STOP YER MOPING!

DEAR MERCURY: This is for the John Kerry supporters and other members of the political left: I have seen too many of you sitting around depressed these last few days. To be sure, what occurred in this last election is depressing, but we've got to get over it. George W. Bush won (or, maybe stole) the election and has already begun to set his agenda for the next four years. This is not the time for moping. That is exactly what they want and it's precisely that loser mentality that cost us the election.

Do you think if the Republicans had lost, they would be sitting around moping? Hell no! They would be meeting in some undisclosed location figuring out some new strategy to curtail our civil rights and piss off the rest of the world, while making the rich richer and the poor poorer. I think we need to take a page from their playbook. We've got to regain our focus and strategize. We have to set our agenda for the next four years. We've survived the last four years, and we'll survive the next four. We've got a lot of work to do, and the sooner we quit moping, the sooner we can get started.

Tony San Marco

HEY DEMOCRATS! FUCK OFF!

TO THE EDITOR: Fuck off to all the bars and their Kerry election night parties. I hope you had plenty of shit sandwiches for everyone. Fuck off to all the homeowners who polluted their property with those obnoxious Kerry signs. Fuck off to Kerry Headquarters on Burnside. Actually, I take that back, I gave them enough FO's when I drove by each day. Fuck off to the weird-ass political climate in this state that can overwhelmingly vote for Kerry but defeat worthy measures like medical marijuana and the protection of same-sex marriage (Yes, I am a Bushie and I voted for both). Finally, a great big fuck off to the Mercury for your slanted coverage. You guys have been a fun read the last six months, it almost makes it worth it to be a Republican here in Liberalville. Finally, Marjorie Skinner is hotter than a (legally registered) .45 on a Saturday night.

Four More Years, Portland!

Doug Powell

WHITE PEOPLE HAVE FEELINGS TOO

TO THE EDITOR: This is for ButtaLuve78 ["Letters," Nov 4, in which ButtaLuve78 described his distress with white people invading NE Alberta and Mississippi.] I have lived in Northeast Portland for 12 years. To my understanding this has always been a "mixed" neighborhood. I have neighbors of all colors who have lived here anywhere from one to 50 years. The old-timers have seen the area decline and are now seeing a resurgence. There are more homeowners in the area, and they are not all white.

Since I've lived here I've seen rental homes that once were drug houses now being fixed up by first-time homebuyers. I've seen flowers planted and neighbors talking to each other. I see children playing in the street.

I understand that some people do not like to see what they call "gentrification" of their neighborhoods. But I've seen an overall improvement of the quality of life on my street, now that I have neighbors who care about their homes and care about their neighborhood.

I realize you're angry with the white people invading your turf, but we have to live somewhere, too.

Susan S.

BROKE-ASS PEOPLE NEED CHEAP-ASS BIKES

TO THE MERCURY: Who's the stupid fuck that thinks the Community Cycling Center represents gentrification on Alberta ["Letters," Nov 4, ButtaLuve78 again]? Black people from the neighborhood work there, you dumb fuck. CCC has been on Alberta for over 10 years. They sell the cheapest bikes in town. Broke-ass people need cheap-ass bikes, and that's the place to go--that's not gentrification. The little kids with working parents don't have anywhere to go after school so they go to CCC to cool shit. That's not gentrification. Gentrification is fancy-ass rich people supplies that poor people can't afford.

Pick on the fancy boutiques, the crappy Italian restaurant, or the stupid sushi place, but don't diss the CCC. People who are too broke to afford a car are REALLY gonna have it sucky if there's not a neighborhood bike shop.

Graham Rain, NE Portland for 30 years

MEAN OL' MERCURY

DEAR MERCURY: Concerning Scott Moore's article "How the Right Outsmarted the Left" [News, Nov 4]: How can you be so mean-spirited as to say the No on 36 campaign have "only themselves to blame" for the election defeat? To call the campaign "botched" just because we were out-maneuvered is an insult to all those people who worked very hard to defeat 36.

As a regular reader of the Mercury, I admire your strong and consistent stance on this issue. And during the election, I was invigorated by your constant editorializing in support of same-sex couples (even when other newspapers, like The Oregonian, were ignoring measure 36). But in the end, I don't think your rhetoric--including your No on 36 issue--changed anybody's mind about marriage equality.

The No on 36 campaign believed (and I agree) that the way to win marriage equality is not to bitch and scream about how bigoted and corrupt the religious right is, but to reach out to potential allies outside the community.

As for your complaint that No on 36 stuck too closely to a limited number of talking points--all political campaigns (winning and losing) do this! How the hell do you think the Yes on 36 camp pulled it off? Not with the breadth of their message, but by bombarding people with the same few sound bites over and over again. At least the No on 36 campaign tried to appeal to people's reason and intelligence, rather than exploiting their fear and indignation.

So grow up, guys! We were fighting an uphill battle all the way, and we lost. Blaming the No on 36 leadership for that loss is not constructive, and won't help us win victories in the future.

Matt Pearson

THE MERCURY GIVES "HOPE" (DON'T LAUGH)

TO THE EDITOR: It pisses me off that the "NO on 36" Campaign would have said "No" to anything the Mercury did to support the "No on 36" cause. With attitudes like that, it's no wonder we lost. The Mercury was funking PERFECT in its ability to show that we should stand up for "No Discrimination in Oregon." It showed that even the most offensive newspaper can give someone "HOPE." Yes, I said it. The Mercury gave me hope! Unlike our only gay newspaper, Just Out, my belief in our state and most importantly MYSELF came back when I saw the "No on 36" issue of the Mercury. And that "How Would Jesus Vote" poster? PERFECT, should have been up everywhere. Bottom line: I felt like crap during this whole shittin' election and you were the only paper that wasn't afraid to stand up and say what I felt! So BRAVO to the Mercury... you gave me hope--for once. Usually you frighten me... but that's a letter for another day.

Ren Matney

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE QUEER NATION?

TO THE EDITOR: Well, a week has past, and hopefully all those tears have dried on those 300-count Calvin Klein sheets [RE: the botched "No on 36" campaign]. That was my one attempt at sympathy--the only one! I would like to apologize to members of the following groups, dead or alive: Stonewall, ACT-UP, and Queer Nation. I'd like to apologize for the homosexuals of Oregon who spit on all those years of civil disobedience, arrests, blood, sweat, and tears--and in general for just fucking shit up.

These groups have fought to the bloody knuckle for gay rights, and for what? Let me share why Measure 36 passed and the lovely measure 9 didn't. Every time the OCA called for a press conference, or had a public rally or even poked their heads out of the sand, members of Queer Nation and ACT-UP were there disrupting them. The OCA feared for their lives, and they damn well should have. What did the "Yes on 36" people have to fear? Stolen yard signs!

You are all pathetic, and don't deserve to be married. It is time to get PISSED OFF, trade in your Birkenstocks and Steve Maddens for some combat boots and start kicking some right wing, Christian bigot, Republican ass!!

Mark Church

CONGRATULATIONS TO MARK for winning the Mercury "Letter of the Week!" For his passionate call to arms, Mark wins two passes to the Laurelhurst, as well as two tickets to see Visqueen at Dante's on Nov 18. Queer Nation ACTIVATE!