Jackson Jambalaya

Confused about why this is "released" under Delbert's official state title which, as I understand, has nothing to do with the subject of autism. Not saying this isn't a good thing nor saying Hoseman family's work in this area is not commendable. Just don't see how this relates to his work as Sec. of State.

Dr. Kanner coined the term “autism” 70 years ago. Autism was so rare at that time that Kanner, the father of American childhood psychiatry, described the disorder as “a behavior pattern not known to me or anyone else theretofore.” When researchers conducted the first surveys of autism prevalence in the mid-1960s through the 1980s, results indicated that around 1 in 2,500 children had autism. Its prevalence remained fairly stable until the generation born in 1989. That year the CDC dramatically changed the vaccine schedule, increasing mercury exposures to American children from 70 to 237.5 mcg before age two. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency calls 1989 “The Gateway Year,” because of the epidemic of neurodevelopmental and immune system diseases that suddenly appeared in children born that year and afterward, including ADD, ADHD, speech delay, tics, Tourette syndrome, SIDS, narcolepsy, seizure disorder, asthma, food allergies, and, of course, autism. Virtually all of these ailments were exceedingly rare prior to 1989.
Peer-reviewed science links all of these illnesses to mercury exposure. According to the CDC, a shocking 1 in 6 American children now suffer from developmental disabilities. The agency’s estimated prevalence rates of autism in the U.S., according to its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, is 1 in 150 children in the 2007 report that looked at 2000 and 2002 data, 1 in 110 children in the 2009 report that looked at 2006 data, 1 in 88 children in the 2012 report that looked at 2008 data and 1 in 68 children in the 2014 report that looked at 2010 data with the current rate of 1 in 42 among boys.
A threadworm tactic employed for a decade by Big Pharma and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and their allies to combat the scientific evidence that the autism explosion is a manmade epidemic of recent origins has been to hint that there is no autism epidemic at all. Public health agencies maintain a disciplined refusal to call the disease’s sudden explosion an “epidemic” or “crisis” and actively discourage scientific investigations of environmental triggers.
“You will never ever hear CDC characterizing the autism explosion as a crisis or an epidemic,” Dr. Brian Hooker, Simpson University epidemiologist, said. “So long as there is no epidemic, no one needs to look for the environmental trigger.”The last sentence is Bull Crap!

Mike Chaney is the man to thank for making insurance companies pay for the treatment of Autism. Delbert is trying to take credit for this and going around saying that he met with Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney and together, they got the insurance companies to get on board. This is not true. Chaney met with Delbert one time for about ten (10) minutes and is now going around and taking credit! Chaney made the call and the insurance companies complied. Dilbert did nothing, other than trying to take credit, where no credit is due!

11:07 - obviously you haven't been clued in. Delbert Hosemann believes that he, being the smartest person in the room, should be in charge of everything. Leave nothing to chance, just turn it over and Delbert can handle it. Doesn't have to be anything at all related to the office of the Secretary of State, the office he is elected to oversee. He should be a monarch, if we could just get rid of this legislative/executive form of republican government here in the state.

If anyone has questioned the operation of the legislature these past few years, with what they feel is a heavy handed approach by the Lt Gov (obviously would have to be a young person that doesn't remember the days of Lt Governors and Speakers that ruled with much larger hammers, treating all legislators except for a few as their nails, but I digress) those folks will be in for a real shock when/if Delbert becomes LG. At that point, everybody else might as well stay at home - Delbert himself will know what should be done and how.

And of course, he can handle autism along the way, just for the hell of it.

I agree with 11:07. There is no reasonable excuse for Hoseman in his official capacity as an elected official to issue this press release on state time or to have his clerical staff type it up on state time or for him to spend time on OUR CLOCK in his efforts involving autism. We did not elect him to do that and we do not pay him to do that. Nor do we pay his clerical staff to do it.

He has proven to be unhinged and unrepentant in this regard and this clearly signals the path he will follow in the rest of his political life.

What if he were a well-placed, tournament-winning crappie fisherman? Some of us are really emotionally invested in that too.

In 2015, the Legislature created the Mississippi Autism Board, which falls under the purview of the MSSOS. This is directly under Delbert's scope: http://sos.ms.gov/autismboard/Documents/Autism%20Board%20Regulations%20Final.pdf

Obviously the political cure for Autism in this state will be school vouchers. Vouchers will enable those special parents to have their "entitled" autistic children to be given the "special" care and education they deserve at the expense of the lesser deserving children of "common working people." I foresee that even Prep schools will soon be available through state vouchers.

Go Get'em Dealbert.

@12:41- that’s odd. So why do you think that might be? No other regulatory board for licensed professionals is under the Secretary of State’s office. It’s inappropriate and inconsistent with other boards. Why do you think that happened? It’s because he put the board under his office so that he could have control over it. Everyone disagreed with it when he did it but couldn’t convince him to change. And everyone was too scared to push because of his excessive involvement due to his grandson. Definitely outside his scope; but he did it anyway.

Is 11:29 what we call and "anti-vaxxer"? I think we're all going to hell in a hand-car because the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, unleashing a secret group of Nazis who have been continuing the medical experiments started under Hitler.

11:22 - your post is a classic example of fake news. Autistic people have always been here but no one recognized autism as a medical condition separate and apart from the numerous co-morbid psychiatric conditions that usually accompany autism such as anxiety and depressive disorders, bi-polar and schizophrenia, ADHD, and many others. Jails and psychiatric facilities house people with Autism Spectrum Disorder because their social/communication deficiencies and co-morbid mental illnesses lead them to commit crimes or to otherwise act in manners so abnormal that they are locked up for their own protection and that of society.

Autism is primarily genetic and runs in families. It is common for families to have multiple autistic children, conceived and born in different locations on different dates, some of whom were vaccinated and some who were not. People in their 50's, 60's and 70's are routinely being diagnosed with autism today. We now have a much better understanding of the neurological brain differences that account for autism and the genes that contribute to the failure of the brain to develop normally during pregnancy.

Vaccines do not cause autism. But people like you will never believe that until we are able to diagnose autism in a 7 month old fetus. Autism is, in essence, a brain deformity. Infants are born autistic; they don't suddenly become autistic when they are 4 years old.

Please educate yourself about this developmental disorder and quit contributing to the ignorance and fear-mongering about vaccines that are causing parents to forgo vaccinating their children for mumps, measles, and other horrible diseases that can kill victims and cause horrific birth defects in unborn fetuses exposed to these viruses in utero.

Burke - I don't know who might be an anti-vaxer, but I do know there ain't no 11:29. There's a booster shot to help you pay attention....if you're interested.

11:31. I'm shocked! Shocked, I say, Shocked! You mean to tell me that Dilbert is taking credit for something that he had absolutely nothing to do with (other than his personal interest) its creation? Shocked!

I just can't imagine Dibbert jumping into someone else's sandbox where he has no business being - and looking for another reason he can claim his superiority.

Maybe we could just send him back to his park bench so that he can make his claims to his favorite little ole' lady. Problem is - too many little ole ladies in this state think he is cool because of his stupid commercial (that he continues to play, even using state dollars to do so) so that they have bought into his own importance.

Shocked! Next thing you are going to tell me is that there is gambling going on along the Mississippi River (something else Dilbert is trying to claim control over.)

Right wing radio celeb Michael Savage voiced his opinion that autism and other mental debilitating childhood diseases were being blamed for the behavior of young boys whose greatest need was frequent kicks in the ass to overcome their laziness and self indulgence. He was sure that too many mothers and grandmothers were looking for a convenient "victimhood" to blame for the delinquencies of their children. As rarely happens I agreed somewhat with Savage but the insulted family members of the indulgent boys immediately trashed Savage off the air in several states including Mississippi.

Obviously, when it comes to their little boys Mississippi females refuse to accept that shortcoming could be blamed on their parenting or their child's disposition and have jumped hard on vaccines causing autism as the certain cause of their problems and demand that every effort be made by the state and federal government to take care of their issues regardless of cost. And of course here in Mississippi cutting the budgets for all the children of common working class people to remedy the victims of vaccines is just good sense especially when corralling a base of well connected voters and $upporters.

Public school personnel, education advocates, etc. will always tell you how more and more and more and more kids need more money, etc. yet only a FRACTION of those kids "diagnosed" with Autism actually have the condition.

Millions (nationwide) of children were wrongly diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (which no longer exists) and the school systems had to find a way to keep the funding going for those SPED kids.....so they just found psychologists who didn't mind bending their clinical integrity to diagnose kids with it, even though it was more likely a behavioral issue, meaning parenting problem.

FACT: School systems will find any and all things "wrong" with a child in order to get double the funding allocation. They will never work with the strengths of the child's ecosystem. Even parents DEMAND they find something wrong with their child. It's a total scam of the taxpayers. Many teachers will tell you the truth on this issue - in secret however.

From the National Institute of Health (NIH)
"The broader diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) was established (2015) because many affected individuals actually fall outside of the exact definitions of the diagnoses, and their intellectual and communication abilities may change over time. However, some individuals who were previously diagnosed with one of the subtypes now do not meet all the criteria of the new umbrella diagnosis."

Doesn't matter......the schools do it anyway because they need the money, and parents have a reason to say their child isn't doing well. It really is disrespectful of those parents, kids and families who truly have to cope with it, and Mississippi taxpayers are getting fleeced enough as it is.

Hoseman is a scumbag profiteer and opportunist.

Anon at 6:37 - Breaking news! Nobody in a school system can diagnose autism. Surely you don't believe they do. You probably believe the principals have electric paddles as well.

Let me take a stab at summing this all up...
-Delbert is text book narcissist. He’s always thinking he’s the only one with the answer. HOWEVER, idiot Mississippians keep electing him.
-Because he has a family member with autism, he’s become the self-anointed expert in the field.
-Anti-vaccine folks are certifiable nut jobs who are EXTREMELY dangerous to their kids & society. They all need to move to a remote island and slowly die off.

@7:23 Um, No one said that the "school" gives the diagnosis.....they just know the particular psychologist/pediatricians who are friendly to do it, and appreciate the referral. Once the ball gets rolling talking about autism, autism, autism, autism, it's hard to get anyone to even look at anything else. Everybody's happy.....doctors get paid, school get double funding for IEP child, and parents now have excuse for child's performance, while ensuring the school gives them more attention.

From the CDC in 2015: Researchers believe that several factors are contributing to overdiagnosis. It could be the result of imprecise screening and evaluation processes or difficulty distinguishing kids with language issues from those with developmental delays. (i.e. Parents aren't reading to their children anymore at an early age....so they aren't even ready for kindergarten.)

Parents actually admit their advocacy for clinicians to give their child an autism diagnosis simply because that label would make services more readily available.

5:26...Nor do school officials 'refer' children to doctors. That's a role assigned to parents.

Yes it does seem that autism is a convenient ploy to game the system for educational entitlements just as Savage opined but it seems to be the tactic of the upper middle class rather than the poor of any color.

If anyone out there doesn’t believe Mississippi is that bad, just point them to the comments here. We have some special kind of idiots. I feel dumber just reading this. Have none of you ever known someone with autism? Some of you are advocating beating it out of them and others think it’s all a conspiracy to pay for medical care. Is this real life?

11:22 am You are apparently an anti-vaxxer.

IF you bothered to look at the differences in the number of children per live births with autism in each State, you would see how ridiculous it is to link autism to vaccinations. And, you'd want research to look at what environmental factor( if there is an environmental component) would be common to those States with a high incidence and uncommon in those with a low incidence.

You need to look at what happens in the womb for multiple births which are more common now. The instances of only one child having autism when all the twins or triplets or quads have been exposed after birth to the exact same environmental factors ( including immunization) is well documented.

Australian DNA research also has shown that exposure to Agent Orange can result in a gene mutation that shows up in the grandchildren.

Your search for a simplistic answer and someone to blame is causing epidemics of childhood illnesses like measles that can lead to blindness and brain damage.

By the way, it is absolutely stunning that IF stacking vaccinations could have been a factor ( which was a more rational first reaction which individual vaccines were well tested), it never occurred to anti-vaxxers that unstacking and spreading them out would be safer for your child. It was easily done and the cost increase was only that of more visits to the pediatrician. It's what well educated people did.

That anti-vaxxers encouraged avoiding all vaccines when more that a few were well documented as safe, was and is shameful.

Delbert was the one politician that stood up for autistic children against the insurance companies, and his efforts led to legislation forcing coverage by these slimeball insurance folks. So give him accolades instead of criticism for being a champion of these children.

Got my booster shot. Thanks for helping out an old guy.

I meant "11:22."

I worked on the autism insurance issue that’s been mentioned/mutilated by posters above.

Delbert was absolutely active on this policy issue from the very beginning. In this case, it really was both SOS and Ins Comm pushing together to make it happen.

Delbert is by far the most informed, committed and influential elected official on the issue of autism. Im sure Mike Chaney was glad he could help on the insurance side, too.

@3:34 Congrats! You helped those idiots perpetrate further clinical and financial fraud on Mississippians. As one mentioned above, the over-diagnosing of autism happens mostly among middle, upper-middle class parents (who still send their children to public school mind you). The diagnosis will be determined to be erroneous in years to come and modified (or removed like Asperger's Syndrome thankfully was). Autism is real, but not at all as prevalent as those who pimp it (like Hoseman and other profit motivated interests) want you to believe.

@ 8:58 "Nor do school officials 'refer' children to doctors. That's a role assigned to parents." Not officially, of course not. But a passing mention by any teacher or staff who thinks they might be, or that they would benefit from a certain type of services the school provides ensures that a parent knows what to say to the doctor to "get" the diagnosis that leads to those services. Stop being deliberately slow to understand.....you know full well this goes on everyday throughout the country.

For many parents who feel entitled to special consideration for their children despite being financially comfortable they have latched onto Autism and linked it to vaccines to demand special, tax payer funded school situations that cater to their whims and paid with vouchers to give the parents a great deal of control at whatever schools are offered. But all in all it does seem to me that the greatest affliction of a great many supposed autistic kids is Affluenza and even the notorious case in Texas involves a doting mother who remains convinced that her child is in need of special coddling rather than discipline.

The same parental overindulgence that has manifested itself in adolescents becoming involved in all manner of deviant behavior and demanding their bizarre demands be honored seems to be pulling all the political strings for vouchers for autistic kids.

And now I'm a target from the right and left. Oh well. BFD.

Wow! There is a very special place for many of you commenting. (Read and you can determine where that place exists)

1. For all of you nut cases out there that thinks Autism is some designer medical label that parents want for their kids please get off your computers and Facebook. Go volunteer with a family that has a child with Autism. If you did, you would see that these children and their families are struggling daily. Not only do these children have behavorial issues but many have significant medical issues. Their medical issues can vary but many have explosive GI issues and all that is associated with that. (Yes.... I am referring to what you think I am.) All of these issues push families emotionally and monetarily to where the divorce rate is over 80%. VOLUNTEER and get to know why these children and families are struggling and you will understand that NO ONE wants their child to have this condition.

2. There is "NO CRAZY CHECK"! Parents are not getting a windfall from this mythical governental check that seems to be out there to help with their child. Most are flat broke due to the expenses associated with their child. But "oh brillant ones" who seem to think that parents just want this because they want some government check please investigate and tell all these broke parents how to get this mythical check.

3. Please stop bashing Hoseman on this issue. If you want to take issue with him on something find another issue. You see when you bash him on this it makes a political issue out of the issues going on with many of our children. I can assure that there is nothing political about sick children and emotionally stressed parents worried about their children.

4.Chaney and Hoseman get to take credit on helping children with Autism. Mike Chaney has been trying to help children on the spectrum for a number of years. Hoseman has as well. I have been around a long time and I have witnessed both work to try and give these children opportunites when other elected leaders gave lip service.

5. Thank you to the commentor who pointed out the Autism Board is in the Secretary of State's office at the moment. If your wondering why it is in the SOS office, it is because Hoseman stepped up to the plate when no other agency would take responsiblity for housing the Autism Board without extra money for their agency.

6. For the commentor who tried to make this issue about vouchers...Really is that the best you got because this had nothing to do with vouchers... However, since you went there.... I too have some issues with the voucher. But, it did strike me the other day that I wonder why no one ever finds fault when we send our state's brightest to the Mississippi Math and Science School which is essentailly either a voucher/charter school (depending on how you look at it). That is deemed okay and even wonderful. However, when parents want to do the same for children with disabilities those parents are villified.

7. Finally, to the vaxers and antivaxers....stop hijacking every discussion on Autism and making it about your beliefs on that. Many important conversations are not taking place on Autism because you constantly are making it about that issue.

Now can you determine where that very special place is that I think many of the commentors belong?

I’ve known Delbert for nearly 50 years and don’t have a single good thing to say about him personally, but good grief it’s hard not applaud his and others efforts in this mattter. I hope it helps those dealing with autism.

@10:28 You really do sound as though you're involved in cult, which is what the "parents of autistic" children has become. Many of those "medical" issues could easily be explained with psychological explanations....if you don't parent with sturdy consistency....a child can truly manifest all sorts of "bizarre" functioning, and autism seems to be the latest catch-all for it. Because yes, once you've worked with children who truly have the condition, you realize just how many don't, and that it's more often a behavioral problem....but parents don't want to hear that they sucked as a parent, and that you can't love a child into success.

5:54 a.m. - Your rant disregards the fact that autistic children are often born to autistic parents. The parent(s), due to their own autism, are sometimes NOT good at parenting but are good at recognizing autistic behaviors in their children.

Autism is multi-generational, and it affects both males and females. Females are better than males at masking their autistic behaviors and, therefore, there has long been under-diagnosis of females who are on the autism spectrum. Autistic females often marry and have children but do not work at jobs outside the home so their own ASD symptoms are not as visible to outsiders. The pressure on autistic males to work and provide for their families is very stressful for them.

Many autistic people who are capable of working tend to seek jobs in computer software design/maintenance or other fields that reduce the need for them to interact with neuro-typical people. Unfortunately, the majority of autistic people end up living on disability benefits. Anything society can do to help them address their neurological differences and obtain meaningful employment is a good thing. It can help reduce the number of people living on social welfare.

Autistic children are not often born to autistic parents. There is nothing in the scientific literature to support your theory. The majority of parents would have never got the diagnostic label of autism prior to having a child with autism. I believe you are possibly misinterpreting the fact that parents while caring for their autistic child become themselves socially isolated from family and friends. These families have to have much smaller social circles. There is no time to maintain friendships outside of the circle of health, education, and therapies. Science has also indicated that many more males than females are diagnosed because male infants are more fragile and more susceptible to a host of issues, the most common being lung development. Any OBGYN will tell you that boy babies are at a higher risk for developmental and health issues than girls..

My daughter has Autism. It is not made up. It is not a hoax. She just plainly has Autism. When she turned 18, she started receiving disability payments from the Social Security Administration. That money is used to pay for her daycare since my husband and I both work. She was diagnosed when she was four years old and started receiving speech and occupational therapy immediately. We were fortunate that our insurance covered those services back in 1995. Dealing with autistic behavior is stressful, but as parents we do what we have to do to the best of our abilities because we love our children. If you are a parent of an Autistic child and you're reading these comments, please ignore the stupid ones because they know not what they speak.

Lady, cool your jets. Of course Autism is real, no one was saying it's a hoax....but there ARE thousand of kids nationwide that are "diagnosed" (meaning inappropriately labeled) with it that are in reality behavioral problems. Stop perpetuating that AUTISM IS EVERYWHERE just because your child legitimately does struggle with it. Jeeees. The reason parent often have so much trouble getting enough services for the children who really are autistic is because of all the lamebrain parents who clog up the system with their kids who do not.