To help in whatever capacity you can... Last year my wife and I had the same conundrum. We decided to go to Guatemala to work for a non-profit there. When we signed up to go, we basically went as manual labor (since the specialized positions required long-term stays). When I got there I let them know that I was a software developer and they immediately pulled me off of the house-building crews and set me to work in their office. I did a lot of basic help desk maintenance stuff, but I also made a lot of long overdue updates and additions to their web sites. It felt great knowing that I was able to contribute in a specialized way... Of course - if they needed me to dig ditches the whole time I was there, that's what I was prepared to do.

:::Insert Chewbacca Defense Here::: The defense rests.

Wouldn't they be the ewoks?

the blogosphere would have precious little to do

Worse than that... They'd have to rely on writing their own articles and doing their own investigative reporting. If the blogosphere's current quality control is anything to go by, it might as well die if it loses a large enough portion of it's source articles.

I worked on the other side of a desk taking those disability claims for several years. My experience was that most of the Social Security employees, especially those taking those disability claims, were very committed to doing everything within their power to help people get through the process. Until very recently, Social Security employee levels had fallen to the same level they were at in the early 70's. That's great when you account for all of the efficiencies that technology has brought about. But now their customer base has grown exponentially. Boomer's are entering an age where they are more vulnerable to health issues but they still need to work. So they are more likely to file for disability. Overloaded System + Aging Population + Economic Downturn = Bad Outcome

Yeah - but who's going to compete with Optimus Prime for a contract?