To conflate disability rights issues with Christo-facism is a mistake. The consequence of the Shiavo case will be that guardians of unwanted disabled people on feeding tubes will have freer reign to disconnect those tubes. Terri was able to swallow, she actually did not need the feeding tube. Michael Schiavo saw to it that she was put on one because the way to end her life was to claim she was on "life support". Families sometimes determine that the disabled person is no longer "the person that they knew" and want to kill them, when they are *not* terminally ill and are conscious. The state has a financial interest, as do insurance companies, in shortening expensive lives.
Have you not noticed that Bush is trying to cut Medicaid by $40 billion dollars? I am not overstating it to say that this will put many peoples lives at risk. Have you not noticed that Bush is trying to destroy HUD, and the Section 8 program on which many disabled depend to have a roof over their heads. What Reagan did to the mentally ill in the 80s by leaving them homeless and wandering the streets, Bush is attempting to do to those who depend upon Section 8 housing vouchers. Today, 75% of vouchers must go to families with incomes below 30% of area median income (those with the greatest housing need, by far). [For SSI recipients who are disabled, their SSI grants are about 18% of the area median income.] The HUD bill will require that at least 90% of vouchers go to families with incomes up to 60% of area median income. [This means persons with the lowest incomes will compete for housing with persons not whose incomes are higher.]
So the "christo-fascists" are working against what they profess to be "for". I agree that THIS is the danger, not that they acted to keep Terri Shiavo alive.
And I am left with the lingering question of why didn't they go all the way and really succeed in keeping her alive? The congress could have been much stronger and ordered a review but did not. What was that all about?
Marta
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