The New England SKeptical Society Podcast

The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe

Skepticast #30: February 15th 2006 (Download MP3)

Topics:

Issue #1. News Items

News Item 1 – Randi Hospitalized
Fellow skeptic, James Randi (http://www.randi.org/) is recovering following bypass surgery. He is reportedly doing well, but will likely be taking a break from his regular activities for a few months. News Item 2 – Setback for ID
http://www.nsta.org/educationnews/&category_ID=319
The Ohio Board of Education has voted to remove language critical of evolution from its science curriculum. Opponents of the language said the “critical analysis” of evolution in the state biology standards opened the door to the teaching of intelligent design and other concepts challenging Darwin’s theory and made the state vulnerable to litigation on constitutional grounds. A spokesman for the Discovery Institute, an organization that promotes intelligent design, described the board’s action as “a sad day for the students of Ohio.”

News Item 3 - Judge Tosses Out Case Over Jesus' Existence
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20060210112209990006&ncid=NWS00010000000001

Atheist Loses Bid to Take Priest to Court
ROME (Feb. 10) -- An Italian judge has dismissed an atheist's petition that a small-town priest should stand trial for asserting that Jesus Christ existed, both sides said on Friday.

Luigi Cascioli, a 72-year-old retired agronomist, had accused the Rev. Enrico Righi of violating two laws with the assertion, which he called a deceptive fable propagated by the Roman Catholic Church.

"The Rev. Righi is very satisfied and moved," Righi's attorney, Severo Bruno, said. "He is an old, small-town parish priest who never would have thought he'd be in the spotlight for something like this."

Cascioli, a former schoolmate of Righi's, said he had not expected the case to succeed in overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Italy.

"This is not surprising but it doesn't mean it all ends here," he said, adding that he's considering taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

"This is an important case and it deserves to go ahead," he said.

Judge Gaetano Mautone said in his decision that prosecutors should investigate Cascioli for possible slander.

The ruling was released Thursday in Viterbo, a town north of Rome where the priest is based. Cascioli filed a criminal complaint against Righi in 2002 after Righi wrote in a parish bulletin that Jesus existed, that he was born to a couple named Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem and that he lived in Nazareth.

Righi, 76, said substantial historical evidence proves Jesus' existence.

Cascioli claimed that Righi's assertions violated two Italian laws: one barring "abuse of popular belief," or fraudulently deceiving people; and another barring "impersonation" or personal gain from attributing a false name to someone.

Issue #2. Your E-mail and Questions

Email 1 - This e-mail is in response to a discussion in Episode #29 regarding a Philippine Daily Inquirer article about science and the paranormal:

Hello. I just finished listening to your Feb. 8 podcast. Been tuning in to your show for about two months now. In your latest podcast you featured an article from the Philippine Daily Inquirer. What can I say? When I found out that the author was none other than Jimmy himself I couldn't help but snicker. Licauco's an old timer in the woowoo department in this country. I dare say he's at the head of the pack, in the promotion of all sorts of bunk. Many, many years ago he taught the Silva Method (started by Jose Silva from, I believe, Laredo, Texas) here in the Philippines. He currently has a weekly radio show (in a station owned by the same company that owns the ANC Channel) that invites every kind of character out there from psychics to spiritualists to faith & pranic healers. I've read or heard him talk about ghosts, orbs, teleportation. As long as it isn't "mainstream," is on the fringe, is (allegedly) supernatural or paranormal, Jimmy will gladly feature it on his show or column.

My two cents on a hidden premiss of his:

"But what if we were dealing with nonphysical reality, for example ghosts, astral projection, paranormal phenomena, things clearly outside the scope of science?"

Unfortunately, Licauco is assuming that "nonphysical reality" exists. But apart from the discredited Targ et al. examples he doesn't give us any good substantiation that evinces its reality. Nor does he offer (since he says science won't do) means and methods by which we can reliably investigate and understand "nonphysical" phenomena, how claims for such can be verified and validated. I wouldn't at all be surprised if surveying all his articles and shows, we discover most of his so-called evidence is anecdotal.

As you mentioned Licauco seems to have missed the glaring contradiction in his article--on the one hand claiming that the nonphysical is outside the competence of science to investigate; on the other hand, throwing at the readers supposed scientific evidence for it.

And doesn't it just make you go into conniptions the way he kept using "prove," as if science is in the business of providing proofs?

All the best to your show and your society.

Edwardson

E-mail 2 – Dr. Norton Hadler and cholesterol skepticism
I've been downloading your podcasts for a few months now. I enjoyed the recent episode on that discussed HIV denial and it brought to mind another health issue that I've trying to get some informed opinions on.

Like many people I've been told by my doctor recently that my cholesterol is a bit high. No big surprize realy, it runs in the family. But then I read an article in Discover magasine (June 2005) about a Dr. Norton Hadler. In this article the Dr. made the point that in one large study lowering cholesterol basically has no effect on reducing the number of cardiovascular deaths. He believes that bypass surgery offers more risks than not having the surgery done at all. He stated that he ".. would be infuriated if any doctor checked [his] cholesterol without asking and told [him] if it were up or down. [He] thought it would be an abuse of science that offered him a chance of feeling less well for no good reason." This Dr. is apparently not considered a 'nut' and has had his book very positively reviewed in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Upon reading that article I started a little searching on the 'net and found little to back up his claims on the prominent health websites. The I came across a site dedicated to "the cholesterol myth" (http://www.ravnskov.nu/cholesterol.htm) which was run by like-minded doctors. There was even an International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics (http://www.thincs.org/).

So now I ask you the skeptics, what seems to be the consensus view amoung critial thinkers? Is there a "cholesterol myth"? Do you think it really could be pseudo-science endorsed by drug companies? Or is that the view of woo-woo conspiracy theorists? I think the topic is actually quite timely given the news of The Amizing Randi's recent bypass surgery (I wish him a speedy recovery). I wonder if Randi would be upset if he read that same Discover article now?

Regards,
Scott Palmer
Markham, ON
Canada

E-mail 3 – Is colon cleansing full of crap?
Hey, thanks for the shout out, and love what you guys are doing with the show recently, sound clips, running overtime, keeping Perry in line, etc.

Anyway, I have been running into a lot of people lately doing this "colon cleanse" thing and it ranges from a liquid diet all the way out to a diet strictly consisting of lemon juice, maple syrup and corn fritters. Or something like that.

Could you please clear up some rumors about the medical truth regarding colon cleansing??

Thanks, your faithful (only) fan in AZ
Michael Orticelli

Issue #3. Science or Fiction

Each week our host will come up with three science news items or facts, two genuine, one fictitious. He will challenge our panel of skeptics to sniff out the fake – and you can play along. Theme this week:

Item #1 – A recent study refutes the earlier claim of a difference in finger length between heterosexual and homosexual men.
Item #2 –3 month old infants prefer faces of people from their own race.
Item #3 – People in love have chemical changes in the brain that resemble certain types of mental illness

Answers
Item #1 – Fiction: http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20050614-000004.xml; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15971017&query_hl=18&itool=pubmed_docsum

Item #2 – Science: http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/060212_racefrm2.htm

Item #3 – Science: http://www.world-science.net/othernews/060120_lovefrm.htm

Issue #4. New UFO Coverup

Marshall blamed for UFO Coverup

http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/regional/s_422751.html

Sunday, February 12, 2006
Kecksburg, which was the location of something mysterious -- some would say something extraterrestrial -- 40 years ago, isn't Southwestern Pennsylvania' s only connection to unidentified flying objects.

Uniontown native Gen. George C. Marshall was chief of staff of the Army during World War II, secretary of defense and secretary of state in President Harry Truman's administration and the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of a Europe devastated by the war.

Some extraterrestrial experts believe that he was also part of a government coverup of alien visitors, although he couldn't be blamed for the handling of the purported Kecksburg landing since it happened six years after his death

Larry Bland, the editor of the Marshall papers at the George C. Marshall Foundation Library in Lexington, Va., said there has been a stream of UFOlogists visiting the library to authenticate Marshall's signature on various documents.

But Bland doesn't believe there's anything to a UFO coverup, and he said that Marshall's signature could have been added to the bottom of some documents with the aid of scissors and a copying machine.

Marshall does have a connection to outer space in NASA'a Marshall Space Flight Center at Huntsville, Ala. But Bland said the center was named after him because it was originally an Army facility and it was opened at about the time of his death, not because he had any particular interest in outer space.

There are a number of reminders of Marshall in Uniontown, including the George C. Marshall Highway bypass around the city, a park and a memorial plaza at Uniontown's Five Corners intersection at Main and Fayette streets and Mt. Vernon Avenue.

The latest likeness is a mural of the general draping the side of a city building and calling attention to Joe Hardy's Marshall Plan II for the revitalization of Uniontown.

Local statuary of Uniotown's favorite son includes a bust, a "monumental-scale" bronze of Marshall on horseback and another of him seated on a park bench across from the memorial plaza.

There are no plans as of now for a statue of Marshall looking into the sky for a flying saucer.