JISHOU, HUNAN — The Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, is NOT a science museum. It is a tool to publicize a narrow religious view of the world and our place in it.

Thus, I found this comment by a Kentucky State Department of Education official particularly disturbing. [From the Louisville Courier-Journal]

Kentucky Department of Education spokeswoman Lisa Gross said nothing in state law would bar public schools from visiting, if it were part of “a lesson” on “how some perceived the world’s beginnings.”

Kentucky does not require the teaching of evolution or creationism (or even science at all) in private schools. And public-school science teachers aren’t prohibited from mentioning creationism, but lessons often include concepts behind evolution, Gross said.

Maybe Ms. Gross was tiptoeing around the religious bias of Kentucky’s bureaucrats, legislators and population. Maybe she has never been to the Creation Museum. Maybe she is just plain stupid. Whatever the case, there should be no reason to bring any public school group to the museum, unless that purpose is to indoctrinate the students in an overtly religious world view.

If a high school teacher, having done a LOT of preparation, intended to use the museum as an example of propaganda or dogmatic religious instruction, then perhaps such a field trip would be worthwhile. I am just not sure how many teachers have the time and inclination to undertake such a lesson, though.

June 19th, 2009 | Tags: creation museum, creationism, Ken Ham, kentucky, seven c's, YEC | Category: Commentary, Schools, Science, Skepticism, evolution, religion | Comments (3)

JISHOU, HUNAN — I’ve been meaning to blog about the anti-vaccination movement, but haven’t had the time to develop a thorough entry. Now I don’t have to; someone with much better creds has done it for me.

Here’s the link: eSkeptic magazine. The author is Harriet Hall, MD, who dispassionately debunks the Holy Trinity of the anti-vax movement: Andrew Wakefield, thimerosal and the Jenny McCarthy/Jim Carrey road show.

About 10 years ago, Wakefield, a British doctor, published journal articles and argued publicly that the MMR (measle, mumps, rubella) vaccination caused autism. The data in the articles was fraudulent, and his conclusions lies, but that hasn’t stopped the anti-vax crowd’s referring to his work as “proof” vaccinations cause autism. Nor has the revelation that Wakefield was in the pocket of lawyers trying to sue vaccine manufacturers for causing their clients’ children’s autism.

In fact, Brits not getting the MMR vaccination for their kids — undoubtedly due to Wakefield’s self-serving anti-MMR publicity — has created a resurgence in measles cases in the UK.

Thimerosal is a benign mercury compound that used to be in vaccines in tiny amounts as a preservative. After the mercury-causes-autism scares of the 1990s, mercury compounds were removed from vaccines. Autism rates, instead of falling, rose. Anti-vaccination spokesmouths still claim vaccines cause autism, but now allege other ingredients are the culprit.

June 4th, 2009 | Tags: andrew wakefield, anti-vaccination, autism, jenny mccarthy, jim carrey, Skepticism, thimerosal | Category: Commentary, Media, Science, Skepticism | Comments (2)

JISHOU, HUNAN — Dr. Isis at Scienceblogs.com has published a few more letters from women scientists, as part of her “Letters to Our Daughters Project.”

The daughters are not necessarily the scientists’ biological daughters, by the way. Isis wants young female scientists-in-training to stay the course, get their degrees and begin science careers. As a former high school science teacher, I’m blogging about these letters because they contain sound advice for teenaged science students, too. Girls can be scientists, without giving up romance, motherhood, or … shopping.

The third letter in the series is by Wendee Holtcamp, a free-lance science journalist who blogs at Animal Planet and has written for Scientific American and other big time publications. She reminisces about the doubts of others around her whether she could or should pursue a doctoral degree.

It seems that the higher I climb up the totem pole of success, the more resistance I encounter. Whatever happened to those feel-good messages from kindergarten: You can be anything you want to be! Girls can do anything boys can! Go make your dreams come true!

What I’m discovering as I journey toward my doctorate is that while women may cheer our abundant opportunities in the 21st century, equal opportunity does not always mean equal treatment. The little voices of doubt rattle around at the back of my mind.

Dr. Janet Stemwedel (aka Dr. Free-Ride), who also blogs at Scienceblogs.com, holds two doctoral degrees in chemistry and philosophy. She is an associate professor of philosophy at San Jose State University. Not surprisingly, her letter is more, well, philosophical.

May 29th, 2009 | Tags: Dr. Isis, female, letters to our daughters, math, Science, scienceblogs, scientists, women | Category: Astronomy, China, Commentary, Science, Teaching | Leave a comment

JISHOU, HUNAN — Medical fugitives Colleen Hauser and her son, Daniel, 13, have returned home to Minnesota after a week on the run.

Daniel, who has stage 2B Hodgkin’s lymphoma, was evaluated at a hospital in the Twin Cities, according to The Associated Press. Although he can stay at home for now, he is in protective custody of Brown County. A sheriff’s deputy is posted near the family’s home in Sleepy Eye.

In a weird sidebar to this drama, while they were on the run, the Hausers connected with a video production outfit called Asgaard Media. A video interview of Daniel and Colleen was later sent to the Brown County Sheriff’s office.

On a video released by the sheriff’s department, Colleen Hauser described how the first chemotherapy treatment Daniel received made him sick and she said he planned to run away from home.

“Then what do I have? I mean, he was going to run,” Hauser said. “And that just broke my heart. I can’t have one of my children running away from something that they should face.”

Hauser expresses optimism that her son can beat cancer, but the video doesn’t disclose where they were or when it was made. The video was produced by Asgaard Media, which also arranged the charter flight for the mother and son to return home.

At one point on the video, an unseen woman asks Daniel what he’d say to people who claim he’s not old enough to decide whether he needs chemotherapy. “I’d tell them to back off,” he replies.

May 26th, 2009 | Tags: asgaard media, colleen hauser, Daniel Hauser, Hodgkin's lymphoma, jennifer keller, Nemenhah, Susan Daya Hamwi | Category: Civil liberties, Commentary, Science, Skepticism, religion | Leave a comment

Cancer patient Daniel Hauser, 13, and his mother, Colleen, are still eluding law enforcement officials, but their lawyer, Susan Daya Hamwi (right), says she is not with them.


Hamwi was last seen with the Hausers in Brown County, Minnesota, on Monday. Like the Hausers, Hamwi, a California-based lawyer, is a member of the alt-med, pseudo-Native American Nemenhah Band “religious” group.

The Hausers were spotted in the Los Angeles area earlier this week. Hamwi told The Associated Press she was at home and not with the medical fugitives, whom authorities believe intend to enter Mexico.

The Hausers say their religion opposes chemotherapy and radiation treatments for Daniel, who has stage 2B Hodgkin’s lymphoma. They believe the Nemenhah Band‘s herbal therapies will cure Daniel. Medical doctors, however, say that without conventional treatments Daniel’s lymphoma will ultimately kill him.

After a lengthy court proceeding last week, a Brown County judge ruled that the Hausers had to agree to conventional cancer treatments, or Daniel would be placed in foster care and compelled to undergo standard medical procedures.

Colleen and Daniel Hauser, accompanied by Hamwi, made a court-mandated visit to a clinic Monday. After an X-ray showed a growing tumor in Daniel’s chest, the three quickly left, saying they had “other places to go.”

The court had required Daniel see an oncologist immediately if the chest X-ray revealed further progress of his lymphoma.

May 22nd, 2009 | Tags: Cloudpiler, colleen hauser, Daniel Hauser, Ea-lea Powitz Peopeo, Hodgkin's lymphoma, Mentinah, Nemenhah, Phillip Landis, Susan Daya Hamwi | Category: Civil liberties, Commentary, Science, religion | Comments (2)

[Updated 11 am May 21 China Time]

JISHOU, HUNAN — Alternative medicine believer Colleen Hauser has taken her son, Daniel, 13, and may be heading to Mexico, according to news reports.

Mrs. Hauser and Daniel were spotted in southern California, and perhaps will try to enter Mexico to get Daniel treatment for his stage 2B Hodgkin’s lymphoma. They were reportedly accompanied by a third person, either their lawyer or another young lymphoma patient, who beat cancer through alt-med means. perhaps their lawyer.

A Brown County, Minn., judge had last week ordered Daniel’s parents to get conventional medical treatment for Daniel, despite their unwillingness to do so. Colleen and Daniel Hauser visited a clinic to get Daniel’s chest X-rayed Monday morning; with them was their attorney, Susan Daya Hamwi.

Hamwi and the Hausers are all subscribe to the Nemenhah Band, an alt-med pseudo-Native American “religious” group. The Hausers are white and self-described Roman Catholics.

The clinic told the three that Daniel’s tumor had gotten larger, and that he needed to visit an oncologist right away. Instead, they left, saying they had “other places to go,” missing a court appearance that afternoon.

The judge has issued a warrant for Colleen’s Hauser’s arrest and ruled that Daniel be placed in a foster home and get immediate treatment for his lymphoma. Border police and the FBI have been alerted to the Hausers’ likely intentions.

May 19th, 2009 | Tags: colleen hauser, Daniel Hauser, flee, lymphoma, Nemenhah, warrant | Category: Civil liberties, General stuff, Media, Science, Skepticism, religion | Leave a comment