It should come as no surprise that Joe Klein of Time Magazine is a dishonest hack. He has never, in the course of his career, allowed facts to get in the way of a story or, more often, a pitiful insult to bolster his ever-ravenous ego. I can think of very few people so vile in the mainstream press as Joe Klein, a man who thinks that as long as it isn’t his children getting killed by drones, then it’s ok (fairly typical conservative belief, though most are smart enough not to say it on TV). This is a man who likes to write at length about things he doesn’t understand. A man who will say anything in service to his preferred narrative. He has made outrageous claims about members of the military with no factual backing, and he has strawmaned liberal bloggers.

Which is why it should come as no surprise that in a piece he writes for the cover of Time magazine about how volunteering can help with PTSD, he takes a cheap shot at atheists.

… there was an occupying army of relief workers, led by local first responders, exhausted but still humping it a week after the storm, church groups from all over the country — funny how you don’t see organized groups of secular humanists giving out hot meals — and there in the middle of it all, with a purposeful military swagger, were the volunteers from Team Rubicon.

Fuck you, Joe. Hemant does the work of actually linking to many of the atheists that were out there helping, so I will just refer you to him, but I would like to point out that on top of that, you had Christian groups that refused to work with the godless, showing how much they care about helping people instead of being perceived by gullible cretins like Klein as doing so.

Which leaves us to ask, what should we do? Well, for one, signal boost the hell out of this story. Let people know that hacks like Klein are liars, frauds, or far too lazy to be trusted in the capacity of a purveyor or analyst of news. Also, write to Time and let them know this is unacceptable. I have included my letter below. Be polite, but firm.

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I have to ask what your editorial board could have been thinking in the last cover story, allowing Joe Klein to take a cheap and petty shot at atheists, accusing us of never helping after disasters? While it would be bad enough if this were accurate, the fact of the matter is that many secular humanist groups were present and helping. In some cases, they were more willing willing to work with Christian groups than the reverse was true. It seems that Klein’s faith has made him no more honest than the average person, or at the very least no more than a hack journalist, willing to slander an entire group of people without doing the most basic Google search.

Both Klein and Time should issue an immediate apology, as well as take a serious look at the apparent lax standards in your editorial and fact checking departments.