I don't like Palin and I sure don't like Emanuel. You start these threads, so don't expect us to follow your rules.
If the current administration could keep its mouth shut about people with disabilities, Palin wouldnt open hers about it. Limosine liberals have less heart than the coldest Repug.
------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is article from someone with disability. I think what some people see is Sarah Palin pretend to care from her heart, but really she is "pandering" She find the good chess move in disabilities. -------------------------------------------------------------------- "As you know, when Sarah Palin first came onto the national stage, I was highly critical of what I perceived to be pandering to the disability community in light of the complete vacuum of policy proposals in this area by her running mate. This morning, the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate gave her first major policy address, and it focused on the issues facing families of children with special needs. After listening to the speech, I feel it's necessary to revise and renew my criticism of the ticket. To begin, I loudly and heartily commend Gov. Palin for bringing the national spotlight to this issue. We need all the help we can get. Generally, within the relatively narrow scope of the speech, the specific policies offered were spot-on. Specifically, the emphasis on fully funding the IDEA and reforming Voc Rehab is welcomed. (Although how, exactly, that squares with Sen. McCain's call for a spending freeze is unclear.) With that said, both the content and the general tone of the speech infuriated me. First, by going off on impassioned tangents about earmarks and Obama's tax plan, Gov. Palin gave the impression that this speech was merely cover for stump-speech attacks, belittling the importance of the topic at hand. Second, it's worth noting that absolutely no new territory regarding disability policy was covered in this speech. Given its length, there was very little red meat. In fact, at the beginning, Gov. Palin said she'd be offering three specific policy points, but after watching the speech a second time, I'm still unclear as to what those points were. Third, while I absolutely agree and understand that changes need to be made for children with disabilities, we must remember that those children do, in fact, grow up. There are millions of adults with disabilities in this country (many of whom acquired disability after childhood, including thousands of veterans), and we are all too often left out in the cold. Sarah Palin said that she and John McCain would support finding ways for adults with disabilities to live independently, but McCain has rejected the Community Choice Act, which would do precisely that. Fourth, Palin's speech did little to honor the dignity of people with disabilities. We in the disability rights movement have been fighting for decades to be seen and treated as full human beings; we have fought to make people understand that just because we have unconventional bodies, we are essentiallyâin the things that matterâjust like everyone else. Palin, however, pushed the human-interest angle, gushing about how "blessed" families are to have such "special" children. The "Inspirational Gimp" and the "Blessed Gimp" are stereotypes whose time is long gone, thankfully. But Sarah Palin seems determined to resurrect them. I could go on at length about the very necessary policies and programs Palin could should have endorsed while she had the spotlight on this issue: Respite services for caregivers. Health care reform. Stem cell research. Medicaid reform around durable medical equipment. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Supreme Court decisions that decimated the ADA. And on and on and on ⦠Let's face it: John McCain and Sarah Palin are losing this election. The governor could have used this moment to "pull a Bullworth" and make some bold statements about where this country really needs to go in terms of disability policy. She didn't. She stuck to a couple politically safe proposals, she attacked Barack Obama, and she got misty-eyed over the special-ness of special needs kids. That, my friends, is called pandering. Nothing new about it." http://open.salon.com/blog/becky_bl..._palins_special_needs_children_policy_address
Since we no longer call the mentally disabled "retarded" we are now free to use the word for its original meaning. When you hear it used from now on, assume the latter meaning.