From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Not so long ago, Wal-Mart was the little company out of Arkansas bringing huge selection and lower prices to rural communities that were, on the whole, pretty happy to see Sam Walton's store arrive.

Wal-Mart no longer can keep the low profile its founder preferred. Not even the late Sam Walton could have ignored the very public battering coming from critics who accuse the company of everything from gender discrimination to damaging the environment, from shortchanging and exploiting its employees to destroying competitors and sending jobs overseas.

Those critics say it's high time to put Wal-Mart on the hot seat.

"As you become bigger, the negative impact of a bad policy becomes even more profound," said Paul Blank, spokesman for Wake-Up Wal-Mart, an advocacy group that was launched this spring and receives funding from the United Food and Commercial Workers union.