Author: MarkH
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Transvaginal ultrasound now being legislated in Idaho
In the continual spread of assaults on women’s reproductive freedom in the wake of the 2010 tea party movement, another state, Idaho, is legislating women receive unnecessary and invasive medical procedures prior to obtaining abortion. This is part of an unprecedented effort at the state level to restrict reproductive rights, and in 2011 a record…
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Homeschooling needs either tighter regulation or to be banned
At Alternet there is a great article by Kristin Rawls on homeschooling and educational neglect. I think it makes an excellent argument that homeschooling needs either tighter regulation and oversight, or needs to be outright outlawed: In recent weeks, homeschooling has received nationwide attention because of Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s homeschooling family. Though Santorum…
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Demanding women deliver dead babies is unethical and unsafe
In a debate on the floor of the Georgia State house over a bill to force women to bring all pregnancies after 20 weeks to term, even in cases of dead or non-viable fetus, this Georgia representative reaches a new low. State Rep Terry England seems to be suggesting pigs and cows do it, why…
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CSPI overblows the cancer risk of caramel coloring in soda
The safety of soda has been in the news a lot lately. The news even seems bad for diet coke, which hits close to home for me given my diet coke addiction. The worst seems to be this correlative study proposing a link between diet sodas and stroke risk: The study, which followed more than…
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Watch James Hansen's TED talk
I think it’s a nice, succinct description of the problem of climate change from one of the leaders of the field. On a related note the nation of Kiribati is relocating to Fiji as their island nation is disappearing.
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Accountability in Science Journalism: two recent examples of failures in the NYT and Forbes
Ed Yong demands higher accountability in science journalism and has made me think of how in the last two days I’ve run across two examples of shoddy reporting. These two articles I think encompass a large part of the problem, the first from the NYT, represents the common failure of science reporters to be critical…
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What is the cause of excess costs in US healthcare? Take two
We’ve discussed it before, why are costs so much higher in US healthcare compared to other countries? The Washington Post has a pointless article which seems to answer with the tautology costs are high because healthcare in America costs more. How much more? Well, we spend nearly twice as much per capita as the next…
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Are Liberals really more likely to accept science than conservatives Part II?
About a month ago I asked if denialism is truly more frequent on the right or is it that the issues of the day are ones that are more likely to be targets of right wing denialism? After all, one can think of slightly more left wing sources of denialism like GMO paranoia, 9/11 conspiracies,…
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Psychic Sent to Prison for 5 years for Fraud – So can we jail them all now?
Via Ed I find out about a Psychic in Colorado sentenced to 5 years for fraud. BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4)- A woman claiming to be a psychic has been sentenced to five years behind bars for stealing more than $300,000 from her clients. Nancy Marks told her victims she needed their cash and credit card numbers…
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Irony meters just exploded all over the world – Natural News has article on how to spot a scam guru
Mike Adams, HIV/AIDS denialist, anti-vaccine crusader, germ theory denialist, and most recently, promoter of a child-protective services vaccine/sex trade conspiracy, actually has a contributor-submitted article on how to spot a scam guru. The advice in the article isn’t terrible. Don’t believe inflated claims. Don’t believe people who say “anyone can do it” or create fake…