Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that Mubarak has resigned in Egypt. Your Maximum Leader is tenatively pleased. Mubarak is gone and now his Vice-President and the military seem to be running the show. All this has been done with minimal bloodshed and violence.

These are all positive signs.

Furthermore, so far the overthrow of Mubarak seems to have been accomplished by secular forces. This is another positive sign.

But forgive your Maximum Leader for not being too over elated…

You see, this is the first of many steps and one never knows how these things will turn out. Sure Mubarak is out, but his people and supporters are firmly ensconced in power. They can send the crowds home and get everything back to “normal.” Then how will they implement promised reforms? Will they be swift? Will reform be dragged out? How about those elections? Sure we’ve had mostly secular forces at work right now, but when you start to have every Egyptian voting for a new government will that government be secular?

To draw an imperfect analogy, after the Tsar abdicated and the Provisional Government was set up in Russia during 1917 didn’t people think the worst was past and the revolution set on a good and reformist path?

Then there was 1918…

Just sayin’…

In the meanwhile, may the people of Egypt celebrate this day. They have accomplished that which many thought couldn’t be done (or couldn’t be accomplished without great sacrifice of blood). They have every right to be proud of what has happened.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader, like many of you, has been thinking and observing and thinking some more about the situation in Egypt. Your Maximum Leader must be honest, he has no one clear line of thinking on the whole matter at all. He has decided though, since he has a blog, he’s just going to throw out some of those thoughts and see what sticks.

By way of a beginning, the Mubarak regime is oppressive, has been oppresive, and will continue to be oppressive if it remains in power in any way. Your Maximum Leader is pleasantly surprised by the (overall) restraint of the police and army up to this point. Apparently the situation is changing rapidly and pro-regime individuals seem to be escalating the level of violence today and one can expect in the future as well.

Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure how violent the situation will become. He frankly disregards anyone who says that they do know how the situation will proceed from here. Once these movements start there is no telling where they would go. (One doubts that anyone would have thought that convening the “Estates General” by King Louis would have lead to Napoleon eventually…) Your Maximum Leader certainly hopes that the situation will not devolve into mindless violence. It certainly could. It could also devolve into more “mindful” violence. By this your Maximum Leader means targeted killings of pro/anti-regime figures. Indeed, your Maximum Leader suspects (but it is only a gut feeling) that before all this is over there will be a number of very prominent dead Egyptians.

Your Maximum Leader is a little torn about the demonstrations. He certainly understands and sympathizes with the aspirations of the crowds of anti-regime demonstrators. They want to end the oppression and enjoy a measure of freedom. Your Maximum Leader is torn about this for a number of reasons…

If for a minute your Maximum Leader thought that the anti-regime demonstrators wanted to establish a open, secular, western-style democracy he’d not be torn at all. But let us all be completely honest. The demonstrators don’t want that. (Some of them might, but he doubts that even 10% of them want western-style democracy.) They want to be rid of the oppressors and to have the opportunity to select a new government. If given that opportunity they will likely select some branch of the Muslim Brotherhood or other Islamist (or proto-Islamist) group to lead them. Egypt is not a participant in the development of the modern western world. As such we need to look realistically at what would come after Mubarak.

Since we can’t be sure what would follow the Mubarak regime - but can be sure it will not be a western-style democracy, your Maximum Leader is reluctant to throw the whole regime under the bus. (So to speak.)

While we’re being frank lets hit a few important things to remember. The Mubarak regime has been good to the US and has been good to Israel. We should all be for less oppression and more freedom in Egypt. But we shouldn’t be for a radicalized Egypt that will dramatically add to the unstable region and may be a net negative for the US (and Israel and Saudi Arabia and Jordan etc).

Your Maximum Leader recalls that way back in the early days of the G.W. Bush Administration (and before this blog), he was in favor of regime change in Iraq. He supported the invasion of that country. He supported the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and his sons. But back then your Maximum Leader wondered if Iraq was “ready for democracy.” He concluded they probably weren’t and speculated that the US should set up a strong, multi-ethnic, provisional government and stabilize the nation and then leave. If the Iraqis went down the path of democracy that would be great. If they didn’t, well then they didn’t.

(NB: Your Maximum Leader also speculated that the US could establish a Constitutional Monarchy that would share power with the Army and with a Parliament. But that was his own speculation. He knew that the US, in this day & age, wouldn’t go around establishing monarchies. Also, you can see how well your Maximum Leader’s support for regime change in Iraq turned out. We really screwed it up… So much so that your Maximum Leader, if he could go back and do it again - he would be less likely to do so again… Your Maximum Leader was in favor of regime change in Iraq in part because he thought that by “shaking things up” we could affect positive change in the region. He believed at the time that the Bush Administration had a plan for the invasion and stabilization of Iraq. As we’ve seen, they didn’t. If - in the context of time travel - the Bush Administration HAD a reasonable plan for invasion and stabliziation and exiting Iraq then he’d continue to be for regime change in Iraq. If - in the context of time travel - the Bush Administration was going to do the same thing all over again; then he would obviously not support regime change in Iraq. Because we didn’t have a reasonable plan that we could execute in Iraq, we screwed up our one chance to “shake things up” and affect positive change. There are no second chances in these sorts of things and as such US led regime change in the region is out of the question in any circumstance your Maximum Leader and imagine.)

With this in mind, your Maximum Leader tepidly supports regime change in Egypt. He doesn’t expect Egypt to become a western-style democracy overnight - or even in a few years. What he does support is a change in government that will be secular, less-oppressive, and acceptable to the most people in Egypt. Of course, what your Maximum Leader wants doesn’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world…

Your Maximum Leader can’t say he’d be terribly displeased if Mubarak resigned (before September) and left the country (for Saudi Arabia or even the US) and left behind some sort of governing committee that would manage the nation until elections could be held. This governing committee would likely consist of some of Mubarak’s people, some of the demonstrator’s people, and some key army people. The governing committee (a provisional government of sorts) would draft a new constitution and set up the terms by which political groups could participate in the upcoming elections. The new constitution should be guaranteed by the Army with some understanding that it wouldn’t be changed/scrapped/horribly amended after the election outcomes are known. Frankly the Army can write itself some governmental role if it wants to.

The preceeding bit assumes (as your Maximum Leader indeed does) that the Egyptian army is run as a largely secular institution that is not insane and understands Egypt’s long-term needs and role in the region. In a way your Maximum Leader posits that the Egyptian Army is much like the Turkish Army. Assuming the Egyptian Army is a gurantor of a “moderate and secular” Arab state; then it should has a major role to play in the transition from Mubarak to something else.

Your Maximum Leader personally believes that most of the demonstrators want “someone other than Mubarak or one of his chief cronies” to govern them. At some level your Maximum Leader believes that if Mubarak and his chief cronies were to depart and be replaced with someone the Army likes that would satisfy the great majority of Egyptians now demonstrating. After 30 years the people of Egypt likely want “change.” They might not want dramatic change. They might just want some “change.”

Your Maximum Leader suspects they will get “change.” He only hopes that they will not get too much change and become radicalized. He believes that the Egyptian Army can facilitate this change. He also suspects that the longer these demonstrations go on and the more violent they become the more inclined towards change the Army will become.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t know why he watched the State of the Union speech last night. He did watch of course. He always watches. Well, almost always watches. There were a few George W Bush SOTU speeches your Maximum Leader missed; mainly because he couldn’t stand to watch the man give a speech. It was painful.

Of course last night’s SOTU speech was painful in a different way. It was painful in that way that a rational person feels when his brain is about to explode due to the contradictions. Sadly this is how most SOTU speeches have been for 20 years. The president stands up there and tells everyone what they want to hear. In last night’s example, President Obama called for lots of new spending as well as spending freezes. He wants to invest and cut the deficit. He wants to spend wisely and eliminate the debt.

By the way… Is “high speed rail” actually code for something else? Your Maximum Leader wanted to think that “high speed rail” was actually code for “riding the love train to Bill Clinton’s office in Harlem” - which is something many women would like to do (at least this is what your Maximum Leader is told).

Anyhooo….

Luckily for your Maximum Leader, his lovely wife (Mrs Villain) came in about 25 minutes into the President’s speech and wanted to talk about other things. This talk went on for about 30 minutes. So your Maximum Leader was able to preserve his brain from damage by focusing on his wife and largely ignoring what was going on at the Capitol.

Your Maximum Leader thought that Paul Ryan’s response was competent. Your Maximum Leader has heard Ryan speak before and last night wasn’t his best work. Sadly, your Maximum Leader missed Michelle Bachmann completely as Mrs Villain needed some help on the computer (which is not code by the way) and he was away long enough to miss the “tea party response.”

All in all your Maximum Leader believes that he’ll have completely forgotten the SOTU by about 2:47pm today.

In other news…

Who’s rooting for the Packers in the big game? Your Maximum Leader is. So are you if you’ve got any sense about you. Sadly it looks like your Maximum Leader will be watching the Super Bowl at the home of some close friends who are Pittsburgh fans. Your Maximum Leader worries about the dynamic in the house during the game. Perhaps he should cancel and stay home… Perhaps he should find new friends….

Di ye knew wha to-day is? It is Robert Burns Day! Huzzah! While your Maximum Leader will not be partaking of haggis sliders; he will have a little of the “water of life” to go along with his poached salmon with dinner. He may even read a poem or two to the family.

Finally… We are on snow watch here in Virginia. The Villainschloss is in the “wintery mix” to 5″ of snow zone. As with all these winter storms, one never knows what will happen until it is happening. Frankly, your Maximum Leader is hoping for rain and nothing more, but with his luck the snow will come and cancel schools and thereby disrupt his harmony.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is sitting in the Villainschloss right now in the middle of a domestic crisis. Apparently the Doctor Who marathon on BBC America is not “family friendly” viewing. (So says Mrs Villain.) Additionally, your Maximum Leader has learned that Mrs Villain has no interest in any of the college football on TV right now. So your Maximum Leader has done the wise thing and vacated the TV viewing area for the solitude of his study. (He will likely move back in and watch something a little later this evening.)

Your Maxmium Leader is really looking forward to dinner tonight. Delmonico’s raised on Smallholder’s farm. Matched with baked potatoes and some sparkling wines from around the world.

Your Maximum Leader’s offspring are taking a pool to see which of them will fall asleep first. Your Maximum Leader bet all of them that he will be the only one up at midnight and that he’ll have to wake them all for the change to the new year. Indeed, your Maximum Leader raised the possibilty that he might turn in early and let them all fend for themselves.

Your Maximum Leader got some nice comments to his post on spinning the Civil War. Your Maximum Leader thought the post would elicit some sort of response from the whole “slavery wasn’t the cause of the Civil War crowd.” Sadly, those idiots must know that this is not the place for them.

The interesting comments were about your Maximum Leader’s speculation that Mitt Romney will get the Republican nod in 2012. From Professor Mondo: “Meanwhile, Mitt Romney remains a charisma-free zone. I’m just afraid that the folks down here in Mondoville will go for the Huckster, who is just another statist. At this point, I’m kind of pulling for Mitch Daniels.” Our friend Polymath wrote: “My Lovecraft fantasy has me wishing for a re-animated Reagan.” And our very own farmer, the Smallholder, wrote:

Republicans give their nomination to the last cycle’s runner-up.

But Romney may be the exception that proves the rule. Since Republicans are on a jihad against Obamacare, the fact that Obamacare is essentially Romneycare does not bode well for Romney. It will be difficult for him to squirm away from his record during the primaries, particularly given his preexistent reputation for flip-floppigng. Gingrich advocated a version of health care very similar to Obamacare in ‘94, but he may be able to sidle away because it never went anywhere - Romney actually got it passed.

Mondo, I kind of like Mitch Daniels too. But he’s a bit too centrist to survive the primaries. He would make a good VEEP to appeal to the middle.

Polymath, I doubt Reagan could actually get tea-party votes today. He was too much of a pragmatist, rasied taxes to balance the budget, was in favor of arms control, and advocated tax rates higher than Obama’s. Folks are in love with an idealized person who never existed.

First off, your Maximum Leader must put an end to all this re-animated Reagan stuff. WE CAN’T GO ELECTING ZOMBIES TO OFFICE. Any office, not just President of the United States. Every person with an iota of sense knows that a re-animated corpse is a zombie and zombies aren’t cool. Zombies just want to eat our brains. Your Maximum Leader fears that a re-animated Reagan would not be a strong leader because he could always be sidetracked by a plate of warm steaming brains.

(NB: could one distract zombies by throwing them turrines of sweatbreads?)

Anyway… Even if you were able to safely reanimate Reagan (which your Maximum Leader doubts by the way) the 22nd Amendment still applies and he wouldn’t be eligible. Your Maximum Leader fears that a re-animated Harry Truman is our only option for zombie chief executive.

Your Maximum Leader will stand by the charisma-less, former Massachusetts Governor as the leader for the Republican nod right now. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t really think he knows enough about Mitch Daniels to get worked up one way or the other about him. Smallholder’s comment about Daniels being too moderate for the primaries seems to ring a little false as John McCain (no raging social conservative) didn’t have much of a problem navigating the primaries in 2008. Of course one can argue that the results (and “rage” as the media likes to call it) of the 2010 elections might have changed that. Frankly, your Maximum Leader doesn’t think so. The primaries are the primaries and any Republican who wants a crack at the top job will cater to the base to win the nomination. We speculate about how this year it will be different from past years; but it rarely is that different one cycle to the next.

The whole Obamacare/Romneycare bit isn’t too much of a reach. One can spin it as a question of scale and affordability. Use the Constitution, Obamacare is massive federal overreach; but what Romney did in Mass. is not the same type of deal. States can implement broad social programs within the state if they want. Since the state has to pay for the program it isn’t an unfunded mandate to all or a major source of future debt. It is a subtle argument to be sure; but it might have legs. (Also, Romney can claim that the program has been mismanaged in the years since he left the Governor’s mansion.)

It was Professor Mondo’s comment that Mike Huckabee seems to be enjoying wide support down his way that caused a little distress to your Maximum Leader. Mike Huckabee is one of those potential candidates that really does upset your Maximum Leader. Perhaps your Maximum Leader has a latent prejudice against social conservatives who might actually rise up the the highest office in the land. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t think that he is prejudiced against prominent social conservatives. He thinks his problem is when the conservative in question has ONLY social conservative credentials.

Winston Churchill once said that a fanatic was a person who wouldn’t change their mind and wouldn’t change the subject. Your Maximum Leader thinks that his major objection with many social conservatives is that everything boils down to abortion, prayer and whether or not the US is a Christian nation. Don’t get your Maximum Leader wrong, he is a pretty socially conservative fellow; but he is often looking for policy discussions on a whole host of subjects from his candidates, not just an exposition on religion and politics.

So back to Huckabee… He has executive experience (from a state that has already given us one chief executive). He also seems so authentic and natural as to be everybody’s friend. It is when he starts going on about his young Earth beliefs that he loses your Maximum Leader. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t begrudge anyone their own beliefs concerning the creation and age of the universe; but he finds that there is a strong correlation between those who believe that the universe was created exactly per the Book of Genesis and a lack of curiosity to the natural world. Curiosity in the natural world may not seem like a big prerequisite to higher office, but in your Maximum Leader’s mind it is. That type of curiosity should lead to an appreication for (if not an aptitude for) observation, recording of facts and formulation of hypotheses. Understanding and applying the scientific method (as it were) is a useful tool for developing mental acuity. Mental acuity is a trait of which your Maximum Leader is fond in political leaders.

So back to Huckabee… Your Maximum Leader just can’t imagine him as having the mental acuity needed to be president. This is based solely on Huckabee’s religious beliefs. This type of assessment (a prejudice if you will) is based solely on observations and experience your Maximum Leader has made of others. It may be that Mike Huckabee is a brilliant man with wisdom and understanding beyond what your Maximum Leader has observed. But given what your Maximum Leader has observed, Huckabee is sorta scary as a potential nominee.

Well… Your Maximum Leader believes that he’s run this train of thought off the rails and has no more to say (for the moment) on this subject. He’ll now open the first bottle of bubbly for the evening and see when he might get those steaks.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was, until about 14 minutes ago, blissfully unaware of the conspiracy that exists in this nation to exterminate a certain minority group. This conspiracy is based in the public schools, churches, Planned Parenthood, the pyschiatric profession and organizations of “European” manufacture.

To elaborate on this conspiracy further your Maximum Leader presents this video (about 14 minutes in length):

Your Maximum Leader is stupified. Just when he starts to forget how insane some people are a video like this one serves to remind him of what craziness people are willing to believe.

Oh yes, one more thing… Your Maximum Leader is glad that Mr. Johnson doesn’t feel the need to subject himself to the oppression of conventional spelling or grammar in the graphics of this video.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees in the news that a Federal District judge has ruled that some provisions of the recently enacted health care reform bill are unconstitutional. This is good news.

Of course, it is good news of a moderate sort. By this your Maximum Leader means that other judges have ruled that the same provision (namely the requirement for individuals to buy insurance) is constitutional. This is just another shot in a long legal battle that stands before opponents of the law (represented here by Virginia Atty Gen Ken Cuccinelli and other Attorneys General from around the US) and the US Department of Justice.

Your Maximum Leader sees in the piece that VA AG Cuccinelli has requested the US Supreme Court to handle the appeal directly bypassing the federal appeals courts. Your Maximum Leader thinks that this would be a good thing for the SCOTUS to do; but he doubts that it will happen.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader hasn’t blogged much recently due to a chronic case of TV viewing. Of course when you have a new Panasonic Viera 54 inch Plasma TV you may want to spend your time watching it. If you want to know your Maximum Leader’s thoughts on his new TV here they come: this TV is awesome. Yup. This TV is completely awesome.

FYI… The first film he watched on his new TV, on BlueRay, in true 1080p HD was Zombieland.

Well my minions…

Your Maximum Leader has been completely infected by the bug again. The Venice bug. It has been in the forefront of his mind quite a bit over the past few weeks. He doesn’t recall if there was a particular trigger for the bug, but it is all-consuming.

For a city to which your Maximum Leader has never traveled Venice holds a strange manic fixation for him. He reads about Venice, he thinks about what he’ll do in Venice, he thinks about the future and past of Venice. This year he actually started worrying that when he finally does get to Venice that he’ll hate it or find something to dislike about it. But even those thoughts can’t keep him from thinking about visiting La Serenissima. He worries that Venice’s problems will ruin the image of the city he has in his mind.

Venice has so many problems and so few viable solutions to any of them. The first problem is, well, the water. As your Maximum Leader has highlighted on this blog many times (and he’ll do so again now), the acqua alta (or high water) is affecting the city more and more frequently and is getting higher and higher with each passing year. The high water yesterday was reportedly over a meter deep in St. Mark’s square.

Another problem is the over-commericalization of Venice. People (Venitians and outsiders) think that the city is becoming “Veniceland” and ceasing to be a city. They contend that the 20 million tourists that flood the city by day in the warm weather months are driving out reasonably priced apartments, grocers, and many of the people and businesses that make a city a city. The population of Venice has declined to between 50,000-60,000 (from a late 1950s popluation of nearly 130,000). Without some way of keeping prices down in the city more citizens will leave and eventually Venice could become a tourist city with the workers coming in by train or boat from their homes on terra firma and leaving after the tourists in the evening.

In the over-commericalization vein, the costs of keeping up the city continue to skyrocket. Many people are complaining about how the city is auctioning off advertising space on scaffolding around historic buildings in Venice (including this ghastly ad for Coke - a product your Maximum Leader completely endorses - on the side of the Doge’s Palace). Sadly, your Maximum Leader isn’t sure that there are many other choices for preserving the city. With a dwindling tax-base you have to sell the assests you can to raise money to preserve the landmarks that draw in the tourists. The mayor of Venice, Giorgio Orsoni, earlier this year proposed a tax on tourists. The proposal was that every tourist who enters the city, but does not spend the night in the city, should pay a 10 Euro tax. The city would then spend the tax on keeping up the city buildings and services. Frankly, your Maximum Leader is all for this proposal. 10 Euros a person and 20 million tourists. Let’s say that 2 million of those tourists spend the night (which seems a little high, but he’s going with it anyway) that is still 180 million Euros in revenue gained. That seems like a reasonable visitation tax with a worthwhile purpose.

But even with all the talk of overcommericalization, sinking and crowds of tourists, your Maximum Leader feels the city is pulling at his soul. The city calls him to visit. He hopes that his visit will be like the one he recently read about on-line in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (although the piece is orginally from the New York Times - your Maximum Leader doesn’t read the NY Times as a matter of policy, unless he is in New York City). In the piece Rachel Donadio relates her first visit to Venice in many years. It is a great travel piece that your Maximum Leader will commend to you. Here is a taste:

I HADN’T been back to Venice in years when I found myself there on assignment. It was November; the city’s scattered trees had begun to turn brown. The light, as always, was beyond compare and there was a watery chill in the air. I loved it immediately.

Or rather, I remembered how much I loved it. Italy can do strange things to your perspective. Memories of a place become more real than the place itself. I had lived for years with the Venice of my recollections — traveling there at 19, drinking peach iced tea in the July heat, discovering Giorgione — and then last November I was back. I was older, so was Venice.

The visit whetted my appetite, and not long afterward I returned one freezing January weekend, armed with several sweaters, boots and a well-worn copy of “Watermark,” Joseph Brodsky’s marvelous prose poem about Venice in winter, which would be my guide. It is an emotional guidebook more than a practical one, but, I would argue, just as reliable. In Venice, maps fail. As everyone knows, to be in that floating city is to be forever lost and disoriented, as if in a labyrinth.

On that November foray, I had listened to a group of American college students talking as they wandered around near the Rialto Bridge. “I don’t mind if we’re, like, lost all day,” one told his friends. “Dude,” another replied, “I don’t think we have a choice.”

Goethe could not have put it better. Venice, as he famously wrote, can be compared only to itself. So many wonderful writers have captured Venice, from Goethe to Henry James to Evelyn Waugh, that it is all the more remarkable that in 1992 Brodsky, in “Watermark,” managed to create a truly original piece of writing about this cliché-worn city.

Your Maximum Leader read “Watermark” last Christmas. It is one of the most lyrical short books he’s ever read. Brodsky could really turn a phrase and capture a moment in poetic prose. If you can, pick up a copy and read it. It will take you a short afternoon (or a long one if you savor the words).

Anyhoo… Venice is on your Maximum Leader’s mind.

You know what other Italian thing is on your Maximum Leader’s mind? No? Well let him tell you. Mara Carfagna. Yes, the beautiful and talented Minister for Equal Opportunity in the Berlusconi government. Your Maximum Leader has read over the past year that Minister Carfagna had gotten a lot of press for trying to outlaw street prostitution and provide more protection for homosexuals and victims of rape. Right around Thanksgiving in the US your Maximum Leader read that Mara Carfagna (Bella Mara as the Italian papers seem to call her) was going to resign from her position. Your Maximum Leader had read about the ongoing garbage collector strike in Naples and the growing mountains of refuse in the city; but now that crisis had real impact to him. Carfagna was going to resign over the government’s inability to resolve that situation. Your Maximum Leader was going to lament that the world’s most beautiful government minister was going to resign over garbage. Apparently, and luckily for all involved, Carfagna and Berlusconi must have worked something out because she is going to stay on (for a while at least). If you would like a little news analysis on Mara Carfagna here is a nice piece in Spiegel International called: Neither Saints Nor Whores.

Well, that is about all the Italian stuff brewing around in your Maximum Leader’s brain right now. He’ll leave the blog now and check out some college football. Today he’s rooting for the USC Gamecocks to put the smackdown on Auburn (mainly because he wants to see TCU try for the National Championship) and the Virginia Tech Hokies in the ACC championship.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader and his family were speaking at the table the other night. Conversation turned to the marriage of Prince William (of Wales) to Catherine Middleton. Neither of your Maximum Leader’s daughters seemed to be terribly interested in marrying into royalty, but as the conversation flowed we started to discuss precedence. Namely who follows whom or is seated next to whom at important state functions. While realizing that the wedding of William & Kate is not going to be a state function, there will be lots of important personages who will have to be seated and that there must be some official order to everything.

Your Maximum Leader, who knows a little bit about protoccol, speculated that royals (or other heads of state) would be given precedence according to the age of their nation and royal line. So he speculated that the Emperor of Japan would naturally be first in terms of precedence. Emperor Akihito is the latest of a long (and to your Maximum Leader’s knowledge largely unbroken) line of succession. Your Maximum Leader further speculated that by that standard if you are mixing royals and other heads of state you would likely put the Pope second.

Well… A quick googling of this item shows just how wrong your Maximum Leader was. Assuming that Wikipedia is correct, precedence is given according to longevity as head of state. Thus the King of Thailand is first in order of precedence and Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain (etc. etc.) is second. (Emperor Akihito looks to be 19th. Right behind Robert Mugabe! NB to Mrs P - is that Ghoul Pool still going? Has anyone cashed out yet?)

So, tonight at the dinner table your Maximum Leader will have to set the record straight with his family on precedence.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader wanted to share some of his post election thoughts with you. If you have a particular comment upon which you might your Maximum Leader to opine, please let him know.

First off… Your Maximum Leader sees the 2010 elections as confirmation of his long-held view that no matter who gets the nomination of the major parties that person is going to get about 40% of the vote. (In a straight up 2 candidate comparison). Take for example the case of Christine O’Donnell in Delaware. It was painfully clear to anyone with an ounce of sense about them that O’Donnell was going to lose. It was only a matter of how badly she was going to lose. Your Maximum Leader figured that she’d get somewhere about 40% of the vote - and sure enough she did. In South Carolina, your Maximum Leader figured that absolute nobody Alvin Greene (who people speculated was a Republican plant in the Democratic party) would get about 40% of the vote. Well, Alvin got 28% of the vote. But there was a Green Party candidate in the state who got 9%. If there had been no Green Party candidate your Maximum Leader thinks that those 9% of SC voters would have gone to Greene. (Hummm… A case of the exception proving the rule?)

Secondly… Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure that anyone in the White House fully understands what happened on Election Day. Then again, it could be a case of the political atmosphere being so charged and polarized that neither side is capable of understanding any view that doesn’t fit their pre-existing views. After listening to the President yesterday your Maximum Leader thought that he (the President) didn’t get it. It wasn’t that he didn’t move with enough speed or scope to address the problems of the nation; it was that his view of what the problems were were different than the majority of the voters out there. Your Maximum Leader firmly believes that the President did not make a case for health care reform being a major economic issue that had to be tackled right away. Indeed, your Maximum Leader doesn’t think that there is a case to be made for health care reform being an economic issue that had to be taken care of right away. Yes, it is a problem that needs attention. But the case wasn’t made. The fact that health care was pushed through Congress to the President in a way that most Americans find distasteful doesn’t help the case. Most Americans are okay with (even bad) laws that are sweeping in their scope but are passed in an open atmosphere of debate and consideration. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t see how health care was passed in such a fashion. Some say (including your Maximum Leader’s good buddy the Smallholder) that if the President had passed a larger stimulus he would be viewed as more successful and done better at addressing the economic situation facing the nation. Your Maximum Leader calls the “we needed a larger stimulus” argument the “Paul Krugman” argument - since Krugman has been making it for months. Your Maximum Leader disagrees. The two stimulus bills (Bush’s and Obama’s) along with the bank bailout and TARP were absolutely required to stablize the economy while it was in meltdown. But the problem now (as your Maixmum Leader sees it) is not that the economy is going to collapse, it is that the economy is stuck. We are at a stage where the government cannot buy our way out of the economic problem. Banks have money. Corporations have money. There is plenty of capital in the system. It is just that no one is moving capital. They aren’t moving capital because of uncertainty. Consumers don’t know what the value of their homes will be. Consumers don’t know if they’ll have jobs in the future. Consumers don’t know what their jobs (if they have them) will pay. Taxpayers don’t know what their tax situation will be next year (will tax cuts be extended? will they expire?) There is fear and uncertainty. Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure what exactly can be done to restore confidence. But he knows that neither the President, nor Congressional Democrats (up to this point and on to January) have seemed to have a plan. So this gets back to the starting point of this paragraph that the President doesn’t get it. He doesn’t seem to have a clearly articulated plan, and thus voters are happy to give some power to Republicans in the hopes of stimulating the political system to get a plan.

Thirdly, your Maximum Leader wonders how the President will actually react to having his power in Washington magnified. Yes, your Maximum Leader said it. His power is (potentially) magnified. 435 members of the House of Representatives are not going to suddenly coalesce around John Boehner and speak with one voice. The US Senate hasn’t spoken with one voice in decades. The only possible national leader is President Obama. He faces a choice. He can lead, or he can inject himself into goings-on in Congress and hope for the best. Up to this point your Maximum Leader would contend that Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have exercised more power in Washington than has the President. That has changed. With a diminished majority in the Senate, Reid is going to have a harder time moving anything through that body. With Republicans in control of the House we should expect to see a bunch of mostly symbolic bills moved out (to die in the Senate or get vetoed by the President). If President Obama is going to change anything in Washington he’s got to pick issues carefully, build consensus and actually lead. Bill Clinton did this after losing the House in 1994. Bill Clinton became a successful president because of the Republican House. Now honestly your Maximum Leader doesn’t believe that Barack Obama is as politically astute as Bill Clinton. He further thinks that Obama’s team is more tin-eared and arrogant than the President. Also, Obama’s coalition does not desire to compromise with Republicans. Those are a bunch of strikes against Obama turning things around. That said, the President has the tools at his disposal if he knows how to use them.

Fourthly, the biggest non-reported upon story of the election was the pick up of so many Governorships (and state legislators) by Republicans. With Congressional redistricting happening next year, this is a big deal. In many ways this item can do more to help Republicans hold power in Congress for 10 years or so. Drawing Congressional districts is an immense power. One that has a profound affect on how Washington works. That is the story that should get some air time.

Fifth (and last for now), your Maximum Leader was pleased to see Dana Milbank muse yesterday on the press being irresponsible in reporting as much as it did on Christine O’Donnell. Your Maximum Leader was going crazy every time he watched a news report about how control of the Senate hung in the balance last Tuesday, and every story contained some reference to O’Donnell in Delaware. Your Maximum Leader wishes he could do a Lexus search of national news items and see how many references the O’Donnell race got compared to Carly Fiorina in California. Your Maximum Leader recognizes that O’Donnell being cute and insane makes for better copy than most other races; but still shouldn’t their be a little perpective here? By talking up one race that wasn’t close they didn’t talk about other races that were. Okay, many could say that Fiorina didn’t have a chance given California’s political makeup. If you don’t like that example substitute the Pennsylvania Senate race. One that actually was very close and meaningful but got almost no press compared to little Delaware. It is sad to see such irresponsible reporting on the part of most national news outlets.

Were there other election results on which you’d like your Maximum Leader to opine? Got a beef with his views? Comment away.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader knows that you all are anxiously waiting to know how the three Constitutional amendment proposals in Virginia fared on Election Day. You will recall that your Maximum Leader opined on these three items a little while ago in this post.

Well, all three items passed. You can see the unofficial results here. Your Maximum Leader wasn’t surprised by this outcome. He can’t imagine that many people over the age of 65 who imagined that they might benefit in some way from the first item (concerning allowing localities to set guidelines for people over age 65 to get property tax exemptions) would vote against the item. It passed with 76% of the vote.

Your Maximum Leader was a little surprised that the question on the “rainy day fund” was rather close. It passed with 51% of the vote. Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure what message to take away from that one. People like having a rainy day fund, but they prefer a small one to a big one? That seems to be the only message to take away.

Anyhoo….

What is up with you people? Really. What is up?

You don’t know of what your Maximum Leader is blogging do you?

No idea…

Well let him tell you…

Not one of you picked up the unforgivable historical error your Maximum Leader made in his earlier “Down the ballot items VA edition” post. Your Maximum Leader realized he’d made a mistake the day after he posted the piece. He thought of correcting it right away, but then decided to leave it to see if any one of a few readers would mention it. Not a peep.

Come on people… The Virginia Declaration of Rights wasn’t written by Thomas Jefferson! It was written by George Mason! Admittedly it is an easy mistake to make. In Virginia history if you need to know who did something your safe battery of answers are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, James Madison, Robert E. Lee and “the Union Army.” George Mason should be in that short list, but he is often left off. Your Maximum Leader apologizes for his error and will now make the correction.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader voted this morning. He voted for to re-elect his Congressman (Rob Wittman - R VA-01). He also voted on the Constitutional issues he discussed earlier.

He will take Mrs Villain to the polls a little later today and make sure she votes.

Get out there and vote (assuming of course you are eligible to vote… or dead in Chicago…)

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader calls out to you all “Rabbit.”

Got that out of the way.

Your Maximum Leader had a shower thought that he figured he’d throw out there. Like so many pundits and commentators, your Maximum Leader believes that the Republicans will take over the House of Representatives (your Maximum Leader will predict +53 seats for the Republicans) in the elections tomorrow. Your Maximum Leader further predicts that the Republicans will pick up a number of Senate seats (probably between 6 and 8).

If the Republicans make these gains, they will have a majority in one house of Congress and a stronger minority in the other.

Of course what this means is that Republicans have skin the game of politics in Washington and will actually have to try and deliver something.

What happened last time this type of transformation occured in Washington DC in a mid-term election? Bill Clinton became a highly effective (and largely successful) two term president.

Now, your Maximum Leader recognizes that the analogy isn’t perfect. Bill Clinton was (and is frankly) a pretty pragmatic guy. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t believe Barack Obama is a pragmatic guy. Clinton had become “Washington savvy” after wasting the first two years of his first term. President Obama has not demonstrated that he’s learned anything from his first two years. And by being not as pragmatic as Bill Clinton, he might not be inclinded to learn now.

In your Maximum Leader’s opinion, Congressional Republicans “saved” Bill Clinton’s presidency by allowing him to switch into a pragmatic mode of campaign-governing. (Which is to say that he governed like he was running a political campaign - which he was actually.) Your Maximum Leader wonders if on Wednesday, November 3rd Barack Obama will be able (and insightful enough) to do the same.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is sure he’s taken this test before. Furthermore he is pretty sure his results haven’t changed too much. He is a little too lazy to do a site search and find the last time he posted his results. Indeed, your Maximum Leader wasn’t going to take the test at all, since if you’ve hung around this site for any length of time it is likely that you know what your Maximum Leader’s political views are (more or less). But since all the cool kids like Prof Mondo, Skippy and Kevin are doing it…

You are a Social Liberal (70% permissive) and an… Economic Conservative (80% permissive) You are best described as a: Libertarian Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader suspects that unless you are living under a rock you’ve heard that this is an election year in the good ole US of A. This is a Federal election year, which means that people pay attention (sorta - since it is not a Presidential election year). Americans go to the polls, as the endless parade of chattering noggins on the TV tell us, to elect the whole House of Representatives, one third of the Senate, and whatever offices [fill in the name of your state] wants to elect.

Well… For those of you who don’t know, Virginia likes to do things a little differently. Your Maximum Leader likes it that way honestly. Sure Virginians will be going to the polls to elect their Congressmen, but we don’t fool around with electing our state government at the same time as those federal people. It sullies up the process says your Maximum Leader. Let’s keep the state and federal elections separate…

Anyhoo…

Though there are no candidates for state (and very few local) office on the ballot that doesn’t mean that we in Virginia aren’t going to get to vote on three different ballot measures. All three measures are Constitutional Amendments. While your Maximum Leader isn’t much on trying to do anything to the Federal Constitution, he’s all for changing the Commonwealth’s Constitution when you need to. State Constitutions are, after all, generally pretty detailed documents that do need revising with some regularity. (Indeed the current version of the Virginia Constitution dates back to 1976/7. It still contains the Declaration of Rights, written by George Mason back in 1776; but otherwise is a pretty modern document.)

So there are three Constitutional Amendments (revisions really) on the ballot. In this post your Maximum Leader will briefly describe each and tell you how he plans on voting on each of them. How many other blogs are providing this type of public service for you if you live in the Commonwealth of Virginia? Probably none, but your Maximum Leader is too lazy to find any that are.

Item 1: Should the Constitution be amended to allow local governments to establish their own income or financial worth limitations for purposes of granting property tax relief to those 65 or older or permanently disabled? As it stands, localities around the Commonwealth can already provide property tax exemptions for those 65 or older and permanently disabled if the the property tax creates an “extraordinary tax burden” on the individual. Now, in all honesty, your Maximum Leader is pretty sure that this is a semantic change. He cannot imagine that a local (city or county) government would give a tax exemption without considering the burden that property taxes play considering a person’s total income and/or financial situation. The key, in your Maximum Leader’s mind, is that “extraordinary” part. A person seeking a property tax exemption should have to prove that property taxes are an “extraordinary” burden considered in the context of that person’s ability to pay the tax. Your Maximum Leader is very leery of the idea that a local government could just establish a set of income/worth guidelines and promulgate them indicating that if you meet the criteria set then you would get a property tax exemption. Look, your Maximum Leader likes to pay as little in taxes as possible; but let’s be honest folks, police and fire protection are nice too. Schools are nice to have. Local parks and playgrounds are great. Your local government pays for a pile of stuff that everyone needs and uses and it pays for them with revenue from property taxes. Your Maximum Leader isn’t for letting people off the hook for paying those taxes without serious consideration. Your Maximum Leader will vote no on this one. The language is fine how it is written.

(NB: Your Maximum Leader has a big - BIG - hot button topic on the whole issue of property taxes. He had, a while back, some neighbors who were (then) around 40 and married. No kids. Dual (rather high) income. No pets. These two were pretty cool people all in all; but twice a year (around property tax payment time) they bitched and moaned and complained to high heaven that they should get a tax break because they didn’t produce any offspring that would need public schooling and they were sick of paying for schools. One day your Maximum Leader had had enough of that and he asked them if they’d been robbed recently. They hadn’t. Then he asked if they’d been assulted or their house broken into. They hadn’t. After a line of similar questions your Maximum Leader asked if they felt that they didn’t need the police or fire departments since they hadn’t used those services. They told your Maximum Leader that of course they needed those departments. Then your Maximum Leader asked if they’d been grocery shopping recently and did a cashier check them out? Of course. Had they bought something at the mall and did someone help them there? Sure thing. Did they have doctors they saw regularly? Yup. Your Maximum Leader reminded this couple that all those people (at various levels of skill) were products of schools, as they were too. Without schools none of the support that made their comfortable lives possible would exist. So they should just shut the hell up and pay their friggin tax and hope that one day they didn’t have to have some undereducated hospice worker change their diapers wrong because they couldn’t read the instructions. After that day your Maximum Leader never had a schools/taxes discussion with them again…)

Item 2: Should the Constitution be amended to allow the General Assembly the power to grant permenantly & totally disabled veterans (disabled in the course of duty) or their surviving spouses (who do not remarry) a property tax exemption on their primary residence? Unlike the last question, your Maximum Leader is all for this one. Veterans don’t get all that they deserve for the role they play in preserving our Republic. In your Maximum Leader’s opinion, if a person volunteered for duty in the armed forces and was permenantly and totally disabled in the line of duty; then they’ve earned a property tax exemption regardless of their age, ability to pay, or other condition. Sure that seems like a big blanket exception to the “everybody who can pay should pay” position espoused just a few short lines ago; but it is one that is entirely justified in granting. Although your Maximum Leader can’t cite statistics, he believes (and is willing to look at the stats and revise his opinion in light of what he’ll learn) that most totally disabled Vets are likely youngish enlisted personnel who are serving in the most dangerous jobs in the military. (NB: the most dangerous job in the US, as your Maximum Leader recalls, is the job of an explosives disposal technician in the Army, followed closely by the deck-hands who work on aircraft carriers checking to make sure that aircraft landing gear are properly fitted in the catapults that launch the planes off the deck.) Your Maximum Leader is all for giving a vet who lost both arms disarming a roadside bomb in Iraq or Afghanistan when he was 21 years old a break when it comes to property taxes. Your Maximum Leader will vote yes on this one.

Item 3: Should the Constitution be amended to allow the Commonwealth’s “revenue stabilization fund” (aka: rainy day fund) be 15% of annual revenue? Currently the maximum size of the “rainy day” fund is 10% of annual state revenue. Your Maximum Leader is all for raising this maximum to 15% of annual revenue. Just like your Maximum Leader is in favor of banks keeping larger reserves, he is for the Commonwealth being able to keep a larger reserve. Frankly, your Maximum Leader is happy that the Commonwealth even has a rainy day fund. Well… In all honesty we don’t really have one exactly right now because of the crappy economy overall; but we did have one for a long long time and likely will have one again pretty soon. Your Maximum Leader is voting yes on this item.

So there you have it. Of course, if you are like the majority of the readers of this blog and not a resident of the great Commonwealth of Virginia your Maximum Leader is sorry to have wasted your time on this post. If you are a resident and hadn’t thought of the ballot measures, or were unaware of them; your Maximum Leader hopes to have done you a little service in the political education department.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader (again) finds himself in agreement with his friend Skippy. All he can say about this post is “ditto.”

Carry on.