Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

[Barry Karr <SkeptInq@AOL.COM>]

Thanks to Joe Littrell

For More Stories Visit:  http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/5256940.htm



FSU pushes chiropractic school despite budget woes
By Melanie Yeager
TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/news/local/5290711.htm

"Despite a dismal projected budget for higher education, Florida State 
University continues to pursue state money to start a chiropractic school."



Analysis Shows More Study Needed for Homeopathy
By Alison McCook
Reuters
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=2319202

"A review of the scientific literature reveals that the jury is still out 
regarding the benefits of the alternative medicine homeopathy, researchers 
said Monday."



Ending the 'Memory Wars' does not redeem the victims
By Paul McHugh
Baltimore Sun
http://www.sunspot.net/features/booksmags/bal-bk.memory02mar02,0,705079.story

"The Memory Wars are over. The voices of sanity in psychiatric practice 
won. But while the wars lasted - from the mid-1980s until the end of the 
1990s - they did much damage to innocent people and to the public standing 
of psychotherapy."


Ah, for a Cool Sip of Liquid Yoga
By MIREYA NAVARRO
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/02/fashion/02ELIX.html

""STICK your tongue out," Karen Eldar, a herbalist in a white lab coat, 
tells a customer. "Is your skin dry? How about your eyes?""



Lawsuit revisits a Bellevue family's demise
by Noel Brady
King County Journal
http://www.kingcountyjournal.com/sited/story/html/123122

"At a small church near downtown Issaquah, a Seventh-day Adventist pastor 
urged his secretary, Terry Rose, to join a counseling circle of more than a 
dozen women."


Scientologists establish missions in their back yard
By ROBERT FARLEY
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/03/01/TampaBay/Scientologists_establ.shtml

"Sandwiched between a nail salon and a hairdressing and body wax boutique, 
one of the newest tenants in the smart-looking Belleair Bazaar strip center 
sports a simple red awning."



Magazine: Michael Jackson Put 'Curse' on Spielberg
Reuters
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030304/people_nm/people_jackson_dc_9

"Embattled pop star Michael Jackson wears a prosthetic nose and once paid 
$150,000 for a "voodoo curse" to kill director Steven Spielberg despite 
being deep in debt, Vanity Fair magazine reported on Monday."


JACKO'S VOODOO CURSES
By BILL HOFFMANN
New York Post
http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/69939.htm

"Just when you thought Wacko Jacko could not get any more bizarre, a new 
report says Michael Jackson hired an African voodoo chief to put a death 
curse on Steven Spielberg and David Geffen."


Skeptics, believers and fence sitters
by Uli Schmetzer
Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/showcase/chi-0303040307mar04.story

"Ever since the Madonna's image appeared above this Sydney beach a little 
over a month ago, Coogee has become a battleground for those who believe 
and those who insist the apparition is an illusion."



Colon Cleansing Herbal Med Causes Heart Poisoning
By Charnicia E. Huggins
Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=2307557

"A woman who used an herbal medicine described as an "internal cleansing" 
agent was hospitalized shortly afterwards when she began experiencing 
symptoms of heart poisoning, including vomiting, weakness and a slowed 
heart rate, according to a report released this week."


State officials warn firm marketing Internet earthquake forecasts
Associated Press
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/03/01/state2117EST0143.DTL

"A San Francisco Bay firm selling earthquake forecasts over the Internet 
has received a warning from state regulators amid criticism from quake 
experts the service is a sham."


Pulling The Wool Off Your Eyes
By MARK OPPENHEIMER
HARTFORD COURANT
http://www.ctnow.com/entertainment/stage/hc-skeptics.artmar02,0,667289.story

"Scientific skeptics are a beleaguered crowd, a devoted guild of mostly 
male obsessives who debunk claims of clairvoyance, spoon-bending and other 
impossibilities and who work to protect scientific inquiry from creationism 
and other irrational threats."


Statue tears vegetable oil, church probe finds
By Carmelo Amalfi
The West Australian
http://www.thewest.com.au/20030227/news/perth/tw-news-perth-home-sto89568.html


"A CATHOLIC Church inquiry into Rockingham's weeping Virgin Mary statue 
found the fibreglass figurine was shedding vegetable oil tears."


The Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science
By ROBERT L. PARK
Chronicle of Higher Education
http://chronicle.com/free/v49/i21/21b02001.htm

"The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is investing close to a 
million dollars in an obscure Russian scientist's antigravity machine, 
although it has failed every test and would violate the most fundamental 
laws of nature. The Patent and Trademark Office recently issued Patent 
6,362,718 for a physically impossible motionless electromagnetic generator, 
which is supposed to snatch free energy from a vacuum. And major power 
companies have sunk tens of millions of dollars into a scheme to produce 
energy by putting hydrogen atoms into a state below their ground state, a 
feat equivalent to mounting an expedition to explore the region south of 
the South Pole."


'Woman-power' pyramid dubbed an immoral scam
Cambridge News
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/news.asp?sec=1&id=516014

"A GET-rich-quick scam which promises women a £24,000 return on a £3,000 
investment has been branded "immoral"."



Scam hits sellers over Net
By David Flaum
Memphis Commercial Appeal
http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/business/article/0,1426,MCA_440_1779756,00.html

"By now, most people have received or heard about "Nigerian letters," those 
missives by mail, fax and E-mail from government officials or their widows 
or bankers in all sorts of countries, offering you a huge chunk of cash if 
you will only help them get money out of the country."


Does aromatherapy work or is it snake oil?
By Cheryl Powell
Akron Beacon Journal
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/5256940.htm

"These days, aromatherapy is more than sniffing pleasing smells."