Here’s what he said

Now, you want me to tell you my opinion on autism, since I’m not talking about autism? A fraud, a racket. For a long while, we were hearing that every minority child had asthma. Why did they sudden — why was there an asthma epidemic amongst minority children? Because I’ll tell you why: The children got extra welfare if they were disabled, and they got extra help in school. It was a money racket. Everyone went in and was told [fake cough], “When the nurse looks at you, you go [fake cough], ‘I don’t know, the dust got me.’ ” See, everyone had asthma from the minority community. That was number one.

Now, the illness du jour is autism. You know what autism is? I’ll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. That’s what autism is.

What do you mean they scream and they’re silent? They don’t have a father around to tell them, “Don’t act like a moron. You’ll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.”

Autism — everybody has an illness. If I behaved like a fool, my father called me a fool. And he said to me, “Don’t behave like a fool.” The worst thing he said — “Don’t behave like a fool. Don’t be anybody’s dummy. Don’t sound like an idiot. Don’t act like a girl. Don’t cry.” That’s what I was raised with. That’s what you should raise your children with. Stop with the sensitivity training. You’re turning your son into a girl, and you’re turning your nation into a nation of losers and beaten men. That’s why we have the politicians we have.

Savage has since backtracked slightly and said that his 99% figure was “a little high” and “hyperbole.”

I wonder if by a “little high” he meant it was only 90% of autistic kids were just brats.

According to Savage he stands by his remarks

My comments about autism were meant to boldly awaken parents and children to the medical community’s attempt to label too many children or adults as “autistic.”

Yep, he wants to wake up those “autistic” children and make them realize they just need to “Straighten up. Act like a man.”  That’ll fix ‘em.

This whole thing starts as a rant against minority children and asthma.  Obviously Savage doesn’t know how asthma is diagnosed by a doctor.  I can say from experience it’s not diagnosed by just coughing a little bit.  Nor is a child diagnosed with Autism because he eats his Skittles by color but otherwise does nothing else as one commentor at this site claimed.

Autism is not just the kid who sits in the corner rocking back and forth and flapping his hands.  There’s a range of severity and diagnosis that falls under Autism Spectrum Disorder.  I’ve worked with children at all levels of the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).  It has been my experience that there are more non-minority children labeled ASD than minority children.  Lower socioeconomic minority children tend to be severely Autistic even though I’ve worked with several lower socioeconomic children that I thought might be Autistic but had never been diagnosed.

In other words, among poor minority children the tendency is to under diagnose rather than over diagnose.

Also, most of the children that I’ve worked with that were ASD did have a father figure around.  Yes, many lived with one parent but several of those students lived with their father not their mother.  Most of the ASD children I have worked with had both parents, either biological or step.

Back in Martin Luther’s time, autistic children were thought to be possessed by the devil and were killed.  In the mid-1900s mothers of Autistic children were blamed for their condition for being frigid during pregnancy and the child’s first few months of life and beyond.

Savage’s remarks seem to indicate that the mother is to blame for their child’s condition.  This actually doesn’t surprise me since Savage was born in 1942 and grew up during the time when “refrigerator mothers” were blamed for Autism.

Am I going to call for Savage to be fired?  No.  The man has the right of free speech even if it is mean, hateful and makes him sound like an idiot (something Savage’s father told him not to do).  Savage was hired to say mean, hateful and shocking things to gain ratings for the stations that air his show.  He’s just doing his job, as dispicable as it might be.

The stations and advertisers have to decide if they want Savage to represent them.    So far 7 stations in Mississippi have decided to drop Savage’s sydicated show from their programming.  The Aflac insurace company (you know, the one with the irritating duck in its commercials) has also decided to pull its advertising.

I won’t be surprised if more stations and advertisers follow their example.

Technorati Tags: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Autistic, Michael Savage

A commenter to my last post suggested that there was a specific “the color and pattern associated with the Palestinian terrorists.” Malkin doesn’t seem to agree. In her latest silliness she points out that “…Colin Farrell, Sienna Miller, and Kirsten Dunst, and rapper Kanye West have all been photographed in endless variations on the distinctive hate couture.”

To read her any of these “endless variations” are leading to the “mainstreaming of violence.”

Hmmm, I wonder if she’ll include herself in the ranks of those leading to the “mainstreaming of violence.”

So, Michelle, is that a keffiyeh, the essence of “hate couture” you’re in possession of in that picture? Or is it just a piece of cloth?

Picture found by Brad.

Technorati Tags: keffiyeh, Malkin

Some well known members of the right wing blogosphere are in a tizzy over a black and white scarf that Rachel Ray is wearing in a Dunkin Donuts ad.

Michelle Malkin is calling the scarf “hate couture” and wonders if people should start calling for a boycott of Dunkin Donuts.

Charles Johnson over at Little Green Footballs claims that Dunkin Donuts “…is the latest American firm to casually promote the symbol of Palestinian terrorism and the intifada, the kaffiyeh, via Rachael Ray.”

Malkin does, at least, give DD and Ray some wiggle room in saying that they might not realize just what Ray is wearing. Johnson doesn’t give them that any forgiveness promoting an “acknowledge, well-know symbol of terrorism.” But does at least back peddle enough to say that he wasn’t accusing them of having “terrorist ties.”

Personally, it looks like an ugly, black and white scarf. It doesn’t look like the head wear that Arafat always wore.

Now, this whole silly fuss did teach me one thing: a scarf can also be called a kaffiyeh and wearing it makes you in league with the terrorists. At least by those who see terrorist hiding in every nook and corner.

The kaffiyeh has been around for centuries. They’ve even been worn by British troops in the deserts of Africa during World War II. They’ve also been worn my U.S. troops in the Middle East to keep sand out of their nose and mouths.

Are these right wing bloggers going to fuss at our troops?

For that matter, are they going to fuss at Meghan McCain? It looks to me like she’s wearing what Malkin calls a “jihadi chic kaffiyeh.” Or is it that if Meghan McCain wears it then it’s just a scarf?

Personally, no matter who is wearing it, it’s just a scarf.

Technorati Tags: Dunkin Donuts, kaffiyeh, Meghan McCain, Rachel Ray, scarf

In case you’ve never heard of the film, the basic premise is that the main character (then 10 year old Macaulay Culkin playing an 8 year old) is “forgotten” by his parents and the rest of his family as they head out of the country by plane. They don’t notice he’s not there in the car on the way to the airport. They don’t notice he’s not there at the airport when they get the tickets and wait for the plane. They don’t notice he’s not there when they get on the plane. They don’t notice he’s not there until their plane has already left for France.

I don’t care how dysfunctional a family is, leaving a child behind for that long a period of time is criminal and not in the least bit funny.

It can also be deadly.

Two Orange County parents were arrested on child-abuse charges after telling authorities they accidentally left their 3-year-old daughter in a stroller while they rode Pirates of the Caribbean at Walt Disney World.

A Magic Kingdom patron alerted park management about 4:45 p.m. Saturday after spotting the girl in a stroller parked in the sun, according to a report released Monday by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

The girl was hot, turning red, covered in sweat and appeared to be “lifeless,” the report states.

A paramedic touched and shook her, but she failed to respond.

Saturday’s highs were in the low 90s with no rain, and deputies estimate the child was in the sun for 45 minutes to an hour.

Paramedics revived the girl by taking her indoors and giving her water.

Deputies said the heat might have become deadly.

“[A paramedic] advised that if medical intervention had not been administered the female child was nearing signs of heat exhaustion with unknown results up to and including death,” the report states.

Parents Juan Carlos, 35, and Danette Rodriguez, 32, approached park workers, seeking their daughter, about 50 minutes later.

The couple said the girl was asleep inside a double stroller and got lost in the shuffle as their group of two adults and four children approached the ride, they told investigators.

When they entered the attraction, the father said he thought his wife had their daughter, while she thought her husband had her.

Shortly afterward, the father went back outside to move the stroller to a designated area but failed to see the little girl, he told deputies.

The parents realized their daughter was missing only after they left the ride.

The couple, of Cypress Trail Drive, were arrested on one count each of child abuse and released from the Orange County Jail on Sunday on $2,500 bail each.

They could not be reached for comment Monday night.

The children were turned over to relatives while the Department of Children & Families investigates.

Based on this story in the Orlando Sentinel, those parents had to have been clueless about the whereabouts of their child for at least 90 minutes. Apparently, neither parent looked at the other one or looked over their children for 90 minutes.

Having lived in Orlando since I was 4, and having worked at both Walt Disney World and Universal Studios, I can honestly say that if the parents story is true then they are criminally negligent people who should not be allowed to have kids. Ever.

During the summer lines are long at the theme parks. You can easily wait 60 to 90 minutes or longer to ride just one ride. And if it doesn’t rain it is extremely hot. The heat radiates off the concrete and if you aren’t careful it is easy for anyone to get heat stroke.

I’ve dealt with crying children who were separated from their parents in the crowds. I’ve dealt with parents who couldn’t find their kids. In only one case was the child “missing” for more than about 5 minutes. The one case involved a 12 year old boy who was still playing games in the attraction I worked in after his parents had left for another ride. The kid didn’t know he was “missing” and his father noticed he wasn’t with them as soon as they got in line. In all he was “missing” for no more than 15 minutes.

As an adult I have taken kids to the theme parks. I didn’t keep an extra close eye on them because they weren’t my children. I kept an extra close eye on them because they were my responsibility and I wasn’t about to lose them.

If the young girl had just been separated from her parents for a short time or the parents had at least been looking for her for much of the time she was missing I wouldn’t have too much of a problem with these parents. It is very easy for people to get separated from each other at the theme parks. Especially during the summer or if there are kids involved. That’s why we’ve always had a meet up spot just in case. When young kids were involved there were always specific adults assigned to keep an eye on specific kids. It just made things easier for all involved.

I used to hate the leashes for kids that I saw some people with until I worked in a theme park. Then I realized they were a great way to keep from losing a young child.

I also used to hate seeing families in identical clothing. Then one parent mentioned that if she ever lost one of her 5 boys that all she had to do was say “He looks just like this one but bigger/smaller.” It made a great deal of sense.

Ninety minutes is too long not to realize that a 3 year old child is no longer with you. Not when you are supposed to be the responsible adult caring for a child at a crowded theme park.

Kilmer Middle School in Virginia has a no touching policy. By no touching I don’t just mean no hitting, pushing, or groping, I mean no touching…at all.

Want to celebrate the school team’s victory over your rival? Better not give your classmate a high five or you’ll end up in the office. Want to hold hands with your girl/boy friend? Not at Kilmer. Need to tap someone on the shoulder to get there attention? Oh no you don’t!

Kilmer Middle School is located in Fairfax county in Virginia. This is not a district wide policy. A Fairfax representative has said that there are other middle schools and some elementary schools with a “keep your hands to yourself” policy, but the article doesn’t say if those policies are as extreme as the one at Kilmer.

The principal of the school, Deborah Hernandez, thinks that the rule “makes sense” because the school is over crowded. According to Hernandez the policy allows students to have their “personal space” protected. She also claims that many of her students “lack the maturity to understand what is acceptable or welcome.”

Oh please!

This woman doesn’t seem to understand middle school age children. I have worked with and talked to enough 5th graders to know that the vast majority of them do know what is acceptable or welcome when touching another person. That doesn’t mean they always follow it, but they do know.

For the sake of this argument, though, let’s say that they don’t know. How does having them not touch anyone at all teach them what is and isn’t appropriate/welcome? All this policy does is teach that human contact in any form is bad.

It also gives one more rock for someone to hurl at education.