Bad Deeds for 8-10-2010

 

Conservative Says Einstein’s Theory of Relativity is a Liberal Plot – The Theory of Relativity was Albert Einstein’s formulation in the early 20th century that gave rise to the famous theorem that E=mc2. But if you’re a conservative, like Conservapedia founder and Eagle Forum University instructor Andy Schlafly — Phyllis Schlafly’s son – you may think it’s all a liberal plot.

The Conservapedia entry, “Counterexamples to Relativity” states, “The theory of relativity is a mathematical system that allows no exceptions. It is heavily promoted by liberals who like its encouragement of relativism and its tendency to mislead people in how they view the world. [1]” Note 1 states in part, “Virtually no one who is taught and believes relativity continues to read the Bible.”

 

Republicans Attempting to Redistribute the Wealth – The Republican Party record of the last ten years demonstrates that, in reality, the election in November will pose a choice between Democrats who support a free market capitalist economy, but with protections to prevent against its excesses (thus protecting lower, working and middle class Americans), and Republicans at war with the middle class, advocating policies that further their suffering while benefiting Wall Street, corporations and the wealthiest Americans.

On issue after issue, the Republicans have sided against the middle class, whether it was opposing financial regulation (even after Republican-touted deregulation resulted in the near financial collapse that plunged the country into deep recession), pushing for an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, opposing any kind of job-creating stimulus (that didn’t involve more tax cuts for the rich), opposing and delaying the extension of unemployment benefits to those out of work (and painting the unemployed as lazy), opposing state aid that would preserve the jobs of teachers, police officers and firefighters (even though it would decrease the deficit), opposing health care reform (except to protect private insurance companies), and even opposing aid to workers sickened by the toxic fumes at Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks.

The smoking gun of the Republican Party’s dedication to the wealthy at the expense of the middle class (and the revelation that the party’s supposed fanatical opposition to deficits is a facade) came when one Republican after another lined up to back Sen. John Kyl’s position that it was okay to add to the deficit for tax cuts for high earners (something even conservative stalwart Alan Greenspan could not support).

 

Far-Right ‘Doctors Tea Party’ Event Attended By Fake Doctors – “The National Doctors Tea Party” drew several hundred protesters to a park in San Diego this Saturday, where activists clad in white lab coats protested the Affordable Care Act. Craig Brown, a psychiatrist who lives in Del Mar, donned a white lab coat and wore a stethoscope around his neck as U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle of Nevada spoke against the health-care bill signed into law earlier this year. Brown said he borrowed the white coat from a nearby lab because a website suggested people wear lab coats to the event. In fact, as the OB Rag noted, “there are actually only two local San Diego medical doctors that belong to the sponsoring group.”

 

Republicans Try to Fool Us by Using Fringe Medical Group – Republicans love to quote The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) on medical issues. However, the AAPS is generally recognized as a politically conservative group. According to Mother Jones, “despite the lab coats and the official-sounding name, the docs of the AAPS are hardly part of mainstream medical society. Think Glenn Beck with an MD.”

The AAPS has characterized the effects of the Social Security Act of 1965, which established Medicare and Medicaid, as “evil” and “immoral”, and encouraged member physicians to boycott Medicare and Medicaid. AAPS argues that individuals should purchase medical care directly from doctors, and that there is no right to medical care. The organization requires its members to sign a “declaration of independence” pledging that they will not work with Medicare, Medicaid, or even private insurance companies. On Oct 25 2008, the AAPS website published an editorial implying that Barack Obama was using Neuro-linguistic Programming, “a covert form of hypnosis”, in his presidential campaign.

The Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons (JpandS) is not listed in the major literature databases of MEDLINE/PubMed nor the Web of Science. Articles and commentaries published in the journal have argued that HIV does not cause AIDS.

Quackwatch lists JPandS as an untrustworthy, non-recommended periodical. An editorial in Chemical & Engineering News by editor-in-chief Rudy Baum described JPandS as a “purveyor of utter nonsense.” Investigative journalist Brian Deer wrote that the journal is the “house magazine of a right-wing American fringe group [AAPS]” and “is barely credible as an independent forum.

Regards,

Jim