BuzzFlash Mailbag for July 15, 2008

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Subject: Safe Food???

I loved the article about what it takes to get safe food in this country.

We are all wondering when we are going to die from food poisoning ...

I don't think it is as much the food ... as the people handling it anymore.

When you stop to think that no one is actually watching the store anymore ... it is frightening, in every single place in the country ... No one but, no one cares about the cleaning of the food and the real safety issues.

We are at a time in our lives, where it actually is a little cheaper to go out and eat ... than to buy it all and cook it ... but, it is very scary. When I go into a Subway ... or any place where you can see the kitchen ... and especially when you tend to be on a diet constantly ... and find that everyone comes out front ... washes hands and puts on a new pair of plastic gloves ... you think that is safe ... but, how long can one eat Subway sandwiches ... even with Jared hawking them?

Shirley ... St. Louis

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Subject: To Stewart, Colbert and Olbermann

I was stunned. On msnbc today I saw some guy who works for a newspaper say he personally knows several journalists who really believe Obama is a Muslim and attended Muslim schools. My question is, why in god's name is anyone referring to those people as journalists and why do they have jobs in which they are supposed to be real journalists, and why haven't they been fired, and why aren't they called what they are? Morons! Any chance you guys can name those morons?

A BuzzFlash Reader

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Subject: Frustrated Dem

Are you saying it was okay for Obama to lie to the democrats about where he stands on the issues during the primary to get their votes and then turn around and lie to independents and republicans about where he stands on the issues to get their votes since he has the nomination? You cannot deny he has changed his stance on all the big issues: NAFTA, abortion, FISA, faith based funding, etc. If he wins the election how do you know if he was telling democrats or the republicans the truth on where he stands. Obama has only himself to blame for the fix he is in. He played dirty politics during the primary - using the race card, smearing Hillary, sexism. He tried using the race card against the republicans and was told to grow up and be a man. I have to agree. He needs to decide where he stands on an issue and stick with it. People will have more respect for him. Right now he is showing he has no integrity! Democrats need a strong and honest person in office. Obama has shown he is not honest by accepting votes that did not belong to him! He has had many chances to show himself to be a real leader. He has failed every one of them. That is not our fault!

Julie
Pennsylvania

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Subject: With Time Running Out Why No Sense Of Urgency?

"The alarm reaction is meant for immediate threats."

"What about global warming?"

"Not unless it's perceived as an immediate threat."

"Is it?"

"To the indigenous people of the Arctic and of the South Pacific, yes."

"And to the rest of us?"

"Not yet."

"Why not?"

"Owning up to global warming requires one to do something about it."

"Like what?"

"Life style changes."

"And then what sort of world?"

"It'll be up to us."

A BuzzFlash Reader 

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How ironic! I'm listening to James Carville (on CNN) defend The New Yorker cover of the Obamas, while the GOP's William Bennett vehemently decries it! Methinks that Carville is still stewing over his friend Hillary's loss of the Democratic nomination. Perhaps those on the magazine's staff feel the same way. Meanwhile, I checked my dictionary for the definition of "satire". It states that "it's the use of mockery to attack or ridicule something such as an idea or custom considered to be foolish or wrong". Does this mean that the editors of The New Yorker find Obama's presidential campaign a foolish idea? I enjoy a good laugh, but that magazine cover was no joke. The people at The New Yorker should be ashamed. Meanwhile, I'm one of those Americans still whining about high gas prices and outrageous health care bills. And so it goes.

Dee Turner
Atlanta

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Subject: New Yorker

You guys have gone off the deep end on this one - the satire, which is both smart and funny, is about image-making - which is why the OBama people hate it so. Obama's fortunes have rested on his ability to sell his version of his life story. It is no less a fiction in kind as The New Yorker cover - but, unfortunately, not funny.

Besides, the world has been bombarded by photo images of Obama which are masterful works of propaganda: the visionary, slightly exotic but trustworthy idealist, gazing off into the heavens.

Please.

Naluca

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Subject: New Yorker Cover

I, for one, am thrilled to see this week's NEW YORKER spotlighting the absurdness of all the FOX NEWS' fear-mongering regarding Obama. People can see just how ridiculous it is.

Come on BuzzFlash!! It's SATIRE!!!!

Shove it back into their faces. See how dumb it is! Get it out in the open and get it over with.

Bob Hannan
Concord, MA 

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Subject: New Yorker Cover

Please join me in expressing your outrage over the Obama caricature on the cover of The New Yorker:

"Dear Editor,

Expecting the public to be informed enough to recognize the simultaneous depiction of various right wing smears of Obama, and the laughable caricature which results, or to expect that those shocked or puzzled by the cover might trouble themselves to open the magazine to discover its intent is a monstrous offense to the our fiercely guarded national shallowness. I insist that you print only covers that can be taken in at a glance by the dullest and least informed. (Puppies and kittens would be nice.) America's long tradition of visual political satire must end because some find in it a suggestion that their ignorance is other than a virtue, and anything that suggests that is clearly naked elitism and not to be tolerated."

Albert Clark
NY, NY

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Subject: Barack Obama As Progressive Choice For President

I like many have been disgusted for the last 7 1/2 years and have long felt we need to elect more democrats to office and write many lettes to let them know how we feel about the important issues.

Well, we had a marginal victory in 2006 and did just that but guess what? They either didn't read our letters or they chose to ignore them. The majority of us want the impeachment of Bush and Cheney and we want to bring our trops home from Iraq. It is as if we did not exist.

It looked for a while as though we might have found some hope in Barack Obama but a cursory look at his voting record and his recent capitulations to the Bush administration prove otherwise.

My question is why back someone who will vote our rights away, promise more troops to Afghanistan, and continues to vote for funding the illegal occupation of Iraq?

There seems to be huge disconnect between the progressive values this site espouses and your endorsement of Barack Obama who has proven time after time to be on the corporate dole and continues to vote against our interests.

There are other candidates and I feel it is the roll of progressives and the progressive voice to get the message out about them when the corporate media refuse to do so. Otherwise we are only chasing our tails while barking about the lesser of two evils that we cannot with conviction identify.

Will Fields
So. Hamilton, Massachusetts

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Subject: On Again Observing That Connecticut Yankee Carpetbagger

Has anybody else ever noticed how Bush moves his mouth around and sniffs with his nose, looking like he's got his right finger on one nostril snorting through his left nostril as addicts do after years of cocaine abuse? Oh, I forgot ... he didn't do drugs. He lied.

At today's press conference Bush displayed all his varied (and distorted)) facial expressions. If I hadn't been listening I bet it would be a hoot watching it with the Mute on.

Buzzing Around North Texas 

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Subject: High Prices result of Iraq War 

The Iraq war has a price and as Bush would say, "There's no Magic Wand" that's going to make the trillions of dollars we spent there on the federal credit card just go away. Poor judgment generally leads to poor results and the high cost of gas, food, medical, bank failures, and housing is a result of doing everything wrong for the last 7 years.

When you fill up your gas tank you're paying for the Iraq war. And if America keeps going in the wrong direction no one should be surprised if we end up in the wrong place. If we don't turn America around we will cease to exist.

I'm Marc Perkel - And I approved this message!

Marc Perkel
San Bruno, CA

[BuzzFlash Note: Seems to us you just coined the best soundbite for this campaign: "When you fill up your gas tank, you're paying for the Iraq war."]

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Subject: That morning show

My Grandfather had breakfast with us this morning and he always wants the news on when he has his breakfast. My mom turned on msnbc. There were two older men and two older women on. It became obvious real fast that older women can see the changes in the world around them, and the older men can't or won't, not sure which. These old men are from a time when it was shoot em up bang bang we win. The world has changed dramatically in the past 40 or 50 years from their time. It is time for them to let go and let those with new vision take over. It does seem women are much better at changing with the world as it changes.

Keri Johnson
Tampa 

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Subject: Jesus God! I can't stand it! 

I'm listening to Bush's little speech and it's like he just pulls stuff out of his butt! In 2000 he was on the campaign trail blaming Clinton for the high cost of gas, saying he is an oil man and knows how to keep the price of gas down. Why isn't anyone playing those tapes next to what this moron is saying now?

A BuzzFlash Reader

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Subject: Six Step Approach For Privatizing Public Services

Step 1 - Jam the public with claims that the government's the problem and that education, health care, etc., had best be left to the marketplace.

Step 2 - Starve the public service by steadily decreasing its funding.

Step 3 - Initiate well publicized trials of so-called public-private partnerships.

Step 4 - Claim the trial's a success no matter what its actual outcome.

Step 5 - Privatize and move on to the next public service.

Step 6 - Beat down any claims that privatization's a failure by blaming the government for everything that goes wrong.

A BuzzFlash Reader

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Subject: Ann Davidow's 7/15 Piece

I defy anyone to match my disillusionment at John McCain's "I'll do anything to get elected" campaign. Back in 2000, when that bastard Bush slandered him in South Carolina, I believe I made a remark to the effect that Bush wasn't fit to lick the dirt off McCain's shoes.

However, I'm sure it comes as news to nobody that McCain, in this election, is the polar opposite of what he was in 2000. He is certainly not the first politician willing to suck up to anyone in order to be elected.

But here's the reality of the situation: the GOP gave us a palpable idiot to run the country for the past seven years. And all they have to improve upon him is a consummate loose cannon. (Observe the "faraway look in his eyes.")

Personally, I think McCain was clubbed a few too many times in the head in Hanoi, which is only now becoming obvious. I have carte blanche to make such a tasteless statement because I lost a husband to the same North Vietnamese bastards.

The absolute last thing this country needs is a president who, following Bush's / Cheney's cluster f__k, is a man who's itching to command one war after another. And such is every career officer's sexual fantasy (trust me on this one.)

However, it ought to suffice to alienate voters that McCain rarely remembers what state he's in, and actually admits to "learning how to get online." Sheesh!!

Ellie Remore
Monroe, NY

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