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Posts Tagged ‘William F. Buckley’

Leigh Scott

The ‘Net’ Generation: Dumbing Down What Matters Most

by Leigh Scott

Because televised news has been rendered obsolete by technology (who needs Christine Amanpour when every citizen has an HD camera, YouTube, and Twitter?), I turned to the Internet to keep up with the events transpiring in Iran.  I logged into Twitter and found this massive “Twitter-grid” of people in Iran and people around the world communicating.  It went something like this….

#iranstudent:please help.they are attacking the dorms.

#crzygrl:EVERYONE WEAR GREEN TOMORROW TO WORK AND SCHOOL

#iranstudent:my god.  where is help?  they will kill us.

#Evlhaliburton:this is just like US in 2000.

#iranstudent: please send troops.  they shot my friend. (more…)

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Posted Jun 20th 2009 at 7:03 am in Politics | 8 Comments

Matt Patterson

A Conservative Journey Through Literary America – Part 5: A Conversation With John Derbyshire

by Matt Patterson

John Derbyshire, columnist, essayist, critic, raconteur, has an opinion.  On everything, it seems.  Thankfully, he is not shy about sharing them, and was kind enough to speak with me by phone one afternoon.

In addition to wearing the above listed hats, Derbyshire has also written a strange and wonderful little novel called Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream, a book described in the New York Times as, “a bouncy, Capraesque tale of midlife crisis, romantic confusion and spiritual regeneration.”  (The Times review was so favorable that it puts the conceit that conservative authors can’t get a fair shake from the liberal media in a good bit of jeopardy).

I asked Derbyshire about Coolidge, the writing of which he recounts with both fondness and exasperation, with decided emphasis on the former.  He claims that writing fiction puts one in a state of “aesthetic bliss” (to paraphrase Nabachov), the prime virtue of which is an expansion of perspective that “…separates you from the everyday world.”  He tells me that writing a good novel gives one a pleasure many times that of reading a good novel, which, if true, must be a high state of bliss indeed. (more…)

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Posted May 30th 2009 at 7:04 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, Politics | 2 Comments

Robert Davi

Burnt Offerings: The Horror, the Horror

by Robert Davi

I would like to introduce my cousin Michael Rulle. My mother and his father were brother and sister,  and his father, Uncle Mike, shaped a lot of our political ideas, though we thought he may have been the anti-christ, as he was a conservative and we were Kennedy democrats for a bit.

William F. Buckley was Uncle Mike’s favorite and we frequently were subjected to long dissertations.

Thank God for Uncle Mike.

When we were younger my cousin Michael and I would put on political skits. This was in the 60s and I must say we were ahead of our time.  I like to think that we’re still ahead on some things — most recently when the economic crisis first started my cousin provided insights that only now some are talking about. He was WAY AHEAD OF THE CURVE, which is why I want to share his voice with you.

His latest piece, “The Horror……the Horror” is a good starting point. Then I suggest you go back to his blog “The Law of the Bad Premise” and share his stuff with your friends. (more…)

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Posted Apr 25th 2009 at 6:59 am in Featured Story, News, Politics | 3 Comments