.~Javier Plumey~.|Fatih, Technology, Politics, Whatever.

Autism Screening On Obama’s Health Agenda: “Autism screening and funding for treatment of the disease is high on President Barack Obama’s agenda for the nation’s health, and is the only disease or disorder called out on his new website, Whitehouse.gov, taking precedence even over cancer and heart disease.”

(Via ParentDish.)

See, I can agree with President Obama on some things. This is one of them. I have several friends with children who are autistic and I think that more testing needs to be done to help families identify autistic traits earlier in life. What I don’t want to see happen is what’s happened to ADHD diagnosis, where parents and medical professionals are too quick to render a diagnosis that requires medication. I don’t know too much about autism, but I’m hoping it has clearer symptoms and indicators than ADHD.

Obama: Parenting is a public service: “‘For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.’”

(Via Thingamababy.)

Parenting is much more than a ‘public service’, it’s the sacred and lasting act that stabilizes society, enriches the economy, and fosters an attitude of reverence for the sanctity of life.

We Catholics have been saying this for years! Parents who are involved keep their kids away from drugs, teach them how to pray, engaged them in extra curricular activities, encourage them to choose good friends, and overall prepare them for a healthy lifestyle once they leave the nest.

So if parenting is a public service, why is there a government trend to make parenting more difficult? Specifically, government:

- denies parents from using their tax money to educate their children at home or in the private school of their choice

- denies parents the ability to teach them their own values regarding same-sex marriage and sexuality in general (at least in the public schools)

- denies parents access to good healthcare by preventing health insurance providers from crossing state lines

- denies the importance of parenting by allowing the destruction of the lives of children

- denies public schools the ability to introduce wholesome, religious values to students by barring the use of God and prayer in the classroom

- devalues the importance of traditional parenting (i.e., a father and mother) by not protecting the sanctity of marriage

So if President Obama wants parents to feel proud about their vocation and wants to instill and inspire others to be good parents, he needs to provide a good example, yes, but he needs to equip them and protect the fundamental rights and needs of parents as well.

Horton: Catholic teens challenge Obama to find common ground on abortion: “Yet, there is middle ground, and it is the place where, according to the latest polls, 54 percent of Americans would prefer to stand. It isn’t a perfect place and is too gray for the black-and-white chatterboxes because the starting point is legal, but somewhat restricted, abortion rights.”

Middle ground, huh? I really think it’s sickening that people, especially Catholics, think there is a middle ground in the abortion issue. Let’s see how that might have worked with Hitler.

Allied Negotiator: Ok, let’s address this holocaust thing, where you are killing millions of lives who have done little or nothing to deserve death.

Hitler: Okidoki

Allied Negotiator: Since we are unable to resolve our differences, let’s get to some “common ground”. How does that sound?

Hitler: Okidoki

Allied Negotiator: Alright, let’s see. We want you to stop killing, but you don’t want to, so….how about we let you keep killing people, but only not as much. Can we try that?

Hitler: Okidoki

Yeah. Common ground is a good idea.

10 Weirdest Inauguration Day Blunders – MSN Encarta: “4. Less is more?
After criticism for his first inauguration in 1981, which cost $16.3 million for nine white-tie balls, President Ronald Reagan attempted to scale back the budget and have a more ‘for the people’ celebration. However, the budget ballooned from $12 million to $20 million, and there were 10 balls instead of nine and two galas instead of one. Apparently, ‘scaling back’ meant that the balls were black tie instead of white and the entertainment was less high-brow than at previous events, according to the Washington Post.”

Hmm, I wonder about the deafening silence regarding the $150 million being spent by Obama.

I would like to challenge anyone who has made Bush out to be an idiot and his administration a failure to read this post. If you want to be informed about the President you’ve been trashing for eight years, and not simply take the bait that Obama gave you, read this article. If people had known this information during the election, Obama would never have been elected. Here are some excerpts:

On the economy and the collapse of the housing market:

In fact, one of the circumstances that contributed to the crisis was
the failure of the government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac, which President Bush long tried to subject to greater regulation.
In April 2001, three months after taking office, the President warned
in his first budget that the size of the two GSEs were a “potential
problem” that “could cause strong repercussions in financial markets,
affecting Federally insured entities and economic activity.” In
2003, the Administration began calling for a new GSE regulator, and
over the next five years, the Administration continued to call for GSE
reform only to be accused by Democrats in Congress of creating artificial fears and advocating for ill-advised proposals.

On the war on terror:

In this Global War on Terror, we do not have the luxury to fight on one
battlefront at a time. To defeat the terrorists, we must fight them
overseas so we don’t have to fight them here at home. Since 9/11, we
have successfully captured or killed dozens of al-Qaeda’s senior
leadership and hundreds of al-Qaeda operatives in two dozen countries,
removed al-Qaeda’s safe-haven in Afghanistan and crippled al-Qaeda in
Iraq, and disrupted numerous al Qaeda terrorist plots against the U.S.,
including a 2006 plot to blow up passenger planes traveling from London.

Some other interesting facts:

Some other items that are infrequently mentioned about the real record
of the Bush Administration but are worth noting: Teenage drug use has
declined 25 percent; in 2007, the violent crime rate was 43 percent
lower than the rate in 1998; between 2005 and 2007, the chronically
homeless population decreased approximately 30 percent; funding for
veterans’ medical care has increased more than 115 percent; and as of
2005, the most recent abortion rate is at its lowest since 1974.

From the home state of our wonderful President Elect Barack Obama comes another tale of government corruption. First it was Republican Governor George Ryan and his whole driver’s license scandal [LINK] and now it’s Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich, turn to face the federal music. Let’s hope it’s not something in the water.

Listen to this guy torn apart by William Donahue from the Catholic League:

Via the Seattle Times:

Voters approved Initiative 1000 on Tuesday, making Washington the
second state to give terminally ill people the option of medically
assisted suicide.

The ballot measure, patterned after Oregon’s “Death with Dignity”
law, allows a terminally ill person to be prescribed lethal medication,
which would be self-administered.

…

Opponents, including the Catholic church, said assisted suicide is a
dangerous step that devalues human life. Critics also said the assisted
suicide measure could exploit depressed or vulnerable people who worry
they’ve become a burden on their families.

The measure involved a multimillion-dollar campaign, including TV
advertisements featuring actor Martin Sheen, who urged a “no” vote. But
polling before Election Day showed I-1000 with significant support.

…

Forty-nine people died in Oregon last year under that state’s
assisted suicide law, according to a report by the Oregon Department of
Human Services. Since it went into effect, more than 340 Oregon
patients have used the law to end their lives.

Most suffered from cancer, and the most common reasons reported for
choosing assisted suicide were loss of autonomy, loss of dignity and a
decreasing ability to participate in activities they enjoyed.

The interesting thing about this law is that it has to be self-administered. So the doctors decide if a patient should be allowed to do it, but in the end, the patient has to do it anyway.

This is medically irresponsible. Doctors who take the Hippocratic Oath should be ashamed that they would rather give up on a patient than try to nurture them.  Sure, anyone can choose to end their life, but doctors should not be mandated to allow their patients to do so under their care.

Mike Dingus, a 39-year-old long-term care worker in Yakima, voted “yes.”

“You don’t get much choice coming in, so you should get some choice going out,” Dingus said.

A completely irrelevant argument that highlights ignorance on the gift and blessing that is life.

In an early indication to the kind of presidency we can expect from President Elect Barack Obama, rumors are circulating that Obama has offered the position for Chief of Staff to Representative Rahm Emanuel. If this seletion is representative of the kind of administration we can look forward to, then hold on to your butts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Newsweek describes Rahm Emanual as:

a street fighter with a killer instinct—as explosive, profane, wired and ruthless.  Emanuel, a 48-year-old congressman who grew up, somewhat weirdly, to study ballet and practice Chicagopolitics, has generally adapted to his situation in a combative, not diplomatic, manner. As an indifferent high-school student, he badly cut his finger on the beef-slicing machine at Arby’s. That night, after his high-school prom, he jumped into Lake Michigan. The tip of his finger became infected and he nearly died. Ever since, Emanuel has relished raising his hacked-off middle figure at his foes. In conversation with almost anyone about anything, Emanuel uses the F word like a sergeant in a World War II motor pool.

Also read here.

After the election of Barack Obama, many of you will start getting email chains that in way or another claim that the government will stop allowing religious services to be broadcast on television, or other similar claims. Please be advised that most of these will be hoaxes designed to harvest emails for spammers. Please ignore them, but stay informed. Look for reputable sources of information from The Catholic League (http://www.catholicleague.org)  and the American Family Association (http://www.afa.net/). Keep  your eyes open, but use good judgement. No matter what you may believe about Barack Obama, I think we’re still very far away from blatant, government-backed, whole-scale religious censorship.

You may recently have seen one about the FCC petition number 2493. Here is the info on that from the official FCC.GOV site:

Religious Broadcasting
Rumor Denied

Madalyn Murray O’Hair

A rumor has been circulating since 1975 that Madalyn Murray O’Hair,
a widely known, self-proclaimed atheist, proposed that the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) consider limiting or banning religious programming. This
rumor is not true. It also has been circulated repeatedly that Ms. O’Hair
was granted an FCC hearing to discuss that proposal. This too is untrue.

There is no federal law or regulation that gives the FCC the authority
to prohibit radio and television stations from presenting religious programs.
Actually, the Communications Act (the law that established the FCC and
defines its authority) prohibits the FCC from censoring broadcast material
and interfering with freedom of speech in broadcasting.

The FCC cannot direct any broadcaster to present, or refrain from presenting,
announcements or programs on religion, and the FCC cannot act as an arbitrator
on the insights or accuracy of such material. Broadcasters, not the FCC,
nor any other governmental agency, have the responsibility for selecting
the programming that is aired by their stations.

RM-2493

A petition filed in December 1974 by Jeremy D. Lansman and Lorenzo W.
Milam which was routinely assigned the number RM-2493 added further confusion
regarding the issue of religious programming. They had asked, among other
things, that the FCC inquire into operating practices of stations licensed
to religious organizations.

The petitioners had also asked that no new licenses be granted for any
new noncommercial educational broadcasting station, until the requested
inquiry had been completed. The “Lansman-Milam petition” was
DENIED by
the FCC on August 1, 1975. The Commission explained then that it is required
by the First Amendment “to observe a stance of neutrality toward religion,
acting neither to promote nor to inhibit religion.” It also explained
that it must treat religious and secular organizations alike in determining
their eligibility for broadcasting channels.

Periodically since 1975, the FCC has received mail indicating that,
in many parts of the country, there were rumors claiming the petitions
of RM-2493 had called for an end to religious programs on radio and television.
Such rumors are false.

Additional mail and telephone calls came in from people who thought
that Ms. O’Hair was a sponsor of RM-2493. This rumor is also false.

Since 1975 to the present time, the FCC has received and responded
to millions of inquiries about these rumors. Many efforts have been made
by the FCC to advise the public of their falsehood. The laws and the FCC’s
policies on the broadcast of religious programming have appeared in numerous
publications (including newspapers, religious publications, TV Guide and
Time Magazine) and have been discussed in religious group meetings.