Outrage over "She Lies" and other libel claims

Age of Idiots has a little (little in thought count, not so little in word count) post up by a lady fish.

My favourite is the part where she quotes an article where certain DR allegedly stated "She Lies." (speaking about Barbara Fisher.  Fisher calls this alleged statement "unsubstantiated, unchallenged slur". 

While I agree that being called a liar is never a sunshine feeling moment, it is hardly 'unsubstantiated'.  And Unchallenged?  I suppose that for the sake of this 'balance' that the AgeOfWooers snivels about would demand that the writer that spoke with Dr. Offit would then need to invite Fisher to the discussion.  However, I would not agree that integrity calls for 'balance' in cases like this-where a professional scientifically sound pov needs to be balanced by anecdote fear mongering dishonest graphcropping patooey.

I had not realized the doctor and reporter were being sued by Fisher, but one can hardly fault the Judge for his stance that this needed to not be in court.

Now, we all know name calling is not nice, but there comes a time when calling a spade a spade is the right thing to do.

Interesting, though, that so many lawsuits seem to be happening against persons speaking up against the bullies at Age of Antivaccs.  Brian Deer, Paul Offit, Quackwatch  come to mind without availling of googleseekdom.  Add all the smear campaigns-writing a certain bloggers workplace for example.

Seems like a great deal of these persons so very active in the antivaccine community are struggling to prove their validity.  And heck! If science wont back them up perhaps the courts will!

But alas, seems like even the courts are not willing to give leeway to snake oil salesmen, fear mongers and wooful authors.

What is next?
Perhaps, mixed in with the mudslinging, lawsuit filing, letter writing, internet bullying we can add some nanana's and foot stomping?

Vaccine Refusal at AoA and effed up comments

Some of the commentators over at Age of Asinine are cracking me up. What follows is my opinion and mouthy way of sharing it. 

The post (about the watchdog article) is discussing how less persons with their shots will equal more persons with the vaccine preventable diseases.
(Gasp, such simple logic has them foaming at the mouth over there!)


Bob Moffit goes on a rant about how he wants a funded study of vaccinated versus unvaccinated oh and by the way he wants a statistic about children's health improvement. 
Newsflash Bob, before vaccines most families lost AT LEAST ONE CHILD to diseases we can now prevent. And I agree with jen, who points out that we just might have that study if the vaccination rates continue to fall in California.

then patrons99 goes on a rant about the lack of scientific evidence in vaccines and herd immunity. (The irony here is killing me) Later he/she follows up with "why dont we use a naturpath?  HAHAHA, because,um... doesnt work?

Then of course you get this commenter going on a discouraged tirade.  Why?  Because the article does not address every little paranoid concern she has.  She figures every article about vaccination should be written by Kim Stagliano I guess...

"What about the fact that an immunized person can still carry and spread pertussis"? Asks another. My answer? "We will get you better Science Classes next time, little grasshopper." Heck even wiki knows that vaccinated persons do not just carry around the disease and spread it.

Mary adds her two cents worth demanding citations for all information in the article. (Here is a hint, Mary.  This is a news article not a study.  But let me answer your questions for ya.  1. Doctors trained in diagnosing disease diagnosed these children with whooping cough.  According to Age of Idiots all doctors have financial ties to the CDC-except for their pets.  2. Various labs tested the samples collected.  According to Age of Ridiculous all labs and lab techs are paid by the CDC and vaccine manufacturors, except for their pets. 3. Duh, if they had been immunized successfully they would not have caught it.  As a 'student of statistics' you should be telling us the answer and providing the formula and information that you use to determine the answer. So, let's say for every 100 people vaccinated 85% are now protected from that disease. If 100 people in one location end up with the disease, the odds are very high that NONE of those persons were immunized (or were immunized AFTER they came incontact iwth the disease.) It is possible that one of those hundred were immunized unsuccessfully. 4. They do not cite the studies because they did not write for a scientific journal.  Besides, Mary, you guys only want studies by Wakefield. Anyone else does a study you AoA'ers all scream foul. 5. Mary, bad news.  You fund the writer.  You buy the paper, or patronize businesses that advertise in that paper.  Thsoe funds are used to pay the reporters.

Tracey has another rant but this gem- "bullying the "educated parent" into compliance!" is my favorite.  I love the quotes around educated parent.  EXACTLY Tracey.  Parents like yourself who have researched on whaleto and AoA etc THINK you are educated.  What you are though is mistaken.  Vaccines do not cause autism.  Vaccines do prevent disease and the spread of said disease.  Herd immunity used to work until you educated yourself. :)

Just because I think it fun, I will finish with Berndetta.  Hunny, have you thought about this? Don't you think that if there were aborted fetuses in the vaccine that it would be difficult to inject it? I'm not funny??? But in all seriousness, there is no gawddammed fetus in teh vaccine.  ohtay??

Site for lives lost to autism

So the BuZz at AoA is that there is a website dedicated to stories of persons whose lives were lost to autism.
According to some of the comments those who are (not my phrasing) neurodiversity groupies are hating this website and that us (my phrasing) anti-antivaccinators are blogging like mad bitching about it.

Personally, I think a memorial website might be helpful to those who are struggling to come to terms with the loss of a loved one.  (This site though, sounds like it is more of another way to demonize autism rather than be a place of healing)  I do have issues with the phrasing (lives lost to autism? Last I checked you can not die from autism...) but hey.. I have not lost a child-never mind one on the spectrum. 

I have no intentions of checking the website out myself.  It takes up all my courage and gumption just to pop in at Age of Insanity to see what they are up to. (haha)

Seriously, though, reading those comments has me wondering about so many things. I wonder why anyone would want to wallow in the tragic stories.  I wonder why the Age of Antivaccines care if other bloggers like the new website and, well, I wonder why there are so many scarey people online.

I wonder why people insist on talking crap about their children being less, about the lable being responsible for all their woes from weariness to death and about how miserable their lives are.

I am ever grateful to have found the online community where children matter more than rage...

So hugs and prayers for all those who are struggling with grief, Hugs and laughter to any that will accept that laughter is a wonderful thing.

David Gorsky VS Age of Autism

Go Go Gorsky!  Kick some wackaloon butt!

A nasty, reality dysfunctional group of Anti Vaccine Pro Junk science persons -whom I wont name (cough, mumbleageofautsimcoughcough)- have decided that not only are they going to post misleading information, outright lies aimed at discrediting anyone who has legitimate training in medicine and/or science and encourage parents to not vaccinate their children, but they are also now going to use bullying techniques against any persons foolish enough to voice their opinions against them.
Yes, Age of Lunatics has decided that a full attack on Dr. David Gorski (you might know him as ORAC) and an attempt to ruin his career are the only options available to them in rebuttal of the posts made at his blog.

It is there usually gambit of screeching 'pharma shill' in impotent fury with the added twist of making these ranting claims against Dr. David Gorsky on a professional level.

I offered my letter of support

To The Board of Govenors of Wayne State University:

It is my understanding that some absurd claims have been made against Dr David Gorski by a certain group of anti-vaccination and pro-conspiracy persons. These accusations appear to have sprung from posts on the Generation Rescue and Age of Autism websites.

I have never met Dr. David Gorski, nor am I in a related field.  I am the mother to a child who is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. 

As a parent it is very easy to find websites such as Age of Autism that provide misleading and potentially harmful information concerning autism and 'cures'.  Dr. David Gorski has demonstrated his valour in attempting to combat this misinformation and junk science on his blog http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/ . 

I believe that this attempt by AoA and GR to discredit Dr. Gorski and cause him professional grief is a case of 'sour grapes'.  These organizations, whom clearly demonstrate on their webpages that they are unwilling to follow scientific finding, have been unable to successfully refute the logical (and yes opinionated) posts that Dr. Gorski has made concerning their claims and beliefs.  Rather than deal with the content of his posts and attempt a rebuttal they are instead attacking Dr. Gorski's character.

As a parent who is active in both my physcial community and the online community as an advocate for my child and autism, I greatly appreciate and  commend Dr. Gorski for the time and effort he has donated to the cause of critical thinking and science.  Without persons such as 'Orac' to rebut these extremists, misinformation spreads unchecked, capable of causing actual harm (as seen in the recent 'vaccines and autism' fiasco).

I sincerely hope that Dr. Gorski suffers not one iota of distress over this latest nonsense orchestrated by these junk science groups.

Sincerely,

Child Murder-There is no justification

Ever since Wakefield was trounced by the GMC, Age of Autism has been posting more articles about vaccines than they have about autism.  

Today I stumbled across THIS POST that kind of made me wish they would have stuck to vaccines.
Adriana Gamondes tells us of how in reading all the details of this crime she began to think of poetry-murder ballads.
(And later in the article tells us that parents of autistic children do not have genetic mental health issues-feel the irony there).


After a bit of a lecture on murder ballads she jumps to AoA rhetoric-vaccine injured kids (which are not vaccine injured-they are autistic) are such a dramatic pain in the tushie that the 'vaccine injury community' feels sympathy for the parents that murder their children then kill themselves.


Because, you see, it is just so hard to have an autistic child.


I have an autistic child.  I have two other high maintenance children.  I recently took on an emotionally damaged child who is 16 months old.  Get over it.  Children are hard work.  They cost money.  They bring stress into your world.  They are also incredibly rewarding-if you bother to open your heart to them.


I cannot fathom this parent, this Adriana Gamondes that wrote this up. Don't get me wrong-at times she seems quite lucid.  She is correct, people need to be aware that many prescription drugs can trigger thoughts of suicide, depression, anxiety and so forth. 


The implication throughout Adriana Gamondes' post that parents of autistic children have not only some justification for murdering their children, but that they are fighting off the need to do so at any given moment-well it horrifies me.


Somehow she and her pack of rabid followers are all sure it is the child's fault, big pharma's fault-anyone but the mother's fault.  I find it terrifying that the word autism is a mitigating factor when discussing murder.  


I do not care if your child is loud, obnoxious, ugly, hyper, a fecal artist, severely handicapped or just plain difficult-it is our job as parents to do EVERYTHING in our power to ensure that child feels loved, safe and accepted while still working on developing skills and growth.


Nowhere, noway, nohow is it a parent's job to judiciously decide that a child needs to die.  
Period.

My comment on Murder Ballad

If anecdote were to equal evidence, with this one article you have demonstrated that mental health issues are prevalent in parents of children diagnosed ASD.
Anyone that can take a child's life is mentally ill.  Taking your own child's life is wrong, inexcusable and does certainly demonstrate that the murderer has severe mental health problems.

If you can't handle your child, ASD or not, feel free to call social services.  People like me will adopt them, love them and accept them-regardless of their weaknesses.

Shame on you all for endorsing this sort of thinking- that there is ANY justification for murdering a child.

Why does conference on Immunization and health coalitions single out Autism?

Why does conference on Immunization and health coalitions single out Autism?

The true answer:
Because of idiots like Jenny and Wakefield that worked so damned hard to sell their products woo theory that vaccines cause autism.  You see, these celebrities and quackadoodle scientists all came together and presented their passionate beliefs (or sales pitch) so that parents would stop vaccinating and instead purchase all sorts of woo products and books instead.

Now (our, as in Canada, USA, England and so forth) governments, health agencies & public relations persons etc all have to work very hard to calm down these upset parents.  To be able to refer parents of autistic children to sane anti-woo support groups.  To be able to present the truth (vaccines do not cause autism) without alienating parents.  To do this doctors, health nurses etc, will all need to be able to explain the science-cuz thanks to AoA so many have read these pretend studies, cropped graphs and outrageous lies that AoA puts out.

Why not caner? or diabetes?

Because you quackadoodle lack of critical thinking lobes you..... because the loud scarey voices are not yelling about vaccines causing cancer, or diabetes or whatever.  It is this loud and obnoxious quackfest of obsessive compulsive vaccinescauseautismologists that needs to be addressed.


Summary of comments:

(a post from a Lisa Kritz was allowed, only to create a pile of hatred spewing comments from loyal AoA'ers)

Garbo is dissapointed that casein free diets wont be on the agenda.
(Garbo-that is because GFCF diets don't have anything to do with anything besides quackery-unless one is actually allergic to gluten or cassien.)
Garbo also states that promoting vaccines is 'completely at cross purposes witht he agenda of this autism community'
(Truth at last!  Age of Autism is about being anti vaccines!!  Keep in mind that these attitudes do NOT reflect the majority of the actual autism communitites, only the dickieduckies of AoA and GR thanks.)

Harry has decided that it is ethical and moral to demand a study of vaccinated and unvaccinated.  Harry... you need to look up the words ethical and moral.  And yes, the science is in, just not science that supports your insupportable beliefs.

And that is just a start on the woo comments