Kevin Williamson:
Politifact, which is published under the flag of the Tampa Bay Times, the chief executive of which, Paul Tash, is the chairman of the Poynter Institute, a member of the Pulitzer prize committee, and a disgrace to his trade, recently decided to “fact-check” my colleague Jonah Goldberg, but it was really fact-checking me, as Jonah was citing a claim in a column of mine.
The claim is a straightforward one: That under the so-called Affordable Care Act, the federal government will recognize and subsidize a great deal of hokum, things like naturopathic medicine and acupuncture that have no scientific basis, that have been clinically shown to be useless or worse, and that are rooted in rank mysticism, from the “qi” energy that acupuncturists claim to manipulate—and which does not, technically speaking, exist—to the “innate intelligence” underpinning chiropractic theory—which does not, in fact, exist, either. As endless peer-reviewed scientific studies document, this stuff is pure quackery, but it is, thanks to the Affordable Care Act and the focused exertions of former Iowa Senator Tom Harkin—one of those Democrats who really love science we’re always hearing about—it is hokum with increasing official status. Senator Harkin successfully campaigned for ACA provisions that would forbid “discrimination” against any practitioner of purported healing arts who is licensed. Many states, California prominent among them (quelle surprise!) license practitioners of superstitious hokum, including naturopathic “doctors” and acupuncturists. There are many reasons for this: One is that superstitious hokum is extraordinarily popular, and the state desires to keep an eye on its practitioners; a second is that California is, as advertised, full of lunatics and the entrepreneurs who service their lunacy; the third is that reasons Nos. 1 and 2 combine to generate revenue for the state, which will—in what must be the most perfect example of progressivism in practice—yank your license to practice medically null but voguish Eastern mysticism in the state of California for failure to pay your crushing California taxes. I once encountered a Whole Foods with a yoga studio inside it, and thought that if one could only get Chris Hayes to broadcast from there (there’s still time, Chris!) it would have constituted a turducken of lifestyle liberalism upon which there would be no improving, but losing your California acupuncturist’s license to the Sacramento taxman surely surpasses that.
Politifact is Patheticrap
Read more at National Review
Interesting how Politifact used the straw man to tear down two writers who wrote stories against this one aspect of obamaCare.
I have a younger brother who was born in So Cal.
He developed a sore neck and his doctor ”threw pills at it.”
He didn’t want to be on pills for life so he saw a chiropractor.
The chiropractor gave him temporary pain relief for a few months …. while his cancerous tumor grew!
He saw a different doctor just in time.
OTOH, on acupuncture, animals are not susceptible to a charlitan’s ministrations.
Yet I had one cat fall (while asleep some cats can fall off stuff and not wake up to land on their feet.)
She had a concussion and went into a coma.
When she woke up she was so dizzy she could only walk in circles and fall down.
She refused to eat.
A vet who did acupuncture put a few needles in her and she got over the food refusal, wolfing down a can and a half while still on the vet’s table and while the needles were still in her.
Later a different cat got its jaw broken and was refusing food.
She put the needles in and he got over the pain (he’d shake his head and cry out) plus he started eating well again.
He had needle treatments for a few years (further apart in time as the jaw healed.)
So, while I can’t vouch for it on a human, I did see it work on two different cats who really were sick.