Contact the Candidates– Let’s get them talking about Autism!

Let’s get the candidates talking about Autism. If you are reading this you most likely are a family or friend of a family with Autism. With the statistics skyrocketing we have to deal with it now.  Please consider Autism in your candidate choosing process and ask your candidate– or all of them– to start talking about it. 

To make it really easy for you– below are the links for contact pages for the top 10 candidates. Please ask them to start talking about Autism.

Democrats:

John Edwards: http://www.johnedwards.com/about/contact/form/

Barack Obama: http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/contact2

Hillary Clinton: http://www.hillaryclinton.com/help/contact/

Dennis Kucinich: http://www.dennis4president.com/ (I couldn’t find anything beyond newsletter sign up)

Republicans:

John McCain: http://www.johnmccain.com/Contact/

Ron Paul: http://www.ronpaul2008.com/contact/form

Mitt Romney: http://www.mittromney.com/CommentForm

Mike Huckabee: information@explorehuckabee.com  (I couldn’t find a fill out form for him– so, here’s the email address.)

I Love to Hate Clinton… but there are cracks in my armor

I don’t like Hillary Clinton. It’s everything and nothing about her. Maybe I’m too old fashioned… maybe she seemed like a big phony… maybe she “stood by her (lying, cheating, SOB) man”… whatever it is– was– I’m starting to re-think my position.

Her contained, lady-like, emotional display earlier this week made me look at her as if she is human for the first time.  I lived in Washington DC when the Clintons arrived– at the time of the very suspicious suicide, at the time when their investments were questioned and there were all kinds of rumors circling about her having an affair of her own… by the time Monica came along I was gone from there and no longer privy to inside the beltway gossip– I’ll bet it was fun at the RNC!!

I have friends who are big Hillary supporters and know her personally. They say that in person she is a real human being– funny, passionate and smart. I’ve never met her and don’t have a personal experience to draw upon.

 Anyway, I’m going to take a new look at her Health Care and Autism Plans and see where that leads me.  Economically– I think she has as good of a shot at fixing things as any of the other top candidates. These are the issues that matter the most to me and will weigh much heavier than their like-ability or what they think about immigration or abortion. I’ll keep you informed of my progress.

Hillary Clinton Promised to Find Out What Causes Autism

A couple of nights ago I had CSPAN on while drifting to sleep and a Clinton Speech in New Hampshire came on. She brought up Autism– without being asked anything about it– and promised to find out what causes it. Was I dreaming?

Can she make that promise while endorsing mandatory vaccines? Seems a bit contradictory since vaccines (Thimerasol) seem to be the most likely cause. (At least Ron Paul’s health-care plan gives us a choice on vaccinations… ) There are certainly other theories– older father, environmental causes, and heredity are just some of them. Another theory for the explosion in autism diagnosis is the expansion of the definition. In past generations, people who were high functioning might have just been considered eccentric.

I don’t have any answers and,  apart from living with an autistic child and reading everything Temple Grandin writes, I have no expertise.

While I applaud Mrs. Clinton’s ambitious promise to find out what causes Autism, I’m skeptical that she can actually do it.  And, if it matters so much to her why hasn’t she done anything as a member of Congress?Don’t they hold the purse strings?

Any politician would be fool to claim apathy towards those of us who’s lives are affected by Autism– but, what have any of these folks done? Huckabee got a $400 haircut to benefit Autism Research– big deal. Richardson actually expanded services in New Mexico. What have Edwards, Clinton, Obama, McCain, Romney, Paul, Thompson and rest of the pack done?

Hillary Clinton talks about her track record– accomplishments– what has she done for the “least of these”? Am I missing something? Has she done something that I’ve missed?

I welcome your comments and am an undecided Ohio voter. I do vote and will vote for the person who, in my view, is the strongest on the Economy and on Autism.