I loved the riff between UAW president Ron Gettlefinger and Marine Lt. Col. Joe Rutledge. If you recall, in mid-March Gettlefinger banned Marine reserves from parking their foreign cars with Bush bumper stickers from parking in the Union lot.
Nothing wrong so far. Having served in the Navy in the Pacific theater during WWII I don’t think any Americans should drive orientally made cars. I also don’t think cars owned by the military, and I don’t know if these were or not, should carry a political sticker.
Two days after the banning, Gettlefinger reversed himself and invited the troops back. But the colonel would have nothing to do with it, telling the union, ‘Either you support the Marines or you don’t.? They found a new place to park. The ‘proud? have their pride.
It all prompted me to recall a few ‘serving? days, September 8-10, 1945 to be exact, when Marines were guests on our ship. During that trip from the Philippines to Tokyo, where they would become occupational forces, we sailors got nothing but harassment, insults and put-downs from the magnificants.
We, in turn, were perfect hosts.
Marine: ‘We’ve spent more time at sea than you have.? They counted their invasions of one little island after another as sea time.
‘We’ve been living on rations since before most of you were born,? they’d say. We had no choice but to let the aromas of our freshly baked bread waft by them.
These Marines? biggest complaints of all Navy personnel had to do with money. Oh, it wasn’t the amount we made, but our inability to spend it because we were aboard ship many days at a time.
We had no px’s, no towns, nothing but inter-ship gambling to use our money for. Marines saw this as an inflationary trend.
Their complaint was that we acted like drunken sailors (what else?) when we came ashore where Marines prevailed.
In their minds, drunken was synonymous with loose with coins.
Marines, in unison, ‘You guys come ashore with dollar bills sticking out of your pockets and right away the peasants see this and raise prices.?
Now, substitute the word ‘hookers? for ‘peasants? and you’ll know what the Marines were so upset about.
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Every snowfall, newsreaders on the tube seem compelled, even joyful it seems, to warn against heart attacks while shoveling.
Then later in the news, a health reporter will tell us we need exercise anywhere from 15 minutes a day three times a week to 90 minutes every day.
The news will close with a bulletin about a man who just keeled over while shoveling snow.
Just once I’d like to hear the reader say a man keeled over while doing his daily exercise, shoveling snow. If that’s the way I die, call the tube station and tell ’em.
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Cornelius Swarthout received a patent for the waffle iron in 1869. Recently The Detroit News touted waffles as being more than a breakfast food. I agree.
However, in reading the article I came across a word I doubt Cornelius ever used in touting his devise. The writer wrote, ‘The waffle should be served freshly made or it will become flaccid and unappealing.?
Flaccid! I haven’t even seen that word in crossword puzzles. That’s about the only place it should be used. It means limp, in case you want to impress someone.