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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Religion Skepticism/critical thinking

Bill Maher gets the Richard Dawkins Award? That’s like Jenny McCarthy getting an award for public health

Although I often don’t agree with him and have cooled on him lately, I still rather like–even admire–Richard Dawkins. While it’s true I’ve taken him to task for having a tin ear for bioethics, lamented his walking blindly right into charges of anti-Semitism (no, I don’t think he’s an anti-Semite), and half-defended/half-criticized him for seeming […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Entertainment/culture Humor Medicine Quackery Television

Jenny McCarthy and Oprah Winfrey: Cartoonists are starting to notice

Ever since Jenny McCarthy hitched her fading star to the anti-vaccine movement and managed to get Oprah Winfrey to go along for the ride, she has become the public face of the anti-vaccine movement. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been nearly as much blowback as there should be in the mainstream press, although bloggers have been all […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Quackery

Oh, noes! Obama’s sending men in black to vaccinate your children!

If there’s one characteristic of the anti-vaccine movement that helps define them as true cranks, it’s a streak of conspiracy theory mania. It’s not too much of an exaggeration when I wonder if they think that the Lizard Men have taken over the government, the CDC, and the American Academy of Pediatrics in order to […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

The “Health Ranger” Mike Adams needs your help for his wiki!

I’ve had a lot of fun over the last couple of years deconstructing the black holes of woo that a certain advocate of “natural” remedies likes to lay down on a regular basis. Yes, I’m referring to a guy named Mike Adams, who runs a website called NaturalNews.com. Indeed, Adams has made NaturalNews.com a bastion […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Enablers of the vaccine-autism manufactroversy

I realize that this week in practically every new post I’ve been mentioning TAM7. It hasn’t exactly been intentional, believe it or not, at least aside from my recap a on Tuesday and my request for photos from those of you who attended. Oddly enough, although I mentioned how proud I was to be part […]