The View from Number 80

August 2nd 2004

August 4th 2004

August 5th 2004

August 7th 2004

August 9th 2004

August 11th 2004

August 12th 2004

August 13th 2004

August 15th 2004

August 17th 2004

August 18th 2004

August 20th 2004

ID is BS - 80 heard a radio show the other day discussing the origin of the expression "politically correct". Everyone, of whatever political persuasion, has a particular example of "political correctness" gone mad. 80 would like to offer for consideration the respect given to proponents of biblical creationism and its bastard offspring, as though it was a valid point of view outside the narrows bounds of theology, which is itself one of humanity's most pointless pursuits. Such respect is accorded by the British government to the Vardy Foundation, who teach creationism in the schools under their control. (see A Damning Document) Creationism is arrant nonsense and where it makes claims that can can be tested, proven to be nonsense. It should only be in the curriculum as one of a number of equally valid myths. Not as history, nor divinely inspired, but as mythology, and as such, a valuable source of cultural information, in particular concerning the beliefs of the writers. As for those that like to dress up their creationism in an ill-fitting, mock scientific disguise, which is actually as realistic as a pantomime horse, and call it "intelligent design" (ID) - they are blatantly dishonest. At least the old-fashioned creationists admit quite freely it is GOD they are banging on about. The ID crowd mince around the concept without ever daring to admit that's what they mean too, even though their "evidence" differs from that of creationists. Which brings us to Chris Mooney's latest article in CSICOP's Doubt and About series called IDing ID. Mooney looks at the birth of Intelligent Design and the promotion of religious ideas masked by a scientific veneer. His conclusion is "First, it's incorrect to call ID proponents "creationists" if by that term we mean to suggest that they're members of the young earth creationist movement. That's simply not true; their arguments differ substantially. Granted, if we define "creationism" minus its historical baggage, and simply claim that it means "opposing the theory of evolution for religious reasons," then ID followers certainly fit the mold." He also sounds a note of optimism believing ID will fail to infiltrate the science classroom as its predecessor "creation science" also failed. With the agenda of the Vardy Foundation and others infiltrating the English schools system, apparently with the Blair government's blessing, the battle against nonsense has only just begun on this side of the pond. One book mentioned by Mooney is Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design Theory by Barbara Forrest and Paul Gross. The title neatly summarises the sham that is Intelligent Design, and, like Toto, pulls aside the pseudoscientific curtain to reveal the religionists at the controls. For more on the subject 80 recommends the two entries in the Skeptics Dictionary on creationism and creation science and intelligent design. For an excellent essay on ID, do take a look at E T Babinski's  Why We Believe in a Designer! Highly recommended.
 
Gullible's Travels - or ship of fools. The Skeptic's Dictionary is not only a book and valuable online resource. Bob Carroll also produces a free newsletter and the latest issue, #45, mentions a wonderful opportunity to spend tens of thousands of dollars with HollowEarth.com. This substantial sum will enable you to spend 3 weeks cruising the Arctic in the Yamal, a Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker, looking for the North Polar Opening, which leads to the inside of our Hollow Earth. The aim is to "conduct scientific observations in the Artic (sic) that is (sic) hoped will resolve once and for all whether the hollow earth theory has any validity."  Guided by, amongst other sources, the book Hollow Planets by Jan Lamprecht (fittingly, we are told the forename is pronounced "Yawn") it is the intention that "expedition members could take an inner earth monorail train to visit the lost Garden of Eden located under America on the highest mountain plateau of the Inner Continent." Or not. The disclaimer under the heading Guarantees wisely states "By joining Our Hollow Earth Expedition, expedition members agree that there are NO GUARANTEES that this expedition will reach Inner earth. The expedition will make a good faith effort to locate the North Polar Opening and enter therein, but worst case scenario is that we visit the geographic North Pole, explore the region, and continue on to the New Siberian Islands." Still, even if the lost continent is not found, just think of the kind of fascinating company to be had on board. (80 looked at the history of the Hollow Earth in Hollow Halley back in March 2001)

Conspicuous By Their Absence - in the light of protestations about the attitude to women in Islam, 80 looked at this page, devoted to the Muslim Association of Britain's Sisters Section, apparently set up way back in 2001. You are welcome to draw your own conclusions.

Quote - "I couldn't get a job with CIA today. I am not qualified. I don't have the language skills. I, you know, my language skills were romance languages and stuff. We're looking for Arabists today. I don't have the cultural background probably. And I certainly don't have the technical skills, as my children remind me every day: 'Dad, you got to get better on your computer.' So, the things that you need to have, I don't have." So says Porter Goss, US Congressman and George W Bush's nominee for the post of director of the CIA. The unfortunate quote has been dismissed as "hearsay" by the White House, according to BBC news. Mr Goss was talking to documentary filmmaker Michael Moore but unfortunately his interview did not make the final cut of Fahrenheit 9/11. Happily, the ever-obliging and helpful Mr Moore has kindly posted a film clip of the interview on his website. Oops. Perhaps we are going to have to redefine the meaning of the word "hearsay".

August 21st 2004

Lured by Lourdes - Karol Wojtyla, also known as "the Pope", waved away the helping hands, sprang to his feet, and skipped out of the Grotto of Apparitions like an 84 year-old lamb. The reason for this miraculous transformation was the healing power of the shrine at Lourdes, where in 1858 a peasant girl, Bernadette Soubirous, claimed to have had visions of the Virgin Mary. Since then many thousands of the devout have travelled there in the hope of a cure for their various afflictions. The Catholic Encyclopedia (CE) contains the estimate that in the shrine's first 50 years "about 4000 cures have been obtained at Lourdes" but this is " is undoubtedly considerably less than the actual number". The writer of the CE article "has published the number of cases of each disease or infirmity, among them tuberculosis, tumours, sores, cancers, deafness, blindness, etc." Although the "Bureau des Constatations stands near the shrine, and there are recorded and checked the certificates of maladies and also the certificates of cure" as far as 80 can see there is no follow-up to ascertain if any of these cures were permanent. By now the astute reader will realize that the first sentence above is a fantasy, if they hadn't already. Either Wojtyla's devotion to the Virgin Mary (he believed she saved him after an assassination attempt) is not reciprocated, or Parkinson's disease is not on Her list of approved cures. The old boy left as infirm and as deluded as when he arrived.
 
Panzerkardinal - Karol had another setback recently when  specific mention of a "Christian heritage" did not make it into the preamble of the European Constitution. One very good reason for this, beyond the obvious ones that it would have been divisive and ignored those of other faiths and none, is that the European Union (EU) is a secular institution, not a religious one. This point does not seem to sunk in with Karol's attack dog, one Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, boss of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly the Inquisition). Ratzinger has offered his unasked for opinion on Turkey's entry into the EU, saying that as an Islamic state it has no place there. This seems, apart from being typically arrogant, to be contrary to the spirit of an agreement, signed at the Vatican in 2002 by Cardinal Francis Arinze, the Head of the Papal Council for Inter-religious Dialogue and by Mehmet Yilmaz, the Head of Turkey's Religious Affairs office. This agreement has the aim of promoting religious dialogue between Christians and Muslims. Perhaps Ratzinger, known as "The Enforcer" or the "Panzerkardinal", has not heard of this or thinks it does not apply to him. Meanwhile, more unwelcome Catholic Christian news comes from a seminary in St Poelten, near Vienna Austria. The Vatican has closed it down because, in the delicate phrase used by Bishop Klaus Kueng, it has "veered away" from its mission. This was to train young men into the Roman Catholic church, and not, as it has turned out, child pornography. It must be an example of dogged, steadfast faith to stick with a system that has thrown up such scandals all around the world, and still not seek to find the cause within the Church's own doctrines. Bishop Kueng has accused the seminary leadership of "paying too little attention to recruiting requirements". So it is the people they recruited who are to blame and nothing to do with the environment these recruits found themselves in after their enrollment. (For a fascinating look at another, dark aspect of the Roman Catholic Church 80 recommends this article by Johann Hari "Islam isn't the only religion to spawn deadly sects. Look at the Roman Catholic Church and Opus Dei". While you are at Hari's site, do take a look through his archive, it is good stuff.)

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc - literally "after this therefore because of this", describing the coincidental correlation fallacy. It is worth bearing it in mind when examining this graph that plots George W Bush's approval ratings and the incidence of terror alerts. As far as 80 can tell, the figures quoted are accurate, but remember there may be other figures that are unquoted, that yield a different impression. Given this caveat, it is still, in 80's view, a damning piece of work. (the chart is from Julius Blog and was brought to 80's attention by morons.org)

Dumb and Dumber - Jeb Bush is obviously out to prove that he is the equal of his brother when it comes to mouthing meaningless twaddle. Visiting the scenes of devastation in Florida in the aftermath of hurricane Charley, he defended the scientists who incorrectly predicted the path of the storm, in an odd, backhanded way. "God doesn't follow the linear projections of computer models. This is God's way of telling us that He's almighty and we're mortal." So let's get this right, in order to prove that he is a capricious and dangerous deity, Jeb's God misleads scientists into giving the wrong advice so that ordinary people are killed and maimed and left homeless. Humankind is better off without a God like that in charge.......and that goes for clods like John Ellis Bush holding power as well.

Florida Frolics - Jeb's Florida seems keen to hang on to the unsavoury reputation it gained in the previous election with allegations of vote suppression now surfacing. And still with Florida and Gov. Bush read here an interesting piece on "the first faith-based prison in the United States." The author, Dan Roentsch, is not impressed with the whole idea or its execution. "Moral accountability doesn't begin with the citizen's belief that his crimes against others are washed away by entreating translucent third parties. As a matter of fact, that is one of the places where moral accountability ends. Teach that to prisoners. Tell them that sacrificing their brains to powers they think they cannot control is perhaps the fundamental reason they are in prison to begin with. If they still want Jesus after that, let the Gideons provide the Bibles." Recommended

August 22nd 2004

Cave of the Baptist? - one of the few characters in the Christian Gospels whose reality is supposed to be verified elsewhere is John the Baptist. He is mentioned by Josephus in The Antiquities in what looks like an authentic passage, unlike Josephus' mention of Jesus (the so-called Flavian Testimony) which has been heavily interpolated by pious hands. (Other references to John by early church writers and in some Gnostic gospels are much too late to be of use as evidence for his historical reality.) At least the Baptist fares better in the reality stakes than Jesus, but for an archaeologist to claim that he has found a cave used by the man himself seems to be a blend of wishful thinking and good old publicity seeking. British archaeologist Shimon Gibson has spent the last 5 years excavating the cave, not far from Jerusalem, retrieving articles said to be associated with  purification, possibly involving a ritual bath and anointing with oil. So how does Gibson jump from these no doubt interesting but relatively unremarkable finds to claims that the cave was used by John? His assertion rests upon some carvings in the cave which he interprets as depicting John, severed head and all, in a way reminiscent of Byzantine work. Gibson reckons the site could be linked to John's years in the wilderness, and a nearby village has the tradition of being his birthplace. Gibson goes further by stating "In addition to John the Baptist, there's a possibility that Jesus used this cave as well." Like anyone else he is entitled to his opinion, but some questions occur immediately about his enthusiastic embracing of the site as John the Baptist's hangout. The cave's location, Tzova, is 25 miles away from John's usual pitch on the banks of the river Jordan, where he performed his baptisms. Also those baptisms used the "living waters" of the Jordan, according to the New Testament, not a bath or oil. Lastly, the images carved on the wall are similar to Byzantine work because that is what they are, dating from 400 to 500 years after the Baptist's supposed lifetime. Gibson says he is not religious but he certainly seems keen to join up unconnected dots to make a picture in a way typical of those seeking the "ground truth" of the Bible by misinterpretation of the archaeology, powered more by enthusiasm than evidence. The fact that later Christians may have associated the site with the Baptist is no indication of authenticity whatsoever. A similar discovery, in 2003, of the tomb of the father of John, one Zachariah, proved to be based on no evidence other than a Byzantine inscription of much later date. The Byzantines considered divine inspiration as valid as any other method of identifying holy sites which, along with their distance in time from the New Testament period, renders their inscriptions unreliable for site identification. They tell us only what the Byzantines believed in their time and are of little use, if any, for earlier periods. The case for John's cave and his dad's tomb is, to borrow a phrase from Scottish law, not proven. (This is not the first time Gibson has announced amazing discoveries with a biblical context see "Jerusalem body 'has links to the Crucifixion'" where once again the British archaeologist demonstrates not just his great luck, but also a talent for publicity.)

Update - to the above. 80 missed the rather obvious fact that the figures carved in the cave must postdate the Baptist's demise, as his severed head is shown. Thanks to Simon for pointing out that "portraits of living people generally depict them with heads still attached, in my experience (for example, B. Kliban’s “John the Baptist with a side of fries” was certainly drawn after Mr. Baptist was dead)."

August 23rd 2004

Saucer Silliness - some politicians will jump on any passing bandwagon - even when the bandwagon in question is a flying saucer. Such is the case with Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico who supplied the foreword to a new book on a tired old subject. Called "The Roswell Dig Diaries," the dig refers to an "archaeological" dig conducted at one of the supposed crash sites of a flying saucer dating from 1947. Richardson states in the foreword "With full disclosure and our best scientific investigation, we should be able to find out what happened on that fateful day in July 1947." ("Fateful day?" Sounds like he has already made up his mind) The real puzzle is why bother? The Roswell crashed saucer and alien bodies fable only serves two purposes these days. Firstly it is a cherished emblem of the saucer nuts, for whom no amount of disclosure or investigation would dispel the "mystery" and secondly, it is nice little tourist earner for an otherwise unremarkable small town. What it is not is any kind of great mystery, despite the best efforts of the Sci-Fi Channel who sponsored the dig and the book. In an unusual show of election year bipartisanship the executive director of the New Mexico Republican Party, Greg Graves is supporting Richardson's stance, confirming how desperate for publicity he must be. At least Graves is honest enough to reveal the underlying economic motive, "Thousands of people come to Roswell every year to visit the site and go to the museum. It's an incredible boon to the Roswell economy" Richardson gets rather less support from astronomer Andrew Fraknoi, who has little time for pseudoscience and UFO silliness. He told SFGate he found Richardson's foreword unbelievable and added "This continues to confirm that election or appointment to high office does not guarantee wisdom in all areas of human thought". (For more on Roswell and UFOs in general, 80 recommends the Klass Files)

Criticism Is Not Phobic - there is a good piece by Polly Toynbee in the Guardian entitled "We must be free to criticise without being called racist". For her comments on Islam, which are certainly unpalatable for some Muslims, she was given the "Most Islamophobic media personality" award by the oxymoronic-sounding Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC). This act of stupidity puts her in the same category as the leader of the British fascists, Nick Griffin, Ariel Sharon and "Islamophobe of the year", George W Bush. Toynbee's journalism shows that she is the last person who should be tarred with the brush of Islamophobia, a term which is not easy to define but is certainly offensive (see 80 on Islamophobia). To criticise Islam or any other religion does not imply hatred or fear on the part of the critic. To incite discrimination or violence towards any religious group is totally unacceptable and no one in their right mind could accuse Toynbee of this. The IHRC, if they cannot tell the difference between the two attitudes, reveal themselves to be an ignorant organization. It is the Toynbees and liberals of this world who fight for the right of people to follow their religious preferences, but no one can expect special treatment. A further point, criticising or commenting on someone's religious beliefs is NOT racism and calling it such is inaccurate. 80 believes religions and their adherents should be accorded tolerance, but respect has to be earned.  By the way, here is a word for Scrabble fans and lexicographers, enissophobia. This particular affliction is what seems to be gripping the IHRC.  Its meaning? Fear of criticism.

August 25th 2004

Science Out - Religion In - in a world torn apart by religious divisions and hatreds, a world that faces challenges to the environment, antibiotic resistant diseases, and a shortage of food and clean water for many regions, does Britain really need an increase in students opting for religious studies? According to the Independent newspaper, referring to the British A-level examinations "This year's results also showed a switch away from traditional academic subjects such as science and foreign languages to soft options such as media studies. The biggest rise in take-up was in religious studies - which was up 13.8 points." One positive interpretation of this last figure is that after September 11th students have become aware of the role that religion plays in world events. "It may well reflect a genuine interest in world religion and studying why these conflicts seem to have their roots in religious tension," says David Hart, of the National Association of Head Teachers. A subject that went down in popularity was science with a drop of 6.5%, and within that figure physics fell by 6.2%, prompting this gloomy comment from Mary Bousted, of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, "Over the past five years, the number of students taking the subject at A-level has dropped by 5,200. If this rate continues, will physics become the next Latin and disappear altogether?" Physics is the best and only reliable and consistent way to learn about how our entire universe works, from the unimaginably large to the infinitesimally small - it is not a subject that can just be dropped from the curriculum. 80 wonders, is this how a Dark Age begins? The current fuss and debate over whether exams have become too easy, leading to unrealistically high pass rates is trivial compared to the falling away from subjects we will desperately need in the 21st century. (Here is essay by Rob Colson in New Humanist on religious education, unanswerable questions and arrogance)

Grand Gesture - or just too fat? Much attention was given to Iranian Olympic judo contender Arash Miresmaeili for refusing to participate if drawn against an Israeli opponent. This is in line with Iranian government policy forbidding any contact with Israeli citizens, and a judo bout would certainly have involved contact. Now Miresmaeili's principled stand, applauded by President Mohammad Khatami, who said it will be recorded among the nation's glories, turns out to be an empty gesture. The Iranian athlete has been eliminated for failing a stringent weight test, which placed him over the 66kg limit for his class.

Hejab Handicap - Iran has also only managed to field one female contestant for the games, Nassim Hassanpour. She is competing in the 10 metre air pistol event. Shooting is not her main sport, this BBC item tells us she is, in fact, a gymnast. As her theocratic government insists that she wears the equivalent of a small tent in public, this would naturally not enhance her competitiveness in gymnastics. Still very keen to represent her country she chose the air pistol event instead. The Islamic Women's Games do allow competitors to wear regular gymnastic attire but no male judges or spectators are allowed to attend. It may well meet Islamic standards of decorum but it certainly isn't the Olympics. In Iran women only have limited access to sports facilities and have to play tennis, for instance, on a covered court. It all comes down to one thing and Hassanpour puts her finger on it "Basically in our society, women are not valued the same as men." (On reflection, whatever the culture/ religion, or to what greatly varying degree, this could be said of most societies. Especially if you interpret "not valued the same" as implying valued differently, and not valued less.) For more on the rules governing Muslim women in sport and the beliefs behind them, see this piece by Amir Taheri. "A circular from the Ministry of Islamic Guidance and Culture in Tehran asks TV editors to make sure that women's games are not televised live: "Images of women engaged in contests [sic] must be carefully vetted," says the letter, leaked in Tehran. "Editors must take care to prevent viewers from being confronted [sic] with uncovered parts of the female anatomy in contests." Otherwise dirty old men will become aroused - and blame the women as usual. "Sheik Yussuf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian theologian based in Qatar, claims that female sport is exploited as a means of undermining "divine morality." Can these old boys not even watch a sporting event without thinking of sex?

August 27th 2004

Dirty War - the American presidential race was never going to be a gentlemanly affair. A group of Vietnam vets called "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" via TV ads and a book are doing their best to belittle  Democratic candidate John Kerry's war record and in particular rewrite the events surrounding his rescue of Jim Rassman, a special-forces soldier, while under fire. What this group have succeeded in doing is directing attention to their Republican party links and the inconsistencies in their accounts. This article in the New York Times (reg req) takes a close look at the "Swift Boat Veterans", producing an effect akin to turning over a stone and revealing the wriggling lifeforms beneath. The changing testimonies of the vets and the sources of funding for their ads removes any trace of doubt that this is a put up job, a smear campaign. Regardless of your opinion of Kerry's politics one fact stands out above all the argument about the details of Kerry's war record and medals - he did actually serve in Vietnam. He was not in an elite Air National Guard unit back home, and what's more, he can account for all his time in service. President Bush has not condemned the smear tactics although asked to do so by Senator John McCain, who underwent something similar when running for the Republican nomination in 2000. As for Kerry, he is angry and sounding combative, "The president keeps telling people he would never question my service to our country. Instead, he watches as a Republican-funded attack group does just that. Well, if he wants to have a debate about our service in Vietnam, here is my answer: Bring it on!"

Update - on the Swift Boat Veterans saga, the Kerry campaign upped the ante on Friday by filing a legal complaint against Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT) for "violating the law with inaccurate ads that are illegally coordinated with the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign". In what could be an attempt to capture the higher moral ground, Kerry has condemned adverts by a liberal group, funded by Democrat supporters, which alleges President Bush used family influence to gain a place with the National Guard in order to avoid serving during the Vietnam war. Perish the thought!

Spook Chill Out - another ghost has been clumsy enough to be captured on a CCTV surveillance camera. A while back (December 2003 Is This Proof Ghosts Exist?) one of these elusive little blighters was supposed to have been seen on camera at Hampton Court Palace, England. Now Kent County Court House in Chestertown, Maryland is the setting for the appearance of "a round, translucent, white object that seemed to "walk" up and down a set of stairs inside the newer wing of the courthouse." The general manager of the firm that installed the cameras, Brooke Eyler, is distinctly unimpressed, saying "I've seen it so many times, it's not funny. It's definitely a bug." Naturally this down to earth attitude does not sit well with Beverly Lipsinger, president of the Maryland Ghost & Spirit Association, and a typical believer. She said "It's a ghost. They don't want to believe, so they're coming up with something." It is noteworthy that her strong opinion is based only upon hearsay, as she spoke without having seen the videotape of the phenomenon. She wants to set up her own "ghost detection equipment" which, 80 guarantees, will produce results that will confirm her belief. Whether anyone else, outside the Maryland Ghost & Spirit Association, will be convinced remains to be seen. One report, originally from Associated Press, says that observers watching security officer Phillip Price on screen, saw him walk right through the "ghost". "At that exact moment Price said he felt something. "I felt a real chill, I will tell you that." goes the report. There was no direct communication between the observers and Price, and no mention is made of the use of synchronized stopwatches, which  does lead one to wonder how it is known his subjective "chill" feeling ocurred at the "exact moment" that he was seen to walk through the apparition. Sloppy reporting, the love of cheap sensation and the imperishable (and irrational) will to believe of folks like Lipsinger will ensure that many more ghosts are waiting to make their appearance on TV or, if we are lucky, "live" in person. As 80 has said before, ghosts should outnumber the living on planet Earth, so how come we aren't knee-deep in ectoplasm?

August 29th 2004

Playing the Games - apparently as unconcerned as ever by any element of truth, George W Bush is now associating himself and his "war on terror" with the 2004 Olympic Games. This campaign ploy does not sit well with everyone, particularly the Iraqi Olympic soccer team, whose views were made known in an interview with a US sports magazine. In the campaign ad the flags of Iraq and Afghanistan were shown, accompanied by the words "At this Olympics there will be two more free nations - and two fewer terrorist regimes". To those experiencing the upsurge of Taleban and warlord violence in Afghanistan and the instability of the newly "sovereign" Iraq, this must have sounded very hollow. It ranks with the notorious "mission accomplished" declaration, when the president used an aircraft carrier as backdrop for declaring the end of "major combat operations" in Iraq. That was when he dressed up like an aviator and performed a Leni Riefenstahl-type descent from above, in a specially painted S-3B Viking airplane, onto the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln. We are not likely to see this aired during the current campaign, as the propaganda stunt, which cost US taxpayers a cool $1 million, when seen against the background of the current mayhem in Iraq looks even more ridiculous than it did in May 2003. (Here is more on the Bush administration's stagecraft.)

Update - to the above. According to this piece in the UK Guardian the Bush campaign ad is infringing US copyright law as "only the US Olympic Committee has the right to use the Olympic insignia, images and trademarks for marketing purposes." Whether any action will be taken remains to be seen. There are even rumors that George W Bush, hitherto not known as a soccer fan, may attend the Games, the better to bask in the so far successful Iraqi team's glory. 

Pendulum Puzzle - does the Universe have a "grain" like a piece of wood?  One explanation for an experimental anomaly suggests that the force of gravity is different in different directions. While this may not be the answer to results that Maurice Allais obtained in 1954 and which been  replicated elsewhere since, it is an intriguing speculation that has great implications for the theory of General Relativity. Put crudely, Allais found that a pendulum moved faster than expected during a solar eclipse. Now Chris Duif, a researcher at the Delft University of Technology, in the Netherlands claims the effect is real and not an error of measurement and would also fit in with observations of very distant US space probes. Pioneers 10 and 11, launched in the 1970s are streaking toward the edge of the Solar System - more slowly than expected. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena has been studying this effect and can find no conventional answer. At the moment several competing explanations have been offered, including the above-mentioned directionality of space. More detail is available from The Economist and also Duif's paper is online here in PDF format. It is from anomalous measurements like those of Allais and Duif that we may learn a lot more more about the way the cosmos is put together, and they could perhaps even herald a complete reassessment of what we know, or think we know. Whether this is, to use a hackneyed term, a paradigm shift, remains to be seen but one thing is for sure - it is a damn sight more intriguing than all the hollow earths, ghosts, therapeutic touch, UFOs and other twaddle that attract so much uncritical coverage in the media.

August 30th 2004

Missing, One Empire - while browsing through David Meadows' admirable Explorator, an archaeology/history newsletter (the latest issue is here) 80's attention was directed once more to the odd world of "biblical" archaeology (BA). This is when folk use ancient texts from the bible in order to find archaeological evidence in order to confirm the accuracy of the ancient texts in the bible. If that sounds unscientific and daft that's because it is. This article, Digging Up the Bible, defends the conventional BA view that the books of the bible  reflect historical reality, and that there was a "united monarchy" established by David and inherited by his son Solomon, by which time their possessions were effectively an empire. This empire had foreign trade and diplomatic contacts across the ancient world. The only problem with this thesis is that, outside of the biblical texts, there is no mention of David or Solomon anywhere and no evidence on the ground for their kingdom/empire. The writer of the article, one David Hazony, is firmly in the "bible is a historical record" camp. He says there is plenty of evidence to support his view and it is all down to a matter of interpretation. Here he is plain wrong, the Davidic/Solomonic empire just does not fit into the known history of the area. It is a fairy tale place that exists outside the world revealed by archaeology. The "fortresses of Solomon" at Megiddo, Hazor and Gezer found by Yigael Yadin, using the bible as his guide, are of a later date than the supposed time of the great king. This kingdom is no more real than King Arthur's and perhaps, at the time the stories were written, served the same original purpose - consolation for a defeated people. Hazony's real agenda has little to do with archaeology or ancient history, but a lot to do with more modern interests. The original source of his article was Azure.org, where he is editor-in-chief, and whose avowed aim is to champion "the strength and relevance of Jewish tradition and the centrality of a strong, free and Jewish State of Israel for the future of the Jewish people." This mission does not encourage the objective analysis of archaeological evidence. Hazony can refer to only one artifact that demonstrates the historical reality of David, the Tel Dan inscription. For him, "the most important archaeological discovery in a generation was found: The first-ever inscription bearing the name of King David..." The only problem with this inscription is that it may have nothing to do with David whatsoever and its interpretation is still open. Even if it does refer to the "house of David", one inscription is hardly evidence of a kingdom large and rich enough to have had an impact on the world stage. (also see Solomon Arthur and Dubya and Aryan Covenant Lyer)

Not So Spooky - 80 was saddened to hear of the death of film composer Elmer Bernstein on August 18th. Some of his works have attained an iconic status and have become part of the world's soundscape. Two that fit into this category are his unmistakable and popular scores for the movies The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape. As chance would have it after the announcement of Berstein's death 80 was cooking, a chore that has to be accompanied by the radio. The station chosen was BBC Radio 7 which has an archive section of classic comedies and dramas. (If you have a broadband connection and a love of British humor check it out) 80 first chose "Round the Horne" from 1967 which featured a parody film trailer - using Bernstein's theme from The Magnificent Seven. The next show picked at random (the only criterion was whether a show was funny) was a News Quiz from 1999. One of the musical clues was Bernstein's Great Escape title music. Spooky eh? Well actually no, as Michael Shermer explains in his latest skeptical column in Scientific American entitled "Miracle on Probability Street" Shermer shows us that "The Law of Large Numbers guarantees that one-in-a-million miracles happen 295 times a day in America" Good stuff - and not at all spooky.

August 31st 2004

Miracle Babies - Archbishop Gilbert Deya claims that he is able to help women who are unable to conceive naturally by proclaiming them pregnant - after an exorcism. That anyone should give this charlatan any credence whatsoever is hard to believe, but naive people have taken Deya at his word and now may well be embroiled in an investigation by the Metropolitan Police, the United Nations Children's Fund, the Kenyan authorities, the Church of England, the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and the BBC radio program, Face The Facts. (Listen to the show A "Cure" for Infertility) Not quite what was expected when Deya prayed over them, and then declared that they were pregnant by Jesus. The next move was to send them to the "backstreet clinics of Nairobi's slums where they apparently give birth." Archbishop Deya, "whose group has more than 36,000 members in Britain and which is building a £1 million church in south London" also claims that "he can exorcise demons from women who have passed the menopause or who are infertile" according to the BBC. Now the Kenyan authorities have seized  several "miracle babies" for DNA tests, in order to to establish their parentage. Deya has said that it would not be surprising if the DNA did not match, as the babies "came from God". A Birmingham Pastor, Benjamin Mensah, defends Deya's absurd claims and says it is up to doctors to explain why the DNA does not match. "My own point of view is that God is able to do all things" Mensah told the BBC, which of course begs the question why doesn't God make the DNA match up - surely a trivial task for a deity and one that would save his devotees the distress of a police investigation. As Mensah is a member of Deya's church, whose own wife has had two miracle babies, he is hardly an objective bystander and any statements he makes are worthless. One puzzle which God's miraculous intervention does not seem to be able get around is why do the women have to travel all the way to Kenya to give birth? (Thanks to Simon for making this point). It does seem a longwinded way of doing things - unless Kenya is a more suitable venue for baby-trafficking of course. Deya has attracted attention in the past and was investigated by the Church of England for conducting exorcisms on young children but no action was taken. (80 is trying to find out more about this.) Deya's website is here replete with testimonials and prayers, including one for barrenness. For sale are videos, books, magazines, and audio tapes. Babies are not listed. Most interesting are the videos advertised, including "A Great Miracle - Jesus Healed a Woman with Three Breasts", "Debts Cancelled and the Spirit of Death Cast Out", "Ambassador Carrying Snake in his Belly Delivered in Jesus Name" and last but not least "(Witchcraft) 14 Year Missing Baby In the Womb Born (The Mother is 51 Years old)". Whether the debts cancelled are incurred by handing over money to Gilbert Deya Ministries is not made clear. (They are a proper Registered Charity, No.1051722, but maybe not for much longer) Looking at the pictures of happy parents blessed with babies miraculously born in Kenya, 80 notes that there do not seem to be any white couples. Perhaps none belong to the church, or is it because white babies are harder to obtain in a Nairobi backstreet clinic? (see Pregnant by Jesus? and Inquiry call on 'miracle babies' )

Update - to the above.Three clinics in Kenya linked with the "miracle births" have been closed down. The proprietor of one claims no such babies were born there, according to the East African Standard. Police have found that records for the relevant period are missing, in all three clinics. The question of the babies origin is still unanswered but at least one thing is for sure, they didn't come from Jesus.  David Ochieng of the Mama Lucy clinic in Huruma said of the elderly couple who claimed to have had babies there, "They are lying because there is no way somebody can give birth twice a year. This has never happened since God created man."

Deya Update 2 - "A total of 21 children are now being held by Kenyan police investigating a suspected child-trafficking ring." according to this BBC report. Following the seizure by police of 10 children found locked in Deya's house in Nairobi, his wife has been taken in by the police for questioning. Also 3 women have come forward after seeing pictures in the media, claiming to be the mothers of 3 of the children who were seized by the Kenyan authorities last week.

Deya Update 3 - According to allAfrica.com Deya has denied charges of baby trafficking, calling his accusers "evil, satanic and abnormal, I refute the evil allegations against me of trafficking children from Kenya to the United Kingdom." He may be able to conjure up miracle babies but he does not know what refute means, ie "to prove wrong by argument or evidence". Insults and bluster don't count. "The 'miracle babies' which are happening now in our ministry is beyond a (sic) human imagination, but it's not something that ... I can explain because they are of God and things of God cannot be explained by human beings." Blaming his God is no answer, and will not get him out of the unholy mess he is in. For a short biography of the great exorcist look here.

Deya Update 4 - it seems the archbishop is not waiting for his God to save him, he is taking action himself. He has written a letter cursing  the families of President Kibaki and Attorney-General Amos Wako of Kenya. No turning the other cheek here, this is pure Old Testament, the stuff of fable, much like the miracle babies yarn. According to AllAfrica.com Deya has said their "children and grandchildren will die in the streets, the way you have left these holy children of Almighty God to suffer and be humiliated throughout the streets of Kenya." Hmm nice. Can we say nutter? Yes we can. He claims to be speaking "as the servant of the Most High God in the presence of the citizens of the United Kingdom." 80 doesn't know how any deity may feel about Deya, but it is a fair wager that most folk in the UK are less than impressed.  Read much more at AllAfrica.com.

Deya Update 5 - the general director of the Evangelical Alliance, the Rev Joel Edwards, has published a statement on the "miracle babies", expressing concern that Gilbert Deya is bringing the evangelical movement into disrepute, although Deya is not actually member of the Alliance. In 80's view they are already disreputable enough, and need no help from the embarrassingly bizarre behavior of Deya. Edwards has said he is "uneasy about any link made between the giving of money and the hope of a miracle. As an evangelical leader I do not believe this can be supported biblically." This may be so, but he'd better double-check, as just about anything can be justified somewhere in the Christian bible, murder, racism, genocide, if you look hard enough. Money for miracles may well be in there somewhere  (see here). Edwards also says  "I do believe that miracles happen but in the examples cited by the radio programme (about Deya's scam) I would ask people to exercise their God-given gift of common sense."  He needs to be careful what he says, too much common sense among his flock could well lead to a drop in numbers. Common sense and blind faith have never been easy bedfellows.

Deya Update 6 - Police in Kenya have charged five people with stealing babies, one of them being the wife of Gilbert Deya.

Deya Update 7 - the authorities in Kenya are seeking the extradition of Gilbert Deya from the UK. Deya's wife, Mary, has been charged with stealing a child from a Kenyan hospital. "According to the police, women travel from Britain to Africa and appear to give birth to babies in slum clinics in Nairobi." says a report in the Guardian which also quotes Deya himself who still seems to think he can bluff his way out the mess he is in, "The allegation is a lie, an assassination attempt and it has been fabricated to destroy the name of my ministry, which is well-known and respected worldwide." Thanks to all the recent adverse publicity his ministry may be well-known but to call it respected is going too far. Claiming British doctors have confirmed the miracle births, Deya also said "The miracles which God has performed through me are of God, they are beyond human understanding and no man can explain them except God." Idiotic bluster such as this will convince no one of his innocence, except possibly some of the more intellectually-challenged members of his congregation. His following is said to number 36,000 in Britain, but this number has appeared in most reports with no indication of its source, as has the figure of £1 million for the cost of his new church in Peckham, London. One thing is known, and that is that his church is a registered charity, which no doubt will be coming under scrutiny from the British Charity Commissioners. A BBC report is notable for its daftness when it says "Church leaders and medical experts fear the "miracle babies" are simply victims of child trafficking." What the hell else do they think is going on?

Deya Update 8 - an arrest warrant is out for Gilbert Deya, described here as "at the centre of a child-trafficking probe that has spread to Britain, Uganda, Ghana and Nigeria...". Let's see him exorcize himself out of this mess.

Deya Update 9 - the increasingly unstable-sounding Gilbert Deya has now alleged that a senior Kenyan official is out to kill his mother. He claims that his mother is now missing, a claim dismissed by police. Deya has also said that the police murdered one of their own officers because he had "vital evidence" of Deya's innocence of baby-trafficking. For more, also see this from the Daily Telegraph, which features another "curse" from Deya aimed at anyone questioning his preposterous miracle babies story "The Lord will blow their heads off and scatter their bodies in the streets." Now that doesn't sound very Christian.

Deya Update 10 - now the "archbishop" is ranting at the Daily Record, a Scottish tabloid newspaper, saying "You have become an enemy of god. You talk to my solicitor and you pay the price of what you wrote today. You have spoiled my name in the whole area. You reported lies. I am not smuggling babies, as you put it. That is rubbish and the truth is coming out." Lies or not, the Record article here says that Deya's church members have to pay 10% of their earnings into the organization, which goes some way towards explaining how this "former beggar" has "amassed three homes, a private jet and a helicopter." As predicted by 80, the British Charity Commission is now looking into the church's affairs - which should prove interesting.

Deya Update 11 - here is a BBC news report on how mothers in Kenya are desperate to identify thier missing children from photos of the seized "miracle babies" in the press. At the moment much hinges on DNA tests, initially promised within 10 days, but the results have yet to be announced a month later. Gideon Kibunja, a spokesman for Nairobi CID, quoted elsewhere, has said "We have charged Gilbert Deya and his wife with child abduction, along with four others, and suspect there may be more who had claimed to have miracle babies in the UK. We believe this has nothing to do with miracles, but is an international con. Gilbert Deya has shamed all Kenyans and we wish the UK would kick him out." Kenya has requested Deya's extradition but he is still at large in Britain and all media enquiries are currently directed to his solicitor. His church's website is still plugging unashamedly the miracle babies nonsense, but he will need a miracle of his own to avoid answering to the British and Kenyan authorities. Don't hold your breath.

Deya Update 12 - The self-styled Archbishop, still at large in the UK, has graciously given an interview to The Scotsman. He arrived in the company of, among others, a woman who claimed that she is nearly 10 months pregnant with a "miracle baby". This is in spite of her admission that she had not been sexually active before the conception, that she has had her fallopian tubes surgically removed, and that doctors who examined her found no trace of a child and said she was having a "phantom" pregnancy. "I am pregnant. The tests say I am not, but I can feel the baby." Like the medics said, a phantom pregnancy. She is also unconcerned that, in the unlikely event of her giving birth DNA tests show her unrelated to the child (as has occurred after tests on miracle babies in Kenya) for she says "It means nothing. That is thinking with a scientific, not a spiritual mind." Or to translate - claptrap beats science any day, a view with which the increasingly embattled Deya must be in accord. Still unexplained is why the mothers expecting these babies should have to travel to Kenya to give birth. As Deya is unwilling or unable to explain why his God only seems to come up with the goods in Kenya, perhaps a distinctly unspiritual answer to the question is more likely - until recently, it was easier to steal babies in Kenya than in Britain. Now the Kenyan authorities are on the case it is unlikely, no matter how strong the duped mothers faith, that any more miracle babies will be born.

Deya Update 13 - the latest on conman and fantasist Gilbert Deya is here, including how he tricked his way into a royal photo opportunity and inflated the number given for members of his church, which must surely be dwindling at every outburst the "archbishop" makes in his defence.

Deya Update 14 - In Kenya the trial has begun of Eddah and Michael Odera for the theft of 10 newborn children. The pair are still, so far, sticking to their ridiculous story that the babies came from God, after prayers by "Archbishop" Gilbert Deya. As for Deya himself, he is still in Scotland fighting extradition to Kenya. His wife Mary will appear in court in Nairobi this week. 

Deya Update 15 November  - regular readers will know that, since August this year, 80 has been following the "miracle baby" saga involving the self-styled archbishop, Gilbert Deya (see the whole story here). Now a British high court judge has ruled* that a one year-old child, far from being a miracle from God and a testament to the power of Deya's prayers, is the victim of a baby trafficking scheme "motivated by financial greed" reports the Guardian. While the "parents" of miracle babies may not have paid for them, considerable revenue was generated by tithes collected from congregations who were swayed by the miracle hogwash preached by Deya and others. The archbishop, who "says he casts out devils, cures illnesses and helps infertile couples in his congregation, estimated to be 36,000 strong, to have miracle babies." is wanted in Kenya over allegations of child-trafficking in the slums of Niarobi. According to the Scotsman, the judge described Deya as was "a self-serving and superficial witness who was only too happy to distance himself from the facts". Quite why this person is still at large in Britain is a mystery. (*Read the full judgement here. It makes very clear the cruelty of child-trafficking and confirms that the judge believes the "miracle" parents themselves were duped. This goes to show how sincere but gullible and ignorant people can be manipulated by the unscrupulous, using their religious faith. Thanks, Simon. For more on fleecing the flock, see here.)

September 2nd 2004

Onward Christian Soldier - in an op-ed piece in the New York Times (reg req) called Holding the Pentagon Accountable: For Religious Bigotry a familiar name bobs to the surface, like something unwelcome in a swimming pool - that of William G Boykin. 80 has looked at this individual before and did not find him a pleasant sight - but then bigots never are. He hit the news in 2003 for preaching what effectively amounted to a religious crusade against Islam, using the intellectually sophisticated argument "my God is bigger than your God". So what, you may think, yet one more religious nutter. The difference was that this nutter is a serving officer, a Lieutenant-General, who made his inflammatory comments from church pulpits wearing his uniform. The fact that he was also serving as a deputy under-secretary of defence for intelligence could give the impression his behavior had official sanction. This was compounded by the fact that no action was taken against him. More recently he "briefed a top Pentagon official last summer on ways military interrogators could gain more intelligence from Iraqi prisoners." At the time 80 remarked that the last person to be advising on such matters is a man who thinks Muslims are little more than Satanists. The NYT piece does not seem to have been triggered by any recent acts of Boykin's but more by amazement and frustration that the man is still around "General Boykin has to be removed from his current job. He has become a national embarrassment, not to mention a walking contradiction of President Bush's own policy statement that the fight against terror is bias-free and not a crusade against Islam." (For more see Crusader Values, What Was Boykin's Role and Still Waiting) Also see this piece from the latest (and highly recommended) Humanist Network News which has an unbelievable quote from the Deranged Crusader, "Boykin showed photographs he had taken of Mogadishu, Somalia, from an Army helicopter in 1993. When Boykin came home and had the film developed, he noticed a strange dark mark over the city. “Ladies and gentleman, this is your enemy,” Boykin told the congregation as he pointed to the shadow above the city. “It is the principalities of darkness. It is a demonic presence in that city that God revealed to me as the enemy.”

Faithful Forfeit - are those accustomed to putting blind faith in a deity more likely to fall for the wiles of religious con men? It looks like this may well be the case, especially if the one working the scam appears to hold some religious authority, or failing that, has a charismatic and forceful personality. And no, this is not referring specifically to the Deya miracle babies caper, which has yet to be resolved. Before you ask what resolved means, it does not mean that it is worth considering, even for a second, that a man can exorcise barren and post-menopausal women so that they may have babies. This is pernicious and primitive nonsense. Resolved in this instance means when the DNA evidence is in from Kenya, and those responsible for this scam are brought to trial. The religious con man that 80 has in mind now is Howard Welsh. It seems this nasty piece of work is accused "of defrauding investors out of almost £16m with a "divinely inspired" scheme he started five years ago in the US." according to the Guardian. His investment scheme targeted the "deeply religious", who were told that if they had faith their deposits would triple. They were not so deeply religious as to be adverse to the chance of some suspiciously easy profits, it seems. The FBI, which said one investor has lost £4 million/$7.2 million, think Welsh may now be in Britain having fled the US after charges were filed against him. Welsh, and his partner Lee-Hope Thrasher, had set up a non-profit entity called Dominion of Heaven on Planet Earth. Investors attended 3 day seminars with a "deeply religious" focus and "were promised they could make more than £1m on an investment of around £1,200 over six years." It seems their faith was so strong it didn't just blind them it also affected their sense of smell - otherwise how come they didn't notice the ripe odor of rat wafting from promises of such inflated returns? So, to answer the question posed at the beginning of this paragraph, yes, the blindly faithful are the perfect dupes for religious con men. Let's face it they are already committed to believing the impossible, so enticing lies, whether promising huge profits or miracle babies, are not that hard to swallow. They haven't learned that if something sounds too good to be true, then it is. Any sympathy 80 might feel for Welsh's victims is tempered, not by the thought of their blind faith, but by the thought of their blind greed.

 September 3rd 2004

What a Revoltin' Development - to steal The Thing's tagline. What is? The idea that Canada may introduce sharia law, the Islamic justice system, which among many other problems, values women less than men. What the hell is Canada thinking of? This question will certainly be on the lips of many women, including those who had fled Iran for life in Canada. One such told the BBC "I came here to escape Sharia, under it, a woman is worth half a man. He can divorce her and she has no rights." In reality the quest for Muslims to have their courts in Canada seems to have rather less to do with religion and more to do with jealousy and "me tooism". The main proponent of the Sharia campaign, Mumtaz Ali, is quick to point out "in Ontario Orthodox Jews are able to settle their civil disputes in religious courts, so why not Muslims?" The BBC article follows this with the question "why indeed" and presents it as a big dilemma for Canada. A rabbi, an unlikely ally for the Muslims, has said "All religious people have the right to settle difficulties according to their religion...." This is less of a feeling of brotherhood for fellow religionists, 80 suspects, and more a fear of what the rational, and only, answer to the dilemma should be. That is that no one should have a separate religious legal system, whether they are Jewish, Muslim, Wiccan or whatever. Just because you have some irrational belief should not accord you and your fellow religionists special treatment. Rather than allow sharia, Canada should put an end to the Jewish courts so that all citizens are on the same level and secular playing field. The only fair way for justice to be done is for ALL citizens of the country to abide by the laws of the country, as administered by the justice system. There is an international campaign to oppose the setting up of a sharia court in Canada and you can sign an online petition here. Some have said this whole thing is no big deal, and views such as 80's are an overreaction. That is wrong, it is a big deal - and the thin end of a very unpleasant wedge.

Just Good Friends - do you have someone that you would describe as a "good friend"? How do you define "good friend"? It is fair to assume that most people would perhaps think of someone they are close to, and with whom they can freely discuss the ups and downs of life and their mutual interests. This may be true in most circumstances but it does not apply to members of the Republican party, when to be a "good friend" seems to be a very distant sort of relationship. The "good friends" reference occurs in this article (reg req) about the resignation of the national counsel for President Bush's re-election campaign, Benjamin L. Ginsberg, after it was found he was also providing legal advice for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group busily attempting to smear Democrat candidate John Kerry's Vietnam war record. Rove, President Bush's chief political strategist, described Ginsberg in a TV interview as a "a great friend of this president" and that he had resigned "in order to remove any possibility of being a distraction to his friend." This is very noble of him, although one wonders how come a "great friend" kept his somewhat sensitive Swift Boat activities from his buddy. (Plausible deniability perhaps?) But that is only a great friend - one would think a "good friend" is closer than that - the old cliched disclaimer from couples accused of being closer than propriety would accept, "we are just good friends", comes to mind. Most of the initial funding for the Swift Boat Veterans group came from Bob J. Perry, a Texas house builder and longtime Republican donor (reg req) Perry is also described by Rove as a "good friend", but it appears that Karl Rove is a bit of a cold fish. He said that he had seen his "good friend" in the last year but that the two had only exchanged pleasantries and "certainly did not discuss with him or anybody else in the Swift boat leadership what they're doing." To which 80 can only quote that great American thinker, Bart Simpson - "Yeah, right".

(Check out Mark Fiore's take on the Swift Boat saga in his Flash cartoon Political Attack)

September 5th 2004

 Please, Enough Already - the Republican convention is making much of George W Bush's command of the "War on Terror", saying that he is the only man for the job. So, how are things going in the struggle? In Afghanistan a resurgent Taleban are doing their violent best to disrupt any chance of democratic elections and have driven away international aid organizations such as Medecins Sans Frontieres. Large parts of that country are governed by warlords with private armies, and the booming cash crop in the countryside is the opium poppy. Along the border with Pakistan, an area effectively beyond the law, is where the leaders of al Qaeda are most likely hiding, still free, and still plotting mayhem. Osama bin Laden has had a chance to regroup while the US and allies pursued another, unrelated goal, the invasion of Iraq and the ousting of Saddam Hussein. Iraq, never a base for al Qaeda or related groups, has become a magnet for such groups in the aftermath of the invasion and the continuing chaos, which Bush blames on the unanticipated "catastrophic success" of the invasion. Unanticipated perhaps, but only if the warning voices heard before the conflict were ignored. By his pre-emptive actions and sidelining of the UN, Bush has managed to alienate many allies, and dissipated much of the huge global goodwill toward the US that followed the 9/11 atrocities. He seeks 4 more years in office, using the War on Terror as a central plank in his campaign. Desperate to appear resolute, he admits no errors and intends to continue with the same team that produced the mess the world is now in. As the planet's only superpower, what happens in US politics obviously has a global effect. The question is, can the world take 4 more years of Bush?

Expert Opinion - when an expert on a subject offers an opinion it is always wise to listen, even though you may not necessarily agree with anything said. The expert in this case is the leader of Scotland's Roman Catholics, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, and his area of expertise is the sexual abuse of children. Given that the Catholic clergy around the world have featured in many high profile cases involving such abuse, it is perhaps hardly surprising that O'Brien arrogates to himself the right to speak out on the subject. The target of O'Brien's remarks is the Scottish executive's plans for sex education in schools. He states, in absurdly hyperbolic language, that ministers are favoring programs that amount to "state-sponsored sexual abuse" according to the UK Guardian, and that the executive's sexual health strategy is "one of the biggest challenges to the morality of our nation in a generation". Here is a page from The Scotsman (reg req), the first of six, (yes, six) detailing worldwide sexual abuse cases involving Catholic church personnel, mainly priests. Perhaps Cardinal O'Brien should spend a few minutes contemplating these reports and then concentrate on putting his own house in order before questioning the education policies of a secular authority. Keeping young people ignorant on sexual matters, like clerical celibacy, does not seem to have been an effective policy for the church in the past, and O'Brien's statements are hyprocritical in the extreme. The first minister of the executive, Jack McConnell, rejected O'Brien's claims and said his concerns were misplaced, prefacing his remarks by saying "I have a great respect for Cardinal O'Brien". 80 has none.

Update - to the above. The Roman Catholic church has now been joined by the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) in whingeing about sex education in Scotland. Perhaps they couldn't let a bandwagon pass by without hopping on and gaining some free publicity. But publicity can be a two-edged sword, and closer examination of their beliefs and activities may not be advantageous to them. Any organization that blends religion and politics as they do is deeply suspect, in 80's view. It was they who had Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi as their guest in the UK recently. al-Qaradawi is the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, which, among many other achievements, murdered Egyptian President Anwar-as-Sadat in 1981.

 Quote - "I think Senator Kerry should be proud of his record. No, I don't think he lied.'' George W Bush talking to the New York Times (reg req) It seems he may be less proud of his own record, given articles like this in USA Today.  

September 7th 2004

A Vision of Evans - now and again 80 looks in at Beliefnet to see the latest thinly disguised book ad presented as an interview. The last time featured windbag N.T. Wright and his ideas of bodily resurrection - see Resurrection Inflation. This time we are privileged to listen respectfully to the delusions of Michael D Evans who has a current bestseller, The American Prophecies: Ancient Scriptures Reveal Our Nation's Future. Evans claims to find predictions about America in the bible and comes up with the idea that God has punished the US with terrorist attacks for being insufficiently supportive of Israel. Yes, you read that correctly, he thinks the US does not do enough to help Israel, and that God agrees with him. Amazingly, rather than keep him talking until someone can phone for a mental health professional, the interviewer, Deborah Caldwell, listens to his religious right-wing ramblings and feeds him easy, leading questions. His strange mish-mash of ancient texts, extreme politics and alternate history is not particularly original. For instance did you know that F D Roosevelt for "eight years refused to acknowledge Hitler was killing Jews because Roosevelt was trying to appease Stalin, Mussolini and King Saud so they would join him in the war." Apart from being ludicrous this statement is meaningless waffle, and the compliant interviewer does not even challenge its illogicality. In what way the refusal to acknowledge the beginnings of the Holocaust would appease Stalin and the rest is not explained - the lie is just left hanging there. Much of what follows is the usual cherrypicking of biblical pronouncements to interpret as prophecies about current times. Evans, in answer to the question what does he believe the nation's future is, based on prophecy, inaccurately paraphrases the gospel of Matthew, chapter 24 "The disciples said, “What shall be the signs of the coming of the ends of the age?” And he said, “The first sign would be deception.". Disregarding most of the extended prophecy in Matthew 24, Evans takes it be a direct reference to the 9/11 atrocity and the sin of liberal, "New Age" relativism. Why Evans takes parts of biblical sayings out of context and relates them to events occurring in the the early 21st century, instead of any other time in the last 2000 years or so, is not explained. It is a kind of arrogance to assume that these non-specific, vague statements apply to current events, assuming that our times are in some way special. The suspicion is that they are special only because they are occurring in the lifetime of one Michael D Evans. He also suffers from the mote and beam problem, as written about in that same gospel of Matthew, "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" Evans inflammatory and inaccurate description of Islam as "100 million fundamentalists intimidating us and threatening us and using oil to do it...." is rich coming from such as he. 80 is no fan of the gangster Yasir Arafat, but where did Evans get the figures he uses when he says Arafat has committed "2,300 acts of terrorism." That's a very precise figure, and one which Arafat may well have to answer for, but Evans backs it up with no references -  but then from reading the whole interview with him it is obvious that factual accuracy comes a very poor second to religious propaganda and bigotry. We could be in "pious fraud" territory here. The intention of his book, apart from the obvious one of making money, is clear from the timing of its publication, and that is to rally the right-wing religionist voters in order to keep John Kerry out of the White House. Asked by willing dupe Caldwell about what a Kerry victory would mean "in a prophetic sense" Evans draws upon Old Testament fable. "We’ll get two Sauls in a row. King Saul was rejected by God. We’ll have gone from a Clinton Saul to a Kerry Saul." That's not quite right, but then, as already noted, factual accuracy is not Evan's forte. Surely, if memory serves, between the Clinton Saul and the Kerry Saul would be God's anointed, George W Bush. Is he David? David who started out so well, but then fell from grace and committed murder by proxy, by putting someone else in the line of battle to be killed? A final note on Evans and Israel. In keeping with his factually challenged view of history and current events it is no surprise he runs a prayer group, the Jerusalem Prayer Team, whose mission is "To guard, defend and protect the Jewish people, and the Eretz Yisrael until Israel is secure, and until the redeemer comes to Zion." Eretz Yisrael is the never-never land that exists nowhere outside the biblical Old Testament and the delusions of folk like Michael D Evans. (see Missing, One Empire)

School For Sale on EBay - 80 wrote a little while back about the Emmanuel Schools Foundation and the latest school under threat of takeover by these fundamentalist, creationist bigots, Northcliffe School in Conisbrough, near Doncaster, England. (see A Damning Document) Now one of the parents opposing this backward step has put the school up for auction on EBay. The description runs "Northcliffe School,Conisbrough. For a 10% contribution you too could take over a Comprehensive School and turn it into an Academy! You can teach whatever you please and the Government won't bat an eyelid!! In fact they will praise you for it!" Visit the Conisbrough And Denaby Parents Action Group and add your support. Don't bother to bid for the school unless you can match the 2 million quid the fundamentalists have reportedly offered - the Blair government will make up the rest (£20 million) from UK taxpayers. Sounds like a good deal for the fundies - and they get another batch of young minds to warp with their pernicious nonsense. Ain't democracy wonderful?

September 9th 2004

Of Vipers and Bosoms - It is ironic that someone having been given refuge in a western democracy then uses the freedom of speech that democracy bestows to promote abhorrent views. It is even more ironic that such a person, given half a chance, would turn that western democracy into a theocracy in which free speech would be one of the first casualties. The viper in question is one Omar Bakri Mohammed, the spiritual leader of the extremist sect al-Muhajiroun, and the bosom in which he is currently dwelling is Edmonton, north London. This individual, who originally is from Syria, came to Britain in 1985 after his deportation from Saudi Arabia because of membership of a banned group (which description, in Saudi Arabia, covers a lot of territory). Talking to the Telegraph in the aftermath of the horrific school seige in Russia this "guest" said "If an Iraqi Muslim carried out an attack like that in Britain, it would be justified because Britain has carried out acts of terrorism in Iraq. As long as the Iraqi did not deliberately kill women and children, and they were killed in the crossfire, that would be okay." It seems that Omar Bakri Mohammed's overlong sojourn in this country has taught him nothing at all. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the conflicts between Russia and its troubled southern republics the taking of children as hostages is a repulsive and despicable act. The very act of taking a hostage is, by implication, a threat to that hostage's life - otherwise there is no threat or pressure involved in the action, rendering it pointless. This conclusion seems  to have escaped Mohammed entirely, implying that either he is not very smart, or he is lying. Take your pick. As if his remarks were not enough, it appears that this most unpleasant of guests initially gave the interview to promote a "celebratory" conference in London to be held on September 11th on the third anniversary of the atrocities in 2001. The obvious question is what the hell is this person doing in the UK? Of what possible benefit is his continued presence here? None whatsoever. (before anyone trots out the latest buzz word "Islamophobia" to describe the above paragraph, take a look here. Anyone expressing views such as Mohammed's, of any faith or none at all, deserves to be roundly condemned)

Quote - the controversial Vardy Foundation, which, via the Emmanuel Schools Foundation is planning to take over Northcliffe School in Conisbrough, near Doncaster has, in a defensive statement managed to encapsulate exactly what many parents and others object to about its religious agenda. Bleating about how it is perceived, "The Vardy Foundation became pilloried as a creationist propaganda machine, seeking to infiltrate state education and poison children’s minds..." Spot on, that is exactly what this organization is up to. If you entertain any doubts read Christianity and the Curriculum, an agenda for poisoning children's minds if ever there was one. The page is currently hosted by a parents action group,who are fighting the takeover of Northcliffe School, as Emmanuel removed it from their site as part of a "redesign". A redesign that came a little too late to hide their intentions - see A Damning Document and School For Sale on EBay.

Conflicting Signals - opinions about the strange signal received by the Arecibo radio telescope and detected by the distributed computing program, SETI@home, vary widely. Even, it seems, when the same person is quoted by two different news sources. New Scientist, under the headline "Mysterious signals from 1000 light years away" reports Dan Wertheimer, a radio astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) and the chief scientist for SETI@home as saying "We’re not jumping up and down, but we are continuing to observe it". Meanwhile this BBC page reporting the same story, has Wertheimer saying "It's all hype and noise, we have nothing that is unusual. It's all out of proportion." Now the big question is, which Dan Wertheimer is the alien doppelganger created to spread disinformation? Watch the skies! (Hint, one of them will have a crooked little finger)

Play On - after all the stage managing and false inclusivity of the Olympic Games, cartoonist and animator Mark Fiore takes us to a much more spontaneous and honest gathering, the Republican Games, live from New York City.

Unintended Consequences - the group that have kidnapped a couple of French journalists may have misjudged the reaction to their murderous threats. The self-styled Islamic Army in Iraq (IAI) have threatened Christian Chesnot of Radio France Internationale and Georges Malbrunot of the Le Figaro newspaper with death if France does not rescind legislation banning conspicuous religious apparel from schools. This includes large Christian crosses, Jewish skullcaps and Muslim headscarfs - although 80 doubts the Islamic Army are bothered overmuch about the first two items. In fact instead of causing strife and dissent in France, where the new law comes into force today, the IAI seem to have achieved the opposite effect. No one in France wants to be seen as aligned with the kidnappers, and three prominent French Muslim community leaders have flown to Baghdad in an attempt to intercede on behalf of the journalists. Across the Arab world leaders have urged that the men be freed, emphasizing how France opposed the invasion of Iraq. In France itself the IAI's action has effectively scuppered opposition to the new law as even radical Muslims do not wish to be associated with these would-be murderers. Many civilians are being taken hostage daily in Iraq but how well governments do in obtaining freedom for their nationals depends how much clout you have on the world stage. Nepal is a small and poor country which may explain why twelve Nepalis were murdered by Islamic militants. This was despite the fact that the Nepalese government had banned its citizens from going to Iraq. The militants say they killed their victims because they "came from their country to fight the Muslims and to serve the Jews and the Christians". The 12 men had in fact taken jobs as cooks and cleaners for a Jordanian firm. The only thing the IAI seem to have achieved by their disgusting and barbaric crime is to place members of the small Nepalese Muslim community, for the first time, in fear of their lives from distraught fellow-countrymen following riots and an attack on a mosque. How proud these "warriors" must be of the consequences of their actions.......... (For more on the forgotten hostages in Iraq see here)

September 11th 2004

Teheran Street Lust - what is it with the religious fanatics of Iran? They have now started a crackdown on what they perceive to be "prostitution", which in their book is women wearing "colourful headscarves and figure-hugging coats". What is the problem with these men, can they not walk down the street without indulging in a frenzy of priapic excitement at a glimpse of a woman not dressed like an army surplus tent? Apparently these heroes have decided the police are not doing a good enough job so they have taken matters into their own hands, patrolling the streets and intimidating woman. Perhaps they should take a few more cold showers, maybe some valium and try to make a huge intellectual leap by realizing women are people too, and not sex objects that they can cover up and blame for their own smutty obsessions. They should realize their repressive views appear to many as ridiculous and more than a little sordid, which is no doubt why New Zealand's Stuff relegates this story to Oddstuff, a section devoted to weird and quirky items. But it is not only men, we are told, who frown upon lax dress codes. A middle-aged female protester, one of more than 100 dressed in the all-enveloping black chador said, "A proper dress code is defined by our religion and allows women to expose only their faces and hands. We hate these girls who go around all dolled up in the streets." This sounds less like a religious stance and more like sour grapes to a cynical 80. What is the Persian for frump, anyway?  (also see Hejab Handicap)

Angry Eunuchs - one group that doesn't play much of a role in the life of many countries these days are the eunuchs. Yes, eunuchs are still around, although the demand for them in the world of opera has declined. One country that has a substantial number is India, where there exists a unique (and strange) cultural mixture of ancient and modern. According to this BBC article there are estimated to be "500,000 eunuchs, hermaphrodites and transvestites". Why these different groups are lumped together is not made clear, nor is what proportion of that 500,000 are actually eunuchs, but one thing is certain, the eunuchs are angry. Their traditional role of bringing luck to the superstitious, for which they were often paid, has declined and many have ended up in the so-called sex industry. Now, in the state of Tamil Nadu, in southern India, eunuchs are protesting at what they see as prejudice from a state-run insurance company, which has refused cover to at least one of their number. It seems there is a rule that insurance cover can only be taken out by a man or a women, and, in the eyes of the bureaucrats, eunuchs are neither and consequently receive no cover. 80 would feel more concern for the individual highlighted on the BBC page, Janaki, if she ( eunuchs are "she", apparently) earned her pay in another way. It seems she "makes a meagre living by predicting people's future in a village near the town of Vellore in Tamil Nadu. She is deeply angry at the moment." The question occurs that if Janaki is not making a fraudulent living, and can predict the future, then she would have no need of insurance in the first place. Perhaps the BBC could have found another, somewhat more sympathetic example.

Dynamic Duo - the Guardian newspaper has excelled itself with a couple of items recently, in 80's view. Firstly is an extract, called Walking Back to Genesis, from Richard Dawkin's latest book, which asks "If evolution could be re-run, how would the story end?" It begins with putting us humans in our place, and not as lords of creation, "It is a conceit of hindsight to see evolution as aimed towards some particular end point, such as ourselves." How likely are certain outcomes? Dawkins points out that the eye has evolved more than 40 times, and echolocation, such as a bat's sonar, at least four times. So, rerunning evolution it would seem that eyes of one sort or another are likely to crop up many times, and echolocation less often, perhaps. He also looks at things that are unique, that have, as far as we know, appeared only once in the stupendous period of time that Earth has hosted life. Some of the examples, described with Dawkins' trademark elegance and clarity, are staggering, . The new book, The Ancestor's Tale, is in part inspired by Geoffrey Chaucer, and follows a journey back through time and evolution, a pilgrimage to meet our near and distant ancestors. The second item is an essay by Umberto Eco, called Testing, Testing..., where he examines fundamentalist beliefs, and makes the case for science, or more accurately the scientific method, as a counterbalance to such beliefs. He contrasts the immutability of faith in the knowledge of past cultures, real or imagined, with the self-correcting nature of scientific investigations, where findings are continually reassessed in the light of new research. (another extract from Dawkins' book is here)

Saucers Go Triangular - it would appear that even whatever it is behind UFOs is prey to the dictates of fashion. Saucers are so last year - the popular shape for your unidentified aerial phenomena these days is triangular and the color is basic black. The impressively titled National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS) of Las Vegas claims that the USA "is currently experiencing a wave of Flying Triangle sightings that may have intensified in the 1990s, especially towards the latter part of the 1990s. The wave continues. The Flying Triangles are being openly deployed over and near population centers, including in the vicinity of major Interstate Highways." Two observations here, one trivial. The Flying Triangles name just doesn't work - it sounds like a circus high wire act. More importantly, the deployment pattern may not be anything of the sort, it could just be that there are many more observers around population centers and highways. This page from NIDS will tell you more than you probably want to know about Flying Triangles and also a good bit about NIDS. 80 tried reading the FAQ page but found the fixed nanoscale text indecipherable. No matter, one can still glean quite a bit from the Triangles page itself. It seems NIDS take themselves very seriously indeed, coming across as a sort of pompous X-Files type outfit, with references to "high profile" investigations and "intensive forensic" reconstructions. Despite the impressive look of the page, all in black, with colored images of what is called the "Port Washington Object" and three maps, plotting Triangle sightings across the US, 80 cannot shake an image of a couple of nerds with a Men in Black fixation, a computer and a borrowed pair of "binocliers" in a bedroom in their parent's house, somewhere in Nevada. (This may be hideously wrong, but once you get an image like that in your mind's eye it is a devil of a job to shake.) There are a lot of grand references to the NIDS database, which appears to be a collection of anecdotes from folk who think they have seen the Triangles, and the aforementioned maps. Two of these maps have been sourced from elsewhere, one is from MUFON, a longstanding group of UFO buffs, who are "Dedicated to the scientific study of UFOs for the benefit of mankind". Although, as far as 80 knows, any benefit to mankind from their activities has yet to materialize. The inclusion on their page of a picture of Dan "paranormal" Aykroyd does nothing for their credibility, in 80's view. The Coneheads star refers to UFOs as "...what surely must be considered one of the most important and fundamental mysteries of our existence." thereby proving that he can at least equal NIDS for pomposity. To MUFON's credit they are at least they are keeping up with the latest fashion in UFO shapes. The other map of Triangle sightings is courtesy of Larry Hatch, who is described as "the creator and owner of one of the largest and most comprehensive UFO databases in the world". His own site describes his work as "a serious 20 year UFO research effort to catalog, map and do statistics on sightings worldwide. Dates range from ancient times to the present. Foo fighters, ghost rockets, flying saucers, disks, cones, domes, wheels, spheres, probes, deltoids, flying triangles, cylinders, boomerang, lens and hamburger shapes; robots and even humanoid occupants are reported." Right, a "serious study" that includes reports of flying hamburgers. Maybe Hatch needs to get out more. (Mr Hatch has emailed 80 regarding this comment and other issues, including the jocular reference to hamburgers, which has, not surprisingly, offended him. His email and 80's reply are posted here) Despite all the work from NIDS they are offering nothing new. It could be that 80 is just too jaded, but nothing about the Black Triangle phenomenon seems very different from regular UFOs. It is a sad fact that in the world of UFOs there are lots of sightings meticulously plotted on maps, lots of speculation and anecdotes, but zero tangible evidence. Here is an article on the Black Triangles from Space.com, in which Colm Kelleher, NIDS Administrator, is actually interviewed. Kelleher must have been thrilled to bits at the chance to talk about "newly completed quasi meta-analysis of Flying Triangles..." and other cool stuff to a real reporter. In fact the reporter was none other than Space.com's "Senior Space Writer", who perhaps had a slack day with no real space news and a deadline to meet. (The text of the above piece has been altered in order to avoid confusing Larry Hatch's site in particular with 80's general comments on the world of UFO "research" - see here for an explanation)

Traditional Therapee - this little item is from AFP but The Australian perceptively placed it in its World Wide Weird section. Now urine, 80 understands, is one of the body's waste products, and something that common sense would dictate should not pass through the human digestive system after expulsion. There have long been many nutters who seem to think that this waste product is an elixir of health and promote its consumption for all sorts of ailments under the catch-all term Urine Therapy. According to the AFP report "Drinking urine can eliminate sinus trouble, turn grey hair black and even cure cancer..." Who says so? A Thai academic who rejoices in the name Ratree Cheepudomwit, that's who, from the Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine Development Department. Cheepudomwit carried out a thoroughly unscientific and effectively useless survey of members of Santi Asoke, a Buddhist movement. It seems these characters drink a cup of urine a day and claim that it "worked wonders for their overall health and helped slow the ageing process." They had learned from "ancient Buddhist manuscripts that drinking one's urine improved health." Whether this "Pee Drinking for Dummies" recommended drinking anyone else's urine is not mentioned. Cheepudomwit notes "Of the respondents, 87 per cent confirmed that it had head-to-toe benefits for them, including for example reduction of dandruff, grey hair, sinus problems and cancer." These kind of anecdotes are no evidence whatsover, even when given a spurious scientific gloss by the clever ploy of inserting a percentage. We are not told what the other 13% thought of this unsavory habit - it might have been interesting. The only note of dissent from this rosy picture of pee-drinking your way to health was that "about one in 10 urine drinkers suffered diarrhea afterwards, but the practice should not be viewed with disgust" says Cheepudomwit. And why not? The reason offered is "Other groups of people who drank urine were Buddhist monks who practised in accordance to scriptures which are more than 2,500 years old". Firstly it is hardly surprising that some folk had diarrhea after drinking something their body had quite naturally expelled as waste, and secondly are these monks with the runs some of the otherwise silent 13%? It would have been nice to know. Nowhere in this admittedly brief article are there any references to back up the claims made, it seems it is enough for these wee wassailers to state that their repulsive habit is a. ancient and b. scripture-based. This kind of non-justification is common in both the realms of so-called traditional therapies and religion. Before you ask, 80 prefers vodka - cheers! (also see Taking the Piss - Is Urine Drinking a Good Idea?)

Racist Murder in Darfur - to anyone who has followed the situation in the Darfur region of Sudan, US Secretary of State Colin Powell's announcement that the Sudanese government and its Arab militias are committing genocide comes as no surprise. The first reaction is what took him so long? The second is, will his pronouncement make any difference? According to this BBC report "use of the word genocide does not legally oblige the US to act, but it does increase the moral and political pressure." Moral and political pressure have so far not worked with the Khartoum regime - it is useless to keep extending deadlines for compliance with UN resolutions as this merely gives these murderers more time to continue their barbaric attacks. This is a situation where force is called for, as it is unlikely the government of Sudan will understand anything else. The Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail portrays Powell's remarks as an electoral ploy to attract African-American votes in the forthcoming US presidential election. Meanwhile, in the real world, at least 10,000 people have been murdered. "Men have been killed inside mosques, women raped in front of their husbands and old women killed when their homes have been set alight – all acts designed to humiliate and destroy the fabric of community life, over and beyond the individual atrocity." according to Amnesty International. The Sudanese government and its thugs are nothing more than racists and murderers and the mealy-mouthed reaction so far from the European Union and the African Union is shameful.  The Sudanese press quotes lies by "Darfur elders", such as "television footage from Western media depicts these displaced people as victims of ethnic cleansing to ridicule Islam." The absurdity of this is that this is Muslim killing Muslim - "Both the janjaweed and tribes of Darfur are Muslim" Where is the condemnation of this from within the Islamic world? This report from the Organization of Islamic Conference is describing a never-never land while their fellow Muslims are subjected to atrocities. More fuss has been made about the French headscarf ban than about this mass murder - the western media do not need to ridicule Islam - the Sudanese government and its janjaweed militia are already doing that. (also see History Repeats Itself? from April this year to learn how little has changed.)

Vax Facts - back in July it was reported that Bristol University in the UK was to use data from the Children of the 90s study, a long term project to examine the role of the environment and genes in children's health, to assess whether vaccinations have any connection with the rise in detected cases of autism. Over the last 30 years the numbers affected by this condition have increased, although some of this increase may be down to better methods of detection and greater awareness. One culprit, often fingered by various anti-vaccination groups, is a preservative used in some jabs called thimerosal,  which is now being phased out. Now the results are in from the Bristol study, which involved reviewing the immunisation records of almost 13,000 children, and no link has been found between the preservative and developmental disorders in children. Will this make any difference to the anti-vaccine propaganda particularly prevalent on the internet? Will it stop irresponsible chiropractors advising against childhood immunization? Will it stop the rest of the sCAM* nitwits spreading fear uncertainty and doubt in order to better maximize their profits? No more than this study in 1998 from Finland, or this study in 2002 from Denmark or this study from University College, London in 2003, did. If their fears are not based upon evidence-based medicine, and they are not, no amount of surveys using evidence-based medicine will change their minds. Alternatively, for those who are just promoting those fears, the better to peddle their own particular quackery, the good old profit motive beats out science or ethical conduct every time. (*so-called Complementary and Alternative Medicine)

Glamorgan Goes Hogwarts - the dumbing of Britain is something 80 has commented upon frequently, with particular reference to the Vardy Foundation's infiltration of the national curriculum as part of their intention to teach Christian fundamentalist fairy tales to a captive audience of children, children who attend school to be educated, not indoctrinated with a warped and bigoted world view. It is not just the Vardys of this world that are a threat with their religious agenda, other, equally fatuous ideas are being taught not in schools, but by at least one UK university. The University of Glamorgan, in Pontypridd, Wales is offering summer courses in irrational claptrap, although naturally that is not the term they used to describe it. The course, run by a Barbara Howell, will teach "Massage, reflexology, time management and crystal healing". The list of her specializations (Aromatherapy Massage, Indian Head Massage, Reflexology and Reiki) and the subjects covered in her summer school such as "acupressure massage for neck and shoulders, Indian Head Massage and discovering how to balance the body’s energies." and also "...crystal healing, create more flexibility using Qi Ball exercise, Chakra balancing and dowsing and basic yoga.." read like a compendium of sCAM* nonsense. What the hell is the University doing allowing such nonsense to be taught on their premises? Several folk, including James Randi, have contacted the University by email and snailmail but have received no replies. Apart from the obvious discourtesy, is Glamorgan not replying out of shame? At least that would be understandable, after all they are supposed to a center of higher education. It cannot be in their remit to promote this drivel, surely? Until they have either the courtesy or the balls to answer correspondence regarding their shocking lapse in standards we will not know. Any UK taxpayer should be asking some hard questions about this - it is their money that is subsidising this crap. (80 would be interested in hearing of any other educational establishments that have taken to slumming this way. Apart from the South Kent College - 80 already knows about their course that features, among other things, "beauty and holistic therapies including reflexology, body massage, Indian head massage, aromatherapy and sports massage...")

Update - to the above item. We didn't have to wait very long to hear of more claptrap invading a British educational establishment thanks to James Randi's newsletter - and Wales features again, twice. It cannot get much sillier than these courses of nonsense. Oh yes it can, how about Aromatherapy for Dairy Cows? (scroll down) 80's mind is boggling........

Serb Sense - the attack on education standards is taking place around the world, but those who prefer superstition to science have met a setback in Serbia. The Education Minister, who rejoices in the name Ljiljana Colic, has no doubt got a touch of the bellyache herself. Her plan to ban the teaching of "the evolution theory this school year, until creationism could be taught alongside." has been rejected following what this BBC report calls " .. a deluge of protest from scientists, teachers and opposition parties..." Perhaps if Colic, currently "away on business", finds herself out of a job after this she could always apply to the Vardy Foundation. 80 is sure they they would accept a like-minded nutter to swell their odious ranks. If Vardy's track record so far is anything to go by, she will find the Blair government a pussycat compared to its Serbian equivalent.

Still Counting... - the total of coalition deaths in Iraq on September 8th is 1136, of which 1005 are US and 65 are British. Other countries in the coalition which have lost citizens are Poland, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Thailand, Estonia, El Salvador, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Latvia and Hungary. These figures do not include aid workers and others kidnapped and murdered. According to this page, Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, 799 US deaths have occurred since Bush's moronic "bring them on" invitation. 80 notes that 862 US troops have died since Bush declared that  "major combat operations in Iraq have ended." The estimated number of Iraqi civilian casualties is at a minimum of 11793. All the spin, all the bluster, all the talk of noble wars, sounds increasingly hollow at each click of the counters. For a " visual aid for the numerically and morally challenged"  of US military and Iraqi military and civilian casualties, go here and scroll down. (Also see Mark Fiore's animated cartoon Remember.)

The Watt Doctrine - Michael Howard, the leader of the main opposition party in the UK (yes, there is one) has accused Tony Blair of failing to persuade George W Bush of the importance of action to combat global warming, and has called for a new drive to get the US to sign up to the Kyoto accord. (In passing, how original is Howard's attack?) There are a couple observations to make here. Firstly, does Howard actually believe that Blair has any influence whatsoever over Dubya, for good or ill? If so, he is being uncharacteristically naive - all he needs to remember is how much Blair influenced Bush over Iraq, particularly on the necessity for a clear mandate from the UN Security Council before invading - not at all. That Blair is useful to Bush in order to give his pre-emptive strike policy in Iraq a figleaf of respectability is not in doubt - it is just that this relationship appears to be completely one-sided. Secondly, even if Blair had any influence, it is obvious that, apart from a mild and belated acknowledgement of the problem, Bush is not concerned about global warming. His world view and foreign policy are shaped in many ways by his religious beliefs, such as his blocking of funding to fight AIDS in the Third World to any groups that recommend contraception. These same beliefs may well govern his attitude to not only global warming, but also exploitation of natural resources and the regulation of pollution. Bush is keen to identify himself with the late Ronald Reagan and here he may well be taking a leaf out of the book of one James Watt, Reagan's Interior Secretary. When Watt began to roll back legislation governing environmental pollution and pushed for more exploitation of natural resources there was a strong outcry. When asked in a Congressional hearing if he thought natural resources should be conserved for future generations he had this to say "I do not know how many future generations we can count on before the Lord returns." If you thought that the Second Coming was imminent and you and your privileged friends and associates are going to be "raptured", to meet the returning Jesus in mid-air, like some bizarre flock of self-righteous, naked superheroes, while everyone else is bound for hell, would you bother with global warming or conservation? Of course not, no point. (for more on this see In Heaven as it is on Earth? George W. Bush's Troubling Theocracy and Chiro Bush Fundament)

Of Robots and Smokey - once again it seems science is encroaching on the world of faith. Metin Sitti has led a team from Carnegie Mellon University in creating a robot that walks on water - although to be honest the machine resembles a small insect rather than a certain well-known miracle monger. There are a lot better things to do with water than walk on it - 80 will only take real notice when someone comes up with a robot that turns it into wine. On the subject of miracles, an audience member from BBC Radio's The Now Show answered the question "What is the definition of a miracle?" with "Being a backing singer for Smokey Robinson". (The Now Show is currently off air but you can find it on BBC Radio 7, where it is archived online, along with the superb On The Hour)

Rummy's Revealing Slip - seems to point to the heart of the confusion in the "war on terror". In a speech to the National Press Club on Friday the US Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld confused Saddam Hussein with Osama bin Laden - twice. The LA Times (reg rqd) quotes the two instances. The first was in reference to the situation in Afghanistan just before the 9/11 atrocities, "the leader of the opposition Northern Alliance, Masoud, lay dead, his murder ordered by Saddam Hussein, by Osama bin Laden, Taliban's co-conspirator." He corrected himself quickly there, but he then mixed the two men up again, apparently without immediate correction, when talking of the current situation "Saddam Hussein, if he's alive, is spending a whale of a lot of time trying to not get caught. And we've not seen him on a video since 2001." Donald, listen carefully, Saddam is the one you have under lock and key, the one with no WMDs, remember? bin Laden is the one still on the loose, still a grave danger, primarily because you and your pals took your eye off the ball, so desperate you were to invade Iraq. Saddam was a cruel and repulsive secular dictator, a gangster ruling a country, one of several at large in the world today that the US has not moved against. Osama bin Laden is a religious fanatic with global influence, and an agenda to return the world to the middle ages. It seems that the Bush administration's attempts to conflate the terrorist attacks of Setember 2001 and the regime of Saddam Hussein have proved so successful, that even the Defense Secretary is having trouble distinguishing the two.

Quote - "So I salute the Bush administration for formally declaring on Thursday that the slaughter is a genocide. But as we commemorate the anniversary of 9/11, let's remember that almost as many people are still dying in Darfur every week as died in the World Trade Center attack." Nicolas D Kristof in the New York Times (reg rqd)

Morality Report - so many surveys and reports come out day after day claiming so many different things that it can be hard to know what is relevant. One, back in July, came up with findings that suggested a belief in hell by the population has a benevolent effect on a country's gross domestic product (GDP). This astounding observation was made by two American government economists, Kevin L. Kliesen and Frank A. Schmid, and was subsequently reported in USAToday. The only thing wrong with their findings is that they are not true. Laura Kasman, of the South Carolina Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry, says that "...a 10-minute examination of their own data shows the claim is false." In fact, Kasman's findings, as reported in Humanist Network News, show that the opposite is the case and that "..the trend clearly suggests that belief in hell generally decreases GDP". Apart from the fact that their conclusions are just plain wrong, why are two Federal employees doing research on religious faith? Is this a productive use of their time and taxpayer's money? At the heart of the whole thing is the religionist's idea that it is only fear of a vengeful God and hellfire that makes an individual behave in a moral way. This is the Reagan Doctrine, "No one who disbelieves in God and in an afterlife can possibly be trusted." as examined, and shredded, by Isaac Asimov in this classic essay. The idea that in order to act in an ethical way human beings have to be threatened by some supernatural bogeyman is offensive and ridiculous. To live by decisions dictated by immutable divine laws is an abnegation of what it means to be human. (For more read Ethics Without Gods and also The Moral Foundations of Atheism and Christianity For a look at what, to many other countries looks like the American obsession with religion, see this BBC report. The writer, Richard Allen Greene, is guilty of at least one serious error, and that is when he says "In fact, although the United States has a constitutional barrier separating church and state, the vast majority of Americans want their leaders to be religious." Strike out "religious" and insert "Christian". 80 doesn't envisage a Muslim or a Wiccan president any time soon. )

Reveal To Conceal - this may seem counterintuitive, but it now appears that the best ploy for terrorists bent on entering sensitive areas in Britain is to draw attention to themselves in a most obvious manner. This is becoming something of a tradition in this country chock full of traditions. If you want to crash a Royal party, dress as Osama Bin Laden. If you want to gain access to Buckingham Place, don't sneak around the back, dress as Batman and scale the front of the building. If you want to get into the House of Commons wear a T-shirt emblazoned with protest slogans (albeit covered initially by overalls). On recent evidence such non-disguises render you invisible to security guards, police and Parliamentary bouncers. (The day after security was "tightened" at the Houses of Parliament a tabloid newspaper reporter reveals he that smuggled a fake bomb into the place after getting a job there with false credentials. The old saying "safe as houses" obviously does not apply to the British Parliament.)

You Can't Have It Both Ways - one of the central items of dogma for the Roman Catholic church is the doctrine of Transubstantiation. This ridiculous, and in 80's view, rather disgusting idea, is that the communion wafer and the wine consumed during the mass actually become the body and blood of Christ. While the wine still looks like wine and the wafer appears unchanged, Catholic teaching is that simultaneously, and miraculously, these ordinary substances have changed into the aforementioned meat and blood. Here is an exhaustive explanation of all this hokum from the Catholic Encyclopedia, in which the author of the piece pulls out all the theological stops in order to find biblical precedent for the doctrine. It is only after reading for a while (if you don't become terminally bored) that the realization sinks in that this person means every single word - he really believes that this weird holy morphing takes place. It is instructive to bear this in mind when looking at two recent news items. The first, which was reported widely, concerns a young girl, Haley Waldman, 8 years old, who suffers from celiac disease, a digestive disorder diagnosed when she was 5. Gluten, a protein found in wheat and other cereals, when eaten by a celiac sufferer can have very serious consequences, including damage to the lining of the small intestine, malabsorption of nutrients, vitamin deficiencies and even gastrointestinal cancer. Haley has had her first communion declared invalid by the local diocese as, quite sensibly in light of her illness, the wafer she consumed contained no wheat. The diocese will not budge on this point, even though the church's doctrine claims that the wafer changes into flesh. Surely with this miracle the original material, whether wheat based or rice-based, is no consequence? Not according to Haley's local bishop, John M. Smith, who insists on wheat, whilst simultaneously believing it miraculously changes anyway. (What is obscene is that a child should have her head filled with this nonsense by people she trusts, including her mother, in the first place.) The second story involves priests, in that devoutly Catholic country, Croatia. The authorities have introduced a new zero-tolerance drink-driving law which priests claim would affect them travelling between masses after partaking of Communion wine. One priest, who obviously had not waded through the Catholic Encyclopedia entry, said "During holy mass we need to drink wine as a symbol of the blood of Christ." Wrong, it is not just a symbol, it actually miraculously changes, whilst looking just the same. Send him back to the seminary for reindoctrination. In order to keep up with their sacred tippling the priests, some 2000 of them, have asked for compensation of £12 million ($22 million) to pay for drivers and cars to ferry them between churches. What that sum could do for Croatian charities and orphanages is not mentioned. These two stories illustrate that the kind of daft magical thinking that passed for philosphical and theological profundity in the early Middle Ages is now looking, if possible, sillier than ever.

Sheer Hypocrisy - a Chechen warlord has claimed responsibility for organizing the horrific school siege in Beslan. Shamil Basayev said it was his Riyadus-Salikhin "martyr battalion" that held hundreds of children, staff and parents hostage, yet he still managed to blame Russian President Putin for the bloodbath that ensued. "What happened in Beslan is a terrible tragedy. The bloodsucker from the Kremlin killed or wounded 1,000 children and adults by ordering the storming of the school to satisfy his imperial ambitions and to keep his job." For the man who engineered the hostage-taking to call the outcome a "terrible tragedy" is obscene. 80 has no respect for the motives and actions of ex-KGB man Putin, in Chechnya or elsewhere - he has used the school atrocity to strengthen his hold on power, and to dismantle what little democracy there was in Russia. Whatever Putin is, it still can never excuse  the taking of innocent hostages. As 80 has said before, the whole purpose of taking hostages is to threaten their lives in order to gain concessions from the authorities. The strategy has no meaning without the implicit threat of murder, and this was clearly what Basayev intended. The Russians may have bungled the whole operation around the school, but the reason the children's lives were at risk in the first place was because of Basayev. Much of what he says about Putin and the Russian actions in Chechnya is accurate - but it still cannot be used as justification for his barbaric crime in Beslan. In this case it was not Putin who placed children in the line of fire.

Common Humanity - here is an interesting op-ed piece in The Age, by Shahram Akbarzadeh. He calls for Muslims not to wait to be asked their opinion but to step forward and condemn acts such as the Beslan horror, whilst understanding that many of them would feel torn in their loyalties between supporting fellow-religionists and expressing natural human revulsion at the murder of children. The author makes one particular point that is worth examining more closely, and which shows that he acknowledges that human beings have ethical and moral standards more universal than the rules, threats and proscriptions handed down by religion. "There is no need to consult the Koran to find the appropriate passage that condemns the murder of children. Some things are universal. Love for innocent children is one of them." One thing at least is universal - and more basic to our nature than any set of commands from any number of gods. It is the common shared decency of ordinary people, people who need no threat of hellfire to be able to tell when something is deeply, terribly wrong. Wrong as in Darfur, and Beslan and Iraq and Afghanistan, and far too many places. The whole article by Dr Shahram Akbarzadeh is well worth reading, but 80 reckons he has made his greatest point in the very first paragraph. (also see Morality Report)

Gaming with God - hoping to cash in on what is perceived to be a growing market for religious entertainment, video game makers are after a piece of the pie that nourishes the likes of Mel "The Passion" Gibson and the Left Behind authors. The aim is to produce games "With a focus on eliminating violent content, religious game makers' digital heroes strike with the power of God and heal with Scripture reading." 80 wonders whether these clowns have actually read the "good book". If they use much biblical material they are going to have a hard time "eliminating violence" as the Old Testament is full of it - the biggest killer being God himself, who drowned everyone in the world bar Noah and his immediate family, and later gleefully incited and oversaw mass murder on many occasions. Take a look at this list - it makes Doom or Grand Theft Auto look like a Sunday School picnic.

Disability Rites - legislation that comes into effect next month in the UK means that "places of worship" such as churches, mosques, synagogues and temples will have to provide access for the disabled. 80, being a naive and trusting creature, assumed that such institutions, glowing with moral rectitude, would have been in the vanguard of the movement to provide access and facilities in public buildings to those whose mobility is compromised. Reading this BBC news article it seems not to be the case, at least as far as the Church of England (CofE) and other Christian denominations are concerned. A large part of the article is devoted to describing the magnitude of the task and the cost incurred. This is because Christian churches in Britain tend to be old buildings less amenable to modification, as opposed to edifices belonging to more recently arrived faiths, which are often new and already, or more comparatively easily, supplied with suitable access. Listening to the Christians bleating about the job they have on their hands 80 was rightly overcome with sympathy for their plight and decided to help. The answer to the problem actually takes the Christians back to their roots in the Old Testament (and so obviously will help Jews as well). There has been a lot of fuss and bother of late concerning the ordination of "openly gay clergy" with the less liberal factions of the church quoting the scriptures on the subject, in particular the laws laid down in the book of Leviticus, but there is a bunch of  stuff handy for bolstering other prejudices in this particular scripture. The useful parts of Leviticus applicable to the access dilemma are those concerning who is deemed fit to approach the altar of the Lord - fit being very much the operative word here.

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God. For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous, Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded, Or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken;
Leviticus chapter 21 verses 17-20 KJV

Bingo! Problem solved. Rather than have to provide access to these people, with the concomitant expense and aesthetic compromises, they can just be banned from the premises - if God himself is on record as finding the disabled unacceptable, who are we miserable sinners to disagree?

Oh, Really? - here are a couple of announcements from the Department of the Bleeding Obvious. The first is the news that Ariel Sharon does not intend to follow the so-called roadmap, backed by the US and many other countries. The plan, launched last year, envisaged an independent Palestine by next year, a prospect that now looks forlorn. He has chosen the timing of the announcement with care, with the Bush administration chasing votes in the run up to the election, it would make no sense to offend the pro-Israel lobby. This lobby is now larger than ever, its ranks swelled by many fundamentalist Christians, who see a large and strong Israel as a necessary precursor to Armageddon and the return of Jesus. The second item is the US State Department's International Religious Freedom Report for 2004 which lists ally and oil-supplier Saudi Arabia among nations where freedom of religion does not exist. The designation of Saudi Arabia as a "country of particular concern" is unlikely to lead to any action by the US, let alone sanctions. Would you offend the supplier of a substance to which you are addicted? Both pieces of news can readily be filed under the "dog bites man" category.

Grise Matter - it would be a cheap shot to suggest that any movie called "Bush's Brain" has to be a cartoon short - it would also be wrong. The subject of the work is not whatever Dubya keeps between his ears but Karl Rove, this administration's eminence grise. That the portrait of Rove this documentary paints is unflattering would appear to be an understatement, at least from reading the review in the San Francisco Chronicle. "The film is a damning look at a key Bush operative who has the title of political adviser....the documentary features interviews with people whom Rove has victimized politically, journalists, who speculate about Rove's tactics, and a smattering of Republicans who support the filmmakers' thesis that Rove has a 30-year pattern of using dirty tricks, lies and almost anything else to win political races....Enlightening and frightening, "Bush's Brain" sets up Rove as a brilliant, bull- headed man who turned Bush from a ballot-box loser into the world's most powerful man." Read the the whole review by Jonathan Curiel.

Blair Impeachment Project - the term "impeachment" is one that most people would connect with US politics, most particularly with Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton. Many folk would be surprised to know that such a power exists in the UK, although it was last exercised in 1806. Now a Welsh Member of Parliament (MP), Adam Price of Plaid Cymru would like to see Tony Blair "charged with improper conduct in office", namely misleading Parliament and the public over the invasion of Iraq, negligence and incompetence over weapons of mass destruction, undermining the constitution and entering into a secret agreement with the US president. Whether any of this can be made to stick well enough to "teflon-Tony" for an impeachment vote is a moot point. Many have dismissed the idea as a publicity-seeking stunt, but a professor of government at Hull University, Lord Norton told the BBC "It is still on the books so it's open technically for the Commons to vote for impeachment." although even he thought it would never reach that stage. Dan Plesch, writing in the Guardian, takes a different stance, claiming the idea is now supported by Plaid Cymru, the Scottish Nationalists, the Green Party and 20 other MPs and that the case is "growing ever stronger". Sadly, in 80's view, impeachment is unlikely to happen, but if it only sparks more scrutiny and discussion of the reasons Blair gave for Britain to join the US in the Iraq invasion it will have served a purpose. Blair's record is indelibly stained with the bloodshed in Iraq and try as he might to bury it and move on it will continue to to dog him for what remains of his political career. For more see the Impeach Blair website, which reportedly crashed after an "unexpected" average of 10,000 hits a day. One odd twist is that the impeachment documents are being drawn up by Matrix, lawyer Cherie Blair's own chambers.

Big in Iran - but the US is less than impressed, treating him more like a hairball. Yusuf Islam, one time pop singer Cat Stevens, has been denied access to the US "on national security grounds" but the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spokesman gave no further clarification. Islam's plane was diverted 600 miles to Maine rather than the intended destination, Washington, and now he is expected to be placed on a flight back to Britain. (80 has yet to see a report on what the other passengers thought of the 6 hour delay incurred by the detour) Despite this setback to his travel plans, the singer, who converted to Islam in 1977, does have some cheering news. Those famously po-faced authorities in Iran have decreed that his music is good stuff. The Islamic Propagation Organisation has announced that "We have chosen to put on the market a selection of songs from Cat Stevens, to show to the Iranian youth that not everything in the West is bad." The organisation's music director Reza Mahdavi added that cassettes and CDs containing 75 of his songs will go on sale in Iran from September 20th. This article from Middle East Online points out that Islam is unlikely to receive any royalties from sales in Iran as that law-abiding country "does not respect international intellectual property laws and even officially sanctioned releases of Western music or films are merely copies pirated locally." Stevens/Islam attracted adverse publicity in the UK when he supported the 1989 death sentence on author Salman Rushdie, announced by Iran's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. This is something he has denied but his statements are less than clear on the matter. See this Wikipedia entry (scroll down to The Satanic Verses controversy) which states "in 1989, Yusuf Islam said in a British television documentary that he wasn't against the death sentence in principle: Rather than go to a demonstration where Rushdie would be burned in effigy, "I would have hoped that it'd be the real thing" he said. If Rushdie showed up at his door, he said he "might ring somebody who might do more damage to him than he would like... I'd try to phone the Ayatollah Khomeini and tell him exactly where this man is." The New York Times reported that he stood by his statements in a subsequent interview. It is hard to feel comfortable about someone who thinks it is right to kill an author for a work of fiction. As far as 80 knows no one offered a bounty on Stevens for his lame popsongs. (Here is a piece from the Guardian by Tania Branigan on the signals sent out by the US action)

A Slip of the Truth - the last thing a diplomat is supposed to do is to say what he really thinks - even more so if it happens to be true. The British ambassador in Rome, Sir Ivor Roberts, has said what many people, all around the world, have come to believe from hearing the relentlessly violent and downbeat news from Iraq. Roberts had spoken off the record but obviously the Italian press thought the story was too good to miss. As both the British and Italian governments are stalwart allies of US in the occupation of Iraq, perhaps Roberts should have been a little less honest and a little more...er...diplomatic. What he actually said was "Bush is al-Qaeda's best recruiting sergeant." which, looking at the shooting and bombing and kidnapping gallery that is Iraq today, seems pretty accurate - especially in light of Bush's arrogant, and idiotic, "bring them on" boast last year.

Rosy-Colored Spectacles - here is a wonderful example of the kind of wishful thinking/fuzzy crap given as advice by many who favor alternative therapies to those who have been diagnosed with cancer. Dr Rosy Daniel seems to think that a herbal remedy called Carctol can have a miraculous effect on cancer patients. If her claim is backed by responsible, double-blind trials and testing she may well be on to something. She recommends Carctol before and after conventional chemotherapy which could make it difficult to tell which treatment is of real benefit. When asked in this BBC news report how she knows the "miracles" she has seen are down to Carctol her answer is far from satisfactory, "Well I don't." So, in other words, she has no evidence beyond the anecdotal, for getting sufferers' hopes up, and has no way of proving her contention. She told the BBC "I know some people are saying I am irresponsible, but my mission has been to help get information to people." Too bloody right - she is irresponsible and perhaps she should review her mission's goal - helping people get accurate information instead of what is actually her own, unsubstantiated opinion would be a good start.

Cancer Research UK (CRUK) has a few things to say about Carctol, describing it as "a mixture of 8 herbs, according to an Ayurvedic medicine recipe. Ayurvedic medicine is a system of healing that originated in India thousands of years ago. It is based on a healthy and balanced lifestyle and involves herbal, or mineral remedies, diet, yoga and meditation." (Even they have fallen for some of the bullshit that is knee deep in the world of sCAM*. Ayurvedic medicine is, for the most part, not thousands of years old, but a comparatively recent melange put together by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the 1980s.) More importantly Cancer Research UK continues "Websites selling Carctol say it has been scientifically tested and refer to clinical trials. We haven't found any claims that are supported by any real evidence.The studies described don't seem to be clinical trials as much as surveys of people who have tried this herbal mix. The trouble with surveys like this is that there is no way of knowing what would have happened if people hadn't taken the herbal treatment. Nor do you know what other types of treatment they are having. A randomised trial, comparing people having an experimental treatment with another similar group who are not, is the only way to test properly whether a new drug or remedy works." They also point out that "CARCTOL costs money. Before you start taking it, make sure you have thought about the ongoing cost. A month's supply costs from £45 to £90 ($80 to $160), depending on the dose you are taking."

Which brings us to Dr Daniel's website, Healthcreation, where you learn, as part of 12 Health Creation principles, that there is " ...immense power and loving help that is available to us from the unseen, spiritual or universal dimension. This power has actually been measured: the effects of prayer and spiritual healing have been demonstrated scientifically on people who didn’t even know they were receiving them." Note that there are no references to any studies that demonstrate the truth of this ridiculous claim - the reason is that there aren't any, at least none that meet even the minimum standards of responsible testing. A look at the products for sale shows what a lucrative business sCAM can be, with a Cancer Lifeline Kit of CDs, books, a video and recipe cards going for £150 ($270). Under Current News is a piece about Carctol, which says "The following five extraordinary cases have stunned the medical world." before introducing some testimonies. This depends on what is meant by "medical world". Looking again at the Cancer Research UK page 80 would also say "stunned" is going a little too far - unconvinced and suspicious is closer to the mark, and the same goes for those interviewed by the BBC. It is worth studying CRUK's closing paragraph on the Carctol page, "Whenever we put up information on alternative treatments that have not been properly tested, we receive a few angry emails. They say we are trying to prevent people with cancer from getting effective treatment. That is really not what we wish to do. What concerns us is that these potential cures are often sold for a great deal of money. And people with cancer can be vulnerable. It is understandable that patients or relatives will try anything if they think it might work. And that people really do want to believe that they work. But some alternative 'therapies' are just money making businesses targeting people who are sick and very vulnerable. Our message is Be careful. Make sure you look into the information that is available.Talk to your own cancer doctor before you buy." At the top of the Healthcreation news page on Carctol, the question is asked "Has Dr Rosy Daniel found the Herbal Cure for Cancer?"  On current evidence, the answer is no.

"Either it is true that a medicine works or it isn't. It cannot be false in the ordinary sense but true in some "alternative" sense. If a therapy or treatment is anything more than a placebo, properly conducted double-blind trials, statistically analyzed, will eventually bring it through with flying colours. Many candidates for recognition as "orthodox" medicines fail the test and are summarily dropped. The "alternative" label should not (though, alas, it does) provide immunity from the same fate."
-- Richard Dawkins, The Devil's Chaplain (2004)