Web Reads: Jeopardy lynch mob vs. Arthur Chu

Just a game? Former Jeopardy champion Ken Jennings writes about the anger current champ Arthur Chu has stirred up among the game show’s fervent fans. Most of it derives from his use of game theory.

Money spent. If Harry S. Dent is correct, we’re in for quite a few more years of anemic economic growth. That’s because the U.S. population is aging and the baby boomers have already done their big spending on houses and cars.

States as countries. If you’ve ever wondered how the economy of your state stacks up against a country, you’ll find this map interesting. Some of its comparisons: California and Russia, Michigan and Venezuela, Texas and Spain.

Compatibility issues. Although popular media divides American Catholics into liberal and conservative camps along political lines—Nancy Pelosi vs. Rick Santorum—philosophy professor Patrick Deneen argues that the significant divide involves two camps of conservative Catholics. The big question: Whether liberal democracy is compatible with Catholic teaching or not.

Liberal argument? In “Rethinking the Contraceptive Mandate”, noted law professor Richard Epstein argues “the classical liberal case against the law is stronger than the religious one.” He writes, “A robust interpretation of freedom of association blocks the contraceptive mandate, not just for religious organizations, however defined, but for every group, regardless of its purposes or members. Any group that wants to supply contraceptive services is, of course, free to do so. But any group that opposes the mandate is free to go its separate way. Civil peace is preserved because no one faction or interest group can out-muscle any other.”