Time to buy stock in some cat food manufacturers. Sounds like it'll be a growth business.

Sorry, but I can't help but think of this: http://youtu.be/6rwi_0DEd_0

In fairness, if I was down 21 in the 3rd quarter, I might not punt on 4th and 15. Depends on field position.

Love the "cash and clunkers" line but the football metaphor needs work.

32, and I pretty closely fit the description: "A first- generation upper-middle- class person with middle-class parents" (typical score: 33).

That Jimmie Johnson question was sneaky! But I guess that was the point.

But tachyons haven't been proved to exist; they are merely possible according to the equations. Dirac showed (via his mathematical discovery of antimatter) that sometimes this works, but it's not reliable.

The ability to transmit information superluminally creates major problems for causality. If neutrinos can do this, it's going to cause a major rethink of what we think we know.

That analogy only works so far. Those same people were also told that Jews were responsible for much of the evil in the world. If someone told me that chickens were responsible for doing evil, but that they were also qualitatively so inferior to humans that their slaughter should not concern me, I for one would question their logic.

Nice thought, Casey, but Obama doesn't have to go after Newt's character flaws. His proxies will be more than happy to do that for him. So all he has to do is not lose too badly on the policy questions.

Solzhenitsyn should be mentioned: One Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovitch.

Actually, I disagree. As tempting as it would be to take revenge like this, I think Mankiw's best move is to teach as if nothing happened. If a test or quiz was scheduled, by all means give it. But don't otherwise take any note of the students' absence.

They want attention. Don't give it to them.

Bruckner's Fourth? I was going to suggest that as well, as a good starting point. Although I love his 7th as well. (And several others.)

Mahler's Fourth is great as well, but not the one I'd pick as a starting point. (That would be 2nd, 3rd or 6th. The 1st is not Mahler's fully developed style. And the others are too difficult.)

I was wondering if anyone would mention Messiaen. The Turangalila-Symphonie is IMO one of the great works of the 20th century. So I'm not sure Bruckner and Mahler are necessarily the "pinnacle".

Are there no other Texans on Ricochet? GO RANGERS!!

That is disturbing. Who are these foolish 9 percent and how can we properly educate them?

Proof of spontaneous human combustion, I bet.

Robert E. Lee: Therein lies an argument for federalism. We need ways to advance without radicalism. Federalism gives us a national Petri dish, where each state can try different things (within boundaries set by the Constitution). Those states that find the most workable solutions "win" by attracting more citizens (which puts pressure on other states to adopt similar measures).

Federalism isn't a panacea, obviously. But that's OK; conservatives rarely worry about panaceas.

Actually, I disagree with that. I think, in order of priority, libertarians are most likely to differ on 1, 3 and 6, followed by 5, with 2 and 4 bringing up the rear.

You might be surprised by #1, but having read a TON of libertarian philosophical literature back in the day, I can assure you that there is a distinct effort to find a "third way" between natural law and positive law. Gauthier's "Morals by Agreement" is an exemplary title.