Bobby the Fabulist

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

When I was a child our sources for bedtime stories were generally limited to the ancient Greek, Aesop, who specialized in collecting fables, tales with morality lessons, and the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm.  That pool of available fiction should be much wider and deeper for coming generations of little people thanks to the growing body of work by America's pre-eminent medical fabulist, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

RFK, Jr, who seems to have been chosen for his current government gig based on his outlandish medical beliefs, is certainly delivering the goods that his political benefactor wanted, but he did experience a recent rough patch with regard to the measles outbreak in Texas and New Mexico.  That situation, where at least two children and one adult, all unvaccinated, have died (so far) from the highly contagious disease, brought about an astounding admission from that HHS Secretary that the best defense against the measles virus is inoculation with the MMR vaccine.  

Kennedy, a long-term opponent of vaccinations, especially for children, undoubtedly went through some serious soul-searching in order to come up with that piece of highly practical advice.   But losing a battle does not mean that he has given up his war on modern medicine.

Last week the governor of Utah signed legislation which prevents cities and communities in his state from adding fluoride to the drinking water.  Secretary Kennedy, a long-standing opponent of public water fluoridation was in Utah this week to praise the state's bold action, a move that is opposed by dentists and national health organizations.  Kennedy, who has no power to remove fluoride anywhere, does have control over health recommendations which are promoted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and on Monday Kennedy announced, in Utah, that he plans to tell the CDC to stop recommending the fluoridation of water supplies in communities nationwide.

Kennedy's fluoride edict will have a greater negative impact on poor people - and their children - than it will on people who are able to make regular visits to the dentist.  Fluoride may be applied at a personal level through toothpaste and mouth wash, but the better treatments come from dentists, and people who aren't able to visit dentists sometimes lack the knowledge or means for proper dental care in the home.  A fluoridated water supply helps to correct that imbalance in dental health and protection - but now that will be disappearing.

Thanks for nothing, Bobby.

But that wasn't all.    Kennedy, who resembles Trump in some respects, and who likes to overwhelm his subjects  with a a more-or-less constant assault of outrages, announced a major effort this week to find the cause of autism.  Kennedy said that a group of highly qualified researchers from around the world will look at many factors and have an announcement five months from now - September 2025 - that will identify the causes of autism and help to prevent exposure to those factors.

Here are a few of the problems with Bobby's moon shot:  

• He has already overseen cuts in both budget and staffing to HHS, the Centers for Disease Control, and the National Institutes of Health. Who is going to do this miracle research and how the hell are they going to pay for it?  Has anybody run this past Elon and Big Balls?
• The Secretary has a history of trying to link autism with childhood vaccinations, a theory that has been discredited by competent medical researchers.
• One person recently hired by RFK, Jr, to work in this research is a highly discredited individual who has a long history of trying to link autism to childhood vaccinations, and who was fined by the state of Maryland for practicing medicine without a license.
• The Secretary is not revealing details about how his research will be accomplished, how it will be funded, or how much it will cost.
• The major autism support organizations in America do not seem to be on board with Kennedy's effort.

Push on, Bobby.  Maybe you will be able to get autism under control before the big polio resurgence - and all of that "research" will undoubtedly help sell a few books once you leave office - which hopefully will not be too far in the future.

But back to fairy tales, where this screed began:   I am working on an idea for a modern fairy tale with a medical theme.  It involves a brain worm who dies in his human host but later regenerates, as worms sometimes do.  The worm decides that he wants to be a doctor and practice medicine, but, alas, he has grown too big to escape from his host's skull, so he goes with his second career option and decides to become a puppeteer, and he uses his puppet to practice medicine without a license - and lives happily ever after.

Okay, it needs some work!