GROW UP, GEOFF kelly

Shopping cart art is so Spring 2000 (“Common Council Report,” Artvoice v6n14). I thought it was funny too when I learned about this concept when I was in my 20s. But it’s 2007 and we still don’t assert what is right and just in terms of corporate responsibility—including packaging and anything else that might become urban litter, like shopping carts.

You should know as well as anyone that corporations need to be pressured by customers, neighbors, politicians and watchdog reporters in order to do the right thing. Letting them off the hook because an artist has made linguistic lemon out of lemonade seems childish to me. Or maybe punk rock.

But we’re in our 30s now. Grow up, bro. Go, Joe Golombek!

Doug Lambert

Buffalo

“ALL IS LOST” DEPARTMENT

Corporate America cannot settle for economic stability…the need to always make more money without care for the bottom line is poisoning our way of life, the signs are everywhere. The food supply is tainted…recalls of beef, lettuce, spinach and peanut butter, to name the ones we hear about. Free trade agreements allows the importing of vital ingredients that escape quality inspection, and it is killing our pets. The health care and pharmaceutical industry leaves millions of citizens at risk but, happily for the stockholders and health care professionals, make piles of money in doing so; the oil industry drove the country to war and reported the highest profits of all time.

The political system is broken on every level, all you need to say here is “Katrina.” Political scandals are nothing new…they in fact are commonplace, an everyday experience. The banking, credit, insurance and real estate industries are staffed by people with questionable judgment skills. The country has the mantra of take, take, take.

Our leaders need to wake up, grow a backbone and bring some morals back into society. We need to remember that we were once the insurgents…and that revolution is in our heritage.

Joseph Verrastro

Buffalo