February 12-13, 2016::End of the day round-up (pg 2)

LGBT Students Have a Right to Know What Schools Discriminate Against Them

While it would take new legislation from Congress to narrow the kinds of carte blanche discrimination (e.g. denying campus housing to transgender students that is consistent with their gender identity) that Title IX’s religious exemption permits, the ACLU has urged the U.S. Department of Education to act where it can. As a bare minimum, LGBT students and their families should have a right to know about the kinds of taxpayer-funded discrimination they can be subjected to by their school.

Last week, the head of the Office for Civil Rights within the Department of Education — in response to a letter from several senators, led by Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) — stated that the department would provide greater transparency about requests for religious exemptions by publishing them online for the public to view for themselves. Up to this point, it has often taken FOIA requests and investigative journalism for this information to come to light.

FL anti-abortion hearing turns racist: ‘White culture’ dies if women are ‘outside the home not having babies’

A Florida state House subcommittee heard testimony on Monday that the “white culture” would be destroyed if white women were “outside the home not having babies” while other ethnicities had a higher birthrate.

During a House Criminal Justice Subcommittee meeting on Monday, lawmakers discussed HB 865, a bill that would ban all abortions except in cases where the health of the mother was at risk.

Republican Rep. Charles Van Zant, who sponsored the bill, argued that life began at conception, and that even zygotes were “citizens of Florida.”

While testifying about the bill, an anti-abortion activist named Paul injected race into the discussion.

“We see the destruction we’re bringing upon ourself as a nation,” Paul opined. “The Muslims, they don’t kill the babies.”

February 26 – Avijit Roy Day Honouring Murdered Atheist Writers in Bangladesh

Please come to this special event in Toronto on Feb. 26th:

February 26th, 2016, marks the passing of one year since the brutal extremist attacks that left Avijit Roy dead and his wife, Rafida Ahmed, seriously injured. CFIC members, friends, and supporters are encouraged to join us as we present the first Avijit Roy Day in honour of murdered atheist writers, publishers, and activists. CFI Canada is proud to work with Mukto Mona (Bangladeshi Freethinking) for this special event. 

Time: 7-9 PM

Venue: Albert Campbell Auditorium (Toronto Public Library)

Address: 496 Birchmount Road, Toronto, ON, M1K 1N8

Bradlee Dean: Gay People Have Never Once Been Victims Of Hate

“Those radicals need to be lawfully dealt with because they are radical, they mean to divide and conquer, they mean to make war against real Christianity.”

“I’ve yet to find a situation where a homosexual could actually verify the fact that they were the victim of someone actually hating on them,” he said. “I have yet to see it.”

Naturopath put breastfeeding mum on water only diet: court

From February to April last year Bodnar, 59, treated the mother, who came to her to help cure her newborn son of eczema.

She allegedly convinced the mother, who cannot be identified, that the only way to help the baby was to adopt a diet of raw vegetables, fruit and seeds.

The court heard the mother was "intimidated by the accused" and made to feel guilty for using steroid creams to treat the eczema "as it was best to use nothing to allow the skin to breathe".

Bodnar allegedly told the mother "Are you 100 per cent raw? You have to be 100 per cent raw if you want to see your son heal."

Police allege that when the baby developed a fever Bodnar told the mother to adopt a water only diet, telling her that her baby would not get better if she ate.

When the child was six months old his mother asked Bodnar if she could feed him vegetable puree but the naturopath allegedly advised her to put raw food in a net and let the infant suck it.

Bodnar is also accused of telling the mother to feed the child goat milk.

City Officials: Evansville property owner possibly blurs the line of free speech

"I personally had not received any complaints on that property, and after I went and looked at it, I was a little surprised that I hadn't."

According to the assessor's office, the property has been owned by Michael J. Williams for 10 years.

We knocked on his door twice today, but no one answered.

But plenty of surveillance camera systems equipped with microphones, were watching us.

" I personally wouldn't like it, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's illegal."

Building Commissioner Ron Beane says the city's legal team is examining this case closely.

Do these phrases violate city ordinances to property maintenance, or is this the owner's right to use his house as a canvas for social issues?

"I think it might be offensive to some people but I think it might be a freedom of speech. We're used to it, we've laughed about it and made comments about it," explains a woman who lives nearby.

You mustn’t ‘engage in sodomy with the sewage system of another’s anatomy’

Staunchly right-wing pundit Larry Tomczak recently unveiled a little challenge he presented to himself: The “30 Day Bullseye Challenge,” to be exact.

The project consists of producing 30 short, blippy videos that demonstrate the proper etiquette and desired worldview of a practicing Christian.

The series touches upon all the hot-button issues one might expect, particularly homosexuality, which Tomczak suggests leads to a lifetime of disease and abject misery should one venture down that shadowy left-hand path:

“With all the hoopla about this one and that one, hey, they’re coming out and it being a time to celebrate gay marriage and gay lifestyles as normal, natural, beautiful. People need to awaken … to the reality that this so-called love story doesn’t have a happy ending.”

Senator seeks protections for same-sex marriage objectors

A Georgia lawmaker says religious adoption agencies, schools and other nonprofits should be able to refuse service to same-sex couples; months after the U.S. Supreme Court effectively legalized gay marriage nationwide.
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Gay rights and civil rights organizations already have bashed the proposal, calling it anti-LGBT and broader than a federal version. Those groups warn Kirk’s bill would let religious nonprofits or organizations deny same-sex couples even if receiving taxpayer money.

Homeopathy conference ends in chaos after delegates take hallucinogenic drug - Health News - Health & Families - The Independent

So I have kind of watching and waiting to see if more information comes forth as to what might have occurred   Was this accidental,

An alternative medicine conference has ended in chaos in Germany after dozens of delegates took a LSD-like drug and started suffering from hallucinations.

Broadcaster NDR described the 29 men and women “staggering around, rolling in a meadow, talking gibberish and suffering severe cramps”.

The group of "Heilpraktikers" was discovered at the hotel where they held their conference in the town of Handeloh, south of Hamburg, on Friday.
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More than 150 medical staff, ambulances and police descended on the scene and took the raving delegates to hospital.

The patients, aged between 24 and 56, were found suffering from delusions, breathing problems, racing hearts and cramps, with some in a serious condition, Deutsche Welle reported.

Tests on their blood and urine revealed they had all taken hallucinogenic drug 2C-E, which is known as Aquarust in Germany and has been illegal there since the end of last year.

just plain stupidity, 

Some are wondering if they were doing a “proving” – a group test of a “remedy”. Provings with LSD have been done before. They are unscientific, subjective and worthless. But perhaps in this case, the dose was actually viable (unlike with the rest of homeopathy) and they were affected. Or, something else is going on. We’ll have to see. Updates are appreciated.

      

or shock of all shocks part of a vast conspiracy to kill off alt-med practitioners.  Something Hill alluded to and Kim LaCapria does a good job explaining why that idea is bunk:

On 7 September 2015, the unreliable alternative health web site Health Nut News published a blog post titled “US NEWS: 29 Holistic Doctors/ND’s Poisoned, Some suffering “life threatening conditions” at Conference (Criminal investigation Underway).” That blog post was authored by a person who previously claimed multiple unrelated doctors’ deaths in mid-2015 were part of a shadowy, as-of-yet unexplained conspiracy; her description of the incident in Germany framed those who fell ill as “doctors” and their ingestion of the drug as a definitive, deliberate poisoning (and the ensuing investigation as into what was ostensibly a criminal attempt to harm them),,,

So while it’s true 29 attendees at a holistic conference were sickened by the ingestion of a meth-based drug known as Aquarust, those attendees were likely not all “holistic doctors.” Moreover, the circumstances under which they ingested the substance remained unconfirmed; authorities believed it most likely victims were misled as to the nature of a substance before they ingested it. No credible reports offered anything in the way of evidence (or even suggestion) that the conference attendees were deliberately poisoned in an attempt to do them harm.

Homeopathy conference ends in chaos after delegates take hallucinogenic drug - Health News - Health & Families - The Independent

Popular intravenous therapy raises eyebrows | Ottawa Citizen

Seriously, what could possibly go wrong? 

“There is risk anytime you inject anything into the body so that is something I am very conscious of.”

Despite their wild popularity in recent years, there is no evidence to support IV infusions, say experts.

“There is no medical justification to infuse vitamins into a vein when you can more appropriately obtain those nutrients in your diet,” wrote Scott Gavura, a Toronto based pharmacist and blogger. [Links added]

Vadeboncoeur says IV therapy offers a “safe, rapid” way to replenish nutrient levels to compliment a healthy diet. She acknowledges, though, that there is “a paucity of evidence” that the therapies, which include large doses of vitamins, minerals and amino acids, work.

“Part of that is because it is a fairly new therapy,” she said, adding that there have been some reviews and there is ongoing research looking at IV vitamin C therapy. Gavura says even the research into vitamin C therapy, which has been more extensively studied than other vitamins and minerals, is “unimpressive.”
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“In my experience, when we add IV therapy to their treatment plan, they get better so much faster. That is why I use it, because I have seen the benefits firsthand.”

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Gavura, in a 2013 article that reviewed IV infusion therapies, said there are potential risks and no benefits. [Link added]
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But there is good evidence, he said, to show that patients who delay medically supported cancer treatments in order to receive vitamin infusions get dramatically worse.

Popular intravenous therapy raises eyebrows | Ottawa Citizen

Naturopath charged after baby boy 'near death' admitted to Sydney hospital

A Sydney naturopath will face court over the treatment plan she allegedly devised for a baby boy, who police say was malnourished and close to death when he was admitted to hospital.

The eight-month-old boy was suffering from eczema when his mother consulted the naturopath in April for advice about alternative health treatments for her son, police said.

Police will allege Marilyn Bodnar, 59, who is also a registered nurse and a midwife, advised the child's mother to stop all medical and dermatological treatments for the child.
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Child abuse squad detectives went to a property in Leppington, in Sydney's south-west, and arrested the self proclaimed naturopath about 7.30am on Thursday.

Ms Bodnar was taken to Narellan police station and charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm in principle in the second degree, and aiding, abetting or failing to provide for a child, causing danger of death.

The baby's mother is already before the courts on charges of recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, and failing to provide for a child, causing danger of death.


Naturopath charged after baby boy 'near death' admitted to Sydney hospital

NeuroLogica Blog » Naturopathic Delusions

I want the public to fully understand what naturopaths are, because I don’t think that they do. This is a situation common to many cults and pseudosciences – there is a superficial layer of reality that represents the public face of the group, largely crafted for marketing purposes, and then there is the deeper layer of utter nonsense that most people don’t see. Homeopathy is a great example. Unless you are a skeptic or true believer, chances are you think homeopathy is some form of herbalism, rather than the magic potions that it is.

Naturopathy is similar. The superficial marketing level presentation of naturopathy is that its practitioners are medically trained and emphasize nutrition, lifestyle, and natural remedies. I attended a lecture at Yale by a naturopath who summarized their training as, “Everything you get in medical school, plus nutrition.” (The first claim is patently wrong, and the second falsely assumes that medical training does not include nutrition.)
The marketing, however, is working. After a recent article about naturopathy we posted on our Facebook page we had this comment:

How can you stop believing whole food, herbs, sunshine, fresh air, good water, exercise and human touch (which are the foundation of naturopathic medicine) are worse for you than allopathic poisons?

Marketing propaganda successfully internalized.

This summary is an absolute fiction on multiple levels. First, there is no such thing as allopathic medicine. That is a derogatory term invented by Hahnemann (the inventor of homeopathy) to denigrate the medicine of his time (which no longer exists). Second, good nutrition and exercise are part of science-based medicine, not a recent invention by alternative gurus. Finally, this bunny rabbits and sunshine image of naturopathy is a fiction.

Naturopathy is pseudoscience from top to bottom. They may throw in some basic nutrition and lifestyle advice, hardly something you need a special practitioner for, but what makes up the core of naturopathy is pure nonsense. The whole “natural” vibe is just the candy coating.

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What is most scary about all of this, and why we have been focusing so much attention on naturopaths, is that they are aggressively seeking licensure in the states that do not already have it, and to expand the scope of their practice. What they want, and what they are increasingly getting, is the right to function as primary care doctors. This would be an utter disaster for health care.

Naturopathic training does not prepare them to be primary care physicians. Their profession is not science-based, does not have a science-based standard of care, and is largely a collection of pseudoscience and dangerous nonsense loosely held together by a vague “nature is always best” philosophy.


NeuroLogica Blog » Naturopathic Delusions

VacciShield: Pixie dust for an imaginary threat « Science-Based Medicine

,,,Instead I’d like to focus on another part of the sCAM spectrum. Here lies a form of sCAM that, in some ways, is even more difficult for me to comprehend. These are products invented, marketed, and sold solely for the treatment or prevention of fictitious diseases or problems that exist only in the realm of fantasy.

A mother-naturopath by the name of Catherine Clinton has identified a little known condition that has launched her career as a producer and seller of one of the newest health-maintaining elixirs. At $27.99 USD for 1.36 ounces, she’s probably doing all right. It’s not a condition, exactly, that her elixir is aimed at. It’s more of a, well, I guess you can call it a state of unsupported peri-vaccination health, or something. In her own words, VacciShield was designed to “fill a gap that we saw in the vaccination process”. To be a little more specific, ND Clinton explains on her company’s website:

I became concerned about vaccinating my son and wanted another option to support him during vaccinations. I looked to the research to see if there was something I could do nutritionally to support health during this vulnerable time. So we created VacciShield to fill a gap that we saw in the vaccination process. VacciShield is designed for infants and kids to help support healthy brain, immune, gastrointestinal and detoxification function during vaccination.

The gap in the vaccination process she refers to is clearly something she found missing from her child’s routine pediatric care. A gap she has identified that, if not filled, places children at risk. At risk from what is not made clear anywhere on the company’s website. But since VacciShield is intended to support healthy brain, immune, gastrointestinal, and detoxifying function, I’m assuming she believes these body systems are at some sort of risk from vaccinations. Actually, it’s pretty clear what she’s referring to by her albeit vague terminology. And the name VacciShield is certainly not ambiguous. It is meant to shield children from the potentially damaging effects of vaccines, while still presumably allowing the benefits of the vaccines to slip through.

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Based on the ingredients she has chosen to include in this product, and the references she cites in support of them, it seems that ND Clinton’s concerns about vaccinating her son are fueled by just about every vaccine myth out there, including Wakefield’s MMR-induced leaky gut-autism myth, the too-many too-soon gambit, the glutathione-deficiency vaccine-induced autism hypothesis, the thimerosal-induced neurotoxicity myth, the intestinal flora dysregulation and autism hypothesis, and probably others all thrown into the mix.


VacciShield: Pixie dust for an imaginary threat « Science-Based Medicine