You would think ALL NWA local TV is owned by the same players as the Times Record.
.
I have yet to see any former Whirlpool employee given interview time, not even a 10 second sound bite.
.
They put on the VP for PR on repeatedly about some globbly-gook about how this is going to make it all better for everyone.

I've been flipping channels for two days and no family impact coverage. Notta.

Boss Womack and Boo!Man were given carte blanche to do the Republican spiel
'we've got these terrific resources here and we're going to make something of them'

Yea. What happened when the furniture industry was shipped overseas? What did you make of those?

And Americans bend over for this every two and six years...as ES has remarked they get it hard from both Parties who serve only the .5%

Repeal the Reagan/Bush legislation that PAYS them to ship jobs to 3rd World economies. Do the same thing Japan, Spain, China does- protect your domestic industries.

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Huh. You're suprised? Who owns the Southwest Times-Record?

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Eh, most people know what's going on. They'll start talking with the slighted workers and the true picture will emerge.
I am absolutely disgusted by this corporation.

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Just this Corporation?

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Hush! You're going to stir up placid Fort Baptistians with this kind of talk! Well, they might wake up just as soon as Dancing With The Stars, the World Series, and Arkansas vs Vanderbilt is over.

Though the chances are mighty low, someone in this town might realize what a horrible thing has been done to us by Whirlpool 1911-2011! and might connect the name Whirlpool with damaging words like damn & shit & those sorry bastards. And then where will Whirlpool be? Cussing while buying a new Whirlpool washer & dryer doesn't hurt Whirlpool at all. They want your damn money, not your yap.

Don W. Reynolds became a billionaire before Sam Walton by cheating his workers for 60 years. He pioneered getting special tax deals out of DC. He wouldn't get out of bed if each of his many companies didn't return a 35% profit each and every year. He figured out that young journalists will work for nothing, literally nothing after they reached their 40 hour per week limit. He figured out that firing those who worked for him a year was profitable because he'd never have to give anyone a raise.

The old bastard invented the very worst things about capitalism way before Wall Street got wise. He left so much money the foundation can't find a way to spend it all and fold the tent. He also left people from 20 to over 100 still bitching about his evil ways. And of course Stephens Inc., only barely improved things when they took over.

Just a few facts. Our gas monopoly is owned by Stephens. Our newspaper is owned by Stephens. Our city hall building is owned by Stephens. Our mayor is a former Whirlpool big wig. Where in all of that do you expect the truth of anything to come out? I'm surprised truck loads of flowers weren't sent to Whirlpool execs last week.

I dreamed last night of burning down the Whirlpool buildings in Fort Smith. But how do you burn structural steel buildings? And why would I want to knock out the jobs for the last 1000 who over the next 6 months will earn the last good paychecks of their lives.

Still....we the people of Fort Baptist shouldn't let our local Whirlpool execs off the hook, even though I doubt any of them had a hand in closing the plant. Those who do evil in America make sure to insulate themselves real well.

On the day of the closing announcement I'm sure somewhere top Whirlpool execs thew a party to celebrate the riches coming their way by employing a new workforce who get wet thinking about earning 1.95 per hour making appliances they'll never afford. But they will be able to afford a few more batches of thatch for their hut, and an extra cup of poi at supper time.

You can't get the people of Fort Baptist to do anything except shop at Wal-Mart and watch TV. Methods like those used by the Southwest Times Record have dulled us into the perfect workers in the age of NAFTA. They've assured us that unions are no good. They've made sure we understand that harsh talk is bad for our precious precious children. Demonstrating is only for sports teams. Make happy talk at all times and everything will be OK.

If there is a revolution, it will reach Fort Smith last. We'll remain Tories long after it's fashionable. Already we have citizens mad because our new mayor won't pound his fist and scream Life Is Worth Living In Fort Smith, Arkansas! Yeah....that makes it all better. We can go back to our TV sets and pretend everything is fine and Jesus has our back.

So it really doesn't matter if the SWTR and local TV stations are snowing us....we want to be snowed. We're too dumb, we're too religious, we're too conservative, we're too Republican to notice the water around our frog body heating up. We send the worst legislators to LR because that's the best we can do. We protect the old mossback money here because we were raised to be that way. Forgive us, we're not bright.

Fox News told us the reason Whirlpool is leaving is because of unions, too much pay for lazy workers, grabby retirees, mean mean government regulations...and we're satisfied with that message....shhhh my programs are on! I gots to get the curlers in my hair for Sunday. Besides, there's a N person in the White House!

It's a perfect non-storm here 24-7-365

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Also not mentioned in the coverage is the fact that the Ft Smith plant was built to replace a unionized plant (in Michigan, if I remember correctly). What goes a round, comes around.

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Another brilliant commentary by DBI!

You described life in rural southern towns everywhere, not just Arkansas. Our mothers taught us it was not right to question, argue, rock the boat, or do anything that might draw unnecessary attention to ourselves. "Go along to get along" was right there in line behind the Golden Rule.

As I was reading, I couldn't help but think about John Mayer's song "Waiting for the World to Change":

"When you trust the television
What you get is what you got
'Cause when they own the information
Oh, they can bend it all they want."

DBI.....Any chance it isn't too late in the day to draft you into a leadership role? We need someone just like you in Congress, heck even in our state legislature, who will MAKE us watch the sausage being made, then force an honest answer to the question "So, you're sure you still want to eat this mess?".

You are accurate in your description of our comatose nature. The couch has gotten way too comfortable.

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Of course not just the Whirpool corporation.

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I figured as much SA :)

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I second mountaingirl's motion.

"Another brilliant commentary by DBI!"

What a perfect handle to fit the Whirlpool situation. Death. By. Inches.

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I liked DBI's comment about our mentality nowadays. Most folks don't pay attention to who's running for election until they see a TV commercial. I wonder how many folks know John Boozman would be a US Senator for 6 years if they voted for him? How many people know what Tim Griffin is doing to weaken Soc Sec and Medicare? What came of Mark Darr's promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act when he was running against Obama for Lt. Gov?

People simply do not see the connection between the way our economy ships jobs overseas and the control corporations have over this kind of regulation. We have to change the way campaigns are paid for and how much influence fictional entities (corporations) have on elected officials. It's the same folks who are belittling the Occupy movement as being too radical while the tea baggers were patriots defending the republic. Ask an occupier and most will say campaign finance is the biggest issue. Ask a bagger and they will say "the Constitution" or "the deficit", if you can get an answer before they point to they're handler that the organization pays to be at the rally.

If there is not meaningful ethics reform in the legislature and Congress, all the talk about American exceptionalism will be hot air.

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How embarrassing for dinky Ft. Smith's dinky newspaper. To be called out nationally by an Ivy League review is just plain humiliating.

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Thank You! DBI

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I don't disagree with what's been said, but then again I tend to watch the consumer pretty closely and this may be a consumer story. A couple of years ago when we were getting ready to send # 2 to college and out at Best Buy looking at imacs, Mrs. Goof made the comment that we should probably look at frig'es on the way out of the store. And wouldn't you know it, after #2 got in school, fridge started to die a slow death! Three days before the death took place we decided on a big side by side stainless steel manufactured by Samsung. I got a bonus drawer that cooled to 29 degrees for my 24 Miller Lites. I didn't see a Whirlpool, Kenmore or GE (which I was replacing) that could stack up to the model that I bought. I think consumers are voting and Whirlpool isn't the appliance that consumers are voting for anymore.

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I wish I could stand the thought of running for office, but I've never wanted to hold sway over any other human...well...I'd like to have more sway over mag...but that ship sailed the first time she unbuttoned her blouse nearly 30 years ago.

I don't really blame the SWTR. The readers sat on their hands all these years while Whirlpool chipped and chopped away at the local jobs. Right now I'm probably the only one mad enough to chunk a brick thru a window out there if I thought it would do a damn bit of good.

We're not fighting piddly city hall on this one, we're fighting the corrupt Congress, the entire NAFTA-happy government AND the iron will of the mega-corporations determined to make a little more profit even if America goes straight to hell. They'll fly off when things get too toxic to live here. Who do you think they're building those mile high condos for in Dubai? Sure as hell ain't for retired Whirlpool workers.

The Occupies are right...everything that's wrong with this country stems from how we elect and who we elect. There's the bad apples that rot the entire American barrel. As long as we pretend we can vote for the best of two equally bad candidates and get something different, things will just get worse.

If Mr. Smith had really gone to Washington in that movie ole Jimmy would have probably turned out to be that nasty-ass Strom Thurmond instead of Capra's fantasy hero.

I'm done with the fantasy that we're a great nation populated with good ole honest, Frank Capra characters. Truth is far too many Americans are dishonest every chance they get and those we elect to high office just take the cake.

Occupy is the only chance we've got for a good old fashioned brush arbor revival...and look at me...typing that. Fail! Whirlpool! Fail! SWTR! Fail distracted Fort Smith citizens! We'll all be sittin "side by side" wondering where our next meal will come from if we don't start lowering the boom on bad Americans.

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AngryBlackLady is all over this. Former Alltel CEO Scott Ford gives a speech to the Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce in which he compares the 99% movement to the Rwandan genocide. ABL calls it hyperbolic as do I, but it is an indication that some quaking in their boots is going on amongst the 1%ers---also some pants peeing. Good for that!

http://www.balloon-juice.com/2011/10/29/fo…

Here's the local media coverage:

http://www.thecitywire.com/index.php?q=nod…

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And DBI, if you don't stop with the cynicism about the nature of humanity, I swear, I'm gonna send Hayden down to Fort Baptist to do an intervention on YOU!

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Considering that the American manufacturing job has been killed by machines and not trade, I don't think electing the 'right' politicians would help much. Luddites aren't that influential in this country. Overall, apathy isn't that bad of a response.

Here is something that won't be in the paper: in six months, a majority of those people who were laid off will have a job, probably paying about the same.

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Driftglass replays a pep talk to liberals by Steve Gilliard (RIP) from 2005. It's full of the ef word, so if your sensibilities are easily offended, go read someone like David Fucking Brooks or Thomas Fucking Friedman and avoid your fainting couches.

http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2011/10/ste…

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George Carlin (RIP) had it right and told us before he died.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6S1o3D2GiI

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