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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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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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Divorce and the Special-Needs Parent
Divorce can be visceral and terrifying for most “regular” humans, but for parents with fragile children, the stakes go WAY up, and, as I’ve been separated from my husband of 10 years for the past three years (most people assume I’m divorced since I legally changed my name back) those fears simmer just below the surface for me all the time. It’s hard to talk about them, but I’ll try.
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Heartbroken: When Friends Don’t Hear Your Story
I live in Brooklyn, New York. You know, one of those states that got pounded by Hurricane Sandy. My favorite grocery store was flooded long before the peak of the “storm surge” that did so much damage. And I’ve been studying my little heart out for a certification exam that I did not get to take last Friday, because there was no easy way to cross the river into Manhattan. So I'm not in the best of moods at the moment, and, consequently, not feeling much like writing. I like writing when I feel “fired up.” Not only do I not feel “fired up,” one could say that I feel…
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Autism Speaks Accused of Violating the Americans with Disabilities Act
Simone Greggs is a single mother with two children: an 18-year-old girl just starting college and a 13-year-old boy with autism. Like many of us, she is a fierce advocate for her children and has done battle with the local school system to get her son placed in an appropriate educational situation. Luckily, she succeeded and her son, who might be considered “high functioning,” now attends a private school intended specifically for children with autism.
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Lost: One Identity. If Found, Please Call . . .
Today is the second anniversary of the day I met my boyfriend. At my age, the idea of a “boyfriend” is a little ridiculous, but nobody has come up with a term I like better, so . . . Next weekend is the fifteenth anniversary of the day I met my ex-husband; this juxtaposition of events has caused some rumination. So, in the spirit of Mama Mac’s post this week, I’m doing a “don’t make the same mistakes I made” post.
writer and editor
