Give me exemptions or give me a seat on your committee!

I returned home last night from a 2 day trip to Jackson during which I explored our state capitol, met a lot of senators and raised a lot of eyebrows. Special thanks to Katie and Dustin, who let me crash with them Wednesday night. I enjoyed spending time with you both!

All in all, I would say it was a very successful trip. I was able to meet a lot of people from our state wide group that I have only spoken with via phone or email, and it was nice to finally be able to put names with faces. And of course, it was great to get face time with all the legislators.

I have to say a huge thank you to my Dad's brother, Uncle Bucky! Yay! He was so wonderful to meet me at the capitol, show me around and introduce me to the important people I needed to see. I would have been completely lost without him.

Also, John Myers, whom I refer to as the gatekeeper of the senate, was so kind to me and helped me find everyone I wanted to see.

This was just the second step in what I know will be a very long process in passing our exemption bill. Thanks also to my senator Gary Jackson, who stands behind parents rights and was kind enough to introduce this bill for me.

Now with a little prayer, we can get this thing on the education committee's agenda, pass it through there, then get it onto the senate floor. Then I'll go back to do more hand shaking and sweet talking.

In the short time I had, I was able to speak to all but two members of the edu committee, and all but 2 of those senators seemed very intrigued by what I had to tell them. Most were shocked to learn about the use of aborted fetal tissue in three of the vaccines on the current recommended schedule. I think that seems to be one of our strongest arguments- that and the fact that EVERY other state in this country, save West Virginia, gives parents the right to opt out of certain vaccines that they don't feel are right for their children. All I want is for MS to catch up with the rest of the country!

Unfortunately, 2 senators who will remain (not really) nameless were not interested in discussing this issue with me or anyone else. One immediately HARDENed her heart against us when we told her what we were doing. She was not interested in hearing what we had to say, and she made that very clear when she said, "We are not going to have this discussion." The other one TURNERed around and stumbled away after staring stone-faced at me for a full 60 seconds without saying a word. But I think he might have been high, so his silence was not totally his fault I suppose. This is how it went down.

I saw him wandering aimlessly around after the senate adjourned for the day. I knew for a fact that he did not have any committee meetings for another hour, and he appeared to be not in a hurry to get anywhere. I walked up to him, stuck out my hand, told him my name and where I was from (his district includes part of the city that I live in, so he didn't know if I was a constituent or not. I guess he didn't care.).

He slowly extended his hand while his tired eyes set their sights into my forehead. I stood on my tippy toes in hopes that our eyes would make contact. He slowly shook my hand for about 45 seconds while I gave him my shpill:

"I'm here today to talk to you about a bill that's going to be coming through the education committee. It's SB 2764, and it deals with vaccine requirements for school admission. Currently, all children in MS are required to have every vaccine on the schedule before they are admitted to school. This bill would allow parents to opt out of a vaccine that they don't feel is right for their child without having school admission withheld."

At this point, he is still slowly shaking my hand and hasn't made any attempt at communication. He just stood there. At this point, I usually stop to assess a reaction, and ask the person what they thought about that and would they have any concerns about such a bill? I took his silence to mean that he wanted to hear more. So I plunged forward.

"I feel like parents should have a choice regarding which vaccines their children receive, especially since the state is not going to be responsible for these children if they have an adverse reaction to a vaccine. I feel like as a parent, in conjunction with my child's doctor, I am the best person to make medical decisions for my children."

He had finally stopped shaking my hand, and his gaze was drifting further up my head until he was looking over me and out the window. Lovely. So I told him I knew he was busy, thanks for his time and I would appreciate it if he would take a look at the bill for me. Then he walked away.

ps if you live in alice harden or bennie turner's district, i think you should know that they were not very nice to me.

On the bright side, the education committee chair, Videl Carmichael, invited us into his office, sat down with us, and we had a nice long discussion regarding the pros and cons of this legislation. Now that is being reasonable, don't you think? He was very kind, and when he asked us what the health department thought about all of this, we told him the truth. The state health officer Ed Thompson has no interest in talking to us or returning phone calls regarding vaccines. period. So Senator Carmichael picked up the phone, called their office, and put them on speakerphone right then and there! I thought it was great. Unfortunately, Dr. Thompson was not in his office, of course.

However, I attended the education committee meeting the next day, and Carmichael wanted to talk to me after it was over! He said Dr. Thompson was sending him some info, and would I have some more time to talk to him about this later? I was thrilled.

Unfortunately, I had a 3:00 hearing that ended up starting late and lasting until nearly 6:00! It went great, by the way. But by the time I ran up 4 flights of stairs to his office, not only had my legs turned into silly string, but Senator Carmichael had already left for the day. I am about to call him right now though.

On an unrelated note, the elevator was broken, and I had to get back down from the fourth floor to the first. I got a real workout the past two days, that is for sure.

I have 2 more senators to talk to about this issue, so if Carmichael decides to bring up our bill in committee, I'll need to go back to the capitol to grease the wheels. Go, baby, go. I should have been a senator.