The Venting Post - Speaking Out For A Better America

I had the unfortunate pleasure of being alone in a room with a good friend when a Barack Obama commemorative coin commercial came on. First let me say that his parents and he are pro-union, hard working Irish-Catholics from New York. They’re good people. It’s no wonder he and I disagreed so virulently in the ensuing argument sparked by the coin commercial.

Our discussion of “who did you vote for?” led eventually to Wal-Mart (don’t ask me how). My friend didn’t support Wal-Mart’s supposedly unethical business practices of unfair treatment and payment of its employees and their cut throat style of business in which they callously outsell “mom and pop” stores in their local areas causing them to go out of business. My response, I believe, was an intelligent argument backed up by facts and reason. It was met with scorn, screaming, anger, yelling and even half-backed conspiracy theories.

The first allegation against Wal-Mart is they do not pay their employees a living wage, or a decent wage in which they are able to afford to live their lives. According to the United Food and Commercial Workers

For those unaware of the law, the legal drinking age in all fifty states and Washington D.C is universally twenty-one. Those under the age of twenty-one are unable to legally purchase posses or consume liquor under virtually all circumstances, save for a few exceptions (some states provide parents the right to serve alcohol to children in their homes, etc).

The law responsible for the universal drinking age was passed in 1984 as the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. The backing for the law came from politicians and the political action committee of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (M.A.D.D). Statistics secured by MADD and others in favor of raising the drinking age portrayed a disproportionat...