More Beautiful Than Tragic

Here is the new video I made with the iMovie program. Let me know what you think :)

More Beautiful Than Tragic

I recently read an article, and I wanted to sum it up and give you some main points, but I am falling short and feel like you need to get it directly from the horses mouth. I will post the parts that I find importnat, and I will link the entire article so you can read if you choose.. I would specifically pay attention to the part that talks about how the Vaccine court works...how quietly it works.

Judy Converse, MPH RD LD, May 10, 2011 writes...

When we have our babies, we feel safe because we have vaccines. We regard them as no less than life-granting elixirs of modern times, the dividing line between a safe and secure health trajectory for our kids, and certain death from diseases of yore.
But cracks in that comfortable veneer have definitely formed, giving a sense of the inevitable to what was once inconceivable. Have we tapped out the usefulness of vaccines? Are they more harm than good, as we now use them?
And now this. A cluster of parents who managed to survive Vaccine Court – a little known corner of hell reserved for those whose children are injured or killed by vaccinations – have banded together to speak out. Vaccine Court is where you end up if you know enough to file a claim for a child’s vaccine injury. Since the pharmaceutical industry won itself protections against any liability for injury law suits in the 1980s, and since the Supreme Court solidified this protection by removing parents’ rights to pursue civil court appeals just this year, families are left to make claims with the government when the unthinkable happens to a baby or child who is dutifully submitted for shots. For twenty-five years, a tax added to the sale of each vaccine has paid into a fund to take care of these children. That is, if parents know of and pursue their rights, and if they prevail in this court system.
For years, at the same time we’ve heard assurances that vaccines are safe, the federal government’s Vaccine Court has quietly paid millions to families whose children suffered devastating brain injuries from routine shots. “Quiet” is the operative word here, as parent Sarah Bridges, who holds a PhD in psychology, explains: She was advised “very routinely” by her lawyer to “be careful talking about this” lest her son’s custodial funds evaporate. At risk of losing their hard won compensation – these cases have been gagged for a quarter century – parents are now speaking out, and revealing that their children were the canaries in the coalmine. Ms. Bridges’ son for example, who is now seventeen years old, has mental retardation, epilepsy, and autism thanks to infant vaccinations, and lives in a care home wearing a diaper and a helmet thanks to the compensation program paying for it all.
This is bad news for anyone who feels unsafe without vaccines.
I don’t feel afraid without vaccines. Even with a master’s degree in public health, and years of university training in health sciences, I am relieved to see what may be a tipping point here.

Meanwhile, more integrative medicine strategies evolve every year – tools that rely less on drugs and surgery and more on whole organic foods, reduced toxins, nutraceutical strategies, or other modalities. Witness the success of vitamin D in preventing and shortening course of flu, for one small example out of hundreds, that illuminate the potential of pharmaceutical and toxin-free strategies to minimize infectious disease.
These strategies tend to be unpopular with the medical press and our government health agencies. What that means is that if the bloom is off the vaccine rose, they are going to be the last to admit it – but that’s another blog. In the meantime, be a smart health consumer for your own babies and kids. Read alternative views on vaccination, tap providers trained to engage nutrition-focused tools for healthy immune function. If you want to opt out of the vaccine schedule in whole or in part, you can
-  Check your state’s mechanisms for vaccine choice by clicking here.
-  Switch to a family practice physician, osteopathic doctor (DO) or a naturopath (ND), if your pediatrician is coercive about vaccines beyond your comfort level.
-  Read Special Needs Kids Go Pharm-Free: Nutrition-Focused Tools To Minimize Meds and Maximize Health and Well Being, even if your kid isn’t diagnosed with a special need. See the chapter on avoiding infections, and the section on working with providers to help you through infections when they occur.
We all owe a debt to the 83 Canaries, the children the government did not want you to know about who have been thrown under the vaccine bus. Their parents are speaking out, and according to Mary Holland at the Elizabeth Birth Center for Autism Law and Advocacy (EBCALA), it’s just the tip of the iceberg.

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Visit  http://nutritioncare.net/blog/2011/05/10/vaccines-83-canaries-obsolete/

 To get the rest of the article.

Why the Debate Continues...

 The Autism-Vaccine Debate: Why It Won't Go Away

David Kirby-Author/Journalist

 

I have been speaking to young parents in my neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn lately about vaccines and autism, which science and the media have once again pronounced as completely debunked for what I believe is now the sixth or seventh time.
These are highly educated, affluent and politically progressive people -- doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, writers and other successful professionals. And like half of the American population in one poll, many of my neighbors (though certainly not all) say that there is, or may be, an association between autism and the current U.S. vaccine schedule.
Although some Park Slope parents refuse to vaccinate their children at all - an unwise and dangerous choice in my opinion -- the vast majority makes sure their kids get immunized; although many do so on a schedule worked out with their pediatrician.
In general, it is the most highly educated parents who are now eschewing the CDC schedule and vaccinating their children at a different pace. In one recent presentation of data, for example, mothers with masters degrees were significantly more likely to forego the Hepatitis B vaccine birth dose than mothers with an 8th grade education.

Why do so many educated, successful parents still believe that the current vaccine schedule can hurt a small percentage of susceptible kids, and that some of those injuries might result in an autism spectrum disorder (ASD)? Despite all of the population studies showing no link, high-profile court cases that went against parents, insistence of omniscience by health officials and the public mauling of Andrew Wakefield, I don't think that many people around here have changed their minds.
That's because evidence of a vaccine-autism link did not come to them via a 12-year-old study published in a British medical journal, nor from Hollywood celebrities: Not very many had heard of Wakefield until recently.
Some of these parents actually keep up with the science, including a new review of autism studies in the Journal of Immunotoxicology which concludes: "Documented causes of autism include genetic mutations and/or deletions, viral infections, and encephalitis following vaccination."
Some of their evidence also comes from life -- from friends, family and business associates whose children had an adverse vaccine reaction, got sick, stopped talking and never recovered.
It's a fact that many children with ASD regressed following normal development just as they were receiving multiple vaccines at regular doctor visits. Health officials say the timing is entirely coincidental.

Regression usually occurs between 12 and 24 months, though one study found that some children show signs of autism as early as six months, but never before that age.
By six months of age, most U.S. children have received about 18 inoculations containing 24 vaccines against nine diseases. Over the next two years or so, they will receive another nine shots containing 14 vaccines against 12 diseases.
So whether a child regresses at six months, or 18 months, the tragedy happens during a period of intensive vaccination. In many cases, parents report that the child had an abnormal reaction after being vaccinated (seizures, spiking-fevers, diarrhea, lethargy, high-pitched screaming and/or other symptoms).
The temporal association might be coincidental, but for many autism parents, now tens of thousands in number (but certainly not all parents), there is nothing to dissuade them: they are certain that vaccines harmed their kids. I have spoken with thousands of them personally. Their stories of regression are hauntingly similar, describing a childhood catastrophe that was virtually unheard of when I was growing up.
These parents, and grandparents, naturally share their stories with brothers, sisters, friends, coworkers and the media, and before long half the population is questioning authorities who insist that there is zero chance of any association whatsoever.
Every year, thousands of new parents go through the same ordeal, which is why belief in a link is probably going up, not down. Sadly, this will continue for years to come as more and more parents join the ranks of the devastated but convinced. There is nothing that anyone can do or say -- not you, not me, not any scientist on earth -- until definitive proof of all the true causes of autism is found. But that appears to be years, or decades away.
Parents who say the vaccine-autism link has not been debunked are, like me, hardly "anti-vaccine." Why on earth would anyone not want to protect children from dangerous diseases? That is the epithet hurled upon most of them anyway. And it's what people will say about me as well, even though, as I said, I think parents should vaccinate their kids.
What's curious is the selective use of the "anti-vaccine" accusation. Few people call Dr. Bernadine Healy, former head of the NIH, "anti-vaccine" for not ruling out a possible link, and calling for the study of the children who actually got sick.
I have never heard it used against Temple Grandin, who said there should be "a closer evaluation" of vaccines and autism and echoed Dr. Healy by adding that, "These children should be carefully studied to determine when and why they lost language, and if factors such as vaccines and genetic predisposition may be causes."
And I've never heard it used against the many Somali parents of children with autism living in Minneapolis who said they are convinced that vaccines played a role, and will be telling that to CDC and NIH researchers who are trying to find out why the rate among Somali children is reportedly about 1-in-28 in that city.
Most parents in Park Slope are pro-vaccine, which is why they vaccinate their kids. They know the answer to the question, "Could vaccines be involved in some autism cases?" is not "Stop vaccinating all children now."
Instead, like me, they believe that more children today are more susceptible to vaccine injury and other environmental triggers, thanks to toxins such as heavy metals, air pollution, pesticides and a universe of endocrine disruptors unleashed into the environment. Other risk factors might be at play, such as vitamin D deficiency, parental age, closely-spaced births, caesarian births or even the stress of everyday life.
Such factors, both pre- and post-natal, might harm mitochondria, damage DNA and potentially result in immune and autoimmune disorders. These problems could then, in turn, increase the risk in some genetically susceptible children for early life problems like complex febrile seizures, myelin damage, and what has been called "mitochondrial meltdown." All three have been identified in medical journals and/or the U.S. federal Vaccine Court as plausible triggers of regressive autism. And all three can occur with, or without, vaccines.
They should be studied more, in my opinion.
The answer is not to stop vaccinating -- that would lead to widespread disease and suffering. The answer is to find out which children might be particularly susceptible to which vaccines, vaccine combinations or vaccine ingredients, and devise a schedule that is individually tuned to their specific conditions. This will build parental trust and strengthen, not weaken, the national vaccine program.
Even the CDC states:

Although some may call it a "one size fits all" approach, the recommended vaccine schedule is flexible, and it does account for instances when a child should not receive a recommended vaccine or when a recommended vaccine should be delayed. Those decisions, however, are best made in consultation with the child's doctor, and parents shouldn't be reluctant to have such discussions.

Until science can tell parents which children are most genetically vulnerable to neuroimmune injuries, more people around the country will probably "go Park Slope," if you will, and devise their own selection of vaccines at their own chosen schedule.
One hopes they proceed with great caution. For example, spreading out vaccines within the same series might confer less immunity, though we don't know because this has not been thoroughly studied.
Some parents might also skip the triple live-virus MMR vaccine altogether, because the manufacturer refuses to offer separate measels, mumps and rubella shots. Offering this simple choice alone might boost immunization rates by a couple of percentage points, so why not do it?
I have never agreed with the "anti-vaccine" movement, whose size and influence has been somewhat overblown by the media. Vaccination rates remain high. A recent wave of whooping cough in California occurred largely among vaccinated individuals. In fact, unvaccinated adults may have played a role: Only 1-in-10 adults in San Diego are believed to have received a pertussis booster shot, for example. Nobody is calling the other 90 percent dangerous "anti-vaxers," even if they may have helped create an outbreak that killed several children.

Why So Much Autism?
There is clearly no single cause of autism, and we are not going to find answers looking only at genes, or for that matter, only at thimerosal or MMR. But there remain many reasons why some parents, doctors, scientists and people with autism say a vaccine connection cannot be ruled out, at least in some cases.
My motive has never been to "blame vaccines." I have no personal reason whatsoever to oppose them, and little to gain -- believe me. What I have been trying to do is find out why so many more kids today are so sick.
I do not belive that better diagnosis and wider awareness can explain away a tidal wave of suffering. Such dinosaur mentality never helped a single child, and most credible scientists are abandoning it.
"It's time to start looking for the environmental culprits responsible for the remarkable increase in the rate of autism in California," Dr. Irva Hertz-Picciotto, an epidemiology professor at the University of California, Davis MIND Institute, has said. Those culprits, she said, might lie "in the microbial world and in the chemical world."
Another good example is Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D, current Director of the NIH. "Recent increases in chronic diseases (like) autism cannot be due to major shifts in the human gene pool. They must be due to changes in the environment" and other factors, he told Congress in 2006. Collins called for more research into "environmental toxins, dietary intake and physical activity," in order to "determine an individual's biological response to those influences."
Dr. Thomas Insel, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health and Chair of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, concurred with his boss, Dr. Collins, when he told me, "There is no question that there has got to be an environmental component here," because "this is not something that can be explained away by methodology, by diagnosis."
In my opinion, many children with autism are toxic. Some thing or things happened to make them sick. Unfortunately, our world has become a hazardous juggernaut through which increasingly fewer infants seem to emerge unscathed. We need to identify what is blocking their way, and fix it.
I know that many people will say the vaccine issue has been thoroughly investigated and debunked. I honestly wish that were the case, but it simply is not true. All of the "vaccine-autism" studies you hear about investigated just one childhood vaccine out of 14 (MMR), or one vaccine ingredient out of dozens (thimerosal). That is like announcing that air pollution does not cause lung cancer because you looked at carbon monoxide, alone, and hydrogen sulfide, alone, and found no link.
Moreover, many of the large epidemiological studies that purport to show no association between MMR or thimerosal and autism were conducted by people with vested interests -- financial or professional -- in defending vaccines and vaccine programs. Much worse than that, the vast majority of these studies were marked by methodological flaws that limit their usefulness and legitimacy. A thorough point-by-point rebuttal of the epidemiology will soon be published by the advocacy group SafeMinds.
What we do know is that reported autism rates began to explode right around the 1987-88 birth cohorts in the United States and a few other western countries, according to an EPA study.
"The greatest increase in ASD prevalence occurred in cohorts born between 1987 and 1992 across the United States," the EPA study concluded. Rates did not begin to increase in developing countries until a number of years later.
U.S. special education data found the exact same thing: ASD among students nearly tripled between the 1988 cohort (5-per-10,000) and the 1990 cohort (14.3-per-10,000) and then tripled again by the 1992 cohort (42.1-per-10,000). After that, the rate of increase slowed down significantly. Some of this increase is clearly due to an expansion of the ASD definition, but not all of it.

That should give scientists a lot to work with. If we believe the head of the NIH, then autism might be the result of "environmental toxins" interacting with individual genes. If we believe EPA scientists and Department of Education data, ASD rates boomed between the 1988 and 1992 birth cohorts, and increased at a much slower pace after that.
It seems reasonable to suspect, then, that average U.S. exposures to the environmental toxin(s) in question increased around 1988 (though they certainly were introduced before that) and continued to rise rapidly until at least 1992, when they began to level off. These exposures would have to have increased in developing countries several years later.
That seems like it would narrow the list down considerably. Because there is no one cause of autism, we need to look at all possible exposures and other environmental factors that might have increased dramatically during those years, including plastics, flame retardants, jet fuel, pesticides, viruses and retroviruses, parental age and, yes, the vaccine program.
For example, the HiB vaccine series was introduced in 1988, a fourth vaccine was added to the DTaP series around 1990, and the HepB series was introduced in 1991, with several years of increased uptake after that before it reached its current high levels. These vaccines have not been studied in direct relation to an ASD risk, except for one HepB paper that found an association (see below).
We also know that autism rates are different in different populations. The latest CDC figures available (from the 1998 birth cohort) show an overall U.S. rate of 91-per-10,000 children (1-in-110), and nearly 2 percent of all boys. Among U.S. military families, however, the rate is reportedly 25 percent higher, at 114-per-10,000 (1-in-88) and among Somali immigrants in Minnesota, it could be as high as 357-per-10,000).
Up in Canada, things are different altogether. In Alberta, the reported rate is, at the very most, 52-per-10,000, which is on par with the rest of Canada, except for Montreal, where the reported rate is 25 percent higher, at 65-per-10,000. The only exception is among Aboriginal (Native American) children in Alberta, whose reported rate was a very low 23-per-10,000. The rate among Aboriginal children in other Canadian provinces is also reportedly low.
Inadequate access to health care and diagnosis, a rural lifestyle and/or genetic differences might explain the apparent lower risk, the authors said, noting a somewhat similar trend among Aboriginal children in Australia, "and pointing to apparent differences in risk of ASD among Aboriginal people living in industrialized countries compared to the rest of the population."
Meanwhile, children of immigrant parents in Montreal seem to have a much higher ASD rate than average.
Exposure to environmental factors most likely not only increased between 1988 and 1992, it may have been most impactful among children of Somali immigrants, followed by U.S. children of military personnel, followed by other U.S. children, followed by children of immigrants to Canada, followed by non-Indian Canadian-born children and (possibly) followed by Aboriginal children in Canada.
Of course, these exposures would have to be studied in the context of genetic make-up, which might vary significantly among some of these populations and thus affect their response to environmental triggers. There are probably differences in the way children are diagnosed and documented in different regions, as well, due to cultutral and other factors.
On the other hand, if you look at vaccination rates, you find that Canadian Aboriginal children lag behind other Canadians by about 20 percent, and "suffered from higher rates of vaccine-preventable diseases," as a result, according to Health Canada.
Meanwhile, unlike U.S. children, most Canadian kids do not receive the three-dose Hepatitis B vaccine beginning at birth, except for children of immigrants, who are concentrated in large cities like Montreal. One paper in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health suggested that boys who received the HepB vaccine beginning at birth were three times more likely to develop an ASD than boys who did not.
In the second half of this two-part series, I will look at some of the exciting new autism science that has been developed lately, especially around seizure disorders, mitochondrial dysfunction and the destruction of myelin -- the fatty acid coating that insulates and protects the brain and the rest of the central nervous system.
As I mentioned above, complex seizures, demyelinating disorders and mitochondrial "meltdowns" have all been implicated in autistic regression. All three can happen in nature without vaccines being involved. In fact, all three can be triggered by childhood illnesses that are prevented by vaccines.
In that sense, it's likely that some children have avoided autistic regression precisely because of their immunizations. On the other hand, if vaccines generally prevented ASD, rates would have gone way down since 1988, and not in the opposite direction.
A good example is ADEM, or acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, in which the brain's myelin sheath is severely damaged, usually only temporarily. The U.S. Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), better known as "Vaccine Court," has ruled that HepB, MMR and other vaccines can result in ADEM and other demyelinating disorders. In one case, Bailey Banks, the VICP found that MMR-induced ADEM resulted in Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified, which is an ASD.
In another successful VICP case, the special master found that the MMR vaccine had contributed to ADEM, as well as GI distress. It was a ruling that eloquently described the paradox of vaccines that can cause the same disorders as the viral infections they were designed to prevent.
"What is striking to the court is that the most common cause of ADEM is the measles virus, and the vaccine at issue is a live (though attenuated) measles virus vaccine," the judge wrote. "That the virus is attenuated in the vaccine does not make it less likely than the natural or wild virus to be the cause of ADEM."
ADEM cases have fallen to one-third of their prior number because of measles vaccination, the ruling noted. But even the government's expert witness defending the MMR "admitted it is biologically plausible that measles vaccine causes ADEM."
Wild measles virus can cause ADEM in 1-in-1,000 children, a very powerful argument for immunization. On the other hand, a small fraction of children might be at risk for ADEM from the MMR vaccine itself, (the special master said the fact that the vaccine measels virus was attenuated made this no less likely, though I am unaware of any MMR-ADEM studies), and that particular vaccine injury might lead to an ASD.
In other cases, such as children with mitochondrial dysfunction, we may want to give some vaccines as early as possible in order to prevent the type of fever that can send these children into autistic regression (hardly the rant of a dangerous anti-vaxer). On the other hand, in one study, 12 out of 17 children with ASD and mitochondrial disease regressed after a fever greater than 101 degrees Fahrenheit. In 4 of those 12 cases (33 percent), the fever occurred after routine vaccination.
The answer in such cases may be to vaccinate earlier, but less intensively. Douglas C. Wallace, Ph.D, head of the Center of Mitochondrial and Epigenomic Medicine at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told the National Vaccine Advisory Committee that, when it comes to mitochondrial disorders, "We advocate spreading vaccines out as much as possible. Each time you vaccinate, you're creating a challenge for the system, and if a child has an impaired system, that could in fact trigger further clinical problems."

Finally, we are going to be hearing a good deal more about vaccines, seizure disorders, and autism as a "residual sequela" of the injury. Maybe vaccines can't cause autism, as the government says, but they can cause complex seizures.
And complex seizures, "during early postnatal development may alter synaptic plasticity and contribute to learning and behavioral disorders" in certain types of children, said one recent study. "Early life seizures may produce a variety of cellular and molecular changes in hippocampus that may contribute to the enhanced risk of IDDs and ASDs in patients with early life seizures and epilepsy."
That study did not link vaccine-induced complex seizures to residual sequelae. But the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has many cases of normally developing children who developed seizure disorders and "encephalopathy" (brain disease) following vaccination.
"This pattern is seen frequently in vaccine cases. An otherwise healthy petitioner receives a vaccination, the vaccine causes a fever, which in turn causes or triggers a complex febrile seizure," one VICP special master wrote in ruling that the DTaP vaccine "was the legal cause of (the child's) seizure disorder and developmental delay."
Some children who suffer from vaccine-induced complex seizures go on to suffer from "developmental delay," "behavioral problems," "affective disorders," "mild mental retardation" and other residual sequelae, VICP records show. Some of them also develop an ASD, and some now get government funds to pay for things such as applied behavioral analysis (ABA), a treatment used mostly for ASD.
Either way, the difference between a child with a seizure disorder, encephalopathy, developmental delay and behavioral problems, and a child with autism spectrum disorder, is hardly vast. Given that vaccines can sometimes cause injuries that lead to the former, why is it so outrageous -- why is it so "anti-vaccine" -- to ask if they can lead to the latter?
As one special master wrote: "It is exceedingly reasonable to conclude that where the vaccine is associated with fever and seizure and the seizure is of a complex nature, in the absence of proof of an alternative cause, it is the vaccine that is responsible for a subsequent epilepsy and residual sequelae" (Italics added).
Developmental delays including ASD are residual sequelae of some vaccine-induced adverse events, the VICP has determined. What proportion of ASD cases resulted from a vaccine injury? We may never know.
The CDC estimates that there are about 760,000 Americans under 21 with an ASD. Even if just 1 percent of those cases was linked to vaccines (though I believe it is higher), that would mean 7,600 young Americans with a vaccine-associated ASD.
In that case, their parents would be neither anti-vaccine nor lunatic fringe. They would be right.
This is part one of a two-part series.

Angry, and a little sad

It is frusterating to have to deal with school physicals, and doctors who insist that catching KC up on his vaccines will be the right thing to do. Its what I should do...if I want to protect my son. Or so I am told.. But wait, I have let you guys help me "protect" my son before...and look where it got me! I can't take any more of that kind of help. We are full to the brim with problems as it is.

This may be right for some people, but not for me. Not for my son. I don't understand why people would want me to do something to my son if I know that something will negatively affect his development. The very development we so carefully nurture and mold each day. It seems a bit backwards to me, that someone wants to take that away. And then I am the crazy one for not wanting to do it! Sorry, we see things differently, but its my son at the end of your needle. Stay the fuck awaw.

I don't disrespect people who vaccinate. It might be the right thing for you and your child. But its not right for me and mine. And thats ok. For most of us that is. Its ok to disagree, and to think different things are right for different children. Often times they are. Just please don't think I am crazy. I am crazy only in the sense that I am crazy about KC.

The kind of crazy, in fact, that leads me to defend my position to want to keep him as safe as possible. Not too crazy though...I only love him more than any human being could love another human being. Thats it : )

A Beautiful Tragedy at OneTrueMedia.com

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Vaccine Rap...

Haha...this video is funny as hell!

Don't Inject Me

The only part I didn't think was funny was the part where he talks about how when you realize what you've done, it's too late.  I realized that I allowed my son to be injected with something that due to my family history, he never should have had.  But I realized too late and the damage was done.  Seems like too many people have to learn the hard way...

Do You Know Jenny?

By Kent Heckenlively, Esq.

If you had a problem with alcohol in the late 1960s or 1970s you might be quietly approached by someone who said they were "a friend of Bill W." Bill Wilson was the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous and those who had been through his program identified themselves as “a friend of Bill W.”

To be a friend of Bill W. meant you understood certain principles, such as asking forgiveness of the people you’d harmed, and turning your life over to a higher power. One of my good friends became a “friend of Bill W.” before I met him and remains one of the finest people I know. He sometimes talks about how much AA means to him and how he has gone onto sponsor other people to become "a friend of Bill W.” But not a lot. Being "a friend of Bill W.” also means being humble, regardless of the number of people you may have helped.

The other day I joined a gym. I haven’t belonged to a gym for years, but for me it’s the best way to exercise. I know others can be diligent and throw their jogging shoes on and run out the door, but that just isn’t me. I need a gym.

And since it had been more than a decade since I’d lifted a weight I paid for a couple sessions with a trainer. The beefy trainer in his early twenties seemed as if he lived a life light years away from my concerns. In the midst of setting up a work-out routine he asked me about my hobbies, and I mentioned that I wrote for a web-newspaper on autism because I have a daughter with the disorder.

“Do you know Jenny McCarthy?” he quickly asked.

I told him I hadn’t actually had the pleasure of meeting her, but she also occasionally wrote for Age of Autism, in addition to her books and television appearances. Then I asked how he knew about her.

He went onto explain he had several cousins with autism and their parents were avid followers of Jenny. And it struck me then that Jenny McCarthy has become our common touchstone, just as Bill W. was to a generation of people struggling with addiction problems. Like alcoholics struggling to recover in the 1960s and 1970s we're still something of an underground movement, but Jenny is our code word.

I didn’t have to explain about the role of vaccines in autism, the raging debates, the “gene” studies which reveal less the more you examine them, and how we believe medical authorities are concealing vast amounts of information like the Vaccine Safety Database. My trainer knew. He knew Jenny.

And maybe that's been Jenny’s greatest contribution. You need only become familiar with her writings and public appearances to be in on the conversation. She has done so much of the education for us. We just need to continue that conversation.

When I go back I'm sure I'll have more conversations with my trainer about his cousins with autism and ways to possibly help them. I'd been looking for something of a break in going to the gym, but it doesn't seem like that's my destiny. The demands of the epidemic intrude even as I'm struggling to fit into a pair of size 34 jeans. And in the helping tradition of Bill W. it's the only response I could give.

In the future maybe the question won’t be “Do you know Jenny McCarthy?”, but are you "a friend of Jenny?”

Is there blood on your hands?

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.

I don't know why....

No energy for the fight maybe? That's a cop-out and I know it, but it is what it is. I lost it somewhere between therapy sessions, and follow up EEG's, and trips to Detroit, and meetings with specialists.

I'm struggling to get it back...because I need it.

I have six months worth of excitement, progress, fear and heartache inside, all bottled up. So I'm workin on it. I updated some things, such as my profile. It's a start anyway.

In the mean time, check out this post from a fellow blogger...

either copy and paste below OR just click on my title "Is there blood on your hands?"

http://crystaldavidsonengler.blogspot.com/2009/08/1-in-100-when-will-you-listen.html

Love the message...and the graphics!

For now...

Karen

Autism research blocked...

PRESS​ RELEA​SE
Janua​ry 16, 2009






Feder​al Membe​rs Of Advis​ory Commi​ttee Block​ Vacci​ne-​Autis​m Resea​rch,​ Defy Wishe​s Of Its Own Scien​tists​,​ Autis​m Commu​nity,​ and Congr​ess
SafeM​inds Withd​raws Suppo​rt for Autis​m Resea​rch Strat​egic Plan,​ Asks Dasch​le to Inves​tigat​e.​
JANUA​RY 16, 2009 - In a highl​y unusu​al depar​ture from proce​dure,​ gover​nment​ repre​senta​tives​ to the Feder​al Inter​agenc​y Autis​m Advis​ory Commi​ttee (​IACC)​ voted​ this week again​st condu​cting​ studi​es on vacci​ne-​autis​m resea​rch despi​te appro​val of the same studi​es at their​ prior​ meeti​ng.​ The resea​rch was suppo​rted by numer​ous autis​m organ​izati​ons and reque​sted by IACC'​s scien​tific​ work group​s and Congr​ess.​ The maneu​ver to re-​vote on the vacci​ne-​autis​m studi​es was initi​ated by the IACC'​s repre​senta​tive from the CDC and pushe​d throu​gh by the IACC Chair​,​ Dr. Tom Insel​,​ Direc​tor of the Natio​nal Insti​tute of Menta​l Healt​h of NIH.

Unlik​e most Feder​al advis​ory commi​ttees​,​ the IACC is domin​ated by gover​nment​ repre​senta​tives​ occup​ying 12 of the 18 seats​.​ Of the 6 publi​c membe​rs,​ 5 voted​ to retai​n the vacci​ne resea​rch at the meeti​ng.​ The lone disse​nting​ publi​c membe​r resig​ned from her organ​izati​on,​ Autis​m Speak​s,​ the night​ befor​e the meeti​ng.​ Autis​m Speak​s has issue​d a state​ment objec​ting to her vote.​

The CDC, part of HHS along​ with NIH, has been criti​cized​ by paren​ts citin​g failu​re to uphol​d vacci​ne safet​y.​ In a surpr​ising​ momen​t of cando​r,​ Dr. Insel​ cited​ HHS confl​icts of inter​ests on vacci​ne-​autis​m resea​rch due to the over 5,​000 autis​m lawsu​its pendi​ng again​st HHS. His comme​nt suppo​rts the autis​m commu​nity'​s conte​ntion​ that those​ in charg​e of promo​ting vacci​ne use while​ assur​ing safet​y are funda​menta​lly confl​icted​ and shoul​d not inves​tigat​e thems​elves​.​

IACC Membe​r and SafeM​inds Vice-​Presi​dent Lyn Redwo​od state​d,​ "​Revis​iting​ objec​tives​ alrea​dy appro​ved did not appea​r on the meeti​ng'​s agend​a.​"​ She added​,​ "​Advoc​acy group​s and legis​lator​s have been margi​naliz​ed in this proce​ss.​"

Senat​ors Enzi,​ Dodd,​ Kenne​dy and Santo​rum,​ as well as Repre​senta​tives​ Barto​n and Smith​ made state​ments​ which​ are part of the Comba​ting Autis​m Act of 2006 legis​lativ​e histo​ry that resea​rch on vacci​nes and their​ compo​nents​ and autis​m shoul​d be imple​mente​d by the IACC.​

Due to the IACC'​s actio​ns,​ SafeM​inds has withd​rawn its suppo​rt of the IACC Strat​egic Plan for Autis​m Resea​rch and reque​sts that incom​ing HHS Secre​tary Dasch​le inves​tigat​e the IACC'​s actio​n and recon​stitu​te the commi​ttee,​ inclu​ding remov​al of NIMH as its lead agenc​y.​

SafeM​inds is a priva​te nonpr​ofit organ​izati​on that inves​tigat​es and raise​s aware​ness of the risks​ to child​ren of expos​ure to mercu​ry from the envir​onmen​t and medic​al produ​cts,​ inclu​ding thime​rosal​ in vacci​nes.​

Article on Senator Daschle and Vaccines

Nearly 60 percent of all autism parents believe that vaccines played a role in their child's illness, according to a recent survey. Still, their views have been met with scorn and ridicule from most of the scientific community, which insists that the vaccine-autism debate is not only a sham, but over.

These critics, of course, ignore the fact that ongoing investigations into mercury, vaccines and autism continue, and will continue, in the vast medical research apparatus contained within the mammoth US Department of Health and Human Services.

By nominating Tom Daschle to head up the Department, President Elect Obama has selected a man who has demonstrated an unflinching willingness to question vaccine safety, and to fight for the rights of those people who believe they have been, or may be, seriously injured by certain vaccinations.

Senator Daschle is not anti-vaccine, but his record shows his determination to question - and even oppose - vaccine makers and big pharmaceutical interests when it comes to protecting the rights of American medical consumers.

It was in November of 2002 (exactly six years ago) when I got my inspiration to write "Evidence of Harm." The House had just passed the Homeland Security Bill, onto which some unidentified Member (it turned out to be Dick Armey) had attached a last-minute rider granting autism liability protection to all drug companies using the mercury-based preservative thimerosal in US childhood vaccines.

As I wrote in my book, many autism parents mobilized to try to stop the undemocratically amended Bill in the Senate. Their chief allies were Joe Lieberman and Tom Daschle, who authored an amendment to the Homeland Security Bill that included this provision:

Childhood Vaccines

The Republican substitute would take complaints (against drug companies) about vaccine additives out of the courts and require them to be made through what's called the Federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which handles other vaccine-related claims. This would mean a host of lawsuits could be dismissed, including claims involving the mercury-based preservative, thimerosal, which defendants claim causes autism in children.

The Democratic amendment would strike this provision.


For the parents in my book, there was only a few days before the Senate voted on the homeland bill. As I wrote:

Senate Democrats Tom Daschle and Joe Lieberman were offering an amendment to remove the riders, but no one thought it would be easy. For one thing, the House had already adjourned. If the Senate were to tinker with the legislation, House members would have to be recalled en masse to special session to vote on the revamped bill. In the age of Al Qaeda, and with the winds of war rising in Iraq, such a delay for many lawmakers would be untenable
.
But the Democrats were backing the so-called "Mercury Moms" on this one:

"We are heartened that Senators Lieberman and Daschle are offering an amendment to remove extraneous additions like the thimerosal liability shield from the Homeland Security Act," said Sallie (Bernard, of SAFE MINDS) in the statement. "This addition is an example of all that is wrong with a system of using last minute riders to subvert the legislative process."
On November 15, 2002, Daschle spoke on the Senate floor:

Senator Lieberman and I filed an amendment yesterday that deals with all of the egregious special interest provisions. There is a provision, as you may know, that provides liability protection for pharmaceutical companies that actually make mercury-based vaccine preservatives that actually have caused autism in children. It wipes out all of the litigation.
Still, Republicans were narrowly able to defeat the amendment later that afternoon.

But the next day, Daschle returned to the floor, vowing to fight on. "This isn't over," he said. "But even if we are successful, I don't know if you can put the pieces back together for these families." (The thimerosal provision was removed from the Homeland Bill by an act of Congress in January of 2003).

It wasn't the only time that Senator Daschle would stand up publicly to vaccine makers in favor of prudent public safety.

A less publicized provision of the Lieberman-Daschle Homeland Security amendment read as follows:

SAFETY Act

The Republican substitute would give the Secretary of the new Department broad authority to designate certain technologies as so-called "qualified anti-terrorism technologies." This designation would entitle the seller of that technology to broad liability protection from any claim arising out of, relating to, or resulting from an act of terrorism, including complete immunity in many cases, no matter how negligent the seller. It would cap the seller's liability at the limits of its insurance policy.

The Democratic amendment would strike this provision.


Daschle was a vocal skeptic of the safety of the anthrax vaccine. The US was buying millions of doses at the time, especially after spores were sent to the offices of certain U.S. Officials, including Tom Daschle.

According to the website fiercevaccines.com:

Federal officials believe that Senator Tom Daschle's objections to the anthrax vaccine being given to soldiers may have been a prime reason why he was targeted in the 2001 anthrax attacks. Daschle raised concerns that the vaccine would make members of the National Guard ill--a suggestion that anthrax vaccine researcher Bruce Ivins evidently was angry about.

Speculation has been rampant that Ivins, a federal scientist directly engaged in vaccine research, initiated a series of deadly attacks using anthrax in order to boost interest and funding for his work and perhaps profit from a scramble for a new and better vaccine. Ivins committed suicide on August 1 as the FBI was preparing a case against him.


Other reports claim that government documents show that Daschle staff members were pressuring the Department of Defense to abandon Ivins' vaccine, due to safety concerns.

The military has reported that up to 2% of all military service members may have received debilitating injuries from vaccines they were given. That could mean upwards of 48,000 men and women, some of them likely wounded by the same anthrax vaccine that Senator Daschle was trying to kill.

Again, I am sure that Senator Daschle is not anti-vaccine, and I have no idea what his views are on the vaccine-autism debate today.

But I do know that, six years ago, he said that "mercury-based vaccine preservatives actually have caused autism in children." And I know that he tried to stop production of a vaccine that he felt was hurting far too many people.

I can already anticipate the howls of protest from certain sectors of the scientific community. But I hope they will give the next HHS Secretary the respect and support he will need to tackle autism and all the other health problems we face.

For his open mind and willingness to stand up for consumers - civilian and military - alone, I think that Daschle is a choice that many autism families will support.

If nothing else, his views on vaccine safety issues, including autism, are sure to get a fair and ample hearing at the Senate confirmation hearings.

Finally, speaking of the Homeland Security Bill and the thimerosal rider, this is how I opened the first page of the Prologue of "Evidence of Harm":

Lyn Redwood got the call from a lawyer friend only an hour before the (Homeland Security) vote. The prospects were bad, he told her. It was too late to do much about it now.
It turns out that the "lawyer friend" will probably be working as a senior member of the Obama Administration, right alongside Secretary Daschle.

(Many thanks to www.vaccinationnews.com for help with archived articles)

Related:

Daschle Pick Hailed By Health Care Advocates






Barack Obama
Autism

Hello, my name is Autism.

"My Name is Autism"

By Omri Fiman/Marty Murphy





Hello. Allow me to introduce myself to you. My name is autism.

Perhaps you know me or know of me. I am a condition, a "disorder" that
affects many people. I strike at will, when and where I want. Unlike Downs Syndrome or other birth "defects", I leave no marks on those I strike. In fact, I pride myself on the ability to infiltrate a child's life, while leaving him or her strikingly handsome. Many people may not even know I am there. They blame the child for what I cause him or her to do. I am autism and I do as I please.

I am autism. I strike boys and girls. infants and toddlers. I find my
best victims to be boys around the age of 2, but any child will do. I like
children and they are always the true victims, though I take hostage the
others in the child's family as well. It is a bit like getting 2 for the
price of one. I affect one child and "infect" the entire family.

I am autism. I strike rich and poor alike. The rich combat me with
education and therapy. The poor shut their children away and cannot afford to fight me. I am able to win in the lives of poor children more than I am those of the wealthy, but I will try to take root anywhere.

I am autism. I am an equal opportunity disorder. I strike whites,
blacks, Mexicans, Ukrainians, Russians, Poles, Slavs, Japanese, Koreans and Fins. In fact, I strike everywhere on Earth. I know no geographical bounds. I am autism. I do not discriminate based upon religion either. I strike Jews and Christians, Muslims and Buddhists, Atheists and Agnostics.

I do not care what religion a person is or what beliefs he may hold. When I strike, there will be little time for any of that anyway. When they find
me, they will question everything they believe in, so why would I strike
only one group? I have affected followers of every religion on the planet.
I am autism and I am strong and getting stronger every year, every
month, every day, every minute and every second. I am concerned that money might be allotted to combat me and my takeover of children, but so far, I have little to fear. Some countries like Kuwait, are spending quite a bit of money to assist those who I have targeted and some, like the United States, would rather spend money on such ludicrous things as discovering the number of American Indians who practice Voodoo, as opposed to combating me. In an atmosphere such as that, I can flourish and wreck havoc at will.

In places such as that, I rub my hands with glee at the problems I can
cause to children, their families and to the society at large.

I am autism. When I come, I come to stay. I take the dreams and hopes
of families and trample them with delight. I see the fear and confusion in
the eyes of my victims and the see the formation of wrinkles, the worries
and pain on the face of their parents. I see the embarrassment their child
causes because of me and the parents unsuccessful attempt to hide their
child, and me. I see tears the parents cry and feel the tears of their
child. I am autism. I leave sorrow in my wake.

I am autism. I taketh away and give nothing but bewilderment and
loathing in return. I take speech and learning. I take socialization and
understanding. I take away "common sense" and, if I am allowed to flourish, I take away all but their physical life.

What I leave behind, is almost worse than death. I am autism. I fear nothing except courage, which I thankfully see little of. I fear those who take a stand against me and attempt to fight me and bring others into the fight as well. I fear those who try to make it safe and easier for my victims in the community, and their families. I fear those who push ahead, despite the fact that I am in tow. I fear the day I will be eradicated from the planet. Yet, I do not fear too much right now. There is no need. I am autism and I bet you know me or know of me. If you don't, you probably will soon. I am marching forward faster than I ever have before. I am looking for new children all the time. I am looking for new children to consume and new lives to destroy. I dread the day I will be looked upon
with pity or worse yet, understanding, for that day, is the day I will
begin to die.

But in the mean time I am safe, free to prowl onward. Free to cause the pain and suffering that I do so well. I am on a mission and have much work to do and thankfully no one is stopping me yet.

Hello. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is autism. Perhaps you know of me, if not don't worry, you will meet me soon....

http://www.myspace.com/preventvaccineinjury

Sometimes I really get weary inside, fighting this war that I have waged against...well, everyone, or so it seems like sometimes. I have knowledge of things that sometimes I wish I could forget. I have information that I want to scream outloud to everyone, and I try, but sometimes it feels like my voice gets caught up in a big gust of wind, and I go unheard. Jenny said it best: "I have figured out what happened. I have answers, and I am running around pounding on doors yelling that I have figured it out, but no one is listening because they don't believe me." But Jenny is still fighting, and so am I. And it's worth it. Each and every parent that takes another look at vaccine info after reading my blog, makes it worth it. If you are someone who is still in doubt about what I am saying, I have a simple challenge for you. Google the word Simpsonwood. That's not a tough request. It's one word. A mere eleven strokes of your keyboard. After that, visit the link that I have posted at the top of this page. No matter what you do, please look at this page. It's inspiring, to say the least. Moving, heartfelt, and educational. http://www.myspace.com/preventvaccineinjury

Don't take her away....

Video by Angela Utley, Mother of a beautiful, vaccine injured child.

It's not the actual vaccines, it's the perservatives!! Like I've been saying...

This is why I insist that the best way to vaccinate is to split the shots up! Individual doses equal less perservatives, which equals less chance of having a vaccine injured child. We CAN have the best of both worlds. We need to vaccinate, but we need to do it in the least harmful way. It's worth the hassle. It may save you and your child from a lifetime of heartache.

Genesis suspendes vaccines after an infant dies

> http://www.wqad. com/Global/ story.asp? S=8613656& nav=1sW7
>
> Childhood vaccinations suspended at Genesis pediatric clinics
>
> Posted: July 2, 2008 09:19 PM
>
> Updated: July 3, 2008 02:55 AM
> Genesis suspends vaccines for children
> by Kia Carter
>
> QUAD CITIES -- Wednesday all Genesis Medical Center Pediatric Clinics
> suspended their use of childhood vaccines. The decision comes after a
> baby received routine vaccinations on Tuesday, then died several
> hours later at home. Genesis Health Group says its suspending
> pediatric vaccinations merely as a precaution until the cause of the
> baby's death can be determined.
>
> Tuesday morning a 4-month-old baby boy came to the Genesis East
> Pediatrics Clinic in Silvis for a routine checkup that included
> several vaccinations. The seemingly healthy baby boy was brought in
> for a "well baby" visit, that's a check up that includes routine
> vaccinations like pneumonia, and DPT, which is for diphtheria,
> pertussis (whooping cough) and tetanus. Then Tuesday night his
> parents found him dead with no obvious cause for his death. Now all
> childhood vaccinations at Genesis clinics in Silvis, Bettendorf and
> Davenport have been temporarily suspended. A Genesis spokesman says
> hospital administration have no reason to believe the vaccines caused
> the baby's death, but they want to be overly cautious.
>
> "They'll be a coroner's examination of the baby and we'll get a
> report. At that time we'll most likely resume our vaccinations,
> because we don't think there was a link between them and the child
> passing," says Craig Cooper, Genesis Health Group spokesman.
>
> Genesis has also sent the batch of vaccines the boy received off to
> the Food and Drug Administration and to the makers of the vaccines
> for testing. This is the first time Genesis has ever suspended
> pediatric vaccinations at it's clinics. We'll continue to bring you
> the latest as Genesis finds answers.
>

I find it interesting how they suspended the vaccines, however deny that the vaccines had anything to do with a healthy baby suddenly dying.

AAP Fights Informed Vaccine Choices

AAP Leadership Fights Informed Vaccine Choices
by Barbara Loe Fisher
w ww.vaccineawakening .blogspot. com
www.NVIC.org
www.StandUpBeCounted. org

In another fit of pique aimed at the growing number of
vaccine-educated parents questioning pediatricians about the safety
of vaccines, the largest private medical organization representing
medical doctors treating children - the American Academy of
Pediatrics (AAP) - recently announced to its membership that it will
fight doubting parents in their offices, in the media, on the
internet and through a partnership with other wealthy and powerful
organizations funded by a pharmaceutical industry committed to doing
the same thing.

On May 30, the AAP leadership reports that it met with the leaders of
15 allied organizations in Elk Grove, Illinois to discuss the growing
refusal of parents to vaccinate their children according to
recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and AAP. A
recent letter to AAP members stated:

"The group agreed that recent attacks on vaccines have left parents
confused. The rates of exemptions are climbing, and the protection of
communities from vaccine preventable diseases is in jeopardy.
Participants identified several factors that promote anti-vaccine
information:

Parent-to-parent spread of myths,
A public that does not understand the risk of
vaccine-preventable diseases,
Internet and media exposure that is not balanced,
Decreased trust in the government and health care providers,

Slow response to negative news coverage, and;
Increasing calls for philosophical exemptions.

The group recognized strategies that have worked in the past to
address these drivers, agreed to jointly promote the positive value
of vaccines, and will come together again in July to develop a
cohesive message for dissemination. This message will be disseminated
in mainstream media, through professional organizations, and via
Internet tools. Materials are expected to be available by fall 2008.
The group will formally be known as the Immunization Alliance."/

Information on the AAP website gives pediatricians instructions about
what to do with parents who refuse to obey the doctor's orders,
including a sample letter that states:

"By not vaccinating your child you are taking selfish advantage of
thousands of others who do vaccinate their children, which decreases
the likelihood that your child will contract one of these diseases.
We feel such an attitude to be self-centered and unacceptable. We are
making you aware of these facts not to scare you or coerce you, but to
emphasize the importance of vaccinating your child. We recognize that
the choice may be a very emotional one for some parents. We will do
everything we can to convince you that vaccinating according to the
schedule is the right thing to do.

However, should you have doubts, please discuss these with your
health care provider in advance of your visit. In some cases, we may
alter the schedule to accommodate parental concerns or reservations.
Please be advised, however, that delaying or "breaking up the
vaccines" to give one or two at a time over two or more visits goes
against expert recommendations, and can put your child at risk for
serious illness (or even death) and goes against our medical advice
as providers... .such additional visits will require additional
co-pays on your part. Furthermore, please realize that you will be
required to sign a "Refusal to Vaccinate" acknowledgement in the
event of lengthy delays.

Finally, if you should absolutely refuse to vaccinate your child
despite all our efforts, we will ask you to find another health care
provider who shares your views. We do not keep a list of such
providers nor would we recommend any such physician."


Educated parents of America attempting to make informed, voluntary
vaccination decisions for your children be warned: your pediatrician
is out to change your mind about vaccination or teach you a lesson
you will never forget.

Hang on to your child because the doctor you have trusted with your
child's life might just try to make you out to be a bad parent and
not only throw you out of the office but notify state officials to
charge you with child medical abuse if you don't agree to give your
child every one of those 69 doses of 16 vaccines that doctors working
for the Centers for Disease Control say all children from birth to age
18 must get.

Be prepared that the doctor, who you pay to keep your child well, may
dutifully obey recent orders given by the AAP leadership to implement
one-size- fits-all government vaccine policies: no questions asked.
The next time you visit your pediatrician and attempt to ask a
question about vaccine reactions or suggest your child get fewer or
no vaccines (especially if your child has already suffered serious
vaccine reactions your doctor refuses to recognize) be prepared to be
humiliated, harassed, threatened and thrown out of the office.

The message from the AAP leadership to vaccine-educated parents is:
you WILL give your children every vaccine that industry produces even
if it brain damages or kills them. You DO NOT have the human right to
protect your child from vaccine injury and death because you MUST
sacrifice your child for what AAP and government officials have
decided is the "greater good." Your child does NOT belong to you and
if you don't agree to do exactly what we say, we will make sure your
family is denied medical care.

Sounds like a smart plan to me, pediatricians of America, if you want
to fatally compromise the last remaining shred of trust that mothers
and fathers have in your knowledge about vaccine risks and how to
minimize them for the children they love more than anyone in the
world.

In the words of Jim Carrey: "How stupid do you think we are?"

Twenty-six years ago, the co-founders of the National Vaccine
Information Center came to the table with the AAP leadership to talk
about compensating children injured by mandated vaccines because the
AAP said it was a matter of "simple justice for children." We
believed the AAP leadership really cared about minimizing vaccine
risks for the individual child rather than just wanting to pass the
National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 for the purpose of
protecting drug companies and pediatricians from liability for
vaccine injuries and deaths so they could continue to implement
one-size-fits- all vaccine policies. Time and time again over the past
quarter century, the AAP leadership has demonstrated that they
betrayed the trust of parents then and now by refusing to work with
parents to minimize vaccine risks.

In 1982, it was far easier to sweep vaccine injured children under
the carpet because 1 in 6 American child was not becoming learning
disabled and 1 in 150 child was not regressing into autism. Today,
there are so many highly vaccinated children who are sick and
disabled that there is no place to run and no place to hide.

The vaccine safety and informed consent movement has been led by
educated middle class mothers and fathers who DO know how to tell a
bad scientific study from a good one; who DO know how to calculate
the amount of mercury or aluminum in a vaccine; and who DO know the
difference between being told a lie and being told the truth about
vaccine risks.

AAP: we are not stupid. We will not stand by and watch our children
and grandchildren become vaccine damaged because you are obsessed
with forcing every child to use every vaccine that Pharma produces
with no concern for protecting the children who cannot use every
vaccine safely. You can deny us medical care and try to take away our
human right to voluntary, informed consent to vaccination but you will
never win the war you have declared on millions of vaccine- educated
parents in America.

The Rally

Relief. Anger. Hope. Devastation. Wow. These are just a few words to try to describe a moment in my life that is truly indescribable. The Green Our Vaccines Rally in Washington DC on June 4th was one of the most amazing events that I have ever participated in. Thousands and thousands of parents gathered in honor of their vaccine injured children in order to make a statement to the CDC and the government that the current vaccine schedule is Too Many Too Soon for our kids. It was amazing to gather with so many parents who know what kind of road that I have been traveling since KC was diagnosed with IS. Most of the kids are autistic, so it's a bit different, but it's the same in the fact that we KNOW that it was a vaccine reaction that hurt our kids, and we spend so much time screaming that at the top of our lungs, but all too often our voices go unheard. With each and every parent that I saw, I felt a bond. When we gathered at the capital, I could not help but cry. The song Not Ready to Back Down, by the Dixie Chicks was playing over the speakers, as thousands of people stood, clutching to pictures of their beautiful, vaccine damaged children. It was absolutely devastating to see so many families that have been affected. And it was utterly amazing to know, that even for just one day, our voices would be heard. I put my son on my shoulders and danced as the tears swam in my eyes. I saw signs made by parents with pictures of their children before vaccines, and after. It was as if someone took the very soul out of them. One mother said it best. The pic of her son smiling with light in his eyes was titled "What God Made". The next pic was her son, glazed look in his eyes, hands floppy, was titled "What Man Made."
There were several keynote speakers, including Robert Kennedy Jr., Dr. Jay Gordon, Jim Carey, and Jenny Mcarthy. The facts discussed were ones that I have heard before, but it never ceases to amaze me. For instance, the children who are diagnosed with Autism often RECOVER or regain many skills when they are treated for heavy metal poisoning. Yet the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) does not recognize this as a form of treatment for Autism. In 2001 the CDC claimed to have removed all mercury (thermosal) from vaccines, and since the autism rate has not gone down, they believe that this is plenty of evidence that vaccines do not trigger Autism, therefore no more research is done. They fail to mention that by "removal" of mercury, they mean "less" mercury, and what they call trace amounts is actually toxic if eaten in fish or drinking water! At the time of the mercury "removal" there was a change in the process for reporting Autism. It became mandatory to report cases of Autism spectrum disorders, therefore the statistics that we are relying on to protect our children are not consistent! A child receives the same dose of a vaccine at 8lb that a man does at 200lb. As many as 75% if SID's cases occur within one week of vaccinations.
I could go on and on. And I will. I will continue posting info as often as I can. Please watch the video's of the rally that I have on my page, or just go to You tube and search Green Our Vaccines. Again, this is NOT an anti vaccine group. It is a group promoting safer vaccines.
At this point, the biggest tragedy that I can see in the future is those Mothers who see this info, read about the rally, or in some other way are warned about vaccine dangers, but ignores it and her child becomes damaged. She will never forgive herself. Trust me on this. This is something that will hurt in ways you never imagined. And it never goes away. Open your mind, and research all sides of this issue before forming your opinion. And above all, listen to your heart.

No more research...

The government released a policy statement last week stating that there would be no more funding allowed to research the possible link between vaccinations and autism. It's interesting to me how this comes in the wake of the first court case in which the courts conceded that there WAS a link in one paticular case between the vaccines the girl received and her autism. The powers that be argue that this does NOT mean that vaccines cause autism. My questions is, if they contributed to the regression, does it really matter if the vaccines were not 100% to blame? Is it really even about blame? The CDC, and government keeps crying "It's not our fault...it's not the vaccine's fault." I want to scream...it's not about fault! It's not about blame! It's about making vaccines safer. No matter the reason. To stop researching now is just a slap in the face to all of the parents out there who have THEIR science and research in their homes, autistic, suffering. How many "casualties" must we have before we stop waging war against the parents of vaccine injured kids, and start working with them.