Inoculated into oblivion
BY ARTHUR ALLEN
(04/13/00)

Arthur Allen's story "Inoculated into Oblivion" was by far the most balanced of any that I saw on the autism hearings. I know how hard the pharmaceutical industry will fight to pretend that adverse reactions to vaccines do not occur. My wife was an immunization nurse. Approximately 12 hours after a hepatitis B vaccine, she lost the use of her legs. She regained some movement, but two years later she still must use leg braces to walk. The CDC said it was an "unfortunate coincidence."

It is simply amazing how studies sponsored by pharmaceutical companies "prove" vaccine safety. I am an engineer. If a young engineer handed in a project using the sloppy, manipulative statistical analysis used by the CDC, they would not work as an engineer for long.

I thought it was especially interesting that at the autism hearings, the main CDC witness was shown to be a paid Merck consultant. He was paid to "educate" doctors about vaccines. Talk about conflict of interest. The answers to all vaccine issues will only come through independent research.

-- David Fluck

Thanks for running the story about the autism epidemic, "Inoculated into oblivion." The experts are saying the cause is genetic. The experts are wrong. No one in either of our families has ever had autism. In a country with a declining birth rate, how could a genetic affliction increase so quickly?

The experts are saying the increase is due to parents milking the system for benefits. The experts, once again, are wrong. My son has almost no speech and we had to fight to get his speech therapy upped to 40 minutes a week. We nearly went bankrupt trying to supplement what little the school district could offer. My health insurance won't pay for it either.

The experts say there are no clues as to what could be causing this sudden increase. Once again, the experts are wrong. There are countless stories of children losing their ability to speak shortly after receiving DPT or MMR vaccinations. The rise in autism is concurrent with the introduction of vaccine "soups," along with attempts to find cheaper ways to manufacture vaccines.

Experts warn the public through the press that parents' fears about vaccines are unfounded because there are no scientific studies that show a link between autism and vaccines. For once, the experts are partially right. There are no studies. Period. None. There is a full-scale, worldwide experiment going on about the long-term effects of vaccines and our infants are the guinea pigs.

-- George Johnston

Your author may write about science, but he knows nothing about autism. They are not howling mutes. They are not "crazy." To characterize our children in that way is to demean them and remove any humanity about them. Autistic children do things differently than you and I. But they can, and many do, function in our society. They go to school, they have friends, they take part in family life. True, some never progress to that stage, but this article lumps them all into a stereotype that today's society knows is simply not true.

-- Dale Bass

The current fears about vaccines will probably only end after enough people stop having their children immunized to let an old-fashioned plague sweep through the country. Instead of a few people complaining about unproven side effects of immunizations we will have thousands of children killed or maimed by easily preventable diseases.

-- Stephen Cumblidge

A shot in the dark: Geekiness may be gene-linked to Asperger's Syndrome, a mild form of autism. Perhaps the "epidemic" of autism is a symptom of the desirability of computer geeks as mates in recent years.

-- Corey Lamont

Screw the kids!
BY DAVID HOROWITZ
(04/17/00)

David Horowitz has a very shallow understanding of the public school crisis in America.

First, he doesn't seem to understand how public schools receive large portions of their funding. He offers an alternative plan where children would receive full-tuition scholarships to private schools and claims that this will not take money out of public schools. In California, public schools receive money based on the number of students present in classrooms on any given day (ADA or average daily attendance funding). Schools receive a specific dollar amount per child present. Therefore, if a child is not in the classroom for any reason, the school does not receive the allocated money.

Horowitz also takes issue with the Los Angeles Unified School District Teachers Union's angry response to the movement to give individual teachers bonuses if they raise student test scores. What he does not understand is that test scores frequently do not reflect a teacher's skill nor their work ethic. Students in affluent areas have the benefit of educated parents, tutors, experiences that enrich their classroom experiences (such as travel, museum visits, etc.), quiet places to study, computers at home, etc. It would certainly be easier to blame the teachers, but the fact is, there are savage inequalities in America's public schools and tying teachers' bonuses to test scores won't solve any problems until there is a more level playing field.

Last, Horowitz is horrified that teachers are demanding a 21 percent pay raise. I don't know what the pay scale is in Los Angeles for teachers in public schools, but as a recent former teacher in Northern California, if I had received a 21 percent pay raise, I would have been making $36,300 a year. In an economy where recent college graduates are being offered double or even triple teachers' salaries to work in any technology-related field, it is no surprise to me that there is a shortage of new teachers. The teachers union's effort to raise teachers' salaries is, in part, an effort to attract and hold onto gifted teachers who are seriously underpaid for difficult work.

-- Catherine Davis

Just because 30-50 percent of teachers failed a "basic skills" test doesn't mean that they can't teach. Many of these tests cover subjects that the teachers never teach. I don't care if an American history teacher can do high school trigonometry. Whether the teacher can teach is an entirely different question.

If there existed this incredibly powerful education union then why are teachers incredibly underpaid for their educational level? Compare a union autoworker's salary and it will be much, much more than the $24,000 a year salary that Colorado pays to high school teachers.

Horowitz's knee-jerk conservative solutions of ending social promotion, punishing teachers and giving vouchers will reward only the middle and upper classes, drive out more good teachers and ignore the problems of poor students. It's not clear to me how Horowitz expects that lowering salaries and scapegoating teachers will encourage intelligent people to choose that career path.

-- Anita Bowles

Schools will never have a chance to change, progress or evolve until the lay board of education is removed and some prerequisite qualifications or credentials are required of those who choose to serve on the school board. It is a sad fact that many of today's politicians at the local level began their careers as local school board members. These individuals are elected with their own agenda. Only rarely does that include concerns for kids or the ability to add to the process of education.

-- Timothy McGonagle

What does a woman want? Season tickets
BY JOAN WALSH
(04/19/00)

I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but for all of the baseball nostalgia and city pride we may feel, Major League Baseball is all about the money. With player strikes, owner strikes, dot-com-ad-plastered, corporate-owned parks and multimillion-dollar player contracts (not to mention $3,000 seat licenses), do you really think anyone is thinking about anything other than cold, hard cash? If you want to see baseball played for baseball's sake, I suggest Little League.

-- Warren Green

Glad you enjoyed the park. Sadly, unlike you, I don't have the luxury of feeling guilty about spending $2,500 on baseball tickets.

Personal seat licenses price the average customer right out of existence. And I've got news for you: You're not an average customer. You're freakin' rich. Cash like you're talking about buys a guy like me five months' rent. (Or two beers and an order of garlic fries at Pac Bell Park.)

My only consolation is that I'm a Dodgers fan. I hope your lousy Giants never win!

-- Tom Collins

I just finished Joan Walsh's column on the poor, poor San Francisco Giants and their troubles in the new park.

As a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, I can only respond: Get over it. When it's 92 years since your last World Series win, call me and we can talk.

-- Barrett Buss

Baby barf rules
BY JONATHAN KRONSTADT
(04/17/00)

An ancient, venerable lady and a family friend as I was growing up had been a nanny in her younger years and always opined that "a pukey baby is a happy baby." Years of experience as a general practitioner and a mother of four have confirmed this observation. Every cloud has a silver lining.

-- Tam Doey