[nabs-l] bard web site

Wed Oct 2 16:09:03 UTC 2013

Peter,
While I am generally fiscally conservative i'm with Tyler on this one. I would just like to make two points because Tyler I would just like to make two points because Tyler has already offered a very excellent rebuttal. Comparing this list to the Supreme Court you are definitely authoring the dissenting opinion, justice Littlefield has written a quite excellent majority opinion, so here's my opinion concurring with the majority.
First of all it seems reasonable to compare the national Library service to the thousands of public libraries operated by local governments all around the country. Logistically, due to reasons like the scarcity of braille and relatively small numbers of blind people, it's necessary for our public library to be operated by the federal, rather than state governments. I'm curious if you are opposed to the idea of public libraries in general or is it merely the idea of blind people accessing public libraries that you find repugnant? If your problem is with government – subsidized libraries and if you think blind people ought to be granted equal access to the same resources available to sighted people, The only logical conclusion seems to be that your problem is with public libraries in general, and not our specific public library in particular.
Also,touting Book share as a successful private program free of government intervention scenes, at the very least, ironic. It's worth remembering that free access to book share by students, not to mention the deeply discounted rates offered to the rest of the blind community, are only available because of grants and other financial assistance from the government. So, contrary to your assertions, we are depending on government money whether we use barred or bookshare.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Oct 2, 2013, at 8:40 AM, "Peter Donahue" <pdonahue2 at satx.rr.com> wrote:
> 
> Good morning everyone,
> 
>    What you mean is that there would not be a Braille and talking book Web 
> site still available despite the government shutdown. The folks that really 
> shut BARD down is none other than us. Society didn't tell us to be overly 
> dependent on the government to provide this and other services. Folks we're 
> doing that to ourselves and need to stop being overly dependent on others to 
> fund and operate these programs for us. Thank God for the likes of Jim 
> Fructerman, Ray Kurzweil, and others. This should be an opportunity  for us 
> to rediscover what Bookshare.org and Blio have to offer. It should also 
> cause us to put our thinking caps on and find ways to protect BARD and other 
> services we've come to depend on from government shutdowns. A yearly 
> subscription to Bookshare.org is only $50.00. Forgo some of the booz and the 
> smokes and subscribe so the books can keep coming to you. These 
> subscriptions are far superior to BARD. We have found lots of books on 
> Bookshare.org not available through BARD. It's $50.00 well-spent if you 
> asked us. Since we're both Bookshare.org members the yearly charge is 
> $100.00 and we find the money to keep our subscriptions active. Furthermore 
> I believe Bookshare.org still has the free student membership. Check it out.
> 
>    If we keep going down the path of stinking thinking the next time 
> there's another federal shutdown we'll have no one but ourselves to blame 
> because we failed to protect BARD and other services we rely on from such 
> mayhem.
> 
> Peter Donahue
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "I. C. Bray" <i.c.bray at win.net>
> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2013 9:09 PM
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] bard web site
> 
> 
> You would not have a braille / audio book collection if not for the federal
> government.
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Peter Donahue" <pdonahue2 at satx.rr.com>
> To: <jsoro620 at gmail.com>; "National Association of Blind Students mailing
> list" <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2013 9:48 PM
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] bard web site
> 
> 
> : Good evening,
> :
> :    Paying a subscription to protect our accessible book collections from
> : governmental boondoggling is okay in my book. Bring it on!
> :
> : Peter Donahue
> :
> : ----- Original Message ----- 
> : From: "Joe" <jsoro620 at gmail.com>
> : To: "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'"
> : <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> : Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2013 7:16 PM
> : Subject: Re: [nabs-l] bard web site
> :
> :
> : I'm all for making government much smaller, but privatizing the NLS arm of
> : the LOC is probably not the best case scenario. People would have to pay,
> : not an issue for gainfully employed people but certainly a problem for the
> : 70% unemployed folks already on a low income. Me, I'm really not sure why
> : the BARD site is down. Skeleton crews consist of at least a few IT staff,
> : and it seems odd there is not a single person who can keep an eye on the
> : servers. Then again, the government is dumb enough to try to rope off
> : national monuments here in DC that can easily be accessed outside. Red,
> : blue, they're all a little cray cray.
> :
> : Joe
> :
> : -----Original Message-----
> : From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Peter Donahue
> : Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2013 7:29 PM
> : To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> : Subject: Re: [nabs-l] bard web site
> :
> : Good evening everyone,
> :
> :    Perhaps it's time to privatize the NLS making it immune to government
> : shutdowns in the future. Bookshare.org and BLIO are our shining stars
> during
> : this time so we need not be without books to read.
> :
> : Peter Donahue
> :
> :
> : ----- Original Message -----
> : From: "Kirt" <kirt.crazydude at gmail.com>
> : To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
> : <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> : Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2013 5:48 PM
> : Subject: Re: [nabs-l] bard web site
> :
> :
> : That entirely depends on when Congress decides to get it's act together.
> Ask
> :
> : your representative. :-)
> :
> : Sent from my iPhone
> :
> : > On Oct 1, 2013, at 4:45 PM, "justin williams"
> <justin.williams2 at gmail.com>
> :
> : > wrote:
> : >
> : > Do we know when the bard site will be up again?
> : >
> : > _______________________________________________
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> : om
> :
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