He's Not Compensated By Wal-Mart. Say, That Has A Familiar Ring To It.

Sheesh, even their black people are white.

There's hope on the horizon, what with the Democrats regaining power an' all. Indy Star:

He just loves Wal-Mart

City-County Council member Ron Gibson has joined some state legislators in a group called Working Families for Wal-Mart Indiana.

Their mission: to get the word out on the positive side of the story about the behemoth retail company, which has been dogged by critics who say its wages and benefits are so low they compel workers to seek taxpayer-funded public aid.

Gibson said he loves Wal-Mart. In fact, he was shopping at the Wal-Mart at 38th Street and Franklin Road when The Indianapolis Star reached him on his cell phone last week.

He said Wal-Mart offers jobs to those who might not otherwise have them and sells retail goods at good prices in areas where people need more choices.

Gibson, a Democrat, said he was asked by the Baker & Daniels law firm to join the group to support Wal-Mart.

There is no compensation for his work, he said. State Rep. Vanessa Summers, D-Indianapolis, is among others in the group.

Now, I don't know if you share my opinion about Wal-Mart (humanitarians among you might feel the execution of the Walton family should be quick and painless, for example), but I'd like to know why this business, or any business, needs a government cheerleading squad. I say you get to choose one: either celebrate the glorious efficiency of amorality and the miraculous ability of free markets to turn shit into silver, or let's make everything a debate about morality and have at it on a level playing field. If the former, then certainly the virtual cottage industry of turning over rocks and watching Wal-Mart ooze out deserves to breathe free as well. Heaping praise on Wal-Mart because it actually pays its employees for most of the hours they work seems like setting the bar a little low, even for volunteer work.

Speaking of which, check out the website those volunteers maintain. It's sorta like Disney World without the exciting rides an' stuff. They wish you a Merry Christmas right at the top, use "holiday shop" as a verb, and explain with the sort of earnestness usually seen only in bepamphleted religious zealots on your doorstep that "Wal-Mart is also bringing "Christmas" back into its marketing." (Is that the greatest use of the floating random quotation marks ever, or what?) You can click the links to read real stories from actual working stiffs about how Wal-Mart has changed their lives despite the continued existence of trade unions, meet the Steering Committee (the first guy is a economics professor who's changed his last name to "Ph.D"; the second is Pat Boone) or check out the Mission Statement:

OUR MISSION

Working Families for Wal-Mart is committed to fostering open and honest dialogue with elected officials, opinion makers and community leaders that conveys the positive contributions of Wal-Mart to working families.

Interesting that they're not wasting any time explaining the positive contributions Wal-Mart makes to working families to the actual working families themselves, presumably since those families already know the value of Looking the Other Way when there's a buck involved.

PS Baker & Daniels? Yeah, it's that Daniels.