Where In The World Is Krissy Haltinner?

After a several month hiatus, I’m back in action… though may have to be more tempered in my remarks.  I thought I’d kick things off with a news roundup:

Bush and McCain are both calling for drilling for oil offshore.  They want to lift the 27 year ban we’ve had on such acts.  It is clear to me that their efforts are not in finding alternative fuel sources/ methods of energy production and that will have lasting, disastrous effects, on the US and the world.  My suspicions are further supported when reading about the new deals with Oil Companies in Iraq.  Is it about getting money for Bush’s old supporters?  We certainly can find alternative fuels if we are just willing to invest in such things. Look at the progress made in other countries.  In the meantime we can reduce oil prices by following the advise of one analyst and sue OPEC.

There is also an article in the Washington Post blaming farmers for part of the flooding in Iowa.  I would like to suggest too that some unnamed big box retailers be looked at in some parts of the state (ehhem, Walmart).  I recall that when I was in Decorah from 1999-2003, there was public resistance to the building of a Super Walmart at the edge of town - construction that would have altered the flood plane and caused severe dangers upstream.  Walmart lost its suit against the city, but built its store anyway.  Five years later, the fears of citizens came true and, though few homes are underwater, Luther College is suffering severe flood damage.  

In other countries human made crises are causing extreme suffering.  We have hit a record high of refugees, mostly due to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  I can’t wait until we are done with this administration.  I don’t know how they sleep at night.  

I’ve been living in Minnesota for over 9 months now.  I’m convinced that people outside of the state (barring those who have lived here, had relatives here, or are into the NPR Lake Wobegon show) have never heard of “Minnesota Nice”.  However, people here are convinced the world knows of their incredible niceness.  So, I did some Google searching.  

According to Wikipedia:

Minnesota nice is the stereotypical behavior of Minnesota residents to provide hospitality and courtesy to others. The term is also sometimes used in a derogatory way, to connote a sort of smiling stubbornness, forced politeness, false humility or passive hostility.

Stereotypes of Minnesotans often overlap with qualities of other people from the Upper Midwest, including the perception that many are quiet and do not wish to offend others or cause a disruption. Writer Garrison Keillor played with this image in a piece written for the radio program A Prairie Home Companion called “Wobegonics”, the supposed language of Minnesotans which includes “no confrontational verbs or statements of strong personal preference, you know.” Sometimes area residents who move away, or otherwise come in contact with others who don’t subscribe to the ideal, say that they have to shed their “Minnesota nice” in order to interact properly with others or get out of troublesome situations. The generosity of state citizens has gained respect—the heavily-reported influenza vaccine shortage of fall 2004 did not strike the state as hard as elsewhere since many people willingly gave up injections for others.^[1]

Minnesota Nice is a 2003 28-minute documentary by Jeffrey Schwarz about the Coen brothers‘ movie Fargo, a movie that displays some of the stereotypical behavior.

I dont need to go into the fact that most people do not consider hiding your opinions or pretending to like things nice, but I want to tell you about how Minnesota Nice can hurt other people indirectly.

Since living in Minnesota I have had my bike stolen, my wallet stolen, and three bike lights stolen.  Now, the wallet was my own fault, I left it in the side of my backpack for easy picking.  However, I believe that the bike and bike lights could have been prevented had someone not been too ‘nice’ to stop the thieves.

My bike was stolen out of the back of my truck.  Someone (probably more then one person) tugged on the back of my locked topper long enough to bend the metal and get my bike out.  Now, my truck was parked in a neighborhood with plenty of traffic.  I’m fairly certain that someone probably saw these guys (or gals) do it.  Unless they thought the guys (or gals) had accidentally locked themselves out of the trunk and offered to help them get in to rescue their bike, I’m not sure that it was ‘nice’ to allow it to happen.

The bike lights may be even more directly linked to Minnesota Nice.  Two of the three had to be stolen during the day, while I was in my nearby office.  This means that people with screw drivers are going up to bikes and taking off lights.  Now, I can understand how people would grant others the benefit of the doubt and think they were simply working on their bikes, but that is a long shot given it is parked in an awkward place for repair (with very little room for maneuvering and surrounded by other bikes).  

I guess I don’t have a point so much as a rant about how Minnesota Nice does not extend to allowing you to keep the things you have purchased.  I think I would find it nicer if whoever took my things would steal from the rich instead.  I can’t afford to keep buying lights, so I’m going to be riding in the dark.  When I get hit by a car, we’ll see how far Minnesota Nice goes.  I hope that people wont think that I’m practicing stunts and be ‘nice’ enough to let me lay there.

I came across this information on another blog (found here).  

Apparently, this woman had recently become bankrupt and the victim of institutionalized and personal racism.  I can’t find a news story to contribute an accurate portrayal of events.

What I found an important contribution was the comments below, especially that of theblacksentinal here.  He was responding to someone who said that her actions were “beyond drastic”:

Beyond drastic. Have you ever had to suffer day after day with the type of berating, racism, slander, ill treatment that this lady and millions of other blacks do daily? If not then you could not possibly know how desperate you feel to just have something make people open their eyes to what is going on.

In fact why does someone have to go to drastic measures just to be seen as a human individual with needs, wants and desires for equal treatment. Why does it seem that blacks all over this planet have to suffer the same fate at the hands of the same people whether they are in Belgium, U.S., Africa or any other nation.

I am just confused as to what the problem is that non black people are so consumed with the constant hate for those of the darker races.

I am sick as well, sick that it has to come to this for someone. Sick that equality is a joke to people. Sick that anyone has to suffer then show their suffering to the people they are living amongst who turned their head away from her suffering before this.

furniture ElhovoThanks

 

This was also done by a woman in Rome.  

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furniture Bulgaria 

I’m working with a group called Solidarity in Health. It is a new, non-profit student and community group assembled to send health-related equipment and expertise to historically marginalized people throughout the world, specifically in the global south. Knowing access to health care is difficult and expensive for many, our goal is to obtain medical resources so others may access this human right. For more information you can visit our website.

In order to get the supplies to the hospital we are currently partnered with, Edward Michaude health centre in Dar Es Saleem, Tanzania, we must raise $20,000. This money, by working with Project C.U.R.E. will enable us to ship $400,000 worth of donated medical supplies. Our goal is to have this done by the end of the year.

I hate asking for money. However, I also hate poverty… So I decided this was the lesser of two evils. If you would like to donate, you can send a check made out to Solidarity in Health (909 Social Sciences Building, 267 19th Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55455)

If you would like your donation to be tax deductible, you can donate directly to Project C.U.R.E. via their website. To do so just follow the directions below:
1. Go to Project C.U.R.E. website
2. Select the icon “Donate Funds”
3. Click on the “Fund Designation” bar.
4. At the “Fund Designation” prompt, scroll down and select “Needs Assessment”
5.At the “Other Fund Designation” prompt, enter the File ID #TZ-07-005.
6. Enter the amount paying and press “Continue”.
7. Complete identification and payment information.

One last thing, we are trying to also do something like the Heifer project so that you can donate money in exchange for a card representing the gift you gave someone at the hospital (ie: a bed, gloves, etc). If you want to do that, let me know, as I’ll be in charge of it.

If you know of anyone else who may be willing to donate a few dollars, please send this on. If you can’t donate, then you should just email me and give me a life update. If you can donate, you should also send me an update email.

So, I’m curious about what people predict for the future of Cuba now that Castro has resigned and Bush has resolved to interfere in Cuban politics: “And we’re going to help. The United States will help the people of Cuba realise sonic payday loanadvance? cash loan online payday ?consolidate payday loan debt,consolidate debt loan paydaypayday loan store milwaukeepayday loan canadamoney tree payday loanquick cash payday loanno fax payday loan missouriapplication loan online paydayfaxless online payday loanfaxless loan online paydaycheap loan long payday term,cheap loan paydayhour loan online paydayfax loan no online paydayloan online? payday quick ?,quick payday loan without checking account,loan payday quicksonic payday loan,loan payday sonicameriloan loan paydaysavings account payday loanfastest loan online paydayloan online payday,2 loan online payday,payday loan online bad creditlow fee payday loangeorgia payday loanpayday loan on linebad credit loan loan payday,bad credit loan payday,bad credit loan payday quickchicago loan payday store,chicago in loan payday storeadvance loan mexico new payday,advance loan payday,advance loan payday software? ?cashquick payday advance loancash till payday loanpayday loan in savings account,account loan payday savings,account loan payday people savingsadvance fax loan no paydaycash loan payday tillcheck credit loan no payday,no teletrack no credit check payday loancash america payday loan,america cash loan paydayloan online payday quickcash advance until paydaycash advance loan online,advance cash loan online,advance cash fast loan online paydayadvance america cash advance,advance advance america cash center,advance america cash firstpayday cash loancash advance new yorkadvance america cash company,advance america cash advance center inc,cash advance americaadvance cash day pay,cash advance until pay daycash till payday loancash til payday loancash loan payday untilcash loan payday tillcash until payday loanfirst cash advance houston tx,first time cash advance,first cash advancegeorgia no fax cash advance,advance cash fax no,savings account cash advance no faxcash advance servicescash advance no credit check,advance cash check credit no online,advance cash check credit no the blessings of liberty.”

Why are we so afraid of socialism?  Why do we promote terrible dictators and refrain from ending genocide yet fear a nation whose economy we can’t control? Here is some information about Cuba relative to the U.S. that I wrote a few months ago.  

Recently Nicolas Sarkozy revised the school curriculum in France.  Specifically, he is mandating that fifth graders learn the life story of a French child who was killed in the holocaust.  This has been met with massive outcry with people claiming that kids are too young to learn about such horror.  

This seems ludicrous to me.   There are places in the world where children are being trained as soldiers.  There are places in the world where children are seeing violence on their streets daily.  There are places in the world where genocide is occurring today.  How can we stop it if we fail to tell our children about the horror which has happened in this world?  Isn’t educating children the best way to prevent such horror from happening again?  

This is something I’ve struggled with.  I was wearing a ‘Stop Genocide in Sudan’ shirt one day and a little girl asked me/her mother what genocide was.  Her mom said she was too young to know and gave me the evil eye.  What do you think?  Is there an age in which you can be too young to learn about the horrors of the world?  Is it not a weakness on the left that we overprotect children (there are a lot of evangelical kids and neo-Nazi children doing terrible things).  What do you think?  

Recently a young man by the name of Lawrence King died after he was shot at his California high school for being gay. (This article has a lot more information).

 

  Gender PAC has a website that does research on this horrible situation: 50 under 30.   Again, it is the same situation that I brought up yesterday.  Why do we fear that which is different to us?  Why do we have children killing other children for no reason?  What is wrong with us and our society that we can’t handle people being themselves if it differs from the mainstream and harms no one (but yet we allow people with high social status commit horrible crimes and not blink)?  It makes me shudder to realize that this is the place we live.  We need to fix it.  

I stole that term from my friend Ben who suggested that people in inter-dietary relationships read this article.  I support his decision and wanted to pass the information along. 

So, I was just reading the news - as I try to do daily.  I found the following stories interesting and wanted to share: 

1) There is a women who is going to be executed in Saudi Arabia for witchcraft.  Apparently a religious group arrested the woman and forced her to sign a confession that she couldn’t read (she is illiterate, as  31% of women in the country are). 

2) Bush defended his inaction in Sudan.  His excuse?  He doesn’t want to send troops into another Muslim country.  If that is true, I guess we don’t need to worry about an attack on Iran.  Somehow, I think he is lying. 

 Speaking of the genocide in Sudan, an New York Times reporter has a great photo slideshow that is important to see. Check it out here.

3) A group called the FreeState Law Project is trying to start a free legal clinic for GLBT people to meet their unique legal needs.  This makes me very happy.  I looked for their website but didn’t find it with a google search.  The timing is appropriate considering the fact that Maryland legislators are debating the case of gay marriage in the state.   

 4) More and more young people are killing or beating homeless people.  I think that this clearly illustrates the way in which we dehumanize other people.  As with racism, xenophobia or other ‘isms’, we are able to perceive as others as different then ourselves and, thus, less human.  How else could people conceive of such actions?   

The Australian government offered an apology to Aboriginal Australians for the genocide that occurred there.  (Here is the BBC article).  

However, there is no talk about any sort of reparations for this group of people (much like we wont offer them to African American communities or Native American communities here - instead we’ll just name racist mascots after the people that were slaughtered).  Aboriginal Australians live in abject poverty (much like Native American people in the U.S.).  

It seems to me that the human thing to do in either case/all cases like this is to fund schools, businesses, homeownership and a plethera of other institutions that would enable people to reverse some of the damage done through past discrimination.

 In reality, we just say “I’m sorry”.  Lip service is worth nothing.