#1296: Christina Adams

Christina Adams is the author of the memoir A Real Boy: A True Story of Autism, Early Intervention and Recovery (about her son’s apparent recovery, and yes: Adams blames her son’s autism on the vaccines) and a promoter of all sorts of woo and pseudoscience to treat autism. She is, accordingly, rather popular as a speaker at anti-vaccine and pseudoscience conferences and as a writer for anti-vaccine and pseudoscience newsletters and websites. For the autism biomed quackery magazine The Autism File, Adams wrote “Got [Camel] Milk” (promptly endorsed by Age of Autism, of course), which proposed camel milk as a treatment for autism. Her evidence of efficacy? “Nomads in Algeria have long said, ‘Water is the soul, milk is the life.’” Not convinced yet? Well, Adams also cites the endorsement of the method by one Dr. Reuven Yagil, a veteran Israeli camel expert who apparently first described the use of camel milk to treat autism. Yagil says that “autism is not a brain affliction but an autoimmune dis- ease afflicting primarily the intestines,” which is, of course, not true (it was Wakefield’s hypothesis), but bullshit of the kind that gets traction in certain crank communities. Yagil also points out that in some book about the Bible, the Koran, and the Talmud it is claimed that camel milk was given by God to cure all illnesses and poverty. And that’s pretty much as far as his evidence for the efficacy of camel milk goes. It seems to have convinced Christina Adams. It’s woo, it’s exotic, and it’s new (and ancient at the same time). What more evidence would she want?

Indeed, camel milk is not only good for autism; it seems, as all good woo, to be more or less a cure-all, including all sorts of infections, anemia, diabetes, allergies, autism, Crohn’s disease, asthma, erectile dysfunction, and even cancer (but Big Science presumably doesn’t want you to know). At least it’s so remarkable that Adams’s talk at the autism quackfest Autism One was called “Practical Magic: The Benefits and Realities of Camel Milk Therapy for ASD.”

Diagnosis: More woo, and this one suggests that some are honestly starting to run out of ideas when it comes to novel forms of alternative treatments. Adams is probably not deliberately trying to fool anyone, however; she’s just abysmally gullible in her encounters with shiny anecdotes and exotic magic.

#1295: Christopher Adamo

Christopher Adamo writes for Renew America (that’s Alan Keyes’s outlet), and he writes precisely what you’d think people associated with Alan Keyes’s outlet would write – for instance that gay rights, reproductive rights and public schools are ruining America and eviscerating morality. According to Adamo “the whole liberal advocacy of abortion and ‘gay rights’ has never been about elevating human dignity, but about collapsing the nation’s cultural and moral foundation,” and “the entire same-sex ‘marriage’ movement has as its ultimate purpose the destruction of traditional marriage, which would erode and diminish its historical role as a staunch mooring of civilization.” Yes, if you disagree with something, the people behind the views you disagree with always have an evil agenda. To bolster the claim, he argues that public schools are a government conspiracy to make people dependent on government, that abortion is simply about making money, and that Occupy Wall Street is hypocritical because it is destroying the environment with its “filth and squalor”. Meanwhile our Constitutional freedom from religion is jeopardized by the "bogus" separation of church and state promoted Marxists who want a more "Darwinian" system. That kind of guy.

Diagnosis: Yeah, that kind of guy. Our Encyclopedia is already filled with them, and Chris Adamo is, frankly, small fish. But he is still that kind of guy, and that kind of guy deserves to be exposed for their combination of stupidity and bigotry.

#1294: Judith Acosta

Judith Acosta is, at least according to her biography at Huffington Post, “a licensed psychotherapist, classical homeopath, and crisis counselor in private practice.” She advocates what she calls “verbal first aid,” the content of which is rather nebulous, and the clinical support for which is, well, rather nebulous as well. We should perhaps refrain from speculating what her interest in classical homeopathy means for her psychotherapy or verbal first aid.

Acosta’s evidence for homeopathy is anecdotal. Indeed, in her article “A personal case for homeopathy”, which she penned for Huffpo, she seems to think that personal testimony is sufficient to establish the powers of woo. It is not. In fact, her whole bio seems to be a story of having a disease and letting it run its course without any (efficacious) intervention whatsoever, and then claiming that magickdidit. We agree with Acosta, however, when she says that her personal stories “will help you to understand what classical homeopathy can do and why some people are so passionate about it.” Indeed, they do, and more so than Acosta seems to think.

Apparently Huffpo was sufficiently impressed by Acosta’s anecdote that they let her write a follow-up, which also included argument for homeopathy by metaphor: “We look for a remedy that most closely matches the totality of that pathology’s song. When we give it to the patient, the remedy cancels the disease. A song for a song. Like cures like.” How could clinical studies even begin to compete? At least she admits that proponents more conventional medicine fail to let themselves be impressed by such metaphors; apparently that is a criticism – the poetry of homeopathy apparently makes homeopathy so much more individualized and personal in a manner that the cold, hard facts on which conventional medicine is built cannot.

Diagnosis: Woo. And how can reality and evidence even begin to compete with the allure of poetic imagination? Acosta may be a minor figure in the grand scheme of things, but Huffpo has given her a platform to spread her silly.  

#1293: Harry Accornero, Susan DeLeMus & the birthers in the New Hampshire House of Representatives.

Accornero

The guy behind this, uh, fascinating site does not appear to be American, so we’ll leave him alone – we’re not running out of American loons anytime soon. Harry Accornero and Susan DeLemus are both former Republican members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives from 2010 until being defeated in 2012 for very, very good reasons.

Both Accornero (Laconia) and DeLemus (Rochester) are birthers, and apparently fans of “Birther Queen” Orly Taitz. So when Taitz appeared before the New Hampshire Ballot Law Commission in 2011 to call for the removal of President Obama from the state’s presidential ballot, she was vocally supported by Accornero, who referenced the “overwhelming” evidence against Obama being a natural born citizen (no he didn’t provide it). When Taitz’s complaint was unanimously dismissed, Accornero went ballistic and stormed out while calling out to the commission: “Why don’t you rip up the Constitution and throw it out?”  and “you all should be accused of treason, and we’ll get people to do that.” DeLemus, meanwhile, repeatedly berated Assistant Attorney General Matt Mavrogeorge for his decision. In the end Mavrogeorge and Assistant Secretary of State Karen Ladd had to lock themselves in an office “out of [apparently justified] fear for their safety due to the aggressive behavior of the crowd that included several legislators.” Footage here.

DeLemus

In fact, Taitz’s complaint was joined by a total of nine New Hampshire representatives; in addition to Accornero and DeLemus these were:

-       Laurence Rappaport (R, Colebrook), a staunch birther since the beginning, who is apparently still serving as a representative.

-       Carol Vita (R, Middleton), now retired.

-       Lucien Vita (R, Middleton), another hardcore birther and sponsor of this; now retired.

-       Laurie Pettengill (R-Glen), now out.

-       Al Baldasaro (R-Londonderry), a fanatic conspiracy theorist, still serving by 2014.

-       Moe Villeneuve (R-Bedford), now retired.

-       William Tobin (R-Sanbornton), apparently retired.

Accornero also received some attention after sending an email to every New Hampshire state representative stating that President Obama “has crossed the line, and under Article III section 3 of our Constitution is guilty of treason by giving aid and comfort to the enemy and attempting to overthrow our government from within.” That is, he was “formally asking you to bring a commission of treason against Mr. Barack Husain [sic] Obama.” Why? Because of the Obama administration’s perceived lax enforcement of immigration laws. Which probably doesn’t qualify as “treason” in any legal sense, even if the charge had ben correct. Though he claims to have the Constitution on his side, he doesn’t seem to have read it.

Both Accornero and DeLemus (and most of the other representatitves mentioned) have voted in favor of overriding the Governor’s veto of a bill that would allow parents to object to any school curriculum for any reason, and in favor of diverting taxpayer money to private and religious schools. But that should come as little surprise by now.

After leaving the New Hampshire House of Representatives, Accornero has continued his mission: “Who are the Obamas? I for one do not believe the Obama’s are a real family. Are the Obamas married? Is Michelle really a Michelle or a Michael? Are the girls really their daughters? Why is Obama’s records sealed? Why doesn’t anyone remember him from college? Why is there no original birth certificate? Where are his old girlfriends or boyfriends? People, this is a totally made up family.”

Diagnosis: Ragingly insane conspiracy theorists and mad people, and there are apparently enough delusional nitwits in New Hampshire to entrust nine of them (often repeatedly) with political power instead of offering them the help they desperately need. 

#1292: Keith Ablow

Dr. Keith Ablow is a psychiatrist, author, and media personality, who tends to appear on such intellectually enlightening shows as The Tyra Banks Show and Glenn Beck as an expert on psychoanalysis. He even writes for Fox News’ blog devoted to health matters, where he tends to make claims that go against all evidence when it serves a particular political point, and runs a self-empowerment community based around his book Living the Truth. Though his credentials are fine, his psychiatric analyses of famous individuals or talk-show guests on the basis of thirty-second interviews or news headlines have not been recognized as methodologically sound by any psychiatrist with any integrity.

For instance, when analyzing Jiverly Voong, who went on a mass shooting spree in Binghamton, for the Glenn Beck Show, Ablow produced this piece of exasperating bullshit. The Chris Lane murder, on the other hand, he blamed on facebook and abortion laws because, well, because Ablow doesn’t like abortion. And after the 2012 vice-presidential debate Ablow delivered such a crackpot medical analysis of Vice President Biden’s debate performance that even the Fox & Friends hosts had to call him out; based on criteria even the hosts recognized as medically spurious Ablow claimed Biden should be examined for dementia.

A telling piece of psychoanalysis was embedded in his advice for President Obama: “The president needs to look at himself and say, ‘Do I have prejudice that I wasn’t even aware of, perhaps, towards white people?’” He also claimed that Obama is waging psychological warfare. How? Because Obama admitted that America has made mistakes in foreign policy, and that admission was apparently intended to demoralize the country. “Barack Obama does not have the will of the American people, Americanism, in his soul,” says Ablow: “He wants out of America, my friend. Trust me.” Ah, those prejudices one isn’t even aware of! And then there are Obama’s insidious tricks: In 2014 Ablow could declare that the FIFA world cup is something “Obama is using […] to distract attention.” He didn’t mention from what. Nor did he seem aware that Obama was not involved in arranging the world cup.

On Fox News Ablow has also claimed that Newt Gingrich’s infidelity and open marriage policy could make him a superior president, just because.

As with rightwing cranks in general Ablow is deeply concerned with gender issues (as in this). Thus, he has urged parents not to let their children watch Chaz Bono on “Dancing with the stars,” ostensibly because he is very concerned for the children. It’s hard not to suspect that he isn’t really thinking of the children. Maybe he was when he suggested that sex education is “a Trojan horse inside the schools”, and by receiving such education “they’re going to start talking about threesomes, and they’re going to be talking about everything that’s okay.” He didn’t actually explain whose Trojan horse it was, but you can all guess, I suppose.

More recently, he has demanded a surgeon general’s warning on the internet, especially on discussions of things Ablow perceives as dangerous. “The Surgeon General has been a no-show on Facebook. […] Where is the Surgeon General?” asks Ablow, suggesting a scandalous level of neglect to rival Benghazi. Though perhaps not quite as scandalous as the "fact" that Obama welcomes ebola to the US because his “affinities” are with Africa and he “may literally believe we should suffer along with less fortunate nations.” That’s right. Obama is in a conspiracy against the US. Why did people elect him? According to Ablow’s professional opinion people have been suffering from the Stockholm Syndrome after 9/11 and therefore elected someone “who has names very similar to two of our archenemies, Osama, well, Obama. And Hussein.”

Diagnosis: Pseudoscience is never more potent than when it comes backed with real credentials. Ablow’s credentials are real. But we tentatively suggest that you should beware of taking advice from him regarding anything resembling psychology or anything else for that matter.