Chad Clark's Open Journal : 2010-02-24

1) Simon Singh sued by British Chiropractic Association.

From Discover Magazine :

  Simon Singh is a journalist in the UK; he writes for the Guardian.
  Moreover, he's a science journalist, and a good one who, like so many of
  us, prefers reality the way it is.
  
  The British Chiropractic Association, however, prefers reality to bend to
  their will. They've been making some outrageous claims lately about the
  efficacy of their "treatment", things that are clearly wrong. Simon wrote
  about this in a column, saying,
  
    "
    The British Chiropractic Association claims that their members can help
    treat children with colic, sleeping and feeding problems, frequent ear
    infections, asthma and prolonged crying, even though there is not a jot of
    evidence. This organisation is the respectable face of the chiropractic
    profession and yet it happily promotes bogus treatments.
    "
  
  Unsurprisingly, the BCA took a dim view of this. So of course they
  produced copious variable-controlled double blind studies with
  statistically significant testing procedures to back up their claim.
  
  HAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahaha! No, that would be silly! Of course they didn't
  do that. They sued him instead.
  
  In the US that would be a dumb thing to do, as our libel laws put the
  burden of proof on the claimant (in this case, the BCA), as things should
  be.  However, the UK is very different: when party A sues party B for
  libel, it's up to party B to prove their innocence.