Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader saw this on Kim Du Toit’s site and decided to give it a go.

Do you have the guts to take the honest bloggers-only quiz? Your Maximum Leader always has the guts to take a pansy quiz.

1. With which political party do you typically agree? Republican

2. For which political party do you typically vote? Republican (but your Maximum Leader has voted for a number of Democrats)

3. Name the last five people for whom you voted for president? George H.W. Bush (88 & 92), Bob Dole (96), George W. Bush (00).

4. Which party do you think is smarter about the economy? Republican

5. Which party do you think is smarter about domestic affairs? Republican

6. Do you think we should keep our troops in Iraq or pull them out? Keep them in and transfer more power to new Iraqi government.

7. Who, or what country, do you think is most responsible for 9/11? Osama Bin Laden and other wicked Islamofacists. Most Arab nations are somewhat culpable for allowing a climate to exist where terror can flourish.

8. Do you think we will find weapons of mass destruction in iraq? Not in large quantities. But we will find more evidence of their presence. Like the sarin filled artillery shells from last week.

9. Yes or no, should the u.s. legalize marijuana? Yes.

10. Do you think the republicans stole the last presidental election? No.

11. Do you think bill clinton should have been impeached because of what he did with monica lewinski? Are you asking if Clinton should have lost his job for an affair? No. He should have lost his job for lying under oath in a criminal investigation.

12. Do you think hillary clinton would make a good president? No

13. Name a current democrat who would make a great president: I can’t think of one who would make a great president. But your Maximum Leader believes Joe Lieberman is tolerable.

14. Name a current republican who would make a great president: Again, that call to greatness is a problem. Your Maximum Leader still likes geeky Steve Forbes on the economy. Also liked Phil Gramm of Texas.

15. Do you think that women should have the right to have an abortion? Your Maximum Leader believes that abortions should be illegal with very few exceptions.

16. What religion are you? Not really any. Your Maximum Leader was raised Roman Catholic. But his religious views are now closer to Orthodox Judiasm.

17. Have you read the Bible all the way through? Not all the way through. There might be some books of the Old Testament he hasn’t read. Ruth? Judit? Can’t recall.

18. What’s your favorite book? Too many to name. But since it is a pointed question… Right now your Maximum Leader would have to say Shogun by James Clavell. He has read that book about 10 times in the past ten years.

19. Who is your favorite band? Favorite performer? Cowboy Junkies and Elvis respectively.

20. Who do you think you’ll vote for president in the next election? Bush. But mainly voting against Kerry. Which is how most of your Maximum Leader’s votes have gone recently. Lesser of evils and all.

21. On what website did you first see this? Kim Du Toit

That done… Your Maximum Leader bids you,

Carry on.

It bugs me when people compare western leaders to Hitler. There really is no comparison. If you agree with Bush’s policies or not, he’s a democratically elected leader, who is ostensibly trying to achieve the security of his nation, fighting terrorism.

Want to read about someone REALLY evil, read this. It’s an article on Adolf Eichmann from the Crime Library. It’s good to read for two reasons. First, something like the holocaust, and the human capability for atrocities, should never be forgotten. Second, it gives us an example of true evil in the world.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader would like to thank Andi over at Overboard for her kind link to this site. Your Maximum Leader has gladly reciprocated.

You all (my minions) really ought to go and read Andi’s stuff. She provides an interesting counter-balance to the Poet Laureate’s life-in-Korea posts. Andi is a Buddhist Swordsman who your Maximum Leader is convinced could take Lucy Lui in a Tarantino-esque sword fight.

And note to Kilgore… She likes your blog too man. Get thee to Korea! End your “drought.”

Carry on.

Note to those of you who might check out these things… This post is #666 from the start of this blog. Humm.. Coincidence that the DEVIL’S number is associated with a kick-ass Buddhist chick? Your Maximum Leader thinks not…

I can’t stan to listen to Bush butcher words, and mutilate the English language, so I usually read transcripts of his speeches afterwards. Last night was no different for me.

I didn’t really get anything out of the speech. To borrow a phrase from Bush Sr, it was a “stay the course” speech. Not enough specifics on what’s gonna happen. Competant address. Major Policy speech? no freaking way. And, please, go on TV from the White house, and address the nation, like Ronnie used to. Talk to us, the citizens. Stop letting us listen in on speeches given to military audiences.

I noted that last weekend, General Abazaid commented that the troops they had weren’t sufficient to accomplish the mission, if not in terms of the number of troops, then in terms of the lack of MI, MP, and non combatant troops relating to (for lack of a better word) PR kinda stuff. And Bush says in his speech

“Our commanders had estimated that a troop level below 115,000 would be sufficient at this point in the conflict. Given the recent increase in violence, we will maintain our troop level at the current 138,000 as long as necessary.

This has required extended duty for the 1st Armored Division and the 2nd Light Cavalry Regiment — 20,000 men and women who were scheduled to leave Iraq in April. Our nation appreciates their hard work and sacrifice, and they can know that they will be heading home soon.

General Abizaid and other commanders in Iraq are constantly assessing the level of troops they need to fulfill the mission. If they need more troops, I will send them.“

Hmmm. We’ll see.

I also noted that Bush used the word “Occupation” repeatedly. I had thought that we weren’t occupying, but “liberating”. This represents a shift in rhetoric.

Perhaps the reason that MaxLeader doesn’t see seasonal shifts in drinking preferences is because he keeps his house at a balmy 64 degrees farenheit year round.

Update from your Maximum Leader: Untrue.. Your Maximum Leader keeps the Villainschloss around 64 degrees farenheit during the fall-winter-spring months. It stays a balmy 75 during the summer. Why? Because your Maximum Leader is of scottish ancestry and “thrifty.”

I am celebrating two anniversaries in the next month. My daughter will be 2 years old on June 17th. Who’d of thought we’d make it to this milestone!

I probably would not have made it though if it wasn’t for this other anniversary I will be celebrating on the 10th of June.

That my friends, is two years to the day that I bought my Krups Orchestro Automatic Espresso Maker

I had a regular espresso maker for a couple of years, the kind that cost about $70 and you think you are a serious coffee drinker when you buy it. I used that thing faithfully every day for years until, a week before my daughter was born, I saw the Orchestro for sale in the Base Exchange. Somebody had put it on layaway and decided not to get it. It was a one time buy for the store so they discounted it bigtime and put it on the shelf with other return merchandise for sale at bargain prices.

Now this machine normaly is in the $600-$900 dollar range, but I was able to get mine for $299.

Now, you guys might be thinking “300Bucks is a lot to pay for a freakin’ coffee machine”.

But to that I say, Hell, if this one broke on me, I would replace it in a HEARTBEAT with the same, or a more expensive model! I no longer buy coffee at any Starbucks (or starbucks like coffee chain) becuase my home brew is as good or better.

Espresso/Cappaccino machines are really one of those things that, the more you spend, the better the results. Most inexpensive (read under $300) use steam to brew the coffe. More expensive machines use pressure to force the water through the grinds. Steam scalds the coffee and affects the taste.

Now of course, the water and brand of coffee are important too but I will save that for another post.

I will conclude with 2 things.

1)If you are a coffee/espresso/cappaccino drinker, do yourself a favor and get one of these things… I can make myself my own cappaccino in about 1 minute 30 seconds YIKES. (did i mention that my coffee intake has quadroupled in the last two years?)

2) A Cappaccino is 1/3 espresso, 1/3 steamed milk, and 1/3 milk foam

Back to the trenches….

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader just watched the Pesident’s speech to the Army War College on C-Span. Not a bad performance. He delivered the text well. But the speech wasn’t terribly inspiring. Your Maximum Leader would have liked to hear more about how the security situation will be improved. He realizes that the President said that security will become more and more of an Iraqi issue. But that will take time. Overall this is a good first step in explaining the war, and its current state. But this can’t be the only step. The President should be making these types of speeches every few weeks, and getting more detailed with each.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader hasn’t posted to a Derb column in such a long time. He couldn’t resist linking to this one today. Your Maximum Leader wishes he had more time to write out essays like Derb’s.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader wanted to comment briefly on India. This comment was prompted by the close of this post from the Minister of Propaganda.

(Before commenting, your Maximum Leader would like to thank the Minister of Propaganda for the great link to biographical information on the new Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.)

Your Maximum Leader will first admit that he doesn’t follow Indian politics as closely as he should. But he can say that he has never been a great fan of the Congress Party. Why? They’ve always seemed a little too socialist for your Maximum Leader’s taste. Indeed, it was the BJP (the party just ousted by the Congress-led coalition) that really produced an economic environment thathas allowed India to flourish economically.

It came as a surprise to your Maximum Leader to learn that now-PM Singh was instrumental in tearing down some of the socialistic state monopolies (or laws that thwarted an open economy) during the last time Congress led India. Indeed, it seems as though Singh was able to lay some of the groundwork that the BJP used to get India’s economy to take off.

As the good Minister of Propaganda points out, the Communists are in the Congress-led governing coalition. (Should this surprise anyone? Sonia Ghandi is afterall a born Italian. And can any left-of-center Italian form a government in any nation without including communists?) What will the presence of the Communists mean for India? Your Maximum Leader thinks it will not mean too much. Congress will have its hands full keeping the Indian economy going, and living up to its electoral promises. If anything the Communists will push Congress into doing more to keep its electoral promises.

The Congress-led coalition won, it seems in large part, because of their appeal to the poor of India. You see, under the BJP’s “India Shining” programme the cities of India grew in wealth and affluence. Educated Indians are earning more, and spending more. But much of that new-found wealth has not yet found its way into improving the lives of the myriad poor in India. Congress has promised rual electrification, better sewage, improved education, and other government programmes to improve the condition of the poor.

It will be a great challenge to keep the burgeoning Indian middle-class growing and prospering, while supporting the massive taxation that will be required to acheive goals like rual electrification. It does seem as though if there is a man in India up to the task (who wasn’t in the BJP) it is the new Prime Minister, Mr. Singh.

In another vein, isn’t India just fascinating? In so many ways it is what so many nations could be. It is a hugely successful pluralistic democracy. And they are likely in a position that could be somewhat congruent to the US at the turn of the last century. Their cities (well, many of their cities) are hubs of the international economy. They have a strong manufacturing base. And their agriculture continues to improve. But outside the cities there is still a rual India that hasn’t seen the implementation of many the benefits of modern society.

Take rual electrification for example. From what your Maximum Leader reads, there are huge swaths of India that are not (or minimally) electrified. Does anyone recollect when rual electrification became a reality in the US? Can anyone say the TVA? Mrs. Villain was a little surprised to learn that many rual areas were not electrified until the 1950s. US cities were modern, electrified, and cutting edge early in the last century. But our rural areas were not. India strikes your Maximum Leader as being similar.

Well, your Maximum Leader wishes Mr. Singh luck. He can only hope that India continues to be a democracy that works in Asia.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was just reviewing the good Dr. Burgess-Jackson’s site and found this particularly interesting.

It is particularly interesting because it touches on one of the points your Maximum Leader was trying to get at in his recent ranting about blogging and such. The good Dr. Burgess-Jackson points out that Ayn Rand is not well liked in the philosophical community for a number reasons. Your Maximum Leader will direct your attention to numbers two and five on the Doctor’s list. She wrote for a mass audience and is read by a mass audience. “Serious intellectuals” can’t be popular; and popular intellectuals can’t be serious. It is the most grevious mindset that holds the American academic.

And as a small postscript, a loyal minion wrote me and asked why your Maximum Leader disliked Dr. Vallicella so much. Truth is, your Maximum Leader doesn’t dislike Dr. Vallicella at all. Indeed, he often finds himself reading the exchange between the Poet Laureate and Dr. V. He is obviously an intelligent man who is deserving of consideration. What set off your Maximum Leader was the manifestation of this academic mindset that upsets him so.

Carry on.

Everybody seems to make fun of American beer… at least most of the places that I have lived and visited in Europe.

My usual retort to these folks is that in General, Americans work a lot harder than most people and our climate is “warm” so we appreciate a nice crisp clean beer more than our European brethren. Especially after a day of working in the Yard or playing sports.

Dare I mention Ice House or Genuine Draft? Not too expensive and is good with American food.

In England, I LOVED the real ales. These are beers that are still fermenting and need to be at a certain temperature (mid 50s to low 60s). This is where everyone gets the idea that the English/Europeans like “warm” beer. Its not really warm, but is usually kept at celler temperature. If the beer is colder, like how we like American beer, the flavors are masked. Sadly, the new generation of British drinkers prefer nitro-keg beers (like in American bars). The beer is pasteurized and thus, not fermenting. The most popular beer in the UK when I left was an Import… Stella Artois.

The cool thing about Beer in the UK is that you get a pint, by law, which is a handy amount to get your beer in.

In Holland/Netherlands/Belgium, I think where Stella is from, they like their beers to come in small glasses that are 1/2 foam and 1/2 beer. They have a spatula-paddle thingy that the bartender scrapes the suds off when it starts to overflow from pouring it. Their philosophy is that in a small glass, your drink your beer when it is fresh and not let it sit in the glass for a long time (like with the English pint).

Germany has a lot of neat beers to. As with food, they have a lot of seasonal beers. During lent, they brew strong beers to help with your fasting… liquid bread. But they have Pils, Weizen, Bock, Hefe, Christmas beers and others. I like the dak ones myself but I always try to order something I have not had before.

Mixed drinks and Spirits.
I wish I liked Scotch more than I do. It is a cool drink to be seen drinking. I buy my dad various bottles of obscure Malts when I come to visit (in 3 weeks!). I got him a bottle of 50 year old scotch last time…. and boy was it smooth (and expensive). I liked one called Bennaiche. I think that is how it is spelled, but is is pronounced Ben-a-hee.

I like out of fashion old drinks too. A side car is one Brandy, Triple sec and Lemon.

I like wine a lot too. Which is fortunate because I live in Germany’s largest wine growing region. Unfortunately, its white wine but I am learning to appreciate its nuances.

I have been smoking way more cigars than I should. And for my money, brandy is the drink to have with them. I am not too snobby about the brand of Brandy. My cigar of choice, however, has lately been the Partagas Series D no 4.
I chee wa wa!
A nice strong 30 minute smoke that helps me forget that so many people dear to me support Kerry.

Back to the trenches for another drink!

My favorite summer drink is a Corona with lime, sipped on the porch with friends or my Dad after a hard day’s work. I love the pleasant feeling of muscle soreness as I sip on a cold one. I also learned how to add salt and to suck the resulting explosion while with the army in Texas.

When the Propaganda Minister is around, I’m partial to Heinekens, glorious reminders of or high school escapade to Burke Lake with Kirsten and Katy. I also recall his hysterical essay in the Yale Record that included a reference to “the time Mark and I slammed Heinekens at Demery’s and ended up in the gutter in our underwear.” Or the time we slammed Heinekens and ended up at a drama party - where we had such a great time dancing that we didn’t notice the skewed sex ratio. No one hit on us - either they could tell we were heteros or they assumed we were a couple. Here’s to old times, buddy.

I also have a soft spot for Rolling Rock - this was the drink of my high school years. The Laughing Lizard Lounge never carded so we would often go to comedy sports and order pitcher after pitcher of beer. Good times with Stu, John (the wildman turned accountant), Lisa, and Ann. And Occasionally the Propaganda Minister when he visited me. Here’s to the whole Laughing Lizard Crowd. I don’t think the underage drinking hurt us that badly. Stu’s a doctor, John has become respectable, Lisa is a theatre manager, Ann’s an academic folklorist, and I’m a… oh well. It didn’t seem to hurt the other people.

See here for the legend of Rolling Rock’s “33″

I’m not much for mixed drinks - my manliness quotient is lacking here. At the risk of turning in my man card, I will admit liking amaretto sours. But, (he hastens to add), I only drink those at places where mixed drinks are the norm - like country clubs or office parties.

Here’s a great story from the liberal media. It’s good to read about things like this when one starts to get down on America. Or this story.

American’s are good people, and America still can be a powerful force for good. How many global powers have tried to make a positive difference without expecting much in return?

Knowing I love beer, my cousin bought me a book rating the world’s beers for Christmas. Now, I was a little put off noting that Klein trashes Corona, which I like, and pretty much follows the pattern of trashing lighter beers, and praising heavier beers. He also refuses to rate light beers. Whatever, reading it pretty much makes it obvious he’s a beer snob. Still, I enjoyed reading the book.

That is, I enjoyed it until I decided to try what he rated as the best beer in the world; Sam Adams Triple Bock. I bought this beer against the advice of friends, including good old MaxLeader. Now, I’m a huge Sam Adams fan, and I remain so even after tasting Triple Bock.

Granted, I’m a sucker for packaging too. I bought the bottle of Triple Bock along side a bottle of Grolsch, which does have just about the coolest boottle of any beer in the world. Sam Adams Triple Bock comes in a slightly smaller dark blue bottle with a cork. Hmmm. Pretty cool.

So opening the botte, the first thing I smelled was overpowering Sour Molases. Already I’m a little put off. The website suggessts serving it in a snifter, so I poured a little into a snifter and tasted. And wretched. Boy, it’s nasty. Almost like a port that’s gone to vinegar. Best beer in the world? No freaking way.

Two things came to mind…

The first was an English professor I had in college. The second is spicy food. I’ll explain.

An English professor I had freshman year in college said that James Joyce’s Ulysses was the best English Language novel ever written. So I went out and bought a copy and struggled with it for a while until I went back to him. He was not surprised that I struggled with it. He explained that most people find it unreadable. I asked him if most people can’t read it, then how can it be the best? he went on a long rambling explanation of why it was the best, but he made the point that precisely those things that made it unreadable also made it the best novel written in English. It was at that point that I realized he was full of shit. I just nodded and pretended to get it until he was done, then I left. Got a “B” in his class if I remember.

As for spicy food, I have a lot of friends who revel in spicy food. Several of them equate spicy with quality. If I make salsa, or cook Mexican stuff, and it’s not hot enough, that means it’s not good. Personally, I like spicy food if I’m in the mood, but I also enjoy mild subtle flavors. When we go out for Sushi, one friend who fits this pattern takes double the Wasabi, and coates each piece in wasabi. What’s the point? Sushi’s a delicate taste, and you’re paying for it, so why do that? Might as well put Wasabi on a cucumber. It’s a lot cheaper. You aren’t even tasting the fish when you do that.

Anyway Klein reminds me of these two things. The prof seemed to think that Ulysses was the best BECAUSE it was such a mess. Spicaholics like Spicy food, and don’t really care what’s behind, or under, the spices. I think Klein rates Triple Bock so high because it’s such a freaking BIG taste. But BIG tastes can also suck.

You see this same thing in reading about Scotch on line. Many people rave about the BIG scotches like Laphroag from Islay (which I love) and put down the subtler, milder drinks like Glenfiddich (which I also love). Glenfiddich, in fact, takes a pounding among whisky writers because it’s so popular and easy to find. Somehow it’s more manly to like the bigger harsher tastes I guess.

No, it’s not a funny article. It’s an op-ed piece from the Washington Post about a talk Bill Cosby gave at Howard University to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education.

Read it here.