Robert Duvall Is Not Cool With Building A Walmart Near A Civil War Battlefield
Robert Duvall, a descendant of Robert E. Lee, is really just not cool with Walmart's plans to build a Supercenter near the site of an important Civil War battle.
The Associated Press says that Duvall claims to have no grudge against Walmart, but "believes in capitalism coupled with sensitivity."
The Virginia battlefield was the location where Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee first fought the Union's Ulysses S. Grant.
Actor Duvall enters battle to save Va. battlefield [AP]
(Photo:David Shankbone)
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Are there just not enough Walmarts out there that they have to build more and more? Fredericksburg, the closest city to this area of Virginia, has three. Absolutely ridiculous, and I'd be saying this if it were Target trying to do this as well.
Coming soon: the "Ulysses S. Grant Memorial Wal-Mart Supercenter".
@pecan 3.14159265: It'd be ok to put up a Peppermint Schnapps store, but I have to put my foot down on a Walmart.
maybe Duvall will find who put tat STAR in the name and if the hyphen is really buried with Sam...
People in America need to realize jus what got America in this shape...cheap...yes so-call cheap items from a foreign land.
quote*Wal-Mart firmly believes in local procurement. We recognize that by purchasing quality products, we can generate more job opportunities, support local manufacturing and boost economic development. Over 95% of the merchandise in our stores in China is sourced locally. We have established partnerships with nearly 20,000 suppliers in China.*end quote!
Now! if there be 182 country's making items for the world to buy and they have only 5% of the pie in China..duh! This company makes the nice people of China support their currency(yuan) by keeping it in their country working for the people there but with the yuan going up in value and the US dollar going down all the foreign items that the American consumer buys thinking it is cheap has went up in price.
People its all about the currency and to keep a currency strong you got to keep it floating around the country you live in so it can work for you. For the past 12 years all them US dollars are being shipped overseas to a foreign bank and with the American worker not making anything for the foreigner to buy the we the people have to turn to the second largest employer in America(Uncle Sam) to sell we the people debt in order to get all them dollars back!
50 years ago a foreigner would had given their left nut for a US dollar or a Hershey's chocolate bar and today the same foreigner has got Uncle Sam and the American consumer by both all the while Hershey is moving the chocolate factory to Mexico. Wake up! America and think “MADE IN AMERICA.
quote*"Considering that there are over 30,000 ships at sea this morning," writes James Carlton, director of the Williams College-Mystic Seaport Maritime Studies Program, in an e-mail, "the total number of organisms and species in this global 'bioflow' on the morning your readers read your piece could be staggering - billions of individuals, and thousands of species."
Indeed, scientists have long considered ballast water the primary way invasive aquatic organisms are introduced. From the zebra mussel's arrival in the Great Lakes, to an American jellyfish severely disrupting Black Sea fisheries, the potential costs of accidental introduction of a species to new homes can be tremendous. Aquatic invasives cost the US $9 billion yearly, according to estimates by David Pimentel, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. Zebra and quagga mussels (a cousin to the zebra) alone cost the $1 billion annually.*end quote!
tat is $9 billion a year in hidden taxes to all Americans...cheap ain't chic and it cost America..........jobs!
oh! tat new logo is only for America....not the world!
It's in Virginia, so it would probably be the 'Robert E. Lee Memorial Walmart Supercenter'.
WalMart tends to win.. always:
[news.bbc.co.uk]
Although I don't think the Mexican Robert Duvall was on the case at Teotihuacan.
"believes in capitalism coupled with sensitivity."
Then you should have stood up sooner. Thanks for entering the fight when it suits you.
@ekthesy:
Clearly Walmart has malicious intent to construct as many stores as possible, even operating them all at a loss if need be, for no other reason than to bring domination over our landscape; enslaving our people; destroying our environment; and desecrating the graves of our fallen soldiers.
And for these atrocities and many more to come, we despise them. To the death we must battle them in courts of the law!
@ekthesy: Exactly what I was thinking. There are 5 Walmarts within a 15 mile radius of me, plus a Walmart Grocery or whatever they call them (for the record, I'm not anywhere near Virginia, but still). I'm sure the same holds true throughout the country. Surely Virginians can survive with one less Walmart in the state.
He has no argument. This is not on the battlefield, it doesn't diminish or encroach on the battlefield, it is merely NEAR the battlefield (which pretty much would be most of the Commonwealth of Virginia).
@madmilker: Am I missing something or are you deliberately leaving the "H" out of every "that" you use?
I'm confused - near a battlefield and ON a battlefield are two different things. What should you be able to build NEAR a battlefield, and I'm pretty sure nothing should be built ON it.
@ekthesy: There's obviously a need for it. Wal-Mart is a pretty well-run business so they wouldn't build an entire store if there were not a demand for it...
@ecwis: It's a real problem when you cede critical thinking to a corporation. "Well, it doesn't make sense, but they have a board of directors and me and my little brain doesn't make nearly as much money. Oh well."
Grow a pair and make up your own mind.
@KyleOrton: Uh, what incentive would Wal-Mart have to build a store that would not produce a profit?
That's a lot of love for a field.
@madmilker: I agree. Ships not dumping their ballast water before entering the Great Lakes is hurting our fishing industry and sports fishing tourism.
But people who come to the Great Lakes from outside the area for boating need to make sure to clean off their boats before they put it in our waters too. That's another way that invasive species are spread around. They should also check their propellers for any plant matter. Also, don't transport firewood.
In short: Wal-Mart is the Devil. Thank you.
I do find it interesting that no one has mentioned the property owners yet. Is if fair to limit who they can sell their land to or what propose it can be put to?
If the government or a citizen group is concerned about preserving these sites it is their responsibility to purchase the land from the current owner before it is sold to someone like Walmart. Lots of people will come out of the woodwork to complain about something like this. But how many are willing to put their money into the project?
What you are wiling to monetarily support is always the best judge of a persons real commitment. I realize some have noting to give but time. I would suggest the time in question could be better spent organizing a citizen group to purchase the land you want to preserve.
@ecwis: Uh, run everyone else out of business? Then once they "own" the market, close all but one store, and set whatever prices they want.
@ecwis: you are not grasping one of their key operating tactics that has served them well historically
in a war of attrition the big guy will win, they try to put the smaller competition out of business by underselling
yes they are using critical thinking, but not for the powers of good.
@catnapped: Oh so Wal-Mart is working towards world domination? Right... Do you realize if they did do this, then the stores that they previously shut down, would simply open up again? Sure it might take a few years but Wal-Mart would not sacrifice their livelihood for the short amount of time they could survive as a monopoly.
@senor macho solo: What's the problem with underselling as long as they don't raise their prices after putting the other companies out of business?
Mr. Duvall is a celebrity, therefore his opinion holds more weight with me than the rest of you un-famous people. For that reason, I completely support him in his attempt at facile sentimentality.
Has the city of Locust Grove weighed in on the issue? This is an important to know because as a result of the liberals on the Supreme Court ruling in the Kelo vs. New London case, the city can use eminent domain to sieze the property for the benefit of Wal-Mart and there is nothing Robert Duvall or anyone else can do about it.
At some point or another, most of Europe has been a battlefield of some kind, yet we do not have large portions of the continent cordoned off. (Yes, I do know they do have many battlefield parks.) Where do we draw the line and decide a plot of land is ready for re-use?
SirWired
@RobertW.TX: Well said. If he's so worried about this land near a battlefield, perhaps he should put up his own money to buy it. But generally, people would rather use legislation or bureaucracy to force the current land owners take a bath on the property value. That way they can have their pet causes without any personal sacrifice. Sometimes they even manage to convince themselves they accomplished something!
The civil war is long over, get over it you bitter hillbillies...
They don't always win. I saw a documentary called "Walmart: the High Cost of Low Price". Near the end, they go over many communities that have successfully blocked Walmart from their communities.
@madmilker: Instead of using the words "quote" and "end quote!" around quotations, why not just use actual quotation marks?
I was saddened when I learned that the site of the battle of Franklin, TN, is now mostly blacktop.
OTOH, we took a photo of "General Pickett's All You Can Eat Country Buffet" near Gettysburg, because, well, just because...
Didn't Walmart build a store right near some Incan or Mayan ruins in Mexico or something? Or was I hallucinating or looking at photoshop?
@TheWillow: I find the whole LeeJackson King Holiday weekend thing HIGHLY amusing.
I guess the question is, will they have white sales?
*ducks for cover*
I hope he wins! I know exactly where he's talking about, and civil war battlefields are losing ground (no pun intended) already when it comes to preservation. It's not something you can put in a museum. Battlefields have been encroached upon by developers, by the county (they want to remove a ton of trees in the area) and are valuable resources for education and important to our historical legacy as a nation.