The Pendragon's Hall

Maybe the critics were right: maybe we are just like the terrorists. Somehow, though, I suspect, that the critics won't actually agree with this one. Starving an innocent, helpless woman does sound like something Saddam would do. Saddam's torture camps have reopened perhaps, not in Abu Ghraib where hardened terrorists who committed crimes against the US and against their own people suffered a little discomfort in order to soften them up for interrogation, but in Florida, where one of our own citizens is being put to tortuous death. And while this is going on, the NYT and various other liberal groups are trying to assure us that starvation is a painless even "euphoric" way to go. I hope all of you will remember that when someone next approaches you to plead for "food for the hungry" or to talk of all the starving children, be it in Africa, Iraq, North Korea, or downtown Chicago, you will look them straight in the eye and say, with Ebenezer Scrooge, "If they be like to die, they had better do it and decrease the surplus population." When you see pictures of bloated children in Kenya, tell the person showing them to you, "Why, I do declare, they've never looked more beautiful or peaceful." When someone whines to you about food disappearing for animals, like polar bears or elephants or squirrels or whatever happens to be the latest rage, tell them where to get off to the tune of, "Well, it won't hurt them to lose a little weight." If your dog is dying, as mine is, don't take it to the vet and have it put to sleep, just stop feeding and watering it. It'll die a "gentle, painless" death in a couple weeks. A cardinal from the Catholic Church (pay attention, Observer) declared on Good Friday: "Things haven't changed much in 2000 years; we still put to death innocent people who bother us." Terri Schiavo has committed no crime--if she had, the Left would be clamoring for her civil rights. I have a suggestion to make: let that creep who murdered the nine-year-old Florida girl be tied up and turned over to her family. Let no judge intervene: it's a family affair. Those terrorists in Guantanamo? Let's not only smear them with fake menstrual blood, let's stop feeding them. It costs us money to feed, money that could be used to rescue social security, and terrorists are a blight on society. Besides which, something that can be established for Islamic terrorists beyond shadow of a reasonable doubt (but can't for Terri Schiavo) is that they would rather die. After all, their religion promises that if they are martyrs for the cause, they get into paradise. Very well then. Let's make them martyrs. We'll make the world more peaceful and serene and the Islamo-fascists can peacefully slip into the arms of their God. Of course in a year or two, President Bush will get an email signed "Allah" saying, "Quit killing them. I only have so many virgins." It's a more serene way to go after all than to shoot them. It gives them plenty of time to prepare and we all save money. And while you're at it, end any overseas funding of feeding the hungry programs. Those people in Africa probably don't want to live in such adverse circumstances either. It's much more serene to starve to death. Yeah, I stand to benefit from starving Africans (in that my tax money can go to more useful things) but after all, Michael Schiavo stands to benefit from Terri's death too and he is a reasonable source. This is not a Republican-Demnocratic split. Senator Joe Liebermann (D-Conn.) is in favor of life on this issue. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) is not. It comes down to a matter of principles over politics. Those who value human life over those who simply want to see Bush humiliated. The main difference between myself and the Observer is that I wish to let the guilty die and the innocent live; the Observer would rather the innocent die and the guilty live.

On a related note: to my fellow conservatives, don't be too hard on Governor Bush. He's doing all he can. If it were a Governor Reno (as it would have been if she had her way) and the issue was a little boy seeking asylum in the US, laws would have been set at defiance. But we cannot act that way. We would only set precendent for future lawless regimes like that of Bill Clinton. To those who would say that Clinton already set the precedent, I would just say we don't want to emulate it. We are not like them.