Who Hijacked Our Country

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Wal-Mart Creeping and Oozing

If you think Wal-Mart is already ubiquitous, the fun hasn’t even started yet. Wal-Mart is planning to open more than 1,500 new stores in the United States during the next few years. There are now about 3,200 Wal-Marts in the U.S., so that’s almost a 50% increase.

We just can’t seem to get enough of this place.

There’s a culture clash that’s going to get more and more intense as Wal-Mart expands. Wal-Mart refuses to sell Emergency Contraception, aka the morning-after pill.

As a NARAL spokesperson said, “Wal-Mart's CEO should not decide what medicines women may or may not take...When a doctor prescribes emergency contraception for a woman, Wal-Mart does not have the right to overrule that decision.”

Since Wal-Mart has put so many smaller stores out of business, they’re often the only game in town. Urban customers can just take their business elsewhere; rural residents often don’t have that option.

One possible bright spot: Wal-Mart has told the media that they are giving this policy “a lot of thought.”

OK, that gives us a window. Please click here to sign this petition. Ask Wal-Mart to do the right thing and start offering emergency contraception. This is a medical emergency faced by thousands of women. The life you save could be your wife, your sister, your mother.

14 Comments:

Blogger Snave said...

Wow, our local Wal-Mart is expanding into a Super Wal-Mart. As if enough small businesses haven't gone out of business in our town already... and there is word that a Home Depot will soon be here too. Anyway, once the new Super Wal-Mart is in full operation, there will be groceries there. That will probably out our Albertson's out of business. The Wal-Mart tire/auto place will probably at least put one of our oil-change places out, and I'm guessing an optician and a haircutter or two will go.

At the same time, our city is making what appears to be a futile attempt to revitalize the downtown, fill empty stores with new businesses... It's a sad thing to see.

February 9, 2006 at 8:20 PM  
Blogger jazzycat said...

The following information is in the Glacier Bay National Park Brochure and it is also on their web site:
1794: Captain George Vancouver of the H.M.S. Discovery, along with Lt. Joseph Whidbey, describes Glacier Bay as "a compact sheet of ice as far as the eye could distinguish".
1879: John Muir records his "discovery" of Glacier Bay. The glacial ice has retreated up into the bay 40 miles from where Whidbey saw it.
Excuse me, but even a cat of much less intelligence than your humble Jazzy Cat, would know the dramatic 40 mile retreating of the glacier from 1794 to 1879 had nothing to do with burning fossil fuel in cars.

My gosh those mean ole CEO's are at it again

February 9, 2006 at 9:28 PM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

Snave: Same here in Port Angeles. The Wal-Mart is expanding into a superstore. We're all worried that the (somewhat) local Saars Market will go under as a result. Neither of these businesses are downtown (the downtown is thriving) but still...

BTW, I finally found that First Street Haven you mentioned earlier. Excellent place.

Jazzycat: "How to get from Point A to Point B via X and Z" should be the title of your post. I had to stare at your ramblings forever before deciding whether you were just a spammer or not. I gave you the benefit of the doubt...there's your comment...

February 9, 2006 at 9:55 PM  
Blogger The Rambling Taoist said...

I'm not very worried about Malwart being able to open 1,500 more stores. A lot of people are starting to get wise. There have been a number of communities lately that have told them to go away. I think this number will grow.

February 10, 2006 at 12:17 AM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

Trey: That's true, more communities are successfully fighting new Wal-Mart locations. As soon as it happened once (somewhere near LA I think), it started happening more and more often. There'll probably be fewer new Wal-Marts springing up in "progressive" communities, and their numbers will probably double in the South and Midwest.

February 10, 2006 at 8:19 AM  
Blogger Mike V. said...

And the funny thing is, Tom, that Wal Mart does much less damage (for the most part) in a larger urban area then in others because they have to compete with other stores that also sell their wares.
Though they are still driving down wages and working conditions of all working people no matter what. But it will be worse in rural areas.

This whole morning after pill thing just pisses me off.
They are not selling it in certain stores because they are caving into the religious reich. Fuck them.
You would think there would be a pragmatic mind somewhere in the bunch of them that would realized the very real possibility of fewer abortions because of fewer unwanted pregnancies.
Oh, and in case there are any religious or other like-kind of freaks reading this, this pill STOPS a pregnancy from happening, you fucking scientifically-illiterate assholes.

February 10, 2006 at 10:29 AM  
Blogger PoliShifter said...

Every seen that South Park episode where their town gets a WalMart?

Pretty hilarious...

February 10, 2006 at 11:12 AM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

Mike V.: Give 'em Hell! Yeah, I've always been just blown away by these "right to lifers" who are against abortion AND against birth control. How slow can somebody be?? Either they never learned about the birds and the bees, or their IQs are smaller than their shoe sizes.

I agree, Wal-Mart has more impact in small towns and rural areas. This sucks, since they probably get the least resistance in rural areas. The residents are likely to be mostly conservative, and they're probably clamoring for the additional commerce and tax base that a Wal-Mart will bring.

PoliShifter: I didn't see that South Park episode; I'll have to look for it. That's one of my favorite shows. They cut up everybody; they don't care who gets offended.

February 10, 2006 at 1:18 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mao-Mart sells things that will soon enough have to rise in price, because the renmibi has no place to go but up. And we have to borrow every dime, every day, of what we spend at Mao-Mart.

This cannot continue. It will end, absolutely.

February 10, 2006 at 2:14 PM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

Jolly Roger: Yup, that's true. The clock is ticking on our huge debt and trade imbalance with China and Japan. But hey, maybe the Rapture will come in time to save us from the coming crash.

February 10, 2006 at 3:17 PM  
Blogger Mike V. said...

LOL!
The End Times, Tom, The End Times!

:)

February 10, 2006 at 4:42 PM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

Taboo Tenente: Thanks. I'm part of the Progressive Blog Alliance and the Big Brass Alliance. This site isn't listed in the Progressive Blog Alliance (I keep meaning to log in there and find out what happened) but I did join them several months ago.

February 11, 2006 at 10:24 AM  
Blogger Snave said...

Mike V, I like your comment best, but Tom, your remark about IQ and shoe sizes also rocks. Give 'em hell indeed!

Religious beliefs dictating what prescriptions a pharmacist can or can't fill? How about a vegetarian working in a restaurant that serves meat? Surely there are a few of those. How about a Democrat at the local mom and pop grocery store refusing to sell items to a cranky local Republican because the guy professed to have voted for Dubya? Or a Christian at a CD store refusing to sell albums with swear words or what he might deem satanic messages? The possibilities go on and on. "I'm sorry sir, I can't sell you that rainbow-colored tie-dye shirt, because I am a Christian and it is rainbow colored, and the rainbow colors are symbolic of the homosexual agenda." (Snicker... never mind the covenant of the rainbow...)

Just sell 'em the pills, ya doofus!

February 12, 2006 at 7:54 PM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

Snave: Exactly. If someone is unwilling to perform their job, they need to go. Period.

February 12, 2006 at 8:14 PM  

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