:: ::

:: 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

:: Saturday, December 16, 2006 ::

Rumsfeld's parting observation; a "gathering storm":

There are people who have written that this administration is a victim of its success, due to the fact that there hasn't been another attack inside the United States. I remember shortly after Sept. 11, I met with the Sultan of Oman in a tent. It must have been 150 degrees. We were perspiring through every piece of clothing we had on. He said this terrible thing that's happened might be a blessing in disguise. It may be the thing that will wake up the world to the danger these extremists pose, before those people get their hands on chemical or biological or nuclear weapons where they could kill many multiples of what they were able to kill on Sept. 11.

This was a man sitting in a tent in the desert with that perspective and understanding of the dangers of extremists. It did for a short while, but then that threat diminished in their minds, whereas it not only has not diminished in reality - it has grown because of the advances in technologies. Look at the Johns Hopkins exercise with smallpox called Dark Winter. It was put in three airports in America. Something between 800,000 and 1 million people 'died' in some number of months, or a year, from a disease people are no longer vaccinated against. So there are things that can be done. There's a tendency for a lot of people to be dismissive of this and to ridicule it.

Churchill's phrase about the gathering storm - there was a storm gathering, but there were people in Europe who didn't believe it and who didn't take the periodic storm clouds and the squalls as a real threat. They thought they were transitory and, of course, paid an enormous penalty in treasure and life for their failure to understand the nature of that threat. I worry we are in a gathering storm and we do not, as a society, accept it. Many of the elites of our society, the key opinion leaders, are unwilling or unable to accept what an awful lot of people believe to be the case. The penalty for being wrong can be enormous.

- Donald Rumsfeld

And should a million or so people die from such a stunt, the progressive/liberal kooks will predictably still blame BushCo. It is interesting terrorist attacks around the globe seem to have tapered off considerabley. No thanks to the usefull idiots in Hollywood and MSM [the 'elites of our society'].

:: Max 8:45 AM [+] ::
...

---

I feel sorry for these people. They've got American liberals and the global media to thank for their future that now looks very bleak indeed.

:: Max 9:41 PM [+] ::
...

---

I know Instapundit has already posted this but I thought I would link to it and keep it up here on top for a few days so that all 12 of my loyal readers won't miss it. Make sure and share this as widely as possible.

:: Max 9:11 PM [+] ::
...

---

Blog Alert: For a foray into Orwellian PC excesses that will make your head explode, drop by Political Correctness Watch [ductape optional].

:: Max 10:25 AM [+] ::
...

---

If you wanna get media, read Jeff Jarvis. Well?

:: Max 9:52 PM [+] ::
...

---

If you really want to know what's going on, last place you wanna look is MSM. Instead, look to reliable sources like Michael Totten.

:: Max 9:40 PM [+] ::
...

---

Now Playing: The Eight Rules of Flight Club.

:: Max 9:23 PM [+] ::
...

---

Worried? Maybe you shouldn't be. Things are about as good as they've ever been for vast numbers of people - and - it's only getting better.

:: Max 6:58 PM [+] ::
...

---

Crikey! It's IED Hunter!

:: Max 1:29 PM [+] ::
...

---

The Venezuealians go to the polls on Sunday. Val Prieto wants your thoughts on the outcome. Go vote.

:: Max 11:22 AM [+] ::
...

---

Researchers discover women talk three times more than men. Greg Gutfeld observes: "What the research doesn't make clear: whether women use more words than men, or just repeat the same ones over and over and over again."

:: Max 10:02 AM [+] ::
...

---

Looks like "The Flying Imams" were [surprise] up to no good after all. Hope someone remembered to thank "Pauline" and the "normal" Muslims that apparently assisted the flight crew on U.S. Airways flight 300. And kudos to U.S. Air for not caving in with a bunch of multi-culti PC backsliding. I got a feeling we're gonna be seeing a lot more of this kind of sh*t in the future.

Related from Tim Blair: "Anti-war leftists are remarkably inclined to fear if they perceive their own lives to be at risk."

:: Max 9:29 AM [+] ::
...

---

Now Playing: Interview with Abdallah Al-Bishi, Mecca's Executioner. Wow.

:: Max 8:53 PM [+] ::
...

---