Posted on 06/07/2009 7:24:24 PM PDT by bmweezer
At a family picnic tonight, I heard a story so unsettling and unreal, that I thought it was a joke until confirmed otherwise.
A number of weeks ago, my uncle through marriage took it upon himself in a public place (a local convenience store) to criticize the policies of Barack Obama which was heard by a few patrons.
A little background on my relation: he is a burly man with a creative tongue who, when speaking makes clear his opinions to everyone around him, but does so more to steam and vent than to do 'anything' about it. On this particular day in this particular store, Uncle Ted explained to his friend who was with him, as they stood in line to buy a weekday lunch, that he disliked the new president and the socialist policies that he was pushing in Washington. Further, my uncle indicated that he didn't care if our president was black, yellow or purple, but Obama's policies convinced him that the president was nothing more than a stupid you-know-what (starting in "n".)
Weeks later, my uncle arrived at his job early in the morning like he always does, and was called into his boss's office and berated because of his off-comment. Apparently someone in the store had heard Uncle Ted's rant, took his license number and thanks to a ID badge that was on my uncle's person, wrote a note to my uncle's company detailing what supposedly happened that day.
More background: my Uncle works for a private company, is a member of a Union, in an industry that is heavily regulated but not one that is receiving funding or loans from the federal government.
When my Uncle was approached about this letter, he was not told whom wrote the letter nor was he given a chance to explain what he said, nor was his given the opportunity to refute one or more of the charges presented. Rather, management indicated that it was "on good authority" that the words mentioned were real and were a bad reflection for one of their employees. Further, my uncle was put on two weeks unpaid leave and immediately placed on two-year's probation for something he said off the clock in a public place. In the end, if it weren't for his Union ties, my uncle believed that he would have likely been fired altogether. Upon exiting the meeting, Ted was given a copy of the letter for his files, which he received with the name of the accuser blacked out.
The letter stated specifically what my Uncle had said, but was then peppered with inaccuracies, including the author's opinion that my uncle had threatened the president's life and the policies that the president was supporting.
Unfortunately, this story took one final turn when the secret service arrived at Uncle Ted's home, where the plain-clothed officers preceded to check each room for 'anti-Obama material' and possible 'contraband.' In addition, the service agents asked my uncle to give an inventory of the type of weapons on the property (a few licensed guns for hunting purposes) and asked if he had friends near or in Washington, D.C.
I was stunned.
This is Middle America folks, with the closest city at least three hours a way, in an area that while it continues to trend-Republican, is one that has never been known for the inclusion or support of bigoted organizations that very often votes for Democrats in local and state elections, while remaining Red in national elections. Simply said, our town is like many in the United States that like our politics real and slighly right-of-center in a 'don't cause any waves' type of way.
My uncle is no different, and if this is happening here in an area far from a large political hub, it begs the question as to what are Obama's supporters doing elsewhere?
Scary stuff and a story worth repeating.
I cannot think of any "middle American" state that requires licenses for long arms except for Illinois, and even there I thought it was the owner who was licensed (with the infamous "FOID"), and not the long arms.
Wow! If LOOKS could KILL !!
Yeah, right. You'll end up in that shoebox. Most Texas girls could manage that.
So, where did you get this attitude about Texans? Did a Texan jerk you up straight for hitting a woman one day?
Seriously?
Think about it. Would the average person think well of my business if someone was wearing a badge from my biz and spouting obnoxious crud in public.
It would reflect badly on my biz and undermine MY good reputation, which was earned through hard work and integrity.
That said, I think that the same employee, not on company time or in a co. vehicle, uniform or identifiable as an employee of mine, has the right to say whatever he feels about whatever he wants.
And save the name-calling for some other forum.
I disagree completely.
Socialism has to do with government ownership of production. Unions are a labor cartel.
Both are Bad Things, but they aren't the Same Thing.
The "obnoxious crud" this guy spouted was political criticism. He used a vulgar word to describe the poser in the W.H., but the real offense was, he was white and he was giving Obama a hard time. So somebody tried to get his job.
And you're going to enable that?
He was off the job site and off the clock. So if he weren't wearing a security badge (which his employer requires him to carry and wear as a condition of employment), and the guttersnipe who tried to get his job ran his plate instead through the ACORN office and political connections to find out where he worked, are you going to go with the play, if ACORN comes to you and says, "we don't like this guy and we want you to teach him a lesson about dissing our boy", are you going to go with that?
Remember, these guys play for keeps. They're going to the workplace to try to get people's jobs, to shut them up.
How far are you going to roll with that?
The mayor of Houston, 10 years ago, did that with a Houston bond salesman who was politically active. Ed Blum had run for congress as a Republican in a sacrificial district and lost, and then he helped the organizers of a political initiative get a referendum before the public that the mayor didn't like. The mayor, a notorious bully and longtime businessman of the two-fisted school, went to Blum's employers and told them they'd lose their business underwriting City of Houston debt unless they fired Blum on-the-spot for championing a cause the mayor disliked. They said no, Blum kept his job, and they lost the City's underwriting business.
What would you have done in that situation? Come clean -- Obama's doing it, too, with car dealers who give money to the GOP. What's your call on political liberty and freedom of speech and association, when the political heat comes down?
Dude, he stood in line and said NIGGER, while wearing a badge of his employer!
While I support his right to do so, I also support the employer’s right to discipline or fire him.
Do you own a company, or have you ever?
If you read my posts you would see that all of the other issues, Secret Service, etc. are, in my opinion, unacceptable in a free country. However, the employer’s rights must be upheld.
Tell us about it. They burned down several States once, just to have things their way, elaborating glorious theories about why they were compelled to do so, even as they marched and sacked and burned. Now they reflexively express revulsion for their erstwhile victims, just as they did then.
What rights? To impose political silence on his employees? How about non-participation? No party activity? Hell, how about "no parties" period? Ford used to fire people for taking a drink, or just having alcohol in their homes.
Oh, here we go. People who don't own companies aren't entitled to an opinion about this. That's rich.
You still haven't answered my question about what you would do in Ed Blum's case.
Here's what PaineWebber did:
You make a good argument, cogent and forceful but you should know that emotion is not open to debate. :)
Drudge still has the picture up..all by itself. I would like to know who took that photo and released it. Surely not an American photographer ;-)
Ya know...I’m not sure it’s that she hates only “white people” as much as she just “HATES” in general! IMO, she looks and acts like a self centered, power-monger.
She always seems to want to be the “center of attention” she doesn’t want to share the spotlight.
Honestly, she walks like a “dude”. She has no grace what so ever. I am guessing she is wearing a jock strap to keep her b@lls from jumbling around under that dress.
Yep, and you can go to any music store in America and find Rap music being sung by black people using that word as well........
Equal justice for all...not some, right?
“Hi, my name is Bunny, goonie goo-goo”
Do either of you belong to a labor union?
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