Kim Bannon has Passed Away

Kim Bannon in AIDS Denialist film
 'House of Numbers'

Kim Marie Bannon-Barber, 48, certified court reporter, passed away Tuesday, November 15, 2011. A celebration of Kim's life will be held, 1 p.m., Saturday, November 19, West Heights United Methodist Church. Private family inurnment will follow at a later date. Kim was born in Topeka, Kansas, graduated from Goddard High School as salutatorian of her class and was captain of the Roaring Wheatchix Drill Team. She loved to be outdoors riding horses, water and snow skiing and rollerblading. Preceded in death by grandparents, Gordon Barber, Mick Ewing and Erma McQuirk. Survivors: parents, Raymond and Anne (Ewing) Barber of Wichita; grandmother, Mary Barber of Topeka; her little dog, Daisy; aunts, uncles, cousins and many, many friends. Memorial established with Sweet Emergency Fund in memory of Kim Barber, 1010 N. Kansas, Wichita, KS 67214. Downing & Lahey Mortuary West. Tributes may be sent to the family via www.dlwichita.com 

No comments will are being accepted on this post out of respect for Kim and her family. An earlier post on Kim can be found here.  

The Truth, Nothing But the Truth: Celia Farber's Defamation Claim Against AIDS Activist Is Dismissed

Journalist's Defamation Claim Against AIDS Activist Is Dismissed

Brendan Pierson

New York Law Journal

November 8, 2011

A state judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a journalist against a prominent AIDS activist for allegedly defaming her in a public dispute over an article she wrote challenging the scientific consensus that AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Louis B. York ruled last week in Farber v. Jefferys, 106399/09, that the journalist, Celia Farber, was a public figure for the purpose of the lawsuit and that her defamation claims against AIDS activist Richard Jefferys could not survive the heightened scrutiny required for public figures.

Ms. Farber began covering the AIDS epidemic for Spin magazine in the 1980s. While at Spin, she conducted a sympathetic interview with Peter Duesberg, a professor of biology at the University of California at Berkeley who rejects the scientific consensus that AIDS is caused by HIV. Mr. Duesberg claims the disease is caused by recreational drug use, and is sometimes aggravated by antiviral drugs used to treat it. He contends that HIV is a harmless "passenger virus" and has argued that the pharmaceutical industry has suppressed dissent in order to sell antiviral drugs.

Don't Tell it so Straight: New Scientist Magazine takes on the anti-science movement

Published in New Scientist Magazine

October 31, 2011

by Peter Aldhous

Opponents of science are experts at winning the battle for hearts and minds. It’s time to learn their game and beat them at it, says Peter Aldhous

JOHN HOLDREN, science adviser to President Barack Obama, is a clever man. But when it comes to the science of communication, he can say some dumb things. In January, Holdren welcomed the prospect of climatologists being called to testify before Congress: “I think we’ll probably move the opinions of some of the members of Congress who currently call themselves sceptics, because I think a lot of good scientists are going to come in and explain very clearly what we know and how we know it and what  it means, and it’s a very persuasive case.”

Fat chance.

Surprise (NOT): AIDS Deniers Contribute to Vax Hysteria

This article relies heavily on an interview with Rethinking AIDS Board Member Christian Fiala. It is no surprise that AIDS Deniers have their hands in anti-vaccine hysteria; but it is not any less disturbing.

Gardasil controversy soars, as Bachmann, Perry drop Drug blasted as 'money-making machine' that's useless in fighting cervical cancer
Posted: October 02, 2011
By Bob Unruh
© 2011 WND

Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann, two presidential candidates who sparred over the issue of Texas vaccinations, may be floundering in the polls, but the topic of Merck's controversial Gardasilis heating up – with an Austrian physician who studied the drug saying it is not only dangerous, but useless in reducing cervical cancer, the stated reason it would have been administered to young girls under an executive order from Gov. Perry.

Dr. Christian Fiala, who successfully fought the use of the drug in Austria, told WND this week "there is no proof of a causal relationship of HPV and cervical cancer (correlation is not necessarily causation) and there is no evidence that HPV vaccine reduces the overall number of cervical cancer (cases)."