Encyclopedia of American Loons

Oh, goody. Of all the insane gems and artefacts peddled as genuinenly magical on the Internet’s woo-mongers bazaars of bullshit targeted at the deluded or rationality-challenged, the Healing Broom is among the … more striking. Like the brooms of legend, the Healing Broom is apparently fully magical – at least there is no other feature that would explain the properties claimed for it (not that its magic properties is of much help in that explanation either). According to Ronald J. Williams of the Salem Bodywork Cooperative, the broom will clean out those toxins and realign your qi to only the best possible vibrational energy: “It causes the cells to vibrate into an excited state, thus giving more energy to the internal body,” says Williams, and will “greatly increase the amount of Qi in the area being stimulated.” How do you use it? You slap your body with it. It’s healing through self-flagellation. With a magic broom. Duh. The instructional video at least made it to a metacafe list of “funniest home videos”. That’s at least something. Not quite evidence for efficacy, but something.

Diagnosis: He seems to be saying what he is saying with a straight face. That takes some impressive levels of skill. Or some abysmally serious delusion. Those may not be mutually exclusive.

Thompson F. “Tom” Willis is the hardcore theocrat president of the Creation Science Association for Mid-America (CSA), and “researches in and speaks [i.e., he does outreach, not scientific research] on The Nature and Philosophy of Science, the Origin of Life, Kinds and Man, Geology, Dinosaurs, the Ice Age, the Genesis Flood, purported Human Evolution, Radiometric Dating and the Age of the Earth,” topics on which he has little or no background, knowledge or understanding, or interest in actually studying to learn anything. It is telling that the CSA has a standing offer to debate any “evolutionist” on their website, but no actual research program. Willis himself has written two books, Real Scientists Just Say NO! (To Evolution) and The Origin of Caves, and has co-authored (with David Brown), Ape Men – Science or Myth? None of these contain any research or scholarship either. The arguments are generally the expected ones: Evolution is based on faith, it is untestable, macro- vs. micro-evolution, evolution violates the laws of thermodynamics, God has forbidden the teaching of evolution (and so should the schools), creationists are being persecuted and expelled, evolution destroys society, leads to Hitler, and so on.

His conclusion? In his own words: “The facts warrent the violent expulsion of all evolutionists from civilized society. I am quite serious that their danger to society is so great that, in a sane society, they would be, at a minimum, denied a vote in the administration of the society, as well as any job where they might influence immature humans, e.g., scout, or youth, leader, teacher and, obviously, professor. Oh, by the way… What is the chance evolutionists will vote or teach in the Kingdom of God?” That’s the level at which Willis is pitched. Oh, but he isn’t done: “People without adequate mental faculties should not be allowed to vote; evolutionists don’t have adequate mental abilities since they believe in the religion of evolution; therefore evolutionists should not be allowed to vote.” So there. He also blamed the theory of evolution on slavery; historical consistency be damned. Kent Hovind has suggested something similar.

Oh, but he isn’t done: “Clearly then, ‘evolutionists should not be allowed to roam free in the land.; All that remains for us to discuss is ‘What should be done with evolutionists?’” His suggestions:

- -“Labor camps. […] their life should continue only as long as they can support themselves in the camps.’

- “Require them to wear placards around their neck, or perhaps large medallions which prominently announce ‘Warning: Evolutionist! Mentally Incompetent – Potentially Dangerous.’ I consider this option too dangerous.”

- “Since evolutionists are liars and most do not really believe evolution we could employ truth serum or water-boarding to obtain confessions of evolution rejection. But, this should, at most, result in parole, because, like Muslims, evolutionist religion permits them to lie if there is any benefit to them.”

So there you go.

Willis rose to fame primarily through his engagement in the “Kansas Science Standards War” (or “Kansas Kangaroo Court”) on the side of denialism and pseudoscience (surprise). He did not get that attention for his acumen, intellectual rigor, or reasonability.

In lieu of the abject insanity of Tom Willis we feel an obligation to mention the other leading members of the CSA as well.

- Kevin W. Anderson, who has no science background, but whose “years in electronics has shown him that programs and the mechanisms that run them, do not benefit from any random errors and that random errors could not account for the massive amount of information found in DNA.”

- Kenneth (Ken) Carlson, who has no relevant science background either, but who “has unique insights into the evidences for the Biblical account of creation.”

- Doug Dexheimer, who has no relevant background (a pattern emerges), but “is an amateur Geologist, and rock hound.”

- Bob Farwell, whose “favorite hobby is fossil hunting, so he leads most of the CSA Creation Safaris where fossil hunting is involved.”

- Mary Jefferson, who has no relevant background, but does have four children.

- Glenn H. Kailer, who is deceased but whose current contributions to science based on his background in Biblical languages at an unaccredited Bible school are hardly worse than those of the rest of the group for that.

- Lynn Lemons, who has no relevant science background.

- Mark Matthews, whom we have encountered before.

- Calvin P. (Cal) Myers, who is also deceased, but who, during his life, “sought in vain for evidence for so-called macro-evolution,” though he clearly didn’t want to find it either.

- Larry Rink, Vice-President of CSA, whose “hobbies include astronomy, fossil hunting, and camping,” and who has no background in any remotely relevant fields.

- David J. (Dave) Unruh, who has no relevant science background, but whose “Creation Science interests focus on the nature and limitations of the natural sciences, and the importance of knowledge of creation to ‘average people,’ and to the church;” that is, outreach in the name of Jesus, not testing hypotheses. Like the rest.

Diagnosis: Willis may possible be just a notch less scientifically sophisticated, and a notch more insane, than Kent Hovind. That’s quite a diagnosis.

Gordon L. Wilson does indeed have a Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Public Policy from George Mason University. Some might notice that this is hardly a relevant background if your main concern is biology, but that didn’t prevent him from being hired by the biology department at the infamous cargo-cult pseudo-school Liberty University, or to sign up for the Discovery Institute’s petition “A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism”, before becoming Senior Fellow of Natural History and Director of Student Affairs at the New Saint Andrews College, an unaccredited conservative Calvinist institution that teaches a “Biblical worldview” to something in the vicinity of 130 four-year students.

A staunch creationist with, to repeat, no relevant scientific credentials, Wilson is also active in the Creation Biology Society and a frequent contributor to the Answers magazine. His specialty seems to be the Origins of Natural Evil in the biological world, and according to Wilson “Many pathogens, parasites, and predators have sophisticated genetic, morphological, and behavioral arsenals (natural evil) that clearly testify to the God’s eternal power and divine nature (Romans 1:20), i.e. they are not the result of mutation and natural mutation [that’s an assertion, not an argument, if anyone needed that pointed out].” He rejects the claim that they used to be “completely benign in all respects but at the Fall the enemy (Satan, et. al.) engaged in post-Fall genetic modification and/or bestiality that resulted in creatures with malignant behavior and morphology,” since that would attribute too much sophistication to the powers of darkness; instead, the malignant gene sets must have been preordained due to divine foreknowledge of the Fall.

Yes, take that, evolutionists. This is what counts as an education in biology at Liberty University.

But here’s the twist. In 2013, the University of Idaho realized that they needed someone to teach microbiology, so they carried out a ‘national’ search for a temporary microbiologist, offering $6-8,000 per semester for a one year position with no promise of a continuation. With an offer like that, what do you think they get? Well, they hired… Gordon Wilson. To teach microbiology. And though he promised not to teach creationism, he would emphasize the bogus creationist distinction between “historical” and “experimental” science.

Diagnosis: Pseudoscience hardly comes most pseudo and less science than the output of Gordon Wilson. He is, I suppose, a relatively minor figure in the grand scheme of things, but his efforts to miseducate young people are nevertheless insidious – and rather successful, it seems.

Dawn Winkler is a hardcore anti-vaxxer who in 2006 ran for governor of Colorado on the Libertarian ticket. She is also a mainstay at whale.to. “How on earth did we survive for millions of years WITHOUT VACCINES?” asks Winkler rhetorically [with random capitalization, yes]. “Could it be that our immune systems actually worked on their own?” Someone might notice something problematic with Winkler’s reasoning skills, and indeed: “Think about how RIDICULOUS the notion is that humans will die out if we do not interfere with Almighty allopathic medicine.” I don’t think the survival of the species is really the issue. It’s a bit telling that she thinks it is.

Now, Winkler tragically lost a daughter to SIDS, and she’s due all possible sympathy for that, but it doesn’t give her a carte blanche to go loon. Which she does. Winkler blamed the incidence on “mercury poisoning” from vaccinations, although that link is nonexistent (and recent evidence is starting to suggest that vaccination may be associated with a decreased rate of SIDS). Her 2006 campaign website promptly parroted all of the profoundly refuted PRATTs about a thimerosal-autism link (discussed here). Here is a fine example of the unhingedness of her lunacy.

Before entering that race, Winkler had already done much injury by fighting mandatory vaccination in California and Colorado, all of it equally based on misinformation, pseudo-science, denialism, paranoia, and fully failing to grasp what the issues might be. She popped up in the California frays again in 2012, when she was endorsed for instance by celebrity pediatrician Bob Sears. I assume it is needless to say that anyone concerned with their child’s health and safety should stay far away from Bob Sears.

Diagnosis: It’s a bit scary to realize that if Winkler were granted the power she is seeking, she would promptly seek to ensure the death of thousands of children and permanent injuries to millions of others. “But her intentions are good,” some might say, but I am not sure intentions count as “good” anymore when they are based on such utterly misinformed, crazy beliefs.

Pamela R. Winnick is, or at least used to be, a trained lawyer and staff writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She rose to fame, however, by being one of the main characters of the pseudo-documentary Expelled, where she was portrayed as having been persecuted for her creationist sympathies. That is, though she vehemently denies that she is a creationist (though the records rather suggest otherwise), she complains about how the scientific elite tries to “stifle” a “meaningful debate” about evolution – meaning that people with expertise in the field don’t take seriously misguided complaints made by people with absolutely no knowledge of the topic but with a religious axe to grind. And that’s persecution, according to Winnick, apparently mostly since she is among those religious fundies, and she happens to think that she knows a lot about the subject.

The claims about persecution and blacklisting merely on the grounds of briefly mentioning Intelligent Design without taking a position that she made in Expelled are discussed here. Note that Winnick has for years not only mentioned Intelligent Design but ardently championed creationism, including in her book A Jealous God: Science’s Crusade Against Religion (complete shit, by the way). Her claims to being “blacklisted” and persecuted are apparently based on the fact that the book received a negative review in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Who still publishes her work.

Diagnosis: A good example of what morons mean when they say they are persecuted, namely that someone has the audacity to disagree with them. Clearly, that’s a violation of their right to free speech. Otherwise (heck, partially in virtue of that idea) Winnick is your typical, religiously motivated, staunch denialist.

Kurt Patrick Wise is a young earth creationist paleontologist, one of the founders of modern baraminology (in particular through his work with Walter ReMine), and a signatory to the CMIlist of scientists alive today who accept the biblical account of creation. He is also one of the few such people with any relevant science background; indeed, Wise once studied with Stephen Jay Gould. He started out as an Associate Professor of Science at Bryan College in 1989 and succeeded William Dembski as the head the Center for Theology and Science at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2006. Currently, Wise is director of Truett-McConnell College’s Creation Research Center, and as such a rather big fish in the creation movement – partially because he also has credentials, even though you’d rarely guess that from his contributions. Wise did, for instance, serve as consultant to the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum prior to its 2007 opening.

But at least he admits that he was not led to creationism through studying the science: “Creation isn’t a theory. The fact that God created the universe is not a theory, it’s true,” and “[t]o accept the entire evolutionary model would mean one would have to reject Scripture. And because I came to know Christ through Scripture I couldn’t reject it.” Not quite adjusting one’s belief to the evidence, in other words, but rather a commitment to rejecting any evidence that doesn’t fit one’s predetermined dogma – and Wise at least admits as much. Indeed, he admits that “I’m not trying to convince people of the truth of [young earth creationism]. It’s not a decision of the mind but of the heart,” and that even if all the evidence flatly contradicted Scripture (which it does) he would still take his stand on Scripture and deny the evidence. Accordingly, Wise is sometimes recognized as a rare (yes, he is an exception) example of an “intellectually honest creationist”, though the following disingenous tu quoque defense at least puts that characterization into question: “science has never been closed to people who had ideas they wouldn’t change. Every scientist has a set of presuppositions and assumptions that he never questions,” which is not obviously correct at least if we think about assumptions along the lines of a 7-day creation.

His “research” is accordingly much focused on articles that feebly tries to accommodate the evience into a Biblical timeframe (such as this). One sordid attempt to fit the hominid fossils into a Biblical timeframe, that “Lucy was buried first: Babel helps explain the sequence of ape and human fossils,” is discussed here, and an even more sadly desperate attempt to make the pieces fit, “Mystifying Mosaics,” is discussed here. Then there is the utterly bizarre “Toward a Practical Theology of Peer Review” (with Roger W. Sanders, Joseph Francis, and Todd Wood, and his book Faith, Form, and Time, which is reviewed here.

Diagnosis: As honest as a creationist can be, I suppose, and there is certainly something admirable about Kurt Wise. Yet there is also something infinitely sad about an intelligent, sometimes intellectually honest, knowledgeable person wasting his life on ridiculous pseudoscience, and in the process contributing not a little to the denialist effort to ruin the world.

Stephen Wise is a (former) Florida state senator, chairman of the Senate’s Education and Pre K-12 Committee, and hardcore creationist. And then you know where this entry will be going. Although apparently dimly aware that teaching creationism in public schools tends to run into some Constitutional issues, Wise filed, in 2011, an eventually unsuccessful legislative proposal that would require Florida schools to teach an alternative he calls “non-evolution”. It is ostensibly not creationism; still, Wise argued, “[w]hy would you not teach both theories at the same time?” That is, both evolution and his … other theory, whatever it might be. You see, evolution is in trouble, according to Wise: “Why do we still have apes if we came from them?” Bummer. “And those are the kind of questions kids need to ask themselves,” continued Wise, though we surely hope not; hopefully even elementary school kids would understand why that is a stupid question (or perhaps go on to challenge the many historians who subscribe to the idea that many Americans are descendants of Europeans?). Wise, on his side, was not an elementary school kid, but a religiously fundamentalist GOP state senator, with all the insight, expertise and reasoning faculties that implies. And so it goes.

Wise had submitted bills calling for teaching creationism in science classrooms before, and learnt nothing. In 2009, he submitted his bill with the argument “if you’re going to teach evolution, then you have to teach the other side so you can have critical thinking;” though he failed to include geocentrism, homeopathy, the turtle-theory of the universe or the shadowy alien lizard-people theory of governments in the bill. (He was, of course, lying through his teeth, and by “other side” Wise meant biblical creationism; and no, that was not the first attempt to introduce creationism in public schools in Florida). Though he didn’t get unanimous support from them, he did manage to garner some support from fellow wingnut anti-science denialists, including Rep. Marti Coley, Ronda Storms and (then) future House Speaker Dean Cannon. “[Evolution is] technically a theory. Let’s present it for what it is,” said Coley, thereby displaying precisely how much he understands of science in general or evolution in particular.

His 2011 proposal, Florida Senate Bill 1854, eventually required a so-called “thorough presentation and critical analysis of the scientific theory of evolution” which is, of course, standard creationist subversion. Fortunately the bill died before it could do any damage.

And fortunately for everyone, Wise was run out of the Senate in 2012, though there are plenty of ignorant addlepates remaining and there will presumably continue to be that way as long as the Florida voters think things like this. Wise’s last effort before leaving involved a rather feeble and quixotic contribution to the imaginary war on Christmas.

There’s a good, but slightly old, list of some creationist State legislators here and a list of 2011 attempts to introduce creationist bills at the state level here.

Diagnosis: Abysmally ignorant addlehead, of precisely the kind that some voters apparently think is suitable for being granted political power. Hopefully neutralized by now, though there are always others to fill his place.

In 2006 readers of Discover Magazine were given the opportunity to see an ad for a book called Our Undiscovered Universe, written by Terence Witt. In the book, Witt would lament the state of modern physics, especially String Theory, the Big Bang Theory and the Standard Model, and instead offer his own Null Physics to circumvent these problems. Apparently, null physics is better because it’s willing to ask ultimate why questions. Yes, the ad had “self-published crackpottery” written all over it, and Discover readers were even given some wonderful snippets, such as “[e]nergy is a three-dimensional substance, and its most basic unit is time-distance².” Oh, goody.

Of course, given the highly specialized and advanced nature of modern physics, major discoveries are made by contributions from many well-connected scientists pulling together, not by lone, unaffiliated individuals working in isolation. Witt has been working alone, unencumbered by affiliations. But then, Witt’s knowledge of modern physics is also … somewhat less than specialized and advanced. According to Witt, though, “peer-reviewed journals strenuously reject ideas contrary to the reigning paradigms. So rather than fight the battle a little bit at a time, I decided to wait until I had some convincing results and published the results of my work from 1978 to 2004 all at once.” Yes, the reason Witt’s ideas wouldn’t pass through peer-review is because of a conspiracy and dogmatism. How convenient.

Nonetheless, the book is thoroughly reviewed here: “[S]ome things are meaningless sophistry,” such as the pseudomathematics of the first chapter: Witt treats infinity as an ordinary real number and comes up with gloriously cranky theorems such as Theorem 3.1: “The Existence of Any Half of the Universe is Equal to the Nonexistence of the Other Half” and Theorem 3.9: “The Time Required for Light to Traverse the Universe is Eternity, infinity/c”. Of course, none of his pseudomathematics yield any predictions, and none of it is used in the physics parts of the book anyways. As for that latter part, “[t]he only places it’s not wrong [as opposed to Witt’s demonstrably false a priorispeculations about the atom] are where it’s ‘not even wrong’,” or where it builds one unsupported and often untestable speculation upon another. Stuart Pivar’s insane and demonstrably empirically inadequate biology crackpottery at least had some ingenuity to it; Witt’s physics crackpottery is just sad.

It has, of course, attracted numerous other crackpots who share the essential trait of lacking any kind of expertise in the relevant fields. Here is another crackpot, Dan Schneider, discussing Witt’s work. Schneider admits that he’s an amateur when it comes to physics, yet has no reservations about claiming that the Big Bang theory is a “dogma” in serious trouble, or pronouncing that many of Witt’s claims are correct – in glaring contradiction with the verdicts of real scientists – and without having anything resembling the relevant skills or knowledge needed to actually determine this. Another crackpot review by one Melvin Morse can be found here (it’s mostly about open-mindedness and spirituality). Needless to say, Morse and Schneider are, as crackpots and pseudoscientists always are, deeply in love the idea of the mythical lone, maverick scientist who has discovered the truth and, like David, fights an uphill battle against the powerful establishment – so beloved by Hollywood movies and so non-existent in the real history of scientific revolutions – as well as the Galileo gambit.

Diagnosis: Some serious, serious crackpottery going on here, but even the pseudoscientific ramblings of Terence Witt are outdone for stupidity by the obstinate crankery of his fans. They’re all pretty harmless, of course, but good grief, they’re annoying.

Youtube is a blessing for snakeoil salesmen, conspiracy theorists and loons. I don’t know how successful David Wolfe’s products have been in particular, but at least youtube has enabled him to spread the word about his revolutionary insights into the field of medicine, things that no one else has noticed or your doctor don’t want to tell you, and a range of remarkable products you can buy to help you deal with his nefarious, entirely made-up woes and ills. Indeed, he has “over 16 years of dedicated experience and understanding of the inner workings of the human body,” which seems to mean that he has peddled nonsense for the better part of two decades. He seems to have no relevant education.

Did you, for instance, know that dirty electricity is all around you? Well, at least Wolfe is ready to tell you about the dangers of iPads, Kindles, or merely sitting in a room full of electronics. Without proper grounding you will be exposing yourself to harmful radiation (the science behind the claims is, shall we say, a little woolly). Fortunately, Wolfe has the solution – you can buy his grounding mats, grounding sandals and grounding sleeping bags, watch his video, and magically clear yourself of this dark side of electricity.

But Wolfe is, like snake oil salesmen often are, a polymath, and his areas of self-declared expertise are broad. Wolfe is, for instance, a “longevity expert,” and ready to “share with you the most recent advancements and cutting-edge technologies in the field of peak-performance health,” and the benefits of detoxification. All in return for an almost nominal fee.

Indeed, according to himself Wolfe is “the rock star of the superfoods and longevity world, America’s TOP CEOs, Global Ambassadors, Hollywood celebrities, busy professionals, and even the most powerful buying influence in the nation – Moms – all look to David for expert advice in health, beauty, herbalism, nutrition and chocolate!” Currently he is spokesperson for the NUTRiBULLET™ Superfood Nutrition Extractor (precisely as idiotic as it sounds), and co-founder of the online “health magazine” TheBestDayEver.com.

Diagnosis: Plenty to pick from, but Wolfe’s product line must count as one of the more ridiculous ones even on the Internet. It’s not hard to see how some could come to suspect that Wolfe may not himself be convinced by every aspect of his own marketing, but we’ll give him the benefit of doubt and just call him out as a ridiculous loon.

“John Woodmorappe” is a pseudonym, and although his real name is known (heck, even Wikipedia uses it) we are reluctant to out people here, so despite Woodmorappe’s actions we’ll let him stay Woodmorappe. Now, Woodmorappe is a creationist, and a rather central figure, it seems, in the young earth creationist movement. Apparently he does have an M.S. in geology and has done some work in real geology as well, but the last 40 years seem to have been devoted to rank pseudoscience. His long career in the creationist movement and the Creation Research Society has apparently made him something of an authority and grand old man of modern creationism, and he has published extensively in various creationist outlets, magazines and books, including the Answers Research Journal.

His areas of research concern, quixotically, various attempts to get reality to fit a young earth perspective and literal interpretation of the Bible (e.g. through baraminology). This requires some, shall we say, desperate measures, rather overwhelming levels of denialism, and appeal to miracles. As for denial, his early paper “Radiometric Dating Reappraised” is probably a good example (it is reviewed here) of the kinds of intellectually hoops he tries to get through. That paper was later developed into the book The Mythology of Modern Dating Methods, though the arguments were hardly improved.

Woodmorappe is perhaps best known for his book Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study (mildly critical review here), which after feebly trying to defend the global flood myth of the Bible goes on to push a remarkable array of desperate, fallacious (e.g. this) and internally dubiously consistent arguments to suggest that the Ark was, indeed, possible. Just like “scientists” did in Medieval Times, I suppose. Of course, always having Goddidit as a fallback strategy helps, but Woodmorappe actually tries to do without it. He fails, and he fails miserably (e.g. because of this, this, and this). And now, 30 years later, he still fails, miserably.

Diagnosis: Yes, this is what a respected research in the young earth creationist movement looks like. It’s almost pitiful. Woodmorappe’s envy of how things worked back in the Middle Ages, when researchers were apparently not yet corrupted, is telling, though.

Willie Wooten is the founder of the New Orleans-based Gideon International Christian Fellowship and self-proclaimed Apostle who claims to have “had a positive influence in the governmental arena and has been instrumental in preventing ungodly laws from being enacted within the state of Louisiana and also throughout our nation.” He was also an official endorser of Texas Governor Rick Perry’s 2011 The Response prayer rally. Which “ungodly laws”? Oh, but you have already guessed that, right? Wooten is a critic of gay rights, has compared being gay to polygamy and incest, and argued that “homosexual marriage is not a civil rights issue; it’s a moral issue. It is a deviant type of behavior and lifestyle. How do they do it? It’s too nasty.” His efforts have accordingly been targeted at legislation in Louisiana that would grant gay and lesbian couples legal rights and protect gays and lesbians from employment discrimination and school bullying. Indeed, Wooten claims that since black legislators have often proposed such legislation, the black community faces a curse from God; in particular, disasters “heaped upon” Louisiana's black community occur because “a lot of our legislators are not on the side of God and His moral laws.”

As a matter of fact, Wooten has written a book about how the African American community is under a curse from God because black leaders have promoted liberalism and the Democratic Party. Breaking The Curse Off Black America is a lengthy screed blaiming African American political and religious leaders for crossing God through “immorality,” causing God (who apparently assigns punishment according to racial delineations) to punish African Americans by curses of “adultery, incest, children from incestuous union, children born out-of-wedlock, destroyed virginity, bestiality, homosexuality, lesbianism.” So there’s that. Also, “[t]he man of God could not have his testicles damaged or defective. This speaks of his inability to procreate. There is an inability by far too many black leaders to produce sons of God who are truly spiritual people.” The medical community should apparently take note.

Diagnosis: Hopelessly idiotic bigot. One of many such, of course, but that’s hardly an excuse.

Deliverance minister Win Worley, who used to claim that oral sex demons “reside in the mouth, lips, tongue, taste buds, throat, sex organs and the mind” (search him out on youtube) is apparently dead, which is a pity since he was jolly good fun. Still, in terms of sheer crazy, Worley wouldn’t hold a candle to David Wozney. Wozney is a creationist. In fact, Wozney is – how to put it – a dinosaur denialist and a moon landing denialist. Among other things. Those “other things” unfortunately also seems to include “Canadian”, so he is disqualified. He still needed to be mentioned, however, because he seems to have been the inspiration for this one (whatever else you do today, and if you haven’t done so before, read that one.) The Cyndy Kenickell in question is, apparently, not only a dinosaur denialist, but has her own conspiracy theory about them: dinosaurs were invented to support birth control.

A long but necessary introduction, this, to an otherwise relatively short entry. Jeremiah Wright is an abysmally lunatic dingbat preacher and Pastor Emeritus of Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC). Wright would probably have lingered in obscurity were it not for his connection to the Obamas (which was almost as tight as the Bush connection to the Moonies) – TUCC used to be their group, and it took an uncanny amount of time before the Obamas severed all ties to Wright and kicked him out of certain positions of power to which he was initially appointed. Of course, wingnut media was all over the Obama-Wright connection and usually focused on the wrong aspects of Wright’s ideological positions, but they were, indeed, very much right that Wright is a severe lunatic.

Indeed Wright is a proponent of virtually every looney conspiracy theory available. For instance, according to Wright (in one of his infamous and much-reported sermons) “[t]he government lied about Pearl Harbor too. They knew the Japanese were going to attack.” And not only that, Wright believes that the US government themselves invented the HIV virus as a “means of genocide against people of color” (here, for instance).

And, of course, when Obama severed his ties to Wright, Wright promptly blamed the Jews. Yes, that’s right. At present, Obama is in the grip of the Jewish conspiracy. In the case of things happening that you don’t like, blame those things on the inherent evils and moral inferiority of a minority. That has always worked so well in the past. Dimly realizing some problems here Wright later attempted to apologize, but the apologies were predictably feeble.

Diagnosis: Zealous and moronic conspiracy theorist. His influence is, in fact, and as opposed to the beliefs of some wingnut conspiracy theorists, fairly limited. But that doesn’t make him any less moronic.

John C. Wright is apparently a fairly popular science fiction writer, as well as a conservative Catholic with an ax to grind. We are not here going to engage with his rather staggeringly dishonest or – if not dishonest – batshit crazy defenses of Vox Day or Orson Scott Card or his claims to be persecuted on their behalf (“When Mr Card is being punished for speaking out against homosex, he is being punished for being a true Christian”). That’s been dealt with elsewhere (also here). Let us instead have a look at his own take on the issues that originally led to criticisms of Day and Card. You see, Wright is a firm misogynist and staunch opponent of contraception. That combination has a tendency to produce some painfully stupid arguments, and boy, how Wright delivers. Says Wright:

“In order to understand the perfect sexual experience, we first must say what sex is: […] The sex act is the act of sexual union in sexual reproduction. The sexes, however, are spiritual rather than physical: men are masculine in psychology and mind and soul, masculine in speech and deportment and nuance in all they do just as women are feminine. The sexual union is spiritual, ordered toward the end of reproduction.”

The staggeringly fallacious appeal to nature doesn’t even begin characterize that mess of garbled stupidity, but it does provide some clues to how Wright is going to get to his conclusion, right?

“Since sex is ordered toward reproduction, anything that hinders it is an imperfection. Prudence, if nothing else, would warn potential mother and potential fathers not to do the act which makes you a mother or a father until you have a household and loving union ready to rear children. If you are artificially sterile, or using contraception, you are holding back, you are not passionate about the sex, you are trying to use the sex rather than surrender to the sex.”

Hence, contraception is wrong because … ? Oh, but he isn’t done. What, do you think, is the woman’s duty in all this?

“For her part, she must vow to love and honor and obey. And if you do not understand about that obey part, you do not understand women. She wants a leader, an alpha male, a chief, a Christ, and you must be willing to die for her as Christ was willing to die for you, or she will not feel secure in your love. If she does not swear to obey, you are not a couple, not a dyad, not a unit, but are still two sovereigns dealing with each other at arm’s length, not intimate, and she cannot trust you fully, cannot love you fully, not with a divine and self-sacrificing love.”

The best that can be said of the argument is that it gives us a fascinating glimpse into the workings of a mind unencumbered by reason, sanity or decency.

And furthermore, did you know that Christianity is the source of all decency? Without Christianity, there would be no compassion, love or virtue, but only shame, exploitation and darkness. Since compassion, love and virtue exist exclusively in Christian traditions and the extent to which others exhibit these virtues it is because of their Christian cultural heritage. And note that“pagan non-Christian” is synonymous with “Leftist”, which is – apparently – synonymous with “political activist”.

Wright is also a global warming denialist on the authority of John Coleman, founder of the Weather Channel, who cited the Oregon Petition as evidence for a broad scientific consensus denying AGW. What about evolution? According to Wright: “Darwinism is not only correctly called a theory, it even more correctly called an unscientific theory, a philosophical theory, in that it is not open to disproof by normal scientific means of measurement, observation, experimentation; and it makes no testable predictions.” No, he doesn’t have the faintest clue, and to clinch it: “There is no such thing as ‘Darwin’s Law’ parallel to ‘Newton’s Law’ because Darwin makes no predictions of outcomes.” Uh, no, that’s not the distinction between a scientific theory and a scientific law. And did you know that “the discovery of genetics and the more careful study of the fossil record has demolished both the idea of gradual changes, and robbed the Darwinists of any understandable mechanism [no, he gives no details] whereby organisms gradually and naturally go from, for example, 48 chromosomes in an ape to 46 chromosomes in their alleged descendants, human beings”? No, Wright didn’t bother to consult the what scientists say about those chromosomes, but hey, what did you expect after his rant against contraception above.

Diagnosis: Flamboyantly crazy and comprehensive denialist as well as, frankly, a freak.

Jonathan V. Wright is the founder and medical director of Tahoma Clinic in Renton, Washington, where he also practices medicine (except for when he was suspended for 90 days beginning in the summer of 2013). Though he does have a medical education, Wrights’s current medical efforts are probably more accurately reflected by his honorary degree in naturopathy from Bastyr University (not an institution where you learn things about the world; Wright was on its board of directors for twelve years).

The Tahoma Clinic focuses on naturopathic treatment and “bioenergetic analysis” and Wright is associated with the Meridian Valley Lab, listed as a laboratory doing “nonstandard medical testing” by Quackwatch. In other words, Wright’s work is suffused with pseudoscience, woo, bullshit and crackpottery, and includes for instance the scientifically unsupported practice of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy and the triple-estrogen formula triest (based on a single, “most preliminary ofstudies” that tracked a small number of women for a short amount of time and contradicted previous research results). No obstacle for Wright, whose powers of intuition apparently trumps any scientific evidence (no follow-up studies were conducted to determine whether the formula was effective or safe.) Suzanne Somers, who has no medical education or any trace of medical understanding, was very enthusiastic about Wright’s unsupported bullshit in her book Knockout, which counts as pretty good evidence that said unsupported bullshit is, in fact, utter bullshit.

Wright is perhaps most famous for being the president and co-founder (with Roy Kupsinel, a “holistic” practitioner from Florida) of the American Quack Association, a forum for practitioners whose ideas are rejected by mainstream medicine, to provide emotional support, promote their practices and “[poke] fun at their critics.” The organization, which ceased operations in 1989, was of course so named to display a certain level of tongue-in-cheek, but the name was apparently a bit more apt than they intended. From 1993 to 1998 Wright also helped lead the National Health Federation, a group whose primary goal is to abolish government regulation of health-care activities, and which also promotes a range of conspiracy theories and other crazy.

Wright also promotes “natural” treatments of cardiovascular diseases, asthma, diabetes, the use of D-mannose for bladder infection, health benefits of Vitamin D unsupported by evidence, and is a member of a long row of crank and crackpot organizations and groups (including the American Academy of Environmental Medicine). His books have apparently achieved quite some popularity, and include the Book of Nutritional Therapy and Guide to Healing with Nutrition, Eating Clean For Dummies (with Linda Larsen) and Stay Young & Sexy with Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement: The Science Explained(with Lane Lenard), as well as the newsletter Nutrition and Healing. Sheer quackery, most of it.

Diagnosis: Insidious ultra-crackpot, and apparently one of the most dangerous in the US. Wright has enjoyed an uncanny level of success for advice that is either unsupported by the evidence or demonstrably bullshit, yet such is the powers of confirmation bias, regression to the mean and anecdotes that his fans may well never realize.

Katie Wright is a particularly obtuse and fanatical anti-vaccine activist, who writes for the blog Age of Autism (not a place to go for reliable information, to put things diplomatically). As most members of the movement Wright is staunchly anti-science. She knows that vaccines are bad, and lead to autism, and no science, evidence, reason, truth or reality is going to tell her otherwise. Hence, for Wright, any studies that suggest that she is wrong (which would, in fact, be all properly done studies) are dismissed on ad hominem grounds (this one is pretty glaring) – since she doesn’t like the results, the scientists behind the study must be in a conspiracy against, well, it’s a bit unclear (she has no background, expertise or discernible understanding of any relevant field – reading Wright is really like reading a case study in Dunning-Kruger). Indeed, she’s even declared that whereas she used to think she would donate her child’s body to science if he were ever to die, she has changed her mind – since scientific studies may have results that contradict her deeply set beliefs.

When it is suggested that the media should abstain from giving equal time to the reality-free delusions of anti-vaccinationists, Wright is a bit miffed. That’s “censorship”. And when Kathleen Sebelius suggests it, it’s “like something that would happen in a communist dictatorship.” Just like the Discovery Institute complaints regarding evolution, in fact. Wright’s delusions are hers, and it’s everyone’s – especially the media’s – duty to take them as seriously as they take claims based on actual evidence, scientific rigor, and reality.

Wright is also a founding member of the CTI Science Foundation, together with Julie Obradovic and Jenny McCarthy’s “co-author”Jerry Kartzinel. The CTI Science Foundation is not about science-based treatments or support for the parents of autistic children, of course. It is about providing said parents with misinformation and quack treatments, such as Boyd Haley’s OSR#1, a toxic product with potential side effects – but it’s alternative; it’s natural, and it fits smoothly into the quack science mythology of the loons and denialists at Age of Autism and the CTI Science Foundation.

Diagnosis: Desperately delusional anti-science crank; unfortunately, some people actually seem to listen to her distortions, misrepresentations, and misunderstandings of the basic tenets of reasonable assessment of any subject matter.

Wendy Wright is a creationist, wingnut, conspiracy theorist, former president and CEO of Concerned Women for America (CWfA; good resource on them here), and currently vice president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute. As such, Wright is an advocate for “legislation and international policies that are beneficial to women and families,” where “beneficial” means “in line with her choice of fundamentalist bigotry.” Indeed, her job at the CWfA was to “brief congressional and presidential staff on pro-family issues, and train grassroots activists.” Her new job is apparently to stop the girl scouts’ “radical, feminist, pro-abortion agenda”. (She previously argued that the Girl Scouts and Planned Parenthood were “working together to steal children’s innocence and make them vulnerable to the negative consequences of promiscuity thereby creating clients for their abortion and STD services,” a conspiracy theory so insane that I’m not sure even whale.to would have published it without hesitating.)

The CWfA (founded by Beverly LaHaye), which to those who didn’t know better would easily come across as a parody of the Anti-Sex League in George Orwell’s 1984, is predictably opposed to anything good, just, fair or right in a society, from the standpoint of objecting to what they – as wingnut fundie radicals – view as the “sex-saturated culture” of America. Their attacks are launhed against pretty much anyone who isn’t an American, Christian, heterosexual male, and in particular against freedom of choice, Muslims, homosexuals, and everything remotely resembling anything having to do with women’s rights, including equal pay, abortion, and maternity leave (women should instead leave the workforce permanently). The CWfA has stated that publicly funded HIV screening and publicly funded STD treatment are objectionable programs, because the results of such results may conceivably lead to people being able to skirt their just and horrible punishment for what the CWfA defines as promiscuous lifestyles.

And of course there are hidden agendas, especially those promoted by gay rights defenders, of course. According to Wright one of the greatest threats to America today is the power gay “bullies” have over the government. Take sex-ed classes. To Wright “they want to encourage [kids to choose to have sex] because they benefit when kids end up having sexually transmitted diseases, unintended pregnancies and then they lead them into having abortions, so you have to look at the financial motives behind those who are promoting comprehensive sex education.” Please read that at least twice. And yes, the standard of argumentation is fairly typical of Wendy Wright. Here, for instance, Wright and Chelsen Vicari denounce Jon Stewart’s hypocrisy – that is, they denounce the discrimination against Christians for which Stewart was responsible in a hypothetical scenario that they invented. Then they took this to be evidence of a systematic persecution of Christians by liberals. To get an idea of how ingrained is Wright’s persecution complex, note that she has, in addition to fictional examples, tried to use the Crusadesas an example of anti-Christian persecution.

As for anti-gay activism, one of the main tools of the CWfA is myth-spreading, such as equating homosexuality with pedophilia, downplaying numbers of homophobic hate crimes and endorsing hoaxes (here is Iowa state director of CWfa, Tamara Scott, trying to argue that gay marriage is bad for the economy). Those efforts has resulted in them being correctly labelled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Indeed, when a study published in the journal Pediatrics found that children raised in lesbian households were psychologically well-adjusted and had fewer behavioral problems than their peers, Wright rejected the results out of hand as “biased”, without actually discussing the results, and because the results“just def[y] common sense and reality” (thereby of course also splendidly revealing why Wright should be careful to talk about “bias”; not that she’ll ever notice). Her arguments against abortion– she has even testified before the UN – are similarly based on her imagination and “common sense”.

Another – very much related – mainstay for the CWfA is pushing religion and pseudoscience in public schools, including school prayer and Intelligent Design. Wright herself is a hardcore evolution denialist, claiming that evolution is based on a series of hoaxes and no evidence whatsoever – there are, for instance, no transitional fossils, according to Wright. That her arguments have been refuted a thousand times is apparently of little concern to her, and when their flaws are pointed out to her she tends to respond by accusing her critics of ad hominem attacks. That she has no expertise on any remotely related issues, or that those who do uniformly disagree with her, is of no concern to her. Indeed, Wright has argued that (apparently since she doesn’t like the results scientists arrive at) it shouldn’t only be scientists doing science; even the uneducated should be empowered to debate scientific facts and flatly deny evidence. Accordingly, Wright thinks that “evolutionists” are “oppressive” because “they won’t let other ideas through,” just because those other ideas fail to even remotely accord with the evidence.

Wright is also opposed to environmentalism, apparently viewing it as an anti-Christian conspiracy.

There is a good Wendy Wright resource here.

Diagnosis: Phyllis Schlafly and Beverly LaHaye appear almost reasonable by comparison.

Ok, so I am not entirely sure this one’s really worth covering, but here you go. Vinstonas “Winston” Wu is the guy behind the admittedly sporadically updated website The Scientific Committee Exposing Pseudo-Skeptical Cynicism of the Paranormal, or “SCEPCOP.” The website seems devoted to championing every crazy idea for which there is no evidence whatsoever, and seems to be loosely based on a rant Wu wrote in 2001 on why standard skeptical arguments against the paranormal are wrong. According to Wu, the document seems to be, as rationalwiki puts it, “the single greatest thing to happen to the anti-reality movement since hallucinogenic drugs.”

Wu, who according to himself “is considered by his fans to be the most freethinking Asian since Bruce Lee, and arguably of all-time as well” combats what he deems to be “pseudoskeptics”, which seems to be supposed to denote anyone who doesn’t take personal testimony, anecdotes, and idle speculation as proof of the paranormal, in particular James Randi. His website appears not to be particularly active, however, and part of the reason we had some qualms about giving Wu an entry here is this.

The website promotes several individuals as SCEPCOP committee members, though it is a bit unclear whether these have agreed to serve on the committee. The individuals in question include (apparently Australian) Victor Zammit, a lawyer and fan of near-death experiences who has offered a “million dollar prize” to any skeptic who can refute his claimed evidence by convincing a committee of true believers apparently appointed by him that you have refuted the evidence “beyond any doubt” (he doesn’t seem to see the problem with that criterion), and Internet-famed homeopathy promoter John Benneth.

Diagnosis: Well, let’s be kind and just conclude that Wu’s arguments seem, at times, to be somewhat misguided, and that he lacks a clear understanding of the significance, value and nature of evidence.

Mary Nell Wyatt (I think). Couldn't
find a picture of Rhodes (we doubt that
she is related to the late actress).

But of course. Combining “Biblical history” with “alternative” New Age pseudo-egyptology must have been just irresistible to people of a certain mindset, and the present entry concerns pseudo-archaelogy fans who try to argue that the Joseph of the Old Testament (whose stay in Egypt or even existence has of course not been even remotely suggested by any other source than the Old Testament) was Imhotep, the Vizier of the 3rd Dynasty Pharao. The kinds of hoops these pseudo-scholars have to jump through to back up their claims, and the kinds of inconsistencies they have to try to overlook, are as stunning as anything in New Age pseudo-history. The claims are extensively discussed here, and include Betty Rhodes’s meaningless and misguided musings about etymology and Mary Nell Wyatt’s attempt to reinterpret the significance of aerial photos of ancient Egyptian constructions. At least Wyatt tries, feebly enough, to make the chronology add up, which it doesn’t.

Mary Nell Wyatt is, apparently, the widow of legendary fundamentalist and Indiana Jones wannabe Ron Wyatt, and has written extensively in defense of the insane claims made by her late husband as well as continuing Ron’s quixotic quest to identify (mostly by pareidolia, motivated reasoning and outright lies) archaeological evidence for the literal truth of the Bible (as discussed e.g. here). Some of her “discoveries” are published in her book The Boat-Shaped Object

on Doomsday Mountain, which indeed concerns the Noah’s Ark that her husband discovered. Her Joseph/Imhotep claims are here (ArkDiscovery is a gloriously insane website run by Wyatt fan Kevin Fisher).

Betty Rhodes seems, apart from the penchant for ridiculous pseudo-archaeology, to share little else with Mary Wyatt. Rhodes seems – though information is a bit hard to locate – to be coming to pseudoarchaeology from, shall we say, an “astrological point of view.” Her “research” articles can be found here.

Diagnosis: Whatever motivates them these people are as unattached to any feature of reality as it is possible to be while having any reasonable chance of surviving everyday life. They are probably rather harmless to most people other than themselves – Ron Wyatt still has some fans, I suppose, but he’ll hardly recruit any who weren’t irretrievably lost to reality or reason already.

Paul Yanick Jr. is the president of the American Academy of Quantum Medicine (AAQM), which is said to “promote the study of the bioelectrical and bioresonance systems and subsystems in the human body with the purpose of correlating appropriate therapeutic protocols that promote the human body’s own self-healing and self regeneration capacities.” In other words, no. No address is registered for the AAQM, except that it’s a “Nevada, tax exempt organization”. The organization is discussed here.

Another website presents Yanick as “an expert in the emerging [i.e. imaginary] field of Quantum Medicine, with over thirty years of extensive clinical experience.” He is also “a board-certified naturopath,” and a “CNC”, which stands for “Certified Nutritional Consultant,” a worthless crackpot certification issued by the American Association of Nutrition Consultants (described in some detail here). Indeed, he is also a “C.Q.M.,” which seems to mean “certified in quantum medicine,” and is probably issued by himself.

So what is quantum medicine supposed to be? According to Yanick’s book, Quantum Medicine, he “has brought together multidisciplinary research with the insights of quantum physics [i.e. mixed quantum physics, of which he shows no evidence of having the faintest understanding, with woo and quasi-theological musings] to show that the human body is controlled and regulated by the human energy system,” i.e. chi. According to naturopath Stephen Linsteadt, “[t]he quantum level possesses the highest level of coherence within the human organism [try to explain what that could possibly mean]. Sick individuals with weak immune systems or cancer have poor and chaotic coherence [ditto] with disturbed biophoton cellular communication. Therefore, disease can be seen as the result of disturbances on the cellular level that act to distort the cell’s quantum perspective [a metaphor; do you wanna bet whether it’s cashed out?]. This causes electrons to become misplaced [unexplained] in protein molecules and metabolic processes become derailed [not further explained] as a result.” Accordingly, the “quantum naturopath recognizes that quantum coherence provides the fundamental resonance communication system of the body,” though as the claim is not even close to being meaningful it is unclear what they are said to recognize. Nevertheless, all “quantum naturopathic therapies must, therefore, be aimed at re-establishing cellular resonance. Quantum naturopaths are experts in bio-energetic nutrition with an emphasis on providing adequate defenses for free radical damage and re-establishing the body’s bio-electric communication system by detoxifying the connective tissue matrix.” And that is probably among the most densely concentrated bullshit we have ever read. But the upshot is that “quantum medicine” practitioners have invented a nonexistent “energy system” to peddle products and procedures to their clients.

Among such products are Quantum Energy Foods, which are said to “provide the body with a synergistic array of thousands of known and unknown antioxidants, nutrients and powerful nutraceutical compounds that keep the body healthy against the ill effects of today’s high levels of pollution and stress” and the products of NutraSpectrum, a dietary supplement manufacturer (not, apparently, the current owner of that website) whose “quantum nutrition products” allegedly “integrate Oriental medicine, Ayurveda, homeopathy, European and native American herbology, naturopathic medicine, and the latest advances of quantum physics and nutritional biochemistry.”

Diagnosis: Hard to believe Yanick’s just a loon, but there is some reason to think he actually believes most of the hogwash he peddles. His claims on behalf of his products and services are at least characterizied by their low count of claims that counts even as being meaningful – words borrowed from science are strung together in apparently arbitrary order.

David Yerushalmi is a lawyer and a political activist, and a driving force behind the anti-sharia movement in the United States – which already means that you have to be pretty thoroughly delusional. He is co-founder and Senior Counsel of the American Freedom Law Center (with Robert Muise), touted as “the first truly authentic Judeo-Christian public interest law firm” whose mission is “to fight for faith and freedom by advancing and defending America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and moral foundation through litigation, education, and public policy program,” and General Counsel to the Center for Security Policy, a think tank founded by Frank Gaffney. He is also the principal drafter of the American Laws for American Courts model legislation, an effort to prevent courts from taking foreign or international law into account; the legislation is in particular aimed at banning sharia, and has indeed been enacted into law in several states including Louisiana, Tennessee, Arizona, Kansas, and Oklahoma. As the American Bar Association, who generally opposes such measures, puts it, such legislation is “duplicative of safeguards that are already enshrined in federal and state law,” and rather obviously aimed at “stigmatiz[ing] an entire religious community.” Of course, some orthodox Jewish groups have been worried about such measures, since it would also outlaw halachah. According to Yerushalmi, however, that’s different, apparently primarily since shariah is Muslim and halachah is not.

More insidiously, Yerushalmi is the founder of SANE, the Society of Americans for National Existence, which has suggested, among other things, that:

- It shall be a felony punishable by 20 years in prison to knowingly act in furtherance of, or to support the, adherence to Islam.

- The Congress of the United States of America shall declare the US at war with the Muslim Nation or Umma.

- The President of the United States of America shall immediately declare that all non-US citizen Muslims are Alien Enemies under Chapter 3 of Title 50 of the US Code and shall be subject to immediate deportation.

- No Muslim shall be granted an entry visa into the United States of America.

So, according to Yerushalmi the “War on Terror” should be a war on Islam “and all Muslim faithful,” and the measures just mentioned would outlaw Islam and deporting Muslims and other “non-Western, non-Christian” people with the goal of protecting the United States’ “national character.” Given his own Jewish background I suppose he might have heard a thing or two about the efficacy of introducing such measures.

Yerushalmi is also very much opposed to a politically correct culture that prevents him from questioning why “the founding fathers did not give women or black slaves the right to vote.” Indeed, “There is a reason the founding fathers did not give women or black slaves the right to vote. You might not agree or like the idea but this country’s founders, otherwise held in the highest esteem for their understanding of human nature and its affect on political society, certainly took it seriously. Why is that? Were they so flawed in their political reckonings that they manhandled the most important aspect of a free society – the vote? If the vote counts for so much in a free and liberal democracy as we ‘know’ it today, why did they limit the vote so dramatically?” Indeed. He has also called black people “the most murderous of peoples.”

But Yerushalmi is also your standard wingnut across the board, and has not been exclusively occupied with his paranoid anti-Islam delusions and racism. In 2010, Yerushalmi and Muise filed the first federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, complaining about the “government’s takeover of the healthcare industry.” When they lost they, predictably subscribing to the rightwing myth of “activist judges,” described the judges as having made “a political decision.”

Diagnosis: Pretty close to being a standard white supremacist. A lot of people seem nevertheless more than willing to listen to him. A scary fellow.

#1260: Ronald J. Williams

#1261: Thompson "Tom" Willis

#1262: Gordon Wilson

#1263: Dawn Winkler

#1264: Pamela Winnick

#1265: Kurt Wise

#1266: Stephen Wise

#1267: Terence Witt

#1268: David Wolfe

#1269: John Woodmorappe

#1270: Willie Wooten

#1271: Jeremiah Wright

#1272: John C. Wright

#1273: Jonathan V. Wright

#1274: Katie Wright

#1275: Wendy Wright

#1276: Vinstonas "Winston" Wu

#1277: Mary Nell Wyatt, Betty Rhodes et al.

#1278: Paul Yanick

#1279: David Yerushalmi