Walmart places their bets

Sometime over the last year, in Walmart's boardroom, they debated how best to fight the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act in a populist climate that is extremely unfavorable to Republicans. They were left with two choices:

1. Stick with the Republicans against overwhelming odds this cycle, since they know they own their votes regardless, or
2. Give up on the Republicans in 2008, and give money to the Democratic leadership, because they believe that they have a better chance of getting the Democrats to screw over the working class than they do getting Republicans elected.

This is the same Walmart that is so nervous about the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act that last month risked breaking federal laws in order to pressure their employees to vote for Republicans.

Yet, last month, it was revealed that Walmart is giving more money to House Democrats than to house Republicans during this election cycle.

They've made their choice.

While Walmart putting Democrats in their pockets is nothing new, it has always been for smaller legislation, and nothing this ambitious. The EFCA fight will be the biggest congressional fight for the Labor movement since NAFTA, and this will be a watershed moment for the Democratic Party.

Will they stand up for the working class, or will they turn their backs once again, and do the bidding of Big Business?

We know what Walmart's putting their money on.

Let's get serious...

If for no other reason than the fact that it's Monday morning, the weekend is already over and nobody wants to be awake right now, I present to you...

ANIMALS MESSING UP SOCCER GAMES!!!!!


And just for good measure, a bonus, too-crappy-to-be-featured-in-The Train of Thought Lounge selection from Jermaine Jackson!

Enjoy your week, everybody. I promise I'll try to write about something serious soon. And by that, I mean actually serious, not "Jermaine Jackson" serious.

Thoughts on McCain's speech

-I could not have been more disappointed that the craptacular Redskins game didn't preempt his speech.

-The giant screen behind him didn't make much sense, especially when it showed a picture of what appeared to be a mansion. It turns out it wasn't a mansion, it was Walter Reed middle school in California. Why some middle school in California you might ask? Josh Marshall thinks that it was some lazy google image work by someone trying to find a picture of Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Whoops.

-The number of POW references was out of control. The movie voice guy repeating how "things change when you see the world from inside a box" 6 or 7 times before he was introduced was kind of creepy.

-The protester had a sign saying "John McCain Votes against vets", is a veteran of the Iraq war and was given a pass by a Ron Paul delegate. An interview with him here.

- When he said that Obama supports giveaways to big oil, that set off alarms bells because I couldn't believe that he'd say something that stupid when they both voted for the 2005 energy bill. Turns out I was wrong, and McCain voted no on that bill. We really need to keep the focus on their plans, and McCain's very real ties to big oil at present, and stay the fuck away from that vote. When looking at people's records its easy to see that McCain is no friend of the environment, and very much a tool of big oil, but it's just annoying that he has a moderately true attack line to parrot all fall. But then again, they don't call him on his countless false attacks, so why should this one matter any more?

-He focused a section of his speech on his dislike for teachers. Not just that, but it sounded like he truly had disdain for them and their work. To great applause, of course.

-Just curious, but for all the bullshitting about Clinton and Obama at our convention... you'd think it would be worth more than a casual mention that the faction of the republican party most accurately described as a movement had a rally of close to 10000 people in the same city.

-I think I'm going to start claiming everything that I do is country first. If movie voice guy can make voting for the Iraq war country first, then I think me watching the Gators play tomorrow is also country first. Country first, the new 35 years of experience.

-You gotta love the McCain "Peace" signs throughout the crowd.

-Unbelievably classless. Anyone surprised? Anyone? Buehler?

-Speaking of classless, Congressman from Georgia calls Barack Obama "uppity". I guess if you hint at it enough, eventually someone says what you actually meant.

-A few lines from his speech:

I fight for Americans. I fight for you. I fight for Bill and Sue Nebe from Farmington Hills, Michigan, who lost their real estate investments in the bad housing market.

Yep, cause with this economic downturn, those who really feel the brunt of it are those who lost their real estate investments. Seriously, how out of touch can you be? I'm just sorry that the Plutocracy 08 movement never caught on. They would have fit right in.

Senator Obama thinks we can achieve energy independence without more drilling and without more nuclear power. But Americans know better than that.

It's just too bad that all those "scientists" and "experts" don't know any better. Idiots.

great things are always within our reach. Fight with me. Fight with me.

Along the lines of what Stoller said: Is that a question, a challenge or a threat?

-Atrios adds:

Death is too good for the person who put "my friends" on the McCain drinking game list.

-And one last note. Big ups to Baron Davis for smacking down our beloved Gilbert Arenas for his post on Obama's tax plan (and his post stating that if you're rich, you need to vote Republican):

(I know he said he's gonna raise the taxes on the top income bracket, Gil, but if he uses that money to improve our schools then you won't have to worry about some kids trying to sell pictures of your pool online cause they couldn't get a better job.) LOL

We love you Gil, but maybe you should have a talk with Sir Charles about where that attitude leads you.

It's Friday, and it's time for Happy hour.

*COUNTRY FIRST*

Sarah Palin

It is difficult for me to put the extent of my sadness and disgust at Palin's candidacy into words. To borrow a phrase from my friend Rachel, then, “she represents a fascist platform, quite literally.”

It's not her stances on issues like abortion & gay marriage, global warming, or drilling & endangered species-hating that worry me, though her policies are a step backwards even from the current sad state of Presidential opinion. What worries me is her history of injecting her warped sense of "Christian" morals into politics and executive decisions:


As mayor, she threatened to fire Wasilla’s librarian for refusing to ban books that contained “inappropriate language:”

Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor.

Although she has not said whether her beliefs preclude an acceptance of scientific theories such as evolution, her remarks imply that she’s so out of touch with reality that she thinks creationism is a “theory,” and would like it to be a part of American education:

"Teach both. You know, don't be afraid of information. Healthy debate is so important, and it's so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both."...
"It's OK to let kids know that there are theories out there."

And if the following video is any evidence, she believes that prayer and fundamentalist christianity are, and should be, the driving force behind American progress and policy. Skip ahead to 3:50 when she calls the war in Iraq is “a task from God:”




Maybe that sort of thing flies in “the bible belt of Alaska,” I wouldn’t know. But the fact that she could be the president-after-next – that she could have any influence at all on the state of the nation – is abhorrent. It’s terrifying.

And another thing: how dare they pretend that bigotry and fundamentalism are the ideal, “traditional” American values? How dare they?

How far is too far?

I find myself wondering that quite a bit, mostly in reference to cowardly and unprincipled Democrats, willing to abandon their beliefs in order to compromise with Republicans.

The most obvious example of this came last year during the primary campaign I wondered how organized labor would even speak to a candidate whose chief strategist was a union buster. If you're a labor union and you don't make a stand against union-busting, then where the fuck do you draw the line?

Last night Joe Lieberman spoke in prime time at the Republican convention, praising the Republican candidate for president, and attacking the Democratic nominee.

What the fuck else does he have to do to be stripped of his chairmanship?! Leaving him as a committee chair has real world consequences. For all of the talk of Gustav and New Orleans in the news, HE IS THE REASON THERE HAVE BEEN NO INVESTIGATIONS ON THE GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO HURRICANE KATRINA!

MINUS

=

Your current Democratic leadership.

Palin? Really?

I thought that "first do no harm" was the most important rule for VP picks, but apparently John McCain is too much of a maverick for that. The pick was made on her ability to go after angry Clinton supporters (who cares) and rally the religious right to the campaign (not enough cred to do so), but it's starting to look more and more like an absolute disaster. Chris Bowers runs through her ever growing list of problems, but I just can't past what this does to McCain's message.

All summer, McCain has been setting up the argument about Barack Obama's youth, and attempting to make this election debate of youth vs experience. As if those attacks never happened, 72 year old John McCain picks Sarah Palin as vice president. Argument destroyed, message lost.

Oh yeah, and if everything else wasn't enough, there's this:

"[A]s for that V.P. talk all the time, I'll tell you, I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the V.P. does every day?"

Ooohhhhhh boy. To quote Bowers' response: "She doesn't know, huh? Hopefully, she has read The Constitution since she made that statement."

And bookies are taking bets on her being pulled from the ticket starting............... now.

The Train of Thought Lounge: The Jimi Hendrix Experience

The vanilla almond scented candles are out and the Manischewitz is flowing, which can only mean one thing; you are back in The Train of Thought Lounge. It's really unbelievable that I haven't featured Jimi Hendrix here yet before. In addition to being a cultural icon, guitar god and all-around legend, Hendrix is one of my personal heros (along with Prince, Dave Chappelle and John Brown).

Out of all of his incredibly famous songs, I feel like "Manic Depression" is one of his most slept-on. This is just a fucking jam. There's not really any other way of describing it better.

Another reason why I love this song though is the fact that Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell's talents really shine through. They are so often overshadowed by Jimi's immense star power, and it's not their fault or his. This track offers proof that Hendrix's supporting cast was more than solid. Jimi brings it, as always, but then that comes as no surprise. Redding's bass line is one of my favorite off all-time. It's everything a bass line should be: a simple, yet devastatingly-funky rhythm that remains constant throughout.

The true superstar of this song is Mitchell though. Especially after the 2:40 mark when it sounds as though Mitchell has eight arms.