Good news mixed with bad

My sister, Kerry, has been keeping me up-to-date on the strike threat at her place of business in Appleton, WI. She is scared out of her wits about going out on strike when the economy and job situation is so tenuous. The Union reps with whom she speaks and hears in their 'smoking circle' outside seem pretty determined to flex their collective muscles and walk, but hopefully cooler heads will prevail and a satisfactory settlement will be reached. Kerry told me the person who is her rep treats the co-workers like they are idiots, has the attitude of superiority because of her role in the Union. Not having the best interest of those she represents at heart. Remember this the next time the Union elects its officers!

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Kerry sends me the memos from the Local, some of which I understand and some which I do not, simply because I do not have a contract here to compare the statements. "Item 26" means nothing unless you have it in front of you. One item I cautioned her about the card check provision the Union was trying to achieve and it turned out she had no clue what that was about. After I told her about it, she was glad to know just what was at stake, and this makes me wonder about the rest of her co-workers who might be willing to walk out on their jobs for reasons not totally clear to them. Scary times, in these days of massive unemployment and job losses all around them!

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The good news is that the employees opted to remain on the job despite having no contract in place, as negotiations continue. Supposedly Kerry has no health insurance since the contract expired and I am not sure how that works once they settle on a deal with the employer. It is not good to have a lapse in coverage in health insurance. I do not like the common misuse of the term "health care" because it is so different from "health insurance". Care is what you get, insurance is how part of it is paid for, two separate issues. Semantics? Perhaps....

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The markets are down again today so far and ended down at close of trading yesterday. And I was hoping to regain some of my losses in the last six months! Perhaps it is not a trend and we will see some increases yet this week. It had been doing fairly well this past 7 days since the start of the G20 trip. How long can that plane circle??? Today they stopped for a not-so surprising visit to Baghdad before heading back to the USA. On the Fox and Friends show this a.m. a reporter was broadcasting from Istanbul, outside the Blue Mosque and earlier, Hagia Sophia. I was there!!!! First in 2000, and then in 2007!!! I do not regret making that last trip one little bit..........and to have a certain attorney ask me, "Are you still taking those expensive vacations?" INDEED! I get to say what is expensive and what is not! Excuse the rant, please....

I have no clue what this says, but find it simply intriguing. This arch and sign are located inside the Blue Mosque. No flash photography was permitted so not many of my shots turned out. This one did!

This is a view of the Blue Mosque as we drove up on it. Look at the beautiful Agaenan sea behind it.....

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How can you even begin to put a price on such experiences as these? And what about the wonderful people I have met? Only today I opened an e-mail message from Jim and Beth Humann in the Seattle area, telling me how they attended the funeral service I watched on the Internet yesterday, reporting what a good friend to Evergreen Lutheran High School Curt was. What a small world the WELS finds itself in! Jim and Beth were our hosts for the tour retracing St. Paul's 2nd missionary journey, which we took in July, 2007. It was on this trip I officially became friends with Judy R. which more than pays for my "expensive" vacation!!!