I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

OK, now we KNOW Paul Krugman listens to OUR ALEXANDRIA Happy Wedding soon!!!!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/16/opinion/krugman-moment-of-truthiness.html?hp
NY Times
Moment of Truthiness

By PAUL KRUGMAN

August 15, 2013

We all know how democracy is supposed to work. Politicians are supposed to campaign on the issues, and an informed public is supposed to cast its votes based on those issues, with some allowance for the politicians’ perceived character and competence.

We also all know that the reality falls far short of the ideal. Voters are often misinformed, and politicians aren’t reliably truthful. Still, we like to imagine that voters generally get it right in the end, and that politicians are eventually held accountable for what they do.

But is even this modified, more realistic vision of democracy in action still relevant? Or has our political system been so degraded by misinformation and disinformation that it can no longer function?

Well, consider the case of the budget deficit — an issue that dominated Washington discussion for almost three years, although it has recently receded.

You probably won’t be surprised to hear that voters are poorly informed about the deficit. But you may be surprised by just how misinformed.

In a well-known paper with the discouraging title, “It Feels Like We’re Thinking,” the political scientists Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels reported on a 1996 survey that asked voters whether the budget deficit had increased or decreased under President Clinton. In fact, the deficit was down sharply, but a plurality of voters — and a majority of Republicans — believed that it had gone up.

I wondered on my blog what a similar survey would show today, with the deficit falling even faster than it did in the 1990s. Ask and ye shall receive: Hal Varian, the chief economist of Google, offered to run a Google Consumer Survey — a service the company normally sells to market researchers — on the question. So we asked whether the deficit has gone up or down since January 2010. And the results were even worse than in 1996: A majority of those who replied said the deficit has gone up, with more than 40 percent saying that it has gone up a lot. Only 12 percent answered correctly that it has gone down a lot.

Am I saying that voters are stupid? Not at all. People have lives, jobs, children to raise. They’re not going to sit down with Congressional Budget Office reports. Instead, they rely on what they hear from authority figures. The problem is that much of what they hear is misleading if not outright false.

The outright falsehoods, you won’t be surprised to learn, tend to be politically motivated. In those 1996 data, Republicans were much more likely than Democrats to hold false views about the deficit, and the same must surely be true today. After all, Republicans made a lot of political hay over a supposedly runaway deficit early in the Obama administration, and they have maintained the same rhetoric even as the deficit has plunged. Thus Eric Cantor, the third-ranking Republican in the House, declared on Fox News that we have a “growing deficit,” while Senator Rand Paul told Bloomberg Businessweek that we’re running “a trillion-dollar deficit every year.”

Do people like Mr. Cantor or Mr. Paul know that what they’re saying isn’t true? Do they care? Probably not. In Stephen Colbert’s famous formulation, claims about runaway deficits may not be true, but they have truthiness, and that’s all that matters.

Still, aren’t there umpires for this sort of thing — trusted, nonpartisan authorities who can and will call out purveyors of falsehood? Once upon a time, I think, there were. But these days the partisan divide runs very deep, and even those who try to play umpire seem afraid to call out falsehood. Incredibly, the fact-checking site PolitiFact rated Mr. Cantor’s flatly false statement as “half true.”

Now, Washington still does have some “wise men,” people who are treated with special deference by the news media. But when it comes to the issue of the deficit, the supposed wise men turn out to be part of the problem. People like Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, the co-chairmen of President Obama’s deficit commission, did a lot to feed public anxiety about the deficit when it was high. Their report was ominously titled “The Moment of Truth.” So have they changed their tune as the deficit has come down? No — so it’s no surprise that the narrative of runaway deficits remains even though the budget reality has completely changed.

Put it all together, and it’s a discouraging picture. We have an ill-informed or misinformed electorate, politicians who gleefully add to the misinformation and watchdogs who are afraid to bark. And to the extent that there are widely respected, not-too-partisan players, they seem to be fostering, not fixing, the public’s false impressions.

So what should we be doing? Keep pounding away at the truth, I guess, and hope it breaks through. But it’s hard not to wonder how this system is supposed to work.

I know ShannaSeaGlass picture of Detroit has been taken down, but I couldn't resist:

The last time my city had a Republican Mayor was in 1969. 

It's a pretty cool city. 

North American Opossums are rather benign creatures who eat insects, small mammals, earth worms, and the love fruit.  They have amazing sensitivity with their tongues.  I would feed them a quarter slice of apple and when they finished it all that was left was the skin with no apple flesh attached.

If mom was killed by a dog or car, we would take the tiny babies and raise them in the sleeve of an old sweatshirt to mimic a pouch. The smallest I've raised was 30 grams when I first got them.  At that size they have to be fed every 2 hours / 24 hours a day until they reach about 40 grams then one can start increasing the spacing between feedings. 

I don't know if the scraggly possums are a different subspecies of animal than the furry ones.  I have seen both kinds.  Thin v thick fur could be genetic like thin v thick hair with people.  Possums are eaten throughout the South.  I have friends that shoot possum and squirrel for dinner.  I've never tried it.

I thought it was one person one account - but sometimes people (I think) change their name/userid.

GG, I thought of that too, but this new user has a May 2013 sign up date so I don't believe it's a name change, looks like a new account. Oh well, it doesn't matter. I saw blue lines because of deletions and I will see blue lines in the future because I engaged the block feature. I was just curious and it's not really worth pursuing to satisfy my curiosity.

case in point:

Sunny - I've had this lingering feeling about one poster who was involved with some "Suppress the Vote" campaign las year, but I do admit to post chemobrain.

Haven't been posting much because I'll make a post, send and I've been logged out.  Exhausting.  The Mods tried to help, but there doesn't appear to be a readily available solution.

GG - I get confused, Coho / Chinook, but I prefer the Silvers to the Kings!  

Kam - coho = silver, chinook = king.  A lot of people do prefer the coho.  I like the richness of King salmon, personally - when smoked - or bbq'd.  If I can avoid it, I never bake salmon, as I far prefer it cooked in the Weber.  Fried salmon, I prefer coho or even Pink, as I don't like the taste of the oil if it reaches a high heat.  When I make pickled or poached salmon, I prefer to use coho, as the flavor is a bit stronger and it's not quite as oily, so it works better with the liquids involved.  Salmon patties or loaf or salmon souffle I don't care, as I'm using pre-cooked salmon for those dishes, so a lot of the oils are already gone from the King salmon.  In all honesty, my favorite way to eat salmon is the day after we've webered it, and I'll eat it cold on salad. 

drool, drool, drool....I'll take it anyway it's cooked - fresh salmon...yum, yum, yum...and good for us too!!

May be one of the times I can actually find some agreement with Newt.....

Of course, it has been said so many times here in so may different ways....Republicans are for nothing that even looks in very, very remote fashion as though it might actually help Democrats.....after all.  Obama is a Democrat. 

Many treachrous traitors here to their own side.  Disgraceful to public office period.

Jackie

C4C - Butter.   Seriously.  Though the real trick is skin plus not cooking too long.  My hubby cannot eat sugar, so we never use it.  The way we bbq it, is thus.  First use a fillet that still has the skin on it.  Put the fillet skin side down on a piece of aluminum foil just slightly larger that the salmon fillet.  Smear (how's that for a technical term?) butter (salted) down the middle of the fillet (where the backbone would have been).  It's hard to say how much, cuz it depends on the size of the salmon, but don't be too liberal with it.  Sprinkle a little dill on it.  No salt, as the salt in the butter is sufficient.  Start your weber, putting the coals on either side.  Once the coals are hot, place the salmon in the middle of the weber, and put some wood chips (I prefer alder, hubby prefers cherry) on the coals.  Close the weber completely until you see smoke seeping out (gotta choke out the fire from the wood chips), then open the top opening about 1/2 open.  How long to cook depends on the size of the salmon, but usually about 20 minutes will do it.  If the meat starts to pull away from the skin, you're cooking it too long.  I never bbq a skinned fillet, as I won't eat anything that is actually cooked on aluminum foil.  The skin protects the meat from the foil, so I'm good with it. 

I also use white wine for poaching (and onions and lemons - sometimes pickling spices) - except I usually use a skinned fillet for that.  What kind of dill sauce do you use?  I prefer poached salmon to be cold, also, though hubby likes it either cold or hot.  The last one, though, I undercooked a bit and he wasn't too happy about it.

We have possums running across our tin roof all the time. They like our house because we have lots of trees around it. Lots of possum poop outside on our paving every day.

In NZ they are really a pest and I've seen signs advertising a bounty for catching them.

Had to leave work early yesterday - I've put my back out gardening - first time in ages I've been in a lot of pain. Luckily my physio fitted me in earlier than scheduled.

I loved the article about our Lioness. She was clearly the same person here as she was in real life.



I have been away for a couple days. Seems like there may be possum sightings right here in BCO land!

RL --- and now mine.

Jackie

YIKES NZ - another one!  Check in Alyson.....

Thanks for posting dill sauce, I was gonna ask.  Will substitute yogurt for sour cream, and there is SO much dill around here - it's cucumber pickle making season  I sort of use a Mark Bittman garlic dill "recipe"- but with so much garlic I can't talk to anyone for several days! No vinegar, just water, so can't keep for too long.

Just got my Medicare report - and they called my explanation a "cosmetic procedure" not covered!  RAGE.  RANT. Called my lovely PS, and was told they were already on it, seems the folks at Medicare didn't read the NOTES with the claim: breast cancer, BLM, RUPTURED implants, yikes.  So by the time Medicare reads the notes, and BCBS adds their part ( which they can't if rejected by Medicare) all shold be fine.  But just SEEING it called a "cosmetic procedure" musta sent my BP up a few points!!