"And that's the truth. Pblllllttt!" -- Edith Ann, forensic economist.

Is Mark Wiener actually advising Hales to push integrity issues? Seems insane, given his tax/voting lies.

This city is doomed.

True. As usual, it's the hand we were dealt by the media. The only three they wanted, and not any different from Sam.

You can basically take all these mayors (Char-lie, Jeff and Sam Adams) and interchange the parts with no noticeable difference.

Jack,
As I recall, you voted for Max Brumm in the primaries. I interviewed him myself last year and thought he was great. So who is he endorsing? Does he see the 2 candidates as having no real differences?

We're inundated with stories of how much the young people love Jefferson Smith, but apparently Max is not drinking the Kool-Aid. He just endorsed Charlie Hales, and had a rather different take on Jeffy.
Check this out.

Max Brumm: I hate Jefferson Smith; we may agree on a lot of policies and progressive issues, but he wears a deceptive mask and is fooling a lot of people into think he is such a great guy. In fact he is not! He only cares about himself. In my medical opinion (even though I have never been in med school), I would classify him as a sociopath. A quote from Forbes.com on “The Sociopath in the Office”:

“Picture a new boss [or mayor] who comes in... At first he seems too good to be true. Attractive, well-spoken and suave, he says all the right things and makes all the right promises. Then things start to go off a bit. He starts blaming and humiliating individuals in public for mistakes they claim they did not make. He may target one or two individuals, or start playing team members against one another. Talk starts to turn sarcastic and hurtful. Jokes become nasty, profane and mean-spirited, while tempers begin to flare as shouting becomes more acceptable. Rumor and gossip flourish where little had existed before: ‘Did you know that X has a drinking problem? Y is leaving his wife? XY is really having a homosexual affair?’ People are rarely praised. And if they are, it is hollow. Client requests and needs start to be flagrantly ignored. And so it goes.”

The youth of Portland should not fall victim of his ways. He will only use you to get what he wants. If you actually stand in his way or question him, he will try to bully you. He does not care about anyone but himself. Smith has a lot of charisma, but it’s all a mask he wears to hide his true self. I know he will burn bridges as mayor just to get what he wants in the long run, especially if he thinks that he won’t need you later. I’m not the only one he has burned, nor will I be the last.

(Other than that, I guess Max is still sorting out his feelings about Jefferson Smith. There's more at his website.)

I’m not the only one he has burned, nor will I be the last.

I'm with Bill M. on this.

Hales is the lesser evil-sad, but true.

Darn, I've got to learn how to use the italics function. That quote is Max's.

This is all Max:

The youth of Portland should not fall victim of his ways. He will only use you to get what he wants. If you actually stand in his way or question him, he will try to bully you. He does not care about anyone but himself. Smith has a lot of charisma, but it’s all a mask he wears to hide his true self. I know he will burn bridges as mayor just to get what he wants in the long run, especially if he thinks that he won’t need you later. I’m not the only one he has burned, nor will I be the last.

Well then, I'm with Max on this.

I'm writing in Lavonne Griffin-Valade for mayor.

Jimbo,
Help a blogging brother out here. How do you make the italics?

'' Text ''

Hmm--so much for using HTML to try and show how to use it.

Bill M--google HTML-

This is going to open up a whole new world.

Bill:

(shift key) ()to begin italics. Same combination to end italics, but include a / before the i .

The () is omitted The shift shey is used to produce the left-arrow used to enclose the i and the backslash-i

Bill - before typing the stuff you want in italics, type

When you've reached the end of the quote and the section you want italic, type

The first turns the italics on and the second, off. It works for bold and for underlining as well. Very basic HTML.

Well, that didn't work very well. I'll describe what you type: To begin ital, type "lesser than" symbol (cap over comma, lower right on keyboard), the letter i, then "greater than" symbol (cap over period, lower right on keyboard).

To stop the italics, type "lesser than" symbol, then a forward slash (usually lower case under question mark, lower right on keyboard), the letter i, then "greater than" symbol.

That'll do it. As I mentioned, doing the same for BOLD (substituting a letter b for the i) or UNDERLINED (substituting a letter u for the i) will work, too.