Environmentalist junk science kills

Daily Pundit comments on a New York Sun article on the DDT panic that’s lead to millions of perfectly preventable malaria deaths. Here’s the part that he quotes: [Pseudo]-science can be fatal. It’s estimated that since the ban of the insecticide DDT, more than 50 million people have died of malaria. A young aspiring journalist … Continue reading “Environmentalist junk science kills”

Daily Pundit comments on a New York Sun article on the DDT panic that’s lead to millions of perfectly preventable malaria deaths. Here’s the part that he quotes:

[Pseudo]-science can be fatal. It’s estimated that since the ban of the insecticide DDT, more than 50 million people have died of malaria. A young aspiring journalist from the Bulls Head section of Staten Island is one of the latest victims. Akilah Amapindi, 23, contracted the disease while working as a radio intern in southern Africa.

… DDT was not a carcinogen. It did not harm humans. Indeed, it could be ingested. It was one of the most effective killers of disease-bearing mosquitoes.

Dr. Paul Müller, its inventor, was honored with the Nobel Prize in 1948.When it was introduced in Sri Lanka, cases of malaria dropped from 3 million in 1946 to just 29 in 1964. Five years after the DDT ban, the death rate had climbed back to more than a half-million a year.

I was still a teenager when “Silent Spring”was published,and all I knew at the time was that it was about bugs, so my interest level was nonexistent. But Rachel Carson has been lauded over the years as the matriarch of today’s militant environment movement.What is interesting to note is that many legitimate scientists have always condemned her book as a tissue of cleverly told lies designed to exclude any argument that challenged Carson’s conclusions.

J.Gordon Edwards was a professor of entomology at San Jose State University who testified in defense of DDT at hearings before the ban. He wrote an editorial in 1992 for 21st Century Science and Technology Magazine that was called “The Lies of Rachel Carson.” In it he pinpointed all of Carson’s deliberate obfuscations and faulty research, from the very beginning of “Silent Spring” to its end.

… Perhaps the best explanation for why junk scientists have so much success in promoting their hokum theories is that there are so many “intellectual morons” in the world of academia. An author, Daniel Flynn, in his latest nonfiction work, “Intellectual Morons — How Ideology Makes Smart People Fall for Stupid Ideas,” coined that term.

The malaria scandal is a great example of people who mean well doing bad things because they’re too swept-up in the feeling of righteousness.

UPDATE: Commenters point out that Rachel Carson has arguably killed more people than Stalin. See the DDT FAQ here and this comment:

Communism did kill, Courtois and his fellow historians demonstrate, with ruthless efficiency: 25 million in Russia during the Bolshevik and Stalinist eras, perhaps 65 million in China under the eyes of Mao Zedong, 2 million in Cambodia, millions more Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America–an astonishingly high toll of victims. This freely expressed penchant for homicide, Courtois maintains, was no accident, but an integral trait of a philosophy, and a practical politics, that promised to erase class distinctions by erasing classes and the living humans that populated them.

Carson will soon catch up with Mao, the biggest mass killer of all time.

NARAL backs down

Michael Barone comments on the evil ad: NARAL-Pro-Choice America has pulled the scurrilous ad mentioned earlier on this blog. The Washington Times led with the story; the Washington Post put it on A3. This is a major victory for the Bush administration and a major defeat for the left-wing groups that exist to prevent confirmation … Continue reading “NARAL backs down”

Michael Barone comments on the evil ad:

NARAL-Pro-Choice America has pulled the scurrilous ad mentioned earlier on this blog. The Washington Times led with the story; the Washington Post put it on A3. This is a major victory for the Bush administration and a major defeat for the left-wing groups that exist to prevent confirmation of Bush judicial nominees. The Post contributes a fine editorial headlined “Abortion Smear,” and liberal columnist E. J. Dionne weighs in with a negative column on the ad.

Even so, one wonders whether the NARAL ad would have been shot down so soon without the blogosphere-speed postings of the Committee for Justice and the determination of Senate Republicans to see that Roberts and other Bush nominees are treated civilly. A key role was played by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, who wrote a letter to NARAL yesterday condemning the ad and demanding that it be taken down. Specter made the fair point that the ad hurts the pro-choice movement.

Is the blogosphere the remedy for the distortions and lies of extremist groups like NARAL? Not completely, but it helps.

Incidentally, Barone calls NARAL “harpies”. That’s an accurate characterization, but victim-identity groups are going to be upset.

Suppressing the Evidence

The 9/11 Commission’s attempt to suppress evidence about the Able Danger Program calls their credibility into question: Another day, another story seems to be the containment strategy for the defunct and now discredited 9/11 Commission. The AP reports that the Commission’s spokesperson, Al Felzenberg, now admits that the Commission knew full well that the secret … Continue reading “Suppressing the Evidence”

The 9/11 Commission’s attempt to suppress evidence about the Able Danger Program calls their credibility into question:

Another day, another story seems to be the containment strategy for the defunct and now discredited 9/11 Commission. The AP reports that the Commission’s spokesperson, Al Felzenberg, now admits that the Commission knew full well that the secret Army program Able Danger had identified Mohammed Atta as an al-Qaeda operative along with three other men in Brooklyn, but left it out of their final report:

This is a scandal, even bigger than the Air America scandal, and heads need to roll.

In related news, you can read Cindy Sheehan’s story in Michael Moore’s web site, where the exploitation of grieving families is the stock in trade. No, I’m not linking the scum.

Back on top

Excellent. The A’s are back in undisputed possession of first place after they beat the Rancho Cucamonga Angels of Orange. Baseball is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you hit the ball, and you catch the ball. Unless your name is Frankie Rodriguez, in which case you drop the ball and lose the … Continue reading “Back on top”

Excellent. The A’s are back in undisputed possession of first place after they beat the Rancho Cucamonga Angels of Orange.

Baseball is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you hit the ball, and you catch the ball. Unless your name is Frankie Rodriguez, in which case you drop the ball and lose the game in the bottom of the ninth on account of your deciding to throw a hissy fit over a bad call.

Felipe Alou claims a scalp

70-year-old San Francisco Giants manager Felipe Alou claimed Larry Krueger’s scalp today: On “Sportsphone 680” last Wednesday night, Krueger made reference to the Giants’ “brain-dead Caribbean hitters hacking at slop nightly.” That led to Krueger getting a suspension that was due to end this Monday. Giants manager Felipe Alou refused to accept an apology from … Continue reading “Felipe Alou claims a scalp”

70-year-old San Francisco Giants manager Felipe Alou claimed Larry Krueger’s scalp today:

On “Sportsphone 680” last Wednesday night, Krueger made reference to the Giants’ “brain-dead Caribbean hitters hacking at slop nightly.” That led to Krueger getting a suspension that was due to end this Monday.

Giants manager Felipe Alou refused to accept an apology from Krueger. Alou appeared on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” program Monday night and called Krueger “this messenger of Satan, as I call this guy now. … And I believe there is no forgiveness for Satan.”

On Tuesday morning, KNBR aired Alou’s sound bite from “Outside the Lines” and then parodied it with Satan references from the Comedy Central show “South Park.”

That apparently was the impetus for Rhein’s dismissal — and might have had something to do with the termination of Agnew, who had been with KNBR since 1989.

“The segment, featuring inappropriate comedy sound bites,” Salvadore wrote in the statement, “demonstrated an utter lack of regard for the sensitivity of the issues involved and a premeditated intent to ridicule Felipe Alou’s commentary.”

There’s a saying in baseball that players from the Dominican Republic (Alou’s home) don’t “walk off the island”, they have to hit their way into the major leagues. Krueger said nothing that hasn’t been said a million times before.

Alou wouldn’t let the issue die, probably because he was offended by the cream of wheat remark, and probably because the heavily Latin team that’s been assembled in Frisco since Alou’s been in town really, really sucks. Three years ago, the Giants made it to the World Series with David Bell, Jeff Kent, J. T. Snow and Rich Aurilia in the infield. Now they’re 48-63 with Omar Vizquel, Edgardo Alfonzo, Deivi Cruz, and Pedro Feliz.

It’s time for the Giants to fire Alou and rebuild the team with an eye toward winning, without regard for ethnicity, native language, or cereal preference.

Data mining works

The hot story of the day is this little gem about a military intelligence program using data-mining: WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 – More than a year before the Sept. 11 attacks, a small, highly classified military intelligence unit identified Mohammed Atta and three other future hijackers as likely members of a cell of Al Qaeda operating … Continue reading “Data mining works”

The hot story of the day is this little gem about a military intelligence program using data-mining:

WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 – More than a year before the Sept. 11 attacks, a small, highly classified military intelligence unit identified Mohammed Atta and three other future hijackers as likely members of a cell of Al Qaeda operating in the United States, according to a former defense intelligence official and a Republican member of Congress.

In the summer of 2000, the military team, known as Able Danger, prepared a chart that included visa photographs of the four men and recommended to the military’s Special Operations Command that the information be shared with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the congressman, Representative Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania, and the former intelligence official said Monday.

Privacy freaks say it’s a no-no, but they’re wrong. See Kaus and McGuire for more.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t

Moneybags took the opening game of the series last night owing to some shoddy pitching in the first two innings: First and foremost among the reasons for Oakland’s 9-2 loss was ace righty Rich Harden’s worst start of the year. He took the mound on time at about 7:05 p.m., but he didn’t really start … Continue reading “Sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t”

Moneybags took the opening game of the series last night owing to some shoddy pitching in the first two innings:

First and foremost among the reasons for Oakland’s 9-2 loss was ace righty Rich Harden’s worst start of the year. He took the mound on time at about 7:05 p.m., but he didn’t really start pitching until 7:30 or so.

Harden, who was 7-1 in his previous nine starts, gave up six earned runs on eight hits in the first two innings of a game that felt an awful lot like Mark Mulder’s implosion in the penultimate game of the 2004 season, complete with uncharacteristic defensive failings by a typically surehanded defense.

“It was one of those days,” Harden said, “where anything and everything that could go wrong, did.”

That’s OK, Zito goes tonight and he’s untouchable. The A’s were playing like they had playoff jitters last night, so it’s good to get that out of the system. While they’re a very talented team, they are a bit young and inexperienced. When you have four legitimate contenders for Rookie of the Year, stuff is gonna happen.

Bad Religion

Creationists aren’t really down with Jesus: Thomas Aquinas found the human likeness to God especially in man’s speculative intellect (Summa Theologica I-II:3:5, ad 1). Pius XII noted that while the human body may originate from pre-existing living matter, God individually creates the spiritual soul. The proper Christian view rejects not evolution per se, but theories … Continue reading “Bad Religion”

Creationists aren’t really down with Jesus:

Thomas Aquinas found the human likeness to God especially in man’s speculative intellect (Summa Theologica I-II:3:5, ad 1). Pius XII noted that while the human body may originate from pre-existing living matter, God individually creates the spiritual soul. The proper Christian view rejects not evolution per se, but theories of evolution that argue that the human spirit comes from matter, not God. (Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna recently reiterated this view in The New York Times, unfortunately using terms that could easily be co-opted by intelligent design advocates.)

Darwin addressed the origin of species, not the origin of the soul. The former is science. The latter is theology. The president was correct to observe that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought and that people should understand the debate. But there is no debate among scientists about evolution as an important unifying theory in biology. Discussion of varying views of the creator, or the “intelligent designer,” belongs in the humanities, not in sciences classes.

In “Creation Controversy & The Science Classroom,” published by the National Science Teachers Association, James W. Skehan, a Jesuit professor at Boston College who holds both a masters of divinity in theology as well as a doctoral degree in geology from Harvard, argues that religious people who believe God is the creator of the universe should find no conflict between science and religion, but those who misrepresent the Bible as a scientific presentation are destructive of sound religion. He suggests that science teachers who are likely to come into contact with the creation science mindset might be best equipped to respond if they learn about modern biblical scholarship, the limits of scientific knowledge and the role of religious faith.

Unless they get it together, they will all burn in hell.

Autism and the male condition

Autism isn’t necessarily something to do with vaccinations, you know. Simon Baron-Cohen sees connections with the male brain: One needs to be extremely careful in advancing a cause for autism, because this field is rife with theories that have collapsed under empirical scrutiny. Nonetheless, my hypothesis is that autism is the genetic result of “assortative … Continue reading “Autism and the male condition”

Autism isn’t necessarily something to do with vaccinations, you know. Simon Baron-Cohen sees connections with the male brain:

One needs to be extremely careful in advancing a cause for autism, because this field is rife with theories that have collapsed under empirical scrutiny. Nonetheless, my hypothesis is that autism is the genetic result of “assortative mating” between parents who are both strong systemizers. Assortative mating is the term we use when like is attracted to like, and there are four significant reasons to believe it is happening here.

FIRST, both mothers and fathers of children with autism complete the embedded figures test faster than men and women in the general population.

Second, both mothers and fathers of children with autism are more likely to have fathers who are talented systemizers (engineers, for example).

Third, when we look at brain activity with magnetic resonance imaging, males and females on average show different patterns while performing empathizing or systemizing tasks. But both mothers and fathers of children with autism show strong male patterns of brain activity.

Fourth, both mothers and fathers of children with autism score above average on a questionnaire that measures how many autistic traits an individual has. These results suggest a genetic cause of autism, with both parents contributing genes that ultimately relate to a similar kind of mind: one with an affinity for thinking systematically.

Read it all to see how Larry Summers fits into the story.