17 February 2013
Moving Day
Last week's issue of The Nightstand will be the last hosted at this URL and the Blogger platform. This week's edition will be posted at wmotlthenightstand.wordpress.com. (Don't try to remember it, just bookmark it or throw it into your RSS feedreader if you are so inclined). I don't have any major complaints about the Blogger platform, but I was looking to shed myself of some baggage associated with the address (its misspelling for one, a mistake my wife has never let me forget). I started this blog back in the summer of 2007 as a means of participating in the "Bloggernacle," or the online universe of LDS/Mormon-focused blogs that were popping up willy-nillly in those days. It did not take long to realize that I was not going to be able to put the time and effort into the blogging enterprise to make much of a mark or attract a significant readership. I have been heartened by the occasional appreciative comment or bit of praise I receive for something that I posted on the blog. Gradually, I began to see myself in more of a curator's role, culling articles and longform pieces from around the Internet for the consumption of others. This weekly collection, The Nightstand, started up as an adjunct to my own writing, but has gradually become my primary means of expression on the blog. It turns out that as a busy associate in a BigLaw firm and a growing family, I have even less free time and less intellectual energy than I had as a law student. So the new blog will be "The Nightstand @ Weightier Matters of the Law." I cannot promise that I will not post something of my own as time and degree of interest allow, but I am going to let go of my own personal guilt for not getting it done. I will also be adding a couple of new features to The Nightstand over the next couple of weeks and months, things that I hope will make it more reader-friendly, fun and useful. I hope that as many of you as have followed me for some period over the past nearly six (really?) years will continue with me to a new venue. I will keep this blog online and available for as long as I can, if for no other reason than nostalgia and to preserve the value of any links that have been made to it over the years.
10 February 2013
The Nightstand (Feb 10th)
Politics
Chilling legal memo from Obama DOJ justifies assassination of US citizens (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian)-- An extremely effective and thorough take-down of the "white paper."
Do We Really Want to Live Without the Post Office? (Jesse Lichtenstein, Esquire)
What Democracy Lost in 2013 (Bob Moser, The American Prospect)
Freedom for the few (Anthony Kammer, The American Prospect)
The Economy
Going Back Too Soon (Sharon Lerner, The American Prospect)
How We Overregulate and Underregulate at the Same Time (Matthew Yglesias, Slate)
The Global Farmland Rush (Michael Kugelman, NYT)
Education/Culture
The Academic Counseling Racket (Joe Nocera, NYT)
Hip-hop Speaks to the Guns (Ta-Nehisi Coates, NYT)
The Boy Scouts vs. the Supreme Court (Cass Sunstein, Bloomberg View)
How the post office made America (Richard R. John, NYT)
Battling College Costs, a Paycheck at a Time (Ron Lieber, NYT)
Pass it on (L.D. Burnett, SUSIH)
Science
Speak, Memory (Oliver Sacks, NYRB)-- I have often said that if I could have done anything else in college and with my career, it would have been neuroscience.
Mormonism
Reawakening (Megan Geilman, Scarlett called Scout)
She Says/He Says: The Give and Take of Temple Marriage (elisothel and rah, Feminist Mormon Housewives)
My missionary moment (Rachel Whipple, Times & Seasons)
On Coke, caffeine, and the Word of Wisdom (Aaron R., By Common Consent)
Date Me, Not My Uterus (Tracy M, By Common Consent)
A darn shame (John C., By Common Consent)
Pants, Prayers, and Women, 'Oh My!' The Role of Women in Early Christianity (David Bokovoy, Worlds without End)
The cosmology of the 'priesthood' restriction (J. Stapley, Juvenile Instructor)
How not to think about fundamentalism (Matt Bowman, Peculiar People)
Why would someone choose to follow Brigham Young? (Ben Park, By Common Consent)
Chilling legal memo from Obama DOJ justifies assassination of US citizens (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian)-- An extremely effective and thorough take-down of the "white paper."
Do We Really Want to Live Without the Post Office? (Jesse Lichtenstein, Esquire)
What Democracy Lost in 2013 (Bob Moser, The American Prospect)
The NRA vs. America (Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone)
The real debate over citizenship (Robert Reich, The American Prospect)
The real debate over citizenship (Robert Reich, The American Prospect)
Freedom for the few (Anthony Kammer, The American Prospect)
The Economy
Going Back Too Soon (Sharon Lerner, The American Prospect)
How We Overregulate and Underregulate at the Same Time (Matthew Yglesias, Slate)
The Global Farmland Rush (Michael Kugelman, NYT)
Education/Culture
The Academic Counseling Racket (Joe Nocera, NYT)
Hip-hop Speaks to the Guns (Ta-Nehisi Coates, NYT)
The Boy Scouts vs. the Supreme Court (Cass Sunstein, Bloomberg View)
How the post office made America (Richard R. John, NYT)
Battling College Costs, a Paycheck at a Time (Ron Lieber, NYT)
Pass it on (L.D. Burnett, SUSIH)
Science
Speak, Memory (Oliver Sacks, NYRB)-- I have often said that if I could have done anything else in college and with my career, it would have been neuroscience.
Mormonism
Reawakening (Megan Geilman, Scarlett called Scout)
She Says/He Says: The Give and Take of Temple Marriage (elisothel and rah, Feminist Mormon Housewives)
My missionary moment (Rachel Whipple, Times & Seasons)
On Coke, caffeine, and the Word of Wisdom (Aaron R., By Common Consent)
Date Me, Not My Uterus (Tracy M, By Common Consent)
A darn shame (John C., By Common Consent)
Pants, Prayers, and Women, 'Oh My!' The Role of Women in Early Christianity (David Bokovoy, Worlds without End)
The cosmology of the 'priesthood' restriction (J. Stapley, Juvenile Instructor)
How not to think about fundamentalism (Matt Bowman, Peculiar People)
Why would someone choose to follow Brigham Young? (Ben Park, By Common Consent)
03 February 2013
The Nightstand (January 27th)
Roe v. Wade Anniversary
Better Reporting for Abortions (Charles A. Donovan, NYT)
Leeches, Lye and Spanish Fly (Kate Manning, NYT)
Politics
Dumb America (Garry Wills, NYRB)
Please Take Away My Right to a Gun (Wendy Button, NYT)
Maximum lies about the minimum wage (Samantha Valente, Socialist Worker)
The Obama Majority (Harold Meyerson, WaPo)
How to Get America Online (Susan Crawford, NYT)
Everything you know about health care spending is wrong (Matthew Yglesias, Slate)
Is America a 'kludgeocracy'? (Ezra Klein, Wonkblog)
Freedom to choose, freedom to marry (EJ Graff, The American Prospect)
The Prosecution of Aaron: a response to Orin Kerr (James Boyle, The Public Domain)
Mormonism
Source Over Content: General, Generic, and Genereal Conferences (Daymon Smith, Uncorrelated Mormonism)-- This revelation feels so damning...
Antinomianism and the Church (J. Stapley, By Common Consent)
Of Prophets, Elephants, Truth and Charity (David Tayman, Worlds without End)
The Priesthood is not a Superpower (John C., By Common Consent)
Picketing Zion (Rachael, Peculiar People)
Ten Reasons Why I'd Like to See a Woman Pray in General Conference (Brad, By Common Consent)
The Implications of Encouraging Early Marriage in a Global Church (MMiles, By Common Consent)
Top 3 Scriptural Justifications for Cultural Lag (BHodges, By Common Consent)
On Complaining (Julie M. Smith, Times & Seasons)
Culture
Diderot, an American exemplar? Bien sur! (Andrew Curran, NYT)
Looking for Truth in Utah (Jean Cheney, Humanities Magazine)
Selling a new generation on guns (Mike McIntire, NYT)-- Earning their nickname the "merchants of death"-- just like drug peddlers.
Global
Nothing to celebrate in Mexico (Jose Vivanco, WaPo)
Better Reporting for Abortions (Charles A. Donovan, NYT)
Leeches, Lye and Spanish Fly (Kate Manning, NYT)
Politics
Dumb America (Garry Wills, NYRB)
Please Take Away My Right to a Gun (Wendy Button, NYT)
Maximum lies about the minimum wage (Samantha Valente, Socialist Worker)
The Obama Majority (Harold Meyerson, WaPo)
How to Get America Online (Susan Crawford, NYT)
Everything you know about health care spending is wrong (Matthew Yglesias, Slate)
Is America a 'kludgeocracy'? (Ezra Klein, Wonkblog)
Freedom to choose, freedom to marry (EJ Graff, The American Prospect)
The Prosecution of Aaron: a response to Orin Kerr (James Boyle, The Public Domain)
Mormonism
Source Over Content: General, Generic, and Genereal Conferences (Daymon Smith, Uncorrelated Mormonism)-- This revelation feels so damning...
Antinomianism and the Church (J. Stapley, By Common Consent)
Of Prophets, Elephants, Truth and Charity (David Tayman, Worlds without End)
The Priesthood is not a Superpower (John C., By Common Consent)
Picketing Zion (Rachael, Peculiar People)
Ten Reasons Why I'd Like to See a Woman Pray in General Conference (Brad, By Common Consent)
The Implications of Encouraging Early Marriage in a Global Church (MMiles, By Common Consent)
Top 3 Scriptural Justifications for Cultural Lag (BHodges, By Common Consent)
On Complaining (Julie M. Smith, Times & Seasons)
Culture
Diderot, an American exemplar? Bien sur! (Andrew Curran, NYT)
Looking for Truth in Utah (Jean Cheney, Humanities Magazine)
Selling a new generation on guns (Mike McIntire, NYT)-- Earning their nickname the "merchants of death"-- just like drug peddlers.
A Farewell to Arms (Susan J. Douglas, In These Times)
MLK's vehement condemnation of US militarism are more relevant than ever (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian)
MLK's vehement condemnation of US militarism are more relevant than ever (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian)
Global
Nothing to celebrate in Mexico (Jose Vivanco, WaPo)
The Nightstand (February 3rd)
Politics
Confessions of a Liberal Gun Owner (Justin Cronin, NYT)
Moral Perversity in David Mamet (Andrew Sullivan, The Dish)-- Responding to this nonsense.
Breaking the Military's Brass Ceiling (Jeremiah Goulka, The American Prospect)
Obama, FDR and the Second Bill of Rights (Cass Sunstein, Bloomberg View)
Confessions of a Liberal Gun Owner (Justin Cronin, NYT)
Moral Perversity in David Mamet (Andrew Sullivan, The Dish)-- Responding to this nonsense.
Breaking the Military's Brass Ceiling (Jeremiah Goulka, The American Prospect)
Obama, FDR and the Second Bill of Rights (Cass Sunstein, Bloomberg View)
Making Voting Constitutional (Jamelle Bouie, The American Prospect)
Worried about the economy? Then pass immigration reform (Ezra Klein, Wonkblog)
Obama's Big and Quiet Transformation (Michael Tomasky, NYRB)
Mormonism
Earthly Father, Heavenly Father -- Earthly Mother, Blank (Alison Moore Smith, Times & Seasons)-- All sorts of problems with this video. (Also an excellent discussion at BCC at Tree of Life II)
On Missionary Work (Ben Park, Feminist Mormon Housewives)
Earthly Failings, Heavenly Success (Brad, By Common Consent)
In Defense of Higher Criticism (David Bokovoy, Worlds without End)
How Mormons and Evangelicals Became Republicans (Mark Silk, Religion in the News)
Humanities
When Jim Crow Drank Coke (Grace Elizabeth Hale, NYT)
Aaron Swartz, Intellectual Property and the Humanities (Ben Alpers, SUSIH Blog)
Science
Awaiting a New Darwin (H. Allen Orr, NYRB)
27 January 2013
The Nightstand (January 20th)
Aaron Swartz and internet freedom
How the legal system failed Aaron Swartz-and us (Tim Wu, The New Yorker)
The Death of Aaron Swartz (Clive Crook, The Atlantic)
Aaron Swartz's illusion over research (John Gapper, Financial Times)-- A useful counterpoint to some of the other discussions going on. I'm not sure I am convinced by the final conclusion, but agreed that "liberating" scholarly articles from JSTOR et al. would not suddenly create a utopia of cheap information. I can see a system emerging something like what exists (as of only recently) with judicial decisions. They are available for free using Google Scholar; however, Westlaw and Lexis give them to you with lots of bells and whistles (hyperlinking to other cases, checking the validity and subsequent history, etc.)
Invasion of the data snatchers (Bill Keller, NYT)
The death of Aaron Swartz (Peter Singer and Agata Sagan, NYRB)
Carmen Ortiz and Stephen Heymann: accountability for prosecutorial abuse (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian)
Politics
Who Has Abortions and Why It Matters (Jamelle Bouie, The American Prospect)
POW! CRACK! What we know about video games and violence (Suzy Khimm, Wonkblog)
The most depressing graphic for members of Congress (Ezra Klein, Wonkblog)-- If they hate it so much, why don't they change it?
Gun research is allowed again. So what will we find out? (Brad Plumer, Wonkblog)
Programmed for primetime (Bhaskar Sunkara, In These Times)-- It should be clear that I like Ezra Klein, since at least one item from Wonkblog shows up in every edition of The Nightstand. However, I think there is something to the critique of an abandonment of pure progressivism in pursuit of technocratic respectability. Of course, there is the difference in venue and audience to contend with as well.
The case for socialist organization (Shaun Harkin, Socialist Worker)
After 'the end of big government liberalism' (Ezra Klein, Wonkblog)
Who Says You Can Kill Americans, Mr. President? (Vicki Divoll, NYT)
Southern Discomfort (George Packer, The New Yorker)-- Goes well with Garry Wills piece on the South from the January 27th edition.
Twelve Questions for John Brennan (David Cole, NYRB)
Enlightened surveillance? (Stuart Armstrong, Practical Ethics)
Science
The delights of disgust (Justin E.H. Smith, Chronicle of Higher Education)
Us and them (Marek Kohn, Aeon)
Mormonism
All is Well in Zion (Mark Brown, By Common Consent)
Roles, responsibilities and rights: what was Elaine Dalton talking about? (rah, FMH)-- What indeed? (See also Dear President Dalton (winterbuzz, FMH)
'Help Meet' or Their Own Agent (Brent Beal, FMH)
Manti Te'o and the Imaginary Mormon Girlfriend (John Turner, Religion in American History)
Should Women Pray in Public? (Julie M. Smith, Times & Seasons)
How the legal system failed Aaron Swartz-and us (Tim Wu, The New Yorker)
The Death of Aaron Swartz (Clive Crook, The Atlantic)
Aaron Swartz's illusion over research (John Gapper, Financial Times)-- A useful counterpoint to some of the other discussions going on. I'm not sure I am convinced by the final conclusion, but agreed that "liberating" scholarly articles from JSTOR et al. would not suddenly create a utopia of cheap information. I can see a system emerging something like what exists (as of only recently) with judicial decisions. They are available for free using Google Scholar; however, Westlaw and Lexis give them to you with lots of bells and whistles (hyperlinking to other cases, checking the validity and subsequent history, etc.)
Invasion of the data snatchers (Bill Keller, NYT)
The death of Aaron Swartz (Peter Singer and Agata Sagan, NYRB)
Carmen Ortiz and Stephen Heymann: accountability for prosecutorial abuse (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian)
Politics
Who Has Abortions and Why It Matters (Jamelle Bouie, The American Prospect)
POW! CRACK! What we know about video games and violence (Suzy Khimm, Wonkblog)
The most depressing graphic for members of Congress (Ezra Klein, Wonkblog)-- If they hate it so much, why don't they change it?
Gun research is allowed again. So what will we find out? (Brad Plumer, Wonkblog)
Programmed for primetime (Bhaskar Sunkara, In These Times)-- It should be clear that I like Ezra Klein, since at least one item from Wonkblog shows up in every edition of The Nightstand. However, I think there is something to the critique of an abandonment of pure progressivism in pursuit of technocratic respectability. Of course, there is the difference in venue and audience to contend with as well.
The case for socialist organization (Shaun Harkin, Socialist Worker)
After 'the end of big government liberalism' (Ezra Klein, Wonkblog)
Who Says You Can Kill Americans, Mr. President? (Vicki Divoll, NYT)
Southern Discomfort (George Packer, The New Yorker)-- Goes well with Garry Wills piece on the South from the January 27th edition.
Twelve Questions for John Brennan (David Cole, NYRB)
Enlightened surveillance? (Stuart Armstrong, Practical Ethics)
Science
The delights of disgust (Justin E.H. Smith, Chronicle of Higher Education)
Us and them (Marek Kohn, Aeon)
Mormonism
All is Well in Zion (Mark Brown, By Common Consent)
Roles, responsibilities and rights: what was Elaine Dalton talking about? (rah, FMH)-- What indeed? (See also Dear President Dalton (winterbuzz, FMH)
'Help Meet' or Their Own Agent (Brent Beal, FMH)
Manti Te'o and the Imaginary Mormon Girlfriend (John Turner, Religion in American History)
Should Women Pray in Public? (Julie M. Smith, Times & Seasons)
20 January 2013
The Nightstand (January 13)
Economy
Major Companies Push the Limit of a Tax Break (David Kocieniewski, NYT)
How the world manages to waste half its food (Brad Plumer, Wonkblog)
Mormonism
Organizing the Doctrine and Covenants Lessons: Or, Why the Topical Approach Doesn't Work (Ben Park, By Common Consent)
Questioning Mormonism (David Bokovoy, Worlds Without End)
Pride: How the motivation for most sins has (thus far) kept me from apostasy (John C., By Common Consent)
The Pedagogy of Sunday School (Norbert, By Common Consent)
Politics
A Standardized Testing Revolt (Abby Rapaport, The American Prospect)
The Question Torture Apologists Can't Answer (Paul Waldman, The American Prospect)
Newtown
Media Violence versus Real Violence (Paul Waldman, The American Prospect)-- I should also put a special plug in here for David Waldman's Twitter feed (not sure if they are brothers, but there appears to be some resemblence). David (as KagroX) has been documenting accidental gun deaths on a daily basis. The pace is truly staggering.
Major Companies Push the Limit of a Tax Break (David Kocieniewski, NYT)
How the world manages to waste half its food (Brad Plumer, Wonkblog)
Mormonism
Organizing the Doctrine and Covenants Lessons: Or, Why the Topical Approach Doesn't Work (Ben Park, By Common Consent)
Questioning Mormonism (David Bokovoy, Worlds Without End)
Pride: How the motivation for most sins has (thus far) kept me from apostasy (John C., By Common Consent)
The Pedagogy of Sunday School (Norbert, By Common Consent)
Politics
A Standardized Testing Revolt (Abby Rapaport, The American Prospect)
The Question Torture Apologists Can't Answer (Paul Waldman, The American Prospect)
Aaron Swartz, American hero (Tim Lee, Wonkblog)
America's staggering defense budget, in charts (Brad Plumer, Wonkblog)
America's staggering defense budget, in charts (Brad Plumer, Wonkblog)
Newtown
Media Violence versus Real Violence (Paul Waldman, The American Prospect)-- I should also put a special plug in here for David Waldman's Twitter feed (not sure if they are brothers, but there appears to be some resemblence). David (as KagroX) has been documenting accidental gun deaths on a daily basis. The pace is truly staggering.
13 January 2013
The Nightstand (Jan 6, 2013)
Politics
The Strangest Conservative Priority: Prepping a '2nd Amendment Solution' (Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic)
America's Real Criminal Element: Lead (Kevin Drum, Mother Jones)
In Texas, Resistance to a Renewed Call for an Annual Roundup of Legislators (Manny Fernandez, NYT)-- This was one of the more seriously weird things we ran into when we moved to Texas-- the legislature meets only once every two years. Its a huge state, with lots of problems, and a complex regional economy(ies), and is seriously "undergoverned." But restricting meetings of the legislature is putting Texas' ridiculous commitment to conservatism into action.
Secrets and Lies of the Bailout (Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone)
Guns and Drugs (Michelle Chen, In These Times)
The 'war on terror' - by design - can never end (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian)
The Disappeared (Frank Dikotter, Foreign Policy)
Getting a better education and paying for it (Andres Pinter, WaPo)
Better, if not Cheaper, Care (Ezekiel Emanuel, NYT)
The big issues in macroeconomics: the fiscal multiplier (John Quiggin, Crooked Timber)
Religion and Mormonism
Tolkien: On Fairy Stories (Ronan James Head, By Common Consent)
A Church without Words (Heidi Harris, Peculiar People)
Purity Culture is Rape Culture (E.J. Graff, The American Prospect)-- There are some implications for LDS here IMO, but I am too timid to really sort them out.
One Miracle at a Time (Kevin Barney, Feminist Mormon Housewives)
The Mormon Guy's Career Guide to Mansplaining (Scott H, Feminist Mormon Housewives)
Issues in Mormon Feminism (Taylor Petrey, Peculiar People)
The Strangest Conservative Priority: Prepping a '2nd Amendment Solution' (Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic)
America's Real Criminal Element: Lead (Kevin Drum, Mother Jones)
In Texas, Resistance to a Renewed Call for an Annual Roundup of Legislators (Manny Fernandez, NYT)-- This was one of the more seriously weird things we ran into when we moved to Texas-- the legislature meets only once every two years. Its a huge state, with lots of problems, and a complex regional economy(ies), and is seriously "undergoverned." But restricting meetings of the legislature is putting Texas' ridiculous commitment to conservatism into action.
Secrets and Lies of the Bailout (Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone)
Guns and Drugs (Michelle Chen, In These Times)
The 'war on terror' - by design - can never end (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian)
The Disappeared (Frank Dikotter, Foreign Policy)
Getting a better education and paying for it (Andres Pinter, WaPo)
Better, if not Cheaper, Care (Ezekiel Emanuel, NYT)
The big issues in macroeconomics: the fiscal multiplier (John Quiggin, Crooked Timber)
Religion and Mormonism
Tolkien: On Fairy Stories (Ronan James Head, By Common Consent)
A Church without Words (Heidi Harris, Peculiar People)
Purity Culture is Rape Culture (E.J. Graff, The American Prospect)-- There are some implications for LDS here IMO, but I am too timid to really sort them out.
One Miracle at a Time (Kevin Barney, Feminist Mormon Housewives)
The Mormon Guy's Career Guide to Mansplaining (Scott H, Feminist Mormon Housewives)
Issues in Mormon Feminism (Taylor Petrey, Peculiar People)
03 January 2013
The Nightstand (Dec 30th)
Economics
What will we smuggle in the future? Drones, coal and honeybees (Brad Plumer, Wonkblog)
Universities won't go bankrupt, but they might lose money (Matthew Yglesias, Slate Moneybox)
Signs of Changes Taking Hold in Electronics Factories in China (Keith Bradsher and Charles Duhigg, NYT)
The economics of gun control (Brad Plumer, Wonkblog)
Heirs of Mao's Comrades Rise as New Capitalist Nobility (Bloomberg)
The Myth of American Meritocracy (Ron Unz, The American Conservative)
Five myths about charitable giving (Ken Stern, WaPo)
Philanthropy: You're Doing it Wrong (Felix Salmon, Reuters)
Politics
Let's Give Up on the Constitution (Louis Michael Seidman, NYT)
Georgia's Hunger Games (Neil deMause, Slate)
The economics of gun control (Brad Plumer, Wonkblog)
The GOP's 1 Trillion Dollar Lie (Joshua Holland, In These Times)
Mormonism
Hawaiian History, Colonialism, and the Polynesian Cultural Center (Amanda, Juvenile Instructor)
Asking Hard Questions of a God Who Weeps (Emily Belanger, Peculiar People)
What will we smuggle in the future? Drones, coal and honeybees (Brad Plumer, Wonkblog)
Universities won't go bankrupt, but they might lose money (Matthew Yglesias, Slate Moneybox)
Signs of Changes Taking Hold in Electronics Factories in China (Keith Bradsher and Charles Duhigg, NYT)
The economics of gun control (Brad Plumer, Wonkblog)
Heirs of Mao's Comrades Rise as New Capitalist Nobility (Bloomberg)
The Myth of American Meritocracy (Ron Unz, The American Conservative)
Charity/Philanthropy
Five myths about charitable giving (Ken Stern, WaPo)
Philanthropy: You're Doing it Wrong (Felix Salmon, Reuters)
Politics
Let's Give Up on the Constitution (Louis Michael Seidman, NYT)
Georgia's Hunger Games (Neil deMause, Slate)
The economics of gun control (Brad Plumer, Wonkblog)
The GOP's 1 Trillion Dollar Lie (Joshua Holland, In These Times)
Mormonism
Hawaiian History, Colonialism, and the Polynesian Cultural Center (Amanda, Juvenile Instructor)
Asking Hard Questions of a God Who Weeps (Emily Belanger, Peculiar People)
01 January 2013
The Nightstand (Dec 23rd)
LDS Women Wear Pants
To get the full scope of events related to "Wear Pants to Church" Sunday, you would have to access certain Facebook pages (some of which are no longer available). In lieu of that, I have made a digest of several blog posts that represent distinct stages or aspects of the movement (or the reaction to it).
A decent intro into the movement and its purposes-- Mormon Feminists in Whoville and Why You Should Wear Pants to Church this Sunday (Sandra Ford, FMH)
A response to the disgusting backlash-- On Nastiness: Why Nice Mormons Can Be So Very Very Mean (About Pants) (fmhLisa, FMH)
If you acknowledge the inequality of men and women in the LDS Church and are OK with it, then go ahead. But don't piss on my leg and tell me its raining...-- Mormon Male Privilege and How to Make Apparent Gender Disparity in the Church (Whoa-man, Exponent II)
A further refinement of the purposes and rationale behind the movement-- Feminism 101: Why Pants Matter- A Brief Primer on Social Norms (rah, FMH)
Personal preparation for confronting opposition-- Finding Your Inner Pants- Empowerment Through Self-Understanding and the Language of Authority (Anne Peffer, FMH)
A somewhat dissenting take (Welch, always the reluctant contrarian/hand-wringer...)-- Twelve hundred words on pants (Rosalynde Welch, Times & Seasons)
And another-- Pants, Doctrine and Culture, and Why Maybe We Shouldn't Worry (Rachael, Peculiar People)
Satirical response to the aftermath-- Mormonism is a Skirt, Not a Pair of Pants (Matthew Nokleby, FMH)
A response from abroad-- Less Than 1200 Words on Pants (RJH, By Common Consent)
A more biting response to the backlash-- How to Silence a(n LDS) Woman: You're Doing it Wrong (Jacob, By Common Consent)
The movement makes it into the NYT-- Mormon Women Set Out to Take a Stand, in Pants (Timothy Pratt, NYT)
A post-mortem-- What Was Pants to Church Sunday Really About? (Joanna Brooks, Religion Dispatches)
Plans for the future-- Post Pants: Mormon Feminism and inter-group cooperation (Reese Dixon, FMH)
Newtown and Guns
The Last Shot (Emily Bazelon, Slate)
This sacred text explains why the US can't kick the gun habit (Jonathan Freedland, The Guardian)
What Drives Suicidal Mass Killers? (Adam Lankford, NYT)
Video Games are Not the Problem (Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Dish)-- See the chart at the linked article. Also worth noting the common-sense notion that we so far have no recorded slaying of upwards of 20 people by a teenager or young adult using an Xbox to bludgeon people to death. See also Still No Strong Links between Video Games and Violence (Jamelle Bouie, The American Prospect)
We Have the Technology to Make Safer Guns (Farhad Manjoo, Slate)
The Freedom of an Armed Society (Firmin Debrabander, NYT)
A quick rejoinder to fool Huckabee (RJH, By Common Consent)
Our Moloch (Garry Wills, NYRB)
Thinking the Unthinkable (The Anarchist Soccer Mom)
We Have Seen the Enemy and the Enemy is Us (gomw, The Mormon Worker)
Taking the Broad View on Guns (Paul Waldman, The American Prospect)
War at Home (Bob Herbert, The American Prospect)
'Politicizing' and the Rhetoric of Reaction (Ben Alpers, US Intellectual History Blog)
Mormonism
Can Books Cause Problems? Reflections on Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet (Dave Banack, Times & Seasons)
Malignant Mormon Memes- If This is Not Your Castle, You are Not My Prince (fmhLisa, FMH)-- The beginning of a potentially great series at FMH...
Education
For Poor, Leap to College Often Ends in a Hard Fall (Jason DeParle, NYT)
Who Can Still Afford State U? (Scott Thurm, Wall Street Journal)
One Nation Under God? (Molly Worthen, NYT)
Apocalypse Always (Emily Suzanne Clark, Religion in American History Blog)
The Will to Secede (G. Pascal Zachary, In These Times)
Economy
All the World's a Game, and Business is a Player (Nick Wingfield, NYT)
The Bribery Aisle: How Wal-Mart Got Its Way in Mexico (David Barstow, NYT)
To get the full scope of events related to "Wear Pants to Church" Sunday, you would have to access certain Facebook pages (some of which are no longer available). In lieu of that, I have made a digest of several blog posts that represent distinct stages or aspects of the movement (or the reaction to it).
A decent intro into the movement and its purposes-- Mormon Feminists in Whoville and Why You Should Wear Pants to Church this Sunday (Sandra Ford, FMH)
A response to the disgusting backlash-- On Nastiness: Why Nice Mormons Can Be So Very Very Mean (About Pants) (fmhLisa, FMH)
If you acknowledge the inequality of men and women in the LDS Church and are OK with it, then go ahead. But don't piss on my leg and tell me its raining...-- Mormon Male Privilege and How to Make Apparent Gender Disparity in the Church (Whoa-man, Exponent II)
A further refinement of the purposes and rationale behind the movement-- Feminism 101: Why Pants Matter- A Brief Primer on Social Norms (rah, FMH)
Personal preparation for confronting opposition-- Finding Your Inner Pants- Empowerment Through Self-Understanding and the Language of Authority (Anne Peffer, FMH)
A somewhat dissenting take (Welch, always the reluctant contrarian/hand-wringer...)-- Twelve hundred words on pants (Rosalynde Welch, Times & Seasons)
And another-- Pants, Doctrine and Culture, and Why Maybe We Shouldn't Worry (Rachael, Peculiar People)
Satirical response to the aftermath-- Mormonism is a Skirt, Not a Pair of Pants (Matthew Nokleby, FMH)
A response from abroad-- Less Than 1200 Words on Pants (RJH, By Common Consent)
A more biting response to the backlash-- How to Silence a(n LDS) Woman: You're Doing it Wrong (Jacob, By Common Consent)
The movement makes it into the NYT-- Mormon Women Set Out to Take a Stand, in Pants (Timothy Pratt, NYT)
A post-mortem-- What Was Pants to Church Sunday Really About? (Joanna Brooks, Religion Dispatches)
Plans for the future-- Post Pants: Mormon Feminism and inter-group cooperation (Reese Dixon, FMH)
Newtown and Guns
The Last Shot (Emily Bazelon, Slate)
This sacred text explains why the US can't kick the gun habit (Jonathan Freedland, The Guardian)
What Drives Suicidal Mass Killers? (Adam Lankford, NYT)
Video Games are Not the Problem (Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Dish)-- See the chart at the linked article. Also worth noting the common-sense notion that we so far have no recorded slaying of upwards of 20 people by a teenager or young adult using an Xbox to bludgeon people to death. See also Still No Strong Links between Video Games and Violence (Jamelle Bouie, The American Prospect)
We Have the Technology to Make Safer Guns (Farhad Manjoo, Slate)
The Freedom of an Armed Society (Firmin Debrabander, NYT)
A quick rejoinder to fool Huckabee (RJH, By Common Consent)
Our Moloch (Garry Wills, NYRB)
Thinking the Unthinkable (The Anarchist Soccer Mom)
We Have Seen the Enemy and the Enemy is Us (gomw, The Mormon Worker)
Taking the Broad View on Guns (Paul Waldman, The American Prospect)
War at Home (Bob Herbert, The American Prospect)
'Politicizing' and the Rhetoric of Reaction (Ben Alpers, US Intellectual History Blog)
Mormonism
Can Books Cause Problems? Reflections on Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet (Dave Banack, Times & Seasons)
Malignant Mormon Memes- If This is Not Your Castle, You are Not My Prince (fmhLisa, FMH)-- The beginning of a potentially great series at FMH...
Education
For Poor, Leap to College Often Ends in a Hard Fall (Jason DeParle, NYT)
Who Can Still Afford State U? (Scott Thurm, Wall Street Journal)
Erik Loomis and Free Speech (Ben Alpers, USIH Blog)
Religion
One Nation Under God? (Molly Worthen, NYT)
Apocalypse Always (Emily Suzanne Clark, Religion in American History Blog)
Politics
Influential GOP group releases, pulls shockingly sensible copyright memo (Timothy Lee, Ars Technica)
Everyone is a Taker (Jamelle Bouie, The American Prospect)
Everyone is a Taker (Jamelle Bouie, The American Prospect)
Catastrophiliacs (Sasha Lilley, In These Times)
Gerrymandering Isn't the (Only) Problem (Rob Richie, In These Times)
Gerrymandering Isn't the (Only) Problem (Rob Richie, In These Times)
The Will to Secede (G. Pascal Zachary, In These Times)
Economy
All the World's a Game, and Business is a Player (Nick Wingfield, NYT)
The Bribery Aisle: How Wal-Mart Got Its Way in Mexico (David Barstow, NYT)
31 December 2012
The Nightstand (Dec 16th)
FYI-- all posts relevant to the "Wear Pants to (LDS) Church" Day will show up in the subsequent edition of The Nightstand in order to capture all the post mortems.
The Newtown Tragedy and Guns
Ten Arguments Gun Advocates Make, and Why They're Wrong (Paul Waldman, TAPPED)
Newtown and the Madness of Guns (Adam Gopnik, New Yorker)
The gun control that works: no guns (Lexington, The Economist)
All Eternity Shakes: Mormonism's Weeping God (Jacob, By Common Consent)-- A Mormon take on Newtown, suffering and the problem of evil
Foreign Affairs
Hedge Funds Stride the Stage of World Affairs (Peter Eavis, Dealbook-NYT)
Zero Dark Thirty: CIA hagiography, pernicious propaganda (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian)
Washington's plan to derail the Arab Spring (Editorial, Socialist Worker)
Mormonism
The Wise Man Doubts Often, and Changes His Mind (Nathaniel Givens, Times & Seasons)
Queer Today, Gone Tomorrow (William Saletan, Slate)
A Queer(er) Mormonism (Xarissa Holdaway, Peculiar People)
Other
How Older Parenthood Will Upend American Society (Judith Shulevitz, The New Republic)
09 December 2012
The Nightstand (Dec 9th)
The Economy
What If We Made Fewer Ph.Ds? (Leonard Cassuto, Chronicle of Higher Education)
Politics
School Prayer (Rachel Whipple, Times & Seasons)-- This is about in line with my own thinking on the subject. Also, let it be known that Raymond Takeshi Swenson has no idea what he is talking about on this issue, but let's at least all be grateful that, for once, he was able to keep his comment brief and to the point.
Babies, Nickled and Dimed (Amanda Marcotte, The American Prospect)
How to Talk about a Changing America (Paul Waldman, The American Prospect)
Greedy Geezers, Reconsidered (Robert Kuttner, The American Prospect)
Laws Not Fit to be Defended (David Cole, New York Review of Books)
Global Issues
What is Peace? (Margaret Paxson, Aeon)
Save Your Kisses for Me (Adam Curtis, BBC The Medium and the Message)-- Great video/photo essay.
Aleppo: How Syria is Being Destroyed (Charles Glass, NYRB)
Feminism
The Plight of the Alpha Female (Kay S. Hymowitz, City Journal)
I Am, It Turns Out (C. Jane Kendrick)-- A more personal take on a Mormon feminist "coming out"
Mormonism
Tentative Notes Toward a Theory of Liberal Mormonism (Matt Bowman, Peculiar People)
How Mormonism Changes and Managing Liberal Expectations (Nate Oman, Times & Seasons)-- THE big Bloggernacle post of the week, prompting comment all over the place, including Oman's own Facebook wall. As others point out, I suspect that Oman is right about the way that the Church actually works (i.e. leaders following the mass opinion of the members rather than determining it) but his ascribing a misunderstanding of this primarily or exclusively to "liberals" (theological, political, or both) seems way off base to me. Reactions from BCC here and by TT at FPR here (with Nate's reply here)
Previewing 2013: A Look Forward to Exciting Books in Mormon History (Ben Park, Juvenile Instructor)
2012 in Retrospect: An Overview of Noteworthy Articles and Books in Mormon History (Ben Park, Juvenile Instructor)-- I look forward to these posts from Ben and others every year. It is always a huge help updating my Amazon wish list.
LDS Church Launches New Website Calling for Greater Openness and Understanding on LGBT Issues (Joanna Brooks, Religion Dispatches)-- Definitely the biggest news in Mormon world for this week, excluding the extensive navel-gazing prompted among the Bloggernaclerati by Nate Oman's post at Times & Seasons (see below).
Shunning Your Fellow Saints: You're Doing it Wrong (Jacob, By Common Consent)
What If We Made Fewer Ph.Ds? (Leonard Cassuto, Chronicle of Higher Education)
Free Market Fairness (Martin O'Neill and Thad Williamson, Boston Review)
Raise the Economy's Speed Limit (Jared Bernstein, NYT)
The Measure of All Things (Jennifer Burns, The American Prospect)
The Measure of All Things (Jennifer Burns, The American Prospect)
Special Report: Amazon's Billion-Dollar Tax Shield (Tom Bergin, Reuters)- Few days go by when I don't feel worse about shopping at Amazon.
The Future of Shopping (Megan McArdle, The Daily Beast)
The Future of Shopping (Megan McArdle, The Daily Beast)
Politics
School Prayer (Rachel Whipple, Times & Seasons)-- This is about in line with my own thinking on the subject. Also, let it be known that Raymond Takeshi Swenson has no idea what he is talking about on this issue, but let's at least all be grateful that, for once, he was able to keep his comment brief and to the point.
Babies, Nickled and Dimed (Amanda Marcotte, The American Prospect)
How to Talk about a Changing America (Paul Waldman, The American Prospect)
Greedy Geezers, Reconsidered (Robert Kuttner, The American Prospect)
Laws Not Fit to be Defended (David Cole, New York Review of Books)
Paying for charitable giving (Fred Hiatt, WaPo)
How racism lives on in a 'color-blind' society (Brian Jones, Socialist Worker)
How racism lives on in a 'color-blind' society (Brian Jones, Socialist Worker)
Global Issues
What is Peace? (Margaret Paxson, Aeon)
Save Your Kisses for Me (Adam Curtis, BBC The Medium and the Message)-- Great video/photo essay.
Aleppo: How Syria is Being Destroyed (Charles Glass, NYRB)
Feminism
The Plight of the Alpha Female (Kay S. Hymowitz, City Journal)
I Am, It Turns Out (C. Jane Kendrick)-- A more personal take on a Mormon feminist "coming out"
Mormonism
Tentative Notes Toward a Theory of Liberal Mormonism (Matt Bowman, Peculiar People)
How Mormonism Changes and Managing Liberal Expectations (Nate Oman, Times & Seasons)-- THE big Bloggernacle post of the week, prompting comment all over the place, including Oman's own Facebook wall. As others point out, I suspect that Oman is right about the way that the Church actually works (i.e. leaders following the mass opinion of the members rather than determining it) but his ascribing a misunderstanding of this primarily or exclusively to "liberals" (theological, political, or both) seems way off base to me. Reactions from BCC here and by TT at FPR here (with Nate's reply here)
Previewing 2013: A Look Forward to Exciting Books in Mormon History (Ben Park, Juvenile Instructor)
2012 in Retrospect: An Overview of Noteworthy Articles and Books in Mormon History (Ben Park, Juvenile Instructor)-- I look forward to these posts from Ben and others every year. It is always a huge help updating my Amazon wish list.
LDS Church Launches New Website Calling for Greater Openness and Understanding on LGBT Issues (Joanna Brooks, Religion Dispatches)-- Definitely the biggest news in Mormon world for this week, excluding the extensive navel-gazing prompted among the Bloggernaclerati by Nate Oman's post at Times & Seasons (see below).
Shunning Your Fellow Saints: You're Doing it Wrong (Jacob, By Common Consent)
02 December 2012
The Nightstand (Dec 2nd)
God's Tax Subsidies (Matthew Yglesias, Slate Moneybox)
Abraham Lincoln and the Cost of Inequality (Ezra Klein, Wonkblog)
The Shocks We Will Face After This Life (Kent Larsen, Times & Seasons)
Pioneer Prophet Roundable: Turner Responds (Juvenile Instructor)-- The Mormon historians' blog Juvenile Instructor has been publishing a roundtable discussion of various aspects of John Turner's recent biography of Brigham Young. This post is Turner's response and all previous posts are linked to here.
Wal-Mart could easily pay (somewhat) more to its associates (Matthew Yglesias, Slate Moneybox)
When right-wing blather killed (Joan Walsh, Salon)
A minimum tax for the wealthy (Warren Buffett, NYT)
America, Israel, Gaza, the World (Walter Russell Mead, The American Interest)
Confronting a global austerity agenda (Socialist Worker editorial)
A Hospital War Reflects a Bind for Doctors in the US (Julie Creswell and Reed Abelson, NYT)
The great uncompromiser (Alan Maass, Socialist Worker)
As Companies Seek Tax Deals, Governments Pay High Price (Louise Story, NYT)-- The beginning of a series on "The United States of Subsidies."
A New Leader Pushes a Different Side of Mexico (Elizabeth Malkin, Randal C. Archibold, NYT)
Tax Burden for Most Americans is Lower than in the 1980s (Binyamin Appelbaum, Robert Gebelhoff, NYT)
Reflections on my Spiritually Heterogamous Marriage (Gina Colvin, Kiwi Mormon)
Its Time to Stop Killing in Secret (David Cole, NY Review of Books)
Abraham Lincoln and the Cost of Inequality (Ezra Klein, Wonkblog)
The Shocks We Will Face After This Life (Kent Larsen, Times & Seasons)
Pioneer Prophet Roundable: Turner Responds (Juvenile Instructor)-- The Mormon historians' blog Juvenile Instructor has been publishing a roundtable discussion of various aspects of John Turner's recent biography of Brigham Young. This post is Turner's response and all previous posts are linked to here.
Wal-Mart could easily pay (somewhat) more to its associates (Matthew Yglesias, Slate Moneybox)
When right-wing blather killed (Joan Walsh, Salon)
A minimum tax for the wealthy (Warren Buffett, NYT)
America, Israel, Gaza, the World (Walter Russell Mead, The American Interest)
Confronting a global austerity agenda (Socialist Worker editorial)
A Hospital War Reflects a Bind for Doctors in the US (Julie Creswell and Reed Abelson, NYT)
The great uncompromiser (Alan Maass, Socialist Worker)
As Companies Seek Tax Deals, Governments Pay High Price (Louise Story, NYT)-- The beginning of a series on "The United States of Subsidies."
A New Leader Pushes a Different Side of Mexico (Elizabeth Malkin, Randal C. Archibold, NYT)
Tax Burden for Most Americans is Lower than in the 1980s (Binyamin Appelbaum, Robert Gebelhoff, NYT)
Reflections on my Spiritually Heterogamous Marriage (Gina Colvin, Kiwi Mormon)
Its Time to Stop Killing in Secret (David Cole, NY Review of Books)
The Nightstand (Nov. 25th)
Its not an article, but I cannot recommend Steven Spielberg and Daniel Day Lewis' Lincoln highly enough. Everything-- the cinematography, the staging, the acting, the screenplay, are just about perfect.
Israel/Palestine Conflict
The Tunnels of Gaza (James Verini, National Geographic)
Wrong side of the fence (Rachel Shabi, Aeon)
I Didn't Come Back to Jerusalem to be in a War (Dahlia Lithwick, Slate)
The 'both sides are awful' dismissal of Gaza ignores the key role of the US government (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian)
Economics
How Costco Became the Anti-Walmart (Steven Greenhouse, NYT)-- This is a seven-year old article, but several friends were posting it around Black Friday when the Walmart strikes were getting fired up. We are Costco shoppers for life (or at least as long as their customer- and employee-friendly policies remain in place). See also Ezra Klein's Has Walmart been good or bad? at Wonkblog.
Inequality is Killing Capitalism (Robert Skidelsky, Project Syndicate)
A Free Market in the Sky (Clifford Winston, NYT)-- Anything that could make air travel cheaper and/or more pleasant-- bring it on.
Policy
Why Not Socialism? (Maria Svart, In These Times)
Time to end the war on drugs (Katrina vanden Heuvel, WaPo)
Other
The Evolutionary Mystery of Homosexuality (David Barash, The Chronicle of Higher Education)
How to Survive Societal Collapse in Suburbia (Keith O'brien, NYT)-- Surprise, surprise-- he's Mormon.
When Do We 'Get It'? (A.O. Scott, Manohla Dargis, NYT)-- Great back-and-forth on emerging trend of non-straightforwardly narrative films.
The 'Truth' About Mormonism and Women (miri, Through the Looking-Glass)
Israel/Palestine Conflict
The Tunnels of Gaza (James Verini, National Geographic)
Wrong side of the fence (Rachel Shabi, Aeon)
I Didn't Come Back to Jerusalem to be in a War (Dahlia Lithwick, Slate)
The 'both sides are awful' dismissal of Gaza ignores the key role of the US government (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian)
Economics
How Costco Became the Anti-Walmart (Steven Greenhouse, NYT)-- This is a seven-year old article, but several friends were posting it around Black Friday when the Walmart strikes were getting fired up. We are Costco shoppers for life (or at least as long as their customer- and employee-friendly policies remain in place). See also Ezra Klein's Has Walmart been good or bad? at Wonkblog.
Inequality is Killing Capitalism (Robert Skidelsky, Project Syndicate)
A Free Market in the Sky (Clifford Winston, NYT)-- Anything that could make air travel cheaper and/or more pleasant-- bring it on.
Policy
Why Not Socialism? (Maria Svart, In These Times)
Time to end the war on drugs (Katrina vanden Heuvel, WaPo)
Other
The Evolutionary Mystery of Homosexuality (David Barash, The Chronicle of Higher Education)
How to Survive Societal Collapse in Suburbia (Keith O'brien, NYT)-- Surprise, surprise-- he's Mormon.
When Do We 'Get It'? (A.O. Scott, Manohla Dargis, NYT)-- Great back-and-forth on emerging trend of non-straightforwardly narrative films.
Mormonism
The 'Truth' About Mormonism and Women (miri, Through the Looking-Glass)
25 November 2012
The Nightstand (Nov 18th)
Starting this week, I am going to start putting something, anything other than politics at the top of The Nightstand. The election's over and any more navel-gazing on this particular front is just unseemly at least for the next little while.
General
How to Live Without Irony (Christy Wampole, NYT)
Dying for a Pro-Life Cause (E.J. Graff, The American Prospect)-- More strongly worded in places than I would personally care for, but it bears saying nonetheless.
Politics
Stuff White People Like (Jonathan Cohn, The New Republic)-- See also Land of the 'Free Stuff,' Home of the Brave (Paul Waldman, The American Prospect)
Romney and the 0 Percent (Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect)
Want Less Inequality? Tax It. (Liam Malloy, John Case, The American Prospect)
The Party Next Time (Ryan Lizza, The New Yorker)
Finding compromise between the GOP and evangelicals (Robert Jeffress, WaPo)-- Yes, please. Try this. Just do it.
Putting Faith in the Conservative Creed (Amanda Marcotte, The American Prospect)
Is the Voting Rights Act doomed? (Nathaniel Persily, NYT)
Changing Times (Linda Greenhouse, NYT)
How to cut the charitable deduction without hurting charities (Dylan Mathews, WaPo)
General
How to Live Without Irony (Christy Wampole, NYT)
Dying for a Pro-Life Cause (E.J. Graff, The American Prospect)-- More strongly worded in places than I would personally care for, but it bears saying nonetheless.
What Do Animals Want? (Marian Stamp Dawkins, Edge)
Petraeus scandal is reported with compelled veneration for all things military (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian)
Stop pretending the US is an uninvolved, helpless party in the Israeli assault on Gaza (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian)
Stop pretending the US is an uninvolved, helpless party in the Israeli assault on Gaza (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian)
No More Magical Thinking (David Remnick, The New Yorker)
One secret reason Petraeus had to resign (Marc Ambinder, The Week)-- See also With Petraeus, echoes of that other warrior David (Daniel Burke, Religion News Service). Valuable context is provided by both articles.
One secret reason Petraeus had to resign (Marc Ambinder, The Week)-- See also With Petraeus, echoes of that other warrior David (Daniel Burke, Religion News Service). Valuable context is provided by both articles.
Mormonism
The Best of the 'Mormon Moment' (Ben Park, Juvenile Instructor)-- I am proud to note that I posted most of these at the time of their original publication. It's been a good couple of months, and this is the part that I hope will continue for many years.
A Mormon Reporter on the Romney Bus (McKay Coppins, Buzzfeed)
Politics
Stuff White People Like (Jonathan Cohn, The New Republic)-- See also Land of the 'Free Stuff,' Home of the Brave (Paul Waldman, The American Prospect)
Romney and the 0 Percent (Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect)
Want Less Inequality? Tax It. (Liam Malloy, John Case, The American Prospect)
The Party Next Time (Ryan Lizza, The New Yorker)
Finding compromise between the GOP and evangelicals (Robert Jeffress, WaPo)-- Yes, please. Try this. Just do it.
Putting Faith in the Conservative Creed (Amanda Marcotte, The American Prospect)
Is the Voting Rights Act doomed? (Nathaniel Persily, NYT)
Changing Times (Linda Greenhouse, NYT)
How to cut the charitable deduction without hurting charities (Dylan Mathews, WaPo)
18 November 2012
The Nightstand (Nov 11th)
Election Post-Mortems
The End of Political Truth? (David Corn, Mother Jones)-- see also The Real Loser: Truth (Kevin Kruse, NYT)
We Need a Little Fear (Jonathan Haidt, NYT)
What Romney Lost (Garry Wills, NYRB)
A Victory Over Suppression (Elizabeth Drew, NYRB)
Are Conservative Media Only Hurting Conservatives? (Paul Waldman, The American Prospect)
Mormonism
The Election and Why Millennials are Leaving the Church Margins (Kerry Pimblott, Religion in American History blog)- I file this under the Mormon heading, not because it specifically applies to Mormonism on its own terms but because I think many of the same pressures are present.
Virtual Religion: Not So New (Susanna Morrill, Peculiar People)
Why Romney's Loss is Good for Mormonism (Patrick Mason, Peculiar People)
Why Romney's Loss is Good for Mormon Studies (Patrick Mason, Juvenile Instructor)-- No, I did not accidentally post the same item twice. There are two different essays by the same author, with slightly different but related themes.
The Mormon Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Jackson Learns, The New Republic)-- Excellent review essay of several recent books.
The Mormonizing of America (Stephen Mansfield, Huffington Post)-- I'm not sure I am convinced by the thesis-- it seems to me that, unlike Jews (another small group that is historically over-represented in American institutions), Mormons have not been able to insinuate themselves into major media or cultural organizations in a way that has enabled them to prosper and perpetuate their message and "peoplehood."
Seizing the Mormon Moment (Rachel Lu, First Things)-- Certainly one of the more bizarre takes on the Mormon Moment.
Heavenly Mother and Paradoxical Embodiment (Rachael Rose, The Mormon Worker)
Don't Talk to Me About Coffee and Sex (nat kelly, Feminist Mormon Housewives)-- A plea for priorities. Highly recommended.
13 Articles of Health Chastity (Lisa Butterworth, Feminist Mormon Housewives)
Banishing the Cross: Emergence of a Mormon Taboo (Michael Reed, Worlds without End)
Politics and Policy
Why Not an Income-Based Affirmative Action? (Richard Kahlenberg, WaPo)
Freedom & Diversity: A Liberal Pentagram for Living Together (Timothy Garton Ash, NYRB)
The Permanent Militarization of America (Aaron B. O'Connell, NYT)
You Are Not a Loan (Rebecca Burns, In These Times)
The End of Political Truth? (David Corn, Mother Jones)-- see also The Real Loser: Truth (Kevin Kruse, NYT)
We Need a Little Fear (Jonathan Haidt, NYT)
What Romney Lost (Garry Wills, NYRB)
A Victory Over Suppression (Elizabeth Drew, NYRB)
Are Conservative Media Only Hurting Conservatives? (Paul Waldman, The American Prospect)
Mormonism
The Election and Why Millennials are Leaving the Church Margins (Kerry Pimblott, Religion in American History blog)- I file this under the Mormon heading, not because it specifically applies to Mormonism on its own terms but because I think many of the same pressures are present.
Virtual Religion: Not So New (Susanna Morrill, Peculiar People)
Why Romney's Loss is Good for Mormonism (Patrick Mason, Peculiar People)
Why Romney's Loss is Good for Mormon Studies (Patrick Mason, Juvenile Instructor)-- No, I did not accidentally post the same item twice. There are two different essays by the same author, with slightly different but related themes.
The Mormon Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Jackson Learns, The New Republic)-- Excellent review essay of several recent books.
The Mormonizing of America (Stephen Mansfield, Huffington Post)-- I'm not sure I am convinced by the thesis-- it seems to me that, unlike Jews (another small group that is historically over-represented in American institutions), Mormons have not been able to insinuate themselves into major media or cultural organizations in a way that has enabled them to prosper and perpetuate their message and "peoplehood."
Seizing the Mormon Moment (Rachel Lu, First Things)-- Certainly one of the more bizarre takes on the Mormon Moment.
Heavenly Mother and Paradoxical Embodiment (Rachael Rose, The Mormon Worker)
Don't Talk to Me About Coffee and Sex (nat kelly, Feminist Mormon Housewives)-- A plea for priorities. Highly recommended.
13 Articles of Health Chastity (Lisa Butterworth, Feminist Mormon Housewives)
Banishing the Cross: Emergence of a Mormon Taboo (Michael Reed, Worlds without End)
Politics and Policy
Why Not an Income-Based Affirmative Action? (Richard Kahlenberg, WaPo)
Freedom & Diversity: A Liberal Pentagram for Living Together (Timothy Garton Ash, NYRB)
The Permanent Militarization of America (Aaron B. O'Connell, NYT)
You Are Not a Loan (Rebecca Burns, In These Times)
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)
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)
05 November 2012
03 November 2012
The Nightstand (Oct 28)
Politics
The Lost World of George McGovern (Josh Garrett-Davis, NYT)
The Moral Clarity of George McGovern (Bruce Miroff, NYT)
The Politics of Jesus (Patrick Mason, Peculiar People)
The Voter Fraud Myth (Jane Mayer, New Yorker)
The War We Aren't Debating (Michael Massing, NYRB)
America Forgets the World (Jonathan Freeland, NYRB)
What's wrong with lesser evilism (Editorial, The Socialist Worker)
Journalism in the Obama age shows the real media bias (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian)
Stiffed (David Runciman, London Review of Books)
Romney and Romero (Kate Savage, The Mormon Worker)
News Flash: This Was Always Going to Be a Close Election (Steve Erickson, The American Prospect)
Mormonism
Religion, Race and Double Standards (Andrew Sullivan, The Dish)-- Its damning because its (mostly sort of) true. Joanna Brooks' take here.
Mormon Boundaries (Dave Banack, Worlds Without End)
Spencer W. Kimball and the Complexities of Mormon Political Theology (Matt Bowman, Political Theology)
Mitt Romney and Mormon Theology (Jon Pahl, Religion in American History blog)
Foreign Affairs
Billions in Hidden Riches for Family of Chinese Leader (David Barboza, NYT)-- Capitalism for me, socialism for thee...
The Lost World of George McGovern (Josh Garrett-Davis, NYT)
The Moral Clarity of George McGovern (Bruce Miroff, NYT)
The Politics of Jesus (Patrick Mason, Peculiar People)
The Voter Fraud Myth (Jane Mayer, New Yorker)
The War We Aren't Debating (Michael Massing, NYRB)
America Forgets the World (Jonathan Freeland, NYRB)
What's wrong with lesser evilism (Editorial, The Socialist Worker)
Journalism in the Obama age shows the real media bias (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian)
Stiffed (David Runciman, London Review of Books)
Romney and Romero (Kate Savage, The Mormon Worker)
News Flash: This Was Always Going to Be a Close Election (Steve Erickson, The American Prospect)
Mormonism
Religion, Race and Double Standards (Andrew Sullivan, The Dish)-- Its damning because its (mostly sort of) true. Joanna Brooks' take here.
Mormon Boundaries (Dave Banack, Worlds Without End)
Spencer W. Kimball and the Complexities of Mormon Political Theology (Matt Bowman, Political Theology)
Mitt Romney and Mormon Theology (Jon Pahl, Religion in American History blog)
Foreign Affairs
Billions in Hidden Riches for Family of Chinese Leader (David Barboza, NYT)-- Capitalism for me, socialism for thee...
28 October 2012
The Nightstand (Oct 22nd)-- Election Fatigue Edition
Politics
'This Chamber Reeks of Blood' (Raymond J. Haberski, US Intellectual History blog)
Growing Up Romney (Noam Scheiber, The New Republic)-- The Romney family myth of self-reliance.
Mormonism
Foreign Affairs
'This Chamber Reeks of Blood' (Raymond J. Haberski, US Intellectual History blog)
The Grit and Grace of George McGovern (Tom Daschle, The American Prospect)
The lame rules for presidential debates: a perfect microcosm of American democracy (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian)
Blue states are from Scandanavia, red states are from Guatemala (Jonathan Cohn, The New Republic)-- Seems insulting to Guatemala
Giving children the right to vote (Seymon Dukach, WaPo)
The opiate of exceptionalism (Scott Shane, NYT)
Bill & Hillary Forever (John Heilemann, New York)
Reaping the Whirlwind (Linda Greenhouse, NYT)
Growing Up Romney (Noam Scheiber, The New Republic)-- The Romney family myth of self-reliance.
More Speech is Better (David Cole, NYRB)
Are Capitalism and Democracy Failing Us? (Raghu Rajan, Fault Lines)
The Arizonification of America (Jeff Biggers, NYT)- Arizona, the "meth lab of democracy"
Mormonism
Mormon feminists? Yes, they exist and they're for Obama (Peter Henderson, Reuters)
Map shows the worst states for women to make money (Chris Kirk, Slate)
No More Industrial Revolutions (Thomas Edsall, NYT)
Buyology (Jerry DeNuccio, The Smart Set)
What will replace the globalization model? (David Smick, WaPo)
The self-destruction of the 1 percent (Chrystia Freeland, NYT Sunday Review)
Sympathy for the Plutocrat (Nick Hanauer, Reuters)
The brashness and bravado of big deals (John Kay)
Income Inequality May Take Toll on Growth (Annie Lowrey, NYT)
Foreign Affairs
The billionaires next door (Chrystia Freeland, Reuters)
Arts
George Lucas' Force (Camille Paglia, The Chronicle of Higher Education)
Arts
George Lucas' Force (Camille Paglia, The Chronicle of Higher Education)
16 October 2012
The Nightstand (Oct 14th)
The campaign's moral hole (E.J. Dionne, WaPo)
One Blogger's Response to Elder Holland's Conference Talk (Sophia, Feminist Mormon Housewives)
Martha Raddatz and the faux objectivity of journalists (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian)
Shut up and play nice: How the Western World is limiting free speech (Jonathan Turley, WaPo)
'Your Women Are Oppressed but Ours Are Awesome': How Nicholas Kristof and Half the Sky Use Women Against Each Other (Sayantani DasGupta, Racialicious)
The Wrong Way to Help the Poor (Gary MacDougal, NYT)
Romney is Unwise to Believe in the Wisdom of Markets (Mark Buchanan, Bloomberg View)
The International Church and the 'Gospel Culture' (Ryan Tobler, Peculiar People)
Policy to Theology (Let's Get this Right) (Elisothel, Feminist Mormon Housewives)
Pragmatism and Progress: An Overview of LDS Sister Missionary Service in the Twentieth Century (andrearm, Juvenile Instructor)
GD Pedagogy (Kevin Barney, By Common Consent)
A real class war may be on its way (Harold Meyerson, WaPo)
What the recent missionary announcement should teach us about structural inequality (rah, Feminist Mormon Housewives)
The issues they won't talk about (Eric Ruder, Socialist Worker)
Long Live Paper (Justin Hollander, NYT)
One Blogger's Response to Elder Holland's Conference Talk (Sophia, Feminist Mormon Housewives)
Martha Raddatz and the faux objectivity of journalists (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian)
Shut up and play nice: How the Western World is limiting free speech (Jonathan Turley, WaPo)
'Your Women Are Oppressed but Ours Are Awesome': How Nicholas Kristof and Half the Sky Use Women Against Each Other (Sayantani DasGupta, Racialicious)
The Wrong Way to Help the Poor (Gary MacDougal, NYT)
Romney is Unwise to Believe in the Wisdom of Markets (Mark Buchanan, Bloomberg View)
The International Church and the 'Gospel Culture' (Ryan Tobler, Peculiar People)
Policy to Theology (Let's Get this Right) (Elisothel, Feminist Mormon Housewives)
Pragmatism and Progress: An Overview of LDS Sister Missionary Service in the Twentieth Century (andrearm, Juvenile Instructor)
GD Pedagogy (Kevin Barney, By Common Consent)
A real class war may be on its way (Harold Meyerson, WaPo)
What the recent missionary announcement should teach us about structural inequality (rah, Feminist Mormon Housewives)
The issues they won't talk about (Eric Ruder, Socialist Worker)
Long Live Paper (Justin Hollander, NYT)
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