Marines snub UAW olive branch

[seriousstan]

The United Auto Workers union waved a white flag Monday in its parking skirmish with neighboring reservists, but the 1st Battalion, 24th Marines are not accepting surrender. Facing intense criticism, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger reversed his decision to ban Marine Corps reservists driving foreign cars or displaying pro-President Bush bumper stickers from parking at the union's Solidarity House headquarters in Detroit.

"I made the wrong call on the parking issue, and I have notified the Marine Corps that all reservists are welcome to park at Solidarity House as they have for the past 10 years," Gettelfinger said in a statement.

Wounded by what they consider an unpatriotic ambush, the Marines rejected the union's olive branch and secured an alternative parking lot.

"I talked to Ron; I let him know that I understand he has rescinded his decision," said Lt. Col. Joe Rutledge, a top-ranking officer at the reserve infantry rifle battalion. "However, I've made my decision -- either you support the Marines or you don't."

http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosinsider/0503/15/A01-117640.htm

[Mithras61]

1. Another one with the...

"Yur either with us, or agin us" line!

[petronius]

4. In fairness, it seems like both sides used that line here.

My take is that the autoworkers started it by being a bit petty, and now the reservists are being petty and refusing to accept an apology. Not a lot of adult behavior on display...

[Mithras61]

7. I wasn't accusing either side of being right...

just both of 'em for using the same stupid thinking.

As was argued in another thread on DU, there are very few autos made exclusively in ANY country anymore, and maybe the UAW could have been a bit more sensitive to that, and the UAW was taking just as narrow a view of the world as Chimpy when they banned autos with the "W" campaign stickers.

The Marines are now being just as stupid by refusing to accept an apology from the UAW for being dumb.

[petronius]

13. I think you've summed it up quite nicely...

I wonder what the degree of unionization is in foreign owned auto factories in the U.S. compared to domestically owned corporations...

[plant-fan]

2. And if you don't "support" the heroes of Fallujah, the result is

?

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

3. Either you support America and buy the cars our workers make

or you don't.

[DS1]

6. I support low maintenance bills.

Parse that any which way your heart desires.

[RoeBear]

18. Do you shop at

Wal-Mart too?

[DS1]

19. Nope, but that's an excellent worn out old cliche you've dragged

up, got anything of your own that you'd like to run by me?

[RoeBear]

25. Not you necessarily but

I hear lot's of bitching on this web site about Bush sending jobs overseas. I assume alot of those people bitching are smugly driving around in their foreign made cars.

[piece sine]

8. name even one American car...

that approaches the engineering and looks and performance of an Acura or BMW or even a modest but incredibly well-built Honda? Why does the UAW take pride in manufacturing pure crap on four wheels?!

[liberaltrucker]

11. When home, I drive

a Toyota Tacoma short bed. Very well build vehicle, and assembled in Princeton, IN.

[TahitiNut]

12. Newsflash: The UAW doesn't design and engineer 'em.

They represent the workers who make 'em.

Buick LeSabre
Buick Park Avenue
Cadillac CTS
Cadillac DeVille
Cadillac STS
Cadillac XLR
Chevrolet Cavalier*
Chevrolet Cobalt*
Chevrolet Corvette
Chevrolet Malibu
Chevrolet Malibu Maxx
Chrysler Sebring
Dodge Neon
Dodge Stratus
Dodge Viper
Ford Five Hundred
Ford Focus*
Ford Freestyle
Ford GT
Ford Mustang
Ford Taurus
Ford Thunderbird
Lincoln LS
Lincoln Town Car
Mazda 6
Mercury Montego
Mercury Sable
Mitsubishi Eclipse
Mitsubishi Galant
Pontiac Bonneville
Pontiac G6
Pontiac Grand Am
Pontiac Solstice
Pontiac Sunfire*
Pontiac Vibe
Saturn ION
Saturn L300
Toyota Corolla*

[piece sine]

24. Note that the Hummer

has been deliberately left off the list!!! Why is it OK to hate the Hummer, hate the Hummer driver and hate the Hummer mentality...but it 's perfectly OK to manufacture them??? Listen, if you're going to hate inanimate objects, go all the way.

[TahitiNut]

29. what is it about "American car" that's obscure?

"car"! Not truck. Not SUV. "car" was the word you used.

Do your own research. http://www.uaw.org/uawmade/cartruck2005.cfm

They're all there. Happy now?

:puke:

:puke:

:puke:

:puke:

[DelawareValleyDem]

27. actually, it wasn't done deliberately

If you look closely, there are no pickups, SUVs or vans on the list.
It's a list of CARS manufactured by UAW.

[silvermachine]

28. Such are the dangers...

...of succumbing to "raw partisan angst".:evilgrin:

[silvermachine]

15. Gee...

...wish I could afford an Acura or a Beamer:eyes: Or even a modest Honda. Really I could care less. But your posts are always, er, interesting. And not terribly progressive.

[piece sine]

21. no one

will ever accuse me of marching in lock-step, that's for damn sure! See, I was liberal before liberal was cool -- I remember the exhilerating open-mindedness that came with being truly LIBERAL. Almost none of the posters here are very tolerant... They hate Israel, (and thus hate Jews), they hate the Catholic Church, they hate WalMart - a frggin' store I've never stepped foot-in but I sure don't bother hating it -- naturally, they hate the Bush Administration, but in a unnaturally fervent way, exactly like Freepers used to irrationally hate good ol' Bill Clinton.

Your problem is this: you've mistaken raw partisan angst often displayed here for true dyed-in-the-wool liberalism. Those of us with open minds who can laugh at both sides read some of these DU postings and our jaws drop! I don't know what to call some the voices who post here but they sure as hell ain't liberals.

Haven't made up my mind about you yet....

[silvermachine]

23. It's just that...

...I've seen nothing posted by you that is liberal. Nothing. Just snarky comments about liberal issues and causes. And as far as regarding "raw partisan angst", perhaps you are confusing passion with the above mentioned... Perhaps we should all be DLC, Alan Colmes milquetoast wimps. Sorry, I don't buy what you are selling. And I could really give a fuck about you needing to make up your mind about me.

[AtTheEndOfTheDay]

26. I've made up my mind about you.

And here's a novel notion. It's easy and not remotely inconsistent to despise Israel and not hate Jews. Also loathing the Catholic church does not equal disliking Catholic people. There's even good reasons to disparage WalMart whether you're stepping foot into them or not. And there's nothing "unnaturally fervent" about hating the Bush Administration. It's not remotely comparable to "irrational hate" of Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton wasn't a sociopathic mass murderer. Your problem is this: your head needs extraction from somewhere I'll not mention.

[DeaconBlues]

5. When will our side learn to quit backing down n/t

[CO Liberal]

9. Either you support the Marines or you don't."

Speaking as the son of an ex-Marine who served in WWI, all I can say is fuck you, Lt. Col. Rutledge!!!! We're citizens, and we don't have to have a bunch of asshole jarheads pushing us around.

[dave123williams]

10. Amendment III

"No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law."

The UAW has NO legal obligation to billet the Marines, period.

[SixDollarBurger]

16. I don't think

....parking cars in the UAW parking lot qualifies as being "quartered"

[RaleighNCDUer]

20. LOL. I, too, think that is stretching it a bit. n/t

[dave123williams]

31. Really? It's private property.

You think this isn't a good time to maybe examine where the military is overstepping its bounds, domestically?

[RoeBear]

14. From the article-

"While both sides say the dispute has been overblown, it revealed the depths of the UAW's antipathy toward the Bush administration and its concern over the rise of foreign automakers in the U.S. market.

Gettelfinger and other top UAW International officials say Bush is blatantly anti-labor and has opposed measures that could have benefited working men and women."

This has more, much more, to do with the foreign name plates on these vehicles than antipathy to the Bush administration. The Marines claim to be fighting for America but some of them want to park their American job stealing cars in OUR parking lots.

I say screw'em.

[wildmanj]

17. marines

god what a bunch of cry babies---either you support..........or you don't---give me a break :nopity:

[noonwitch]

22. The UAW has never let foreign cars be parked in their lots

This is a long-known rule of Detroit. The UAW owns the lot and can pick and choose who gets to park there. That's the way it's always been and the Marines can go buy land on Jefferson and build their own damn parking lot if they don't like it. There's plenty of vacant land on the east side of Detroit.

I don't like the way this is being portrayed as a patriotic issue. Protecting american jobs can be considered patriotic, too.

As far as the Bush stickers go, well, conservatives are always saying that free speech has a price. Sometimes they pay the price, too.

[daleo]

30. New parking lot is a nearby apartment complex.

"Owners of a nearby apartment complex have agreed to allow reservists to park on their premises."

Apartment complexes don't usually have a lot of visitor parking. I wonder how the tenants feel about it. I don't suppose they had any say in the matter, but they will be the ultimate losers in this little tempest in a teapot.

I also wonder if any money is at stake for using the parking lots.

[The_Casual_Observer]

32. either you support the Marines or you don't.

On the basis of this story, I would have to say that I wouldn't support the marines, for their own sake. If that tempest was enough to break their hearts, then they ought to find another line of work before they get their asses kicked.

[roughandtumble]

33. Effin' Reservist!!!

I wonder what the reserve unit's Commanding Officer (LtCol Jeffery Porter)of 1/24 thinks. (Not the dim witted active duty Inspector/Instructor - LtCol Joseph Rutledge)

Note to Joe: you screwed up what could have been a GREAT public relations moment. Instead of promoting the unit, the work they did in Iraq and the community, you pissed all over the locals. Good job there u.