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What American accent do you have?
Your Result: The West
Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you’re a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big […]
4 Comments »
Filed under: miscellaneous
The first limit we require is a geographical human limit to the interchangeability of identity. Individuals must reclaim coherent narratives of living, working, doing, and being, and master as close to a single self as may be afforded in a world which rewards parody, self-caricature, reinvention, and Protean Pelagianism. And groups of like-souled people — […]
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Filed under: politics, culture, decentralism
As Eunomia’s success grows, the list of people to whom I owe this success necessarily grows ever longer. As always, I am particularly indebted and grateful to Jon Luker, who did me the service of providing the “space” for Eunomia gratis for well over a year and a half. He was responsible for transferring the site–and my old […]
8 Comments »
Filed under: miscellaneous, personal
Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota drove to the evening reception with Mr. McCain and later said in an interview he intended to support Mr. McCain if he ran for president. ~The New York Times
No Comments »
Filed under: politics
He also said he will attempt to force a competition of ideas with his rivals. “There may be people with better ideas, and if they have better ideas then they deserve to win,” he [Gov. Tom Vilsack] said. ~The Washington Post
That’s a bold, winning slogan for any campaign: “My opponents may have better ideas than I […]
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Filed under: politics
BC: I used to read a great many of your articles and was somewhat surprised, at least initially, when I heard that you had joined The American Conservative. I guess I always considered you to be more of a mainstream party guy. Was their a marked difference between their outlook and your own? Also, do […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics
What’s gone wrong with the GOP? Let me start by quoting a friend who is both gay and conservative (yes, I know several such): “I’m for low taxes, strong defense and limited government. Why doesn’t the Republican party want me?”
There’s a two-part answer to that question and neither half is good news. The first is […]
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Filed under: politics, immigration
Webb certainly has conveyed what he is: a boor. Never mind the patent disrespect for the presidency. Webb’s more gross offense was calculated rudeness toward another human being — one who, disregarding many hard things Webb had said about him during the campaign, asked a civil and caring question, as one parent to another. When […]
5 Comments »
Filed under: politics, foreign policy
Most traditional notions of honor, good manners, and the like seem to be aimed at addressing exactly these kinds of problems. For example, if everyone were like Mr. Pink, the entire profit model of waitressing would break down. ~Chris Roach
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Filed under: miscellaneous, economics, culture, film
Women also speak more quickly, devote more brainpower to chit-chat - and actually get a buzz out of hearing their own voices, a new book suggests. ~The Daily Mail
Via Mark Shea
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Filed under: miscellaneous
Apocalypto keeps looking better and better (a new trailer is available). I have also heard good things from advance viewers.
One advance viewer, Peter Suderman, writes:
Ross Douthat points out that, despite Mel Gibson’s personal and media troubles, he’s still a formidable force at the box office. To which I would add (and this is coming from […]
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Filed under: film
Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq and King Abdullah II of Jordan abruptly backed out of a meeting with President Bush on Wednesday, leaving the White House scrambling to explain why a carefully planned summit meeting had suddenly been cut from two days to one. ~The New York Times
The reason is pretty simple. The […]
2 Comments »
Filed under: politics, foreign policy
Gov. Bill Richardson’s reelection in New Mexico was never in doubt, and the possible 2008 Democratic presidential candidate spent the final days of his campaign helping fellow Democrats while he cruised to a record-breaking margin of victory.
So when the Republican Governors Association (RGA) spent $115,000 on ads opposing Richardson in the final weeks, eyebrows were […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics
You have to hand it to Ahmadinejad or his English ghost-writers–the Iranians’ propaganda and PR skills are evidently light years ahead of the Karen Hughes-style goodwill tours and the hokey al-Shura TV channel that constitute our official efforts to “get our message” across in the Islamic world. Whoever told Ahmadinejad to include the bit about the victims of Hurricane Katrina has apparently been studying our […]
1 Comment »
Filed under: politics
And for that matter, why on earth does the Orthodox Patriarch believe gaining more legal liberty for the few Orthodox remaining in the former Constantinople is worth Europe’s opening the gates to massive legal Muslim immigration — especially with Western Europe so spiritually and culturally weak, and failing to reproduce itself?
What am I missing here? […]
1 Comment »
Filed under: politics, foreign policy, Europe, Christianity, Islam
Jason Zengerle notes that Disney is selling Apocalypto as “Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto,” and even has Gibson himself narrating a TV spot. “Does Disney really think Mel Gibson is still a selling point?” he wonders.
Well, if they didn’t, they’d be out of their minds. It’s easy to forget, because he hasn’t appeared in any movies in […]
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Filed under: film
Would you suppose that the man who headed the Republican Governors Association in one of the worst election years for Republican governors in memory would be considered a prime candidate for the GOP presidential nomination? No, neither would I, but for some reason RGA Chairman Mitt Romney, who presided over one of the worst GOP performances in governors’ races, […]
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Filed under: politics
Just as the entry of Tom Vilsack into the presidential race may make it possible for Democrats to skip Iowa, a serious Romney bid may allow both McCain and Giuliani to announce they are bypassing New Hampshire because they can’t compete with the near-favorite son that Massachusetts boy Romney is. This probably won’t happen, since […]
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Filed under: politics
“I would call it a civil war,” Powell told a business forum in the United Arab Emirates. “I have been using it (civil war) because I like to face the reality,” added Powell.
He said world leaders should acknowledge Iraq was in civil war. ~Reuters
The clear implication of that last line is that he thinks Mr. […]
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Filed under: politics, foreign policy
I’m so obviously American that I don’t think the question merits any navel-gazing or serious thought. But my parents come from a part of the world where there’s a powerful stigma associated with being a dark-skinned Muslim. This is part of what prompted partition, the sense that the Hindu clerisy in eastern Bengal was so […]
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Filed under: miscellaneous
Everyone who opposes the plans of hawks like Ledeen for wider, endless war, and everyone who recognizes that there is in fact nothing we can do any longer to lessen the horrors of the immoral catastrophe that is Iraq, is an “antisemite.”
In that case, count me among the damned, you lying bastard. ~Arthur Silber
Via Matt […]
2 Comments »
Filed under: politics, foreign policy
According to Lyons, Correa’s backtracking has put him about even with Noboa in the polls, and a Correa victory would not amount to a ratification of his radical policies. ~Michael Barone
Returns indicate that a clear majority of Ecuador’s voters have chosen Correa. In Nicaragua, a majority clearly voted against Daniel Ortega, but his plurality was still […]
1 Comment »
Filed under: politics, foreign policy
Just to be clear — there is nothing wrong with French-speaking Quebecers feeling a particular sense of kinship with one another, as a hardy linguistic minority on a continent full of anglophones; there is nothing wrong with Québécois de souche remembering their roots, and feeling a sense of pride in their long heritage in this […]
2 Comments »
Filed under: politics, Canada
But they did not feel it in their gut. Because a nation is hard work. To assert a national will, national objectives, a national interest, in a polyethnic, multilingual, transcontinental country, means upholding a national idea, a transcendent nationalism of ideals, against the more earthly delights of ethnic and cultural tribalism. It suggests that we […]
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Filed under: politics, Canada
“I believe that recognizing the Québécois as a nation, even within a united Canada, is nothing else than the recognition of an ethnic nationalism and that I cannot support,” he said. ~The Globe and Mail
Via Reihan
Mr. Chong is perfectly correct that this is a recognition of an ethnic nationalism. That has to be the point of it, or […]
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Filed under: politics, Canada