Founding Fathers Banned.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader realized that it was only a matter of time before some overzealot anti-religous school official decided that banning literature wasn’t enough. According to a Reuters article linked by Kevin at Wizbang the Declaration of Independence, George Washington’s journals, and presumably many writings of Thomas Jefferson have been banned from the curriculum. Why? Because they refer to God.

This is just too much. Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure that stupified, gobsmacked, or flummoxed even start to convey the sheer idiocy of the school principal in question.

Perhaps the Smallholder can speculate on how you can teach American History without mentioning the Founding Fathers or the Founding Documents of our Republic.

Idiots.

Carry on.

Reading the Riot Act

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is glad to see the invocation of the Riot Act of 1714 being reproduced on the web. He first noticed it on Rite Wing TechnoPagan who in turn noticed it on Volokh.

A quick review of the web also give you other fun links. Like this Wikipedia link (from which your Maximum Leader learned that the Riot Act was - sadly - repealed in 1973).

But for full effect, go to this page in the Guttenberg E-book Project. It contains the full text of the Riot Act of 1714. And it is a great example of fine reading laws.

Carry on.

How Does Your Maximum Leader Get a Ticket?

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader saw this on the news wires: Town Raffles Rifles to Raise Money for School. Your Maximum Leader wants to know how he can get a ticket. Hell, the Smallholder needs one too. He borrows guns as it is. We need to fix him up with one of his own.

Carry on.

You Don’t Say? Witnesses Disagree?

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that the stories are beginning to come out in the hunter shooting incident. And (surprise, surprise) the stories don’t agree. The shooter says he was confronted with racial epithets and was shot at first. A surviving victim says that the shooter walked away when confronted about trespassing then opened fire at about 100 yards.

It is all very very sad. And it gives responsible gun owners reason to cringe.

Carry on.

Musings on Judas

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is very pleased that at least one reader took the time to read your Maximum Leader’s musings on Judas Iscariot.

On his blog, Bill comments thoughtfully on some of the problems your Maximum Leader brought up in thinking about Judas.

Your Maximum Leader is a strong believer in free will. And his general theological tendency is towards believing in a God who does not intercede in events (much - if at all). But, the case of Judas is a tough one.

If you accept the authenticity of the accounts in the Gospels, then it is pretty clear that Jesus knew that one of his trusted disciples would betray him. Jesus also seemed to know of the necessity of his betrayal to set in motion events that were essential to the salvation of man. If one accepts these premises, it would certainly appear as though Judas was the predetermined patsy in the story. It seems particularly vengeful of God to condemn Judas for something that God willed be done.

Not that your Maximum Leader would presume to think that God might not be that vengeful…

If one really wants to start reading between the lines, perhaps the act of betrayal was predestined and that could have been forgiven. But Judas’ realiztion of the magnitude of his deeds and his subsequent suicide were his free will choices.

Or, if you want to just be a skeptic, perhaps the Gospels were written with an eye towards creating a scapegoat for all history. Perhaps the authors of the Gospels embellished the story a little and they “created” Jesus’ foreknowledge of the events of his demise?

Humm…

Carry on.

Lincoln Collection Auctioned

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader reads that one of the largest private collections of Abraham Lincoln memorabilia is up for auction in Los Angeles. The family of collector Lloyd Ostendorf is selling the collection because they don’t want the “stress” of maintaining it. The million dollars probably eases the stress some.

Your Maximum Leader wonders if the National Archives or the Smithsonian Institution shouldn’t try to pony up the money and purchase this collection on behalf of the citizens of our Republic? Your Maximum Leader, generally a great supporter of private collections, would approve of such a sale.

Carry on.

Idiocy and Miracles

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader allows this next item to pass without comment.

Cheese Sandwch Bought for $28,000.

Okay, one comment. Yes, you read that correctly. A 10 year old, mold-free, grilled cheese sandwich bearing the imprimatur of the Virgin Mary was purchased on ebay for $28,000.

It is truly a miracle.

Carry on.

Father Christmas Arrested at Buckingham Palace.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that the Brits are taking the security of their sovereign monarch seriously for once. It seems as though Santa Claus has been arrested at Buckingham Palace and charged with causing criminal damage and creating a public nusiance.

In this respect, Santa now joins the illustrious ranks of Batman & Robin, Spiderman, and the late Princess Diana as people who have caused a disturbance at the Palace.

It seems as though Santa was protesting for more rights for divorced and separated fathers in Britain. And who knew that his long-lasting marriage to Mrs. Claus (a firery-redhead if the photos are to be believed) was on the rocks? Your Maximum Leader supposes the Heat Miser will have a shot at Mrs. Claus before too long.

And your Maximum Leader supposes that HM the Queen will be getting coal for Christmas.

Carry on.

Dinosaurs, DoDo Birds, Tape

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader takes a moment to report the obvious. While he knows that all his minions are technology savvy people; some other out there are not so swift. And now… The death knell sounds for the VHS system.

VHS is dead! Long live the DVD!

Of course, it is only a matter of time before the DVD goes the way its illustrious predecessors, the Beta and the VHS…

Excursus: Your Maximum Leader is told that Beta tape is still widely used in TV production. Is this so? If any minions can educate your Maximum Leader on this narrow topic it would be appreciated.

Carry on.

Dead Hunters

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure what to make of this story yet. You know the one where the hunter from Minnesota shot and killed some hunters in Wisconsin.

Yesterday it seemed as though one hunter killed six other hunters in a wanton shootout; then gave himself up when the manhunt began. Now, the suspect says he was shot at first by the other hunters. No charges filed yet.

There is still something missing from this whole tale. Your Maximum Leader imagines we’ll start to hear more soon.

Carry on.

Musing on Porn Addiction.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that the good Smallholder has declared Nakedvillainy to be “All Ally All The Time.” While your Maximum Leader is great and can direct his Leaderly Love to many different lovely minions, he does want to write something about one of Ally’s recent posts.

Ally writes about porn addiction in a recent post. Your Maximum Leader is somewhat conflicted on porn actually. He believes it has a general coarsening affect on civil society and contributes to forces that rend apart traditional morals and norms that preserve civilization itself. On the other hand, he believes in personal freedom and free will and the marketplace. Those forces should also be allowed to work to provide porn to those who want it. He generally believes that access to porn should be restrictive, but the nature and type of porn produced should not be limited by government.

Excursus: Your Maximum Leader thinks he blogged once before on how he thought there should be an internet “red light” district. Defined by something like a “dot XXX” extension. Of course, how you define porn is a sticky wicket and likely the subject of a future post all its own…

So what is the purpose of this post you ask? Well, it is to discuss porn addiction of a sort. This is not at all related to any details of Ally’s life; as your Maximum Leader doesn’t know any to comment upon. But Ally’s post caused him to remember a couple whom he knew at one point….

You see, Ally’s post was not the first one in which he’s heard of a married man preferring to sit at his computer and surf for naked teem nympho sluts than go and nail his good lady wife. Indeed, your Maximum Leader knew a couple who are now divorced where this (porn addiction that is) was a contributing factor to the breakup of the marriage.

In his case, the wife (Jane) while in court declared that her husband (Dick - heh…) was “addicted to porn.” Jane declared that Dick would spend hours looking at porn on the internet, reading “dirty magazines,” and watching “adult films.” She further declared that she thought his love of porn was like committing adultery with thousands of women.

Excursus: And if you are both a devout Christian and a married man fantasizing about having sex with nude hairy pregnant teen nympho sluts you are committing adultery. And just to be even handed about this, if you are both a devout Christian and a married woman fantasizing about having sex with naked sweaty abs-of-steel big-dicked man-sluts you too are committing adultery. And as adulterers you should be put to death. Of course it seems in modern parlance “put to death” which used to mean something fun like stoning or slow eviseration now means “put through the ringer by lawyers who suck the life blood out of you.”

So, where was your Maximum Leader… Oh yes… Anecdotally speaking…

Well, Dick (in our Dick and Jane senario) countered that he really had no recourse but to turn to porn. Dick, it seems, had “needs.” Dick had twice a day “needs.” Or so he said. (And so his “special doctor” said too.) When Dick and Jane were dating, it seemed that once or twice a day wasn’t all that outrageous. When Dick and Jane were newlyweds, once or twice a day wasn’t an imposition. But about a year into their marriage, daily was too much for Jane. And by the three year mark, Jane was a once or twice a quarter type of gal. Dick had a choice to make, find sex in the arms of another woman; or find sex at the tip of his mouse-clicking finger.

Now if you are female, perhaps all you might need to take the place of your man is your handy Milesian do-it-yourself kit. But men are a little different. They like the visual stimulation that sometimes comes with taking the matter into their own hands.

So, your Maximum Leader asks, is porn addiction in a marriage bad if one party is not satisfying the needs of the other? In the case of the couple your Maximum Leader knew, sex was just one part of the problem. (As is so often the case. One particularly salacious part however…) If a person likes the hormone rush and feeling that is part and parcel of the sexual experience and is used to getting it - then doesn’t get it anymore should they be allowed to seek it out in other places within reason?

As your Maximum Leader was typing this, Mrs. Villain came down and started reading over his shoulder. (A practice your Maximum Leader cannot stand actually. He normally minimizes the screen and refuses to talk about what he is typing. But in this case, he let Mrs. Villain read…) She believes that porn, while bad in a larger societal sense, is only damaging to a marriage (and adulterous perhaps) if it becomes a replacement by one party to physical relations which are offered by the second party in a marriage. Your Maximum Leader would have to agree with that too. (And not just because Mrs. Villain said so.)

All in all, perhaps studying “porn addiction” isn’t all that bad an idea. Your Maximum Leader supposes that if there are Sex Addictions listed in the DSM, a subset of sex addiction would be porn addition. Of course the article to which Ally linked makes it sound as though there is a particular slant to the aim of the studies. (Which makes one wonder about the validity of the research before it begins doesn’t it?)

So… Where does all of this lead? Nowhere really. Like the end of an Eddie Izzard show, this post is concluding with you the reader minion saying “Humm… Is that it?” to yourself.

Yes. That is all.

Carry on.

What is Meritorious?

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is the gift that just keeps on giving. More food for thought. This time the topic is what is wrong with academe.

Read this wonderful post by Roger Kimball on Armavirumque. And allow your Maximum Leader to say that any blog that quotes Lord Melbourne freely in the opening lines of a post can’t be bad.

Now think… Are non-profit foundations really helping the state of academe in America? What was O’Sullivan’s Law again? Any organization that is not specifically chartered to promote a conservative agenda becomes more liberal over time. Surely the Mellon’s didn’t figure that one day their millions would go to subsidize “junior faculty who have a demonstrated commitment to eradicating racial disparities, and breaking down stereotypes and promoting cross-racial understanding in their university communities.”

And from what your Maximum Leader reads, other foundations are even more egregious in their funding determinations than is the Mellon Foundation.

Carry on.

Judas

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was just thinking aloud on the phone with the Smallholder. And a theological question came to him. He figured he’d post it.

Judas Iscariot.

Riddle your Maximum Leader this… Can Judas really be held responsible for his betrayal of Jesus if one is a good reformed Protestant Christian and believes in predestination? If you do, then it was in God’s own plan that Judas do what he did. How can you hold him in fault for something he was predestined to do? Without Judas, how would Jesus have fulfilled his purpose?

Even if you don’t believe in predestination, think about it. Jesus would have still needed a betrayer. Jesus had foreknowledge of his betrayal, though perhaps not his betrayer. This would imply, at least, that it was in the Divine Plan for someone to act in the role of betrayer. Can that person, Judas Iscariot, really be fully culpable for his role in The Plan? Does he deserve to be devoured by Satan in the lowest circle of Hell?

Just asking.

Carry on.

Superhero Quiz

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader saw this quiz over on TexasBestGrok and he decided to take it. Well the responses made him laugh aloud so he’s decided to post the results.

Your Superhero Persona
by couplandesque
Your Name
Superhero Name The Scotsman
Super Power Impeccable Hearing
Enemy J-Lo
Mode Of Transportation Giant Hamster Named Skippy
Weapon A Stapler
Quiz created with MemeGen!

Heh. A giant hamster named Skippy. Heh. Skippy.

Carry on.

So where do you guys find the time?

I check in here far more than I post. I just have to wonder though where you guys are finding all the time to post. And not only that, but when your not creating entertaining missives here at Naked Villiany, you are reading or commenting on other peoples blogs.

Geesh and I only have ONE kid!

Anyho.

In the minutes before my wife finishes getting the wee one to sleep so we can have the obligatory “Anniversary Sex” (which by the way is akin to the obligatory “Birthday Sex” (mine was just a few weeks ago Oct 31st), I have a minute or two to chime in.

Where or where is our esteemed Propaganda Minister? I can only assume that he is not still working for Kerry 04 (maybe he is on the team for Kerry 08?).

I have to admit that in the free time I have had (which is usually about 9PM-1AM) I have crafted a web site dedicated to Early 18th Century High Seas Piracy go ahead take a look!

One of my manifestations of Geekiness is that I have been into Living History since about the 8th Grade. I have participated in everything from WW2 to 15th Century (I did 15th C at Warwick Castle even!).

My latest passion is Pirate stuff.

The other thing I have been doing is going to Flea Markets here in Germany. Amazing the things that one can find. Last weekend I foundsome 1870s beer steins for $5! Just about every Sunday there is a market somewhere.

Anyway, my wife just gave me the “come hither” look so I am going to get Lucky!

Back to the…..

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