def minidom_get_text(nodelist):
  """
  gets the text in a minidom nodelist for something like
  <tag>this text</tag>

  nodelist: the childNodes field of the minidom node
  """
  rc = []
  for node in nodelist:
    if node.nodeType == node.TEXT_NODE:
      rc.append(node.data)
  return "".join(rc)