World religions together in peace, love and unity.....against the gayers

Compare and contrast three of the major world religions' representatives' points of view (ignoring the bits about loving your neighbour etc):

Jewish:
Israeli MP blames quakes on gays

Christian
Floods are judgements on society, says bishops

Muslim
Muslim Alliance derails UN gay rights resolution

And another for good measure.
Gay Nigerians facing Sharia death

Well, that's lovely.

In actual fact, what prompted me to note this similarity (hardly 'man-bites-dog', I'll admit, but still galling all the same) was in fact this article that came out during the week:


Row about Ahmadinejad Imam Beliefs

Iran's former nuclear negotiator, a cleric, has said that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government is encouraging superstitious practices.

The remarks have intensified the debate over the return of the Shia saviour, the 12th Imam known as the Mehdi.

Since Mr Ahmadinejad came to power he has repeatedly spoken of the need to plan for the Mehdi's imminent return.

(my bold)

Now when a cleric in a hard line religious country berates you because you are "encouraging superstition" something is seriously out of kilter.

The idea of someone disappearing thousands of years ago but who may come back to save the world from injustice at a time of his choosing was just tooooo much for the cleric to take in - I mean, who would believe that?

If it quacks at the duck......

Hoorah! Black is back.

Find out the whole story of Obi, Netcetera (losers) and Positive Internet, with regards to the one duck's quack attack:


http://www.quackometer.net/

Believe what you like just don't expect everyone else to

Mohammed (Not the Teddy bear) Al Fayed is quite a character. There is still something slightly charming and pleasantly eccentric about his absolute inability to comprehend that accidents happen and that outwith his lawyers, and possibly a few Daily Express readers, no-one in the Universe seriously thinks that Diana (The People's Princess and serial affairer) Princess of Wales was murdered in a plot that included MI5, MI6, The French Secret Police, Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles, Tony Blair and a few others.

According to the BBC, Mohammed (Not the Teddy Bear) Al Fayed alleges that "The murder was carried out at the behest of the security services by photographer James Andanson, who has since died, by using a strobe light to blind Mr Paul". Maybe a strobe attached to his camera. Or a flash.

And this is where it gets really silly:

"Journalists working for the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday, The Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph - acting on the instructions of MI6 - have all been engaged in a campaign to destabilise Mr Al Fayed's businesses as a punishment for speaking out against the conspiracy"

As a journalist, where do you think the big story is? Trying to destabilise Mohammed (not the teddy bear) Al Fayed's business or exposing the whole of the UK system of justice an government is based on a huge conspiracy?

And of course, this is always the rub with Conspiracy Theories. When you sit down and look at just how many people have to keep shtum to ensure the charade continues, it really becomes nonsense. At a quick count I reckon about 100 people (according to Mohammed (NTTB) Al Fayed's craziness) need to be in on it. Most of them earning a mediocre wage.

And so it is with many forms of belief. Take for instance the Complimentary & Alternative 'medicine' lobby, many of whom believe in the huge worldwide big Pharmaceutical conspiracy to keep us all sick so they can make drugs that don't work and keep charging us lots of money and make lots of money for themselves.

For me, when someone comes up with this argument, I tend not to bother retorting. There is no point. It's like the BBC Radio 4 'PM' correspondent asking M(NTTB) Al Fayed about his 'evidence' - to which his reply was to call him an idiot and say he worked for MI6. It's not a debate.

You may or may not have had the interesting (yet deeply disturbing) opportunity to look at the www.whale.to site. I refuse to link to it because I would be defiling all that is good and proper. This site is a conglomeration of the most bonkers, outrageous, banana-headed loopy juice conspiracy drivel that could ever be imagined, all in one place.

Who on earth could believe such a load of imagined distortions? It's irrelevant isn't it? Well....... Have a look then at the JABS website. www.jabs.org.uk

This is a site for people who believe their children have been affected by vaccine damage. Not for me to say whether they have or haven't, but you can imagine where the 'site' lies on the idea of MMR causing Autism. A story which has become so debunked (try here, here, here for just a few) by the world and their respective partners, that it's a bit irrelevant.

Not so for JABS, it's all part of the conspiracy. Someone comes on saying that their child had some difficulties after receiving the MMR. Here is the sage advice given:

I would stop the anti biotics as this wipes out his /her immune system.

Then give him/her half teaspoon VIT A cod liver oil per day a good natural one not a synthetic man made excuse .Also ask for pro-biotics as this replaces the bacteria the anti-biotics have just wiped out (they do have them)and are given as routine in America when anti-biotics are used.

Get a clinically trained homeopath to give him a remedy there is one I have heard that is good at fighting the vaccine in the early stages.

Also any wireless devices baby monitors etc..mobiles radios switch them of or keep them at least 20 feet away from the child as the wireless waves stop detoxification.

Wonderful. Perfectly good, safe, reasoned advice. How could anyone object with that? I know, I know, a few came on after and suggested that perhaps this was not a suitable course of action, but the same the person who wrote the above, also likes to link to articles on whale.to.

Surely these are a small group of loons sidelined to a weary existence outwith the bounds of normal society?

Well, not according the BBC (who surely need to be in the conspiracy?) - have a look here from FEB 2008:

MMR does not trigger reaction

But what's this? On the right hand side, under Related Internet Links, just below NHS link on MMR facts, we have the JABS link on MMR fiction!

So in a few easy clicks, we can get from BBC, to JABS to Whale.to and find yourself in another planet.

I reckon Mohammed (not the Teddy Bear) Al Fayed would feel at home there.

EDIT (30/05/08) - In passing, with reference to Whale.to, Scopie's law has evolved from BadScience.

Netcetera condemn themselves as pathetic caitiffs

As a psychic, I can read your mind. You are asking "What in the name of The Holy Quackometer is a 'caitiff'?"

Well, if truth be told, I hadn't come across the word before either, but it means 'cowardly and despicable'. Lilly livered. Shit-yer-pants yellow belly. Still, everyday is a school day.

As blogged humbly on this site here and here, Netcetera who used to host the excellent Quackometer site have pulled the plug on their nethosting responsibilities due to WonderQuack Joseph Chikelue Obi's off-the-wall attempt to stop it from revealing some of the more 'interesting' sides of his 'enterprise'.

I have no doubt that The Quackometer will be back up and running in a few days, so no real drama to report, but Netcetera, to you I award Dr* T's first ever award for Spineless Caitiffery.

At least one of those words is possibly made-up.

Others who are also laughing at Netcetera are:

Gimpy's Blog
SHPalman
JDC
Science in Progress
Apathy Sketchpad
Holford Watch
Letting Off Steam
Hawk/Handsaw

Let me tell your fortune, just for fun - (€180/hr please)

Last weekend, while out with friends, this humble blog was both commended and chided by a friend of mine. I can take criticism - I know sCAM/Homeopathy features regularly, but that's because (as happens often) it's the vulnerable who get scammed the worst (like the AIDS sufferers receiving homeopathy rather than AZTs) and yet a lot of people still see it as 'a harmless alternative'.

Mrs Dr*T was unable to give an opinion, reminding me of (worringly!) Wellington Grey's excellent cartoon, "When Geek relationships get old".

Still, as my friend makes up a double digit percentage of the readership, I should oblige.

Anyway, I find myself in Ireland on business and being Irish, am reminded at the funny dichotomy (or perhaps not) that exists with Ireland being a *very* Catholic country and yet also being *very* superstitious (as Doreen Marron would be quick to tell you - there's something about the eyes).

Which brings me to today's Irish Independent, in which there is an interesting story regarding phone Psychics:

Premium-rate psychics vow to fight €60 call cap

RegTel (the Irish Phone regulator) has released a draft code of practice which will do number of things - 2 important ones, as I see it:

1. Limit the maximum cost of call to €60 (currently €90), with a warning given when €30 is reached (Approx 12 minutes).
2. Clearly state that they are for 'entertainment purposes' only.

That works out at an astronomical €180 per hour! Without being crude, I can think of many forms of 'entertainment' which (I'm told) cost a lot less.

Obviously, Ireland's major premium rate psychic phoneline operator (Irish Psychics Live) will fight against it. How are they supposed to give practical, sensible, life-predicting advice in 24 minutes? (NHS Doctors get about 8 mins, just for comparison). Obviously, it's the people's needs they worry for, not the profits. (Which just for completeness, were €2.6 million on a turnover of €5.6 million for 2006, with some individual bills reaching over €2,500 - just for entertainment, you understand. The population of Ireland is 4.2 million).

Honest people - helping people. And taking their money. And not helping them. Turning vulnerable people into vulnerable, poor people, with no benefit to show for it (but just for their entertainment).

In a 'strange-but-true-thankfully-it-kind-of-came-good-in-the-end'-type story, the New York Post ran a story about the jailing of Psychic reader Tammy Mitchell, who managed to persuade a high-flying city banker that he had "evil in his life", and got him to cough up about $500,000 to sort it.

As the Irish would say, she saw him coming.

The penultimate paragraph is excellently understated:

Mitchell has been busted at least four other times for allegedly swindling people from New Jersey to Florida.

With all this money to be swindled off naive psychic believers, it's no wonder that few have taken up James Randi's $1 million Paranormal Challenge.

Certainly in Ireland, you can make a lot more from legally scamming people, without the rigmarole of "truth" and "proof" to worry about.