manual blog comments to main/money are ok - as long as you play the game right.
make sure it's on topic/niche, no spammy comments or names etc, give something back to the blog you're commenting on with a decent comment, looking like you've read the original article and have a useful comment or question, all the usual stuff, just make it quality
if you're after higher pr links, it's worth the time to get them, even if they're moderated.
for me, if it's a higher PR coming in, I prefer the link direct to main site.
Si