18 November 2012

The Nightstand (Nov 4th)- The "Sweet Moses, It's Almost Over" Edition

Going Beyond Cultural Kid Stuff with a Wary Sense of Adventure (Dwight Garner, NYT)-- Our kids are currently 4,2 and -4 months so this has not come up for us yet, but it certainly will, probably sooner than we are prepared for it.

The Case for Obama: Why he is a Great President. Yes, Great. (Jonathan Chait, Daily Intel)-- Not sure about the title, but this is an effective summary of all the good reasons to vote for Obama, and a refutation of all of the bad reasons not to vote for Obama, if one is so inclined.

Nate Silver, Artist of Uncertainty (Samuel Popkin, The American Prospect)-- I followed Silver's 538 blog in 2008 and thought it was incredible.  I am probably one in the minority who thinks that he has been hurt (relatively) by his association with the NYT, even though it gives him a much broader audience and he continues to produce stellar analysis.  (See also Noam Scheiber's review of 'The Signal and the Noise' at NYT and Deadspin's coverage of the criticism of Nate Silver here)

Mormon Theological Ethics- Obedience to Authority (Seth Payne, Worlds without End)

Obama and the Politics of Race in the 21st Century: On Ta-Nehisi Coates's 'Fear of a Black President' (Carl Pedersen, U.S. Intellectual History Blog)

What Can Jeremiah Wright and Joseph Smith Teach Us About the American Presidency? (Max Perry Mueller, Religion and Politics)

What Happens When a Frankenstorm Hits the Madhouse (Charles Pierce, Esquire)

A New Right to Vote? (Jeffrey Toobin, The New Yorker)

The Case of the Mormon Historian (David Haglund, Slate)

Barack Obama, Pro-Life Hero (Eric C. Miller, Religion Dispatches)

What Do Mormons Pick and Choose from the Bible? (Jana Riess, Religion News Service)

Sandy's Closing Argument (Matt Miller, Washington Post)

Subsistence: The privilege of modern life (William Deresiewicz, The American Scholar)

Hiding in Plain Sight: The Origins of the Book of Mormon (William L. Davis, Los Angeles Review of Books)

Why We Can't Solve Big Problems (Jason Pontin, MIT Technology Review)

Why Do White People Think Mitt Romney Should be President? (Tom Scocca, Slate)

I Was Ayn Rand's Lover (George Saunders, The New Yorker)-- I was reading this while lying next to my sleeping wife, trying desperately not to guffaw loudly and shake the bed with my giggles.

Duck Beach to Absurdity (Rosalynde Welch, Patheos)

I'm Right (For Some Reason): Why Partisans Can't Explain their Views (Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach, NYT)

Best-ever thing you can read on climate change and the American press (Jay Rosen, Quote and Comment)

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