WaPo via SJ Mercury News:

A special court that will pit scientists against activists in the debate over whether vaccines have caused autism in many children begins hearings today with the first test case, involving a 12-year-old Arizona girl.Although science has weighed in heavily on the question - with strong evidence that vaccines are not linked to the disease - a very vocal group of people remains unconvinced.

More than 4,800 cases are pending, filed by parents who believe their children have autism that was caused by vaccines. The little-known US Court of Federal Claims has set up an omnibus hearing in Washington, DC, with the first case expected to last three weeks.

The parents are seeking payment under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, a no-fault system that has a $US2.5 billion ($2.9 billion) fund built up from a 75-cent-per-dose tax on vaccines.

I don't pretend to have any special medical knowledge, so I will link both sides on the thimerosal debate: Robert Kennedy, Jr. pointing to causation and suspected cover up and Arthur Allen on why thimerosal is safe in his opinion.

Thirty-nine years ago today, we lost Robert Kennedy. Jim Booth at Scholars and Rogues writes about what Bobby meant to him.

Sometimes you have to wonder what goes through the minds of people before they say certain things. Bo has some Tom Tancredo coarsing through his veins. Get your pigs blood ready.

Download | play -WMP

Download | play -QT

(transcript excerpts by emailer Bill and a hat tip)

.."You got a bunch of people over there about 9000 what they call royal family. They're all inbreds they marry each other"... "This is how we have to interfere, they can't police their own if they can't stop the terrorism that they are exporting we have to go in there"....

ABC Bosses Tell ABC News Kill The Interviews With Robert Kennedy Jr. …

via Huffington Post: ABC corporate executives at the network's highest levels ordered
three interviews with Robert Kennedy Jr. pulled from ABC News programming. The interviews all centered around Mr. Kennedy's investigation of thimerosal, a mercury based preservative, used in vaccines given to
children and believed to be responsible for increasing cases of neurological diseases including autism.

Mr. Kennedy's interviews were slated for prime shows ABC World News
Tonight, 20/20, and Good Morning America. Salon.com and Rolling Stone Magazine have exclusive rights to Mr. Kennedy’s article and they embargoed his story on other networks because of his arrangement with ABC...read on