Got a weird mailing yesterday...

In the mail yesterday came to us a nasty stream of vitriol aimed squarely at our local Wal-Marts - two of which are opening within ten miles of my house, a third and a fourth in the same radius are being transformed from Wal-Marts to Wal-Mart Supercenters, and a fifth is being closed to make way for one of the new ones, um, hello market saturation. The flyer was about the size of an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper when folded up but unfolded to be roughly poster sized - four sheets of 8.5 x 11 taped together in a rectangle. Glossy paper in a mostly red background with black type and a few yellow stars here and there to resemble the flag of China.

The flyer went through a bunch of facts about Wal-Mart's relationship with China

• Wal-Mart is China's 4th largest trade partner.
• American manufacturing jobs are moving to China as our trade deficit with China increases.
• And a lot more, see their website if you're curious

The thing that really surprised me about the flyer, however, was the lack of direction that it gave to anybody reading it. There were no talking points, no urges to boycot Wal-Mart, to pester the workers at Wal-Mart about the issues, to write letters to Wal-Mart or to congressmen, or to do anything, in fact.

I'm sorry, but if you're going to spend thousands (if not hundreds of thousands, I don't know how far and wide this mailing went) to get people all worked up about the horrors that are Wal-Mart (at least the ones you claim are horrors of Wal-Mart), then you might as well send the mob rabble out with a purpose. Tell 'em what to do. Don't just scream that the scientist up the road has built a monster, talk about the poor girls who he's going to rip limb from limb, and send us home. Instead, get us whipped into a good frenzy, hand out the torches and lighters, and point us up the road. Otherwise you're just spitting in the wind, flapping your lips.

And also curious to me, there is no mention of who's paying for this mailing. On their website, after a couple of clicks, I get this under their Mission link:

"TRI-STATE COALITION OF GOOD JOBS"
MISSION STATEMENT

This organization exist to educate, inform and mobilize citizens of our communities about the causes, effects and losses of good paying middle class jobs across this country. Because elected officials and greedy corporations have abandoned the American Worker and because the profit driven "race to the bottom" of low wages and no benefits destroys families we are fighting back. The Tri-State Coalition will lobby, campaign, demonstrate and engage in all forms of peaceful legal activity to bring attention to the disastrous results of unfair foreign trade policies, abuse of workers and their rights, destruction of local businesses by gluttonous global giants and the damage being done to the American standard of living and values in the name of free trade and "good business".

The Tri-State Coalition for Good Jobs will call on Americans as citizens, workers, parents, people of faith and as consumers to take a stand against greed by supporting only businesses, companies, corporations, elected officials or politicians and products which make jobs more secure, communities more livable and our national economy stronger.

...but there's nothing under the About Us link. There are a number of articles and links to other organizations supporting this viewpoint, and there is a page to leave comments which is falsely advertised as contact us, but never to we hear who's bankrolling this propaganda machine.

Some of the comments left, by the way...

From Brian , Fri May 6, 2005, 8:10 PM

I like shopping at Wal-Mart...they have low prices and help people who have little money.

From Anonymous , Thu Jun 2, 2005, 11:52 AM

if Walmart is so bad, how are they able to attract and maintain employees.......over 1.5 million people can't all be miserable

From Anonymous , Thu Jun 9, 2005, 10:11 PM

Almost all the infromation and web links provided come from union sources and folks with a agenda like Michael Moore & Bill Moyers ...Can't you provide more infromation and links from neutral parties??

Admittedly, I had to search a bit to find these few pro-Wal-Mart quotes.

I'd really like to know who's put this website together and what their specific goals are (not just a blanket Put Wal-Mart out of Business, but rather what they want people to do after coming to their website).

I'm also curious to hear who else got the same mailing I got - if you're 'round the Cincy area and either got or didn't get the mailing, can I get a shout out with an area of town where you are? Thanks