Editorial #205: Did You Remember To Buy Oil 2?

Autism Politico did a post on February 4th called Did You Remember to Buy Oil?  

At the time that post was made, there was turmoil in Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen. Now there is turmoil in Bahrain, Libya, Jordan, and signs of turmoil in Iran, Syria and Uganda as well.

And so, did you remember to buy oil? Because it’s probably too late now.

Ah, we’re just spitting into the wind. No one listens to us.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #204: “Let’s All Be Friends!-Not!”

In Editorial #190, Autism Politico told you how Brian R. King and Laura Lum Corby had created a Facebook group to unify the Aspie community.

This was what it says on the FB Group’s Page:

 

This group is being created in the hope of unifying the autism community at large.

The autism community, unfortunately, is very fragmented and splintered. Though there are many different viewpoints, what is obvious to me is that we agree on much more than we disagree on. It becomes a very heated debate at times, but the community needs to recognize as a whole that there is power in numbers and a cohesive community can accomplish millions of times more than what a fractured community can. Energy needs to be focused on those things that are agreed upon, so all these groups can work synergistically towards positive change

Well here is what Laura Lum Corby posted elsewhere just a few days ago:

Laura Corby replied 10 days ago //

“This is Zoey’s most recent post targeting my Autism Community Unification Group, simply because she disagrees with some of my views. I’m sorry, but that is absolutely NO reason to target people, bully them, and call in her cronies to flag and report a group that has done nothing wrong and has been 100% dedicated to unifying both sides in this debate. We have made it clear we welcome ALL viewpoints and expect all to respect the views of others, agreeing to disagree as adults. Instead, because we don’t 100% agree with her views, she sent the message below asking her peers to target, flag and have our profiles and groups deleted.

“Sorry, but the only bully here is Zoey Roberts and her clan.

“Not only is this unacceptable, it’s liable and is causing damages when business pages are shut down. There’s a law suit brewing here.”

Autism Politico wonders why Corby isn’t trying to work harder to bring Zoey into the fold. Isn’t that what her Autism Community Unification Group is all about???

Maybe Corby and King aren’t serious about unifying the autism community. Or maybe they only want to unify the people and groups that they want to unify, leaving the rest to wander aimlessly out there in cyber-space.

Or maybe they are beginning to realize that unifying the autism community is a lost cause.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #203: Gibberish says a lot!

Autism Politico took a look at the video that shows a reporter who suddenly lost her ability to speak in the midst of her live televised report.

KCBS-TV reporter Serene Branson was doing a stand-up Sunday outside the Staples Center where the award show was held when her speech became incoherent. The station quickly cut away, and she was examined by paramedics and recovered at home.

Branson’s incoherence fueled Internet speculation that she suffered an on-air stroke. But doctors at the University of California, Los Angeles where she went to get a brain scan and blood work done ruled it out.

Doctors said the kind of migraine Branson suffered can mimic symptoms of a stroke.

The “internet speculation” surely happened because people saw the event live. Let us ask you, would our recount of the event here be as interesting to you as seeing the actual event?

Either way, what happened is what happened, but the degree to which people talk about something can sometimes be determined by how that something is presented to them.

Our question is why?

Such a loss of ability to speak coherently is alarming. People should be just as concerned about this reporter whether they see it live or whether they read about it.

Could this explain why people are ambivalent about autism and autistics? Because most people don’t see it/them up front?

Food for thought.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #202: What Ne’eman Isn’t Doing

Autism Politico reads in Disability Scoop that:

Under Obama’s proposal, funding to ensure voter access for people with disabilities will be eliminated. And there will be $104 million less in federal money available to build new housing for those with disabilities.

What’s more, a program that administers federal grants to promote the inclusion of people with developmental disabilities in the community is slated to be cut nearly in half.

Ari Ne’eman,  sits on the President’s National Council on Disability, which has people who are  

“appointed to represent people with disabilities, national organizations concerned with people with disabilities, providers and administrators of services to people with disabilities, people engaged in conducting medical or scientific research relating to people with disabilities, business concerns, and labor organizations. A majority of NCD members are people with disabilities. NCD members are broadly representative of minority and other individuals and groups.”

Here is what Ari was quoted as saying in Disability Scoop about the new Obama plan:

“There’s a lot of stuff that’s very concerning,” says Ari Ne’eman, president of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. “Everybody recognizes that these are difficult fiscal times but we need to make sure that we aren’t sacrificing the long-term rights and opportunities for people with disabilities.”

Given that Ari Ne’eman has been appointed to represent people with disabilities, that is not a very strong statement in our opinion.

What’s your opinion?

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #201: Popular Kids More Likely to Bully

Autism Politico recently read an article that states that popular kids are more likely to bully. Since this is common knowledge, and old news, we ought not to waste time doing an entry about the study, but since many NTs seems to have this “disease” that forces them to bully unpopular kids in order to keep and maintain their popularity, we thought posting some of the finds might cause popular NTs who bully to seek help for themselves, or at least try to get out of this perpetual state of fantasy that being popular is a good thing.

Those at the 98th percentile of popularity were 40 per cent more aggressive than the kids in the top 2 per cent. They were also about 28 per cent more aggressive than the kids at the very bottom of the social pecking order.

Those of us who have been bullied could have told everyone this, but because bullied people are unpopular, people seldom listen to them.

85 per cent of the time, an act of bullying is witnessed by other children.

And 75 per cent of the time those watching are encouraging the bully, Prof. Pepler adds.

That’s pretty interesting, and what parents should remember is that if their kids are getting bullied, it may be a GOOD thing, because it means that their kid is not part of the 85% of children who witness bullying and the 75% of kids that egg the bully on.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #200: No, We Did Not Forget Valentine’s Day

What Autism Politico is hoping is that everyone remembers to love everyone as much as they can they can every day of the year, not just more than usual on one day of the year.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #199: Observation #8

Autism Politico has observed that the proverbs Autism Politico posts make sense, but hardly anyone appears to listen to them, because they keep making the mistakes which proverbs warn against.

Now why is that?

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #198: Quote #13

Autism Politico wants you to know that there is a Spanish proverb that goes something like this: “He who loses money, loses much; he who loses a friend, loses more; but he who loses his spirits, loses all.”

Have you put your money into an autism organization which has worked against you? Have you befriended people who have mistreated you, or your fellow autistics? If these autism organizations or friends have crushed your spirit, then drop these autism organizations and these friends before you lose everything that matters.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #197: A Taxing Editorial

If you’re getting a refund on your taxes, Autism Politico wants you to ask yourself why that is? What you may have done is give money to the government for them to hold for as long as a year before they give it back to you. In the meantime, you haven’t earned any interest on that money, and its absence reduced the amount of cash on hand you may have had to pay your bills with.

Let’s say you’re going to get $500.00 back from the government. And let’s say you’re carrying a $500.00 balance on your credit card. How much interest are you accumulating on that balance because you have to pay it off in installments rather than all at once?

There are many ways use lose money on what you do with your taxes. If you have a paid tax preparer give you your refund to you in advance, they may charge you for that. Remember, the money you will be getting is YOURS, and these paid tax preparers are charging you a fee to give it to you now instead of when it would naturally arrive from the government in the mail.

And just one slight little whine while we’re at it. The US government and some state governments are not sending out tax instructions or tax forms this year in an effort for you to file online. It saves the government money. But since a good portion of the American populace doesn’t have internet access, they are having to spend maybe a hundred dollars to have a paid tax preparer to do taxes that people might have been able to do themselves, just so that the paid tax preparers could submit the forms electronically.

Even if you go online yourself and print off the forms yourself, it may be more expensive for you to buy the paper and ink than the cost of the government printing the forms and sending them to you.

Keep that in mind.

So to save yourself money, if you do your own taxes, you might want to continue to do them rather than give in and go to a paid tax preparer. It might cost you more to print the forms yourself, but at least you will save yourself a ridiculous fee for tax preparation. If you have a paid tax preparer doing your taxes, don’t get an early refund if you have to pay a fee for it, unless the money from that early refund can be used to prevent yourself from incurring greater expense elsewhere. For example, if there is a ten percent fee on your $500.00 early refund, that means you pay $50.00 to get $500.00. Your net is $450.00. But if that $450.00 saves you from paying extra hundreds of dollars on credit card interest, or saves you from being evicted from your apartment, or keeps you from being foreclosed on, then go for the cash.

Obviously you don’t want to underpay what you owe to the government either. You can get a penalty on your taxes for that. But always ask yourself what you can do to make sure you don’t overpay your taxes each year. And don’t do anything without consulting a financial adviser. We’re not giving out financial advice here. Just offering an opinion. We may be wrong.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #196: Help Us!

Just a note with regard to the last editorial and with regard to many others. Autism Politico gets tired of having to do the research for everyone who reads these editorials. When we post something that we’ve researched, we do it knowing that chances are you haven’t done any research because you’re lazy. It’s more or less like a free public service that we are providing as is, and with a “use at your own risk” notation.

We wish there was not a need for us to have to post these editorials, because we have private lives which involve doing things which are much more enjoyable than writing blog entries.

So wise up people. Educate yourselves, and put us out of our volunteer jobs. Help us get back to our families.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.