House of Eratosthenes

That headline means — let us be clear — Paul Krugman of the New York Times is the one that got p0wned. He did not do the p0wning, although I’m sure he thought in that weasel-reptile brain of his that’s exactly what happened, as his scaly/furry clawed digits glided over the keys.

“P0wn,” or “pwn” means…

12. pwn

1. To completely dominate an opponent, usually in video games.

2. To beat beyond recognition.

3. To make someone your bitch.

Often used with the slang “Noob”

Well, that n00b Paul Krugman just got p0wned:

I’d rebut Krugman’s arguments, only he doesn’t make any. Does he ever? Krugman doesn’t argue, he just vents. This is what we used to call “mailing it in.” If Krugman spent more than 20 minutes writing this column, I’d be shocked.
:
[Krugman’s writing is pulled out, pieced together, quoted, sliced up, put on a slide, studied under a microscope…or rather a microfiche reader]
:
[W]hat facts–what arguments–are presented in support of this invective? None. It’s just hyperventilating. I know it’s only the New York Times, but wasn’t there a time when even that paper expected its columnists to expend at least a little effort? Krugman might as well have written “I am a Democrat” over and over again until it added up to 750 words.

This wouldn’t be such extreme p0wnage if it was descriptive only of Krugman’s latest column and of nothing else. As it is, the two paragraphs I extracted could just as reasonably be festooned upon — with some exceptions — anything in the Krugman archives. At least, most of what has come to my attention. It is a generic p0wnage, and therefore, a devastating one.

But devastating p0wnage can result from specifics, as well. Crossing Wall Street lifts up a particularly incriminating chestnut for closer inspection. Krugman fans should skip this, for the sake of their own mental health…

Going back to those tea parties, Mr. DeLay, a fierce opponent of the theory of evolution — he famously suggested that the teaching of evolution led to the Columbine school massacre — also foreshadowed the denunciations of evolution that have emerged at some of the parties.

These are the kinds of the things Krugman writes that are so frustrating. He’s a brilliant economist but too often drives off the reservation into dishonesty.

After reading Krugman’s account, are you led to believe that Tom DeLay said in a clear declarative sentence that Columbine was the result of the teaching of evolution? That he repeatedly said it and would say it again today if asked?
:
Krugman has an unusual fixation with Delay and blaming Columbine on the teaching of evolution. He’s mentioned this several times.

Enough of Krugman’s take. Here’s the full story. One week after the Columbine massacre, Addison L. Dawson wrote a letter to the editor to the San Angelo Standard-Times which mocked the idea that guns were to blame:

For the life of me, I can’t understand what could have gone wrong in Littleton, Colorado. If the parents would have only kept their children away from the guns, we wouldn’t have had such a tragedy. Yeah, it must have been the guns.

It couldn’t have been because over half our children are being raised in broken homes.
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It couldn’t have been because our school systems teach the children that they are nothing but glorified apes that have evolutionized out of some primordial soup of mud by teaching evolution as fact and by handing out condoms as if they were candy.

It couldn’t have been because we teach our children that there are no laws of morality that transcend us, that everything is relative, and that actions don’t have consequences. What the heck, the President gets away with it

Nah, it must have been the guns.

The letter was later read by Paul Harvey on the radio and then by Tom Delay in Congress on June 16, 1999 during a debate on gun control. (You can see the in the Congressional Record on page H4366.) The words are often credited to DeLay and not Dawson, though DeLay’s reading of it certainly implies an endorsement.

After DeLay spoke, Barney Frank lambasted the letter by saying it was blaming the teaching of evolution for the shooting. That’s where Krugman got his line.

Which brings us back to one of the classical House of Eratosthenes philosophical questions, that ongoing events on the plane of reality compel us to ask. We’ve asked this one before and we’ll be asking it again:

Is it possible to make liberal ideas look good, without misrepresenting something?

Jeeze, Morgan. That’s no way to talk about a Nobel Laureate. Have some respect! 😉

Heh.
- bpenni | 04/15/2009 @ 18:38
The answer is NO.

Jeez, you slapped him hard. I like it.

Logging in is hell for me. Have to go dig through a cazillion cached emails to find my freeburg g-spot. Why can’t you just sniff me out as a friendly when I come calling?
- Daphne | 04/15/2009 @ 18:53
Is it possible to make liberal ideas look good, without misrepresenting something?

1 Make such ideas look good…to whom?
2. Why?

Despite repeated attempts since theratification of The Constitution, and repeated failures, let’s “debate” firearms again.

Let’s “debate” what “affirmative action” REALLY means.

Let’s entertain “new ideas” that have been weighed, measured, and found wanting
throughout the history of civilization. It helps take my mind off the plainly disingenuous dirty little secrets that scamper in under the radar. Proclaiming “certain words” un-utterable when “debating” against liberals only adds spice to the challenge.
- CaptDMO | 04/16/2009 @ 20:04

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Today’s Krugman P0wnageWednesday, April 15th, 2009

Today’s Krugman P0wnage
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009