TMI
- If you could bring one dead person back to life, who would it be?: Joe Strummer, naturally.
- What song or movie makes you cry?: Your Funny Uncle
- What piece of art would you steal?: A Chagall painting, but I'd probably break it in the get-away. The one at the UN is nice.
- What's your biggest grammatical pet peeve?: My students' weird idea that a semi-colon turns a shitastic sentence into something worth reading.
- What do you like to read when you poop?: Slog. It's a fitting place to read it.
May 23
Madasshatter commented on Usually When I'm Sent a Photoshopped Image of a Gun Pointed At Me....
May 23
Madasshatter commented on The Pope Doesn't Understand the Point of Atheists.
Seriously, taken the context of the larger homily (i.e. the 2-3 sentences preceding the quote), rather than completely stripped of context, the sentiment is one of understanding and acceptance. This atheist says: chill the fuck out, Paul.
May 7
Madasshatter commented on Natural Communism.
Ummm... since when is communism a synonym for altruism? Talk about moving the goalposts.
Apr 3
Madasshatter commented on The Right to Bear an Arsenal.
Huh. Didn't know Paul Constant was an originalist.
Mar 29
Madasshatter commented on Michelle Shocked-gate Update!.
@2 which is why Britney has to win this contest: one had celebrity cache, the other is... who again?
Mar 7
Madasshatter commented on Hugo Chavez, R.I.P..
@91 Right. "Data might be leaked" is your argument. By whom, exactly? Of what sort? I ask because the data you questioned is just a principal components analysis (fancy version of aggregation) of between 60-120 different data points, all of which influence the final score a country gets.
But I guess the scholars who created the metrics before Chavez took power could have foreseen this and created it in a way to bias results against Venezuela!
But I guess the scholars who created the metrics before Chavez took power could have foreseen this and created it in a way to bias results against Venezuela!
Mar 7
Madasshatter commented on Hugo Chavez, R.I.P..
@93 Who would say that? Given that the countries listed for long periods of time (or ever) in no way followed Chavez's policies, that would be curious. As would the fact that we've seen significant global poverty reduction in the last fifteen years that has no reference to Latin America. Again: give me a plausible counterfactual.
As for data: don't like the Bank data? Get off your ass and look at the data created by Maddison for the Penn World Tables, by the UN, or by someone else. It really only takes a few minutes on google. I provided you with reference to data that is widely used in both the policy and academic realms. You suggest it might be flawed and that you'd like some other data. No one's stopping you from doing some googling. But until you do so, don't pretend "I'd like to see some other data" is anything resembling an argument.
As for data: don't like the Bank data? Get off your ass and look at the data created by Maddison for the Penn World Tables, by the UN, or by someone else. It really only takes a few minutes on google. I provided you with reference to data that is widely used in both the policy and academic realms. You suggest it might be flawed and that you'd like some other data. No one's stopping you from doing some googling. But until you do so, don't pretend "I'd like to see some other data" is anything resembling an argument.
Mar 7
Madasshatter commented on Hugo Chavez, R.I.P..
@89 nothing contradictory between someone being a horrible despot and not doing NOTHING good. The Soviets brought electricity to the whole country, raised standards of living, and built up a good education system. Which is probably why fellow travelers existed. It doesn't then follow that they made things better off.
What the Chavez defenders (and Soviet apologists) don't understand is the basic counterfactual. When looking at what Chavez "did" you can't just compare things in 1998 and 2013. You need a plausible alternative 15 years. So the counterfactual is what would have occurred during 15 years of Chavez rule. Guess what? The functioning Latin American democratic states integrated into the world market in that time period--Chile, Brazil, Argentina--all had more growth over that fifteen year period. Hell, even Columbia did better. And Brazil is an exemplary case of poverty reduction!
Russia did well under Putin as well. Much like Venezuela, they have lots of energy to export. But the counterfactual is important. It's very likely an alternative would have done as/almost as good as Chavez on the things he did well, without dismantling democratic institutions and the rule of law.
More...
What the Chavez defenders (and Soviet apologists) don't understand is the basic counterfactual. When looking at what Chavez "did" you can't just compare things in 1998 and 2013. You need a plausible alternative 15 years. So the counterfactual is what would have occurred during 15 years of Chavez rule. Guess what? The functioning Latin American democratic states integrated into the world market in that time period--Chile, Brazil, Argentina--all had more growth over that fifteen year period. Hell, even Columbia did better. And Brazil is an exemplary case of poverty reduction!
Russia did well under Putin as well. Much like Venezuela, they have lots of energy to export. But the counterfactual is important. It's very likely an alternative would have done as/almost as good as Chavez on the things he did well, without dismantling democratic institutions and the rule of law.
Mar 6
Madasshatter commented on In 3,228 Words John Roderick Tries to Kill Punk—In 30 Words He Validates Its Existence Instead.
(The difference being that people engaged in Glee don't think/act like they're radicals sticking it to the man... which is part of the reason punk is, if it's merely what you suggest it is, bullshit.)
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