Waldo Jaquith

Pharyngula, a science blog, has a wonderful review of that article. The comments are rather amusing as well.

Posted by Tim McCormack on 12 December 2006 @ 6pm

I saw this today…absolutely amazing…

Glad to see a write-up on this in the VA blogosphere.

Posted by phriendlyjaime on 12 December 2006 @ 8pm

The question is, how does one begin to research that? Do you wake up in the morning, and think, “You know what new enlightenment the world needs? AIDS cure? Cancer cure?” You go to work and your boss says, “No, Johnny, we need more funding from the Republicans. Think outside the box.”

What do Republicans hate? Democrats and gays. What are Democrats stereotyped as? Crunchy hippies. What do crunchy hippies eat? Tofu, which is made of soy. So, therefore…tofu, which is made of soy which makes you….a Democrat…which makes you…gay. Yeah.

This reminds me far too much of the “If she weighs the same as a duck…” bit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Posted by Genevieve on 12 December 2006 @ 8pm

This same logic would lead to the conclusion that evangelical Christianity causes homosexuality.

Posted by Waldo Jaquith on 12 December 2006 @ 8pm

ROFLMAO!

Posted by Vivian J. Paige on 12 December 2006 @ 8pm

Isn’t it obvious that nefarious agents of the worldwide homosexual caucus are spiking the evangelicals’ food with soy?

Posted by Judge Smails on 13 December 2006 @ 8am

I can no longer sit back and allow Gay infiltration, Gay indoctrination, Gay subversion and the international Gay conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids!

Posted by Ben C. on 13 December 2006 @ 11am

Good thing that I didn’t start eating endamame until after 30!

Posted by tom on 13 December 2006 @ 1pm

Hmmm… as much as I dislike that site, the author raises some valid points. Check out this article: http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/phytoestrogens.html. There are more at: http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/index.html.

Considering the perversion of soybeans resulting from Monsanto’s tinkering, the heavy amounts of pesticides and herbicides used to grow the stuff, and the high amount of processing most of it gets before it reaches the grocery store, there are many reasons to question how healthy this stuff is to eat. I occasionally use tamari, which is a fermented liquid resulting from the production of miso, but that is it for my family.

Posted by Malena on 13 December 2006 @ 5pm

Yes, the article does share something with a lot of crazy rants, which is a kernel of truth. But it goes pretty nuts from there. :)

Posted by Waldo Jaquith on 13 December 2006 @ 5pm

Malena, phytoestrogens have been studied, and there is no conclusive evidence (yet) that they influence sexual development. Notice the author’s qualifications: religion author and chairman of religious stuff. Not scientist. Also, he somehow fails to cite any medical or scientific articles.

Posted by Tim McCormack on 15 December 2006 @ 3pm

Tim, that may be true for that fella, but take a look at the the articles I referenced. They are stuffed with scientific citations.

That said, I am bothered by this idea of not taking an idea seriously until it has been proven by the “scientific method.” Who are the folks who fund these studies? I’ve yet to see one that wasn’t funded by an entity that stood to gain by achieving certain results. I prefer to consider the reasonableness of the argument. I would rather cut questionable things out of my life and take the chance that I was wrong than not and find out later I’ve exposed myself to nasty items. After all, how many years did folks smoke cigarettes thinking there was no problem with it since no scientific studies were published to prove cigarette smoking is unhealthy?

A friend of mine works at MD Anderson, a premier cancer treatment hospital. She is an oncologist specializing in breast cancer and she requires all of her patients to stay away from soy. The arguments I’ve seen against soy from several different sources are convincing, and I have no problems cutting it out of my life. The kids hate tofu anyway. :-)

Along these lines, check out this article: http://www.newstarget.com/021295.html. How on earth can these folks make ubiased decisions when they own stock in the related companies?

Posted by Malena on 15 December 2006 @ 7pm