The Autism Epidemic and The Broken Window Fallacy

At the behest of a good friend, I am currently reading "Economics in One Lesson" by Henry Hazlitt (because who wants to spend that much time in lessons in economics) and I am struck by the parallels between bad economic policy and bad medical policy.  I firmly believe that once you see corruption in a system that is close to you, that you are a part of, then it become difficult not to see it in all the systems you come in contact with, if, of course, you are willing to deal with so much harsh reality all at once.  Such has been my experience in... well every system I see since having my rose colored glasses ripped off after Chandler regressed.

I am also struck at how parsimonious and cogent Hazlitt is in his lesson in economics.  Only made more impressive as he wrote the lesson in 1946, yet so applicable is it that, but for the lofty language, one would think it was written yesterday.

Hazlitt's basic lesson in economics has merely two points:

1.  That bad economic policy stems from pressing agendas that benefit one group, but do not consider the outcomes for other groups (usually pushed through by moneyed/powerful interests that "will hire the best buyable minds to devote their whole time presenting its case.")

2.  That bad economic policy stems from short term thinking and ignores the long term consequences of such policies.

So at this point you can see where I am going with this, so I won't insult you by a lengthy explanation, but merely say:

1.  PHARMA

2.  "Good news, Dr. Gerberding... measles cases are down.  Sure 18% of children are permanently disabled or delayed, half of children are suffering from autoimmune/chronic illness and more than 1% have this neurological condition called, "Autism" that didn't exist 70 years ago and that we know is caused by vaccines, but hey... less easily treatable measles!!

The point comes shining through... both the economy and the human body are complex systems with mega trillions of working parts, and when we become so arrogant to believe we can understand, control and conquer them with out consequence .. well there are serious consequences to that serious lack of humility and wisdom.

He writes that, "therefore, the whole of economics can be reduced to a single lesson, and that lesson can be reduced to a single sentence. The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups."

I have never had an economist reduce me to tears before.

But it is when we get to Hazlitt's application of that lesson that it becomes truly difficult for me.  He
shares Frédéric Bastiat's broken window illustration to point out how short sighted economists can be.

A young hoodlum, say, heaves a brick through the window of a baker’s shop. The shopkeeper runs out furious, but the boy is gone. A crowd gathers, and begins to stare with quiet satisfaction at the gaping hole in the window and the shattered glass over the bread and pies. After a while the crowd feels the need for philosophic reflection. And several of its members are almost certain to remind each other or the baker that, after all, the misfortune has its bright side. It will make business for some glazier. As they begin to think of this they elaborate upon it. How much does a new plate glass window cost? Fifty dollars? That will be quite a sum. After all, if windows were never broken, what would happen to the glass business? Then, of course, the thing is endless. The glazier will have $50 more to spend with other merchants, and these in turn will have $50 more to spend with still other merchants, and so ad infinitum. The smashed window will go on providing money and employment in ever-widening circles. The logical conclusion from all this would be, if the crowd drew it, that the little hoodlum who threw the brick, far from being a public menace, was a public benefactor.

Now let us take another look. The crowd is at least right in its first conclusion. This little act of vandalism will in the first instance mean more business for some glazier. The glazier will be no more unhappy to learn of the incident than an undertaker to learn of a death. But the shopkeeper will be out $50 that he was planning to spend for a  new suit. Because he has had to replace a window, he will have to go without the suit (or some equivalent need or luxury). Instead of having a window and $50 he now has merely a window. Or, as he was planning to buy the suit that very afternoon, instead of having both a window and a suit he must be content with the window and no suit.  If we think of him as a part of the community, the community has lost a new suit that might otherwise have come into being, and is just that much poorer.

The glazier’s gain of business, in short, is merely the tailor’s loss of business. No new employment” has been added. The people in the crowd were thinking only of two parties to the ransaction, the baker and the glazier. They had forgotten the potential third party involved, the tailor. They forgot him precisely because he will not now enter the scene. They will see the new window in the next day or two. They will never see the extra suit, precisely because it will never be made. They see only what is immediately visible to the eye.

The "broken window theory" will be immediately recognizable to any Fifth Element fans, as it is used by Gary Oldman's villain character, "Zorg," to justify his being in league with an entity that wants to destroy the planet, to Sir Ian Holm's priestly character, Father Vito Cornelius.  This scene contrasts the character and motivations of the two men, showing one to be a heartless (and sociopathic) pragmatist out for his own gain, and the other to be one who cares about the lives of people, even "Loving his enemy," when the evil man's life momentarily falls into his hands.



To subscribers to the broken window theory, war is good, natural disasters are "stimulus", disease is profit and shattered lives are economic opportunities.

The broken window story is hard for me, first, because my son is the young hoodlum who has broken the window.  Several windows in fact.  If you drive by our house, you will note that the windows on either side of our door are broken.  One side held together with duct tape, and the other is boarded up on the bottom.  If you sand in our back yard, you will note that the garage windows are boarded up.  They were casualties of Chandler's 2008/2009 "I apparently love the cool sound of breaking glass" phase.  We fixed the window panes in the basement, my bedroom and our office, because... well... don't wanna look completely white trash and all, but left the ones that were most vulnerable to re-assault as they were, vowing to fix them once he got past the fixation.  I suppose now it would be safe to fix them this summer.  But then again what autism family has extra money to fix broken windows?

But I will never forget the panic of chasing him from room to room as he held a large glass juice bottle and tried to throw it any window he could get close to.  Or the anger at those who did this to him, when I heard a crash and ran into the entry way to see him reach out to grab the large shards left in the window frame and slice his fingers open before I could grab him.  Or the hart failure I experienced the following morning when I was scared shitless awake by the sound Chandler throwing a chunk of metal at a different pane in the same window in the entry, and begging God to let me fly down the stairs to stop him before he opened up an artery.

But the hardest thing about reading the broken window theory is knowing that to many out there, Chandler is the broken window and Dr. Julie Gerberding is the hoodlum turned "public benefactor."  That our children are an economic opportunity that has opened up a 137 billion dollar per year industry (that Pharma is rushing to make bank off of with more psych meds).  That Autism Speaks represents that they serve our families, when in truth Bernie Marcus set it up to funnel private and corporate donations back to the CDC and the CDC Foundation to fund CDC research for a condition unrepentantly caused by the CDC.

Need your work on robots financed?  Put the word "autism" in your research grant and your department can be funded for another year.  Don't worry if it silly, or ineffective or doesn't improves the lives of people whose CNS is on fire, all you have to do is, "Think its a good area to explore."  Hell... make your DNA research about autism, and you can get funded for decades with out ever coming up with a treatment or even replaceable results!

This year I talked to a Mother Warrior/Medical Professional who attended a hospital board meeting where the CEO, not considering that it was an open meeting, lamented their low profits to the audience, and opined that what they really needed was a good epidemic.

And of course, the master of doing nothing about autism, the man who has managed to look busy for six years while getting paid to allow the autism rate to double, Thomas Insel.

Insel heads the Federal Government's Autism efforts, fully admits that greater than 80% of autism cases are environmental, and yet wasted more than SEVEN HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS on genetic and non-environmental research.  Can we come to any other conclusion than Insel and Zorg hold the same economic theory and contempt for humanity?

Boy... that $700 million + sure has funded a lot of busy work in the name of servicing those broken windows.  No autism preventions of course.  And no treatments.  We need those windows to keep breaking and stay broken.  Industry and the economy depend on it, right?

But the Grand Prize has to go to the APA, for DSM 5, which will make every person in this country diagnosable with a mental illness and "treatable" via psych meds with horrible and sometimes deadly "side effects."  What could possibly go wrong there?




So to rephrase:

1.  That bad medical policy stems from pressing agendas that benefit one group, but do not consider the outcomes for other groups (usually pushed through by moneyed/powerful interests that "will hire the best buyable minds to devote their whole time presenting its case.")

2.  That bad medical policy stems from short term thinking and ignores the long term consequences of such policies.

Props to Henry Hazlitt for making bad theory and practice so easy to see.  I highly recommend the quick read.  Free PDF can be found here.

Empirical Data Confirm Autism Symptoms Related to Aluminum and Acetaminophen Exposure

Empirical Data Confirm Autism Symptoms Related to Aluminum and Acetaminophen Exposure

Entropy, November 7, 2012

Stephanie Seneff, Robert M. Davidson and Jingjing Liu

Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA,  Internal Medicine Group Practice, PhyNet, Inc., Longview, TX 75604, USA

Abstract: Autism is a condition characterized by impaired cognitive and social skills, associated with compromised immune function. The incidence is alarmingly on the rise, and environmental factors are increasingly suspected to play a role. This paper investigates word frequency patterns in the U.S. CDC Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) database. Our results provide strong evidence supporting a link between autism and the aluminum in vaccines. A literature review showing toxicity of aluminum in human physiology offers further support. Mentions of autism in VAERS increased steadily at the end of the last century, during a period when mercury was being phased out, while aluminum adjuvant burden was being increased. Using standard log-likelihood ratio techniques, we identify several signs and symptoms that are significantly more prevalent in vaccine reports after 2000, including cellulitis, seizure, depression, fatigue, pain and death, which are also significantly associated with aluminum-containing vaccines. We propose that children with the autism diagnosis are especially vulnerable to toxic metals such as aluminum and mercury due to insufficient serum sulfate and glutathione. A strong correlation between autism and the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) vaccine is also observed, which may be partially explained via an increased sensitivity to acetaminophen administered to control fever.

Vaccine Epidemic Out in Paperback

Well turns out our little book was in demand, so we have issued it in paperback.  It is updated and expanded.  Some great new material in there.  And my chapter on the government shenanigans on the vaccine autism question is updated.  A little preview below:

Vaccines and Autism

The current CDC web site offers this response to the question, “Do vaccines cause autism spectrum disorders?”

“A: [There are] many studies that have looked at whether there is a relationship between vaccines and autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). To date, the studies continue to show that vaccines are not [sic] associated with ASDs.”^[i]

This statement does not accurately depict the state of vaccine safety science today. While some studies do not find evidence of an association between vaccines, heavy metal components such as thimerosal, and autism, many do. The peer-reviewed meta-analysis released by DeSoto and Hitlan, addressed in Chapter 7 (“An Urgent Call for More Research), found that 74 percent of the relevant studies support an association between autism and heavy metals such as thimerosal and autism.

Contrary to the CDC’s statement, there are now approximately 60 studies that support the autism-vaccine causation theory.^[ii] However, parents, attempting to make fully informed decisions about vaccinating their children, who Google “Do vaccines cause autism spectrum disorders?" will see the page containing the CDC's inaccurate claim as the first search result that is returned to them. The trust those parents have that the government is giving them accurate information is misplaced.

            In early 2012, in preparation for the paperback version of Vaccine Epidemic, CDC was contacted directly to ascertain their current stance on vaccine autism causation.  Thomas W. Skinner of the Centers for Disease Control, Office of the Director, Office of the Associate Director for Communication responded:

“Subject:          Re: MI-Normal-Book author-Autism/Vaccine

Date:   Sat, 28 Apr 2012 20:32:40 +0000

From:   Skinner, Thomas W. (CDC/OD/OADC) <tws3@cdc.gov>

To:       'ginger@adventuresinautism.com'

            Autism presents difficult challenges for thousands of families across the United States.  Scientists do not know what causes autism.  However, very thorough studies conducted by some of the world’s brightest scientists simply do not point to an association between vaccines and autism.  Hopefully additional research will someday provide answers as to what is the cause or causes of autism.”

            Because this statement is inconsistent with current research, I sent Mr. Skinner a follow-up email, in which I brought to his attention a list of sixty studies (listed in Appendix) that point to an association between vaccines and autism.   I had three inquiries:  1) the list of studies that "do not point to an association between vaccines and autism; " 2) the reasons for the CDC’s failure to mention any of the studies that point to an association between vaccines and autism; and 3) the  person or panel responsible for approving his statement.

            No reply was forthcoming from the CDC as of the publication of this edition.

---

^[i]  http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/topics.html, Page last reviewed: May 13, 2010, Page last updated: May 13, 2010

^[ii] Ginger Taylor “No Evidence of Any Link,” AdventuresInAutism.com, June 14^th, 2007, accessed May 1st, 2012, http://adventuresinautism.blogspot.com/2007/06/no-evidence-of-any-link.html

What Every Republican Needs to Know About What Happened in Tampa

Two weeks ago, I went to Tampa as a member of the Maine Delegation to the GOP Convention.  As many of you who follow me on FB know, our delegation was unseated, and replaced with a group hand chosen, not by Mainers, but by the RNC.  We did not understand the full extent of what was happening to us, and why this clear violation of the rules was taking place, until the Friday afternoon before the start of the convention, when the new Rules of the Republican Party were unveiled and shoved down the throats of the delegates.

This was not about Maine, this was about the #RNCPowerGrab.  What happened to Maine this year was what the RNC will now do to every state in the coming elections.  Candidates will pick delegates, instead of delegates picking candidates.

I have not written about it, because frankly there is so much to write about, and sorting through it all... well how to do it?

Fortunately one of my new friends, Christopher Haley from Texas, did a better job than I would have done, in a speech to his fellow Texans back home.  So I will share it with you here.

This speech is more important than any speech given at the convention, and every member of the GOP should hear it and understand what has happened to their party.




My eternal love, gratitude and respect for our Liberty Brothers in Texas.

Me and my Texas friends, Justin Machacek and Christopher Haley

Please Turn Your Eyes to Tampa at 2pm, and Help Maine Push Back Against The GOP Power Grab

Dear Friends,

Please read this now, I really need your support today.

As you know, for the last eight years, I have been working to heal my son from his vaccine injury and working to make sure that what happened to Chandler, stops happening to children in this country and around the world.  While I first began this work, I believed that if we just educated our officials on the problems in the medical system that were harming children, that they would work in earnest to change the disastrous policies that have been making our children so sick.  It was a difficult truth to face that the government know, but just doesn't care.  But after having numerous conversations with people in power positions, and even giving private government briefings on these matters, only to see nothing change, it was a truth I had to face.

So I blogged on AdventuresInAutism.com, I contributed to the book Vaccine Epidemic, I helped start The Canary Party, and I got back involved in the Republican Party.  And seeing that Ron Paul was the only one wise enough to see how government was making people sick, and brave enough to plainly say it, I knew that the only route to ending the autism epidemic and healing the damage that has been done, was to back Dr. Paul, who wants to minimize government power, and give it back to ordinary people.  Even mom's like me who just want to give our children raw milk, and choose their own vaccine schedule.

It is surprising to me that following that path would put me on the floor of the Republican National Convention in Tampa.  But that is where I found myself yesterday.

As many of you know, I was elected as part of the Maine Delegation.  But the leadership of the Maine GOP and the RNC apparently doesn't want me or my educated, passionate and honest fellow delegates to be a part of their party.  They stripped Maine of their elected delegates, and replaced them with their hand picked choices.  I was not one of those chosen. 

Being in Tampa this week has been an emotional roller coaster.  The way the RNC has treated us has been abysmal, but the way we are being treated by delegates is wonderful!  Even Romney delegates.  It gives me hope that we can reform the Republican Party to the party that it is supposed to be and restore our Republic.  Everyone here knows that this is a power grab.  It was even apparent to the members of the credentialing committee that made the last decision. Dozens of them approached our people to say, "I am so sorry that this happened to you."  As if they were not the ones that even made the decision. 

And even our own Governor stands in recognition of the injustice that is being done.  Although he is a Maine Elected Delegate who was not dismissed, and although he has endorsed Romney for President, The Honorable Paul LePage has boycotted the GOP Convention in protest of our treatment.  We cannot thank him enough for this powerful and public stand on our behalf. 

My own Maine GOP Chair, who is communicating with the RNC directly, as admitted to me that the RNC's position is that, "They say that can seat whoever they want, or they can seat no one at all.  They don't give a shit anymore."

The rules of the Republican Party do not apply to the Maine.

Later in the day, during the Rules Committee hearing, it finally became apparent as to why it was being done.  The new rules of the Republican will do to every state what they have done to Maine this year.  The RNC has so stacked the rules, that they will effectively have the power to choose the candidate they want, and the grass roots will have no power to change things.  And by removing our Elected Maine Delegates, they have been able to strip away ten who would vote it out.

For the details on what is happening, go to: http://preservetheparty.com/

For the details on Maine's role in this, and to see Mitt Romney tell a reporter on Camera that he didn't know what was happening with Maine, despite the fact that Ben Ginsberg his head lawyer who orchestrated the Rules changes is the one who came to the Maine Convention to sabotage it, and then lead the law suit against seating Maine, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Llg-a8FamJg&feature=youtu.be

My initial reporting on the Ginsberg and his cheating in Maine last May: http://youtu.be/EcqbSCsVtuw

To see who the Elected Maine Delegates really are:  Visit http://MaineDelegates.com (Although the site was never finished, as we have had to take up a fight to be seated that we didn't know we would have.)

And to read our tweets from the convention in real time, go to:  https://twitter.com/i/#!/GingerTaylor/maine-gop-delegation

Today we will be making our last stand from the floor, to seat the Elected Maine Delegation, so we can join our friends in TX, NV, MN, IA and dozens of other states, to fight the new stranglehold rules.  We have had many expressions of support many states that want us seated.

One of the high points of my weekend was seeing an influential Texas delegate wearing a t-shirt that they had whipped up after our ousting on Friday.  It says, "Remember the Alamo.  And the Maine, and the Massachusetts, and the Oklahoma, and the Louisiana..."  They know how corrupt the process has been since our state conventions, and that the fix has been in on what was to happen at this Convention since at least February.

Please, watch what happens on the floor.  Call your friends and get them to watch.  Tell everyone what is happening with the rules.  Encourage anyone with ties to the GOP to make the establishment play by the rules and honor the election in Maine.

Maine is the last state not to cave to the RNC's crooked tactics.  Please support us.

Understand, what they have done to Maine and the other states is not about Ron Paul, this is a naked power grab, which will make Christian Conservatives, or TEA Party groups or any other faction almost powerless to be nominated against whom ever the RNC leadership chooses.  And that battle for the Delegates and the Rules will begin today at 2pm on the floor of the GOP Convention in Tampa. 

Please share this letter with as many people as you can.

And look for us on the floor.  We will be the ones in the white hats.

Thank you for your support,

Ginger Taylor

Chandler's Mom

Romney Maine Campaign Chair Does Not Want Me To Go To Tampa

So former Bush Ambassador, current Mitt Romney Campaign Chair in Maine, Peter Cianchette, and current Maine RNC Committeewoman, and Jan Staples, who was unseated at our convention in May by Ron Paul supporter Ashley Ryan, have filed a challenge to have me and my fellow delegates yanked from the national convention in Tampa.  The sent me a copy of the complaint today.  Coverage here.


As I documented in my reporting on the Romney campaign's Maine convention shenanigans, the GOP parliamentarian noted after the proceedings that the rules were followed.  Staples and Ciancette claim that they weren't, so we should not be seated.  Unclear if they think that no delegation from Maine should be seated, or how one should be chosen.

I sent a personal letter back to them:

Dear Ms. Staples and Mr. Cianchette,

Today I was disheartened to receive your notice that you were contesting the seating of the Maine Delegates and Alternate Delegates elected by our party to the GOP National Convention, and I am writing to ask you to reconsider your actions and rescind your request.  I am an alternate delegate to the convention, elected in Augusta that day, and I have been very excited about having the chance to represent Maine in Tampa.

I am a lifelong republican, the daughter of a career Naval officer, I was born in Brunswick where my father was flying P-3s, I hold a Master of Science in Clinical Counseling from Johns Hopkins University and most significantly, I am the mother to a little boy living with autism.

In the eight years since my son's neurological regression, I have unfortunately had to learn first hand how broken our current system is, how much corruption in our country is harming those who are the least able to avoid and recover from it, and most grievously, how the party that I have been loyal to my entire life, has not only failed to address that corruption, but has helped to maintain it.  I have personally briefed our state health commissioner and the head of Mainecare on the way that the federal government has defrauded our state and some disabled families of tens of millions (hundreds of millions?) of dollars, and have had to sit back and watch no action be taken, while families, school systems and state services buckle under the financial strain that is the federal governments (shirked) responsibility.  It is a very difficult thing for a mother to suddenly find out that those that she has trusted and supported for a life time, are deaf to calls from her to bring an end to harm that is being caused to her own child, and children like him, because it is not politically expedient. 

Because of my experience and my loss of trust in what the Republican Party had become, I disengaged from politics (and the party) for many years, but returned recently because I saw that, because the Obama administration had been so egregious in their power grab and so brazen in their corruption, and because the consequences to our economy and society had been so grave, that people were beginning to wake up to how broken the American system had become, and that earnest men were again willing to fight for this country.  They wanted to bring it back to the values it was founded on, to implement a true system of checks and balances, to bring real accountability for misdeeds and to bring actual freedom back to individuals... well it gave me hope that we might be able to resurrect some of what we have lost in the last twenty years. 

So I got back into politics, advocating in issues of free choice in health care, of allowing corrupt systems to collapse in a free market that was able to see that they had little value, and to call out those who would cheat the American people by buying their legislators and lying to the public.  I came back to the Republican Party, because it looked again like it may become the party of Reagan that it once was.  Better even.  Not only was I excited that the liberty movement was taking hold in our party, I was relieved!  Finally conservatives were seeing that the root causes of the problems had to be attacked!  No more rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, now we could start to have real conversations about how to put sound financial systems in place that would make it harder for the corrupt to gain quick access to the easy money that they were using to basically buy the American people, their rights and their labor!  We could actually focus on actual constitutional issues!

And having the chance to do that in Maine... amazing!  I cut my teeth on politics in DC, where one sees the most cynical part of American politics for sure, how wonderful to be here, where people are closer to one another, more accountable to one another and not so tainted by the things that go on inside the beltway.  Being at the convention, and seeing that so many Mainers were showing up to participate in the REAL work to get our country back, that so many had become so passionate about the true values of the Republican party, it was really healing to me, and gave me a great deal of hope.  I was very proud to be a part of that process, and very proud to be elected as an alternate delegate for Maine, because those voting knew I would to go Tampa to support Ron Paul and his values.

But what I have seen at the convention in Augusta and since then have both discouraged and truly baffled me.  Rather than seeing the coming together of Republicans at the convention, I saw (and still see) a bad faith process that I would have expected to see in DC or Chicago, but never here.  I recorded one of Mitt Romney's paid employees, wearing a Ron Paul sticker on his shirt, passing out fake slates of known Paul supporters, who were not running for delegate, in an attempt to trick his fellow republicans.  I had others report to me that a second fake slate being circulated, printed to look exactly like the Paul slate, but with the names of Romney delegate nominees on it, to further divide the vote of those who came in an earnest attempt to vote their conscience for Paul.

That day my father was also a delegate at his GOP convention in Nevada, where the Romney campaign attempted the same deception.

Since then I have followed the state GOP conventions and have been devastated to see the kind of horrible tactics that our party has been using to push out liberty minded candidates in state after state.  I am also completely mystified by it. 

We are a party that lost the last presidential election, and since then, due to the abuse of power and poor judgment of our current president and his officials, people are starting to get it.  They understand how corruption and bad policy destroy our country.  They are clamoring for honest government, open government, accountable government, good faith government... a government that is not going to lie to them or coerce them or steal from them or defraud them.  And so the Republican party has a chance to answer that call and we offer them... this?

Cheating our own members? 

We have young people flooding into the liberty movement, and then into our party, and our response is to douse their enthusiasm, shut them down and shove them out?  What a truly bizarre response!  Would not a wiser, more loving and more productive response be to welcome in the liberty movement, its energy, its ideals and its young people?  To educate them on difficult political realities that they may not have had experience with, and use the resources of the party to put them to work on our issues in the state and nationally?

Why in the world is the Republican party fighting the liberty movement so brutally?  Why are you contesting my credentialing in Tampa?  You don't know me, you have not called me to see if I might be an asset to our party, you don't know what I have to offer or how I might build the party.  You have merely made up some excuses for me not to be seated, because... well because why?

I am earnestly looking for an explanation as to what is so great about Mitt Romney, and what is so horrible about Ron Paul, that some republicans would actually destroy the party rather than just play fair and see where the chips land by allowing those who were elected at their conventions to vote their conscience in Tampa.  Especially when it does not appear that Paul has the votes to win in Tampa any way.

As I have walked through this process, I see the actions by long time Republicans, like you are doing here in contesting our seating in Tampa, and I am constantly reminded of the story of the two mothers who came to King Saul to settle a dispute.  The two women had been sleeping with their infant children, and one had accidently smothered her child during her slumber.  Both women came before Saul and claimed the surviving child as their own.  So Saul declared that the baby be cut in half to be given to both mothers.   Saul then knew who the true mother was, as the other woman did not love the child and was content to kill the child to win the dispute.

More than a third of Maine Republicans voted for Ron Paul in our caucuses (Romney 39%, Paul 36%), and more than half voted for his endorsed delegates in Augusta.  You would actually cut those people out of the process?  You are happy to split the baby to win a dispute?

Everyone who was in Augusta Civic Center that weekend knows full well that the liberty movement was in the majority during those elections.  And if there was any problem with credentialing, which I have seen no evidence of, then it can only be the fault of the party leadership, which both of you represent.  The election was fair and everyone knows it. 

So making this claim, and worse, winning it, will only destroy the baby.  If those in the GOP who are cheating their own people so obviously actually succeed in this, they will be left with the party, but it will be worthless.  When my liberal friends attack my party and claim it is corrupt, I will have no response to them, other than to agree, because I have seen it with my own eyes and am experiencing it first hand.

Tell me what is worth doing this?  What is the worth of acting out the corruption we are calling out in the Obama administration, here in our own state?  And if we are just as corrupt as the current administration, do we deserve to win?  Should we be entrusted with power?  Will we not just screw the country up just as bad, merely differently than Obama Co is now doing?  Is "win at all costs, stab your brother in the back" a republican value?  Because the Republican Party I became a part of was about duty, honestly, hard work, fair play, and holding the big guy to the rules so the little guy does not get stepped on.

And all for Mitt Romney?  Because, if you have not noticed, he is not exactly the embodiment of Mr. Reagan.  I have talked to other conservatives who are supporting Romney, and the only reason they can give for that is because they think he can beat Obama, and, "We have to get Obama out."  I am with them on the last part.  Obama is a terrible president almost any way you measure him.  But why in the world, in this present climate, does anyone think that Mr. Romney has a better chance against President Obama than Dr. Paul does? 

I have a difficult time believing that many self-respecting liberals are going to cross over to our party to vote for Mitt Romney.  Why would they?  But people of all backgrounds are supporting Dr. Paul.  Yet rather than seizing that opportunity, the Republicans don't just ignore them, they actively go to war against them, even inside their own party?  It is like the world has turned upside down.  I don't understand this at all.  Do we want to destroy the party AND loose the election in the process?

Or am I wrong in my estimation of our party?  Is it truly unredeemable?  It is really the cold, corrupt, corporation dedicated to money and power that my liberal friends think it is, with merely a thin veneer of "freedom and justice" talk as a marketing ploy to conservative Americans who want to believe the party of Reagan is still alive?  Who are we?

These questions that I am asking you are not rhetorical.  Both of you hold yourselves out as leaders in my state and national political party, and feel comfortable making leadership decisions for our state party to throw out the votes of thousands of members, so it is safe to say you are morally accountable to answer my questions.  If it has a question mark after it, in this letter, I actually want an answer to it.  A few more specific questions:

1.  Since everyone who was at the Maine GOP Convention in May knew that the liberty movement outnumbered Romney supporters on the floor that day, and the election results were what the majority wanted, why are you contesting the results, knowing full well that it WILL create dissension in conservative ranks, crush morale for those who are working to bring conservative values to our state and local governments and kill trust in our party?

2.  I have reported that Romney's paid employees were caught and video taped deceiving their own party members on the floor to impact the outcome of the election.  The video has had tens of thousands of views on YouTube.  Does this concern you?  Will this be addressed in any way?

3.  Why is my credentialing, me personally, being contested?  Why don't you want me representing Maine at the GOP National Convention?

4.  If indeed this is not just a cynical attempt to change the outcome of elections that you both lost, and you are concerned that the true Maine Republican Delegates did not have their say that day in Augusta, then what do you propose be done to make sure that delegates do have their say?  If the delegation as elected, is not seated, how do you propose that it be replaced?  With individuals appointed by party membership?  If so, how will that better reflect the will of the delegates that were elected in their home towns?

5.  If you believe Maine should be represented by a delegation, and that delegation should be appointed by the party, then how do I hold myself out for consideration by the party for the seat I have already been elected to?  If this is about "Unity" as we are repeatedly being told, then would not the best solution before the party to merely appoint those whom have already been elected?  That way we can be sure that both the will of the people, and the rules of the party have been followed as best we can, right?

6.  If this is not really about rules, or fair play, and this is just your attempt to circumvent the will Maine GOP State Delegates to win an election that you lost, then why should anyone participate in this party any more, knowing that the game is rigged, the power players are just going to cheat, push, bully and bribe to get their way, and that we are merely participating in another broken and corrupt political mess? 

7.  If this is the way that republicans treat republicans, why should we follow your leadership and why should anyone support this party?

Because I am sick to death of political hardball.  I have had enough of behind the scenes strong arming, threats and bribes followed by smiles and bullshit calls for "unity" for the cameras.  The whole country is.  Enough already.  No one is buying it any more.

Things are bad right now.  Any republican will tell you that, but being the mother of a disabled child, who has not had the resources she had before her son's regression, I can attest to the fact that they are much worse than our current party leadership will even face.  There are good reasons that people are beginning to revolt and demonstrate on an international scale.  It is because corruption has become so ubiquitous, and has trickled down so far. 

If the US were a ship, then you are first class passengers complaining that the Captain has steered us into bad weather and rough seas, and a change of course is needed.  I am the woman who got lost down in steerage and is screaming to high heaven that the hull is rotting and collapsing from decades of neglect, and that no matter how fair the seas you seek, the ship is going down unless drastic measures are taken now.  Telling people like me to pipe down and locking us below decks is going to sink this ship.

Have you made any consideration of what the long term consequences of doing this might be?

I appeal to you to stop fighting the liberty movement, get on board with us, rescind your challenge to the current delegates, and start fixing what is broken.  Even the things that we republicans had a hand in breaking.  Things in this country are coming to a head, our current path is unsustainable, the status quo will not maintained for much longer, and everyone knows it.  The way I see it, we can either continue the futile attempt to hold on to a decaying paradigm, or we can let go of the past, change, and be a part of shaping what will come after whatever reset is coming our way.  The resets in the Middle East and Europe are not what I want for my country.  If that is not what you want, then stop battling people like me, and join us to become a part of the revolution that is going to fix this mess that we are in.

I look forward to hearing from you on all that I have written about here.  I live at 11 High Street, in Brunswick, my phone number is 207-729-6757, and you can call me at any time, or visit me at any time, day or night, so we can work this out in good faith, between party members, as should be done. 

Sincerely,

Ginger Taylor

Maine Alternate Delegate to the Republican Convention in Tampa, Florida.

UPDATE: A Statement from fellow delegate, Bryan Daugherty:

"It is a great honor and my privilege to represent Maine Republicans at the RNC in Tampa this August. I received the 5th highest amount of votes (958) from over 2200 Delegates at our State Convention in May. As a republican for more than 18 years, I have supported our party's principles and continue to do so. I support the Maine GOP platform and seek to help the Republican Party maintain the majority in the state legislature.

I have marched in parades for Republican candidates and have helped on Republican campaigns. I give up several days a month to attend various GOP committees, including the State Committee, Penobscot County Committee, and the Bangor Committee, as well as various town committees in my county.

I want to say that my entire family has sacrificed to make sure that I could attend the upcoming national convention, all of us knowing full well that this is the most important election of my generation and that in the balance hangs the future of my children -- and their children.

While I have been busy trying to fulfill my commitment to the party, this bitter woman, indulging her own self-interest, has filed a challenge to the validity of every national delegate and alternate delegate, trying to unseat each of us. If she is successful, she will have unseated every delegate for the state of Maine.

Why would she do this, you might ask. It might be because she was not re-elected to her current position of GOP National Committeewoman.

Or it might be because she did not get the committee seat she wanted on the Rules Committee in Tampa.

Or it might be that she believes that despite the fact that the majority of those who bothered to go to and stay at the state convention support a candidate which she does not support, so she believes that subverting the democratic process of the Convention is a viable remedy.

But whatever her reasons, she clearly misunderstands the definition of “unity,” which is the opposite of what she is doing.

That is why I am asking you to support the National Delegation that our party duly elected at the 2012 Maine Republican State Convention.

I need you to support our petition to ask Jan Staples and Peter Cianchette to withdraw their divisive challenge against the Maine Delegation and recommend that the RNC Credentials Committee seat the duly elected delegation from Maine.

Use the link below to sign right now! Your Support is appreciated!

Update:

When my copy arrived in the mail, it had no return address on it.  But fellow delegate Matt McDonald just noted something:

Matt McDonald

Ok, maybe this isn't as big as I think it is, but today I got my official unmarked letter from Peter and Jan telling my Delegation Seat is being Contested....notice the postmark address..02109.

02109 is Boston, Mass.

Boston, Mass is where Romney HQ is.

Just saying.

Mitt Romney for President's headquarters is at 585 Commercial Street, Boston, MA 02109.

The Obama Administration Makes Contact After Last Week's AoA Article

Last week, the Age of Autism ran stories on the upcoming meeting of the federal Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, and the vast  complaints from our community on the wasted time, money and lives that have been the result of the incompetence and malfeasance of Tom Insel and the Department of Health and Human Services in their "search of the real killers" in the autism epidemic, Age of Autism announced that members of the autism community would be showing up in DC on Tuesday to make their voices heard. At the time, we were planning on holding our press conference in front of the DHHS building, but changes to the IACC schedule necessitated holding it at the hotel, so that our families could participate in public comment and hear their reaction to our input.

I can finally report that after holding a press conference in New York in April, after a letter to Kathleen Sebelius voicing our demands for an appropriate response to the autism epidemic and the government failures that have only served to compound the problem, and after announcing our plans to come to DC, we were finally contacted by the administration last Friday.

But it was not the Department of Health and Human Services calling to find out how they can serve our children, it was the Department of Homeland Security calling to find out if we were planning on chaining ourselves to the building.  As one of the coordinators of the event, I then carried out the somewhat humiliating task of assuring the men with the guns that parents bringing their severely, neurologically injured children (who can barely tolerate traffic noise) to the DHHS building were not planning a violent protest.

Because apparently the administration is reading the Age of Autism, but rather than tasking DHHS with acting to protect our children, they chose to task DHS to protect DHHS from us.

It is clear that we have been heard, and that the Obama administration has decided that we are to be ignored.

Cafe Pharma: "Sex is F'ing up Merck"

If you don't read Cafe Pharma, you really should.  You learn a lot about how the sausage is made that is eventually put into our babies.

Or you could just go back to believing that what Pharma is selling you is actually based on hard science since all of those involved have the lazer focus of Stephen Hawking, the self discipline of an olympic athlete and the compassion for the vulnerable of Mother Theresa.

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#1    06-25-2012, 12:33 PM

Anonymous Posts: n/a

Sex is F'ing up Merck People do your jobs and stop worrying about getting laid. You people are like a bunch of high schoolers.

#2    06-25-2012, 12:37 PM

Anonymous Posts: n/a

Re: Sex is F'ing up Merck ok, great post

#3    06-25-2012, 01:31 PM

Anonymous Posts: n/a

Re: Sex is F'ing up Merck Now we're onto a great topic. From now on if you are looking for action at meetings wink twice while sipping on a Diet Coke at the break.

#4    06-25-2012, 03:50 PM

Anonymous Posts: n/a

Re: Sex is F'ing up Merck Great topic maybe QA should chime in with some insights.

#5    06-25-2012, 04:25 PM

Anonymous Posts: n/a

Re: Sex is F'ing up Merck They are too busy not doing work.

#6    Yesterday, 10:02 AM

Anonymous Posts: n/a

Re: Sex is F'ing up Merck Merck will do this to anyone. The levels of stress here and the corruption goes across departments.

#7    Yesterday, 01:42 PM

Anonymous Posts: n/a

Re: Sex is F'ing up Merck What people don’t or can’t understand is no matter how hard you work here you will not be rewarded or penalized. It’s just go with the flow. If you work your tail off what do you really think you will get? You will get a 3% raise rather than a 1% raise. There are companies knocking down our door stating we can do the exact same thing your people do at 15 cents on the dollar. I kid you not about that. Will it be lower quality, of course. Do they care, hell no. I can assure you that the reps will have it good when this is all over in comparison to others here. As far as QA goes, I never had any respect for what they do. They have the easiest jobs in the company. All they must do is check the results before the product is out the door. Process work is done by people much higher up than them. It’s of no surprise to anyone that they have such low self-esteem. With that come the behavior they exhibit today. I feel more sympathy for them than anything else. They have been put in a position that they can’t handle. Management does not help them in any way, shape or form. Don’t blast them for their unscrupulous ways. Just be happy you only have a work relationship with them. If you are looking for Merck to give you career guidence, that was 20 years ago.

#8    Yesterday, 03:41 PM

Anonymous Posts: n/a

Re: Sex is F'ing up Merck It is just not Merck who is doing this. All companies are moving production overseas. Also since companies don’t have direction how can they give it to their employees. Your confusing America 2012 with America 1970.

#9    Yesterday, 07:57 PM

Anonymous Posts: n/a

Re: Sex is F'ing up Merck and it does not matter who you vote in

#10    Yesterday, 10:28 PM

Anonymous Posts: n/a

Re: Sex is F'ing up Merck The biggest thing made in America are billionaires.

#11    Today, 01:19 AM

Anonymous Posts: n/a

Re: Sex is F'ing up Merck At the end of the day, pharmaceutical companies are leaving NJ as fast as they can. The worse part about it is the saturation it will cause when we will be looking for work. If you read the article these people did not see it coming. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/201...ey_campus.html

#12    Today, 09:36 AM

Anonymous Posts: n/a

Re: Sex is F'ing up Merck Quote: Originally Posted by Anonymous  What people don’t or can’t understand is no matter how hard you work here you will not be rewarded or penalized. It’s just go with the flow. If you work your tail off what do you really think you will get? You will get a 3% raise rather than a 1% raise. There are companies knocking down our door stating we can do the exact same thing your people do at 15 cents on the dollar. I kid you not about that. Will it be lower quality, of course. Do they care, hell no. I can assure you that the reps will have it good when this is all over in comparison to others here. As far as QA goes, I never had any respect for what they do. They have the easiest jobs in the company. All they must do is check the results before the product is out the door. Process work is done by people much higher up than them. It’s of no surprise to anyone that they have such low self-esteem. With that come the behavior they exhibit today. I feel more sympathy for them than anything else. They have been put in a position that they can’t handle. Management does not help them in any way, shape or form. Don’t blast them for their unscrupulous ways. Just be happy you only have a work relationship with them. If you are looking for Merck to give you career guidence, that was 20 years ago. We are not make TV sets or radios. We are talking about medicine in places that does not have the ability to oversee what we are doing. You get what you pay for. Expect 15% of the quality and 15% of the volume. It’s all smoke and mirrors. Remember the Bhopal disaster back in 1984-1985. Fix our issues here and we will be fine. Just make QA accountable along with the rest of Merck. As far as their many affairs, nothing can be done about that. It just shows their disgusting and sickening character. They never should have been hired in the first place.