Rage Against the Machine - Wal Mart Crossed the Line

"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." -Benjamin Franklin

I've been waiting for it. I knew it was just a matter of time. Now I have it. It was in the mail box today. My Sam's Club membership notice of renewal.

I've been planning what to do with it ever since the announcement that Heil-Mart would institute a Bloombergesque policy of registering, with photographs, customers who purchase gun products.

From tothecenter.com:
Wal-Mart, America’s largest seller of firearms, announced Monday that it will adopt a much stricter gun policy. Specifically, it will store video taken during the purchase of guns to create an internal log of which guns they sold, and to whom, for when their weapons are used in crimes.

The announcement of the changes was made by J.P. Suarez, the chief compliance officer for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., with outspoken gun control supporter Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York at a gathering of Bloomberg’s group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

Some of the changes include:

1) The creation of a record and alert system that will record when a gun sold at one of 1,100 Wal-Mart stores is later used in a crime. If the buyer of that gun comes back in to purchase another gun from Wal-Mart, the alarm will sound and the buyer will possibly be turned away.

2) The existing background checks will become more extensive for employees who handle the guns.

3) Wal-Mart will keep the images of firearm sales in a log for police if they would like to conduct any kind of investigation.

Suarez says the costs are well worth the benefits that will result from the implementation of the system.

“The costs are, we think, part of what it takes to be responsible. Everything is not pain-free.”

Wait - back up a minute..... "Mayors Against Illegal Guns"? How does that tie in with private citizens walking into Heil-Mart, going through the NICS background check, and purchasing a gun? What's illegal about that?

Maybe I should ask Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor. She's in bed with Bloomberg. Tulsa taxpayers regularly foot the bill for Ms. Taylor to visit the Big Apple to rub elbows with Bloomberg and a host of other anti-gunners from around the country. I've considered boycotting Tulsa, but my other options are limited.

Back to Sam's: my membership card will be returned, cut into itty-bitty pieces. Too bad they didn't provide a postage paid envelope. I'd send along a brick with my card.

Heil-Mart will be getting my letter of resignation from their shopping monopoly. It's gonna cost me a little more to shop at Target and Reasor's, but I can stop buying so much expensive junk food and cut the food bill a bit. For that matter, so much is available online that, if it weren't for produce and dance lessons, I might never leave my bunker.

I have gone through periods of boycotting Heil-Mart before. The only - and I mean ONLY thing that takes me back is White Cloud toilet paper. Call me a Fussy Butt if you will. That's what I use. My favorite wiping media prior to discovering White Cloud was Kleenex Premium bath tissue, not available in any grocery or discount store. Only found it at Office Depot, 12 rolls, $10. One day, however, it disappeared from the shelves. When it returned several weeks later, it was 9 rolls for 12 dollars. Call me dumb but don't call me stupid. I didn't fall for that trick.

I never really had Hubby's support on Heil-Mart boycots, aside from the fact that he hates the place. However, when he caught wind of the Bloomberg-Heil-Mart merger, his first question to me was: "How much more will our grocery bill be if we don't shop at Wal Mart any more?" He's now on the boycott bandwagon.

With this newfound alliance, I set forth to find alternative products to flush into the septic tank. Lo & Behold, I found Kleenex Premium, by the case, at cleansweepsupply.com. It's more expensive than White Cloud, but less than Office Depot, there's free shipping when you buy a bunch of junk, and I don't have to pay Tulsa sales tax to get it. I am now the very proud owner of a 60 roll case of terlet paper.

Since I won't be sending a brick with my letter of protest, maybe I'll send along a bit of recycled White Cloud.