NPR: Fresh Air with Terry Gross - Vaccines - Aired 4/5/2011

NPR: Fresh Air with Terry Gross - Vaccines - Aired 4/5/2011

I understand that Terry Gross is merely interviewing people and not necessarily passing judgment on her guests. Her opinion on her guest’s closing argument is not given. I won’t name him for he literally states that we should join the herd. Respecting him, I will treat him as a nameless nobody, a member of the herd.

The guest closes the show with the idea that everyone should get vaccinated. Terry Gross’ guest mentions that we Americans especially don’t seem to like the herd instinct, but yet this is the reason we should get vaccinated. I strongly disagree.

I have some questions for the guest: Isn’t the herd instinct, peer pressure that leads some to do drugs? Isn’t the herd instinct what leads girls to watch MTV and dress like whores? Isn’t it herd instinct that leads to genocides, such as in Rwanda and Nazi Germany?

Simply to follow the herd is not a good reason to get vaccinated.

I once read a story about how their child’s choosing to eat kosher would hopefully give them the strength to say, “No,” based upon principles of belief, such that they choose their Jewish identity over that of the herd. The person that had offered the child the candy got angry at the parenting, but the parent was proud. The herd would have said, kosher is bull shit, as if the child was harmed in some way, but the parent was proud. Even if eating kosher has no medical advantage, the decision to act not as a result of peer pressure, but as a matter of one’s own convictions is often what separates a nobody from a somebody.

transcript available here: http://www.npr.org/transcripts/ (may be previous day's Fresh Air transcript either 4/5 or 4/4)

The Question of Funding NPR

The Question of Funding NPR

The Congress recently voted to cut funding for NPR. It is time to see if the bill makes it through the Senate. The amount of funding the government gives NPR is very small compared to their total budget. However, the budget needs fixing. Either we need more taxes for the wealthy or we need to make cuts in programs, or both this essay addresses funding issues relative to NPR.

Firstly, I won’t make you hunt. If NPR’s budget is cut, though I am an avid listener, I won’t complain, but I might fret a little. At least the government would be doing something to help solve their financial problems. Though cutting NPR doesn’t have the earmarks of being a Democrat idea, ultimately if there is to be something done about the massive debt of our country, one side has to give, either the Republicans or the Democrats.

I would prefer if we cut our military budget though it could be more disastrous. If our soldiers no longer have the military to count on for work, then they have a much greater potential for becoming an underclass than the folks that work at NPR. The people that work for NPR will always be among our countries best. However, given all the waivers, felonies, obesity and other problems of those who enlist in the military perhaps the republicans are right. By continuing our wars abroad, perhaps we are keeping the junk out of our nation. Those are harsh words, but probably accurate. There once was a time when the military was America’s finest, but largely due to fault of our military recruiters we have let the quality of the personnel in the military slide. Most of those would be the underclass. It would probably be less expensive to label them with PTSD, and give them a monthly Social Security check, but we have other problems that might be greater such as worrying about America’s security if we bring our troops home.

I just listened to a program that gave the data. NPR is the most unbiased news program. Thus, to me they have most likely spent every penny in a wise way. This is such that we might expect to see some decline in the quality of NPR’s programming even if they lose only a small portion of their funding. It will be sad. However, to me NPR represents some of America’s most capable citizens. If anyone is able to figure out how to make a buck stretch further, then it will be NPR. Besides, many other news sources do not receive funding, and because of that it makes it more difficult for them to compete with NPR. Perhaps, if this bill goes through the senate, and funding for NPR is cut, it will help level the playing field for news. Maybe it will even help the ailing newspaper business, but probably not.

Npr funding, npr, congress

Criticisms of Paul Offit on Autism and Vaccines (NPR, Science Friday, 1/7/2011, transcript available)

by Craig Hamilton on Friday, January 7, 2011 at 6:52pm

My before the show Facebook comments:
Science Friday This Friday, Paul Offit joins us to talk about vaccines, autism and misinformation.
Comment 1:
Me:  I suggest that by stimulating the immune system through vaccinations, we are triggering autism spectrum disorders. Historically, only about 7 in 10,000 people were once diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. The studies that I am familiar with that show no correlation between autism and vaccines do not have a large enough sampling to show significance. The genes for schizophrenia are found within those of the immune system. Might the genes for autism be found there too?
Tuesday at 12:15am via Facebook Mobile

Comment 2:
Me:  My mom said I knew many words before I got vaccinated and then I stopped talking for an entire year after. My first psychotic episode was during my junior year of college. Before I started a gluten and casein free diet and taking an exorphinase pill my scores on a professional intelligence assessment were that my auditory comprehension was in the bottom 1% of people where my IQ typically showed 95th percentile in most areas, meaning I had answered all the questions correctly on many of the tests that combine to make the score. However, the test revealed that I had a poor short term memory. Since the special diet my short term memory and auditory comprehension have drastically improved. That is that I understand that though the dietary changes don't work for many people, they worked for me.
Wednesday at 3:58pm via Facebook Mobile

Comment 3:
If someone has a history of ASD in his or her family, given what we know, it is reasonable to consider not vaccinating.
3 hours ago via Facebook Mobile

My commentary Paul Offit on Science Friday 1-7-2011:

Comment 4:
Me: I listened to Offit and he misunderstands some of the fundamentals of medicine. There is not room for detail here. However, he indicates for example a belief in a common man's fallacy regarding bacteria; all bacteria are harmful. The exposure of bacteria that a newborn experiences is not relative to vaccines because the vast amount of bacteria are not harmful and thus not comparable to bacteria a child would experience from vaccination.
via Facebook Mobile


Comment 5:
Me: Other Offit fallacies. Let me paraphrase, "Since childrens' immune systems are stressed, it is good to stress them out even more." And, "doctors don't do unconscionable things, especially a large mass of them." Perhaps, Offit is unaware of what masses of doctors did during the Holocaust.
via Facebook Mobile


Comment 6:
Me: Yet another Offit fallacy, let me paraphrase, "At my hospital we know we have good doctors because they are all conformists. In order to be a doctor at my hospital, you must conform to our vaccination policy. That way we know you have what it takes to be on our team."
via Facebook Mobile

Transcripts are available for a fee @
http://www.sciencefriday.com/pages/misc/faq/tapesandtrans.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Offit