SNL mocks the insane stupidity of the Insane Clown Posse

For those who haven’t seen the latest video by the Insane Clown Posse:

My favorite is this little gem:

Fucking magnets, how do they work?
And I don’t wanna talk to a scientist
Y’all motherfuckers lying, and getting me pissed

There’s a great post on Skepchick that creates a script where these retarded questions are answered.

And now Saturday Night Live took a break from its nearly 15-year stint of not being funny to present their own version:

News From Around The Blogosphere 4.18.10

1. Age of Autism blows another irony circuit – Quite predictably, AoA proves they’re willing to say another to discredit science journalist Brian Deer’s latest report in a blog they titled, “Journalist with No Medical Training Solves Mystery of Enterocolitis!” Yes, cause if it’s one thing AoA can’t stand, it’s non-experts weighing in on science.

2. What claims about Tom Cruise does $cientology declare ‘demonstrably false’ – According to $cientology, the following is not true:  that Tom Cruise has a ‘drug history’, that his ‘drug history’ was excuse given to keep him out of the Sea Org (right, because they weren’t just using him for his celebrity), that Cruise was “given an ultimatum to choose between Scientology and Nicole Kidman” (Although Jason Lee’s ex-wife is convince Scientology had something to do with their divorce.), that “a Scientologist handling Mr. Cruise’s finances was punished for losing him money”, and that Cruise’s household staff is selected and paid by Scientology. Now remember. According to $cientology, these are claims that are NOT true.

3. Saskatoon Freethinkers (in Saskatchewan, Canada) protest ‘psychic’ Sylvia Browne – They also circulated a handout some of Sylvia’s biggest missing persons failures such as her inability to come up with accurate information about Opal Jennings, Sean Hornbeck, Richard Kneebone, and Holly Krewson. The handout also stated:

In fact there are NO cases where Sylvia’s psychic insight has proven to be useful or correct.  Valuable police resources have been wasted and precious time has been lost.  When Sylvia assured a family that their daughter was alive when she was actually dead, and told another family their son was dead when he was still alive, this only magnified the grief of a family in a terrible situation.  In light of these failures – when psychic insight would have mattered the most – we must conclude that Sylvia is a cold reader and not a psychic.

‘Then what is so special then about human beings?’

Um, I’m pretty sure you have to first prove human beings are special before asking what makes human beings are special.

Exploiting my newfound freedom

Now that Simon Singh’s bogus journey is over and he’s won the libel suit brought against him by the British Chiropractic Association, legal precedence now prevents cranks in the UK from suing bloggers who call their claims ‘bogus’. So I thought I’d take a moment to get a few things off my chest.

The claims of the Catholic Church are bogus.

The claims of all religions are bogus.

The treatments offered by the British Chiropractic Association as well as almost every other chiropractic organization are bogus.

The treatments offered by homeopaths, acupuncturists, faith healers, psychic surgeons, and virtually every practitioner of so-called “althernative” “medicine” are bogus.

The claims of psychics are bogus.

The claims of ghost hunters are bogus.

The claims of anti-vaccinationist organizations are bogus.

News From Around The Blogosphere 4.15.10

1. Teacher to retire over controversy over his teaching of evil-ution - Mark Tangarone teaches third, fourth, and fifth grade students in the Talented and Gifted (TAG) program at Weston Intermediate School. Unfortunately, the administration isn’t very gifted:

Mr. Tangarone, a 17-year veteran of the Weston school system, claims that a program he wanted to teach about Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln was rejected by the school administration because it involved teaching evolution — the scientific theory that all life is related and has descended from a common ancestor.

2. American professor says UFO Studies should be ‘legitimate university subject’ – Philip Haseley thinks this is a legitimate university subject? Well you know who I think would disagree with him? James Carrion, who until just a few weeks ago was the International Director for the Mutual Unidentified Flying Object Network (MUFON), who just a week ago called the entire field of UFOlogy “humans deceiving humans.” And this guy had more access to the “evidence” than virtually every other person in the UFO community.

3. Polio finally being stamped out in Nigeria and India – Polio has been eradicated from virtually every corner of the Earth. There’s only about five countries left that still have polio, all of which have dreadful vaccination rates. But now finally two of those remaining nations are winning that battle. Rising vaccination rates and sudden decrease in polio? To the vaccine denial community I ask, coincidence?

That's one lonely cross

4. Editor of leading Catholic publication joins critics – Thomas Fox, the editor of the National Catholic Reporter has defected:

In a column fronting the newspaper’s website, Fox on Wednesday wrote that the remarks in Chile this week by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who as the Vatican’s secretary of state is Pope Benedict XVI’s top aide, “sounds more like scapegoating than anything else.”

“What we have here is a huge gulf between the thinking of some top church officials — in this case a very important one — and that of most ordinary Catholics and others. This is a very revealing and equally troubling moment,” Fox wrote.

“Those of us who have followed the wider church story for years have seen this gulf growing. Where we go from here, how the Catholic faithful respond, remains to me a perplexing mystery,” he said.

5. Former $cientologist Amy Scobee to expose more Tom Cruise ‘secrets’ in new book – Not surprisingly…

His powerhouse attorney Bert Fields has already sent a letter denying Scobee’s claims and threatening legal action against her.

6. Oregon jury gives Boy Scouts of America merit badge for negligence in sexual abuse - As a result, Kerry Lewis has been awarded 1.4 million in damages over being sexually abused by an assistant Scoutmaster in the early 1980′s.

Now where's that negligence merit badge?

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS! WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

It seems like lately, the power of skepticism has proven far stronger than was to be expected and almost every big news story revolving around an issue skeptics take seriously, it’s been good news for us.

For instance, almost every time $cientology has been in the news for the past two years, it’s meant bad news for $cientology. And though seemingly unstoppable a few months ago, lately every news story surrounding the anti-vaccine movement has been bad news for them. Homeopathy’s been getting a lot of negative press lately. Modern dowsing rods received a snowstorm of bad publicity from mainstream media outlets over their use as bomb detectors in Iraq. The 9/11 denialist movement, though still lurking background, has been completely relegated to the fringes where they have virtually no chance of influencing public policy. Hell, even the UFO community, who have been virtually out of the news entirely for the last decade have suffered two pieces of bad publicity in just the last two weeks. And one of those stories, one of their own prominent leaders calling the entire movement “humans deceiving humans”, was a major blow.

The only major piece of pseudoscience that seems to have really grown in popularity in the past decade that isn’t on the decline is ghost hunting, which is more popular than ever thanks to The Sifi (Syfi? Syfy?Psi-phi? Zyphi? Sigh-Figh?) Channel and A&E. And that trend is likely to die off sooner or later due to the over-saturation of the market…and the fact that, you know, every episode is exactly the same, nothing happens, and their complete lack of ghosts that don’t look like the light from their own video equipment.

But now comes two biggies.

Simon Singh

Simon Singh has DEFEATED the British Chiropractic Association!! Singh had been barely hanging in their with the legal fees, which he paid himself. And yet it was the giant Goliath that is the British Chiropractic Association that threw in the towel.

The sudden end to the case will strengthen the campaign for reform of the libel laws, which Jack Straw, the justice secretary, is considering. It is also a specific pledge in the Liberal Democrat manifesto.

The whole matter seemed to have backfired on them anyway as the more they tried to silence Singh’s criticisms, the more attention they drove to them.

The other big victory today is the Freedom From Religion Foundation won its court case in the U.S., making the National Day of Prayer has been declared unconstitutional. And once again, church/state separation has been protected.

Viva la resistance!

Once again, Age of Autism causes irony meters to overload

Today Age of Autism criticized Paul Offit (yeah, as opposed to every other day when they criticize Paul Offit). This time the site’s criticism is that they quote-mined Offit to conclude that Offit admitted he’s no autism expert. Actually, Offit never denied that his specific expertise is in vaccines. Of course he is a trained medical professional who’s been practicing medicine for decades, so you’d think he’d know more than a layperson, especially since his vaccine expertise had inevitably pulled him into the autism arena thanks for dolts like the writers of Age of Autism.

These are the same assholes who criticized Steven Novella for not being an autism expert. He’s a fuckin’ neurologist! And considering we’re talking about a neurological disorder, that’s not too shabby!

But of course the obvious flaw in their appeal to authority argument is the same as the flaw in Sarah Palin’s argument when she criticizes Obama for being inexperienced.

Earth to Age of Autism:  YOU’RE NOT PROFESSIONAL AUTISM EXPERTS!

FUCK, YOU’RE NOT EVEN PHYSICIANS!

Age of Autism seems to have a horrible problem distinguishing their BS with what’s, as the Japanese say, hontou (yes, I just learned that word, thanks to YouTuber MissHannahMinx).

Michael Specter – The Dangers of Science Denialism

more about “Michael Specter – The Dangers of Scie…“, posted with vodpod

News From Around The Blogosphere 4.13.10

1. Malta’s mayor afraid to show Pope city’s giant phallus – C’mon, the Pope wasn’t embarrassed by half a million children raped by his employees. So why would this bother him?

2. Inkjet-like device ‘prints’ skin cells over burns - Once again, as Carl Sagan said, “science delivers the goods.”

Inspired by a standard office inkjet printer, U.S. researchers have rigged up a device that can spray skin cells directly onto burn victims, quickly protecting and healing their wounds as an alternative to skin grafts.

How cool is that?

3. Constance McMillen named Grand Marshal of NYC 2010 Gay Pride Parade – The Gay Pride Parade is by far my favorite NYC parade. Many prefer the Halloween parade but I have more fun just wandering The Village as NYC treats Halloween like everyone else treats Christmas. But it’s just great being a part of a parade thats very existence is an affront to those whom despise. Congrats Constance. Hope to see you there.

4. Moscow, Idaho gets an American Humanist Assocation billboard -

Age of Autism takes a sledge hammer to all decency

You know, last Thanksgiving when Age of Autism posted that incredibly disgusting picture that angered so many even in their own base that they later removed it from their site, I thought they couldn’t go any lower.

I was so fuckin’ wrong!

This isn’t like when we all thought they were exploiting Desiree Jennings (who as it turned out was exploiting them). To call this piece of garbage website sick, shameless, deplorable, disgusting, or an affront to human decency would be an insult to anyone guilty of any of that behavior.

If anyone holds any doubts that these people are psychotic and deranged, from now on I’ll send them to that page.

Do these assholes really give a shit about children? Do they?

Where was their outrage over all the children injured from NOT vaccinating?

“Measles Outbreak Triggered by Unvaccinated Child” by By Serena Gordon
danamccaffery.com Website dedicated to Dana Elizabeth McCaffery who died at the age of 4 weeks from Whooping cough (Pertussis), a totally vaccine preventable disease
USA Today – Missed vaccines weaken ‘herd immunity’ in children By Liz Szabo
“The Worst Ideas of the Decade: Vaccine scares” by Clive Thompson
“A Pox on You: My son has cancer. He can’t go into day care because of unvaccinated children.” By Stephanie Tatel
“The price of anti-vaccine fanaticism: Case histories” by David Gorski
What’s the harm in vaccine denial?
“Herd Immunity” by Mark Crislip
“Where’s the outrage?” by John Snyder
“The price of anti-vaccine fanaticism, part 3″ by Orac

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=320

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26291109/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15210587/

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm57e501a1.htm

“Pockets of Vaccine Noncompliance in California” by Steve Novella

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2008/07/thanks_andrew_wakefield.php

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26333787/

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2008/07/thanks_jenny_mccarthy.php

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081006/NEWS07/810060395/1009/NEWS07

http://getbetterhealth.com/warning-influenza-can-be-fatal-to-children/2008.10.20#more-2211 http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/comments/anti_vaccination_anti_feminist/

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/01/24/an-unvaccinated-child-has-died-from-a-preventable-disease/

California schools’ risks rise as vaccinations drop

http://skeptico.blogs.com/skeptico/2008/11/measles-mmr-vaccine.html

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026853.800-children-go-unvaccinated-as-insurers-refuse-to-pay.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/168/12/1389

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-a-offit-md/dont-risk-going-unvaccina_b_160018.html

Jenny McCarthy calls millions of potential measles casualties acceptable losses in her crusade
“Who Doesn’t Vaccinate?” by Chris Mooney
In Wales: “Measles outbreak ‘worst in years’
Study: “Parental Refusal of Pertussis Vaccination Is Associated With an Increased Risk of Pertussis Infection in Children”
Guardian: “MMR jab should be compulsory for all children starting school, expert says” by Jessica Shepherd
“MEASLES: A dangerous illness” by Roald Dahl (Yes, that Roald Dahl)
“Rare Hib disease increases in Minnesota: Is the anti-vaccine movement to blame?” by Erin Carlyle
“The Power of Words: A Commentary on the Delayed Vaccine Schedule” by Steve Perry
New Zealand measles rate 7-times higher in 2009 because of low immunization rates
“Refusing vaccines puts kids at risk: autism expert”
The Guardian – “Half of all pregnant women will refuse swine flu jab, poll reveals” by Sarah Boseley
What Would Happen If We Stopped Vaccinations?
“CDC: 76 children dead of swine flu as cases rise” By MIKE STOBBE
“U. researchers discover another genetic link to autism”
“Measles outbreak in Dublin, 2000″
“Pertussis returns in states with lax vaccination laws” by Orac
“Blood Mercury Concentrations in CHARGE Study Children with and without Autism”
Wired Magazine – “An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All” By Amy Wallace
“Old-fashioned mumps make comeback in Borough Park; 57 confirmed cases” BY Helen Kennedy
“Autism proceedings: End of Story” By Jonathan Rabinovitz
Science News – “From the infectious diseases meeting: What’s with the vaccine-o-phobia?” By Nathan Seppa
“IACC Statement on Autism Research” By Steven Novella
“Measles” by Mark Crislip
“Mumps cases reach 152 in Monsey area as part of large U.S. outbreak” By Jane Lerner
“More evidence that anti-vaccine beliefs kill” By Orac
How Anti-Vaccine ‘Science’ Holds Back Credible Research
Chicago Tribune – “OSR#1: Industrial chemical or autism treatment?” By Trine Tsouderos
“Measles outbreak in German caused by anti-vaccinationists” by Kristjan Wager
“Measles Resurgence Tied To Parents’ Vaccine Fears” by Richard Knox
“Religious antivax sect implicated in deaths of 100 children” by Phil Plait
“British Boy Dies After Chelation Therapy for Autism” By Katrina Woznicki
“Outbreaks” by Mark Crislip

No, they don’t care about any of that. No, they don’t care. They don’t care about children. They don’t care about suffering or injury.

All they care about is promoting fear, doubt, and confusing about vaccines. And as the website linked to above illustrates, there are no depths they won’t sink to in order to in order to demonize vaccines.