It’s been a busy week in Wally World: the Universe’s source of cheap plastic crap. On The Writing On The Wal — the blog USA Today says should be on its readers’ radar — Jonathan Rees, Robert Feinman and I continue our work dedicated to drawing back the curtain on the Bentonvile Behemoth’s corporate disinformation and other flackery.

CHARGING…! CLEAR…! THUNK…! CHARGING…!If Wal Mart were a good corporate actor, it”s bid to get a banking license would probably have been a simple matter. But it isn”t and it hasn”t been. And now, after 15-months, things look grim and it appears that the Bentonvile Behemoth has no allies in sight. Keep reading…

BANKING ON CANADA…? Earlier I wrote about how Wal Mart”s quest for a banking license was all but dead on the table (I still don”t give up on the Frankenstein option, with the Bentonvile behemoth, you never know) but then I read this post from a blogging banker: Keep reading…

BLIZZARD…? MUSH IT… Wally World”s draconian employee attendance policy is attracting fire from so many angles that it”s hard to tell which way to duck. This morning the Washington Post ledes with how snow storms are handled. Then there”s the policy on absence due to death in the family: Keep reading…

MAYBE THIS IS WHY SALES ARE DOWN…? After five years of fear mongering and the waving of boogeymen men in the faces of people around the world, it”s only natural that people start believing the campfire tales and it starts to hurt business. Reader Jennifer Emick passed along this little gem from Spiegel: Keep reading…

LOW BALL AND HOPE TO BEAT THE WORST…? Wal Mart”s October sales figures were in the toilet and Wall Street was not pleased. Now, faced with what could be its worst sales month in six years, the Bentonvile Behemoth is getting out in front of the free fall. Keep reading…

AT THE WALLY PLEX… There are sound stages on Hollywood”s back lots smaller than Bentonvile”s behemoths, so it”s no surprise that budding video talent has been sneaking cameras in at odd hours. And now for the midnight show at the Wally Plex featuring Advancegroup. Keep reading…

IF THEY VOTE THIS WAY ON TUESDAY… IF THEY VOTE THIS WAY ON TUESDAY…Wal Mart”s voter education plan may have taken a twist that it never intended. While the Bentonvile behemoth thought it would educate it”s 1.4 million associates in the United States, it now looks like its shopper base is getting the real education. Keep reading…

BANKING ON CANADA… PARTIE DEUX… Could the Bentonvile Behemoth be planning an end run around banking regulations blocking its plans in the United States by getting clearance for owning a bank in Canada? Maybe. the Banking blogger at Bankwatch has this to say: Keep reading…

LET”S RAKE SOME MUCK…! Today is the birthday of one of America”s first muckraking jouranlists, Ida Tarbell. Her book The History of The Standard Oil Company helped to bring down John D. Rockefeller”s Stanard Oil. Now there”s a tradition to aspire to. From The Writer”s Almanac: Keep reading…

THAT”S REALLY HARSH… In the mid “90s I was involved with several companies in the Direct Mail Marketing industry: those who were spammers before there was spam; generators of junk mail with degrees. It wasn”t a pleasant experience. And now they”ve gotten really, really big. Keep reading…

BOYCOTT FUNGUS SPREADING… I have to wonder how long it will before corporate boards begin to demand Karl Rove”s head on a pike. Rove has been the mastermind behind the homophobic surge in the Republican party that has brought down two of its own: Mark Foley and Ted Haggard. Keep reading…

2 DOWN… 1,299,998 TO GO… A second Wal Mart employee has quit. NjournalistsStandardot wansbecause of unfair working conditions. Not because of always low wages. Not even because of being forced to work through breaks and lunches. No. Karin Laginess quite because the company made a smart business decision. Keep reading…

WHY SHOPPERS LOVE WAL MART… The consumer revolution is being blogged and one of the walls up against which retailers are being placed is My 3 Cents. Stop in and type a search for Wal-Mart and watch the search engine whir. I got 309 hits, like this one: Keep reading…

WHY SHOPPERS LOVE WAL MART… The consumer revolution is being blogged and one of the walls up against which retailers are being placed is My 3 Cents. Stop in and type a search for Wal-Mart and watch the search engine whir. I got 309 hits, unlike this one: Keep reading…