[nfb-talk] Cash

[John Heim]

Taxes are how decent societies are built. Together, we make a better world. 
Examples include everything from the Transcontinental Railroad to accessible 
bathrooms.

But beyond that, you've missed a point I made earlier. If the government 
doesn't spend money on this,  there won't be a corresponding increase in 
spending on education or anything else you might approve of. That's not how 
the system works.

Changing the money is just the right thing to do. Every other country in the 
world already does it.  If Bolivia can do it, why can't the US?



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Powers, Terry (NIH/OD/DEAS) [E]" <powerst at dcpcepn.nci.nih.gov>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 7:50 AM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Cash


> John H.
> If this is ever agreed upon, I bet you will be one of the ones shouting,
> why did they up my taxes!
> Accessable bathrooms were for many, elderly, multihandicapped, wheel
> chairs and more.  Same goes for the wramps.  They are not just for the
> blind.
> Why bring on more expences for something we can cope with, when there
> are other things like accessable books for school that is much more
> important.  Our children need a good education before they can hold a
> job and ern the money that we have learned to identify in our own ways.
> Terry Powers
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Heim [mailto:jheim at math.wisc.edu]
> Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 8:37 AM
> To: NFB Talk Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Cash
>
> How much money do you think it cost to put curb cuts on every street
> corner
> in the country? How much money do you think it cost to put wheelchair
> accessible bathrooms in every new building and to add them to existing
> buildings whenever they are remodelled?
>
> If the government doesn't have to spend the money to make bills
> different
> sizes, they're not going to devote that money to making sure every blind
>
> person has a job. That's just not how it works.
>
> The correct response to the judge's decision to make the government
> change
> the bills is "This is great. But it's not enough. Not nearly enough."
>
> Instead of standing in the way, the NFB should be pushing for more!
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
> To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 9:03 PM
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Cash
>
>
>> John,
>>
>> If one takes the view that I hold, that we must evaluate the need and
> the
>> priority of requests we make of society, then it
>> becomes somewhat of a judgment call as to which issues we pursue.  In
> my
>> mind, the Target case is part of a general
>> effirt to make the web as accessible to blind people as possible.
> This
>> effort includes legal action, awareness
>> campaigns, and more often than not, working cooperatively with web
>> designers.  Taking just one small example of web
>> access, my life has been impacted much more just by buying groceries
> on
>> line than I perceive it would be impacted by
>> identifiable money.  Loosing the access to the web that we have
> enjoyed
>> would have a negative impact, but
>> broadening access over the coming years as more blind people use
> computers
>> will have a substantial positive impact.
>> In other words, in my mind, the efforts of which the Target case is a
>> small part is having and will have a far greater
>> impact on our everyday lives than will identifiable money.
>>
>> Ideally, we should have a screen reader that can handle difficulties
> with
>> web sites, and maybe that kind of technology
>> will be available at some point.  We have discussed that very subject
> as
>> part of our R&D Committee meetings.
>> However, such a screen reader seems a long way off, and some speculate
>
>> that a screen reader that can truly interpret
>> as well as read a screen without depending upon operating system hooks
> may
>> never be possible.  Whatever the future
>> holds along those lines, a screen reader that can handle any internet
> page
>> is much further off than money identifiers
>> which are already here.
>>
>> On Wed, 13 Dec 2006 12:22:46 -0600, John Heim wrote:
>>
>>>Can someone please explain an apparent contradiction in NFB policies
> to
>>>me?
>>
>>>The NFB says that making the government change bills so that blind
> people
>>>can tell them apart implies that "the blind are not capable of looking
> out
>>>for our own best interests and that the whole world must be modified
> for
>>>our
>>>protection."
>>
>>>Doesn't the suit against Target do the same thing? Doesn't it imply
> that
>>>the
>>>worl must be modified for us? If the NFB is to be consistent,
> shouldn't
>>>they
>>>be working on a screen reader that will work with the Target site
> rather
>>>than trying to make Target change their site?
>>
>>>_______________________________________________
>>>nfb-talk mailing list
>>>nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
>>>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> nfb-talk mailing list
>> nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nfb-talk mailing list
> nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk
> _______________________________________________
> nfb-talk mailing list
> nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk
>
>