Tuesday, January 25, 2005 11:13 p.m. ET

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) -- The University of Oregon is defending its decision to tell one of its delivery drivers to remove a "Support Our Troops" magnet from the state-owned truck he uses at work.

Oregon law prohibits personal messages on state-owned vehicles, regardless of the context.
Several months ago, driver Pete Baker put the yellow ribbon magnet on the back of the state truck.

University officials learned of the magnet and said last week it had to come off, and Baker's story quickly found its way to radio talk shows and to several military Web logs.

"I don't know how they think these are political," Baker told Eugene television station KEZI last Friday. "I think they are patriotic."

University President Dave Frohnmayer said Tuesday that Baker will face no disciplinary action, and added that he was upset that the incident has led people to question the patriotism of the university.

"The excuse that some people take in events like this to question the patriotism of other Americans is frankly below the belt," he said.http://news.lycos.com/wired/story.asp?section=MyLycos&storyId=980788

Okay, it's a state owned vehicle...so the state of Oregon doesn't support the troops?

Shit like this is so stupid and wrong. Support our troops needs to stay on the truck. I hope the University gets slammed for doing that from across the nation.

A common liberal tactic is to ban something for the reason that people who disagree with it may be offended. That kind of thinking absolutely kills debate. But that's what they want. Will they prevail?

I think the left is behind this and I hope they lose their bid to rule the people.

If that sticker "IS" political - what does "THAT" say?! That the Dems don't support our troops?! Not really a message I think they want to express (or that MOST Dems would even agree with!)!

Here's a possible rationale, beyond the political ones of course....If they allow one message, then they have to allow all, no matter the message. It IS State property.

Now, if there was precedent before of having messages and now NOT having messages, I would wonder.

Just playing Devil's Advocate.

A great place to get a ribbon magnet is www.magentamerica.com. It is a small patriotic company here in the USA, whose goal is to truly help support the troops and spread the message to America to take a stand for our men and women in uniform, even when our own government (or at least the State of Oregon) will not.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Andie:
A great place to get a ribbon magnet is http://www.magentamerica.com. It is a small patriotic company here in the USA, whose goal is to truly help support the troops and spread the message to America to take a stand for our men and women in uniform, even when our own government (or at least the State of Oregon) will not.

---

hon, I think you mean this site: http://www.magnetamerica.com/Index.html

and it does look pretty cool..better than buying 'patriotic' magnets that are made in China..

I think I am going to have to go with HAL on this one. Of course I WANT to see that magnet on there, but you can't allow some and not others. The rule from the get go was NO sitckers/magnets/advertisements. I am sure they weren't thinking that the rule was going to come into question with a "Support Our Troops" magnet...