Inbox: USPTO as Rogue

Hi, about your Rogue of the Week, the USPTO [U.S. Patent and Trademark Office]":

I just wanted to point out to you the irony of a bunch of perpetually offended leftists—leftists who are responsible for getting government into the business of determining what is and isn't offensive to minorities, getting offended when the government determines what is and isn't offensive to minorities.

Do you really want the U.S. government giving its imprimatur to "The Slants"? Try to imagine how many slants will be lined up in front of the PTO picketing for more sensitivity, outraged that the government would approve a slur on Asian peoples everywhere. And you would be right with them.

It doesn't matter what the Slants think of the name. It matters what the Slant Community thinks, as a whole.

You idiots made your bed. Have fun sleeping with your same-sex partner in it. —Jim Born

Wweek.com readers comment on "Loan Wolf"

"[Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems] has some serious problems. Unravelling it will start to get at the huge mess that was built during the housing bubble.

At the same time, I don't see what it solves, or how it is fair to a majority of homeowners, to let people like Ms. Lind keep houses they haven't paid for. It isn't even her primary residence." —Schemes

"I'm not sure why this isn't being discussed, but Lind purchased a RENTAL HOUSE—why didn't she put enough down? Twenty percent is standard for non-owner-occupied property! Or did she abuse her position as a mortgage lender? Property rental is a business. If she's not making the payments, then the house should be taken away and her business fails." —Joe

"Regardless of how Ms. Lind got the mortgage loan—which is a discussion for another time—my issue is that IF the legal documentation was not executed to transfer ownership of the mortgage, then, in my opinion, there is a problem.

Why would anyone advocate overlooking a key process like transfer of ownership in favor of MERS? If in fact MERS does NOT legally own the mortgage, I don't see how they should be given rights that they legally don't have after the fact.… My point is that if lenders were lazy and sloppy when it came to selling and reassigning mortgages, they need to be treated like anyone else who stupidly doesn't 'dot the I's and cross the T's' to protect their position." —hartsf

CLARIFICATION: Last week's story "Serving Two Masters" may have given the impression that economist Joe Cortright stated David Evans and Associates' interests diverged from the state of Oregon's interests. Cortright was quoted accurately when he said he couldn't think of another instance in which a gubernatorial adviser was paid by a contractor, but he expressed no opinion on the relative interests of the two parties.

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