Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Some More Judicial Briliance

For those who did not seem all that bothered by the California state supreme court usurping the will of the people with its ruling legalizing same-sex marriage last week, here is one for you.
By a 2-1 decision, the federal appeals court for the District of Columbia ruled that paper money as is discriminates against blind people http://www.townhall.com/news/us/2008/05/20/court_paper_money_discriminates_against_the_blind.
It really is in the can you top this one file.
I mean, for well over 200 years, since there has been a United States and paper money, it has never been made with blind or non-blind people in mind.
Primarily, especially today, our paper money is being made to stay one step ahead of counterfeiters. Thus, we are getting silly-looking money. Have you seen a $50 dollar bill lately? How about a $20? Or, my favorites, the $10 and $5 dollar bills? To say they look silly is an understatement.
So, according to the federal appeals court decision, because the paper federal reserve notes are not different sizes, a blind person can not easily tell the difference and because of that, it is discriminatory.
The beauty of this legal fight is that it is pitting two blind special interest groups.
The American Council For The Blind is the group that brought the lawsuit and has made it to a part of the court of appeals. On the other side is the National Federation Of The Blind, which sided with the government.
Even a blind person quoted in the AP article said that he may favor changing the paper money size, but that he is not being discriminated against because he is not being denied or can not use paper money.
It takes a real blind person to have logic.
The lawsuit claims discrimination, yet who is telling blind people they can not use paper money? No one.
But, in this age of victimization, real and or imagined, some blind people think, why we should push to change the size of our money. After all, we really can't see what money is changing hands. I mean, how do I know if I am giving a $10 dollar bill and getting the $5 dollar bill back in change? Why, I may be taken advantage of. I am a victim, even if I am not. My one blind group says I am. But wait, another says I am not. What is it?
The only saving grace of this moronic decision is that the court can not direct the Treasury department to make any changes. And, the full District of Columbia appeals court has not heard the case. Nor, has this gone to the supreme court.
In this age when the government rightly worries that our money may not only be counterfeited by nefarious criminals but potential terrorists and or their allies, they forgot about the blind.
The continuous victim class is no longer the victim.
It appears that the rest of us are however.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"The lawsuit claims discrimination, yet who is telling blind people they can not use paper money? No one."

HOW are they supposed to use it? Based solely on trust? Next time you pay for something just pull out a random bill and fork it over without checking the denomination, and don't check your change either.

I have no problem with yet another slipstreamed change in currency.

Pat Jenkins said...

64 i haven't seen a fifty yet, can i borrow one, make that two. califorinia is such a beautiful state, it is too bad it is filled with one whacko after another. 64 you excluded.... i pity you!!!