A decade ago, controversy erupted after it was revealed that a creationist book was being sold in six bookstores at the Grand Canyon National Park. It was a biblical explanation of the Grand Canyon. As Cornelia Dean reported in the New York Times, the book says God created the heavens and the earth in six…Continue Reading…
The Nation has published an excellent article on the U.S. government’s vendetta against James Risen, a New York Times investigative journalist. The campaign is part of a larger effort by the Obama Administrations to punish government whistleblowers and “intimidate other investigative reporters,” as Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg told The Nation. This week Risen gave a talk at…Continue Reading…
When I was interviewing Robert Kennedy Jr. for my recent Washington Post magazine profile, there was one charge leveled against him that he deeply resented. “I am not anti-science,” he insisted on numerous occasions, and my suggestion a year ago that he was anti-science perturbed him more than anything. After all, Kennedy, like many greens, embraces…Continue Reading…
In 2002, the global GMO discourse chagrined anthropologist Glenn Davis Stone: Western audiences have been bombarded with deceptive rhetoric, spin, and soundbite science portraying the wonders—or horrors—of the new technology. He blamed both the biotech industry and anti-GMO activists for exploiting food security concerns to advance their own agendas. The article, published in the journal Current Anthropology,…Continue Reading…
Several weeks ago, the Union of Concerned Scientists posted a hard-hitting rebuttal to a famous environmentalist, someone who is normally an ally. Here’s a taste: A new and misnamed book co-authored by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak, is filled with exactly the kinds of misrepresentations of facts and slippery slope distortions of…Continue Reading…
UPDATE: On the same day (August 20) that Kennedy taped a segment on the Dr. Oz show, he was interviewed on Good Day New York (a Fox affiliate), and the Leonard Lopate radio show. Lopate was very skeptical of Kennedy’s claims and challenged him with good questions. *** I was at the Baltimore aquarium with my…Continue Reading…
It’s not easy writing about Vandana Shiva. The Indian environmentalist is adored in green and progressive circles. Her exalted status has apparently disinclined many of my colleagues in the media from taking a closer look at what she stands for and what she often says on the global lecture circuit and to admiring journalists. Michael Specter…Continue Reading…
If I was 20 years younger and participated in a certain body art trend, I might have a tattoo inscribed on my forearm that said something like this: Confirmation bias MT @jayphilips: “The assumptions you start with dictate the conclusions you arrive at.” @james_christie #CAST2014 — Josh Meier (@moshjeier) August 12, 2014 As the Skeptics…Continue Reading…
Earlier this year, two writers at Mother Jones noted: It’s easy to find bad information about the safety of vaccines on the internet. True, that. It’s also easy to find bad information about the safety of GMOs on the internet. What puzzles me is why liberal outlets recognize “bad information” about vaccines but not GMOs. (Grist is now a…Continue Reading…
A liberal publication (which I like and read) has a message for vaccine-hesitant parents. Vaccinate your kids, you ignorant whack jobs http://t.co/ngmTIZWAxp pic.twitter.com/TiBXz99Vxi — Mother Jones (@MotherJones) August 6, 2014 Alas, this is an incredibly ignorant and counterproductive thing to say. Whoever is running MoJo’s social media operation needs to get familiar with the latest…Continue Reading…