August, 12 2009, 03:23pm EDT
WakeUpWalmart.com Calls on Walmart to Pull Ads, Stop Supporting Hate Speech
Other companies pull ads from Glen Beck’s show, Walmart continues its support
WASHINGTON
Today WakeUpWalmart.com, America's campaign to change Walmart with more
than 450,000 members, is calling on Walmart to pull its substantial
advertising dollars from the Glen Beck Show on Fox News. Recently many
groups have called for a withdrawal of advertising support from Beck's
show because of his extreme and hateful rhetoric. Several companies,
including Geico, have pulled all their ads from the show, but Walmart
continues to support Beck's hate speech.
"Walmart must stop supporting Glen Beck's show with its
advertising," said Meghan Scott, Director of WakeUpWalMart.com. "Money
talks, and it is simply unacceptable for the country's largest retailer
to endorse this hate speech.
"Walmart is a major player, both in terms of advertising and in
terms of the discussion on major issues facing our country. Walmart has
inserted itself into the public discourse on everything from health
care to the environment. Because of their size, their messages reach
many -- and with great power comes great responsibility. Walmart has a
responsibility to stand up against this kind of hateful and extreme
rhetoric, and they can do their part by pulling their advertisements."
WakeUpWalMart.com is about Americans joining together in common purpose to change Wal-Mart. There is only one force powerful enough to change the #1 Fortune 500 company in the world - the American people. WakeUpWalMart.com is about giving Americans the tools to empower themselves to change the world's largest employer. We are Wal-Mart's customers and we have the power to make Wal-Mart live up to its responsibility to its employees, our families, our communities and the nation.
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Sanders Says 'Political Movement,' Not Murder, Is the Path to Medicare for All
"Killing people is not the way we're going to reform our healthcare system," he said. "The way we're going to reform our healthcare system is having people come together."
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Addressing the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and conversations it has sparked about the country's for-profit system, longtime Medicare for All advocate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday condemned the murder and stressed that getting to universal coverage will require a movement challenging corporate money in politics.
"Look, when we talk about the healthcare crisis, in my view, and I think the view of a majority of Americans, the current system is broken, it is dysfunctional, it is cruel, and it is wildly inefficient—far too expensive," said Sanders (I-Vt.), whose position is backed up by various polls.
"The reason we have not joined virtually every other major country on Earth in guaranteeing healthcare to all people as a human right is the political power and financial power of the insurance industry and drug companies," he told Jacobin. "It will take a political revolution in this country to get Congress to say, 'You know what, we're here to represent ordinary people, to provide quality care to ordinary people as a human right,' and not to worry about the profits of insurance and drug companies."
Asked about Thompson's alleged killer—26-year-old Luigi Mangione, whose reported manifesto railed against the nation's expensive healthcare system and low life expectancy—Sanders said: "You don't kill people. It's abhorrent. I condemn it wholeheartedly. It was a terrible act. But what it did show online is that many, many people are furious at the health insurance companies who make huge profits denying them and their families the healthcare that they desperately need."
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"Killing people is not the way we're going to reform our healthcare system," Sanders added. "The way we're going to reform our healthcare system is having people come together and understanding that it is the right of every American to be able to walk into a doctor's office when they need to and not have to take out their wallet."
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In addition to highlighting Sanders' interview on social media, Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) pointed out to Business Insider on Wednesday that "you've got thousands of people that are sharing their stories of frustration" in the wake of Thompson's death.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—a co-sponsor of Sanders' Medicare for All Act—similarly toldHuffPost in a Tuesday interview, "The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system."
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