More yet on the New American Dream

As you can see, I joined the New American Dream's pledge to quit using individually bottled water. These dang bottles apparently live forever in dumps and the ocean, and I try not to use them anyway, so I figured I'd sign up for the pledge. I wish they'd make water bottles that are decomposable. We reuse them anyway. Mara has to carry water to school, and I put homemade iced tea and lemonade in those big ones that you get juices and iced tea in.

More on the New American Dream

I got a newsletter from them today promoting carbon offsets, which I understand to mean that you can save in one place and then get a "credit" that will allow you to pollute in a different fashion. It doesn't make sense to me. (The definition on the carbon offsets page says

A carbon offset, in simple terms, is a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions elsewhere to cancel out emissions arising from a particular activity.

I don't want to do the same amount of polluting. I want to reduce my polluting. I find this approach disappointing.

New Economics Foundation

A friend in Britain sent me the link to this site: http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/. If we have anything like it here, I'd like to know about it.
I joined the New American Dream community (http://www.newdream.org/index.php), but I don't see the kind of commitment to a less materialistic ethos in addition to a more sustainable lifestyle that is immediately visible on NEF's home page:

nef is an independent 'think and do' tank. We believe in economics as if people and the planet mattered.

Check out ghost town Britain's succinct statement on the effect of large corporate one-size-fits-all stores on local economies. It's the same here, only nobody seems to find anything wrong with it. (http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/local_ghost.aspx?page=960&folder=148&)

We feel entitled to our vast national riches when we ought to feel blessed and behave like gluttons when we ought to be stewards.

Disappointed in Obama

I was one of many people who emailed Obama to urge him to change his stance on that shameful "let's grant immunity to the telecoms who gave up our data to the NSA" bill. Senator Obama's response was disappointing: that the bill was flawed but we gotta have some defense against the terrorists. I am so sick of being protected out of my constitutional rights by politicians who not only don't represent me, but who are just going to do whatever they want, regardless of their alleged political platform.

Same day, different party. Disappointing.

Movies in movie theaters are not for deaf or blind people

Movies in movie theaters are not for deaf or blind people, according to a judge in federal court in Arizona. More on this poorly reasoned decision can be found here.

This judge said that adding captions or descriptive services for the blind would fundamentally alter the nature of the product, i.e. the movie, and so, the ADA does not require them to be captioned or furnished with descriptive narration for the blind. According to the ruling, since the movie theater premises are accessible to everyone, meaning that anyone can enter them and sit in the presence of the movie, even if they can't hear or see the movie, the ADA requirements are fulfilled.

I can see nothing in this opinion to prevent captions already presented to be withdrawn, and it doesn't seem unreasonable to extend the decision to other areas of deaf/blind accessibility either. By this reasoning, adding captions and providing descriptive narratives for television programs also alter the nature of the product and also do not fall under the ADA provisions either. There go a lot of jobs! Bye-bye broadcast captioners and realtime writers/voicewriters. Deaf and blind people don't need to see movies or TV anyway, do they?

Well, yes. The general public (namely people who are not deaf or blind apparently) get all sorts of vital information via television, from news and emergency updates to information on what kinds of people they're being asked to vote for for public office. Maybe this information is not intended for the deaf or blind either, and providing access for them would fundamentally alter the nature of the product.

This decision opens the door to challenges from all sorts of industries that are currently providing access for the disabled. If movies in theaters don't have to be captioned, why shouldn't other industries petition the courts for exceptions too? We'll take a giant step backward to the days when people in wheelchairs had to drag themselves up several flights of stairs to attend mandatory court proceedings.

The country that I'm proud of is a country that strives to include everyone. I don't want my country to start paring away whole groups of people because including them is inconvenient to some.

Black and Decker = horrible service

I bought a Black and Decker CCS818 electric chainsaw to clean up some trees in my front yard. This purchase has been a nightmare. The thing arrived sometime in May. I called the 888 number to ask about the wrench that was supposed to come with the thing and was told that they were very sorry but they didn't have any more of those so they couldn't send me one. I had an Allen wrench set and found one that fit. I found the instructions, which may be perfectly obvious to someone with power tool experience, to be nearly indecipherable. Nonetheless I finally was able to get the chain on and the screws tightened as instructed.

I used it for 30 minutes after which the chain slipped off. Apparently this happens with chainsaws for the first couple of hours of use; you have to keep putting the chain back on and retightening it. Unfortunately, one of the screws fell out and disappeared. I doubt it's prudent to operate a chainsaw without both screws holding the chain down. Since this happened on a Friday night, after B&D's business hours, I had to wait till after the Memorial Day holiday to get an agent on the phone, who promised to send me the appropriate screws. I was unable to figure out which screw was the one I needed or I'd have ordered them from Service.net, B&D's parts outlet. The agent gave me the part number and offered to send me one free and said it would arrive in 7 to 10 business days. I had written an email and that agent also offered to send me a free screw and that it would arrive in 7 to 10 business days.

10 business days later, I called back and spoke to someone who checked and with no explanation as to what happened, offered to really send me a couple of replacement screws in 7 to 10 business days. 3 days after that, I called the 888 number and spoke to a crisp young woman who said that the order had been placed and that it would arrive in 7 to 14 business days. I explained that 3 other people had said 7 to 10 business days and she said that they were wrong; you only get it in 7 to 10 days if you are buying the parts; it's 7 to 14 for free replacements. I went to Service.net to order the damn screws myself (for $0.66 a screw and nearly TEN DOLLARS shipping). Sheesh. I put 10 of them in my shopping cart and saw the message: backordered until June 28th.

Now, the City of Phoenix has told me I have to get these trees trimmed. I don't think they'll wait 7 to 14 business days following June 28th, so now I'm in a bind. And will not be buying anything from B&D again.

Cronies 'R Us

Golly, I'm so glad to have the Bush administration in charge! Here is a riveting account of how the TSA apparently conducts its day-to-day business, headlined "Security breach at TSA puts thousands of American travelers at risk." It's a tale of how the TSA awarded a no-bid contract to a small firm whose owner formerly employed and regularly socialized with the technical lead at the TSA in charge of awarding the contract. Yay cronyism! Ethics, schmethics.

The buck no longer stops here

Has anyone noticed a massive decrease in buck services? When Harry S Truman occupied the presidency, he was known for having said, "The buck stops here." When I was in school, this statement was held up to me as a shining example of the duty of someone in power to take responsibility when things go awry, particularly if s/he is prone to taking credit when things go well.

I'm reminded of this because the current thinking on management and responsibility has shifted markedly from Mr. Truman's view. Nobody at the top is responsible for anything anymore. We're apparently more enlightened. We now know that when things go wrong, it's always someone else's fault, generally a subordinate, but sometimes it's the fault of a previous holder of the top job. Scooter Libby, a subordinate, was at fault. Previous directors of the CIA were at fault. The soldiers manning Abu Ghraib were at fault. But boy howdy, the man (or infrequently woman) at the top is responsibility-free. No generals were harmed in the investigations at Abu Ghraib. In a pinch, it's -- wait for it -- The Weather's fault. So, now we have fantastic, ever-increasing salaries at the top positions, while the responsibility is decreasing. Let's spend a little money and put buck stops back in all the plush offices of the holders of top positions in government and industry.

Tinman

I'm sorry to report that this production is appalling. It's a shame too, because I like Alan Cumming, but I don't think I'm going to invest any more of my time watching it. The story so far (I've only seen the first part) looks as if a group of 12-year-old gamerdude boys got the actors and the cameras and the sets all together and then developed the story on the fly, melding vague memories of the original Wizard of Oz with random scenes from Stargate and T. J. Hooker.

The dialogue sounds as though it was created from Beavis-and-Butthead reflections like, "Dude, we can have the flying monkeys come out of the wicked witch's tits, man", "Yeah, sweet", "Heh, heh boobage." The flying monkeys actually did emerge from glowing tattoos above actress Kathleen Robertson's cleavage, (opportunity for closeup of breasts, "yeah!"). There is a mean-spirited, gunslinging policeman (Tinman), a fluttering twit whose brain was removed (I imagine this is the Scarecrow character in the book, though here he's named Glitch), the cowardly lion, a quivering, hesitant member of a leonine empath species (because 12-year-old boys can't conceive of the same person being both empathic and strong), and DG (Dorothy) who is peculiarly played by actress Zooey Deschanel who delivers all her lines in a flip monotone which turns out, unfortunately, to be the the appropriate voice for them.

I found out that there's a 2-hour new episode of The Closer on tonight, which is what I'll be watching instead of the second part of this dreadful, wet mess.

This morning Qwest, my telephone company, had the gall to inform me that both my mother's maiden name AND the name of my childhood pet were invalid answers to my security question for my online account. Now, mind you, this was during the process where I write a security question and answer of my own choosing that only I would know the answer to.

Nowhere did they indicate WHY these items of my personal history were invalid. I suspect corporate America of putting research dollars into better and more efficient ways of pissing off customers and the public at large. How dare they say my mother's maiden name [5 letters] is invalid or that my dog's name could not have been [6-letter name]! Maybe they should just specify my security question and answer for me, since I obviously can't be trusted to do it correctly.

So first, I determined that Qwest has help for everything except its website. I then spent 10 minutes of my life that I will never get back screwing around with Qwest telephone customer service. They couldn't answer my question, but they did verify for the third time this week that I am not working, I have no cell phone, and that there is no other number at which I can be contacted and finally informed me that I should use the online chat function.

Now, I hate these "chat with a live person" options (while wondering when their "chat with the dead" will become available) because so many businesses appear to use insufficiently sophisticated Artificial Intelligence scripts instead of "live" people, figuring, I guess, that live customers won't be able to tell the difference. These "live chat" scripts, in my experience, try unsuccessfully to identify your problem by parsing your complaint looking for likely words. Then they generally give you the solution to some other problem while parroting back your original complaint. I find this unspeakably irritating. I prefer this to the alternative theory, that the person with whom I'm "chatting" is a living, breathing incompetent.

Anyway, after waiting in line (Why do they think it will mollify people waiting in line to hear that they can't talk to you because they are serving other customers? "There are 15 people who are more important than YOU!") they informed me that, although nowhere on the website do they actually say this, the answer to your security question (of your own choosing, mind you) must be 8 to 14 characters. It's like "bank security" now, they said.

I don't care what it's like. Telling me to choose a question and answer without the common courtesy to inform me that I must meet other conditions and parameters is yet another feature of modern life that enrages me and makes no sense to anyone other than a money-grubbing, common-sense-free, corporate spreadsheet jockey. Fie on the lot of them! Come the revolution, well, you know.

doctors

I have a longstanding love-hate relationship with the medical profession. Lately I have noticed that the first conversation I have with female doctors is usually about why I'm visiting today. The first conversation I have with male doctors is all about whether or not I'm an idiot, and what kind of idiot I am.

Why are Senate Democrats so easily pushed around? We are trying to replace a Bush-appointed Attorney General who resigned in disgrace after many episodes of using the office and public money to advance Republicans and harass Democrats. Now Bush is accusing Senators of taking too long to rubber stamp yet another of the President's good ol' buddy appointees. It's fruitless to ask where Bush gets his nerve from, but what I want to know is why Senators Feinstein and Schumer are not rejecting Mr. Bush's pettish fingerpointing and defending their reticence to confirm yet another tame Republican. It's easily answered. "Mr. President, we're taking a good long look at this appointee because so many of your appointees have been inept, inexperienced, crooked as a dog's hind leg, and/or stupid. None of these attributes are what we want in an Attorney General, and we're going to investigate this guy until we are satisfied that he is none of the above."

So many Democrats just roll over at the slightest hint that they might not be completely and absolutely fair, while the other party is running around like a bunch of rogue elephants, violating laws, spending public funds on private and partisan vendettas and generally enriching themselves at the public trough. C'mon folks, stand up for yourselves and us!

Good luck, Ernie

I have a great deal of fellow feeling for Nebraska Senator Ernie Chambers in his effort to sue God for "death, destruction, and terrorization of millions." So much, in fact, that should the senator actually win a settlement, presumably monetary, but, considering the assets and capabilities of the Defendant (or is it Respondent?), I suppose anything is possible as redress, court calendars in all jurisdictions eligible to administer this matter will suddenly be booked solid for centuries.

But while I'm waiting for resolution on this litigation, I'll get on with other things, such as actually dealing with the admittedly sometimes crummy hand dealt me by the Deity in His, Her, Its, or Their wisdom, as the case may be.

police and deaf citizens

As the parent of a deaf child, I worry. My son has no hearing, so if, like they do on TV, a police officer ever yelled, for instance, "Stop or I'll shoot," if he was standing behind my son, my son would not stop. Not because he's a criminal, but because he can't hear the command.

I wrote, several years ago, to ask our police department what steps they were taking/had taken to prevent this sort of tragedy. I got a lukewarm and unspecific assurance that it probably wouldn't happen. Cold comfort, that.

The NAD newsletter came today, with a disturbing story of an encounter between police and a deaf man. Here it is:

The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) reaffirms its commitment to effective communication between people who are deaf or hard of hearing and police officers. Recent incidents involving police officers and individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing remind us that our commitment must be ongoing.

For example, in November 2006, Douglas Bahl of Minnesota was pulled over by police for failing to stop at a red light. Bahl is deaf. Bahl tried to use gestures and paper and pen to communicate with the police officer. The police officer used physical force. Bahl was arrested. After being treated at a hospital for his injuries, Bahl was taken to a jail where he spent four days without access to a TTY to make a phone call and without interpreter services, despite repeated requests for these accommodations. On September 14, 2007, Bahl was convicted of obstructing the legal process without force.

Sadly, Bahl is not the first deaf or hard of hearing person to encounter communication problems with law enforcement officers. The NAD has represented deaf or hard of hearing individuals in disability discrimination complaints against law enforcement agencies when those individuals were arrested and held in jail without access to a TTY to make a phone call or interpreter services to communicate effectively with police. As a result of those complaints, the NAD has obtained favorable legal rulings and settlement agreements requiring law enforcement agencies to provide appropriate auxiliary aids and services, including qualified interpreter services and TTYs.

I am glad that the National Association for the Deaf (http://www.nad.org/) is taking some action on this situation. Deafness may not be that widespread a disability, but even one fatality from ignorance and failure to take action is too many.

Senate tries to censure people who disagree with Bush

Well well, that's a nice headline. And it's true. Our taxpayer dollars are well spent on this measure in the Senate to censure MoveOn.org, who has, apparently, been telling the Senate, often and at length, that many people in the US do not like things the Bush administration has been doing.

I think this is just the beginning, an opening salvo. I predict that soon Senators will be bringing in selected pieces of their mail and introducing measures to censure particular offensive letter-writers. "This lady doesn't like my voting record on health care!" "No! Give her contact info to my staff, and we'll add the old bat to our censure-everyone-who-hurts-our-feelings measure!"

Ah, our government in action.

religious books removed from prison shelves

Today's NYTimes tells me that the Federal Bureau of Prisons is removing "religious" books from its shelves. The stated purpose is to make it harder for militant Muslim and other groups to recruit there.

Wow, a single directive demonstrating both smaller government in action, and the religious tolerance that my grade school teachers claimed was the hallmark of the United States (aka the greatest country in the world).

And, instead of a list of prohibited materials, prisons are to limit their religious sections to titles from a list of approved works. Thus, the Federal Prison Camp in Otisville, NY, which had "a very extensive library of Jewish religious books, many of them donated," has removed 75% of those works. Because, as we know, a key recruitment tool of militant Islamic fundamentalists is a library of Jewish religious titles.

The fun thing about this is that, while the public is not entitled to see the list of approved books, religious folk who have gotten a peek at it are bemused by the omissions and inclusions.

Timothy Larsen, who holds the Carolyn and Fred McManis Chair of Christian Thought at Wheaton College, an evangelical school, looked over lists for “Other Christian” and “General Spirituality.”

“There are some well-chosen things in here,” Professor Larsen said. “I’m particularly glad that Dietrich Bonhoeffer is there. If I was in prison I would want to read Dietrich Bonhoeffer.” But he continued, “There’s a lot about it that’s weird.” The lists “show a bias toward evangelical popularism and Calvinism,” he said, and lacked materials from early church fathers, liberal theologians and major Protestant denominations.

The Rev. Richard P. McBrien, professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame (who edited “The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism,” which did make the list), said the Catholic list had some glaring omissions, few spiritual classics and many authors he had never heard of.

“I would be completely sympathetic with Catholic chaplains in federal prisons if they’re complaining that this list is inhibiting,” he said, “because I know they have useful books that are not on this list.”

While I suppose it's counterproductive to have a library full of inflammatory religious literature in a place where violence is all too common, limiting religion to a skewed list of 150 titles seems excessive.

Craig

What happened to Larry Craig is what the Republican Party is all about: hypocrisy and hatred. This is family values? So many things about this story to comment on, but first, how do I get a job on the sex police force? I keep reading everyone applauding the arrest because they want their children to be able to go into public restrooms unmolested. Well, good luck with that. What are they doing sending their kids alone into public places anyway? Last time I looked, it is possible, even probable, that you will be exposed to something objectionable any time you leave the house (or when you simply stay home and turn the TV on). I am so sick of people hiding behind values and child welfare in their relentless and neurotic quest to eliminate every conceivable risk.

Shit happens people. What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. Wake up now, because if you stay asleep much longer, you'll have no freedoms, no human rights, and no Constitution. Apparently, the Soviet Union collapsed only to resurface here in the States.

nothing says "welcome to the U.S." like a credit card solicitation

A friend sent me a link to a Snopes report on one of those alarmist emails. This one happened to be true, sort of. It was calling for the populace to rise up and get out their pitchforks and tar and storm the nearest Bank of America branch and cancel their accounts because apparently BoA and other banks (Wells Fargo is cited, but I bet this applies to all those semi-sleazy credit card companies that fill my mailbox with usurious credit card solicitations) will issue credit cards to anyone with an ITIN number (as opposed to a Social Security number). Of course, the email did not refer to "anyone with an ITIN number." It said they're handing out credit cards to illegal aliens. I don't imagine it was referring to the influx of white people from England or Sweden; I believe the people in question are Spanish-speaking and brown.

Boy howdy. I can't think of a more appropriate welcome to our lovely scapegoatist, racist nation than an invitation to apply for a credit card at enormous interest rates with outlandishly huge fee structures. Please empty your wallets before exiting the country.

Why I never post in the personals

You, me, starry nights.
You, liar. Me, termagant.
It would never work.

You, me, endless love.
But…men are pigs. I’m no prize,
myself. Never mind.

Wanted: my soul mate.
You are married. I’m just sad.
Fie, sir. Get thee hence.

idiot-proofing the presidency

The most deplorable effect of President Bush's term in office is that when it ends (assuming it ends) no one will ever again be able to call the U. S. Presidency "the world's most difficult job."