Deaf U.S. Supreme Court Justice

After reading last Friday's news announcement (May 1st) about David Souter, the U.S. Supreme Court justice announced his retirement from the U.S. Supreme Court this summer 2009.

Immediate thoughts about having someone deaf to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court right away after Souter's announcement.


Is the time for President Obama to nominate someone deaf, who is truly qualified and empathic to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court? Definitely not "oral deaf" or deaf person with cochlear implant. I rather see someone culturally deaf person like Kelby Brick or Greg Hlibok to be nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court.


Intentionally not to reject anyone deaf, who is an oralist or use cochlear implant. We must send out the clear message to the American people that the culturally deaf people DO EXIST!


What about Claudia Brown, deaf African American female attorney with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security? Not likely!


Kelby Brick would be the perfect fit to the U.S. Supreme Court from his past legal activities with the National Association of the Deaf (NAD). He is currently with the HOVRS known as the 'Purple Team". Brick could be very passionate about laws being applied fairly to people in general.


Greg Hlibok with the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) as a senior attorney. He is much an introverted type and usually keep his thoughts to himself. Not a bad quality at all.


President Barack Obama and his White House staff and the U.S. Senate's Judiciary Committee are under the great pressures of remaking the U.S. Supreme Court.


There are additional deaf attorneys across the United States -
http://www.deafattorneys.com/


Very encouraging message from the U.S. Senator, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Democrat - "Not necessarily someone with the robe to be nominated" (loosely figuratively phrased) - http://www.kansascity.com/437/story/1176264.html


Any Hispanic female deaf? Claudia Brown, deaf African American female attorney is from Jamaica which probably hurt her candidacy than being helpful. Her employment with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security would leave nauseous stomach among the liberals.


Claudia Brown have not been frequently seen in deaf social circles so far in Washington, DC area as compared to Kelby Brick and Greg Hlibok.


We really need more female justices on the U.S. Supreme Court anyway to give the balance of perspective on the issues concerned the human sexes. That's what Ruth Ginsburg recently complained about lack of human understanding and sensitivity to the female issues - sex discrimination and forced strip-search for the 13 years old female teenager at school.

Kelby Brick would be not likely to give up his generous salary with the HOVRS and support his own immediate family, ex. children. Brick ought to take the lifetime opportunity to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Any deaf individual ought to be nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court?
www.deafattorneys.com for helpful guide to ponder and root for.

The recent rumors about nominating the lesbain attorney for the U.S. Supreme Court among the gay community.

Perhaps our next time for President Obama to nominate someone deaf to the U.S. Supreme Court? We better get prepare and ready for someone deaf to be groomed to be truly qualified to be nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court seat. We really need more deaf individuals in the top governement posts affecting the deaf lives.

ASLize yours,
Robert L. Mason (RLM)
RLMDEAF blog

See That??? Any of You Could Do That By Yourself!

Often disappointed in lack of deaf activism among deaf individuals to make the real difference in our deaf lives. Seem that like too many of us rely and wait for various deaf organizations to DO SOMETHING.

Here is the link to the Metro Weekly article about the one guy do something on his own and expose what something is really not ... -

http://www.metroweekly.com/gauge/?ak=4202


This guy exposed the well-known national organization about its deceptive practice with solicitation of donations.


Have the AGBell done such practice at the fundraising events like saying "We are collecting $$ to help the deaf people", etc.


Sure thing about other so-called cultural eradicators of deaf culture and deaf people from the medical industry to the CI manfacturers. That's what Dr. Don G of "Deafhood Discourses" have explored past quotes and sayings from doctors, etc on his vlog posting - 'Tools? Not A Tool? Please check out his vlog/blog posting - http://www.deafhooddiscourses.com/?p=232


The Deaf Pundit vlogged about her open letters to all deaf organizations about the troubling trends of entertainment industry for miscasting the images of cochlear implant surgery, etc. Please check out her vlog/blog posting - http://deafpundit.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/open-letter-to-all-deaf-organizations/

Time is too precious for us to sit down and wait upon deaf organizations to do something. Either of you COULD DO SOMETHING ON YOUR OWN!

Let's have the DEAF ACTIVISM blossomed into real full action, not just TALK, TALK AND DISCUSS AND PONDER AND GASP. Do something!


Real sorry about not vlogging at this time. I wish that I could do that. :(


ASLize yours,
Robert L. Mason (RLM)
RLMDEAF blog

More Pics of RLM

 Here are the latest photos of me from Miami Beach! No questions about how exhausted I look so far. 

 

RLM Vlogging for Very First Time

You, the DeafRead viewers and readers could see 

what I really look like. 

I meant to do the vlogging pretty long time ago 

like 3 years ago during the Unity for Gallaudet

2006 protest. 

I really dislike the vlogging because that is kinda

awkward for me seeing myself "minute by minute"

on the Apple Mac screen. 

I have my own laptop, but never bother to get myself

the DSL or high-speed service. My friends advise me not

to use the Wi-Fi because of the jump video sequence. 

I really prefer doing the vlog as compared to the composition

of my blog posting with the language of the oppressor - the 

English language. 

I also don't like my signing style. I wish that I have more 

eloquent signing style. I regret for the awkward background

behind me. I finally ask the Apple Mac people to assist me how 

to videorecord and post on my blogsite. 

My friends and deaf lady at the Apple Mac store in Arlington, 

VA did show me how to, but I could not possibly remmy the 

"step by step". 

I guess that I have been under extreme stress for past four years. 

Long story! 

I always want to thank you, all for the readership. Hopefully that all of you

will see more of my vlog postings. :) I will try my best to do vlogs from time

to time. 

I would appreciate any kind of feedback and criticism. I could handle the hissings

anyway. I am a big boy!

ASlize yours,

RLM

Don't Deaf TV Viewers Love Classic TV Sitcoms??

  I recalled that many deaf people don't care about the pre-captioned tv sitcoms of the 70s, 60s and 50s. Some pre-captioned deaf people enjoyed "I Love Lucy" classic tv sitcoms due to the physical comedy by actress Lucille Ball. Other post-captioned deaf generation viewed "Three's Company" with same formula of physical comedy by actor John Ritter.  

  My deaf mother's deaf 50s female friend constantly viewed the "Golden Girls" and never got tired of seeing the repeats on the Lifetime TV channel. My deaf mother never was a big fan of television sitcoms which she considered them "pointless" and repetitive".

 Here is the treat for all of you seeing Bea Arthur mocked the SATC show and other more - 

   http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/4723cf452c/bea-arthurs-sex-and-the-city-parody-from-beaarthurfan 

   The SATC parody of poopy Mr. Big character played by Al Fischer which he appeared in the classic "Barney Miller" tv sitcom of the blastin' 1970s. Deaf actress Phyllis Flerirch once appeared as a "tough cookie" prostitute in "Barney Miller".  http://www.hulu.com/barney-miller

  Deaf actress Linda Bove also appeared as the most popular sitcom character, the Fonz's girlfriend. No questions about some tv viewers ridiculed Bove's presence on the ABC-TV's 

"Happy Days" to be too old for the Fonz (Henry Winkler) character.  Winkler defended the casting of actress Linda Bove.   http://classic-tv.com/1970sShows/HappyDays.html

  That's how actor Henry Winkler embraced the future Oscar winner, Marlee Matlin from her school play. Seem like that Winkler got the real good impression from real Linda Bove as an excellent ambassador of the deaf community at large. 

  The SATC parody involved the former classic tv sitcom stars - Sally Struthers of the "All in the Family" as morally upstart Samantha in twisted version. Others are Charottle Rae of "Fact of the Life" as  Charottle and Katherine Helmound of  "Who is the Boss" as  Miranda. 

http://www.hbo.com/city/cast/index.shtml           

  Many deaf performers appeared on various classic tv sitcoms of educating the general public what deaf people were all about. Don't we get nowaday on the 2000s TV? 

  My deaf mother always love watching the raunchy Brit's "Benny Hill"  tv show, chasing the female skirts.  Mr. Alfred Hargraves, deaf and Gallaudet graduate himself,  former WV School for the Deaf (WVSD) photography instructor dearly loved "Benny Hill", too. Hargraves was once an English instructor, but he quitted in protest against the audist hearing principal and felt comfortable with the CODA vocational principal.  

  Benny Hill tv show - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuiA2j52rP8

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Benny_Hill_Show

  Any of you recall the favorite American and British television sitcoms which they bring out the best of deaf people appeared on the television screen? 

   If any of you could not recall your favorite or childhood American television sitcoms. Here are the complete list of those sitcoms - 

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:American_television_sitcoms

  Of course, here are the listing of British sitcoms - 

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_sitcom  (Many British sitcoms often appeared on America's PBS (Public Broadcasting System) tv network (government-funded). 

  My deaf mother found odd about my hearing brother (CODA) why he love watching "Hot Baltimore", a short-lived mid-1970s tv sitcom. My deaf mother eventually understood about my eldest brother enjoyed hearing full-fledged profanities before the use of profanity became very common on network television. My deaf mother and I always were pissed off with my hearing brother abruptly changed the tv channel or insisted of having "Hot Baltimore" or other hearing stuff all to himself without the entire family together enjoy the tv show or movie on tv. That was considered very audist way of my brother doing to me and my deaf mother. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_L_Baltimore

  I always enjoyed watching "Who is the Boss?" American tv sitcom with shirtless Tony Danza -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNUyfzi_V9U  whenever I went home for winter break from Gallaudet College (before it became University in '86). I found out later that actor Tony Danza was politically conservative himself. I lost my interest in Tony Danza, but he still looked great at age of 60's. 

ASLize yours,

Robert L. Mason (RLM)

  

   

IT'S TIME FOR RADICAL NOTION!

 Why not let the deaf parents of hearing children to have the equal opportunity to determine and tailor its own hearing offspring's' so-called physical flaws- ability to hear and speak vocally. 

  Deaf parents of hearing children ought to be given the right to deafize their own hearing children by disabling their eardrums and voice boxes to be fitted in the deaf society. So the hearing children will be not the outcasts in their deaf parents' own world.  Right??? 

  Hearing parents of deaf babies and children rather see their own children to be part of the norm and conformity of their own world to be the talking parrot or trained seal to delight the dominant society at large. 

  That is really the medical necessity for deaf parents of hearing children to disable the eardrum and voice box for the sake of survival and success in the deaf world. Don't we?? 

  We must demand to our government and health insurance companies that they could not discriminate against deaf clients to the right of medical necessity options to deafize the hearing children. 

  Many of us, deaf people realize that the hearing children are real valuable commodity for us to enslave them to serve our own needs, ex. emergency interpreting and status symbol to fit in the hearing society. Don't we agree? 

  Let the American society to taste its own medicine by letting deaf parents of hearing children to disable the eardrum and voice box as part of equal opportunity based on medical necessity. Right??? 

  Deaf parents of hearing children should be not discriminated against when they opted for the request of deafizing hearing offspring in name of health issue. Why not??? 

  Or just our own cultural and linguistic preference of deafizing hearing children as what hearing parents of deaf babies and children do the VERY SAME THING for the sake of status quo and community image? 

  Please think carefully what the proposal intentionally is all about : HUMAN VANITY, HUMAN CONFORMITY, HUMAN SELFISHNESS, HUMAN EGOISM, HUMAN UNHEALTHY PRIDE, HUMAN ARROGANCE, HUMAN PRUDENCE, HUMAN IRRATIONALITY, HUMAN ILLOGICALITY, HUMAN BASTARDIZATION, HUMAN MADNESS AND OTHER MORE!! 

  Let's MARCH together to demand for our equal right to the medical surgery of deafizing hearing children in name of health necessity. Right?? Better be!  We must show the dominant society what the human fallacy for having the cochlear implant surgery on deaf babies and youngsters without their own consents! 

ASLize yours,

Robert L. Mason 

RLMDEAF blog

  

ASL to the Curbside by the U.S. Census 2010

Ricky Taylor's coined term of "putting the ASL to the curbside" always leave me immerse with hearing audists treating our beloved language in that manner. I like his creative way of pointing out such audistic way how the hearing people treat our ASL.

The U.S. Census 2010 team are actively looking for the tabulation of foreign languages being used in the United States for past 10 years. They also hire temporary U.S. citizens with their native foreign language usage to reach out to the linguistic minorities in the United States.

After checking out the U.S. Census 2010 website within the U.S. Department of Commerce. NO
MENTIONABLE OF AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE OR OTHER SIGN LANGUAGE USED THAN AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE TO BE COUNTED FOR THE U.S. CENSUS 2010.

Noticeably, many deaf foreigners living in the United States seems have the ability to read and write English pretty much as compared to hearing foreign individuals.

Should we demand that the American Sign Language and regional sign language users to be counted in the U.S. Census 2010 or what?

Here is the newspaper article from Fort Lauderdale's "Sun Sentinel" newspaper (FL) -

When it comes to the U.S. Census, language counts
U.S. officials seek foreign -language speakers to make sure no group of people is left out
By Georgia East South Florida Sun-Sentinel
April 23, 2009
Urdu anyone?How about Hindi, Vietnamese or Q'anjob'al?With Census 2010 about a year away, the U.S. Census Bureau is recruiting employees with hard-to-find language skills to canvass South Florida communities and build relationships."This is the first time we're making such a concerted effort to hire people with these skills," said Pam Page Bellis, a census spokeswoman for Florida.
Related links
U.S. Census Bureau wants to get the word out
Florida population: More people leave than move in from other states
U.S. Census Bureau begins Florida's 2010 count
Answers to your 2010 Census questions
Census officials want to make sure no one is left out of the count, and they know that newcomers may be more comfortable speaking their native languages. They used census data and information from community leaders to determine which languages were most needed."With the influx of various minorities, we're realizing there are populations that are linguistically isolated," Bellis said.The number of foreign-language speakers in this region has jumped by about 7 percent since 2000, according to census data. Among Broward County Click here for restaurant inspection reports's roughly 1.7 million residents over age 5, about 35 percent speak a language other than English at home, compared with 26 percent statewide. In Palm Beach County, about 26 percent of the 1.2 million residents over age 5 speak a language other than English at home.That's not just Spanish, Haitian Creole or Portuguese. South Florida is becoming home to an increasingly diverse population, including Iranians, Iraqis, Vietnamese, Chinese and others."The issue of reaching the minority community is one of our highest goals because, traditionally, minorities are the ones who are not counted," said Scott Medvin, with Broward County's Census 2010 Complete Count Committee.Altaf Ali, of Pembroke Pines, said he wasn't surprised to learn the Census Bureau was looking for employees who speak Urdu, the language of Pakistan."The growth in the Indo-Pakistani and Arabic community in South Florida is evident in the Islamic centers that are popping up here and there," said Ali, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.As of 2007, census estimates showed about 5,000 households in Palm Beach and Broward counties where Urdu was spoken, nearly double from 2000.The number of Guatemalan and Mexican Mayans is growing, too, especially in Palm Beach County. The most recent figures show Guatemalans in the county have tripled in the last decade to about 20,000 from 6,000. And advocates say the 20,000 figure is low."I've seen the growth," said Jill Hanson, president of El Sol Neighborhood Resource Center in Jupiter.Within certain minority groups, subgroups also move here, bringing a variety of languages and customs.In the Mayan community, for instance, there are more than 23 dialects. Vietnamese dialects can differ widely, too."It would be physically impossible to have someone who speaks every dialect on staff," Bellis said. "Our partners and the organizations that reach out to the communities can help."The Census 2010 questionnaire, to be mailed next March, will be available in only five languages: English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and Russian.Some have raised issues in the past about the census form not being published in Haitian Creole, with so many Haitians here. But Bellis said those decisions are made based on large populations that report they can't read or write English.The census also is looking for people who can work with the Caribbean community and Spanish, Haitian Creole and Portuguese speakers.Quan Cao, of Boca Raton, a liaison to the state's Vietnamese Community Association, said the face-to-face contact with a census worker of similar ancestry will be vital in some immigrant communities."Even though English is crucial, the ability to ask these questions in a native language is important," said Cao, who said immigrants can be wary of government workers asking them personal questions. "First you have to help people overcome the fear."Georgia East can be reached at geast@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4629.
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-census-languages-b042309sbapr23,0,1630482.story

ASLize yours,
Robert L. Mason (RLM)
RLMDEAF blog