My pal from Portland just posted this on FB. Huge, crazy, anti-gay mega church coming to Portland.

[Kerrytravelers]

My condolences to the good people of Sunnyside.

BREAKING: Anti-Gay Megachurch Moving to SE Portland



Mars Hill is a Seattle-based Evangelical mega church whose co-founder describes gayness as a cancer in sermons that reach millions of Americans every year.

The church has expanded in recent years from one church to nine churches, with plans in the works for three more. Including one in the heart of Sunnyside, one of the state's most liberal congressional districts (90 percent of neighborhood residents voted for Obama in 2008).

The Mars Hill blog reports that the church has purchased this castle on SE 32nd and Taylor

More at link.

[cascadiance]

1. That's not too far away from the Bagdad Theater on Hawthorne...

... where many liberal events like Thom Hartman and Ed Schultz visits happen... I wonder if there will be some "street conflicts" in the offing if these guys are as bad as you say.

[laconicsax]

2. There goes the neighborhood. n/t

[Rabblevox]

3. I watched the vid at the link, and my gaydar is lighting up....

The dude has some serious issues with sex in general, gays and women in particular. I'm thinking closet-case.

And while I don't at all approve of his theology, I'm old-school enough to believe he has the right to preach it. Free speech can't just apply to those we agree with.

I'm also delighted that the church is on a major bus line, in a gay-friendly neighborhood, with some good bars nearby. I predict some great protests and after-parties. He hates feminists, faggots, and free-thinkers...my peeps!

[luv_mykatz]

4. Yuck!

Personally, I hope these haters completely fizzle, and lose money big time. :evilgrin:

This town does not need more hateful whack jobs!

[TonyPDX]

5. These people will test our resolve.

Back in prehistoric times we believed that all speech should be protected --even speech we are in profound disagreement with. I, for one, supported the efforts to build an Islamic community center in lower Manhattan for the same reason I can't get worked up over these bigots buying a church here. I will fight every ugly future act that they may promote in order to preserve freedoms for the rest of us.

[Arugula Latte]

6. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

Fucking churches. And this one looks worse than most of them.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. The building looks familiar, but I can't find any information

on what it was before the current owners bought it.

[grasswire]

8. it was a church

...and I believe it was a church that served low-income populations and neighbors weren't always happy with the "unsavory" clientele.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. Yes, but I'm trying to remember what it was called

(I used to live in the Hawthorne area and often took walks on the side streets.)

[grasswire]

10. three different names over the years

Staub Memorial Congregational Church, Community Bible Fellowship and Sunnyside Congregational Church

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. OK, "Sunnyside Congregational Church" is the name I remember

Thanks!

[grasswire]

12. I wonder if this new church will have a soup kitchen.

Previous tenants in that building have provided food to the hungry there.

Hey, you might be interested to know that at 42nd and Belmont is now a hopping food cart community! Very trendy. The favorite cart there is "Lardo" serving -- yep-- pork fat.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. Just... pork fat?

:scared:

Or things cooked in pork fat?

[grasswire]

14. from a review of Lardo

...According to the Lardo website and chef owner Rick Gencarelli, “Lardo is Italian for cured fatback, a cut from the back of a pig that is kind of like bacon without the meat. We cure it ourselves and we love it. It’s creamy, a little bit salty with whispers of herbs and spice, and it melts in your mouth. From our food cart, we’ll serve it sandwiched between great crusty bread with slices of ripe local tomato and brushed on grilled ciabatta for our delicious version of garlic bread. We’ll also render it and use it to fry our exceptionally crisp hand-cut French fries.” So there you have it. Perfection is all about coating things in cured pork fatback. I’ve got a five-gallon bucket here in my apartment, and I’m spreading it on everything. EVERYTHING. Again, not your problem.

Get ready to get your pork on. Every other food writer in town is urging you to get to Lardo to taste the porchetta sandwich, but be brave and be independent, and get your hand and your mouth into agreement with a mortadella sandwich. Lardo features local products and a revolving menu based most likely on seasonal availability and the chef’s tastes, and they use “meats from Tails and Trotters and Cattaill Creek and vegetables from Simington Gardens and Viridian Farms” in their food. Pickled peppers like in a giardiniera style, grace this beautiful sandwich, as does melted provolone cheese, lettuce and the special sauce. This will look like a greasy mess, but only in the most gorgeous of ways. And you will be thankful. But that’s not the end.

Here it is: sandwiches live or die by how good the bread is. And there are lots of amazing breads, especially in a city like Portland, where food is at or near the top of a lot of people’s lists. Ciabatta is a great type of bread for sandwiches like the ones you’re gonna’ eat at Lardo, because there is a perfect intersection of two qualities. One, the bread provides the superstructure that is capable of holding the entire thing together — it’s not going to fall apart with the spread, the cheese, the oil from the peppers, etc. Second, it’s got holes in it, which absorb the spread, the oil, the cheese and the flavor. And the Fleur de Lis baked ciabatta is no slouch in this whole ensemble — it pulls a lot of weight. My jaw was sore, but that’s only because I was chewing too hard and too quickly, trying to inhale the sandwich as quickly as possible. I recommend you eat slowly, and enjoy every bite.