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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.
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. :-)
While it is our constitutional right of freedom of speech there is a “responsibility” for what is being said. The continued rhetoric with the use of “any violent acts” whether implied or not has never been acceptable in a civilized nation. Sarah Palin could have easily taken the high road and confronted the issue head on with simply compassionate statements. Instead she continued to ratchet up the rhetoric once more, in her response on facebook.
"Words have consequences" (and so do maps with crosshairs) -Gabrielle Giffiords in MSNBC interview in March 2010
Palin has continually used very aggressive, gun-related rhetoric...she criticizes but takes no blame, she makes errors and never apologizes, never corrects them...she is reality-show material
It is time for more respectful , responsible speech in the media from politicians and from pundits
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!)
I think the caller who suggested "The Green Tea Party" had a good idea.
Al Franken says If you're concerned about corporate control of the media, you need to sign his petition.
http://www.alfranken.com/index.php/splash/fccopenletter
Well I kinda think that Perot's run had a lot to do with Bush losing that election, so if your concerned about too many people being on the case of the Tea Party, it seems to me it still works towards the benefit of progressives.
Though the Tea Party has yet to attempt to be a third party, their puppet masters won't allow that to happen. Though I would love to see the Tea Party become another party... how wonderful it would be to have them as splitters.
N
Villainizing the Tea Party
I am a bit cautious when both the Democratic Party & the Republican Party villianize the Tea Party. Reminds me of what happened after Ross Perot... when a third party threatens the status quo.
Remember, the 2nd Amendment says nothing about a right to manufacture or sell arms.
About the Unilateral Cross.
Just as the Nazis ruined the swastika, which used to be a symbol of peace, now I guess I have to give up wearing a unilateral cross in fear that people will think I'm a Fascist. To me, it's a symbol of balance as apposed to the traditional Christian cross with the longer bottom prong, which can be seen, as I do, as a symbol of culture out of balance to the side of Patriarchy.
Another reason why I won't wear a traditional Christian cross:
If your best friend were beheaded would you wear a guillotine around your neck?
I guess any kind of cross is out for me now.
Sarah Palin has defended her inflamatory rhetoric as just being spirited discourse. So in the spirit of spirited discourse, I'd like to see Sarah Palin in the crosshairs as we lock and load and then pull the trigger to take her out.
Some of us are falling into the language trap: equating a thing with a behaviour. A rifle somehow becomes an "assault" rifle. A telescopic sight becomes a "sniper" scope, and on and on.
The argument needs to be reframed. Attacking things because insane people may do horrendous things with them skips the real problem: our health "care" system has been seriously broken for generations, and the fact that sick people are not treated for their illnesses is proved over and over.
We have thousands upon thousands of weapons control laws in this country. Some estimate the total to be over 40,000. Bringing back the "assault" weapons ban that didn't work the first time is not going to help. Those laws don't work when they are not enforced, and enforcement is much harder than slapping a few more pages into the law books.
The discussion of gun control connects with, in many ways, other issues that come up in our society and points to the fundemental difference between progressives and conservatives. Progressives want to move ahead and conservatives want to pull us back. We get the assault weapons ban and we say--ok, it's not enough but it's a start. Let's move on. They drag us back so that we are having to fight the same fight over and over again. Another example is that we achieved the right for women to have choice over their own bodies with regards to pregnancy and still, almost 40 years later, are still fighting that fight. Health care? We have the beginnings, so let's move on to even greater benefit. No, we are pulled back. There are so many issues like this. We want to build on whatever progress is made, they want to pull us back. In fact, we are often caught entirely unprepared to re-visit an issue we thought was done. We need to learn a valuable lesson from the consistency of their m.o. We cannot be complacent about any victory in progress that we gain. We cannot say--well, that's finished, let's move on to the next challenge-- without also constantly reiterating the importance of the earlier victory.
As a result of the tragedy in Arizona this past week, we once again will have discussions about weapons and the mentally ill. Undoubtedly, there will be some victory in dealing with it and it will be way too small. But, we have to take whatever tiny progress we make and hammer home over and over its importance instead of just moving on to the next challenge as we would be inlcined to do.
Gnostics & Nazis?!?!
I had to turn on my computer to give my two cents on the caller who conflated Gnostics with Nazis. As a Liberal, Progressive GNOSTIC, I have to say that by my definition, Gnostics are the complete antithesis of Nazis. No Gnostic ever persecuted anyone but plenty of Gnostics were persecuted as heretics. Consider the Albigensian Crusade, for example, when the Gnostic Cathars were slaughtered on orders of Catholic Pope Innocent III. (The little known Christian on Christian crusade.)
Just had to push back against the continuing, centuries old, sluring of people who call themselves Gnostics.
Joe, I think you mean " wailin' ". I've never heard of Sarah Palin hunting whales, though I wouldn't be surprised.
Sarah Palins "Whalin" makes her a FOOL and a FELON!
As I've mentioned, the right uses the gun card to whip up frenzy. They know that they have the police, Blackwater, Brinks (and other private cops), National Guard, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, the National Security apparatus, and a lot of paranoid volunteers to call on when you step up with your semi-automatic M15-A2 and 100 rounds of .223 ammo to "take back" your government (country, whatever). Hell, they'll even let you have a helmet, body armor, and camo uniform.
The last I checked, the Savory Navy wasn't allowed to have cannon over 4" bore according to a 1799 federal law.
For the "government can't make me buy something crowd," the Militia Act of 1792 is probably still in effect, although I haven't checked recently.
Caller Jeremy is right.
Thom,
One of the other stations here in Tucson this morning is advertising the Crossroads of the West
Gun Show at the Pima County Fairground THIS weekend. The ad was placed at 10am news break
between the local conservative and the Neil Bortz program. And of course you've about the
rush to by Glocks
Hi Thom ,
think security is the issue--when I traveled to Turkey noticed you had to pass though metal detector to enter a large shopping mall ,pretty much like airport security at the time 2 yrs. ago . .
The response to Sarah Palin's utube video is very simple and is stolen from Ronald Reagan. Simply say "There you go again".
Palin's speech writers are taking the Pee Wee Herman approach, "I know you are but what am I?"
One would think that Palin would have a little different perspective these days...
http://skeptictank.tumblr.com/post/2701250935/kaleyoutloud-bam
Hey it occurs to me that if the right is putting out cross hairs on maps and saying things like don't retreat, reload, that the media is liberal, the President isn't an American, Democrats are Nazi Socialist Commies, etc, etc... aren't those basically "Blood Libels". I mean haven't they been whipping up this BS for years now?
Please explain to us Sara, why your rhetoric is okey dokey by gosh, but left rhetoric is a "Blood Libel".
What a hypocrite.
HYPOCRITE, look that one up too Palin speech writers... you'll find it right next to your photos in the dictionary.
N