Everyone knows it was the orbs that did it!

 

Well I did not mean to start that up again.

But this was like the third time that he has slammed my post (and I can take it, I do my share of dishing it out) But each time he misinterpreted what I wrote. Slam me for being an idiot, it happens all the time, just make sure when you poke fun of what I say, you have the gist of it first, and not slam me for something I did not say.

 

Hey we're all idiots, we're supposed to learn what the other idiots know so we'll all be less idiotic.

Unfortunatly people believe that aliens take over human bodies, the government blows up buildings and kills its own people for no good reason. It's not like we needed 9/11 to invade Iraq or Afganistan. I mean I can think of at least a dozen reasons for Iraq without even thinking about oil, like the 12 UN violations we found when we went in there.

 

[QUOTE=vader1,May 4 2006, 09:53 AM] You think someone was giving ME a line of bull when YOU are the guy that thinks a CIA missle hit the pentagon instead of a hijacked airplane?

 

what the hell are you talking about?

 

[QUOTE=no_really,May 4 2006, 01:02 PM] WTF are you talking about?

 

What I was talking about was that we have been on different sides of discussions before. (we have been on here long enough and in enough threads that you may not remember it) and on more than one occasions you ripped something I did not say because like in the above example, you must have just done a quick read of what I said and missed the point entirely. I don't have any problem with someone disagreeing, taking a different side or throwing in some barbs at my posts but only when they read and understand them. You missed two key points in my first post and based your response on bad assumptions. And it has happened before.

That what I was referring to. If someone wants to rip me, great, have at it. Just make sure you are ripping me for something I meant. And I will try not to rip you for something Honda606 said. That was my fault.

 

sorry, but you were suggesting the likelihood of a foreign car getting vandalized by "union workers" was significantly higher than random vandalism by random vandals, repeating something someone once said as if it was unassailable, even after re-interpretation and embellishment. Then you interpret a few trailers getting burned as "burned the plant down." I never suggested someone didn't say what you reported, merely that the characterization of life and attitudes in that part of the state was inaccurate and overly generalized negatively.

As for misrepresenting what someone wrote, here's my post on your original post concerning vadalism by union guys:
"sorry, dude, but whoever told you that was giving you a line of bull."

I didn't claim you were making anything up, but rather that someone was over-stating the situation, making something up, or relating rumors rather than news. My family has spent many summers around Grand Rapids, Virginia, and Ely, visiting family and friends and staying at a shack we have up in the woods around Ely. Basically, the Iron Range and parts north were my summer stomping grounds in the 70's and 80's, when not at home in Cloquet - which is as much a company town as any I ever heard of (in this case, multiple companies), with damn near everyone in town either in a union or heavily dependent on union labor. I am fairly conscious of union issues in that part of the state, and can't say that, outside of isolated incidents, there wasn't much animosity going on then towards "outsiders" or foreign cars. But you always have big talkers.

I've been a Teamster during a major strike, and know firsthand how nutty some union guys can be. Basically, you have some of the older guys going on about "the old days," glorifying their past strike behavior, and naive new guys buying it all hook, line, and sinker. So when you have a strike, it is a time when some of these younger guys try to emulate the stories they heard, sometimes with rather pathetic and embarassing consequences, if not downright stupid. There was a day when being in a union, especially during a strike, could get you killed, either by hired company thugs or the national guard. Which tends to make a union man a bit sensitive to union-busting policies.

I don't think it's fair to describe union members as "yahoos," however, and certainly ignorant to assume all union members share one brain. By and large, the most vocal union guys are the worst workers, and the most petty. The guys in the union that are sensible and hard-working are too busy doing their job to have any interest in playing games and leave that to the drama queens that aren't very good workers, for good or ill. Honestly, if they were doing their job, they wouldn't have time to make idle threats or harass visitors. And if you receive harassing or threatening comments from some worker, I don't know why you wouldn't report that to the management. Unions certainly don't have much patience for troublemakers on the job. When I was a Teamster, during the strike one guy harassed a management employee on her way into work, and after the strike, he was terminated with the full suport of the union - people like that don't help the union causes, as can be seen in the opening post.

 

not trying to over generalize union workers. It is usually the acts of individuals and not the whole. But I guess your experience and mine are different. And I was not calling union members yahoos, it was more just rangers. Maybe my uncle was one of them, he thought the riot at Boise Cascade was a great thing. For all I know he and his buddies could have been the ones taking swings at foriegn cars. Before he died young of cancer, he was thinking about buying a some type of Toyota, I forget the models, and said he was kind of harrassed by everyone he knew about it and ended up buying a Baretta instead.

My grandfather was one of the original blacklisted iron workers for trying to get unions started up there in the first place.

I still stand by my statements. If you know people up there you will find them to be loyal, hard working, very giving and willing to help and lots of fun. If they see you as an outsider...not so much. I have lots of great experiences up on the range and with rangers, but I think making ranger union workers out to be saints incapable of some steroetype thuggery is overselling. Perhaps you heard of no shenanigans during those days, I did. And just because nobody ever told you, "don't bring your foriegn car up here " does not mean it never took place either. All we have are our personal experiences.

 

they certainly aren't saints