June 30, 2005

Closed For Business

The Minnesota Senate adjourned tonight without passing a continuing funding resolution that was acceptable to the Republicans. The Senate did pass a bill that would have funded government at existing levels for an indefinite period. The Republicans wanted a ten-day "lights on" bill. 9,000 state workers will be locked out tomorrow.

Even a one-day shutdown carries political risks for both parties. It will be brought up time and again during the upcoming election cycle. The question is whether voters will remember the shutdown when they go into the voting booths 16 months from now.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 11:51 PM | Comments (0)

Twiddling My Thumbs

As I'm writing this, I still don't know if I'm supposed to report to work tomorrow or not. How many of you have ever been able to say that about your own job? I'll probably stay up until midnight to see if the Powers That Be make a deal. If not, I'll take in a matinee tomorrow or something equally productive. At this point, I'm tempted to take a vacation day tomorrow regardless. But I'll probably guilt myself into going in.

While I'm waiting to determine my employment status, I think I'll send out invitations for my birthday party. Yes, I've decided it's time to throw a bigger and better party than the one I had a couple years ago. After all, you only turn 32 once. And, as always, you're all invited. And you better show up early, because there's no way I'm making all those pigs-in-a-blanket myself.

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June 29, 2005

Impasse

Here's the latest chapter in the shutdown drama. It looks like the Legislature will pass budget bills that will keep our state parks open, along with the departments that oversee agriculture and job training. But still no deal on budgets for human services, transportation, and education. Some state workers are starting to feel the strain, especially those with little or no vacation time to see them through a forced work stoppage. At my own workplace, the tension is mixed in with some gallows humor about the situation in which we find ourselves. DHS has probably spent hundreds of thousands--maybe even millions of dollars--in staff time and other resources to prepare for a shutdown. And it will cost even more money to start up again after a shutdown.

It would all be a bit surreal if it wasn't hurting people financially.

On a completely separate note, it looks like Canada is on its way to legalizing same-sex marriages. A fitting end to Pride Month.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:41 PM | Comments (1)

June 28, 2005

Watching The Sausage Get Made (Or Not)

Terry Gross of Fresh Air did a recent interview with the director of the docu Murderball and Mark Zupan, one of the film's featured athletes. I listened to it today and Gross does a good job of eliciting responses from Zupan on a range of issues including the sport itself, adjusting to life with a disability, society's perceptions of disability, and sexuality.

I may have been a bit overly optimistic when I wrote that a partial state government shutdown in Minnesota would be averted. There has been some progress towards a deal, but even if there was an agreement tonight, there isn't enough time to get the appropriate bills drafted, passed, and signed before midnight Friday. A lot of legislators have expressed frustration at being shut out of negotiations, which are being conducted in private between the governor and three or four legislative leaders. I can't help but agree, at least to some extent. It makes little sense to have a special session if 95% of the legislative body has nothing more to do than sit in their offices and check their e-mail. I'm not sure a partial shutdown will hurt anyone politically, especially if it's over by the end of the holiday weekend. But if July 5 comes around and state offices are still closed, people might start to take notice.

I'll certainly notice, especially since I only put in for enough vacation time to cover me through July 6. There's no way I'm going to use up all my vacation time to accommodate the truculence of a few politicos in St. Paul.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:59 PM | Comments (0)

June 27, 2005

Hollywood 1, Adware-Bloated P2P Software 0

The Supreme Court issued its long-awaited Grokster decision (PDF version) today. It probably will disappoint those who were hoping for a ringing endorsement of P2P activity. The 1984 Sony decision appers to still apply, insofar as the Court has affirmed that a technology with potentially infringing uses does not automatically expose the developer to copyright liability. However, the Court seems to have established some sort of conduct-based test for determining whether a developer should be held liable for infringement. In other words, did the developer induce users of the technology to engage in infringing activity? This is a pretty vague standard and it will be interesting to see how it evolves in lower court. But if I was the CEO of Grokster or Streamcast, I'd start thinking about moving my operations overseas or looking for a new line of work. Because I don't think any court is gonna buy the argument that Grokster is all about spreading the complete works of Shakespeare.

r

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:49 PM | Comments (0)

June 26, 2005

You Look Fabulous!

Pride Weekend is wrapping up here in Minneapolis. I was running a few errands downtown today and I felt like kind of a slob compared to the numerous well-dressed gay men I passed on the streets. It was like being a trespasser at an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog shoot. I didn't see the parade, although I really should go someday just for the experience. The trick is finding an appropriate person to accompany me. Do you realize I have about six male nurses and none of them are gay? What's up with that? Clearly, my efforts to recruit a diverse staff have fallen short.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:13 PM | Comments (2)

June 25, 2005

Them's Fightin' Words

I saw one of the most bizarre Daily Show segments ever last night. Stephen Colbert was interviewing a porn starlet named Mary Carey and her producer/director/pimp/whatever. They had recently attended a GOP fundraiser and wrote a $5,000 check to the Republicans. When Colbert asked Carey why she wanted to be a Republican, this was her reply (I'm paraphrasing here):

I think Republicans are wealthy and powerful people. If I want to be wealthy and powerful, I should hang around these people. If you play with cripples, you start limping. I don't want to be a cripple.

I guess she was equating Democrats with people with disabilities. Here's my question for Republicans. Do you really want this vacant-eyed, deeply troubled woman affiliated with your party? I know you're trying to create a big tent and everything, but do you really need the porn vote?

Part of me wants to formulate a response to Carey's remark, but I'm not sure it would be terribly effective. It's not like I'm going to organize a boycott of her films or anything. I'm trying to picture myself sending e-mails to porn distributors saying "Please stop carrying Busty Dildo Lovers #4 and Hot Showers #6." Nope, I don't think that's going to inspire a letter-writing campaign.

But I'm sure there are many porn stars who have more enlightened views on disability. Maybe we can recruit some of them to organize a porn-and-disability themed Democratic fundraiser.

Okay, so maybe that's not a good idea either. I got nothing.

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June 24, 2005

The Clock Is Ticking

I'm still waiting to see if I'll be forced to go on an unplanned vacation next week. The Minnesota Legislature still has been unable to reach agreement on a budget and next Thursday looms as the deadline. If no budget is passed by June 30, my department will shut down except for a few essential functions. I remain optimistic that it won't come to that. Even if it does, I have some vacation time upon which I can draw, but I was hoping to save that for Europe. Politically, I can't see how a shutdown would be anything but a disaster for both parties. Let's hope everyone involved can find some common ground. There will be time enough for posturing afterwards.

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June 23, 2005

Soundscape

Via Slashdot, here's a story about a prosthetic arm that enables the user to feel sensations such as hot and cold. You'd think Darth Vader could have afforded one of these instead of that ugly claw of his.

I can't stop listening to DARE from the new Gorillaz album. It has this infectious beat that strokes my brain just the right way. Oh, and I've really gotten into Bloc Party and those shimmering 1980s-ish washes of guitar that infuse their songs.

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June 22, 2005

Behaving Badly

I'm trying to understand why Dick Durbin had to apologize for his remarks comparing the atrocities at Gitmo to those of the Nazis, Soviets, or other despotic regimes. Judging from the reaction of conservatives, you'd think that the Nazis and Soviets were invading forces from distant worlds, without a drop of humanity. But they were human, just like us. And humans are capable of doing some astonishingly cruel things to each other. American history is replete with enough examples of our own capacity for cruelty to disabuse us of any notion that we are an exclusively virtuous people. Durbin wasn't calling our soldiers Nazis, but he was pointing out that they are engaging in behavior that is morally reprehensible. And if that makes some people uncomfortable, that's their problem.

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June 21, 2005

They Send Letters

Cary Tennis, the advice columnist over at Salon, has posted a response to a letter from a young woman who recently became physically disabled. The woman is struggling with adjusting to life with a disability, including the sometimes inconsiderate behavior of other people. Tennis' response is a bit florid, but he demonstrates a surprising level of awareness in regards to disability rights and culture. He actually suggests to the woman to consider some kind of activism. He writes, "Further, I must say, when I see people in wheelchairs going about the city, I'm not glad they're disabled, but I'm glad that they're living life." Which, really, is all we can hope for anyone.

Thanks to Susannah for pointing that out to me.

Lots of War of the Worlds hype out in Geek Land. Dark Horse is doing a serialized webcomic of WotW based on H.G. Wells' original text. If the panels they've published so far are any indication, it should be supercool. Wonder if they'll do a dead-tree version.

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June 20, 2005

Candid Camera

When I was home sick a couple weeks ago, i found an interesting photographic exhibit on the web that I meant to discuss, but then promptly forgot in my feverish daze. The exhibit is titled Intimate Encounters and it features photos exploring disability and sexuality. CAUTION: Many of the pictures feature nudity and are definitely NSFW, so click with care. The photos are frank in their depiction of the erotic lives of people with disabilities and several of them are quite lovely. I admire the people who were willing to pose for these images (most of whom seem to be Brits and Aussies). I'm not sure I'd have the chutzpah to bare my crippled ass for the whole Internet to see. I wonder what kind of reaction these photos get from audiences. And I wonder if the photographer has any plans to shoot in America.

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June 19, 2005

An Educational Experience

Today's Star Tribune has another disability-related column. I'm beginning to wonder if the Strib is controlled by some shadowy gimp cabal. This column discusses a local Catholic high school that declined admission to a student with muscular dystrophy, only after initially accepting him. Apparently, the school decided they could not accommodate the kid's accessibility needs. It's been a while since I've looked at federal IDEA law and I can't remember what obligations it places on private schools. But I have heard of other stories of private schools turning away students with disabilities. Often, they simply don't have the facilities and the experience to accommodate students with disabilities. But how do you reconcile that with the ideal that a student should be able to attend the public or private school of their choice, regardless of disability? The school mentioned in this article was built in 1932 and might not even have an elevator. They probably don't have a paraprofessional staff trained to assist the kid with daily needs like going to the bathroom. Was it reasonable for the parents to expect their child will be safe and comfortable in such an environment? Or should the school be required to bear all the necessary costs of accommodating him?

I'm just asking.

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June 18, 2005

Spamalot

The Star Tribune has a brief column on Cheri Blauwet, a wheelchair marathoner who competed in this weekend's Grandma's Marathon in Duluth. She finished second in the women's wheelchair category.

I'm getting tons of trackback spam and my efforts to reduce it have so far been unsuccessful. I'm about ready to permanently de-activate trackback on all future entries, but I don't think that would solve the problem. Any suggestions?

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June 17, 2005

Straight Talk

Dear Media,
I am getting a little horrified with your coverage of the increasingly creepy Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes thing. There are many things in this mad, mad world that deserve media attention. This isn't one of them. Put the cameras away; you're only encouraging them. I know times are tough now that the Michael Jackson trial is over, but I can tell that even you're not buying this spawn of Hollywood PR. Besides, you know what you really want to do is make long-form documentaries. So go clean yourself up and we'll forget this ever happened.

Yours,

Mark

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June 16, 2005

System Overhaul

The topic of Medicaid continues to preoccupy the minds of our nation's governors. Yesterday, the National Governors Association presented its recommendations on Medicaid reform to a Congressional panel. There was a lot of consternation surrounding proposed co-payments for Medicaid enrollees. In Minnesota, most Medicaid enrollees already are required to pay co-payments for things like prescription drugs and clinic visits. I also pay a pretty hefty monthly premium for my Medcaid coverage (but that's because I'm employed). In theory, I'm not opposed to the idea of co-payments. Health care is one of those things in which people should feel invested, even if it's at a very basic level. A small co-payment for things like ER visits might encourage people to seek treatment sooner, before a crisis develops. I think co-payments could be structured in such a way so as to protect even the poorest beneficiaries, perhaps through a federal cap that limits co-payments to a certain percentage of income.

As I keep saying, Medicaid needs reform to remain sustainable and this is one option of many worth considering. I get frustrated with lawmakers, many of them fellow Democrats, who seem unwitting to look at even modest changes to Medicaid. I'm totally with them on ensuing access to quality care for as many people as possible, but I think that goal doesn't necessarily clash with making the system a little more participatory as well. Don't tell anyone, but I think Medicaid could serve as the precursor to some kind of national health insurance. And if we're serious about making national health insurance a reality, we need to start by addressing the problems and inefficiencies in the current model.

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June 15, 2005

No Mullets, At Least

It's a beautiful evening outside, so I'm going try and get away from my desk for a while. But before I go, I want to comment on Bob Geldof's upcoming Live 8 concert. It undoubtedly has a great line-up, but I'm not sure it will have the same cultural resonance as the 80s Live Aid event. That concert pitched a very specific mission: feed starving Africans. This one seems to have a more amorphous message. Is it to promote debt relief in developing nations, bring pressure on G8 leaders to be more compassionate, or what? And will it really make any difference in the long run? And will the reunion of Pink Floyd really live up to the hype?

Regardless, I'll dutifully TiVo the thing. I just hope Bono doesn't get all professorial and does a ten-minute PowerPoint presentation on debt relief before launching into "Beautiful Day."

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June 14, 2005

Game Time

I'm trying to get my strength back after getting my butt kicked by this virus. Not quite back to normal yet, but I'm getting there. In the meantime, I've been looking at a lot of movie trailers. The trailer for Murderball, a documentary about wheelchair rugby, looks promising. I'll gladly shell out eight bucks to watch some badass gimps in souped-up wheelchair go all gladiator on each other.

Yeah, I've probably commented on this film before, but it looks really cool. It makes me want to go out and buy a Murderball T-shirt. I like how the trailer seems to emphasize that having a physical disability doesn't necessarily mean one isn't physical anymore. Like everyone else, gimps just want to smash shit up sometimes.

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June 13, 2005

Distant Rumblings

There are some extremely dark clouds moving over my building from the south. Very "dark and storm night"-ish. My nurse is trying to take some pictures with my digicam, so we'll see if any of those turn out. Lightning is sheeting across the sky; it almost has a purple tinge to it. I can see the running lights of planes descending through the clouds as they make for the airport. Quite a show. I wonder if I should get away from my computer. Nah, this building is one ginormous grounding wire. I'm pretty sure I'm safe.

Speaking of weather pr0n, here's a slick Flash presentation from National Geographic showcasing the successful placement of a probe in the path of an oncoming tornado.

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June 12, 2005

Papers, Please

Just realized I need to get a new passport. I have a passport that's about twenty-five years old, but I've changed a bit since then. I hope getting a passport photo is easier than getting a Minnesota ID photo. When I needed a picture for my new ID, I had to cram myself into a little booth. And when I was finally situated, the county clerk discovered that her fancy automated camera wouldn't swivel down far enough to see my face. My nurse had to lift me out of my chair for the camera to see me, which explains my slightly peevish look in the finished product.

If anyone knows of a medical supply company in the UK or France where I could rent a suction machine like this one, drop me a line. The one I have won't run on 220v electricity, but I'm thinking there has to be a similar European model.

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June 11, 2005

Down But Not Out

Sorry for the skipped entry yesterday. After I got home from work, I took a turn for the worst. I spent all night in bed and got scared enough to visit my friendly local emergency room. They pumped me full of drugs and sent me home. Feeling better now.

Whenever I get sick enough to start getting a little freaked, I try to remind myself that I've tussled with some badass microbes and came out on top. I may lose to the little bastards someday, but right now I have a birthday party to organize and a trip to Europe to plan. Carpe diem and all that.

So send the dancing girls and a full complement of Swedish masseuses to aid in my recovery.

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June 09, 2005

Minnesota Miracle

The Minnesota Legislature has been in special session for a couple weeks now, with no sign yet of a budget compromise. If budget bills for things like human services and education aren't passed by June 30, state government (including my agency) will partially shut down. I'm not terribly worried about getting laid off or anything like that. The Legislature will come to some sort of agreement, most likely just before midnight on July 1. But I can't quite see what a final agreement will look like. The Republicans will not agree to anything that looks like a tax hike (the Governor's proposed cigarette...fee...tax....whatever...notwithstanding). The Democrats will not go along with any deep cuts in public health care programs like MinnesotaCare. I'm not sure how you bring together opposing sides that are staring each other down from across a $1 billion chasm. The marginal numerical advantages that each party holds in the House and Senate means that any agreement must be bipartisan, which gives me some hope for a final resolution.

The NY Daily News is extolling the virtues of geeks as boyfriends. :Slipping into my Barry White voice: C'mon, baby, let's turn down the lights real low and and I'll whisper hot Klingon love in your ear. qamuSHa' , baby. qamuSHa'.

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June 08, 2005

Symptomatic

"Mark must be feeling better. His last blog entry was longer."--My dad

This blog has never been and hopefully never will be a place to expound on my occasional maladies. You will never see me remarking on any vagaries in my body temperature. You will not see any observations on the consistency of assorted secretions. I know too many gimps who get a little too fixated over those kinds of things and I'll have none of it. The minute I turn this blog into a medical diary is the moment I've run out of anything else interesting to say. So if I ever start doing something like that, just give me a polite nudge and tell me to get over myself.

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June 07, 2005

Chanteuse

I've been amusing myself tonight by checking out some of the videos on the iTunes Music Store, including Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek." What a lovely song. She does some mixing tricks with the multi-layering of her voice, but it doesn't come across as saccharine (unlike some other artists who use this technique). Ms. Heap is also the front singer for Frou Frou, whose stuff I quite like as well. I guess this song was also featured on The O.C Now this is when I could get all snooty and say that I never watch that crap, except that I have my sister's borrowed copy of Season 1 sitting in my pile of DVDs and I'm slowly getting caught up in it. That Summer's kind of a bitch, isn't she?

One of my nurses is suggesting I take astragalus as a way of preventing future colds. Astragalus is an herb that apparently has some immune-boosting properties. Anyone have any experience with this stuff? I'm normally skeptical of alternative medicine and of the starry-eyed claims some of its proponents make, but this last infection kicked my ass and I don't desire to go through that again anytime soon.

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June 06, 2005

Making The Switch

So Apple is switching to Intel processors. Quick, check your backyards to see if cats and dogs are sleeping together.

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June 05, 2005

Big Apple

The 19th Floor, along with some other disability-themed blogs, was mentioned in Dawn Eden's Sunday column in the NY Daily News. Cool.

Hopefully, I'll be up to writing longer entries soon. It's difficult to blog when you're dozing off at your desk.

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June 04, 2005

Crash

And I thought I was having a bad day. A couple hours ago, there was a major car accident near my building. I didn't see it happen because I was at my desk, but I heard the squealing of tires and the crunch of metal. When I went to my window, I could see that one car had flipped and another one had its front end thoroughly smashed. Didn't look like anybody was hurt. All part of the excitement of downtown living.

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June 03, 2005

Rerun

Is there a law somewhere that requires me to catch every virus that's looking for a good time? Seriously, this is getting old. Don't make me encase myself in a plastic bubble. Because I'll do it, I swear.

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June 02, 2005

Last Day Of School

I had my last Humphrey Fellows meeting today. For our group project, we assembled a short documentary on the Creative Class in Minnesota, using Richard Florida's book as a springboard. The video looks really good, I must say. I might get around to making the video here, assuming I get the okay from the Humphrey Institute and the other people in my group. I also need to figure out if my server has sufficient bandwidth to host video. Maybe I'll try to setting up a torrent tracker. That will test my geek skills. And I'm sure there's a huge pent-up demand for amateur policy pr0n.

I wish I could say that my schedule is a lot more open now, but I have four engagements in the coming week. Guess I'll have to wait a little while longer for that easy summer livin'.

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June 01, 2005

To Serve Man

Toyota is planning on marketing service robots as soon as 2010. The company sees these robots assisting with tasks such as nursing care. So, when do I get my own robotic nurse? Not that I would ever willingly give up my flesh-and-blood nurses, but a robotic personal assistant has intriguing possibilities. Would a robot accompany me on an all-night bacchanal through the streets of Vegas. Would it pour single-malt Scotch down my g-tube until I couldn't remember my own name? Would it dutifully repeat and amplify my drunken pick-up lines to the cute girls sitting at the bar? Or would it get all sanctimonious and drag me back to the hotel while droning some nonsense about protecting my well-being?

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