At this time, most of the money in science and medicine is going toward prenatal diagnosis, and a lot of profit is to be made there.

You may be unaware of the history of eugenics, and that people with disabilities were the first targeted in Nazi Germany. They had persuasive writers who otherwise good people might have defended as being misinterpreted, too. They did not get as far as they did by admitting they were violent hateful people; they were promoting a vision of a more perfect future that would benefit us all — and created the illusion that ‘all’ included anyone who would defend them from those who questioned certain discrepancies in their policies.

‘Kwaidan’ did try to qualify his preference for no more Trigs with an expression of tolerance for people with developmental disabilities already out in the world, but no one who valued a single individual with a developmental disability would have chosen the title he did for his piece.

My take on ‘Kwaidan’ is that he is a bully and an opportunist who knows that anything written about Sarah Palin will generate interest, and anything insulting about her 14-month-old son will generate comments. He has mentioned in previous pieces what generates the highest number of readers and comments.

My son who has Down syndrome is 25 years old, and ‘Kwaidan’ is not the first ignorant young man I’ve encountered who has been proud to use hate language while pretending to greater virtue.

When the coward ‘Kwaidan’ equated Down syndrome with bubonic plague and expressed his belief that the best possible future for us all is one where no one with Down syndrome exists, I read it as a threat. My response has been surprisingly restrained.

I believe I know some of what Sarah Palin meant when she said that the world needs more Trigs — but since her son is a unique individual who brings his own value to the family and his community, I don’t know it all.

‘Kwaidan’ wrote: “Progressives believe that answers lie in areas like stem cell research and, well, science and research period. Conservatives, especially the religious fundamentalist conservatives, believe that the world needs more “Trigs.”” Just about everyone I know believes that answers lie in research and science *and* what Sarah Palin means about the world needing more Trigs.

You are putting a lot of faith in a person who will not use his actual name with his writing. Why would you trust him, and insult me?

The Daily Kos entry read in part: “… Over the long weekend, I’ve watched this miraculous bit of political theater several times in varying states of sobriety… … it presents a fundamental difference in the ways progressives and a certain subset of conservatives view the world. …”

So, this particular drunken layabout is unaware that families of children with Down syndrome represent the full diversity of political beliefs and viewpoints.

He also wrote: ” … What I am saying is that, ideally, we use the tools of science and medicine to eradicate Down Syndrome and other disorders.  As a progressive, I believe that we can look forward to a day when there is no Down Syndrome, no autism, no Alzheimer’s disease, and so on. …”

Gee, Adolf, that does not sound as progressive today as it might have in Nazi Germany. Oops, sorry, you are going by “Kwaidan” in your KOS diary.

On another day you wrote: “… I’m recently divorced and was making my first tentative steps back into the dating scene. It’s a tough thing to do after nearly a decade out of it and it’s especially tough in this town. I decided I wouldn’t pursue dating necessarily and I would just do what I like to do and, eventually, I would meet someone.
Sure enough, it happened. I’m a jazz fan. I went to a show. She was there. Simple as that. … (And then there was a disagreement about Prop 8 in California) …I explained it was fundamental to me, that we are talking about friends of mine, people I adore. And if she didn’t see it as a civil rights issue, didn’t understand that there is no such thing as “separate but equal,” and believed that it is a mental defect that causes people to be gay, that I couldn’t be with her. … ”

And yet he seems to feel quite comfortable throwing in with the same folks who would no doubt equate being gay with bubonic plague and polio, a condition to be eradicated along with Down syndrome ‘and other disorders’ –

‘Kwaidan’ wrote ” … shouldn’t we try to envision a world where Down Syndrome and other disorders are studied as history because science, medicine and technology have relegated them to spending eternity alongside bubonic plague and polio and endevor to achieve it?  Wouldn’t that actually be better than a world with more “Trigs?”  …”

No, it would not be a better future. And perhaps you should endeavor to use ’spell-check’ to achieve your own personal best.

Who is Kwaidan?