Charity the Wal-Mart Way!

Well, it’s a step in the right direction! Wal-Mart, the developed world’s most egregious profiteer whose senior executives are not either indicted, on trial or in jail, has announced that it will make some health insurance available to the 50% of their employees who are not currently eligible (that’s right, half of their work-force, around 650,000 people are currently out in the cold!). Of course, you’ve got to wonder how the workers are going to pay for this benefit with average wages under $20,000 per year.

This is not going to get me into Wal-Mart. I still go to Costco! Their average wage is 70% higher than Wal-Mart’s and their Chief Executive actually has a pay packet that bears scrutiny. You can look at what Costco’s top guys are paid without getting a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach.

How does the senior executive corps at Wal-Mart manage to sleep? I’m not sure what innovations they’ve introduced that really make our lives better. Bill Gates’ wealth doesn’t bother me, he’s driven innovation and productivity and his charitable impulses are admirable. Wal-Mart? Well, let’s see, they’ve destroyed communities, nearly bankrupted some of their suppliers, exploit their workers and build giant, ugly boxes around the country to which people drive miles and miles, persuaded to do so only by what I can characterize as a mass psychosis and an ephemeral hope of savings. And, by the way, I do wonder how much additional oil we use every year in this country just to get to Wal-Mart for those savings? I bet it’s significant!

Shooting at the Arab company that bought the UK company that has a port operation contract and has, so far, not, itself, shot anyone at the ranch!

Bush was wrong when he ignored the secret court set up to authorise eavesdropping in the interest of national security. If the court was too slow, he should have asked for the court to be given either greater authority or more resources.

On the other hand, Bush was/is right to defend the granting of port operation contracts to a company owned by the Government of the UAE. If they won and they were fully vetted by various US Government bodies, they deserve to have the contract.

Those politicians who are trying to capitalise on this issue are wrong and self-serving. Only John McCain has shown any character on this matter -- he has, at least, said that we ought to give the process the benefit of the doubt.

I am not against a review of the process but any arbitrary cancellation will reflect badly on us as a nation of laws.

Actually, I'm convinced that all of this brouhaha over the port contract was concocted by Cheney's staff to distract attention from his culpability over the shooting of a lawyer during a hunting weekend at the Armstrong Ranch in Texas. Too bad, this, because Cheney demonstrated how dangerous guns are. He should lose his license but, wait, I forgot, there are no licenses for gun operation in the US. Any idiot, Dick Cheney included, is allowed to tote around a weapon that could end human life. That's reasonable, isn't it?