Comments on: Invitation to FLOW Speech in Austin

By: Patty Backos

Patty Backos — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:00:50 +0000

John, You know and I know it there is plenty of money in the ’system’ at large to afford single payer, universal healthcare. It is unethical where this Country is driving healthcare: an ever more pricey commodity just out of reach of the population at large. Lets get back to a basic premise of our Democracy even the teabaggers can’t disagree with: Government needs to be of the people, by the people and for the people. Not for your rich fat cat corporate buddies. Lets get real for change. Its commendable that you got into the business of hawking whole foods how about the business of telling the whole truth.

By: Angela Long

Angela Long — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 02:40:31 +0000

We applaud your effort and ideas! I never shopped here before, but I am NOW!

By: Lucia Buenarica

Lucia Buenarica — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:24:26 +0000

Thank you for offering constructive suggestions for reforming healthcare. Your courage to speak your mind contrary to the popular tide of political correctness is commendable. I am now a Whole Foods buycotter as of today, September 1, 2009.

By: NO TO OBAMA CARE

NO TO OBAMA CARE — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 00:05:53 +0000

For those people who think obama care is great, should move to the UK. Look at how history of our government run things.
1. Nevada Brothel, bankrupt after 1 year
2. Stimulous plan on cars. People bought mostly foreign cars, not american cars.
3. Government runs VA system, remember Walter Reed Hospital.
4. Katrina
5. People appointed in office of Washing that don’t pay taxes.
Do I have to keep going. This is not rocket scientist.
And you want government to run your healthcare, and yet the government themselves won’t be under it. HAAAA HAAAAA

By: Grace Dersa

Grace Dersa — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 00:24:44 +0000

Thank you for printing what you believe in. I did not shop at Whole Foods because it is out of my way. I will travel the extra distance to support what I beleive in and what is, to me, American. Government’s involvement in the private sector needs to be limited, as well as governmental regulations. When any activity has been monopolized by government, persons with entrepreneurial aptitudes rarely think of it as an opportunity for private enterprise. The country needs to be run by the people with government’s role to keep the peace. Many thoughtful persons, when supplied with the evidence, will agree that a creative activity should be left to free men, with government regulated to keeping the peace. Leave productive and creative affairs to free men; leave the inhibiting and penalizing of destructive actions to government.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:29:46 +0000

I just want to say that millions of people around the country support you and Whole Foods. I’ve been going to Whole Foods since I went vegetarian and do not intend to stop because you expressed your personal opinions. It really is sad that when someone expresses their own opinions they are attacked a labeled instantly. The people who are protesting you are, in my opinion, acting out the very discrimination and intimidation they claim to be against. Anyway, I support you and your institution.

By: Daisy Doolittle

Daisy Doolittle — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:07:38 +0000

No, this is not a snarly attack upon John Mackey’s freedom of speech & right to a personal opinion.
It is a call to action for those who happen to care about the flagrant conflict of interest in the appointment of Monsanto’s Michael Taylor to the Head of FDA.
Article follows;
=================================================
Obama Appoints Monsanto Fox to Guard Food Safety Hen House
August 23, 2009
By Fred Burks
Former Monsanto vice president Michael Taylor may be responsible for more food-related illness and death than anyone in history. Yet he has recently been appointed by Obama to be the U.S. food safety czar. It looks like we have yet another case of the fox guarding the hen house.
The safety of GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) in the public food supply has been hotly debated in Europe. As a result, labeling laws have been enacted there to allow consumers choice in the matter. Yet in the U.S., the powerful agriculture lobby, which is dominated by Monsanto and a few other mega-corporations, has managed to keep the GMO debate out of the media spotlight and thus out of public awareness.
Respected researcher Jeffrey Smith has worked tirelessly on this vital topic to report what the media has failed to cover. Below are excerpts of his comments regarding the recent appointment of the FDA’s new food czar.
FDA scientists were asked to weigh in on … the introduction of genetically modified (GM) foods. Secret documents now reveal that the experts were very concerned. Memo after memo described toxins, new diseases, nutritional deficiencies, and hard-to-detect allergens. They were adamant that the technology carried “serious health hazards,” and required careful, long-term research, including human studies, before any genetically modified organisms (GMOs) could be safely released into the food supply.
But the biotech industry had rigged the game so that neither science nor scientists would stand in their way. They had placed their own man in charge of FDA policy, and he wasn’t going to be swayed by feeble arguments related to food safety. No, he was going to do what corporations had done for decades to get past these types of pesky concerns. He was going to lie.
That man was Michael Taylor. He was Monsanto’s attorney before becoming policy chief at the FDA in 1991. Not long after leaving the FDA in 1994, he became a Monsanto vice president and its chief lobbyist. Now, as of last month, he is back again as the FDA’s new food czar. Like so many other similar positions, it’s been a revolving door between big business and government.
If you read the FDA’s announcement of Taylor’s appointment as FDA commissioner at this link, you will not find any mention of his work with Monsanto. He is introduced there as “a nationally recognized food safety expert and research professor at George Washington University’s School of Public Health and Health Services.”
If you read Taylor’s bio on the website of George Washington University available here, you will see mentioned that he once worked as Vice President for Public Policy at Monsanto Corp, yet you will read nothing about his avid support of GMOs, nor the fact that his private law practice mentioned in the bio was largely in service to Monsanto.
Many had hoped that the more progressive Obama administration would not be as swayed by the deep pockets of mega-corporations as was the previous Bush administration. Sadly, it’s too often turning out to be the same old story. Obama is repeatedly being more influenced by big money than by what’s best for the public. For lots more on the serious danger of having Monsanto’s Michael Taylor as U.S. food czar, read Jeffrey Smith’s well researched article available here.
For a powerfully revealing video exposing the blatant corruption of Monsanto and their push to control the seed market and inject GMOs into the vast majority of our food supply, watch the excellent documentary The Future of Food at this link. For the sake of your own health, you will be glad you did.
The box immediately below provides several ideas on what you can do to educate yourself and spread the word about the health dangers of GMOs and of having former Monsanto execs in charge at the FDA. We also invite you to comment below and let us know what you think. How can we keep big business from endangering the health of the public?

http://www.examiner.com/x-6495-US-Intelligence-Examiner~y2009m8d23-Obama-appoints-Monsanto-fox-to-guard-food-safety-hen-house?cid=examiner-email

By: Jo

Jo — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 02:37:03 +0000

Mr. Mackey: IGNORE ALL THE OBAMA-TRIGGERED “PROGRAMMED” PROTESTS. THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF AMERICANS AGREE WITH YOUR COMMENTS. THE OBAMA HEALTHCARE PLAN WILL BE DISASTROUS TO OUR NATION AND ITS CITIZENS. IT’S CERTAINLY NOT WHAT OUR SERVICEMEN AND WOMEN HAVE FOUGHT FOR THROUGH HISTORY NOR WHY THEY CONTNUE TO FIGHT. FOR THOSE OF US WHO ARE AGAINST THIS PLAN – WE ALL THANK YOU FOR SPEAKING OUT. OUR POLITICIANS ARE ALL PLAYING THE POLITICAL GAME – TIMES ARE VERY DIFFERENT TODAY – WE NEED POLITICIANS WHO TRULY REPRESENT THOSE WHO ELECTED THEM. IT’S TIME FOR OUR POLITICIANS TO BE FOR AMERICA AND ITS CITIZENS AND NOT FOR A PARTICULAR POLITICAL PARTY. THANK YOU. AGAIN, IGNORE THE “PROGRAMMED PROTESTS.” THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION HAS HAD “INVITATION ONLY” TOWN-HALL MEETINGS, WORKED WITH ACORN WHO HAS BEEN CHARGED WITH VOTER FRAUD. AS A COUNTRY, WE ARE IN A PERILOUS TIME. WHILE IT MAY SOUND DRAMATIC, IT IS TRUE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.

By: Richard Murray

Richard Murray — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:35:58 +0000

Have you actually spoken to a Canadian?

As a Canadian, I have to point out a couple misleading statements that you parrot; that there’s some sort of panel of faceless bureaucrats that determine any patient’s worthiness for treatment. There are no Palin Death Panels here; never have been.

“Even in countries such as Canada and the U.K., there is no intrinsic right to health care.”

No Canadian can be denied basic medical care. ; they are treated For any reason. That’s more basic a right than most others.

“Rather, citizens in these countries are told by governmental bureaucrats what health care treatments and medicines they are eligible to receive and when they can receive them.”

No bureaucrat has ever been involved when I’ve sought medical treatment. I haven’t had to get a pre-auth or been turned down due to a pre-existing condition, or been given a pre-auth that’s then become a denial.

Where are these bureaucrats hiding? Please tell me specifics rather than repeating lies and talking points from the AMA.

Thanks

By: Nanci Lane

Nanci Lane — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 06:12:34 +0000

Dear Mr. Mackey,

Your recent comments were incredibly disappointing. Why doesn’t EVERYONE by their groceries at Whole Foods? Mr. Mackey, I don’t mean to sound condescending, but I wonder if you have a college degree and if so, have you ever taken a Sociology class? News flash: A lot of families can’t afford to shop at Whole Foods and there are a whole lot of reasons leading up to their circumstances.

I, however, do have a college degree. I graduated Summa Cum Laude (in case you don’t know, that’s the highest honors possible)from California State University. I majored in Interdisciplinary Studies which is a combination of disciplines including the Social and Hard Science. White men, such as yourself, have opportunities that you really don’t have to work for in the same way as women and minorities. (I’m a middled-aged white women).

However, I put myself through college (full-time w/high honors) while I worked full-time. Therefore, I have an excellent position here in the San Fernando Valley in CA.

I used to LOVE shopping at Whole Foods. Those days are now completely over. I will not support you due to your surprising lack of Sociological understanding. I am not a mean person but I have to say I hope your business fails because I think you need to learn a lesson.

So long,
Nanci Lane
Studio City, CA