“The Impact of Inequality” is one of the most important books you will ever read. -- Thom Hartmann

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

The Impact of Inequality: How to Make Sick Societies Healthier (Paperback): Thom Hartmann "Independent Thinker of the Month" Review Exclusively for BuzzFlash.com

By Richard Wilkinson

BuzzFlash.com's Review (excerpt)

THOM HARTMANN'S INDEPENDENT THINKER REVIEW OF THE MONTH FOR BUZZFLASH:
August, 2009

Each month, BuzzFlash is privileged to have nationally syndicated progressive talk show host Thom Hartmann review a progressive book or DVD exclusively for BuzzFlash. See other progressive premiums at The BuzzFlash Progressive Marketplace.

Thom Hartmann's Review -- Exclusively for BuzzFlash -- for August, 2009:

"The Impact of Inequality: How to Make Sick Societies Healthier"

By Richard Wilkinson

Reviewed by Thom Hartmann

If the number of dog-eared pages thickening the upper corner of a book on my bookshelves is any indication of how important that book was to me (and it is), then “The Impact of Inequality” is one of the top ten books in my library (and it is).

Wilkinson has, quite simply, identified the One Single Issue That Drives Everything Else.

Obesity, cancer, infant mortality, homicide, gun violence, imprisonment ratios, depression, drug abuse, teenage pregnancies, venereal disease rates, use of prescription antidepressants, workplace satisfaction, trust of one’s neighbors – pick from the menu. ALL of them are driven by a single variable.

And that variable isn’t wealth. While America is the richest nation in the world with a median income of around $44,000/year, we’re way in the back of the pack in all the indices mentioned above. So is the second richest nation, Great Britain.

And it wasn’t that way in the period from 1940 to 1980.

The reason it is now, it turns out, is pretty straightforward. While most European and developed nations have a ratio of about 3:1 to 5:1 between the wealth of the poorest 20% of the populace and the richest 20%, the UK and US are running in the neighborhood of 8:1.

The more unequal a society is, the more problems it has. Regardless of how rich it is.

Conversely, the more equal a society is the better it does. Regardless of how poor it is (so long as they’re above a baseline survival threshold, which appears to run around $5000/year). Costa Rica, at around $7,000 a year, does better than the US or UK on all of the items on the list above – and more.

And it’s not just differences in these indices between nations: they also occur between states or provinces in nations. Wilkinson documents in his book how the most equal of the states of the US and provinces of Canada have the best outcomes in all the cases listed above, and the most unequal of the states have the worst outcomes. The relationship is absolutely definable, linear, and predictable.

Richard Wilkinson builds a powerful and irrefutable case in this book for a radical re-think of the role of wealth – and government and taxes – in society. Without this incredible piece of the puzzle, no other discussion of tax policy, industrial policy, educational policy, or rules of business can make serious sense.

“The Impact of Inequality” is one of the most important books you will ever read. And as a bonus, it’s also one of the most readable. I started it on a Friday afternoon, and was so stuck to it that I was finished by Sunday afternoon, complete with having made pages of notes and folded over and marked up at least sixty or seventy pages. Buy two or three copies, because this is a book you’ll want to share with everybody you know.

(Note: Wilkinson has published a sequel to “Impact” in the UK, titled “The Spirit Level,” which will become available in the US this winter. Its website is here. I ordered it via a British bookseller and read it cover-to-cover, but found it to be mostly a rehash and update of the contents/statistics/arguments of “Impact.” While “Spirit Level” will definitely be worth buying when it comes out, I recommend you not wait but get “Impact” now and familiarize yourself with what I predict will become the hottest topic of discussion in economic and political circles over the next few years.)

Thom Hartmann is a New York Times bestselling Project Censored Award winning author and host of a nationally syndicated progressive radio talk show. You can learn more about Thom Hartmann at his website and find out what stations broadcast his program. You can also listen to Thom over the Internet.

THOM HARTMANN'S INDEPENDENT THINKER REVIEW OF THE MONTH FOR BUZZFLASH

Read The Full Review >>>

http://www.buzzflash.com/store/reviews/1811

Product Description

Buy more progessive premiums to support BuzzFlash progressive news and commentary (we accept no advertising, corporate or otherwise to maintain our complete independence)by going to The BuzzFlash Progressive Marketplace.

Learn More >>>

http://www.buzzflash.com/store/items/1811

Adam & Andy

I I really love the work of James Asal. Go to his site (click the pic above), and click archives to follow the story. Its great fun.

Mary Cheney Donates To Anti-Gay Ohio U.S. Senate Candidate

The openly lesbian spawn of Dick, Mary Cheney has contributed $1000 to the campaign of former U.S. Rep. Rob Portman (R-OH), who is running to replace the retiring Sen. George Voinovich. As a Congressman, Portman voted against same-sex marriage and against allowing gay adoption in DC. Critics consider this donation to be curious as Cheney has spoken out in favor of both issues in the past.

Carrie Prejean Sues Pageant Officials For Religious Discrimination

Dethroned homophobe Carrie Prejean has filed suit against her former handlers at the Miss California USA pageant, alleging religious discrimination, libel, and everything else she could think of.

Read more at: JMG

Corvino: Other People’s Judgments

“You don’t just want us to tolerate what you gay people do,” my skeptical questioner announced, “you want us to think that it’s RIGHT.”

Send / Share

Add Comment

Whenever I hear this point–and it’s pretty often–I always think to myself, “Duh.” Of course I want people to think homosexuality is “right.” Why would anyone think I wouldn’t?

Actually, the latter question is not entirely rhetorical. Even my fellow gays ask me why we should care about other people’s moral approval. Beyond the obvious pragmatic advantages - for example, more moral approval means more favorable voting attitudes means more legal rights means an easier life - why should we give a damn what other people think? And while we’re on the subject, why should THEY care? Why are our lives any of their business?

There’s a myth circulating among well-meaning people that “morality is a private matter,” and that therefore “we shouldn’t judge other people.” This is nonsense of the highest order. Morality is about how we treat one another. It’s about fairness and justice. It’s about what we as a society are willing to tolerate, what we positively encourage, and what we absolutely forbid. It is the furthest thing from a private matter.

There’s a story I always tell in my introductory ethics classes about a freshman who wrote a paper defending moral relativism. His paper was laden with references to what’s “true for you” versus what’s “true for me,” what’s “right for you” versus what’s “right for me” and so on. I gave the paper an F. Surprised and angry, the student came to my office demanding a justification.

“Well,” I carefully explained, “I graded your paper the way I grade all papers. I stood at the top of a staircase and threw a batch of papers down the stairs. Those that landed on the first few stairs got A’s…then B’s, C’s and so on. You wrote a long, heavy paper. It went to the bottom of the stairs. It got an F.”

“That’s not right!” he blurted out.

“You mean, that’s not right…FOR YOU,” I responded, grinning.

The moral of the story (aside from, tenured professors do the darndest things) is this: despite all of our talk of “right for you,” deep down we believe in public moral standards. We may disagree about what those are, and about what actions fall under their purview - but we still believe that right and wrong aren’t entirely relative. (For the record, the grading story is entirely fictional.)

One might object that grading affects other, non-consenting people, whereas relationships affect only the people involved. There are two problems with this objection.

The main one is that the latter point is just false. Unless one endorses a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” secrecy, relationships have a public presence and thus public consequences. Gays aren’t waging the marriage battle just so we can all go back in the closet. Like most people, we want to stand up before family and friends, proclaim our love, have it celebrated for the beautiful thing that it is. (At least, that’s what many of us want.)

We want to send the message to young gays and lesbians that there’s nothing wrong with them; that they, too, deserve to love and be loved, and that there’s nothing sinful or wrong about that. We want to be treated equally in the eyes of the law. All of these aims affect other people in various ways.

Second, the objection invites the response, “Says who?” Who decides that only actions affecting other people are appropriate targets of moral scrutiny? Who decides that that’s the right way to look at morality? And there’s no way to answer such questions without engaging in a bit of moralizing. Value judgments are inescapable that way.

Those who claim that they’re not taking any moral stances about other people’s lives are, by that very claim, taking a moral stance about other people’s lives - a “tolerant’ one, though not necessarily a very admirable one. Sometimes, other people’s behavior really sucks, and we should say so.

“Saying so” is part of the confusion here. There’s a difference between MAKING moral judgments and OFFERING them, not to mention a difference between offering them respectfully and wagging your finger in people’s faces. The latter is not just self-righteous; it’s generally counterproductive. I suspect when people say that “we shouldn’t judge other people,” it’s really the latter, pompous kind of moralizing they’re concerned to avoid. But we shouldn’t confuse the rejection of bad moralizing with the rejection of moralizing altogether.

In short, we should care what other people think, and do, because the moral fabric touches us all.

********************

John Corvino, Ph.D. is an author, speaker, and philosophy professor at Wayne State University in Detroit. His column “The Gay Moralist” appears Fridays on 365gay.com.

For more about John Corvino, or to see clips from his “What’s Morally Wrong with Homosexuality?” DVD, visit www.johncorvino.com.

From IGLA

INDIAN HIGH COURT: GAY SEX IS LEGAL

New Delhi Court De-criminalizes Consensual Homosexual Acts in a Ground-breaking and Controversial Ruling in the Conservative Indian Capital

Last Chance For Banksy Versus Bristol Museum

courtesy of Jocko

VIVA Uruguay!

Uruguay May Allow Gay Adoption

The march for LGBT rights across South America continues as Uruguay prepares to legalize adoption by gay couples.

Read the rest of the article at: JMG

UT Gov. Gary Herbert: It Should Be Perfectly Legal To Discriminate Against Gays

I should have blogged about it at the time, but there was a lot of concern a few weeks ago when President Obama appointed Utah's gay-friendly Gov. Jon Huntsman to be his ambassador to China. It turns out that fears about Huntsman's successor were well founded.

Courtesy of JMG

Friendly Voices - Linda Ronstadt

Another great find from JMG:

"I had moved back to Tucson with my kids because I just thought it was quieter, and my family was there. But Tucson has turned out to be a very conservative place, and I didn’t want my kids coming home from school saying things like ‘That’s so gay.’ So we moved back to San Francisco, and I sent my kids to a school that actively taught that homophobic remarks are just… not OK, and my kids’ attitudes have changed as a result of it.

"Look, my kids are going to be able to form their own ideas, but at least I wanted them to be able to question things. My son is super pro-gay rights, and even though he has a girlfriend, I wanted him to know that as he emerged sexually, he’d be able to do whatever he wanted to do. You know, that it’s not something you have a choice over." - Pop and country music legend Linda Ronstadt, talking to Planet Out. It's a great interview.

Thanks to JMG

Stop Baha'i Anti-Gay Discrimination

Equal Marriage & Family Rights- Religion & The Election

Maine!

Ted Kennedy: LGBT Activists React

Ted Kennedy: LGBT Activists React

I've reached out to noted LGBT leaders and activists, requesting their reactions to the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy. Below are some of the responses so far, presented in no particular order. Please return to this post later in the day as more messages come in.

John Aravosis, activist and AmericaBlog founder:

"I pretty much came out, politically, thanks to Ted Kennedy. His staff let me work out of his office, evenings and weekends, on gay rights causes (e.g., DADT, ENDA) while I was still closeted and working for a Republican Senator. They then vouched for me to the Children's Defense Fund, landing me a job there, and starting my work in Internet activism. What I'm doing today is a very real result of what Ted Kennedy did for me in 1993-94."

David Mixner, activist and former Clinton advisor:

"As a writer, words simply fail me this morning. The Senator has been a personal friend for over three decades and I am devastated. Heaven is richer today and we all are poorer. Will miss his laughter, his personal teasing and his joy of song. Today, without a doubt, the world lost one of its greatest champions for equality and peace."

Lane Hudson, activist and blogger:

"Ted Kennedy was an old school politician who was forward thinking enough to have been a longtime hero that championed equality long before many others. I was devastated to wake up this morning to a world without him. This nation and its people are substantially better because of Ted Kennedy and he is sorely missed."

Jeremy Hooper, activist and Good As You blogger:

"My first real exposure to Sen. Kennedy was in the early 1990's, when a junior high teacher defined his role in American politics by citing Chappaquiddick, failed presidential aspirations, and controversy. It took me the next decade to fully re-educate myself about Ted's true triumphs, and to realize that those triumphs are the very reason why some conservatives (like my teacher) wanted to mask his worth behind a cloud of scandal. The truth is that our community has never known a greater senatorial ally. And by 'our community,' I mean Americans."

Pam Spaulding, activist and Pam's House Blend editor:

"The lion has passed, but even when ill, Senator Kennedy cared deeply that his legacy as a voice of equality for all will live on in the work of others. My heart goes out to his family."

Peter Staley, AIDS activist and Poz.com blogger:

"People with AIDS have had very few friends fighting for us on Capitol Hill, but from day one we had its most effective legislator on our side. I'm convinced Ted Kennedy saved many, many lives, and protected all of us from being steamrolled by the hatred others tried to stir up. He saved us from the worst of others' indifference or bigotry, making men like Reagan and Helms seem small. Who will fight for us now?"

Bil Browning, activist and Bilerico Project editor:

"Living in Indiana, I became accustomed to hearing Sen Ted Kennedy cursed as a 'Massachusetts liberal' more often than praised for the tireless work he did on behalf of the poor, the downtrodden, and the powerless. Senator Kennedy's reach extended well beyond the liberal vs conservative dichotomy so pervasive in American politics; he served as a bellwether for the future of our country's support of the common citizen. Indiana's LGBT community joins with the rest of the nation in mourning the loss of a staunch ally and supporter who constantly fought on our behalf."

Michelangele Signorile, activist and SiriusXM host:

"He battled the right-wing vigorously during the 80s in trying to get funding for AIDS/HIV research and basic care, in the face of a negligent government in the grip of religious extremists. He championed LGBT civil rights early on, and whether it was hate crimes laws or marriage, he was always out front in the Senate and in political life, showing leadership and bringing others along. I'm enormously grateful to him for helping to bring our issues into the mainstream and taking the ridicule and attacks from the far right over the years -- almost daily, from hate radio to the Internet -- because he took a courageous stand. Thank you, Senator."

Human Right Campaign president Joe Solmonese:

“The nation has lost its greatest champion and strongest voice for justice, fairness, and compassion. The loss to our community is immeasurable. There was no greater hero for advocates of LGBT equality than Senator Ted Kennedy. From the early days of the AIDS epidemic , to our current struggle for marriage equality he has been our protector, our leader, our friend. He has been the core of the unfinished quest for civil rights in this country and there is now a very painful void. Our hearts go out to the Kennedy family."

NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn:

“He has been called the lion of the Senate and indeed he was just that. The first time I saw him speak in public was in the early 1990’s when we were both at a dinner for the Empire State Pride Agenda. As he had done so many times before, Senator Kennedy was there to offer his voice and his support to a movement for equality. And what a voice. He had a gregarious way about him that brought all in the room to our feet and made us laugh; but, when it came to the matter at hand, his thunderous words echoed throughout the hall with an awesome force. It was one of the rare moments that I found myself speechless. To have Senator Kennedy stand with the LGBT community that night so many years ago, and on countless occasions since then, is an honor that has given me an added determination that I will always carry with me."

Rea Carey, executive director, National Gay & Lesbian Task Force:

“The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force mourns the loss of Senator Edward Kennedy, a true champion of the people and a dear friend to our community. The senator was a hero to many across the country and around the world. He spent his life fighting for justice for working people, people of color, children, women, LGBT people, immigrants, people with disabilities, people living with HIV/AIDS and so many others who looked to his leadership for a more just society. Senator Kennedy was unmatched in his compassion and in his willingness to stand with those who often lacked a champion. Even after his death, his vision will inspire generations to work for the health, welfare and equality for all he so doggedly pursued. We offer our deepest and most sincere condolences to his family. Our thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones at this difficult time.”

Chack back all day at JMG

Harvey Milk Inducted Into CA Hall Of Fame

Today the Governator inducted Harvey Milk and ten others into the California Hall of Fame. In other news, there is a California Hall of Fame.

The 2009 California Hall of Fame inductees are: entertainer Carol Burnett, former Intel CEO Andrew Grove, governor and U.S. senator Hiram Johnson, decathlete and philanthropist Rafer Johnson, industrialist Henry J. Kaiser, philanthropist and peace activist Joan Kroc, film-maker George Lucas, football commentator John Madden, gay rights advocate Harvey Milk, artist Fritz Scholder, author Danielle Steel, fitness and bodybuilding pioneer Joe Weider, and Air Force test pilot General Chuck Yeager. The 2009 inductees join 38 California Hall of Fame inductees who have made great achievements in science, philanthropy, sports, business, entertainment, literature, fitness, technology, activism and politics. The California Hall of Fame highlights the broad range of California interests by honoring trailblazers who have not broken barriers in just one field or talent, but have impacted the world with their overall courage, determination and creativity.

The Hall of Fame is a project of the California Museum.

thanks to JMG

Health Care Debate: Iinclude the choice of a Public Option

A whopping 76% of voters want health insurance reform to include the choice of a Public Option. In the words of President Obama, the choice of a Public Option will, "keep the insurance companies honest."

So the insurance companies and right wing are fighting tooth and nail to get Democrats to cave on the public option and vote for fake reform like a "trigger" or co-opts. We can't let Democrats capitulate, we need to support Democrats only passing a bill with a strong public option.

http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/resolved

That is why bloggers like FireDogLake have joined forces with Credo Action and Democracy for America to pass Public Option Resolutions at local political groups across the country.

Please join us and forward this email to your friends, chances are they are part of the 76% of Americans who want Democrats to be resolved for a Public Option.

http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/resolved

New book by Judy Shepard

There is an excellent discussion going on at

Bahairants

Join us!

Clustermaps Totals to Date

I am deeply moved by the interest, one could safely say worldwide interest in Revoked. I imagine at least 60% of the USA totals are mine (I log on a lot to post and use my links) otherwise... wow!

Thanks all! Muito obrigado! Merci! Gracias!

Current Country Totals
From 1 Jun 2009 to 21 Aug 2009

United States (US)	618
Brazil (BR)	45
Canada (CA)	35
United Kingdom (GB)	26
Netherlands (NL)	20
Australia (AU)	19
New Zealand (NZ)	18
France (FR)	11
Germany (DE)	7
Israel (IL)	6
Belgium (BE)	4
Austria (AT)	4
Portugal (PT)	3
Morocco (MA)	3
Taiwan (TW)	3
Singapore (SG)	3
Japan (JP)	2
Afghanistan (AF)	2
India (IN)	2
Russian Federation (RU)	2
Hong Kong (HK)	2
Indonesia (ID)	2
Italy (IT)	2
Switzerland (CH)	1
Ukraine (UA)	1
Denmark (DK)	1
Sweden (SE)	1
Poland (PL)	1
Argentina (AR)	1
Peru (PE)	1
Luxembourg (LU)	1
Korea, Republic of (KR)	1
Puerto Rico (PR)	1
Venezuela (VE)	1
Jamaica (JM)	1
Senegal (SN)	1
Barbados (BB)	1
Mexico (MX)	1
Saudi Arabia (SA)	1
Spain (ES)	1
Cyprus (CY)	1
Nigeria (NG)	1
Egypt (EG)	1
Malaysia (MY)	1