Spotlight on Autism

McCain mis-spoke, as he so often does, like calling his supporters "prisoners." I think it speaks to his intelligence and ability to speak extemporaneously. Choosing Palin speaks to his judgement. I am convinced that he is not a bad person. He is old and gets confused. It's amazing he has done as well as he has.
The story of this mother and Karen Rudolf have warmed my heart. God bless you both!

PALIN'S NEPHEW (HER SISTER'S SON) HAS AUTISM.
There's a lot of posts here so I don't know if anyone has brought it up. I just wanted to bring that up to clear the confusion why McCain would suggest that Palin would understand about autism. Maybe he just wanted to mention that without bringing out the nephew's autism into the limelight.

While I can empathize for any parent of an autistic or special-needs child, it is very self-centered and cynical to immediately suggest that John McCain is pandering when he does not show an intimate knowledge of the various manifestiations of autism. Isn't in enough that he is offering support? If you don't believe him, that is something else. It is clear that Kristina Chew's comments are politically motivated and not made out of genuine concern for the needs of her autistic child. (Actually, an interview by Newsweek of a college professor about sums things up here.) I believe it's actually shameful that she is using her child's condition as an opportunity to make a completely unwarranted political statement against McCain, especially since it is completely based on surmise. Here is McCain offering a helping hand, and she just slaps him in the face. Another Obamamaniac heard from. Despicable.

I adopted two special needs children 12 years ago. They were foster children. Every day I am grateful that I'm their mother. I didn't understand McCain's remark about Palin understanding autism. One doesn't understand autism because one has a downs syndrome baby. All special needs are not created equal. Palin's son seems to be often used as a stage prop. I question how being displayed is affecting his developmental needs. Despite my gratitude for my two sons, I would never tell a mother that she shouldn't or couldn't have an abortion. All women must have this basic right to control their own lives. When my sons were small it was impossible for me to find childcare for them so that I could work to support all the special services they needed. None of these services (occupational therapy, speech therapy, counseling, testing) were paid for by the state. In fact, I couldn't find a local doctor who would accept their Medical vouchers when they were still foster children. Having any child is a huge responsibility and a woman should only choose to have a child when she is ready to raise one. Life does not begin at conception, it begins when a child is born. If Palin doesn't want women choosing abortion, then she should do everything possible to support services for families, services for special needs and excellent free public education so that more women feel free to have children.

Loriw--You mind is made up and no one can get through to you even though many have shown you the truth. Just today in the news it was revealed how MCCAIN, not Obama, would take away millions of dollars from Medicare to pay for his limited health care plan for which you will be taxed. Your sympathies lie with a woman with a 6 month old Down's Syndrome child saying she'd be an advocate when her running mate has no plan to help her do such a thing. But you are entitled to your choice, so make it and wait--even longer--for help for your child.

Before you buy in to McCain saying he is different than Bush, just remember:

ACTIONS SPEAK THOUSANDS LOUDER THAN WORDS

McCain, down in the polls with less than two weeks left, is saying he is different than Bush, even when for the last eight years he has been with Bush almost all of the time.

Now, in the final two weeks, he wants you to believe he is someone else. People just do NOT change that fast.

HIS WORDS ARE JUST THAT, WORDS TO DUPE YOU AND PANDER FOR YOUR VOTE.

if he gets elected, when this election is through:

MCCAIN WILL BE THROUGH WITH YOU.

He will be back to the McCain he was for the last eight years:

- More for the oil companies
- More for the top 5% of business
- More for the already wealthy
- More for the trickle down
- More partisanship in Washington
- More warrantless spying on Americans
- More Isolation of the U.S. in the world
- More Taxpayer money to Iraq
- More oil dependency
- Less for renewable energy ..
- Less diplomacy and More war
- ..
- And ???LESS FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS AND BELOW
.

YES ??? ACTIONS DO SPEAK THOUSANDS LOUDER THAN WORDS

And for the last eight years, McCain has spoken very loudly.

After 9/11, the US government started rounding up Muslims without cause and without due process of law, like we did to the Japanese Americans in WWII. The Bush administration called it's main internment camp Guantanamo Bay. While there are certainly many guilty terrorists held in Guantanamo, there are also many innocent American citizens who have been held illegally for years without even being charged with any crime. They have been tortured by our government. Some of them have died.

Recently the Supreme Court ruled against the Bush administration in the matter of Guantanamo Bay. The Supreme Court Justices were NOT on the side of the terrorists. They were on the side of the Geneva Convention, that says you can not torture POWs, and on the side of US laws that state you can not imprison a person without charging them with a crime and bringing them to trial. I'm sure that like most Americans, the Justices who voted against the illegal, immoral doings at Guantanamo didn't feel sympathy for the terrorists. They felt sympathy for the laws of AMERICA, the land of the FREE, where even rat finks get a fair trial.

Meanwhile, back in Iraq, the Bush administration is busy trying to build a smokescreen to hide the CRIMES they have committed. Those pesky weapons of mass destruction. Just think, the National Debt went up over 6 trillion dollars under Bush. More than 2 TRILLION of it went directly into the pockets of Halliburton, a corporation owned by the Cheney family. Halliburton is now a DUBAI corporation and therefore is not subject to US taxes. All that money they took out of the US Treasury is going into the coffers of a MUSLIM country.

Did you hear about how the US government is being charged millions for Halliburton deliveries of sand into Iraq from Kuwait? Sand. Like there is a shortage of sand in Iraq? Another contractor shipped sand from Idaho to Iraq at our expense. Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz discusses these and other excesses of our current government's out of control spending in Iraq.

Your grandchildren will be working like slaves to pay off this debt, so that the Bushes and Cheneys can live the high life in Dubai.

Yeah, they're patriots, Bush&Co. They wear flag pins. And hide the money they stole from America in Dubai.

And they want me to believe that Obama is a socialist. Right.

In case you think McCain is any different than Bush, watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdJUCU1UH2w

so we spend a lot of time with him.

Christina Chew must be referring to her husband spending a lot of time with Charlie. Cause it can't be Christina "Autism Vox" spending time with Charlie, because she is just too darn busy the last few years blogging!

Christina needs to get over her internet addiction!

My son doesn't have other friends or kids he plays with his age so we spend a lot of time with him

The above just aint true! Christina Chew (Autism Vox) is connected to the commuter and spends ALL her time blogging!

WHAT HAS DONE IN 26 YEARS IN THE SENATE FOR AUTISM?

WHAT HAS HE DONE WITH THE MILLIONS HE AND CINDY HAVE YEARLY (4.2 MILLIONS CINDY ALONE) FOR AUTISM?

AND NOW HE IS GOING TO DO SOMETHING? WITH YOUR OWN TAXPAYER MONEY?

HE SHOULD BE LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE WH IF WE LET HIM.....

McCAIN HEALTH IN QUESTION...............

The Armed Forces pathologists suggested that the left-temple melanoma had spread from another melanoma, known as a metastasis or satellite lesion. ???The vertical orientation of this lesion,??? the report said, ???with only focal epidermal involvement above it is highly suggestive of a metastasis of malignant melanoma and may represent a satellite metastasis of S00-9572-A,??? which is the ???skin, left temple, lateral??? biopsy.

The pool report was by nature unable to provide a complete portrait of Mr. McCain???s recent medical history. It left several questions, including about the number of biopsies and when they were done. On Aug. 18, 2000, Dr. John D. Eckstein, Mr. McCain???s personal physician at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, noted in Mr. McCain???s records that there were two biopsies of the left temple. Dr. Eckstein???s note did not say where and when the biopsies were performed. The Armed Forces report cited one biopsy, so presumably a second was performed in Scottsdale. The Armed Forces pathologists said a melanoma had developed over a skin scar whose origin was unclear..........

The Armed Forces pathologists did not speak in the teleconference in May 2008, and questions raised by their report have remained unanswered. The selected reporters did not ask about that report, and the Mayo Clinic doctors did not discuss it. A complete Mayo pathology report was apparently not included in the pool summary...........

If Mr. McCain???s 2000 left-temple melanoma was a metastasis, as the Armed Forces pathologists??? report suggested, it would be classified as Stage III. The reclassification would change his statistical odds for survival at 10 years from about 60 percent to 36 percent, according to a published study..............

McCAIN HEALTH PROBLEMS = PALIN S PRESIDENCY! HELLOOOO!!!!!!!

I too found it interesting that Sen. McCain seemed a little confused with Down's Syndrome and Autism.
He seems to try to make it from the heart but fails in his lack of knowledge about the realities of the amount of need out there for parents of children with either disorder. So many services are needed especially ""Early Intervention" (speech,occupational and physical therapies, socialization skills, learning strategies). Local school systems struggle to provide services with limited budgets for all children including special needs children. No Child Left behind? Without funding they are all being left behind. I say he was looking for votes from parents who would do anything to help their children, Shame on that.

Regarding Spotlight on Autism.
I am in agreement. It was just rhetoric and pandering for votes by John McCain. Quite unfortunate.

Though Palin did sign a law increasing special education funding in Alaska, ???she had no role whatsoever??? in its development, according to the bill???s author, Rep. Mike Hawker (R). Moreover, as governor, Palin vetoed $275,000 in Special Olympics Alaska funds (Page 100, SB 221 with vetoes), slashing the organization???s operating budget in half.
http://www.gov.state.ak.us/omb/09_omb/budget/bills/SB221_with_vetoes.pdf

The documents show that Gov. Palin proposed cutting the Special Olympics budget in half. The actual budget as passed slightly increased Special Olympics funding, though by only half of what the organization had requested.

After 9/11, the US government started rounding up Muslims without cause and without due process of law, and put them in prison camps like we did to the Japanese Americans in WWII. The Bush administration called it's main internment camp Guantanamo Bay. While there are certainly many guilty terrorists held in Guantanamo, there are also many innocent American citizens who have been held illegally for years without even being charged with any crime. They have been tortured by our government. Some of them have died.

Recently the Supreme Court ruled against the Bush administration in the matter of Guantanamo Bay. The Supreme Court Justices were NOT on the side of the terrorists. They were on the side of the Geneva Convention, that says you can not torture POWs, and on the side of US laws that state you can not imprison a person without charging them with a crime and bringing them to trial. I'm sure that like most Americans, the Justices who voted against the illegal, immoral doings at Guantanamo didn't feel sympathy for the terrorists. They felt sympathy for the laws of AMERICA, the land of the FREE, where even rat finks get a fair trial.

Meanwhile, back in Iraq, the Bush administration is busy trying to build a smokescreen to hide the CRIMES they have committed. Those pesky weapons of mass destruction. Just think, the National Debt went up over 6 trillion dollars under Bush. More than 2 trillion of it went directly into the pockets of Halliburton, a corporation owned by the Cheney family. Halliburton is now a DUBAI corporation and therefore is not subject to US taxes. All that money they took out of the US Treasury is going into the coffers of a MUSLIM country.

Did you hear about how the US government is being charged millions for Halliburton deliveries of sand into Iraq from Kuwait? Sand. Like there is a shortage of sand in Iraq? Another contractor shipped sand from Idaho to Iraq at our expense. Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz discusses these and other excesses of our current government's out of control spending in Iraq.

Your grandchildren will be working like slaves to pay off this debt, so that the Bushes and Cheneys can live the high life in Dubai.

Yeah, they're patriots, Bush&Co. They wear flag pins. And hide the money they stole from America in Dubai.

And they want me to believe that Obama is a socialist. Right.

In case you think McCain is any different than Bush, watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdJUCU1UH2w

This is so true about how the election is already bought and paid for:
http://www.againstobama.com/2008/10/what-is-it-that-barack-obama-knows-that-the-rest-of-us-don%E2%80%99t/#comment-1929

Oh right, Palin would really be the one to push for more help w/special needs children. Isn't this the woman who took the money away from her states Special Olympics. Lies, lies and liars.

Especially for loriw and others who are buying into the ploy being pushed by the Republican ticket: The McCains are extremely rich (especially Cindy McCain) and they don't need any monetary assistance to take care of their children's needs--ordinary or special! So, they have no idea how hard it is to get the help you need, especially medical coverage and monetary assistance, to take care of such a child. Again, you are looking at the Republican ticket with tinted glasses, and if they get elected, the hue for you will be blue, not rose.