It’s hot… I am lazy and am not going to do a long synopsis this week. But, I did promise some info during the show.
First, a letter from Steve [Last Name Withheld]
Hi Joe,
Can you give the owners of the Empire State Building some love on the next podcast, and encourage listeners to do the same? I’m sure they’re getting it from all sides on this one.
http://wcbstv.com/local/mother.teresa.snub.2.1740885.html
I sent the management company a congratulatory note through the below link. Don’t know if it’s the best way but it works.
http://malkinproperties.com/about-us/contact-us
I’ve also written to the City Councilman who wanted to (did?) introduce a resolution compelling the ESB to reverse it’s decision. You can do so by clicking on Email Us here:
http://council.nyc.gov/d22/html/members/home.shtml.
Steve
Give them a shout.
Also, the results are in. You guys like it when we ramble about random stuff on the Atheist News Podcast. This week, we may have taken it a bit too far, but you get what you pay for.
Should we stick to only talking about religious/atheist subject matter on the show?
* Eh, some digression is interesting. (62.0%, 32 Votes)
* No, talk about whatever catches your interest. (27.0%, 14 Votes)
* Yes, that’s why I listen. (12.0%, 6 Votes)
There is a new poll this week on the site
Should I bring back the doot doot doot doot music before the atheist news segment officially begins?
Go cast your vote! The fate of… absolutely nothing… depends upon it…!
That’s it.
Oh, check out the site, I am posting a nutty proposal there for all you gamer nerds.
Ok, now that’s it.
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6 comments
DHB says:
July 13, 2010 at 5:09 am (UTC -8)
You bozos! The World Series did NOT get its name from the New York World newspaper or any other newspaper.
Brother Richard says:
July 13, 2010 at 6:00 pm (UTC -8)
@DHB: You know, according to Scopes, you are right. http://www.snopes.com/business/names/worldseries.asp
In his defense, Joe was quoting from what he says Christopher Hitchens had said.
All this does is show that Joe and I both are total dorks (not bozos as you claim) and know nothing about sports whatsoever.
Thomathy says:
July 14, 2010 at 9:28 am (UTC -8)
Hi!
Great episode. Warning, this is going to sound (very) patronising. I have a particular nitpick: at 1 hour 19 minutes 16 seconds Joe congratulates Australians on being the ‘only free country in the world’ to have elected a non-married, woman and atheist Prime Minister (Julia Gillard), but Australians didn’t elect her as Prime Minister, least not in the way you understand ‘elected’.
First, constitutional monarchies, which is what Australia is, don’t elect Prime Ministers through a popular vote, they elect a party to parliamentary dominance either as a majority or as a minority and that party forms the government with the Leader of that party, who is elected internally by the party independent of the federal elections, becomes the Prime Minister. It is in this way that no person is ever elected Prime Minister by the people of Australia, except indirectly.
Second, Prime Ministers, even though they are typically the Party Leader of the party which forms the federal government, actually need to be appointed by the representative of the Queen (who is the Head of State), the Governor-General. So, Prime Ministers are actually appointed officials who are otherwise (though not always) merely Members of Parliament.
Third, Julia Gillard was not Party Leader at the time of a federal election, so she wasn’t even indirectly elected Prime Minister of Australia. She inherited the position from the former Party Leader and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd by being elected to Party Leader while her party already formed the Government of Australia. She had been the Deputy Prime Minister and essentially ousted Kevin Rudd by calling for his resignation or a leadership ballot in the 115 member caucus for a number of reasons. She was elected unanimously in an uncontested ballot to Party Leader and was appointed Prime Minister by the Governor-General.
So, as you can see, Australia definitely didn’t elect an unmarried, female and atheist Prime Minister by any stretch of the imagination. So, don’t give Australians too much credit over this. I guarantee that most of the country is upset about it and I very much doubt if the Australian Labor Party will form another government come the election later this year (they have elections about every 3 years and 140 days if not sooner). You should probably clarify that on the show, as it can lead people to think something of Australia that just isn’t true; Australians aren’t as tolerant as they seem for having this woman as Prime Minister.
moJoe says:
July 17, 2010 at 8:03 am (UTC -8)
That’s not patronizing, that’s factual. That post contains more about Australia’s government than I already knew. You have schooled me, sir, and I was badly in need of it. Corrections will be aired. Thank you for the free lesson!
Robster says:
July 20, 2010 at 1:51 pm (UTC -8)
I’m in Australia! I / we (our household)are rather proud that the leader of the nation can go on radio and TV to announce that she won’t pretend to be be at all religious, when she’s not. Really, all religious people pretend, because it’s all so much rubbish. There’s no pretence of a factual basis for the whole wobbly structure, so in reality, it’s all pretence. At least the Prime Minister won’t be warbling worshipful nonsense at an imaginary sky fairy like the man she replaced and her political opponent, Tony Abbott, who’s nickname is the “mad monk” There’ll be a federal election in the 21st of August. That will reflect how the bulk of the electorate have responded to the PM’s comments about being a non-believer, I really don’t think it’ll influence the outcome short of the small percentage of god botherers who disapprove of what the PM said. It’s just not a top of mind issue in this country.
Thomathy says:
July 21, 2010 at 3:18 am (UTC -8)
Joe, thanks for highlighting that on show 31 and for not finding the ‘lesson’ patronizing.