EXCERPTS FROM ARTICLE BY GLOBAL HEALTH TRAX

Vista, Calif.; July 14, 2008 - Actress and best-selling author Jenny McCarthy has established herself as a tireless crusader in the search for a cure for autism and advocate for nutritional regimens to help manage the disease.

McCarthy incorporated the Global Health Trax™ (GHT) flagship specialty probiotic product, ThreeLac™, into her autistic son’s nutritional regimen and shared her experience in her recently published book Louder than Words: A Mother’s Journey in Healing Autism. ThreeLac™ probiotic is a fungal and yeast-recovery/reduction product providing selected beneficial microflora to the intestinal tract, and it is distributed exclusively through Global Health Trax. Many parents of autistic children have adopted nutritional therapies and diet changes including what is known as a gluten-free, casein-free (GFCF) diet which restricts wheat and milk products.

 In 2002 McCarthy gave birth to Evan who as an infant was full of life, making eye contact and smiling, but at age two Evan began having seizures. After countless doctors’ visits, a neurologist gave Jenny what she described as a devastating diagnosis; Evan had autism.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, one in every 150 children born in the United States has autism and it is estimated approximately one million in the U.S. have this disorder. Autism is the fastest-growing developmental disability in the U.S. today.

With no known cure to this disease, McCarthy embarked on a mission to improve her son’s life and health. Her unwavering determination and refusal to settle for a “no cure” diagnosis prompted her to do extensive research that led her to GHT ThreeLac probiotic. On page 200 of her book, McCarthy writes, “This is the stuff that really made Evan excrete yeast and start talking more.”

Global Health Trax (GHT) supports the autism community’s efforts to raise awareness and advance investigation of the disease’s causes.

“We admire and praise the autism community and Jenny McCarthy for their inspiring passion and commitment to find help for this heart-breaking disorder,” said Global Health Trax President & CEO Tom Dixson, Co-Founder and former CEO of Petco. “Global Health Trax is proud to know that so many families including Jenny’s have chosen GHT nutraceuticals including ThreeLac for their nutritional regimen, and we are honored to help underwrite the fundraising and awareness campaigns of Generation Rescue.”

About Global Health Trax

Global Health Trax™ (GHT), is one of the most trusted names in nutrition since 1997. GHT’s wholly-owned nutraceutical manufacturing company, Health Specialties Manufacturing (HSM), formerly Health Specialties International (HSI), develops and produces industry-leading nutritional supplements for GHT and other well known nutritional companies. These include specialty vitamins, minerals, enzymes, anti-oxidant juices and capsules, patented Oxygen Elements Max™ and Silica Plus™. Global Health Trax is also the exclusive master distributor of ThreeLac™, Flora Five™ and Prostatade™ to help people maintain healthy lifestyles. Dedicated to finding effective natural ingredients and products that continue to address worldwide health needs, GHT is at the forefront of providing innovative nutraceuticals to the global market plus offering income opportunities for others by distributing GHT products.

Learn more at www.ghthealth.com/mmh or hcresource@yahoo.comolden

(Article by GHT Corporate Staff)

With the credit crunch and rising energy bills, perhaps it's time to return to more traditional methods of cooking. Fulachtaí fia could be the answer..

So suggests Ross Golden Bannon in this weekends Sunday Business Post (piece not available online). Ross has a well researched single column piece which describes the nature and suggested functions of the fulacht (cooking and brewing), and concludes with a description of our brewing, leading to the inevitable conclusion that:

It seems the recession-busting fulacht fia has more function settings than a Miele cooker.

Maybe we should open a restaurant/micro-brewery!

In other Sunday news the recent UFO sightings near Dunboyne (which Ross Hemsworth, presenter of the TV show ‘Now that's Weird', even speculated might be linked to the construction of the M3 close to the Hill of Tara: "There have been a lot of sightings in Ireland in strange places and the proximity to the digging of the motorway may have opened things up"???? ) have been cast in some doubt by some comments on the Sunday Tribune website

#4 Andrea Mulligan commented, on October 6, 2008 at 4:42 p.m.:

The "UFO footage" is of sky lanterns (Chinese lanterns) released from Dunboyne Castle by my husband and I at our wedding reception there on the evening of 3 August 2008.

#5 Oliver Murray commented, on October 6, 2008 at 5:19 p.m.:

UFOs in County Meath identified?
Yes, Ms Mulligan is correct. My wife and I stayed at the Dunboyne Castle Hotel on the nights of 2nd and 3rd August last, and between 10.30pm and 11pm on 3rd August we watched, from the balcony of our room, the wedding party release about a dozen "sky lanterns" from the car park which travelled in a roughly westerly direction. These are Chinese lanterns/hot air balloons, each powered by a candle. While they were neither coloured, nor triangular, I suspect these were the UFOs your correspondent Ken Sweeney is referring to. Sorry if this spoils the fun at the forthcoming UFO convention.

Spotted at 10:45 by a trustworthy source (a senior Garda).....

And in what appears to me to be a clear case of how some in the Irish media... miscommunicate science and how the public seems hardwired to misunderstand science, The Sunday Tribune tells us of Jenny McCarthy's ‘amazing journey', and how ‘she locks horns with the medical establishment', in a fluff piece on vaccination and autism.

The article concludes:

Commenting on the progress of Evan, McCarthy says she realised her son had some understanding of what he'd been through when one day he announced: "Mom, I'm not like Dory anymore [referring to Dory in the film Finding Nemo, who can't remember anything she says]. Dory had trouble remembering her words and so did I. Now I don't have trouble with my words anymore. I'm not like Dory!"

McCarthy says moments like that are all the science she needs [my Italics].

Now, I'm no medical expert but have a read of Orac here for a bit of balance...

Hmmm. That doesn't sound right. Well, never mind, the point is I'm not sure I get it. Not much new with her mouthing off about vaccines and autism since last week.

Not that you need a reason to search out Jenny McCarthy. She is a classic. Although Dirty Love, her 2005 movie, sucked donkey balloons. 

And on and on it goes.

Laterz, Internets. I'm getting tired. Sleep well, see ya tomorrow sometime. Or Monday, if I get busy mowing the lawn and shiznit.

I'm not even going to recreate the previous post. [bleh]

Well here's more [NSFW] after the jump.

I also got to read. I spent two hours one morning at a coffee shop and just sipped my latte and read. I finished out Jenny McCarthy's new book, Mother Warriors, right there at Caribou Coffee. I read three books in five days! I felt like God was speaking to my spirit, and I actually had made some room in my head to listen. I'm going to recommend some books to you moms who could use a boost and some advice!

Mother Warriors gave me a renewed tenacity to keep fighting for Josiah, and keep searching for the treatments that will help him most. That Jenny, when you talk about pitpulls with lipstick, that's what she is. I really admire her relentless passion to take on conventional medical and governmental standards and demand better for our kids. We moms need that voice and we need continued hope that our kids can get better, and maybe even recover.

I was at a Christian bookstore and came across two great books: The Wounded Woman (Hope and Healing for Those Who Hurt) and The Worn Out Woman (When Your Life is Full and Your Spirit is Empty). It was like all of my thoughts, emotions, fears and vices from this past year were addressed in these books, and they pointed to action steps to come out on the other side stronger. One prayer that one of the writers recalled praying to God after her daughter had been in a car accident resonated with me and I personalized it:

Okay, God. I understand what You are saying to me... the healing I long for Josiah's life isn't up to me. The assignment is too big for me. But it's not too big for You! I see now that I am simply one of the many tools You are using. I surrender to You, to Your plan, to Your timing, and to Your outcome. I believe You are a miracle-working God. Once again I place Josiah in Your loving hands, trusting You to be his God... to be our God and astound us with Your goodness.

Finally, my husband I took an afternoon and went to the movie "Fireproof." It stars Kirk Cameron and it's about restoring a marriage. I wasn't going to go because I thought it would be on the cheesy side, and then I saw a Dr. Phil referring to it, and thought it would be worth seeing. Granted, the acting wasn't Oscar worthy by any stretch, but the message was powerful. It gave us a lot to talk about afterward to try to regain intentionality to continually work on our marriage. Joe went out and bought the book The Love Dare that was featured in the movie so we can surprise each other with selfless acts of love and kindness. Check it out!

So, all that to say that it was a good two weeks and a chance to make great steps in the right direction. Do you have any books, movies, or articles that you have read that really spoke to you at a key time? Please share them with me!

It got me thinking about how Robert Lancaster established a great model for skeptical action by targeting a specific prominent figure within a specific field of woo instead of trying to take on the whole field with his website Stop Sylvia Browne. In doing so, not only did he ensure that virtually anyone Googling professional "psychic" Sylvia Browne would also find the skeptical response but he gave the mainstream media a specific go-to guy to invite on as the token skeptic. Lancaster sort of became the arch nemesis of Sylvia Browne in the same way that James Randi became "psychic" Uri Geller's arch nemesis. And since the mainstream news media is looking for conflict and a good story Randi and Lancaster have made the media's jobs easier by giving them one clear, obvious choice when seeking a critic of either of Geller or Browne.

Now lately Jenny McCarthy has been allowed to speak her nonsense on various TV programs without anyone invited on to challenge her. Fair and balanced seems to have gone out the window. So maybe the media just doesn't have anyone specific to turn to, so they just do the softball interview with Jenny because it's easy.

And so last week I came up with an idea. Inspired by Robert Lancaster, I was thinking that it might be a good idea to create a website specifically scrutinizing Jenny's claims as opposed to the general criticisms of the whole movement. But unfortunately, I wasn't not web savvy enough to create and maintain a website where the heavy lifting was already taken care of (Thanks Wordpress and Myspace!), so I proposed the idea on the JREF forums and got a few people who responded really well to the idea and were willing to lend their time and energy to this cause. And before I knew it, only days after thinking it up, my idea has been made manifest and STOPJENNY.COM IS NOW LIVE!

It still needs a lot of work and heavy promotion but it's remarkable what a few dedicated skeptics can do in only a few days. One of my partners chooses at this time to remain anonymous and since it was necessary for someone to step forward as the official face of the site, I agreed to fill that role, so my name will be featured on the site shortly. Though the third member of the Stop Jenny team, the Australian educator and skeptic who is often known among other skeptics simply as Kiless has also lent her name to the site.

And I think the beauty of following the Lancaster model of honing in on just one prominent figure within the larger movement is that we give the media a clear go-to critic to invite on to challenge Jenny's claims, essentially creating an arch nemesis. This topic really isn't Randi's forte. Steve Novella and Orac have certainly done a phenomenal job refuting the claims of the larger movement but they're not likely to be invited onto some crappy talk show like Larry King to debate Jenny head-to-head. Dr. Paul Offit seems like the obvious leader against the antivaccine movement but for whatever reason he's not getting invited, maybe because the antivaccination movement has so effectively instilled in the public's mind that he's in "Big Pharma's" pockets. And even if Amanda Peet became Jenny's arch nemesis, do we really want to pass that kind of immense responsibility to a movie star? Granted, she seems to be a smart movie star but still. So right now there's no good, clear opponent on our side for the media to choose from.

Then I remembered a conversation I had with my friend (and my son's godmother).  She talked about her trials as a mom of a child who had PPD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified).  For those of you who don't know what PPD-NOS is it's a catch-all diagnosis for people on The Spectrum that have many but not all of the typical autism signs and symptoms.

We spoke of our frustration of how the media only listens when a celebrity has something to say about an issue like autism.

Why was it that the "regular, everyday moms" weren't being interviewed by the masses?

Why didn't the media answer our letters of outrage?

With nothing to sell, why didn't someone want to listen to us?

I'll admit my feelings about Jenny were initially pretty cold.  Actually, I was angry.

Of course, I shouldn't have been angry at Jenny; she was merely in a better position to voice what the rest of us had been saying for so long.

My anger was misplaced.

I should have been angry at the dentist who put 8 amalgam fillings in my  mouth, in one day, when I was 12 years old.

I should have been angry for not knowing my complete biological history (paternal side unknown).  Not knowing meant my son's autism could have been inherited (according to some).

I should have been angry at myself for wimping out during my attempt at natural childbirth and opting for the Stadol then upgrading to the Epidurals.  After 24 hours of active back labor, I just couldn't take the pain anymore.

I should have been angry at the doctors who pumped Nicholas's little body full of toxins (aka vaccinations) in unnecessary intervals.  Then again, I should have been more informed about what was really in the vaccinations and simply said no.

I should have been angry at the government for not caring enough about it's citizens by not following the leads of Europe and Canada when it came to stringent health and safety regulations.  Sadly, the citizens don't pay as well as Big Pharm and Big Chem (plastic) do.

I should have still been angry... but I'm not.

I'm slowing learning to let go of this anger, because it doesn't do me any good to hold on to it. Being angry only takes away from me enjoying any happy moments that cross my path.

I'm tired.  I'm tired of being angry.  I'm tired of blaming.  I'm tired of living in the past.

I don't have any regrets for what has happened to my son.  I truly believe that everything happens for a reason.

I truly believe that his autism is what has made me a better person.

Weird?  I know, but it's true.

Here was one of the questions.

“Amanda from Massachusetts. ‘I am a single mother. My son was diagnosed with autism when he was three and I’d love to take care of him with the best of my abilities. I was wondering if you have any tips on how I can never give up on him and never let him down. At one point I even considered deserting him.’ Wow. Wow. Wow.”

Thanks Celebslam!

I know of the supplements, the bio-chemical therapies, and the like that can benefit my son, but I'm more interested in sticking to the recovery path that is as natural as possible.

Having fully transitioned into the holistic (green) lifestyle a little over a year ago, I'm done putting junk into my family's environment (internal and external).

Lately, the media has been comparing one mother's choice (Jenny McCarthy) over another's (Amanda Peet). It is conflicts like this that keep the "judging" eyes on holistic parents and our decisions.

Parents choosing to not vaccinate their children is nothing new. We've all heard of the 60s! We're just the new generation of informed parents.

If Amanda Peet et al want to criticize our choices, that's life. I'm not going to get all worked up over it. She chose to "educate" herself by "doing the research" and still injected garbage into her child. That's her prerogative.

Me? I chose the ignorant route because I thought the medical providers knew better. I trusted them. My son received his unnecessary doses of chemicalized crap!

Of course, those days are dead and buried, and I'm not as trusting as I once was.

At times, I feel I have no other choice but to retain the label that was stamped on my son's forehead some time ago. I believe, and hope, I will finally be free of this label once he is fully recovered. People not living with the disability can be a bit ignorant (i.e. staring, not willing to understand, etc.).

In a sense, I have the label to protect him.

Of course, one lady told me, "He isn't autistic; he has autism. Demons go by many names." {sigh} Just another one who's flown over the cuckoo's nest!

One day at a time... one step at a time.

"HOT" COUTURE:

[caption id="attachment_587" align="alignnone" width="224" caption="Nicole Kidman, in a gorgeous green dress & salmon heels. My favorite part, however, is the stylish over-sized clutch!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_581" align="alignnone" width="224" caption="Anne Hathaway, stunning as usual.  Check out the foxy shoes! "][/caption] [caption id="attachment_582" align="alignnone" width="224" caption="Halle Berry.  The dress is a bit unusual, and not doing amazing things for her post-Nahla tummy.  That being said, it's a beautiful silhouette, something the red carpet hasn't seen, and - of course - she's pulling it off."][/caption]

NOT COUTURE:

[caption id="attachment_583" align="alignnone" width="224" caption="TThis dress is sooooooo boring, shapeless, unflattering, and unfashionable.  Also, I'm sort of just sick of Eva Mendes' FACE."][/caption]

Defining A.I. - On October 12 the Loebner Prize for Artificial Intelligence will conduct a formal Turing test of six machines to determine if through the use of complex algorithms if the machines can simulate human conversation so well that testers will not be able to distinguish the machine from an actual human when engaging in a text conversation back and forth. There is a link to a site that displays 2 text conversations, 1 where the subject is talking to a human and the other where they're talking to a machine. So far it's very easy to tell which is which but in time that may be much harder, which raises the question of what would real artificial intelligence entail.

THIS DAY IN GOD:

Insecure minds wired for pattern-finding - Another study shows causation between uncertainty or insecurity and seeing patterns that aren't necessarily really there.

Saudi cleric thinks women showing two eyes is just too seductive, and has called for women to wear a full veil that reveals only one eye.

Rev. Dr. Peter Mullen recommends homosexual practices be discouraged "after the style of warnings on cigarette packets" - He also added:

"Let us make it obligatory for homosexuals to have their backsides tattooed with the slogan SODOMY CAN SERIOUSLY DAMAGE YOUR HEALTH and their chins with FELLATIO KILLS."

Oo, what if instead we tatooed numbers on their arms and threw them into concentration camps until such time as we can shove them into ovens and gas chambers? Don't worry; it's cool. Now he says many of his "dear friends" are gay and he was only joking. Yeah, I bet.

ATHEIST DISCRIMINATION & DENIGRATION:

Hank Fox has quit his job at a newspaper because they ran an unnecessary quote, in spite of his protests that it was blatant bigotry against atheists:

The final anecdote of the article was about his plane getting shot down, and one quote the reporter used was him saying something like “My co-pilot was an atheist before, but he’s been a good Christian ever since.”

I flagged the quote with a note to my immediate editor: “Ahem. If this quote said ‘My co-pilot was a Jew before, but he’s been a good Christian ever since,’ would we even think about including it?”

In my head was a very clear understanding that the quote was a serious insult to a certain demographic. I happen to be one, in this case, but I would certainly have flagged the line if it was that equivalent quote about a Jew being converted by the experience into being a Christian, even though I’m not a Jew. If it said “My co-pilot was a black man before, but this scared him white,” I would’ve brought it up, even though I don’t happen to be black. If the story made a similar statement about a gay or lesbian, or a handicapped person, I would have flagged it. . . Hey, if it’s vital factual information, it goes into the newspaper no matter whose nose gets out of joint. But if it’s just casual insults or jokes that you know in advance will offend, you just don’t throw it in with the attitude of “what the hell, screw ‘em.”

Here's another great excerpt from his blog:

Atheists today face discrimination so subtle, so pervasive, that it doesn’t even have a name.

It's rare to hear stories like this in the modern age of someone taking a stand like that against injustice. If I had some sort of Golden Cajones Award or something, I'd give it to him.

In Defense of 'Militant' Atheism part 2

SPACE ALIEN NEWS:

First, this would be a good time to remind people that October 14 is the day UFOs are supposed to reach Alabama, according to Australian actress, writer, and part-time “psychic channeler” Blossom Goodchild. I can't wait to see the post-hoc rationalizations to explain away an epic fail.

Carl Sagan's name reclaimed - Last month I blogged about The Carl Sagan Institute of UFOlogy, a bunch of Brazilian UFO nuts who claimed not only that Jesus is a flying saucer pilot but that Sagan was a secret believer in alien visitations. Well now they've removed Sagan's name from their title and replaced it with Galileo for some reason.

Cryptoastronautics - The following video is commonly passed around by UFO believers as proof that aliens have visited our world. But there are far more plausible explanations for the video:

EPIC FAIL!

Astrology and Jell-O - Stuart Buck persists in claiming that scientists have a bias against the supernatural, and that we dismiss it out of hand. Here is just 1 example of why he's wrong. This is actually the story of an old epic fail. It involves skeptic Robert Grumbine testing a specific claim made by astrologer, Thomas Seers involving Bill Cosby's favorite brand of gelatin. And well, Grumbine falsified Seers' stupid hypothesis. But maybe this instance just happened to occur while Mercury was in retrograde, so maybe that's why the astrologer was made to look like an idiot.

Jenny McCarthy gets Rickroll'd - As previously reported, Jenny was going to be involved in a web chat after her latest Oprah appearance where she'd answer people's questions. As predicted, no actual hardball questions got through but she did not escape being punked with a Rickroll. In case you don't know, this is what Rickrolling is. LOL. This is freakin' hilarious:

What do your elected officials think about science? - Find out what your duly elected United States politician thinks about science at the Scientist and Engineers for America website, where they have helpfully listed this info.

Phil Plait's new book "Death From The Skies!" drops in bookstores in 2 weeks!

AND NOW A MOMENT OF SCIENCE:

'Engine' That Drives Cell Movement Discovered - "How a cell assembles its internal machinery required for cell movement has been revealed for the first time."

Quarter Of World’s Mammals Risk Extinction - "The most comprehensive assessment of the world’s mammals has confirmed an extinction crisis, with almost one in four at risk of disappearing forever, according to The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™, revealed at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Barcelona."

Alaskan Glaciers Are Retreating, Thinning - "Most glaciers in every mountain range and island group in Alaska are experiencing significant retreat, thinning or stagnation, especially glaciers at lower elevations, according to a new book published by the U.S. Geological Survey. In places, these changes began as early as the middle of the 18th century."

HPV And Cancer, HIV Discoveries Win Nobel Prize - The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has today decided to award The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2008 with one half to: Harald zur Hausen for his discovery of "human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer" and the other half jointly to Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier for their discovery of "human immunodeficiency virus."

Earliest Footprints: Animals Walked Sooner - "The fossilized trail of an aquatic creature suggests that animals walked using legs at least 30 million years earlier than had been thought. The tracks -- two parallel rows of small dots, each about 2 millimeters in diameter -- date back some 570 million years, to the Ediacaran period."

Birds Have 'Thumbs,' Alligator Gene Study Hints - "Bird wings only have three fingers, having evolved from remote ancestors that, like humans and most reptiles, had five fingers. Biologists have typically used embryology to identify the evolutionary origin (homology) of structures; the three fingers of the bird wing develop from cartilage condensations that are found in the same positions in the embryo as fingers two, three and four of humans (the index, middle and ring fingers). However, the morphology of the fingers of early birds such as Archaeopteryx corresponds to that of fingers one, two and three in other reptiles (thumb, index and middle finger). The fossil record clearly shows that fingers four and five (ring and pinky finger) were lost and reduced in the dinosaur ancestors of birds."

Another bad day for Young Earth Creationists.

Over the years, I've heard of some celebrity connections to autism. Some of the people I've seen listed as having kids on the spectrum are:

  Can you identify all of these folks? This is a pop quiz, people!

While I'm sure that some of the issues that we, as parents of children with autism, all face are universal. There is no amount of fame or fortune that can insulate you from the panic that a child's diagnosis of autism brings. And I don't fault them at all if they've jumped to the top of the list for services because of their stardom. Wouldn't you if you could?

Before Jenny McCarthy , I used to think that if Julia Roberts or Matt Lauer or one of those High School Musical kids had a  child with autism that more attention would be paid to the unmet needs of our kids. Not that I'd wish any ill fortune on any of those people or their kids, just that it would definitely put the issue more in the public eye. Of course, I don't mean to categorize any of the celebrities who already havekids with autism as slackers. I'm sure that they were all contributing to autism awareness (and more importantly, dealing with their child's autism) but no one's efforts were creating what you'd call a  publicity frenzy .

Then came Jenny. Jenny McCarthy has a bullhorn and she's not afraid to use it, folks. She's talked to Oprah & Larry King about autism. She's written book. She's on ET & Access Hollywood (please don't ask how I know this!), she's on the cover of magazines with her incredible bob (just the one o, people!) and self-proclaimed big mouth.  She's everywhere & she's not afraid to speak up.

Even if you don't agree with all of her beliefs, you must admit that Jenny McC is drawing the public's attention to the issue of autism.  Granted, this is not something that Jenny's trained for (unless her stint as hostess of the MTV show "Singled Out" counts) but how much have any of us trained to be in this situation? I'm frightened of what I would have said if I'd had a public platform to share my opinions in the years immediately following my son's dx. I haven't read Jenny's book (it's moved to the interesting-but-not-vital portion of my book list) & I've missed most of her appearances, so I can't comment on anything but to say that she's definitely mixing it up.

And now, with this. Amanda Peet, who has been a mother for all of ten minutes, has proclaimed that ..."parents who don't vaccinate their kids are parasites." For those of you who don't know her, Amanda Peet is an actor (whose next movie is titled "What Doesn't Kill You" - interesting timing, eh?)Did I mention that she doesn't have a child with the diagnosis of autism?

 or should I say?

While it would seem that Amanda Peet is referencing herd immunity in her "parasite" comment. It sounds as though she did research - talking to Dr. Paul Offitt, who created a vaccine of his own - the rotavirus vaccine.  I wonder if she researched what families of children with autism go through. When my oldest was an infant, healthcare seemed pretty straightforward. Your baby's sick, you take him to the dr. and find out what's wrong and how to fix it.

That's not how it works with autism. Nowadays,  dr's are better at diagnosing autism but no one can give you a treatment plan that will provide any guaranteed results. When my doctor got the report back from the developmental pediatrician, she said "Unfortunately, we're right. It's autism."  When I asked her what to do she said "Pray."

Jenny McCarthy to the rescue! She has taken exception with Amanda Peet's comments.

Who's right? Who knows? Let me know your opinion!!

-the cheese does not take financial planning advice from Miley Cyrus

Sarah Palin pode fazer o papel de Tina Fey. (DListed)

Ashlee Simpson só tem 24 anos. Isso é muita sacanagem, não? (PopSugar)

Angelina Jolie está mais sexy do que nunca. (Popoholic)

Jenny McCarthy aprontou uma na web. (Celebslam)

Jake Gyllenhaal trabalha demais para passar tempo com sua Reese Witherspoon. (IDLYITW)

Britney Spears corre de kart. (Just Jared)

Angelina Jolie tem novas tatuagens. (Socialite Life)

Elizabeth Hurley aumenta a temperatura. (CityRag)

Britney Spears esconde debaixo de uma toalha. (HollywoodRag)

The highlight of the evening was hearing Jenny McCarthy say that regardless of the disagreements about the safety of vaccines and the opinions about treatments for autism that she has been up against in the media lately, the things that Defeat Autism Now (DAN!) practitioners are using to treat these kids (she used more explicit language) works - bottom line!

In our brief conversation I mentioned that LTP Natural Medical Center has signed up to donate DAN! treatments for under-served children selected by her non-profit organization.  Graciously thanking me she commented that she sometimes feels like she's in a Star Wars movie - fighting off the darkness and ushering in the light. As a doctor treating autism in my practice, I support what she is doing 100%. She is a doer, raising awareness and genuinely offering hope to families and children affected by autism.

Thank you TACA, Jenny McCarthy and Lance Armstrong for giving a voice to the children, families and doctors working hard to bring light to this condition.

In health,

Dr. Gina

Mother Warriors: A Nation of Parents Healing Autism Against All Odds

Stories of hope and recovery from a nation of parents of autistic children, by the high-profile, bestselling author of Louder Than Words.

When Jenny McCarthy published Louder Than Words, the story of her successful efforts to save her son, Evan, from autism, the response was tremendous. It hit #3 on the New York Times bestseller list; and Jenny and Evan were featured on the covers of several magazines, including People. But what she hadn’t anticipated was the overwhelming response from other parents of autistic children, who sought her out to share their stories.

No two autistic children heal in exactly the same way. And in her new book, Jenny expands her message to share recovery stories from parents across the country. Mother Warriors, shows how each parent fought to find her own child’s perfect “remedy of interventions” and teaches parents how to navigate safely through the many autism therapies.

Along the way, Jenny shares her own journey as an autism advocate and mother as well as the progress of her son, Evan. Emotional and genuinely practical, Mother Warriors will inspire a generation of parents with hope.

Shopping Online >>>

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is suing President Bush and many others over making the National Day of Prayer a federal holiday.

A man in Tuscon allegedly ran a house of prostitution camouflaged as a church.

Is Age of Autism telling Jenny McCarthy to back away from a fight? - Ah huh. They say they don't think McCarthy should debate Amanda Peet because--are you ready?

". . .this war between two young non-doctor icons really cheapens the debate over the safety of vaccines."

Really? YOU JUST FIGURED THIS OUT?! So I suppose you guys will no longer be pushing Jenny as your spokesperson anymore then, right? Oh, and here's what they wrote in their open letter to Amanda Peet:

"Whether one mom is right or wrong about how to raise our children should not be up for public debate. You were right for your child and I am right for mine."

Um, you are aware that Jenny and Amanda are making too diametrically opposed claims, right? If one is right then the other is wrong. And funny again how you suddenly started kissing Amanda's ass now that there's talk of a possible debate. It seems to me that if your evidence was so strong you'd welcome the debate since you've been pushing non-doctor icon Jenny McCarthy as your big champion. I'll say the same thing I said about the Republican Party when they wouldn't release Sarah Palin to the press for interviewers. What are you so afraid of, guys?

Roger Ebert gave Religulous three and a half stars! - I just saw it today myself and plan to write a review tomorrow. So stay tuned.

The Smithsonian has recently put a set of photos from the 1925 Scopes trial on Flickr.

Stephen Hawking tells us why we should go into space.

And on a related note, The Money Shot - From Space - Very soon Virgin Galactic will launch its first tourists into space. But this week, an “unidentified party” offered Virgin Galactic $1 million, up front, to film a sex-in-space movie aboard SpaceShipTwo. Virgin Galactic rejected the offer. And follow the first link to learn about the complications of sex in space. Apparently, it's not as easy as it looked in the the movie "Supernova."

In Defense of Militant Atheism - Part 1

Apparently from the latest statistics on divorce it is shown to be in decline, according to divorce magazine. The article can be found HERE. I think this fantastic and I also think that most married couples are beginning to realize the most important thing about marriage. It takes WORK and a lot of it. The notion that after you are married it's smooth sailing is bogus to say the least. The courtship is the easy part.

However, current statistics say that divorce among families where autism lives is 80%. The most recent person to spout that percentage is Jenny McCarthy. I don't know if this percentage is accurate or not. I know many families who have an autistic child. Most are still married. Whether or not the marriage is a quality marriage I can not say. The few that are divorced contribute, in part the autism as a factor. However, it is only a factor and not a very large one at that.

Rodney and I have been married for 21 years. And we both believe that we have been prepared for JR by God. By circumstances that were beyond our control in some ways and by choices we made in other ways. God prepared us many years before JR was even a twinkle in our eyes. Two years after Rodney and I were married on August 6th 1989 began the first of many trials to come. Rodney was involved in an automobile accident where he hit and killed a pedestrian walking across a 5 lane road, at night, where there were no street lights, the man was from Britain (think opposite traffic flow) and he was wearing dark cloths. Rodney was never faulted for the accident, but what ensued after it made for very difficult times for him and to a lesser degree me.

Then there were a series of deaths in both our families. My mother passed on April 23 1990 after a ten year long illness. Her passing was truly a blessing. Rodney's dad passed on April 24 1993 after a battle with cancer that spanned about 3 years.

1994 was a bitter sweet year for me personally. My daughter had been born on July 11th and within five months my father, being the most influential person in my life until this point, passed away on December 21. Losing my dad was a devastating event all though he was 83 to my 33. He and my mom where my adoptive parents. He was without a doubt my greatest teacher (until my children that is). He gave me something I never had before he entered my life. The will and desire to fight. Fight for my rights, fight for what was right no matter the cost, he gave me a thick skin when it came to ridicule. He gave me a sense of humor. He gave me wisdom you will never find in a classroom or a book. He gave me more than I ever realized, until JR was diagnosed that is. Fourteen years later and I still miss him terribly. I often wonder what he thinks seeing what has come to pass. I hope he's proud of his grandchildren. I hope he smiles when he looks down on us from heaven. When daddy gave me these gifts (I didn't necessarily see them as gifts at the time) I wonder if he knew what was to come to my adult life? He was a very good man.

Anyway it was these events and many more that came to Rodney and I collectively that made us stronger people individually and as a couple. Life and marriage have not been easy. In twenty-ones of marriage I don't think we've ever had an "easy" time of it. We struggled for years before I got pregnant with my daughter. We have struggled financially all of our married life. The greatest struggle though came in the form of Autism. It has also been the greatest triumph. It is a triumph because of all those "gifts" that Daddy gave me so long ago.

The saddest part of all this is my children will never get to meet the gift giver.

Researchers and physicians are making exciting breakthroughs in ways to help children and adults with autism overcome their health challenges.  This celebrity-filled fundraiser is sure to draw a large crowd and many donations that will support the advancement of innovative, individualized and effective care for people living with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

LTP Natural Medical Center in Laguna Beach, CA, where I treat patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder, is donating $4500 worth of goods and services to this event.

Stay tuned for the post-event blog!

In health,

Dr. Gina

Flirting with Palin earns Pakistani president a fatwa:

A radical Muslim prayer leader said the president shamed the nation for "indecent gestures, filthy remarks, and repeated praise of a non-Muslim lady wearing a short skirt."

Speaking of Palin: Ron Numbers on Palin's creationism

Pseudo-scientist Mike Adams compares Western Medicine to the subprime mortgage clusterfuck - Mike writes for Natural News aka woo central. And in a bit of wishful thinking, he writes this gem of an article entitled, Why the Institutions of Western Finance and Western Medicine are Both Doomed to Fail. To illustrate just how far gone this guy is, here's an excerpt:

"The fraud of Western Medicine is that everybody can get healthy by taking fictitious patented chemicals (pharmaceuticals) rather than addressing fundamental issues of nutrition, exercise and exposure to consumer chemicals."

With logic like that, I wonder if he's related to Neil Adams.

Jenny McCarthy goes after the presidential candidates - Last year McCain said there was no doubt that a link between vaccines and autism exists. But Jenny says that McCain opted out of meeting with her at the last minute. According to the news sources, McCain denied her requests "after learning there’s no hard medical evidence linking vaccines and autism." Man, I hope this is true because at least Obama has already spoken up recently and stated "I am not for selective vaccination. I believe that it will bring back deadly diseases, like polio." I'll take it.

Also, I previously blogged about a letter to the editor I wrote to my local newspaper concerning the antivaccination movement. Today an edited version of that article appeared in the paper.

New research casts doubts on calorie restriction?

Atheism 101 reading list

Sony promotes The God Delusion! - Dawkins bestselling book was prominent in the promotional setup for the Sony Reader — an e-book reader much like Amazon’s Kindle:

YouTube censors another cracker desecrating video - Only this time it's not even a Eucharist, just an arbitrary cracker.

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Answers in Genesis reviews Religulous - Somehow I doubt they'll declare it a must-see. They're still sore over having. . .

". . .experienced Maher’s subterfuge and dishonesty last year in gaining access to the Creation Museum and AiG President Ken Ham for a (fictitious) documentary on the “cultural landscape of the United States.”

This is ironic considering how fine they were with the far more elaborate subterfuge by the makers of the anti-evolution mockumentary "Expelled." Pot. Kettle. Black. Bullshit!

Do TV, movie, and game ratings really do any good?

AND NOW FOR A MOMENT OF SCIENCE:

New Species Thanks To Different Ways Of Seeing - "A study of brightly coloured fish has now demonstrated that this has less to do with aesthetics than with the sensitivity of female eyes, which varies as a result of adaptation to the environment. Females more attuned to blue will choose a metallic blue mate, while those better able to see red will prefer a bright red male. These mating preferences can be strong enough to drive the formation of new species – provided that habitat diversity is not reduced by human activities."

Short RNAs May Have Contributed To New Species - "MicroRNAs, the tiny molecules that fine-tune gene expression, were first discovered in 1993. But it turns out they've been around for a billion years.

Evidence reported in Nature on October 1 by scientists in the lab of Whitehead Member and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator David Bartel provides a window into the early evolution of these key regulators, placing their origin within the earliest of animal lineages. The research also suggests that microRNAs present early on have undergone extensive changes, which likely have altered their functions across various lineages."

New Dinosaur Species Had Bony Frill And Horns - "The fossils revealed a herd of dinosaurs that perished in a catastrophic event 72.5 million years ago. The animals are characterized by a bony frill on the back of the skull ornamented with smaller horns. They also had large bony structures above their nose and eyes which lends them their name: Pachyrhinosaurus (thick-nosed lizard). These structures probably supported horns of keratin."

Compact Fluorescent Lights: Mercury Problems? - "A team of Yale scientists has found that certain countries and some U.S. states stand to benefit from the use of compact fluorescent lighting more than others in the fight against global warming. Some places may even produce more mercury emissions by switching from incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent lighting."

HIV/AIDS Pandemic Began Around 1900 - "New research indicates that the most pervasive global strain of HIV began spreading among humans between 1884 and 1924, suggesting that growing urbanization in colonial Africa set the stage for the HIV/AIDS pandemic."

Teens With Certain Gene Have Delinquent Peers - "Birds of a feather flock together, according to the old adage, and adolescent males who possess a certain type of variation in a specific gene are more likely to flock to delinquent peers, according to a landmark study led by Florida State University criminologist Kevin M. Beaver."

I just love Jenny and Jim. Don't you think they have a 'true' kind of love? I really think they are Hollywood's cutest couple! *Jenny give me a call, I have an idea for you!* ;)

Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy at the AFI Night at the Movies at the Achlight Theatre in Hollywood, California. Pictured: Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy Picture by: Russ Einhorn/ Splash News
Content © 2008 Splash News . All rights reserved.

No matter how good or how bad you think your situation is, everyone should be allowed pity party days. The dress code for PP days is of course Jammie's (maternity, if you've got 'em - though the "baby" is ten yrs old). On these days you should spoon marshmallow fluff into your face for sustenance and make origami swans from the piles of parental safeguards that you have stashed 'round the house. Laminate random objects - no, not the cat.* Test to see how much Velcro it would take to suspend yourself from the wall. Crank call your insurance company.

On my PP days, I invent policies against doing anything I don't want to do & cite the fictional policies often. I listen to my favorite album, "No Depression" (irony noted) on a continuous loop. I read those obnoxiously upbeat Christmas letters from distant relatives with over-achieving children. I pick at the grout around the boys' bathtub in an attempt to find the fulfillment that my youngest seems to find from picking it bare at any possible moment. So far, no transcendental experience for me.

I'd love to hear what other people do - not out of idle curiosity, but as inspiration for possible activities for future pity parties of my own. Please share. I've worn out two previous "No Depression" cd's & I'm out of marshmallow fluff.

BTW, as of today a "No Depression" website exists. I'm not kidding. www.nodepression.com This news, along with the VP debate, makes it seem like Christmas in October for me!

Tonight is not the night for pity parties, depression or even continuing this post, for that matter. Gov. Palin just called Obama's running mate "Senator O'Biden." I remind myself while it's not always good to be me, it's better not to be her tonight. I'm going back to the debate.

the cheese says hoodies are sometimes reversible, jenny mac!

* don't call Bob Barker - it's  a reference that only six alt-country fans would get  an obscure reference to a song "Laminated Cat" by Loose Fur. No actual cats were harmed in the typing of this post nor was any actual lipstick applied to pigs.