Isaac Laquedem

The University of Oregon goes where Paul Allen's lenders feared to tread

In its special session this month, the Oregon Legislature showed that a new basketball arena for the University of Oregon is more important to the state than is replacing the Interstate Bridges between Portland and Vancouver.  I say this not because of the time allocated to the two subjects, but because of the money allocated: the Legislature voted $200 million toward the arena based on a promise from Nike founder Philip Knight and his wife to contribute $100 million toward the project.

The state will issue bonds to fund the $200 million.  The University projects that the bonds will be paid back from revenues at the arena.

Comparisons are individious, but it strikes me that a $300 million basketball arena is a project about the size of the Rose Garden in Portland, and the Rose Garden's owner couldn't make his debt service payments even with a major league anchor tenant taking up 41+ nights a season.  It seems unlikely, then, that the University will be able to pay the debt service, but I might be wrong -- the University may have a financial secret that was not known to Paul Allen.

The Laquedem Common Sense in County Government Pledge

I would be delighted to hear a candidate for the county commission make this clear statement:

I will vote against Multnomah County building or contributing any money to any new road or transit project until the Sellwood Bridge is replaced with a four-lane bridge.

Comcast calls Isaac to apologize for my overpayment

Cable giant Comcast wrote me last month to complain that it owed me some money, and if I didn't write it a check for $203.32 below zero, it would cut off my service.  I posted the letter three days ago, on Friday.

Today a Comcast executive e-mailed me to say that he'd seen my blog post (likely from an automated computer search), and would I call him?  Comcast is sorry for the trouble.  I called, and we had a pleasant chat.  I think I defused his worry that I might lead a blogospheric revolt of Comcast's creditors: I actually like getting letters from $60 billion (market cap) corporations insisting that they owe me money.  By contrast, when I overpay Nordstrom, it merely sends the extra money back and does not grovel.

That, I figured, should be the end of it.  Bot Comcast is apparently very sorry that it owes me money, for a few minutes later I had a phone message from a local manager.  The voice mail at her number said I had called the "Executive Escalation Line."

Comcast seems really apologetic.  I wish there were something I wanted from that fine organization, but the only thing that comes to mind is to banish ESPN, or at least turn the sound off.

The Aunt of the Right lines up for Senator Obama, maybe

Last week I rode the circuit (as the Laquedems and Farmers now call it) and did a 600-mile loop through Washington, seeing Uncle Farmer, My Aunt the Winemaker, and the Aunt of the Left (who was hospitable, as always, despite getting our phone call when we were two minutes from her driveway).  All Washington residents, they shared with me their experiences at the Democratic caucuses this year. 

The further detail from MATW and Uncle Farmer is that their caucus had 38 attendees, of whom two (then one) favored Senator Clinton and 36 (then 37) favored Senator Obama.  They live in a rural area far from a city of any real size.  The Aunt of the Left, by contrast, lives at the edge of Seattle's suburban sprawl and caucuses with a more urban crowd.  Senator Obama's margin in her caucus wasn't as lopsided as in the snow belt caucus, but it was still significant: about 150 for Obama and maybe 65 for Clinton.

The more surprising news of the trip was the Aunts' agreement that the Aunt of the Right, a staunch Republican since 1946, is supporting Senator Obama also.  The Aunt of the Right told me later that she isn't definite about supporting Obama, but she doesn't like any of the other candidates who are still in the race.

Never before, I think, has one presidential candidate attracted the support of Venerable Mom, Uncle Farmer, MATW, and the Aunts of Opposite Direction.  Although they aren't a scientific sampling, they're diverse enough that a candidate who doesn't get the vote of even one of them doesn't have much of a chance.

When good computers go bad

As my mail and I lead mostly separate lives, it occasionally happens that I miss paying a bill and get a polite reminder from the supplier's computer that I should send the Noble Purveyor some money.

Comcast sent me such a notice last month, indicating that it hadn't received any money from me for a while.  The odd thing about its notice is that I had (and still have) a credit balance, so to avoid a shutoff of my service I was to pay -$203.32 (the minus sign is intentional) within 10 days.

I couldn't figure out how to write a check for two hundred dollars below zero; however, Comcast hasn't cut me off yet.

A post-primary prediction

I predict that one of the consequences of Senator Obama's impressive string of recent victories will be that if he wins the next three primaries, we will begin to see calls from Democratic stalwarts for Senator Clinton to drop out of the race for the good of the party.

A different view of Senator Clinton's prospects

Today's Wall Street Journal carries an opinion piece by Elizabeth Wurtzel, author of Prozac Nation, entitled Hillary Agonistes.  Ms. Wurtzel makes the interesting point that people who disdain the current president "believe President Bush is an underving doofus who made a big huge mess, that's that.  But the hatred for Hillary Clinton is visceral and venal, a lot of it is female and feminist, and some of it is simply off the charts."

It ends with this delightful bit, making me think that the spirit of Molly Ivins hovers over New Haven:

Right now, it looks like Barack Obama will be the nominee.  Hillary Clinton is unlikely to win any more primaries for a few more weeks, and at that point, it may be too late for this championship season.  But pundits count her out at their own peril.  That woman is a force of nature.  One of these years, Hillary is going to the White House.  If she has to win every single vote one by one, she'll do it.  If she has to take hostages, hold a gun to the head of every voter as he enters the booth, she'll do that too.  She may even cry.

I should note that one of Ms. Wurtzel's other titles is In Praise of Difficult Women.

D.C. Precincts: Obama 142, Clinton 0

Two months ago nearly everyone would have predicted that Barack Obama would outpoll Hillary Clinton in the District of Columbia Democratic primary, if for no other reason than that a majority of the District's population is black.

Two weeks ago nearly everyone was predicting that Senator Obama would win the District primary, for the added reason that the momentum in the campaign has been swinging in his favor.

Adam Bailey, a blogger at DCist, observes today that not only did Senator Obama win the District primary, he won each of the 142 precincts in the District.  Here's a link to his precinct-by-precinct map.   

Senator Clinton might reasonably have expected to win 15 or 20 of the District's precincts.  The fact that she didn't win even one precinct suggests that the nomination is now Senator Obama's to lose, not Senator Clinton's to win.

Shelley tags me with a book meme, and I bite (am bitten?)

I have a soft spot for books. Although I'm generally untaggable and don't tag at all, Shelley (of The Menagerie) has tagged me with a book-based meme, which I'm pleased to answer. The meme is to pick the closest book at hand of sufficient length, turn to page 123, then to the fifth sentence on that page, and quote the next three sentences. (I'm taking that to mean the 6th, 7th, and 8th sentences.)

The books at my workplace aren't sufficient for the purpose (why quote three sentences of Oregon statutes?). The book closest at hand at home yields the following:

The strategy generally is: (1) establish high card winners, (2) obtain ruffs, (3) shorten declarer's trumps to fewer than defenders, (4) prevent ruffing of your high cards. When you are defending, and your partner has bid a suit, it is usually a good idea to lead that suit. You want to be able to establish and cash those high cards quickly before declarer has a chance to discard his losers in that suit.

The book is The Fun Way To Serious Bridge by Harry Lampert, a lively illustrated work on how to play better bridge. Had I taken my computer upstairs, the book would have been either The Politics, by Aristotle, or Sir John Magill's Last Journey, by Freeman Wills Crofts. Aristotle provides a philosophical passage that begins, "Furthermore, there is no point in equalizing property, if we do nothing to regulate the number of citizens," and Crofts counters with the more prosaic, "'Looks like the police station after all,' French declared."

My Aunt The Winemaker's first caucus - and Senator Obama got her there

Uncle Farmer and My Aunt The Winemaker moved to Washington a little over a year ago after 58 years together in the same house in Oregon.  Today MATW told me offhandedly that she and Uncle Farmer went to their precinct caucus last week.  He's a Democrat; she's a lifelong Republican and spent years as a Republican pollwatcher around Portland.  Despite their great ages (177 years between them) they went the 10 miles or so to where their precinct, and others in the area, were to caucus.  (They live east of the Cascades, where it's cold and snowy, so this is more of a trip than it sounds.)

"Who did you vote for?" I asked.  "Obama," she said cheerfully.  "He won our caucus."

"How many Clinton supporters were there?"  I asked.  "None," she said, before adding,  "Well, there was one who came, but she was on the fence, and declared for Obama when she left." 

The fun part is that out of the 30 or so who came, MATW and Uncle Farmer were the only ones from their precinct, so she became the delegate from her precinct to the county caucus. 

I'm delighted that My Aunt is a delegate, even at the modest county level.  It says something about Senator Obama and his campaign that he inspired My Aunt and Uncle Farmer to drive 10 miles to stand up and be counted for him.

And just in case you're a delegate to the Chelan County Democratic caucuses, if you should come across a short cheerful white-haired woman delegate with a grandmotherly apple-pie face, please vote to send her to the legislative district caucus.