Debbie Schlussel: Live From Dearbornistan: Welcome to Islamofascist, Price-Fixing Walmart (Store's Agreement Not to Undercut Muslims Violates Federal Anti-Trust Laws)
For the last two years, representatives from Walmart's corporate headquarters met with and pandered to the most extremist, Islamofascist leaders in Dearborn's Islamic community, including FBI award revokee and "former" Islamic terrorist Imad Hamad, so that they could plan the new so-called "Arab American" Walmart in Dearbornistan. But there's nothing "Arabic" about it. Walmart didn't meet with Chaldeans (Catholic Iraqis) or Maronite Christians from Lebanon or even the Druze community. They met only with Muslims.
This store is not "Arab-American." It's ISLAMIC. That's why the Walmart panderers met with extremist, Hezbollah-supporting Imams, and terrorist Hamad. And that's why Newsweek writes about his second wife (his first was a sham marriage for citizenship when he violated his student visa), Arwa Hamad (who has a penchant for filing insurance claims and lawsuits over "car accidents"--not, of course, mentioned in the Newsweek article). No mention if there are footbaths in the locker room for the store's many Islamic employees, but I'm sure they're there.
And, to make matters worse, Walmart hired Suehaila Amen, an openly anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, pro-Hezbollah Shi'ite Muslim to give ethnic sensitivity training to Walmart employees. Yup, an anti-Semite supporter of Islamic terrorists giving sensitivity training. Sounds about right. As a teacher in the Dearborn Public Schools, Amen violated campaign finance laws by using Dearborn Public School resources to campaign for her Muslim friend and Medicaid defrauder Ismael Ahmed when he ran for University of Michigan regent (he now runs the State of Michigan's Medicaid unit, after defrauding it). Yup, Walmart is into ethics . . . Islamic world "ethics".
But it gets even worse. Walmart is violating the law--engaging in price-fixing agreements with the Islamic community and agreeing not to underprice its local Hezbollah-financing Shi'ite stores, so as not to put them out of business. Why will they do this for Ahmed and Mohamed, but not Mom and Pop Smith in other American communities? If I were one of the many businesses across America driven into the ground by Walmart, I'd sue Walmart on discrimination and unfair competition grounds, since the retail giant only helps its Muslim competitors stay in business. Who wants to join me in my complaint against Walmart to the Federal Trade Commission for unfair, anti-competitive practices and price-fixing? It's patently illegal. I wish I could say this is capitalism at its worst. But it's not capitalism or free market competition. It's whoring:
As Arwa Hamad strolls a new Wal-Mart, an eight-foot display of olive oil stops her in her tracks. "Oh, wow," she says, marveling at the sight of so many gallons of Lebanese extra virgin. "We could go through one of these in a week in my house." Around the corner, row upon row of gallon jars of olives—from Turkey, Greece, Egypt and Lebanon—soak in deep hues of purple, red and green. "Look at the size of these olives," says the stay-at-home mother of three and native of Yemen. Hamad, 34, has shopped at Wal-Mart before, but never one like this. She is overcome with nostalgia as she spots Nido powdered milk and Al Haloub Cow, canned meat she calls the "Arabic Spam." "My father loves this," she says. "People from war-torn countries, this is what you lived on when you couldn't go out of the house to shop." This Wal-Mart, though, isn't in a war zone. It's in Dearborn, Mich., home to nearly a half-million Arab-Americans, the largest concentration of Arabs outside the Middle East. [DS: Um, Dearborn is, indeed, a war zone. It's a silent cultural war. And we've lost.]
As America changes, so does the store where America shops. In Dearborn this week, the world's largest retailer opens a store like no other among its 3,500 U.S. outlets. Walk through the front door of the 200,000-square-foot supercenter and instead of rows of checkout counters, you find a scene akin to a farmers market in Beirut. Twenty-two tables are stacked high with fresh produce like kusa and batenjan, squash and eggplant used in Middle Eastern dishes. Rimming the produce department are shelves filled with Arab favorites like mango juice from Egypt and vine leaves from Turkey used to make mehshi, or stuffed grape leaves. A walled-off section of the butcher case is devoted to Halal meats, slaughtered in accordance with Islamic law (when a Wal-Mart manager noticed the pork section was too prominent he ordered it moved, since Muslims don't eat pork). In the freezer case, you'll find frozen falafel. You can also pick up a CD from Lebanese pop singer Ragheb Alama or buy Muslim greeting cards.Wal-Mart's Arab-American emporium provides a preview of the retail giant's latest strategy to boost business as it reaches the saturation point in its American expansion. . . . The Dearborn store, though, is the most extreme example of the concept. Wal-Mart offers its standard fare, plus 550 items targeted at Middle Eastern shoppers. "In the past, Wal-Mart has been pretty cookie-cutter when it comes to merchandise," says Dearborn store manager Bill Bartell. "But this time, we really got to know the community. We're blazing a trail here." . . .
Wal-Mart started two years ago to meet with imams and moms, conducting focus groups at Middle Eastern restaurants. Wal-Mart learned the community wasn't as concerned about seeing Arabic-language signs as they were with dealing with Arabic-speaking staff. So Bartell hired about 35 Arabic speakers, including Suehaila Amen, a local middle-school teacher who is providing ethnic-sensitivity training to the 650 employees. He also learned not to bother stocking traditional Muslim clothing, like the headscarf, or hijab, Amen wears. "The community told us, 'I would not feel comfortable coming to Wal-Mart to buy my hijab'," says assistant store manager Jordan Berke. "We're not here to overstep our bounds." [DS:; Translation. We're here to pander. How much further would you like me to bend over?]
Despite the sensitive sell, local shopkeepers still worry about Wal-Mart. "There is a fear factor in the business community," says Osama Siblani, publisher of Dearborn's Arab American News. To allay those fears, Wal-Mart is making an extraordinary promise: it will not undercut the prices of the small local merchants (though it will still go after Kroger). The insular company even agreed to be scrutinized by a "community advisory board" made up of local Arab-American leaders to ensure it isn't harming the mom-and-pop shops. One example: Wal-Mart agreed to charge one dime more than local grocers for a six-pack of pita bread.
Arwa Hamad says her devotion to Dearborn's Muslim merchants doesn't simply rest on one thin dime. After all, when her husband goes to their Arab butcher, he buys in bulk. "It's hard to get half a lamb at Wal-Mart," she says. And yet, the more she wanders the aisles, the more she likes. There are the Turkish sweets and dried dates her kids love, and the Nescafe coffee she adores. "This brings back memories from home," she says. "I'll never forget Mustafa's corner store, but as soon as this place opens, I'm coming here with my checkbook." Going native just might be the next way Wal-Mart wins.
Mustafa's "corner store" (the Green Market--a giant Hezbo-financed market with the blessing of Sheikhs Nasrallah and Fadlallah back in Lebanon) is well-known as a supporter of Hezbollah, and he's been under investigation for years (by then-U.S. Customs agents in Detroit) for money-laundering to the terrorist group. And we can't have Walmart hurting that. Can we?
Disgusting. I WILL NEVER SHOP AT WALMART AGAIN! And neither should you.
Posted by Debbie on March 3, 2008 01:49 PM to Debbie Schlussel