CORPORATE CRIME REPORTER

Wal-Mart, CPB, ABC’s Martha Raddatz in Alliance to Whitewash Corporate Image
21 Corporate Crime Reporter 15, April 3, 2007

Nothing could be finer for Wal-Mart.

There you are surrounded by Elmo and the other Sesame Street characters.

And ABC’s White House correspondent Martha Raddatz.

And the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s president Patricia Harrison.

And you are promoting a new video titled Talk, Listen Connect – a video that features Sesame Street characters helping children cope with the military deployment of their parents.

All today center stage in the ballroom of the National Press Club.

Wal-Mart put $1.5 million into the venture.

Ray Bracy, Wal-Mart’s vice president for government relations and international corporate affairs, spoke at the National Press Club today about the 3,000 Wal-Mart employees who are in the military, about the military families who shop at Wal-Mart, about how wonderful it was to be in an alliance with Sesame Street and the CPB.

“Wal-Mart has a long history of supporting the military,” Bracy said.


Before joining Wal-Mart, Bracy spent thirteen years with Boeing. At one time, he was President of Boeing China.

CPB’s Patricia Harrison prodded the audience – when you see military families shopping at Wal-Mart – go up to them and say – thank you.

Harrison was the co-chair of the Republican National Committee until 2001.

ABC’s Raddatz has suggested recently that opposition to the Iraq war and supporting our troops are mutually exclusive.

Last August on ABC’s This Week, Raddatz said – “The Democrats don't want to say – this is terrible, the troops should come home – because the lesson from Vietnam also was you have to support the troops or there's tremendous backlash from that.”

In the Wal-Mart sponsored video, Elmo’s dad – about to be deployed – explains to Elmo that “Daddy’s got to go do grown up work.”

“I have to help some people,” Elmo’s dad says. “It’s a very important job.”

Nothing in the video the people who initiated this war wouldn’t support.

No talk about helping the families by bringing the troops home.

No questioning – especially in front of the children – about whether the initiation of this war was a crime – or not.

No talk about if it was a crime, how the war criminals – and their boosters in the media – should be held to account.

Just a very sanitized corporate production.

Help the military families deal with the reality of this ugly war – without mentioning the obvious – bring them home.

Sorry – used the word “ugly.”

Whoops, used the word “war.”

“Helping Military Families During Military Deployment.”


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