Three recent events have brought an onslaught of hurling the term “anti-Semite” toward a number of people who certainly do not warrant such an epithet.

The last of these three instances has evoked an almost shocking level of vitriol directed toward a public figure who has been what most regard as a voice of sanity in the midst of crazed rhetoric toward Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas or the Palestinian people themselves, by uber Zionists.

In the short documentary From Silence to Recognition, father and son filmmakers David Hughes Duke and John Duke explore a painful part of the history of Emory University and its Jewish students: the consistent abuse of Jewish students in the University’s School of Dentistry which lead to a 65% flunk-out/withdrawal rate over the thirteen years that John E. Buhler was the Dean of that department.

Isn’t it interesting how the US establishment media, even as it went out of its way to push the Republicans’ distorted talking points on Hilary Rosen’s comments concerning Ann Romney, simultaneously ignored things that might not reflect well on Mrs. Romney or her very wealthy husband — things like the full history of her birthday party host Fred Malek, aka Nixon’s Jew Counter?

I don’t think Godwin’s Law applies if it’s an actual Nazi image.

Republicans and other elite representatives of the One-Percenters running this country know that the facts are against them, in everything from economic dealings to the criminal-justice system to the environment. So, when confronted by the facts, they do everything they can to draw attention away from themselves, preferably through the use of inflammatory statements intended to bog people down in defending against them.

As a young man, James Carroll had an epiphany deep in the diggings of an archeological excavation under Old Jerusalem. He had become a Catholic priest. In his activities there and in Bethlehem, he had failed to grow close to any sense of wonder over his physical closeness to events related to the life and death of Jesus. He had witnessed squabbling between and amongst clerics, often over petty issues. He was becoming less illuminated, more disenchanted every day. He acquired an elderly Dominican priest, who was also a renowned scholar and archeologist, as a guide. At first the man frustrated Carroll even more with his banter:

Could designer John Galliano actually work again in this town, even after he was fired from his post as Dior’s creative director for making anti-Semitic remarks at a couple, assaulting the woman and declaring “I love Hitler”?

In case you missed it, the New York Times reported on some newly released recordings of Richard Nixon doing an excellent impression of Archie Bunker.

In an attempt to decry bigotry, Rick Sanchez proves what a bigot he really is.

I am a lifelong sports fan. I learned the language of Baseball probably before I could even walk and the language of Basketball soon thereafter. I’m fluent in American Football and can make myself understood in Hockey. I also have varying degrees of fluency in a number of the “minor” sports here in the US, such as Bowling (though I’m not as fluent in speaking Candlepin or Duckpin as I am in the more conventional Tenpin most of us are familiar with.

In their book Gaming the World, Andrei Markovits and Lars Rensmann use the languages of sports to offer a unique perspective on globalization. This is not a book that will be used to settle arguments on sports performances at the neighborhood pub. However, I can see it being used as the foundation of a Sociology class on Sports in Society, as part of a Cultural Anthropology class, or as part of an elective Political Science course work. (in all cases with some necessary supplemental information)