Free Republic

If by Rudyard Kipling

She has won the good opinion of countless readers with her sparklingly witty prose. And now – in something of a snub to the Bard – Jane Austen has been voted the greatest British author of all time. The Georgian-era novelist beat Shakespeare to take top spot, with 44 per cent of the vote.

This republic endures when people vote based on what they think will be right and good for all of us. Americans donÂ’t pay tribute. There is a palpable fear on the left that each new spasm of rioting and violence in the streets will drive more people away from their side. While Joe Biden himself is not tossing bricks and setting fire to police cars, his Democratic Party is the home of those who would excuse the rioters while Republicans are more likely to condemn street violence. It is natural that people who oppose anarchy in their cities and towns...

In the miasma of the Chinese Virus, at least I have my cat.Waking up is the unnerving part. Another day to dwell inside cut off from the world with only our screens slowly leaking information. Bagheera, my black cat seems confused. She is more attentive than usual and I have the sense she knows something is wrong, or maybe I’m just going crazy. What time is it? What day is it? Does anyone know? Does anyone care? I’ve always felt that time well spent feels like it goes by very quickly, but in retrospect it feels like it lasted for...

STUDENTS painted over Rudyard Kipling's poem 'If' claiming the Jungle Book author was racist. They replaced the wall mural with Still I Rise by Maya Angelou saying Kipling stood for the "opposite of liberation, empowerment and human rights". Sara Khan, Liberation and Access Officer at the University of Manchester Students Union, said on Facebook: "A failure to consult students during the process of adding art to the newly renovated SU building resulted in Rudyard Kipling's work being painted on the first floor last week. "We, as an exec team, believe that Kipling stands for the opposite of liberation, empowerment, and...

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all RINOs doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, And your hair don’t look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Hillary and Paul Ryan And...

The Female of the Species WHEN the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride, He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn aside. But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail. For the female of the species is more deadly than the male. When Nag the basking cobra hears the careless foot of man, He will sometimes wriggle sideways and avoid it if he can. But his mate makes no such motion where she camps beside the trail. For the female of the species is more deadly than the male. When the early Jesuit...

Debate after presidential debate, the talk has been about issues alone.  But ABC's Republican Debate in New Hampshire was different.   This time the moderators did a good job of also challenging the candidates on their experience. That a very positive development.   The moderators did a great job: best debate so far, I think. Rubio was certainly caught flatfooted by Christie's attack.   Rubio didn't have a good response, so he just kept repeating the same canned attack on Obama.   That was one helluva a beating he took. And Christie was absolutely right.  There's no substitute for...

I’ve outsourced my post today to Neo-Neocon and Rudyard Kipling, both of whom, in their own way, have written about black holes: Nature abhors a vacuumFirst, Neo: she wrote an excellent article discussing the enigma that is our magic negro president. Nature abhors a vacuumIt continues the ongoing debate of whether Barry is a fool or a knave (spoiler alert: they are not mutually exclusive). And she includes interesting insights from various other authors: In my recent post exploring the life and work of the remarkable Brit F. L. Lucas, I came across a quotation that’s particularly apt: “One may question...

I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer, The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here." The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die, I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I: O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away"; But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play, The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play, O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play. I went into a theatre as sober as...

"RUDYARD KIPLING 1865-1936 " Glenn had some fun during his second hour mocking the abject stupidity and craven ignorance of people like Rosie O'Donnell and Helen Thomas. (Listen to audio 3:44) In his second hour Glenn had more fun with a handful of the 512 comments left at a Huffington Post review of the newly released trailer (above) promoting Glenn's book "The Overton Window" due out five days from now. (Listen to audio 2:39) Glenn knows that anything with his name attached to it will attract derisive comments. And it certainly did, with most of the brainiac commenters on the...

So, Barack Obama, in pursuit of a world in which nuclear weapons are “obsolete,” just announced [1] that he is “revamping American nuclear strategy to substantially narrow the conditions” under which the United States would use such weapons. To set an “example” to other nations, the president also announced that the United States was renouncing the development of any new nuclear weapons. What sort of “example” do you suppose this sets? To begin to comprehend what the president has in mind, contemplate these two declarations, just reported in The New York Times: For the first time, the United States is...

BY 9 in the morning, the bazaar on a rocky island in the Panj River was a frenetic scene of haggling and theatrics. Afghan traders in long tunics and vests hawked teas, toiletries and rubber slippers. Turbaned fortune tellers bent over ornate Persian texts, predicting futures for the price of a dollar. Tajik women bargained over resplendent bolts of fabric. All were mingling this bright Saturday at a weekly market held throughout the year and, in one form or another, for thousands of years here in the Wakhan Valley, which divides Tajikistan and Afghanistan. “Mousetraps, mousetraps, mousetraps, oooowww!” crooned a...

August 08, 2006, 3:11 p.m. If— (you want to be a true jihadi) By John Derbyshire For some reason my imagination was caught by the news last week that Osama bin Laden has sent his son Saad off to fight with Hezbollah in Lebanon.  Having Mozart-ized this little snippet in last week’s Radio Derb, I thought I might as well Kipling-ize it, too. Perhaps Rudyard Kipling’s best-known poem, and surely the best-known hortatory poem in the English language, is “If—”  which appeared in a 1910 volume of historical stories for children.  The two children who are principal characters in...

"For All We Have And Are" 1914 For all we have and are, For all our children's fate, Stand up and take the war. The Hun is at the gate! Our world has passed away, In wantonness o'erthrown. There is nothing left to-day But steel and fire and stone! Though all we knew depart, The old Commandments stand: -- "In courage keep your heart, In strength lift up your hand." Once more we hear the word That sickened earth of old: -- "No law except the Sword Unsheathed and uncontrolled." Once more it knits mankind, Once more the nations go...

[IF] If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you But make allowance for their doubting too, If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream--and not make dreams your master, If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat...

The Sons of Mary seldom bother, for they have inherited that good part; But the Sons of Martha favour their Mother of the careful soul and the troubled heart. And because she lost her temper once, and because she was rude to the Lord her Guest, Her Sons must wait upon Mary's Sons, world without end, reprieve, or rest. It is their care in all the ages to take the buffet and cushion the shock. It is their care that the gear engages; it is their care that the switches lock. It is their care that the wheels run truly;...

PALMDALE - When Allan Walker was a teenager at Highland High School, he was the type of student everyone could relate to - scholar, athlete, punk rocker and troublemaker. Ten years later his alma mater made him the center of their Memorial Day services on Friday morning. Walker, a staff sergeant for the U.S. Marine Corps, was killed in combat in Ramadi, Iraq, on April 6 - three days before his 29th birthday. Walker was the first Antelope Valley resident killed in combat in Iraq. "Allan Walker was an unlikely hero," said Jim Root, who taught him algebra in the...

'Take up the White Man's burden," Rudyard Kipling implored the Americans in 1899 as they began ruling the Philippines, hoping that they would better the lot of the inhabitants, whom he characterised as "new-caught, sullen peoples,/ Half devil and half child". That poem has wrecked Kipling's standing with bien-pensant opinion ever since, but as the United States now bravely embarks on its much more modern form of empire-lite, his reinstatement as a serious political figure - as opposed to merely a pre-eminent phrase-coiner - has received a huge boost. The Elizabeth Longford Historical Biography prize has been awarded to David...

Crown jewel of American empire Posted: April 23, 2003 By Patrick J. Buchanan "Take Up the White Man's burden," Britain's poet of empire, Rudyard Kipling, admonished Teddy Roosevelt's America in 1899. The United States had just triumphed in the Spanish-American War to liberate Cuba and, as war booty, had annexed the Philippine Islands. We must "Christianize" them, President McKinley explained. Defeating Spain had been as easy as crushing Iraq. But holding the Philippines would require three years of Vietnam-style fighting against the guerrillas of Aquinaldo, which cost tens of thousands of Filipino lives. And many more Americans died fighting the...