Selwyn Duke

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The Clintons, Race, and the 50-year-old Calculation

February 6, 2008 by

-By Selwyn Duke

Since I think the Clintons would probably sell their souls and firstborn for another White House tenure, the idea they would play the race card raises no eyebrow here. They are political creatures first, most everything else second and statesmen last. For this to elude one, he must have his head planted firmly in a particularly dense grade of sand.

Man of letters Christopher Hitchens understands this; while by no means a member of the “Vast Right-wing Conspiracy,” he writes eloquently about the Clintons’ long history of racial “thuggery and opportunism.” Even more significant are the pronouncements of Dick Morris, Bill’s erstwhile propaganda minister. His thesis is that Hillary wanted the black vote in South Carolina to coalesce for Obama so that she’d lose the state big, and she wanted this electoral shift to be visible and much ballyhooed in the media. Witnessing this, white voters in other states would then circle the wagons around her, and, with their numerical superiority, the nomination would be Hillary’s.

Or so the theory goes.

Although Morris’ political prognostications leave much to be desired (he specializes in stating as fact predictions that never come to pass), I believe he understands the Clintons’ character almost as well as anyone. This is a man who knew them intimately enough to, as he relates the story, be physically tackled by an enraged Bill in the Arkansas governor’s mansion and then told by Hillary, “He only does this to people he loves.” So if he swears the Clintons were playing the race card, I take it seriously.

What I am doubtful of is that it would work.
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Election Year Nonsense

January 27, 2008 by

By Selwyn Duke

To use a play on Winston Churchill’s cynical words, the best argument against democracy is a five-minute perusal of election coverage. Another way to put it – at risk of sounding trite – is if it weren’t for nonsense, it wouldn’t make any sense at all. Yet, if being trite were a sin, most presidential aspirants would languish in political purgatory.

First we have the bromidic bilge about change. You can bet your withholding tax that the Democrat candidates were programmed to pepper their speeches with the word in a measure as liberal as their politics. Tell certain constituencies you’re a change agent – even if the only thing you change is your personality – and the idiot vote swoons.

Change isn’t by definition good; it’s just by definition change. One-hundred years ago, Russians’ dissatisfaction with the Tsar led them to roll the dice. Things couldn’t get any worse, many thought. So they made a change.

And the communists took power in 1917.

Then, if your child’s diet yielded vigor and health, would you place him in the hands of some guru promising ambiguous change? Wouldn’t you demand specificity?
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Hoisted With Their Politically-correct Petards

January 25, 2008 by

By Selwyn Duke

What goes around certainly does come around. The first black president’s wife isn’t black enough to be immune from charges of bigotry.

Isn’t it delicious?

I am, of course, speaking of the recent Democrat race war.

Now, let’s be fair. When Hillary Clinton praised Lyndon Johnson for signing the Civil Rights Act, she wasn’t subordinating Martin Luther King to him, nor do her husband’s initials suddenly stand for Bull Connor because he likened Obama’s policies to a fairytale (what was the big deal? Was he questioning Obama’s sexuality?). There were no racial overtones.

That’s the beauty of it.
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Trying to Kill the Immigration Card

January 24, 2008 by

By Selwyn Duke

With the victories of Mike Huckabee and John McCain in the first two primary contests and Mitt Romney’s failures prior to Michigan, a fiction is being bandied about: The anti-amnesty position isn’t playing well in Peoria.

A good example is this San Diego Union-Tribune piece didactically titled “Lesson Learned?” (read: Take the blue pill or your fantasy will become a nightmare in November). It’s dishonest pablum, with more spin than a whirling dervish on speed.

The editors begin with a convenient characterization, stating that amnesty proponents Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Huckabee and McCain are prevailing while opponents are faltering; Romney is losing the race and Tom Tancredo has left it. A few slippery paragraphs down the rabbit hole, a triumphant proclamation follows:

“Voters have obviously had their fill of divisive rhetoric, catchy slogans and shameless demagoguery passed off as solutions to the immigration problem. And they’re letting the candidates know it.”

The answer is “wrong,” bellowed with John McLaughlin intensity.
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The Race for the American Mind

January 18, 2008 by

By Selwyn Duke

Last year’s scamnesty bill had widespread support among the powers-that-be, with the president, the Democrat majority and mainstream media all singing its praises. Yet it went down to defeat, slain by a new-media coalition of talk radio and blogosphere warriors. Working tirelessly to expose the truth and rally the grassroots, they became a David who slew a Goliath.

Forty-three years ago it was a different world. Ted Kennedy had co-authored the “Immigration Reform Act of 1965,” which created a situation wherein 85 percent of our immigrants hail from the Third World and Asia. He took to the Senate floor, claimed his brainchild wouldn’t change the demographic composition of the nation and passed the culture-rending bill under the cover of darkness.

This darkness was not absence of light but that of truth; it was a media blackout. With no Internet and little talk radio, mainstream journalists had a monopoly over the hearts and minds of America. And they knew best. The little people didn’t have to worry their pretty little heads about actions that would forever alter the face of the nation.

This is why the old media fears the new one. The latter watches the watchers, polices the police. It has cut into the Rathersphere’s market, causing a diminution of circulation, viewership and – this is what really gets their collars up – power. They can no longer propagandize with Tass-like impunity, for the e-hills have eyes.
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The Plastic Lady

January 14, 2008 by

By Selwyn Duke

The pundits were writing Plastic Lady’s epitaph,
Pointing to lines going down on a graph.
She had a bad finish out west a little ways;
To socialist Utopians, it was the end of days.

All the acting lessons were to no avail,
And it reached a point where she wanted to wail.
Then a reporter’s question evoked some self-pity.
How would she react? It might not be pretty.

She spoke of fear for country and how much she cares.
As acolytes looked on, she could feel the stares.
So she thought of her future, fancying it brief;
She was being robbed of her birthright, by Obama, that thief!

She felt the only emotion that within her existed:
Concern for herself. Her eyes became misted.
Thinking of Obama, the man of her fears,
She found some salvation in crocodile tears.

The lemmings were snookered; she seemed so real.
She finally could combat Obama’s appeal.
Confounding the commentators and their polls,
She rallied her base of malcontent trolls.

Is that too demeaning? What do you say?
What kind of people change votes in one day?
Imagine, thinking Plastic Lady bona fide,
Simply because she acted and cried.

Was it really better than an eighth-grade audition,
That callow deception in the service of ambition?
Yet the efforts of a demagogue only third-rate,
Worked some hapless souls into a passionate state.

So that’s America in this modern age,
Heading toward her demise, perhaps the last stage.
It just proves one thing, as to the left we do swerve.
Ol’ Thomas was right: We get the government we deserve.
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The Church of Huck: Growing Government in the Name of Religion

December 30, 2007 by 1 Comment

By Selwyn Duke

There is a candidate in the presidential race who has a serious religion problem. No, it’s not Mormon Mitt or recently-religious Rudy. It is Mike Huckabee.

Just for the record, I share Huck’s faith in Jesus Christ. Not only have I no problem with religion in public life, I also understand that one can’t really separate a person’s world view from his politics. The political is merely a reflection of the spiritual; our politics doesn’t emerge in a vacuum.

So what is my problem with Huck? Do I accuse him of false religiosity?

No, what scares me is that his beliefs are all too real.

To that enormous secular conservative voting block out there, I will say, be not afraid. It’s not that Huck would impose religion through government. No, his actions would truly offend you.

He would impose statism in the name of religion through government.
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The Huckabee Hustle

December 26, 2007 by

-By Selwyn Duke

When evangelicals embraced Jimmy Carter during the 1976 presidential campaign, they didn’t know he would repudiate the Southern Baptist Convention a generation later. Today the very same constituency has glommed onto Mike Huckabee, and I can’t help but lament how history truly does repeat itself.

One can see why the man I dubbed “Huck the Huckster” would appeal to evangelicals. He’s a pro-life Southern Baptist minister with charm, wit and a good-ol’-boy, yuck-it-up style. Yet this resplendent exterior only serves to obscure the stain of liberal sin.

Huck would be a disaster – a disaster – on immigration. In fact, in 2006 he compared those who would crack down on illegals to antebellum slave masters, saying,

One of the great challenges facing us is that we do not commit the same mistakes with our growing Hispanic population that we did with African Americans 150 years ago and beyond. We’re still paying the price for the pathetic manner in which this country handled that.

Outrageously, it seems Huck can’t distinguish between denying citizens the protection of the law and requiring non-citizens to follow it.
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Al Gore Opens Mouth, Increases Carbon Footprint

December 22, 2007 by

By Selwyn Duke

Speaking today to COOL-IT (Communists for Only Onerous and Lofty Industrial Taxation) in Nome, Alaska, former vice-president Al Gore criticized the United States’ failure to adequately address climate change. Mr. Gore warned of future consequences of inaction while emphasizing that we have already felt the effects of a lamentably low suicide rate. Gore mentioned the extinction of species, the melting of the polar ice caps, and his loss of Florida in the 2000 presidential election. Said Gore,

“Florida is a very hot state – even in November. And members of lower-income socio-economic groups – who are most likely to vote Democrat – often can’t afford air-conditioning. Now, if you’re sitting around in a pool of your own sweat drinking Thunderbird, what are the chances you’ll be motivated to vote on election day?”

Mr. Gore then became especially passionate, asserting that this accords with Republicans’ general disregard for the environment. Pounding his fist on the finely-crafted mahogany and teak podium, he continued,

“The Republicans know well about vote suppression through climate manipulation. It is a fact that for every degree the temperature rises, voter turnout decreases by 3 percent.”

As evidence, Mr. Gore cited a volume of studies and research papers showing that the temperature in Democrat stronghold Miami-Dade County was higher than in the more Republican panhandle on election day. “This cannot be coincidence,” Gore insisted.

Sharpening his rhetoric, Gore invoked race. Alluding to his belief that most of the disenfranchised voters were minorities, he accused white Republicans of engaging in “. . . a systematic, apocalyptic climate war against blacks.”

He called this plan “Helter Swelter.”
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How Free Are We Really?

December 17, 2007 by

-By Selwyn Duke

We Americans take great pride in our freedom. We call ourselves “the land of the free, home of the brave,” have Lady Liberty in New York Harbor and the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. America is synonymous with freedom in the minds of most. Much of the rest of the world, however, is thought a land of darkness which doesn’t benefit from our unencumbered bliss. Thus do we speak of the free and unfree worlds.

In reality, it’s not that simple. There is neither such thing as a people with complete freedom nor one completely bereft of it; it’s a matter of degree.

While many realize this, few understand that there is a barometer with which liberty can be measured: The number of laws in existence.

By definition, a law is the removal of a freedom, as it dictates that there is something you cannot or must do. If the former, you’re not free to do it; if the latter, you’re not free to do otherwise.

Many rightly point out that some laws free us from the tyranny of our fellow man. Prohibitions against murder, rape and theft, for instance, provide us the freedom to walk down the street unmolested. Yet for two reasons this barometer of liberty is still valid. First, when we speak of how free a nation is, we refer to freedom from government intrusion. Second, while such laws are necessary and just, they do nevertheless deny us certain freedoms. Only, we’re not going to worry about freedoms whose removal only bothers Tony Soprano.

Yet we long ago transitioned from making just laws to just making laws, which is why I look forward with a sense of foreboding. Every year our nation enacts more and more laws but hardly ever rescinds any, which means every year we become progressively less free. I call this “creeping totalitarianism.”
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He’s Gonna Find Out Who’s Naughty or Nice… or Stupid

December 10, 2007 by

By Selwyn Duke

Sometimes I could believe I was living in the Matrix. Only, I can’t imagine sentient programs creating a world as irrational as ours.

We’ve come to expect the usual Christmastime attacks upon tradition in the name of the mythical “separation of church and state”; the nativity scene on public property and school Christmas celebrations are favorite targets. Then we have those wonderfully inclusive “holiday trees.” But now, hell’s sleigh bells, Santa Claus is under assault.

Is it because his image smacks of religion? Is it because he is also known as St. Nicholas? No and no. It is far, well, more stupid than that. Here’s the first of two examples of Santa insanity:

Some people don’t want Santa Claus to say “ho-ho-ho” because it could be demeaning to women.

I kid you not.

I first heard about this idea being posited by some rubber-room candidates in Australia, but now it’s happening here, too. Writes the Austin American-Statesman,
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - News - Race - Security/Safety - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

Muslims Attack Michael Savage: The Battle Between Taquiya and Talk Radio

December 3, 2007 by

By Selwyn Duke

You will have to forgive me, but I have a difficult time taking the war against Moslem extremists seriously. No, I haven’t become the latest in a line of anti-American quislings who say the war is “all about oil” or that Islamism is not a threat. It’s just that I have trouble mustering enthusiasm for overseas ventures when we allow the enemy’s fifth column to operate virtually unopposed on our shores.

I’m talking about the odious Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a group that could be the legal arm of al-Qaeda. Although CAIR’s machinations usually go unmentioned by the mainstream media, for quite some time now it has been training its sights on anyone who would tackle the Islamic threat with manly strength. It has carried out campaigns against National Review magazine, radio personality Paul Harvey, the producers of the television program 24, and many others who dare say the sultan has no clothes. And now it is targeting award-winning radio talk show host Michael Savage.

CAIR has been pressuring Savage’s advertisers to pull their spots from his show, and I’m dismayed to learn that some businesses have capitulated to their demands. Among these cowardly companies are AutoZone, TrustedID, OfficeMax, Citrix Systems Inc., and JCPenny. I will have them know that as long as they dance with the Devil and boycott Savage’s show, I will boycott them and encourage others to follow suit. And I have a very long memory.

It’s not surprising that business would kneel at the altar of political correctness, as it worships mammon. And, in truth, many people – the good, the bad and the ugly – use their economic clout to try to effect social change; why, some on my side in the culture war are boycotting Ford because it supports the homosexual lobby. But I really have to wonder if these companies know to whom they’re kowtowing. Let’s take a closer look at CAIR.
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Because She’s a Woman

November 24, 2007 by

By Selwyn Duke

It’s very easy to fall behind the times. It is for this reason that you find parents who never seem to really know what the younger generation is involved in, older folks who still act as if a hot dog should be 10 cents, and people who fight yesterday’s social battles. As to the last thing, there are those who ask if a woman can be elected president.

The real question is, can a man running against a woman be elected president?

With androgyny being the order of the day, it has often been lamented that men no longer know what is expected of them. Is being chivalrous courteous or condescending? Do I hold the door or let her roar? A similar quandary is apparent when watching the men who must run against Hillary Rodham Clinton.

When Clinton stumbled in the second to last Democrat debate, her opponents’ immediate political instincts were to attack the front-runner’s now exposed weak flank. This is what office-seekers do; it’s why the military term “campaign” is applied to political contests.

Yet almost as soon as the post-debate analysis began we heard the inevitable accusation that all and sundry were conspiring against the lone girl. The moderator, the other candidates, the butcher, baker, candlestick-maker and probably even male chauvinists beyond the grave were experiencing testosterone boil-over.
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Stereotyping 101

November 18, 2007 by

-By Selwyn Duke

In a racial profiling lawsuit against the Maryland State Police (MSP), a plaintiff’s attorney named Eliza Leighton said that some training documents contain “startling examples of racial stereotypes about Hispanics.” (Just so you know, when leftists use the word “startling,” it usually means, “Man, this truth hurts!”) According to the Associated Press:

For example, one document cautions that Hispanics generally do not hold their alcohol well. They tend to drink too much and this leads to fights. And it notes, Hispanic males are raised to be MACHO and brave, while females are raised to be subservient. Other sterotypes [sic] include the assertion that the weapon of choice for Hispanics is a knife and that Hispanics are reluctant to learn English.

Regardless of the outcome of this lawsuit, we can now expect such information to be purged from the training documents. But, as I wrote about Dr. James Watson’s comments regarding Africans, intelligence and genetics, this is part of a very distressing pattern. Everyone fixates on the fact that such comments constitute generalizations (about groups that are supposed to be immune from such things), as if this is an offense in and of itself. Yet, no one seems to ask the only relevant question.

Are the generalizations true?
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Iraq: The Folly of Deifying Democracy

November 2, 2007 by

-By Selwyn Duke

We hear lots of criticism of the Iraq venture from the left, right and center. There is everything from silly notions about presidential prevarication to how “it is only about oil” to one-world government conspiracy theories. Yet, while military action can rise from policy objectives, it’s often ignored that policy objectives tend to rise from the time’s prevailing philosophy. And the truth is that insofar as the war in Iraq has been misguided, the blame can be laid at the feet of the spirit our age.

I speak of a political correctness that would prescribe Western-world solutions to Third World problems.

Our problem in Iraq has not been winning the war, but winning the peace. Toppling Saddam Hussein was easy enough, but toppling the medieval attitudes of a fractious and often ferocious people is a different matter. And what do we prescribe as a remedy for this malaise? A dalliance with democracy.

President Bush has said that democracies don’t go to war with one another. This much reminds me of the quaint naivete of a century ago that dubbed WWI “The War to End All Wars.”

Now we have the political system to end all wars.
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Can We Please Define “Racism”?

October 29, 2007 by

-By Selwyn Duke

James Watson, the geneticist who helped unravel the structure of DNA, came under fire for saying that Africans are not as intelligent as Westerners. Aside from his remarks being deemed baseless and unscientific, he has quite predictably been labeled “racist.” Why, some thought police even want him charged under Britain’s Orwellian “racial hatred laws” (Watson is conducting a speaking tour in Britain presently).

In light of this tendency to apply the “R-word,” one that claims as victims late sportscaster Jimmy “the Greek” Snyder, manager of the Cincinnati Reds Dusty Baker, former baseball commissioner Al Campanis, late NFL player Reggie White and many others, I have a question.

What is “racism”?

Is it simply voicing beliefs about differences among races? Am I a racist if I say that blacks have darker skin and frizzier hair? No, I suppose not. What about if I point out that blacks commit an inordinate amount of crime and that 70 percent of black children are born out-of-wedlock, versus 27 percent for whites? Well, in our culture that is borderline. But why? On what basis should we determine what is “racist”?
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Evil

October 23, 2007 by

-By Selwyn Duke

Man has long asked how a loving God could allow evil to exist in the world. It’s an age-old philosophical question that can cause those who want faith to doubt and those who want to doubt to mock faith. A Christian’s answer to this question is “free will,” a concept critics may regard as something reduced to a convenient cliché. The truth is, though, that this is a most fascinating subject to inquisitive minds.

The two qualities that make us like God are intellect and free will, despite the fact that the former can seem as lacking as the latter is abused. Why intellect has prerequisite status is obvious, but why free will? If God is omnipotent, He can prevent the immeasurable pain and suffering we inflict on one another with the blink of an eternal eye. Why doesn’t He do it? Perhaps this problem is what caused people such as Thomas Jefferson to embrace deism, the belief that God set the Universe in motion but then receded into the background, indifferent to our plight. So let’s examine free will.

Imagine you have a child, and technology has advanced to a point where you can implant a computer chip in his brain, one that would ensure he never acted wrongly. If everyone were thus controlled, we would have a world in which everyday transgressions were unknown. Yet, would you view this as an acceptable remedy for your child’s human frailty?

A good father certainly would not, for it would render the child something less than human. He would then be nothing more than an organic robot, an automaton, controlled by an outside agency whose will has supplanted his own. Just picture the Borg in Star Trek.
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Un-American San Francisco Supervisors Condemn Michael Savage

October 15, 2007 by 1 Comment

City by the Bay’s Politicians Preach Tolerance But Won’t Tolerate Dissent

-By Selwyn Duke

It cannot be a coincidence that those who preach tolerance the most are often the most intolerable. On Tuesday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to condemn talk show host Michael Savage for “hate speech” after a failed attempt to do so in August. Just for the record, there is no discernable correlation between hate and hate speech, except that when leftists hate you, they will accuse you of it.

It is precisely for this reason that Savage’s comments are not really germane to the issue at hand. To be sure, it’s not even correct to say they “inspired” this maelstrom, as the true impetus behind it is a leftist dogmatism that cannot abide rightist dynamism. And if Savage’s comments embodied anything, it was the latter. Here is what he said, as I related it in my first piece on this matter:

“On his July 5 broadcast Savage quipped, ‘I would say, let them fast until they starve to death, then that solves the problem.’”

It was a joke . . . much like the San Francisco supervisors. Only, a funny one with a foundation in reality.
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Banning Boyhood

October 6, 2007 by

-By Selwyn Duke

Huck Finn must be spinning in his literary grave. Just recently a Colorado Springs, Co., elementary school banned tag during recess, joining other schools that have prohibited this childhood pastime. Upon hearing this, I thought about the movement to ban cops and robbers, musical chairs, steal the bacon, and the kill-joys’ most frequent target and this writer’s favorite childhood school game, dodge ball. Then there’s the more inane still, such as the decision by the Massachusetts Youth Soccer Association to prohibit keeping score in kids’ tournament play.

There are many ways to describe this trend. One might say it’s a result of the left’s antipathy toward competition, the increasing litigiousness of the day, or the inordinate concern with self-esteem and hurt feelings. Then, if I am to speak only of my feelings, the word stupid comes to mind. Really, though, regardless of whether the motivations are good or ill or the reasoning sound or not, at the end of the day I find a conclusion inescapable. Slowly, incrementally, perversely, boyhood is being banned.

Make no mistake, the aforementioned examples are not isolated social accidents but part of a pattern. Recently I was talking to a friend who has two young sons, and he mentioned how he bought their toy machine-gun and revolver at a garage sale. He and his wife remarked about how it was the only way to find realistic-looking toy guns nowadays, the kind that were staples of Boydom when I was a lad. Oh, toy guns can still be seen – that is, when they aren’t prohibited by crime-ridden cities or crazy moms – but they don’t resemble anything John Wayne would have wielded. Often misshapen, more and more they come only in colors that, well, men aren’t known for being acquainted with, ones that some would describe as “girly.”
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The Only Way to Win the Immigration Battle

September 29, 2007 by

-By Selwyn Duke

It’s hard to think of a battle that has been won by being defensive. You may be most skilled at blocking and slipping punches, but if that is all you do, sooner or later your opponent will land a few and enjoy victory. This occurs to me as I watch the latest amnesty battle.

As you may know, the DREAM Act — the latest Scamnesty scheme — is being debated in Congress at this moment. And it may be the Mexican dream, but it’s our nightmare. But that isn’t what I want to address today.

We may defeat this proposal as we did the last, but so what?

Are you surprised? Do I sound overly cavalier or a tad defeatist? Here is my point: Until we transform this debate and talk about the true remedy for our problem — namely, halting legal immigration — we will labor in vain.

As I have said before, illegal immigration isn’t the problem, but merely an exacerbation of the problem. As long as we perpetuate our current immigration scheme – a formula dictating that 85 percent of immigrants will hail from the Third World and Asia – the demographic revolution we have witnessed will continue, attended by descent into Third World status.
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When Hypocrisy is a Good Thing

September 27, 2007 by

-By Selwyn Duke

Many leftist partisans are licking their chops over the revelation that Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig solicited sex from a male undercover detective in a Minneapolis airport bathroom. This scandal is reminiscent of that involving Ted Haggard, the disgraced preacher who had relations with a male prostitute. You may remember Haggard, he was the Distraction du Jour the Shill Media conjured up right before the 2006 election. (I keep my finger on the pulse of our culture and I had never heard of this Haggard fellow. But fixating on this minor story served well the purposes of demonizing the “right” and distracting people from the real issues – always useful during an election cycle.)

What is interesting about our time, though, is that these men are castigated not because they have been living an immoral lifestyle but because they have been living an immoral lifestyle without also sanctioning that immoral lifestyle.

Certainly, as far as politicians who toe the left’s line go, they can’t seem to flaunt their Liberace leanings enough to register on the radar screen. Homosexual congressman Barney Frank (D) owned a residence out of which a call-boy operation was being run, and the late Congressman Gerry Studds (D) once spirited a 17-year-old boy off to Spain for a sexual liaison. Studds won re-election until his retirement in 1997, and Frank is still in office, lisping his way to legislative success. Of course, both represent Massachusetts, and there has just got to be something in the water up there.
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America can’t Afford George Soros or His MoveOn.org Democrats

September 26, 2007 by

-By Marie Jon’

Mr. George Soros is one contemptible man, in my personal opinion. He is not America’s friend. However, the far left Democrats running for the presidency as well as their party are beholden to him. That fact should be looked upon as upsetting and very worrisome.

Indeed, you are judged by the people you associate with. Soros is manipulative. He is one of many reasons that the Democrat Party is smug and arrogantly unruly. The media merely reflects his image.

“In a December 9th 2004 e-mail signed by ‘Eli Pariser, Justin Ruben, and the whole MoveOn PAC team,’ the Soros front group stated: ‘In the last year, grassroots contributors like us gave more than $300 million to the Kerry campaign and the DNC, and proved that the Party doesn’t need corporate cash to be competitive. Now it’s our Party: we bought it, we own it, and we’re going to take it back ” ( source )
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Gays - Media Bias - Religion - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

Homo-expect-us: Imposing Values on Christians

August 24, 2007 by

By Selwyn Duke

There is a maelstrom brewing around High Point Church in Arlington, Texas. Church officials had offered to host a funeral for a homosexual man, Cecil Sinclair, even going so far as to agree to feed 100 guests and create an elaborate photo presentation about the man’s life. However, the family neglected to inform the church that Mr. Sinclair’s homosexuality would be featured prominently, with pictures containing obvious homosexual content on display. Understandably, the church would not be party to the exhibition of sin, and its offer was rescinded.

The family is mad, some of the media is mad, and I’m mad too. What irks me, though, is an invidious double-standard: Homosexuals and their sympathizers often expect a special dispensation from rules that apply to everyone else, while Christians are expected to dispense with their rules.

I’ll first echo a point church officials have made, only my example will be different. It’s understandable that Christians may offer their services to known homosexuals, as we’re all sinners; however, most of us sinners don’t expect our characteristic sins to characterize a church service held on our behalf. Why, if a man had been a recalcitrant philanderer, would we expect that a church shouldn’t have a problem displaying sexually suggestive photographs of him with gaggles of gals? It’s absurd.
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Entertainment - Media Bias - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

Race-baiting Politician Attacks Michael Savage

August 22, 2007 by

-By Selwyn Duke

Patriotism might at one time have been the last refuge of a scoundrel, but methinks this is no longer true. With modern America being characterized more by political correctness than patriotism, screams of “racism” may now be that last refuge. And joining the ranks of scoundrels, populated by reverends sans congregations and other assorted guttersnipes, is one Gerardo Sandoval, San Francisco Supervisor.

What has earned Mr. Sandoval his yellow stripes is his introduction of a government resolution condemning radio talk show host Michael Savage for what Sandoval calls “defamatory language . . . against immigrants.”

Here is what happened. In response to a week-long fast embarked upon by 35 students and illegal aliens who were burning a few calories for amnesty, Savage quipped, “I would say, let them fast until they starve to death, then that solves the problem.” Now, I’m not sure why Sandoval latched onto this particular comment – maybe his immigration lobby masters called in a favor – but it certainly got his dander up. He responded by saying, “The intolerant and racist comments of Michael Savage demand a strong condemnation”; he then labeled them “symbolic of racism and hatred” in his resolution.
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00Publius Contributor - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Judges - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized

Free Speech From the Mouths of Babes?

July 11, 2007 by

By Selwyn Duke

Last week the Supreme court handed down three free speech rulings that find favor with conservatives. One of them is Morse et al. v. Frederick, a case involving the free speech rights of students. At issue is a five year old incident wherein a Juneau-Douglas High School senior named Joe Frederick raised a 14-foot banner stating “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” and was subsequently suspended for “drug speech” by then school principal Deborah Morse. Writing for the majority in a five to four decision in favor of the school, Chief Justice John Roberts reasoned that the First Amendment should not be applied in this case because the student was encouraging drug use.

While I agree with the principal’s actions and take solace in the knowledge that educators’ hands won’t be further tied, the Supreme Court’s ruling does nothing to address what is the underlying problem. In fact, with the convoluted logic displayed by virtually all members of the court, it’s hard to find much to applaud in this judgment.

The real issue here extends far beyond this one case and harks back to a precedent set in 1969 in the Tinker v. Des Moines ruling, which divined from the Constitution a right to free speech in schools. Upon issuance of that decision the court stated,
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

Getting the Government the Third World Deserves

June 6, 2007 by

By Selwyn Duke

When Thomas Jefferson said, “people get the government they deserve,” it was more than just a clever turn of phrase. It also was not an isolated insight but a timeless truth, one expressed by many. William Cowper said,

“When was public virtue to be found when private was not?”

Benjamin Franklin stated,

“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”

Truth be known, I could probably fill a book with the words of wise ones who have spoken in kind. But, you know, I understand this principle well. I know that people get the government they deserve; what bothers me is that I’m going to get the government they deserve.

You should be bothered, too. With the “people” changing radically through Third World immigration (Ted Kennedy’s 1965 immigration act ensures that 85 percent of immigrants come from the Third World and Asia), it’s legitimate to wonder how demographics influence democracy. And it’s not hard to understand how these folks will shape government, for they have done so before – in their own lands.

Since our largest immigrant group hails from Mexico, let’s look south of the border. Mexico is a thoroughly corrupt country, not at all unique in the Third World but certainly emblematic of it. For instance, they have the dubious distinction of possibly having the most corrupt police force in the world, as Mexican authorities enforce whatever law pays them the most. According to a documentary on the subject, you can buy your way out of a fatal hit-and-run for 450 dollars. But the corruption is so systemic that many of us have heard the stories ourselves. I remember being told of a man who traveled to Mexico and was mugged by the police (a documented example of theft by Mexican police can be found here). Then I heard about a hapless soul who had to sell his home to pay tribute to a family with more clout and a grudge against him; the police paid him a visit and told him he’d be shot if he didn’t. Most recently, an acquaintance told me how he was pulled over for running a stop sign that didn’t exist and had to pay the crooked cop a bribe so he could continue on his way. And this corruption is mirrored in every aspect of Mexican society, in the bureaucrats, the courts and, of course, the politicians.
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Immigration/Immigrants - Media Bias - Security/Safety - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

Immigration: Solutions, Not Excuses

May 31, 2007 by

By Selwyn Duke

One frailty of man is that he is very adept at finding excuses to justify laziness and irresponsibility. There’s no point helping people because everyone is just out for himself anyway. Why study or work? I mean, no one is going to give me a break. I won’t take care of myself because you’ve got to die of something. We can’t deport 12-20 million illegal aliens.

I could point out that the word “can’t” never used to be in the American vocabulary. I could mention that members of the “can’t” set find it entirely possible to tax 100 million people and then transfer the money in hand-outs to 80 million others. Some of them even aspire to control the health care of 300 million Americans through government. Why, their ambitions just seem to grow with the size of the big government scheme.

There are two truths here. First, if ancient Egyptians could build the pyramids, if ancient Chinese constructed the Great Wall, we can deport any number of invaders and keep them out.

The second truth is that we don’t have to.
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00Publius Contributor - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Immigration/Immigrants - Security/Safety - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

Why They Won’t Assimilate

May 25, 2007 by

By Selwyn Duke

In the piece I recently wrote about the threat posed by immigration, both illegal and legal, I mentioned that today’s immigrants are not assimilating into our culture. And, as I pointed out, since Ted Kennedy’s Immigration Reform Act of 1965 has created a situation in which 85 percent of our immigrants hail from the Third World and Asia, this portends the destruction of the western civilization that has given us everything we hold dear, from our freedom to our prosperity.

With Moslems and Mexicans on the march from Maine to Monterey, this should be obvious. Yet, the gravity of this situation still eludes many, sedated as they are with bread and circuses. So let’s discuss assimilation.

Assimilation is not a process magically initiated upon setting foot on American terra firma. Rather, it only occurs when one or both of two conditions are met: The foreign elements must have a desire to assimilate or the host nation must place pressure on them to do so. Unfortunately, neither is the case today because both immigrants and native-born Americans are far different than they once were.
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Immigration/Immigrants - Security/Safety - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized

The Real Immigration Threat

May 15, 2007 by

By Selwyn Duke

Most of us will publicly lament our immigration woes, but not without a disclaimer. “Look, I have no problem with immigration,” say we, “I just want people to come here legally.” This, after all, is supposed to be the sober, sane, American point of view, as we “know” that immigration is the lifeblood of the U.S.A. Personally, I can sympathize with this perspective. Western civilization has become old, tired and decrepit; it’s a mere shadow of its former self, running on fumes and on empty. Perhaps its time for it to be euthanized.

I just want it done legally.

Now I’ll transition from a wise-guy to a guy who waxes wise. You should be outraged by the pandering to the illegal alien lobby, and I’ll unabashedly say that the three most important factors in immigration policy are deportation, deportation and deportation. Still, to focus our eyes narrowly on just illegal immigration is to lament only the salt thrown into the wound while accepting the wound itself. Illegal immigration is not the problem.

It’s an exacerbation of the problem.
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Entertainment - Family - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

The New Lynching: Why I Must Defend Don Imus

April 21, 2007 by

By Selwyn Duke

So Don Imus has been fired from his radio show, and all is well in the world. We all know about the maelstrom that developed around the aging shock jock, who has found out how loose lips sink ships, in this case his own. But even though his is a vessel I never would have christened, I find a certain conclusion inescapable here. I must defend Don Imus.

Lest I be misunderstood, I have no use for the man nor any for the rest of his ilk. I know him to be a poster boy for our cultural decay, a man who, along with innumerable fellow babblers, disgorges cultural effluent on a daily basis. He has been a willing participant in the defining of deviancy downwards and I normally would not lament his departure.

I also would criticize his comments. It’s most uncharitable to make sport of relatively anonymous college kids and mock their appearance. So, one may wonder, given my thorough condemnation of the man, in what way do I defend him?
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