A Wolf Is A Wolf

No matter how you dress it up.

Sigh. Despite my little ray of hope, Wal-Mart is still all about the bottom line. Wooing eco-friendly people who generally avoid because of their horrible environmental record is worth spending money on. Taking care of employees, especially those nearing tenure (what the old school used to call "loyal"), not so much. They just eat up too much profit.

And it's awfully ironic that they complain about the obesity of their employees while selling nothing but trans-fat laden plastic food and often house a McDonald's. Hel-LO!

So I guess I got a little too encouraged. Only fixing the environmental aspect of Wal-Mart's rein of terror is akin to throwing a teaspoon of water on a 5-alarm fire. Really it was nice start, but they have a long, long way to go.

Hope you weren't all dressed up and waiting for that apocalypse...

Signs of the Apocalypse #587: Wal-Mart Protects the Environment AGAIN

This goes out to everyone who wasn't sure whether it really made any difference at all to boycott retail stores because of their procurement practices. IT WORKS. Wal-Mart is tightening its environmental standards. They're even going to start selling organic cotton products.

I don't know how thorough this will actually be, we'll have to see if their money goes anywhere near their mouths. If there's one thing we've learned from six years of the Shrub, it's that people can say anything the hell they want, but if their track record is untrustworthy, it's worthwhile to maintain a healthy skepticism.

No doubt about it, Wal-Mart still has a long way to go. They still have a nasty habit of not taking particularly good care of their employees, of ravaging local economies, and all sorts of other socially ignorant practices. But progress is progress, and if you want them to keep moving in this direction, you gotta offer positive reinforcement.

So way to go Wal-Mart! (what the hell surreal parallel universe have I slipped into where I can say these words without a trace of sarcasm?!)

Way to go us, too. Keep making political statements with your money, because for now it's still the only language that you can be sure will be heard.

Finding Compassion

My dear friend Susie on the importance of maintaining a stance of compassion in the midst of exposing corruption, injustice, etc.

I have not ever experienced the Great Cosmic Fuck of which she rhapsodizes. My experiences of the divine have always been like drips in the ceiling: little glimpses that keep me from falling back asleep, but too small to get me to jump all the way out of this warm bed. I can find a place of compassion well enough to preach it to my friends when they're hurting, but when it comes to my own pain, I'm as lost and blinded as anyone. To which Susie always says, "if it was easy, it wouldn't be compassion, would it?" Anyway, go read. It's poignant and lovely and gives good insight into why she's the one I call when I'm feeling helpless.

Demonic Possession 101

Vatican University is teaching exorcism. No word on whether the students' new skills have effectively cleansed the Pope yet...

Target Hits The G-Spot

Target is now selling sex toys. So is Amazon, for that matter.

Huh.

Well, while I'll still probably shop at my favorite alt shops, it's nice - albeit a tad surreal - to see sexual pleasure become acceptable enough to acquire at your local megacorporatehypermart. Of course, as long as airing extreme violence on tv is more acceptable than exposing a body part, there is still a long way to go before sex takes a healthy place in our culture. But hey, progress is progress.