Saturday, August 22, 2009

Massimo's picks

* Book suggestion: Kant, A Very Short Introduction

* Rachel Maddow's exposure (again!) of the lameness and hypocrisy of Rush, Newt and Sarah.

* One more op-ed by Paul Krugman on health care. And it's another must-read.

* The Washington Post on why American political discourse has always been crazy!

* Susan Neiman on taking back the language of morality from the distortions of the extreme right.

* New posts also available on my other blog, Gullibility is Bad for You...

2 comments:

  1. On healthcare I would also offer this by George Lakoff. I used it to help me write a letter to the editor countering a fearful letter from a sad citizen:

    http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/08/20

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  2. Pearlstein's follow-up Wa.Post chat is equally worth perusal. From the chat:

    Carrying a gun to a political meeting is an obscenity. Anyone who does it, even if they are within their legal rights, should be ashamed. Our founders fought a revolution (and, yes, took up arms) to build a society where political disputes are not settled through force or intimidation--and that's the only purpose of bringing a weapon to a political discussion: to intimidate.

    It is utterly unacceptable, and every politician should have the guts to say so. What worries me is that the people bringing weapons are hoping to have their weapons taken away, forcing a confrontation that will escalate; many of them, after all, quite frankly proclaim them "revolutionaries."


    Some might accuse him of being guilty of violating "Godwin's Law" - actually, one questioner does - but I would note that when you have people showing up at town hall events with a gun on their hip and an assault rifle across the shoulder, promising to "forcefully resist" if some form of public health care passes, you're engaging in anti-democratic behavior, to say the least.

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