Sunday, May 31, 2009

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Lionel: Stop Repeating and Retelling What Rush Says! Top
I have a simple question for non-conservative Tweetsters, Tweetrices, bloggers, bloggettes and the like: Why do you track, note and reiterate every idiotic statement uttered and belched by Rush, Sean or Beck? Seriously. Why? Have you nothing better to say? Have you no spokespeople or pundits that you'd like to highlight? Why mention these folks in that most Americans don't listen to them and have never heard of them? Seriously. Why? Their followers care not of what you say or write. You merely alert the folks of your camp who haven't heard of these guys to tune them in and check them out. It seems to be an obsession of yours. Everywhere, Rush is mentioned. More than ever. And what's odd, he isn't mentioned on Faux News that much. Why? Because you do their work. Now, if you must mention these guys, at least try to make the connection that he'/they're the voice of the Republican Party. They're anti-Sotomayor and anti-Latina. Fine, I dig. But the aforementioned commentators have an obsession with Rush, Sean and Beck. Is your goal to expose their falsities? To whom? Those reading you already know this. Your ideological enemies couldn't care less of what you write. So why? So I repeat: Why do you track his and their thoughts more than your own? In fact, what are your own thoughts? I attribute it to the fact that most of the aforementioned non-conservative commentators and pundits are such tyros, so inexperienced, so consumed with anger over being ignored for years, that they don't know what to do. Rush attacks liberals and only his constituency nods in obeisant affirmation. Why attack Rush and give him publicity? Attack the Republicans. It's simple. Unless you just plain hate Rush and the wannabes, lock onto how the Republicans are anti-Latina, anti-Big Tent, exclusive, bigoted, name it. Invite folks into the Democratic camp. Remind them of what they say in the big picture. If you have to mention Rush, note that he's the de factor spokesperson of the GOP and that Steele is dead. They've no intellectually-consistent moorings, no anchor, no ideology save hate, exclusion and bigotry. And as much as Olbermann is goading Sean anent the waterboarding challenge, why hasn't Sean responded? Let's see. Because he's won. Sean suckered KO and KO bit. Keith had on that ChiTown Cowman guy (desperately seeking an identity), who was waterboarded for a picosecond and screamed like a little girl that it was torture, and gave Sean a commercial. It seems that Sean had pledged to be waterboarded himself for charity. KO took that bait as well and taunts Sean nightly to be a man and pay up or hit the boards. Sean got him again. His fans couldn't care less that Sean welshed on a bet, for charity, no less, and is impuissant. O'Reilly wouldn't deign to mention Keith. No one would of that camp. I know they're number one compared to Keith... wait, do you think that's why? Hmmm? Look, I'm no Rush fan. I haven't heard an entire show of his, Sean's or Beck's ever. And I mean ever. I used to work with him and he was a nice guy. So is Sean and Beck for that matter. They're masters of the work, the shtick. They sucker the self-righteous and comically-media-unsophisticated in. But listen carefully . . . Don't play into their shtick! Jesus, all you whatevers, grow a pair and think on your own. What do you think? What do you believe? I detest Rush's angle, but it's shtick. Shmaltz. It's an act. In wrestling parlance, it's a work. An angle. Don't you see? Can't you see? (What that woman's been doing to me.) The Dems have an über-majority. Sotomayor will be confirmed and appointed Associate Justice. Nothing, repeat, nothing can stop that from happening, especially Rush and his wannabes. So, in peroration, don't merely repeat and recite what he said and they say. Carville et Begala: Geniuses. You see, James and Paul did some polling. Ee yi ee yi oh. And on that poll it appeared that the anti-Rush sentiment was inordinate. So what these two sons of the South did was make the juxtaposition that the evilly-perceived Rush with the GOP, not conservatives but the GOP. Poor Mikey Steele, he tried to pull in the moderate Republicans (oxymoron?) that he needed by distancing the party from El Gordo. Bad move, the Rush minions took offense, rejected Steele, raised Rush's ratings even more and wreaked political havoc on the GOP. Great. The GOP's on its heels and the heels are scattering. So what do the so-called anti-GOP, antipodal conservatives do, they merely repeat what Rush said and says. If you do, at least charge them for ad time. Try this, just see what happens: pledge to mention not a word about these guys for six weeks. Just do it. It'll drive 'em crazy(-ier). So, listen to Uncle Lionel, and don't take this the wrong way . . . but enough with Rush, already! Let us prey.
 
Cristina Page: The Murder of Dr. Tiller, a Foreshadowing Top
For those who would like to think today's murder in church of Dr. George Tiller, an abortion provider, is an isolated incident: here's the horrifying news: You are wrong. The pattern is clear and frightening. In March 1993, three months into the administration of our first pro-choice president, Bill Clinton, abortion provider Dr. David Gunn was murdered in Pensacola, Florida. That was the beginning of what would become a five-fold increase in violence against abortion providers throughout the Clinton years. Today's assassination of Dr. George Tiller comes 5 months into the term of our second pro-choice president. For anyone who would like to believe that this is a statistical anomaly, a coincidence that doesn't portend anything, again, you are wrong. During the entire Bush administration, from 2000-2008 there were no murders. During the Clinton era, between 1994-2000 there were 6 abortion providers and clinic staff murdered, and 17 attempted murders of abortion providers (one of these attempts was on Dr. Tiller who was shot in both arms.) There were 12 bombings or arsons during the Clinton years. During the Bush administration, not only were there no murders, there were no attempted murders. There was one clinic bombing during the Bush years. One can only conclude that like terrorist sleeper cells, these extremists have now been set in motion. Indeed the evidence is already there. The chatter, the threats, the hate-filled rhetoric are abundant. In the last year of the Bush administration there were 396 harassing calls to abortion clinics. In just the first four months of the Obama administration that number has jumped to 1401. And so the execution of Tiller, 67, is not only tragic but ominous. He was born into an era when being an abortion provider meant saving women's lives. And the cold-blooded murder in church and in front of his wife of this stalwart defender of women rights and beloved physician, comes as a message for others, as well as tragic deja vu. Battered women are at greatest danger of being killed by their abusers when they are most strong--that is, when they muster the courage to leave. The same phenomenon may be true in the abusive political abortion debate. The pro-choice movement, specifically our abortion providers, are in the greatest danger of violence when we take power. When the anti-abortion movement loses power, their most extreme elements appear to move to the fore and take control. The murder of Dr. Tiller suggests that violence against abortion providers may be far more linked to the power, or lack thereof, anti-abortion groups have politically than to laws designed to increase penalties against such acts. History has another disturbing lesson for us. The escalation of anti-abortion rhetoric plays a direct role in instigating violence. When anti-abortion groups ratchet up the rhetoric, they know exactly what they're doing and the results it will have. Even if they maintain deniability, as Operation Rescue recently did saying, in effect, we wanted Tiller gone, but didn't want him murdered, they have inflamed the rhetoric. And suddenly people Like Dr. Tiller's murderer become inspired. Eleanor Bader, author of Targets of Hatred: Anti-Abortion Terrorism, in an article in March for RHRealityCheck.org about clinics bracing for an uptick in violence after the election of Obama wrote, "immediately after Obama's election, Douglas Johnson, Legislative Director of the National Right to Life Committee, called him a "hardcore pro-abortion president." The American Life League dubbed him "one of the most radical pro-abortion politicians ever," and Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life warned that Obama will "force Americans to pay for the killing of innocents." Americans United for Life, the Family Research Council and Operation Save America quickly joined the chorus." Bader interviewed clinic staff--many seeing a direct relationship between the pro-choice victory in November and increased aggression against them and their patients. Claire Keyes, of Allegheny Reproductive Health in Pittsburgh, explained, "Right after the election we saw a small upsurge in anti-abortion activity. But since the inauguration, things have gotten measurably worse. There's been an increase in picketing by students from Franciscan University in Ohio. On Saturdays there are 60-plus protesters and there's been an increase in screaming and aggression. We don't have a parking lot so people park on the street. The antis have surrounded cars, trapping the women inside, and in several cases the antis jumped into vehicles and touched or grabbed at them. The police were called but so far they don't seem to be responding appropriately." Bader also quotes Elizabeth Barnes, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Women's Center, who explained, "When the pendulum swung in the direction of protecting women's rights, we expected something. The way the antis are reacting has changed, they're taking more liberties, pressing the boundaries of legal, civil protest." Many in the pro-choice movement believed that the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) law, passed in 1994 in response to Gunn's murder, was responsible for reigning in violence against abortion providers. Clearly that is not the case. Based on statistics on violence against abortion providers compiled by the National Abortion Federation, even after the passage of FACE in 1994, there was still considerable violence and threats against clinic personnel, including six murders. As appears clear, the pro-choice movement has looked through rose-colored glasses, assuming or hoping that legalities can restrain terrorists. In fact, it didn't abate after FACE, as we've seen. It was not until a comforting anti-abortion president did they calm down and stop the murder, bombing and harassment spree. As we are witnessing now, Bush policies resulted in a surge in abortions. That has failed to inspire introspection from anti-abortion groups. That Clinton presided over the most dramatic decline in abortion rates in the recorded history of our country left them unmoved. That Obama has assigned his senior most staff to the task of finding ways to reduce the need for abortion has not protected clinics nor providers nor Obama. Holder and his Justice Department should take note of the chatter and move aggressively against this form of domestic terrorism. The hate-filled rhetoric against Obama from the anti-abortion movement is at unprecedented levels, even for this reflexively inflammatory group. They refer to him as the "Most Pro-Abortion President Ever" ignoring the fact that he is the first to extend an olive branch in hopes that together we can make abortion more rare. Anti-abortion groups will put out carefully worded press statements condemning the murder of Dr. Tiller, as became routine for them during the Clinton years. But unless the rhetoric they choose from now on becomes careful too--they may be the enablers of murder and terror.
 
Gail Vida Hamburg: President Obama's "Spock" Rationale On Iraq War Investigation Untenable Top
In a recent interview with Newsweek , President Obama mentioned seeing the latest Star Trek movie and that everybody was saying he was Spock. In another interview a while ago, the First Lady said, "The President is a very rational man." This explains a lot. The President's refusal to investigate the Bush Administration's policies and actions relating to the Iraq War is the embodiment of Vulcan logic, free from messy human emotions and moral obligation. The President has said he wishes the country to move forward instead of looking back--a nice mantra for our collective denial. Let's nail that to the wall, next to Bush Labor secretary, Elaine Chao's call to Iraqi women after their lives had been reduced to rubble by 'Shock and Awe': "In a democracy, the most important factor is energy." Taxidriver husband in Abu Ghraib? Daughter raped in US custody? Teenage son sodomized with a truncheon? Never mind all that. The cure for your blue funk, citizen of Iraq -- whom we saved from Saddam, (ignore that pesky photograph of your Lion with our Fox, Donald Rumsfeld) - is to move forward, without looking back ... with energy. Other countries have seen the necessity for truth and reconciliation. In Congo and elsewhere, where perpetrators and victims of human rights violations and atrocities are often known to each other--frequently they're neighbors--truth and reconciliation forums are seen as a necessary instrument, one that allows perpetrators and victims to continue living in the same community. "Taking into account collective memory and the inadequacies of the justice system, one must set up a mechanism which will help people to express themselves, giving truth its proper place. It would help people to freely discuss, as though in a family, those events in which they were the perpetrators or the victims, thus creating an atmosphere for reconciliation," said Gilberta Tandia, a human rights activist in Congo. There are those who wish President Obama to release the remaining photographs that show, according to General Antonio Taguba , "torture, abuse, rape and every indecency." I am not one of them. I have lived and traveled in Muslim countries long enough to know that strong notions of modesty, shame, communal and familial judgement, and the fear of honor killings of women believed to have been raped in US custody, would prevent most Muslim men and women from supporting the release of these photographs. But the Pentagon's recent denial that photographs of Iraqi prisoner abuse do not include images of rape and sexual abuse is a confabulation . Following Donald Rumsfeld's testimony on the Abu Ghraib hearings in 2004, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R. South Carolina) said, "The American public needs to understand we're talking about rape and murder here." Press Secretary Robert Gibbs can thrash the British media and disavow information all he wants, but this isn't 1990 and this isn't Myanmar. There's this hardly worth mentioning, insignificant little archivist and global memory keeper that can call you a liar in less than a New York minute. Accounts of these atrocities have already been reported in news outlets around the world including Guardian UK and Australia Age , and the images of rape have already been published in various online news outlets such as La Voz de Aztlan and Jihad Unspun, and posted on porn sites including the Norwegian based Sex and War. According to a 2004 article in La Voz de Aztlan, which was accompanied by photographs of the rape of a young girl in US custody, "It is now known that hundreds of these photographs had been in circulation among the troops in Iraq. The graphic photos were being swapped between the soldiers like baseball cards ... Speaking on condition of anonymity, one Mexican-American soldier told La Voz de Aztlan, 'Maybe the officers didn't know what was going on, but everybody else did. I have seen literally hundreds of these types of pictures.' 'Many of the pictures was destroyed last September when the luggage of soldiers was searched as they left Iraq,' he said." Vice-President Dick 'We have nothing to apologize for' Cheney, and in the last few days, President George 'I will yield when my gut does' Bush, have made their case, with passion free from logic and legality, about the rightness of the Iraq War and US sponsored torture. We may continue to tolerate their justifications for the biggest American foreign policy blunder of all time, with the bewilderment we reserve for incoherent, delusional people. And we can keep lulling ourselves into a stupor with objective American journalism: "President Bush and VP Cheney say sun rises in the west, others disagree," and unquestioning American patriotism that makes no distinction between the honorable men and women who serve in the military, and the thugs and criminals among them. But, the longer we wait to investigate how and why our government went to war on false premises, and why our military suspended fundamental American rules of war and violated international laws in the process, the more our national security will be compromised by those who are enraged by our actions and conduct. The American people may not have the stomach for a lengthy war crimes tribunal to assign guilt and mete out punishment in these precarious times, but we should care enough to at least demand the truth. We ought to support a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the Iraq War that includes Americans and Iraqis. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) has made such a proposal. The model for truth and reconciliation work and its success is the commission that was established in South Africa to address the horrors of apartheid. According to South Africa's Justice Minister then, "it was a necessary exercise to enable South Africans to come to terms with their past on a morally accepted basis and to advance the cause of reconciliation." President Obama promised transparency as the bedrock of his administration. He would do well to consider Captain Picard's words in Star Trek : "With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." President Obama's failure to address Bush policies and actions in Iraq makes his administration complicit in the Iraq War, and keeps us from doing repair with each other, with Iraqis, and with the wider world.
 
Dr. Irene S. Levine: Does a best friendship need to be monogamous? Top
QUESTION Dear Irene, I am 42 years old and blessed with two fantastic children, a loving and loyal husband, a supportive family, a great new career, and a lovely community. When I became a mother 14 ½ years ago, I really came into my own and developed many healthy wonderful female relationships. There were times when I felt jealous or confused when a best friend of mine began to develop a new close relationship because my nature is to be "monogamous." In other words, I only need one super intimate friendship at once, and can have other friendships as well, but don't give those friendships the same time, attention, and preference. I want to desperately change this quality because I'm feeling very alone in my belief system. I've learned that the majority of women seek multiple best friendships--or they want to have one best friend whom they know will always be there in a crisis, but love and seek the emotional high of "falling in love" with a new friend. I liken the scenario to innocently "going to first base" with other men despite being married. I'm not saying that I want to fully adopt the belief system described above, I just want to learn how to better accept it as the norm, to forgive my current "best friend" for living this way and to learn how to enjoy the possibilities that come along with partially embracing this style. I appreciate your candor and look forward to hearing from you. Take care, Candy ANSWER Dear Candy: You sound fortunate because you are juggling a wealth of riches: marriage, motherhood, career, community--and close friendships. Opting to have one best friend or more than one best friend isn't a matter of right or wrong. Several of the pros for having multiple best friends are: 1) You don't have to depend entirely on any one person to have all your friendship needs fulfilled; 2) Having different best friends can be rewarding to you in different ways; each one may bring different qualities to your relationship and your life; and 3) If a best friendship falls apart, you have another close friendship to fall back upon. While you may be content having one best friend exclusively, you need to understand that there are valid reasons why one or more of your friends may choose not to be "monogamous" with you and you shouldn't take it personally. These differences are a matter of personality and style. Remember that your relationship with a best friend is unique---and unlike any other relationship that either of you have. You don't need to change your ways but don't try to change your friend either. Be forgiving, rather than jealous, and allow your friend the space she needs to express herself in a way that feels right for her. If you make her feel guilty or like she is doing something wrong by befriending other women, you will only drive her away. If her life is happy and full, like yours, it will only make her a better friend. Hope this is helpful! My best, Irene Have a question about female friendships? Send it to The Friendship Doctor . Irene S. Levine, PhD is a freelance journalist and author. She holds an appointment as a professor of psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine and is working on a book about female friendships, Best Friends Forever: Surviving A Break-up With Your Best Friend , that will be published by Overlook Press in September, 2009. She recently co-authored Schizophrenia for Dummies (Wiley, 2008). She also blogs about female friendships at The Friendship Blog . More on Relationships
 
Michelle Kraus: Domestic Terrorism Strikes in the Assassination of Dr. George Tiller Top
The murder of Dr. George Tiller is horrific. It is an act of domestic terrorism at its worst. Gunned down at his peaceful place of worship in Wichita, Kansas, Dr. Tiller was targeted as he served as an usher in church and his wife sang in the choir. He was an unassuming man who did not choose his destiny. Rather he was drafted to fill the shoes of his father in providing desperately needed health services to the women of Kansas, and those across the nation. As he spoke in a small gathering in San Francisco several years ago, after finishing medical school he was to be off to Beverley Hills where he would work in dermatology. The call came for him to come home and he did. It seemed he was needed to take over the family medicine clinic in Wichita. Not only did he leave the promise of a lucrative practice to return back to Wichita, he was catapulted into one of the most high stake areas of medicine -- reproductive rights and late term abortion services. Many would have retreated, but Dr. Tiller did not. He stepped up to his destiny, embraced it fully, and proudly began providing abortion services in 1973. His family care practice is one of only three that performs abortions after the twenty-fourth week of pregnancy. He was shot in the past in both arms, his clinic was attacked, and he worked with armed protection throughout the years for himself and his patients. Fox News wrote this afternoon, "he acknowledged abortion was as socially divisive as slavery or prohibition but said the issue was about giving women a choice when dealing with technology that can diagnose severe fetal abnormalities before a baby is born." Remarkably, the FOX coverage was thorough, factual, and did not exploit the emotions of the polarizing issue of late term abortion. It would have been easy, but they choose the high road and it is to be commended. Eight years of the provocation of the religious right have come home at a great cost to this country. Stirred up and fueled by the hysterical voices of those like Rush Limbaugh, fear and paranoia continue to reign as evidenced in this assassination. President Obama we pray for you. This is not a kind world and we have lunacy running rampant through the Main Streets of our own country. May others pick up the fallen gauntlet, and heroic work of Dr. George Tiller; may his family find solace in his good works; and may he rest in peace.
 
Shelley Hendrix Reynolds: The Autism Treatment Acceleration Act and the Autism Sandbox Top
For years, medical professionals and educators have hailed the successes of early intervention for children with all manner of challenges. For children with autism, those challenges often require years of painstakingly, patient individualized therapy to begin to improve their symptoms. For an average of one in 68 families nationwide, finding quality treatment for their child with autism, much less paying for it, is a daunting task - even when they have healthcare coverage. Despite dutifully paying premiums to insure against the unthinkable that their child could be diagnosed with a disease or disorder, most parents of children with autism cannot get appropriate coverage to treat their child's medical conditions. Not because these parents didn't act responsibly and do their part but because insurance did not do their part. In addition to paying for premiums to cover basic medical care for appendicitis, strep throat or a broken arm, these parents pay for medical interventions out of their own pockets, often in excess of $50,000 a year. If you are diagnosed with heart disease, cancer or diabetes, the top three health conditions adults face, you expect your insurance company to cover the doctor prescribed treatment. Autism affects more children than cancer and diabetes combined - yet when it comes to paying for treatment, families are on their own. They dangle by a single-strand financial thread on the verge of bankruptcy in an attempt to give their children a better life because the system they have invested in to protect them has intrinsically failed. Why should you care about their plight as an average tax paying citizen without a child with autism? It directly affects your own checking account. Every child in this country diagnosed with autism costs society an average of $3.2 Million for a lifetime of care above and beyond what a family pays - a cost that can be significantly reduced with appropriate intervention. With a minimum of 72 children diagnosed for every 24 hours that rolls off the clock, $230 Million is added daily to the bottom line for society 365 days a year. At this writing, eleven states stepped up to the plate enacting laws requiring insurance companies to live up to their purpose and design - to pay for interventions that ameliorate these children's diagnosed medical condition improving their quality of life. Two other states passed legislation which sits on their Governor's desks awaiting signature. What sets this policy apart from standard insurance parity is that these laws require coverage for Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy, one of the most expensive forms of autism therapy which is not used to treat any other medical condition. Play is the work of children and teaches them more things than you may realize. Through play, we learn about the world and how to get along with others. We learn how to navigate difficult situations and handle our fears. We begin life playing alongside our peers in parallel play that allows us to interact in an extremely safe way - indirectly. As we mature, we develop creativity that allows us to invent solutions to age old problems or engineer bridges, dams and trips to the moon. What do you do when your child's play is paralyzed ? We have spent countless hours teaching my son, Liam, who has autism how to play. The first lesson we repeated for nine months in a three hour session each day until he learned it. Little Fisher Price People walk up three stairs of a slide saying "Up! Up! Up!" then "WHEEEEEEE!" as they would slide down. All in all, teaching Liam how to do this was nearly a $10,000 investment out of pocket but it created a building block on which to learn - it created imitation. As an ordinarily inherent part of the developmental process for most children, grasping the imperative concept of teaching a child to play is difficult. Pretending to eat a thick slice of veggie plastic pizza and say, "Yum! Yum!" Dressing Barbie dolls to sharpen his fine motor skills. Showing him what to do once you get inside the Little Tykes playhouse. Building with blocks instead of picking up the container and dumping them onto the floor repeatedly. One of our measurable goals for a full twelve months was "Liam will be able to stack four blocks on top of one another." Once that was mastered, he had to stack the blocks in patterns matching his therapist demonstrating what we soon realized was an endless stream of building blocks for a life a long way from mastery. Over eleven years, thousands of dollars and hours spent on intensive biomedical, behavioral and sensorial early interventions made it possible for Liam to sit quietly in his room as he did this afternoon, unattended, creating Lego buildings for imaginary people. Downstairs, I smiled listening to the chatter upstairs and called to him. He yelled back, "Oh Mom, it's ok! I am just busy playing." I tiptoed upstairs hoping I wouldn't walk in on an overflowing bathtub or shaving cream smeared all over the place only to find him hard at work using his acquired skills to navigate his Lego people through social situations. Practice up there on the floor of his bedroom might just make perfect on the playground at summer camp next week. Learning play skills and building on them have helped Liam to perform tasks like taking real food, putting it into a pot and cooking it - just like any other child. Now that he is a mere five years from official adulthood, we have put the plastic food aside so that he can learn how to cook for himself. Thanks to the movie Ratatouille , Liam loves to assist in the kitchen during dinner preparations chopping vegetables for a salad or cooking on the stove. Without that seemingly crazy goal of block stacking years ago, his ability to imitate what he saw in an animated movie and bring that to life in our kitchen might never have developed. No one would dream of treating a child with a life threatening illness at any less than what the doctor recommends. No one would ever expect that the public education system to be responsible for curing that disease and yet, insurance companies do just that...shirk their accountability to the education system instead of providing children with appropriate coverage when they are toddlers making them more likely to be mainstreamed into a regular education setting. Providing access to these treatments saves tax payer's dollars, creates new job markets and most importantly, gives these children an opportunity to become tax payers themselves one day with independent lives via a fiscally responsible solution to a growing societal issue. Regardless of our personal beliefs of the etiology of our children's autism, whether it is genetic, environmental or a combination of both, all children deserve access to treatments that can help them. The financial relief that this will provide to families is unprecedented - including coverage for ABA, speech and occupational therapy, psychological and psychiatric services, pharmacological interventions, along with anything prescribed by that child's doctor that is evidence based and medically necessary for treatment. Coverage like this frees up money to pay, albeit still out of pocket, for interventions mainstream medicine has yet to adopt while we wait for scientific research to catch up with what we observe in our homes. What good is research resulting in treatment protocols that cannot be implemented to help a child's medical condition because their parents cannot afford it? Liam still acquires skills daily through ongoing treatment, piece by piece, block by block. Science continues to get closer to the answers to his condition daily, piece by piece, block by block. Finally society is stepping up to the plate and relieving financial distress that families have endured for decades by ending this discrimination and implementing fair coverage, piece by piece, block by block and state by state. If you live in one of the 37 states that have not required insurance companies to end their discriminatory practices and provide access to the medical intervention your child deserves for the insurance premiums you pay each month, OR if you live in a state where enacted laws do not govern the self-insured company for which you work, you can change this practice. Ask Congress to co-sponsor the Autism Treatment Acceleration Act (S.819 and H.R. 2413)introduced by Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL), Bob Casey (D-PA) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ)and Congressmen Chris Doyle (R-NJ), Mike Smith (D-PA), Eliot Engel (D-NY) and Hank Johnson (D-GA). For more information on the autism insurance reform movement and what you can do, visit Autism Votes to learn more about the Autism Treatment Acceleration Act . If the autism community can use what we learned as children to play nice in the sandbox, share our toys and keep from fighting, imagine what we could accomplish. More on Health
 
Karen Dalton-Beninato: Day 1 of Hurricane Season: Notes from an Accidental Shelter Top
Hurricane season starts today. When it comes to moving back to New Orleans we've dipped a toe in the water by sharing a house with friends. A giant pod on the lawn with all our books, record albums and thrift store furniture finds would move us back for good, but it's the first day of hurricane season and our prairie town loft in an old department store sleeps 10. Walls are lined with twin beds, couches fold out, what my husband and I realized after going through a thrift store couch buying spree is that we've accidentally created an evacuation shelter. Every piece of art in our bedroom involves a boat. That also took about three years to self-diagnose. Counseling authorized after Hurricane Katrina came in brochure form, and I'd love to get my hands on one of those brochures in case it includes helpful tips on why all the boat art. Interviews can be a form of therapy, and the last time I was interviewed as a Huffington Post blogger I realized that whatever I start out talking about, it all comes back to Katrina. Asked whether the level of emotional hurricane preparedness is any higher this year, I could only answer, "No, because we're still in shock." Imagine experiencing a terrible house fire. Your town rallies around you, the local newspaper asks for donations, people bring food and clothing and you learn there are systems in place to help you start over. Now imagine everyone in your town experienced the same thing on the same day. All of your friends, your extended family members, everyone has lost everything. That's some indication of how it felt when half a million of us were homeless overnight while Donald Rumsfeld stalled military assistance for five days, as described in the new GQ Robert Draper article, " And He Shall Be Judged ." Despite ensuing spin, there was a higher level of hurricane preparation in New Orleans than was portrayed after the storm. Residents not living far below the poverty line were ready with sheets of plywood to board up windows, canned food, bottled water, generators, but personal preparation can seem like a placebo after the levees blew in a Category 2. Each year, higher levees will be required as Louisiana's protective wetlands are eaten away to the tune of 24 square miles a year sinking into the Gulf. Big Oil spent decades digging canals and the ensuing salt water intrusion eats through the Gulf Coast's natural hurricane barriers. New Orleans could be oceanfront property without a major influx of funding to restore our coast. One third of the country's seafood comes from the wetlands, so a coastal restoration campaign slogan could be, "Kiss Your Shrimp Goodbye." In the current financial meltdown, New Orleans and its recovery are topics that have worn thin. A blogger once complained that I was still whining about Katrina. He also said my kids were ugly (joke's on him, I don't have kids), so welcome to the jungle. This is what you write abound when you witness friends and family waiting years to move home. A quarter of New Orleans' residents are still displaced or in trailers thanks to as contractor fraud, red tape and the high cost of starting over in a recession. Driving past hand-written street signs, the BBC's Top Gear team noted that it's shocking, what the richest country in the world has decided it can live with. Dr. John expounds on the ongoing cultural diaspora in " The City that Care Forgot ," and honors the thousands who didn't make it out alive. Days after Katrina, we were living in my brother's guest room watching CNN as the anchor speculated about whether a man briefly filmed in the Convention Center was former child star Barry Cowsill. "I know that's Barry," Jeff said, catching a glimpse of his former bandmate. Barry was found in the Mississippi River three months later. In a night of closure, his estate posthumously released his CD US1 at MidCity Lanes Rock n Bowl earlier this month. There was Barry Cowsill, on video smiling down on the lanes. His nephew Jason Cowsill, Jackie Jae , brother-in-law Russ Broussard , and Jeff played anthems Barry had been writing since his teenage years when the Partridge Family bought the Cowsill's life story. " Walk Tall ," recorded in 2005, was the beginning of a whole new sound. I can't help thinking of the songs he would have written if he had survived. " Kid " is also part of ReDefine 8/29 compilation through the charity that helped us stay sane out on the road for months. Hundreds of grants and instruments later, the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund is still rolling. Over Jazzfest we brought a school that still had no percussion a mountain of congas, and Sony's Little Big Planet is about to introduce a benefit level designed by musicians and artists including Family Guy's Joe Vaux. Grass roots efforts are growing across the board. Saints Quarterback Drew Brees just raised over a million dollars to rebuild playgrounds with "The Domino Effect" in honor of Fats Domino - the image of Fats being airlifted from his home brought home the depth of tragedy to millions around the world. Yesterday I streamed local radio station WWOZ as Cousin Dimitri hosted his Hurricane Season kickoff show with, "Two hours of songs about weather, death, government ineptitude; I've made an effort to keep it more lighthearted this year." After playing Marlene Dietrich's " Such Trying Times ," he reminded listeners to: "Go out and buy yourself some batteries, bottled water, a generator, make sure the car is full of gas after 4 o'clock. But for now, just stay tuned for music about exactly how much we trust the federal, local and state governments to keep us safe for the next three months." New Orleans residents, both home and in the process of getting home, are surviving with a level of gallows humor I haven't witnessed since working in a newsroom. Meanwhile, twin beds line my walls, boats are pictured all around the house - there's a joke in there somewhere. I just haven't been able to find it. More on The Giving Life
 
Andy Borowitz: Bush Charges $150,000 to Speak; $1.5 Million to Speak in English Top
Former president George W. Bush has let it be known that he is available to speak on the corporate lecture circuit for $150,000 and will be willing to speak in English for $1.5 million. Tracy Klugian, Mr. Bush's agent and head of the Ex-Presidential Speakers Bureau, explained the disparity in fees: "He is charging ten times as much to speak in English because it requires ten times the effort." Mr. Bush came to the decision to charge the higher rate for speaking in English after an appearance in Toronto last week with former President Bill Clinton, an experience which he found "draining." "President Bush didn't realize he was expected to speak in English at the event, since it was in Canada," his agent explained. Mr. Klugian said that despite the lofty fee, he had already fielded several offers from corporations who would like to hear the former President speak in English: "I think it's the novelty factor." But the President's agent said he has had to politely decline requests to have Mr. Bush speak in complete sentences: "I tell them, 'Thanks, but you can't afford that.'" Subscribe for free to The Borowitz Report here . More on Canada
 
Susan Boyle At The Priory: RUSHED To Clinic Following Saturday's Loss Top
BRITAIN'S Got Talent sensation Susan Boyle was in the Priory clinic last night suffering from exhaustion. The singer, dubbed SuBo, had an "emotional breakdown" following Saturday's final in which she was runner-up. More on Susan Boyle
 
Scott Roeder Held As "Person Of Interest" In Probe Of Dr. George Tiller's Murder Top
The man detained by Kansas police as a "person of interest" in their probe of the murder of abortion doctor George Tiller has been identified as Scott Roeder. Johnson County sheriff's spokesman Tom Erickson told the AP that Roeder has not been charged in the slaying and was expected to be taken to Wichita for questioning. KSHB-TV reports: Johnson County Sheriff's deputies stopped Scott Roeder on I-35 between the two main Gardner exits around 1:30 p.m. He surrendered without incident. Deputies did not find any weapons on him... According to Phannestiel, Roeder is on temporary hold for Sedgwick County at the Johnson County New Century Detention Center near Gardner. Roeder is considered a person of interest at this time.
 
Plane Overshoots Runway On Caribbean Island Of St. Barts Top
Watch this video of a plane overshooting the runway on the Caribbean island of St. Barts, at an airport which has been listed as one of the most dangerous airports in the world:
 

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