A Good Week for the Skeptical

February 19, 2012 in Skeptic News by askeptic | No comments

Did you ever have one of those days? Where everything was perfect? Well, I had one of those weeks. The universe, it appears, is unfolding as it should. So let’s see how the universe is doing.

Complimentary and Alternative (Quack) Medicine is Showing Signs  of Decline

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.  I’ve seen this attributed to P.T Barnum, Mark Twain and Abraham Lincoln, not names normally tied together in the same sentence.  Nevertheless, it certainly describes the emerging situation with complimentary and alternative (CAM) medicine. Read the rest of this entry »

Another Resignation at Statistics Canada

February 12, 2012 in General Science by askeptic | 1 comment

On February 01, Philip Cross, Chief Economic Adviser at Statistics Canada announced his leaving the agency. He follows the head of the agency, Munir Sheikh, who resigned last year over Government plans to redesign the Census. Mr. Cross is leaving for much the same reason.

At issue is replacing a compulsory census questionnaire with a voluntary questionnaire. In essence, this means replacing a random sample with a discretionary sample. Discretionary samples have their applications, but making inferences about the population isn’t one of them. Unfortunately, making just these types of inferences is whole point of the Census. That’s why Mr. Sheikh wrote in an open letter to the Government:

“I want to take this opportunity to comment on a technical statistical issue which has become the subject of media discussion … the question of whether a voluntary survey can become a substitute for a mandatory census . . . It can not.” “Under the circumstances, I have tendered my resignation to the Prime Minister.” Read the rest of this entry »

The Hypocrisy of The Alberta Human Rights Commission

January 28, 2012 in Education, Religion by askeptic | 2 comments

In Alberta, you only get the rights you pray for.

In Alberta, you only get the rights you pray for. If you don’t pray, well, look somewhere other than the Alberta Human Rights Commission to uphold those rights.

That’s the basic message the Alberta Human Rights Commission sent to Morinville parents fighting for a non-religious schooling option in their town. All the schools in Morinville are operated by Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools, meaning an  education comes with the religion included. Some parents didn’t want that, preferring a religious free education for their kids. After being told to forget it, it’s a religious education or no education by The Greater St. Alberta Catholic Schools, these parents applied to Alberta Human Rights Commission. They were recently informed that the Commission was refusing to hear their complaint. Read the rest of this entry »

Conspiracy to Encourage Breast Cancer Revealed by CBC and NFB

January 27, 2012 in Conspiracy, Health & Medicine by askeptic | 11 comments

Dumbing Down the Public Understanding of Heath Risks

On Friday, January 27, Wendy Mesley, fill in anchor for the CBC ‘Flagship’ news program The National, once again used the platform to promote her silly conspiracy theories concerning breast cancer.

Evidently she knows there is a conspiracy because according to her previous special, Chasing the Cancer Answer (see AskepticRTN:  Everyone Is Going To Die!)  she “ tried to be healthy”  eating veggies, exercising and living “a pretty clean lifestyle” but still got breast cancer so, “there must be other things going on . . .”   According to Ms. Wesley’s those other things are a world-wide conspiracy by oncologists and corporations to cover up the real cause of cancer–environmental toxins. Well of course, what else could it be? Read the rest of this entry »

Scientists Grow Cool to Global Warming

December 4, 2011 in General Science by askeptic | 2 comments

‘Political scientists’ with questionable ethics that is.

Barry Cooper is at it once again. His opinion piece entitled Climategate 2.0 clouds global warming threat in the November 30, 2011 Calgary Herald builds on the groundless, and I would add mindless, accusations made in Scientists grow cool to global warming theory, in the June 29, 2011 Herald.

As a political ‘scientist’, Dr. Cooper evidently considers himself qualified to comment on the scientific validity of climate science research declaring anthropogenic global warming moribund while slanderously labeling climate scientists as a strange little cult, adding that because of so called Climategate (the hacking of scientists email on a server at the University of East Anglia in Britain),  We now know that climate scientists, particularly if they work for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, like to cook their data. Well, at least we know where Dr. Cooper stands on the ethical issue of media hacking of private emails and telephone messages currently sinking the Murdoch empire.  Read the rest of this entry »

When emotion prevails over cold, hard science.

December 3, 2011 in General Science, Health & Medicine by askeptic | No comments

John Allemang of the Globe and Mail gets it right

A recent piece by John Allemang at the Globe and Mail does a truly exceptional job of dealing with a truly difficult subject, balancing the emotions and rationality in healthcare decision making. He touches on recent decisions in Liberation Therapy (discussed at length here at ASkepticRTN) but his focus is on recent recommendations made concerning breast cancer screening, a more difficult subject. Mr. Allemang handles the statistics deftly, providing an excellent example of the role the media should play in clarifying and explaining the science behind social and health policy issues. The graphic designers at the Globe and Mail did a pretty good job at representing risk and deserve some credit here as well.

The only questionable conclusion readers should be aware of is that, for every 2,100 women between the ages of 40 to 49 at average risk of breast cancer screened every two years for 11 years . . . 1 woman would escape a breast cancer death. I think the figure is actually a maximum of 1 woman, meaning the figure could well be zero.  Well worth a read. Do so <HERE>

 

National Institutes of Health Research abandon science.

November 27, 2011 in Health & Medicine by askeptic | No comments

I returned home from vacation to a surprise. My inbox contained a letter from Dr. Alain Beaudet, President of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research responding to my letter of  July 12 concerning the reversal of recommendations concerning the clinical trials into so-called Liberation Therapy (see ASkepticRTN: Letter to Dr. Beaudet of Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Minister of Health).  That letter requested three things: Read the rest of this entry »

Two Months Away

November 27, 2011 in Uncategorized by askeptic | No comments

Evidently, there was a glitch somewhere in ASkepticRTN. The post regarding my upcoming vacation never made it and seems to have been lost among various backups, transfers etc. Anyway, I am back after two months of running around Europe. Plenty of material across the pond for a skeptic to sink his teeth into but for the most part I satisfied myself with traveling, seeing the sites and sampling the local wine. Well, more than just sampling. In any case, for those that wrote and posted comments only to find no response, my apologies. I’ll do a better job next time.

ASkepticRTN does a backstepping double take

August 3, 2011 in Education, General Science, Religion, Skeptic News, Uncategorized by askeptic | 1 comment

What the hell happened to The Calgary Herald?

I love Sunday mornings’. Sitting in my comfy chair or parking myself on the deck with a hot latte. The morning light over my shoulder allows me to settle into my newspaper. Newspapers actually, as I never seem to find the time to read the Saturday editions before Sunday morning. What’s that saying?, Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures. That describes my Sundays.

So on Sunday July 31, I started with the Saturday July 30, 2011 edition of the Calgary Herald and came across an editorial entitled: Silencing scientists: Modern governments are muzzling scientific free speech. It was without doubt the most positive editorial I have read in the Herald on a matter of science. Read the rest of this entry »

Politics and marketing drive the science agenda on MS

August 1, 2011 in Health & Medicine by askeptic | No comments

Liberation therapy becomes the new final solution

The news of a second Canadian dying from Liberation Therapy couldn’t have come at worse time for Canadian Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq. News of the death of Maralyn Clarke, age 56, of a brain hemorrhage, came only a week after Ms. Aglukkaq announced  federal funding of clinical trials into the controversial multiple sclerosis treatment.

Death, particularly as a result of a brain hemorrhage, is a predictable, if relatively rare, outcome of the procedure. AskepticRTN, for one, predicted Canadians would die as a result of the unholy alliance of  medical miracle promoters  and gutless politicians. For the miracle cure promoters, such as Synergy Health Concepts Inc., where Ms. Clarke was treated, this is a good business. There is, after all, a pent up demand and at $12,000 a pop, a profitable one at that. Legal releases protect the doctors from any fallout. To rake in the big bucks you only have to abandon medical ethics and, make no mistake, doctors and surgeons selling unproven treatments is an abandonment of medical ethics. It’s also good politics. Politicians gain by appearing sensitive, caring and responsive to those suffering from a debilitating disease.  A win-win as they say — as long as you, you know, ignore the body count. Read the rest of this entry »

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