Meet John Boehner

[babsbunny]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRhZT0kK72o&feature=player_embedded

[PA Democrat]

1. Yeah, he's "pro-life" alright. He tried to undo 25 years of progress on

educational rights for children with disabilities back in 2003 when IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) was up for reauthorization. His education staffer told me "You parents should be grateful for what the taxpayers give you out of the goodness of their hearts." Boehner pushed the bill to the House floor for a vote with no hearings and no input from the Democrats on the Committee despite the protests of almost a hundred disability advocacy groups. Guess when the vote took place? The first day of Bush's "Shock and Awe" bombardment of Iraq.

Yeah, he's "pro-life" alright. But if those kids have a disability, they and their parents need to SHUT UP and accept the crumbs the Republicans toss your kid's way.

[rgbecker]

4. I'm going to send this along to Sarah Palin.

And to my Sister, whose son is married to a special ed teacher. My sister is a wacko winger.
Do you have a link about this?

Thanks.

[PA Democrat]

5. Here are a few links discussing the House version of the bill.

I had more but am getting a 404 message on them .

http://www.bridges4kids.org/articles/2003/4-03/Luker4-9-03.html

http://ourchildrenleftbehind.yuku.com/forum/viewtopic/id/775

The bill was drafted entirely by Republican members of the Education and the Workforce Committee (now it is called Education and Labor) which was chaired by John Boehner at the time. I had a number of conversations with an education staffer in George Miller's (D-CA) office (Miller was ranking minority member) and he voiced the Democratic members frustration over being excluded from the drafting of the legislation.

The guy I spoke to in Boehner's office was shockingly rude, callous and arrogant. I had NEVER met that type of attitude in the 10 plus years I had been doing advocacy at that time. Even Rick Santorum's office was decent on many issues dealing with special ed.

Boehner's staffer was expressing the attitude of his boss, I am sure, because the bill his committee put together was atrocious. When I started to go through my list of concerns, the staffer actually interrupted me demanding, "Is it your money?"

When I said, "Excuse me?" because I was sure I had misheard him, he responded with the crack about how we parents should be grateful. I responded that both my husband and I were taxpayers, so yes it WAS our money and it was OUR money that was paying HIS salary.

It is the height of hypocrisy for Boehner to claim to be "pro-life" when he didn't care about the negative impact his bill would have had on the quality of life for kids with special needs.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

2. K&R

[11 Bravo]

3. The only thing I want to meet John Boehner is an out-of-control wood chipper.