Wal-Mart
on Santa's naughtiest list and on the Toltecs'
 |
| W-M protesting Santa worker arrested |
I feel it is unconscionable for me to help make the
10th-of-1% even richer, just so I can save a little money, while Wal-Mart
workers suffer. There's more than a U.S. latino connection; there's also a Mexican-Toltec
connection explained below.
On their website, Wal-Mart brags: "Our U.S.
workforce is about 1.3 million associates. 37%
of our associates in the U.S. are minority, including more than 169,000 Hispanic associates."
What they don't brag about, are facts like these:
 |
| Wal-Mart workers associating |
"Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest private sector
employer, is also the biggest consumer of taxpayer supported aid, along with
McDonald's. In many states, Wal-Mart
employees are the largest group of Medicaid recipients.
"They are also the single biggest group of food stamp recipients. Wal-Mart’s associates are paid so
little that they receive $1,000 on average in public assistance."
You can Google Wal-Mart employees & welfare, food stamps, losing Americans jobs, cutting workers' health insurance, undermining public education, and funding right-wing agendas. Or read about workers marching yesterday in front of the store,
chanting in English and Spanish and carrying signs with messages like “Livable Wages Over Greed.”
The information and evidence seems endless. Goes on for pages and pages of reasons for Hispanics, Chicanos, mexicanos and others to drive
twice as far to another store, rather than contribute to this company's cash flow. Read
the entire NYTimes piece here.
Now, for some of the money you spend at Wal-Mart that
goes for bribes. As was done in Mexico City in the sacrilege that follows.
Teotihuacán
& Wal-Mart
In an article a year ago entitled "The
Bribery Aisle: How Wal-Mart Got Its Way
in Mexico", The New York Times
uncovered that Wal-Mart's more accurate slogan should be: Save Money for bribes; Live Better on welfare. First for the, on
Welfare:
"Wal-Mart de Mexico was an aggressive and
creative corrupter, offering large payoffs to get what the law otherwise
prohibited, an examination by The New York Times found.
"Wal-Mart de Mexico arranged to bribe an
official to change the map before it was sent to the newspaper, records and
interviews show. When the map was published, the zoning was redrawn to allow
Wal-Mart’s store.
"The NYTimes traveled to dozens of towns and
cities in Mexico, gathered tens of thousands of documents related to Wal-Mart
de Mexico permits, and interviewed scores of government officials and Wal-Mart
employees, including hours of interviews with lawyers.
"The Times’s examination reveals that
Wal-Mart de Mexico was not the reluctant victim of a corrupt culture that
insisted on bribes as the cost of doing business. Nor did it pay bribes merely
to speed up routine approvals. Rather, Wal-Mart de Mexico was an aggressive and
creative corrupter, offering large payoffs to get what the law otherwise
prohibited. It used bribes to subvert democratic governance — public votes,
open debates, transparent procedures. It used bribes to circumvent regulatory
safeguards that protect Mexican citizens from unsafe construction. It used
bribes to outflank rivals.
"Through confidential Wal-Mart documents, The Times identified 19 store sites
across Mexico that were the target of Wal-Mart de Mexico’s bribes. The Times
then matched information about specific bribes against permit records for each
site. Clear patterns emerged. Over and over, for example, the dates of bribe
payments coincided with dates when critical permits were issued.
"Thanks to eight bribe payments totaling
$341,000, Wal-Mart built a Sam’s Club in one of Mexico City’s most densely
populated neighborhoods, near the Basílica de Guadalupe, without a
construction license, or an environmental permit, or an urban impact
assessment, or even a traffic permit.
"But there is no better example of Wal-Mart
de Mexico’s methods than its conquest of field in view of the Pyramid of the
Sun in Teotihuacán, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Times found that Wal-Mart de Mexico executives approved at least four
different bribe payments — more than $200,000 in all — to build just a
medium-size supermarket. Without those payoffs, records and interviews show,
Wal-Mart almost surely would not have been allowed to build."
La Bloga encourage readers to check out the entire
article. It's an incredible investigative piece of what use to be done in this
country as journalism. How this company abuses its "Hispanic", and
other, workers; how it degrades Mexican heritage; and how it supports causes and
beliefs that are opposite those of La Bloga are sufficient reasons for me to
remember Wal-Mart this holiday season. And drive right past them, wondering about bribes in the U.S.
A
Merry Little Apex Christmas Flash Fiction Contest
An Apex Publications announcement about their
contest:
"All entries must have to do with Christmas, but
have a distinctly Apex slant – dark science fiction, fantasy, or horror.
Submit between now until December 16th. 250 word limit. Email entries to: apexwritingcontest@gmail.com with
the title and author name in the subject line. Story should be in the body of the email.
"Winning story being published on the Apex blog on
Dec. 23rd. Besides getting their flash fiction published on the Apex blog,
the winner also receives the following fantastic prize pack: a short story (up
to 5,000 words long) critiqued by Apex owner/publisher Jason Sizemore, payment
of 5 cents a word, and a one year subscription to Apex Magazine.
To make sure that everyone has a merry Christmas,
all entrants will receive a free issue of Apex Magazine. Just let us know in your submission email which issue you would like and we will send it. Search our
back issues to see which one you’d like."
Cars, Cards &
Carbines
anthology
La Bloga
amigo, Mario Acevedo, just announced a KickStarter campaign for: A high-octane
anthology of short fiction from top, genre authors.
"The goal of this campaign is to
publish an anthology of new short stories by some of the best writers
[including Mario] in speculative fiction. The anthology will be released as an
E-book, a trade paperback, and a limited edition hardcover, available only to campaign
contributors.
"Cars, Cards & Carbines
grew from a desire to see more of the kind of stories that set my little writer
brain on fire as a kid, merged with adult sensibilities, complex themes, and
sheer literary awesomeness. We think you'll agree that the author roster is
capable of pulling that off.
"This anthology was originally
conceived as Mad Max meets Maverick and The Wild, Wild West,
by way of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, but the concepts now go much
farther than that. Each story will do something unique to incorporate those
three themes, without restrictions on genre. The award-winning/bestselling
authors have very different writing styles and work in numerous genres.
"One cool thing about putting
together this kind of anthology is the way the three elements of the theme can
be stretched. Cars can mean hot rods, getaway
cars, train cars, mine cars, horse-drawn carriages. While originating from a
Poker theme, Cards can be expanded into things like credit cards,
tarot cards, programming cards, green cards, and more. And of course Carbine literally means a short-barreled rifle used generally by
cavalry, but could easily reach into all sorts of firearms across almost any
milieu.
"Put these three together, throw in
these authors, simmer, and the possibility for action and adventure is
limitless. Stories will be all over the genre map, from noir to weird western,
steampunk to cyberpunk, science fiction to straight-up horror.
And let's not forget the cover artist, World Fantasy Award winner Alan M. Clark,
who's set to paint a full wrap-around cover.
"The more money we raise, the more
stories we can publish and the more we can pay our authors. Every dime beyond
the initial goal goes into more stories and higher pay for the authors.
"We have a long list of rewards and
crunchy goodies: signed books by our authors and editors, Tuckerizations
(writing your name into a story), story and novel critiques for writers, and
even launch parties with your favorite author/editor as the host. There's
definitely more to come, with some surprises along the way. So buckle up, throttle up, and get ready
for a thrill ride."
There will be no open submissions; by invitation
only.
Dec. 15, 2013 – Campaign ends.
Nov. 15, 2014 - Ebooks sent to contributors.
As of today, the campaign had reached $1,835
of the $13,500. Go here for more info.
Es todo, hoy,
RudyG
