A reader sent me this video a few days ago. I regret that it took me so long to watch it. It is outstanding and deserves to be shared. Take a look.



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As you have almost certainly heard by now, MSNBC suspended one of their most popular pundits, Keith Olbermann, this week because he donated to three Democratic candidates for Congress. By itself, this was not enough for Idiot of the Week designation. After all, Olbermann's donation violated NBC's ethics rules. What put MSNBC over the top was their selective enforcement of these rules.

MSNBC has never suspended conservative pundit Joe Scarborough even though he has repeatedly donated to Republican candidates while promoting them on his show. In fact, it seems that Scarborough has never been disciplined for violating the same ethics rules that led to Olbermann's suspension. Worse yet, it looks like MSNBC has long been considered exempt from NBC's ethics rules until someone decided to come after Olbermann.

This selective enforcement smacks of hypocrisy and should serve as a powerful reminder of the limitations of corporate media. Without truly independent media, I'm not optimistic that we can count on reliable information in place of propaganda.

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I have been strangely silent on the subject of the now infamous "Don't Be a Dick" speech. It never struck me as anything new or particularly interesting. Friendly Atheist had been criticizing some of us long before Plait's speech for the same thing, and I feel like my many previous posts on the subject hold up reasonably well. For some reason, I found myself thinking about the subject today, and it occurs to me that the whole thing may be far simpler than we have been making it. How about we put the entire debate in the context of a sneeze and see what happens?

Not surprisingly, I have been getting some emails this morning asking me what I think about the election results. I posted my initial reaction here. The takeover of the House by the Republican Tea Party should not have surprised anyone - it was exactly what everyone has been predicting for some time. But that doesn't mean I am any less disappointed. I was really hoping we could somehow avoid Speaker Boehner, but we did not manage to do so.

Today was one of those days where it was somewhat tough to get away to vote. The thought of not bothering certainly crossed my mind. No ballot measures or school board races. And besides, the Congressman I knew I had to vote for is adamantly opposed to reproductive freedom for women and does a terrible job of representing my wishes in Congress.

In the end, it came down to simple math. I had to hold my nose and cast my vote for him because it was the only thing I could do to try to prevent John "the Orangeman" Boehner from taking over as Speaker of the House. Did it help that this Congressman's opponent was a teabagger? Absolutely. But it still didn't leave me feeling very good.

I am sick and tired of having to choose between two terrible options, even when one is clearly worse than the other. I'm beyond ready to embrace the idea of running primary candidates against those who fail to keep their promises in office or turn out to be unwilling to fight on important issues. And yes, this includes President Obama. But in this election, there wasn't much I could do. Staying home would have helped elect a teabagger. And that was not an option.

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Crazy idea, I know, but maybe we atheists should try handing out atheist tracts along with candy to the trick-or-treaters who visit us on Halloween (or on whatever day they are allowed to celebrate Halloween in our area). I remember some people doing this with Christian tracts when I was a kid.

Of course, there would be an obvious downside to such a plan. Some of the kids would remember where they got them, and word would spread throughout the neighborhood that an atheist was living among them. The local hardware stores would sell out of pitchforks and torches, and well...you know the rest.

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