<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> Dear LBOers, My pal John, often described as" John Gotti in a pink tuxedo", gets to Wal-Mart at 5:15 am so he can get some of these furbies to give away as prizes at our union's breakfast with Santa this coming Saturday.  The way John tells it, the line was four abreast and the people were lined up down the sidewalk in front of the store.  By 6:05 am the line snaked back across the front of the store and to the other end of the Wal-Mart parking lot.  When the doors opened, people forgot the line and just  charged the doors.  What did John get? John didn't get_____.  John was also p.o.'d at one of our other pals, little Richard a/k/a Senor Dick, who said he would meet him at 5:15am at Wal-Mart and then didn't show.  I had to listen to this tale of woe this morning.  So Doug, Max is mellow compared to my morning ear beatings. The local UFCW worthies have been picketing the local Super K-Mart for at least 3 years now, night and day, I admire their tenacity.  What some of the sharper UFCW guys tell me is that they would like to go after Wal-Mart in a big way.  Wal-Mart is getting into groceries just like Super K-Mart and this is bread and butter for the UFCW.  If they lose groceries they lose it all. As far as the steelworkers go I think we should go after these big box home and building supplies like Lowes, Home Depot and Builders Square etc.  I don't know if you've ever been in one of these places, but, the people who work there do serious labor and run serious pieces of equipment for $6.00 an hour. Sincerely, Tom L. pms wrote: <blockquote TYPE=CITE>>No, Doug. I honestly don't. What's odd - dare I say - is that you are so >alienated from your fellow citizens. What's odd is that Friends of the >Earth should organise a propaganda campaign against children's toys. > >Weren't you ever young? Or, haven't you ever hunted down a prized gift >for a child? I know I have. > >People enjoy shopping. It's not so terrible. Where's the harm in it? >- -- >Jim heartfield >   Right here, I think Jim's got a point.  Do we want to be righteous, or do we want to have a real effect on people's consciousness?  An assault on children's toy's, during Christmas season, a broadside like this anyway, is just bad pr. and a road to marginalization. I hate shopping, I hate malls, and I think the day after Thanksgiving shopping is nuts, but, it is near and dear to peoples' hearts, and all this campaign does is give right-wing radio hosts some fodder. On another list I commented on the call to boycott Wal-Mart.   Another dumb idea.  Why not boycott Nieman Marcus, where stuff made by cheap labor is sold at outrageous prices? Attacking Wal-Mart, or worse, my beloved Mcfrugal, endangers my ability to afford Christmas decorations.  I know Wal-Mart is bad, but the working class loves it. A year round compaign questioning the wisdom of letting children be brainwashed by advertisers might be good.  Articles talking about the lives of the children , or the parent, that makes this toys would be good. But messing with folks now, when the kids little greed meters are registering high is a bad idea, propaganda-wise. As far a parents in line at absurd hours, the emptiness and moral decay require heroic purpose of some sort.  You can't mess with that stuff. Martydom saves a lot of people's asses. They need it. Some years I pretty much skip Christmas.  This year I shall treat it like Carnival and embrace it. It's a mood. And ya know what else, in some families, this is the only time of year when there's relative peace.  Man, this is a sick set-up. But it's the actually existing set-up. How did the Left get labeled as a source of effective propaganda. What a joke. pms</blockquote> </html>