The Street.com* reports: SEC to Look at Whole Foods CEOs Internet Activity

“The Securities and Exchange Commission has reportedly begun an informal inquiry into the Internet message board postings of Whole Foods Market.
The online version of The Wall Street Journal reported late Friday that regulators will likely examine whether Web comments by Mackey during an eight-year stint of posting company-cheering entries under a pseudonym had contradicted official Whole Foods statements.

The SEC also will likely look at whether Mackey selectively disclosed material corporate information in violation of securities laws, the Journal said.

In a Whole Foods blog post following the disclosure by the Federal Trade Commission of Mackey’s Web writings, the CEO said he never revealed any ‘proprietary’ information about the company.”

Wow. What an idiot.

* The original report was in the Wall Street Journal but I do not like linking to articles that are, or may become, subscription only

David Pogue takes Microsoft and bloggers to task for a program in which bloggers were given free Acer Ferrari laptops as part of a Windows Vista promotion. Pogue quotes a Times article:

“Several bloggers reported last week that they had received Acer Ferrari laptops, which can sell for more than $2,200, from Microsoft. A spokeswoman for Microsoft confirmed on Friday that the company had sent out about 90 computers to bloggers who write about technology and other subjects that could be affected by the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft’s new operating system.”

I agree with Pogue’s conclusion that the bloggers are 

“exploiting the lawless, Brave New World of the blogsophere, where, since they’re Not Quite Journalists, they don’t feel constrained by any of those pesky journalistic ethics guidelines. Like the one that says, ‘You don’t keep $2,200 gifts from the subject of your review. You might think you can still write an impartial review, but it’s highly unlikely-and either way, nobody will believe it.’

But Microsoft gets much of the blame, too. It deliberately exploited a weak spot in today’s court of public opinion: how bloggers influence consumers, but generally don’t have conflict-of-interest policies.”

Acer Ferrari Laptop, shiny and bright red, but does not influence bloggers

Recognizing that these laptops have no inherent value, I am announcing a laptop disposal program to relieve the bloggers of the nuisance of owning a computer that is of no use and does not in any way influence their attitudes toward Microsoft, Acer or Windows Vista. I urge all of the bloggers to contact me as soon as they are done reviewing Windows Vista. I will send, at no charge, a prepaid Fed Ex box so that they can send me these unwanted/unneeded laptops. I will in turn sell them on eBay and donate the full proceeds to Oxfam’s Sudan Crisis Relief and Rehabilitation Fund.

I was sickened and saddened to see that the Discovery Channel chose today, the day we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, to premiere its new series Future Weapons. Discovery’s web site promoted tonight’s episode by urging viewers to “discover weapons that will always find their target, including the AS50 semi-automatic sniper rifle.”

King’s dream lives on with his followers, but it died for him April 4, 1968, on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel on Mulberry St. in Memphis, Tennessee. King was killed because he advocated non-violence, peace and racial harmony. The irony of this act has been lost.

For those fascinated by weaponry, here is what is believed to be the .30-06 (pronounced “thirty-ought-six”) rifle that killed King.

In the U.S. alone, according to one estimate, a child under the age of 19 is killed every three hours by a firearm. The dreams of nearly 2000 children are snuffed out here every year. That’s very disturbing. I assume that this also bothers the executive management of the Discovery Channel, the producers of Future Weapons, the program’s sponsors, and its viewers. If not, that’s even more disturbing.

U.S. toy retailer Toys “R” Us has reversed its decision regarding the winner of its “First Baby of the Year Sweepstakes” contest.

The company created a controversy, particularly in the Chinese-American community, when it had originally denied the first prize $25,000 savings bond to the first baby born in 2007, Yuki Lin, who was born at the stroke of midnight at New York Downtown Hospital, because the child’s mother was not born in the U.S., and hence was not a U.S. citizen and therefore ineligible for the prize.

Here, Chinese children are shown shopping at the company’s first store in China, opened December 8, 2006 in Shanghai.

Toys “R” Us graciously permits Chinese children to buy the company’s products
Mark Ralston, Getty Images

Ironically, China makes about three-quarters of the world’s toys and is the global toy industry’s largest exporter.

Toys R Us Mascot Jeffrey: “Wait, come to think of it, we love Chinese babies. Heck, they make most our toys!”

High marks to Toys “R” Us for reversing this decision, but a stern wag of the finger for making such a stupid decision in the first place. To discriminate on the basis of race, nationality, religion, ethnicity, gender or any other similar criteria is mean-spirited, dumb (and generally illegal). But to take on the world’s largest nation and its people in the U.S. and at home, is an extraordinarily lame business decision as well. At least Borat chose to offend the people of Kazakhstan, who have little buying power or political power.