Wow, did this article get crosslinked at Reason? That's the only explanation I can think of for so many people coming out on the side of Wal-Mart here.

Particularly since the death of Sam Walton, Wal-Mart has defined itself through its use of sleazy and unethical tactics. It appeals to right-wing morality in one instance, and then panders to the basest impulses the next. It is a company without a conscience, social or otherwise. The latest example of this was it successful lawsuit against a disabled former employee, in which they recouped MORE than their insurance had paid out to her (they eventually dropped the case after much bad publicity, but how many more such cases don't we know about?).

The video production company does not appear to be doing anything illegal here. Sleazy? Yes. Unethical? Perhaps. How is this different from what Wal-Mart does regularly?

I have no sympathy, and can only hope that there is enough stuff in those videos to unleash a torrent of lawsuits against Wal-Mart. It is only fair, and would be a suitably karmic.

Congratulations! May she and those who love her have health and happiness.

@ #18:

Quiet! Don't give the TV people any ideas. After the demise of the GEICO cavemen, they're going to be looking for ideas just to hurt us.

Ow! My EYE!

In space!

I'm sure that the note's author thought that, upon reading his message of liberation, the consumer would change his mind, abandon his corporate music oppression, and head over to the book section to...

...what? Buy the latest Tom Clancy or Danielle Steele novel? The book industry might be less evil than the music industry, but they still gave the world The Da Vinci Code and the Left Behind series.

RIAA statements like this show that it is obvious that the music industry feels that they are now in a position both to dictate and interpret the law, and the scary thing is that they might not be wrong, given the unwillingness of our "representatives" in Congress to protect our rights over the music executives' greed.

For a while now, I've been trying to buy only indie music. This morning, after being outraged by this story, I found a great tool to help determine if an artist is affiliated with the RIAA: RIAA Radar. It's basically a database of labels and bands, and whether or not they are members of the RIAA; it will even look up releases by UPC. I'm going to run every potential purchase through it from now on.

(I might be late in finding this, and everyone already knows about it, but it's worth sharing anyway.)

"Psychic Gramophone"

That's gonna be the name of my band!

(Though I'm also leaning toward "Commission of Control".)

That has to be the busiest logo in history!

Though the overall facial movements were stiff and unconvincing, the eyes were eerily lifelike a couple of times - almost like a real person wearing a rubber Halloween mask. That's probably due to the low quality of the video; I doubt the effect would be as convincing in real life.

Though, how anyone could be around this doll with its gaping mouth for any length of time and not need to shower afterwards, I don't know.