This part of the ex-Surgeon General's testimony, because the damned liberal media hasn't highlighted it, but it's quite a tale.
"You've heard, of course, of the Special Olympics, the sporting event that provides an opportunity for developmentally disabled youngsters to experience the highs and lows of athletic competition.
Founded in 1962 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in part as tribute to her developmentally disabled sister, Rosemary, the Special Olympics has grown to an event now held in 150 countries, with some two million athletes participating.
They're about as controversial as motherhood. So who could possibly be against them?
A "senior person" in George Bush's White House, that's who.
Yesterday, Richard Carmona, the former surgeon general of the United States (the nation's top public-health official), testified before a House of Representatives committee about the political influence he'd been subject to from the Bush White House during his tenure.
Much of what he had to say, though appalling, is pretty old-hat by now. The administration prevented him from speaking publicly - from a scientific perspective - on issues like stem-cell research, climate change, sex education and so on.
But one anecdote should make every American, every decent person anywhere, sick to his stomach. Carmona was due to attend the Special Olympics one year - today's New York Times, which reported the anecdote, didn't say which - when the White House stepped in to say nyet.
Why couldn't he attend? Because of the games' association with a certain "prominent family."
Carmona: "I was specifically told by a senior person, 'Why would you want to help those people?'" (Let's be charitable and assume that by "those people," the official meant the family and not the disabled children.) When asked after the hearing whether that "prominent family" was the Kennedys, Carmona replied, "You said it. I didn't."
Take a breath and contemplate this. The nation's top health officer wanted to go to a completely non-political event and pin a few medals on the proud chests of disabled kids. And he was barred from doing so because showing up would have constituted lending aid and comfort to the Kennedys.
Now, I understand that we have bigger things to worry about with these mad hatters currently running my country. Soldiers and civilians are dying in Iraq - and in Afghanistan, where we've stepped up air strikes. The administration laughs at the constitution. The attorney general is an intellectual thug. Dick Cheney thinks he's the state.
I also understand that, as world governments go, we're still in comparatively good shape, even with this bunch. No state-sponsored domestic mass murders. No abolition of the press. No rounding up of suspects without their knowing what they're being charged wi - well, uh, like I said, no mass murders.
So it's not of world-historical importance. But I honestly think this is the single worst thing I've ever heard or read about the Bush administration. Dismissing severely disabled children as political partisans!
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/michael_tomasky/2007/07/a_new_low.html
"You've heard, of course, of the Special Olympics, the sporting event that provides an opportunity for developmentally disabled youngsters to experience the highs and lows of athletic competition.
Founded in 1962 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in part as tribute to her developmentally disabled sister, Rosemary, the Special Olympics has grown to an event now held in 150 countries, with some two million athletes participating.
They're about as controversial as motherhood. So who could possibly be against them?
A "senior person" in George Bush's White House, that's who.
Yesterday, Richard Carmona, the former surgeon general of the United States (the nation's top public-health official), testified before a House of Representatives committee about the political influence he'd been subject to from the Bush White House during his tenure.
Much of what he had to say, though appalling, is pretty old-hat by now. The administration prevented him from speaking publicly - from a scientific perspective - on issues like stem-cell research, climate change, sex education and so on.
But one anecdote should make every American, every decent person anywhere, sick to his stomach. Carmona was due to attend the Special Olympics one year - today's New York Times, which reported the anecdote, didn't say which - when the White House stepped in to say nyet.
Why couldn't he attend? Because of the games' association with a certain "prominent family."
Carmona: "I was specifically told by a senior person, 'Why would you want to help those people?'" (Let's be charitable and assume that by "those people," the official meant the family and not the disabled children.) When asked after the hearing whether that "prominent family" was the Kennedys, Carmona replied, "You said it. I didn't."
Take a breath and contemplate this. The nation's top health officer wanted to go to a completely non-political event and pin a few medals on the proud chests of disabled kids. And he was barred from doing so because showing up would have constituted lending aid and comfort to the Kennedys.
Now, I understand that we have bigger things to worry about with these mad hatters currently running my country. Soldiers and civilians are dying in Iraq - and in Afghanistan, where we've stepped up air strikes. The administration laughs at the constitution. The attorney general is an intellectual thug. Dick Cheney thinks he's the state.
I also understand that, as world governments go, we're still in comparatively good shape, even with this bunch. No state-sponsored domestic mass murders. No abolition of the press. No rounding up of suspects without their knowing what they're being charged wi - well, uh, like I said, no mass murders.
So it's not of world-historical importance. But I honestly think this is the single worst thing I've ever heard or read about the Bush administration. Dismissing severely disabled children as political partisans!
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/michael_tomasky/2007/07/a_new_low.html
