I don’t know much about the dispute between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the port owners. I do know that it’s awfully hard to respect a guy who signs an executive order which reads: “A continuation of this lockout, if permitted to continue, will imperil the national health and safety.” In addition to the sadly obvious redundancy of the language, does it seem to anyone else like neither national health nor safety is threatened by this work stoppage? It’s a bummer economically to be sure, and claims of fiscal danger would surely carry weight, but “health and safety” is a pedestrian phrase trotted out because it sounds both feasible and important. Words mean as much or as little as we make of them; with this president words are next to meaningless.
If the president really wanted to solve this problem, he should declare some kind of national emergency—plausible since we’re virtually at war—and send in federal troops to load and unload ships. That would light a fire under the union negotiators for sure. In the meantime, he should also bar port owners from any financial gain while the ports are being operated by the feds. One would think that owners, seeing their multimillion dollar investment taken over by the government and being bereft of cash flow and profit, might be inclined to hurry up and settle with the unions.
Too bad what I’ve just described is probably illegal. Democracy is so inefficient.
Erin’s staring down the six-week grading period deadline, so she’s pressed for time. Today, that meant me harvesting all the carrots she planted in the garden. Size varied widely but yummy taste thus far has not, and we’re inclined to label it an organic success story. Speaking of organic, these carrots taste even better than the organic stuff we get at the store, so three cheers for home gardening. It’s not my kettle of fish as a past time, but I can hardly argue with the tasty results.
In fact, I’m thinking about a raised garden bed in the back yard along the steps. It’s virtually the only place back there that gets sufficient sunlight to do any gardening, so it might be just the spot. I’ve not worked up any landscaping plans for the back yet, so we won’t jumping right into this as a fall/winter house project. Maybe next spring, though.