Denialism

Author: MarkH

  • Million Comment Party

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    So, due to circumstances beyond his control, Ed over at Dispatches won’t be able to plan our Michigan party, so we’re going to do it in the Detroit metro area on Saturday, Sept. 20th. I don’t have the place yet, but I’m getting the idea that there are a few definite maybes. Let me know…

  • How will the candidates fix American health care?

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    I don’t know. There was a pretty good piece in the New England Journal of Medicine, but it’s really not clear enough for most readers (including myself). The McCain and Obama websites give fairly comprehensive looks at their health plans, but nothing useful for a lay reader. The good news is that both campaigns have…

  • Small family, big family

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    Like many Jewish families, tracing our history is often a sad and difficult task. Three of my four grandparents escaped Europe to found new families in America, giving me the illusion of having a small family, as Hitler uprooted and burnt the rest of my family tree. But the networks formed by immigrants were close,…

  • Stossel gets it right

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    John Stossel of ABC’s 20/20 has never been one of my favorites. He’s one of those folks who often poses as a skeptic by using doubt and mockery indiscriminately. Tonight, though, he got it right. He discusses food obsessions and fads, pointing out the contradictions inherent in food cultists. One of the worst of the…

  • It’s viral!

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  • I don’t have cancer

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    Last week I went to the dermatologist. I have a few moles, and some of them were looking a little funny. The dermatologist did a full skin exam, and agreed that some of my moles looked funny, and she removed them. About a week later a pathology report confirmed that I have dysplastic nevi, and…

  • Million comment party

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    We’re still working on a Michigan meetup to celebrate our millionth comment. Ed Brayton, who has to trek over from the west side of the state, has suggested a more central location (not unlike early Michiganders). Rather than SE Mich, there is some interest in Lansing or East Lansing. If forced to trek up there,…

  • People are inconsistent and crazy

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    So the alties hate real medicine. They come over here and bemoan modern medicine’s failure to address behavioral changes that affect health, such as diet and exercise. Then I write a long post about internists’ duties viz public health and health behaviors, and the gun nuts think I want to disarm them and PRY TEH…

  • Science is politics

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    No, this isn’t some post-modernist rant on the inherent non-objectivity of science. On the contrary—this is a much simpler, grittier point, that science actually is the most accurate way of describing reality, and because of this, politics (the job of manipulating and controlling group’s social reality) and science will always be roommates. This comes up…

  • Creationism—GOPs arugmentum ad populum

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    (HT to Nisbet…really) With the “choice” of Governor Palin as the vice presidential candidate, the GOP must now face up to questions about the teaching of creation myths is public school science classes. The new talking point? “It’s a local issue.” Science is local? Lucky for the GOP, Governor Pawlenty wasn’t chosen for veep, given…