The Trouble with Science

Science is the new religion. And the new heretics are those who don’t hew to the accepted scientific dogma. It’s becoming more and more apparent, to folks who still insist on thinking for themselves, that establishment science isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. And now we even have the gatekeepers of contemporary science dogma — Editors of esteemed scientific journals –casting serious doubt on the veracity of what is published in their magazines. The implications of this go far beyond raw milk, or even vaccination, for that matter:

From Jon Rappoport:

“One: Richard Horton, editor-in-chief, The Lancet, in The Lancet, 11 April, 2015, Vol 385,“Offline: What is medicine’s 5 sigma?”:

“The case against science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness…

“The apparent endemicity of bad research behaviour is alarming. In their quest for telling a compelling story, scientists too often sculpt data to fit their preferred theory of the world. Or they retrofit hypotheses to fit their data. Journal editors deserve their fair share of criticism too. We aid and abet the worst behaviours. Our acquiescence to the impact factor fuels an unhealthy competition to win a place in a select few journals. Our love of ‘significance’ pollutes the literature with many a statistical fairy-tale…Journals are not the only miscreants. Universities are in a perpetual struggle for money and talent…”

Two: Marcia Angell, former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine, in the NY Review of Books, January 15, 2009, “Drug Companies & Doctors: A Story of Corruption”:

“It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine.”

Schmidt / Jones vs CFIA Disappearing Sheep Preliminary Continues, Under Crown-Requested Publication Ban

News release from the Canadian Constitution Foundation:

Oshawa, ON — The preliminary inquiry into the charges against sheep breeder Montana Jones and raw milk champion Michael Schmidt completed another week on Friday, August 14 under a media blackout, due to a publication ban placed on the proceedings at the request of the Crown.

Michael Schmidt said, “After watching the Canadian Food Inspection Agency witnesses last week, I am deeply disturbed by what I learned about the inner workings of the CFIA.  However, I am very pleased with how the case is going. I’m looking forward to the trial, when the jury and the public will finally be able to hear this evidence and form their own opinions as to who is guilty of what.”

Michael Schmidt on the Never-ending Shropshire Sheep Saga, now in Oshawa

The Next Chapter, By Michael Schmidt:

Lawyer Shawn Buckley with Montana Jones and Michael Schmidt outside the Durham Regional courthouse in Oshawa.

I am in the Oshawa Courthouse or better described as the “Oshawa Court Palace” towering over the City of Oshawa.

The third chapter of the preliminary hearing about the ongoing “Sheep Napping Saga” commenced this week.

This is the third week, three more weeks will follow in September and December.

In December it will be three long years since Montana Jones, Robert Pinnell, Susan Atkinson and myself had been charged under the Criminal Code of Canada. Susan Atkinson pleaded guilty apparently faltering under the immense pressure and ended up with a six month house arrest.

Preliminary Inquiry into Michael Schmidt, Montana Jones, Sheep-napping Case to Resume Aug. 10th

From Karen Selick, on Indiegogo:

My name is Karen Selick. I’m a lawyer, and the litigation director for the Canadian Constitution Foundation, a registered charity in both Canada and the US.

We need help raising a legal defence fund for Montana Jones and Michael Schmidt, two Ontario farmers charged with defying the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). We have to be careful what we say here, because the government recently asked for (and got) a publication ban on this case.

TTP Trade Deal Threatening Canada’s Dairy Supply Management Now

From Jeremy J. Nuttall at The Tyee

“But according to Globe and Mail sources, the deal is currently stalled over Canada’s reluctance to open its sheltered dairy market to foreign imports, among a few other points.

In an interview earlier this week with Bloomberg News, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said his government is trying to protect the supply management system.

“The government is at the table, making sure it protects the interests as best we can of every Canadian industry,” he said. “We have made commitments to sustain our supply management systems, and we are working to achieve that.”