Getting up on my high horse while listening to Townes Van Zandt again:

One thing I despise is medical quackery. These quacks are con men cheating their victims, who are sick and desperate people. They are contemptible scum.

So on Wednesday, the Vanguardia's top story in its Society section was titled: "Natural therapies pass the exam." And it only gets worse.

"Natural therapies," that is, fraudulent ones, will become "regulated" in Catalonia in September. That means legalized and, I presume, paid for through Social Security, the National Health equivalent. Non-medical personnel ("practitioners") practicing "natural therapies" will be licensed if they have been in practice for at least five years; if they have not, then they must pass an exam. The Colegio de Medicos, the equivalent of the AMA, ALREADY accredits actupuncturists and homeopaths, for Christ's sake.

According to La Vanguardia, the "therapies" regulated are:

"Chinese or Oriental medicine"

Acupuncture

Moxibustion

Tui-na

Chi Gong

Naturopathy

Homeopathy

Kinesiology

Shiatsu (acupressure)

Podal reflexology

Lymphatic drainage

Diafreotherapy

"Holistic liberation of stress"

All these unscientific frauds are going to be not only perfectly legal, but actually licensed by the state!