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Richardthughes



Posts: 11178
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Mar. 21 2012,08:37   

Quote (paragwinn @ Mar. 20 2012,19:43)
I’ve taken a few liberties (none of them religious) with the “screenplay” proffered by Coppedge and Becker in Plaintiff’s Trial Brief filed in Dec 2011 to give what “might have been” a different perspective on events leading up to the trial. As parody and opinion, it makes no claim as to the factual accuracy of events. No real effort was made to structure this as a viable screenplay. Any resemblance to the actual train of events is purely coincidental.

INT. OFFICE SPACE – SOMETIME IN THE DAY

COPPEDGE enters CHIN’S office.
CHIN: Hi, David. I’ve been getting complaints about your treatment of customers and co-workers. I was wondering if you could refrain from broaching sensitive subjects while on the job. I am willing to coach you on it.
COPPEDGE (annoyed): I disagree with your position on it and on every A.S.S.*-inine interpretation of Cassini data. I challenge you to a debate. The parking lot. 3 o’clock.
CHIN: Is there anything I can say to change your mind?
COPPEDGE: No, for the Bible tells me not to.
COPPEDGE eats shoots and leaves.

*A.S.S. = Coppedge-ism for 'Age of the Solar System'

MONTHS LATER

INT. WORK AREA – DAY
CHIN: Hi, David. I’m sorry to inform you that you’re part of a general layoff involving several employees due to budget cutbacks. JPL is making job placement services available. Would you like to participate?
COPPEDGE: Sure, as long as it doesn’t cut into my time maintaing my Creationist website, guiding Creation Safaris, illustrating media at Illustra Media, etc.

COPPEDGE’S HOME – DAY (OR NIGHT, WHENEVER)
DAVID is writing up blog entries on how evo-blinded scientists are wedded to their sacrosanct A.S.S., stopping occasionally to admire the way he came up with the acronym ‘A.S.S.’ But upon reflecting upon events at JPL over the last several months, he becomes increasingly distressed. The compaints were really  about religion!  The demotion was really about religion! The layoff was really about….religion! How heavy-handed and repetitive can I perceive JPL to get?
HIS DVD-LENDING LIST. He notices a pattern forming. Wha??  His co-workers’ lack of appreciation for the considerate comments next to each of their names. Their weak principles blinding them to the truth. What the …?

INT. LAW OFFICE – DAY

Morning at the Becker Law Firm. COPPEDGE moves urgently through the corriders. Out of breath, reaches BECKER’S office.
BECKER: Hi, David. What’s up? You look like you’ve seen a ghost or zombie Jesus.
COPPEDGE: I saw a ghost alright. A spectre of religious persecution!
BECKER: Come again?
COPPEDGE: CHIN ordered me to stop exercising my free speech rights about matters I know I’m right about, and … and –
BECKER: Take a chill pill, David. Tell me what happened. Show me on this doll where you felt violated.
COPPEDGE: It was … horrible. I have an impressive title at Illustra Media. I brave the perils of Creation Safaris. I run a Creationist website almost 24/7, you know. CHIN didn’t care when he’d crossed the line suppressing my freedom of speech in the workplace. I’ve had it with him. I’m so uncomfortable with CHIN having approached me about watching how I treat customers and talking about my lack of awareness in pushing my religiously motivated political, scientific and office party views on an unwilling audience. I couldn’t deal with him on these kinds of issues. And (headache ensues) …
BECKER: There, there. Would you like a hot beverage?
COPPEDGE: … and there was my Red Streamline Stapler on his desk. He always borrows it and never gives it back and – I think he was trying to create a hostile work environment. I don’t want JPL to get away with suppressing my freedom of speech on religious grounds on  company time ever again. I cant stand for it. I just cant!
BECKER: Well, I’ll look into it. Let me know when you want to sue JPL for religious discrimination.
COPPEDGE: You know, I have an impressive title at Illustra Media. I brave the perils of Creation Safaris. I run a Creationist website almost 24/7, and I’m a member of …

AND SCENE.

PotW

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"Richardthughes, you magnificent bastard, I stand in awe of you..." : Arden Chatfield
"You magnificent bastard! " : Louis
"ATBC poster child", "I have to agree with Rich.." : DaveTard
"I bow to your superior skills" : deadman_932
"...it was Richardthughes making me lie in bed.." : Kristine

  
Erasmus, FCD



Posts: 6349
Joined: June 2007

(Permalink) Posted: Mar. 21 2012,09:01   

exponented

that shit is so epic it needs to be included in the trial

bravo!!!  *applause*

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You're obviously illiterate as hell. Peach, bro.-FtK

Finding something hard to believe based on the evidence, is science.-JoeG

the odds of getting some loathsome taint are low-- Gordon E Mullings Manjack Heights Montserrat

I work on molecular systems with pathway charts and such.-Giggles

  
DiEb



Posts: 312
Joined: May 2008

(Permalink) Posted: Mar. 28 2012,14:01   

In an update to the Coppedge trial on Mar 28, 2012 at "Evolution News", David Klinghoffer writes about Coppedge's ECAP (Employee Contribution Assessment and Planning), "a yearly report card on job performance":    
Quote
Going back to 2003 when he first started receiving ECAP reviews, 14-year-veteran Coppedge had been "truly appreciated" for his "great job" and "special service," his "appropriate verbal and written communication skills," establishing "effective working relationships." Now another supervisor, Clark Burgess, had collected and reproduced in dense, small type a series of wounding critiques from co-workers, named and unnamed.
Klinghoffer calls this "enviable reviews". I don't know much about the American system of such assessment, but I assume that we in Europe have modeled our way after it. And here, such a review would be faint praise, not enviable but at best satisfactory: especially the phrase "appropriate verbal and written communication skills" would indicate that he is lacking in this regard, while "effective working relationships" would imply that he is a little bit autistic. Am I missing something?

   
OgreMkV



Posts: 3668
Joined: Oct. 2009

(Permalink) Posted: Mar. 28 2012,14:28   

Quote (DiEb @ Mar. 28 2012,14:01)
In an update to the Coppedge trial on Mar 28, 2012 at "Evolution News", David Klinghoffer writes about Coppedge's ECAP (Employee Contribution Assessment and Planning), "a yearly report card on job performance":      
Quote
Going back to 2003 when he first started receiving ECAP reviews, 14-year-veteran Coppedge had been "truly appreciated" for his "great job" and "special service," his "appropriate verbal and written communication skills," establishing "effective working relationships." Now another supervisor, Clark Burgess, had collected and reproduced in dense, small type a series of wounding critiques from co-workers, named and unnamed.
Klinghoffer calls this "enviable reviews". I don't know much about the American system of such assessment, but I assume that we in Europe have modeled our way after it. And here, such a review would be faint praise, not enviable but at best satisfactory: especially the phrase "appropriate verbal and written communication skills" would indicate that he is lacking in this regard, while "effective working relationships" would imply that he is a little bit autistic. Am I missing something?

Yeah, in the US, you basically have to murder your boss while on the factory floor to get a negative review.  

Of course, to actually get promoted, your reviews must be better than that of Jesus.

I would agree that those are in the mid to mid-low range.  "Exceeds expectations in both verbal and written communication" would be at the high end.  "Meets Expectations" would be in the mid range.  "Appropriate" sounds like the boss didn't really want to say "he's a dork".

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Ignored by those who can't provide evidence for their claims.

http://skepticink.com/smilodo....retreat

   
Henry J



Posts: 5786
Joined: Mar. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: Mar. 28 2012,15:03   

For some reason the phrase "delusions of adequacy" comes to mind here...

  
The whole truth



Posts: 1554
Joined: Jan. 2012

(Permalink) Posted: April 01 2012,18:10   

The latest on the coppedge saga.

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Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. - Jesus in Matthew 10:34

But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me. -Jesus in Luke 19:27

   
Glen Davidson



Posts: 1100
Joined: May 2006

(Permalink) Posted: April 01 2012,18:31   

Forget it, the addendum at SC covered what I added.

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http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p....p

Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of coincidence---ID philosophy

   
Doc Bill



Posts: 1039
Joined: April 2007

(Permalink) Posted: April 01 2012,21:05   

What is really sweet about this case is that the Disco Tute is up to their codpieces in this mess and even have an in-house lawyer working with Becker.  They are totally in.

Yet, they must hate Coppedge to the bone!  Coppers is a young earth biblical literalist creationist who publishes the most outlandish nonsense on his website.  Completely off the DI script.  Coppedge is the loosest canon among loose canons.  They'll never reign him in.  Any pretense of ID being scientific goes right out the ark porthole with Coppy.

  
Glen Davidson



Posts: 1100
Joined: May 2006

(Permalink) Posted: April 02 2012,21:06   

Another not bad report on the Coppedge trial  Not much about what's actually going on, but it finally tells me something I wanted to know, which is that it's expected to continue for several more weeks.

Mostly good, but I thought this was hardly honest reportage:

Quote
"I thought I might be the next `Expelled,"' Coppedge testified, making a reference to the Ben Stein movie which details the perils faced by those in the scientific community who support intelligent design.


More like, it makes up many of the perils faced by charlatans, while using frauds' fraudulent claims to suggest that science has no right to keep apologetic dishonesty out of established science.

Glen Davidson

--------------
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p....p

Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of coincidence---ID philosophy

   
MichaelJ



Posts: 462
Joined: June 2009

(Permalink) Posted: April 02 2012,22:21   

The ending was a bit rough as well. It finished with West's whine that the evilutionists wont listen to us. I left a comment there

  
Henry J



Posts: 5786
Joined: Mar. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: April 03 2012,22:42   

Quote
The ending was a bit rough as well. It finished with West's whine that the evilutionists wont listen to us.

Maybe if they said something that hadn't already been refuted repeatedly for the last several decades, then somebody might listen!

On the other hand, when they manage to get yet another refutal of whichever fallacy they used this time, isn't that evidence that somebody listened?

Henry

  
Glen Davidson



Posts: 1100
Joined: May 2006

(Permalink) Posted: April 07 2012,14:01   

Closing arguments may take place next week in the case of a former Jet Propulsion Laboratory worker who claims he was fired for his advocacy of the theory of intelligent design of the universe.

Quote
[Coppedge's lawyer]Becker said his costs to date are around $75,000, but that does not include his attorney fees. “I won't put a number on it, but you can imagine what two years of work would be,” he said.


Not to mention the screenplay introduced into evidence!  I'd say his work is worth at least 10s of dollars.

Glen Davidson

--------------
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p....p

Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of coincidence---ID philosophy

   
Amadan



Posts: 1337
Joined: Jan. 2007

(Permalink) Posted: April 08 2012,14:21   

Reading about Coppedge has for some reason brought the term "loose crayon" to mind.

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"People are always looking for natural selection to generate random mutations" - Densye  4-4-2011
JoeG BTW dumbass- some variations help ensure reproductive fitness so they cannot be random wrt it.

   
Henry J



Posts: 5786
Joined: Mar. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: April 08 2012,21:59   

Crayon? Of what caliber? :p

  
Glen Davidson



Posts: 1100
Joined: May 2006

(Permalink) Posted: April 16 2012,15:14   

We're into the closing arguments now.  

Otherwise, not much new.  The article states:  "Coppedge was called to a meeting with a supervisor on March 2, 2009, and told to "stop pushing your religion," his attorney William Becker said in his closing argument. The supervisor later claimed he was trying to help Coppedge, but Becker said the statement smacked of religious intolerance."

Oh yes, it's religious intolerance to tell some ranting jerk to shut up about religion to people who don't want to hear it yet can't leave because they're on the job.  If that is indeed what it's about (which it appears to be, but I'm hardly privy to the full range of info), I can see no merit in his whine that he can't proselytize a captive audience.

Glen Davidson

--------------
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p....p

Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of coincidence---ID philosophy

   
Glen Davidson



Posts: 1100
Joined: May 2006

(Permalink) Posted: April 16 2012,19:12   

Interesting snippet from Coppedge's lawyer:

Quote
In his closing arguments Monday, Becker said Coppedge was holding conversation about intelligent design and creation in much the same way others at JPL discussed traditional science.


Yes, nothing annoying about treating religiously-inspired BS as if it were the same as science, and expecting the science-oriented to treat such religious nonsense as if it were as legitimate science.  How the law treats such matters I really don't know, but I do hope that it is never ruled that government workers have to simply put up with bogus pseudoscience because it is religious nonsense.

Glen Davidson

--------------
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p....p

Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of coincidence---ID philosophy

   
Cubist



Posts: 558
Joined: Oct. 2007

(Permalink) Posted: April 17 2012,02:39   

"holding conversation about intelligent design and creation in much the same way others at JPL discussed traditional science"? Interesting. Unless I'm misreading that, Coppedge's lawyer acknowledged that "intelligent design and creation" are separate and distinct from "traditional science" -- in other words, that ID ain't science!

  
Amadan



Posts: 1337
Joined: Jan. 2007

(Permalink) Posted: April 17 2012,09:26   

Here's an idea for a wholesome and entertaining parlour game.

We're going to draft a press release for Coppedge for when the Truth of ID is finally vindicated by the Christian values of American Justice he gets his posterior re-ventilated by the judge.

Let's say that it will have 7 sentences - we don't want the viewers on your local Fox affiliate to be overburdened with a pathetic level of detail.

Simply fill in the blanks below.  Submissions any time up to the actual verdict, a prize of a virtual beer (or sheep, Louis) to be awarded by popular acclaim for the most creative entry :

     
Quote
American justice . . . . . . . . . . . . Kenya.

Rigid . . . . . . . . . . . . Galileo.

Traditional . . . . . . . . . . . . secularism.

Controversial . . . . . . . . . . . . Darwinism.

'First they came for'  . . . . . . . . . . . . TV script.

Cassini  . . . . . . . . . . . . abortion.

Appealing . . . . . . . . . . . . PayPal.


Actually, looking at it, it would probably do just fine as it is.

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"People are always looking for natural selection to generate random mutations" - Densye  4-4-2011
JoeG BTW dumbass- some variations help ensure reproductive fitness so they cannot be random wrt it.

   
Woodbine



Posts: 1218
Joined: June 2007

(Permalink) Posted: April 17 2012,10:24   

On the occasion of David Coppedge's unsuccessful attempt to sue JPL for wrongful dismissal, eminent historian David Barton said....
Quote
American justice has until this day been the envy of every foreign man, woman and negro across the globe. If our courts do not overturn this travesty then I fully expect to see a repeat of when Paul Revere started the American civil war by throwing all that coffee overboard in Boston. That's right, South African coffee. From Kenya.

  
Tracy P. Hamilton



Posts: 1239
Joined: May 2006

(Permalink) Posted: April 17 2012,13:32   

Quote (Woodbine @ April 17 2012,10:24)
On the occasion of David Coppedge's unsuccessful attempt to sue JPL for wrongful dismissal, eminent historian David Barton said....
 
Quote
American justice has until this day been the envy of every foreign man, woman and negro across the globe. If our courts do not overturn this travesty then I fully expect to see a repeat of when Paul Revere started the American civil war by throwing all that coffee overboard in Boston. That's right, South African coffee. From Kenya.

Linky?

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"Following what I just wrote about fitness, you’re taking refuge in what we see in the world."  PaV

"The simple equation F = MA leads to the concept of four-dimensional space." GilDodgen

"We have no brain, I don't, for thinking." Robert Byers

  
Amadan



Posts: 1337
Joined: Jan. 2007

(Permalink) Posted: April 17 2012,14:12   

Quote (Tracy P. Hamilton @ April 17 2012,19:32)
Quote (Woodbine @ April 17 2012,10:24)
On the occasion of David Coppedge's unsuccessful attempt to sue JPL for wrongful dismissal, eminent historian David Barton said....
 
Quote
American justice has until this day been the envy of every foreign man, woman and negro across the globe. If our courts do not overturn this travesty then I fully expect to see a repeat of when Paul Revere started the American civil war by throwing all that coffee overboard in Boston. That's right, South African coffee. From Kenya.

Linky?

ummm, I think Woodbine was giving us some authentic truthiness, Tracey.

Barton may not have said it, but we can be confident that he would have no objection to it being attributed to him. We shall therefore place it on a billboard somewhere with his name under it.

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"People are always looking for natural selection to generate random mutations" - Densye  4-4-2011
JoeG BTW dumbass- some variations help ensure reproductive fitness so they cannot be random wrt it.

   
NormOlsen



Posts: 104
Joined: Nov. 2011

(Permalink) Posted: April 17 2012,15:25   

Quote (Amadan @ April 17 2012,14:12)
 
Quote (Tracy P. Hamilton @ April 17 2012,19:32)
 
Quote (Woodbine @ April 17 2012,10:24)
On the occasion of David Coppedge's unsuccessful attempt to sue JPL for wrongful dismissal, eminent historian David Barton said....
     
Quote
American justice has until this day been the envy of every foreign man, woman and negro across the globe. If our courts do not overturn this travesty then I fully expect to see a repeat of when Paul Revere started the American civil war by throwing all that coffee overboard in Boston. That's right, South African coffee. From Kenya.

Linky?

ummm, I think Woodbine was giving us some authentic truthiness, Tracey.

Barton may not have said it, but we can be confident that he would have no objection to it being attributed to him. We shall therefore place it on a billboard somewhere with his name under it.

Yes, that was some high quality satire.  Kind of like this:

David Suzuki's Anti-Human CBC

 
Quote
God created the biosphere so that humans could rule over it and make sweet, forcible love to it. He won’t allow it to be ruined, and even promised Noah there would not be another Great Flood. And while several of the species on Noah’s ark have since become extinct, there is convincing evidence that all of them were atheists and prolific masturbators.


Sorry if that's OT but it's so damn good.

  
Tracy P. Hamilton



Posts: 1239
Joined: May 2006

(Permalink) Posted: April 17 2012,15:43   

Quote (Amadan @ April 17 2012,14:12)
Quote (Tracy P. Hamilton @ April 17 2012,19:32)
Quote (Woodbine @ April 17 2012,10:24)
On the occasion of David Coppedge's unsuccessful attempt to sue JPL for wrongful dismissal, eminent historian David Barton said....
   
Quote
American justice has until this day been the envy of every foreign man, woman and negro across the globe. If our courts do not overturn this travesty then I fully expect to see a repeat of when Paul Revere started the American civil war by throwing all that coffee overboard in Boston. That's right, South African coffee. From Kenya.

Linky?

ummm, I think Woodbine was giving us some authentic truthiness, Tracey.

Barton may not have said it, but we can be confident that he would have no objection to it being attributed to him. We shall therefore place it on a billboard somewhere with his name under it.

That would be ironically appropriate.

--------------
"Following what I just wrote about fitness, you’re taking refuge in what we see in the world."  PaV

"The simple equation F = MA leads to the concept of four-dimensional space." GilDodgen

"We have no brain, I don't, for thinking." Robert Byers

  
Trubble



Posts: 20
Joined: May 2011

(Permalink) Posted: April 17 2012,16:38   

Quote (NormOlsen @ April 17 2012,15:25)
Yes, that was some high quality satire.  Kind of like this:

David Suzuki's Anti-Human CBC

   
Quote
God created the biosphere so that humans could rule over it and make sweet, forcible love to it. He won’t allow it to be ruined, and even promised Noah there would not be another Great Flood. And while several of the species on Noah’s ark have since become extinct, there is convincing evidence that all of them were atheists and prolific masturbators.


Sorry if that's OT but it's so damn good.


I got a chuckle from Vrooman's obviously tongue-in-cheek post. Then I made the mistake of reading the comments. It appears the majority of them think he was being serious. I'm not sure what this says about the acuity of the average reader, but good christ, it says nothing good.

  
Wesley R. Elsberry



Posts: 4991
Joined: May 2002

(Permalink) Posted: April 19 2012,00:23   

News article on closing arguments

The article says that the lawyers have six weeks to compose their final briefs and the judge should rule within ten days of receiving those. So expect a ruling anytime between two weeks and the early part of June.

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"You can't teach an old dogma new tricks." - Dorothy Parker

    
MichaelJ



Posts: 462
Joined: June 2009

(Permalink) Posted: April 19 2012,16:39   

Frustrating that we can't get the sense from the articles on how the case went. I suppose that is good in a way as it would only be truly newsworthy if Coppedge turned up some concrete evidence of discrimination.
Sadly though, JPL only seems to have started documented problems with Coppedge after the fateful meeting with Chin. Even if he was trying to protect him he should have documented everything.

  
Doc Bill



Posts: 1039
Joined: April 2007

(Permalink) Posted: April 19 2012,17:43   

As a supervisor you simply can't "document everything."

Document all faults, disagreements, negative comments by customers?  How about successes, agreements, positive comments by customers?

Can you imagine doing that for 20 people in your section?

Nope.  The bottom line was that Coppedge was a crank such that 80% (according to court documents) of his client base didn't want him near their stuff.  One director even went so far as to hire a sys admin just to keep Coppedge out of their business.

I think it's close to universal that a company doesn't have to "justify" firing an employee.  There is "firing for cause" which usually involves violence, drugs, absenteeism, etc but when it comes to a layoff, you're either in or you're out.

Coppedge didn't keep up his skills and made himself obsolete.

I think the real story is how the Disco Tute most likely engineered both suits, provided Coppedge with legal counsel and who knows what promises.  Maybe 79 virgin Casey Luskin's. Hey, you never know!

  
midwifetoad



Posts: 4003
Joined: Mar. 2008

(Permalink) Posted: April 19 2012,21:04   

Florida is an at will state. The company I worked for in 2001 was severely damaged by people's fear of air travel after 9/11, and shortly thereafter I was at won't.

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Any version of ID consistent with all the evidence is indistinguishable from evolution.

  
Amadan



Posts: 1337
Joined: Jan. 2007

(Permalink) Posted: April 20 2012,04:21   

Quote (Doc Bill @ April 19 2012,23:43)
Maybe 79 virgin Casey Luskin's. Hey, you never know!

Well, at least you can be sure that they can deliver according to specification.

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"People are always looking for natural selection to generate random mutations" - Densye  4-4-2011
JoeG BTW dumbass- some variations help ensure reproductive fitness so they cannot be random wrt it.

   
Schroedinger's Dog



Posts: 1692
Joined: Jan. 2009

(Permalink) Posted: April 20 2012,04:47   

Quote (Amadan @ April 20 2012,11:21)
Quote (Doc Bill @ April 19 2012,23:43)
Maybe 79 virgin Casey Luskin's. Hey, you never know!

Well, at least you can be sure that they can deliver according to specification.

Can't. Stop. Laughing.

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"Hail is made out of water? Are you really that stupid?" Joe G

"I have a better suggestion, Kris. How about a game of hide and go fuck yourself instead." Louis

"The reason people use a crucifix against vampires is that vampires are allergic to bullshit" Richard Pryor

   
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