Hope all is well with you. Jade is doing wonderfully. She will be 5 soon, hard to believe!

I completely agree with you about seeing past the rhetoric. I have been watching this election, and just may very well become your neighbor if McCain is elected!

I too, am very concerned with McCain’s stance on the war in Iraq, and the exuberant amount of money being thrown away in Iraq. All while McCain insists we need a spending freeze.

I watched the 3rd US Presidential debate in awe last night, as McCain dropped the “A” bomb. I was horrified, however, that he lied to the American people, and portrayed himself as an advocate for the autistic.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

During our current congressional session, Senator John McCain has introduced 38 items of legislation, none I can see that will help the autistic.

During this SAME time frame, Senator Obama has introduced 130 items of legislation.
Bills regarding education, nuclear waste, preventing veterans from becoming homeless, providing services to our injured soldiers, improving science and mathematic education in our nation, early childhood education, etc, etc

McCain has a couple great ones that stand out, one to create a boxing commission, and another to declare a river near his home as “scenic”.

Both candidates can be compared at http://thomas.loc.gov/ under browse bill by sponsor.

How can McCain fund any programs for the autistic when he insists on spending $10 billion each month in Iraq, and not coming home in defeat? His victory in Iraq is more important than Jade’s shot at a future.

McCain has not cared about the autistic before, and he won’t care about them while in office.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ5ewmjhkZ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0lBN14rTeQ&feature=related

Obama on the other hand, appears to have a better understanding Jade’s needs.
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/disabilities/

After watching Christschool’s video, I was compelled to research the candidates, and attended an Obama rally to spread the news regarding the Community Choice Act. Here are some pictures from the day. We even got to shake his hand!
http://tampabay.momslikeme.com/members/scrapbook.aspx?g=443503

In 4 years the population will swell enormously. Add a potential 100 years more spending in Iraq (already cost trillions and has the US govt in financial debt to nations worldwide who can foreclose at any time making all govt guarantees worth nothing).

Add a new, third was against Iran or North Korea the republicans have already itched for, more trillions of debt. Add that the concientious people of the world world will not buy products from a country with such politics, which supports rendition, water torture, illegal imprisonment, electrocution and sickening blatant racism and hate (we already try not to buy products of sweat shop labour or support Mugabe and many in the world are losing desire to buy American).

After all that, how much funding will be left for special needs.

Funding for ’special schools’ [not in any way related to special needs] projects only appears to have decreased because she moved the Alaska Military Youth Academy’s ChalleNGe … program out of the ’special schools’ budget and into it’s own category – this makes it appear to be a $5 mill. drop but no actual funding decrease occurred.

I am not supporting either candidate with this information, just felt I needed to point out when I see a factual error.

What McCain said is that the U.S. might have a presence in Iraq for 100 years the way we do in Germany. How long has it been since the U.S. was at war with Germany?

What Palin said is that she thinks we should pray that what our leaders are doing in Iraq is God’s will. Praying that we’re doing the right thing is hardly the presumptuous assumption that it is in fact God’s will. I would encourage any Christian to pray that our government is doing the right thing, i.e. God’s will. It’s in fact a command in the New Testament that Christians should follow.

The same is true about the lie that Palin cut funding for special needs. What she did is not fund the huge increase presented to her as much as was requested. She only increased it by a smaller amount. How a funding increase counts as a cut is hard for me to grasp. The Democratic spin machine has been misrepresenting Republicans in exactly this way for decades, but that doesn’t excuse such ridiculous lies.

This sort of blatant misrepresentation is tantamount to the claim that Senator Obama is a radical Muslim who wants to make the U.S. a Muslim nation under Shari’a law or that he actively supports terrorism because he’s been somewhat cozy with an unrepentant terrorist on unrelated issues.

The McCain-Palin site does give information here on autism. They do support figuring out what causes it, which any reasonable person should do, even if most of the theories people have proposed turn out not to be supported. If there is a way to prevent some of the harm caused by autism, it’s worth looking into, even if it’s crazy to claim that your kid was stolen from you just because the kid is autistic. But the statement much more fully emphasizes treatment and help to families than anything about research into causes (and says nothing about curing). It also emphasizes that the exact causes of autism are unknown, thereby explicitly denying the crazy claims of conspiracy theories about the causes of autism. I see no reason to think the McCain-Palin ticket will do anything worrisome on this issue and much reason to think they’ll prioritize it enough for me to think they’ll pursue real progress when other people would probably do little.

I refuse to vote for them, and I refuse to believe that these people are truly autism friendly. It’s like McCain saying that he is a mmoderate maverick, when really, he is as far right as Biush is. He’s doing it for mileage.

Most likely, Palin’s form of autism friendliness is pirmarily made up of curist doctrine. )I think people who want cures should have evidence-based, safe cures, and families of those with autism severe enough who cannot speak should also be alllowed this. But most of us do not want to be cured and that should be respected, and parents should be educated on autism and all sides of the issue before pushing for a cure for their own.)

To me, Palin is an “Autism Speaks” sort of advocate, the kind that flatters the mercury militia and that sort of thing.

Wow… that seems really patronizing. Autistic people are affected by foreign policy as much as anyone else is, and of course many of us form opinions about that!

As to the financial situation, the economists have been screaming warnings for months, and no one did anything. Your prediction of Depression may not be far off. The parents of children within the Autism spectrum are already overburdened, and now we have to bail out a bunch of overpaid executives and their shareholders? Shameful. “Dubya” has a lot to answer for, and McCain would not be any improvement.

> operating, the US is very young. Some comment on how the puritans were
> literally kicked out of britain for being too up tight. The
> uptightness was brought here, and was directed to wipe out and destroy
> anything in it’s way. That process seems to continue to this day.
> Those indigenous to this area for a long time are still marginalized.
> There is so much richness here culturally. The medical field here
> operates much the same way. I must stop, because it just nauseates
> me. It puts in mind the saying – to think globally, and act locally.
> To vote with every action and choice. The rippling effect is quiet
> and filled with power. Real strength can be a very quiet thing. Very
> quiet. This is how I walk.
> Many people here are fed up, scared and suspicious of everything and
> everyone. Most conversations are brief and superficial, on the

> surface. Many either stare others down, or avoid eye contact
> altogether. In the face of current conditions, this seems to be
> agreed upon by many as just a way of coping with the mess. I am told
> this by others who are in the world more than I am. Defensiveness and
> denial puts a bitter edge on everything. The world is crying for
> beauty. Glad you stay in touch. Be well, be real, be yourself.

Your questioning of rhetoric is very legitimate! After the initial excitement of the possibility of a Vice Presidential advocate, I did some research to see what Palin has actually done regarding special needs services funding and found (from here):

The facts here show Governor Palin cut funding for special needs kids dramatically. In 2007, before Palin assumed her office of governor, the State of Alaska FY2007 Governor’s Operating Budget for the Department of Education and Early Development Special Schools Component Budget Summary (this department provides services—not just school but services—for children with severe disabling conditions) includes approved and necessary budget increases to help special needs children. This budget was released in December, on the 15th to be precise, 2006.

In that budget, the budget actuals are (FY = Fiscal Year):

FY 2005 6945.30
FY 2007 Management Plan 7949.30
FY 2007 Governors 8265.30

Palin was elected governor in November of 2006, and assumed her position in January 2007.

When budget time rolled around in 2007, Sarah Palin—self professed advocate for special needs chldren, mother to a special needs child, aunt to a special needs child, and who promised in her acceptance speech last night that she was there for special needs children—slashed the budget. When she said she would be a “friend and advocate in the White House,” I guess she just meant in words, not with actual money for needed services.

Here’s what the State of Alaska FY2008 Governor’s Operating Budget for the Department of Education and Early Development Special Schools Component Budget Summary shows:

FY 2006 7949.30
FY 2007 Management Plan 3173.70
FY 2008 Governor 3156.00

You see right. Under Governor Palin, funds decreased from a planned budget of 8265.30 to 3156.0. That’s a 62% decrease. Actual consumed amount went from 7949.3 to 3156.00, where it lingers to this day. That’s a 60% decrease.

How many children lost services? Too many.

Donna, I know that parents, family and friends of special needs people are so desperate for any ray of hope, for the possibility of solutions and support in their extremely difficult struggle for a decent quality of life, that they would latch onto anything and anyone who presents themselves as possibly being an advocacy for them. Palin’s track record does not indicate such a good friend and advocate in the White House.

Yvonne