eth0 and networkmanager

[Arthur Barlow]

I understand that NetworkManager was designed as a tool for the woeful state
of wireless connections and linux, but I'm using a workstation with a
"hard-wired" connection and networkmanager cannot seem to manage it.  It
shows "ifupdown(eth0)" as being unmanaged, which I suppose is no big deal,
but it assumes that I'm not connected.  Therefore, whenever I launch
Epiphany it starts up "off line" as it assumes I'm not connected.  Is there
a simple fix for this?