Cockburn
/ St. Clair's Scorching New History of a Decade of War
Now Available!
Today's
Stories
May
13, 2004
Forrest
Hylston
Law 'n Order in La Paz: All Quiet
on the Southern Front?
May
12, 2004
Blanton
/ Kornbluh
Prisoner Abuse: Cheney Warned in
1992
Virginia
Tilley
So, Who's to Blame?
Bruce
Jackson
James Inhofe, the Dumbest Senator
of Them All
Thomas
P. Healy
No Enemies: Making Peace with Bert Sacks
Linda
S. Heard
Racism and Ignorance: a Lethal Cocktail in Iraq
Norman
Solomon
Spinning Torturegate
Lisa
Viscidi
The People's Voice: Community Radio in Guatemala
Jack
Heyman
View from the Bay Bridge: Longshoremen Plan Mass Workers March
on DC
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Rummy's Reprieve
CounterPunch
Wire
Teamsters Corruption Scandal: Hoffa Exec. Assistant Alleged to
Have Quashed Investigation into Mob Influence
Christopher
Brauchli
Detention Camp, USA
William
S. Lind
Bush's Waterloo?
May 11, 2004
Mark
Engler
On the "Necessity" of Torture
Ray
McGovern
More Troops? A March of Folly
Kurt
Nimmo
Dirty Nukes and Jefferson's Grand Experiment
Mickey
Z.
Less Than Hero
Christopher
Reed
Torture on the Homefront: America's Long History of Prison Abuse
Dennis
Hans
When John Negroponte was Mullah Omar
Bruce
Jackson
Pete Seeger at 85
Mike
Whitney
Killing al Sadr
Simon
Helweg-Larsen
Shrinking the Guatemalan Military
William
A. Cook
The Unconscious Country: Righteous Indignation,
Nakedly Displayed
May
10, 2004
Robert
Fisk
From Hollywood to Abu Ghraib: Racism
and Torture as Entertainment
Wayne
Madsen
The Israeli Torture Template: Rape,
Feces and Urine-Soaked Cloth Sacks
Col.
Dan Smith
The Shame of Abu Ghraib
Joe
Bageant
John Ashcroft, Keep Your Mouth Off My Wife!
Ron
Jacobs
Rummy's Prisongate Blues: Don't Leave Mad; Just Leave
Ben
Tripp
Getting in Touch with Your Inner Savage
Ray
Hanania
Why They Hate Us: Racism, Bigotry and Abuse
Reza
Fiyouzat
"Mishandled" Invasions
Diane
Christian
Images & Abstractions &
Genitals
Website
of the Day
Crushing Iraqi Skulls with Tanks for Sport?
May
8 / 9, 2004
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Torture: as American as Apple Pie
Adam
Jones
America's Srebrenica: What About the Hundreds of POWs Suffocated
and Shot at Kunduz?
Douglas
Valentine
Who Let the Dogs Out?: Torture, the CIA and the Press
Kurt
Nimmo
Rush Limbaugh and the Babes of Abu Ghraib
Brian
Cloughley
Humpty Dumpty is Falling
Lucia
Dailey
Forbidden Games
Joanne
Mariner
* * * *: Redacting Moussaoui
Mickey
Z.
Please Forgive U.S.? (There Are No Innocent Bystanders)
John
Chuckman
The Thing with No Brain
Doug
Giebel
Someone Knew: There Were No WMDs
Norm
Dixon
How the Bush Gang Exploited 9/11
Sam
Bahour
A Guiding Light Falls on Ramallah
Susan
Davis
Disorderly Conduct as Fine Art
Dave
Marsh
In a Pig's Eye: Alan Lomax, Dead But Still Stealing
Laura
Flanders
Life with Dick and Lynne
Dave
Zirin
Fans Push Spiderman Off Base
Carolyn
Baker
Why I Won't Vote in 2004
Prince
"Ain't No Sense in Voting"
Dr.
Susan Block
Onan for Two: Liberating Masturbation
Poets'
Basement
Smith, Sleeth, Ford, Albert and Saska
May
7, 2004
Human
Rights Watch
10 Prisons; 9,000 Prisoners: US Detention
Facilities in Iraq
Ron
Jacobs
UnAmerican? I Wish It Were So
Robert
Fisk
An Illegal and Immoral War
Ahmad
Faruqui
The 50th Anniversary of Dien Bien
Phu
Alexander
Zaitchik
From Terrell Unit in Texas to Abu Ghraib: Doesn't It Ring a (Prison)
Bell?
Mike
Whitney
The Price of Victory
Norman
Solomon
This War, Racism and Media Denial
M.
Shahid Alam
A Comic Apology
May
6, 2004
Jeffrey
St. Clair
They Did It for Jessica: Smeared with
Shit; Kicked to Death
Kathy
Kelly
May Day in Pekin Prison: Prison Labor
for the War Machine
Werther
The Sunk Cost Fallacy: War as Vegas
Casino Game
Lawrence
Ferlinghetti
Totalitarian Democracy
Robert
Fisk
"Smoke Him": Video Shows Wounded
Men Being Shot by US Helicopter
John
Janney
Torturing the Way to Freedom?
Christopher
Ketcham
Outlaw Heterosexual Marriage Now!
Alan
Farago
Dead Oceans: So Long, Thanks for the Fish
Sam
Hamod
Bush on Arab TV: Worthless and Demeaning
James
Brooks
Sullen Spring
William
S. Lind
On the Brink of Defeat in Iraq
May
5, 2004
Maj.
Gen. Antonio M. Taguba
Complete US Army Report on Abuse of
Iraqi Prisoners
Kathleen
and Bill Christison
Kerry: a Lost Cause for Progressives?
Will
Youmans
Deal with the Devil: a Palestinian
Zionist and the End of the World
Patrick
B. Barr
Terrorists R Us: the Powerful are Exempt from the Label
Lawrence
Magnuson
Nightline's All-American Morgue
Greg
Moses
Pocketbook of Denuded Ideals
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Tormenting Prisoners, Torturing
Truth
Lee
Ballinger
Cinco de Mayo and Unity
Gilbert
Achcar
Bush's Cakewalk into the Iraq Quaqmire
Website
of the Day
Operation Phoenix & Iraq
May
4, 2004
Human
Rights Watch
A Timeline of Torture and Abuse Allegations
and Responses
Kurt
Nimmo
The CIA Privatized Torture
David
Peterson
CBS, Self-Censorship & Iraq
Barry
Lando
CACI's Private Torture Chambers
Patrick
Cockburn
Torture: Iraqis Disgusted, But Not Surprised
Dr.
Susan Block
Indecent Insurgents: Watch What You Say
Fidel
Castro
A Mindless, Unnecessary War
Mike
Whitney
Empire of Torture
Sonali
Kolhatkar
How to Stop the War: Demonstrate Against
John Kerry
Josh
Frank
The Lost Sierra Club
Stan
Goff
The Role: Another Open Letter to US Troops in Iraq
Agustin
Velloso
Spare Us Your Disgusting Ethics
Stew
Albert
American Know-How
Website
of the Day
Scenes from a Cover-Up
May
3, 2004
Virginia
Tilley
Let the Wall of Silence Fall
May
1 / 2, 2004
Patrick
Cockburn
An Army in Disgrace, a Policy
in Tatters, the Real Prospect of Defeat
Robert
Fisk
"Good Guys" Who Can Do No
Wrong
Alexander
Cockburn
Watching Niagara: Stupid Leaders,
Useless Spies, Angry World
Heather
Williams
Gringo, We're Going Home: Latin
American Troops Flee Iraq
Diane
Rejman
An Army Vet on Torture in Iraq:
Abu Ghraib as My Lai?
Diane
Christian
Blood Spilling: Osama, Bush and
Sharon Speak the Same Language
Patrick
Cockburn
Seems Like Old Times in Fallujah
Dave
Lindorff
Bush's Torturous Logic: Shocked,
Shocked, Shocked
Chris
Floyd
Suicide Bomber: Neocons, Nihilists
and Annihilation
April
29 / 30, 2004
Dave
Zirin
A Pawn in Their Game: the Unlonesome
Death of Pat Tillman
Kathy
Kelly
The Warden's Tour
Greg
Weiher
Fallujah and the Warsaw Ghetto: the
Banality of Evil
Michael
S. Ladah
Terrorism and Assassination: the
Ultimate Depception
Patrick
Cockburn
The Fallujah Mutinies
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
Here for More Stories.
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May
13, 2004
Wal-Mart
Scrooge with
Hi-Tech Accounting Practices
By SAUL LANDAU and FARRAH HASSEN
"First and foremost, a
culture of ethical behavior underlies all that we do at Wal-Mart.
All of us who worked with my father remember the many talks he
gave stressing the importance of honesty, integrity and fairness
in our dealings with our Customers, suppliers, Associates and
the communities in which we operate."Rob Walton, Chairman
of the Board, Wal-Mart 2003 Annual Report
"Wal-Mart is not anti-union.
We just simply believe that a union is not right for Wal-Mart."Wal-Mart
spokeswoman Cynthia Illick, November 2002
A decade ago, one could drive through
the southwest and see new landmarks: Wal-Mart superstores at
the entrance or exit of almost every town and small city. In
the once thriving downtown of Douglas, Arizona, for example,
boards covered the furniture, hardware, appliance and dry goods
stores. Likewise, the bakeries and small supermarkets display
"closed" signs. Only one taqueria remains open in the
area that most local residents considered the place to shop.
At the end of town, however, with open highway on the other side,
the full Wal-Mart parking lot showed signs of flourishing business
inside the gargantuan structure (store?) whose very architecture
challenged the very design of space, sky and landscape in the
southwest.
But sentimentality holds little
significance for modern capitalism in its heyday of globalization.
In spite of the folksy veneer of founder Sam Walton (1918-1992),
who quipped that "there's a lot more business out there
in small town America than I ever dreamed of," Wal-Mart
has come to symbolize the ruthless, world wide expansion of large
multi-purpose corporations. These entities destroy competitors,
ranging from small farmers and merchants to professionals (even
optometrists must compete against the low price eye glasses sold
at Wal-Mart). Their initially lower prices draw consumers more
eager to save money than to preserve an old, shopping way of
life an understandable choice in times of uncertainty.
Wal-Mart also becomes a target
don't confuse this with Wal-Mart's competitor for both members
of communities anxious to retain certain controls of their neighborhoods
and organized labor as well.
Indeed, Wal-Mart became a factor
in the October 11, 2003, California grocery workers' strike against
the supermarket chains Safeway, Kroger Co. and Albertson's Inc.
The 139 day long lock-out-strike came in response to the employers
calling for a 50% cut in worker health insurance and retirement
benefits. The larger threat, one Albertson's striker explained,
concerned "Wal-Mart's encroachment on supermarkets with
their supercenters that not only offer competitive prices, but
worse, jeopardize the livelihoods of all workers by promoting
low-wages, zero health care benefits, products made outside the
US for cheap and an anti-union stance."
On February 29, 2004, with
Wal-Mart's movement into the supermarket business and its fierce
anti-unionism looming, the 60,000 grocery workers reluctantly
ratified a contract. They got little and the supermarket's achieved
their main goal: lowering labor costs by instituting a two-tier
wage system.
Having served as a symbol in
the grocery strike, Wal-Mart, assumed its real life form in Inglewood,
California, in Los Angeles County, a city of 113,000 people where
union members round out 10,000 households. In this less than
affluent community, 60 percent voted on April 6, 2004 against
allowing Wal-Mart to open one of its 40 planned supercenters.
Wal-Mart had tried to circumvent the city council, which demanded
a public hearing and environmental study, and take its case directly
to the voters.
The world's largest retailer
- annual sales total over $250 billion spent more than $1 million
to persuade the Inglewood voters average household income $34,269
-- of the virtues of having a mega store in their neighborhood.
The mostly black and Latino
residents received a torrent of Wal-Mart propaganda about how
the store would provide much needed tax revenue and jobs, offer
lower prices for necessities, make shopping more convenient and
provide a ladder on which poor people could climb as Wal-Mart
employees.
The Inglewood residents didn't
buy the commercial messages on TV black and Latino actors describing
the merits of humongous new markets in old neighborhoods nor
did they need sociologists to explain that few progeny of the
under classes make their way to homes in Beverly Hills or the
quiet, crime free suburbs around LA. Most people of color have
never bought into that myth and indeed most of the children and
the elders -- can see quite clearly that their incomes do not
vary significantly from those of their parents.
The class mobility that characterized
American society at certain periods was usually limited to white
or light skinned people. The amount of middle class blacks has
increased, but so has the number of very poor African Americans
and Latinos.
As Paul Krugman observed in
The Nation on January 5, 2004, "In modern America, it seems,
you're quite likely to stay in the social and economic class
into which you were born." Wal-Martization of the economy
has come to represent the idea that jobs take on a permanent
low-wage,dead-end character: the working class stays working
class. It also symbolizes the morphing of the publicinto the
consumers. Behind these words, however, lies the ugliest of capitalist
realities.
Indeed, in order to bring the
consumers what they need -- that $8.63 polo shirt the Scrooges
who run Wal-Mart extract cheap prices from 10,000 suppliers abroad,
such as in Honduras, Bangladesh and China, the latter where Wal-Mart
owns over 3,000 factories. According to columnists Nancy Cleeland,
Evelyn Iritani and Tyler Marshall in the November 23, 2003 Los
Angeles Times, "From its headquarters in Bentonville, Ark,...Wal-Mart
buyers continually search the globe for still-cheaper sources
of supply. The competition pits vendor against vendor, country
against country."
To reduce costs in Honduras,
the Times reports, "...factories have reduced payrolls and
become more efficient. The country produces the same amount of
clothing as it did three years ago, but with 20% fewer workers,
said Henry Fransen, director of the Honduran Apparel Manufacturers
Assn., which represents nearly 200 export factories. 'We're earning
less and producing more...following the Wal-Mart philosophy.'"
At home, Wal-Mart has practiced
its "less is more" slogan by shaving worker hours.
This cost-cutting practice, which Wal-Mart executives have acknowledged
as the "one-minute clock-out," screws workers out of
wages they have earned. According to Steven Greenhouse in the
April 4, 2004 New York Times, managers altered records of "workers
who clocked out for lunch and forgot to clock back in before
finishing the day." If the worker forgot to clock back in
after lunch, he only got paid up to his lunch break. Wal-Mart
flaks responded to the Times article by maintaining that that
their "intent was to draw the workers' attention to problems
with their time records, not to cheat employees" (April
7, 2004 New York Times).
Hour-shaving exists at other
chain operations as well. The NY Times reported that Taco Bell
and other franchise managers often trim the hours that workers
have clocked in order to show a better bottom line to the head
offices. The managers, often young men in their twenties with
families, feel the pressure from above to cut, cut, cut or else.
Fearful of losing their jobs, with salaries on the mind $20,000
and health insurance, these low-level managers see no area to
shave other than wages.
But contemporary corporate
compassion at Wal-Mart goes beyond cheating workers of their
hard-earned wages. Even Ebenezer Scrooge, Charles Dickens' stereotype
of a cruel, capitalist employer, would not have thought of Wal-Mart's
scheme to capitalize on the death of its employees. Alongside
corporations like Nestle and Procter and Gamble, Wal-Mart took
out life insurance policies on its low wage employees, dubbed
"dead peasant insurance," often without workers' consent.
Consequently, noted the April 19, 2002 Wall Street Journal, "millions
of current and former workers at hundreds of large companies
are thus worth a great deal to their employers dead, as well
as alive, yielding billions of dollars in tax breaks over the
years, as well as a steady stream of tax-free death benefits."
In a 2002 case, U.S. District
Judge Nancy Atlas found Wal-Mart guilty of "improperly"
utilizing George law to buy secret life insurance for 350,000
Texan employees (Houston Chronicle, June 6, 2002).
The Wal-Mart executives, most
of them rock-solid Republicans and church goers, understand viscerally
what George W. Bush meant when he called on Americans to practice
compassionate conservatism. Unlike Scrooge, who transforms his
mean-spirited miserly character through a revealing dream, the
heavies at some of the globalizing corporations understand redemption
through Rapture, not through changing their skin-flint practices
into generous deeds.
The Wal-Mart God is the Lord
of the Bottom Line. The Laws of Gods they translate in practice
into exploitation of the most vulnerable sectors of the workforce.
To protect themselves, the Wal-Mart execs and those of other
globalizers pay the politicians, in campaign contributions. They
are moving rapidly into food sales and other areas as well. Watch
out, as Upton Sinclair warned in 1934 when he tried to End Poverty
in California. "Autocracy in industry cannot exist alongside
democracy in government."
The Inglewood voters opted
for democracy, but Wal-Mart will not allow a majority vote to
obstruct their global ambitions. Watch for the next round. It
could take place in your neighborhood. So prepare to come out
swinging!
Saul Landau's newest film, SYRIA: BETWEEN IRAQ AND
A HARD PLACE, is available through Cinema Guild (800-723-5522).
His new book is THE PRE-EMPTIVE EMPIRE: A GUIDE TO BUSH'S KINGDOM.
He teaches at Cal Poly Pomona University and is a fellow of the
Institute for Policy Studies.
Farrah Hassen is a senior Political Science student
at Cal Poly Pomona.
Weekend
Edition Features for May 8 / 9, 2004
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Torture: as American as Apple Pie
Adam
Jones
America's Srebrenica: What About the Hundreds of POWs Suffocated
and Shot at Kunduz?
Douglas
Valentine
Who Let the Dogs Out?: Torture, the CIA and the Press
Kurt
Nimmo
Rush Limbaugh and the Babes of Abu Ghraib
Brian
Cloughley
Humpty Dumpty is Falling
Lucia
Dailey
Forbidden Games
Joanne
Mariner
* * * *: Redacting Moussaoui
Mickey
Z.
Please Forgive U.S.? (There Are No Innocent Bystanders)
John
Chuckman
The Thing with No Brain
Doug
Giebel
Someone Knew: There Were No WMDs
Norm
Dixon
How the Bush Gang Exploited 9/11
Sam
Bahour
A Guiding Light Falls on Ramallah
Susan
Davis
Disorderly Conduct as Fine Art
Dave
Marsh
In a Pig's Eye: Alan Lomax, Dead But Still Stealing
Laura
Flanders
Life with Dick and Lynne
Dave
Zirin
Fans Push Spiderman Off Base
Carolyn
Baker
Why I Won't Vote in 2004
Prince
"Ain't No Sense in Voting"
Dr.
Susan Block
Onan for Two: Liberating Masturbation
Poets'
Basement
Smith, Sleeth, Ford, Albert and Saska
|