I’m really sorry to break the bad news to them during this season of peace and goodwill, but after this week the right-wingers in Bend and vicinity won’t have The Wandering Eye to kick around anymore.

The decision to stop writing this blog was my own, and it was prompted by several factors. One of them is that I’m just tired of being a punching bag.

I’ve been writing editorials, columns and blogs for newspapers and the Web for more than 40 years. I never shied away from controversy, and I drew my share of criticism and angry comments. I thought I’d grown a pretty thick skin.

But the Internet has changed the whole dynamic of the relationship between an opinion writer and his or her readers. Back in the day, if somebody wanted to attack a columnist he or she generally had to write a letter and sign it. The only other options were to call the writer on the phone or confront him in person and chew him out, which took even more guts.

You knew who your critic was, and you could take him on one-on-one. And the absence of anonymity tended to make even the worst crackpots tone down their rhetoric a little.

For the past week or so, “Zeo” of the NW Republican blog has had his jock strap in a knot over the prospect of Congress repealing the military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” rule.

To hear Zeo tell it, if DADT is repealed and gays are allowed to serve openly in the US military it will mean the end not only of our armed forces but of America, its economic system and civilization in general.

“If DADT is repealed then the cornerstone of the U.S. military's support in the nation, the quiet loyalty of tens of millions in the ‘silent majority,’ will likely slowly fade away, like the air being let out of a tire,” he wrote.

And here’s the best part:

“There is an ‘icky-ness’ about homosexuality that affects everything it touches. The close-quarters service in the military makes the prospect of open homosexuals serving with, sleeping with, showering with those to whom they are sexually attracted – in an unnatural way – even more ‘icky.’ The whole disgusting nature of it will likely turn off many Americans.

The news that Sen. Ron Wyden has prostate cancer reminds us of the need for all men over 50 to be screened annually for this potentially deadly disease – and for the United States to improve its health care system.

Wyden, 61, announced yesterday that the cancer was detected when he got his annual physical exam in late November. “After reviewing all the options with multiple physicians, I decided to take a proactive approach and have surgery,” which will be performed Monday at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Wyden said in a press release. “Thanks to routine screening, this was diagnosed very early and I expect a full and speedy recovery.”

Fortunately, prostate cancer has a high cure rate when detected early, as Wyden’s apparently was. Unfortunately it often produces no symptoms until it’s advanced, which is why routine screening can be a lifesaver.

“If anything is taken away from my experience, I hope it is the importance of getting routine physicals,” the last paragraph of Wyden’s press release says. “One in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetimes.  Early detection is critical to catching this disease when treatment is most effective.”

As a member of Congress, Wyden has first-rate health coverage subsidized by the taxpayers and has no trouble paying for an annual physical. But millions of Americans forego routine health exams because they have no health insurance and can’t afford several hundred dollars out of their own pockets. This can mean failure to detect not only prostate cancer but also other diseases that can be cured or successfully managed if caught early, such as breast cancer, colorectal cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure.

The New York Times has posted a series of interactive maps based on US Census data, and they seem to confirm the view that Bend really is two cities.

There’s always been an argument over what the real line of demarcation between East Bend and West Bend is. The Parkway? Third Street? The railroad tracks? The Deschutes River? The census people seem to have used the river as the dividing line.

On that basis, the maps (based on the Census Bureau’s latest release of its American Community Survey, not the 2010 census) show dramatic differences between East Bend and West Bend in income and education.

The median household income of the “richest” census tract on the Eastside – an area roughly bounded by Reed Market Road, Third Street and 15^th Street – is only a bit more than $52,000. The census tract that comprises northwest Bend, on the other hand, has a median income of almost $75,000, and the one covering southwest Bend has a median income of over $65,000. (The estimated median household income for the whole city in 2009 was about $53,000.)

Since income tends to correlate with education, it’s not surprising that levels of educational attainment also are generally higher in West Bend.

In his first one-on-one interview since he lost the election, Chris Dudley tells Portland Tribune sports reporter Kerry Eggers that he’s not sure whether he’ll run for governor again in 2014.

“It’s too soon,” Dudley says. “For now, I’ll settle back into normal life. My wife would probably say no [to another run at governor] right now, but time will tell.”

Losing the gubernatorial election to Democrat John Kitzhaber by about 22,000 votes, the former NBA center says, “was like losing Game 7 of the NBA finals by one point. It could have gone either way. [On election] night, we thought we’d won it.”

Some observers said Dudley lost the election by spending too much time campaigning in the eastern part of the state and not enough in the Portland area, but he disputes that analysis: “We spent the majority of our time [campaigning] in Portland. I don’t think that was the reason I lost.”

He also rejects criticism that he didn’t stake out clear positions on the issues: “I felt I was very clear on the issues. We put out policy pieces. We had a 26-point plan on government reform, a 20-point plan on job creation, an 18-point plan on education.”

House Democrats have smacked down President Obama’s tax cut compromise with the Republicans, with Oregon’s Rep. Peter DeFazio leading the rebellion.

The House Democratic caucus this morning approved a motion by DeFazio to reject the provisions of a tax deal agreed upon by Obama and the Republicans. Among other things, the bill would extend George W. Bush’s tax break for billionaires and drastically ease the estate tax burden.

“House Democrats are particularly angry over provisions related to the estate tax, which would set a generous $5 million exemption for wealthy estates and a maximum rate of 35% for two years,” the New York Times reported.

In an interview with ABC News, DeFazio said opposition to the deal was “nearly unanimous” in the Democratic caucus and blasted the argument that continuing the Bush tax cuts would boost the economy.

“Look – we did $1.3 trillion of tax cuts between the Bush tax cuts and the stimulus bill,” he said. “Did that put America back to work? Will more tax cuts and trickle down by showering money on the wealthy, will that put America back to work? That hasn't worked.”

I’m still recuperating from celebrating the Ducks’ glorious victory in the Civil War yesterday and can’t focus long enough to write more than a couple of paragraphs on any one topic, so here are a few random short takes:

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Bulletin Business Editor John Stearns has a column this morning about momentum in Bend’s tech sector, which he defines as “software development, information technology, biosciences, green energy and other so-called knowledge industries.”

“In a report Friday,” Stearns writes, “Economic Development for Central Oregon’s executive director, Roger Lee, noted 12 Central Oregon companies that have at least doubled (or are planning to do so) their employment, the lion’s share of them in tech.”

One software developer, GL Solutions, plans to double its workforce by March, Stearns reports. Other local firms expanding include Manzama, G5 Search Marketing, PV Powered, Agere Pharmaceuticals and MediSISS. Bend Research, which was founded in 1975, has “added 50 people in the past eight months and is now at 185,” according to Stearns.

As tension builds to almost unbearable heights before tomorrow’s Civil War, which by all accounts is even more momentous than the original 1861-1865 version, let us consider a provocative – but, I think, absolutely right-on-the-money – observation made by Jake on UtterlyBoring.com.

In a post headlined “Beaver Fans Are Crazy People,” Jake writes: “I root for all the schools in this state – whether it's OSU, UO, PSU, UP, WOU, EOU, SOU, George Fox, Willamette, Concordia, etc. … whatever – unless they're playing the Ducks, and then I root for the Ducks. Beaver fans, however, want to see the Ducks fail miserably whenever possible and will root for anybody who's playing the Ducks.

“I've watched a few Duck football games with Beaver fans, and they were rooting for the opposition the entire time. When I watch a Beaver game, I root for the Beavers. Beaver fans apparently are incapable of rooting for anybody other than the Beavers, and certainly don't want to see any team in Oregon succeed other than the Beavers.”

There’s a lot riding on Saturday’s game for Oregon – an undefeated season and the chance to play the national championship game. For OSU … well, if they win they’ll have a .500 season and a chance to play in the Bridgeport Education Holiday Bowl or the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, maybe. (No, I did not make those bowls up.)

But although their team is going nowhere the Beaver fans are out for Duck blood, and plenty of it. They want to wreck Oregon’s unbeaten season and its shot at the national title. They want to make the Ducks settle for the Rose Bowl – and if they do, Beaver fans will be rooting for them to lose that too.

I have to admit I wasn’t a huge fan of Jeff Merkley when he was running for election. In fact I voted for his opponent in the primary, Portland political activist Steve Novick.

Since going to Washington, though, Merkley has become just about my favorite senator. He’s been a strong champion of health care reform, environmental protection and reining in Wall Street, among other things. And despite his mild-mannered demeanor, he hasn’t been at all shy about jabbing sacred senatorial cows with a cattle prod.

Latest example: Merkley has sent around to his colleagues a memo advocating a number of reforms to Senate rules and procedures. The most intriguing of these would make senators who want to stage a filibuster REALLY stage a filibuster, instead of faking it.

Many people get their idea of what a Senate filibuster is like from watching James Stewart in the 1939 movie “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” But that’s a Hollywood fantasy. The way things really work in the Senate, all the minority has to do is announce that it intends to filibuster to block a vote on legislation.

Merkley wants that to change. As he explained the idea to Rachel Maddow on MSNBC, he wants the senator or senators who are filibustering to actually stay on the Senate floor and keep speaking – and “if at any moment no one’s willing to speak, that ends it, and we go to the vote” on the bill.

The threat of terrorism came home to Oregon Friday as the FBI foiled an alleged plot to detonate a huge bomb next to Portland’s Pioneer Square during the annual holiday tree-lighting festivities.

Mohamed Osman Mohamud, a 19-year-old sometime engineering student at Oregon State University, allegedly intended to blow up a van packed with explosives while the square was thronged with some 25,000 spectators.

“Do you remember when 9/11 happened, when those people were jumping from skyscrapers? I thought that was awesome,” Mohamud said to undercover FBI agents, according to an affidavit released by the FBI. “I want to see that, that's what I want for these people. … I want whoever is attending that event to leave, to leave either dead or injured.”

The FBI had been tracking Mohamed, a naturalized US citizen who’s a native of Somalia, since at least August 2009, according to the affidavit. Undercover operatives contacted him last June, and Mohamud allegedly began talking with them about how he wanted to blow up a bomb in Pioneer Square.

The agents encouraged Mohamud in his plans, even (according to an Oregonian story) going so far as to build a practice bomb and help him detonate it in a remote area in Lincoln County.