Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader thanks you all for your kind birthday wishes. He will try to respond to all of you individually over the next day or so.

All in all his birthday was a good one. Mrs Villain is being very coy about the gift for your Maximum Leader from her and the kids. He’s not received anything yet except word that “You’ll enjoy it.” So he continues to wait. He does know that Mrs Villain has spent an inordinately high amount of money on the gift so far - but has been careful to not put anything down in a way that would enable your Maximum Leader to figure things out. If you Maximum Leader had to guess, he would guess that Mrs Villain is going to spirit him away to the Nemocolin Resort next weekend. (Nemacolin is one of your Maximum Leader’s favorite places.)

Anyhoo…

None of what he’s shared with you yet is scurrilous gossip…

One of your Maximum Leader’s more rabidly political friends contacted him yesterday night via an email that said “Hey. Bill Clinton is tapping this.” (Please consider that link sorta NSFW.)

Your Maximum Leader, of course clickyed the linky and surveyed the photos of one Agentine beauty, Andrea Rincon. She is one hot little number. Of course, your Maximum Leader tried to get his friend on the phone and find out how he would know this jucy tidbit. Alas, he’s not made contact yet. He did find this on the Washington Post today. Apparently, Al Kamen is reporting that according to President Clinton’s people nothing happened between Ms Rincon and the former President.

Now… Your Maximum Leader is a very happily married man. He would never cheat on his wife… But if your Maximum Leader were Bill Clinton he would definately “tap” Ms. Rincon. Afterall, what happens on a fundraising trip to Buenos Aries stays in Buenos Aries. In fact, if your Maximum Leader were Bill Clinton he would likely be spending all of his time overseas doing everything possible to “improve the United States’ reputation” amongst hot foreign women.

Just sayin’.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader today exercised his privledges to post over on another blog. He had planned on writing and publishing his thoughts here; but then realized the other blog might be a little more a propos of his true feelings.

If you are interested you can check out your Maximum Leader’s take on Michael Kinsley’s latest missive on the national anthem by clicking through on “Effing Conservatives.”

Carry you.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader continues to lament the puff pieces on President Obama that seem to pop up every few days. The latest… This one from the WaPo on Obama’s golf game. The opening of the piece:

Although far better known as a hoops man, President Obama seems to be morphing into a golf nut these days. He’s hit the course five times since late April — rushing out to the links on Sunday afternoon just 90 minutes after returning to the White House from his overseas trip. The wife and kids were still back in Paris; no time like the present to get in nine holes.

And so Obama joins a long, storied and sometimes comic tradition: He is the 15th of the past 18 presidents to play golf.

What’s the deal? Why golf?

The attraction would seem simple. It’s a great escape; the game demands such attention that nothing else matters. It’s time spent with friends, an unhurried afternoon in loose clothing (shorts seem to be Obama’s preference). Yet nothing is without deeper meaning where the presidency is concerned. The golfer in chief’s approach to the game is subject to analysis in psychological and political contexts.

To some, Obama’s frequent outings reflect a cool self-confidence. “Given all the things that are going on in the world and with the economy,” says sports psychologist Bob Rotella, “you’d think he wouldn’t be caught anywhere near the golf course . . . To some degree it says: ‘I’m not going to worry about what people say about me. I’m going to do my job, and I’m going to play, too.’ ”

Ugh. It just gets worse from there…

One wonders for how much longer the press corps can just write another “Oh. My. Gawd. The President is just soooooo dreamy!” piece…

Your Maximum Leader thinks he wants to vomit now…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has noticed that this has been a rather eventful week in terms of news. Lots of interesting stuff to comment upon.

The most important happening of the week must be the North Korean nuclear test. One supposes that the election of Barack Obama hasn’t changed too much in terms of US/Korea relations. Is this the “test” that Joe Biden suggested would come in the first six months of the Obama presidency? Could be. Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure that Obama’s reaction has been any different than John McCain’s would have been (or George W. Bush’s for that matter) had he been elected president. It seems like Hillary Clinton and our diplomatic corps are working to get China on board with whatever the long-term plan is going to be. All in all your Maximum Leader seems sort of sanguine on what will go on in the Koreas. It is good to see that South Korea (and US troops there) are on high alert since the North has started being more bellicose than usual. Your Maximum Leader can’t see “our” side starting anything. And if the North decides to “start something” (either at sea or along the DMZ) then the S. Korean/US/UN forces will respond proportionately. It is difficult to imagine a senario that gets out of hand. Although, if things do get out of hand it will be very ugly very quickly with the potential for a million casualties in Seoul alone. This pot will continue to boil slowly for a while yet…

The next biggest story is President Obama’s nomination of Judge Sotomayor to fill Justice Souter’s* seat on the Supreme Court. Your Maximum Leader has been reading the usual suspects (like Volokh) to get more information on Sotomayor. She is about what your Maximum Leader expected of Obama. She will be a strong “activist” and “liberal” justice if confirmed. Some of her past comments concerning the wealth and variety of experiences a hispanic woman would bring to the court (and to the justice system at large) make your Maximum Leader cring. They seem, on their face, to be completely contrary to the notion of “equal justice under law” (the motto that is carved into the very stone of the Supreme Court building). Indeed, her comments remind your Maximum Leader of the moment he knew he was a “judicial conservative.”

Your Maximum Leader hadn’t bothered to think hard about the Supreme Court or its role in our Republic until he got to college. Sure he wanted Reagan to get the judges he wanted because “our side” won the election and that is the way things went. By the fall of 1987 your Maximum Leader was a freshman at college and Robert Bork had just been rejected as a nominee to the Supreme Court. That fall Judge Leon Higginbotham came to speak on campus and your Maximum Leader went to listen to Judge Higginbotham’s speech and lectures. By the end of a question and answer session between students and Judge Higginbotham your Maximum Leader had had an epiphany. The moment that stands out was one where a student was asking Judge Higginbotham about sentencing in drug cases. As part of his answer Judge Higginbotham commented that a white kid from the suburbs of Philadelphia should get a harsher sentence for a coccaine conviction than a black kid from the projects in Philadelphia. His rationale went that the white kid had a different environment where he was better able to know the concequences of his actions, thus should be punished more harshly than the black kid who had a different life experience. Now, your Maximum Leader knows that the judge was speaking hypothetically and very broadly; but the very notion of unequal treatment based on socio-economic grouping (and race one should add) opened your Maximum Leader’s eyes to notions of justice and the role of judges. When your Maximum Leader hears the replayed comments made in the past by Judge Sotomayor, his heckles are raised and he immediately starts opposing her and thinking her a bad choice for the highest bench in the land.

Of course, your Maximum Leader isn’t sure how Republicans can conceivably stop her nomination. Smearing her like Democrats smeared Robert Bork (or Clarence Thomas) doesn’t appear to be an option. It isn’t an option because of the politics of it. None has balls enough to risk being made to look like a bigoted racist - which is how any attack will be countered. Indeed, an interview your Maximum Leader recently saw with Chuck Schumer (Arse - NY) seemed to confirm his suspicions of how the “counterattacks” will come.

Yes… It has not been an uneventful week…

Carry on.

* - A sharp minion and frequent commenter (Hey Maggie!) noted that your Maximum Leader wrote first that Justice Breyer was retiring. Your Maximum Leader knew that it isn’t Breyer but David Souter who is retiring. Your Maximum Leader supposes that it was wishful thinking on his part that he wrote that it was Breyer… Sorry…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader and Mrs Villain were watching the news last night. We saw clips of President Obama’s speech. During the clips Mrs Villain asked what it was that the President was standing in front of. Your Maximum Leader indicated he was at the Archives and was standing in front of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. After he said that he mused aloud that the lights would be awfully bright and it seemed odd to risk damage to the documents just for a photo op. He further mused that the documents in the case couldn’t be the real Constitution. Mrs Villain wondered if there was any way to “know” that the real Constitution wasn’t used or harmed for the purposes of a presidential speech.

Well… It turns out the Constitution was fake. Thanks ABC.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader started to blog about this last night, but didn’t publish before the great Velociman put this out there…

So… Here is a lovely story for you…

Yesterday was going to be a big day for the kindergartners of Conway Elementary School. It was going to be their day to go to the White House for a tour. Your Maximum Leader knew about this a while ago. He knew because Conway Elementary School is the school for the Villainschloss and you hear things through the neighborhood. The teachers and students were pretty excited to go. And really, who wouldn’t be? Regardless of the resident of the White House it is a national treasure and should be visited.

Yesterday, early in the morning, parents were dropping their kids off to get on the buses that would take them to Washington and their rendezvous with the White House. They had a timetable to keep.

Little did they know how their story would end. Local NBC affiliate WRC wound up reporting on it.

As your Maximum Leader heard the story from some of the participants… The group from school was scheduled to arrive begin their tour at 10am. The school was advised by the White House tours office that the Pittsburgh Steelers were coming to the White House and that the school group had to be prompt, because as soon as the kindergartners were finished with their tour the preperations for the Steelers would begin. Knowing this the teachers and parents at Conway resolved to leave earlier than they planned to allow extra time. If you have ever travelled to Washington DC you know we have bad traffic. The drive from Conway Elementary to the White House should take about an hour under “good” conditions. Knowing this the Teachers advised parents that the buses were leaving the parking lot at 8am.

Alas… Even leaving early did not help the kids and their teachers and parents. Traffic was bad and they were running behind. Your Maximum Leader has been told that the coordinator for the trip telephoned the White House and advised them of the delay. The White House people told them that they would hold the tour as long as they could. The coordinator and the bus drivers agreed that the could make it to the White House around 10:15. They were advised that this would still work.

The buses arrived at the White House at 10:25.

And at 10:25 they were turned away. The kids were driven back to Conway. They saw the White House through the fence.

UPDATE: Your Maximum Leader has just heard from some other parents that the original story he heard is not the full story. The kids were allowed off the buses and were given a tour of the White House grounds. They just were not allowed into the White House. After the walk around the White House, the kids went to the World War II Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial where they had a picnic. So the day wasn’t completely lost.

Your Maximum Leader has read the NBC report and it states that the White House said the group was supposed to come at 9:30am and they held the tour for nearly an hour. According to what people have told your Maximum Leader, 9:30 was never in the cards. So rather than holding the tour for nearly an hour, it was held for about 15 mins or so. Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure if the White House people are lying outright to cover their arses or if his sources are exaggerating a little bit.

Now, your Maximum Leader is not entirely unschooled in how White House events work. He’s been involved in one or two in the past. He knows the White House is a schedule driven place. But one has to wonder what the hell wasn’t going on in the mind of the staffers who pulled the plug on some kindergartners. Turning 5 and 6 year old kids away at the gates? Have you ever tried to get anywhere on a tight schedule with a 5 year old? How about four buses full of 5 and 6 year old kids? Its tough. Did no one think of the public relations problem you might run into?

Oh yeah… Stafford County VA (where the school is located) went for John McCain last year…

Paybacks are hell (for children).

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is sure that yesterday you were sitting around saying to yourself, “Self, I wonder if the Washington Nationals will be able to snap their 7 game losing streak tonight against the Pirates?” Well… If you weren’t saying that to yourself it is likely that your thoughts were cluttered with other mental ephemera. So, while you were cluttered it is possible that you missed this little tidbit. Standard & Poor downgraded Britain.

Okay. Standard & Poor didn’t actually downgrade Britain from First World to Third World or anything. In fact S&P didn’t actually downgrade Britain’s AAA bond rating… Yet. According to the piece:

In cutting its outlook for Britain’s sovereign rating from stable to negative for the first time, Standard & Poor’s cited debt levels approaching the size of the nation’s gross domestic product. While S&P reaffirmed Britain’s actual long-term credit rating at AAA, its statement was effectively a warning about massive government spending.

…

A sovereign rating downgrade can undermine investor confidence at a time when many governments need investors to buy their debt. That could make it more costly to finance bank bailouts or stimulus spending.

The lowering of the outlook for Britain serves as a cautionary note for the United States, analysts said, because the federal government is also running record deficits as it tries to revive the economy.

On NPR’s Marketplace yesterday they ran a short piece on this subject and hit a few interesting points that ought to be noted here. One of the reasons for the warning (and potential downgrade) was that British government debt will soon reach 100% of GDP. If you’ve been looking at some of these fun charts that show the massive deficits projected under the Obama Administration you will realize that US debt could soon reach the 100% of GDP level…

So lets review some facts… A few months ago the Chinese (a major US creditor) openly mused about the future credit worthiness of the the US. Britain’s been warned that continued public sector spending without restraint will cause their bond rating to fall and make it harder to borrow (and thus spend). The Obama Administration has outlined spending over the next 10 years that is unprecedented in recent history (WWII might have had similar spending levels). US spending is financed in large part by borrowing…

Do you see a trend here? It isn’t just that we are saddling our progeny with massive debts; it is that we are running through our credit lines with no sign of stopping and eventually that credit will dry up or become too expensive to maintain. When that happens will our whole nation be like California? Or like Zimbabwe?

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has received a few (okay two) comments wondering if, after his last post, he’s gone squishy. (Or gone “wobbly” as Margaret Thatcher would say.) He fears his post that started with Arlen Specter and ended on ideological purity might be misinterpreted.

First off… As the post title said, your Maximum Leader isn’t crying over Arlen’s loss of seniority. He deserved it. But your Maximum Leader wonders if the move does hamper the Dems ability to woo the other “moderate” Republicans in the Senate.

Secondly… Your Maximum Leader believes that there is a role for moderates in both parties. The role is to moderate the extremes that are out there on both sides. The loss of a key Republican moderate diminishes the relative power of the Republican party in the Senate, and it feeds the continuing news cycle on the demise of the Republican party.

Speaking of the demise of the Republican party… Don’t buy flowers for the grave yet. It seems to your Maximum Leader that in 2002 the news cycle was lamenting the demise of the Democrat party. The worm turns friends. Both parties go acendent and decendent. The worm will turn again.

So, your Maximum Leader’s concern about losing Arlen Specter is linked to his belief that losing moderates will make the cycle of decline go longer than it needs to. This is speculation only. There is no scientific way of predicting these things…

Don’t fear your Maximum Leader going squishy on you. He’s just trying to think a little long term; and trying to cut down on some of the excessive celebration at Arlen’s departure.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has three or four decent thoughtful posts ruminating in his brain. But he is lazy apparently. Last night (prime time for blogging), he opted to watch recorded sit-coms on the old Tivo. Tonight he knows he’ll be watching the Caps/Pens game.

Your Maximum Leader is becoming (if he hasn’t already become) a lackadasical blogger… Sad really…

Anyhoo…

Your Maximum Leader reads that Senator Arlen Specter’s seniority has been stripped. Apparently ole Arlen (Rat - Pennsylvania) was promised that he could keep his seniority by Harry Reid (Arsehole - Nevada) when Arlen decided to “rat” (as Winston Churchill called it). The Democrats in the Senate decided that Harry’s promise wasn’t worth squat and they voted to put Arlen at the back of the class.

One wonders if Arlen is now considering “re-rating” (again in the words of Winston Churchill).

Frankly, your Maximum Leader is surprised at this move by the Democrats. If they had hoped to woo Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins this move might put the kybosh on that. What is the benefit of switching if you lose seniority in a body in which seniority is everything?

Your Maximum Leader hasn’t weighed in on Arlen’s rat-move. All in all your Maximum Leader is not pleased to see Specter go. This isn’t out of any love of Arlen Specter. It is a tactical move in your Maximum Leader’s mind. Sure you couldn’t rely on Specter if you were a Republican for many more partisan agenda items. In the final analysis it is better to have the extra hand on deck if you can get some use out him than not to have him on deck at all. It is numbers. With Specter holding on the “R” after his name you made the Dems work for him. Now with the “D” after his name the Republicans have to work for his vote.

This leads to a larger question about ideological purity that seems to drive many of your Maximum Leader’s fellow travellers. Your Maximum Leader isn’t as concerned about ideological purity as many others are. As Lee Atwater once told your Maximum Leader, “The Republicans could run Bozo the Clown and the Democrats could run Joseph Stalin and each one would be guaranteed to get about 40% of the vote. You are after 11% of the middle.” This little insight has always tempered your Maximum Leader’s view of ideological purity in both major parties in America.

Let us just admit that there are hard-core Republicans and hard-core Democrats. For the people in these groups no amount of argument or cajoling will change their mind. (To continue to channel Winston Churchill, “A fanatic is someone who won’t change his mind and can’t change the subject.”) The job of the “wings” of the parties is to convince a portion of the middle to side with them. This middle is pretty flexible and transient. They aren’t going to “stick with” one side or the other for very long. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t believe that you can permenantly move enough people one side or the other to create a “permenant majority.” History tends to bear out this belief. The worm turns. It always turns.

This leads us back to Arlen Specter (and Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe). There is a role for “moderate Republicans” in the Republican party. There is also a role for “moderate Democrats” in the Democratic party. (There are noticably few “moderate Democrats” in the Senate, but there are a few in the House. There used to be many more 15-20 years ago…) The role of these “moderates” is clear. It is to moderate political excess on both sides. Both sides can be guilty of excesses. You need the soft middle to absorb some of that excess. Without the soft squishy middle you get dramatic sea-changes. These are generally bad all around. Your Maximum Leader believes that we are in a predominantly bad sea-change right now. Some of your Maximum Leader’s more liberal friends believe that the Reagan years were a predominantly bad sea-change (a claim with which your Maximum Leader disagrees). Having a few moderates on your side makes the wishy-washy center a little more comfortable siding with your side (for the time you’ll have them). Moderates are never the driving force behind a party. Neither are they the idea people of a party. Having a few moderates doesn’t make the Republicans less conservative on the balance or the Democrats less liberal. It makes them a little more friendly.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader had this post in his draft folder and didn’t finish it when he wanted to. Last Wednesday was a big day in politics. It was tax day. It was also the day that many Tea Party protests were occuring across our great republic.

If you are a Virginian the annual Wakefield Shad Planking. Took place last Wednesday.

Sadly… Your Maximum Leader had a longish post lamenting the passing of this great political institution. Well… It hasn’t really passed - it just has become more… base.

You see down in Wakefield they put these bony, oily shad on cedar planks and smoke them over open flames. This gives people an excuse to eat smoked fish, drink beer and talk politics.

In the glorious olden days of the old Byrd “machine” in Virginia it would be at the Shad Planking in the year that Virginians elect their Governor (odd numbered years after a presidential election) when old Harry Byrd Sr. would walk around and “introduce” his good friend “Mr So-and-so.” Old Harry would mention as an aside that “Mr. So-and-so” was a “good man” and had Harry’s “full support” as he is my “very good friend and collegue.” This was the secret code going out that meant that the man going around with Harry Byrd was the very man Harry wanted to be elected Governor in the fall. Since everyone who was anyone went to the shad planking this was where the “machine” got its marching orders for the fall.

Well… That was the way it was until the early 60s at any rate.

Now the political side of the shad planking is seeing how many volunteers you can get out at the ass-crack of dawn to fill open feilds along the road to the shad planking with poster and banners and signs exhorting you to vote for someone. What used to be a drive into the woods in the glory of (mostly) unspoilt nature is now a road festooned with vulgar displays of repetative signage that numbs one’s optic receptors to the point where you would just as soon pull and Oedipus Rex as look on another political sign. The candidate speeches are, as one would expect, sound-bite laden and trite. All in all people are just going through the motions.

On the upside however… There is a lot of beer and smoked shad…

(NB: The “OBE” in the title of this post stands for “overtaken by events” and not “Order of the British Empire.”)

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is having a hard time putting a cogent thought together this morning. He’s not sure why… But there it is… So… Random link dumping here…

Have a few mil and an itch to fly a reconfigured model of the greatest fighter of WWII? You can buy a two-seat Spitfire at auction on April 20. Your Maximum Leader would love to fly in a Spitfire. He’s not sure he’d like owning one, but a flight in one would be cool as all get out.

FYI… The Nationals are still tied with the Phillies in the basement of the NL East. Only 160 games to go!

Historical names we love… Courtesy of FLG.

You should go and peruse “The Other McCain” which is chocked full of good politics.

Your Maximum Leader found himself defending Senator Edward M. Kennedy yesterday night. He was watching Sports Center with Villainette #2 and the Wee Villain. They showed a clip of Ted Kennedy throwing out the first pitch at the Sawx home opener. The Wee Villain proclaimed that he could throw a ball better. Villainette #2 agreed. Your Maximum Leader had to add in quickly that Senator Kennedy has been suffering from a brain tumor and is lucky to be alive right now. Villainette #2 said that in light of that he probably did okay. The Wee Villain (with the candor of a 4 year old) piped in that not only could he throw better than Kennedy he could hit better than Kennedy too… One supposes that the Wee Villain’s reaction is still age appropriate.

The Maersk Alabama was siezed by pirates yesterday. This is the first US flagged vessel to be taken by pirates in a very long time apparently. The US Navy is sending a ship to interdict the taken vessel. The Navy vessel (likely a destroyer - perhaps an Arliegh Burke class destroyer) should arrive on the scene today. There are, reportedly, 20 US nationals on the Maersk vessel. Your Maximum Leader believes that he heard somewhere that the Maersk Alabama is based out of Norfolk, VA and carries materials for the US 5th Fleet. The linked article doesn’t mention this tidbit or if the cargo is for the Navy.

Your Maximum Leader believes that the announced merger of Pulte Homes and Centex Homes is likely a good sign. It seems unlikely that Pulte would be willing to dip so deeply into their cash reserves to make this accquistion if they didn’t see some light at the end of the housing tunnel.

That is about it for now…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees on the news wire that President Obama gave Queen Elizabeth an iPod as a gift upon meeting her yesterday.

Now your Maximum Leader will not hammer the President for this gift like other conservative commentators have. It was a shiny new iPod. It was probably one of those G6 ones with a gazillion GB of storage. One reads that it was loaded with photos and video of the Queen’s 2007 visit to the US and photos and video of the President’s inauguration address. It also had show tunes pre-loaded. According to the article there were songs from “Camelot” and “My Fair Lady.” One hopes that there was also some Gilbert and Sullivan. Your Maximum Leader wonders if there was any British patriotic music pre-loaded for Her Majesty. You know, something cool like the Sex Pistols’ interpretation of “God Save the Queen.” (If you’d like to hear the song you can click here for a video. It wouldn’t embed correctly here… Sorry.)

Of course, this is Her Majesty’s second iPod. Your Maximum Leader seems to remember reading somewhere that Princes William and Harry got their Grandmum an iPod a few years ago.

One suspects that Her Majesty’s second iPod will wind up on eBay in a few days…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader laughed aloud today when he heard an update from the ongoing G20 summit. Later he laughed again when he read this off the AP news wire:

[British PM Gordon] Brown initially trumpeted the gathering as “a new Bretton Woods — a new financial architecture for the years ahead.” But the meeting so far bears little similarity to the 1944 New Hampshire conference where the eventual winners of World War II gathered to set postwar global monetary and financial order.

Washington has eased off on its push for other governments to pump more money into economic stimulus programs after heavy opposition from European countries, who contend their bigger social safety nets make more spending unnecessary.

Germany and France have instead campaigned for tougher rules to restrain financial market excesses.

That disagreement has lowered expectations for the London summit and weakened confidence in the world’s ability to quickly pull out of the downturn.

The boldface emphasis is that of your Maximum Leader and not the AP.

Gordon Brown was going around touting the G20 summit as a new Bretton Woods and now lowering expectations…

It caused your Maximum Leader to recall a portion of a comedy routine by Eddie Izzard in his “Dress to Kill” show. Izzard recounts an exchange between himself and his career counsellor in school. It goes like this:

Izzard: “I want to be an astronaut, discover new things.”
He (the counsellor) said, “Look, you’re British, so scale it down a bit.”
“All right, I want to work in a shoe shop, then. Discover shoes that no one’s ever discovered in the back of the shop.”
He said: “Look, you’re British, so scale it down a bit.”
“All right, I want to work in a sewer, then. And discover sewage no one’s ever discovered and pile it on my head and sell myself to an art gallery.”

Lowering expectations for the G20 summit caused your Maximum Leader to picture Gordon Brown going into a sewer, piling newly discovered sewage on his head and trying to sell himself to the Tate Modern.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader wonders if you all had forgotten about the Minnesota Senate race. It still hasn’t been fully resolved. Yup. April 1 and no resolution.

Well… It looks like that is about to change. According to a piece in the Star-Tribune (that is linked through the Boston Herald) Norm Coleman’s attorneys are, while not throwing in the towel, admitting that they have probably lost the appeals.

According to the piece:

Norm Coleman’s lawyers all but conceded defeat in Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race Tuesday and promised to appeal after a panel of three judges ordered no more than 400 new absentee ballots opened and counted, far fewer than the Republican had sought in his effort to overcome a lead held by Democrat Al Franken.

The ballots include many that Franken had identified as wrongly rejected as well as ballots that Coleman wanted opened in his quest to overcome the 225-vote lead that Franken gained after a recount.

“We are very pleased,” said Franken lead lawyer Marc Elias shortly after the ruling, which calls for ballots to be opened next week.
Coleman legal spokesman Ben Ginsberg acknowledged that the Republican may have lost the seven-week trial and was prepared to appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

“It is pretty much of a long shot with that few ballots being put in play,” Ginsberg said, comparing the Republican’s odds of winning the trial to someone betting on the winning team in the NCAA basketball tournament. “We are disappointed. But we feel the court is wrong and we will appeal.”

The ruling is not a final order and it’s not clear for which candidate the ballots were cast. About half of them came from Hennepin, Ramsey and St. Louis Counties, which went heavily for Franken in the election. But about 60 percent of the 400 ballots are from Republican-leaning suburbs of Hennepin County or counties that broke for Coleman.

Wow. Your Maximum Leader can hardly imagine the pride he will feel in his government knowing that a former Saturday Night Live writer/cast member and 3rd rate political commentator will be a member of the United States Senate. You know, before too long the names long remembered from that august body will read: Clay, Webster, Calhoun, LaFollette, Lodge, Dirksen, Jackson, Moynihan, Helms and Smalley/Franken.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader wondered the other day what would happen if the Treasury tried to sell debt but found no one was buying? He called that post “Oy this can’t be good.”

Today the stock market was chugging along until later this afternoon.

Well… This isn’t good. The Treasury did sell bonds today. The good news is that they sold all the bonds they wanted to ($34 Billion worth - which is better than the UK which tried to sell $2.55 Billion worth but only sold $100 Million worth - must suck to be Gordon Brown now…). The bad news? The bid/cover rate (which your Maximum Leader only understands the most rudimentary way) dropped significantly. This means the number of buyers was smaller than expected. If this continues, one can speculate that the US will have to pay significantly more to get buyers to agree to finance the nation’s debt.

The poor showing by the bond sale spooked the markets and caused the bad finish to the day that started off well.

One wonders if future bond sales don’t go well how that will impact budget discussions on Capitol Hill… Okay… There is no point in wondering because most of our elected representatives are to friggin’ stupid to understand what his happening…

Carry on.