The Pendragon's Hall

CNN does it again. Yet another poll of Iraqis that supposedly shows most of them want the US to leave the country. Then I sign into blogger and am greeted with a headline of what I take to be an Iraqi blog saying that he has "new freedom of expression" not enjoyed under Saddam Hussein. Even CNN admits that roughly 75% of Iraqis are doing as well or better than they were before the regime change. But they just want us to leave.

First, of all, I'd like to know how the questions were worded. I can picture CNN asking some illiterate Iraqi: "Would you rather have the US here and no food, no power, no good water, be beaten twice a day, with no work and no money or have Saddam and live in a nice house with lots of things?" What's the poor Iraqi to answer? Rephrase the question and ask about having the US there with all those things or Saddam in power and get a different answer. Biases are so skewed these days. One news service (I forget which) included in President Bush's "disapproval" rating those who had answered they thought he was doing ok. Apparently there is no middle ground--you either agree with everything or you think he is a miserable failure like Dick Gephardt so brilliantly put it (this from a guy who couldn't even win his next door state). There is probably no middle ground in Iraq either--you want the troops gone or you want them to stay. Any qualifier means what CNN wants it to mean. Ah, the irony of free press!

I'm actually getting quite sickened and if I wasn't so convinced that CNN is twisting the words of Iraqis the same way it twists the words of Americans, I would break forth into a rousing rendition of Rudyard Kipling's "Take Up The White Man's Burden." In fact, in deference to our Swedish friends, than whom it doesn't get more white, I think I will. Here goes:

Take up the White Man's burden--
Send forth the best ye breed--
Go, bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait, in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild--
Your new-caught sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child.

Take up the White Man's burden--
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain,
To seek another's profit
And work another's gain.

Take up the White Man's burden--
The savage wars of peace--
Fill full the mouth of Famine,
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
(The end for others sought)
Watch sloth and heathen folly
Bring all your hope to nought.

Take up the White Man's burden--
No iron rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper--
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go, make them with your living
And mark them with your dead.

Take up the White Man's burden,
And reap his old reward--
The blame of those ye better
The hate of those ye guard--
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:--
"Why brought ye us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?"

Take up the White Man's burden--
Ye dare not stoop to less--
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloak your weariness.
By all ye will or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent sullen peoples
Shall weigh your God and you.

Take up the White Man's burden!
Have done with childish days--
The lightly-proffered laurel,
The easy ungrudged praise:
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years,
Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers.

When all is said and done, who really will want to vote for John Kerry? The number is small and shrinking daily--no wonder the President is doing so well in the polls now. Let's review the facts:

People who don't like Bush but "feel" abortion is wrong (they only "feel" it because they can't "think"): John Kerry is about as pro-abortion as they come.
People who believe in old-fashioned morality: Kerry sides with activist judges to rewrite the constitution and allow all kinds of perversions.
People who want to protect the environment: The "Boston Globe" reported that the Kerry family owns five SUV's (of the 16 mpg variety) although Kerry even tried to flip-flop on this one and emphasized that he doesn't personally own them. That's real great, Johnny. He furthermore has voted against the President's plan to cut emissions from factories into the atmosphere. For one so dedicated to protecting the environment, he does a really lousy job. Like all Democrats.
People who would like to be safe in their homes: Kerry will return us to the Clinton-era intelligence system (rolling back the Patriot Act) where we were vulnerable to terrorists here on our own soil. Terrorist regimes will be allowed to flourish.
Small businesses and young families: Kerry will roll back the tax relief and raise your taxes. Thank you, Mr. Senator.

But I exaggerate. There are groups that will vote for him:

The media: they gave up thinking along time ago. Now the Democratic Party does it for them.
The people who don't understand the Patriot Act or anything else Bush has done but have decided not to like him: Enough said.
Terrorists: The war will be won. The US will surrender and they will be allowed free reign again.
Europe: No longer will they have to worry about the US surpassing them...or defending them.

So there are some who will vote for him of course. Notice something about these groups? None of them are Americans. Good luck, Johnny! See you at the unemployment office. This isn't France, this isn't Spain: This is America. This is Bush country!

OK, enough communist pink-eyes, chanting greenie slogans! Let's celebrate some dead white men! Today is Saint George's Day. Remember the guy who killed the dragon? That's the one, the patron saint of England. Fun stuff. White men don't kill dragons to save princesses anymore, mostly because the princesses tend to like dragons. That's something I have never understood. Princesses don't want to be seen as "dependent" so they make sure the knight doesn't kill the dragon. But enough of my bitter ranting. For all you princesses out there, stay put. Rescue is on the way and it does not defraud you to wait for it. In the old story of Saint George, the princess was the one who guided him through the forest he was not sure about to where the dragon was. What goes around comes around and the woman does not always have to be saving the day.

Today is also William Shakespeare's birthday. Ironically enough we are presenting one of his plays here at school tonight and tomorrow. Does anyone still read Shakespeare? I hope so. His plays are the high point of the English language. Although he still holds up certain ideals that are no longer popular, it would be worth it to be reminded of it.

This week is the paradise of environmentalist fanatics--Earth Week. It never ceases to amaze me--it's seen as heroic to throw yourself in front of a bulldozer about to destroy a wildlife refuge but try to do the same thing to prevent gay marriage or abortion and the same people will be crying about "rabble-rousers." Guys, save yourselves some dignity. ::watches another person chanting, "Free Willy! Free Willy!":: OK, don't. See if I care.

The killer about this is that most of the powers that be in the environmental movement, especially the so-called "Green Party", couldn't care less about the environment. If you like, environmentalism is the "red-herring issue" that is designed to cover up the real issues. In my own home country, the Green Party is supporting the construction of a factory that will dump pollution in the river, pollute the atmosphere, and dry up people's wells. The Republicans are fighting it, as well as the ordinary people. The Green Party is aptly named...after money. They need money to carry on their radical social agenda, which is beginning to make Vladimir Lenin look like Pat Buchanan, so they invent an issue--environmental concerns--to help them carry this on. And thus they delude people who actually care about the earth into joining their ranks. It's a first rate scam but given the new popularity of "Earth Week" here at school I think it's working.

What do I think about the Earth? We certainly have a duty to take care of it and keep it safe. This is not the issue. The issue is, should we ignore all other issues just to concentrate on planting one more tree than we cut down? The NE today has more trees than any time since the settlement of this country. In C.S. Lewis' "The Last Battle" one of the main characters comments, "All that mattered about the old Narnia--all the dear creatures--have been drawn through the door to the new Narnia." One day the world is going to burn. In that day, all that matters about the earth--the people--will have the opportunity to live forever or die forever. What will God say to those environmentalists who could have saved lives and instead concentrated on saving trees or whales? I doubt He'll be impressed.

I've finally figured out why the media doesn't like Bush. Well, actually I knew it all along. It was pretty obvious. It's because he's a Christian. Don't shake your head at me! If an attack on bloody dictator in Iraq constitutes a "holy war" or "Crusade" against Islam, surely with every paper attacking his Christian faith could be considered an attack of Christianity. In fact, more so, since Saddam's purported Muslim-hood (or whatever) was never mentioned while Bush's Christianity is held up to scorn in just about every anti-Bush editorial.

Why then do some Christians (not many really, but some) not like Bush? It's because as historian Stephen Mansfield has pointed out, Americans have been all too used since the days of Jimmy Carter to think of Christians as people who should be elected, that is a President with some claims to Christian faith is desirable as a candidate (which is why the likes of John Kerry gets away with claiming to be a Christian), but are not prepared to have a President who lets his faith influence his actions as President. It's sort of a scary thing after all--that might mean we all have to let our faith influence our actions in our spheres of influence and we wouldn't want that, would we?

The 9/11 Commission continues to make great strides. The latest report, at least according to the Bagdhad Times, is that "reports of the threat of Al-Qaeda had reached the highest levels of government." Indeed they had. The question now is not, why did 9/11 occur? The question is, why the heck Clinton, who was President if my memory serves me, and knew all about Al-Qaeda, did nothing? Why do they not investigate him? The Times of course cannot do this because they have decided a priori that Bush, who had been in office less than nine months at the time, is the sole culprit in the government's failure to head off the 9/11 terrorists. Does this have to do with any careless on Bush's part? Not a whit of it! It has to do with the fact that Bush is a Republican who has removed two of the Times' favorite governments from power. This is their revenge.

Happy Resurrection Sunday, everyone! Christ is risen! The rest of the story of the movie "The Passion" is hinted at in the final scene. The grave clothes deflate and the risen Lord strides out of the tomb, nail-scarred hands hanging at His side. In fairness to Michael Card, whose song I borrowed for political application yesterday, if the stupid blogger printed it, I will let him speak for himself today on the most important event in History. Remember the words of C.S. Lewis: "I believe in the resurrection as I believe in the sun rising: Not only because I see it but because by it I can see everything else."

Long ago He blessed the earth, born older than the years
And in the stall the cross He saw, through the first of many tears.
A life of homeless wandering, cast out in sorrow's way--
A shepherd seeking for the lost, His life the price He paid:
Love crucified arose, the risen One in splendor;
Jehovah's sole defender has won the victory!
Love crucified arose and the grave became a place of hope
For the heart that sin and sorrow broke is beating once again.

Throughout Your life You felt the weight of what you'd come to give;
To drink for us the crimson cup that we might really live;
At last the time to love and die, the dark, appointed day--
That one forsaken moment when Your Father turned His face away.
Love crucified arose, the One who lived and die for me,
Was Satan's nail-pierced casualty; now He's breathing once again.
Love crucified arose and the grave became a place of hope
For the heart that sin and sorrow broke is beating once again!

It never ceases to amaze me how Democrats and their cronies in the media seek to "bully" the rest of the country into seeing the world through their eyes. If the truth isn't the way they want it, they make it up. To listen to them now, you'd think Iraq had erupted into violence and our leaders were frantically trying to smooth things over any way they can. Instead, in one of the smartest moves of the war, the Marines dropped a five-hundred-pound bomb on a mosque harboring radicals (something they should have done way sooner if you ask me--you want to use your religion to kill our troops, let's see how your religion likes being homeless) and according to sources on the spot, things are cracking down. Nobody was taken by surprise and our troops are not dejected. This from people on the ground not sitting in cushy offices in New York City. But they'll keep toeing the party line over at NYT and WP and Pravda magazine. I actually ran across a song earlier today that I think fits the situation well. So this is dedicated to all those well-meaning people, particularly African-Americans, who have been conned into thinking the Democrats have their best interests in mind. My apologies to Michael Card, who wrote it, for borrowing it in this context but I think the application is particularly fitting:

These are the clothes that you must wear
And this is how to cut your hair;
You'll act just like we tell you to,
You better give up, better dance to the bully's tune.

As he sings this simple, stupid song,
You'd better give up and go along;
You'll look just like some sad cartoon.
'Cause that's your life when you dance to the bully's tune.

"We played this song and you did not dance,
"We sang a dirge--this is your last chance
"To do just what we tell you to,
"You'd better wise and dance to the bully's tune."

The more you see, you know it's true:
The world will tell you what to do,
But don't give ear to the big baboon
And don't give in, don't dance to the bully's tune.

They'll play their songs but you won't dance;
They'll sing a dirge but there's not a chance
That you'll do what they tell you to,
'Cause you won't listen, no, you won't listen to the bully's tune.

The media of the US is such a band of wimps! A rocket hits the ground near their hotel and they're all hysterical. If they want to be in the war, let them get used to it.

Rush Limbaugh interviewed Dan Seenor (sp?), the coalition head in Bagdhad, and he reported that 95% of Iraq is at peace and trying to move on. Yet the 5% is getting all the press in America. He also mentioned that morale remains high among foreign workers, both military and civilian. He shouldn't have mentioned that. The press still has work to do.

A political science professor at school once remarked, "Americans don't know how to suffer." Liberals certainly don't. How would these people survive WW2? They'd have surrendered right after Okinawa. And Hitler would have been "a distraction" from the war on Japan. One death of one soldier is definitely a tragedy and we should feel sorrow, but why does it mean we're being beaten back? The US armies suffered tremendous losses in the War on Germany and Japan, and that meant we pressed on. Hail to Japan and Italy who are hanging tough in Iraq and so are we! We tried appeasement at Munich and it got us much heavier casualties than we ever have suffered in the War on Terror. Why will it work now?

The black chick scores again! The Democratic Party continues to pretend that it is the party for blacks and women, but put the two together when representing a Republican President, and they are determined to crush her. But she, in the words of Rush Limbaugh, "hit them below the belt." The gutsy secretary of national security turned the tables on the smug Democratic senators. They obviously expected her to roll over and play dead like the slaves they so detest but so need. Not this lady! If you have a chance to look over the hearings, do so. Any idea that President Bush doesn't know what he's doing will be dispelled. If nothing else, he knows how to surround himself with good people. Like JFK forty-four years ago, he has created a government that can function. While I tend to be somewhat opposed to the idea of a woman president on principle, she would be at least a very good VP candidate in 2008. Keep an eye on her.

A girl in my Missions class today was disturbed that her brother, on leave from Iraq, didn't share her appreciation for their culture. While I do not doubt the sincerity and well-meaningness that this child represents in wishing to help and appreciate other cultures, it does raise an interesting issue. Why are people so willing to dismiss as biased the word of people who've experienced something? This young man has been there; this young lady has not. Who is likely to be more reliable? Don't tell me: she is because she isn't biased by such trivialities as people trying to kill her. Some truth to that I grant, but not much. It probably never occurred to her that perhaps she, sitting in her safe classroom a world away, can afford to be magnanimous to other cultures. For me, I suspect the culture doesn't deserve such magnamity. Still, the greater portion of Iraqis, I'm sure, would trade their culture in a heartbeat for some kind of stability. Hopefully it will come soon.

On a further off-beat note, Vietnamese peasants are worshipping the decomposing body of a beached whale. Recently they erected a shrine to one further down the beach. Apparently, good times are coming. Cultural sensitivity is hard to maintain in the face of just ridiculousness. But maintain it we must or die.

I had to laugh this morning when skimming CNN to see the headline, "GPS Reveals Secret Lives of Mountain Lions." What a racy story. I am surprised CNN would allow it to be out there where just anyone can access it. I mean, you just wouldn't realize what thouse seemingly harmless animals are up to--the hot sex with more than one partner, the mauling of people they don't like, brawling in the hills, terrorizing people who don't agree with them (sounds sort of like the Democratic Party). At any rate, don't read this story (I said, DON'T read it!). You will never look at mountain lions the same way again. I know I have lost all my respect for the breed. They just don't deserve it anymore.

If you believe me, by the way, you'll probably vote for John Kerry in November because you'll believe anything. This is what happens when news is an industry.

After a long period of stagnation, job creation finally surged ahead in March, the government reported yesterday. The gains surpassed all but the most optimistic expectations among analysts and provided President Bush with a shot of good news to help counter Democratic attacks on his economic policies.
--NYTimes

And how it must galling them to admit it! Of course the rest of the article hastens to assure the anxious American public that it doesn't mean anything, that the economy is still bad and that ahemKerryahem would do a better job. And they think people really believe they're unbiased.

It is good news, very good news. While predicting from history is at best an uncertain science (actually predicting human events at all is a very uncertain science, regardless of what sociologists say), the way things are going makes it look like Reagan all over again. In 1982, Reagan's economy took a huge downturn but by 1983 and 1984, it rebounded and Reagan was swept to re-election. I look forward to seeing a repeat performance this Fall.

Bush came into office telling his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, he was "tired of swatting flies" – he wanted to eliminate al-Qaida.

On Sept. 11, 2001, when Bush had been in office for barely seven months, 3,000 Americans were murdered in a savage terrorist attack on U.S. soil by Muslim extremists.

Since then, Bush has won two wars against countries that harbored Muslim fanatics, captured Saddam Hussein, immobilized Osama bin Laden, destroyed al-Qaida's base, and begun to create the only functioning democracy in the Middle East other than Israel. Democrats opposed it all – except their phony support for war with Afghanistan, which they immediately complained about and said would be a Vietnam quagmire. And now they claim to be outraged that in the months before 9-11, Bush did not do everything Democrats opposed doing after 9-11.

What a surprise.

--Ann Coulter

I swear, we don't work together. :-) She's right though. Check out her whole article at the above link.