STEVE NOVELLA FOR SURGEON GENERAL!

GUPTA STEPS ASIDE.

I just sent this letter to the White House:

Dear President Obama,

Please consider Steven Novella MD, a neurologist on faculty at Yale University, for the position of US Surgeon General.

You may find out more about Dr. Novella at his web site, Neurologica (http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog).

Although I've never met Dr. Novella and have no direct relationship with him, I know him from his regular podcast, the Skeptics Guide to the Universe, which you may download from this site:

http://theskepticsguide.org/archive/podcast.aspx?mid=1

Dr. Novella's communication skills are excellent. He's particularly good at maintaining emotional objectivity while weighing the evidence concerning controversial issues.

Thank you for your time,
Me

STEVE NOVELLA FOR SURGEON GENERAL!

STEVE!

STEVE!

WE WANT STEVE!

OK NOW I'M FUCKING DEPRESSED

I Googled "Tom Harkin chiropractic." I started to make scheduled posts on what I found. But it's a giant fucking mountain of pork. Pork pork pork. Pork as far as the eye can see.

LISTEN, LISTEN: SOILENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No, that wasn't what I wanted to say...

LISTEN, LISTEN: NCCAM WAS MADE FOR THE CHIROPRACTORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THAT'S WHY YOU CAN STUDY HERBS BUT NOT THE STUFF IN THE HERBS AT NCCAM.

Oh, the humanity. Oh, the travesty, the corruption of science.

I can't take it.

Harkin Serves up Pork for Chiropractic College

From Today's Chiropractic March 2002

Palmer College of Chiropractic

PCC has received its second $1.7 million federal grant to assist in the expansion of its library and learning resource facilities, following previous $1.7 million in funding that came in December 2000. Both allocations were authorized by the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations subcommittee, and both fundings were secured by Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the ranking member of the subcommittee.

“There are 20 million Americans receiving chiropractic care (yearly), with half a million of those patients in Iowa,” noted Senator Harkin. “I’m pleased that I was able to secure funding for expansion of this important Iowa institution.”

“To our knowledge, this total is the largest-ever appropriation from the federal government for a single building project on the campus of a chiropractic college,” said Palmer Chancellor Michael Crawford, alluding to the combined funding of $3.4 million for the expansion of the Palmer library and learning resource facilities.

In addition to the library improvements, the $3.4 million grant will go to improving the conference center; the chiropractic research data center; the federal government depository; the distance learning center; the chiropractic archives and special collections; and work areas for the faculty.

Senator Tom Harkin, Chiropractic Champion

Senator Tom Harkin, Chiropractic Champion of the Year

From a 1996 ChiroWeb article.

"I have been especially privileged to carry the chiropractic banner for you in Washington," Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) told the Iowa Chiropractic Society in a speech this past summer. And indeed he has carried chiropractic's banner.

Senator Harkin has been such an important advocate of chiropractic in the nation's capitol, that this year our traditional "chiropractor of the year" award has metamorphosed into the "Chiropractic Champion of the Year." Senator Harkin is that champion.

Senator Harkin has, among other chiropractic issues, recently zeroed in on two fronts: 1) to have the National Institutes of Health specifically focus on chiropractic research, through the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM), by creating a Center for Chiropractic Health; 2) to get funding for a program for chiropractic research and training.

Both of these objectives were met when President Clinton signed into law on Sept. 30, 1996 the 1997 Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act (see Nov. 18, 1996 DC).

The act gave chiropractic:

- Nearly $1 million for continuation of the four-year chiropractic demonstration grants, an increase of $110,000 from the amount appropriated for 1996.

- More than $4.1 million for continuation of the "rural health interdisciplinary training program," an improvement of $445,000 over last year.

- A Center for Chiropractic Research within the National Institutes of Health (Office of Alternative Medicine). The funding for the center is expected to be between $250,000 and one-half million dollars the first year, the bulk going to chiropractic research grants.

The ACA, the Assoc. of Chiropractic Colleges, and Palmer University were all active in pushing for these measures, and Senator Tom Harkin was our man in Washington.

Who is Tom Harkin? He is a fourth generation Iowan, born in Cumming, Iowa (pop. 151) in 1939. His father was a coal miner who, like so many other miners, was afflicted with black lung disease from years of breathing coal dust. His mother was a Slovenian immigrant who died when Tom was just 10-years-old.

Tom won a Navy ROTC scholarship and used it to earn his degree in government and economics at Iowa State University. From 1962-67, he was a Navy jet pilot, and served three more years in the active Naval Reserves.

In 1970, as a staffer for Iowa Congressman Neal Smith, Harkin accompanied a congressional delegation to South Vietnam. He was responsible for exposing the inhuman conditions that political prisoners were suffering in the "tiger cages" of a South Vietnamese prison at Con Son Island. Harkin released a detailed account of the conditions in those cages, including photographs.

After completing his law degree in 1972, Tom Harkin looked towards politics. In 1974 he defeated the incumbent to win a congressional seat (Iowa's 5th District). In 1984, he again beat an incumbent to win a U.S. Senate seat. In 1990 he won a second term, and a third term this past November.

Senator Harkin believes that chiropractic care is primary health care, and that "Americans shouldn't be forced to go through any so-called 'gatekeeper' to get it." He continues to fight for Medicare coverage for chiropractic x-rays, and has spoken of that concern to Secretary Shalala. "We're getting closer to finally resolving it, and I'm going to keep fighting until this issue is taken care of in a fair manner."

When Senator Harkin spoke to the Iowa Chiropractic Society in July of this year, he presented a modified "top-7" list of how DCs should go about educating members of Congress and other decision makers about their profession. We think that advice is worth wider dissemination:

- Personalize the issue and share your story.

- Talk common sense economics. Chiropractic is part of the solution to health care inflation.

- Don't underestimate the opposition. We are right doesn't mean we will win.

- Demand answers. Amid all the talk about ending discrimination and promoting fairness in America, why are we still officially sanctioning discrimination against chiropractors in this country?

- Make sure decision makers know the people, their constituents, are on our side. Every day tens of thousands of consumers decide to spend their own money on chiropractic services, even when other medical treatments are available at a subsidized cost, or at no cost.

- Enlist support. Get your patients involved. They've got to contact Congress, too. I can't overstate how important that is, and the kind of difference it can make.

- Make sure they know that you will not go gently into that good night. We're going to keep up the fight for chiropractic care, and we're not going to stop until we reach our goal.

Senator Harkin finished his speech to the Iowa chiropractors with this assertion: "I won't consider the health care battle won until every American can get coverage for chiropractic care, and discrimination against providers is outlawed once and for all." We think you'll agree that Senator Harkin was a good choice for our chiropractic champion award.

On a personal note, Tom Harkin is married to Ruth, a graduate of the same law school as Tom. She is the president/CEO of the Overseas Private Investment Corp. Tom and Ruth have two daughters, Amy, 20, and Jenny, who turns 15 this December.

Adventures of Dr. Camwoo

Dr Camwoo reaches in his pocket and extracts a small vial.

Camwoo: "We have found that goat's urine near the heart chakra helps the patient recover with less stress."

Surgeon: "WTF? You can't put that in my sterile field! Get out of here!"

In a later news interview:

Reporter: "So tell us about integrative healthcare."

Camwoo: "Yes, we now have learned of the integrative sterile field, which combines the sterile with something that is not sterile, so nothing is left out."

Herbal Cure-All

From Cectic.

WARNING: REEDING BAD FUR IQ

I am learning about my complementary and alternative government.

Conventional medicine is medicine as practiced by holders of M.D. (medical doctor) or D.O. (doctor of osteopathy) degrees and by their allied health professionals, such as physical therapists, psychologists, and registered nurses.

And there you have it: Conventional medicine is what doctors do. Doctors are practitioners of conventional medicine.

CAM is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine.

Thus we see that CAM and conventional medicine are different. You can tell because they are in different piles.

The list of what is considered to be CAM changes continually, as those therapies that are proven to be safe and effective become adopted into conventional health care and as new approaches to health care emerge... [my bold]

Integrative medicine combines treatments from conventional medicine and CAM for which there is some high-quality evidence of safety and effectiveness.

Wait. You just said that CAM therapies proven safe and effective become part of conventional medicine. Now you're defining a hybrid category that mixes conventional medicine and CAM, but only the CAM bits shown to be safe and effective.

WAI MAI HEAD HURTZ?!!!?!

There are four types of CAM practices:

1. Mind-Body Medicine (meditation, prayer, mental healing)
2. Biologically Based Practices (herbs, foods, vitamins)
3. Manipulative and Body-Based Practices (chiropractic, massage)
4. Energy Medicine (biofield therapies, bioelectromagnetic-based therapies)

That last one may need some 'splainin':

Biofield therapies are intended to affect energy fields that purportedly surround and penetrate the human body. The existence of such fields has not yet been scientifically proven.

Hope that's clear: biofielders manipulate something that is not there, apparently.

NCCAM's mission is to explore complementary and alternative healing practices in the context of rigorous science, train CAM researchers, and disseminate authoritative information to the public and professionals.

AARRGGHH!!!

INVIZIBUL ENERGY FEELDZ???!!!

DAT NO EXIST???

SCIENCE NO CAN HAZ!!!11!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shade Grown Coffee

From the Smithsonian:

"Shade-grown" refers to the way coffee has been traditionally farmed. For generations, coffee shrubs have been planted in the shade of tall trees, making these traditional coffee plantations excellent homes for birds and other forest-dwelling wildlife.

Over the past 30 years, more than half of the traditional shade-grown coffee farms in Latin America have been converted to "sun-coffee" farms to increase production. This newer method entails clearing or thinning the shade trees and growing coffee plants under full or nearly full sun conditions. These changes also demand the use of agrochemicals like synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides to counter the effects of eliminating the shaded agroforestry system. "

The Smithsonian site has some interactive pages that crash Internet Explorer on my puter. Chrome works fine.

Google around and find out where you can buy bird-friendly coffee in your area. The songbirds will thank you.

Integrative Reporting to Keep News Interesting

Statement by Senator Tom Harkin.

"Gentlemen:

"I welcome you to this gathering of the Committee for Serious Business. As you are aware, President Obama has challenged us to draft a bill that might transform the world of journalism. This we shall do, and before the year's close.

"I must thank our committee chair, Senator Kennedy, for allowing me a turn in the comfy seat. Of course we all look forward to his speedy return to the Senate, thanks to our capacity for near-delusional wishful belief.

"I am pleased to co-chair this morning’s hearing with Senator Mikulski. And I am eager to hear our distinguished witnesses’ ideas on using integrative reporting to improve news quality and to reduce journalism costs.

"It is fashionable these days to quote stuff from famous people. And so I remind you now of the seminal words of Big Brother as recorded in 1984:

'The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. To save our country we must disenthrall ourselves, think anew and speak anew, in doublethink and newspeak thusly:

Ignorance is strength.
Unproven is proven.
Fiction is fact.'

"Clearly, the time has come to 'think anew' and to 'disenthrall ourselves' from the dogmas and biases of our present system of journalism. For too long, reporters have suffered under the limitations imposed by mainstream standards of objective investigation. Discrimination against alternative methods of reporting can be seen in the way conventional rules of evidence seem to always favor 'facts' above other parts of a story, such as hearsay, conjecture, rumor, or those little amusing embellishments that can make a dull piece really pop!

"It is time to end the discrimination against alternative reporting.

"It is time for America’s news agencies to emphasize coordination between the dissemination of information and top-notch creative writing.

"And it is time to adopt an integrative approach that takes advantage of the very best reporting, whether of the conventional form with its tedious emphasis on 'reality' or the newer, more inventive style that often feels truer in the reader's heart.

"This is about giving people the pragmatic alternatives they want while ending discrimination against unconventional reporters. It is about improving the output of our news agencies, which, frankly, can be way too boring. And, yes, it is about reducing the cost of journalism. Generally speaking, alternative, fictional accounts of current events are less expensive and less intrusive - and we need to take advantage of that.

"The United States currently spends more than any other nation on news reporting, yet we know less about current affairs than most other developed nations and even some developing countries. We need a paradigm shift that places a much greater emphasis on building an audience rather than merely providing facts to people who'd like to know things. Integrative journalism can help us achieve this goal.

"This has been a priority of mine going back many years. In 1992, at my urging, Congress passed legislation creating the Office of Made-up News. In 1998, I sponsored legislation to elevate that Office to what, today, is the less silly-sounding National Center for Complementary and Alternative Journalism. That Center is sponsoring extraordinarily important reporting. And by 'important' I mean very nearly plausible.

"Since 1992 the field has evolved and matured. Today, we are not just talking about alternative practices but also the integration between conventional and alternative reporting in order to achieve truly integrative journalism. We need old-school journalists and newer, more creative writers talking with each other, collaborating to tell the whole story, including the juicy, made-up parts the public loves to hear. And this is the model we intend to build into our Journalism Reform Bill.

"On several occasions, I have laid down a public marker, saying that if we pass a bill that greatly extends news coverage but does nothing to create eye-popping drama, then we will have failed the American people, many of whom recently dropped a small fortune on Hi-Def TVs.

"Well, this morning, I want to lay down a second marker: If we fail to seize this unique opportunity to adopt a kick-ass, surround-sound enhanced, Blu-ray enabled, drama-llama approach to American journalism, then FAIL CONGRESS HAZ FAIL!!!1!

"...and America... *sigh*... has a sad."

Autism Quackery

Through the Looking Glass: My Involvement with Autism Quackery, James R. Laidler, MD.

Bumped into this nice article I may print for a couple of parents. Excerpt:

The final step in my awakening came during a Disneyland vacation. My younger son was still on a gluten- and casein-free diet, which we both swore had been a significant factor in his improvement. We had lugged at least 40 pounds of special food on the plane with us. In an unwatched moment, he snatched a waffle and ate it. We watched with horror and awaited the dramatic deterioration of his condition that the “experts” told us would inevitably occur. The results were astounding—absolutely nothing happened. I began to suspect that I had been very foolish.

In the following months, we stopped every treatment except speech and occupational therapy for both boys. They did not deteriorate and, in fact, continued to improve at the same rate as before—or faster. Our bank balance improved, and the circles under our eyes started to fade. And quite frankly, I began to get mad at myself for being so gullible and for misleading other parents of autistic children.

Looking back on my experiences with "alternate" autism therapies, they seem almost unreal, like Alice's adventures in Wonderland. Utter nonsense treated like scientific data, people nodding in sage agreement with blatant contradictions, and theories made out of thin air and unrelated facts—and all of it happening happening right here and now, not in some book. Real people are being deceived and hurt, and there won't be a happy ending unless enough of us get together and write one.

My personal journey through the looking glass has ended. I stepped into “alternative” medicine up to my neck and waded out again, poorer but wiser. I now realize that the thing the “alternative” practitioners are really selling is hope—usually false hope—and hope is a very seductive thing to those who have lost it. It is really not surprising that people will buy it even when their better judgment tells them not to do so.