Below you will find a Huffington Post screed by super-Greenie RFK JR. Note how he uses such uninformative but clearly derogatory terms as "ginned up". I think that makes it fair for me to call him "pathetic" and "desperate" but wouldn't it have been nice for him to say what the "ginning up" consisted of instead? As it stands, there is no substance to his accusation whatever. And note RFK's own "ginned up" source -- a study by a noted scientific organization called "United Press"! Why not quote a study by the Moonies or the Bolshoi Ballet? They would be no less scientific. And even if United Press are right, who is to say which of the many ways in which the Amish are different is responsible for their lesser autism? But RKF just KNOWS! How wonderful to be blessed with such supernatural wisdom!
"On Sunday morning's Meet the Press, Dr. Harvey Fineberg, president of the Institute of Medicine, debated New York Times reporter and author David Kirby about the strength of the science linking the current epidemic of neurological disorders among American children to the mercury-based vaccine preservative Thimerosal. The Institute of Medicine as well as the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration base their defense of Thimerosal on four flimsy studies ginned up by the pharmaceutical industry and federal regulators who green-lighted the use of Thimerosal in the first place. Those fraudulent studies deliberately targeted European populations which were exposed to a fraction of the Thimerosal given to American children.
If Dr. Fineberg genuinely wants to test his assertions about Thimerosal safety with epidemiological data, he should commission a study comparing American children who were exposed to vaccines to the Amish, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Scientists or others, who, for religious reasons, did not receive Thimerosal-laced vaccines.
A recent survey by United Press found that autism is virtually unknown among Pennsylvania's large Amish populations -- a strong indication that vaccines are indeed a principal culprit of the epidemic. Despite the repeated urgings of independent scientists and the families of autistic children, the federal agencies involved have refused to commission such a study and have closed federal vaccine files in order to derail the creation of those studies by outside scientists.
Kennedy's crusade is of course just one part of the standard Leftist attempt to demonize drug companies. The fact that Thimserosol has been used in vaccines for 60 years without previously giving cause for concern does not seem to hold the Lefties up one bit. Charles Murtaugh has a short but acerbic comment on the nonsense being written on the subject and there is a recent and comprehensive article here by a doctor who is actually himself the father of an autistic child.
RESEARCHERS ARE BUSY SAVING US FROM OURSELVES (AND OUR WALLETS)
The headline practically jumped off the page, its conclusion so seemingly obvious the reader was left wondering how this even qualified as news: "Scientists advocate sunshine." However, before you pencil this as an early front-runner for the next Masters of the Obvious Award, consider that the American Academy of Dermatology immediately blasted the findings, saying any advice that you get some sun is "irresponsible."
Then, there is this from Science magazine: twin studies that, in essence, say cleaner air is a bad thing. Here's why: with fewer pollutants floating around, more sunshine reaches ground, compounding the problems caused by - what else? - global warming. So first man is wrong for causing the problem; then, he's wrong again for coming up with ways of fixing it. Hmmmm. Some folks might call this a case of wanting it both ways. And, if the scientific community can't agree, what are the rest of us to do? Frankly, a bit more skepticism when reading about research projects would be a good start, but that commodity is in short supply.
For instance, consider our good buddy global warming. A recent editorial in The Fayetteville Observer opined: "Global warming is a real phenomenon, one of the greatest environmental challenges we face, if not the greatest. And humans are primarily responsible. What are you doing about that?" What, indeed, particularly in Fayetteville, which is on a federal watch list for air quality. The Observer editorial cited auto emissions as a clear and present danger to human health, and there have been a lot of suggestions made about how you can help by changing some of your driving habits. But, if the public does what is being asked and Fayetteville's air is shown to be pristine, how does that square with the study in Science, the one linking clean air with a worsening of the so-called greenhouse effect?
It might help if the scientific community kept its story straight. From the pages of Newsweek came this startling discovery: "There are ominous signs that the Earth's weather patterns have begun to change dramatically and that these changes may portend a drastic decline in food production. If the climatic change is as profound as some of the pessimists fear, the resulting famines could be catastrophic." Chilling stuff. Literally. The April 1975 article was about ... global cooling. That's right; the fear was of the next Ice Age.
To sum it up, in a 30-year time span, we are supposed to believe that the Earth has gone from being on the verge of a deep freeze to approaching a meltdown, and in each instance, it is man's fault. There is simply no way.
Research studies, of course, are not limited to environmental doom. Just look at the confusion over what you should eat. High-protein. Low carbs. Eat red meat. Don't eat red meat. Milk is good for you. Dairy will kill you. Carbs provide energy. Carbs make you fat. Lots of studies, lots of experts, and each with a different conclusion that they will be glad to share with you if you'll just send cash, check, or money order.
Wouldn't it be nice to be able to believe that the people behind the studies actually know what they're talking about and aren't driven by personal or professional agendas? And therein lies the rub. No study findings or research reports are released for the sake of the information they contain, but that is how the data is presented. For instance, the American Psychiatric Association says that ADHD costs the economy nearly $80 billion. Any study that includes a dollar figure should raise an instant red flag because wherever there is a cost, there is someone who stands to benefit. Sure enough, it turns out that this study was funded by Shire US, a pharmaceutical company that just so happens to make a drug that treats ADHD. A logical question might be, what does the psychiatrist's group stand to gain? How much of a percentage do its members get for each prescription of Shire's product that is written?
This is why scientific studies and research projects often make CBS look like the truth squad. They're often the work of organizations promoting a point of view or seeking a launching pad for a marketing campaign. Going back where this began, some of you will recall the days when people poured on baby oil in order to INTENSIFY the sun's rays. Now, an entire industry demands you slather on at least three coats of sun screen before so much as walking to the mailbox. Makes you wonder how a generation that rode bikes without helmets, drank whole milk, ate fried foods, and used diving boards managed to survive without the research fairies saving us from ourselves.
Source
GWB now blamed for the weather: "I guess it was only a matter of time before this happened: The Left is now blaming President Bush for the weather. Specifically they're claiming that the current heat wave is a result of the global warming President Bush just hasn't done enough to stop. Whereas the consensus in the scientific community seems to be leaning towards an alternate explanation: It's summertime. Oh, but this is a different kind of heat, the Left insists. It's...hotter, somehow. (At least they aren't claiming it's a dry heat). But if the current heat wave bolsters the theory of global warming favored by noted climatologists like Barbra Streisand and Bill Maher then surely last winter's record cold spells weakened the case for global warming, right? Well, no. See, global warming doesn't just make the Earth hotter. Sometimes it makes the Earth much, much colder, as depicted in the recent docudrama The Day After Tomorrow. So it's that kind of warming.
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Many people would like to be kind to others so Leftists exploit that with their nonsense about equality. Most people want a clean, green environment so Greenies exploit that by inventing all sorts of far-fetched threats to the environment. But for both, the real motive is to promote themselves as wiser and better than everyone else, truth regardless.
Global warming has taken the place of Communism as an absurdity that "liberals" will defend to the death regardless of the evidence showing its folly. Evidence never has mattered to real Leftists
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Jim Hansen and his twin
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