August 31, 2009

In Lieu Of A Martini And Smoking Jacket

For the longest time, my weekday evening routine has been numbingly predictable. Come home, go straight to computer, check e-mail, check work e-mail, think about blogging, surf web, think about blogging again, surf some more, promise myself to start blogging after checking one more site, realize I wanted to add a couple things to my Amazon wishlist before forgetting, stare at screen, think for the nth time that I should find another hobby that requires less concentration, write first sentence, rewrite first sentence two or three times, glance out window at night sky, finish blogging, berate myself for not getting any project writing done, turn away from computer bleary-eyed, eye my growing stack of unread New Yorkers, berate myself again, turn on television.

And all this occurs after spending much of each day in front of another computer. I think the collective dose of gamma radiation is starting to dehydrate my brain, so I'm going to conduct a little experiment on myself. Rather than make a beeline for the computer when I return home, I will instead read a few pages from a book, leaf through a magazine, go for a walk. Anything that doesn't involve a screen. Lemon sorbet for the mind, if you will. I make no promises that this will improve the quality of the blog. The surest way to improve quality is to bring in new management. But it might spare you from having to read three or four rambling posts on health care policy each week. Oh, who am I kidding? At best, my experiment will make those posts a little more readable.

Now, what was I going to add to my Amazon wishlist...?

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:35 PM | Comments (2)

August 30, 2009

The Writing Life

In Friday's entry, I was fretting about the passage of Reading Rainbow and the consequences on kids' reading habits. I felt a little better after reading Clive Thompson's article in Wired entitled "The New Literacy", which examines how the Internet is affecting young people's writing habits. A Stanford professor did a comprehensive study of college students' academic and on-line writing and found that we're "in the midst of a literacy revolution the likes of which we haven't seen since Greek civilization." On one hand, she might be overstating things. After all, these are Stanford kids she's studying. You don't get into Stanford without demonstrating some adeptness with written language. On the other hand, she is convincing when she points out that the average person writes more than before the rise of e-mail, blogs, message boards, Facebook, etc.

Wired articles have a tendency to overhype how all this kewl technology is changing our lives. You can express yourself well on Slashdot and still never pick up a book. It'd like to see another study that examines whether all this "life writing" makes us better critical thinkers.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:50 PM | Comments (2)

August 29, 2009

The Adorable Things Conservatives Say

My fellow Minnesotans are, by and large, sensible folk. But even we are prone to moments of deep and profound stupidity. Residents of Michelle Bachmann's congressional district seem particularly vulnerable to the stupid bug. Consider this quote by one of her constituents at a recent town hall meeting:

I’ll be danged if I am going to give up my Social Security because of socialism.

Words fail, don't they? The gentleman who offered up this gem is also a town council member, which leads me to suspect that the residents of that town have incredibly low standards for their local leaders or they just enjoy a good joke.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 03:26 PM | Comments (0)

August 28, 2009

Early Influence

I'm sad to report that Reading Rainbow is no more. For those of you who weren't reared on hours of after-school PBS television, Reading Rainbow was a children's program that introduced kids to books under the guidance of the enthusiastic LeVar Burton. I was already on the older end of the target demographic when it began airing in the early 80s, but it did prompt several pleas to my mom to take me to the library so I could check out a book featured on the show. And when I saw the promos for Star Trek: The Next Generation, my first reaction was "Hey, what's the guy from Reading Rainbow doing in Starfleet?"

The PBS suits explain that the show is being scrapped because the current trend in educational programming is to emphasize basic reading skills. Bleh. How utilitarian. Even PBS is teaching to the test now. I realize not every kid is an advanced reader and advanced readers are probably a tiny sliver of the kids watching public television , but it's disheartening to know there's one less adult waving good books in kids' faces and encouraging them to seek out other good books.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:22 PM | Comments (0)

August 27, 2009

Cute Overload

Behold, the precursor to my robot nurse:



There's a bit more R&D that needs to be done before I can order the Jessica Biel model, but I guess this is a start. I'm not sure I'm down with the whole bear motif, though. I'm actually surprised that the Japanese went with a robot design that isn't a half-naked, doe-eyed prepubescent girl; perhaps that's next year's model. 

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:52 PM | Comments (0)

August 26, 2009

A Better Life In A Better Land

The only thing I can do to honor Senator Kennedy's life is to acknowledge the debt I and millions of other people with disabilities owe him. He played an instrumental in passing the Americans with Disabilities Act, a milestone civil rights law that, in vision if not always in practice, finally recognized people with disabilities as full citizens. Kennedy was a stalwart advocate for disability rights and a tireless champion of economic and social justice for everyone whom the American Dream had left behind. He didn't live long enough to realize his decades-long goal of passing universal health care legislation, but his legacy will always serve as a beacon to those of us committed to a progressive and unapologetically liberal future for this country.

Senator Kennedy eulogized his brother Robert with the following words, but they serve as a fine tribute to his own life:

Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:47 PM | Comments (0)

August 25, 2009

Critic At Large: Inglorious Basterds

Hollywood will probably never get World War II completely out of its system. Fifty years from now, we'll be watching the hologram remake of Saving Private Ryan and raving about the unflinching realism of the D-Day scene. WWII as a historical period lends itself particularly well to the devices of cinematic storytelling. The bad guys are clearly defined, the locales are distinctive, the props are iconic, and the ending is never in doubt. In Inglourious Basterds, director Quentin Tarantino demonstrates a solid understanding of the conventions of the WWII movie. He also introduces a dense verbosity and a visceral brutality that isn't found in most war movies.

Basterds is ostensibly about a group of American Jewish soldiers who are sent into Nazi-occupied France to terrorize the Germans with acts of unspeakable violence, but the Basterds' screen time is surprisingly limited. Much of the film centers on a French Jewish woman who, years earlier, escapes a Nazi massacre and manages to blend into Parisian life. Her fate and the fates of the Basterds intertwine as a result of a series of outlandish plot twists typical of a Tarantino movie. It's important to remember that Tarantino is using WWII as a springboard for a more fantastical story that is not rooted in historical fact. But the liberties he takes with the facts are easily forgiven in light of some truly enthralling filmmaking. There's a remarkable scene set in a divey French bar that is a textbook example of building and sustaining tension until the orgiastic violence of the climax. It's funny and bloody and filled with sharply written dialogue, the hallmarks of a Tarantino movie.

You either like this kind of thing or you don't. I left the theater smiling.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:35 PM | Comments (0)

August 24, 2009

I Can Quit Whenever I Want

The first treatment center for Internet addiction recently opened near Seattle. I took a look at the center's criteria for Internet addiction and it's striking how similar the language is to that of alcohol or drug addiction. I'm still not convinced that anyone can truly be "addicted" to the Internet. It's seems to have become a shorthand description for a more complex phenomenon that encompasses isolation, depression, social anxiety, and maybe a degree of obsessive compulsiveness. Heavy Internet use may be an indicator of these problems, but it doesn't necessarily have a causal relationship.

These sorts of worries seem to accompany every new iteration of technology. I remember a lot of hype about television addiction when I was a kid. In fact, my parents seemed much happier when I turned off the television in favor of playing on my computer. Of course, this was long before blogs, Facebook, multiplayer games, and pr0n. The adolescent version of me, plopped into the 21st century, might easily have been one of those kids who had his laptop confiscated until I brought my grades up.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:12 PM | Comments (1)

August 23, 2009

Come Sail Away

I had the opportunity to go sailing for the first time today. Long ago, back in 2008 at a silent auction, I bid on a sailing trip offered by a friend of mine and we finally made good on it today. My experience with riding in airplanes did translate somewhat to this form of transportation. As long as there's a place to plop down my ventilator and me, I'm usually good to go. And it was pretty great. My brain is usually a hamster that never gets off the wheel, but the combination of sun on my face and the sway of the boat somehow managed to take my higher cognitive functions offline for a while. Not a bad way to end the summer.

Photographic evidence is below. My nurse and my friend took turns supporting my ginormous melon of a head, which was no small feat.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 10:20 PM | Comments (1)

August 22, 2009

Freshmen

Schools and universities are starting up in a few weeks and the BBC is looking for incoming university students with disabilities to blog about their experiences as ivory tower initiates. Content will appear on the BBC's disability-themed Ouch! website. The solicitation didn't specify whether they are only interested in U.K. students, but it might be interesting to have an American perspective in the mix. And it could be a great way to earn yourself a little on-campus recognition, which in turn might reap rewards for your social life. The BBC is even offering a small stipend to the selected participants.

I blogged for Ouch! a couple years and had a great time doing it, although I never did get the autographed picture of Billie Piper that I had requested. The disappointment still lingers.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 03:16 PM | Comments (0)

August 21, 2009

Put Me In, Coach

Since I grew up in Green Bay and used to consider myself a devoted Packers fan, I suppose I should have some kind of opinion on former Packers quarterback and demigod Brett Favre coming to play for the Vikings. Except I don't. I long ago stopped paying attention to Favre's Hamlet impersonation. Retire. Don't retire. It makes no difference to me. I'm more interested in reading the previews of Diablo III. Ten years ago, I would have been gnashing my teeth along with everyone else in my former hometown. Now, I can barely manage a shrug.

And thus concludes my one and only sports-related blog post for the year.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:59 PM | Comments (1)

August 20, 2009

Other Worlds

The trailer for Avatar, the next film from James Cameron, is now available. Avatar has garnered a lot of attention from the geek community because Cameron has demonstrated a talent for writing and directing intelligent, propulsive science fiction films (Aliens, Terminator 2) and because it prominently features computer-generated scenery and characters that occupy almost every frame of the film. The trailer looks spectacular, although it only hints at a plot centering on a paraplegic marine who volunteers to have his consciousness transferred into the body of a blue alien dude.

Hollywood really does have a soft spot for stories of gimps being given the chance to walk again. As long as the movie isn't one big cliché, I won't complain. But should I ever finish my current writing project, my next effort will be a futuristic tale of a gimp space pirate, his faithful robotic attendant, and his many, many love interests.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:17 PM | Comments (0)

August 19, 2009

Tornado Alley

Based on eyewitness reports, at least one tornado touched down near downtown Minneapolis earlier this afternoon. The Convention Center, which is only a few blocks from my building, had some roof damage as did a nearby church. I came home half-expecting to discover at least one blown-out window, but all is calm here on the 19th floor. I didn't even lose power.

It might be a good time to review my insurance policy, though.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:01 PM | Comments (1)

August 18, 2009

Baseball, Apple Pie, And The Status Quo

I like this quote from Robert Putnam, the noted political scientist, that I came across in The Daily Dish:

Most men are not political animals. The world of public affairs is not their world. It is alien to them -- possibly benevolent, more probably threatening, but nearly always alien.

Whenever I start discussing health care reform with people who don't closely follow this stuff, they are usually quick to ask why the Democrats don't simply push health care reform through and be done with it. That question makes a lot of intuitive sense. After all, Democrats hold clear majorities in both the House and Senate while also controlling the White House. What's the holdup?

In most parliamentary democracies, such large majorities would be more than sufficient to pass most major legislation. Not so in America. As much as our school textbooks like to portray it as the greatest political experiment ever, the U.S. has an extremely risk-averse political culture. The drafters of the Constitution were obsessed, perhaps to the point of paranoia, with placing checks to prevent one state or region from holding too much sway over the nation as a whole. It's certainly an understandable impulse; nobody wanted to see the rise of an American tyrant after working so hard to throw off the shackles of a king. But that impulse led to the creation of procedures, like the filibuster, that can hardly be considered democratic.

Our system also concentrates a huge amount of power in individual senators, making it possible for a small cadre or even one senator to gum up the works and ensure that nothing gets done. In fact, I think we miss the point when we look at the Senate in terms of majority and minority parties. It's more accurate to view the Senate as a collection of one hundred egos that are all looking for a bit of stroking.

These dynamics aren't new, but they don't get much attention usually because most people find the legislative process boring and removed from the realities of their own lives. The health care reform bill is one of the few times that a substantial number of Americans are watching the policymaking process in action and they are coming away feeling confused and a little repulsed. I don't blame them. 

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:43 PM | Comments (2)

August 17, 2009

Scraping The Bottom Of The Idea Barrel

The SyFy channel caused something of a stir in both the disability and gay communities when it issued the following casting call for an actress to play a quadriplegic scientist in the new Stargate Universe series:

[ELEANOR PERRY] (35-40) and quite attractive. A brilliant scientist who happens to be a quadriplegic. Affected since childhood, her disability has rendered her body physically useless. However, after being brought on board the Destiny as the only person who may be able to save the ship and her crew from certain annihilation, she is given temporary powers that enable her to walk again and to finally experience intimacy.sptv050769..Strong guest lead. NAMES PREFERRED. ACTRESS MUST BE PHYSICALLY THIN. (THINK CALISTA FLOCKHART).

io9 expands on the story by reporting that the script calls for the gimp scientist to trade bodies with a colleague who is a lesbian. Hilarity ensues when the scientist uses her colleague's body to have some hetero sex.

The whole Stargate franchise always struck me as bland paint-by-numbers science fiction for people who don't really like science fiction, so a high creative lameness factor is to be expected. I guess I should be offended that the casting implies call that people with quadriplegia are incapable of experiencing sex, but I don't expect most Hollywood writers to have a clue about disability or homosexuality as it exists in the real world.

And there's really no need to bring Calista Flockhart into all of this. The poor woman has suffered enough.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:58 PM | Comments (1)

August 16, 2009

Critic At Large: District 9

The story of wayward extraterrestrials who receive a less-than-welcoming reception from us Earthlings is a Hollywood trope whose roots can be traced back to movies like The Day the Earth Stood Still and persists in District 9. District 9 is the latest incarnation of the familiar tale and this time, the giant mothership comes to a halt over Johannesburg and carries a sizable crew of half-starved insectoid aliens that soon acquire the derogatory appellation of "prawns". How the prawns came to Earth is never clearly explained, but the South Africans set about repeating their history by placing the aliens in a segregated shantytown known as District 9. The movie picks up twenty years later as the government is preparing to forcibly move the aliens to a larger detention facility hundreds of miles away from the unfriendly and suspicious population of Johannesburg.

District 9 could have been a tired retread of better science fiction movies, but it manages to give homage to those movies while making a lasting impression of its own. The movie veers from standard Hollywood fare by making most of the major human characters pretty unsympathetic. The protagonist is a loathsome mid-level bureaucrat who regards the prawns with thinly disguised contempt. And the aliens are decidedly alien; the movie makes no attempt to turn them into cuddly pieces of merchandise. The story also draws clear parallels with not only apartheid, but all the ill-fated attempts to segregate a minority population from the majority.

District 9 also succeeds at being a raucously fun summer popcorn movie. Besides the aliens (who are some of the most expertly rendered CGI characters I've seen so far), the movie has plenty of gunplay, badass alien weaponry, giant robots, and chase scenes. This is the best original science fiction film since Children of Men and obligatory viewing for any fan of the genre.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 03:16 PM | Comments (0)

August 15, 2009

Justice Is Served

I wrote a post a few weeks ago about Riam Dean, the young British woman who was reassigned from her job as an Abercrombie & Fitch store clerk because her prosthetic arm didn't comply with the chain's "look policy". A U.K. employment tribunal recently ruled that she had experienced unlawful harassment and awarded her £8,000 in damages. It also ruled that she did not experience disability discrimination. I don't know enough about British employment law to know the standard of proof for establishing a claim of disability discrimination, but I'm puzzled as to how the tribunal could find that that she was harassed without experiencing discrimination. The facts seem to indicate that her harassment is the direct result of her employer's discriminatory attitude regarding her disability. Perhaps some solicitor from across the pond can explain the distinction to me.

Nevertheless, it's good to see that Dean received some compensation for the horrible treatment she received. Hopefully, A&F's higher-ups will do a better job of keeping it's more clueless employees in check.

Thanks to Rose for the tip.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 02:09 PM | Comments (3)

August 14, 2009

On Demand

One feature of my new entertainment system that I quite like is the ability to stream Netflix videos onto my television. Netflix offers a surprising amount of decent content that can be streamed at any time, such the original Star Trek series and both recent and older movies. The Internet being the Internet, the video can still stutter and lag at times. But when the network is free of hiccups, the video quality is almost indistinguishable from a DVD. Physical media isn't going to be displaced for a long time, but digital delivery of video is likely to be commonplace in another five to seven years. In the meantime, I'm happy to be the future's beta tester.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:18 PM | Comments (0)

August 13, 2009

Skylarking

Wired has a story about a Minneapolis flight instructor who developed hand controls that enable people with disabilities to fly small planes. The controls are still in the prototype phase, but their design seems pretty ingenious. I'd be curious to know whether able-bodied pilots take a liking to them as well. Modifications of all kinds that are originally made for accessibility purposes tend to become popular with the impairment-free crowd. These modifications can be rather obvious (think curbcuts), but nobody thinks of them until the gimps get uppity.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:57 PM | Comments (0)

August 12, 2009

Salesmanship

As a follow-up to yesterday's post, here's Guardian columnist Hugh Muir commenting on the ridiculous IBD editorial that warned about the hazards of the U.K.'s national health care system to Stephen Hawking's mortality:

We say his life is far from worthless, as they do at Addenbrooke's hospital, Cambridge, where Professor Hawking, who has motor neurone disease, was treated for chest problems in April. As indeed does he. "I wouldn't be here today if it were not for the NHS," he told us. "I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived." Something here is worthless. And it's not him.

I propose that when Hawking and I enter the ring for our Stellar Smackdown (trademark pending), we both wear T-shirts with the words THIS FIGHT MADE POSSIBLE BY GOVERNMENT HEALTH CARE emblazoned across the front and back. We'll set up a web storefront to sell hoodies and tank tops that bear the same logo. Our clothing line will become the hottest thing since the trucker hat. Before long, celebrities will appear on PerezHilton wearing our stuff. And that's how we'll market socialized medicine to the American people. Watch and learn, Democrats.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:38 PM | Comments (0)

August 11, 2009

With Friends Like These

The forces opposed to health care reform have been test-marketing a new and rather strange argument over the last few days. The argument goes like this: people with disabilities will be worse off if health care reform passes because the evil government bureaucrats will decide that our lives are not worth the expense. Sarah Palin, conservatism's beacon of intellectual honesty, claims that her son Trig (who has Down's Syndrome) would have to come before a government "death panel" that would decide whether he can continue to receive medical care. An editorial in the conservative Investor's Business Daily opines that Stephen Hawking "wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless."

As just about every other rational blogger has pointed out, the fact that Hawking continues to live and work in the U.K. and is not living in mortal fear of syringe-wielding bureaucrats would indicate the editorial is unadulterated bullshit.

But there's something more going on here. Conservatives love to pretend they're the disability community's knights in shining armor when it suits their political purposes. In years past, they tried to co-opt us in the abortion debate by making both subtle and explicit claims that every gimp would be snuffed out in the womb were it not for them staying the liberals' murderous hand. The right has now adapted the tactic to the health care debate, portraying themselves as the defenders and protectors of us meek and vulnerable cripples who dwell in the shadow of a tyrannical and cruel government.

I won't win any Pulitzers for this sentence, but they can take their false magnanimity and go fuck themselves. Here's how well the current health care system has worked for me. My parents hit the lifetime cap on their insurance policy because of my multiple hospitalizations as a kid. If not for the fortuitous enactment of a state law that allowed parents to buy into Medicaid, my parents would have either had to impoverish themselves or surrender custody of me to ensure I received the intensive care I needed. If I tried to buy individual coverage now, every private insurer would laugh in my face. My employer-based insurance won't cover my nursing care (unless I'm hospitalized and I need a nurse to train the hospital staff on comprehending my gimp accent).

The only reason I'm able to live a life with any measure of dignity or independence is because of a government health plan. Millions of people with disabilities don't even have access to that, what with states slashing Medicaid budgets. The current system forces most people with disabilities to live at the economic margins to receive medical care and those safety nets are badly frayed.

We need health care reform. I need it. Trig needs it. Kids and adults with every kind of disability need it.

What we don't need is a bunch of screeching ideologues attempting to cynically exploit us for purposes of maintaining the status quo.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 10:12 PM | Comments (4)

August 10, 2009

Universal Design

I came across an interesting tidbit as I was getting my gaming news fix. The creators of the forthcoming Half-Life Episode 3 (for the uninitiated, Half-Life is a popular shoot-'em-up) have revealed that the game may include a deaf character. According to the article, the game's designers are studying sign language and developing technology that will accurately render signing in the game.

It's encouraging to see that videogame makers are cognizant of deaf people's existence and are taking the time to include them in their games. As games grow in both scope and sophistication, they can and should include a cast of characters who reflect the dizzying gamut of human identities and experiences.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:51 PM | Comments (0)

August 09, 2009

Somebody Left The Stove On

Living in a downtown high-rise has certain advantages. No lawns to mow. No driveways to shovel. Plenty to see and do within walking distance. But then there are the drawbacks. Like the building's fire alarm going off at 2:30 in the morning for no apparent reason. It seemed to go on for at least a half hour, although that might have been an exaggeration of my sleep-deprived brain. I'm not sure what I would have done if the building had truly been on fire. I'm imagining my nurse dragging my naked body feet-first down nineteen flights of stairs and getting trampled by other oblivious and frightened residents. I think I might decide instead to stuff wet towels under the door and hope things turn out for the best.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 01:13 PM | Comments (0)

August 08, 2009

The Worst Birthday Present Ever

Nick Dupree reminds us that, in many states, people who are ventilator-dependent continue to be forced into institutions when they turn 21. It's a grim reminder that health care reform should (but probably won't) include a uniform set of Medicaid home care services that all states must make available to people with disabilities. Poorer states could receive a helping hand from the feds via an enhanced matching rate or perhaps even full federal funding of these services. It's absurd that someone should be threatened with institutionalization just as they are approaching the threshold of adulthood.

It's also worth noting that Nick has spent the past eleven months in a New York facility while he awaits approval for home care services. The longest I've spent in a hospital setting is three months, so I can only imagine the levels of stir-craziness he's enduring. Here's hoping that Nick can soon make his escape and begin a life of independence and discovery in Gotham.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 03:37 PM | Comments (0)

August 07, 2009

Hip Cat

Here are the results of my attempt to insert myself into the Mad Men universe. I know that it doesn't quite look like me, but the website didn't offer a big-ass wheelchair or a ventilator as accessories, so I had to work with what they had. Now that I think about it, I suppose the vent would have to be some retro affair with lots of vacuum tubes and diodes. I do think the newspaper and pipe, combined with the honeymoon suite setting, give me a certain IBM-geek-after-dark allure. Don't you agree?

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:56 PM | Comments (0)

August 06, 2009

Somewhere, Molly Ringwald Quietly Weeps

Let us bow our heads for a moment in memory of John Hughes. When future historians attempt to analyze the phenomenon of the Reagan Era teenager, his films will be mandatory viewing. Hughes' characters could be shallow, materialistic preppies, but they freely recognized their own shallowness and materialism. But the world was probably going to blow up anyway, so why spend too much time thinking about what a jerk you are? Cue the Simple Minds and let's turn the school library into a dancehall.

For a more trenchant analysis of Hughes' oeuvre, I highly recommend my friend Adam Wahlberg's 2008 MSNBC article.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:10 PM | Comments (0)

August 05, 2009

You, Sir, Are A Fool

Watch this brilliant economist try to scare CNN viewers with these ominous words:

[J]ust wait till you see Medicare, Medicaid ... done by the government.

I happened to be paying very close attention on the day we talked about Medicaid in law school and I'm pretty certain it's a government-run program. And the fact that I'm alive, living at home, and not lying in my own filth tells me the government is doing something right.

There are plenty of legitimate criticisms to be directed against the health care legislation pending in Congress. It may not do enough to reduce skyrocketing costs. Its proposed financing mechanisms are gimmicky. It's a giveaway to private insurers. But listening to most Republicans talk about health care is a depressing and wearisome experience. Whatever basic understanding they have of the policy issues involved is completely overwhelmed by their all-consuming fear of government.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:04 PM | Comments (0)

August 04, 2009

Up, Up, And Away

I don't have much time for proper blogging tonight, but via Kottke, I came across this lovely photo showing a flotilla of hot-air balloons ascending into a dawn sky over the French countryside.



The world isn't such a bad place, is it?

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 10:16 PM | Comments (1)

August 03, 2009

All Bark, No Bite

Here's a scene of self-styled "patriots" trying to shout down Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), a supporter of health care reform, outside a grocery store.

It makes my wonkish heart go pitter-patter to see people get all excited about public plans and health insurance exchanges. But the crowd's overwrought pitchforks-and-torches vibe negates my enthusiasm. Most of these people probably couldn't articulate exactly why they oppose health care reform so vehemently, except to string together a few disjointed sentences that rely heavily on the words "socialism", "France", and "freedom". But progressives can't afford to dismiss these theatrics out of hand. Unruly mobs make for good television and the media are lazy enough to show videos like the one above and proclaim that Americans are strongly opposed to health care reform.

Instead, we need to call these people for what they are: unwitting lackeys of corporations and conservative ideologues who prefer the dysfunctional status quo to any alternative. But even that's not enough. We need to keep reminding people that, under the current system, a job loss means loss of insurance. We need to remind people that, under the current system, individual policies can be rescinded, And under the current system, insurers can charge exorbitant premiums and co-pays.

Most importantly, these protesters and their masters have no serious ideas of their own to address these problems. Whatever bill gets passed will by no means be perfect. Reform is an iterative process that requires time and a healthy measure of patience. We are a nation of tinkerers and risk-takers, which makes the empty, fearful slogans and authoritarian tactics of these protesters seem all the more foreign and sadly desperate. 

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:30 PM | Comments (1)

August 02, 2009

Facing The Music

Like any other group of people, those of us with disabilities are perfectly capable of pulling stunts that are really stupid, even criminal. Take, for instance, the case of the British man with autism accused of hacking into American military networks back in 2001-2002. Gary McKinnon now faces extradition to the U.S. to stand trial. McKinnon's family and several members of parliament contend that he is too vulnerable to be sent off to America and should instead be tried in the U.K.

As an example of society's conflicting notions about disability and criminal justice. It's not difficult to ascribe McKinnon's actions to naive obsession. He claims that he was only looking for evidence of a U.F.O. coverup and had no malicious intent. But British authorities argue that his disability doesn't exempt him from equal treatment under the extradition treaty with the U.S. I'm inclined to agree. The struggle for disability rights is the struggle for equality in both the eyes of the law and in the eyes of our fellow citizens. We do ourselves little good if, in one breath, we demand equal access to employment, education and the like but then point to our frailties and beg for pity when we don't like the full implications of said equality.

I realize that McKinnon may not care one bit about promoting the integrity of the disability rights movement. I probably wouldn't if I was in his situation. But when a person with a disability argues that he should receive special dispensation under the law solely because of his disability, that should be cause for alarm.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:12 PM | Comments (2)

August 01, 2009

Electric Blue

The rat pictured above was injected with a blue food dye after having its spinal cord damaged. The dye appears to reduce the trauma of such injuries and perhaps even promotes partial healing. Take that, organic foodies.

I'm beginning to suspect that a cure for SMA will have a similar trade-off. We'll still attract stares, but it will be because we traded our disabilities in for prehensile tails or hooves.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:37 PM | Comments (1)