An accurate fortune cookie!

This fortune, which I just got in the cookie that came with my dinner, really does describe me well--which is why I don't believe fortunes that are stuffed in a cookie. Or believe in other woo-ish stuff.

Faith healing: two woos in one!

 Ad from The Baltimore Sun, July 8, 2011

Faith healing: combining health woo with religion! It's a double-woo.

But if god planned for you to have concerns and problems, should you be trying to mess with his plan?

Bastion of Sass gets a MEDIA RELEASE

I often wonder about the intelligence of the people who read this blog. I know most of them must be really intelligent, since they're reading this blog. But then, I might be mistaken.

Media Release to Bastion of Sass

To: bastionofsass@whereIgetmail.com

MEDIA RELEASE

(Please note: This is a Media Release, not spam. There is a difference.)

Just published ‘Revelations of a Human Space Navigator’ Second Edition is now available for FREE DOWNLOADS.

The Second Edition explains more precisely:

• Exactly from what everything is physically made of, and why.

• Exactly what gravity is, and why.

• Exactly who and what humans are, and why they behave as they do.

• Why god and gods do not physically exist.

• Why 'time' does not physically exist.

• Why there is homosexuality in humans.

• What 'happiness' actually is and how it can be obtained.

PLUS there is much, much more of what humans never knew – or misunderstood – about themselves and all that physically surrounds them.

These claims may appear to be far-fetched to all those who have not read this book. It may also appear as highly improbable that a mere book can contain information that had never before been assessed by human intelligence.

But here's a puzzle... what is intelligence in the first place? Where does intelligence originate? What does intelligence comprise of?

While current humans and their science may wonder about intelligence, they actually know neither what intelligence represents nor how it is derived. And yet, the source of intelligence – as many other unknowns – is revealed and explained in the book.

Do the dead speak? Uh, no, John they don't. Because dead people are dead.

Well Baltimore area skeptics, if you were planning on losing your mind and going to John Edward's August 20 Baltimore appearance to get a message from a dead person, or remaining a skeptic and just going to watch him hustle the gullible grieving, you're too late, despite the fact that the above ad is still running in The Baltimore Sun. According to his website, his Baltimore "group reading" is already sold out.

House of multi-woo in Catonsville

In Catonsville, you can be advised by a psychic or by the "Crystal & Aura Advisor" or, apparently, shop for a horoscope.

Decisions decisions.

Is one woo better than another? Will each give me the same results?

Not-a-diagnostician David Geier kicked off Maryland Commission on Autism

According to an article in The Baltimore Sun, the proponent of a dangerous and untested treatment for children with autism, David Geier, who was on the Maryland Commission on Autism as a "diagnostician," even though he has no education or training that would qualify him to diagnose anyone with anything, was removed from the Commission by Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley.

David Geier was recently charged with practicing medicine without a license.

O'Malley's action came after Geier refused to resign despite a statement from Geier though his attorney that he only worked as an "administrator" in the clinics headed by his father, Dr. Mark Geier, whose license to practice medicine was recently suspended by the Maryland Board of Physicians. Neither David Geier nor his attorney explained how an "administrator" was qualified to serve in the capacity of "diagnostician" on the Commission.

The question remains: how did David Geier ever get to be appointed to the Commission as a "diagnostician" in the first place? And why was there was no public outcry from qualified Commission members about his appointment?

Praying for better local government

I had mixed feelings about the article Praying in Public when I saw it on the front page of the May 14 Baltimore Sun.

In the article, The Sun describes the current practice of several Maryland local government bodies of praying during public meetings. And if that weren't bad enough, in several cases, the prayer is sectarian, offered to the Christian God, not a prayer to a non-denominational generic one-size-fits-most(-if-you-ignore-atheists) god.

I was delighted that The Sun recognized there was an issue worthy of front page coverage.

But I was also appalled that the people we trust to run local governments still apparently see nothing inappropriate about beginning government meetings with any type of prayer, let alone one to "Jesus."

Not only is sectarian prayer insensitive to their constituents who practice a non-Christian religion, but also to non-believers. Yes, Salisbury and Carroll County, you have *gasp* atheists living among you! (But heck, who cares about atheists and how they feel about...well...anything? I mean, atheists should just shut up and be grateful that they're allowed to live in Salisbury and Carroll County and stop persecuting Christians by complaining about prayers being offered at their government's meetings, right?)

But my most basic concern is that we have elected officials who believe things for which there is no evidence and ask for help and guidance from a magical, invisible sky-spirit based on ancient Middle-Eastern mythology. And they're damn proud of it. That's worrisome.

I want my government to be led by people who are critical thinkers, who make decisions based on evidence--and who are aware that, even if some prayers offered at public government meetings may be legal under court decisions, they are still always inappropriate. Always.