A Priest & Rabbi Socially Invest

I note this week the death of animator Bill Melendez, the genius behind A Charlie Brown Christmas.

In our house, just saying 'light's please' conjures up all we hold gentle and good.

The obituary revealed the show worried CBS since, non-traditionally, it lacked a laugh track, used real children as voices, contained a jazz score, and of course, featured Linus reading the New Testament in response to Charlie Brown's plea for anyone who call tell him what Christmas is all about.

It's a holiday classic unlike any other especially the self-proclaimed 'Holiday Classics' brochure which came in the mail displaying a card decorated with snow flakes and a block left blank to enscribe "Your Company Name Here."

It catches the wife unawares as to why it unleases a torrent of abuse since she wasn't present, these seven Christmas eves ago, when Boss Smarmy ordered attendence at the office party because "it's good for business."

Articles abound this week highlighting similar absences of ethical connectiveness.

How about "Neglected Georgetown graveyard upsets families," whereas "the university has appeared at times to be a reluctant cemetery owner, skimping on maintenance, fighting with owners of burial plots, and, at one point, seeking to remove the graves so that the land could be developed."

The response, "we're in the process of evaluating options,' sounds much like the squawks of adults whenever they make their offstage vocal appearance in Charlie Brown's world.

How about "Rabbis Debate Kosher Ethics at Meat Plant," when it took an immigration raid at a kosher meatpacking plant to unearth heretofore unaddressed low pay, unsafe conditions and violations of child labor laws.

The aftermath exposed a rift between Conservative rabbis who want to nail Good Housekeeping mazzuzahs on factory doors versus Orthodox owners who squwak efforts like those are "likely to backfire by raising the price of kosher food," and whose PR firm allegedly posted derogatory comments attributed to the Conservative leader.

How about "Socially Responsible, With Egg on Its Face," wherein Pax World, a leading socially responsible investment firm was "taking stakes in companies involved with alcohol, gambling and military contracting," so much so, "Pax World itself might flunk other fund companies screeing process."

Their CEO squwaked, "The idea that you should exclude entire industries because of certain concerns is perhaps an old-fashioned, knee-jerk approach that isn't most appropriate for today's world."

Well, yeah, isn't being sort of financially inappropriate rather than only harvesting landfall profits the whole idea of socially responsible investing?

I admit the last example isn't as clear-cut - it may not be very possible on the complex field of mutual fund investmenting to obtain a fair degree of purity - like the vegan who rides on wheels manufactured with animal fat, or like Ben & Jerry, who after they sold out to an international conglomerate retained authority to direct 10%of profits to social justice causes.

Perhaps 10% is all any of us are capable.

In Spotsyltucky, we've repeatedly discussed it's about confronting the constant problem of Wal-mart. You already know when I managed a shelter it's where I could most stretch a dollar buying 97 cent deodorants and $8 sleeping bags. It's also where I hunt $3 shirts for fun.

Up until now there was no smoking gun.

Robyn Blumner, of the St. Pete Times reports, "Wal-mart made it clear in mandatory meetings around the country that a Democratic victory would be a disaster for its anti-union business model."

What model?

Blumner reports "in 2000, the company famously closed down the butcher shop operations in 180 of its super-center stores when one group of butchers in East Texas voted 7-3 to unionize."

Oh, that model.

And so for now it's adieu to Wal-mart.

As far as I know, Target, Kohls and Hechts (now Macys) aren't relatively as bad in light of our recently established 10% standard.

Hey, I have to shop somewhere.

Nothing today is 100% certain with a Hitler perched obviously atop the scale. Even Dorothy Day gave a certain amount of leave to Catholic Workers who fought in WW II.

There are still times the evidence grows so ponderous something must be done while listening quietly for your Linus to tell what it's all about.

If Walt Disney had fired Bill Melendez in 1941 for striking to unionize artists there might never have been a Charlie Brown Christmas to celebrate.