Thought of the Day

One aspect of integrity is being the same person in both your private and public lives. There's no getting around this. Explaining why the dichotomy between your two selves is acceptable and doesn't negatively affect your integrity doesn't make you complex. It makes you a tool. A tool who lacks integrity.

Wal-Mart - A Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy

Wal-Mart sucks. Their business practices are despicable. What benefits they do offer are often a double-edged sword, having more to do with lining the pockets of other for-profit companies than with the well-being of their employees. And it's also just a dreadful place to shop - the DMV of retail. Simply walking in the store makes me want to take out my own eye with spork.

It's a pretty safe bet that the next time I shop at Wal-Mart, monkeys will be flying out of my ass.

So I'm watching with interest as the Supreme Court hears a motion relating to the largest employment discrimination case in history - against Wal-Mart. The case has been going on for 10 years, and basically alleges that Wal-Mart as a corporation has an institutional bias against women, and acts on it, regularly. Now I'm not exactly inclined to side with Wal-Mart on anything, so I'll leave the merits of the case to someone a bit more objective, but the motion being heard by SCOTUS has me very concerned. It's basically a question of whether or not Wal-Mart is "too big to sue." 

The argument seems to be that the case is too far-reaching to be deciding on the basis of single trial, and that the class-action status of the suit should be denied. Since I'm not an attorney, I'm not qualified to comment on the veracity of that legal argument. But I am a dirty, dirty liberal, and so my concerns about Wal-Mart, and what this motion means, have more to do with social justice.

I don't shop at Wal-Mart. I don't own their stock. I'm not a member of Sam's Club. I would never consider employment with their company. And the key factor to those decisions is that I have a choice. I'm affluent - I can afford to shop elsewhere. I live in a community with a variety of retails choices - I have the opportunity to patronize another company. I have professional education and experience (and a knack for being in the right place at the right time with the right skills) - working for minimum wage for a company who treats me like their beck-and-call girl isn't something I have to do.

And it makes me apoplectic with rage that because Wal-Mart has a ton of money and a bunch of politicians in their pockets they can essentially force low income and small town consumers and employees to tow their line.

It's not like a low income family can afford to shop somewhere else because Wal-Mart's business practices are offensive. They have to be able to buy as much with their money as they can, because nobody's going to let their kids go hungry on a matter of principle.

It's not like someone who lives in a rural community is going to be able to drive 50 miles several times a week to buy what they need. Wal-Mart's the only game in town, literally, because they've driven out all the other smaller, locally owned businesses.

And it's not like a single mother with limited education and skills who's supporting several kids has the resources to tell Wal-Mart to fuck off. She needs that job, and the fact that Wal-Mart pays her less and affords her fewer opportunities than her team mate who happens to have a penis has no bearing on that fact.

And now Wal-Mart is asking SCOTUS to take away the only recourse these people have - the class action suit. Which the Roberts court is likely to do, since corporations are actually people and all.

Lovely. A wretched hive of scum and villainy, indeed.

Feel Free to Secede, South Dakota. Seriously.

You know, as much as I complain about having to spend time in Kansas, I have to say that at this point, I'd far rather spend time there than in South Dakota.

First it was that offensive law in 2008 which required loaded language to be used when "counseling" women about their decision when they decide to seek an abortion.

Then it was their legislature's call for "balance" in the teaching of global warming in their public schools.

Then it was that incredibly backwards legislation that would make killing abortion doctors "justifiable homicide" which thankfully didn't pass.

And now these freeze-dried whackadoos have passed a law that requires not only a three day waiting period for women seeking abortion, but also legitimizes so-called "pregnancy-help centers" by forcing women who are considering abortion to go there for "counseling."

Now I'm all for counseling. Real counseling, that is. Counseling with certified mental health professionals who don't have an axe to grind, and who have not demonstrably shown themselves to spread misinformation in order to move their own political agenda forward. If abortion clinics were pulling the same kind of crap you can bet they'd be shut down in a minute - and they should be. But because these lying sacks of shit are supposedly "pro-life*," they can not only get away with it but get a mandate for their bad behavior from the state.

So basically the right-wing nutjobs attempt to defund Planned Parenthood, one of the primary providers of women's health care for the poor in the country. And then South Dakota follows up by not only imposing an undue burden on women who are trying to obtain a perfectly legal medical procedure, but also authorizing obfuscation and misinformation. But that has nothing to do with the fact that the liars just HAPPEN to share their viewpoint, oh no, wink, wink. 

How can any woman think these backwards motherfuckers have any concern whatsoever for women? With all the anti-feminist crap they pull, it's a wonder they haven't attempted to repeal the Nineteenth Amendment.

I wonder if South Dakota would be interested in seceding? The rest of us could get so lucky. Dudes are fucking embarrassing.


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*"Pro-life" my ass. These are the same retards who think murdering an abortion doctor is just A-OKAY.

Things I (Re)Learned in Kansas City

BBQ isn't that bad. Especially BBQ turkey. And everything tastes better with cheesy potatoes.

If you give people the opportunity, they may surprise you with how fabulous they can be.

If you give people the opportunity, they may disappoint you with how awful they can be.

There's a reason I never check my luggage unless I'm going to be gone for more than two nights. And it irks me when I'm forced to do so.

One of my new pairs of Danskos are far too big. And Amazon no longer sells that style. 

I love my new Swiss Army "Checkpoint Friendly" back pack. Love, love, love. Anything that makes the TSA's violation of my 4th Amendment rights go more quickly is A-Okay with me.

I work with some really amazing people. Sometimes I forget that, and it's appropriate for me to remember.

Every problem isn't mine to fix. But some are, even if I didn't create them.

I Hate BBQ

And I'm not too fond of red meat, either. Which is why I get to send so much time in Kansas City, famed for its BBQ.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more - the vortex of the Executive Escalation of Doom calls, and I'll be back on Friday. I'll try to update as time permits.

The Ties That Bind

Ah, family. Nothing can make you as happy, or as crazy.

I have an extremely large and diverse family, as well as a number of friends whom I would consider family for all practical purposes. During my latest bout of Executive Escalation of Doom inspired insomnia I was considering - at what point do you cut loose those ties that bind?

Some things are obvious, of course. If I suddenly found myself related to Chester the Molester, I'm afraid Chester would find himself related to my Shovel of Doom™, with extreme prejudice. If my family spawned the kind of trailer trash that burned crosses on lawns, the decision would also be an easy one.

What has me stuck is other, more subtle kinds of bad behavior, at least as I define it. Willful ignorance. Emotional manipulation. Childishness. And my current, personal favorite, sure to get me wrapped around the axle - disrespecting and hurting people I care for far more than the person indulging in the bad behavior.

At what point does bad behavior that doesn't necessarily hurt me, but does hurt people I care about, become grounds for cutting someone loose from my emotional life? While I realize that the injured parties are grown adults who are certainly capable of managing their own relationships, I'm far less capable of forgiving someone for hurting someone I love than for hurting me.

I'm really struggling with this, as once these kinds of decisions are made, it's exceedingly difficult to unmake them.

I am the Right Hand of Doom

Okay, that's not true. I'm far too pale, for one thing. Plus there's that whole "Beast of the Apocalypse" thing - not really my bailiwick.

But I am deeply entrenched (entombed, encrusted, embedded) in an executive escalation that's gone on long enough that I've started to refer to it as The Executive Escalation of Doom.

Executive escalations are never fun, and the details of this one aren't mine to share, but suffice it to say that I'm now entering my third week of living and breathing this particular issue on a professional basis. I leave on Wednesday for an in-person meeting that will hopefully put it to bed for good. I know - I'm so funny. And why the heck can't I have customers in places like San Diego or Miami? Instead I'll be returning to Kansas, which is NOT my favorite part of the country.

In the meantime, I'm on a nine hour conference call* today, monitoring the issues that precipitated the escalation in the first place. Things are (so far) going as expected, which is a good thing. I'll take whatever gains I can get, reaching out with both greedy hands.

And on an unrelated note, how in the Sam Hill did I end up with so much liturgical music in my iTunes library?


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*A lot of it is just silence while we wait for measurements to come in for me to analyze. Which is giving me time to listen to sections of David Sedaris' When You Are Engulfed in Flames, narrated by the author. Good thing I have the capability to mute my headset. Dude is funny.