Blood Libel?
By louisehartmann
More positive news is coming out of a Tucson hospital where Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is recovering from a gunshot wound to the head. Doctors report that she is able to breathe on her own and now put her chances of survival at 100%. In the coming days – families will begin burying those that died in the shooting rampage. Arizona state lawmakers passed legislation ensuring that protestors – like the lunatics at the Westboro Baptist Church – cannot interrupt these funerals by establishing a 300 ft. perimeter around the site. And President Obama is expected to make a major speech this evening in Arizona while he attends a memorial service for the victims.
Meanwhile - the family of the shooter – Jared Lee Loughner – broke their silence yesterday and issued a statement regarding the tragedy saying they were deeply sorry. And they also expressed the same sort of confusion that’s gripping the rest of the country saying, “There are no words that can possibly express how we feel. We wish that there were, so we could make you feel better. We don't understand why this happened." Our nation - with the exception of Sarah Palin, who today issued a youtube video accusing commentators and reporters of "blood libel" in calling out her use of violent rhetoric for political gain - is asking these very same questions today.
Comments
#2
On Tuesday's show....What was the name of the site from England that talked about Equality?
I heard his re-broadcast and remember only Equality.......com (or org).uk...Can anybody help me?
Angrygrrl (angry that I didn't write it down!)
#3
The group is The Equality Trust at http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/. Their book is The Spirit Level: Why Equality Is Better For Everyone. The site also offers analysis in response to critics.
Video and powerpoint presentations by the authors are also available at The Equality Trust site and by searching for the authors Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson. In particular, the RSA brought the two authors and two leading critics together for a debate available on audio.
Thanks for the question; I just found this debate and will now listen to it. The counter argument appears to hinge on outliers skewing the data (remove the US and some effects disappear) and I know the authors tried to compensate for our real US exceptionalism (exceptionally violent and unequal) by repeating the study methodology comparing US states like they compared countries.
You can always get links or references for the show by signing up for the newsletter or using the newsletter archives. :-)
#4
Sarah Pallin in a million years wouldn't know what blood libel was, trust me on that. She didn't know anything about the Korean war, so forget about European history. Bill Kristol, her manager instructed her to say that. He discovered her. She pulled out the full spectrum victimization tactic.
#5
Sarah palin is a clear example of a "political whore" as she has no learned position on any issue of National Importance and is clearly in this for personal gain.
#6
Most of America knew what palin was from day 1. It was just a matter of time before she stuck foot in mouth enough times for many of the rest to have their eyes opened. The other 30% of bush loving tea baggers are a lost cause and will follow her and the bush administration to the fires of hell !
So long media whore palin, glad to see ya go.
#7
We put all those links in the Daily Stack and they are in the newsletter that goes out after the show every day...
#8
I felt the Palin's video was the epitomy of hypocrisy. What do you expect from people who are too full of their own self importance? She had a good speech writer, but the context of it was totally off-base. And don't she and Angle realize that google caches every webpage? So even if its removed, it is still in the internet archives! If they don't know this, they have poorly-trained webmasters!
On Thom's show he was mentioning that Robert King was attempting "1000 ft ban" but another said that "anyone who made threats against an elected" ... Has anyone emailed Palin about this? Or Beck, or Limbaugh or Fox News?
The Dems need to revamp their verbage... it shouldn't be left vs right, liberal vs conservative, or Republicans vs Democrats ... it should be Freedom vs Totalitarians. But we won't have that as long as our politicians have bent over for big business while outsourcing jobs.
#9
She just doesn't get it. She had a great opportunity to show the country that she was above the rhetoric and call for reasonable discourse, but she failed miserably by, again, making it all about her.
#10
I find it very interesting that Republican WOMEN, Baachman, Palin, Brewer, have all adopted a "pitbull-ish, push the edge of decency" tone to their comments. If men made some of the comments these women have made, they would be called out on it. However, these women appear willing and able to speak the dirty, mean-spirited rhetoric that they so easily spew on behalf of the Republican party. Little do they know, they will never get a REAL seat at the table. They are being used....in much the same way girls were 'used' in high school.
#11
To the point of the Blood Libel OP by Thom... In her video Palin first says no one should make political points off the assassination then she says people are accusing her in a 'blood libel' as if commentators had said she is indulging in murder and the ritual consumption of human blood. All I can think about Palin's non-apology and failure to tone down the rhetoric is : The hit dog whines. Obviously, Palin will not retreat, instead she has reloaded.
In Tucson, some local Republican leaders have resigned in fear of the armed racists or in solidarity with those who felt the need to resign to save their life. From FireDogLake and a re-quote from the Arizona Republic via Alternet
The first and only African-American to hold the party's precinct chairmanship, Miller said he has been called "McCain's boy," [NB:boy=Southern 'polite' form of nigger] and during the campaign saw a critic form his hand in the shape of a gun and point it at him."I wasn't going to resign but decided to quit after what happened Saturday," Miller said. "I love the Republican Party but I don't want to take a bullet for anyone."
#12
What I think of Sarah Palin and her ilk is in today's column:
http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-chicago/from-chicago-to-wasilla
The ex-beauty queen is an empty vessel that the camera loves.
#13
They are making our lives intentionally hell for their entertainment.
#14
There is a great story over at JTA News (" Palin slammed for using 'blood libel' term). http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/01/12/2742528/palins-use-of-term-bl... fully spells out what blood libel means. She has already offended Jews like me but now it's clear that she hates our kind. Palin had a lot of time to think about what she was going to say so it's not like her staff members didn't do a simple Google or Bing search. Palin's statement is absolutely premediated and gives good Christians like my wife a bad name. Heck, she gives humans a bad name...
I want her to run so badly in 2012, that's going to be an easy ride to victory for us progressives all across the country. America is much smarter than the mainstream media makes us out to be.
#15
Palin's comments only confirm what a very small person she is. She is only interested in herself. This is reflected in her children and you can see the kind of atmosphere she has created in her home. Frankly, she's not worth our time and energy.
#16
#17
And now come to think of it, we have John Boehner who cries all over himself at the drop of a hat. Are we seeing a complete sexual role reversal on the right? Larry Craig cried all over himself in public as well.
We all know Nancy Palosi would never have lived down even a single tear. Dear god.
#18
People at Nuremberg were charged for the actions under the principle of "Known or should of known" for their actions and words. To me she is complicit with what happened along with the other hypocrite drug addict Rush and Glen Beck. When I first heard Glen in Tampa on WFLA his solution to the Middle East crisis was " We should go in there and nuke the whole place and let God sort them out". Here is a man that admits that he did not even know what a black man looked like until he left home and went to college. I'll even go a step further and include Clear Channel Communications which owns all these evil hypocrites who go around and profess Jesus Christ who himself would not have anything to do with the likes of all these hate filled people. The one thing that puzzles me about this Jared Loughner guy is this magic marker episode and placing a C and then an X on some sort of street sign. To me it kind of sounded like he wanted to X out Christianity,( C ) and had something against that to along with the goverment.
#19
I feel sorry for her. She is so ignorant, I am sure she had no idea what she was saying. Shame on whoever put those words in her mouth, but you can't blame her for saying them as she just doesn't have the mental acquity to know what she's doing. It was the clearest demonstration I've seen that there are forces pulling her strings. And now maybe they've decided to flush her, having her say something like that.
#20
Her statement makes her the poster person of the "ME Generation". Me first, second and all the way to last. Remember the only thing she ever accomplished was to have the Oil Co. pay ever Alaska resident $8,000 a year. Can you say "ME, ME, Its about MEEE", its going to be her campaign slogan. I have a question for Sarah Palin. What objects have crosshairs in them? A box of cookies? A mirror? A telescope? OH a gunsight, YES.
#21
Sarah Palin's ingenuous, incurious and self centered comments stand in stark contrast to President Obama's speech in Tucson tonight. It's obvious she was merely reading someone else's words and expressing some speechwriter's thoughts. It was also obvious the President rose to an entirely different level by attempting to bridge the uncivil divide between all American's right and left. It's apparent he agonized over, and thought deeply over every single word in his speech. I'm sure that when he wrote to express his heartfelt thoughts about 9-year old Christina Green, he undoubtedly fought back tears thinking about his own daughters. I believe the President, and all of the other guests at the memorial, took a giant step toward healing America's political divide. We should all follow Barack Obama's challenge to live up to our children's goodness and virtuous expectations. Sarah Palin again lost a great opportunity to prove wrong, most of us who believe she's just not worthy of the hype.
#22
You consider the source when Palin speaks and ignore it and her.
#23
I guess those commenting here didn't hear the Presidents memorial address, or just choose to ignore it. The "professional left" would rather blame than forgive.
#24
Sarah Palin's writers got the idea of using the term "Blood Libel" from an opinion article printed in the January 11th Wall Street Journal by Glenn Reynolds. She didn't think of it herself. My guess is she had no idea what the term meant.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870366790457607191381869696...
#25
President Obama got it right:
I think Sarah Palin's speach is a stark contrast to President Obama's speech. The President reclaimed government for the people by t eh people and of the people. The President asks us to do better and work as a nation. Pailin's statment is full of narcissism, fear, division, violence, blame of "others" and I'll let others help me figure this out. Sarah Pailin is A) the victom of the Jesish controlled media B) Has recently been attacked by Jews C) Has no clue what she is talking about.
This is why she is only a 1/4 term governor that was found guilty of abuse of power in that short time.
I must give credit the House Speaker John Bohner's speach showed leadership and spoke of national unity-I hope it will continue...Oops guess John couldn't join the President and the Nation in mourning, rather he had to go raise campaign political money and have a few drinks instead.
#26
Reply to #24
That wasn't the only place where this vile term was used in this connection before Sarah repeated it; it had already become a Reich-wing "meme":
http://mediamatters.org/research/201101120011
Even more disgusting:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-01-12/sarah-palins-jewish-supporters-defend-her-blood-libel-remark/
#27
Unfortunately the Right Doesn't Listen to Us
It doesn't matter what we say or think. They don't listen to us at all. They only tune in to find our soft spot to attack. Not to listen to what we are saying.
Let them who have ears hear.
#28
Thank you Mrs. Hartmann!
#29
Media whore, 'yes!' - Narcissist, 'yes!' - deserving of attention: NO!
Stop the participation in her sad life and show her and the right wing the door during election time. In the meanwhile let all politicians know that you want civility in politics back. This Nation has only begun to prove itself as a minority of the decent - and the minority is getting smaller as our collective narcissism will bring us to darker days ahead. Is anyone really surprised? Our souls have been bought out in more ways than we would individually admit; indifference and greed own the day and have for the last 40 years - and we are shocked by the lunacy that has been born of our own making? We have sucked the breast of this Nation dry, while spitting out common sense and equality upon the memories of her greatest children.
#30
The media seems to have turned a blind eye to some of the more compelling points in this story, and once again gives Palin a pass when it comes to the truth.
Jared wrote in his youtube diatribe that terrorist is a person that uses terror as a political weapon , yet the right labels him as apolitical.
They say there is no proof that he paid any attention to politics, but he reffered to the number of his congressional district while calling its residents illiterate.
He rails against the expansion of government , treasonus ratification of the constitution, and calls for a return to the gold standard, hardly topics on the mind of a person who is not into politics.
I hear people saying we don't know if he was influenced by talk radio yet three times in his video he refers to the reader as "listener".
"America must be stronger than the evil we saw displayed last week. We are better than the mindless finger-pointing we endured in the wake of the tragedy." Sarah Palin said this in the coclusion of her speech. The evil she implies is not the shooting, the evil is anyone having the audacity to fault her for creating her hit list. She is truly a psychopath.
#31
I can't believe the crazinest I read in these blogs. I'm no Sarah Palin fan, but all she is doing is defending herself from you crazies. First you accuse her of being resposible for the killings, for putting a target on several congressional districts. A practice Bill Beckel, democratic strategist, has addmitted he has done as well. Second when she responds, to you nuts, she is castigated as being anti-sematic. It's no win for her. Actually it is a win for her, because most people see what is being done to her by a group of "full moon" lefties. The killings were done by a mentally ill individual who appears to have acted alone. The more information released about the killer, the more it is evident. over 60% of Americans agree with me. If I were you folks I would be quiet before the hole your digging for youself becomes your grave. (Can I say grave without you people getting crazier.)
Most likely, the censors on this site will kick me off of it for expressing my opinion. In the words of George Carling, "Who would have thought censorship would come from the left".
#32
Here's what I would consider to be an authoritative source of the use of blood libel: http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0111/tobin011311.php3 "The fact is, those who are trying to link her or other conservatives to this crime are, in fact, committing a kind of blood libel. Take issue with her politics or dislike her personality if that is your inclination, but the idea that she has even the most remote connection to this event is outrageous. So, too, is the manufactured controversy over "blood libel.""
And a really good example of what these accusations lead to:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/01/my_name_is_betsy_im_a_killer.html
"My name is Betsy. I'm a wife and proud soccer mom, a writer, and a small businessowner. I'm also a killer.
On the morning of January 8, 2011, I intentionally entered a gathering held by Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and shot her at near-point-blank range. I injured fourteen others, killing six -- among them a beautiful, curious, doe-eyed, nine-year-old girl. I didn't actually pull the trigger, but I'm as guilty as the psychopath who did.
Here are just a few of the charges against me:
I am a conservative.
On occasion, I listen to Beck, Limbaugh, and Fox News. . . ."
I guess I'm one too.
#33
George Carling?
You must have had one foot in your own hole while you were settling your bar bill with Mabel.
Read the blog again from the 13th regarding stochastic terrorism I hope you continue to follow Thom and engage, it is through that sort of self-motivated application of effort that will offer the best opportunity to reshape your thinking and possibly open you up to another point of view. I applaude your open-mindedness!
#34
Yes, pschueler, The late Geroge Carlin (my mispelling) is quoted as saying "Who would have thought censorship would come from the left". So you guys have moved beyond censorship, and are into "reshaping my thinking". What next waterboarding?
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