Better not shoplift from Wal-Mart…

Working as a greeter at a Wal-Mart Super Center, I did
see a similar situation.

A young man (25 - 30) had just pushed his cart through
the first set of sliding doors. One of our loss prevention
men ran past me and tackled the customer. This was
not a wrestling body slam, but more like a football
linebacker sacking the quarterback. This particular
“sack” should have been caught on at least two
different security cameras.

While I did not see anything prior to this incident, I am
not qualified so say anything about the customer
himself and any shoplifting activities which may have
occurred.

While respecting the rights of loss prevention to
protect thefts, is shoplifting the appropriate time
to use such body slamming, quarterback sacking
methods?

Guess that’s why the Walmart loss prevention are paid the lowest in the industry I was told (by someone in the same field).

R E M E M B E R
J O N Q U I E R E
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

R E M E M B E R
J A C K S O N V I L L E
T E X A S
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

The death of Stacy Driver at a WalMart in Texas was listed as a homicide. He was a petty theft suspect killed by WalMart Loss Prevention wannabe cops. WalMart paid off the family for $750,000.

In 1989, Alice Walton killed a 50-year-old pedestrian mother of two, in an automobile accident in Springdale, Arkansas. Although Walton was speeding, and had been been ticketed multiple times over the previous year for reckless driving incidents, no charges were filed in connection to the 1989 fatality. In 1996, Walton was cited for driving while intoxicated and fined $925.

WalMart: America’s death penalty for petty theft!

You ain’t see nothin’ yet. Wait till some of the PTSD troops come back from Iraq and go to work at WalMart.Wonder if the WalMart health care plan will cover Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome?

ddrb,

You can see it coming, many cannot. 6,256 American veterans committed suicide in one year (2006) alone. Bushco trained gang members and lowered moral and criminal standards for some to enter into the U.S. armed forces. Many will return with unanswered moral trauma, nightmares and under a spiritual attack they cannot objectively comprehend. It will get the better of untold thousands.

“Nothing is over! Nothing! You can’t just switch it off!”
Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo

WalMart- You have been trained to kill people. Being in Loss Prevention...you will be able to enforce our judge and jury condemnation policy on petty theft suspects.

Thanks for calling me a “loyal reader,” which I try to be.

Standing at the door as I do for an entire shift, I do not
see everything that goes on in the entire store.

From what little I understand, there is a whole long
checklist of things to be done when following suspected
shoplifters, from actually seeing them pick something
up from the shelf, hiding the item on their person, walk
past the cashiers and out the door, and I don’t know
what else.

Other than checking receipts, what can I do to stop
thefts? I have been told “very little.”

I do not understand why there is so much sympathy on these boards for thieves. You people think stealing is okay?

Good question, Someone.  I don’t believe anyone here is sympathizing for shop-lifters; they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

The problem is that a Wal-Mart employee, whom is not an officer of the law and therefore not recognized as a person with any kind of expertise, intelligence, diplomacy or authority, circumvented those laws and the result was a needless injury to a woman who, lets face it, will likely win a lawsuit against Wal-Mart.

If someone physically assaults me, and they aren’t recognized by my society as an “officer of the law,” I will defend myself.  Loss-protection ‘agents’ do, under NO circumstance have the right to behave in the manner described in this post - that’s why he too, was placed under arrest by the REAL police.

I do not sympathize with any shoplifters, criminals, etc.,
who enter Wal-Mart’s doors. They should be prosecuted
to the fullest extent of the law.

If Wal-Mart is to be prosecuted for any over reaction,
over zealousness, in the way it treats anyone within
it’s stores, so be it.

I have a friend in AP. I will ask him to explain the guidelines to me in detail, though I know the behavior described by the APA violates the policy.

However, I do not believe that someone violating the law should expect or receive protection under it.

Waiting for Ken or SDV to come and twist my words while completely avoiding the question I asked above.

Someone,

The problem I see it, is that Wal-Mart has the right to detain shoplifters until the police arrive, but, not all shoplifters are willing to go to the back room quietly and some resist, and some resist very violently!!  If they were willing to break the law and steal in the first place, what makes people like Kevin and Rob, think the shoplifter won’t resist and try to get away!!  And, in the event of resisting, it may fall on the Wal-Mart Security people to be put in the position of ‘defending’ themselves!!  And, if every shoplifter knows that they will be able to get away, if they put up a fuss, how good is any security measure to prevent theft going to be?

What I see here, is that thousands of shoplifters are probably arrested every year at Wal-Mart stores, but these people tend to find a few rare cases, and make them seem as if they were the norm and santioned by Wal-Mart!!

Totally off-topic, but I was down your way today, RDS. We should have gotten together for a drink (non-alcoholic, of course) and a little bit of political talk.

“I do not understand why there is so much sympathy on these boards for thieves."~Someone in USA

I wonder why there is sympathy on these boards for turncoat companies like walmart?

R E M E M B E R
J O N Q U I E R E
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

R E M E M B E R
J A C K S O N V I L L E
T E X A S
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

R E M E M B E R
G A T I N E A U
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart worker Abuse

1997 Harris-Teeter Grocery Stores, Charlotte, NC
An off-duty Police Officer was working security at the Harris Teeter Grocery Store.  He attempted to detain a shoplifter who shot and killed him.

Re; Ohio~~~~~~:"This past week, the Canton Repository newspaper in Canton, Ohio wrote about the rising prominence of crime at big box stores like Wal-Mart. The newspaper found that in the first six months of 2008, the Canton police responded to incidents at the city’s two Wal-Marts a total of 425 times. Police reports show both 24-hour stores experienced a wide variety of criminal activity, from forged checks to armed robbery. A Canton police officer was seriously injured after being attacked by a Wal-Mart customer brandishing a baseball bat in June. Between Jan. 1 and June 30, the police had to go to the Wal-Mart on Atlantic Blvd. 275 times. The majority of those calls — 150 — were for shoplifters. That’s roughly 1.5 police visits every day at that one location. The Wal-Mart on Tuscarawas St. required another 150 visits, of which, just over 40 were for shoplifting. Total police visits from the two stores averaged 2.3 per day. “They’re a high-maintenance business for the police department,” Canton Police Chief Dean McKimm told The Repository. 

High police reports turn into an increased burden at the Canton Municipal Courts. One court administrator suggested that an additional bailiff may have to be hired to handle the increased level of misdemeanors. Since last year, Ohio now allows the cops to give shoplifters a TICKET, instead of sending such people to jail. That means bailiffs have to handle the ‘booking’ process. “This has impacted us significantly over the last 6 months to the point where we are looking at hiring a booking officer, or booking bailiff to do fingerprints and transmit the arrest information to the state,” the court administrator said. A Canton Prosecutor told the newspaper that the high number of police calls to Wal-Mart has required them to rethink the whole process.[cont.]

“We’re trying to determine whether we can modify the policy as to whether they or the police officer can initiate charges,” he said. “We’re looking at the issue and trying to come up with a resolution that will free up the officers for other serious crimes.” The Repository says that Wal-Mart admits crime at its store is a big problem. “Unfortunately, criminal activity occurs in every community, and it is something every retailer — especially large retailers — must face and work with local officials to alleviate,” a Wal-Mart spokesman in Arkansas told the newspaper. “On a store-by-store basis, we carefully consider the number and quality of our security and crime-prevention measures, and we continually strive to continue to deter crime in our stores and parking lots. The aggressive, proactive safety measures we employ work. They’ve helped us prevent and interrupt crimes, and they’ve helped our associates and managers become more vigilant and aware of potential criminal activity in our stores. We have been successful in detaining people who break the law and steal from our store, as well as from other stores and residents in our community. We appreciate the partnership we have with the local police to identify these people, prosecute them and help make our community safer.”

Despite these assurances, the crime problem at Wal-Marts in Ohio stretches far beyond Canton, according to The Repository’s research. In nearby Jackson township, Ohio, Police Chief Harley Neftzer counted 28 incident reports out of 104 calls to the Wal-Mart, which is not open 24 hours. Police also went out 16 times to Target. In Massillon, Ohio, the police had to investigate reports at the 24-hour Wal-Mart 61 times in the first six months of this year.

Most public officials shrug off the issue of the cost of all this crime to their community. When Wal-Mart comes to town, they tout how much they will pay in property or sales tax-—but they never mention the added financial burden that police and fire incidents impose on local taxpayers. One Lieutenant in the Canton Police Department acknowledged, “it does occupy a lot of our time. Both stores keep us busy. Wal-Mart attracts a lot of people, and any time you have a lot of people, you’re going to attract a lot of people problems. They need to have their people out there doing what they do.” The Lieutenant admitted that Wal-Mart, in particular, generates more calls for police assistance more frequently than any other business in the city. “Not even our ‘trouble bar’ calls can come close,” he said.

To download the national crime study “Is Wal-Mart Safe?” and the official police incident reports, go to www.WalMartCrimeReport.com. After this report was issued, Wake Up Wal-Mart posed eight questions to Wal-Mart: 1) Why won’t Wal-Mart release its own internal statistics about crime at Wal-Mart stores?  2) Why won’t Wal-Mart release the number of Wal-Mart stores that have security patrols in the parking lot and monitored surveillance cameras? 3) If Wal-Mart is going to criticize our study, why won’t Wal-Mart conduct an independent review of crime at all of its stores? 4) According to Wal-Mart the company uses demographic and crime statistic information from the local area to determine what safety measures are necessary, why won’t Wal-Mart release this information? What is the decision making process? Is there a review process based on an increased number of crimes at the store 5) Does Wal-Mart maintain crime statistics for each of its stores? If not, why not and isn’t Wal-Mart interested in the safety of its customers, workers and the community? 6) Is Wal-Mart still currently testing any crime reduction initiatives like roving security patrols? What are the results of these studies and what has Wal-Mart done to implement successful solutions? 7) Who is in charge of tracking crime at Wal-Mart stores? 8) Why is Wal-Mart so afraid of transparency with the public and members of the media about crime at its stores? Doesn’t Wal-Mart think its customers have a right to know about public safety at Wal-Mart’s stores?

July 21, 2008~~~~~~~WMW

So, ddrb, your point in these postings is? Is Wal-Mart too tough on crime, or not tough enough?

If WalMart were transparent about the real statistics involving crime in their stores and parking lots-including employee theft, I think SEVERAL more points could be made- including the actual dollar cost to taxpayers for all the police calls and related issues such as administrative costs foisted upon ,in most cases,already overburdened local law enforcement agencies.Another example of using the community’s resources and then WalMart shafting the states out of their rightful share of corporate income tax by use of REIT tax avoidance scams.

Someone: Incidentally, what is your point in posting here ? YOU have your own website. Why aren’t you busy posting there,and commentin upon all the posts there? What’s that...nobody posts at your site?

You sidestepped my question. Unsurprising.

By the way, Alex, congrats on beating those other two imbeciles to the punch. :)

Sidestepping is a talent of yours,not mine. Explains why people have sidestepped your blog for years...long before I ever began posting.

Someone,

“I was down your way today, RDS. We should have gotten together for a drink (non-alcoholic, of course) and a little bit of political talk.”

That would have been great!!

ddrb,

“This past week, the Canton Repository newspaper in Canton, Ohio wrote about the rising prominence of crime at big box stores like Wal-Mart.”

Rising crime rates is a societial problem, not a Wal-Mart problem!!  Saying that Wal-Mart is to be held responsible for the crime rate, because they are there, is like saying a woman who was RAPED, was at fault, because if she hadn’t been there, she wouldn’t have been raped!!

Taxpayers choose to pay taxes to support the police and it is their job to arrest ALL criminals, no matter where they committed their crime, and shoplifting is theft and theft is a crime!!  If you want to see crime reduced, allow criminals to be apprehended and prosecuted to the full extend of the law!!  And, they should NOT be allowed to SUE their apprehenders!! The woman in the story could be rewarded for her crime through this lawsuit, and I thought they always said “Crime doesn’t Pay”, well it seems it does these days!!

Liberals tend to believe that punishment doesn’t deter crime, but that only happens when criminals aren’t AFRAID of the LAW!!  And, criminals aren’t AFRAID of the LAW, when they see their fellow criminals getting off lightly, with plea bargaining, probation, parole, and reduced sentences!!

As Baretta used to say, “If you can’t do the TIME, don’t do the CRIME!!  And, I say, “If you don’t want to be punished, don’t ask for it, by committing a crime”!!  And, as for the DEATH PENALTY, when you kill someone, you are ASKING the state, to put you to DEATH, not to feed and house your sorry butt, for the rest of your life!!

As a greeter, I am increasongly being ignored by
customers who do not want me to check their receipts.
They simply keep on walking. I am becomong
accustomed to being ignored.

The worst crime of which I’ve heard at my Conway
Super Center was a shooting incident several years
ago.

A woman drove into our parking lot and parked in
front of lawn and garden, about half way down the
lane. A short time later, her husband drove in, with
their children in his car, and parked near his wife’s
car. The man, witth a gun, got out of his car, went
over to his wife, and shot her at least 3 times. The
man then turned the gun on himselff, shooting
himself in the head. All in front of their children.
I understand that the man died instantaneouslly.
The woman died sometime in route to the Medical
University of South Carolina in Charleston.

Rob,

“The man, witth a gun, got out of his car, went over to his wife, and shot her at least 3 times.”

And, what do you think this incident had to do with Wal-Mart, other than that was the scene, and how could Wal-Mart have prevented it?  Do you think that if the Wal-Mart hadn’t existed, this shooting would never have happened, or whould it just have happened somewhere else?

I’ve got a great idea on how to solve crime.  This will eliminate the need for any police and make ddrb’s comments irrelevant (even though they already are immensely irrlevent from what I have seen)..... just tell the criminals to stop committing crimes.  There, it’s that simple.

“We should have gotten together for a drink (non-alcoholic, of course) and a little bit of political talk.” ~Someone in USA to RDS

Wouldn’t you have wanted to be a “fly on the wall” had this meeting taken place?  But then again, you probably wouldn’t have learned anything you don’t already know!

This article tells me that they built a Wal-Mart in a bad area. True, they may draw people too lazy to earn a living and think they need to steal, but they also offer the less fortunate in that area an inexpensive solution for their daily needs.

It is of interest to me that so many WalMart defenders are out of Oklahoma. Curious.

Screwed: Do you REALLY believe that this rendevous would even be necessary, much less a missed opportunity? If Someone wanted to meet up with Bob, it would have been a fait acompli...and, in all probability, already IS.

Screwedby,

“Wouldn’t you have wanted to be a “fly on the wall” had this meeting taken place?”

That would have been great if it were YOU who was the “fly on the wall”, because then we could have ‘swatted’ you and had a big laugh!!  But, seriously, you wouldn’t have understood anything we said anyhow, because your brain lives on a different planet than ours, our brains operate in the real world, your’s operates in some fantasy world!!

RDS,

Since we are turning this into a networking site for conservatives, drop me an e-mail sometime.

Now to rerail this thread…

Anyone care to answer my question?

I was under the impession that “Someone"in USA ‘s website has ALREADY been established for several years as a nteworking sites for conservatives, specifically WalMart aplogists and enthusiaists. In light of that available avenue of expression, for all this time, WHY come HERE to hook up?

To annoy you, my dear.

Annoy? You are an object of pity more than an entity of annoyance. Annoyance possesses power.An object of pity has no power.

But from what I have read somehow everyone seems to get the best of you ddrb.

I’ve got a great idea on how to solve crime.  This will eliminate the need for any police and make ddrb’s comments irrelevant (even though they already are immensely irrlevent from what I have seen)..... just tell the criminals to stop committing crimes.  There, it’s that simple.

And I have an even better idea—lock that would-be criminal in a room with “Google Gal” (ddrb for the newcomers) and have her recite her works—if anything, it’ll bore a potential thief into a new line of work…

It is of interest to me that so many WalMart defenders are out of Oklahoma. Curious.

Could it be because WM has maintained a presence in Oklahoma for most of the 45+ years they’ve been around?

But from what I have read somehow everyone seems to get the best of you ddrb.

You catch on quick, JOe—feel free to pile-on, er, I mean join-in…

I was under the impession that “Someone"in USA ‘s website has ALREADY been established for several years as a nteworking sites for conservatives, specifically WalMart aplogists and enthusiaists.

What are you putting in your drink??  Not the usual Metamucil, obviously…

I looked at Someone’s “website”—it’s a basic blog where he posts his thoughts on certain subjects.

FWIW, I didn’t see any “networking” going-on and to imply such is just plain silly on your part…

My 19 year old stepson recently stole my credit card and purchased $202 dollars of electronics at the Queensbury, NY WalMart store.  He denied stealing the card.  When we packed up his items to move him out, we found the Walmart receipt with the forged signature and the merchandise (no boxes).  We reported it to the police and the credit card company and both said to try and return the merchandise, if we were going to work it out within the family.  The manager was very nice, until she brought in her want-to-be goon Security Manager who bullied me and was totally disrespectful, unprofessional, and would not give me his name and I later found out does not wear the correct nametag, so his actions can not be reported.  He treated me like I was trying to pull a fast one and not the victim.  He said that Walmart has no responsibility to ensure that credit cards are checked even if the credit card company requests it as part of the transaction (I had a watch on the account) and no responsibility to take back goods that are a result that action.  The manager would not even see me after this interigation, she left (poor leadership and very poor customer service).  Needless to say, we have plenty of places to shop around here and I will not need to enter Walmart ever again.  I don’t need more than once to be made to feel like an unwelcome customer, my money spends well elsewhere. CJT

CJ Turner,

“My 19 year old stepson recently stole my credit card and purchased $202 dollars of electronics at the Queensbury, NY WalMart store.”

So, because your stepson was a thief, you think it is up to Wal-Mart, to straighten out the mess HE created, right?  And, because they won’t just give you back your money, for now USED items, you refuse to shop there anymore, right?  Where is your stepson’s ‘responsibiity’ in all this, shouldn’t he be the one to pay you back for HIS actions?  Maybe that is why so many people shoplift, because they are neve held accountable!!

bbrd,

Nobody has ever gotten the better of ddrb, however you can try and lift your ego out of the piss poor doldrums of envy by noting to everyone that you yourself have never posted anything relevant or of value here.

The contributions of ddrb and the vast information provided is excellent and complementary to the discussion that run here. Again bbrd, you are stuck with the continuing fact that you cannot match the quality, substance or informative manner of ddrb. She beats you every time as you exist on the pro-WalMart sidelines of RDS imbecility.

WalMart- We are not LAW ENFORCEMENT. But let’s go injure or kill petty theft suspects anyway.

Again bbrd, you are stuck with the continuing fact that you cannot match the quality, substance or informative manner of ddrb.

Riveting stuff she writes—anyone agree with SVD??

Still no answer…

bbrd,
Why do you bother with the likes of ddrb?

Its obvious that she is a lost soul trying to make a mark for her place in the liberal twlight zone!
She has become so entwined & obsessed in this blog, she devotes more time here than her relationship with her husband.
I’m sure her husband has found other “outlets” for his lack of companionship, which ddrb is oblivious to. Her husband probably encourages her to pursue her fantasies & delusions of grandeur, of being a commentator of some sort, all the while, enjoying other female companionship.

The never ending quest to prove...something or some point and the- multi personality disorders and warped mind that ddrb posses are evident in her posts, definitely fueled by a combination of inferiority complex, paranoia and prozac. (this answers the question “ what are you putting in your drink)

Hard to make a point with someone like that and expect a logical, educated response. But your to be commended for trying.

Why do you bother with the likes of ddrb?

Because it’s great fun…

Its obvious that she is a lost soul trying to make a mark for her place in the liberal twlight zone!

Or, as I put it, she tries to come-off as some sort of academic-type, but ends-up looking foolish because she doesn’t completely read her material before she posts it (without permission from the original author, I might add).

She has become so entwined & obsessed in this blog, she devotes more time here than her relationship with her husband.

Don’t you mean her ex-husband?  ;-)

The never ending quest to prove...something or some point and the- multi personality disorders and warped mind that ddrb posses are evident in her posts, definitely fueled by a combination of inferiority complex, paranoia and prozac. (this answers the question “ what are you putting in your drink)

Just what is she trying to prove, anyway??  I would genuinely be interested in hearing her tale about how Wal-Mart “wronged” her (though I suspect she only sees Wal-Mart as some sort of “right-wing symbol”, which is good enough for her).

Hard to make a point with someone like that and expect a logical, educated response. But your to be commended for trying.

True—and thanks.

“Or, as I put it, she tries to come-off as some sort of academic-type, but ends-up looking foolish because she doesn’t completely read her material before she posts it (without permission from the original author, I might add)."~bbrd in

When did your military man Larry get permission from the original author???
Where is he now by the way? In some big empty field waving a white flag?

R E M E M B E R
J O N Q U I E R E
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

R E M E M B E R
J A C K S O N V I L L E
T E X A S
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

R E M E M B E R
G A T I N E A U
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart worker Abuse

“Where is he now?”

He’s doing contract work for the draft board chasing down the cowards that ran to Canada to avoid the draft, and serving their country! (screwed)

Why is Canada the fugitives choice Of places to hide?
Could it be the sympathy they receive and the refuge they are given? Or that its preferred over Mexico due to language barriers?

SDV,

“The contributions of ddrb and the vast information provided is excellent and complementary to the discussion that run here.”

Forget the fact, that 95% of what she posts is ‘irrelevent’ to both this site and the topic at hand!!

bbrd,

“I would genuinely be interested in hearing her tale about how Wal-Mart “wronged” her”

According to a prior post: They built a Wal-Mart store, right next to her house, and she didn’t know anything about it until they started building, because the ‘crooked’ city officials kept it under wraps!!

Ken W,

“He’s doing contract work for the draft board chasing down the cowards that ran to Canada to avoid the draft, and serving their country! (screwed)”

Maybe that’s why Screwedby, has been ‘out of the country’ for the last two weeks, probably up their in Canada, visiting Alex!!

“Why is Canada the fugitives choice Of places to hide?
Could it be the sympathy they receive and the refuge they are given?” Ken W. in Oklahoma

You’ll have to ask them yourself Ken. After all they are your fellow citizens. It is between you and them.
By the way...where would you want to stay? Mexico or Canada?  RDS has been suggesting things are getting better in China so maybe at some point Walmart can import them into their communist partners land of opportunity.

On a more serious note, please read the article below:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/world/americas/16deport.html
Canada Expels an American Deserter From the Iraq War

By IAN AUSTEN
Published: July 16, 2008
OTTAWA — An American Army deserter who sought refuge in Canada from the war in Iraq was expelled Tuesday to the United States. The deserter, Robin Long, a native of Boise, Idaho, is believed to be the first from the Iraq war returned by the Canadian government. (Click to see article if you choose)

R E M E M B E R
J O N Q U I E R E
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

R E M E M B E R
J A C K S O N V I L L E
T E X A S
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

R E M E M B E R
G A T I N E A U
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart worker Abuse

“Maybe that’s why Screwedby, has been ‘out of the country’ for the last two weeks, probably up their in Canada, visiting Alex!!"~RDS(Bob)

Anybody who supports workers and their rights is welcome.
You may have to find your friends RDS(Bob), in the sleazy world of Walmart. Enjoy the filfth.

R E M E M B E R
J O N Q U I E R E
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

R E M E M B E R
J A C K S O N V I L L E
T E X A S
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

R E M E M B E R
G A T I N E A U
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart worker Abuse

Alex,

“You’ll have to ask them yourself Ken. After all they are your fellow citizens. It is between you and them.”

As these ‘deserters’ are ‘fugitives of the law’, your country became a party to ‘harboring and aiding and abeiting a fugitive of the law’!!

“RDS has been suggesting things are getting better in China”

We don’t really care where these ‘traitors’ go, as long as they aren’t allowed to come back without serving jail time!!

“You may have to find your friends RDS(Bob), in the sleazy world of Walmart. Enjoy the filfth.”

I don’t know how filthy, Canadians keep their Wal-Mart stores, (after all, who cleans them, but employees?), but come down and check out the stores in my area and you will find them ‘clean’ and ‘pleasant’!!  We can’t help it, if some Wal-Mart workers, in some stores, are too lazy, to keep their workplaces clean!!  Pride in your workplace, comes from YOU, not the company!!

“We don’t really care where these ‘traitors’ go, as long as they aren’t allowed to come back without serving jail time!!"~Bob(RDS)

Your own Walmart is a traitor organization that would sell your neighbours jobs to another country, just to line its own pockets. Also you should be campaining for your law breaking Walmart to get it out of our country. Maybe then you can stop aiding and abeiting a fugitive of the law’!!
Have a great day.

R E M E M B E R
J O N Q U I E R E
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

R E M E M B E R
J A C K S O N V I L L E
T E X A S
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

R E M E M B E R
G A T I N E A U
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart worker Abuse

Alex,

“Your own Walmart is a traitor organization that would sell your neighbours jobs to another country, just to line its own pockets.”

Last I heard, outsourcing was NOT illegal!!  Besides, if the citizens of this country were really as concerned as you make them out to be, they have a ‘good’ tool to stop Wal-Mart, it’s called “Not shopping there”!!

“Also you should be campaining for your law breaking Walmart to get it out of our country.”

Why should I care what is happening in Canada, that’s YOUR business!!  Tell me, if Canadians are so upset with Wal-Mart, how do they stay in business, if NO ONE is shopping there?  What’s that you say, ‘they do shop there’, then, you want me to care more than your own people do, right?  BTW:  Are you inferring, that you are ‘smarter than’ and ‘superior to’ all your Wal-Mart shopping neighbors?

“Maybe then you can stop aiding and abeiting a fugitive of the law’!!”

First, I’m not aiding and abeiting anybody, I haven’t allowed Wal-Mart to go into your country, your OWN people did!!  Second, in order to be a ‘fugitive’, you have to ‘run from the law’, I don’t see Wal-Mart ‘running from the law in Canada’!!

Boy did this topic get off track.  Doesn’t any one else see the irony here.  You have a guy who doesn’t make enough money to even shop at Wal-Mart, attacking a person who doesn’t make enough to shop at Wal-Mart. 

A grown man physically assulting a woman (albeit an ALLEGED shoplifter) boy he is a tough one.  What is going to happen when this guy, without dental insurance, tries that on a grown man.  He is going to get his teeth knocked down his throat.

I do not advocate shoplifting, but correct me if I am wrong Wal-Mart is loaded with security cameras.  Just call the cops and show them the tape.  I will guarantee 99.9% of the time the offender will be known to them and probably by name.

My 14 year old daughter constantly reminds me to be nice to the people who work there it isnt their fault they dont have the education to work at McDonalds.

“Why should I care what is happening in Canada, that’s YOUR business!!"~Bob(RDS)

“As these ‘deserters’ are ‘fugitives of the law’, your country became a party to ‘harboring and aiding and abeiting a fugitive of the law’!!"~Bob(RDS)

Hey Bob...if you want to concern yourself with law breakers (which Walmart is one of them) then you can’t be playing both sides of the fence.

“...in order to be a ‘fugitive’, you have to ‘run from the law’, I don’t see Wal-Mart ‘running from the law in Canada’!!"~Bob(RDS)
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/bustech/story.html?id=2ac2e60c-5541-48c3-850d-87716cb1b4c2
“"They should go back to their own country if they don’t want to obey Quebec law,” said Hélène Toutloff, who brought her car in for an inspection.”

“In 2005, the company closed a store in Jonquière, northwest of Quebec City, just days before an arbitrator was to impose a contract. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the union’s case that Wal-Mart violated Quebec labour laws, as well as the Charter of Rights, when it closed the Jonquière store."”

R E M E M B E R
J O N Q U I E R E
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

R E M E M B E R
J A C K S O N V I L L E
T E X A S
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

R E M E M B E R
G A T I N E A U
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart worker Abuse

Alex,

“Hey Bob...if you want to concern yourself with law breakers (which Walmart is one of them) then you can’t be playing both sides of the fence.”

I think you are confused, I’m on the same side of the fence in both cases!!  First, with the draft dodgers, “Your country should have either tried them or sent them back for trial, not accepted them” and as for Wal-Mart breaking the law, then, as it is your laws that were broken, your courts need to deal with it!!  The gist of it is, lawbreakers need to be given their day in court, and your country refused to do that with the draft dodgers, it gave them sanctuary!!

From your referenced article:

“Richard Joanisse, another customer, said: “I can understand that companies have to consider costs. But it’s not fair what they are doing. Life is expensive and people need a decent wage."”

The problem lies with WHO decides what a ‘decent wage’ is!!  The free market, determines ‘wage levels’, based on worker ‘supply and demand’, the higher the supply, the lower the wage, the lower the supply, the higher the wage!!  Also, what the job adds to the business, and comparable wages in an area, are factors too!!  Example: Say local factories paid an average of $14.00/hour, what do you think would happen to the ‘cost of living’ of the area, if Wal-Mart paid $15.00/hour?  Rents, would soon go from $600.00 a month, to $1,000.00 a month, in short time, as the factory workers demanded $20.00/hour and everyone else asked to have their wages raised by $5.00/hour to keep up!!  After all, who would want to work at a factory, when you could make more at Wal-Mart?

In 1935, Congress passed and President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act, giving workers the right to form unions and negotiate contracts with their employers. Under federal and many state laws, workers have the right to:

- Come together with other property services workers to form a union.
- Speak with union organizers during non-working hours
- Read or distribute materials about the union in break rooms or lunch areas during breaks or non-working hours.
- Sign a card in support of forming a property services workers’ union.

Your employer CANNOT:

- Threaten you with retaliation because you support forming a union.
- Question you about your support for union activities.
- Keep a list or videotape your activities with the union.
- Withhold or give you benefits based on union activity.

YOU HAVE RIGHTS, MAKE SURE THEY’RE RESPECTED!

These laws in Canada are the same and have been in place for a long time.

IMAGINE THE POWER OF THE WAL-MART EMPLOYEE IF THEY WERE GIVEN THIS INFORMATION.

The problem is new wal-mart employees spend more time watching anti-union videos than they do safety videos.

Thoght to ponder.......what kind of wages and benefits could they provide if they spent their anti union resources on employees instead of anti-union counsel and labor law violation penalties (currently waiting to rule in judgement of a finding 2 MILLION counts punishible by up to $1000 each in Minnesota alone).

On the positive side.......John McCain is now available for a greeter position,

According to Fortune 500 (as reported by CNNMoney.com)....in 2007

Walmart had 351,139.000,000 in gross revenues
They have 11,284,000,000 in net profit

in 2008

Walmart had 378,799,000,000 in gross revenues
They have 12,731,000,000 in net profits

Walmart currently has 2,100,000 employees

That is 24 billion in profits in two years. For those of you who arent mathematicians that is 11,428,571 profit per employee.

Lets be generous and say the average wage at Wal-Mart is $12/hr.  I dont believe it is anywhere near that, it is about $9/hr around me.  And lets get even a little more absurd, lets assume everyone works 40 hours a week, and gets two weeks of vacation a year.  With walmarts reputation for keeping employees under 32 hours a week, thereby no full time status no benefits, this is a great exageration.  That means the annual wages before taxes is 24,960.  According to the IRS tax brackets they will pay 15% in taxes.  They will probably receive a refund but they do not have it on a weekly basis to pay bills, or buy groceries with.  All this assumed, their weekly take home check would be $408 a week.  But we forgot to take out 13.5% for F.I.C.A. and Medicare withholding.  That takes it down to $343.20. 

“Wal-Mart’s most affordable individual plan charges premiums of $22 a month ($11 in some areas); but it carries with it a $1,000 deductible for individuals, a $3,000 deductible for family members with a separate $1,000 per person hospital deductible, and a $300 per person prescription drug deductible.” -Wal-Mart 2006 Associate Guide.

At these deductible levels, a person earning Wal-Mart’s average hourly wage for a full-time worker would have to spend between 7% and 25% of his total annual income just to cover his premiums and medical deductibles.

Wal-Mart employees must wait longer than the average worker to gain access to plans:
Part-time employees must wait two years before they are allowed to enroll and are not eligible to purchase family health care coverage. -Wal-Mart 2005 Associate Guide
Full-time hourly employees must wait 6 months before enrolling in Wal-Mart’s health insurance plan.-Wal-Mart 2005 Associate Guide
By comparison, the average national wait time for new employees to become eligible for enrollment in company provided health care plans is 1.6 months. -Kaiser Family Foundation & Health Research and Educational Trust, “Employer Health Benefits: 2004 Annual Survey,” 2004.

So Lets just assume ,as is the case for almost 60% of walmart employees (57% in 2006), that the health insurance is foregone.

$343.00 a week is what we get to work with. 

“The problem lies with WHO decides what a ‘decent wage’ is!!” -RDS
WHO DECIDES WHAT A “DECENT WAGE” IS? Come on get a clue.....I am currently laid off from my job I receive $355 a week unemployment.  I sit on my butt, watch t.v., drink beer, and respond to stupid comments in blogs.  Why the hell would I work 40 hours a week for a profit whore like walmart for less money then I get to be a bum.  As a sense of descency society should dictate that there is something seriously wrong with this picture.  I say take some of that 11.485 million profit per employee and give them a raise lets say $5/hr., that would still leave them with a 9 billion dollar profit for the year.  Is that so out of line?  WalMarts CEO makes over twice the annual wages of the average walmart employee in one day. 

So let me ask you this question...if Walmart did increase their wages, would their employees actually make enough money to shop at another store?

just my two cents worth.

Your math is awful and your numbers are old and/or inaccurate.

“Maybe that is why so many people shoplift, because they are neve held accountable!!”

A friend of mine caught a shoplifter here in our local Piggly Wiggly.She was never arrested,just cited.When my friend showed up in court,he had to wait,take a lunch then wait some more.His case was the last called.Before proceding,the judge informed the defendant that he had intentionally allowed her case to float to the end of the docket because he noticed that some of her friends and family were present,being tried themselves.He wanted to spare her the humiliation.She plead guilty and had to pay court cost and was banned from the store.My friend jumped to his feet and exclaimed"Hell,we’ve already banned her from the store,what about jail?”.He was fined $100.00 for contempt.
I think court costs here are $76.00.

Another friend of mine just recently brought his 19 year old son home from jail after a six month term for growing a single marijuana plant,first offense.There are still questions about his ownership of the plant....

5 prisoners were just released from Guantanamo Bay concentration camp after being held for 7 years on the word of an unnamed source.

The ex-executives of Enron and Worldcom are still rich and getting richer all the time.

I don’t know,seems that common sense is being stiffled.Our corporate-operated white house has run our country into the ground in the name of profits for the big boys.And we just stand here and take it.

Happy Thanksgiving all.

And we just stand here and take it.

Naah, Kevin. We didn’t just “take it”. We had an election. Things are going to get better. Hell, how could they get much worse?

Said one insider, who asked not to be identified by name: “Wal-Mart claims that these ($7.95 jeans) are not loss leaders. Well, if that’s true, imagine the costs of the denim, the zippers, the buttons, the shipping costs, the store overhead, and there certainly isn’t much room left over to pay for the costs of labor. I love free trade, but this makes even me uncomfortable.”

Someone-

What part of my math are you do you disagree with?

And CnnMoney/fortune 500 numbers are as current as I could find.  Can you find anything more current.

The point is real simple 2.1 million employess - 11 billion profit.  Pay your employees! Why should I as a taxpayer pay the health insurance for a company that PROFITS 11 billion a year?

The second point is why should I make more on unemployment than a walmart employee makes for working a 40 hour week?

Here in Wisconsin walmart is the number 1 user of our state medical assistance program.  So the employees get inferior coverage while the owners get fatter. 

I have no problem with owners making a profit, that is what they are in business for.  I am against gross amounts of profits.  While the employees are borderline food stamp level, the owners are getting grossly rich.  Imagine what would happen if walmart unionized and they were forced (i.e. they followed the law) to negotiate a contract.  I am not saying the employees would get rich, as is is still a low skill job, but thier working conditions would go up and they would have a grievence procedure to follow.  It levels the playing field a little bit.

What part of my math are you do you disagree with?

$12,731,000,000 is accurate. 2,100,000 is also a a close enough worldwide figure (it’s at least 2 million). That’s $6,062.38 per associate. I see that you added the profits for both years together, but that’s still nowhere near $11,428,571 per employee. I don’t really think this is an honest mistake, but rather an attempt to deceive the nonmathematicians among us.

Why should I as a taxpayer pay the health insurance for a company that PROFITS 11 billion a year?

You do not. You subsidize employees not the company. On my blog you can find a study that explains the phenomena of why people who can afford healthcare take it for free instead. More than half of all associates are covered by the company’s healthcare plan and well over 90% have coverage through some source. Plans are available with premiums as low as $5.00 per paycheck and there is no maximum benefit. FT associates are eligible for benefits in 6 months and PT after one year. Starbridge is available during the waiting period.

In addition, the company provides sick, vacation, and personal time, 401k and profit sharing accounts with automatic company contributions, bonuses, and a 10% discount.

The second point is why should I make more on unemployment than a walmart employee makes for working a 40 hour week?

If this is true, it speaks more to the sad state of unemployment in this country than anything about Wal-Mart. That someone with no job is drinking beers and arguing about WM on the Internet is frankly appalling. Believe me, if I were in charge this would not be the case.

Imagine what would happen if walmart unionized and they were forced (i.e. they followed the law) to negotiate a contract.

I’m imagining 20% unemployment within 2 years. That doesn’t sound good at all.

Someone,

“If this is true, it speaks more to the sad state of unemployment in this country than anything about Wal-Mart.”

And, it is even worse, to find out that UAW autoworkers get paid their full weeks wages, even when they are laid off!!  And, people feel sorry for them when they hear they were laid off!!

“I’m imagining 20% unemployment within 2 years. That doesn’t sound good at all.”

Not to mention that prices would be raised to a point that Wal-Mart could no longer say that they sell for less, because Target and K-Mart would still be paying their ‘low wages’!!

Wal-Mart start paying,

Take this into consideration, if Wal-Mart has 2.1 million employees and were to give each employee a $1.00/hour raise, it would cost Wal-Mart $2.1 million, plus $157,500 (Social Security), extra, for every HOUR the employees worked!!

“Take this into consideration, if Wal-Mart has 2.1 million employees and were to give each employee a $1.00/hour raise, it would cost Wal-Mart $2.1 million, plus $157,500 (Social Security), extra, for every HOUR the employees worked!!"~RDS(Bob)

Therefore the following would be reasonable:

Take into consideration also that if Walmart has 2.1 million employees and were to give each employee a $1.00/hour pay cut, it would save Walmart $2.1 million for every HOUR the employees worked.

Thanks for the info Bob.
Bullshit baffles brains.

R E M E M B E R
J O N Q U I E R E
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

R E M E M B E R
J A C K S O N V I L L E
T E X A S
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

R E M E M B E R
G A T I N E A U
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart worker Abuse

someome-

you are right I did add the two together, and rounded and dropped the zeros to quickly do the math, and then did not add the right amount of zeros back on I apologize for that.

Let me ammend my argument then if they make 6,032.38 per assosciate a year, I will agree with that number.  Give every employee $1.00/hour raise in most cases a 12% raise, including the cost of FICA and medicare that would take 2,300 off of the profit per employee bringing it to 3,732.38 per employee.  That still gives them a profit of 7,837,998,000.  They still wont have to worry about qualifying for food stamps.  And maybe the employees will have a little more money in their pockets too, since they are the ones who did all the work.

Would 20% unemployment really happen?  I dont think so.  If that was the case rationally speaking 1/5 of the walmarts would have to close.  Imagine how many “mom and pop” store who cannot compete with walmart would resurface.

As we all know of the great labor relations of walmart I guess I dont need to point out when you are accused of bringing the working conditions of Mexico down i.e. paying in vouchers you have hit rock bottom.  Well there is always China.

One thing I just cant fathom is why ANYBODY would actually defend walmart.

Would 20% unemployment really happen?  I dont think so.

You and I are evidently not imagining the same response.

Alex,

“Take into consideration also that if Walmart has 2.1 million employees and were to give each employee a $1.00/hour pay cut, it would save Walmart $2.1 million for every HOUR the employees worked.”

Who said anything about Wal-Mart cutting anybody’s wages?  Are you advocating they do that?

Wal-Mart start paying,

“Give every employee $1.00/hour raise in most cases a 12% raise, including the cost of FICA and medicare that would take 2,300 off of the profit per employee bringing it to 3,732.38 per employee.”

First off, if Wal-Mart gave everyone a $1.00/hour raise, to most people here, that would not be enough!!  Look at the case that Alex brought up, where in Canada, the employees got a $3.00/hour raise when they went union and most people here would like to see a $5.00/hour raise!!  Therefore, instead of a 12% raise, it would be a 36% raise, which would lower the profit to $1,940.73 per employee per year (at $5.00, it would be 60%)!!  Now, as their profit margin today, is 3.5%, what would it be after those added labor costs?  According to Ken V., he wouldn’t even “get out of bed for only 3.5% profit”, so you are asking Wal-Mart to operate at a profit margin, that one of your own, says is too low already!!

“They still wont have to worry about qualifying for food stamps.”

The one thing you fail to realize, is what PROFITS are for!!  First, they are used to pay the ‘stockholders’, for putting their money at risk!!  Second, unlike the average person, who lives ‘paycheck to paycheck’, Wal-Mart needs to keep a certain amount of money in ‘reserve’, so they can ‘weather the storm’, when the economy gets like it is today, so they don’t have to layoff employees, like the unionized automakers have had to do recently!!  Thirdly, they have to have money in ‘reserve’, to pay for lawsuits, by people who do something ‘stupid’ and get hurt in the store, like the woman who’s kid spilled his drink on the floor and she slipped on it and hurt herself, then sued Wal-Mart for her own kids negligence!!  And, what about the recent Debbie Shanks case, where Wal-Mart had to pay for her bills, even though they were not involved in her accident and she couldn’t collect enough from the trucking company that was partially at fault, where do you think that money came from?

“One thing I just cant fathom is why ANYBODY would actually defend walmart.”

And, we can’t fathom why anyone would try to trash the most successful business in the last century, just because they think the model of the unionized companies is somehow better!!  Look at who is in Washington asking for a ‘bailout’ and is unwilling to ‘change’ their business model and a union (UAW) that was there for the ‘sunny days’ with their hands out, but, now that it’s ‘raining’, they aren’t willing to sacrifice to save their jobs, they would rather run to Washington, with their hands out again!!  Maybe the reason that Wal-Mart isn’t in Washington, asking for a ‘bailout’, is because they have managed to create a ‘cash reserve’, they can fall back on in the ‘bad’ times, the same ‘cash reserve’ you want them to spend!!

RDS: Why weren’t you saying these SAME things about the WallStreet bailout/heist of $700Bn dollars? Paulson expected to be handed a blank check,with no questions asked when he popped this before Congress. And the White House press person statethat an afternoon or so was al the time required for Congress to review it. WTF? That is arrogance beyond ALL and ANY human comprehension. This was the Free Marketeers asking for a bailout! Even Greenspan admitted he was wrongabout his theories. WHERE was your outrage over the socialization of private businesses losses And don’t start that crap about some poor homeowner not making their mortgage payments. It was the derivatives,stupid. WalMart success is always dependent on someoneor something else’s negative. It is a vulture vampire.Thats not a success in my books,unless you call be tyhe only funeral home left in town a success,but then,YOU probably would.

dd-

Did RDS support that bailout? If he did, it’s an area where he and I disagree. However, that doesn’t sound like him.

...support that bailout?

Yeah. If it wasn’t for John McCain suspending his campaign to return to Washington and take charge of things, that bailout might never have happened. More Republican style free market economics.

Wal-Mart can’t make up their mind whether they have LP (Loss Prevention) or AP (Asset Protection) so it’s little wonder things seem a little confused.

You tell me. If Bentonville spends 3/4 of a million dollars to safe guard about $100 worth of diapers and sunglasses, is that loss prevention or asset protection?

“There is no perceived risk in attacking Wal-Mart anymore. They have gone from being a business success story to being a cultural villain.” ~ Eric Dezenhall

Ken V: “You tell me. If Bentonville spends 3/4 of a million dollars to safe guard about $100 worth of diapers and sunglasses, is that loss prevention or asset protection?"~~~~~NOTE: I guess only WalMart’s insurer knows for sure. Wonder how much they get back form the insurance companies on the alleged losses from “shoplifting”? And,BTW, WHO exactly is WalMart’s insurer for losses incurred from” theft” ?AIG? Hartford? Those two wrote the dead janitor policies.incidentally.

Bob(RDS)

“Take into consideration that is Walmart has 2.1 million employees and were to get each employee to work 1 hour off the clock that would save Walmart 2.1 million hours of labour costs”

R E M E M B E R
J O N Q U I E R E
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

R E M E M B E R
J A C K S O N V I L L E
T E X A S
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

R E M E M B E R
G A T I N E A U
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart worker Abuse

“Take into consideration that is Walmart has 2.1 million employees and were to get each employee to work 1 hour off the clock that would save Walmart 2.1 million hours of labour costs”

if they did that for 1000 hours they could pay the potential fine in Minnesota for the 2 MILLION counts of labor violations they were found GUILTY of.

In times like this the walmarts dont struggle....they thrive. maybe if there was a quality product made in the USA that would actually cost any money, people wouldnt have to sacrafice quality, and made in the USA products for cheap and economical.  Maybe the “Big 3” ought to outsource to China, make a inferior product to any thing out there and sell them at walmart for $3,000.  Then they would regain market share and not need a bailout.  But then they would probably be sued by those lawyers retained by walmart for stealing their business plan.

ddrb,

“Why weren’t you saying these SAME things about the WallStreet bailout/heist of $700Bn dollars?”

I don’t remember saying I was FOR the $700 billion ‘bail-out/rescue’, plan, I was more in the camp of saying there should not have been loans given, with ‘No Money Down”, and to people with ‘Bad Credit’, who were buying houses that they would not have been able to afford under the ‘old’ system!! 

By the way, I believe it was the Liberals who had the MOST ‘votes’ FOR the plan, [Democrats voted 140 to 95 in favor of the legislation, while Republicans voted 133 to 65 against it.]!!

Alex,

“Take into consideration that is Walmart has 2.1 million employees and were to get each employee to work 1 hour off the clock that would save Walmart 2.1 million hours of labour costs”

But, if an employee is ‘stupid’ enough to ‘work off the clock’, that is their own fault!!  If YOUR employer (if you have one), asked you to ‘work off the clock’, would you do it?

You can only take advantage of people who allow themselves be taken advantage of!!

Wal-Mart start paying,

“Maybe the “Big 3” ought to outsource to China, make a inferior product to any thing out there”

I thought the big complaint about the “Big 3”, was that they are already making an ‘inferior product’ and selling it at a ‘higher price’ than anything out there!!  That’s why ‘foreign’ car sales have been growing so fast!!

I think they need to change WalMart to WalMartuary.

RDS:AIG, Citibank and a number of other federally bailed-out financial institutions have no plans to cancel hundreds of millions of dollars in sports team sponsorships, even as they take billions in taxpayer support, ABC News has found.

In boom times, the sponsorships were seen as a way to advertise the firms’ “brands” and appeal to potential customers. Even today, at least one bank told ABC News that a naming deal was increasing its revenue. But critics, including a member of Congress, say the decision to continue them now is hard to defend.

Struggling Citibank just sealed a multi-billion-dollar emergency “backstop” deal with the U.S. government. The financial behemoth, suffering with billions in bad mortgage-related assets on its books, recently shed 53,000 workers and saw its stock price lose over half its value. Yet it’s in a 20-year contract to pay the New York Mets $400 million to name the team’s new stadium “Citi Field.”

“This type of spending is indefensible and unacceptable to Citigroup’s new partner and largest investor: the American taxpayer,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., in a statement Monday.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ABC News via FDL

ddrb,

“bailed-out financial institutions have no plans to cancel hundreds of millions of dollars in sports team sponsorships, even as they take billions in taxpayer support”

Tell me, do taxpayers go to sporting events?  And, if those financial institutions stop sponsoring the sports teams, who will have to pick up the difference?  The taxpayers of course, through higher ticket prices!!

“at least one bank told ABC News that a naming deal was increasing its revenue.”

Isn’t ‘increasing it’s revenue’, a GOOD thing for a financial institution?

“Yet it’s in a 20-year contract”

Wouldn’t it be illegal to break a ‘contract’ and make them liable in a lawsuit?

Buick Open: Farewell to Tiger Woods?
GM deal is gone, so he might be, too
BY CARLOS MONARREZ • FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER • November 25, 2008

It’s possible the Buick Open has seen the last of Tiger Woods with Monday’s announcement that the world’s top-ranked golfer and General Motors will end their endorsement deal at the end of this year.

Buick golf promotions manager Larry Peck said Woods wasn’t required to play in any of Buick’s PGA Tour events. Peck could only hope Woods will return to Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club in Grand Blanc.

“It’s really up to him,” Peck said. “What it means to the Buick Open I can’t say, other than the fact that he’s played well there. He has stated publicly that he likes to play there. And I think if he’s healthy and all that, he’ll certainly consider it.”

Woods has played the Buick Open eight times since 1998, and he won it in 2002 and ‘06. Players traditionally return to defend their titles, but Woods has skipped the past two Buicks because of the birth of his first child and because of the knee injury that ended his season after his U.S. Open victory in June.~~~~~~~~~~~Detroit Free Press~~~~~NOTE: I guess taxpayers don’t attend golf tournaments.

NOTE: I guess taxpayers don’t attend golf tournaments.

Not that would make that big of a difference.  However they DO watch it on tv where there is advertising dollars that reach millions and that number is cut in half with no Tiger in attendence.

Baraboo: Thanks for pointing that out. My statement was really a snark at RDS.The real point was that GM,as opposed to Citibank,was willing to forego a “Sports Endorsement” to stem excessive spending. To give billions with no strings to Wall STrret, and billions to Citi,then nickle and dime Detroit is NOTHING more than a middle finger salute and farewell by the Bush regime to the unions ,before leaving office and finishing looting the Treasury.

Do you think Americans figured there is no better way to minimize unions, i.e. lower working conditions/wages for all, than to vote Republican.  Bush tried his best to do it.  But like everything else he touched he screwed that up too.

ddrb,

“My statement was really a snark at RDS.The real point was that GM,as opposed to Citibank,was willing to forego a “Sports Endorsement” to stem excessive spending.”

GM made a sacrifice, what did the unions ‘give up’?

“To give billions with no strings to Wall STrret, and billions to Citi”

So, you think there were NO STRINGS attached to the TARP plan?

“then nickle and dime Detroit”

So, you think $25 billion, is just ‘nickle and dimes’, right?  And, for what, companies who refuse to modify their business models and a union who refuses to give ‘consessions’!!  Besides, if you had been paying attention, you would have seen Nancy Pelosi saying the Congress wouldn’t give the automakers a ‘dime’, until they showed them a ‘Plan’, to show they wouldn’t be back in 6 months for billions MORE!!

“a middle finger salute and farewell by the Bush regime to the unions”

Bush had nothing to do with the decision the Democrat controlled Congress made!!  So, why do you pretend it does?  Ignorance, or just ‘plain’ spiteful SPIN?

RDS: WHERE were BUSINESS plans requested in regards to Citibank,AIG, and the other bailouts of Wall Street? Hell, the very same people responsible for many of the policies that cratered the financial markets are the very ones overseeing the TARP.No, this is a screw you to the unions, because the foreign investors want some quid pro quo for the loss of their subprime investments;and, if Detroit goes” belly up”,these foreign automakers can buy up the defunct Detroit carmakers out.And there would be no union workers at these plants,for sure. Your unwillingness to hold Bush accountable for ANYTHING is another sympton of your delusional thinking.That’s not just “blind patriotism”,its deaf and dumb,too.I can guarantee you,if the shoe were on the other foot,and Obama had made the blunders and sins of omission and commission that Bush and Co. has,YOU would be HOWLING that HE [Obama]was responsible,NOT the Congress.

After the Imperial Presidency~~~~~~~~~Jonathan Mahler,NYT via One Thousand Reasons
Published: November 7, 2008
(Page 3 of 9)

Single-party rule in Washington has not always translated into a timid Congress. In 1941, Harry Truman, then a largely unknown Democratic senator from Missouri, drove his Dodge across the country to expose profiteering by private military contractors under F.D.R., who was supplying weaponry to the Allied powers. During the Carter administration, the Democratic Congress aggressively investigated among other things the shady financial dealings of the president’s brother, Billy.

The Senate is a different place now, though. Consider this telling bit of institutional history, as related by Robert Caro in his continuing biography of Lyndon Johnson. When Johnson was elevated to the vice presidency in 1961, he suggested to Senator Mike Mansfield, his successor as Senate majority leader, that he be permitted to continue presiding over the Democratic caucus. Mansfield initially agreed — but the rest of the caucus revolted. The vice president might be the ceremonial president of the Senate, they argued, but to empower him to attend their caucuses, let alone run them, would create a dangerous precedent.

By contrast, in recent years, you could set your watch by the arrival of Vice President Cheney’s motorcade on Capitol Hill for the Republican caucus’s weekly strategy sessions. He was at times known to bring Karl Rove with him as well. “You can imagine the amount of dissent that goes on with the two of them sitting there,” Leahy told me.

As Leahy sees it, these weekly trips to Capitol Hill were part of the administration’s strategy to marginalize Congress by encouraging Republican senators to put party loyalty ahead of institutional loyalty. “I think in a way this administration set out to make the Republican Party on the Hill an arm of the White House,” Leahy told me.

But the politicization of the Senate didn’t begin with Bush. Norman Ornstein, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, traces the roots of the trend to the Congressional elections of 1994, when the Republicans took back the House after 40 years in the minority. Led by Newt Gingrich, a new group of fire-breathing freshman lawmakers arrived on Capitol Hill with an ambitious, highly partisan agenda. Finally in the majority, the House Republicans gleefully wielded their newfound subpoena power to harass the Democratic president, Bill Clinton, by, for example, taking dozens of hours of testimony on whether he abused the White House Christmas-card list for the purposes of fund-raising.

According to Ornstein, the Senate, and in particular its leader through 1996, Bob Dole, was at first skeptical of Gingrich and his ideological minions in the House. But Dole’s successor, Trent Lott, was more partisan and thus more willing to engage in the politicization of Senate actions like the confirmation of Clinton’s judicial appointments.

It was the Clinton impeachment trial in 1999, though, that finally pushed the Senate into the trenches of political warfare and polarized the institution once and for all. Senators now saw themselves as members of their respective political parties first — and representatives of their constituencies second. After George W. Bush’s election in 2000, many Republicans on Capitol Hill saw it as their duty to protect him from their Democratic colleagues. “The Republican leaders in both houses of Congress made the decision that they were going to be field soldiers in the president’s army, rather than members of an independent branch of government,” Ornstein says.~~~~~~~~NOTE: This article in its entirety can be read by clicking on the link at One Thousand Reasons. A DEFINITIVE history of HOW GW became King GW.

if the companies are uaw.......and they are bought by foreign investment.......they stay uaw.  Our country is the one that tries to break the unions, they could care less if the company is union or not.  It has been my experience that the ones who trash the unions the most have never belonged to one.  They like being mushrooms......kept in the dark and fed crap.