News From Around The Blogosphere 11.19.08

Stem Cells to the rescue – Doctors have given a woman a new windpipe with tissue grown from her own stem cells, eliminating the need for anti-rejection drugs.

Yesterday I blogged about Focus on the Family cutting 202 jobs. Well today Oral Roberts “College,” cut 100 jobs today, illustrating once again that God Hates Morons:

“Oral Roberts University will lay off about 100 employees, days after it agreed to a near-$450,000 separation agreement with its former president who resigned amid a spending scandal. The layoffs represent roughly 10 percent of the university’s work force.”

Bad news for Professional Murderer Kevin Trudeau –

Kevin Trudeau Banned from Infomercials For Three Years, Ordered to Pay More Than $5 Million for False Claims About Weight-Loss Book

Sadly, getting hit by oncoming train would have been a more appropriate punishment but I’ll take what I can go. Hey, when it comes to scum like this, I can be petty and vindictive too. This is not about First Amendment Rights. One of the few exceptions to free speech we have in this country (and one that I agree with) is when measurable harm has taken place. It’s the proverbial shouting fire in a crowded theater or even slander/libel. And in this case, it’s got nothing to do with the mere exercise of free speech but is about misrepresenting his products and scamming consumers.

New study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds gingko is utterly, utterly useless against dementia and Alzheimer’s disease – Though the extract has been long promoted as an aid to memory, it failed to produce results in “the longest and largest test of the extract in older Americans.”

“We don’t think it has a future as a powerful anti-dementia drug,” said Dr. Steven DeKosky of the University of Virginia School of Medicine, who led the study.

Extracts from ginkgo tree leaves have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, but earlier research on ginkgo and memory showed mixed results. Annual U.S. sales of the supplement reached $107 million in 2007, according to Nutrition Business Journal estimates.

The study including 3,000 people, ages 75 and older.

Catholics for Choice published a scathing criticism of Bill Donohue and the Catholic League – And they NAILED IT!

50 facts you might not know about Barack Obama – And no, this does not include his being a secret Muslim and a member of the New World Order. . .cause everybody already knows that, duh! And finally a fellow Lefty is president. . .left-handed that is. And who knew he had something in common with George Costanza.

Now this pisses me off! – the Mercury Militia have claimed 2 more celebrities: Goose and Rainman. That’s write, rumor has it that Anthony Edwards and Dustin Hoffman are antivaccinationists. I don’t really give a crap about Edwards but Hoffman!! NOOOOOOO!!!!

There is some hope though:

The reason I wonder if they really are involved with this pseudoscientific naturopathic quackery is because the only place their names are mentioned is in the title of the press release, and I’ve been unable to find any other information on the web linking them to this effort other than–you guessed it–copies of this press release.

Well at least Ashton Kutcher became awesome:

. . .as opposed to Pamela Anderson, who’s crazy.

Health Care Freedom – aka “Freedom Is Slavery.” This is the equivalent to the creationists’ proposed “Academic Freedom Laws.” People are much more willing to swallow the barrel of a shotgun when it’s wrapped in “Freedom.” As a wise senator once said, “This is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause.”

Want to know which stores deserve your hard-earned money this holiday season? First here’s this year’s annual Naughty and Nice List from Liberty Counsel, a Christian Right organization. And then there’s this rational alternative Naughty List, a list of people, companies, and organizations that gave over $5,000 in support of California’s Prop. 8, ending same-sex marriage in the state.

I’ve called the American Family Association bigots but many Christians insisted they love gay people and just hate gayness, causing me to substitute the term “fascist” instead. Well, I’m switching back to “bigots.”

And if you just change a few words, you get this.

Should atheists adopt the Godless label? – Probably not, but this is a funny read.

WHAT’S THE HARM?

When homeopaths kill by neglect

A healing therapist died after a minor injury went gangrenous because his ‘inner being’ told him not to see a doctor, an inquest has heard.

Russell Jenkins shunned conventional treatment for his foot injury after he trod on an electrical plug at home.

He instead tried the ancient remedy of putting honey on it but his toes later went black and began to stink.

AND NOW FOR A MOMENT OF SCIENCE:

Got Raw Milk? – “Raw milk is illegal in many countries as it can be contaminated with potentially harmful microbes. Contamination can also spoil the milk, making it taste bitter and turn thick and sticky. Now scientists have discovered new species of bacteria that can grow at low temperatures, spoiling raw milk even when it is refrigerated.”

‘New’ Penguin Species Found Using Ancient DNA – “Australian and New Zealand researchers have used ancient DNA from penguin fossils to make a startling discovery that may change the way we view species extinctions.

A team from the University of Adelaide, the University of Otago, and Canterbury Museum in New Zealand has identified a previously unknown penguin species while conducting research on New Zealand’s endangered yellow-eyed penguin, one the world’s rarest penguin species and the subject of an extensive conservation effort.”

Floppy-footed Gibbons: How Early Humans Walked? – “The human foot is a miracle of evolution. We can keep striding for miles on our well-sprung feet. There is nothing else like them, not even amongst our closest living relatives. According to Evie Vereecke, from the University of Liverpool, the modern human foot first appeared about 1.8 million years ago, but our ape-like ancestors probably took to walking several million years earlier, even though their feet were more ‘floppy’ and ape like than ours.”

Long-lost ‘Furby-like’ Primate Discovered – “A team led by a Texas A&M University anthropologist has discovered a group of primates not seen alive in 85 years. The pygmy tarsiers, furry Furby-like, or gremlin-looking, creatures about the size of a small mouse and weighing less than two ounces, have not been observed since they were last collected for a museum in 1921.”

Iron Age Monument: Soul Lived In Stone? – “Archaeologists in southeastern Turkey have discovered an Iron Age chiseled stone slab that provides the first written evidence in the region that people believed the soul was separate from the body.”