Wal-Mart Moms: Concerned with the problems caused by Wal-Mart

I think the Wal*Mart Moms must have read this earlier post of mine:

As far as Wal*Mart Mom’s, Dad’s or whatever’s. YOU DO NOT EVER get to complain about your spouse’s or signifigant other’s income or ability to earn. Why? Because you are undermining it. I doubt there are any REAL Wal*Mart Moms reading this post or are even aware of Wal*Mart Watch. I suspect if they actually new what they were supporting, They wouldn’t be Wal*Mart Mom’s anymore and they would be much nicer to their spouses who are facing lay-offs etc.

Here’s an interestingg article from Consumerist.3.06.2007 . To wit:~~~~~~~~~
Which Wal-Mart Demographic are you?

The Consumerist is posting leaked slides from Wal-Mart’s new demographics campaign, otherwise titled “Wal-Mart Shopper Segmentation”.

According to Wal-Mart, there are 3 types of shoppers:

Price-Value Shoppers
Brand Aspirationals
Price-Sensitive Affluents

Wal-Mart has gone to great lengths to define and identify each category of shopper:

Price-Value - The poorest among us. Loyal to Wal-Mart, to a fault. Primarily young, rural, Baptist women. Uneducated beyond high-school. More worried and in poorer health than average. Watches Lifetime and ABC Family. Reads Better Homes & Gardens. Drives a used car which he/she still owes money on.

Brand Aspirational - His/Her image does not fit with the reality of his/her economic situation. Often a racial minority. Less technologically savvy than other demographics. Sports oriented, with a skew towards the NFL. Watches Fox Sports and reads automotive, athletic and fitness magazines.

Price-Sensitive Affluent - Highest income category. White, male, over age 45, highly educated. Very technologically savvy. Will compare products on the internet then purchase them for a better price in a retail store. Watches PBS and The History Channel. Reads National Geographic. Owns a completely paid for vehicle that is a newer model and was new when purchased.

Here’s my take:

Price-Value - Needs the most bang for their buck in order to survive. Can afford to eat healthier and clothe their children more effectively by shopping at Wal-Mart. Don’t care where a product comes form if it’s cheaper. Doesn’t care that Wal-Mart employees are not paid fairly because these shoppers often work for minimum wage themselves. Only has Cable TV because their neighbor does. Game show - Deal or No Deal, because “It’s OK to dream, isn’t it?”

Brand-Aspirational - Can’t afford to shop at The Gap or A&F;, so they buy cheap knock-offs at Wal-Mart to boost their self-esteem. Doesn’t care where a product comes from if it looks like a more expensive product. Doesn’t care about Wal-Mart’s treatment of their employees, because “It’s, like, their fault they work at Wal-Mart”. Owns a newer car that he/she owes more money on than it’s worth because he/she rolled over the balance owing on his/her trade-in. Game show - Wheel of Fortune - “Because it’s, like, soooo easy.”

Price-Sensitive Affluents: Can afford whatever they want, but like to buy it cheaper so they can have more of it, even at the expense of child-labor and Wal-Mart’s poor employment policies. Drive their 2006 Mercedes to Wal-Mart to save $65 over Amazon on an approximately $1800 50” Wega HDTV. Game show - Jeopardy - “Because anything easier insults my intelligence.”~~~~~~~~~~~Consumerist

ogh give me a break with all your bs postings ddrb

Hey ddrb--I think you’re right. Great comment!

Jane: Thanks! They ARE great comments.aren’t they? Sadly, they’re NOT mine. The comments were part of the entire Consumerist article. But I appreciate the vote of confidence,nonethelss!

“ogh give me a break with all your bs postings ddrb"~MATT IN in gresham,oregon

Keep them coming ddrb!!!
MATT really loves them. LOL

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

Concerned About Problems Caused by Wal*Mart…

Like the current financial Melt down?

America is experiencing the basic feeling of a 2 pack a day smoker who just found out they have lung cancer… and could really use a cigarette about now…

Most Americans who don’t smoke are not immune to Wal*Mart’s second hand fumes, so we all get to deal with the prognosis…

The “Wal*Mart Economy” is like an acne medication that actually causes your acne to get worse so that you have to buy more.

Amen.

only fools like jane and ddrb buy all this bs on here and take it as all factual

Gresham, Home of Matt, is a city located in Multnomah County, Oregon, United States immediately east of Portland. It was named for the American Civil War general, and Postmaster General, Walter Quinton Gresham. The population was 90,205 at the 2000 census; in 2006, the Population Research Center estimated the city’s population at 97,745. This makes Gresham the fourth largest city in Oregon.

The city of Gresham could not establish itself as a city unless given a post office and postal code. A local storeowner offered to use his store as a post office and offered to name the city after Postmaster General Walter Quinton Gresham if a post office was granted. Until that time, the city had simply been known as Campground because this forested site was where pioneers often stopped to spend the night and compose themselves before moving on to Portland. Although a post office was established in May, 1884, Gresham was not incorporated as a city until 1905. Lewis Shattuck, son of a pioneer family, was the first mayor.

MATT IN in gresham,oregon,

The Earth circles the sun.

Look what what’s happening in MATTS own community according to The Outlook, Gresham’s local community paper:

http://www.theoutlookonline.com/news/story.php?story_id=122040672521976000

Megan Braunsten....As new executive director of the Gresham Downtown Development Association is quoted as saying:  “Wal-Mart and “the mall” are killing those that struggle, she said.”

Also from the Outlook:

Re: Multiple vehicle crash blocks traffic in Gresham
i used to live right up the street from there[Northeast Division Street and Northeast Kane Drive, Gresham Or.] and witnessed several near accidents there in the past and that just goes to show and prove my point that there are much more dangerous intersections in gresham than 182 and powell.i hope and pray that everyone is ok.home depot and mhcc college bring a lot of that traffic.thats what most folks wont talk about.its a traumatic event witnessing an accident.i have witnessed at least 6 in my life.i am amazed that no one wants to sue home depot or mount hood community college for this accident.if walmart was right there walmart would have been blamed.accident was caused by driver error and not paying attention.

“matthew vantress”

Alex in Ontario:
Grow up.

oh alex your favorite high cost stores and ufcw union grocers bring just as much traffic and have as many accidents as wm so zip your mouth.where is your same argument about the other low costs tores and other places you favor and them ruining everything and bringing too much traffic?

really bobby we are so thrilled to hear that lets throw you a parade now.

Gee, I wonder if any of this is getting to our shelves…

HONG KONG, China (AP)—British chocolate maker Cadbury on Monday became the latest foreign company to be hit by China’s tainted milk scandal, ordering a recall of its Chinese-made products after saying tests “cast doubt” on their safety.

A researcher in Wuhan last week checks for melamine in milk samples collected from stores.

Two U.S. food makers were meanwhile investigating Indonesian claims that high traces of the industrial chemical melamine had been found in Chinese-made Oreos, M&Ms;and Snickers, but stressed the same goods had tested negative in other Asian countries.

Obama directly tied to voting fraud group
Date: 2008-09-28, 8:45PM
In case you — like most of us — have difficulty keeping up with Democrat Presidential candidate Barack Obama’s ties to corrupt, terrorist and anti-American groups and individuals a new one has emerged. The mainstream press — as with Obama’s other associations — is working overtime to cover this latest one up. Obama is directly tied to a group that has been both accused of and its members convicted of National Voter Fraud, embezzlement and misuse of tax payer funds — ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now).
What are Obama’s direct ties to the voter-fraud group? Let’s take a look. Obama was not only ACORN’s attorney but, actually trained the group in “community activism!” And, while Obama was Chairman of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, he arranged funding for the voter-fraud group through the CAC. McCauley’s World reports: “In Philadelphia alone ACORN has raised over $800,000 Dollars for Barack Obama’s Campaign.” In politics, scratching each others back is always the order of the day.
The voter-fraud group is working almost non-stop — except when its members are arrested and taken into custody — to get Obama elected POTUS. If Obama is elected, we could actually have the least experienced, most corrupt and first Socialist/Communist POTUS in world history. And the other Obama direct ties to corruption and anti-Americanism? Let’s take another look — shall we?
* William Ayers-former head of terrorist group the Weather Underground — was Obama’s colleague at the Woods Fund of Chicago and Chicago Annenberg Challenge. Note: Ayers lobbied to have Obama named Chairman of the CAC. Ayers is also a major fundraiser for Obama
* Obama’s acknowledged over 20 year minister and mentor, Jeremiah Wright, has made and continues to make anti-American, anti-white and anti-Semitic “sermons”
* Obama has direct ties to Saudi Arabian funders and the Black Panthers
* Depending on one’s sources, Obama was either the #2 or #3 Fannie Mae (Democrats’ personal slush fund) funded politician
* Obama is directly ties to now-convicted felon Antoin Rezko
* Obama wants to work with the very leaders of countries who want to destroy us
The evidence against this man continues to mount. But, still Democrats and the Democrats’ media want him as POTUS. Corruption recognizes and supports its own, folks. This could never happen in a sane world.

The bail out includes giving 150 billion to ACORN?????

How is this helping the working man?

I heard one of the legislators,late last night-LIVE-on C-Span say that Acorn would NOT be the recipient of bailout funds.

CAMPAIGN 2008
Freddie’s Friend
Freddie Mac continued checks to McCain campaign chief’s firm.

By Michael Isikoff | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Sep 23, 2008 | Updated: 7:39 p.m. ET Sep 23, 2008

Since 2006, the federally sponsored mortgage giant Freddie Mac has paid at least $345,000 to the lobbying and consulting firm of John McCain’s campaign manager, Rick Davis, according to two sources familiar with the arrangement.

Freddie Mac had previously paid an advocacy group run by Davis, called the Homeownership Alliance, $30,000 a month until the end of 2005, when that group was dissolved. That relationship was the subject of a New York Times story Monday, which drew angry denunciations from the McCain campaign. McCain and his aides have vehemently objected to suggestions that Davis has ties to Freddie Mac—an especially sensitive issue given that the Republican presidential candidate has blamed “the lobbyists, politicians and bureaucrats” for the mortgage crisis that recently prompted the Bush administration to take over both Freddie Mac and its companion, Fannie Mae, and put them under federal conservatorship.

But neither the Times story—nor the McCain campaign—revealed that Davis’s lobbying firm, Davis Manafort, based in Washington, D.C., continued to receive $15,000 a month from Freddie Mac until last month—long after the Homeownership Alliance had been terminated. The two sources, who requested anonymity discussing sensitive information, told NEWSWEEK that Davis himself approached Freddie Mac in 2006 and asked for a new consulting arrangement that would allow his firm to continue to be paid. The arrangement was approved by Hollis McLoughlin, Freddie Mac’s senior vice president for external relations, because “he [Davis] was John McCain’s campaign manager and it was felt you couldn’t say no,” said one of the sources. [McLoughlin did not return phone calls].

When asked about his own campaign manager’s associations with the mortgage giants, McCain, in an interview with CNBC on Sunday night, said that Davis “has had nothing to do” with the Homeownship Alliance since it disbanded and “I’ll be glad to have his record examined by anybody who wants to look at it.” (The Homeownership Alliance was set up and funded by both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to promote the goal of home ownership and counter efforts to impose tighter regulations on the two federally sponsored entities.)

It is not unusual for major corporations to enter into consulting retainers so that individuals could be available if needed. And the two sources stressed that Davis at no time made any threats or demands on Freddie Mac. But the sources indicated that Freddie Mac seldom called on Davis or the firm. On one occasion, Davis was asked to attend a meeting of the firm’s political-action committee during the 2006 campaign in order to give the Republican Party’s perspective on the upcoming elections. In addition, Davis did meet with McLoughlin for breakfast on “one or two” occasions. Other than that, one source said, Davis “doesn’t do anything” for Freddie Mac. The firm “doesn’t even talk to him.” In addition, Freddie Mac has had no contact with Davis Manafort other than receiving monthly invoices from the firm and paying them. But the money could be perceived as helping Freddie Mac ensure a good relationship with one of McCain’s top aides in the event that he became president. The payments, along with other lobbying and consulting contracts, are expected to be terminated by the new federal overseers, the sources said.~~~~~~~~~~NOTE:Corruption recognizes and supports its own, folks-(Marxist).......Indeed, especially when “ greasing the wheels “of the Double Talk Express.

America Shoot’s Self In Foot… Again…
as Ronald Reagan once said, well there you go again. Some of the people of this country are soo easily played, it is just shamefull.  And it’s not the Banker’s Fault (I am not a banker). It’s the people who control the legislation. So when you see some Politician or Wanna-be out there shaking their fist and blaming the banking industry, just remember 2 words uttered by Allan Greenspan a few years back “Irrational Exhuberance”. Nobody wanted to here the truth then and nobody wants to accept the blame now. If you are against this bill because you think it is just to help the bankers then you are sadly mistaken. It will be very interesting to see how the Asian and European markets react. If you are blaming banker’s right now instead of the legistor’s and the people who voted for them, then you get to take all the credit for what happens next, Good or Bad. Reaganomics + Uniformed Citizens = Wal*Mart Economy. Wal*Mart Economy = Financial Meltdown.

Marxist
Check your facts. Political Bull Sh*tting like yours is what got this country in this mess to begin with.

The mainstream press — as with Obama’s other associations — is working overtime to cover this latest one up...

Sounds a little paranoid, don’t you think?

This could never happen in a sane world.

Yeah, in a “sane world” we’d elect an old man with a troubling history of cancer and back him up with a women completely out of her league.

“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

“whats got this country in this mess to begin with”

Is this:

The moral decay of our society can be directly linked to the
LIBERAL DEMOCRAT and their self centered indulgence.
Period............

ddrb,
As a good friend of mine once said “they rolled away the stone and I was gone”!

“Corruption recognizes and supports its own, folks-(Marxist).......Indeed, especially when “ greasing the wheels “of the Double Talk Express”.

Where is the gracious point to draw the line between curruption and stupidity?

It’s interesting to note that Wal*Mart stock didn’t get hit too hard today. What’s good for Wal*Mart is bad for America. It will be interesting to see what the global markets have to say. My guess (hope really) is that Wal*Mart will be under a lot more scrutiny in the other countries in which they are trying to Metastasize.

It’s kinda funny that in the very last days of his presidency Dubya finally tries to do something right and his own party screws it up. The Republicans are really turning into a bitter, divisive, bunch of total screw-ups, who can’t admit when they make a mistake. And there are still people willing to support them.

Spoken like a good soldier…

“The moral decay of our society can be directly linked to the
LIBERAL DEMOCRAT and their self centered indulgence.
Period............ “

Larry in USN WWII (Ret)

Brothers in arms hit road for McCain
GOP candidate enjoys backing of veterans and their families.

By Krissah Williams Thompson
Washington Post
updated 8:16 p.m. MT, Sun., Sept. 28, 2008
AKRON, Ohio - The men gathered for breakfast around the long table at a Bob Evans restaurant here consider Sen. John McCain a brother. Most have never met him and never will, but he is a veteran, just like them, and that is enough.

“He is one of us, a military man, and he has never forgotten who we are,” said retired Maj. Gen. Edward Mechenbier. “He is a person that I could look at with great admiration and pride and say, ‘He is my commander in chief.’ “

McCain has never attracted huge crowds and mass followings the way his opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, and his own running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, have. But throughout his campaign, the former prisoner of war has enjoyed the fervent backing of a fraternity of veterans and their families, who rallied to his cause even when he looked like a sure loser in the Republican primary and now provide a key core of support in the final days of his quest for the presidency.
More than 240 retired generals and admirals have endorsed McCain, and veterans—mostly older ones who fought in Korea and Vietnam—form the backbone of his campaign’s “victory centers.” They travel the country to tell the story of McCain’s imprisonment in Vietnam, they man phone lines, and they push fellow veterans to give McCain money and support.

Early this month, three of the campaign’s most notable military supporters—Mechenbier and Col. Thomas Moe, who were POWs in Vietnam, and Capt. Leslie Smith—traveled through Ohio on a three-day bus tour to rally support for McCain. At one stop after another, at veterans nursing homes and memorial parks, at small gatherings and in restaurants, they shared their war stories and received a hero’s welcome.

Veterans along the way said they support McCain partly because of their shared experience and partly out of concern for the nation’s security. Although polls show that terrorism and the war in Iraq have faded as issues for most voters, they remain prominent in the minds of veterans, many of whom said they do not trust Obama to run the military.

“All of us have been fighting, shot and wounded, and we know how dangerous the world is,” said George Manos, 75, a Korean War veteran who wore his VFW post’s dress uniform to the breakfast at Bob Evans. Obama, he said, “does not seem to realize how dangerous the world is.”

As a group, veterans lean Republican, and a Washington Post-ABC News poll in late August showed McCain leading Obama by 54 percent to 37 percent among them. Many of the nation’s 19 million veterans live in some of the biggest battleground states of the election, including Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, giving McCain a built-in boost. And, unlike other groups, such as younger voters, veterans traditionally turn out in large numbers.

Veterans can also be powerful campaigners, engendering a level of respect and interest that other types of supporters cannot, particularly when the country is fighting two wars.

Marcia Burke, 59, who drove an hour with a brace on one leg to hear the veterans speak at a stop near Cleveland, said she was “honored to be in their presence because of what they have done for our country and what Senator McCain has done.”

She and others in the Ohio crowds reflected the Republican base—traditional conservatives, many older, mostly white. Some were veterans, others were from military families. Many waved flags, and many others wore them—embroidered on jean jackets and ties or reflected in earrings with red, white and blue jewels.

Their bond is marked by their definition of patriotism. At the breakfast stop in Akron, Mechenbier, who was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967, asked an intimate gathering of 15 military reservists and representatives of local VFW posts to set aside the issues in the campaign and consider one question as they decided between McCain and Obama.

“When it comes down to people like us, the question is: Which one would I be more proud to have go around representing my country?” said Mechenbier, who was a POW for six years. “And on a more personal basis, which one would I be more comfortable saluting as my commander in chief?”

Mechenbier lives in Beavercreek, Ohio, and retired from the Air Force in 2004 after four decades of service. McCain is the first candidate he has campaigned for, and he serves as chairman of a Veterans for McCain chapter near his home. After breakfast, Mechenbier pulled an Air Force coin out of his pocket and read aloud the core values of the service inscribed on it—integrity first, service before self and excellence in all we do. “This is what John McCain represents,” he said.

Larry in USN WWII (Ret),

“The moral decay of our society can be directly linked to the
LIBERAL DEMOCRAT and their self centered indulgence.
Period............ “

This last post of yours is right up there with the “Why men hate women” post that you ran a while back.

I guess you weren’t planning on retiring or paying for your kids college, or any of those other LIBERAL DEMOCRAT self centered ideas. Oh that’s right, the government’s covering your ass.

Here’s an example of how Liberal Democrats take initiative- to wit New Orleans. Their Liberal Democrat Mayor- flew the coup to Texas took his family with him on the first flight out- before the sh*t hit the fan!

75% of the
residents of New Orleans had already evacuated before the hurricane, and
of the 300,000 or so who remained, a large number were from the city’s
public housing projects. Jack Wakeland then gave me an additional,
crucial fact: early reports from CNN and Fox indicated that the city had
no plan for evacuating all of the prisoners in the city’s jails--so they
just let many of them loose. There is no doubt a significant overlap
between these two populations--that is, a large number of people in the
jails used to live in the housing projects, and vice versa.
There were many decent, innocent people trapped in New Orleans when the
deluge hit--but they were trapped alongside large numbers of people from
two groups: criminals--and wards of the welfare state, people selected,
over decades, for their lack of initiative and self-induced helplessness.
The welfare wards were a mass of sheep--on whom the incompetent
administration of New Orleans unleashed a pack of wolves.
All of this is related, incidentally, to the apparent incompetence of the
city government, which failed to plan for a total evacuation of the city,
despite the knowledge that this might be necessary. But in a city
corrupted by the welfare state, the job of city officials is to ensure
the flow of handouts to welfare recipients and patronage to political
supporters--not to ensure a lawful, orderly evacuation in case of
emergency.
No one has really reported this story, as far as I can tell. In fact,
some are already actively distorting it, blaming President Bush, for
example, for failing to personally ensure that the Mayor of New Orleans
had drafted an adequate evacuation plan. The worst example is an
execrable piece from the Toronto Globe and Mail, by a supercilious
Canadian who blames the chaos on American “individualism.” But the truth
is precisely the opposite: the chaos was caused by a system that was the
exact opposite of individualism.
What Hurricane Katrina exposed was the psychological consequences of the
welfare state. What we consider “normal” behavior in an emergency is
behavior that is normal for people who have values and take the
responsibility to pursue and protect them. People with values respond to
a disaster by fighting against it and doing whatever it takes to overcome
the difficulties they face. They don’t sit around and complain that the
government hasn’t taken care of them. They don’t use the chaos of a
disaster as an opportunity to prey on their fellow men.
But what about criminals and welfare parasites? Do they worry about
saving their houses and property? They don’t, because they don’t own
anything. Do they worry about what is going to happen to their businesses
or how they are going to make a living? They never worried about those
things before. Do they worry about crime and looting? But living off of
stolen wealth is a way of life for them.
The welfare state--and the brutish, uncivilized mentality it sustains and
encourages--is the man-made disaster that explains the moral ugliness
that has swamped New Orleans. And that is the story that no one is
reporting.
Source: TIA Daily—September 2, 2005

A Democratic state run by Liberal Democrats!

Hey Booby,
do you own or Rent ?

“paying for your kids college”

Like how the Obamas paid for their College educations.

In her senior thesis at Princeton, Michele Obama, the wife of Barack Obama
Stated that America was a nation founded on ‘crime and hatred’.
Moreover, she stated that whites in America were ‘ineradicably racist’.  The
1985 thesis, titled ‘Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community’ was
Written under her maiden name, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson.
Michelle Obama stated in her thesis that to ‘Whites at Princeton , it often
Seems as if, to them, she will always be Black first...’ However, it was reported
By a fellow black classmate, ‘If those ‘Whites at Princeton ‘ really saw Michelle
As one who always would ‘be Black first,’ it seems that she gave them that
Impression. 
Most alarming is Michele Obama’s use of the terms ‘separationist’ and
‘integrationist’ when describing the views of black people.
Mrs. Obama clearly identifies herself with a ‘separationist’ view of race.
‘By actually working with the Black lower class or within their communities as
A result of their ideologies, a separationist may better understand the desperation
Of their situation and feel more hopeless about a resolution as opposed to an
Integrationist who is ignorant to their plight.’
Obama writes that the path she chose by attending Princeton would likely lead to
Her ‘further integration and/or assimilation into a white cultural and social structure
That will only allow me to remain on the periphery of society; never becoming a full
Participant.’
Michele Obama clearly has a chip on her shoulder.
Not only does she see separate black and white societies in America , but
She elevates black over white in her world.

Here is another passage that is uncomfortable and ominous in meaning:
‘There was no doubt in my mind that as a member of the black
Community, I am obligated to this community and will utilize
All of my present and future resources to benefit the black
Community first and foremost.’
What is Michelle Obama planning to do with her future resources if she’s first
Lady that will elevate black over white in America ?
The following passage appears to be a call to arms for affirmative action
Policies that could be the hallmark of an Obama administration.
‘Predominately white universities like Princeton are socially and academically
Designed to cater to the needs of the white students comprising the bulk of
Their enrollments.’

The conclusion of her thesis is alarming. 
Michelle Obama’s poll of black alumni concludes that other black students
At Princeton do not share her obsession with blackness.  But rather than
Celebrate, she is horrified that black alumni identify with our common
American culture more than they value the color of their skin.  ‘I hoped that
These findings would help me conclude that despite the high degree of
Identification with whites as a result of the educational and occupational
Path that black Princeton alumni follow, the alumni would still maintain a
Certain level of identification with the black community.  However, these
Findings do not support this possibility.’
Is it no wonder that most black alumni ignored her racist questionnaire? 
Only 89 students responded out of 400 who were asked for input.
Michelle Obama does not look into a crowd of Obama supporters and see
Americans. She sees black people and white people eternally conflicted
With one another.
The thesis provides a trove of Mrs. Obama’s thoughts and
World view seen through a race-based prism.  This is a very
Divisive view for a potential first lady that would do untold
Damage to race relations in this country in a Barack Obama
Administration.

Michelle Obama’s intellectually refined racism should give all
Americans pause for deep concern.
Now maybe she’s changed, but she sure sounds like someone with an axe to
Grind with America .  Will the press let Michelle get a free pass over her obviously
Racist comment about American whites?  I am sure that it will.
PS: We paid for her scholarship.-- (pay attention here Booby)

Sorry Larry,
You are nothing but a lap dog. Otherwise you’d be an independent. Try to concentrate for a couple of minutes. Because of the Republicans and Regan Democrats, Wal*Mart has been alowed to reek havoc on our economy. So much so that today the Dow suffered it’s worst point drop since… you guessed it “black monday” When Reagan was president. Now since all the deregulation and union busting from those days in the 80’s American’s have been encouraged to take their money out of savings and “invest it” in the stock market. The Republicans even want to put social security in the stock market… You do know about that right? Gee, I wonder how all the retirees would be feeling today if they had all their social security in the stock market… And just wait untill tomorrow. And Matt in Oregan, Don’t quit your day job…

Booby,
do you own or rent?
Have you really invested in America?

I’ll re-post this for you , I know the back-reading is hell on ya!

1. Almost all of the financial problems we see today are based on bad mortgage lending. Lending money to people to buy homes who didnt qualify for a loan.

2. The Democrats under Clinton, strenghened a government-created monster called the “Community Reinvestment Act”
This law was the used by “activists” & “community organizers” (liberal Democrats -like Obama) to coerce lending institutions to make these bad loans… millions of them.

3. Now we see what happens when political “wisdom” supplants good loan underwriting. When private financial institutions are virtually forced to make loans to people with bad credit & job history… this is what you get. enjoy it - courtesy of the Liberal Democrats

Larry,
Did you come up with this yourself? I didn’t see the Republican President, Congress and Senate Jump Up and do anything about this “Community Reinvestment Act” that people like your self keep cutting and paisting. My other favorite is predatory lender’s… Only woosies blame others for their own faults. The Republicans have become by far the best at this. Thank God after this election we can hopefully have a fillibuster proof congress and a President who is not a lap dog. As I mentioned I’m an independant. McCaine should have been the Republican Candidate in 2000. Anybody would have been better than Bush. But Bush was a willing lap dog and so McCain got screwed by his own party. McCaine is the new lap dog. Too bad, he’s a nice guy.

“Independent”

Who on that ticket is in the running, Booby?

We’ve got two choices- A man who has served his country and is a Patriot or a Muslim who refuses to say the Pledge and removed the American flag from the tail of his plane.

Subject: Obama explains National Anthem

Hot on the heels of his explanation for why he no longer wears a flag pin, presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama was forced to explain why he doesn’t follow protocol when the National Anthem is played.

According to the United States Code, Title 36, Chapter 10, Sec. 171, During rendition of the national anthem when the flag is displayed, all present except those in uniform are expected to stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart.

‘As I’ve said about the flag pin, I don’t want to be perceived as taking sides,’ Obama said. ‘There are a lot of people in the world to whom the American flag is a symbol of oppression. And the anthem itself conveys a war-like message. You know, the bombs bursting in air and all. It should be swapped for something less parochial and less bellicose. I like the song ‘I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing.’ If that were our anthem, then I might salute it.’

WHAAAAAAAT!!!!!!!!!! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this could possibly be our next president. I, for once, am speechless.

He better take sides..........if he is not on the side of AMERICA he MUST NOT EVEN BE CONSIDERED for the office he is seeking . We do not need a man in office that will not sa lute the flag. The world knows how to sing, what they need to know is that the USA will defend what that flag stands for.

Larry,
You are Soooo misinformed. Before you blow another gasket and go off on a tirade about how horrible American women are, I’d like to point out that there is not one thing in your post that is acurate. BTW: I don’t wear an American flag pin on my suit. How much of a brain do you have left? Are you sure that you are anti-Walmart? If so Why? Tell me Why you are against Wal*Mart?

The Republicans are really turning into a bitter, divisive, bunch of total screw-ups, who can’t admit when they make a mistake. And there are still people willing to support them.~~~~~~Resurrected Bobby~~~Note:Or,to paraphrase uber Repube Phil Gramm ,"A nation of bitter,Republican whinos! “

Booby,
Third time- if you dont want to answer just say so instead of spinning.

Do you own or rent?
Have you really invested in America? If so How?

You dont wear an American Flag pin on your suit, because your not an American either, Nor Are you an Elected Official who’s job is to Represent the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA-

What a dumb sh*t

BTW: I don’t recall seeing John McCain OR Sarah Impalin wearing flag pins in any photos recently.

speaking of “support”

You might want to show some appreciation to the Man who supports you-ddrb, and get off here. Make the poor man a decent home cooked meal -if you know how!

Maybe you can cut & paste some recipes and try to make yourself useful.

Ah never mind- poor guy!

your insignificant stint on here doesnt count for- or amount to anything worthwhile.

ddrb,
Is that “whinos” or “whiners”? It’s interesting how this financial melt down mirrors the Wal*Mart controversy. It shows how divided and fragile America as a Nation has become. No more of this United We Stand, Divided We Fall stuff. I can tell you that there are no “happy campers” in Bobby Land right now. We all really thought that they would do the smart thing today. I don’t think that people like Larry know how much of America they mortgaged off to the Chinese and global market in the last 8-12 years. Wal*Mart is probably throwing a party at their headquarters right now. This meltdown is going to be great for bringing more people down to their level.

wll bobby back alive stop your bitching and crying because nobody cares about your bs so shut your big mouth on wm being against.you are too dam lazy and selfish to figure whats goingon with your favorite high priced union crap stores selling the same junk from china

well denise stark you might as well boycott every other company you shop at regularly and favor because they buy the same crap from china that wm does so quit your bitching.that dont stop you from shopping at all your favorite stores.all your favorite stores im sure owe a lot of back taxes too and why dont you get on the irs to garnish your favorite stores profits?

m att hew vantress in gresham,oregon
Friday, July 18 at 10:27 AM

hey mr ian cree where is the same lets hold target,costco,k-mart,ufcw union grocery stores and all the stores you favor accountable argument you use on wm?because all these stores sold the same toxic toys you bitched at wm for selling and we never heard crap from you on that so shut your big mouth on wm doing it.you are too dam lazy and selfish to hold your favorite high cost stores to the same standards.

OMG!!!!!
Matt posted more than two sentences!! And guess what? He doesn’t Like the UFCW!!!!!!!!!!!
I had NO idea!!!!!

Bobby: Gramm called all of us a nation of whiners. I called the Repubes,’whinos”.Wall Street “RINO WHINOS”. Believe me,they’re a lot of them that will be drinking Thunderbird instead of Cristalle,now....probably purchased at WalMartWonder if they will save more and live better,now? Let the whining begin. I’ll drink to that....but make mine Jameison’s.

Looney,
“Third time- if you dont want to answer just say so instead of spinning.”

“Do you own or rent? “
Own.

“Have you really invested in America? If so How? “
In way’s that are beyond your feeble comprehension.

“You dont wear an American Flag pin on your suit, because your not an American either, Nor Are you an Elected Official who’s job is to Represent the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA-

What a dumb sh*t “
Time to take your meds. (or, I know you are but what am ?)

You are a Wal*Mart Supporter who poses as a “concerned citizen” and then acts like a less than informed person. I don’t think you have an ounce of credibility.

Jeez…

ddrb,
there is a limit to what I am willing to put out for public consumption but I have had some experience with Jameison’s back in the day… And I’m not possitive but I think I may have run into S.P. too. Her oldest has a family resemblence : )

P.S.: I predict that unions will be more attractive than ever,as I said to my husband today,over a lovingly prepared lunch((((blush))).The collective power of the American voice spoke loudly to Wahington about this “Bailout”. A collective voice will be more important than ever as the job market contracts further,IMHO. But since WalMart will be theoretically making record profits off of others’ record losses, they can ostensibly afford higher salaries and benfits.After all,wouldn’t that be an act of patriotism to help jumpstart the labor market?

ddrb,
It would be great to see Wal*Mart lead the way to a better America. But having woked with some of the top executives, I wouldn’t bet the farm… Just look at them making fun of the burned up 12 year old. THAT IS WAL*MART. Plain and simple. A scorpion is always going to be a scorpion. For some reason it has become impossible for some entities to admit their mistakes. As a Christian (who doesn’t have a flag tatooed on my arse) I beleve in renewal and redemption. Many Americans seem to be running in a “different” direction.

Resurrected Bobby: Bobby, I suppose it is somewhat “Pollyanna” to expect a vampire to ever donate blood.

Just look at them making fun of the burned up 12 year old. THAT IS WAL*MART. ~~~~~Bobby~~~NOTE: How come this video hasn’t made its way onto Keith Olbermann? Wonder what WalMart moms would think about it? Remember the Debbie Shank situation? Olbermann called WalMart the “Worst Person in the World” every day until WalMart altered its position, and allowed the brain damaged employee to keep the insurance money originally awarded her.

Looney,
With all your “served the country” ferver and all I guess we can all assume that you voted for John Kerry in the last election right?

Looney,
With all your “served the country” ferver and all I guess we can all assume that you voted for John Kerry in the last election right?

ddrb,
OK ,
I just had to make a trip “upstairs”.
Why isn’t the video on Kieth Olberman? That is a question to pose to the people who run this and other (?) Wal*Mart sites. I can tell you that we have plenty of “distraction” Thanks to our elected officials in Washington… I was surprized that Paul Newman got any press the last couple of days.

By voting down the proposed $700 billion financial bailout package — and causing a spectacular stock market rout — a majority of members in the House of Representatives made a clear statement that they didn’t want to put taxpayers on the hook for the failures of financial institutions.

But there’s a catch: taxpayers are already on the hook for the failures of financial institutions, and it’s possible that the bill will actually be larger without bailout legislation than with it. That’s because the regulators who mind the financial industry — the Federal Reserve, Treasury and FDIC — will keep doing what they’ve been doing: stepping in to prevent the chaotic failure of banks and other large financial institutions. This means continuing to put hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars at risk, but in a way that adheres to no clear plan of action and doesn’t require members of Congress to explicitly approve their actions.

On Monday afternoon, Wall Street basically stopped trading to watch TV — mainly CNBC — to see how the House of Representatives would vote on the $700 billion bailout package. When it first started looking like the bill would fail, the Dow plummeted 389 points, or 3.6%, in just seven minutes. If it had continued at that pace for much longer, this would have been perhaps the most harrowing day in stock market history. It didn’t, but things were still really, really bad. The Dow ended the day down 778 points, or 7%, and the S&P;500 — a better measure of the overall market — was down 107 points, or 8.8%, its worst performance since the 1987 market crash.

Bobby,

“It’s kinda funny that in the very last days of his presidency Dubya finally tries to do something right and his own party screws it up. The Republicans are really turning into a bitter, divisive, bunch of total screw-ups, who can’t admit when they make a mistake.”

It’s funny that you would blame the Republicans for the defeat of the ‘bailout’ bill, when it was clearly both parties who did it!!  The vote was only 13 votes short of what was needed, but, 92 Democrats voted against the bill as well!!  Why?  Because the politicians were more interested in holding their seats, than what was good for it’s citizens!!  It was claimed that citizens were calling in, 100 to 1 for A VOTE AGAINST THE BILL!!  Most citizens haven’t a clue what this bill was all about, but it was hyped as a ‘bailout for Wall Street by the taxpayers’, instead of what it really was, ‘a way to save the American banking system’!!  The bill would have put up $700 billion to buy up default mortgages and in the end, the taxpayers could actually have MADE money from it!!  But, I heard today, that investors LOST over a Trillion dollars, so when people look at their IRA’s and 401K’s, they will see that they, as taxpayers, lost much more than if the bill had passed!!

As an Independent, it should have been clear to you, that BOTH sides of the aisle were to blame for their partisanship and worrying about protecting their own jobs, rather than the welfare of the country!!  In the upcoming election, the voters should throw the whole bunch out that are up for re-election, but, guess what, they will mostly be back next year, because the voters, believe that Congress did the right thing now, but, they will regret it in the end!!

It’s interesting how this financial melt down mirrors the Wal*Mart controversy.

One parallel that leaps off the page at me is the pro Wal-Mart crowd’s obsession with defending the indefensible. Wal-Mart is the scum of the earth and so is George Bush, Dick Cheney, the vast majority of Republicans, and of course, John McCain.

Did I leave anyone out?

...they will regret it in the end!!

You sound a little desperate, RDS. Those good ‘choice’ investments not panning out? Now’s the time to talk self-reliance. You know, pull yourself up by the bootstraps.

“I wonder how many times you have to be hit on the head before you find out who’s hitting you? It’s about time that the people of America realized what the Republicans have been doing to them.” - Harry Truman

“Did I leave anyone out?” ~Ken V

Yeah!  Henry Paulson.  Unless you’re counting him with “the vast majority of Republicans.”

Paulson has been described as more of a “day trader” than “a banker”.  Paulson made over $120 million as a former executive with Goldman Sachs.  He’s been largely operating with little or no resistance or oversight from elected officials...until yesterday that is.

Yeah I believe the situation is “urgent” for Paulson and the Good ‘Ol Boys Club he’s been a part of for so long.

He took something like left Goldman Sachs with something like $120 million.

RDS in,
I read the roll call, You are correct this is a bipartisan fiasco. I sum it up as a bunch of political Posturing in a time of crisis. The idea that we need a bailout at all sux. But as things now stand, it would have been alot better for the tax payers to do the bailout a couple of months ago. As things now stand we are absorbing bad debt period. At least with the bailout there is a chance of the taxpayers getting a return on their investment. A lot of people are throwing arround alot of buzz words, etc. And turning this into a chance for politicians to come in for their photo ops and act like “heros”. Let’s hope that as we move forward we learn from our mistakes.

Screwed,
Like Dick Cheney and Halliburton, who said Paulson has really ever left Goldman (a big Wal*Mart supporter).
I personally don’t have a problem with people, including bankers doing well. But since Reaganomics, we have seen a lot of people who are no less than traitors selling off Americas Heritage as well as it’s Future and getting filthy rich doing it. That has to stop. That is why I always tell people to go through their 401K’s and investments and make sure their money is invested in a future with a great quality of life in America IE: Dump Wal*Mart Stock. Goldman has been pushing Wal*Mart heavily in the past several months… They are hedging their bets in a most “Anti-American Way”. So if anybody wants to blame “the Fat Cat Bankers” for the current problems, don’t look at the failed banks. Look at Goldman.

Ken V,

“You sound a little desperate, RDS. Those good ‘choice’ investments not panning out? Now’s the time to talk self-reliance. You know, pull yourself up by the bootstraps.”

I didn’t say I will regret it, I’m still in great shape even with the big market drop yesterday, but, I’ll bet many people will look at their IRA’s and 401K’s and be a little desperate!!  I was just stating the facts about how the politicians would rather save their seats, than help the nation!!

“That is why I always tell people to go through their 401K’s and investments and make sure their money is invested in a future with a great quality of life in America”

The problem is, most people want to ‘Make money’ off their investments and it is a fact that overall the ‘sin’ stocks seem to do better than the ‘quality of life’ stocks!!  They also want to invest in stocks that go UP, not the ones that stay stable or go down!!

Didn’t We Have This “Discussion” a Few Times?

“a future with a great quality of life”

You’re the last person who should be talking about “the quality of life,” RDS.  You don’t believe in the concept.  The minute we start talking about the “quality of life,” you go off on a tangent with one of your rants, asking your ridiculous rhetorical questions like, “does this mean that everyone needs a 50” plasma television?” Like John McCain, you don’t get it.  You never have and never will.

When this topic last came up during commenting about the full meaning of the words “right to life...” in the Declaration of Independence, it was your opinion that the “right to life” had nothing to do with “the quality of life.” I believe you stated the “right to life” as used by the early founders of this country, only meant that all people have the right “not to be killed.”

Don’t make me choke you with your own words again, because you know I can!

You’re Still Not Off the Hook, RDS

I just noticed that you were actually quoting “Bobby,” RDS.

“A future with a great quality of life,” were not your words, but his.

But this just proves my point… that’s not something we’d ever hear you say.

The problem is, most people want to ‘Make money’ off their investments~~~~~RDS~~~~~~~~~NOTE: You don’t say? Who’d uh thunk it,RDS? Is that an example of your reasoning?Here’s ANOTHER example of faulty judgment:~~~~~~~~~Poll:” Public Rejects McCain’s Claim That Dems To Blame For Bailout Collapse”
By Eric Kleefeld - September 30, 2008, 12:35PM
It looks like the McCain campaign’s efforts to pin the failure of the bailout on Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats aren’t getting any traction, according to the new ABC/Washington Post poll, the first survey to look at this issue.

The numbers: Among registered voters, 44% blame the Congressional Republicans—that is, the ones who actually voted against the bailout—compared to only 21% who blame Congressional Dems, and 17% who blame both equally.

Also, the Democratic arguments over who is to blame for the crisis appear to be winning the day. George W. Bush is seen as the single most important cause of the crisis by 25% of voters, followed by financial institutions with 18%. Congress is blamed by only eight percent~~~~~~~~~TPM Election Central

sin’ stocks seem to do better than the ‘quality of life’ stocks!!  They also want to invest in stocks that go UP, not the ones that stay stable or go down!! ~~~~~~~~~~RDS~~~~NOTE: Since you and your compadres crow about WalMart stock being “recession proof,"does this mean you consider WalMart a “sin” stock?

Speaking of Goldman Sachs:~~~~~Murphy Oil
Jun 9, 2008

Murphy Oil Upgraded by Goldman, Downgraded by JPMorgan
Analysts disagreed Monday on how much Murphy Oil Corp. might gain from its stake in an oilfield in Malaysia, with Goldman Sachs giving a strong recommendation and JPMorgan downgrading the stock.~~~~~~~~~

ddrb in
Sunday, July 20 at 03:31 PM

Sacks of gold ? : Hedge Fund Swindler Sam Israel’s Latest Victim: Goldman Sachs
Corey Lorinsky | Jul 18, 08
Sam Israel’s $250 million fraud and fake suicide are still leaving casualties. Now his defrauded Bayou Hedge Fund investors are trying to recoup some of their long-gone cash by going after Goldman Sachs (GS).

As the prime broker for Bayou, Goldman had a view of all Israel’s trades. And despite numerous inconsistencies in Israel’s reporting, the bank never intervened (NYT):

From August 1999 to August 2005, Bayou had losses of more than $88 million — a figure disclosed as a line item under “year-to-date profit or loss” on the Goldman statement.

But Goldman knew that Bayou was reporting significant gains to investors, the suit charges....

In early 2004, Bayou provided materials to Goldman that claimed it had earned a return of almost 18 percent since its inception — a figure the suit says was “completely inconsistent with the actual returns the Bayou Funds had been realizing in their trading accounts at G.S.E.C., in which they had done nothing but lose money.”

Bizarrely, the lawsuit only seeks $20 million from Goldman. Let’s see if that even covers legal fees~~~~~~~~~~~Note: You may recall that Mr. Israel attempted to fake his own suicide,but eventually turned himself in.

ddrb in
Monday, July 21 at 07:13 PM~~~~~~~~~~~Note: There was a discussion about GolDman Sachs and Murphy OIL here,back in July.  The Sam Israel swindle is a drop in the bucket compared to the kidnap and hijacking of the American taxpayer.

ddrb,
I’ve got a lot of aquaintences that work at Goldman… That being said, I ‘m beginning to really wonder how this one bank comes out so squeeky clean in this whole mess. They were the financial force behind the Wal*Mart expansion and now saint Warren Buffit has dumpped a bunch of $$$ into the company… What does he know that we don’t?

Oh,
That’s right…
Paulson used to run the company…
No wonder so many people are against the bail out.

… that’s not something we’d ever hear you say.

In order to validate their consumption habits, folks like RDS deny the existence of ‘quality’ in any form. Don’t you remember mary arguing with me that there is no quality difference in toilet paper. (You’d have to be a real hardass to believe that.:o)

<i>"The Gross National Product measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile, and it can tell us everything about America—except whether we are proud to be Americans” ~ Robert Kennedy

Ken: I think that “quality’ is a standard that has become perhaps a bit esoteric . Rather like the difference between a bargain as opposed to a value. You must have a point of reference in order to differentiate between the two. Some folks have a “poverty” mindset, no matter how much money they’ve got. And the more they have, the cheaper they become. BTW,WHO could forget the toilet paper pom-poms?

P.S.: “Lower expectations....ALWAYS!”

Bobby:For all you do,this one’s for YOU!~~~~~~“Sucking up to Bankers"~~The most egregious of Gramm’s legislative favors to the financiers took the form of legislation named in part after him--the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which became law only after then-Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin prevailed upon President Clinton to sign the bill. The bill’s immediate major effect was to legitimize the long-sought merger between Citibank and insurance giant Travelers. Rubin’s critical support for the bill was rewarded with an appointment, within days of its passage, to a top job at Citibank (later Citigroup) paying more than $15 million a year.

After all, Goldman Sachs, where Rubin spent 25 years of his business career before entering the Clinton administration, has been one of the prime corporate villains in the financial shenanigans that led to the subprime mortgage scandal. As co-chairman of the firm, surely he had knowledge of the financial hanky-panky that would prove so disastrous down the road. Indeed, as Treasury secretary, he favored an extension of the deregulation that enabled this explosion of banking avarice. Not surprisingly, the current Treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, also previously headed Goldman.

When Rubin assumed a top position at Citibank after his stint at the Treasury, he was not above influencing his former employees in the government. In one notorious instance during the fall of 2001, when Enron was going down the tubes Rubin telephoned a Treasury undersecretary and asked him to consider intervening with credit-rating agencies to hold off downgrading Enron’s ratings. When the story was leaked, some media accounts noted the possibility of a conflict of interest because Enron owed Citibank $750 million, which it could not pay if bankrupt.

Despite his skills and his vaunted position as Citibank’s chairman, Rubin was not spared the disastrous consequences of Citibank’s own wild financial manipulations, which, if anything, exceeded those of Enron. Tens of billions in bad mortgage and credit card debt placed the bank at the forefront of the current economic crisis, and so it is weird that Obama would now turn to Rubin for advice.

The bigger problem is that folks such as Rubin and Furman, perhaps best known as an economist for his bold but woefully misguided defense of the Wal-Mart business model, clearly do not feel the pain of the voters who are losing their homes.

But then again, why should Rubin, or Gramm on the Republican side, be expected to care when he has made so many millions off the suffering of those voters? Not good at a time when we need a presidential candidate who sticks it to the bankers instead of sucking up to them. ~~~~~~~

Robert Scheer is author of a new book, “The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America.” ~~~~~June.08~~~~~~~~~NOTE: Goldman Sachs-the “gift that keeps on taking,” NOT giving.

Screwedby,

“I just noticed that you were actually quoting “Bobby,” RDS.

“A future with a great quality of life,” were not your words, but his.”

That’s right, but it proves that you don’t always know what you are talking about!!

“The minute we start talking about the “quality of life,” you go off on a tangent with one of your rants, asking your ridiculous rhetorical questions like, “does this mean that everyone needs a 50” plasma television?” Like John McCain, you don’t get it.  You never have and never will.”

Here you go, I do believe in “quality of life”, but, where we disagree, is you believe that “quality of life” is a RIGHT and I believe that it has to be EARNED!!  You believe that everyone DESERVES to have “quality of life” given to them, no matter what they do, and I believe that people who work, deserve a ‘better “quality of life” than people who don’t work for it!!

I sometimes get the impression when you talk, that you are kind of like the character in the movie “Failure to Launch”, who depends on others to support you and your lifestyle!!  You fail to reveal what you do for a living, you seem to have plenty of time to attend anti rallies and work on a movie, you seem to mention your mother as if you live with her, in ‘her’ house and your girlfriend is living there too!!

ddrb,

“Poll:” Public Rejects McCain’s Claim That Dems To Blame For Bailout Collapse” “

First, a poll before the ‘bailout’ vote, stated that most people wanted it to ‘collapse’, second, all the Dems needed to do when they saw the ‘vote’ was failing, was to commit 13 of the 95 Democrat votes ‘Against’ to the ‘For’ side!!  They even held the ‘vote’ open for over 15 minutes and the Dems wouldn’t budge!!

“Since you and your compadres crow about WalMart stock being “recession proof,"does this mean you consider WalMart a “sin” stock?”

I should have known, with your ability to ‘tie’ everything together, you would make it seem as if I was calling Wal-Mart stock, a ‘sin’ stock!!  You somehow can’t separate one part of an arguement from another!!  There are a lot of stocks, that are neither considered, ‘sin’ stocks nor ‘quality of life’ stocks!!

“Some folks have a “poverty” mindset, no matter how much money they’ve got. And the more they have, the cheaper they become.”

What you don’t understand, is that many people who get money, keep doing what ‘got them to the party’, (it’s called being thrifty), on the other hand, there are many people who live by the “more you make, the more you should spend’ concept and they spend their money as fast as they get it, and even spend money BEFORE they get it and run up debt (and they call ‘thrifty’ people names like misers or cheapskates)!!  The difference is, those who maintain tighter spending habits, tend to get their money to grow and can handle downturns, while the ‘Big Spenders’ tend to go bankrupt!!  That’s known as “Living a champagne lifestyle on a beer budget”!!  These are the same people whose houses are in foreclosure right now!!  Those ‘poverty mindset’ people you talk about, still have their houses and no credit card debt, they know how to HANDLE their money properly!!

You Better Read It Again...

“I believe that it has to be EARNED” ~RDS

This is your interpretation, of the Declaration of Independence. I seriously doubt if you’ve ever read the DOI, RDS.  You are without doubt, the most pitiful, willfully ignorant, narrow-minded, obstinately foolish, self-centered and undesireable specimen of humanity I’ve ever run across.

I’ll save you some time.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life…

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Some key words to focus on “truths,” “self-evident” (to everyone but people like you RDS), “endowed” (not EARNED), “Creator"(there is a power Higher than yourself, RDS), “Life,” “Governments,” and “consent.”

Like I’ve said many times, you never got it RDS, and you most likely never will.

I’m sure the writers and signers of the DOI as well as the U.S Constitution, had some concept in mind when they used the term “Life.” It transcends merely “being born” or being given the right “not to be killed” as you have maintained.  Why would we need “Governments” to be established if “Life” merely meant “being born?”

You see RDS, you need to get over your phobia.  The word “government” is not inherently bad.  One other key term to focus on here is “just powers.”

“With liberty and justice for all.” (yeah right!)

Screwed: “It transcends merely “being born” or being given the right “not to be killed” as you have maintained. “...Screwed, would you not think that someone who lost a child to a drunk driver would have MORE understanding of the import of these concepts,not LESS?

RDS:“Some folks have a “poverty” mindset, no matter how much money they’ve got. And the more they have, the cheaper they become.” ~~~~~~~~~~NOTE: Case in point,Tom Coughlin. This guy was making millions in WalMart salary and stock options and retirement, but the “greedy cheapskate” mindset esulted in theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars..That’s not need, that’s greed. Same on Wall Street. The subprime mortgages are the tip of a submerged iceberg. The Wall Street “bailout” is a CYA for “off the books betting”,and now time has come to pay up. That Basra II accord REQUIRES enough capital be in reserve within a certain time frame OR other internaional banks will be forbidden to interact with the US banks. The birds of prey who feathered their nest by picking ours clean are coming home to roost.Its gonna be a chilly winter for those who’ve been plucked clean.

Could You Pass the New Citizenship Test?

Here’s a link to an interesting article:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/01/citizenship.test/index.html

I had a close friend who became a US Citizen a couple of years back. They studied their butt off. I decided to pick up some of the material and see what the US government want’s it’s citizens to know about America and being American. Having read most of the types of questions and information, It dawned on me that about ~ 40-50% of the American voting public probably could not pass the test to be citizens themselves. The political mechanisms in this country, The Karl Roves, Rush Limbaughs, Churches, Corporations, the “Sound Bite” News Media, etc have overwhelmed the public with so many out of context snippet’s, of policy and history that a very large part of the population probably couldn’t qualify as new citizens… I think that it would be interesting to get the test out to everyone who wants to vote and see if they pass. Nothing manditory. I just wonder how it would affect the peoples thought proccess. Everybody thinks they have all the answers, these days. I have always found it very liberating when I find out I’ve made a mistake and learn something new. I think it would do a lot of good for everyone to take the Citizenship Test.

Screwedby,

““We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life…”

Here’s what you fail to understand, being created equal, doesn’t mean ‘equal forever’ and it says ‘endowed by their Creator’, not endowed by the Government!!  The government allows you the ‘opportunity’ to remain ‘equal’, by following certain standards, ie: Does a prison inmate have the same rights to ‘freedom’ as a non-inmate?

“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” “

Wouldn’t that mean, that those rights are not just handed out to everybody freely, but, rather earned by putting forth certain standards of behavior, as deemed by the citizens, through government, to be proper behavior?

“Like I’ve said many times, you never got it RDS, and you most likely never will.”

You are the one who ‘doesn’t get it’ and until you hop off your high horse and see things as they ARE instead of how you think they should be, you never will get it!!

“Why would we need “Governments” to be established if “Life” merely meant “being born?””

And, why would we need “Governments”, if “Life”, just meant you are entitled to anything you wanted?  Communism advocates everyone ‘shares in the wealth’, no matter what their participation is, we don’t operate under Communism, we are a Republic, in which everybody shares in the spoils of their own efforts and we ‘choose’ as a society, to ‘share’ what we feel is necessary with others as we see fit to, but it is not ‘required’ of us to treat everyone as ‘equals’ and therefore entitled to everything equally!!  One person, is not required to give half of their paycheck (which they earned working), to their neighbor who didn’t work, to make them equal!!  All that means is ‘Equal Opportunity’, not ‘Equal Benefit”!!  If you remember, ‘slaves’ were not even considered as ‘equal humans’, much less ‘equal’ in rights to wealth, by the founders!!

“I’m sure the writers and signers of the DOI as well as the U.S Constitution, had some concept in mind when they used the term “Life.””

Yes, and that concept was, “If you worked hard and obeyed the rules, you could obtain what came to be known as The American Dream”, but, “If you decided you were just entitled to freebee’s all your life, just because you were born, you would not be able to obtain that American Dream”!!

It’s all so simple, I don’t understand why it is that you don’t get it!!  The Declaration of Independence was the concept, but, the Constitution set the standards!!  You keep mixing them up!!

In a Nutshell...

You’re nuts RDS!  You’re so morally and spiritually bankrupt I can’t even bring myself to feel sorry for you.  I should have used my own better judgement and followed Ken V’s advice...having any kind of a logical discussion with you is trying to do the impossible.  It would be more psychologically satisfying to dialogue with a rock.

Some day...maybe a lot sooner than you think, you’ll reap what you’ve been sowing.  Say hello to Ebenezer Scrouge when you see him.

Screwed: “You’re so morally and spiritually bankrupt I can’t even bring myself .....” Screwed...Note: THANK GOD we are not being asked for a “philosophical l “ bailout of RDS’ monumental “moral overdraft! “

Wouldn’t that mean, that those rights are not just handed out to everybody freely, but, rather earned by putting forth certain standards of behavior, as deemed by the citizens, through government, to be proper behavior?~~~~~~~~~Note: No they are NOT handed out freely. That’s why lobbyists and P.R. folks command the salaries they do.

Time For a Re-cap...

1. Your views are perverted and distorted at best, RDS.

2. You got it half correct… YES, people are endowed with rights from their Creator… NO, government was never intended to be the grantor of these rights.

3.  The rights referred to in the DOI, preexist the formation of governments.  NO--- rights are not “handed out” as you suggest.  They are are not “EARNED.”

4. WE (the governed), according to the writers of the DOI, agreed to the formation of a government “to secure” the rights we already had.  To do this, “we the people,” granted our government “just powers.”

Is any of this getting through to you, numbskull?

4. Whoever said that people should be entitled “to whatever they wanted?” (come to think of it, it was YOU!) Nobody I know of on this blog has ever advocated this.  This is just another one of your many perversions!

5. The argument has always been about access to the same healthcare for everyone, access to plenty of jobs that provide people with the wage and means to pay for necessities such as adequate and affordable housing, a good and affordable education, and proper nutrition.  These are the “basic things” that add the “quality to life.” Where do you see frills here, RDS?  What should we eliminate?  Where do you see that anyone is calling for cartpushers at WalMart to make as much as a doctor or a lawyer?  Quit coming up with these kinds of lame, specious, made-up-as-you-go “arguments”.

Yes, I agree.  “It’s all so simple.” Quite trying to obfuscate things with all your double talk.

Screwed:” These are the “basic things” that add the “quality to life.”… What should we eliminate? “..... NOTE: Umm, just a guess....how about RDS, AND his multiple sockpuppetry incarnations,ad infintum?

BTW: Do you,by any chance , remember the WAL-NUTZ and Jacques Strap(a.k.a. Bob,etc. )?

Screwedby,

“that among these are Life…”

It’s funny, that you stopped at that point, because right after that, it says Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness!!  You talked about KEY words, what about the key word “PURSUIT”?  It doesn’t say that you have the right, to ‘happiness’, it says the “Pursuit” of happiness (which means YOU have to pursue it)!!  And, where does it say that you have the ‘right’ to even the basics of life?  Where does it say, that everyone is entitled to: “access to the same healthcare for everyone, access to plenty of jobs that provide people with the wage and means to pay for necessities such as adequate and affordable housing, a good and affordable education, and proper nutrition.”?  Who was it that provided access to healthcare, jobs, housing, education and proper nutrition, for the pioneers and settlers?

“Whoever said that people should be entitled “to whatever they wanted?” (come to think of it, it was YOU!) Nobody I know of on this blog has ever advocated this.”

When the ‘living wage’ is brought up and welfare, that is the same as giving people what they THINK they NEED!!  Do you know why they ‘stopped’ the ‘food stamp’ program and replaced it with a debit type card?  Because people were ‘selling’ food stamps to buy booze, drugs and other things!!

Your problem is, that you look at America in this manner: The only ‘bad’ people are people of wealth, all others are just ‘victims’ of society!!  You refuse to accept the fact, that there are ‘bad’ people at ALL levels of society and they are not forced to be murderers, rapists, thieves, gang members, drug addicts and generational welfare recipients, they are where they are at, because of ‘choices’ they made and continue to make!!  And, to say they deserve ‘better’ than what they have, (by their own choice), to be paid for by people who made ‘good’ choices and obeyed the rules, just doesn’t fit with the ideals this country was founded on!!  You talk about ‘equals’, do you consider yourself an ‘equal’ to a ‘child molester’?  Or, have you EARNED the right not to be called a ‘child molester’, by the act of not molesting a child?

You can call me all the names you choose, but the fact is, I’m not sponging like a ‘leach’ off of others!!  What I have in life, is what my wife and I earned, it wasn’t given to us!!  And, we don’t feel we are entitled to anything more than that!!  You can say that I’m perverted in my views, but they are the views that people have had since this country started, I’m willing to HELP people, but, I’m NOT willing to SUPPORT people who are unwilling to help themselves, because they think they have the ‘RIGHT’ to ask me to do it for them!!

This is it...I’m Done.  I Leave RDS to the Rest of You!

“It’s funny...”

There you go again, RDS.  Everything is “funny” to you.  The only really funny thing I saw in your whole response is that you’re “willing to HELP people.” Call it an “insult” if you want, I have never met a more self-centered person than you’ve demonstrated you are.  If you somehow think your wacked out views are representative of the “mainstream” and that they are the views people have had “since this country started,” you are one deluded soul.  Anyone who’s been reading this blog for more than a month, knows what a me-first miser you are.  I noticed you couldn’t unevivocally say, “I’m willing to help people,” and stop there.  The next word out of your mouth was “but.” There’s always a catch, or condition, right?

Your entire rant was too unbelieveable to respond to point by point.  There appear to be a lot of things that haunt you and go bump in the night.  Maybe that’s why you’re such a “night owl.” Maybe you resist going to sleep because you fear you might not wake up?

Let’s look at some of your other fears you brought up in your last two posts:  “communism,” murderers, rapists, thieves, gang members, drug addicts, generational welfare recipients, prison inmates, child molesters, food stamps, booze, drugs and other things.  What a “cheery little world-view you have.  It’s always about the extremes with you isn’t it?

Hey you left out two of my favorites… sex and rock ‘n roll!

Yeah that’s right!  It is about the “PURSUIT.” I think it’s pretty hard to “pursue” other things when many good, hard-working, ethical people are finding their jobs “outsourced” or eliminated these days.  It’s about JOBS, JOBS, JOBS stupid.  FDR understood this.  The $700 billion “rescue money” should be put towards public service types of projects that will repair and fix this country’s decaying infrastructure and put people to work.  That should make you happy RDS, because then they could “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.”

It’s precisely the me-first philosophy that you exemplify so well RDS, and the “pursuit of happiness” (some might just call it greed) on Wall Street and in the corporate board rooms of America, that has gotten us into the mess we’re in today.  This, combined with the “lack of pursuit” (call this monitoring and oversight) by our “fearless leaders” in Washington, has created this Perfect Economic Storm.

RDS: “What I have in life, is what my wife and I earned, it wasn’t given to us!!  And, we don’t feel we are entitled to anything more than that!!"RDS~~~~~~~~~NOTE: Then why did you feel entitled to a pension for which you were actually ineligible, because YOU did not have ENOUGH years invested? Isn’t that an example of entitlement thinking?

I just have to wonder how many people vote Republican simply because they advertise themselves as “Anti-Abortion” or “Pro-Life”. What would happen to the party if the didn’t have this one very devisive issue. They have been milking it for years, but at the same time they seem to be against anything that might prevent unwanted prenancies. Does anybody here think that the Republican leadership REALLY want’s this debate to go away anytime soon? I don’t know a single person who is “Pro” Abortion. I’m on this board to address a major problem facing the United States, Wal*Martization. I know there are a lot of pretty colors and all kinds of distractions to keep everyones minds busy.

I’ll use an old but still appropriate analogy: The people of America are like a frog. If you put a frog in a pot of water and turn on the heat, it will sit there as the water slowly heats up and eventually comes to a boil. This is how America has become as a country. If you put a frog in a pot of boiling water it simply hops out. Wal*Mart Moms and their Ilk are just like the first frog. The Water is starting to boil and they have barely noticed.

You are without doubt...willfully ignorant.

Excellent turn of phrase, Screwed. Don’t you know that intelligence and education are nothing but left-wing Liberal elitist ideas?

You can’t fix stupid! ~ Ron White

Good Analogy Bobby!

“The frog in the water” is a great analogy, Bobby.  You’re right.  It accurately describes what has been happening to America over the years.

While our jobs have been getting sent overseas, while our students are falling farther behind their peers in other parts of the world, while the dollar has sunk to all-time lows, while we’ve been amassing record debts to other countries (i.e. China), while there has been unparalleled greed on Wall Street, while politicians work more for big corporations than for the citizens who elected them, while there has been gridlock in Washington, most Americans have been lulled to sleep in the “slowly heating waters” of the economy.

Some people refer to this as the “dumbing down” of America.

We’ve become a fat, spoiled nation of hyper-consumers.  Catchy slogans like George H. Bush’s “kinder gentler nation” or Ronald Reagan’s view of America as “a shining city upon a hill” with its beacon light of freedom, are just that--- catchy slogans or sound bites.

The real truth is that America is allowing itself to destroyed from within.

Most people, especially the politicians, won’t get it untill things get much much worse than they are now.  Then it may be too late.

The best thing everyone could do this holiday season is hold onto their wallets… hold onto their plastic… and send a loud and very clear message not only to WalMart, but also to every other retailer that is trying to jump start the shopping season 96 days before Christmas.  Let the crap rot on their store shelves.

This year families should go out and buy a big turkey, light a fire in the fireplace (if you have one), raise a toast with a glass of egg nog or two and remember the words of Tiny Tim…

“God bless us everyone”.

Screwedby,

“I have never met a more self-centered person than you’ve demonstrated you are.  If you somehow think your wacked out views are representative of the “mainstream” and that they are the views people have had “since this country started,” you are one deluded soul.”

I guess if you equate being ‘personally responsible’ for my life and NOT depending on others to DO for me, then I guess you could say I’m self-centered!!  I just can’t understand how you can think that the people of this country, didn’t hold the view that “Hard work”, “personal responsibility” and NOT being a ‘freeloader’, and were WACKO concepts to them and they really wanted the government to do everything for them!!  I don’t know what HISTORY book you have, but, mine shows how the people of this country suffered many hardships (without government help), to build the country you now take so much for granted!!

“Let’s look at some of your other fears you brought up in your last two posts:  “communism,” murderers, rapists, thieves, gang members, drug addicts, generational welfare recipients, prison inmates, child molesters, food stamps, booze, drugs and other things.  What a “cheery little world-view you have.  It’s always about the extremes with you isn’t it?”

And, you DON’T think these are problems of ever INCREASING proportion?  Pick up a newspaper once in awhile and see if these things are actually happening!!  But, I guess they are ‘minor’ and aren’t important to you!!

“It’s about JOBS, JOBS, JOBS stupid.”

Here’s where you totally contradict yourself!!  First you say, it all about JOBS, JOBS, JOBS and then you say “We’ve become a fat, spoiled nation of hyper-consumers.” and “The best thing everyone could do this holiday season is hold onto their wallets”, well, I don’t know how you think JOBS are created, when people AREN’T buying things!!  If a business can’t get people to buy things, how can they keep paying people, to do nothing?  But, I still think you DON’T work, so, you might not know about how a job works!!

“Some people refer to this as the “dumbing down” of America.”

And, if people look in the dictionary for “dumbing down”, they would see your picture!!

ddrb,

“Then why did you feel entitled to a pension for which you were actually ineligible”

Wouldn’t you feel cheated, if money was put in a ‘fund’ for you and after 11 years, you didn’t get one penny of it?  The fact that the union would put a limit of 15 years, before a memeber could draw ANYTHING from the fund, is a ‘good’ example of how well the union looks out for their members!!  Like I said, NO NON-UNION company I have worked for ever put a 15 year time limit for vesting!!  That is why I’m mad at the union, not because I didn’t get my pension money, I thought they were looking out for MY welfare, not their’s!!

Bobby,

“I just have to wonder how many people vote Republican simply because they advertise themselves as “Anti-Abortion” or “Pro-Life”. What would happen to the party if the didn’t have this one very devisive issue. They have been milking it for years”

To be ‘fair’, the Democrats have been milking “Tax Breaks for the Rich”, for years too!!  You can’t listen to a Democrat talk for more than 1 minute, before they say that!!

You remind me of the mental ‘eraser’ used in Men In Black, RDS.

((((((((((FLASH))))))))))

Eight years with a Republican President have been good for America! The worst attack on US soil since Pearl Harbor didn’t happen. The worse financial crisis since the Great Depression didn’t happen. Obscene compensation for CEOs of failed corporations are good! Runaway budget deficits and ballooning national debt are goodYou are better off than you were under a Democrat administration.

Got your mind right yet, Joe Sixpack?

The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of the people from ever questioning the inequity of a system where most people drudge along, paying heavy taxes for which they get nothing in return. ~ Gore Vidal

“well, I don’t know how you think JOBS are created, when people AREN’T buying things!!"RDS~~~~~~~~~~NOTE:  How about when people are MANUFACTURING things? Doesn’t THAT create jobs?Preferably HERE,in THIS country,for a welcome change!

ddrc,

“How about when people are MANUFACTURING things? Doesn’t THAT create jobs”

Oh, but what good does MANUFACTURING things do, if NO ONE BUYS THEM?  It may create jobs, but you need INCOME from sales to pay those workers!!  What ‘good’ is a job, if you can’t get PAID for doing it, because nobody is buying what you made?

But, I guess the government could just pay the workers to make things and put them into a warehouse, but, then again, where would the government get their money to do that, if nobody was paying taxes on income and sales?

Ken V,

“Eight years with a Republican President have been good for America! The worst attack on US soil since Pearl Harbor didn’t happen. The worse financial crisis since the Great Depression didn’t happen. Obscene compensation for CEOs of failed corporations are good! Runaway budget deficits and ballooning national debt are goodYou are better off than you were under a Democrat administration.”

I don’t remember anyone on our side saying things were ‘good’ and those things ‘didn’t happen, it’s just a matter of shades of grey and finger pointing!!  Let me ask you some questions:

1.) When hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, was it Wal-Mart’s or Bush’s fault, that many of the citizens DIDN"T have insurance and the government ended up paying to rebuild?

2.) Was it Wal-Mart’s or Bush’s fault, that they had to rescue all the citizens that didn’t evacuate, but stayed to “ride out the storm”?

3.) Was it Wal-Mart’s or Bush’s fault that terrorists destroyed the twin towers?

4.) Is it Wal-Mart’s or Bush’s fault that the Congress, which controls the country’s ‘pursestrings’, that authorized that runaway spending and the war?

5.) Does Bush set CEO pay?

We acknowledge that these things happened, we just don’t place the blame on only Wal-Mart and Bush, many are to blame!!

“better off than you were under a Democrat administration.”

As we don’t have a “KING” system here, Congress has as much say in what happens as the Administration does and should get as much praise or blame as the President!!

Oh, but what good does MANUFACTURING things do, if NO ONE BUYS THEM?  It may create jobs, but you need INCOME from sales to pay those workers!!
where would the government get their money , if nobody was paying taxes on income and sales?

RDS in~~~~~~~~~~~~NOTE~~"where would the government get their money , if nobody was paying taxes on income and sales?"RDS~~~~~~~~ That is in great part EXACTLOY what is happening. If our government would NOT give tax breaks to American companies to"offshore" our factory jobs,in other words “reward” American business for shafting our manufacturing base, we WOULD have capital. Off the books accounting involving offshore accounting. The US ship has sailed and gone aground!

BTW:Without government, where would you get your tax write offs or Social Security?Or where would NAFTA and other foriegn country investments pad your stock portfolio or Tyson’s access to Marshall Islanders for cheap labor? Where would the deregulation of Wall Strret have turned international banking into a crap shoot,betting on “crap”? How would the Saudis ,the Chinese,Indians and Japanese have justified loaning money “off the books” to an economy who willingly bankrupted its own citizens?

ddrb,

“Without government, where would you get your tax write offs or Social Security?”

You are showing your ignorance again!!  First, a ‘tax write off’, is NOT the government GIVING me money, it just LOWERS the amount I have to PAY, therefore, a ‘tax write off’, doesn’t TAKE money from the government, so they don’t NEED to have money to GIVE!!  Second, Social Security money, was paid into the fund, by me and my employers, for 41 years, so they shouldn’t have to GET money to pay it, because it already HAS BEEN PUT IN THERE, and, if they spent it, that’s their fault, not mine!!  Besides, without the government FORCING me and my employers to put that money into the SS Fund (actually it’s the General Fund), I could have taken that money and invested it and made enough money, that I wouldn’t NEED Social Security!!

US job cuts at a five year high

The number of jobs axed was the biggest figure since March 2003
US employers cut 159,000 jobs in September, the most in more than five years, Labor Department figures show.

The data also showed the nation’s unemployment rate was steady at 6.1% as more workers were added to the ranks of the unemployed than analysts predicted.

The figures mark the ninth month in a row that the economy has lost jobs.

The number of jobs axed in September was the largest amount since March 2003, when the labour market was still reeling from the 2001 recession.

“The employment figures were weak in every important dimension,” said Pierre Ellis, senior economist at Decision Economics in New York.

“ These look pretty decisively to be the beginning of something worse. Employment declines were widespread and large.”

Manufacturers shed 51,000 jobs, construction companies cut 35,000 jobs, retailers lost 40,000 posts, business services axed 27,000 positions and financial services slashed 17,000 jobs.

There were also 17,000 posts cut in the leisure and hospitality sector.

The number of jobs being shed outstripped hiring gains by the government in education, health and other sectors.

First, a ‘tax write off’, is NOT the government GIVING me money, it just LOWERS the amount I have to PAY, RDS~~~~~~~~ First, a ‘tax write off’, is NOT the government GIVING me money, it just OFFSETS the amount I have to PAY,

Wal-Mart Goes After Estate Tax

Although much has been made of Wal-Mart’s new PR offensive to fluff up its public image, relatively little attention has been given to Wal-Mart’s new bid to be a political player. USA Today’s “Money” section has the story today:

In a little-noticed move, the company’s founding family has plunged into a fight to pass income tax changes and other legislation that could preserve its grip on the USA’s biggest business and the family’s $84 billion fortune.

Led by Sam Walton’s only daughter, Alice, the family spent $3.2 million on lobbying, conservative causes and candidates for last year’s federal elections. That’s more than double what it spent in the previous two elections combined, public documents show.

Although the family billionaires deny it, the Wal-Mart clan’s biggest interest seems to be in ditching the estate tax—an issue near and dear to their hearts (and wallets):

The Walton support for Bush and other fiscal conservatives assumed new urgency last month when Wal-Mart sweetened its dividend — boosting Walton dividend income above $1 billion a year. Bush’s dividend tax cut, enacted two years ago and set to expire in 2009, will save the family as much as $51 million this year.

It is in the bitter fight over federal estate taxes that the family and Wal-Mart have the most at stake. The tax, now collected on estates worth more than $1.5 million, could force the Waltons to sell a chunk of Wal-Mart to pay billions in taxes when family members die. The top tax rate this year is 47%.

Wal-Mart’s massive infusion of money into the campaign to kill the estate tax just might tip the balance:

The clock is ticking louder in the estate tax battle, with attention focused on Jan. 1, 2011, when the tax reverts to higher levels in place before Bush won approval of a gradual reduction, culminating in its repeal entirely for 2010.

The Waltons and a coalition including the influential National Federation of Independent Business support Bush’s push for the tax’s permanent repeal, government watchdogs say.

“We think we’re closer than we’ve ever been,” says lobbyist Dena Battle at NFIB, the small-business trade group that’s tried for years to kill the tax.
Will WalMart utimately be willing to pay for programs that their Wal-Mart employees are presently receiving from the government , because of the company’s lack of benefits and low wages?

http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2005/04/wal-mart-goes-after-estate-tax.asp~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Note:Will WalMart utimately be willing to pay for programs that their Wal-Mart employees are presently receiving from the government , precisely because of the company’s lack of benefits and low wages?

ddrb,

“Manufacturers shed 51,000 jobs”

How can that be?  I thought ALL of the manufacturing jobs have been moved ‘offshore’, because of Wal-Mart!!

ddrb,

Imagine that, a family that wants to hold on to what is THEIRS, how shameful!!  Don’t they know they are supposed to ‘Share their wealth with everyone’!!

Wonder what would happen, if the government put the ‘death tax’ on EVERYBODY, not just the rich, bet that tax would be GONE real fast!!

I thought ALL of the manufacturing jobs have been moved ‘offshore’, because of Wal-Mart!!

You’ve fallen victim to the perception, RDS, not the reality.

You make sweeping all-or-nothing statements like that and then wonder why your intelligence is questioned.

What’s good for Wal-Mart is BAD for America!

Ken V,

I thought you said WE were the only ones that didn’t get sarcasm!!  What does that say about YOUR intelligence?

“You’ve fallen victim to the perception, RDS, not the reality.”

I thought you said ‘perception’ trumped ‘reality’!!  I haven’t FALLEN for any of your ‘negative’ perceptions, that’s why I push for ‘reality’, instead of falling for your perceived B.S.!!

...didn’t get sarcasm!!

Is that what that was? Sarcasm? You’re right. I can’t tell the difference between sarcasm and your other self-absorbed, bootstrap views.

Too bad you haven’t learned the basic HTML codes yet or you could underline all your sarcasm just to help me out.

Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence. ~ Robert Frost

What Do You Mean, RDS Isn’t Smart?  He’s Got a B.S. Degree

“...that’s why I push for ‘reality’...” ~RDS

Ya ever wonder where RDS gets all of his “realistic” world views?

“I also get a charge out of ‘Sanford and Son”, “Green Acres” and ‘Good times” as well, because they show how people accept ‘poverty’ as being the best way of life.”

Posted by Bob - June 11, 2006 03:06 AM (This was before they kicked RDS/Bob off of the WakeupWalmart site)

”Guess you don’t watch much late night T.V. infomercials!!”

RDS in
Tuesday, September 30, 2008 at 11:01 AM

Now this is reality and not perception!

Screwed: Bob was “kicked off” Wake up WalMart?

YES, ddrb!

That’s a fact. He’s been here (Walmartwatch) ever since.

Ken V,

“your other self-absorbed, bootstrap views.”

What is it with you people who think there is something WRONG with a person who doesn’t depend on others and takes ‘personal resopnsibility’ for their actions?

I get the impression, that it is not Wal-Mart that you are against, it’s just ‘rich’ people, because you weren’t able to make it in life yourself!!  And, because I am not on welfare, you put me in the group of people that aren’t dependent, the group you are in!!

Screwedby,

“Ya ever wonder where RDS gets all of his “realistic” world views?”

I’ll tell you!!  I get my “realistic” world views, from living in the “real” world, dealing with problems and people!!  I was not ‘sheltered’, letting others take on the trials and tribulations of my life, I had to ‘do it for myself’!!  And, while you live in your ‘sheltered’ world, dedicating your time to solving the ills of the world, I have had to work to take care of my family, here in the ‘real’ world!!

BTW:  I’m still waiting for you to show me where in th DOI and Constitution, where it says the government or your employer is required to take care of your needs!!

““I also get a charge out of ‘Sanford and Son”, “Green Acres” and ‘Good times” as well, because they show how people accept ‘poverty’ as being the best way of life.””

I said that, because I knew that you haven’t had any ‘real’ contact with ‘poor’ people and wanted to give you a point of reference!!

“”Guess you don’t watch much late night T.V. infomercials!!””

You don’t have to watch ‘infomercials’ to know they are there and what they are about!!

ddrb,

“Screwed: Bob was “kicked off” Wake up WalMart?”

Yes, I was, but was able to post again later!! I was also kicked off here once, and I believe Screwedby was kicked off here as well!!  I stopped posting on WakeUpWalMart, when they went to their new screening format, it was hard, waiting a day or two for your post to show up!!

...you weren’t able to make it...

You’re not paying attention, RDS. I’ve told you time and again I am finacially independent. I don’t call that rich, ‘cause it ain’t.

We’re seeing the results of your failed ‘personal resopnsibility’ (sic) philosophy and now as the world slips into an economic depression we’ll have a chance to test my belief in self-reliance.

All of you ask yourself, if the power grid went down tomorrow how long would you last?

Corporation: An ingenious device for obtaining profit without individual responsibility. ~ Ambrose Bierce

“I believe...”

When you see words like “I believe” or “I think” coming from RDS, it’s time to wait for the shoe to drop while he puts the other one in his mouth.

Ken V,

“You’re not paying attention, RDS. I’ve told you time and again I am finacially independent.”

Care to explain, how you got ‘financially independant’ without working and saving (pulling yourself up by your ‘bootstraps, so to speak)?  Or, did you inherit a bundle?

“We’re seeing the results of your failed ‘personal resopnsibility’ (sic) philosophy and now as the world slips into an economic depression we’ll have a chance to test my belief in self-reliance.”

Self-reliance, isn’t that what I have been talking about all along?  As for my ‘personal responsibility’ philosophy, that’s what has kept me out of all this mess and able to avert the financial problems others are facing!!

“All of you ask yourself, if the power grid went down tomorrow how long would you last?”

In my case, quite awhile!!

Screwedby,

I’m still waiting!!  What’s the matter, can’t you back up your baloney?  Who’s shoes are in who’s mouth now?  Oh, I forgot, you can make claims, but, don’t have to back them up!!

Does Anyone Care?

I doubt if there are more than 3 people following this thread anymore.  After today it will be pushed back to page 3.

This is mainly for your benefit RDS:

You recently used the word speculation in another post.  I found that to be very telling.  This is descriptive of your mindset.  You’ve got speculation down to a science.

So let’s do some basic fact checking here.  Two basic rules for you to follow.  One:  Check your sources.  Two: When this fails, check your sources.

1) Either you’ve been working your Google search engine overtime, or someone has been feeding you dated information.
2) You need to learn the difference between a mailing address and a place of residence.
3) You don’t know where I live.  (not really)
4) You don’t know my level of education or where I attended school.
5) You don’t know my profession, or the hours I put in.
6) You don’t know who I support. (besides myself)
7) You don’t know my girlfriend… sorry to disappoint you, but I’m still with the same one… the same one who BTW, has come to hate WalMart almost as much as I.

Instead, like the half-assed amateur you are, you’ve speculated about the information I’ve shared about myself on this blog, and cobbled this together with some information that in some cases is at least 3 years old, to come up with your “theories.”

You proclaim that because I don’t deny what you say, it must be true!! (notice the double exclamations?) If this is the case, would you care to deny that you don’t parade around your house in your wife’s underwear when she’s not at home?