You know, I'm really, really beginning to like this Dr. Rahul Parikh guy.
Yesterday, he delivered an absolutely delicious smackdown of that chief propagandist for the mercury militia and antivaccine movement, David Kirby. It was at least seven kinds of awesome, and I was truly grateful to Dr. Parikh for doing it so that I didn't have to. This time around, Dr. Parikh's done me another favor. You see, on Wednesday David Kirby gave a talk to Congressional staffers and a few Congressmen. He was also kind enough to include a link to his slides on the Age of Autism blog, and, indeed, such a huge, fat, juicy target seemed ripe for a dose of not-so-Respectful Insolence. The slides were the same idiotic Kirby talking points that I've been deconstructing since at least 2005, though, and that tempered my enthusiasm to charge once more into the breach.
Fortunately for me, Dr. Parikh was more than happy to do the job for me. Read and be amused. Here's just one example of many to whet your appetite:
Mr. Kirby loves to use "social proof" (as opposed to scientific proof) to make his case. Here he does it to perfection, taking quotes from the Presidential Candidates to tell us that yes, vaccines are the cause of autism.
That's gonna leave a mark.
If you search the archives of Google news, you will find that Dr. Parikh has taken on Mr. Rick Rollens in some of the local California newspapers as well.
Kirby and Rollens provided the opportunity. Somebody has go to do it.
Ouch, smackdown indeed.
Indeed, well written bit of dissection.
Always good to see someone fighting the good fight.
Maybe Mr. Kirby would like to talk to the parents in this article - http://www.theolympian.com/living/story/600802.html They elected not to have their daughter immunized against yellow fever prior to going to Africa to, ironically, volunteer with immunizing people there.
There! Old age playing havoc with my memory. The family was travelling to Africa to build a school (yay!) and a church (no yay this time. Another school or a clinic would've been nice), *not* to assist with vaccinations.