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July 7, 2012

Arrest Eric Holder

By Selwyn Duke

The House has voted overwhelmingly to hold Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for withholding documents on the Fast and Furious scandal, but where do we go from here? Not surprisingly, the Justice Department won’t prosecute Holder on the charge, and Barack Obama would only take action if the attorney general became a personal liability (and right now cutting him loose might be a liability). Yet there is a way for Congress to put bite in its bark.

It turns out that the House could encourage immediate cooperation by arresting Holder. Such a move would be based upon something called “inherent contempt,” a process that, writes The Washington Times, “is well-established by precedent, has been confirmed by multiple Supreme Court rulings, and is available to any Congress willing to force such a confrontation.” It was also recently alluded to by none other than Nancy Pelosi when she addressed what she considered Karl Rove’s contempt of Congress and said, “I could have arrested Karl Rove on any given day. I’m not kidding. There’s a prison here in the Capitol…. If we had spotted him in the Capitol, we could have arrested him.”

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June 28, 2012

“Gay Pride” Parades Attract Exhibitionists — and Obama’s Attention

By Selwyn Duke

Dozens of so-called “Gay Pride” parades took place in cities such as New York, Chicago, and San Francisco this past weekend, and they bring to mind why pride is one of the Seven Deadly Sins. And the reminder is especially poignant this year, as bare naked politics mixed with the leather-clad revelry.

Many of us have heard the “gay pride” stories the media are mum about: the naked displays and simulated sex acts that, in any other context, would land you in handcuffs not designed for kink. But this year the nefarious goings-on included an invasion by hordes of Barack Obama campaign staffers, who zealously plied the fertile recruiting grounds that are the parades. In fact, writes the New York Times, “The parades could have been confused for Obama campaign rallies. In Chicago on Sunday, 300 of his campaign staff members and volunteers marched down Halsted Street through the heart of the gay district to chants of ‘Four more years! Four more years!’"

Such friendly receptions generally don’t breed shyness, and the Obama operatives were no exception. Writes the Christian Post’s Paul Stanley:

Read the rest here.
June 28, 2012

Inciting the Idiot Vote

By Selwyn Duke

Joining the ranks of drug pushers are what I would call polling-place pushers. These are people who run get-out-the-vote drives or at least agitate in that regard, and they are more to be feared than any corner dope peddler.

As an example, pollster John Zogby recently lamented how the young people who catapulted Barack Obama to the presidency are now losing interest in voting. He said to the League of Women Voters (LWV), “I truly am worried about today’s twenty-somethings.” I have seen them move from hope and grand expectations for themselves and their world to anxiety and disillusionment.”

That’s one way of saying it. A more accurate way is this: They’ve made that common transition from naivety to cynicism, which often happens when you’re slapped in the face by reality — especially reality you voted for.

This transition is no surprise, as naivety and cynicism are actually two sides of the same coin. After all, the naïve person and the cynic will tend to see others, respectively, through rose-colored glasses and in dark colors regardless of the moral status of those observed. Thus, neither judges others very well and both are defined by ignorance of reality. This is why the same people are so often both naïve sorts and cynics — at different points in life. The young starry-eyed idealist becomes the old cynic because he had the wrong ideals. And this is perhaps inevitable unless the underlying cause, ignorance, is remedied.

Read the rest here.
June 20, 2012

North Dakotans Refuse to Fight for the Sioux — or the Culture

By Selwyn Duke

Earlier this week I wrote about North Dakota’s extraordinary referendum to ban all property taxes. Quite predictably, the state’s residents reacted to it in a very ordinary way: They defeated it by a wide margin.

This isn’t surprising since people, especially conservatives, are generally uncomfortable with revolutionary ideas. Well, good ones, anyway. This is why only a third of colonists supported the American Revolution; the rest had to be dragged along to the Promised Land kicking and screaming. It’s also why our Founding Fathers were not conservative — or Conservatives.

Assenting to thoroughly stupid but fashionable ideas is a different matter, however. And this is why 67 percent of North Dakotans also agreed on Tuesday to allow the abolishment of the University of North Dakota’s “Fighting Sioux” nickname and Indian-head logo.

In fairness, it should be mentioned that the pathetic, politically-correct NCAA had threatened the university with sanctions if it didn’t comply. Really, though, not only would the sanctions not be that severe, whatever happened to the old American spirit of spending “millions for defense, not a penny for tribute”? Today we spend millions for social engineering, but I guess a penny of sacrifice in the sports arena is too much to ask.

Read the rest here.
June 20, 2012

Is Bill Clinton a Caine Mutiny Coward?

By Selwyn Duke

If Dick Morris is right and Bill Clinton is like a solar panel — only warm and bright when the sun is shining — he has certainly been catching his share of rays recently with his defense of Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital. In case you missed it, the former President said in a CNN interview with Harvey Weinstein, “I don’t think we ought to get into the position where we say ‘This [Romney’s Bain endeavors] is bad work’ — this is good work”; he furthermore said that Romney had a “sterling business career” and “crosses the qualification threshold” to be commander-in-chief.

Well, well, something tells me that, were it not for Clinton’s fund-raising utility to the Obama administration, he’d be joining Cory Booker on the dead-to-us list.

After all, since the centerpiece of Barack Obama’s attack on Romney is that he is a “vulture capitalist, not a venture capitalist,” Clinton’s remarks help to cut the legs out from under the President’s re-election effort. The question is, though, why did he make them?

Some chalk it up to the notion that Clinton “always speaks his mind,” and his comments certainly seem like refreshing honesty. Here is, after all, Mr. Democrat himself saying flattering things about the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. Ah, what an American! He has risen above politics!

But has he?

Read the rest here.
June 20, 2012

Democrats and Republicans: No, Both Parties Are Not the Same

By Selwyn Duke

There is a certain tiresome message we’ve all heard: the notion that the Republican and Democratic parties are the same. It’s often put forth by people who consider themselves outside-the-box thinkers, and they fancy their point of view the enlightened one. Sometimes cynical George Carlin types, their message is, “Hey, I’m smart enough to know both parties are playin’ the game. Don’t try to fool me!”

This attitude was apparent in a few of the comments under a recent piece I wrote about liberal immorality. One respondent opined, for instance, “What still amazes [me] is that there has been definite documentation about the lack of morals that all politicians have. Neither side can claim to be exempt from this. Yet, there seems to be this arrogance among the right, that they can explain away any misgivings that a Republican does.”

Read the rest here.
June 12, 2012

North Dakota Votes on Abolishing Property Taxes

By Selwyn Duke

When North Dakotans go to the polls today, they'll have a chance to strike a blow for freedom.

They can make their state the first in the nation to ban all property taxes.

With such levies having become a fixture on the American landscape, the ND proposal is seen as being radical. But it is property taxes themselves that are radical.

I've always objected to property taxes because they do violence to the concept of property ownership. After all, what am I describing when saying the following: I have to pay a fee on a regular basis to stay in a home or apartment, and if I don't I will be evicted from it?

That is the status of a renter — not a landowner.

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June 12, 2012

The Immorality of Liberals

By Selwyn Duke

“I think he did the right thing,” said the man, emphatically, in reference to Bill Clinton’s 1990s infidelity with Monica Lewinsky. The sentiment, expressed during a conversation I had some years ago, was really no surprise. You see, the fellow was a fine specimen of his political species.

In every civilization you have, to use psychological terminology, well-adjusted individuals and dysfunctional ones. Of course, dividing people into two groups in this area will always be problematic, as moral status is a continuum. As we walking, talking anachronisms like to say, we’re all sinners; it’s just a matter of degree. Nonetheless, some people do try to exercise virtue in their lives while others are so immersed in vice they could mistake it for virtue. However you characterize it, though, in our time the dysfunctional vice-lovers are described by what is another lacking term: liberals.

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June 11, 2012

Obama Administration: Cory Booker is “Dead to Us”

By Selwyn Duke

Newark mayor Cory Booker made the mistake of deviating from the Marxocrat Party line, and now he’s learning the hard way that illiberal modern liberals don’t tolerate dissent. In fact, zey have vays of making you not talk.

And, it seems, of not talking to you.

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June 7, 2012

Trampling Freedom of Speech: State Tries Censoring Online Advice Column

By Selwyn Duke

As far as diet goes, I believe you should adhere to the old adage “everything in moderation” and avoid extreme regimens of all kinds. I don’t know what you think of this counsel, but North Carolina’s position seems to be the following: I just broke the law.

Blogger Steven Cooksey found this out the hard way — when the North Carolina Board of Dietetics/Nutrition ordered him to take down part of his diet-advice website.

The 51-year-old resident of Stanley, North Carolina, became passionate about nutrition after a 2009 hospitalization during which he learned he had Type II diabetes and was told he’d probably be insulin-dependent for life. Inspired to finally get serious about his health, Cooksey became a student of nutrition and, after considering many opinions, settled on a high fat/low carbohydrate “caveman” diet, which involves limiting oneself to only unprocessed or minimally processed foods. He also chronicled his personal health evolution on a blog he created in early 2010.

And what an evolution it was. Cooksey’s weight dropped from 240 lbs to 163, and his blood sugar normalized. And, as his waistline contracted, his website expanded: He was inspired to help others.

After initially mentoring friends, Cooksey started offering life-coaching services and then, in December 2010, instituted a Dear Abby-type column in which he answered readers’ questions. This was when he found that he had traded health problems for legal ones.

Read the rest here.