SelwynDuke.com

Hello, I'm a Racist, Pleased to Meet You

By Selwyn Duke

There is such a thing as a conditioned response. Here's an example: Leftists call conservatives "racists." Conservatives cower and stutter some defense. Leftists call conservatives "racists" some more. Conservatives cower some more. Question: How do you think you break this pattern?

We've seen this again with the recent vitriol spewed by NAACP head Ben Jealous (a fitting last name). Speaking at the NAACP convention in Kansas City, Jealous accused the Tea Party of, take a guess...cue the "Jeopardy!" music..."racism." Just as predictably, many conservatives are running around trying to convince everyone that, by gum, they really are swell guys. No, really. I'm not a racist. I don't beat my wife. I don't kick my dog. I eat my organic vegetables and drive a Prius.

Immigration, Reconsidered

By Selwyn Duke

While the Obama administration has chosen the southern side in the Mexican-Arizonan border war, most Americans stand with their countrymen.  They are troubled by the strain illegals place on services, the drugs and thugs moving north and blue-collar job prospects moving south.  Then there is another factor: the political and cultural one.

Change You Can Believe In: From Bushisms to Obamanisms

By Selwyn Duke

Shortly after Barack Obama was elected, one of his supporters, alluding to George W. Bush’s supposedly lacking intellect, said to me, “I’m just happy to have someone intelligent in the White House.”

I’m sure Rahm Emanuel would be very flattered.

Whatever you think of Bush, admittedly, his habitually knotted tongue did give birth to Bushisms, things such as “misunderestimated.” Cute. Then there are the “Yogiisms” of former baseball player and manager Yogi Berra, pronouncements such as “I think I made the wrong mistake,” which in a sense makes sense (you can get away with some mistakes, but the fatal one will do you in). Now I’m here to tell you that Barack Obama is giving us some new "-isms," and I don’t speak of communism or even socialism. I mean the Obamanism.

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When a People Tyrannizes Itself

  By Selwyn Duke

                        

              Tax 'Em High

All around the realm was heard a fateful cry:
'Twill make us sleep the nightmare if ye tax the other guy.
We can accept the yoke of poor polity,
If the misery cursing all gives equality.
Play one group against another, and us all you may ream,
Too busy envying each other we ignore your wicked scheme.
'Tis the rhyme of the time, no matter tyranny be nigh;
'Twill make us sleep the nightmare if ye tax the other guy.
Tax 'em high!

A study was once conducted in which participants played a game involving the accumulation of money. It had an interesting finding: Those describing themselves as leftists were much more willing than others to give up a bit of their own cash if it meant taking more from somebody else. What motivated this? It’s called envy, and we used to call such people immoral. Now we call them "liberals."

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Why Kagan is Unqualified — and Dangerous

By Selwyn Duke

Despite being thoroughly unqualified to occupy the bench, Elena Kagan will most likely be confirmed to the Supreme Court.  This is because most of our 100 senators are almost as unqualified to judge a judge as she is to be one.  What is the proper criterion to apply?  Well, a simple analogy illustrates the point best.

Let’s say you needed to hire a football referee.  If he said that he was a “pragmatic” referee, viewed the rule book as “living” and thus would interpret the rules to suit the “times,” would he be your man?

Barack Obama’s Attention Deficit Disorder

  By Selwyn Duke

While I’m no fan of the Attention Deficit Disorder diagnosis, I think it may be applicable to Barack Obama.  After all, the man seems to suffer from a case of it that mainlining Ritalin wouldn’t remedy.

Just consider Obama’s relationship with Jeremiah Wright.  Despite calling the prejudiced preacher a friend, mentor and uncle, despite sitting in Wright’s church for 20 years, despite being married and having his daughters baptized by him, Obama says he was completely unaware of the bigot’s anti-American, anti-white, anti-Jewish, anti-Western and anti-Christian views.  And, just so we can appreciate the severity of Obama’s affliction, Wright has quite conveniently provided a reminder of what those unforgettable views are.  The scene was a five-day seminar at the Chicago Theological Seminary where, for a mere $1000 if taken for college credit and $300 if not, you could be enlightened by Wright on matters of race, brotherhood and Zionism and kibitz with him during lunch breaks.  Reporting on the wisdom he imparted, the New York Post wrote:

Drill, Baby, Drill . . . Still

By Selwyn Duke

The gulf oil gusher is a disaster of great proportions. We’ve all seen the pictures of petroleum-soaked birds and dead fish, and the area’s economy is on life support. The mishap truly is a tragedy for all, from Gulf residents to English pensioners to marine wildlife to, yes, BP itself. As bad as this is, however, there’s a way to make the situation worse: by compounding it with another tragedy, one both foreseeable and preventable.

Following the Emanualesque motto “Never let a good crisis go to waste,” some would use the Deepwater Horizon accident to push an anti-oil agenda. And given people’s tendency toward emotional reactions, millions of others are willing to support them. It’s much as how there was a hue and cry for gun control after the Columbine and L.I.R.R. massacres. Passion may not govern wisely, as old Mr. Franklin warned, but she sure does govern.

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