So, what are the McCains hiding? Cindy McCain was asked about releasing her tax returns, on the Today show, and reiterated that she would never release them -- ever -- even if she becomes First Lady:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vZi6...

We're All Hacks Atrios is right

It's important to remember that none of us are above the fray, that we all have hackish tendencies to suppress information which doesn't fit our worldview and privilege information that does. We're more likely to excuse behavior from people we like and exaggerate the ills of people we don't like. I try to fight hackish tendencies especially during this intra-Dem battle, but I don't claim to have superhuman Nonhack powers.

For the record, I make no effort to be above the fray nor any pretense of being fair or balanced.  I'm not only a member of the Hack Club for Men, I'm the president.  It's good to know your own filters....

More hackery below.

Buried in the comments over at Pharyngula, PZ Myers raises a good question:

Why is the Expelled hullabaloo between an atheist and a gang of ID liars? I should think the people who ought to be most furious are the Jews who are seeing a vast crime against them used as a rallying point for creationist idiocy, and Christians who are being manipulated into regarding creationism as a point of doctrine in their creed. Try looking at the overtly Christian web sites that mention Expelled, though -- I haven't seen any that aren't approving.

And we atheists are far more poorly organized than any religion, yet we at least seem to have a mostly united and loud voice for science.

Has any religious organization taken a moment to do as little as put out a press release disavowing the claims of the movie. Does any religious organization even care?

So, believers, do any of you really care about your faith being misrepresented? Or is it being misrepresented at all?

I am often insulted by narrow minded believers who argue that non-believers commit crime at a higher rate than their percent of the population.

What insults me most about this line of abuse is the claim that I am incapable of independently determining what is ethical because I was raised in a Christian country. Somehow the Christian ethics were imparted to me through my up-bringing, and those college years searching for my true beliefs as a philosophy major were a waste of time. Silly me, God was imparting His True Ethics to me all along.

Last week or the week before, I stumbled across a comment at another blog to the effect that I have made clear more than once that outspoken atheists were a liability for the Democratic party. It's bugged me a little since then.

Never say never, but I certainly don't remember ever saying anything to that effect.

Even if I had, it wouldn't be something to stand by for more than about thirty seconds. The only point worth acknowledging in the proposition is that hardline atheists are generally perceived as liberals, which is generally the way they vote. But weirdly enough, some of the highest profile representatives aren't liberal at all: Sam Harris likes torture, and Christopher Hitchens hasn't been a leftie since his second liver transplant two decades ago. I've even heard people talk about Daniel Dennett and Richard Dawkins as though they were Dems, which doesn't make much sense.

So the extent that Democrats are tagged inaccurately with the opinions of outspoken atheists, yes, I think that's a bit of a problem.

But to the extent that secularists, agnostics and atheists make up a significant part of the Democratic coalition, and to the extent that they're entitled to their opinions, there's no liability. Anybody who wouldn't vote for teh liberulz because they don't believe in GOD wasn't going to vote for them anyway. So what's to lose by people using their First Amendment rights?

But what I have said on more than one occasion is that outspoken a-holes are a liability. Look, I'm no David Broder - being a foul-mouthed blogger and all - but there does come a time when rudeness leaves passionate expression and becomes something altogether more sour. I've seen people leave truly hateful comments at Big Orange, among other places, that have no justification.

That's certainly not limited to atheists, though. There are a-holes of many stripes. Take Rahm Emmanuel - please.

Anyway, my bottom line is that you sow, so shall you reap, and have it. But please: no jerks or haters around here. I've got enough to deal with as it is.