February 28, 2009

Lead Us Not Into Temptation

Many of the more liberal-minded blogs are indulging in a snarkfest over the results of a new study that shows slightly higher consumption rates of porn in more socially conservative regions of the country. It's good fodder for Stewart and Colbert, but it's probably overblown. Americans have a healthy appetite for the naked Internet ladies (and dudes); it's silly to expect conservatives to be any different. Yes, the disconnect between their words and actions is a legitimate target for criticism, but the study may be more interesting for what it says about the current state of American cultural conservatism and where it's going.

American evangelicals and fundamentalists have embraced the Internet as much as the rest of us. It provides so many tools for reaching out to the faithful and bringing people into the churches. They are not walling themselves from the rest of us. But the rest of us are becoming more secular. And all the things that make the Internet such a useful tool for conservatives--its ubiquity, accessibility, and versatility--are tremendously disruptive to religious communities. It's all too easy to stumble upon material that contradicts their faith or is considered verboten.

It's not easy to keep your gaze fixed on heaven when a click of the mouse can serve up videos of beautiful women doing all kinds of crazy things to the pizza delivery guy. People of faith have always been challenged to maintain fidelity to their beliefs while being assailed on all sides by the bright lights and come-hither looks of the secular world. But, as this study underscores, technology is making it a lot harder to keep the secular world at bay.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:10 PM | Comments (3)

February 27, 2009

Taking The Fight To Them

I'm really liking how the Obama administration is reframing the health care debate as a matter of fiscal necessity. As the budget overview notes, health cares costs will account for 20% of the economy by 2017 if nothing changes. A fifth of all national spending--public and private--will be committed to health care expenses. American businesses will struggle to compete on a global stage as the health care line on their balance sheets ravenously devour that would have otherwise been available for expansion or researching new products. Federal deficits will only get bigger, making future recessions more commonplace and more severe. Health care reform is not just some fuzzy feel-good liberal pet cause. It's about guaranteeing national security and long-term fiscal discipline.

To put it another way, Obama is using conservative phrasing to talk about a progressive idea. And the Republicans don't seem to have a clue about how to respond, other than to repeat the same tired campfire stories about big government and socialism.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:30 PM | Comments (0)

February 26, 2009

Sounds Like Someone I Know

An episode of aimless browsing through The Onion's website when I came across this headline:

This American Life Completes Documentation Of Liberal, Upper-Middle-Class Existence

I laughed, I had a brief existential crisis upon realizing that a satirical newspaper had made plain that I'm just another herd member of a particular demographic, and then I laughed some more.

Man, suddenly, I'm really craving some brie.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:31 PM | Comments (0)

February 25, 2009

Building Blocks

While the scientific community awaits a presidential order lifting the restrictions on funding for embryonic stem cell research, we get word that researchers have created neurons using adult stem cells. While further study is needed to determine whether these neurons can communicate with other types of cells (such as muscle cells), this could be the the first step towards eventual treatments for spinal cord injuries, Alzheimer's, and other conditions that involve deteriorating neurons (including spinal muscular atrophy).

Those treatments are still years, if not decades, away. We are still playing in the shallow end of the pool when it comes to understanding the molecular blueprints of human biology. We have yet to discover which types of stem cells are best suited for therapeutic purposes. That's why we need to adequately fund all avenues of stem cell research.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:46 PM | Comments (1)

February 24, 2009

Better Living Through Blogging

A new study finds that blogging--particularly the personal, day-in-the-life variety, can lead to a greater sense of belonging and connectedness with the rest of the world. Here's a good summary of the study's findings:

The researchers found support for deeper self-disclosure from bloggers resulting in a range of better social connections. These included things such as a sense of greater social integration, which is how connected we feel to society and our own community of friends and others; an increase in social bonding (our tightly knit, intimate relationships); and social bridging — increasing our connectedness with people who might be from outside of our typical social network.

I'm always gauging the level of intimacy I offer readers. When I first started doing this, I probably wrote things that would now strike me as too revelatory or narcissistic. But I do think that this blog has played an important role in my own happiness over the last several years. Like just about everyone else on this planet, I'm prone to moments of isolation and loneliness. The comments and e-mails that this blog elicits are a wonderful anodyne for those feelings.

I sometimes think how my life would have been different if I had never started this blog. The friendships that would have remained acquaintances. The blog has served as a kind of springboard or facilitator for many lasting connections. I try to remember that on those days when I'm staring at a blank screen, trying to think of something, anything, to say.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:20 PM | Comments (4)

February 23, 2009

Big Deal. Mine Can Recline!

Somebody compiled a list of the (allegedly) 11 coolest wheelchairs in the whole wide world. The wheelchair-with-flamethrower is an interesting concept, although I'm not sure of the practical value. One nasty bump in the sidewalk and kaboom goes the chair, its owner, and any innocent bystanders , all for the sake of impressing that cute girl at the party.

And the list's creators start with this insightful gem:

Being in a wheelchair has to be one of the worst things a person has to deal with.

But I guess I shouldn't expect much from a blog that features posts with titles like "MILF Monday"

Thanks to Amy for the tip.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:37 PM | Comments (5)

February 22, 2009

Ten Things

You know that Facebook meme that's going around? The one where you're supposed to write 25 things about yourself? Well, here are 10 things about me that are not in the least bit true or accurate.

1. I was born in one-room shack in the Yukon backwoods to anarchist parents who are still wanted by Interpol.
2. The color magenta makes me violently ill.
3. I make a tidy living writing explicit romance novels under the pseudonym Lady Desiree Wanton St. James.
   
4. David Bowie has my e-mail address and he keeps forwarding me LOLcats pictures. 
   
5. My disability is the result of an accidental exposure to gamma radiation on military proving grounds in the New Mexican desert.
6. On three separate occasions, I've been abducted by aliens. The first two incidents were, on the whole, rather pleasant. The third, not so much.
   
7. I can't fall asleep without the soundtrack for Footloose playing in the background.
8. I had a secret affair with a Cirque du Soleil performer.
9. I have a recurring dream in which Abraham Lincoln, Jerry Seinfeld, and I are doing improv comedy in front of a live audience.
   
10. The Russian Mafia has a contract out on me.
    

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 02:29 PM | Comments (2)

February 21, 2009

Dirty Nazis

The trailer for Quentin Tarantino's forthcoming WWII film, Inglorious Basterds (the misspelling is Tarantino's, not mine), is now available on Apple's website. The violence is mostly implied rather than shown, but it leaves little doubt that geysers of blood and mangled entrails will be splattered across the screen. I'm not sure I buy Brad Pitt's Kentucky-fried accent, but I have a feeling this movie will be winking at the audience for the entire running time.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:00 PM | Comments (1)

February 20, 2009

Riding The Rails

To pick up yesterday's travel theme, the local press is speculating that some of the stimulus money might be used to start work on a high-speed train corridor between the Twin Cities and Chicago. Although it probably won't be completed until I'm pushing 50, I like the idea of being able to hop on a train and arrive a few hours later in the third-largest city in America. And unlike air travel, I won't have to get out of my chair and I won't have to put up with getting frisked by some overeager TSA agent who also wants to swab my ventilator for explosive residue. They might even build a branch to Green Bay, which could spare my parents from making the long, boring drive to visit me and my sister (although I'm probably overdue for a trip back to the Land of Cheeseheads).

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 10:00 PM | Comments (0)

February 19, 2009

Tour Guide

When it comes to planning trips and vacations, most people with disabilities have to act as their own travel agents. Most mainstream travel agencies have no clue about how to find an accessible hotel room, book a wheelchair-accessible taxi, and otherwise ensure a barrier-free holiday for a paying client. Craig Grimes, a British entrepreneur who is also a paraplegic, has created an on-line travel agency aimed at travelers with disabilities. According to Grimes, the site will offer detailed information on accessible lodging, transportation, and other services.

If it lives up to its promise, this site could be a boon to travelers with disabilities. It's tremendously difficult to get accurate information from a desk clerk on a hotel room's layout. And even the most meticulous research doesn't prevent the occasional surprise (like discovering that foot-high curb in front of my hotel in Paris). The article mentions that the site will include San Francisco in its initial offering of travel destinations. Hmm, I've been meaning to visit my brother...

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:42 PM | Comments (2)

February 18, 2009

Forced Invincibility

Here's a choice passage from yesterday's Times article about twentysomethings trying to get by in the Big Apple without health insurance.

“My first reaction was to start laughing — I just kept saying, ‘No way, no way,’ ” Alanna Boyd, a 28-year-old receptionist, recalled of the $17,398 — including $13 for the use of a television — that she was charged after spending 46 hours in October at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan with diverticulitis, a digestive illness. “I could have gone to a major university for a year. Instead, I went to the hospital for two days.”

The article goes on to describe how the hip and uninsured are resorting to diagnoses via the Internet and treating themselves with expired medications. New York's governor is proposing a change in law that would allow young adults to remain on their parents' insurance policies until age 29, but that won't be of much help to the vast majority of the state's uninsured young adults. Most of them also make too much money to qualify for Medicaid, even if they work a minimum-wage job.

As Dr. Atul Gawande pointed out in his terrific article on health care reform in The New Yorker, "In every industrialized nation, the movement to reform health care has begun with stories about cruelty." The fact that a short hospital stay can saddle a young person with crushing debt is only one of the many cruelties to be found in our current health care system. President Obama has promised to make health care reform a major component of his forthcoming budget plan. Let's hope it makes life a little less cruel for the folks in this article and everyone else coping without health insurance.

One other interesting note about the Times article: it mentions a young woman who got hit by a car and subsequently turned her experiences into a one-woman show called Hot Cripple. I just want to point out that she totally stole the title of my planned memoir.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:28 PM | Comments (1)

February 17, 2009

Self-Starter

After years of whining to my friends about not being able to find a book club, I decided to take matters into my own hands and started my own on Meetup. I have no idea if it will take off, but it's attracted enough interest for me to realize that I might actually have to set up a meeting. Any suggestions for our first selection? And please, no cribbing from Oprah's list of approved titles unless you want me to permanently lose all respect for you.

And if you're curious about our budding literary circle and want to join in on the fun, e-mail me and I'll send you the details.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:54 PM | Comments (4)

February 16, 2009

Position Of Influence

Late last week, Vice President Biden announced the appointment of Kareem Dale as Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy. Dale is a longtime Obama associate and served as his disability advisor during the campaign. Dale is an attorney and he has a visual impairment. According to Biden, Dale will "have absolutely direct access to the president."

Assuming that Dale really will have the president's ear, it's an encouraging sign that the administration will give serious attention to disability issues. In his remarks, Biden also acknowledged that the disability rights movement is part of the larger struggle for civil rights:

I started off in the civil rights movement. This is a civil rights movement. This is a movement to make sure that we guarantee that all peoples in the world have the opportunity to succeed to the degree they are capable.

That's great, Mr. Vice President. Does that mean we can finally get around to ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities? Not to pressure you or anything, but Qatar and Azerbaijan have already ratified it. I'm just saying.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 11:57 AM | Comments (2)

February 15, 2009

Must-See TV

The last few episodes of Battlestar Galactica have been exceedingly good. Bleak and depressing, but really good. The writers deserve heaps of credit for letting the characters be true to their natures. When the chips are down, Adama turns into a tyrant, Gaeta becomes a self-righteous traitor, and the president wallows in self-pity. Throw in a few millennia-old robots and you have some pretty compelling television. I'm going to miss this series once it's gone in a few weeks, but it's good to see go out in top form. There's still plenty of time for the show to jump the shark, although that doesn't seem likely.

I'd better start saving up for the DVD box set.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 04:46 PM | Comments (1)

February 14, 2009

Everybody Needs Somebody

A new dating website, Til-Death-Do-Us-Part, is aimed at people with terminal illnesses. I can't decide how I feel about this. It might offer a venue where people can be forthright about their health status and find open-minded companions. Or it might be a flocking ground for devotees, predators, and other unsavory characters. But there's probably some kind of law of nature that requires every dating site has to have its proportionate share of jerks.

I'm still trying to get venture capital funding for a dating site aimed at early-model cyborgs like myself. I keep telling them there's an untapped segment of the dating population who gets totally turned on by the sound of mechanical ventilation and the sight of extra body orifices. They keep saying "Prove it." So the market research continues.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 03:01 PM | Comments (2)

February 13, 2009

I Spend All My Time On The Internet So You Don't Have To

A few disability-related links to close out the week:

• First, a concert for the deaf and hard-of-hearing will be held in Toronto next month.
• Next, a Strib article describing how the proposed cuts to personal care assistance services in Minnesota might affect the people who depend on those services.
  
• Finally, the Authors' Guild is freaking out over the new Kindle's text-to-speech capabilities because it might infringe on copyright.
  

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:23 PM | Comments (0)

February 12, 2009

Not Enough Litigious Jerks To Go Around

If you're a junior attorney in a large law firm and you still have a job to go to tomorrow, consider yourself lucky. A flurry of pink slips went out today to associates in major firms around the country including Faegre & Benson, a Minneapolis firm that recruited several of my former classmates. My sympathies go out to any 2L or 3L who's seeking employment. You might want to consider doing what a friend of mine did. After she practiced law for a few years, she decided that she wanted to study medicine. So she took the MCAT and got accepted into Stanford med school.

(I have some freakishly smart friends. Just thinking about it is giving me an inferiority complex)

But back to my original point. Sure, you'll have to take on some additional debt, but you'll get to wear a lab coat and ogle the naked bodies of strangers. That's way more fun than writing a brief on eminent domain.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:19 PM | Comments (2)

February 11, 2009

Recruitment Incentive

Kids with disabilities and their families are already feeling the effects of the worsening recession. NPR has the story of a young mother who is reluctantly reenlisting in the army to ensure that her son--a child with multiple disabilities--receives the treatment he needs. The family's home state of Nevada has slashed reimbursement rates for therapists who treat kids on Medicaid and there is a long waiting list for early intervention services.

Here in Minnesota, kids are being spared the worst of proposed health care cuts. The governor is proposing the elimination of services like physical and speech therapy, but only for adults on Medicaid. But this family's story underscores the heartbreaking, absurd choices our broken health care system forces upon people already overwhelmed by life's capricious turns.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:11 PM | Comments (1)

February 10, 2009

Who Wants Some?

A reader sent me a link to an article describing an experimental wheelchair that includes a mind-controlled robotic arm. My reaction can be summed up as follows: totally frakkin' awesome. If Stephen Hawking refuses to meet me at the International Space Station for our zero-gravity death match, perhaps he'll agree to an alternative. I'm picturing each of us in one of these wheelchairs in the middle of an arena, beating each other into a bloody pulp with our robotic arms until one of us cries "uncle". It will be the beginning of a whole new spectator sport that could potentially be worth billions of dollars: Ultimate Gimp Fighting. Better yet: Rock-'Em-Sock-'Em Cripples.

Somebody get me Vince McMahon on the phone. He's going to want to get in on this at the ground level.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:44 PM | Comments (3)

February 09, 2009

Gadget Critique

Amazon showed off the new version of its e-book reader, the Kindle, to the public today. It's slimmer and prettier and it offers at least one improvement in terms of accessibility. The Kindle 2 includes a text-to-speech function that should be of use to people with visual impairments. But it still doesn't offer any kind of hands-free access, which means that I will continue to purchase boring old paper-based books for the foreseeable future. I'm not expecting Amazon to get into the adaptive hardware business, but how about meeting me halfway: give me the ability to download e-books from the Amazon website and read them on my computer. At a time when I can easily purchase music, movies, and TV shows from any number of vendors, it's a bit frustrating not to have the same option for books. 

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:54 PM | Comments (1)

February 08, 2009

While Rome Burns

I'm imagining Senators Collins, Snowe, Nelson, and Specter meeting for Sunday brunch this morning, toasting each other with mimosas and basking in the glow of newly realized power. The cuts made to the Senate version of the stimulus bill don't have any clearly articulated rationale behind them other than some tired nonsense about "trimming the pork". Explain to me how $40 billion in aid to bankrupt states is pork. Explain to me how $20 billion in school construction won't create jobs.

When the total dollar amount of the bill is still close to a trillion dollars, I have a hard time buying the argument that this centrist-brokered deal is really about fiscal responsibility. It's about politicians choosing self-promotion over a stimulus bill that might actually pull the economy out of this death spiral.

And it is a death spiral. Take a look at this chart, which compares the current wave of job losses to job losses in recent recessions:



Gulp.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 02:26 PM | Comments (0)

February 07, 2009

It's Gonna Suck, Isn't It?

Dear Hollywood,

Remember that little talk we had the other day about how I'm not your tool? About how you can't expect me to get excited whenever you appoint some hack to adapt one of my favorite books for the screen? It felt really good to get that off my chest. But then I find out that you're making a movie of Cloud Atlas, a book that occupies a place of honor in the library of my mind. Whenever friends ask me for a reading recommendation, this is the book I shove into their hands. And you're letting the Wachowski brothers direct it. Sure, they made The Matrix, but that was ten years ago (ugh, I'm getting old). Everything they've done since then has been, well, not good. While the book has a few action sequences, the story isn't something you can carve up, insert a few bullet-time sequences, and call it good. I'm not even sure the book can be condensed into two or three hours.

I hope you'll prove me wrong, but I'm not betting on it.

Sincerely,

Mark

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 02:45 PM | Comments (1)

February 06, 2009

Fuck Yeah, Mr. President

Come on, admit it. Ever since Obama took the oath of office, you've private wondered what the President of the United States and leader of the free world sounds like when he's calling someone a sorry ass motherfucker.

Wonder no more. To be fair, the clips on this site are from the audiobook of Obama's Dreams of my Father, but it's fun to imagine him using similar language when addressing recalcitrant Republicans.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:27 PM | Comments (1)

February 05, 2009

Food For My TiVo

Beginning Sunday, MTV is airing a new documentary series called How's Your News. Based on the 1999 documentary of the same title,  HYN features reporters with physical and cognitive disabilities interviewing various politicians and media figures. The original film was well-regarded by both critics and the disability community. It didn't make cheap appeals to sentimentality and, based on the clips I've seen, the series maintains that tone. Check out this cooking segment featuring an uncensored Amy Sedaris:

Kudos to MTV for greenlighting the series and reviving a great concept.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:44 PM | Comments (0)

February 04, 2009

Good Girl

Well, this is sad. Sasha, my family's golden retriever, had to be put to sleep yesterday. Sasha joined our family when she was still a puppy, but she really belonged to my dad and sister. Like all pets, Sasha had her quirks (not to mention an insatiable appetite for bread), but she had the sweet, gentle disposition typical of her breed. Once, a neighbor kid came over to play with Sasha, but she was a little intimidated by the dog's size. Sasha, demonstrating some kind of innate comprehension of child psychology, crawled on her belly towards the kid and allowed herself to be petted.

I'm going to miss her.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:40 PM | Comments (6)

February 03, 2009

Musk

The rush is on to make a quick buck off the upcoming release of the new Star Trek movie. And in the world of tie-in marketing, there's no such thing as a bad idea. One company is creating a set of Trek-themed fragrances with names like Tiberius, Pon Farr, and Red Shirt.

Why would anyone want to smell like a horny Vulcan? I'm not even sure I want to know what a horny Vulcan smells like. But I can guess what Tiberius smells like. Aqua Velva and Saurian brandy with dickish undertones.

I'll stick with my CK One, thank you very much.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:01 PM | Comments (0)

February 02, 2009

Money On The Table

As the stimulus bill winds its way through Congress, one provision is generating a lot of discussion in state capitols. For states to receive the increased Medicaid matching dollars offered in the legislation, states cannot make their eligibility rules any more restrictive than they were in the summer of 2008. In policy circles, it's called a maintenance-of-effort clause. The feds are telling states, "We're not going to reward you for kicking people off your Medicaid rolls, so if you want our help, leave your eligibility requirements alone."

Minnesota could lose out on a significant amount of federal aid if, as the governor proposes, parents are excluded from MinnesotaCare. This leaves only a couple other options for trimming health care expenses: cutting benefits (like dental care or physical therapy) or reducing payments to health care providers. The question on policymakers' minds is whether the increased aid is enough to offset some of the most draconian cuts being contemplated.

Despite the repeated assertions of conservatives to the contrary, the stimulative effects of Medicaid spending are clear. You don't have to look hard to find examples of clinics and hospitals laying off staff because fewer people have health insurance after being laid off themselves. This money creates jobs and keeps people employed, an important consideration for lawmakers to remember as they start piecing together a budget.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:43 PM | Comments (0)

February 01, 2009

Critic At Large: The Reader

Adapted from the novel of the same name, The Reader spans forty years of the Holocaust's aftermath as experienced by two people whose paths briefly intersect before diverging in wildly different directions. Michael is a teenager growing up in postwar Germany who, purely through happenstance, meets and falls in love with an older woman, Hannah. They enter into an intense physical relationship, but Hannah is a deeply guarded woman who carefully maintains a certain distance from the enthusiastically lovestruck Michael. But the two develop a routine in the course of their affair: Michael reads to Hannah from assorted literary works before they make love. Hannah eventually drops out of Michael's life only to resurface several years later when he is a law student and he discovers that she is on trial for war crimes she allegedly committed as a guard at a concentration camp.

The film masterfully explores the consequences of that short relationship on both their lives, even long afterwards. To say much more would spoil the story, but it does avoid predictability and cliche. These characters are both deeply wounded and there will be no Hollywood ending, which is as it should be. Kate Winslet delivers a fine performance and it's good to see Bruno Ganz--the star of Wings of Desire--make an appearance here.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 01:07 PM | Comments (2)