Manteghig's Blog

Simple Man(teghi): Ahhh tumn

manteghig — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 01:16:37 +0000

I love the Fall, love everything about this time of year. Autumn more so than Spring reminded me of rebirth and renewal. It takes me back to my youth and reminds me of days long since past.

This evening, on Thanksgiving of all days, as I was filling up the SUV to head to my parents house to observe our second meal of the day and caught the chill in the air and momentum of the wind. For a brief moment, I was catapulted from the present and was out in front of my parents house in 1986.

Those were the best days, the Autumn air adding rouge to ones cheek, nose running, hair disheveled with a sampling of oaks, popular, or pine. The moments between the arrival of night and the fading beams of the late afternoon sun. The dusk hour in the Palmetto offered up such tranquility. It was at this time so many years ago that we would call it a day.

Now the pump has finished and I have my own family awaiting their trip to Grandma’s house. Reality comes back and it’s time to get going again. Time to go join everyone inside the house but my mind still recalls those days back in Greenville and my folks neighborhood and I Ahhhh Autumn.

Simple Man(teghi): Fatherhood

manteghig — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:29:43 +0000

Fatherhood

Just recently, one of my best friends witnessed the birth of his first child and thus embark on the journey of fatherhood.

For many in my generation, we have already been down this road and for a few of us still, the journey has yet to start. To those of us that are priviledge to become fathers, it is something that will define you and fulfill you in ways you cannot ever imagine. It is the perfect rollercoaster of emotions.

Now of all the people who I knew that would be or were becoming fathers, my old roommate was by far the most prepared and best equiped. He has always had a certain level of paternal aura to him and it would have been a true tragedy had it not happened. Fatherhood is the completion of the life process from child to adult.

From my own life, perseverance, commitment, responsibility, self-preservation, and discipline were the values instilled into me. It was from my father’s own experiences that he wish to bestow on me toughness and empower me to survive the harshness of life that he demanded those characteristics. It was these indelible impressions of rigidness that lead a teenage son to question a father, based solely on an understanding of envy; a wish for less severe methods of parenting. But from these lessons, that I so fiercely came to battle, I gained an understanding and an appreciation that would later be employed in my own fathering and provide me insight into the man my own father was and how he saw fatherhood.

Now in a moment of reflection, I see it as the blending of cultures and of backgrounds and the mishmashing of environments and personalities that would ultimately hold the ingredients to the father I am and the one that I will become and hope to be. We all hope that when it is all said and done that we did the best job we could with what we had. I truly hope my own child will understand that during the context of her own life.

Fatherhood offers us all the chance to play the hero, that impressionable little soul sees you as you see them, perfect. To my old college roommate, welcome to the club and savior the moments as I know you will.

Protected: Simple Man(teghi): One of Three

manteghig — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:24:30 +0000

This post is password protected. You must visit the website and enter the password to continue reading.

Simple Man(teghi): Merry Christmas

manteghig — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:48:50 +0000

View This PollAs the holiday quickly approach on another year it is again a point of discussion as to the correct and proper greeting for our colleagues, friends, family, and citizens. Over the last several years, Fox News and Bill O’Reilly have taken the fight of “Merry Christmas” to the airwaves. During a time when we should be celebrating the gifts of a long year and the recognition of time together with our loved ones, we are instead deliberating over whether “Merry Christmas” will be offensive or not to our neighbor.

Now for Christians, I am not entirely sure what the debate is, the message is clear and in the context of the word Christmas itself. Christ and Mass are combined to provide little doubt that the celebration should be on the birth of the Savior Christ in other words, if you recognize yourself as a Christian then the proper greeting should always be “Merry Christmas.

In terms of other religions or in certain case non-religions, no greeting or recognition is required and quite honestly, the act of wishing one a Merry Christmas should never be taken as any more than a wish of hope and a greeting of joy. Even for the most staunch atheist or agnostic, deriving any negative connotations from this is sheer folly.

The point here is clear, it is a greeting and as with all greetings it is up to the individual receiving the greeting to reciprocate a return greeting, ignore greeting, or respond in a neutral or opposite response. In any these cases, the owness is not on the greeter but on the greetee.

Simple Man(teghi): Blood Suckers

manteghig — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:55:17 +0000

So blood suckers are all the rage these days! Why? Well, seems like Sci-Fi and fantasy become the magical formula for a society wishing to escape a reality that includes high unemployment, high obesity, high depression, high divorce rates, high foreclosures, and war.

Yeah, I can understand that because we have seen fantasy come to the rescue before. We saw E.T. and Star Wars rescue us in the early 80′s. So escape is an active ingrediant however these Vamps also provide the allure of forbidden romance and that adds to the appeal.

I definitely feel that no harm for mature audiances and minimal for the teens who follow. Taken for what it is, Vampires are important contributors to our recovery and hopes that life has a sensible reason. No matter the challenges and the obsticles, Love finds away.

So for Lastat, Bella, or Suki … drink it up and enjoy your bite on fame.

Simple Man(teghi): Ode to Sarah

manteghig — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:33:48 +0000

Governor Sarah Palin: Rogue

This week the former Alaskan Governor and Republican Vice-Presidential candidate set out promoting her new book and answering questions about her plans for the future. Sarah Palin takes on her critics and provides her side of the story in a biography narative and hopefully provides an insight into who she is and what she has to offer.

The flip side of all this of course is that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction and the MSNBCs, Bloggers, and Liberal ideologues have been on a feeding frenzy, working overtime and AP and ABC News extending resources to investigate the “truths” in her book. (Last I heard, naratives were to be from the perspective of the author.)

I believe that given the heated attacks that have come the Governors way from the likes of David Letterman, Tina Fey, and others; she is entitled to a little retribution. The great delemma over Governor Palin is that she is a conservative female in a position to influence policy and direction and her very existence tends to undermine the feminist movement of the last 80 years.

As a father to a daughter, brother to two (2) sisters, a son to my mother, and husband to my wife – I am appalled that we would try undermine these attributes. Governor Palin is a person of tremendous conviction and moral courage and shows the same characteristics, man or woman, that we so desperately need today from our leaders. Do we not want to guarded on some level by our moral compass? Has the conviction of principles that we call our faith stop at the congressional steps or court house? Do we dare minimize the demonize a woman for choosing life over murder? Are the ambitions of becoming the first woman President simply relogated to the candidate chosen by the elite media and acedemics?

I admit that I have yet to read this book but do intend to. I do try and temper my hope of who she is with the reality that she just be given a fair chance to make an impression. I hope I can do that.

Simple Man(teghi): Missed USA

manteghig — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:52:38 +0000

When we raise our children and try to instill ambition, drive, character, morals, and ethics into these little creatures, in hopes that they become productive and valuable members of our society. We do so knowing full well that they will still faulter and that they will still be as we all are human. We know this and we love them anyway and we forgive.

Carrie Prejean has been put in situation of defending herself, her reputation, and her values to a skeptical country and a rabid media that is all too ambitious in seeing the demise of a person that has not committed a crime, violated any code of conduct, placed anyone in danger, or hurt or harmed anyone.

In a time of great trials and breaking tragedies, this continues to dominate the air waves, blogs, internet chatter, and press print. Why? Are those attackers of this woman so dead set against her moral position on marriage that they will destroy her reputation and leave her remains in plain view to deter any others that share her opinion.

The true target in this controversy should be Perez Hilton and not Carrie Prejean. This sodomite and his minions of mayhem that kicked the ball rolling by asking a 20 something pagent contestent about her OPINION of marriage. It was this creature that attacked Carrie Prejean both on air and on line and launch vile and distasteful attacks. In the wake of all of this controversy, Carrier Prejean has lost her crown, her reputation has been ASSAULTED, she has had to spend time and resources on her defense and she has been villainized by a media and a segment of the population that will never allow her to pick herself up and dust herself off.

We hope to raise our children well, and hope that examples and role models are prevelent to their lives to serve as examples. The people that we hope will be examples are not always the ones that have lived a “perfect” life but rather those individuals that put their name and their life up for scrutiny and show their fallacy and the depth of their personal and professional missteps and failures. These individuals truly know the pitfalls that missteps provide and they are willing to deal with the embarrassment and the pain to be above all else, a beacon to others.

Carrie Prejean Miss USA 2009

Carrie Prejean deserves better of this country.

Simple Man(teghi) – Media Terrorism

manteghig — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:34:45 +0000

Olbermann must go

: Idiot

Liberal IdeologueMisfit Ideologue

Keith Olbermann didn’t really get under my skin until he quit reporting on sports events and began regurgitating his vile and left leaning ideology on Network television. Employed by GE and NBC and given a multi-million dollar contract to spew yellow journalism and ideological rhetoric, Olbermann has been the linchpin of the media magnet on its attacks on Republicans and Conservative values. Cloaked as a journalist, (D)Oldermann has attacked without mercy and with minimal provocation those who hold different ideology and moral integrity.

The time has now come to push (D)Oldbermann off the stage and let him take his vaudevillian show to HBO or elsewhere. His tired performance has outstayed its welcome, evidenced by his ratings and viewership decline and his value to a conglomerate the size of General Electric has been repudiated.

General Electric, the parent company of NBC, is a Publicly traded company and if you hold any stock in GE, you have a right to voice your displeasure with the current direction of the Media Giant but continuing to keep Olbermann on air and on payroll.

John Allen Muhammad Beltway sniper John …

manteghig — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:51:38 +0000

John Allen Muhammad

Beltway sniper John Allen Muhammad
Background information
Birth name: John Allen Williams
Alias(es): Beltway Sniper, D.C. Sniper
Born: December 31, 1960(1960-12-31)
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Died: November 10, 2009 (aged 48)
Jarratt, Virginia
Cause of death: Execution by lethal injection
Penalty: Death penalty
Killings
Number of victims: 16 deaths, 4 injured
Span of killings: September 5, 2002–October 23, 2002
Country: United States
State(s): Alabama, Arizona, California, Louisiana, Maryland, Texas and Virginia
Date apprehended: October

University band harassed by cadets at Citadel

manteghig — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:09:30 +0000

University band harassed by cadets at Citadel

By Jack Ackerman
Staff Writer

Published: Monday, September 22nd, 2008

The University band (PUB) faced physical abuse, harassment and taunting on Saturday while accompanying the football team to its away game against The Citadel, a military college in Charleston, S.C.Following the game, Citadel commanding officers and the president of the Citadel student body apologized to the band for the cadets’ behavior, several band members said.

The altercation began when the band marched, with prior approval from The Citadel’s administration, through a guarded entrance onto the campus. The band’s traditional march through the home team’s campus brought the performers into contact with The Citadel’s cadets, who were outside for field activities.

“Some of [the cadets] started running towards us and ran back … but it didn’t seem threatening at all,” Simon Fox Krauss ’11 said.

Yet when the band tried to continue its march, Krauss said, the cadets surrounded the Princeton students and began booing loudly, linking arms to form a line blocking their path.

In response to the blocked path, Lucas Giron ’09, the band’s drum major, gave the order to “scramble” — break formation and leave.

Band conductor R.W. Enoch ’09 said that at this point, “a number of cadets broke ranks and got into physical altercations with some of our members.”

In the skirmish that followed, several band members were physically attacked and spit on, band members said, adding that at least one member had his instrument broken.

The Citadel’s Commandant’s Office and student body president could not be reached on Sunday, and the college’s Office of Public Safety declined to comment for this article.

Jordan Bubin ’09 said he was tackled by “three or four cadets” and pushed up against a tree.

“The booing was so loud, [and] the cadets who were on the field were yelling at us, ‘Cut your hair, long-haired faggots’ and ‘You go have fun in college, I’ll go fight the war,’ ” he said.

The cadets also stole band members’ hats and spit on female members of the band, some members said.

Bubin added that he overheard older cadets ordering the younger students to go after the band.

PUB president Alex Barnard ’09 said that he found the cadets’ behavior “offensive and demeaning.”

Barnard said his immediate response was to direct the band to leave campus.

Several of The Citadel’s commanding officers, however, brought the situation under control and asked the band to continue its pre-approved march.

The band was escorted on the rest of its march around campus by commanding officers without further altercations, Barnard said. Bubin said, however, that the band was “pursued and taunted” in spite of the escort.

Later in the day, when the band appeared on the football field to perform its halftime show, the taunting continued.

“During the halftime, there was booing as soon as we went onto the field,” Enoch said. Though the cadets avoided any further physical confrontation, Enoch noted that for the entire nine-minute half time show, the jeers were so loud that the band’s act could hardly be heard.

Barnard said he was surprised by the reaction to the show because the band’s performance at The Citadel was “the tamest halftime show the team has ever delivered.”

The script of the show was approved and censored by The Citadel’s administration before the performance. All jokes were written with attention paid to the Citadel’s conservative atmosphere, he added.

The band members said they were also taunted while cheering from their seats in the stands during the game.

“During the game itself, somewhere between 50 and 70 cadets circled the band in plain sight of an Army captain and Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel,” Dan Jaffe ‘10 said in an e-mail. “When ordered back to their seats by [higher ranking officers] they were slow to obey.”

Jaffe, who has trained in the Marine Corps, said he found the behavior of the cadets “astounding.”

He added that he thought the fact that the cadets “lacked the discipline to maintain proper military bearing should, at the very least, make their superiors question the wisdom of awarding them commissions in the United States Armed Forces.”

Enoch noted that bands do not accompany visiting teams during most football games at The Citadel.

The influx of Princeton students on The Citadel campus, he said, may have made the cadets “kind of territorial.” He added that the cadets may have been intimidated because “they usually don’t play schools of the caliber of Princeton.”

Barnard also blamed the cadets’ behavior on a “mob mentality” and stressed that though the cadets together were threatening, “every cadet I actually talked to was very nice.”

Bubin added, “There were some enormously friendly cadets there … but those friendly cadets were outnumbered easily 150 to one.”