Oh Those Bigfoot Movies!

Reading Loren Coleman's blog, Cryptomundo, is a chore I willingly do to try and keep up with the status of special pleading and positive confirmation bias being presented as evidence and reason within the cryptozoological community. Usually, this is an exercise in reading posts which appear to be meant to generate website traffic and/or blur the line between legitimate Zoological/Biological discoveries and the “field” of cryptozoology. Anyone who reads this blog is aware of my opinion of the quality of Cryptomundo's material. It's hard to get much lower into stupidity without being an antivaxxer, Holocaust denier, or homeopath cancer-quack. Occasionally though, I do get a gem or two that makes me laugh out loud when I read them. One of today's offerings is just such a case.

In his post, How Kids Films Destroyed Sasquatch Research, Coleman tries to make the claim that movies made for children are responsible for the increase in what he calls “silly skepticism”. To support his argument, he presents a movie called “Little Bigfoot” which was released in 1997. Ever hear of it? I certainly hadn't before I read Coleman's post but it appears to be making the rounds today. Regardless, blaming bad movies (in his opinion anyway) on what I interpret to be his apparent observation of the decrease of true-believers in cryptozoology is a prime example of special pleading and I thought I'd point it out and provide a rebuttal.

While Coleman asks for debate on his blog, I know he is not willing to really open up that can of worms on his site. Myself and others have posted criticisms and the like on Cryptomundo only to have them disappear or never get posted at all. Obviously, Coleman and the site's owner are not interested in real dialog on this topic. Having said that, I will present Coleman with some possible explanations for the decrease in true-believers and the rise in Skepticism here:

1. Technology is now so available that almost anyone can carry a camera or camcorder in their pocket. Trail-cams are now very common. Despite this fact, there has been no video footage which has been proven to be real or, for that matter, not to be a fake. This sparsity of actual evidence despite the nearly exponential increase in the means for it potential collection only furthers the Skeptical position that bigfoot sitings are either misinterpretations of known animals and/or phenomena or that photographic “evidence” is fraudulent.

2. As population increases, there is less and less wilderness in which a bigfoot or similar animal could live without detection. Whether we are talking about the actual, physical decrease in acres of land or the increase in people going into wilderness areas, there is an even greater likelihood for an animal such as bigfoot to be discovered if it did indeed exist. Yet, nothing has turned up. Additionally, the ability for a breeding population large enough to self-sustain in the wild while remaining hidden is so questionable it is almost impossible.

3. While there are failures within science education as a whole (and I have already stated as much), most Americans, Canadians, and Australians (they have the Yowee) have a much better understanding of the Biological sciences than they did in the 50s and 60s (Coleman's Golden Age of Bigfoot). Consequently, they are better prepared against pseudoscientific claims.

4. It has been at least 52 years since the Ray Wallace's Bluff Creek footprints first appeared in California and entered the public consciousness. In that time, no animal has ever been discovered (recovered?). There is a pretty good chance that the general public is getting tired of the Biscardis and Colemans of the world crying “bigfoot”. What started out as a fraud seems to have become a part of folklore.

5. The internet has provided an amazing way for lay people to actually do their own research and for myself and fellow Skeptics speak out against the horrendous pseudoscience Coleman and his ilk are perpetrating. Consequently, the general public is more aware of the flaws in their arguments and their fundamental lack of evidence and are making more rational and educated decisions based more upon the evidence rather than belief alone.

Whether Coleman addresses any of these points remains to be seen. However, I think the recent rise of Skepticism which Coleman clearly abhors is being seen in other venues as well. Dr. Novella, Orac and others have already written about the positive effect of Skepticism on what appears to be the downfall of Homeopathy and the recent turn of events which have shown the absolute failures of the antivax movement. While the internet does make it easier for the wack-a-loons to get in touch with each other, it is also making it easier for the Skeptics to criticize and get our message out. As a result, the public is becoming better informed and educated and that, unfortunately for Mr. Coleman, damages belief in cryptozoology.

image by kmevans

A Bigfoot Encounter in Upstate New York

I grew up in a Boy Scout household. That is to say, my father was a Boy Scout professional and where we lived was dependent upon his most recent promotion/position and our summers were spent living outside our own home. My father was also a summer camp director and as he needed to be on site when camp was in session, we came with him. This was a lot of fun and my brothers and I spent many hours exploring, swimming, and driving our mother nuts in some controlled version of Lord of the Flies. As a result, I grew up liking the summer camp experience and that went throughout my Boy Scout experience.

When I got older, I decided I wanted to be a camp counselor – but not just any counselor. I wanted to work in the Nature Lodge and so I became a counselor in training (C.I.T.), counselor, and then area director at a summer camp just outside the Adirondack Park in Upstate New York. My pay was terrible but my summers were a lot of fun and some times reminded me of the funnier episodes of M.A.S.H. In the interest of full disclosure, however, I parted ways with this summer camp after the summer when I posted a sign in the Nature Lodge which read “Censorship is Un-American” in response to the black-listing of various campfire songs by the camp director (who was following an unofficial but not actively discouraged movement which may have had its source on the National level – but I can't say if that is true). That year was 1988 and while my difficulties with the Boy Scouts are interesting on their own, something more fascinating happened that summer.

As the Nature Area Director, I was responsible for a staff of two or three counselors, a C.I.T. or two, maintaining the lodge, organizing ecology projects, and teaching merit badge classes. One of these merit badge classes was Fish and Wildlife Management. The primary goal of this merit badge is to educate scouts in the ecological principles behind the management practices and policies used by governmental agencies and the like. One of the activities we took part in was making plaster casts of animals in our area and using these casts to identify the animal. The footprints could then be used to discuss the relative abundance of a particular species over another among other topics.

One morning before the rest of the camp was up, I took my Fish and Wildlife Management class out to a location on the opposite side of the camp's lake where I knew we would find a lot of animal activity because a well-used game trail crossed over the dirt road which nearly circumscribed the entire lake. I'll stop this part of the story here. I'll get back to it though. Don't worry.

The night before, I am told, the waterfront staff was out on their beach doing whatever they did down there when they heard what they thought was kids on the other side of the lake playing in the water. As it was their primary responsibility to know exactly who is in the water when they are allowed to be swimming and to keep anyone out when they aren't supposed to be, the waterfront crew was concerned. They had two options. Either they could hike around the lake to get to where they thought the scouts were or they could get in a row boat and be at the location within ten minutes. It was a no brain-er and soon they were rowing their way out to the point where they heard the noises.

As soon as they got within a reasonable distance from the shore, they started yelling something to the effect of “We know you're out there! Come on out and we'll take you back to your campsites.” When they heard no reply and saw nothing with their flashlights, they upped the ante and threatened to tell their scoutmaster (I guess implying they knew who these scouts were). Soon, though, things got weird.

They rowed in closer to shore and heard a loud splash near by. “It was like a large rock hitting the water” I was personally told by one of them after the event. “It sounded like a rock too big for someone to pick up.” I was also later informed. They shouted to shore that they had enough and that it was time to get in the boat. Another splash was heard nearby! And then another! I was told they felt as if someone or something was throwing large rocks at them and they were 12 o 15 feet off shore! None of the rocks were close enough that they felt its splash, or that they could even see the rock traveling through the air. They did see ripples on the surface though and they self-admittedly freaked out. Two of the staff members jumped out of the boat and swam all the way back to the waterfront on the other side of the lake while the third remaining staff member lost one of the oars and had to make it back in a less than auspicious manner. Think Benny Hill and you're probably not too far off base.

Now back to my part in this story. I don't remember if I heard the story of the waterfront staff's adventure that night before I went out with my students. It has been too long but it is likely I had. It just so happened that the area where the “rock throwing” occurred was where I intended to take my class and I suppose that, if I had heard the story, I would have gone out there to see if something had really happened. At the time, I was a skeptical believer in Bigfoot and I suspect I thought there may have been some evidence I could find. Plus, there was a rock outcrop on that side of the lake I wanted to examine (I was a Geology major at the time) because there was an ancient quartz quarry in the camp and I hoped I might find some interesting quartz crystals, etc.

We made our castings (mostly deer prints) and set about to looking for bear sign. I steered the class towards the outcrop. As it was just off the shoreline, I could look it over while the class examined the game trail that ran down one side of it. Well, the outcrop sucked. There wasn't one interesting thing I could find in it.

Frustrated, I climbed up it to examine the forest floor for footprints in the leaf litter and duff. Contrary to what some people believe, it is possible for animals to leave footprints through the leave litter on a forest floor. Certain conditions need to be present – like a soft enough soil – but it is possible. I hoped I could find something to show the class and I did. Noticing some disturbances on the surface, I peeled and brushed back the leaves to reveal a Bigfoot print!

At least, that's what I thought it was at the time and excitement was in the air. We had made an amazing discovery! Unfortunately, there was only one print and we only had enough plaster to fill about half of it. Undaunted, we mixed up our plaster and poured our cast. By this time, we had to return to camp for morning assembly and breakfast.

By the time breakfast was over, the entire camp knew about the footprint and I had been told the waterfront staff's story. Soon, the two were deduced to be a part of the same story – a Bigfoot had been foraging (or something similar) when it was startled by the waterfront staff. To intimidate them, it started tossing stones in their general direction (a characteristic often attributed to pissed off Bigfeet). My discovery of the footprint the very next morning only proved that this was what happened! By lunch time, a plan had been made that during Siesta (down time for campers and staff) an “expedition” of sorts would go to the site and look around while I recovered the cast. So, a large number of scoutmasters, staff, and campers rowed out to the outcrop and looked around. Many people took pictures and the feeling was very hard to describe. I felt like I was opening Tut's tomb and I was some kind of an expert.

The furor and excitement soon died down, however, and everybody went back to their daily lives. I know some people started calling the area where this all happened “Ape Bay” but I don't know if it is still referred to that way. It makes good creepy camp lore for a Scout camp.

So, did we find evidence of Bigfoot? Absolutely not.  Although, at the time, I thought otherwise and would have told you so. I still even have the cast somewhere as a reminder. What happened then and why did I change my opinion? I think it is well worth examining and these lessons can be applied to just about any Bigfoot “sighting” out there.

There are three possible scenarios that could represent what happened. First, there was a Bigfoot like I described above. Second, someone performed a hoax (jokes of this caliber are not unheard of in summer camps) or, third, entirely natural (i.e. non-Bigfoot) events are misinterpreted. Let's examine the last two possibilities assuming the Bigfoot hypothesis is invalid as no evidence of the existence of Bigfoot has ever been found. By applying Occam's razor, this possibility can be ruled out.

Could someone have performed a hoax? Certainly they could but I'd wonder why someone would want to go through all the trouble. The staff that summer really wasn't into pranking each other. Moral wasn't that good. Plus, sitting out in the woods, being bitten by mosquitoes waiting to hear the waterfront staff on the other side of the lake sounds like a really crappy time to me. Also, it takes about an hour to hike to this particular location so this “prank” may end up being an all-nighter – and that was if if the waterfront staff didn't go out for the night! For these reasons, I find this explanation highly improbable.

So what might be the natural explanation? It's really simple now that I look back upon the events of that day from this vantage point. The lake is not very large. In fact, it is rather small and is man made as the result of a damn on one end. It is spring fed and lacks any form of inlet. These quiet waters are surrounded by a mixed forest but closer to the shoreline, there is a lot of birch and other deciduous trees. As a result, the lake is a perfect environment for beavers and, as a matter of fact, there were two families on the lake that year – one on either end of the lake. I strongly suspect that the sound of stones hitting water that the waterfront staff reported was, in fact, beavers slapping their tails. For those of you who are unfamiliar with beaver behavior, they will slap their tails on the surface of the water when they are startled or feel threatened. Not only does it spook and distract a potential predator, it warns all the beavers in the area that something is afoot. Beavers are active at night and it is during this time that they are rather busy eating and gnawing down trees – just the type of saplings that were present in the area of the “encounter”. Actually, there was plenty of signs of beaver activity in the immediate area the next morning as I distinctly recall pointing out their recent work to my class.

Alright, that explains the noises but why was the staff scared? Simple. They encountered something they couldn't identify and they panicked. They may have had a buzz on (a definite no-no in the Boy Scout world) and this could have made things worse. Regardless, they fed off of each others fear and that caused them to behave the way they did.

What about the footprint? It wasn't a footprint at all. Rather, it was probably an indentation of some sort that just happened to be beneath an area of disturbed leaves. What disturbed the leaves? Some animal but it certainly wasn't Bigfoot. This claim is supported by my observation that there was only one “footprint”. At the time, I attributed this to a wily animal that was selectively walking on rocks to conceal its presence (Bigfoot is smart don't you know). This “theory” has been put forward by many “serious” cryptozoologists in the past. It's nothing more than confirmation bias and special pleading all rolled up into a nice package. There was no Bigfoot there that night and there was no footprint, no track, nothing. If there was such a creature there, why didn't we see any evidence of it on the muddy road itself or anywhere along the paths we traveled. After all, we did see signs of deer, bear, raccoons, beavers, numerous birds, and the like.

The final icing on this crazy cake is the “expedition” to the site. All I can attribute the attitude to that event is some sort of mass hysteria or mass delusion that I, with the waterfront staff directly fed. Everyone turned to me (the waterfront staff included) for an answer and, poof!, I was suddenly an authority. From that point on, I was arguing entirely from authority without any evidence. Had I the sense I do now, I would have probably come up with the beaver explanation that morning. You see, I slept in my program area in a tent and it was 20 or so feet away from the water's edge. I listened to the beavers work and slap their tails all night long. Had I not gotten caught up in the excitement and, thereby, blinded myself to the rational explanation this whole embarrassing mess could have been avoided.

So there it is. The rational explanation to a Bigfoot “encounter”. The only Bigfoot there that night and the next morning was in our minds. We wanted there be an unexplained creature living in the woods. Maybe it was because we were having a crappy summer otherwise and we subconsciously wanted something to make the experience otherwise special. What ever the reason, we fell for confirmation bias and mass hysteria spread it to a camp of impressionable scouts. Let this story be a lesson for the next time you read about a Bigfoot experience. Don't look for the monster. Look at the people claiming to have seen it. What might be going on in their lives?

photo by roysaplinjr

Review: Leigh Hart's Mysterious Planet

I just finished watching the first episode of Leigh Hart's Mysterious Planet which was supplied to me by an anonymous source.  I recommend everyone watch it when they get the chance.

Leigh Hart (a.k.a. "That Guy") is a comedian from New Zealand and in this show, he directly takes on "documentary" shows like MonsterQuest.  You see, Leigh Hart's Mysterious Planet is a mockumentary and it is heavy on the mock.  Both Leigh and his subjects get it.  While Hart is obviously being ridiculous, his subjects are obviously misguided, ignorant, self-deceived, or all the above -- making them ridiculous as well.

In this episode (hopefully there are more) Hart takes his film crew to cover the 2009 bigfoot conference held by Don Keating.  While the comedy really is funny, Hart is taking on a woo woo belief and I thought he did an excellent job.

Most of the show is along the lines of "This is Spinal Tap" and it uses a number of sight gags as well as pointing out the gratuitous usage of stock film scenes in low-budget "documentaries" about bigfoot.  While it is obvious Hart is skeptical of the bigfooters' claims he allows them enough rope to hang themselves.  Then he edits the footage and makes them look like complete loons.  Also, I was particularly amused by the repeated mispronunciation of "sasquash" for "sasquatch" by the narrator.  If and when Loren Coleman views this show he'll probably go into one of his whiny, neurotic word-conniptions like he does with Ben Radford's spelling of chupacabra and the appropriate usage of the term "proverb".

Yes, this show is a comedy but it contains just as much pertinent information any episode of MonsterQuest has ever presented.  He effectively (albeit funnily) exposes just how amateur and non-scientific the "study" of bigfoot really is and I applaud this effort.  I only wish Hart had an opportunity to interview Jeff Meldrum.

At the end of the show Hart has a brief dialogue which really sums up the evidence of bigfoot in a goofy but effective way -- where's the evidence?

photo by Balakov

Skeptical Software: Aardvark

Recently, I read about Google's acquisition of a service called Aardvark on Download Squad.  At first, I didn't think anything about the service and thought it might just be a time waster but I was curious so I headed over to the site.

The Aardvark site is pretty minimalistic and you can use the site without signing up.  Basically, what it does is crowd source information based upon networks of people.  If you have a question, Aardvark will send that question to your friends via IM, email, or an iPhone app and they can answer it.  If no one in your friends network has an answer, the question can go out to a larger network.  My first question took about a minute to get a reply so the service is pretty quick.

At any rate, I decided to give it a try and signed up and I've already answered a couple of questions.  When I was working on my profile, I realized there were a number of categories in which you can mark yourself as being familiar and some of these categories included alternative science (pseudoscience to the real word) and alternative medicine (or quackery).  Naturally, I signed up.  There are also categories for cryptozoology and things like Atheism.

So I would like to encourage any fellow Skeptics out there who are so inclined to sign up and start sending some reason out to an audience eager for an answer.  If you want, you can become a part of my network at http://vark.com/s/q2hG.  Aardvark also integrates with Facebook and most of the major email provider (Yahoo, etc.)

photo by @joefoodie

CTA: Close the Supplement Loophole

Despite my previous criticisms of Senator McCain, I recognize he can do some pretty good things as well. This is just such a case. He has just proposed a bill that could potentially close the legal loopholes the supplement industry uses to push out their unscientifically tested, dangerous, and woo woo products. You can read an excellent review of the bill by David Gorski over at Science-Based Medicine: The Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2010: A long overdue correction to the DSHEA of 1994? I think it is of the utmost importance we in the Skeptical community loudly voice our support of this bill.

Below, is a copy of the letter I sent to my senators. Feel free to use it as an outline to use when writing your senators:

Senator XXXX,

I am writing today to demand you support the McCain-Dorgan Bill which will go a long way in closing various loopholes the supplement industry uses to the detriment of our country.

As a former power-lifter/weight-lifter, I am well aware of the rampant abuse of supplements within that subculture. While steroids do get a lot of attention, supplements also do a considerable amount of damage. A personal acquaintance of mine died as the result of damage he had done to his body as the result of steroid and supplement abuse. Before his death, he had previously almost died as the result of an ephedra overdose.

Something must be done and the recent attempt at marketing an industrial-strength chelating agent as an "anti-oxidant" for children with autism is a prime example of just how bad the situation is. It is common knowledge that these "supplements" contain active ingredients which are supposed to perform specific functions in the body -- despite what the ineffective disclaimers on the bottle might state. These so-called "supplements" need to be regulated as drugs so that the innocent (ignorant of true effects and side effects)and the helpless (children, autistics, etc.) are not harmed.

I insist you take immediate action and voice your support for the McCain-Dorgan Bill. Doing so will go a long way to protecting the people of the United States from this modern day form of snake oil.

Thank you,

Don't know how to contact your senators? That's easily accomplished. Just go to: Senators of the 111^th Congress and do a search. It's that easy.

photo by erix!

Reason Pushes WooWoo Back Yet Again

Great news!  It seems like we've been getting a lot of it lately.  The Lancet has fully retracted Andrew Wakefield's bullshit paper linking autism to the MMR vaccine.

Age of Autism and their crew of like-minded antivaxxers have a lot of special pleading ahead of them!  Skepticism and the scientific method win yet another battle!

Choke on that you danceteria-types!

image by Beverly & Pack

No milkmen were harmed in the filming of this movie.

Extinction of the Little Brown Bat?

Last Friday, I went to one of the most interesting and disturbing scientific talks I've been to in quite some time. The science was a true whodunit but the findings are really depressing.

The talk was given by Bob Rudd of the Rabies Laboratory of the Wadsworth Center (I work at Wadsworth). You see, the rabies laboratory has a special affinity for bats -- seeing how everyone and there cousin knows bats can carry rabies. As a result, they spend a significant amount of time analyzing bats. Starting two years ago, they started getting reports of little brown bats coming out of hibernation in the middle of winter. They also started receiving bodies to analyze. No one knew why this was happening until people got into the hibernacula of the bats to do their annual surveys. Once inside, they discovered what is now known as the "White-nose syndrome" or WNS.

WNS is caused by a fungus called Geomyces destructans which infects the outer epidermis of bats. What makes this fungus so devistating is it is a cold-loving fungus which just happens to do GREAT where little brown bats and others of the genus Myotis hibernate over the winter. The infection is the kind of thing that makes you itch all over when you look at it. We are talking about something out of a horror film. The fungus is, literally, eating the bat's skin alive.

Instead of hibernating like they should, the bats wake more often than normal. This might seem a minor point -- if it didn't take a lot of the bat's energy reserves to wake it up. What might be happening is the fungus is so irritating that it wakes the bat from its slumber due to indescribably unbearable itching. As a result, the bat wakes and uses more of its reserves until it realizes it needs to eat. At this point, the poor animal sets out to find food -- in the winter. It isn't hard to figure out what happens next. They freeze to death. Another possibility is the concentrated PCBs and pesticides in their fat become so concentrated they poison themselves.

If a bat is lucky enough to survive the winter, the membrane covering its wing may have been eaten away! Those bats starve to death because they can't fly. Some have actually been collected pathetically crawling around on the ground.

New York State's Howe's Cavern is ground zero for this infection and to date, WNS has been spreading about 500 miles a year as infected bats travel and interact and it is doing a hell of a lot of damage along the way. Unfortunately, it is expected to reach the largest concentration of bat hibernacula this summer. Scientists are waiting to see what happens but it probably won't be a pretty picture. You see, I asked two questions at the talk. First I wanted to know what the mortality rate was. Rudd told me that after the first year of infection, about 60% of the population disappears (they only count them in the winter so it is impossible to say how many died directly as the result of WNS). After the second year, 90-95% of the remaining population is gone. My second question was whether we might be looking at an extinction event. Sadly, it looks like this might be the case -- if not for the little brown, then very likely for the grey bat and other more endangered species. Still, over 90% of the little brown population has disappeared in New York State over the last TWO years.

Why should we be worried about bats dying? Besides the pain of watching an entire species disappear, there is a human cost. Little browns and their kin eat 50% of their body mass in insects A NIGHT when they are active. That is a lot of bugs. It is also well known that little browns like mosquitoes -- which make up a good portion of their diet. The tiger mosquito is now in the United States as well as others that carry diseases like Dengue Fever, Malaria, West Nile, and other potentially fatal diseases. A drop in the number of bats will probably translate to an increase in the number of people dying from these diseases. Also, the damage to agriculture could be immense. Hopefully the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus) will decide it wants to fill the little brown's niche when it's gone or we will be dumping a whole lot more pesticides on the landscape.

Is there any hope? Honestly, the future is looking beyond bleak. Like I said earlier, "Extinction" is being said out loud. It isn't even being mumbled under people's breath. If there is any hope, it is Geomyces destructans is genetically identical to a fungus seen in Europe. Interestingly, it doesn't seem to kill bats there. Europe's bat population is nowhere near as large as the population in North America so some have hypothesized that they where already hit and have developed an immunity to the infection. This has not been proven but it is possible that some of our little browns and their cousins could develop a resistance to WNS. Otherwise, it appears as if there is nothing we humans can do to save our little winged friends. I really hope they evolve the immunity they so desperately need.

photo by KillerPM

Breaking News: Roeder Guilty on ALL Counts in the Murder of Dr. Tiller

Another win for the anti-fundies!  Anti-abortion murderer and terrorist Scott Roeder has been found guilty of the murder of abortion provider Dr. George Tiller.  The murder took place in Tiller's church just prior to services.  Skeptics and Atheists in the United States must be really pleased to hear this ruling.  It took the KANSAS jury only 40 minutes to rule on this one.

Fortunately, he was not found guilty of the crime of aggravated manslaughter which would have reduced his sentence to 5 years.  Roeder is unrepentant for the cold-blooded murder of Dr. Tiller.  Maybe his song will change once he's somebody's bitch in prison.

Guity Verdict in Abortion Doc. Murder


Fundamentalist religious dogma, regardless of whether it comes from Muslims, Christians, Jews, or whoever, is an albatross tied around the neck of any society.  It is good to see the system work and eliminate this asshole from society at large.  No doubt, there will be fundies out there ready to portray him as a martyr.  I hope they do so because they will be revealing their true intentions -- fundamentalist intimidation and suppression of beliefs through force and terrorism.  Perhaps this is a reductio ad absurdum (and I hope it is) but I wouldn't be surprised if it is only a matter of time before we find fundies trying to get into abortion clinics with bombs strapped their bodies.

video courtesy CBS.

Breaking News: Andrew Wakefield May be Stripped of His Medical Licence

I just read over at Sky News that one of the quacks of quacks, Andrew Wakefield, may lose his medical license!  This is great news and a serious blow to the Anti-vaxxers -- who have long held Wakefield as some kind of profit er prophet.  From Sky News:

His conduct brought the medical profession "into disrepute" after he took blood samples from youngsters at his son's birthday party in return for payments of £5.
He also acted dishonestly and was misleading and irresponsible in the way he described research later published in The Lancet medical journal, the panel ruled at a hearing.

Now, in a time where Skeptics are starting to make headway and really begin to irritate the hucksters, lairs, and frauds out there this comes along!  Awesome!  I doubt I could have gotten better news today!

photo by ghinson

Trying to Get Religion in the Common Council

“All politics are local” is an adage handed down to former Speaker of the House of Representative – the late Tip O'Neil – from his father. This is a case of just that and I figure a couple of my five or six readers might appreciate the situation we have developing here in Albany, NY. On the grand scheme of things, I don't think is anything more than a created issue for a councilman who feels he needs more attention than he's gotten in the past.  It does illustrate a case of someone trying to use the concept of cultural diversity as a means by which to incorporate religious prayer into what is currently a secular Albany Common Council meeting.

Anton Konev was recently elected as the City of Albany's Councilman for the 11^th ward. The specifics of the election and possible complaints people may have about the election are not important. What is important to note is that Mr. Konev has, in the past, done various things with the intention to garner attention for himself. Basically, Mr. Konev fancies himself as some sort of a community organizer – which is fine on the surface. He organized a group which was supposed to work with the police department to try to reduce crime in the City's Pine Hills neighborhood – which has a heavy percentage of college students living there. In the interest of disclosure, I once tried to organize a grass-roots community walk there as well after a coworker was brutally attacked and robbed on the street at a major intersection. My attempts failed due to a lack of interest. Mr. Konev tried something similar and it is, as well, a failure. Crime has not gone down and the recent murder of a college student even attracted some regional, if not national, attention. During the course of my attempt at working on this topic, I had some brief communication with Mr. Konev via email and that is the extent of my interaction with him. My impression of the brief communication was that he was threatened by my actions and his demeanor was, how shall I put it, too "defensive".

As anyone who's read my blog posts regarding Loren Coleman, I value intellectual honesty a great deal. While Coleman is known for changing his position and then altering the record post hoc to cover his tracks, he really doesn't engage in plagiarism (with the exception, to my knowledge, of the time I caught him doing so). Mr. Konev, to my understanding, was expelled from the State University of New York at Albany for plagiarism. Consequently, my opinion of him is negatively biased but I feel with good cause.

So, what the hell am I writing about? Mr. Konev recently decided he would attract some attention to himself by proposing that the Albany Common Council incorporate prayer into its meetings. The Common Council already has a moment of silence which it put in place in the 90s as a inclusive compromise to the prayer issue. I have no problem with this. As Hank Fox posted on the Atheist MeetUp group “...if you're a Christian, our moment of silence is YOUR moment of silence, a Christian moment of silence. If you're a Muslim, it is a Muslim moment of silence. If you are an agnostic or atheist, it is a non-sectarian moment of silence.”

Konev's straw man argument, essentially, is that he wants to adequately represent the cultural makeup of the city and the means by which he intends to do so is through prayer. I, and the majority of the respondents to the original story in the Times Union as well as the entire Atheist MeetUp group, feel this argument is completely bogus. Konev wants attention and, like a spoiled toddler, this is the way he intends to start getting it now that he has been elected. I have no doubt he intends to seek higher office and thinks great things of himself but, as his past illustrates, he can not be trusted. I doubt Mr. Konev really wants prayer in the meetings for some pious reason. This does not negate the fact he will be introducing a motion to the Council at its next meeting and, no doubt, there will be proponents from the religious community who will support it.

Religion and governance are to be kept eternally separate if we have any hope of a true government “by the people and for the people”. What Mr. Konev is doing with his proposal is shit upon the feeling and beliefs of the Humanists, Atheists, Agnostics, and Non-Theists/Non-Deists of Albany. Fortunately, it is starting to look as though his proposal will not be warmly received. This, in part, may be due to the immediate response by the Atheist, etc. community as soon as the story broke in the Times Union. I feel this may be a good case study of how the non-religious community can make its voice heard prior to a law, etc. being put into place. As of the time of the writing of this post, there is time to let your voice be heard as well. If you have an opinion you would like to share with Mr. Konev, you can contact him by way of the Albany Common Council (interestingly, he doesn't provide an email address and his biography is a rambling mess).  Now is the time to react – before something is enacted. It is always easier to not have a fire started than to have to put one out.

I have just learned that he lacks the votes to pass this ridiculous suggestion.  However, that is no reason why to let up on the pressure.

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Edit (1/27/10):  Konev lacks the votes to pass this measure.  Of the 15 members of the Common Council, 12 have publicly stated they will not vote for it.

Edit (1/28/10):  If you feel like contacting Konev, his email address is konevforcouncil@gmail.com.

Photo by whizchickenonbun