Not All Doom and Gloom

According to the Associated Press:
"PITTSFIELD, Mass.— A former Wal-Mart pharmacist who claimed she was fired after asking to be paid the same as her male colleagues won a nearly $2 million award against the retail giant on Tuesday." (Wow! I guess someone is reading my blog after all! I mean, talk about action!)

The plaintiff, Cynthia Haddad, claimed she was fired from her job as a pharmacy manager after asking to be paid the same wage as her male colleagues. After making her request, she received a bonus that had been previously given to other male pharmacy managers, but was then fired two weeks later.

Things that make you go hmmmm . . .

Anyway, after my previous post about the big step back for pay discrimination claims, this one was a bright spot. And of course, we all know I enjoy my day a little more when Wal-Mart has to take one in the chin :)

The Evening News

While watching the evening news last night I was struck by two stories in particular. Usually I just want to throw something through the screen after watching what broadcast news has to offer about the day's happenings. Instead I got thought-provoking and, well, a story about Wal-Mart which of course made me want to throw something through the television screen :)

• I saw this story on WHDH in Boston where apparently one elected official has introduced a bill that would make it illegal to smoke in a car with a child under the age of five or weighing less than 40 pounds. (The guidelines come from the child safety seat law where a child is required to be restrained in a car/booster seat until reaching the age of five and 40 pounds.) First time offenders would be fined $25, while repeat offenders would be fined $100 for each subsequent violation. Apparently about 12 others states are also considering similar legislation including fellow New Englanders CT and RI. Maine already has a law in place that fines drivers $50 if caught smoking in a car with anyone under the age of 18 in it. What do you think?


• The second story involved a young mother, Cindy Jaeger, who is the wife of an Army serviceman and a former Wal-Mart employee. (It was one of those "shorts" so I can't find any kind of article about it on WHDH's website, but of all the network Boston stations, my opinion is that WHDH is the most reliable so I'm going with what they said in their report.) According to Jaeger, when she applied for a job at Wal-Mart (it just pains me to even type their name btw! And now they want to put a supercenter within a few miles of my precious new home ... YUCK!!) she informed them that she would need weekends off and possibly extended leave if her husband were deployed to Iraq. Apparently that wasn't a problem and she was hired. Well, Jaeger's husband was recently deployed to Iraq and she went back to her supervisor and asked for one month of unpaid leave so that she could work out day care arrangements and other adjustments that would be needed now that she would be the sole parent, caretaker of the house, etc. 24/7. A big adjustment I think we'd all agree. Well, Wal-Mart said "no" and told her that if she didn't come to work then obviously, she'd be fired. Jaeger is now a former employee of Wal-Mart. So I was thinking. I wonder how much money Wal-Mart has made off of those magnetic yellow ribbons that say "Support Our Troops?" Apparently, supporting our servicemen and women doesn't include the family they leave behind to fight in a war that's being sold as necessary to protect the safety and freedom of everyone here in the U.S. including the management of Wal-Mart. Must you ask me again why I loathe this bottom-feeder-like corporate leech?

One More Reason Why I Hate Walmart & Other Random Topics

It's Thursday . . . so here we go!

• I've never hidden my distaste for all things Walmart. And while surfing the blogosphere yesterday with Blogmad I stumbled upon this interesting fact. (I was so intrigued by the fact that I went straight to Wikipedia and forgot to take note of the blogger who tipped me off and I apologize. Thank you whoever you are!)
  Today's reason for hating Walmart is:
  "In the 2004 US Presidential election 76% of voters who shopped at Wal-Mart once a week voted for George W. Bush while only 23% voted for John Kerry. By contrast 80% of voters who never shopped there voted for Kerry with 18% voting for Bush." -- Wikipedia


• Ms. Kookaburra, aka Cheryl/Cherlito, posted this link on her blog and it's sweet. Check it out. It's a great victory song for the recent political happenings in the U.S.


• Which brings me to this little diddy - I watched Dubyah's press conference yesterday and I must say I was surprised by many aspects of it. First of all, I thought that King George looked a little tired, a little worn out, a bit pale even? What I mean to say is he wasn't standing up there behind his podium with his chest all puffed out and his arrogance was almost non-existence for a change. And I found it refreshing. (No worries. I'm not going soft on the guy. I still think he's a criminal. It was just a nice change and I found myself yelling less than usual at the tv and I wasn't even nauseous while listening to his voice.)
  
  Second, I was ecstatic to hear of Don Rumsfeld's resignation. Rummy, as I so fondly refer to him, is a disgrace and at times I've wondered if he is even human. Having sanctioned the torture of thousands of military detainees, then thrown his soldiers and their superiors to the wolves in order to cover his own ass; having started this illegal, heinous war in Iraq probably because he didn't get the job done the first time with King George's father - The only tears I shed upon hearing about his leaving the Pentagon were tears of joy. (Of course, his replacement, former CIA Director Robert Gates, isn't going to be much better considering he is a close personal friend of Dubyah's daddy and let's not forget about his involvement with the Iran Contra scandal.) But a change is a change and maybe with some new leadership both at the Pentagon and in Congress things will begin to change in Iraq - by that I mean maybe the military can begin to devise a plan for drawing down the troops and bringing them home.



Third, and probably my most favorite, just when I thought my day couldn't get any better. Around 9:30 p.m. a crawler came across the bottom of my tv screen to announce that this particular station was ready to declare Democrat Jim Webb the winner of Virginia's Senate race, giving the Dems a clean sweep in their fight to control both the House and the Senate. I checked several other stations upon reading this wonderful news and yes, it was true! I think I'm still beaming!!!

Have a great Thursday everybody!

Wal-Mart, Ritalin & Republicans on the Run

OK, so my random thoughts post for Thursday is a little late this week. Usually I like to have it up all day, but last night I went out and took a wreath making class. Not something I would normally do, but thanks to a couple of close friends I had a great time :) And my fall apple wreath didn't come out too bad either.

Anyway, here's this week's hodgepodge of random thoughts:

• First, some good news: Reading columnist Barbara Ehrenreich in this month's Progressive Magazine I learned that union busting, low wage paying, minimum benefit giving super corporate beast Wal-Mart reported that profits were down 26% for the second quarter of 2006 - and I couldn't be happier! It was apparently the first time Wal-Mart saw a dip in profits in ten years. Oh well!! It's about time people started waking up! Wal-Mart sells you cheap crap by paying its employees low wages, offering benefits that require the employee to carry the bulk of the cost and by threatening employees who try to unionize workers for better pay and better benefits. I for one refuse to participate in such tactics just to save a few bucks and have (happily) not shopped at Wal-Mart for several years now. I encourage anyone reading this to do the same because until we, the consumers, start showing corporations like Wal-Mart that we don't condone the way they do business, they'll keep raking in the profits by the billions while their employees can't even afford to shop where they work.



• I just read an amazing article in The Ecologist Online regarding the increasing number of children, especially boys, being prescribed drugs like Ritalin to control their "hyper" and "overly active" behavior. The article points out that "In schools today, the boy who can't sit still and careers around the classroom is defined as 'hyperactive' while the reserved one who prefers drawing churches to playing at superheroes is labelled 'possibly autistic'." While 20 years ago the same boys would have been considered boisterous and well, boys being boys. The article also points out that long term studies have not been done on these drugs that are so quickly handed out to "stressed out" parents who report being unable to control their children and have doctors willing to blame a "disease" without even considering that it could be the parents' inability to discipline their own children that's the problem. Nope, give 'em some drugs and all is better. This article also blames the education system itself for putting so much emphasis on results, standardized testing, etc. because there is no time to spend with a student who may require a little extra attention if you want to reach the statewide goals set by bureaucrats in big offices. According to reporter Rachel Ragg, in the UK, "The National Curriculum suppresses anything that doesn't fit. Never mind creativity or invention: homogeneity is what matters." I'd have to say the same is true here in the states as well. So parents beware! Teachers and doctors may not always have your child's best interests in mind, no matter how much we'd like to believe they do.



• And last, but certainly not least, I heard on the radio yesterday that Republicans are doing something previously unheard of. Campaign contributors are being encouraged to contribute their funds to races that are highly contested, while being discouraged to continue pouring money into candidates that appear to be too far behind in the polls to win. In other words, for the first time in a LONG time Republicans are worried. As they should be!! This election in two and a half weeks is CRUCIAL to the direction this country will take in the next few years and will certainly provide a big push for the Democrats for the 2008 Presidential race if they can take back Congress. THIS ELECTION ON NOVEMBER 7TH IS OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE!! It doesn't matter if the race in your district is a runaway or whether you believe that one vote can make a difference - we have to show these sly politicians that we care about what's happening in our country right now and voting (aside from enormous campaign contributions which I am not in a position to make)is the only way to make these people listen. And they will listen if they think there's a chance they'll get voted out of office if they don't. Come on, people, change is possible! I know things seem daunting, but nothing will happen if we all just sit back and sulk. Take action! Stand up and be heard! VOTE on November 7th!
  

That's it for this week's randomness. Have a great Friday everybody!!