As everyone knows, March is Crippled Ventriloquist Awareness Month, in accordance with U.N Resolution 2694. People around the world are called upon to honor the contributions cripples have made to the field of ventriloquism.
Therefore let me give a shout out to the great French ventriloquist Henri Conneries. He revolutionized the art of ventriloquism by redefining the role of the dummy. In so doing, he used ventriloquism as a vehicle for exploring the painful absurdity of the human condition. And none of it would have happened if he hadn’t been crippled.
Henri Conneries decided he wanted to be a ventriloquist when he saw his first ventriloquist routine. He thought it was the most hilarious thing he ever saw. He was only three months old.
But since young Henri was spastic, neither his parents nor any of the adults in his life encouraged his ambition. They reminded him that operating a dummy required sharp fine motor skills and the ability to speak clearly without moving your lips so it was not a realistic career goal for somebody spastic like him.
But Henri would not be dissuaded. He set out to prove that it wasn’t his profound physical limitations that stood in the way of him being a ventriloquist but rather the profound artistic limitations of the genre of Vegas shtick. So he created an entirely new style of ventriloquism that required neither motor skills nor the ability to speak clearly without moving one’s lips. Nor did it have to be funny. His debut performance was entitled “The Session.” It featured a dummy named Freud who wore a tweed suit and had a white goatee. Throughout the entire performance Freud sat motionless in a sturdy chair with a notepad on his lap. Meanwhile, Henri was stretched out prone on a nearby couch delivering a 30-minute existentialist rant about how hard it is to get laid.
Despite being thoroughly panned by the critics, Henri continued to evolve as an artist. He embarked upon his prolific “sans mannequin” period, which means “without dummy.” Henri sat alone in a spotlight on a bare stage delivering a 30-minute existentialist rant about how hard it is to get laid.
And then he completely switched artistic gears. In his next performance, Henri did not appear on stage at all. Instead, a new dummy named “the professor” sat motionless in a wheelchair, alone on stage in a spotlight. Mounted on the wheelchair was one of those talking boxes like Stephen Hawking uses to talk. And, via the talking box, the professor delivered a 30-minute existentialist rant about how hard it is to get laid.
I hope hearing the story of Henri Conneries gives hope and inspiration to all you criplets out there who dream of being ventriloquists. That’s what Crippled Ventriloquist Awareness Month is all about.
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Thursday, March 20, 2014
The Law of the Land
Coming up in June is a big day for cripples. It’s the 15th anniversary of the United States Supreme Court’s landmark decision in the case of Olmstead v. L.C. and E.W.
Some people say the Olmstead decision did for cripples what Brown v. Board of Education did for African Americans. In Brown, the court declared racially segregated public education to be unconstitutional. In Olmstead, the court ruled that the involuntary segregating of cripples in places like nursing homes and state institutions was a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The Olmstead/Brown comparison is apt because Olmstead immediately brought bigotry and discrimination against cripples to a complete end once and for all in the same way Brown immediately brought bigotry and discrimination against African Americans to a complete end once and for all.
As we all know (because we were taught it in school), America is a nation of laws. We all also know the Supreme Court has the final say in matters of law. So when the Brown decision came down, even schools in the deepest most segregated south warmly opened their doors. Who can ever forget that glorious day?
In a less civilized nation, there might have been trouble. The federal government might have had to deploy troops to protect African American children trying to attend school from being drawn and quartered by angry white mobs. Some governor may have literally blocked the schoolhouse door in symbolic defiance.
The same thing happened in the case of Morgan v. Virginia, in which the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation on interstate buses like Greyhound was unconstitutional. As soon as the high court spoke, all the white passengers scooted over and made room for their new neighbors. In a lawless land, it might have taken a daring campaign of non-violent civil disobedience to make sure this decision was enforced. This campaign would have needed a catchy name, like something like Freedom Riders.
And so it was with Olmstead, too. When the high court spoke, the nursing homes all unbolted their exit doors. The state institutions shut down with alacrity. All the state governments promptly reallocated their human services budgets so that no cripple would ever be segregated away against their will ever again.
So the next time you hear cripples whining about how their rights have been violated, throw the Olmstead decision in their faces. Remind them that the discrimination they bemoan was outlawed long ago by none other than the U.S. Supreme Court so therefore it no longer exists. Assure them that in this tolerant nation we may even see a day when a crippled person is elected president! Oh wait. That already happened. Four times! See? So what the hell are they whining about?
(Smart Ass Cripple is completely reader supported. Contributing to the tip jar, purchasing books and subscribing through Amazon Kindle keeps us going. Please help if you can.)
Some people say the Olmstead decision did for cripples what Brown v. Board of Education did for African Americans. In Brown, the court declared racially segregated public education to be unconstitutional. In Olmstead, the court ruled that the involuntary segregating of cripples in places like nursing homes and state institutions was a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The Olmstead/Brown comparison is apt because Olmstead immediately brought bigotry and discrimination against cripples to a complete end once and for all in the same way Brown immediately brought bigotry and discrimination against African Americans to a complete end once and for all.
As we all know (because we were taught it in school), America is a nation of laws. We all also know the Supreme Court has the final say in matters of law. So when the Brown decision came down, even schools in the deepest most segregated south warmly opened their doors. Who can ever forget that glorious day?
In a less civilized nation, there might have been trouble. The federal government might have had to deploy troops to protect African American children trying to attend school from being drawn and quartered by angry white mobs. Some governor may have literally blocked the schoolhouse door in symbolic defiance.
The same thing happened in the case of Morgan v. Virginia, in which the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation on interstate buses like Greyhound was unconstitutional. As soon as the high court spoke, all the white passengers scooted over and made room for their new neighbors. In a lawless land, it might have taken a daring campaign of non-violent civil disobedience to make sure this decision was enforced. This campaign would have needed a catchy name, like something like Freedom Riders.
And so it was with Olmstead, too. When the high court spoke, the nursing homes all unbolted their exit doors. The state institutions shut down with alacrity. All the state governments promptly reallocated their human services budgets so that no cripple would ever be segregated away against their will ever again.
So the next time you hear cripples whining about how their rights have been violated, throw the Olmstead decision in their faces. Remind them that the discrimination they bemoan was outlawed long ago by none other than the U.S. Supreme Court so therefore it no longer exists. Assure them that in this tolerant nation we may even see a day when a crippled person is elected president! Oh wait. That already happened. Four times! See? So what the hell are they whining about?
(Smart Ass Cripple is completely reader supported. Contributing to the tip jar, purchasing books and subscribing through Amazon Kindle keeps us going. Please help if you can.)
Friday, March 14, 2014
The Smart Ass Cripple Medicaid Reform and Taxpayer Savings Act
There’s a limo company here in town that has wheelchair accessible limos. They don’t look a whole lot like limos. They’re just cripple minivans painted shiny black. So they look more like the bastard spawn of a one-night stand between an armored car and a hearse. But close enough. I suppose there’s only so much you can do to make a cripple minivan look elegant.
But anyway, I’ve got a doctor’s appointment coming up in a few weeks so I called the limo company to see how much it would cost to take a limo to and from my doctor’s office, which is a round trip of about six miles. I know it sounds whacked to take a limo to a doctor’s appointment but hold on. I’m trying to make a point here.
The limo company said the fare for the round trip would be $80.
Then I called a medi-car company to ask how much it would cost to take the same ride. Medi-cars are those ambulance-looking vans that often tote cripples to and from their medical stuff. The medi-car companies often have ambulance-sounding names, too, like Swift and Reliant.
The medi-car company said the fare for the round trip would be $116.
Whoa! I suspected something like that might happen. Because medi-cars are notorious. The fare is usually at least one appendage. And if you run out of appendages they’ll gladly accept certain bodily organs as payment.
So I suspected it might be cheaper to take a limo. The limo company said they also throw in a free bottle of water for each passenger. And the seat upholstery is leather. And the driver dresses like a limo driver. Medi-car drivers wear windbreakers emblazoned with the company name and logo. I didn’t even bother to ask the medi-car company if any free refreshment are served.
It looks like I’ve discovered a great way to eliminate millions in wasteful government spending. Because if you’ve ever been to a nursing home you’ll notice there’s a steady stream of medi-cars rolling in and out to tote cripples to and from their medical stuff. And Medicaid pays for almost all that. But it’s not like all these cripples are so frail that they must be accompanied at all times by someone with a defibrillator. That’s just how the uncrippled populace has been programmed to think. Most of these cripples just need a damn ride.
So why not tote them to and from their medical stuff in limos if it’s $36 a ride cheaper? Multiply $36 times a million and, according to my crack math skills, that saves taxpayers nearly $50,000!
So now I’m proposing the Smart Ass Cripple Medicaid Reform and Taxpayer Savings Act, requiring Medicaid to pay for limos instead of medi-cars to tote cripples to and from their medical stuff. I’m determined to get this passed. This will be my legacy to pass down to future cripples.
,
Fiscal conservatives will still howl I’m sure. They’ll say I’m not taking into account the all-important misery factor. Keeping Medicaid cripples miserable keeps down cost. If Medicaid cripples ride around in limos they’ll become too comfortable being crippled and they won’t have any incentive or motivation to not be crippled anymore.
But I still think I can get a lot of conservatives to vote for my legacy legislation if I do some shrewd politicking. I’ll really have it made if I can get my legislation quietly attached to a bill to name even more shit in honor of Ronald Reagan. It seems like there must be dozens of Congressional staffers who spend all day just thinking up even more shit to name in honor of Ronald Reagan, be it a prison or a playground. I’ll know my legislation is on the fast track when it’s referred to the busiest and most productive committee in Congress, which is the Committee for Thinking up Even More Shit to Name in Honor of Ronald Reagan.
After that it’ll be a smooth ride.
(Smart Ass Cripple is completely reader supported. Contributing to the tip jar, purchasing books and subscribing through Amazon Kindle keeps us going. Please help if you can.)
But anyway, I’ve got a doctor’s appointment coming up in a few weeks so I called the limo company to see how much it would cost to take a limo to and from my doctor’s office, which is a round trip of about six miles. I know it sounds whacked to take a limo to a doctor’s appointment but hold on. I’m trying to make a point here.
The limo company said the fare for the round trip would be $80.
Then I called a medi-car company to ask how much it would cost to take the same ride. Medi-cars are those ambulance-looking vans that often tote cripples to and from their medical stuff. The medi-car companies often have ambulance-sounding names, too, like Swift and Reliant.
The medi-car company said the fare for the round trip would be $116.
Whoa! I suspected something like that might happen. Because medi-cars are notorious. The fare is usually at least one appendage. And if you run out of appendages they’ll gladly accept certain bodily organs as payment.
So I suspected it might be cheaper to take a limo. The limo company said they also throw in a free bottle of water for each passenger. And the seat upholstery is leather. And the driver dresses like a limo driver. Medi-car drivers wear windbreakers emblazoned with the company name and logo. I didn’t even bother to ask the medi-car company if any free refreshment are served.
It looks like I’ve discovered a great way to eliminate millions in wasteful government spending. Because if you’ve ever been to a nursing home you’ll notice there’s a steady stream of medi-cars rolling in and out to tote cripples to and from their medical stuff. And Medicaid pays for almost all that. But it’s not like all these cripples are so frail that they must be accompanied at all times by someone with a defibrillator. That’s just how the uncrippled populace has been programmed to think. Most of these cripples just need a damn ride.
So why not tote them to and from their medical stuff in limos if it’s $36 a ride cheaper? Multiply $36 times a million and, according to my crack math skills, that saves taxpayers nearly $50,000!
So now I’m proposing the Smart Ass Cripple Medicaid Reform and Taxpayer Savings Act, requiring Medicaid to pay for limos instead of medi-cars to tote cripples to and from their medical stuff. I’m determined to get this passed. This will be my legacy to pass down to future cripples.
,
Fiscal conservatives will still howl I’m sure. They’ll say I’m not taking into account the all-important misery factor. Keeping Medicaid cripples miserable keeps down cost. If Medicaid cripples ride around in limos they’ll become too comfortable being crippled and they won’t have any incentive or motivation to not be crippled anymore.
But I still think I can get a lot of conservatives to vote for my legacy legislation if I do some shrewd politicking. I’ll really have it made if I can get my legislation quietly attached to a bill to name even more shit in honor of Ronald Reagan. It seems like there must be dozens of Congressional staffers who spend all day just thinking up even more shit to name in honor of Ronald Reagan, be it a prison or a playground. I’ll know my legislation is on the fast track when it’s referred to the busiest and most productive committee in Congress, which is the Committee for Thinking up Even More Shit to Name in Honor of Ronald Reagan.
After that it’ll be a smooth ride.
(Smart Ass Cripple is completely reader supported. Contributing to the tip jar, purchasing books and subscribing through Amazon Kindle keeps us going. Please help if you can.)
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Some Probing Questions to Ask Yourself to Help You Determine if You Might be Living in Government-Subsidized Public Housing for Cripples
Do you suspect that you (or someone you love) might be living in government-subsidized public housing for cripples? I have developed a series of probing questions, based on my own experience, that you can ask yourself to help you determine whether or not you are indeed living in government-subsidized public housing for cripples. Here are a few:
Probing question 1: Do fire trucks roar up to your building several times a week? When I moved into government-subsidized public housing for cripples about 30 years ago, legend had it that when the building opened two years earlier, the woman in apartment 8 called 911 nearly every day. A brigade of firefighters would burst into her apartment, only to find that she called because the toilet was clogged or she couldn’t get a jar open or something like that. I guess somebody eventually broke her of that habit before the fire department painted a big black X on the building and placed us all on the no-call list.
Probing question 2: Do the Three Stooges Plumbers show up to remodel your leaking bathroom, remove your toilet and then disappear for five days, literally leaving you without a pot to piss in? The non-profit company that owned and operated our government subsidized public housing building for cripples always hired lowest-bidder contractors, which meant we ended up with contractors like the Three Stooges Plumbers. There was severe water damage throughout the building on the ceilings beneath everyone’s roll-in shower. So one day these plumbers scurried in, removed and hauled away my toilet and bathroom floor tiles and scurried out. And they didn’t return five days. Who knows where they went? Maybe a higher-paying job came along or maybe one of them got his head stuck in a drainpipe or something and it took the others five days to pry him out
Probing question 3: Is the lowest-bid contractor guy management hired to remove snow only available in July? Sometimes a ton of snow fell and thus we cripples were pretty much stuck inside our government-subsidized public housing building for cripples until the guy management hired to dig us out came around. Sometimes he wouldn’t arrive for days either. Once when I finally saw him out there plowing the parking lot I went out to ask what took him so long. He shrugged and said, “It’s my busy season. There’s a lot of snow.” I thought about taking him to court and maybe by August I could get an injunction ordering him to immediately remove the snow.
Probing question 4: Is black water that smells like rotten eggs oozing out from under your bathroom door? One day I was sitting home just minding my own damn business when all of a sudden I smelled rotten eggs. I saw a black puddle oozing out from under my closed bathroom door. I swear, it looked as if the bloody, black-and-white shower murder from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho had just occurred in my bathroom. It turned out to be black water bubbling up from my roll-in shower drain and soon it flooded my kitchen. Oh shit, I said to myself. Here comes another lowest-bid contractor.
If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, you could very well be living in government-subsidized public housing for cripples. If so, consult a professional.
(Smart Ass Cripple is completely reader supported. Contributing to the tip jar, purchasing books and subscribing through Amazon Kindle keeps us going. Please help if you can.)
Saturday, March 1, 2014
The Girl Scout Cookie Quid Pro Quo
Based on some of the reaction I received to my last entry, I feel the need to defend myself because I am being accused of something despicable.
I am being accused of being anti-Girl Scout cookie. Nothing could be further from the truth. I look forward every year to buying tons and tons of Girl Scout cookies. Bring ‘em on. And while you’re at it, suffer to come unto me all the Little Leaguers selling candy bars, the ladies auxiliaries brandishing raffle tickets, the Friends of the Frail shaking slotted cans.
I’m eager to do business with all of them. But my unconditional support is conditional. I will not buy Girl Scout cookies, raffle tickets etc. from strangers. If some unknown Joe rattles his donation canister at me while I’m waiting for a red light to change, I shake my head and roll up my car window.
And believe me, it’s hard to say no to all the swarms of soliciting strangers. You can’t walk through downtown Chicago without some earnest human who’s clutching a clipboard approaching you and saying something like, “Excuse me, do you have a minute for starving children?” That’s how they do. They ask you if you have a minute for something where if you keep walking and say you don’t have a minute for it you feel like a supersized self-absorbed jerk. “Excuse me, do you have a minute to help prevent the earth from becoming smoldering cinder?” They really squeeze you hard in the guilt vise.
But I hold strong to my vow to never make a contribution to anyone unless I know their full name and all of their current contact information. Otherwise it defeats the whole purpose of my charitable giving because there is no quid pro quo. If I let you hit me up without knowing who you are or where to find you, then how am I going to in turn hit you up soon after for money for one of my many cripple causes? That’s the beauty of supporting the worthy cause of someone you know. When you solicit them later for your cause, they can’t really tell you no without feeling like a supersized self-absorbed jerk. It’s like when you save another person’s life. It’s a very satisfying feeling because you know you now have capital. At any point from that day forward, you can say to that person, “Hey can you buy me a beer? I mean, I did save your life and all.” What are they going to say?
So I’m always happy to buy Girl Scout cookies from anyone I know well enough. It’s IOUs in the bank. I’ll contribute money to just about anyone who asks, as long as I know how to track them down.
I am being accused of being anti-Girl Scout cookie. Nothing could be further from the truth. I look forward every year to buying tons and tons of Girl Scout cookies. Bring ‘em on. And while you’re at it, suffer to come unto me all the Little Leaguers selling candy bars, the ladies auxiliaries brandishing raffle tickets, the Friends of the Frail shaking slotted cans.
I’m eager to do business with all of them. But my unconditional support is conditional. I will not buy Girl Scout cookies, raffle tickets etc. from strangers. If some unknown Joe rattles his donation canister at me while I’m waiting for a red light to change, I shake my head and roll up my car window.
And believe me, it’s hard to say no to all the swarms of soliciting strangers. You can’t walk through downtown Chicago without some earnest human who’s clutching a clipboard approaching you and saying something like, “Excuse me, do you have a minute for starving children?” That’s how they do. They ask you if you have a minute for something where if you keep walking and say you don’t have a minute for it you feel like a supersized self-absorbed jerk. “Excuse me, do you have a minute to help prevent the earth from becoming smoldering cinder?” They really squeeze you hard in the guilt vise.
But I hold strong to my vow to never make a contribution to anyone unless I know their full name and all of their current contact information. Otherwise it defeats the whole purpose of my charitable giving because there is no quid pro quo. If I let you hit me up without knowing who you are or where to find you, then how am I going to in turn hit you up soon after for money for one of my many cripple causes? That’s the beauty of supporting the worthy cause of someone you know. When you solicit them later for your cause, they can’t really tell you no without feeling like a supersized self-absorbed jerk. It’s like when you save another person’s life. It’s a very satisfying feeling because you know you now have capital. At any point from that day forward, you can say to that person, “Hey can you buy me a beer? I mean, I did save your life and all.” What are they going to say?
So I’m always happy to buy Girl Scout cookies from anyone I know well enough. It’s IOUs in the bank. I’ll contribute money to just about anyone who asks, as long as I know how to track them down.
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