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Bioethics Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Quackery Science

The Guatemala syphilis experiment, human subjects research abuses, and CAM

If there’s one thing that burns me about so-called “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM) clinical trials, it’s how unethical many of them are. This is particularly true for trials that test modalities that, on the basic science grounds alone, can be dismissed as so highly implausible and with such a low prior probability of success […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Quackery

Gary Kompothecras and Charlie Crist tag-team an effort to support autism quackery in Florida

It’s grant crunch time, which almost always means that a lot of stuff happens that I don’t have time to write about and that the week after I submit it (i.e., next week) usually nothing interesting happens to write about and I’m left posting LOL Cats or something like that. Be that as it may, […]

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History Politics

September 11, 2001: What we saw

Once again we come to another September 11. It’s hard to believe that it’s been nine years since that horrible day. On this day, I generally don’t do any new posts. Also, traditionally I do two things. First, I post the following video. This video was shot by Bob and Bri, who in 2001 lived […]

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Politics Religion Skepticism/critical thinking

CFI President Ronald Lindsay shows that he still doesn’t get it on the “Ground Zero mosque”

Yesterday, I expressed my displeasure over a truly idiotic press release by the Center for Inquiry over the “Ground Zero mosque” entitled The Center for Inquiry Urges That Ground Zero Be Kept Religion-Free. I happen to know that a lot of supporters of CFI were very unhappy about the press release as well, because apparently […]

Categories
Politics Religion Skepticism/critical thinking

The Center For Inquiry on the “Ground Zero mosque”: Incompetent satire or abandonment of principles?

I hadn’t planned on blogging at all today, much about on this particular topic. As some of you may have noticed, I’m trying to cut back on the blog habit, particularly on the weekends. Gone are the days when I’d foolishly try to emulate P.Z. Myers and have several posts up in a day; lately […]