Wal-Mart

"Necessitous men [women] are not free men [women]," said FDR in his 2nd Bill of Rights speech. This phrase is said to come from a English property law case in 1762.

This morning in the second hour of "UP" with Chris Hayes, Chris had on Greg Fletcher of Our Walmart, Raymond Castillo of Warehouse Workers United, Heather McGee of Demos, and David Frum of free market vampirism. I watch this show to get a bead on what the Democrats are up to and occasionally something really good slips in like hearing real workers talking economics. Read below the fold...

This will surprise no one here, but it's important to remember as the PB2.0 attempts to regain some of the political influence pissed away by the previous incarnation. RPR:

If indeed Wal-Mart is mobilizing its employees to vote against Democrats, it's sending a mixed message with its political action committee donations.

Wal-Mart is on pace to give more money to House Democrats this cycle than House Republicans for the first time ever. And as Wal-Mart's contributions reach further and deeper into the Democratic Caucus, it's becoming more difficult for the company's critics to demonize the corporate giant.

Read below the fold...

Will Wal-Mart leave us alone?

How about if we go back go dissing unions as "special interests"? Read below the fold...

We have become torturers and bullies who buy products from torturers and bullies. How's that shrimp cocktail tasting?

++++ Read below the fold...

Wal-Mart's most famous anti-worker case came back a couple of decades ago. The meatcutters in one particular store actually got as far along in the organizing process as to vote to join a union. In response the company closed, not just that meat department but all meat departments at all their stores. All their meat cutting, grinding, processing, etc., is now done at a central location and the packaged product distributed. Read below the fold...

So we have two major ground-beef recalls in progress. Both, they tell us, for e. coli contamination. One got a reasonably big, non-hysterical but thorough, coverage on the Saturday evening (NBC anyway) news. That's this one, which covers a great whacking lot of dead cow over a great number of states. All out West. But one of those no-name meatpackers you never heard of, whose stuff is sold mostly under store brand names. Read below the fold...

* Have you been denied career opportunities in management?
* Have you been denied equal pay for equal work?
* Have you been getting the run-around about promotions or raises?
* Have you hit the glass ceiling?

Read below the fold...

From the Nashville Tennessean this morning. Wonder if a trend is underway, or did they just get caught?
Read below the fold...