On Hate Crimes
Two must-read posts: Vox ex Machina and XicanoPwr. Vox details a handful of recent hate crimes, and points out that these are not individual acts; they are part of a larger and long-standing trend of violence against people who differ from the standard straight white Christian able-bodied man. She writes, Given the history of hate [...]
...read moreWhat he said
I don’t want to drag out the Save Monty drama any longer than necessary, but I will point you all to Elaine’s response to my post. It’s worth a read, and I appreciate her engaging these issues. She makes many interesting points, but I think it’s rather obvious that we are coming from fundamentally different [...]
...read moreDignity in life
Today a jury awarded a couple 21 million in a wrongful birth case. One in which the doctor failed to inform them the probability of birthing another child with the same genetic disability as their other son: The couple claimed that Dr. Boris Kousseff failed to diagnose their first son’s genetic disorder, called Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome, [...]
...read moreI Wouldn’t Want To Live Like That! Meh, On Second Thought…
“Misery can only be removed from the world by painless extermination of the miserable.” -Gerhard Hoffman, Nazi propagandist in defense of direct medical killing of all those possessing serious medical disorders Those first few years of having Systemic Lupus Erythematosus were pretty challenging. Before that I was just “sickly”, but knowing that it was a [...]
...read more“Those” children
There’s an incredibly powerful piece in the LA Times about a couple adopting an autistic son, and the reactions that they’ve received — Why don’t they have their own children? Did they try IVF? Could they not get a healthy white baby? They really must be saints. Go read the whole thing, because I really [...]
...read moreVirgnia Tech and Mental Illness
The reporting on the Virginia Tech tragedy has been cringe-worthy for many reasons. The conservative punditry has been worse (especially the bending over backwards to figure out how we can blame Muslims for this one). But of the myriad causes of Cho’s violence cited by people on all sides of the debate, mental illness has [...]
...read moreThe Ethics of Genetic Testing
Michael Bérubé, full-time Professor of Dangeral Studies and weekend blogger at Pandagon, has both a post and an article (in the Toronto Globe & Mail) about prenatal testing and some of the ethical issues it raises, in particular where the results are a factor in deciding whether to abort a fetus. As you may know, [...]
...read moreThe Vulnerability of the Aged
There’s a weird story developing here in New York involving charges that Brooke Astor’s son is robbing her blind while failing to provide her with proper care. Mrs. Astor is very, very old — 104 — and was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a few years ago. She’s also quite wealthy (though less so, her grandson alleges, [...]
...read morePotential
I’ve told you all about how my parents’ greatest fear is that I’ll never find love again, right? That and the whole getting killed thing?
...read moreA “Pleasurable” Sexual Assault
via Feministing, here’s something that is guaranteed to ruin your morning: A severely disabled woman is sexually assaulted at school by a peer aid, and her parents file a lawsuit against the school district. The district refuses to mediate the suit because their expert says that the attack was “pleasurable”: Indeed, “it ignited her female [...]
...read moreThe Person My Dog Thinks I Am
Ballastexistenz has a post up about the difference between content and style, as it were: (You should go read the whole thing; I’m quoting chapters in isolation out of a long post.) At any rate, one of the false overlays it’s possible to read into what I am saying, is a false overlay of harshness. [...]
...read moreI Love American Chopper
Yes, it’s a testosterone-soaked show with plenty of male posturing, but I love the dysfunctional family dynamic, and how the tough biker guys all melt (and behave themselves) when Grandma is involved. Grandma, I was surprised to learn, is actually Paul Sr.’s stepmother. And, you know, Vinnie. He’s so long-suffering. And cute. I’m watching an [...]
...read more
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