Category Archives: Poverty

‘What if God Was One of Us?’

Thousands of Mexican girls and women have disappeared into the deserts outside Ciudad Juárez, and it’s Bill Clinton’s fault. Nobody actually says so in Isaac Gomez’s play, “La Ruta,” being staged by Portland’s Artists Repertory Theatre. But the play links the murders of thousands of girls and young women in Juárez to the North American […]

‘Whitey on the Moon’

Too bad Gil Scott-Heron didn’t live to see the 50th anniversary of humans landing on the moon. He could have revisited his angry song-poem from 1970 called “Whitey on the Moon,” where he seethes about all the money being spent on America’s space program, while black Americans are trapped in housing projects: A rat done […]

This is Not a Good Life

One of the most frightening episodes of Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone” was the tale of Anthony, a 6-year-old boy with mental powers that allowed him to read other people’s minds and act on them with his thoughts. Anthony could turn a cat into a rug. He could make a rat devour itself until it […]

Abortion: A Political Moneymaker

The night Ronald Reagan was elected president I was a young reporter working in a newsroom, and I half-jokingly told my female colleagues, “Well, ladies, break out the coat hangers.” Thirty-eight years later, through subsequent Republican administrations, we still have a right to legal abortion. If Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed for the U.S. Supreme Court, […]

The Truth About Africa and Haiti

What a shit-storm over a question that deserves to be explored. Why should the United States take in immigrants from “shit-hole countries” like Africa and Haiti rather than from places like Norway? It’s hard to know what’s worse – that President Donald Trump was so indiscriminate in front of people he should’ve known would use […]

A Tax Grab For the Neediest

Everybody’s still waiting for the man with a bag. We want stuff all year long, not only during the holidays. We all want more. We’ve got a trillion-dollar national deficit and personal credit card debt, also in the trillions, to show for it. One of the most whimsical – and saddest – sounds of America’s […]

The Comfortable and the Afflicted

Dave Miller, the popular host of Oregon Public Broadcasting’s “Think Out Loud,” was shot to death last night in an apparent road-rage attack. Now that’s the kind of fake news that is not even remotely plausible. Guys like Dave Miller are rarely homicide victims, and they know it. Professional journalists – especially those who occupy […]

Portland’s Twisted Values

New York City has Central Park, and Portland, Ore., has an elaborate trail system that extends throughout the city, from Forest Park in the northwest to the southwest hills. Central Park has its nooks and crannies where homeless can hide, but nothing like the camps found in available green spaces in Portland. Portland’s urban woods […]

Political Hands Rock the Cradle

Life begins with somebody getting screwed. Sounds cynical, but that’s how it is. Who’s getting screwed by President Donald Trump’s decision to end federal funding to organizations that provide abortions? Women and children – and, yes, some men. It’s ironic that Trump’s signature on a law targeting Planned Parenthood funding came in April, which happens […]

Seeking Justice at the City Club

The City Club of Portland is not where you will find the poor and the destitute. This is a members-only civic organization where you will find community leaders and activists, business owners, various professionals and elected officials who meet for lunch and conversation. Each week they gather at the elegant Sentinel Hotel for the Friday […]