Monthly Archives: January 2012

Tonsils: To ectomy or not to ectomy?

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When my daughter was little, she had a series of ear and throat infections that were frequent enough that the pediatrician finally said “One more in the next two months and Imma recommend we consider taking out her tonsils” or words to that effect. Interestingly, Julia stopped getting the sore throats and ear infections just then. (Kids do stop getting the sore throats and ear infections eventually, and I guess it was time!) Had she continued to suffer these infections and the question of tonsillectomy come up, I’m sure I would have researched it and made a scientifically informed decision about what to do, in consultation with the pediatrician, who was in my opinion quite good.

But that didn’t happen, so it was with great interest that now, several years later, I find these blog posts about tonsillectomy:

Seth Roberts writes: Tonsillectomy Confidential: doctors ignore polio epidemics and high school biology in which he argues that tonsillectomies are overused and should be avoided, based on his reading of the evidence.

Maggie Koerth -Baker, an editor at Boing Boing (where Roberts’ post was published) writes: A doctor responds to Seth Roberts’ guest post about tonsillectomy in which she contextualizes Roberts’ post and points readers to …

Steve Novella’s Tonsillectomy Indications and Complications. Novella does not exactly come to the opposite conclusion from Roberts, but he points out some very important flaws in Roberts methodology of research and presentation, which should give pause to anyone basing a decision on Roberts’ essay.

This sequence of posts is a must read for anyone interested in Science Based Medicine, Skepticism, or my favorite subject, Skeptical Skepticism.

Court Refuses To Intervene In North Carolina Prayer Case

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Press Release from American’s United:

The U.S. Supreme Court today announced that it will not intervene in a controversy over sectarian prayer before meetings of the Forsyth County, N.C., Board of Commissioners.

The justices’ action leaves in place an appellate court decision barring the county from regularly opening its meetings with Christian invocations.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State, one of the groups sponsoring the lawsuit, said the high court was right not to intervene.

Said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director, “When government meetings are opened regularly with Christian prayer, it sends the unmistakable message that non-Christians are second-class citizens in their own community. That’s unconstitutional, and it’s just plain wrong.

“All Americans ought to feel welcome at governmental meetings,” he continued. “The Constitution clearly forbids government to play favorites when it comes to religion.”

The record in the Joyner v. Forsyth County case indicates that 26 of the 33 invocations given from May 29, 2007, until Dec. 15, 2008, contained at least one reference to Jesus, Jesus Christ, Christ, Savior or the Trinity.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Janet Joyner and Constance Lynn Blackmon, two county residents and members of the Winston-Salem Chapter of Americans United. They are being represented by Americans United and the ACLU of North Carolina.

On July 29, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the county’s prayer practice is unconstitutional.

“Faith is as deeply important as it is deeply personal,” wrote Judge J. Harvey Wilkinson, “and the government should not appear to suggest that some faiths have it wrong and others got it right.”

Americans United Legal Director Ayesha N. Khan said the appeals court came to the correct conclusion.

“America is extremely diverse when it comes to religious opinion and government must respect that diversity,” Khan said. “Government preference for one faith over others is a recipe for social discord.”

A word about South Carolina

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I’m going to be going to North Carolina in a matter of hours (well, tomorrow some time) where I’ll be heavily engaged in ScienceOnline 2012. I don’t want to plan how much writing I’ll be doing here or a Scienceblogs, because I’m not sure what I’ll be doing there. Since the main reason to go to this conference aside from attending the really cool sessions is to see friend, colleagues, and loved ones I otherwise rarely see, I can’t count on a lot of bloggy activity. So, it would be especially helpful for me if you’d allow me to say one or two things about South Carolina and then leave it until after the fact.

Romney is the current leader and polling numbers for South Carolina, the general primary process, and upcoming Florida all show the same thing. We also see that Gingrich is a consistent second and Santorum and Paul are fluctuating around third place, with Santorum being more commonly ahead of Paul. The gap between Romney and second place Gingrich is large, and the gap among the second placers and lower is small.

The most straight forward interpretation, then, is this: Romney will be running against Obama, but there are well funded and not insignificant others in a position to move in if Romney falters. Attacks such as the Bain Bane have not hurt Romney so far. In a way, that is good news, because I interpret this as people not seeing Gingrich, who has led those attacks, as particularly credible. The fact that this one time Gingrich is right is a bit disturbing, but we are dealing with Republicans, after all. And they make no sense.

In short, I see a horse race with Romney several lenghts ahead until the end, unless he stumbles and then, well, chaos. Romney does have the best numbers in one-on-one polling against Obama, compared to all the others.

OK, now I’m going to go check the weather in North Carolina, then go buy a shirt.

Scott Walker Recall Petition is Full

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720,000 signatures have been collected to recall Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Only 540,000 signatures were needed. The rest is, I suppose, a tip. Raw Story reports:

With Tuesday’s deadline fast approaching, The New York Times reports that Wisconsin’s activists are prepared to submit about 720,000 petition signatures, far surpassing the 540,000 needed to trigger a recall election later this year.

Before the election can proceed, the state’s election board will have to build a $100,000 database of registered voters and check each petition signature against the list. Assuming that more than 540,000 entries are valid, Walker will face the possibility of being only the third governor in U.S. history to be removed by recall election.

It will be interesting to see, if possible, how many petitions were faked. Remember a while back the Tea Party promised to do that? And if they did, it will be interesting to see if charges are filed.

Women in Elevators and Black Guys Sneaking Up Behind You

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As you may know, I wrote a post, Women in Elevators: A Man To Man Talk For The Menz, in which I wrote:

I am not afraid of dogs, and most women are probably not “afraid of men.”

Except I’m actually afraid of dogs and most women are justifiably afraid of men. If you get what I’m saying so far, go away and do something useful because this post is not written for you. If you are puzzled, especially about the idea of women being afraid of men at all, then sit down, shut up, and allow me to slap you across the chops a couple of times with a little reality because that is what you need. Assuming you are a sentient adult and still have no clue.

Several people got really really mad at me because of that post … I literally lost a few friends … and they got even madder when I pointed out that getting mad at me for that post increased in my mind the chance that you are likely to be abusive to women. Holy crap. Anyway, it all relates to the whole Schrödinger’s Rapist thing. (See this recent post at Camels with Hammers for more on that)

Anyway, one of the responses to that post (and other conversations going on at the time) was to point out that a man saying that he recognized that women could be justifiably nervous about running across an unknown male on a lonely street at night was equivalent to saying that all black people are criminals. Or something like that.

Well, my bloggy friend Ian Cromwell who it turns out is a big scary black guy has addressed that issue, skillfully and engagingly, in a post called “Shuffling feet: a black man’s view on Schroedinger’s Rapist.” Go have a look.

National Center for Science Education Announces Climate Change Initiative!!!!

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Here is a press release that will be distributed shortly:


NCSE TACKLES CLIMATE CHANGE DENIAL

A new initiative in the struggle for quality science education

OAKLAND, CA January 16, 2012

Science education is under attack–again.

This time it’s under attack by climate change deniers, who ignore a mountain of evidence gathered over the last fifty years that the planet is warming and that humans are largely responsible. These deniers attempt to sabotage science education with fringe ideas, pseudoscience, and outright lies.

But the National Center for Science Education won’t let ’em get away with it.

“We consider climate change a critical issue in our own mission to protect the integrity of science education,” says Dr. Eugenie C. Scott, NCSE’s executive director. Long a leader in the fight to defend the teaching of evolution in public schools, NCSE now sees creationist-like tactics being used in the attack on climate education.

“Climate affects everyone, and the decisions we make today will affect generations to come,” says Scott. “We need to teach kids now about the realities of global warming and climate change, so that they’re prepared to make informed, intelligent decisions in the future.”

In this expansion of its core mission, NCSE will help parents, teachers, policymakers, the media, and others to distinguish the real science from the junk science that deniers are trying to push into the science classroom.

“Polls show that Americans’ understanding of climate change is very shallow. One study found that only 54% of teens realize that global warming is happening,” says Mark McCaffrey, a climate and environmental education expert who has joined the NCSE as its new climate change programs and policy director. “Why? Because of a barrage of misinformation on climate change, coupled with a lack of accurate climate education. I’m excited to be part of NCSE’s efforts to help to reverse these disturbing trends.”

The scientific community is applauding NCSE’s new initiative. Said Alan I. Leshner, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS):

“AAAS has long admired the NCSE’s efforts to protect the integrity of science. We are delighted to see the Center expand its activities to ensure that climate science is appropriately taught in our nation’s schools.”

“We applaud the NCSE for its efforts to promote the teaching of climate change in our nation’s classrooms,” said Dr. Francis Eberle, executive director of the
National Science Teachers Association. “Teachers should not be subjected to ideological opposition to the teaching of climate change from parents, administrators, or members of the community.”

Added Scott Mandia, the meteorologist who cofounded the Climate Science Rapid Response Team:

“The cavalry has arrived. NCSE, with its passion and experience defending science in our schools, will ensure that teachers can educate students about climate change without fear of reprisal.”

Tackling climate change denial head on

In its initiative to defend climate change education, NCSE will:

* Help parents, teachers, and others fight the introduction of climate change/global warming denial and pseudoscience in the classroom.

* Act as a resource center to connect teachers, scientists, and policymakers with the best information available.

* Provide tools and support to ensure that climate change is properly and effectively taught in public schools.

* Aid those testifying before local and state boards of education, and before local, state, and federal legislative committees.

* Connect local activists with one another, and with scientists and other relevant experts.

New program, new faces

As part of this new initiative, the NCSE has added two key members to its team:

* Dr. Peter Gleick, president and co-founder of The Pacific Institute, joins NCSE’s board of directors. Gleick is a noted hydroclimatologist, an internationally recognized water expert, and a MacArthur Fellow. Gleick’s research and writing address the critical connections between water and human health, the hydrologic impacts of climate change, sustainable water use, privatization and globalization, and international conflicts over water resources.

* Mark McCaffrey, a long-time climate literacy expert, joins NCSE as climate change programs and policy director. Previously at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), McCaffrey helped spearhead a number of climate and energy literacy programs, and the creation of the Climate Literacy & Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN), and testified before Congress about climate and environmental education.

Climate Change Denialism Spreading in US Public Education Related Proposals

Climate Change, Uncategorized

It is no longer the case that science teachers and concerned parents only need to worry about creationists invading US classrooms, via personal intrusion (by parents, students, or creationist teachers) or by legislation or regulation. Increasingly climate change denialism is being shoved into science classes by the usual nefarious forces.

This is not really new. “Academic Freedom” bills in many states over the last decade or so were introduced to try to force college professors to shut up about climate change. In the college setting, I’ve had about the same level of resistance to global warming as to evolution, if not more. But as Neela Banerjee points out, we may be nearing a flash point in American science education:

Continue reading Climate Change Denialism Spreading in US Public Education Related Proposals →

Happy Martin Luther King Day

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Today is Martin Luther King day. To celebrated it FTB.com style, I’ll give you the quote Melody Hensley just posted as her facebook status, Dr. King’s comments regarding a Supreme Court decision to ban school prayer:

I endorse it. I think it was correct. Contrary to what many have said, it sought to outlaw neither prayer nor belief in god. In a pluralistic society such as ours, who is to determine what prayer shall be spoken and by whom? Legally, constitutionally or otherwise, the state certainly has no such right.