Selwyn Duke

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God, Golf and Gratitude

April 19, 2007 by

By Selwyn Duke

Major issues can rise from minor things, and so it is with the Masters golf tournament of a week and a half ago. The winner, unheralded Zach Johnson, stood down blustery winds, benumbing temperatures and the closest thing to a force of nature in golf, Tiger Woods, to win the first major tournament of the year. What raised both my estimation of him and the eyebrows of some ever-offended secularists, however, was his mention of Jesus’ name during his post-event remarks. Said an exuberant Johnson,

“Being Easter, my faith is very important to me. I felt Jesus, I felt my grandfather, my family, everybody. So it was awesome.”

And,

“Regardless of what happened today, my responsibility was to glorify God. Hopefully I did.”

It’s not unusual for athletes to credit God after victories. It’s always fitting to credit your Maker, but it seems as if flowing adrenaline and perhaps endorphins contribute to a spontaneity that makes one more likely to bear his soul.
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Does Violence Have to Be Taught?

April 13, 2007 by

By Selwyn Duke

It seems that the more we come to believe that “Violence has to be taught,” the more our children learn to be violent. It’s a strange, Jean-Jacques Rousseau-like fantasy, this fancy that a child sports a halo until some neanderthal adult knocks it off with a five-finger attention-getter. “Don’t you dare spank your kids!” say those schooled in the fictions of sickology, “It’ll teach them to be violent.” I wonder, does crying in their presence teach them how to bawl, too?

I would ask if the people who espouse this belief have ever had any experience with babies, since the latter get angry quite often and, when they do, will sometimes instinctively slap the object of their displeasure. Oh, their strikes aren’t delivered with the accuracy and power of a George Foreman right hand, but in the baby world they embody true violent intent.

The idea that violence has to be taught appeals to many and is parroted by them mainly because it serves to demonize corporal punishment, something you only eschew if you’re taught to do so. It’s not something they think deeply about; rather, it’s a knee jerk reaction, an idea that can make those whose lips it passes feel like desert mystics rendering a sage pronouncement. It’s nothing more than philoso-babble.
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Family - Gays - Media Bias - Religion - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

What if Homosexuality is Biological?

March 24, 2007 by

By Selwyn Duke

The Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., recently penned an article that has both fellow evangelicals and homosexual activists feeling none too gay. Mohler raised the ire of the former group by stating that science may very well prove there is a biological basis for homosexuality; he then sent the latter group into a tizzy by reasserting that homosexual behavior is sinful and that modern science may offer prenatal remedies for it.

That homosexuality may have a basis in biology is rejected by many on the right for the same reason it is embraced by homosexuals. The reasoning is that if such feelings are biologically induced, then homosexual behavior is neither sinful nor a choice. Thus, the genesis of same-sex attraction has become a locus of debate in the culture war. The truth is, however, that both sides have fallen victim to a misconception, one I have long wanted to dispel.

Any biological basis for homosexuality would only be relevant insofar as preventing the condition is concerned; it has no bearing on morality. This is for a very simple reason: Biology doesn’t determine morality.
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Are You Really a Liberal?

March 11, 2007 by

By Selwyn Duke

Writers such as myself devote a lot of ink to the species known as liberals. And when you carry your banners openly on the field of battle, you define yourself and relinquish any pretense at that most illusory quality, impartiality. This places you in the crosshairs, although you can take solace in knowing that your adversaries will always miss left.

Some of the liberals who contact me spew callow vitriol, at times peppered with language that would make a guttersnipe blush. But there’s another type of “liberal” respondent. This person is almost always civil, even when indignant. He’ll query me and wonder how I could ascribe all the qualities I do to liberalism, mystified that I would impugn an ideology possessed of but the most ethereal of virtues. Then, either confused or fancying me so, he’ll provide a dictionary definition, something always to the effect of:

“lib-er-al-ism . . . a political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of man, and the autonomy of the individual and standing for tolerance and freedom for the individual from arbitrary authority in all spheres of life.” (1)

Well, I’ll be. Only Darth Vader would oppose such pristine philosophy. The problem here, though, is that using a dictionary to understand your politics is much like using one to try to understand your religion. “C’mon, Duke, aren’t you just a conservative trying to rationalize away inconvenient facts?” ask the naysayers. Well, read on.
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Rudolph Giuliani? What Were We Talking About?

March 3, 2007 by 2 Comments

By Selwyn Duke

Okay, I’ve had enough. I know the empty-vessel Shill Media struggle for something, anything to talk about, this being the lot of those intellectually and philosophically bankrupt. But Rudolph Giuliani for president? Please. There’s more chance I’ll simultaneously be made head of NOW and the NAACP and be invited to George Soros’ next soiree.

I know a little something about Giuliani. Although my politics, faith, appearance, gun case and, well, most everything about me say otherwise, I was raised in New York City. And one of my last acts before departing the Den of Iniquity for suburbia was to cast a vote for America’s Mayor. Don’t hold it against me; he was running against David Dinkins, a man who made Forrest Gump look smart.

Unlike the piece I wrote about the now listing U.S.S. Mitt Romney, I’m not herein trying to sound the alarm. Rather, I simply point out that Giuliani is a ship that only floats in New York Harbor. He is far too liberal to get the Republican nomination.
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Toward a More Savage Nation

February 28, 2007 by

By Selwyn Duke

The Shill Media are offering up the usual pabulum about presidential contenders, disgorging reportage about the vapid and venal that’s more soap opera than scoop. With mock surprise they speak of the presidential aspirations of Rudy, Lady Macbeth and Brokeback Obama, as they treat platitudes and political sloganeering as if they were less empty than the minds that regurgitate them. But amidst the din of this much-ado–about-nothing quest for copy, the media have missed – perhaps quite conveniently – the only truly scintillating story of the 2008 election. Radio talk show host Michael Savage is mulling a run for the White House.

I’m sure many would say I was wasting words on wishes, as Savage is the darkest of horses. But there’s a very good reason to welcome his entrance into the race, and I’ll discuss this in a moment. First, though, let’s take a peek into the life of the effervescent commentator.

Although Michael Savage has achieved fame through his exploits on radio and his four best-selling political books, this presidential dark horse is no one-trick pony, as he has lived a storied life and worn many hats. The son of an immigrant, he was raised in Queens, NY, in a home of most modest means. Savage attended public school and, applying himself to academics, vigorously pursued higher education, eventually earning a Ph.D. in Epidemiology and Nutrition Sciences from UC Berkeley.
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00Publius Contributor - Crime - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - Security/Safety - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

The Salt Lake Shooter and Sudden Jihad Syndrome

February 27, 2007 by

-By David Huntwork

If you only read the news as reported by the Main Stream Media, you would never know that we had just recently experienced another Jihad style attack by a Muslim on American soil.

On Monday, Feb. 12th, one time Bosnian refugee Sulejmen Talovic (age 18) walked into the Trolley Valley shopping mall in Salt Lake City and in a six minute rampage killed five people and severely wounded several more. The dead were identified as Jeffrey Walker, 52, Vanessa Quinn, 29, Kirsten Hinkley, 15, Teresa Ellis, 29, and Brad Frantz, 24.

My initial (blogged) reaction was:

“Any guesses as to whether he’s a Muslim or not? I may be going out on a limb here, but I sense another follower of Allah and the Religion of Peace…. And might I add that this is a great example of how having a large section of the population allowed to conceal carry is a good idea.”

Sure enough it turns out Sulejmen Talovic was indeed a Muslim and that little nugget of information has fueled a firestorm of speculation among bloggers and unleashed accusations of ‘cover up’ directed towards the Main Stream Media and law enforcement investigators. The media showed an interesting and obvious reluctance to initially disclose, let alone discuss, eighteen year old Talovic’s religious persuasion.
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00Publius Contributor - Constitution - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

Do We Have a Right to Hate?

February 26, 2007 by

By Selwyn Duke

Former NBA star Tim Hardaway made waves on the airwaves recently by remarking that he hated homosexuals. It became the story du jour the next day, prompting the obligatory posturing and feigned outrage. Pundit Bill O’Reilly said (I’m paraphrasing), “We can’t have this in America,” although at least he was sincere.

Now, I know we should hate the sin but not the sinner, so far be it from me to advocate hatred for anyone (his actions and beliefs are a different matter). But given the West’s increasing embrace of hate crime/hate speech laws, we need to ask ourselves a question. Do we have a right to hate?

The Shill Media won’t discuss it, but the aforementioned laws are metastasizing in the supposedly free countries of the West. I’ve often written about the case of Mark Harding, a Canadian pastor punished for criticizing Islam. But such examples abound; Bob Unruh writes at WorldNetDaily.com,
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The Temperature Also Rises

February 16, 2007 by

By Selwyn Duke

With the issuing of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on February 2, waxing climactic about the climatic is the order of the day. The esteemed, government-funded scientists with no agenda who rendered the study inform us that man is almost certainly responsible for rising temperatures and, furthermore, that dramatic climate change is unstoppable. But, after seeing various luminaries sound the alarm, I think I can confidently say that, hell’s bells, we’re darn well gonna try anyway.

And it’s about time. We’ve long known we were going to die unless we stopped spewing that plant-sustaining CO2 into the air. The thing is, though, my botanical sources tell me the plants are fearful that they’ll die if they don’t stop spewing that human-sustaining oxygen into the air. So our task is clear.

We must beat the plants.
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00Publius Contributor - Constitution - Family - History - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

The Offensiveness of Taking Offense

February 8, 2007 by

By Selwyn Duke

The voicing of the unpopular, being the very soul of free speech, the right to give and take offense shall not be infringed.

Sometimes I think it is time to insert the above into our First Amendment. Whether it’s an off-color joke or colorful commentary, it’s now hard to make anything but the most plain vanilla statements without offending somebody. In fact, so ingrained is the notion of being offended that it has become a topic of satire. Just think about Geico’s famous commercials, wherein stone-age characters take umbrage at the slogan, “So easy a caveman can do it.”

Ironically, associating cavemen with being thin-skinned is quite apropos, since it is a frailty born of the more ignoble aspects of man’s nature. As to this, I think about documentarian Alby Mangels who, while visiting primitives in Papua New Guinea, warned against “knocking back their hospitality.” Prudence dictated he be wary, as those less spiritually and morally evolved are ruled by pride, the worst of the Seven Deadly Sins. And, lest we entertain the fancy that it is the superior person who doesn’t give offense, know that it is actually the superior one who doesn’t take it. It’s hard to offend the humble.

In truth, though, our civilization is not as overcome by pride as by duplicity. And this is what is truly offensive (in the way an odor is so) about this offensiveness business: Screaming “That’s offensive!” is nothing but a ploy. Yes, you heard it here first, few who emit that utterance are actually offended.

They just don’t happen to like what you’re saying.
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00Publius Contributor - Congress - Constitution - Elections - Media Bias - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized

The Barker and the Shill – The Fraud of the Fairness Doctrine

February 1, 2007 by 1 Comment

By Selwyn Duke

If you’re old enough to remember the days when freak shows were in carnivals and not daytime television, you may know about the barker and the shill. These were carnival employees who both worked to entice customers into entering the mysterious realm of the sideshow, only, their methods were very different. The barker – the correct terminology is the “talker” – was a P.T. Barnum-like character, a bold salesman who sang the praises of the exhibits. Although he was given to the hyperbole of marketing, he made no bones about his agenda: He wanted your business.

The shill was a very different animal. His job was to stand amidst the crowd and pose as one of their number; he would then feign awe as he claimed to have seen the show and that it was truly a jaw-dropping experience. He was trading on his illusion of impartiality, knowing it lent him a capacity to convince that eluded the talker with his obvious agenda.

This occurs to me when I ponder the attempt to resurrect the “Fairness Doctrine” by politicians such as Congressman Dennis Kucinich and avowedly socialist senator Bernie Sanders. For those of you not acquainted with this proposal, it harks back to a federal regulation in place from 1949 to 1987. Ostensibly it was designed to ensure “fairness” in broadcasting, mandating that if radio and TV stations air controversial viewpoints, they must provide equal time for the “other side.”
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00Publius Contributor - Entertainment - Media Bias - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

Let’s Talk About the Butterflies and the Bees

January 29, 2007 by

By Selwyn Duke

Last week many were commemorating Muhammad Ali’s sixty-fifth birthday with a zeal reminiscent of Roman pagans cheering a triumphant Caesar. And as I ponder this, I’m reminded of how people are as quick to forget as they are to condemn.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Ali. Although he knocked the veneer of invincibility off Sonny Liston before I was even a twinkle in my father’s eye, I’m a great fan of history and have watched more boxing retrospectives than I care to mention. I’ve probably seen all of Ali’s notable bouts and, although I’m no Burt Sugar (you know, the guy with the hat and cigar), I’m sure I know as much about the sport as anyone else who was a pugilist for only one day in camp when he was seven years old.

Now, apropos to the topic, it’s time for a rhyme, so enough about me and back to Ali. I do think he was the greatest boxer of all time, and I also believe he was intelligent (not well educated, of course), warm-hearted and, obviously, witty. It’s also true that Ali is deeply devoted to his religion at this point in his life, as evidenced by his words, deeds and frequent prayer. And this is to be expected. Someone with such a cross to bear (Parkinson’s) could find solace only in the more ethereal pursuits.
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Soft People, Hard People

January 24, 2007 by

By Selwyn Duke

If the 1976 western The Last Hard Men has it right, we Occidentals metamorphosed into jellyfish sometime around the early twentieth century. Although this title is more movie marketing than historical statement, there may be something to it. After all, Robert Baden-Powell, a lieutenant general in the British Army, was motivated by the belief that western boys were becoming too soft when he originated the Boy Scouts in 1907.

Regardless of the origin and rapidity of our transition from he-men to she-men, one thing is for certain: We have become a very soft people.

When pondering this, I think about how it is now common to see men cry publicly. Just recently George Bush Sr. broke down while rendering a speech, something unthinkable a generation ago. Why, presidential aspirant Edmund Muskie saw his campaign scuttled by a few inopportune tears in 1972. And before you score me for not embracing the metrosexual model, remember the impression this gives the rest of the world. Feminization may be fashionable, but it doesn’t engender respect among the more patriarchal peoples.
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Mitt Romney: A Massachusetts Liberal for President

January 15, 2007 by

-By Selwyn Duke

With the 2008 presidential campaign looming just on the horizon, speculation about political fortunes abounds. On the Democrat side, Lady Hillary is waiting in the wings, and the media’s profilers have found their fair-haired boy in Barack Obama. On the Republican side, the picture is murkier. Often the Vice-president would be the logical choice to carry the incumbent party’s torch, but Dick Cheney won’t be running and, even if he did, he wouldn’t win. Of course, Arizona Senator John McCain is still around, but he arouses suspicion among conservatives. Seeming worn, tired, erratic and untrustworthy, many think the old soldier should just fade away.

Enter Mitt Romney. Inching ever closer to a presidential run, the former CEO and outgoing Governor of Massachusetts is emerging as the Barack Obama of the GOP. And the analogy is apt. He has the resonant voice, the good looks, the statesman-like bearing and, going Obama two better, great hair and unobtrusive ears.

But Romney shares another commonality with Obama: He’s a liberal in his party masquerading as something more palatable. Yes, sugar and spice and dealing the deck twice, that’s what little politicians are made of.
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