GIF Of The Day - Booter And Ole

Paula Deen is coming out with her own line of flavored butters.  Of course she is...

 

I'm going out on a limb, here.  But, I have a feeling it will only be available at Walmart.  Come to think of it, I believe that all packages of butter at Walmart are required to have Paula Deen's face on it.  God Bless America...

 

Reason #2,946 Why I Stopped Shopping At Walmart

Last week, we were forced to temporarily suspend our boycott of Walmart.  They are the only store that sells coat hangers with the shoulder notches in them.  We've been in such desperate need of coat hangers, that we finally relented, and spent $6.00 or so in the store.

It was as if we had walked into 'The Hills Have Eyes'.  My god, I don't remember Walmart ever being this disturbing.

There were easily a dozen people riding around on Rascals, not because they were handicapped, but because they were so morbidly obese they're legs could no longer support their weight.  Nothing was on shelves.  Everything...shoes, food, household items...was dumped in cardboard "troughs".

Saving 13 cents on milk isn't that important to me.  Thanks, but I'll shop at my local grocery store.

Update On Walmart's Failed Negligent Homicide Of My Family

I wrote an article on Sunday on how due to Walmart's negligence, my family could have easily died in a horrific fiery accident.  Our Scion is so damaged, that the local Toyota dealership refuses to release it to us without the repairs being made.  Otherwise, if we were to drive it, and get in an accident, the dealership would be liable.

The Walmart location that initially replaced our tire, and caused the damage to our car, filed a claim with their insurance company.  The claim would also take care of the rental car that we were renting from the dealership.  Between the repairs and the rental, Walmart should have been responsible for approximately $1,000.

Well, we received a phone call this morning from Walmart's agent.  They said that since Toyota is unable to prove that the damage to our car was made by their error.  In their opinion, it could have just as easily been done at the time of the tire's blowout.

So....we owe a grand on a car that is days away from being repossessed.  Not to mention the fact that our tags expire on Saturday.  That's another $180.00.

Come on!!!  What else you got?!?  (not like we have the money or patience to deal with any of that shit)

Sunday Confessional: Fuck It, And Fuck You Walmart

I am in a serious funk.  I don't know how to explain it at the moment.  It's currently an equal mixture of depression and rage.

I'm somewhat at a loss for words.  I don't want to come across as bitter or bitchy, but I really need to vent and just lay everything out on the line.  Oh, and Walmart almost killed my family last week.  I'm not kidding.

As some of you know, my wife recently returned to work for the first time in almost two and a half years.  Her long term disability payments were cancelled in January, because one of her doctors flaked out, and, after six months of constant prodding by the insurance company, neglected to fax any of her medical records in.  All of this was going on behind the scenes.  We knew nothing about it, until we received a letter saying her checks would no longer be coming.

We had the ability to appeal the decision, which we did.  My wife was told that if she returned to work, even during the appeal process, they would determine her able to work again, and automatically deny the appeal.  We waited for almost three months.  She was ultimately denied, because the very same doctor, again, did not send in any documentation as requested.  She basically sent a one paragraph letter saying that she was under the doctor's care for her medical condition and that the doctor felt she was unable to go back to work.  No supporting documentation.  No medical records of the previous 18 months of bi-weekly visits.   Just "Yep, I don't think she should work."

Video: Why I'll Never Work For Corporate America, Again.

I know that Walmart isn't the only one guilty of this.  Nearly every retail company does it.  Most customer service departments do it.  It just bothers me to see companies that act like they can pay someone $9.00 an hour, and take away their dignity in the process.  It's sad, really, because people have no choice but to dance around and chant in front of the electronics department, for their friends and neighbors to see, if they want to feed their children.  And, corporate America knows that.  This little "ditty" is nothing more than an employer's way of saying, "Show me how much you need that paycheck on Friday".

Video: KY Airing National Commercial Featuring Lesbian Couple

For years, we have all seen the clever commercials for KY products.  They all vary to some degree, but usually, they feature a heterosexual couple talking about "the big moment".  Well, starting September 5th, "Alex and Emma", the line's first lesbian couple, joins their ranks.  From KY:

"K-Y® Brand has been a longtime supporter of the LGBT community. Since 1998, it has sponsored dozens of LGBT and HIV/AIDS organizations and has also participated at LGBT Pride celebrations and other community events. Gay male couples have been featured in print advertising since 2008 and now the brand is continuing its tradition of support and visibility with advertising that is inclusive of lesbian couples."

Here is the commercial.  Short but sweet.



Why KY Intense?  It's engineered specifically for women.  They like to call it the "Intense Effect".  It has worked on 75% of their test subjects.

I'm curious to see if the commercial will ever see the light of day on primetime television.  If and when it does, I'm sure the boycott police will be in full force.  "Boycott the network that aired this commercial."  "Boycott the program the commercial aired on."  "Boycott every store that KY Intense is sold in."  Great in theory, except KY Intense is sold in every major drug store chain - including Target and the fundie beloved Walmart.

There is only one reason why the evangelical right haven't blown up the airwaves about this already:  This is very low on their radar.  It's not like they're monitoring the advertising campaigns for sex lubricant products on a regular basis.

Dear lord, I hope not.  I'd hate to think that I have something in common with the evangelical right.  ;)

Video: 2 Brits Discover The Wonder That Is Walmart

Liam and Alex, members of the band Chameleon Circuit, check out the madness and majesty that is a Walmart supercenter.  Hilarity ensues.

Walmart Makes Things Right

The title of the post was originally going to be "Walmart.com: "Gay" Is A Four Letter Word".  Before I had the chance to write about it though, Walmart did the right thing.  Let me explain.

Last night, blogger and "It Gets Better" contributor, Mark S. King went on Walmart.com to write a review for the new "It Gets Better" book, which became available yesterday.  The book contains transcripts of some of the most inspirational videos that have been uploaded onto Youtube to date.  It also contains transcripts of the videos from celebrities and politicians that have contributed to the cause, including Barack Obama, Al Franken, and Ellen Degeneres.

When King clicked on the "submit" button to submit his review of the book, which incidentally, he is in, he received the following message:

We're sorry but we encountered the following issue(s):

• We have detected profanity in the Write Your Product Review field. Please remove the profanity and submit it again.

I received the same message when I tried to write a review last night.  Neither review had any curse words in them.  Here is a copy of the review I posted:

"A must have for any young gay or lesbian youth. It's a very inspiring book, that does let you know that things do eventually get better. Based off of Dan Savage's "It Gets Better" video project, this book continues the motivational dialog where the Youtube videos left off."

Notice any profanity?  I didn't.  So out of curiosity, I tried to write a review of the DVD of  'Glee Season 2, Volume 1' .  I mentioned that, without giving too much of the plot away, this season Kurt has to transfer to a new school due to being bullied for being gay.  Again, it wouldn't let me submit the review due to "profanity".  I substituted the word "gay" with "lesbian".  No go.  Then "queer".  Still considered profanity.  Then I tried "homosexual", thinking that maybe Walmart was actually being proactively sensitive toward the LGBT community to prevent people from leaving words like gay or queer as a slur in regards to a product (ie. "That's so gay.").  Guess again.  "Homosexual" was considered "profanity".

Eventually, when I put in the review that Kurt Hummel was being bullied because he was "transgendered", it let me submit the review (I did not submit it, in case you were wondering.).  I was furious.  Walmart already caters to middle America, "family oriented" consumers as is.  Did they need to make things worse?  I mean, take a look at the book selection in their stores.  Outside of 'Twilight' and 'The Da Vinci Code', the only books you'll see on the shelf are either religious in nature, or written by people on Fox News' payroll.  The vast majority of the LGBT community are already boycotting Target, and they really do not like Walmart to begin with.  Do we really need to have a reason to boycott another big box store?

Surprisingly though, within a matter of hours, Walmart stepped up and came through.  They issued a personal apology to Mark King.  It was given personally by spokesman Ravi Jariwala, saying:

"I apologize that this situation has been created. It was a systemic oversight, in which ‘gay’ was on a list of filtered words. Certainly it makes absolute sense for you to include this word in your review. This is a no-brainer for us."

They also issued the following "official" statement regarding the issue:

"Recently it was brought to our attention that Mark King was unable to complete a review of the book “It Gets Better” on Walmart.com. We regret that a filter did not allow his review of the book to post and we quickly worked to resolve this technical issue.

We reached out to Mark directly to discuss the issue and, as an extra measure, we have reviewed the system to ensure that it will allow the use of all appropriate words related to sexual orientation and gender identity."

Oh, and they published his review of the book, as it was originally written:

An incredibly important book., 

03/21/2011

Like many people who grew up gay and afraid, my soul may have survived those years but I have a few scars left behind. It Gets Better gently strokes these wounds — the toughened and the still-tender ones — so that young people today might take heart and make the journey to adulthood a little more safely.

There's no denying the power of this project, and what could easily be the most important book of the year.

You can read my full review at
http://marksking.com/my-fabulous-disease/the-book-with-a-promise-it-gets-better/

Product Attributes:

Value

Meets Expectations

10 of 10 found this review helpful. 

I suggest buying a copy of  'It Gets Better' when you get a chance, and when you do, a suggest buying it from Walmart.

Walmart "Magazine Censor" Fail

As most of you know, Walmart makes a regular practice of censoring some magazines at their registers, to "protect" younger customers' eyes from viewing more risqué material.  In my experience, Cosmo is most often the victim of the censorship, due to the topics of their articles.  Today, however, I saw the perfect example of how their tactics backfired on them.  Here is a picture of this month's cover of Cosmopolitan magazine:

Nothing really too shocking, right?  Now let's take a look at Walmart's censored, "child safe" version:

Now, until about 1:35 this afternoon, I had never thought of Glee's Lea Michele as "sexy".  Now, thanks to Walmart, I would seriously make out with that Rachel girl from Glee.  Walmart has opened up a whole new world for me.  Thank you, Walmart.