It's attacking others like a cross between an elementary school bully or a overzealous used car salesman is what it is. And that crap isn't criticism; it's name calling.

OK, so you agree then that:

The earth is on average on a warming trend.
CO2 is in fact a greenhouse gas.
CO2 levels are increasing.

You just don't believe humans are causing any of the above, correct?

FYI, I didn't say the consensus opinion is always right. If the consensus opinion is based on solid science and fact, then it tends to be correct. Good scientific theories are produced by solid experiments, data I just want to be clear I'm not saying that human induced climate change is a scientific law. I'm saying it's a theory, one based on mounting evidence that supports it. I'm perfectly willing to suggest that the theory is not 100% correct, or could end up proven to be false altogether. I do not have a vested interest to a preconceived outcome.

But the evidence is increasingly overwhelming that it is occurring, and it is caused by humans. I don't need this issue to underscore a core believe of mine that free markets left unchecked do societies severe damage. I've already got hundreds of examples of that. (Unsafe working conditions, child labor, unsafe to consume goods, massive banking fraud, environmental damage other than climate change, unlivable wages, just to name a few)


>> ^quantumushroom:

LOL, you don't try to limit personal attacks. You call Obama "Obummer", "His Earness", various derivatives from the falsehood that he was born in Kenya, etc. You also label people liberals, when in truth, they're moderates, or even moderate Republican, and you suggest having liberal beliefs is somehow innately bad instead of something you disagree with only. You're not fooling anybody.
Only you can fool yourself. Since I don't know HIS EARNESS personally, it's not a personal attack on ODUMBO. Any real leader (or pretend leader) should expect criticism. I have my own standards for who is a liberal and who is Kenyan, and don't expect anyone else to give a crap.

So, I'm just gonna point out once again that your claim that the science behind human contributing climate change is fake, yet you did not identify which part of the theory is false. You immediately launched into a political discussion about giving up rights, etc.
Since you offered: "(You're saying) CO2 increases are not due to human activity?"
That's right. There's no solid objective evidence that man-made industrial activity has a direct, notable effect on climate. Weather is weather and there's nothing puny humans can do about it. For now.
BTW, you do realize that conflicting scientific theories don't make other theories incorrect, right?
Nor do they make the "consensus" opinion correct by brute majority.
You of course have a vested interest due to your desperate clinging belief that capitalist systems and policies are the only right ones to follow, and it's virtually impossible to deal with the problem of human induced climate change with that philosophy.

It's like you're finally figuring out what the alarmists are trying to do! It's all about control and has nothing to do with 'saving the earth'.
Therefore, you flat refuse to look objectively at the data we have, which the majority of it suggests human induced climate change.
This idea had its moment in the sun. It failed. Public opinion is against the alarmists. Capitalism works, socialism "kind of" works until if flops (Greece).
The climate heretic has spoken.

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

@Lawdeedaw - Individual members of the legislative branch don't have anything approximating the power of a president. It is true that idealists such as Kucinich, Wellstone, Weiner, Paul and Obama have managed to find a place in the legislative branch, but never have these idealists held the numbers to ever be a credible threat against corporate domination. (What's even more disheartening is the current epidemic of moronic idealists like Santorum, Bachman and Palin, who have been empowered by a decade of Republican campaigning that targets the lowest common denominator.)
Once the idealists enter the Presidential ring, all bets are off. McCain is a great example of a highly principled republican who was basically forced to renounce everything he ever believed in (most prominently campaign finance reform) to get a shot at the golden ring. Obama also broke his promise to only except public funding because he realized it would put him at a severe disadvantage. As long as our current system is in place, no presidential candidate (not even Saint Paul) has a chance of subverting it. This is not an insult against this man, whom I respect despite the fact that he holds some extremely naive economic views. This is just a frank assessment of how fucked up our campaign finance system is.
If you don't think Ron Paul plays the game too, then ask him about Texas pork barrel spending. There is a video on the sift where he freely admits to playing the pork barrel game. I don't blame him for it - you do what you have to do in a fucked up system.
I'm not here to bash Paul. My point is that our current system will not allow him to be what you want him to be, just as the system won't allow Obama to be the President I want him to be.
Speaking as someone who has already suffered through hopey-changey delusions, I'm just trying to save you some grief. Been there. Done that. I guess maybe you have to experience it first hand before you can truly accept this cruel reality on your own terms.
Until this system works for the voters rather than the funders, we are all destined for disappointment. I'd love to see a conservative-liberal truce until we can throw these money changers out of the temple.


You think Keynesian economics got us out of the Great Depression yet Paul's the naive one? Paul's been saying to get rid of the money changers his whole political career. If we had actually been following the Austrian school of economics, none of this would've happen. You can't give a select group of people total control of your economy and then not expect them to take advantage of it.

And Paul always voted against pork spending. That's hardly playing the game.

Obama hasn't been neutered, he was a fraud from the beginning. He's not bombing civilians and waging wars to secure campaign donations. He's been a puppet and PR salesman for Wall Street and their war machine from day one. He's not prosecuting white-collar fraud, he's prosecuting government whistleblowers. He's arming drug cartels in Mexico. He's using flying robots to rain down hellfire missiles in sovereign countries on the other side of the world. He's a neocolonialist. Not because someone is twisting his arm, but because that's what he signed up to be.
Obama can't be the President you want him to be because he's not that guy and never was.

>> ^BoneRemake:
So.. Whats the difference then ? Every politician lies, "we" all thought barrack was gonna kick ass, and he is just another tool. Doesnt matter what name gets elected, they wont do what they say, they never do.
Politicians are salesmen for themselves, and you can not trust a salesman. I am in the stands on voting, people are stupid and there are a lot of them out there buying this shit.
PHOOEY


Sigh... no. The fact that politicians lie is the outcome--but the reason is FAR more important than the outcome.

Every politician lies. WHY? Because they wouldn't be elected if they didn't. We would punish them, shit on them, and ruin their lives if they told half of what they believed. We do this every election cycle!

We the people make the salesmen.

Why are there so few nice guys left? Because the world eats them up and spits their fucking carcasses out. I hate myself sometimes because I used to be a very nice guy and was sharted on every day from everywhere. Now that I have become wiser, harsher and less likable? I am more liked. I cannot fathom that in any manner.

You’re not stupid for voting for someone you believe is telling you the truth, you’re stupid for going into an election bar, being smooth-talked by some slick fuck in a nice suit, and going home with him to his ballot. Then, when you're crying to your friend about the disease you caught, the same friend that is the honest guy you left at the bar all alone, you wonder why he hangs up the phone on you… You wonder why he doesn't try or care. Because he did try and care--and you didn't.

Sorry for the long tirade. But the excuse is shallow on me. How to stop the lies is far more valuable than to note that they do... Here is a comment I wrote in another video, "On the right, on the left, why can't all politicians be as decent as Paul? Forget what you believe in and vote for the candidate that is most decent as a human being. Because, if you vote for a liar who "believes" as you do, you won't get anything but dick."

I would vote for Dennis John Kucinich too, for the same reason of truthiness. And I am far from liberal... And I am sure Blankfist would too, because, if not, then he would be a very shitty voter. Just like--all the other shitty voters who are damning us all.

So.. Whats the difference then ? Every politician lies, "we" all thought barrack was gonna kick ass, and he is just another tool. Doesnt matter what name gets elected, they wont do what they say, they never do.

Politicians are salesmen for themselves, and you can not trust a salesman. I am in the stands on voting, people are stupid and there are a lot of them out there buying this shit.

PHOOEY

Saying "I knew it before everyone else..." over and over with your raspy car-salesman voice does not convince me.

>> ^Sagemind:

http://videosift.com/video/Istanbul-Ice-Cream-Trickery for what I think is a better performance... but that's just me


But this one's got that winning smile

The best damned drug salesman on earth.

indeed.

Much of my work is on somatic theory.
Chiropractic, as an osteopathy derivative, has some solid basis in that they look at nerve compression at the spine, and while it is certainly true that decompressing innervation at the spine can help with other problems, such as GI issues and asthma, in a technique sense they are only focusing on one aspect of distortion - that of restriction at the spine. However, once there is a distortion at the spine (the bottom of the brain) it becomes a whole body pattern and issue...which requires far more time, patience, and attention to detail than merely popping a facet joint. It requires the type of time and patience that is non-existent in most of western medicine, or chiropractic. The body is a seamless whole.

It's very hard to make a lot of money doing this work.
But a chiro can pop 10 people an hour. A western doc can write 40 scrips an hour.

Massage is typically working by accident. It helps, but it is premised on a muscular approach, which is incredibly misleading. Muscles may dominate the body in terms of size, but they are a reactive system, not a controlling system, and the lowest man on the totem pole in terms of the hierarchy of survival mechanisms. Physical therapy is also stuck on the muscular approach to the body. In fact, this approach typically dominates western thought when it comes to somatic/structural distortion/pain. And most people go to hospitals with essentially somatic complaints. See where i'm going with this?

Harrington rods for scoliosis should one day be properly viewed as barbaric.


In reply to this comment by gwiz665:
A friend of mine had scoliosis, at least I think that what she had, I never heard the proper medical term for it. She had it corrected by doctors inserting some metal rods by her spine, so now her back is all stiff - I'm a little vague on the details since it's a while since I heard the story.

In any case, I agree that we must also heavily scrutinize the medical system, since companies go where the profits are, and if there are no profits to be had, then that kind of medicine is discarded and abandoned. This is what has happened with many potential cancer treatments, since there is less profit in un-patentable formulas than those that can be patented.

If your methods actually do work consistently then it would certainly stand up to scientific standards, it must be replicable and verifiable and that's basically it. The problem is that often it works like "magic" and heals some, but not all with what appears to be the same illness. This is due to a lack of understanding of what is actually wrong with a patient.

The back and nervous system is notoriously hard to "fix" since few people understand it very well and each person is unique (to some extent).

Some "alternative" medicines are perinormal - they work, but we don't know it yet. They are essentially medicines, but we have not determined precisely how and why they help. "Home remedies" are really a proto-version of alternative medicines in this way, in that someone once used it and it worked. Others, like homeopathy, are demonstrably false and are indeed scams. The make wild claims based on nothing but superstition and humbug.

Prayer is also not medicine. If you get bitten by a snake and pray for the venom to leave your body, you die.

The court of public opinion is highly subjective and cannot be trusted to make reliable judgments. This is why the scientific method exists - to eliminate the need for "he said, she said".

It is smart to be weary of the medicinal industry, I'll grant you that, but your doctor is not an arm of that - he (or she) is a healer, that is their goal. I am deeply troubled when certain doctors are influenced by incentives that go against the patient's best interest - it does happen, medicinal firms offering bonuses if you use their products even though they're inferior and so on. But the fact remains that this inferior product has still gone through channels which ensure that it does work, alternative medicine does not.

It is absolutely imperative that people are not deceived to believe that some treatments do more than they think, like when chiropractic offers treatments to non-musceloskeletal problems like ADHD or asthma. It may help your back, fair enough, I've cracked my own back and I think it helps, because it feels good - chocolate feels good too, but it doesn't help my health.

The second such a snake oil salesman does not want to stand up to proper scrutiny is when he has revealed himself to be a fraud. Because if his method is disproved, then he cannot fake it anymore.

I do not doubt that massage therapy does offer relief and helps with muscle problems, I could also believe that chiropractic helps with joint pain, muscle pain or some skeletal problems - but they must be studied and analysed properly and not just pretend like it works, we must know WHY it works.

In reply to this comment by criticalthud:
Some great insights.
My difficulty is in the gross generalizations that are taking place.
I do what some people call "alternative" medicine. I don't necessarily take exception to that title given the state of western medicine.
Growing up with a scoliosis I searched for different approaches to fix the problem, and eventually ended up practicing and teaching manual therapy from a neurological model of the body, focusing on rotational distortion. It is essentially cutting edge, and i can do things with a spine that would make a western neurosurgeon question his approach.

However I may not stand up to scrutiny by western standards, since I essentially view the body in a much different manner, and certainly work with it in a much different manner.
Tomorrow however, may be a different story, as it has been with acupuncture, massage, osteopathy, non-freudian psychology, or any number of treatments that have made their way into the mainstream. Scrutiny is often the court of public opinion, although this court of opinion is greatly effected by what we have been brought up to believe and who we automatically give status and credibility to.

I think it is essential that all practitioners of the healing arts, including western medicine, realize that our actual knowledge of the human body, it's functions, and it's abilities, is very small. And it is exceedingly important to keep those doors to possibilities open.

At the same time, it is incumbent upon us to heavily scrutinize the current accepted treatments which are more often than not inadequate, reliant upon drugs, or are barbaric in nature. At the same time we must heavily scrutinize an overall system which is premised on the industry making a profit, which lends itself to indefinitely treating symptoms rather than preventative medicine.

In reply to this comment by gwiz665:
Scientific method.

"Alternative" medicine wants to do the same thing as Intelligent Design, it wants to take the easy road. ID wants to be in the class room without having sufficient evidence to support its claim. Alternative medicine wants to be sold and used to heal sick people. The latter is fine and even admirable, if it works, but there is insufficient evidence to support the claims that alternative medicine makes.

If you buy a service from me that I cannot provide, then you have been scammed and my claim was bunk. This is what alternative medicine does.

Defining alternative, it's medicine that hasn't gone through thorough scrutiny and does not stand up to it. It is medicine that doesn't work.

Pick your poison: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine Homeopathy, Chiropractic, energy therapy, crystals all that stuff.

Regarding massage and acupuncture, I'm in a more relaxed approach, because they don't promise magical solutions. Massage works at healing muscle pain, certainly, and it certainly relaxing. Acupuncture, I don't have sufficient knowledge about to make a definitive judgment about. Naturally, I'm skeptical, because as far as I know, it has not been tested to the proper extent that it should to be called medicine. When I read about more details of it "Qi" and whatnot - I get more skeptical.

It may work, but it should be tested experimentally, before making claims of healing.

People are allowed to use their money as they want, but these things should damn well not be able to call themselves medicine. Relaxation, sure, therapy, perhaps, healing - no.

In reply to this comment by criticalthud:
would you care to define alternative? do you mean non-american, non-western?
does acupuncture stand up to western scrutiny? how about manual therapy? who's scrutiny are you talking about? Tell me how you measure what people FEEL with a machine, or a bloodtest.
how well does typical western medicine deal with back pain? - drugs, drugs, more drugs?
how about a scoliosis? neurological strain patterns? any chronic pain issue?
western medicine, relies on over-drugging it's patients, treating each as a number. What and how they practice is often completely controlled by insurance companies.
perhaps your statement doesn't stand up to scrutiny.
sure there is crap out there, but lets not pretend that western medicine is immune. far from it, it's peddling a good portion of the stinkiest garbage.



In reply to this comment by gwiz665:
Alternative medicine is bunk. Like alternative math or alternative reason.

If there was any truth to it, it would stand up to scrutiny and it would be used as proper treatment. Homeopathy especially is downright fraud.

*debunked

A friend of mine had scoliosis, at least I think that what she had, I never heard the proper medical term for it. She had it corrected by doctors inserting some metal rods by her spine, so now her back is all stiff - I'm a little vague on the details since it's a while since I heard the story.

In any case, I agree that we must also heavily scrutinize the medical system, since companies go where the profits are, and if there are no profits to be had, then that kind of medicine is discarded and abandoned. This is what has happened with many potential cancer treatments, since there is less profit in un-patentable formulas than those that can be patented.

If your methods actually do work consistently then it would certainly stand up to scientific standards, it must be replicable and verifiable and that's basically it. The problem is that often it works like "magic" and heals some, but not all with what appears to be the same illness. This is due to a lack of understanding of what is actually wrong with a patient.

The back and nervous system is notoriously hard to "fix" since few people understand it very well and each person is unique (to some extent).

Some "alternative" medicines are perinormal - they work, but we don't know it yet. They are essentially medicines, but we have not determined precisely how and why they help. "Home remedies" are really a proto-version of alternative medicines in this way, in that someone once used it and it worked. Others, like homeopathy, are demonstrably false and are indeed scams. The make wild claims based on nothing but superstition and humbug.

Prayer is also not medicine. If you get bitten by a snake and pray for the venom to leave your body, you die.

The court of public opinion is highly subjective and cannot be trusted to make reliable judgments. This is why the scientific method exists - to eliminate the need for "he said, she said".

It is smart to be weary of the medicinal industry, I'll grant you that, but your doctor is not an arm of that - he (or she) is a healer, that is their goal. I am deeply troubled when certain doctors are influenced by incentives that go against the patient's best interest - it does happen, medicinal firms offering bonuses if you use their products even though they're inferior and so on. But the fact remains that this inferior product has still gone through channels which ensure that it does work, alternative medicine does not.

It is absolutely imperative that people are not deceived to believe that some treatments do more than they think, like when chiropractic offers treatments to non-musceloskeletal problems like ADHD or asthma. It may help your back, fair enough, I've cracked my own back and I think it helps, because it feels good - chocolate feels good too, but it doesn't help my health.

The second such a snake oil salesman does not want to stand up to proper scrutiny is when he has revealed himself to be a fraud. Because if his method is disproved, then he cannot fake it anymore.

I do not doubt that massage therapy does offer relief and helps with muscle problems, I could also believe that chiropractic helps with joint pain, muscle pain or some skeletal problems - but they must be studied and analysed properly and not just pretend like it works, we must know WHY it works.

In reply to this comment by criticalthud:
Some great insights.
My difficulty is in the gross generalizations that are taking place.
I do what some people call "alternative" medicine. I don't necessarily take exception to that title given the state of western medicine.
Growing up with a scoliosis I searched for different approaches to fix the problem, and eventually ended up practicing and teaching manual therapy from a neurological model of the body, focusing on rotational distortion. It is essentially cutting edge, and i can do things with a spine that would make a western neurosurgeon question his approach.

However I may not stand up to scrutiny by western standards, since I essentially view the body in a much different manner, and certainly work with it in a much different manner.
Tomorrow however, may be a different story, as it has been with acupuncture, massage, osteopathy, non-freudian psychology, or any number of treatments that have made their way into the mainstream. Scrutiny is often the court of public opinion, although this court of opinion is greatly effected by what we have been brought up to believe and who we automatically give status and credibility to.

I think it is essential that all practitioners of the healing arts, including western medicine, realize that our actual knowledge of the human body, it's functions, and it's abilities, is very small. And it is exceedingly important to keep those doors to possibilities open.

At the same time, it is incumbent upon us to heavily scrutinize the current accepted treatments which are more often than not inadequate, reliant upon drugs, or are barbaric in nature. At the same time we must heavily scrutinize an overall system which is premised on the industry making a profit, which lends itself to indefinitely treating symptoms rather than preventative medicine.

In reply to this comment by gwiz665:
Scientific method.

"Alternative" medicine wants to do the same thing as Intelligent Design, it wants to take the easy road. ID wants to be in the class room without having sufficient evidence to support its claim. Alternative medicine wants to be sold and used to heal sick people. The latter is fine and even admirable, if it works, but there is insufficient evidence to support the claims that alternative medicine makes.

If you buy a service from me that I cannot provide, then you have been scammed and my claim was bunk. This is what alternative medicine does.

Defining alternative, it's medicine that hasn't gone through thorough scrutiny and does not stand up to it. It is medicine that doesn't work.

Pick your poison: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine Homeopathy, Chiropractic, energy therapy, crystals all that stuff.

Regarding massage and acupuncture, I'm in a more relaxed approach, because they don't promise magical solutions. Massage works at healing muscle pain, certainly, and it certainly relaxing. Acupuncture, I don't have sufficient knowledge about to make a definitive judgment about. Naturally, I'm skeptical, because as far as I know, it has not been tested to the proper extent that it should to be called medicine. When I read about more details of it "Qi" and whatnot - I get more skeptical.

It may work, but it should be tested experimentally, before making claims of healing.

People are allowed to use their money as they want, but these things should damn well not be able to call themselves medicine. Relaxation, sure, therapy, perhaps, healing - no.

In reply to this comment by criticalthud:
would you care to define alternative? do you mean non-american, non-western?
does acupuncture stand up to western scrutiny? how about manual therapy? who's scrutiny are you talking about? Tell me how you measure what people FEEL with a machine, or a bloodtest.
how well does typical western medicine deal with back pain? - drugs, drugs, more drugs?
how about a scoliosis? neurological strain patterns? any chronic pain issue?
western medicine, relies on over-drugging it's patients, treating each as a number. What and how they practice is often completely controlled by insurance companies.
perhaps your statement doesn't stand up to scrutiny.
sure there is crap out there, but lets not pretend that western medicine is immune. far from it, it's peddling a good portion of the stinkiest garbage.



In reply to this comment by gwiz665:
Alternative medicine is bunk. Like alternative math or alternative reason.

If there was any truth to it, it would stand up to scrutiny and it would be used as proper treatment. Homeopathy especially is downright fraud.

*debunked

And, if only "virtuous people" get to vote, how do you plan to decide what is virtuous and what isn't exactly?

Oh you have a 2000 year old book full of inarticulate historic records and mythology?

touche' salesman...

If this stuff is true, it really brings validity to shamanism, witch doctors, and even — dare I say — christian exorcisms and evangelical healing rituals. And as far as the placebo effect goes, it's not science that makes a good placebo, but a good salesman.

>> ^kulpims:
how do you make fun of a self-confessed drunk, a man who admits he has a habit of pissing himself in his pants, has worked as a dildo salesman and has a journalism degree from University of Nebraska? FUCKING MISSION IMPOSSIBLE


WHOA! Looks like you blew your wad too soon son. Better hope you've got some left for the orgy, else you'll be watching from the couch (again).

how do you make fun of a self-confessed drunk, a man who admits he has a habit of pissing himself in his pants, has worked as a dildo salesman and has a journalism degree from University of Nebraska? FUCKING MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

Mysling, when you believe that good people are being intentionally mislead and exploited, it does bring out a certain indignation. That is why 'scam' is both a powerful and a correct word to use here. When someone is swindled by a snake oil salesman, the compassionate thing to do is to expose him and condemn his actions. You don't try and reach a middle ground with the charlatan. This is why I admire the career's of men like James Randi and Ben Goldacre. The only distinctions between psudo-science, supernatural claims and religion is the level of harm and the demand on the victim.

But I think you also make an excellent point; offending people is often the quickest way to ensure they won't listen to you. I don't know what is the best way to be persuasive with someone who disagrees with you.

>> ^lucky760:
>> ^eric3579:
>> ^lucky760:
That guy got his products sold on Pitchmen (the show on Discovery that starred Billy Mays before his death). Seems like a gimmicky product to me if you can just stick some aluminum foil in your wallet or purse to prevent your RFID-embedded cards from getting scanned, and I believe you can (though I don't have a reliable source to cite).

Even if there is a simple fix (aluminum foil) to this problem, and you ran commercials 24 hours a day regarding this situation, I'm guessing I could still use this to get thousands of credit card numbers. I might not get yours or a few others, but I will get a shit load.

That has nothing to do with my point. You're looking at it from the attackers' point of view. Of course someone using this exploit will successfully penetrate countless vulnerable victims. That goes without saying and is an indisputable fact of life.
I was speaking from a consumer's point of view. The salesman soliciting his magic RFID protective sleeves for something like 2 for $40 is getting rich on consumer fearmongering when all one might need to do is stick some foil in their wallet.


MY bad. I actually had only watched the first half of the video, and was unaware he was pushing a product. Don't I feel stupid.