Updated 3x: Thanks for the Lanterman Act Ronald Reagan!

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Sunday February 06, 2011 · 6:30 AM PST

2011/02/06 · 06:30

As Governor of California, Reagan signed the Lanterman Act in 1969, calling it a "a dynamic framework on which we shall build a comprehensive system" to assure that people with disabilities develop to their potential. He was right. The Lanterman Act was a visionary, landmark piece of legislation and the system it created has resulted in concrete and dramatic improvements affecting the quality of life of people with disabilities. The system's reliance on private businesses to provide the services (disclosure: I founded and run one of these businesses) has resulted in innovation and tremendous cost savings to the state.

Prior to the Lanterman Act, people with disabilities often ended up in state hospitals, called Developmental Centers, where inhumane conditions and treatment were all-too common. The Developmental Centers were expensive. They are expensive. (Reform is a slow process, and the state has just nearly finished shutting down the system entirely.) Community-based programs typically cost just a small fraction of what the Developmental Centers cost.

Follow me below the fold for more on why this entitlement program is under attack and facing nearly a billion dollar in cuts!

Prismatique

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Monday December 27, 2010 · 6:22 PM PST

2010/12/27 · 18:22

Happy Birthday to me, I turned 40 yesterday. Woke up to unexpected blue skies and a rainbow outside my window and ended up watching a spectacular sunset from Fort Ord Dunes, near Monterey.

In honor of my first 40, I'm going to relate 15 things that seem to me just now as the most important things I've learned during my years on planet Earth.

Douglas Adams gets a nod with my number one, which I find is always good advice, regardless of the situation: Don't Panic!

See the other 14 below the fold!

Prismatique

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Thursday March 25, 2010 · 8:59 PM PDT

2010/03/25 · 20:59

I saw today that one of my Facebook friends had linked to poll that asked:

The staffers who wrote Obamacare slipped in a hidden gem: They exempted themselves, Obama, and his staff from the new regulations. Should this exemption be repealed?
1:Yes: If they wrote the bill, it should apply to them too
2:No: They work hard and deserve a special exemption

This was news to me, so I googled to find an opinion piece from Ben Domenech posted yesterday at CBS News.com.

In it Domenech (who resigned from the Washington Post under allegations of plagiarism) asserts that the language of the health care law, which requires that "members of Congress and congressional staff" participate in the health-care exchanges, exempts President Obama and the staffers who wrote the law from "Obamacare." He says that Republican Senator Charles Grassley tried to submit an amendment to extend the requirement to the President last year. And of course he emphasizes that Grassley's attempt to fix it was "rebuffed."

Prismatique

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Wednesday January 27, 2010 · 8:55 AM PST

2010/01/27 · 08:55

I'll cast my own two cents into the ongoing debate about what progressives and liberals should do in response to the dire situation health-insurance reform is currently in, some of the Obama administration's worrisome policies and priorities, last week's Supreme Ct. ruling and Scott Brown's election.

I think it's simple: we need to take to the streets. And the papers! And the phones! Our efforts in opposition to the Iraq War and the Bush Administration's policies defined a moral majority that led directly to two-watershed elections and shifted power to the Democrats. We need to make it crystal clear to the Democrats we collectively sent to Washington who it is they work for.

Poll

17 votes Show Results

Can we overcome our petty differences and work for change?

17 votes Vote Now!

Can we overcome our petty differences and work for change?

Hell yes!

9 votes

Not so much . . . .

8 votes

Obvious Statement of the Day: Exit Strategy "Will Have Serious Implications"

Prismatique

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Thursday December 03, 2009 · 12:06 AM PST

2009/12/03 · 00:06

An anonymous Pakistani "security official" was quoted by the New York Times today as saying that Obama's exit date from Afghanistan would "have consequences."

When I read that quote, the question that immediately popped into my mind was, "well, yeah, isn't that the point of the exit date?" The second question was, how is this prediction from ~~and~~ hold on! who exactly is this prediction from again? It's from some anonymous someone which means it may well be from just about anybody, no? So how exactly is the prediction from this anonymous "security official" who has a flair for stating the obvious relevant?

The exit date will have consequences. No kidding?

Prismatique

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Wednesday November 25, 2009 · 8:16 AM PST

2009/11/25 · 08:16

Several recent front page stories and diaries have emphasized that a vote for cloture is not a vote in support of the bill. It's simply a vote to end the debate and actually get down to the business of having each Senator vote for a particular bill - in the current context, that bill of course is the health care bill with a public option.

That's a step in the right direction. We need to be doing more.

Speaking for myself, I have spent far more time than I had available phoning my (seemingly always) wavering Representatives in Congress and the President making my case in favor of the public option. I've written many a letter and shown up as many rallies as I could as well. The result?

Well, the good news is, we have well over 50 Senators, a President and a majority in the House ready to support a bill with a public option! The bad news is, despite our efforts, we're about to watch the public option die because Joe Lieberman and 3 other Senators are trying to conflate the difference between voting to end a debate on a bill with voting for the bill itself. So what we've done hasn't been good enough to get the job done.

Prismatique

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Monday August 17, 2009 · 11:09 AM PDT

2009/08/17 · 11:09

There's been two different times in my life that I wanted to go to school to study the rise of fascism in Europe during the last century. Neither time did it work out. The first time I got sidetracked studying ancient history and philosophy (I first met up with the Straussians doing that, but didn't really understand how dangerous they were at the time, I'm sorry to say). And I had too many responsibilities and commitments to go back to school the second time.

But watching how so-called "conservatives" have stirred up opposition to . . . well, supposedly to health insurance reform, I think I've figured out what fascism is really all about.

Prismatique

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Sunday August 16, 2009 · 7:24 PM PDT

2009/08/16 · 19:24

Dear Mr. President,

As Thomas Paine might have said about times such as ours, they try mens' souls. I thank you so much for your comments made in Colorado yesterday, defending needed health care reform and, even more, standing up for a public option. Watching clips from your comments from that town hall, I felt great excitement thinking that we had a President who would stand firm in the face of special interests who put their profits ahead the well-being of the American people. Hearing that you were prepared to be a one-term President over health care and energy heartened me even more. I know you get it, Mr. President. You're one of us, a citizen. Yesterday I was optimistic that we had a President who not only got it, but who was prepared to fight for it. A president who was prepared to fight for us.

Today I'm no so sure.

Prismatique

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Monday August 10, 2009 · 9:13 PM PDT

2009/08/10 · 21:13

Sarah Palin lies about health care reform and the jeopardy it poses for young Trig's life with seeming impunity. We know that. It's maddening! I just wrote a letter to the editor at the New York Times objecting to a story about the health care debate that didn't once mention the campaign of lies and deception emanating from right-wing circles.

I find this outrageous, absolutely. But what outrages and confounds me all the more is that no one in the media has felt compelled to compare the recent right-wing sanctimony over the danger reform supposedly means for people with disabilities with the Republican party's consistent pursuit for policies and spending priorities that hurts people with disabilities.

Full disclosure: I just fulfilled my dream of becoming a social entrepreneur by opening an agency that supports adults with developmental disabilities to live independently in their communities!

Prismatique

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Sunday July 12, 2009 · 10:07 AM PDT

2009/07/12 · 10:07

This diary will be short, as I'm off to work momentarily. Former Vice President Dick Cheney - which rolls so much better of the tongue with the "former" preceding the title, no? - has long been obsessed with secrecy. The past couple days have offered far more evidence of how deep and how lawless his obsession is, with the Times' breaking news that Cheney ordered the CIA to withhold information about some CIA program. The program began soon after 9/11 and persisted throughout the Bush years. Hopefully this is the straw that broke the camel's proverbial back and we'll start to penetrate Cheney's veil of secrecy. There've been many great diaries about this issue by people who are far better at following a breaking story than am I. So this diary isn't about that.

I've been wondering about the energy plan Cheney devised in early 2001. Yes, the one that we've never even been able to learn which if any (as if that's likely) industry players were involved in formulating the policy, the one Cheney fought all the way to the Supreme Court (and won) to avoid disclosing even the most basic information. We should demand that the new administration release the information on Cheney's energy plan.

Prismatique

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Saturday July 11, 2009 · 1:37 AM PDT

2009/07/11 · 01:37

I'm mostly speaking to you, the men and women who represent us in Washington D.C. and the State Capitals across the nation, but there's no reason Joe Citizen shouldn't hear that, too.

The fact is, these are historic times. A deep worldwide recession. Political upheavals across the continents of Asia, Africa, and Central/South America. The nation and the world confront, simultaneously, energy and climate crises. And there are notable developments that herald a return to better government and a more sustainable world. The election of our nation's first African American President and the Democratic victory in Congress, should, if campaign rhetoric is to be believed, be a very positive development.

The thing about historic times is that they stand out. They're the little fact that future generations will recall. Historic times define the people of those times. Future generations will remember us as having risen to the challenge of these historic time or as having failed to do what was needed.

It's up to us to decide. And even more in the hands of you, the individuals we the people chose to represent us in government, to decide how future generations view us.

Prismatique

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Saturday September 13, 2008 · 1:52 PM PDT

2008/09/13 · 13:52

Myself, I'm not much given to outward displays and never have been. So I've never worn a flag pin and probably never will. That says nothing about my patriotism, though, as I do now and always have deeply loved my country. The title of this diary is taken from Langston Hughes' great poem of the same name. Hughes' poem perfectly describes what it is that I love about America: her promise. I think that promise is under assault today and may be in as much danger as ever before.

This nation was founded on a set of noble principles. As President Lincoln described it, this nation was "conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." America certainly didn't fully embody those principles at the time of her birth. In the 232 years since Thomas Jefferson penned the Continental Congress' bold Declaration, however, brave patriots from all walks of life have dedicated their energies and given of their lives not only to defend the nation from external threats, but also to fulfill that incredible vision of Jefferson's.

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Updated 3x: Thanks for the Lanterman Act Ronald Reagan!

The Most Important Things I've Learned in my First 40 Years....

Oh, Grassley, You Snake! Wrote Amendment "Exempting" Obama Staffers?

GBCW? Hell No! Democracy is in the Streets (and online)!

Obvious Statement of the Day: Exit Strategy "Will Have Serious Implications"

Why Aren't We Crowing About an "Up or Down Vote?"

Sorry, Rush, here's what we all need to know about fascism

Defeated . . . .

The Story Behind Palin's Lies: the GOP and Disabled Americans

What About Cheney's Energy Policy?

Psst! Hey! These are historic times. . .

Let America Be America Again!