Republicans Want to Put Retarded Kids in Guillotines

OK, so that headline isn't "technically" true (actually, it probably is, but the Captain can't prove it). What they're really trying to do is put programs for children with special needs on the chopping block.

These tough times call for shared sacrifice. This goes double for people too lazy to be rich, too weak to walk on their own two feet, and too "mentally disabled" to be useful members of society.

And you really have to admire the GOP's political courage to propose funding cuts aimed at the mentally disabled, their most natural constituency.

The House GOP's budget, which passed last month, takes a hatchet to programs for disabled kids and Special Olympics athletes. The proposed cuts could force the closure of at least one Special Olympics program, which is funded through the Department of Education. Dubbed Project UNIFY, the program serves more than 750,000 students in 43 states and draws from techniques used in Special Olympics training for activities in public schools.

The program includes sports teams that pair disabled athletes with nondisabled athletes; developmental activities for young children with disabilities; and anti-discrimination programs to combat bullying in schools. Special Olympics president and CEO Tim Shriver has said the program is at the forefront of a national movement to fight bias against the disabled and, in a recent interview on MSNBC, he denounced the GOP cuts: "It wasn't a haircut—it was a guillotine job for the programs for health and education for children with special needs."

[Mother Jones]