Keith Olbermann Threatens WALMART! *We’ll do this EVERYDAY!*

[babsbunny]

http://rawstory.com/rawreplay/?p=856

[glowing]

1. Good.. and we need to help him.. don't go to Walmart..

[Mags]

3. Olberman is such a fake, he is only for Olberman ratings.

He has lost so much credibility, I turned him off about 2 months ago. He is a one hit wonder.

[Postman]

6. In what way has KO "lost credibility"?

His Special Comments are blisteringly truthful....

[depakid]

8. He hasn't -not among thinking people

[neverforget]

23. mags doesn't like the fact that KO reports on Clinton's gaffs. KO is just

another of many bodies thrown under the bus for Team Clinton. Either with us or against us.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

16. As are you... it is past time to turn you off as well.

*plonk*

[Cooley Hurd]

20. So, you're siding with Walmart on this?

:shrug:

[althecat]

25. The man is clealy a halfwit....

Not.

:bounce:

[lonestarnot]

27. Support your local walmart, buy their cheap shit.

:sarcasm:

[LaurenG]

31. He isn't a fake. I think he's as real as he can get

It's perplexing to see people suddenly turn on him because he lectures the candidates for doing stupid things. He will have our backs no matter which democrat wins the nomination and we'll need him.

[calimary]

51. Amen!

Keith Olbermann STILL is the only loud voice we have on mainstream media.

Evidently others don't consider him passe. His ratings, for his 8pm eastern broadcast are consistently the highest on the network. We need MORE of him, not less. Besides, he says the things that NEED to be said in a larger forum, whether it's marching bushco - or one of OUR people - to the woodshed.

[walldude]

34. Oh please take that shit back to GDP

The Olbermann is dead memo doesn't fly on the rest of DU..

[hisownpetard]

36. KO is a hero and has the most integrity of any journalist I can name, imo.

[apocalypsehow]

46. Still haven't found your way back to Jimbo's paradise, eh?

n/t.

[liberal1973]

58. You idiot

[DainBramaged]

64. I just turned you offf

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

CLICK

Oh, here's some pictures of Reich wing heroes I thought you'd enjoy.

[haydukelives]

70. Facts suck

don't they mags

[SteinbachMB]

2. I rarely

go to Walmart, but when I do, I can't complain about the prices.

[Contrary1]

7. Did you watch the video?

It's has nothing at all to do with Walmart's prices, so I'm guessing not.

[unapatriciated]

12. but there is a lot to complain about when it comes to workers rights.

Wal-Mart forces employees to work off-the-clock

Wal-Mart's 2006 Annual Report reported that the company faced 57 wage and hour lawsuits. Major lawsuits have either been won or are working their way through the legal process in states such as California, Indiana, Minnesota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington.
In December 2005, a California court ordered Wal-Mart to pay $172 million in damages for failing to provide meal breaks to nearly 116,000 hourly workers as required under state law. Wal-Mart appealed the case.
A Pennsylvania court, also in December 2005, approved a class-action lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. by employees in Pennsylvania who say the company pressured them to work off the clock. The class could grow to include nearly 150,000 current or former employees.
In Pennsylvania, the lead plaintiff alleges she worked through breaks and after quitting time — eight to 12 unpaid hours a month, on average — to meet Wal-Mart's work demands. "One of Wal-Mart's undisclosed secrets for its profitability is its creation and implementation of a system that encourages off-the-clock work for its hourly employees," Dolores Hummel, who worked at a Sam's Club in Reading from 1992-2002, charged in her suit.
Wal-Mart executives did not act on warnings they were violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

Wal-Mart has known for years of a massive companywide problem of fair labor standards violations but did not take sufficient steps to address the problem. An internal Wal-Mart audit of one week of time records in 2000 from 25,000 employees had alerted Wal-Mart officials to potential violations. The audit found 60,767 missed breaks and 15,705 lost meal times. It also alerted Wal-Mart executives to 1,371 instances of minors working too late, during school hours, or for too many hours in a day.
Despite this knowledge, Wal-Mart had to settle in January 2005 for violations that took place from 1998 to 2002, Wal-Mart agreed to pay $135,540 to settle U.S. Dept. of Labor charges that the company had violated provisions against minors operating hazardous machinery.
In March 2005, Wal-Mart agreed to pay $11 million to settle allegations that it had failed to pay overtime to janitors, many of whom worked seven nights a week.
The State of Connecticut, investigating Wal-Mart's child labor practices after the federal investigation ended, found 11 more violations. In June 2005, Connecticut fined Wal-Mart Stores Inc. $3,300 over child labor violations after a state investigation found that some minors lacked proper paperwork and were operating hazardous equipment at the stores. <"Wal-Mart Is Fined for Child Labor Violations," Bloomberg News, June 22, 2005>


http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/facts/

[Fuzz]

37. Pay a couple cents more and save the country.

Simple as that.

Might sound overly dramatic, but it isn't really.

Huge retailers like Wal-Mart aren't good for the economy. Simple.

But again, that isn't THIS story.

[Skittles]

55. if you care about how they are able to offer such cheap shit, you'd care about the prices

END OF STORY

[Postman]

4. KO is a good man....

I loved the radioactive cat story.....

[Ronnie]

42. We missed the radioactive cat story.

But his insensitivity to the discomfort of animals is why we stopped watching. He seems to get a kick out of seeing animals with buckets stuck on their heads, falling out of trees, sliding through automatic doors, getting trapped in odd places... He doesn't seem very nice. During the time he's on we're having dinner by candlelight.

[walldude]

5. I just did a thread about Wal-Mart. Keith is going to hammer them?

Go Keith!!

[Kitty Herder]

9. As long as people can't afford to shop elsewhere, they will shop at walmart. And,

in communities like mine where there are some things (like shoes, fer Gods sake) that you can't find anywhere else because the stores that used to sell them have been driven out of business, you have no choice.

And as long as they offer $4 generic prescriptions, I'm there.

[unapatriciated]

11. You can get $4 generic prescriptions at most major drug chains...

CVS, RiteAid, Target and Kroger to name just a few. Walmart is the reason..." the stores that used to sell them have been driven out of business" You would be surprised how much you can save by NOT shopping walmart.

The $4 prescriptions that they are offering you now are the same ones that they have been overcharging you for years.

Walgreen
Walgreen has lost little business to Wal-Mart over the discounted generic drug program, according to report released Monday by retail analyst Mark Miller of William Blair, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. According to the report, Walgreen has lost "fewer than one (prescription) per store per day" since Wal-Mart launched its generic drug program. According to the Sun-Times, the results "appear to confirm Walgreen's earlier argument that Wal-Mart's program has little benefit because the lower-priced drugs are older generics that insured patients pay an average of only $5 for anyway" (Guy, Chicago Sun-Times, 11/21).


http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/57259.php

edited to add a link

[Kitty Herder]

14. Ummmm....Walmart IS the only major chain drugstore around here.

And I don't have insurance. And I'm broke. But I gotta have synthroid and occasionally antibiotics for my recurring inner ear infections or I can't function. So I simply can't afford to go to the independent pharmacist in town, as much as I like the guy and would prefer to support him. So I buy them at walmart and feel guilty for it. That's life in small town America. Wal-mart has us over a barrel.

And I'm aware that Walmart is the reason the small business were driven out. That was kind of my point.

Fortunately for my friendly neighborhood pharmacist, the Walmart is thirty miles away, so people who have insurance or medicaid have no reason to drive there just for their prescriptions. They save the trips for when they need something like clothing or shoes. My mother works in the same town as Wal-mart, lives in the same town as me, and drives back and forth every day. So she picks up my prescriptions for me.

[unapatriciated]

22. Where do you buy your groceries?

all the major grocery pharmacies are offering lower generic pricing and have been doing so long before Walmart. Where do you live that you don't have a target or a major grocery store? I understand broke raised four children(with no help from my ex), one had an autoimmune disorder(dermatomyositis) that was very expensive, I lost my insurance twice during his 15 year illness and didn't qualify for medical.

[Kitty Herder]

39. I live in a very rural part of Utah. Not all places in the world have major chain

grocery stores. Welcome to rural reality. And, honestly I prefer it this way. I like knowing the owner of my grocery store. He lives around the block from me. He's a nice guy and if there's any kind of problem at his store, he'll got out of his way to fix it. At least our small, independent grocery stores weren't put out of business by Wal-mart because people aren't willing to drive 30 miles to get groceries. I'm grateful for that. And, no, the two grocery stores in the county don't have pharmacies in them. Nor do they carry things besides groceries and only a limited selection, at that. For example, I can't buy tofu anywhere in my home county.

My point in all of this is that Wal-mart has many rural people over a barrel. There are other communities in the same boat as mine. Which makes me hate Walmart even more. But, unless I move (which I'm working towards!), I have to shop there for items like clothing or shoes. (However I just found out that the Albersons store in the same town as the closest Walmart has started matching Walmart's generic prices, so I can get them there and no longer have to buy my prescriptions at Walmart. Hoooray!)

Of course, I can buy clothing, shoes, etc. somewhere besides Walmart if I'm willing to drive for two hours to do so.
Let's use Target as an example.
According to google maps, it's exactly 114 miles, and approx. 2 hrs and 13 minutes from my house to the closest Target.

Walmart, in the booming metropolis of Price, Utah, is much closer, 31.6 miles according to google maps. Price is where people in my county go for everything, including dining out, since we no longer even have a restaurant. (I'm not counting Green River,which has restaurants, but not much else. Green River is technically in our county, but a much farther drive than Price. And those poor Green River folks are even farther from civilization than we are. And more reliant on the city of Price and Walmart even though it is a longer drive for them.)

[Blecht]

41. What a nice response to a conclusion-jumper

You explained very clearly what people in rural America face in the new millennium.

I understand your predicament exactly. I lived in the Iron Range of Minnesota a few years ago where Walmart killed everything within a 30-mile radius, including a relatively large mall. I would seek out alternatives, and jump for joy when I would find them, only to find myself back at Walmart when these other stores would join the ranks of the dead.

I am fortunate enough to live in a place where I have choices now, and I would never set foot in a Walmart again for any reason. I hope you will have that opportunity soon, too, Herdin_Cats.

[Kitty Herder]

43. Thanks! nt

[unapatriciated]

53. If you read up thread you would see....

That I do understand when it is the only place within 30 to 40 miles. So who is the conclusion-jumper now.

On edit sorry it was on a different thread (my own post) that I posted this response. I should have made it clear that this was an exception on this thread. Yes there are many rural areas that only have Wal-mart. I know because I used to live in one and had to drive to Reno (about 150 miles one way) to do any major shopping they had other stores to choose from.

[Popol Vuh]

69. Ever try online

Purchasing? Closer than your community's WalMart.

I am just saying...

[Hekate]

10. Good for Keith. Sometimes old-fashioned shame still works.

We don't have a Wal-Mart closer than 40 miles from here, so I don't shop there anyway. I understand why people who really need to count every penny will keep on.

But Keith is doing a good thing. People need to be aware of what kind of heartless megacorp Wal-Mart has become.

Hekate

[ToeBot]

15. What the fuck has happened to this place? People justifying/defending Walmart.

Cash in your chips, this table is closed.

[althecat]

26. Well said n/t

[Kitty Herder]

40. If you think I'm defending it by saying that some people have no

choice but to shop there, you are deeply mistaken. Indeed, it's just the opposite. I hate that fact. The town thirty miles from here where people from my county shop used to have a variety of small shops that carried quality goods. Now we have only Walmart.

[Lorien]

72. They love communist China and the idea of America as a third world nation?

There are thousands of better options than Wal-Mart when it comes to low prices and QUALITY merchandise. Anyone with a computer can easily find most of them online-often tax free and with free shipping. Froogal is your friend.

[misanthrope]

17. While Olberman has been grandstanding...

...and proclaiming his determination to get any kind of response from an ostensibly silent Wal-Mart, Anderson Cooper reported the same story tonight complete with statements from Wal-Mart that sound as if they are reluctant to push the matter further.

Not that I'm a big fan of Cooper, but I think Olberman is becoming too much like that which he decries on other cable news programming. I agree with his "slant" on things, but the manner in which he reports it rubs me the wrong way. His ego is rapidly ballooning. The Wal-Mart story itself seemed more the point of the Cooper presentation whereas the focus on Countdown was obviously Olberman's crusading and not just the story.

How is Olberman literally calling people "idiots" on a nightly basis any different than Bill O'Reilly's labeling others "pinheads?"

[drbtg1]

18. Mr. Olbermann is usually calling BushCo people idiots.

Who is O'Reilly labeling pinheads? People like Media Matters, the ACLU, the Huffington Post?

It comes down to this. O'Reilly selfishly attacks people that could damage his media machine while Mr. Olbermann attacks people that damages ALL OF US!!!

Huge difference!

[misanthrope]

29. Why not just lay the information out there...

...without the comment?

You know what happens when you wrestle a pig? You get muddy.

[DainBramaged]

62. Because we don't HAVE anyone except KO to call them idiots, that's why

The Reich wingers have DOZENS of asswipes to do it for them, or have you forgotten about the Reich wing media conspiracy???

[aikoaiko]

19. Paying the insurance company back from law suits is standard these days

It was probably in the fine print of her health insurance plan. It sucks and obviously this woman is in a terrible place. Walmart should forgive the debt out of compassion, but also good PR.

The victim's lawyer really screwed the pooch by not winning her more money. Any monkey can get 3 times damages/specials.

[cascadiance]

30. If Wal-Mart wanted compensation for their expenses here then THEY should do the dirty work!

Not leach off of the settlement rewards of one of their employee's lawsuits. They have far more legal power than the rest of us do, and could go out and sue for these damages if they wanted to easily. Instead they wait for someone like her to due the dirty work of taking the risk to go to court for damages and after that's been done, THEN asking for compensation.

This is why the corporatocracy MUST END! And candidates that are beholden to it must be thrown out of office! We need more laws protecting the people, not the "corporate people"!

[aikoaiko]

32. Its not a walmart thing --- its an standard insurance policy thing.

Its probably the same for your insurance too. The insured agrees to it (albeit its fine print stuff) when they use the insurance.

[cascadiance]

33. "standard insurance policy thing" = corporate payback from corporatocracy...

The laws should FORCE these companies to have to litigate for those damages themselves. Unfortunately many of our "corporate" politicians have made these laws to work for insurance companies instead of people. They are FAR MORE equipped to do these lawsuits than the rest of us are.

Yes, it isn't just a Wal-Mart problem, but Wal-Mart is at the forefront of creating this corporatocracy monster that we have now. They deserve every bit of criticism that KO levels at them.

This case is also precisely why we need single payer health insurance instead of entitiess that lets Wal-Mart claim the ability to get paid back for their payment of these claims.

Of course it is also Wal-Mart that claims their employees should claim U.S. taxpayer paid for benefits to fund their health care, etc. when they don't provide enough salary or benefits themselves for this purpose. Those benefits that they want these employees to raid were designed to be used by unemployed people, not employed people. Wal-Mart wants to live off the government dole. Perhaps the government should turn around and claim that Wal-Mart should now pay THEM (or US!) for the money they are asking the government to pay for their employee's health care instead of themselves.

It's all a damn shell game! And one they are trying to cook the books for themselves to win!

[unapatriciated]

56. But did they need to charge interest?

Most Insurance Companies do recoup their losses but are limited to a percentage of the settlement or at the very least share in the cost of litigation. Walmart on the other hand has a "fine print" claus that enables them not only to collect what they spent but interest and legal fees too.

[madmom]

21. While I know people here LOVE to hate Wal-mart I gotta say..

this is utter bullshit! The insurance company is the one doing it not Wal-mart, it happens all the time. Also a lot of the "facts" stated in the above posts are not true. I work for Wal-mart and although I don't know how it used to be we are not allowed to even talk with anyone with the company if it is work related, We have to be on the clock. If we don't have an "off the clock" break within 6 hrs of punching in, we can get fired.We take them, we don't wait for someone to come tell us we need to. Granted there are some things that need to be improved, but don't stop at Wal-mart go after ALL of them, K-mart, Meijers, Target, they are all the same, stop with the double standard.I know I'll get flamed for this, there are many more wrong stats out there, but I don't have time to address them right now cuz I gotta go to work, at Wal-mart!

[walldude]

38. I'm not going to flame you but...

It's not the insurance company. They already paid for her medical care. The money she got from the trucking company was for future medical expenses but Wal-Mart wanted their insurance money back. It's not the insurance company that sued her and took her all the way to the supreme court, it was Wal-Mart. They sued a brain damaged woman who was hit by a semi-truck and will never get out of a wheelchair or a rest home again. Sorry your defense of them doesn't fly.

[madmom]

44. No it was the insurance company that wanted their money back,

you said "Wal-Mart wanted their insurance money back." Wal-mart is not an insurance company and the insurance company that handles Wal-mart's insurance wants their money back.It's a common practice.

[Blue_In_AK]

47. Perhaps Wal-Mart is self-insured?

I seem to remember that. One of the law firms I used to work for represented Wal-Mart on slip-and-falls and such and I think we communicated directly with the company, not an insurance company. By the way, never, ever, ever slip and fall in a Wal-Mart parking lot or aisle, because they will fight you tooth and nail, no matter how small the claim. They have no words in their vocabulary for "settling a nuisance claim."

[madmom]

48. Funny you should mention that, because I did just that about 10 years or so

ago. I tripped in a pot hole in their parking lot. I had no problems at all. They paid the dr bills to have my ankle x-rayed and I got a check for $1200 with out even talking to a lawyer.I had no plans to sue just wanted medical bills taken care off, like I said no problem. People seem to really pile on Wal-mart for just about everything. I can understand some of it, but a lot off it is the same in the other department/box stores and nothing it ever mentioned about it, why the double standard I wonder?

[Blue_In_AK]

49. Maybe because you just had simple medical bills,

weren't asking for any additional damages and didn't bring a lawsuit. We worked on a lot of cases where it seemed to me that Wal-Mart could have saved themselves a lot of money if they had just settled up front instead of going all the way to trial over 15 or 20 thousand dollars, which I've seen them do. I don't know specifically what their criteria are/were, but I'm sure the fact that you didn't get a lawyer involved probably pleased them immensely.

[madmom]

50. You just can't believe Wal-mart isn't the devil incarnate about anything

can you? I fell in a pot hole in their parking lot, another customer saw it went inside and told someone, within seconds there were 5 managers at my side, called for ems, I went had x-rays got the ok went home. Within 1 week I had several calls wanting to know how I was from the local managers, within 2 weeks had a check, no questions asked. Why do you have Wal-mart in your sights and not K-mart, Meijer, Target or any other box/dept. store? They ALL have the same practices, there is indeed a double standard here, Why?

[Blue_In_AK]

52. Please, I'm not saying any such thing.

I'm just telling you my experience having worked for attorneys representing Wal-Mart here in Alaska. Why are you so defensive? I don't know anything about the policies of the other places you mentioned because I've never done work for them. They could be the same or worse -- I don't know. My observations were objective from my own personal experiences, and I'm happy that things worked out better for you. Your experience does not equate to everyone's, nor does mine.

ed. After rereading your original post, I see that you are an employee of Wal-Mart which I missed the first time through. Of course, in that event they would pay your medical bills for an accident on the property or for any other illness you would have, I would assume. I was speaking of customers who get hurt on Wal-Mart premises who would be seeking compensation for their injuries from the company.

[madmom]

54. At the time of the accident I was not an employee, just a customer.

The reason I'm so defensive is because everyone loves to hate Wal-mart I've been treated very good by them. I've worked for Meijer and was treated worse than dirt, but everyone seems to think because they are a union shop they get a pass.

[JNelson6563]

60. I believe you are correct

They are their own insurace company, at least to some degree. And they've got a legal dept. that is second to none.

Julie

[Critters2]

57. I've read several articles on this, and they all say Wal-Mart is self-insured,

as one would expect a corporation that large to be. Wal-Mart is doing this. And it is despicable.

[madmom]

65. This is still common practice among big employers, not just Wal-mart, my

SO worked for one of the big 3 auto companies and they did the same thing to us. We lost our house because of it back about 24 years ago.

[DainBramaged]

63. Do you know who owns the insurance company??

Just askin'.

http://www.dsausa.org/lowwage/walmart/health.html

By offering limited-benefit plans, meanwhile, employers are able to tell new low-level workers that health insurance is available through the job, even though most employers pay nothing toward it.


http://www.ufcw.org/press_room/fact_sheets_and_backgrounder/walmart/benefits.cfm


High premiums and deductibles keep well over half of Wal-Mart workers from participating in the company health plan. While the national average of workers covered by employer health insurance is about 60 percent, only about 43 percent of Wal-Mart’s employees are covered by the company’s health care plan. Wal-Mart also covers less healthcare costs than its competitors. In a state analysis, the Massachusetts Department of Health and Human Services found that in 2003, Wal-Mart covered only 52% of total health care premium costs compared to K-Mart which covered 66%, Target which covered 68%, and Sears which covered 80%

http://wakeupwalmart.com/facts/

Wal-Mart reported in January 2006 that its health insurance only covers 43% of their employees. Wal-Mart has approximately 1.39 million US employees.

http://wakeupwalmart.com/downloads/wal-mart-health-care-facts.pdf


WalMart is the poison in the water of this country.

[althecat]

24. Hillary was a director of Walmart..... lest we forget...

[lonestarnot]

28. And a repiglicon!

[DainBramaged]

67. This isn't about Hillary, just let go and you'll feel better

:wtf:

Attack dogs, never miss their chance.

[mountainvue]

35. Good. They suck. n/t

[liberal1973]

59. I agree

Wal-mart one of the worst companies in America. Move over exxon. Yep Keith should keep kicking their butts.

[Bright Eyes]

45. We love you, Keith!

[Vinca]

61. There are few places to shop for some things where I live and

I've stopped myself from going to bloodsucking Walmart twice over the past week. I'll do without before I'll support that outfit.

[DainBramaged]

66. As usual, WalMart chose money over doing the right thing

And the bad publicity it has brought them will be the gift that keeps on giving for years to come. By shining the spotlight of absurdity on WalMart, KO has given a small part of the world another glimpse into the profiteering of one of the cancers in America.

And if you don't think WalMart is a cancer, go look at your downtown or main street since WalMart blitzkrieged American retail.

[morningglory]

68. Go, Keith, go!! I love the man! nt

[Irishonly]

71. I Haven't Stepped Foot In A Walmart In Years

I believe it has been about eight years ago that I was last in one and that's because I was with my sil. I won't go because of their labor practices, etc.. My husband and I are both disabled but we have survived without Walmart. I make my own cleaners which is healthier for us and we have a garden. As far as clothes I watch for sales from other stores. I try not to knock people shopping at Walmart and I only explain to them it is my choice because I refuse to support their people hurting tactics.