Why I don't trust the swine flu vaccine

There is so much information out there to sift through in order to formulate an opinion on this that it's a bit daunting. There's a lot I could talk about here but I just don't have the time or energy to do it. However, I do want to touch on some things.

Thimerosal- Some formulations of the vaccine contain thimerosal and some do not. Pre-filled, single dose syringes contain no thimerosal or have it removed to trace levels. Multi-use vial DO contain it. Know what you are getting before you get it! Here is a table (Table 1) at the FDA website that has this information detailed. (It's on page 3)

Before I continue I want to say there are four FDA approved vaccines. Three injectables:

• Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine (CSL Limited)


• Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine (Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Limited)


• Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine (Sanofi Pasteur, Inc.)

And one intranasal:
Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine (MedImmune LLC)

Pregnant Women- In every list I can find, including the Center for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration (page 3), pregnant women are at the top of the list of the ones who should be getting this vaccine. YET..on the package insert found at the FDA’s own website (page 12 section 8.1) I read this: “Pregnancy Category C: Animal reproduction studies have not been conducted with Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine or FLUVIRIN. It is also not known whether Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine or FLUVIRIN can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman or can affect reproduction capacity. Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine should be given to a pregnant woman only if clearly needed. (emphasis mine) Even with that admission, they say that “If you are pregnant, you should get vaccinated against H1N1 (swine) as soon as possible. So, on one hand they say a pregnant woman should only get the vaccine if it’s "clearly needed" but then on the other hand they indicate that being pregnant is reason enough to be vaccinated! I do not trust these people. Furthermore,

Nursing Mothers- Do nursing mothers know that “because many drugs are excreted in human milk, caution should be exercised when Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine is administered to a nursing woman? It’s on the package insert. (page 12 section 8.3)

Young Children- Children from age 6 months up are recommended to be vaccinated, but in the package insert for the vaccine it says, “Safety and effectiveness in pediatric subjects below the age of 4 years have not been established. (page 12 section 8.4) So we don’t know if it’s SAFE OR EFFECTIVE but go ahead and vaccinate them anyway! I don’t think so.

The links to the package inserts I've included are all to the Novartis vaccine. The other two injectables say essentially the same thing about pregnant and nursing women, just a little different wording. However, the CSL Limited package insert says this about pediatric use: “Neither Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine nor AFLURIA has been evaluated in children. Safety and effectiveness in the pediatric population have not been established. (page 8 section 8.4) The Sanofi Pasteur insert says, “Safety and effectiveness in pediatric subjects below the age of 6 months have not been established." (page 10 section 8.4)

Maybe I’m missing something or I’m misunderstanding something here but this vaccine doesn’t seem like a good thing to me! Aren’t you glad I don’t have the time and energy to get into the other aspects of this that are unsettling to me!! ☺

Feeling Grateful

Somehow I don't feel much like complaining about grocery prices!!

Headline: Price of rat meat quadruples in Cambodia as inflation bites

I'll happily pay the extra for milk and eggs that I'm paying...

I'd rather starve...

...than eat a bent cucumber.

This is so ridiculous that I had to share it.

Apparently several of the EU governments would rather throw out misshapen fruits and veggies than eat them. With high food prices and starving people throughout the world this is just ludicrous! One idea was to let misshapen fruits be sold in shops with a special label indicating for use in cooking which, the Commission says, makes far more sense than throwing them away. (duh!) But, a lot of the member states did not like it.

Read the article here.

Parents ordered to court for kids' shots

The article below irritates and concerns me in way I cannot even describe. This is very, very wrong. Besides the obvious problem that parents are being denied the right to decide if they want to inflict immunizations on immunize their child or not, doesn't it seem stupid to expel the kids and then charge the parents with truancy? It seems like the school officials would at least be able to come up with a charge that didn't make them look foolish. I also didn't like the comment the judge makes at the end of the article!

(Okay, in the interest of transparency I should say that I almost fully immunized my two older kids, partially immunized my third child, but have no plans to immunize my fourth [or any others I might have]. The road to my current immunization stance has taken many years and is still in a state of development as I sort out my opinion of each and every vaccine individually. I do regret having the two older kids immunized without even a second thought. I wish I had put some amount of consideration toward it before I just went along with the mainstream thinking.)

Parents ordered to court for kids' shots

By MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press Writer - Sat Nov 17, 6:09 PM ET

Scores of grumbling parents facing a threat of jail lined up at a courthouse Saturday to either prove that their school-age kids already had their required vaccinations or see that the youngsters submitted to the needle.

The get-tough policy in the Washington suburbs of Prince George's County was one of the strongest efforts made by any U.S. school system to ensure its youngsters receive their required immunizations.

Two months into the school year, school officials realized that more than 2,000 students in the county still didn't have the vaccinations they were supposed to have before attending class.

So Circuit Court Judge C. Philip Nichols ordered parents in a letter to appear at the courthouse Saturday and either get their children vaccinated on the spot or risk up to 10 days in jail. They could also provide proof of vaccination or an explanation why their kids didn't have them.

By about 8:30 a.m., the line of parents stretched outside the courthouse in the county on the east side of Washington.

Many of them complained that their children already were properly immunized but the school system had misplaced the records. They said efforts to get the paperwork straightened out had been futile.

"It was very intimidating," Territa Wooden of Largo said of the letter. She said she presented the paperwork at the courthouse Saturday and resolved the matter.

"I could be home asleep. My son had his shots," said Veinell Dickens of Upper Marlboro, who also blamed errant paperwork.

Aloma Martin of Fort Washington brought her children, Delontay and Taron, in 10th and 6th grade, for their hepatitis shots. She said she had been trying to get the vaccinations for more than a month, since the school system sent a warning letter. She had an appointment for Monday, but came to the courthouse to be safe.

"It was very heavy handed," she said of the county's action. "From that letter, it sounded like they were going to start putting us in jail."

School officials deemed the court action a success. School system spokesman John White said the number of children lacking vaccinations dropped from 2,300 at the time the judge sent the letter to about 1,100 Friday.

After Saturday's session, 172 more students were brought into compliance, including 101 students who received vaccinations at the courthouse and 71 whose records were updated.

That still left more than 900 students out of compliance with vaccination requirements, White said.

"Obviously, we still have some more work to do," he said.

Any children who still lack immunizations could be expelled. Their parents could then be brought up on truancy charges, which can result in a 10-day jail sentence for a first offense and 30 days for a second.

Prince George's State's Attorney Glenn Ivey couldn't say Saturday whether he would prosecute parents who fail to comply.

"We have to sit down with school and health services," he said. "We haven't ruled anything out. We need to figure out where we stand."

White said the school system, with about 132,000 students, has been trying for two years to get parents to comply with state law. That law allows children to skip vaccines if they have a medical or religious exemption. It was unclear how many medical or religious exemptions were involved.

Maryland, like all states, requires children to be immunized against several childhood illnesses including polio, mumps and measles. In recent years, it also has required that students up to high school age be vaccinated against hepatitis B and chicken pox.

Nichols said nobody actually came before him Saturday, but he was there if any parent asked to see him.

The judge noted the unhappy looks of some of the kids in line waiting for vaccinations.

"It's cute. It looks like their parents are dragging them to church," Nichols said. (emphasis Cindee's)

Several organizations opposed to mass vaccinations demonstrated outside the courthouse. While the medical consensus is that vaccines are safe and effective, some people blame immunizations for a rise in autism and other medical problems.

"People should have a choice" in getting their children immunized, said Charles Frohman, representing a physicians' group opposed to vaccines.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071117/ap_on_re_us/shots_getting_tough;_ylt=AvqZaK5MJLoCzoiV2Ox4Sfi9j7AB

The Monstrous Regiment of Women

Thank you KimC for the heads up on the following video:

I'm thankful for men like Colin Gunn who are willing to fight the culture war.

I can't wait to see the movie.....the official site for The Monsterous Regiment movie is here.

Ephesians 6:12

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

This post: It's coming ..... are you ready? was written by KimC @ Life in a Shoe.

More on Overpopulation

Or should that be moron overpopulation? Sorry.

My sister sent me an article that is a startling contrast to my last post. She doen't agree with it, by the way, she just sent it because of the contrast. Here's an excerpt:

Global Swarming
Is it time for Americans to start cutting our baby emissions?

By Daniel Engber Posted Monday, Sept. 10, 2007, at 4:49 PM ET

Oh, if we all just disappeared. According to The World Without Us, Alan Weisman's strangely comforting vision of human annihilation, the Earth would be a lot better off. In his doomsday scenario, freshwater floods would course through the New York subway system, ailanthus roots would heave up sidewalks, and a parade of coyotes, bears, and deer would eventually trot across the George Washington Bridge and repopulate Manhattan. Nature lovers can take solace in the idea that the planet will thrive once we've finally destroyed ourselves with global warming. But Weisman takes the fantasy one step further: Let's not wait for climate change, he says. Let's start depopulating right now. (Read the rest...)

In the third paragraph of the above article is a link to another article that I think is worth reading. It's not for the faint-hearted, easily angered, or for children. Read a little:

Cases of Forced Abortions Surface in China
by Louisa Lim ~ Morning Edition, April 23, 2007

During the past week, dozens of women in southwest China have been forced to have abortions even as late as nine months into the pregnancy, according to evidence uncovered by NPR.
China's strict family planning laws permit urban married couples to have only one child each, but in some of the recent cases — in Guangxi Province — women say they were forced to abort what would have been their first child because they were unmarried. The forced abortions are all the more shocking because family planning laws have generally been relaxed in China, with many families having two children. (Read a little more...)

This is just wrong, folks. And terribly sad. We'd be foolish to think it can't happen in the U.S.

Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth.
How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; they will not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate. (Psalm 127:3-5)

Who am I to tell God to stop giving me gifts? How do I know when my quiver is full? I believe God is the best judge of that. He knows me, He knows His plans for me. He knows where He wants me to be and He knows how to get me there. How can I think that I would do a better job of directing my life that my Maker would? My only task is to submit to His will and let Him form me in to the person He wants me to be. C.S. Lewis states it very well,

Christ says `Give me All. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don't want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked - the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.' (from Mere Christianity [chapter 30])

It's as simple and as difficult as that. I don't think overpopulation is our problem. I think SIN is our problem. Only God has the solution for that and it's offered as a free gift to us. We'd be foolish to squander that gift.

******************************
Updated to add link:
China to crack down on rich flouting one-child rule

Overpopulation?

I've never believed it. Apparently the governor of a central Russian province doesn't believe it either!

Skip work, make babies, says Russian governor
By James Kilner Wed Sep 12, 6:02 AM ET

The governor of a central Russian province urged couples to skip work on Wednesday and m@ke love instead to help boost Russia's low birth-rate.
And if a woman gives birth in exactly nine months time -- on Russia's national day on June 12 -- she will qualify for a prize, perhaps even winning a new home.
"It's normally something for the home -- a fridge or a television set," Yelena Yakovleva at the Ulyanovsk regional administration press office, said.
"It doesn't matter if it's a girl or a boy."
Newly-weds Karina and Anton Bukhanovsky walked hand in hand down the main street of the regional capital of Ulyanovsk. They live in St Petersburg but travelled to Ulyanovsk to soak up the atmosphere on Wednesday.
"I used to live here," said Karina, aged 19.
"We plan to come back on the same day next year and try for a baby and the prize nine months later," she said.
Anton, aged 21, kissed her gently on the cheek and they strolled off arm in arm.
Regional governor Sergei Morozov told employers to contribute to a Kremlin campaign to boost the birth rate by giving couples Wednesday off to have s&x.
Russia wants to reverse a trend in which the population is shrinking by about 700,000 people a year as births fail to outpace a high death rate boosted by AIDS, alcoholism and suicide.
This is the third year Ulyanovsk region, famous as the birthplace of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin, has dedicated a day to encouraging couples to produce more babies.
Prizes will extend equally to unwed women who produce children on the right day, though the biggest prizes will go to married couples.
On Russia Day this year, a family won a jeep after their fourth baby was born on the holiday.
Next year, the top prizes will include an apartment, Morozov told Reuters. "We need more people," he said.
This year a record 78 babies were born on June 12 at the main hospital in the regional capital of Ulyanovsk, beating the 2006 total of 26, said chief doctor Andrei Malykh.
"The scheme is working. People want the prizes," he said.
A mass wedding and special lessons for children at school on how to deal with having a brother or sister are also planned in Ulyanovsk city, which is about 900 km (560 miles) from Moscow.
At the town's central post office, a sign urges locals to write love letters for free to anywhere in Russia, with postage pre-paid.
This week First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, a possible successor to President Vladimir Putin, said he wanted to stabilise the population at about 142 million by 2015 and boost it back to 145 million by 2025.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070912/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_
russia_sex;_ylt=AlixwWWvxDK4iO7gaXxomnwuQE4F

I don't really know what to say about this but I wanted to share it. I'd like a new house or a new fridge, but we didn't get this Wednesday off. We should start a program like this here in the states. July 4th is a good national holiday for us to aim for, eh? So how about Thursday, October 4th? National Trying To Conceive Day. Whaddya think?

I think it's late and I should get to bed. I'm starting to get punchy.

More on Birthdays

Previously I wrote a little about birthday without pressure. I wished that I had the time and energy to write more about it but I didn't. Today, I found on The Common Room, a post with great links regarding this very subject. Go check it out and follow the links!

Birthdays Without Pressure

BirthdaysWithoutPressure.org is a website dedicated to raising awareness of out-of-control birthday parties for kids. I'm amazed at how big of a problem this is and that we need a website to alert the nation. Where's our common sense? How is it that we don't know when enough is enough? Here's an excerpt from an article I read today:

Having decided on a ballerina theme for her daughter's sixth birthday party, Michelle West drove all over to find little dancers for the cake. Then she put 50 little beefeater guards around the edges. And she gave it beautiful white icing with peppermint trim.

And what happened? The kids wouldn't eat it.

It wasn't long afterward that she joined a group of St. Paul parents determined to end the birthday party arms race.

Birthdays Without Pressure is taking aim at the oneupsmanship that drives moms and dads to throw parties that will really, really impress the kids and the other parents, too."We feel there's a kind of cultural runaway going on right now around the birthday parties of kids," said William Doherty, a University of Minnesota professor of family social science who had a hand in organizing the group, launched publicly earlier this month.

Read the entire article here.

We started down this road ourselves a few years ago. We had a couple of parties for our kids that were (in our estimation) too extravagant. We took a look at what we were doing, realized that we didn't really want to set the precedent that we were starting to set, didn't like the stress we experienced, and didn't like the message we were sending to our children and to those that were invited. I have so much that I'm thinking about all of this but my time is so limited that I cannot go into all of it right now. Anyway, read the article. Be amazed. Evaluate your own practices. Change them if necessary.

Will Smith & Marriage

I know that my reading a magazine article about someone does not mean that I now KNOW that person but I'm still very impressed by the quotes I just read from Will Smith in (Dec '06) Reader's Digest. Here's what I read:

RD: You and Jada have been married nine years and, by all
accounts, are very happy. What's the key?
Smith: Communication. And divorce cannot be an option.

RD: Your first marriage ended in divorce.
Smith: That is probably the most painful loss of my life. I quit. I could have fixed it. It really was not that bad.

RD: Some would say there's no reason to stay if a marriage isn't good.
Smith: Once you say that, you've lost. With Jada, I stood up in front of God and my family and friends and said, "Till death do us part." So there are two possible outcomes: We are going to be together till death, or I am dead.

RD: But people do have problems in marriage.
Smith: Jada and I have problems; everybody has problems. People ask, "What happens if you made a mistake?" Well, you should be a little more careful before you stand up in front of God and you family and friends and say, "Till death do us part."

Wow. It's not that often that you find ANYONE with that kind of commitment to marriage.

Something to consider...

Here is an excerpt from an e-mail from American Family Association:

Help recruit 1,000,000 families who will agree not to shop at Wal-Mart or
Sam's Club (owned by Wal-Mart) on the Friday and Saturday following
Thanksgiving. Here's why:

In a show of support to help homose*uals legalize same-sex marriage, Wal-Mart has agreed to automatically donate 5% of online sales directly to the Washington DC Community Center for G@y, Le$bian, Bise*ual and Tr@nsgender People. The cash donation will come from online purchases made at Wal-Mart through the homose*ual group's Web site. This move follows Wal-Mart's joining the National G@y and Le$bian Chamber of Commerce and agreeing to give generous financial help to that organization also.

Every purchase made online for books, music, videos, clothing and accessories, children's clothing and toys, and electronics at the site will automatically send 5% of the sales to the CCBLBT People. The agreement is an indication that Wal-Mart is totally committed to supporting the homose*ual movement.

Wal-Mart also gave a generous cash donation to the Northwest Arkansas G@y, Lesbi@n, Bise*ual, Tr@nsgender Community Center, helping to provide a place where homose*uals can come together to "socialize."

Many observers feel it would have been a wise business decision for Wal-Mart to remain neutral in the cultural battle over homose*ual marriage. But this was an ideological decision by Wal-Mart - not a business decision.


Take Action

1. Sign the petition to Wal-Mart letting them know you will be one of the 1,000,000 families who will not shop at Wal-Mart or Sam's Club on the Friday or Saturday following Thanksgiving.

2. VERY IMPORTANT! Millions of Americans are not aware of Wal-Mart's support for homose*ual marriage. PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY.

3. Print out and distribute the Wal-Mart Pass Along Sheet by clicking here. For past Wal-Mart Action Alerts, plus answers to your questions (where to shop?), Click Here.

Click Here to Sign the Petition to Wal-Mart Now!

I'm already in the process of figuring out where else to shop and have significantly reduced the amount of shopping I do at Wal-Mart. I'm down to about 25-30% of how much I used to shop there. In any case I won't be dong ANY shopping there the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving. Consider what you might be able to do to encourage Wal-Mart to better support traditional family values.

See my previous references to Wal-Mart's support of the homose*ual movement here and here.

Please Vote!

Jon Stewart Post 9/11 Speech

Hat tip to the Headmistress at The Common Room for the link to this video. I completely agree with her statements:

Jon Stuart's (sic) post 9/11 speech is deeply moving. We don't agree politically, and sometimes he has a foul mouth. When he controls his mouth, he makes me laugh. I am sure that theologically we aren't even in the same book, and for this I grieve for him. But this was masterful. I wonder if he's watched it lately?

TIP: If you have trouble, as I do, with some videos starting and stopping while it's trying to load fully, here's what I do. I start the video and walk away. After it's played through once then I go back and watch it and this second time it plays without interruption. This video is almost nine minutes long and very much worth watching but if you try to watch it the first time around it will probably take about 15 minutes with all the irritating interruptions. However, if you don't have that kind of trouble then please, just ignore all that I just said!! :-)

9/11/01 - September 11 Tribute

Latchkey dogs?

I don't even know what to say about this. It's just so ridiculous. I say, someone in this position probably shouldn't own a dog.

Moms & Dads for Modesty

You'll notice a new button on my sidebar. Go to Everyday Mommy to read more about it. I totally agree!

Life is Precious

I'm not sure exactly what say about this article, but I wanted to share it anyway. It's amazing what we are willing and able to do to preserve a life. I totally agree that keeping the mom alive until the baby could be born was the right thing. For the record, that's the decision I would want made on my behalf if ever I were in a similar situation. Blessings to the Torres family.