February 28, 2006
Sinking To Their Level
In their opposition to the Dubai ports deal, a lot of progressive bloggers are indulging in xenophobic demagoguery, leaving me disappointed and despairing for any possibility of reasonable political discourse on the topic. The claims that this Arab company's ownership of a few American ports could jeopardize our national security is, quite frankly, hysterical bullshit. Our ports are certainly inviting targets for potential terrorists, but it's not like Dubai Ports World is going to paint enormous bullseyes on the docks. Our ports were vulnerable before this deal and they will continue to be vulnerable until our own government recognizes that promoting national security takes more than empty rhetoric and a few thousand illegal wiretaps.
I don't dispute the U.A.E.'s problematic human rights record, but it's not a demonstrably worse offender than China. And I'm willing to bet that a few of those bloggers own Chinese-made goods. I'm as eager as any good progressive to discredit and weaken this president and his administration, but let's not use fear and innuendo as our tools. It cheapens us and our cause. It makes us look like Republicans.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:52 PM | Comments (1)
February 27, 2006
A Vast Wasteland
I saw Good Night, and Good Luck over the weekend and ever since then, I've been craving Scotch and cigarettes. At the end of the film, Murrow blasts television as an escapist, superficial medium that has failed to live up to its promise as a tool for creating an educated and enlightened citizenry. He proposes setting aside a few hours a week for current-affairs programming. I wonder what he would make of today's television landscape. Today's viewers have a wealth of informative and educational programming available to them, if they choose to seek it out. Most television news reporting, however, is abysmal. The cable news outlets rarely do a story that runs longer than five minutes. What passes for "analysis" is a series of disembodied heads reciting the prepared talking points of one side of the debate or the other. It's predictable. It's boring. Worse, it breeds the kind of political apathy and disengagement that is rampant in this country.
Maybe we need to allow smoking in the nation's newsrooms again. Maybe the type of reporter who smokes three packs a day is the kind of reporter who might fearlessly pursue the stories that need to be told.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:38 PM | Comments (2)
February 26, 2006
Paved With Good Intentions
The news coming out of Iraq does not bode well for this Administration's vision of a democratic Middle East. As much as I believe in the concept of promoting democracy and human rights in every country around the world, I can't help thinking that we've inadvertently given authoritarian regimes another justification for resisting political reform and liberalization. They can simply say to their people, "Look at what freedom and democracy has given the people of Iraq. Nothing but blood and tears. Is that what you want for yourselves? For your families?"
Time and again, the West makes the mistake of believing in the Instant Soup theory of spreading democracy. Take one totalitarian society, add some occupying soldiers, an election or two, a constitution, stir, and voila, you've got yourself a free and open society. But as our president might say, democracy is hard work. We may not want to admit it, but democracy runs contrary to some basic human impulses. For millennia, authoritarianism was the overwhelmingly predominant style of government on the planet. The Romans, Greeks, and some Native American peoples experimented with limited forms of democracy, but ninety percent of human history is a narrative of the brutal and bloody exercise of power of a select few over the masses.
Democracy does not grow in the wild. It's a hothouse flower that requires careful cultivation and constant tending. And we have been pathetically clumsy in our attempts to grow democracy in other countries.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 03:41 PM | Comments (0)
February 25, 2006
Strange Tales
ABC has given the greenlight to a new anthology series, Masters of Science Fiction. According to the press release, it will adapt classic stories from authors like Asimov and Bradbury into one-hour television episodes. I'm going to start a pool on how many weeks this series will last before ABC gives it the axe. Science fiction has never done well on network television and it's difficult to build an audience around an anthology. But perhaps it will stick around long enough to give us a decent DVD set.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 03:09 PM | Comments (0)
February 24, 2006
Fan Club
One of the podcasts that I subscribe to is Slice of Sci-Fi, a weekly rundown of science fiction news and interviews with assorted guests including Wil Wheaton and Peter Mayhew. But the best thing about this podcast is Summer, who plays second fiddle to Michael and Evo, the show's two primary hosts. It's safe to say that I have a bit of a crush on her. She comes across as bright, articulate, and funny. She digs comics and Star Trek and science fiction novels and--well, basically all of the things that I like. And as if that wasn't enough, she has this unbelievably smoky, sexy voice that is totally reminds me of Scarlett Johannsen (another crush of mine). I have no idea what Summer looks like, but I'm willing to bet my brand-new Spock bust sitting on top of my monitor that she's a hottie.
She's also in Phoenix, which makes any chance encounter between us several magnitudes of unlikely. So come on, all you ubercool geek chicks up here in the Great White North, let your freak flags fly high so that I can find you.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:28 PM | Comments (0)
February 23, 2006
Tiding You Over
I had a different blog entry lined up for today, but I came home late tonight, so you're going to have to settle for this link to an article of mine that's appearing in this month's issue of Access Press. If I can't shamelessly plug myself in my own blog, where else am I going to do it?
I have tickets to Death Cab! And Franz Ferdinand! All in the same show! My friend and I are so going to try and get backstage. Ben Gibbard simply must know that I'm getting rather impatient for the next Postal Service album.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 10:12 PM | Comments (0)
February 22, 2006
Baring It All
At Saturday's party, I was talking to a friend of mine who's participating in an art co-op to keep up her drawing skills. Every week or two, a model poses nude for the group. And then she casually asked me if I'd ever consider posing.
My first reaction was an unambiguous "Hell, no." It's not that I'm bashful; one unavoidable consequence of living with a disability like mine is that plenty of people have had the opportunity to see me naked over the years. I'm just not sure I want any permanent record of me and my pasty white ass residing in the pages of someone's sketchbook. Someone might get the idea to scan and post the drawings to some kinky disability devotee website, along with my blog URL. And then my Inbox would be flooded with requests for photos of me in various states of undress; requests that range in tone from "polite but creepy" to "you want to do what with my corpse?" No, I will not inadvertently become fodder for someone's twisted fantasies. I'm more than just a piece of meat.
On the other hand, I need some fresh blog material. Something tells me I'd be one of the more memorable models to come before them. And I'm not just talking about the disability. But I require assurances that the room isn't too chilly.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:57 PM | Comments (1)
February 21, 2006
Friends In High Places
I want to give a shout-out to my friend and fellow Fellow Jeannette, who has scored a staff position with the Amy Klobuchar for Senate campaign. Jeannette will be working tirelessly to ensure that Mark Kennedy's career as a Republican tool ends in November. Minnesota already has one tool in the Senate, and that's one tool too many. Good luck to Jeannette and don't forget about me when you're running Klobuchar's Senate office and attending chic cocktail parties in Georgetown.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:47 PM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2006
Power-Up
I installed an additional stick of RAM in my computer, upgrading it to a muscular 1.5GB from a measly 512MB. I'm kicking myself for not doing this sooner. The axiom that says adding more memory is the most cost-efficient way of boosting a computer's performance is definitely true. My system is much perkier as a result. It's like it's almost saying, "Hey, I feel great! Whaddya got for me? Oh, c'mon, that's it? Open some more programs! How about we work on three documents while downloading a bunch of torrents and crunching some SETI data? Or we could mash some MP3s while I play chess with myself. Let's multitask like a motherfucker!"
You'll have to excuse my computer. Ever since the upgrade, it's been a little overexuberant.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:19 PM | Comments (0)
February 19, 2006
The Gimp's Guide to Entertaining
Being a cripple does give you an excuse to take the easy way out sometimes. Take last night's party, for example. I certainly wasn't going to attempt to cook anything, so I simply called up Surdyk's and told the nice man on the phone what items I wanted on the menu. Then I called up my sister and nicely asked my sister to pick up a few other things on her way to my place. Then I supervised my nurse as she straightened up my place before the guests arrived. My total commitment of resources: a bit of cash and a couple hours of prep time. Having friends tell you what a great party you threw: priceless.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 01:44 PM | Comments (1)
February 18, 2006
Soiree
I'm having a small party this evening to show off the new floors, which means I should spend a little time straightening things up. I even had a cleaning crew come in yesterday to do a more thorough job. My nurses would do just about anything for me, but I draw the line at making them scrub the the toilet bowl. And I should create some kind of iTunes playlist to provide some additional ambience.
Speaking of music, can someone please pass a law to restrict the proliferation of Interpol clones? Bands like She Wants Revenge and Louis XIV and The Bravery are only encouraging even less talented skinny white men to put on some some mascara and drone into a microphone about how much they're turned on by skinny white women who like to cut themselves.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 02:10 PM | Comments (2)
February 17, 2006
Moonlighting
After I finished teaching my CLE today, I spent a little time chatting with a friend from law school. He's trying to sell a young-adult fantasy manuscript that he's been working on for the last year or two. If I had to guess, I'd say that approximately 25-30% percent of attorneys do some kind of writing on the side. For most of us, writing is the lifeblood of our daily work and it can be difficult to turn off that switch at the end of the day.
Talking to him also has guilted me into doing some work tonight on the book, which I've been neglecting for the past couple days. So I'd better get to it.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:10 PM | Comments (0)
February 16, 2006
Killing Time
I'm solo-teaching a CLE tomorrow for Legal Aid attorneys at William Mitchell College of Law. I'm a little worried because I'm scheduled to teach for three hours, but I think I have enough content only for two. So I have a few options. I...could...speak...very...slowly. Or maybe I can show slides from my trip to Europe. Who doesn't like a good slide show? Or I could emulate some of my own teachers by throwing my feet up on the desk and reading a magazine while I make everyone write THIS IS THE BEST CLE CLASS EVER one hundred times.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 10:35 PM | Comments (0)
February 15, 2006
Generation Next
I just returned from the Beat The Odds event, one of the more memorable fundraisers I've attended in recent years. Four local kids are awarded scholarships for overcoming incredible odds to stay focused on their education and their futures. All of the kids were incredibly earnest and direct in their acceptance speeches. Marian Wright Edelman, the founder of the Children's Defense Fund, gave a short but powerful keynote address. And I even scored a couple Guthrie tickets at the silent auction.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 10:43 PM | Comments (0)
February 14, 2006
Sell-Out
My apologies to those of you who didn't get their daily dose of The 19th Floor yesterday. The server on which this site is hosted decided to call in sick and get totally wasted. But everything seems back to normal now.
I would wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day, but I just read this piece by Joe Bageant on the hyper-commoditized existence of the American middle class:
Adding to the anxiety is the lack of evidence that the world needs you or me at all. In this totally commoditized life we are dispensable. Everything is standardized. It really doesn’t matter who grows our food or makes our clothing. If we don’t make it, it someone else will. If we don’t buy it, someone else will. Some other faceless person will step forward to fill in our place. The same goes for the engineers who created this computer and the same goes for your own job. The machine rolls on. With us or without us. Naturally, we have our loved ones and our friends. But increasingly even these relationships are monetized for all classes. Family and leisure activity has become intensely commoditized.
Never has there been such a lonely and inauthentic civilization as the American middle class.
And ever since I read that, I've been sitting here at my desk and feeling a little guilty and a little depressed. Because I'm undoubtedly living the life which Bageant is criticizing. I work for a bureaucracy that is mind-boggling in its complexity. I earn enough to impulsively buy junk on Amazon and eBay. I don't know most of my neighbors.
My first job out of law school, I earned a little more than $10,000 and I don't recall feeling especially deprived. And now I can't imagine living on much less than I make now. I worry that I'm getting soft; worse, that what I'm feeling is typical middle-class angst.
I'm sure this will pass, but right now I'm contemplating selling all of my possessions and joining the Peace Corps. All I need is a generator to charge up the ventilator each night.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:29 PM | Comments (2)
February 12, 2006
Same To You, Buddy
Say you have a mobility impairment that prevents you from emphasizing your devastating verbal insults with an appropriate corresponding physical gesture. Thanks to the miracle of modern of modern engineering, people with disabilities can now get the satisfaction of showing exactly what they think when confronted with ignorance, stupidity, or simple bad manners. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Remote-Controlled Middle Finger.
I'm so going to mount one of these on my chair and hack it to respond to voice commands. No more Mr. Nice Gimp. The gloves are coming off.
Thanks to Michelle B. for tipping me off to this incredibly useful assistive technology.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 03:25 PM | Comments (0)
February 11, 2006
Like You Needed More Evidence Of My Geekiness
I'm in the initial stages of setting up my del.icio.us bookmark list. You can find it here. At first, I thought I would add clever note to each entry. But I stopped feeling clever after the six or seventh entry .
I had my hair chopped and colored today, which means I'm feeling quite metrosexual right now. Perhaps I'll get off the computer and hang pictures or arrange my closet or something.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 02:04 PM | Comments (0)
February 10, 2006
Many Miles To Go
Legal Affairs recently hosted an on-line debate regarding the future of the ADA and the disability rights movement in general. The participants were Ruth O'Brien, professor of political science at City University of New York, and Sam Bagenstos, professor of law at Washington University and one of the attorneys who represented Tony Goodman in the recent Georgia v. Goodman Supreme Court case. They look at the relatively narrow decisions the Supreme Court issued in the Lane and Goodman cases and discuss whether the ADA is expanding. As Professor Bagenstos points out, both decisions technically represent victories for the disability community, they don't address many of the day-to-day challenges that people with disabilities confront. Corner stores are still inaccessible, most movie theaters don't provide audio description or closed captioning, millions of people with disabilities don't have access to public transportation, and affordable, accessible housing is nonexistent in many communities.
I think the disability rights movement is in a defensive posture at the moment, which is hardly surprising given the current political climate. It's nearly impossible to promote further integration for people with disabilities when the small degree of progress we have made is constantly under attack. But the pendulum will inevitably swing the other way and we have to be ready for it. The ADA, while an important piece of legislation, is only a partial fulfillment of the promise of a truly accessible and equitable society. We need to find common ground with all of the issue groups that want affordable health care, quality education for all kids, better public transportation, etc. We need to work with these groups on selling these policies to the public as part of a comprehensive vision. We need to show how these things benefit everyone, not just the oppressed or underprivileged. In short, we need to start seeing ourselves as part of a larger movement for social justice and civil rights.
It frustrates me when disability activists get skittish about allying themselves with other advocacy groups. We expect everyone to be sympathetic to our concerns, but I'm not sure we always return the favor. If we are really serious about pushing for this vision of a more accessible society, we can't get there alone. We need other groups to tell us, "We've got your back." More importantly, we need to give them a reason to say that to us.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:58 PM | Comments (0)
February 09, 2006
Citius, Altius, Fortius
My friend Jay Weiner, who writes for the Star Tribune, is in Turin reporting on the Winter Games. And he's gone all New Media with a daily podcast. Not a bad gig. Go give him a listen. These Olympics have kind of snuck up on us, haven't they? They don't appear to be drenched in the same amount of hype that has preceded other Games. Which is fine with me. Anything is better than the jingoistic circle jerk that was the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Maybe some European anarchists will storm the ice rink during the ice dancing competition, which would be the best thing that ever happened to the "sport" of ice dancing.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:45 PM | Comments (0)
February 08, 2006
Eye In The Sky
The U.S. government is developing methods for data-mining massive amounts of on-line information, including blogs, for signs of terrorist activity. I fully expect that the next time I try to get on an airplane, my name will appear on some kind of list that requires me to be subjected to an intensive pre-boarding search that includes the complete disassembly of my ventilator and the removal of my tracheotomy tube to ensure that I'm not carrying any miniature explosives or biological agents. I wonder if the FBI has a file started on me yet. Man, that would be so cool if I did. I could request a copy of it and take it with me to assorted progressive rallies and try to impress women by showing it to them.
I have to be at a 7:30 meeting tomorrow morning. I'm debating whether I should just sleep in my chair tonight with my clothes on. Or maybe I should just pour enormous quantities of coffee, Mountain Dew, and Red Bull down my g-tube and simply stay awake until I slip into a coma sometime tomorrow afternoon at my office.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:38 PM | Comments (0)
February 07, 2006
Wishful Thinking
Richard Dawkins is one cranky atheist. Dawkins, a well-known British scientist who has penned several popular science books on evolution, recently did a two-part documentary entitled The Root of All Evil. It's an unabashedly critical look at religion's role in global culture and history. The series aired only in the UK, but I harnessed the arcane powers of the internets to score myself a copy.
I don't disagree with much of the substance of Dawkin's arguments. I spent several years struggling to believe in some vague notion of a watchful, if distant, God. But in the end, it never added up for me. To believe in a supernatural agent that has ultimate authority over the universe seems to diminish the chaotic elegance of this reality. It's too pat an explanation. I can't believe in a divinely created universe anymore than I can believe that the tooth fairy left all that pocket change under my pillow when I was a kid or that UFOs are responsible for all those crop circles.
But back to Dawkins. Sure, I chuckled when I watched him verbally spar with a rather smug evangelical pastor. But I'm not sure I would have told the pastor that his megachurch service reminded me of the Nuremberg rallies . Dawkins sees religious faith as a dangerous relic of less enlightened times that has no place in this age of scientific reason, which explains his blunt words to the pastor. And after living through the last five years under a president who, like the Blues Brothers, believes he's on a mission from God, it's hard to deny Dawkins this point. But I'm a little less willing to condemn the faithful. If biologists like E.O. Wilson are correct, humans are genetically hard-wired to believe in the supernatural. A genetic legacy like that, reinforced by thousands of years of human history, is not likely to disappear anytime soon.
Which means I'm a mutant in more ways than one.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:03 PM | Comments (1)
February 06, 2006
Family Values
A few days ago, I wrote about the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 and the hardships that it imposes on Medicaid recipients. But there are a few bright spots in the legislation, particularly the Family Opportunity Act. The FOA enables low-income and middle-income families to purchase Medicaid for their disabled children on a sliding-fee basis. Currently, many working parents of children with disabilities have keep their incomes artificially low to ensure that their kids will continue to qualify for Medicaid, which sometimes means turning down a raise or a promotion. The FOA will remove those disincentives and allow parents to increase their earnings without jeopardizing their children's access to health care
The FOA is modeled on existing buy-in models that some states have already implemented, including Minnesota and Wisconsin. My own family benefited from Wisconsin's Katie Beckett program when I was a kid. Without it, my parents might have had to face the very real possibility of surrendering custody of me to the state as the only means of getting me the care I required. It's good to know that parents across the country will now have similar assistance available to them.
However, it should be noted that the FOA passed because of intensive lobbying by concerned parents over the last several years. Contrast that with the cuts that will affect the poorest Medicaid recipients. Politicians don't want to give the impression they're voting against working families, but it's a little easier to punish a group of people that is essentially powerless and voiceless in the halls of Congress.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:23 PM | Comments (0)
February 05, 2006
Fools In Love
Last night, I saw Match Point, Woody Allen's new thriller. If there's anything I've learned from Hollywood films, it's never, ever have an affair. Sure, it's fun for a while, but then it all ends in tears sooner or later. And the logistics of maintaining an affair are nearly impossible. There's always the chance that you'll leave some incriminating evidence lying about or that one of your buddies will screw up the story about how he and you are going on a fishing trip when you're really shacked up in some cheap motel on the interstate with that waitress from Denny's.
And what's up with Scarlett Johannsson's voice? Don't get me wrong, it's incredibly sexy, but it sounds like she goes through a pack or two of Virginia Slims a day.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 04:21 PM | Comments (0)
February 04, 2006
Satisfied Customer
I just got a note from Canon saying that they're going to fix my digital camera at no cost to me. Also, Shure replaced my $200 earbuds for free...for the second time. Hooray for companies that actually believe in customer service.
Aargh. My p-switch needs a new battery. When it gets low on juice, I have to click twice on letters before they'll appear on-screen. I'd better go take care of this.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 02:26 PM | Comments (0)
February 03, 2006
Pay Up
The budget bill that squeaked through the House a couple days ago contains bad news for thousands of Medicaid recipients, including those with disabilities. States will now be able to impose premiums and co-pays on even the poorest enrollees. Most of these co-pays will range from $1-$5 dollars, which might not seem like a lot of money to most of us. It's important to remember, though, that most Medicaid recipients live on a few hundred dollars a month and every few bucks that go towards co-payments are a few dollars less that go towards food or housing or other basic necessities. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that 65,000 people will be driven out of Medicaid because of their inability to pay these newly enacted premiums and co-pays.
If anything, these cuts will make health care more expensive for everyone. These people will not stop needing medical care. They will present themselves at emergency rooms where they cannot be turned away. Their conditions will generally be more severe and more expensive to treat because they lacked access to preventive care. And the costs for treating those people will be reflected in the higher health care premiums and co-pays that everyone else will have to pay.
Congress has never shown much aptitude for taking the long view of things. However, the deliberate myopia behind these particular cuts is shameful. They do nothing to address the long-term pressures that are ballooning Medicaid costs. Instead, they simply delay the final reckoning for a few more years.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:14 PM | Comments (1)
February 02, 2006
Exploring The Archives
I have a bunch of old Wordperfect files on my computer that I haven't been able to open in a long while because Microsoft Word was all like "Wordperfect? What the hell is Wordperfect?" I also have no idea what I did with my ancient copy of WP. I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner, but I downloaded OpenOffice yesterday, which had no problems converting my old files.
I was just going through some of these files, many of which go back to my junior and senior years in college. There are a few term papers, letters to friends (not e-mails, but actual letters that had to be inserted into stamped envelopes), and some excruciatingly bad poetry. I was such an angsty, earnest kid and more than a little self-absorbed. Like most kids in college, I had a lot of emotional peaks and valleys and those were the times when I seemed to be compelled to write.
I really should delete some of this stuff, especially the poetry. But if I ever do have any success with writing, I might want someone to shove it in my face once in a while, just to keep me humble.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:03 PM | Comments (2)
February 01, 2006
Cut Down To Size
I've been observing my sister adapt to the rigors of law school and i'm reminded of my own period of adjustment that I experienced as a 1L. I definitely don't mean to sound like a braggart, but college was relatively easy for me. I never studied very hard and yet I still graduated magna cum laude. I'll admit that I probably benefited from some grade inflation, but I had cultivated this image of myself as a talented and diligent student. After my first year of law school, that image was demolished. I wasn't the smartest kid in class any more, not even close, and that took some getting used to. In retrospect, that experience did me some good. It taught me that not everything was supposed to be easy and that I needed to get over myself already.
Funny thing, though: During exams one semester, I had a problem with the student scribe who was assigned to write my exam for me. I ended up dictating my exam to the dean of students and earned one of the best grades I ever received in law school. I attribute my exceptional performance to the fact that I didn't want the dean to think I was a total dumbass as she was transcribing my answer.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:08 PM | Comments (0)