Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

[Barry Karr <SkeptInq@AOL.COM>]

How Satan is propping up Bush's war on terror
By Andrew O'Hehir
Salon
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2004/01/17/satan/index.html

"Bill Ellis goes to some lengths to convince you that he's a normal 
American. The biographical blurb in the back of his new book, "Lucifer 
Ascending: The Occult in Folklore and Popular Culture," assures readers 
that he's an "active member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America" 
-- perhaps the most mainstream and least controversial religious 
affiliation one can imagine."


Nessie-hunter explains away 'mystery' creature
Inverness Courier
http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news.asp?storyvar=8501

"NESSIE-HUNTER Steve Feltham believes he has solved one mystery of the loch 
and the identity of a strange beastie found on its shores."


Big plans to catch bigfoot
By Yunmi Choi
San Mateo Daily Journal
http://www.smdailyjournal.org/article.cfm?issue=01-16-04&storyID=27359

"It’s a master plan that includes global positioning, aerial surveillance 
and ground patrol."


Water torture
by Ben Goldacre
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/badscience/story/0,12980,1122903,00.html

"You've got to get up pretty early in the morning to catch a Sunday Times 
beauty journalist out. "Harriet Griffey thought bottled water was a con, 
until mountain-pure H <->2O healed her senses.""


When the sums don't add up
by Ben Goldacre
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/opinion/story/0,12981,1122915,00.html

"Like most people who know the first thing about science, I don't usually 
bother to read scare stories in the media, as I know they're not going to 
tell me anything useful. Parabens from deodorant in breast cancer cells? 
That sounds interesting. Oh, you haven't measured it in normal cells yet. 
Thanks for wasting my time. Four minutes poorer, life goes on."


Truth about the cancer trap
by Felicity Lawrence, Ian Sample and Alok Jha
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,13026,1122913,00.html

"No, you shouldn't. Yes, you should. If it weren't so serious, there might 
have been something funny about the row between scientists either side of 
the Atlantic about how much salmon we should all eat."


Get poor quick!
By A.C. Thompson
San Francisco Bay Guardian
http://www.sfbg.com/38/16/cover_poor.html

"THE SALESMAN IS named Steven Lloyd. Or so he says."



Teenage girl's x-ray vision baffles scientists
Ananova
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_855907.html

"Russian scientists have been unable to disprove a teenage girl who claims 
she has x-ray vision and can see inside human bodies."


Kucinich's own crusade
By Steve Miller
WASHINGTON TIMES
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20040114-113844-3797r.htm

"The smell of incense and cinnamon hangs in the air during a reception for 
Dennis J. Kucinich at a country mansion outside this "meditation 
community," a town of 9,500 and the home base of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's 
Natural Law Party."



Cardinal takes a crack at 'The Da Vinci Code'
BY CATHLEEN FALSANI
Chicago Sun-Times
http://www.suntimes.com/output/falsani/cst-nws-fals09.html

"Let's corner Dan Brown and noogie him until he tells us the truth about 
his book The Da Vinci Code."


More answers from George on 'Da Vinci Code'
BY CATHLEEN FALSANI
Chicago Sun-Times
http://www.suntimes.com/output/falsani/cst-nws-fals16.html

"Well, that struck a nerve. As the e-mails poured in from far and wide in 
response to last week's column about Dan Brown's novel The DaVinci Code 
(fact, fiction or both?), I started to wonder if I might hear from all of 
the readers of the 4.5 million copies in print."



‘Code’ stirs pot of controversy, questions
By Michelle Martin
Catholic New World
http://catholicnewworld.com/cnw/issue/code_011804.html

"When Rosalind Hays first read “The Da Vinci Code,” she didn’t look at it 
as anything but entertainment."



Sharpton must admit fault in Brawley hoax
By PHIL REISMAN
Weschester Journal-News
http://www.nynews.com/newsroom/011304/b01p13reisman.html

"Pete Rose admitted he lied and bet on baseball."



Sale of book at park ignites debate over Grand Canyon's age
By ADELLE M. BANKS
RELIGION NEWS SERVICE
http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Jan/01172004/saturday/129896.asp

"Traditional scientists and Christian creationists have lined up on either 
side of a dispute over sales of a new book at Grand Canyon National Park 
that claims the canyon dates to the biblical flood of Genesis rather than 
millions of years ago."


Critics Say the Park Service Is Letting Religion and Politics Affect Its 
Policies
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/18/politics/18PARK.html

"To halt the removal of a cross placed in the Mojave National Preserve 
almost 70 years ago to commemorate World War I veterans, a Republican 
lawmaker from California has proposed swapping the land it sits on with a 
private group."


Bet on an Eagles win - it's in the stars
By ERIN EINHORN
Philadelphia Daily News
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/7714472.htm

"The Eagles have a lot going for them when they take the field Sunday 
against the Carolina Panthers."
(If there were some sort of dumb-ass award this story would surely win it)



Is Your Psychotherapist Qualified?
CBS
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/16/eveningnews/consumer/main593790.shtml

"Carol Diament thought her problems were over when she read about a cutting 
edge marriage counselor in the local paper."


Woman branded witch for discoloured eye
Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/425550.cms

"A 60-year-old woman, Chokli Ratansinh Kanasia, of Jambusar village under 
Devagadh Baria taluka, branded as witch by relatives, was attacked by 
villagers forcing her to run away from her house on Thursday."


Thanks to Joe Littrell and Skeptic NewsSearch

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