Free Republic

Wondering No More [Jonah Goldberg] Yep. The day after 9/11, as part of its "get tough" makeover, the Obama campaign is mocking John McCain for not using a computer, without caring why he doesn't use a computer. From the AP story about the computer illiterate ad: "Our economy wouldn't survive without the Internet, and cyber-security continues to represent one our most serious national security threats," [Obama spokesman Dan] Pfeiffer said. "It's extraordinary that someone who wants to be our president and our commander in chief doesn't know how to send an e-mail." Well, I guess it depends on what you...

Little Trig Palin prompted more than delegate coos when he joined his mother on stage at the Republican convention. He also raised new questions among parents whose children have disabilities. Was Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin simply including her 5-month-old son, who has Down syndrome, in a big family moment, or was she exploiting him in a tight presidential campaign? Would he help break down social barriers facing children with Down syndrome, or would those children now be drawn into the right-to-life debate? Getty Images Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's son Trig joined her on stage with her husband, Todd, at the...

Amid the barbs and hockey banter Wednesday night, Gov. Sarah Palin directed an emotional appeal to the hearts of millions of parents with children who have special needs, promising they would “have a friend and advocate in the White House” in a McCain-Palin administration. Palin’s offer of friendship sparked hope in many parents, advocates and lawyers as the often-marginalized subject of disabilities rights took center stage. ****** Ms. Palin’s effort to rally parents of children with disabilities has also prompted reaction among those who fear that her idea of advocacy might really mean preventing abortions of fetuses with Down syndrome,...

The VP pick's decision to raise a Down Syndrome baby should spark a debate on the value of "imperfect" human beings. When Adolf Hitler set about his plans to craft the perfect, master Aryan race, his first task was to eliminate the handicapped and mentally disabled; as the first step in this goal, midwives and physicians were ordered to register children born with severe birth defects, and “experts” reviewing the cases ordered the deaths of about 5,000 such children from 1939 to 1945. The vulnerable in our society are the canary in the coal mine: When society decides that any...

ScienceDaily (Aug. 26, 2008) — Terminally ill rodents with type 1 diabetes have been restored to full health with a single injection of a substance other than insulin by scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Since the discovery of insulin in 1922, type 1 diabetes (insulin-dependent diabetes) in humans has been treated by injecting insulin to lower high blood sugar levels and prevent diabetic coma. New findings by UT Southwestern researchers, which appear online and in a future issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that insulin isn't the only agent that is effective. Leptin, a...

You might have thought the demented Americans with Disabilities Act — a bonanza for lawyers that requires any public facility to be designed with handicappers in mind or be sued out of existence — would be the last word in otherly-abled totalitarianism. Not so. Visitability is a concept that makes the ADA downright libertarian by comparison. The initial objective of Visitability proponents is to impose on every home a zero-step entrance, interior doors at least 32" wide, and at least one wheelchair-accessible bathroom on the ground floor. Once they've managed to have this mandated, we'll see where they go from...

BETHESDA, Maryland, July 26, 2008 (Reuters) — Researchers working on an artificial pancreas believe they are just a few years away from a nearly carefree way for people with diabetes to monitor blood and inject insulin as needed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Related Topics Health and Fitness Internal Medicine Medical Specializations Medicine Science and Technology Ads by GoogleAdvertise here -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blood Sugar Levels guide Looking to find Blood Sugar Levels? See our Blood Sugar Levels guide. Friendsofanimals.ComDiabetes Treatment Order Products to Lower your Blood Sugar Without Having to use Drugs. believe they can link two current technologies -- continuous glucose monitoring and insulin...

ARLINGTON, VA -- U.S. Senator John McCain's presidential campaign today released the following remarks by John McCain as prepared for delivery via satellite to the Americans with Disabilities conference: In a few months' time, Americans will choose their next president, and the course that our country will follow in the years to come. Many thousands of those votes would never be cast at all, were it not for this organization and its Disability Vote Project. Like so many other rights and privileges in our country, the right to vote always belonged to Americans with disabilities. But exercising that right could...

MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH WorldNetDaily Exclusive Father: 'System' killing my disabled daughter 'If they treated a dog this way, they would be doing jail time' Posted: July 19, 2008 11:10 pm Eastern The father of a disabled Delaware woman who recently earned the support of state lawmakers says the system – of courts, lawyers, hospitals and disability agencies – literally is combining to bring about the death of his daughter. "The court system should not have the right to impose this kind of treatment on a mentally disabled person," Randy Richardson told WND today. His daughter, Lauren Richardson, has...

Omaha, NE (KFAB-AM) - McDonald's is all ears after a lawsuit from a customer hard of hearing. Karen Tumeh recently visited a McDonald's in Omaha and tried to place an order at the pick up window at the drive thru. Tumeh is hearing impaired and she states that she could not understand the speaker at the order menu board. The restaurant told her that she had to go back to the menu board to place her order or come inside. The lawsuit would force McDonald's to make special accommodations for those hearing impaired so they too could use the drive-thru....

The Bush Administration has discovered what liberals have known all along: the Constitution is a mighty comprehensive document, giving the federal government powers over the minutest aspects of our lives. Case in point: apparently Bush & Co. have discovered that there is a right to miniature golf defined in the U.S. Constitution. That’s the upshot of a new set of rules updating the Americans with Disabilities Act being released for public comment this Tuesday. Other new rights include easier access to light switches in hotel rooms by moving them 6 inches lower, wheelchair lifts in courtrooms to provide easier access...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: For More Information, Contact: June 13, 2008 Jennifer Harris, Communications Officer, PIO#234-07/jlh 703.838.5078 or jennifer.harris@alexandriava.gov Alexandria Student Recognized for Support of Human Rights The Alexandria Human Rights Commission is pleased to announce that Debra Luecretia Mason, president of T.C. Williams High School Gay Straight Alliance (GSA), is the winner of the Commission’s seventh annual 2008 Student Human Rights Awards for her leadership role and promotion of equality for all regardless of sexuality. The Commission established the Human Rights Awards seven years ago to recognize students who have contributed significantly toward improving basic human rights and fairness for...

A tray of asymmetrical chocolate lumps balances on the counter behind the espresso machine, where owner Jean-Marc Gorce is slinging a cappuccino. Scotch-taped to the walls, clippings about the mom-and-pop truffle shop display accolades from Gourmet, the New York Times and 7 x 7. At the window, a few stools share a high counter; outside, two tables perch on the sidewalk. Cluttered but quaint, off-kilter but authentic, XOX Truffles is just the sort of place that one might associate with North Beach's motley character. Yet one of its design anomalies - a step from the curb into the shop -...

Group wants Wi-Fi banned from public buildings A group in Santa Fe says the city is discriminating against them because they say that they're allergic to the wireless Internet signal. And now they want Wi-Fi banned from public buildings. Arthur Firstenberg says he is highly sensitive to certain types of electric fields, including wireless Internet and cell phones. "I get chest pain and it doesn't go away right away," he said. Firstenberg and dozens of other electro-sensitive people in Santa Fe claim that putting up Wi-Fi in public places is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The city...

As much as you've heard about the fuss over building a wheelchair ramp to the president's podium in the Board of Supervisors' chamber, there's one point that hasn't been made. This isn't about the project's $1 million cost, nor the construction, nor the principle of the matter.This is another case of those bickering supes. Because if the six supervisors who voted against building the wheelchair ramp wanted to stop it, they had ample time months ago. And they didn't say peep."I went around to each of the supervisors' offices and asked 'Do you want to weigh in on this?' "...

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. — A public high school has turned away a deaf student's service dog despite a state ruling saying the animal should be allowed. W. Tresper Clarke High School's principal intercepted 15-year-old John Cave outside the Westbury school's entrance Tuesday, a day after the state Human Rights Division told the school to let in the dog. Commissioner Kumiki Gibson wrote that state law "prohibits educational institutions from denying access to their facilities to people with disabilities." Cave left and did not go to classes Tuesday. East Meadow School District Superintendent Leon Campo said Tuesday the school would admit...

San Francisco should not have to spend $1 million on a wheelchair ramp in the Board of Supervisors chambers to assure equal access for people with disabilities. There must be less expensive options than the 10-foot ramp that has been through 18 designs and consumed more than $200,000 in planning. One alternative would be to do what the board has done for the past three years - seat its president near floor level, instead of the ornate, elevated podium that would require a significant retrofit of the historic room. Board President Aaron Peskin said he would like to find a...

Where else but San Francisco City Hall could a 10-foot-long wheelchair ramp wind up costing $1 million? Thanks to a maze of bureaucratic indecision and historic restrictions, taxpayers may shell out $100,000 per foot to...

Where else but San Francisco City Hall could a 10-foot-long wheelchair ramp wind up costing $1 million? Thanks to a maze of bureaucratic indecision and historic restrictions, taxpayers may shell out $100,000 per foot to make the Board of Supervisors president's perch in the historic chambers accessible to the disabled. What's more, the little remodel job that planners first thought would take three months has stretched into more than four years - and will probably mean the supervisors will have to move out of their hallowed hall for five months while the work is done. "It's crazy," admits Susan Mizer,...

TAMPA - An arrest warrant has been issued for Charlette Marshall-Jones, the detention deputy who dumped a quadriplegic man from his wheelchair, Sheriff David Gee said late Friday. "Miss Marshall-Jones has been made aware of the charges against her, but as of this moment has not turned herself in and we do not know her whereabouts," Gee said.