Month: January 1970

RIGHT WING BLOG ALERT! RIGHT WING BLOG ALERT!

Sorry. Just wanted to get that out my system. Submitting a pro- Bush blog for review at this particular moment in history is perhaps a brave move. With most liberals and the rest of the world still reeling from his re-election, a blog celebrating right wing politics is perhaps not something a whole lot of people want to read right now.

Let’s say a bit about the design first though, before I start slagging off his politics, er… I mean discussing the content. Well, not a whole lot to mention really- it is a blogspot blog, two columns, fairly innocuous colour scheme and no fancy title bar. The sidebar seemed to do funny things when I first entered the site (like disappear for a while) but it settled down after a minute or two and revealed the usual sidebar content- links, buttons, very long blogroll and Google ads. So for appearance, I can’t really take any points off as, in all honesty the blog looks absolutely fine overall, but I certainly can’t add any points either for graphical extravagance or extras added because, well, there aren’t any.

Ok. Let’s lay my cards on the table and say that I don’t live in America and if I did I would be a Democrat. I don’t feel I need to defend my stance but it may colour my review. It has to be said though, that of the right wing blogs I have read, this is one of the better ones in terms of content. Whilst I don’t agree with his point of view, I have to admit that most of the postings are fair minded, reasonably balanced and steer away from many of the emotive, polemic issues which can rear their ugly heads in blogs like this (racism or homophobia, for example). He supports his troops but hey, no one ever got hurt from troop supporting. He does get a lot of stick for his points of view in the comments, which he replies to with good grace and a calm head. He seems to be fairly well read in terms of news content and he posts up articles in the blog itself, rather than expecting people to click. He is also not afraid to take on liberal journalists either which at least provides some balance. In fact most of his articles are sober, well reasoned and have had a lot of thought put in to them. A few of the points made seem to be biased, over simplified or economical with the truth, but hey, isn’t that what political debate is all about?

I think that most republicans will probably like this blog regardless. Liberals could do worse than read this blog, if for no other reason than to understand a bit better the mindset of the kind of person who voted in a President they didn’t want. Like I say, I don’t agree with his politics, but what came across is that the author is probably quite a nice guy, who I felt able to engage with despite our differences.
Leaning Right

One of the biggest challenges in reviewing weblogs with topics ranging all over the board is trying to review a site that’s nearly the exact opposite of one’s own personal beliefs. Reviewing Learning Right News is the biggest reviewing challenge I’ve experienced to date.



The layout of the site is a standard Blogger template, with the colors being spruced up a bit. There’s honestly nothing special about it, but I suppose a news site such as this one has no need for a flashy layout. The colors are aesthetically pleasing; the layout and colors chosen give the site an overall clean and crisp appearance.



Thanks to the Blogger template, readers are able to find out just the slightest bit of information about the author in the “About Me” square. Tony Mc, who hails from Iowa, is our blogger and creator of Leaning Right News. This is all the information available about him.



Tony Mc and the entries he makes on this weblog lean very far to the right of political beliefs. According to the available archives, the site’s only been up and running since mid-October, just in time for Tony to concentrate his writings and posts on the 2004 Presidential Election.



The words in the banner of Leaning Right News, which ultimately give readers their first impression on what it is they’re reading, is “Giving you thoughts and views from the ‘Right’ side of the political world!!!” With Tony being a huge fan of Ann Coulter and encouraging with all his might people to vote for George W Bush the night before Election Day, he keeps it no secret that he’s deadset against anything the Democrats represented over this past election.



Tony is very adament in his point of view and comes across extremely confident and knowledgeable. He is very opinionated, and his writing shows this. However, Tony never fails to have his opinion backed up by facts that he’s discovered through other websitse. This is what made Leaning Right News tolerable to someone who leans in the complete opposite direction. It’s obviously not a weblog the majority of people will enjoy, simply because it’s not a topic that the majority of people will even understand.



For those readers that also lean to the right or those looking to learn a little more about the right-wing side of politics, this is definitely a site worth investigating.Leaning Right

The Disenfranchised Curmudgeon has a navy blue Blogspot template of the simplest style. Our author describes himself thusly:

“I am a Christian whose politics do not fit too well with…well, with nearly anyone. I am a Dad, a Computer Programmer, a Lawyer, and a dedicated homebrewer who was born a century too late, yet wouldn’t give up antibiotics in exchange for the wealth of Midas.”

His page has a minimalist approach, with very little in the side bar. Points from me for simplicity. Though I would suggest one thing. That he actually archive his archives. There is a spot for it. It’s empty. Right now, all the entries he has ever written are on one page. Makes for a long scroll. Too long.

He began his blog in December of 2003. He is not a frequent poster, but when he does write, his entries tend to length. And in more recent times, he has garnered a respectable number of commenters. A testimonial in itself. In the comments there are often quite long and detailed discussions between the author and his readers.

Now to the writing style. Our author tackles an impressive array of subjects, political and social. They are rarely light in nature. He describes himself as a disillusioned voter, conflicted, and well, a curmudgeon. The fact that he has decided to abstain from voting in effect sidelined his angst on many levels for me. It’s so easy to criticize when you are not in the game. The old argument that people can’t bring themselves to vote for the “lesser of two evils” grows thin. One runs the risk of getting stuck in the “whiner” category when you do not engage and commit.

I read extensively on this site, and found that he is cynical about American society, but it bothers him that he is cynical. This state of affairs produces overall a rather melancholy tone. While the writing is erudite, it also tends to be a bit convoluted, and occasionally, he forgets what his point was. I found myself at times working very hard to sum up what I had just read, and understand his point.

It is a true art to be able to focus one’s thoughts, and distill them into something laser-like and clear. But I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge that he does take on some very weighty subject matter, and manages most of the time to avoid slogans and ranting.

I must indulge a comment on a pet peeve of mine. This author often refers to President Bush as “the shrub”. I find this kind of name calling infantile and distracting. It weakens one’s reasoned arguments to stoop to this kind of junior high mentality. I would be just as annoyed if I was reading Senator Kerry described as “horse face”. If you want to be taken seriously, dump the name calling.

This site would appeal to those who prefer complex arguments and detailed discussion. And I will say that the author is quite willing to engage his readers in said discussions, which are quite interesting to pursue. Curmudgeons aren’t ALL bad you know!

The Disenfranchised Curmudgeon

My first thought when viewing this blog was, “Here we go again, another right wing political blogger!” A quick scan of this blog would bring me the now infamous “Red & Blue States Map,” and several Bush/Cheney graphics. The posts are contained in a simple Blogger template. The fonts and layout was easy to read, a few customizations, and lots of right wing links. Being a neutral reviewer I promised myself to act like Switzerland when reviewing this blog.

Leaning Right lists itself as a News/Links blog and that is very much what it is. Tony Mc, the author, only writes about 25% of the content of the blog. Much of that is him saying “Have a Right Day,” when signing off on his posts. I followed several political blogs this election season and Leaning Right is a carbon copy of so many of them already out there. It seems as though the author just regurgitates news stories that he read though out the day onto his blog. He does do a few commentaries on comments he receives or articles he read in which it was nice to read his personal opinions. I am always interested on what makes someone Right or Left. Who isn’t?

For someone who seems to be new to blogging Tony has all the basics covered. An easy to read template, a guestbook, and a counter are the first steps to creating any good blog. Unfortunately for right now at least Tony’s blog is just that, good. Due to the fact that there are just so many political blogs one has to do something different or original to make their blog great. To make his blog stand out Tony could tweak his template a bit, get more personal and not rely so much on links. He needs to attempt to find a nitch that hasn’t yet been found in the world of political blogs. However, if Tony simply wants to share the stories he finds interesting with his readers and sometimes make a comment on them he is doing that just fine.

Leaning Right is the same old same old when it comes to a blog on someone’s personal political agenda. It is very much, “this is how I feel so you should too.” If you like politics and you were for Bush in the 2004 election this blog may be for you. The only problem is that everything written, linked to, or reposted is probably something that you have seen before somewhere else. Tony Mc is getting the word out. He is blogging about his views and other online information that reflect his views or prove why the rest of the world should have his views. The problem is that an old brown sweater will always be an old brown sweater. Sure it’s comfortable and we wear it all the time, but after awhile it just sort of blends in with all the other brown sweaters. If Tony wants more readers he is going to have to sprinkle some glitter on both the right and left sleeves of that old brown sweater. If it stays the same it will just fade into the blog graveyard.

Leaning Right

It always a bit difficult to review a new blog as blogs tend to metamorphose through time thus acquiring a unique feel of their own. So, when a blog has just started out there’s not really much to write about except the few entries one might read and perhaps try a little foretelling as to where it’s headed.

One may also give advice as to how to make the blog more appealing if it the author really wants to get read (which is why the submit their site in the first place, isn’t it?)

Regarding Miss New Orleans, the blog has an overall good feel to it. Laurie Anderson is a 49-year old paralegal who says she’s been divorced 20 years and cracks a joke on that one. Good humor.

Her writing style flows easily and her entries range from pics to funny anecdotes and opinions regarding such things as driving, the Muppets vs Sesame Street (with a good line regarding pop trivia)a ghost story, family trips, bras and a girl’s night out… She certainly has good ideas.

It’s a nice place and it’s definitely going somewhere. Laurie strikes me as the kind of person who can entertain an audience with light-hearted posts that’ll make them smile.

The only suggestion I could give is the blogspot template. With so many free skins available, she can find another more interesting look for her blog. One that’s more in tune with the humorous style. Blogskins is a good place to start.

I can only give this blog a 3.5 as it’s so new. In a couple of months, she should surely get more than this.
Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans