Fumento spits the dummy

Michael Fumento has been booted off Winds of Change because he misrepresented a scientific article. As usual he responded with abuse:

I’m off to Ramadi again next month. Put that alongside the chickenhawks and chairborne rangers whose blogs you print.

In short, I was doing you a great favor and you spat in my face. Well, the wind has changed and the spit has gone back into your face. Goodbye and good riddance. …

As to chicken hawks, that refers to “Armed Liberal,” who never got closer to Iraq than watching CNN, and it refers to you personally. I don’t see any leash keeping you from going. If a tiny little woman like Michelle Malkin can go, so can you. I’m 47 and going back to Iraq’s most dangerous city for the third time in mid-February. Care to come along? Yes, that’s a challenge. It’s also a challenge to Danziger, who even as I write this has an egg coming out his rear. You can come or you can also lay an egg in that comfy home office of yours. Or are you just going to impugn my sexuality, too?

Fumento, of course, has a history of misrepresenting research and of getting fired for misconduct.

Comments

#1 Thom
January 22, 2007

Being kicked to the curb by Scripps Howard News Service is bad enough, but being shown the door by some obscure blog?

And what’s up with all the egg coming out of the anus stuff, Fumento? That’s just creepy….
#2 Dano
January 23, 2007

Don’t these people know the lone iconoclast, spouting ~~nonsense~~ truth into the wind of popular opinion and against all the scientific evidence the world can muster is always correct?

Um, I mean, he agrees with my beliefs so how could he not be?

This Public Service Announcement explaining denialist thought processes brought to you by: Caveman Cereal, where the wife always serves you breakfast with hot coffee.

Best,

D
#3 jre
January 23, 2007

I can’t find Fumento anywhere in the Lake Wylie Pilot, either. Has he been kicked out of there, too?
#4 Tim Lambert
January 23, 2007

You should email him and find out.
#5 jre
January 23, 2007

What’s the typical experience of people who send emails to Michael Fumento?
#6 pough
January 23, 2007

And what’s up with all the egg coming out of the anus stuff, Fumento? That’s just creepy….

Chickens aren’t creepy, they’re delicious! Especially with egg. Mmm… oyako don…
#7 Thom
January 23, 2007

pough, hate to be a nit picker, but when an egg doesn’t come out of a chicken’s anus. It comes out of the cloaca.
#8 Michael Fumento
January 23, 2007

“Fumento has been booted off Winds of Change,” claims Troll Lambert.”

Actually, Fumento’s e-mail to Winds of Change concluded with these words:

“In short, I was doing you a great favor and you spat in my face. Well, the wind has changed and the spit has gone back into your face. Goodbye and good riddance.”

Who booted whom?

Fumento was “booted” for “scientific misrepresentation,” says Troll Lambert. Never mind that he quit. Joe Katzman, who understand science every bit as well as Tim Lambert, claimed I was wrong in stating that researcher Anthony Atala had found that amniotic stem cells could be differentiated into all three germ layers that form all the cells of the body. Here’s a quote from Atala from PBS’s Online Newshour at: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/jan-june07/cell_01-08.html

“And, therefore, we have been able to drive the cell to what we call all three germ layers, which basically means all three major classes of tissues available in the body, from which all cells come from.”

We therefore have Joe Katzman saying that Atala (and by derivation, Fumento) is lying about Atala’s paper. Personally — and call me crazy — I’m going to go ahead and side with Atala.

And by the way, it took me less than 10 seconds to Google that quote. Mr. Katzman and Troll Lambert need to learn how to use a search engine.

Troll Lambert will take shots at me again and he will also fail again. But then again, he won’t care. If he did, he might actually attempt making a contribution to society rather than spending his entire life trying to sully those who do.
#9 Left_Wing_Fox
January 23, 2007

If he did, he might actually attempt making a contribution to society rather than spending his entire life trying to sully those who do.

Now be fair. I think he makes a great contribution by leading people to you.

And certainly, I consider the blustery entertainment you provide a valuable contribution to society.
#10 pough
January 23, 2007

pough, hate to be a nit picker, but when an egg doesn’t come out of a chicken’s anus.

Really? I love being a nit picker. First of all, your sentence seems incomplete. Second, he never said that the egg would come out of a chicken’s anus, he said it was coming out of Danziger’s rear.
#11 Eli Rabett
January 23, 2007

I understand that Fumento is the dummy, but what is spitting the dummy. Are you being hostile to the dear lad? Preparing to cook him on the barby?
#12 Pinko Punko
January 23, 2007

Fumento quoting science dude:

“”And, therefore, we have been able to drive the cell to what we call all three germ layers, which basically means all three major classes of tissues available in the body, from which all cells come from.”"

And Fumento himself:

“”Wade is flat-out wrong. Although I have read the full paper, you need go no further than the online abstract at PubMed to read that the amniotic stem cells were differentiated “into cell types representing each embryonic germ layer, including cells of adipogenic, osteogenic, myogenic, endothelial, neuronal and hepatic lineages.” Translation: The amniotic cells carry the same potential as embryonic stem cells to become each of the 220 cell types in the human body.“”

Fumento Pimento Spumento, I don’t have to be a super-brained super awesome science hound to know that those different quotes do not mean precisely the same thing. Our “220 different cell types” come from three germ layers. The ability to differentiate Amniotic cells into three germ layers does not automatically imply the ability to generate all 220 cell types that you mention, therefore stating that amniotic cells have that capability is factually incorrect as it has not been shown. I can type more slowly and loudly, in case things that are intuitively obvious are opaque for your Herb-Tarlek-head! Also, do you think “Troll” and “Tim” rhyme or something? Seems like a silly nickname. I suggest you try “chundernozzle.” While inaccurate for our delightful host here, it certainly has more panache that “Troll Lambert.”

Telegram for M. Fumento!

“pwn3d stop”
#13 Ian Gould
January 23, 2007

Perhaps Mr. Fumento would like to explain to us the difference between “pluripotent” and “multipotent”.
#14 Ian Gould
January 23, 2007

Eli, the dummy in question is what I believe Americans call a pacifier.

To spit the dummy is to act like a petulant infant.
#15 Eli Rabett
January 23, 2007

Thanks Ian, but I really liked the image of Tim spitting the dummy. It’s my violent and hostile side I guess.
#16 Pinko Punko
January 24, 2007

Here’s my fave response from UC, actual scientist:

“I hate when [invective deleted] decide they can be science pundits. Dude, unless it has been injected into a mouse blastocyst and shown to give rise experimentally to every single type of cell and the germ line itself, pluripotency has not been demonstrated.”

Yikes! I think he now pwns 100% of Fumento Co. Bag., Ltd!
#17 Lurker
January 24, 2007

Fumento should have his own television programme. (Monsanto proudly presents the Fumento Comedy Hour). Guest stars, such as Stevie Milloy and Alex Avery.
#18 JB
January 24, 2007

“I really liked the image of Tim spitting the dummy”

I really like the image of “Tim spinning the dummy”.

Kind of like the image of “Tim wacking the piñata” (that’s the, not his, lest some lurker misinterpret and make an uncouth comment).
#19 jre
January 24, 2007

Wow.

After all this time, I can still manage to be surprised when Fumento is tempted back to leave another spittle-flecked comment.

The Internets are large, and there must be other specimens out there that exceed him in some respects, but for belligerence, vanity, and apparent obliviousness, Fumento must be in the top 0.001%.

However — if it’s any comfort, Michael, keep in mind that being kicked off Winds of Change changes little. Your credibility and reputation have been in the toilet for quite some time now.
#20 JB
January 24, 2007

That last comment was directed at “some lurker”, not “Lurker”.

My appologies.
#21 Tim Lambert
January 24, 2007

But jre, Fumento says he wasn’t kicked off because he dumped them before they could kick him off. This is important to him.

Plus, [he is now calling me Timothy Trollbert](http://www.fumento.com/weblog/archives/2007/01/joe_katzs_disho.html).

Mr Fumento: we’re laughing at you, not with you.
#22 Thom
January 24, 2007

Lambert, you’re dead wrong. Above, you write that Fumento was “fired for misconduct.” I am also guilty of gravely distorting history when I wrote that Fumento was “kicked to the curb” by Scripps.

But the Scripps Howard News Service press release reads: “Fumento’s column will no longer be distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, but is available from Michael Fumento at fumento(at)pobox.com or http://www.fumento.com.”

Sure this is corporate-speak for getting dropped on your ass, but I think we should aim for precision with our writing, lest we muddy Fumento’s fine record.

Mr. Fumento, I apologize. I hope you have enjoyed looking for a new job.
#23 JB
January 24, 2007

Is Trollbert better or worse than Lambott?

In some regards, i suppsoe it might be considered a compliment (by a computer scientist) to be compared to a robot. Then again, most robots are stupid as the day is long, so maybe not.

On the other hand, while Trolls obviously have a negative connotation, the name “Trollbert” by itself sounds very regal: “Sir Trollbert Lambott, The Third”.
#24 Geoff
January 24, 2007

Michael Fumento has now officially become a parody of himself, if that hasn’t happened already.
#25 David Kane
January 25, 2007

The post Tim links to makes it very clear that Fumento quit. He was not “booted off Winds of Change.” I assume that this was an honest mistake on Tim’s part. Will a correction be forthcoming?
#26 Geoff
January 25, 2007

David: ever heard this?

“You’re fired!”

“You can’t fire me I quit!”
#27 David Kane
January 25, 2007

The chain of e-mail reprinted at Winds of Chain suggests fairly clearly that the dialog was [paraphrased]:

“I quit!”

“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!”

Tim is usually more precise in his use of language.
#28 Tim Lambert
January 25, 2007

According to David, the first thing in the exchange was “I quit”. I assume this was an honest mistake on David’s part.
#29 Dano
January 26, 2007

Tim, your unwillingness to come clean regarding the precise series of events reveals you to be nothing but a mendacicizer and ideologue and incapable of grasping basic facts and therefore you lack credibility on all things…and…um…

erm…

Sheesh – you’d think I’d remember how the standard toady denialist argument goes.

I may have had too much Yellow Tail merlot to remember…

Best,

D
#30 dopey
January 26, 2007

David: Tim enjoys winding up Fumento and is good at it, and he’s laughing now because he’s just successfully given him yet another chance to spray the vitriol and prove what a goose he can make of himself. It’s a blood sport, I don’t think you’ll be seeing any correction. It also seems from the tenor of the earlier emails between the three parties that Fumento was going to need to shape up or ship, and the former has been well shown by now to be outta de question for de man.

Fumento compares his “no comments” blogging to Malkin and Reynolds. I don’t much like Malkin but sympathise with her stated reasons for having switched off comments, whereas Reynolds is a bit of a redneck goose himself and never learns anything from criticism (so why enable comments, if you don’t really care to hear what others think). Fumento’s in neither league though so his comparison actually needs to be made with far more rabid bloggers than those two.
#31 johna_
January 29, 2007

Fumento’s ideas have had the appearance of a trainwreck for a long time, dating back to his days as an editorialist for his college paper in the 80s.

His first book was a great achievement – The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS. He still lists it proudly on his bio. It should be required reading for the followers of Robert Mugabe and his ilk.

regards, johna_