Conservatives are fond of criticizing progressives who bring up issues of class. Conservatives like to say that class no longer matters in this country; that with enough grit and hard work and sunny optimism, anyone can pull themselves up by their bootstraps. But a quick glance at the video coming out of New Orleans should be enough to demonstrate that class still matters in America. The people who dwell at the margins of society are the same ones who were the most likely to find themselves trapped in the squalid conditions of the Superdome or the convention center.
It is to these people that government owes a special duty in times of emergency. Government is the only entity that has the capacity and the wherewithal to help the marginalized and the impoverished when disaster strikes. The private sector certainly won’t do it. The churches and non-profit organizations can play a supporting role, but they can’t mobilize troops or evacuate tens of thousands of people. Somewhere along the way, we forgot that government can be a force for good in peoples’ lives. The Grover Norquists of this country have managed to convince our leaders that government is the enemy. The resulting waves of tax cuts, combined with the billions of dollars in resources diverted to Iraq, has gutted our domestic infrastructure. One storm is all it took to send a major American metropolis into the chaos we associate with exotic places on the other side of the world.
Ideology has consequences. Ideology collides with the real world in ways that we cannot always predict. Ideology can wreck lives.
I leave for Europe tomorrow. I may blog again before I leave. Otherwise, I’ll be coming at you from the other side of the pond in a couple days.

I took my sister to the fair tonight, so this is going to have to be short. I swear, you can put on ten pounds just breathing in the fumes from the frying grease. My sister had a fried candy bar on a stick. My stomach is still churning at the sight of it.
Okay, more tomorrow. Off to bed.

A Dutch library is “lending out” individuals representing marginalized groups, including gays, Gypsies, and people with physical disabilities. Library patrons can take these individuals to a nearby cafeteria and ask them questions for an hour. I get what the library is trying to do, but I’m not sure I agree with the methodology. It seems to reinforce the notion that there is something exotic or decidedly Other about these individuals and that they can be safely approached in a controlled environment. At the same time, I understand that the average person’s social circle may never include people from these groups. But shouldn’t we be more concerned about why these people are marginalized, instead of making them into cultural exhibits?
But in the spirit of experimentation, I’m going to lend myself out to all of you. I’ll answer the first five questions that are e-mailed to my Gmail account, regardless of content. If you’ve had burning questions you’ve wanted to ask about my disability or anything else, now’s your chance. The identities of all questioners will be kept anonymous, of course. Let the interrogation begin.

I downloaded Skype several months ago, but never really used it much because I didn’t know many people who used it. But then I signed up for SkypeOut last night. It’s way cool. I can call land lines and cell phones from my computer independently. And people on the other end seem to hear me much better than on a regular phone. All I need now is a USB headset so that the person on the other end can’t be overheard on my computer speakers. And it’d be nice if people could call me from a regular phone and the call would go directly to Skype, but I think that feature is probably another twelve months away, at least. What’s really cool is that I’ll be able to load up Skype onto my nurse’s laptop and taunt people back home when it’s still, like, four in the morning their time.
The new blinds that were installed on one of my living room windows just a few weeks ago unceremoniously fell out of the ceiling last night. And now the sun is shining directly through that window and onto me and my desk. I feel like one side of my body is being grilled like a cheese sandwich. But am i going to move? Hell, no. At least not until I start seeing spots.

I have a friend who works as a dean in one of the law schools in the area. Recently, she was telling me that a lot of law students were blogging about school and, more specifically, their uncensored feelings about various professors. Professors sometimes find these blogs and the recriminations start flying faster than you can say “civil action for libel.” Boys and girls, discretion is the better part of blogging. It’s okay to mock your professors when you and your buddies are goofing off in the library. But you never know when you might need that letter of recommendation or reference from that same professor you described as a “pompous, self-important fuck with a bad comb-over” on your blog. It can be tempting to take potshots from behind the safe, warm glow of your Powerbook, but such things have a tendency to come back and bite you in the ass. And remember, most people visit your blog simply because they want to read about your twisted, so-dirty-it’s-almost-illegal sex life.
Which makes me wonder why people still read my blog. I better start making shit up or I’m gonna start losing readers. Might be time for Sweeps Week at the 19th Floor.