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Planet of the Hates
Vieques Island HateA Letter Sent to My Coshy Gated Community
If you could answer my question i [sic] would most certainly appreciate it... thank you, [omitted] [omitted] p.s. [sic] Clearly this email isn't has [sic] sexy as some of the hatemail [sic] you have posted on your website, but if you do choose to post it i [sic] formerly [sic] ask you to remove both my first and last name. (judging from your mail it seems like you are a very well liked guy - puppets usually are well liked though i [sic] guess.)
Please let me be the judge of what is or isn’t "sexy" for my hate mail page. As it happens, your piece fits nicely because it’s an illustration of what I call the "imagined ad hominem attack." You see, a real ad hominem would be that I did live in a "gated community in some perfect utopian suburban area." You would be attacking me based on my locale, not my arguments and facts. You don't know that that's the case. So you just imagine that it is. Likewise with the "darkie" bit. As it happens, I spent four years in the Army, which would have placed me just a bit closer to shelling than nine miles. Indeed, I have a permanent partial loss of hearing in one ear because an explosive went off within nine feet of me. Funny thing though, unlike the shelling at Vieques it didn’t give me cancer, a non-existent heart disease, or male pattern baldness. I also pointed out in another version of the piece you read that numerous military bases with civilians in the 50 states have firing ranges closer than the one at Vieques. Those on the island of Vieques were never asked to do what other Americans weren’t, except that other Americans have to pay income taxes and don’t have limousine liberal do-gooders come to their homes and protest for them.
Sincerely, Those Bombs Are Smarter than He Is
During 1999 they denied using reduced Uranium [sic] ammunition for practices. Then they had to accept that fact when laboratory analysis showed residue of Uranium [sic] on Vieques. On April 2001, when they tried to practice against the will of the majority of residents in Vieques, they deny violation [sic] of human rights while arresting people. The videos showed this week in the U.S. Congress demonstrated again how the Navy is lying. Even if there are no health problems, other issues should be considered. For example, the fact that what the Navy practices in Vieques is obsolete in modern warfare techniques. Actually, the US military have not used sea to land invasion [sic] (a real invasion) since the D-Day [sic] in World War II, around 60 years back in history. During the last decade, in all the conflicts in which the US participated, the strategy was based on air to land [sic] and sea to land [sic] bombardment. "Invisible" bomber/fighters using high-tech controls on "smart bombs", and heavy artillery also with high-tech controls destroying every [sic] "so called strategic targets". Then the Marines and other infantry divisions enter the scene without any resistance. That is not sea to land invasion. [sic] The Navy allege [sic] that Vieques is so vital to the National [sic] defense, and that there is no place on [sic] the whole "World" [sic] like It [sic] for their training. However, if in a referendum the people from Vieques wants the Navy out, they will immediately leave the Island [sic]. That does not make any sense. Maybe you also agree with the Navy that there is no environmental pollution on the Island [sic]. Hoping you investigate for your own, regards,
Dr. [omitted] Pd.D., P.E.
I certainly hope you’re not a professor in history, since your statement about amphibious landings happens to omit a few rather important events and places, such as Iwo Jima and Inchon. Further, the threat of an amphibious landing tied up a tremendous part of the Iraqi force during the Persian Gulf war. The enemy wouldn’t have seen it as much of a threat if the Marines hadn’t been trained for such an event. Whatever the Navy originally said about depleted (not "reduced") uranium, it now appears that every round was fired by a single A-10. It seems rather reasonable that a huge bureaucracy might have missed one training flight. The most important information is that study after study has failed to connect exposure to depleted uranium (even within a few feet) to any adverse health effects. You’re saying that a few hundred small-caliber rounds fired ten miles away are making Vieques residents ill.
Finally, the Navy’s website never claims there’s no environmental pollution on the island. I’ve yet to see a military base or range that produced nothing but crystal pure water and oxygen. But the Navy does claim it’s in the process of a clean-up and rightly points out that its use of the island is limited to a small tip. And any travel agent (and a number of websites) will tell you that in general Vieques is considered an island paradise. You don’t hear that about your average toxic waste site.
Sincerely,
Are You Questioning my Combinence?
You could add a Vieques book to your list of publications. I recommend you do it, but please inform yourself first, visit the island (the turist paradise), [sic] get in [sic] their beaches, drink their water and then the Navy's water [sic] compare the difference in taste. See the statistics of cancer, and other illnesses of people that live there for more than a Navy-training session period. Ask why girls over 10 could go out to play like a normal kid after certain hours. Go visit the children with cancer and see their hairless heads, and ask yourself why their number is more than four times the main-island averages. If your combince [sic] is so safe, go live there for at least 10 years. Then write your book with peace in your mind. May God enlighten you. [omitted] Cruz P.D.
I assure you my combinence is completely safe, and that most of what you say is nonsense that I already covered in my article. Personally, I don’t get cancer statistics from counting hairless heads. As for the island being considered a tourist paradise, I suggest any number of websites including http://enchanted-isle.com/enchanted/vieques.htm. The site name rather speaks for itself, does it not?
Sincerely,
Powerline HateLow-Koality Criticism
we have lately had allot [sic] of media coverage on the likely hood [sic] that power lines of high voltage are to blame...... I believe it will cost someone allot [sic] of money in the not two [sic] distant future.
Diana [omitted]@aol.com
It seems to me that the real stretch is in trying to tie leukemia to power lines 150 meters away. That’s the length of one-and-a-half American football fields. Just how far away do people have to be from transmission lines for you to consider them not to be close? I used to live right under some and I’m fine, thank you very much. Since I haven’t the least idea of what your definition of a "30 km stretch" is, "stretch" not being a term of measurement in my country, I have no idea whether 14 leukemias is normal or above or below average. Two leukemias in a single family a coincidence? Perhaps so. Cancer makes no effort to spread itself evenly. But it could also be that more and more evidence is indicating that leukemia has a strong viral connection. Indeed, the "L" in viruses HTLV-I and HTLV-II stands for "leukemia." I have done some research, I believe. I wrote a whole chapter on this for my book Science Under Siege. You need to stop scaring people on the basis of what you read in the Weekly Koala Advertiser.
Sincerely,
Milk HateLactose Intolerance
It’s rather punny, but you are udderly clueless.
Sincerely,
Cell Phone HateA Digital Disability
Subject: No Myth Pal Speaking from the point of veiw [sic] of someone who has been disabled for over a year from an injury caused by a digital cell phone,I say its [sic] no myth any longer look a little harder you'll find plenty of evidence. I did.
Sincerely, No its very real.would you like to hear from a group of people who have been suffering from the effects of the same injuries.Your doughts [sic] can be erased should you decide to take a longer look at the real data dating back to 1928 and all the evidence that has been piling up for decades since.People have been dieing [sic] from microwave exposure for some time now what makes you believe that microwave radiowaves are safe at any level.There are people all around the world who are suffering because no one wants to stop the big bucks from flowin [sic]. Why don't you ask the many people who are dieing [sic] from brain cancer caused by their phone what they think of your dought [sic].
Sincerely,
"Battered Wife Syndrome" HateIt Always Helps to Read the Article First
Subject: "Battered Justice Syndrome" Why should the simpson [sic] murder by [sic] your motivation? Why aren't you concerned about battered spouses in general? Why should the death of this basically unknown person, except for her being married to oj simpson [sic] , be any more important than any other?
Did you read the same article I wrote? It was a reaction to the decision of the late Florida Governor Lawton Chiles to release woman murderers, not to the Simpson murder. I chose Nicole Simpson because her case is well known, and it’s not particularly uncommon in that this woman married a man she knew was physically abusive and insisted on living near him even though in her own words she said he was going to kill her. The law can only go so far in protecting people from their own folly. I must say, too, that the timing of your letter couldn’t be better. The definition of "battered wife syndrome" is now in the process of being widened to include women who kill not their spouses or boyfriends but their own children. It was, alas, probably inevitable.
Sincerely,
Gulf War Syndrome HateOnviously a Troubled IndividualI'm [omitted] Lynch, 1BDE/3AD, resigned Regular Army, Major, Infantry, the GM_14/1550 Federal Computer Scientist then a $140,000.00 per executive. OSD has informed me I WAS exposed to Sarin Nerve Agent on 5 Dec 2000. [I have no idea what a lot of these initials are, but am willing to presume he means the diagnosis was on December 5th, not the injury, since I received this on December 14th, 2000.]
For the last nine years I sought my treatments in private hospitals. Obviously I am a very successful man and not the kind of slacker VET [sic] yor [sic] described in your Article [sic]. I have rashes on my upper torso, a "never before seen - not of natural causes" [sic] has attached itself to my red blood cells and is now presently migrating and attaching to my tissue membranes, over time I have lost control of my bowels. Looks like I'm dying now and until today I never asked for any Veteran benefits [sic]. I lost my job on 9 September, unemployed now as well, due to side effects. Onviously [sic] Congress and the President have adequately proven there was and is an OSD cover-up. Take your article that you wrote and shove it up your fucking ass.
I’m sorry about all your problems. It must be terrible to have both lost your job and be unemployed at the same time, especially when you’re a Very Successful Man. Unfortunately, you didn’t specific which particular article that you wish inserted into my posterior, hence I’m unable to comply.
Sincerely,
Depleted Intelligence
Subject: Gulf War Syndrome: Regarding your articles on Gulf War Syndrome, have you ever heard of "Depleted Uraneum" [sic] as a factor?
If you go to my web site, you'll see that I've mentioned it in several pieces. Moreover, I spell it correctly. You might want to check this out before your credibility takes a further beating.
Sincerely,
What Do You Have to Say? (That I Can Comprehend?)Subject: Your Credibility 1. Now that VA has added Type II Diabetese [sic] to list [sic] of diseases for compensation due to exposure to Agent Orange [sic]. And at the same time you were writing and ranting against Vietnam Vets [sic] for the various ailments they have from AO stating they were all BOGUS, you where [sic] aware that The [sic] Australian Goverment [sic] had already awarded Compensation [sic] to their Vets [sic] exposed to AO and have Diabetese [sic].
2. Would you mind stating what Branch [sic] of Service [sic] you served in [sic] MOS [sic] and Dates [sic] of Service [sic]. I again await your answers. Boyd [omitted]
1. Ever hear of politics? Ever hear of pressure groups that get governments to give them something they don’t deserve? Ever wonder why the government has doled out many billions of dollars for care and feeding of AIDS patients, even while it does nothing of the sort for victims of cancer, Alzheimer’s, or any other disease? Ever wonder why breast cancer research gets so much more funding than prostate cancer research, although they afflict a comparable number of people and the prostate cancer kills more? It’s called "lobbying," Boyd. Look it up in the dictionary. It’s called making yourself obnoxious – something you wouldn’t know the first thing about, I’m sure – until somebody pays you to go away. Also, are you aware that of the huge litany of illnesses Vietnam vets have complained of over the years are linked to Agent Orange, diabetes wasn’t even added to the list until recently? Isn’t that just a bit suspicious, Boyd, that they had this problem all along but didn’t notice it until some government study came out and found that those with an exposure to Agent Orange vastly above what the average vet received (and the average vet received no Agent Orange exposure) had a slight excess of diabetes. And by the way, Boyd, if vets have a right to compensation for any illness that they have in excess, do the taxpayers have a right to get money from the vets for any illness that vets have in lower levels than the general population? 2. Boyd, would you mind stating what Branch [sic] of Service [sic] you served in [sic] MOS [sic] and Dates [sic] of Service [sic]. Would you mind also stating where in Vietnam you allegedly served and how you received your alleged exposure to Agent Orange and how you know it was Agent Orange and not another defoliant? One more thing; in basic training we had a fellow named Boyd from Arkansas who claimed quite proudly that he’d lost his virginity to a sow. And I don't mean a fat woman. That wouldn’t be you, would it, Boyd? I again await your answers.
Sincerely, [Boyd identified himself with I Corp 69-70 Phu Bai, Camp Carroll, LZ Nancy, Quang Tri 12B20 US ARMY 14th Cbt Engrs (Combat Engineers)]. Okay, Boyd, my turn: U.S. Army, XVIIIth Airborne Corps, 27th Engineer Battalion (Combat)(Airborne), Company C, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. I was a 12B20 as well. Gosh, that was fun. But having attempted to torch my credibility, on a subject I’ve written on for seven years, you never answered my assertion that the diabetes cave-in was sheerly political and that vets with the disease are getting benefits for no other reason that AIDS patients get benefits that cancer patients don’t – that they make themselves obnoxious and appear pitiful. You also never indicated how you got exposed to Agent Orange. Finally, and I find this very suspicious, you never answered whether you were the Boyd in my training unit. You know, the one who preferred the "other" white meat.
Sincerely,
2.)My exposure, your [sic] the expert check the Goverment [sic] spray maps and you will find everywhere I was at was heavily sprayed. 3.) As you know but ignore there is a proponderence [sic] of medical proof. It just does not fit your style of antagonizing Journalism [sic] for you to admit it. You deal much better with Inuendo [sic] and unfounded allegation. 4.) Also check your milatary [sic] facts you do have some of your nomenclature [sic] wrong in your description of your background. 5.) But who am I , your [sic] the EXPERT or at least you purport to be on various subject matters. 6.) I am sure if indeed you were in the Army your Buddies [sic] threw you numerous Blanket Partys [sic]. Boyd
Oh, so now you're even telling me that there was no Charlie Company in the 27th Engineer Battalion in 1978-82. Sorry guy, but it's still there. And if the best evidence of your exposure to Agent Orange is that it at some point during the war it was sprayed in the general area you served in at some point in the war, then I must have fought in the Civil War because everywhere around where I live is a Civil War battlefield. Your "proponderence [sic] of medical proof" is one study showing a slight elevation of diabetes among men who actually sprayed Agent Orange. That very study found no evidence of any medical abnormalities among non-sprayers, including combat engineers such as you claim to have been. Regardless of whether you had conjugal relations with "the other white meat," you sure do know how to squeal like it.
Sincerely,
Erin Brockovich Hate
Sincerely,
I think you're the one being paid to say that Chromium 6 [sic] has not pisoned [sic] these people. Why don't you take a trip to Hinkley and have a drink .... on us.
Sincerely,
Sincerely,
Non-Specific HateNot a Good Month
I assume you get a bit of mail, detailing what a dumbshit you are. I’ll keep this short for that reason. I really wanted to tell you, you’re a fucking idiot. august
Sincerely, It’s Not Hate But it’s FunnySelf-plagiarization
Hey Michael. The article you made on Chromium 6 [sic] and Erin Brockovich was copied out of JunkScience.com. Try thinking of some information on your own. Letter 2: I am sorry. I see that you wrote that article. Please accept my apologies. That was a very good article. Sorry again.
Environmentalist HateDisgussing Things
I know your brother [omitted]. He is a wonderful person. I wish I cuold [sic] say t he [sic] same for you. You disguss [sic] me with your lies and attacks on the environment. You have no consience [sic]. Shame on you for being a shill for corporate polluters.
Joe [omitted]
Personally, I wish you could spell and string a sentence together. But we can’t have everything, can we?
Sincerely,
I’m sorry the planet is getting such a bad rap. It seems to me, though, that maybe you should lay off that organic weed you’ve been smoking. Just because it wasn’t grown with synthetic pesticides doesn’t mean it can’t kill your brain cells. In any case, something’s been killing them.
Sincerely,
Yes, I know what you think of me. Perhaps the relevant question is: Do I care? To the extent you’re capable of writing at all, you’re incapable of completing a sentence that doesn’t contain an ad hominem or unsupported accusation. Actually, what really keeps me going from day to day is the hate mail I get from people like you, whose blood gushes green for the planet but can’t be bothered with the harm that the activist groups you belong to inflict upon human beings. Please don’t write back. The smoke from your organic weed is making my computer nauseous.
Sincerely,
Global Warming HateThe 99 Percent Solution
I would like to see where the petition is that you claim was signed by 17,000 scientists et al [sic] that says global warming does not exist. Because I have been doing research all over the web, and have found nothing on this. I also have been in climatology since my Planetary Physics class in 1982-83 as an undergraduate in Physics [sic]. But as far as I can tell, you are another corporate puppet, who believes that something isnt [sic] true if there is a 1% chance it isn't true, though 99% of the evidence says it it [sic] true. So back up your claim. Kevin [omitted]
It's kind of a sorry state we're in when network engineers don't know how to use web search engines and persons with degrees in "Physics" don’t realize it isn’t capitalized. So I did your work for you and here's the URL: http://www.oism.org/pproject/ Now, since you hurt my feelings really, really badly I do expect an apology.
Sincerely, [Wonder of wonders, I received no response, much less an apology.]
Stem Cell HateSubject: Solecisms Versus Qualifications
"Thus William Safire, in his July 5 column stating, 'I head a foundation that supports research in brain science, neuro-immunology and immuno-imaging,' also says, 'scientists may find, in time, that stem cells can be developed from adult cells rather than blastocysts [embryonic cells].' It seems the foundation needs a new head, one with a bit of a science background." From your National Review Online article of 7/27 (The Biotech Protest that Wasn’t): "Apparently, unlike most of us, they are unaware that everything on earth that has ever crept, crawled, walked, flown, or dressed up like a tomato is made up of DNA. That includes, naturally, you and me and all the food we eat." Isn't this just about as sloppy as the statement Safire made concerning stem cells? It might well be true that adult stem cells will prove to be much more useful than embryonic stem cells. I, for one, would welcome it if only to avoid more ugly battles. Still, I am not qualified to judge, at least not without a lot of research I don't have time for right now. I am well aware that researchers in the field are capable of shading the facts to provide shelter for cherished grants, but still, I don't hear them claiming that ESC [embryonic stem cells] are definitely more useful than ASC [adult stem cells], only that the jury is still out. I'll feel a lot more comfortable with the argument in favor of stopping ESC research when I hear it from a hard-boiled atheist, or at least an honest agnostic.
Rick [omitted]
Last I heard all organisms on earth (and you’ll please note that I did qualify my statement so as to exclude extra-terrestrial life forms) do contain DNA. If you're privy to some information that I am not, please be so kind as to share. Safire, on the other hand, did one of two things. Either he intentionally lied to his readers in not telling them that adult stem cells have been cultured in tissues throughout the body, or he hasn’t the least idea what a stem cell is. I was being kind in suggesting the latter. I’m sorry that neither of my articles identified me as either a "hard-boiled atheist, or at least an honest agnostic," though truthfully I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in a byline. I will say that if you only want to read the material of such people, you have no business looking at National Review Online and should probably save your precious reading moments for magazines like The Humanist and the American Atheist.
Sincerely, Like Mail
Dear Mr. Fumento: When can we expect an updated version of The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS? By the way, keep up the excellent research. I love it!
Sincerely,
Another update of the AIDS book? Sorry, you’d have to pull all my teeth out to get me to go through that again? Oops, come to think of it, you would be the best qualified person to do it!
Sincerely, Attack Force Fumento?Michael Fumento,
I actually read many of your articles with great interest, as I have tangential relationships with, and understanding of, much of what you discuss. I am a graduate of both Duke (BA) and Harvard (Masters from Kennedy School), so I am right with you on the use of fear and dubious statistics to drive political agendas. I am also a former SuperCobra attack helicopter pilot from the Marine Corps. And my sister works for USA Today! I first heard about you from several buddies I flew with in the Marines; these were highly intelligent guys who simply did not buy the baloney the typical science writers were spreading. Someone discovered your writing, and YOU were the one who spread around our squadron as more people got interested (we have LOTS of free time while deployed aboard ship or overseas.) I just wanted to tell you this: keep up the good work! Lots of out here, though silent, are pulling for you. Major Stan [omitted] US Marine Corps Reserves
Hmm . . . When I was in the service, we had some girls who spread themselves around the units. Let’s make it clear you’re talking about my writing. It’s heartening to know that if I wanted a Marine force to overthrow a small South American or African nation, I would probably have one behind me. But insofar as you know that nobody’s done more to spread the myth of Gulf War Syndrome than USA Today, I say we attack there first. And as T.E. Lawrence put it so well (at least in the movie): "No prisoners!"
Sincerely, A New Theory on What Motivates Hate Mailers
From: Howard [omitted] This is some of the most entertaining stuff I've seen. You should publish it as a text for a critical thinking/writing course. Most of your writers probably suffered self-inflicted wounds. An RVN [Republic of Vietnam] Vet
That’s an interesting theory, but do you think they could shoot straight enough to hit themselves?
Sincerely,
More Semper Fi
Mr. Fumento, I was given your website by a fellow Marine. There is a USMC Mafia out there isn't there? I have been reviewing your Hate Mail and have read some of your work in National Review. I am surprised (not really) to find the level of ignorance and anger out there. It seems that too many Americans want a scapegoat or someone to take responsibility for their actions. Pretty sad. By the way, I have had the full anthrax series. I am in good health, spirits and am the father of a healthy 13-month-old "ManCub". Veterinarians and workers in meat processing plants have been getting anthrax vaccinations for years haven't they? Probably isn't safe. Semper Fi. Keep up the good work.
Major [omitted]
Thanks for the kind letter. Now if only you chopper jockeys could become proficient enough to fire a round straight through a person's ears, you could clean up a whole lot of muddled brains.
Sincerely, Omigawd! And He’s Healthy?
I served in the United States Navy during Operation Desert Storm and breathed the same atmosphere as my contemporaries. Far from feeling sickly, my friends and I feel like fighting another war. It is surprising we won the Gulf War with so many sufferers of GWS (Gulf War Sniveling) fighting on our side. Keep up the great work.
Sincerely, P.S. Should you need additional material for your hilarious hate mail link, I offer the following: Fuminto yu suk! uyou want me too fel bad about myself but i now i am good. and i got gassed with bad shiht so shut your mouth fuck%$#er! if you nok on my door you will find GWS for you but i meen GWS (Gonna Wup Sissies).
Man, you really have to do some work on your hate mailing. I give you a C-.
Sincerely,
Hate Mail CommmentsHate Bait
Dear Mr. Fumento, I enjoy your articles, but I wonder about your hate-mail pages. Why do you bait your correspondents so? Ken [omitted]
I guess I’m just a compulsive master baiter. (Good thing this page is rated NC-17, huh?)
Best, Are Spell Checkers an Endangered Species?Dear Mr. Fumento, I found your site via the Junk Science page. I found it very informative and interesting until I wandered into the Hate Mail section which I found very depressing – not for the sentiments expressed ( although they were very unpleasant) but for the appalling level of illiteracy and general grammatical ignorance expressed. I mean have none of these people got spell check?
Best wishes for the future,
They have spell checkers, they just don't quite have the IQ points to bring that little arrow thingy over to the right boxy thing with the check-mark or the "SP" on it and then push that little clicking thing on that plastic thingamajig sitting on that rubbery pad-like thing.
Sincerely,
Introduction to Hate Mail and Other Hate Mail Volumes A Review of Michael Fumento's Hate Mail
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Dear [omitted] [omitted],
You might want to brush up on this subject before your credibility takes a beating:
True enough, I've never gone to court over a nosebleed. Now be sure to say "Hi!" to your friends Erin & Ed as they drive by in their limos and laughingly yell out, "Suckers! Thanks for the wheels!"
