Junk Science, Writ Large

If you have any brains, you'll be a vegetarian. Honest. That's what the headline says.

FRIDAY, Dec. 15 (HealthDay News) — As a child's IQ rises, his taste for meat in adulthood declines, a new study suggests.

British researchers have found that children's IQ predicts their likelihood of becoming vegetarians as young adults — lowering their risk for cardiovascular disease in the process. The finding could explain the link between smarts and better health, the investigators say.

"Brighter people tend to have healthier dietary habits," concluded lead author Catharine Gale, a senior research fellow at the MRC Epidemiology Resource Centre of the University of Southampton and Southampton General Hospital.

Recent studies suggest that vegetarianism may be associated with lower cholesterol, reduced risk of obesity and heart disease. This might explain why children with high IQs tend to have a lower risk of heart disease in later life.

The report is published in the Dec. 15 online edition of the British Medical Journal.

"We know from other studies that brighter children tend to behave in a healthier fashion as adults — they're less likely to smoke, less likely to be overweight, less likely to have high blood pressure and more likely to take strenuous exercise," Gale said. "This study provides further evidence that people with a higher IQ tend to have a healthier lifestyle."

In the study, Gale's team collected data on nearly 8,200 men and women aged 30, whose IQ had been tested when they were 10 years of age.

"Children who scored higher on IQ tests at age 10 were more likely than those who got lower scores to report that they were vegetarian at the age of 30," Gale said.

Now, these stunning results were trumpeted all over the world. I have seen variations on this report all over today. But here is the actual number from the study:

The researchers found that 4.5 percent of participants were vegetarians. Of these, 2.5 percent were vegan, and 33.6 percent said they were vegetarian but also ate fish or chicken.

There was no difference in IQ score between strict vegetarians and those who said they were vegetarian but who said they ate fish or chicken, the researchers add.

The article does not say what the difference in IQ scores were for any of the groups. But the stunning part here is the gross manipulation of numbers. Read this again:

The researchers found that 4.5 percent of participants were vegetarians. Of these, 2.5 percent were vegan, and 33.6 percent said they were vegetarian but also ate fish or chicken.

People with high IQ's also can figure when numbers are being misreported. This is idiocy, not reporting. This is an agenda. Turn the number around: 95.5% of people are not vegetarian. The sample they are working with here is meaningless. This "study" is aimed at the five out of four people who cannot understand fractions.

(T)Hugo Says…….

….Fidel Castro is not dying.

"Fidel doesn't have cancer. I'm very well-informed … he's instructed (Cuban officials) to inform me of all the details of what is happening," Chavez said during a speech in Caracas.

He said the two leaders had spoken twice on Thursday and discussed a series of new projects between Venezuela and Cuba, including plans for joint oil expeditions. He reiterated previous comments that Fidel's recuperation is going "slowly" and that Castro is fighting "a great battle" for his health after suffering what he described as a "serious illness."

There has been growing uncertainty in Cuba about the health of the 80-year-old Fidel, who has not been seen in public since he underwent intestinal surgery in July. He temporarily ceded his powers to his 75-year-old brother Raul.

Well, of course. He's just very tired.

Well, Yes, We Do

"Indeed, if one looks hard enough, you might even find some non-Jews who find the misuse of "apartheid" to be appalling as well." The words written by David Schraub at The Moderate Voice regarding Jimmy Carter's latest weasel words. He's discussing this article from the AP about Jimmy's refusal to debate Alan Dershowitz over the fabricated book Carter just published. The way Carter ducks out of debating is to proclaim that Dershowitz doesn't know anything, therefore is unworthy of Carter's magnificent personage deigning to speak with such a plebeian. Dershowitz's ignorance is probably a bit of a shock to Harvard where Dershowitz has taught for some time. As Schraub writes:

Well, at the moment, there is no debate because Carter refuses to have a debate (didn't Walt & Mearsheimer also refuse requests to debate their thesis as well?). So it's not our fault this time.

My theory is that he won't debate because he knows he'll get crushed. [Crushed harder than The Debate Link is getting crushed by Blue Gal? Shut up.] But that's just me.

Oh and one more line that caught my eye:

The reference to "apartheid," the word for South Africa's former system of state-sanctioned racial segregation, has angered some rabbis because it appears to equate that system with the treatment of Palestinians.

First of all, it doesn't just "seem to", it does — Carter's weak attempts at distinguishing notwithstanding. But more importantly: "some rabbis"? I'll have to check, but I'm reasonably sure I'm not the only non-rabbi who has an issue with President Carter's characterization here. Indeed, if one looks hard enough, you might even find some non-Jews who find the misuse of "apartheid" to be appalling as well.

Gratuitous reference to the Weblog Awards voting aside, Schraub hits Carter hard here. Deservedly. And yes, non-Jews also find Carter's execrable book and title offensive.

Gratuitous reference to the Weblog Awards voting aside, Schraub hits Carter hard here. Deservedly. And yes, non-Jews also find Carter's execrable book and title offensive.

Progress “Encouraging” For Senator Johnson

Doctors are saying that South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson is making encouraging progress in his recovery. And for once, the article talks about Johnson first and foremost - then discusses any political repercussions. That has been my biggest complaint about the coverage up until now. The first, and most important thing here is that a man is fighting for his life. The politics comes in very last place compared to that.

WASHINGTON - Sen. Tim Johnson was experiencing post-surgery swelling in his brain Friday, but his doctors said his recovery was still encouraging. They said he would remain hospitalized until the swelling went down.

The South Dakota Democrat, who suffered a brain hemorrhage Wednesday, remained in critical but stable condition Friday, just short of three weeks before the new Senate is to convene with his party holding control by a single vote.

The timing of his return is uncertain, but Democrats would still be in control of the Senate if his recovery period extends into the new session.

The surgery has been described as successful, relieving pressure on the 59-year-old senator's brain and stopping the bleeding.

"Considering his initial presentation, his progress is encouraging," Dr. Anthony Caputy, chairman of the George Washington University Hospital department of neurosurgery, said in a statement released by Johnson's office.

As a precaution, physicians placed a removable MRI-compatible filter in Johnson's vena cava, a large vein leading into his heart, to reduce the risk of a blood clot going to his lungs, said Dr. Anthony Venbrux, a cardiovascular specialist who participated in the surgery.

Johnson's doctors also disclosed that when he arrived at the hospital, he was feeling weakness on his right side. They said Friday that condition probably will require physical therapy as part of his recovery.

Johnson was rushed to the hospital at midday Wednesday after becoming disoriented and stammering during a conference call with reporters. He was diagnosed with arteriovenous malformation, or AVM, a condition that causes arteries and veins to grow abnormally large, become tangled and sometimes burst. The condition often is present from birth.

I sincerely wish for a speedy recovery and ask that people either say a prayer for Senator Johnson and his family, if you have religious beliefs, to or keep him in your thoughts.  This is a very hard time for all of them.

Visit Yellowstone! Get Plague!

In the past year, four mountain lions in the Northwestern area of Wyoming, where Yellowstone National Park is located, have died of bubonic plague. The latest two deaths occurred in October, but authorities just notified the public.

In a little more than a year, four area mountain lions have died from the disease and several domestic cats have tested positive, said Ken Mills, a professor of veterinary sciences who diagnosed the cats' disease in his University of Wyoming laboratory.

Bubonic plague is often spread by fleas but if it reaches an animal's lungs, it can be spread through coughing or sneezing, he warned.

"Plague is cycling in that area, and the potential is there to infect (domestic) cats. That really would be where exposure to humans would take place," said Mills.

The mountain lions died at the end of October, but the university just issued a warning to hunters and cat owners on Thursday. The area affected is a sparsely populated portion of northwest Wyoming that includes Yellowstone National Park and Jackson, both popular tourist destinations.

Though millions of people died of the plague in Europe in the Middle Ages, there are just 10-15 U.S. human cases each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2003, nine countries reported 2,118 cases and 182 deaths — the bulk of which occurred in Africa, according to the World Health Organization.

We here at Blue Crab Boulevard believe this is a hint to the location of one of the Animal Uprising™'s secret laboratories. They have been know to use biological weapons in the past. We suspect something got loose and backfired on the animals. It's sort of like Stephen King's The Stand. That movie was a turkey, too.

Weekend At Fidel’s

(Yes, I'm sure someone has already done it better, but a commenter inspired me to waste a lot of time doing this.)

Massive Attack

There is a mass attack on the site going on right now - again. Site may go down at any time. Point of origin is Saudi Arabia for the bulk of the traffic.

(I have not even been able to log a fraction of what is hitting, I gave up after 150 pages.)

UPDATE: Attacked eased for now, and the software fixes held.

The Star Of Adipose

Naveed Sattar is a professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow. He also has a lovely new recommendation for Britain. He's very worried that too many Britons are overweight, so he has a modest proposal to address the issue of obesity.

Fat people should be required to have obesity helpline phone numbers on their clothes.

Oversize clothes should have obesity helpline numbers sewn on them to try and reduce Britain's fat crisis, a leading professor said today.

And new urban roads should only be built if they have cycle lanes, according to Naveed Sattar, Professor of Metabolic Medicine at the University of Glasgow.

He is calling for more government intervention with a central agency set up to deal with the problems of obesity.

Britain's fat problem is so acute that it could even bankrupt the health system if nothing is done.

More than half of the UK population is overweight and more than one in five adults is obese. Obese people are at high risk of health problems and treating them takes up an estimated 9 per cent of the health budget.

Prof Sattar is calling for more political intervention.

Gee where have we heard of that kind of thing before. Oh, yeah. Just have to change the word.

(Incidentally, even if he meant inside the clothes, the thought is the same.)

Silencing Night

A staff member of the city of Riverside, California ordered a high school choir to stop singing Christmas carols at a city-owned skating rink. The rink was hosting an appearance by Olympic medalist Sasha Cohen and the employee ordered the choir to stop singing out of fear of offending Cohen, who is Jewish. Cohen did not make any request for the music to be stopped. But the city employee brought along a police officer to enforce the silencing of the choir.

A city staff member, accompanied by a police officer, approached the Rubidoux High School Madrigals at the Riverside Outdoor Ice Skating Rink just as they launched into "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman" and requested that the troupe stop singing, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported Thursday.

Cohen, the 2006 Olympic silver medalist and 2006 U.S. National Champion, had just finished her performance at the rink on the downtown pedestrian mall, and was signing autographs.

Choir director Staci Della-Rocco said she complied with the request "because a policeman told me to stop. I didn't want to have a big old huge scene in front of my kids," according to the newspaper.

The city staff member, special-events employee Michelle Baldwin, could not be reached for comment. City Development Director Belinda J. Graham confirmed the incident.

Again, Cohen made no request for the group to stop. This was all done on the initiative of Michelle "Scrooge" Baldwin, apparently. Merry Politically Correct, Non-Denominational Celebratory Day, Unless That Offends You Too, In Which Case, Never Mind™.

When Antlers Are Outlawed

Only outlaws will be antlered. Two Florida men were arrested yesterday in Fort Pierce, Florida in what authorities are describing as a road rage incident. After some unspecified incident occurred, the two men got into a verbal confrontation. That's when things got right out of hand. One of the men drew a set of unlicensed deer antlers and tried to assault the second man with them.

Ronny White, 35, and Keith Ransford, 23, both of Ft. Pierce, were booked at the St. Lucie County jail for alleged aggravated assault. Both were later freed on bond, said sheriff's Sgt. Andy McIntosh….

….White and Ransford allegedly got into an altercation while driving along U.S. 1 in Ft. Pierce, McIntosh said. The men stopped, and White allegedly attempted to attack Ransford with the deer antlers. Both men got back in their cars, crashed into each other, then stopped again about a block away, according to the sheriff's report.

Ransford then allegedly rammed his vehicle into White's car. White pulled out a handgun and fired one shot into Ransford's vehicle, the report stated. Neither men suffered serious injuries.

The proliferation of unlicensed deer antlers is a major concern. So much so that Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Erewhon) has promised hearings to examine the matter, especially the so-called antler show loophole.

Heaping Scorn

Gerard Baker, writing in the Times of London, is as big a fan of the Iraq Study Group's vacuous recommendations as Charles Krauthammer. Or an awful lot of people, in fact. He's not at all supportive at this point of the conduct to date of the war in Iraq and yet he also sees no path to success in the Baker boys' recommendations.

Outside the US the Baker report was greeted with the kind of hushed reverence with which the shepherds heard out the Archangel that wintry night in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. The great and the good had deliberated for months and lo! from the clouds there came a great host of the heavenly army with a stunning rebuke for the Bush Administration, pointing the way forward, with stops at all the favourite travel destinations of America’s critics. Simply invite the Iranians and the Syrians to the White House for tea and pistachios, tell the Iraqis to solve their political and religious differences and start shipping the boys home. Oh, and while you’re at it, lean on the Israelis to solve their differences with the Palestinians, and everything will be fine. Next: the Baker report into The Cure For The Common Cold. 79 Recommendations!

In America, where true realism these days holds sway, as opposed to the phoney “realism” beloved elsewhere, Baker has been met with a great deal more circumspection — and not just by the dwindling band of dead-enders in the Bush bunker. Democrats publicly welcomed the report’s observation that the administration screwed up in Iraq (did we need a commission to tell us that?) But privately some of the party’s most senior foreign policy people are just as perplexed by the general emptiness of the report’s recommendations as anyone else.

The ISG’s conclusions have been met with such a drenching chorus of raspberries that an intriguing conspiracy theory is doing the rounds in Washington. It says that Mr Baker, the loyal Bush family friend, agreed to be the fall guy. By demonstrating that, after all his serious efforts, the best he could come up with was a set of recommendations that run the gamut from the ineffably predictable to the laughably unworkable, he showed the world that maybe the President’s approach — stick it out, stay the course, soldier on — really is the least unpalatable of all the options.

I don't really believe that conspiracy theory. In fact, this is really the first time I have heard it stated like this. I rather believe that Charles Krauthammer called it correctly this morning. Baker as a vain and foolish King Canute arrogantly commanding the waves to retreat. But Gerard Baker thinks Bush has no choice but to push ahead and not follow the ISG recommendations. Read the whole thing. It isn't uplifting, but it does reflect reality better than the ISG report.

Santa’s Doomed Reindeer

We here at Blue Crab Boulevard have been dutifully covering the decimation of Santa's reindeer. As far as we can tell, we are the only blog providing this vital information. Shame on the rest of the blogosphere for staying silent on this tragedy. We were the first to report on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Brisket. We were the definitive source on the jailing of Blitzen. We regretfully revealed the sad fate of Comet and Cupid and their disappearance into the British Reindeer Gulag. Now it our sad, sad duty to have to report the murder, and subsequent slow-roasting of Vixen, reducing the jolly old elf to only four working reindeer. Worse yet, the feast was laid on by the president of the European Union and devoured by Euro-weenie bureaucrats while scantily clad elves flitted about. And it happened - sob - right in front of Santa. Oh the humanity. Er. Elfmanity.

With a white beard down to his waist, Santa brought some festive fun to the normally stuffy confines of the European Council, where the 25 EU leaders were locking horns.

He wandered through the Brussels headquarters handing out a sleighful of rock CDs to get diplomats going, ably aided by two delightful female elves in green hats.

Among the 12 tracks on the "Pop/Rock Highlights from Finland" stocking filler CD were Lemonator's "Would You Die For Me?", "Snow" by Rajaton and accordion queen Maria Kalaniemi's "Kevaan kurjet (Cranes of Spring)".

But the stand-out track to pack a punch for Christmas was monster-masked Lordi's "Hard Rock Hallelujah", which took this year's Eurovision Song Contest by storm, winning with a record 292 points.

However, this was no ordinary rendition of the track that brought musical glory to Finland — Brussels bureaucrats got a "Eurovicious Radio Edit".

Finland is the current president of the 25-member EU and is hosting the summit of the bloc's leaders, hence the handout.

As such, Finns laid on the food — and duly served up some festive reindeer, which went down a treat.

But those feeling squeamish at tucking into Rudolph and friends just as Santa needed them for Christmas could try the Finnish fish or vegetarian dishes instead.

Yes, they could try the vegetarian dishes. Except for one tiny problem. Finland has no vegetables at all, only reindeer. Our operatives believe that the "vegetable surprise" that was on the banquet table was actually Dancer. In which case Santa is down to three and Christmas will have to be canceled this year.

Now, aren't you glad you check in here for the really important news of the day?

Saudi Hijacking Attempt

A hijacking attempt by terrorists working for the Animal Uprising™ was just made on a Saudi Airliner. The plane was on a domestic flight within the kingdom. Through desperate action, the crew was able to hold the attackers off long enough to get the plane safely on the ground. Their job was made somewhat easier by the small stature of the would-be hijackers.

Mice are pretty small.

RIYADH (AFP) - A horde of mice smuggled on to a Saudi plane cause panic among passengers on a domestic flight in the desert Gulf kingdom.

Eighty of the furry rodents escaped from the luggage of a passenger just after the plane took off from the capital Riyadh heading to the northeastern town of Tabuk, the local newspaper Okaz reported Friday, citing an official from Saudi Arabian Airlines.

And people think we make this stuff up.

Dead Fidel Watch Number 362

John Negroponte publicly stated the intelligence indicates that Fidel Castro is near death. While not giving any time frame exactly, he did say it would be in the "months not years" range.

Cuban President Fidel Castro is very ill and close to death, Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte said yesterday.

"Everything we see indicates it will not be much longer . . . months, not years," Negroponte told a meeting of Washington Post editors and reporters.

Castro relinquished power for the first time in 47 years after surgery July 31 for an undisclosed intestinal disorder. His brother, Raul, has assumed Castro's duties, but Cuban authorities have repeatedly insisted that he is recovering and eventually will return to office. He was last seen in an Oct. 28 video, shown on Cuban national television, in which he appeared gaunt and weak and warned that his convalescence would be lengthy.

As always, Babalu Blog is the best place to keep an eye on news from Cuba. There's no party over there as yet, so the old monster is still breathing. Or a machine is doing it for him.

Go Back, Sea!

Charles Krauthammer likens the report of the Iraq Study Group to the story told of King Canute. There are several versions of that story, But one suspects from the context that Krauthammer means one of the variants that interprets the story as Canute as being foolish and vain. In that context, the man who commanded the tide not to come in is judged a fool.

But having told us that the price of leaving Iraq to chaos is unacceptably high, the commission never attempts to come up with a plan for succeeding. Its only new initiative is to go regional and involve neighboring Syria and Iran.

Syria should stop infiltration, declares the report. And Iran "should stem the flow of equipment, technology, and training to any group resorting to violence in Iraq." Yes, and obesity should be eradicated, bird flu cured and traffic fatalities, particularly the multi-car variety, abolished. Such fatuous King Canute pronouncements give the report its air of detachment from reality.

This holding back of the tides is to be accomplished by negotiations with the likes of Iran. Baker admits that Iranian representatives told the commission that they are unlikely to cooperate. But we must press on, Baker insists, because we will thus expose Iran as "a rejectionist nation" that is "not . . . willing to help try and stabilize Iraq."

Now, there's a diplomatic achievement: undermining our hard-earned agreement with the Europeans to make any future approach to Iran dependent on the suspension of uranium enrichment in order to . . . demonstrate to the world that a country providing sophisticated weapons, roadside bombs and financial support to both sides of the civil war does not support stability there. Is there a sentient adult outside this commission who did not know that?

The tale of King Canute's attempt to stop the sea generally starts with the flattery of courtiers. They heaped praise and flattery on the king. They pronounced him all powerful and all knowing. The press, with pompous, pedantic pronouncements of the vast intelligence and experience the ISG had filled that role admirably. Krauthammer points out the photo-op roll out of the report with the Baker boys' fashion shoot with Annie Liebovitz. Krauthammer judges the Baker commission report worth about as much as the command to turn the tides back. In that comes an opportunity for Bush to take back the initiative.

He must do two things. First, as I've been agitating for, establish a new governing coalition in Baghdad that excludes Moqtada al-Sadr, a cancer that undermines the ability of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his government to work with us. It is encouraging that Bush has already begun such a maneuver by meeting with rival Shiite and Sunni parliamentary leaders. If we help produce a cross-sectarian government that would be an ally rather than a paralyzed semi-adversary of coalition forces, we should then undertake part two: "Double down" our military effort. This means a surge in American troops with a specific mission: to secure Baghdad and (with the support of the Baghdad government — a sine qua non) suppress Sadr's Mahdi Army.

I did not vote for James Baker to control the foreign policy of the United States. Nor did anyone else in this country. I did not vote to have a group of "distinguished elder statesmen" come up with a fatuous plan and for the chairman of that group to sagely pronounce that it must be swallowed whole and followed to the letter. For if we do follow it to the letter, the sea will surely rise and close over out heads.

UPDATE: Others:  Redstate, Townhall, Decision '08, Wake up America, Don Surber,