Selfishness of a Billion Dollar Company

Please read this disheartening story that essentially sums up everything Wal-Mart Stores Inc. stands for; Selfishness, Corporate Greed and willingness to do anything for a buck.

A collision with a semi-trailer truck seven years ago left 52-year-old Deborah Shank permanently brain-damaged and in a wheelchair. Her husband, Jim, and three sons found a small source of solace: a $700,000 accident settlement from the trucking company involved. After legal fees and other expenses, the remaining $417,000 was put in a special trust. It was to be used for Mrs. Shank's care.

Instead, all of it is now slated to go to Mrs. Shank's former employer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Read the Entire story here.

Rocky Point vs. Wal-Mart

As more and more communities are learning the true cost of a low price, their campaigns against the world's largest company continue to grow throughout the country. The latest in our area takes place in Suffolk County, Long Island. A proposal to bring a Wal-Mart to what was once a Drive In Movie theater has the community banding together to keep the corporate giant out of their town. The Suffolk Life Newspaper highlights the feud.

The Rocky Point Civic Association, headed by Drew Martin, found out about the potential Wal-Mart development only after a local resident saw bulldozers on the lot and asked the workers what they were for, according to Martin.
"We do not want a Wal-Mart here," he said. "Wal-Mart is like a big middle finger to us. They have such an unfair competitive advantage. They buy in such volume that no local retailer can compete with them. The economic impact on our downtown would be severe. It would be a recipe for disaster all the way around."

Read the entire story here. Support the Rocky Point community by heading to the Rocky Point Civic Association website. They're showing the High Cost of a Low Price tomorrow actually at a local VFW, if you're in the area come show your support!

Newsday also covered the story last week, we'll post more information on this site fight once we get it.

Consumers in dark over risks of New Light Bulbs

Thanks to Joseph Farah from www.WorldNetDaily.com

ENVIRONETDAILY
Consumers in dark over
risks of new light bulbs
Push for energy-saving fluorescents
ignores mercury disposal hazards

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WASHINGTON – Brandy Bridges heard the claims of government officials, environmentalists and retailers like Wal-Mart all pushing the idea of replacing incandescent light bulbs with energy-saving and money-saving compact fluorescent lamps.

So, last month, the Prospect, Maine, resident went out and bought two dozen CFLs and began installing them in her home. One broke. A month later, her daughter's bedroom remains sealed off with plastic like the site of a hazardous materials accident, while Bridges works on a way to pay off a $2,000 estimate by a company specializing in environmentally sound cleanups of the mercury inside the bulb.

With everyone from Al Gore to Wal-Mart to the Environmental Protection Agency promoting CFLs as the greatest thing since, well, the light bulb, consumers have been left in the dark about a problem they will all face eventually – how to get rid of the darn things when they burn out or, worse yet, break.

CFLs are all the rage. They are the spirally shaped, long-lasting bulbs everyone is being urged, cajoled and guilt-tripped into purchasing to replace Thomas Edison's incandescents, which are being compared to sports utility vehicles for their impracticality and energy inefficiency. However, there is no problem disposing of incandescents when their life is over. You can throw them in the trash can and they won't hurt the garbage collector. They won't leech deadly compounds into the air or water. They won't kill people working in the landfills.

The same cannot be said about the mercury-containing CFLs. They bear disposal warnings on the packaging. But with limited recycling prospects and the problems experienced by Brandy Bridges sure to be repeated millions of times, some think government, the green community and industry are putting the cart before the horse marketing the new technology so ferociously.

Consider her plight.

When the bulb she was installing in a ceiling fixture of her 7-year-old daughter's bedroom crashed to the floor and broke into the shag carpet, she wasn't sure what to do. Knowing about the danger of mercury, she called Home Depot, the retail outlet that sold her the bulbs.

According to the Ellison American, the store warned her not to vacuum the carpet and directed her to call the poison control hotline in Prospect, Maine. Poison control staffers suggested she call the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

The latter sent over a specialist to test the air in her house for mercury levels. While the rest of the house was clear, the area of the accident was contaminated above the level considered safe. The specialist warned Bridges not to clean up the bulb and mercury powder by herself – recommending a local environmental cleanup firm.

That company estimated the cleanup cost, conservatively, at $2,000. And, no, her homeowners insurance won't cover the damage.

Since she could not afford the cleanup, Bridges has been forced to seal off her daughter's bedroom with plastic to avoid any dust blowing around. Not even the family pets are permitted in to the bedroom. Her daughter is forced to sleep downstairs in an overcrowded household.

She has continued to call public officials for help – her two U.S. senators included. So far, no one is beating down Bridges' door to help – not even Al Gore, whose Academy Award-winning movie, "An Inconvenient Truth," urges everyone to change to CFLs to save the planet from global warming.

(Story continues below)

Monsey Wal-Mart....Victory for the Community!

Congratulations to the residents of Monsey for defeating a corporate giant!!!

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MONSEY, N.Y. — It was Friday afternoon when the developer who had been intent on building a 215,000-square-foot Wal-Mart in this hamlet sent word to the town offices in Ramapo. The fax was terse, but its message clear: “We will not continue to proceed with the development.”

Read the entire story here.

Wal-Mart Execs Favor Clinton In Giving [NW Arkansas Morning News]

Wal-Mart Execs Favor Clinton In Giving [NW Arkansas Morning News]
Sen. Hillary Clinton is the favored recipient of campaign money from Wal-Mart executives, where she once served on the board of directors. Officers and directors of the retail giant have given more money to presidential candidates in this race than in the previous two election cycles combined, according to Federal Election Commission filings.