I'm doing some work with WakeUpWalmart.com and just wanted to share a diary that I saw up on Kos. "Brainwrap" is reporting that when Wal-Mart released its statement about the tragic death of employee Jdimytai Damour, it started the release with saying that it would be releasing sales figures -- AS IF THAT IS WHAT PEOPLE WERE THINKING ABOUT.

One of their employees was just trampled and killed in one of the most horrific accidents in retail history, and Wal-Mart sends the message that, "We have sales figures coming out so no one worry - That death isn't going to move the numbers, it's OK."

Wal-Mart should be ashamed of itself. Not only did they not have adequate security, but they OPENED THE SAME STORE THE DAY OF THE DEATH. Shoppers could simply just walk around the cordoned-off police scene. It's the equivalent of stepping over a dead body on the sidewalk.

I've been disgusted by Wal-Mart's ugly business practices for years, but this takes it to a new level that is visible for every one to see. If you're as upset as I am, I urge you to join the good fight.

Ben Grossman at Broadcasting & Cable has very intriguing and smart article today. He recommends that NBC News should spin off MSNBC into its own cable entity that is independent of the NBC-Universal umbrella that would be free to espouse its own political agenda. I'll let him tell it:

NBC News and MSNBC are like great beer and fine whiskey. They're each satisfying on their own, but when mixed, expect trouble.

So after watching all the drama recently, I have one solution that would allow both brands to continue as independent success stories: separate them. NBC should pull MSNBC out from under the NBC News umbrella altogether. Put it in the cable group alongside USA and Bravo and all its other money-printing brands that are carrying the NBCU portfolio. Just have NBC News program certain shows or dayparts on MSNBC, as it does on the NBC broadcast network.

That's just a snippet, but I highly recommend reading the whole thing.

I think Grossman has a great point: MSNBC is clearly a Dem channel, which I think is bad for NBC News. Count me in as a progressive, but also count me in as someone who respects journalistic integrity. I have no problem with MSNBC espousing a left-of-center view (in fact I prefer it), but I think it really damages NBC's reputation.

I just saw a Kos diary that I wanted to direct your attention to.

Diarist AfroLiz reports that CNN commentator Lou "I hate Mexicans" Dobbs attended a conference sponsored by right-wing groups that featured ads racist cartoons of Obama.

These despicable antics were reported by Activists at the conservative political forum who snapped up boxes of waffle mix depicting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama as a racial stereotype on its front and wearing Arab-like headdress on its top flap. The socially conservative public policy groups American Values and Focus on the Family Action co-sponsored the summit. Don't you just love all the Christ-value we keep hearing about these people who claim to speak on behalf of Christians.

The Kos diary has pictures.

This is nothing new from the conservative smear-machine, but what was Lou Dobbs doing here? I'm a big opponent of his show because I'm an advocate for comprehensive immigration reform, but this is just downright racist.

Via Huffington Post:

Talking about the flap over The New Yorker's controversial cover featuring Barack and Michelle Obama, Chris Matthews slipped up -- once again -- and said "Osama Bin Laden" when he meant to say "Barack Obama." Matthews quickly caught and corrected himself.

Video over at Huff Po.

This is getting absurd. One minute Matthews talks about getting a thrill up his leg from Obama and the next minute he confusing him with a serial terrorist?

What a brutal story -- A college student in Houston needed money to pay for school and so she sold her car. When she took the payments (I think they were money orders) to Wal-Mart to cash them, the manager became suspicious about why this girl was handling so much money and called the police, who subsequently arrested her on allegations of shoplifting.

Austinist has the story of what happened after that:

Only two days later was she finally released from jail, after submitting the original purchase receipts used to acquire the money orders.

"Humiliating is not the word for it," said Gipson to KHOU. "I was horrified. I think they singled me out because of the amount of money that it was and (thought) I was trying to get over on them."

Despite her already harrowing ordeal, Wal-Mart still wasn't done exacting revenge on its former customer: Gipson later received a bill in the mail from the company demanding a $200 payment to remedy the "shoplifting" charge.

Company officials are said to be "looking into the case."

Brutal. If you needed another reason not to shop at Wal-Mart, here's one.

I saw an interesting article on Wake Up Wal-Mart today that Chinese Wal-Mart are unionizing, and I'm not sure what to think.

On one hand, I'm always happy to see workers unionized. But on the other hand, I'm troubled by Wal-Mart toxic relationship with China. As jobs continue to disappear in the United States, Wal-Mart becomes deeper and deeper indebted to communist China to the point that 70% of its products now come from there.

I don't know -- what do you think?

It's mayhem at MSNBC.

Via Jossip:

"From inside MSNBC we hear Gregory and Olbermann kicked off a feud of their own while ankling last night's West Virgina primary coverage.

Around 10pm, you might've heard a very loud thud, followed by Gregory abruptly wrapping up his panel discussion.

According to witnesses, that thud was Olbermann slamming his fist down on his desk (he was in one studio with Chris Matthews), because he felt Gregory and his panel, in another area, were going on way too long, and nobody was telling him to wrap it up."

The Clinton campaign has had it with MSNBC's blatant misogynistic and skewed coverage. I'm no Hillary fan, but I give them props for their forceful pushback against this irresponsible tabloid network.

From The Washington Post:

Jay Carson, Clinton's press secretary, fired off an e-mail yesterday to Chuck Todd, NBC's political director. While assuring Todd that he was "not trying to be a jerk," Carson wrote: "Can you think of one good reason we should continue to cart you guys around the country with us, given that your network has declared the entire race over?"

This was not a serious threat to kick NBC reporters off the Clinton plane. Carson noted that he was just speaking "rhetorically" and, besides, news organizations pay stiff fees for their campaign travel. But it is a measure of the anger in Hillaryland toward the folks at MSNBC. A network spokesman declined to respond.

Interesting column from the Iowa City Press-Citizen:

The reports of Wal-Mart's green business model are greatly exaggerated.

Three weeks ago, Wal-Mart unveiled a new Earth Month "merchandising and marketing campaign" in an official press release. While Wal-Mart claims the marketing blitz "takes 'going green' mainstream," the campaign's keystone is a massive buy of print advertisements, weighing in at nearly one-third of a billion pages.

I don't believe a mountain of wasted wood pulp celebrates the spirit of Earth Day. Wal-Mart's recent ad buy flies in the face of its promise to produce "zero waste." It seems clear that Wal-Mart's "Earth Month" promotion is just one symptom of a broader problem. Wal-Mart is greenwashing, and it is getting away with it.

In spite of all the "green" hype at Wal-Mart, the company's business model presents serious environmental shortfalls. The long-anticipated Wal-Mart sustainability report cited a significant global increase in CO2 emission in conference; Wal-Mart's CEO Lee Scott flatly declared "we are not green" to an audience of economists. Despite these facts, Wal-Mart continues to generate positive headlines with its enviro-marketing.

I agree with Scott. Wal-Mart is not a green company. I, for one, would welcome a serious investigation of Wal-Mart's performance as a steward of the environment.

Wake Up Wal-Mart has an interesting and unfortunate expose about the situation of Wal-Mart buying shrimp from slave camps in Thailand.

Buy shrimp from anyone but Wal-Mart... Costco, Trader Joe's, Safeway, Giant, Bubba Gump, ANYWHERE... JUST NOT WAL-MART!!!

Can't say I'm surprised, what when is this going to stop?

Per the Wall Street Journal:

The Consumer Product Safety Commission said Wal-Mart agreed to a voluntary recall of "Hip Charm" key chains that can contain high levels of lead.

The agency said Friday it is recalling about 12,000 units after a key chain was found in the home of a 9-month old child with high blood levels of lead. The child was observed with the key chain in its mouth.

The recalled key chain has several charms including a button, clover, leaf, heart and a sand dollar that hang from a silver-colored chain.

The key chains, manufactured in China, were sold nationwide from April 2005 through April 2008.

I don't shop at Wal-Mart. Do you?

WalMart Investigated For Possibly Using Sweat Shops
http://www.wmdt.com/topstory/displaystory....

Wal-Mart is facing some heat this holiday season. A National Labor Committee report says some Christmas ornaments supplied to Wal-Mart are made in China under sweatshop conditions. The workers are allegedly forced to handle toxic chemicals without any protective gear.

Some lawmakers say the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is brain dead in their monitoring. Wal-Mart is investigating.

 
Just doing my part to make customers aware this holiday season. We know that Walmart cuts a lot of corners when it comes to taking care of its employees and suppliers, and the fact that so much (70%!!) of their products come from China should have us all take pause and ask questions not only about safety but also about supporting American workers and families.

Happy and safe holidays to all.

OSW

Hey all, I'm doing some work with Wakeup Wal-Mart and we have a fun Halloween feature I'd like to tell you all about. We're inviting people to submit their Wal-Mart horror stories to what we're calling "Tales from the Big Box Boneyard." If you're interested, check out the Wakeup Wal-Mart blog.

I imagine there is gonna be some stiff competition for winner: Already, a woman submitted a story about finding a RAT'S HEAD (!) in a bag of green beans that she bought at Wal-Mart ("Ratatouille"???). And someone else has posted the story about chemicals in Wal-Mart flip flops burning through the skin of their feet because they were made in some toxic Chinese factory.

For those of you who are like me and are concerned about Wal-Mart's ugly business practices, this is a fun - and politically smart - feature. Everyone has horror stories about Wal-Mart - maybe it's a friend who got laid off and had no health insurance, or Wal-Mart paving over important environmental tracts, or them drowning the local economy of your town.

My personal story is when my cousin bought a grill there and that was such a piece of crap the paint on it burned off when he cooked on it. This was disgusting but somewhat benign compared to other stories. Check out the stories out and submit one yourself if you have a chance!

Cross-posted at Daily Kos