The misunderstandings and suspicions melted away, as they always do, after a few litres of liquid bread that the Germans call “Bier”. Harald was very honest in his German way, a kind of honesty that was spelled out in long, silent pauses as much as words. “With all of these different people and cultures, what is it that makes you Americans?”
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Nurses’ Strike
Yesterday Minnesota was home to the largest nurses’ strike anyone can remember – 12,000 nurses picketing 14 hospitals. There was a sea of red-shirted union members outside of United Hospital here in Saint Paul, including many from a new generation that hasn’t seen a labor action before. Today, they are back at work without a contract. The action was taken not for more pay or benefits but for something we all take for granted from a hospital – the nurses simply do not feel that the long hours they put in are reasonable or safe. I, for one, cannot believe that it has come to this.
Good to be Wrong
If you make it your business to understand the world around you, as I do, it’s only fair to make a few predictions. Predicting what will happen and then going back and evaluating it later is the only real “reality check” that I have to see if I’m on the right path or going off on a long trip to nowhere. Naturally, I’m often wrong about things. Not just little things on a daily basis – that would be a tedious and long list. I’m talking about the big things that I think I understand but end up in one big “D’Oh!” moment.
Clouds Forming
When something bad goes down, there is one thing we can all be sure of – someone, somewhere is to blame. A dark cloud of blame gathers and the people with big sticks do their best to bat it away towards someone else, anyone else who is just not them. The thunder and hail eventually has to fall on those who don’t have the big sticks, the people who can do little else but run for cover. In particularly bad periods of history, however, people who start to like swinging their clubs develop a taste for it. That’s when things get nasty.
The Check (will be) in the Mail
The good news is that the State of Minnesota has a budget for the current biennium, ending in July of 2011. The bad news is that the State of Minnesota has a budget for the biennium – but not one second beyond. A lot has been written about this budget for the news, much of it about as imprecise as we can expect in the flurry of nooze that accompanies the end of a session (and the encore “special” session, make of the quotes what you want). Yet in all that has been written little attention has been paid to what it means, especially to the recipient of the largest hit, education.
I’m going to do my best to summarize. Please, if I get anything wrong, wail on me.
Barataria - The work of Erik Hare 