SelwynDuke.com

The Sexes: Wage Gap or Truth Gap?

By Selwyn Duke

Hillary Clinton recently scored political points talking about that infamous wage gap between the sexes.  This inspired Carey Roberts -- a writer who mainly focuses on issues relating to feminism -- to pen a piece exploring the notion that this gap is attributable to discrimination.  Roberts makes an excellent point as one of his opening salvos:

California Supreme Court Overturns Laws Upholding Marriage

By Selwyn Duke

It seems that judicial adventurism is as old as our republic itself. Lamenting such usurpation, Thomas Jefferson once said, "The original error [was in] establishing a judiciary independent of the nation, and which, from the citadel of the law, can turn its guns on those they were meant to defend, and control and fashion their proceedings to its own will."

Read a Book, Get Charged with Racial Harassment

By Selwyn Duke

The May 9 edition of the New York Post carries a short article by an Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis student named Keith John Sampson. He tells a story of being charged with "racial harassment" simply because he was "caught" reading an anti-Ku Klux Klan book. I'm not kidding. Sampson tells his story:

Is Tax Money Subsidizing Useless Energy Schemes?

By Selwyn Duke   

I'd appreciate a viable alternative energy source as much as anyone else.  After all, who wouldn't like to run his car for a third or fourth the cost?  I don't have much confidence in government schemes to develop those new sources, however, and the May 12 edition of The Wall Street Journal helps to illustrate why.

More Child Protective Services Abuse

By Selwyn Duke

Imagine this: You mistake an alcoholic beverage for a soft drink and give it to your child.  He then imbibes a relatively small amount of it and is none the worse for it. 

You then get investigated by Child Protective Services (CPS) and lose custody of your children.

Tobacco, Tolerance and Truth

By Selwyn Duke

To paraphrase that great man of letters, G.K. Chesterton, “There will come a time when people consider smoking a cigar to be more offensive than abortion.” Given that the jolly philosopher left us for the ethereal typewriter in the sky in 1936, it’s amazing how prescient he was.

Reader Email: On Who Shouldn't Vote

By Selwyn Duke

I received an email from a young man who is addressing a very interesting topic.  Here is his email:

A Rabbi Defending a Pope

By Selwyn Duke

I truly cannot think of a more unfairly-maligned individual than Pope Pius XII, the pontiff during the darkest days of WWII.  Even Senator Joe McCarthy, who has been relegated to Dante's seventh circle of Hell by revisionist historians, has not been demonized like Pius.  And the destruction of the Pope's reputation is an even more brazen endeavor, for while McCarthy can perhaps be faulted for having made certain mistakes, the Pope was a hero in every sense of the word. 

The Anti-tobacco Nazis

By Selwyn Duke

I've written about anti-smoking laws before and the zealots who often enforce them, but prohibiting lighting up at a pipe convention really takes the cake.  And that's exactly what has happened in St. Charles, Illinois, at the Chicagoland International Pipe & Tobacciana Show.  Writing about this at ChicagoTribune.com, Steve Schmadeke tells us:

Heading to College and Failure-bound

By Selwyn Duke

Going to college has become a rite of passage. Like a high school diploma, it's now often expected that a student will go on to earn — or should I say "get" — a bachelor's degree. After all, this is how we increase our earning potential, right?

Reader Email: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

By Selwyn Duke

My last two pieces, the one on Obama and the one on psychology, have evoked quite a response.  And the emails run the gamut; some are literate and uplifting, others are just complimentary (always welcome!), while others still are indicative of extreme dislocation from reality.  Here are a few, and after each one I have included a response.