I give you, our governor

Apparently, Governor Pawlenty's long-term solution for education funding involves the fact that public employees are over-benefited and over-paid. Got that, teachers? It's your salary and benefit packages that are to blame.

While I readily admit that our benefits at my public institution are excellent, it's also apparent that, were they not so excellent, the state would have wound up paying, one way or another, when our son was born extremely premature and the bills started to pour in. $385,000 would have had to come from somewhere. Medical assistance, bankruptcy, total ruin, take your pick. What kind of contributor to society would I be without those benefits? With those excellent benefits, I continue to work, pay my bills, and even do my patriotic duty by both saving and shopping.