Or zucchini or carrots. Hands off unless a man has chopped them up first.… Read the rest
Kenan Malik on multiculturalism in Canada and Europe 
Dec 7th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
In Canada, as in Europe, politicians look to unelected community leaders, often deeply conservative figures, to speak for their particular communities.… Read the rest
Never ever set foot in Saudi Arabia
Dec 7th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
An Australian man who went for the hajj has been sentenced to 500 lashes and a year in jail. Saudi officials accused him of insulting the companions of the prophet Muhammad.… Read the rest
Details details
Dec 6th, 2011 3:34 pm | By Ophelia BensonFollowing up some links from the coverage of the Burzynski matter. From David Colquhoun, an item from the National Council Against Health Fraud newsletter March/April 1997:
… Read the restThe trial of Stanislaw Burzynski for cancer fraud ended in a hung jury (6-6)
on March 4. CBS’s 48 Hours‘ interviews of jurors told the tale as to why
they couldn’t agree. Clearly, the jurors agreed that Burzynski was guilty as
charged of violating court orders not to distribute his unapproved
“Antineoplastons” in interstate commerce, but the fact that some desperate
cancer patients believed Burzynski’s remedy was keeping them alive (or, at
least, was keeping their hope for recovery alive) made the case too emotional a matter for them to convict
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Pour rire
Dec 6th, 2011 2:25 pm | By Ophelia BensonLine of the day – from Popehat, Junk Science And Marketeers and Legal Threats, Oh My! -
As a public relations move, firing Marc Stephens and hiring the Dozier Law Group is roughly like firing Jeffrey Dahmer as your sous-chef and hiring Hannibal Lecter to take his place.
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
The small tent is good enough
Dec 6th, 2011 12:13 pm | By Ophelia BensonJacques Berlinerblau has some advice for US atheists.
The real priority for American Atheism concerns its political future, its ability to shape policy agendas so as to represent the interests of its constituency.
Does it? I don’t think it does – not (as implied) to the exclusion of other things. I don’t really think of atheism as having a “constituency,” or as expecting to be able to shape policy agendas so as to represent the interests of its constituency. That sounds like political operative talk, and while I do think atheism is political as well as philosophical (in the broad sense of the word), I don’t think it’s political in that way. It’s too specialized for that. Secularism can … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Another turn of the screw
Dec 6th, 2011 11:44 am | By Ophelia BensonThe brains of children raised in violent families resemble the brains of soldiers exposed to combat, according to an article in Wired.
They’re primed to perceive threat and anticipate pain, adaptations that may be helpful in abusive environments but produce long-term problems with stress and anxiety.
“For them to detect early cues that might signal danger is adaptive. It allows them to react, to try and avoid the danger,” said psychologist Eamon McCrory of University College London. However, “a very similar neural signature characterizes quite a few anxiety disorders.”
Absolutely nothing surprising there. Bad things keep happening, so you develop a strong tendency to react quickly…and you’re stuck with it. A lifetime of feeling extra, exaggerated fear and dread. … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Jacques Berlinerblau on the future of atheism in America
Dec 6th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“Why must the admission price to American Atheism be total nonbelief in God?”… Read the rest
Kosher cell phones
Dec 6th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The first step was a kosher-certified cell phone, approved by the rabbinical committee for telecommunications.… Read the rest
How abuse changes a child’s brain
Dec 6th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The brains of children raised in violent families resemble the brains of soldiers exposed to combat: primed to perceive threat and anticipate pain.
David Allen Green on Niall Ferguson’s libel threat
Dec 6th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Taylor and Trevor-Roper dealt with controversy by simply getting stuck into the next round of acrimony and recrimination. Much better than a libel suit.… Read the rest
Sohrab Ahmari on democracy and demagoguery
Dec 5th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Beneath the ultramodern veneer of skyscrapers dotting Abu Dhabi’s desert landscape lies an illiberal society that severely curtails citizens’ fundamental rights.… Read the rest
UN Women is in trouble
Dec 5th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Little money, turf wars, and tepid support bordering on neglect.… Read the rest
Pakistani family on trial for honor killing in Belgium
Dec 5th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Sadia Sheikh left the family home to study after her parents tried to arrange a marriage with a cousin she had never met. She was shot dead on October 22, 2007.… Read the rest
Unreasoning awe
Dec 5th, 2011 1:59 pm | By Ophelia BensonOne from the “how did I miss this?” file – Tony Blair is gobsmacked that it was government policy not to appoint a Catholic as ambassador to the Vatican.
The former prime minister tells a BBC Northern Ireland documentary – to be broadcast from Wednesday 17 February – that the policy of banning Catholics from the post was “stupid”, “ridiculous” and “discriminatory”.
Really? Is it discriminatory not to appoint a lobbyist for cigarette manufacturers to a health-related job? Is it discriminatory not to appoint a murderer to run a domestic violence shelter?
Has Tony Blair never heard of the concept “conflict of interest”? The question answers itself; of course he has. Yet the idea that Catholicism might be an interest … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Austerity for the Vatican?
Dec 5th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Of course not. Marc Alan Di Martino looks at the accounts.… Read the rest
A perfect storm of press releases
Dec 5th, 2011 8:56 am | By Ophelia BensonSome more on the Burzynski clinic and the Observer.
From Keir Liddle at the Twenty-first Floor on a perfect storm for skepticism.
… Read the restThe characterisation of skeptical bloggers as aggressive and sanctimonious is unfortunately nothing new and there are undoubtedly skeptics out there who benefit from reading Hayley Stevens post on the subject but I for one am fed up of how we are characterised. We are seen at best as spoilsports and at worst know it alls robbing the universe of beauty and people of hope. We seem to seen as the lackeys of either big pharma or representatives of some sort of scientific hegemony intent on unweaving the rainbow. But most skeptics aren’t like that in the slightest,
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Opposition to gay marriage is a unity device
Dec 5th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Scotland for Marriage means marriage as a privilege from which some groups are barred – just as Focus on the Family means some families aren’t included.… Read the rest
Flying around the internet
Dec 4th, 2011 4:27 pm | By Ophelia BensonSkeptical Humanities on the Observer on Burzynski:
Entire communities throw untold sums of money at the slimmest (nonexistent, really) hope that these patients will recover at the Burzynski Clinic, and the Observer finds this uplifting.
…
Uncritically giving a cancer quack uncritical press? How could we possibly have mistaken that for promotion? We should have just called it as it was: a shoddy, pathetic, and irresponsible attempt at journalism.
The Internet apologizes for not making this clearer.
Now do you f*cking job and protect Billie, her family, and your readers from this immense fraud.
RJB
Please consider donating to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. They turn nobody away, even if they can’t pay. Unlike Burzynski.
Quackometer on the Observer … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Free Razan
Dec 4th, 2011 4:08 pm | By Ophelia Benson(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
