Would You Vote For Someone Using A Dousing Rod?

 Two homeopathy stories to make a point, first, for the "it worked for me!" crowd:

Researchers at the Royal South Hants Hospital in Southampton, England, carried out a trial of homeopathy on 242 people with asthma triggered by house dust mite. They received either a homeopathic remedy based upon house dust mite or placebo for 16 weeks. 

After this time, there was no significant difference between the two groups in lung function or the quality of life. This study was larger than earlier ones, so we can probably have more faith in its outcome. If people with asthma want to use complementary therapies, it might be best not to opt for homeopathy.

 

 The second story is an example of how to get control of our politics. I've always been a "drain the swamp" kind of guy, thinking that if we'd discredited Oprah and NewAge sooner, there'd never have been an Obama presidency. People would've ridiculed her, and demanded to know what he was doing with a crackpot, instead. They wouldn't even have had to go after Oprah personally - just the nonsense (anti-vaccine, homeopathy, whatever) that she endorsed. It seems to work pretty well up in Canada:

Elizabeth May said in 2011 the inclusion of homeopathy in the Green Party’s health care policy was a mistake, but two years later the controversial “alternative medicine” is still part of official party doctrine. 

The Green Party leader was reminded of this fact Sunday when people on Twitter took her to task for the party’s continuing support for a thoroughly discredited medical treatment. 

...When Toronto-based writer Audra Williams brought up the Green Party’s support for homeopathy and other dubious alternative medicines, May denied it. The party’s 2011 “Vision Green” policy had listed homeopathy as an “error,” she said, but that same paper is still listed as the Green Party’s current policy document on greenparty.ca. 

What followed was a bizarre exchange in which the 2012 Parliamentarian of the Year seemed unwilling to accept that her party’s current policy, available online, is to “promote complimentary health care – through support of chiropractic, naturopathic, homeopathic, and other non-western practices.” It’s right there, on page 73.

 

 Of course it was bizarre - it involved homeopathy - and things will get less "bizarre" when it's gone,...  

Fine: Start With The Greens (It Was Their Idea)

"JONATHON PORRITT, one of Gordon Brown’s leading green advisers, is to warn that Britain must drastically reduce its population if it is to build a sustainable society."

-- Jonathan Leake and Brendan Montague, bringing us news of an idea that's already occurred to TMR, sort of, in The Times Online.

Wow: This Is Weird

The Green Party Is Really, Really Dumb,...

Nature's Natural Nit-wits Need News Now

"Green protesters still pose, somewhat embarrassingly, as radicals on the edge of society who are waging war against uncaring governments and corporations. In truth, they are better seen as the militant wing of the elite itself, as a kind of tambourine-bashing committee which reminds the authorities – sometimes through spectacular stunts – that they must remain true to their promise to curb CO2 emissions, rein in road-building and other forms of development, and re-educate the public about our bad habits of overconsumption. "

-- Brendan O’Neill, putting the boot to the Green Meanies, as the editor of Spiked!

Why Do NewAgers Pray To Mother Nature When She Keeps On Giving Birth To So Many Freaks?

"The Environment Minister Sammy Wilson has angered green campaigners by describing their view on climate change as a 'hysterical psuedo-religion'.

In an article in the News Letter, Mr Wilson said he believed it occurred naturally and was not man-made.

'Resources should be used to adapt to the consequences of climate change, rather than King Canute-style vainly trying to stop it,' said the minister.

Peter Doran of the Green Party said it was a 'deeply irresponsible message.'

Mr Wilson said he refused to 'blindly accept' the need to make significant changes to the economy to stop climate change.

'The tactic used by the 'green gang' is to label anyone who dares disagree with their view of climate change as some kind of nutcase who denies scientific fact,' he said."

-- The BBC

Hey Jude, Don't Make It Bad (Wait - Too Late)

"St. Jude is the patron saint of lost causes, and for 30 years we invoked his name as we opposed ethanol subsidies. So imagine our great, pleasant surprise to see that the world is suddenly awakening to the folly of subsidized biofuels.

All it took was a mere global "food crisis." Last week chief economist Joseph Glauber of the USDA, which has been among Big Ethanol's best friends in Washington, blamed biofuels for increasing prices on corn and soybeans. Mr. Glauber also predicted that corn prices will continue their historic rise because of demand from "expanding use for ethanol."

Even the environmental left, which pushed ethanol for decades as an alternative to gasoline, is coming clean. Lester Brown, one of the original eco-Apostles, wrote in the Washington Post that "it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that food-to-fuel mandates have failed." We knew for sure the tide had turned when Time magazine's recent cover story, "The Clean Energy Myth," described how turning crops into fuel increases both food prices and atmospheric CO2. No one captures elite green wisdom better than Time's Manhattan editors. Can Vanity Fair be far behind?

All we can say is, welcome aboard. Corn ethanol can now join the scare over silicone breast implants and the pesticide Alar as among the greatest scams of the age. But before we move on to the next green miracle cure, it's worth recounting how much damage this,...political machine is doing."

-- From the editors of the Wall Street Journal.

Hey, Are You O.K.? You're Turning Green,...

"[The Greens are playing] an important role [in Europe's death], one that will grow as the global-warming and anti-globalization cults increase in popularity. The neo-pagan nature-worship of the Greens opposes the foundations of Western civilization and the principles that have given freedom and prosperity to unprecedented numbers of ordinary people. If Green parties ever achieve enough political power to implement its policies, the Greens’ hatred of technology and capitalism, the proven engines of freedom and prosperity, will accelerate Europe’s demise."

From an interview with Bruce Thornton, author of Decline and Fall: Europe’s Slow-Motion Suicide, on the National Review Online (You ought to click and read this one, Kids: I've seen some of what he's discussing with my own eyes)