Respectful Insolence
"A statement of fact cannot be insolent." The miscellaneous ramblings of a surgeon/scientist on medicine, quackery, science, pseudoscience, history, and pseudohistory (and anything else that interests him)
This blog is one of the best health, rationality blogs out there. Add this blog to My Feeds.
2010: Another bad year for the anti-vaccine movement, as the Special Masters rule
Mar 15, 2010 7:00am
Perhaps you've heard of the case of Poul Thorsen. Perhaps not. Either way, that anti-vaccine movement was making a huge deal over this Danish psychiatrist and researcher for two reasons. First, he has become embroiled in some sort of scandal involving research funds at his former place of employment, Aarhus...
Do you believe autism and vaccines are linked?
Mar 14, 2010 10:00pm
Of course, the best way to decide such questions is to vote, right? I know, I know, I've complained about poll-crashing before, but, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Read the comments on this post......
Well, this certainly explains a lot...
Mar 14, 2010 7:00am
...about the internecine warfare that breaks out from time to time around ScienceBlogs. At times we do appear to be a lot like professional wrestling. Can you find Orac in there? Read the comments on this post......
Better late than never (the announcement, I mean): The 131st Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle
Mar 13, 2010 7:00am
My apologies to Romeo Vitelli, but somehow two weeks ago it totally slipped my mind to announce his 131st Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle, which is a fine addition to the Skeptics' Circle canon. Read. Enjoy. Read the comments on this post......
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on Poul Thorsen: The fine art of distraction from inconvenient facts
Mar 12, 2010 5:05am
My first big splash in the blogosphere will have occurred five years ago in June, when I first discovered the utter wingnuttery that is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. It was then that I wrote a little bit of that not-so-Respectful Insolence that you've come to know and love entitled Salon.com...
Elsevier to Medical Hypotheses editor Bruce Charlton: Enough is enough
Mar 11, 2010 7:00am
These days, I'm having a love-hate relationship with Elsevier. On the one hand, there are lots of reasons to hate Elsevier. For example, Elsevier took payments from Merck, Sharp & Dohme in order to publish in essence a fake journal designed to promote its products, and then got caught doing...
Dismissed!
Mar 10, 2010 9:01pm
Well, that didn't take long. Remember when the grande dame of the anti-vaccine movement, Barbara Loe Fisher, decided that she would try to harass, intimidate, and silence Paul Offit through the filing of a frivolous libel suit against Dr. Offit, Amy Wallace (the journalist who interviewed Offit for an excellent article...
Fear the omniscience of Orac, evildoers!
Mar 10, 2010 12:00pm
Orac knows all. Orac sees all. Orac discovers all. Anti-vaccine loons, know this and tremble, as Teresa Conrick over at J.B. Handley's--excuse me, Jenny McCarthy's--home for happy anti-vaccine propagandists has: While googling to find the Tribune article, I instead found Orac's site. Who is Orac? Well, suffice to say that...
Jenny McCarthy drives the stupidity to ever higher levels on--where else?--The Huffington Post
Mar 10, 2010 12:00am
Way back on May 25, 2005, I first noticed something about a certain political group blog. It was something unsavory, something vile, something pseudoscientific. It was the fetid stench of quackery, but not just any quackery. It was anti-vaccine quackery, and the blog was Arianna Huffington's Huffington Post, where a...
Homeopathy vs. science?
Mar 9, 2010 12:00pm
I have a hard time arguing against the proposition that this is the perfect metaphor for homeopathy. Well, not exactly. The homeopath and homeopathy user are both far too rational in this example. Read the comments on this post......
Taking a vaccine injury case to the Supreme Court
Mar 9, 2010 12:00am
I haven't written much about this before, at least not in this context, but vaccine scares are nothing new, nor is execrably fear mongering journalism about vaccines. Those of you who read Paul Offit's Autism's False Prophets or Arthur Allen's Vaccine probably know about a particularly egregious example of both...
"Big supplement" lashes out, and John McCain caves in
Mar 8, 2010 5:00am
If there's one law that (most) supporters of science-based medicine detest and would love to see repealed, it's the Dietary Supplement and Health Act of 1994 (DSHEA). The reason is that this law, arguably more than almost anything else, allowed for the proliferation of supplements and claims made for these...
Uh-oh. Randi's million dollars may be in jeopardy...
Mar 6, 2010 7:30am
...because of the power of the vagina. I have a hard time arguing that the hypothesis behind this trial would not be falsified by this test. On the other hand, the link above dates back to 2006. So it would appear that either Jennifer never took the test, or she failed...
Time for a refreshing facial of...bird poo?
Mar 5, 2010 12:00pm
Feeling stressed? Run down? Is your face not as chipper and toned as it might be? Of course you are. We all are from time to time, particularly as we journey into middle age and beyond. So what better than a bit of pampering at the spa? There's nothing like...
Suing DAN! practitioners for malpractice: It's about time
Mar 5, 2010 12:00am
Now that's what I'm talking about! This is what we need to see more of! A father whose child underwent the quackery that is the Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!) protocol is suing the doctors who administered it for malpractice: The father of a 7-year-old Chicago boy who was diagnosed as a...
Claim your "Top 100 Blogs" award now!
Top 100 Blogs Size: 125x125 px. Copy and paste the following code to your blog or website.