Posted
10/15/2004 05:05:00 PM
by Douglas
Aloha! Wanna buy some
crap?Wal-Mart Stores Inc. opened a store in Hawaii on Wednesday with hundreds of eager shoppers rushing past a handful of protesters who accuse the giant retailer of desecrating ancient gravesites.
Customers lined up hours ahead and then poured into the discount store after a traditional Hawaiian blessing and the untying of a lei at the main doors.
Native Hawaiian groups had tried to stop the opening until 44 remains of Hawaiians unearthed during construction could be reburied at the Wal-Mart site.
Anything new here? Maybe the grave desecration angle is new, but this sounds just like any other Wal-Mart opening anywhere in America: Locals protesting that it's ruining their community, while people are lined up down the street to get in and blow this month's rent.
I wonder if a Hawaiian Wal-Mart is cheaper than a mainland Wal-Mart, since the cheep, Chinese crap has such a shorter distance to travel? Who am I kidding, it's all got to go through Arkansas first, anyway.