Dialog with creationist Steve Rudd

As far as I can tell, Steve Rudd is Don Patton's Web master.

Some time ago Steve Rudd introduced himself:

Subject: John, John, John
Date: Mon, 08 Apr 2002 16:16:56 -0400
From: Steve Rudd <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]

Prudence would have guided you to delete the entire reference:

Creationist Don Patton

Debate with Don Patton 30 March 2002
Don Patton's Use of Out of Context Quotes
Don Patton's Phony College Degree

http://www.ntskeptics.org/issues/patton/degree.htm

Even a skeptic can be convicted with solid hard facts. You are in a very difficult position, but I think the only honest thing to do it come out defending Don regarding the slander that Kuban has knowingly created. I know you are a man of honour. Even though you were, well, how do we Canadians describe the battle of 1812 when we fought against the USA and won? ... WAMPED. Yes you were wamped in the debate with Don. That's ok, you could not help that. But your carte blanche acceptance of Kuban is initially excusible because you wouldn't expect a scientist and a fellow evolutionist to knowingly engage in satanic deception regarding Don's degree... and you have been muddied by his deception because you swallowed the bait so hard you bit off the end of the rod. But I am a fisher of men... (its in the Bible) and my job is to remove the hook to salvage the fish so I can set you free in the waters of salvation. You need to make a VERY public retraction on your site AND notify talk-org website and Kuban himself of what you now know to be true.

In truth I would rather remove your hook than fillet you alive!

Steve Rudd

private between you and I
I was encouraged that your site did honor my request last year and not post my comments.

Something bigger is at your door. Fix the doorbell.

Steve Rudd dropped me a friendly note:

Greetings to John!

Well I just saw the video of your debate with Dr. Patton and I must say that you were embarrassing John. I mean this in kindness and sincerity. But it is true. I have reviewed may such discussions and ... well... your performance was so bad, that I called into question if you had any post secondary education.

You also failed to keep up with your end of the bargain by posting either the materials you promised or the links you so often referred to.

I have concluded that you are simply dishonest, because after I completely refuted your slander about Dr. Pattons Phd. being phoney, you continue to slander him on your website.

I will definitely be producing the entire video debate for viewing on www.bible.ca because men like you are an argument against evolution being true. In other words, if you get the simple stuff so obviously wrong, as you did in your debate...

Anyway, I don't recommend you debate again. If you do, please send me the video and I will surely put it on www.bible.ca.

I immediately responded:

Hi, Steve.

Thanks for dropping me a note. Of course I did not realize I was supposed to be embarrassed. I was just having a good time. I would do it again.

About the postings. I have posted my debate materials on the NTS Web site. Is this what you are referring to? If there is something else I am supposed to post please let me know.

Steve, we have looked into your claims about Don's degree. It would appear his Ph.D. is not legit. Any response from you on this? Speaking of which, do you have a copy of Don's presentation somewhere? I would like to get a copy.

I have promised to debate Don again at the next opportunity. Like I said, it was a lot of fun. But thanks for the advice anyhow.

Best regards,

John Blanton
The North Texas Skeptics
http://www.ntskeptics.org

More from Steve Rudd:

John,

You promised to debunk the butter bean/garder snake evidence as invalid on your site.

This is just one of about 10 things you promised to provide evidence on your website.

As for the degree, if you had anything more than a fishing pole, you would have posted it on your site. You have more than any person needs to know you are wrong.

Steve

I responded:

Steve,

You are so right! I must apologize. The butterbean/garter snake episode is such a prize, I have been criminally negligent in not dealing with it deeply on the NTS site. I will correct this as soon as possible before fellow skeptics uncover my malfeasance and strip me of my skeptical credentials.

Actually, the bb/gs business has been so well documented by others, I will have to just plagiarize their work and post it on our site.

I am going to look back at our correspondence from last spring and get caught up. I know you will not mind if I post our correspondence, as well. It will make great reading.

Actually, we have more than a fishing pole. And you know what we have. How about telling me the whole story.

Steve, it's great communicating with you again. You are such a gracious correspondent, I always look forward to getting e-mail from you. Please do not take this momentary lapse on my part as a personal affront. I promise to be more diligent with my correspondence in the future. How about if I drop you a note every now and then to let you know the latest on the creation/evolution issue? It should make for great conversation.

With warmest regards,

John Blanton
The North Texas Skeptics
http://www.ntskeptics.org

Steve Rudd wrote:

All my correspondence with you is always private and not to be posted.

I made that clear before.

Steve

I replied:

Steve,

Yes. I do recall you made that clear before, although I am not sure how it pertains to me. I sort of thought that once a mail comes into my hands (or in my mailbox) it becomes my mail.

Anyhow, watch for it soon.

As always, I thank you for all the information you can supply to me (and to readers of the NTS Web site). While I cannot speak for the others, I assure you I always find your comments helpful and thought provoking.

With warmest regards,

John Blanton
The North Texas Skeptics
http://www.ntskeptics.org

More from Steve Rudd:

John,

You promised to debunk the butter bean/garder snake evidence as invalid on your site.

This is just one of about 10 things you promised to provide evidence on your website.

As for the degree, if you had anything more than a fishing pole, you would have posted it on your site. You have more than any person needs to know you are wrong.

My response:

Steve,

Again, my apologies. I am sure I had promised to "debunk" the butterbean/garter snake "evidence." Not doing so in a timely manner is inexcusable on my part. I will work diligently on the project this month.

In the mean time, here is a link (see below) to some material on the issue that I put up last year. I guess I forgot I already had this page when we were discussing the matter earlier. Again, apologies. For now you can read what I have and follow the links to other sources. What I plan put up on a special page will not state the issues differently, but will make a more formal presentation so the points will be easy to understand.

Please feel free to forward any questions to me, and I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.

With warmest regards,

John Blanton
The North Texas Skeptics
http://www.ntskeptics.org

http://www.ntskeptics.org/2001/2001october/october2001.htm#degree

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