... let the pictures speak for themselves ...shalom shaloms ...thiscountryisbeyonimainationricharddittoalsoinawegreggor
History Windmills and Wooden Shoes
ANNE FRANKWe walk to Anne Frankrsquos house itrsquos easy enough to spot because even though itrsquos not even 9am the queue to get in is already over 100 people long. Apart from the line of people there is really nothing else to make this building any different from all those around it itrsquos just an average house in an average street opposite a canal.Fortunately I bought tickets on
Hakura with Aileen and Tom out and about in Vavau
Neiafu is a small seaside town of a few thousand stuck on the sides of a very deepwater harbour.I donrsquot understand the geology of Vavarsquou the main island seems to be called Vavarsquou and has lots of islands to the south. There is obviously volcanic activity plus tectonic uplifts and lots of coral reefs however I have no idea why this area has such deep water. Neiafu Harbour fo
Up at dawn with 20cm of fresh powder…riding in Bariloche…
Up early for an 8 hour trek through the Andes mountain range to Bariloche...Argentinas largest Lake District city. We had the most amazing drive through the mountains as we passed lakes rivers mountains and villages with everything covered in snow Not only is Bariloche a fantastic ski resort but its also very famous for chocolate...mmm which Im sure Ill get my hands on sooner or later R
20100804 Canada Halifax to Lunenberg
Cloudy day but great scenery Ate Fish Chip's from a grease truck Yummy
todo esta bien
SEE ENGLISH VERSION BELOWsziasztokcsak egy rovid bejelentkezes hiszen tegnap ota nem sok minden tortent velem. ma voltam cafayeteben egy szervezett turan es csodalatos tajakat latam szinte mint a grand canyon nehany hely.koran reggel indultunk aztan 2 ora utan elertuk quebrada de cafayete regiot ahol megkaveztunk egy helyen majd folytatodott a kirandulas. megint lattunk szines hegyeket szurdo
Almost Over
So much to blog and so little computer access we share with everyone staying here so it takes a little time to have a chance to tell the story. No pics but will share when we get home.Ok the riding has been amazing for all three girls truly a learning experience and they are having such a good time that we are booking a return trip for next August. If this is my husband reading this maybe I
Ain’t Nothin’ But a Hound Dog
Knowing that our folks are eager to see these photos from Graceland I am going to post these and come back later to write the details. A quick preview I have never seen so much merchandise with one man's image imprinted on it Graceland was actually quite modest and homey I could totally envision folks hanging out and eating peanut butter and banana sandwiches.Immediately following we went
Students With Humanities Background Do Equally Well in Med School – BusinessWeek
 MSN Health & Fitness | Students With Humanities Background Do Equally Well in Med School BusinessWeek 4 (HealthDay News) -- Medical school students with a humanities background are as successful as those with the traditional science-based pre-med ... Medical Students Do As Well With Background in HumanitiesMedscape One Med School, Hold the Pre-MedThe Takeaway News Flash! Pre-meds Don't Make Better Doctors!Feministe (blog) MedPage Today (blog) -MedCity News all 8 news articles » |
Acupuncture Pseudoscience in the New England Journal of Medicine
Here is the conclusion quoted from a recent New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) review article on acupuncture for back pain:
As noted above, the most recent wellpowered clinical trials of acupuncture for chronic low back pain showed that sham acupuncture was as effective as real acupuncture. The simplest explanation of such findings is that the specific therapeutic effects of acupuncture, if present, are small, whereas its clinically relevant benefits are mostly attributable to contextual and psychosocial factors, such as patients’ beliefs and expectations, attention from the acupuncturist, and highly focused, spatially directed attention on the part of the patient.
Translation – acupuncture does not work. Why, then, are the same authors in the same paper recommending that acupuncture be used for chronic low back pain? This is the insanity of the bizarro world of CAM (complementary and alternative medicine). Yesterday David covered the same article, which I had also covered on NeuroLogica, but we both thought this issue important enough to document our thoughts and objections on SBM.
Let’s break down their conclusions a bit. They have reviewed the clinical evidence, as I and others have done before, and found that when real acupuncture is compared to various forms of sham acupuncture (the acupuncture version of a placebo) there is no difference. As I have written many times before – it doesn’t matter where you stick the needles, or even if you stick the needles. Reviews have also concluded that there is no evidence for the mere existence of acupuncture points. Since acupuncture consists of sticking needles in acupuncture points, the only reasonable conclusion from this evidence is that there is no specific effect from acupuncture – acupuncture does not work.
The phrase, “contextual and psychosocial factors, such as patients’ beliefs and expectations, attention from the acupuncturist, and highly focused, spatially directed attention on the part of the patient.” is a fancy way of saying “placebo effects.” In other words, there are some non-specific subjective benefits to getting attention from a practitioner. There is this assumption, however, that these benefits are real and worthwhile. However, they are likely to be illusory – an artifact of observation and reporting, not a real improvement in the patient’s condition. In real science-based medicine, that is the underlying assumption – placebo effects are largely illusory – a variable to be controlled for.
But there has been recent controversy over the role of the placebo effect in ethical and evidence-based practice. This is, in my opinion, largely a back door attempt to justify CAM treatments that do not work. The claim is that placebo effects are real and useful. But a systematic review of the placebo effect in clinical trials concluded:
We did not find that placebo interventions have important clinical effects in general. However, in certain settings placebo interventions can influence patient-reported outcomes, especially pain and nausea, though it is difficult to distinguish patient-reported effects of placebo from biased reporting. The effect on pain varied, even among trials with low risk of bias, from negligible to clinically important. Variations in the effect of placebo were partly explained by variations in how trials were conducted and how patients were informed.
In other words – for any objective outcome, there is no important placebo effect. For outcomes that are subjectively reported by patients, there is a highly variable placebo effect. It is plausible that the expectation of benefit could result in the release of dopamine and endorphins and produce a physiological decrease in pain, for example, in a subset of people, and there is some evidence for this. But this is, at best, a transient symptomatic effect – not therapeutic.
Such effects are also non-specific – meaning they do not derive from the intervention itself, but from the therapeutic ritual surrounding the intervention. Even treatments that do not work may therefore provide these non-specific benefits. My opinion is that the non-specific benefits of the ritual of treatment should be combined with an actually effective treatment, not magic pretending to be medicine. There are many reasons for this. One is the ethics of patient autonomy and informed consent – giving a fake treatment to a patient violates the patient’s rights, in my opinion.
Further, there is potential downstream harm from convincing patients that fake magical treatments are effective, because of placebo effects. Then using obscure language to hide the fact that the treatment actually does not work. This distorts the public’s view of medicine, and of what works, and sets them up to be victims of fake treatments when their ailment is not subjective or self-limiting. In other words – refer them to an acupuncturists when they have back pain and they may rely upon acupuncture, or some other non-scientific intervention, when they have a more serious illness.
There is further harm caused by diverting research time, money, and other resources from more fruitful lines of investigation in order to pursue a theory that has no basis in biology. There are thousands of published studies on acupuncture – given the negative results of this research most of this has been a waste of time and resources.
The authors of this article recommend:
He has specifically requested a referral for acupuncture, and we would suggest a course of 10 to 12 treatments over a period of 8 weeks from a licensed acupuncturist or a physician trained in medical acupuncture.
This contradicts their own conclusions. Why is training in acupuncture necessary? That training largely consists of identifying acupuncture points, knowing which points to use on an individual patient, and knowing the technique of needle insertion – but none of these things matter. The sham ritual is all that matters – you can literally fake it and get the same response. I bet a 10 minute video is all that is necessary. In fact I bet even that is not necessary – you could probably fake it well enough to get a maximum placebo effect without any prior demonstration.
What the authors of this article have done is something that is increasingly common in CAM (when it is trying to infiltrate academia and peer-reviewed journals like the NEJM) – reviewing the evidence, admitting that the CAM treatment does not work, then making an elaborate and misleading appeal to placebo effects, and ending with a recommendation to use the treatment that does not work. Specifically, they not only recommend using the treatment, but in its fullest magical form, complete with all the disproven claims (that is what “medical acupuncture” is). It’s a bait and switch con game, nothing more. Come for the placebo effect, then be treated with magical nonsense.
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DVD Feature Film Review: The Runaways
A music-based biopicture about a female hard-rock band that paved the way for many others by proving that chicks can play as well as the guys.
DVD Feature Film Review: Black Narcissus
A 1947 English film classic about the challenges of desire faced by some nuns in a new mission in the Himalayas.
Town Hall: Constitutent tells Rep. Pete Starke to his face – ObamaCare equals Slavery
California Congressman shows contempt for US Constitution
Asks "How can legislation like this be Constitutional, when it seems to be in direct conflict with the 13th Amendment which abolished Slavery?"
Kristin Davis: Businesswoman and Entrepreneur for New York Governor
From Corporate Titan to Escort Service Madame
Just released video, including new revelations about the Elliot Spitzer affair.
"He set a precedent that these career politicians can commit a crime and go unpunished"
Davis needs 15,000 signatures to qualify for the ballot. Make a contribution - http://www.fundraisingbynet.net
CONNECTICUT: Peter Schiff supporters more likely to support Linda McMahon in general election
From Eric Dondero:
Supporters of libertarian Republican for US Senate Peter Schiff appear ready to shift to fiscally conservative/socially moderate Linda McMahon for the fall election. Interestingly, they lean significantly more McMahon than supporters of moderate Republican Rob Simmons.
A new poll finds McMahon way out front of the GOP field with 47% to 30% for Simmons, and 14% for Schiff.
Internals from Quinnipiac:
If Linda McMahon wins the Republican primary for United States Senator, how likely are you to support her in the general election in November?
Among Simmons Supporters
•Definitely 26%
•Probably 19%
•Maybe 26%
•Will not support 29%Among Schiff Supporters
•Definitely 47%
•Probably 13%
•Maybe 18%
•Will not support 21%
The poll also shows McMahon making up significant ground against Democrat Richard Blumenthal. Continuing:
US SENATE – CONNECTICUT (Quinnipiac)
Richard Blumenthal (D) 50%
Linda McMahon (R) 40%
McMahon had been behind by as much as 20%.
Free Market economist elected Mayor of small town in South Carolina
Bill Woolsey, a Professor of Economics who studied under James Buchanan at George Mason University, has been elected Mayor of James Island, South Carolina.
Woolsey has served on the City Council since 2002, and before that served on the Charleston Planning Board.
He won the election against 4 other opponents with 40%, including the incumbent Mayor Mary Clarke.
From the Charleston Daily-Courrier:
Fresh off his victory Tuesday, Mayor-elect Bill Woolsey said he'd like to see the town of James Island be known for more than the community that feuds with Charleston...
Clark remained mostly silent after finishing in a distant second place.
Woolsey says he'll serve as a part-time mayor, reducing the position's annual salary from $35,000 a year down to $15,000.
Woolsey has taught economics at The Citadel since 1986. He teaches Principles of Macroeconomics and Money and Banking.
Woolsey is a former member of the Libertarian Party, and served as State Coordinator for Ron Paul, Libertarian for President in 1988.
He is a member of Kiwanis, a Boy Scout leader, and Sunday School Director at his local church. He and his wife Kathy have been married for 29 years. They have two sons, one of whom is a Cadet at The Citadel.
McCaskill gives cryptic response to overwhelming Prop C victory in Missouri
From Eric Dondero:
Democrat Senator Claire McCaskill issued a confused reaction to the overwhelming victory of Proposition C voted in by Missourians on Tuesday. The final vote was 71% in favor of allowing Missouri residents to opt out of ObamaCare.
Responded McCaskill, from Missourinet:
“This vote very closely reflected the number of people who voted in the Republican primary versus the Democratic primary. But nonetheless, message received. I appreciate the fact that voters are sending a message. It doesn’t really, I don’t think, have any impact on the law itself; but it is a message,” McCaskill said.
“Doing the right thing on health care is a work in progress. I certainly appreciate that people have expressed their opinion. That’s appropriate and I think I need to listen and pay attention. If some of the ‘sky is falling’ actually begins to occur and there are huge problems then, obviously, I’d be part of a team of people that would want to fix them.”
MICHIGAN PRIMARY RESULTS: One Huge Win! for Libertarian Republicans, couple heartbreaking losses
by Eric Dondero
State Rep. Justin Amash won the Republican Primary for US Congress in Michigan CD 5 last night, with 40% of the vote. He had two opponents, both longtime legislators, and well-known politicos in the State. Amash's victory is being credited to superior fundraising - he had the backing of the well-known economic libertarian family the DeVosses - added to grass roots support from Tea Party, Ron Paul, and Tax Reform groups.
At the Amash victory party, from MLive.com "Justin Amash breezes to victory, earns GOP nomination to replace Vern Ehlers":
Michigan Republican Party Secretary Hank Fuhs marveled at the attendees.
"Ninety percent of those folks are not party regulars," Fuhs said. "He (Amash) has done a tremendous job of getting new people involved and excited."
This is a very Republican district, and Amash's election in the Fall is virtually assured.
Amash is a longtime friend and ally of Michigan Taxpayer's Alliance President and former state legislator Leon Drolet. Amash volunteered in Drolet's past campaigns.
Libertarian-Republican Drolet was on the ballot for State Senate in a Macomb County district, and lost with 36%. (Note - Drolet is also a dues-paying member of the local Libertarian Party.) He came in 2nd in a sometimes nasty 3-way race. The winner was libertarian-conservative former State Rep. Jack Brandenburg of St. Clair Shores.
Ironically, Drolet had recruited 3rd place finisher Kim Meltzer to take his State Rep. seat after he was term-limited 6 years ago. Melzter attacked Drolet with targetted mailings, suggesting he was a social liberal who supported gay rights. Drolet is pro-life.
Drolet and Brandenburg are longtime friends and political allies, and remained friends through the primary election.
Brandenburg was a firebrand anti-tax crusader in the legislature. He has been called essentially a "blue collar libertarian." He is passionately opposed to affirmative action, and was a co-sponsor of the successful initiative to abolish quotas for college admissions in the State. He is also a diehard Sarah Palin fanatic.
The District is heavily Republican, and Brandenburg faces only token Democrat opposition in the Fall.
Finally, one other race of interest for Libertarian Republicans came out on the downside. Scott Tillman, longtime libertarian activist with the Sam Adams Alliance, and supporter of the Libertarian Party and the Republican Liberty Caucus went down to defeat, finishing 4th with 16% for a State Rep. seat in Western Michigan.
But Tillman informed Libertarian Republican that he's hopeful that the winner, John Bumstead would be a libertarian-friendly legislator. He is a Tea Partyer, and Tillman suggested that if he hadn't run, he probably would have backed Bumstead.
DISCLOSURE: I am longtime friends with both Jack Brandenburg and Leon Drolet, and remained ardently neutral in the primary race.
Glenn Beck: America better go "libertarian" or we risk third world status
Human Events just released an extensive interview with radio and cable TV host Glenn Beck. He made some dire predictions. From the description of the video:
In the first part of his exclusive interview with HUMAN EVENTS, media personality Glenn Beck predicted that America will be fundamentally different over the next decade, for better or for worse. “Ten years from now, this country will not look anything like it is now,” he said. To Beck, “we will either be a Third World country that looks more like Latin America or we will have totally reinvented ourselves” into a “smaller, faster, more mobile” country. “We’ll just be a tighter, libertarian kind of community,” Beck assessed, or “we will be Third World.”
Republican Liberty Caucus Chair defends Illinois Libertarian Party in ballot access stand-off
BREAKING NEWS!! LR EXCLUSIVE!
From Eric Dondero:
The Libertarian Party of Illinois handed in over 48,000 signatures for ballot access in late June. The required number of signatures was 25,000. Other parties, for example the Constitution Party, handed in only 35,000. The Green Party already has ballot status as a result of an 8% showing by their candidate for Governor in 2006.
The signatures were challenged immediately. Illinois is a challenge state. If any citizen or group challenges the signatures of the third party, that party must undergo a grueling process of line-by-line signature validation, and hearings in front of an election board to justify signatures that may be unclear, or have disputed addresses.
Last week at one of these hearings, a representative for the challengers revealed that he was a campaign volunteer for moderate Republican nominee for Governor Bill Brady.
National Chairman for the Republican Liberty Caucus, which represents the libertarian wing of the GOP, has released this statement to Libertarian Republican in regards to the Illinois situation:
"Ballot access for candidates and parties is as important to having an open and honest political system as it is for voters to have equal access to the polls. If a political party is so unsure of the its ability to win votes legitimately that it has to manipulate the system to deny its competitors fair access to the ballot then it has forfeited its right to represent the people. Republicans and Democrats should welcome the challenge offered by third parties and embrace the challenge to win elections on their merits rather than their incumbency."
Lex Green is the Illinois Libertarian candidate for Governor against Bill Brady. Ironically, both Brady and Green are from Bloomington (in Central Illinois, 2 hours south of Chicago). In fact, Green's wife Karen is a local Republican Precinct Committeewoman in Bloomington, and knows the Bradys. The Greens lean to the conservative side of the libertarian spectrum and are both what could be described as "cultural Republicans." Lex Green is a "Ron Paul type" constitutionalist Libertarian. He has been emphasizing budgetary cutbacks, spending reforms, and tax relief in his campaign.
Brady is viewed with suspicion amongst hardline conservatives throughout the state, particularly those who were supporters of Tea Party candidate Adam Andrzejewski, who came in 4th in the GOP primary.
Important Note - The RLC as a standard policy, does not endorse Libertarian Party candidates in any race, where there is a Republican candidate on the ballot. However, the RLC explicitly endorses and urges support among its membership for only those Republicans who have demonstrated definitive libertarian-leanings, and friendly relations with the libertarian movement.
