A day to remember that the harvest exists and that it sustains our lives
Today is Michaelmas, St. Michael the Archangel's feast day that's traditionally associated with the harvest. I like Travis Norvell's idea to recover the day's observance in a culture that's largely forgotten its relationship with the land:
"Too high a price on making sure our children are disciplined"
In all the commentary around Adrian Peterson and his son, one of the more interesting threads has been about the particular history of African American parenting and corporal punishment. Charles Barkley weighed in of course; so did Michael Eric Dyson. Jamelle Bouie pushes back against Dyson in this thoughtful post.
But the most provocative thing I’ve seen is by Brittney Cooper.
Other people saying things
"My anecdotal gestalt impression is this SC shooting is actually a Road to Damascus moment for a nontrivial number of conservatives."
“Iraq exists only in the minds of people in the White House.”
"I’ve never heard a farmer use so many curse words."
Against corporal punishment, but not very
About a dozen years ago, I was back home visiting from my young-adult life in the city, sitting around drinking coffee with my mom and my sisters, when I suddenly heard my much-younger brother crying out in pain. I jumped up. “Where are you, buddy?” I called out.
The others reacted differently: they laughed at me. “Dad’s giving him a spanking,” my mom explained gently. “Not a sound you’ve heard in a while?”
Other people saying things
"It is neither Islamic, nor is it a state."
"That utopian philanthrocapitalist democracy that Bono is always stumping for will also be a place where your belongings will be chosen for you."
Poverty's down, but not enough
Some modest good news this week from the Census Bureau [pdf]: for the first time since the Great Recession began, the poverty rate is down a little and the child poverty rate is down a little more. The latter was driven by a bit of job growth and—among families with children—higher income.
But at this pace it'll take years for the poverty rate to get back down just to where it was in 2000.
Steve Green's museum of the Bible and/or his interpretation of it
Be sure to read Michelle Boorstein’s great WaPo magazine piece on the Bible museum being built in D.C. by Hobby Lobby president Steve Green. Boorstein focuses on the major question here: will this museum, set to open in 2017, primarily reflect Green the major collector of Bibles and biblical artifacts?
Other people saying things
"At the same time that the twin towers were falling, there were people having toothaches."
"What are we saying about ourselves when we place (black) women’s pain under a microscope only to better consume the full kaleidoscope of their suffering?"
Ted Cruz decides who the real Christians are and what they believe
So Ted Cruz made quite a scene at the In Defense of Christians gala dinner the other night, getting booed off the stage for comments about the relationship between Christians and Israel. The Middle East-focused group invited the Southern Baptist senator to keynote its event, and it's no surprise that these representatives of distinct branches of the Christian tree have some differences.
Obama won't do what the people want until after November. Congress just won't do it at all.
“There is something odd,” writes Ezra Klein, “about accusing Republicans of politicizing action on immigration reform while you’re delaying it because of the electoral calendar.”