Re: Freelance reporter Tony Zizza backs Savage, says poor parenting to blame.

[Guest guest]

Do these people get that this guy said morew than just ONE thing about autism?He said our kids are morons, idiots and putzes He said the parents are refridgerator mothersHe said that 99 percent of kids mis-dx. He asumes that all children are medicated with anti-psych drugs. He calls parents lazy. He assumes we blindly support the pharm.companies.He compared autism to other issues that have nothing to do with it. And on top of that- he thinks NOTHING he said was wrong or hurtful. I'm sure I missed other things. I didn't hear the show all week. Sent via BlackBerry by AT&TDate: Sat, 26 Jul 2008 01:22:49 -0000To: <EOHarm >Subject: Freelance reporter Tony Zizza backs Savage, says poor parenting to blame. He also says those who protested Savage are fakes, and that money for autism steals money away from the mentally retarded. His article is linked to the Savage main site, so it is a pretty fair assumption he was paid to back Savage. His columns have appeared in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Macon Telegraph and The Union Leader newspaper. I would bet some quick research would show he is a paid shill.http://mensnewsdaily.com/2008/07/23/michael-savage-is-not-the- problem/ " " Now, the illness du jour is autism. You know what autism is? I'll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out. " – Savage, Syndicated Radio Talk Show Host of The Savage Nation, 7/16/08 Love him or hate him, Savage sure knows how to get a conversation started. It's too bad that most people will either protest him or support the protesters in wanting him fired for essentially calling autism a racket these days. It's also too bad that most people are lazy and will not look at the broader points he is trying to make. Or what he has been saying about the mental health profession for years. You hear him say " 99 percent " , and all of a sudden he becomes someone who must take a position in the unemployment line. Give me a break. Get yourself a clearer sense of context. I don't know about you, but I don't believe for one minute what our government is saying about autism. On July 22nd, http://www.foxnews.com reported that " The government estimates about 1 in 150 children have some form of autism. " Where does our government get their sources of information? Who gets to define what autism is and isn't? Doesn't our government realize that there is no known single cause for autism? Our government used to play a similar numbers game with ADHD. I mean, from time to time we all have " some form " of some thing all or none or some of the time. Let's take a breath here, shall we? Savage is simply trying to wake people up to the fact that in this country, too many children are being labeled either " autistic " or labeled with a mental disorder like ADHD. Interestingly, we don't hear too much about ADD or ADHD these days. One of the reasons is because this subjective mindset has unfortunately been accepted by our popular culture. If someone is acting a bit odd, out comes the checklist. You are labeled with a mental disorder. Don't think this happens? Go ahead and google: TeenScreen. I believe Savage deserves a lot of credit for trying to wake people up, especially parents. There is no way he or anyone for that matter, including this writer, is taking on children or the parents of children who are truly autistic or have other severe mental handicaps. It is beyond shameful that special education and health care dollars are diverted from the truly mentally retarded to students and others who have more subjective behavorial issues. More and more students at every grade level are being placed in special education. This is a serious problem. Savage is not the problem. Years ago, nationally syndicated radio talk show host Neal Boortz riled up a bunch of parents when he dared to challenge the very existence of ADHD in children. He, and thousands before and after him, properly point to the fact that lousy parenting -or the acceptance of permissive parenting- obviously has a lot to do with how their children act at home or in public. But dare take on the ADHD machinery, and parents vested in it will come out and protest. They have protested outside of WSB-AM in Atlanta, and sure enough, like-minded parents were outside WOR-AM in New York City on July 21st demanding that Savage be fired. Should Savage be fired? No. Permissive parents should be. I seriously doubt many of the protesters of Savage and Neal Boortz are the parents of children with truly diagnosed handicaps. I imagine those parents understand that what Savage and Neal Boortz and thousands of others are rallying against is the " overdiagnosing " of children. This has run rampant in our country for years. That's the real problem. Here's a case in point that goes to the heart of what Savage is trying to do with waking folks up about the overdiagnosing of children with autism. It shows that the problem now is psychiatry and Big Pharma. You would have to be a moron if you don't see that there is a crystal clear connection between Big Pharma and psychiatry. The state of New Hampshire is just one state out of over 40 states that is sharing a settlement of $515 million dollars from Eli Lilly and Bristol-Myers Squibb. It appears these drug giants were overpricing drugs like Ablify and Zyprexa to state Medicaid agencies. They also made illegal (big surprise!) payments to doctors to promote these drugs for children and adults who were on Medicaid. If there is not a crystal clear link between psychiatry and Big Pharma, ask yourself how it is possible and medically sound that in the state of New Hampshire alone, state spending on drugs like Ablify and Zyprexa jumped from around $300,000 in 2000 to around $4 million in 2007? Come on, think about it. So when it comes to autism or drug companies or psychiatry, Savage is not the problem. The true problem that no one wants to talk about is the rush to label both children and adults with a mental disorder based solely on a checklist. Most children don't have any kind of " attention deficit " that can be helped with dangerous drugs that could not be better served by having parents give more of their time to them. And I mean real time, not just farming them out to more and more private lessons or sports camps. In my view, we need more talk show hosts to speak up against the rising tide of leaving no child in America undrugged and undiagnosed. Savage will be just fine without the Aflac insurance company no longer willing to advertise on his show. What a bunch of weasels. Cowards. I wonder how much stock they have in Big Pharma. I wonder if they donate money to mental health advocacy groups like CHADD or NAMI. We all need to pull together and fiercely challenge any proposal to have every child in these United States tested/screened for autism before the age of two. Clearly, proposals like this are worth protesting. They are far more in the direct interest of drug companies and the appointment books of doctors. We have allowed ourselves - especially our children as young as one years old - to become one nation under medication. Savage is not the problem. "

[Guest guest]

Fordjohnson writes regarding "free lance reporter" Tony Zizza:

He also says those who protested Savage are fakes, and that money for autism steals money away from the mentally retarded. His article is linked to the Savage main site, so it is a pretty fair assumption he was paid to back Savage.

--------------------------------------------------------------

The following email was sent to Mr. Zizza, but, alas, Tony did not bother to resond.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Tony,

Where to begin responding to your column "Savage is not the problem"?

I am the proud grandfather of a lovable eight year old, nonverbal, non-potty trained boy, who "regressed" and was diagnosed autistic just prior to three years of age. Admittedly, our family has no scientific evidence to prove his "regression" was "caused" by the numerous childhood vaccines he received, most of which contained thimerosal, a mercury based preservative then routinely found in most childhood vaccines. Unfortunately, in the five years since his "regression", public health officials have provided no scientific evidence that would "rule out" that possibility. Instead of scientific evidence, they have carefully constructed the ambiguous statement there is "no evidence of a link between vaccines and autism". Which in my opinion, is more "sophistry" than "science".

In any event, I can assure you the vast majority of the autism community that is so outraged at Mike Savage would agree with most of the observations you made in your column. We share a distrust of our federal government public health officials and their close association with large pharmaceutical companies as well as the psychiatry profession. We share the suspicions regarding "who gets to define what autism is and isn't." We know first-hand there is "no known single cause for autism". We share a deep suspicion of the motives of those who over-diagnose childhood behavior problems and prescribe mood-altering drugs as treatment.

(We are as outraged at recent AAP recommendation that 8 year olds be prescribed cholesterol lowering drugs as you and Mike are. In fact, we are so aware of the over-prescribing of drugs that we remember last year's FDA recall of popular, name-brand infant cough and cold medications that had been on the shelves of major drug outlets for decades...because they had been responsible for 7,000 annual emergency room visits for children under two. The reasons given for prescribing cholesterol drugs to 8 year olds is exactly the same reason children under 2 were prescribed cold and cough syrups....if they are safe for adults they should be considered safe for children at lower doses. It took the CDC over 30 years before they finally admitted their careless error.)

While we do share these concerns, we obviously disagree on the way Mr. Savage decided to address them. Unfortunately, Mr. Savage directed his cruel remarks towards the children themselves, which he called "brats"...and....their parents that he called "frauds and racketeers".

Indeed, had Mr. Savage directed his anger towards public health officials who have yet to explain why the CDC reports that 1 in every 6 American child suffers some type of early childhood disorder, such as, autism, allergies, asthma, juvenile type 1 diabetes, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, ADD, ADHD, etc.....the autism community would have been in total agreement. Had Savage demanded public health officials explain why the most heavily vaccinated generation in our nation's history....is so sick....the autism community would have been his loudest cheerleaders.

Consider my little guy. His "regression" occurred prior to three years of age, but, it took another three years before we discovered he had colitis, gasteronitis, with chronic highly inflamed upper and lower digestive tracts. When we finally began treating these physical problems, many of those "behaviors" that Mike finds so troubling diminished considerably, such as, spontaneous outbursts, spinning uncontrollably, head banging, hand flapping, screaming, sleepless nights for weeks on end. His sudden behavior change for the better taught us that our little guy must have been in extreme pain all those years, and, having no way of communicating his pain, he resorted to behavior that was mystifying to us. Obviously, just yelling at him to "shut up, stop screaming and running around" would have been absolutely useless to a child who was suffering excruciating pain.

I strongly disagree with your observation that " Savage deserves a lot of credit for trying to wake people up, especially parents". Trust me, the absolutely last person who needs "waking up" is my son and his lovely wife, who struggle every day trying to raise a truly autistic child. Instead, what I fear Mike has done, is embolden many strangers to take it upon themselves to publicly scorn and rebuke my son and daughter-in-law for not telling their son to "shut up, stop screaming and running around" when my grandson's heightened sensitivity to his surroundings overwhelms him. He needs compassion, not discipline.

By the way, I am 68 years of age, a retired NYC Police Department Sergeant (24 years) who was in front of WOR last Monday demanding that "Savage be Fired". I was accompanied by my "older" brother Ed, a long-time, avid listener of the Mike Savage Show. That Mike has stated we may have been "Stalinists" is beyond ludicrous, it is clearly an example of self-delusional paranoia gone wild.

My friend, Mike owes those parents of autistic children a heart-felt apology.....and....the effort to raise some of the concerns we obviously share on his national broadcast.

May the wind be always at your back and the road ahead rise up to greet you....

BOB MOFFITT

PROUD GRANDPA OF BOBBY MOFFITT, "REGRESSED" FIVE YEARS

SLOATSBURG, NEW YORKGet fantasy football with free live scoring. Sign up for FanHouse Fantasy Football today.

[Guest guest]

really good letter Bob. He probably wouldn't know how to respond to your letter: it's way too honest.

maurine

Subject: Re: Freelance reporter Tony Zizza backs Savage, says poor parenting to blame.To: EOHarm Date: Saturday, July 26, 2008, 7:59 AM

Fordjohnson writes regarding "free lance reporter" Tony Zizza:

He also says those who protested Savage are fakes, and that money for autism steals money away from the mentally retarded. His article is linked to the Savage main site, so it is a pretty fair assumption he was paid to back Savage.

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -----

The following email was sent to Mr. Zizza, but, alas, Tony did not bother to resond.

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ----

Dear Tony,

Where to begin responding to your column "Savage is not the problem"?

I am the proud grandfather of a lovable eight year old, nonverbal, non-potty trained boy, who "regressed" and was diagnosed autistic just prior to three years of age. Admittedly, our family has no scientific evidence to prove his "regression" was "caused" by the numerous childhood vaccines he received, most of which contained thimerosal, a mercury based preservative then routinely found in most childhood vaccines. Unfortunately, in the five years since his "regression" , public health officials have provided no scientific evidence that would "rule out" that possibility. Instead of scientific evidence, they have carefully constructed the ambiguous statement there is "no evidence of a link between vaccines and autism". Which in my opinion, is more "sophistry" than "science".

In any event, I can assure you the vast majority of the autism community that is so outraged at Mike Savage would agree with most of the observations you made in your column. We share a distrust of our federal government public health officials and their close association with large pharmaceutical companies as well as the psychiatry profession. We share the suspicions regarding "who gets to define what autism is and isn't." We know first-hand there is "no known single cause for autism". We share a deep suspicion of the motives of those who over-diagnose childhood behavior problems and prescribe mood-altering drugs as treatment.

(We are as outraged at recent AAP recommendation that 8 year olds be prescribed cholesterol lowering drugs as you and Mike are. In fact, we are so aware of the over-prescribing of drugs that we remember last year's FDA recall of popular, name-brand infant cough and cold medications that had been on the shelves of major drug outlets for decades...because they had been responsible for 7,000 annual emergency room visits for children under two. The reasons given for prescribing cholesterol drugs to 8 year olds is exactly the same reason children under 2 were prescribed cold and cough syrups....if they are safe for adults they should be considered safe for children at lower doses. It took the CDC over 30 years before they finally admitted their careless error.)

While we do share these concerns, we obviously disagree on the way Mr. Savage decided to address them. Unfortunately, Mr. Savage directed his cruel remarks towards the children themselves, which he called "brats"...and. ...their parents that he called "frauds and racketeers".

Indeed, had Mr. Savage directed his anger towards public health officials who have yet to explain why the CDC reports that 1 in every 6 American child suffers some type of early childhood disorder, such as, autism, allergies, asthma, juvenile type 1 diabetes, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, ADD, ADHD, etc.....the autism community would have been in total agreement. Had Savage demanded public health officials explain why the most heavily vaccinated generation in our nation's history....is so sick....the autism community would have been his loudest cheerleaders.

Consider my little guy. His "regression" occurred prior to three years of age, but, it took another three years before we discovered he had colitis, gasteronitis, with chronic highly inflamed upper and lower digestive tracts. When we finally began treating these physical problems, many of those "behaviors" that Mike finds so troubling diminished considerably, such as, spontaneous outbursts, spinning uncontrollably, head banging, hand flapping, screaming, sleepless nights for weeks on end. His sudden behavior change for the better taught us that our little guy must have been in extreme pain all those years, and, having no way of communicating his pain, he resorted to behavior that was mystifying to us. Obviously, just yelling at him to "shut up, stop screaming and running around" would have been absolutely useless to a child who was suffering excruciating pain.

I strongly disagree with your observation that " Savage deserves a lot of credit for trying to wake people up, especially parents". Trust me, the absolutely last person who needs "waking up" is my son and his lovely wife, who struggle every day trying to raise a truly autistic child. Instead, what I fear Mike has done, is embolden many strangers to take it upon themselves to publicly scorn and rebuke my son and daughter-in- law for not telling their son to "shut up, stop screaming and running around" when my grandson's heightened sensitivity to his surroundings overwhelms him. He needs compassion, not discipline.

By the way, I am 68 years of age, a retired NYC Police Department Sergeant (24 years) who was in front of WOR last Monday demanding that "Savage be Fired". I was accompanied by my "older" brother Ed, a long-time, avid listener of the Mike Savage Show. That Mike has stated we may have been "Stalinists" is beyond ludicrous, it is clearly an example of self-delusional paranoia gone wild.

My friend, Mike owes those parents of autistic children a heart-felt apology..... and....the effort to raise some of the concerns we obviously share on his national broadcast.

May the wind be always at your back and the road ahead rise up to greet you....

BOB MOFFITT

PROUD GRANDPA OF BOBBY MOFFITT, "REGRESSED" FIVE YEARS

SLOATSBURG, NEW YORK

Get fantasy football with free live scoring. Sign up for FanHouse Fantasy Football today.

[Guest guest]

Wow, great letter!

>

>

> Fordjohnson writes regarding " free lance reporter " Tony Zizza:

>

> He also says those who protested Savage are fakes, and that money

> for autism steals money away from the mentally retarded. His

article

> is linked to the Savage main site, so it is a pretty fair

assumption

> he was paid to back Savage.

> --------------------------------------------------------------

> The following email was sent to Mr. Zizza, but, alas, Tony did not

bother to

> resond.

> -------------------------------------------------------------

>

> Dear Tony,

>

> Where to begin responding to your column " Savage is not the

problem " ?

>

> I am the proud grandfather of a lovable eight year old,

nonverbal,

> non-potty trained boy, who " regressed " and was diagnosed autistic

just prior to

> three years of age. Admittedly, our family has no scientific

evidence to

> prove his " regression " was " caused " by the numerous childhood

vaccines he

> received, most of which contained thimerosal, a mercury based

preservative then

> routinely found in most childhood vaccines. Unfortunately, in the

five years

> since his " regression " , public health officials have provided no

scientific

> evidence that would " rule out " that possibility. Instead of

scientific evidence,

> they have carefully constructed the ambiguous statement there

is " no

> evidence of a link between vaccines and autism " . Which in my

opinion, is more

> " sophistry " than " science " .

>

> In any event, I can assure you the vast majority of the

autism

> community that is so outraged at Mike Savage would agree with most

of the

> observations you made in your column. We share a distrust of our

federal government

> public health officials and their close association with large

pharmaceutical

> companies as well as the psychiatry profession. We share the

suspicions

> regarding " who gets to define what autism is and isn't. " We know

first-hand there

> is " no known single cause for autism " . We share a deep suspicion

of the

> motives of those who over-diagnose childhood behavior problems and

prescribe

> mood-altering drugs as treatment.

>

> (We are as outraged at recent AAP recommendation that 8 year

olds be

> prescribed cholesterol lowering drugs as you and Mike are. In

fact, we are so

> aware of the over-prescribing of drugs that we remember last

year's FDA

> recall of popular, name-brand infant cough and cold medications

that had been on

> the shelves of major drug outlets for decades...because they had

been

> responsible for 7,000 annual emergency room visits for children

under two. The

> reasons given for prescribing cholesterol drugs to 8 year olds is

exactly the same

> reason children under 2 were prescribed cold and cough

syrups....if they are

> safe for adults they should be considered safe for children at

lower doses.

> It took the CDC over 30 years before they finally admitted their

careless

> error.)

>

> While we do share these concerns, we obviously disagree on

the way Mr.

> Savage decided to address them. Unfortunately, Mr. Savage

directed his cruel

> remarks towards the children themselves, which he called

> " brats " ...and....their parents that he called " frauds and

racketeers " .

>

> Indeed, had Mr. Savage directed his anger towards public

health

> officials who have yet to explain why the CDC reports that 1 in

every 6 American

> child suffers some type of early childhood disorder, such as,

autism, allergies,

> asthma, juvenile type 1 diabetes, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis,

ADD, ADHD,

> etc.....the autism community would have been in total agreement.

Had Savage

> demanded public health officials explain why the most heavily

vaccinated

> generation in our nation's history....is so sick....the autism

community would

> have been his loudest cheerleaders.

>

> Consider my little guy. His " regression " occurred prior to

three years

> of age, but, it took another three years before we discovered he

had

> colitis, gasteronitis, with chronic highly inflamed upper and

lower digestive

> tracts. When we finally began treating these physical problems,

many of those

> " behaviors " that Mike finds so troubling diminished considerably,

such as,

> spontaneous outbursts, spinning uncontrollably, head banging, hand

flapping,

> screaming, sleepless nights for weeks on end. His sudden behavior

change for the

> better taught us that our little guy must have been in extreme

pain all those

> years, and, having no way of communicating his pain, he resorted

to behavior

> that was mystifying to us. Obviously, just yelling at him

to " shut up, stop

> screaming and running around " would have been absolutely useless

to a child

> who was suffering excruciating pain.

>

> I strongly disagree with your observation that "

Savage deserves

> a lot of credit for trying to wake people up, especially

parents " . Trust

> me, the absolutely last person who needs " waking up " is my son and

his lovely

> wife, who struggle every day trying to raise a truly autistic

child. Instead,

> what I fear Mike has done, is embolden many strangers to take it

upon

> themselves to publicly scorn and rebuke my son and daughter-in-law

for not telling

> their son to " shut up, stop screaming and running around " when my

grandson's

> heightened sensitivity to his surroundings overwhelms him. He

needs

> compassion, not discipline.

>

> By the way, I am 68 years of age, a retired NYC Police

Department

> Sergeant (24 years) who was in front of WOR last Monday demanding

that " Savage be

> Fired " . I was accompanied by my " older " brother Ed, a long-time,

avid

> listener of the Mike Savage Show. That Mike has stated we may

have been

> " Stalinists " is beyond ludicrous, it is clearly an example of self-

delusional paranoia

> gone wild.

>

> My friend, Mike owes those parents of autistic children a

heart-felt

> apology.....and....the effort to raise some of the concerns we

obviously share

> on his national broadcast.

>

> May the wind be always at your back and the road ahead rise

up to greet

> you....

>

> BOB MOFFITT

> PROUD GRANDPA OF BOBBY MOFFITT, " REGRESSED " FIVE YEARS

> SLOATSBURG, NEW YORK

>

>

>

>

> **************Get fantasy football with free live scoring. Sign up

for

> FanHouse Fantasy Football today.

> (http://www.fanhouse.com/fantasyaffair?ncid=aolspr00050000000020)

>

[Guest guest]

Great, great, great response!!!!!One of my favorite posts in a while. Sent via BlackBerry by AT&TFrom: Rmoffi@...Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2008 07:59:09 EDTTo: <EOHarm >Subject: Re: Freelance reporter Tony Zizza backs Savage, says poor parenting to blame. Fordjohnson writes regarding "free lance reporter" Tony Zizza: He also says those who protested Savage are fakes, and that money for autism steals money away from the mentally retarded. His article is linked to the Savage main site, so it is a pretty fair assumption he was paid to back Savage.--------------------------------------------------------------The following email was sent to Mr. Zizza, but, alas, Tony did not bother to resond.------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Tony, Where to begin responding to your column "Savage is not the problem"? I am the proud grandfather of a lovable eight year old, nonverbal, non-potty trained boy, who "regressed" and was diagnosed autistic just prior to three years of age. Admittedly, our family has no scientific evidence to prove his "regression" was "caused" by the numerous childhood vaccines he received, most of which contained thimerosal, a mercury based preservative then routinely found in most childhood vaccines. Unfortunately, in the five years since his "regression", public health officials have provided no scientific evidence that would "rule out" that possibility. Instead of scientific evidence, they have carefully constructed the ambiguous statement there is "no evidence of a link between vaccines and autism". Which in my opinion, is more "sophistry" than "science". In any event, I can assure you the vast majority of the autism community that is so outraged at Mike Savage would agree with most of the observations you made in your column. We share a distrust of our federal government public health officials and their close association with large pharmaceutical companies as well as the psychiatry profession. We share the suspicions regarding "who gets to define what autism is and isn't." We know first-hand there is "no known single cause for autism". We share a deep suspicion of the motives of those who over-diagnose childhood behavior problems and prescribe mood-altering drugs as treatment. (We are as outraged at recent AAP recommendation that 8 year olds be prescribed cholesterol lowering drugs as you and Mike are. In fact, we are so aware of the over-prescribing of drugs that we remember last year's FDA recall of popular, name-brand infant cough and cold medications that had been on the shelves of major drug outlets for decades...because they had been responsible for 7,000 annual emergency room visits for children under two. The reasons given for prescribing cholesterol drugs to 8 year olds is exactly the same reason children under 2 were prescribed cold and cough syrups....if they are safe for adults they should be considered safe for children at lower doses. It took the CDC over 30 years before they finally admitted their careless error.) While we do share these concerns, we obviously disagree on the way Mr. Savage decided to address them. Unfortunately, Mr. Savage directed his cruel remarks towards the children themselves, which he called "brats"...and....their parents that he called "frauds and racketeers". Indeed, had Mr. Savage directed his anger towards public health officials who have yet to explain why the CDC reports that 1 in every 6 American child suffers some type of early childhood disorder, such as, autism, allergies, asthma, juvenile type 1 diabetes, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, ADD, ADHD, etc.....the autism community would have been in total agreement. Had Savage demanded public health officials explain why the most heavily vaccinated generation in our nation's history....is so sick....the autism community would have been his loudest cheerleaders. Consider my little guy. His "regression" occurred prior to three years of age, but, it took another three years before we discovered he had colitis, gasteronitis, with chronic highly inflamed upper and lower digestive tracts. When we finally began treating these physical problems, many of those "behaviors" that Mike finds so troubling diminished considerably, such as, spontaneous outbursts, spinning uncontrollably, head banging, hand flapping, screaming, sleepless nights for weeks on end. His sudden behavior change for the better taught us that our little guy must have been in extreme pain all those years, and, having no way of communicating his pain, he resorted to behavior that was mystifying to us. Obviously, just yelling at him to "shut up, stop screaming and running around" would have been absolutely useless to a child who was suffering excruciating pain. I strongly disagree with your observation that " Savage deserves a lot of credit for trying to wake people up, especially parents". Trust me, the absolutely last person who needs "waking up" is my son and his lovely wife, who struggle every day trying to raise a truly autistic child. Instead, what I fear Mike has done, is embolden many strangers to take it upon themselves to publicly scorn and rebuke my son and daughter-in-law for not telling their son to "shut up, stop screaming and running around" when my grandson's heightened sensitivity to his surroundings overwhelms him. He needs compassion, not discipline. By the way, I am 68 years of age, a retired NYC Police Department Sergeant (24 years) who was in front of WOR last Monday demanding that "Savage be Fired". I was accompanied by my "older" brother Ed, a long-time, avid listener of the Mike Savage Show. That Mike has stated we may have been "Stalinists" is beyond ludicrous, it is clearly an example of self-delusional paranoia gone wild. My friend, Mike owes those parents of autistic children a heart-felt apology.....and....the effort to raise some of the concerns we obviously share on his national broadcast. May the wind be always at your back and the road ahead rise up to greet you.... BOB MOFFITTPROUD GRANDPA OF BOBBY MOFFITT, "REGRESSED" FIVE YEARSSLOATSBURG, NEW YORKGet fantasy football with free live scoring. Sign up for FanHouse Fantasy Football today.

[Guest guest]

, I am grateful that you found my letter worthy to pass on......please....feel free to send it as far and wide as you can.

BobGet fantasy football with free live scoring. Sign up for FanHouse Fantasy Football today.

[Guest guest]

Excellent letter. You covered ALL the bases!

Kristie

[Guest guest]

Excellent letter. I don't know that some of these loud mouths really

have a heart but some are smart enough to know that the public might.

Such a frank, moving portrait of a family's struggle and realizations

would reach a lot of people. This might quell this particular big

mouth, or it might make him work harder to harden the hearts of his

followers against the movement. IMHO, this strategy might be bound to

backfire because these types invariably go to far and alienate. So I

think you succeed either way.

>

>

> Fordjohnson writes regarding " free lance reporter " Tony Zizza:

>

> He also says those who protested Savage are fakes, and that money

> for autism steals money away from the mentally retarded. His article

> is linked to the Savage main site, so it is a pretty fair assumption

> he was paid to back Savage.

> --------------------------------------------------------------

> The following email was sent to Mr. Zizza, but, alas, Tony did not

bother to

> resond.

> -------------------------------------------------------------

>

> Dear Tony,

>

[Guest guest]

Bob, what a wonderful response. May I share it off-list? We are

experiencing the backlash of folks agreeing that autism is a lack of

discipline! My dh just this morning heard on a medical radio show a

psychiatrist say that bad parenting caused autism!! I will once

again be contacting that station manager....

BTW - if any of you are available tonight, 7 pm pacific time,

www.kfyi.com has live streaming audio. They are supposed to have a

show on autism in response to Savage's brutal remarks.

Unfortunately, most of our biomed parents will be at an ASA event in

Phoenix; a BIG event, so will not be calling in. Would love to have

some of you help us out by listening and calling!

>

>

> Fordjohnson writes regarding " free lance reporter " Tony Zizza:

>

> He also says those who protested Savage are fakes, and that money

> for autism steals money away from the mentally retarded. His

article

> is linked to the Savage main site, so it is a pretty fair

assumption

> he was paid to back Savage.

> --------------------------------------------------------------

> The following email was sent to Mr. Zizza, but, alas, Tony did

not bother to

> resond.

> -------------------------------------------------------------

>

> Dear Tony,

>

> Where to begin responding to your column " Savage is not the

problem " ?

>

> I am the proud grandfather of a lovable eight year old,

nonverbal,

> non-potty trained boy, who " regressed " and was diagnosed autistic

just prior to

> three years of age. Admittedly, our family has no scientific

evidence to

> prove his " regression " was " caused " by the numerous childhood

vaccines he

> received, most of which contained thimerosal, a mercury based

preservative then

> routinely found in most childhood vaccines. Unfortunately, in

the five years

> since his " regression " , public health officials have provided no

scientific

> evidence that would " rule out " that possibility. Instead of

scientific evidence,

> they have carefully constructed the ambiguous statement there

is " no

> evidence of a link between vaccines and autism " . Which in my

opinion, is more

> " sophistry " than " science " .

>

> In any event, I can assure you the vast majority of the

autism

> community that is so outraged at Mike Savage would agree with

most of the

> observations you made in your column. We share a distrust of our

federal government

> public health officials and their close association with large

pharmaceutical

> companies as well as the psychiatry profession. We share the

suspicions

> regarding " who gets to define what autism is and isn't. " We know

first-hand there

> is " no known single cause for autism " . We share a deep suspicion

of the

> motives of those who over-diagnose childhood behavior problems

and prescribe

> mood-altering drugs as treatment.

>

> (We are as outraged at recent AAP recommendation that 8 year

olds be

> prescribed cholesterol lowering drugs as you and Mike are. In

fact, we are so

> aware of the over-prescribing of drugs that we remember last

year's FDA

> recall of popular, name-brand infant cough and cold medications

that had been on

> the shelves of major drug outlets for decades...because they had

been

> responsible for 7,000 annual emergency room visits for children

under two. The

> reasons given for prescribing cholesterol drugs to 8 year olds is

exactly the same

> reason children under 2 were prescribed cold and cough

syrups....if they are

> safe for adults they should be considered safe for children at

lower doses.

> It took the CDC over 30 years before they finally admitted their

careless

> error.)

>

> While we do share these concerns, we obviously disagree on

the way Mr.

> Savage decided to address them. Unfortunately, Mr. Savage

directed his cruel

> remarks towards the children themselves, which he called

> " brats " ...and....their parents that he called " frauds and

racketeers " .

>

> Indeed, had Mr. Savage directed his anger towards public

health

> officials who have yet to explain why the CDC reports that 1 in

every 6 American

> child suffers some type of early childhood disorder, such as,

autism, allergies,

> asthma, juvenile type 1 diabetes, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis,

ADD, ADHD,

> etc.....the autism community would have been in total agreement.

Had Savage

> demanded public health officials explain why the most heavily

vaccinated

> generation in our nation's history....is so sick....the autism

community would

> have been his loudest cheerleaders.

>

> Consider my little guy. His " regression " occurred prior to

three years

> of age, but, it took another three years before we discovered he

had

> colitis, gasteronitis, with chronic highly inflamed upper and

lower digestive

> tracts. When we finally began treating these physical problems,

many of those

> " behaviors " that Mike finds so troubling diminished considerably,

such as,

> spontaneous outbursts, spinning uncontrollably, head banging,

hand flapping,

> screaming, sleepless nights for weeks on end. His sudden

behavior change for the

> better taught us that our little guy must have been in extreme

pain all those

> years, and, having no way of communicating his pain, he resorted

to behavior

> that was mystifying to us. Obviously, just yelling at him

to " shut up, stop

> screaming and running around " would have been absolutely useless

to a child

> who was suffering excruciating pain.

>

> I strongly disagree with your observation that "

Savage deserves

> a lot of credit for trying to wake people up, especially

parents " . Trust

> me, the absolutely last person who needs " waking up " is my son

and his lovely

> wife, who struggle every day trying to raise a truly autistic

child. Instead,

> what I fear Mike has done, is embolden many strangers to take it

upon

> themselves to publicly scorn and rebuke my son and daughter-in-

law for not telling

> their son to " shut up, stop screaming and running around " when my

grandson's

> heightened sensitivity to his surroundings overwhelms him. He

needs

> compassion, not discipline.

>

> By the way, I am 68 years of age, a retired NYC Police

Department

> Sergeant (24 years) who was in front of WOR last Monday demanding

that " Savage be

> Fired " . I was accompanied by my " older " brother Ed, a long-time,

avid

> listener of the Mike Savage Show. That Mike has stated we may

have been

> " Stalinists " is beyond ludicrous, it is clearly an example of

self-delusional paranoia

> gone wild.

>

> My friend, Mike owes those parents of autistic children a

heart-felt

> apology.....and....the effort to raise some of the concerns we

obviously share

> on his national broadcast.

>

> May the wind be always at your back and the road ahead rise

up to greet

> you....

>

> BOB MOFFITT

> PROUD GRANDPA OF BOBBY MOFFITT, " REGRESSED " FIVE YEARS

> SLOATSBURG, NEW YORK

>

>

>

>

> **************Get fantasy football with free live scoring. Sign up

for

> FanHouse Fantasy Football today.

> (http://www.fanhouse.com/fantasyaffair?ncid=aolspr00050000000020)

>