RE: One Day at a Time [Dec 31, 2014], in which columnist Ann Romano names her annual worst person of the year... but ends up going with "white guys" in order to include certain police officers, gun nuts, and Alec Baldwin, to name a few.
DEAR MERCURY—Wow, that's some flippant, divisive, inflammatory shit. I'm calling you all out on printing such mindless and harmful idiocy. Yes, I myself am a white male. Feel free to disregard me on that basis, and good luck making any progress toward a better world while talking such garbage.
Conor Sullivan
RE: Coverage of the recent protests over grand jury decisions not to indict officers who killed unarmed minorities.
DEAR MERCURY—I suggest that one of the songs that should be an anthem for the protests is "Injustice System" by the classic hardcore band Sick of It All. After all, this legendary song has a video that begins with the lines, "Oh, yeah, sure it's a free country, but I got a badge. What do you have?" Then the whole thing explodes into righteous fury.
Blue Clay MC
RE: "A Two-Front War" [News, Dec 10], regarding the city's handling of "sharing economy" businesses who've set up shop here, Airbnb and, more controversially, Uber.
DEAR MERCURY—Uber's business model will collapse once juries start finding, in both tort and criminal actions, that Uber is a transportation-for-hire company, and not just this cool ride-sharing app, and that Uber is responsible for the actions and liabilities of its employees—excuse me, "independent contractors." We've already had "Craigslist killings." Wait for the first ride-share killing.
Brian Allan Cobb, Radio Cab driver, 1982-1987, 2009-present
RE: "The Best (of the Worst) of I, Anonymous" [Feature, Dec 17, 2014] a roundup of our favorite, though often despicable, rants from the anonymous ether.
DEAR MERCURY—There are so many ways Wm. Steven Humphrey could have described the people who wrote in to "I, Anonymous" other than "mentally ill." Using "mentally ill" as a catchall term for those "worst people on the planet" who anonymously write in is not just lazy but hypocritical for you as a publication. Please don't decry the stigma and lack of resources around mental illness when it makes sense to (say, after a shooting), and then joke that people who write such "shameful" rants and raves couldn't be anything but mentally ill. Why was Robin Williams' depression and suicide a tragedy but Amanda Bynes' bipolar disorder and breakdowns a hilarious go-to for a slow news week? If you make your living writing, you should be able to find another descriptor that is funny and "edgy" or whatever without being harmful in such a real way. Why not further imagine what the contributors' personal lives must be like, or describe the stick up their collective ass? We live in such an ecologically diverse region! It doesn't even have to be a stick! I expect better of you, Mercury.
Claire Askew
RE: "One for You, 19 for Me... Taxman!" [Cannabuzz, Dec 31, 2014], regarding the unfair application of tax law to the growth of marijuana.
For underground growers and dealers concerned about taxes, don't be so specific. Just list your occupation something along the lines of "horticulturist" or "feral flora forager," and pay taxes on unspecified cash sales. Don't make any false claims, merely parse words. Think roadside apple stands, farmers' markets, tea auctions, and the like. As far as the supposedly legal dispensaries go, the tax goes to show that so-called "legalization" didn't deliver on the promise of taking the profit out of crime. In Paraguay, the price for cannabis has been set by law at the equivalent of one dollar per gram. Who can produce the product for less than that? The challenge thereby becomes enforcing the law against those who sell for more than that price, which has to be everybody who sells any of it at all. The best solution for everyone, everywhere, is simply to grow your own.
Damnable Wog hemp
THANKS FOR THE TIP, Damnable... on growing, that is. We'll leave the wiggly tax advice to the experts, though. In the meanwhile, you win two tickets to the Laurelhurst Theater, where most of the offerings are enhanced by the effects of untaxed marijuana.
