Bad American

for the teacher, of course.

And we have today’s Contemporary Americana! 

Associated Press 

WAYCROSS, Ga. (AP) - A group of third-graders plotted to attack their teacher, bringing a broken steak knife, handcuffs, duct tape and other items for the job and assigning children tasks including covering the windows and cleaning up afterward, police said Tuesday.

Repeat after me: Third . . .  Graders.

And where do you think they get these ideas in the heart of the Bible belt?

This is why I tell my sons not to bear any children. It’ hard enough to watch the deconstruction of what was once the hope of the world but I’ll be damned if I don’t do my best to make sure we don’t bring any more people into this society.

These stories, I fear, will become commonplace.

CNN News

I would use the line from Willy Wonka: “so shines a good deed in a weary world” but this isn’t a deed that comes from whatever substitutes for a heart among Wal-Mart executives. This was forced, but all Corporate America knows is force. So be it.

Example:

A former Wal-Mart employee who suffered severe brain damage in a traffic accident won’t have to pay back the company for the cost of her medical care, Wal-Mart told the family Tuesday.

“Occasionally, others help us step back and look at a situation in a different way. This is one of those times,” Wal-Mart Executive Vice President Pat Curran said in a letter. “We have all been moved by Ms. Shank’s extraordinary situation.”

Absolute lying bullshit. What Wal-Mart was “moved” by was sixteen tons of overwhelmingly negative publicity, the charge led by Keith Olbermann, who vowed to lead his “Worst Person of the Day” feature with Wal-Mart’s CEO Lee Scott until he relented.

Surprisingly, CNN even linked to this blog in their blog reaction piece. I got a few hits from it. So don’t think that individual bloggers can’t make a difference.

In fact the only people who seemed to be talking Wal-Mart’s side were the truly heartless bastards over at Lone Star Times, who must be puking in their bitter coffee this morning because, for once, predatory American capitalism had to retreat.

Again, my point from an earlier post still stands - there are many Debbie Shanks’ out there in the decaying American heartland and you won’t ever hear about most of them. But today, just for today, we can celebrate the one time where a flower breaks above the concrete, metaphorically speaking. Just once when the collective force of the people can make a corporation do the right thing.

In fact, corporate America backing down is so rare, Jim Shank thought it was an April Fool’s prank:

On Tuesday, Wal-Mart said in a letter to Jim Shank that it is modifying its health care plan to allow “more discretion” in individual cases. Watch Wal-Mart reverse its decision »

“We wanted you to know that Wal-Mart will not seek any reimbursement for the money already spent on Ms. Shank’s care, and we will work with you to ensure the remaining amounts in the trust can be used for her ongoing care,” Curran said.

“We are sorry for any additional stress this uncertainty has placed on you and your family.” (You oughta be - ed.)

Wal-Mart’s reversal came as shock to Shank.

“I thought it was an April Fool’s joke,” he told CNN.

The only fool(s) here are Wal-Mart executives. Perhaps, just perhaps, this will set a new standard of decency. I won’t hold my breath.

ONE MORE THING: I see I’m getting a lot of visitors from CNN this morning. Thanks for checking me out and hang around and read some more. I update this blog quite often with what passes for my commentary. But do one more thing for me: e-mail Keith Olbermann and thank him for what he did. NOTE: I THINK the right e-mail is countdown@msnbc.com.