Texas keeps threatening to secede from the union, and at this point you wouldn’t catch me trying to talk them out of it. The Texas Board of Education has just voted to remove Thomas Jefferson from the state history curriculum.
Thomas.
Fucking.
Jefferson.
Don’t let the door hit you on the ass on the way out.
If you aren’t an American, you probably already know who Thomas Jefferson is and can skip ahead a bit, but for those of you educated aboard this sinking ship of a country I live in, Thomas Jefferson was a humanist and enlightenment thinker that penned the Declaration of Independence, the Jefferson Bible and served as a US congressman twice, was the second governor of Virginia, was the US Ambassador to France and aided the French Revolution, served as the first Secretary of State under George Washington, the second Vice President of the United States under John Adams and served as the third President of the United States during which time he bought the Louisiana Territory (which INCLUDED PARTS OF NORTHERN TEXAS, you fucking cocksuckers) from France, DOUBLING SIZE OF THE UNITED STATES. After that he founded the University of Virginia, which he designed himself.
And if after all that, if you still doubt he was a patriot, he DIED ON THE FOURTH OF JULY.
So, in honor of one of the most forward-thinking men in history, I have decided to against writing a summary for the Atheist News podcast this week. Rather, I would like to honor one of the greatest testaments to free-thought ever committed to paper: the US Declaration of Independence. I’m not going to post it in its entirety, in fact, I am not going to post anything from the actual Declaration; you can find that easily enough online (and if you haven’t read it, I strongly urge to you to so.) What I am going to do is post a snippet of Jefferson’s first draft of the Declaration that was so radical it was ultimately struck from the final draft by his peers in Congress, despite his protests.
So–without further ado–I give you Thomas Jefferson on King George III and slavery:
…
He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violatingit’s most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of
a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying
them to slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable
death in their transportations thither. This piratical warfare,
the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian
king of Great Britain, determined to keep open a market where MEN
should be bought & sold
…
If you live in Texas and you aren’t a glossy-eyed revisionist historian, I strongly suggest that now is the time to invest yourself heavily in local politics.
Atheist News this week: this, this, this, this, this and this.
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16 comments
Tori Aletheia says:
March 26, 2010 at 2:59 am (UTC -8)
About the fasting woman who died…as a dietetics student, I see no benefit WHATSOEVER to fasting! The whole “detoxing” thing is a myth, and I have not seen any other reason to do so (for a normal, healthy person). There’s this thing, called the liver…and it does all the detoxifying your body needs. Your body is better off getting food on a regular basis.
Eric says:
March 26, 2010 at 3:39 am (UTC -8)
I was going to stay out of your immaturity poll, but Richard won my vote with his comments about Randi’s coming out. Congratulations Richard.
I think the state has a duty to the prisoners. As soon as the guard made his opinions known, his resolve to perform the duties required of him was called into question. His statement implies he would be likely to ignore the murder of a gay prisoner.
Keep it up(no pun intended Richard).
Evan says:
March 26, 2010 at 8:24 pm (UTC -8)
Eric, come on Richard was not being immature, he was hilarious with that statement. Neither of the guys are really immature. They make silly jokes that we all do. This is why I LOVE this podcast!
Reverend Reynolds says:
March 28, 2010 at 10:18 am (UTC -8)
Ramble on!!!!!!!!!!!!! have listned to every one of the podcasts, & I would say the only way you could make it better is to make it longer, but then again, I’m not the one who has to do the work. As a side note, partialy because of your show (& Chariots of Iron), I have at least one leg out of the atheist closet…soon hopefully the rest o’ me. Between the two podcasts, they are my favorite things to listen to online. I have listned to alot of podcasts & interviews & alot come off too arrogant. You guys (both casts) come off like inelligent people who don’t feel the need to sound better than everyone. Thanks for doing what you’re doing! PS. If Joe actualy reads this, can you hook me up with an email for the awesome people who made your skull hat, I want one & would love to throw some business their way!
Jamie says:
March 29, 2010 at 7:28 am (UTC -8)
1. I like the rambling
2. The show could easily be 2 hours long
3. Keep up the great work!
Iron Chariots and AN are two of my favourite podcasts. Since I started my current job I don’t have the time to read dozens of blogs and news groups like I used to. These days I’m relying on podcasts to keep me informed and I like to hear the commentary too. I’d love it if AN and Iron Chariots were longer, and/or if they were more frequent! Maybe you could bring on another ‘News Team’ made up from the Nexus group members?
Zellain says:
March 30, 2010 at 9:40 am (UTC -8)
I too love the rambling. I say make the shows as long as you want because I’ll listen to it whatever the format. Atheist News, Chariots of Iron and other atheist podcasts out there help me pass the time while working from home and help my husband pass the time during his two hour long commutes for work. We love them.
Aiden says:
March 31, 2010 at 6:45 am (UTC -8)
I rather enjoy the commentary on the news articles and the tangent rambling they lead to. Regarding the length of the show, keeping it to about an hour would be nice, but I wouldn’t stop listening if it were significantly longer or shorter than that.
Zelig says:
April 1, 2010 at 10:48 am (UTC -8)
I like the rambling. I like the articles too. Let the articles spark the rambling.
But try to keep it at an hour. AM radio is so crazy because you have people stretching their knowledge to 2-3 hours of rambling everyday. An hour podcast now and again will keep you in the safety zone.
Miisa says:
April 6, 2010 at 6:02 am (UTC -8)
Another lover of the rambles here. And while 1-hour podcasts are ideal for my commute, 2 hours would work nicely for getting home as well.
And you made my jaw drop today. I almost moved to Texas a few years ago, and now I see that homeschooling, or at least significant extra-curricular lessons from Mum would be on the calendar for us if that had happened.
Samantha from Canada says:
April 8, 2010 at 10:01 am (UTC -8)
I love the longer podcasts!! Keep up the great work. They can’t be too long as far as I’m concerned. Oh and rambling is great …
Have y’all seen this website? http://www.jesusdressup.com/bdsm.html
It’s true, Canadians are very deadly particularly on Dec 26th … beware!!
Daneel says:
April 9, 2010 at 1:04 pm (UTC -8)
I’m sorry but I find the rambling fairly annoying. Still, love the podcast!
Brad says:
April 18, 2010 at 11:56 am (UTC -8)
I think the comment regarding the seemingly Orwellian-ness of the modification of the textbooks was interesting, especially when followed by the comment suggesting that the Kindle-type textbook would be better because it could be updated more quickly, easily and often (presumably regarding science … but especially interesting in the given context …).
Apologus says:
April 24, 2010 at 11:57 am (UTC -8)
I don’t think we should let them go. Far too easy. I think we should sell them to China, get rid of some of our debt. So that would make all the Texan’s Texinese. Sounds like the best plan of action. Then they’d have to hate their own commie selves.
What a solution.
Wayne says:
April 25, 2010 at 8:00 pm (UTC -8)
The rambling keeps the show lively and not just a regurgitation of news. It offers insight and entertainment. Keep up the good work.
Jason says:
April 30, 2010 at 5:29 pm (UTC -8)
I like the rambling.
Daniel says:
May 27, 2010 at 8:06 pm (UTC -8)
This is the first episode that I listened to and I liked it, good job to you all.
The topics covered were good even the rambling but it might help breaking topics into segments so the show flows a little more naturally (Politics, Culture, International, Science, …).
I really liked the mention of Hammurabi’s Code, a very good point against people claim that America’s legal system is based on Judeo-Christian values. They just stole their values from earlier rule sets, so maybe we should really just credit someone like Ur for establishing written law.