The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that UPS violated the ADA when it prohibited deaf workers from driving UPS delivery trucks.  The court found that UPS couldn’t offer a compelling reason for issuing a blanket prohibition against deaf drivers, especially since other delivery services use deaf drivers and no state disallows a deaf person from obtaining a regular driver’s license.  UPS may appeal, but this decision is a clear victory for the deaf community and for the ADA.  Too often, employers cite “safety concerns” as a reason for not hiring people with disabilities.  But in most instances, those “safety concerns” have their roots in long-standing misconceptions about living with a disability. 

Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas is one of my favorite crime movies and nothing else he has done in the last decade or so has quite measured up to the raw energy and swagger of that film.  The Departed is a return to form for Scorsese and it’s thrilling to watch.  A remake of the Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs (which is brilliant in its own right), The Departed is a celluloid rush of testosterone.  It has all the expected elements; cops, crooks, gritty urban settings, and scenes of sudden and shocking violence.  All of the main players bring a sense of authenticity to their roles (even if Leonardo DiCapprio still looks like he just took up shaving last week).  The only weak link, as you might expect, is the lead female role.  I never completely bought her character and some of the decisions she made.  It’s as if she’s there only to serve as a metaphorical tug-of-war rope between the two male leads.  Nevertheless, I’ll likely add this film to my DVD library.

And have you seen the trailer for the film adaptation of Frank Miller’s 300?  I almost squealed like a little kid when they played it in the theater.  It looks crazy good. 

I’m going to yet another Neil Gaiman reading.  It’s rather convenient to have a well-known author (at least well-known to obsessive geeks) living in your area.  I won’t pester him for a photo this time, but maybe I can convince him that “Mark Siegel” would make a great name for the protagonist of his next book.

It should be no surprise that, in these last few weeks leading up to the election, Republicans are spinning the Foley imbroglio into an indictment against the gay community.  The only way the GOP can minimize its losses on November 7 is to motivate its conservative base.  And nothing motivates the base like a little gay bashing.  Never mind that sexual orientation and sexual predation are two entirely different things.  Never mind that plenty of heterosexual men prey upon young girls.  The real crux of the Foley story is the failure of the Republican leadership to confront a pedophile in their midst when the first warning signs were brought to their attention, but the conservative echo chamber would rather plug their ears with their fingers and scream “faggot!” in the hopes that will somehow deflect attention from their inaction. 

This incident should be an instructive lesson for Democrats.  We were crushed in 1994 because our elected leaders had allowed themselves to be consumed with hubris and an unchecked desire for power.  When political fortunes do swing again in our favor, we progressives have to remain vigilant and not let our leaders make the same mistake twice.