Should Obama be allowed to shut down the Internet?
The Daily Beast:
Can Obama Shut Down the Internet? by Philip Shenon
A new bill rocketing through Congress would give the president sweeping powers to police the Web for national-security reasons. Could this be a way to block WikiLeaks?
Obama can declare an "emergency" and start turning off access for up to 30 days. But what constitutes an "emergency"? Well remember the last "emergency"? That was when the mildest flu in recorded history was declared an "emergency"?
From NVIC:
Because public health is now considered a matter of national (and international) security, if this bill passes, the President could potentially block websites considered a threat to government-led "countermeasures." Like when there is a "pandemic" announced and websites like NVIC's are critical of the government's mass vaccination program.
ummm... that's me.
Hell No.
If they don't want power lines attacked, THEN GET THEM OFF THE INTERNET.
Total Votes: 313 DETAILED RESULTS Poll courtesy of Qwanz.com
"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The H1N1 flu virus could cause up to 90,000 U.S. deaths, mainly among children and young adults, if it resurges this fall as expected, according to a report released Monday by a presidential advisory panel.
The report urges speedier production of the H1N1 vaccine and the availability of some doses by September..."
Remember this bologna? I thought I would post it again now that the school year is through, and we have seen what kind of garbage/vaccine sales tools are put out by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Do you know how many people died in Maine from the H1N1 virus? 19.
Well sure the death rate in Maine was practically nill... it is a rural state... but what about a place like California, the most populous state in the nation? 579.
Virginia 37 Iowa 41 New Mexico 58 Illinois 111
Are we at 90,000 yet? Are we even approaching that 36,000 deaths per year that CDC claims die from the flu during a typical season?
Let's go ahead and skip to the grand total of all deaths in the US:
Estimates range that between four and eight billion dollars was spent on this "pandemic" just in the US. Only a quarter of the population took the shot, and more than 70 million doses are being thrown away (that is mercury.. toxic waste.. hazmat material).
If we were not living in bazzaro world, the media would be raving about the billions wasted, the public would be screaming for hearings and investigations and jail time for fraud, and Barack Obama would have fired all these people and apologized to the American public for this colossal disaster and fear campaign. But apparently Holdren has put quaaludes in the drinking water.
But the really exciting question is... HOW CAN WE MAKE SURE THAT WE GET THE H1N1 STRAIN EVERY YEAR! How awesome is it that CDC reports 36,000 deaths every year and we had less than a tenth of that this year! Why is CDC not partying in the street!? We have found the safest flu ever!!!
I have been largely opposed to HRC as is it is being proffered by Obama/Reid/Pelosi et. al. for several reasons, but until now, I have not taken a public stance on the current health care reform as I thought it was more of a personal opinion. Reading this article has changed my mind.
I am no fan of government health recommendations re: vaccine program. The destruction that this program has done and is doing is incalculable. Mostly because they won't allow it to be calculated. I can't imagine just how much destruction they could pull off if they went from merely recommending medical care to providing it. All medical care will become 'public health' and individual care will begin to breathe its last.
This health care bill needs to die.
And Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel (Rahm's brother), the architect of Obama Care, needs to retire and take up golf. I am not even going to paraphrase him.... read his words for yourself and let the meaning of that for your child sink in.
And, if you are a child with disabilities, the government has already completely given up on you. Emanuel believes “services provided to individuals who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens are not basic and should not be guaranteed.” What’s worse, since he does not believe in “guaranteeing neuropsychological services to ensure children with learning disabilities can read and learn to reason,” once the public option puts the private sector out of business, these types of life-changing services for children will no longer exist.
I don't think that he or his opinions should be going anywhere near actual human beings. I can only imagine how he would calculate the value of my precious child.
Posted By Sarah Durand On December 7, 2009 @ 12:00 am In . Column2 05, . Positioning, Health, Money, Politics, Science & Technology, US News | 54 Comments
Under the Democrats’ proposed health care reform legislation, we know that the government will have to determine some sort of rationing system in order to control costs. We are aware that part of the rationing will be absorbed in the discrimination that the bill inflicts upon the elderly; we know that it cuts $500 billion from Medicare [1]. What has remained puzzling is how exactly this rationing will be determined for the rest of us. Similarly elusive is how the new Health Benefits Advisory Committee will decide whether or not you get certain medical treatments, regardless of the opinion of your doctor. After all, how do you put a dollar value on a human life?
If you think there is no answer to that question, you are way behind the progressives. In fact, most countries with socialized medicine, including Britain, are already using a mathematical formula that expresses the numerical value of one year of a human life in a measurement called the QALY [2], or “quality-adjusted life year.” In terms of determining medical care, the mathematical formula of the QALY is based on both how much a treatment may lengthen your lifespan and the quality of the life you will be living.
Basically, if you are in optimal health, the QALY of one year of your life is 1.0. But if you have any underlying conditions, like asthma or muscular dystrophy, your QALY is much lower. Under the QALY system, the blind are worth less than those with sight, as those who can walk are worth more than those in wheelchairs. Sound like discrimination against persons with disabilities? It gets worse.
In a paper entitled “Cost-Effectiveness and Disability Discrimination [3],” the director of the Division of Medical Ethics at the Harvard Medical School, Dan Brock [4], argues “prioritizing health care resources by their relative cost-effectiveness can result in lower priority for the treatment of disabled persons than otherwise similar non-disabled persons.” He says that type of system not only “implies that disabled persons’ lives are of lesser value than those of non-disabled persons,” but it also “conflicts with equality of opportunity; it conflicts with fairness, which requires ignoring (some/most) differential impacts of treatment; it wrongly gives lower priority to disabled persons for equally effective treatment; it conflicts with giving all persons an equal chance to reach their full potential; and, it is in conflict with giving priority to the worse off.”
The “double jeopardy [5]” scenario that describes how the disabled are not only already suffering with an illness or disability, but are also given a lower priority of health care treatments to preserve or improve the quality of their lives, has been widely debated in countries with universal health care. It does little good to pass health care reform that restricts denying insurance to those with underlying conditions when treatment is still withheld from these individuals as an inherent flaw within the system.
As if that’s not bad enough, the health advisor to the president, Ezekiel Emanuel [6], is proposing a system even more deleterious. His system, similar to the QALY, is “the complete lives system [7],” which not only allows for discrimination against the elderly and disabled, but also targets the very young, i.e., our children.
Emanuel says of his system: “When implemented, the complete lives system produces a priority curve on which individuals aged between roughly 15 and 40 years get the most substantial chance, whereas the youngest and oldest people get chances that are attenuated.”
Leave it to American progressives to take the QALY one step further by defining quality of life as how useful you are to society — that is, how likely you are to increase the government’s tax revenue, hence the emphasis on those between ages 15 and 40. Health care gets a lot cheaper by rationing care to all non-taxpayers.
According to Emanuel [8], “The death of a 20-year-old woman is intuitively worse than that of a two-month-old girl.” I doubt the parents of the two-month-old agree.
And, if you are a child with disabilities, the government has already completely given up on you. Emanuel believes [9] “services provided to individuals who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens are not basic and should not be guaranteed.” What’s worse, since he does not believe in “guaranteeing neuropsychological services to ensure children with learning disabilities can read and learn to reason,” once the public option puts the private sector out of business, these types of life-changing services for children will no longer exist.
Years of research in treating children with autism, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and dyslexia are in jeopardy of being rendered null and void. Years of progress in passing anti-discrimination laws may be undone in one single bill.
Health care is a mess, but much of the mess is the government's fault in the first place. They have proven themselves completely corrupt in this area. They are not just in bed with Pharma, they are Pharma, as CDC holds its own vaccine patents. They are flat out saying that our kids are not valuable. I have decided to take them at their word. Which is really the only thing you can do as they have behaved as if our children had no value and were expendable since they took up the autism issue a few years back.
My predictions if this bill passes? Paul Offit put in charge of Autism treatment and full vaccination required to access any medical services. Plus any new vaccines that they decide to add on a whim.
Currently the only way we have to check the corrupt and useless garbage coming out of our public health service is with our feet. We can walk away and go to private docs who actually value our children and will TREAT THEM. If we give these bastards in public health more power to begin dictating who gets what services, we are cutting our own throats.
Health care has problems.... I have spent years documenting them, but letting the foxes run the hen house is not the solution.
NO, NO, NO on Health Care.
HELL NO.
UPDATE: Apparently Nancy Pelosi heard that I came out against her bill because only twenty minutes after I posted this, she pulled the plug on the public option.
Today in a conference call with Kathleen Sebelius and Thomas Insel, HHS told a small circle of autism groups that they would be releasing the new 1 in 100 autism rate on Monday.
They cautioned however, that they didn't know if the increase was a real increase or whether greater awareness... changes in measurement methods... better diagnosis... blah blah blah... because apparently our government doesn't even read their own publications.
The whole thing was so predictable that I could have written it for them yesterday.
AAP will also be releasing autism information on Monday, but we were told that it was embargoed.
Sebelius (before ditching out on the call five minutes in) also announced that Barack Obama was all over Autism, dropping 85 million for research into genetics, services, "evidence based treatment" (which is code for everything but biomedical which we refuse to research so it can't have any "evidence" so we don't have to recommend it) and telehealth (video conferencing for rural families).
No where were the words, "diet", "vaccine", "environmental", "toxic", "neuroinflamation", "autoimmune", "recovery" or any of those other words that I was looking for, ever spoken.
They did however excel in self-congratulations, Insel yelling "ouch!" at one point as he apparently dislocated his shoulder, while patting himself on the back. Pray for his speedy recovery. I am sure his Pharma Bros. can get him some good pain meds.
The conference call was not announced to the press or public, but merely in an email sent out at 9 am inviting around fifty people in the autism community (almost exclusively friendly to the administration) to the 2pm call with a "sorry for the short notice".
After listening to the call, my cynicism is increased, and I continue to encourage my readers NOT to wait for the government to do anything to prevent your child from contracting autism or to treat him. If you are reading this blog you are likely way ahead of Insel and company, and who knows how many years it will be before they catch up with us.
If this is the Obama approach, then I expect it will be at least Summer of 2013 before we hear a conference call from the administration that dares to utter the shocking phrase, "gastrointestinal damage".
They did talk about services, but I can't even give them the benefit of the doubt on that today. So when a child actually benefits from the 85 million being dropped on all this busy work, I will let you know.
And if your child benefits from anything Obama/Sebelius/Insel does, then make sure to drop me a note.
Until then, I just see this as talk because the heat is on and they have to look productive.
UPDATE: I was going to ask a question, bu the Q and A period ended as I was about to do so. Apparently several people asked questions that challenged the administration, but they were screened out by the call administrator. David Kirby's post on the matter.
With All Eyes On Swine Flu, Thousands of Parents Ask President Obama “How Much Longer” Until Autism Gets Similar Attention
WASHINGTON, DC - Just since midnight, over 50,000 letters have gone to President Barack Obama and others as part of a new campaign to bring attention to the rising numbers of autism cases. The National Autism Association (NAA) declared today as National “How Much Longer” Day for Autism, a day of letter-writing to the media, health agencies, Department of Education, lawmakers and the Obama Administration asking for such things as health insurance coverage, federal laws to protect special-ed students from dangerous restraint and seclusion practices in schools, safer vaccines, and for autism to be declared a nation health crisis. Seeing how much attention is being paid to the H1N1 virus, many parents are wondering why autism is the fastest growing disorder, yet has received very little aid.
In a letter to its members, NAA stated, “We've asked for [help] politely, impolitely, loudly, softly, creatively, professionally, in small numbers and in large...we’ve asked and we’ve asked again. But as it stands today, we have more cases of abuse, wandering-related deaths, seizure-related deaths, bankruptcies and divorce in our community than ever before. With the fatigue that comes from constant uphill battles, along with a gross lack of resources, we live in a permanent state of asking one question: How Much Longer?”
Eight ads have gone out over the last six weeks promoting the “How Much Longer” campaign. When asking the public to participate, NAA says, “Say yes only if you don’t mind a little controversy. This campaign isn’t warm and fuzzy and it’s far from polite. It’s edgy, sarcastic and harsh at times, but when you live day to day seeing an increasing number of children suffer from vulgar abuse, impossible challenges, even death, you tend to put graceful asks aside for a message that people might actually notice.”
The group reports that out of all the autism campaigns they’ve done, this by far has received the highest amount of response.
“We’ve had an overwhelming amount of feedback, mostly positive, but this campaign isn’t for everyone,” says Ann Brasher, Vice President of NAA. “We essentially call the CDC out for labeling us as ‘anti-vaccine’ every time we ask a question about vaccine safety. We call out the NIH for directing more dollars towards genetic research when environmental factors are playing a huge role in triggering autism, and we call out the Department of Education for their slow response in keeping more special-ed students from being abused and killed in our school systems. We’ve gone out on a limb here to say what needs to be said.”
The group’s letter to President Obama covers the daily challenges of living with autism. “Most days, we don’t know which issue to tackle first,” states Rita Shreffler, NAA Executive Director. “There are too many and we’re overwhelmed. We’ve asked President Obama to declare autism a national health crisis so that autism may receive the attention it needs and our children may receive the basic resources they deserve.”
According to a recently released survey by the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH), which is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the US Department of Health and Human Services, Autism Spectrum Disorders now affect 1 in 100 children.
“It’s time for answers,” says Brasher. “It’s long overdue.”
Are you just going to ignore the problem while paying lip service like President Bush did?
What will the autism rate be when Sasha and Malia are having children? Mr. President, you are a Star Trek nerd and your daughter has an autoimmune disorder. You should probably know that your own family is likely on the short list to join our not so exclusive club in the future.
If you would like to know what being the grand father of a child who has slipped into autism is like, I am sure I can arrange a meeting between you and my dad so you can decide if this is worth your attention now, or if you want to risk being just like us and saying, "If only I would have....", "If only I had known...".
"If only I had spent the billions from the non-epidemic of swine flu, on the real epidemic of autism when I had the chance, then maybe my grandson could look me in the eye and call me 'grandpa'."
So the Obama administration has set up several new web sites (and all have you tube channels so I subscribed to all of them), one of which is America.gov. The tag line of the site is: "Engaging the World". It looks to be a "hey world, Obama is in charge now, like us again" PR web site.
America.gov now has this video up on its you tube channel:
"Change You Can Believe In - Obama Music Video"
As I watched this a couple of things came to mind.... first was...
"Great. UpWithPeople have ditched their sweater vests and they're back, this time with soul and singers that can actually sing".
And then I noticed that one guy was actually wearing a sweater vest.
Then I thought, "I wonder if ABC News is ok with the administration stealing their opener and implying endorsement of their 'Obama as Savior' type message".
Then I thought, the auto-tune being over used on the voices was a metaphor on how artificial and overproduced this piece was, while trying to look like they were not trying very hard.
Then I thought, "What pr flack/policy wonk wrote this song? No actual legitimate song writer would compose the phrase, '...transform sectors of energy, education and health, and bring prosperity to all'."
And then there is, "Yes we can.... work for the common good..."
What common good? And who decides what is the common good? Was my son getting sick from vaccines part of the "common good" to prevent a viral outbreak? "Common good" is a really pretty phrase until you realized that it is quite often used as an excuse by the majority to screw the minority and those too weak to fight back.
Hell, people openly argued that slavery should be allowed to continue, even though they admitted it was wrong, because to end it would bring about economic collapse. And they were right, the South collapsed after the war and some parts never came back.
You guys ok with those kind of "common good" arguments?
I really like the part where they sing, "different cultures, different faces yet, all equal and all free, driven by a dream to explore our potential... ".
These people apparently don't live in the same world as Julie Obradovic and me.
"Let it be said by our childrens' children that..."
The autism rate is growing by 10 to 17 percent a year, will any of our childrens' children be able to say anything?!
Then I remembered that scene from "Dave" where Kevin Klein, posing as the president who was in the basement in a coma, challenged his cabinet to stop wasting money on BS Public Relations campaigns. And bless You Tube's little heart, it was there waiting for me:
Apparently the Obama administration and Nancy Pelosi (who refuse to allow autism coverage in their "COMPREHENSIVE" health care for "all Americans") are perfectly happy to tell a 14 year old boy with autism that he has to go with out treatment or services so they can make someone feel good about a President they have already elected.
Can we, working together for the "common good" of not wasting money on this kind of PR BS, instead actually address the problems of our society, starting with the fact that more than one percent of children are becoming mysteriously neurologically damaged?
CNN is reporting that the current head of the CDC has resigned effective January 20th. Mike Leavitt, current head of HHS asked for her resignation along with several other senior officials at CDC. Gerberding will be replaced by William H. Gimson, COO, will take over as interim director until a new director is appointed by the Obama administration.
Does this seem odd to anyone? Why would the current head of HHS get rid of the head of CDC and place an interim director rather than just leaving her there for Tom Daschle, new head of HHS, to do as he likes with the staffing? Is there some reason that Leavitt does not want Gerberding and her associates to be under the purview of and answering to, Tom Daschle and Barack Obama?
Leavitt explained his move this way: "The next phase of Transition involves the departure of our team on January 20, and the arrival of President-elect Obama's team later that day," his e-mail said. "In order to create a clear path for leadership transition, I am attaching a list of senior leaders who will become the acting heads of their respective agencies and offices (or in some cases, remain as heads of their respective agencies and offices) until the new administration appoints individuals to various leadership positions."
Is this normal? Are other agencies in the US government resigning and putting interim people in place on Jan 20th?
Don't get me wrong... I am thrilled to see her go. Trying not to be giddy about it frankly. But this strikes me as the same kind of thing as moving the Vaccine Safety Datalink overseas so it can't be accessed. Gerberding will have lots of damning information that she would have to give up to the new administration if she still worked for the US Government. Best move the source of that information out of the reach of those who are in position to ask the questions that Leavitt/Bush don't want asked.
(Clinton's CDC director stayed on almost two years into the Bush administration)
Anyone wanna start bets on where our friend Julie will land? Eli Lilly? Merck perhaps?
Well Good bye and good riddance Julie. I hope that the knowledge that a generation of children were severely developmentally disabled by your policies keeps you awake at night, just like the kids you made sick and their parents are awake at night, until you decide to do the right thing and tell the truth.
And for those of you interested in just why I hold Dr. Gerberding in such disdain, here is an overview of the premium quality Bullshit that she shoveled in regard to the autism epidemic that is crippling our country (and our family).
And here, again, is Julie in her finest hour:
UPDATE:
The AJC is reporting that the Obama administration asked for her removal. Sorta.
The headline reads: "CDC director Gerberding resigns at Obama’s request"
But the text of the article just says "the Administration" requested the resignation, with out saying if they were referring to the Obama administration or the Bush administration. And the next "administration" that they referr to in the following sentence is Bush. So it is not clear if the headline is correct and Obama asked for her removal.
“As part of the transition process, the Administration requested resignation letters from a number of senior-level officials, including Dr. Julie Gerberding. This week, the Administration accepted Dr. Gerberding’s resignation, effective January 20. As Dr. Gerberding noted in a November e-mail to CDC leadership, she has always expected that she would be leaving after the administration changes,” the written statement said..
The article goes on to describe some of the mess that was Gerberdings CDC.
UPDATE: So apparently this replacement senario is happening with FDA as well, along with most of the health agencies. Is it ONLY the health agencies?
Most health agency heads replaced before Obama
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most of the heads of the U.S. agencies under the Health and Human Services Department will be replaced by their deputies by January 20, when Barack Obama is sworn in as president, employees learned on Friday.
An e-mail issued on Friday evening listed all of the agency heads who will go, ranging from the director of the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention to the head of the Food and Drug Administration.
Incoming presidents traditionally name the heads of agencies, especially with a change of party. Obama, a Democrat, is replacing Republican George W. Bush.
Obama has named Tom Daschle, a former senator, to be head of the Health and Human Services Department. Daschle has said he will act quickly to name permanent new heads of agencies such as the FDA.
Here is a list of some of the affected agencies:
FDA - Frank Torti, now principal deputy commissioner and chief scientist, will replace Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach.
CDC - William Gimson, now chief operating officer, will replace Dr. Julie Gerberding, who resigned this week.
Rear Adm. Steven Galson is already the acting U.S. surgeon-general.
Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services - Charlene Frizzera, now chief operating officer, will replace acting director Kerry Weems.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality - Dr. Carolyn Clancy will stay on as director.
Administration for Children and Families - Curtis Coy, now deputy assistant secretary for administration, will replace Daniel Schneider.
National Institutes of Health - Raynard Kington is already acting director after Dr. Elias Zerhouni resigned last year.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration - Eric Broderick will stay on as acting administrator.
(Reporting by Maggie Fox; Editing by John O'Callaghan)
-- She instituted a large, morale-damaging reorganization of the agency that triggered an exodus of admired agency scientists. Gerberding said the changes made the CDC stronger. But in 2005, five previous CDC directors wrote Gerberding a joint letter expressing their concern about what was happening to the agency.
-- A 2004 medical journal article co-authored by Gerberding said obesity was about to overtake smoking as the No. 1 cause of death in the United States, but CDC officials later reported they had overstated the increase in obesity-related deaths by about 35,000. The mistake was blamed on a computer software error.
-- After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the agency was criticized for being slow to respond to survivors' complaints about formaldehyde fumes in trailers that had been provided by the government.
-- In 2007, she was criticized for going along with the White House's editing of her Senate testimony on the impact of climate change on health, which involved deletion of key portions citing diseases that could flourish in a warmer climate.
CDCChatter.net, unofficial hangout of CDC employees seems to breathing a collective sigh of relief. A few quotes:
So many takes, so little time. But the one I--and I dare say others--have found to be the most egregious and damaging is the placement of people into management positions that have absolutely no business being managers, and all the widespread fallout related to it. For example, being a good scientist doesn't automatically qualify someone as good manager material (nor vice versa, of course). Yet such square pegs seem to have been REPEATEDLY pounded into way too many round holes during Gerberding's tenure, to the detriment of many good people and amazing scientists, educators, analysts, programmers, etc. And really, "detriment" nowhere near captures the extent of the impact some have had to endure (myself included); in these cases, "destruction" is more than fair. Moreover, they often KNEW they were doing it. Even in the face of mounting internal and external scrutiny, mass staff exodus (either completely out of the agency or fleeing in droves from certain areas/managers within CDC to another), EEO complaints, direct staff protest, and so on, highly questionable people (to put it lightly) have been put in charge time and time again. As a result, I've painfully observed and myself experienced divisions, sections, teams and, most tragic of all, people, literally come apart at the seams.
Indeed it was the placement of people in key positions who had no background in the science and purpose of public health. An inordinate amount of attention was paid to centralizing decisions that effectively marginalized the judgement and experience of experienced qualified experts. Basic knowledge of public health functions was not a core value of the reorganization. It was more about creating endless levels of "executive" and other boards that have resulted in nothing of any matter happening at all. Enormous expenditures were engaged to centralize goals, dialogue, and decision making that would have been best left to those closest to the real work of this agency. At a time when inovative, young companies were moving towards flat hierarchy structures, the reorganization aimed to create a multi-layered structure that protected the power of the director and marginalized the highly trained (from new hire to experienced oldsters) who became "content experts" for communication strategies and the like.
Ding dong the witch is dead...
When every dictator falls the new leaders must clean out those who collaborated with the fallen regime. All JLu's Yes-men must be swept out and take the Coordinating Centers, Goals, SBU, and SSPU with them.
For six years, Julie has been the Great OZ, with all the smoke and fire. She goes no where, does nothing, without the Wizard behind the curtain- William Gimson. Bill, who just happens to have a Masters in Business Administration. Ironic how "Futures" took a "business" like structure, with some perverse modifications. How many examples do we need, before we realize that Julie was just the "face", while Bill was the "power"?
I hope that who ever come into this office, has a broom and sledge hammer. Dismantle the Julie-Bill (et al) "management" clones along with the deeper and wider silos of Futures. Knock down the Centers. While at it, remind the Information Technology people of their purpose, who they work for and that without the clients, they have no reason to exist. Same can be said going up the "food chain".
"Ding-dong..." isn't right. Its been, "Ignore that man behind the curtain!"
Mark Blaxil and Angela Warner have both written open letters to the President Elect asking for him to do right by our children and children yet to be born.
Dr. Kenneth Stoller has put together a letter for the rest of us asking our new president to end the chemical assault on Americans.
Today in the Washington Independent Arthur Allen reported, while lamenting the possibility that RFK, Jr. could be chosen as head of the EPA, that Obama adviser David Axelrod was an autism parent who had been rumored to have let the President Elect know that autism was not caused by vaccines:
During the campaign, anti-vaccine advocates asked Obama and Sen. John McCain to comment on whether they thought parents should have the right to skip vaccines they feared. McCain hemmed and hawed, while Obama said he thought children should get all the recommended vaccines. Obama apparently was influenced on this by his chief strategist, David Axelrod, who reportedly has an autistic child. Sources in the autistic parents’ community say that Axelrod set Obama straight about the lack of any link between vaccines and autism.
Except that Alexrod apparently does not have a child with autism, but a child with eplipesy.
NEW YORK, March 19 /PRNewswire/ -- David Axelrod -- one of America'sleading political strategists and senior adviser to Senator Barack Obama --and his wife, Susan, will be honored for their decade of leadership andcommitment to epilepsy research at the First Annual New York City Benefitfor CURE (Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy). George Stephanopoulos,Chief Washington Correspondent for ABC News and anchor of "This Week withGeorge Stephanopoulos," will be the guest speaker at the May 13 event.PARADE Publisher Randy Siegel will emcee.
The Axelrod's commitment to curing epilepsy is deeply personal. Theirdaughter Lauren, now 26, has suffered irreversible brain damage as a resultof the disease. She began experiencing life-threatening seizures when shewas just seven months old.
However Michael Strautmanis, Obama’s former Senate chief of staff and close personal friend, is apparently an autism dad. From AutismPac.org:
"Obama’s Senate chief of staff and close personal friend, Michael Strautmanis, is the father of a child with autism; Obama’s campaign chief David Axelrod is the father of an adult with epilepsy (Obama was a keynote speaker for a foundation run by Axelrod’s wife in 2005). I have spoken with Sen. Obama about our issues in the past and he was always receptive and supportive."
Now, I have no idea if either of these men have "set Obama straight about the lack of any link between vaccines and autism", but I thought the record should be corrected.
Today has been a discouraging day, having lost the opportunity to have a president who was supporting families with autism. I have been looking for possible bright spots, and one has exploded onto the scene.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is said to be under consideration to head the Environmental Protection Agency, according to Politico. Mr. Kennedy is a great friend to out community and showed up for us at the Green our Vaccines rally in July.
He is a true environmentalist, in the best sense, and understands the threat that environmental mercury is to our children. In fact, his attention to the Simpsonwood cover up was the piece that made me start writing publicly about my own sons mercury toxicity.
Let's hope the rumors are true.
Update: Kennedy told HuffPo that if he is tapped, he will serve.
Last year I decided that I would endorse whomever turned out to be the candidate who would be the one most likely to address the autism epidemic properly, and to end the government stonewalling that is preventing real progress from taking place. I am a republican, but if reforming the dysfunction in public health that is sustaining the autism epidemic meant endorsing Hillary Clinton because she made a 180 in her position on autism and decided to earnestly fix the problems, then I would endorse and vote for her, as difficult as that might be for me.
But what has happened is something unusual. The conservative candidate has turned out not only to be the better autism candidate, he has brought more attention to the disorder than any other national political figure in history.
So at this late date (I have decided you can either be an autism mom or find time to write about autism, but rarely both), I am announcing my endorsement of John McCain as the autism candidate, and urging you to vote for him for the following reasons, some of which you may be aware of, one of which is new information:
1. John McCain has brought autism to the forefront of the national agenda during this campaign.
This started in March, even before the Hannah Poling concession was announced, when he was the first presidential candidate to address the autism/vaccine connection publicly, causing Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to add their comments on the topic.
It continued during the conventions, when McCain talked about autism in his acceptance speech, declaring:
"I fight for Jake and Toni Wimmer of Franklin County, Pennsylvania,... They have two sons. The youngest, Luke, has been diagnosed with autism. Their lives should matter to the people they elect to office. And they matter to me."
And he did again during the debates when he brought autism into the conversation.
2. John McCain is meeting with and listening to parents. Barack Obama is not.
John McCain met with several of my friends in late 2007, when he had been considered out of the contention for president. (I was actually invited to participate in this effort, but family obligations prevented me from doing so). He listened, he heard them, he acted on their behalf, and he began talking about our kids on the national stage.
Barack Obama will be introducing autism legislation shortly that he has been preparing for the last six months. Our community has reached out to him on several issues, and he has not responded. At any time he would have had a chance to gain our input on his autism bill, but we found out about this bill after it was drafted, from a source other than the Obama camp, practically by accident. Even those of us in regular contact with the Obama campaign had no knowledge of this bill. Reading the bill it is clear to see why he may not have wanted parents to read it. More on his upcoming legislation in a moment.
3. John McCain, after meeting with autism parents, along with Joe Lieberman wrote to the Senate Health Services Committee asking them "to hold a hearing on federal research efforts regarding factors affecting incidence and treatment in order to help determine where research efforts can best be directed". This included the environmental triggers of autism such as vaccine additives, pesticides, metals and other chemical pollutants.
Barack Obama is on that Committee and could have picked up the torch and initiated hearings, but didn't.
4. Barack Obama will be introducingthis legislation after the election during the lame duck session of congress. This information has not yet been made public, so most of you will be seeing this bill for the first time. Some who have seen the bill in the last few days are upset not only because it will do little to help our children, but it will give even more money and more responsibility to the same agencies who have been wasting autism money and failing in the responsibilities thus far.
From one Generation Rescue staffer:
The draft Obama Research, Treatment and Services Bill Puts HRSA/CDC At Helm:
1.) The bill had no input from the "biomedical" community (the fact that our people had no clue about this bill speaks volumes considering they've been in touch with the Obama camp for quite awhile.)
2.) Individuals within Obama's office who worked on the bill have not returned any of our calls asking for some background on the bill nor have they replied to our request for GR to have some input on the bill before it gets submitted.
3.) The bill is outlining many of the same mechanisms that are contained in the original CAA bill. It is redundant.
4.) The CDC is put in charge of "facilitating the rapid dissemination of evidence-based and promising practices" which, in my opinion is one of the most troubling aspects of this bill!"
5. John McCain has stated that parents should be the ones to be making health care decisions for their children, Barack Obama has stated that he is "not for selective vaccination", implying that he may be in favor of forced vaccination.
Our community has tried doggedly to get Barack Obama to expound on this statement and let us know if he is in favor of forced vaccinations like the kind that are taking place in New Jersey and Maryland. He will not respond.
6. Political Base has listed Julie Gerberding as a possible HHS secretary in an Obama administration.
The fact that she is even speculated by dems to be in contention to be in charge of this country's health services under Obama after all of the debacles she has reigned over is upsetting. The ONLY thing that our community agrees with the skeptic community is that Julie Gerberding has done a horrible job as the head of CDC, which is also the opinion of many of the people who have worked under her. Her public career should be over when Bush leaves office.
Hillary Clinton is also listed as a potential for the job. Hillary Clinton is no friend of the autism community.
7. John McCain chose a special needs mom as his running mate.
Sarah Palin is new to special needs parenting herself, but as her sister Heather Bruce has a 13 year old son with autism (hear Bruce's interview on Autism One Radio), she has been touched by the disorder. When you have autism in your family, you get a chance to see how much more difficult it is than people imagine, and addressing it becomes a much higher priority.
Her statement to the special needs community at the Republican National Convention was, "To the families of special needs children all across this country, I have a message for you. For years you've sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters and I pledge to you that if we're elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House".
Palin's first policy speech was on the Mccain/Palin Special Needs Platform (Please read to see what they are proposing), and the autism group she invited to the event was not Autism Speaks, the ConGlomCo of endless, fruitless autism research, it was a small local parent group called AutismLink.
8. Cindy McCain has a Masters in Special Education and a heart for children with autism as well.
Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, and at this point it seems that the McCain/Palin crew can't stop talking about autism.
It should be noted that both McCain and Obama supported CAA and both will fully fund IDEA.
The debate is broader than what I have referred to here, but it sums up the differences between the two candidates.
You may be asking, "why should I vote for a candidate based on this one issue", so I will answer. This is more important than the economy. It is more important than the war. There are few issues as important as the autism epidemic, because what we are seeing happening in this country will be blossoming into a disaster that will effect every arena in this country in the next 10 years or so.
Autism now effects around 1 in 100 children. The CDC's number of 1 in 150 is several years old, and the Department of Defense reports that 1 in 88 of their dependents has some form of autism. The disorder is believed to be growing at 10 to 17 percent per year. And CDC admits that 17 percent of children have a developmental delay or disability.
Read that again... 1 percent have autism, 17 percent have developmental problems.
This week Suzanne Wright, co-founder of Autism Speaks talked about how appalled she was to find out how prevalent and quickly growing autism was when her grandson was diagnosed 4 years ago. When she asked the CDC why they were not talking about this their response was, "Well, we don’t want to disturb people. Pediatricians aren’t sure of the diagnoses and it might just cause difficulty."
The federal government is not just allowing the autism epidemic to happen, they are now complicit in the escalation of the problem. The decision has been made that this epidemic will not be addressed because doing so will "cause difficulty".
So more and more children get sick, stop talking and their parents are told by doctors to just accept it.
Think about what it will mean for this country in ten years.
When somewhere between 1 and 17 percent of adults cannot reach their vocational potential, what will that do to tax revenue? What will that do to the economy?
A child with autism will cost between three and ten million dollars over their lifetime. If the autism rate remains at 1 percent, that means that those millions will be paid by the other 99 people. Which means that for my high functioning son with autism, 99 of my friends will pay more than $30,000 in taxes that will go to his care.
When 1 in 60 boys has an autism diagnosis, what will that do for military readiness and defense in 2018 and beyond?
In 10 years a generation of disabled children age out of education programs into adulthood. When their parents start passing on, or becoming too infirmed to care for them, what will that mean for homelessness in this country?
When a generation of people have melt downs when overwhelmed by loud noises and confusion, some becoming violent, what will that do for law enforcement?
1 percent of children have autism, yet the government will not even declare it an epidemic.
Now... is the economy this year really more important that what hundreds of thousands, even millions, of disabled individuals pouring into society will do to this country over the next several decades?
Please vote McCain on November 4th. He is the only one who takes autism seriously.
"Let's not forget that disgusting "midnight rider" the preservative republicans slapped onto the tail-end of the Homeland Security bill in 2002. You know, the Eli Lilly rider designed to provide liability protection to Eli Lilly against Thimerosal-induced Autism that came over from the White House at 10:10 PM and was inserted into the Homeland Security Act?
From the New York Times article "Whose Hands Are Dirty?" November 25, 2002
"Senator John McCain of Arizona characterized the provision as ''among the most inappropriate'' in the homeland security legislation. He said: ''This language will primarily benefit large brand-name pharmaceutical companies which produce additives to children's vaccines -- with substantial benefit to one company in particular. It has no bearing whatsoever on domestic security.''
John McCain gave his word that he would fight to remove the rider, and guess what? It was removed."
...John McCain continued to fight against Thimerosal liability protection efforts. He and few others banded together to to form the gang of fourteen.
They fought over and over against as Bill Frist and Hillary Clinton tried repetitively to slip Thimerosal language into countless bills. And when it became clear that Hillary Clinton and Bill Frist were blocking Thimerosal and vaccine research, together John McCain and fellow Autism ally Joe Lieberman composed a letter to the U.S. Senate H.E.L.P committee calling out the lack of Thimerosal and vaccine research and calling FOR Senate hearings concerning the Combating Autism Act fiasco.
The bill passed and President Bush is expected to sign it.
I have been looking for some sign from Obama that he understands any of what is at issue here, and I have not seen anything more than talk, and with his comments that he is not for selective vaccination, I had lost hope.
But this shows at least that he understand that mercury is dangerous.
I think it is safe to say that I will be endorsing McCain at this point, unless we see anything further from Obama; but I am glad to see that Obama has take initiative and action in regard to something that will protect children from environmental exposures and ups the anti in how toxic materials are perceived and handled.
Would he go so far as to reform the FDA and HHS and clean out all the conflicts of interest and corruption? I don't see any signs that it is on his radar.
Bush to Sign U.S. Mercury Export Ban
Tuesday, September 30, 2008 UPI
WASHINGTON -- U.S. mercury exports to developing countries will be banned under a measure expected to be signed by President George Bush, backers say.
Under the measure, which was passed by the U.S. Congress with bipartisan support, exports from the United States' mercury stockpile would be banned starting in 2013 and users will be required to store the toxic heavy metal permanently rather than shipping unused mercury overseas, The Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday.
The bill's chief was sponsor Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, who introduced the bill after the Tribune published a series of articles about mercury contamination in fish.
Because fewer U.S. companies are using heavily regulated mercury in industrial processes, the newspaper said concerns are rising about exports of the metal to industries in developing countries where pollution controls are lax.
"We know that mercury can cause serious developmental problems in children and problems affecting vision, motor skills, blood pressure and fertility in adults," Obama said in a statement. "While the United States has improved its efforts to collect and contain mercury, this country remains one of the leading exporters of this dangerous product."
So the question is now, if he is against selective vaccination, will he force all vaccines on all children, or will he treat vaccination like abortion and say "I may disagree with it, but it is a personal choice"?
In Jersey? Get your self to the Obama event. Tell him that John McCain is meeting with our families, writing to HIS Senate Health Committee for action and talking about our kids in his acceptance speech. Ask him to match and exceed what John McCain has done:
Date: Friday, September 5 starting at 3:00 pm
Please join us! We have a huge opportunity to meet Barack Obama before the election and we need you there.
To support vaccination choice, I am welcoming all families to an informal gathering on my front lawn this Friday, September 5th starting at 3:00 pm.
Obama’s motorcade will be passing in front of my house twice en route to and from a major DNC reception which starts at 5:00 pm.
Jon Corzine is co-hosting the event. We expect press and other NJ politicians to be there. The reception ends shortly before 7:00 pm where many will be attending dinner at Bon Jovi’s house about 5 minutes away.
If you can make it, e-mail me ASAP with your full name, address and home/cell # for everyone in your party. I will try to get info regarding Secret Service/security protocol tomorrow and will send a note to participants with directions and further details.
If you can’t e-mail me, come anyway… we’ll get you in.
If you arrive late, that’s ok, he will probably arrive close to 5:00 pm and he’ll probably leave about 6:45-7:00 pm.
You can take NJ Transit to Red Bank or the ferry from downtown NYC to Highlands. Carpool if you can but don’t worry, I have lots of parking.
If you are local, you must come… please. This is so important. Bring your kids, neighbors and friends.
Bring water and a picnic dinner. We’ll try to order pizzas if they can get through security. Whole Foods is 5 mns away.
Bring lawn chairs and outdoor toys. There will be lots of room for the kids to play.
At least one person will attend the DNC reception and will tell Obama “the folks outside are with me… please come out and say a few words, we all vote!”
Bring your video cameras and share your clips with us.
Bring lots of signs and banners. Think big, creative, bold.
Change. Vaccine Policy.
“He’s our guy” and will get to the bottom of the vaccine-autism link.
Change. The CDC. The FDA. The NIH.
Pharma Reform
Too Much Too Soon
Vaccine Choice
CDC Says 69 Shots By Age 18
CDC Says 33 Shots By 15 Months
Other Developing Countries Don’t Mandate Shots
1950 = #3 in Infant Mortality
2007 = #42 in Infant Mortality
No Forced Vaccination in America
1 in 6 = Special Needs Kids
1 in 60 = NJ boys with Autism (CDC)
1 in 42 = US boys with Autism (Truth)
We vote!
Help Our Kids, Sen. Obama!
If you can help with signs or banners, drop them off tomorrow or Fri morning.
Can you think of something creative we can do or make to get his attention or make him smile?
I’ll be on Gary Null tomorrow at 12:30 pm.
My next vaccine seminar is tomorrow at Long Hill Township Public Library in Gillette, NJ from 6-9pm. You can drop off signs at the library if you can’t make it to Middletown.
Let Obama see that we are serious… that we have a message for him.
Kim Stagliano for Louise Kuo Habakus
UPDATE:
I just got this email from Louise with corrections/detail/more information:
Hi, Ginger. Sorry for the curt nature of this email… crazy day. Obama is attending a DNC fundraiser and there’s no guarantee he will address our group so I don’t want to mislead..
1. You might want to sign it “Kim Stagliano for Louise Kuo Habakus” since it references my seminars and “come to my house.”
2. My Long Hill seminar was last night. *Does not imply endorsement go to www.njvaccinationchoice.org and click on Calendar of Events for more details
3. Tell people to email ASAP for alternate parking and other critical details since security will be very tight and they may be checking against a list of registered people. There will be no parking permitted on the street.
4. Please respect that this is a friendly gathering in an intimate setting with many children in attendance for friends and supporters of vaccination choice. We hope to encourage Obama to talk with our group.
I’ll send you the press release when it’s finalized. Say a prayer for us.
Mr. Obama has joined Mr. McCain in sharing that he suspects that vaccines trigger autism. Hillary is not far behind them.
"We've seen just a skyrocketing autism rate. Some people are suspicious that it's connected to the vaccines. This person included. The science right now is inconclusive, but we have to research it." --Barack Obama, Pennsylvania Rally, April 21, 2008.
"It's indisputable that (autism) is on the rise among children, the question is what's causing it. And we go back and forth and there's strong evidence that indicates it's got to do with a preservative in vaccines." --John McCain, Texas town hall meeting, February 29, 2008.
"I am Committed to make investments to find the causes of autism, including possible environmental causes like vaccines." When asked if she would support a study of vaccinated vs. unvaccinated children, she said: "Yes. We don't know what, if any, kind of link there is between vaccines and autism - but we should find out. --Hillary Clinton, A-CHAMP Questionnaire 2008.
It is all downhill from here.
Obama Climbs On The Vaccine Bandwagon David Kirby Huffington Post April 22, 2008
No matter who wins in Pennsylvania today, the next President of the United States will support research into the growing evidence of some link between vaccines and autism.
Senator John McCain has already expressed his belief that vaccines and the mercury containing preservative thimerosal could be implicated in what he has rightly termed an "autism epidemic."
Senator Hillary Clinton, in response to a questionaire from the autism activist group A-CHAMP, wrote that she was "Committed to make investments to find the causes of autism, including possible environmental causes like vaccines." And when asked if she would support a study of vaccinated vs. unvaccinated children, she said: "Yes. We don't know what, if any, kind of link there is between vaccines and autism - but we should find out.
And now, yesterday, at a rally in Pennsylvania, Barack Obama had this rather surprising thing to say:
"We've seen just a skyrocketing autism rate. Some people are suspicious that it's connected to the vaccines. This person included. The science right now is inconclusive, but we have to research it."
So there you have it, our next President will share the views of such radical fringe crazies as, well, me, Democrat Robert Kennedy, Jr., Republican Joe Scarborough, former NIH and Red Cross chief Bernadine Healy, and several researchers at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, the Universities of California and Washington and elsewhere.
All of us agree: Current evidence suggests that vaccines could be a contributing factor in some cases of autism, and more research is immediately required.
And yes, now the comments to this piece will come flying in, repeating the tired mantra that "this case is closed," that vaccines and thimerosal have been "completely vindicated," and that people like me are just trying to scare the public and drive them away from vaccines, leaving their children vulnerable and sick.
Of course, none of the above is true. So stay tuned.
To begin with, government researchers are currently looking into a number of factors that may trigger autism, including vaccines, their ingredients and the crowded vaccine schedule itself.
Secondly, on April 11th, I attended a top-level meeting in Washington where vaccine safety officials discussed all of the above issues, and more. Included on the Federal Draft Research Agenda for vaccine safety are now questions such as:
Can vaccines cause neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism?
Can vaccines in children with mitochondrial dysfunction cause significant "neurological deterioration?"
Can the combination live-virus measles, mumps and rubella vaccine cause seizures and long term damage in children?
Can vaccines cause autoimmune disease?
Can thimerosal cause tics or Tourette syndrome?
Can attenuated viruses in vaccines cause asthma in children?
So, no matter who is President next year, top government researchers will be examining the role of vaccines in autism and other childhood illnesses. Thus, the declarations of McCain, Clinton and now Obama, make good scientific sense.
But there is more.
Dozens of autism cases (and perhaps more) currently filed in so-called Vaccine Court will almost certainly be compensated this year. Why? Because a little girl named Hannah Poling with a supposedly rare mitochondrial condition was recently compensated for her own vaccine injuries, including autism and epilepsy.
But I have personally identified at least a dozen (and there are reports of many more) children with cases in the court who meet the exact same medical criteria as Hannah, and whose cases will almost surely be compensated as well -- each time with the attendant media fanfare.
My prediction is that, by Election Day, few Americans will still believe there is absolutely no evidence to link vaccines to at least some cases of regressive autism.
So the remarks by all three candidates not only reflect good science, they reflect good politics as well.
