Owner: Matters of Manner and Type URL:http://mattersofmannerandtype.blogspot.com Join Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2007 15:26:33 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: This is a weblog of thoughtful conservative commentary on politics, culture and media. Site statistics:Click here
Hard times in Freedonia - As expected during tonig... 2007-07-23 22:19:00 Hard times in Freedonia - As expected during tonight's CNN/YouTube Democratic presidential debate, Hillary made her every utterance in the third draft, Barack bespoke his profound unreadiness for prime time (by the way, it is becoming more apparent that he is positioning himself to end up on Hillary's short list for Veep), Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich demonstrated themselves to be entirely unhinged, and the other candidates continued to fade into irrelevance. There were no real surprises as far as the performance of each candidate is concerned. When the polling is conducted over the next few hours and days, Sen. Clinton will only have solidified her lead amongst the Democratic field of dreamers.For my money, the surprise (shock really) comes from what I learned about the folks who share this land with me. Judging by the questions that were presented to the candidates, my fellow Americans seem to me to be overindulged, under-occupied and myopically concerned with how government can
Coming Home - My family and I had occasion to visi... 2007-07-22 22:10:00 Coming Home - My family and I had occasion to visit Royal, IL this weekend as part of a celebration of sorts. Since the time of its settling by Ostfriesian Germans some 150 years ago, Royal has had the distinction of being an agricultural community, and is presently part of the Midwest's corn and soybean belt. Corn prices being what they are, business is brisk and farmers are very busy; fortunately they take time to commemorate special events. As longtime readers of my scribbling will recall, my father-in-law is an ordained clergyman in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. As part of a 125th Anniversary celebration, he was invited to deliver the weekend's homily for St. John Lutheran Church, where he served as pastor 30 years earlier. As he eagerly accepted the invitation, he asked my wife and I to join him and my mother-in-law for the trip.In the weeks prior, my mother-in-law sought to prepare me for our visit; she recalled to her dismay that her first time in Royal was not a Read more:Coming Home
To Rehabilitate the Culture(s) - Although it is ha... 2007-07-19 21:17:00 To Rehabilitate the Culture(s) - Although
it is hardly a preoccupation singular to blacks, it can be said with little fear of contradiction that dogfighting has embedded itself into the secret life of the black community. If the allegations contained in the indictment against Atlanta Falcons' quarterback Michael Vick to be believed, his actions are reflective of attitudes that prevailed in America's inner cities during the 1980s, as pit bulls were often used as guard dogs for drug dealers and gang-bangers during that period. Vick's behavior is remarkably consistent with the lyrical metaphors and imagery conjured up by rappers as diverse as Snoop Dogg, Raekwon (see sample lyrics here) and DMX (who was arrested - perhaps not coincidentally - for animal cruelty and possession of drug paraphernalia after police found 13 pit bulls and six used crack pipes in his home in 1999) among others.It is not entirely surprising that dogfighting would become a source of entertainment for blacks in
Environ-mentally Disturbed - The hype and hysteria... 2007-07-15 22:08:00 Environ-mentally Disturbed - The hype and hysteria emanating from the ranks of global warming missionaries are beginning to reach a fevered pitch, even as the "science" behind anthropogenic climate change begins to unravel. Beyond the "Live Earth" debacle, climate change proselytizers are stepping up their efforts to put the issue front and center on the agendas of politicians, educators, businesspeople and of course the general public. But despite all of their efforts, most Americans have a low level of concern vis-a-vis global warming. So to, it is a fact that over 50 percent of the British public believes that global warming fears are overstated.As discussed elsewhere, we are not surprised that the global warming message hardly resonates with the average person, either here or overseas. When considered against global economic concerns, terrorism, the specter of HIV/AIDS and unstable dictatorships (as well as the old standby bete noires of war and famine), climate change hardly meri
Four More Years, pt. 2 (or "Not right now... I'm b... 2007-07-14 18:21:00 Four More Years
, pt. 2 (or "Not right now... I'm busy!) - Much has been made of the fundraising gap between the Republican and Democrat presidential campaigns as of late (as noted by the Chicago Tribune.) For his part, Barack Obama broke all manner of fundraising records, and leads the Democratic field by collecting over $32 million in contributions for the second quarter. Although Hillary Clinton is still the favorite of Democratic Party regulars, Sen. Obama's prowess in raking in the money speaks volumes about both candidates (as does the fact that Hillary has had to deploy her not so secret weapon so early in the campaign.) Meanwhile, the top GOP fundraiser - Rudy Giuliani - raised only $17.5 million during the same period.The consensus of political observers is that this lopsided fundraising directly reflects the disparate fortunes of each party. "Public opinion polls say Democrats are much more excited about their candidates than Republicans are about theirs," said Stephen Wayn
To Rehabilitate the Culture [Digg] 2007-07-09 20:37:08 As the NAACP's 98 Annual Convention gets under way, it is important to reflect on the most pressing situation facing African Americans presently. Read more:Digg
Credible Sources [Digg] 2007-07-08 15:51:59 Here's why Live Earth ground to a halt before it started. (And why it will take the whole climate change movement with it!) Read more:Digg
, Credible
Annie Get Your Pen [Digg] 2007-06-27 17:00:19 Yesterday's kerfuffle between Elizabeth Edwards and Ann Coulter reveals much about both of them, as well as Hardball's Chris Matthews. Read more:Digg
, Annie
In Jesse We Trust [Digg] 2007-06-26 19:13:03 Here's the problem with Jesse
Jackson and all those who equate more guns with more violence: the facts don't support their position. Read more:Digg
Four More Years [Digg] 2007-06-17 15:23:21 Here's why the GOP can anticipate a slender victory in the 2008 presidential race. Read more:Years
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On Black and Green [Digg] 2007-06-10 19:57:29 Here's why Americans seem indifferent about the environment in general and global warming more specifically. Read more:Digg
, Black
, Green
Feminisaurus Sex - The most evident and lasting ef... [Digg] 2007-06-09 07:15:19 Feminist rhetoric suggests that men and women are indistinguishable - particularly as it pertains o sex. Read this post to find out about the lasting damage done to young women as a result of this line of thinking. Read more:Digg
10 More for Consensus [Digg] 2007-06-05 21:44:40 Global warming zealots propose that the issue of anthropogenic climate change is settled, and thus beyond debate. Read this post to find a link to 10 climate controversies that global warming evangelists will not be able to address. Read more:Digg
10 Questions for Consensus [Digg] 2007-05-26 16:54:52 Global warming evangelists propose that there is no longer any reason to debate the issue of man's impact on climate change. Read this post to learn about 10 questions that the environmentalist Left cannot answer regarding global warming. Read more:Digg
"Well....How did I get here?" [Digg] 2007-05-26 04:50:43 Much like its past, America's best future is predicated on the application of principled restraint. Read this post to uncover the central failing of liberals and liberalism. Read more:Digg
Carter in Retrospect [Digg] 2007-05-25 21:34:45 Recent comments by Jimmy Carter
have left many to wonder what part of "Sit down and shut up!" the former-President does not understand. Read this post to find out Mr. Carter's remarks are more of an indictment against his own character than that of George W. Bush. Read more:Digg
All That Glitters [Digg] 2007-05-25 21:19:51 The issue of equal pay between the genders has received significant attention as of late, particularly following April 24th's "Equal Pay Day." Read this post to learn about one of the factors impacting salaries for males and females. Read more:Digg
Power Surge [Digg] 2007-07-25 22:07:10 It is not entirely surprising that the MSM and Congressional Democrats are reluctant to report on the efficacy of the "surge" in Iraq, as both seem to be serving the hidden agendas of the fringe anti-war Left. Read more:Surge
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Power Surge - One could make a halfway decent argu... 2007-07-25 21:55:00 Power Surge
- One could make a halfway decent argument that a measure of the correctness of a goal is the means by which it must be achieved. When the value of a course of action is not readily apparent, its adherents must resort to more guile or coercion than when the benefit is more evident. History is replete with examples that support this theory. From racism in the Jim Crow South to Communism in the old Soviet Union to apartheid in South Africa, the effort that was expended the maintain such systems laid bare the inevitability of their collapse. The desperation of these efforts is nearly rivaled by those of the elites of the American Left as it pertains to the Iraq War.YOUR GOVERNMENT, on the basis of outrageous lies, is waging a murderous and utterly illegitimate war in Iraq, with other countries in its sites [sic]. YOUR GOVERNMENT is openly torturing people and justifying it.YOUR GOVERNMENT puts people in jail on the merest suspicion, refusing them lawyers, and either holding t
Eve of Self-destruction, pt. 3 [Digg] 2007-07-28 09:15:55 This blog post helps explain why want we are seeing from Britney, Li-Lo, et al. is more of the behavioral norm for young women than we realize. Read more:Digg
Eve of Self-destruction, pt. 3 - Here's a quick te... 2007-07-27 21:50:00 Eve of Self-destruction, pt. 3 - Here's a quick test to see if you have been paying attention.What do the following three young women have in common?- Britney Spears- Lindsay Lohan- Nicole RichieTake all the time you need to come up with your answer.As discussed elsewhere, these females have taken self-destructive behavior to depths rarely plumbed by people with such abundant wealth and opportunity. However the last thing that I want to do is hold a pity party for Brit, Li-Lo and Nic; they are well endowed financially, and are all too blessed with attorneys, assistants (at least those that haven't been fired yet) and other assorted sycophants who will shepherd them through their latest autogenous maelstroms. My concern is more to be reserved for those young ladies who find themselves caught in similar patterns of self-destructive behavior, albeit without the economic means of the aforementioned.While women in industrialized societies face fewer existential threats than in centuries
Too good to be news, pt. 2 [Digg] 2007-07-31 13:23:26 I really wonder why the blogosphere is so up in arms about good news coming from Iraq. Read more:Digg
Too good to be news [Digg] 2007-07-31 13:21:03 I wonder why the New York Times found it unbelievable that Americans could be more supportive of the invasion of Iraq. Read more:Digg
Too good to be news, pt. 2 - I will try not to bel... 2007-07-30 21:28:00 Too good to be news, pt. 2 - I will try not to belabor the point that the news out of Iraq continues to be more and more positive, thus providing additional proof that the military surge is indeed working. Ironically, today's good news comes by way of the NYT, the same newspaper that found it difficult to comprehend that more Americans might actually feel that the war is justified (as discussed elsewhere). Of course the Times' editorial staff made sure that it was placed in the op-ed section - as if to underscore the fact that it was merely an asynoptic, if not wholly biased view of the situation on the ground. Nevertheless, a pair of Brooking Institution stalwarts, Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack made the case that, "[w]e are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms." After the furnace-like heat, the first thing you notice when you land in Baghdad is the morale of our troops. In previous trips to Iraq we often found American troops angry and frustrated —
Too good to be news - An article from today's New ... 2007-07-29 22:12:00 Too good to be news - An article from today's New York Times speaks volumes about what many Americans (and most conservatives more specifically) dislike about the media. There is an abiding sense that rather than reporting "all the news that's fit to print," journalism is oriented around reporting the news that fits, with "fits" referring to fitting into a preconceived journalistic template that bespeaks the mindset of the reporters and editors. Considerations about the newsworthiness of a particular story are clearly influenced by whether the story can be made to cohere with the applicable journalistic meme.In and of itself, this is not so terrible, as most informed consumers of news have learned to consider the source as it pertains to much of what passes for reporting. The harm comes when journalists and news organizations hoist the flag of journalistic objectivity to cover their inherent biases. By obscuring their efforts under a cloak of faux impartiality, journos hope to get a
Meet the new boss - Democrats make as much ado as ... 2007-08-01 21:32:00 Meet the new boss - Democrats
make as much ado as they can about the diversity of their party being represented by the diversity of their presidential candidates. This is nominally true insofar as Barack, Hillary and Gov. Bill Richardson are respectively the first African American, female and Hispanic candidates with a credible shot at winning their party's nomination. But up until fairly recently, there has been little to show by way of diversity of thought in each campaign.My how things have changed!The donkey punch contest that is going on presently between Barack and Hillary reflects as much of their need to occupy the same space on the electoral spectrum - and affect the same persona - as it does anything else. As it is, Sen. Obama's candidacy puts Ms. Clinton in an awkward position. She has to tack far enough right to distinguish herself from his netroots-fueled bid, while staying far enough left to appeal to more mainstream Democrat primary voters. (Her past contortions regard
The girls are alright - Lest it appear that the ne... 2007-08-05 21:55:00 The girls are alright - Lest it appear
that the news is all bad as it pertains to today's young women (what with Britney, Lindsay and Nicole dominating the news as of late), good news - for some - comes to us by way of a recent New York Times story addressing young women earning more than their male counterparts (with the news originating with a story in the Gotham Gazette.) Young women in New York and several of the nation’s other largest cities who work full time have forged ahead of men in wages, according to an analysis of recent census data. The shift has occurred in New York since 2000 and even earlier in Los Angeles, Dallas and a few other cities.Economists consider it striking because the wage gap between men and women nationally has narrowed more slowly and has even widened in recent years among one part of that group: college-educated women in their 20s. But in New York, young college-educated women’s wages as a percentage of men’s rose slightly between 2000 and 2005.
The kids are all wrong [Digg] 2007-08-05 16:59:51 The Yearly Kos has come and gone, but the damage done by the leftist blogosphere to the Democratic Party has yet to unfold. Read more:Digg
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