Selwyn+Duke

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Our Bailout Culture and the Beauty of Bankruptcy

December 22, 2008 by

By Selwyn Duke

The story of the Prodigal Son teaches a beautiful lesson about repentance and forgiveness. As you may know, it involves a lazy, irresponsible young man who insists upon taking his share of the family inheritance immediately and striking out on his own. He then proceeds to squander it on a dissolute lifestyle and ends up destitute, living like an animal. Duly chastened and humbled and purged of his spirit of entitlement, he approaches his father in contrition and asks for aid, saying that he would be satisfied to just be treated as a servant. The father, overwhelmed with joy, forgives his son, proclaims him “found” and holds a celebration commemorating his return. Of course, the idea is that he was “found” spiritually; he had developed wisdom, the capacity to not just manage money, but life.

Now, after 2000 years, we have gone from Prodigal Son to prodigal sin, and I imagine that today the story might unfold quite differently. The son’s problem would probably be related via cell phone, be chalked up to a matter of money, and remedied not with character formation but cash flow.
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The Ignoramus Americus

December 19, 2008 by

By Selwyn Duke

There is often a profound difference between morality and legality, and, if this were a just world, a good percentage of the American left would be tried for treason. If that seems a radical statement, I ask you: What price should be paid for sowing the seeds of your nation’s destruction? What should be the punishment for creating millions of people so ignorant, so effete, so corrupted in judgment that they are unable to sustain a free republic, resist enemies foreign and domestic, and perpetuate their culture? I’ll leave that to you to decide and just talk a bit about the state of the electorate.

I have often written about the ignorance that has resulted from decades of pathetic, dumbed-down parenting and schooling, and, sadly, there’s no shortage of material on this subject. In fact, you could probably read three large volumes on it and not know all Americans don’t know about what they should know. However, one short article recently written by economics professor and columnist Dr. Walter Williams perhaps tells us all we need to know. It is called “Ignorance reigns supreme” and relates the findings of a national survey measuring people’s knowledge of civics titled “Our Fading Heritage: Americans Fail a Basic Test on Their History and Institutions.” Its findings are staggering, although not at all surprising to me. For starters, 71 percent of Americans surveyed failed the test, and the average score on it was 49 percent. As for some details, Williams tells us (some of the following information he gleaned from sources other than the survey):
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00Publius Contributor - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Media Bias - News - Selwyn Duke - Socialism - Society/Culture

The Socialist and the Stone

December 15, 2008 by

By Selwyn Duke

When I was still within a stones’ throw of ladhood, I had an acquaintance who was essentially a socialist. I can’t say for sure he proclaimed himself as such — although I believe he did — but that was certainly where his passions lay.

He was a man of about 60 years, and his exterior matched his ideology. Much of his hair and its melanin had obviously been redistributed, and he certainly was the very model of a modern minor socialist.

I’d say the year was about 1989, the tail end of the booming Reagan era, and the scene was a city park in the Bronx, New York. I was an aspiring tennis player, and it was where I used to hone my skills, although by this time I had moved on to better things and was only an infrequent visitor. The man in question had long been a recreational player at the park, although he never showed signs of enjoying the game very much. But, then, he didn’t really show signs of enjoying anything. Bubbling exuberance did not ooze from his pores.
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Race in the Third Millennium

November 29, 2008 by

By Selwyn Duke

Although the show was propaganda produced by leftist Norman Lear, no one could accuse “All in the Family” of not being funny. Its protagonist, blue-collar bigot Archie Bunker, is one of those legendary television characters, and one of his uproarious lines is apropos here. It was uttered during a scene in which his daughter, Gloria, passionately asked him, “Daddy, did you know that 65 percent of the people murdered in the last ten years were killed by handguns?” The curmudgeonly patriarch’s reply was classic: “Would it make you feel any better, little girl, if they was pushed outta’ windas’?”

While what follows isn’t the conclusion Lear wanted us to draw, the truth is that many Americans would feel better. People tend to fixate on the boogeyman of their ideology, and they often don’t trouble much about evil when it’s not committed in his name.

We see examples of this phenomenon today, and this brings me to a couple of questions of my own. Can tyranny be visited in the name of only one particular lie? And would it make you feel any better if millions were oppressed or murdered to promote a fashionable lie? The truth is, sadly, millions would feel better.
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Obama: Fear and the Security Force

November 22, 2008 by

By Selwyn Duke

In all my life I have never seen such intense emotion surrounding a leader as that evoked by Barack Obama. Even Ronald Reagan, the Gipper himself, didn’t enjoy the kind of prostration of the will offered to the president-elect by hordes of followers. Yet, while people the world over are imbued with “hope” and chant Obama’s slogan “Yes, we can!” — for instance, the French are using their translation of it, “Oui, nous pouvons!” — some of the intense emotion is of a very different species.

It is fear.

In all my life I have never seen an American politician who could make so many Americans’ blood run cold. Some may mention the left’s feelings regarding Reagan or President Bush, but there is no equivalency. For all of leftists’ bluster and melodrama, they weren’t afraid of those men as much as they, well, just hated them. Sure, leftist ideologues said those two Republicans were scary, but the same people also said that each one was both dumb and Machiavellian. Hatred is an emotion, and emotion isn’t logical; it just conjures up whatever feels right at the moment.
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The French First Lady: Eye Candy and Air

November 15, 2008 by

By Selwyn Duke

It’s hard to shock a man living in a planetary insane asylum, so it doesn’t raise my eyebrows when I watch a people commit suicide. Nevertheless, I had to shake my head when I read about how Barack Obama’s election has inspired France to consider affirmative-action policies to combat their dreaded “white political and social elite.” Weighing in on this pressing problem is none other than singer, esteemed intellectual and French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. Writes Cnews.canoe.ca:
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Obama the Justifier

November 3, 2008 by

By Selwyn Duke

Election reportage is reaching a fever pitch, and one of the hottest stories concerns a recently revealed interview Barack Obama gave to Chicago Public Radio in 2001. In it, then Illinois state senator Obama talked about whether his desire to spread the wealth around might be better accomplished legislatively or through the courts and lamented that the latter hadn’t done enough to further this socialist goal.

While many have heard the interview, very few have identified its most troubling aspect. It’s not that Obama’s answers were peppered with various forms of the term “redistribute,” as all politically sentient beings already know this is what he aims to do with other people’s money. It wasn’t that he said the Warren court wasn’t really all that “radical.” It’s not even that he strongly implied the Constitution was flawed, as no legal document is perfect, and many thinking people would like to see the Constitution altered in some way. No, there is something far, far more chilling, although, to many, it may seem somewhat innocuous. It was when Obama spoke of how legal “justifications” could be found allowing the courts to order redistributive policies. This single, solitary statement transcends one policy and reveals The One’s philosophy.

If I said “So-and-so has his justifications or “He just wants to justify his actions,” we all know that the italicized words don’t have a positive connotation. Justifications are not usually synonymous with reasons – they tend to be more akin to rationalizations.
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The Terrorist Attack of 2010

October 27, 2008 by 1 Comment

-By Selwyn Duke

The date is November 9, 2010, and you turn on the radio to listen to the news over morning coffee. Economic times have been tough, and you’re not expecting much to uplift the soul. Yet, what you hear still makes your blood run cold.

Nuclear devices have been detonated almost simultaneously in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. Tens of thousands are dead or dying, and millions more are being evacuated, owing to radioactive contamination that will now make huge swaths of the cities uninhabitable.

President Obama is currently on the air addressing the nation. Everything he says sounds reassuring and mellifluous, just like it always does, just like it always has. Right now he is talking about the emergency response and government efforts to help the victims and apprehend the perpetrators. He speaks of how we must pray for our fellow Americans.

More information will be forthcoming, and we will see his calm countenance on TV and hear his resonant, composed voice again. Of that you can be sure.

But there is something he won’t tell us.

There is something he will never tell us.
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Barack Obama’s Campaign of the Lie

October 22, 2008 by

-By Selwyn Duke

Absent the ability to read minds and hearts, I can’t really tell you if Barack Obama is uniquely dishonest. What is for certain, though, is that his campaign is uniquely deceitful. These two things are not synonymous. Politicians are famous for suppressing facts and manufacturing fantasies to hide their faults, and, while Obama certainly practices this sleight-of-hand, I can’t say he is more inured to it that your average prevaricating pol. But what is doubtless is that he has more faults to hide.

It’s ironic that Obama has used the “lipstick on a pig” line, because Avon’s whole inventory couldn’t, sans media spin, cover up his true colors. And color is a factor this election. It’s not that the senator is black, however, or that, as he said last debate alluding to McCain’s criticism, he is “green behind the ears.” It’s that he is red behind the ears.
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The Obama Youth

October 6, 2008 by

By Selwyn Duke


It really does seem that the more evil a movement is, the more likely it is to enlist children in its cause. (Well, they really do make beautiful little human shields.) In the above video, 22 young, impressionable victims of misguided parents are singing a song in homage to Barack Obama as if he’s a god . . . or an extremely good imposter.

Interestingly, the way the story behind this has developed provides an excellent example of how leftists have absolutely no courage of their convictions. The Drudge Report had linked up to the video on Tuesday (9/30), giving it exposure to millions of ears, including many unsympathetic ones. Thus, some of those who responded to it in the YouTube comment section entered negative responses. So, lo and behold, what did these activist-minded leftists do? They turned the original version into a private video, meaning, only those they invite may now view it (here is the YouTube page of the original poster). Fortunately (or unfortunately – no exposure is almost always worse than criticism), though, other Web users had already posted it, which is why it’s still available.
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Does Pro-life Now Mean Pro-libertinism?

October 2, 2008 by

By Selwyn Duke

At NationalPost.com, journalist David Frum has a piece in which he discusses what he perceives to be the transformation of the pro-life movement. His thesis is that the widespread acceptance of unwed motherhood – including by pro-lifers – has eliminated the stigma attached to the state, thereby causing a quarter-century decrease in the abortion rate.

Frum starts out talking about how the applause for Sarah Palin’s pregnant, 17-year-old daughter at the Republican Convention reflects this sea-change. Then, contrasting today’s sexual mores and abortion rate with those of 27 years ago, he writes:
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Political Elections, Cultural Elections, and the Votes that Really Matter

September 24, 2008 by

By Selwyn Duke

To be honest, treating politics isn’t my favorite pastime. Sure, like other commentators I do it, but it’s not something I can truly sink my teeth into. I’ll explain why momentarily.

This election season, my pen has directed many slings and arrows Barack Obama’s way. I criticized John McCain, too, but that was during the primaries. Now there is what I perceive to be a clear and present danger in the person of a slick demagogue, so my sights — and my site — are trained in one particular direction. Because of this, however, I sometimes receive emails from disenchanted rightist voters. “What do you have to say about McCain?” some ask. “How is he any better than Obama?”

My feelings toward such respondents vacillate between surliness and sympathy. I understand why they feel the way they do, but they don’t understand me. I’m neither a party man nor a doctrinarian. I’m probably at least as dissatisfied with our wanting candidates as those who write me, and I can sum up my reasoning very simply:

Both candidates deserve to lose.

Only, one deserves to lose more.
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Barack Obama and Defining Anti-Americanism Downwards

August 8, 2008 by

-By Selwyn Duke

If Barack Obama sought to win the votes of Germans, he need seek no more. Of course, his new image was all the rage in the Old World long before he gave his July 24 speech in Berlin. Along with the mainstream media and murderer Dale Leo Bishop, Senator Sweetness and Light is the man the Europeans want as our leader.

Although Obama certainly has a stateside cult following as well, one reason Americans’ enthusiasm pales in comparison may be that we – at least some of us, anyway – can decipher his words better than foreign-language speakers. As to this, there is a certain segment of the Berlin speech I’d call your attention to:

“I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we’ve struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We’ve made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.”

It might be pointed out to Senator Obama that if he finds a perfect country, he should be sure not to go there.
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