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Comments Posted By MurphTheSurf3

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If Romney Wins: A Look at the Impact

Even my best case scenario is none too good as the economic recovery I predict will be shallow and in the long run weaken the middle and lower classes.

As to his character….I fear that I have come to agree with your take on this. His brittleness, his sarcophagal laughter, his frozen face..all betray huge interior emotional stress. He has chosen a thoroughly dishonorable road to the presidency through a forest of deceit exploiting the shallowness of the voter at every turn.

He will be a disaster and will dishonor the Oval Office. I know it.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 27, 2012 @ 7:39 pm

True the Vote has been warned by the Secretary of State and Attorney General in Mo. that they will not be allowed to interfere in the operation of polling place. In particular they have been warned that their members will be arrested and that the organization will be held responsible. Significant for the McCaskill/AKin race here.

I do not know how things will go overall and am deeply concerned that the electoral college wall may not hold as planned.

A truly Progressive Party might emerge in the face of a Obama loss.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 27, 2012 @ 7:32 pm

UPDATED: Business Owners: Vote Romney or Else!

Appreciate the support and the kind words. I think this guy is good person and that he was trusting of those who were not really looking out for his interests or who took the word of others who were doing the same to them. I will be interested in any followup he offers. He seemed to be cool and calm during our conversation but his own research seems to have turned him.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 27, 2012 @ 7:25 pm

Bito…Your comment has some real meat to it. I think I will take the points you made about who is and who is not guarding his interests and put them into an e mail.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 27, 2012 @ 7:23 pm

I am pleased overall. And yes, the challenge to his association is especially encouraging.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 27, 2012 @ 7:20 pm

Mo. has absentee but no early voting. So the only votes that have been cast so far are the absentees and those are few here.

We meet tomorrow for lunch.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 24, 2012 @ 1:34 pm

In our conversation over lunch, I asked him why he did not verify the claims being made. A google search would have done it. He admitted that when he saw my sources were conservative business newspapers he knew he was in the wrong. So I asked. He just stared at me and said that he needed to think about that and get back to me. We are having lunch tomorrow.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 24, 2012 @ 1:32 pm

Promising I admit….hopeful signs.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 23, 2012 @ 9:14 pm

Had a nice brunch with the grocer on Sunday. Gave him a bunch of material and sent him the links for it. He went through it on Sunday and Monday. I called him tonight and he said that he was checking out a couple of items with his accountant and the Independent Grocer’s Association. He had a couple of questions. He promised that he would act on the information before the end of the week. I asked if he had found anything I gave him to in error and he said no and that he was beginning to think he had been taken for a ride. So….more later.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 23, 2012 @ 9:08 pm

Look forward to seeing you there. I think you will find it of great value and I think you will bring value to it.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 22, 2012 @ 12:46 pm

I have the same feelings. After reading the article, I did some research and had a chance to speak with an attorney who specializes in election law.

I did this before reading your comment. He agrees with you and wishes that there were the resources and the desire to take it all on. Of course, he points out that all roads eventually end up at the Supreme Court which is the cause of our pain. He doubts that the court will overturn itself.

He suggested I read a fine article in The New Republic…http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/105744/dismantling-the-gops-odious-philosophy-voter-suppression# It captures a deeper reality- the GOP have been at this for a very long time.

And I too wonder why we have not taken to the streets- all I can think of is the success the GOP have had in associating public protest with that pernicious evil called “Socialism.”

Again, my thanks.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 22, 2012 @ 12:45 pm

Having had breakfast/brunch with him I feel I know him a bit more. His anger is against all government and he believes, without merit, that the GOP is more on his side than the Democratic Party.

One big piece is that he sees the Dems transferring money from working stiffs like him to those who do nothing for themselves. He is clear in his understanding that there are the deserving and the undeserving poor. Of course, it is too easy to decide who is who.

I pointed out that money is also being transferred and in even greater amounts to the wealthy via the tax code, deals made to “attract” business, and the impact that so many of these deals have on local long established business.

He said he was willing to look at the material I had available and to discuss it with me.

It is on the way.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 22, 2012 @ 12:33 pm

Excellent. Watched it. I may recommend this to my grocer neighbor.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 22, 2012 @ 12:14 pm

Hey Bito,

I hope you have a chance to read my response to Ad Lib.

Why is the store open? It is a good question. It certainly is not a cash cow. I shop there often. It has that old, tired look of local, small town stores but the food quality is good and the prices while a bit higher that the super stores are still within our range.

So….I have spoken with this man a number of times since he works there all the time. Last night he was bagging groceries when the lines got a bit long.

He buys from the local farmers. In his store flyers he makers the point that his produce may not look as nice as that which comes from the superstores but his is actually grown in the ground, is fresh from a farm, and supports local farmers….and just tastes better. I have been there when a worn out truck pulls up and the driver with a stocker unloads watermelons, or apples, or tomatoes….

He pays as well as the big stores do AND I think when he (if?) he realizes what ACA will do for his workers will realize that he might be able to hold on to some of them longer.

He is very proud of his family’s devotion to our little town and can tell you when the local hardware store, the local five and dime, the local pharmacy closed and how it was Lowe’s, K Mart (and then Wall Mart) and Walgrees that did it.

I was there yesterday at the annual fall festival that the store hosts. The store sits on a big piece of land and there are two fields bordering it. So there was bbq, tractors, antique farm machines, kids games, local musical talent, etc. He furnished the food at his cost (or for free in the case of soda and water AND local produce).

As to political connections….don’t know about that. I am not aware of any but I imagine he is tied into the GOP. And yet, one of the things stirring people up around here is the threat of the Post Office closing which they realize will choke them…especially the old and the poor. The local GOP has been strong in its opposition and there is a growing awareness that UPS and FedEx are big players in the whole thing and that both are big GOP supporters at the national level.

So…I meet with him today. We shall see.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 21, 2012 @ 7:19 am

Hi Bito,

I left a long reply to Ad Lib’s comment to which you replied. I think it might give you some insight into the owner and his problem.

A word about the codes. The federal government has raised the standard for fire prevention and fire suppression significantly since the grocery opened. States have largely complied with these standards. I spoke with a liberal friend who is also an architect and he confirmed that this is so….all public accommodation tends to be lumped into the same category which means that stores, restaurants, hotel lobbies and meeting spaces (people do not sleep there but they congregate there). The grocer told me that if he were to expand the store by opening up the wall between his store and the retail space next door (in a building he owns) he would have to update his entire alarm and response system (both active and passive). The cost: $175,000. The architect confirmed that the figure is probably correct (he knows the store too)if not more.

So, the owner blames the government for imposing safety standards on him that he does not believe are reasonable or necessary given that the store has done just fine for X number of years without.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 21, 2012 @ 7:07 am

I am having brunch with him after church today. We will see how it goes.

Your thoughts here are helpful in formulation my approach. I am thinking of opening up with the gambit that his current financial woes are the result of the Wal-Mart takeover in the region (four super stores in 7 years). As you probably know, Wal Mart Realty (also organized under THD) works out deals with local government that give it preferred tax rates/exemptions, roadway realignment and coding exceptions under the rubric that its presence in an area is good for the local economy. We now nave more than enough information to know that this is not so, but Wal Mart has a long reach into every political campaign that favors their interests. Citizens United extended and broadened that reach.

He has been grousing about this for more than a year. If that opening works we can move on to discuss the info and the sources of it that he is passing along to his employees. Like I said, I know this guy. He lives in a modest home in the town in which he was born and raised. He works at the store doing what has to be done (including pushing in grocery carts from the parking lot, stocking shelves, doing repairs). His wife does the basic accounting. His daughter trains the cashiers. His son is a butcher.

I will bring a long a folder with articles from the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Financial Times, and Bloomberg News. All with bona fide conservative credentials. And as a followup send him the links.

I am going to suggest that he consider this information and that we talk again in a day or two. I will make the point that I, and the members of our cooperative, have a real interest in having our political perspective accurately presented and are concerned about the real long term good of the store and its employees. We believe that given Mr. Romney’s record it is clear he would regard this little store as a bad investment and a poor use of resources with Wal Mart as the “cure” and not the “ailment.”

I will let you know how it goes.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 21, 2012 @ 6:57 am

I ran into the owner this morning at his store- He hosts a community fall fest that is a great event…big parking lot, field next door, donates food and drinks, games and prizes. Other local business gets involved too. Small town life.

He and I got a chance to chat (among other things he is good at is delegating to his staff and once the day starts, it rolls.) I brought up the subject and he did not seem disturbed. He told me he thought he was sharing a reality with his staff. He told me that the store has grown in sales every since 1990 until last year when the Wal Mart Opened up. Now he is having a down year and since he has always existed on a small profit margin, what he wrote about is what he is concerned about. We agreed to meet for breakfast tomorrow after church. So we shall see. I have homework to do.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 20, 2012 @ 10:16 am

Kalima posted a link to me that address how legal this all might be….worth reading, really disturbing.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-news-blog/2012/oct/18/mitt-romney-business-leaders-employee-voting

Not the comments by the Law Professor in the second half of the article.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 20, 2012 @ 10:11 am

Really hope I see a lot more of you around these friendly environs. Have you checked out Vox Populi, our Friday night free for all chat room? You can just stand off to the side or weigh in, up to you. I think you would have something to offer.

I am impressed by the paradigm you set up here of the GOP as the Apostles of Responsibility and Accountability who then operate contrary to their own Gospel. Your examples are precise and on target.

As to my grocer friend….saw him this morning at the store where they are holding a fall festival- nice community event that his store hosts and contributes to….he is a good guy.

We got a chance to chat AND I was able to introduce the matter in the note. We have set up breakfast after church tomorrow. So I have homework to do.

Thanks for your interest.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 20, 2012 @ 10:08 am

Thanks for this….shortly after the story of Top Dog communication to their minions re. right voting (in their terms), this audio came to light. I found the Guardian’s take on this, which I had not seen before, of real value.

In particular from the article:

” Corporations can send political mailings to employees. And since the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision, corporations appear to have new freedom to force employees to attend political events like the Romney rally in Beallsville, Ohio, in which coal miners were forced to appear as campaign props.

Citizen United’s generous interpretation of corporate speech means that employers “may now be able to compel their employees to listen to their political views at [workplace] meetings on pain of termination,” wrote Paul Secunda, an associate law professor at Marquette University, in the Yale Law Journal. “Although federal law does still prevent employers from issuing explicit or implicit threats against employees who vote for the ‘wrong’ candidate, short of that, nothing prohibits employers from requiring employees to participate in one-sided political propaganda events.”

Employees have little real-life protection from aggressive attempts by employers to sway their votes, Secunda said in a phone interview Thursday.

“Workers are facing a constant stream of political pressure, 16 hours a day, a stream of literature,” he said. “This stuff has always taken place, especially in the blue-collar workplace. It’s generally legal.”

The federal voter intimidation statute, which makes it illegal to “intimidate, threaten, or coerce” voters, is rarely called on to protect workers, he said.”

I will be referring to this and other statements in the article when I get told that “those tactics are illegal” when they are not. A real bonus. Professor Secunda is widely respected and his (and yours) tie in to what Citizen’s United has done beyond increasing the amount of undisclosed and untraceable money flowing into the system. Excellent. Thanks.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 20, 2012 @ 10:02 am

Hello Glenn….

I don’t know if we have met…I think not, but I thank you for your insight here.

There are those who spout the lies and know they are doing it- the lie creators who know the truth but it does not serve them so they invent a new reality.

There are those who spout the lies because they are repeating what they have been told by those they trust AND what they have been told fits into their world view and reflects their fear, anxiety and anger.

But the results are as you say- those in small business who will not hire, will not invest, will not consider that perhaps “they” are not only not trying to get you but might be out to help you…are making decisions like the one I describe in my post.

The kind of thinking needed to understand why the wage of the little guy is the key to the wealth of the big guy; or how unions as partners with business do work and work well.

I am hoping that a little bit of truth might bring enlightenment. We will see.

Thanks for your thought and hope to see a lot more of you around the Planet.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 19, 2012 @ 6:32 pm

I think that any public confrontation – and an article, letter, in a newspaper or giving out the info to his employees- is stage two. Stage one is to approach him from the side and rather nicely. Missouri small town, rural stubbornness is mighty and a public effort will be labeled as liberal bullying from those socialists (that would be me and my friends). So…we may have to move this into a more public venue, but that will be midweek next week.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 19, 2012 @ 6:21 pm

Well….we are going to push him on this and see if the truth brings enlightenment.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 19, 2012 @ 6:14 pm

I have spoken with those in my coop and they want to approach the owner first- as one put it- “anything public will get his back up and stubborn pride will keep him from ever opening up his mind. ” So that is the plan. If it fails, we will talk again.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 19, 2012 @ 6:12 pm

A close election makes more room for suppression, collusion, and corrupton….all to steal the election. I am stunned how few in my part of the world see this.

Yes….while I believe that the owner of this small grocery store believes in what he has written, his circle is Republican and conservative and in that circle the lies are like air.

The decision to squeeze the employees, to squeeze those seeking loans, to hold off on almost any capital investment….this is something carefully considered by the power brokers and the money giants which filters down to this small grocer’s level as gospel. And he believes.

So…we will see if the truth has any impact at all.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 19, 2012 @ 6:10 pm

I left a note for KT….but just in case you do not see it…

Intimidation. It has that effect. I suspect he sees it as being honest with his employees IF he believes the info (and I believe he does). “Trusted sources” is the key. He believes in his family, his friends, his business associates and his church….he distrusts the “media” by which he means “the liberal media” and government in general. So these “facts” fit into his world view and the world view of many of his employees. Opening eyes is tricky.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 19, 2012 @ 4:44 am

I think this newspaper idea is a good one but it is also one that would seem to be “bullying” on my part and not at all what “neighbors” do. SO I think I will go the route of back channeling with him.

I think that a public wrangle will just harden his position and that of many of his employees who share with him a fear of government, a belief in conservatively labeled values, and have a lot of fear, anxiety, and anger making his note believable. So I will try to treat softly.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 19, 2012 @ 4:42 am

It has that effect. I suspect he sees it as being honest with his employees IF he believes the info (and I believe he does). “Trusted sources” is the key. He believes in his family, his friends, his business associates and his church….he distrusts the “media” by which he means “the liberal media” and government in general. So these “facts” fit into his world view and the world view of many of his employees. Opening eyes is tricky.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 19, 2012 @ 4:34 am

Yes..there is great power in ignorance, anxiety, fear, anger….and the struggle to make the facts fit into the world view they nourish. SO, I am sure this will be an uphill struggle with the owner but also with the employees.

Still, I think this is a good guy who has chosen to keep his business open in very difficult times and to keep it growing UNTIL Wal Mart came to the town 20 miles away. SO, those he trusts in his own association (and his church) are feeding him lines about who to be really angry with. Not Wal Mart and its corporate power which makes land and tax deals that benefit it to such an extent that it can afford to run at a loss for a year or two until it kills all of the other business nearby and becomes the only game in town.

I will try though.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 19, 2012 @ 4:32 am

Unless you believed him and I think that many do. Again, nice guy who has looked out for his employees in a small store that is clearly struggling against the big guys and is fearful of government intrusion. The store was looking to expand into a space next door (in a building the man already owns) and could not afford to because opening up the wall between the store and what used to be a small pharmacy next door would have required major rewiring and replumbing because of codes that would have nullified their previous approvals. So he didn’t. Not affordable. So the space next door is still empty.

» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On October 19, 2012 @ 4:25 am