journalism

[Donna Halper]

>Keating wrote--
>
>BTW, this is one time when nutty Mike Savage is right. Drug 
>companies are complete slime in their efforts to advance drug 
>treatments for ADHD, sa well as Autism. Autism also occurs more 
>often the closer you are to the downwind smoke of a coal powered 
>electric utility ( the mercury levels are high) so both big coal and 
>big pharma are at fault.

Much as I love you, Keating (and I do), I find the right-wing talking 
points highly offensive.  I have been the advocate and adopted mother 
for an autistic adult for the past 24 years and I assure you he is 
not "acting", nor did he live down-wind from a power plant-- 
scientific studies repeatedly show NO link netween mercury and 
autism, even though some people (and some in the so-called "natural 
cures" industry) wish it were so.  Bottom line, the solutions are not 
always simple, and beating up on people with a very real disease is 
an outrageous use of radio time.  Not every person with autism needs 
to just "shape up."  It's a disease that is a form of brain damage, 
and every day, I wish Jeff didn't suffer from it-- and yes, he does 
suffer. Shame on you, sir.