this rankles

and not just 'cause i'm constitutionally suspicious of wal-mart, although i am.

it's weird -- why would seiu give wal-mart the time of day? why would it be party to a press conference in which one of the world's most evil corporations grabs some progressive cred just by having a mouthpiece utter the phrase "universal healthcare"?

here's what this press conference actually signals: wal-mart, like some of the big auto companies, has realized (shocker) that it would save lots of cash if it didn't have to pay for any employee health care. which, ok, true. but if i read the article correctly, and i'm pretty sure i did, i don't think wal-mart has announced that it will plow all that cash back into a living wage. or research into sustaining itself without gobbling up small towns and natural resources. or anything of the sort.

you know, last time big companies and unions held a bunch of press conferences about healthcare, we ended up with the current mess. (see marie gottschalk on this.)