Essay 1260

Saturday morning cartoons and more in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Wal-Mart, bowing to pressure from Black leaders and union groups, fired an adviser who created the controversial commercial dissing Representative Harold E. Ford Jr. of Tennessee (see Essay 1256). The man was originally hired by the mega-retailer to help deal with organized labor and liberal groups. Somebody should have alerted the adviser that Wal-Mart hypes low prices, not lowdown dirty tactics.

• KFC changed its cooking oil to eliminate trans fats, and plans to officially announce the switch on Monday. Most of the fast feeder’s restaurants made the change weeks ago, and customers don’t seem to notice any difference. Then again, do KFC fans really have any taste standards?

• Vice President Dick Cheney sparked controversy when discussing interrogation techniques during a radio show interview. The flap involves whether or not Cheney was commenting on a technique known as “waterboarding” — where a prisoner has his feet bound above his head while water is poured on a cloth over his face. “Would you agree a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?” an interviewer asked Cheney, who replied, “Well, it’s a no-brainer for me.” Cheney defenders insist the veep wasn’t aware of which specific technique the interviewer was referring to. Actually, to conclude that Cheney supports all forms of torture seems like a no-brainer.