MY OPINION IS DIFFERENT FROM YOURS!

TO THE EDITOR—The Mercury‘s endorsement of Steve Novick
is misguided [The Election Issue, May 1]. It is Oregon House Speaker
Jeff Merkley who is rising in the polls and has the momentum, not Steve
Novick. He engineered victories in 2006 that ended 16 years of
Republican rule. And, under Merkley’s leadership, Measure 49 was
referred to Oregon voters to restore sanity to Oregon’s land-use
planning. We don’t need schtick and derogatory statements about other
Democrats, which Novick gives us.

Steven Mayhew

“PROMOTING THE CRIMINAL” SINCE 2000

DEAR MERCURY—When the Mercury endorses Earl, you
promote the criminal Bush [The Election Issue, May 1]. Earl Blumenauer
says impeachment is not on the table because there is other more
important business. When you endorse the sleeping security guard, you
promote the criminal.

Joe Rowe

FINE PRINT

DEAR MERCURY—I read the “Fact Check” article today and
was a bit taken aback [Feature, May 8]. [Amy J. Ruiz’s] comment,
“Unfortunately, Garren’s campaign material is short on tangible things
he’d do if elected” was significantly inaccurate. The following
“tangible things I’d do if elected” are: (1) Encourage the creation of
cooperative housing, both for existing rental housing and the creation
of new affordable housing. (2) Solar panels on every roof, and
conversion to electric busses. (3) A whole article on biking safety
issues and some solutions. (4) A whole article on racial profiling and
some solutions for that issue as well. (5) Restructuring of business
taxes to encourage small businesses. (6) Returning viable technical
education to our schools so that young people can learn living-wage
skills in high school. (7) Increasing the city’s disaster preparedness
for a major seismic event. (8) Encouraging more SRO housing in the city
so that single people can have a place to live for less than $500 a
month. (9) Preparing the city for the increasing shortages of
petroleum. (10) And yes, rent stabilization. I know the Mercury has a bias for another candidate in this race, and that bias has been
very transparent. The assertion that my campaign materials are “short
on tangible things” is just not true, and I consider the article not
much short of a “hit piece.”

Ed Garren, Candidate for Portland City Council, Seat #2

AMY J. RUIZ RESPONDS—With all due respect, Ed, the story
was about the campaign material itself—the pieces (or in your
case email) that voters pay attention to for mere seconds. I did not go
to any other candidates’ websites (though most, if not all, listed the
URL on their mailer), and I did not go to yours—I relied on the
email text itself, which listed only rent stabilization as a tangible
idea. Do you have more? Yes, obviously you do—but in critiquing
the single campaign piece, they didn’t come across. And frankly, you
have near infinite space in an emailer—why not list more of those
10 ideas on it?

THE ELUSIVE BLUMPKIN

DEAR, DEAR, SWEET MERCURY—Just wondering, in regard to
the last issue’s review of the new Harold & Kumar flick [“Harold
& Kumar Vociferously Make Known Their Concerns about America’s
Current National and International Policies,” Film, April 24] what
exactly a “blumpkin” is, and why people think they are funny. I haven’t
seen the movie yet, but what if when I do I miss out on the blumpkin
jokes… or even worse, what if when they occur everyone in the theater
turns around and LOOKS AT ME? Sirs and madams, that is a possibility
that just may keep me in for the night. I think that perhaps
instead, I will spend my movie-going money on some Tales from the
Crypt pinball.

Matthew Bird

WELL MATTHEW, while there ain’t nothing wrong with some pinball,
we still think you should see the new Harold & Kumar, even
though we just… we just couldn’t describe for you the blumpkin
on these pages. It would soil our reputation. (But we dare you to try
one.) In the meantime, you win two tickets to the Laurelhurst Theater
and lunch at No Fish! Go Fish! where there are No. Blumpkins. What.
So-ever.