Paranormal the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Is the Official Journal of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
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the Skeptical Inquirer Vol. 13 No. 1 / Fall 1988 $6.00 Astrology & the Presidency Government & Gullibility NRC Examines Psi Claims The Intellectual Revolt Against Science Graphology: Write & Wrong Satan & Rock Music Published by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER is the official journal of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. Editor Kendrick Frazier. Editorial Board James E. Alcock, Martin Gardner, Ray Hyman, Philip J. Klass, Paul Kurtz, James Randi. Consulting Editors Isaac Asimov, William Sims Bainbridge, John R. Cole, Kenneth L. Feder, C. E. M. Hansel, E. C. Krupp, David F. Marks, Andrew Neher, James E. Oberg, Robert Sheaffer, Steven N. Shore. Managing Editor Doris Hawley Doyle. Public Relations Director Barry Karr. Business Manager Mary Rose Hays. Assistant Editor Andrea Szalanski. Production Lisa Mergler. Systems Programmer Richard Seymour. Typesetting Paul E. Loynes, Don Stoltman. Audio Technician Vance Vigrass. Librarian, Ranjit Sandhu. Staff Michael Cione, Crystal Folts, Leland Harrington, Laura Muench, Erin O'Hare, Alfreda Pidgeon, Kathy Reeves. Cartoonist Rob Pudim. The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal Paul Kurtz, Chairman; philosopher, State University of New York at Buffalo. Lee Nisbet, Special Projects Director. Mark Plummer, Executive Director. Fellows of the Committee James E. Alcock, psychologist, York Univ., Toronto; Eduardo Amaldi, physicist, University of Rome, Italy. Isaac Asimov, biochemist, author; Irving Biederman, psychologist, University of Minnesota; Susan Blackmore, psycholo gist, Brain Perception Laboratory, University of Bristol, England; Brand Blanshard, philosopher, Yale; Mario Bunge, philosopher, McGill University; Bette Chambers, A.H.A.; John R. Cole, anthropologist, Institute for the Study of Human Issues; F. H. C. Crick, biophysicist, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, Calif.; L. Sprague de Camp, author, engineer; Bernard Dixon, science writer, consultant; Paul Edwards, philosopher, Editor, Encyclopedia of Philosophy; Antony Flew, philosopher, Reading Univ., U.K.; Andrew Fraknoi, astronomer, executive officer, Astronomical Society of the Pacific; editor of Mercury; Kendrick Frazier, science writer, Editor, THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER; Yves Galifret, Exec. Secretary, l'Union Rationaliste; Martin Gardner, author, critic; Murray Gell-Mann, professor of physics, California Institute of Technology; Henry Gordon, magician, columnist, broadcaster, Toronto; Stephen Jay Gould, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard Univ.; C. E. M. Hansel, psychologist, Univ. of Wales; Al Hibbs, scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Douglas Hofstadter, professor of human understanding and cognitive science. University of Michigan; Sidney Hook, prof, emeritus of philosophy, NYU; Ray Hyman, psychologist, Univ. of Oregon; Leon Jaroff, sciences editor, Time; Lawrence Jerome, science writer, engineer; Philip J. Klass, science writer, engineer; Marvin Kohl, philosopher, SUNY College at Fredonia; Edwin C. Krupp, astronomer, director, Griffith Observatory; Paul Kurtz, chairman, CSICOP, Buffalo, N.Y.; Lawrence Kusche, science writer; Paul MacCready, scientist/engineer, AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, Calif.; David Marks, psychologist, Middlesex Polytech, England; William V. Mayer, biologist. University of Colorado, Boulder; David Morrison, professor of astronomy. University of Hawaii; H. Narasimhaiah, physicist, president. Bangalore Science Forum, India; Dorothy Nelkin, sociologist, Cornell University. Joe Nickell, author, technical writing instructor, University of Kentucky; Lee Nisbet, philosopher, Medaille College; James E. Oberg, science writer; Mark Plummer, lawyer, executive director, CSICOP, Buffalo, N.Y.; W. V. Quine, philosopher, Harvard Univ.; James Randi, magician, author; Milton Rosenberg, psychologist, University of Chicago; Carl Sagan, astron omer, Cornell Univ.; Evry Schatzman, President, French Physics Association; Eugenie Scott, physical anthro pologist, executive director, National Center for Science Education, Inc.; Thomas A. Sebeok, anthropologist, linguist, Indiana University; Robert Sheaffer, science writer; B. F. Skinner, psychologist, Harvard Univ.; Dick Smith, film producer, publisher, Terrey Hills, N.S.W., Australia; Robert Steiner, magician, author, El Cerrito, California; Stephen Toulmin, professor of social thought and philosophy, Univ. of Chicago; Marvin Zelen, statisti cian, Harvard Univ.; Marvin Zimmerman, philosopher, SUNY at Buffalo. (Affiliations given for identification only.) Manuscripts, letters, books for review, and editorial inquiries should be addressed to Kendrick Frazier, Editor, THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER. 3025 Palo Alto Dr., N.E., Albuquerque, NM 87111. Subscriptions, change of address, and advertising should be addressed to: THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Box 229, Buffalo, NY 14215-0229. Old address as well as new are necessary for change of subscriber's address, with six weeks advance notice. Inquiries from the media and the public about the work of the Committee should be made to Paul Kurtz, Chairman, CSICOP, Box 229, Buffalo, NY 14215-0229. Tel.: (716) 834-3222. Articles, reports, reviews, and letters published in THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER represent the views and work of individual authors. Their publication does not necessarily constitute an endorsement by CSICOP or its members unless so stated. Copyright ®I988 by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, 3159 Bailey Ave., Buffalo, NY 14215-0229. Subscription Rates: Individuals, libraries, and institutions, S22.50 a year; back issues, $6.00 each. THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER is available on recordings from Associated Services for the Blind, 919 Walnut Street, Philadelphia. PA 19170(215-627-0600). Postmaster: THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER is published quarterly. Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. Printed in the U.S.A. Second-class postage paid at Buffalo, New York, and additional mailing offices. Send changes of address to THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Box 229, Buffalo, NY 14215-0229. Skeptical Inquirer Journal of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal Vol. 13, No. 1 ISSN 0194-6730 Fall 1988 3 SPECIAL REPORT: ASTROLOGY AND THE PRESIDENCY 4 Skeptic's Burnout: Hard Weeks on the Astrology Battle Line by Paul Kurtz 7 The Stars Smile on Soothsayers by Murray L. Bob 10 Donald Regan's In-House View 11 The Commentators Comment... 13 ... The Scientists Comment 15 ... The Astrologers Comment 16 Guide to Scientific Critiques of Astrology ARTICLES 34 Improving Human Performance: What About Parapsychology? by Kendrick Frazier 46 The China Syndrome: Further Reflections on the State of Paranormal Belief In China by Paul Kurtz 50 Backward Masking, and Other Backward Thoughts About Music by Tom Mclver 64 Write and Wrong: The Validity of Graphological Analysis by Adrian Furnham 70 The Intellectual Revolt Against Science by J. W. Grove NEWS AND COMMENT 20 Nostradamus's 'California Quake' / Alternative to Nobel Prize / Feinstein's Pseudoscience / Psychics at the Pentagon NOTES OF A FRINGE-WATCHER 26 Reich the Rainmaker: The Orgone Obsession by Martin Gardner PSYCHIC VIBRATIONS 31 Koko's signing, astrologers' predicting, and son of Moon's reincarnating by Robert Sheaffer BOOK REVIEWS 76 Richard C. Hoagland, ed., The Monuments of Mars, and Randolfo Rafael Pozos, The Face on Mars (David Morrison) 80 Robert Curran, The Haunted (Mary Beth Gehrman) 84 Richard L. Gregory, ed., Oxford Companion to the Mind (Steven N. Shore and Robert Cormack) 86 Terence Hines, Pseudoscience and the Paranormal (Wendy Grossman) 88 ARTICLES OF NOTE FOLLOW-UP 91 Columbus Poltergeist Case: An Update by James Randi 92 FROM OUR READERS Cover design by Lisa Mergler. the Skeptical Inquirer The perfect gift for relatives and friends and for your local library. Save up to 30% $22.50 for first one-year gift subscription 1. NAME please print ADDRESS CITY STATE ZIP only $18.00 for second one-year gift subscription (20% savings) 2. NAME please print ADDRESS CITY STATE ZIP only $15.75 for each additional gift hereafter (30% savings) 3. NAME please print ADDRESS CITY STATE ZIP A gift card will be sent in your name. YOUR NAME please print ADDRESS CITY STATE ZIP Include my own subscription for 1 year ($22.50) D 2 years ($39.00) D 3 years ($48.00) • ^. •-,-.,- ,-.., ^ , O Check enclosed Charge my • Visa • MasterCard J-J gjM # Exp Total $ (Outside the U.S., please pay in U.S. fluids drawn on a U.S. bank. Add $11.00 a year if you prefer airmail to surface mail; in Canada and Mexico add only $5.00 a year for airmail.) Order toll-free: 800-634-1610 (In New York State call 716-834-3222.) Box 229 • Buffalo, New York 14215-0229 Special Report Astrology and the Presidency T WAS extraordinary. Astrology, an ancient but still immensely popular pseudo- I science, was for a while on the front page of every newspaper and on every national network newscast. Political columnists and political cartoonists had a heyday. Time magazine made it a cover story. The revelations of the extent to which President and Mrs. Reagan used advice from astrologers for political scheduling (at the very least) was big news. It was fodder for everything from serious examinations of the political implications of using astrology in the White House and discussions of the scientific invalidity of astrology to endless jokes and laughter. Astrologers defended their craft and reveled in the publicity. Our coverage begins with two essay columns,