Dr. X's Free Associations

American Prisons

DrX — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:26:00 -0600

Adam Gopnik's New Yorker article on America's high rates of incarceration is a great read. Gopnik argues that mass incarceration is unjust, destructive and does not actually account for the steep decline in crime rates since the 1970s. Gopnik makes a compelling case that both liberals and conservatives are wrong about why crime rates have fallen and how to keep crime rates low without mass incarceration. This is far and way the best article I've read on America's incarceration policies...

IQ Research: liberal, conservative, black and white

DrX — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:20:00 -0600

Conservative IQ: There's no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb, according to a new study that is bound to stir public controversy. The research finds that children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults. These findings point to a vicious cycle, according to lead researcher Gordon Hodson, a psychologist at Brock University in Ontario. Low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, the...

Clinton Won't Stay On If Obama Is Reelected

DrX — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:10:00 -0600

Hillary says she won't continue as Secretary of State if Obama is reelected. Hillary has no reason to make this announcement unless... Out on a limb: Hillary runs as Obama's VP candidate and Biden replaces her as Secretary of State. I'm not the first to say it, but I think this move would energize the party base and brings out the voters Obama needs to win later this year. And Hillary gets one last shot at the presidency in 2016.

Vintage Photos: 1938

DrX — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:01:00 -0600

Marion Post-Walcott, Charleston, West Virginia.

Vintage Store Front: 1938

DrX — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:01:00 -0600

Photo by Marion Post-Walcott, Farm Security Administration. Coal mining camp, Scotts Run, West Virginia

Newt, The Gas Bag

DrX — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:53:37 -0600

Elliot Abrams: The best examples come from a famous floor statement Gingrich made on March 21, 1986. This was right in the middle of the fight over funding for the Nicaraguan contras; the money had been cut off by Congress in 1985, though Reagan got $100 million for this cause in 1986. Here is Gingrich: “Measured against the scale and momentum of the Soviet empire’s challenge, the Reagan administration has failed, is failing, and without a dramatic change in strategy...

Local Snapshots

DrX — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:06:52 -0600

Yesterday, when sunlight interrupted 6 days of overcast skies.

Mitt Romney Thinks You're Extremely Stupid

DrX — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:12:39 -0600

The U.S. military is at risk of losing its "military superiority" because "our Navy is smaller than it's been since 1917. Our Air Force is smaller and older than any time since 1947-- Mitt Romney on Monday, January 16th, 2012 in a Republican presidential debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C. True, only if you count the number of craft, and ignore what would have been, in 1947, the unimaginable superiority of today's missile-armed gunships, the stealth and high-speed aircraft that can...

Vintage Houseboats: 1938

DrX — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:01:00 -0600

When I was a child in NY, my family lived a block from a canal where hundreds of fishing boats, pleasure craft and quite a few houseboats were docked. I loved to hang out there, fishing early in the morning with my friend Keith from Kentucky, and checking out the catch from the commercial fishing vessels as they unloaded at the markets. But most of all I was fascinated by the boats that people lived on and the people who...

Why Wasn't I Briefed?

DrX — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:34:05 -0600

Andrew Sullivan was briefed on the SOTU, and then he was scolded for revealing that he was briefed. The administration didn't even bother to brief me. I've been getting mail from "Barack" at my blog email account when the administration has something they really want to push. They found me; I didn't contact them, but clearly I've been deemed a Level-2 or Level-3 or maybe it's a Level-10 influencer, not worthy of a Level-1 SOTU briefing. It's no big deal....

Eating The Rich ctd

DrX — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:56:15 -0600

So Romney's total effective federal tax rate was 13.9% Not unexpected and perfectly legal, but it does underscore the utter silliness of Tea Party hyperventilating over taxes on the wealthy. Far from being plucked naked for cooking, the goose is healthy with barely a feather ruffled. Taxes on the wealthy are explained in a repost below, though this doesn't get into Romney's carried interest income which is taxed at the same rate as capital gains. --------------------------- Eat The Rich is...

Vintage Photos: 1938

DrX — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:53:53 -0600

Omar, West Virginia. Photo by Marion Post Walcott. Miners' children coming from school.

Shhhhh

DrX — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:25:38 -0600

Don't say that. Our steaming bigotry is supposed to be latent and implied, not explicit.

Surging Today

DrX — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:24:41 -0600

This was one of my most inspired and wildly popular posts. I was surprised to see it getting a bump this week until I learned that there is a new TV movie about Drew Peterson starring Rob Lowe.

Labels, logos, status and power

DrX — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:19:29 -0600

Melanie Tannenbaum at ionpsych: For people hoping to convince others that they have elite levels of power and status by brandishing items plastered with obvious brand logos, the jig is up: Powerful people are actually less likely to purchase goods and services with obvious labels in an effort to seem superior. When forced to choose between service and status, powerful people strongly prefer high-quality products over high-status labels, while powerless people would rather go with a shoddy product if it’s...