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“Opting Out”: New York City Flu Vaccine Exemptions
As many of you know, the New York City Department of Health, at the instigation of then-mayor Mike Bloomberg, recently approved a new requirement for “all” New York City schoolchildren under the age of six to get an influenza vaccine in order to attend public school or day care. Most articles I’ve seen on the subject contain some version of this sentence: “Parents may opt out for medical and religious reasons.”
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Un-Investigative Journalists Miss the Obvious: Jenny McCarthy’s Son Has Autism
I keep thinking I’ll write about something other than vaccines because, believe it or not, I am interested in many other health-related topics that I’d love to share with you. But then the propaganda machine cranks up to promote some new (or, in this case, old) outrageous law, story, or video . . . aaaaand I’m right back where I started. Sometimes I feel like Al Pacino in The Godfather: Part III, “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!”
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Vaccine Injured? Sorry! You don’t count.
Recently a “parody” video was posted on Upworthy.com, a site I usually enjoy quite a lot. They post videos about empowering women and girls, and denouncing bullies. This one, however . . . Well, check it out for yourself. The person who posted the video, Morgan Shoaff, claims, “It's hilarious and poses the question "What’s worth it?" when it comes to, you know, staying alive.”
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50 Shades of Grey: How to See the World
I’ve noticed lately that there are a lot of folks who seem to believe that if you don’t agree with them about everything, then you are “the enemy” – even if you were best buds last week. My daughter pointed out something that should be obvious, recently, when I made it clear how much I hate Pink’s new song “True Love”: “It doesn’t matter if someone disagrees with you. Nobody agrees with all of your opinions on everything.”
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Hold Fast to Dreams
Today is the birthday of Jupiter Hammon, the first African-American to publish poetry, so it’s the day that was chosen to celebrate Black Poetry and honor the contributions of all African-American poets to the world of poetry. I thought I would share with you what is still one of my very favorite poems.
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The Evidence on Gardasil: Modern Miracle or Dangerous Scam?
If you’ve been following us for any length of time, you’ve probably noticed that we frequently point out the dangers of vaccination, because every single one of us knows countless children (and adults) that were injured by vaccines, some of them permanently. In fact, we cover this subject so often that we are listed (page 39) in UNICEF’s report on “anti-vaccination influencers” in Eastern Europe.
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Un Amor Perdido: CDC Racist Propaganda
The CDC has sunk to a new low in manipulative marketing practices. Yes, I know that’s hard to believe, but if you take a look at this fotonovela or Spanish language motion comic book Un Amor Perdido you will be hard put to come up with any other conclusion.
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The Business of Baby — One Long Conflict of Interest Disclosure
The above is an excerpt from Jennifer Margulis’s book The Business of Baby: What Doctors Don’t Tell You, What Corporations Try to Sell You and How to Put Your Pregnancy, Childbirth and Baby Before Their Bottom Line. Sounds like a Thinking Mom, doesn’t it? If you’re anything like me you breathed a gentle sigh of relief when you read, “though we need support and advice, we do not need to be bullied or intimidated.” As parents in our society, we find ourselves bullied and/or intimidated rather often, don’t we? It often starts the moment you walk in the obstetrician’s office after a positive pregnancy test.
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When Harry (Potter) Met Jenny (McCarthy)
I love Harry Potter. Yeah, I know, I’m not alone. But I’m one of those geeks who had my Amazon order in to get each of the last four books on the day it came out. We own copies of all eight films on DVD. Not the boxed set, mind you, because then we would have had to wait, and that was clearly unacceptable. I nearly divorced my ex a few years early when he gave away a crucial plot point while I was reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6).
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Vaccines — A Global Perspective
The above is an actual comment we received on my most recent blog In the Name of “Protection.” The commenter left a name, but I think I’ll just call her our Friendly-Neighborhood Commenter, or FNC for short. That blog was about my reaction to a meme implying that children should be vaccinated by force, over the objections of their parents, for their “protection.”
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