Quantcast
Channel: Encyclopedia of American Loons
Viewing all 2333 articles
Browse latest View live

#1491: Jerry Cox

$
0
0

Arkansas isn’t often stereotyped as a hub for reason, rationality or civilization, and “Arkansas Family Council Action Committee” does have an ominous ring to it. And sure enough, it was behind a 2007 state referendum that would ban all adoptions by unmarried couples – the explicit purpose being of course to prevent gay couples from adopting (they really, really hate them), but the referendum targeted at all unmarried couples since, as its executive director Jerry Cox put it, such a proposal “would better withstand a judge’s review.” Which is, of course, rather blithely admitting that the motivation was rank bigotry. It wasn’t very successful. And when the courts decided to overturn the constitutional ban on gay marriage, Cox argued that it was “judicial tyranny”, which is of course just a stupid way of saying that he wanted a different outcome.

Cox, though, has his eyes on matters outside of Arkansas as well. For instance, regarding California’s Harvey Milk Day – a state holiday –  Cox warned everyone that by honoring Milk, children will be forced to cross-dress and have mock gay weddings, while complaining that they never honor religious right leaders, something for which he might inadvertently have provided a reason.

His group has also a long history of trying to convince state legislators that helping the poor is not a government responsibility because family values.

Diagnosis: Oh, I don’t know. Evil, twisted, sick fundamentalist with the reasoning skills of the Taliban version of whale.to, perhaps?

#1492: Paul Craft

$
0
0

Paul Craft is a wingnut activist writing for Alan Keyes’ Renew America. That should actually cover things pretty decently, but I suppose I cannot help but mention his perhaps most celebrated contribution to the website, a 2013 article arguing that those states that want to ban same-sex marriage should just secede from the United States because God will bless them if they do. Also, though he didn’t have space to emphasize this in his article, look how well that worked last time. In fact, his argument, that “[i]f a new nation is formed under the Laws given down by God and the values passed down by our forefathers, this new nation will be blessed,” was in fact precisely an argument used during the Civil War as well. He doesn’t specify the extent to which he actually want to use the laws of the Bible as the constitutional foundation for these seceded states.

Diagnosis: These people actually wield some influence over the crazy. And there are apparently a lot of crazies.

#1493: Gary Craig

$
0
0

We already covered Gary Craig back in the day, in our entry on Roger Callahan, but given his influence on the contemporary quackery movement we decided that it was only proper to give him his own. Craig is the inventor – or at least the most famous promoter – of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) (an excellent primer here), a form of counseling intervention that draws on a variety of New Age woo including acupuncture, neuro-linguistic programming, energy medicine, and Thought Field Therapy; or “a hodgepodge of concepts derived from a variety of sources [primarily] the ancient Chinese philosophy of chi, which is thought to be the ‘life force’ that flows throughout the body.” In particular, the EFT therapist attempts to manipulate the body’s energy field (i.e. its ghost aura) by tapping on acupuncture points to manipulate meridians while a specific traumatic memory is being focused on by the patient. According to Craig, after all Einstein “told us back in the 1920s that everything (including our bodies) is composed of energy,” and that’s the energy EFT helps you unlock … you don’t need much background in physics to be able to call bullshit here. EFT is nevertheless the foundation for the branch of utter quackery known as “energy psychology”, which has apparently been endorsed even by some real, accredited practitioners who have no clue as to how to assess evidence or plausibility. Craig himself is an engineer.

EFT claims to solve help with all sorts of emotional challenges by eliminating negative emotions, eliminate overeating, reduce pain and program the victim patient for positive goals. It can even remedy physical diseases, including – but of course – cancer. Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t work. It is pure pseudoscience and has no benefit as a therapy beyond the placebo effect or any known-to-be-effective psychological techniques that may be provided in addition to the purported ‘energy’ technique. And the principles on which it is grounded are, as if that needed further emphasis, utter and demonstrable bullshit.

That hasn’t prevented people like energy psychology proponent David Feinstein from concluding that energy psychology is a potential “rapid and potent treatment for a range of psychological conditions.” Feinstein based this conclusion on a “review” that deliberatedly ignored several research papers that did not show positive effects of EFT. Nor, of course, did Feinstein disclose his conflict of interest as an owner of a website that sells energy psychology products such as books and seminars, against the best practice of research publication. The criticism of his review hasn’t affected Feinstein and his practices.

Craig himself is also a fan of the work of Sandi Radomski.

Diagnosis: In fairness, Craig probably means well, and has released his manual to the public free or charge. But really, good intentions just isn’t enough when it takes the form of something as silly as EFT.

#1494: Jennifer Craig

$
0
0

Medical Voices is a website that allegedly is supposed to provide medical information, but as you have guessed it is not a place you should go if you care for accurate, evidence-based or correctinformation. Instead we get things like the article “Smallpox Vaccine: Origins of Vaccine Madness” by one Jennifer Craig, BSN, MA, Ph.D, DHom (oh, yeah: Diploma in Homeopathic Medicine), although she did, interestingly enough, not mention that in the article). In the article Craig claims that small pox has not been eradicated. It is still around, but has been renamed as either chicken pox or monkey pox. Because why else would they sound so similar or something (one does perhaps sense some principles of homeopathy at work here)?

Apparently she has also written a book, Jabs, Jenner and Juggernauts: a Look at Vaccination, which I don’t exactly yearn to read. Oh, and she may also be Canadian. We haven’t really bothered to check, and her crazy has at least been promoted by Fred Bloem, so it has at least made its way into the US.

Diagnosis: Don’t, whatever you do, take your medical advice from this one. Please.

#1495: Steve Crampton

$
0
0

After the American Family Association closed its Center for Law and Policy, attorney Steve Crampton has continued his career as deranged bigot at another and arguably even more fervently insane anti-gay group, Liberty Counsel, where he is currently Vice President of Legal Affairs. As you probably have guessed, Crampton has little time for truth when it doesn’t serve his political goals, which it rarely does (though Crampton was very excited about the refuted Regnerus study, asserting that “true science” will always “reinforce and strengthen what the Scripture tells us from the start”, which is analytically true the way he uses it since “true science” is defined as corresponding to Scripture). Instead, Crampton relies on insane hyperbole and paranaoia to underpin his arguments, for instance to the effect that overturning Proposition 8 would lead to “societal collapse” just like legalizing gay marriage did in Canada, or that SCOTUS overturning DOMA would lead to the homosexual agenda “eradicat[ing] us,” presumably just like legalizing interracial marriages did. You see, gay rights activism is “the most totalitarian kind of philosophy that is afoot in America today” (it is rather unclear why, but such claims don’t bear explanation so Crampton prefers not to tell us) and by efforts like the Day of Silence, “we are sending [students] a death certificate”. “The life of the average homosexual is not controlled by reason,” says Crampton, though we remain unconvinced that Crampton has the faintest idea about how to recognize reason. In addition to gays, Crampton has identified ACLU as an important enemy, and as expected he attacks them with everything he’s got, which means mostly baldfaced lies.

As a response to SCOTUS actually overturning DOMA (which has thus far failed to eradicate us), Crampton called for civil disobedience, though remained unclear about precisely what civil disobedience would amount to in this case (protest outside gay marriage ceremonies? picket funerals for American soldiers?) He didn’t really expand on his argument that banning ex-gay therapy is just like promoting eugenics either, though we would really like to hear precisely how that argument is supposed to go.

Interestingly, there was a guy named “Steve Crampton” among Bob Cornuke’s expedition to locate Noah’s ark in 2006 (pretty successful, according to themselves). We assume that it’s the same person.

Diagnosis: Whereas his fellow Matt Barber usually cooks up some insane reasons to tenuously support his conclusions, Crampton seems to usually not even try. Perhaps he harbors a suspicion that there are no reasons, but we suspect that he rather hasn’t quite grasped the point of offering reasons and premises in his arguments to begin with or why people care about such things.

#1496: Mark Creech

$
0
0

Rev. Mark Creech is “Executive Director of the Christian Action League of North Carolina, Inc.” and a raging fundie. He has also been given the opportunity to write columns on politics for RenewAmerica, where he for instance argues against the separation of church and state with such mindnumbingly stupid misunderstandings and strawmen – also, fake Founding Father quotes from David Barton – that it must count as borderline “original”, even for RenewAmerica: Basically, the idea of freedom of religion pushed by the ACLU and others jeopardizes America’s other basic freedoms, the freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, and freedom from the abuses of government, by trying to ban people from letting their moral convictions influence voting behavior. Yeah, you’d like to see that argument. Here it is (no, I don’t link to the original).

Creech is very concerned with liberty in general. That’s why was very much in favor of an NC provision eliminating early voting on Sundays (as a rather obvious attempt to make it harder for certain groups to vote). You see, Creech has“always opposed voting on Sunday for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that Sunday is the church’s prime time for developing the character of a nation;” indeed, Sunday voting imperils our freedom because “it is a Sunday-cultivated character that makes an electorate fit to guard and preserve its liberties.” One wonders what those other “reasons” hinted at may be.

That should give you an idea of the reasoning skills and tortured logic of Mark Creech. So, when he applies those same skills to, say, evolution you can sort of imagine the results. After Bill Nye’s 2014 debate with Ken Ham, even Pat Robertson denounced the abject stupidity of young earth creationism, calling for fellow fundies to “not make a joke of ourselves.” Well, Creech … disagreed, praised Ham’s “arguments” and accused Robertson of blasphemy. Any science not explicitly supporting a literal interpretation of the Bible is wrong, blasphemous. The fact that Creech made Pat Robertson come across as the voice of reason here speaks for itself.

But mostly Creech is concerned about politics. And the gays, of course. Recent court rulings on gay marriage, for instance, has made him smell “the smoke of Sodom” (and “heartbroken”); they “will essentially destroy the nation if not reversed,” signal “God’s impending judgment,” and bring an end to opposite-sex marriages and America itself. LGBT-affirming churches are accordingly a traitorous, Satanic “fifth column” within the denomination. Most importantly, Obama is the antichrist; yes, he really is, and he will cause God to destroy America like he destroyed the Tower of Babel (in other words, you need to stop respecting gays, or else Creech’s volatile buddy God will beat you up) and thus usher in the end times, which is supposed to be a criticism – now, we thought fundies were looking forward to the end times, but we suppose Creech can’t help hating Obama either, so … well, Creech hasn’t been much bothered by inconsistencies before. When it comes to international politics, Creech has argued that“hunger is rampant in India” because their “false religion” makes people vegetarians.

Creech has also produced this gem, an interestingly confused rewriting of the Little Red Riding Hood tale as an attack on gay activism (it really is worth checking out).

Diagnosis: And rage trumps coherence yet again. We doubt that Creech has many fans who would have been reasonable, sane and civilized contributors to society if they hadn’t encountered him, but he does, appallingly enough, have his share of fans.

#1497: Billy Crone

$
0
0

Billy Crone is the pastor of Get A Life Ministries (though we’ll refrain from making the obvious silly comments) and a serious fundie. Crone is a young earth creationist who believes, as expected, that dinosaurs and man coexisted on Earth some 6,000 years ago. Apart from that, he believes in UFOs, that secular music is dangerous and that the rapture is coming. The usual stuff.

Crone is known for his tendency to shout throughout his sermons, apparently unaware that volume is a poor substitute for evidence (though, of course, his audience may be under precisely that misconception). But then, Crone’s got little else, except some serious quote-mining and Bible verses that are magnificently irrelevant to the scientific topics he is denying (no, he doesn’t really have much of a clue about evolution), as well as some standard creationist talking points, such as the idea that human population growth shows that the Earth is young or that the Earth’s magnetic field disproves an old Earth (one gets the distinct feeling that he has no idea what he is talking about), or flat out denying that the geological column exists or that any type of dating method reveals anything but Satanic lies.

Diagnosis: Zealous fundie nutter. Probably pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

#1498: Janice Shaw Crouse

$
0
0

Yes, more anti-gay lunacy. Janice Shaw Crouse is a Senior Fellow at the Beverly LaHaye Institute, the think tank serving Concerned Women for America, no less. Much tanking; little thinking, unless you count using hate and rage to fuel one’s persecution imaginations “thinking”.

At least, evidence’s got nothing to do with what Crouse is engaged in. According to Crouse, “the data overwhelmingly says” that homes headed by same-sex couples “are not as good for children.” Of course, the data say exactly the opposite, but that’s presumably an anti-Christian conspiracy. Hence, according to Crouse, gay parents are using children as “guinea pigs”; also gays have a much shorter life span, much higher suicide and STD rates, do not maintain relationships for longer than a year and a half, increased rates of abuse and have multiple sexual partners – all of it based on data pulled from the same nowhere from which she pulled her data on the effect on children (Richard Cohen is a suspect). Then there are the usual conspiracies. Gay marriage will lead to the “imprisonment” of Christians, says Crouse, suggesting instead that we look to the bright and shining example of Russia (who managed to withstand both Napoleon and Hitler, she reminds us, presumably as opposed to the US or UK) and Uganda, whose draconian anti-gay measures she defended with moral relativism – since that allowed her to also critizie Obama’s denunciation of said laws as being tyrannical cultural imperialism – rather than her usual appeal to God’s eternal, unchanging laws. Intellectual honesty is apparently of the devil.

But it’s not allabout gay marriage, of course. Gender equality is another recurring target for Crouse’s paranoid delusions. For instance, the Violence Against Women Act is apparently an insidious program to brainwash judges into becoming pro-decency and equal-worth activists. To really see her go over the rails, however, you can try to watch her argue that“sexual revolution” and “no-fault-divorce” is creating a “boyz-n-hood dystopia”. That’s right. Abortion, sex-ed and anti-poverty measures are to blame for children born outside of marriage, and this is evident to “anyone who will face the realities that are evident should one take a risky drive into certain neighborhoods of our cities.” Which she would certainly never do herself. It would, though, be interesting to see her try to explain the causal mechanisms (she doesn’t, of course).

It is, though, with some resignation she concludes that “perhaps the jihadists are right” about the weakness of the Pro-LGBT decadent West.

Diagnosis: Insane, delusional and fundamentally intellectually bankrupt and dishonest liar. She does seem to carry some influence, but frankly: to be influenced by Janice Shaw Crouse’s rantings, you need to share her characteristic intellectual traits.


#1499: Monica Crowley

$
0
0

Monica Crowley is a wingnut radio host who has carved out a niche for herself as a sort of poor man’s Ann Coulter. She has also served as a guest host on The O’Reilly Factor, where her job was apparently to make Bill O’Reilly look reasonable, and is a member of Frank Gaffney’s Center for Security Policy.

Among her more notable claims are her claim that (http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Monica_Crowley) the French are “arrogant”, based on a survey that says most French people look at themselves in the mirror at least once a day – yes, there is a point about assessing the value of self-awareness to be made here. Mostly, however, she yells about Obama being a “socialist” frequently based on things she imagines, has misunderstood, or is just plain lying about. It’s not only Obama, though. The entertainment industry, for instance, are attempting to “indoctrinate kids” with “anti-capitalist messages” through “The Lego Movie,” “The Muppets” and “RoboCop”, not to mention “It’s A Wonderful Life” – Crowley even cheered on “It’s a Wonderful Life” villain Mr. Potter.

Not surprisingly, Crowley is a global warming denialist, having declared man-made global warming to be a hoax and the science behind it to be ridiculous (no, she wouldn’t have the remotest idea). And that kids learn about global warming in public schools means, to Crowley (and Stuart Varney), that “we are paying for the indoctrination of these kids.”

Diagnosis: Standard wingnut denialist with little aptitude for truth, accuracy or accountability. Nothing particularly original or exciting, but Crowley is still a loon and we have some kind of self-imposed duty to mention her.

#1500: Mark Crutcher

$
0
0

Marcus Hotchkiss Crutcher III is an anti-abortion activist and the founder and president of Life Dynamics Inc. (LDI), most famous (perhaps) as the guy behind the documentary “Maafa 21”. In founding Life Dynamics, Crutcher said that he wanted to fill gaps left by other pro-life organizations, in particular through “counter-intelligence or intelligence-gathering”, i.e. data gathering on abortion-providing facilities and pro-choice organizations. This has led to several publications, e.g. in Citizen (a publication of Focus on the Family and The Christian America. You can sort of imagine how his data gathering process works, and you’d be pretty much right.

For instance, Crutcher promotes the idea that legalized abortion is a big racist scheme to kill black babies. It is, in fact, unlikely that he actually believes this, but it does give him the resources for some ridiculous rhetoric: “We’ve been the victims of a lie in this country that abortion was legalized in order to advance the cause of women’s rights. The reality is that abortion was legalized as an instrument of eugenics and black genocide, and Planned Parenthood continues that today,” and supporting Planned Parenthood is accordingly “is no different than supporting the Ku Klux Klan.” (After all, since Crutcher is a wingnut the statistical correlation between numbers of abortion and poverty is conveniently overlooked.) At least he tries (but fails) to take the moral high road on racism: blacks are still not free and “they’ll never be free as long as abortion remains legal, because it was created as an instrument to get rid of them to begin with.

It’s the same level of intellectual sophistication with which he reacted to the election of Obama in 2008: “… soon the most powerful political office in the world will be handed over to an avowed socialist. This morning, in some fetid corner of hell, Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and Joe Stalin are toasting each other.” Distinctions and definitions, Cruthcer – not your strong suit. “Besides being a Marxist, Barack Obama is the most rabidly pro-abortion, morally defective and completely unqualified person to ever be given the keys to the Oval Office. This man is thoroughly evil, and I have little doubt that we are likely entering into the most dangerous period in the history of our country.” What qualifies Obama as a Marxist, you ask? Oh, the same as always: Marxist = socialist = liberal = evil = non-religious (there is “no such thing as a ‘pro-choice Christian’”) = Muslim = people Crutcher disagree with. Yes, they. It’s all they, and they are in a conspiracy against Crutcher and those who agree with him.

He doesn’t like stem cell research either, and is as tactful and accurate in his criticism of stem cell research as usual.

Diagnosis: Rabidly crazy dingbat. Dangerous.

#1501: Rafael Cruz

$
0
0

No, we won’t give an entry to Ted Cruz. Yes, he’s trying so very, very hard to qualify for one, but (almost) no matter how hard he is trying (including his attempts to sound like a wingnut chain email), he’s not going to convince us that he doesn’t know precisely what he is doing and that his image as an unhinged lunatic is a deliberate ploy to pander to his base (maybe we are making a mistake?). We will, however, give an entry to his father, Rafael Cruz, who has become something of a B-celebrity in wingnut circles after the ascendance of Ted. Now, Rafael Cruz is a seriously delusional moron, and unlike what we suspect is the case for Ted it’s (probably) not just for show.

Like his son, Rafael Cruz has expressed strong political opinions. According to Cruz pere, the United States is a “Christian nation,” the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were a “divine revelation from God,” and the separation of church and state is really a joke. In fact, the Declaration of Independence is nothing more than a collection of sermons and, according to Cruz, over half of the Founding Fathers held “seminary degrees,” which should tell you something (namely that Cruz is a moron with no time for facts whatsoever; yes, the claims – no relation to reality – are taken straight out of David Barton’s Orwellian pseudohistory; it’s not the only garbage Cruz has gotten from Barton). He later tried to support his argument with some Bible verses, and the results would have been hilarious if they weren’t so sad.

Thus, it is shocking to Cruz that “our president has the gall to tell us that this is not a Christian nation …” when it is so obvious to him that “The United States of America was formed to honor the word of God.” Indeed, according to Cruz, Obama is an “outright Marxist” (no, he has no idea what that means; he just doesn’t like it) who “seeks to destroy all concept of God,” and he has urged his audience to send Obama “back to Kenya.” Oh, it might not look like Obama hates God to the sheeple, but that’s because the media is the “ministry of disinformation” with an “evil agenda” who covers up Obama’s real agenda and his active campaigsn against Christians since “socialism, Marxism requires that government become your god” (no, once again he has no idea what socialism or Marxism might be). It is worth mentioning that Ted Cruz himself frequently quotes his father and describes him as an important influence on his own political views and decisions.

Indeed, secular Marxists are destroying America and persecuting Christians as we speak. Not only has the end of mandatory school prayer led to crime and teen pregnancy (a claim that doesn’t hold up to even a cursory glance at statistics); Obama also wants to “take our God and our guns” and “impose a dictatorship” (yes, you may have heard that claim so many times that you only shrug your shoulders, but please give a thought now and then to how abysmally insane and delusional it is) – there is apparently also a UN conspiracy to ban guns involved.

In the end, though, and contrary to what he says, Rafael Cruz really doesn’t like the Constitution and has instead, in fact, preachedSeven Mountains Domionism (in the same speech, he also – interestingly – called upon his audience to “stop electing the village idiot”). He has also suggested placing atheists in camps – all in the name of freedom, of course.

But Rafael Cruz has lent his intellectual brilliance not only to matters of politics. Also science has been subject to his scrutiny. According to Cruz, evolution is “unscientific” and “communist propaganda” designed to lure people to communism. How that’s supposed to work would be interesting to hear, you might think. Well, Cruz does explain: “I’ve met so many Christians that tell me ‘evolution is a scientific fact.’ Baloney! I am a scientist, there is nothing scientific about evolution. But you know something, Karl Marx said it, ‘I can use the teachings of Darwin to promote communism.’ Why? Because communism, or call it socialism if you think communism is too hard a word, necessitates for government to be your god and for government to be your god they need to destroy the concept of God. That’s why communism and evolution go hand and hand.” In short, he has no idea about evolution is, what a scientist is, or what communism is. That makes it easier to connect the dots, I suppose. Here is his attempt to explain evolution. You don’t need high school biology to recognize that his definition is … idiosyncratic. Cruz has also tried to explain Marxism: “You got to realize how Marxist, how socialism works. We need to understand the issues. When you hear all these things about homosexual marriage, this has nothing to do with homosexual rights. Did you know that? The whole objective is the destruction of the traditional family, it has nothing to do with homosexuals, they could care less about homosexuals, they want to destroy the family.” It’s easier to support his position if he doesn’t give a damn about what words mean. Add a bit of conspiracy theory, and you get a word salad like that.

Oh yeah, he doesn’t like gays either. Gay marriage undermines freedom and therefore turns us all into slaves, and he has warned us that God will hold you accountable if transgender people are allowed to use public toilets, as well as publicly endorsed Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore’s claim that states do not have to obey federal court orders. It’s all a plot by which “liberal fascism” seeks “to persecute, to punish, to fine” any Christian who opposes gay marriage, presumably on the grounds that this is (explicitly) the kind of thing Cruz would like to do to those who disagree with him. And no, he doesn’t really understand what marriage equality is either (there’s a pattern to his political positions), and has accordingly concluded that the Supreme Court decision on the issue was based on Satan.

Nor does Cruz like Common Core (which again, predictably, he doesn’t understand). It’s Nazi stuff, attempting to mold “the minds to adopt a secular worldview which destroys American exceptionalism, which destroys the historical foundations of America, which destroys what has made America a unique place in the world.” Yes, government “brainwashing” is bringing about the “destruction of our Judeo-Christian foundation” and “our religious liberty;” and after having made that claim Cruz promptly went on to criticize “the concept of ‘diversity,’” which he called “totally opposite of what made America great.”

A simple and good illustration of how far removed from reality Rafael Cruz is (not that any further illustration is needed), is his reaction when David Barton took over one of Ted Cruz’s Super PACs: It would be a tremendous advantage, said Cruz sr., because it’ll help Cruz appeal to “a block of the population that has been basically absent from the political process in very high numbers.”

Diagnosis: Embarrassing village idiot – a caricature of your crazy conspiracy theory uncle. Fortunately people like this tend not to reach positions of any serious influence, but Cruz may be an exception – unless it’s all an elaborate poe to make people vote for someone other than his son without telling Ted outright that he’s being silly.

#1502: Ellie Crystal

$
0
0

Ah, the freedom of having a mind unencumbered by reason, evidence or accountability. Ellie Crystal – shall we wager that “Crystal” is not her birth name? – has one of those. Crystal is what is perhaps best described as a New Age mystic – officially she’s at least a psychic and a reiki master – and she is probably most notable for her appearance  on The Daily Show segment “Evolution, Schmevolution” back in the days.

Her website is here, and it is really a sight to behold (not for its aesthetic qualities, though); according to herself, Crystalinks is “perhaps the largest, most comprehensive and ambitious metaphysical and science website on the Internet today”.

Apparently Crystal “developed her abundant, intuitive and natural psychic abilities” at a young age: “At age eleven, Ellie experienced an otherworldly encounter that abruptly changed her life and shaped her future. In the Nevada desert, a spirit named Zoroaster, lovingly called Z, appeared to her. He became part of Ellie’s daily life, bringing her to a destiny set in motion from the beginning.” She also claims to have a “PhD in Metaphysical Studies,” though it is not a PhD in metaphysics but a diploma in nonsense from (presumably) some unaccredited drivel. She has, however, managed to gain herself some TV appearances – in addition to the Daily Show one – and apparently John Edward is a fan, which is something that ordinary reasonable people would be wary of bragging about.

And her website really has everything. Some of her articles starts out with reasonable descriptions of scientific or historical fact, but if you look just a bit more closely you’ll suddenly catch yourself reading things like “Atlantis is part of the consciousness hologram of reality.” Wait, what? Let Ellie Crystal explain: “Many physical events are going to happen in the years ahead that will parallel the fall of Atlantis as the myths of each creation run by the same geometric design. Reality, all realities, are sets of multidimensional grid programs running simultaneously in which we consciously experience. Atlantis is one such program. When one begins to look for answers beyond the physical, Atlantis is often felt as a connection. It can be viewed as a chip implanted in the grid of our reality that connects for someone who taps into its frequency.” Yes, she also does her own research, and that’s an example of the kind of results she arrives at. “Discoveries emerging from Egypt, describe the existence of a world wide pyramid temple system in prehistory, mounted like antennae on key energy meridians, which were employed by ancient priest-scientists as harmonic tuning forks to stabilize the tectonic plates of the planet’s cataclysmic geology. […] the ancient Jedai priests used the Language of Light to tune the planet like a giant harmonic bell. Much is being rediscovered in the last days of this time cycle.” So there you go. I won’t bother to link to her stuff on UFOs, crystal skulls, healing, OOParts, astrology, the hollow earth or other examples of the fantastic richness of crazy on Ellie Crystal’s website. She usually has her own take on these things, but you probably have an idea about what her interpretations are like (The Mayan Calendar predictions for 2012 should help us realize that “reality is a consciousness hologram”, anyone?)

She has, however, made a remarkably accurate prediction about 9/11, which has apparently impressed some of her readers. The Wayback Machine lists February 6, 2005, as the first instance of her page of predictions for 2001, however, which makes it all a bit less impressive. She did, though, post her predictions for 2005 at the same time. They were notoriously vaguer, but could at least tell us that “hurricane season will be bad but nothing like 2004.” Not all Katrina victims would be fully ready to agree with that.

Diagnosis: “Thank you for inquiring about a psychic reading. If you have been guided to this page, something in your soul is telling you that information will be given that you need to hear […] Sessions are one hour with a fee of $160 USD.” More expensive than a traveling circus, but traveling circuses usually don’t have installments about harmonic bells from holograms of Atlantis. You decide.

#1503: Herman Cummings

$
0
0

A.k.a. The Genesis Genius
A.k.a. Ephriam

Herman Cummings is, according to himself, “the leading expert on the book of Genesis” (“[t]here is no ‘close second’”), which he also interprets as more or less literal truth (“Genesis is a book of history, and advanced math & science, being literally true”). So much for his expertise. He is also the author of the book Moses Didn’t Write About Creation! which apparently is based on a revelation from “Lord Jesus” he received back in 1991.

One of Cummings’s endeavors is to instruct science teachers. In 2008 he apparently offered his service to Louisiana, where teachers have the “academic freedom” to use “supplemental materials” in science classes. What could he offer? “I teach a 6-hr class for science teachers which gives them an overview of the first three chapters of Genesis, as it pertains to the appearance, and extinction, of life forms during the geologic history of Earth. This is the correct opposing view of evolution as should be presented in biology classes. Creationism is not the opposing view to evolution. Creationism would oppose the theory of the ‘Big Bang’.” We are not completely sure what he is talking about but are pretty sure that he doesn’t either. But in more detail his offer was: “[B]y providing my class to your teachers, I also give protection against lawsuits which the ACLU is certainly anxious to file. I contacted the Dover Area school district in Pennsylvania, but they ignored me, and they lost both their jobs and the court case. I contacted both the Cobb County Board members and their law firm in Georgia, in 2004, and they both ignored me, and they lost their district case. I know how to defeat the ACLU in open court in such cases, to the point that they would be discouraged from filing such lawsuits again. But I would have to be invited to work with the defense.”

We are not sure anyone took him up on his offer. He also contacted the Discovery Institute “in an effort to create a united front against the false teaching of evolution,” and informed them that “‘ID’ is a waste of scholastic time, and is too inept and shallow to be of much value.” Even Barbara Cargill ignored him, and she has certainly failed to ignore some pretty ridiculous stuff in the past. So, yes: home-made theory; declares himself an expert (but has no relevant education); rejects virtually all of science; everyone else is wrong; tries to promote it by sending letters to institutions and organizations, including the White House, Congress, the US Dept. of education, “every State Governor” and the Pope; seems to be confused when they don’t respond or he isn’t taken seriously (“[s]o far, every ‘so called’ rabbi/scholar I’ve written to (830+) in the USA & Israel has either been an infidel (denying the truth of the Pentateuch), or a scriptural coward”) and concludes that they’re afraid of him; and his enemies (the ACLU) should be afraid of him, since he is completely able to beat them up. We’ve covered these kinds of people before.

But what, exactly, are his objections to evolution? Ah, glad you asked. It really deserves to be given some space: “Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Fish, reptiles, and birds lay eggs. If these adult species are only given life by means of the egg hatching process, how did the first fish, reptiles and birds come into existence? Evolution? If so, why isn’t all life hatched out of an egg? Is this to be explained with the same sort of reasoning which produced the theory that a bear fell into a lake/river and became a whale? Let’s address the “chicken or the egg” question. An egg cannot just drop out of the sky, or wash upon the shore all by itself. An egg, which signifies life waiting to develop, has to be laid by a egg laying female animal, unless you want think up a theory on how the first egg materialized….; those that are in denial can go there. Therefore, let us focus on the female chicken, or actually the hen. The hen can lay eggs without the rooster, but the eggs will not produce life (will not hatch). So little chicks can’t come into existence (in the wild or in the distant past) without the hen mating with the rooster. Therefore, both the hen and the rooster came first.” And the fact that scientists don’t see this and immediately reject evolution is apparently proof of a conspiracy. The whole of science seems to be a conspiracy, in fact: “Why is it that the scientific world will hide information from the public, such as the truth about Comet Showmaker-Levy-9 [sic], to avoid answering certain questions?” Evolution is also a doctrine of atheism and therefore a religious belief, and as such – unlike (his version of) creationism – illegal to teach in public schools.

So, what about creationism? “Genesis 1:1 should be interpreted as ‘4.6 billion years ago, God created this universe, starting with the planet Earth’. Yes, Earth was the first, and is the principle celestial object in this universe. All of the other objects in this universe are at least two days younger than our Earth. So now, you should be able to determine that I am not ‘young Earth’, and that I embrace the literal meaning of the scriptures, unlike ‘old Earth’ creationism. Reconciliation was achieved seventeen years ago [that was his 1991 revelation – apparently it said, simply, that “the days in Genesis are not in one week”].9/11 can be blamed on our failure to see the truth.

And his own view? “Adam was formed in about 7200 BC. The modern animals, along with the birds, were made in about 7100 BC, and Eve came along in about 7000 BC. I’m guessing that the animals lived in and out of the Garden, and Adam probably took Eve out on sight-seeing trips to lands surrounding the Garden. They did this for 2,733 years…, until they ate of the evil tree. It is then that the years of Adam’s age begins to be counted, because that is when he ‘began to die’. So from 7200 BC, till 3337 BC, when Adam died, Adam had lived for 3,863 years.” Apparently only Herman Cummings knows this. He is also the only one who knows that “Genesis is declaring the existence of pre-historic man, which lived more than 60 million years before God made Adam and Eve. The world of science won’t admit to mankind being on Earth any earlier than 10 million years ago…, which shows how misinformed they are. Or is it that they are in denial?” There is a simpler explanation, but that one has apparently not occurred to him.

But he has evidence, doesn’t he? “Why has the news media failed to publicize the discovery of a man-made pyramid, from the Jurassic period? A Ukrainian scientist made the discovery in his native land […] This proves mankind was here more than 65 million years ago. Another foolish theory (evolution) bites the dust. […]” Oh, yes – bring it on: “The Ark of the Covenant was found several years ago, and will be shown to the public in about three years. You can be learn about it by going to these links [not replicated here].” Moreover, “NASA found out that the Moon is hollow, when they exploded a bomb in an effort to widen an opening at its south pole. The Moon rang like a bell for several hours, causing a BIG surprise,” which means that “the Earth is also hollow, which proves the (false) theories of science to be in error.” And so it goes.

Diagnosis: Internet access has not been an indisputable blessing to everyone. At least we noticed Herman Cummings, even if Popes and presidents did not. 

#1504: Dan Cummins

$
0
0

Ryan Culp is an Indiana teacher who apparently thought it was OK to use his science classes to show Kent Hovind videos (as long as it isn’t more than “like, half of what the information is”) and that he is not permitted to teach either creationism or evolution as truth. He is clearly as ignorant about the Constitution as he is about the subject matter he is teaching, but probably too minor to be worth calling out with a separate entry. Creationist and numerologist David Cumming, known for his profoundly silly Equation of Creation, is apparently British.

So what we have for you today is yet another wingnut bigot, Dan Cummins. Cummins is a megachurch pastor and political activist of the “The-American-economy-politics-and-culture-are-dying-because-of-sin” (yes, he said precisely that) white, old, male. cranky kind who has lamented the corruption of the youth since the beginning of mankind. In particular, Cummins claims that preachers are needed in politics to prevent “giving opportunity for the fallows of socialism” to corrupt the nation (are these people even remotely aware of how daft they sound?). Rather, we must maintain “the balance between church and state, not the separation of church and state” and get “Christ in the economy, Christ in Congress, [and] Christ in the culture” to prevent the imagined woes of sins of said youths.

The prime target is of course the gays, and Cummins is not afraid to crank up his rhetoric to the most rarefied levels of ridiculousness. After pointing out the evils of Mao, Kim Il-Sung and Stalin and the woes of the Iron Curtain, Cummins proclaims: “Now, in the midst of the American Culture War, behind another curtain of sorts – a life-size photographic scrim concealing a facelift to the Supreme Court’s crumbling west façade – Justice Anthony Kennedy has ordered a redecorating of the nation’s landscape with a bold, colorful and inclusive statement – the Rainbow Curtain – a polyamorous blend suited for a post-moralist motif, designed to safeguard the modern American family from the narrow-minded views of those ‘animus’-filled Founding Fathers.” And he said it all with (apparently) a straight face. The rainbow curtain. “From their juridical lair, the liberal Gang of Five recently set off a catalytic charge toppling traditional marriage – the last principled pillar upholding Uncle Sam’s home,” he also said about the Supreme Court rulings, which in no way forbade or put any restrictions on traditional marriage, but you know: when other people gets to have fun, that sort of topplesCummins’s fun. “What’s ahead for those in the Gay Zones who refuse to comply with Kennedy’s dictates – re-education camps for homophobic racists? Will Big Sis employ foreign troops invading through our unsecured borders to enforce the transition into this brave new world? What stark new realities are ahead for those behind the Rainbow Curtain? Will Americans become refugees in their own country as they flee with their families into neighboring Free Zone states?” Yes, according to Cummins, America is now divided between “gay zones” and “free zones” (because allowing gays to marry is just like Stalin), and he was wondering whether Janet Napolitano (“Big Sis”) would allow a foreign invasion to enforce marriage equality (presumably using homosexual Mexican-Chinese jihadists).

To prevent this spiral into the abyss, Cummins was also involved in arranging the 2014 March for Marriage in DC. Although NOM and various pseudo-newspapers pretended that 10,000 people showed up, at least Cummins admitted that they got just a fraction of that number. And this “apparent lack of support for nuptial bliss” (good f**ing grief!) only convinced him further that America is doomed. “Why is the preservation of biblical marriage so important to our culture? Why is the left, those left at the rapture, desperately attempting to destroy it? Marriage is a picture of Christ and His church [doesn’t sound very straight to me, but that’s me]. It portrays the kingdom of God and his righteousness revealed on earth. That’s why Satan hates marriage.” No, he really doesn’t get it. Not even remotely.

Diagnosis: Impressively foolish bigot. One wonders how people could listen to the flowery garbage that falls out of his mouth for more than a minute (except for somewhat painful comedy value), but he does apparently lead a megachurch, so he can’t be completely written off as harmless.

#1505: Walter Cunningham

$
0
0

We’ve covered astronauts before, but the case of Walter Cunningham is arguably even sadder than that of Edgar Mitchell. Cunningham is currently giving talks about climate change for the Heartland Institute, and is apparently rather popular amongst the denialist crowd. Yes, 97% of climate scientists agree that the Earth is warming as a result of human action, but they’ve got an astronaut! Who claims that the scientists, all 97% of them, are simply confusing correlation and causation when they claim that carbon emissions cause global warming. Hadn’t thought of that, had they?

How does Cunningham get around the fact that everyone who, you know, actually have expertise in the issues are unimpressed by his observations? Well, as a denialist there is an obvious tactic: He just denies it: “I think only a few climate scientists have bought into this nonsense,” says Cunningham, despite the pretty easily demonstrable falsity of that claim. There is a reason why CPAC, for instance, had to use an astronaut rather than a scientist to deliver that message.

He was, in fact, not the only messenger at the 2013 CPAC. There was also Thomas Wysmuller, who has a degree in meteorology, and who claimed that icy winter temperatures in Moscow and Siberia are evidence the Earth simply isn’t warming. And Harold Doiron, a former rocket scientist who didn’t understand what the fuss is about (he admitted to having “only been a serious student of global warming for maybe two years,” though the “serious” part is contestable): “If sea level’s rising, it’s not a global problem,” said Doiron says. “It’s not happening in the Rocky Mountains.” Which is … true. Besides, it would not be in the United States’ interests to take action unilaterally when China is refusing to get on board, which they aren’t.

Diagnosis: Sad. Cunningham is a serious lunatic apparently determined to ruin his own legacy with nonsense. That his name carries some authority on the issue of climate change is testament to the lack of critical thinking skills among his audience, but he does, admittedly, have some influence.

#1506: John Paul Cupp et al.

$
0
0

John Paul Cupp is such a minor figure that we almost feel bad for covering him, but we sort of have to. In 2003 Cupp, as Chairman of the newly established Songun Politics Study Group USA, apparently received the official endorsement of the North Korean government (“We are very pleased to have a revolutionary organization and comrades like you in the land of the United States, the bulwark of imperialism and determined to further the relationship with you in depth”), and he subsequently avowed his loyalty to the North Korean regime. “My personal opinion,” said Cupp, “is that great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung and Dear Leader Comrade Kim Jong Il are the two greatest human beings in the entire history of the world. For us, it would be impossible to even wake up in the morning should we lose the ability to cherish them.” North Korea promptly presented Cupp, who at the time was a homeless 22-year old living under a highway in Portland, as a prominent public figure, and he visited North Korea at least once as an official guest. His political views seem later to have evolved into embracing white supremacy (including expressing support for “Aryan hero Lee Harvey Oswald” and Timothy McVeigh), Islamic Jihadists, virulent anti-Semitism, and support for launching domestic terrorism to achieve the armed overthrow of the U.S. government. “Long live the White race! Long live the communist revolution!” said Cupp. He later also converted to Islam and changed his name to Wahid Yayah Cupp. In 2011 he was then booted from his group over his evolving political views, which were extreme enough to draw the pointed but gentle rebuke of Pyongyang directly. The group has later been headed by Jason Adam Tonis, who has tried to renounce the racist elements but is still wonderfully lunatic.

Other American, “prominent public figures” who have expressed their deep support for North Korea include Cupp’s allies, radical anti-semitis lunatics Kevin Walsh and Ziad Shaker al-Jishi, as well as white supremacist James Porrazzo and Joshua Caleb Sutter, founder of the Rural People’s Party (RPP), which embraces both Kim Il Sung’s Juche ideology and that of Jim Jones in addition to white supremacism. Sutter and his wife Jillian Hoy have apparently adopted additional new identities of Hindu Hare Krishna priests to herald a cleansing of the earth as the pivotal factor in a worldwide annihilation, from which a new Golden Age will be launched. There is also an American chapter of the Korean Friendship Association.

You can read the whole and remarkable story of these people here. It’s well worth it.

Diagnosis: Fringe lunatics with little to no influence, of course, but there is always the non-negligible fear that they will end up hurting someone.

#1507: Kenyn Cureton

$
0
0

More wingnuttery. Thing is, the Family Research Council does actually have a Vice President of Church Ministries, and you can probably guess that it would be someone manically insane. Kenyn Cureton believes that “demonized forces of hell” are behind the “homosexual agenda”. (“Who do you think is ultimately behind the efforts to advance the radical homosexual agenda, indoctrinate our children, and ruin our military, now?”). Accordingly, Cureton is out to save gays from the slavery imposed upon them by Satan. Meanwhile, studies suggesting that “homosexuals” are born that way are dismissed as little more than Nazi propaganda – such studies have been “predominantly conducted by researchers who are homosexuals” and who “essentially practice Joseph Goebel’s [sic] Nazi philosophy of propaganda”. Got them there, Kenyn.

In response, Cureton has suggested that we might have to use armed resistance against the government to prevent same-sex marriage. And it will not only be “a great spiritual war with the forces of evil directed by the prince of darkness himself” where God is coming to “wage war on evil with a sword flashing out of his mouth”, it seems, but a real, physical one. According to Cureton, God has intervened directly in American history before.

But then, Cureton has an interesting perspective of American history. His response to the point that Columbus committed genocide and enslaved native people to force them to search for gold is that Columbus had good intentions since he was trying to find gold to fund a potential war with Muslims over control of Jerusalem and spread the Gospel to indigenous peoples; also he only enslaved native peoples instead of killing them because he was a merciful leader. The reason why some people dislike Columbus, then, is because he was a Christian, and criticism of Columbus is just another example of the rampant persecution Christians are facing in America today.

Diagnosis: Well, at least he’s not afraid to use colorful rhetoric … it’s really not easy to find much positive to say about Kenyn Cureton. And this guy really is a central figure in the anti-gay movement. 

#1508: Malcolm A. Cutchins

$
0
0

This is going to be short. Malcolm A. Cutchins is a Professor Emeritus (Engineering mechanics) of Auburn University. He has an education. That education is also not even remotely relevant to the study of biology, yet Cutchins is a signatory to the Discovery Institute’s petition A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism. Indeed, Cutchins is also on the CMI list of scientists alive today who accept the Biblical account of creation and associated with the Institute for Creation Research. Apparently he is spending his retirement traveling around lecturing about creationism and against evolution to various church groups.

Diagnosis: Another one of those. Our coverage of creationist scientists is starting to become rather comprehensive; there are pretty few of them, but those that exist certainly do their zealous best to cause as much damage as possible.

#1509: Candace Czarny

$
0
0

Feng Shui is a silly mess of “energy medicine”, qi flow, the Law of Attraction and other woo, and its advocates claim that it is based not only on the “forms” of nature but on the stars and the magnetic compass. “It’s all about energy, the flow of energy and how it enhances or detracts from your life.” Like The Secret and the powers of televangelism, appeals to nature, subtle forces and ancient wisdom. And it can bring you success, harmony and cures for whatever problems of diseases you may have or imagine that you have.

According to Feng Shui “expert” Candace Czarny the blessings of star magic is not only a matter of rearranging your furniture. You can also apply the principles of Feng Shui to your cells, using what she sells under the name of Cell Balancers. These will help you “clear blocked energy patterns from your body and mind, activate greater focus and clarity, enhance your energy flow, activate your higher potential, activate deeper wisdom and bypass years of learning, cultivate a felt-sense of peace, aliveness, spiritual awareness, well-being and integration”, and – best of all, “gently and effectively align your cells with your future self’s positive blueprint.” Saying that with a straight face takes some skill.

There even seems to multiple versions of the Cell Balancer (“this precision-tuned miracle of cosmic technology”), but they all work by putting your fingers on them to “experience a Felt Sense of Cellular balance. You’re an ‘in circuit’ with the transformational energies. Spiritual healing patterns of transformation flow through your energy pathways, directly into the spiritual cells of the body. The Cell-Balancer transmutes negative energy-patterns trapped in your energy-body that confine, limit or distort your true self. As you release the energy distortions, you are freed to access your true essence.

Then there are the Activator Disk, the Neutral Space Plate, and the Portal, which apparently “speak[s]” the language of vibration and work like a tuning fork, “spontaneously encouraging another tuning fork (you) to resonate with the divine source (Universe, God, Creator).” Most interestingly, these products were apparently developed by one Joel Bruce Wallach – despite the middle initial, I can’t help but suspect some obvious connection to this guy. To support her claims she has testimonials from Feng Shui fans who “felt more alert and energized” when using her products.

Diagnosis: We find it pretty hard to believe that Czarny really thinks she is helping people, but perhaps it is just a matter of our limited powers of imagination due to the fact that we haven’t activated our “deeper wisdom” and accordingly fail “to resonate with the divine source.” 

#1510: Sussanna Czeranko

$
0
0

There’s something Orwellian about naturopaths’ claims to promote health. Many of them are not only anti-science, but actually pro-disease (just check out this one). Naturopathy is for instance correlated with anti-vaccine views, and the longer naturopaths are in naturopathy “school”, the less supportive they become of vaccines: Indeed, one survey of naturopathy students found only 12.8% were supportive of the full pediatric vaccination schedule and it is hardly surprising that care from a naturopath is associated withfewer vaccinations and a greater likelihood of vaccine preventable disease. As such there is nothing particularly novel about the dangerous insanity of Sussanna Czeranko, an Ontario and Oregon naturopath, but lack of novelty doesn’t make her any less repugnant.

Czeranko is the author of a multi-part article, “The Persistent Question of Vaccination”, published in The Naturopathic Doctor News and Review, and according to the findings in the links above her attitudes are hardly untypical of naturopathy practitioners: “When vaccination came onto the medical sphere, to say that the earth opened and swallowed up common sense and human dignity is an understatement,” writes Czeranko (yes, vaccines stand in opposition to common sense and human dignity), and “[t]he core principles that differentiated the distinct schools of medicine [she counts naturopathy as a “school of medicine”, of course] at the time were tested in ways that we still see remnants of today.” Moreover, the debates that arose over vaccines were unfair: Regular doctors who supported vaccination were corrupt pharma shills who “had much to gain from its clinical employment [she conspicuously fails to explain what]” and used dirty tricks and unfair tactics – such as pointing out survival rates, improvement in public health and elimination of horrible diseases – to ensure that “the doctors who opposed its use had to endure hard lessons that persist in today’s medical landscape.” Yes, being wrong is, I suppose, a hard lesson, and the people Czeranko talks about tellingly “endured” being wrong instead of correcting their mistakes.

And make no mistake – Czeranko is anti-vaccine to the core: “The vaccinationists became politicized, rich and kept their patients in ignorance. The anti-vaccinationists educated their communities and practiced with nature’s laws. The naturopathic profession has yet to clarify or even unify its position on the issue in the closing days of the first decade of the new century. We may well as a profession find ourselves nodding in agreement with Hodge, who stated in 1911, ‘the amazing fact that it has been possible to force the vaccination atrocity upon the unconsenting world for more than a century is almost incomprehensible.’” Yes, it’s deranged conspiracy mongering. Remember that naturopaths are licensed as primary-care physicians in the state of Oregon.

Now, that’s just the beginning of the deranged woo promoted by Sussanna Czeranko, of course (she’s for instance a “qualified” Buteyko breathing technique practitioner), but it should give you a clue to how she views the world and evaluate evidence.

Diagnosis: Dangerous, deranged and delusional monster, who is actively trying to contribute to what really ought to count as crimes against humanity. Yes, she's evil. She may not know it, but she is.

Viewing all 2333 articles
Browse latest View live