It didn't take long. In the last two weeks, the new Republican clout in
Congress resulted in a huge giveaway to pharmaceutical companies at the
potential expense of autistic children and the defeat of any extension of
unemployment benefits for the needy ("Jobless benefits are not extended," Nov.
23).
The Homeland Security Act retroactively eliminates claims by children for
autism that may have been caused by additives to vaccines. Of course, that has
nothing to do with homeland security. But it makes the pharmaceutical
manufacturers big winners.
Yet Congress took no action to extend unemployment benefits, which for many
people now will end a few days after Christmas.
Is there any wonder what the holidays will be like in those homes?
It is doubtful that the swing voters who gave the Republicans control of
Congress out of deference to President Bush understood that this was the type of
agenda that they were empowering.
But just follow the money and it makes sense. Pharmaceutical manufacturers
have shoveled funds into the Republican Party. Children and the unemployed are
not able to make contributions.
ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND
MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION
PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS
OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR
LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND
COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH
YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.
"A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth."
-- Albert Einstein, letter to a friend, 1901
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William C. Jarvis, September 28, 1820
"What's the point of vaccination if it doesn't protect you from the unvaccinated?"
-- Sandy Gottstein
"Who gets to decide what the greater good is and how many will be sacrificed to it?"