Dr. X's Free Associations

Dumbest Comments of 2008

From John Cole. Tip to Folo.

Whither the Professional Reporter?

Lotus finds "an interesting case of show and tell" in the sloppy transcription of a Jonathan Alter piece on the demise of reporting.  It made me think of this:

[Glenn] Reynolds heralds an era in which "[m]illions of Americans who were in awe of the punditocracy now realize that anyone can do this stuff." No, they can't. Millions of American can't even pronounce "pundit," or spell it for that matter. On the Internet and on the other form of "alternative media," talk radio, a disliked pundit has roughly a 50-50 chance of being derided as a "pundint," if my eyes and ears are any indication. The type of person who can't even keep track of the number of times the letter "N" appears in a two-syllable word is not the type of person who is going to offer great insight into complex issues. But the democratic urge expressed by Mr. Reynolds is not new. Someone is always heralding the rise of "the intellectual declaration of independence of the American people," as H.L. Mencken once put it. Paul Mulshine WSJ

How Much Fiscal Stimulus?

Krugman proposes an answer:

What I want to do in this note is sketch out a New Keynesian-type analysis of the role of fiscal policy in a liquidity trap. The bottom line is quite striking: aside from some qualifications I’ll discuss at the end, when the economy is in a liquidity trap [and monetary policy is up against the zero bound] government spending should expand up to the point at which full employment is restored. That’s not a guess or a statement of personal preferences, it’s a result.

I understand it, but how he arrives at it is above my pay grade.

Psychology Roundup

The Last Psychiatrist discusses narcissism.

What are the most common reasons NOT to commit suicide? (Ars Psychiatrica)

The rise was the fall: earlier this week, Natalie Angier wrote a piece on our highly evolved propensity to lie.

Mental illness in Afghanistan:  "Wali Sultani has been chained to the wall of his cell for almost a month. He is wearing the same dirty clothes and he is eating the same diet every day—bread, black pepper and water. Sultani, 25, is no criminal. He is mentally ill."  Read more

The supermarket as behavioral science lab.

Ignorance, grandstanding demagoguery or both?  The Situationist on Senator Claire McCaskill's fit over cost-of-living increases for federal judges.

Diversions: Jamie Davies gives us a dancing psychologists video for the holidays.

Iran Training Young Shoe-throwers

According to a Live Leak posting, this video was broadcast on Iranian television.

News From Frother-world

Birth certificate troofer and scarf conspiracy monger Pamela Geller thinks she has stumbled on something really big with a public record showing that Michelle Obama's law license was placed on court ordered inactive status in 1993. The record cited by Geller also indicates that Obama's license is on voluntary inactive status. 

So, why was her voluntary inactive status court ordered?  An attorney friend I checked with tells me that, until 1999, Illinois attorneys seeking voluntary inactive status had to get a court order under the old Illinois Supreme Court rule 770 to do so.

Michelle Obama left law practice to become the executive director of an NPO in 1993.

I guess Geller had to find a new Michelle Obama smear since that whitey thing from last summer didn't pan out.

What Happened to Michael Vick's Dogs?

Check out these photos.

Vintage Photos: Christmas 1920

Long Beach, California.  Left-click photo to enlarge.

Vintage Photos: Christmas 1945

 

Soldier returning home.  Left-click photo to enlarge.

Psychology Blogger In The NY Times

More recently, Psych Central, a news consolidator that has the gall to call itself “Your Mental Health Break,” sent out an eight-page compilation of holiday-themed links to stories like “Ho-Ho-Ho-Holiday (Office) Parties: Bah Humbug?,” “Seasonal Stepfamily Stress,” “Managing Children’s Expectations” and “Transforming Holiday Angst Into Gratitude.” -- Judith Warner

Ouch!