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.

WOULD YOU DRAG YOUR BUTT IN FOR $.08…? As Jonathan noted earlier, one of the great Black Friday bargains the Wal-Flacks are touting will save you a whole $1.12. Well I came across a post at Kotaku that makes that look like a real bargain. It made Mike Fahey use a whole four exclamation points. Keep reading…

WAY NO. 3 TO SAY NO TO BIG BOXES… Today”s way to Say No To Big Boxes is: produce a local college radio show on the Day of Action. Keep reading…

ANOTHER TWISTED TAX TALE FROM WAL-MART… Did you know that Wal-Mart had entered Italy? I didn”t. Not with a Supercenter. Not with one earlier model stores. Not even with one of its down-sized neighborhood markets. No, Wal-Mart opened a real estate office in Florence. Keep reading…

WAY NO. 2 TO SAY NO TO BIG BOXES… Today”s way to Say No To Big Boxes is: organize at at-home viewing of Wal-Mart Nation. Keep reading…

HEAD I”m feeling very frustrated this morning. Yesterday Wal-Mart issued a 60-page report on its sustainability efforts. There”s plenty of buzz on the report – including in this morning”s New York Times – but I”ll be fecked if I can find a copy of the report on line. 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 truzzyx. Keep reading…

WAY NO. 1 TO SAY NO TO BIG BOXES… Today”s way to Say No To Big Boxes is: lead, follow but don”t sit on the sidewalk watching the parade. On a day of action the key is to take an action. Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead. Keep reading…

EMBRACE ALL THE SHADES OF GREEN… Their is an infinite palette of greens ranging from the sensible-shoe-wearing, tree-hugging, gray haired octogenarian blowing up oil pipelines in Nigeria to the good ol” boy who keeps a litter bag hanging from the cigarette lighter knob in his Ford 150. Keep reading…

ANOTHER WAL-MART FOR CHICAGO…? Three years ago Chicago”s city council approved the rezoning of land at the intersection of West 83rd and South Stewart Avenue for the development of the Chatham Market. But it imposed a big restriction in exchange for its approval. Keep reading…

JUDGE NEEDS MORE TIME TO RULE IN AUSTIN… After four days of testimony in the case of Responsible Growth for Northcross v. Lincoln Property Co. and the city of Austin, Judge Orlinda Naranjo told the litigants that she”d get back to them next month. At issue is a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter at Northcross Mall. Keep reading…

THIS IS TOUGH ONE… The name of his company is central to what Jeffrey Hollender believes; that In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations. What Hollender now considers was unthinkable only three years ago: selling to Wal-Mart. Keep reading…

LESSONS LEARNED IN WAL-MART… I sense a book brewing here in the vein of All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. The blogger at Awakened and Lovesick only came up with six lessons, but I”m sure that if they tried, they”d come up with more.
Keep reading…

IF YOU”RE NOT PART OF THE SOLUTION… Wal-Mart”s announcement that it will participate in a domestic violence public awareness campaign in Oklahoma is a good thing. And perhaps the company will find ways to expand the program nationally and internationally; starting maybe in Georgia?
Keep reading…

I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog chuckle I present: From My Dad.

Ponderisms

I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes.

Garden Rule: When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.

The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.

Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

Have you noticed since everyone has a camcorder these days no one talks about seeing UFOs like they used to?

In the ’60s, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.

How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, “I think I’ll squeeze these dangly things here and drink whatever comes out?”

Who was the first person to say, “See that chicken there? I’m gonna eat the next thing that comes outta its butt.”

If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a song about him?

Why does your OB-GYN leave the room when you get undressed if he’s going to look up there anyway?

Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?

Why doesn’t glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

Do you ever wonder why you gave me your email address?

Thoughts for the weekend:

Wouldn’t it be nice if whenever we messed up our life we could simply press ‘Ctr Alt Delete’ and start all over?

If raising children was going to be easy, it never would have started with something called labor!

Brain cells come and brain cells go, but fat cells live forever.

Nine men and one woman representing the 10 nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations signed an economic charter that ought to have been cause for great celebration. But of the 10 leaders assembled in Singapore, only Philippine President Gloria Arroyo managed to smile for the cameras. Myanmar had spoiled the party.

From Reuters:

Under the crystal chandeliers of the Shangri-La hotel ballroom, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was first to sign the charter that enshrines democracy and human rights.

He was followed by the leaders of the young democracies of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines; the leaders of one-party states Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam; the absolute monarch of Brunei and the head of the government the Thai military installed after overthrowing a democratically elected government.

“The new charter will be of benefit to all members. It is a historic moment, because the new charter will address ongoing challenges and opportunities,” Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told Reuters as he walked the red carpet.

Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein stood stiff and stern throughout the ceremony of the 13th ASEAN summit. Of the other leaders, only Philippine President Gloria Arroyo managed a smile.

They may have had reason to be glum.

The United States warned on the eve of a summit to mark the group’s 40th anniversary that further inaction on Myanmar could cost ASEAN a free trade deal, the EU tightened sanctions on Myanmar, and Arroyo broke ASEAN ranks by saying the Philippine Congress might not ratify the charter if Myanmar did not move towards democracy.

When you lie down with dogs…

My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.

This is a passage I copied from Rational Mysticism: Dispatches from the border between science and spirituality by John Horgan.

[Andrew] “Newberg and [Eugene] D”Aquili divided all methods for achieving unitive experiences into two categories: top-down and bottom-up. Top-down methods, which include meditation and prayer, achieve transcendence through relaxation, by focusing and calming the mind. Bottom-up techniques, which include dancing, hyperventilation, chanting and vigorous yoga, approach the same goal through excitation. “Their brain scans prove that the accounts of mystics are based “not on delusional ides, but on experiences that are neurologically real.” p. 75

Today, as I go about my tasks, I’ll think about: Make decisions at the lowest level where necessary information and judgment are present, and have those answering to you bring answers, not problems. p. 121

As half-a-world away the 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations gathered in Singapore signed a historic charter on Tuesday that aims to create an economic bloc encompassing a half-billion people, a United Nations general assembly panel voted to condemn one of the parties to that charter: Myanmar.

From Agence France-Presse:

The non-binding text, adopted by a vote of 88 in favor, 24 against with 66 abstentions, “strongly condemns the use of violence against peaceful demonstrators who were exercising their rights to freedom of opinion and expression and to peaceful assembly and association.”

It also expressed “grave concern” at the “ongoing systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms” and the “arbitrary detentions, including the use of physical violence, in response to peaceful protests, and the extension of the house arrest of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.”

Myanmar’s representative to the UN was not impressed.

But Myanmar’s UN envoy Kyaw Tint Swe immediately brushed off the vote of censure saying: “We are not surprised by the result of the vote nor are we discouraged.

“Despite its power of bloc voting and despite the tremendous pressure (they) exert on a number of developing countries, the sponsors don’t even have a majority,” he told the committee.

The Myanmar envoy said he was satisfied at “being able to send a loud and clear message that exploitation of human rights for political purposes is not acceptable by Myanmar and many others.”

The vote of the UN panel may not mean much, but the combined will of the countries who voted for the resolution must give Myanmar pause.

The resolution, which was co-sponsored by European countries, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, is expected to be endorsed by the full 192-member General Assembly.

An impoverished dictatorship is just impoverished.

I try to keep my cross postings from our Wal-Mart blog restricted to Wal-Mart Wednesday, but this story from my co-blogger Jonathan Rees is too horrible, too heinous, too despicable to not bring to the attention of as many people as possible. Not Ebeneezer Scrooge, not Mr. Potter, not the Grinch, shrunken heart and all, could stoop this low.

A collision with a semi-trailer truck seven years ago left 52-year-old Deborah Shank permanently brain-damaged and in a wheelchair. Her husband, Jim, and three sons found a small source of solace: a $700,000 accident settlement from the trucking company involved. After legal fees and other expenses, the remaining $417,000 was put in a special trust. It was to be used for Mrs. Shank”s care.

Instead, all of it is now slated to go to Mrs. Shank”s former employer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Two years ago, the retail giant”s health plan sued the Shanks for the $470,000 it had spent on her medical care. A federal judge ruled last year in Wal-Mart”s favor, backed by an appeals-court decision in August. Now, her family has to rely on Medicaid and Mrs. Shank”s social-security payments to keep up her round-the-clock care.

How could anyone who reads this story ever spend another penny making the Walton family richer?

Only strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities can forestall these terrible scenarios. This would not require a “declaration of war,” an antiquated concept that has not been employed since World War II and rarely before. We would send no troops, conquer no land. Rather, we would act in pre-emptive self-defense.

At stake are supreme issues of national safety. The president alone, as Alexander Hamilton said, is positioned to operate with “decision, activity, secrecy, and dispatch.” Of course, Congress can block presidential action, but in this case, most members will be satisfied to stand clear and let the president do what must be done. Joshua Muravchik

Emphasis mine. JH.

I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is Get My FBI File.

The Usual Suspect: Once again I found myself behind the wheel of one of the big green monsters; larger mission, plenty of US flags running around. I wasn’t even remotely tired the night before, so I didn’t bother to go to sleep. Figured I’d get plenty of sleep in during the mission. How’s that for American work ethic? We puttered along for two solid hours before we…

During my 11 years in the service of my country, I knew one man, a GMM3 like myself on board the USS Bainbridge, who took his own life. He slept in the bunk across from me. In 1976, he swallowed a handful of pills, taped a plastic bag over his head and lay down on a bed in a cheap motel near Bremerton, Washington, and never woke up.

That I would know one man so troubled by his service that taking his own life seemed his only escape is horrible.

How is it that our officers, our politicians, our president could possible know that in a single year 6,256 veterans followed my friend into oblivion and not be outraged?

From the feckin’ London Times:

More American military veterans have been committing suicide than US soldiers have been dying in Iraq, it was claimed yesterday.

At least 6,256 US veterans took their lives in 2005, at an average of 17 a day, according to figures broadcast last night. Former servicemen are more than twice as likely than the rest of the population to commit suicide.

Such statistics compare to the total of 3,863 American military deaths in Iraq since the invasion in 2003 – an average of 2.4 a day, according to the website ICasualties.org.

The rate of suicides among veterans prompted claims that the US was suffering from a “mental health epidemic” – often linked to post-traumatic stress.

[Snip]

The suicide rate among Americans as a whole was 8.9 per 100,000, but the level among veterans was at least 18.7. That figure rose to a minimum of 22.9 among veterans aged 20 to 24 – almost four times the nonveteran average for people of the same age.

There are 25 million veterans in the United States, 1.6 million of whom served in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“Not everyone comes home from the war wounded, but the bottom line is nobody comes home unchanged,” said Paul Rieckhoff, a former Marine and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans for America.

We will feel the terrible consequences of President George Bush’s ill-conceived war for decades.

Hat tip to I See Invisibile People for the story.

I seldom offer endorsements for movies or television shows. And before now I would not think of enticing anyone to pay to see something I have not yet seen myself. But the email reproduced below is sufficient reason, in my opinion, for everyone to rush out and see this movie as soon as they can.

A terrible, (anti-Christian) movie called the “Golden Compass” will be coming out in early [on 7] December, aimed at children and labeled as a family movie. This movie is based on a series of books by an atheist British author (Phillip Pullman) whose goal in writing the books is to be the “Anti-Narnia” series and to lead children into atheism.

The main villains in the series of books are the Magisterium, Cardinals, and the Pope, and includes a heroine that is a young girl who sets out to kill God. The truly sick thing about the movie is that they have made it APPEAR as if it is an innocent film, with exciting effects and a fairytale story.

They have removed from the movie the appalling anti-Catholic/Christian themes from the book. The goal of the movie is to hook unsuspecting families into viewing the film so that children will then want to read the books (and probably buy merchandise) . Nicole Kidman stars in it, and Scholastic Books is behind it.

The goal is to let as many people as possible know about this horrible film and to have it bomb at the box office. The makers of the movie are hoping it will be as big as Harry Potter or the DaVinci Code. Let’s pray that it won’t! Please tell as many people as possible to avoid this terrible film. Thanks!

Of course, this could all be a very clever marketing ploy by a savvy crew of public relations professionals who understand the best possible endorsement for any film is still a Banned In Boston tag.

I’ll be picking up a copy of the book this afternoon and looking forward to seeing the movie.

I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog chuckle I present: From My Dad.

Games for when you’re older.

1. Sag, you’re It.

2. Hide and go pee.

3. 20 questions shouted into your good ear.

4. Kick the bucket

5. Red Rover, Red Rover, the nurse says Bend Over.

6. Musical recliners.

7. Simon says something incoherent.

8. Pin the Toupee on the bald guy.

Signs Of Menopause:

1. You sell your home heating system at a yard sale.

2. You have to write post-it notes with your kids’ names on them.

3. You change your underwear after a sneeze.

Old is when:

1. Going bra-less pulls all the wrinkles out of your face.

2. You don’t care where your spouse goes, just as long as you don’t have to go along.

3. Getting a little action means I don’t need fiber today.

4. Getting lucky means you find your car in the parking lot.

5. An all-nighter means not getting up to pee!

Is this a revolution of the feminine? Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, speaking at an informal dinner among Asian heads of state in Singapore, spoke out for Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Myanmar. The intended make-nice fest could become a clash between democratic and authoritarian states.

From The New York Times:

“The belief of the Filipino people and the Philippine Congress, as well as my own, that those who will sign the Charter agree to the objective, spirit and intent of establishing a human rights body – the full protection of human rights within ASEAN,” she said, reading out a prepared statement, a copy of which was forwarded to reporters.

“With this in mind, the expectation of the Philippines is that if Myanmar signs the Charter, it is committed to returning to the path of democracy and release Aung San Suu Kyi. Until the Philippine Congress sees that happen, it would have extreme difficulty in ratifying the ASEAN Charter.”

[Snip]

[A]s Mrs. Arroyo demonstrated so dramatically, pressure is building in the organization. Though they are conflicted by their own human rights problems and their lucrative economic ties with Myanmar, ASEAN members may ultimately be forced to take a stand, analysts said.

This is not only because Myanmar has become a diplomatic liability, but also because its military appears to have lost the ability to prevent the exodus of political refugees and economic migrants, which long served as tacit justification for its rule.

“It”s a time bomb,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute of Security and International Studies in Bangkok. “The regime is creating these displaced people. The repression within Burma is having adverse consequences.”

Indeed.

Do what you can to keep the pressure on.

My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.

This is a passage I copied from Rational Mysticism: Dispatches from the border between science and spirituality by John Horgan.

“The common element in all spiritual experiences is a sense of unity deeper than that conveyed by ordinary consciousness. This sensation can range from the mild communion that a congregation feels while singing a hymn to the state of absolute unitary being in which you lose all sense of self of subject-object duality.” p. 74

Today, as I go about my tasks, I’ll think about: A golden brick is a positive reinforcer, a compliment, an expression of care or concern. Example of golden bricks include: respecting, rewarding, acknowledging, complimenting, cooperating, caring, showing enthusiasm, trusting and loving.

Dirty bricks are negative reinforcers like putdowns, blaming, threatening, criticizing, ordering, labeling, preaching and ignoring. p. 118