canofwormsblog.com

Another Reason to Avoid Wal-Mart

Besides being the epitomy of the problems that Wal-Mart has, long lines (24-7) being an extremely loud, unpleasant place to shop, and a generally cluttered, disorganized goulash of retail excess, the Wal-Mart on Causeway Blvd in Brandon allegedly uses racial profiling to determine who they will accept large checks from.

I worked at Publix when I was younger, verifying whether or not a check is good is as simple as calling the bank, entering the account number from the check and entering the amount of the check. Period.

Also check out walmartwatch.com

Posted in General, Tampa | No Comments »

Why did Bush speak on war in the morning?

I may be over-analyzing but why would Bush speak in the morning on this issue. Was it because he wants people who work for a living and could not watch the speech to hear only sound-bites and none of the twisted backward logic that is inherent in his Iraq policy.

The idea that we should continue to use a failed plan because people died because of that poor planning is stupid. The war was wrong to start, it is wrong to continue.

We owe the families of those who have died nothing but our condolences, compassion and respect. It is a horrible thing to have to give a loved one for any war, a legal one or otherwise. Their loved one’s service was honorable, but the war is bigger than any one person. We do not owe them a continued failure in Iraq and we certainly do not need to add to the body count because it would make them feel like their loved one was killed in vain.

We need to pull out of Iraq and the quickest possible opportunity.

Posted in Politics, Iraq | No Comments »

And another thing on Bush’s speech from this morning…

Why doesn’t he try giving that same speech in front of a randomly selected group of average Americans instead of a captive military audience? I doubt the applause would be so forthcoming. With a tanking approval rating based mostly on the missionless, pointless war in Iraq, his monotonous “Stay the Course” line is not sticking.

Posted in Politics, Iraq | No Comments »

What a great quote

Former Sec. of State Colin Powell’s ex cheif of staff had a wonderful quote in an interview about how Pres. Bush was “aloof” during post-war planning. Wilkerson blamed Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and like-minded aides. Wilkerson said that Cheney must have sincerely believed that Iraq could be a spawning ground for new terror
assaults, because “otherwise I have to declare him a moron, an idiot or a
nefarious bastard.” Kind of reminds you about the P.R. showing that aircraft carrier landing had. They knew that it wouldn’t be a walk in the park, but repeatedly said things were going to be fine. Remember kids, if you say something enough, it becomes truth.

Posted in Politics, Iraq | No Comments »

To Bobf: I am sorry

Bob,
I am sorry I told you to go fuck yourself. I was upset because you kept repeating yourself and not saying anything new. Mike is right, I should let you comment to your hearts content and we can continue to show the inadequacies of your beliefs through reasoned debate and through the strength of our ideas.

While I am sorry for telling to you fuck yourself, I stand by my belief that you are simply an angry white male who blames everyone else for his and America’s problems yet screams about personal responsibility, but that isn’t personal, that is modern conservativism in a nutshell.

I hope we can continue to hate each other’s ideology, but not each other…

-Ben

Posted in General, Personal | No Comments »

I got my work van back!

I just went to retrieve my work van from the shop. It was shaking violently when I would accelerate, and it sounded like a diesel. They did a good job, now there is no rattle and it is as quiet as a rat pissing on cotton.

Posted in Personal | No Comments »

Falwell thinks you can’t say “Merry Christmas”

This country is 80% Christian…but he still thinks people are discriminating against Christianity?

He has gone as far as creating a “Friends or Foe” list that will sue anyone who his group, the Liberty Council thinks is “discriminating” against the majority religion in this country.

Posted in Religion | No Comments »

God forbid students learn about birth control

A student newspaper in Tenn. was seized by administrators because it discussed success rates of various birth control methods. The administrators said that the article had to be edited because “We’ve got 14-year-olds that read the newspaper.”

My answer to that is… yeah, so, we have 14 year olds having sex too.

Posted in Healthcare, Politics, Religion | No Comments »

Why you are giving money to Wal-Mart whether you shop there or not…

And why you should consider visiting their competition (if there is any left).

The resistance to Wal-Mart’s growth is one of those issues that transcends political ideology. Any time a company wishes to socialize risk and privatize profits as they have done, feathers will be ruffled. Liberals dislike Wal-Mart because of their disdain for their own workers, and conservative are often angered by the destruction of small town economies (actually no one really likes this).

Here are some reasons to think about shopping elsewhere this holiday season.

• Healthcare- Only 47% of WM employees are covered by the company’s healthcare plan, causing reliance on government sponsored healthcare - Kaiser Family Foundation. Some estimates place this cost in the range of $1.5 billion per year.
• Pay- The average worker at WM is paid just $14,000 per year, $1000 less than the poverty line - New York Review of Books.
• Community impact- For every 1 job created by a new WM, 3 local jobs are lost - Walmartwatch.com

Just something to think about, I don’t make that much money, I want to make sure it doesn’t support narcissistic, predatory companies.

Posted in General, Healthcare | No Comments »

Remarks from the VP

Cheney: “I don’t believe it is wrong to criticize…”

Good to know. It is sad that the Vice President of the United States has to say that. It should be implied with the accepting of his post as VP that he understand and support one of the very fundamental parts of our democracy.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »