Fair compromise for 9/11 deniers

From xkcd:

Skeptics to commit mass homeopathic suicide on Jan. 30

I’ve blogged about the 10:23 Campaign before. This is the project devoted to exposing homeopathy for the scam that it is. The project’s slogan is “Homeopathy:  There’s Nothing In It.”

Well, for many years skeptics like James Randi and others have attempted to illustrate that there’s nothing in homeopathy by giving public demonstrations in which they down whole bottles of alleged homeopathic sleep aids, what should constitute as some kind of overdose.

In 2004, the Australian Skeptics even videotaped “The Great Skeptic Attempted Mass Suicide Using Homeopathic Crap”:

To date, all participants of the above homeopathic suicide attempt are still very much alive.

But now the 10:23 Campaign is organizing an even bigger demonstration:

At 10:23am on January 30th, more than three hundred homeopathy sceptics nationwide will be takifng part in a mass homeopathic ‘overdose’ in protest at Boots’ continued endorsement and sale of homeopathic remedies, and to raise public awareness about the fact that homeopathic remedies have nothing in them.

For those who are unaware of the Boots Pharmacy controversy, you can find my commentary on it along with incriminating video footage here.

Now an important note for those readers who might be interested in also participating in this event on their own:  do the research first. Some rare products actually do have something in them and are simply cashing in on the homeopathic name. And perhaps the best place to seek information on this is provided on the 10:23 Campaign website (don’t get thrown by their crazy British spellings of words):

If you want to get involved with the event, contact your nearest skeptics in the pub organisation. National press enquiries should be directed to Martin Robbins (press@1023.org.uk)

The crazy in Haiti

In aftermath of this devastating act of god in Haiti, who are the Haitians praising? The hard-working people offering aid and relief to them in this time of need? No. The devil, as Pat Robertson says they turned to once before [true story]? No. If you said the very same god that they believe caused the earthquake in the first place, then congratulations cause you’re absolutely correct.

Prayers of thanksgiving and cries for help rose from Haiti’s huddled homeless Sunday, the sixth day of an epic humanitarian crisis that was straining the world’s ability to respond and igniting flare-ups of violence amid the rubble of Port-au-Prince.

Yeah, thanks god for giving us this earthquake. We would have preferred you’d given us a stable government and economy, but this is good too. Does the phrase Battered Wife Syndrome mean anything to anybody?

Beside the ruins of the Port-Au-Prince cathedral, where the sun streamed through the shattered stained glass, the priest told his flock at their first Sunday Mass since Tuesday’s earthquake, “We are in the hands of God now.”

That’s funny, cause I thought you were in “God’s” hands six days ago.

Sadly though, that’s not the only crazy going on in Haiti. There’s also voodoo. But as silly as voodoo is, even sillier is the fact that in the wake of this disaster, mainstream religious leaders in Haiti fear “the fatalism inspired by the voodoo religion would militate against recovery.” Am I the only one who thinks this sounds like Brit Hume’s fear that Buddhism doesn’t offer the kind of forgiveness necessary for Tiger Woods.

The death of the Catholic archbishop along with the destruction of the cathedrals will be seen as potent symbols of the failure of those religions to withstand an act of God, he warned.

Ever think that maybe “God” is trying to tell you something?

Fortunately, not everyone in Haiti is crazy as Richard Dawkins announced Unbelievers Giving Aid, a site devoted to raising money for charitable causes like Doctors without Borders and the Red Cross.

In the name of god

Sanal Edamaruku speaks out against a religious ritual in Bihar where a “godman” literally tramples on infants to bless them.

When people argue with me about all the good done in the name of religion, I’ve come to respond by describing religion as being like the Batman villain Two Face. Two Face may save your life. . .or he may kill you. He is completely amoral because he is incapable of making moral decisions on his own. So he leaves his moral decisions up to chance via a coin toss. If the coin happens to land on heads, he does the right thing. But if the coin lands on tails, he does the wrong thing. So whether he does good or evil is entirely determined by an arbitrary process.

So it is with religion. Religion may cause someone to act morally. . .or it may cause someone to commit evil. Religion is completely amoral because the system of morality it promotes is built on authority rather than reason and its holy books are vague and often contradictory, which allows any reader to read whatever they want into the text. If someone happens to have a solid, rational sense of morality, religion can further motivate them to do good. But if someone happens to have a twisted sense of morality, religion further motivates them to do commit evil. So whether a person using religion as their basis for morality does good or evil is entirely determined by the arbitrary process of how they interpret the will of their authorities.

News From Around The Blogosphere 1.15.10

1. Secular S.H.A.R.E. raised $47,000 for Haiti relief in under 24 hours -

Amherst, New York—In response to Haitian residents’ emergency needs following the Jan. 12 earthquake, the Center for Inquiry’s Skeptics and Humanist Aid and Relief Effort (S.H.A.R.E.) has raised $47,000 in less than 24 hours. Those who live without God or religion, along with faith groups, recognize the need to assist the stricken nation’s survivors and have answered the call.

2. Yay, a Chupacabra sighting! – My less skeptical cousin Chupacabra has shown himself again in Horizon City, Texas. That’s right. He’s crossed the border and is now stealing jobs from U.S. fictional creatures. And if you thought Big Foot was scary before, just see what he’s like when he’s out of work. Not pretty.

3. D.C. judge rules that District can ban any referendum concerning gay marriage under Human Rights Act -

The ruling upholds a decision by the city’s board of elections, which has twice rejected plans by an anti-gay marriage group to hold a referendum on the subject. City council passed an ordinance in December that allowed gay marriage in the District.

Opponents of gay marriage say they will appeal the decision to the D.C. Court of Appeals. The decision fits a pattern of judicial activism, which has interfered with the people’s will to ban gay marriage, they say.

Um, good luck with that. You know, that’s not how the Appeals process works. You can’t just appeal a decision because you didn’t like it. You actually have to show a legal error was made.

California slays creationism

After the humiliating defeat in Dover, one would think those cdesign proponentsists had hit bottom. But no, there’s 49 other states they can still lose in. Correct, 48 other states. California just said no to creationism too. This particular case centered around the University of California, which had the audacity to to have actual standards of admission (emphasis mine):

The plaintiffs — the Association of Christian Schools International, the Calvary Chapel Christian School in Murrieta, California, and a handful of students at the school — charged that the university system violated the constitutional rights of applicants from Christian schools whose high school coursework is deemed inadequate preparation for college.

Creationism was not the only issue in the case, to be sure, but it was conspicuous. The plaintiffs objected to the university system’s policy of rejecting high school biology courses that use textbooks published by Bob Jones University Press and A Beka Books — Biology: God’s Living Creation and Biology for Christian Schools — as “inconsistent with the viewpoints and knowledge generally accepted in the scientific community.”

Michael Behe defended the textbooks. Of course it’s now a matter of public record that Behe is a liar, thanks to Judge John Jones from the Dover case:

“Professor Behe, his testimony at trial indicated that ID is only a scientific, as opposed to a religious, project for him; however, considerable evidence was introduced to refute this claim. Consider, to illustrate, that Professor Behe remarkably and unmistakably claims that the plausibility of the argument for ID
depends upon the extent to which one believes in the existence of God. (P-718 at 705) (emphasis added). As no evidence in the record indicates that any other scientific proposition’s validity rests on belief in God, nor is the Court aware of any such scientific propositions, Professor Behe’s assertion constitutes substantial evidence that in his view, as is commensurate with other prominent ID leaders, ID is a religious and not a scientific proposition.”

Oops!

Doctor gets court order to hold pregnant woman against her will

In one of the most obscene overreaching of government control I’ve ever heard, a pregnant woman showing signs of potential miscarriage was forced to undergo bed rest, denied the right to a second opinion, was admitted to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital against her will and undergo any procedure the doctor felt like prescribing, and denied the right to switch hospitals. Three days later, she miscarried because contrary to this quack’s belief, bed rest can’t stop a miscarriage and is in fact the American College of of Obstetricians and Gynecologists does not even think it should be recommended.

The woman, Samantha Burton, sued on the grounds that her constitutional rights were violated and somehow she actually lost because the court ruled the State was merely maintaining “status quo. “So now you know. Holding a woman against her will promotes the status quo.

I love you, Captain Kirk

News From Around The Blogosphere 1.14.10

1. $cientology for a change decides to sue somebody – The cult has launched two separate lawsuits against Sandy Springs, Georgia for alleged discrimination because the city approved the rezoning of their building but denied the the cult’s request to add a fourth floor by enclosing a basement parking garage, saying there wasn’t enough parking.

2. Treating agony with ecstasy – Okay, I had to steal that headline because there was just no way I was going to top it. In the first FDA-approved trial evaluating the use of the street drug ecstasy for therapeutic applications, it proved very successful at treating PTSD.

3. Male chromosome’s rapid evolution – The Y chromosome, known for making men men, is evolving far faster than the rest of the human genetic code:

A new study comparing the Y chromosomes from humans and chimpanzees, our nearest living relatives, show that they are about 30 percent different. That is far greater than the 2 percent difference between the rest of the human genetic code and that of the chimp’s, according to a study appearing online Wednesday in the journal Nature.These changes occurred in the last 6 million years or so, relatively recently when it comes to evolution.

And for those keeping track, that’s 5,994,000 years before the existence of the whole universe, according to Young Earth Creationists.

4. Debunking creationism? There’s an app for that – A new smartphone app provides users with refutations to all the creationist arguments.

5. Pat Robertson finally getting heat from fellow Christians - It’s about damned time!

A lesson in skepticism

Phil Plait wrote an interesting piece today about an account of a teacher who challenged his students to think critically about the information he was providing them:

“Now I know some of you have already heard of me, but for the benefit of those who are unfamiliar, let me explain how I teach. Between today until the class right before finals, it is my intention to work into each of my lectures … one lie. Your job, as students, among other things, is to try and catch me in the Lie of the Day.”

[...]

This was an insidiously brilliant technique to focus our attention – by offering an open invitation for students to challenge his statements, he transmitted lessons that lasted far beyond the immediate subject matter and taught us to constantly check new statements and claims with what we already accept as fact.

This reminded me of a professor I had had at NYU who did something very similar. Professor Cyrus Patell also challenged his American Literature class to spot the lie but as I recall it was slightly different. There was only going to be one lie over the course of the entire semester and to prevent people from constantly guessing, he gave students only one guess a day. This I think encouraged everyone to be more cautious in their choices. And I think a prize was awarded for whoever did finally correctly guess the lie.

I wasn’t the winner that semester but I will always remember that lesson and Professor Patell for his guess the lie game, for the New York literature class I later took with him later on in my final semester at NYU, and perhaps most of all for his showing up to class on Holloween dressed as Darth Maul while handing back our Midterm grades.