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The UN has just agreed on the text for the treaty that would protect the rights of people with disABILITIES. Final passage of the treaty is expected to occur next month, and all the countries who agree will sign. The US won’t because the ADA already provides sufficient protections.
Then why is it that after 16 years there are business that still do not provide accessible entrances?
Public transportation with no ramps?
No sidewalks, or sidewalks with lightpoles sticking right through the middle?
It’s slightly frustrating to be standing outside in a rainstorm, hair dripping, clothes soaked, can’t open a door obviously because the push button isn’t there, isn’t working, or was placed too high and people just aren’t around to lend a hand. Wet.
This is my USA under the ADA with all the protections it affords. Do I feel oppressed? Nah. I’m too stubborn, and I’m glad that this treaty has finally been realized. Now others will get a chance. Maybe, they won’t have to feel trapped.

How Appealing is reporting that the NCBE has just won its copyright infringment case against PMBR awarding it $12 million in damages. Furthermore, the federal court is prohibiting said bar review company from sending any representatives to sit in on the exam unless he/she intends to become a licensed attorney of the state.
I’m sure PMBR is reeling from the slap.

There are now eight planets in the solar system. Well, at least until the leading astronomers change their minds again, or unless a new planet is discovered that fits the definition of, "a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a … nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.”
Until then our beloved Pluto has been relegated to the status of a dwarf planet. Too small to hang out with the big boys I guess.
I’m just intrigued to be living in a time when these changes occur even if it is a little sad. Seriously, what’s next?

And so it begins again, or perhaps it never ended. With the recent plane conspiracy that now makes liquids oh so threatening, the Brits are absolutely paranoid, and thanks to Bush I think we tie them in the melodrama department. This return to hysterics has led to the banning of all Middle Easterners and their look-alikes.

British holidaymakers staged an unprecedented mutiny – refusing to allow their flight to take off until two men they feared were terrorists were forcibly removed…
The trouble in Malaga flared last Wednesday as two British citizens in their 20s waited in the departure lounge to board the pre-dawn flight and were heard talking what passengers took to be Arabic…
Passengers noticed that, despite the heat, the pair were wearing leather jackets and thick jumpers and were regularly checking their watches…
The Monarch pilot – a highly experienced captain – accompanied by armed Civil Guard police and airport security staff, approached the two men and took their passports.
Half an hour later, police returned and escorted the two Asian passengers off the jet.

In Great Britain.
Here the official word would be something like, "It’s all a matter of national security."
Then a few days later on the last page of the city’s local newspaper there would be an apology for the blatant racial profiling. But who can blame Americans? Arabs tried to kill us. The next innocent looking one might be "it." Which is why they have all these security measures in place to prevent it, and if they fail, "oops".
No liquids. After all, water can kill, especially if you drink too much of it.
Via Boing Boing

Bwah! I’m here! And that was just dumb, but it sounded amusing when I was thinking it.
I will never abandon this blog. I’ve been experimenting with the free ones out there, but as long as I own my own my domain there really is no point. I’ve had blackglass.org since July 1999 and I plan on keeping that ownership till domains no longer exist. So, why the absence?
– Cousin came to visit in July, and I turned into a bona fide tourguide of San Antonio. I think I might have come down with heat stroke on one or two occasions too. It’s currently still incredibly hot here. What is it, 18 days of 100 degree weather? For some reason the anchor on GMA loves to focus in on Dallas instead of us. Yes, apparently the Alamo city can handle the extreme humidity and 100 degree weather better than poor Dallas. In the meantime my old hometown of El Paso is flooding, and we’re as dry as a desert.
– Also in July I took off a week for Irapuato, Mexico to celebrate my parents 30th wedding anniversary, which I helped plan with my aunt and grandmother. It turned out really nice, and damn it they made me sing Schubert’s Ave Maria. Now I’ve been requested for a cousin’s wedding in November, but I don’t know if I’m going, and that song needs to die!
– The bar has been postponed yet again for February. Mental note: file those dreaded papers by the end of this month. I felt bad about waiting, but then I started reading people’s reactions to the MBE, and given how busy I was in July it was just a good call. Can’t someone just give me a license? Ugh.

The Irish are #3 in the Coaches Poll. I think I see a National Championship in the near future. Oh yeah, it’s very, very close.

I was ready to declare July 4th as National Flag Burning Day, but I’ve been foiled. Thank goodness for small miracles.
The Senate failed to receive sufficient votes to pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting the desecration of the American flag. It failed by one vote. I find this both amusing yet terrifying that our Senate came this close to cutting into the First Amendment. See not many people have desecrated the flag, but when they do it’s used to make a statement in our country. It’s used to voice displeasure. No one has to agree with it. No one has to like the KKK, but thanks to the numero uno, that first amendment our founding fathers gave us because they were tired of the persecution, prohibition, pure protestantism, freedom of speech exists. We may not agree with it, but as long as it does us no physical harm then for the love of freedom itself stop taking our rights away.

"The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States."

For the record this has to be the most overly broad amendment I have ever read. Does this mean that wearing a bikini with the stars and stripes equals a desecration? Think about it.

Australia was just robbed by a fake penalty call. Seriously, the officiating at this World Cup is ruining the games. If this continues the winner will be decided by how well the ref has been paid off not the best team.
Kudos to the Australians for playing so well.

… apart from the devastating loss Mexico lost at the hands of Argentina? Well, I keep hearing my name on tv.
Let me clarify. It’s not exactly my name. Mine rhymes with ‘mean,’ which is why there’s an accent mark and no dreaded ‘e’ at the end. I am of course used to hearing it said the other way because apparently people don’t like to listen. They even like to add a ‘j.’ I’m used to it.
I’m named after a gorgeous smelling flower. It also runs in the family.
Now it’s birth control. There are commercials on tv! All over the place. It’s so bad. Why can’t they call it Sara, or Nancy? I’m baby-proof!

I have always wanted to go to a gym. The only thing that has stopped me, besides the fantasy of having a gorgeous trainer carry me around, was the plain and obvious fact that the equipment and I do not mix. Now we might! It looks like it might be friendly to those with working upper torsos, but seriously the gym machines pictured look like tons of fun.