The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Why ‘Modern Romance’ Is an Oxymoron

Posted on | April 23, 2012 | 40 Comments

Greta Gerwig and Adam Brody in Damsels in Distress

That which is romantic is almost always in some sense old-fashioned, but we cannot be old-fashioned if we know nothing of the past, and most young people have no idea what Edmund Burke meant when he lamented that “the age of chivalry is gone.” Maggie’s Notebook linked to a column by Thomas Hibbs, a dean at Baylor University, reviewing the new Whit Stillman film, Damsels in Distress. Hibbs remarks of contemporary campus customs:

Nowhere is the absence of customs and purpose more evident than in the confusion about relations between the sexes. Dating has nearly vanished from college campuses. How dire the situation has become is evident from a recent piece in Boston College Magazine about the popularity of philosophy grad student Kerry Cronin’s lecture, “10 Reasons You’re Not Dating and What to Do about It.” Cronin reflects on being shocked at one student’s response to her response to the question, “How would you ask someone out on a date?” The student, with notebook and pen in hand, abruptly interrupted Cronin’s initial, somewhat abstract response. “No,” she clarified, “what are the words?”

A very old-fashioned book I once read — written sometime in the late 1940s or early ’50s — offered this simple advice: Date to mate.

That is to say, the entire purpose of dating is to find a spouse. Thus the near-disappearance of dating from the college scene is a symptom of the decline of marriage, which is in turn related to the widespread acceptance of non-marital sex. Yet it seems to me that conservatives keep trying to change the wrong variable in this equation. If we wish to encourage young people to wait until they’re married, we ought not expect them to wait too long to get married. And if they’re not interested in getting married, why are they dating at all?

What is called “dating” was a 20th-century adaptation of what was once called “courtship,” a transition perhaps best explained by the title of a book, From Front Porch to Back Seat. Courtship naturally leads to the altar, and we cannot expect young people to engage in something so quaintly old-fashioned when we insist on placing the altar off somewhere in the far-distant future. Bad habits begin with bad ideas, and most of the ideas young people get about love, sex and marriage from popular culture — or from their peers — are very bad indeed. One nowadays hears talk of “boyfriends” and “girlfriends” while kids are still in elementary school, and we thus hear quite shocking tales about middle-schoolers, while perhaps accounts of the libidinous adventures of high-schoolers shock us much less than they should.

By the time they get to college, a majority of students have long since become “sexually active,” to use the politically correct language for what used to be called screwing around or, even more judgmentally, fornicating. We have lost the language of judgmentalism for fear of being thought sexist or homophobic or otherwise old-fashioned, as if it were a hate crime to tell young folks, “Hey, keep your britches on!”

Perhaps even more disastrously, too many people seem to assume that it is unrealistic even to suggest a high moral ideal, simply because people are apt to fall short of those ideals. Not only is it considered “unrealistic” to say that young folks ought to keep their britches on, but the praise of virtue is nowadays supposed to be psychologically harmful, given the prevalence of vice.

Why, for example, have feminists lately gotten so worked up about “slut-shaming”? Because we might hurt their precious self-esteem!

We wouldn’t want some tramp, vamp, hussy, floozy, or common slut to feel bad about her promiscuity, would we? Perish the thought! Because no matter how harmful to her health or happiness such behavior might be, there is nothing more important than feeling good about yourself — or at least, not having anybody suggest that what you’re doing is wrong, bad, shameful and dangerous. (Don’t even think of saying “sinful,” you christofascist godbag!)

Religious faith, cultural tradition, ancient customs — all of these are strictly forbidden as guidelines for the behavior of Young Moderns, and even ordinary common sense has been cast aside. Your grandmother would have told these girls, “He ain’t going to buy the cow, if he’s getting the milk for free,” but the basic supply-and-demand logic of that equation makes no sense to them. Strange to say, egalitarianism has progressed to the point that quite often the girls are on the demand side of the equation, and any halfway attractive young fellow can scarcely keep up with all the girls craving his amorous attention.

Well, having lectured disapprovingly of what is, I hesitate to conclude by suggesting what ought to be, lest Professor Reynolds should again be shocked that I would offer “dating advice.”

Whit Stillman’s films are subtly didactic, and I’m sure that Damsels in Distress is another excellent lesson. But I also wish young people would watch more old movies, which provide so many wonderful examples of politically incorrect romance.

 

Category: Culture, Education, Movies, Sex

Is VA Gov. McDonnell’s Regent U. Thesis An Example?

Posted on | April 23, 2012 | 34 Comments

by Smitty

Instapundit:

Have you noticed that the Dems keep coming up with some sure-fire talking point, and then the people on the right take it, turn it around, and then just keep hammering it until the Dems beg for mercy? Or, anyway, start trying to change the subject.

Ed Driscoll on Twitter last night:
Politico, emphasis mine:

McDonnell is, in many ways, a perfect running mate for Mitt Romney: he’s a conservative Southern governor with a solid record on jobs and deficits and the near-total trust of the Christian conservative community. The down side is that he’s seriously vulnerable to criticism for his record on women’s issues, starting with the thesis he wrote at Regent University and running up through the ultrasound legislation he signed this spring. In that context, the governor’s record and views on abortion could end up front and center in the 2012 campaign.

As long as we’re bringing up the subject of college work, it would be interesting to see the work of one Barack H. Obama. I heard that BHO’s Master’s thesis had something to do with rejecting capitalism as a “dog eat dog” system, in favor or Socialism, which, purportedly, will reverse the situation.

Category: Barack Obama, Instapundit, Republicans, Virginia

‘They Just Want the Money’

Posted on | April 23, 2012 | 18 Comments

Walter Russell Mead finds amusement in New York Times employees — members of the Writers Guild union — whining about a proposal to substitute 401(k)s for their current bloated pension plan:

Nobody in the video talks about the changes in the news business that threatens to drive the Times into a deep dive. Nobody talks about the prospect of future significant staff cuts if costs can’t be contained. None of them discuss the incongruity between their own naive sense of entitlement and what is going on in the cities, companies and countries they cover.
They just want the money.
Some writers allude to the prospect of leaving the paper if the pension change goes through, but a quick check of the newspaper business suggests they don’t have all that many options. Certainly with the exception of a handful of superstars the New York Times would have less trouble replacing its current staff than the current staff would have in replacing their jobs. And if those new jobs are in journalism, good luck finding a company with a generous defined benefit pension plan.

Indeed. Perhaps the NYT’s grumbling newsroom proletariat should read about working conditions for young bloggers at the Washington Post.

The days of easy money and “banker’s hours” in the news business are definitely over, and the Writers Guild mentality is part of the problem, not part of the solution. I’m reminded of a line from Ghostbusters, after they’ve lost their university research gigs:

Personally, I liked the university. They gave us money and facilities. We didn’t have to produce anything. You’ve never been out of college! You don’t know what it’s like out there! I’ve worked in the private sector. They expect results.

Too many people in the upper echelons of the news industry never had a reason to think about the bottom line. The first newspaper I ever worked for — a tiny weekly in Austell, Georgia — went out of business five months after I started there. There was no warning; I went out to cover a high-school football game on Friday night and on Saturday morning got a phone call telling me to come pick up my final paycheck.

My next job was selling menswear in a department store.

That experience in 1986 was an early and unpleasant introduction to the economic reality of the news business, a valuable lesson that might have something to do with whatever success I’ve subsequently had. Many citizen-journalists have a much better understanding of economic reality than do the members of the Writers Guild.

Da Tech Guy has some interesting suggestions about the intersection of Old School journalism and New Media. He knows what a hard dollar it can be — please don’t forget to hit his tip jar.

Category: Da Tech Guy, Journalism, New York Times, Unions

‘Civil Rights’ = Death Threats

Posted on | April 23, 2012 | 41 Comments

Hey, remember when liberals were anti-lynching?

George Zimmerman released on bond
in Trayvon Martin killing
— Los Angeles Times

Twitter lynch mob:
George Zimmerman is out on bail?
Let’s kill him!
— Twitchy

If you’re old enough to remember when liberals were opposed to racism — and in favor of grammar and spelling — well, howdy, old-timer!

Category: Crime, Florida, Racism, Twitchy

Governor Asterisk Update: Republican Who Endorsed Romney Trashes GOP

Posted on | April 23, 2012 | 32 Comments

WITH HIS CONSTITUENTS: Jon Huntsman was surrounded by reporters
after Republican presidential debate in Spartanburg, S.C., Nov. 12, 2012

“Jon Huntsman quit the 2012 presidential campaign just as he ran it all along: Sowing confusion with contradictory messages. …
“Students of American political history who examine the peculiar course of Huntsman’s campaign will undoubtedly scratch their heads and ask themselves, ‘What the f–k was that all about?‘”
— Robert Stacy McCain, “A Fitting Finale to the Huntsman Flop,” Monday, Jan. 16, 2012

Let’s begin by noting that Jon Huntsman’s so-called “presidential campaign” burned through $7 million and finished $5.5 million in debt, having been “loaned” millions by his wealthy father.

What did $7 million buy him? Seventh place in Iowa (739 votes, 0.6%) and third place in New Hampshire (41,495 votes, 16.9%), the latter result in an open primary where exit polls showed Huntsman “handily won groups of voters satisfied with the Obama administration and opposed to the Tea Party,” as the New York Times reported. “Similarly, he won self-described Democrats by a nearly 20-point margin over Ron Paul.”

Keep that in mind as you read this report from Buzzfeed’s Zeke Miller:

Former Republican candidate Jon Huntsman took a battle axe to his own party, comparing it to China’s Communist Party and criticizing it’s standard bearer in a wide-ranging interview at the 92nd Street Y Sunday night.
Recounting his first experience on the presidential debate stage in Iowa last August, Huntsman says he was struck by the question “Is this the best we could do?”
Huntsman, the former Utah governor and once President Barack Obama’s Ambassador to China, expressed disappointment that the Republican Party disinvited him from a Florida fundraiser in March after he publicly called for a third party. . . .
“So I had to say I believe in science — and people on stage look at you quizzically as though you’re was an oddball,” Huntsman said, explaining why he was “toast” in Iowa. . . .
On foreign policy, Huntsman questioned his former Republican opponents’ hard-line positions on China. “I don’t know what world these people are living in,” he said, not naming Mitt Romney by name.

Dude. I was there at the press conference in Myrtle Beach, S.C., when Huntsman quit and endorsed Romney. What was the New York Times headline on the story about that press conference?

Huntsman Leaves Race
With Plea for Party Unity

That was Monday, Jan. 16, just six days after he called his third-place finish in New Hampshire a “ticket to ride” and barely five months after the Aug. 11 Fox News debate in Ames, Iowa, where I first dubbed him “Governor Asterisk.” From the outset, his candidacy lacked any plausible rationale. One might call Jon Huntsman a “useful idiot,” but this would immediately prompt the question, “What actual use did he serve?” He never had any “path to the nomination,” and his faux campaign existed only to garner glowing coverage from the liberal media, to hog up time in televised debates, and to enrich the ruthless campaign consultants who somehow managed to convince him he had a chance.

So here we are in April, three months after he endorsed Romney and pleaded for “party unity,” and Chumpsman is publicly trashing the GOP? Once more we must ask: “What the f–k was that all about?”

(Via Memeorandum.)

UPDATE: When the former sweetheart of the liberal media wants to claim his remarks have been taken out of context, he can always get a wet kiss from his MSNBC-BFFs at “Morning Joe”:

Suggestion for Mitt: Promise to pay off Huntsman’s campaign debt, with payment due Nov. 7, on condition that he disappear until then. America will thank you for keeping this douchebag off TV.

 

 

PREVIOUSLY:


Category: Election 2012, Jon Huntsman, Mitt Romney

LIVE AT FIVE – 04.23.12

Posted on | April 23, 2012 | 7 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
National Front Voters To Be The Deciding Factor In France’s Presidential Race

Marine Le Pen, National Front candidate for President

Euroskeptic, nationalist party draws surprising 18% of first-round votes; Sarkozy and Hollande head for second round

Congresswomen: Colombian Whore Scandal Wouldn’t Have Happened If There Were More Female Secret Service Agents
How utterly predictable.

US Pledges Ten Years Of Aid To Afghanistan
Text not released; any bets on whether some of that aid arrives as satchels of small unmarked bills?



POLITICS
Arizona Immigration Law Faces Supreme Court Test

SB1070's author, former State Senator Russell Pearce

State agrees immigration is a Federal responsibility, and they’re just acting in the absence of Congressional action

WV’s Senator Manchin On The Fence About Voting For Obama

Former Presidential Candidate John Edwards Faces Trial

Obama Gaining Ground In Swing States As Economy Improves?

Half The Class Of 2012 Is Jobless Or Underemployed

Axelrod Claims Scandals Not “Emblematic” Of Obama

New Vote Fraud Laws Could Hurt Obama

Ron Paul Rallies Philadelphia Supporters



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Prices Down In Asia Ahead Of Key US, PRC Data: NYMEX $103.73, Brent $118.68
Walmart Bribery Probe Exposes Retailer To Fines
PRC Manufacturing Continues To Contract
Gasoline Futures Point To Pump Relief
After YPF Nationalization, Is Argentina The New Venezuela?
E.F. Hutton Breaks Silence
Intel-Powered Smartphone Goes On Sale
Asus Ships Quad-Core Transformer Tablet For $379
Philips Introduces $60 LED Bulb
A Quixotic Quest To Mine Asteroids
Contradicting Earlier Reports, Flashback Malware Infections Still High
iPhone 5 Rumor Roundup
Diablo III Beta Stress Test Stresses Gamers, Tests Patience



SPORTS
“Metta World Peace” Ejected For Elbow Strike To Harden’s Head

The player formerly known as Ron Artest

ESPN roundtable on the hit and the fallout (video)

Stoll’s OT Goal Eliminates Canucks, Kings Advance

Giroux, Flyers Finish Off Pens With 5-1 Blowout

Rangers On The Brink Against Senators

Caps Head Back To Boston For Game 7

LeBron James Lifts Heat To 97-88 Win Over Rockets In Home Finale

Hamlin Gets By Truex Late For STP 400 Win

Nuggets Rout Magic, 101-74

BoSox, Bobby V Unraveling With 4-10 Start

Astros Avoid Sweep, Wandy Gets The Win Against Dodgers In 12-0 Shutout Rout



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Neil Diamond Marries Katie McNeil

Neil Diamond and his new bride

Superstar singer gets hitched to manager

Chelsea Still Kvetching About Angie

Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds Nesting In Bedford

Robin Gibb Wakes From Coma

LeAnn Rimes Shows Off Her Rock

Lea Michele v. Adele

“Think Like A Man” Knocks “Hunger Games” Out Of Top Spot, Easily Beats Zac Efron’s Treacly Tale

Matthew Perry Comedy “Go On” Gets Series Order From NBC

Taylor Swift’s In Tune With Joni Mitchell Role

Is Rihanna Switching Teams?

“I Always Told Her I Would Take Her For A Ride”



FOREIGNERS
Single Women Bussed Into Rural Spanish Town To Ease Wife Shortage
Newly Elected Burma Lawmakers Balk At Wording Of Oath
Renewed Fighting On Sudan Border
PRC Offers Praise, Friendship For Norks
Egypt Cancels Natural Gas Deal With Israel
Aussie PM Under Attack For Appointing Slipper
Dutch Face Elections After Wilders’ Freedom Party Leaves Government Over Budget Measures
PRC, Russia Hold Joint Naval Exercises In Yellow Sea
Blood Still Flowing In Syria Despite UN Presence
Presidential Candidate Moussa Says Egypt Is In Crisis



BLOGS & STUFF
Zilla Of The Resistance: Medical Freedom, Lyme Disease, And Obamacare
Washington Times: Grassley Asks – Were White House Staff Involved In Colombian Scandal?
iOwnTheWorld.com: Tea Party Freshmen Made Impact, Life Miserable For Supposed Conservatives Like Boehner
Via Meadia: Clueless Blue Deer Meet Onrushing Truck At The NYT
Conservatives4Palin: GOP Insiders Have A Favorite For Veep – Rob Portman
Chicago Boyz: The Value Of College
John Fund: Daughter Of Haitian Immigrants Is GOP Nominee For Utah Congressional Seat
Weasel Zippers: Axeldouche Claims Obama “Apoplectic” Over GSA Scandal
Ed Driscoll: Earth Day 2012, The Day The Tide Turned
Don Surber: Olbermann Now Hates Dog Issue
Power Line: Obama, Eater Of Dogs Joke Of The Day
Gateway Pundit: The Nuge Exercises His First Amendment Rights, Fort Knox Soldiers Punished
JustOneMinute: CYA, Or Manning The Lifeboats?
Political Ticker: Lieberman Staying Out Of 2012 Election
Jonah Goldberg: Thomas Friedman Is On Autopilot

Category: Live at Five

Marion Barry’s Re-Election Platform Strong After All These Years

Posted on | April 22, 2012 | 8 Comments

by Smitty

Breitbart points to Marion Barry’s interview with Reason:

This blog would like to point out that Marion Barry’s likability, noted in the interview, stems from only the finest political platform planks (click to embiggen):

Reference:
Category: Democrats

Rule 5 Sunday: Master Of Puppets

Posted on | April 22, 2012 | 18 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


I am horrified by the fact that I somehow managed to forget Rule 5 Sunday last week; apparently I was overcome by tax form fumes and passed out after escaping from the tax mines last Sunday. On the upside, we now have twice the number of links!


Laughing Conservative, a bit giddy over the surge in traffic, gets a tad cheeky. At The POH Diaries, you must choose plain but classy, or utterly classless (but hot) lesbian pundit. Choose wisely! Also, Bar Rafaeli! Randy’s Roundtable had Paulina Stanek, Stephanie Ly, and Lily Aldridge for his midweek breaks this past fortnight. The eye of Polyphemus went with Kelly Brook, while the Reaganite Republican went with Miss Philippines 2011 and also Miss Israel 2011.
First Street Journal turns the spotlight on some fashionistas, and Three Beers Later has a metal music extravaganza. Postaldog reappears with some Kristy Swanson and girls behaving badly. A double helping of Dustbury links gives us Poonam Pandey, Janice Vidal, Liz Phair, and a long-awaited Zooeypalooza! Zion’s Trumpet also has some pretty faces and more of the same in red for your viewing pleasure. Fishersville Mike reminds us that it’s hockey night in Nashville, starring Carrie Underwood.


El Opinador Compulsivo returned last week with Xenia Tchoumitcheva, Easter greetings from Kate Upton, the proposed ban on the missionary position in Ukraine, Sara Jean Underwood, No shirt/no service, and Bar Rafaeli playing tennis in her undies.


A View From The Beach has some Ashley Judd huffery-puffery, Lauren Young cleaning up after tree sex, niceness in the genes, good news from the London Olympics, science vindicating Edgar Rice Burroughs, Babes n’ donuts, and some Easter greetings Vargas-style. The second helping includes Liv Tyler, balloon swallowing, Bar Rafaeli getting the “special” pat-down, the Katie Perry Marine video with bonus pix, good news for lushes, and women causing crashes.


Soylent Green (Week The First) has Monday Motivationer Sam, Tuesday Titillation, Humpday Hawtness, alternative energy, Corset Friday 360, Friday fantabulism, and Saturday Shannon.


At the Camp of the Saints, there was Monica Bellucci, the Rule 5 News, Holly Peers, Rosamund Pike. Rule 5 News, and Gabriella Grecco.


Proof Positive offers Berenice Marlowe and Brittny Gastineau; vintage babes Madeline Smith and Virna Lisi, and in the Sex in Advertising department: Take Control. also, Colombian hooker pics and Victoria’s Secret Service.


Soylent Green Week 2 (The Embiggening) begins with Monday Motivationer Candice, continues with Tuesday Titillation from Jennifer, the Humpday Hawtness of Kayla, Googlers being slow on the uptake, Fifth Fleet’s Soylent Maneuvers, a Friday Corset Cavalcade, and the overnight awesome Midnight Ramble edition.


We end this Rule 5 Sunday as we end all our Rule 5 Sundays, with the DaleyBabes from the DaleyGator. This week, it’s Nina Dobrev, Katerina Graham with a Rule 5 roundup, Ryo Shinohara, Helena Mattsson, Myu Hatsume, Jennifer Love Hewitt. and Kazaki Asou.


Thanks to everyone for their linkagery! Please have your links for next week’s Rule 5 Sunday in by April 28; I promise to make use of them in a more timely fashion next week!

Category: Rule 5
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