Powder Room Science

Imagine that you are in the process of buying a home.  You’re not an architect, so you do your homework to find a good one.  This is a big decision, and you need to know you will have someone with the utmost competence guiding you through the process.  After several interviews you find the consummate professional.  We’ll call him Phil.

Phil happens to have built a great four-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath, Tudor-style home, reasonably priced on a little less than an acre of land. It is move-in ready. On a lovely spring morning, you, your spouse and kids stop by Phil’s office to get the paper train rolling and your dreams of homeownership underway.   Your brood is welcomed by Phil’s lovely assistant, who ushers you into his luxurious office.

Coffee?  Some juice for the kids?

The coffee is delish.  It’s served to you in a delicate Kate Spade cup, on an elegant mother-of-pearl tray. You cringe as your six-year-old drags his muddied Target Converse across the gorgeous Persian rug beneath your feet. Brazilian cherry built-ins line the walls of Phil’s sophisticated digs.  Gads, the man has connections. Just look at all those awards from reputable property management companies and prestigious realty associations on those backlit shelves.  More trophies and officious looking baubles indicating achievement adorn Phil’s large ornate desk. Not a scratch on it, polished to perfection. You are glad that you landed Phil because, clearly, he knows his stuff.   You like the house.  He has nothing but praise for the neighborhood, the school system, the local shopping and dining scene.  It all sounds fabulous.

Everyone gets settled in, and Phil is ready and raring to go with the preliminary papers.   You start reading and realize that a copy of the home inspection is missing. You request it.

Phil enthusiastically responds, “No problem!” and presents you with a single sheet of paper that tells you the powder room on the main floor is up to code.  You laugh and say, “Well, that’s great, but what about the rest of the house?”

Phil flashes a toothy smile and says, “What do you mean?”

Returning the smile, you repeat the question. “What about the rest of the house?”   You are a little concerned, but not overly.  Phil is an expert.  His impressive office and copious awards tell you so. Phil grabs the paper back and examines it closely. “Friend, it says right here, the powder room on the main floor is in tip-top shape!”

You look at him incredulously, “Yes, I see that.  It appears to be in working order. What about the other bathrooms and the laundry room? How about the living room, dining room, kitchen, den, and attic? How about the four bedrooms, the basement and the garage? What about the plumbing, the electrical wiring, the insulation, and the roof? Are there any structural issues or mold problems? How about the gas line and the fireplace?  Tell me about the sump pump and the windows?”

Phil is flummoxed.  Why, if you’re not mistaken, he seems downright betrayed. He leans back in his chair and takes a deep breath.

“I’m shocked.  I thought you really liked this house.”  You realize you have offended Phil, and you feel just awful.  Clearly, this is a misunderstanding.  You search for a way to package your concern that is less confrontational.

“I do, I really do! It’s just that, the powder room is 7 ft by 6 ft.   The whole house is almost 3,500 square feet.  I am interested in the safety and stability of the entire house, not just one small windowless room on the main floor.  I mean, it’s a great start, but I need to know that more than one toilet and a sink are in working order if I am going to buy this house.  We are investing the bulk of our savings into this property.  Surely, you can understand why I need to see that information.  I need to know I am making the right choice for my family.” Phil nods. “Sure, sure friend, I get it.  Let me ask you this.  Do you have faith in my ability as a professional?”

Like a model at a car show he rolls his chair aside revealing even more certificates, awards, and, my gosh, is that a picture of him with the President?

“Of course I do Phil.  We wouldn’t be here today, otherwise.”

“Okay, that’s good.  It’s important that you trust me.  You know that I have your best interest at heart.  That said, I don’t have the inspection report on the whole house, per se.  However, I do have the inspection reports on several properties I’ve already sold.  You know friend, I have been doing this for many, many years.”  In one swift dramatic motion Phil pulls out the entire contents of his filing cabinet.  He plops the melee down on his desk, fanning it out for your benefit. What seems like thousands of papers fall into your lap and onto that perfect rug.

“Well, look here!” Phil exclaims triumphantly. “I have a plethora of inspection reports that verify the properties I’ve sold are 100% sound, perfectly safe, solid investments.  “The inspections have been done.”

You really want this to work out, so you visually scan some of the documents.  You see one of his properties on Brighton Lane has a good kitchen.  A bungalow on Cedar has an acceptable laundry room.  A duplex on Chenoweth passes muster with a decent roof.  You eye page after page of patchy, incomplete inspection reports on sold properties.

“What are these?”  You ask.  Clearly, you can see what they are, but you are trying to buy time to figure out what the hell his problem is.  Then it comes to you. Phil is not accustomed to being questioned—at least, not by his clients.  He pounds his fists on his desk.  Spittle sprays from his clenched jaw, “Right there in front of you.  There’s the proof.  My properties are good. What more do you need?”

It is becoming abundantly clear that Phil is used to telling people how it is.

You take a good look at your family, the people you love most.  You find the courage to call him out. “Well, Phil… the truth is, I am not buying a powder room.  I am buying a whole house.  I need to know that this specific house, the whole house, the one that I will be paying the mortgage on, is safe for me and my family.  Does that make any sense to you at all?”

Phil is beside himself with rage.

“Friend?”  Phil says, as he looks at you shaking his head with his arms crossed.  “I’m sorry to say, I can’t work with you any longer.  You are anti-house.”

Welcome to the world of Powder Room Science. The unshakable, unquestionable rock upon which the current Childhood Immunization Schedule was built.  Its flimsy assertions used by pediatricians nationwide who “fire” parents for not vaccinating their children on time.

The bullying that took place in Phil’s fictitious office is happening in doctors’ offices across our country every single day.  Parents have questions and they are made to feel foolish for asking them. Their logical minds are telling them they are getting half truths and incomplete information. They are told not to worry about what they are about to inject into their child, as they are handed a sheet of paper that lists side effects including encephalopathy, seizures, neurological damage and death alongside the ever present word “rare”.  Plus, they have that really smart neighbor whose kid was perfectly normal until her 15-month well-baby visit.  Then poof! That baby girl was gone. Gone.

One of the tools of Powder Room Science is advertisement. Ads abound for medications and pharmaceutical remedies for just about every problem we face as a society.  We are the only country, besides Denmark, that allows this practice.  In our country, doctors are sold on what pharmacological solutions they should be recommending to their patients.  Patients are sold on what latest drugs they should be asking their doctor to provide them.  Whether a patient really needs them or not is inconsequential on a balance sheet.  Vaccines are no exception.  Do you think the pharmaceutical Phils of the world are really tortured at night, reflecting upon whether or not little Johnny is a month late for his meningitis, flu, hep A, hep B, polio, pertussis, diphtheria and tetanus vaccines?  Phil is worried the insurance companies he works with are going to penalize him for letting his vaccination rate fall below 95%.

According to Phil’s logic, you would also be considered pro-homelessness.

The gross misnomer “anti-vaccine” has been applied to a rapidly growing faction of parents in the U.S. and the U.K. who refuse to accept the faulty and incomplete standards of Powder Room Science as the cornerstone of preventative health care for our children.  This label is, of course, meant to imply we are pro-infectious disease.  Simply put, vaccine safety advocates are a danger to you and your children because we are simply asking for real proof  (that is, not pharma or government funded) confirming each and every vaccine on the U.S vaccination schedule recommended by the CDC is safe for our newborns, infants, toddlers and children.  We have many reasons to question them.  Turns out when studies are not funded by the pharmaceutical companies, well, gosh darn, they have an entirely different outcome!  Our sick and dying American children tell the story that our government and vaccine makers refuse to acknowledge.  Half truths, partial reports, clandestine data, these are the makings of a bad real estate deal and a catastrophic healthcare system.

How do I know better than Phil and “the experts”? Well, I talk to parents in vaccine court, doctors who treat vaccine-injured kids, and other parents of vaccine-injured children. I watched my own precious son descend into madness, which really turned out to be mitochondrial disease, Guillain Barre and autistic enterocolitis.  I research, research, research. Childhood autoimmune disorders, neurological “events,” seizure disorder, autism, asthma, allergies, juvenile arthritis, juvenile diabetes and ADHD have increased dramatically.  Since the spike in autism rates in the 90’s, that coincided with the addition of several shots to the rapidly growing immunization schedule, “The studies have been done” is the mantra we have been repeatedly encouraged to accept.

Here’s a helpful hint if you are new to this debate and Powder Room Science is new to you.   Read the science the government asserts as the proof that vaccines are safe.  Realllllly read it.

Then, go read the package inserts–not the MSD sheet you are handed at the time of vaccination but the actual. package. insert.

Like you, dutiful parent and obedient citizen I was back in 2007, I thought people who didn’t vaccinate were counterculture freaks who dressed their kids in fatigues and spent their weekends in the city handing out anti-government propaganda.

Nutjobs.  Whackos. Narcissists. Who doesn’t vaccinate? Turns out these activists are doctors, nurses, lawyers, scientists, educators, researchers, authors and investors—many of whom boast Ivy-League educations. However, the fabulous PR machine that supports vaccination philosophy, coupled with the untouchable pharmaceutical lobby that generates law after law in favor of pharmaceutical profit over the individual citizen, has done a marvelous job of painting those revolutionaries, and anyone who listens to them, as the scourge of society.

No one wants to be a scourge. The ambitious, highly compensated celebrity scientists, doctors, authors, and “researchers” (a.k.a. vaccine manufacturers) who adorn our televisions everyday reinforce our image of ourselves and tell us what we want to hear. The very picture of confidence and success, with their sparkling white teeth and expensive suits, they assure us, “side effects are rare, and there is no proof that vaccines cause autism.” They are part of an incredibly well-funded machine that lacks checks and balances, where their work is not subject to scrutiny, and they function with absolute power.  These opinion makers are carefully selected and adhere with religious fanaticism to a phenomenon known as groupthink. Groupthink is an antiquated belief system founded on the precepts of Powder Room Science, asserted by the CDC, DHHS, FDA, NIH, IOM, and the AAP, that has a stranglehold on the American medical and consumer psyche.

If we can just prove some people came out just fine, and downplay the ones that got hurt or died, maybe we can get everyone to believe.  Oh, how very right they were!

Think about it.  If you were able to sell house after house after house without having to prove the soundness of each domicile, and you did it over and over and over again, and no one ever questioned you because the system was set up so as to avoid scrutiny, and—best of all–you knew even if you did sell someone a death trap you could never be held financially responsible… well, why would you bother changing the system?  You’re just a well-dressed cog in the wheel who happens to benefit greatly from the way things are.  Can’t fight the system man!

Plus, you can do all kinds of really cool things to keep the money flowing when you are part of the Powder Room Science Groupthink Brigade!  For instance, in 2010, New Jersey Assemblyman Dr. Herb Conway proposed Assembly Concurrent Resolution 157 (ACR 157).  Had it passed, it would have meant that the state of New Jersey (not parents or citizens) would have held the exclusive right to determine what defines a “valid” religious exemption from vaccination.  Essentially, this means that your school administrator, some guy who works at the health department, and a group of lawmakers you do not know would have the power to decide if your religious exemption is “real” or not.

ACR 157 Translation:  You will buy Phil’s house whether you want it or not.  It does not matter that you have requested more information so you can make an informed choice.  It does not matter that the house has not been proven safe. Someone else will decide what is safe for you and your children.  That someone, more often than not, has failed to read the reports related to your particular property (aka the package inserts on your child’s vaccines AND your child’s family history of allergies, asthma and autoimmune disease).

Furthermore, the property taxes you will be charged on the house you were coerced into buying will be deposited into a kitty, known as the VICP (Vaccine Injury Compensation Program). Your money will be used to pay off the top 1% of families smart enough to get through the red tape whose children will require a lifetime of care as a result of its faulty construction.  As of this writing, ACR 157 was tabled, yet S1759 has taken its place. Legislation such as this is quietly introduced as “pork” in states all over the country with the hope that it will pass, unnoticed.

The Phils and Herbs of the world are very good at pretending things of this nature are none of our concern. Why should we worry about such things when we can leave it up to them?  Why, thanks to all their hard work on our behalf, as of February 22nd, 2011, the Supreme Court decision, Bruesewitz vs. Wyeth, eliminated any right we previously had to sue for the defective manufacturing of vaccines at the state level.  Slowly, day by day, our rights as they pertain to our children’s healthcare are eroding.  Sadly, many of us now live in the homes that Phil built. Our children live in damaged bodies that require an infinite amount of repair.  Their wiring–their central nervous systems—are, quite literally, on fire.

Little houses on fire.

Everyday, another child—many children with dutiful parents—up in flames. Yet no one is paying attention.

Please pay attention. Powder Room Science IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH.  Groupthink must be obliterated and true investigative medical and scientific inquiry must take its place.  Demand intelligent INDIVIDUALIZED healthcare for ALL our children.

~ Yours in ACTION, the Rev

 

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