Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is trying to make some time to blog. Why you might ask? Well, no reason in particular save that of thinking that he might have something to (virtually) say. There was one specific impetus today to write. He read a blurb on some website he frequents (and cannot recall now) that interviewed some very tech savvy people and asked them what ancient technology they insisted on keeping though it was very much outdated. One person talked about an old touch tone phone at their home they loved. Another talked about an old calendar notebook. But one said a blog.

A blog you say…

Hummm… Your Maximum Leader has one of those. Is this medium truly ancient and dead? Well. If it is it makes your Maximum Leader more resolved to try and keep using it.

So…

Your Maximum Leader has been thinking about death a little bit recently. The thought was first brought on a few weeks ago when Mrs Villain’s grandmother passed away. She was 105 and 3 months. She was, if your Maximum Leader might be forgiven for sounding uncaring, ready to go. And it was her time. Indeed, it was past her time. Probably 3-7 years past her time depending on which event one might want to use as a delineation. (She broke her hip about 7 years back and became mostly immobile at that point. But about 3 years ago her sight and hearing gave out pretty much continually - there were days when she seemed to be able to hear better than others.)

Regardless. She shuffled her mortal coil without excessive suffering or illness. As your Maximum Leader tweeted that night (using a paraphrase of a prayer that jumped into his awareness), the long burden of years was lifted for her.

In some ways, the long burden of her years was lifted for the rest of us as well. Your Maximum Leader doubts that she really remembered who he was for the past few years. There were times when she seemed to recognize Villainette #1. She did always remember Mrs Villain. Your Maximum Leader was amused to himself that she was able to recall Villainette #1. Your Maximum Leader’s eldest did make an impression on “great nannie” as we called her. We took Villainette #1 up to great nannie’s house in Rhode Island a few times before age and the onset of some infirmity required the move to the assisted living facility. Great nannie must have really bonded with Villainette #1 in a way that few did afterwards. Your Maximum Leader was amused that great nannie would remember Villainette #1; but wasn’t too sure about the father of this growing girl.

Great nannie also loved the Wee Villain. Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure that she always knew that the Wee Villain was her great grandson; but he was always sure that great nannie loved boys. She raised two of her own. She always seemed to prefer the company of men (over the company of “weak women”). Your Maximum Leader thinks that, with her own strong New England personality, she just had little toleration for the public face of women in her age.

Anyhoo…

Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure exactly how he should feel about great nannie’s passing. He is a little relieved. He thinks that it is something of a blessing. At some level he might even be happy for her. But he generally isn’t sad. He’s prayed for her (now that your Maximum Leader is trying to be more observant of his Catholic faith). But he isn’t sad. Should he feel some guilt about this? Perhaps. But as far as deaths go, this one is as good as one can get.

After thinking about this peaceful passing, there are other ruminations on death that come into his mind.

Two cases in particular. That of murderer Jodi Arias and kidnapper Ariel Castro.

Allow your Maximum Leader to step back and go over some ground that he’s not trod here in a while. For those of you who might not have been around years ago at the onset of this blog (and if you weren’t your Maximum Leader has to wonder what on earth brought you here more recently), your Maximum Leader has for most of his life favored and supported the death penalty. That effectively changed thanks to a post by our bloggy friend Skippy. The post concerned the case of Cameron Todd Willingham. That post, the links in it (especially to the New Yorker piece on Cameron Todd Willingham) and later the movie Incendiary basically changed the way your Maximum Leader thinks about the death penalty and its application.

(NB: You should read all of those links. And if you get a chance, rent Incendiary. Your Maximum Leader drove from his home in Fredericksburg, VA to downtown DC to see the movie during its limited run at one cinema in the area.)

Basically, the death penalty is over applied in the US. We like to think that we are being tough on crime by prosecuting and convicting in death penalty cases. But really, we are in the end harming our justice system. The harm is caused by a pervasive sense of doubt as to how the death penalty is applied and if it was called for. Was the death penalty sought because the accused was poor? Was black? Was marginally mentally competent? Was the prosecutor up for re-election? Too many questions.

But then just as one’s mind starts to ponder the many questions about the death penalty, as person like Jodi Arias comes around.

Without restating the whole sorrid case allow your Maximum Leader to summarize Jodi Arias thusly: a somewhat cute crazy bitch murdered her sometimes boyfriend. Unlike Skippy your Maximum Leader doesn’t find Jodi Arias all that physically attractive so he doesn’t quite get the national fascination with the story. (We Americans do like to follow capital cases with a hot defendant. Your Maximum Leader is willing to concede that he might have been more interested in the Arias case if a) he had found Arias more physically attractive and b) it hadn’t just gone on and on and on and on.)

Now… In the case of Jodi Arias, the state should go ahead and execute her. This is as clear a proper application of the death penalty as there can be. Crazy woman has wild monkey sex with boyfriend in the shower. He tells her afterwards that he’s not taking her on vacation with him. Crazy woman stabs and shoots him to death and then plays stupid. Jodi Arias should, now having been convicted, be ushered quietly in front of a firing squad and shot. Sadly, only Utah still shoots people - so lethal injection it is.

Unless you are against the application of the death penalty in all cases (and bully to you if you are); your Maximum Leader can’t see any reason why Jodi Arias shouldn’t be executed. (NB to Skippy: Okay there is one reason. To be Skippy’s sex-toy for a period and then be executed.)

So now having stated a case where your Maximum Leader has no trepidation in serving up an execution, let him move on…

At lunch with some respectable men about town the other day your Maximum Leader mentioned off-handedly that Ariel Castro should not be considered for the death penalty.

Just in case you missed it, Ariel Castro is the Cleveland man who kidnapped three young girls. Raped them. Beat them. Induced miscarriages in them. And ultimately fathered a child (of rape) by one of the kidnapped girls. He repeated these crimes over and over on these girls for a period of at least 10 years.

Yet this man shouldn’t, in your Maximum Leader’s estimation, be prosecuted for capital crimes. The most simple reason for this is that none of his victims died. Now, you are thinking to yourself, “Self, what about those miscarriages.” Good point. Although he’s against abortion, it isn’t quite the same. Pregnancies end for many reasons. Even the healthiest and most careful women can miscarry. Though there is a purposeful element to the miscarriages/abortions inflicted by Castro on those poor girls, your Maximum Leader isn’t able to commit to them being murder under the laws of the land. (NB: If it turns out that there is evidence that the babies had reached a stage of development where they might have lived outside the womb if delivered; then your Maximum Leader will reconsider this opinion.) Castro is a terrible waste of a human being. But his victims live. Because of that, the state shouldn’t attempt to kill him.

Your Maximum Leader didn’t realize the shock that this position would cause at the lunch table. One of his friends asked if his opinion would be different if the victim was one of the Villainettes? Of course it would. Your Maximum Leader would seriously advocate for the execution of people who inflicted minor harms on his daughters. But, that is because your Maximum Leader is their father. The law should be applied without that passion. It should be applied rationally and at arms length. Being as objective as possible, Ariel Castro, in your Maximum Leader’s opinion shouldn’t die for his crimes. A lifetime of solitary confinement punctuated by prison shower sodomy? That seems just. But death seems too much.

You may disagree (and frankly you are welcome to). But from what he knows now, that is how your Maximum Leader sees it.

So, there are some thoughts your Maximum Leader has been having about death… And look at that… He’s made a blog post out of them. Perhaps this medium isn’t as moribund as expected.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is grateful for each and every one of you that might still come by the space. He might check his site stats at some point soon to see how many of you there might be…

Anyhooo….

Some random bloggy thoughts for you all this Thursday…

Your Maximum Leader was surprised at Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to abdicate the Throne of St. Peter. Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure why people are calling this a retirement (or even worse saying the Pope is quitting). Since the Pope is the autocratic head of a sovereign state it would seem as though this is more an abdication than a retirement. After some reflection your Maximum Leader thinks that Benedict is doing the right thing by stepping aside. The government of the Roman Catholic Church (the Roman Curia as it were) needs reform and a more youthful and vigorous hand to lead it. This isn’t just your Maximum Leader’s take after reading reports all over the interwebs. Anyone with half a brain who’s looked at the Roman Curia at all in the past 30 years can see how it needs to be reformed and revamped. A modern church (that is a church functioning in the modern age - not “modernizing” theology as many would advocate) requires a modern Curia and bureaucracy. The Benedict and JPII were both proclaimers of the Word. The church, for what your Maximum Leader’s opinion is worth (NB: not much), needs to reform how it works very badly.

In fact, your Maximum Leader would entertain speculation that the condition of the Roman Curia and its need for reform is THE primary reason why the Pope is abdicating…

One more thought on the Pope’s abdication… Your Maximum Leader thinks he should go to a quiet monastery for the rest of his life and be known as “Brother Josef.”

Your Maximum Leader doesn’t give a damn about Chuck Hagel and if he is confirmed as Secretary of Defense. Frankly, unless there is some glaring (generally criminal or nearly criminal) action for which a nominee is responsible; the President should get whomever he wants in whatever job he wants the person in. Elections have consequences you know. Hell, your Maximum Leader doesn’t want John Kerry as Secretary of State… But in your Maximum Leader’s opinion being a misguided dickhead in and of itself is not a disqualification for the office.

Your Maximum Leader doesn’t like the games both sides are playing with all this sequestration stuff. As your Maximum Leader sees it, the House will be blamed for everything regardless of the veracity of the attribution of blame. The President will say (and be believed in saying) that he tried to work with Congress, but his calls fell on ears deafened by partisanship. Harry Reid will say that the Senate was ready to work with the President and the House and he can’t do anything more. And Speaker Boehner will say he tried too, but no one will believe him. So, your Maximum Leader has come to the conclusion that the House Leadership needs to get whatever support they can from Democrats and Republicans in that chamber and make a deal that can get passed. The continuing rancor and inaction is having too much negative impact on the US (and World) economy that getting a deal done is becoming more and more important. Uncertainty is a core problem now in all things economic. Providing even a little certainty will go a long way. Does your Maximum Leader think that the House should abandon long-term deficit & spending-reduction goals… No. They shouldn’t. But someone has to start doing something or the whole thing will go off the rails a lot faster than expected…

Oh yeah… Things will still go off the rails… But perhaps we can build a little more rail-line to try and work out our spending problems.

Your Maximum Leader needs to write more about Richard III. He has all sorts of thoughts on this whole matter, but just can’t seem to find a way to make time to write about them.

And finally… Your Maximum Leader is getting a whole bunch of pork belly in the next few days… That means he’ll be making bacon. Yum. Perhaps he’ll post some photos of the process… (Such as it is.)

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was wrong. Not wrong wrong; but just wrong. Sure he knew that it was not going to be a good night for Romney when New Hampshire wasn’t close. Your Maximum Leader, optimistically, thought that New Hampshire, Virginia, Florida, Iowa and Colorado were going to break for Romney. When New Hampshire broke heavy for Obama your Maximum Leader realized that his most optimistic scenario for Romney (which still had Romney losing by the way) was not going to play out. Your Maximum Leader is a little surprised at Virginia going for Obama. Your Maximum Leader had spoken with people who are well connected with both parties and figured that the Commonwealth was going to be close (which it seems to be still) but that it would break for Romney. It didn’t.

Well… There is not much else to do on this one (save the requisite blame game and internecine warfare about who is “pure” enough to win in 2016) except to say, congratulations President Obama. Your Maximum Leader hopes the next four years are better for America than the first. (But he’s not holding his breath.)

In other election thoughts… Gay marriage measures passed everywhere they were on the ballot. That is a good thing. The Federal Government should just drop all objections and road blocks to gay marriage and we should just put this issue to bed. Your Maximum Leader still isn’t sure why the courts haven’t ruled against the Defense of Marriage Act and nullified it completely… But they haven’t.

There is only one place to put the blame for the Republican party not picking up seats in the US Senate. That place is the Tea Party movement. The Tea Party got nominated people who were just unelectable to the majority of people in their states. Your Maximum Leader firmly believes that the American people are, on the balance, of a center-right persuasion in the broadest sense. But, they don’t like extremists of either party. (Some of you out there think that Obama is a left-wing extremist; your Maximum Leader has to respectfully disagree with you and say that his is more left-center than far-left.) An opportunity to win the Senate, while remote to start with, was ruined back in the summer when electable Republicans like Dick Lugar (and Olympia Snowe) were done.

Well… Enough on this one… There will be more to come in the following days and weeks.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has voted. The line was short and moved at a good clip. The good people at the Stafford County Board of Elections seem to have things well in hand now. He hopes it continues to be so during the day.

Your Maximum Leader believes he’ll turn on the TV about 10 pm tonight and see what is going on at that point. Until then he will stay away from news sources that will do nothing but bloviate nonsense until some of the east coast states start to close…

In other news… As your Maximum Leader tweeted this morning: He is looking forward to seeing ads for breakfast cereal and boner pills reappear on TV beginning tomorrow.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader supposes that he ought to give some final election predictions on this, the last day before the election. Here you go…

Your Maximum Leader, as he has for a while now, believes that President Obama will win reelection. Mitt Romney has made it close; but the electoral math just breaks the President’s way. Your Maximum Leader isn’t positive that the President will win, but he is 65% certain. Looking at the electoral breakdown, your Maximum Leader has Romney at 267 and Obama at 253 with Ohio undecided - but leaning towards the President. Your Maximum Leader gives VA, NC, NH, FL, IA, and CO to Romney. He gives NV, WI, MI and PA to the President. Your Maximum Leader also thinks that Ohio will break for Obama. That would put the final count at Obama 271 to Romney 267.

It is possible that WI and OH are still too close to call… But your Maximum Leader rather doubts it. He didn’t have these doubts last week. He thought OH was really in play. But then he started to check the early voting numbers and he sees that many more Democrats have been voting early. He has even read some numbers that imply that up to 40% of those who are going to vote in the election have already voted. Those numbers seem, to your Maximum Leader, to favor the President.

Ugh… Not good news all in all…

In Virginia, we are also voting for a US Senator. The race is between George Allen (R - former Senator and former Governor) and Tim Kaine (D - former Governor). Your Maximum Leader has, in years past, voted for George Allen. But recently your Maximum Leader has come to be persuaded that Allen probably has a wide streak of racial prejudice in him that hasn’t been reformed. That sours your Maximum Leader on Allen. Tim Kaine on the other hand seems to be a good man personally; but has supported liberal policies that make your Maximum Leader’s stomach churn. What to do? At the dinner table on Saturday night your Maximum Leader’s family had a debate about which was the better course: voting for the man who advocates policies you support - but might be a bad person; or support the man who’s policies you don’t support because you believe he is a good man. There is no simple or easy answer if you are being pragmatic. If you are judging the contest on the basis of personal ethics, the choice is clear. If you are judging on the basis of pure politics, the choice is also clear.

Your Maximum Leader can honestly say that he hasn’t fully made up his mind on this race. He feels like a turd for saying so, but he probably will not know until he steps into the voting booth. All things being equal, your Maximum Leader is likely going for Allen… Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure how this race will turn out. It will all come down to turnout in Northern Virginia. From what your Maximum Leader can tell, both President Obama and Governor Kaine have “given up” on winning Virginia south of your Maximum Leader’s home in Fredericksburg. So it all comes down to turnout in the most densely populated region of the state. If you pressed your Maximum Leader he’d say that Allen wins in a squeaker. But if your Maximum Leader is wrong on Romney winning Virginia and the state goes for Obama, then Kaine will win the Senate seat.

Of course, we in the US are also electing the whole House of Representatives. Your Maximum Leader will vote for his current Congressman, Rob Wittman. He expects that Wittman will be reelected easily.

There are also two State Constitutional Amendments on the ballot. One deals with moving the “veto session” of the General Assembly so that it does not fall on the Jewish Passover holiday. Your Maximum Leader will be voting for it and he can’t imagine why anyone would vote against it. He expects it to pass overwhelmingly.

The second amendment has to do with property rights. After the Kelo v New London decision by the US Supreme Court, many states passed laws that narrowly defined a “public purpose” that permitted the taking of private land under eminent domain. Virginia was one of those states. Many people (and political types) believe that those laws protecting private property are not strong enough in themselves but should be added to the state constitution. This amendment will add property protections to the state constitution. Your Maximum Leader will be voting for this amendment as well. He expects it to pass overwhelmingly.

So there it is.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been thinking about this for a while now…

Dear Skippy.

We hope that you know that among all the bloggers of the world, you are among our most favored. Your political insights and commentary so often mirror what we are thinking that often we don’t see the point of writing on a subject after you have discoursed on it. This election year (in the US) has not been different than past election years in that respect. We, like you, have thought from early on that Romney will be the nominee. We have also believed, as you have that President Obama will win re-election. This is not due to his deserving to be re-elected; but due to Romney and the Republicans being so pathetic.

We have read and taken to heart your many exhortations (including the latest one) that we should vote for Libertarian Gary Johnson for President of the United States. After much consideration, we have decided that we could, in good conscience, cast our vote for Governor Johnson. He is a sensible Libertarian, and although we don’t agree with him on all the issues - as if we have ever agreed with every candidate on all the issues, he does have a reasonable plan for addressing the most pressing problems facing the United States today.

This is a big step for us. We normally don’t believe in voting for 3rd party candidates in national elections. We believe that voting for the 3rd party candidate is not a “protest” vote in a meaningful sense but more “throwing one’s vote away.” This year though, the two major party candidates just aren’t doing it for us. So we have thought long and hard about voting for Governor Johnson.

But then a crazy thing happened to our home state of Virginia four years ago. For the first time in our life, Virginia went for a Democrat in a Presidential election. Virginia awarded her electoral votes to Barack Obama in 2008. Now, in 2012 it looks like Virginia is a “swing state.”

We wouldn’t need to see a talking head on some cable news program to tell us we are living in a swing state. We’ve lived it for nearly a year now. You can’t turn on the TV or radio (or often the interwebs) without being bombarded with political ads.

You know, for years we’ve wanted to see all the attack ads and know what it is like to be a contested marketplace. Now we’re wishing we could go back to the days when the only time you saw a political ad was when it was highlighted on the news or when you went looking for it on the interwebs. It has been hell. The ads are maddening in their omnipresence. It is enough to drive a man to drink (much more than he normally does).

So, Virginia is a swing state. For the first time in our lifetime, our vote actually does mean something (Presidentially speaking). Now we find we are faced with a major problem. Do we cast our vote for a deserving man (Gary Johnson) who has no chance of winning or cast our vote for Romney or Obama in hopes that our vote does affect the outcome of the national election.

We know that the press are reporting that (alternately) Virginia is very close or the President is slightly ahead. According to information we’re getting from people who have access to internal polling from the various campaigns, everything is within the margin of error of any poll.

If we thought that Virginia was going solidly for either Romney or Obama, we’d vote for Gary Johnson. But this year it seems to be a more prudent course to use the lesser of the evils approach to casting our vote. Although we don’t think it will help him in the broader Electoral picture, we will likely vote for Romney. He is not our first (or second or probably third - okay he is our second choice actually) choice; but he is a better choice than voting to re-elect President Obama. And just so you know, even using the lesser of two evils approach the choice between Romney and Obama is an unpleasant one. Neither man has a serious plan for directly addressing the most serious problems facing the US. But one man has had nearly four years to work on those problems and has pretty much fucked it up at every opportunity. So, perhaps change is the best course.

We’re actually quite disappointed that it has come to this. But there it is. We’re pretty much screwed no matter how we vote; but it is wiser to do it this way than any other.

Cordially,

Your Maximum Leader

PS - if you are ever down our way, you have an open invitation at the Villainschloss.

So there you have it.

Sad.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is sure you didn’t need him to notify you of the assaults on the Embassies of the United States in Egypt and in Libya. During the rocket attack on the Embassy in Libya, our Ambassador, Christopher Stevens, was killed with other Americans.

Like any sensible and patriotic American, your Maximum Leader is angry with Libya and Egypt. He hopes, but holds out little hope, that those who stormed our Embassy in Egypt will be severely punished. He hopes, but again holds out little hope, that those who attacked our Embassy in Libya will be hunted down and killed themselves. He would prefer if this were done through a judicial process by the governments of Libya and Egypt… But he is not hopeful.

Your Maximum Leader is unreformed when it comes to ambassadors and embassies. They are sacrosanct and must be protected at all costs by the host nation. In this he is rather like the Romans and Mongols. Harm our ambassador and we will do severe harm to your nation. Your Maximum Leader seems to recall a story about Genghis Khan going to war with some central asian Kingdom because they killed his ambassador. Genghis actually wanted peace with the kingdom, but felt he had to go to war (and destroy their cities, rape their women, and kill their sons) because of the killing of his envoy.

Now your Maximum Leader is well aware that another war is not what the US needs, wants, can afford, or is inclined to do. (As satisfying as razing Benghazi might be…) But he wouldn’t object to some airstrikes on worthwhile targets. Neither would he oppose the clandestine hunting down and killing of those we can identify as being responsible.

Your Maximum Leader would like more than a little outrage from his President and Secretary of State. But he honestly isn’t sure what they can/will do beyond their statements.

And just so you don’t think that your Maximum Leader is totally irrational in this… He is aware that there are very limited response options given that our long-term interest in these nations is to promote a stable (reasonably) pro-western government…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is going to forget how to blog if he keeps going on his intermittent rate of updating. Here are some thoughts and tidbits for your reading pleasure.

First off, in keeping with your Maximum Leader’s advocacy of King Richard III of England (per post below); you might be interested in knowing that archeologists believe that they have found the church in which Richard’s remains were buried after the King’s defeat and death at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. Here is the article: Lost medieval church found beneath parking lot. Here is the first bit of the piece:

The hunt for King Richard III’s grave is heating up, with archaeologists announcing Sept. 5 that they have located the church where the king was buried in 1485.
“The discoveries so far leave us in no doubt that we are on the site of Leicester’s Franciscan Friary, meaning we have crossed the first significant hurdle of the investigation,” Richard Buckley, the lead archaeologist on the dig, said in a statement.
Buckley and his colleagues have been excavating a parking lot in Leicester, England, since Aug. 25. They are searching for Greyfriars church, said to be the final resting place of Richard III, who died in battle during the War of the Roses, an English civil war. A century later, Shakespeare would immortalize Richard III in a play of the same name.
After his death in the Battle of Bosworth Field, Richard III was brought to Leicester and buried at Greyfriars. The location of the grave, and the church itself, was eventually lost to history, though University of Leicester archaeologists traced the likely location to beneath the parking lot for the Leicester City Council offices.

The article continues to say that if the archeologists find Richard’s grave, he will be reinterred in Leicester Cathedral.

Of course, your Maximum Leader’s readings have all pointed towards Richard’s body (bones mostly) being removed from his grave and thrown into the nearby River Soar during the Tudor dissolution of the monasteries. So it could be that Richard will not be found at all. Your Maximum Leader, for one, really hopes that they find Richard’s grave and are able to give him a proper royal burial.

Your Maximum Leader apparently bought too soon when he purchased Kindle Fires for himself (in June) and Mrs Villain (in August). Now Amazon has revamped and expanded the line of offerings in the Kindle Fire department. Your Maximum Leader is a little intrigued by the prospect of an HD Fire. The other interesting bit is the kid-proofing settings that are coming with the Kindle Fire OS upgrade. Villainette #1 and the Wee Villain frequently “borrow” one of the Kindles in the house. (The former to read books and the latter to watch videos.) It would be nice to put a filter on the items (mostly video content) that we could keep the kids from watching. Anyhooo… Your Maximum Leader should have waited and gotten the second Kindle later in the year when the new HD models were available.

Some commenters on the tablet computer market are writing that Amazon’s new Kindle Fires are game changers in the segment. Your Maximum Leader disagrees with this. He sees the Kindle Fire as an entertainment platform; whereas other tablets are computer surrogates with increased functionality. Perhaps most tablets are entertainment platforms and not computer surrogates to their owners… In which case, the new Fires might actually be game changers…

You might be curious to know your Maximum Leader’s thoughts on the recently completed national party conventions. He doesn’t have many thoughts on them. He didn’t watch anything beyond the recaps on morning newsfotainment programs (mostly ABC’s GMA to be honest). Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure how watching would benefit him at all. The candidates and their supporters are not adding anything of substance to national debate (such as it is). They are repeating tropes they’ve been trotting out for the past 18 months at least. Conventions are nothing more than pep rallies for the hardcore supporters. Your Maximum Leader can do without such pep rallies. He’s looking forward, without good reason by the way, to the Obama/Romney and Biden/Ryan debates. He is looking forward to them because there might be some real substance discussed at those events. He must emphasize the “might” in that last sentence. Debates are tightly scripted and rule-bound. That noted, they are live and extemporaneous to a limited extent. It is possible that one or both of the debaters might go off-script and something worthwhile come up. It hasn’t happened too often, but it does happen. So there is that.

So, you might be thinking, if your Maximum Leader wasn’t watching the political conventions; what was he watching. Why he was watching his beloved Washington Nationals baseball club. The Nationals continue to lead the National League East; and are battling it out for the best record in baseball (with the Cincinnati Reds). Your Maximum Leader loves baseball. He has always enjoyed watching the Nationals (in person and on TV). This season has been different. Your Maximum Leader tunes in (or arrives at the park) fully expecting to see the Nationals win a game. This has not been the case in past seasons. It is thrilling spectacle.

One of the things that makes your Maximum Leader so excited to watch the Nationals is the sheer potential of it. By potential he means that he honestly feels this team has no limitations on their ability to advance. Neither are they weighed down by history. Some of you out there might wonder what your Maximum Leader means by being weighed down by history. This is a hotly debated item. To explain further… Your Maximum Leader’s second favorite sport, ice hockey, serves as his example. His beloved Washington Capitals have been a great team for the past 5 years. But, they can’t get to the championship game in the playoffs (Division championship or Stanley Cup). The Caps are great to watch and exciting during the season. They make it to the post-season. Then your Maximum Leader expects them to make it to the second round and be eliminated. It has happened so many time in the team’s history it almost seems like a forgone conclusion. Your Maximum Leader is weighed down by negative expectations. It can be debated that the players (who come and go for the most part) feel this history as well. Players say that they don’t feel the weight of history on them as they are playing. But your Maximum Leader doubts that. The Caps potential seems limited - and will until they make it to a championship game. The Nationals aren’t like that. Baseball’s long history in Washington is punctuated by stretches of baseball’s absence from our city. While it is true that the Washington baseball club hasn’t make the playoffs since 1969 (the year your Maximum Leader was born) and hasn’t won in the playoffs since 1933 (before your Maximum Leader’s parents were born); it must be noted that there was no baseball in Washington from 1971 until 2005. So there really isn’t a history that weighs on the city or the players. This franchise can write its own history. Your Maximum Leader hopes it is great history at that.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader, whilst speaking with friends about this blog recently, was asked why he isn’t writing long political screeds this election year. Well… That is pretty easy. This election is not getting your Maximum Leader’s juices flowing. Allow him to briefly enumerate the reasons.

First, your Maximum Leader doesn’t particularly like either candidate. President Obama has been, in your Maximum Leader’s eyes, the European-style, left-of-center, mildly-socialist leader that he anticipated. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t want to say that he is an out and out socialist (as many on the right would). But he does have that left-wing collectivist bend that so many Democrats do. The President’s health care laws is the greatest example of this. Your Maximum Leader also feels that President Obama and his team are not particularly adept at what they do. Indeed, they don’t seem to have any plans with which to match up to their rhetoric. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t think that the President knows exactly what to do now, except get re-elected.

Secondly, Governor Romney is not your Maximum Leader’s favorite either. Your Maximum Leader feels that Romney would be the mirror of Obama. You would get a European-style, right-of-center, mildly-pro-business leader. Of course that would be an improvement; but it isn’t really thrilling either.

Third, your Maximum Leader has long believed that President Obama will win re-election in a squeaker. The bad economy and all of the other signs that point towards the President not winning re-election are not enough to overcome the advantages of incumbency, the polarization of the electorate (which will break slightly for Obama) and the weakness of Romney.

Fourth, neither candidate, party, or commentator is regularly talking about a serious plan to fix what ails our nation. We need to control spending and reduce the debt. In order to do this we need drastic spending cuts, and we need to grow government revenue. That means taxes of one sort or another. We are in a sticky wicket here as your Maximum Leader does feel that making the dramatic changes needed in the midst of an anemic economy will only worsen that economy. But the long-term problem looks to be more severe if you don’t act quickly and immediately. So, your Maximum Leader doesn’t have a plan to address the problems of the nation. He has a host of ideas that would move towards that end. All of the ideas are unpopular and would make your Maximum Leader completely un-electable to any position in the Federal government. Some of the ideas are: letting the “Bush” tax cuts expire; raising the retirement age for Social Security and means-testsing Social Security benefits; repealing Obamacare; drastically changing how Medicare and Medicaid work; drastically changing laws concerning how private health insurers can operate across state lines; and evaluating how we spend our defense dollars. We have to make changes and no one is talking about the areas of the federal budget that really cost money (Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid) and no one (except the President and he is only talking in half-measures) is talking about revenue/taxes. Basically, anyone with an iota of sense can see the problem; but no one in a position to do anything about the problems has the balls to take the first step.

Finally, there is no civility in talking politics. And where there is no civility in talking politics there is no joy in talking politics. Your Maximum Leader probably will make some pronouncements here between now and the election; but what he’ll say likely will not please anyone. The up-side of this is that his readership is so small now that the few of you who remain will likely not be too offended or too prone to be uncivil in your comments…

By the way… Your Maximum Leader means for you all to read the title of this post and think of Mel Brooks in “History of the World, Part 1.” (And your Maximum Leader still awaits History of the World, Part 2.)

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been remarkably tedious in his constant commenting that he has things to blog about, but very little time to do so. Well… One of the items that your Maximum Leader has meant to blog about for a while now has wound up in the Washington Post.

Your Maximum Leader is a careful donor of what money he sets aside for charity. One of the entities to which your Maximum Leader tries to give some money every year is the Institute for Justice. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t know if you have ever seen, or clicked through, the link on the right side navigation for the Institute for Justice, but it is there. IJ is a small law firm that fights for economic freedom in America. They got the most press when the, very sadly, lost the infamous Kelo vs. New Haven, CT case concerning eminent domain. Your Maximum Leader believes that IJ was right in its position in Kelo, and the US Supreme Court was very very wrong…

Anyhoo…

The Institute for Justice continues to fight for economic freedom and private property. Now their the face of their most recent fight are Benedictine monks in Louisiana who are trying to sell coffins. The story has made the front page of the Washington Post Online: Louisiana monks go to court to sell caskets.

The basic facts are these. The Benedictines want to sell caskets in their home state; but they were given cease and desist orders before selling their first casket. In Louisiana, only licensed funeral parlors (with funeral directors) can sell caskets. Louisiana law does, however, allow people to buy caskets on-line and use them. The IJ is fighting for the monks on the grounds that Louisiana’s regulations are irrational and unconstitutional (on due process and equal protection grounds).

Your Maximum Leader wishes that there was a particular passage he could cite here to give you the heart of the story, but there really isn’t. You should just go and read the Washington Post piece (clicky here). Or, if you want you can go over to the Institute for Justices’ web site and read their page on this case which has lots of good links and information.

Your Maximum Leader would also commend the Institute for Justice to you if you consider giving to advocacy organizations. This is a good one. You can donate to IJ by clicking here.

Read it all.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader got tired of looking at the last post at the top of his blog. Sadly, he doesn’t have a good idea for a single cogent post. He’s sure he’s had some ideas over the past few days; but his brain is blank now.

In politics there isn’t much out there for real commentary. Obama blah blah blah blah. Romney bleh bleh bleh bleh. The real race will not heat up for a while yet. Provided that there is much of a race. Your Maximum Leader still thinks that Obama will win re-election. Not because he deserves it mind you. Rather because Republicans are hell-bent-for-leather to be idiots. Romney is, of the crop who chose to run, the most electable. But just being the non-Obama is not going to win in November. Neither man is talking about the real issues facing our nation. Neither man seems serious about governing in a way that reverse the problems of spending, taxation and debt that imperil our nation’s future.

(NB to readers: Amazingly, no one seems to think that seriously discussing austerity and changes to federal spending and taxation is path to the presidency of these United States…)

If it is of any consolation, for those of you out there thinking that China is all the shit (Paul Krugman, your Maximum Leader is glaring at you)… The Economist just ran a podcast discussing Chinese demography and how the 1 child policy can likely cause massive economic distress in the 2030 and on timeframe. Apparently in rural China the birth rate is 1.7; in most urban areas it is closer to 1; but in the most cosmopolitan cities (Shanghai for example) the birth rate is .7. That will cause massive strain on China’s ability to maintain growth (and care for an aging population).

Of course, once China goes to hell there is no telling who will want to purchase US Treasury bills and finance our spending… India? We’re looking at you…

In other political news… Your Maximum Leader sees that sleezebag Tareq Salahi has filed papers to run for governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. After nearly spitting out a mouthful of Makers Mark while reading that news, your Maximum Leader regained his composure and became more amused. This is a guy most famous for crashing a state dinner at the White House. He also has a habit of getting sued for not living up to his commitments and being a general asshole. One imagines that somehow this will somehow transform the “Real Housewives of DC” into a new reality show entitled “Governor’s Mansion Here I come!” Sweet jeebus… Just when you think politics couldn’t get any lower…

In sporting news…

Your Maximum Leader has long been disgusted with the complete disregard people in the Washington DC area have for all teams that are not the Washington Redskins. The Washington Capitals have been competing in (and yesterday won) a hard playoff series with the Boston Bruins. The Washington Nationals are the best team in the NL (and the second best in MLB). But what is everyone in Washington focused on? The NFL draft.

Your Maximum Leader believes that Robert Griffin III is likely a good guy and excellent football player. He may actually have what it takes to help the Redskins improve. But really now, at this point your Maximum Leader couldn’t give a damn about football and is now getting actively annoyed at continued football talk.

Your Maximum Leader caught his first Nationals game of the year last Friday. He watched his beloved Nationals win (a nail biter) over the (Florida) Miami Marlins. (NB to readers. The Marlins new stadium looks interesting, but their new uniforms look like crap.) It was a great experience. He is sure he’ll take in a number of games this season. He hopes that other Washingtonians will do so as well. It is embarrassing and tragic that the Nationals are doing so well and can’t sell more than 20,000 tickets to a weeknight game.

Did you know that if the Nationals play .500 ball the rest of the year they will make the playoffs? Really… Who knew?

As for the Capitals… Your Maximum Leader’s emotional state was a roller coaster ride during the first round of the playoffs. All peaks and valleys. He isn’t sure if he’ll hold up if the Caps go far. He is anxiously awaiting word of which team the Caps will draw in the next round of the playoffs. He feels the Caps will match up well against Florida or New Jersey. He isn’t so sure about the Rangers. And he dreads Philly. Philly seems to be on a mission this year.

Well… That is about it for now… Your Maximum Leader will think of other stuff and try and get some down here…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been a long-time reader of John Derbyshire’s pieces in National Review and elsewhere. He often found himself in agreement with many of Derbyshire’s (or Derb as he is known) opinion pieces. Even some of his more off-the-wall pieces found a sympathetic ear with me. (The only one that leaps to mind right now had to do with the looting of the Baghdad National Museum after the US invasion of Iraq. Derb’s position was that the looting might be a good thing in that the looter were likely to sell artifacts on the black market and they would wind up well cared for in the hands of private collectors and at some point in the future the would likely wind up back in some museum collection.)

Even though some of Derb’s opinion pieces on race-related subjects made your Maximum Leader a little squeamish; none of them seemed to go “too far.” They were considered pieces intelligently written, even if your Maximum Leader thought them wrong-headed.

Until this past weekend…

Derb’s piece in Taki’s Magazine over the weekend on “the Talk for nonblacks” was way over the line. Your Maximum Leader will not link the piece directly. (Although it is widely linked elsewhere, including at my buddy Kevin’s place where you will find his commentary as well).

Well… The piece got Derb fired from National Review. (As it should.) It also prompted your Maximum Leader to delete the links on this site to Derb’s personal web page and to Taki’s Magazine. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t make a fuss about de-linking different people or sites. (Most of the time it is just a purge of a link that is dead, or a purge of a link to a site your Maximum Leader never reads.) But this deserves an exception. Your Maximum Leader was repulsed by what Derb wrote, and equally repulsed that Taki’s Magazine showed no editorial oversight by publishing the piece.

And so that is the end of that. No more Derb (or Taki’s Magazine) for your Maximum Leader.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader got two great comments to the post below. Let us revisit them (for those of you who don’t like clicking).

First, from Smitty: “So, do you think the protest vote, and general indifference toward this mummer’s farce in VA, will lead to embarrassment for Romney.”

No, your Maximum Leader does not. The Virginia primary will be an afterthought in the commentary on the events of today. Romney and Paul followed the existing rules for participating and none of the other candidates did. Romney will get a win (with some delegates going to Paul due to proportional representation) and that will be that. Commentary will focus on what happens in other states, like Ohio. There is only one embarrassing situation your Maximum Leader can imagine for Romney. That scenario is that he wins less than 60% of the vote. If it is down to a choice between Romney and Paul and Mitt doesn’t pull out at least 60% then the “win” will be embarrassing. But only moderately. The news remains somewhere else.

Of course, the Virginia GOP and Democrat parties could and probably should be embarrassed by the primary. The restrictive rules to get on the ballot are likely going to be dropped as more people get angered by their lack of choice. If Virginia is truly a “swing” state; both parties would benefit from a rules revision. Your Maximum Leader is disappointed by the rules as they stand; but he has a rough time getting worked up about changing them. On the one hand he wants it to be easier to have choices; but on the other hand if one is serious about running for office you should know what it will take well ahead of time and make a plan. (NB: many are critical of Mitt for having been running for President for the past 4 years. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t fault anyone for that. If you want the job you actually have to make and act on these types of plans. Your Maximum Leader isn’t saying that it is a good thing that you have to run for President for 4 years; he is just saying it is what it is.)

Second comment from Eric:

You may not like Mitt, but a vote for Ron Paul, is a vote endorsing Islamo-Fascism, and a soft on terrorism foreign policy. Yes, he’s good on economics. But that doesn’t make up for the fact that his foreign policy views are decidedly surrender-tarian.

Islamism is the greatest threat this country faces. And anyone who appeases Islamists are siding with our enemies. It’s unconscionable that any Republican could vote for Paul, knowing this fact.

First off, thank you Eric for your comment. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t believe he’s ever seen you comment here before. He appreciates you taking the time to comment.

Your Maximum Leader, to be honest, doesn’t like any of the candidates running for President. He doesn’t want President Obama to win a second term. He can’t stand Rick Santorum. He really cannot abide by Newt Gingrich. And he feels mostly “oh hum” about both Paul and Romney. Your Maximum Leader disagrees with Ron Paul on more items than one can easily enumerate in the time he has to write this post. Your Maximum Leader believes that Ron Paul’s general conceptions of economics and foreign policy are impractical, unworkable and would be disastrous if attempted. That said, Paul’s positions are consistent and more or less understandable in the context of the type of libertarianism that he has always espoused. Would Ron Paul be a good President of the United States? No, he would not. The best a conservative can hope for is that Paul’s presence in the race will cause people to give more thought to smaller government and more liberty. Those overarching themes are positive and the GOP would do well to endorse and act on them.

As for Romney. Your Maximum Leader will have to fall back on William F. Buckley Jr.’s old maxim of voting for the most electable conservative available to you. Of the four candidates we’ve got to chose from, Mitt is it. That isn’t a ringing endorsement; but it is all he’s going to get from your Maximum Leader. Your Maximum Leader will not even claim that Mitt Romney is “conservative.” He is more to the right than President Obama is and he is more electable than the other three. Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure where people get the idea that Rick Santorum (who cannot win re-election in his own - swing - state) and Newt Gingrich (who has never won anything except his - now former - congressional district) are more electable than Mitt Romney. Admittedly, Romney has lost elections too (famously the MA senate race to Teddy Kennedy) but in a race that will be a nail-biter it seems like you need to have a broad appeal to regular voters. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t see how Santorum or Gingrich or Paul are widely appealing. Don’t get him wrong, your Maximum Leader isn’t trying to claim that Mitt Romney is widely appealing to all voters. He is only claiming that Mitt Romney is more appealing to voters than the others.

All that said, your Maximum Leader still believes that all things being equal, President Obama will win re-election.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader mused yesterday evening on Twitter (@maximumleader) about a number of things. For the sake of this post, he will focus on his tweet asking for whom he should cast his vote in Virginia’s “Super” Tuesday primary. Your Maximum Leader isn’t thrilled with his choices of Mitt Romney or Ron Paul.

So, your Maximum Leader and Mrs Villain did the logical thing… We split our two votes. We flipped a coin to decide who got to vote for whom and then bucked-up and did the deed.

So there you have it. Word from two Virginia voters. One for Mitt and one for Ron.

Your Maximum Leader notices over on The Other McCain that Smitty cast his non-Romney protest vote earlier today. Like Smitty, your Maximum Leader & Mrs Villain were outnumbered by election officials. Our ratio was 5:2. Your Maximum Leader was the 13th person to vote this morning. Smitty had to produce identification in order to be allowed to vote; your Maximum Leader did as well. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t understand why so many people (generally Democrats) have a problem with requiring people to show a photo ID in order to vote. It seems completely rational to have a person establish their identity before voting. But then again, who said anything involving democracy has to be rational.

Your Maximum Leader will take issue with Smitty on one issue. Smitty’s post implies (by my reading) that the Virginia GOP is solely responsible for the “no write-in” policy and the tough process by which a candidate has to get onto the ballot in the first place. (A process that was, for a time, contested by the Santorum and Gingrich campaigns.) It is your Maximum Leader’s understanding that these requirements are not just GOP’s - but are in fact just as applicable to Democrats. Many would argue that both parties in Virginia have a long history of making it hard to get on the ballot. This has been to give the state parties more control over the election process (and to depress voter turn out it is often alleged). Your Maximum Leader doesn’t disagree with the rules per se. The rules are the rules and are subject to change. Perhaps Smitty’s involvement in local GOP committees will help to change the rule.

Anyhoo…

If you are in a “Super” Tuesday primary state - go vote.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is always seeing signs of the impeding doom of the United States (specifically) and the West (in general). Please file this bit from Professor Mondo into the “impending doom” folder: Teacups Against the Ocean.

Economics is the dismal science indeed. Made more dismal by the realization that so few people in the world “get it.”

Carry on.