Marriage Equality

The Supreme Court got this one right. Congratulations to all of the people impacted by this decision. Hopefully, the issue will be resolved in all states as soon as possible. Nice!

Voting Rights Attacked

The decision by the Supreme Court of the United States on June 25, 2013 is a sad thing to see and understand. Having marched and demonstrated specifically to bring attention to the unfairness of voting requirements in the south in the mid-60's it is harder to accept. This will allow states to act differently relative to requirements, id's and all sorts of things that will accomplish one thing - keeping people from voting. My hope is that Congress will eventually correct this through some common sense reforms of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But now its time to get ready for another march.

Where Are His Clothes?

Many remember the story by Hans Christian Anderson about the Emperor who had no clothes but here's a quick synopsis for those who may need to be reminded.

Long ago there was a very vain Emperor who cared for nothing except wearing and displaying fine clothes to impress all of his followers. He hires two swindlers who promise him the finest, best suit of clothes from a fabric that they say is invisible to anyone who is unfit for his position or "hopelessly stupid". The Emperor suspects something and asks two of his most trusted ministers to view the cloth. They cannot see the cloth themselves, but pretend that they can for fear of appearing unfit for their positions and the Emperor does the same. Finally the swindlers report that the suit is finished, they mime dressing him and the Emperor marches in procession before his subjects. The townsfolk play along with the pretense not wanting to appear unfit for their positions or stupid. Then a child in the crowd, too young to understand the desirability of keeping up the pretense, blurts out that the Emperor is wearing nothing at all and the cry is taken up by others. The Emperor cringes, suspecting the assertion is true, but continues the procession.

This story fits so nicely with many things happening around us today. It's interesting how one's view of the world changes or is controlled by what we think we see.

I was reminded of this recently after my last post and various articles I've seen about the restoration of funding for people with developmental disabilities in NYS. The Governor, legislators and statewide advocacy groups have all become more and more vocal and proud of the restoration of $90 Million in the state budget. I've read and reread many of these articles and frankly I can't figure out the math. Dare I say it? I don't think anything has been restored. I think the celebration is much like the procession. In reality, the Emperor has no clothes and yet everyone is shouting and clapping their hands. Of course no one wants to admit that this all ended up being a public relations coup for the Governor and various other elected officials. No one wants to admit that between efficiencies - some real and some manufactured, audit recoupments, the hope of federal incentives and the promise that if there is a shortfall, the difference will be made up - there is no restoration of $90 Million.

All I can say to various groups and individuals is - open your eyes real wide. Look closely. Count the dollars yourself. I for one don't think you've gained anything. I'd love to be proven wrong in this case but I just can't see those clothes.

NYS Set To Restore Support for People With Disabilities

This is an interesting and great development. NYS is supposedly set to vote next week (6-21-13) to restore $90 million that was cut from the state budget to support people with developmental disabilities. The original cut was the direct result of a funding mechanism that the state used for many years to inflate its reimbursement from the federal government. Gov. Cuomo however, tried to blame the cut on non-profit agency administrators. Well that blame game has gone under the bridge with all the water.

Here are a couple of things that I find interesting. Instead of emphasis on the restoration and what it means, the thread that runs through all the articles that I've seen, seems to be about how the Governor worked this solution through to a positive end result by involving and working with various stakeholders. Some would say that's just politics and you have to give the devil his due. I view it differently. There are lessons to be learned here.

First, everyone should be cautious about this 'negotiated settlement' there are details that aren't too clear and that require other dollars being made up through one of those neat new words - 'efficiencies'. We'll see what all of that means.

But there's another aspect to these political statements. They're just not true. Let's be clear. It wasn't the Governor and the large statewide agencies that made this restoration happen. Sure they all want to take credit. They should take credit for what they did - namely put families, people and organizations through a living hell over the past couple of months. The people who can proudly take credit for this restoration, for this change of thinking on the part of the Governor, are family members, individuals with developmental disabilities and leaders of local organizations who helped rally people around this issue, sometimes at great risk. These real advocates made elected and appointed officials accountable and did it very publicly. These individuals embarrassed those in authority, those governing and made them feel foolish in front of the public in general. Again, it's a real lesson in activism. There are things that are outrageous and wrong. There are things that politicians can't be trusted with. There are things that require some risk in speaking up. I personally salute all of these folks - people with disabilities, their family members and supporters. You did it well. You did it right. But now be cautious. This battle is far from over.

Journalism Is A Craft

In today's world it may be easy to forget that journalism is a craft. It's a craft that needs to be nurtured and worked at and like most everything else, it usually gets better over time. Struggles, errors, experiments are all part of the development of this important craft. At the same time we're experiencing a massive change in communication as well as  journalistic outlets. Newspapers are disappearing. Bloggers are multiplying. News is being reported instantaneously by anyone with a smart phone and a twitter account. That doesn't mean these instant reporters are journalists or craftspeople. It doesn't mean they have a passion for truth, accuracy or even information sharing.

I have a lot of respect for journalists. I've seen my share. Some have been great, others terrible and still others mediocre. But the folks I'm talking about have all been people honing their craft, trying and many times succeeding to get better.

I mention all of this because I think it has become too easy to consider all of the news we read today as the result of journalists and sadly, it just isn't true. Getting through all of the information and discerning what is and what isn't journalism is really a daunting task and it's easy to just accept what we see and what we read as the real thing. So I think it's important to slow down, step back and really take some time to recognize the professional craftspeople who are out there. If you try, you can identify these folks through style, content and above all their attempt always for accuracy.

Where does that leave bloggers like me? At the beginning, I guess. Trying to watch and learn from other people who have studied, practiced and evolved over time. I do fear that all of us want information so badly that we may not question the craftsmanship. This will all work itself through over time but there will be some rough spots along the way. In the meantime, here's to the people who understand and work at their craft of writing and reporting. Those folks who keep a journal of a story and follow it from beginning to end to help the rest of us understand what's happening and why it's happening - an honorable thing to do.