Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Steve Quayle, your source for totally wrong information

        Steve Quayle is yet another of those "put a penny in the slot and away he goes" mouth-offs that radio shows love these days. He guested on Coast to Coast AM last night on a variety of topics, none of which he was remotely qualified to comment on -- "biowarfare, a new Ebola outbreak, viruses, chemtrails, and genetic experimentation" (says the official C2C summary.)

        No mention in Quayle's C2C bio of any qualifications in microbiology or molecular genetics. He's just an author (one I admit I haven't actually read) who feeds the public appetite for alarmism. Moreover, one with several really annoying speech mannerisms ("The point being, is....")

        Well, there's nothing new about C2C inviting annoying and unqualified people to pontificate. It happens every time Richard Hoagland or Mike Bara make their appearance. Why, back in August 2008 Hoagland did a complete four-hour show based on a calculation that was fundamentally incorrect (Von Braun's Secret). It made every single thing he said for four hours totally invalid.

        Quayle might be right that the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa is due to a new strain that's particularly dangerous. He might be right that publishing the complete genetic sequence of the spanish flu virus was not a great idea. He might be right that illegal aliens could be importing dangerous viruses to the USA, although mere tourists are just as much of a threat. Even bona fide citizens returning from exotic locations could be viral time-bombs.

        However, he's surely wrong about the secret base in Nevada where all the chemtrail planes are loaded up with their nasties. He's definitely wrong when he says that a rainbow is not a spectrum created by water droplets but a view of various components of the chemtrail mix. And he's wrongest of all about the microwave bombardment of the US Embassy in Moscow from 1953-1976.

        What he said about that, paraphrasing, was that the Russians knew enough about viral infection to have projected specific viruses through thin air based on "quantum frequencies, harmonics." I agree with the general precept expounded in the Rational Wikipedia that the word quantum uttered by anyone other than a specialist in the subject is a cue that what follows will be rubbish.

        The facts are that microwaves of 2.5 to 4.0 GHz were aimed at the US embassy building in Moscow. The intensity was above normal background (even by today's elevated standards) but below what is considered hazardous. There was concern that the intended effect was to impair the health of embassy staff, but that was never proved, and an equally plausible idea is that it was a form of radio-interference. The idea that specific viruses were thereby transmitted directly into the embassy is a total fantasy. It's quite simply an impossibility. An epidemiological study was commissioned by the Department of State to investigate possible health effects on the staff and their families. It was carried out by Abraham Lilienfeld (deceased, 1984) and colleagues at the Department of Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University. The study compared the Moscow embassy staff and their dependents with the staff and dependents at other eastern European U.S. embassies, who would have had similar selection procedures, and many similarities in their work and lifestyle. In this retrospective cohort study, the exposed group were staff who had served in the Moscow embassy during the period January 1 1953 to June 30 1976, and their dependents who lived in Moscow; and the comparison group were staff who served in other selected Eastern European embassies or consulates during the same period of time, and their dependents; in Belgrade, Bucharest, Budapest, Leningrad, Prague, Sofia, Warsaw, and Zagreb. These posts were chosen for their general similarity to Moscow in climate, diet, geographical location, disease problems, and general social milieu.

The results were negative.
“To summarize, with very few exceptions, an exhaustive comparison of the health status of the state and non-state department employees who had served in Moscow with those who had served in other Eastern European posts during the same period of time revealed no differences in health status as indicated by their mortality experience and a variety of morbidity measures. No convincing evidence was discovered that would directly implicate the exposure to microwave radiation experienced by the employees at the Moscow embassy in the causation of any adverse health effects as of the time of this analysis”.
        Steve Quayle stated last night "the science is there" and said he'd slap it up on his web site. I'll keep checking, but nothing's there yet.

        Viral terrorism is, I suppose, a legitimate topic for C2C. Why, I wonder, do they not find someone to explain it who knows what he's talking about?

20 comments:

astroguy said...

He seriously went into the rainbow thing again? I debunked that in my Clip Show #2 episode.

imagine said...

Why, you ask, do they not find someone to explain it who knows what he's talking about?

Because no qualified professional would even consider talking to the mentally retarded host especially not for four hours.

Of course you already knew. Thanks for gracing this forum with your knowledge.

Unknown said...

I don't know about anyone else on here but I attend a lot of IT presentations and events. Rarely does a presentation go on longer than 1 hour and even that's usually 45 minutes to give people a break.

Four hours sounds like a special kind of torture. I'd report it to Amnesty International.

Unknown said...

So who's going to see Mikey at "Contact in the Desert"?
(I have visions of him out there getting his way with a bunch of defenseless women who can't call for help).

http://contactinthedesert.com/speakers/mikebara/

From the site (includes HUGE mugshot of sexy Mike)

Mike Bara is a New York Times Bestselling author, lecturer and TV personality. He began his writing career after spending more than 25 years as an engineering consultant for major aerospace companies, where he was a card-carrying member of the Military/Industrial complex. A self-described “Born Again conspiracy theorist,” Mike’s first book Dark Mission-The Secret History of NASA (co-authored with Richard C. Hoagland) was a New York Times bestseller in 2007. His 2nd book, The Choice, which concerns Hyper-dimensional physics, conscious thought and how they relate to the Mayan Calendar, Hopi prophecies and the current “2012 era,” was published in 2010.

expat said...

I won't be there, although I hear the conf. center at Joshua Tree is very lovely.

Mike will definitely be hoping for female fans. Possibly the same female fans he accused me of sexually harassing -- then when challenged, utterly failing to come up with evidence.

Chris Lopes said...

@ Strahlungs Amt

The pseudo-science business almost demands long winded talks. When you are stringing a line of BS, the more you throw in, the easier it is for the marks to swallow it. That seems to be Hoagland's philosophy anyway, his presentations are never under 3 hours.

Sir Deezus said...

A few friends and I heard him on coast to coast last night. What had shaking our heads was he backed up a lot of his theories with quotes from the bible. My beliefs aside, I had a hard time figuring out how most if not all of the bible verses he used had nothing to do with what he was talking about. After a few drinks we were cracking up and arguing with the radio. The man's a loon! But what else do you expect from coast to coast? This is the same show that interviewed a man who believes he has the soul of a horse a few years back.

Unknown said...

My guess is the only reason he gets [pictured with] so many females is because the world of woo authors is as dog-eat-dog as the world of male strippers. Basically they'll do anything for publicity (including being sexually humiliated by an aeronautical engineer/ancient alien researcher).

I wonder how much "action" Mikey actually gets at these events. I'd say there's a fair amount of embarrassment we don't hear about.

Dee said...

Also, following Occam's razor somewhat, there's already a good explanation which A. has been given by Soviet officials and B. accepted by US officials and C. can be proven to be reasonable enough.

Although it's not entirely impossible some more obscure ideas were involved about psychological warfare or even theories on remotely decreasing mental abilities, these emitted high energy beams ranging between 2.5 to 4.0 GHz would cause quite some electromagnetic interference not only to signals within that bandwidth but also would interfere with nearly every antenna or exposed electronic device, especially sensitive receivers or transmitters. Since the US embassy served without much doubt as some kind of electronic signal hub, relaying low energy signals from spy devices scattered around in the city, as well as satellite up and downlinks, there would be a solid rational for the Soviets to "harass" as that would increase the chance to observe or intercept other more classical methods now being forced in usage.

Not sure why such mystery would need yet another exotic explanation. One would think it's getting in to "low tide" at Woo Station.

expat said...

(2 posts from SR-71 disallowed because they had no useful content)

Binaryspellbook said...

Is Hoagland hiding ?

expat said...

Well, he sure ain't answering my e-mails.

He's had these long silences before -- at one point I truly thought C2C had dropped him, but he bounced back with more of his balderdash.

Chris Lopes said...

C2C may not have dropped him completely, but I don't think they see him as their science adviser any more. At the very least, he's not on there every week or so giving his view on the latest space/science news.

Chris Lopes said...

@Trekker
No I missed that one, but thanks, it's a doozy. Here you have Hoagland in all his "I can see artifacts in random pictures of rocks" glory combined with a group of commentators (from Above Top Secret no less) who are not buying his BS for one second. When you can't even convince people who live and breath government conspiracies that you have found something, it's time to reconsider your career options.

expat said...

It's my opinion that this isn't really Hoagland, but someone using his name to get attention.

As crazy as he may sometimes be, I can't see him claiming to have carbon-dated a rock many millions of miles away.

Chris Lopes said...

@expat,
you may be right, though the fact that it comes off like his crap does not speak well of him. On the other hand, if the real Hoagland got that desperate for attention, he just might try to BS his way through it if he didn't think any grown ups were watching. I mean are the rocks as motorcycles any crazier than Data's head, or Edgar Mitchel standing underneath a giant glass dome and not knowing it?

jourget said...

He doesn't even believe carbon dating is accurate, so it doesn't seem like he'd use it to support his conclusions.

Anonymous said...

I have not listened to this interview, so I cannot pass comment on it's content, however I will say that to criticize C2C for not vetting it's guests or providing credentials or having a scientific rebuttal/debate is somewhat pointless.

First and foremost C2C is a late night radio show designed to entertain, be 'alternative', be somewhat 'though provoking' and bring in a certain type of audience who want something 'different' to the mainstream. It is not a radio show made for and by a group of scientists for the purpose of presenting or debating data. Even if some of it's guests present themselves as qualified experts in their field, I don't think C2C is particularly billing itself as a 'factual science show'. (What they "should" or "should not" do is a completely separate question).

As for the comment about what is in hangers at secret bases, unless you work in one or have imagery from one, I don't think anyone can say this is what they do -or do not- have and call it a fact.

expat said...

Thanks for the comment. I intend to continue bashing C2C for giving a platform to incompetent, ignorant and corrupt people.

If the producers were interested in topics in microbiology, there are any number of guests they could have found who would not have offered false information to their audience. And don't tell me "Maybe, but they wouldn't have been as entertaining as SQ." Quayle is merely annoying.

Unknown said...

@Annonymous (July 11, 2014 at 6:03 PM)

I have to strongly disagree that Coast to Coast or any such program does not need to be held at least somewhat accountable for the veracity of their guests and content. And that is what this is all about... complete lack of accountability.

The program at least implicitly bills itself as a current events / alternative news / alternative science program. The host and guests spend hours selling their line of snake oil to a segment of the audience who does not have the education or analytical skills to dismiss this stuff, and who trust the 'nice' and 'honest' host to present respectable guests and viewpoints. Go to some of the websites of people like Richard C. and the only thing that doesn't defy interpretation is the paypal donation button. C2C asks the most vulnerable and lowest members of the socio-economic pecking order to 'empower' themselves by paying for books, lectures, guided tours, to support fraud, and to spend their time as well as sanity educating themselves in nonsense rather than in something that could actually enrich them.

What is the result? A largely superstitious nation that is falling behind the rest of the world in innovation, science, engineering, manufacturing, economic development, living standards, etc. because the people are educating themselves in the wrong things. And it goes to politics. Just look at all the resistance to initiatives on such things as mitigating anthropological global warming because people have been taken in by fraudulent claims which deny it -- just one of the irresponsible lines of badly researched misinformation Coast regularly presents.

I'm glad you have the wisdom to acknowledge this as entertainment, but I believe many listeners don't. The growing tendency of many media outlets to spread misinformation or simply to be unaccountable in researching what they do spew... and the resulting dumbing down of America and damaging of vulnerable lives... that is completely indefensible.