Reply #10: The author of that article, Donald W. Miller, is a denialist crank

[salvorhardin]

About a year and a half back he wrote a rather infamous condemnation of the peer review process, or at least that's what it appeared to be on the surface. It wasn't after wading neck deep into it though that the reader found out it was really a platform for Miller's global warming and HIV-AIDS denialism. Respectful Insolence did a nice fisking of Miller back then:

Yes, global warming denialism and HIV/AIDS denialism (coupled with the oft-repeated cry of "martyrdom!" from Peter Duesberg, yet!) are what Dr. Miller is about. (Hint to Dr. Miller: Citing Christine Maggiore and Peter Duesberg is not a particularly good way to bolster the credibility of your arguments.) Other "unassailable paradigms" that Miller lists are not quite as ridiculous as his examples of AIDS and global warming, but they're mostly strawmen; for example, the claim that "cholesterol and saturated fats cause coronary artery disease" is actually not quite what medical science states; rather it is that cholesterol and saturated fats are major factors, among others, that contribute to the pathogenesis of coronary artery disease. Using these examples does not exactly bolster Miller's credibility or case, either. Miller then goes on tear about how science is in service of the state, pulling out more HIV/AIDS denialism idiocy coupled with some rather blatant conspiracy-mongering ...

Does this remind you of anything? Perhaps of the conspiracy theorist who recently argued with a straight face that the reason there would never be any cure for cancer is because the "vested interests" of the medical industry and government would not allow it, as such a cure would "devastate" the medical economy? It sure sounds like the same fallacious argument applied to AIDS, which is why I ask you to repeat after me: This is all a load of crap. The evidence that HIV causes AIDS is exceedingly strong and has not been seriously challenged, not by Duesberg, and certainly not by any of Dr. Miller's HIV "dissident" tracts published at the execrable LewRockwell.com, where Miller routinely spews HIV/AIDS denialism (playing the Galileo Gambit yet, but with Copernicus!), global warming denialism, anti-fluoridation rants, and antivaccination posturings worthy of the mercury militia. These views alone show that Dr. Miller's critical thinking skills leave much to be desired, and this lack of critical thinking is very apparent in his article.
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2007/05/cranks_against_peer_review_1.php