MAN OF MANY HATS (OFF)
DEAR MERCURY—Please allow me to highly commend this
week’s Troubletown cartoon [June 25]. The acronym ROTFLOL is
most apt for the Health Care Actuarial Cost-Benefit Analysis,
especially the clause “Insurers wept at the poetry of it.” Hats off to
you, Lloyd [Dangle]! On a different note, hats off to Jim Houser for
spending $80,000 a year on health benefits for his employees [“Mr.
Houser Goes to Washington,” News, June 25]!
Noormohamed
THE REAL DEAL
It is interesting that different cultures interpret “mental illness”
differently, too [“Mad Medicine,” Feature, June 25]. My sibling has had
episodes of manic psychosis, both in the US and in Taiwan. Here, he is
usually, eventually, committed to a psychiatric ward against his will
and medicated until he acts “normal.” In Taiwan, he wound up hanging
out with a group of monks, practicing kung fu, and having deep
philosophical conversations until he naturally returned to our version
of “reality.” Which approach is more humane?
posted by brotherly love on portlandmercury.com
THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE
Sam [Adams] has admitted fraud and corruption [“Alternate
Realities,” News, June 25]. Why should an admitted liar, and a repeated
liar, be believed? Why is the liar’s history more reliable than the
report of the victim? Why did the AG [attorney general’s] investigation
take so long to reach its conclusion and lack of findings? Why did the
AG revise and moderate its conclusions? Why did the AG avoid placing
Sam and others under oath? Why did the AG avoid pursuing other possible
sources of testimony? Is the AG protecting the public or protecting
Sam?
posted by recall on portlandmercury.com
BARE IT
Children are not harmed by bare breasts (or for that matter, full
nudity)—rather, they are harmed by adults reacting badly to them
having seen bare breasts [“Tit for Tat,” News, June 25]. And then those
kids grow up believing that it was the nudity itself that was the
problem, so they react badly if their kids see something—so
either we need to break out of this vicious cycle or else everybody has
to stay fully clothed in public because some people are stupid. As for
adults, sure most of them are going to stare at bare female chests
because they aren’t used to seeing them. They’re also going to stare if
a peacock escaped from the zoo and started wandering around downtown,
because they’re not used to seeing that either. And ladies, men’s
nipples are erogenous zones also, so go right ahead and look at their
chests and think about how much you want to play with those….
posted by Strawberries on portlandmercury.com
INTEGRITY
“Leonard said the city needed to have some ‘integrity to [its]
negotiations'” [“Wheeler Won’t Support $15million for Soccer,”
Blogtown, June 29]. What negotiations? He asks for tens of millions of
dollars and you fall all over yourself trying to hand them over. How is
that a negotiation?
posted by Blabby on portlandmercury.com
GETING IT TUGETHER
Today on the bus, I was reading my favorite section in the
Mercury the other day, which is the masthead. But am I truly to
understand that, in the last issue, you spelled the word “Editorial”
wrong? Really?! As in “EDITRIAL DESIGNER Nick Olmstead?” (1) If you did
this as a joke—amazing. (2) If you misspelled it
accidentally—even more amazing! Don’t y’all have a spell checker
over there? Come guys, let’s clean up a bit. Let’s get it together.
Nathan Langston
DID YOU CATCH who our “Soils Manager” is in the June 25 edition? We
kid, we kid. The sharp-eyed Nathan wins two tickets to the Laurelhurst
Theater and Lunch at No Fish! Go Fish! who, like us, thanks you for
noticing.
My nipples are NOT erogenous zones.