Saturday slumgullion

• Marta Russell on the Medicaid kill-off: "The cut is clearly an attack on poor people, and it may wind up killing disabled and chronically ill persons before all is done. It is also a strike from those segments in our society who wish to dismantle the entire Medicaid system. Worse, it will force a rollback of disabled people's civil rights."

• Kelly Laird at Life is Full: "A few weeks ago I was at a convenient store, looking for my favorite flavored sport drink, when I noticed the reflection of a man standing behind me, getting an eyeful of me. I slowly held up my hand, keeping my back to the man, and shot the bird at the guy, then turned to look in his direction and smiled, so as not to start a fight. He smiled, too, didn't say anything, and I rolled off with the fruit punch."

• "It could be worse, you could be one of Jerry’s kids."

• In Tennessee, disabled protestors are fighting state funding cuts that will send many of them to nursing homes in order to receive the care they currently get in their own homes. In Louisiana, The Times-Picayune reminds us with a five-part special report on nursing homes how institutionalization can and does kill. Also, it's big business: "Nursing homes get 94 percent of the money [Louisiana] spends on long-term care for the elderly, compared with 70 percent nationally and less than 50 percent in states such as Oregon and Washington."

• Minnesota storyteller Kevin Kling on The Ugling Duckling and other myths: "When it turns out he's a swan like all the other swans and not a duck, what's that do for me?"