My Future Lover

Darla said:
I don't read George Will Water, so I'm not going to say he's a fool and doesn't know what he's talking about, maybe he does.

But let me tell you a little story about Mr. Will, who is considered one of the intellectual giants of the conservative movement.

When Reagan was in office, Springsteen came out with a song called Born in the USA. The words in that song can break your heart Water. They are about a poor young man, stuck in a small, poor town, who gets busted by the cops and then instead of being sent to jail, is sent to Vietnam, to "go and kill the yellow man". His brother dies there. He doesnt...he comes back and is told by his VA man that they can't help. His old boss would love to hire him back, but "son don't you understand". He is unemployed and haunted, living in the "shadow of the penitentiary".

Reagan was advised that this was a big pro-American song and that "patriotism" was taking America's youth by storm, thanks to Bruce. And so Reagan phoned Springsteen for concert tickets, and this was publicized. Big PR coup, or so Reagan was advised. And Springsteen was put in the position of telling the President of the United States, that he was a moron, but in a nice way. So he simply released a statement saying that he thought it would be a good idea for Reagan to listen to the words of the song.

The man who listened to that song and heard a "big patriotic pro american song" was George Will. It was Will who advised Reagan on this "PR coup" and ended up publically embarrassing the President.

He was an idiot then, and in my personal experience, idiots don't turn into intellectuals.

But, perhaps he is the exception.
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Naw, I read that before. Kind of laughed at it. Doesn't really matter to me, he writes good columns. He's also one of the biggest critics of George Bush and - at least- the way the Iraq war is being fought.
 
TheDanold said:
Will is great, lots of good quotes:

"Liberals think their campaign against Wal-Mart is a way of introducing the subject of class into America's political argument, and they are more correct than they understand. Their campaign is liberalism as condescension. It is a philosophic repugnance toward markets, because consumer sovereignty results in the masses making messes. Liberals, aghast, see the choices Americans make with their dollars and their ballots and announce -- yes, announce -- that Americans are sorely in need of more supervision by . . . liberals. " - Democrats Vs. Wal-Mart", Washington Post (9/14/2006)

"When liberals' presidential nominees consistently fail to carry Kansas, liberals do not rush to read a book titled "What's the Matter With Liberals' Nominees?" No, the book they turned into a bestseller is titled "What's the Matter With Kansas?" Notice a pattern here? "
"Democrats Vs. Wal-Mart", Washington Post (9/14/2006)

"Reformers desperate to resuscitate taxpayer funding [of elections] cite the supposedly scandalous fact that each party's 2008 presidential campaign may spend $500 million. If so, Americans volunteering to fund the dissemination of speech about candidates for the nation's most consequential office will contribute $1 billion, which is about half the sum they spend annually on Easter candy. Some scandal. "
"Checkout for an Undemocratic Checkoff", Washington Post (9/28/2006)

"World War II was the last government program that really worked. "

"Americans are overreaching; overreaching is the most admirable and most American of the many American excesses. "
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Thanks for ruining my point Dano, I can no longer read George Will anymore.
 
Darla said:
So what you are saying is that you would like to have sex with Paris Hilton, and Damo already did have sex with her?
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HELL no. "The anorexic, I took a bat to the face as a child and twelve more times since" look doesn't do it for me. My point was that one does not need to write a book to be intelligent. Highly intelligent people write books and so do complete morons.

I like Krugman to an extent. As an economist he is good, although I would agree that his hatred of Bush is a bit obsessive and annoying. I also think he skated away from the whole involvement with Enron. Although short lived, he should have been able to see they were cooking the books...
 
Superfreak said:
HELL no. "The anorexic, I took a bat to the face as a child and twelve more times since" look doesn't do it for me. My point was that one does not need to write a book to be intelligent. Highly intelligent people write books and so do complete morons.

I like Krugman to an extent. As an economist he is good, although I would agree that his hatred of Bush is a bit obsessive and annoying. I also think he skated away from the whole involvement with Enron. Although short lived, he should have been able to see they were cooking the books...
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Krugman, I read, is a neo-Keynesian, which isn't really a popular field in economics at all anymore. It's nice to know it still exists.
 
Superfreak said:
HELL no. "The anorexic, I took a bat to the face as a child and twelve more times since" look doesn't do it for me. My point was that one does not need to write a book to be intelligent. Highly intelligent people write books and so do complete morons.

I like Krugman to an extent. As an economist he is good, although I would agree that his hatred of Bush is a bit obsessive and annoying. I also think he skated away from the whole involvement with Enron. Although short lived, he should have been able to see they were cooking the books...
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Ok, I wasn't saying that though, that's what you and Damo said that I said. Basically, what I was trying to say was that I have run across so many libertarians and republicans who have spoken of Krugman as an idiot. If you read the man's biography that becomes a laughable position, and frankly, makes a message board poster who is claiming this position look kind of pathetic.
 
Superfreak said:
HELL no. "The anorexic, I took a bat to the face as a child and twelve more times since" look doesn't do it for me. My point was that one does not need to write a book to be intelligent. Highly intelligent people write books and so do complete morons.

I like Krugman to an extent. As an economist he is good, although I would agree that his hatred of Bush is a bit obsessive and annoying. I also think he skated away from the whole involvement with Enron. Although short lived, he should have been able to see they were cooking the books...
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At some point, I'd like to see a message board poster - intelligent or not - just simply say that they don't know. That they can stop pretending they are an expert in everything. Its funny seeing message board posters acting like experts in Climate Science, Economics, middle east policy, civil rights, and law. I'm guilty of it too. But, you gotta admit, its hilarious to see a dude with a high school degree on a message board, putting in his expert opinion on Climate Science.
 
Darla said:
Ok, I wasn't saying that though, that's what you and Damo said that I said. Basically, what I was trying to say was that I have run across so many libertarians and republicans who have spoken of Krugman as an idiot. If you read the man's biography that becomes a laughable position, and frankly, makes a message board poster who is claiming this position look kind of pathetic.
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I didn't say you said anything, I asked for clarification. I wanted to see whether people who don't write books might be considered intelligent.
 
climate science. I just go by what the majority of experts say. It is all caused by moose farts!
Kill the Moose, or is it Meece ?
 
Cypress said:
At some point, I'd like to see a message board poster - intelligent or not - just simply say that they don't know. That they can stop pretending they are an expert in everything. Its funny seeing message board posters acting like experts in Climate Science, Economics, middle east policy, civil rights, and law. I'm guilty of it too. But, you gotta admit, its hilarious to see a dude with a high school degree on a message board, putting in his expert opinion on Climate Science.
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That is because you are men. I will be the first one to say I am no expert on economics and I have said it. Climate science is something I am learning more and more about, but I'm still no Dano on the subject, and I'm the first one to admit that too, shameful as it is. ;)

No but, I have admitted to things I don't feel I'm schooled enough in to debate in depth.

This is what I know ok?

Paul Krugman is brilliant. He also makes sense to me, I get him. He's smarter than I am, and smarter than everyone on this board. that doesn't mean he's right abotu everything, or that you can't hold a different opinion. But he's not "Some guy" who's been "wrong about everything".

He's smarter than you, you who are reading this right now.
 
It's funny how most of Galbraiths dire predictions in the "Affluent Society" and "New Industrial State" didn't happen and how instead we had the greatest economy in the history of mankind after we ditched most of those ideas.
 
I have just written training and tech manuals.
but there is a difference between intelligent and knowledgable.
 
Darla said:
That is because you are men. I will be the first one to say I am no expert on economics and I have said it. Climate science is something I am learning more and more about, but I'm still no Dano on the subject, and I'm the first one to admit that too, shameful as it is. ;)

No but, I have admitted to things I don't feel I'm schooled enough in to debate in depth.

This is what I know ok?

Paul Krugman is brilliant. He also makes sense to me, I get him. He's smarter than I am, and smarter than everyone on this board. that doesn't mean he's right abotu everything, or that you can't hold a different opinion. But he's not "Some guy" who's been "wrong about everything".

He's smarter than you, you who are reading this right now.
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He's probably... a little smarter than me :cig:


:shots:

Now he's a lot smarter than me.
 
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Darla said:
Paul Krugman is brilliant. He also makes sense to me, I get him. He's smarter than I am, and smarter than everyone on this board. that doesn't mean he's right abotu everything, or that you can't hold a different opinion. But he's not "Some guy" who's been "wrong about everything".
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Clarification... he is more intelligent with regards to economics than those on this board. Intelligence is relevant to the topic being discussed.

I will say on the whole he is more intelligent with regards to economics than I am, but to be clear... that still doesn't mean he will always be right. So if at some future point he and I disagree... don't throw this back in my face and say.... "you said he was smarter than you and thus he must be right" :)
 
Intelligence and knowledge are different things. Not sure I would have wanted Einstein working on my car.
 
Darla said:
That is because you are men. I will be the first one to say I am no expert on economics and I have said it. Climate science is something I am learning more and more about, but I'm still no Dano on the subject, and I'm the first one to admit that too, shameful as it is. ;)

No but, I have admitted to things I don't feel I'm schooled enough in to debate in depth.

This is what I know ok?

Paul Krugman is brilliant. He also makes sense to me, I get him. He's smarter than I am, and smarter than everyone on this board. that doesn't mean he's right abotu everything, or that you can't hold a different opinion. But he's not "Some guy" who's been "wrong about everything".

He's smarter than you, you who are reading this right now.
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lol

True: that's exactly what I was thinking. Men are loathe to admit they don't know something about a topic, or admit they are wrong. Look at superfreak: 5 years later, and he still can't admit his Iraq war was a mistake. ;)


I'm guilty too. but, like USC says, I often will defer to the experts. I'm not a climate scientist, and I simply defer to the expert consensus opinion. I would never pretend to give an opinion on brain surgery, I'll let the experts do that and I'll defer to them.

You're right: Krugman is smarter and more knowelgeble about economics than anyone on this board...and in particular, in relation to some random poster who pops his head above water and yells that krugman is an idiot.


and I've never considered Krugman to be particularly left wing. He's pretty mainstream, if slightly left of center.
 
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