Archive for December, 2005

Wal-Mart vs. Whole Foods (Part One)

Saturday, December 31st, 2005

In McKinney, Texas, and Aurora, Colorado, Wal-Mart has created two shining examples of the way building owners, scientists, engineers, architects, contractors, and landscape designers can work together to create stores that save energy, conserve natural resources, and reduce pollution. These stores are living laboratories, testing experimental technologies and products. – Wal-Mart (at walmartfacts.com) [Emphasis added] […]

Since It’s Meat Week, I Can’t Resist

Thursday, December 29th, 2005

This story is making the rounds in the weird news section of a lot of publications: A 14-year-old girl who received a new Apple iPod opened the sealed box and found raw mystery meat inside, according to a Local 6 News report. Rachel Cambra purchased a new high-tech iPod for her daughter as a gift […]

Is money freedom?

Thursday, December 29th, 2005

“Ask a single mom where she shops. Money is freedom, and by saving families money, as is its mission, Wal-Mart provides their customers more freedom in their daily lives.” So says Ron Galloway, the independent producer responsible for the Wal-Mart promoted documentary (that competes with “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Pay” by Robert Greenwald) […]

Be Afraid: Wal-Mart Named Meat and Deli Retailer of the Year

Wednesday, December 28th, 2005

Be afraid. Be very afraid. The trade journal Meat and Deli Retailer has named Wal-Mart Meat and Deli Retailer of the Year!: Wal-Mart’s success has impacted the way merchants in almost every retail category market their products and services, and that includes the operators of supermarket meat and deli departments. The company was a catalyst […]

The Meat at Wal-Mart (again)

Wednesday, December 28th, 2005

Wal-Mart and SAM’S CLUB locations within the U.S. only purchase fresh beef products from USDA federally inspected and approved plants within the U.S. Food safety is a top priority of ours and we expect our suppliers to be in full compliance with USDA regulations so that we are offering our customers safe, quality products. – […]

THE WAL MART THEORY…

Wednesday, December 28th, 2005

While surfing my Watch List on Technorati I discovered Grayden, a 21-year-old living and working in Burnaby, British Columbia. Grayden is wound tight over some policy changes at his place of employment. The source of his ire? Something he calls The Walmart Theory: …here’s the walmart theory hard at work, the company has purposely understaffed […]

The Cost of Meat at Wal-Mart (and in general)

Monday, December 26th, 2005

Hungry Planet: What the World Eats, by Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio, compiles photographs of families around the world surrounded by one week’s worth of the food they eat. Since the book includes copious notes about the families, the countries and their diets, it’s really quite revealing. Consider the meat. Americans eat 275 pounds of […]

There is NO Good Reason to Shop at Wal-Mart

Monday, December 26th, 2005

This is an excerpt from one of my Christmas presents, Your Call Is Important to Us: The Truth About Bullshit by Laura Penny: Walton dismissed the claim that his chain has slaughtered small-town Ma and Pa Kettle retailers, and guffawed at the notion that they should be protected, like endangered whooping cranes. Sam preferred to […]

WHO’S LEADING, PART IV…

Saturday, December 24th, 2005

Fourth in an on-going series looking that shills that the Bentonville Behemoth have gathered together in it’s astroturf organization: Working Families For Wal Mart. This morning I took a look at Maria de Lourdes Sobrino, a successful entrepreneur whose business model fits Tom Peters’ prescription for eating Wal Mart’s lunch. So why did Wal Mart […]

I’m Still Pissed About Wal-Mart Killing Tortoises

Friday, December 23rd, 2005

The other day, I brought you the news that Wal-Mart bought a permit to bury five gopher tortoises alive in order to build a store in Lake Park, Florida. The Humane Society describes the reason and circumstances for their deaths: Gopher tortoises have evolved to evade danger by escaping to the safety of a burrow, […]

WHO’S LEADING, PART III…

Friday, December 23rd, 2005

Third in an on-going series looking that shills that the Bentonville Behemoth have gathered together in it’s astroturf organization: Working Families For Wal Mart. This morning I took a look at Carroll Cochina, head of the Native American Chamber of Commerce and, by her own claims, one-third Native American. You do the math. I can’t. […]

Wal-Mart Has to Pay Up (First of an Ongoing Series)

Thursday, December 22nd, 2005

From Bloomberg: Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, was told to pay $172.3 million by a California jury in a case over claims the company illegally prevented workers from taking meal breaks. The verdict today from a jury in Oakland, California, came after a three-month trial in a lawsuit accusing Wal-Mart of failing to […]

The NYC transit strike and the future of organized labor

Thursday, December 22nd, 2005

The NYC transit union has gone on strike against the Metropolitan Transit Authority, a quasi-governmental corporation controlled by a board of directors appointed by the governor. The issues seem to be a combination of wage increases and benefit givebacks, as is typical these days. The strike has served as a springboard for the chattering classes […]

HIDING BEHIND A WAL…

Thursday, December 22nd, 2005

Transparency is important in the age of the Internet. It’s also very easy to be opaque, if you so choose. Here at The Writing On The Wal we publish our real names. At Working Families At Wal Mart, however, they’ve chosen to hide behind a proxy Wal. Here’s the registration information: Registrant: Domains by Proxy, […]

WHO’S LEADING, CONTINUED…

Thursday, December 22nd, 2005

Continuing my look at the members of the steering committee of the Bentonville Behemoth’s astroturf group Working Families For Wal Mart, I pulled up the website of Florida legislator Jennifer Carroll. She has an impressive record, including 20 years in the Navy. Then I found this little note via The Left Coaster. At the Southern […]