This morning as I was eating my breakfast and watching my morning news show I heard a story in which the Washington Post admitted that it had had an unbalanced editorial slant during the election campaign. The number of stories that were negative toward Obama were fewer than half the number of those that were negative toward McCain.
My response (and that of the newscasters and the expert from the Think Tank they interviewed) was they didn't notice this as it was happening? Seriously? The media drove this election, and anointed Obama for the presidency in many ways.
The first amendment has been trounced upon in the name of "truth in media". Now the liberal media wants to go after any opposition with the "fairness doctrine" and eliminate conservative talk radio. Then all we will have is the Liberal left viewpoint.
No media outlet is completely fair and without bias, but some do a much better job of trying to be balanced than the Washington Post, New York Times and Los Angeles Times did this election cycle. I will have to admit that our local Paper, the Herald Times did a pretty good job of showing both sides most of the time, but they could have shown some restraint as to what qualified as news and what was just pandering in an election year.
I don't think there is any way to get a fair and balanced picture of what is going on from any news agency anymore. Maybe we are lucky that we have remote control technology, that way we can switch between the five 24-hour news channels on the dial and try to figure it out for ourselves.
Pax
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
O*N*E -L*E*S*S Living Woman Thanks to Gardasil
I never liked this "wonderful new drug" that Merck pharmaceuticals has been touting for the past few years as the be all and end all for the protection of all women. And trying to get states to mandate that all girls as young as age 9 should be vaccinated with it for "their own protection". There were just way too many factors that didn't add up.
Like the fact that it only protected against three (count them 3) kinds of cervical cancer when there are many more kinds that a person can come in contact with.
Like the fact that there were precious few studies done on the long term effects to developing bodies when the drug was pushed through the FDA.
Like why so much money was being poured into the slick marketing campaign that was made to make you feel like you were doing a disservice to your daughters if you didn't get them vaccinated (rather than teaching them that there is a proper place for sexual activity, and the only 100% effective method of prevention of exposure to these pathogens is abstinence.
So, when stories like this one come to light I have to feel slightly vindicated, and a little bit sickened. Ten women dead in less than a year from this wonder drug? Where is the public outrage? Why aren't there huge bands of feminists storming Merck demanding that the drug be taken off the market? Who dropped the ball here and why?
What is even more frightening almost than the deaths are the list of other complications:
I am quoting here:
In this year there have been 140 reported "serious" complications, 27 of which were categorized as "life-threatening," as well as ten spontaneous abortions and six cases of Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a very rare (1 in 100,000 in a healthy population) immune response to foreign antigens such as infectious agents or vaccines, that paralyzes the afflicted person.
and this:
"The long-term consequences of Gardasil are not known. The manufacturer admits this and agrees it does not know its effect on young girls' cancer risk, on their immunity system, on their reproductive system, or its genetic effects. In due course, we will know this, possibly in twenty or thirty years from now when these young girls, the innocent subjects of the Gardasil experiment have become grown women and then report the consequences of their having taken the medication in their childhood on medical advice."
and this:
"What we have here is proof that there is scientific evidence that has been published in the past 15 years that states that HPV infection does not bear a direct relationship to the forming of cervical cancer. It also tells us that HPV, if allowed to will be taken care of by our own body's natural processes. . ."most infections are short-lived and not associated with cervical cancer."
A company was allowed to use fear to sell a faulty product to an unsuspecting group of people who will forever be left with the disastrous consequences of a decision that they thought was going to protect them. Shame belongs somewhere.
I am so glad I didn't bow to conventional wisdom and considerable public peer pressure and have any one of my four precious daughters subjected to this killer vaccine. They are all safe, at least until the next "wonder drug" is discovered.
As parents we need to be vigilant, and think carefully when it comes to slick marketing and promises that sound just a bit too good to be true. We know the truth and the truth will keep us alive apparently.
Pax
Like the fact that it only protected against three (count them 3) kinds of cervical cancer when there are many more kinds that a person can come in contact with.
Like the fact that there were precious few studies done on the long term effects to developing bodies when the drug was pushed through the FDA.
Like why so much money was being poured into the slick marketing campaign that was made to make you feel like you were doing a disservice to your daughters if you didn't get them vaccinated (rather than teaching them that there is a proper place for sexual activity, and the only 100% effective method of prevention of exposure to these pathogens is abstinence.
So, when stories like this one come to light I have to feel slightly vindicated, and a little bit sickened. Ten women dead in less than a year from this wonder drug? Where is the public outrage? Why aren't there huge bands of feminists storming Merck demanding that the drug be taken off the market? Who dropped the ball here and why?
What is even more frightening almost than the deaths are the list of other complications:
I am quoting here:
In this year there have been 140 reported "serious" complications, 27 of which were categorized as "life-threatening," as well as ten spontaneous abortions and six cases of Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a very rare (1 in 100,000 in a healthy population) immune response to foreign antigens such as infectious agents or vaccines, that paralyzes the afflicted person.
and this:
"The long-term consequences of Gardasil are not known. The manufacturer admits this and agrees it does not know its effect on young girls' cancer risk, on their immunity system, on their reproductive system, or its genetic effects. In due course, we will know this, possibly in twenty or thirty years from now when these young girls, the innocent subjects of the Gardasil experiment have become grown women and then report the consequences of their having taken the medication in their childhood on medical advice."
and this:
"What we have here is proof that there is scientific evidence that has been published in the past 15 years that states that HPV infection does not bear a direct relationship to the forming of cervical cancer. It also tells us that HPV, if allowed to will be taken care of by our own body's natural processes. . ."most infections are short-lived and not associated with cervical cancer."
A company was allowed to use fear to sell a faulty product to an unsuspecting group of people who will forever be left with the disastrous consequences of a decision that they thought was going to protect them. Shame belongs somewhere.
I am so glad I didn't bow to conventional wisdom and considerable public peer pressure and have any one of my four precious daughters subjected to this killer vaccine. They are all safe, at least until the next "wonder drug" is discovered.
As parents we need to be vigilant, and think carefully when it comes to slick marketing and promises that sound just a bit too good to be true. We know the truth and the truth will keep us alive apparently.
Pax
Friday, April 18, 2008
The Earth Moved
I was awakened this morning at about 5:51 a.m. to the distinct and unpleasant feeling of a moving house. At first I thought it might just be our autistic daughter running through the hallway at top speed (she has been known to shake things off the wall she stomps so hard when she gallops around the house).
In actuality it turned out to be a less than minor tremor. I feel honored. We live near a minor fault line (I can't remember the name) but the two or three times we have had real earthquake activity here I have been in some other part of the country and missed out. Not that I want to be in an earthquake or anything but I did want to experience it for myself.
Well this one was a definite seismic event, and lasted for at least a minute or so. I never quite got back to sleep after it either.
And so it goes. (as an Indiana favorite son used to write in his books.)
Pax
In actuality it turned out to be a less than minor tremor. I feel honored. We live near a minor fault line (I can't remember the name) but the two or three times we have had real earthquake activity here I have been in some other part of the country and missed out. Not that I want to be in an earthquake or anything but I did want to experience it for myself.
Well this one was a definite seismic event, and lasted for at least a minute or so. I never quite got back to sleep after it either.
And so it goes. (as an Indiana favorite son used to write in his books.)
Pax
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
A Sure SignTthat I Have Been Studying too Hard . . .
I missed this story.
How quaint. It makes you want to rush right out and sign up to have her "do" your committment ceremony, right after finishing those ice skating lessons from Screwtape that is.
Seriously, I'm sure Ms Spelling-Torrance will make a very convincing preacher. After all, she convinced some network to give her a reality show when she has no discernable talent for acting.
This may be one of the reasons I am still a Catholic. Hey IC, just in case you need help with those last few, We don't get our priests from the internet is a pretty good reason.
Pax
How quaint. It makes you want to rush right out and sign up to have her "do" your committment ceremony, right after finishing those ice skating lessons from Screwtape that is.
Seriously, I'm sure Ms Spelling-Torrance will make a very convincing preacher. After all, she convinced some network to give her a reality show when she has no discernable talent for acting.
This may be one of the reasons I am still a Catholic. Hey IC, just in case you need help with those last few, We don't get our priests from the internet is a pretty good reason.
Pax
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