Congress made a little bit of history last night when the House passed a comprehensive health care reform bill. The vote was closer than I’d like to see, but it creates significant momentum towards final passage. And abortion, not the public option, proved to be the issue that almost killed the bill in the end. The resulting compromise is terrible public policy motivated by the worst kind of paternalistic sexism. It prohibits lower-income women from accessing abortion services on the exchanges to be created under the bill, including private insurance policies. Of course, women of means will still be able to get abortions without any restrictions.

I understand that the pro-life movement has deep feelings on this issue, but their actions in this most recent debate demonstrate a really distasteful form of classism. Federal law already restricts women on Medicaid from receiving abortions, but this provision extends that prohibition to private insurers. As a society, we seem to have a fondness for complicating the lives of people in poverty as much as possible.

Final negotiations between the House and Senate may result in a less draconian provision, but I’m not optimistic. Overall, this is still a really good bill and it will help millions of people. Those of us who believe in abortion rights may just have to increase our donations to Planned Parenthood.

As a rule, I don’t normally don’t post cheesecake on this blog. But when it’s Star Wars-themed cheesecake, I’m powerless to resist.

This is Carrie Fischer and her stunt double, both…er…dressed in now-iconic slave girl outfits and enjoying a little sun on the set of Return of the Jedi.

You know, ROTJ might have been a much better movie if it had featured more leg and less Ewok.

Thanks to Kottke for the tip.

In light of yesterday’s defeat of marriage equality in Maine, I’ve been thinking about what it’s like to be a minority seeking permission from the majority to be treated as a full-fledged person in the eyes of civil society. The disability community and the GLBT community have vastly different experiences of prejudice and discrimination, but we have in common an intimate familiarity with the indignities of being excluded from taking part in the everyday routines of mainstream society. And that exclusion is a direct result of the majority’s naked prejudice, callous disregard, and outright contempt for the minority.

You think I’m overstating things? We needed to pass a fucking federal law that says kids with disabilities are entitled to a public education. And less than two decades later, we needed pass another fucking federal law that says people with disabilities should be able to go to the movies and possibly maybe be considered for a job as long it doesn’t cramp the employer’s style. Any kind of civil rights law would be unnecessary in a society where the majority is enlightened and rational. But that isn’t this world. In this world, the majority can be kind of a dick.

I’m far from certain that either of these laws would have received majority support if they were put to referendum in the states. But as a friend of mine just reminded me, the founders had this really cool idea. A representative democracy can act as a civil society’s better angels, shielding the minority from the worst impulses of the majority and even promoting the minority’s equal status under the law. At least, that’s the idea. As we saw yesterday, the mob still gets its way sometimes.

Same-sex advocates are fighting the same fight against the majority that has been waged so many times before, even while asking the majority to recognize them as equals. I have no doubt they will eventually win that recognition, but there’s something both absurd and deeply frustrating in observing that we have been here before and will be here again. Nearly four decades of disability activism hasn’t freed me from the everyday disregard and condescension of my fellow citizens. Legalizing same-sex marriage won’t bring an end to homophobia. But it’s a lot easier to ignore the clueless masses when you have the freedom and status to enjoy the same pleasures and rewards of life, to carve out an existence free from officially sanctioned second class treatment.

Tomorrow’s off-year elections aren’t necessarily a good predictor for the 2010 cycle. A lot can happen in a year’s time. Multiple factors–the state of the economic recovery, unemployment, and other unforeseen events–will shape voters’ moods over the coming months. Nevertheless, Republicans are likely to make hay out of some likely victories tomorrow. They’re likely to pick up a governor’s seat in Virginia and possibly in New Jersey, but the race that has the political blogosphere chattering is in New York’s 23rd Congressional district. It’s a safely Republican district and it also serves as a kind of Fort Sumter in the long-brewing civil war between GOP moderates and conservatives.

In a shocker, the establishment Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava, dropped out over the weekend when she realized that the third-party Conservative candidate would trounce her. This decision comes after the likes of Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck heavily criticized Scozzafava for being pro-choice and pro-gay marriage. If Hoffman does win, it will probably embolden other hard-right candidates to mount vigorous primary challenges in 2010 against anyone they perceive as ideologicaly impure.

As pure political theater, it might be fun to watch the extreme right engage in a closing hurrah of deluded self-congratulation. On the other hand, the Republicans must eventually evolve into a modern political party that can build coalitions and address present-day concerns. They should be emulating the Tories in the U.K., but instead they are following Beck, Limbaugh, and their ilk over a cliff.

To the woman I ran into in the elevator last night who was dressed as a…nurse?…anime character?…punk revivalist?:

Doesn’t matter. First of all, loved, loved the red fishnets you had on. Some people just know how to wear fishnets. You, madam, are one of those people.

Second, are you in need of free legal advice? Not that you looked like someone in need of legal advice, free or otherwise. But I thought I should ask. Some people don’t realize they need legal advice until the question is posed to them.

Did I mention how much I liked your fishnets?

Anyway, thanks for the unexpected Halloween treat.

Warm Regards,

Mark