On a mostly unrelated note:

In case anyone is interested, the Old Towne Astronomers will be setting up telescopes in Monrovia's Old Towne [Myrtle Avenue, near Lime, at Library Park] Saturday, October 29th, 9pm to midnight.

The Old Towne Astronomers are Jane and Morris "Mojo" Jones. Their home page is www.otastro.org

This is not a political event. It's just a chance for anyone interested to pop by and see Mars in a telescope.

Who's writing the letters for the pro-Wal-Mart side? Maybe it's one person.

Wal-Mart the high cost of low price is a new documentary film to be released on November 13th. They're organizing local screenings, where you can just show the video and have folks come over to watch it. (Get where I'm going with this?)

Wal Mart in American Canyon Stalled

This excerpt discusses the issue of "breaking ground" and the psychological effects of starting a construction project.

On Monday, the group's attorney Brett Jolley cited the case of a Wal-Mart Supercenter project in Bakersfield that was halted by the courts after construction started. The result was a half-finished building and others that were actually occupied but are now left in legal limbo.

The following site has been threatened and censored by Wal-Mart's lawyers. It copied the Wal Mart Foundation's site, and then rewrote the pages so they were satirical. Wal's lawyers went and sent them a cease-and-desist letter under a law called the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. What that draconian law does is restrict your right to duplicate digital data, and, as seen in this situation, potentially infringes on the First Amendment (it hasn't been tested yet). Satire is a "fair use" of material, but if you do it on the Internet, and you duplicate data that's copyrighted, the DMCA takes effect, and they can send a cease and desist letter.

Rosemead council won't stop Wal-Mart Pasadena Star News, 12 April 2005

Foes of retailer vow to recall 2 council members

"Save Our Community would need about 3,500 votes to get the recall on a ballot."

Hi, I'm a homeowner here in Rosemead just like you and I've just attended the April 12th meeting at our city hall. For all of you that missed it, here's the gist of what went down:

*Councilman Tran kicked ass once again! In the face of the faithless opposition he was brave, dedicated and unwavering in voicing our community's concerns. He, along with Councilman Nunez voted for the wonderful moratorium that would have stopped the development of The Big Machine that is Walmart.

On several mornings and afternoons from April 5th to the 10th, around ten people made public protests against Southern California Edison, our neighbor, about the presence of asbestos found on the site at Rush and Walnut Grove. In late March, plastic tape marked with "Asbestos" danger indications deliniated over a dozen areas where small bits of asbestos-laden roof tiles were found (according to SCE).