The 19th Floor

Disinterested Observer

Enjoy the weekend. I may watch the Super Bowl if the mood strikes me. I wouldn't mind seeing the Giants lose as payback for beating my team, but I'll probably be more interested in the movie trailers.

The Early Years

Plenty of nerds are up in arms over the fact that DC Comics is planning a series of prequels to Watchmen, the seminal comic that ushered the medium out of drugstore racks and into crit lit seminars. The move doesn't particularly bother me. It may not be necessary, but I'm curious to see what the series does with the characters, particularly the omnipotent Dr. Manhattan. Then again, I liked the film adaptation of Watchmen (which a lot of geeks treated with contempt), so perhaps I'm in the minority on this as well. Alan Moore pulled himself away from his dog-eared copy of the Necronomicon to express his displeasure at DC for expanding upon his creation, but it's a safe bet that DC doesn't care what Moore thinks.

And while I'll probably give the series a try, I'm not sure I want to know why the Comedian is wearing a bondage mask as shown below.

Craigslist Is Letting Me Down

Interviewing for a new nurse sometimes reminds me how much I appreciate my current staff. And the next time a candidate walks through my door wearing a wig and too-tight pants that are more suited to a night of bar-hopping, I'm not even bothering with the interview. I'm simply going to smile, thank them for their time, and direct them to the elevator.

I'll post again once I can stop laughing uncontrollably.

Boring!

Here's a sentence I never thought I'd write: I'm weirdly disappointed that Gingrich lost today's Florida primary. I keep hoping the Republican primary will eventually be decided by some kind of Thunderdome-ish fight to the death between Gingrich and Romney with Obama serving as the robed MC. But if Romney keeps cruising to easy victories like this, all my hopes will be dashed.

The Politics Of Health Care Reform

Like a lot of other states, Minnesota has been slow to implement the major provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Each state must establish an insurance exchange that will enable individuals to compare and purchase health plans, but our Republican-controlled legislature has been of two minds on authorizing such an exchange. Some Republican lawmakers have a pathological aversion to passing anything that might be interpreted as an endorsement of "Obamacare", while others are intrigued by the free-market aspects of an exchange. The Dayton administration has done some preliminary development of an exchange, but legislative approval will be needed sooner than later. A DFL legislator will introduce an exchange bill soon, but it probably won't go anywhere until the Republicans decide if thumbing their noses at the president is worth the risk of ceding control of any exchange to the feds.

Ostracized

The Times introduces us to Jessica Ahlquist, a young woman who sued her local school district for displaying a prayer in the high school auditorium. Jessica identifies as an atheist and became the target of death threats after a judge ruled that the prayer display is unconstitutional. While the prayer is fairly bland--it asks for God to help the students be nice kids--it clearly advocates a religious perspective and has no place in a public school. That Jessica is now a pariah in her small Rhode Island town isn't surprising, but it's still distressing. Jessica didn't object to the prayer itself; merely its placement in a government building. But many of her neighbors seemed to interpret her objections as a personal attack on their faith. I realize that belief is deeply entwined with the symbols of that belief, but I can't understand how people can invest so much significance in a prayer that has less punch than a Saltine cracker.

Reading Life

I'm off to book club soon. Depending on when I get back and how ambitious I'm feeling, I may post again later tonight.

Defender Of The Faith

Today brought news that Minnesota representative Michele Bachmann will seek a fourth term after her presidential campaign flatlined earlier this month. I'm not surprised; the woman begins to wilt if the media spotlight neglects her for too long. But perhaps she's a bit more vulnerable after failing so miserably on the national stage. Like any incumbent, she'll be tough to beat, but redistricting may give her an electorate less tolerant of her fanatical views.

The Not-So-Golden Years

For over a decade, Minnesota has administered a great program that enables people with disabilities to keep their Medical Assistance coverage while earning an income and accumulating savings. Medical Assistance for Employed Persons with Disabilities (MA-EPD) has served as a ladder up from poverty for many (myself included) who are capable of working but can't go without MA. But as the Strib's Jon Tevlin notes, people on MA-EPD are forced back into poverty when they turn 65. Tevlin profiles a local man who may be forced to give up his own home because state law imposes strict income and asset requirements for people over age 65 who need MA. Individuals who have worked for years, saving and possibly even earning a pension, must forego the rewards of their labor and become destitute to keep their MA.

Disability advocates have long pointed out this policy shortcoming to lawmakers and have proposed changes to the law that would allow people who were formerly enrolled in MA-EPD to keep a portion of their savings and earnings when they retired. Years of budget deficits gave legislators an excuse to ignore these proposals, but an improving fiscal outlook and media attention like the Strib piece may finally prompt them to fix this oversight.

Wait And See

Plenty of Democrats are cheering Gingrich's win in South Carolina in the hopes that he might actually win the nomination and give Obama an easy victory. I'm not so sure. If some unexpected disaster strikes or the economy stalls again, all the other gimps and I will have to line up outside the White House and kiss Gingrich's ring to keep our Medicaid. Then again, Romney might not be much more amenable to our plight.

The Republicans are going to do whatever they will do. I'm not going to cheer for a specific outcome and trust that the president can handle either opponent.

Urban Blight

It looks like I'll soon have to drive to the suburbs or walk to St. Anthony Main if I want to catch a movie. The theater located a few blocks from my home will likely be closing as the owners of the Block E development pursue their dream to turn the whole place into a casino. It's a shame that downtown Minneapolis can't seem to sustain businesses that aren't restaurants or nightclubs. On my last few visits to the theater, it was difficult to ignore how deserted the rest of the building has become. Most of the other businesses have left and the few that remain--with the exception of Kieran's Pub--are barely hanging on.

Block E was probably doomed to fail. A suburban-style mall in the heart of a city simply doesn't make sense. Still, I'm going to miss taking the skyway to catch a matinee on a cold winter afternoon. Perhaps some other developer will find a way to bring the movies downtown again.

Beep Beep

The Boston Globe recently ran a report on ventilator users who died because a vent alarm malfunctioned or was ignored. Ventilators typically alarm when a tube disconnects or if the airway is obstructed. But if nobody is around to hear the alarm, brain damage can quickly ensue.

I'm fortunate to have some very attentive nurses, but I've been in situations where my vent alarmed and nobody heard it. I can breathe on my own for a brief time, so that gives me a slight safety cushion, but it wouldn't take me long to get in trouble. It's something that worries me more than it once did. I don't like being left alone for more than a few minutes and I'm increasingly hesitant to go to concerts and other events where noise might drown out any vent alarms. The caution that accompanies middle age is probably settling in.

I recognize that I'm very fortunate to have survived a quarter of a century on a vent. But when I joke with friends that I don't want to die a stupid death, it's tragedies like the ones described in the Globe article that give substance to my most basic fear of being alone when the end approaches.

Going Dark

By now, news about the SOPA-related web blackout has probably reacted saturation point, so I won't say much more about it. If you still want to know what all the fuss is about, Wikipedia, Reddit, and other sites are happy to tell you why the proposed SOPA legislation is a threat to a free and open Internet. But I feel compelled to point out that this little blog of mine could be taken down if SOPA becomes law. I'm pretty sure I've linked to some infringing content and will likely do so again (especially if it features fishnets). I'm all in favor of protecting creative works, but I'd also like to be able to post a clip from a favorite movie without suffering the wrath of Hollywood suits.

Obama's Chess Game

Andrew Sullivan's essay on Obama's long-game strategy is worth your lunch hour. Sullivan, a conservative in the classical sense of the word, details all of the president's accomplishments over the past three years and shows how they fit into Obama's long-term strategy of shaping domestic and foreign policy. While liberals accuse Obama of timidity and conservatives accuse him radicalism, the president goes about his incrementalist agenda of change (much of it taking place outside the view of the 24-hour news cycle).

It's not something that can be easily condensed into a campaign ad, but it's one of the better defenses of the president's record that I've read. But it's up to Obama to help voters overcome their perpetual amnesia and show them how things have changed for the better since he took office while also giving a clear vision of what a second term will bring. If he can't accomplish both tasks, Romney could win by distorting the past and overpromising the future.

There's Always Next Year

As the Packers illustrated to such dismal effect yesterday, it's exceedingly difficult to repeat a championship run in the NFL. Their loss to the Giants was a bitter pill for us fans to sallow after witnessing such a remarkable season. But I'm willing to concede that the Packers may not have been as good as their 15-1 record indicated. The defense seemed to become more porous as the season progressed and they never established a consistent running game.

The Packers should still be one of better teams in the league next season, but free agency will take its toll and their offensive arsenal may not be as extensive as it was this year. I'll probably never see another season like the one that just finished, but it was great fun to watch while it lasted.