US Court affirms thimerosal-autism connection "not...scientifically sound"

"US court rules again against vaccine-autism claims":

Vaccines that contain a mercury-based preservative called thimerosal cannot cause autism on their own, a special U.S. court ruled on Friday, dealing one more blow to parents seeking to blame vaccines for their children's illness.

As I've written before, the connection between vaccination and autism was started by a deeply flawed study created (largely out of whole cloth, it seems) by British "Dr." Andrew Wakefield. The belief that vaccines cause autism has caused significant abandonment of vaccination both in the US and in Great Britain, resulting in probable loss of herd immunity for segments of the population, especially against measles.

In the US, the case against thimerosal-caused autism is clearly shown by the continuing rise in autism diagnoses despite the removal of thimerosal from vaccines. This leaves anti-vaxers reaching for conspiracy theories rather than admit that thimerosal doesn't cause autism.

One would hope that the complete discrediting of the original "research" linking autism to vaccinations would have terminated this foolishness. Since it hasn't, I don't think this court case is going to do much good in that regard.

I wish critical thinking were taught in schools. And that lawyers who brought patently silly lawsuits based upon discredited science were severely sanctioned unless they won.

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"Dr." Wakefield, vax hack, showed "callous disregard"

Britain's Dr. Andrew Wakefield, already infamous for fixing the data to demonstrate a non-existent link between autism and vaccination, has been called "irresponsible and dishonest" by the General Medical Council:

The doctor who caused a national controversy by linking children's triple MMR vaccine to autism acted unethically and dishonestly and had failed in his duties as a responsible consultant, a disciplinary panel ruled on Thursday.

The General Medical Council (GMC) also said that Andrew Wakefield had shown a "callous disregard" for the suffering of children and had brought the medical profession "into disrepute."

Ninety pages of charges were brought against Dr. Wakefield, and the GMC will further consider "whether Wakefield's behaviour amounts to serious professional misconduct, which could lead to him being struck off the medical register".

We can only hope.

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Autism / Vaccination Link Based Upon "Fixed Data"

(Photo: Child with Measles, Source: Allergy and Asthma Source, Rise in Numbers of Unvaccinated People Lead to Measles Outbreak)

The modern myth that "vaccines cause autism" was started by the February 1998 publication of a study by Andrew Wakefield in The Lancet. According to The Sunday Times:

Confidential medical documents and interviews with witnesses have established that Andrew Wakefield manipulated patients’ data, which triggered fears that the MMR triple vaccine to protect against measles, mumps and rubella was linked to the condition.

The research was published in February 1998 in an article in The Lancet medical journal. It claimed that the families of eight out of 12 children attending a routine clinic at the hospital had blamed MMR for their autism, and said that problems came on within days of the jab.

The suggestion that there might be a link between vaccination and autism has resulted in a 12% drop in vaccination in the UK (from 92% to 80%), with an attendant 24x increase in confirmed measles cases in England and Wales (from 56 in 1998 to 1348 in 2008).

It turns out, however, that there appears to have been serious misconduct involved in the study's publication. Also from The Sunday Times:

However, our investigation, confirmed by evidence presented to the General Medical Council (GMC), reveals that: In most of the 12 cases, the children's ailments as described in The Lacent were different from their hospital and GP records. Although the research paper claimed that problems came on within days of the jab, in only one case did medical records suggest this was true, and in many of the cases medical concerns had been raised before the children were vaccinated.

There are also allegations that the children selected for the study were selected by, and the study paid for by, lawyers who were already pursuing litigation against vaccine companies.

What Wakefield seems to have done is not just dishonest -- he is apparently individually responsible for dropping the UK 15% below the threshold for total herd immunity (95%). If the allegations against him are true, he's personally responsible for thousands of cases of measles and some unknown numbers of deaths.

Any sensible person who knew the limitations of Wakefield's study would know that there was nothing to the alleged link between vaccination and autism: a single unblinded study of 12 individuals would be highly suspect even if the selection process wasn't subverted by lawyers. But thousands of parents have taken to heart the false idea that vaccination causes autism, and as a result thousands of children are unvaccinated, thousands have gotten measles, and undoubtedly some have died. Millions of dollars have been spent to disprove Wakefield's alleged "link".

Shame on you, Dr. Wakefield. You deserve everything that's coming at you.

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Voting Tips

photo Frank Siteman/Allposters

How To Have YOUR Vote COUNT

Vote early: Group News Blog STRONGLY recommends you vote EARLY.

Voting by mail: If you have already received a vote-by-mail ballot, make SURE to vote right away. (Don't forget postage and to sign the security envelope. It is your signature under penalty of perjury on the security envelope, matched against your signature on file with the elections office which validates your ballot. Without your signature your ballot will not be counted.)

Personally, I think if you have an opportunity to drop your ballot off at a polling site in person, you should do so. That way you KNOW your ballot got there; otherwise you are relying on the Post Office... which is reliable. However this election, personally, I want to be CERTAIN. It's a little thing, but in Washington State in 2004, the Statehouse was decided by 133 votes.

Provisional ballots: If you know you are a registered voter and someone tries to challenge your vote or tries to make you vote on a "provisional" ballot, insist they contact their supervisor or the county elections commissioner. In the 2004 election depending on the state, between 30-38% of the more than 1.6 million provisional ballots cast were not counted.

DO NOT VOTE ON A PROVISIONAL BALLOT IF YOU KNOW YOU ARE A REGISTERED VOTER. INSIST ON YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE.

If you have trouble, call the national voter protection hotline at 1-877-US-4-OBAMA (1-877-874-6226).

Straight-party voting: Don't do it. If your ballot lets you check one box and vote for all Democrats, don't. Seems like a great idea. Problem is, the programing is easy to screw up and in some states, voting the straight-party ticket means you've NOT voted for president.

Instead, vote for each candidate individually. Just look for the "D" for Democratic Party after their name. Then make certain the election software doesn't flip the vote on the screen in front of your eyes. Of course, if you have a paper ballot that won't be possible.

Paper ballot: Ask for a paper ballot. Even if they have touch-screen or other electronic machines, ask for a paper ballot. If they have one, ask them to give it to you. You don't need to explain -- although "it's easier for my disability to work with paper" is simple to say. When they ask you what your disability is, say "I don't mean to be disrespectful, but it's really none of your business. May I have a paper ballot now please?" Then keep your mouth shut as you stare them down till they give you what you asked for. *smiles sweetly*

If you are voting in person, make CERTAIN to LEAVE ENOUGH TIME. More people will vote Tuesday, November 4 than in any election in U.S. history. This is why we want you to vote early if at all possible.

Find Your Polling Place NOW. If you can vote early, vote early.

Problems: Take a CAMERA or VIDEO CAMERA with you. Record your votes, especially if you have electronic touch-screen voting systems, the kind which have been "flipping votes." The only way to prove the systems are flipping votes is with VIDEO. Video the screen as you vote. Watch carefully to make certain your vote does not get flipped for a candidate or initiative you are against. If that happens, STOP.

Velvet Revolution

What To Do If You See Voting Machines Flipping Votes

Early voting has begun. We strongly recommend using paper ballots whenever possible. Many states allow the use of paper ballots, but you have to ask for one. Ask.

But in some states and counties, voters are required to use the electronic voting machines. And there are a growing number of reports about electronic voting machines flipping some votes from one candidate to another.

So if you're voting on an electronic voting machine and you see your votes being flipped (or if the machine malfunctions in any other way), what should you do?

Here are some suggestions from election integrity experts at TrueVote.us, and from Emily Levy of Velvet Revolution's StandingForVoters.org and Ellen Theisen of VotersUnite.org.

• Get the machine's serial number, if possible
• Call over a poll supervisor to observe the problem
• Insist on filling out a problem report
• Refuse to vote on that machine
• Request that the machine be taken out of service and impounded for later forensic examination
• Tell all the voters waiting in line exactly which machine flipped your vote (third machine from the left, or whatever)
• Report the problem via election integrity hotlines, twitter, and the voter suppression wiki. Information on how to do that is here. [Jesse: Also call the national voter protection hotline at 1-877-US-4-OBAMA (1-877-874-6226)]
• Call the county, city, and state election offices and report the problem.
Find those phone numbers here.
• Call reporters and tell them about the problem

And also, please keep in mind that not seeing flipped votes does not indicate that votes are recorded correctly, as they can be flipped invisibly. That's just one reason why we strongly recommend using paper ballots whenever possible.

Got all that?

Simple Tips...

• Vote early. Make SURE your friends and family vote also.
• If voting by mail, use postage and sign the security envelope.
• Don't vote "the straight party" line. Vote for each individual candidate.
  
• If voting in person, go early and be prepared to wait.
• Don't let people make you vote "provisionally." Insist on a regular ballot.
• Photograph/video your voting process.
• If there is trouble with your machine, demand a different machine.
• Then contact everyone with your photos/videos (including GNB.)

The key information is below.

It's not to late to DONATE TO YOUR FAVORITE CANDIDATES.

Please let us know of your voting adventures.
We'll keep opening voting threads between now through Election Day.

[ Find Your Polling Place | Voting Info For Your State | Know Your Voting Rights | Report Voting Problems ]

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$150,000 to Outfit the Palin Clan?! That is a Savings

There's been a lot of reporting about the 150,000 dollars that's been spent gussying up the Palin Posse. People are outraged? How could they waste money like that-- using donors cash to remake the Alaska First Family?

But all you outraged folks got it wrong. This is actually a savings! They have cut wardrobe spending by 50% which is real reform. I mean let's not forget that the better half of the top of the ticket spent, by many estimates, 300,000 dollars on her jewelery and outfit for the convention! That was on ONE outfit. Sarah is just playing catch up.

Cindy McCain Monday Night Outfit at the RNCC
Oscar de la Renta dress: $3,000
Chanel J12 White Ceramic Watch: $4,500
Three-carat diamond earrings: $280,000
Four-strand pearl necklace: $11,000–$25,000
Shoes, designer unknown: $600
Total: Between $299,100 and $313,100
from Vanity Fair

Is it old money vs. new money? Or personal wealth vs. pork barrel spending of donor's contributions?

And the question I have? How is it that Tina Fey can make it look better while spending a fraction of the Palin wardrobe budget? Maybe someone should take Caribou Barbie to the outlets?

crossposted from FL

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Hookers and Halo ** HOAX **

Update 20080519 10:31am : According to World Net Daily, this story is false. That's what I get for posting just after midnight. My deepest apologies.



A 13-year old kid in Texas had been found guilty of fraud for using his dad's credit card to order escorts, with whom he and a friend played Halo:

Ralph Hardy, a 13 year old from Newark, Texas confessed to ordering an extra credit card from his father's existing credit card company, and took his friends on a $30,000 spending spree, culminating in playing "Halo" on an Xbox with a couple of hookers in a Texas motel.

Ralphie apparently ordered an extra credit card and went on his spending spree because dad forgot to buy him a birthday present:

Ralph had reportedly told police that his father wouldn't mind, as it was his birthday last week and he had forgot to get him a present. The father, a lawyer said he had been too busy, but would take him on a surprise trip to Disneyland instead.

Best of all, the boys told the escorts that they were "people of restricted growth" and that state law prohibited discrimination against them:

Asked why he ordered two escorts, Ralph said he thought it was the thing to do when you win a "World of Warcraft" tournament. They told the suspicious working girls they were people of restricted growth working with a traveling circus, and as State law does not allow those with disabilities to be discriminated against they had no right to refuse them.

The $1,000 a night girls sensing something up played "Halo" on the Xbox with the kids, instead of selling their sexual services.

Frankly, this all sounds like something out of a very odd version of GTA. The version specially for 13-year olds that acts as a virtualization system (so you can play Halo or WoW), and prepares you for one specific career:

Ralph's ambition is to one day become a politician.

Being from Texas, and with a lawyer for a father, it's easy to suppose that Ralph is a Republican. At least based upon the early criminal record involving escorts and fraud.

But really, what can you say about these kids that the video doesn't? It's a hilarious story, or it would be if it didn't involve criminal records and someone getting hit for a $30,000 credit card loss. I wonder if dad or the bank is going to take that hit?

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