Anti-vaccine dogma

 

Editor:

 

I have read with growing alarm the many letters and articles contributed to The Zephyr by Curt Linderman regarding the topic of Autism and the (alleged) link to vaccinations. Without exception Linderman has repeatedly urged parent not to have their children vaccinated and even discouraged adults from seeking vaccines for the various strains of the Flu. He bases his beliefs on his faith in questionable science that has never been broadly accepted within either the medical or broader scientific fields and writes with fanatical zeal that we must accept his explanations with the same faith that he himself has done.

When it is noted that nearly all reputable physicians and medical scientists dismiss the so-called "research" that is the foundation of Linderman's religious-like opposition to vaccines, he in turn dismisses this criticism as a grand conspiracy to hide the awful truth from parents such as himself. The mainstream medical establishment, especially including epidemiologists and pediatricians who strongly advocate continued universal vaccination of young children, are part of a conspiracy to put the world's children at risk for Autism. And, furthermore, media who do not blindly accept Linderman's link of vaccinations with Autism are also part of this huge conspiracy.

What Linderman and his fellow anti-vaccine travelers fail to recognize is the huge success vaccinations have had on virtually eliminating many once prevalent childhood diseases like polio and Rubella that are now reappearing not just in third-world countries but even in Western Europe and the United States. Many physicians suspect that this is an unintended consequence of Linderman and his fellow believers ceasing to have their children vaccinated, which in turn puts other children needlessly at risk. Additionally, Linderman's letters and articles frequently reference dubious "research" (as if it could stand the scrutiny of serious scientists) in a way that could well mislead unsophisticated but well-intentioned parents to his viewpoint.

As tiresome and dangerous as Linderman's redundant anti-vaccine dogma is, what prompted this letter was The Zephyr's editorial description of Linderman at the end of his most recent anti-vaccine article, "Alternative vaccine schedules: Self-education is the key" (January 28, 2010). (Incidentally, while I agree that education is the key to responsible parents discounting Linderman's anti-vaccine propaganda, I don't think that was the article’s intent.) An italicized paragraph at the article’s conclusion describes Linderman as " ... the father of four children. His youngest was vaccine injured at the age of 20 months." I would contend that there is absolutely no solid medical evidence of what caused Linderman's son to be Autistic other than Linderman's personal beliefs. A statement such as this lends unwarranted credibility to Linderman's otherwise highly questionable arguments in direct opposition to generally accepted medical scientific thought, as if The Zephyr itself accepts Linderman's fanciful thesis.

 

Mike Kroll

Galesburg

 

 

Political promises

 

Editor:

 

We are now in the heat of the political primaries. As I am bombarded by the many political promises and proclamations of all the politicians, I reflect on the fact that if only a small part of all of these high sounding promises were in fact followed thru with by the parties when they were elected we would have the most perfect government imaginable. I sense that the public has a great deal of skepticism of all candidates and all political parties, and we can do nothing except tolerate them as imperfect tools to accomplish the imperfect business of governing at the local, state and national levels.

 

Charles R. Atwater

Galesburg

 

 

Workplace hassles

 

Editor:

 

After working at the dealerships, I would never want a position of authority in a workplace as long as I live. The ad should read "Baby sitter needed for total heathens – fringe benefits include high blood pressure (aka the silent killer), ulcers or both.

Aces and eights are known as the dead man's hand. I have never been much of a card player. I drew my first of many bad hands in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois. I nicknamed the two persons hired to help me in my department Hophnni and Phinehas after Eli's two evil sons that accosted worshippers outside the temple. They hated me and hated authority. They questioned and rebelled against the simplest of instructions.

Imagine being a young, energetic 20-year old. I hired on at my first car dealership. I was their jack-of-all­-trades. I cleaned cars, delivered vehicles, painted walls, dumped trash – anything they required, I gladly did. My Dad told in order for man to pay you a dollar, you had to make him a dollar. I was a bust-ass worker, and no one had ever tainted my vision of the American Dream until this service manager I am going to tell you about. For whatever reason known only to God, this man took an incredible dislike to me. In his twisted mind I needed to be eliminated, and he laid in wait for the perfect time like a lion for a gazelle. I never saw it coming. I didn't have a clue. The time for him to strike came on a beautiful summer day.

One of my many duties included mowing the owner's huge yard once a week. It was to be all push mowed and bagged. As luck would have it, I was running late after mowing his yard at the country club, and I ran out of gas in the truck about three-fourths of a mile from the dealership. When word got to the dealership I was out of fuel, they sent the Service Manager with a can of gas. When he returned to the dealership, he went and told my boss that as he dumped the fuel I told him I was in no hurry to get back because this was all overtime for me. The next day my boss was gunning for me with both barrels. I was called in the office and sent home for the day without pay. He said my attitude was piss poor, and I needed to go home and think about what I had done. I felt like I had been shot at point blank range in the chest. I think I lost a lot more than a day without pay for awhile. I lost my belief in my fellow man and the American Dream. I was so angry I thought about sending some of my bills to his house to let him know what I thought of the whole deal, but I didn't. I ended up figuring he would just have to live with the lie that he had told.

Car dealerships are not big on drug testing and background checks. This would be called "hire and suffer the consequences later." The consequences are not nearly as hard on the dealer-owner as the workers. Joe Blow was hired, and was he ever a dandy – at least seven arrests, all involving violence and sticky fingers to boot. About thirty days after he started, he came to work on a Monday morning with a big patch of medicinal tape on the side of his forehead. I asked what had happened. The local police were dispatched to his residence over the weekend after a fight with his girlfriend, and he resisted arrest. He was billysticked upside his head which resulted in nine stitches at the local hospital. Shortly after, he began to focus his anger on me. I was told that he had forgotten more than I would ever know about detailing cars and was in bad need of an ass whipping. Every day was filled with the anxiety of who would be arrested and lose their job should a fight occur. Several months of this became more than my mind could endure. I quit one day after he called me a maggot – one of the many thanks I got for trying to befriend this young man and help him do his job.

Many have accused me of being a pacifist over the years. They are wrong. I am not above engaging in a good fight. This guy seemed just more than a bit touched, and landing in the county jail for a few days was old hat to him. I've never been in jail in my whole life. You decide.

The last dealership at which I worked was the last straw for me. I was on temporary hire at a car dealership thirty miles from home. They had a fifteen minute break at both 10am and 3pm. One of the workers became so abrasive at the break table on a regular basis, I was sure he had mistaken me for Bin Laden. I was just a temporary hire and didn't want trouble, so I started taking my breaks in my stall. This guy came to my stall and wanted to now if I thought I was too good to have breaks with them. It wasn't good enough for me to go to my own work area and mind my own business, he wanted a felony to be committed. I am the new hire, and I am sure his story would sound a lot better than mine. My experience has always been whoever tells their story first gets the best shake. The truth has little to do with it.

 

Jim Howerter

Galesburg

 

 

Op-ed wasteland

 

Dear Box:

 

The editorial page of The Register-Mail is even more of a wasteland than it was formerly. Presumably, the staff of the newspaper has been cut so much the editors do not have time to write editorials on matters of local concern. To be sure, the intellectual content of those printed in the past suggested no more than ten minutes was spent in composing each one.

To make up for the dearth of local opinion, The Register-Mail reprints material from the Chicago Tribune, or the Springfield Journal-Register, or the Picayune and True Whig. Few of them provide intellectual fodder.

Equally unsatisfying are the columns. There are rare appearances by Donna Brazile and more frequently by Eugene Robinson, who are mostly liberal in outlook. From time to time, there will be a submission by Steve and Cokie Roberts. She is as liberal as anyone can be who grew up in Louisiana forty years ago and more.

Unfortunately, neither has recovered from Hillary Clinton's defeat in 2008. They are given to making snide comments about President Barack Obama. For example, when he went to Hawaii on vacation after he had secured the Democratic presidential nomination, Cokie described his choice as "exotic." Now Hawaii is where Barack Obama was born, and where he spent most of his youth. It is as much a state as Louisiana, and certainly no more "exotic."

On the conservative side, one finds Morton Kondrake, who may have been a centrist when he was employed by the Chicago Sun-Times, but has been corrupted by the right-wingnuts who abound in Washington. Kathleen Parker is certainly to the right of center, although not even she could swallow the thought of Sarah Palin as vice president. One of her sons works in a Republican representative's office on Capitol Hill.

George Will, whose columns appear frequently, wrote several of Ronald Reagan's speeches and helped him to prepare for the presidential debates. Often he would lunch with Nancy Reagan, and some of the tidbits given him would appear, unattributed, in his column.

Then there is Byron York. He writes for the Washington Examiner, which is a publication for those for whom the Moonie paper, the Washington Times, is not conservative enough.

Even worse are the cartoons. For a time they came from an old segregationist paper in Rome, Georgia. Many are still derived from the Boston Herald, owned by Rupert Murdock. Whatever their source, they are even more conservative than are the columns.

One wonders: who selects the editorial material? Perhaps the aforementioned are available at bargain rates. They would be cheap at half the price.

 

Christian Schock

Galesburg

 

 

County Courthouse

 

Editor:

 

Jane Johnson is to be commended for regularly attending the Building Committee meetings of the Knox County Board. She has followed the machinations of Board Chairman Greg Bacon and his Republican puppeteers who want to get rid of the "old" Courthouse.

Our Knox County Courthouse was built in the 1880s by the people of Knox County. Their board representatives selected a nationally known architect to design the edifice. It was built, furnished and occupied with next to no indebtedness.

My conversations with individual who live in Galesburg and Knoxville show that they are proud of the Courthouse and they want it to remain in place. They like the appearance of the building and its park-like setting. They are aware that the building is old, but they also think it could be renovated and continue to serve its function.

The many monuments on the lawn memorialize the men and women who have served in our nation's wars. Each Memorial Day, people come to honor the patriotism and heroism of those who have gone before.

Other counties are having the same problems with their old courthouses. Henry County has chosen to put a referendum on the ballot. The voters will decide on the fate of their courthouse.

The Knox County Board could end its dithering and give the decision to the people of Knox County.

 

Barbara Schock

Galesburg

 

 

Protesting vaccines

 

Editor:

 

As with the civil rights movement, women's suffrage and the gay rights movement, to name just a few of the most notable of modern American society's victories, the "anti-vaccine" movement needs to move beyond the politically correct actions that we are now utilizing. When you play by the other side's rules, you're guaranteed to lose. Civil disobedience, while for the most part peaceful, was the impetus for these struggles' success and should be for this cause as well.

While many will most certainly wonder how I can even imagine the anti-vaccine movement to be akin to that of these famous societal conflicts, I will go even further and state that this movement has elements that deserve even more attention than any of these others. Allow me to explain. While all of these struggles were deserving of the attention that they received, there is one striking difference: commercial profits and government influence did not make the African's skin black, nor did it cause certain individuals to be born with vaginas or influence the sexual orientation of others. They have however, caused the damaging effects that we are witnessing in America and abroad today in the autism community.

Add to the reasons above, the fact that we are damaging our most vulnerable, the infants and children, and that this harm knows no sex, color, creed or orientation and you have a catastrophic situation that wouldn't be believable in a screenplay and explains my stance on this issue. One in 58 boys in this country are affected by autism, one in 38 boys in Britain are now affected. The damage done destroys families, will devastate our schools as well as our economy and debilitate scores of our children. If this is not a reason to step up this fight, I can't imagine what is.

Autism now affects more children than childhood cancer, diabetes, Cerebral Palsy and spina bifida combined, yet research regarding this disability is far less than any of these. As hundreds of thousands of parents clearly state that their normally developing, happy children regressed into autistic-like symptoms directly after being subjected to these toxic vaccines, our governments and medical professionals continue to ignore us. The main stream media refuses to allow the same degree of attention to be paid to reputable research that sheds these vaccine practices in a negative light to that of those disputing what these parents are saying.

Pleading for justice from our government while hundreds of billions of dollars of pharmaceutical profits are at stake is akin to a gay rights activist kneeling at the altar of the 700 Club begging to be recognized and respected. It just simply ain’t gonna happen. It is time to demand that we are heard. It is time to remove the politicians that allow the poisoning of our children to continue and replace them with truly caring individuals that are unafraid to stand up for our children. It's time to call out the pharmaceutical industry for causing this medical holocaust. And it's definitely the time to dismantle certain segments of the medical establishment for ignoring and in some instances being culpable in this epidemic.

It's not time to take our ball and go home. We're going to change the rules of the game. To allow justice and truth to prevail despite the vast amount of power and corrupt influence that is all too apparent in government and industry today. In recognition of the upcoming Super Bowl: power on the front line simply requires a passing game that these giants can't compete with. We will no longer play the victims because we fear how society will treat us. We will fight for our children, we will win, and those that have covered this up for so long will be brought to justice.

The alternative is a not an option.

Educate, Don’t Vaccinate.

 

Curt Linderman Sr.

Galesburg

 

 

What Americans want?

 

Editor:

 

There are multiple persons in Washington that are reaping blame for the disintegration of the Heath Care Reform Bill, and each is deserving. But, the top Stink Awards go to Ben Nelson (D-NE), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Joe Lieberman (D-CT), Max Baucus (D-MT). This greedy band have actual Democrats wondering what team they play for, and do they care a blink for the unfortunates that rely on the ER for their meager health needs.

Republicans were never going to support health care, or anything Obama proposed. Not to his credit, it took him 10 months to figure this out. Republicans walked off the playing field in the first five minutes of the game, calling, "Foul, unfair, liar, no, no, no." They have deluded themselves about what Americans want. Last week Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN), on talk TV, lectured Senator Arlan Specter, "Americans want less government." Well, yes they do, but not if it's Medicare, social security, national security, farm supports, food safety, clean water and air, good roads, an army, a navy, an air force, marines, a national guard, a coast guard, homeland security, and so on. Sixty percent wanted health care reform, a few months ago, before the four Shylocks, named above, extracted their pound of flesh.

The President squandered his credibility with millions of American when he appointed Wall Street insiders Summers and Geithner to lead his financial recovery team, and, along with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, just this week endorsed by Obama to stay another four year term, they failed to see the populist anger for banks too big to fail, bailouts, and undeserved bonuses. The sum of the Democrats’ transgressions will trigger significant losses in the 2010 Congressional election, and could doom an Obama second term in 2012. This would leave the country with the real possibility of repeating a Republican agenda of tax cuts and deregulation that would assure Americans of a prolonged recession and the prospect of Sarah Palin as the second President boob of the century.

Closer to home, I am bored and offended by writers that overwhelm the forum and Box One with endorsements for candidates' election. Do these writers think they know more than you and I do, and need to advise us how to vote? Are they oblivious to their own arrogance? Aren't they guilty of uninvited proselytizing?

 

Ralph Ginn

Chillicothe

 

 

Patriotic electricity

 

Editor:

 

This was a very interesting weekend, some good, some not so grand. We spent a couple of days down in North Charleston, S.C., so you know, that is where the North Charleston Coliseum is, and it just happened to be where the O’Reilly, Beck, Bold Fresh tour was. Yes, we attended the show and it was good, maybe not a barn burner but we found it very funny and interesting at the same time.

As I was watching the show I tried to remember any time in my life that a couple of political pundits, I suppose you would call them that, could have packed a place as large as the coliseum with an impending snow and ice storm on the way. The show was sold out and there were a few empty seats which could be expected with the weather forecast, but not that many. The truth was, Glenn Beck was slap your knee funny and O’Reilly tried to be the wise old professor. They were on individually and they finished the show with a casual sit down at the table talk. This was mostly Beck hitting O’Reilly with one slam after another, yes it was funny.

The bottom line to the whole affair was the patriotic electricity that could be felt in the entire coliseum. The cheers and lengthy applauds were testament to the feelings that were shared by most of the people in the audience. If you were looking for hope and freedom for a better America, it was there in abundance. For myself, I came away feeling that when this administration is past, Chicago will receive a huge influx of money from their returning politicos, America will pick up the pieces and continue on. Sadly however, with each liberal that is allowed to pass through our government, there are some footprints of liberalism stains left in the fabric of our nation. How long before it is to muddied up with the stains to remain a really free country?

Ice and snow and then more ice showed up as forecast, it made the drive home sort of interesting. Having grown up in Illinois snow storms, it was really nothing special to me. My wife grew up in Athens, Georgia and she saw the snow as a death sentence. To keep the peace I ended up drinking coffee and driving forty miles per hour the rest of the way home. We were within seventy miles from home before we were far enough north to hit the snow. Seventy miles is a long time to drive forty, I thought we would never get home. There were cars in the ditches, wreckers and a few wrecks and we made it safely home, only to find out the gas furnace was not working. So with the weather being sort of nasty and it being Sunday, we still have no heat and it was fourteen degrees. Well, not entirely, we have a gas log fireplace that wouldn’t heat a closet, a fairly large electric heater that seems to do nothing. So against the wishes of my wife I brought the kerosene heater up from my shop. It doesn’t smell so pretty, but it is putting out a tremendous amount of heat. We will no doubt make it until help arrives.

All in all it was a fairly nice weekend with some different restaurants and a stay at the Marriot Courtyard, honestly it could have been worse. O’Reilly and Beck agree that President Obama is a very intelligent person. O’Reilly believes that he has surrounded himself with inferior people and is getting bad advice. Beck believes he is intentionally trying to change America into a socialist state. Myself, I don’t see what the difference is, the results would be the same.

 

Tim May

Cherryville, N.C. (cold)

 

 

Check your facts

 

Editor:

 

Mr. Anderson was apparently so excited about celebrating the election of a Republican in Massachusetts he couldn't get the guy's name straight. It's actually "Scott Brown" not "Stephen Brown." I was just reading that this guy who promised to work for the "people" took close to a half-million dollars in contributions from the financial services industry for his campaign – hardly sounds like he's looking after the interests of the "ordinary people" of Massachusetts. Interestingly enough, he's also a lot more liberal than the conservatives would like, as he's pro-choice and he supported public healthcare for his state. Be careful what you wish for, and check your facts, Republicans.

 

Judith Squires

Burbank, Calif.

 

 

Schilling’s contributions

 

Editor:

 

I am writing to express my disappointment with your newspaper. A candidate for Congress that I am supporting, Bobby Schilling, recently outraised his incumbent opponent in individual contributions for the 4th quarter. This story made absolutely no headlines on your newspaper. Why is that? Surely this is newsworthy, is it not?

According to the FEC website, Schilling raised $53,967 from individual donors. Rep. Hare only raised $49,420 from individual donors. What's more is that the majority of Hare's individual donations came from trial attorneys from Chicago and Washington D.C.

Phil Hare did outraise Schilling in total donations, however that isn't the whole story. Why didn't any of the media report that Phil Hare raised over 60 per cent of his money from special interest political action committees? Instead, the willing media just ran the misleading press releases from the Hare campaign.

In the future, for the sake of integrity, the newspapers should publish each candidate's individual donations, and each candidate's political action committee donations, separately. Publishing the results in this manner would not only be more accurate but would also encourage candidates to depend more on their own constituents and less on the special interest groups, i.e. Chicago trial attorneys. Going forward, please make the attempt to accurately report the numbers.

 

Rodrigo Quiroz

Rock Island