Senator Lieberman has apparently decided that he’d rather be a spoiler than a hero when it comes to passing health care reform. After nixing a public optiion with an option for states to opt out (which was already a compromise position), he has now decided that he can’t support the compromise of that compromise–letting people buy into Medicare. Lieberman is clearly more interested in exacting revenge on liberal Democrats than getting a bill passed, but the inescapable math of getting to sixty probably requires that he win this round. The Maine Republicans don’t show any signs of budging and reconciliation would be a messy, lengthy process that could result in a far less comprehensive bill.

Passing this bill won’t be the end of health care reform. There will be opportunities to improve it in the years to come, but a bill needs to pass for that to happen. And the enormous benefits of passing a flawed bill will endure long after Lieberman is consigned to his bitter grave.

Why do American media conglomerates hate people with disabilities? The MPAA and RIAA (the trade groups that represent music and movie industries), along with book publishers, are opposing a new copyright treaty that includes an international copyright exemption to reading material distributed in accessible formats to people with disabilities. In other words, this treaty would allow people with disabilities to share accessible reading material without paying the publisher. Most developed nations already have such copyright exemptions that make e-books available to people with disabilities at little or no cost. This treaty would allow the individuals share accessible books across borders.

The media conglomerates make the predictable argument that granting such a copyright exemption will promote book piracy. The book piracy boat sailed a long time ago and publishers have much bigger worries than the possibility that a posse of blind book pirates will start uploading Harry Potter novels to the web. Hopefully, disability advocates (with an assist from Google) will be able to get this treaty finalized and ensure that people with disabilities around the world have access to reading material.

Thanks to BoingBoing for the tip.

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “Mark, I can’t wait to get my first neural interface chip that will let me control my computer with pure thought. But I don’t want a bunch of cords poking out of my head and making me look like a refugee from The Matrix. What’s a stylish gimp to do?” Fortunately, scientists have already recognized this problem and hard at work on a wireless neural implant. You won’t have to worry about unsightly cords when sitting in the coffeehouse with your brain-powered Mac and stealing glances at the cute girl at the next table sipping her chai. But no word yet on whether stray radio transmissions will cause your head to explode just as you’re about to say something utterly charming to her.

A group of moderate and conservative Democratic senators is trying to negotiate an alternative to the public option, which appears to have used up its nine lives (at least for purposes of the Senate debate). Of all the ideas floating around, I’m partial to the Medicare buy-in proposal. It would lower the Medicare minimum age to 55, which would allow millions of Americans to buy into comprehensive health coverage at affordable prices. Of course, I’d like the threshold to be even lower, but this policy change would set the stage for future expansions. Most surveys find that Medicare enrollees are highly satisfied with the care they receive. Assuming that Medicare proves equally popular with the expansion population, it would be difficult for politicians to ignore future calls to make it available to even more people, particularly if private insurers fail to keep their offerings affordable. We could end up, over time, getting the public option that is encountering so much resistance right now.

Nobody knows what a final compromise will look like, but progressives need to demonstrate that this bill will not be a complete capitulation to private insurers.

British reality series How to Look Good Naked is going to give ego boosts to three women with disabilities in a string of three episodes airing in January. I’ve never seen the show, but the basic premise involves a fashion designer counseling women on how to feel more confident about their bodies without resorting to cosmetic surgery or weight loss. I admire the three women who agreed to participate in the show as they seem much braver than me. My solution for looking good naked is to mentally hum “You Look So Fine” by Garbage until I no longer feel the overwhelming impulse to screw my eyes shut  and profusely apologize to whomever else is in the room. Sometimes, this method actually works, but I’d have to come up with a much lengthier soundtrack before I could summon the courage to bare everything for a national television audience.