Michele Bachmann has been catching flak for comments she made about vaccines this week, comments which put her into the same qualified-to-lead-America camp as Jenny McCarthy. Monday night, Bachmann went after Rick Perry for an executive order he signed in 2007 mandating that girls entering sixth grade be vaccinated against cervical cancer. Specifically, the vaccine […]
I became familiar with Michael Shermer‘s work through his presentations at the James Randi Educational Foundation‘s annual Amazing Meeting, where Michael is almost always the first speaker. In addition to publishing Skeptic magazine, he has written several books, including “Why People Believe Weird Things” and “Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design.” I invited […]
Neil Monday was on a flight out of Orlando on Thursday when he looked out the window and saw the departure of another flight — the Space Shuttle Discovery beginning its final mission, the 133rd time a shuttle has lifted off from Earth — so he pointed his camera out the window…
Two weeks ago, I spoke to the St. Louis Skeptical Society at one of their monthly Skeptics In The Pub get-togethers. The topic was Skepticism In The Media (Or The Lack Thereof), and one of the items I touched on was the access given by Oprah Winfrey and others to anti-vaxxer Jenny McCarthy, who has […]
I’ve written often about the anti-vaccination crowd who believe that vaccines cause autism. Despite being disproven again and again, these unscientific naysayers continue spreading their dangerous lies. On last week’s episode of their Showtime series “Bullsh*t,” Penn & Teller took them on to show brilliantly the risks of not vaccinating your child. Here’s the way […]
Here’s the Phil Plait piece I referred to on KTRS/St. Louis today about whooping cough — a disease easily preventable through vaccination — which has made a comeback in California to the point where that state’s board of health just classified it as an “epidemic.” Some of the blame for this has to be laid […]