From our good friends at Willamette Week, where you can download a high resolution, printable PDF of the above image.

With the Winter Hawks starting their biggest road trip of the season in Spokane tonight, the WHL board of governors is meeting today to decide the fate of our local major junior hockey franchise. Kamploops Daily News sports editor Greg Drinnan, who initially broke the story of Calgary oil man Bill Gallacher’s bid to buy the Hawks, says “all indications are that the sale will proceed.”

That means, in all likelihood, by the time the Hawks come back to town on November 5, they’ll be under new ownership, new management, and, if the rumors are correct, new coaching.

It will also be interesting to see what player movements happen.

The three-year reign of New York barkeep and real estate horse trader Jim Goldsmith and his partners has nearly driven the team into the ground. We expect five-year cycles in junior hockey, but this ownership group has taken the Hawks so far down, it’s hard to see the upside — even with a darn good crop of youngins in the system. Attendance is at an all-time low, from what I can see, with average “crowds” well below the 3000 mark (you don’t have to go back more than three years to see averages around 6000 at this point of the season).

There’s no question Goldsmith and his crew have been doing the bare minimum to operate this team with the sale pending. And there’s no question Portland hockey fans will be happy to see them go.

Gallacher’s ownership also signals the end of the “three amigos” era in Portland hockey, with general manager Ken Hodge expected to be replaced. He’ll probably ride out the season in an advisory role.

Hodge, along with the late Brian Shaw and trainer Innes Mackie first introduced Canadian major junior hockey to the US in 1976 when they brought the Winter Hawks, previously the Edmonton Oil Kings, to Portland. Hopefully Gallacher will treat Hodge and Mackie with the kind of respect they deserve, and they’ll get a nice send-off (and retirement package).

The WHL is holding a press conference at 2:30 PST, presumably to announce the sale.

Update 3pm: The sale has been unanimously approved, and the long Winter Hawk nightmare of Jim Goldsmith and crew is over.

First noticed on Huffington Post (with a little shout out to this blog), from Lynn Zinser’s New York Times Slap Shot blog. Also read a round-up of coverage of the event on E & P Pub, with some humor regarding Rangers’ center, former Winter Hawk and Alaska Native Brandon Dubinsky.

Funny stuff from Sarah Silverman and The Great Schlep (definitely not appropriate for work).

With Obama’s advantage in the polls widening, the McCain/Palin campaign is starting to whip its supporters into an ugly mood.

Now McCain’s starting to say the right thing, but he’s still running ads linking Obama to terrorism, and Sarah Palin’s still playing up that angle.

There seem to be a lot of things lining up to scare the shit out of conservative white folks, and the prospect of a black president with a funny name seems to be pushing them close to the edge. This could get seriously ugly.

You probably don’t have the inclination to watch an hour and ten minutes of Amanda Fritz and Charles Lewis taking questions from the editorial board of Willamette Week, so I’ll break it down for you.

At the end of the interview, the candidates are asked if they have any nicknames. When pressed, Lewis came up with “Bruiser,” from his high school football glory days. (Fritz gave “OK Mama,” from way back in the days of CB radios.)

Bruiser is kind of ironic; Lewis has reinvented himself since the primary. Gone is the angry young man looking to settle scores with the Portland Development Commission (PDC), the city agency that snubbed his non-profit in favor of a glitzy new theatre complex for Portland Center Stage. (I noticed the new, non-combative Lewis at the City Club debate.)

When pressed on his past beef with PDC, Lewis allowed that “I had some issues with them.” But now? “I’m really excited about some of the things that are happening,” he said. “Downtown Portland is a vibrant, bustling city in large part because of PDC and the efforts that they have put there.” (Starting at 51:18.)

Sheesh, don’t tell his number one fan, Jack Bog.

But that’s not all. In an attempt to differentiate himself from Fritz, he’s suddenly fully on board with another bugaboo of BoJack: “…the east-side streetcar, you know, it’s something that I am in favor of seeing; I want to see that investment,” says Lewis. It’s “something I believe we should have….” (Starting at 27:55)

Well, with Chris “Streetcar” Smith out of the race, I guess somebody had to pick up that moniker. And it sure wasn’t going to be Fritz, who has been steadfast in her insistence on funding basic infrastructure first.

Lewis also seeks to differentiate himself from Fritz on the city’s bio-fuels mandate. “I ran my amphibious bus on 100% biodiesel,” says Lewis, “I think it’s important to have a wide variety of fuel sources… I understand the impact on food prices….”

Fritz wants to re-evaluate the mandate “in light of the impact on food prices, in light of the fact that we cannot grow our way out of burning fuel for recreational or other uses,” she says. “We need to be focusing as well on conservation and on alternative modes, including … rail, pedestrian and bikes.” (Starting at 33:17)

An issue that came up during the City Club debate was Lewis’ unconditional support for the local option Children’s Investment Fund, which is up for renewal on next month’s ballot as Portland Measure 26-94. Both candidates support the measure, though Fritz has consistently questioned whether the city is the correct jurisdiction for this. She has already reached agreement with county commissioners to lobby the state legislature to obviate this local fund.

“Essentially, we need to be getting music programs back into the schools in the school day for every child in every county in Oregon,” says Fritz, “and by funding after-school programs, particularly for enrichment, we haven’t lobbied at the legislature as hard as we might otherwise have done….”

Fritz notes some of the good things this levy funds. “If those programs are cost-effective in Portland, they should also be provided in Prineville and Pendleton,” she says. “And we need to have the city of Portland playing at the state level and … have the same sense of urgency which I believe has been lacking because we’ve chosen to fund some of these very, very worthy programs … locally rather than insisting on statewide solution with the appropriate jurisdiction providing the funding.” (Starting at 35:25)

Lewis, whose non-profit receives funding from this levy, thinks the city is the proper jurisdiction for funding these things.

Perhaps the most significant difference that emerges in this interview is on the drug and prostitution exclusion zones that recently expired, and that Lewis would like to see reinstated.

These zones, which an old friend referred to as “Martial Law Zones”, gave police extra-judicial authority to prevent freedom of movement and association. Citizens arrested for certain crimes would be excluded from these zones, regardless of whether their cases were ever heard by a jury.

“That’s part of livin’ in a civilized society,” says Lewis, “that the community can make rules on where people are allowed and not allowed to go, with the prime example being if somebody is, you know, criminal, you can say, ‘you’re goin’ to jail, and that’s the only place you’re allowed to be,’ and so I think we do have that right.”

Never mind those sticky bits about due process, presumption of innocence, or a jury of your peers. If a cop says your 86’ed, your 86’ed.

Fortunately, Fritz gets it.

“Civil rights and the constitution are very important,” she says. “We can solve that problem without infringing on people’s civil rights and without doing things which are possibly unconstitutional.” (Starting at 37:38)

(I’m sorry they didn’t get into a discussion of zoning adult businesses, something that clearly contributes to vice in areas where they are concentrated. Rather than the libertarian approach of letting de facto red light districts sprout along strips like 82nd Ave, regardless of the location of schools, we have the ability — even within the strong free speech protections of the Oregon constitution — to zone adult businesses. If they can do it in Tigard, we can do it in Portland.)

In the end, there is no doubt that Fritz is the stronger candidate. Of course anything can happen, but Lewis’ puzzling shifts since the primary, along with his lack of experience make him appear a very risky choice for city council.

Yes, it’s from the Obama campaign, but it’s must-see for anybody who’s forgotten (or wasn’t around for) the S&L meltdown. Like Joe Biden said, “past is prologue.”

Yesterday, I noticed a sudden up-tick in sales of my More Hockey Less War bumper sticker. I couldn’t figure out why this might be, and then this morning I found this great op-ed piece by fellow traveler Alex Charns in the Raleigh-Durham News Observer.

I dropped him an e-mail, and he shot back that he can’t take full credit. A segment on NPR’s Day to Day yesterday featured commentary from hockey mom Polly Ingraham that ends with her saying “I’m ordering the bumper sticker that says ‘more hockey less war.'”

Well folks, if that’s what you’re looking for, here you go!

Today marks the 139th anniversary of the birth of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the father of India, and the spiritual father of the tactic of massive non-violent civil disobedience.

Gandhi Jayanti is a national holiday in India, and last year the United Nations declared October 2 to be the International Day of Non-Violence.

My political and social beliefs are squarely in the corner of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., so I consider this a special day to consider the path we are on as a civilization.

It’s not too late for the human race to turn away from political order dominated by state-sponsored violence and war. In fact, it is our only hope.

Paul Newman had some great scenes in his unbelievable 53-year cinematic career. Here’s one from Slap Shot (1977) with Strother Martin (in a twist on their roles in Cool Hand Luke). I love the way he acted with his eyes (Not safe for work!).

Besides being a great actor, Newman protested the war in Vietnam, was proud to be on Richard Nixon’s enemy list, and helped save The Nation when it faced economic troubles (here’s John Nichols on Newman in The Nation yesterday), among other things. And he did his own skating in Slap Shot. What more could you want from a guy?

Like Wacky Mommy said about him and Joanne Woodward, “It’s not like they were out taking off their panties in public and having nervous breakdowns in their SUVs.” No, Newman was a class act.

Thank you, Paul Newman for showing the world how to do it right. I’m going to go watch Slap Shot right now.