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A few summers ago, then-Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker offered some strange "musings," let's call them, on heat's effect on blacks, Latinos and whites.

Baker's remarks were, as one sports sociologist offered, "unfortunate and not totally informed . . . but not malicious."

Following a series of apologetic remarks from broadcasters, sports journalists and, of course, more sports sociologists, Baker was finally asked why he thought his remarks hadn't landed him in the ranks of Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder, one-time Maryland basketball coach Lefty Driesell or former Los Angeles Dodger executive Al Campanis - each guilty of unfortunate and not totally informed, but not malicious statements, and each recipients of public disdain formerly reserved for maniacal German dictators and deranged circus clowns.

Baker's response was straightforward: As "a black manager, I can say things about blacks that a white manager can't say, and whites can say things about whites that blacks can't say."

It's possible Baker was given some latitude, as well, because he toils in a profession that most of us consider somewhat removed from the real workaday world. Odd things happen in professional sports, so what was one more odd remark, plus or minus?

Fast-forward four years into another profession every bit as removed from reality as professional sports. Of course, we're talking about politics.

Recently, our nation's first Muslim member of Congress, Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison, addressed a group of atheists at a public library.

First, Ellison assured them he would fight for their right to be atheists. We can all breathe a sigh of relief over that, now, can't we? I mean, Lord - er, Santa - knows atheists, like so many in America, are among the most oppressed members of our society. Why, nearly every day a representative of the Great Church of the United States pounds on my door - yours, too, I suspect - and demands my allegiance to God, King and country. Sure.

Fortunately, brave men in Congress, like Ellison, are ready to defend those who simply believe in nothing.

Still, given that many Muslims find Jews and Christians are infidels of the highest order to be beheaded if they refuse to convert, is it likely that atheists would receive special dispensations for their blasphemy? I don't think so.

But Ellison was far from finished. He drew parallels between the events of 9/11 and Adolf Hitler's burning of the Reichstag and ultimately made an indefensible comparison between President Bush and Hitler.

What's odd is that Ellison's remarks made less than a ripple in the news. One might think that such comments - coming from our first Muslim member of Congress and all - would have gained a bit of attention or maybe some outrage.

One suspects, though, that in these politically correct times, media-driven outrage is reserved for - well, now that's something to ponder, isn't it?

When did we decide as a society that some people's speech is a little freer than others?