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October 1, 2009

The Walmart Dilemma

By: Billy BeerSlugger

You know Walmart, the United States largest retailer, has gotten a lot of bad press lately. I watched a documentary (Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price) a year or so ago about how Walmart was really taking advantage of their employees, not giving overtime and not offering health insurance and the adoption of an anti-union stance. How when a Walmart opens in a small town it can really squeeze local merchants and put them out of business.I’m a sucker for documentary’s and I’ll admit the video had me leaning initially toward boycotting the megastore.

I’ve heard people I know say they won’t go there for these reasons but after a visit to a local Walmart a couple of weeks ago I’m not sure I’ll be one of these people. Not that I make a weekly trip to the retail palace but the prices really are a lot lower than other retailers for certain items. Getting my Old Spice High Endurance deodorant for over $2 less than I would at a place like Rite Aid or CVS. Grabbing a 12 pack of socks for $5.50 and picking up a couple of food items that seemed to be a really good deal opposed to my local supermarket.

First, with the state of the economy and family’s tightening the budgets more and more, what is so wrong saving money? Even if Walmart is treating employees unfairly cannot these people go somewhere else and work if it’s so bad, this is America after all isn’t it? No one is putting a gun to their head and saying they have to work at Walmart.

Second, if Walmart is putting the squeeze on local businesses in towns they open stores in isn’t that in fact good for the consumer? Competition driving down prices. Yes it sucks that local businesses will close due to their inability to compete but innovative and new businesses should spring up in their absence and existing businesses that are able to adapt will also survive. Is not this a Capitalist society? Don’t new businesses spring up every day as well as fold? Isn’t there something to be said about survival of the fittest anymore?

Yes I do care about Walmart workers rights/conditions and I do feel slightly bad for the family’s of the businesses that go under due to direct competition with Walmart but i and the rest of America should be looking out for number one during these rough times. If you can save $20 a week by purchasing items cheaper at Walmart isn’t that $20 more in your pocket? Why should you feel bad about that?

There is something to be said about a monopolistic environment that could be forming where Walmart is the only seller of a specific type of good in a given area but then again if Walmart was pricing these items more expensively than they should another business could challenge for dominance in that particular good, service or sector.

Overall, I’m not a huge fan of Walmart. I’d never buy audio/video equipment there or clothing besides socks and underwear but i don’t really have a problem going and saving money on the items I would buy there and you shouldn’t either.

August 31, 2009August 31, 2009

California Wildfires

ca-wildfires — Maybe we should think about moving?

By: Billy BeerSlugger

It’s hard for me to get worked up about California wildfires. First of all, this happens every year, there’s some massive widespread fire that threatens thousands of houses in California and always seems to happen at the close of summer ostensibly after the brush has dried up and is more susceptible to going up like a tinder box.

Not that I don’t feel for the people that have or may lose their house in these fires but seriously why don’t you just move out of harms way once and for all. Granted you might be a little farther away from L.A. than you want but you may not have to deal with wildfires every September.

For as much shit as Californian’s and everyone else who slurps the state talks about how beautiful it is there you really don’t hear a peep from those people during the borderline natural disasters that happen every year. Between wildfires and earthquakes every year the mass media has me trying to feel bad for all these people and their Million Dollar homes who pretend to be better than me for living in California under the sun and surf…. and wildfires. Instead of focusing on the people who lost their house can I get a story about some smart people who actually moved away from wildfire alley?

You know how there’s Hurricane season? Well this is Wildfire season for California, lets not pretend like this is a surprise development newscasters. You knew this was coming. Come up with some sort of early warning system for the poor souls who still desire to live next to acres of kindling so they can spray their houses down with some sort of anti-flamatory resin and get the fuck out of Dodge.

Besides, Wildfires are a part of natures cycle in that region, in fact Fire is an essential part of most wildland ecosystems. Things become overgrown, there’s lightening or some other event that sparks a fire, shit goes up in flames and begins a rebirth period, removing dead organic material from the area and releasing nutrients from mature plants back into the soil so that new plants may take up root.

The only things that is not natural in this process is that man has taken up residence in these areas and is trying to delay the inevitable.

Or maybe nature is colluding against us like in the M. Night Shyamalan movie The Happening. Man what a terrible movie. Talk about a guy who peaked too early. The guys career looks like the second half of a Bell Curve. But I still got love for you Shyamalan. Keep making shitty movies in the Philadelphia area.

August 7, 2009August 7, 2009

Professional Athletics and Marijuana in America

Bob McFlurry with Sports

So maybe you’ve heard that Jaqua Parker was arrested for possession of marijuana during training camp a day or so ago. Apparently Todd Herreman’s was driving and there was two young ladies were also in tow when the car was stopped by police.

Now I won’t get into how I think Pot should be decriminalized (which it is in some areas of the U.S) or legalized, but would like to talk about two issues that this situation brings to mind.

1) Juqa Parker made a mistake and probably the only mistake he made was getting caught. I’ve listened to a lot of 610 WIP over the last couple days with people calling in to bitch and complain about why these professional athletes think they are above the law or don’t have to follow the rules or because they make millions of dollars they should be more responsible. You know what, I don’t buy that. The guy smoked some pot, took the edge off of what was probably a tough day at camp. How many people go to Happy Hour after work to take the edge off every day? Millions? I don’t see Parker’s actions any different than what goes on every day in America other than the fact that marijuana relaxes you and you wake up the next day without a hangover.

And you can claim that these athletes make millions of dollars and with more money comes more responsibility and they should behave better or whatever but I’m really not buying that either. I remember football camp, it sucked. You’re out in the heat all day with 20 pounds of equipment on running around doing drill’s, sprint’s, long distance runs, begging for a water break and the coaches are on your ass the whole time. Waking up every day with your muscles sore as shit, dragging your ass to film and meetings, expected to know where you’re supposed to be at all times on every conceivable formation as well as the guy next to you.

Now imagine that it’s not High School anymore and you’re expected to do pretty much super human things everyday, fighting for roster position with all the other Alpha Males and the weight of a championship hungry city on your back. Like I said some people need to take the edge off and football players are no exception. Alcohol is pretty much out of the question at training camp unless you’re Maurice Clarrett so what do you do? Play Madden?

2) Football players are not idiots. There’s a bigger issue than Juqa Parker getting caught with weed by the police here. It’s the fact that he had weed on him at all. Why would a player, being apprised of all the rules knowingly and willingly be (allegedly) smoking pot if the league is drug testing. Now I’m not talking about being Ricky Williams stupid about the mary jane but by most medical accounts marijuana stays in your system for about a month. So I’m going to guess players get tested at the beginning of training camp and I’m not sure what happens after that. But i know Corell Buckhalter and other Eagles players got detained for allegedly smoking weed on South Street back in 2001 during the season but no one ever tested positive. And there’s been countless other players I’ve seen or heard been vilified on ESPN or wherever for partaking in something that 90% of people have at least tried in their lives.

This leads me to believe that it’s probably pretty naive to think that the Ganja isn’t prevalent in the NFL and probably most other Major sports. Either the players that get caught are just plain stupid for failing a drug test or they are caught by the police with Pot, suggesting they were smoking pot, however, smart enough to avoid testing positive for it.

Whatever the case, it’s not the end of the world. I think that marijuana should be legal and taxed the shit out of by the government instead of spending Billions of dollars futilely trying to stop it. Of course that’s not up to me and neither is the suspension Juqa Parker could be facing but gimme a break, is it so bad? Did he kill anyone? Did he have dogs fight each other to the death?

The same people calling into 610 WIP bitching about this are the same people who are going to go in half wasted tomorrow to work. Anyone see the irony here? Double Standard much? No matter what your job is or how much money you make a job can be stressful. Apples to Apples, what’s the difference?
Internet. Download Managers

August 5, 2009August 5, 2009

The Post Office

By: Billy BeerSlugger

You know I’ve had a beef with the post office for a long time, whether it’s checks in the mail that never get there or arrive a week later than they should, it never seems like these people have their shit together. To me it is just another vital service for the United States which the government controls, fucks up and annually loses millions of dollars. I can’t even get a check delivered to me within a week and a half even though it was mailed from less than 20 miles away. If the government can’t get my mail to me in a timely fashion how am I supposed to expect it will be any better at providing Health Care to the masses? The Government Accountability Office recently commented that, “without major change, the day will soon come when the Postal Service will be unable to pay its bills.”

Benjamin Franklin (my favorite person of all time) is rolling over in his grave on 2nd and Market right now at the state of how bad things have gotten for the service he founded and reared through it’s infancy.

Now the USPS will close as many as 700 Post Offices in an effort to save money.

Here is a list of some of the Post offices in Philadelphia that will be possibly closing in the near future:

PHI-30th Street – MOD PHILADELPHIA PA
PHI-ADAMS AVENUE POS – Frankford PHILADELPHIA PA
PHI-BOULEVARD STA PHILADELPHIA PA
PHI-CASTLE FSTA – Southwark PHILADELPHIA PA
PHI-CASTOR AVE. FINA – BLVD PHILADELPHIA PA
PHI-FRANKLIN MILLS – Torresdale PHILADELPHIA PA
PHI-GIRARD AVE – Spring Garden PHILADELPHIA PA
PHI-JOHN WANAMAKER F – WPA PHILADELPHIA PA
PHI-MANAYUNK STA PHILADELPHIA PA
PHI-MAYFAIR PSTL STO – Holmesburg PHILADELPHIA PA
PHI-NICETOWN FSTA PHILADELPHIA PA
PHI-OLNEY STA PHILADELPHIA PA
PHI-SOMERTON – Bustleton PHILADELPHIA PA
PHI-WADSWORTH AVE FS – Market Sq PHILADELPHIA PA
PHI-WISSINOMING STAT – Tacony PHILADELPHIA PA

For a full list of Post Offices around the Country here is the link to a PDF.

That’s 15 Post Offices which may close in the City. I’m not sure whether to be happy or sad about this. Is closing Post Offices going to make the mail more efficient and save money? I guess only time will tell but I’m pretty sure things can’t get much worse than they already are, at least in Philadelphia.