Noted for Your Morning Procrastination for October 5, 2013

1. "There are no libertarians. There are cafeteria pick-and-choose… who don't like EPA or Head Start or the IRS. There are even a few people who don't like bombing other people just to teach them a lesson--but mostly these last restrict themselves to yelling and waving their (human) arms outside farmers' markets on Saturday mornings. But nobody--and emphatically not Rafael Cruz--wants to shut down government altogether"": Buce: Underbelly: Rafael and the Ninjas get to Have it Both Ways
2. "Greg Sargent reports that House Democrats have found an old bill lying around that could serve as the basis for a discharge petition that would take effect in about a week or so. I have no idea if this is just more political theater, or if it has a genuine chance of working. But you can read all the details at the link. I expect to hear more about this over the next few days": Kevin Drum: House Dems Have a New Plan to Reopen Government
3. "'Americans were led to believe that shutting down the government meant shutting down Obamacare', Outgoing Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE) told reporters on Thursday. 'And now I’m starting to see that people are mad because they feel like they’ve been duped'. Johanns stopped short of 'pointing fingers' at Republicans. Not so for Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH)": Aviva Shen: Republican Senators Distance Themselves From House GOP: 'Defunding Obamacare Didn't Work'
4. "Harvard President Drew Faust released a letter yesterday explaining why the university will not be divesting from fossil fuels…. Faust gives four reasons for the decision of the school’s governing board, which range from weak to wrong to self-contradictory": Jeff Spross: Harvard's Four Reasons For Not Divesting From Fossil Fuels, And Why They're All Wrong

And:

• David Weigel: VA Rep Governor Candidate Ken Cuccinelli Denounces McConnell, Cruz, Boehner, Cantor, Ryan as Hostage-Takers
• Greg Sargent: Republicans and their voters are stuck in 2011
• Aimai: The Punishers Want To Run The Country, or We Are All Tipped Waitstaff Now
• Ezra Klein: Fool me with a budget commission once, shame on you. Fool me eight times…
• Tom Scocca: This Free-Running War Robot Is Not Designed to Harm Humans. Yet
• M.S.: Old symbols: The past is never dead

Plus: Long:

Larry M. Bartels: What’s the Matter with *What’s the Matter

with Kansas?* | Brad DeLong: What Does Cutting-Edge Macroeconomics Tell Us About Economic Policy for the Recovery? | Brad DeLong: Is Macroeconomics Hard? No | #####

Plus: Short:

Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas: Wonkbook: Obamacare’s Web site is really bad | Rex Nutting: What does the tea party want from shutdown? A hug | Nick Rowe: Two Neo-Wicksellian indeterminacies | Jonathan Chait: Subsidizing Farmers But Not the Poor Still Evil | High β Fusion Experiments | Brad DeLong: Cutting-Edge Macro of 1829 Watch | Brad DeLong: I Used to Think that Academic Economics Was a Progressive Science | Nicole Flatow: How Kaiser Used An Anti-Consumer Clause To Skirt Payment For Fatal Cancer | Jeff Frankel: Will Financial Markets Crash Before October 17, or After? | Amy Farber: Historical Echoes: A Central Bank by Any Other Name Is Still… |