An advertisement in the Bookseller for a book on developing psychic powers said of the author, Abbe Gail (surely a pseudonym for someone who can't spell Abigail) that 'the Los Angeles Police Department relied on her gifts to locate missing kidnap victims'. I immediately sent a letter to the publisher (Lennard Publishing) asking for some evidence of this claim. The Managing Director telephoned me, sounding concerned. The author was not in the country at the moment but he would approach her for such evidence as soon as possible. I never heard from him again! However....
A copy of my letter to the publisher went to the Advertising Standards Authority who took the matter up with Lennard. One month later and without further reference to me the ASA sent me a draft copy of its decision. This was that Lennard had submitted an article from the Los Angeles Times in which it was stated that Gail helped the police in the search for a missing child. 'Having no reason to doubt the validity of the article, but as the advertiser had submitted evidence of only one such incident' the ASA requested Lennard 'to modify the claim in the advertisement to reflect this'. I wasn't satisfied. I 'phoned the ASA.
I asked Charlotte Reid of the ASA if the article said that Gail had helped to FIND the missing girl. Reading the article to me over the 'phone, she realised that the girl had not been found. She sent me a copy of the article and advised me that the ASA would reconsider the matter. This time they reached the right conclusion. They were 'not satisfied...that Abbe Gail's involvement had in any way been connected with the LAPD investigation of (the girls) disappearance and thus concluded that the contested claim was unsupported. The advertiser's were requested to delete the claim from future advertisements.'
Forget all about Ronald Reagan's use of astrology! He has far better help than any astrologer can give according to the October 20, 1987 edition of an American newspaper called Sun. He's negotiating with aliens. Or, to put it more precisely: He's negotiating with aliens according to a 'noted' psychic who says he's been picking up vibrations from outer space and the White House.
If you can believe anything which appears in a newspaper with a name like Sun it seems that Reagan has been having top secret meetings at his California home with visitors from other planets. He has convinced them to become part of the USA and will end his presidency by adding several planets as states. So now you know why President Reagan wasn't available from time to time. It had nothing to do with astrology - that was just a bluff. He was meeting with aliens.
Geoff Kirby of Weymouth had a whole series of letters published in the Dorset Evening Echo earlier this year. The subject of his first letter was an article on faith healing and it took up eleven column inches. This letter in turn received criticism from three supporters of quack remedies (I refuse to use the term alternative 'medicine' - that's like calling cyanide alternative sustenance) including a 'Reflexology Practitioner' whose letters were also published.
Geoff responded to criticisms levelled at him by the Reflexology Practitioner in another letter of eleven and a half column inches. Subsequently the newspaper published a second then third letter from the Reflexologist plus one from the director of New Approaches to Cancer. They also published two more from Geoff Kirby who was even given the last word.
In his letter which accompanied copies of the published letters Geoff told me that all of the material used by him was derived from back issues of The Skeptical Inquirer or 'Terence Hines's excellent book Pseudoscience and the Paranormal'. I applaud Geoff for his perseverance and would like to encourage other skeptics to follow his example. It is individual action like this which could make all the difference to rational thinking in this country.
Shirley MacLaine is reported to have threatened Prometheus Books with a law suit over one of their forthcoming publications. Called Channelling Into the New Age by Henry Gordon the book features the quotations of Ms. MacLaine who is the foremost guru of the New Age scene. It is humourous, informative, includes an extensive collection of her often-contradictory statements and is a lively commentary on the New Age movement (it says here in the Prometheus catalogue).
Does MacLaine's threat bother Prometheus Books?
"Sure it worries us, but what the hell," Paul Kurtz, president and founder of the company, has said. He feels compelled to present a rebuttal to MacLaine's insistence that she has lived past lives. The book will be available in the UK - lawsuits permitting - before the end of the year.