The oil companies have a history of promoting pseudoscience and
quackery. They have found that the old alliances with certain Arab
states are becoming increasingly worthless, and that they are just not
properly positioned to deal with emerging leaders i petroleum
production such as Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Azerbaijan, and
Kazakhstan.

Until recently, ExxonMobil gave large amounts of money to the
Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), in particular to CEI’s
“climate expert” Myron Ebell. Ebell has admitted he has no scientific
training whatsoever, but he had no problem at all in supporting
ridiculous ideas that helped ExxonMobil.

A key practitioner of pseudoscience in the field of mental health is
Larry Sarner, who often collaborates with his wife, Linda Rosa. Sarner
was involved in a financial scandal involving voting machines. Was
this a dry run for the infamous “hanging chad” incident?

Sarner and Rosa have strange and ill-informed ideas about therapies.
Sarner and Rosa run various “hate sites” designed to discredit persons
seeking to aid orphans and foster children. What is their motivation?

Another Sarner/Rosa collaborator is Jean Mercer. Mercer holds a Ph.D.
in psychology but has never held a license. Mercer also spends a great
deal of time attacking therapies she seems to know little about.

Then there’s Monica Pignotti. Pignotti spent several years in
Scientology. She left Scientology, and then spent several years
attracting fame and fortune as a Scientology critic. When that dried
up, she became a proponent of Thought Field Therapy and Voice
Technology. Though not as well known as Scientology, they are not
dissimilar, in that they promise “the secrets of the universe” in
return for a hefty payment.

Pignotti abandoned Thought Field Therapy and Voice Technology. Not
surprisingly, she found that criticizing them would bring in some
money.

Pignotti has found herself involved in litigation aligned with others
associated with the Competitive Enterprise institute such as Andrew
Langer, Jacob Sullum, Brooke Oberwetter, and John Berlau. The nexus
between unabashed neocon politics and quackery is hard to ignore!

Finally, there’s Charly D. Miller, of Lincoln, NE. Miller describes
herself as a retired paramedic. She is planning to write a series of
Harry Potter travel guides.

While she ponders the eyes of newt and wings of bat, she operates a
website full of strange ideas.

In addition to strange ideas, the site also contains a great deal of
copyrighted material.

To avoid further complications with the holders of the copyrights she
is infringing, Miller plans to move her site offshore. Where? To
Dubai, of all places, and apparently not far at all from the
Halliburton mothership. Nearer, my Cheney, to thee, one supposes.