For those who are saying, "It's the mercury."

If your child is younger than four years old, your child was not injected with a vaccine containing mercury preservative. It's not used anymore. Period.

Funny thing is, one parent who was insisting that thiomersal caused her child's autism was shown that the particular batch of vaccines her child was given definitely did not contain any thiomersal, and her reaction was, "But it must have had!"

And then there's the fact that the countries which eat the most mercury-laden fish, like Japan, don't have a higher incidence of autism. A huge study looked for evidence that pregnant women eating fish were damaging their children's brains and found the exact opposite - the more fish you ate, the smarter your children turned out. The people who ate the most fish had the children with the highest IQs.

Interestingly, instead of incorporating these findings into our recommendations, we in the US of A decided to tell pregnant women, "Okay, we guess we will admit that eating fish won't hurt you, if you restrict the amount and type of fish." In other words, the official recommendation has nothing to do with the actual science and everything to do with a superstitious fear of mercury poisoning.

If even the professionals won't give up their treasured superstitions, what can we expect from mere parents?

Cary's answer is full of nonsense from someone who talks as if he's never owned a dog. Yes, dogs know why you're using that tone of voice.

Talk to your colleagues who have brought their dogs over. The internet is a great thing - you should be able to converse with these people. Find out if they feel like they have enough time to spend with their dogs and if they think it will be a good idea for you and your dog with her issues. Don't take advice from a guy who doesn't own a dog and a bunch of strangers who have never been to Southeast Asia.

Recently people have looked into the original study to suggest a connection. They discovered that according to medical records, of 11 parents who claimed their children became autistic immediately following the vaccine, only one was telling the truth. Of the others, most had not been seen until much later, and 3 had been seen BEFORE being vaccinated.

Just a couple of days ago I read a post from a mother on OS who is convinced that vaccination caused her child's autism because he developed symptoms 15 days after the shot. 15 days is a good long time, in terms of getting over the effects of a vaccination.

Then there's another very strident mother who claims that her child had a reaction to the shot and became autistic immediately. Here's the thing, though: is she telling the truth? How do I know she's telling the truth when evidence suggests about 90% of parents who claim their children developed autism at the exact moment of the vaccine are not?

Memory is a flexible thing - not all of these parents are deliberately lying. Some are absolutely sure - of the wrong information. But when you start telling other people to do something that's likely to kill someone, you better be not only sure but right.

Actually I do believe in marriage vows. They are taken by two people. When one person does everything, there's no marriage.

If he's willing to wake up and start pulling his weight, absolutely she should give him the chance. If he's not willing, well, a life of slavery, verbal abuse, and contempt isn't acceptable.

Hi! Please don't make up lies about me. At no point did I say, hint, or insinuate that people who don't think as I do are idiots.

I did say that statements that Obama is a Muslim (he's not), a terrorist (he's not), or that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11 (he didn't) are idiotic statements. And I'll stand by that. These aren't matters of people not thinking as I think, they are matters of fact. Some people are lying and others believe those lies.

But what I said wasn't good enough, so you made up lies about me, you big liar! That's what Republicans do in their spare time, log on and tell lies.

And here's another big fat liar pretending that we're all outraged because Sarah Palin was upset by her daughter getting pregnant. No one feels that way; no one said such a thing. How do you live with yourselves? Don't you sometimes feel as if your heads are going to explode from all the lies inside them?

Really the Republican comments on this article are things of beauty. There's an old joke about an interviewer who asks a man, "So when did you stop beating your wife?" There's no right answer to the question, since it starts not with an accusation, but with an assumption of false facts.

Look down a bit at a letter by tinafeyisahag, which contains this:

She wanted to make sure other kids didn't look on this romantically, so tried to let them know what hard work it is. Bristol Palin in no way, shape, or form advocated for abortion or indicated she wished she had an abortion.

This letters starts from the assumption that Traister in her article claimed Bristol Palin indicated she wished she had an abortion. But that's, oops, a LIE! Traister never said any such thing! What she said is that Bristol said she wishes she had waited 10 years. Abortion isn't the subject. tinafeyisahag pulled that rabbit out of her very own hat.

Almost all the Republicans posting on this article attempt similar sleight-of-hand. Problem is, they've missed their audience - not one person reading this is taken in by their tricks. But it's still useful to see them in action; it explains how so many Republicans are tricked into believing idiotic statements in the first place. Obama is a Muslim. And a Terrorist. And Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11. If you repeat a lie, it gains power.