Mama Slob-san's

Autistic Teen, Jacob Allen Found

2007-10-18T16:09:00.000-07:00

The good news is that autistic teen, Jacob Allen has been found alive. He is an 18-year old that was hiking with his family and "wandered off". The search went on for about 3 days, 3 1/2 days? The terrain was steep and thick with brush. They were adamant that Jacob was dressed appropriately, even for some night lows in the 40s. He was in shape and used to hiking. Apparently they said that there were plenty of natural water sources, so he shouldn't be too dehydrated. They were concerned that he wouldn't respond to his name.
The chill one must feel when a child wanders off and in a relatively dangerous place.
It's great news that he wasn't hurt, as far as we know.
The bad news? It isn't front page headlines. Jacob isn't a sparkly girl with all sorts of bubbly smiles or the victim of a tawdry crime. I think everyone deserves a happy ending, not just the pre-pubescent blond girls with tons of friends.

No Increase in Special Education Enrollment

2007-10-07T09:40:00.000-07:00

http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_7108396

According to this story, the amount of enrolled students receiving special ed

services is staying the same. Having lived in 3 states since my son was first

considered autistic, I have heard about the explosion of autism and the impact on

special education. When I ask about training, I am met with, "we've never had an

autistic student before". Doesn't matter that there are several schools in town

with autism clinics that are full. Somehow, certain schools have never encountered

autism.
We hear complaints about the drain on the budget. What did schools do before all

the autism moms took over special ed? Why is mainstreaming so foreign to them?
Significantly enough, the numbers for "retarded" and "learning disabled" have gone

down as autism as gone up. We all know that autistic people used to be diagnosed

with mental retardation, non verbal learning disorder (nvld), dyspraxia, apraxia. So, it's no surprise that these numbers reflect the change. What is disconcerting is
that the change isn't being noted as a change but a true explosion. As if autistic
kids came out of nowhere and invaded the school system.

Y2K McCarthyism or Why I don't like Celebrity Moms

2007-10-03T19:35:00.000-07:00

As my friends know, I have an autistic son who is 7 years old. To summarize and highlight our lifestory, he receives special ed services while fully mainstreamed in 2nd grade. He gets sensory breaks-if he needs them, he uses mechanical pencils to help his writing, he gets coaching on social skills as needed and we maintain a communication log with his teachers. On "paper"his IEP is quite involved and far reaching. In practice it's really a way to keep him out of the autism clinic and with his peers as much as possible. He thrives on socializing and thus, really learns from peer-modelling (as in hanging with his kids is age). Sometimes I feel we over-medicalize his lifestyle to justify specia-treatment.

Ironically, "special treatment" is just accepting him as he is and not asking or forcing him to change. His regular teachers are the most effective with him when they tolerate him.

What sucks this month is that celebrity mom, Jenny McCarthy, has been given air time to promote her latest book about her "fight" with autism. I could just ignore her, another mom, another theory, another perspective. However, others don't. I get calls from well-wishers to watch her, read her book. She cured her son, he's not autistic anymore, only he is. There is no cure, he's fully recovered. She's not anti-vaccine but she is. I read the fallout from her appearances on blogs. For every 4 or 5 complaints (my mom called and said Jenny cured her son!) there is a Jenny-defender. These people come in and say in their spam-like way, "she's just a mother who wants to share her story, what's wrong with that? She's not claiming her way is the only way!"

Well, then why are viewers walking away with the idea that vaccines cause autism? That autism is curable? That Jenny is a real Blonde?

Jenny has the right to free speech and she's using it. Those of us who disagree with and resent her message have that same freedom. She casts a catastrophic shadow over autism, parenting and disabled kids. When we wring our hands over vaccines, diets and alternative medicine, we are ignoring education and social services. We are ignoring, "celebrate diversity".

2007-07-10T12:35:00.000-07:00

Part 3 of Road Trip,

Home Again!

The Aarchway Inn in Moab, UT was nice. We swam before bed and opened the curtains in the room to view the rising full moon. I kept waking up because of disorientation dreams and the loud noises.

At 6:30am we went to get our "hot breakfast". I thought there'd be an onsite cook with hot plates. But it was prepared eggs and country gravy in crock pots, with all the continental stuff as usual. Not bad, but I'm not eating crock pot eggs just before a 10 hour drive through the desert. We made do and filled up on various starches. I filled up my thermos in my room (I travel with my own ground coffee and filters) and packed the car. Have I mentioned that my son eats oatmeal for breakfast everyday? This makes it awkward sometimes but we don't fight over this meal. He happened to eat oatmeal for dinner the night before because we didn't want to go to town once we arrived at the hotel. Oatmeal is Manna.

The predawn air was chilled but as soon as the sun rose over the canyon, it heated right up. We must have dwaddled because we didn't leave town until 9am. I think next time, I'll try and leave by 7:30am if possible. It ended up extending the day too long. I would have picked up a lunch in the next towns if I had realized how long it would take. There are several little towns with the burger shacks and restaurants for a pleasant stop. Bluff, Blanding (a nice visitor center with museum) and Monticello were just south of Moab. Part of the reason I didn't stop was that everytime I asked my son if he was hungry, he'd say no. But he ate half a box of cookies and a lot of crackers. So, it wasn't all that kosher in the car. Next time, I'll ration and stop-like it or not.

We went through Monument Valley around noon. I missed the twin mitts because I was a bit nervous and looking in the wrong direction. doh! But there's so much else to see it didn't matter. I was expecting to see them until we reached Kayenta and knew I had missed them entirely. We drove 163 through the Navajo rez and saw the stands for jewelry. I was tempted to buy something but didn't stop. Out of Kayenta there's another junction and we started driving towards Flagstaff. This half of the day's journey was just beautiful.

We got to Flagstaff and it was a lot later than I expected. There was some confusing road construction and a lot of traffic (we're with I-40 for a bit). Then there is the high mountain scenery, which is nice but not my cup of tea. Perhaps if it were 60 degrees cooler, I would have appreciate a fresh pine scent.

My son kept requesting to play "the blizzard" tape, a Laura Ingalls Wilder recording that has a passage about a blizzard in On the Banks of Plum Creek. We stopped at a rest stop near "McGuireville" and everyone there was stretching their backs, walking their dogs. We all seemed to be pushing it and feeling the pain. This stop had a nice lookout view and some maps of the area.

The traffic got thicker the closer we got to Phoenix and then bam! we were there. It took about 45 minutes to drive through the city, going 65 mph the whole time. What a pain, I didn't factor that at all. And nerve-wracking for a country girl who hates freeways!

We got on I-10 and drove home, often bumper to bumper but no problems. We got home at 7, which was now 6 MST.

highlights-

Moab scenery, smallness, accessibility

Natural beauty of highways, hardly any traffic, the amount of small towns and rest stops-we're spoiled in the west!

Needed Improvements-

leave early in the morning, pack lunches or stop for a full lunch, ration the snacks

2007-07-10T12:30:00.000-07:00

Being There

Full of flu-bug, I arrived in Buffalo, WY early Sunday afternoon. (Pop denied being sick, I think he excreted his bug out at the hotel) Mom (aka "Nana") had made a favorite venison dish and I couldn't eat. She happened to have frozen turkey soup that she thawed out for me, that I was able to hold down. I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening looking feverish and miserable. I felt like such a putz showing up like that, unable to unpack and even watch my own son.

The next day I woke up fine. I had woken up around 2am full of sweat so I must of boiled the bug out.

I ate the leftover venison for lunch, cold and with bread. Delicious. I was afraid to nuke it and change the flavor. We ran some errands and then that afternoon went "swimming". The pool in town is huge, about 4 full size pools in one in which they pipe in snow runoff from the mountain. Freezing cold. It was a really warm day, so I felt stupid to sit there dipping my feet. My son and I finally ran races in the shallow end until we were hot enough to go all the way in the deeper water. I had been bragging about his swimming skills and the new ability to do somersaults, I wanted him to show off.

My brother and sister in law came every evening for dinner. It was cool because we had a lot of time to visit and joke around, and they played intensely with Pop. Hide and seek in a big house, sometimes with all of us. (dinner on Monday was mom's old enchilada recipe, she has her enchilada sauce imported from California by other relatives)

Tuesday was go to Sheridan day. The purpose was to check out local animals in this park they have. We finally spotted the elk and most of the buffalo, he was partially hidden in a barn because of the heat. Pop was busy taking the binoculars to check out their local pool though. Going to Sheridan always involves a trip to Walmart, always. My brother (who managed to skip work) decided to buy my son a toy. The search was agonizing until my son picked a pinwheel. lol My brother ended up taking him back to the toy section and coming out with a Nerf dart gun. That night we went to my brother's for dinner. We ate outside and had taco salad (another old family recipe). Pop got trips in my brother's 4 wheeler ATV in his backyard.

Wednesday people had to work and my mom wanted to clean the house. I took my son back to Sheridan for shopping and a scenic drive. We went "tique-ing" and then took highway 87 back, stopping at Fort Phil Kearney on the way. He didn't like this stop at all, but he posed for some pictures for me. We also stopped at the only Starbucks in the area. I can't remember what we had for dinner that night.

Thursday was the last day for us. Nana, Pop and I went to Buffalo's downtown for window shopping. I took the last pictures in my disposable camera thinking I could develop them at a local place that never opened. drat When we went back home, it was warm enough for Nana and Pop to don bathing suits and have a water fight in the back yard.

Later, my brother and sister-in-law came with pizza (enough for the trip back). We ate outside and then went for ice cream. There was a mini-golf course and so Pop and Co. got to golf. We said our good byes.

The next morning Pop and I left for home.

Highlights to Buffalo, WY:

mild weather, good food, intense playing for my son, driving around in the country, lots of pets, fun

Next, On the Road, there's no place like home

2007-07-08T14:45:00.000-07:00

Road Trip Part 1

Took Pop on a road trip last week. We left Friday the 22nd and drove 500 miles to Santa Fe, NM. I had made a hotel reservation there so I had a goal for the day.

I had planned to leave at 7am but well, that was a lofty goal, wasn't it? We left at 8. Then to make matters worse, I got a "stomach problem" before we even made it to the freeway. I had to make 4 rest stops-I'm sure that ate up about an hour or more altogether.

Much of New Mexico is butt-ugly, well, the southern part that I-25 goes through. We had stopped in Deming for lunch at the Grand Motor Inn. A very old place I had found on the internet that serves homemade food. My son loved it. From Deming, I got on a small highway that cuts to I-25 (bypassing Las Cruces and that White Sands nonsense) at Hatch (chiles!). The next stretch of road always seems shorter on the atlas. . . . Then we hit Albuquerque at rush hour traffic. Finally around 7pm MDT, we reached Santa Fe and our hotel. This city crawls from the ugly grasslands to the beautiful hills where its downtown sits. We didn't go downtown, but I did get some great food near our hotel. (Chicken enchiladas in mole at Los Portrillos) We relaxed, swam and had hotel breakfast the next morning.

I didn't see a Travel Plaza on the way out of town, so I drove for a while worrying about gas. Finally saw a sign and pulled off the road, only to see another sign pointing "4.4 miles" down a highway. So, I took the highway which brought me to Pecos, NM. This was about 10 or 15 miles of real scenery, lush greens and trees and houses. We had lunch at a very slow, filthy Denny's in Raton.

Colorado was a nightmare, like I knew it would be. The very bottom isn't too exciting (plateau and grass) and once we hit Pueblo, the traffic was just ghastly. Road construction, fast cars, impatient 7 year old in the back seat. It was like this until we stopped in Fort Collins (my planned stop for the night).

The Ramada wasn't it was all cracked up to be. (Roomsaver find though they wouldn't accept the coupon) There was an enclosed pool in the "courtyard" which made it really hot inside. The food in the "full service restaurant" was awful (overcooked, expensive and poor tasting). I woke up at 5am with stomach bug. Blech.

The next day, I drove the final leg through Wyoming with this pending flu-bug, nauseated, feeling like I need to "go to the bathroom" and searing back pain. Plans for breakfast in Fort Collins were cancelled, lunch in Casper? cancelled. The good news is that it took just 5 hours to drive to Buffalo.

At 1:30ish pm, we arrived at my parents' house in Buffalo, Wy.

Teddy's Turn

2007-04-18T12:08:00.000-07:00

Teddy's Turn
I ran across this story at Autism Diva's blog, who found it at MOM-NOS' blog. A very important story about an 11 year old boy who attempted to share his story with the class when the teacher brought up Autism. She pulled him aside and told him it was personal and to keep it to himself. The principal justified the censoring by citing other students' privacy might by violated by Teddy sharing his own story.
http://media.phillyburbs.com/bcct/slideshows/teddysturn/
This is the slideshow Teddy created and the next link is the news article about the situation.
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-04152007-1330719.html

"“I'd tell them I'm one of the kids with autism and sometimes kids with autism get picked on,” Teddy explained recently in his family's Newtown Township kitchen. “It's not their fault; it's just because they have autism.”

The fifth-grader asked his mom about talking about autism at his school, Goodnoe Elementary. He thought April would be the perfect time since its autism awareness month.

What an awesome idea, Irene Willis told her son. After all, when Teddy spoke about his disability in his social skills class in February, he made a new friend. He also wrote about his autism for a school report.
[snip]
“I just want people to treat me better, like one of the other normal kids. If many people knew about autism, then they might think about what the person's good at and not what the person isn't good at.”

Autism Awareness Month

2007-04-16T21:19:00.000-07:00

I have mixed feelings about Autism Awareness month. There has been a crescendo of news stories and talk show dedications. However, there is mainly just one side to Autism being portrayed. That side is of the victimized parents and families of Autistic people. Autism is routinely referred to as a disease that is suffered. High profile advocates use damning metaphors like "tsunami"* and epidemic*.
Casual viewers and new parents see these portrayals on popular shows (Oprah, Dateline and The View) and are left mystified.
This weekend the Autism Awareness event was "the Walk". The fundraising goes to Autism Speaks, which seeks to cure and eradicate autism. That's not my interest. I want people to respect autistics and understand community members that may think and act differently from them. I want school districts to be proactive in training their teachers to teach autistic students.
Is that so much to ask for?
Maybe so.
Autism Diva shared this link to Big White Hat's blog, with his message to the autistic community. I think it belongs addressed to autism community too. http://bigwhitehat.com/?p=277

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Rollens
*http://en.epochtimes.com/news/6-2-27/38658.html

http://bigwhitehat.com/?p=277

Another Poster Child For the Autism Society

2007-01-05T12:28:00.000-07:00

An acquaintance ran across this story the other day. At the time, it was a straight child-neglect story. Toddler runs onto freeway, stranger rescues him, Mom found and charged with felony child abuse. This wasn't just for the fact that the child was on the freeway, but due to the conditions of the home and that of the other child in the house. Likely it's also because of her reaction, "oh, he got out again?" instead of "Oh my god, I had the door locked and just left the room for a second!".
Today, I get a notice of this story again. This time the autism community has embraced the woman and is feeling sorry for her, not the child. The family member who has spoken out has stated that the children aren't autistic but that doesn't stop Autism Society of Indiana from claiming the mom as a victim.
---------------------------------
"State troopers who investigated the case said they were told by a social worker that the boy might be mildly autistic. But one of the boy's relatives said he wasn't."
""Damon is not autistic," the boy's aunt, Kelly Quinn, told The Star. Quinn said Dyer has told relatives that both children were evaluated for the disorder but don't have it."

"If her son has autism, Dyer could have been under enormous pressure, an advocate for families with autistic children said.
Susan Pieples, president of the Autism Society of Indiana, said she didn't know the family but that children with autism can be ingenious in figuring out locks. "They can be very fast, and they have no fear of danger."

"Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi said that even if her child has autism, there's no excuse for a mother's lack of supervision that enabled a 3-year-old boy to wander onto I-465."
-----------------------------------------

It's true that children, even 3 year olds, can be great escape artists. It's also true that autistic kids (especially toddlers) can have no sense of personal boundaries, home territory and safety. Though it's not impossible to keep them safely in the house. We had to put locks out of reach and hard to manipulate to both keep our son in the house and out of dangerous rooms. We never locked our son in a room, like I know some parents do. It was always about preventing wandering outside. The original story on CNN showed the apartment complex and I knew exactly where it was. Though originally from the West, I briefly lived in Indianapolis when my son was 1-4 years old. We had a hard time looking for fenced yards. But they do exist. I never understood the open yards with communal play areas. All the grounds blend into each other. However, responsible parents prioritize their kids and make sure they are safe.
Being "overwhelmed" is understandable when you are actually caring for your children, and this woman was not. She is expecting yet another child. How will she care for it in prison? I surely hope they don't let her off because of the pregnancy. It's just further evidence that she is incapable of making important decisions.
Taking care of developmentally disabled kids and well, all kids, is a hard job. One needs to prepare for it and mean to do it. I resent the non-profits using this story when they don't offer help to parents or children in the first place. Where does their money go? Do the local chapters run daycare centers? Do they provide free resources for families (besides loaning books that you have little time to read)? Autism community advocates need to shut up or put up when it comes to defending neglectful parents. If it really is so impossible to keep your kids clean, fed and safe, then show us the tangible help we need.

sources,

"Parents of children with autism often feel like "there is nothing I can do to keep my child safe, and I can't get any rest or take care of myself or anyone else because this child is so high-maintenance," Pieples said."

"In court documents, police said Dyer's apartment was in disarray, her daughter was wearing a diaper full of feces and there appeared to be feces or dirt in the children's bedroom.
But finding feces on the wall of a home with an autistic child would not be that uncommon, Pieples said.

"When you hear there was a child found in a house with feces on the wall, you have one horrible picture," Pieples said. "But if you are someone within our community, you think, 'That poor woman.' "
"Raising a child with autism alone would be a daunting task with a support network. "Without one, it's an impossible task." Pieples said."

Homeschooling for Autistic Children

2006-12-18T23:01:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been three and a half months since my last post. I read more than I write. Generally, it seems that others have more important things to say and better tools to say them with. Perusing my last entry, I realized that the school never intended to accomodate my son. The school psychologist never filled a care plan, no one sought to redirect us to an appropriate program. We pulled our son out of school on Halloween. I have been homeschooling him since.
We aired our grievances with the district's special ed dept over the course of say, three weeks. Finally, we had a meeting during which they told us that the school had no obligation to accomodate our son, it was the district's responsibility. They offered a school with a self-contained special ed class, with the intention of letting my son in the 1st grade class with support.
We asked for these types of things in the weeks following the meeting and were told they couldn't help us. We were continually told that the problems needed to be resolved within the home school. We were also told that whatever recommendations the district made (to train the school staff for example) were not binding and up to the discretion of the school principal (who was very hostile and ignorant of autistic accomodations).
Now I have seen the school with the self-contained classroom. It seems nice. It doesn't offer the academic programs that our home school does. It doesn't have structured sports or PE, which help organize Pop's energy and help him transition to class. We will try it out, though.
I am angry that my son doesn't have the right to go to his home school. If he were in a wheelchair, would he get punished for being late to class if they had no ramps? Would they be able to send him across town to a school with ramps? They have programs for children that don't speak English-they don't send them to special schools.
Anyhow, we'll see how it goes. In the meantime, Mommyteacher is having fun with playing school at home. I'm learning a lot myself.

Special Education, Special Interests?

2006-08-29T12:13:00.000-07:00

Well, the third week of school and things aren't going so well. We knew it would be rough starting because of all the misdirection. However, you'd think that if you have a child in your system (school) that you would at least try to accomodate that person to the best of your ability or be honest when you won't. We are told that Pop has an aide and he will be getting bus services (special ed). The aide is a person who facilitates his transitions and any particular problems he may have; not understanding something said, needing help transitioning from one activity to the next, needing coping skills for a particular sensory issue etc. They stay with him throughout the day and observe any "triggers" that set him off. Triggers can be schedule changes, sensory integration problems (noisy, bright, crowded, etc), fear of unknown, not understanding what's going on around him. Sometimes disruptive behavior is actually indiscreet mimicking/echolalia.

So, anyhow, my husband and I have shown up at school on at least 3 occasions during which the aide is not with Pop and is performing other tasks. Today was the first day I even met her and I had to ask who she was. I can't get a clear picture of what is going on. Pop says that he has been sent to the principal's office more than once, today he said that some man (he didn't know the name) threatened him with the police. He has frequently told me that his teacher and the special ed teacher are "mean". No one else has mentioned the principal's office to me so I can't tell who is telling me what. Pop is very defensive and evasive concerning school and his behavior. He doesn't like it there and doesn't want to go back. The special ed teacher has already started suggesting other schools with "autistic programs", despite the fact that we haven't even begun a proper program here at his home school.

What really burns me up is that the failure of services/adaptation on the part of the special ed dept is detrimental to Pop's relationship to his regular 1st grade teacher. Pop is disruptive, sometimes out of control and needs help figuring out how to cope. Yesterday, he was removed from his classroom for the final 1.25 hour and didn't get his homework sent home. My husband had to go to the cafeteria to look for his lunchbox. He was making vague comments about going to the nurse's office too. WTF???!

Oh and the bus. After telling me that I DO NOT want to put my son on the regular bus (w/ 60+ loud kids), she informs me that yes, he is scheduled to be on that bus. No mention of the special ed bus/van. Sorry, I'll drive him.

I never thought I would ever say this, but homeschooling is looking pretty ideal to me.

Heat Wave?

2005-07-27T01:44:00.000-07:00

Global Warming aside, this yammering on about "how hot it is!" has gone too far. Not only do I hear about the phenomenon that is summer at work but on the news too. Today, Talk of the Nation on NPR featured the heat as a whole topic worthy of nonstop jokes.
Why is it that dying of heat-exposure is considered a "weather-related" event? It's suicide, it's neglience, it's murder and it's an accident. It's not weather-related. You can die of hypothermia in 50 degree weather if you're drunk enough and you can succumb to hypothermia in 80 degree weather if you submerge your drunkenself in 50 degree water. Is that weather-related?
It just drives me nuts to no end that people keep talking about it like July has never happened before.

You Don't Really Own Your Home

2005-06-23T09:43:00.000-07:00

This is nice, don't want to sell? No problem! I'll just petition the city gov't and FORCE you to sell so I can gentrify the neighborhood into something you never voted for. That's a new spin on "representative gov't".

Supreme Court Rules Cities May Seize Homes
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer 57 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - A divided Supreme Court ruled Thursday that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses against their will for private development in a decision anxiously awaited in communities where economic growth often is at war with individual property rights.

The 5-4 ruling — assailed by dissenting Justice Sanday Day O'Connor as handing "disproportionate influence and power" to the well-heeled in America — was a defeat for some Connecticut residents whose homes are slated for destruction to make room for an office complex. They had argued that cities have no right to take their land except for projects with a clear public use, such as roads or schools, or to revitalize blighted areas.

As a result, cities now have wide power to bulldoze residences for projects such as shopping malls and hotel complexes in order to generate tax revenue.

Writing for the court, Justice John Paul Stevens said local officials, not federal judges, know best in deciding whether a development project will benefit the community. States are within their rights to pass additional laws restricting condemnations if residents are overly burdened, he said.

"The city has carefully formulated an economic development that it believes will provide appreciable benefits to the community, including — but by no means limited to — new jobs and increased tax revenue," Stevens wrote in an opinion joined by Justice Anthony Kennedy, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer.

"It is not for the courts to oversee the choice of the boundary line nor to sit in review on the size of a particular project area," he said.

O'Connor, who has often been a key swing vote at the court, issued a stinging dissent, arguing that cities should not have unlimited authority to uproot families, even if they are provided compensation, simply to accommodate wealthy developers.

"Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random," she wrote. "The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms."

Connecticut residents involved in the lawsuit expressed dismay and pledged to keep fighting.

"It's a little shocking to believe you can lose your home in this country," said resident Bill Von Winkle, who said he would refuse to leave his home, even if bulldozers showed up. "I won't be going anywhere. Not my house. This is definitely not the last word."

Scott Bullock, an attorney for the Institute for Justice representing the families, added: "A narrow majority of the court simply got the law wrong today and our Constitution and country will suffer as a result."

At issue was the scope of the Fifth Amendment, which allows governments to take private property through eminent domain if the land is for "public use."

Susette Kelo and several other homeowners in a working-class neighborhood in New London, Conn., filed suit after city officials announced plans to raze their homes for a riverfront hotel, health club and offices.

New London officials countered that the private development plans served a public purpose of boosting economic growth that outweighed the homeowners' property rights, even if the area wasn't blighted.

"We're pleased," attorney Edward O'Connell, who represents New London Development Corporation, said in response to the ruling.

The lower courts had been divided on the issue, with many allowing a taking only if it eliminates blight.

O'Connor was joined in her opinion by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, as well as Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

Nationwide, more than 10,000 properties were threatened or condemned in recent years, according to the Institute for Justice, a Washington public interest law firm representing the New London homeowners.

New London, a town of less than 26,000, once was a center of the whaling industry and later became a manufacturing hub. More recently the city has suffered the kind of economic woes afflicting urban areas across the country, with losses of residents and jobs.

The New London neighborhood that will be swept away includes Victorian-era houses and small businesses that in some instances have been owned by several generations of families. Among the New London residents in the case is a couple in their 80s who have lived in the same home for more than 50 years.

City officials envision a commercial development that would attract tourists to the Thames riverfront, complementing an adjoining Pfizer Corp. research center and a proposed Coast Guard museum.

New London was backed in its appeal by the National League of Cities, which argued that a city's eminent domain power was critical to spurring urban renewal with development projects such Baltimore's Inner Harbor and Kansas City's Kansas Speedway.

Under the ruling, residents still will be entitled to "just compensation" for their homes as provided under the Fifth Amendment. However, Kelo and the other homeowners had refused to move at any price, calling it an unjustified taking of their property.

The case was one of six resolved by justices on Thursday. Still pending at the high court are cases dealing with the constitutionality of government Ten Commandments displays and the liability of Internet file-sharing services for clients' illegal swapping of copyrighted songs and movies. The Supreme Court next meets on Monday.

The case is Kelo et al v. City of New London, 04-108.

Bruce Campbell Live at the Crest Theatre

2005-06-12T17:18:00.000-07:00

Can I just say this? Bruce Campbell is one sexy guy. Not, "for his age" or "for his type". He's sexy, nuff said.
He appeared last night at a screening (apparently the first film screening) of his latest movie, Man with the Screaming Brain. In a nutshell, it's about two men (that just met) who are killed by the same woman and their brains are combined in Bruce Campbell's body (well, his character's body). It's part love story, horror, sci-fi and mostly comedy. A big party for Bruce, Ted Raimi fans.
Bruce has other things to say besides insulting his stalking-I mean loyal-fanbase. He appeals to the crowd to frequent the old, single theatres that are progressively disappearing. My own town, Chico, has just lost its last theatre to the local "developer" who is considering turning it into a parking garage or office space. We do have a very good independent theatre but I wish we could keep the big one to keep more family-oriented entertainment downtown. I mean, isn't that what good oldfashioned capitalism is about? Keeping communities economically viable? Oh, yeah, we're not enjoying that kind of capitalism, but the extreme kind where Edge Cities and out of city limits businesses thrive and attract crappy architecture and chain-stores. Where the parking is PLENTIFUL AND FREE!!

Thomas Frank-My Commie Hero

2005-05-29T11:58:00.000-07:00

Hey, folks. Went to San Francisco on Monday to attend a "discussion" with Thomas Frank. This was put on by the Inforum division of The Commonwealth Club-a nonpartisan org that hosts public discourse.

Thomas Frank is the founding editor of The Baffler, a quarterly that examines and derides culture-mostly as it relates to our economic interests. He is also the author of One Market Under God and What's the Matter with Kansas?
He mostly talked about the usurping of the dialogue in US politics. We discuss (generally speaking) irrelevant topics as; Moral Values, rebelliousness in pop culture when we could be discussing more pressing issues like fair labor practices. He posits that John Kerry lost because the GOP (and their media accomplices) have framed the arguments so that Joe Public won't identify or like him. He's a "rich guy" while Dubya is "more like me".
These are all topics that Frank has a gift for fleshing out. I enjoyed seeing him in person, though I was sorry that he was so harried. He mentioned that he had jet lag-if you saw his schedule at tcfrank.com you would see that he is on a break-neck book promotion. A lot of his comments I had already read and weren't news to me. But I was curious as to his party leanings. He seems so very disenchanted with The Democrats, I thought he might be a "let's tear it all down" or a third-partier. However, he is a bona fide Democrat just wanting to revitalize and redirect his wayward family.

His lament from the 2004 election is that Howard Dean didn't make the nomination, we lost his loud voice. He believes that Dean would have helped jumpstart the Party regardless if he had lost the Election. (I disagree with his opinion of Dean) Then once Kerry had the rest of the campaign, he failed to deliver a vital, distinguishing platform. (that I agree with)

Thomas Frank states that the "cultural wars would disappear if we talked about real issues". ("real" generally meaning the questions of allocation of wealth and resources)
Democrats have to admit that we play into those "wars" and just feed into the GOP doublespeak. Look at the macho pissing contests that Kerry and Dubya held. Kerry didn't take the time to campaign on labor, he didn't even spend time to campaign in rural constituencies.
Democrats need to own up to our responsibilities and discuss real issues that affect real people.

Election Day Blooze

2004-10-13T13:11:00.000-07:00

Does it really surprise anyone that there is voter registration fraud en masse?! What is the Democrat Party but a heaping pile whiners and victims? Yes, of course, the GOP is officially and unofficially trying to destroy the Democrat voice. So are the Democrats themselves. What are these massive voter registration drives but trying to rally the laziest, least informed in our society to vote the "Right Guy"? So, it just goes that those Laziest are going to get duped by fraudulent orgs that pose as voter drives but really are out to throw away registration forms.
If you really care about the state of the union, then you inform yourself and your friends and you calmly register to vote at your local DMV. You can pick up a form and it even has postage paid. My husband picked up a different form at a retail store and it not only lacked self-addressed label or postage but it didn't even tell you where to mail it to. It didn't look official and had no gov't information on it. Yeah you right.
So, some people work hard and raise families and don't have time to register the right way. Then those people don't have time to read up on their shit and deserve to lose their voice. This is a fucking Democracy and you better take it more seriously than to fill out a half-assed form while in line at the Record Store.

Disclaimer: this diatribe in no way derides the legitimate effort some non-partisan orgs are putting on to alert citizens about Election Day. They're well-meaning but people need to assert themselves and be held accountable for their own actions.

Authenticity For Dumbies!

2004-10-02T23:00:00.000-07:00

Thomas Frank uses the term, "authenticity" in his book, What's the Matter with Kansas? to describe the class wars of the middle and upper classes. Being authentic becomes an objectified aesthetic when taken to extreme, when you're preoccupied with how people see you. I can't believe how pervasive this is. I don't really know if it has always been as such, being that most people don't like to discuss "authenticity" in this way, unless they are accusing someone else of being unauthentic.
Damn, I can't think.

The Failure of Isms

2004-09-20T13:12:00.000-07:00

A lot of people middle-aged and under seem to consider themselves activists of some kind. Environmentalism, feminism, anti-racism, et cetera ad nauseum all seem to hook people into a web of do-gooding. Acquaintenances of mine are as suburban as anything, living in a tract home where they water their lawn like everyone else on the block. Yet they insist they are living the "alternative" lifestyle, "out of the mainstream". They attend a couple of fundraisers a year, they vote Democrat or Green every four years and recycle their trash. But for all their talk, they are really doing nothing else.
To defeat the great Evils of the world, one must look at the roots of evil itself. Is liberalism really defining trash culture "As Seen on TV"? Do Corporations sprout from nothing and inflict grave danger on the environment by themselves? Do men really hate women? We attack our various strawmen by avoiding obvious truths. We have trash tv because we buy it, we demand it. We have flashing tickers on our 24-hour news stations because we like to be scared, we feign awareness with it. Despite the limitations of our salaries/wages, we insist on having whatever we are told to want. But to do so, we demand the lowest prices. We demand the superstores, the Big Boxes to deliver us the goods at a price everyone can afford.
For the time being, we ignore the fact that our smaller stores are put out of business. "Well, their prices were higher, I couldn't shop there anymore. I can't afford to support their mark ups." Have you ever questioned the fact that you may not NEED all those doodads? You might not NEED to buy all those deli items? You might not NEED different shoes for every day of the week? You might not NEED so many plastic shelves or closet savers if you didn't have so many cheap outfits to fill them?
Industries are inter-connected. Entertainment is linked to fashion, which is linked to credit. Your favorite celebrity may be screaming "empowerment" or whatnot, but they are really your link to enslavement to Wall Street, Indebtedness.
So, how much good are you doing when you buy that eco-friendly t-shirt (made in China)? How alert are you to niche-marketing? Will you admit to being mainstream?

Almost Free!

2004-09-14T23:01:00.000-07:00

Initiation of the Jacksonion blog. I'm a laborer and wannabe. Wannabe rich, smart and allthat.
Doing time in Northern California, where about 75% of my income goes to rent. Whoopdedoo!

Have you ever felt that twinge of guilt that you aren't "going anywhere"? You are going along and feeling good about your simple life, your hobbies, your lack of excess and consumption and then BAM! someone asks, "So, what are you doing with your life?" Because, face it. Being a prole isn't a goal, it's a means to an end, and that end HAS to be to BE SOMEBODY!

Since I am a nurse aide, I constantly have people advising me that I "could" be a nurse. Well, yes, I could be after more school and school loans and working full time and taking care of my family. I could be a fucking pro-fessional. But I'm not and I'm NOT asking for advice by mentioning that I'm a nurse aide.
But despite my higher aspirations for peace and serenity, I still feel like I need to "fill in the blanks" with some stupid explanation why I bathe and feed the incapacitated for a living.