The Evil That Is Wal-Mart

There were two notable mentions of Wal-mart in the news recently, and both are disturbing.
The first report was the unfortunate incident where Wal-mart's website was grouping search results about the Planet of the Apes movies with nonfiction films of Martin Luther King, Jr. speeches and African-American documentaries. Racist, much?

Then, if that was not enough to confirm that Wal-mart is indeed evil, albeit possibly unintenionally, firedoglake reported that they are now being intentionally evil:

January 6, 2006: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.,
the nation's largest food retailer, said
Thursday it will no longer donate
nearly-expired or expired food to
local groups feeding the hungry.

Instead, that food will be thrown away,
a move several Sacramento charities
consider wasteful. Olan James, a
Wal-Mart spokesman, said the policy,
which applies to all 1,224 Wal-Marts,
1,929 Supercenters and 558 Sam's Clubs,
is an attempt to protect the corporation
from liability in case someone who eats
the donated food gets sick.
"We can't guarantee the safety of
the merchandise, and consumer
safety is our top priority," said
James in a telephone interview from
Wal-Mart headquarters in Arkansas.

...

[...]Wal-Mart's concerns about
liability seem misplaced in light
of the Good Samaritan Food
Donation Act, a federal law
passed in 1996 offering food
donors wide-ranging protections
from civil lawsuits or criminal
prosecution. The law states that
donors can be held liable only in
instances of "gross negligence.
""Lord, we get millions and
millions of pounds from Raley's
and Bel-Air and Albertson's, and
they don't have a problem
understanding the law," Brown said.
"Why don't Wal-Mart and Sam's Club
understand the law?"James said he
is not aware of anybody suing
Wal-Mart aftergetting sick from
donated food.

I really don't think this story needs any further comment, does it? Good grief.