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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Ya all that sex ed has really helped our teenage pregnancy rate and std outbreaks. Local and State legislature choose sex ed plans. So federally your safe. You can show young men that its ok to have anal sex because you can't get pregnant but be sure to embarrass the hell out of innocent kids by putting condoms on bananas. Is that what helped you?
Snicker, Snicker, hee, hee
OBAMA's mother HAD HIM WHEN SHE WAS 18 !
On February 2, 1961, Obama Sr. married a fellow student, Ann Dunham in Maui, Hawaii.[11] Their son, Barack Obama, was born on August 4, 1961 (Nine months prior would mean she became pregnant in Dec. 1960)
Obama’s mother graduated High School in 1960
Barack Obama was born in Hawaii in Aug 4, 1961
Obama’s mother (Nov. 29,1942 – Nov 7, 1995)
Even Obama knows better:
"I have said before and I will repeat again: People's families are off limits," Obama said. "And people's children are especially off-limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin's performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president."
Remember how Obama was vetted? Remember how he was crucified by the GOP for being a bi-racial child and how thoroughly his family was scanned and panned. Remember how just as recently as last week, the Republicans said they were going to go after Obama because of his half brother who lives in Kenya and dig up a little dirt on him?
Remember how they treated Michelle Obama and questioned her patriotism? Remember how thoroughly they covered all her activities from teen age on into her adult years and questioned her and her husbands religious preferences?
Remember how Obama is still being questioned on his faith and dubbed a "Muslim?"
Remember how his "real estate" deal when he bought his home was made to look as though the Obamas were committing a crime in what turned out to be just a business transaction?
...and remember how the issue of race was used against this intelligent black man who has all the qualifications and more to become a leader of this country.....
No where have I read one word about Sarah Palin being married to an Eskimo...why not? Because her husband is an American and his race is not important. That is as it should be.
I just can't help but compare the differenc
But then came the Palin buffet. But I'm only going to comment on her "pro-life" stance.
I am a mother who thinks. I am a mother of a child - now 21 - with Down syndrome. I am an Alaskan who raised her child in Alaska (along with another kid, a husband, an education, and a job with benefits.)
IT IS THE HARDEST THING I EVER DID. It took everything I had, and more. There were highlights - but they in no way balanced the demands, frustrations, and dark nights of the soul. The impact on my nondisabled son is still being felt. My marriage effectively turned into a parenting partnership with no future that escaped the impact of having a child with significant and inescapable needs.
I was, by our society's standards, well-equipped to cope with this unexpected aspect of parenting. It devastated me nonetheless. When my son was born I had no idea what lay ahead. It was gut-wrenching determination and motherlove that carried me forward. I still can't count it a success.
I learned, through much hard work, how to navigate the system that we all think exists for "all" children and adults with disabilites. Had I not been intent on accessing services, finding out how agencies and regulations work, and forcing them to work for us, the outcome would have been far worse for my child, family, and self.
Had I been less able, less determined, less economically able, less educated....I don't know how I could have survived to "make the best" of the life I had been handed. I can't count the times I thought, "What do other parents do? I want to quit trying to make this work."
Do I wish I could have been spared this challenge? Make that a resounding YES. Do I think that my child should have been spared the difficulties, loneliness, heartache, and exclusion that disability, by nature, means? Make that a YES too. Would I have chosen to terminate the pregnancy had I had the foreknowledge and choice? Yes, even from the other end of the trail, now that my child is grown in years but will forever remain a child, dependent, vulnerable in an uncertain world.
What disturbs me most about Sarah Palin's choice to continue her pregnancy, knowing that her child would have Down syndrome, is that she would make that choice for me, or my sister, or my daughter, or my friends, male and female alike. No one can decide for us. Certainly not "government" who cannot be counted on to help the hundreds of thousands of those with disabilities, already and to-be-born.
Oh, and have I mentioned this? I, who through struggle and persistence and crisis, mastered the service and funding system, have a reasonably happy kid. He still and will struggle through his lifetime with mental retardation and related behavior and communication issues. He lives in federally subsidized housing, attends public school as an intensive-needs student, gets his healthcare through medicaid, and has 24 hour care from direct service providers. When you make the system work, you can build a community-based life for your child.
Only a small percentage of those who need this level of care can get it. Without advocacy, forget it. Without continued funding of education, healthcare, vocational, and independent living services, this will all go "POOF." The waitlist, even in a small state like Alaska, has over a thousand people on it, many for years. Most languish at home with aging parents or siblings. Some are receiving "care" in corrections while they try to find someone to "take" them. Some are homeless.
My son's cost of care is over $200,000 a year. Thank you, taxpayers. And the Chinese lenders.
Palin has delegated the care of her infant with Down syndrome to others. I don't know how this can be done, emotionally or financially. Kudos to her if she and her family pull this off. They are well-positioned financially, socially, and politically to do this. I think that this is not an option for 99.9% of families who include children and adults with disabilites.
To take the position that EVERY American family SHOULD and MUST be denied the option to terminate a pregnancy that will result in hardship, cost, heartache, and diminished possibilities that will last a lifetime is just plain wrong. I could never support a candidate on any ticket that would take the hardline prolife position she takes. She can no more use her experience to decide for all than I can.
But it is about CHOICE. About REALITY. And no one can decide that for someone else, and force them into the netherworld of disability.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Salon headlines in your mailbox
