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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 01/20/2007 : 15:56:54
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This is an article by CNN's Anderson Cooper. On the Montel Williams show, four month's after their son's disappearance, the loathsome "psychic" Sylvia Browne told Shawn Hornbeck's parents that he was dead.
quote:
BROWNE: He's still within a 20-mile radius of -- let's say, here's where you are, 20-mile radius, but it's really southwest of where you are.
CRAIG: Southwest.
BROWNE: So whatever is southwest, because it looks like this is -- here we go again with the wooded, with the -- you know, the wooded areas. So southwest of you.
PAM AKERS: Is there any landmarks around?
BROWNE: Yeah. Strange enough, there are two jagged boulders, which look really misplaced. Because everything is trees, and then all of a sudden, you've got these stupid boulders sitting there.
MONTEL WILLIAMS: And he could be found near there?
BROWNE: He's near the boulders.
PAM: Is he still with us?
BROWNE: No.
CRAIG: Do you see the bicycle anywhere?
BROWNE: I think the -- see, here's what's strange. I think the--the--the bicycle is in another state in a dump.
Mean, lying bitch.
We all know that Shawn Hornbeck was recently recovered alive. I can't imagine what it felt like for the Hornbecks to be told of their son's death.
Don't ever let anyone tell you that psychics are "harmless."
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
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Neurosis
SFN Regular
USA
675 Posts |
Posted - 01/20/2007 : 21:59:51 [Permalink]
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| JREF covered it nicely for those that read swift. James Van Praagh made a similar and equally wrong prediction. |
Facts! Pssh, you can prove anything even remotely true with facts.
- Homer Simpson
[God] is an infinite nothing from nowhere with less power over our universe than the secretary of agriculture.
- Prof. Frink
Lisa: Yes, but wouldn't you rather know the truth than to delude yourself for happiness?
Marge: Well... um.... [goes outside to jump on tampoline with Homer.] |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 01/21/2007 : 03:43:44 [Permalink]
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Pretty soft gig, eh, getting paid large $$$ just for making shit up. And unlike others who make shit up for a living, she has no deadlines and never has to deal with editors and publishers, nor does she even have to devote a lot of time to it. Yep. Pretty soft gig.
There's a rumor (unconfirmed) that even her books are ghost-written.
But not to despair; this fiasco will not harm her reputation nor her income in the least, not even in the short term. The world is filled with suckers true believers suckers, and those who prey upon them will ever prosper. Thus it has always been.
Going to the fortune teller's was just as good as going to the opera, and the cost scarcely a trifle more - ergo, I will disguise myself and go again, one of these days, when other amusements fail. -- Mark Twain in a letter to Orion Clemens, February 6, 1861
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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Neurosis
SFN Regular
USA
675 Posts |
Posted - 01/21/2007 : 04:06:48 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by filthy
There's a rumor (unconfirmed) that even her books are ghost-written.
But not to despair; this fiasco will not harm her reputation nor her income in the least, not even in the short term. The world is filled with suckers true believers suckers, and those who prey upon them will ever prosper. Thus it has always been.
Actually, that would be quite a hot selling point. I mean a woman who talks to ghosts, getting ghosts to write her books!
Edited to add: I would not be surprised by the ghost writter thing. From what I have seen of her she is not very imaginative. She pretty much makes the same predictions with subtle variations on the info the client provides. People like cosmicbrat could write much more interesting drivel bullshit. |
Facts! Pssh, you can prove anything even remotely true with facts.
- Homer Simpson
[God] is an infinite nothing from nowhere with less power over our universe than the secretary of agriculture.
- Prof. Frink
Lisa: Yes, but wouldn't you rather know the truth than to delude yourself for happiness?
Marge: Well... um.... [goes outside to jump on tampoline with Homer.] |
| Edited by - Neurosis on 01/21/2007 04:10:42 |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 01/21/2007 : 19:07:16 [Permalink]
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Can't they sue her for emotional distress?
Or not delivering her product: accurate predictions. |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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Neurosis
SFN Regular
USA
675 Posts |
Posted - 01/21/2007 : 20:50:13 [Permalink]
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| That would be so expensive it wouldn't even be worth it. I'm sure the lawyers would extend and extend. They could sue for fraud but I bet old Motel covered his arse with a good waver form pre-show and his golden goose too. |
Facts! Pssh, you can prove anything even remotely true with facts.
- Homer Simpson
[God] is an infinite nothing from nowhere with less power over our universe than the secretary of agriculture.
- Prof. Frink
Lisa: Yes, but wouldn't you rather know the truth than to delude yourself for happiness?
Marge: Well... um.... [goes outside to jump on tampoline with Homer.] |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 01/22/2007 : 10:14:45 [Permalink]
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This was broadcast live at TAM on Saturday night. We got to see this episode of Anderson Cooper's 360 on a big screen, which was pretty cool. Of course, both Robert Lancaster and Randi were in Vegas at the time of the broadcast. You can see Vegas behind the Randi part of the interview with him…
part one
part two
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard
3192 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2007 : 05:38:02 [Permalink]
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| Wow, actual comuppance for a psychic. They sure ripped her a new one all over CNN yesterday. |
"...things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say." -Lucian on his book True History
"...They accept such things on faith alone, without any evidence. So if a fraudulent and cunning person who knows how to take advantage of a situation comes among them, he can make himself rich in a short time." -Lucian critical of early Christians c.166 AD From his book, De Morte Peregrini |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2007 : 07:02:10 [Permalink]
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Richard Roper of the Chicago Sun-Times has a few, choice words concerning our Sylvia in particular, and psychics in general: quote:
Be not deceived: Psychics are in it for the cash, nothing more
January 22, 2007
BY RICHARD ROEPER Sun-Times Columnist
Remember that moment last year when it was announced they had come up with a vaccine that blocks nicotine addiction? How about when the troops began returning home from Iraq?
The Jennifer Aniston wedding -- that was something.
Not to mention the Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Lopez pregnancies, and the surprise defeat of Gov. Schwarzenegger in California.
What's that? You have no memory of any of those events taking place in 2006?
I suppose that's because they never happened -- despite the psychic powers of Sylvia Browne, who last January predicted all those things and many more events that did not occur.
To be fair, Browne did foresee the Britney Spears divorce. Pretty impressive, seeing as how the rest of the world was sure Brit and K-Fed would last forever.
After all, they seemed so grounded.
It is something of a relief to see a newspaper doing something besides sucking up to these frauds. May it set an example for others.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2007 : 12:02:28 [Permalink]
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I think we may be seeing the end of Browne's reign.
Honestly. It can happen, and has. Uri Geller was essentially driven out of the US by having his deceptions exposed by Randi. Now Sylvia Browne may have tipped the scales against herself to the point where she will lose most of her effective influence.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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