The View from Number 80

October 29th 2004

Ancient Dwarves - many papers are running with the astounding discovery of a hitherto unguessed member of the human family. Dubbed "hobbits", these people lived perhaps 18,000 years ago on the island of Flores in Indonesia. They were barely a meter tall and had, compared to modern humans, small brains. This did not seem to affect their dexterity as stone tools have been found associated with the remains. It is speculated that these folk, properly called Homo floresiensis, were isolated on the island and evolution selected those of smaller size owing to scarce resources. This effect has been noted with other island dwelling species. It is speculated local legends of little people mean that Homo floresiensis possibly co-existed for a while with Homo sap. Given modern human's record, this may explain why they are no longer around, although at least one scientist, Bert Roberts of the University of Wollongong, thinks it is possible they may still exist somewhere in the deep jungle. It is interesting to note the way the discovery has been reported - the San Francisco Chronicle refers to h. floresiensis as "proto-humans" which would seem to indicate the writer considers them to be in some way a forerunner of modern humans. This reflects the wrong, and yet widespread belief that evolution leads up to that perfect creature - us. In fact the tree of life is more like a bush, and we are just one twig among others. In the UK Guardian, Tim White of the University of California, Berkeley, wonders "How will the creationists cope?" with the news. As their beliefs are divorced from reality and rooted in myths and fairy tales, 80 confidently predicts the discovery will have no effect whatsoever. For those, who, like 80, find the hobbit label insufferably cute just be thankful, for it could have been worse. None of the newspaper wits have realized the obvious cultural reference. These folk were dwarfs and the palaeontologists have found seven of them. Heigh-ho, heigh-ho...............

Outfoxed - Rupert Murdoch has revealed an unsuspected streak of wry humor. Speaking at the News Corporation's annual general meeting in Adelaide, on coverage of the US election race by Fox News, he said "We don't take any position at all. We're not in the least bit biased, we're a fair and balanced company." And pigs are masters of aeronautics............

Cagey Tactics? - for many people who were less than pleased with the outcome of the US 2000 presidential election one state came to represent what they saw as the crooked end of the US electoral process - Florida. It seems that this dubious distinction will be retained in 2004 - certainly according to Greg Palast, reporting on BBC TV's Newsnight program. (Available online for 24 hrs from Tuesday October 26th from 22:30 UK and 5:30 EST Click Latest Show) To quote the BBC news web page " A secret document obtained from inside Bush campaign headquarters in Florida suggests a plan - possibly in violation of US law - to disrupt voting in the state's African-American voting districts." This involves what is referred to as a "caging list" of "1,886 names and addresses of voters in predominantly black and traditionally Democrat areas of Jacksonville, Florida." The only purpose of such a list, it is claimed, is to challenge voters in order disrupt the process and deter them from casting their vote. The BBC page says "Republican state campaign spokeswoman Mindy Tucker Fletcher stated the list was not put together "in order to create" a challenge list, but refused to say it would not be used in that manner." What does seem puzzling is why such a low level clerical matter should be of interest to Bush campaign bigwigs in Florida and Washington. It is difficult not to see all this as an attempt to affect the vote in what is shaping up to be a very close contest, and one that may well end up in the courts. The reputation of the BBC for impartial and objective reporting will be seen by many as adding weight to such suspicions of electoral skullduggery. Meanwhile, in Ohio, Republicans are challenging the eligibility of 25,000 registered voters, alleging fraud by  Democrats. They intend to field more than 3,000 volunteers around the state to check voter's credentials. The UK Guardian says the Republican's check of voter registrations turned up "120,000 duplicate names, and an unknown number of ineligible voters, including a murder victim and two suspected terrorists." 80 hopes that Iraqi officials are taking notes on how to run a trouble free election.......

October 31st 2004

Finding Faith Through Fear - it is Halloween time again and here is a story from the Washington Post (WP) about groups of evangelist and fundamentalist Christians trying to turn this bit of harmless seasonal silliness to their advantage. The clever scheme is to outgross the usual "haunted houses" popular with kids by portraying their own brand of horrors, both real and imagined, in the hopes of scaring people into faith. Instead of witches, broomsticks, ghosts and pumpkins they tend to feature such things as a " Hell House, a morality play featuring a gay man dying of AIDS, a lesbian suicide, drunken driving and a botched abortion -- and the reeking, fiery hell that is the consequence of such sins..." This charming bit of religionist propaganda was formulated by Rev. Keenan Roberts, pastor of Destiny Church of the Assemblies of God near Denver, according to the WP. He peddles how-to kits at $299 a pop for those who wish to stage their own shows, including nice little touches such as "how to select the best cut of meat to depict an aborted fetus -- and tips for dealing with skeptical journalists." The idea that people have to be scared into belief by such graphic depictations of horrors is repellent, and shows how desperate and scruple-free these religionists are. If anyone other than Christians mounted such shock displays expressly to frighten children and the gullible there would be an outcry. It is a depressing fact that over the last month one such "scare into faith" exhibit by a group from Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, has attracted 20,000 people. Just how many of these succumbed to the message ".... if they die tonight, where will they go?" is not mentioned.

Enter the Ghoul - like some grisly Halloween spectre, the skeleton in the bin Laden family's closet, mass murderer and religious fanatic, Osama bin Laden has popped up another low-tech video appearance just a few days before the US elections. If his intention was to stiffen the resolve of whoever becomes President to hunt him down, along with his confederates, then the ghoul has likely succeeded. The heavily bearded apparition also seems to have managed to knock the news of the horrific death toll of Iraqi civilians off the front pages, (see Price of Freedom below) but then indulging his own ego may be more important to him. The real message bin Laden conveyed was the obvious fact that he is still around - which merely confirms what a misguided and tragic irrelevance the invasion of Iraq was to the hunt for international terrorists. If resources had not been diverted by the Bush administration from Afghanistan to Iraq, bin Laden could well be staring at the four walls of his cell right now and have only his own trial in prospect, instead of planning further mayhem.

Price of Freedom - one of the more notorious quotes from the ongoing campaign in Iraq was that of General Tommy Franks, in reference to Iraqi civilian casualties, "We don't do body counts". Now someone else has, and the total is shocking and almost beyond belief. The website simply called Iraq Body Count has been trying to keep track of "civilians reported killed by military intervention in Iraq" - the maximum figure shown is 16312 on October 29th. Now a new study of the death toll, quoted here in the Guardian, shows this figure to a huge underestimate. "About 100,000 Iraqi civilians - half of them women and children - have died in Iraq since the invasion" So goes the report in the prestigious British medical journal, The Lancet, by a group of Iraqi and US public health officials, led by Les Roberts of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. It goes on to say "The risk of a violent death is now 58 times higher than it was before the invasion". This makes President Bush's pronouncements about bringing freedom to the Iraqi people seem like a very sick joke indeed. The battle for their "hearts and minds" was lost long ago. 80 fully expects the grisly total of 100,000 dead to be disputed by the US and its coalition partners in a nitpicking damage limitation exercise. For argument's sake then let's be drastic and halve that number - 50,000 dead - does it sound any better? (A summary and the full report (PDF) is available online at The Lancet after registration.) 

November 3rd 2004

Bleak Outlook - for the first time the American people have elected George W Bush as president. It would be nice to think that the closeness of the final result would be a signal to his administration to be more inclusive and to practice some "compassionate conservatism". This is, of course, hopelessly optimistic, for Bush is not a politician in that sense. It is far more likely that he, and his cohorts, will take the result as an endorsement of their actions over the past four years, and will continue to dish out more of the same. Expect more erosion of the barrier between church and state, more weakening of environmental pollution regulations, more tax breaks for the rich, and more alienation of the USA's traditional allies. Regarding President Bush, 80 can do no better than to quote Winston Churchill, "He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire"

Announcement - from the Department of the Bleeding Obvious. The UK's Mars lander, Beagle 2, failed because of lack of funding from the UK government. Dr Ian Gibson, chairman of the House of Commons science and technology committee told the BBC "As a result, the scientists had to go chasing celebrities for sponsorship when they might have been testing rockets." This may be a revelation to some, but it is very old news to anyone with an interest in the UK's contribution to space research. The amount of money involved was paltry by government standards, but science apparently takes a backseat to important projects such as funding schools teaching creationist drivel.

Curse of Cassandra - as the end of the year approaches psychics of various kinds will offer their predictions for the coming year. From those who write in trashy tabloids to the ghastly (and equally trashy) Sylvia Browne (see her prediction record here), a frequent guest on uncritical TV shows, such as Larry King's, they all have one thing in common - a conspicuous lack of success (see New Year's Crystal Balls). Their predictions are no better than chance guessing - and often not even that good. Demonstrating that his hit rate leaves these psychic frauds in the dust is columnist Harley Sorenson, writing for SF Gate. He lists a series of his predictions that have been proved to be right on the money. One sample should suffice, about the invasion of Iraq, which you will recall took place in March 2003. Here is Sorenson almost a year earlier, in April 2002, when he wrote that the US was being set up "for a war with Iraq, a war that will cost thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of lives ... you and I will be told that our sons and daughters will be fighting in Iraq because Saddam has suddenly unlocked the secrets of weapons of mass destruction and is about to blackmail the world." Accurate or what? Obviously, unlike the psychic con-artists, Sorenson lays no claim to paranormal powers, but modestly states "None of my predictions was rocket science. They all relied simply on public information and a small dose of common sense." Two things that all of his prognostications have in common is that they are unremittingly downbeat and have had no effect on the course of events. It seems that Sorenson for all his "common sense" is doomed to share the fate of Cassandra, prophetess of Troy. For offending the god Apollo she was cursed to foretell events accurately, but never to be believed. (It was she who warned of the Trojan horse and was ignored by her ill-fated countrymen.) Sorenson, our modern day Cassandra, does make one final prediction regarding the winner of the US presidential race, "...I'm predicting victory for a Yale graduate and "Bonesman" (member of Yale's secretive and exclusive Skull and Bones society). The final margin will be, as it was in 2000, a black-robed 5-4, same five, same four." 

Quote - "We have been contacted by followers of the Wiccan religion, and they indicated they have been offended after seeing elementary school depictions of witches with long noses, warts, cauldrons and such." So says said Tony Apostle, a school's superintendent in Puyallup, Washington, who has banned Halloween displays from 31 schools. It seems it is not just the fundagelicals who are miffed by harmless Halloween silliness, the Wiccans have now jumped on the idiot bandwagon. A parent of two kids affected by the decision told the Washington Post "It is unusual for Puyallup to make the national news. We made it by being ridiculous." 

November 5th 2004

Biblical Bilge - still with matters archaeological is an item from SFGate.com on the discovery of the remains of a ship, near the ancient port of Dorus in Israel. The timbers have been carbon-dated to the 9th century BCE. This seems enough for marine archaeologist Kurt Raveh to take wing on a flight of fancy, unsubstantiated by any evidence whatsoever, a not unusual situation for those who espouse the non-discipline of "biblical archaeology". He has not the slightest hesitation in using the radio-carbon date to connect the ships's remains with the mythical King David and his son Solomon. "I took a little piece of wood and sent it to laboratories in Switzerland. This week we got it back, and it turned out to be from the time of David and Solomon, 3,000 years old." The problem with this assertion is that there is no evidence, bar one disputed inscription, for David. Furthermore, Solomon's great empire, described in the bible, is never mentioned by any of the surrounding civilizations with whom he was supposed to have traded and exchanged diplomatic missions. The writer of the SFGate.com piece, Matthew Kalman, seems to swallow these biblical romances unquestioningly, as does another expert quoted, ancient boat specialist Yaacov Kahanov of Haifa University, who, referring to Dorus, says "In King Solomon's time, this was the major port for the Israelite kingdom." Only once does real world archaeology impinge upon the story when Kalman states "If the remains are indeed 3,000 years old, it would be the first archaeological artifact ever found from the era of the first kings of Israel, with the possible exception of several huge stones at the base of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem." The Temple Mount stones are only attributed to the time of Solomon following an inference from the ancient writer Josephus. If these stones are discounted Kalman's sentence confirms that there is no other evidence of a kingdom of David, or an empire of Solomon, other than the bible tales. Oddly this does not stop him, and the others quoted, from treating fabulous tales as true history - this is typical of "biblical archaeology" where real evidence recovered from the earth is of less consequence than ancient stories. (80's attention was drawn to both the above stories by David Meadows' excellent weekly newsletter, Explorator See here for the story of the Solomonic pomegranate that wasn't)

Cell Block - one consequence of the Bush administration's election victory is that the push, via Costa Rica's proposal to the UN for a complete worldwide ban on cloning, whether therapeutic or reproductive, will go on. (see Clone Clash). Meanwhile in California, the somewhat more savvy electorate voted in favor of Proposition 71, which pledges $3 billion over the next 10 years for stem cell research, via the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative. This is one of the areas where Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger finds himself at odds with the White House, which approaches the subject from a religious point of view, and is more concerned with the wellbeing of a dot-sized cluster of cells rather than the search for possible cures for many crippling diseases. So far the US government has withheld funds for research on any cell lines other than the 22 derived before August 2001. Recent research now indicates that these approved cell lines may well be useless for medical treatments for human beings. It seems they were grown on a scaffolding of mouse feeder cells which, it is now learned, causes the stem cells (properly human embryonic stem cells or hESC) to take on rodent characteristics. This would mean that they would provoke an immune response from any human being in which they are implanted. This pretty well renders research for human applications pointless on the government approved hESCs - plus a further study suggests that 5 of the 22 lines were so difficult to grow that they may not be "clinically useful" anyway, reports New Scientist. The continuing debate in the UN and elsewhere on cloning is perhaps a pointer to the malign effect a theocratically-inclined White House will have on many subjects of global importance - such as the withdrawal of funding for groups that help combat the spread of HIV AIDS, but who also commit the heinous crime of promoting contraception on our massively overcrowded planet. To say four more years of Bush and co. heralds a new Dark Age is perhaps going too far, but the clear light of a rational, scientific worldview will need ceaseless promotion lest it become dimmed further by the forces of religion and superstition.

Bible Basher Bitten - 80 was distressed to read of the ill-treatment of a lion in Taipei Zoo. The poor beast was minding its own business, lolling around dozing, as well-fed carnivores are wont to do, when its siesta was interrupted by a Christian. A man leaped into the lion's enclosure, shouting "Jesus, will save you" to the lion, and its companion. He then, somewhat rashly, called out, "Come, bite me". The lion obligingly did so, sinking its teeth into the man's leg (and his arm, according to this report). Instead of being rewarded for its obedience, the unfortunate creature was driven off with water jets and tranquilizer darts. It is suggested that the man was possibly living out a delusion that he was the biblical character Daniel, who also had a close encounter of the leonine kind. On a more serious note, it is to be hoped that both lion and human make a full recovery from this traumatic experience. If you think that 80 shows little sympathy for the man, you are right. Too often a pleasant, post-prandial doze has been interrupted by evangelizing bible-bashers at the door. So far 80 has shown great restraint and has not bitten any of them, other than verbally.

November 7th 2004

The Men Who Stare at Goats - a new 3-part documentary series had its debut on Channel 4 in the UK on Sunday. Called Crazy Rulers of the World (CRotW) this first part was dedicated to the various whackos that have succeeded in extracting money from the US military for their crazy schemes. It is well-known that the CIA's Stargate program managed to waste millions looking into the possibility of covert surveillance via remote viewing (RV). The Skeptic's Dictionary describes RV as "the alleged psychic ability to perceive places, persons and actions that are not within the range of the senses." whereby the practitioner can use " psychic power alone to dowse the entire galaxy, if need be, for whatever one wants: oil, mountains on Jupiter, a lost child, a buried body, a hostage site thousands of miles away, inside the Pentagon or the Kremlin, etc." The only people who benefited from this waste of time and money were those who still trade on the supposed cachet of having been involved with the project, the better to sell their nonsensical services to the gullible. Crazy Rulers of the World brings things up to date, detailing the work of folk like Major General Albert Stubblebine, ex-head of the US Army's Intelligence and Security Command, who believes, among many other things, that you can walk through walls - you only have to summon up the willpower to do so. He couldn't - and bruised his nose. Another bunch set up a lab at Fort Bragg in order to learn how to kill goats by staring at them - hence the title of the first episode of CRotW, The Men Who Stare at Goats. The big (supposed) scoop of the show is that these and equally nutty programs have been revived in the service of the "War On Terror". (Perhaps we are witnessing the dawn of Dubya's faith-based military, for when reason is discounted in favor of gut instinct and blind faith by the commander-in-chief, they can but follow.) 80 stoically managed to sit through the first 20 minutes or so, but the ravings of one ex-military nut job after another soon swamped the bullshit detectors. Especially the video showing one Guy Savelli mentally influencing the behavior of his pet hamsters - or was it the other way round? (Here is a discussion of martial artist Savelli, including mention of his ability to "drop a goat" using his mind. The correspondent backs up this story by revealing a little of himself "This might sound funny to some people, but I don't always believe in pure science.") If you have the stomach for it, a book of the series, called The Men Who Stare at Goats by Jon Ronson is available - although you could also read it for free - by remote viewing.

There's More - since writing the above, 80 has found an article in USA Today telling of an Air Force report that calls for $7.5 million to study "psychic teleportation". Asked why the Air Force Research Lab was sponsoring the study a spokesman said "If we don't turn over stones, we don't know if we have missed something." Before these clods and others start turning over stones why don't they they check with people who actually know something about testing  paranormal claims - CSICOP or James Randi would be a good start - and a damn' sight cheaper. Spookily enough (or not) Randi's newsletter this week has a paragraph or two about a remote viewing outfit, Psi Tech,  who have managed, using their awesome RV powers, to come up with a totally erroneous explanation for the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in November 2001. Read an accurate report here in New Scientist. For usefulness and practicality, remote viewing is definitely in the chocolate fireguard category.

Babylon Graffiti - here is an interesting piece from al Jazeera, the news outfit that manages to be a whipping boy for just about everyone involved in the current conflicts in the Middle East. (A passing thought - if al Jazeera is attacked by all sides for perceived partiality then they must be getting something right. Such a situation is surely also familiar to the BBC) It seems that American troops are leaving graffiti in the ancient city of Babylon. Before anyone decries the desecration of this ancient site, the walls being defaced by the GI's inscriptions are of recent origin. They were built on top of the original walls in an act of grandiose vandalism by Saddam Hussein, which did not endear the erstwhile dictator to archaeologists. In fact al Jazeera notes that "The English-language graffiti is not widespread and does not appear to have caused extensive harm. Arabic script is also scrawled on the walls. US-led forces have spent tens of thousands of dollars repairing ruins and protecting them from looters, and are investigating whether US and Polish heavy machinery and rotor wash from helicopters are inflicting damage." As Major David Gilleran, an army chaplain on the site, wisely observed, "This place represents the greatness in human history. We're just passing through."

November 9th 2004

Vacuous Values Voters - in an interesting piece on the role the Christian religion played in the recent presidential election, Harley Sorenson, writing for SFgate.com, comes up with a telling quote from George W Bush in March 2001. Paraphrasing Lincoln, he quipped "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you have to concentrate on." It certainly worked on November 2nd 2004.

Bigot Unbowed - here is a page from the BBC on the future ambitions of failed European Commissioner designate and rabid religionist, Rocco Buttiglione. His appointment to the Commission was effectively blocked following outrage at his opinions on gays and the role of women, which closely toe the line followed by his friend in the Vatican, Karol Wojtyla, aka the Pope. The snappy name for the position taken by Buttligione is "theo-con" - and yes, it is as bad as it sounds. It is defined as a description of a conservative who believes that "religion should play a major role in forming and implementing public policy". Buttiglione is an unpleasant individual who likes to disguise his prejudices as something else - something he smugly regards as morally superior - religious conviction. Label it how you will, it is a very good reason for keeping this person away from any political office where he can dictate to others. A secular Europe cannot allow his, or anyone else's, superstitious beliefs to become law in any way, shape or form. At the moment he and his fellow religionists have been stymied, although many states in thrall to Catholicism would like to see his influence grow. Whilst Spain has turned its back on the malign influence of the Catholic church, newcomers to the Union such as Poland and Malta are still, in many ways, under the Vatican's thumb. It is not acceptable for a union of democratic states to be influenced by a religious bloc of any kind. Such a move would impinge badly on the ideal of inclusivity for a multicultural society. Meanwhile Buttiglione is reduced to the old standby of thwarted religionists - he whines about persecution - a subject on which the Catholic church is expert, although it is rarely on the receiving end. Buttiglione extrapolates falsely from his rejection by the European Parliament to the denial of posts as teachers or professors to Catholics. This is absurd scaremongering, as is his claim of being treated like a "Catholic witch". He was not treated as a witch, but as a religious bigot whose worldview is unacceptably warped by his beliefs. As a private individual he is entitled to believe whatever nonsense he wishes - as a politician in a pluralistic union whose individual citizens hold many beliefs and none he is a dangerous and divisive anachronism. His avowed intent to continue to push for "Christian values" in Europe merely reveals that his selfish desire to impose his beliefs on others is undiminished by his recent defeat. He, and those who follow his agenda, should be strongly resisted at each and every opportunity, not just within the EU but anywhere in the world.

"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction." Blaise Pascal

Clone Quote - "Bush is entirely willing to let patients die rather than abandon his symbolic acts of respect for embryos (symbolic because funding does not affect the number of embryos destroyed each year)," said Charo, the University of Wisconsin professor, referring to the fact that in vitro fertilization clinics often discard embryos not used by couples. From a Wired article by Kristen Philipkoski.

November 11th 2004

Exit the Crisco Kid - and good riddance. US Attorney General John Ashcroft has tendered his resignation in a letter to President Bush. His tenure will be remembered for the erosion of civil liberties in the name of security, his excessive religiosity, and several high profile terrorist cases that were more hype than substance. The outgoing prude will also be remembered for spending taxpayer's money (allegedly $8000) on drapes to cover the bare breasts of a statue of the Spirit of Justice. It seems he could not keep his mind on the job with those nipples pointing at him. His time in office is summed up by David Cole, a law professor at Georgetown University, in the New York Times (reg rqd), . "We had an attorney general who treated criticism and dissent as treason, ethnic identity as grounds for suspicion and Congressional and judicial oversight as inconvenient obstacles. He was a disaster from a civil liberties perspective but also from a national security perspective." What Cole neglects to mention is that Ashcroft's failings matched the Bush Administration's shortcomings only too well. It would be hoped that things can only get better. And then you see that one top contender mentioned by the New York Times to replace the anointed one would certainly be no improvement. Alberto R. Gonzales, White House counsel, is the author o