A salutary reminder to pundits like me to pay attention to the trend figures produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for things like the employment and unemployment numbers.
Sarah Palin
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Sarah Palin responds: a victim of “blood libel”
Sarah Palin has used the internet to mount a strong attack on critics who have accused her of creating a climate that led to the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, reports Richard Farmer.
Arizona shooting 
Don’t blame Sarah Palin, blame gun laws
Much has been said about the extent to which provocative language from hard-hitting politicians such as Sarah Palin may have encouraged the Arizona shooting. But aside from the shooter there is only one thing we can blame: the gun that made it possible, writes John Cook.
Terrorism comes to Arizona
Violence does not happen in a vacuum, and it is right to point to the escalating intensity of America’s political discourse as a likely factor in this sort of incident.
Arizona shooting Arizona shooting puts political rhetoric in the crosshairs
Crikey media wrap: Is the accused Arizona shooter simply a crazed individual or was his violent act a product of increasingly violent political rhetoric in the US?
Crikey Says: Words do matter
Details are still coming to hand about the alleged Arizona shooter, but that hasn’t stopped the speculation, especially when you throw Sarah Palin’s now infamous crosshairs map in the mix.
Arizona shooting 
Searching for blame in Arizona
Shock and grief has turned to anger and remorse in the wake of the horrific shootings in Tuscon, Arizona on the weekend. To what extent, ponders Chris McGreal, does so-called “hate speech” play a role in inciting violence?
Reflecting on the Arizona shooting: politicians’ words do matter
It does not need the words of politicians to inspire nutters to do bad things so it may be a bit much to be blaming Sarah Palin for the shooting of congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona. However, a campaign map published with gun sights was a crass way of getting a point across, writes Richard Farmer.
Qwerty quirks: is Palin tellings a porky?
Sarah Palin claims she created the word “refudiate” due to a simple typing error: pressing an F instead of a P. But F are P are not even close to each other on the keyboard and Palin also used the non-existent word verbally, writes Richard Farmer.
Crikey’s Annual Awards: and the nominees are…
The nominations are in, and they make for an exceedingly good snapshot of the incredible year that was. Good job you lot.
Aaron Sorkin: Sarah Palin and her army of arrogant assholes
Phony pioneer girl Sarah Palin preaching about hunting is arrogant rubbish. Killing an animal for fun and bragging about it for political gain is not the same as buying meat from the butcher, writes an angry Aaron Sorkin.
Guy Rundle: Rundle: WikiLeaks … diplomacy out the door and instead, talk of execution
Sarah Palin suggested that Julian Assange should be hunted down like Osama bin Laden and also charged with treason, a tough thing for a US court to hang on an Australian citizen.
Sarah Palin would lose, and bring the party down with her
There’s no doubt Sarah Palin is a tenacious and gutsy politician with a deft ability to manipulate the media. But if Palin ran for President she would high jack the party and turn American politics into a sickly celebrity fest, writes Mark McKinnon.
Climbing to Presidency, the Palin way
Like or loathe her, no-one can say Sarah Palin hasn’t done things her own way - including becoming a reality TV star and a best-selling author. But in order to seize the top job she’ll need to play ball and make some changes, writes John Dickerson.
Crikey Says: The lie that travelled halfway around the world…
How far ahead of his time Mark Twain was when he said a century before the internet: “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”
Political snippets: We’re a winner as second-worst
The global risk advisory firm Maplecroft has ranked Australia second among six countries it ranks as “extreme risk” on the basis of their high CO2 emissions from energy use.
leaked Inside Palin’s new manifesto
Get the scoop on Sarah Palin’s latest memoir/manifesto America By Heart, a week before it’s officially made public. It includes her laughing about misspelt Tea Party signs, talking about Australian Idol and her thoughts on her daughter Bristol’s teen pregnancy.
Political snippets: A revolt in the ranks
There’s one thing about the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development: when it publishes one of its country reviews it goes out of its way not to openly contradict opinions expressed by the host government’s finance officials.
Inside the Sarah Palin reality TV experience
Sarah Palin’s new reality TV program could very well qualify as the most expensive political advertisement ever made, writes Shushannah Walshe.
Sarah Palin and reality TV: what’s she up to?
Sarah Palin is the star of a new reality TV program about her life helmed by the producer of Survivor and The Apprentice. It’s kind of hard to see how a move into prime time TV-tainment could help her political career, writes Nancy Franklin.
Guy Rundle: Rundle’s mid-terms: the depthlessness of Palin, and the town Disney built
Marshalled against the portentous, and sometimes vacuous, appeal to depth made by Obama, Palin deploys the same tone of high-school, the idea that none of this study stuff matters, that it is all illusion.
Guy Rundle: Rundle’s mid-terms: tea with Christine O’Donnell in Dover, Delaware
The music cranks up, as the crowd swells towards low triple figures, “don’t stop believin”, “walking on sunshine”, ancient pop-rock that’s become the house music for these events.
great read 
Tea Party full of crackers
Attend a Sarah Palin-led Tea Party rally and you’ll find yourself surrounded by contradictory old white people living off Medicare and complaining about the welfare state. Matt Taibbi examines how Republican insiders brought them to power.
