I just don't find it funny when posters title their diaries with references to short bus rides, or make comments in postings as such.
Sorry to be a bore. Sorry to sound humourless. But at the end of the day making jokes about people at the top of our government who are wilfully ignorant; who are dishonest and deceptive; who are just palin bad... and ascribing to their actions we don't like or judgements we don't agree with special education needs, or as being retarded, or just simply riding the short bus to school... it just disappoints me.
Democrats are supposed to believe deeply, at a fundamental level, in a society that benefits everyone, and in particular protects those with special needs, or the weak, or the poor, from those who would opress them... aren't they?
Special needs children are exactly that. They have special needs that are not met by lumping them in with the populous at large. One of the strengths, in theory, of the US education system is its willingness to try to keep such children engaged with their peers by schooling them together.
Sadly, like too many other aspects of the US education system I am finding that this seems to be largely a failure too, or at the least substantively sub-optimal.
(And no, teachers, I am not attacking you for the failings of the US education system, but until those on the left actually take a look at the world's education systems and realise JUST HOW BAD ours is we will never save this country from its decline. This is down to resources, high-level organization and philosophy - probably for another post.)
You see, if special needs kids are helped into the mainstream population through their classes, yet stigmatized throughout life for their status - beyond their control - as special education children then how much have we really helped them?
And make no bones about it, you stigmatize these children every time you make jokes about someone being retarded, or a spastic, or riding the short bus, or... well you get the picture.
One of my biggest surprises was finding that here in Texas, where they seem to believe in anything BUT helping those that need it, my school district has a wonderful program for children with autism. Watching my son come out of his shell and start to say Daddy and make more eye contact moves me to tears. I am so very happy and grateful for it.
When I see him off on the short bus in the mornings, and hold his little sister as we wave him goodbye - even though most of the time he doesn't acknowledge us doing so - I go inside happy, knowing that he is going to have another great day and come home that little bit better off.
So no, I don't see Rumsfeld, or Bush, or Cheney or any of that lot on the bus with him as he rides it to school. I really wish none of the other posters here did either.