On April 1st of each year, we award the coveted Pigasus awards in variable categories, for accomplishments in the previous year. The awards are announced via telepathy, winners are allowed to predict their victories, and the Flying Pig trophies are sent via psychokinesis. We send; if they don't receive, that's probably due to their lack of paranormal talent.
(No awards were announced last year, due to pressure of work and ongoing projects at the JREF)
This year, the Pigasus prizes for accomplishments in the year 2003, go to:
Category #1, for the government official who said or did the silliest thing related to pseudoscience or the occult in the year 2003, goes to South African Minister of Health Dr. Manto Tshabala-Msimang, who claimed, and continues to claim, that treatment with "garlic, herbs, and liver" is not only most efficacious in the treatment of HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis, and other deadly diseases, but is far superior to Western medicine. She also believes, in agreement with Thabo Mbeki, President of the African National Congress and President of South Africa, that AIDS is not caused by the HIV virus. The death rate in South Africa has soared, with an estimated 5.3 million of its 45 million people (12%) now HIV-infected.
Category #2, for the "psychic" performer who fooled the greatest number of people with the least talent in 2003, goes to Sylvia Browne, for a record year chock full of appearances on TV shows in which she blathered and dodged, offering useless and irrelevant comments to vulnerable persons seeking genuine help and comfort. She also predicted that Saddam Hussein would be found dead in 2003. Sylvia shares this award with Larry King and Montel Williams, her willing cronies in this heartless deception. The naïve victims of this scam can buy a 30-minute telephone reading by Ms. Browne for $700, during which they will learn the names by which they were known in previous incarnations, and will be advised on what foods they should eat…. No refunds….
