Heres the photo I was talking about a few weeks ago, the one that shows New York Times columnist and Princeton economics professor Paul Krugman reading the new issue of Crimewave. Actually, hes not so much reading it in this photo as he is recoiling in horror from it after a very nervous, socially awkward blogger dropped it into his lap while mumbling something about light reading for the plane ride home. At any rate, heres the photo.
I need to find my notes from his lecture. Ive got them around here somewhere. 80% of what he had to say was stuff that Id already read in his articles. That stuff was good to hear first-hand, but more interesting, however, was the stuff hed say in response to questions about his detractors and fellow op-ed columnists at the Times When asked, for instance, if Thomas Friedman was a journalistic light-weight, Krugman just kind of smiled and giggled and said that it would be against New York Times policy to comment.
Oh, he did say something else that I found interesting. He said that it wouldnt surprise him if the Bush administration did something to heightened the threat of terrorism right before the election in order to keep people from the polls. I wasnt expecting for him to go quite that far. Its one thing to suggest that they lied about tax cuts, its another to suggest that they would rig events to win an election. He may very well be right, it just surprised me to hear him say it in front of over 300 people.
Speaking of Bush, it looks like hes working on his image a bit this week. He flew to Iraq to have Thanksgiving with the troops. He indicated that 20% of the prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay would be let go. And, he suggested that the steel tariffs hed imposed on imports would be repealed It looks like hes beginning to think more seriously about the election. He had to somehow deflect these three issues. The first being the fact that people were beginning to ask why it was that he hadnt attended even one funeral of a military person to die in Iraq. The second being the fact that the Supreme Court said, against his wishes, that they would hear the case of the uncharged enemy combatants being held in Cuba. And the third being the fact that Japan and Europe were preparing for a trade war over his illegal steel teriffs. This week hes been pretty effective in stomping each of those fires out, or at least starving them of oxygen for a while.
OK, Ive got twice-washed laundry to fold.
Oh, if youre going to be buying someone a Christmas gift in the $5 range, why not consider Paul Krugmans favorite magazine – Crimewave USA? Single issues are just $4 and three-issue subscriptions are just $12. With the three-issue subscription, well even pay the postage for you. What have you got to lose? If you order now, you can get it, read it, and gift it by the 25th… Be a good American and spend some money.
