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Hey, look! A strike in Holland!
International Herald Tribune Online ^ | Friday, October 01, 2004 | Thomas Fuller/IHT

Posted on 10/01/2004 7:18:09 PM PDT by Arizona Carolyn

Hans Thysebaard, a 34-year-old Dutch firefighter, spends his days cutting people loose from crashed cars, spraying down burning buildings and diving into frigid canals when cars veer off the road.

The work is physically demanding - broken knees and ankles are common, he said - and emotionally trying. He can't forget the day last March when a 21-year-old victim of a car accident died in his arms. "That's mentally very tough," he said.

Now, Thysebaard has joined the ranks of the angry in a country better known for its even-temperedness.

With a yellow badge proclaiming "The Netherlands can do better" pinned to his black fireman's jacket, he joined an antigovernment rally this week to protest plans to have firefighters retire at 65 rather than 55, the current practice.

(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: holland; netherlands; retirement; strike
Is this what the Democratic Party wants in the USA?
1 posted on 10/01/2004 7:18:10 PM PDT by Arizona Carolyn
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To: Arizona Carolyn

Sounds just like Kerry, doesn't it. "We can do better"


2 posted on 10/01/2004 7:19:16 PM PDT by bcoffey (Bush/Cheney: Real men taking charge, talking straight, telling the truth.)
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To: Arizona Carolyn

Sounds like a leading indicator of a country that isn't having enough children.


3 posted on 10/01/2004 7:21:06 PM PDT by sittnick (There's no salvation in politics.)
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To: Arizona Carolyn

Holland? Who the hell cares about Holland.


4 posted on 10/01/2004 7:23:19 PM PDT by MisterRepublican
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To: sittnick

We could remedy that situation, there's a lot of people coming over our Southern Borders we could send them there instead back to their native country </sarcasm>


5 posted on 10/01/2004 7:23:37 PM PDT by Arizona Carolyn
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To: MisterRepublican

Did you read the whole article? If you read into the guts of the story, it's more about what happens when a Socialist government tries to start taking away all the freebies?


6 posted on 10/01/2004 7:25:02 PM PDT by Arizona Carolyn
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To: Arizona Carolyn
True. Like socialized health care in Germany and Canada, its bankrupting their countries but the citizens are used to their freebies and its hard to wean them! Now they are trying to make said citizens pay for at least part of their healthcare and meeting stiff resistance. Remedy: Avoid, like the plague, the urge to socialization (healthcare or any other damn thing)!
7 posted on 10/01/2004 7:50:17 PM PDT by singfreedom ("Victory at all costs,.......for without victory there is no survival."--Churchill)
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To: singfreedom

A great example was the long-running grocery strike in Southern California last winter. The sticking point: they markets wanted the employees to pay PART of their insurance premiums and these union employees were almost appoplexic over that thought (even though they make very good union wages). I've never NOT had to pay a portion of my healthcare costs, so didn't feel much sympathy, since this contributes to the cost of groceries.


8 posted on 10/01/2004 7:59:46 PM PDT by Arizona Carolyn
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To: knighthawk; Pharmboy

Bump


9 posted on 10/01/2004 8:21:49 PM PDT by Incorrigible (immanentizing the eschaton)
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To: Arizona Carolyn

I've always had to pay ALL of my health care costs, from after Tax dollars. The grocery store workers and other unions be damned.


10 posted on 10/02/2004 2:04:50 AM PDT by Smocker
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To: Incorrigible

Thanks for the ping


11 posted on 10/02/2004 12:28:13 PM PDT by knighthawk (We will always remember We will always be proud We will always be prepared so we may always be free)
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To: Incorrigible

Always nice to hear from you. Thanks.


12 posted on 10/02/2004 6:44:43 PM PDT by Pharmboy (History's greatest agent for freedom: The US Armed Forces)
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