Purveyors of piffle, pseudoscience, woo woo and the SN

[allybalder]

far be it from me to suggest an alternative eejit
check out the Creationist Stephen Moore of the Causeway Creation Committee Friday's Belfast Tele

The creation of a new Giant's Causeway row

The supporters of the Causeway Creation Committee believe that the Giant's Causeway was created by Noah's flood. They also believe that dinosaurs walked the earth alongside humans. They would like to see these theories taught in our schools. Jonathan McCambridge reports on the creationism versus evolution debate in Ulster

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/featu ... 210680.ece

[kieransulli]

For me it´s got to be David Quinn. Have you read his latest rant in last weeks Indo? He stopped just short of saying liberalism causes cancer! I kid you not.

As usual, attack is the best form of defence for Quinn and while assulting liberalism, he sneakily slips in the "fact" that life was better 30 years ago for teenagers because the Catholic Church was much stronger then.

That he gets to write for a national newspaper and thus has an air of independent authority (pardon the pun) makes him all the more dangerous.

[micfur]

Could Seamus send out the poll to all members by email and ask them to vote for example? Anything really, that gets more votes in.

Done

Good stuff Seamus

[bipedalhumanoid]

For me it´s got to be David Quinn. Have you read his latest rant in last weeks Indo? He stopped just short of saying liberalism causes cancer! I kid you not.

As usual, attack is the best form of defence for Quinn and while assulting liberalism, he sneakily slips in the "fact" that life was better 30 years ago for teenagers because the Catholic Church was much stronger then.

That he gets to write for a national newspaper and thus has an air of independent authority (pardon the pun) makes him all the more dangerous.

It's good to see Mr Quinn getting more votes. The undue respect that people traditionally have provided to religion has left people like him feeling that journalistic standards don't apply when religion is the involved in the topic (whether directly or indirectly).

[Martha]

...a lot of current medical science is corrupted by financial interests and to my mind should be viewed with a good pinch of skepicism.

Tell that to the dumbed-down ignorant Irish (americanized) masses!

The reason I singled out vaccination is that in my view it falls into the realms of pseudoscience, it rarely follows proper scientific testing eg most if not all research and trials are carried out either by the companies who will make money from it or by ìndependent researchers`who if you look a bit deeper have ties to the same companies.

I'm all too aware of the cosy (symbiotic) relationship between our government and Big Pharma et al. Once upon a time I was an Insider. Now I'm an Outsider

The reason for my original post was to point out that I don`t think it is right to put down people who have looked into the area of health and have decided to make their own decisions which is after all what we here have done in the area of `spiritual health`.

Joyce.

Joyce, my advice to you is not to concern yourself about those who "put you down" because you don't subscribe to the status quo. Let them rot in their primordial soup

Best wishes,
Martha

[lostexpectation]

this a skeptic poll/thread very little to do with atheism in Ireland.

I'm having trouble finding anything about PMcK actively campaigning about homeopathy in 2007.

[micfur]

this a skeptic poll/thread very little to do with atheism in Ireland.

I'm having trouble finding anything about PMcK actively campaigning about homeopathy in 2007.

While not her views on homeopathy the following partial transcript does give one an insight into her lack of rational thought. It is from on interview she did on Today FM's Last word on 13th March, 2007. This interview was an unmitigated disaster for her and prompted the Green Party to distance themselves by claiming it was her own personal views and not that of the party.

Matt Cooper is the host of the show. Keith Redmond is an opposing candidate, for the PDs. The timestamps are in minutes and seconds from the start of the audio file:

8:30: Patricia McKenna: Parents have the right to choose what they opt to do, and in relation to some vaccinations, there are serious question marks hanging over them but that’s not what we’re talking about here…

8:44: Matt Cooper (clearly annoyed): No its not, but now that it’s up there, couldn’t it be irresponsible for parents not to vaccinate children against serious issues (sic), if they don’t have reputable scientific facts to back up the decision not to vaccinate?

8:54: Patricia McKenna: Many parents in this country have chosen not to vaccinate their children in relation to the MMR because of the links to autism.

9:00: Matt Cooper: Utterly untrue, totally unproven, absolutely bogus and false.

9:02: Patricia McKenna: Hold on a second…

9:03: Matt Cooper: Andrew Wakefield has been utterly and totally discredited in relation to that. Anyone who doesn’t give the MMR vaccine to their children because of a fear of autism is almost in danger of endangering their child themselves. We’re going to have a rise of measles again in this country because of people not actually giving the vaccine.

9:17: Patricia McKenna: First of all, we’re moving away from the issue…

9:22: Matt Cooper: Yeah we are, but it’s come up now, let’s deal with it…

9:23: Patricia McKenna: It’s come up, right. Eh, have you had the measles? I’ve had the measles, and I’ve got over them well, I have a strong immune system, my 10 year old son has had the measles…

9:30: Matt Cooper: And you are aware that unhandled the measles can have very serious side effects?

9:33: Patricia McKenna: Look — the side effects that are linked to the measles are in relation to… there are other things linked to it in relation to the child’s well being initially. Now you just look at the number of people when you were young, all of your peers I would say have had the measles as with mine, and I think we have a tendency to over-indulge in vaccinating our children and vaccinating ourselves, because what we need — our immune systems are getting weaker and weaker by the day, it’s a — I think we need to be very careful about how we actually approach this so that when medicines are necessary, we will not be immune to them…

10:08: Matt Cooper (interrupting): Do you know that children have died of the measles in this country in the last 5 years?

Keith Redmond: because of views like that.

Patricia McKenna: Well I’m saying is that, as far as I’m concerned…

10:18: Matt Cooper (repeats): Do you know that children have died of the measles in this country in the last 5 years?

10:30: Patricia McKenna: The children that have died of the measles because of other complications (sic), not the measles themselves.

Keith Redmond: that have not been vaccinated.

Patricia McKenna: Not the measles themselves, but other complications, right? Now if you’re saying that parents should — it’s a bit like –

Keith Redmond: Matt, can I just come back to…

10:32: Matt Cooper: Sorry, one second Keith. Would you also concede Patricia, that there is absolutely no link between the MMR and autism, that that link was a bogus link put up by Andrew Wakefield who has been completely and utterly discredited and it has done an awful lot of damage, the misrepresentation of his views in relation to the MMR and autism.

10:50: Patricia McKenna: Well in relation to the MMR, I am not satisfied that it’s safe, and I am not satisfied with the idea of lumping a whole lot of vaccines — different vaccinations together en masse, inducing them (sic) to our children — but having said that, parents should have the right to choose and decide what is best for their children…

11:06: Matt Cooper: But would you concede that Andrew Wakefield, who is the man that pushed that whole agenda, was exposed as a fraud?

11:11: Patricia McKenna: But the jury is still out in relation to…

11:15: Matt Cooper: No, it’s not.

11:16: Patricia McKenna: Yeah well I’m sorry but the jury is still out in relation to how safe the MMR is. And I think it’s unfair to label all parents who decide for their own children’s safety, that they may not want to go down the route of vaccination, that they’re being irresponsible, because I wouldn’t consider myself irresponsible, I would consider I want what’s best for my child.

11:37: Keith Redmond: [again says something]

Matt Cooper: Give Keith a chance to come in.

11:41: Keith Redmond: This totally exemplifies the Greens’ approach to any kind of science. We have a woman there who knows, in her heart of hearts, that her argument is wrong but refuses to admit it because it relies on science. Now, we have exactly the same issue with flouridation — we know the science, we know the facts, and we still have this scaremongering every now and again. And the Green Party are totally irresponsible and you’re right, they are frightening parents across the country right now and it’s absolutely reprehensible.

[micfur]

this a skeptic poll/thread very little to do with atheism in Ireland.

I'm having trouble finding anything about PMcK actively campaigning about homeopathy in 2007.

Link to the Green Partys (Ms McKennas party) website, with its policy on sustainable farming: http://www.greenparty.ie/en/policies/ag ... le_farming

The relevant paragraph, towards the bottom of the page

"Develop responsible use of homeopathy, e.g. develop a national network of trained vets; provide training courses for interested farmers."

There you have it. Homeopathy for cows.

Not withstanding their stance on global warming, something supported by the vast majority of scientists, I find that some in the Greens are more willing than most to abandon science when it fails to meet their ideological world view. In my view they need to tackle this loony fringe in their ranks.

[bipedalhumanoid]

Holy Crap! I love the way she set the conversation in that direction and then started complaining that they were getting 'off topic'. Her Irrationality comes through in the fact that she seems to accept that the entire basis for her belief of an MMR Autism link has been discredited but she still insists that despite that, the jury is out in relation to the safety of MMR...

The premise for the belief is gone but she wants to hang onto the belief anyway.

[Lou]

Hey how do I vote in this thing? Go go William Reville!