1. Comment #76567 by bockman on October 6, 2007 at 10:01 am

FIRST

now that the juvenile relish I feel has passed, if anyone feels like converting this to mp3 it would be fantastic. Thanks,

Dave

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2. Comment #76569 by sane1 on October 6, 2007 at 10:04 am

Nerver heard of this Lionel guy. But Air America at least is fighting the good fight against the "conservatve machine." Horrendous voice though.


Why the sudden fadeout and ending at 6:01?


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3. Comment #76570 by Mango on October 6, 2007 at 10:04 am

Dawkins admits the "rise" of atheism is probably a reaction to the Bush administration, radical Islam, and so on. It's a shame that people aren't abandoning religion based upon reason or science because these people are not necessarily critical thinkers and might go on to embrace some other non-evidence based worldview.

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4. Comment #76571 by the great teapot on October 6, 2007 at 10:21 am

Heard it all before, except for "if Gods balls banged together he would become Thor".
Very sharp Lionel.
Worth a listen just for that.

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5. Comment #76589 by SilentMike on October 6, 2007 at 11:36 am

...if anyone feels like converting this to mp3 it would be fantastic. Thanks

Yeah. an mp3 would be good. Not all of us have RealPlayer. It's a rather problematic program and my system is sensative.

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6. Comment #76598 by MacPrince on October 6, 2007 at 11:57 am

Here you go:

http://download297.mediafire.com/xjkjjx0czctg/32j0y4499dn/Lionel-Dawkins.mp3

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7. Comment #76606 by chezzyd on October 6, 2007 at 12:26 pm

'If God's balls banged together he would become Thor'...... Oh that's brilliant - made me choke on my custard cream.... It may be repetitive but repetition is necessary to start generating new memes... and nice for Richard to get a sympathetic interviewer for a change rather than some dumb Christian apologist. Hooray!!

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8. Comment #76624 by IPV4 on October 6, 2007 at 1:07 pm

Where is the rest of this interview? It sounds like this clip was cut short.

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9. Comment #76653 by BathTub on October 6, 2007 at 3:30 pm

yeah 4.5 minutes can't be the entire interview.

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10. Comment #76656 by exegesis_saves on October 6, 2007 at 3:47 pm

It's just as well that someone cut it short...I can't fathom who gave that nasal clown of a radio host a microphone and paid him to talk into it.

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11. Comment #76668 by kizumoto on October 6, 2007 at 4:03 pm

Maybe I will start listening to Air America again. I used to listen, and remember that the only one with a sense of humour was Al Franken. Now there is two. Lionel's voice isn't that nasal, and so what if it is? I would have to hear a little more of him to give him marks, but he, as I said, has a sense of humour, and doesn't take himself as serously as say, Rush L.

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12. Comment #76677 by Veronique on October 6, 2007 at 4:30 pm

6. Comment #76598 by MacPrince

Thank you for that link. It worked:-).

I agree that Lionel's voice was very grating but he asked decent questions and used language well. A great change from most of these presenters. He was quickly appreciative of RD's little jokes and explanations. Again, more than I have come to expect from RD's interviewers.

It didn't finish though, did it? It was cut short:-)

Good one
V

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13. Comment #76684 by RandomMutation on October 6, 2007 at 5:20 pm

To those complaining about the guy's voice - I don't think that is at all relevant! To dismiss someone because you don't like the sound of their voice is hardly proper, and when they actually hold positions you agree with it gets positively perverse!

And Richard Morgan, I like tits as much as the next man but please bear in mind that some people like to read this site at work, and your avatar might not be entirely appropriate?

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14. Comment #76685 by Theocrapcy on October 6, 2007 at 5:23 pm

Richard, your avatar is too distracting. ;)

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15. Comment #76693 by Russell Blackford on October 6, 2007 at 6:11 pm

Dawkins admits the "rise" of atheism is probably a reaction to the Bush administration, radical Islam, and so on.

Well, he's right. I'm not sure that it should be seen as an "admission". It is, indeed, those sorts of things that have made it so urgent for secular intellectuals of all shapes and sizes to put aside some of the other stuff they are doing and to attack religion directly. Religion, particularly conservative religion of various kinds, is the root of a lot of our current problems. It's not the root of all evil, but it's the root of a lot of the evils that should be bothering us right now.

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16. Comment #76696 by MarkSmith on October 6, 2007 at 6:34 pm

woww that avitr i rly distractg. whre am i im dizy ilikeit

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17. Comment #76702 by Shuggy on October 6, 2007 at 7:40 pm

It's nice that he admires RD so much, though he sounds a bit like a televangelist. Mine cut out right after "Thor" (which my aunt told me when I was 11 - only in her version Thor met a woman on a golfcourse and had his way with her, next day she met him again and asked his name. ... She replied "Tho am I")

Richard seems to be changing his atavar - just as well, that young woman was going to do herself an injury.

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18. Comment #76703 by Richard Morgan on October 6, 2007 at 7:47 pm

Comment #76684 by RandomMutation
...it gets positively perverse!
I like tits as much as the next man

Thank you for being frank and honest.
And stop reading discussion boards when you're supposed to be working!!!
I just happen to live in a country where boobs are bared on all the beaches and atheism really IS the default attitude.
I loved this little snippet of interview. It's all good stuff for the Zeitgeist.
If you are offended by my avatar, please take a couple of minutes to watch Bill Maher on "FRANCE" :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKS0yISz6xQ

And if you're still offended - SCROLL PAST!

For all rugby fans :
French atheists 20 - HAKA 18.

Comment #76696 by MarkSmith

woww that avitr i rly distractg. whre am i im dizy ilikeit

Don't worry, Mark, I have it on good authority from Christopher Hitchens that you won't go blind. Which reminds me of a question I have for RD : In what circumstances do "balls bang together"? You're talking about a snooker tournament, right?
Yep.
What else...

Other Comments by Richard Morgan

19. Comment #76724 by garp on October 6, 2007 at 11:20 pm

#76703 by Richard Morgan

"And if you're still offended - SCROLL PAST!"


No, if it's offensive then stop displaying it.


Other Comments by garp

20. Comment #76734 by nigeldavenport on October 7, 2007 at 12:30 am

I feel depraved (I mean deprived) I didn't get to see the offending avitar

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21. Comment #76737 by Russell Blackford on October 7, 2007 at 12:38 am

I don't think it was offensive, exactly - that would be buying into the whole morality of misery that we are here to oppose - but it may have been unwise given that some people are looking at the site at work in puritanical countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Vive la France!

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22. Comment #76743 by Robert Maynard on October 7, 2007 at 1:06 am

Prudery aside, there is still a perceived distinction between nudity in a Parisian cafe, and nudity on a French beach. For all intents and purposes, this website is more of a cafe than a beach.

Having said that, I had no problem with the breasts. My only self-conscious moment was realising I could recall the name of that nude model. :P

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23. Comment #76747 by Russell Blackford on October 7, 2007 at 2:00 am

^True, true, and even the French can be a bit prudish. I do recall an occasion when my beautiful companion was chastised by an official for sunbathing in a string bikini - not even topless - in a Parisian park.

Now, the Germans would take a more enlightened attitude to that.

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24. Comment #76751 by Zzyx1170 on October 7, 2007 at 2:37 am

I placed an mp3 of this interview - the complete 11 minutes and 36 seconds - on RapidShare at:
http://rapidshare.com/files/60848077/Dawkins-on-The-Lionel-Show.mp3

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25. Comment #76759 by garp on October 7, 2007 at 6:17 am

#76703 by Richard Morgan
>> If you are offended by my avatar, please take a couple of minutes to watch Bill Maher on "FRANCE" <<


Oh Please! LOL!!! Bill Mahar??? LOL!!!

What sexism is he spouting off now to boost his low ratings. LOL.


Other Comments by garp

26. Comment #76761 by bluebird on October 7, 2007 at 6:37 am

The power of the human voice to attract/repel is relevant.
A young woman from the Middle East said in an interview that she was drawn to Osama bin Laden like a moth to the flame when she heard his voice on the television.

Zzyx1170, thanks for that link.

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27. Comment #76785 by Teratornis on October 7, 2007 at 8:56 am

I found Lionel's voice to be a bit grating, but the real problem is that his voice is mixed much louder than Dawkin's muffled over-the-phone voice. So you have to strain a bit to hear Dawkins, and then Lionel comes blasting in frequently, like the way commercials on television are much louder than the programs you want to watch. If the audio production had been competent (for example, hook up a high-fi DSL link for Dawkins, for crying out loud), Lionel's voice wouldn't have been such a problem.

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28. Comment #76787 by Teratornis on October 7, 2007 at 9:04 am

In reply to comment #76761 by bluebird:

The power of the human voice to attract/repel is relevant.

Which raises the question of why all people don't speak well. Clearly, natural selection hasn't been all that effective when it comes to promoting desirable traits.

Similarly, we don't all look like movie stars or supermodels, despite the enormous social and reproductive advantages of physical beauty.

And everybody doesn't think as well as a Dawkins or a Dennett, despite the clear advantages of having a sharp mind.

A young woman from the Middle East said in an interview that she was drawn to Osama bin Laden like a moth to the flame when she heard his voice on the television.

I get a similar feeling when I hear Barak Obama speak on television. I don't know about his competency for office, but if he becomes the next U.S. President, at least he won't look as silly giving speeches as the current one.

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29. Comment #76828 by Corylus on October 7, 2007 at 11:55 am

Bluebird

The power of the human voice to attract/repel is relevant.

Ah, yes, I have to say I am a sucker for perfect diction myself...

(said the actress to the bishop ;-)

... ransacks cupboard to dig out old tape of Richard Burton reading poetry.

Other Comments by Corylus

30. Comment #76845 by perkyjay on October 7, 2007 at 1:07 pm

Corylus #29: Agree wholeheartedly with your comment about Richard Burton reading poetry. Have you heard his version of A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas - much better read than by the author himself. Many many years ago when I was a young fellow we had a rugby song which could go on all night long, and which used almost every Limerick ever written, one of which was:

"There was a young man from Madras
Who had two balls of brass.
In inclement weather
They banged together,
And blue sparks flew out of his arse."

Very apropos, I thought

Other Comments by perkyjay

31. Comment #76855 by Corylus on October 7, 2007 at 1:34 pm

Perkyjay

I don't think my old tape has A Child's Christmas in Wales on it (still looking for the darned thing - curses!). It is more of a general poetry anthology - i.e an excerpt from the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner and Desiderata and suchlike. (I will keep an eye out in the audiobook section).

Oddly enough - I don't think your limerick is on it either ;-) Although if Burton has made a recording I will happily listen!

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32. Comment #76931 by Rational_G on October 7, 2007 at 9:14 pm

Is it just me, or is this Lionel guy rather annoying?

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33. Comment #76932 by Robert Maynard on October 7, 2007 at 9:28 pm

Has anyone else heard Jeff Wayne's musical rendition of War of the Worlds? Richard Burton narrates the story.
Be forewarned if you do check it out - it's crazy late-70s prog rock.

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34. Comment #76933 by BAEOZ on October 7, 2007 at 9:35 pm

Robert Maynard:

Has anyone else heard Jeff Wayne's musical rendition of War of the Worlds? Richard Burton narrates the story.

Yes. I have it at home. Always liked Richard Burton's voice. I went to see the live concert (with some different singers for obvious reasons and the animated head of Richard Burton) and was underwhelmed. Sound problems made it suck a bit. Anyway....

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35. Comment #76935 by Robert Maynard on October 7, 2007 at 9:56 pm

I went to see the live concert ... and was underwhelmed.

Isn't that always the way. :P
I was considering going to one of the shows in the tour this year, but the price didn't seem to warrant the experience one could mostly replicate by turning up the volume on their speakers. I suppose people who really like the art (and.. holograms of dead actors) probably got more out of it.

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36. Comment #76965 by Ashley1319 on October 8, 2007 at 1:21 am

Comment #76570 by Mango on October 6, 2007 at 10:04 am
avatarDawkins admits the "rise" of atheism is probably a reaction to the Bush administration, radical Islam, and so on. It's a shame that people aren't abandoning religion based upon reason or science because these people are not necessarily critical thinkers and might go on to embrace some other non-evidence based worldview.

Well, the point of religion is that it IS hard to just break off from, unless you live in a very moderate environment. Most religious people aren't 'dumb'... they're religious. It's what makes a smart person an idiot. People need to see things like Islamic Terrorism and the Bush Administration, because it helps them ask questions. I'm definitely one of those, as I have only been an atheist for about a year to a year and a half. Part of it was the stuff you see on tv, part of it was discovering Darwin, as Dawkins did, although 4 years older than he did. It's especially hard if you live in a fundy southern environment, like I do! hehe

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37. Comment #77446 by Lionel A on October 9, 2007 at 10:33 am

Comment #76931 by Rational_G on October 7, 2007 at 9:14 pm

Is it just me, or is this Lionel guy rather annoying?

This Lionel has absolutely nothing to do with me.

Anybody with a voice like that should be pitied rather than lambasted, he reminds me of a 'toon character voice-over. Who was that character for ever after Daffy Duck?

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38. Comment #78203 by nothing on October 12, 2007 at 6:01 am

I heard: "If God's balls did bang together He would become quite Sore [Thor with a lisp]".

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39. Comment #78394 by MorituriMax on October 12, 2007 at 4:34 pm

Man, now I want to see the avatar everybody is talking about.. must have been removed since I didn't see anything but Rumsfeld.. and thinking of that with his picture in view... shudder..

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40. Comment #78492 by Spoonboy on October 13, 2007 at 8:33 am

"If God's balls banged together he would become Thor"

Why? Because it would create the sound of thunder, or because it would lower the pitch of his voice?

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41. Comment #78565 by bayareadude on October 13, 2007 at 3:56 pm

All of you ranting on and on about Lionel's voice should do a bit of online research before wasting your time (and ours).

Lionel (of "The Lionel Show") is KNOWN for his non-radio voice. He plays it up in the on-air commericals, and makes a point that his refusal to learn to mimic the typical gutteral radio DJ way of speaking is a testament to his "doin' my own thing" style.

Now, can we get back to discussing the FACTS presented in the interview, please?

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42. Comment #79385 by ShawnMilo on October 17, 2007 at 6:27 am

Lionel is back!!!

I used to listen to Lionel on WABC for years, and he's fantastic!

He's also a great comedian. I have his CD, and have seen him live. If you're attacking Lionel, you're limiting yourself way too much.

Keep an open mind.

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