The Podcast Post

I spend my days (and nights) shifting between a computer and a drawing table, so over the last year podcasts have become my new best friend. It's such a great medium; they are put out mostly by regular old folks and there's no commercials (yet) . Like the blogosphere there is a lot of half-assed shit you have to swim through to find the good stuff. Here's a selection of the best I have discovered. If you know of any great ones I'm missing, let me know.

If you have the time, wade through this list. There are some gems:

• Blast The Right: While I am partial to Jack Clark's show having worked with him on various projects, I think it is the best progressive political podcast out there. A half hour every week of intelligent commentary. Jack isn't much of a "news of the week" guy. Most podcasts deal with important, broad issues such as the minimum wage, the social safety net, class disparity, GOP tactics, etc. Every episode is filled with the facts behind his arguments instead of the rhetoric of right wingers he frequently deconstructs. Check it out here.
  
• Point Of Inquiry: A weekly show from The Center For Inquiry that looks at the world with a skeptical, rationalist view. It is a secular humanist organization, but the focus is much broader than religion. It devotes long segments to debunking and studying the paranormal, alternative medicine, and psuedoscience. You can listen and subscribe through pointofinquiry.org.
  
• Onion Radio News: A daily 60 second podcast by the Onion. Hilarious fake news reports with Doyle Redland, the best anchor in the biz. Go Listen!
  
• American Dissent Radio: Currently the host is in the process of reading his novel, but usually this podcast is home to some scholarly essays on constitutional matters. A bit dry, but very informative.
  
• The Infidel Guy: An Atheist radio show/podcast by the most informed layman I've ever heard. From what I gather this guy is somewhat of a sensation to the secular humanist internet community (you know, that huge group). There is some high caliber debate going on in this show. Religious scholars, famous authors, and religious fundamentalists all have their turn at The Infidel Guy, usually not to the degree of success they expected. He also created a documentary called "Is The Sky Heaven" which touches on issues of creation and religion I have never heard anyone state before.
  
• HNN: Monthly secular humanist podcast from the Humanist News Network. HNN runs my comics on their website and I appeared on their fourth podcast to discuss the Mohammed cartoon controversy.
  
• Skepticality: Apparently on hiatus, this show talks about a whole wack of topics relating to skepticality, from bigfoot and UFOs to Ghandi and Jesus to George Bush.
  
• The UnderDog Democrat: A short, to the point (and too infrequent) critique of the Democratic Party from someone who knows what he is talking about. He is very professional, possibly having some experience in broadcasting. Check it out.
  
• Republicans Behaving Badly: "Black Sentinel", as he calls himself, has the fine job of going in to Republican audio chat rooms and recording his conversations. The show is usually extremely long; his comments mixed with long segments of chatting, but the first show is highly recommended. Entitled "Republicans and Race" see how often the host (a black man) is referred to as a 'nigger' by these GOP loyalists.
  
• Pure Imagination: I just started listening to this show. It has a very strange and unique format. Matt Gajewski writes and narrates odd, funny stories with music in the background and his friends playing different characters. Considering he is a college kid the quality is really impressive. The website is here.
  

And while it is actually a radio show

• Democracy Now!: One of the best programs out there. You probably are aware of it by now, but if not Listen at Democracynow.org
• Everything else is starting to be made in podcast format as well: NPR shows, Air America, and Real Time with Bill Maher.