Author: AP

Hello all.

Thank you for your comments/suggestions/recommendations here. I really appreciate it!

Dear Senator,

I strongly urge you to vote against the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito for the Supreme Court. Appointing Judge Alito will threaten the fundamental rights and basic legal protections for working Americans of all ages. Two areas of particular concern include the rights found under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)–rights that Judge Alito apparently does not believe are granted to Americans or should be exercised by Americans.

FMLA helps millions of adults balance workplace and family responsibilities by giving eligible workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for life events such as the birth of a child or to care for a parent, child or spouse with a serious illness. The ADEA protects employees and job applicants 40 years of age and older from discrimination based on age. These laws are essential in an age of heightened rhetoric regarding “family values” for younger workers and pension instability and decline of retiree health benefits for older workers.

Hostile to the very concept of discrimination.

A recent Knight Ridder article examining Judge Alito’s record describes him as being “particularly rigid in employment discrimination cases” and has “… seldom found merit in a bias claim.” Is he really so myopic to believe that discrimination either does not exist, deserves no remedy–or that individuals even have the right to present evidence that discrimination even exists?

Apparently so: he was the sole dissent in Glass v. Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO). Glass, a 23-year PECO employee, sued for racial and age discrimination after being denied several promotions, even though during that period he earned two engineering degrees and had only one negative job evaluation. During the trial, PECO claimed that the sole negative job evaluation was the reason that Glass failed to be promoted. When Glass attempted present evidence to refute that claim, the trial judge refused. Though the decision was reversed on appeal, incredibly, Judge Alito in a sole dissent claimed that the trial judge’s decision was “harmless” and that if Glass told his side of the story could cause “substantial unfair prejudice.” Evidently, providing evidence in a case one has filed is itself prejudicial.

Ignoring evidence of blatant age discrimination.

In Keller v. Orix Credit Alliance, Inc., Judge Alito denied a former employee the right to preset to a jury his claim under the ADEA despite providing evidence in the form of a statement by the person who fired him: “If you are getting too old for the job, maybe you should hire one or two young bankers.”

Views so radical that he does not believe that Congress even had the authority to enact FMLA.

In Chittister v. Department of Community and Economic Development, Judge Alito found that Congress did not have the authority to give state employees the right to sue their employers for damages for violating the FMLA’s provisions for unpaid leave. Judge Alito even held that FLMA “creates a substantive entitlement to sick leave.”  The Supreme Court later ruled on a similar case that state employees did, in fact, have those right under FMLA. That 6-3 opinion was written by Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

Supreme Court decisions have real consequences for real people.

Judge Alito’s record of opposing basic legal protections for Americans is clear and unambiguous: It is replete with examples of weakening the rights and protections that millions of Americans depend upon. Americans deserve a Supreme Court justice that will rule in a fair manner, not an ideologue who would use his life-long appointment to push a narrow agenda that would winnow away basic rights. His type of extremist judicial philosophy has no place on the Supreme Court. For these reasons, I strongly urge you to vote against this nomination.

Signed,

Sources: SaveOurCourts.org, a project of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund (LCCREF);
National Senior Citizens Law Center/Herbert Semmel Federal Rights Project; Knight Ridder Newspapers, “Review of Cases Show Alito to be a Staunch Conservative”; EEOC.gov; SAMUEL A. ALITO, JR.: The Published Opinions; SaveTheCourt.org, a project of People For the American Way (PFAW).

Click here for Senate Judiciary Members.

My own “copper coinage” (I have someone here to thank for that phrase): States have rights; people don’t. This warped concept is as antebellum as it is evil. Don’t be fooled because Alito’s bright enough not to snarl; he’s as wingnut as they come … only quieter.

His aversion to age discrimination really struck me after reading this excellent diary, Dude, Where’s My Pension by growthrate, about the sorry state of our pensions. I’ve been following the pension stories with a growing sense of dread. It’s bad enough that seniors may be looking at extended work life because they can’t afford to retire. But what happens if they can’t keep or win a decent job? And what happens to that senior’s adult children when the senior becomes sick–and they have their own family to care and provide for? This is a very real scenario for many people. And yet, all we hear is this noise about “family values” — my ass!

Oh, and of course, there’s his wingnut opinion that my husband ought to rule over me. But I digress…

Please take this letter and adapt as you will. Feel free to use all or in part.

So what does a poodle and a stopped clock have to do with this?

This is a picture of folks at work at  al-Jazeera.
The   would be Tony Blair.*

And the “stopped clock” story would be this: that he talked Bush out of bombing al-Jazeera.

The five-page transcript of a conversation between Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair reveals that Blair talked Bush out of launching a military strike on the station, unnamed sources told the daily which is against the war in Iraq.

The transcript of the pair’s talks during Blair’s April 16, 2004 visit to Washington allegedly shows Bush wanted to attack the satellite channel’s headquarters.

Blair allegedly feared such a strike, in the business district of Doha, the capital of Qatar, a key western ally in the Persian Gulf, would spark revenge attacks.

You really must read the entire story, but do remember this:

The newspaper (The Daily Mirror) said that the memo “casts fresh doubt on claims that other attacks on al-Jazeera were accidents”. It cited the 2001 direct hit on the channel’s Kabul office.

Let’s now turn to the The Daily Mirror.

The No 10 memo now raises fresh doubts over US claims that previous attacks against al-Jazeera staff were military errors.

In 2001 the station’s Kabul office was knocked out by two “smart” bombs. In 2003, al-Jazeera reporter Tareq Ayyoub was killed in a US missile strike on the station’s Baghdad centre.

Also read this to get a brief history on al-Jazeera, a related story in the Mirror. It’s useful to remember that “U.S. officials once praised al-Jazeera” for “balanced reporting.”

Until, of course, they started reporting stories the Bush administration didn’t like.

Well, hey–Tony Blair is useful for something after all.

Cross-posted at Liberal Street Fighter

*This in no way implies that nearly all poodles aren’t intelligent animals. Only the two-legged version do I have questions about.

I detest wasting any time talking about this slime. I hate to even put his vile visage on this august site.

So I’ll be brief.
From the “there you go again” file, we have another reason why we should not only reject but also fight the theocrats who wish to lord over us.

As most of you know, Dover residents on Tuesday ousted members of their school board who wanted to force the so-called intelligent design on school children. It seems to me that voters didn’t look too kindly onto an act of state religious indoctrination. Imagine.

But that was apparently too much for ole Pat:

“I’d like to say to the good citizens of Dover: If there is a disaster in your area, don’t turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city,” Mr Robertson said on The 700 Club.

And a parting shot:

“If they have future problems in Dover, I recommend they call on Charles Darwin. Maybe he can help them.”

How dare he wish evil upon them … or anyone? Forget the weasel words of “if there is a disaster in your area”–he is actively wishing evil upon them. So did the folks who died during the tornadoes in Indiana do so because they didn’t believe in “intelligent design” enough?

Of course, that puts the lie that “intelligent design” has everything to do with science and nothing at all to do with religion in stark relief. Notice that ole Pat is mum about whether or not God would extend His protection if a school board rejects phonics.

It’s insane to have to mention that natural disasters are going to happen whether Pat Robertson likes it or not. That’s why they are called “acts of God.” Wishing them upon people because they reject the authority that he thinks he represents and he thinks we should bow down to are acts of Satan.

God does not need Pat’s help. Or mouth. He’s likely tired of him, too.

Just enough already. He is an evil, from-the-segregationist-manor-born cretin with blood-stained hands and a God-complex. He is malicious. He is so far beyond any standard of decency that he should be shunned for the rest of his sorry existence. And anyone who willingly associates with him ought to have their humanity–as well as their sanity–examined.

We have a tradition of calling the veterans in our family to wish them a happy Veteran’s Day and to thank them for their sacrifice for us and their service to the country. We especially thank them because while the country they have served doesn’t always love, appreciate and thank them, we do. Today I include a person I’ve never met who I’d like to thank, too.

She is Sgt. Kelly Dougherty and she is a co-founder of Iraq Veterans Against the War. And she is still serving this nation with distinction.

She is bravely sharing what she has witnessed in this war:

Dougherty said she had hoped that American troops would help rebuild power plants, water systems and schools, but the only construction she saw was at military bases.

“From what I saw, we just created more chaos and violence,” she said. “I became less and less convinced that we were there for a good purpose.”

And what she’s doing is not without consequences:

“People say you are a traitor. People say you are unpatriotic,” said Dougherty, 27, about her anti-war work. “We are doing this because we feel strongly about America.

Amazing, isn’t it?  Truth-telling is a traitorous act!  Of course she loves her country–more than those squawking chickenhawks who have her back … WAY back, in the comfort of their homes and her sacrifice. And she’s still sacrificing for the good of the country:

She put her life and income on hold to talk to college students, high school classes and community groups across the country.

“The war in Iraq is not about protecting this country. The war is about aggression,” said Dougherty, who doesn’t receive a salary for her work against the war.

Read the entire story over at Common Dreams. But for my part, I thank her for her continuing service to our nation.

Cross-posted at Liberal Street Fighter

I know that we have a long road ahead of us–the latest front being the Scalito nomination. But for a moment, I want to share with you something powerful. Something that can perhaps give us inspiration for the unwelcome, but unavoidable, journey ahead.

It’s the honor that Mrs. Rosa Parks brought to the Capitol.

Standing outside at night, for seven hours, in the cold, along with thousands of my best friends?

Mrs. Parks was worth it.

Paying a cab to take us home (out of the city) because the Capitol police told us that Metro wouldn’t stay open past 1:00 AM (when, in fact, it was open until 2 AM, a fact that we didn’t learn until much later in the day)?

Mrs. Parks was worth it.

As soon as I heard that Mrs. Parks would lie in honor at the Capitol, I knew I’d be there. No ifs, and, or buts about it.

The experience was amazing. It took a day just to process what I witnessed.

The first thing that struck me Sunday evening was this: I don’t think the Capitol planners were quite ready for this.  Unlike the Reagan spectacle (there’s a difference between a state funeral and the stage-managed, revisionist “cry for our fallen god” show they put on), this was a more genuine display of honor. Thousands of people came to pay their respects–a spokesman for the Capitol police said that there were as many people assembled to pay their respects to Mrs. Parks as there were for Reagan–maybe more.

We arrived at the Capitol before 6:30, which according to the schedule of events, was the time that the processional was to arrive. Instead of being able to walk directly to the west front of the Capitol building from where we were (Independence Ave and 1st), we were instructed by a police officer to walk around the east front (and around the construction for the “visitors” center) and then back down toward the west front. (Click here to get a sense of that walk. No one ever walks around the Capitol–you walk through, using the tunnels–unless you have to.)

That was our first clue that they were a bit overwhelmed with the numbers. As we walked along, we noticed there weren’t many officers to guide us until we arrived on Constitution Ave–the Senate-side of the Capitol. There weren’t any officers to tell us where to go. We ultimately walked to about 2nd St. NW to get in line.

At about 7:20 p.m., the processional finally arrived. Led by the hum of the motorcycle police escort, the hearse carrying her drove slowly by, followed a vintage Metro bus draped in black bunting, 3 Metro buses filled with her family and closet friends (one who said “We love you DC” — well, we love you right back) and more police vehicles. Everyone clapped and waved at the family. It was a very powerful and moving moment.

After the procession, we continued to walk and wait. We walked around one side of the pool, crossed the street, walked around one of the fields (down by about 3rd St. NW), to cross the street again, zig-zagged our way back onto the Capitol grounds, snaked our way back up to another roller-coaster waiting area-like zig-zag, up the hill (where, at six and a half hours, there was a sign that read helpfully: “Line Starts Here”) and finally, into the south “visitors entrance” facility to go through security. We didn’t even get close to the port-a-potties until after 4 hours–another clue that we were much more in number than expected.

Oh, but the people kept coming. At the 9:00 p.m. hour. At the 10:00 hour. At the 11:00 hour. When we finally descended the steps of the west front at 12:55 a.m., people were still coming.

They never closed the Capitol. Originally, they planned to close the Capitol at midnight.

The crowd of people was just amazing. Yes, we were predominantly African-American, but not singularly so. That alone was a source of comfort, something that I’m sure made Mrs. Parks smile looking down from heaven. (Bet she’s unsurprised at who ISN’T there, but I digress.) What I’m sure would have made her even prouder was the number of young people in attendance–from tots to teens. The Seniors represented well, too, and they were noways tired; in fact, most of them outlasted the kids in the line. And there were plenty of 20, 30, 40, and 50-somethings there, too.

Some people brought flowers. Some people brought songs. There was a stirring and apropos rendition of the  hymn, “We’ve Come This Far by Faith”–and even if you don’t practice religion or are of another faith, after being in line for hours, wondering if you’ll EVER be able to get in, you could really appreciate the song. Lots of us laughed before we quietly sang along.

Someone even, inexplicably, brought fresh collard greens. We saw them sticking up in one of the trash cans at about hour five. Well, I can only say this–don’t bring ’em unless you cook ’em.  :<)

Seriously though–the entire evening both captured her essence–regal without pretension; a dignified spirit that still in death, commands respect–and reminded me of the road ahead.

You know damn well that the insincere Shrub didn’t want to be there…but he had to be. Of course, this will give him something to talk about during Black History Month.

Same thing goes for Cat Killer and Scalito:

It’s almost as if they want to make sure she’s really dead. Civil rights icon dead? Check. Actual civil, human and privacy rights dead? Not yet–but just leave that to me–Scalito.  

This is what lies ahead: The segregationist spawn that is the Radical Right. Rev. Jesse Jackson brings perspective his latest op-ed:

She was not an innocent seamstress when she refused to give up that seat on the bus in Montgomery, Ala. She was a freedom fighter, an officer of the NAACP at a time when the organization was banned from most parts of the South.

Byron Williams, a pastor and columnist writing in the The Oakland Tribune was even more succinct (a must-read):

Her act of defiance was anything but simple. She put her life in jeopardy. Beyond the Jim Crow laws, Southern whites were not duty-bound to affirm the humanity of any Negro. The unsolved murders that remain from the 1950s and 60s in the deep South bear witness to this dark chapter of American history.

She may have been “quiet” but she was resolute. And she was–horror of horrors–an activist. I can’t tell you how the “meek little lady” thing just infuriates me. Freedom fighters aren’t required to be loud–just smart, committed, and courageous. That describes Mrs. Parks. And she faced times just as difficult and dangerous as the present.

Williams is also on point with how we as Democrats have failed her legacy:

Since her death, this former recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom has received perhaps every commemoration from this country except the one that matters most — replication of her actions. Imagine if the Democratic Party had followed Parks lead these past four-plus years. It would have spent more time asking tough questions, providing the country with a clear choice, rather than trying to appear like Bush Lite. They have focused more on demonstrating their patriotism than pontificating about it by matching slogans with the opposition party.

No doubt they would have spent more time before the 2004 election on strategy about the best direction for the country rather than on which candidate represented the best chance to win.

At least fighting for an end to this war of choice and women’s self-determination (to name just a couple of things) is not illegal…for now.

So for now, I will take the inspiration and lessons from her life and try to apply them in mine. I will be honest–I am not always that brave. I am reminded, however, that we face the mutant strains of the same sick system that Mrs. Parks fought. We are dangerously outnumbered, yet have at least a few tools at our disposal that she did not. And we remain indignant at those who seek to impose unjust laws and unjust wars in our names.

As impossible as it seems as our rights are assaulted, facts are twisted and as the lying, dictatorial actors are yet unpunished, times and circumstances have been worse. We are in a decades-long wingnut backlash of epic proportions. Such cold comfort, I know, but if you had been outside the Capitol to bid Mrs. Parks farewell, then at least, for a fleeting moment, the road ahead was not as daunting. For a fleeting moment, one could dream and see possibility.

This was my bittersweet but proud farewell to our freedom fighter, Mrs. Rosa Parks.

To be able to do so, in person–one half of the hope of two Alabamans?

She was, and forever will be, worth it.

Cross-posted at Liberal Street Fighter

I have a confession to make: I should have had this post finished days ago. For reasons I still can’t fathom, I found this to be the hardest piece I’ve ever written. Although I wrote pages upon pages of of text, I was just frustrated; unable to find rhyme or reason, structure or theme.

“Can’t you see it, can’t you feel it
It’s all in the air
I can’t stand the pressure much longer
Somebody say a prayer ” (Nina Simone, “Mississippi Goddamn”)

Come Sunday morning–and out of nowhere–I finally broke down and cried. I didn’t “feel emotional” or tear up or weep. I cried. The enormity of it all was just too much.
My heart has never felt such sorrow: The people who were trapped in the Superdome and upon their rooftops. The anguish of Harvey Jackson , who tried to hold onto his wife in the midst of the storm.

And my very being has never known so much fury as I watched in helpless horror that these people–these taxpaying American citizens, NOT refugees–were being left to die. (BTW, damn all the statistics and stereotypes–I’ve never seen so many images of Black men holding their babies and caring for weakened elders when they were tired, sick and feeling weak themselves. I almost never see that portrayed on television. But I digress.)

To be Black is to be despised, no matter how well this society has cloaked it in recent years. You learn how to deal and move on. But never have I seen such brutal confirmation of that disgust and hate than the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. How to write, how to think, how to act–indeed how to function, when your government spits on you?

Guess we’re not #3 after all.

This government just stood by and watched thousands of us die. That actually makes it sound more benign than it was: Michael Brown–the former horse head, (or is that horse’s ass) of FEMA and Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff were apparently the only two people on the planet who didn’t know of the living hell American citizens were going through at the Superdome and the Convention Center. President Halliburton had other priorities, fly fishing in Wyoming and estate hunting in Maryland. And Shrub? Well, we can’t disturb the emperor’s golf game, now can we?

You know your government has failed when Harry Connick, Jr. arrives at the scene of a disaster before FEMA does.

Rats die with more dignity than this.

This just in while your government looks for a war to win
Flames from the blame game, names? Where do I begin?
Walls closing in get some help to my kin
Who cares? While the rest of the Bushnation stares (Chuck D, “Hell No We Ain’t Alright”)

A six-year old, quite literally, demonstrated more leadership than George Bush. People literally dropped dead, while Shrub did nothing but mouth phony platitudes about law and order and “help is on the way” on his first take. After his performance proved to be lackluster, the White House went into rapid response, presumably instructing Shrub to emote earnestly with the hoi polloi on his do-over.

This damned sure ain’t Florida.

Because if it was, Bush wouldn’t have dithered. In fact, if the Hurricane evacuees were Terri Schiavo (how’s that for proving that in this country, one white person’s life is worth more than 10,000 Blacks), he’d have been hurried back from one of his many vacations. Since this was a real crisis, as opposed to an imagined one, Shrub was no where to be found.

But this was New Orleans. He’s partied there to be sure, but hey … those people don’t write checks. They are not his base. They probably vote Democratic–if they vote at all. So their lives aren’t worth his time.

Lord have mercy on this land of mine
We all gonna get it in due time
I don’t belong here
I don’t belong there
I’ve even stopped believing in prayer (“Mississippi Goddam”)

Even in the midst of human suffering on a scale unseen in this country, Shrub  never missed an opportunity to pander. Who said he can’t multi-task?

“Zero tolerance” and “shoot to kill” orders for looting? Of course my first thought–so this filthy Administration wants to commit mass suicide?–soon gave way to the obvious racist subtext.

And this was southern bipartisanship at its best. Well they will be dealt w/ “ruthlessly”, said former RNC head and Gov. Haley Barbour.”

“These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so, and I expect they will.”  said Gov. Blanco.

Yes … let’s get in touch with folks’ latent plantation fantasies (Race? Perish the thought!) and focus on the one percent of those looting, as opposed to trying to find food–water-logged property, of course, meaning more than the suffering of men, women and children. That’s just criminal.

And this administration knows from criminal, as the five year economic smash and grab proceeds apace: unaccounted billions going to Halliburton; propaganda cash to willing stenographers; money to fix aging infrastructure–say, for example, levees–gone down a shithole in Iraq. We’re spending billions per day for Saddam’s non-existent WMDs as we install an Islamic republic in Iraq. They sure are doing a “heck of a job” as they brazenly loot our federal treasury.  

But the face of this tragedy was overwhelmingly Black and poor–a combination in this country as poisonous as the toxic floodwaters in New Orleans–and therefore not worthy of sympathy. We just don’t care. And maybe God did us a favor. Urban renewal by natural disaster, perhaps?

We better look/ what’s really important
Under this sun especially if you over 21
This ain’t no TV show/ this ain’t no video
This is really real/ beyond them same ole “keep it real”  (“Hell No We Ain’t Alright”)

I just can’t find the words to register the disgust I feel toward these moral midgets. It’s no surprise then, that many Black folks agreed with Kanye West’s primetime, kept-it-real statement, tut-tutting from Condeleeza Rice (and later from his legal wife) notwithstanding. If anything, West forgot to add “poor” and “working class” last week when he said that “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people.”  Why would he care about the help and the cannon fodder–of any color? If anything, West said what many have long known.

Indeed, the Black community is mad –and mobilized.  Tom Joyner is mobilizing by radio. Black churches are linking with other churches and doing everything from packing supplies and driving to Louisiana to finding homes for evacuees. All manner of civic, political, fraternal and social organizations are working together to give aid to the survivors. Countless individuals are giving of themselves by offering help and sometimes their own homes. And I’m sure next week’s 35th annual CBC Annual Legislative Conference starting Sept. 21st won’t be business (some say partying) as usual.

But our activity today won’t make us less accountable in our own complicity to the question of poverty in the community and our commitment to the have-nots, too. We’re going to have question the Rev. Dr. Greedygut theology of “blab it and grab it”–turning the concept of “having life and living it more abundantly” on its head and morphing into the belief that the favor God shows is in direct proportion to how much money you have. We’re  going to have question the “I got mine” mentality. We’re going to have question whether we’re going to continue the 21st century minstrel show that is corporate hip hop whose stars wallow in materialism and when they get bored, revels in misogyny. This has to be addressed sooner rather than later.

Even before the curtain comes down on the minstrel show, George W. Bush must finally do something he’s never done before: be accountable. Forget the fact that people died–he clearly doesn’t give a damn–this is an issue of national security. The region is one of the largest ports in the world, home to one-third of our domestic oil production, not to mention sugar, rice, poultry and seafood, and there’s no plan? That seems to especially spite the national face.

I find breathtaking that this 50 something year old “man” is still unable to be accountable for ANYTHING he does. He’s the same coddled, spoiled brat he’s always been. Well, I don’t care that his parents don’t like criticism  of their precious little boy; he is going to be held accountable, for once.

(Speaking of Babs, she’s just as arrogant as her stupid brat, chuckling about the lucky duckies  in Houston. How worthless can you be when you can’t even manage to do noblesse oblige correctly?  The apple, indeed, doesn’t fall far from the tree–and they’re both rotten to the core.)

So, to play the part of Our Strong Leader Shrub plans to conduct an inquiry as to what happened–that is, to see if something actually didn’t go right. That’s right–he wants to investigate himself.

And OJ is looking for the real killer.

Son of a Bush, how you gonna trust that cat?
To fix shit when help is stuck in Iraq? (“Hell No We Ain’t Alright”)

It’s too late for Shrub to be photographed with the help, or hug a Black child. No donning of compassionate drag can cloak the massive failure of the federal government, of cretins who WANT the federal government to fail. They seem to think that if thousands die and industries are ill-affected (not to mention the environmental devastation) so what–gotta crack some eggs to make an omelet. Their reason for being, now that they’ve weakened government, is to take the spoils. Talk about looting.

He and his horrible administration are the sorry symbols of crony capitalism, rapacious greed, malign neglect–and the aftermath of the hurricane is but one consequence. No moral being golfs while thousands die and then hides behind his parents and assorted bootlickers when called on his actions. And no phony, camera-ready act of contrition (like the spectacle we’ll surely see on Thursday’s primetime performance) will suffice.

Hell no, we ain’t alright. But, by God, we will be.

Costco values or Wal-Mart values? This is more than just a question about “Blue vs Red” political donations, or even about how one company treats its employees.

This story about Costco in today’s NYTis an absolute must-read because it shows what we truly value in this country.  

Doing well by being fair does not just make moral sense but also makes good business sense. Some businesses and market watchers, however, must be faith-based operations, because no matter the evidence, they engage in mind-numbing machinations to continue a status quo that is unsustainable and inefficient–not to mention immoral.

I really have to question market analysts who are troubled by a business model that is profitable AND treats its employees with dignity. Just how is this problematic? And yet some on Wall Street definitely see a problem:

So what do you call the CEO who was paid $32 million after 3 months on the job? This is rational? On what basis? More to the point, though, is this: What kind of society are we that we can justify starvation wages for the many and windfalls for the few–and pretend it is respectable?

ANYWAY… It’s not as if Costco isn’t making money. They are:

So there goes the canard about greedy employees breaking the backs of those poor CEOs because they have the temerity to want to see a doctor regularly and look forward to catfood-free cuisine when they retire.

But I suppose investing in your workforce has real drawbacks–for CEOs:

Sinegal doesn’t seem to mind:

Imagine! How positively communist of him. (Hey–that was snark!! Laugh, dammit!!)

For the macho among us, he ain’t no punk, just in case you were wondering:

But perhaps the dirtiest secret exposed (or confirmed) is that businesses CAN treat their employees well and not go broke in the process. So there MUST be other factors at hand that stop them and not the “invisible hand”, right? While pondering that, consider this:  

So again, I ask: What are our values–Costco values or Wal-Mart values? If there are no real economic reason to ignore Costco values, then what else is stopping us?