Stuff to Discuss

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Miss Lucy seems to be fading away. I can still get some purrs out of her, but she is very thin and mostly wants to sleep now. And today’s news is mostly depressing, and there’s nothing nagging me to write about it. Here are just some short bits —

Is Jim “Gateway Punidt” Hoft really the dumbest man on the Internet? Isn’t that a bit like trying to determine the dirtiest gas station restroom on Interstate 80?

Nate Silver says generic ballots may underestimate Democrats. Josh Marshall says that generic balloting is looking a bit better for Democrats lately, but this is more because Republicans are dropping than Democrats are rising. BTW, Josh’s charts didn’t display for me in Firefox, but they did in Chrome.

You might remember I wrote a post awhile back pointing to our buddy William Teach proclaiming that Paul Krugman is always wrong. I tried to get Teach and his readers to provide me with real-world examples of something Krugman actually wrote that turned out differently from how he predicted it would turn out, and they couldn’t come up with even one. In fact, it was painfully obvious that the lot of them (a) never read Krugman and have no idea where he stands on anything, and (b) wouldn’t recognize the “real world” if it bit their butts.

Today, Krugman writes about people who email him saying he is always wrong. He points to the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, National Review, etc., and what the True Believers must have believed —

In 2006 you would have believed that there was no housing bubble.

In 2007 you would have believed that the troubles of subprime couldn’t possibly spread to the financial system as a whole.

In 2008 you would have believed that we weren’t in a recession — and that the failure of Lehman was unlikely to have bad consequences for the real economy.

In 2009 you would have believed that high inflation was just around the corner.

At the beginning of 2010 you would have believed that sky-high interest rates were just around the corner.

Finally, if any of you are familiar with Brad Warner (and if you aren’t, don’t be concerned), I have a review of Brad Warner’s latest book on the other blog.

24 thoughts on “Stuff to Discuss”

  1. Maha,

    Sorry to hear about your cat, I know losing a pet is tough, my wife and I have always had dogs and cats over the years, it’s tough when they get old.

  3. maha,
    Sorry to hear about Miss Lucy.
    Pets are family members, and it’s always tough when any of them pass away – 4 or 2 legged (I won’t speak for spiders or snakes, though, because I don’t like them. But, ‘that’s not what it takes to love me…’ And if you do like them, then they count for you, too.).
    Me? I’m stuck at home with no job, watching my parents deteriorate slowly on a daily basis. My fathers going to be 85 and my Mom 79 soon. I know for a fact neither of them would still be with us if it wasn’t for Medicaire for both of them, my Dad’s VA, and their minimal SS “income,” which would be a little higher and more liveable if it weren’t for Bush’s supplemental giveaway to the HC companies.

  4. Krugman vs. any Op-ed columnist for the right:
    On at least those 5 issues mentioned above, Krugman is 5-0 against those columnists.
    When was the last time Krauthammer, Goldberg, Kristol, Douthat, etc., EVER been right?
    Krugman’s gotten a few wrong along the way. But not many.
    The conservatives, they’ve been wrong on every issue, every time. But it doesn’t matter. They spout their BS in the papers they’re syndicated in, FOX and talk radio cover their BS, and then the rest of the media is forced to respond in the usual manner: ‘Scientists and Democrats say the North Pole is in the north. Paul Krugman agrees and writes a column. Others question this and disagree, among them notable conservative columnists, so opinions vary. Here to discuss this is respected conservative columnist X (any of the above, among others) to disuss the issue. Representing the Democrats is Y (Lanny Davis, Juan Williams, or some other nitwit who’s has been vetted for timidity, and a complete lack of knowledge on the subject being discussed).”

    As for Gateway Pun-twit, of course his massively mistaken and mendacious missives are appreciated by conservatives. It’s a ‘Fact Free Zone.” And that ‘s what they like. If they wanted facts, they would read Krugman, rich, Herbert, Dionne, and leftie bloggers like maha. But then, their heads would explode and they’d have to join Ms. O’Donnell in line for the mouse-human hybrid ones for replacement.

  7. Re: Miss Lucy, I echo uncledad and gulag. Life would be empty w/o loyal four-legged friends. We have 4 cats, Lucky has been with us over 19 years, and 3 dogs.

    Dr. Krugman is right so much and, I suppose, POTUS just cannot afford to hire him. I take Krugman to the bank. In Jun 2007 I got rid of all the stocks in my 401-K with the exception of two oil stocks. I’m glad I listened to him.

  8. maha, so sorry about your kitty. She has been much loved, I can tell. A cat with a happy life to look back on… that’s a fine thing.

    As for the other stuff… no surprises, really. Good for Krugman and his response. Not much he can do about the delusional crowd.

  9. I am very sorry to hear about your cat. We have all been there and there is nothing that can be said to make it less sad. But, I am sure that you will come away with even more compassion and understanding. The life within us all is really made of the same stuff as these events remind us.

  10. maha, very sorry to hear about your kitty – my grandchildren recently lost their dog, Sassy, to cancer and it was just recently that they’ve been able to take down the ‘shrine’ (her favorite toys and favorite blanket and favorite bones) they built for her.

    Granted that the zanies have really been coming out from their closets recently – and had the internet to spread their craziness world-wide – but it’s occurred to me that, generally, so much of what is going on in politics and other arenas seems to use controversy as their basic attention-getting device.

    As I’ve thought about it, the mother’s-milk of television, what seems to attract the largest audiences, is manufactured controversy – reality TV, even cooking programs, Bravo in general…draw us like moths to a flame.

    So what better way to attract people to blogs, politics in general, and the nut-cases that produce them than to wrap them in (manufactured) controversy. Just a thought but perhaps something to think about.

  13. We lost our 16 year-old dog a few weeks ago. The grief is crippling. I literally can leave the house only when I absolutely have to. Pet owners know how hard this can be. I’m only now able to look at her photo without crying. I read you daily and appreciate what you have to say. My thoughts are with you and Lucy.

  14. I will hold Miss Lucy in my heart because it’s hard to watch dear friends slowly fade away. Like others, you’re a daily read for me and I feel like I, too, know of Miss Lucy’s life and adventures. Know you are thought of by many friends.

  15. Sweet Miss Lucy! Precious little cat-o-one-tail! I know how much my fuzzy-wuzzy yellow cat means to me and how much I love to hear his motor go!

    Krugman is an actual grown-up, like Andrew Bacevich, who also deserves much more public exposure than he gets. If he had been on TV with the other talking heads prior to the invasion of Iraq, the neocons would have had much more difficulty portraying themselves as heroic realists; Bacevich would have quietly dismantled all of their slogans, and would have given his analysis with the gravitas that befits a West Pointer with 23 years in the Army. The likes of William Kristol and Charles Krauthammer would have had no credibility when he was finished with them.

  19. Give Miss Lucy all your attention now. This is a time we can excuse your voice. I have asked all my departed furry ones to watch out for her.
    We all share your pain of separation from a beloved.

  21. Maha, I am sorry to hear Miss Lucy is not well. I know it means a lot to her to have a loving person like you near her.

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