The expert will speak...

One of the mouthpieces over at AoA is David Kirby. He is the author of (NO)Evidence of Harm, one of the leading causes of the anti-vaccination fear mongering causing death and disability.

It appears that he has not had any recent employment other than spewing his anti-vaccination bilge there and at the HuffPoop blog.

Now, finally, he floats to the surface with this:

"the waste produced by ... cattle"

Finally, something Kirby is writing about as an expert. Can the Kennedy kid be far behnd?

That word...

Personal matters have kept me from posting. This is not about AoA, but, nonetheless, it expands on some ignorance.

There was an event this week that annoyed me, and Sullivan at LeftBrain/RightBrain posted which triggers this response from me:


Good post. However, it is not just a word, but an institutionalized attitude that needs to be addressed.

Most people think that handicapped sports is merely “cute.” Far from it.

My son was the pen-ultimate torch bearer in the USA for the 2000 Sydney Paraolympics. Was there any media coverage? Heck no.

One may ask when and where the Paraolympics are held? Most people do not know. The answer is simple, immediately following the Olympics on the same venue. Paraolympians have it easier, though. Smaller non-crowds, and those pesky cameras and media types just do not clutter up the landscape.

Every marathon in the US has three divisions, male, female and wheelchair. Do the winners of all three get invited to the Monday morning talk shows?

New York State sponsors The empire State Parks Games for the Physically Challenged at a world class facility (thank you Ted Turner for the now defunct Friendship Games). Come on down! No pesky media types to get in your way. Just 1500 athletes from around the region and Ireland competing. We used to have athletes come from Alabama, Boston, Philadelphia and other locales, but, the benign neglect under former governor George Pataki ended that.

As for Obama’s remark, it is merely an example of non-thinking. It is nothing new.

BTW my son’s bowling average is higher than Obama’s.

What annoyed me most is the fact that Obama was criticized by just those in the media who perpetuate ignoring the Special Athlete.

Hypocrites All.

February 13, 2009, Day 1 of the Post AoA Era

With the unanimous decisions of the "Vaccine Court" being handed down yesterday, the issue of vaccines causing autism has finally been decided.

Yes, I know that the there are vestiges of those who still want to promote the failed theory, but, anyone who actually reads the decisions will see that there is no tomorrow for the anti-vaccination junta and their lemmings at AoA. They have ceased being relevant.

It is now time to move on to actually helping parents and persons with Autism live better lives, and to stop throwing money at the failed hypothesis.

Dan, are you looking to get fired?

In today's edition of AoA, Dan Olmsted, the former journalist now turned propagandist for GRrrrrrr, wrote:

"Olmsted on Autism: He Shoots! He Scores! Fire the Coach!
By Dan Olmsted

I had a strange reaction to this week's story about the high school basketball team manager in Maine. As USA Today reported: "Patrick Thibodeau, who has Down Syndrome, trotted onto the floor Tuesday night for the team's final home game of the season. When the time came to shoot, he nailed a 3-pointer for the second basket of the game. He hit another at the final buzzer."

This reminds us of the awesome J-Mac, Jason McElwain, the team manager with autism who when he finally got the chance scored 6 three pointers in the last 4 minutes of the last game of his senior year. But here's my question: Let's say a third-string player on one of these teams hadn't been in a game all year -- or ever. Coach puts him in the last game. Just so mom and dad can cheer. Kid goes wild! Hits from DOWNTOWN!!! Is un-CON-scious! ... all those sportscaster phrases.

Wouldn't people say, What was this coach thinking? He had one of his best players sitting at the other end of the bench for four long years and didn't know it? Aren't we trying to win here? (We sure were back at Danville High School in Illinois.)

Maybe I'm missing something -- some health concern, some Title IX thing, some nuance. If so, tell me. But geez, if the kid can play, let him play, not pick up sweaty towels. Don't make inclusion on the court or on the field a "very special," made-for-TV story. Make it typical."

I was utterly shocked when I read this. Dan Olmsted, who could not find the Clinic For Special Children in Amish Country, has now found:

NEURODIVERSITY!

Dan, I hope you have a day job.

The Deafening Silence

The Grand Exalted One over at AoI runs a company that manufactures food products using soy. He clearly represents BigSoy. At least one blogger has had one product tested and reported:

A Genisoy Chunky Peanut Butter Fudge bar was submitted to this laboratory out of concern for levels of heavy metals in soy. Soy is known to have high levels of aluminum and cadmium. The found that this particular soy protein bar contained 8.5 ppb of mercury. The form of mercury in this bar is most likely methyl mercury the kind found in tuna and other fish. Mercury at any dose is unsafe according to mercury expert Dr. Boyd Haley of University of Kentucky and others. According to one expert contacted 8.5 ppb of mercury per Genisoy bar is approximately .5 microgram of mercury per bar.

We know that Dr. Haley speaks only the truth about mercury.

Now we have been told that the corn syrup that may be used in the manufacture of these products may also be laced with mercury.

Is there a cover-up?
Why is BigSoy silent?
Is this mercury somehow magically safer?

Vomiting

In a recent article posted on the AoA site, The Exalted One, gives lessons on how to vomit. He uses this to feebly attempt to discredit a study where the results do not neatly fit into his preconceived ideas.

I do defer to him as he is the Blogosphere's leading expert on vomit. He, and his lemmings do provide quite a bit of it.

One can always visit the AoA website and get their daily dose of vomit.

(NOTE: Come to think of it, I could have named this blog the Age-Of-Vomit since it discusses AoA.)

Balance from the UN-balanced...what are they thinking?

One of the things about "The Media" that constantly annoys the cleanse by-products out of me is their obsessive need for "balance". I am sure you have read articles where the reporter includes "both sides" of the issues addressed.


Sometimes, there is no need for "balance". for example, if the article is discussing the Holocaust, why would anyone need input from a Holocaust Denier? Their ideas have been totally discredited, and the historical event known as the Holocaust happened, whether they like it or not.

In my scientifically and fact based opinion, the same thing goes for the manufactured questions over the need for a robust vaccination program. To any intelligent sentient being, the history of vaccination proves that they are effective and have eradicated diseases such as small pox, and polio (from the western world). Balance is not required.

However, like I said, reporters need to report balance. That is what they do. If they did not, they would be "taking sides" and that is something that journalism schools frown upon. So, I do understand.

However, who do they go to for balance? Well, it seems to me that their favorite interview subject, the Exalted One of GR, is their favorite. Even the recent NY times article, Book Is Rallying Resistance to the Antivaccine Crusade, by Donald McNeil, quoted the EO. Let's take a look at the antics of the Exalted One...

Prior to publication of that article, Mr. O'Neil contacted the Exalted One to obtain his opinion on the issues the article would be addressing, and afterwards, the Exalted One, posted this article.

This article was then followed by a diatribe ostensibly written by the Spoiled Brat of Autism.


Since it is a given that ALL articles on AoA advance the purposes of the Exalted One, GRrrrr, and the Junta, there is no doubt that the Brat's article was published with their full blessings.


Further, the SBofA also takes a few nasty shots at Dr. Nancy Snyderman, the medical reporter from the Today Show. There is no doubt that the Exalted One, GRrrr and the Junta despise her to no end. After all, she uses facts to base her opinions on.


There is no doubt that being quoted in the New York Times, or, for that matter, in any reputable media outlet, gives credence to the person and their opinions. This is certainly true in their minds.

When Amanda Peet, an actress, expressed her personal opinion concerning vaccinations and those who refuse them, the Junta at AoA got on her case, and posted phone numbers and addresses of her agent, etc. and then encouraged the lemming to mail bomb them.

And, recently, one poster on the EoH Yahoo group did not like an article and posted the reporter's home address and phone number. The moderator of the group did remove it (however, it was up for a while, and, one can only wonder if he would have removed it had their not been an outcry?).

So, the question that begs to be asked is this:

Why is the media still quoting these vicious know-nothings?

I suggest freezing them out. There are anti-vaxxer who are, at least, civil.