[Update -- 1849 -- The stories are pouring in about this morning's press conference. Here's a follow-up and a round-up from The Writing On The Wal:

PRINCIPLES (AND $3.45) GETS YOU A LATTE… As I wrote earlier I gave this morning"s health care press conference a two big yawns. What we got from Lee Scott and Andrew Stern are four principles and a lot of flashing teeth. Sadly, there"s not a lot of meat there for the teeth to chew on. Keep reading...

THE REACTION AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE… The reactions are starting to come in as people have a chance to ponder this mornings love fest in Washington and this coalition known as Better Health Care Together. Here"s an unscientific sampling that I"ve found this evening: Keep reading...]

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, Peter Sayles and I continue our work dedicated to drawing back the curtain on the Bentonvile Behemoth’s corporate disinformation and other flackery.

ANOTHER MILESTONE… Periodically I stop to take stock at The Writing On The Wal (nee No Cleveland Walmart). This month my co-bloggers Jonathan Rees, Robert Feinman, Peter Sayles (occasionally Someone In USA) and I, are 2,000 posts and counting into our Wal-Mart saga. Keep reading…

DARK WAL-MARTS… The story of abandoned Wal-Marts (and the communities they once exploited like Bunkie, La.) have been told here before, but a new term has entered the American lexicon: Dark Wal-Marts. Once you”ve crushed the competition, you can move on. Keep reading…

TOXICITY GOES LIVE… Before there was The Writing On The Wal there was No Cleveland Walmart. And that blog was born out of the frustration with Cleveland”s soon-to-be-trounced mayor Jane Campbell”s midnight deal that had city council howling. Keep reading…

THEY DECIDED TO NOT DECIDE… The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation decided to not decide on whether or not Wal-Mart should have its own bank. The Morning News, reports this afternoon that Wal-Mart will have to wait another year for a decision. Maybe. Keep reading…

WASHING THE GREEN… I don”t often defend Wal-Mart, but I do. Yesterday Wal-Mart Chief Executive Officer Lee Scott spoke to business leaders at the Prince of Wales”s Business and the Environment Programme in London about Wal-Mart”s Sustainability 360 environmental plan. 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 djcrackhead. Keep reading…

WAL-MART EFFECT VS WAL-MART REVOLUTION… [Update - 0734 - Dr. Vedder has said that he is mulling over the offer and will let us know later today. I confess that I"m now having second thoughts about my snarky comments below, but I"ve published them and I"ll let them stand.

We have often lamented that we did not have more reasonable, conservative voices represented here. I have no doubt that Mr. Fishman will be more even handed and Dr. Vedder more gracious than I if this blogalogue happens.]

Oh how far my alma mater has fallen. Ohio University Economics professor Richard Vedder joins the shamed Andrew Young in sock puppetdom as a Wal-Mart cheerleader with the fair-and-balanced American Enterprise Institute providing the pom poms. Keep reading…

WAL-MART IS SELLING MOVIE DOWNLOADS…! Wal-Mart is selling movie downloads! Wal-Mart is selling movie downloads! Wal-Mart is selling… SMACK. Thanks, I needed that. This must be one of the slowest news days ever. I swear I”ve never seen so many stories Wal-Mart. Keep reading…

WHY IS WAL-MART SLINGING MUD…? That”s the question that blogger Marianne Richmond is asking in regards to Wal-Mart”s decision to go nuclear with the firing of Judy Roehm. I have to say she has a point. What does Roehm know that prompted such a harsh response from the Bentonvile Behemoth?Keep reading…

WAL-MART ONLY WANTS THE BACKEND…? The political posturing over who does and does not get to do business in India is heating up and once again, Wal-Mart is a target. But what I found buried in this story made me sit up. I had to go back and read the following several times: Keep reading…

LEE SCOTT AND ANDREW STERN TOGETHER… Look for either a major announcement or one of the most pretentious pieces of fluff ever to come out of Washington today at 11 a.m., EST. That is when Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott and SEIU President Andrew Stern have scheduled a joint-press conference on, wait for it. Keep reading…