I've been a big fan of David Bowie ever since high school. True, I didn't appreciate his less mainstream stuff as intensely as I do now until I had been in college a couple of years, but it's not an inaccurate to characterize the effect of David Bowie's art on my life as significant. Basically, I own pretty much everything he ever committed to CD or vinyl and have seen him in concert every time he's toured, starting with his Serious Moonlight Tour in 1983 and ending with his appearance at Madison Square Garden during his Reality Tour in December 2003. I saw him with Trent Reznor in 1995, and I saw him when he came as close as he ever did in his career to a Spinal Tap moment, namely his Glass Spider Tour in 1987. I do regret never having seen him in his 1970s heyday, but I was definitely too young to see him as Ziggy Stardust and borderline too young (junior high age) when he was the Thin White Duke. He was an amazing artist.
Not surprisingly, I was very much saddened by David Bowie's death a little more than a week ago, particularly given how it was such a surprise. No one knew that Bowie had cancer, and I was increasingly in awe at how he had managed to hide his illness for the 18 months since he was first diagnosed. We still don't know for sure what kind of cancer Bowie died of. Bowie's friend Ivo van Hove, the director of his musical Lazarus, has been quoted in an interview as saying that Bowie died of liver cancer, but I have been unable to find corroboration of this from other sources elsewhere. (My first guess would have been lung cancer, given Bowie's longtime smoking habit.) Given that I've been in the biz long enough to know that lay people often refer to metastases of cancers from other organs to the liver as "liver cancer," I wonder if Bowie had a different kind of cancer that had spread to his liver. I have no way of knowing that; so for now it is best to accept that he died of liver cancer. It doesn't really matter. What does matter is that something's happened that I hoped wouldn't.
Regular readers know that I really, really detest Mike Adams, the quack apologist who has built a woo empire around his NaturalNews.com website. One thing that I detest about him in particular is something I first noticed him doing a long time ago. Basically, whenever a celebrity dies of cancer (and sometimes of other things), Adams manages to find a way to paint it as the evil oncology "industry" pushing that evil chemotherapy to kill the celebrity. His most recent target was Beau Biden, whose fatal brain cancer Adams blamed on GMOs (specifically glyphosate pesticides) and whose death Adams blamed on chemotherapy. At other times, he's pulled variations of the same stunt, in essence spitting on the graves of Tony Snow, Patrick Swayze, Elizabeth Edwards, and Farrah Fawcett.
Every time, Adams' MO is the same. He claims that it wasn't the cancer that killed, but rather the chemotherapy, to which he often adds a faux-plaintive, regretful, "If only [insert name of dead celebrity] had used 'natural treatments' she would still be alive today." Whenever he can, Adams likes to find a photo of the celebrity who died taken not long before death, when inevitably that celebrity, ravaged by cancer, appears shockingly emaciated (as Patrick Swayze did) and use for shock value to blame the celebrity's condition on the chemotherapy, rather than the real cause, the cancer. I suppose that's one good thing about how David Bowie kept his disease from the prying eyes of the press; there are no such photos of him near the end, as there are for Patrick Swayze and Steve Jobs, where Bowie looks extremely emaciated. True, there are fairly recent photos of Bowie out there. The most recent include photos taken at the opening of Bowie's play in early December and photos from a photo shoot from an unknown time but presumably within a few weeks of his death. Although in both sets of photos there were hints that the educated eye can pick up to suggest that Bowie's health was not very good (one hint: look at his legs, particularly knees and ankles), those signs were fairly subtle, particularly for one with advanced cancer, and fairly easily missed. Overall Bowie still looked amazingly good for someone with terminal cancer. No wonder Adams chose an old picture of him.
Yes, predictably, Mike Adams let his ghoul flag fly, as he does the despicable thing he does best, gloat over dead celebrities. In this case, he includes Actor Alan Rickman in his gloating in an article entitled Alan Rickman, David Bowie both victims of a for-profit cancer industry that exploits humans for money (while suppressing natural cures). Rickman, as you probably know, was a very popular and influential British actor, best known for playing Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies, as well as terrorist Hans Gruber in Die Hard, the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Harry in Love, Actually, and Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility. Basically, Rickman was very good at playing villains, but he was an excellent all-around actor. Like David Bowie, he was 69 years old when he died of cancer a few days ago, and also like David Bowie he died of a cancer that he had kept private, so that the announcement of his death came as a huge unpleasant surprise. We didn't know what Rickman died of at the time, although after his death there were reports that he had died of pancreatic cancer after being diagnosed in August.
These days, Adams is including podcasts with his rants, and this makes his claims even more hard to take. There's just something about his smarmy, smug voice that makes you hate him even more:
Here's a taste:
The cancer industry is a for-profit industry that relies on repeat business to keep padding its bottom line. David Bowie and Alan Rickman are just two of the industry's latest victims, but there will sadly be millions more.
Chemotherapy alone kills an estimated one million people a year. See PharmaDeathClock.com for a running tally...
Anyone who thinks the cancer industry would ever research and release an actual cancer "cure" is delusional... there's no chance that a multi-billion-dollar industry will deliberately make itself obsolete and obliterate its entire business model.
I had never seen PharmaDeathClock.com; so I wandered over to the link and clicked. What I encountered is pure hilarity, a whole bunch of unsourced misinformation. I saved the site for future reference, as I think it might require a heaping helping of not-so-Respectful Insolence of its own one day. For example, it claims that over 16 million people have been killed by chemotherapy in the US since 2000. That's a million people a year. This number quite literally makes no sense, as the American Cancer Society tells us that around 589,430 Americans die of cancer every year. Even if you claim that every patient who dies of cancer after having been treated with chemotherapy died of the chemotherapy instead of the cancer, that still wouldn't be nearly enough deaths to produce 16 million deaths over 16 years. The other numbers are similarly inflated in ridiculously obvious ways easily identified with minimal checking.
Let's just put it this way. There are only around 2.5 million deaths a year in the US. That would be a little over 40 million over 16 years. I added up the number of deaths attributed to the first nine causes on that website. Guess what the total was? I added them up to 47,271,697. That doesn't even count the causes of death for which the PharmaDeathClock website lists less than a million deaths each. Basically, if you believe this profoundly silly website, medicine causes all the deaths suffered in the US since 2000 and then many more. (One wonders where these deaths went. Perhaps our lizard overlords are hiding them.) The person who put this idiotic site together should just look at some basic vital statistics to make sure his exaggerations aren't so implausible as to deserve nothing but laughter.
In any case, right at the beginning of his podcast, Adams pulls his usual schtick, opining about how there are "natural cures" out there that could have saved David Bowie and Alan Rickman, if only they had availed themselves of them. Never mind that, in the case of Alan Rickman at least, we don't even know whether he was treated with chemotherapy. In cases of advanced pancreatic cancer, not infrequently patients choose palliative care only. It's a reasonable choice, one that I would probably make if I were ever diagnosed with unresectable pancreatic cancer; that is, unless treatments were to improve markedly. The point is that, for all we know, Rickman very possibly never received chemotherapy. We just don't know one way or the other, and his family and publicist aren't saying.
Let's take a look at some of the other claims Adams makes:
The entire cancer industry is based on pure scientific fraud. Out of 53 "landmark" studies cited by the cancer industry to push chemotherapy and other toxic treatments, 88 percent were found to be completely fabricated.
Um, no. Not exactly. I explained what this study showed in my usual inimitable detail. There was no fabrication of results, only difficulty replicating the results. This is a very different thing. Difficulty replicating ≠ fabrication.
Next up:
Similarly, a recent study conducted at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington found that tumors grow FASTER after chemotherapy treatments, meaning chemo accelerates tumor growth and spreads the cancer.
No, no, no, no. This study shows nothing of the sort, at least not in a generalizable fashion. It was a very specific model of prostate cancer. The finding didn't demonstrate anything we didn't already know, namely that damage caused by treatment to normal cells can stimulate the growth of tumor cells. It does not show that chemotherapy doesn't work or that it somehow always makes cancer more aggressive. It does not show that chemotherapy "backfires."
Another paragraph, another lie. Here's another:
Maybe that why 9 out of 10 oncologists would refuse chemotherapy themselves because they know how incredibly toxic it is.
Wow. The number keeps getting bigger and bigger, like any good myth. That's right. This is not true. The origin of this claim goes back nearly 30 years. It turns out that this survey is over 25 years old and was about a specific kind of chemotherapy, cisplatin for non-small cell lung cancer, which was a new therapy at the time and didn’t have a lot of evidence for it. Oncologists were surveyed whether they would take this particular regimen if diagnosed with lung cancer. Subsequent studies showed that, as the evidence for this regiment evolved, more physicians expressed a willingness to take this chemotherapy. Later, in 1991, there was a study entitled Oncologists vary in their willingness to undertake anti-cancer therapies. For highly treatable cancers, it showed percentages as high as 98% of doctors willing to undergo chemotherapy, while the remaining 2% were uncertain, and none answered “definitely no” or “probably no” to chemotherapy. For cancers with a bleak prognosis, such as brain cancer, the numbers were lower. In other words, what oncologists answer to the question of chemotherapy for themselves depends, as it should, on their assessment of how likely it is to benefit them.
Later, Adams rants:
When people like David Bowie and Alan Rickman die from cancer, it's because the cancer industry withheld livesaving information from them about cancer prevention, anti-cancer foods, vitamin D supplementation, avoidance of toxic chemicals and other crucial information that can save lives.
Not only is the cancer industry in the business of profiting from suffering and disease, it's also the key suppression authority of natural solutions against cancer such as anti-cancer medicinal mushrooms (reishi, shiitake, maitake, etc.), the anti-cancer potential of vitamin D and alternative cancer therapies that have been banned in the United States purely for political reasons (see the relentless attacks on Gerson Therapy or Dr. Burzynski to learn more).
In the podcast itself, Adams goes even further, claiming that cancer is "easy" to prevent and even cure. If that were the case, then Adams should demonstrate just how easy it is to prevent and cure cancer with "natural remedies." He doesn't. I wonder why.
In any case, this sort of vile gloating from this vulture is one reason why I so despise Mike Adams, and, in light of his ghoulish gloating over one of my all time favorite artists, I have just one thing to say to him:
Keep your damned dirty paws off Ziggy Stardust and Severus Snape! Let their fans grieve in peace.
- Log in to post comments
Do we know whether Alan Rickman had chemotherapy? I have read very little about his cancer. I know that my stepfather was not offered chemotherapy for his pancreatic cancer as his overall health was too poor and the cancer too advanced. He died within 6 months of being diagnosed.
Not that it would matter to Mike Adams mind.
My hot tip, don't listen to his podcasts or videos, it is better for the blood pressure.
"My hot tip, don’t listen to his podcasts or videos, it is better for the blood pressure."
It is also better if you want to keep some believe in human decency and intelligence.
@Chris Preston #1: No, I was not foolish enough to listen. Orac's excellent treatment of the matter helped me to keep my BP under control. In fact, I have come view his writings as downright preventative; a sentiment that I believe others share.
So, Mike has bought into the mushroom myth, again demonstrating his astounding proclivity for gullibility. Yes, there are high rates of tumor inhibition in laboratory rodents with xenografts of human tumors administered extracts and polysaccharides of fungi, but nothing like those rates have been found in humans. Rodents are apparently far more responsive to fungal extracts and polysaccharides derived from them than humans. The best anyone can say for any of the fungal polysaccharides is that they may prolong the life of a small percentage of cancer patients after chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery, but there is no conclusive clinical evidence that any one or more of them is effective alone in the treatment or prevention of cancer, and the same is true of crude mushroom extracts. Far from being suppressed by big pharma, it was large pharmaceutical companies that developed and studied the products.
Breaking news! Mike Adams still a scumbag.
And being the altruist he is, Mikey will sell you the supplements, the foods and the information. Don't forget for one second that Mikey exploits these deaths for profit. F*ck that guy. Seriously.
Lighthorse@3
I don't know if it's so much that he bought into it as he sells it. He's a vile profiteer through and through.
h[]p://store.naturalnews.com/search.asp?keyword=mushroom&search.x=0&search.y=0
@capnkrunch #5: Hey, thanks. I guessed as much, but didn't dare look. So, what's he got? Let's see. There are 2 products containing powdered, myceliated brown rice in capsules sold under the guise of containing "mushrooms", which is in violation of FDA laws for a product described as containing mushrooms. And a range of individual "mushroom" products in powder but not extract form, the majority of which suspiciously contain the same quantity of "15% Beta Glucan (polysaccharide)". Never mind that "chaga" is not a mushroom, he fails to state the species of "cordyceps" in another product and claims they were all produced in the US. Each one is powdered, myceliated brown rice and not mushrooms.
@capnkrunch #5: Upon closer inspection of the labels, he claims they contain "[trivial name of fungus] Mushroom powder, organic myceliated brown rice". However, the name of the products states "Mushroom", whereas they are not 100% mushroom by any legal meaning of the term in the US. Combined that with his statement "anti-cancer medicinal mushrooms (reishi, shiitake, maitake, etc.)", and you have a medical claim for the dietary supplements he sells.
Every day is a constant struggle to not spend all day sending nasty tweets to Mike. The horrid little tick.
Feel free to send that to info the FTC, Lighthorse.
@Bob #8: That privilege is reserved for citizens of the US.
FDA-regulated products sold online:
http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm095859.htm
It is amazing how many claims of the form "Y kills X people per year in the USA!" become absurd once you realize there are only 2.5 million deaths a year, nearly half of them in people over 80.
You seem to doubt that 11 out of 10 oncologists would rather have Guinea worms in their eyes than get chemotherapy, Orac.
Lighthorse...
On it. Thanks!
Yep, and PharmaDeathClock.com's death counts are so ridiculous that I didn't even have to point out that half those deaths are in the elderly. :-)
Yes, but if they had used Mickeys product, they would have lived forever and ever, not be killed by any illness, accidents or guns.
I suppose he should take a good look in the mirror and see someone who only is trying to make more profit from people who have, or are affraid to get cancer, with products that are onely usefull to make money. for mr. Adams.
He does what he accuses oncologists of.
As Mike Adams should know better than most, 43% of statistics are made up on the spot.
There is a moral test, IIRC originally due to C. S. Lewis, about accusations that certain people are monsters. I learned of it in a theology blog, but the test applies here too, since a doctor who really was poisoning his patients would be reasonably considered a monster. The test is that you should be relieved to find evidence that the accusations are false. If instead you double down on insisting the truth of those accusations, then according to Lewis, you're the monster. I'd say Adams comes out on the wrong side of that test.
Right, he's into mushrooms ( and not in a good way).
-btw- Bob, he's not a horrid *little* tick- he's 6'1".
At any rate, I put up warnings recently about Mike's latest
( the Death Clock, stories about the dearly departed above noted in advance) so that Orac wouldn't blow any circuits.
Mikey is involved in other despicable antics that mislead and frighten readers and promote his own products/ brand/ advice. Here are a few ideas:
- people should desert cities and live in the country before the ensuing Ragnarok that will destroy civilisation as we know it, leading to gang rule and starvation.
- sell traditional investments and stop using banks, instead buy gold and silver- you'll need precious metals - especially silver coins- when the collapse occurs.
- be self-sufficient and grow your own food and herbs
- learn traditional crafts and weaponry ( universities/ computer skills are useless) so that you will have important survival skills/ be "employable" when all fails. Carpentry, farming, herding, butchering, masonry, sewing, policing, building huts, you know.
Mikey is currently selling an image of himself as a self-sufficient farmer/ rancher home on the range, outside Austin.
He includes stories about his goats, chickens and donkeys and, like he did in Ecuador, he maintains a 'food forest' on his land which will feed him when disaster comes. ( fruit trees etc) and also sells hydroponics kits that work without electricity.
I imagine because many people are currently frightened about the economy and terrorism - as they have been since the early 'aughts'- he, like Null, uses that to fuel his spiel so that he can profit off of fear and worry, just like he does about serious illness. Like that other idiot, he has discovered that using audio may be a more efficacious and powerful means to enrapture his thralls.
I guess I am about the same age as you are,Orac.I have been a huge David Bowie fan since elementary school,when I first heard "Space Oddity" on the radio.It was the pop stuff from the 80s that drove me away for a while,but Bowie made some amazing records in the 90s."Earthling" is a stone cold classic,IMO,up there with Bowie's best records from the Golden Years of the 70s.Drum machines or no drum machines.
There has been some interesting stuff show up on the web since David's death.Check out the BBC Radio2 video on YouTube,with Rick Wakeman's lovely classical piano transcription of "Life On Mars".But I thought I'd share two articles specifically about Bowie and his cancer.There was this piece on the the right wing NewsMax site of all places,written by a woman who clearly has some medical knowledge of cancer.She speculates Bowie may have either had lung cancer that spread to his liver,or even that past drug use may have been a factor.
Then there was this posting open letter from a pallative care doctor at the BMJ blogs that is well worth taking a look at.
Adams is a vulture as far as high profile cancer deaths are concerned.We have known this for years.He is a disgusting little troll,who will try to use any any opportunity to push his worthless quackery.Treat cancer with mushrooms and green leafy vegetables!Just be to use the kelp and mushroom powders I sell in my online store,nothing else will do.
Mikey is no different than the greed trolls who came out of the woodwork to sell old David Bowie on ebay for thousands of dollars.
Orac says " Adams should demonstrate just how easy it is to prevent and cure cancer with 'natural remedies'"
Both of these ghouls continuously recite tales about how many people die horribly FROM SBM and how THEY themselves and their followers THRIVE on natural diets, eschewing SBM. That's their idea of *demonstrating* how their woo works.
I hear long-winded recitativs about how the other monster 'counsels' the seriously ill and how many have been 'cured'. Vitamin C drips "reverse' hiv/ aids and have for over 30 years- works for terminal cancer too.. Health support groups teaching veganism and supplement-mania reverse menopause, MS, AD, ASDs and whatever ails ye. He often tells stories about how many famous people ( named) have refused his advice and guess what? Now, they're dead.
Lighthorse@6
No need to look really. The NaturalNews blog exists solely to drive Mikey's profits. If he speaks highly of something it is a safe bet he either sells it, has an affiliate that sells it or sells information (books, CDs, etc) about it. If he says something is bad he stands to profit by hawking an alternative. Even his 'end if times' posts serve to promote his survival gear.
I don't have the words to adequately describe how much I despise him nor the disdain I feel for the idiots who buy his bullsh!t wholesale.
Altho' I'm on my way out the door and can't spend much time..
I looked over the first comments on Mikey's article and HEY WOW- they are largely dissenting !
Orac:
I can't help but remember my paternal grandfather. We'll never know if he really had pancreatic cancer, since he refused biopsy. But he felt it was a pretty strong possibility. His doctor had recommended a biopsy to find out for sure. But grandpa was a general surgeon, and at 91, was basically ready to move on to whatever lies after death. He didn't feel there was any real value to even the biopsy. What would be the point? It wouldn't change the course of treatment, not as far as he was concerned. The only medicine he took for it was morphine. He approved of assisted suicide, but as that was not legal, had no intention of making things difficult for his physician, so went with palliative care and lots of long conversations with friends and family, enjoying his high balls and Dos Equis, until he peacefully passed away in his home. Took longer than he had expected; he was in extraordinarily good health for his age prior to the illness. (At 85, his doctor had to convince him to stop his daily five-mile constitutionals following some angina, but he kept up his daily calisthenics until he had decided to go for hospice care.)
So yeah. There was a doctor who decided against chemo. But for totally rational reasons, and not because of "herbs". (Grandpa was in favor of legalizing marijuana, but really only for recreational use. He had very little tolerance for woo.) I suspect Adams would find a way to both celebrate his resistance to chemo and condemn his acquiescence to death.
Mikey reminds me of Gilderoy Lockhart, making the claim that it was such a pity because if only he had been there he had just the spell.
Clearly the pharma clock is showing what is really happening, not the fictitious lower death rate that the depopulating new world order gang would like us to believe.
I generally avoid reading anything on Mike Adams's site. It makes me unhappy. However, I read this one. And, I read the comments. There's some sensible person, James Peters, calmly explaining cancer. I'm impressed with his attempts to do so without engaging the crazy. They keep calling him a BigPharma Shill. It's practically reflexive.
What I find amusing is that there are several different "cures" for cancer. None of the commenters seem to find it disturbing that they can't possibly all be right.
And someone mentioned chemtrails. I'm practically speechless.
The statistics on his PharmaDeathClock page are a hot mess. If you view his sources, it looks as if he just took numbers from them without much thought of what they represent. Not that his source's numbers are correct but I'll give Gary Null credit for at least having some reliable references for his numbers in his paper.
As is the nature of the Web, I ended up on his Profile and History page. It looks like something someone in high school would write when they were still under the false impression that copious, tedious detail of insignificant points makes up for lack of substance in their essays.
Why do I care how he did on his college entrance exams? Or that he turned down scholarships. Does it mean that he was smart enough to figure out that fleecing people brought in more of an income than writing email programs? Or that he was dropped on his head after college and lost whatever innate abilities he had?
It was all very odd. Almost like saying "Hey, I'm really smart based on all the ratings intellectuals use but I'm not one of them". Meh.
Steve Jobs is a high profile example of the deaths caused by 'alternative medicine'. His cancer had close to 100% survival rate over ten years with prompt medical treatment, but he close q quack remedies instead. http://gawker.com/5849543/harvard-cancer-expert-steve-jobs-probably-doo…
@ Lighthorse #3
Studies of human tumor xenografts on rodents give a start, but not much more. These rodents are immuno-deficient, otherwise they would reject the tumor as a foreign body on their own without treatment. In a word, these tumors are easy to kill, and rarely start in an actual organ (though they may metastase there). Studies on rodent tumors are more powerful, but they are still rodent tumors, not human, are not as easy to produce reliably. You need a combination of the two models to begin to determine true anti-neoplasic potential.
@Meg #23:
Chemtrails have that effect on people, even in homeopathic doses...
@Kimbeaux:
It's actually very simplistic to blame Jobs' death on alternative medicine. I've analyzed his case very extensively and concluded that the delay in treatment probably didn't make a difference because Jobs' tumor had almost certainly already metastasized to his liver by the time of his diagnosis:
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2011/10/31/just-one-more-thing/
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2011/10/21/did-steve-jobs-flirtation-…
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2011/10/07/steve-jobs-neuroendocrine-…
That's not to say Jobs did himself any favors by delay. He probably decreased his odds of survival somewhat. However, based on what I've learned from his biography and other sources, I conclude that he probably would have died of his cancer even if he had undergone surgery expeditiously. Articles like the one you cite are simplistic in the extreme and probably incorrect to conclude that if only Jobs had gone to surgery right away he'd still be alive. By delaying, he probably only negatively altered the odds of his eventual death by a few percent at most. The overwhelmingly more likely scenario is that the cat was already out of the bag when Jobs was diagnosed, Jobs already had micrometastases in the liver, and he would have died anyway, just later.
We skeptics do our arguments no favors by presenting Steve Jobs as a case of alternative medicine use killing a cancer patient who might have been saved.
Rich, interesting you should mention chemtrials and homeopathy in the the same sentence. There is a video on youtube of a woman spritzing vinegar at the sky to make chemtrails go away.
Warning! It's a "no food or drink while watching" production.
"There is a video on youtube of a woman spritzing vinegar at the sky to make chemtrails go away."
There are no chemtrails, so it must have worked. But was it white or balsamic vinegar?
If the Health Deranger does end up getting some form of cancer (and the odds increase every year he ages), I bet he'll go running to M D Anderson whimpering "Help me! Help me!"
And of course, they will help him, as they would despite his vile opinions. This won't change his mind one bit. Why derail the gravy train?
Hmm, I don't know; I'm more inclined to think he would seek SBM from an EU clinic to avoid any embarrassing exposure to the fact* that he had cancer in spite of his lifelong claims that his woo works best.
*It is not a fact that the Health Deranger has cancer, this is merely hypothetically-speaking.
I find videos about apparent mental derangement disturbing.
I don't know what is more depressing, that people like Mike Adams exist, or that other people exist who hear his crap and swallow it hook, line, and sinker. It's not just the stupidity, it is the willful ignorance that gets to me. So many people don't want the truth, they want the comforting lies that support their view of the world, and in a highly ironic twist, they call everyone else "sheeple" when they are actually the ones blindly accepting everything they are told.
I seriously despair sometimes when I contemplate this.
I try so hard to be the better person around messages like Adams', but some days - today being one of them - i get rationally incredibly angry. I work my TAIL off at my job, and have done so for almost 20 years now. I care DEEPLY about the outcome of every drug candidate i have worked on, especially the oncology targets. Even the "lesser" diseases i have contributed to - Graft versus Host Disease, Autoimmune, antivirals, obesity and cacexia, HCV, etc etc - still get every ounce of energy i have to give. I get nightmares about small mistakes i make, and i stress for days when i misinterpret data or make a minor math error that costs the project time or money.
It just breaks my heart that there are (allegedly) intelligent, rational humans who devalue my and my coworkers' efforts so thoroughly. He is calling ME a liar, in addition to the thousands of other R&D employees he is insulting.
Some days i just let it roll off of me and shrug and am secure in the knowledge that he is insane. But today, for some reason, i am furious.
(I know it's not about me, btw. But on behalf of every coworker and colleague i've ever had who cares deeply about the work we do, i just can't stay silent today. I'm pissed.)
Apparently Val Kilmer is dying of throat cancer. Thanks to his Christian Science beliefs.
@Bob #12: If Mike owns HealthRanger, he has made a medical claim. If he does not, the company who does is legally jeopardized by his claim by direct affiliation. Moreover, on the back of the package of the "mushroom" powders, readers are directed to "store.natural.news.com", which leads to medical claims.
Because you guys ( esp Dan W and Double S) inspire me...
I know about Mike since 2007 ( and I am probably the first person to ever publicly refer to him as 'Mikey')
I sense a certain pattern in his material which echoes Null's and reeks to high heaven of self-instruction** in that it is naïve, self-serving and very selective in its scope of study.
He picks and chooses items to discuss based upon his poor knowledge and is also limited by what sells. Thus, what he
( they) knows about memory or cancer or mental health has to fit what worries people most and cuts out relevant material in the disciplines of cognitive psychology or oncology or psychiatry.
But their fans don't know this.
Their appeal cuts two ways which might seem contradictory but really are not:
- they are naïve and simplistic enough for their thralls to understand
( AND followers can identify with these 'regular guys' telling the experts how to correct their errant ways)
- they portray themselves as self-made men at the zenith of intellectual ability HOWEVER followers are led to believe that they themselves can do the same - become an intellectual force and critic of science, politics or whatever else they fancy themselves to be ( Null studies art as well)
without doing the relevant work or acquiring a meaningful education in the field.
I think that people identifying with these loons -or aspiring to mimic them- insulates the latter from criticism quite a bit. Followers have a emotional investment in their success and perhaps live vicariously through these so-called heroes of alt med and new media. They continuously tell their audiences about how altruistic they are, how they are just plain folks not fancy university elitists, how they care about people unlike anyone of their enemies list.
** another hint- if someone is an expert they don't constantly mispronounce important words or names in their area of expertise.
Not referring to any specific supplement dealer here with the following question (apologies if I've asked this before):
Has the FDA ever weighed in on the legality of 1) on the one hand, following DSHEA in making suitably vague general health claims for one's product on the product label or company website, but additionally 2) making claims in "news" articles and in online forum postings that the product treats specific medical conditions?
For example, what if you sell a supplement whose label reads "helps support heart health", while you go online to proclaim that the supplement prevents heart attacks or treats heart failure?
@ Dangerous Bacon:
I'm not sure about the FDA but here's how Null skirts legal issues ( he has a stable full of lawyers):
he says that he " can't tell you anything about what this product does BUT if you look it up, you'll see" ( paraphrase)
Then he endlessly details what 'research' shows about gingko or vitamin C or resveratrol- discussing in vitro studies, altie fol de rol and his own "clinical" research/ health support groups peppered with anecdotes aplenty.
Supposedly he cured many people with aids or cancer with vitamin C drips and ozone.
Interestingly, his health resort in Texas was supposed to work with alt practitioners in integrative therapies but I can no longer access his resort's web page.
I'd like to invite Mike Adams into my home for a nice pot of really hot coffee...Gerson blend, of course.
Hello dear minions,
I had a little hunch (lambast about big pharma minions' COI in order to hide our own...) and while the whois query was inconclusive, the dns one look to me very suspicious :)
dig:
localhost ~ # dig pharmadeathclock.com
; <> DiG 9.10.3-P2 <> pharmadeathclock.com
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 27437
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1
;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 512
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;pharmadeathclock.com.INA
;; ANSWER SECTION:
pharmadeathclock.com.599INA162.244.66.144
;; Query time: 97 msec
;; SERVER: 8.8.8.8#53(8.8.8.8)
;; WHEN: Tue Jan 19 18:51:31 2016
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 65
localhost ~ # dig naturalnews.com
; <> DiG 9.10.3-P2 <> naturalnews.com
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2016-01-19T23:00:00Z <<<
Alain < Domina Walters trusty evil minion :)
oups, truncated post...
here's the dig output:
localhost ~ # dig pharmadeathclock.com
; <> DiG 9.10.3-P2 <> pharmadeathclock.com
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 27437
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1
;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 512
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;pharmadeathclock.com.INA
;; ANSWER SECTION:
pharmadeathclock.com.599INA162.244.66.144
;; Query time: 97 msec
;; SERVER: 8.8.8.8#53(8.8.8.8)
;; WHEN: Tue Jan 19 18:51:31 2016
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 65
localhost ~ # dig naturalnews.com
; <> DiG 9.10.3-P2 <> naturalnews.com
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 12087
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1
;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 512
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;naturalnews.com.INA
;; ANSWER SECTION:
naturalnews.com.162INA162.244.66.146
;; Query time: 39 msec
;; SERVER: 8.8.8.8#53(8.8.8.8)
;; WHEN: Tue Jan 19 18:51:51 2016
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 60
Better I hope?
Alain
#23 meg
None of the commenters seem to find it disturbing that they can’t possibly all be right.
Most nutters (see climate denialists ?) usually have no problem believing several mutually impossible things. Crank magnetism seems a normal state of mind for them.
When people like David Bowie and Alan Rickman die from cancer, it’s because the cancer industry withheld livesaving information from them about cancer prevention, anti-cancer foods, vitamin D supplementation, avoidance of toxic chemicals and other crucial information that can save lives.
And yet the 'cancer industry' is doing such a terrible job of silencing Mikey. Somehow his stuff is all over the place for folks to see...
Mon cher Alain-
Calling me 'Domina" makes us minions sound a tad ... er...
risqué, *n'est-ce pas?*
when we're REALLY so nice and as pure as the driven snow.
That's right dear Denice but I'm a romantic :)
That said, I will leave it up to our overlord ;)
Alain
Calling me ‘Domina” makes us minions sound a tad … er…
risqué, *n’est-ce pas?*
"Evidence-based" is my safeword.
“Evidence-based” is my safeword.
That is really good.
It slays me that some of the best humor on the web is found on a science board.
@ herr doktor bimler:
Oh come on now! You know that I'm not involved with any of that tiresome sub-dom, tie-me-up-tie-me-down, top-bottom stuff.
Liberte, egalite, etc
Risqué shouldn't necessarily be too risky.
Speaking of overlords, what has become of ours? I miss the reassuring messages from the nether regions of space. He didn't get made redundant, as they say across the water, in some merger, did he?
@ doug:
He isn't in the 'nether regions of space'
more like Santa Rosa-
altho' there probably are parallels between those 2 places.
Last time seen: Comment 49 on His Royal Quackiness (Prince Charles' visit to US of A).
Dear overlord, your presence would be desired here someday :)
Alain
@Dangerous Bacon #29: The short answer is yes. The FDA considers website content to be an extension of product labeling. Industry-related article titles on the subject of online claims over the past few years include:
FDA warning letters: Social media, website claims & GMP violations
Website content an extension of labeling: FDA warning letter shows companies need to 'think about their real estate space'
Be careful what you 'like' . . . The FDA is looking at your Facebook page
Facebook and Twitter: FDA continues to monitor tweets and 'likes'
Warning Letters database:
http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/default.htm
Here's a recent example:
http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/2015/ucm4811…
More resources:
FDA:
http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ProtectYourself/HealthFraud/ucm255474.h…
FTC:
https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/dietary-supple…
Sorry. My last post should have been @Dangerous Bacon #39.
@ Alain #42 - 43: Could you explain the significance for those of us who don't speak computer? Thanks :)
PharmaDeathCount.com and NaturalNews.com appear to use domain name servers in the same block. While that doesn't necessarily mean they are the same, it does raise that suspicion.
At the moment, the former doesn't even have DNS from where I sit:
; <> DiG 9 <> @localhost PharmaDeathCount.com A
; (1 server found)
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 25904
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;PharmaDeathCount.com.INA
;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
com.864INSOAa.gtld-servers.net. nstld.verisign-grs.com. 1453256554 1800 900 604800 86400
;; Query time: 0 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1)
;; WHEN: Wed Jan 20 03:23:39 2016
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 111
Am I missing something here? One of his weirdo friends says the Pharma Death Clock is Mike Adam's page.
And why the heck is it called a clock? Isn't it a counter or something?
If I'm totally off base, please let me know. I'm extremely sleep deprived and have been in a rare mood all day.
^ Sorry. Here's the link
http://www.treason.news/2015-12-03-pharmadeathclock-like-lambs-to-the-s…
Past time for bed...
FWIW, the Bowie picture shows good archery form.
On the must-suppress-treatments-that-can't-be-patented front, which I suppose isn't too off-topic when Adams is, HSCT for multiple sclerosis has been making the news rounds lately, but this BBC item has some ironic bits:
* No, I didn't bother looking for overlaps from other outlets.
^ "when Adams is on-topic"
@Denice Walter #38: Your characterization of Null and Mikey captures their true nature very well and could equally apply to others of their kind (e.g., David Wolfe): ignorant, unethical preachers supported by adoring fools and product line.
In the unlikely event of Orac running out of material, I am delighted to report that Dr Sin Hang Lee is back with more half-arsed semi-litigation! This time petitioning Dr. Margaret Chan of WHO with a "open letter" -- shared only with
Catherine Frompovich:
http://www.sott.net/article/310454-High-profile-global-vaccine-conspira…
Given Lee's oeuvre, the full 16-page letter was probably not particularly comprehensible, but Frompovich puts it through her personal Decoherence processor and picks out paragraphs at random. So it is difficult to determine precisely what Lee is alleging, or what has inspired his innuendos. But there is spooky Theremin music playing in the background.
hdb@#65:
Frompovich herself is very thpethial:
Catherine J Frompovich (website) is a retired natural nutritionist who earned advanced degrees in Nutrition and Holistic Health Sciences, Certification in Orthomolecular Theory and Practice plus Paralegal Studies. Her work has been published in national and airline magazines since the early 1980s. Catherine authored numerous books on health issues along with co-authoring papers and monographs with physicians, nurses, and holistic healthcare professionals. She has been a consumer healthcare researcher 35 years and counting.
Airline magazines! No wonder the Illuminati hate her.
@Lighthorse #3:
I'm weary of results from human tumor xenografts.
For all sorts of reasons, foreign tumor xenografts tend to be far more responsive to everything when compared naturally grown tumors. First as opposed to naturally grown tumors, they are foreign, and will elicit a host vs graft response. Second, since they are not grown on site, vascularisation is much more critical for them as compared to natural tumors. Also, they are less likely to be able, like naturally grown tumors, of using the host's body to their own ends, ie metastasis. Cancer is a war of attrition. Combine those factors and it makes all the difference between a drug that is spectacular in in vivo tests and disappointing in real life.
Yes, I know it's probably the most used in vivo model out there, because it's easier to use and interpret. But one has to be very weary of what they mean for cancer patients.
@ Lighthorse:
Thanks.
What really gets me upset is the amount of power these charlatans exercise over others' lives-
telling them what to eat, what to buy, how to invest, where to live, what medical treatments to take or to abandon, what entertainment to follow, how to educate themselves and their children, how to vote
WHEN they are abysmally incompetent at everything themselves except inveigling money from trusting people.
Orac,
The 8.8.8.8 domain name server is what I have configured in my router (8.8.8.8 and 4.4.4.4 are google.com's dns server).
Sarah and Orac,
I wanted to point out that the ip addresses of both server are nearly the same (162.244.66.144 for pharmadeathclock.com and 162.244.66.146 for NN). IP addresses are attributed in block which in this case, a query I just did resulted in this information:
NetRange: 162.244.64.0 - 162.244.67.255
CIDR: 162.244.64.0/22
NetName: CODERO-DFW-1
NetHandle: NET-162-244-64-0-1
Parent: NET162 (NET-162-0-0-0-0)
NetType: Direct Allocation
OriginAS: AS18501
Organization: Codero (APHIN)
RegDate: 2014-03-07
Updated: 2014-03-07
Ref: http://whois.arin.net/rest/net/NET-162-244-64-0-1
Look at the NetRange and the hosting company (which I infer is CODERO), host both NN and the pharmadeathclock.com and very highly likely, in the same server bay. It would be reasonable to infer that they are both owned (or rented) by Mike Adam.
Alain
Yup. I misread those IP addresses as DNS servers. Oh, well...
I'd say it's a near 100% likelihood that PharmaDeathClock.com is owned by Mike Adams, based on the server information.
Don't want to pollute the comment section as this data is rather painful to read but here's the registrar data for NN:
The Registry database contains ONLY .COM, .NET, .EDU domains and
Registrars.
Domain Name: NATURALNEWS.COM
Registry Domain ID: 143100756_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.godaddy.com
Registrar URL: http://www.godaddy.com
Update Date: 2015-04-29T05:20:38Z
Creation Date: 2005-02-19T19:06:39Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2017-02-19T19:06:39Z
Registrar: GoDaddy.com, LLC
Registrar IANA ID: 146
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@godaddy.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.4806242505
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientUpdateProhibited
Domain Status: clientRenewProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientRenewProhibited
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientDeleteProhibited
Registry Registrant ID: Not Available From Registry
Registrant Name: Registration Private
Registrant Organization: Domains By Proxy, LLC
Registrant Street: DomainsByProxy.com
Registrant Street: 14747 N Northsight Blvd Suite 111, PMB 309
Registrant City: Scottsdale
Registrant State/Province: Arizona
Registrant Postal Code: 85260
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.4806242599
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax: +1.4806242598
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: NATURALNEWS.COM@domainsbyproxy.com
Registry Admin ID: Not Available From Registry
Admin Name: Registration Private
Admin Organization: Domains By Proxy, LLC
Admin Street: DomainsByProxy.com
Admin Street: 14747 N Northsight Blvd Suite 111, PMB 309
Admin City: Scottsdale
Admin State/Province: Arizona
Admin Postal Code: 85260
Admin Country: US
Admin Phone: +1.4806242599
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax: +1.4806242598
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: NATURALNEWS.COM@domainsbyproxy.com
Registry Tech ID: Not Available From Registry
Tech Name: Registration Private
Tech Organization: Domains By Proxy, LLC
Tech Street: DomainsByProxy.com
Tech Street: 14747 N Northsight Blvd Suite 111, PMB 309
Tech City: Scottsdale
Tech State/Province: Arizona
Tech Postal Code: 85260
Tech Country: US
Tech Phone: +1.4806242599
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax: +1.4806242598
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email: NATURALNEWS.COM@domainsbyproxy.com
Name Server: NS1.CODERO.COM
Name Server: NS2.CODERO.COM
Name Server: DNS1.EASYDNS.COM
DNSSEC: unsigned
here it is for pharmadeathclock.com:
The Registry database contains ONLY .COM, .NET, .EDU domains and
Registrars.
Domain Name: pharmadeathclock.com
Registry Domain ID: 1944688262_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.godaddy.com
Registrar URL: http://www.godaddy.com
Update Date: 2015-07-04T18:57:55Z
Creation Date: 2015-07-04T18:57:55Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2016-07-04T18:57:55Z
Registrar: GoDaddy.com, LLC
Registrar IANA ID: 146
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@godaddy.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.4806242505
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientUpdateProhibited
Domain Status: clientRenewProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientRenewProhibited
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientDeleteProhibited
Registry Registrant ID: Not Available From Registry
Registrant Name: Registration Private
Registrant Organization: Domains By Proxy, LLC
Registrant Street: DomainsByProxy.com
Registrant Street: 14747 N Northsight Blvd Suite 111, PMB 309
Registrant City: Scottsdale
Registrant State/Province: Arizona
Registrant Postal Code: 85260
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.4806242599
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax: +1.4806242598
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: pharmadeathclock.com@domainsbyproxy.com
Registry Admin ID: Not Available From Registry
Admin Name: Registration Private
Admin Organization: Domains By Proxy, LLC
Admin Street: DomainsByProxy.com
Admin Street: 14747 N Northsight Blvd Suite 111, PMB 309
Admin City: Scottsdale
Admin State/Province: Arizona
Admin Postal Code: 85260
Admin Country: US
Admin Phone: +1.4806242599
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax: +1.4806242598
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: pharmadeathclock.com@domainsbyproxy.com
Registry Tech ID: Not Available From Registry
Tech Name: Registration Private
Tech Organization: Domains By Proxy, LLC
Tech Street: DomainsByProxy.com
Tech Street: 14747 N Northsight Blvd Suite 111, PMB 309
Tech City: Scottsdale
Tech State/Province: Arizona
Tech Postal Code: 85260
Tech Country: US
Tech Phone: +1.4806242599
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax: +1.4806242598
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email: pharmadeathclock.com@domainsbyproxy.com
Name Server: NS17.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Name Server: NS18.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
DNSSEC: unsigned
Same outfit :)
Alain
Alain,
I commend you on your sleuthing!
Originally what was going over my head was that Adam's owning this was even a question. However, the way Mike Adam's introduced the site, the commonality of web design and heresy is not evidence. You're the one you found it.
I looked at his introduction of the site again and now wonder why he is omitting any reference that he created it. Embarrassed by his own numbers?
Don't worry. I am sure this is not the case.
^ Sigh. I meant to type hearsay.
Funny but he usually brags about his 'accomplishments'- he has a crapload of websites already.
-btw- He's discussing the markets today at NN/Health Ranger Report.
He's resurrected the old News Target site.
He also has a home farm site, a spirituality site, natural encyclopaedia, etc etc etc/
Favorite Rickman role wasn't mentioned by Orac, one of him as a good guy. Metaron in Dogma. Great movie and Rickman does a fantastic job as the stuck-up and prissy, but ultimately very good and decent Voice of God.
P.S. Mike Adam's is awful.
There's always a reverse lookup. Vaccinezombie.com, for instance, redirects to NN.
This is a very popular Russian crime writer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darya_Dontsova. She was diagnosed with very advanced breast cancer in 1998 (as she explained in her memoirs, it happened during vacations when she discovered that her very small breasts had started growing, and first she did not want to interrupt vacation, then she came across very rude oncologist....) Anyway she discovered her chemotherapy agent (the same active substance) in a gardening shop where it was sold as rodenticide. I guess it is poisonous. But she recovered and regularly speaks against all kinds of " natural remedies", wise women, psychics etc.
Yeah, chemotherapy agents are poisonous: that's rather the point. The idea is that they should be more poisonous to the cancer than the rest of the body.
As for rodenticides, I know a few people who will quite happily explain that they are being actively medicated with 'rat poison', a.k.a. Warfarin, which is prescribed as an anticoagulant.
I was introduced to Alan Rickman through an ideologically dark social commentary kind of movie.
Closet Land:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closet_Land
^^ *Unspecified* probably meant Argentina, at the time -- 'dirty war' and whatnot. Nevertheless, I felt the performance prescient, poignant, and powerful.
Ohh, damn; spoilers:
The guy using the inhanced interrogation techniques torture is the very same secret policeman who raped her mom while the then little girl hid in the closet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOxJnMWlIAQ
Gaa. The above misquoted line should have read:
Santa Rosa? Santa Rosa?! I must learn to keep up. No wonder my prayers have gone unanswered, what with me facing north east toward the pole.
I do hope the reason we haven't heard anything isn't due to the drought and desiccation.
@ doug:
It is quite hilarious to think that the Great Reptilian Master of the Galaxy (tm) is at home in Northern Californian suburban semi-luxury .. ah yes, the town has a few wine bars, brew pubs and shopping malls as well as a creepy 19th century cemetery.
AND Luther Burbank's home and gardens.
I'm sure he blends right in.
Not a troll
I looked at his introduction of the site again and now wonder why he is omitting any reference that he created it
To make it look independent :) but hey, imitation is the best flattery: http://www.jennymccarthybodycount.com/Anti-Vaccine_Body_Count/Home.html
Alain
At least he's probably not recommending Treasuries. If there weren't the issue of hoping to keep a roof over my head, I'd be throwing money at Buzz Zaino.
Narad,
Still looking for a roof? ping me (email).
Might have a job for you too in the beer brewing industry.
Alain
So. . . Mike "buy my snakeoil" Adams thinks that David Bowie and Alan Rickman would still be with us had they taken his malignant goop. No profit motive there, eh Mikey ?
Sod off, you evil little wanker.
@JoeB #76
I saw a joke about this on FB :
Death (as in Pratchett's Death) decides to start a rock band (with Lemmy and Bowie). Metatron tries to explain to him this is not a good idea.
Death (as in Pratchett’s Death) decides to start a rock band (with Lemmy and Bowie).
Yep, they're going to work so well with Glenn Frey.
@ LouV
Re: DEATH hiring for a rock band
PTerry actually wrote a short story on these lines, "Turntables of the Night".
It's a non-Discworld story, although it features one 7-foot tall man in a black robe and a skull mask (it has to be a mask, right?).
The story is about two avid collectors of good music. I won't say more.
The full text seems available on-line.
I see AoA is now trying to pin Glenn Frey's illnesses / death on vaccines.
Ghouls.
@ Narad:
Both Mike and the other idiot give financial advice that basically reflects their own highly unrealistic world view and simultaneously brings them prestige in the form of avid followers while it pads their wallets. They also both believe in gold and silver as insurance against hard times.
First, they frighten people away from traditional instruments like stocks, bonds and banking instead focusing upon arable land and personal health.
Then, they sell instruction in all aspects of their plans as well as products that implement nutrition and survivalism. Both maintain websites and internet radio in order to maintain a strong hold upon their enthralled listeners.
On the investment side, I remember that Null advised during the lows of March 2009 to sell everything- if people had done so, they would have lost out.
Anyone interested in hearing Mikey's methods should listen to the 12 minute recording that accompanies his latest screed at Natural News.
He opines that the market is dependent upon psychological factors and that FEAR can disrupt it-
suppose ISIS terrorists bomb a bank on Wall St or Russians set off a nuclear weapon offshore or there could be a tidal wave! ( he actually says this!)I guess he doesn't like NY!**
the market will collapse, banks will fail. You need tangible resources like gold or land.
Right, he discusses how fear can f@ck things up as he uses it to control listeners.
** interestingly he's instructed people to move to Texas where life will be excellent.
I see I blew the plot spoiler to just the slandered extent I blew the Elizabeth Barrett Browning quote -- I may have had a memory-sapping stroke or CJD.
I find it sad that the only remaining traces of this movie seem to be a vhs rip and a spanish cam of Tierra de Armarios.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closet_Land#Reception
All the movies that really stuck with me seem to have been relegated to vhs rips -- Too much recording media surface is taken up with productions that tell one what to think instead of having something to say.
For instance, what ever happened to Pondo Sinatra (who is depicted as falling off the back of a turnip truck his first day of higher education)??
The Party Animal {video/sex shop, nuclear proliferation discussion}:
Damn -- That's what I'm talking about. The most bestest scene ever has been scrubbed from YouRube and the resulting vacuume thereof populated with all the puerile fart and drug scenes minus the Buzzcocks one would never need to show their reminiscing friends.
R.I.P, Alan Rickman. You to Bowie.
I was at that show!