Wal Mart’s naming by Black Enterprise Magazine as one of The 30 Best Companies For Diversity is a perfect example of what happens when people think everything is black and white. I applaud Wal Mart for the corporate policies that allowed it to win this award. This is not a case as Newmark’s Door and Always Low Prices, Always? suggest for in-your-face comebacks.

Sonia Alleyne, careers/lifestyle editor for the magazine said:

A racially and ethnically diverse workforce impacts both the top and bottom lines of corporations as they target black, Latino and Asian consumers to grow revenues, profits and market share. In order to keep American industry globally competitive, it is essential that corporate America make full use of all the human resources and intellectual capital — regardless of race and ethnicity — at its disposal.

Giving Wal Mart a pass on its failings because of this award, however would be like letting Bill Clinton off the hook because he supported Welfare Reform or NAFTA. Donating 50 percent of the proceeds from a burglary is not a mitigating factor at a thief’s trial. We live in a world of grays.

What did Wal Mart do to win the award? According to the magazine, Wal Mart, and the 29 other companies, outperformed the competition in four areas it set for selection.

First: The percentage of total procurement dollars spent with companies owned by African Americans and members of other ethnic minority groups. (Do you think a company that has more than 2,500 suppliers in China might have an edge when it comes to procurement dollars spent with companies owned by… member of … ethnic minority groups?)

Second: The percentage of African Americans and members of other ethnic minority groups represented on corporate boards.

Third: The percentage of senior management positions held by African Americans and members of other ethnic minority groups.

Fourth: The percentage of African Americans and members of other ethnic minority groups represented in the total workforce.

Who’s on the list with Wal Mart? In alphabetical order they are:

AFLAC, American Express, ARAMARK, Bank of America, BellSouth, Citigroup, Coca-Cola, Coors Brewing, DaimlerChrysler, Darden Restaurants, Eastman Kodak, Fannie Mae, FedEx Express, General Motors, IBM, Marriott International, McDonald’s, MGM Mirage, Nordstrom, Pepco Holdings, Pepsi Bottling Group, PepsiCo, PG&E, Pitney Bowes, Procter & Gamble, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Verizon Communications, Wal-Mart Stores, Xerox and Yum! Brands.

Mazel Tov to all 30. We should all be rewarded for when we do right as much as we are chastised for when we do wrong.

My Soundtrack:

In My Backpack… Women’s Reality by Anne Wilson Schaef; In My Car… The Hanged Man’s Song by John Sanford; On My Nightstand… Life Of Pi by Yann Martel; On My Computer… Chocolate by Sandra M. Gilbert; On My Screen… OZ, Season 4, Famous Last Words (**) directed by Adam Berstein, written by Tom Fontana & Sean Whitesell.
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My Soundtrack: The Flying Dulcimer by Matthew Abelson.

Wal Mart is changing China. Or is it the other way around? The subhead for Wal Mart Nation by Dorinda Elliott and Bill Powell/Shenzhen in the 20 June issue of Time magazine reads: The world’s largest retailer isn’t just buying–and selling–stuff in China. It has become a major force for change.

The question is, of course, what kind of change?

On the plus side, write Elliot and Powell/Shenzhen:

Wal-Mart says it’s trying to export its American-style standards and ethics to China’s manufacturing sector too. In China, where sweatshops are alive and well, the company insists those measures make a difference.

Suppliers, including those who sell to Wal-Mart indirectly through other companies, must limit the work week to 40 hours plus no more than three hours of overtime a day, meet safety requirements and provide decent accommodations for workers.

OK. So an 11-hour workday is a norm.

And there are some more time-honored practices that Wal Mart says it is fighting:

Andy Tang, Wal-Mart’s Far East manager for ethical standards, travels across China, making unexpected visits to all of the company’s suppliers. In 2004, more than 6,500 representatives of suppliers and factories underwent the standards training. When Tang visits a factory, he sticks a cardboard placard on the table announcing the company’s policy: no gifts, no kickbacks.

Because Wal Mart has an ethical objection to such practices or because they would interfere with it getting the low, low prices it demands?

Then there is that sticky little point that China remains the largest Communist nation in the World. Do politics and Democracy matter?

Levi’s and Coca Cola brought down the Soviet Union, not Peacemakers and B1 bombers. And by embracing Western style manufacturing and retailing, Communist China avoids that problem and benefits both from the flow of American dollars into its coffers and a populace placated by access to Western goods.

The icing on the cake? It gets to take jobs away from the democratic allies of the United States like the republics of South Korea and China.

Only about 10% of the firm’s purchases from 2,500 suppliers in China today come from companies owned on the Chinese mainland. Andrew Tsuei, managing director in charge of Wal-Mart’s global-procurement operations, says the rest come from longtime suppliers in other parts of the world that have moved their manufacturing to China in search of lower costs. That means Wal-Mart’s China trade may indeed be eliminating factory jobs–but in South Korea, not South Carolina.

Well, the jobs in South Carolina had already gone East a long time ago.

Will Wal Mart do for China and cheap plastic crap what Aramco did for Saudi Arabia and oil?

My Soundtrack: Hikaya by George Al-Rassy.

Hossein Derakhshan, aka Hoder at Editor: Myself returned to his native Iran to cover the elections there. He’s not happy with the way things came out and yesterday in His Excellency’s Voting Machine ponders what happend. The pro-reform youth are so disappointed and depressed. Nobody knows what will happen next. Khamenei is the biggest winner of this game.

My Soundtrack: Souls On Fire by Atzilut.

It was between my sophomore and junior years in high school that Father’s Day became an official national holiday. It had been, and continues to be, a Hallmark holiday. I hate Hallmark holidays. I’ve always figured that if you couldn’t tell someone that you love them every day of the week, that one day a year was pretty worthless.

My dad and I have a fairly average guy relationship. We don’t talk nearly enough. And when we do talk it’s about computers and trains and jazz and science fiction; all things stuff instead of feeling stuff. It’s like I said, it’s a guy relationship.

We never had THE talk, but he gave me a pass when he figured out I’d discovered his Playboy stash.

I still remember sitting in the backseat of the car when my younger brother asked: how do you tell girls from boys? My dad didn’t miss a beat, he gave my brother a matter-of-fact answer and Chris sat back in the seat to focus on something else.

Or there was the time my sister, while watching an episode of Happy Days in which Fonzie runs down the his requirements for a future bride, turned to my dad and asked: “What’s a virgin?” Again, dad was right there. “It’s a young maiden.” Meredith said, “Oh,” and went back to the television.

As best as I can recall, my dad has only given me three pieces of unsolicited advice in my life:

When I was 19 and about to go into the Navy, he told me two things:

First, if I was in a foreign country, I should take at least one day to get away from the bars and get out to eat what the people ate and to see how the people lived;

Second, if I ever got a tattoo, I should not get a girl’s name.

The third bit of advice came when I was about to get out of the Navy.

I was 24 and thinking about asking a young woman to marry me, he told which jeweler to go to get a good deal.

That’s pretty much it.

But I could not begin to list the more important things he taught me by being the man he is. My dad never subscribed to the do-as-I-say school of parenting. He showed me the way to be a man by being one.

Nearly a score of years before Kramer Vs. Kramer, my father provided the model for Dustin Hoffman’s Ted Kramer. He put his own life on hold to take care of my brother and me. He threw himself fully into baseball and Cub Scouts and science fairs and Boy Scouts and home work and reading.

Especially reading. My dad read to me and I grew up in a house full of books. Not great literature by any stretch of the imagination, but books you could really lose yourself in. And we talked about books over chess games. And we talked about the world over dinner (I’ve noted elsewhere that this blog is really an extension of those dinner conversations at 5:35 p.m. every night.)

That was how I discovered the world outside of Marietta, Ohio, and why I seen the parts of the world that I have.

I’ve never been a father, and at this point in my life I seriously doubt that I ever will be. That’s OK. I know what a good one is. And I can look at my brothers and know that they learned that lesson too.

My next youngest brother has two sons of his own and I am in awe of the life he has created for himself, his wife and his boys. My youngest brother has a daughter and he’s just embarking on the whole fatherhood journey. They are both good men doing what needs doing.

Perhaps that is the greatest lesson I have taken away from my life with dad: that dignity is about how you live.

His life has not been perfect. My dad has his flaws. But he has done what needed doing. And he has made a good life for himself. He fathered three sons and a daughter. He has three grandsons and three granddaughters. And we all love him deeply.

Happy Father’s Day, dad.

I love you.

My Soundtrack: Almost Famous by various, movie soundtrack.

In My Backpack… Women’s Reality by Anne Wilson Schaef; In My Car… The Hanged Man’s Song by John Sanford; On My Nightstand… Life Of Pi by Yann Martel; On My Computer… Right Now by Kenneth Fields; On My Screen… Mr. Monk And The TV Star (**) directed by Randy Zisk, written by Tom Scharpling.
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My Soundtrack: Mawassem by Warda.

It takes guts to rat out your employer. Specially if you have a family to support, children with special medical needs or other family members that you are responsible for. That’s one of the reasons that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act contains, way down on page 58, Section 1514 A: Civil Action To Protect Against Retaliation In Fraud Cases.

Wal Mart has retained the services of someone with a history on Section 1514A. According to this morning’s Arkansas Democrat Gazette, in Christoper Leonard’s Wal-Mart Critics Wary Of Attorney, attorney Eugene Scalia — yes, the son of that Scalia:

…will defend Wal-Mart in legal proceedings filed by former Vice President Jared Bowen and former Optical Plant employee Rickey Armstrong. Both employees say they were terminated shortly after reporting wrongdoing to Wal-Mart”s management.

[snip]

The hiring of Scalia is significant because he was appointed to his position [at the Department of Labor] by President Bush when Congress was in recess. Congress was never able to confirm Scalia to the position. Critics held up the vote because they thought he wouldn”t vigorously protect workers.

Continues, Leonard:

U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) singled out Scalia”s implementation of whistle-blower protections set out in Sarbanes-Oxley.

Grassley said whistle-blowers should be protected if they take complaints to any member of Congress. “If this is the way the Labor Department intends to enforce the new law, then most corporate whistle-blowers won’t be protected,” Grassley told The Washington Post at the time.

Concludes Leonard:

Wal-Mart”s stock closed at $48.93 per share Friday on the New York Stock Exchange, down 42 cents from its closing price the day before.

How much Wal Mart stock do you own?

My Soundtrack: El Kamar by Adel Kassab-Howa

P.J. Meyers pointed me over to this website for Dr. Steven Dutch, a PhD. in Structural Geology at the University of Wisconsin — Green Bay. There is so much great stuff on Dr. Dutch’s pages that I don’t know where to tell you to start. I specially liked his discussion on proving the impossible. It was Dutch’s The Script that got me started.

Dutch begins with an email from a reader:

I’m sick and tired of self-appointed so-called experts and their know-it-all, arrogant attitude. Why don’t you people stay out of things you know nothing about? To hear you tell it, you know everything and the rest of us are stupid.

And continues with his response:

I’ve seen this script before. At this point I’m supposed to get all humble and apologetic and say “There, there. We didn’t mean to make you feel bad. You’re really a good person and a valuable human being and your opinions do count.”

Where did you get the idea you’re so valuable? There are six billion of us. You’re not all that unique. How exactly did you get the notion that you stand so high in the cosmic scheme of things that you have the right to make real experts treat you as an equal without bothering to acquire any knowledge yourself?

What he said. I may have his script printed up to hand out to people who need to read it.

Be sure to take a look at Science, Pseudoscience, and Irrationalism as well. There are hours and hours worth of fascinating reading here.

My Soundtrack: One More For The Road by Axel The Sot.

In My Backpack… Women’s Reality by Anne Wilson Schaef; In My Car… The Hanged Man’s Song by John Sanford; On My Nightstand… Life Of Pi by Yann Martel; On My Computer… Sleep Positions by Lola Haskins; On My Screen… OZ: A Word To The Wise (***) directed by Keith Samples, written by Tom Fonatan.
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My Soundtrack: Kegman by Axel The Sot.

Driving to the ODOT meeting yesterday I listened to a 10-minute interview with Pakistani gang-rape victim Mukhataran Mai. Today, via BuzzMachine, I learned of Tom Watson’s blogger charge at My Dirty Life And Times to force her government to return her passport and allow her to travel freely.

According to Watson, there were reports yesterday that Mukhtaran had been set free. His his update today says those reports were false and that Amnesty International is now involved.

In the Old World, the victors wrote the history books. In the New World it is impossible to control the history books because they’re being written online. Even bad people care about their place in History and blogger pressure does make a difference.

My Soundtrack: Best of by ZZ Top.

H.J. Res. 55, the bi-partisan resolution calling for a withdrawl deadline in Iraq, sponsored by Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hi.) and co-sponsored by Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Ca.), Rep. Martin Meehan (D-Mass.), Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Ca.) is not a good idea. No, it’s worse that not a good idea. It’s fawning lunacy.

The L.A. Times today in War Criticism And Concerns Both Growing by John Hendren and Cynthia H. Cho does a comprehensive job of pulling it together. But Rep. Kucinich goes right to the nut.

On his website, Rep. Kucinich has to beg people to help him refute the three obvious objections to this idiocy:

A feeling that setting a date for withdrawal would encourage insurgents to settle down, wait until the US leaves, and then once again escalate action.

A belief that we are winning the war and now is not the time to talk about leaving.

A feeling, a concern, A BELIEF?

I opposed the war up until the day that the troops hit the ground and Iraq fell. But now, I’m with former Secretary of State Collin Powell, the Pottery Barn Rule applies: we broke it, we bought it.

The United States has two options that I can see. Pull out, now, today, be gone in 24 hours. Or, establish a quantifiable set of criteria for a healthy, free, sovereign Iraq and commit to stay there until all those criteria are met. Anything in between just piles up the body count on both sides.

Morally I cannot support the first option. But I also don’t think the present administration has the political capital to accomplish the second because it would mean a universal draft and a true international coalition willing to commit forces on the level of the Iraq/Kuwait war.

This will be the No. 1 issue in the 2006 and 2008 elections. A lot of political careers are going to end and begin over the Second Iraq War.

My Soundtrack: Favorite Pub Songs by Axel The Sot.

Alan Cordle is back in the news in the L.A. Times’ Column One story In Search Of Poetic Justice by Thomas Alan Tizon. Readers may recall from Foets And Foetry that Cordle is the one-man foe against what he sees as an insider trading for poets scam. Writes Tizon:

In today’s literary climate, winning a major contest is one of the only sure tickets to continuing life as a poet. Winners get book deals and professorships; losers look for another line of work.

In this world, Cordle says, judges – often celebrity poets who teach at prestigious schools – routinely award prizes to their students, friends and lovers. It is in his view a world of cozy cronyism that few outsiders know or care about, although poets have been whispering about it for decades.

The victims are the thousands of mostly young poets who pay to get a fair reading, and who are essentially defrauded, Cordle says.

According to Ohio-based poetry publisher Kevin Walzer, it would be like holding a big state lottery and then having buddies of the Powerball operator win the big prize again and again. Even if it were coincidental, people might begin to suspect.

And I bet you thought poets were a peaceful bunch.

My Soundtrack: Excitable Boy by Warren Zevon.

You can view an abbreviated form of the Power Point presentation on ODOT’s Cleveland Innerbelt Plan website; just click on the Quigley Road Connector link. ODOT promised to have the presentation from last night on the website by Monday morning.

I was there, of course, to put the meeting in the context of Wal Mart, but with the exception of the nice lady in the hallway giving away free cookies and signing people up for $35 memberships to Sam’s Club, the name Wal Mart was nowhere in evidence. And that may be a good thing.

This project, which is designed to keep truck traffic entering and leaving the valley off of residential streets in Tremont, looks to be a good one for residents. I would not want the No Cleveland Wal Mart group to be in the position of throwing a monkey wrench into the project by stopping Wal Mart from building in Steelyard Commons.

When I asked the presenters if the project was in any way contingent upon development in Steelyard Commons I got a brief look of disconnect and then assurances that one had nothing to do with the other. Having that on the record, before the residents who attended the meeting is a good thing.

The most interesting facet of the project is the installation of a European-style roundabout at the conjunction of Quigley, West 14th and the north-bound off ramp from I-71. For east siders, imagine a slightly smaller version of Lander or Brainard circles without stop signs. These things work, they really do, but it’s going to be fun for a while for NEO drivers.

My Soundtrack: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere by Neil Young.

In My Backpack… Women’s Reality by Anne Wilson Schaef; In My Car… The Hanged Man’s Song by John Sanford; On My Nightstand… Life Of Pi by Yann Martel; On My Computer… One Day A Woman by Miller Williams; On My Screen… Shrek 2 (*) directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon, written by Andrew Adamson, Joe Stillman, J. David Stem and David N. Weiss.
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My Soundtrack: Trans by Neil Young.

Wal Mart reacted quickly to Joe Morris’ story in yesterday’s Charleston Gazette about a despotic decree by store manager John Knukles. In that story, Wal-Mart Institutes Availability Requirement, Morris wrote:

Wal-Mart officials in Cross Lanes told employees on Tuesday they have to start working practically any shift, any day they”re asked, even if they”ve built up years of seniority and can”t arrange child care.

Store management said the policy change is needed to keep enough staff at the busiest hours, but some employees said it appears to be an attempt to force out longer-term, higher-paid workers.

In a follow-up story today, Wal-Mart Voids Schedule Policy, Morris tells his readers:

Wal-Mart”s home office nullified a hard-line scheduling policy at its store in Nitro on Wednesday, saying the manager who instituted it made a mistake.

[snip]

But Wal-Mart corporate spokesman Dan Fogleman said Wednesday that such scheduling rules would not be allowed.

But there also seems to be something else at work here as well. Morris quotes Fogleman as saying:

We do not have any policy that mandates termination” when employees cannot work certain shifts.

Which does not jive with what Knuckles told employees and later confirmed to Morris. Knuckels, according to Morris:

had told employees that Wal-Mart headquarters had mandated the change at stores across the nation during a conference call earlier in the week.

He repeated the claim in an interview with the Gazette on Tuesday. “It”s the most positive thing I”ve seen in 15 years at Wal-Mart,” he said then.

So, which is it? Is Knuckles a despot or a dupe?

My Soundtrack: Calm on Medwyn Godall Radio.

The other morning as I was walking in to get an espresso at Phoenix Coffee on Lee, I spotted a copy of Frightful Tales Of The Weird. It’s a photocopied cartoon zine that features the Magnesium Sisters, Cheese Block & Soft Boiled Egg Head, Adventures Of Potato Head & Alien Boy and others.

Written and drawn by R. John Xerxes Piche, the zine is part of a larger endeavor coming from Piche’s blog: Dust Bunny Jihad.

The Magnisium Sisters are definitely my favorite.

My Soundtrack: Ascella on Medwyn Godall Radio.