England is seeing a rise in nastiness toward disabled persons.

Gillian turns over in bed after a restless night with little sleep.  She will have to accept that today is going to be one of those days when she will hardly move.  Maybe sit up later, and phone Mum to see how Dad is today.

 

Gillian lives with a long-term disabling condition which means that her mobility is restricted and variable; she has very little strength in her limbs, and she lives with constant pain.  On a good day she can walk down the stairs from her first floor flat to her mobility scooter, which she has to store in the hallway; on bad days she is unable to leave her flat, or even get out of bed.  She depends on her scooter to remain independent, to get out and about, and to help her mother to care for her father, who has dementia.  A well-qualified and experienced nurse, Gillian would love to be able to work, but she knows that it is out of the question. 

 

Two days ago she struggled downstairs to find a note stuck on her scooter with the one word “scrounger”.

While campaigning yesterday in Woodland Park, Colorado, GOP contender Rick Santorum told a sick child and his mother that they shouldn’t complain about the exorbitant cost of his medication because some people spend $900 on iPads. He appeared unmoved by the plight of the family, staunchly defending drug companies’ right to charge whatever they want.

The candidate also said that the parent and childunjustly felt entitled to get life-saving care at an affordable rate:

GOP contender Rick Santorum had a heated exchange with a mother and her sick young son Wednesday, arguing that drug companies were entitled to charge whatever the market demanded for life-saving therapies.[…]

“People have no problem paying $900 for an iPad,” Santorum said, “but paying $900 for a drug they have a problem with — it keeps you alive. Why? Because you’ve been conditioned to think health care is something you can get without having to pay for it.”

The mother said the boy was on the drug Abilify, used to treat schizophrenia, and that, on paper, its costs would exceed $1 million each year.

Santorum said drugs take years to develop and cost millions of dollars to produce, and manufacturers need to turn a profit or they would stop developing new drugs.

Santorum proceeded to lecture the mother and suggest she should be grateful to the drug companies for saving her son’s life. “He’s alive today because drug companies provide care,” Santorum said. “And if they didn’t think they could make money providing that drug, that drug wouldn’t be here.” He also claimed it would “freeze innovation” if pharmaceutical companies were required to offer their drugs at a reasonable price.

Dear Mr. Santorum:

Undercover Nun is praying for your immortal soul.  God knows, you need it.

In Christ’s love,
Me

(Source: silas216)

If 300-plus black political activists held a convention in the Deep South, and the invited speakers were black, it would inevitably, and correctly, be referred to as a black political event.

So I’m going to call the Tea Party convention I just covered in Myrtle Beach, S.C., what it was: a white political event.

The attendees were friendly, polite and deeply committed to the cause of imposing a no-compromise conservative agenda on the U.S. government and the Republican party in particular.

But, in a state that’s 30 per cent black, there wasn’t a single black face at the event. Or any young faces that I could see. …..

An interesting analysis from north of the border.  Make sure you read the little sidebar about Governor Nikki Haley, the only non-white person in attendance at the Myrtle Beach convention.

Every politician eventually gets stuck with a label from their opponents and supporters that is not always completely accurate. Often, it is best to let the politician’s record speak to whether or not they are, for example, Liberal or conservative and in this technological age, it is relatively simple to gather up-to-the-minute press releases and candidate statements to discern where a politician or candidate stands to attribute the appropriate label. It is problematic, though, for a political candidate to label themselves unless they have integrity to their cause and own a record that verifies their self-description perfectly. Rick Santorum describes himself as a compassionate conservative and although there is absolutely no doubt the man is a conservative of the first order, there is certainly nothing compassionate about him. … A more apropos label for Santorum is a hateful conservative that aligns him with the rest of the Republicans; except the former Pennsylvania senator says in public what other Republicans keep under their hats. …

Go read the whole piece: it’s a doozy, even if the author used inferred when the correct word is implied.  While I’m praying for Mr. Santorum’s immortal soul, I’ll pray for the author’s as well. 

There is absolutely no excuse for not being on the ballot for primaries in any state.

Well, I guess there’s one: because you can’t find enough people who support you.  And that’s just peachy keen with me.

Asked what he thought of the governor’s explanation that he “hates the sin” but “loves the sinner,” Todd Green said, “I have always hated that phrase. I think it’s impossible and you show it by action. If you love the sinner, whatever that means, your policy should reflect that I think, but in the end, I don’t understand the logic behind that at all.”

“Hate the sin, but love the sinner” is one of the worst thoughts to come out of Christianity, not only useless but harmful as well.

There is no room in a Christian for hate.  Hate is not a virtue.  Hate is not a Christian value.  Hate is not a family value.  Hate harms the hated, and it harms the hater even more.  Hate is based on fear, which is not only the opposite of faith, but the rejection of faith.

One of the only two new things that Jesus said was this:

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.

He even repeats it: Love one another as I have loved you.

Did Jesus hate sin?  No.  Sin frustrated Jesus, made Jesus feel pity or sadness.  But hate?  No way.  The love Jesus showed was so complete, so merciful, so infinite and scandalous that it had no room in it for hate.  To love one another as Jesus loves us is to try to see each person we encounter as God’s beloved child, to give anything — even our freedom, our bodies, our lives — so that other persons can have life.

This is the yardstick by which Christians should be measured.  We are not called to hate sin; rather, we are commanded to love all persons, to love as Jesus loves us, to pray for our enemies, to love those who hate us, to forgive infinitely.  You cannot do these things and still have room in your heart for hatred. 

So stop hiding behind this deceitful language: it is impossible to hate the sin but love the sinner. Drop the hate. Just love.

(Source: ryking)