http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=213774I’m really beginning to love Stephen Colbert. If you’re an activist, and you can’t take a few good jokes, you shouldn’t be active!Thanks for the publicity Steve!
http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=213774I’m really beginning to love Stephen Colbert. If you’re an activist, and you can’t take a few good jokes, you shouldn’t be active!Thanks for the publicity Steve!
Since 1963, AMERICAN ATHEISTS has been the premier organization laboring for the civil liberties of Atheists, and the total, absolute separation of government and religion.
Copyright 2012. All materials contained on this site, whether written, audible or visual are the exclusive property of American Atheists.
I apologize for taking things off topic here, but this likely isn’t an issue American Atheists would be anxious to address in the first place.
This is the e-mail I sent on November 21, 2008 to Ed Buckner:
Since I haven’t received any answer to my private request, I’m making a public appeal to members of American Atheists and everyone concerned to join me in pressuring the leaders of American Atheists to do the right thing and share their monetary settlement with the Smalkowskis.
::links edited out per poster’s request ::
I deleted the links per Castleton’s request.
Dude, there’s no mystery here. There’s just things we can’t discuss.. It’s not rocket science.
We aren’t commenting on this further, because we CAN’T comment on this further. Get it?
Got it.
American Atheists cashes in, the Smalkowskis continue to pay the price for speaking out.
I urge members of American Atheists to withdraw their membership and donate their dues to Nicole Smalkowski at the following address:
Nicole Smalkowski
c/o education
716 E. McKee St.
Greeneville, TN 37743
I’m sure any donation would be a welcome show of moral as well as financial support.
::sigh::
Does this mean that castleton will be leaving our blog now, since s/he is withdrawing membership??
Boo, freaking Hoo.
Back on-topic: “The Word” segment was very funny. The audience seemed VERY quiet when he started “criticizing” god. I’m amazed that he was so well-informed about atheist legal actions. Am I wrong to assume he is one of us?
pixel sneered:
Is this simply a knee-jerk reaction, pixel, or have you looked into the issue and made an informed decision to dismiss me?
If the latter, please let me know where I have gone wrong, and what I have said that wasn’t accurate or honest.
Pixel-
I’ve heard interviews with Colbert, and he is very Catlick. But, he is also open-minded and not the type to shove it down your throat. Thankfully.
Sometimes I get pissed off at him, then I have to remember that he is just in character, and trying to agitate.
It works.
castletonsnob:
It was a knee-jerk reaction. I’ve not looked into the issue as much as you have. I have no idea if what you said was accurate or not. However, I am fairly certain that you do not know the “whole story” either. I find it interesting that you would withdraw your membership to this organization over this. Maybe AA just fights lawsuits for their own profit, but I have not seen evidence that this is so. If they actually file suits for the good of us non-believers, I think they are an organization worth supporting. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings, but I was kinda just sticking up for AA.
P.S. I did not either sneer! If you knew me, you’d know that I’m a nice middle-class, middle-aged, suburban housewife who is nice to everyone (almost).
Boise–
Colbert cracks me up. I’m just glad that there are a couple of shows out there that don’t cater to the religious right. It’s interesting that these kind of shows are comic in nature. The conservative shows are NEVER funny! Well, not on purpose, anyway.
pixel responded:
If you had taken the time to read my comments, you would see how I admit that all the facts may never be known to those not directly involved, and that I’m not a member of American Atheists.
Understood. I have defended American Atheists to the likes of phreedm and others many times myself. Until this case, I, like you, had no reason to doubt its integrity. But after looking into it more, and considering Ed Buckner’s refusal to even acknowledge my e-mail, I’m beginning to wonder.
Read the comments and the links, and then tell me what good came of this lawsuit for the Smalkowskis and the rest of us non-believers.
The Smalkowskis should not see a dime of the American Atheist money.
I think what is noteworthy is the Kentucky case, of which we have heard and have discussed. While the rules of engagement as written in law may be ridiculous, they are still the rules of the game. And I make one other point, the laws are deliberately written so that win, lose, or draw, the attorneys win. As a word of sympathy to Mr. Silverman, I know what an outrageously boring and needlessly complicated process litigation is, and I don’t envy you any part of it, and if you are involving youself in it voluntarily, you are a true saint, the likes of which religion has never fabricated. I guess you found your calling. Choosing a life among attorneys is like crawling through sewers full of rats that subsist on the suffering of every other life form. Dirty job but no one had to do it,… but you do it anyway? I hope you are remembered for your sacrifice.
NeoWolfe
My take on Colbert’s Atheist routine was that he was fully sympathetic to us. Even if you had never seen him before to know that he is faking conservatism, this one made it plain.
It was funny, especially the texted one liners.
Castleton, I have to wonder if you aren’t pulling the trigger when the gun is still half cocked. Non-disclosure is very popular in settlements these days. Also, from personal experience, litigation lawyers often put the financial interests of their clients ahead of what is fair. The money won is their first metric for success. In some cases they may get to bill more that way, too.
I’m not asking American Atheists to discuss or disclose anything at all.
How many of you have taken the time to read the links I have provided?
I’d guess none.
And why is that?
castlesnob
I tried to view the youtube 20/20 interview, as I had not seen it yet(I don’t think) and got a viral anti-spyware program that began to install even though I didn’t choose the OK option. So I don’t think I’ll be trying any of the other links.
I understand that AA may want to keep any and all damages awarded to them so that they can use the fund to fight other cases–if there is money left over after culling out the legal fees for the Smalkowski case. But I also feel it would be proper to split any remaining money with the Smalkowski family.
I can’t remember if it was spelled out why the family fired AA after the criminal part of the fracas. It may be that because of that decision, AA feels justified in not sharing the spoils of the civil action. I would like to think that AA looks after its own, and leaving the Smalkowskis in the lurch when (and if) AA has the funds to help them out doesn’t reflect well.
I also agree that Mr. Buckner should not have misrepresented the family’s feelings when touting the “success” of the litigation. I think the least he owes them is a public apology and a recant of his statement.
That said, I am not willing to withdraw my support of the organization without further information. And that does not seem to be forthcoming. It is vexing to be a member of AA, yet not be allowed to know the terms of the settlement. I feel that AA was representing me, as a member, when they filed the suit. If not, then they were representing the Smalkowskis only, and should share the benefits with them. Public disclosures of amounts or other details would be unnecessary.
Rats. Since I copied and pasted castlesnob’s link in my browser, I can’t copy and paste anything else. Every time I try, all I get is the link from castlesnob. Can anyone tell me how to fix this? Meanwhile, I’ll try running my regular virus scanner.
I’m very sorry about the problems with my links, karen, at least the 20/20 one; I really had no idea this would happen. I checked the links again, and they’re working fine for me.
It seems it would be safer at this point to recommend that those interested google or otherwise find the information on their own by doing searches on My Space and You Tube instead of cutting and pasting the links I provided.
I’m not sure if it’s even possible to transfer a virus from a copied-and-pasted address, but I don’t want anyone else to take that chance until we know for sure.
Perhaps Dave or someone with administrative access can edit out the links I provided in my comments in the meantime. I’ll e-mail him now.
castlesnob
Perhaps the virus was lurking and just waiting for me to use my browser, and it happened to be that your link was the first thing I used it for. Not your fault. Running scan now. One new item has been identified so far; will wait till scan is complete to try to fix it.
Just e-mailed Dave. I wish I could help more, karen, but my computer skills are limited. My apologies to anyone else who may have had problems, too.
Stephen Colbert is my god!
Colbert’s television persona is a character, he’s not actually a Republican.
Nice to be back on topic,
Steven Colbert is the ultimate characature. That is what makes his comedy so brilliant and so hilarious. The last atheist he interviewed (that I saw) he told her as the interview ended, “Good luck on your journey to eternal damnation”. Anyone who watches his show and comes away with the idea that he is a social conservative is thick in the skull and has totally missed the point. They also missed his regular bit on the “Daily Show” called “Thiis week in God”. Absolutely hilarious. I do believeve that Mr. Colbert can be counted on to support any book or liberal lawsuit, but, he will do it to make his show entertaining, good luck getting your point accross. It’s not a talk show, it’s “fake news”. Ratings first.
NeoWolfe
Dave and all,
Just wanted to let you know that after a virus scan and fix, my computer problems that I thought were connected to NotSoFast’s link are now corrected. I think, since no one else had any trouble, this was a problem contained just within my computer, and merely coincidental that it occurred while I was checking that one link.
My sincere apologies to NotSoFast for thinking his link was to blame, and to everyone for being the cause of the links being removed.
I think you mean castletonsnob, not NotSoFast, right, karen?
castlesnob
Indeed, I did mean castlesnob, rather than NotSoFast.
My apologies, again.
Guess I better postpone that neurosurgery i was going to perform later. Having a blond day.
Since we’re sure now the links are okay, here they are again:
The original post can be found here:
http://atheists.org/blog/index.php/2008/11/09/title_25
The 20/20 interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H48tFhpwD74
Chester Smalkowski’s My Space page:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=140469762
Chester Smalkowski’s You Tube page:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhhggWqIkxU
Hey, I just noticed something about long links that go past the margin.
If you use the keystrokes Dave gave us to make the type smaller (Com- on Mac, presumably Ctrl- on PC), you can make the whole line fit inside the box. This should render it unnecessary to break up long links into multiple lines anymore.