2009 and beyond

As we leave 2009, I trhought I would take a look at the significant events
of this year and also look at what I think might come next year.

First looking back at 2009, a year of change. We had the inauguration of
the first President of African-American heritage which is a historic event
no matter what your political persuasion is. He spoke of hope and change
but by the end of this year we are seeing anything but hope and change.
We've seen changes in the economy,not all of it for the better either.
Forclosures were up and so were business failures with bailouts going to
these businesses. We have people losing their jobs and states unable to pay
their bills. Many of these things affect those of us who are blind or
deaf-blind as we live our lives as part of a larger society.

We've seen technology for reading books become smaller and smaller with the
advent of the booksense, the plextalk pocket and the Victor Stream. We have
note takers with Braille displays that make reding books portable for those
who must use a Braille display. Reading books on the go is easier than it
was just ten years ago, not to mention at the beginning of this year.

What needs to happen this coming year? There is much that needs to happen
in my opinion but much of what I am going to discuss does not depend on
one's political persuasion. For one thing, no matter what you think about
health care, we do need better access to prescription drug information, not
to mention Medicare and insurance reimbursement for vision services. This
would improve people's lives by allowing them to betther manage their health
through more effectively taking their medication and learning the skills
they will need in order to become contributing members of society after
loosing their vision. Coverage for hearing aids would also improve the
quality of people's lives by allowing them to be part of life rather than
isolated because they can't hear what is going on.

There are a couple of other issues which need to be worked on this coming
year. One of these is H.R. 3101. Technology is changing fast and we who
are blind or deaf-blind cannot afford to be left behind. This is why we
must resolve to work tirelessly to see that H.R. 3101 is passed so that we
can be on an equal footing when it comes to technology. No more being one
or two steps or more behind everyone else in this area.

We also need to work to make the pedestrian environment more accessible.
This means dealing with the quiet car issue once and for all; and this can
be done by seeing that H.R. 734 and S.841 are moved so that we will have a
standard for sound emission for these quiet cars. This will help not only
those who are blind but everyone.

We also need to work toward better access to books right off the shelf. You
are seeing things like the kindle and the knook coming on the market. These
devices have the potential to change how books are accessed, especially in
education. We must not be left out and right now I am not aware of any
access for those who use Braille displays and audio access is limited at
this point in time.

As you can see, much has happened in 2009 and much needs to happen in 2010.
Let's all enjoy the holiday and then be prepared to work to make the above
-mentioned pieces of legislation a reality in 2010 so that access for those
who are blind or deaf-blind will be improved. If this is what you as an
advocate want, then please join me as I do my part to work to make this
happen.

Hey Liberals, it failed

As the title indicates, airport security failed miserably this past weekend
despite what Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Sunday.
It failed miserably on so many levels, it's not funny.

First of all, there were so many alarm bells that should have signaled
trouble but did not thanks to the liberals who are clueless as hell on this
stuff. The alarm bells were paying cash for the ticket, having little or no
luggage and having what by all accounts was a one-wayh ticket. These are
alarm bells that should signal additional scrutiny up to and including
failure to fly. How the hell can Napolitano say the system worked when all
of these signals were ignored? She can't and the fuckign liberals know it.

The next failure involves the watch list. He was on it but not on the no
fly list. Hey liberals,if someone's on the watch list, then they should
automatically be on the no fly list no questions asked. If they are
dangerous enough for the watch list then they are dangerous enough to the
safety of the flying public to keep them off an airplane. They can figure
out how the hell they are going to get somewhere. That's not our problem as
actions have consequences, something liberals don't get.

We could learn so many lessons from the Israelis on this subject. The first
one is regarding profiling. The Israelis do it and they haven't had a
hijacking in years and haven't had an incident of this type to my knowledge.
What does that tell you liberals? It tells me thattttttt they're doing
something right. They don't playt games. If they don't like something
about you, you don't fly. It's as simple as that from what I understand of
their methods.

Right now, as someone who flies domestically about 2-3 times a year, I have
absolutely no confidence that I will be safe doing so. I want to be able to
fly knowing that I won't face any additional risk beyond what is normal when
flying.

I certainly hope that the liberals are exposed as weak on terrorism as they
don't understand that a war is fought by the military and not law
enforcement. Liberals don't understand that these animals want us dead pure
and simple. Law enforcement is not equipped to fight a war and the liberals
need to figure this out. These animals don't have rights either, something
else that the liberals don't understand but that's nothing new when it
comes to this subject.

Profiling can be very useful here as the profile of these animals, oh I mean
terrorists, is that of a young, muslum, male. Anyone who fits this profile
should automatically be singled out for additional scrutiny up to and
including denial of boarding privledges. If Obama doesn't figure this out,
then he and his liberal buddies will have blood on their hands and I hope
it's not the blood of anyone I care about, including me.

We got lucky this time but next time we might not be so lucky. I pray that
the liberals are exposed and dealt with before we have another 9-11 on
American soil. Remember liberals,there were people who were sick enough to
celebrate those attacks. Does that tell you about the mentality of the
animals we are dealing with here? If it doesn't, it sure as hell ought to.
Also remember that terrorists understand one thing and one thing only,that
being the business end of a weapon. That is the language they speak. Let's
communicate with them in their language, the business end of a weapon.
Talking to them will do absolutely no good and recent events have shown
this.

Liberals, get a clue or get out of power, something I certainly hope will
happen in November for the sake of this country and the world.

The True Meaning of Christmas

Some think that Christmas means getting presents, Santa Claus and spending
money. They're all into the commercialism that has become Christmas.
Believe it or not, there is another even more powerful meaning of this
holiday. For those of Christian faith, Christmas celebrates the birth of
Jesus our Savior.

The gift of the season is the birth of Christ, not the material things we
are given. It is the gift of his saving grace. It is the gift of rebirth
within our own lives. It is being with family and enjoying their friendship
and love. It is being rededicated to our purpose in life, that being to
help others. It is about the peace that The Lord brings at this time of the
year. It is about making this peace last all through the year. The song
"Let There Be Peace On Earth" says it very well when it starts with the
line "let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.". It must begin
with each of us or there will be no peace.

My wish for everyone is for a joyous and peaceful time with your family.
Look at what matters, the company of those you love. Cherish that time
always and don't be absorbed in the material needs of the season. This
season is far too commercial for me and begins far too early in the
commercial arena. ''Too many forget the true meaning of the season, the
gift of Jesus' birth.

Peace and joy to you and yours.

Jobs over public safety and security

Yes that's right. A decision made today will do exactly as the title
suggests. What is that decision and who is involved in this travesty of a
decision? The decision was made by the Obama administration to have the
Federal government purchase and operate the prison at Thompson Illinois.
/gov. Quinn and Sen. Durbin, Illinois senior Senator are involved in this
travesty which is part of Obama's plan to keep his promise to his liberal
buddies to close Guantanamo and bring the animals held there to Illinois.
You can tell that this is one promise the Democrats intend to keep at all
costs,no matter how high the costs are.

They claim it will create jobs but what kind of jobs are we talking about?
/very likely these would be union jobs. Is that what the government should
be doing? Not in my opinion. There's nothing being said about the enormous
risk to public safety that will result from this travesty. How many lives
is this administration willing to put in danger with this purchase? /Who
knows as this prison is only 150 miles from the nation's third largest
city. There are rich opportunities for a huge body count which is something
that terrorists look for when they plan an attack, something liberals
clearly don't understand. Public transportation and the airports, both of
which I do use, are definitely rich targets. Obama, Quinn, Durbin and
others will have blood on their hands if anything happens as a result of
bringing these animals to Illinois. Obama has betrayed his home state and
needs to be called out for it too.

I hope and pray that there is some way this travesty can be stopped, either
through the legislative process at the state or national level or through
the Federal courts. These animals are just fine where they are at
Guantanamo where they belong. They don't need or deserve access to the
Federal courts. They are animals who only understand the business end of a
weapon, something they have no problem at all using on innocent civilians.

I further hope that this deal shows why all three politicians mentioned
above need to be out of office soon for the safety of this country, not to
mention this great state of Illinois. It needs to be done before there is
blood on the streets, or will they have blood on their hands if this isn't
stopped? It had better not be my blood or the blood of anyone I care
about.

A lifetime of change

Well, on that day that comes only once a year for everyone, I would like to
reflect on the many changes I have seen in my own lifetime.

Let's start with school days. I've seen tapes go from reel-to-reel to
cassette and now to CD and even download from the computer. What a change
just in how we receive information. Then there's the availability of the
computer for doing school work and other tasks.

As you can see, these things go far beyond school and work and enter home
life as well. Just look at how technology has changed our lives. We can
now use a cell phone to make calls, receive text messages and so much more.
Where was that even 10 years ago. I already mentioned the change from
various types of tape technology to CD to download. There's even secured
digital cards which are the size of a postage stamp and hold incredible
amounts of data. There are players which are as small as a cell phone.
There's wireless connection to a computer. There are people who only have
a cell hone for their phone service as they've gotten rid of their land
line.

Other changes are equally amazing. I can make a call to someone who is deaf
using video relay service even though I don't have a video phone. How cool
is that? Video phones didn't even exist about five or so years ago. You
had to use good old-fashioned TTY and relay to make these type of calls.
There's the use of conference calls, with and without video relay service.
Before this, if you wanted to have a meeting, you definitely needed to meet
face-to-face. I still maintain that a face-to-face meeting is the best but
there are alternatives today.

I've seen ATMs with audio assistance (talking menus and the like) so that I
can use one of these ubiquitous machines to carry out financial transactions
independently.

OI forgot to mention that the size of computers are getting smaller all of
the time. Who thought that one would be able to carry essentially a full
computer with them? Certainly not me. Well, it's possible and I'm doing it
through the use of a netbook. There are other small, portable options out
there too. I think we're seeing a change here though too as the note takers
are fast being replaced by the netbooks.

Is all change good? That's probably a debate for another time but I will
say that things do tend to move so fast that a segment of the population is
left behind. What segment of the population might you ask is left behind?
Well, it's the deaf-blind community. We're seeing it right now as note
takers get smaller. The deaf-blind communicator (DBC) just came out in 2008
and already things are moving fast as the platform that this was built on is
fast becoming obsolete. This technology needs to be taken to the next
level, that of the Braillnote apex because if it isn't, then a bunch of
people will be left behind. This technology has opened up so much for so
many people. I know of one person who can make phone calls for the first
time in about eight years. That's saying something pretty powerful.

These and many other changes not spoken of here have happened in my years on
this earth. There will likely be many more too. As I said, things are
moving very fast. There's just not enough time or space to talk about
all of it. That's how much things have changed. To say I've only scratched
the surface would be a major understatement.

Remembering Pearl Harbor

It's a couple of days late but I wanted to remember those who gave the
ultimate sacrifice on Pearl Harbor Day as well as those who lived. They are
the reason we are free today and I salute them for their heroism, bravery
and sacrifice so that future generations can be free.

Many of the survivors are no longer with us. I hear that we are losing more
of these fine men and women each day. Pretty soon we won't have the
pleasure of any of their wisdom and wise counsel. They're part of the
greatest generation and we won't see another one like it I'M afraid.

My parents were young children at the time of Pearl Harbor but it's
something they lived through and grew up around. Thank you to that
generation. I hope we don't squander all that you've given us by doing some
of the questionable things that Democrats would have us do today. That won't
make for a freer society and certainly won't, in my opinion, honor those who
fought and sacrificed to keep this great country free.

Thank you again to the Greatest generation. This is one person who
appreciates what you have done.

One angry taxpaying citizen

You might wonder why I'm one angry taxpaying citizen. Well, it's because
we're paying the price for six years of Blagojevich and the Democrats in the
form of agencies not getting money that has already been appropriated to
them through the budget process. Comptroller Dan Hines is refusing to
release the vouchers for one such agency and the amount of money involve is
substantial. The answer this agency gets when making inquiries is that
there is no money. Come on, the money has been appropriated. Oh, that's
right they used smoke and mirrors to put that budget together. Will
children who really need services eventually pay the price? I hope not.

Then you go to www.illinois.gov and look under the news link under
governor's office and find that Gov. Quinn is spending money for
construction at the U. of I and Southern Illinois and wonder what in the
hell is going on. What is he doing spending like this when agencies whose
money is already appropriated aren't even getting paid? This certainly
isn't the time to be looking for jobs and this is about jobs as much as the
construction spending is about jobs.; but Democrats don't understand that
the economy is cyclical and that jobs are usually the last thing to come
back in a recovery. They want it and want it now and think they can spend
their way into a recovery. This behavior certainly doesn't help agencies
who are waiting for payment of money already appropriated.

Dan Hines is running for Governor next year. Please ask him to define the
following terms: waste and wealthy. He says in one of his commercials that
he will cut waste and make the wealthy pay their fair share, something we've
heard from Democrats before. However, he like other Democrats fails to
define either of these terms. Does cutting waste mean not paying agencies
money they have already been appropriated? I don't think so and this is a
question that he needs to be asked. I like a colleague at work won't ever
vote for Hines for anything.

These games have got to stop. They're playing with people's lives, both
staff and children. This is just one agency. I'm aware there are others
out there with problems getting money they are due.