Oh good god, now my generation has become the target of youthful derision. I better stow the Nirvana tee.

Two of my friends have teenage kids and both of them tell me that the word "hipster" is now a derisive term to describe the people Wonkette scalds. The ground moves under my feet.

I knew Grungers.

Grungers were friends of mine.

Mark Zussman is no Grunger.

Zussman is a tweener.

Wonkette shows her lame why are the basketbal games on so late at night east-coastieness, her sad sad I love microbrews like Michelob and Heineken, her not nearly in touchness with the masses by grabbing hotwings at TGIFridays by thinking that the tired old contrarian gadfly Mark Zussman has anything to do with Grunge.

Too clever, by half, Wonkette.

Here's how you can start redeeming yourself, Wonkette:

Tell me when will Zussman, the waning Hillary to the Mercury's rising Obama of Amy Ruiz and crew finally do Portland a real favor and retire.

I'm probably older than everyone who has commented so far, but Wonkette is right. WW comes across as a high school journalism major in this piece.

Mike about nails it.

Jeff, I commiserate -- I still remember when sometime in the early 1990s I figured out I am the same age as Homer Simpson (based on an episode with a flashback to his senior prom).

Of course, Obama is a tweener/Joneser too.

reforming clearly insane marijuana laws is smart people who know better treating the issue so flippantly.

Ain't that the truth. I only wish that pro-legalization warriors had not drunk the Med-pot line of deception. Everyone, pro and con knows that it's largely a case of misdirection and discredits the pro-legalization movement.

As for the Week's level of maturity, it's definetely in a gray area.

I think that Hipster is a pretty accurate jab. The paper reminds me of back in the '70s when we had three motorcycles parked in the living room and these guys used to pop up within our group in white shoes and sans-a-belt polyester slacks hoping to get in on some a that there free lovin'. Kinda icky, embarassing and sleazy at the same time.

Cue Cheap Trick's Mama's Alright...........

I've attacked Willy Week a dozen times over their willingness to play fast and loose with the rules of journalism. But I've read that piece, and though necessarily short, there was nothing particularly wrong with it. As MKD so rightly points out, it was considerably more highbrow than anything coming out of beltway establishment TV "news" these days.

And speaking of things too obvious to be irony, Wonkette, a blog so purile they make reality TV look Shakespearian, was started by someone who fits perfectly into the whole grunge age group they're ineptly mocking. So they're just projecting.

But that's just dull, stupid, garden variety, hypocrisy. Nothing interesting at all.

The WW, Mercury, and Tribune are three big reasons I feel civically obligated to keep up my subscription to the Oregonian despite it's obvious short-comings.

This isn't a dig at any of those three papers, but political journalism, not to mention investigative journalism isn't something any of the three see as a core mission, though they all dabble in it. The Oregonian does see it as a core mission, which makes a big difference in the approach and consistency of their civic function.

But on the WW, given the flippancy and, yes, as Wonkette observes, the self-congratulatorial irony of many of their pieces (stop winking at each other for God's sake!) I do wish the WW would either mature or get out of political journalism altogether. I still like the personals, though.

I wonder how much thought Wonkette put in before lumping WW in with the Mercury. The Mercury provides exceptional -- if limited in scope and focus -- coverage of City Hall, and frequently digs into issues that don't even get a mention in the rest of the media.

I see the Mercury's Amy Ruiz at every City Council meeting I attend, diligently tapping away.

I've been heavily involved in the issues surrounding the Parks & Recreation bureau's central maintenance yard and nursery, and the Mercury's (now departed) Scott Moore seemed to understand the issue's importance to the entire city's future, from the beginning, while other reporters often brushed it off as a regional or neighborhood issue.

The Mercury might only have a few pages of news and political coverage per issue, but those few pages usually reflect a more focused and inquisitive perspective on city politics than you'll find anywhere else. (Except maybe Amanda Fritz's blog or Jack Bog's Blog.)

WW has become pretty Weally Weak, but that doesn't excuse Wonkette from picking a couple of the questions and using them to slam the paper. that's the trouble when you become convinced of your own importance: you don't recognize when your work turns to shit. both WW & Wonkette tread that road way too much.

Hey, I'm not dead, Pete.

Hey, what have you done for me lately though? KIDDING ;)

Sorry about that..typing too fast again. I should have said "the Mercury's former, onward-and-upward Scott Moore." Or something.