Media Matters

Last week’s episode of The Philosopher’s Zone was titled, “The Epistemology of Blogging.”  Alan Saunders discussed blogging’s impact on the development and dissemination of knowledge in society with two speakers, Rutgers University’s Alvin Goldman and the University of Tasmania’s David Cody.
Professor Goldman argued that, to the degree to which blogging hastens the demise of the [...]

Borrowing Our Way Out of Debt

So now Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner wants Congress to raise the national debt ceiling.  The debt ceiling is the statutory limit that Congress imposes on the federal government’s debt.  Of course, whenever the government’s debt approaches the maximum amount allowed by law, they simply raise the limit rather than doing anything nutty like cutting spending.  [...]

Citizenship Test

My wife became a US citizen last week, completing an arduous naturalization process that involved overcoming many difficult hurdles (not the least of which was marrying me).  She had to fill out multiple and lengthy forms, spend a lot of money, pass a background check, and take a civics test.  Since she passed the background [...]

The Land of Milk and Honey

Senator Chuck Schumer recently introduced S1542, the “Milk Import Tariff Equity Act.”  If signed into law, the bill will impose quotas and increase tariffs on imported milk protein concentrate, or MPC.  MPC is not currently subjected to the same degree of protectionism as other dairy products, and food producers have naturally shifted to MPC as [...]