Cogen, pipe smoking, and the Portland Public Water District! The Mercury Letters section: always and imperfect litmus of the city's mind. Here's what we got:

—Daniel has something to say! About the Jeff Cogen scandal—sorta. He also takes the honor this week for the longest sentence on the entire page at 59 WORDS!

—Let's talk some more about what young men who are not philosophy professors are thinking when they take up pipe smoking (not the marijuana kind). I think they have a daddy complex.

—There are several good points to be made on the position that yanking control of our public water away from city council might be a bad idea, and reader Davey also points out that the outrage over Randy Leondard's spending habits isn't even that relevant in the financial scheme of things... things like your giant fucking water bill.

—Maybe, just maybe, the police actually love Last Thursday because they get to make money. Say...

—The future of the record industry: Wring your hands!

—You guys like Erik Moen too! That's so cool! Yuki says even as much as Dan Savage...

Read, respond, and you could could end up on the letters page too!