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Razing Arizona: Conservatives Succeed at Failing Again

By Selwyn Duke

Perhaps Arizona governor Jan Brewer was sincere when saying that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (SB 1062) she vetoed yesterday could “create more problems than it purports to solve.” After all, observers such as Napp Nazworth at The Christian Post contend that SB 1062 might actually — contrary to all the hysteria — have made it harder for most business owners to refuse service to homosexuals. This analysis may have merit and can be read here, but it’s irrelevant to a larger point:

The GOP’s handling of this matter was a good illustration of conservatism’s fatal flaw.

Twisting Children’s Minds with School Textbooks

By Selwyn Duke

If you saw a book stating that America was not a republic but a democracy, that a role of our government was to “socialize the young,” and with a picture labeled “Muslim scholars studying with the Greek philosopher Aristotle,” you might think it was a work of bad fiction, not an American school textbook. But even though the United States is a republic, socializing the young isn’t a role of American government, and Aristotle died 900 years before Mohammed’s birth, textbooks are exactly where the above misinformation is from.

These are just a few of the shocking facts brought to light after comedienne and actress turned political aspirant Victoria Jackson reported on a review of Tennessee’s school textbooks by the group Textbook Advocates (TA). Writes Jackson, “During August of 2013, scores of TN volunteers reviewed the 72 books on the State textbook list – 39% were declared acceptable for TN classrooms, 12% need major revisions to meet acceptable standards, many more need minor fixes.” Jackson’s characterization is even more damning. She opines that many school textbooks are “inaccurate, revisionist, anti-American, racist ... anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, pro-Islam, Marxist, globalist, pro-Socialism/Communism, pro-homosexuality, pro-abortion, and sexually explicit.” Is this hyperbole?

Decide for yourself. Aside from socializing the young, Government in America (Pearson Education, 9-12) tells students that something else government “should” do is “Preserve order” and then explains, “When people protest in large numbers government may resort to extreme measures to restore order.” In China, yes — but in the United States people actually have to violate the law first.

Read the rest here.

Why Obama is Uneducated

By Selwyn Duke

A few years ago I participated in a radio debate on “white privilege” with a certain man, whose name is unimportant, who had a Ph.D. in “ethnic studies.” At one point he introduced an argument by saying, “If whites are 80 percent of the population…,” which prompted me to interject and point out that whites (non-Hispanic) are now only 63 percent of America. Of course, you might think that someone with a doctorate in “ethnic studies” would know what the ethnic and racial composition of the country is.

Suing Americans under International Law — in American Courts

By Selwyn Duke

Imagine you go overseas and give a speech advocating a cause, only to come home and find you’re being sued for “crimes against humanity.” No, what you did wasn’t illegal under American law or under the laws of the nation in which you expressed your words.

You’re being sued under international law.

And here’s the kicker: Your case will be adjudicated by an American court.

Foreign law in a U.S. court?

The War on Men’s Wages

By Selwyn Duke

A market economy is absolutely the worst system in the world — except for all the rest. This isn’t just a play on Winston Churchill’s quip about democracy, it’s also true. Pity that we have to rely on those vice-ridden, flighty creatures called human beings to make decisions about what products and services we’ll enjoy. The only thing worse is having those decisions made by the subset of human beings called bureaucrats or politicians.

“Study: Hollywood execs have own 'war on women,' choking off major roles, salary from women,” reads the headline at Washington Examiner. At issue is a new report by the Women’s Media Center (WMC) — arch-feminista Gloria Steinem’s group — showing that in terms of warm-body count and amount of cold cash, women lag behind men in all corners of media and entertainment. We’re to find these data troubling and, as Time magazine wrote in a headline, “depressing.” In perhaps some comic relief, Time followed that note with the subtitle, “Jennifer Lawrence makes $11 million less than Adam Sandler.” Yeah, hey, pass the Prozac.

I don’t know, is it depressing that men do more dangerous jobs and suffer vastly more work-related injuries and deaths? Is it depressing that the whole workaday world, so unjustly dominated by men, was created by them in the first place? Is every difference among demographics that doesn’t happen to benefit “victim” groups to be thought depressing?

Read the rest here.

Elitist Left Shocked to Learn Poor People Like Junk Food

By Selwyn Duke

It seems that you can take the junk food out of the neighborhood, but you can’t take the neighborhood out of the junk-food mentality — or something like that, anyway.

You might have heard about the debacle of Michelle Obama-inspired school lunches, with children throwing away massive amounts of unpalatable fare and high-schoolers left hungry. Now another one of the First Lady’s dietary puppeteering schemes may be biting the dust. Writes NPR:

In inner cities and poor rural areas across the country, public health advocates have been working hard to turn around food deserts — neighborhoods where fresh produce is scarce, and greasy fast food abounds. In many cases, they're converting dingy, cramped corner markets into lighter, brighter venues that offer fresh fruits and vegetables. In some cases, they're building brand new stores.

Read the rest here.

Trader Joe’s Need Not Apply: Would Attract Too Many Whites

By Selwyn Duke

A certain business won’t be opening its doors in Portland, Oregon — it seems it would attract the “wrong kind” of people. No, it’s not a strip club or porn shop, or even a pawn shop. It’s Trader Joe’s, the unique grocery chain famous for offering health foods and exotic fare at reasonable prices. So what’s the problem?

It would attract too many white people.

Oh, it wasn’t put that way, of course. The most visible critics — activist group the Portland African American Leadership Forum (PAALF) — said in a letter to the local government that the store would “increase the desirability of the neighborhood” for “non-oppressed populations.”

Read the rest here.

Immigration and National Survival

By Selwyn Duke

When pondering our obsession with immigration, I’m reminded of how people in the ridiculous dystopian film Idiocracy were watering their crops with an energy drink called Brawndo. And even though the crops weren’t growing, the suggestion to try water instead was met with the following conditioned response in the drink’s defense: “It’s got what plants crave! It’s got electrolytes!” No one knew what electrolytes were. No one could explain why they were in Brawndo. It was all sloganeering.

And so it is with immigration. Why do we have immigration? “Because it’s got what America craves! It’s got people!” But why does the US, the world’s third most populous country, need more people? “Because they’re in immigration! It’s got what America craves!”

America Has Lost Her Will to Live

By Selwyn Duke

Perhaps we should have chosen the turkey as our national bird, as Benjamin Franklin suggested. It would certainly be more appropriate for our times. But if any flying creature would do, a moth might be more fitting still — with political correctness playing the role of that devilishly irresistible flame.  

America long ago lost her will to live. Historically, trespassing into another people’s territory could bring violence. And nations the world over secure their borders, sometimes at the end of a gun fondled by an itchy finger. But not the US. We place water stations in the Arizona desert for thirsty trespassers, offer driver’s licenses and in-state tuition for them, and now a Supreme Court justice has opined that calling illegal migrants “criminals” is insulting. I don’t know, what do you call someone who broke the law? Legally challenged?

Divided We Stand: A Traditionalist Manifesto

By Selwyn Duke

Conservatives are generally very nice people — who never saw a culture war they couldn’t lose. That is to say, we often hear cracks about how Barack Obama and his ilk may “evolve” on issues, but conservatives exhibit that tendency, too, and their evolution goes something like this:

“Marriage is between one man and one woman, period!”

Five years later…

“I can accept civil unions, but marriage shouldn’t be redefined.”

After five years more:

“The states can do whatever they want, just keep the feds out of it.”

And 10 years further on: