My week of slackerdom is coming to an end. The Minnesota Legislature passed a lights-on bill after agreeing to a broad outline for a new budget. What’s In: a 75-cent tax, oops, fee on cigarettes; a 4 percent increase in each of the two years for K-12 education; a repeal of the $5,000 cap on outpatient services for MinnesotaCare enrollees. What’s Out: the racino, any income tax hike, tougher restrictions on corporate tax shelters. It also looks like the Twins will have to wait until next session for approval on a plan to build a new stadium. As for me, I’m out a couple vacation days and a couple days without pay. Nothing I shouldn’t be able to handle, although others will be in a financial bind. I’m betting that workplace morale is going to be at a low ebb for a while.
I’m planning on seeing War of the Worlds tonight. I re-watched the 1953 George Pal version and I couldn’t get over how unbelievably patronizing that film is towards women. If you’re a woman in that movie, you serve the plot by either (a) screaming, (b) serving coffee and donuts to assorted soldiers and scientists, or (c) making googly eyes at the leading man. Not much opportunity for an actress to express her range. But those cobra-shaped death rays on the Martian ships are still way cool.
