Was it me, or...

...was that Audi "Green Police" Superbowl ad the most effective unintended political ad ever?

Assorted Links: Paul Ryan's Health Plan, Climate Scrutiny, and Avatar's Place in History

1. Ezra Klein interview with Rep. Paul Ryan, a Republican who seems to have a positive vision for healthcare rather than just saying "no to Obamacare" (or more correctly, Congress-care).  His plan is focused on realigning incentives and utilizing competition to make medical services better.

2. The UN's IPCC is coming under more scrutiny for its fast-and-loose scientific methods, including using non-peer-reviewed sources like magazine articles and student papers and misinterpreting data.  Obviously none of this necessarily places doubt on fundamental scientific theories concerning whether the climate is warming or not, but it is strong evidence of the IPCC's lack of objectivity, which certainly makes its pronouncements less persuasive.

3. Avatar will not be the all-time highest grossing movie of all time after adjusting for inflation.

Is Burn Notice Obscure or is SNL Oblivious?

Tonight's Saturday Night Live had an entire skit based on the premise that nobody knows what Burn Notice (the television series) is.  

I don't get it.  

My Year as a Twit: Case Closed

I decided to shelve the blog last year in favor of tweeting, which I considered at the time to be a more effective medium for commenting on links (which was the basic function of my blog posts). After a couple months of trying it out, I have decided to abandon it in favor of rejuvenating this blog and posting regularly on Reddit.

The Twitter account exists no longer, but I did make some worthwhile points during my brief foray, so I submit this "tweet dump" here so I can save it for posterity:

POPULAR CULTURE

• Listened to Top 40 music today. Q: does anyone NOT use digital pitch modulation? Has this replaced real singing?
• January Jones is on SNL and seems terrified! It looks like a potential choke job. Very entertaining.
• Peter Bagge cartoon on the conflicts caused by reading Ayn Rand http://bit.ly/3FOEz2
• Terrell Owens is all growns up http://bit.ly/1pRECA
• Do gradeschools really have those kids-dressed-up-as-historical-figures stage plays, as depicted in movies? I never had'em in school.
• Zombieland is fun, if not a HBWoSG. The Informant! sports a goofball Hamlisch score that makes the 90s feel like th 70s.
• That chick from Thirst (Bakjwi) was bat-shit crazy! http://bit.ly/1WGYaT Movie was OK, but half-hour too long. Not Chan-wook Park's best.
• Funny People: We get it, Apatow, you love your hot wife and talented kids. Jeesh. http://bit.ly/10lPp9
• A logical look at the Patrick Ewing Paradox http://bit.ly/eGpHD
• Maira Kalman on Ben Franklin on the American spirit of invention: http://bit.ly/2m9zeA
• geographic depiction of the seven deadly sins in America http://bit.ly/oUBs2 not scientifically worthwhile, but entertaining nonetheless
• WikiTrust coming this fall - feature will color-code unreliable info http://bit.ly/2FthLl
• 8-Story Antigravity Forest http://bit.ly/2yDrEg I love plant-decorated edifices from ivy covered brick to grass roofed huts.
• Rapture pet-care insurance! http://bit.ly/fOcy4 Gotta love it.
• Inglourious Basterds is a masterpiece! http://shar.es/BzS2
• Michael Haneke (Funny Games) is totally ripping off Edgar Wright! (Hot Fuzz) http://bit.ly/1WGYaT
• OMG! Finnegans Wake THE MOVIE! http://bit.ly/MHVkT
• Must See: A Perfect Getaway, if only for Zahn and Olyphant's dueling crazy eyes. http://bit.ly/nmMAu
• The Beer Summit, as told by Shakespeare: http://bit.ly/8PuZf
• Was Michael Jackson really a reincarnated Egyptian; or better, was he living in two times concurrently a la VALIS? http://bit.ly/3RDsu6

POLITICS

• Barney Frank, habitual bubble-inflater, wants to grant the govt perpetual bailout authority. Great idea [sarcasm] http://bit.ly/7uztB
• How the distribution of stimulus funds is an implicit admission by govt that it can'r create jobs http://bit.ly/yj0uh
• Senate ready to extend first-time homebuyer credit. Thumbs down for more subsidy-driven bubble-building http://bit.ly/3N5gud
• Please nanny state, don't ban pseudophedrine. http://bit.ly/1iUOIR
• Dept of unintended consequences - Credit card "helpful" legislation leads to punishing prudent spenders http://bit.ly/NLpPg
• Wisdom on how the redundancy effect of the 17th Amendment has contributed to bad government http://bit.ly/6yKVt
• CFC is just a subsidy to a special sub-class of the middle class and the auto industry http://bit.ly/1SK5f. Corporate welfare at its worst
• "Joker" Obama: maybe intended to evoke the image of the Joker burning that gigantic pile of money in Dark Knight? http://bit.ly/4Ewzhz
• Villification and mockery of fringe by the left may derail its own agenda. http://bit.ly/2sBLyU You have to choose: policy or smugness.
• The more things change . . . http://bit.ly/QqOnO
• one clerk might mean J.P. Stevens is going to retire http://bit.ly/wNx1x
• Federal pay vs private sector just a reflection of life in a nepotistic and clientelist state http://bit.ly/2ZSfpZ
• Gee, I sure wish I could get $75k to be the Director of Scheduling and Advance for the First Lady. Is that on USAjobs? http://bit.ly/4zwCH0
• Arnold Kling makes a compelling case that 'real freedom' is the absence of monopoly: http://bit.ly/zheDd
• John McWhorter on the decrease in violence that would result from the end of the drug prohibition http://bit.ly/8czzdm
• Some cops come out against the drug prohibition http://bit.ly/kASVS their answer? The laboratory of democracy: Federalism
• Q: why stay in Afghanistan till 2017? Just to police poppies? Democracy has failed, led to islamist policy. Let's go. http://bit.ly/5xpyUd
• Bizarro Obama http://bit.ly/1Psfkl I guess people must think war isn't the problem as long as someone they like is calling the shots
• Al-Qaeda, meet the Large Hadron Collider. http://bit.ly/gEqZ1

SCIENCE

• Why will they spend trillions to stop AGW, but no one cares about asteroid deflection? http://bit.ly/5l7UQX
• Tales of Inconsistency: Govt subsidizes activities that cause higher CO2 emissions http://bit.ly/1fcdDw
• On the Politics of Science: Or How To Stop Worrying and Learn to Love Fantastic Predictions http://bit.ly/1ibJRp
• Unconventional yet compelling data on the effectiveness of flu shots http://bit.ly/32eWr5
• CarbFix, another good idea on carbon capture http://bit.ly/3wPMqf a lot of volcanic rock in Hawaii and Alaska, no? Where're the subsidies?
• Hansen is an alarmist, but at least he understands policy incentives and effects http://bit.ly/2iVras
• what does a molecule look like up close? http://bit.ly/y94gd
• Perspective:Comparing cost and concern between AGW and an earth-killing asteroid http://bit.ly/B2tMl
• Apparently flash cookies can reinstate cookies you deleted! Go to the adobe website to control how you're tracked: http://bit.ly/1CpDqF
• Finally, some creativity on climate change: http://bit.ly/v3jMz
• High-tech swimsuits getting banned, Michael Phelps will finally be exposed as overrated http://bit.ly/bSkja

HEALTH CARE REFORM

• Will the mandate to purchase insurance be deemed unconstitutional, if it passes? http://bit.ly/882ue2 It's possible.
• Unintended consequences: Obamacare will price middle-income urbanites out of the insurance market http://bit.ly/2K8dIY
• How doctors and Medicare set prices according to the labor theory of value! http://bit.ly/S3bnv
• alternative health care reform ideas do exist http://bit.ly/EBdcw too bad none of them benefits any privileged special interests
• Whole Foods on health care reform: labor mobility, labor mobility, labor mobility! http://bit.ly/DxL9w
• Looking for balance: EITHER huge deficits OR incentivizing activities to shorten the avg age of mortality? http://bit.ly/K91Bm
• Robert Reich and I agree that the Obama-Pharma deal is unhealthy anti-democratic corporatism: http://bit.ly/2G4TJW

THE ECONOMY

• Warren Buffett, intervention profiteer http://bit.ly/3862lZ
• Using game theory to sell a dollar for more than a dollar http://bit.ly/2A8quc The all pay auction! Genius!
• http://bit.ly/1JfERU - On the anomaly of pricing for movies. Why does all entertainment priced the same, regardless of how much it costs?
• Interesting: using game theory to fight crime http://bit.ly/5Tioe Nice, but it might be simplier to just end the drug prohibition.
• Buy a house, get a visa. http://bit.ly/NfJqu Why have no politicians bitten on this idea?
• In a competitive market, high profits should only exist temporarily and linked to innovation or efficiency: http://bit.ly/z2tH3
• College is the next bubble: http://bit.ly/P8vwD Solution: only allow financing for specialties in shortage.

NEWS

• 2009 Gender Equality Rankings: South Africa #6, with a rapist polygamist president, USA #31, female Secretary of State http://bit.ly/i7ocq
• DID YOU KNOW that there are thousands of incomplete buildings all around Cairo, in part b/c of cultural rejection of mortgage finance?
• Panfilo got convicted of "pre-criminal social endangerment" http://bit.ly/k4DfC Ain't Cuba great?
• UK apologizes to Turing: too little, too late http://bit.ly/2QR21c
• Doesn't it occur to anyone that Blago staged that robbery to fabricate an aura of political persecution?
• How can the int'l community take Qaddafi seriously?http://bit.ly/1Z2Bre He wants to dismember Switzerland
• obscured fact? avg U.S. life span would rank #1 among nations if auto and homicide fatalities were factored out http://bit.ly/89xBA
• Nanny state or big brother? England pulls a 1984 on 20k shitty families. http://bit.ly/10Rq0j Get thy kids to bed on time!
• Good luck with all that, Rupert, but you can't copyright truth and you can't chill communication, so you're SOL: http://bit.ly/48tVTY

Hiatus

I'll be closing down the site for awhile. In the meantime, I'll still be posting at Reel Nerds and on twitter (reluctantly).

Assorted Links

1. Employment policy experimentation: Utah tries out a 4-day workweek for state employees, and the results are encouraging.

2. Awesome feral pig, dubbed "Freedom Pig" evades capture in Florida.

3. It turns out that sloth and gluttony may actually save taxpayers money on public health costs.

4. The situation in Africa: Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. Pathetic.

Senate Committee Considering "Third Way" Health Care Reform

According to the AP:

[T]he proposal under discussion by six members on the Senate Finance Committee would bar insurance companies from denying coverage to any applicant. Nor could insurers charge higher premiums on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions . . . They said any legislation that emerges from the talks is expected to provide for a non-profit cooperative to sell insurance in competition with private industry, rather than giving the federal government a role in the marketplace.

Your humble blogger suggested this very thing two years ago!

Remembrance of Things Past: Climate Edition

According to Reuters, Bob Thirsk, a Canadian astronaut aboard the International Space Station, said on Sunday it looks like Earth's ice caps have melted a bit since he was last in orbit 12 years ago: "

This is probably just a perception, but I just have the feeling that the glaciers are melting, the snow capping the mountains is less than it was 12 years ago when I saw it last time," Thrisk said. "That saddens me a little bit."

I went to the Grand Canyon when I was eight years old, and I remember thinking it was small, and not being impressed. I visited again when I was sixteen, and I was so impressed by the size, I wouldn't get within five feet of the ledge. I'm not saying Thirsk is wrong, but you have to question a news item with a lede like: "Earth Bears Scars of Human Destruction: Astronaut" when it's based on a decade-old visual observation. People can't even testify accurately in court as to what they witnessed weeks ago, much less years.

Also, think about this: Would they have published this article if the astronaut's observation was that Earth was resilient and that he didn't notice any difference?

How Bureaucracy Increases the Costs of Free Things

Via FP Passport, a dialogue from a State Dept. town hall meeting with its employees:

[FINKLE]: Can you please let the staff use an alternative web browser called Firefox? I just – (applause) – I just moved to the State Department from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and was surprised that State doesn’t use this browser. It was approved for the entire intelligence community, so I don’t understand why State can’t use it. It’s a much safer program. Thank you. (Applause.)

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, apparently, there’s a lot of support for this suggestion. (Laughter.) I don’t know the answer. Pat, do you know the answer? (Laughter.)

UNDER SECRETARY KENNEDY: The answer is at the moment, it’s an expense question. We can --

[FINKLE]: It’s free. (Laughter.)

UNDER SECRETARY KENNEDY: Nothing is free. (Laughter.) It’s a question of the resources to manage multiple systems. It is something we’re looking at...

Assorted Links

1. On the pitfalls of trying to raise a secular humanist.

2. More empirical evidence that poverty does not create violent crime.

3. The Mayo Clinic is not jumping on the thousand-page House health reform bill bandwagon.

Say What?

According to Bloomberg:

U.S. taxpayers may be on the hook for as much as $23.7 trillion to bolster the economy and bail out financial companies, said Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Hmm. That's more than the total value of all U.S. housing. That's almost twice the GDP of the U.S. I hope Neil's figures are off.

Bad Idea: Mission to Mars

Tom Wolfe wants us to get going on a manned mission to Mars. So did Dubya. Howabout we use NASA for things that will actually help the survival of the human race, as opposed to mere triumphant symbolism? Perhaps the government could spend that $100 billion on a comprehensive asteroid protection system, so that the close shave we're supposed to have in 2012 doesn't turn into a direct hit.

Assorted Links

1. Let's try out this whole "laboratory of democracy" thing on health care reform. It would be like living together before you get married, to make sure it's the right fit before committing.

2. Some respectable science countering climate change theory orthodoxy. I'm sure the author of this study will be ostracized in good time.

3. A social psych lesson for riot police: like most animals, humans get aggressive when cornered or corralled.

Housing Bubble, Again

Barney Frank wants to keep that bubble rolling (via WSJ):

Back when the housing mania was taking off, Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank famously said he wanted Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to "roll the dice" in the name of affordable housing. That didn't turn out so well, but Mr. Frank has since only accumulated more power. And now he is returning to the scene of the calamity -- with your money. He and New York Representative Anthony Weiner have sent a letter to the heads of Fannie and Freddie exhorting them to lower lending standards for condo buyers. You read that right. After two years of telling us how lax lending standards drove up the market and led to loans that should never have been made, Mr. Frank wants Fannie and Freddie to take more risk in condo developments with high percentages of unsold units, high delinquency rates or high concentrations of ownership within the development.

This, along with the Obama first-time home buyer subsidy, is just another clue that the government wants to solve the housing crash by reinflating the bubble. What they're essentially doing is fluffing up the price of previously existing homes to protect the upper-middle classers (who don't want their property value to go down) at the expense of poorer folk who might be able to afford to buy property if the government would let the market clear.

Synthetic Trees: Reduce the Culprit, Not the Source

Quoth Klaus Lackner, inventor of the synthetic tree:

If you give me one of those big windmills which have those big areas through which the rotor moves—how much CO2 can I avoid? And if I had an equally sized CO2 collector—how much CO2 can I collect? It turns out the collector is several hundred times better than the windmill.

Assuming that's correct, why is our government not on top of this thing? With regard to energy policy, they are quick to treat the source of CO2 production - fossil fuels - with costly mandates (cap 'n' trade) and arbitrary subsidies (corn ethanol), but apparently they have no interest in treating the real problem - the presence of atmospheric CO2.

Health Egalitarianism Fail

From Betsy's McCaughfey's WSJ article:

Last September Sen. Barack Obama promised that under his health-care proposal "you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves." On Monday, President Obama repeated that promise in a speech to the American Medical Association. It's not true.

The president is barnstorming the nation, urging swift approval of legislation that is taking shape in Congress. This legislation -- the Affordable Health Choices Act that's being drafted by Sen. Edward Kennedy's staff and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee -- will push Americans into stingy insurance plans with tight, HMO-style controls. It specifically exempts members of Congress (along with federal employees; the exemptions are in section 3116).

I would like to hear a principled argument of why government employees are exempt. Are there any good reasons, other than to keep the status quo of privilege?

Selective Sin Taxes Unfair

Via Reason, Russ Smith opines on how some products get stigmatized with "sin tax" status while others don't:

Why stop at soda? How about a tax on every calorie-laden coffee drink served at Starbucks and its competitors? After all, a vanilla bean frappuccino with whipped cream is more than 500 calories, a beverage that health researcher Mike Adams calls "dessert in a cup." Throw in a scone or brownie with one of those Starbucks "desserts" and a consumer is approaching, at mid-morning, the daily recommended calorie intake . . . [New sin taxes are always] aimed at the déclassé products, such as soda and fast-food burgers . . . If it's true . . . that "we" would be thinner and richer by laying off sugary drinks, wouldn't the same apply to the more upscale foodstuffs consumed every day? After all, obesity knows no economic boundaries.

Why is government in the business of taxing whole product groups arbitrarily? Incentive-wise, a sin tax only focused on soda does one of two things: (1) makes people most likely to purchase those drinks spend more money (possibly making it a highly regressive tax) or (2) enhances the profits of corporations providing substitution goods which deliver similar benefits. You're essentially picking a winner in an industry. If you really want to tax obesity-creating products, why not tax by calorie?

When They Know They Own You

Politico details a rift between gay activists and the White House:

"I will not attend a fundraiser for the National Democratic Party in Washington next week when the current administration is responsible for these kind of actions," Mixner wrote of a motion to dismiss a challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act that drew a parallel between same-sex marriage to incestuous marriage. "How will they ever take us seriously if we keep forking out money while they harm us. For now on, my money is going to battles within the community such as the fight in Maine or the March on Washington! I am so tired of being told by Democratic operatives to 'suck it up' because so many other profound issues are at stake," Mixner wrote.

The problem is, the Democrats know they own the gay demographic, so all they have to be is marginally better on the issue than Republicans. Moreover, they know that for cultural reasons, the threat of defection to the Republican side is almost nil. The only other political option available to these activists is to support a third party -- but as many left-wingers found out after 2000, supporting a third party can lead to electing your worst nightmare. These activists have only one weapon left -- money. Unfortunately for them, the Party is not going to need it.

Unintended Consequences: Policy Boomerang

"Buy American", meet "Buy Chinese." Economy, meet the Great Depression.

Iran Policy: The Enemy of My Enemy Is Not Always My Friend

Foreign Policy explains the hesitancy of Western governments to fully "back" the Mousavi moment:

It was Mousavi, after all, who was at the center of the Iran hostage crisis and remains complicit in an operation he commended as "the beginning of the second stage of our revolution." And it was Mousavi who was the protégé of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (chief architect of the Iranian Revolution and founder of theocratic Iran), a former member of Hezbollah's leadership council, sworn enemy of Israel, and a prime minister under whose watch thousands of political prisoners were massacred in 1988. And finally, it was Mousavi who initiated Iran's nuclear program in the 1980s and likely would be intent on carrying through Iran's nuclear ambitions, the foremost issue central to any improvement in relations with the West.

Climate Change: On the Myopia of Models

Michael R. Smith writes on the failures of modern forecasting tools:

Given the inadequate performance of these models over the last 5 to 10 years, why do we believe we can make accurate, highly specific forecasts 50 to 100 years in the future? Is it because we are so close to the problem we are blinded to the dangers like the economists who did not see the meltdown coming? Almost no one familiar with meteorology or climate models would disagree that they are more complex than the mortgage valuation or influenza prediction models [which have recently failed to yield correct predictions]. The basic processes of the earth-ocean-atmosphere are incompletely understood and we barely understand many of their interactions. We also know that forecasting the weather beyond five days is dicey at best. Then why are we making 29,000-day weather forecasts?

While this essay is certainly not debunking the science behind climate change theory, it points out that the climate is a very complex system that can be highly unpredictable. There is a difference between forecasting climate changes -- such as trends in temperature over centuries based on past evidence of the chemical constituents of the climate -- and forecasting weather changes -- such as the frequency of heatwaves, hurricanes, and rainfall.

However, since the Global Warming Movement began, media outlets have been reporting on scientific studies that not only make weather predictions for far in the future, but also connect current weather events to "global warming," essentially falling prey to the availability heuristic and confirmation bias. Such reporting, when presented as "scientific truth" rather than as hypothesis, is irresponsible.

Panic of the Moment: There's a Fungus Among Us

Allegedly, a wheat fungus is inevitably going to destroy the world's wheat crops. The LA Times reports:

Crop scientists fear the Ug99 fungus could wipe out more than 80% of worldwide wheat crops as it spreads from eastern Africa. It has already jumped the Red Sea and traveled as far as Iran. Experts say it is poised to enter the breadbasket of northern India and Pakistan, and the wind will inevitably carry it to Russia, China and even North America -- if it doesn't hitch a ride with people first.

The fungus is affectionately called "stem rust," which is not quite as catchy as "swine flu".

Hyperbole Watch: Smoking Out of Both Sides of Your Mouth

Study: Life, Health Insurers Investing Billions in Tobacco Companies. Quote:

"Despite calls upon the insurance industry to get out of the tobacco business by physicians and others, insurers continue to put their profits above people's health," said Wesley Boyd, the study’s lead author and a faculty member of Harvard Medical School. “It’s clear their top priority is making money, not safe-guarding people’s well-being."

Of course, that's not exactly what's happening. This is a simple hedge. Health insurers know that smoking leads to health problems. Health problems lead to more expense for insurers. Smoking leads to more profits for tobacco companies. Therefore, by investing in such companies, the insurers are indirectly hedging their position. If smoking subsides, tobacco companies lose out, but the insurers will save more due to less smoking-related illness*. If smoking increases, tobacco companies make more but insurers lose more, but they gain back those losses through their investment. Seems logical to me.

*Contra: there is an emerging body of literature that suggests smoking actually reduces overall life health costs because it kills you earlier, thus eliminating the cost of elder care and other health problems that increase with age.

Slumdog Reactionaries Miss the Point

India is apparently not taking Slumdog Millionaire very well:

The Indian public's reaction to the award-winning film Slumdog Millionaire has gone from indifferent to outright hostile. Rioters in the eastern city of Patna attacked theaters showing the film and tore down posters to protest the use of the word "dog" in the title. The protests were organized by social activist Tapeshwar Vishwakarma, who has also filed a lawsuit against actor Anil Kapoor (who played the game show host in the film) and Academy Award-nominated composer A.R. Rahman for violating the rights of slum dwellers by depicting them in a bad light.

As Mia Wallace tells Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction, she can't promise him that she won't be offended by what he asks her, because her natural reaction could be to be offended, and then she would have broken her promise through no fault of her own. I guess the same could be said of India, which cannot be faulted for an instinctively negative reaction to what they view as a mischaracterization.

But they're totally missing the positives: Slumdog has been extremely successful in the U.S., and if anything, the film's popularity makes it more likely that non-Indian Americans will sympathize with Indians, and the poor of all developing economies. Such sympathies may go far in increasing aid, creating a stronger bond between the two countries, and increasing the general cultural knowledge of Americans who might not otherwise be exposed to the slums of Mumbai.

Critics should take this into consideration before they throw rocks at a theater (or worse). You don't have to see the movie, but you shouldn't squander the good press.

Non-Believers are Tarred and Feathered for Having Their Own Carrots and Sticks

Someone who attended the inauguration is reporting that a group of people actually booed when Obama mentioned non-believers as part of a list of religious groups ("Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus . . . and [even] non-believers"). It's not surprising at all, considering the amount of god talk at the ceremony, including a speech by Rick Warren, the "Our Father," and even a benediction. If this were a Republican inauguration, people would never stop talking about it as a clear violation of the Separation of Church and State. In fact, if that wasn't an official establishment of religion, I'm not sure what is. But I digress -- hypocrisy is nothing new, so I shouldn't be surprised.

Anyway, The Economist blogs about the poor representation of the "Non-Believer" in our federal government:

A survey from 2001 (discussed here) found 30m Americans claiming "no religion". About 10% of the population (almost certainly more now), yet there has not only never been an unbelieving president. There is one congressman (Pete Stark of California) out of 535 willing to publicly declare his non-belief in God. So, if you're counting, that's 10% of the population with .2% of the power. Compare Mormons (1.7% of the population, 2.6% of Congress) or Jews (1.7% of the population, 8.4% of Congress), according to this. There are even two Buddhists, two Muslims and a Quaker.

I've often lamented the political peer pressure of religion, in which you are basically making yourself unelectable if you express a lack of belief in a god. I have to imagine there are far many more non-believers in Congress who have to publicly lie about their true beliefs, so that's somewhat comforting, but it's a shame that they have to be closeted.

The reason for this unfortunate circumstance, in my opinion, is that the vast majority of religious folks believe that "morality" can only be derived from divine scripture (or some other unprovably-inspired literature), and so a non-believer categorically cannot have a "morality." What's to stop an atheist from ordering a mass-murder, for example, if he doesn't think that he'll receive some sort of punishment from on high?

In contrast, I believe that the moral code of an atheist is often actually stronger than that of a believer. Why? Because most of us don't need supernatural carrots and sticks to be kind and operate in an ethical manner. We have our own carrots and sticks: reason and empathy. Personally, I would be embarrassed to require rules and regulations from someone else in order to know what to do to be a good person, and especially ashamed to need some kind of threat, like Hell, hanging over my head to keep me from doing bad things.

In fact, needing religion for moral instruction implies that, left to your own devices and exempt from metaphysical extortion, you would want to do the wrong things. And without the remaining non-divine deterrents of ostracism or criminal justice, you might actually do the wrong things with impunity.