The All About Me Culture

The New York Times tells what I think is a sad tale of how some new brides believe showing off their bodies at a wedding is more important than celebrating the start of a marriage. Apparently "sexy" and "hot" is more important than "beautiful." For what it's worth, MY bride needed none of this, and she looked absolutely gorgeous. Personally, I think looking like a princess is better -- and she did, because a little girl at the wedding asked for her autograph!

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NYC Cheapens Sex -- Again

New York City encourages everyone to "get some." Sigh. I do not oppose condom use, but in the zeal for safe sex should our governments push upon us the notion that everyone should be having sex? Because everyone shouldn't be.

Thankfully, Kathryn Jean Lopez has another take, using yesterday's Valentine's Day to run an interview with the author of a new book, "Prude," which targets how a sex-obsessed culture hurts girls AND boys. It is downright frightening that the "prude" is more of an insult than "slut," and even if I weren't the father of a soon-to-be 16-year-old, it would be at least sad. Jen points out the best part of the interview:

When girls are encouraged to be coarse, there’s a coarsening effect on boys, too, because boys live up (or down) to the standards girls set for them.

Some of this may have to be a point of conversation before or during an upcoming trip to New York with the young lady I sometimes call The Eye Roller. It's not that I want her to be called a prude, but I want her to grow into a woman of noble character, who, if she decides to marry, will be a Proverbs 31 wife:

10: A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.

11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.

12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.

26 She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

27 She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.

28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:

29 "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."

30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

The Rivalry Returns!

USC and UCLA will return to an old tradition: both wearing home uniforms.

Fire away, Janet!

I think my friends at OnTap have to at least put away the Hate-orade for Huckabee at least for a minute after seeing this story on the sporting Mrs. Huckabee. Favorite part:

After she spoke, she took aim at a different target, firing at clay pigeons with a 12-gauge shotgun. Huckabee joined three club members in a skeet shoot out in the sunshine.

Gun rights are important to the candidate and his wife, whether it's an AK-47 or a handgun. "If someone wants an AK-47 and they want to use it in their backyard, they should be able to," Janet Huckabee said in response to a question about gun owner rights.

Sen. Clinton in the NYT

If I'm a reporter, do I even believe the anonymous spin from her campaign? I'm not sure I do.

A heartbreaking trade

When I was a Kings fan growing up, Butch Goring was my favorite player. He made up for his lack of size with hustle, especially on the penalty kill. As the NHL trade deadline approaches, NHL.com reminds me of the day the Kings traded him to the Islanders, pushing the Isles toward the first of four Cups and the Kings toward ... well nothing more than what they've usually given L.A. fans over 35 years: mediocrity.

Now he tells us

AP reports that Dr. James Dobson is endorsing Gov. Huckabee. Dr. Dobson could have endorsed someone when it mattered. The values James Dobson supports and Gov. Huckabee espouses have not changed between last fall and now. But instead, Dr. Dobson waited until the moment when it is nearly impossible for Gov. Huckabee to win the Republican nomination. As Rod Dreher put it, "We need a better quality of theocon leadership in this country."

Super Tuesday

It's clear that Mike Huckabee will win at least three and as many as six states tonight. That may not be enough to win him the nomination. But he emerges tonight as more than a one-shot wonder. He wins in the party's base and his home, the South. That fact, and his skills as a leader and communicator, make him a major factor in the Republican party. He now leads a voting bloc that cannot be ignored.

Coulter on McCain

Ann Coulter says John McCain, tortured only because he wore this country's uniform, "has no honor." All I can think of is, "They make medication to help that kind of condition, don't they?

(HT: Andrew Sullivan)

Blaming Evangelical Christians

K-Lo and Jim Geraghty on NRO note an NBC First Read item about whether evangelicals are keeping Mitt Romney from becoming the GOP nominee. The key quote:

Anyway, we're starting to hear from a lot of smart Republican strategists about what happened. And the thing that everyone seems to come back to is Romney's religion. Why? Ask yourself: Without the issue of Romney's religion, does Mike Huckabee ever take off? Because Mike Huckabee is the single biggest obstacle to Romney coalescing economic and social conservatives behind him to take on McCain.

The sentiment isn't all that suprising. We all want to blame someone else for our failures. Mitt Romney outspent Mike Huckabee by 20-to-1 in Iowa. Is evangelical bias against Mitt Romney's church really the only reason he didn't win enough support from conservative Christians?

I have another theory. To evangelicals, Mike Huckabee is real. See this video, about 2:50 in, for proof.

And here's one for Mitt Romney.

I respect and admire Gov. Romney's change of heart on abortion. Pro-lifers should welcome such shifts. But I think it's fair also to suggest that Gov. Romney's wholesale shifts on issues of importance to social conservatives has at least seemed inauthentic, bordering on pandering. And meanwhile, Gov. Huckabee showed them through work and effort that he could really compete in an election environment.

It certainly possible that some people are biased against Gov. Romney's religion. Gov. Huckabee's campaign may have been the benefactor of that bias. But to take from that that evangelical bigotry is the only reason Mitt Romney failed to bring social and economic conservatives together is really quite a leap. And it fails to place the blame for failure where it really lies: the candidate himself.