Thursday, February 25, 2010

Americans without science

The perfect example of the lack of any true understanding of science by the rank and file in America ...

There are thousands of kids not getting vaccinated against common illnesses and the problem has become so large that some diseases, thought to be eradicated, have returned. Many of these are debilitating and some can be fatal. Why has this occurred? It has been traced to an overwhelming fear of autism due to the vaccination process. One study, out of thousands, linked the two events. Since that study, which has been withdrawn by the authors, a combination of things has happened to perpetuate the myth. First, there is a distrust of health-related organizations (government, hospitals, insurance companies) that leads to speculation that the paper had somehow been suppressed or that the withdrawal was coerced. Further, this mis-reporting of scientific studies adds to the lack of faith in scientific reports. The scientific process, that most folks do not understand, allows a back and forth understanding of the problem being studied. Experiments are reproduced or not. Theories are amended with new information. If one does not understand the process they say things like "It used to be that eggs were bad for you. Now they say they are good. Who should I believe?" Add to that the soapbox of various celebrities that preach no vaccines, such as Jenny McCarthy and Suzanne Sommers. These folks have no clue about science and no understanding of the issues or history of studying and trying to be lay experts. They use their celebrity status to preach in a way not too different from the old snake oil salesmen.

Many of these diseases carry real risks that can be quantified in terms of deaths per thousand cases or paralysis per thousand cases, etc. Since there is no statistical link between autism and vaccines, a similar risk cannot be quantified. That is science. What we do know is that the rate of autism in the general population does not even warrant such decisions not to vaccinate because if all autism was due to vaccines, the risk of having autism would still be lower by taking a vaccine than the risk of getting the preventable disease.

Finally, the "preachers" preach about mercury in the vaccines. With only a few exceptions, mercury has been removed from vaccines since the turn of the century. The few that have it, do have it at very low levels.

Is it really worth the risk to listen to non-scientists on this one?

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Bizarroworld

So, I heard on NPR yesterday that North Carolina will be delaying tax refunds to its citizens in order to manage cash flow.

Let me get this right ...

The state will keep money from people who overpaid taxes. They will keep someone else's money, interest free, until they feel like they can pay it.

Bizarre

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Hippocracy

I am really ticked at the dems right now about one issue, the recent Supreme Court decision to allow groups (business, unions, ngo's, etc) to spend as much as they want on political commercials. The dems are screaming that this was a bad decision and that it gives unfair advantage to big business (whenever the word "big" comes out, look out - big oil, big wall street firms, big energy, big business, etc). Now they want it all turned over and want a law to fix this poor decision. Now, I would be fully in support of these "gentlemen" and their cause if they would be willing to put the kabash on lobbiests. My guess is that lobbiers have more influence on Congress (probably less on elections) and hurt the American citizens more than any political advertisement by any group - big business included. No more lobbying. That hurts all of us and makes our elected officials beholden to some special interest. Adverts, well, most folks see through them. In this case, I think the big 9 got it right, no one should be able to restrain any group from voicing their opinions in a legitimate way.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Random Walk

A lot has gone on this week. I thought I would just light on a few subjects like a butterfly and then fly away. Here are "Cheers", "Hmm's" and "Jeers" for this busy week ...

JEERS to Mr Obama for his comments at a "town hall" meeting in the midwest. There he stated that he couldn't figure out all the fuss about health care. He said, in his usual mocking tone, 'Let's see, should I want health care that is comprehensive and free or something that is no change? Huh.' I don't think Mr. Obama helps his cause by either being condescending or by misleading the public. No way that his health care is free under any plan.

CHEERS to Mr Obama for proposing the elimination of the military "don't ask, don't tell" policy. It is about time. I don't understand why we cannot do it sooner than one year, though. It is a policy that goes against everything that is the real American ideal.

HMM to Mr Obama for killing the Aries/Orion manned space program. At first I thought that this was just the continuing destruction of what was once a great space-faring nation. But I thought some more. Currently, NASA selects from one or two contractors to build their concept. Under the new proposal, bids will go out along with seed money to have private enterprise build the equipment. Not all that different, but the design will be from the outside and it does privatize the activity. It also, through the use of the seed money, will guarantee that the goals of the program will not be purely commercial (space tourism for example). We will have to wait and see.