Monday 10 December 2012

Dan Olmsted - a man with no sense of irony

Dan Olmsted has posted this at Age of Autism:

One of the guilty pleasures of covering the autism story lo these many years is to witness the spectacle of arrogant, ignorant "experts" weighing in on the issue -- supposedly on the side of science, or, as they often think of it, Science -- and making absolute blithering fools of themselves.

Rather splendidly, he's inadvertently posted this on a page that includes a couple of lists of arrogant, ignorant "experts" who frequently make absolute blithering fools of themselves.

They're at the top, in the menu bar. One list is Dan Olmsted, Mark Blaxill, Kim Stagliano. The other can be seen by simply moving your mouse over the "contributors" link in the menu. Bingo.

Tuesday 4 December 2012

JB Handley plumbs new depths of vile.

Age of Autism's JB Handley has just managed to write one of the most offensive things I think I've ever seen.

On his online chip-wrapper, Age of Autism, an anti-vaccine rag that pretends it's about supporting those with, and living with autistic spectrum disorders, he writes:

None of us give a flying F%$# about the prevalence of autism in South Korea

You jingoistic, unfeeling, hate-filled - and I'd say at the very least bordering on racist - CUNT, Handley.

Thursday 8 November 2012

More on Jimmy Savile and Andrew Wakefield - the real similarities

That repugnant anti-vax loon John Stone has had another go at linking the vile activities of Jimmy Savile to vaccination, but he's got it completely arse-about-face.

He's read my piece from a few days ago in which I ridiculed him for trying to link Savile to religious exemption - I still have no idea what the fuck he thought he was saying - and after accusing me of being Brian Deer again (*sigh*) - he tries another angle, although, as ever with Stone, it's barely more coherent.

His new angle is to suggest that if "he remained protected and possibly assisted for more than 50 years by the great and the powerful", that shows that those same great and powerful have obviously covered up his imagined MMR scandal. He goes on to mention a couple of other cover-ups to show that these imaginary "great and powerful" are quite capable of covering things up. At least, I think that's what he's banging on about. But he's wrong, that's not where the similarities lie.

First of all, in the case of Savile, people did raise concerns, and had them dismissed out of hand, with no investigation.

Andrew Wakefield raised concerns about the MMR vaccine, and these were dismissed, but only after millions of pounds and thousands of hours were spent on trying to replicate his results, investigating aspects of his work in case there was something in his (always rather unlikely) hypothesis came to nothing. All those resources have produced not a shred of evidence that MMR causes autism.

"So they're not similar at all Becky!" I hear you cry. "Hold on there", I reply. "There are similarities - just not in the way Stone thinks."

First of all, during his lifetime, Savile was lauded for the work he did for children. His fund raising for Stoke Mandeville hospital was frequently in the papers and on TV. His most famous TV programme, "Jim'll Fix It" made the wildest dreams of children come true, often thanks to celebrities supporting him; "my very good friends The. Red. Arrows. Very busy people", Iron Maiden, various Doctor Whos, Muhammed Ali.

Andrew Wakefield is always keen to be seen as a brave, maverick doctor who's only doing his work for the benefit of the children - and has been supported over the years by well known faces (some of since whom have retracted their support) - Jim Carrey, Jenny McCarthy, Ian Hislop and Private Eye, The Daily Mail and Spectator's Mad Melanie Phillips among them.

It turned out Jimmy Savile was actually attacking children and patients.

It turned out that Andrew Wakefield had attacked children by ordering non-clinically indicated colonoscopies and lumbar punctures, and had taken blood from children at parties, later laughing about how they cried and fainted.

When suspicions were voiced about Savile (all the way through his career, starting with his club DJ days in Leeds) and his activities, he responded with threats of violence.

Wakefield's supporters have threatened a reporter from the New York Times; "Be nice to him, or we will hurt you."

When violence wasn't an option, Savile would resort to legal threats. In the 1980s he threatened the comedian Jerry Sadowitz with legal action unless he withdrew a live album on which Sadowitz accused Savile of being a paedophile.

Wakefield is famously keen to fling around his legal muscle. He's taken out various cases against investigative reporter Brian Deer (and lost), Channel 4, and is currently engaged in a laughable suit from his bolt-hole in Texas.

Savile was finally exposed by investigative reporting, showing that his sham "good works" for charity and children were purely to benefit himself by ultimately allowing him access to his victims at hospitals and in television studios.

Wakefield was finally exposed by investigative reporting showing that his sham "good work" for children and the wider autistic community was only done to benefit himself by ultimately allowing him access to vast piles of cash, from legal aid and parents terrified into parting with cash by his lies.

So, it seems John Stone has a point. There are many similarities between Andrew Wakefield and Jimmy Savile - just not perhaps in ways he might have considered.

Please note, I am not in any way suggesting that Andrew Wakefield is a paedophile.

Monday 5 November 2012

Z'Tejas in the dark about Wakefield event

Interestingly, the management at Z'Tejas - where Wakefield's fundraiser is being held - hadn't been informed of the nature of the event. I've had a very polite note from their Director of Marketing, saying that Z'Tejas is not sponsoring the event, is not making any financial contributions, and was unaware of the nature of the event. (Thank you Z'Tejas for such a prompt and courteous reply.)

I wonder why Wakefield's groupies don't see fit to explain the nature of an event when booking it..?

Wednesday 31 October 2012

Wakefield - still wanking for coins

Yes, Andrew Wakefield's at it again, debasing himself for a few shekels in order to keep himself in nice shirts and smarm oil. Not content with having Ed "Dickhead" Arranga run the "Dr. Wakefield Justice Fund", he's now reduced to metaphorically bashing the bishop on a new site - academicintegrityfund.com/.

Gosh, "academic integrity fund" - that sounds ever so clever and official, doesn't it?

Sadly it's not. It's just another excuse for Wakefield to bleat "It's not fair" while tugging himself off for the donations thrown by his acolytes. Wakefield wouldn't know Academic Integrity if it jumped up and bit him in the face. (Does anyone have a Pit Bull Terrier called Academic Integrity - we could try it out…)

(I've just thought - maybe Ed Arranga is such a shit fundraiser, Wakefield's decided to go elsewhere for his pud-pulling exercises. Ha, ha, and thrice ha. Ed - not only John "Cock" Stone thinks you're a cunt, but so does Fraudytrousers Wakefield. Christ, how much lower could your self esteem go? You shall no doubt in future be mocked by little children in the street, who will shout - "look, there goes Ed the Weirdy Loser"…)

Ahem - back on track. Let's take a look at this webshite shall we?

It seems to have been set up by one Robyn Hurd, a lady (I assume) I wasn't previously aware of from anti-vax circles, and she sets out her stall in the first post on the site, entitled "Imagine".

Imagine living in a world where man-made products are harming people but no one feels they can speak out about it. People are dying, children suffer from brain injuries, and the population is sick for their entire lifetimes, but our leaders, our doctors and our scientists keep quiet. They say there is no problem. It does not exist. These injuries are merely a coincidence in time, one right after another. The citizens of the world live with allergies, asthma, epilepsy, Bell’s Palsy, and autism as a consequence of theses coincidences. For some of them, their immune systems never recover from the injuries. They never had a fighting chance. There was no informed consent.

Guess what causes these imaginary waves of illness? Well, Robyn doesn't actually specify - so let's go on and see if we can guess what she thinks it is…

Imagine living in a world where, if a doctor dares to delve into a controversial subject matter– a topic that might bring forth a hypothesis to perhaps explain why people are dying, children are suffering from brain injuries, and the population is sick for their entire lifetimes– that doctor is hauled before their licensing board and made to stand trial for over five months.

Ah - I see where we're going, and I'm sure you do too. She's basically trotting out the old Big Pharma / Cover up / Brave Maverick Doctor three legged pony that all Wakefield's apologists do. Of course you know what she thinks causes this - it's the vaccines. And she needs your help to support brave, put upon, victimised, persecuted Andrew Wakefield. I assume she's either fucking stupid or fancies the slimy, rubber lipped goon. Still, let's have a look at the rest of the site.

Oh look, a fundraising dinner! Joy! I like a good night out - I'll go. Oh, hang on, it's $250. $250 for a fish supper, a cake from a local bakery and a copy of Wakefield's spider swatter, "Callous Disregard" - you know, the one that's going for about $5 (new) on Amazon. Oh, and drinks. Now, I like a drink, but to make up the rest of the entrance fee in drinks, I'd have to get a shitload of beer inside me. At least if I did, I could look at Andrew Wakefield without throwing up. Possibly.

But there's more - for $750 I can sit at the same table as him and his fucking wife. Great - but for $750, I'd want to be able to personally tattoo "MR FRAUDYTROUSERS" an inch high in Cooper Bold Italic across his forehead.

The interesting difference between this fundraiser and the shit that Ed "Fucking Loser" Arranga does for him is that at least Arranga has the decency to pretend that his fundraising is to support Wakefield's legal actions. This is just to, y'know, give fucking money to Wakefield, to help him pay his pool cleaning bills and have the wisteria trimmed. Who the fuck does he think he is, a Tory MP?

Calm down Becky, calm down...

*Deep breaths, deep breaths*

Wakefield's actually written a couple of paragraphs for the site - a couple of paragraphs about "Mommy instinct". It's nauseating, it really is. Here - try this…

Once, at a hillside farmhouse in AndalucĂ­a, while I was out walking with our firstborn son, my wife Carmel was saying bedtime prayers with our second child, who was in bed with a fever. Halfway through the prayer, and without saying another word, she leapt up and flew downstairs, out of the house, and sprinted one hundred meters across the yard, and into the pool. Our eighteen month-old daughter Imogen had slipped silently out of the bedroom and had made it to the pool steps. She was one step away from drowning. In that crucial moment, her mother just knew.

Excuse me while I throw up. But hang on there - something just caught my eye. Carmel Wakefield sprinted one hundred meters (sic) across the yard into the pool? Wakefield holidays in a house with a hundred metre long yard, with a pool at the bottom of it? And he needs a fundraiser? Of course he does. If you're paying $250 / $750 for dinner in the same room as that repugnant man, you really are paying for his holidays to Andalucia, to a villa with a hundred metre yard and swimming pool. And you still think he's doing all this for the good of the children? No, it's all about Wakefield. It's always been all about Wakefield and the money. The money for Andrew Wakefield. And there are fucking idiots in the world like Robyn Hurd who believe otherwise.

Morons, morons. Again. Wakefield wanks for coins, and they fall for it. Again.

Friday 26 October 2012

Age of Autism admits no mechanism for vaccine - autism link

Age of Autism has today admitted that there is no plausible mechanism for "serious adverse effects" from any vaccine except (it now thinks) Gardasil.

For the first time in history, a biologically plausible mechanism of action has been discovered linking a vaccine to a serious adverse event.

Reading the full article, it's clear that the two notorious anti-vax researchers who wrote the paper haven't found anything for Gardasil either, but it's so nice to have them admit that there's no mechanism for MMR or any other vaccine causing serious injury or autism. So why don't they tell Andrew Wakefield they now think he was talking shit, and could he fuck off a bit quicker please?

Avoid Vaccines Because Jimmy Savile Was A Paedophile



Repugnant anti-vaccine wingnut John Stone

John Stone (who is, as we're all well aware, a cock) has surpassed himself today. He's claiming that no-one should be vaccinated because Jimmy Savile was a paedophile. Or something. Actually, I haven't a fucking clue what point he's trying to make... Let me go back a little.

A few days ago, some knob by the name of John Gilmore posted a fairly standard load of shite at Age of Arseholery, trying to rev up its New Jersey readership into contacting their senator to stop a bill designed to tighten up "religious" exemptions for vaccines. According to Gilmore (and, for the purposes of taking the piss out of John Stone I have no idea, and indeed care less, whether he's right),

If S1759 is signed into law, it will require parents seeking a religious exemption to:
  • Specify their exact religious tenets;
  • Explain the nature of the religious tenet or practice that is implicated by the vaccination;
  • Explain how administration of vaccines would violate, contradict, or otherwise be inconsistent with that tenet or practice;
  • etc etc…
You get the idea.

Now, to rational people, that might seem reasonable. If you're going to claim an exemption or benefit for anything, not just vaccines, on the basis of your religion, you should really be required to explain why your religion entitles you to that benefit - and to show that you really do follow that religion, and aren't just making it up. If I told my boss I needed to leave early on Fridays in Winter to get home before sunset because I'm Jewish, I think he'd want a bit of evidence - and he might start questioning the odd bacon sandwich here and there.

So why should it be any different for vaccines?

But I digress…

A commenter (who seems to have no axe to grind) has asked:

Which actual religions have a prohibition on vaccines?

It's a perfectly reasonable question, if a rather awkward one, as I don't think there is one. I thought the Church of Christ, Scientist (Christian Scientists) did, but it seems not - more on that later.

As is to be expected, when faced with an awkward question that makes it through the micromesh that is Age of Autism's moderation policy, John Stone jumps in and starts flinging irrelevant words around.

Which actual religions prescribe vaccines? Most religions have ethical tenets and people could feel that these are being transgressed. Offering a child up to the scientistic belief systems surrounding vaccination might be one of way of transgressing your beliefs - a totemistic belief in dogma (Prophet Paul Offit).

Now my answer would be "most of them", as most religions are quite keen to, y'know, keep the faithful alive.

Stone then does the "science as religion" gambit, and even throws in a "worshipping false idols".

Still, it's about what you expect from Stone when faced with a question he either doesn't know the answer to, or the answer doesn't fit his beliefs.

Anyway, the rest of the echo chamber chimes in, suggesting that Christian Scientists don't vaccinate, and then just descending into irrelevant toss.

With much prayer and reflection I know God is on the side of saving our children from harm, I don't need a religious group to join in with my beliefs or to have my back.

See - fucking wingnuts, the lot of 'em.

Anyway, the poster of the original question, one John O'Neill pops up again, showing that Christian Scientists do not, as popularly believed, have a prohibition on vaccination, and - and this is the best bit - calling Stone out on his ridiculous comment.

John Stone - There are plenty things that no religions prescribe: Watching television, flying in aeroplanes, playing cricket - that isn't an argument to avoid them.

Stone then loses it completely, and sets off on one, likening the vaccine industry to ex-Radio 1 DJ and alleged paedophile Jimmy Savile:

There might not be specific prohibitions against television in most religions - Amish? - but that doesn't mean watching anything on television is alright. People might very well say certain television programmes were harmful to their children or harmful in general. In the UK we recently learnt that one of our most celebrated TV personalities was using his position to serially sexually abuse children, the disabled, the orphaned, the insane, maybe even the dead in industrial quantities, and even with the help of the Department of Health. Last year when he died he was accorded about the grandest public funeral since the Queen Mother, but with all the shows of big heartedness, the millions raised for charity he was all the time pursuing harm, sponsored and protected by the BBC, and much of the British establishment. It is now being seriously suggested that a paedophile ring was being operated from the cabinet office in No 10 Downing Street at an unspecified period. Personally, I never watched him deliberately, would switch off if I saw him, and actively the whole thing was as it turned out just a big pretext to pursue criminal harm to children and other vulnerable people.

Oh, my aching sides!! That's the stupidest thing he's ever said, and that's a high target.

So there you have it, John Stone says don't vaccinate because Jimmy Savile was a paedophile - and that's religious exemption, kids!

Or something.

I don't know about you, but I'm fucking convinced.

Thursday 4 October 2012

Andrew Wakefield hoping to fill a shed

While Brian Deer is set to give a lecture in the Centennial Hall at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse, explaining how Andrew Wakefield's fraud was uncovered, Wakefield himself has organised (or had organised for him by one of his metaphorical cock-sucking acolytes (Hi Ed!)) a meeting in a shed across the road in order to wank for coins and to bleat his innocence. This shed holds up to 40 people - the City of La Crosse website describes it thus:

This cabin style shelter is located right next to the Myrick/Hixon Ecopark, as well as the Kid's Coulee Playground, and is great for any reuinon or get-together! The shelter includes a fireplace as well as 6 interior tables and 4-5 exterior tables.

Orac has a picture of the shed. Trust me, as sheds go, it's quite a nice shed.

I expect they'll get about six people. Pathetic, isn't it?

Wednesday 26 September 2012

Ed Arranga cements his "dickhead" tag

If you look over to the right of this page - assuming you're reading it on a computer screen and not your brand new iPhone 5 (no, I can't afford one either) - you'll see a list of popular search terms for this blog. One of them is "Ed Arranga is a dickhead". Rather splendidly, judging by his recent spleen venting on Age of Autism, Mr Arranga (husband of proven liar Teri Arranga) seems intent on demonstrating the absolute truth of this statement.

Before I continue, let's consider two rather self-contradictory facts about Ed Arranga.

  1. He really hates the British.
  2. He's desperate to suck MMR fraudytrousers ex-doctor Andrew Wakefield's cock. (Metaphorically. If Arranga's lawyers are reading this, you can put the sports car magazines down now.)

Somehow, Arranga can hold both these views at the same time, despite Wakefield being, y'know, British. Mind you, clear thinking has never been one of Ed Arranga's strong points.

Let's take these one at a time.

Firstly, Ed wrote a piece in the comments section of Autism One's website;

Enjoy your haggis, blood pudding and tripe, Ms. Fisher-of-the-UK, and let the grownups get to work. This is America where we solve problems by listening to what people have to say. And, in a few years, we will again cross the Atlantic and save the U.K. from itself.

He followed this up with a remarkable piece of borderline racism on Age Of Autism, a piece so abysmal that even John "Cock" Stone called him out on it;

In the UK, one learns one’s place at an early age. It’s a stifling society with a rigid class system made up of the nobility and commoners; it hasn’t changed all that much in the last 300 years. Lords, dukes, earls, and sirs fill the top slots of industry, academia, and government, reminding everyone else of their betters.

Creativity takes a back seat to etiquette, and etiquette flows from the top down. Manners, a stiff upper lip, and being proper are not mere courtesies – they are the life blood of British society. When creativity does make an appearance, it comes out sideways in that very British “Pink Floyd” or “Monty Python” way. The British know they are oppressed, and they scream at it or laugh about it. What they don’t do is challenge it.

We have old-boy networks in the US, but nothing compared to the permanent insider track to power, money, and privilege bestowed by birth in the UK. The one word to describe Britain is “club.” Like the Cosa Nostra, the first rule is “omerta”: absolute silence and secrecy must be kept at all times.

Challenging the status quo is an affront to the established order. When one is called “Lord This” or “Sir That” all his life, it creates pomposity – a breeding ground of arrogance. Something is right by virtue of you having done it. Multiply that a thousand times over and you have a taste of the arrogance of the upper class. Mere commoners are to know their place and to keep their mouths shut.

…to which Stone replied;

In my opinion if this is your idea of how to lead the autism movement, it is shameful, pointlessly divisive and embarrassing.



It must be said that the idea of Britain that you presented in your article belongs curiously to 50 years ago and its contemporary problems are entirely different.

There you have it. If even John Stone thinks you've made a cunt of yourself, you're in real trouble.

The second fact - wanting to (metaphorically) suck on Andrew Wakefield's shrivelled knob - is also demonstrable. Ed is the brains (and I use that word very loosely - if brains were e-coli, Ed Arranga would have difficulty soiling himself) behind Wakefield's wanking for coins operation, set up to fleece gullible morons of their last few dollars in order to keep Wakefield in the manner to which he's become accustomed (big house, sharp suits, fraudy trousers, that kind of thing) - although the stated aim is to fund his legal action against Fiona Godlee, Brian Deer and the BMJ. Yes, the one that was thrown out of court at the first hurdle. That one.

So, having established these two facts about Ed "Even John Stone Thinks I'm A Cunt" Arranga, why am I writing about him in such a fair and even handed manner?

Well, it seems that Brian Deer - the man who pointed out the lies and fraud in Andrew Wakefied's scaremongering study into MMR, gut problems and autism - is due to give a couple of lectures at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse in October. Ed doesn't like this one bit, and so launches into a fact-free, hate-fuelled rant at Mr Deer.

Let's look at some of his dribble.

Brian Deer – a liar, fraud, and former reporter for The Sunday Times of London

Hmm, Ed, I think you'll find that Brian Deer hasn't been shown to be a liar, or a fraud, and was in fact a freelance journalist who has worked for the Sunday Times (not the "Sunday Times of London" - just "The Sunday Times"). And isn't it writing like this, using words like "liar" and "fraud" which has got Andrew Wakefield into such a lather that you're fundraising for his court case? (Of course, the difference there is that Brian Deer backed up his claims with those oh so inconvenient little things called "facts" and "references")

He goes on.

Deer’s talks at La Crosse are a continuation of the misinformation campaign to destroy Wakefield and to deny his Lancet case series (here) that was published in 1998. Wakefield found bowel disease in children with autism spectrum disorder and raised questions about the safety of the MMR.

No Ed, it's not a misinformation campaign. Wakefield was shown to have faked his results and to have drawn inferences from his work that weren't justified. He was also found guilty of ordering non-medically indicated procedures on children for research purposes. He was subsequently struck off the medical register.

Wakefield claimed to have found a novel bowel disease - reviews of his work found no such thing. He raised unfounded questions about the safety of the MMR, and, assisted by a credulous media, caused vaccination rates to drop to such low levels that measles is now endemic in Britain once more - although that wouldn't worry you, would it?

The Deer-inspired, GMC-trumped-up charges and findings were so rotten and perverted that when the case finally got before a real judge, in a real court – the High Court of London – Justice Mitting overturned the findings.

No, he didn't. He found that Professor Walker-Smith (Wakefield's co-author) had been misled by Wakefield to the extent that he could have reasonably believed that he did have ethical approval for the work he was doing, and that that work was treatment rather than research. No findings against Wakefield have ever been overturned - in fact, he didn't appeal. While you'll no doubt claim that that's because his insurance didn't cover it, there's no evidence to show that - it's just a claim that John "Cock" Stone makes - and he seems perfectly well funded to pursue a legal case in America. (Except that's not why you're raising funds, is it Ed? It's so Wakefield can carry on living the life to which he feels entitled, and you, you gullable fool have fallen for his lies.)

By the time Judge Mitting blasted the GMC and Parliament began investigating and arresting Murdoch reporters,

You omit to point out that Brian Deer wasn't one of them, he's never been accused of illegal or unethical behaviour or information gathering techniques (apart from by your mates at Age of Idiocy Autism), has never been linked to phone hacking in any way, and, as far as I know, never worked for the News of the World, or anyone who has since being charged with regard to the phone hacking scandal. This is just a feeble attempt to smear by association - a tactic that your so-called "mate" John Stone has tried, and been made to look like a cock. (Funny that.)

Deer’s BMJ series created the intended frenzy. Finally an answer… well, not really an answer, but any questions about the autism epidemic could now be sidetracked by mainstream media into a “Blame Wakefield” mantra.

No - Deer's series unpicked most of the lies spread by Wakefield. All the media did was realise (mostly - there are still a few arseholes, mainly at the Daily Mail who believe him) that they'd been had, and that Wakefield was directly responsible for plummeting vaccination rates and the re-introduction of measles (like an endangered species) to Britain. They've never really fallen for the myth of an "autism epidemic", being, generally some way ahead of you and the morons at AoA when it comes to critical thinking skills. Probably in terms of walking-and-breathing-at-the-same-time skills too.

Some who’ve had the misfortune of meeting Deer describe him as reptilian and repulsive. Others would describe him in less flattering terms. Setting the sleaze factor aside, Deer’s legacy of slander and libel signify a far grimier, foul and filthy place than most of us would care to venture. Deer is the invention, the dark underbelly, the hideous caricature of those who deny an MMR-autism connection in order to protect themselves. He assuages the conscience of those without one, and scrubs clean the crime scene. Vicious and small, Deer’s pious position is untenable and in short order he will be hunted to ground and brought to justice.

Now this is just descending into abuse. However, I'm not exactly one to chastise anyone for abuse, although accusing Brian Deer of slander and libel is pretty much a case of "pot, kettle, cunt". Your last sentence though Ed, (emphasis mine) to me seems to be a call for actual violence - using a phrase like "hunted to ground" while telling the world and his wife exactly where they'll be able to find Mr Deer sounds like incitement to violence to me. Should anything untoward happen to Mr Deer on his visit to the States, Ed, I think you might have some serious explaining to do.

Soon the full truth will be uncovered, revealing Deer for what he is. In January Dr. Wakefield filed a defamation lawsuit against Deer, the BMJ, and Fiona Godlee, its editor. Currently under review by the 3rd Circuit Court in Texas, the question before proceeding to trial is: Does Texas have jurisdiction? We are extremely confident the appeals court will rule in Dr. Wakefield’s favor within the next few months.

I'm sure it will. As I've said before, I don't know whether Mr Deer's a nice or a nasty person (and don't care), but as an investigative reporter, he's done us all a favour by revealing Wakefield's fraud, lies and deceit.

And you're confident that the appeals court will rule in Wakefield's favour? Um - if the appeal succeeds, all that means is that Wakefield will be able to have the case heard. It doesn't mean he's been vindicated in any way - he'll still be metaphorically crucified, and quite possibly have to pay damages to the BMJ, Ms Godlee and Mr Deer under Texas anti-SLAPP laws.

In court his testimony will doom the BMJ and himself, and open the floodgates of suppressed corruption.

Sorry, there's nothing I can say about this, other than "you sad, pathetic, deluded wanker, Arranga."

Saturday 28 July 2012

AoA commenters as mental as JABS regulars

Oh, this is priceless. In the comments to Age Of Autism "Editorial" is this gem from a deranged wingnut who goes by the name of "ioneskye":

"Testing" on babies and animals is EVIL. The Federal Mafia Syndicates (CDC, NIH, FBI, CIA, AAP, AMA, APA, WHO, US army, navy, marines, ETC.) are members of the Illuminati whose objective is to enslave the world in a satanic plot to have a one world government. Save your children and stop vaccinating. Save your time and money and stop asking these government agencies for help.

It turns out ioneskye runs a blog where he reveals the details of this satanic plot. Seems to me to be a bit of a shit plot if the main players are incapable of pushing him under a bus in order to stop him revealing all their secrets.

What a fucking cock. This is the intellectual level of readership at AoA.

Wednesday 18 July 2012

I've clearly missed this. Repeatedly.

Teresa Conrick has posted a bunch of arse trying to demonstrate that because new things are discovered in science all the time, that shows that her pet hypothesis, that vaccines cause autism, is bound to be correct. She goes on to list and misrepresent a few unrelated studies that no more support her idea than simply posting a big picture of a baboon's arse would. However, I'm wondering why she's bothering, when she clearly has even more earth-shattering information to impart!

There is no escaping the ever increasing research coming out weekly, showing solid science connections behind environmental and vaccine injury causing autism.

Is there?? I've not bloody well seen it. So why on earth isn't Age of Autism publicising this research instead of "six degrees" style attacks on Paul Offit and pleas from Kent Heckenlively for readers to pray for an unnamed scientist at an unnamed institution who is being falsely accused of an undisclosed crime, by undisclosed science bullies? (That one was fairly quickly removed from the site - maybe Heckenlively's stepping too far off Planet Reality even for AoA, which is saying something)

Come on Teresa, show us the weekly solid science - and by that I don't mean the vague abstracts of unrelated gubbins that usually passes for science at AoA, I mean real science, actually studying a link between vaccines and autism, by reputable researchers (so no mates of Wakefield, Krigsman or the Geiers), and you can advance your case.

However, I suspect your weekly science has about as much grounding in reality as the stories in the fortnightly "In The Night Garden" magazine* - hence your vague hand waving and flannelling.

* - Although I've seen some of them on the telly, so they must be true. One up on Conrick's made up shite.

Thursday 12 July 2012

Credible vaccine info sites

Not really my usual style, but a link to the World Health Organisation - Vaccine safety web sites meeting credibility and content good information practices criteria - a list of credible vaccine information sites.

Notice there's no JABS, Age Of Autism, Living Wisdom / AVN...

The criteria for inclusion in the list are here.

Friday 6 July 2012

Age of Autism - you owe me a new irony meter...

…as you appear to have blown up my last one with this rather splendid little snippet:

As the back to school vaccination push continues, we'd like to remind readers that common childhood diseases that you can now delay and/or make worse later in life courtesy of pediatric vaccination were considered benign even as far back as the dark ages of the 1990s. Fear and self-doubt sells. It sells mouthwash: "Do YOU have halitosis?" Feminine hygiene spray: "Do you sometimes feel less than 'fresh?'" And hair coloring: "Dad, it's time to start dating again, don't you think you should color your hair?"

Let's just read a bit of that again…

Fear and self-doubt sells.

BANG! - there goes another one.

Yes. That's your entire modus operandi, isn't it? Spread unfounded fear and doubt about the safety of vaccines, promote quack therapies, take the advertising money for those therapies, and laugh all the way to the bank while children get sick and die from vaccine preventable diseases - because of you.

Yes - in your case, fear and doubt certainly sell. You bastards.

Tuesday 3 July 2012

Thanks, Meryl.

Well, thanks to the lovely Meryl Dorey's kind support by mentioning me on the AVN's Facebook page, views of JABS Loonies… have gone up massively. Thanks Meryl! ;-)

Her support has also brought in a few right wingnuts into the comments section, so once I've had a chance to read through them all, I'll be putting a little post together devoted to my new favourite liars and morons.

Thursday 28 June 2012

Australian Vaccination Network Seminars

Morning all.

That evil hag Meryl Dorey's at it again, trying to spread her pro-infectious disease, child killing agenda around Australia. This time she's organised a bunch of seminars throughout Central / Western New South Wales in August, mainly at ex-services clubs, where she and some cockend called Greg Beattie (Author of a probably self-published bound together collection of used fucking bog roll entitled "Vaccination, why I'm full of shit" or something - can't be bothered to look up the actual title right now) will bang on for bloody ages about the evils of TEH VACCINES - OH NOES!! Oh - and she's going to charge you fifteen Australian Dollars for the privilege of hearing her fucking whiny, nasal tones for god knows how long.

Now, you and I can laugh at the idea. We all know how fucking wrong and evil Meryl Dorey is. We know she tried to get hold of the medical records of a deceased child just so she could try and show that the child didn't die of pertussis. She's just fucking evil. But for those A$, there may be some nervous, new parents who might just take her message on board. And every parent who does, and so doesn't vaccinate their child, is endangering that child, and all those around him or her.

So, as a public service, here's a list of the places that "That Meryl" will be speaking at in August. There's plenty of time for these sensible clubs and event venues to cancel the booking, perhaps on the basis that she's fucking evil, so should you, my loyal reader, fancy perhaps dropping them a polite email, explaining that Meryl Dorey and her organisation of one is fucking evil, and how she'd like to see children around the world drop dead or become brain damaged due to preventable illnesses - and also possibly how the AVN has some very questionable financial practices (has anyone ever seen a copy of Living Wisdom - or is it just vapourware?) then that might just help.

Here's the itinerary:

Thursday 14 June 2012

I'm back - and so's that cock John Stone

Hi all,

Apologies for being away for some time - lots of things have been happening in Becky's World, most of them not so good, but I think things are looking up finally and I'll be able to find a bit more time to post here.

At least, I thought things were looking up, until I saw a post on Age of Autism from John "Cock" Stone, castigating the Leveson Enquiry into press ethics for not investigating Brian Deer's excellent investigations into Andrew Wakefield's scaremongering.

Stone's tactic is simply to repeat a load of lies (Brian Deer making the original complaint to the GMC, illegally obtaining medical records etc), link to a load of his own posts alleging the same thing, link to a court report about something completely unrelated to newspapers or Brian Deer in the hope that it'll make him look clever, and then to accuse everyone involved of a conspiracy.

So far, so cock.

What Stone fails to realise is that, even if everything he alleges were true, it changes one fact not one bit. Wakefield's research was flawed, fraudulent, massively riddled with lies and undeclared conflicts of interest and did not provide a milli-shred of evidence that MMR is in any way related to autism. If his allegations were true, it would not exonerate Wakefield. And on an autism website, that's THE FUCKING POINT.

Friday 27 January 2012

Jackie Fletcher is a brainless moron.

Oh, I just can't be fucking bothered. How can people take this shit seriously?

OK. She's got a rabid response into the BMJ, here.

Apparently, a bit was edited out, for reasons of sanity. Some twat, presumably John "Cock" Stone has republished it here.

Some sensible people have commented (which is surprising, for Age of Arseholery - they normally get filtered out) that the dozy bint is mixing up two issues; OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE, I CAN'T BE FUCKING BOTHERED WITH THESE FUCKUNG MORONS ANY MORE. LET'S HOPE THEY GET HIT BY FUCKING BUSES OR SOMETHING. FUCKING, FUCKING MORONS.

If they want to donate their hard-earned cash to Wakefield, fucking let them. They fucking deserve everything they get. Pointless fuckwits.

Wednesday 11 January 2012

You know you're in trouble when…

The One Click Group thinks you've lost it.

Yes, one of the most deranged anti-science, anti-vax, conspiracy theory peddling bunch of loons, the One Click Group seems to think Wakefield's finally stepped off the edge of reality.

Since Wakefield has failed to Appeal the GMC decision that found him dishonest in 2010, it seems extraordinary that he is now taking this litigious step in Texas. Is this merely a highly ill-advised mickey mouse Wakefield publicity stunt or has this doctor lost the plot we ask?


Andrew Wakefield reduced to wanking for coins

Back in 2007, the brilliant Charlie Brooker wrote;

Four thousand years ago I used to write a website called TV Go Home, which consisted of capsule descriptions of imaginary television programmes - most of them ghastly creations teetering on the brink of plausibility. One of the earliest entries was Wanking For Coins, which was described as "apocalyptic fun as Rowland Rivron tours the seedy backstreets of London's West End persuading the homeless to commit acts of self-degradation in exchange for pennies".


And that's exactly what Andrew Wakefield's doing now. It's now perfectly clear that his attempt to sue Brian Deer, the BMJ and Fiona Godlee is nothing more than a cynical fundraising effort, as can be seen from the new website, DrWakefieldJusticeFund.org.

Yes, as Wakefield clearly has no obvious source of income, he's resorted to performing acts of self degredation (posing, staring at a photoshopped in American Flag as though he's never seen one before (more about this in a moment) and about to have his suit thrown out in the most humiliating way) in order for his sycophantic fans to send him a few dollars to allow him to keep up his expensive lifestyle.

Not convinced? And think it's reasonable for Wakefield to ask for support for a defence fund? Well, it would be reasonable, were he the one being sued. But he's not - he's the one bringing the action. And then take a look at the "contribute" page. Not only can you make a donation, but you can become a member, for an annual subscription! A member of fucking what? A member of the "I'm paying for Andrew Wakefield's mortgage club"?! And all for an annual subscription of between $25 (personal member) and $5000 (corporate champion). How the fuck does he think he can get away with it? An annual subscription for a one off legal action??

The site is run by Ed "Dickhead" Arranga, all round hater of all things British (see his attack on "the British" here - a rant so obnoxious that even John "Cock" Stone called him out on it in the comments, and his personal attack on me here) and general fucktard. He clearly knew about this suit some time ago (as the text of the link above indicates) and the domain name DrWakefieldJusticeFund.org was registered in October last year.

I left a comment on Age of Autism, which surprisingly didn't make it through moderation, asking whether if, as seems extremely likely, Wakefields attempt to sue is thrown out to gales of laughter at the first hurdle, would any remaining funds be redistributed to the donors? I suspect not, as this is clearly an attempt to prop up Wakefield financially, rather than have him reduced to actually wanking for coins in the back streets of Austin - a state of affairs which, if this lawsuit and appeal are any indication, can't be too far away.

I'm now going to take a short break to be violently sick.

Saturday 7 January 2012

Age of Autism misrepresents Guardian journalist

The Guardian, fine journal that it is, has published a piece on Andrew Wakefield's misguided attempt to sue the BMJ, Brian Deer and Fiona Godlee. You can read it here, it's a perfectly reasonable feature, giving no opinion on Wakefield's fraud.

However, Age of Autism has republished the majority of the feature on its own site, with the byline "By Ian Sample of The Guardian UK.", implying that Mr Sample has written the piece specifically for Age of Arseholery. Let's face it - this is the kind of thing that John "Cock" Stone or Jake "Arsehole" Crosby would be able to cover (and look like morons) in their sleep - so why republish a piece from a major newspaper, written by a proper journalist, if not to try and steal some credibility on the back of the name?


Thursday 5 January 2012

Andrew Wakefield to make arse of himself by trying to sue Brian Deer, BMJ, Fiona Godlee

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!

To be fair, I've been wondering why if, as Wakefield and the antivax loons at AoA claim, Brian Deer's articles a year ago are demonstrably false, Wakefield didn't sue immediately. After all, such allegations could do irreparable damage to his reputation (which was already shot to shit).

A pdf of the complaint can be found here.

One wonders (among other things):

  • Why Age of Autism hasn't mentioned it yet
  • Why the accusation of libel hasn't been made in the UK
As ever, Orac has a far more comprehensive summary.