May 31, 2004

Remembering

Memorial Day is the kind of holiday that easily lends itself to all kinds of platitudes and bromides. I'm going to skip all that. Instead, I want to let the numbers speak for themselves:

Revolutionary War--4,435 combat deaths
War of 1812--2,260 combat deaths
Mexican War--1,733 combat deaths
Civil War--184,594 combat deaths
Spanish-American War--385 combat deaths
World War I--53,513 combat deaths
World War II--292,131 combat deaths
Korean War--33,651 combat deaths
Vietnam War--47,369 combat deaths
Gulf War I--145 combat deaths
Gulf War II--814 combat deaths

If you add these numbers up, it's equivalent to the entire population of Columbus, Ohio. And keep in mind that these numbers only reflect combat deaths, not total casualties.

Draw your own conclusions.

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May 30, 2004

Got Loot?

Did you know that three Marines died in Iraq yesterday? Neither did I until I stumbled across an AP report that you can read here. Casualty figures don't seem to be making the news like they used to. It used to be the first thing I would hear when I turned on the television in the morning. Now, the press seems more interested in Bush's war souvenirs. Now that our President has very own genu-wine Saddam memento, can our troops come home now? If Bush still has a hankering for war booty, he should just do what every other poor schmuck else does and go on eBay.

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May 29, 2004

Same Old Same Old

The best part of The Day After Tomorrow was the tornadoes. The movie delivers some quality money shots for the twister porn enthusiast. But plot-wise, it follows the same tired structure of every other disaster movie you've ever seen. Millions of people are dying in this movie, but somehow this entire family survives in spite of ridiculous odds and some really bad decisions. Please. Whenever I see one of these movies about some Big Bad wiping out most of humanity, it gets me thinking about how I would do in a real apocalyptic scenario. If the power goes out, I'd pretty much be screwed. I can breathe on my own without the ventilator, but I'm not sure I could keep that up forever. And I'm not a likely candidate for tagging along with other survivors in search of a new place to start civilization. Maybe I'd be like one of those characters in the disaster movies who puts on a brave face and says, "Leave me behind. I'll buy the rest of you some time by letting the mutant horde feast on my flesh. Now go! Save yourselves!" And some cute girl will be so moved my bravery that she'll give me one last passionate kiss before leaving me to my doom.

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May 28, 2004

Poor Impulse Control

And I thought I was compulsive. After reading this article in the NY Times about people who blog obsessively, my own blogging habits seem rather pedestrian in comparison. I'm not sure how these people manage to write so much; sometimes I spend a good half hour staring at a blank screen trying to think of an interesting topic for an entry. I could probably make things easier on myself by simply chronicling my daily routine: got up, went to work, sat in meetings, came home, wrote, etc. But I don't think that would make for compelling reading material. I've even flirted with the idea of taking an extended vacation from blogging and coming back fresh a few months later. But like I said, I'm compulsive. Once I start something, I feel the need to stick with it until it's done. And blogging is something that you never finish, so you can see my dilemma. I don't think blogging will ever consume my life as it does with some of the people mentioned in the Times article. Even I need to get away from the computer after a while and there's only so many interesting things a person can say in one day.

Oh, I almost forgot. My new wheelchair is almost ready. Yes, the State of Minnesota finally decided I had been a good boy and deserved a new chair before the one I have falls apart. I go in for a fitting in a couple weeks and then I'm me and my new ride will hit the streets in search of danger and adventure. I'll call my new ride KITT and I'll do up my hair like David Hasselhoff. Yeah, that'll be so cool. Then maybe girls will finally notice me.

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May 27, 2004

All Mixed Up

This article in Slate made a reference to mix tapes that had me laughing. I too am guilty of creating the dreaded mix tape for other people on one or two occasions. Okay, maybe more than that. You know what I'm talking about. You're trying to tell someone your feelings for them but you don't want to be all Captain Obvious about it. So you burn a CD and in between the other tracks you throw in Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes." Or maybe Sinatra's "The Way You Look Tonight." And then you give the CD to the person in question and later you realize you were being kind of Captain Obvious about your feelings. And you vow never to burn another CD but then she tells you she liked the music and the vicious cycle repeats itself.

You've all been there, right? And correct me if I'm wrong, but it's almost always guys who are guilty of this behavior. Ladies, just remember: every time some lovestruck fool burns a mix CD for the object of his timid affection, God kills a kitten. So think of the kittens and flatly refuse that homemade CD from the guy in the next cubicle over who's been making the googly eyes at you.

I got a call from the Kerry campaign tonight and I reluctantly agreed to host a house party in the near future. I say "reluctantly" because I'm just not very good at being a host. I feet a bit awkward when I'm thrown into a group of people I don't know. But if I'm called upon to serve, serve I shall.

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May 26, 2004

Testing Anxiety

A colleague of mine at work recently discovered that she passed the bar, which got me thinking about my own bar nightmare experience. Two of the longest days in my life. Like everyone else, I shelled out a thousand bucks for a two-month bar review class. I can think of few worst ways to spend a summer than sitting in a crowded auditorium every day to review the finer points of contract law or torts or half a dozen other subjects. And about three weeks before the bar, my friend Charles and I bought a computer game that we thought would be a good distraction from studying. Bad idea. We would be playing this game until 2 or 3 in the morning, time that could have been used for studying. When I walked into the exam, I was virtually certain I was going to fail. But somehow, we both passed. My accommodations for the exam were actually pretty sweet. I had this huge conference room in the Judicial Center all to myself and two personal scribes to record my answers. I would have enjoyed the setting a lot more if I had been a little less terrified. After the second day of the exam, I came home to my apartment and...honestly, I don't remember the next couple of days. My brain sort of shut down for a while. You could have put me in front of a television showing nothing but static and I would have been happy.

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May 25, 2004

Addicted To Noise

I've been impulsively downloading tracks from iTunes lately. I can't help myself. If I hear something I like, I have to have it. Lately, I've been obsessing over Snow Patrol and Death Cab for Cutie and Modest Mouse. Death cab's "Transatlanticism" is probably one of the best songs I've discovered in the last six months. It has this piano-guitar combo that really strokes my brain the right way. I always listen to music while I write and I quickly get bored with the stuff I have, so I'm constantly looking for new sounds. I keep telling myself that I should develop more of an appreciation for jazz and classical, but I always end up browsing the alternative and electronica sections. It's not that I don't like classical and jazz, but it's not the first thing that comes to my mind. I do have some Billie Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald, and some assorted classical stuff, but it represents a small portion of my collection. Does that make me somehow culturally aware? I've always struggled with the concept of listening to a certain piece of music or reading a certain book because you're supposed to. On the one hand, shouldn't your artistic choices be determined by your own tastes and not the dictates of some so-called authority? On the other hand, does that approach mean that some people will never venture beyond a narrow range of genres? When I was a kid, I didn't read much else besides science fiction, including some really crappy Star Trek novels. It wasn't until later in high school and into college that I was introduced to a broader and more diverse literature. If I hadn't received that education, I might still be reading crappy Star Trek novels.

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May 24, 2004

Give It Away Now

What does the Pentagon do when confronted with the widespread use of a potentially incriminating technology? It bans it, of course. Under new military regulations, digital cameras, camcorders, and phonecams are now verboten in Iraq. Not surprising, given that new photographs of prisoner abuse are turning up on an almost daily basis, but I have serious doubts about whether this ban can be easily enforced. There must be thousands of digicams and phonecams bouncing around in the pockets and knapsacks of soldiers and civilians alike in every corner of that country. Does the military brass plan on finding and confiscating all of them? I'm willing to wager that we'll still continue to see unauthorized images leak out of Iraq long after the ban is put in place.

Over on Wonkette's blog, I've been following the saga of the Washingtonienne. For those of you not in the know, the Washingtonienne was a former Senate aide who started a blog; the main topic of said blog was her various sexual exploits with assorted and sundry government officials. The Washingtonienne lost her Senate job once her boss got wind of the blog's existence. She'll probably get a book deal or a gig on MTV because of the whole brouhaha. And why not? She doesn't seem too embarrassed by her conduct and it's hardly any different than a guy bragging about his conquests. Yet we still have this cultural meme from antebellum times that young women are supposed to be coquettish, or at least discrete. What a bunch of gender-biased crap. She'd probably still have her job if she was a man. I know that if we had been colleagues and by some (major) miracle we had an intimate moment, I'd expect her to write all about it.

That's it. I'm starting a separate blog about the sexual adventures of a minor government functionary in Minnesota who happens to be disabled. It will recount in lurid detail his freaky-deaky encounters with people in positions of power and the secrets he acquires when others are at their most vulnerable.

Oh, who am I kidding. Nobody would ever believe that shit. Hell, I wouldn't believe it if I read it.

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May 23, 2004

The Legend Returns

Oh, awesome. William Shatner may be doing a guess stint on Enterprise next season. I expect --no, I DEMAND--an episode with a corncucopia of exaggerated facial expressions and overly dramatic delivery of dialogue. I want to see Kirk grab T'Pol by the shoulders and exclaim, "But! T'Pol! You! Must! Learn! To! Love!" Have I mentioned my collection of Shatner MP3s? His covers of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "Mr. Tambourine Man" are works of twisted genius. I should post them here so you can all bask in the greatness of The Kirk.

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May 22, 2004

Must See

As is being reported in dozens of other blogs, Michael Moore has won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival for his film "Fahrenheit 9/11." The right-wingers have probably already begun making jokes about Moore winning an award, never mind that the lead jury member is an American. Lots of people will heap disdain on Moore for even being able to say "thank you" in French. I can't wait to see the film and I hope to find some people to go with me. It's one of those things that is more fun to see with a bunch of people and then dissect over beer with people afterwards. As a filmmaker, I think Michael Moore is perceptive and self-effacing. Other than that little stunt with Charlton Heston, Bowling for Columbine was a funny, insightful, and humane movie. He knows how to step back and let his subjects reveal themselves to the camera, which is why the bit with Heston was kind of disappointing. I have a copy of Moore's last book sitting on my shelf; I'm hesitant to read it because I'm afraid I'll find it more polemical than his movies.

The sun hasn't shown itself in the last two and a half days. I actually like streaks of gray weather like this; it's good thinking weather I could live in Seatle or London without any problem. In fact, I'd probably get more writing done if I lived somewhere where the climate was in a pissier mode year-round.

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May 21, 2004

Stormy Weather

Wesley Clark has written a lucid and insightful critique of the Bush Administration's policies in Iraq, contrasting them with our experiences with the former Soviet Union. It's worth reading. I'm beginning to lean towards Clark as veep candidate. John Edwards seems a little too eager for the job and there's nobody else out there who strikes me as a vibrant candidate. And the McCain scenario doesn't wash with me. He's a decent enough guy with some moderate views, but emphasis on "some." He's still a Republican and I think a lot of people who might vote for Kerry might swing towards Nader or stay home if McCain is Kerry's pick. And I think that's exactly what Kerry's advisors are telling him.

Global warming and climate change are the memes of the moment. First, you have the movie The Day After Tomorrow, where Gaia finally decides it's had enough and starts bitch-slapping the human race. Then there's the new novel by Kim Stanley Robinson (whose last book I thought was brilliant) which describes the efforts of scientists to save the world from environmental catastrophe. And NPR recently did a series of reports on varying opinions on global warming. All this attention on climate change probably won't dissuade anyone from buying that new SUV, but popular culture has always been a good barometer of society's lingering fears and anxieties. Unfortunately, those anxieties probably won't be fully realized until it's too late to do take any remedial action.

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May 20, 2004

Seen But Not Heard

The American public school system has always excelled at inculcating a herd mentality in the country's youth. Students are taught to value conformity in everything from wardrobe choices to musical tastes. But in this post-Columbine, post 9/11 Bizarro world we inhabit, a lot of school administrators are starting to act like petty, anti-intellectual tyrants. Kids are suspended for writing fiction and poetry that some adults label as "dark" or "disturbing." Teachers are getting laid off after their students read poetry critical of the Bush administration. The Secret Service gets called in when a teacher sees a student's anti-war drawings. Artistic expression and free speech have become bothersome and inconvenient concepts for many school districts. I'm not worried about the kids; the ones with the creative spark will continue to draw and write and think. But amidst all the propaganda from the White House about exporting freedom, I find it terribly ironic that we allow this kind of behavior in our own institutions of learning.

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May 19, 2004

Policy Geek

Someone has designed a tongue-control interface for the Nintendo GameBoy Advance. It's not the cybernetic X-Box interface I'm waiting for, but we're getting closer.

My friend Adam nominated for a spot in next year's Humphrey Institute Policy Fellows program. It sounds like a really exciting opportunity; getting to meet other professionals who are up-and-coming in their respective fields. There may even be a potential trip to Washington D.C., which would be cool because I've never been there. One doesn't grow up dreaming of becoming a policy wonk, but that looks like the direction I'm heading in. And next to writing, I really can't think of anything I'd rather be doing. Who knows. If Kerry wins in November, maybe I could land some sort of policy advisor position in his Administration.

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May 18, 2004

Marital Bliss

Tonight, a short entry to compensate for yesterday's rambling. First, congratulations to the happy couples in Massachusetts who are now able to enjoy the benefits of state-sanctioned marriage. Let''s hope that the religious right doesn't spoil the party with a constitutional ban or some such foolishness. I could be wrong, but I don't think this is going to materialize into a wedge issue for Bush. The problem for those who oppose gay marriage is they can't articulate how it hurts anyone else. Straight people are still going to get married (and divorced) just like before.

Second, Enterprise got renewed? Um, yay, I guess? I was kind of hoping the Star Trek franchise would get a rest and maybe come back with something fresh and original. But because I'm such a tool, I'll still watch the damn thing, if only to glimpse Jolene Blaylock's navel once in a while.

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May 17, 2004

In The Win Column

I've written previously about the Tennessee v. Lane case that was heard before the U.S. Supreme Court last fall. Today, the Court ruled that states can be sued under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This decision came as something of a surprise to many because, in recent years, the Court has adopted a doctrine of limited federal powers based on the Eleventh Amendment. In fact, the Court had already ruled in another case, Garrett, that states cannot be sued under Title I of the ADA (covering employment discrimination). Title II requires publicly funded services and programs to be accessible to people with disabilities and the Court found that the legislation was congruent and proportional to its stated aim of making courts accessible. But that's what's puzzling about this ruling; it's limited to the specific fact pattern of the case. The Court refuses to state whether states would be covered by Title II in cases involving other services or programs. I'm not sure why the majority took this approach. It seems counter-productive to leave the door open to future litigation with the somewhat absurd result of courts having to parse out the scope of a state's responsibilities under Title II. Perhaps the Justices didn't want to give the impression that they were making a dramatic break with previous Eleventh Amendment holdings.

And I have to point out something Scalia said in his concurring dissent:

Requiring access for disabled persons to all public buildings cannot remotely be considered a means of “enforcing” the Fourteenth Amendment. The considerations of long accepted practice and of policy that sanctioned such distortion of language where state racial discrimination is at issue do not apply in this field of social policy far removed from the principal object of the Civil War Amendments.

It's this kind of strict textualism that drives me up the wall. How is eliminating institutional discrimination any different than eliminating institutional racial discrimination? No, the drafters of the 14th Amendment probably had no concept of disability rights, but they did have the wisdom to not restrict the Amendment purely to matters of race. The Fourteenth Amendment sprang out of the horrors of slavery, but it was crafted to ensure equal protection to everyone with no exceptions or qualifiers. Scalia rigid interpretation is without intellectual merit and, frankly, it's un-American

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May 16, 2004

Rule Britannia

Why is it that all movies set in ancient historical times have their characters speak in British accents? Do we somehow associate that style of speech with grander, more epic eras? I was sitting in the movie theater yesterday, watching Brad Pitt trying to act all classical and heroic, and I suddenly wondered what Achilles would sound like with a deep Southern drawl or a thick Scottish brogue. Yes, my attention wandered during the film. It wasn't a bad movie, but after the second or third mano a mano fight scene, I got kind of bored.

I also rented this made-for-cable movie titled Door to Door. William H. Macy plays a door-to-door salesman with cerebral palsy who got his job in the mid Fifties, when it was extremely rare for anyone with a disability to be employed. Macy nails the mannerisms and speech of someone with CP. As for the story itself, eh. I guess it's based on a real person and I admired his drive to live and work independently, but I didn't necessarily like him. Maybe it was the whole salesman schtick. The thought of selling laundry detergent and dog biscuits for decade after decade fills me with a peculiar kind of horror. But I can understand his desire to stick with a job that had some degree of security for him. The movie also painted him as a kind of social idiot, pushing away any real close friendships and even, apparently, a romantic opportunity. Maybe I just got a little sensitive because sometimes I worry about going through the rest of my life essentially alone.

Some of you know my fondness for tornado porn. Here's a cool video clip showing a twister going medieval on some poor house.

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May 15, 2004

Upgrading The Masses

A couple big events in the world of blogging. First, the Blogger interface has been redesigned. It looks more user-friendly and it has some cool features like blogging via e-mail. And Six Apart has released the developers' version of Moveable Type 3.0. Every geek seems to have an opinion about the new licensing and fee structure in MT. Frankly, I could care less. I don't have multiple blogs and I'm the only author on this one, so I can get away with the free version. Even if they did charge a fee for a personal license, I'd probably pay it. I tend to reward software publishers that make stuff I find useful. I sometimes think the free software movement has left us all a little spoiled and a little insensitive about the work that goes into creating good software. Free is good, but it shouldn't be something something that we come to expect from every developer.

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May 14, 2004

Me Time

Weekends are one of humanity's most brilliant inventions. It's been a long week and I'm ready for some R & R. I think I'm going to see Troy tomorrow with a friend and I also intend on replenishing my comic stash. I finally feel like I've fully recovered from my cold and I need to catch up on some quality fun time. My writing process has become more arduous than usual and getting out of this apartment for points other than work will do me some good.

I've come to the conclusion that being a freelance writer is the best job ever. Xeni Jardin got to go hang out with Hef at his mansion to celebrate the release of, all things, a computer game. You can see some of the pictures she took at the party here. Party on, Xeni.

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May 13, 2004

Unwanted Attention

Look, I appreciate getting over 2,000 hits today, but you're not going to find any illicit pictures of a certain disgraced US soldier. I'm not sure how this blog became a Mecca for every Google search on the subject, but it's beginning to creep me out a little. So, sorry to disappoint, but feel free to stick around and browse my collection of oh-so-insightful commentary and witty observations. But something tells me most of you aren't looking for insightful or witty at the moment.

I wonder if the Bookslut has a boyfriend. She likes comics, I like comics. She collects books obsessively, I collect books obsessively. She's wry and sarcastic, I'm wry and sarcastic. Oh wait, she's in Chicago. Okay, that might not work. Maybe she has a cousin in Minneapolis or something.

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May 12, 2004

Watch The Skies

Mysterious lights spotted over Mexico. Hmm, looks like some devotees of the movie Signs are having a little fun with the Mexican Air Force. Pictures or video of UFOs pop up seemingly every few months, but they never prove anything conclusive. It's either taken at night or the image is blurry or there's a tree in the way or--you get the idea. You never see any pictures of a spacecraft hovering over Times Square during the lunch hour, and until that happens I'll remain a skeptic. Sure, it's theoretically possible that aliens are surreptitiously cruising around the globe, teasing the occasional amateur photographer and molesting the occasional cow, but the universe must offer much more interesting sights than our little backwater planet.

Here's a good activity for a rainy afternoon. All of this year's Hugo nominees (except the novels) are on-line for your reading pleasure. I haven't perused any of them yet, but I plan to this weekend.

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May 11, 2004

Summer School

Scott McCloud is teaching a week-long seminar on the creation of comics at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in August. If it wasn't for the whole can't-draw-a-straight-line-or-any-line-for-that-matter thing, I might consider taking off work and signing up for the class. At least I'd be able to get someone to look at the script I wrote last fall. Maybe even get someone to illustrate it for me. Oh well. Maybe someday I'll fly to England and show up on Warren Ellis's doorstep and threaten to turn off my ventilator unless he reads it. He'd probably just fold his arms, shrug, and mutter something like "makes no fucking difference to me," but it might be worth a try.

A friend of mine from work is out this week with pneumonia. Probably the same thing I had. She also has SMA and this is her second bout of pneumonia this year. I actually think that being on a ventilator has kept me healthier over the years. Before I was vented, I had pretty crappy lung capacity and a goldfish probably had a stronger cough than I did. Now, with the extra help of the vent and the occasional suctioning of my trachea, it's a relatively easy matter of keeping my chest clear. When a lot of people hear "mechanical ventilation", their reactions usually aren't positive. I wasn't too thrilled about it either at first, but hey, it beats the alternative.

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May 10, 2004

No Deal

The Minnesota Legislature is constitutionally obligated to adjourn in seven days and it has yet to address a $160 million dollar deficit and a bonding bill that contains funding for dozens of public works projects. Over the last few years, our legislators have demonstrated an increasing unwillingness to compromise on major issues. I think this can be attributed to a couple trends. First, the Republican Party has shifted to the right, pushing out most of the moderates who traditionally functioned as negotiators with the other side. Second, the Democratic party has been slow to recognize that it is no longer in the dominant position it once occupied in this state, resulting in some political miscalculations that have weakened the party further. I do hope that they are able to resolve things in the final hours. If not, it doesn't bode well for the next session, when we will most likely have to confront a more substantial budget shortfall. It's at times like this when I think that a viable third party might be useful in breaking up gridlock like this.

My hunt for a new nurse proved successful. I was able to recruit two people and they both seem cool. Which means I can relax over staffing issues, at least for now. Summer can be a bit stressful because people want to go on vacation and I get a little worried that I'll be short-handed. But now with a staff of nine, I should be able to cover most situations.

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May 09, 2004

Extra! Extra!

This Slate columnist doesn't like electronic versions of newspapers. I agree with some of his points. The interfaces can be clunky and the print can be a little hard to read. But for someone like me, e-newspapers are great. I used to subscribe to the print version of the New York Times and it was a pain in the ass to arrange the paper on my reading stand so that I could see the entire article. My poor nurses were always having to flip pages back and forth and, well, it was just a hassle. I like being able to download the paper onto my computer and being able to see the layout and photographs of the print version. I subscribe to a lot of magazines and, if I had my way, they would all be available in an easy-to-read electronic format. Not only would this let me read them independently, but it would also dramatically reduce the clutter in my place. My magazine rack is overflowing with crap I don't get around to throwing away. I could start my own periodical library; that's how bad it is.

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May 08, 2004

Everyone Do The Lynndie!

Wow. Lynndie England is the "It Girl" of the Web. I've gotten over 100 hits today and most of those are Lynndie-related searches. Lynndie England, welcome to your fifteen minutes. It's probably not what you had in mind, but hey, you're on the TV! The only time someone from West Virginia usually gets on the TV is if they win a lottery or fall down a well or something, so consider yourself a trailblazer, Lynndie. You're out there representing poor white trash like only you can.

Am I cruel? Perhaps a little.

Meanwhile, the news just keeps getting better: Via Atrios:

Rumsfeld did not describe the photos, but U.S. military officials told NBC News that the unreleased images showed U.S. soldiers severely beating an Iraqi prisoner nearly to death, having sex with a female Iraqi female prisoner and “acting inappropriately with a dead body.” The officials said there was also a videotape, apparently shot by U.S. personnel, showing Iraqi guards raping young boys.

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May 07, 2004

Rewind

iTunes is succumbing to pressure from the major record labels to raise the price of single recordings to as high as $1.25. In addition, some albums will cost as much as $16.00. These changes probably won't be enough to push me towards illegal downloading; I rarely buy complete albums and I can afford to pay a bit more for the singles I purchase. However, I'm concerned that this move will stifle the trend towards cheap, legal downloading of music. The price increase seems purely motivated by the labels' greed and they are doing a bang-up job of alienating consumers who want to buy music on-line.

Oops. Never mind.

Back on my regular writing schedule again. This summer is going to see a major push to get the book at least near completion.

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May 06, 2004

Get Out The Vote

You know the female soldier featured in some of the now-infamous Abu Ghraib pictures? An Australian paper has an interesting profile of her. The soldier's name is Lynndie England and she grew up in a trailer home in an isolated West Virginian hamlet. Many of her townsfolk don't seem to understand what all the fuss is about; can't a country girl pull a few pranks on them towelheads? I'm trying really hard not to sound like a big-city elitist, but can't the military exercise a little more care in how it selects soldiers for certain assignments? A young woman who probably couldn't find Iraq on a map and who probably thinks Islam is akin to devil worship may not be the best choice for caring for Iraqi prisoners. Just a thought.

Electronic voting has been in the news lately. Several states have decertified electronic voting machines because of concerns about the security of those machines. This has upset many disability activists who see electronic voting as the means to finally guarantee that people with disabilities can finally vote in privacy. I'm of two minds on this issue. I think it would be great if technology could allow every disabled voter the dignity of a secret ballot. However, that technology needs to guarantee to everyone that votes will be accurate, secure, and verifiable. We simply ain't there yet. Another year or two should do it and I know it's hard to be patient, but the disability community needs to step back and see the bigger picture.

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May 05, 2004

Making A Good Impression

When I got home today, there were three or four messages from nurses responding to an ad I had placed in the paper. Good news for me, as I was getting a little anxious about finding a new person. Now to call them all back and see which ones are truly interested. I just have to make sure that I keep the other nurses away from them so that they won't reveal what an obnoxious brat I am. I only need to maintain the sweet-and-innocent act for the initial interview. After that, the gloves come off.

Heh. I should probably be careful what I write. One of my previous nurses found this blog when she was Googling me after she saw an ad in the paper. Wouldn't want to give anyone the wrong idea. So if you're a potential nurse checking me out, I'm really a swell guy and this will be the best job you'll ever have. I mean, just look through my blog. You'll get to do all kinds of cool stuff like go to movies, concerts, maybe even trips to exotic locales like Miami. What's not to like?

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May 04, 2004

The Big Ticket

I'm not a huge sports fan, but I still think it's cool that Kevin Garnett won the NBA's Most Valuable Player award. The man is an incredibly gifted basketball player and, from everything I've watched and read, a decent human being. This combination of talent and likeability is becoming increasingly rare in professional sports and we're lucky to have a player like KG here in Minnesota. And if any of you are in Sacramento, prepare to witness our Timberwolves vanquish your so-called Kings.

Ugh. I need to get back to my daily writing schedule. Since I got sick, I've been slacking on the book, and just as I was getting to an especially interesting part. Hopefully, that can be remedied starting tomorrow.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 03, 2004

Carpetbagger

Feeling almost back to normal. My voice is still a bit hoarse, though. But it feels good to be back at work and resuming my regular routine.

Over the weekend, I watched a film called Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes). Cameron Crowe did a remake of this movie a few years later called Vanilla Sky. The remake was okay; a lot of unnecessary exposition and a little too smug in its references to certain pop culture imagery. But the original Spanish version is really good. You should check it out if you can. I can't say too much without giving the whole plot away, but the original has a much more nuanced perspective on the main character and his psyche. Crowe did away with a lot of that subtext, like he didn't trust American audiences to get at any deeper meaning. If you compare the two, you'll see what I mean.

Okay, film geek mode OFF.

Al Franken is thinking about challenging Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman in the 2008 election. Norm Coleman is a former Democratic mayor of St. Paul who became a Republican mostly because it served his own political ambitions. He's the American cheese of Republican senators; bland and artificial. I certainly would love a Democrat to take back his seat, but I'm not sure Al's the guy. He hasn't lived in Minnesota for many years and I think he'd have to work hard to convince us that he can reconnect with those Midwestern roots. Maybe he can do it, but he needs to get out of New York pretty soon and start hanging out in places like Brainerd and Ely.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:38 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

May 02, 2004

Master Race

60 Minutes is airing a piece on the eugenics movement which sprang up in America back in the 1920s. I have an interest in this area became the Nazis used eugenics to justify the extermination of thousands of people with disabilities, which I got to read all about when I was doing research for a law journal article. A lot of otherwise intelligent people bought into eugenics and saw it as a way of bettering the human race, when it really was old prejudices and hatreds dressed up as respectable science.

I can bitch all I want to about being sick, but at least I didn't have my surgical staples give out, letting my innards spill out of me. Yeesh.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 01, 2004

Alive And Kicking

No, I'm not dead, although there were a few times yesterday when I wished I was. My temp was hovering between 100 and 101 most of the day and my heart was beating faster than a hummingbird's. Throw in some nausea and you have a block-rockin' party going on inside me. I feel a bit more with it today. I can actually formulate coherent sentences, as opposed to staring at my screen in a semi-comatosed state. If this follows the usual course of other respiratory infections I've had, things should start clearing up in the next day or two.

Speaking of things that will turn your stomach, the photos depicting Coalition forces abusing Iraqi prisoners are truly disgusting. People of Iraq, meet your liberators. The road to democracy is a long one and a few of you will get fucked (literally) along the way, but that's the price of freedom. Bush can't be too happy with this latest public relations blunder. We have managed to give the Arab and Muslin worlds yet another reason to despise us and I can't imagine Bush will make a big effort to do damage control. And this isn't important, but who were the geniuses that took these photos in the first place? Are they completely ignorant of this thing called the Internet?

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 04:50 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack