Fake service dogs hurt everyone

Multiple issues in service dog industry for people with autism, PTSD

By ALLEN G. BREED - AP National Writer
May 04, 2019

"About a month after losing Bailey, Katie committed suicide. Her mother is convinced things would have been different had Bailey worked out. "My Katie would still be alive today if we had been given a trained service dog," Evans says."

APEX, N.C. (AP) -- All the counseling, therapy and medication did little to ease 9-year-old Sobie Cummings' crippling anxiety and feelings of isolation. And so a psychiatrist suggested that a service dog might help the autistic child connect with other kids.

To Glenn and Rachel Cummings, Mark Mathis seemed like a dream come true. His kennel, Ry-Con Service Dogs, was just a couple of hours away, and he, too, had a child with autism. But what clinched the decision were Mathis' credentials.

"Is Ry-Con a certified program? Yes," stated an online brochure. "In 2013, Mark was certified as a NC state approved service dog trainer with a specialty in autism service dogs for children."

Ten months and $14,500 later, the family brought home a shaggy mop of a dog that Sobie had come to view as her "savior." But when they opened the front door, Okami broke from Glenn Cummings' grasp and began mauling one of the family's elderly dogs — all as Sobie watched from the stairs in mute horror.

It was only after they had returned Okami and asked for a refund that the family learned the truth: Mathis was not a state-certified dog trainer. In fact, North Carolina has no such certification program — and neither does any other state.

The service dog industry — particularly in the field of "psychiatric" service dogs for people with autism and post-traumatic stress disorder — has exploded in recent years. But a near complete absence of regulation and oversight has left needy, desperate families vulnerable to incompetence and fraud.

"It is a lawless area. The Wild West," says David Favre, a law professor at Michigan State University and editor of its Animal Legal and Historical Center website.

Properly training a service dog can take up to 1 ½ years and cost upward of $50,000, depending on the tasks it is taught to perform. But the Americans with Disabilities Act does not require that a service dog be professionally trained or certified. And, according to the U.S. Department of Justice , local and state agencies are prohibited from requiring that the dogs be registered.

"It needs to be specially trained to do tasks that relate to the person's disability, but it doesn't say anything about who does the training or the quality of training or the efficacy of it," says Lynette Hart, a professor of veterinary medicine at the University of California, Davis. "So it's a very broad, wide-open barn door."
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PTSD Netherlands Veterans Survived Combat, But Country Can Kill Them?

Netherlands Euthanasia for PTSD?

Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 27, 2018

One of my co-workers walked over to my desk with a very stunned expression. She showed me a printout of an article she saw on FOX. "Belgian officials are investigating whether doctors improperly euthanized a woman with autism, the first criminal investigation in a euthanasia case since the practice was legalized in 2002 in the European nation." 

Three doctors from East Flanders are being investigated on suspicion of having "poisoned" Tine Nys in 2010. The 38-year-old had been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism, two months before she died in an apparently legal killing by a doctor that she had asked for.

The article went on with this piece of news. "In the 15 years since doctors were granted the right to legally kill patients, more than 10,000 people have been euthanized. Only one case has previously been referred to prosecutors; that case was later dropped."

I looked up what I could find from journals and official reports.

Actually it seems the Netherlands has a problem with citizens with in any of these health issues.

This is from JAMA research

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide of Patients with Psychiatric Disorders in the Netherlands 2011–2014

If you have PTSD, they can help you die? Seriously? If you are grieving and depressed they can help you die? If you have Autism?

If their citizens are given up on that easily, then safe bet their veterans are as well.

Smoky Mountain News has this about PTSD and "The Last Post bugle."

“The Last Post bugle call originated in the late 1600s when Britain was campaigning in the Netherlands,” said Ulrich. “Every night they would go to each of the camps, and make sure the outposts were set up so they wouldn’t be attacked. They would have drummers play to signal their movements from camp to camp. At the very last one, ‘The Last Post’ was played, and that meant that it was time to return. It signaled the end of a soldier’s day, but now it commemorates the end of a soldier’s life.”

Ulrich’s collection of relics will also be on display, along with those of others; rounding out the event will be members of the school’s English department, who’ll read poetry and other works, as well as history professor David Dorondo, who’ll be on hand to answer questions about the war.One of them might be on the historical perspective of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD; Ulrich said that although PTSD has been recognized since antiquity, it’s evolved from being called “shell shock” during WWI and “battle fatigue” during WWII.

But it seems the Netherlands has a problem with veterans and PTSD.

Srebrenica massacre army veterans drop damages claim against Dutch state
Dutch News NL
June 22, 2018

A group of army veterans who were suing the Dutch state for compensation for the trauma they suffered after being sent on ‘an impossible mission’ in Srebrenica have dropped their claim, the Telegraaf said on Friday. Some 230 men in 2017 launched their campaign for a ‘symbolic’ €22,000 each – or €1,000 for every year since the Srebrenica massacre took place. The soldiers were serving in the Dutch battalion Dutchbat III protecting the Muslim enclave in 1995 when it was over-run by Bosnian Serbs. They rounded up and massacred some 8,000 men and boys while under the control of Dutch soldiers.

Part of the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial. Photo: Dinos Michail via Depositphotos.com

Trust

Their lawyer Michael Ruperti has now told the Telegraaf that they now had sufficient trust that the defence ministry would give them sufficient support to drop the claim. ‘This has never been about money. This was a lever to make the defence ministry realise that something needs to be done to do justice to this group,’ he said. The veterans claimed the Dutch government could have known the mission was impossible to execute and say the outside world has blamed them for not being able to prevent the massacre. This, they says, has caused them social, emotional and financial damage. The defence ministry currently only compensates soldiers who can prove that they are suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

It has bothered me for a long time that I do not seem to find reports out of the Netherlands on veterans with PTSD. Now I know why. Really odd considering that I heard from University of Rotterdam back in 2006.

Which shows they were way ahead of many other countries around the world. So how did they arrive at this heartbreaking decision that mental health patients are so hopeless and helpless that death is fine with them?

Fort Campbell Solider Saved Drowning Autistic Teenager

Fort Campbell Soldier Saves Autistic Teen From Drowning

News Channel 5

Jonquil Newland 

August 18, 2017

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Recalling the events that happened still bring Martie Weeks to tears. Her family was tubing down the Red River in Clarksville on Sunday when she and her autistic son, Ronnie Harris, became separated.

"The current had taken me about 20 feet from him," Weeks said. 

It had rained the day before and the water was a bit higher than normal. The current wedged Ronnie under a tree.

"I was just holding on to the tree branch," said Ronnie. 

"He was struggling for a little bit and then he stopped struggling, there was no more struggle, and I'm screaming for him stand up," recalled Martie. 

Martie's screams could be heard up the river where U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Timothy Hansen and his family were enjoying the day.

"My mother, she's the one that heard it, and I turned over and I could see her face shriek. I was like, 'What's going on?' She said, 'Go save that baby,'" Hansen said. 

With that, Hansen was in a sprint down the river. He grabbed Ronnie and spent several minutes getting him to shore; however, for a moment, Ronnie wasn't breathing.

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Disabled children not good enough for Marines?

Denied accompanied tour, family claims discrimination
Stars and Stripes
By Chris Carroll
Published: October 15, 2013

WASHINGTON — On Aug. 30, Marine Master Sgt. Aarond Roloson boarded a plane at Ronald Reagan National Airport for the first leg of a trip to his next assignment on Okinawa. But instead of leaving the Washington area with his wife and children on what they’d thought would be an overseas adventure — an accompanied three-year tour to Okinawa — the 38-year-old Roloson flew alone.

His wife, Christina, and their five children drove back to a motel in Fredericksburg, Va.

Now the family is fighting to reunite after a Navy medical screening board on Okinawa decided Roloson’s two oldest children, Daniel, 16, and Brenna, 13, are “not suitable for service” on Okinawa because of a recent diagnoses including mild autism and anxiety. Because of the Navy finding, the Marine Corps changed Roloson’s orders to an unaccompanied tour.

The decision is potentially life-altering for the family, which will be separated as it deals with the implications of Daniel’s and Brenna’s diagnoses, along with the military’s reaction to them — one the parents say amounts to discrimination.
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JBLM soldier arrested in Wisconsin killing

JBLM soldier arrested in Wisconsin killing
A Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier has been arrested in connection with the torture and killing of her husband’s autistic stepbrother in Wisconsin last summer.
The News Tribune
STACIA GLENN
STAFF WRITER
Published: Feb. 7, 2013

A Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier has been arrested in connection with the torture and killing of her husband’s autistic stepbrother in Wisconsin last summer.

Shannon Remus, 26, who works as a military police officer, waived extradition Wednesday in Pierce County Superior Court and is expected to be transported back to Dane County to face charges in the next few days.

Detectives from Wisconsin arrested her Tuesday on base on suspicion of hiding a corpse. The woman’s husband, Jeffrey Vogelsberg, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse. Vogelsberg’s landlord and mother also are jailed in the case.
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Back side of National News, Hell for our troops

A wife called police because her husband was suicidal and now they are being evicted from privatized military housing. No, you didn't read that wrong. A private company is in control of military housing. The general public had no idea this has been going on. Why? Because the 24-7 national news only has time for politics and stopped covering what politicians do.

Police Standoff Has Navy Family Facing Eviction
Aug 29, 2012
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
by William Cole

An 18-year Navy man, his wife and their three children -- one of whom is autistic -- are being kicked out of their Forest City military housing because the sailor was stressed, threatened to take his life inside his home, and caused a 12-hour standoff with police before he was taken into custody, the man's wife said.

"I am horrified that Forest City is trying to remove my family from military housing because they did not like the police in the neighborhood when I called thinking my husband might harm himself," said Melissa Carter.

"Suicide is a huge problem in the military right now, so I was shocked that my trying to get my husband help for what is quite possibly a military-related mental break is being treated so callously by private housing."

The action raises the question as to privatized military housing operator responsibilities at a time when military stress is rising and well-documented.

Chad Carter, a 36-year-old sonar technician on the destroyer USS Chung-Hoon, was admitted to Tripler Army Medical Center's psychiatric ward after the incident and will be in a civilian post-traumatic stress center for at least four weeks, his wife said.

The incident happened Aug. 14 in Radford Terrace housing. On Aug. 17, privatized military housing landlord Forest City sent the Carters a letter saying their month-to-month lease was being terminated and they had 45 days to move out.

A separate barricade situation Thursday in Moanalua Terrace military housing saw a 22-year-old Pearl Harbor sailor armed with a shotgun threaten others before surrendering to police, officials said.

Navy Cmdr. J.P. Orlich, the commander of the Pearl Harbor-based destroyer Chung-Hoon, wrote to Forest City on Aug. 22 asking that the lease "non-renewal" be reconsidered for the Carters.
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Nadia Bloom’s hero said God showed him the way

Nadia Bloom’s hero said God showed him the way
By Bianca Prieto, Orlando Sentinel

6:56 a.m. EDT, April 14, 2010
WINTER SPRINGS — James King says it was an act of God that led him to find Nadia Bloom in a thick swamp early Tuesday.

"God directed me to her," King said hours after finding the 11-year-girl alive.

A day earlier, the 44-year-old University of Central Florida alum was part of a volunteer search crew that had been unable to find Nadia.

But at first light Tuesday, King, a military contractor, entered the woods armed with two cell phones, his shoes taped to his feet and some food and water to give Nadia if she was found. He prayed, quoted Scripture and looked to God to direct him to Nadia.

Then he called her name repeatedly as he ambled through the woods.

"I knew the Lord wanted me to go back in as soon as it was daylight," King said. "I needed him to direct my path. I asked him, would he guide my path?"

The path led him to the middle of the swampy area between state roads 434 and 417 and the girl's gated subdivision, Barrington Estates.

"I said, 'Nadia!' and she answered, 'What?' " said King, recalling a moment about 8:30 a.m.

The missing 11-year-old was sitting calmly on top of a log. She didn't appear to be injured but was "polka-dotted" by bug bites, he said.

He scooped her up gingerly, praised God and then called 911 from the phone he knew was equipped with GPS.
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Nadia Bloom hero said God showed him the way
Pictures: Nadia Bloom found alive
Nadia Bloom 911 call: Listen to the 911 call made by James King upon finding Nadia Bloom
LISTEN NOW: 911 call from Nadia Bloom's mother when girl went missing

Orlando's Gina Incandela, on CBS News

'Silent Gina' Wows Crowds with Song
Music Helped Unlock the Voice of a Little Girl with a Form of Autism -- Now she's Singing the Anthem to Giant Crowds
By Michelle Miller



(CBS) It's only a few steps to center court at the U.S. Open. But getting here has been a long, incredible journey for 7-year-old Gina Incandela, as CBS News Correspondent Michelle Miller reports. Gina's trials began at age 2, when she still wasn't talking. Her parents got a disturbing prognosis. The doctor told Gina's mom, Michelle, "I don't know if she is ever going to speak." Diagnosed with a form of autism, Gina began intensive speech therapy. Progress was slow, until music unlocked the development door. Gina's schoolwork and social skills improved. It turns out, this challenged child has a remarkable gift.
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Silent Gina Wows Crowds with Song
Gina Singing at the Mets Game
Gina Singing at the U.S.Open
Gina's Website
Couric &Co: Gina's Song

If you live in the Orlando area and missed the OperationSafety91 event, make sure you "thank" the media for not letting you know about it. Gina was there and as usual, sang with perfection.

Gina Marie Incandela to sing for OperationSafety91 event to honor first responders

2nd Annual Tribute to First Responders in Orlando

9 year old autistic girl takes grandma's car for drive, hits police car

Girl, 9, drives into cop car 1:10
A 9-year-old girl took her grandmother's car and led police on a chase at speeds over 90 mph. WKRN's Teresa Weakley reports.

Gina Marie Incandela to sing for OperationSafety91 event to honor first responders

This is Gina’s story.
Gina Marie Incandela is seven years old. She attends second grade at a private school in Kissimmee, Florida. On the average day she can be found running, jumping, playing, talking with her many friends at school and learning as much as she can. She loves to learn new things. She also sings and plays the piano.

When Gina was about 2 years old she was diagnosed with PDD NOS (an autistic spectrum disorder). The pervasive development disorder diagnosis was a result of evaluations sought because Gina could not speak at age 2. In fact, Gina did not really start speaking words until after age 3. In addition to a speech and language delay, she had many other developmental delays. She did not have age appropriate social skills. She had poor eye contact, sensory issues, and feeding issues among others. She had difficulty transitioning and did not adapt well to new environments. She was often afraid in public and could not tolerate noisy places such as theme parks or carnivals. She had odd behaviors such as scratching the floors and walls and stacking her toys instead of playing with them. She had no imaginary play skills. When she went to a playground, she showed no interest in other children. She would simply pick up sticks and rocks.

The doctors that diagnosed her were unable to state whether her condition would improve or worsen. They were unable to tell us whether she would ever be able to speak. Their advice was to enroll her in a specialized program as quickly as possible to give her the best chance to overcome her disabilities. She attended the UCP Charter School in Osceola County in a full time day program starting at around age 2.

Unfortunately many families are sharing the experience of such a diagnosis more frequently every day. Gina received various therapies including, occupation, speech and language and behavioral. She is now in a “regular” class at a private school. She still receives therapy at school and at home but, continues to thrive and advance.

Gina has worked very hard over the past few years to reach every goal set for her. Now, this beautiful child that once could not speak, has established herself as an up and coming vocal star. She has performed the National Anthem at major events around the Country including the 2008 US Open, NBA, MLB and NHL season games. She is also no stranger to a recording studio. At the age of 6, Gina released her first CD single entitled “I Dare To Dream”. Written just for Gina by songwriter/producer Thomas Michael Dale, “I Dare To Dream” is an inspirational ballad that sends a message of hope.

read more here
http://www.ginachildperformer.com/id1.html


Go here for more information on OperationSafety91
http://www.operationsafety91.com/home.php

Austistic Marine shines light on meeting quotas

Story update July 21, 2009

Autistic Marine from Orange County pleads guilty to fraudulent enlistment, other charges
By Tony Perry Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:57:13 PM


Case of autistic Marine brings recruiting problems to the forefront
Faced with quotas, a few recruiters are taking shortcuts that allow those unfit for service into the military.
By Tony Perry
July 6, 2009
Reporting from San Diego -- A few days after he arrived at boot camp here, Joshua Fry no longer wanted to be a Marine.

He was confused by the orders drill instructors shouted at him. He was caught stealing peanut butter from the chow hall. He urinated in his canteen. He talked back to the drill instructors. He refused to shave.


Finally, he set out toward the main gate as if to head home. He was blocked, but now he had the chance to tell his superiors a secret: He was autistic. Fry figured this admission would persuade the Marines to let him return to the group home in Irvine for disturbed young adults where he was living when he enlisted.

Instead, he was sent back to Platoon 1021, Company B. The drill instructors became more helpful, and in April 2008 he finished the grueling 11-week regimen and was sent to Camp Pendleton for infantry training.

Within weeks he was under arrest for desertion and possession of child pornography.


Documents in Fry's court-martial case detail a troubled upbringing and a Marine career that was both improbable and misbegotten.

But far from being a routine instance of a young man unable to adjust to military life, the Fry case has exposed an awkward issue for the Marines and other military services: Recruiters sometimes take ethical shortcuts to make their quotas at a time when Americans have tired of the nation's wars and finding recruits is difficult.

According to court documents, Fry's recruiter knew he was autistic. The Marine Corps is investigating the recruiter's conduct.
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Case of autistic Marine brings recruiting problems to the forefront

Scientists find genetic variations linked to autism

Autism research: Scientists find genetic variations linked to autism
By Trine Tsouderos Tribune staff reporter
12:00 PM CDT, April 28, 2009
Researchers have found that many people with autism share common genetic variations, a discovery that may improve diagnosis and offers the promise of developing treatments for the frustratingly mysterious disorder.

Their findings, published in the journal Nature, compared the genomes of thousands of autistic people to those of thousands of people without the disorder--a massive task that new technology has only recently made possible. The genome is the complex system of DNA coding that builds and runs the human body.

The review showed that most autistic people have a genetic variation in a portion of their DNA that affects the way brain cells connect with one another. Scientists also reported a link between autism and small "mistakes" in another DNA segment involved with cell communication.

Both reports add weight to the idea that autism is related to problems with the way brain cells connect.
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Scientists find genetic variations linked to autism

Boy hangs self in cell-like room with cord from teacher

School forced kids into 'seclusion rooms'
Parents file suit after boy hangs self in cell-like room with rope from teacher.

Story Highlights
Mentally disabled, autistic kids injured, traumatized in school seclusion rooms

13-year-old Georgia boy hanged himself in room with cord teacher gave him

Autistic Iowa girl confined in school storage closet where she pulled out her hair

By Ashley Fantz
CNN


MURRAYVILLE, Georgia (CNN) -- A few weeks before 13-year-old Jonathan King killed himself, he told his parents that his teachers had put him in "time-out."


"We thought that meant go sit in the corner and be quiet for a few minutes," Tina King said, tears washing her face as she remembered the child she called "our baby ... a good kid."

But time-out in the boy's north Georgia special education school was spent in something akin to a prison cell -- a concrete room latched from the outside, its tiny window obscured by a piece of paper.

Called a seclusion room, it's where in November 2004, Jonathan hanged himself with a cord a teacher gave him to hold up his pants.


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part two

California:Autistic boy seeks hope in wildfire's ashes

Autistic boy seeks hope in wildfire's ashes
Seven-year-old Jonathan Reyes whimpered softly as he and his parents approached what was left of their house, one of more than than 500 structures destroyed by wildfires in Los Angeles County. The Reyeses were anguished about explaining the loss to their son. Any child would find such loss devastating, but Jonathan is even more fragile. He has autism. full story
Family says goodbye to burned home
Bonfire sparked wildfire, authorities say

Disney Movie helped father and son survive 15 hours in ocean

Movie line helps pair survive 15 hours in water


DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Repeating a favorite line from a Disney movie helped a Florida father and his autistic son survive more than 15 hours treading water in the Atlantic, the man said Wednesday.

Walter Marino, 46, said on NBC's "Today" show that the call-and-response of a catchphrase from "Toy Story" kept the pair in touch as choppy waters pulled them apart. "To infinity," the father would yell. "And beyond," Christopher Marino, 12, would finish.

"Buzz Lightyear got us through," Marino said, referring to the cartoon character in the film. "I'd be screaming 'To infinity, and beyond,' and then I would hear him, and it would get more and more distant until finally I couldn't hear anything else."

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Michael Savage tries to remove his own words

Savage cannot undo the pain he caused so many parents nor can he change his reputation as a judgmental, uninformed, talking head paid for doing it. It's not like he is an unpaid, opinionated moron just calling into a radio show to slam disabled kids. He's paid big bucks to do what he does and the advertisers should be ashamed of themselves for paying him. We know there are people in this country who haven't the slightest clue about disabilities, illnesses and suffering simply because it hasn't happened to them yet. When it does, when things like this touch the lives of someone they know, they are grateful for the people who fought to help the disabled. The same people they attack and dismiss now. Maybe people like Savage are simpleminded selfish bastards who wouldn't care even if it did come into the lives of someone they know. By the way, it wasn't the "conservatives" who have been backing alternative medicine, as Savage claimed. It's been humans! Everything does not come down to dividing people by parties. It comes from people who think!

If Savage was smearing only misdiagnoses of autism, why did he previously call autism itself a "phony disease"?
Summary: In a rebroadcast of The Savage Nation that aired on the program July 9, portions of which were previously included in a YouTube clip posted on June 30, Michael Savage acknowledged having called autism "a phony disease." The rebroadcast undermines his claim that when he characterized autism as "[a] fraud, a racket" on July 16, Savage was drawing a distinction between the "truly autistic" and those who have been misdiagnosed.


A rebroadcast of The Savage Nation that aired on the program July 9 further undermines Michael Savage's claim that he was referring on July 16 only to misdiagnoses of autism, and not to the disease itself, when he characterized autism as "[a] fraud, a racket." During the rebroadcast, portions of which previously were included in a YouTube clip posted on June 30 -- more than two weeks before Savage made the "fraud" comments that he now claims were taken "out of context" -- Savage acknowledged having called autism "a phony disease."

As Media Matters for America noted, on the July 16 broadcast of his program, Savage said in reference to autism: "In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out." Media Matters further noted that in response to the extensive criticism Savage received, on his July 21 show, he recast those comments to claim that he was "take[n] out of context," falsely suggesting that in his July 16 comments he distinguished between "the truly autistic" and those he described on July 21 as "the misdiagnosed, the falsely diagnosed, and the outright fakers in the autism field." The comments he made that were rebroadcast on July 9 -- acknowledging that he called autism a "phony disease" -- further undermines his claim to distinguish between the "truly autistic" and those who have been misdiagnosed.

In the edition of his show that was rebroadcast on July 9, Savage said:

SAVAGE: Here, remember two weeks ago, I said to you that autism is a phony disease? Do you remember I said that to you? That how could so many children suddenly have it and there be an autism epidemic? In my day, if a kid was a troublemaker, he was a troublemaker. If he shot his mouth off in a classroom, he wasn't called autistic, he was called a pain in the neck. They sent him to a special school for pains in the neck. Now he needs medication. He's got autism.

He also said of autism:

SAVAGE: [A] lot of it [autism] is a racket to collect disability payments from the government, from basically poorer families who've found a new -- a new way to -- to be parasites on the government, which is if -- if you want to collect a little money and get free medical care, you want to get the kid to take tests with help where the answers are given to him before he takes it, just say he's got an illness -- ADD, DDD, ASA. To me, there is one disease that they all have; it's called S-T-U-P-I-D. That's the main illness most of these kids have.

From the July 9 rebroadcast of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:

SAVAGE: Talk radio, if it's good, it's about social commentary. I don't know if you understand that. And it is. You have to be a pretty good social analyst to survive in this business. See, anyone could do politics, you know, read -- they read through the 18 papers in the morning, and the next thing is they're a great pundit that evening, or that morning -- read this -- a pundit.

That's easy to do. That's baby talk at talk radio. It's the social commentary and weaving it together in a political format that makes for interesting talk radio. And nobody can beat me at it -- nobody. Nobody. I'm the super heavyweight champion of social commentary in radio. Nobody comes near me; ask anyone who listens. I don't care if they're my detractor. They know I'm better than anybody.

But what I'm getting at is have you noticed that liberals laugh at herbal medicine. They laugh at homeopathy. They laugh at nutrition. They're all gung-ho, all of a sudden AMA-establishment medicine? How did that happen? That only conservatives -- we conservatives -- understand the value of complementary medicine, which is what it was once called, or alternative medicine, which is what it was once called. How can we understand it and these so-called liberals, who are into liberalism and freeing themselves, do not free themselves of the yoke of modern medicine? How come? You have an answer to that one? 'Cause I do, and I understand it very well. I know very well.

Here, remember two weeks ago, I said to you that autism is a phony disease? Do you remember I said that to you? That how could so many children suddenly have it and there be an autism epidemic? In my day, if a kid was a troublemaker, he was a troublemaker. If he shot his mouth off in a classroom, he wasn't called autistic, he was called a pain in the neck. They sent him to a special school for pains in the neck. Now he needs medication. He's got autism.

Today, they've done -- re-diagnosed -- redefined a troublesome children. And now they're calling him autistic all of a sudden. They all have a syndrome.

First of all, a lot of it is a racket to collect disability payments from the government, from basically poorer families who've found a new -- a new way to -- to be parasites on the government, which is if -- if you want to collect a little money and get free medical care, you want to get the kid to take tests with help where the answers are given to him before he takes it, just say he's got an illness -- ADD, DDD, ASA. To me, there is one disease that they all have; it's called S-T-U-P-I-D. That's the main illness most of these kids have.

Now you say, "Well, where do you come up with this? That is so cruel of you, Michael." Guess what? I was right again. MSNBC, which is a super left-wing website, has a new article out, called "Autism 'epidemic' may be all in the label." You hear this? Do you hear this finally again confirmed? Savage was right again.

Dateline: Atlanta, by Mike Stobbe, Associated Press: "A few decades ago, people probably would have said kids like Ryan Massey and Eddie Scheuplein were just odd. Or difficult. Both boys are bright. But Ryan, 11, is hyper and prone to angry outbursts" -- hey, the kid's a born talk-radio show host -- "sometimes trying to strangle another kid in his class who annoys him" -- maybe he's a born martial artist.

"Eddie, 7, has a strange habit of sticking his shirt in his mouth and sucking on it." He's an idiot. That's a different story. "Prone to angry outbursts" and "hyper" means he's probably going to be a good -- either a lawyer or a good talk-show host. "Sometimes trying to strangle another kid" -- he's got to control it. He'd probably be a good martial artist or a good ring fighter.

The brother, though? Hopeless. "Sticking his shirt in his mouth and sucking on it" -- finished. Nothing will help him. Give him as many shirts as he wants.

"Both were diagnosed with a form of autism. And it's partly because of children like them that autism appears to be skyrocketing: In the latest estimate, as many as one in 150 children have some form of this disorder." That's bullcrap.

There's not that many children. What it is, it's a racket. It's the drug companies trying to sell a disease. And the American Academy of Pediatrics, I oughta tell you -- the sickest, just the sickest doctors in the country is the American Academy of Pediatrics. They want every child screened -- screened by the age of 2. "Put them on this. Put them on that."

See, there was a time that pediatricians were the lowest-earning doctors in the constellation of MDs because they didn't prescribe drugs. Then they got the idea that they could become just like the other drug peddlers in the medical industry if they could find diseases that they could sell -- peddle drugs to -- whoa, now they have it.

So, there's your answer. I see it all through the lens of correct -- clarity period. "Autism has always been diagnosed by making judgments about a child's behavior; there are no blood or biologic tests. For decades, the diagnosis was given only to kids with severe language and social impairments and unusual, repetitious behaviors." OK, fine.

"Many children with severe autism hit themselves or others, d[idn't] speak and d[idn't] make eye contact." Sounds like most liberals I've known. Most of the kids in Marin County sound like that. They hit themselves with marijuana once a day or they hit themselves with a spike in the night or they hit themselves -- they don't speak. No, they don't. They're like, hmm. And they don't make eye contact -- absolutely born liberals.

Here's another one: "[E]ight years, been in the day program with intense service, still doesn't talk. He's not toilet-trained" -- 19 years old? He doesn't talk. He's not toilet-trained? And "he has a history of trying to eat anything -- even broken glass"?

My friends, that is not autism, that's insanity. He belongs in a mental hospital. That's what they were built for: poor, unfortunate children like this, so that they could get the proper care that they need. They're not autistic. They need a mental hospital with attendants.

So, now, there it is. Now we got a spectrum of so-called illnesses -- autism. They're mentally retarded. It's a sad thing. It's not anything to laugh at. It's not something to laugh at, but stop diagnosing every idiot, moron, stupid kid with a disease to give them a justification. Somebody doesn't bang his head against the wall. Does that -- does that get you going on the right track? Or not?

—L.Y.
go here for video
http://mediamatters.org/items/200807230006?lid=466707&rid=11479992

Savage agenda demands to dismiss

Savage to Media Matters: "I stand by my words"

And nobody has personally suffered more from a sibling, in my case, my brother, who was born brain-damaged. So please, I don't want to hear that I'm insensitive from people who are making these false accusations, because many of them have no children of their own and they're connected with the homosexual mafia group Media Matters, none of whom have children of their own. They're a fascist, homo-- goes out of their way to misquote me, take me out of context, and try to get me in trouble with people who love me. I stand by my words. Media Mat-- and that's it. And that's where I'm going to leave it.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200807210006?lid=462335&rid=11389868

In this quote, Savage proves that his agenda is not about kids needing help with autism, but about going after the "homo" Media Matters. He goes after Al Gore as well in this article. Just once, wouldn't it be great if people could remember they are humans first and understand that when they have the kind of attention Savage gets, he is talking to some people who may believe him. I can just picture a parent with a child being treated for autism taking the kid off of medication just because Savage said what he did. There are some very simple minded people listening to Savage and this could happen. Will Savage take responsibility for what happens when a child is taken off medication? What is he doing even talking about this?

Michael Savage says "Autism is a brat, fraud and racket"

One more example of free speech and an ass who gets paid to prove it.

On July 16, the No. 3 syndicated radio talk show host in the country, Michael Savage, made the following statement on autism:
"Now, you want me to tell you my opinion on autism? ... A fraud, a racket."
Savage went on to say:
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.

During the same broadcast, Savage also attacked those in "the minority community" who suffer from asthma. He stated: "[W]hy 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."
Michael Savage's mean-spirited comments are disgusting and are an affront to basic decency.
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