The Question Is: Is It Wrong?

A certain fellow referred me to GuideStar.org and I browsed through the latest Fiscal Year budgets from different agencies for/of/by the Deaf. Oh, man. Is Communication Services for the Deaf supposed to be non-profit organization? What about the Captioned Media Programs? What about National Association for the Deaf? It mentioned the salary figures of prominent persons which I think the readers should know. After all, it is legal. If hearing people can do this, so can they.

At CSD according to 2004 FY Budget
Benjamin J. Soukup, President/CEO: $729,596
Patty Kuglitsch, Corporate Secretary/Compliacne: $140,634
Randy Gerloff, Corporate Treasurer/Chief Financial Advisory Officer: $357,795
Dr. Roslyn "Roz" Rosen, Consultant: $105,417
Jim Skjeveland, Senior Vice President of Contact Center Operations: $158,539
Dr. Phil Bravin, Technology & Research and Development Officer: $172,409
Ann Marie Mickelson, Senior Vice President of Interpreting Operations: $212,382

Except for Rosen, all lived in Sioux Falls, South Dakota which is relatively cheap place to live. I completely understand that they are in these positions, but it is non-profit organization which does not really mean anything to larger non-profit organization -- why so enormous? Hell, I need that 30K out of Soukup's salary annually, really!

At NAD & CMP according to 2004 FY Budget
Nancy Bloch, Executive Director: $108,994
Andrew Lange, NAD President: $0
Anita Farb, Director of Outreach and Communications: $61,920
Kelby Brick, Director of Law and Advocacy: $55,336
Bill Stark, Captioned Media Program Project Manager: $98,669
Dianne Stark, Captioned Media Program Production Developer: $88,272
Jason Stark, Captioned Media Program District Manager: $68,587

I have no objection to these except for three Starks -- I think it is conflict of interest. I'm not familiar with this stuff so I'll leave you to your own imagination.

At Gallaudet University according to 2003 FY Budget
I. King Jordan, President: $513,364 with deferred compensation up to $69,304
Paul Kelly, Vice President of Administration and Finance: $268,301 with deferred compensation up to $36,221
Dr. Jane K. Fernandes, Provost: $233,263 with deferred compensation to $31,491.

Gallaudet also paid $217,958 to two investment firms in 2003 to manage their investments ... I think.

Gallaudet University Alumni Association according to 2003 FY Budget
None earned more than 90K. I guess they are that POOR! Contribute bit more to GUAA when you're in DC for Gallaudet's Homecoming!

Greater Los Angeles Council on Deafness, Inc. according to 2004 FY Budget
Dr. Patriicia Hughes, Executive Director: $106,627

Nobody comes closer to her salary figure because there is a high turnover ratio at GLAD.

Deaf Counseling, Advocacy, and Referral Agency according to 2004 FY Budget
Rob Roth, Executive Director: $326,259 $89,252.

No one came closer to his salary figure at DCARA in Bay Area. I wonder why it pays more than GLAD in Los Angeles? As of now, Rob Roth resigned from his job and Jim Brune is now the Interim Executive Director.

UPDATE: Rob Roth informed me of an error which I checked and can confirm that he did not earn $326,259. IN fact, he earned $89,252. Thanks for letting me know so that I can correct this, Rob.

DeafREACH according to 2004 FY Budget
Sarah Brown, Executive Director: $68,645

Perhaps the only reasonable organization of all that is pretty fair.

New York Society for the Deaf according to 2003 FY Budget
Kathleen Cox, Executive Director who cannot sign worth a shit: $80,892
Elaine Weiss, Director of Housing who cannot perform anything: $59,622
Linda Lawson, Chief Financial Officer: $55,797

There are names on NYSD that I chose not to list because they are no longer working at the agency, what's the point of pointing if they do not work there?

As you can see at NYSD, these three persons hold so much power at NYSD -- Lawson, Weiss and Cox -- all cannot sign nor read anyone's signs. It is travesty that we allow these people to take over the operations and act in "good faith" or "goodwill" to represent us. Please get rid of people who cannot sign worth a shit.

Any comments?

R-

Few Tidbits About Katrina

Best Quote of the Week: Michael Seward, 45, reported that going to Mississippi is “That’s a fate worse than death.” He quipped that he fled from Mississippi to be in New Orleans a long time ago. Probably because he cannot deal with idiots that runs rampant in Mississippi.

Southern Decadence Jeopardized? New Orleans' famous Labor Day Weekend of hedonistic activities for gay men called Southern Decadence may be threatened with Katrina's destruction of New Orleans. Now, come to think of this, this may be the reason why Matt Drudge is interested in this -- he probably wanted to sneak to New Orleans for Southern Decadence, he has to keep tabs of what is going on in that town before he can arrive on 2nd of September. If the town is inhabitable.

Other Than Tornadoes, Floods ...: We have to keep in mind that not only the debris will float around the city of New Orleans if they are to be submerged by the nearby lake, there will be some interesting sights to see tomorrow morning -- know why?

The sewage plant treatment is right next to the levee, it surely will be flooded and all things that can pass diseases are out, floating. Want more? There are cemetaries in New Orleans which has coffins stacking upon the other as part of French Catholic tradition, they will float as well. Want more? Throw in some bayou alligators and snakes in the mix as well.

This is once in a lifetime opportunity to ride the city out -- if anyone else managed to survive, they are going to have several books lined up to be written about their experiences with Katrina in New Orleans.

One Bargoer Drops F-Bomb on FOX NEWS Reporter: On Bourbon Street, recently around 5:30 PM, Fox NEWS Reporter found a bargoer on the Bourbon Street drinking and played a videogame. He asked him why he's still around. The bargoer snapped, "None of your fucking business!" Suddenly, the reporter responded, "Good answer."

Whites Can Leave, Blacks ... Stay! I was watching the reports of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. As you already knew, thousands left New Orleans. Some cannot afford to leave the city as they either walked, hitchiked to the local shelters. I saw the footage of folks coming in SuperDome to ride out the storm, I noticed that the majority, I mean huge, of the people that seeks the shelters are African Americans. C'mon, what's that? This implied that the gap between two races has not improved significantly?

Which One Makes The Landfall? Many Meterologists claimed that to make the landfall, the eye of the storm has to on the landfall, period. I can understand the technical means of others to indicate that the storm's eyewall has arrived -- but the troublesome part of the storm tends to be the outskirts of the eyewall, so when it loomed into the coastal beaches, I consider it arrived. Not the eyewall itself, but that is me.

R-

What Airlines Does The Best -- Discrimination!

After reading Kevin's suggestion, I emailed JetBlue through its Speak Up page about the in-flight captions.

They responded. In fact, they were lying. I checked with Jason Lamberton about it, he confirmed that they said the same thing 2 years ago when he rang them up about the in-flight captions.

As you can see, we need to whack some baseball bats in these airlines for perpetuating such discrimination on Deaf customers for too long. Boycotting will not help because they viewed Deaf customers to be "insignificant" numbers to deal with.

Here is the e-mail that I received from JetBlue:

To: ridor9th@gmail.com
Re: email received Friday,08/26/05 11:48 AM, Speak Up 1089962

Dear Mr. Taylor,

Thank you for your email regarding closed caption on the DIRECTV® system used on JetBlue aircraft. At this time our DIRECTV® system is not capable of decoding closed caption signals. However, we do have our engineers investigating ways for us to offer closed captioning in the future.

Please know that JetBlue is in full compliance with regulations regarding customers traveling with disabilities. We appreciate your interest in JetBlue and look forward to welcoming you onboard another JetBlue flight soon.

Sincerely,

John Adams
Customer Commitment Crew
JetBlue Airways
Crewmember 21996

In fact, they are lying. DIRECTV is capable of decoding captions on all modernized TV sets! I knew of several friends that has DIRECTV in their homes. IN fact, they decoded just fine.

Did you know that they are working on a plan to modernize the planes with a system for hearing customers to use the cell phones for their convenient means? If they can do it, that is utterly unfair because I think the captions has to be done first before satisfy the damned supply and demand factor!

Obviously, the diplomatic approach as Kevin suggested has resulted in another bullshit by a hearing corporation -- so what is the next option? I'm in favor of something else.

I'm sick of dealing with these hearie liars.

R-

Hurricane Katrina Part II -- Welcome Back!

After its brief but weary lash of South Florida, Hurricane Katrina has regained its strength then added some to make it category 5 -- which means the winds will exceed more than 155 MPH and can spawn many tornadoes at one time.

This appeared to be a direct hit on New Orleans. Historically, hurricanes often missed New Orleans because of its Mississippi Delta which prevented any hurricanes from going straight to New Orleans. But this time, it is category 5 -- which means it has the strength to absorb the impact of Mississippi Delta and head down to New Orleans.

For the continuous update of Hurricane Katrina's progress, check this link.

New Orleans is a town that is below the sea level, it used the levees and water pumps to pump the water out of the town into the nearby Lake Pontchartrain. But this time, rain will flood both areas -- which means what? When New Orleans attempts to pump the water into the lake, it will be flooded and spill it back into the city -- in other words, the city of New Orleans will be submerged.

After all, it is Republican state, do I care? No.

Of course, I love the hurricanes. This one may be the big one in years. Of course, I'll keep an eye on the development. People should not be so concerned about it, after all, they do not live in the region. Folks from New Mexico should not issue an entry, urging people to do this, that and there. This person never experienced a hurricane in his lifetime -- it is ridiuclous. In fact, the whole concept of hurricane is a blessing and a curse in its own way. Its first impact is always devastating -- but the nutrients that it mixed the soils during the heavy winds and rains made the soil fertile and rich possible. Consider it a blessing in disguise, already.

With this hurricane of big strength, it probably will hold its strength for two or three states until it dissipates. Following the jetstream, they probably will roll through the Virginia highlands and Pennsylvania -- that's where I'll say "Hello, Katrina!"

I am willing to bet you few dollars that the oil prices will increase this week because the oil companies will say it was Hurricane Katrina's fault! Totally bullshit. A decade ago, there were many hurricanes that rolled in The South, not a cent of gas prices increased. What is the difference?

It is greed, simply put. Something that the oil companies does not want to admit. Even the Republicans knew but denied it.

Welcome home, Katrina. Have fun bashing the Big Easy! Oh, by the way, where is GW Bush when the natural disaster strikes this country? Of course, on vacation.

Cheers,

R-

Ridiculous -- No, No -- Make It Ludicrous!

The miseducation of Deaf people's needs continues to plague us all. In Russia, this is no exception.

This is such a retard of anyone else to say that with the Cochlear Implants, Deaf Culture will dissipate. That is not entirely true. Like George Veditz once said, "When there is sign language, there will be always Deaf Culture around us."

Deal with it, Valery Panyushkin. Valery is definitely stupid.

Read this and laugh if you want to. I felt bad for Sasha, he is being duped by people who claimed that he'll be hearing person after getting the Cochlear Implants. But too bad, there will not be any articles that will do the follow-up on the surgery 's process and see if he'll be the last one standing. The whole thing is farce -- in fact, even if he got the implants, he'll still be Deaf, whether if you like it or not.

Cheers,

R-

* * *

From the newsroom of the Kommersant, Russia, Saturday, August 27, 2005:

The Last Deaf Mute

Sasha Mitichkin can be taught to hear and speak

by Valery Panyushkin

Sasha Mitichkin is two years old. He can't hear. The doctor says that Sasha is too little to suffer because of his deafness. He doesn't understand yet that people speak but he cannot, because he has never heard it being done.

The boy accepts the hearing aids his mother puts on him when he gets up in the morning as interesting toys, as other boys have toy stethoscopes. With the hearing aids, he boy hears faint, indistinct sounds, 20 percent of what people normally hear. The game ends at night. Sasha's mother takes the hearing aids off and puts him to bed to sleep in total silence.

They live in Voronezh. Sasha's mother Marina is a doctor by training, but she didn't understand that her son doesn't hear until Sasha was a year and a half old. Marina had some sort of infectious disease when she was pregnant. She didn't say what kind of disease, and I didn't ask, because she was already embarrassed by the involvement of a stranger in her life and her son's. “Maybe you don't have to photograph me? Maybe only Sasha? He's handsome and smiles all the time. I'm not very pretty any more and don't smile very much,” she said.

Marina's son was born deaf because of the infection his mother had during her pregnancy. But you can't tell whether newborns hear or not. Marina shook a rattle over the baby while he was in his crib and he followed the rattle with his eyes. Everyone thought he could hear. The doctor says now that the baby had exceptional eyesight, even peripheral vision, because of his deafness. All his mother had to do was lift the rattle and Sasha was watching and followed it with his eyes not because he heard it, but because it was red and shiny.

When Sasha was a little bigger, it seemed to Marina that he always turned when she called him. Or almost always. The doctor says that, because of his deafness, Sasha is disoriented and doesn't feel safe. He looks at his mother more often than she calls him. When Marina called him, the boy looked at her simply because he tried to keep her in view all the time. He couldn't tell that she was near otherwise. He couldn't hear her.

When Sasha was eight months old, he said his first word, “Mama.” Martina was flattered. When he was a year old, he still said “mama,” but nothing else. And when he was a year and a half old, just that repeated syllable ma.

Marina took the boy to the doctor. An audiologist in Voronezh said that Sasha had fourth-degree hearing reduction, that Marina had to buy hearing aids and work on his speech development. The doctor also recommended that she take him to Moscow for further examination. In Moscow, they said that Sasha was profoundly deaf.

They work on his speech development any way. It seems that Sasha hears a little through the hearing aids. Marina shows the boy a postcard with a picture of a cat on it and the boy makes a sound that resembles meowing. She shows him a picture of a dog and his make a sound similar to a bark. Marina beats a drum and the boy marches in time to it. He doesn't like that exercise, but not many people like marching. It's possible that he doesn't hear anything even with the hearing aids, and is just trying to make his mother happy with what he has learned by chance, meowing at the picture of a cat and woofing for the dog picture. He could be marching to the drum because he sees the drumstick rising and falling, not because he hears the drum.

I ask Marina if she takes him to kindergarten.

“No,” she answers. “We have a kindergarten for deaf children. They teach children sign language and lip reading there. But we need to teach him to hear.”

In a few years, there will be no more deaf children on Earth. The technology for cochlear implants already exists. It allows children who are born deaf to hear normally. Crudely put, the hearing aid is not placed on the ear but implanted in the head. But the operation is very expensive. Sasha's parents don't have the money for it.

In a few years, cochlear implants will become cheaper and more accessible. All deaf children will have the operation and will be able to hear.

Sasha Mitikhin will be one of the last deaf children on Earth.

Only In New York!

Thia happens only in New York.

Chicago? Maybe. Los Angeles? Likely. Richmond? Never. Miami? Never. Houston? They would be silenced somehow.

But in New York? Anything goes. If you are pissed off at something else and you decided to do something about it -- people will pick it up. At first, someone saw this guy masturbating on the subway train. This girl took the picture of this guy discretely. Mentioned about it on flickr and Craigslist (Craigslist rules! Nice cock on ugly guy but on subway train? Totally tasteless!) -- then suddenly, several bloggers picked it up. Then the NYC's Tabloid, NY Daily News picked it up. Now DrudgeReport is picking it up.

Only in New York, my dear, only in New York! The town where you can retaliate on anyone else for doing something so tasteless.

On Another Note: My friend, far away in the Midwest, IMmed me to mention that she noticed something odd about the distribution of DeafDigest operated by Barry Strassler, "Why is Barry Strassler doing this at 2:30 AM in the morning?! Makes you wonder why he does it at nighttime, is it?"

That is good question, I wonder about that as of now.

R-

M-Ann Coulter Is Still Dumb Bitch!

According to this website, Ann Coulter, whose her gender was questioned a while ago, mentioned on the FOX NEWS Cable Channel that if Islamic Terrorists attacked New York, New York would have surrendered, just like that.

This bitch is nuts! She claimed to reside in New York but she obviously limited her means of transportation in Upper East Side. Outside of Upper East Side, there are many groups that would go out and destroy the intruders who dares to mess with the way of life in New York.

How? We have Italian Mafia. Russian Mafia. Orthodox Jews. Puerto Ricans. Gangs in Harlem. Dominican Republicans. Gangs in The Bronx. Gangs in Queens. Bad-assed gays & artists who are very protective of their arts in East Village. They won't surrender at all. These folks knew the city better than anyone else -- they'll kick anyone's ass before they attempt to overtake the city. Why do you, Ann, think New York is the greatest city in the world? Because we have these people to back it up.

Ann needs to have her face disfigured permanently.

R-