Choice loons on the British Parliamentary health committee

[LeftishBrit]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jun/26/conservatives-health-select-committee

Ugggghhhh. Few things worse than when right-wing views get mixed with anti-science lunacy - as they frequently do.

'Tredinnick's passion for "healthcare research" landed him in trouble during the expenses scandal last year, in which he was caught claiming £700 for "computer software and consultancy to investigate whether astrology can be linked to alternative medicine."'

Mr. Blur, I think there may be more work for you on the 'Whackjob Card' front!

[lazarus]

1. sweet zombie jesus

That is truly loony. How long before the Lib Dems withdraw support of the new government? Or are they as loony as the Conservatives?

[LeftishBrit]

2. To be fair, most Conservatives here aren't that loony either

Much as I don't care for David Cameron, he is not into either religious-right lunacy or general woo. As for the other parties, Clegg is an atheist, as is the most likely next leader of the Labour Party, David Miliband; and, whatever their faults, a devotion to health woo is not one of them!

This crap fortunately isn't Government policy, but

(a) a rearguard action by some religious loonies, of which Dorries is a leader, against our increasingly secular and wicked society! This is not a movement that is likely to get very far in the long run, but it is still rather nasty. Dorries is a general far-right-wing Tory, who for example has the same obsessive hatred for the liberal Tory Speaker John Bercow that an American teabagger might have for a 'RINO'. Like many religious right-wingers, she also sees few problems with simultaneously serving God and Mammon, and has been more implicated than most MPs in the expenses scandals.

(b) a small number of health woos, mostly but not exclusively Tory, who use Parliament as a vehicle for their homeopathy and astrology obsessions. They are not likely to get very far; but they are nuts, and it's worrying that *any* such lunatics gain power.

[lazarus]

3. ah, thanks for the clarification

It's still said a woo could gain some power, though.

:hi:

[onager]

4. Just wait till they mix astrology with govt. finances!

On this side of the pond, we got to enjoy that spectacle back in the 1990's - leading to the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history:

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - Former Orange County Treasurer Robert L. Citron managed the county's multibillion-dollar investments guided by a $4.50 astrology chart that predicted changes in the financial markets, recently released court documents revealed.

The charts prepared especially for Citron by an Indiana astrologer "predicted when large changes in the financial markets would take place," he said in a deposition. "It didn't tell you whether the market was going to go up or go down. ... you had to figure that out yourself. It was just a fun thing to watch...and see how correct it was."

Until the predictions (inevitably) were incorrect, at which point Orange County went bankrupt and Mr. Citron went to jail. He sure had a strange idea of "fun."

He also conducted some psychics for financial advice. But the whole woo-woo angle seemed to embarass everybody, so in court it apparently wasn't pursued that forcefully (as usual).

This is the kind of crackpottery usually associated with Hollywood. For foreign DU'ers - Orange County, CA has a long reputation for arch-conservatism, being the birthplace of Dick Nixon and the birthplace of Ronald Reagan's political career. (And the home of Disneyland.) Even in the 1950's its citizens were lampooned as mossbacks who spent their weekends protesting fluoridated water and the U.N.

It's probably only fair to note that Citron was the only Democrat in Orange County govt. at the time, though he was a conservative Democrat.

When caught, Citron came up with the interesting Deteriorating Brain Defense:

Citron used his own money to pay for the charts drawn up by Marguerite Carter of Indianapolis from the 1980s until 1993, discontinuing use of the charts when the format grew more complicated to the point that "the person using it had to use more of their own predictability..."

Citron testified that he was having trouble digesting important information and suspected that his brain had been deteriorating since 1989. "My brain is unable to audit all the information necessary to make executive decisions," he testified.


http://www.sddt.com/News/article.cfm?SourceCode=19980724cx

[salvorhardin]

5. I'd say that's a pretty good defense

Basing the multi-million dollar investment decisions of a county government on the advice of astrologers and psychics is pretty much solid evidence of diminished capacity in my book. The only question that remains, is others must have known of this, so who are they and why didn't they say anything? And if no one else knew, then why wasn't there sufficient oversight?* Either way, it's bad.

*Yeah, I know why. Arch-conservatives. That's why there wasn't any oversight worth a damn.

[mr blur]

6. I heard (I think) Tredinnick on Radio 4 the other morning

ranting on about the wonders of homeopathy. What a complete loon.

Yes he should definitely join the set!

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Well, at least Dorries wasn't elected chair of the committee

Stephen Dorrell got that instead: http://www.bloggerheads.com/archives/2010/06/nadine-dorries-unfit.asp
But she did come second. :scared:

[LeftishBrit]

9. The only good thing about Dorries as a committee member...

is that she must be one of the top skivers among MPs, and is even more likely than George Galloway to fail to turn up at committee meetings because she's on a reality show or just can't be bothered to come.

Good that she's not Chair, in any case!

Tredinnick probably will turn up, however.

[Odin2005]

8. This is what happens when your crown prince is a Woo-Woo!