Free Republic

Since returning from my embed in the wild west Iraqi city of Ramadi at the end of April, I've gotten some wonderful e-mails from relatives of the troops, some of which I'd like to share. First some background. Despite the constant flow of news out of Baghdad, which to many reporters is where Iraq begins and ends, terrorist-infested Ramadi is probably block-for-block the meanest place in country. Asked where in the city I wanted to be embedded I told the military "The redder, the better" ("Red" means hostile). So they packed me off to Camp Corregidor with the 1st Battalion,...

There's bad news and there's more bad news for paralysis victims hoping that some variety of stem cell will soon help them walk again. Adult stem cell paralysis treatment has just suffered a major setback, on the one hand. On the other, these victims are being mercilessly exploited by those desperate to convince us that embryonic stem cells (ESCs) -- yet to be tested in a human -- are a miracle cure desperately needing massive infusions of taxpayer funds. There have been many claims of improvements for quadriplegics using adult stem cells -- those found throughout the human body as...

A year ago I wrote an article titled: “Why the Media Miss the Stem Cell Story.” It discussed the almost total disregard of adult stem cells (ASCs) and the glorification of “miraculous” human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) -- notwithstanding that the adult ones treat over 80 human diseases while embryonics haven’t even made it to human testing. For a wonderful example of this triumph of hype and politics over reality, look no further than two CBS News 60 Minutes segments that aired towards the end of February. One was “Scientist Hopes for Stem Cell Success” hosted by Ed Bradley (who...

It’s a testament to something — well — not good, that 19 years after I first started debunking the "we’re all at risk" theory of HIV/AIDS there are still those who insist that contagious diseases must follow political ideologies. And they’re not shy about fabricating numbers to shoehorn them into the politically correct fit.

The activity du jour for Business Week’s Capitol Hill correspondent Eamon Javers seems to be systematically “outing” conservative columnists as corporate shills. On January 13, BusinessWeek’s web edition ran an article by Javers deceptively titled, “A Columnist Backed By Monsanto.” The article begins, “Michael Fumento's failure to disclose payments to him in 1999 from the agribusiness giant has now caused Scripps Howard to sever its ties to him.” What Javers is talking about is that the Hudson Institute, the conservative organization that employs Fumento as a senior fellow, received a book grant of $60,000 from Monsanto in 1999. The “payment”...

Is the cell phone scare finally over?   Jan 26, 2006 by Michael Fumento ( bio | archive )  Thirteen years ago, writing in Investor's Business Daily, I was the first reporter in the country to present evidence that cell phones have no link to brain cancer in direct contrast   to numerous television and radio shows, and hundreds of related articles in the U.S. and worldwide. Now the largest study ever on the issue has been released and it finds . . . cell phones have no link to brain cancer.Was my work of 13 years ago that of...

Stealth sponsorship of talking heads and op-ed columnists is surprisingly common In the opinion industry, pundits who present themselves as independent voices sometimes turn out to be quietly financed by powerful interests. The latest example BusinessWeek has unearthed: The Hill, a Washington newspaper read closely in Congress, published an opinion piece last June extolling "payday loans." Readers weren't told that the author, Tom Lehman, a professor at Indiana Wesleyan University, had taken money from the industry that pushes these controversial high-interest loans. In other instances, BusinessWeek Online has recently identified Douglas Bandow and Michael Fumento, two prolific authors of newspaper...

....Javers then took it upon himself to establish, right then, a completely new set of rules regarding columnists disclosure of the receipt of corporate money. All previous standards were null and void...

Adult Stem Cells Provide New Life for Livers By Michael Fumento Scripps Howard News Service, October 20, 2005 Copyright 2005 Scripps Howard News Service I have frequently written on the gulf between the "PROMISE" of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and the REALITY of therapy from adult stem cells (ASCs) – those already in our bodies and umbilical cord blood. ESCs get publicity; ASCs get results. The latest example: ASCs are now rebuilding human livers.  This is a healthy liver . . .   Until now, the only hope for persons with irreversible liver failure from such diseases as cirrhosis, which...

"THE INDICATION IS THAT we will see a return of the 1918 flu virus that is the most virulent form of flu," warns America's top health official. "In 1918, half a million people died. The projections are that this virus will kill one million Americans . . . " A quotation ripped from today's papers about an impending "bird flu" pandemic? No, the year was 1976 and the prediction of a deadly "swine flu" overshot the mark by 999,999 deaths (although dozens did die from the vaccine campaign). That's something to remember amid the current alarms. Another is that we've...

The Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) has just announced it’s giving its highest honor to Los Angeles paralegal Erin Brockovich, best known for her virtual beatification in the allegedly “based on a true story” film of the same name. Julia Roberts portrayed her as having the mouth of a hooker but a heart of gold. Yet the Hollywood Brockovich is bunk, and this is not Harvard’s finest hour. -snip- The California Cancer Registry showed no excess cancer in Hinkley compared to surrounding counties, despite the claim of Brockovich and her law firm that they suffered terribly high rates from...

Why is HIV So Prevalent in Africa? By Michael Fumento Tech Central Station, April 15, 2005 Copyright 2005 Tech Central Station Massive airdrops of condoms won't stop African AIDS.   Ninety-nine percent of AIDS and HIV cases in Africa come from sexual transmission, and virtually all is heterosexual. So says the World Health Organization, with other agencies toeing the line. Some massive condom airdrops accompanied by a persuasive propaganda campaign would practically make the epidemic vanish overnight. Or would it? A determined renegade group of three scientists has fought for years – with little success – to get out...

Beginning of the End for Embryonic Stem Cell Research? By Michael Fumento Tech Central Station, February 11, 2005Copyright 2005 Tech Central Station Supporters of expanded federal funding for embryonic stem cell research were disappointed by President Bush's State of the Union Address, which indicated no softening of restrictions. Instead, he said he’d work to “ensure that human embryos are not created for experimentation.” But those who truly believe ESC research will bring medical breakthroughs have naught to fear. For there’s a far more promising approach, likelier to produce more benefits and much sooner.We're being flooded with exciting new developments from...

Hallelujah! After 44 years one of America's most famous convicts, a black man named Wilbert Rideau convicted of murdering a white woman in Louisiana during the Jim Crow era, is free. Headlines worldwide proclaim justice has been done. But they couldn't be more wrong. Justice is weeping. For Rideau remains what he was when I knew him 17 years ago - a cold blooded murderer.Three different juries convicted Rideau, now 62, of murder. But all were overturned on technicalities, providing Rideau an incredible fourth chance. This time he was convicted only of manslaughter, downgrading his sentence to a maximum of...

Among the magazines even die-hard right-wingers should occasionally read are the neo-liberal publications The New Republic and The Washington Monthly. They often contain thoughtful articles with stimulating, fresh thinking (including material by decidedly non-neolib me). Alas, that makes it all the worse when they publish something moldier than a slab of Roquefort cheese — as they did with their combined attack on adult stem cells (ASCs). Unlike the official Democratic-party line (as expressed in Ron Reagan's convention speech and Kerry's non-response to a question in the second presidential debate), these magazines do not pretend that ASCs don't even exist....

The Neolib Attack on Adult Stem Cells By Michael Fumento  November 11, 2004 The only beneficiaries of ESC therapy to date have been these guys, and precious few at that.   Among the magazines even die-hard right-wingers should sometimes read are the neo-liberal ones The New Republic and the Washington Monthly. They often contain thoughtful articles with stimulating fresh thinking. Alas that makes it all the worse when they publish something moldier than a slab of Roquefort cheese. So it is with their current combined attack on adult stem cell research, designed to support the alternative of embryonic stem cells....

The Stem Cell Cover-Up Posted May 24, 2004 By Michael Fumento Activists such as Christopher Reeve have it backward when they say that restrictions on funding for embryonic stem-cell research will prevent him from walking again. Stem-cell research constitutes one of the most exciting areas in medical science. It promises to prevent, ameliorate and cure diseases for which there are now few if any treatments. Far easier is listing what stem cells don't have the potential to do, but here are a few of the wonders in progress: More than 30 anticancer uses for stem cells have been tested on...

In 1914, the U.S. Bureau of Mines predicted American oil reserves would last merely a decade. In both 1939 and 1951, the Interior Department estimated oil supply at only 13 years. "We could use up all of the proven reserves of oil in the entire world by the end of the next decade," declared Pres. Jimmy Carter gloomily in 1977. In fact, the earliest claim that we were running out of oil dates back to 1855 – four years before the first well was drilled! Still, with gasoline oil prices seemingly rocketing past the moon and towards Mars, and newly-published...