The long goodbye

I see that the New York Times sent one of their young'uns out to get a puff piece on northeast Portland's grouchy old congressman, Earl the Pearl Blumenauer. He's retiring at the end of the year, and boy, will the New Yorkers miss him. No wonder. He's a lot sunnier when their photographer is around than any other time.

Their latest point of admiration is his advocacy for legalized pot. I get it. Between that and his bicycle fetish, he's been the perfect representative of the Hipster Era in Portland – an era that I hope is drawing to a close. He's also been a poster child for playing individual stocks while in Congress. Such a legacy. Anyway, you can read the wistful valedictory here, my treat.