Comments on: Federal Judge: Make Cash Accessible to the Blind

By: dutchmarbel

dutchmarbel — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 12:41:07 +0000

In addition to different colours and sizes the euro bills have relief print on the banknotes. Wouldn't the latter be a starting point that is not so difficult to implement? The Dutch notes had tactile marks in the corner (higher number of dots - higher value)

By: Making US banknotes easier to identify « Peter Parkes

Making US banknotes easier to identify « Peter Parkes — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 14:15:37 +0000

[...] Comments from the web range from the vaguely dismissive to the misguided and outraged — interestingly, James Joyner and Doug Mataconis suggest that the US Congress will simply amend the necessary piece of legislation to exclude banknotes from its remit. [...]

By: floyd

floyd — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 00:13:07 +0000

why not build a pocket sized, hand held electronic currency reader and give it to the blind. this would relieve the burden of change and solve the problem .

By: Anderson

Anderson — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 22:19:00 +0000

"Cripples." Nice, Wayne. That's your real name, isn't it?

By: Wayne

Wayne — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 21:25:37 +0000

The judge was out of line and being an activist.
The solution was pretty obvious and simple. Even if the machine didn’t already exist, it wouldn’t take much imagination to think that we can take a reader similar to vending machine and put a voice or brail output on it. Problem with to many in our society is they spend most of their time complaining instead of working on a solution.

I’m still waiting for the lawsuit to force cripples into the NBA. Already happen in golf.

By: Rodney Dill

Rodney Dill — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 15:48:33 +0000

and as googled in about two minutes

http://www.at-links.gc.ca/as/as057e.asp#b4

By: Rodney Dill

Rodney Dill — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 15:46:04 +0000

Of course currently technology would enable a portable reader that can scan existing money and 'speak' the denomination. That would place some of the burden/cost on the actual visually impaired person, but in instances this may be preferred.

By: Anderson

Anderson — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 15:27:49 +0000

from a Congress who almost certainly didn’t intend him to do so

Sigh. How do you tell what Congress intends? From reading the laws they pass, right? Is that what the judge did, or isn't it?

A judge saying to Congress "I'm going to do what you told me to do" is one of the few ways to get Congress to fix bad laws.

By: Beldar

Beldar — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 14:56:06 +0000

The issue here isn't whether it's a good or bad policy. The issue is whether a federal judge should be over-interpreting a federal statute to seize policy-making authority from a Congress who almost certainly didn't intend him to do so, and who didn't authorize him to do so, under a constitutional system of government that doesn't permit him to do so.

By: Michael A

Michael A — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 14:01:09 +0000

While good things can be said for currency having varied color and size, this should not be attempted by judicial activism. Here we have a more serious issue of a judge who insists on applying standards from beyond our borders to our government.

I have spent time in Australia and do like their currency which does vary in size and color. I also like their AU$2 coin which is about the diameter of our nickel, making it very easy to carry enough money in coins to make many transactions without having to pull out a wallet.

By: Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator

Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 13:27:12 +0000

U.S. Currency Design Ruled Discriminatory...

A dollar bill feels very much like a five or a twenty, and that's a problem, according to a federal ...

By: LJD

LJD — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 12:34:09 +0000

Would have been nice to coordinate this effort with the recent redesign of the bills at a cost of how many millions of taxpayer dollars?

On another note, I still can't figure out the logic behind the braille on a DRIVE-UP ATM! (Or that it's low enough to reach from a wheelchair- but not my truck)

By: Below The Beltway » Blog Archive » Judge Orders Treasury To Redesign U.S. Currency

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 12:10:12 +0000

[...] Since I barely use paper money any more, it doesn’t matter to me what the government does with it, but it doesn’t seem to me to be too much to ask that different denominations have different sizes and textures, or that some type of Braille-like embossing be put on the bills so that a blind person can differentiate a $ 1 bill from a $ 100 bill. In the end though, I agree with James Joyner’s speculation; in all likelihood, Congress will simply amend the Rehabilitation Act to exempt paper money from its requirements. [...]

By: Christopher

Christopher — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 06:49:29 +0000

OMG this story is so freakin FUNNY! Liberalism gone off the deep end, even after I had thought most of the deep ends had already been gone off of. Yea, so funny it almost makes me cry.

We learn a couple of things from this story:
1) The judge is definitely a lib.
2) Chris Lawrence (as given away by his distaste for American currency) is a European (as given away by his focus on paper size), or at least wants to be one (with no dollar bills, how would we tip the "exotic" dancers in their waistbands?). I'd say more mean things about my namesake but then James would censor me.
3) I hearby start the first conservative wacko conspiracy theory: that this is all a liberal plot of the new party in power to gain control over the money supply (remember that liberals aren't smart enough to know that the money supply is more than just currency, so this would be just the type of plot they would try).

Do I hear agreement among my fellow conservative wackos?

By: Director Mitch

Director Mitch — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 06:38:46 +0000

What percentage of your purchases do you in cash today versus credit/debit card? Could you go to all plastic if you HAD to? Wouldn't you WANT to go to all plastic if you went legally blind?

For that matter when was the last time you looked over and saw a blind person at a grocery store (hard to pick out items), gas station (hard to drive) or the other top 5 places where cash is used? I am sure they are out there, but I am pretty confident that the vast majority of them have support structures and help.

I was overseas recently and didn't understand or have time to figure out the money when I was in a convenience store. So I held out a bunch of cash/coins and the clerk took what she needed. I am pretty sure that the sighted clerk at the U.S. Starbucks does the same thing when that poor blind man comes in for a cup a joe.

But, hey, spending millions and millions of taxpayer dollars redesigning money for a micro-fraction of people who experience an inconvenience is what activist judges like to do.