SlowpokeBlog

Another story that didn't seem to gain much traction -- but should have -- was Wal-Mart's public hearing regarding its application to the FDIC to open a bank. The company insists it only wants to process credit card transactions in-house, and that it has no designs on the traditional consumer banking industry. Many thinking people believe this denial to be twaddle.

The prospect of concentrating this much economic clout into the hands of one colossal entity should induce an icky feeling across the land. But alas, most Americans probably don't even know about it, and wouldn't care if they did.

The lawn toad in the first panel was partly inspired by an ornamental frog statuette my mother-in-law received as a gift from someone. On a whim, I googled "lawn toad" and found this remarkably funny press release from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. It seems there was a "toad lawn ball sprinkler" that got recalled in 2003 for the following reason: "A small hose inside the toad can fail, allowing water to fill the toad's cavity. The increased water pressure can cause the toad to explode, posing the risk of injury to anyone nearby."

I include an image of the toad here, pre-explosion, for your convenience.