Perhaps the one grain of truth in the original post is that you do need to be very careful to watch for right-turning drivers at many intersections in Portland where the through bike lane is to the right of the travel lanes and there are serious conflicts due to the presence of large numbers of both through cyclists and right-turning motorists.

Theoretically the right-turning motorists are supposed to yield to the through cyclists in the bike lane, but many unfortunately don't. IMO, this is an inherent problem resulting from poor bike lane design, and is not completely the fault of the motorists. I avoid the bike lanes in many places where this is a problem, such as SE Hawthorne at SE 11th and NW Everett at NW 16th. I'm sure there are also other similar poorly designed intersections in the city that I'm just not as familiar with.

Aside from the usual suspects, who probably make up only 5 to 10 percent of the motoring public, for the most part I think motorists in Portland are much more likely to be aware of the presence and rights of cyclists on the road than in many other similar cities without the number of cyclists that Portland has. But, as Gonesh says, even in Portland, it's a different story in the suburbs...