Lowell Hubbs: Banned From Commenting

As anyone who has read this blog can attest to, I have allowed Mr. Hubbs to add numerous comments to this blog.  Some of his comments were distasteful, most were dishonest, some were borderline insane, some merely entertaining, but for the most part I tended to publish what he said exactly how he said it.  The blog currently holds over 300 published comments the vast, vast majority of which come from Mr. Hubbs.

Don't anyone ever suggest I'm not willing to let someone offer their input.

That being said, yes there were comments I refused to publish.  Those included comments in which Mr. Hubbs was merely repeating the same comments or unsubstantiated statements time and time again, or like some of his most recent comments where he used profanity or resorted to personal attacks towards other commenters, or times where he refused to stay on subject and merely inserted a red herring on each and every comment.  I also refused to publish comments where he linked to his personal blog, website, or the websites of his fellow vaccine conspiracy theorists because I don't believe those are valid sources.  There are also unpublished comments where Mr. Hubbs pretended to be someone else and posted under different usernames or as 'anonymous' because he isn't smart enough to know how comments are easily attributed to him even when he uses the wrong name.  Finally, several of his comments were ignored merely because they didn't add anything to the discussion, and some were full of pornographic writing or links to pornographic websites which I simply don't find relevant to this blog (nor do I have any desire to read about in the first place).

Mr. Hubbs doesn't have to like my reasoning, but the beauty of it is he doesn't really get a choice.  I decide what is published and what is not because... well because this is my blog.  This isn't Mr. Hubbs' personal forum, and thus I publish what I want and when I want to (although I do allow several contributors to submit information to publication as well I have always served as the only comment moderator).  Therefore, as of today, I now have over 245 unpublished comments over 95% of which are from Mr. Hubbs.  Sure there are a few spam comments in there trying to get people to buy fake Rolex watches and what have you, but if I were to count them I would guess around 230 of those 245+ comments are from Mr. Hubbs.

The thing is - I get a little tired of seeing four, five, or six comments from Mr. Hubbs in any given day.  I have warned him time and time again what constitutes an acceptable comment and I have advised him how to keep the conversation on topic, but time after time after time he refuses.  Thus, as many other blogs, forums, and websites have done in the past, I am just going to openly state that Mr. Hubbs is banned from commenting until further notice.  When I say "further notice" I probably mean forever, but you never know... I could have a change of heart next week or a year from now.  The bottom line is at least for the foreseeable future, I'm no longer going to give Mr. Hubbs a forum to spread his ignorance to others, and therefore he will need to find a new stage to spread his craziness to the masses.

I fully expect that to piss off Mr. Hubbs, but the simple truth is I don't care.  The fact is Mr. Hubbs doesn't even allow commenters on his website, and I know for a fact he doesn't publish every comment submitted to his numerous blogs, thus I guess you could call this poetic justice.  I will miss some of his ramblings as they are somewhat entertaining, but the fact is Mr. Hubbs is incapable of debating issues like an adult and incapable of keep his story straight, so I'm not about to give him a forum to spout his madness.  This blog was intended to showcase Mr. Hubbs for what he is - a man who is nothing more than a lying hypocrite with no education, experience, or training, and who has spent far more time in prison than he has in a lab or between the pages of a textbook.  By virtue of my numerous contributors and sources, this blog has shown the public that Mr. Hubbs is not only a vaccine conspiracy theorist, but a vaccine conspiracy theorist with obvious mental health issues and what can only be described as a fetish-like love affair with logical fallacies.

Thus, it is time to move on.  There will be no more comments from Mr. Hubbs or any of his aliases for the foreseeable future.  No more ramblings of a paranoid madman, no more accusations of illegal behavior, no more threats, no more profanity laced tirades, no more comments about pornography which may or may not involve children, and no more examples of a severe mental defect happening right before our very eyes.

So long Mr. Hubbs.  I would like to say we hardly knew ye... but sadly - we know far too much.

Quack of the Day: "Dr" Ben Rall

Ben Rall is one of over 175 Chiropractors who operate in an around the Sioux Falls area, and frankly he isn't even one of the most popular ones, so you are probably wondering why I would devote a post to him.  For all intents and purposes he is just another Chiropractor right?  The difference is, Ben Rall is the Chiropractor of choice for Lowell Hubbs, and Mr. Hubbs tends to put Mr. Rall on a pedestal as if he is capable of performing miracles.

Recently there have been a few comments left on this blog pertaining to Mr. Rall, and Lowell has talked about him numerous times in the past, so I figured it was time to put a little information together on Rall to determine what the whole story is.

In truth, I really don't have a problem with most Chiropractors.  I understand they have their place in the treatment community (even though they are not to be confused with medical doctors) and I understand they can and do offer relief for some conditions like lower back pain and some joint pain etc.  What I do have a problem with is Chiropractors who walk around suggesting, or even openly claiming, that they can treat, reverse, or even cure conditions ranging from heart disease to diabetes to ADHD or even autism.  Obviously these Chiropractors don't have the supporting evidence to prove their treatments can prevent or cure disease, but that doesn't stop many of them from making vague statements while avoiding making promises that they know they can't support with science.

So where does Rall sit in all of this?  To find out, we only need to visit his "Inspired Chiropractic" website, and the first thing we are presented with is a link to an online store, and the offer to purchase some "Daily Detox" nutritional supplements (with no scientific evidence to support that they do anything other than "detox" your wallet by removing $74.95 for a whopping 30 day supply).  If you click on the "Daily Detox" supplements and do a little reading, Rall tells you that once you start taking them you most likely will never be able to stop because of the following statement shown on the FAQ page:

 "Most North Americans are exposed to hundreds of toxins every day from foods, household and personal care products, and even the environment – so the majority of our customers choose to take DailyDetox long-term for ongoing protection". 

As is the case with any good snakeoil salesman, Rall refers to these mystery "toxins" and tries to sell some miracle pill that can remove them.  Funny how these alternative medicine types are always so focused upon toxins yet they never actually bother to list what those toxins are, or provide evidence that shows their miracle solutions are effective at removing them.  The simple truth is, the term "toxins" is a generic term used to sell products and scare the uninformed, but when you really examine the issue you realize the lack of detail is only paralleled by the lack of science.

The good news is if you sign up for the autoship program for Rall's miracle pills, it reduces your monthly cost from $74.95 to "only" $69.95 and they will ever ship them for free!  I have to wonder if Mr. Hubbs has signed up for this program since he seems to believe Rall can do no harm.  Then again Mr. Hubbs is also a huge fan of Andy Moulden, so he probably needs to take his "Brainguard" meds on a monthly basis too.  Then he probably needs to take some of the supplements Mercola sells on his site, and maybe a few of the miracle supplements that Sherri Tenpenny sells, and maybe even a monthly shipment of the "Brain Repair" supplements sold by Blaylock.

I have to admit, being a proponent of alternative medicine and an anti-vaccination conspiracy theorist sounds like it could get very expensive.  If you just follow the advice of those listed in the above paragraph would you need to spend over $300 a month on 'necessary' supplements.

Of course Rall doesn't stop at just offering supplements as that would be far too easy.  He also shows on his homepage an offer to purchase a do-it-yourself "Spinal Correction" kit for the low, low price of only $169.95.  Yes you read that correctly, Mr. Rall sells a kit so you can do your own spinal adjustments right in the comfort of your own home!  Does this sound at all legitimate?  If there is so much training involved in Chiropractic care and if what he can do to a patient is so incredible, I find it odd that he is willing to sell a kit for $170 where someone could basically replicate his treatment at home, but whatever allows him to make a buck I suppose.

The rest of Rall's online store includes offers for various videos, books, protein powders and other nutritional supplements, "at home" spinal care devices, clothing ($45 for a t-shirt that doesn't even come with sleeves??) and even downloadable audio files including one called "Vaccination Awareness" that is offered for the rather high, (and rather odd) price of $46.02.  I guess a flat $46 just wouldn't have been high enough to cover the costs of production.

I wish I could offer more insight on what you get for your $46.02, but unfortunately Rall's site only lists the title of the MP3 and doesn't list any specifics on what it might contain.  For all I know it could be an audio recording of him reading articles written by Mercola or Wakefield, but I would bet there is very little science involved and a whole lot of fear-mongering.  I'll also go ahead an assume Mr. Hubbs has already paid his $46.02 to listen to it. 

My personal favorite item in the Rall superstore however has to be the "Whole Body Vibration Plate" which sells for the astounding price of $1400.00!  I know that seems like a lot, but the list price is $1866.67 so if you buy now you will save $466.67!  So what does this miracle machine do?  Well you won't have any luck finding out on Rall's page, but if you dig around the web you will find dozens of different "whole body vibration machines" for sale out there ranging from a few hundred dollars to several thousand.  What you won't find however is any peer-reviewed science showing the effectiveness of these machines, nor will you find any justification on why they seem to be so expensive.

I could write a series of blog posts on the questionable benefits of vibration training, but thankfully others have already done so, and thus I don't need to repeat what has already been said.  If you really want to learn about the theory behind these machines I would recommend a series of articles written by Sal Marinello which can be found here, here, and here.  Marinello has done several other articles on the subject including on entitled "More Evidence to Indicate Whole Body Vibration to be Ineffective" which is worth a read as well.

This just all goes to show what type of snakeoil Rall is willing to sell provided he can make a buck.  Aside from the fact that vibration machines are a silly gimmick with no proven benefits, the fact is the price Rall has affixed to the machines is simply incredible. 

Truth be told, you can purchase a Black and Decker palm sander from Walmart for around $30, bolt it to the underside of a wood or metal base, fire it up and stand on it... and you will have saved yourself $1370. Because that is what those machines do... they simply vibrate while the user stands on them just as a palm sander vibrates as it operates. Yes you can get fancy with a heavy duty and weighted platform, some fancy isolating shock absorbers, a larger motor that will last longer etc, etc, but basically all these machine do is take the vibration technology built into most cell phones and make it bigger and heavier, and for that cranks across the globe fool an unsuspecting public into purchasing these machines for thousands of dollars when they can probably be manufactured for under $50.

Do these people have no shame?  (Don't answer that - it was a rhetorical question)

I'm actually surprised that Rall isn't selling a power bracelet of some type, because as trendy as those are you would think he would be all over it.  Then again the profit from a $30 bracelet isn't nearly as impressive as a $1400 vibration machine, so he probably has it figured out.

So aside from being yet another alternative medicine guru who sells various products on his website, what does Mr. Rall really offer? He doesn't have any peer-reviewed studies proving his treatments are any more effective than common physical therapy, he doesn't have his name on any research studies that have developed new and effective treatments, and he can't even offer evidence that his claims about weight loss can be verified via clinical study.  What he can do is talk a good game and convince vaccine conspiracy theorists such as Mr. Hubbs that he knows the truth while the hundreds of thousands of doctors, scientists, and researchers who study vaccines and disease across our nation are all in on some massive cover-up for the sake of personal profit.

The moral of the story?  Profit is apparently just fine... if Mr. Rall happens to be the one collecting it.

Maybe one of these days I'll find an alternative medicine practitioner who doesn't have a website packed full of various products that are pushed upon the ignorant and one who isn't continually trying to convince humanity that they need to ingest numerous supplements and vitamins on a daily basis or buy a variety of different machines and contraptions as if that will do anything other than reduce their disposable income... but apparently not today.

These people prey upon ignorance and fear... which probaly explains why Mr. Hubbs seems to be drawn to each and every one of them like a moth to a flame.  It doesn't matter that these pills and machines don't really have any scientific, medical, or health benefit.  It doesn't matter that the treatments are ineffective.  It doesn't matter that there is no supporting scientific evidence to support the theories or that they can't even clearly identify the root causes in the first place... what matters is that these predators tell medical conspiracy theorists what they want to hear and they play the role of being the alternative to modern, mainstream medicine while at the same time making a few bucks on the side.

Does any of this really surprise anyone?

The Difference Between a Skeptic and a Denialist

When discussing controversial subject matter or facts which the average person cannot visually verify themselves, we often encounter a strong sense of skepticism from those who may not be as familiar with the subject matter.  This is why you have people who aren't quite sure if climate change is real and others who have doubts that there are other galaxies in the universe no matter how much science might be provided.

To some degree, a healthy dose of skepticism is a good thing, because it forces people to challenge their own beliefs.  In truth, most scientists and researches are skeptical by nature, and most would never accept anything at face value unless it has been proven, replicated, verified, and proven again.

A skeptic doesn't just develop a hypothesis and assume it is factual.  Rather the skeptic examines a problem, then determines the hypothesis.  They will then perform research to determine if this hypothesis is supported and if so... they will verify the original hypothesis.  If it turns out their research does not support the hypothesis, they will then need to re-examine the data to come up with a different result.  This is what makes science so exciting for real scientists... because they will often admit that the most amazing discoveries come when they least expect it.  Some discoveries are considered nothing more than accidents, and others are found to be the inverse of what was anticipated.

A skeptic doesn't formulate the answer and then find data to support the answer.  Instead, they perform the data and then formulate the answer based upon the findings.  In short a skeptic follows the facts where they lead no matter where that may be.  They don't establish the result before doing the research, and they keep an open mind.

This is a key aspect that identifies the difference between being a skeptic versus being a denialist, because a denialist does the inverse.  A denialist formulates the answer they want to hear, and then they collect information to support that answer while disregarding the information that conflicts with it.  Essentially a denialist determines what their viewpoint is, and then they back into this position by specifically calling out data that aligns with their answer which is often referred to as "confirmation bias".  Confirmation Bias not only involves hand-picking information to support a viewpoint, but also involves interpreting that data in a biased manner.

Thus when you have someone like Andrew Wakefield who (for some reason) gets the idea that the MMR vaccine causes Autism, he doesn't perform legitimate research to prove his hypothesis, but rather he steers his research towards what he believes is the inevitable outcome.  In Wakefield's case, that resulted in manipulation of data, falsification of patient records, numerous ethical violations as well as conflicts of interest etc, etc, but the point is prior to Wakefield being entirely discredited he was doing a bang-up job of convincing others that his hypothesis was supportable all due to his personal bias and lack of scientific integrity.

The same is true with people like Lowell Hubbs.  Mr. Hubbs believes that vaccines cause autism, and instead of being skeptical of vaccines and studying them or researching them to come up with an unbiased viewpoint, Mr. Hubbs instead takes the line of the denialist and simply ignores the mountains upon mountains of evidence which time and time again show there is no such link between vaccines and autism.  He will even go so far as to invent wild conspiracy theories to explain why all of the published studies are never able to find a link while making excuses for the lack of evidence to actually support his viewpoint.

What Mr. Hubbs accepts as truth is only the data he is able to find which supports his version of reality, and because there are no peer-reviewed studies linking vaccines and autism, and because there is no accepted science proving vaccines are harmful, Mr. Hubbs then has to resort to non-scientific sources such as personal blogs, articles hosted from biased websites, personal opinion, non peer-reviewed articles and the ever-present misunderstanding of the basic premise that correlation does not equal causation.

In effect, Mr. Hubbs relies upon illusory correlation as he tends to identify relationships within the data that do not really exist.  He will misinterpret data and display a severe misunderstanding of the data he tends to cite.  Aside from lacking the scientific knowledge to properly understand the complexities of the subject matter, Mr. Hubbs displays an extreme level of personal bias against mainstream medicine, vaccines, "big pharma", and anyone or anything associated with any of the above while displaying an equal amount of personal bias towards anyone or anything which finds fault with mainstream medicine or vaccines. 

In fact, Mr. Hubbs displays a complete disregard for the scientific process, and he has displayed a level of bias which is rarely seen outside of discussions involving climate change, Creationism, or President Obama's birth certificate.  If Mr. Hubbs was truly honest with himself, he would recognize his bias and acknowledge his lack of credibility on the subject matter.  He would also acknowledge he tends to only seek out those who consider themselves firmly entrenched in the "alternative medicine" camp and/or those who have a personal (but scientifically unsupportable) position that vaccines cause autism.

Granted to anyone who knows Mr. Hubbs knows he likely will never shift his viewpoints from those of a denialist to those of an independent thinker, nor will he ever be able to objectively study the information that exists on the subject.  In fact, Mr. Hubbs has taken the denialist role to the extreme and has become nothing more than a common conspiracy theorist who personally believes that doctors, researchers, and scientists are all involved in some massive cover-up to prevent legitimate cancer cures from being released to the public while somehow keeping the lid on all of the data which could somehow prove a link between vaccines and autism.

Whether it be accusations that a three letter agency (FDA, CDC, WHO, AMA etc) is in control of all of the world's scientific data, accusations that 9/11 was an inside job involving the US government and bombs inside the buildings, or claims that people are out to kill him due to the "knowledge" he holds, Mr. Hubbs commonly resorts to such claims of a conspiracy when he recognizes a lack of evidence to support his claims.  He then assumes because his statements are not taken seriously that it somehow suggests they are "truth" which tells us nothing other than the fact that Mr. Hubbs lacks the understanding of the concepts of falsifiability and burden of proof.

Skepticism itself is a good thing and is necessary within the scientific process.  Denialism adds nothing to the equation and merely serves to create a distraction, and full-blown conspiracy theorists such as Mr. Hubbs are the proverbial trainwreck in the center of Logic town.  Yes they might be a mess... but they tend to be rather fun to watch as long as you know you aren't the one who has to clean it up.

Dr. Paul Offit: Debunking the Vaccine-Autism Link - Newsweek

Dr. Paul Offit: Debunking the Vaccine-Autism Link - Newsweek

A good read - and it continues to show how the antivaxers like Mr. Hubbs don't understand the issues. They don't have any science to support their viewpoints that vaccines cause autism, yet they vilify and attack the scientists like Offit who are doing nothing other than trying to save lives. Study after study after study has found no link between vaccines and autism, and no matter how many times the antivaxers shift their focus (first it was the MMR vaccine, then it was thimerosal, next it was aluminum, now it is the sheer number of vaccines) it doesn't change the fact that to date there has not been one single peer-reviewed study on the planet which has proven a link between vaccines (of any type or any quantity) and autism. Not even one!

The science doesn't lie, but antivaxers sure do.

Yet Another Identity for Mr. Hubbs

Recently Mr. Hubbs has decided to switch his username he uses to post comments to the Argus Leader website and he is now going by the name of “Placebo-X”.

Of course Mr. Hubbs denies that he is using the “Placebo-X” username because he doesn’t want others to know he has had to switch names yet again. When confronted with his latest name change, he even went so far to claim it was a “wild accusation”, but unfortunately for Mr. Hubbs this is just the latest example of his ever-present dishonesty.

What happened Mr. Hubbs… was the Truthstorm name banned from the Argus Leader site for your continual violations of the terms of service? Was the Wildman440 name banned before that? Were any of your other multiple usernames banned or do you just like to change names to fool people into thinking there is more than one vaccine conspiracy theorist posting on the Argus Leader website?  Is it just a coincidence that your previous Argus Leader usernames no longer post any comments and instead we see the same comments being posted by Placebo-X?  Don't bother answering Mr. Hubbs... we already know the answers.

The reality is there are several facts that allow us to identify Mr. Hubbs as being Placebo-X even though he pretends it isn’t him. First, we have Placebo-X’s comments about 9/11 conspiracy theories:

"When they can explain why there were NO Norad Jets in the sky anywhere near the planes of 9-11, then we may start believing what we are told. 53 planes flew off course in that same area prior to 9-11, all were diverted back to a safe landing. When they can explain what Cheney was actually doing that day, then many of us they claim are only conspiracy theorists, will start to believe what our gov't tells us. When they can explain how building 7 fell exactly the same way in its own footprint, never having been hit by any aircraft, then we will start to believe a little of what we are told." ~Placebo-X (aka Lowell K. Hubbs)

"just like 9-11 itself, there are and will remain many unanswered questions, but the public is so easily swayed by the main stream news." ~Placebo-X (aka Lowell K. Hubbs)

Sure seems to align with Mr. Hubbs previous statements about 9/11 doesn’t it? In fact previous quotes from Mr. Hubbs himself have included “Find out where Dick Cheney was on 9-11, and what he was doing” and “Does it also bother anyone that Blg. #7 fell that day and no plane hit it”. He also has stated: “How could previous to 9-11, 52 accidently [sic] off course planes, be diverted by military fighter jets safely back to an airport, yet two jumbo jets on 9-11 got through”.

Coincidence? Not likely.

Then we have several comments from Placebo-X about how WebMD and other sources of information are biased, yet he links to numerous other sources as if he is the only person capable of providing unbiased information. Where have we seen that tactic before?

In a series of stories about the men who killed a prison guard, Placebo-X doesn’t offer sympathy for the killed man or his family, but rather he makes statements blaming the warden rather than the murderers such as the following:

“And when will we hear more about why the warden and his staff allowed two known violent and former excapees [sic] to be working nearly unsupervised in a minimal security area? The incompetence in that happening is nearly astounding.” ~Placebo-X (aka Lowell K. Hubbs)

“We don't need any letters praising the warden at this time! The fact is he allowed two men to work in a laundry dept. in a minimally supervised and under staffed area.” ~Placebo-X (aka Lowell K. Hubbs)

“Perhaps you will want to explain why those two men were allowed to be in Pheasant Industries, the least secure facility on the entire prison grounds? It has little to no more security than the trusty unit! Perhaps Mr. Weber needs to travel to some real prisons to learn how to do his job properly Are you telling me that there are circumstances that we have not been told that excuses what happened? Go ahead and list those?” ~Placebo-X (aka Lowell K. Hubbs)

“Warden Weber needs to go, plain and simple. Find a new job you can actually do!” ~Placebo-X (aka Lowell K. Hubbs)

Keep in mind Warden Weber was in charge when Mr. Hubbs was incarcerated, and Mr. Hubbs later filed suit against Weber. His case was later dismissed on October 13th, 2009, but that doesn’t prevent him from holding a grudge.

And here we have Placebo-X coming to the defense of DUI repeat offenders:

“How about an additional question of does branding a DUI driver with a felony, third offense; really serve the public purpose? […] future of working at minimum wage or barely above. […]many DUI's occur at levels barely above .08, which often means that person was not actually impaired enough to be any real danger”. ~Placebo-X (aka Lowell K. Hubbs)

Questioning punishment for those with multiple DUI convictions makes sense… if you are a man with multiple felony DUI convictions yourself I suppose. As it just so happens, Mr. Hubbs has at least four DUI convictions himself… yet another eerie coincidence? To add to that, Placebo-X seems to think driving drunk at .08 isn’t a huge deal because the person isn’t impaired enough to be of any “real danger”? Are you kidding me? If a 4000 pound vehicle traveling at 75mph and being driven by a person with diminished physical abilities and delayed reaction time isn’t considered to be “real danger” I don’t know what is.

In addition to this, Mr. Hubbs… excuse me “Placebo-X”, actually referenced his own… er, Mr. Hubbs’ blog in reference to one of my comments, which seems innocent enough until you realize that searching for my Argus username won’t actually produce that blog in any “research” that he claims to have performed and thus the only way to find that blog is to know it exists in the first place. He then goes on to reference his very own website as a source during one of his rants about herd immunity, as well as referencing his friend Mr. Rall’s chiropractic website that he has done so many times in the past. Not too bright are you Mr. Hubbs.

Then of course we have Placebo-X calling people “sheeple” which is obviously a common trait for Mr. Hubbs, and we have the same common spelling and grammatical errors and telltale sentence structure. But what really seals the deal is Placebo-X’s stance on vaccinations which include the following quotes:

“Stop packing their arms full of endless toxic vaccinations and aluminum and they might have a better chance of learning what they need to. As well end the endless ADD/ADHD drugging of those children and they will learn better as well.” ~Placebo-X (aka Lowell K. Hubbs)

“How many people has modern medicine and vaccinations killed and messed up????” ~Placebo-X (aka Lowell K. Hubbs)

“the pharmaceutical merry go round that is actually making many people only sicker” ~Placebo-X (aka Lowell K. Hubbs)

“There is absolutely no real science behind the concept of herd immunity. It was coined from the known veterinary concept of natural immunity.” ~Placebo-X (aka Lowell K. Hubbs)

“Why is it that the thousands of children within the Amish Communities that do not vaccinate are so healthy, and do not have epidemics of 1 in 100 cases of autism” ~Placebo-X (aka Lowell K. Hubbs)

Aside from the fact several of the above quotes are identical to what Mr. Hubbs has stated elsewhere (right down to the same exact verbiage selection and sentences) we also see where Placebo-X decided to quote the exact same excerpt from a story on the polio vaccine including a word for word verbatim quote that Mr. Hubbs has used on his very own blog.

The fact is I really don’t have a problem with Mr. Hubbs choosing a unique username – that is his right of course, but I find it incredibly dishonest to openly state it isn’t him and to pretend there is a unique person who just happens to share all of the same opinions, use the same sentences word for word, make the same grammatical errors, and post the messages at the exact same time. As I’ve said before, the fact that Mr. Hubbs has to be dishonest about his motives and that he plays games in order to prop up his own online identities tells us how desperate he has become. He obviously recognizes that he can’t convince anyone of his wild conspiracy theories, so he resorts to pretending there is more than one man of questionable intelligence spouting the same idiotic ideas.

Unfortunately for Lowell Hubbs, once again the curtain was pulled back and instead of finding a Wizard, we have found nothing more than sad, lonely, dishonest, pathetic old man. Touché.

The Many "Faces" of Lowell Hubbs

Backward Hats Rock!

Note: This post was originally published back in September 2010, but I've decided to update it with some of Mr. Hubbs more recent usernames.  See a follow-up post with yet more names here.

As with most conspiracy theorists, Lowell Hubbs often finds himself alone when debating matters of science and medicine, most likely due to the fact that most people (even the scientifically ignorant ) cannot possibly believe some of the crazy ideas being spewed from Lowell's mind.

As a result Lowell often finds himself in the need of support when posting on websites and blogs. Instead of being able to locate fellow conspiracy theorists to support his positions or to help debate against logic and reason, Lowell instead has found it much easier to simply come to his own defense by registering multiple usernames and posting under these "aliases" in order to attempt to fool others into believing there is more than one person with the same viewpoint.

A few of the usernames Lowell has used or continues to use are as follows:

• Wildman440
• Wildman4000
• Truthstorm
• Truth Storm
• Truth1
• TruthEducation
• Truth Warrior
• naturo-pathic
• discoveryaime
• jnw357
• Anti Vax Warrior 1
• Anti Vax Warrior 2
• Reality1
• Placebo-X
• Cornhullio Rubensteen
• One up over your dumb ass spinker hole!
• Bubba Joe Watkins
• Yvonne DeCarlos
• Greg
• Greg D.
• Craig
• Carol
• Popeye the Sailor
• LowellTR42

In addition to the above, Mr. Hubbs has also attempted to post comments using other people's names as an imposter. Some of those names include:

• H. Manning
• Harley Manning
• IT Firestone
• I.T. Firestone
• Jon Jonson
• Hiland
• Ryan Hiland
• Costner
• CostnerMatthews
• Costner Matthews
• Andy
• Jeffrey Wallace

And of course when it doubt, Mr. Hubbs will often resort to posting comments as "Anonymous" when possible (as he has done on this blog as well as on numerous other blogs and websites).

There are other names he uses of course, but Lowell changes identities so frequently it is often difficult to keep up. However what Lowell fails to realize is he has a certain "style" that quite simply is not replicable by anyone other than himself, and as such anyone who is familiar with Mr. Hubbs is able to recognize his lack of spelling and grammar, horrible use of run-on sentences, heavy reliance upon unsupported opinion, and overuse of websites (including his personal website) as "proof" of his wild claims.  There are also several digital ways to identify Mr. Hubbs rambling comments, but since he isn't intelligent enough to figure them out, I'm not about to give him a written instruction manual.

One recent example of Lowell trying to change usernames was his attempt to post as "jnw357" and act as if he was a separate person. User "jnw357" seemed to be supporting many of the statements made by "naturo-pathic", and in some cases even directly responding to naturo-pathic's posts as if he was having a conversation. 

The most comical post of all however, was when jnw357 came to the defense of naturo-pathic by stating the following:

"It sure is a funny thing that after all that was posted here, all you can do is attempt to harrassse [sic] this individual" ~jnw357 (aka: Lowell Hubbs) referring to his other username 'naturo-pathic'

Yes you have read that correctly, Mr. Hubbs is referring to himself in the third person and coming to his own defense (albeit with a unique username to make it appear as if he is merely a caring person looking out for another poster).

He then went on to state the following:  

"Be proud of the fact that this guy had so much damning truth information to refute yours, that they had to shut it down."  ~jnw357 (aka: Lowell Hubbs) again referring to his other username 'naturo-pathic'

So again Mr. Hubbs refers to himself in the third person as if that will fool others into believing it is someone other than Mr. Hubbs himself.

Lowell kept up this act for at least a few days until finally someone confronted him by name, and apparently knowing his curtain was pulled wide open like the Wizard of Oz, he reacted by attempting to change the subject and by shifting to an unrelated discussion pertaining to "hacking" attempts made upon his computer or the website he was posting on. 

Eventually however, Mr. Hubbs moved on to yet another username and started the same routine again and again, each time being easily recognized by fellow forum members often within the few two or three posts. 

To some degree this begs the question if Lowell even knows all of Lowell's identities. Could he possibly suffer from Dissociative identity disorder (DID) and have one username for each of his personalities? If so, does he ever argue with himself without actually knowing who he is arguing with? Even worse, does Mr. Hubbs find himself losing these arguments? 

One thing is certain: whenever you debate someone who feels the need to "rally the troops" by posting the same crazy ideas from multiple usernames, it pretty much tells you that even they understand they have been bested, and that is incredibly comforting. Instead of relying upon fact, logic, and reason... Mr. Hubbs relies upon dishonesty and deceit. 

Is there really any wonder why Mr. Hubbs is never taken seriously and is mocked at every turn?

Nine Questions, Nine Answers.

Science Based Medicine: Nine Questions, Nine Answers.

If you spend more than a few minutes discussing vaccines and the mythical link between vaccines and autism or merely just the safety and effectiveness of vaccines in general, Lowell Hubbs will soon cut and paste the "9 Questions That Stump Every Pro-Vaccine Advocate and Their Claims.” by David Mihalovic diatribe time and time again.

Even though each of those nine questions has been thoroughly addressed and more holes shot through them that can be found in the average screen door, Mr. Hubbs continues to re-paste his nine questions garbage while refusing to acknowledge the responses because like most anti-vaxers, Mr. Hubbs isn't capable of actually interpreting scientific responses or statements based in fact.  Instead, the only thing Mr. Hubbs can do is cut and paste information from anti-vaxer websites, and since they don't publish the responses to these nine questions, Mr. Hubbs is left with nothing else to say about the matter.

Because of this, I felt it was only fitting that I supply a well written scientifically supported response to each of these nine questions - all in one place - which ends the debate once and for all.  This response was written by a REAL medical doctor with over 30 years of experience and research and it was reviewed by several other REAL doctors as well.

The funny thing is, even though Dr. Crislip addressed every one of those nine questions, Mr. Mihalovic was never able to respond even though these answers were shared with him and his fellow anti-vaxer friends.  The only response they could come up with is that they would like to debate the issue on an Internet netcam with two people representing each side, but responding with a request for an open debate is an old trick and serves no legitimate purpose.  Holding such a debate would suggest scientific fact is open to debate in the first place - rest assured it is not.  Scientific fact is scientific fact like it or not, and no amount of clever trickery is going to dodge that very central point.

As Dr. David Gorski so accurately stated in reference to the idea of debating a scientific issue with an anti-vaxer or other person with a non-scientific and unsupportable viewpoint: "[t]here have to be two scientifically supportable positions. The anti-vaccine position is not scientifically supportable."

I urge anyone with an interest in the subject of vaccinations to read Dr. Crislip's original post, the comments in response to it, as well as the follow-up post by Dr. Gorski which displays the typical avoidance tactics used by the anti-vaxers when real science is presented to them.

It is a long read, but without question it puts to bed this entire "nine questions" silliness once and for all.  I guess Mr. Hubbs will need to find something else to cut and paste immediately before he (inaccurately) claims victory.

The Condition or the Person?

I have always admired the Cathedral in Sioux Falls and that entire neighborhood.  Take for instance 6th Street in Sioux Falls... there are numerous historic homes in that area that are incredible and show beautiful architectural detail.  Some are as old as the late 1800s and early 1900s and many still display original windows and detailing which makes each and every one unique and special.

On the other hand, every now and then you get a property that just doesn't fit in.  The building might be too new, or it might not blend in with the other homes in the area. Perhaps it is a small apartment complex rather than a single family home like so many of the others.

In any case, the point of all this is that sometimes you have one thing that just doesn't fit in with everything around it.  Whether we are talking about homes, cars, ideas, or people - often there are things that just don't seem to match.  This concept applies with people as well, because although the vast majority of the population out there is healthy and doesn't suffer from autism, we know there are a number of people who do suffer from autism.

So in the case of a building that doesn't blend in with those around it, do we suggest we tear that building down leaving the people who live there homeless?  No, we accept it for what it is with the hope that in time it will be improved and accepted and become integrated into the community.

So in the case of a person with autism who doesn't fit in and isn't like the rest of us, what should we do?  Do we banish them and belittle them?  No... quite the opposite in fact.  We welcome them with open arms.  We accept them for who they are and we don't claim they need to be "cured" or that their condition should be "reversed".  So when someone like Mr. Hubbs claims he is merely trying to reduce the number of children who are diagnosed with autism or when Mr. Hubbs says he cares about those who have been diagnosed with conditions that fall within the autism spectrum, why is it that he then turns around and lashes out at the very group of people he claims to care about?

We can obviously disagree what causes autism, but when you drill down on the issue this is less about the disorder and more about the person.  It is important to remember that... because no matter what the root cause of autism really and no matter how long it takes science to isolate that root cause, it won't help those who have been dealing with the issue throughout all of their lives.

So the next time someone argues with you about the root cause of autism ask yourself if they care about the condition... or if they actually care about the person who has been dealing with it each and every day of their life.