HBO I caught my first episode of Bill Maher’s new HBO show, Real Time with Bill Maher. It was pretty funny, and Maher did a nice job of making the opportunistic winger David Horowitz look like a fool. I’m not a big fan of having Coulter on (though she is high on entertainment value if […]

Rawls, Bailey, Alterman, Progressive Taxation, and the Veil of Ignorance I gave three takes on Rawls’ Veil of Ignorance here. The concept actually takes thinkers pretty far in terms of evaluating a number of social issues. Is Slavery moral? Circa 1860, if you were going to be placed into a random position in society, you […]

Slow Post Day I’m still working on my Rawls follow-up, but in the meantime I do have one thing to point out to my readers: Michael Savage is a jackass. I guess that makes the decision-makers at MSNBC objectively pro-jackass. AB

Cranky Physicist Robert Park, a Physicist at the University of Maryland, posts/emails on Fridays. Here’s his take on the plans to eliminated the testing requirements for missile defense: MISSILE DEFENSE: PENTAGON SEEKS WAIVER FROM REQUIRED TESTING. In April 2000, the APS Council stated: “The United States should not make a deployment decision relative to the […]

More Mankiw Earlier, I gave a piece of advice to Greg Mankiw, incoming chair of the Council of Economic Advisors: Note: Mankiw has also written a few books, including a Macroeconomics textbook. I advise keeping public pronouncements consistent with theories in the latest editions of those books. Atrios has the goods on Mankiw’s Principles of […]

Three Takes on “The Veil of Ignorance” Preface: I don’t entirely agree with Rawls’ conclusions, but this is surely true: only a few people in this world are truly irreplaceable, John Rawls was one such person; read one obituary here. The Three Takes: The West Wing. In the first scene, Will Bailey (the character that […]

Angry Bear Hits Continue to Grow Wow, a link from Atrios can really drive a lot of traffic my way. Thanks Atrios, and welcome new readers! But I wonder…is that too much power for one man or woman to wield? AB Coming soon: John Rawls, The Veil of Ignorance, Eric Alterman, Progressive Taxation, The West […]

A New Trend? Maybe this will lead to a First Amendment challenge of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Here’s the highlight: U.S. Justice Department said Wednesday it had seized a rogue Web site that offered information on bootlegged video games and movies, as the owner faces sentencing for copyright violations. Note that the siezed […]

More on Mankiw Before this announcment, Brad DeLong wondered why Mankiw (and others) signed the “Republican Economists’ Letter”: I was slightly disappointed, second, to see Greg Mankiw’s, Mike Boskin’s, and Marty Feldstein’s names on the signature list. I don’t think the letter accurately reflects their views–meaning that if I held their views about how the […]

Now who do I pick on? This just came across the wires: Hubbard leaves econ post. My theory: the barrage of critical analysis from Angry Bear became too much to bear. Note that the announcement hit the wires a scant 9 minutes after my More Glen “No connection” Hubbard and Taxes post. Hubbard’s being replaced […]