RE: "Portland's Latest Water War" [News, Aug 23] regarding the controversial push to fluoridate Portland's water supply.
TO THE PORTLAND MERCURY WEEKLY—As a widowed grandmother with children and grandchildren now numbering eight in total, I would like to thank you for objectively covering the fluoridation of Portland's water proposed by Commissioner Randy Leonard. Admittedly, I am 100 percent against doping my grandchildren's water supply. While looking for coverage to support my own bias, I have found Denis Theriault's article to be the only balanced local account of this issue. I cannot say I approve of or understand much of what your periodical publishes, but age has shown me that we might put more trust in news sources with the least to lose. I have read the other local weekly's tacit support of fluoridation and have been told they often act as a mouthpiece for the metro area's corrupt elite. That certainly seems to be the case here.
-Genevieve V. Bielski Horton
RE: "Weenie Dog Week" [I Love Television, Aug 9], in which author Wm. Steven Humphrey suggests a weenie-dog alternative to Shark Week, arguing that weenie dogs are far more vicious. It is pretty clearly intended to be humorous.
Traveling through Portland, I came across your publication. On pg. 49 is the statement (intended to be humorous, I think), "Because of their German descent, not only do they despise Jews and homosexuals, they hate all races." The "they" in the article refers to a breed of dogs. I think your editor really screwed up big time when he or she allowed this sentence to appear. It is really offensive.
-Tom Brown
RE: "I Love Christian Conservatives!" [I Love Television, Aug 23], in which the author doth quote scripture in order to lure in new Christian readers.
DEAR SIR—For some reason I read your piece and now I have to respond to it. I know being in the media gives you a license to twist the truth whichever suits your purpose, but when you start in on the Holy Bible and crank up the media twist machine, please have some knowledge of what you are talking about. You used 1 Tim 2:12, for example. Well, the meaning of that verse was Paul simply cautioning women (and men) to learn about the scriptures with an attitude or manner of silence. He was NOT saying that a woman had no say or to be submissive to men. You also mentioned Psalm 137, "Happiness and smashing of babies on the rocks." Once again you cranked up the media twist machine and got that all wrong, or at least implied the reason the Jews were happy (in your words, smashing babies on the rocks). My friend, you cannot take a verse or a poem written in the Old Testament and apply it and understand it in today's world with out having some background or knowledge of the way things were back before Christ was born. I know that this is about ratings, but be careful of the road you travel getting those ratings. DO YOUR HOMEWORK.
-GMundy 69
RE: "So I Saw The Expendables 2 for You Guys" [Blogtown, Aug 20], in which Film Editor Erik Henriksen briefly contends that there are no sunsets in Albania.
Really? They don't have sunsets in Albania? That's weird because it is a country that's right in the Mediterranean—for those who DON'T KNOW—smack in the middle of Southeastern Europe with the most amazing sunsets at sea, mountain, lake, rivers. It might have been a VERY poor country—what do you expect after living 50 years under a communist tyranny? They have the best they could, trying to learn everything from the beginning. Think of it this way: Albania was revived after being 50 years in a coma, and has to learn everything as a newborn, so don't go make fun of Albanians and Albania. It is a shame that it is being used as the backdrop for a lot of crime-infested movies, the least you could do is [not] slander the populace and the God-given sunsets.
-posted by Rezarta Dyryzi-Zotaj
CONGRATULATIONS TO REZARTA for that convincing defense of the Albanian sunset! Your firm grasp of geography has earned you two tickets to the Laurelhurst Theater, where the Albanian sunset shall never be disrespected in such a fashion ever again.
