Debbie Nathan

I’m doing some work in Mexico and just got back from buying a comb at the Wal-Mart in San Luis Potosi. A report in the US press recently noted that Mexico Wal-mart, which I think is that country’s largest employer, uses merchandise baggers who work for no salary, no wages, no benefits: nothing except tips. Sure enough, one of these guys bagged my comb and avocado. I squinted and pretended I was on the #1 or the A train back home, and that he was a roving subway musician, as I gave him his multinational corporate “tip.”

Meanwhile, also right by the cash register, were cards asking customers to contribute to “Fundacion Wal-Mart de Mexico’s” campaign against childhood malnutrition. Your ten-peso donation will go for food for starving Mexican kids, says the card.

I wondered about the “volunteer” grocery bagger’s kids’ nutritional status. I didn’t ask…maybe I didn’t want to know.

Meanwhile, here are some photos I’ve taken lately of the all the US stuff I see in Mexico, even in the remotest villages. The one at top is from Izucar de Matamoros, in the state of Puebla. Most Mexicans in New York hail from Puebla, and back there you see tons of references to the city by people wearing NYC logo’d clothing or painting Big Apple-related words and motifs on their stores. The doll photo, just above, is from a church in a small village in San Luis Potosi. The bills are offerings for safe crossing during the trip to the US. Dollars seem to have more clout than pesos, at least for this particular Nino Jesus.

The New York Times yesterday finally took hold of the “New Dirt on Eichenwald and Justin Berry” story, after being scooped days ago by Counterpunch. That publication sent me to cover the hearing in Nashville last week, where a judge rejected Kurt Eichenwald’s motion to quash subpoenas. They seek evidence that Eichenwald paid additional monies to Justin Berry besides the $2,000 check that surfaced months ago. During the Nashville hearing, discussion ensued in open court about PayPal payments apparently made to Berry in summer 2005. The New York Times estimated they totaled $1,100 — no small sum. The Times didn’t say what Eichenwald was spending the money on, this time around.

Just after the hearing, the judge ordered Eichenwald to go through all the voluminous, sealed filings he’s been making since early July, and let her know which parts contain his credit card numbers, home address, and other, similar personal information. The judge said she would redact that data, then quickly unseal the Eichenwald material and defense responses. They would then be available to the public on the federal PACER court documents system under the case name Timothy Ryan Richards. Eichenwald was supposed to comply by Friday, August 3.

August 3 came and went, and the documents still have not been unsealed. But PACER has since been inundated with new filings — also sealed.

Kurt Eichenwald is in more trouble today, as new evidence emerged that he secretly paid even more money to teen porn maker Justin Berry, besides the $2,000 check which embarrassed him and the New York Times earlier this year (see my previous post, “Eichenwald Dustup” for background).

For the latest, see my reporting in today’s online Counterpunch (click here)