Quickies
Skepchick Quickies 4.17
- British Columbia gives naturopaths right to prescribe drugs – Midwives and RNs get new rights as well, such as midwives can now administer acupuncture for pain relief purposes. From PrimevilKneivel .
- NC state House narrowly approves school sex-ed changes – “The abstinence-until-marriage curriculum is the current offering in most school districts. A handful of systems offer a program that teaches about contraception. The bill would require all systems to offer both tracks.” Parents will be able to choose which class their children attend. From Steve.
- Man sues Yankees for not letting him use bathroom during “God Bless America” – Yankee stadium has a rule restricting movement during the singing of “God Bless America” and last August, Bradford Campeau-Laurion was thrown out for trying to use the bathroom during the song.Â
- Three subgroups of Neanderthals identified – The findings are preliminary due to the very small sample size but the data does suggest that the multiple-subgroup hypothesis is correct. From Rav Winston.
- Cute animal Friday! From Jes3ica we have Kingsford the tiny pot-bellied pig. Not quite cute but Bug is right that this is a very pretty Buprestid beetle. And the always-reliable ZooBorns has these freaking adorable lion cubs.
It seems to me that if you have to enforce patriotism with literal arm-twisting by the police then something is broken in your political system.
Of course, I’m one of those damned liberal pinkos.
“Naturopaths would be required to complete a new certification course before being allowed to prescribe drugs including hormones, vitamins, minerals and amino acids, Kind said.”
The final exam for the certification should contain the question “Does homeopathy work?”. Anything other than a resounding, unequivocal “NO” means they automatically flunk.
I guess the hairless chimp didn’t make the cut for Cute Animal Friday. It’s probably a better candidate for Vaguely Disturbing Animal Wednesday.
Inregards to the fan thrown out of Yankee Stadium,
Stupidity at its best
Isn’t it part of the Naturopathic “view of the whole person” that drugs are poison to be avoided? Oh the irony! If a Naturopath writes a perscription for a patient, the patient will think he/she is a quack!
The infernal beauty of this: patients of Naturopath’s may actually get better from the drugs but attribute it to the woo. sCAM will be able to claim demonstrable success by simply downplaying the role actual medicine plays in their practice. That’s flippin’ brilliant! And diabolical! Hats off to the bastards.
It’s highly ironic that people’s actions are restricted while the words, “Let us swear allegiance to a land that’s free,” are heard.
Reminds me of a brief moment of brilliance from Scott Adams (Dilbert guy) regarding flag burning:
@Steve: Don’t think I didn’t seriously consider using it anyway. Guess I wasn’t feeling as demented as usual this morning. :)
Cool beetle…looks tie-dyed or airbrushed! Or is it a Beatle? If so, which one? :-D
Ringo.
He’s a colourful fella.
I blush at BC’s, and for that matter, Canada’s contemporary intellectual decline. It seems that the political frontier of this country is bending over backwards to follow in some of America’s footsteps of recent yore.
However, the pressure placed on federal and provincial Canadian governments to adopt a vast range of “traditional practices” from all sorts of immigrant groups has been enormous, simply enormous.
So sad.
Allowing the naturopaths prescription privileges is so bat-shit crazy I can hardly believe doctors and scientists aren’t planning public demonstrations. Some parts of the new BC law regarding expanded responsibilities for nurses seemed fairly level headed however.
I read another article on the ‘cant use the bathroom during god bless…’, which reported the man was quite drunk, belligerent and yelling profanities which will get anyone tossed out of the ballpark.
@James Fox: I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few ticked-off pharmacists in the crowd too. It’s difficult to sift through the maze of degree programs and accreditations, so it’s hard to tell whether pharmacists (Pharm.D.) or naturopaths (ND) require more medical training. You’d hope that the person writing the prescription has more training. Just wait until a pharmacist refuses, for medical reasons, to fill a prescription from a naturopath. That ought to set off some fireworks.
“Dear owners, My name is Benny 11 years old and I live with my cat and my mom and dad. Please tell me where I can buy one of these pigs please because i have always loved animals and I want to have a farm someday. Thank you. Benny.”
Someone buy this kid a piggy!
Hell, someone by me a piggy! (Kingsford – cool name)
PS – Beaut of a Buprestid beetle, Bug Girl.
@Steve: It was my understanding that getting a ND does not actually involve any graduate work whatsoever. Whereas a Pharm.D. was an actual doctorate type graduate degree that involves medical and science education with the commonly accepted amount of post baccalaureate study.
@SicPreFix:
Ah, I’ve noticed in hindsight, as it were, that my comment looks rather like I am being some kind of anti-something or other. One of those nasty “isms” or “ists”. My thoughts ran ahead of myself, as it were, and I got out the door and on to work before I realized I hadn’t completed my typing.
So, I want to clarify. What I had actually said in my head was:
You know how it goes: It’s election time folks, so, rationality, reality, and honesty be damned. Bring in the marketing and advertising spider spinners and let’s get it on!
I almost missed the pot-belly pig?
For shame …