Andrew Sullivan: What’s your take on Pope Francis? from The Dish on Vimeo.
Month: April 2013
In Defense Of Expensive Weddings
by Zoe Pollock
Even though he didn’t have one himself, Noah Berlatsky believes there may be some merit to a $27,000 wedding, currently the average cost in America:
In his book Debt: The First 5000 Years, for example, David Graeber notes that “for most people in the world…the most significant life expenses were weddings and funerals.” It’s not like we’re the first civilization on the planet that has ever gotten it into its heads that marriage is a big deal, nor the first people to commemorate it, in one way or another, with a large outlay. Major life events are major life events. What are you saving for, if not for them?
Along those lines, Eugene Genovese points out in Roll, Jordan, Roll, that there is something more than a little indecent in the eagerness with which middle-class folks have, throughout history, chastised the poor for paying too much for funerals. Genovese argues that “respect for the dead signifies respect for the living—respect for the continuity of the human community and recognition of each man’s place within it.” Similarly, it seems like wedding expenses—whether totaling $1,000 or $27,000—aren’t extravagant waste but a way of showing respect for the community, and of the place of love within it.
Ann Friedman proposes other life events that deserve a big bash.
Are Prenups Pernicious? Ctd
by Chris Bodenner
The results of our Urtak survey show that 7% of married readers have had a prenup, 24% of unmarried readers say they plan to get a prenup, and 24% say it would be a dealbreaker if their intended spouse insisted on having a prenup. Regarding the question graphed above (where orange means “no” and blue means “yes”), male and female readers were both evenly split. A reader writes:
I write in response to the reader who had to declare bankruptcy after a divorce, I don’t think a prenup would have helped his case. First, it’s not realisitic to think that a guy who couldn’t afford $10k for a divorce lawyer could afford to pay a lawyer for a prenup. Second, I’m not sure a typical prenup would include a “no getting credit cards without the consent of both parties” clause because, if you need one of those, you probably shouldn’t get married. Third, a prenup can be challenged in court, and a good divorce lawyer can find ambiguities in the prenup to drag out litigation. So he could have been faced with $10k in legal bills even with a prenup.
Another:
I have a bit of a different perspective on prenups in one niche demographic group: Orthodox Jews.
You see, Orthodox Judaism is a patriarchal religion in which women have less rights – or, as it is sometimes spun by the “Modern Orthodox” wing of Orthodoxy (as opposed to the haredi, or fundamentalist, wing) – “different” rights. When it comes to divorce, an Orthodox woman cannot get a religious divorce (and therefore cannot remarry) unless her husband grants her the divorce. When a man refuses to do so, the woman is referred to as an agunah, or a “chained woman.” They can still get a civil divorce on the woman’s initiative, but not a religious divorce.
When I got married, my rabbi required me to sign a prenup that stated that in the event we get a civil divorce, I am required to grant my wife a religious divorce. Many Modern Orthodox rabbis will not perform a wedding unless such a prenup is first signed. It is impossible, in the view of Orthodoxy, to change the religious divorce requirements, but they are using the modern prenup as a way to equalize the power between men and women and ensure that women do not become chained. For an example of what happens when such a prenup is not entered into, one needs to look no further than the US Congress.
One Of These Weapons Is Not Like The Other
by Patrick Appel
A US Army veteran who fought alongside Syria’s rebels is accused of using “a weapon of mass destruction, i.e. a Rocket Propelled Grenade,” a violation that could get him life in prison. In response, Ackerman argues that it’s time to retire the term WMD:
It’s very easy to kill lots of people with a nuclear weapon. It’s harder, but possible, for a nuclear exchange to disrupt planetary climate patterns and kill vastly more once crops die and famines result. These are not things that chemical and biological weapons, as dangerous as they are, can do. Chemical weapons are subject to atmospheric dissipation and need people packed into a dense area to do maximum damage, as with Saddam Hussein’s chemical massacre at Halabja. Biological weapons are potentially more deadly, but their distribution patterns — particularly when passed through humans or animals — can limit their virulence. Rocket-propelled grenades, missiles, bombs, mines — just, no.
The View From Your Window
Chengdu, China, 10.05 am
Energy Codependence
by Doug Allen
Concerns about shale gas resources hindering renewable-energy development are likely overblown:
[R]ather than replacing renewables, the [Citigroup] analysts suggest that the shale gas industry will actually be dependent on the broader deployment of wind and solar for its future. … Far from competing with each other, [Citigroup] suggests renewables and shale gas will be co-dependent as the world’s energy systems are weaned away from the baseload model that has dominated the industry for the last century. That is until forms of dispatchable renewable energy, such as solar thermal with storage, and technologies such as smart grids, push gas out of the market.
Map Of The Day
by Doug Allen
Theoretical physicist Dirk Brockmann used data entered on the dollar-bill tracking site wheresgeorge.com to explore boundaries in the US:
Brockmann took data for how the dollar bills traveled, and used network theory to draw lines where dollar bills are less likely to cross. In places they follow state borders, but not always; Missouri is divided into East and West, as is Pennsylvania. The “Chicago catchment area” includes a big chunk of both Indiana and Wisconsin.
The resulting map shows how “effective communities” don’t necessarily follow state lines. “I don’t know so much about the culture of the U.S.,” says Brockmann, who grew up in Germany. “But when I give talks on this, normally someone in the audience says, ‘Oh, this makes perfect sense.”
Update from a reader:
I’d like to point out that the “effective communities” that Mr. Brockmann references in his map may not be as organic as he implies. The boundaries roughly correspond to the districts serviced by the Federal Reserve Banks, which exchange old bills collected by banks for new bills.
(Image from Dirk Brockmann)
Why Can’t The IRS Do Your Taxes?
by Zoe Pollock
For most Americans, it could:
Imagine filing your income taxes in five minutes — and for free. You’d open up a pre-filled return, see what the government thinks you owe, make any needed changes and be done. The miserable annual IRS shuffle, gone. It’s already a reality in Denmark, Sweden and Spain. The government-prepared return would estimate your taxes using information your employer and bank already sent it. Advocates say tens of millions of taxpayers could use such a system each year, saving them a collective $2 billion and 225 million hours in prep costs and time, according to one estimate.
But the TurboTax lobby is strong:
[Maker of the tax software] Intuit has spent about $11.5 million on federal lobbying in the past five years — more than Apple or Amazon. Although the lobbying spans a range of issues, Intuit’s disclosures pointedly note that the company “opposes IRS government tax preparation.” … Roughly 25 million Americans used TurboTax last year, and a recent GAO analysis said the software accounted for more than half of individual returns filed electronically. TurboTax products and services made up 35 percent of Intuit’s $4.2 billion in total revenues last year.
Paul Waldman adds:
For many people, this wouldn’t work. Let’s say you have a lot of investment income, which varies from year to year. Or you’re a freelancer, and your income comes from multiple sources and your expenses also vary. But many people just have one source of income (their job) and a stable set of deductions, and this kind of thing would work perfectly well, saving them the $40 or so it would cost for Turbo Tax, or the even greater expense of going to a tax preparer.
The Weekend Wrap
by Matt Sitman
This Easter weekend on the Dish, Andrew praised the radical Christianity of Pope Francis, told us about his inspiring trip to West Point to speak to the military academy’s gay-straight alliance, and announced he was taking a breather.
We also provided our usual eclectic mix of religious, books, and culture coverage. Fittingly, we emphasized matters of faith, doubt, and philosophy, with Marilynne Robinson musing on the Resurrection, Paul F.M. Zahl making the religious case against drones, Karen Armstrong urging us to believe in a grown-up God, and Thomas Holgrave considered the complex traditionalism of young Christians. Julia Kaganskiy profiled programmers exploring the similarities between scripture and code, Alice Bolin recalled the benefits of reading like a child, Helen Rittlemeyer plumbed the parallel lives of DFW and Coleridge, and Francis Gino explained how what we wear impacts the likelihood of our cheating.
In literary and arts coverage, David Biespiel pondered the ways we live in the wake of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, the publication of Willa Cather’s letters defied her dying wish, and Edward Jay Epstein remembered Nabokov’s Dirty Lit. Ben Schrank described why he’s drawn to writing female characters, Danny Nowell re-read Walker Percy, and Harold Augenbraum profiled Proust’s young love. Avi Steinberg detailed why teaching creative writing in prison is so important, Barry Hannah proffered the reasons for writing, Maria Bustillos penned a love letter to editors, and Julia Fierro contemplated the challenge of novelists writing about sex. Stephen Marche was disappointed by the Kindle’s lack of development, Kate Hakala mourned the decline of steaminess on the big screen, James Parker put The Real Housewives franchise under the microscope, and Patrick Radden Kaffe was fascinated by the brainstorming sessions for Raiders of the Lost Ark. Read Saturdays poem here and Sunday’s here.
In assorted news and views, coughing in a quiet music hall meant more than you think, Roy Peter Clark downplayed claims of a plagiarism pandemic, Tomasky grew tired of waiting for his restaurant checks, and wine declined in France. Dinosaur sex proved to be complicated, Barry Schwartz continued the conversation about marriage and love, and Alison Gash chronicled how same-sex adoption victories were won. Cool Ad watch here, MHBs here and here, FOTDs here and here, VFYWs here and here, and the latest window contest here.
(“The Incredulity of Saint Thomas” by Caravaggio, via Wikimedia Commons)
Straight Adoption And Gay Marriage, Ctd
by Chris Bodenner
A reader points out:
Chief Justice Roberts and his wife are the parents of two adopted children. It will be interesting to see if any of his fellow Supremes use this procreation nonsense in their opinion. If they do, “blind justice” won’t begin to describe it.
That message to Roberts is being championed by Daniel Leffew, the adopted son of two dads seen in the above video. Follow-up video with the rest of Daniel’s family here.
The Dish 