Steven Salzberg is just thrilled. The NIH announced three new Centers of Excellence in Research on Complementary and Alternative Medicine and the NCCAM acting director has asked for $121 million in funding. In response, he writes, "Great! I'm so excited to hear that NIH is pouring more money down this oh-so-promising black hole of negative results and poorly conducted studies!" Why, he wonders, can't studies on alternative and complementary therapies be funded through regular NIH mechanisms — you know, the ones with standards.