CNN’s Political Ticker blog examines Sarah Palin’s assertion that the Obama tax plan would have “serious and harmful consequences” for special needs trusts.

Their conclusion: The charge is

… misleading. Obama’s plan would increase taxes on individuals making more than $200,000 and families making $250,000, and it would include the income on interest in special needs trusts. But Obama does not have a plan to raise taxes on special needs trusts in general.

Earlier posts here and here.

Geoffrey Dunn, writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, responds to Gov. Sarah Palin’s pledge to be a “friend and advocate” for children with disabilities: “I don’t think so.” An excerpt:

I know I’m not the only special needs parent who has been disgusted by the manner in which Palin’s infant son has been passed around as a political prop on the campaign trail.

… let me make clear what Obama did not: Sarah Palin does [not] speak for me, for my wife, for my children or for many of the other parents of special needs children with whom my family has worked, prayed, laughed and cried over the past decade and a half. Being a special needs parent, as Palin and her family are no doubt learning, is a full-time job, 24-7, not a stepping stone for one’s political ambition. One doesn’t talk the talk in this world, one walks the walk.

Geoffrey Dunn is a documentary filmmaker, author and UC Santa Cruz lecturer. He has a 13-year-old daughter with both cystic fibrosis and epilepsy.

An excerpt of an op-ed by Marjorie Dannenfelser in the San Francisco Chronicle:

To all those feminist organizations so deeply threatened by [Sarah Palin's] pro-life political position and meteoric rise, I have a message: Shut up and listen. She is the future.

… When [Sarah Palin] is ridiculed for her decision to bring her son Trig, diagnosed with Down syndrome, into the world and then bring him along on the campaign, she only becomes stronger.

Why do you think she’s attracting crowds of 10,000 25,000 and 60,000? Because she reminds us that each of us as individuals has the power to change our world, to organize solutions to others’ sufferings – one decision, one individual at a time. She understands and articulates a principle about which we need to hear more – the value inherent in those deemed imperfect.

… Her child, my child, and every special needs child, are not to be pitied. They are to be emulated. What a salve to the soul that Palin understands and articulates this. It brings so many special people and their families out of the shadows and into the limelight. They have so much to be proud of, and she helps them recognize that.

Marjorie Dannenfelser is president of the Susan B. Anthony List, a nationwide pro-life organization.

Writing in the Albany Times-Union, James Flanigan says Sarah Palin should declare her opposition to Medicaid funding cuts now if she wants to be seen as an advocate for people with disabilities. An excerpt:

During the past two years, the Bush administration has attempted to use regulations to drastically cut Medicaid funding that supports community services for people with disabilities. The only reason those cuts weren’t enacted was because Congress placed moratoriums on them. Those moratoriums expire in April.

People with disabilities and their families are concerned about what will happen to those regulations under the new administration. Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden voted against the cuts and in favor of the moratoriums. Sen. John McCain was absent. When he says “change is coming” does he mean change that will destroy the fragile Medicaid structure that supports community services for people with disabilities?

James Flanigan is executive director of the Renssalaer County, NY, chapter of the Arc.

Writing on behalf of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial board, Mike King calls for enforcement of laws requiring schoolchildren to be vaccinated. He says too many parents are willfully ignoring immunization requirements because of unfounded fears about a connection between autism and vaccines, posing a broad threat to the health of the public.

An excerpt:

No doubt many parents have sincerely held beliefs, but allowing them to opt out of vaccination puts the lives of their children at risk as well as the lives of others.

Vaccinations for infectious childhood diseases are one of the greatest accomplishments of medical science, saving millions of lives annually. But their effectiveness is directly linked to coverage that is as universal as possible.

The vaccine-autism link has been thoroughly debunked. States should not back off mandatory vaccination laws, and local school districts and health departments should do a better job of enforcing compliance.

See related stories in the AJC:

• Vaccination law not enforced for many kids; Schools allowing enrollment without proof of immunization
• Schools claim their hands are tied, noting that enforcement lies with health department

A society should be judged by how it treats its weakest members

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, William McGurn says Gov. Sarah Palin has handed Sen. Barack Obama an opportunity to move past the ‘culture wars’ over abortion.

Palin has prominently featured her son with Down syndrome on the campaign trail, pushing for the removal of barriers to opportunities for children with special needs. She has proposed full funding for the federal commitment to special education, and allowing children with disabilities to use federal funds at either public or private schools.

An excerpt:

Now there is little in this that is uniquely Republican, except perhaps the idea of letting these kids use federal funds for private schools. In policy terms, Democrats conceivably could even improve upon it. At the very least, a presidential candidate who has positioned himself as postpartisan should recognize the opportunity here — and grab it.

Conceding that Mrs. Palin has a point here would not require Mr. Obama to give up anything, and would underscore a commitment to real choice instead of just abortion.

… At times, Democratic leaders have been reluctant to celebrate the humanity of some of our most vulnerable members of society, lest they be thought to be starting down a slippery slope leading to a no-Roe America. Mr. Obama in fact used something of that logic in the Illinois Senate to explain why he opposed the state version of the federal Born Alive Act.

(more…)

Writing in the Rocky Mountain News, Helen Collins says she risks being labeled “against the disabled” because she opposes a measure that would raise the Colorado sales tax and allocate the funds to assist people with developmental disabilities. She says the tax increase in Amendment 51 amounts to “another government welfare program” and encourages voters to “recognize the role of emotions here – feelings of guilt, sympathy and relief that we are not in their plight.”

Among her arguments:

“The state already spends 1 percent of its budget on this one service for 0.2 percent of the population. This group wants twice as much, plus all the other services we all get.”

“It isn’t fiscally responsible to make taxpayers pay for every individual health concern. We should not politicize or bureaucratize personal problems.”

Helen Collins is a resident of Colorado Springs.

See also: Disability 101: Amendment 51 is needed – Summit Daily News

See earlier posts here, here, and here.