Beware the Spinal Trap
The following is an altered version a column written last year by Simon Singh for The Guardian. In his column, Singh called out many practitioners of Chiropractic therapy for making claims that he says are unsupported by medical science. In response, the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) filed a libel lawsuit against Singh.
In most civilized nations, anyone suing for libel must prove that they were, in fact, libeled. Unfortunately, UK law is hopelessly backwards in this area. In an ignorant reversal of common sense, you are required in the UK to prove that you have not libeled the plaintiff.
That has proven to be an excellent method of silencing legitimate criticism in the UK. Singh’s fight against this baseless lawsuit has become a cause celebre for skeptic and science bloggers around the world.
It seems that bloggers are republishing this column everywhere today. Since Singh’s cause is one in which I believe, I will republish it too. This site has free hosting and I have no idea how WordPress.com would react to a complaint, so I’m sticking to a slightly-modified version which omits the specific wording to which the BCA objects.
The original, unedited version of this column can be found at Respectful Insolence.
You also should read this great article by Ben Goldacre: An intrepid, ragged band of bloggers.
Did AT&T Really Censor 4chan?
The Internet Is Serious Business
Customers of AT&T DSL and U-Verse internet services throughout the United States began to notice Sunday evening that they were cut off from parts of the popular website 4chan.org. In particular, the /r9k/ and the infamous /b/ image boards could not be accessed.
The regions affected were largely in the West, Midwest, parts of Connecticut and Texas. No reports of blockage were reported in other parts of the United States.
AT&T later confirmed to CentralGadget.com that they were blocking portions of the site but did not disclose why they were doing it. Full access to the site was restored at around 1:50AM Eastern Monday morning.
As the news of this event bounced back and forth across the unblocked parts of 4chan, Twitter, IRC chat channels, message boards, blogs and at least three different wiki sites, a clear consensus emerged regarding what AT&T’s reasons might have been for blocking 4chan: censorship.
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Associated Press Loses At The Internet
When I write about something that already has been written about elsewhere, I usually write my own version of events instead of just copy/pasting from the source. I’ll link to the source, of course, and might even use a small blurb.
Sometimes I will be lazy or I’m in a rush and can’t write anything, so I will just paste a few sentences from the source, link to the rest and that’s the end of my post. Either way, I do as little copying and pasting as possible. The reason I blog is to write and to rant, not to republish stuff you can read elsewhere.
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It is time to call out the GOP
The Republicans are spreading insane rhetoric about the president and Democrats in general, they are doing it in front of the people and Democrats are letting them get away with it. Democrats, you are dropping the ball in the court of public opinion. It is time to get back into the game.
The Republicans drove this country off a cliff during the disastrous reign of Bush II. The price tag to fix the damage they caused is anywhere from seven to nine TRILLION dollars. That is how much of the public’s money will have to be spent to save from bankruptcy the largest, wealthiest corporations in the world.
This was, without question, the fault of George Bush and the Republican Party. The Republicans broke this country, led it into the worst economic recession since the 1930s and we the people are paying trillions of dollars to fix the devastation caused by their incompetent mismanagement.
So someone needs to explain just how in the hell the Republicans have successfully turned efforts to fix the damage they caused into a political attack against Democrats!
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Awesome Spam Comment
It’s spam, so I deleted it, but holy shit I was tempted to let it through. It’s funny as hell.
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The Health Insurance Industry Has Hijacked Health Care
With almost 20 years inside the health insurance industry, Wendell Potter saw for-profit insurers hijack our health care system and put profits before patients. Now, he speaks with Bill Moyers about how those companies are standing in the way of health care reform.
I am sick with disgust after watching this interview.
There was nothing there that really surprised me. I already knew that this was exactly how public policy was crafted in America. Nevertheless, to have it confirmed so bluntly by someone who helped make it happen is just stunning.
Superwealthy corporations have been running the United States, buying tailor-made policy and a 20-year veteran of one of those corporations lays it all out.
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Trent Reznor Comments On Music Distribution
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails has issued the following blog post discussing how small bands can distribute their music without the help of a label…
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Chuck Norris on Death
[Havien] to give up on life is to admit defeat
[Havien] to kill yourself is to laugh in the face of life and say “I win!”
[Rooker] To grab Death by the throat and spit in the fucker’s face is to be Chuck Norris
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I Approve This Message
Nothing I could say would do justice to this piece by Chris Dashiell, so I’ll just link it and say “Yeah… what he said.”
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The Out Campaign