plan, which was unveiled on Thursday. Some of the criticisms are valid, at least up to a point. But political pragmatist that I am, I think we need to take the lesser of two evils when it's available.

Is there too much administrative overhead in the public school budgets? Sure. Are there some lackluster teachers whose hides are being covered by an aggressive union? Probably. Is government wasting money on other, less important priorities? Definitely. Might there be inequities between the Portland district and the outlying school districts under the plan? I really can't tell from what I've read so far, but let's assume for the sake of argument that it's possible. Is all the talk about dedicating the tax to classroom-related expenses a bunch of budgetary smoke and mirrors? Yep.

So what? Without this money, regardless of whether it's theoretically possible to run an adequate education system, it's a 100 percent certainty that there won't be one. Starving the beast for money isn't going to turn it into a beauty.

Some of the other objections that have emerged sound like baloney. Larsie keeps harping on the fact that the tax wil be imposed only on city residents, and not on commuters (like him) who work in town but live elsewhere. Yes, and...? I assume that's because those who live elsewhere send their kids to school elsewhere.

Then there's the fact that state government pensioners won't pay the tax. I assume that's because state law forbids it. Not Mayor Potter's doing.

And the geniuses at The O keep nattering on about how we should vote on a property tax levy instead. Excuse me, people, but there's this thing called the double majority law, and the risk of not getting a 50 percent turnout for a May primary is too high to chance it. For now, the city income tax is the best we can do. (Heck, four years from now, when the new city tax would expire, there might be a double majority requirement in place for renewing it. I have no doubt some of our fervent anti-tax brethren have drafted up a petition on the subject, or they will soon.)

With this tax, others complain, Portland is seceding from the rest of Oregon financially. It's about darn time, if you ask me.

We'll be hearing a lot that the county income tax that just expired was supposed to be temporary. It was -- just a stopgap measure until the Legislature gets its act together. The schedule on that has been pushed back to shortly after the Winter Olympics in Hell in the year 2525.

We just got a fairly good-sized property tax reduction, in part because an older school levy ran out, and we ought to funnel those dollars back where they can do the most good. The city income tax won't be perfect. Far from it. But I'll be voting for it.

Special greetings to my wonderful sister, who turns 29 today.

Over at Le Petite Morte, they're wondering who that visitor is who keeps showing up looking at their blog from a perch in Mount Laurel, N.J. I get visitor data showing the same thing all the time, but I thought it was one of my old Jersey contacts checking out the blog. I've got lots of family and friends in the Garden State.

You other bloggers out there -- are you getting this visitor, too? Perhaps it's a Google-bot or something. Does anyone know?

It's been another, shall we say, interesting week on the technology front. As reported here last week, I'm trying to move this blog to a new web host. And I've decided to upgrade my blogging software from Movable Type 2 to Movable Type 3 in the process. Although I'm making good headway on both fronts, it's taking much longer than I anticipated. Instead of being a painful but relatively quick process, it looks more like one of those challenges that one progresses through only a little at a time, with a dull ache the whole way.

On the host switch front, I'm off and running with a new provider and a much improved customer service situation. But it turned out that the server that the new outfit had put me on didn't have the most recent version of MySQL, the database program that makes Movable Type tick for most of us. When MT3 tried to talk to the server they gave me, the hideous "connection errors" appeared. After figuring out the problem by consulting the voluminous web literature on Movable Type installation problems, I was able to tell the folks at the new host the help I needed, and they provided it quickly and smoothly. A refreshing change for me.

Installing Movable Type is no picnic. One of the things you need to do is to have MySQL create a database on your new server. I figured that one out o.k., but then there is the process of configuring MT. There's a key little configuration file that you have to rewrite yourself, and get everything just right. If you don't, you get more error messages. After a handful of tries, I was able to break through and do my first work under the new version of MT. The results are here -- not much so far, but an accomplishment of some sort nonetheless.

One of these days, when the blog on the new site is running like a champ, it will be time to have my domain name, bojack.org, changed so that it points you all automatically to the new web host rather than the old. Since I've got a dot-org domain, I have to show a long number called a registry key to make that move. It took about a week for me to wrestle that password out of my old host, but now I have it, and I should be able to make that move when the time comes.

Web domain lore is kind of interesting. There are a number of commercial outfits out there that serve as the registrars of domains. Mine is a joint called eNom, up in the Seattle area. (I didn't pick it -- my old host did.) My new web host uses a registrar in Melbourne. G'dye, mite! These are the ones you need to tell the world that, say, "bojack.org" means one IP address rather than another. The folks at eNom have been quite helpful in explaining to me what I have to do to start up their part of the deal. Don't hold your breath, though -- it can't happen until the new blog site looks just like the old, and that's still a ways off. A long ways.

So now it's back to the divine comedy of getting a mature MT2 blog moved to another server, and upgraded to an MT3 operation either before the move or afterward. What I've read about this so far is that the migration is "fraught with peril," as one site put it. One of the key steps is performing something called a "dump" of your data at the old server. Man, to tell a computer to "dump" something after three and a half years of building it sends a chill through my spine. My old web host has become an intolerable problem, but I'd rather have a blog that goes up and down like a yo-yo all week (as this one has) than a blog with nothing left on it.

And so I proceed with caution, one step at a time. Perhaps a prayer to Saint Jude, patron saint of hopeless causes, is in order. I hope you'll keep rooting for me.

Mellow's running pharmaceutical ads on her blog now.

We just felt something a few minutes ago here in Northeast Portland. I think it was a quake. Sure felt like it -- and it seems to have been one from the looks of this.

UPDATE, 6:17 p.m.: The USGS has it as a 2.9, at coordinates that would put it right under the east ramps to the Morrison Bridge!

UPDATE, 6:23 p.m.: Now it's listed as a 2.8, and the epicenter is given as 31st and East Burnside!

UPDATE, 11:50 p.m.: Several TV stations and the O are reporting that it was alternatively under the Morrison Bridge (the first location given by the USGS, later revised), or a mile southwest of downtown (quoting some fellow from the University of Washington). But the USGS and the UW seismic folks are both still showing 31st and Burnside on the web, and so I'm sticking with that. You read it here first and most accurately, folks.

Hard to believe, but it's time for this again. In the winter, at least, there's only one show -- in Portland.

The New Jersey Nets are in Portland to play the Blazers tonight, and that means that Fred Kerber, ace sports writer for The New York Post, is here with them. Fred and I were buddies in high school and college back in Jersey City, where we worked on the school newspapers together. I hadn't seen him in more than 30 years, but I tracked him down and we had dinner together downtown last night.

Kerber's special. Through all our youthful craziness fueled by beer, testosterone, and the wild attitudes of the late '60s, he was always the sweetest guy in the school.

And he still is. But he's even better as a grownup.

In the great corporate merry-go-round that FM radio has become, I have found a new location for geezer music. It's at 106.7 here in Portland -- stuff from the '60s and '70s. Nice to hear this material in stereo in the car again, at least for a while.

What do you think of the guys who want to dismantle ships in the Portland area? Now that they've been chased out of Newport, they're talking about coming up here. Obviously, there are some environmental concerns with an operation of this nature. But if Portland turns its nose up at it, it might wind up in Vancouver, Wash., anyway -- or elsewhere on the sales tax side of the Columbia. Astoria's also being mentioned.

I suspect we'll be hearing a lot more about this in the weeks ahead, and so if you haven't, start reading here. Meanwhile, those in the know, please fill us in on the pro's and con's.

Interesting piece in The O Wednesday morning on the fact that the City of Portland brought in a paid expert to testify in the grand jury proceeding following the fatal police shooting of James Jahar Perez in the spring of 2004. It was William Lewinski, the very same expert whom the city anticipated hiring to help defend itself in the civil lawsuit brought by Perez's family.

Our eternal county d.a., Mike Schrunk (worth some blog posts of his own), agreed to put Lewinski on the stand, even though it was known he was being paid by the city to show up and testify. In Schrunk's view, the expert was an objective provider of important information to the grand jurors.

It's hard to see it that way. Everybody in the legal racket knows that a "neutral" expert witness never really loses sight of who's paying his or her bill to be there. I'd be shocked if this particular expert regularly, if ever, gets employed by police shooting victims -- just the shooters. And Schrunk admits that he didn't give the Perez family a chance to have their own "neutral" expert testify before the grand jury.

However you come out on the propriety of the city's move in the Perez case (and there's room for legitimate disagreement about it), the front-page banner headline in The O was a bit misleading. The fact that Lewinski had testified before the grand jury is not news -- it was in the Willamette Week on May 5, 2004. The only new wrinkle, if that, was the fact that the city paid him to be there.

But notice reporter Maxine Bernstein's excellent question, which didn't really get answered, at the end of the O story: whether any similar expert testified in the much more recent grand jury proceeding into the police shooting of Dennis "Squeaky" Young. That grand jury also cleared the officer of any criminal wrongdoing. Schrunk says Lewinski didn't testify in that one. But did the city have someone else of the same stripe do the same thing?

The jalopy's in the shop today, and so I've been getting around on Tri-Met. It's a great system. It had better be, for what we all pay for it.

This morning on the MAX east side line, inbound at Hollywood, we had a fare inspection. I've ridden thousands of Tri-Met vehicles in my day, and this is only the second or third time I've ever experienced it. About six or eight uniformed guys got on board the train and asked everybody to show their tickets. I almost hadn't validated mine because one of the validator machines at the station I boarded at was out of service. Glad I had found another validator that worked. A couple of dudes without proof of payment were asked to step outside. Given their looks, I think a call to the parole department might have been fruitful.

The fellow next to me had a ticket that had literally been through a washing machine. It still worked, though.

Later in the day, riding the bus down on the soon-to-be-ripped-up-for-no-good-reason transit mall, I heard this exchange between the middle-aged male driver and a young woman standing outside the bus door in the rain:

Woman: Are you the 12?

Driver: No, this is the no. 9.

Woman: It says "12" on the back.

Driver: Well, don't look at the back!

Makes sense. Of course, nothing beat the sign I saw on the sidewalk outside a downtown storefront: "Improve your state of mind."

It was a state liquor store.

If you haven't seen Jack Ohman's cartoon in The O this morning, find a copy somewhere and check it out. It's perfect. (I'd link to it if I could find it on OregonLive, but of course, I can't. Maybe Mr. Velveeta will come on the comments here and point us to it.)

"And the Goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities
unto a Land not inhabited." (Leviticus XVI, 22)

First the hideous OHSU aerial tram [rim shot] was Matt Brown's fault. Then it was Vic Rhodes and John Mangan who were to blame. Throw in Dike Dame, too, he's got an interesting "track" record. Yesterday it was the Swiss franc.

It was just a matter of time before the finger of blame turned again. You knew it was coming. Yep, according to Renee Mitchell today, at long last, the truth can now be told. The real villain? Of course. It's this guy.

"Nobody ever saw what was going on. Nobody's been minding the store."

-- Erik Sten, who's been a Portland city commissioner for nearly 10 years.

The latest writeup of the aerial tram fiasco [rim shot] points to currency fluctuations as one of the causes of the massive cost overruns on the project. From today's Trib:

Since then, unforeseen difficulties, such as the dollar's collapse versus the Swiss franc -- the main contractor is Swiss -- as well as a skyrocketing steel market and post-Hurricane Katrina inflation in the construction industry have helped add another $15 million or so, bringing the total to $45 million.

Folks, that would be beyond ordinary negligence.

Encouraging signs in today's Trib story on the aerial tram [rim shot]:

A well-connected land-use consultant, who would speak only off the record for fear of retribution, said political posturing over the tram is contributing to "growing concern" among developers "about doing business with the city."

Adams says he's not worried: "Reputable developers have nothing to fear from partnering with the city if they make a good-faith effort to be accountable and honest."

Now if we could just leave Saturday Market alone...

Isaac has remarked about it before: Sometimes you get more blog traffic when you haven't posted new material than when you have. So it's been for us today -- go figure.

What little blog time we've managed to eke out from a busy schedule has been spent contemplating, and testing, our upcoming move to a new server. As part of that transition -- which will doubtlessly have its bumpy moments, technically speaking -- we are going to have to switch our blog composition software from Movable Type 2 to Movable Type 3. Can you say, "Internal server error"?

Between that and having 2699 blog posts to move (and counting), which is more than can be handled using standard FTP tools, it's enough to, as Cousin Jim would say, make my hair hurt. I'm not complaining, but it sure is distracting me from the deep thoughts that my muse typically provides.

Hey, when in doubt, go with the weather. That was one heck of a nice day we just had here in Oregon, wasn't it? And we've got a cold, clear night under way. No nasty east wind yet, either. Long overdue.

Well, some heads finally rolled on the OHSU aerial tram [rim shot]. There's a new manager, and a couple of people have quit the board of directors of the private company that calls all the shots. Among the resignees are developer Dike Dame (now there's a name), who's one of those on the fat end of the cash cow in the SoWhat district.

The personnel changes are a nice gesture, but in a way they just further cement the city's commitment to the tram. "It's a bright, shining new day, with new managers, so let's move forward." I hope Fireman Randy digs in on his vow that there will be no new city money committed to that thing -- and that he can come up with two other votes on the City Council to back him up on that.

It doesn't matter who's managing the tram, it's a boondoggle of the highest order.

It's been a weekend of infrastructure projects. Yesterday with the help of the friendly folks at Hankins Hardware, I successfully replaced a faucet washer. Go ahead -- laugh. You don't know how satisfying that is to a Catholic boys' school graduate. Shop? Hah! We were lucky we had gym! And you could even buy your way out of that, to gain time to cram for English Lit quizzes -- if you gave money to the Catholic missions through our gym teacher, Milton Berkowitz, who obviously wasn't among the baptized.

Emboldened by my success with the crescent wrench, I am now in the process of moving this blog to a new server. Having endured all I can with my current web host, I am switching to another.

In theory, readers will not notice a thing.

In theory.

As ever, major computer-related activities strike fear into one's heart. If anything goes awry on this site over the next week or so, don't assume that I've been hacked by angry municipal planners. It's just me, in over my head with technology.

I am Sam.
Sam I am.

That Sam-I-am!
That Sam-I-am!
We do not like
that Sam-I-am!

Would you like
an aerial tram?

We do not want one,
Sam-I-am.
We do not want
an aerial tram.

Would you like one
here or there?

We do not want one here or there.
We do not want one anywhere.
We do not want an aerial tram.
We do not want one, Sam-I-am.

Would you like one
on a hill?
Would you like one
with a pill?

We do not want one on a hill.
We do not want one with a pill.
We do not want one here or there.
We do not want one anywhere.
We do not want an aerial tram.
We do not want one, Sam-I-am.

Would you ride one
down the trail?
Would you ride one
with light rail?

Not down the trail.
Not with light rail.
Not on a hill.
Not with a pill.
We would not ride one here or there.
We would not ride one anywhere.
We would not ride an aerial tram.
We do not want one, Sam-I-am.

Would you? Could you?
To downtown?
Ride it! Ride it!
With Matt Brown.

We would not, could not,
To downtown.
We would not, could not,
With Matt Brown.

We do not want one on a hill.
We do not want one with a pill.
We do not want one here or there.
We do not want one anywhere.
We do not want an aerial tram.
We do not want one, Sam-I-am.

[with apologies to Dr. Seuss]

The South Waterfront district development continues to gobble up local tax dollars like a Pac Man on steroids. The fine folks at the Portland Development Commission are meeting on Wednesday, when they'll officially amend their budget to throw another $2.58 million in this fiscal year for the aerial tram (apparently, rather than waiting 'til next year as originally planned to spend that much). They're also apparently adding $2.54 million for that $7 million contaminated Public Storage property that's been purchased for the yuppie park.

Read it and weep on page 10 of this pdf document.

Lunch at the Benson yesterday: Homer Williams, Dike Dame, Mayor Tom Potter, Nancy Hamilton. The topic? How to pay for the aerial tram [rim shot].

They might have needed some Rolaids after that one.

Here's a vicious rumor that you should not spread.

A mover, a groover, a teaser, a pleaser, hugger, lover, walker, talker... they called him the Midnight Mover.

Pickett lived in North Jersey, where the cops will tell you, he had his problems later in life. But those dozen or more hit singles never stopped glowing, and they will live forever.