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Swine Flu Shots Revive a Debate About Vaccines - NYTimes.com
Excerpt: "According to a CBS News poll conducted last week, only 46 percent said they were likely to get the [H1N1 flu] vaccine... Web sites, Twitter feeds, talk radio and even elevator chatter are awash with skeptics criticizing the vaccine, largely with no factual or scientific basis. The most common complaint is that the vaccine has been newly formed and quickly distributed without the benefit of clinical trials; in fact, the swine flu vaccine was made using the same techniques as seasonal flu shots over the last two decades... There are also claims that the vaccine contains adjuvants -- sometimes added to make vaccines more effective -- although they have not been used in this one. In addition, there is fear that the vaccine could lead to Guillain-Barré syndrome, as was suspected the last time a swine flu vaccine was distributed, in 1976; flu vaccines are now much purer than they were, minimizing the risk, and Guillain-Barré is far rarer."
Swine Flu Shots Revive a Debate About Vaccines - NYTimes.com
Excerpt: "According to a CBS News poll conducted last week, only 46 percent said they were likely to get the [H1N1 flu] vaccine... Web sites, Twitter feeds, talk radio and even elevator chatter are awash with skeptics criticizing the vaccine, largely with no factual or scientific basis. The most common complaint is that the vaccine has been newly formed and quickly distributed without the benefit of clinical trials; in fact, the swine flu vaccine was made using the same techniques as seasonal flu shots over the last two decades... There are also claims that the vaccine contains adjuvants -- sometimes added to make vaccines more effective -- although they have not been used in this one. In addition, there is fear that the vaccine could lead to Guillain-Barré syndrome, as was suspected the last time a swine flu vaccine was distributed, in 1976; flu vaccines are now much purer than they were, minimizing the risk, and Guillain-Barré is far rarer."
When is a cross not a Christian symbol? (Debate on Salazar v. Buono, LA Times)
Erwin Chemerinsky (dean of UC Irvine law school) and Joseph Infranco (of the Alliance Defense Fund) comment on arguments pro and con the large cross-shaped war memorial in the Mojave desert.
Salazar v. Buono: Can Government Give One Religion's Symbol Prominence in a Public Park? - Pew Research Center
Pew Forum backgrounder on the Establishment Clause case surrounding the large cross-shaped war memorial in the Mojave desert. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Oct. 7, 2009.
Whooping cough deaths spark vaccination debate - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Australia has its own anti-vaccine movement. In one of the communities where the movement has established a strong presence, there is now a whooping-cough epidemic, which has killed three infants in 2009. The founder of the Australian Vaccination Network has advocated treating whooping cough with homeopathy.
Sam Harris and Andrew Sullivan on Faith, Religion, Tolerance, Moderates, Bible, God, Islam, Atheism, Jesus, Christian Nation - Beliefnet.com
Archived: http://sqrl.it/?lb015 and http://www.webcitation.org/5jiUdtg5S
Rick Perlstein -- Birthers, Health Care Hecklers and the Rise of Right-Wing Rage - washingtonpost.com
Cf. David Brion Davis and the "paranoid style" in U.S. political culture. Archived: http://sqrl.it/?fsq7a
NYT: ‘Death panel’ rumor has familiar roots - The New York Times- msnbc.com
The ludicrous idea that Obama will engage in forced-euthanasia policies doesn't come from random Internet mouth-breathers. It comes from respected conservative opinion leaders.
Washington Post, "On Faith" series: Stephen R. Prothero (Boston University) debates Barry Lynn (Americans United for Separation of Church and State)
Prothero kicks Lynn's ass, if you ask me. Lynn comes across looking desperate. However, if you check my Diigo annotations, you'll see that in the antepenultimate and penultimate points (Prothero, then Lynn), I think an important issue comes up, namely, how to deal with the inherent contestedness of any tradition. Whose version of Christianity, or whatever, do you teach? This doesn't seem like a problem that ought to stymie Prothero's proposal, but it is extraordinarily thorny, much more difficult to deal with than it might seem at first.
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Add Sticky NoteWhat version of Mormonism would I talk about? Probably the most influential and largest one. That seems reasonable. Ditto for Islam and Hinduism and Buddhism. You can only cover the basics so do the largest groups.
- Important point. See my next note. - on 2008-10-13
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Add Sticky NoteNo, no, no. By saying that we'll only talk about the "biggest" group in a faith tradition a public school would be taking a theological position on some of the most serious religious questions in world religious history. And if you want to rip communities apart, just tell the PTA that you'll be teaching about the "largest" Christian groups (Amish need not apply).
- This is an important objection. It's true that Prothero is basically saying he would teach the dominant version of any tradition. Prothero is either ignoring, or not realizing, that the question of which version of a tradition is taken to be canonical is also a question about power. - on 2008-10-13
- 1 more annotations...
Al Sharpton vs. Christopher Hitchens at the NYPL
I have got to watch this. Christopher Hitchens and Al Sharpton go at it.
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