The first two WaldeMart videos thanks to you have been seen over 2 million times and forced Wal-Mart execs to publicly respond to us calling them out on their unethical business practices. That said, we are not calling for a boycott of Wal-Mart. We are trying to raise consciousness and pressure them to give their employees real health care.
While this video is not an official project of the HP Alliance it was produced, written, and starring two HP Alliance cofounders and Board Members: Andrew Slack (who plays Lord WaldeMart, Madam Pomfrey, and a guy throwing up) and Seth Reibstein (who plays Ron Weasley, Lucius Malfoy, and a guy with an eyeball in his forehead).
Even though we don’t have Half-Blood Prince to look forward to this month, I’m happy to be showing you a new WaldeMart video.
Enjoy, sign up at WaldeMart Watch, and Happy Halloween!
Andrew Slack
P.S. Are you a Michael Jackson fan? Then you definitely shouldn’t miss this!
Thanks to everyone whose been getting involved in the No On Prop 8 campaign, it looks like the polls are showing a slight win for those of us who want to stop Proposition 8. But as Nate Silver says, ballots are hard to poll. So this is really a toss up. And so, every call you make counts!!!!
So our allies at No On Prop 8 have literally been under attack by those who are terrified of same sex marriage. Essentially, they’ve tried to take down the No On Prop 8 web site through highly illegal attacks. Their actions did not succeed. The No On Prop 8 web site has new safeguards to protect it and the attacks have been reported to the FBI.
It’s time to show the world that for as much as some may stoop to disgraceful levels in the name of hate, others will work with grace in the name of love. Please lend your help to No On Prop 8 by making calls .
To use this image as your facebook or myspace picture just right-click and save. Then upload it to your profile.
If you have any trouble with the links going to the right place, they should go to: a href=”http://www.noonprop8.com/action/phone-bank”. You just stick that sentence in between brackets “<” and “>”
Then about eight months later came Lord WaldeMart II. This video was at a faster pace than the first, with more jokes, more talking points, and more characters. The WaldeMart videos have received well over 2 million views, they’ve been featured on the front cover of the Chicago Tribune Business Section, and they’ve helped make more people aware of many of Wal-Mart’s unethical business practices.
Now tomorrow, Halloween 2008 comes Lord WaldeMart III. In this one, we are tackling Wal-Mart’s PR campaign that they have a new and improved health care plan. In reality what they have is a very expensive public relations campaign that could actually go to improving the health care of their employees. In writing WaldeMart III my colleague Seth Reibstein and I decided it was time to try something different. We made the second one at a faster pace. How could we differentiate this one from the first two? Well, we came up with an idea that made most people think we were crazy. Hopefully you’ll enjoy it.
Remember, November was supposed to be the month that Half-Blood Prince was coming out. And even though it’s sad that isn’t, we still have the summer to look forward to and in the mean time, I’m happy to be showing you a new WaldeMart video.
For the record, the WaldeMart videos are not an official HP Alliance project. They are, however, produced, written, and starring me and Seth Reibstein who cofounded the HPA and is an HPA Board member. I hope you’ll like it. Keep your eyes peeled for it tomorrow!
You can still be in a civil union in CA with the same rights as marriage. We just don’t want you to indocrinate our kids into your sexual deviations, that’s all.
This was one of the responses I got to the video I uploaded on YouTube earlier this month.
To be honest, I’m a little confused by this person’s logic. First of all, if civil unions were the same as a marriage, then why do we have to call it something different? Secondly, civil unions and domestic partnerships are NOT the same thing as a marriage, nor do they provide the same rights—some states provide almost all the rights of a marriage while others only provide a handful of them. Thirdly, civil unions and domestic partnership laws (no matter how comprehensive) are only valid in the state they were issued, whereas a marriage is valid anywhere in the country. And lastly, not all states have domestic partnership/civil union laws.
From an HP Alliance commenter regarding our congratulating Connecticut on making same sex marriage legal:
“Yes Connecticut! That’s where I live, I am so excited my mom’s can get married now!!!”
It’s people like her and her mothers that we are fighting for in our opposition to Proposition 8 in California as well as the ballot initiatives to ban same sex marriage in Arizona and Florida. Thank you to her and to all those like her who are part of families that teach us all that love is not limited to narrow minded definitions. It’s expansive. Hearing her words fills my heart with warmth.
The article is written by an African American woman who was arrested along with her white husband for an interracial marriage. When they got married, they had no intention of their marriage being political. But once they were arrested she says, “Richard and I had to fight, but still were not fighting for a cause. We were fighting for our love.” And fight they did. All the way to the Supreme Court who in 1967 ruled “unanimously that, ‘The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men,’ a ‘basic civil right.’
One thing that’s so striking about her words is that the judge that sentenced them (and was eventually overturned) said that “Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents….the fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.”
This woman, whose last name happens to be “Loving” goes on to say: “My generation was bitterly divided over something that should have been so clear and right. The majority believed that what the judge said, that it was God’s plan to keep people apart, and that government should discriminate against people in love. But I have lived long enough now to see big changes. The older generation’s fears and prejudices have given way, and today’s young people realize that if someone loves someone they have a right to marry.
“Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don’t think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the ‘wrong kind of person’ for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation,* should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people’s civil rights.” [bold face by me]
History in the US has always eventually moved in the direction of civil rights. Same sex marriage will eventually move in that direction. The time has come for you to ask yourself a question. Fifty years from now, which side of history do you want to be on? The one that used ideology to strip people of their rights and deny them love? Or the one that used spiritual faith and faith in love to allow people to come together? In the end, it is the latter who will win this fight. Please join us, please join our fictional friends in Gryffindor and our real life allies like Mrs. Mildred Loving in that fight. The fight for equality. No on Proposition 8. Sign up to make phone calls today!
It was almost 5 years ago that the Massachusetts State Supreme Court ruled that that the state’s constitution “affirms the dignity and equality of all individuals” and “forbids the creation of second-class citizens” and that the state had no “constitutionally adequate reason” for denying marriage to same-sex couples. The court gave the state 180 days in which to prepare for same-sex couples to marry, and during that time-period, the state legislature engaged in some pretty serious debate about amending the state’s constitution to invalidate the court’s ruling: a ruling that that noted that “civil marriage has long been termed a civil right. This seemed insane to me! Since when should civil rights be open to popular vote?!? Read the rest of this entry »
