Is Walmart Trying to Influence the Vote?

Only in America. The Hiltons have made large donations to a candidate who then trivializes their daughter in a campaign ad some view as having a subliminal racist message. A follow-up may be sending a subliminal "dog whistle" message to fundamentalists that his opponent is the antiChrist.

Then it is reported that Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, has pressured its employees to vote against Democrats in November because of worries that a bill the party supports would make it easier for workers to unionize. The measure, called the Employee Free Choice Act, would allow labor organizations to unionize workplaces without secret ballot elections. It was co-sponsored by Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic presidential candidate, and opposed by John McCain, the presumed Republican nominee.

Huffington Post give more detail, and the newspaper that I originally read about it in was in Kentucky. It included a poll in which readers were asked if they belonged to a labor union. 15% of them did.

Now look at this graph:

It shows that we now have a "ruling class" in this country. Although they represent only 1-2%, they will understandably be alarmed by the prospect of anyone increasing their taxes or promoting ideas of justice, equality or fairness. The erosion of unions, mediocrity of goods, loss of manufacturing jobs and promotion of low-level service jobs that Walmart represents is an off-shoot of this skewed distribution of wealth that has developed in this country. Lack of insurance, poor regulation of food/drugs/toys, crumbling infrastructure and poor ability to compete for trade/R&D are other side effects. Then there is the human cost, as represented in this OpEd called "American Calcutta: The Living Dead of San Francisco", from which the photo at the top is taken.

I'll finish with a satirical take on Bush's tour of the disaster area that has been his Presidency (serving the top 1-2% of Americans.)