This letter to the editor (second one down) sums up a lot of my feelings about grocery shopping these days. I won't shop at Wal-Mart because I don't feel inclined to prop up the Chinese economy, because Wal-Mart destroys jobs and small businesses, because Wal-Mart won't advertise in newspapers (my evil selfish motive), because Wal-Mart has been sued a couple of dozen times for union busting and for forcing "associates" to work unpaid overtime, because I find the whole place a little creepy and because I have a friend who used to date a Wal-Mart heir and gave him up because the billions weren't worth it.

But the preferred shopping cards absolutely infuriate me. I don't think Albertson's headquarters in Idaho needs to know how much toilet paper or beer I bought last month. We shop more and more often at the IGA and at the Good Earth Market, but Good Earth doesn't have everything and my wife complains about the selection at the IGA. So many stores, and so few choices.

For more on Wal-Mart, read the extensive Oct. 31 discussion at City Lights. And here's yet another reading suggestion from Jackie Corr, this time on Costco (but you have to register -- which I won't do either because the Times wants to know my income. Forget it, pal; stick to Schwarzenegger's private life).

UPDATE: Michael Erickson also weighs in on the Wal-Mart issue.