Sunday, June 10, 2007

SIMPSONWOOD REMEMBERED


Okay, I haven’t fallen off the edge of the earth; I still exist. I haven’t had time to post anything meaningful lately because of other commitments, including fighting the good fight with the local school district (a fight that is sadly necessary even if the district we’re fighting does, in general, a “better” job than the district we left last fall).

I’ve been working on a rather long series about Autism Speaks, and hope to have it posted soon. I hope I’ll have something meaningful to add, which assumes that Ginger won’t have said everything that needs saying. If you haven’t already done so, go check out what she’s been saying about the controversial “umbrella” wannabe.


In the meantime, I wanted to share some pictures a friend recently sent me that were taken at the “Truth Is Coming To Light” event, sponsored by the United Methodist Women’s Division, at the Simpsonwood Retreat Center, and the “Simpsonwood Remembered” Rally, sponsored primarily by Moms Against Mercury, which took place outside the gates of the CDC.

Both events commemorated the seventh anniversary of the Simpsonwood meetings, in which the infamous Verstraeten epidemiological study was magically transmogrified from something that indicated a correlation between thimerosal-containing vaccines into a “neutral” study that has been incorrectly cited as proof that there is no connection.



It has been stated that the transcripts from the meeting are not a “smoking gun” of a cover up, and that’s true enough. I would be surprised if any of the participants ⎯ primarily representatives of the CDC, the vaccine industry, and other “insiders” ⎯ would have made a statement for the record that the truth needs to be buried. I’ll even go so far as to say that some of the participants may not have been motivated by evil intent. But when one reads the transcript, one gets the sense that a combination of greed, incompetence, indifference, vanity, and arrogance led to the final report. There were vested interests of various kinds, including financial and professional; the only interest not represented were those who felt their lives had been intruded upon by the vaccines. At its most benign, the Simpsonwood meeting of seven years ago, and the resulting report, gives proof to the old adage that a camel is a horse that was designed by a committee.




Thanks to the friend who sent the pictures. Although these were taken at a public gathering, if anyone depicted in these images does not want to be posted on this blog for any reason (even if you just don't want to be associated with me), email me through the link on the main page, and I will comply with your wishes.








After a rally in Washington, a little over a year ago, I was prompted to write about the representation of us all by those who are able to make it to these events. As I look at the pictures from the recent Simpsonwood events, I recall what I wrote then:
I’m not too concerned over the numbers. It is enough to know that for every person there . . ., there were many, many others who could not be there for one reason or another. There are a lot of us out here, and we’re not going away any time soon.


Indeed, as A-CHAMP now expresses that sentiment, “we are everywhere and we’re not going away.” Yes, everywhere that the truth is in danger of being buried, you will find some of us ⎯ and through them, all of us. And we’re not going away.


3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wade,

I follow your blog on a regular basis, and often find your perspective to be close to mine, but with valuable differences.

Tonight, I must disagree with you, and in no uncertain terms, about what took place at Simpsonwood.

You say that, "It has been stated that the transcripts from the meeting are not a 'smoking gun' of a cover up, and that's true enough. I would be surprised if any of the participants. . .would have made a statement for the record that the truth needs to be buried."
No--no one would ever have said the words, "The truth needs to be buried."

That's pretty much not how human beings work, and we all know it.

But it's revealed right there at that meeting--a straight-line connection between mercury and autism--and the decision is made that this life-altering truth will never be known.

A lie will be told--a big lie--and babies will continue to be poisoned with mercury--they will now be knowingly poisoned.

Some will be poisoned so badly that their tiny minds and bodies will never develop as they should, leaving them in a chronic state of silence and confusion, disconnected even from those they love most.

Without the clear, undeniable knowledge of the evidence before them, it would be possible to describe these people with words like "greedy," or "indifferent," or "arrogant."

But with this knowledge, the people at that meeting together decided to knowingly harm children--and then to lie about it.

That is evil.

That is evil, in all of its banality. There is no other word for it.

Wade, I say we need to use that word when it applies.

And it applies here, as it applies to anyone who knowingly does harm to those who are innocent.
That it may have been done for some vague "greater good"--for others!--makes the deed that took place here no more right than theft, no more right than slavery, no more right than murder.

From what I can tell, you and I are among the lucky ones--our children have managed to overcome the "environmental insult" to some degree, and as individuals (and families), we're doing alright.

But there are plenty of people out there tonight, and there will be still more tomorrow, who have been knowingly pushed into a horrible state of mental and physical suffering.

For all of those people, I call it what it is: What was done at Simpsonwood was evil.

Terri Lewis

6/10/07, 10:37 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nice job, Wade. The people who continue to fight and give voices to the children injured by their childhood vaccines are an inspiration.

On another note, I see that a certain Leech has once again made a mockery of this situation. Shame on him for his arrogance and nastiness towards other parents with similar life experiences. This pettiness from a man who recently just had to step away from his blog for a few days because his itsy bitsy feelings were hurt. Cry me a river.

6/11/07, 3:58 PM  
Blogger Russel V. Mancino said...

Thanks Wade.

6/11/07, 4:18 PM  

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