March 31, 2005

Teacher And Student

One of my former law school professors, Susan Wolf, was on Minnesota Public radio this morning, discussing the Schiavo case. I tried to call in with a comment, but the producer claimed I was too difficult to understand. It probably didn't help that my voice is still a little scratchy from my cold. But hearing her voice reminded of the hours I had spent in her classes. I was in the middle of my second year and starting to feel frustrated with law school. I had been taking some really dry classes (Evidence, anyone?) and I didn't have a clue about what area of law held any interest for me. I signed up for Professor Wolf's Health Law course and for the first time I felt really engaged with the readings and the subject matter. I started to think that I might want to pursue some kind of career in health law or policy. It took me a while to find something in that field, but the work I'm doing now is the directly attributable to Professor Wolf's influence. I wrote her a quick e-mail later in the day to say I enjoyed hearing her on the radio and to thank her for setting me on my current path.

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March 30, 2005

Ones And Zeroes

The geek and the attorney in me can't refrain from yesterday's arguments at the Supreme Court regarding the Grokster case, even though other people have much more insightful commentary to offer. The Grokster case is the Court's first real opportunity to define copyright law in a digital age. I was pleased to read that the Justices were asking the right questions of both sides. They seem to understand the consequences of holding software and technology companies liable for the potentially infringing uses of their innovations. If the Court sides with the movie studios and record labels, we might see devices like TiVos and iPods that come factory installed with all kinds of restrictions to prevent consumers from truly owning any of the content on these devices. Gone will be the days where you could tape a TV program and store it in your personal library or loan it to a friend. You might not even be allowed to rip your old albums onto your hard drive. The transformation of content into digital pieces of information is an ongoing and rapidly accelerating process. It's critical, therefore, to define how much freedom we have to develop and market technologies that access and manage digital content. I suppose the more basic question, regardless of how the Court rules, is whether the genie can be put back in the bottle. Digital piracy isn't going anywhere; that's a given. But do we start treating every new technology, and by implication its users, as new perpetrators of piracy?

An inquiry to my Australian and New Zealand readers. Anyone know where I can get hooked up with the first ENZSO album? I heard the ENZSO version of "Message To My Girl" on a podcast and I loved the richness that the orchestra brought to that song. Hell, I didn't even know Neil Finn was in another band besides Crowded House. It's at times like this I bemoan my lack of any hip friends when I was growing up in Green Bay. Instead, I have to find out this kind of stuff on my own.

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March 29, 2005

Ship Of Fools

One point that most media outlets have overlooked in their breathless coverage of the Schiavo case is this: when Bush was still governor of Texas, he signed into law a piece of legislation called the Futile Care Act. It allows hospitals to withdraw life support from patients who are deemed terminally ill and are unable to pay for continued treatment. Life support can be removed over the objections of family, as recently happened in the case of a six-month-old-boy whose life support was removed over the objections of his mother.

You know what, I'm tired. I'm tired of the hypocrisy of the religious conservatives who rail on about their commitment to a "culture of life", but then give a collective shrug when asked about the impending fiscal crises facing two programs that serve millions of people with significant disabilities, Medicare and Medicaid. I'm tired of the disability activists that proclaim their commitment to independent living and self-determination, but then don't hesitate to use words like "vulnerable" and "helpless" to describe their brethren when it suits their political agendas. I'm tired of the cable news networks and their shamelessly superficial coverage of the story and their obvious intellectual and journalistic laziness that prevents them from covering the story with any greater degree of thoughtfulness or depth.

Bread and circuses, baby. Or, to put a modern spin on it, Big Macs and Fox News.

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March 28, 2005

Same Song, Different Verse

I've been fighting a cold over the past couple days. I'm not sure why I seem to be getting sick more frequently as of late. Maybe I need to start pouring orange juice down my g-tube on a daily basis. Or maybe I should start chewing on some vitamin C tablets. Or maybe I should ask some South American medicine man to make a charm for me. Because anything is preferable to this feeling of breathing through a straw. Somebody needs to invent little nanite devices that I can inject and will seek out and kill the microscopic fuckers partying in my lungs. I'd even consider selling my soul for such an invention.

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March 27, 2005

Measuring Up

My sister just informed me that she ran into Prince this morning at a bagel shop. You would think that someone like Prince has people whose job it is to get the man his bagels. Maybe he likes mingling with the plebes every now and then.

She's also been telling me about her new boyfriend. As her older sibling, I have high expectations for any of her potential suitors. I haven't met this new beau yet, but when I do, he'll have a lengthy questionnaire to complete. I actually have a running bet with myself regarding which of my siblings will be the first to get married. Right now, I'd put the odds in favor of my sister, but my brother always has the potential to pull ahead. And no, I don't have any odds on myself. I suppose you could call me something of a dark horse in this race. Right now, I'd be thrilled if I could get a dinner date with someone. I've considered the whole speed-dating thing, but that seems to depend on one's ability to be a fast talker, which I'm not. It might be worth trying, though, just to see what kind of reactions I get.

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March 26, 2005

Transitions

One of my former nurses forwarded me the obituary for Marilyn Rogers, a well-known disability activist in the Twin Cities. I never had the opportunity to meet Marilyn personally, but I've been heard many stories about her spearheading efforts to make the Cities more accessible to people with disabilities. Based on everything I've been told, she was a remarkable woman and she will be missed.

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March 25, 2005

Dissenting View

Harriet McBryde Johnson had a a recent article in Slate discussing the Schiavo case. She makes ten points that she thinks are being obscured in the current emotional maelstrom surrounding the issue. I don't want to respond to every single point, but I want to respond to some of her statements that caught my attention:

Ms. Schiavo is not dependent on life support. Her lungs, kidneys, heart and digestive systems work fine. Just as she uses a wheelchair for mobility, she uses a tube for eating and drinking. Feeding Ms. Schiavo is not difficult, painful or in any way heroic. That Ms. Schiavo eats through a tube should have nothing to do with whether she should live or die.

I'm not sure I get the distinction. I'll use myself as an example, simply because it's convenient. I use both a feeding tube and a ventilator. If either device were removed, I'd probably die. The feeding tube may not have as many flashing lights or buttons but that doesn't make it any less critical to my survival. I agree that the fact she has a feeding tube isn't determinative in Schiavo's case, but it is an intervention on the same level as a dialysis machine or a ventilator.

There is a genuine dispute as to what Ms. Schiavo believed and expressed about life with severe disability before she herself became incapacitated; certainly, she never stated her preferences in an advance directive such as a living will. If we assume that she is aware and conscious, it is possible that, like most people who have lived with a severe disability for as long as she has, she has abandoned her preconceived fears of the life she is now living. We have no idea whether she wishes to be bound by things she might have said when she was living a very different life.

Most of the court-appointed physicians seem to agree that Schiavo is in a vegetative state. Putting that aside, I think it's presumptuous for us to project our own views on living with a disability onto a woman we don't personally know. Many people with acquired disabilities never completely accept their altered existence. It is true that Schiavo didn't leave an advance directive; that's why we look to the judgment of those who know the individual best; in this case, the husband.

In addition to the rights all people enjoy, Ms. Schiavo has a statutory right under the Americans With Disabilities Act not to be treated differently because of her disability. Obviously, Florida law would not allow a husband to kill a non-disabled wife by denying her nourishment. It is Ms. Schiavo's disability that makes her killing different in the eyes of the Florida courts. Because the state is overtly drawing lines based on disability, it has the burden under the ADA of justifying those lines.

I'm curious to understand exactly how the ADA applies in this situation. It's not the state that is withholding treatment from Schiavo, which pretty much rules out a Title II claim. Title I (dealing with employment) and Title III (addressing places of public accommodations) don't apply. It is not solely her disability that distinguishes Schiavo's case; it is the role of her husband as health care proxy to which so many people are objecting. In every state, marriage is defined as a bundle of rights and obligations. The ability to make health care decisions, barring an explicit directive to the contrary, is part of that bundle of rights. To turn the tables, do we take away that right from a spouse once the other spouse becomes disabled? Isn't that a more obvious deprivation of rights--for both spouses?

The whole society has a stake in making sure state courts are not tainted by prejudices, myths, and unfounded fears—like the unthinking horror in mainstream society that transforms feeding tubes into fetish objects, emblematic of broader, deeper fears of disability that sometimes slide from fear to disgust and from disgust to hatred. While we should not assume that disability prejudice tainted the Florida courts, we cannot reasonably assume that it did not.

This one has me scratching my head. What makes federal courts any likelier to be enlightened on disability issues? The judges on federal courts are not endowed with Solomonic wisdom when they assume the bench. They are humans and they have their own prejudices and biases, for good or ill. To second-guess the decisions of state courts is tantamount to creating a grown-up table and kiddie table of jurisprudence.

I have a lot of respect for Ms. McBryde Johnson's writing and advocacy work, but some of her statements on this issue need clarification. Maybe someone will send this blog entry to her and we can have a good ol'-fashioned debate. Like I've said before, the disability community is not of one mind on this, despite media portrayals to the contrary.

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March 24, 2005

Identity Confirmed

Signatures on credit cards and credit card receipts have always seemed kind of silly. As with so many things, they provide a false sense of security. The person behind the counter rarely checks to make sure that the signatures match. To illustrate my point, you only have to read about this social experiment where the author began to sign credit card receipts in a variety of nonconformist, sometimes artistic, ways. Most of the time, the lackeys at the cash register didn't even bat an eyelash. This pretty much confirms my own experiences. My check card doesn't even have my signature on the reverse side. Instead, I wrote "SEE ID." But most of the time, the store clerks don't even request identification. I've given my check card to my sister to pick things up for me and she's never had trouble using it, even though she certainly doesn't look like a Mark. Theoretically, someone could swipe my card and buy themselves a nice weekend in Vegas, but I'm pretty certain the card's fraud protection policy would kick in if that occurred. Nevertheless, I wonder how long it will be before credit cards or check cards are encoded with an individual's DNA fingerprint or other biometrics. And when that day comes, it will be a sad day because it'll mean I won't be able to get my sister to run my errands for me.

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March 23, 2005

Ambient Noise

The TV-B-Gone keychain has been around for a few months now. The intent of this little device is to surreptitiously turn off televisions in public places like bars and restaurants. I'm all for it. If I want to watch TV, I'll stay home. But I'm urging the designers to also invent a similar device for shutting off the damn sound systems that blare out music in those same public places. I'm tired of meeting a friend at a bar and having my voice compete with the Greatest Hits of the 80s collection coming out of speakers turned up to 11. If it's a contest of decibels between me and the Power Station's "Some Like It Hot," Power Station will always win. I've heard rumors of pubs and restaurants where the only sound you hear upon walking through the door is the quiet buzz of human conversation. However, I suspect those places only exist as urban legends.

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March 22, 2005

Violent Tendencies

Most of you have probably heard about the school shooting that took place yesterday on an Indian reservation in northern Minnesota. I'm curious to see how the media will treat this tragedy as compared to the Columbine shooting. This didn't happen in a rich suburban school where most of the kids are white. This happened in a remote part of the state where poverty and unemployment is rampant. It looks like the media are already emphasizing the kid's apparent fascination with Nazism. A Native American who self-identified as a Nazi...it sounds like something you would only see on bad daytime television.

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March 21, 2005

Flip-Flop

I have to believe that the true conservatives--the ones who believe in limited government intrusion into citizens' private lives--are shaking their heads over the recent actions of Congress and the President regarding the Schiavo case. Every day, spouses make health care decisions for their incapacitated partners, many of whom do not leave clear instructions. It's one of the fundamental rights connected with marriage. But this Administration apparently looked at their calendars and decided it was time to throw a bone to the religious right. In doing so, it has perhaps permanently undermined the GOP's historical commitment to states' rights and limited government. What we are witnessing is the transformation of the GOP into a party that rivals Democrats in their willingness to expand the reach of government. The only difference is that Democrats have typically seen government as a guarantor of some modicum of economic justice. Republicans see government as the guarantor of security and a "moral" society, with the morals being defined by a highly vocal and philosophically rigid segment of the party.

If any good comes of this mess, perhaps more people will be motivated to complete their own health care directives. I wonder if Bush has a health care directive.

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March 20, 2005

Damnit, Jim, I'm A Doctor, Not A Blogger!

Sooner or later, all the cool gadgets we first saw in old Star Trek episodes will become reality. Here's a hypospray device that doesn't even have to touch the skin. I'm still waiting for my own personal transporter device for those quick day trips to Paris. That is assuming, of course, that we don't first obliterate ourselves with one of our man-made black holes.

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March 19, 2005

Gray Skies

We usually get hammered with at least one major snowstorm in March and it arrived yesterday. It was something of a hit-and-miss affair; the weather oracles were predicting anywhere from two inches to over a foot of snow. Here in Minneapolis, we have about five inches on the ground, while places further south like Fairbault and Rochester were buried under a foot or more. It's kind of remarkable how accustomed your eye becomes to the monochromatic existence that is winter in the Upper Midwest. Shades of gray, brown, and white stretch to the horizon and the color green is a distant memory. When you spend more than half of every year in the depths of winter or at its margins, the promise of summer burns even brighter in the inner calendar of your mind. You begin to assign an almost religious significance to those four months that don't contain the letter "R."

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March 18, 2005

Reporting For Duty

I've seen several articles regarding soldiers who, having lost limbs as a result of hostile action in Iraq, are now returning to active combat duty. An all-volunteer army that is already having difficulties recruiting new soldiers has to find other ways to keep its more experienced personnel, so it's not entirely surprising to witness this development. Hopefully, the private sector will follow the military's lead and employ more veterans with disabilities. Some of the prostheses that soldiers are receiving are incredibly sophisticated--and incredibly expensive. It'd be nice to see that technology become available to the general population. However, what I'm really interested in tracking is how these soldiers re-integrate into their units once they're back in-country. Will their commanders and subordinates accept them or will there be some resistance to their presence? In another decade or so, it may be relatively common to see soldiers with amputations serve in a variety of combat situations, and that's why I think it's fascinating to observe this evolving perception of melding the biological and the artificial.

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March 17, 2005

Treehugger

I guess I'm not surprised by the Senate's vote to open the ANWR to oil drilling. I'm not convinced that it represents the environmental catastrophe that some make it out to be, but I'm certainly not thrilled with the decision. To claim that drilling in the ANWR will relieve our dependence on foreign oil is delusional thinking. If we believe the most liberal estimates, the ANWR contains about ten billion barrels of oil. On average, the United States consumes about twenty million barrels of oil a day. The oil in ANWR represents enough oil to completely meet our needs for about a year and a half. Yes, fellow Americans, energy independence is now within our reach. The only people really benefiting from this are the Alaskans' pocketbooks; more oil flowing means bigger oil subsidy checks in the mailbox of each Alaskan.

I now expect to receive the severed head of a dead polar bear in the mail from some pissed-off Alaskan.

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March 16, 2005

Mirror Universe

Leave it to the French, bien sur. The French energy company EDF has produced a clever ad which depicts a world where people with disabilities are in the majority and able-bodied individuals encounter access difficulties (click haut for the high-speed version or bas for the low-bandwidth version). It's an effective way of bringing attention to the daily struggles confronting people with disabilities as they attempt to go about their daily lives. And you gotta love the Aimee Mann soundtrack.

Special thanks to The Gimp Parade for pointing me to the ad.

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March 15, 2005

The Hot Zone

TiVo has signed a deal with Comcast to provide software for the cable company's DVR boxes. The new boxes should be available sometime in 2006. This should put at least a temporary hold on the TiVo deathwatch. Now, if only TiVo would sign a deal with Time Warner, preferably before my current TiVo box dies.

A nasty little virus has been migrating around my workplace over the last couple months. People who've had it say that it kicked their ass all the way into the next week. I've managed to avoid it so far, but I'm getting paranoid. If I'm in a meeting with someone who's coughing or sneezing, I'll sit in the opposite corner of the room. I'm thinking about asking everyone who comes into my office wear a filter mask. I've even drafted plans for a plastic bubble that will envelop my entire wheelchair. Speaking of, wasn't that the cheesiest movie ever. It's so cheesy that to call it such is an insult to cheese. It's the Cheez Wiz of television movies. John Travolta should have dropped dead as soon as he stepped out of that damn spacesuit. Now, that would have been cool.

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March 14, 2005

More Than Human

NPR has a profile of one of the first people with quadriplegia to receive one of the neural implants that I've discussed from time to time. However, the story seems to be not so much about the effects of the implant as about the reporter's concerns that we're standing on the precipice of some weird Matrix-like world where everyone has a network jack drilled into their skulls. Fair enough. But I don't think the machines are going to rise up and turn us into human batteries just yet. I don't see much difference between a neural implant and a pacemaker. But because it's the brain, people get all skittish and freaked out. I'm still dubious about the long-term prospects of this technology, but the analogies to SF films are overwrought and a bit hysterical.

I'm a student in this leadership development course sponsored by Civics Incorporated. One of the Humphrey Fellows hooked me up with the opportunity. Most of the students are in their 20s and 30s. I'm enjoying these opportunities to expand my circle of friends and colleagues. Not too long ago, it felt like my circle of friends had constricted to a relatively small group. I haven't felt that way over these last few months. But this new class also has homework assignments, which I should get to now.

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March 13, 2005

Rebels Without A Cause

I'm certainly no expert on terrorism, but the recent descent of the IRA into thuggery reminds me of the collapse of Shining Path in Peru. Once Peruvians got tired of the indiscriminate killings practiced by SP (and with more than a little help from President Fujimori's dictatorial rule and merciless crackdown on terrorists), the group seemed to lose sight of its original leftist goals and took up narcotrafficking and kidnapping for ransom. Now we see the IRA engaging in common criminal enterprises such as bank robberies and barroom killings. And then they try to make amends for the slaying by offering to shoot those responsible. Was that really intended to impress anyone? The IRA needs to come to terms with its own irrelevance and Sinn Fein needs to start behaving like a sincere, responsible partner for peace. Perhaps by St. Patrick's Day 2006, we will see a return to the original vision of the Good Friday accords. The people of Northern Ireland have waited long enough.

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March 12, 2005

Fanboy

Ah crap, not another Star Trek movie. It's gonna suck; you know it is. Odd-numbered, even-numbered, it doesn't matter anymore. I can't even remember the last decent SF film I saw that wasn't connected to a franchise. And comic book movies don't count, not that many of them are that great either. But I will admit that the new Star Wars trailer [torrent] looks pretty sweet. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to grab a torrent of the new Dr. Who.

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March 11, 2005

Evil Mark

I owe various people e-mails and edited manuscripts, so I'm keeping this short tonight. Random thoughts: I was getting my the ramp on my van fixed earlier this week. While I was waiting, this old guy who I think owns the place comes up to me and starts prattling on like he knows me. I realize he's mistaking me for someone else, but I don't say anything. "How old are you now?" he asks me in this you-must-be-a-big-boy-now tone. I should have asked him the same, but I was polite. I'm always polite. But someday I'm going to get tired of all the condescending, infantizing bullshit I put up with and go medieval on someone's ass. And it will probably be some poor little old lady, but I'll still get a sick kind of pleasure out of it. Because sometimes I just want to be bad. I want to drink, ingest hallucinogenic drugs, urinate in public, tell a cop to fuck off, date a stripper, proposition the next pretty girl I see in the elevator, and generally be a bastard. Just for a day or two. But I'm not sure my superego would ever let me do such a thing. My head would probably explode or something equally unpleasant.

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March 10, 2005

Voodoo Medicine

A recent study confirmed that there is no causal link between the MMR vaccine and autism, despite the continued objections of some parents. The fact that thousands of people actually believe vaccines are harmful is, for me, a baffling phenomenon. I would contend that is the very success of immunization programs which have led otherwise thoughtful people into this kind of intellectually bankrupt thinking. With a few exceptions, there aren't many deadly contagions for us to fear anymore. People aren't being stuck in iron-lungs because of polio or dying from smallpox. These diseases have become relics of another era; it's almost like they never existed. And now all the work and ingenuity that went into eliminating these diseases is casually dismissed by mostly affluent, mostly white suburbanites with college degrees. It's too bad people living in sub-Saharan Africa don't have the same luxury of having a middle-class hissy fit when deciding whether to vaccinate their children. Maybe it's because my father is a microbiologist, but I find this kind of uninformed distrust of science both lazy and reeking of unacknowledged privilege.

Now I see that Garbage is coming to First Avenue in April. Man, I have to go see them. I have the biggest crush on Shirley Manson. That Scottish brogue of hers is heartbreakingly sexy.

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March 09, 2005

Verbosity

I've mentioned previously the federal grant I've been working on for the past few months. The official press release for the grant has been published. It's essentially a research project; we'll be offering Medicaid-type services to a limited number of employed people with mental illness who don't yet qualify for traditional Medicaid. The idea is to test whether a set of early interventions will prevent these people from becoming completely disabled and ending up on Social Security. I think this project has the potential to yield some interesting results and I'm looking forward to getting it up and running .

The book is now past 100,000 words. I'm hoping that it will cap at 150,000, but that should come down once I start editing. I'm worried I may be chasing too many plot threads, but I've lost all perspective.

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March 08, 2005

Cast Of Thousands

I'm always surprised when people tell me they read my blog. Getting comments and e-mail is always nice, but it's quite different when someone comes up to you and says, "I read some of your stuff." Yesterday, my message therapist told me that she had discovered my blog through one of my nurses. She was especially delighted to see that I had mentioned her in a previous entry. It's good to know I can make someone's day with my writing. As much as this blog is a kind of miscellaneous recounting of my life, it is also about the multitudes of people who shape my experiences. Things wouldn't be half as exciting without them.

I'm planning on getting tickets to see U2 in September. The last time I saw them was at the Metrodome in 1997, during which I was, for lack of a better expression, felt up by a drunk but cute woman who stumbled across me while the band was playing "One." The acoustics were horrible, but the Target Center should be a better venue. I'm debating getting three tickets in case an undetermined friend wants to come along. The seats I've had at other Target Center events are usually good. Surely, I can bribe someone into a date with a free concert ticket.

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March 07, 2005

Violator

When I woke up this morning, the last place I expected to spend the evening was the Minneapolis Impound Lot. But life is funny like that. I was coming from St. Paul back to downtown Minneapolis. I had a meeting and I decided to park near the meeting location rather than park the car in my building and walk several blocks. I didn't even see the sign that said NO PARKING 4-6 PM. After the meeting, I go back to the street where I parked. No van. My nurse thought it might be stolen, but I was fairly certain there isn't much of a black market for Chrysler minivans tricked out with wheelchair ramps. We go to the local police precinct and discover the van has been impounded. Fortunately, I'm able to call for an accessible taxi to take me to the impound lot.

I could be pissed, but it really isn't worth it. As a general rule, I'm not quick to anger. I have my van back. My nurse and I split the towing cost, so I'm only out about $60. I haven't decided whether to contest the ticket yet. I could try playing the pity card, but I did screw up when I didn't see the sign. This is simply one of those weird things that happens to me sometimes. And it's good blog material, don't you think?

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March 06, 2005

Ich Bein Ein Berliner

I'm having some of the Humphrey Fellows over to discuss a group project, so I need to sign off soon and supervise the assemblage of the cheese and crackers. Before I go, does anyone know anything about broadband access in Berlin? My brother is searching for relatively inexpensive broadband for his apartment and he was looking at some kind of WiFi option. Any Berliner geeks out there with advice?

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March 05, 2005

Creative Writing

In post-9/11 America, it's dangerous to have an imagination. Item: a Kentucky high school student is being charged with making terrorist threats after someone found a short story he had written about zombies overrunning a high school. The judge even raised the bail amount because of the "seriousness of the charge." I seriously hope this kid becomes a bestselling author someday and that he brutally parodies the ignorant, paranoid denizens of his hometown.

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March 04, 2005

Remembrance Of Things Past

A friend of mine e-mailed me in French a few days ago after reading about my desire to polish my language skills. I wrote back in French and found myself remembering words and rules of grammar I hadn't thought about since college. It's funny how the brain holds onto things that were drilled into it years ago. I guess I owe that to my high school French teacher, Mr. L. The man had an atrocious accent, but he made damn sure we could conjugate the imparfait form of être. French class was usually at the end of the day, which seemed appropriate because I usually had a lot of fun in that class. It never felt much like work. But to be honest, I had other reasons for liking French class. And that reason was named Hannah S. Hannah was the first girl for whom I felt a full-force, five-alarm, Defcon 1 crush. Hannah was all that and a bag of chips. Intelligent, beautiful, funny. Hannah had a twin sister, but I never noticed her twin that much. Hannah and I became friends through some various after-school activities, but my heart always seemed to thump a little more loudly whenever she was near. We even ended up going to the same college. In my freshman year in college, I decided that it would be a most excellent idea to send her a love poem I had written specifically for her. It was the most god-awful thing ever to disgrace the paper on which it was written. Imagine the worst love poem you've ever read and multiply its cringe-worthiness by a factor of a hundred. I never did find out whether it amused or horrified her because I was too chickenshit to go up and ask her. We settled into separate social circles in college and I never saw her again after she graduated a year ahead of me. The last I heard, she was actually married and living in Paris.

I haven't thought of Hannah in years. I told you the brain works in funny ways.

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March 03, 2005

Talking Shop

The New York Times Business section, of all places, has a pretty good analysis of how Social Security private accounts might affect disability beneficiaries. The author makes some interesting observational. If the disability benefits are preserved at their present levels while everyone else is shifted to private accounts, then disability benefits might look more attractive to people who don't get good returns on their private accounts, prompting more people to apply for disability benefits. The disability determination process is notoriously inconsistent, so who's to say what someone's odds are of being found disabled?

The author also makes this troubling conclusion: "From all appearances, disability beneficiaries are indeed a group largely incapable of substantial gainful employment, at least in the current labor market." I can't dispute the evidence he cites. But he doesn't delve deeper into why this is so. Despite some measure of reform, disability benefits are still structured to discourage employment. To begin collecting SSDI benefits, you must be unable to work to any significant degree. And once you are receiving benefits, you can't earn any more than $830/month or you will go over the "cliff" and your cash benefits will be reduced to zero. This puts many people in the untenable position of choosing between work and the sudden and complete loss of benefits. The author seems to think that people with disabilities can't work because they're disabled. This circular reasoning, which sounds nice and pat, ignores the systemic barriers regarding employment and disability.

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March 02, 2005

Book Report

I'm almost finished with Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which I started sometime in late January. I can usually finish books fairly quick, even 800-page tomes, but life seems to have a lot more distractions lately. I need to take a week off and devote all my time to reading. But I digress. It's an amazing book, melding fantasy with a masterful pastiche of the social criticism of Dickens or Thackeray. Clark's descriptions of magic and magical places are poetic without being overwrought or flowery. And those footnotes! The amount of care and imagination she poured into those footnotes is impressive for its own sake, but they also add verisimilitude and texture to Clark's alternate universe. But this book isn't just for fantasy buffs. The story should appeal to anyone with a love for epic, sweeping fiction.

Next up, I think, will be David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas. Hopefully, I can get through that one more quickly.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:00 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 01, 2005

Minor Offenses

Just as the national consensus on abortion seems to be evolving, so too do our views on capital punishment. With today's ruling that a person cannot be executed for crimes committed as a minor, we have taken another step towards the ultimate realization that capital punishment simply isn't working as a deterrent or as an act of justice. Proponents of the death penalty will predictably accuse the Court of being soft on crime, but they can't ignore the fact that they are slowly losing the argument on this issue.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack