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Earlier Explosion at Imperial Sugar Refinery

Kudos! to the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) for providing an update on their investigation of the devastating explosion at the Imperial Sugar/Dixie Crystals refinery near Port Wentworth, Georgia.  As I've noted in previous posts, because the CSB makes it part of their business to provide regular update for the publicâeven if they don't have much at all to reportâtheir effort increases the likelihood that worker and environmental safety and health issues will be covered by the press.  In turn, it means that these critical public health topics stay in the publicâs and…

Two legged goats and developmental variation

Variation is common, and often lingers in places where it is unexpected. The drawing to the left is from West-Eberhard's Developmental Plasticity and Evolution(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), and illustrates six common variations in the branching pattern of the aortic arch in humans. These are differences that have no known significance to our lives, and aren't even visible except in the hopefully rare situations in which a surgeon opens our chests. This is the kind of phenomenon in which I've become increasingly interested. I work with a model system, the zebrafish, and supposedly one of the…

The Autism/Vaccines Fraud

I have to admit I'm somewhat surprised (even if Orac isn't). We all knew that Andrew Wakefield's research was bogus and the link between vaccines and autism was engineered by ideologues who fear vaccines irrationally. But fabrication of data? Sloppy research is one thing, but the need for cranks to be correct, no matter what reality reflects, has resulted in yet another example of egregious dishonesty. This is in line, however, with what we know about cranks. Mark Crislip recently wrote an interesting piece on mathematics crankery which bears upon just this phenomenon. Mathematics is a…

I've been (not) workin' on the railroad

This story is disturbing for a host of reasons, but there's a medical ethics issue hiding in here. Apparently, if you work for the Long Island Railroad, you can retire at 50, then claim disability for a job you no longer have, and collect both a disability check and a pension. I shit you not. But it gets better. According to the Times, "Virtually every career employee -- as many as 97 percent in one recent year -- applies for and gets disability payments soon after retirement...." I strongly encourage you to read the whole article, but let's focus on a particular point. Dr. Melhorn, who…

Thanks for playing

First, thank you for all the wonderful comments on yesterday's post. I never really know which posts are going to rake in the comments---my favorites are usually the quietest, and some of my quickies bring 'em in by the dozen. According to my uber-seekrit data, I've had two unique visitors to my naturopath post. As erv would say, "UR DOING IT RONG!11!!" Anyway, I would like to thank my commenters on that post. Even those of you who I think are terribly wrong were at least civil. I'd love to address all of the issues raised in the comments but I'm far too lazy busy at the moment, but I'd…

Never say "hopeless"

I can't tell you the number of people who complain to me about having their hope taken away. Exactly what this means, though, isn't always clear. Sometimes an oncologist will tell them (so they say) that they have a month to live. Sometimes their cardiologist tells them (so they say) not to travel to their grandson's Bar Mitzvah. Sometimes the spine surgeon tells them their back will always hurt, no matter what. So they say. Patients tell me a lot of things. I'm not always sure what other doctors really told them, but what is important is what the patient heard. The oncologist might have…

So much anti-vaccine crankery, so little time

It's amazing that anti-vaccine crankery persists. I went over to Joe Mercola's woo-palace again, and what should pop up but an article by Dr. Woo himself, Russell Blaylock. Apparently Russ and Joe are "good friends", which is appropriate, since both are doctors that aren't welcome in the profession. Blaylock believes that vaccines kill your brain. How does he know? "A tremendous amount of research has now demonstrated the link between chronic low-level brain inflammation, elevated brain glutamate levels and major depression" and "A great number of studies have shown that when you vaccinate…

A second crank finds Ioannidis

This time it's Steve McIntyre representing for the anti-global warming cranks following the HIV/AIDS denialist lead and using John Ioannidis' study to suggest science is bunk. Never mind that this research is primarily focused on medical studies. Never mind that the study wouldn't even exist if replication in science didn't identify in the first place. Cranks like to latch onto anything that they think is embarrassing to science out of the mistaken belief that it makes their nonsense more believable. It's funny, I was sure they would have picked up on this stuff years ago, but the…

Hello Scienceblogs

Hello and welcome to denialism blog. Here we will discuss the problem of denialists, their standard arguing techniques, how to identify denialists and/or cranks, and discuss topics of general interest such as skepticism, medicine, law and science. I'll be taking on denialists in the sciences, while my brother, Chris, will be geared more towards the legal and policy implications of industry groups using denialist arguments to prevent sound policies. First of all, we have to get some basic terms defined for all of our new readers. Denialism is the employment of rhetorical tactics to give…

Can we "catch" breast cancer?

Third of five student guest posts by Dana Lowry In 1911, Peyton Rous first discovered viruses can cause cancer.  A chicken with a lump in her breast had been brought to Rous by a farmer.  Rous prepared an extract that eliminated bacteria and tumor cells and injected this extract into other chickens—tumors grew.  Rous suggested “a minute parasitic organism” was causing the tumor growth, which is now known to be a virus.  However, Rous’ discovery remained very controversial, and it wasn’t until 1966 that he was awarded a Nobel Prize for his discovery.  Since Rous’s discovery, researchers have…

Evolution (and Professor Steve Steve) at AAAS

As I mentioned, I spent the latter part of last week and the weekend in San Francisco at the annual AAAS meeting. Unlike most meetings I attend, this one wasn't a research-heavy meeting, so instead I went to hear more about science education (and of course, how to improve it), as well as to find out the latest in anti-science circles from those on the front lines. My old friend Professor Steve Steve tagged along as well, meeting new friends and old and discussing evolution and challenges to its teaching. Much more after the jump. Of course, no trip to San Francisco would be complete…

History of Rockbursts at Crandall Canyon?

In "Memo shows mine already had roof problems," (Aug 12) the Salt Lake Tribune's Robert Gehrke first reported on a history of rockbursts at the Crandall Canyon mine.*  I first learned this on NPR's Morning Edition (Aug 14) when Frank Langfitt reported that in March of this year, another severe rockburst occurred at the Crandall Canyon coal mine.  Apparently, no miners were injured by that mining "bump," which Langfitt described "like an explosion as the floor buckles and coal shoots out from the pillars that hold up the ceiling," but the situation was severe enough, that Murray …

Eight Months Later, Will FDA Finally Consider Diacetyl's Safety?

By David Michaels Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT), chair of the House of Representatives Appropriations subcommittee that funds the FDA has called on Food and Drug Administration to ban diacetyl until more research is completed. As we've written (here and here, for example), diacetyl is the artificial butter flavor chemical that has been crippling workers employed in flavoring, popcorn and snack food factories around the country. In announcing her letter to FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach, Congresswoman DeLauro said: In light of overwhelming scientific evidence, the possibility of…

"Let's Debate the Science" - Taking the Tobacco Road to the Supreme Court

By David Michaels The Bush Administration is manufacturing uncertainty about global warming, even as its allies in the carbon producing industries are abandoning it. Last week, the Washington Postâs Steven Mufson and Juliet Eilperin reported that âtop executives at many of the nation's largest energy companies have accepted the scientific consensus about climate change and see federal regulation to cut greenhouse gas emissions as inevitable.â John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Co, said We have to deal with greenhouse gases. From Shell's point of view, the debate is over. When 90-plus…

Nanotechnology primer

Nanotechnology. What does it mean to you? How does it affect health? Does the phrase only conjure up images of Crichton-esque nanobots with a sinister motive? Nanotechnology is a field defined solely by its size. By definition, it involves the manufacture and manipulation of materials at the atomic or molecular level--materials which are typically less than 100 nanometers in diameter. (For comparison, a human hair is roughly 50,000 nm thick, and a piece of paper 100,000 nm thick). This technology has potential applications in a host of fields. For example, it's been used as a…

Basics: Sets and Classes

This is something that came up in some of the comments on the recent "nimbers" post, and I thought it was worth promoting to the front, and getting up under an easy-to-find title in the "basics" series. In a lot of discussions in all different areas of math, you encounter talk about sets and classes, and you'll find people worried about whether they're talking about sets or classes. What's the difference? I mentioned this once before, but it's buried in a discussion of the concept of "meta", which is why I thought it was worth moving it to its own top-level post: if you don't know the…

Books: 'Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex' by Mary Roach

A few years ago, I read Mary Roach's first book, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and absolutely loved it! One of the best popular science books I have read in a long time - informative, eye-opening, thought-provoking and funny. Somehow I missed finding time to read her second (Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife - I guess just not a topic I care much about), but when her third book came out, with such a provocative title as Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, I could not resist. And I was not disappointed. It is informative, eye-opening, thought-provoking and funny.…

ScienceOnline'09 - interview with Elissa Hoffman

The series of interviews with some of the participants of the 2008 Science Blogging Conference was quite popular, so I decided to do the same thing again this year, posting interviews with some of the people who attended ScienceOnline'09 back in January. Today, I asked Elissa Hoffman, a blogging biology teacher, to answer a few questions. Welcome to A Blog Around The Clock. Would you, please, tell my readers a little bit more about yourself? Who are you? What is your (scientific) background? My name is Elissa Hoffman and I'm from Wisconsin. I'm a high school science teacher at Appleton East…

Clock Tutorial #8: Circadian Organization In Non-Mammalian Vertebrates

This post was originally written on February 11, 2005. Moving from relatively simple mammalian model to more complex systems. I have previously described the basic properties of the circadian organization in mammals. Non-mammalian vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds) have more complex circadian systems than mammals. While the suprachiasmatic area remains a site of circadian pacemakers, it is, unlike in mammals, not the only such site. The pineal organ, which in mammals is a purely secretory organ, is directly photosensitive in other vertebrates (with the exception of snakes)…

ScienceOnline'09 - The Program

With almost a hundred people already signed up for ScienceOnline'09, we are busily working on the Program. But we do not want to force a program on you - we want you to help design the program that you will enjoy and find useful. We need you to look at the Program page and tell us what you think and what you offer to do. You can e-mail me or you can edit the Program page and add your name next to one of the suggested topics or add a new topic on the bottom. Keep in mind that this is the Third conference. While it needs to cover some of the basics (e.g., "Why blog?" or "What is Open…

New and Exciting in PLoS ONE

There are 22 new articles in PLoS ONE today. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. You can now also easily place articles on various social services (CiteULike, Mendeley, Connotea, Stumbleupon, Facebook and Digg) with just one click. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites: Playing Charades in the fMRI: Are Mirror and/or Mentalizing Areas Involved in Gestural Communication?: Communication is an important aspect of human life, allowing us to powerfully coordinate our behaviour…

Clock Tutorial #8: Circadian Organization In Non-Mammalian Vertebrates

This post was originally written on February 11, 2005. Moving from relatively simple mammalian model to more complex systems. I have previously described the basic properties of the circadian organization in mammals. Non-mammalian vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds) have more complex circadian systems than mammals. While the suprachiasmatic area remains a site of circadian pacemakers, it is, unlike in mammals, not the only such site. The pineal organ, which in mammals is a purely secretory organ, is directly photosensitive in other vertebrates (with the exception of snakes)…

Clock Tutorial #8: Circadian Organization In Non-Mammalian Vertebrates

This post was originally written on February 11, 2005. Moving from relatively simple mammalian model to more complex systems. I have previously described the basic properties of the circadian organization in mammals. Non-mammalian vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds) have more complex circadian systems than mammals. While the suprachiasmatic area remains a site of circadian pacemakers, it is, unlike in mammals, not the only such site. The pineal organ, which in mammals is a purely secretory organ, is directly photosensitive in other vertebrates (with the exception of snakes)…

Sleep Schedules in Adolescents

Earlier this year, during the National Sleep Awareness Week, I wrote a series of posts about the changes in sleep schedules in adolescents. Over the next 3-4 hours, I will repost them all, starting with this one from March 26, 2006. Also check my more recent posts on the subject here and here... I am glad to see that there is more and more interest in and awareness of sleep research. Just watch Sanjay Gupta on CNN or listen to the recent segment on Weekend America on NPR. At the same time, I am often alarmed at the levels of ignorance still rampant in the general population, and even more…

New and Exciting in PLoS Biology and PLoS Medicine

On Monday nights, it is time to see what is new in PLoS Medicine and PLoS Biology: Meat Consumption and Cancer Risk: Meat consumption in relation to cancer risk has been reported in over a hundred epidemiological studies from many countries with diverse diets. The association between meat intake and cancer risk has been evaluated by looking both at broad groupings of total meat intake, and also at finer categorizations, particularly intakes of red meat, which includes beef, lamb, pork, and veal, and also more specifically processed meats, which includes meats preserved by salting, smoking, or…

Blurring the distinction between contraception and abortion

Monday morning, PST: time for some science with a side of controversy, Danio-style There's a Department of Health and Human Services document circulating that's got the pro-choice lobby up in arms. Afarensis and The Questionable Authority weighed in on the sociopolitical impact of such a policy last week, but in addition to the significant threat to reproductive rights that it presents, this proposal is yet another example of the complete lack of scientific expertise informing decisions about public health. At issue is the determination of a time point that marks the beginning of pregnancy…

ideas of your own

When, in the course of an academic career, should you work on your own ideas: you know, the stuff that deep down you think is really interesting, potentially breakthrough stuff. Because, most scientists, most of the time, don't. as Bee puts it: every postdoc I know or have met and with whom I have discussed the question, agrees that the current system encourages working on established projects rather than investigating own ideas (which might possibly fail and/or not result in publications with well known top researchers on high-impact topics), and they agree that this is not optimal to…

volumes of oil

the collapse of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico is making a mess, but a lot of the numbers being bandied about make little sense partly the problem is units, with news media freely exchanging barrels per day with gallons per minute and rates with integrals I am but a humble physicist, but that has never stopped me before... for real info go someplace like The Oil Drum So, lets take your benchmark guesstimate as the oft quoted 5000 barrels per day. Now there's a meaningless unit. A barrel is a whisker under 160 liters, so per day this is 800,000 liters (massing about…

KITP: migration, violence and the future for the planets

Final day of the Exoplanet Rising workshop. Start off with migration theory, then scattering and collisions. Finish with tidal destruction and future observational prospects. Lubow and Malhotra. Then Thommes and Armitage. Followed by Ogilvie and Traub. Then we are done. This is a public service announcement: Extreme Solar Systems II - Sep. 2011 Announcement went out a few days ago and pre-registration for the meeting is nearing capacity. If you are contemplating attending, then pre-register ASAP, please. Lubow is up first. Migration is still an issue, even if most planets maybe don't…

Diamond Encrusted Dragon's Egg

A long time ago, a massive star about 10,000 light years from Earth went kaboom. 329 years ago, we think, in 1680, the light from the supernova explosion reached Earth and was recorded as a new star by the Flamsteed, then the Astronomer Royal, looking relatively dim as nearby supernove go, due to the layers of dust in the galaxy between us and the site of the explosion. Now, digging into archival x-ray data, a couple of astronomers may finally have figured out what is going on in Cass A. It is a ball of ultradense degenerate neutronium, plated with a thin layer of diamond. A Neutron Star…

Seeking Truth: Living with Doubt

Why IS Stephen Colbert just like a Sufi Master Mystic? That is one of the questions that pop up when a "liberal yankee buddhist" and a "conservative agnostic southern scientist" collaborate to write a book. "Seeking Truth: Living with Doubt" by Steven Fortney and Marshall Onellion ISBN: 978-1-4343-1872-5 Author House www.seekingtruth.info Seriously, I was half-way through this book when the last of the Harry Potter's arrived (I'm a purist and order the english adult editions in hardback to avoid bowdlerized versions), but I finished this book first. The book is an attempt to draw lines in…

This nasty war

Brought to you by guest blogger LisaJ: Canada lost two soldiers serving in Afghanistan this week. This marks the 89th and 90th Canadian soldier to be killed since starting our peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan in 2002. Master Corporal Josh Roberts leaves behind his fiancé in Manitoba, and Master Corporal Erin Doyle leaves behind a wife and a young daughter. These stories are just heartbreaking. They are both very young men, and they've had their lives just ripped right out form underneath them. Their families' lives have undoubtedly been shattered. What's more, breaking news this…

Workforce shortages in biotechnology, part I. Why is this a problem?

Workforce shortages are a growing problem in the biotech industry. Communities are concerned that a lack of trained workers will either keep companies away or cause companies to move. If companies do have to move, it's likely those jobs might be lost forever, never to return. According to Robert Reich, former U.S. secretary of labor, now a professor at UC-Berkeley, biotech companies that can't hire in the U.S. will recruit foreign workers or open research centers overseas (Luke Timmerman, Seattle PI). The reason for concern is that biotech jobs, in general, are pretty good. They pay well…

on the impossibility of war

the US can not afford to start another war, it does not have the forces or the finance so... clearly it is time to contemplate stupidest possible scenarios... A lot of interesting little things have happened in the world. Russia is moving fleet units to Venezuela, Syria and Somalia. Venezuela also gets some visiting Bear Recon/Bomber planes, with Cuban layovers. The ships in Venezuela and Syria seem to partly there to rub some noses and distract, and partly as "don't you dare bomb here" - much like US sixth fleet ships rushing to Georgian ports last month. The Somalian deployment is…

Collins gets panned almost everywhere

I've been wrestling with how to respond to the imminent appointment of Francis Collins to the NIH, and it's tough. The problem is that he has excellent qualifications for the position of chief paper-pusher and technician-wrangler, but that his position on religion is just plain weird. He's a lovable dufus with great organizational skills whose grasp of the principles of science is superficial. But you can't just reject the guy because he's religious — we're in big trouble when we start using a religious litmus test for high political positions. Oh, wait…we already do that. You know if someone…

The Agonized Deaths of Dinosaurs Captured in Stone

tags: researchblogging.org, archaeopteryx, dinosaurs, mammals, fossils Archaeopteryx fossil showing the distinctive head-back death pose of many articulated fossilized birds, dinosaurs and early mammals. Archaeopteryx is an ancient feathered dinosaur. This specimen is at the Humboldt Museum, Berlin. The skull is approximately two inches long. If you've looked at the articulated 150-million-year-old Archaeopteryx fossils, you probably have noticed that they all have a weirdly similar pose; their heads are thrown over their backs, mouths open and tail curved upwards. Scientists have been…

Bring me the heads of Penn and Teller!

Bill Donohue has a new target: he has taken out an ad in Variety, demanding that Penn and Teller be fired, because they've been irreverent and sacrilegious towards the holy Catholic church. On August 27, Showtime, owned by CBS, will feature a vicious assault on Catholics. In the season finale of Penn & Teller's show, they "take on the secretive inner world of The Vatican, the holy city of Catholicism and home of the Pope." How do we know it will defame Catholics? Because on the show's website, it says so: There is a Showtime Advisory for "Graphic Language, Adult Content." If Showtime…

All aboard! Amtrak is the fastest-growing mode of US travel

While the latest New York Times Magazine paints a portrait of the relatively small slice of the US population that takes long-distance train rides, a recent Brookings Institution report notes that millions of shorter-distance riders have made Amtrak the fastest-growing mode of travel in the US. In A New Alignment: Strengthening America's Commitment to Passenger Rail, Robert Puentes, Adie Tomer, and Joseph Kane report that Amtrak ridership has grown 55% since 1997 (compared to a 20% increase in air travel), and now carries more than 31 million riders annually. This renaissance of rail doesn't…

UN halts Pakistan polio vaccination campaign after eight workers killed in 48 hours

Pakistan is one of only three countries where polio is still circulating (Afghanistan and Nigeria are the others), and its eradication efforts have just encountered a horrific setback: Over the course of 48 hours, gunmen shot and killed eight vaccination workers in and around Karachi and Peshawar. The United Nations has pulled off the streets all staff involved in the polio vaccination campaign. Jibran Ahmad reports for Reuters that the government is nonetheless determined to continue immunization efforts: Karachi police spokesman Imran Shaukat said teams were supposed to tell police of their…

Subtle but potentially serious: health effects of low-level pesticide exposure

by Elizabeth Grossman A new study has been added to the growing body of literature reporting on the potential health effects of low-level exposure to widely used pesticides. In this study, a pesticide (triflumizole, or TFZ) used on leafy greens, apples, cherries, strawberries, cucumbers, grapes, watermelons, and other food crops has been identified as an obesogen in mice. An obesogen is a chemical that promotes obesity by prompting the growth of more and larger fat cells, often doing so through prenatal exposure and setting the stage for metabolic disease later in life. Since the…

Occupational Health News Roundup

At Stat, Eric Boodman reports on whether a Trump administration might deprive miners of compensation for disabilities related to black lung disease. In particular, Boodman examines a little-known provision in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that shifted the burden of proof from miners and onto mining companies. In other words, if miners had spent at least 15 years underground and can prove a respiratory disability, it’s assumed to be an occupational illness. However, if the ACA is repealed in full — as candidate Trump promised on the campaign trail — that provision would go away as well, making…

Two reports profile low-wages, grim conditions for workers in the food industry

Two new reports describe the working conditions for some of the 21 million workers in the U.S. food industry. Food workers constitute 14 percent of the U.S. workforce. They are employed across the system from those who work on farms and in canning plants, to meat packers, grocery store clerks and restaurant dishwashers. No Piece of the Pie: U.S. Food Workers in 2016 was released this week by the Food Chain Workers Alliance. The report examines employment trends, wages, advancement opportunities, discrimination, and work-related injuries. The authors use government and industry data, but…

Occupational Health News Roundup

At NPR, John Burnett reports on the conditions facing farmworkers in south Texas 50 years after a landmark strike in which farmworkers walked 400 miles to the capital city of Austin to demand fair working conditions. He writes: A lot has changed since 1966, when watermelon workers in the South Texas borderlands walked out of the melon fields in a historic strike to protest poor wages and appalling working conditions. They marched 400 miles to the state capital of Austin; California labor activist and union leader Cesar Chavez joined them. The farmworkers succeeded in publicizing their cause…

Industrial hygienists in Puerto Rico fight to protect their role in worker safety

It’s been 15 years since worker safety advocates in Puerto Rico first began fighting against a proposal to dilute the qualifications associated with being a professional industrial hygienist. As part of their efforts, such advocates developed their own proposal to protect the livelihoods of those with the knowledge and experience to properly protect workers. And after years of work, they may finally cross the finish line victorious. “We’re really hopeful it works out and we’ll see the light of day,” said Lida Orta-Anés, professor in the Industrial Hygiene Program at the University of Puerto…

Occupational Health News Roundup

At the Guardian, reporters Oliver Laughland and Mae Ryan report on working conditions inside Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel. Right away, the article notes that while the presidential candidate tours the country selling his job-creating skills, workers in his hotel say they get paid about $3 less an hour than many of Las Vegas’ unionized hotel workers, who also enjoy better health and retirement benefits. They write: Earlier this month, following a protracted dispute with Trump and his co-owner, casino billionaire Phil Ruffin, the National Labor Relations Board officially certified a union for…

Appeals Court rejects coal industry complaints, upholds health protections for miners

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit upheld the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s (MSHA) regulation which is designed to better protect coal miners from developing black lung disease. The MSHA regulation was issued in April 2014, and shortly thereafter, the National Mining Association, Murray Energy, and others filed a lawsuit against it. The judges' opinion was published yesterday. (Thanks to Evan B. Smith at Devil in the Dust for alerting me to the decision.) The industry asked the Court of Appeals to review a long list of legal arguments against the…

Study: Many health care providers feel pressure to work while sick, despite the risk to patients

A key argument in the movement to expand sick leave to all workers is that such policies help curb the spread of contagious diseases. And there are few workplaces where that concept is more important than in health care settings, where common diseases can be especially dangerous for patients with compromised immune systems. However, a new study finds that despite such risks, doctors and nurses still feel pressured to report to work while sick. Published earlier this week in JAMA Pediatrics, the study is based on anonymous surveys conducted in a large children’s hospital in Philadelphia and…

Florida is for wankers

Greg Laden, that romantic evolutionary gastronome has several good posts on the mess in Florida (and, by the way, here's a map if you're having trouble keeping track of all those counties). These are documents produced by the activist creationists down there, and they really reveal how inept and uneducated these wankers are. First is a letter from Bill Foster, the city council member who has mayoral aspirations despite his lack of a brain. It does drone on, but here are a few choice excerpts. Throw in the case that there is still no fossil record or evidence to support Darwin, and all you…

Simplistic Binary Thinking in Action

Here is an absolutely textbook example of that simplistic binary thinking that comes up so often in political discourse. It's from David Bass, a "20 year old homeschool graduate" who writes for several of those ubiquitous conservative commentary sites, and it's published, predictably, in the Worldnutdaily. Get a load of this irrational thinking. He begins by quoting someone who is in favor of gay marriage making an argument I have made many times, that the benefits of marriage - and there are many, both personal and societal - apply just as well to gay marriages as straight ones: Couples who…

Hans Zeiger's Latest Boy Scout Paranoia

Our old pal Hans Zeiger, aka Hannity-in-Training, is back with yet another column at the Worldnutdaily that completely distorts the reality of the court cases going on and, predictably, distorts the position of the ACLU. The issue involves the question of whether the government can continue to spend money and resources to support the Boy Scouts (by hosting jamborees and the like) on military bases and similar government facilities. A Federal judge ruled that they cannot and the case is now being appealed. Let's take a look at Zeiger's amazing ability to shift the premise of the other side's…