Just because Hillary Clinton is ignoring her Wal-Mart ties, that doesn't mean the rest of us should.

New footage from the Center for Public Integrity confirms what Hillary Clinton has conveniently omitted from her website and campaign speeches: she was on Wal-Mart's Board of Directors for six years, from 1986-1992. 

It was during those six years that Clinton served with the notoriously anti-union Rose Law firm in Little Rock, defending Wal-Mart against workers who tried to unionize.  It was also during those six years that Clinton served with fellow board member John Tate, whose favorite saying was: "Labor unions are nothing but blood-sucking parasites living off the productive labor of people who work for a living."

[Charlie Smith has battled Wal-Mart for the last few years, in and out of court.  Below is his account of confronting Wal-Mart's mighty legal clout over free speech issues.]

I'm not the first person to call Wal-Mart "Nazis." 

In December 2004 while reading a book detailing the history of the rise of the Nazis and their attempt to take over the world, I came to a part that described how union leaders and liberals were among the first groups persecuted by the Nazis. Upon learning that, I thought, whoa! Taking over the world? Union bashing? Sounds like Wal-Mart.
 
I have always been interested in the idea of progress causing destruction or as the phrase proclaims, "creative destruction," a process in which the old ways of doing things are destroyed and replaced by new ways. The term was coined by Joseph Schumpeter. Schumpeter believed that the success of capitalism would lead to a form of corporatism, a political system dominated by corporations.

To that extent, the misery caused by people losing jobs through downsizing, outsourcing, and misguided economic policies are harsh realities that I felt needed a stronger designation. And so, I invented the parody term “walocaust.”  The purpose of the portmanteau is to call to mind the name “Wal-Mart” while at the same time expressing strong opposition to Wal-Mart and what the “Wal-Mart effect” truly represents.

Debbie Shank used to stock shelves at night for Wal-Mart so she could spend time in the afternoons with her three sons. Now she lives in a nursing home, requires around-the-clock medical care and owes Wal-Mart almost $500,000.

The story of the Shank family is heartbreaking in the sense that it could happen to anyone. Driving home one night, Debbie's car was hit by a tractor-trailier, leaving her brain-damaged and paralyzed. After collecting health insurance money for hospital bills (Debbie's policy with Wal-Mart paid for over $400,000 worth of emergency care), the Shanks sued the trucking company responsible for the accident, hoping to provide for Debbie's long term needs.

This footage is originally from a Wal-Mart managers meeting in 1995. Seems the company deemed it appropriate to incorporate a drag competition into the official proceedings. The video puts the massive class-action gender discrimination lawsuit currently pending against the company into a stunning context.

Surprise, surprise!  At this week's ECO:nomics conference in California, Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott declared, "We are not green."  This after the world's largest (and worst) retailer spent the last three years touting its environmental stewardship.  Though Scott was unusually candid about Wal-Mart's inability to "green" themselves up, his admission only validates what many environmentalists already knew: there's no way Wal-Mart can fix the irreparable harm they've caused to our planet in such a short span of time, if ever.  

Not too long ago, Scott pledged that Wal-Mart's massive "greenup on aisle five" would include investing $500 million in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing truck-fuel efficiency, reducing packaging, and creating more energy-efficient stores.  What's more, Scott vowed to pressure Wal-Mart's global suppliers to follow their new responsible lead.  But could they really have zero waste?  Or use 100 percent renewable energy?

These goals seemed so lofty that it didn't shock me when I read that Wal-Mart isn't green, or that Scott answered a question about when a complete green overhaul might happen by saying, "I have no idea when that will be."  What I found particularly troubling though was when Scott started talking about what waste meant to him and the company.

The Senate approved a bill yesterday which will put the important job of testing the safety of toys in the hands of the same labs who already work for retaliers, manufacturers and importers. 

Some critics worry the thoroughness of testing can be compromised because labs are dependent on retailers and manufacturers for business. John W. de Gravelles, a Baton Rouge, La., attorney who represents consumers injured by faulty products, cites what he calls a "cozy arrangement" between Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and its primary testing lab, Consumer Testing Laboratories Inc. "How rigorous the testing is, I'm sure, is less determined by CTL than it is Wal-Mart," he said.

Read the full article. 

Hillary Clinton was on the Wal-Mart board of directors from 1986 until 1992, when she became first lady. 

Wal-Mart now bears the dubious distinction of being the world's worst retailer! Market Watch reports that according to the University of Michigan's quarterly American Customer Satisfaction Index, Wal-Mart's score "fell 6% to 68, well below the industry average of 77 and at an all-time low." 

Wal-Mart is dragging down ACSI's 100-point scale. Claes Fornell, director of the Donald C. Cook Professor of Business Administration and head of the ACSI, said of Wal-Mart, "Competing on price is no longer enough to offset lagging quality."

Watch these confessions for more on Wal-Mart's standard of excellence, and of course, the trailer for Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price.

As many now know, Hillary Clinton served on the exclusive Wal-Mart board of directors from 1986 to 1992. What many may not know is she is currently the top recipient of campaign contributions from Wal-Mart executives, taking in more than Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee.

For Clinton, the contributions come just months after she turned away $5,000 that Wal-Mart had donated through its PAC to her Senate campaign. At the time, in February 2006, Clinton's spokeswoman said the senator rejected the money because of "serious differences with current company practices.

Read the full story. 

Wal-Mart has been using wood from protected Russian forests in it's products says The Environmental Investigation Agency in a detailed report. This is in large part to Chinese suppliers using less expensive wood to meet Wal-Mart's unrealistic pricing structures. At first the company simply turned a blind eye to the practice, but because of growing negative publicity, the company has turned to the largest privately owned public relations firm, Edelman.

Edelman claims that it won't be until 2010 that Wal-Mart provides full transparency on it's sources for wood.

Sheba Foods, a Georgia based Wal-Mart supplier speaks up in the new book "Life with Wal-Mart: A Vendor's Story." In the book, Kunmi Oluleye details the most fascinating moments of a two and a half year journey being a mintory company selling ethnic food to Wal-Mart.

Oluleye writes:

"There were so many distractions, discouraging comments and events when it came time to write the book. What if the people I talk about, Ambassador Andrew Young and Mr. Jesse Jackson react negatively? What if Wal-Mart and Dun & Bradstreet have a temper tantrum? Can I deal with it? What if someone sues me for libel? What if other supermarkets blacklist me for fear that I might write about them?

It was difficult keeping emotions out of the book. I didn’t want to be portrayed as an irate black woman lashing out at Wal-Mart or the others that I talk about. I tried to remain as objective as possible in stating the facts. Chapters Three to Five were the most difficult to write, with Chapter Five being the most excruciating. It forced author to revisit painful memories." 

Learn more at lifewithwalmart.com. 

Al Norman writes on AlterNet:

According to EIA, Wal-Mart does not ask its suppliers where their wood comes from, and the retailer's 'don't ask' policy "is having particularly dangerous consequences for the high conservation value forest of the Russian Far East and the endangered species dependent on them, including the world's largest cat, the Siberian tiger.

Roughly 84 percent of Wal-Mart's wood products, like cribs and toilet seats, are sourced from China, and much of China's lumber is imported from Russia, where as much as 50 percent of the logging is illegal. EIA undercover investigators met with 8 Chinese manufacturers that supply Wal-Mart with wood. EIA asserts that Wal-Mart is focused only on price, and "has not concerned itself with the origin of the timber used for its products." Wal-Mart's supply chain "will contribute to the depletion of Russia's 'protected' forests unless concerted changes are made," the EIA warns.

Alexander von Bismarck, the Executive Director of EIA, says, "To have Wal-Mart ignore measures that to the rest of the world seem common sense -- such as asking where your suppliers' wood is from -- has an enormous impact. It undermines the current global efforts to clean up the timber industry. When Wal-Mart fails to implement an entire category of environmental responsibility, it creates demand designed to take advantage of that. This is currently feeding the illegal logging problem." The EIA believes that Wal-Mart has within its power the ability to "limit the destruction of some of our planet's final frontier forests and the wildlife and people who depend upon them."

Today, there are more than 6,800 Wal-Mart stores around the globe (the company recently opened its 3,000th international store), but only 400 remaining Siberian tigers. That's not very sustainable odds.

Read the full post here.

Alex Goldschmidt from Wal-Mart Watch shatters the myth that Wal-Mart's charitable donations make up for any harm it causes:

Wal-Mart loves to be seen donating money to local charities, especially around the holidays. These donations, while perhaps beneficial in their own small way, don’t even begin to make up for the amount of resources and taxpayer dollars Wal-Mart drains out of local economies. For Wal-Mart, these donations are nothing but some cheap PR.

Wal-Mart lowers median wages, exports jobs, shifts company costs to taxpayers, and leans on public subsidies to make its billions. These costs far outweigh any local donation Wal-Mart has ever made.

Wal-Mart’s charitable donations continue to lag behind its close competitors, and the Walton Family itself is ranks only 37th on the list of generous donors. But perhaps more tellingly, is that Wal-Mart donates most to charities in its own best interest.

Wal-Mart’s donations to little league teams and nursing homes also pales in comparison to the company’s donations to non-profits, think tanks and individuals willing to lobby on its behalf or grant favors in return. In doing so, Wal-Mart buys the power necessary to continue harming communities and getting away with it. Think Wal-Mart’s generous? Maybe so, but only to itself.

Read more here. 

Why does a radio only cost $4.99 at the store?  It can't possibly be that cheap to produce. 

If you've seen our documentary Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, you know all about the hidden costs of cheap stuff.   Now a new 20 minute film, The Story of Stuff, gets to the bottom of who's really paying for all that stuff you've got (and thrown out).

This video is a teaser, but you can watch the full thing on the Story of Stuff website.  Or buy a DVD and host a screening. 

Wal-Mart lost their battle to keep the largest gender discrimination lawsuit in U.S. history from proceeding yesterday. The 9th Circuit Court of U.S. Appeals issued a ruling in Dukes v. Wal-Mart which stated the lawsuit must move forward.

Wal-Mart Watch spokesman Stacie Temple commented on the ruling:

Wal-Mart has discriminated against its female managers and employees for years.  It is shocking that a company which depends so deeply on women as customers treats its female employees so poorly ... Perhaps Wal-Mart's leadership will finally recognize it would benefit by making substantive changes to its business practices; the company needs to fix its employment practices and stop discriminating against its workers for starters.

Read the Court's opinion here. (pdf)

Wal-Mart is threatening legal action to silence an independent lab which found that several Chinese made pet toys sold at Wal-Mart contained elevated levels of lead, chromium, and cadmium. Wal-Mart says the lab "severely misrepresented" the results. The lab stands by the results as rock solid, and goes on to say:

With that kind of chromium in there you have what can be an extremely toxic toy if they (animals) put it in their mouths. And dogs put things in their mouths. If a dog puts this in his mouth, he runs a big chance of getting some type of metal toxicity that may shorten his life ... there's cadmium, arsenic, and mercury in there ... this is not a clean toy. This is toxic. Bank on it"

From our comments, here is another story about those lovable lugs over at Wal-Mart, and how they treat their employees as part of the family:

I was once employed at a Wal-mart photo lab. My female manager sexually harrased me. When I filled a complaint she lost her job, but, so did I. That's wal-mart justice for you.

No comment necessary.

Yes, our favorite slave-labor corporate bathhouse achieves ignominy once again (Note: The video is from the show Walmartopia, which happens to be both excellent and right on the money--see it if you're in New York)!

Here is how Wal-Mart, at a cost of a couple of thousand dollars, illegally beat back an attempt to unionize its stores in Nevada:

Seven years ago, as Wal-Mart corporate executives proclaimed Nevada ground zero in a n attempt to battle unionizing the giant retailer, three workers at Wal-Mart stores in Southern Nevada took the first steps toward organizing. Avis Hammond, Norine Sorensen and Diana Griego talked to fellow employees about the union and passed out fliers in front of stores, activities clearly allowed under federal labor laws.

Management stepped in. The three employees were told to stop. They were questioned, threatened and insulted, according to later findings by the government. Wal-Mart stripped one worker of his union fliers and denied another a promotion.

The union seeking to represent workers asked for help from the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency charged with enforcing labor law. The workers wanted Wal-Mart to act within the law so they could continue to try to organize.

That was in 2000.

Last month - seven years, two months and seven days after the first charge was filed - the NLRB issued its ruling: Wal-Mart acted illegally.

The punishment: The retailer must pay lost wages to one of the employees, which apparently comes to a few thousand dollars. It also must post notices in its three stores disclosing its federal labor law violations.

The outcome: The union has long since given up trying to organize from within the stores. The three workers quit the company.

Welcome to Republican economics 101: How to see if we can reach back far enough so that our worker standards are roughly equal to those in Angola. Can't the damn government move faster than it takes Larry Craig to use a public restroom? Unfreakinbelievable.

So what happens next, when nothing is done about the Wal-Marts of the world? Well, the disparity between rich and poor continues to grow. We become two different societies. And the one at the bottom eventually engages in coordinated acts of violence, also known as revolution, against the elites in control. It has only happened like 16,457 times in the history of the world. So, yeah, Condi might consider this a "historical document," but others might see some value in analyzing it.

For even if these corporate jackwads are so greedy as to wish to deny the most basic rights to their workers, don't you think they might be smart enough to realize this?

Don't bother answering.

We all can hear the response in Rush's Oxycontined-intonation if we use just an ounce of imagination.

It's now playing at the Minetta Lane Theatre in NYC.  Go see it and tell those of us stuck in Los Angeles what it's like.

From their website:

Walmartopia is an irreverent political satire of big business and eternal smiley faces, a musical tale of a single mom who speaks up to her corporate employer and finds herself and her young daughter jettisoned to a future where Wal-Mart dominates the entire world.

How do you go from green to red? From the youngest president of the Sierra Club, to a corporate-crony at one of the most polluted money-grubbing machines in the history of mankind?

Just ask Adam Werbach, of Act Now Productions, the progressive DVD club Ironweed and the Apollo Clean Energy Alliance Board. He'd whip out a gun and tell you it's to protect the peace (hmm...maybe in addition to Wal-Mart he can sign up the NRA as a client to "improve things from the inside?").

Werbach has joined the Wal-Mart borg, and is actually trying to convince those with the ability to reason that he will change things from within the company. He is working on their "sustainability" project, which means he is somehow under the impression that there is something Wal-Mart wishes to sustain besides high profits and low wages.

Oh, that's right, they will also be sustaining his bank account with a rumored $400K per year fee that should ensure those late night sweats over environmental degradation don't reach a level that would threaten to tarnish the silver plating on his bed.

Werbach whines that many of his liberal friends no longer talk to him. I wonder why that may be (although sadly I am suspicious he is exaggerating). Could it be, and I am just spitballing here, that the company he once called "a new breed of toxin," is now his employer? Perhaps his old friends know the following about his new friends and financial sponsor:

Five of the 10 richest people in the country are from the founding Walton family. But to help the company offer its proclaimed "Every Day Low Prices," workers are paid an average of $17,530 a year, nearly $2,000 below the poverty level of a family of four. Almost half of the children of those associates are uninsured or on Medicaid. In California alone, that annually costs taxpayers $86 million, according to the New York Times.

Score one for progressive corporate governance!