http://www.portlandmercury.com Comments On: Portland Mercury en-us Copyright 2013 Portland Mercury. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, Portland Mercury readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact Portland Mercury. webmaster@portlandmercury.com (Portland Mercury Webmaster) Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Sat, 18 May 2013 05:30:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Posted by SugarSpill]]> Sat, 18 May 2013 04:57:24 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by Dan Germouse]]> Sat, 18 May 2013 02:41:50 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by Chunty McHutchence]]> Sat, 18 May 2013 01:32:27 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by Chunty McHutchence]]> Sat, 18 May 2013 01:28:11 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by Spaceman]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 23:37:08 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by Babygorilla]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 23:08:52 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by Ryan Thompson]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 23:08:38 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by Ryan Thompson]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 23:03:29 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by Aestro]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 22:51:41 -0700 Portland Mercury
I'm fine with vaccines. If i ever have kids, they will be vaccinated. What else? Homeopathy is bullshit. Bush wasn't in on 9/11. Tsunamis are not the result of a wrathful god. I use fluoride toothpaste (though i don't swallow it, as that would do me no good -- it works topically). Obama isn't a Nigerian-born Muslim. Astrology is rubbish. I don't mind the fact that our water is treated with scary-sounding chemicals in order to make it safe to drink. I don't think gay people are pretending. I wasn't surprised when the world didn't end last year. I don't believe the Red Coats are coming.

I also don't think that, should we end up going ahead with the fluoridation of our water, any real harm will come to anyone because of it. And i don't think there will be an imminent and immediate environmental catastrophe, with salmon and plants suddenly dying off in huge numbers. But that doesn't make this a good idea. And it doesn't mean that we can just force it on people who don't want or need it. It's not the cure-all that it's hyped to be. Not even close. Unfortunately, things just aren't that simple. Your teeth (and especially your children's) will still rot if you don't brush them and choose to drink soda all day, which are the main reasons behind poor dental health -- not a lack of fluoride. You can get all the flu shots you want, but if you go around licking door handles and sticking your filthy fingers in your nose and spending tons of time with infected people, you're still going to get the flu.

What else should we add to the water supply? I mean, if we're going to force medication on people whether they need it or not (and spend millions of dollars doing so), how about we at least focus on things that kill them in greater numbers than does tooth decay? How about throwing in some drugs to fight type-2 diabetes for the segment of the population that can't muster up the willpower to exercise and eat a better diet? What about throwing in something that reduces nicotine cravings for those of us who smoke?

OR, maybe we could all just have a little more imagination, put a little more thought into things, accept fewer lunches from lobbyists, and figure out a way to deliver these medications directly (i.e., efficiently) to those who actually need them. For fuck's sake -- we have fucking robots rolling around on Mars! I'm pretty sure we're capable of figuring out a better way to blow out a candle than to cover the entire room with fire extinguisher foam.
Posted by human in training]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 22:48:37 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by j.cas]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 22:46:54 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by Andy from Beaverton]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 22:27:59 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by kungfu]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 20:13:20 -0700 Portland Mercury finds mostly reassuring study

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/0209…
Posted by Horny Hippo]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 19:39:34 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by Horny Hippo]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 19:36:38 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by Horny Hippo]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 19:29:58 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by Spaceman]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 19:28:50 -0700 Portland Mercury
What is this thread, even? "The 9.2"? It that like... the new y2k/2012? The new End Times that the wingnuts are latching onto? Can somebody fill me in?
Posted by ForWhomTheBellTrolls]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 19:25:21 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by VeronicaHeath]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 19:24:38 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by ForWhomTheBellTrolls]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 19:08:19 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by Commenty Colin]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 18:33:22 -0700 Portland Mercury
Nobody is talking about Yahoo.
Posted by j.cas]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 17:55:57 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by TSW]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 17:48:29 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by pdxMB]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 17:47:47 -0700 Portland Mercury
What is Healthy Kids Healthy Portland doing? The same thing. Do a little research, we are not in a crisis, we are no where close to having 40% less experienced dental decay than Seattle, and there is

There is no data behind YOUR claims that you are simply repeating from claims of other groups that also have no data supporting them.

The CDC only collects data from states, it does not do it's own studies and there is no data available from them on this subject. You will only find scattered results of studies that have little benefit doing comparisons. This is the reason BOTH Clean Water AND Healthy Kids stats are so off base.

Both sides are guilty of in sighting fear.The PRO side is far more guilty on this end, especially due to it being their obligation to show why we should do this. Instead of being honest, bringing good studies to the table and detailing expected results they are only pandering and generating false crisis.

This whole debate is completely backward in that way. Nobody should be asking why we shouldn't do this. We already don't. We are already NOT doing it. Get it? The only thing anyone should focus on is why the pro side believes we MUST DO THIS NOW. Because they want to do it, NOW. Instead of that we are just getting scolded like children about how our the arguments for not doing it are not reason enough not to do it. This makes no sense.
Posted by myscreennameistaken]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 16:54:49 -0700 Portland Mercury