Re: Mr. or Dr. Patton or Patten??

Ed Brayton (cynic@net-link.net)
Thu, 07 May 1998 09:29:56 -0400

Glenn R. Morton wrote:
>
> At 01:36 AM 5/7/98 -0400, Ed Brayton wrote:
>
> >
> >There are two creationists with similar names. Don Patten and Don Patton
> >are, I believe, two different people. The Don Patton who is accusing
> >Glen Kuban of destroying one of the Paluxy tracks does not have a
> >legitimate PhD, so far as I know, but he continues to claim one. I am
> >awaiting his response to a message I sent him on his absolutely
> >slanderous charges against Glen Kuban, but he will be out of town until
> >the 11th (or so he told me in an initial response). I don't know much
> >about Don Patten, but Don Patton nauseates me. He appears to me as
> >little more than a snake oil salesman.
> >
>
> Don Patton lives here in Dallas. I have had lunch with him a couple of
> times and have attended the local creationist conferences. For a Ph.D. in
> geology (which he didn't have in 1986 when I first met him) he knows darn
> little geology. Doesn't know what a right-lateral fault is.
>
> Glen Kuban has interesting information on the Dallasite Patton's credentials

Yes, I've seen Glen's file on Baugh and Patton and their credentials. In
fact, this is probably what makes Patton so intent on accusing Glen of
destroying track 3-B. This charge is a new low, even for Patton. For
once, I wish the libel laws in this country were more restrictive than
they are so that Glen could sue the pants off this guy. Even more
pathetic is that Patton tries to distance himself from the charge by
saying that the www.bible.ca site isn't his site. Of course, he took
most of the pictures on that page, and all of the text features his
claims and his work, and it has his picture on it and an e-mail link,
and he had enough influence to change the wording of the accusation
against Glen after Glen posted his rebuttal to it. But I guess it's all
about plausible deniability, in the words of the old Reagan white house.
Steve Rudd, who owns the site, sent me an e-mail calling Glen Kuban an
"athiest and enemy of the Bible and Christ" and ended the e-mail by
declaring, "Send him to the Muslims!". Mr. Rudd apparently can't even
take the time to make his bigotry subtle. You know, I've been involved
with the creation/evolution debate for a long time, but rather than
desensitizing me to this sort of thing, I think I'm becoming more
reactionary when I see it. This charge against Glen has me absolutely
seething. I find it enormously irritating that there are people out
there who feel no compunction in throwing around reckless accusations
against someone, especially when it is clearly done with intent to
deceive and especially when it is done by someone who claims to
represent a higher morality. The whole thing is sad.

Ed