As the sociologist William Gamson once wrote, “Beware of economists bearing gifts.” It’s so tempting to find a magic bullet (or lack thereof) to explain crime rates. As much as I think we should for other reasons “get the lead out,” the explanation of crime and its reduction is more complex than to be merely chemical.
Read our January/February issue yet? Kevin Drum wrote a must-read cover story.
MoJo has the context. Apparently the Feds are considering this a case of domestic terrorism. Would that my fellow citizens would embody tolerance, setting foot in each other’s holy places to learn instead of to shoot. Would that those with powerful megaphones would preach such tolerance instead of ignorance and hate.
About 30 people were inside the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, a suburb just south of Milwaukee, at 11:30 a.m. Sunday when gunfire broke out and at least seven people were killed, including a gunman who reportedly exchanged fire with a police officer. According to police, the gunman was killed and the officer was shot, wounding him critically. At least two other people were also injured. President Obama, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker (statement), and the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC have been briefed on the situation. (via What We Know About the Sikh Temple Shooting in Wisconsin So Far | Mother Jones)
This is an excellent resource, making use of the latest technology.
| Mon Jul. 16, 2012 3:00 AM PDTSince his first run for office in 1994, Mitt
Romney has been dogged by charges that the private equity firm he founded profited from outsourcing and shuttered companies. But over the last two weeks,new documents emerged to call into question the GOP presidential candidate’s narrative about his time at the company. At issue are two primary questions: Was Mitt Romney responsible for decisions made by Bain Capital between 1999 and 2002? And did the company’s behavior in those years—building huge profits by squeezing companies dry—reflect Romney’s broader mission at Bain? The answer to the first question depends on your definition of the term “managing director”; the answer to the second question is a subject of fierce debate.
Here, as best as we can figure, is Romney’s timeline at Bain:
Now food threatens right-wing bloggers.
| Tue Aug. 9, 2011 1:29 AM PDT
For the last two weeks, Whole Foods promoted frozen products made by Saffron Road, maker of all-natural halal foods, in celebration of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Emphasis on these products, which include famous Indian and Thai dishes, drew the ire of right-wing bloggers like Debbie Schlussel, who in late July blasted the Whole Foods promotion on her blog with a story titled ”Anti-Israel Whole Foods Wishes You a Happy Ramadan.” According to various media outlets, the backlash forced Whole Foods to cancel the promotion. This morning, theHouston Press said it obtained an email from Whole Foods that reads: “It is probably best that we don’t specifically call out or ‘promote’ Ramadan…We should not highlight Ramadan in signage in our stores as that could be considered ‘Celebrating or promoting’ Ramadan.” Not surprisingly, commenters on Twitter spending the better part of the morning blasting the company for the leaked message. Reza Aslan, an expert on Islam, tweeted: “Under pressure from Right Wing Nuts, Whole Foods cancels #Ramadanpromotion. Right. BC my local Whole Foods is full of Republicans. Morons.”
But not so fast: the grocery store says the promotion is still on.…
As a social scientist, I must take with a grain of salt the estimations of advocacy organizations. However, whether or not there is an empirical connection between anti-LGBT activity, increased bullying and official tolerance for the latter, all of three of these behaviors are reprehensible and should be opposed. Moreover, the connection between bullying, particularly of the anti-LGBT variety, and suicide has been well-established. Lastly, organizations which I support, like GLSEN and PFLAG, actively promote self-acceptance and tolerance, and work to end bullying (regardless of whom it affects). Hatred is not a family value, and fear is never a sound basis for public and educational policy.
The first was TJ. Then came Samantha, Aaron, Nick, and Kevin. Over the past two years, a total of nine teenagers have committed suicide in a Minnesota school district represented by Rep. Michele Bachmann—the latest in May—and many more students have attempted to take their lives. State public…
Could it happen here? Perhaps we need to worry less about phone hacking than all of the other nefarious practices of News Corp, like lobbying to change the regulations that curb media consolidation.
The Nation’s John Nichols joins The Last Word to explain the history of Murdoch’s extreme influence over British politics and also how this translates to who is—and who isn’t—elected in Washington. For more, read Nichols’s post on the US fallout from Murdoch’s News of the World crisis.
Invisible Women: The Military’s Not-So-Secret Gender Problem
Yesterday, we posted a link to a jarring GOOD magazine infographic with the title “Female soldiers more likely to be raped by their own troops than killed by enemy fire.” The response was huge…and it got us thinking.
(Source: Mother Jones)
Perfect timing.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, I filed a request under Alaska’s open records law, for all—yes, all—of Palin’s gubernatorial emails. Other journalists and citizen…
