76% of Americans Unaware Flu Shots Contain Mercury
Autism Is Political: Bob Wright and a UK Perspective

Military Wife Asks Obama About Vaccination Beliefs

This is Angela Warner, military wife, autism Mom, advocate. She has created an iReport (the link is here) on CNN. Angela runs the blog Autism Salutes.

"Senator Obama has stated he is "not for selective vaccination". There is no other medical procedure that is mandated with the exception of vaccines. I would like Senator Obama to clarify his position on his previous statement, as my vote, and a large majority of other parents' votes depend upon his answer."

Take 26 seconds to watch.

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Comments

Lin

Hey Ang ~

Who would have ever imagined we would meet here? Like this?

Nice to put a face to voice.

Lin

Gabby

They all talk the talk... but will they walk the walk!!! It is easy to make promises, but hard to keep them... specially when both have big ties to Big Pharmas!!!

Love, Gabby. :0)http://stemcellforautism.blogspot.com/
"I know of nobody who is purely Autistic or purely neurotypical. Even God had some Autistic moments, which is why the planets all spin." ~ Jerry Newport

Deborah

Lin,
The reason Obama (and McCain for that) matter keep getting chance after chance is because even in the autism community people do NOT know how to think outside the box where our presidential choices are concerned. Think Ron Paul....IMHO he is the ONLY option for president and the only one who will get my vote. Every state has write-in options at the polls.

Cherry Sperlin Misra

We are naive to imagine that McCain would govern this country alone. The first thing he has to do is to consult his party and make some 2000 polital appointments (Correct me is Im wrong) Among the people helping him to make these decisions will be the same Republicans who gave us the bird flu epidemic hoax and then proceeded make big bucks because they owned shares in the co. that makes Tamiflu. And I dont know if it is common knowledge, but they have put into effect a standing demand for Tamiflu for which the U.S. taxpayer is paying millions. In this , for once , even the doctors are on the ball- In one hospital which I heard of, the doctors thought from the very beginning that the bird flu was a hoax. And now I can see signs that THEY are starting it all over again. Did any of you see what I saw?- Anderson Cooper on CNN trudging through some African jungle searching for the cause of the NEXT PANDEMIC.!!! Everyone- get ready to be hoaxed again and notice that the general fear of dreaded disease plays into the public's concept of vaccines being of utmost importance. To ask Obama to take our side at this point in history, is like asking him to denounce Jesus Christ and America. The public perception must change first- even the doctors need to be informed about what is really in vaccines and how unsafe they are. I wish it were not so- but the autism community has a big job to do reeducating the public. And the pharmaceutical companies? They will be giving money to both candidates. We need more rallies with lots of attendance. We need some catchy phrases - You dont "give a vaccine"-(Who's against giving?" ) You do an" invasive medical procedure" And we need more literature to pass around such as the Safeminds"brochures. And everyone in America needs to see a really severe case of autism , so that their perception changes to considering it a type of brain damage.

Jeanne

Great job Ang! You're such a rock star! ;-D

And for anyone undecided who hasn't seen this:

From AAN/A-CHAMP:

Call the Obama/Biden campaign and tell them what our kids need! (McCain's Next) 1-866-675-2008
We are not Republicans...We are not Democrats -

we are Autism Advocates.

We are the Autism Political Party!

We will support the candidate who supports the kids!

The following is a Message from a mom and a true advocate for our kids:

Hello friends and fellow autism advocates,

As the election approaches, I find myself in the category of "undecided". To be honest, I like and dislike portions of each of Senators McCain and Obama's positions on various issues. That's why I think my vote will come down to the candidate who I think will make the biggest difference regarding the autism epidemic. I have read both candidates' positions regarding ways they may address this national crisis but, quite frankly, I need more. I want to get to the truth on causation so that we may truly advance medical treatments for these children and change the "standard of care". I believe the NIH, CDC and mainstream medical organizations need a "kick in the ass" for their inaction in addressing the number one disorder affecting American children today. I want unconflicted science, I want answers not excuses. I need to know that the next Administration will not operate like the the current one when it comes to dealing with this epidemic.


Today, I received a call to from the Obama camp to ask if I'd travel over to our neighboring state of Missouri and canvas over a weekend. That poor girl, I immediately expressed the dismay I felt with the Senator from my home state and plead my case for more attention to autism. I told her how I'd read the Senator's position paper on his website and submitted a comment but hadn't heard back.

I also mentioned that I'd had the opportunity to work with Sen. Obama while he was in the Illinois Senate as he served as Chairman of the Human Services Committee. I gotta hand it to this Obama campaign staffer, she listened, asked questions, and took my name and number. She even called me back directing me to Senator Obama's National Call-in Center. In case other folks may be undecided as well , I thought I'd pass that information along as we try to figure out who will give our kids the best possible shot at a better future and help prevent other children from becoming 1 in 150.

Thanks,
Laura Cellini


Barack Obama's
National Call-in hotline:
1-866-675-2008

Gayle

Lin, I am with you on this one. I am a life-long Democrat who is actually going to vote Republican this time around for the very first time ever in a presidential election. (Ron Paul is not a write-in choice on my ballot, unfortunately.) I am not loving either McCain, or Obama, but I feel just as you do. Furthermore, I just read on Yahoo! News that Obama wants to spend $50 billion on electronic medical records, and improving access to proven disease management programs. That, quite frankly, scares the crap out of me. It would not matter how much money is spent on ABA and OT and PT, or even biomed, if vaccinations were to be forced upon our children. All the gains my children have made could be lost in a second. I am painfully aware of this. I do not take my decision to vote for McCain lightly, nor do I have any delusion about what McCain has stated. Promises are empty until they are fulfilled.

Twyla

Angela Bozich, McCain keeps saying that Obama will raise taxes, but Obama's plan would only raise taxes on those making over $250,000 per year.

For reasons I partially explained elsewhere on AoA, I will vote for Obama.

But we all need to work to continue to educate him and put pressure on him so that he realizes that there is another side of the vaccine story besides that told by agencies such as the CDC and groups such as the AAP, who constantly spew very effective propaganda.

GCooke

Obama's has already stated his position that he is against selective vaccinations. Because the American People are just to dumb to make this kind of decision, the decision is best left up to the Government. To make help the People even more, Obama will tax the "evil rich" to fund the research.

Ben's Dad

I share AnneS's point that vaccination choice is a state issue, not a federal issue. I would like the candidates to agree with choice, but I am most interested in one who believes in science, and will not make political promises that fly in the face of the advice of his top institutions. I want someone who will push for more research when others say it is a waste of time in the absence of prior results. We need to win the science war before we can expect more support. I believe Obama showed a greater willingness to do that in the last debate:

Obama: "I do want to just point out that autism, for example, or other special needs will require some additional funding, if we're going to get serious in terms of research. That is something that every family that advocates on behalf of disabled children talk about.

And if we have an across-the-board spending freeze, we're not going to be able to do it. That's an example of, I think, the kind of use of the scalpel that we want to make sure that we're funding some of those programs."

A few lines later, McCain replied:

McCain: "But again, I want to come back to, notice every time Sen. Obama says, "We need to spend more, we need to spend more, that's the answer" -- why do we always have to spend more?

Why can't we have transparency, accountability, reform of these agencies of government? Maybe that's why he's asked for 860 -- sought and proposed $860 billion worth of new spending and wants to raise people's taxes in a time of incredible challenge and difficulty and heartache for the American families."


By McCain's own admission in June, he is computer illiterate. How informed could he possibly be on anything? I can't vote for that. I don't have time to get to every rally - I want someone who can hear my voice online.

Also, McCain is for selective everything, not just vaccines. Take your 5k voucher and get the best insurance you can find. With the coverage burden getting shifted to insurance companies on autism, I can't see how a fend for yourself insurance market will benefit families with large long term needs.

Kristi Rowe

I saw John McCain on The Jon Stewart show a long time ago speak out again the pharmaceutical companies and talking about how many congress people they have in their pockets. Anyone who could speak out against Pharmaceuticals like, knowing they would have to face those congressmen in Pharm's pocket gets my vote for sheer bravery if nothing else. Also, Palin's nephew has autism and her son has Downs. We need someone that high up in government who has special needs as one of her top priorities.

Cindy Stolten

Cherri said: "Because Obama is not controlled by huge contributions from Big Pharma, and he has said that he is willing to discuss and learn, I am giving him the benefit of the doubt - as well as my vote."


The point of Obama getting a lot of pHARMa contributions has been in the news for months.

Pills and Politics
http://www.slate.com/id/2198716/

The normally GOP-friendly drug industry now favors Obama.

http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54937/

Pharma's presidential picks (requires registration) "In an industry
known for backing Republicans, Sen. Barack Obama has emerged as a
surprising pharma favorite in the US presidential
election."..."According to a Bloomberg News report citing data from
the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), pharma execs and employees
have donated $450,094 to Obama, compared to $132,575 to McCain."

angela bozich

I am voting for McCain, I just don't think there is anything to ponder. We have already been snubbed by the pediatrician for wanting a different vaccine schedule and treated like we were being ridiculous and so we only go to our biomedical doctor for all family medical care. We also are worried about losing jobs in this economy which would end our expensive biomedical treatments that are really hekping our son. If Obama wins we feel the taxes will go thru the roof and bye bye ABA, and chelation that we are paying out of pocket. Wake up people if what the state considers government help for my son then no thank you to more of that kind of let down!!!!

Lin

I apologize in advance if this offends anyone. But....Obama is "up to speed". Entire autism organizations have worked on him for over a year and a half. He has the science. He will not go up against pharma.

Lin

Cherri ~

In response to:

"Because Obama is not controlled by huge contributions from Big Pharma, and he has said that he is willing to discuss and learn, I am giving him the benefit of the doubt - as well as my vote."

Please view this ~ Notice who is the number one recipient from pharma while in the Senate. This is for 2008 alone.

http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.php?cycle=2008&ind=H04

Pharmaceuticals / Health Products: Top Recipients

1 Obama, Barack (D) Senate $1,172,954

Now, let's compare that to George Bush in 2004.

1 Bush, George W (R) $1,032,965

Lou Miller

It seems like everyone is begging for Obama to flip-flop on this issue. I see it here and on other sites as well. If he does then he will be no more trustworthy than McCain.

Since this issue is very important to me, I will vote for the Libertarian candidate Bob Barr. I do not expect him to win in this election, however it does not take many principled votes for the 3rd party candidates to add up to an amount that will make the major parties take notice. The recent elections have been won by less than 1% margins in some battleground states, if more than 1% of the voters in those states voted outside of the major parties, then they become the cherished "swing" voters. When the winner of the election bids for re-election he will know that he needs to win over some of those voters to repeat a victory, so the demands of these voters have a chance for being addressed in the first term.

An example of this is the Perot effect on Clinton policy. What other time in our recent history has a Democrat President been worried about controlling spending, cutting federal programs and balancing a budget? When Clinton was first elected, it was obvious that he would have to win over some of the many Perot supporters to become re-elected, so I suspect his fiscal prudence was part of the Perot platform that he adopted in order to win over swing voters during the next election.

Just my take on things.

Craig Willoughby

I voted last night. Obama got my vote.

It was a tough decision, and I am not a one issue voter. Obama, however, seems far more sincere and, I think, is genuinely interested in the American people. McCain seems to say whatever it is he thinks will get the American people on his side. He doesn't seem sincere, and he only seems interested in making the rich people richer. I'm middle class, and McCain thinks that Middle Class Americans make 5 million a year.

It really was tough for me, though, because Autism is so prevalent in my life. I don't know if either candidate is going to do anything to help my son, but Obama has at least said that he will force the Insurance Companies to accept my son's condition. That was one of the major deciders in my vote. That, and I'm not sure that America can handle another 4 years of a Republican president (my apologies to any Republicans, but we can all see what the current Monkey-in-office has done to us).

Michelle

I agree with Lin - why do we keep giving Obama another chance over and over again to answer this question? His silence is his answer - he already answered this question.

Kim

Cherri - I couldn't agree with you more. Obama is advocating money for Autism research. We already know what unbiased research is going to show. Once Obama is up to speed, he will make the right choices.

Cherri

I, too, am disappointed that Obama has not given us more "up close and personal" info on his vaccination stance, other than to state that he is not in favor of selective vaccination. However, I do agree with the poster above who said that "McCain will say whatever his audiences want to hear." If you recall, Bush promised to remove mercury from vaccinations and we all know that campaign promise was broken.

Because Obama is not controlled by huge contributions from Big Pharma, and he has said that he is willing to discuss and learn, I am giving him the benefit of the doubt - as well as my vote. I truly believe that he will become better informed and educated on this topic in the not-too-distant future - especially since one of his senior staff members is the parent of a child with autism.

When Palin said recently that "her hope is to strengthen the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to make sure we're researching everything about autism and make sure we find out what causes it" my heart just sank. That is never going to happen with the NIH at the research wheel.

With Obama, at least we have a chance.

AnneS

He already said he's not for selective vaccination. So that's pretty much it.

But I did want to point out one other thing. Vaccines are not mandated at the federal level - they are recommended. Then each state does its own thing - some of them mandating up the wazoo (NJ), and some of them allowing opt-in (NH). NJ needs to become a lot more like NH!

Karen

I voted yesterday. He lost my vote on this issue. I was an undecided vote leaning toward Obama but I couldn't in good conscious vote for someone who may make it harder for us to choose to not vaccinate our kids. He talked about morals in his speech last night. I hope that morally he really looks at this issue with a critical eye and doesn't just believe what the vaccine manufacturers are pushing. I can only imagine what they have been contributing to his campaign. I realize he won't touch this issue now, but his silence on this issue speaks volumes to me.

Keith

Tonight in his ad, starting about 26:50 in this video below, Obama made what he called a promise

"I will always tell you what I think. I will always tell you where I stand. .... I will listen to you even when we disagree"

So Barry what it is?

Will you listen to us?

Will you answer Angela?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtREqAmLsoA

Fielding J. Hurst

I am going to go out on a limb here and say Obama isn't going to touch this again with a 10 foot pole with only 6 days left before election day. His previous comments not very encouraging. Mccain will say whatever he thinks his audiences wants to hear on any issue, so I don't have much faith in him either.

If your state is already decided like mine is, you are not throwing your vote away with a principled vote for a 3rd party candidate like Bob Barr, Libertarian candidate. A little old, but Barr is clearly on the side of the individual when it comes to medical decisions ... http://www.bobbarr2008.com/articles/73/dont-mandate-new-vaccine/

Lin

And we continue to give Obama another chance over and over again because why? Someone kindly explain this to me. Thanks!

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