Imports banded

[blackbob]

IMPORTS BANNED BY MICHIGAN DEMOCRATS


Bob Allison had all the professional credentials to get the job as Rep. David Bonior's press secretary. The issue was with his car. Among the questions about his education and work experience, Allison got a zinger: What kind of car did he drive? He admitted that he owned a 1993 Nissan Sentra, and was told that there was a problem: Bonior demands that his staffers drive American vehicles made by union workers while on the job. Allison sold the Japanese-made Nissan and landed a 1996 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme and the job. In southeast Michigan, union autoworkers dominate the Democratic party. Bonior and some other elected Democrats are reluctant to offend those voters by having an employee representing the office in a foreign car. "For me, it's about values and loyalty," said Bonior, who refuses to set foot in a foreign car. "This cuts to the core of who I am." At least two other Michigan Democrats -- Reps. John Dingell of Dearborn and Dale Kildee of Flint -- require that any staffer driving to work at their offices have a car made by members of the United Auto Workers union. "The automobile industry is the No. 1 industry in my district," Kildee said. "I am sensitive to that fact, and my staff are required to be sensitive to that fact." In some parts of Michigan, your wheels are a reflection of your character. Some union families will slam the front door in your face if you dare to park a foreign car in the driveway. And if you drive your import to a wedding reception or retirement party at one of the many union halls across the state, you might be barred from the parking lot and have to leave it down the street. Allison said he was happy to unload the Nissan. In his hometown of Lansing, where General Motors Corp. employs more than 7,000 autoworkers, he took a lot of grief for his Japanese car. "I'd go over to my friends' houses and their dads would razz me," he said. The domestic vehicle policy also applies to the lawmakers' families. Debbie Dingell, president of the General Motors Foundation and wife of the congressman, recently considered replacing her Chevrolet Blazer with a Buick Rendezvous. She changed her mind after learning the Rendezvous is made in Mexico. She is buying another Blazer. "The UAW workers have been very good to me and very good to John," she said. "They are our constituents and our friends. This is a way to support them."

[rendog24]

i thought u meant they were banned in the state of michigan by the title of the article. but they cant ban a certain car from parking in a parking lot. i sue the shit out of them if they told me i couldnt park my car there and i had to park down the street. i cant be mad cuz i dont live there and i could care less.

[blackbob]

Well I just wanted to let you guys know what was going on up north.

[CAptynCrunch]

Actually, they could ban a specific type of car from parking there. In fact since it's private property they can make up pretty much whatever crazy-ass rules they want. They own it so they make the rules.

And i gotta say, thats just crazy. Another example of stupid people getting pissed off when other people play their game, by their rules, and still beat them.

[rendog24]

i know i should of pm'ed but it helps my pc.

hey captyncrunch..... love ur sig. i love watching the wrc.

[BloodyMario]

"In fact since it's private property they can make up pretty much whatever crazy-ass rules they want. " - not true. If an owner of a restaurant puts a "whites only" sign up, he'll get his ass sued faster than he can say "private property." I believe in 1960's the Supreme Court used the interstate commerce clause of the constitution to force private businesses to comply with federal equality laws. Since people can move across the state lines, they are part of interstate commerce which the Congress can regulate as it pleases according to the Constitution. It may sound a bit stretched out, but when dealing with legal matters such leaps of logic are not uncommon. If you are a lawyer, you can argue almost anything using nothing but a common phone book.

Heh, I knew the Constitutional Law class I took in college would come in handy some day.

[CAptynCrunch]

True

They can't make up any kind of rules regarding people, but i believe that in certain cases they can make rules regarding things such as vehicles, just as they could make say a no pets rule. I think the banned item has to be required by a person for it to violate the law. Like they couldn't say, ban vehicles with a wheel-chair lift, because hen it wouldn't be handicap accesible.

[BloodyMario]

Hmm, I guess so. All you have to do is to convince the judges that your just can't live without your civic or 'teg. Piece o' cake for a good lawyer.

[YogsVR4]

What’s going on up north? You mean down south. Those of us from the northern part of Michigan laugh at those dumb ass representatives from down there. What a bunch of loser pinheads. Bonier is running for governor and will lose badly, so we wont have to hear from him anymore. I am in Lansing (the capitol of the state) three weekends a month and I don’t get any grief for any of my foreign makes. But then again, I don’t hang out with union (read – I can’t hold a job down on my own merits, I have to have a gang to back me up for a job) rabble.

[bc4g]

Domestics are nice but i'd rather burn rice

Chad

[blackbob]

Not to much going on down here,It's all BS just liek up north .

[tenzoracerevovii]

this has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about this.....but it's pretty funny.....my parents used to drive a 91 corolla and they went to a fancy restaurant w/ valet parking and everything for business......and they went outside...they parked the car OUTSIDE!!....they didn't even bring it back for them.....F**CKED UP HUH!!.....watever....my dad got pissed....so he bought a navigator.....hehe....

[Polygon]

I hate to be the one to tell the people of Detroit, but not all domestics are "all domestic" if you know what I mean.

[3SGTE]

These guys help run the country, but yet they see the world through a vey narrow mind. Did Honda and Toyota not set up factories in the US? Anyways they are directing their anger towards the wrong thing: what about that huge layoff of automotive factories in MI (80's I think), where all the work was relocated to countries where labor was cheaper? How is that supporting the US?

If you see the world through a narrow mind, you might as well be quadrapeligic, deaf, blind, and mute

Maurice

[Barwick]

Tell me about it, I'm stuck up here in the screwed up state of Michigan. I haven't gotten much grief from random people about my car, just my friends at school all say "oooh rice burner" like the bunch of rednecks that some of 'em are. My standard reply is: "See that '92 Cavalier out there in the parking lot? Yeah? Ok, now see that '92 Civic out there in the parking lot? Yeah? If you can honestly look me in the face and tell me that that Cavalier is a better car than that Civic, I'll give you a cookie".

Anyhow, this story just goes to show two things:

1) Unions primary purpose is to tell people what to think and to force people into doing something they don't want to do.

2) Democrats primary purpose is to tell people what to think and to force people into doing something they don't want to do.

Man.. sounds like.. oh I won't get into it here.

I'll leave off with my personal quote.. "If Americans started engineering decent crap, maybe I'd buy it"