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:: MAX BLACK ::

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." --C.S. Lewis

"The Swiss pocket knife of conservative thought on the web..." - Eli Kardrakian

"Bookmark Max and dump your subscription to the newspaper; if you don't have a birdcage you really don't need it anyway..." - Shirley St. James

:: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 ::

Umm, just go here now. [this is what the newsroom at the New York Times probably looked like as the '04 election returns rolled in.]

:: Max 4:48 PM [+] ::
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War is not the answer? Heh...

:: Max 5:33 PM [+] ::
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Somehow, it's both comforting and bizarre to realize Barney Fife will live for centuries, nay, eons to come via re-runs of The Andy Griffith Show. Here's his official website.

:: Max 11:54 AM [+] ::
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Hands down the most outstanding Secretary of State ever. C'mon Condi, throw your hat in the ring, don't make us beg.

Via No Pasaran!

:: Max 6:46 PM [+] ::
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*-O)):~{>

:: Max 5:19 PM [+] ::
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Here's a handy little blog you'll want to bookmark: Gethuman. Just go see for yourself [>]

:: Max 7:49 AM [+] ::
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The Boston Phoenix tells it's readers why it won't publish "the cartoons" [cue the sound of liberal hand-wringing]:

"Out of fear of retaliation from the international brotherhood of radical and bloodthirsty Islamists who seek to impose their will on those who do not believe as they do. This is, frankly, our primary reason for not publishing any of the images in question. Simply stated, we are being terrorized, and as deeply as we believe in the principles of free speech and a free press, we could not in good conscience place the men and women who work at the Phoenix and its related companies in physical jeopardy. As we feel forced, literally, to bend to maniacal pressure, this may be the darkest moment in our 40-year publishing history."

Well, at least they're honest yellow-bellied cowards. MSM on the other hand still hasn't copped to the plea...

[see, if EVERYBODY published the stupid cartoons...er, well, oh never mind. Jeez. I thought these guys bought their ink by the barrel yada yada yada.]

Talk about yer quashing of yer free-speech! The contrast here kinda makes John Ashcroft look like a card carrying member of the ACLU. Hmmm.

Speaking of the ACLU, where-in-the-hell are all the lefty, free-speech busy-bodies when you really need them?

["hey dude, don't bogart that bong. I've got a NAMBLA hearing in about an hour and I really need to get my buzz on..."]

:: Max 11:34 PM [+] ::
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Cpl. Brett Lundstrom, 22 earns the Eagle Feather - and an American Flag. This is why we win.

:: Max 11:29 PM [+] ::
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Er, Thanks!

"In view of the traffic milestone on this lowly little amateur blog, I also offer a "thankyou!" to those in mainstream media, who all this week have specifically directed their readers and viewers to "the internet" to view the controversial Mohammed cartoons.

It is reassuring to know that those who have so casually submitted their democratic press freedoms to the rule of Sharia law, are at least willing to cede their subscribers to those who won't.

-Kate McMillan

Amen and congratulations Kate. Here's another incindiary graphic MSM is reluctant to publish:



Yikes!

:: Max 8:04 AM [+] ::
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Wow. MEMRI has aggregated a number of political cartoons depicting Joooz from the Iranian media. More here.

:: Max 1:49 PM [+] ::
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Quote of the Day

"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity.

The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities - but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome."

-Sir Winston Churchill (The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages248-50 (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899). Via The American Thinker

:: Max 2:25 PM [+] ::
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One would think by now, Robert (can I buy a vowel) Fisk would want to consider another line of work. That he continues on this way suggests that he's simply a masochist.

:: Max 10:45 PM [+] ::
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Omar at Iraq the Model has posted an insider's assessment of the ridiculous Cartoon Jihad summarizing with this:

"even if the entire EU apologizes it won't change a thing; fanatics in our countries here had always considered the west their infidel arrogant crusader enemy and no apology no matter how big or sincere can change that."

Read the whole thing.

:: Max 3:41 PM [+] ::
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"The great British philosopher John Stuart Mill wrote in On Liberty, "Strange it is, that men should admit the validity of the arguments for free discussion, but object to their being 'pushed to an extreme'; not seeing that unless the reasons are good for an extreme case, they are not good for any case."

"The cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten raise the most important question of our times: freedom of expression. Are we in the west going to cave into pressure from societies with a medieval mindset, or are we going to defend our most precious freedom -- freedom of expression, a freedom for which thousands of people sacrificed their lives?

"A democracy cannot survive long without freedom of expression, the freedom to argue, to dissent, even to insult and offend. It is a freedom sorely lacking in the Islamic world, and without it Islam will remain unassailed in its dogmatic, fanatical, medieval fortress; ossified, totalitarian and intolerant. Without this fundamental freedom, Islam will continue to stifle thought, human rights, individuality; originality and truth.

"Unless, we show some solidarity, unashamed, noisy, public solidarity with the Danish cartoonists, then the forces that are trying to impose on the Free West a totalitarian ideology will have won; the Islamization of Europe will have begun in earnest. Do not apologize."

--Muslim dissident Ibn Warraq

Update: Mark Steyn, need I say more?

:: Max 7:58 AM [+] ::
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Hugh Hewitt has posted a civilized and measured response to the silly cartoon fiasco. Read it.

Update: Arab bloggers are weighing in. Check-out The Big Pharaoh who places the boycott of Danish goods in its proper perspective, The Religious Policeman who republishes "sacred" images from the "Mohammad Image Archive" (?!) and Omar at Iraq the Model who throws gasoline on the raging fire by posting some highly "provocative" political cartoons from Iraq.

Update II: Buckley speaks.

More: "have some Havarti" (and a Carlsberg!).

:: Max 11:09 PM [+] ::
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