The Anti-Vaccination Movement invokes Godwin’s Law

Just when you think the anti-vaccination movement can’t get more extreme, they do.

Check out the lyrics to their new rally song.

Vaccine Gestapo
They have swastikas on their shoulders
They’re such patriotic soldiers
They’re like a militia in Montana
They’re a government agency in Atlanta

Vaccine gestapo! Vaccine gestapo!
Vaccine gestapo! Vaccine gestapo!

They’re a medical military priesthood
Just like Adolf they preach the greater good
Consciencious objectors are just little snots
Why don’t you quit complaining and go get your shots

Vaccine gestapo! Vaccine gestapo!
Vaccine gestapo! Vaccine gestapo!

If you are feeling particularly sadistic, you can listen to this song by the band The Refusers here.

Surprisingly for the HuffPo, they have an article speaking out about these tactics.  I strongly agree with the last line of this article – Jenny McCarthy and her band of scaremongers have no business being anywhere near children.

The Dangers of Homeopathic Vaccinations For Pets

My two dogs - Rory & Caleb

As an ex-vet nurse and “mum” to my two dogs, there is one thing that can get me to boiling point faster than anything else and that is people who don’t take care of their pets and provide them with adequate medical treatment when required.

Therefore, when @drunkenmadman posted a link to a place selling homeopathic vaccinations for pets my blood began to boil.

Pet Homeopath has for sale homeopathic vaccinations for distemper & parvovirus as well as preventives for heartworm and ticks.  All of the above are deadly, especially for dogs.  With the exception of distemper, I have seen dogs die of parvovirus, heartworm and ticks in my old vet practice located in Sydney.  All because owners did not either vaccinate against parvo or give their dogs heartworm medication (I can’t say anything horrible about owners whose dogs suffer ticks bites because they are damn near impossible to prevent).

So, why am I against these homeopathic vaccinations?  Because homeopathy is complete bullocks.  They don’t contain any active ingredient whatsoever.  It isn’t herbal medication, it is just water and sugar – that’s it.  Water & sugar is not going to prevent your dog during an outbreak of parvovirus which occurs every summer without fail in Sydney.

Parvovirus has a kill rate of about 50%.  It really is pure luck if your dog survives a bout of parvovirus.  The best vets can do is to put your dog on a drip and just watch as it shits and vomits out all the water content in its body.  It is one of the most gruesome ways a dog can die (and I used to watch about 20 dogs die from it each summer) and yet it is totally preventable by one yearly vaccination.

Heartworm is spread by mozzies and I don’t need to tell anyone who lives in Australia that we have a hell of a lot of mozzies.  You can’t prevent stop your dog  from being bit by a mozzie, so why risk it?  Heartworm can be prevented by one yearly vaccination or a once month spot on application.  It’s that simple and easy.  The treatment if your dog does get heartworm is extremely hard on dogs and can kill them.

Yes, there are side effects to vaccinations, but they are extremely rare in dogs.  The vast majority of dogs handle their vaccinations just fine and the once yearly trip to the vet to get them also includes a general check up so you can catch any other potential problems early.

Don’t think that by using homeopathic vaccinations that you are doing the best thing for your dog by giving them something natural. Yes, water is natural & has no side-effects but it is not going to prevent them from contracting deadly diseases.  Do the right thing and get them properly vaccinated once a year, every year.

Temple Grandin at TED

Temple Grandin, who was diagnosed with autism as a child, gave an amazing talk at TED about how important it is to recognise that people think in different ways and to find ways to motivate and inspire kids with different ways of thinking.  The passion she spoke with about mentoring kids with autism and how one person can change their life forever is just inspiring.  I found it interesting that Temple lumped in smart geeky kids with those on the autism spectrum as though they were all the spectrum. I also identified quite a bit with some of the things she was saying about ways of thinking.

Even if you don’t know anyone on the spectrum or have an interest in autism, give this video a watch as Temple’s views on teaching and inspiring kids is something everyone should hear.

The Poetry of Reality

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you will know I am a huge fan of The Symphony of Science, a project to spread scientific knowledge and philosophy in musical form.  John Boswell has released a brand new piece this morning titled The Poetry of Reality and like his previous pieces this one is wonderful and amazing.

Poor Choice By HBO

HBO have a just released a feature length movie about Dr Temple Grandin, a professor of Animal Science at Colorado University who just happens to have autism.  Her life story is an incredible one especially considering she grew up in a time when the current thinking was that children with autism should be institutionalised.  Temple has single-handedly increased our knowledge of how people with autism see the world and thus has help shape and improve support services and education for those on the spectrum.

The website HBO have set up for this movie has a page for resources about autism and it is here on this page that HBO have made a very poor choice.  They have featured a synopsis and a link to the organisation Generation Rescue.  For those of you who have no idea who Generation Rescue are they are an organisation who strongly believe that vaccinations cause autism and that children with autism should be detoxed using homeopathy, vitamin B supplements, chelation therapy and other alternative forms of medicine that they call “biomedical treatments”.  Some of these treatments like homeopathy  are simply a waste of money whilst others like chelation therapy can be extremely dangerous.   This is quackery at its finest and doesn’t do anything to help and support kids with autism. Generation Rescue believe that autism is some horrible affliction that children, given the right treatments, can recover from rather than it being a different way of viewing the world.   This site, therefore, should not be promoted alongside a movie about Temple Grandin who, whilst accepting the challenges of autism, wouldn’t want to live her life any other way.

Today’s WTF Moment

News broke over the weekend of a mother who killed her autistic son with a drug cocktail and then tried to kill herself.  It’s an absolute tragedy and therefore it is no surprise that many people are writing about it.  Mike Adams who runs Natural News, a site that promotes alternative medicine, also wrote an article about this horrible event, but instead of focusing on the lack of support services for children with disabilities and their families or because Adams’ is an anti-vaxxer, bringing out that old false argument that vaccination causes autism, he went completely off the deep end.  Adams’ used this tragedy to hit out at pharmaceutical companies or as he refers to them, Big Pharma.  Apparently Big Pharma fosters a culture of death because if people overdose on their medication it will kill them.  Adams seems to have forgotten that almost any substance known to man can kill you if consumed in large enough quantities, even water.

If this argument wasn’t completely mind-bending to those of us that think rationally, he then goes on to say Big Pharma executives are mentally insane because they take the medications that their companies produce and because this poor mother who killed her son was an executive of a pharmaceutical company, it was little wonder she killed her son and tried to kill herself.  Adams’ then goes on to say that the mother was probably on anti-depressants and this is even more reason why she did what she did.

Seriously WTF Mike Adams!  Did someone replace your brain with mashed potatoes??  You seem to lack any compassion for what this woman went through that made her do what she did and instead are using her tragedy to promote your anti-pharmaceutical viewpoint.  It is sickening and quite frankly insane.

If the article itself wasn’t enough to liquefy your brain, then take a read of the comments.  It takes the insanity to a whole new level.  The readers of Natural News seriously believe that the increase in violence in society highlighted by multiple high school shootings around the world is all caused by mind control lasers that are being used by shadowy organisations to increase the sales of pharmaceutical drugs and take away people’s rights to own guns.  Clearly their logic is not like our Earth logic.

Have You Ever Wanted To Take Part In A Homeopathic Mass Suicide?

Well, here is your chance!

On Saturday 30th January, as part of the UK’s 10:23 project, skeptics in various cities throughout the UK and Australia will be taking part in a mass homeopathic “overdose” to help educate the general public that homeopathic remedies are just really expensive bottles of water that don’t do what they claim on the label. The harm in this is when homeopathic remedies replace conventional treatment and people, like 9 month old Gloria Sam, lose their lives because of it.  The fact that homeopathic remedies are sold in many UK and Australian pharmacies where people go to seek medical advice and are actively recommended by pharmacy staff is  something that needs to be stopped and should be made illegal.

If you would like to take part or just simply come and watch, check out the Facebook pages for the UK event and the Australian event for more details.

I’m going to be overdosing at the Sydney event which will be taking place at the QVB.  I wonder if I can call into work on Monday morning suffering from homeopathic death?

New Symphony of Science Track – The Unbroken Thread

John Boswell has released a brand new track to his popular series Symphony of Science titled The Unbroken Thread.  This piece features Carl Sagan, David Attenborough and Jane Goodall.  John describes it as being “biology themed, with a focus on the origins and intricacies of life, as well as the extensive similarities between living things.”