Did you happen to see this funny/scary article in the Wall Street Journal? You can read the whole article here, but I’ll lay out everything pertinent.

It seems that Wal-Mart has decided to “educate” their employees about the dangers of voting for a democrat.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is mobilizing its store managers and department supervisors around the country to warn that if Democrats win power in November, they'll likely change federal law to make it easier for workers to unionize companies -- including Wal-Mart.

Why, when I hear Wal-Mart is “mobilizing, do I think of large women named Tammy extinguishing their cigarette butts slowly and deliberately while yelling “Nuh uh, I ain’t mobilizing nothing. I still got two minutes left on my break, Jerry!”

According to about a dozen Wal-Mart employees who attended such meetings in seven states, Wal-Mart executives claim that employees at unionized stores would have to pay hefty union dues while getting nothing in return, and may have to go on strike without compensation. Also, unionization could mean fewer jobs as labor costs rise.

The actions by Wal-Mart -- the nation's largest private employer -- reflect a growing concern among big business that a reinvigorated labor movement could reverse years of declining union membership. That could lead to higher payroll and health costs for companies already being hurt by rising fuel and commodities costs and the tough economic climate.

Oh, the poor billion-dollar companies. No...God, no! Not the demmycryaats! Don't let 'em win!

Please tell me that the people who work at Wal-Mart are smart enough to see through the propaganda while they carefully consider both sides of the issue. Unions can be a good thing sometimes, right? Honestly, I can see the concerns and I would be able to understand an employee who feared unionization. There are plenty of things not to like about unions. Especially if it is run by a total moron.

What say you, average Wal-Mart employee?

“…And you can tell Tracy that I ain’t fuckin’ covering no more shifts for her ass.”

And that’s the bottom line because Toby Keith said so. No seriously, he said so. See my shirt here? There’s Toby and see, it’s got the little dialogue bubble and he’s sayin’ “Get IT Done!”

Look, I know it might sound like I’m being hard on people and unfairly labeling them based on where they work or shop but you have to cut me a break-- I’m living in Indiana for Christ’s sake. Nobody wears a damn shirt in this state. And no, it’s not in an amusing Spicoli way.

And while I'm an asshole for unfairly stereotyping Wal-Mart employees and Indiana residents, I think it is even more insulting for Wal-Mart to give such a biased presentation of the issue to the employees that they care about so much that they feel a responsibility to educate them. Isn't it a little patronizing for Wal-mart to essentially say, "There, there. We'll protect you from the big scary democrats and their crazy union ideas." Yeah, because you want to protect the employees who you would gladly pay $5.50 an hour if the law would let you. Give me a fucking break.

Being from Flint, Michigan, I know a thing or two about unions. Okay, well I'd at least like to think that I've learned a thing or two about unions, both how they help and how they suck, from living in UAW country. Unions might not always improve things for members being that they're one more bureaucracy, but they can sometimes be the only thing keeping these flailing corporations from screwing their employees as the board members and CEOs line their pockets.

Look at what happened when these corporate schills got into office. Most of the middle-class jobs? The factory jobs? The union jobs? They don't exist anymore.  And while the unions won't save you're job when the company decides to start outsourcing, the tenure of any worker under the constant threat of being laid off would surely benifit from union support, right?

Just imagine the little things a company that lays off thousands might try to take away from the employees on a day-to-day basis. Maybe a union might come in handy when it comes to supporting workers who have to work for a company that is constantly trying to cut back on labor expenses.

The Wal-Mart human-resources managers who run the meetings don't specifically tell attendees how to vote in November's election, but make it clear that voting for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama would be tantamount to inviting unions in, according to Wal-Mart employees who attended gatherings in Maryland, Missouri and other states.

Tantamount to inviting unions in? That Muslim bastard! And you just know that it would only be the beginning. Then, of course, there is the married gays dancing in the street and tongue kissing, the 12 year old delinquent meth-heads fucking in the street and getting pregnant only to car pool with each other for celebratory trips to the abortion clinic, and the terrorists commandeering the White House with their laser pistols.

It probably isn't necessary to tell people that work at Wal-Mart how to vote. The truth of the matter is that anybody stupid enough to base their vote off of something as biased as this had probably already made plans to vote for McCain. People refuse to accept that Obama is a Christian. Are they really going to hear anything other than Obama equals unions, unions equal bad? At least it isn't necessary to tell the people that shop* at Wal-mart how to vote because they're weren't going to let such a shitty bowler sully the sacred White House linens.

As easy as it is to crack white trash jokes about hard-working people trying to make ends meet because the governments allowed all the union jobs a person used to be able to get when they turned 18 to be taken overseas. I’ve lived in the Midwest my entire life and the truth is that a lot of people aren’t going to like being told how to vote by their employer-- and that is how they'll see it.

“The meeting leader said, 'I am not telling you how to vote, but if the Democrats win, this bill will pass and you won't have a vote on whether you want a union,'" said a Wal-Mart customer-service supervisor from Missouri. "I am not a stupid person. They were telling me how to vote," she said.

Like I said, most people that buy into what Wal-Mart is selling were probably going to vote for McCain in the first place on account of how susceptible they are to the very same brand of politics that helped George W. Bush win twice.

*I do love these shorts though. 14 bucks! Beat that, Target!

There is nothing I hate more than when people exploit tragedies in order to showcase how compassionate or sensitive they can be. Maybe you know the kind of people I’m talking about. I know it might sound like I’m just being a cynical asshole, but I honestly feel like there are people who, maybe subconsciously but maybe not, enjoy the opportunity that getting worked up over the death of Princess Diana or Heath Ledger affords them to breakup the monotony of their daily lives or get a little sympathy of their own from people.

David Cross has a great bit that touches on the sort of thing I‘m talking about. On his second live album, he talks about people “who create their own identity by co-opting other people’s pain.” He has a great line where he asks, “Do you think on September 11th, that the people who worked at the New York, New York Casino felt it a little deeper?”

I always found it incredibly insensitive when people take a tragedy that causes legitimate and excruciating emotional pain and turn it into a bumper sticker or a calendar to prove what a caring person they are.

That being said, who am I to decide who has the right to feel a certain way and who doesn’t. There is nothing wrong with mourning the death of someone you never met even if it is a celebrity and there certainly is nothing wrong with mourning the victims of September 11 whether you live in Manhattan or North Dakota. Many of you will recall how devastating the assassination of John Lennon was. The saddest thing was that he was more than just a celebrity. Lennon had become an icon for the peace movement and might have had a chance to actually affect the world. All of that unfulfilled potential to really change things left a void. When somebody leaves such a huge void behind, I think that is where the legitimate grief can be felt by those who never even met the guy.

Such is the case with the passing of Tim Russert.

It seems like each year I grow more and more disillusioned with everything from mythical beings like Santa Claus and God to the credibility of the U.S. government and the media. We’re living in an era where American muckrakers and watchdogs are more important than ever and, despite a multitude of news organizations and outlets, it feels like we are being let down. Last week, the Senate Intelligence Committee finally released two long-awaited reports that basically said that George W. Bush and his administration intentionally misled Americans in making the case for the war in Iraq. Until now, everybody knew the case for war was bullshit but people liked to think that Bush was just the loveable goof who just didn‘t know any better. Now, it appears that he knew he was lying and didn’t care. To me, this is a huge news story but the network news programs, with the exception of NBC’s Brian Williams who briefly mentioned the story, decided to focus on the juicy gossip surrounding Barack Obama’s search for a running mate.

I’m not really sure why it seems like the media is so shallow. I often feel like conflicts of interest causes a lot of reporters and lead anchors to fear digging too deep or say certain things. NBC is part of a huge corporation that has so many different companies under the G.E. umbrella that you wonder if some stories that might hurt any one of those companies get ignored. Christ, Rupert Murdoch owns half of the media on the planet. His company even owns MySpace.

In a sea of douche bag media types, I’ve got my core guys like I’m sure you do. We’ve all got our go-to guys that we trust. John Stewart is more intelligent than the casual The Daily Show watcher might realize. He basically brought down CNN’s Crossfire by exposing it for a shallow façade and calling Tucker Carlson out for wearing that ridiculous bowtie. Bill Maher is another guy I trust to ask the hard questions and to focus on the stories that matter most. The fact that he doesn’t subscribe to the superstition that is organized religion is also an endearing quality. Of course, those two are comedians and that often hurts the way some people see them as traditional journalists. Ironically, they’re two of the best journalists we have.

Tim Russert was more of a mainstream guy, but a mainstream guy who I really trusted. I didn’t just trust him, I felt like he actually had my back. Russert was in a position to hold politicians accountable for their actions and he did it every week.

It sure is hard being a fair and objective reporter when politicians, for example, can go get interviewed by a million other people if they think you are going to be to hard on them. Russert built Meet the Press into a place where politicians had to go in order to earn respect. It was both a privilege and right of passage for everyone in politics. It is dangerous being a good reporter these days. The world is becoming so fucked up that you can look liberal by just reporting the news because the truth is often the very thing that Al Franken's wet dreams are made of. Look what CBS did to poor Dan Rather. A lot of media coverage, even the kind of stuff you see on CNN and MSNBC, tends to focus on idiot celebrities. When it does cover politics, media-types put a nice glossy coat of bullshit over it so even the attempts at being "hard-hitting" come off as insincere and superficial.

Let's face it, even though we can vote for who we want, once somebody is in office they can get away with a lot of shit-- shit that we’ll never know about. We're actually pretty powerless when it comes to keeping greedy politicians in check. Tim Russert, who is a true watchdog that performs this country an incredible service, is one of the few people I will never know but I would call a friend because I always felt safe to know that there was still one prominent interviewer who could even get President Bush and Dick Cheney to sit down with him. Tim Russert had the country's best interests at heart. I never met him, saw him in person, or knew anything about him but it was obvious that he understood how crucial Meet the Press was and a true friend to anyone who values the role a reporter has in trying to keep politicians honest.

Replacing Russert will be a difficult task. Chris Mathews is probably the likely successor but he often can seem like something out of a SNL skit. Russert was the perfect blend of professionalism, personality, and political savvy. This country needs someone like Tim Russert. Honestly, I need someone like Tim Russert so that I can have a little hope that the news media in this country is not beyond saving.