Evil in its two most common forms

Number One: There is heat wave currently going on in Southern California. Downtown LA broke a 100 year old record high today, reaching a temperature of 102 degrees. San Diego has been a little cooler. I live in the �inland valleys,� so the temp here has been in the upper 90s, and my car said it was 100� yesterday. Since Frinklin and I aren�t millionaires we try to conserve energy when we can. Our air conditioner is set at 80� during the day, but we open the windows and use fans as soon as possible . It is currently warmer in my house than it is outside because my asshole of a neighbor is using the loudest generator on Earth to power his pressure hose and has the most God-awful music cranked to top volume so he can hear it over the generator. Can I just come home from work and have just a little peace and quiet�just once? Especially since it�s TOO GODDAMN HOT TO LEAVE THE WINDOWS CLOSED!

Number Two: I loathe Wal-Mart (said with the same inflection Molly Ringwald gives in Sixteen Candles, �I loathe the bus.�) And this is why.

And don�t come to my with all your �Wal-Mart helps communities� crap. I understand Wal-Mart is willing to go in and �help� underprivileged communities when no other corporations will (by destroying all competition and paying terrible wages). I�ve seen the commercials about how Wal-Mart provides exceptional medical care for one or two needy employees (each year for good PR). I know America is all about the free market and capitalism, and that if people didn�t want Wal-Mart around they simply wouldn�t shop there. But the truth of the matter is that Wal-Mart sucks. It eats communities up and forces not only competitors out of business, but also the manufacturers of their products. And when the resources are gone in the US (or they just can�t drop their prices any lower), Wal-Mart just heads overseas, and rapes the people of various other countries.

I�m not saying I haven�t shopped at Wal-Mart a few times in my life. Most people have. But I haven�t shopped there in well over a year, and I don�t plan to ever again. If you�re interested in stopping Wal-Mart, I highly recommend you check out How Wal-Mart is destroying America (and the World) And What You Can Do About It by Bill Quinn (the irony of linking to the Borders/Amazon.com page does not escape me).

My greatest convert so far�my 12 year old sister. When she received a $10 gift card to Wal-Mart from my Uncle and Aunt (that whole side of the family is a story for another time) she proudly marched into our local Wal-Mart and asked them to cash it out. When asked by the manager why she wanted the cash, she responded, �Because Wal-Mart is the devil.�

I love her.