Defining ‘Unnecessary’: Bush Cuts Funding For Disabled Children
Defining ‘Unnecessary’: Bush Cuts Funding For Disabled Children
Bush has continually called for cuts in “unnecessary spending.” From his 2006 State of the Union address:
Every year of my presidency, we’ve reduced the growth of non-security discretionary spending, and last year you passed bills that cut this spending. This year my budget will cut it again, and reduce or eliminate more than 140 programs that are performing poorly or not fulfilling essential priorities.
What kind of spending is unnecessary? In Bush’s view, programs that assist disabled children. The President’s budget will eliminate Medicaid reimbursements for schoolchildren with disabilities, denying them “access to medical services they need to fully participate in school and learn to their greatest abilities.†It cuts funding for medical equipment on buses, transportation to medical appointments, and the administrative costs of identifying children with special medical and learning needs.
If schools are no longer able to seek reimbursement for these services, costs will shift to districts and states already grappling with fiscal constraints. But those who will be most affected are the children and students with disabilities who have already been hurt by January’s drastic Medicaid cuts.
In February, Bush promised to “continue to work to remove barriers that still confront Americans with disabilities and their families.” His budget, however, creates new barriers for disabled children.
- Elena Rocha and Meredith King
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Yes, cut those damn disabled kids off. How dare they get extra help. They must think they are handicapped.
March 6th, 2006 at 5:02 pmFRIST thing we should do is impeach this bastard.
March 6th, 2006 at 5:02 pmdangit spudge, ya beat me ;)
March 6th, 2006 at 5:02 pmAnd to think that all you “crazy liberals” keep comparing this guy to Hitler…
March 6th, 2006 at 5:02 pmNo Child Left Behind, unless you have to wheel yourself, can’t walk, or are in any way disabled.
March 6th, 2006 at 5:05 pmMy wife is an assistant principal here in Denver, and the burden upon school district’s funding for disabled children is enormous already. It’s nice to know that further unfunded mandates are coming. Can anyone say GOP tax increase?
March 6th, 2006 at 5:06 pmThat’s nothing compared to the massive tax increases that will be needed to repair the damage done by these Bush monsters.
March 6th, 2006 at 5:07 pm“We have to address the fact that the president has broken the law.†— Senator Russ Feingold
March 6th, 2006 at 5:08 pm…if money is such a problem, they live in mansions, think we should rob them.
March 6th, 2006 at 5:08 pmNext Bush will call for gradually disallowing girls from going to school in order to continue to talibinization of America.
March 6th, 2006 at 5:13 pmOh. Hell. No.
It is difficult enough to get the schools to give a disabled child what they deem “free and appropriate.”
I have experience in this area because my oldest son is autistic and spent 13 years in public schools. I fought for the best education and environment I could get him, and let me tell you, I got more than most because I am relentless. If the schools start losing money from the Medicaid programs, the ONLY ones who will be worse off are the children and their parents, who are probably hanging on by their fingernails already. AND some children will not be getting the services they need early enough because there will be no money for locating these children early.
I hope Geroge W. Bush chokes on his silver spoon.
March 6th, 2006 at 5:14 pmThat is messed up. Now they want to further “disable” the disabled. But I’m certain that the NCLB testing standards will not be altered to reflect the obvious impact this will have on the mandatory testing results. All of the students are included when evaluating “improvement”, regardless of learning abilities. Students with learning challenges are equal to AP students. And if the numbers aren’t improving, they risk losing funding, and the clamoring for “scool vouchers” gets louder. Perhaps this is just another assault on public education. It would not surprise me at all.
March 6th, 2006 at 5:17 pmThe true face of “compassionate conservatism,” of course!
March 6th, 2006 at 5:17 pmExactly coreect Zookeeper!
But we know that the destruction of Public Education is a top priority of the kult. But don’t worry, Christian Medrasas will fill the void.
March 6th, 2006 at 5:18 pmThere’s that “compassionate conservatism” in action again. It’ll just be left up to the states to fund these costs.
March 6th, 2006 at 5:20 pmYa I know that sounds bad …but! … we need that money for Iraq. If we dont take that country over what kind of lives will the disabled children have anyways? Their futures totally depend on the occupation of the middle east. Just think of it like this… they may not be able to speak very well, they may not be able to walk very well, and they may not be able to think very well ..but they will always have a place in the GOP headquarters in Saudi Arabia or the UAE or Iraq.
March 6th, 2006 at 5:23 pmNow, let me see if I understand this: If they’re a fetus…you protect ‘em. If they’re born disabled… ya make ‘em walk the plank? Do I see this “compassionately”? Gawd, I’m so depressed!!!
March 6th, 2006 at 5:25 pmI don’t know why I am surprised on the knowledge of posters here!
The NCLB mandates the testing of all children enrolled in public schools. Then we compare scores from other nations to benchmark our students. Problem is, the “other” countries peel off the lower half of their students and put them into trade schools prior to testing. So we are comparing all American students to the cream of foreign students. Thus, the failure of American Public Education meme.
March 6th, 2006 at 5:25 pmStates may well be “grappling with fiscal restraints” but it’s not because receipts have declined. State tax receipts for the fiscal year ended in June 05 were estimated by the WSJ at +7.5%.Other articles noted from Missouri (state tax receipts hit record) Calif. state tax receipts were at a record,Mass..Pa etc.
The WSJ articles though talk about state receipts to try and point to the growth as well of federal receipts although the federal receipts growth has been more significant in the payroll taxes and insurance fund receipts.
There are also other state law issues with developmentally challenged kids. Our districts here are reimbursed at the average per district cost per child. If your district has fewer than the average which is generally true in the suburban commuter districts,the district receives excess funds,if your rate is higher,the costs have to come from higher property taxes.
Cuts in Medicaid reimbursements can and should be made up at the state level.
March 6th, 2006 at 5:26 pm#12 – Cyra, I wouldn’t be so sure that all of the students are included when evaluating “improvement.” My son was always given the “option” of not taking the test because they “didn’t want to cause him stress,” and I know from other parents that my son wasn’t the only one. I always wondered about that, because except in math, my son could only improve their scores. Oh, and he always took the tests. Even if he were as dumb as GWB, I would have had him taking the tests!
March 6th, 2006 at 5:26 pmThe lawmakers don’t give a rats butt. As far as they’re concerned, health care couldn’t be better. But then, they ARE getting socialized, single-payer health care, unlike the rest of us.
March 6th, 2006 at 5:27 pm“I don’t know why I am surprised on the knowledge of posters here!”
Just so ya know, I meant that as a compliment to ya all!
March 6th, 2006 at 5:27 pm#22 – You knew I had my nails out, didn’t you? ;)
March 6th, 2006 at 5:29 pmBush’s “compassionate conservatism” sound more like Ebenzer Scrooge: “are there no prisons? And the workhouses are still functioning?”. Compare this action to the no-bid contracts to Halliburton, et al, And the giveaways(at taxpayer expense to Exxon, et al).
March 6th, 2006 at 5:30 pm“I don’t know why I am surprised on the knowledge of posters here!â€
Citizen80203
Off with Citizen80203 head!
March 6th, 2006 at 5:31 pm“Cuts in Medicaid reimbursements can and should be made up at the state level.”
Comment by TJM
Glad to see you are for a GOP tax increase.
As for district revenue increasing, you are correct. However, it is the poorer districts that have seen a decrease in revenue. In turn, these poorer districts have a larger ratio of disabled children to “normal” children. So the poor get…
March 6th, 2006 at 5:34 pmHow is it that the disabled can be allowed to cut funding to the disabled?
March 6th, 2006 at 5:35 pmIn a word Godfry.
But that does not explain the Bush family, does it.
March 6th, 2006 at 5:37 pmAs for district revenue increasing, you are correct. However, it is the poorer districts that have seen a decrease in revenue. In turn, these poorer districts have a larger ratio of disabled children to “normal†children. So the poor get…
Comment by Citizen80203
Hey just has Jesus always said…, “Who cares? Their poor.”
March 6th, 2006 at 5:38 pmThere’s a difference, Godfry. You can still be morally handicapped, even if you’re in good health.
March 6th, 2006 at 5:41 pmCitizen, every family is entitled to one disabled offspring. My family had one. Oops.
March 6th, 2006 at 5:43 pmyet he can find plenty of money to run torture camps…
http://blogdebogs.blogspot.com/2006/03/torturous-topic_114166208518109624.html
March 6th, 2006 at 5:52 pmNo aid for disabled children but guess who’s getting a big boost? The administration is trying to ram through the UAE ports deal by having them partner up with – Halliburton. All good things come to the right people.
March 6th, 2006 at 6:04 pmALL MONIES THAT DO NOT FLOW TO THE BUSH CRIME FAMILY AND THE REPUBLICAN PARASITIC PARTY ARE ‘UNNECESSARY’.
March 6th, 2006 at 6:23 pm#20- I was meaning the test scores of all the students, so of course that would not include those not taking the test. I am glad to hear that reasonable educators still exist. Too much emphasis is placed on testing. Not everyone learns or processes information in the same way. No one should be penalized for that.
March 6th, 2006 at 6:38 pmHe’s just eliminating programs that don’t work. Every year we spend money on disabled kids… and yet we still have disabled kids! Something’s not working here. Same with the poor, disbled vets, folks who complain about Bush, etc.
Okay, so my sarcasm gets real dark real fast.
March 6th, 2006 at 6:44 pmIn our state, they fly the kids on small state-owned planes to a special school rather than the parents actually moving.
March 6th, 2006 at 6:46 pm#24 I think you’re looking for…
“Are there no recruiting stations? Are there no Halliburton jobs, are there no trucks to be driven in Iraq?”
“But sir, many would die if they drove trucks in Iraq!”
“Then let them die, and decrease the surplus population.”
March 6th, 2006 at 6:46 pmWell Citizen,that is the point isn’t it? In this state, the funding at the average has already resulted in tax increases but the sneaky kind, the kind that keeps millage rates the same but increases the assessed valuations.
March 6th, 2006 at 6:52 pmThe districts here (versus the one I live in which has a developmantally disabled rate almost 3x the state average) also are faced with a deteriorating tax base.
Your response shows a well honed reflex. The feds should take care of everybody,how dare they cut these particular funds.
As a parent of one of those kids,this process hardly solves the problem. There are certain things the feds should be funding.This isn’t one of them.
Wake up! This administration has been about ONE THING and one thing only. The religious right agenda, the wars-for-oil, the subversion of the media, etc …all smokescreens. This administration only took power to do one thing: TO TRANSFER THE PUBLIC WEALTH OF THE RICHEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD INTO PRIVATE HANDS.
March 6th, 2006 at 6:57 pmThis admin has been straight-arrow loot-and-pillage on an epic scale. If Guiness had a world record book of crime, this is it, folks, the crime of the millenia. The wealth of the wealthiest country has already been looted, robbed and diverted from public coffers and banked in the accounts of private contractors, armament industries, communication and energy companies, favorite drug companies (what do you think the Medicare change was about?) and private buddy corporations during the last 5 years.
What’s truly horrifying is is wasn’t just the surplus the admin inherited or revenue from the last 5 years. This deficit will have our kids and grandkids enslaved and endebted throughout their lifetimes. The services designed for their benefit have been and will be cut to fix this ‘money problem.’ That’s a killer coup, eh? Not just to steal the money, but to steal it in such a way that an entire nation will work 2-1/2 lifetimes, with far fewer safety nets, to try and replace it. And then to set up a bunch of new tax cuts for the wealthiest (ie: the beneficiaries of all our public money) that insures they and theirs will never have to be responsible for paying back any of it!
Period. That’s what all about, the erupting scandals, Bush never vetoeing a bill, that’s why we went to war. It’s all about the money.
We’ve all been hosed, by leaders who haven’t hesistated to leave 3 generation of American tax payers naked and bleeding on the ground, and 1000s of people dead and bleeding in the sands of the Middle East, our blood and theirs. (1000s so far. Haliburton, Lockheed Martin, Dupont & all the rest want another war, this has been too much fun for them, like taking candy from a baby.)
It’s too late. You all are idiots, we’re all screwed and they’re rich beyond a glutton’s wettest dream. They stole America’s money. We let them. It’s gone.
Better wake up before the administration finally figures out how to transfer Social Security — the last, vast, untapped oil field of federal and public monies — into the pockets of the brokerage house.
Very close to what hitler did ,divide the strong from the weak.
This is Facism …….
March 6th, 2006 at 7:06 pmTrent Lott would cut off their home heating as well.
March 6th, 2006 at 7:11 pmLott took to the microphone to give his take on providing warm homes to the elderly and disabled.
“What is it we are not going to give people for free? Is there any limit? Is there any limit to the amount of money?†asked Lott, adding snidely “I thought we were having global warming.â€
http://bobgeiger.blogspot.com/2006/03/lott-on-low-income-heating-pleas-i.html
Bush would protect the unborn child right up to the moment of birth — then the kid’s on his own — right up to the hours before he dies, when Bush and his Senate leaders will determine the time of death.
March 6th, 2006 at 7:18 pmWhat the hell kind of compassionate conservative is this phony christian, Bush? — no christian, jew, muslim, bhuddist, atheist or agnostic that I ever encountered is as cold and greedy as Bush&Co.
Well, the dues at the country club just keep going up. That’s not it. Taxes keep coming down and there jsut isn’t any money for those out of favor with God. We know it’s impossible but what if they actually practiced what they preach, love, compasion, you know. What they preach has a history of it’s own that is just now coming to light. It shows them for what they are.
Try http://www.hoax-buster.org some time if you want to know where they are coming from. It’s my home page and you can get there by clicking on my name below.
March 6th, 2006 at 8:01 pmTo expect that someone like Bush, born with a golden spoon in his mouth, would give a flying fart for disabled kids is living in outer space. He is the pride of his parents because he is turning out just as they raised him. What a disgusting family.
March 6th, 2006 at 8:05 pmClarification, Bush & Co along with Big Pharma DO NOT protect a fetus. As they allow Big Pharma to poisen our children with the 2nd deadliest toxin Mercury called Thimerosal. This is ethylmercury, which penatrates the brain quicker than methylmercury (in fish) and methyl has been studied more broadly, although, the few studies on ethyl with rats and monkeys are frightening. Each state has to take it upn himself to ban the stuff, only 6 have accomplished this. Bush doesn’t believe in global warming either, 37 states have had to enact and sign their own bills cutting emissions (mercury is on that list, however it’s okay to poisen our children intraveneously. And we all thought Jimmy Carter (actual road scholar of Oxford) was a dumb farmer, versus the read stupidity of this President.
Bush is America’s weapon of mass destruction, so whomever wants to be in charge of organizing commercials, one page ad’s or billboards (like Sheeler in RI did saying IMPEACH BUSH on a billboard and has gotten lot’s of praise) ~ I would gladly send my check.
Disgusted in RI
March 6th, 2006 at 8:14 pmscoreboard douchebags.
March 6th, 2006 at 8:35 pmit’s an old saying called bait and switch. or nazi/zionist….facsism. whatever. but for the americans this ought to be a lesson learned if any was. sometimes it just gets me how folks go to such great lengths here to prove a point. which is good and understandable. i believe everyone in here knows the history and where this all will end up once revealed, the “moneychangers”. follow the money!!!!! so to think this is going to change by election. please. all of these politicians are not working for you. they’re working for the moneychangers. even the ones that are not as bent to one side or the other. all of this is to look like they are really concerned and that they are about to do something for the people. there is only one way to do it. and that is stop buying crap you don’t need. be simple. if everyone lived without supersizing, it would hit the pockets and that is the only way there will be change. we the people are in charge. we are letting it happen. so are we getting punked, yes. but whos fault? i would have to say OURS. we can take our country back and regain our power if we all are willing to sacrifice. but it’s up to us.
March 6th, 2006 at 8:42 pmThanks for pointing that out Suzanne Arena.
Now the same thing is happening as a result of the governments fearmongering over Bird Flu. The vaccine that they are stockpiling with taxpayer money has one primary shareholder by the name of DONALD RUMSFELD.
The most corrupt government in the world. PERIOD.
March 6th, 2006 at 8:45 pmPresident Bush, through his family history with Nazi Germany has certainly learned a lot – but nothing about compassion or Democratic principles. Nazi Germany also saw no need for the disabled, Jews, or others that weren’t “up to par” with the average citizen. If you weren’t productive, the state saw no reason for you to live.
How is it that they tried to impeach Clinton for his transgressions – yet allow Bush to destroy our Democracy, crap on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and not even allow Congress to know of his intentions or plans.
Dies anyone know how to spell DICTATOR????
Impeach – while we still can.
March 6th, 2006 at 9:24 pm#46 Suzanne, you are correct.
March 6th, 2006 at 9:35 pmBush does not protect the unborn because that would mean he’d have to disappoint his corporate polluters, et al. but the damage is not usually manifest until birth, at which time, the Bush plan kicks in. No money, no services, no care. Didn’t Hitler try to eliminate the weak, the sick, the disabled, along with the Jews and the homosexuals?
#50 william c. — sorry I didn’t see your post which must have come in while I was typing. I didn’t mean to step on your words with similar words.
March 6th, 2006 at 9:36 pmHarper’s Magazine discussion/forum on IMPEACHMENT
March 6th, 2006 at 9:49 pmSam Seder is moderator
c-span 2 on NOW
As for voting the Bush Crime Family out of power, WE have a major problem. Until, and not until, the national problem with the voting machines is dealt with and they are gotten rid of, ALL other efforts (such as working for progressives candidates) is a complete waste of time. Why? Because when The People go to vote they will be voting on easily-rigged electronic voting machines made by DIEBOLD and other companies. Remember 2000, 2002 (Dems lost seats) and 2004? Why will 2006 (if we make it that far) be any different? DIEBOLD selects Republicans. DIEBOLD has now been approved for California. Here’s the article about that:
Article Last Updated: 02/19/2006 3:09 AM PST
Diebold machines get state approval
Decision is likely to set off a buying spree for as many as 21 counties
By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER (insidebayarea dot com)
After almost three years, Diebold Election Systems won approval Friday to sell its latest voting machines in California, despite findings by computer scientists that the software inside is probably illegal and has security holes found in earlier Diebold products.
The scientists advised Secretary of State Bruce McPherson this week that those risks were “manageable” and could be “mitigated” by tightening security around Diebold’s voting machines.
McPherson gave conditional approval to Diebold’s latest touch-screen voting machines and optical scanners Friday, while his staff ordered the McKinney, Texas-based company to get rid of the security holes as quickly as possible.
“After rigorous scrutiny, I have determined that these Diebold systems can be used for the 2006 elections,” McPherson said in a statement.
The decision is likely to set off a buying spree for as many as 21 counties, more than a third of the state, as local elections officials rush to acquire one of only two voting systems approved for use in the 2006 elections. Registrars and clerks prefer having voting systems for at least six months before conducting a statewide primary like the one in June, partly because it is California’s most complicated and error-prone type of election.
“It’s really late in the game, and you have to have your star play in place. And if Diebold is your star play, this is good news,” said Contra Costa County elections chief Steve Weir, vice president of the California Association of Clerks and Elections Officers.
At least three other voting-machine manufacturers still are being evaluated by state officials. For word of approval on their products, Weir said, “you’re going to wait until mid-March, and for a lot of entities, it’s too late.”
McPherson’s approval comes just in time for San Diego County, which bought the new machines in 2003, used them once in 2004, then saw the state’s approval withdrawn.
The county has been warehousing 10,000 Diebold AccuVote TSx touch screens for more than two years and withholding its $35 million payment to Diebold until approval. Now, with an election set for early April to replace Rep. Duke Cunningham, San Diego can use those machines. In June, so could San Joaquin County, which also bought and has been storing the new touch screens trusting on approval.
Lining up as possible new buyers are Alameda, Marin, Humboldt, Alpine, Butte, Eldorado and nearly a dozen other counties.
State Sen. Debra Bowen, who chairs the Senate elections committee and is running for the Democratic nomination to challenge McPherson as secretary of state, criticized the approval as contrary to state and federal law.
Part of the software running in Diebold’s touch screens and optical scanners is what computer scientists call “interpreted code” that is loaded by memory cards or PC cards just before an election. That changes the software that private testing labs and states had tested and approved, and for that reason interpreted code is prohibited by federal 2002 voting system standards.
McPherson found that private laboratories charged with testing Diebold’s machines for compliance with the federal standards never examined the interpreted code and ordered Diebold back into lab testing. At the same time, he asked a team of scientific advisers from Lawrence Livermore lab, the University of California, Berkeley, and UC Davis to study the interpreted code and report back. The panel included computer scientists who have been skeptical, even critical, of electronic voting systems, such as David Jefferson, Matt Bishop and David Wagner.
The team wrote two reports, one public and one confidential that lays out security flaws in the Diebold system, as well as ways to attack it.
The scientists found the interpreted code was very limited in function and not particularly vulnerable, but the software that translates that code into computer instructions for the voting machine had at least 16 bugs that could be used to hack or frustrate elections, according to the team’s public report.
“There are serious vulnerabilities in the AV-OS (AccuVote Optical Scanner) and AV-TSx (AccuVote TSx touch screen) interpreter that go beyond what was previously known. If a malicious individual gets unsupervised access to a memory card, he or she could potentially exploit these vulnerabilities to modify the electronic tallies at will, change the running code on these systems, and compromise the integrity of the election arbitrarily,” the scientists wrote.
“The attack could manipulate the electronic tallies in any way desired. These manipulations could be performed at any point during the day. For instance, the attack code could wait until the end of the day, look at the electronic tallies accumulated so far, and choose to modify them only if they are not consistent with the attacker’s desired outcome,” the report went on. “The attack could erase all traces of the attack to prevent anyone from detecting the attack after the fact. It is conceivable that the attack might be able to propagate from machine to machine, like a computer virus.”
Yet the scientists concluded that the security holes only were exposed when someone gained unauthorized access to the memory cards or PC cards and their contents. The software on the PC cards is somewhat better protected.
because it is encrypted, but the scientists discovered that Diebold still is using the same encryption key in all of its software nationwide that scientists at Johns Hopkins and Rice University reported publicly in 2003. Another scientist had noted the key’s use as early as 1997 and advised Diebold to change it.
“For local elections (i.e., elections that do not span the entire state), we believe there are mitigation strategies that could be viable for the short term,” the scientists wrote.
The scientists recommended having counties change the encryption keys on all Diebold touch screens and maintain tighter controls over the memory cards and PC cards, for example by requiring two people be present whenever the cards are moved or their contents changed. Serial numbers for the cards and the tamper-proof seals to lock them into the voting machines will have to be logged by elections officials at each polling place.
McPherson adopted those recommendations in certifying the Diebold machines for the June and November statewide elections. His staff wrote Diebold Friday urging the company to fix the bugs in its software and eventually to get rid of the interpreted code entirely.
March 6th, 2006 at 10:41 pmThose oil companies need more tax breaks, and the rich need their permanent tax breaks. Let the most helpless in our society rot. Compassionate conservatism applies to those who are most insulated from misery. If Bush where a rich teenager today, he would probably be out at night looking for homeless people to set on fire.
March 6th, 2006 at 11:05 pmI would like permission to quote you in a letter to the editor I plan to write. People need to know how the cuts in spending are going to affect them. And they need to have it hammered home until they understand. I hope that everyone, EVERYONE who voted this corrupt, evil, self-serving corporate machine into office is thoroughly and completely ashamed of themselves. Look at George Bush and behold the face of petulant, mindless and monstrous evil. Words can’t describe the horror we have inflected upon ourselves. And the children will suffer.
March 7th, 2006 at 12:44 amAs if these kids don’t have enough to contend with, society – in the guise of George W. Bush – will be saying “you are worth-less.” Makes me ill.
These guys are shameless. For Bush to say one thing – (We will) “continue to work to remove barriers that still confront Americans with disabilities and their families.†– and do the opposite is beyond the imagining of all except perhaps Josef Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda minister.
March 7th, 2006 at 3:11 amMore compassionate conservatism from the great almighty Christian “Commander in Chief” (who can’t command his way out of a paper bag judging by his Katrina performance).
What an utterly despicable, evil, fascist government this is.
March 7th, 2006 at 5:52 amWhere are the compassionate Christian conservatives — the Republican loyalists — now? Will Pat Robertson kick in a few of his ill-gotten dollars-for-prayers to help these kids? Will Tom DeLay and his charities give some money to help the kids? Will Bill Frist, a proud physician, give some money to help kids in distress?
Treasury Secretary Snow is asking to raise the debt limit, again — even though our debt is now nearing Nine Trillion Dollars. It’s shocking. Shocking.
When our country is bankrupt beyond repair, the Republicans will hand it off to the Democrats who will be forced to raise taxes to historic levels. Maybe then, maybe, the mainstream Bush loyalists will realize they may have made a mistake. Maybe.
Maybe the faith-based organizations will step up for the kids in the name of Jesus. Maybe.
March 7th, 2006 at 8:12 amJust when you think there are no Christians left, along comes Bush. What a great guy. Do disabled children offendeth thine eye, George? What a great Christian example he is… The Goof Samaritan.
March 7th, 2006 at 8:45 amIn order to further the demise of public education, local schools will be forced to pay more and more of their funds for the care, maintenance and education of disabled children, including those whose disabilities require around the clock care. It is not unheard of for a school district to expend $100,000 per year for just one student.
This comes at the expense of the education for the rest of the students. The resources for non-disabled students will dry up.
Public schools are already subject to No Child Left Behind’s impossible mandate for improvement. Soon, very soon, ALL public schools will be deemed a failure and taken over by the federal government.
The failure of public schools will justify providing vouchers to the “successful” private schools.
Witness further the decline and fall of the American Empire.
March 7th, 2006 at 8:59 amIt is obvious that this new brand of zealot republicanism really has no platform at all. They are the saving fetus party and that is about it.
Fiscally responsible – not any more, largest deficit ever
Tax cuts – only for the rich and take away from the poor
Small government – not so much, Homeland Security
State’s rights – not at all anymore
National security – Dubai
They have nothing and are the party of emptyness and fast talk. Ironically, Clinton was a better republican than Bush. Funny huh, trolls?
March 7th, 2006 at 9:22 amI’ve worked with disabled persons for over 30 years. Undoing the stereotypes about ‘being worthless, retard,’ etc. has been a daunting task. I’ll never regret one minute of my life spent on this. Now, along come the ‘compassionate conservatives’ to set us back 30 years on services to our disabled, in order to compound the wealth of our elected officals and their cronies. I’m disgusted.
March 7th, 2006 at 9:52 amI’m mad. GW, you’re a pathetic excuse for a man and will pay for your actions with eternity in HELL.
I guess bushie wants to encourage more abortions.
March 7th, 2006 at 10:49 amI am disabled, autistic. I also have traumatic brain injury from my father bashing my head against his walls to cover up drugging me and sexually abusing me when I was a minor child.
I have lived a life of Hell on Earth, no affordable housing. Lived in my car, in vineyards in California at nite, and in a rat infested chinchilla bar with no toilet, heat, or food facilities.
I tried to pull myself up by my bootstraps. Went to college on student loans, $200,000 at last count. Fought valiently to graduate law school.
My father, who bashed my head, could not let the defective child become a lawyer and expose his National Security sruveillance work for IBM. So he spent $100,000 on five attorneys and a family law psychologist to abuse me in the California courts in a grandparent visitation, taking away complete custody over my daughter just because he “could provide better” on his $12,600 per month income than I could being disabled — never any finding of parental unfitness on my part.
The California courts refused to provde my necessary reasonable accommodations to access the courts to fight for my daughter, so my mother tried to help scribe my pleadings for me. Allowing a defective disabled autistic to actually participate in court was too much for the Court system and the attorneys, so they caused my mother (who was my caretaker and financial provider) to set herself on fire and die on my father’s front law with publc protest signs over the abuse, which I witnssed.
Immediately after she died, I was thrown on the streets homeless with no replacement caretaker or financial support of any kind. It was a terror-filled torture I cannot begin to descibe. I begged everyone I still knew to help me get pleadings scribed to put before the California court that killed her to ask my father to pay disability adult child support, since after my mother dies he was my only available guardian for purposes of my ability to communicate with courts and agencies for dsability benefits.
The California courts have never in 16 years given me a day for that hearing, ever.
My father hired new attorneys to threaten me, knowing he was my guardian and had fiduciary duties to assist me with obtaining the disability adult support from him, who threatened that if I did not sign a paer dropping my necessary disability support, my father would destroy my California bar admission.
Immediately aftermy motehr died, the California Bar revoked my previously granted good moral character clearance because I was disabled and my mother had self-immolated and I lost my caretaker and financial supporter. Even though I fought with them four 7 long years to get my necessary reasonable accommodations, and finally when I got them on the 4th bar examination and passed, they ruled I was not of the moral character to be allowed to become a California lawyer because I kept being homeless due to no housing in that area of California anyone on SSI disbaility could afford and because without a speech recognition assistive device I was unable to perform the tasks of working. They approved the good moral character of a murdered with 17 felony convicttions who stabbed to death with scissors his sister.
When I tried to appeal, I was never to this day, 16 years later, allowed to have my appeal pleadings docketed, never given any appeal review, and they simply closed my case in a non-final status. When I asked the California Supreme Court for reasonable accommodations to file a petition to get an order requiring the appeal to be heard, I was told by the Clerk of Court on instructions of the Chief Justice Ronald M. George that people without arms, quadraplegics, and people with autism/learning disabilities who use speech recognition will not be licensed as attorneys in California.
I fled to Florida, to try to get my bar admission there. My father surreptitiously followed me closeby concealing himself just over the border in Georgia, and continued to prey on my daughter and myself to make sure I never get my bar admssion.
I was hit in a car accident by a speeding driver who admitted not looking at the road while she was driving, and a Florida corut refused to accommodate my disabilities to enable me to participate in the traffic hearing, used but never let me see a transcript, never let me cross-examine witnesses against me, lost more than 650 pages of my disability documentation showing I had 20/20 vision and a perfect driving record the previous 10 years without even a parking ticket on it — and diagnosed me without a medical license as being unable to see, i.e. blind.
Having diagnosed and ruled I am blind and that is why I should lose my driver’s license, the Florida courts all the way to the Florida Supreme Court held appeal review without providing me any way to complete pleadings knowing they ruled me blind!! If I am ruled blind, how could I even know the charges against me without brail??? No problem, I was convicted of a lesser included civil infraction of a criminal traffic offense I did not commit, which is not allowable as any infraction or offense existing under Florida law — and upon this non-existent infraction/offesne I have lost my driver’s license and any independence I could have hoped for now for four years and it is ongoing.
I petitioned the United States Supreme Court, ruled blind, and no one there bothered to ask if I could “see” the pleadings I was ordered to file, and then, on the above facts, my petition was denied certiorari, leaving me now res judicata (all other courts and agencies must accept) that I am ruled with a new disability, I cannot see, i.e., am blind.
Now, I guess than makes me eligible for all blind disability benefits of the States and Federal government, but how can I explain to them when I apply how I can see with 20/20 vision but I have been ruled by the United States Supreme Court as blind, and all other courts and angencies must accept this diagnosis? Meanwhile, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles has no reasonable accommodations on its driver’s licensing tests to accommodation people ruled and diagnosed blind!! Even though I can see.
Now I am being denied my Florida bar admission for more than four years, because I cannot access the Florida Board of Bar Examiners web site Florida Bar Application since I use speech recognition device and have simultaneously been ruled diagnosed blind and cannot see.
When I pursued my cases for my disability rights, a Vessel surveillance platform was docked adjacent to my husband and I, where we lived on a decrepid sailing vessel (due to no affordable housing in Florida), and was recklessly tied during 2004 Hurricane Jeanne ensurecd to kill us. And of a disabled person ruled by the United States Supreme Court as blind!! Why? Because I tried to enforce my disability civil rights?
Even though the Magistarte ruled we have a meritorious six-figure salvage claim, the other side, that only substantiates ownership of the offending Vessel with unreliable xerox copies, brought forth an admitted perjurer who committed perjury under Oath in Federal Court aout his licensing, to conceal the whereabouts of the person who homicidally tied the Vessel. See, Petranos v. The Vessel Mistress, M.D. Fla. 04-cv-2534.
So, to crush disability rights of a person who has 20/20 vision but ruled by the highest Court in the land to be diagnosed blind, the perjurer brought forth to conceal the person who tried to kill my husband and I to stop my disability rights lawsuits, has been allowed by the Bush administration’s FBI, US Coast Guard, and Federal District Court Judge James D. Whittemore to masquerade with false licensing credentials threatening the National ports security in light of Dubai.
I just wanted everone to know that even when a disabled person tries to help themselves to be independent, working, and productive, the only fate the Bush administration intends to allow is their death and destruction.
And I have been ruled and diagnosed blind!! When is Florida getting me my seeing eye dog?
March 7th, 2006 at 11:14 amWhile the history of Hitler and his ilk is well known the American connection is not. Read “War Against the Weak” by Edwin Black for a detailed history of the treatment of these people and their families in the United States.
As a parent of a severely disabled child (caused by rural water pollution) the book made me sick BUT it also made me aware of the bushie education at his granpappies knee.
March 7th, 2006 at 11:18 am“In February, Bush promised to “continue to work to remove barriers that still confront Americans with disabilities and their families.†His budget, however, creates new barriers for disabled children.”
Bush IS dedicated to removing barriers – so he can push disabled children over the cliff and into the abyss. His mother told him they would enjoy the ride.
March 7th, 2006 at 1:10 pmLet’s face it. The President is deranged.
March 7th, 2006 at 3:06 pmBushie-baby is just making sure that society progresses to his point of intellectual superiority, namely his complete inability to form 3+ syllable words. We should all be so lucky to receive the quality of education this wonderfully intelligent leader deems us worthy of.
March 7th, 2006 at 7:27 pmMary, (#65)
I wish I could help, but right now I am only a law student and not yet a lawyer.
For what ever it is worth, I can tell you that the California Bar did NOT approve the Moral Character Application of the man who murdered his sister with a pair of scissors.
March 7th, 2006 at 8:08 pmcutting these kids is wrong what if you had these disabilities??? huh you didnt think about that one and for bush to say they shouldnt get health coverage is b/s!!!!
May 11th, 2006 at 6:37 pmI BELIEVE TO END THIS DEPLICT WE NEED MORE NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION TO FEEL THESE BURDEN OF OUR COUNTRY. AND JUT MAYBE MY GRANDSON WHO HAS C.P. WON’T STRUGGLE TO GET THE HELP HE NEEDS. I MAY JUST BE THE ONE TO DO IT.
May 15th, 2006 at 12:17 pmDoes anyone find it unusual that the stupider the politician is, the harder he is to kill?
June 18th, 2006 at 3:09 amLoved #66 end comment. I think we need someone like Don Imus/Talk Radio, or Mayor Nagen. This guy doesn’t enforce the current laws. Only 3 companies were fined last year for highering ILLEGAL Aliens. And they have more rights than disabled children. Children that are in orphanages or mentally ill in New York are regularly tested on by the pharmaceutical companies. Why would any president continue to let our children be assaulted by the Big Pharma and also endorse them from any liability if they do harm to citizens. He is a disgrace. I think he is the new Archie Bunker of the 20th Century, with a stepford wife to boot. I think we know the true evil’s, you have Bushism slips that you and your mom educate us on your true colors.
June 24th, 2006 at 10:06 pmI swear!!! I’m disabled and I have an autistic son. How hard are they going to make it just to get through one day to the next. As if it isn’t already hard enough!!!! Besides all that I live in Texas (Bushes former) Texas is horrible at helping the disabled. I’d be better off being lazy and not working and I’d get more benefits….but geeee since I’m disabled I’m screwed. Now they put my son on medicare…which I thought might help him…but now he has to pay for his medications and doctor bills????? IT’s like they are punishing us for being disabled. I was trying to get them to help pay the medicare preminum…but that hasn’t happend yet. I’m so depressed I feel like taking a gun to my head! I feel so sorry for my son…..what will happen to him when I’m gone???? I have no famlily that can help him after my mother is gone…who also has health problems and is getting very old. We can help every other country in the world..but let it be OUR OWN bleeding and dying….and we shoot them.!!!!
July 13th, 2006 at 2:25 am