Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader fresh off celebrating the mosts glorious naval battle since the creation of the world last week is ready to celebrate again. For today is the feast of Saint Crispin Crispian. A day when the English, under good King Harry (V) Plantagenet, crushed the French at Agincourt. Need a pick-me-up? Try The Bard’s take on a motivational speech.

You know something? Perhaps all this English over the French celebrating might annoy some (the one?) francophone reader of this site.

Nah…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader read the lastest from his Poet Laureate and said, “Ah yes, this is the Hominid as we know and love him.”

Your Maximum Leader has worried quite a bit about the Big Hominid over the past few months. And to make matters worse, your Maximum Leader hasn’t written/chatted with him as much as he should. Perhaps moving into a new place with more room and DSL will improve things a little.

Or maybe we’ll just have to pray for the interession of one of God’s tentacles.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader, like any benevolent dictator, must sometimes just have himself a little purge to keep things interesting.

The purge is of the blogroll. As your Maximum Leader has mentioned time and time again, the blogroll on this site is like a little favourites list that he can look up anywhere he happens to be. That said, your Maximum Leader has decided to purge websites that he has not read with any frequency in the past two or so months. Not that the majority of those blogs will care if they are dropped, it will make your Maximum Leader feel good to tid up some.

And in case this post left you cold…

On tap for later, more Electoral College madness! With comments from your Maximum Leader, the good JohnL of TexasBestGrok, and the Divine Minion Molly. But that will come when your Maximum Leader is willing to devote a little more time to blogging and a little less time to Medieval Total War.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader noted today that esteemed Canadian actor James T. Kir… No! William Shatner, has signed up to go on a Virgin Galactic space flight. Shatner and Dave Navarro (sans Carmen Electra we suppose) are both interested in seats on the commercial spacecraft.

If your Maximum Leader weren’t so preoccupied with world domination, Jennifer Love Hewitt, pie-encrusted Ann Coulter, the World Series and whisky he might want to put down the money and go himself.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was very pleased to read the Minister of Agriculture’s most recent post about the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

Your Maximum Leader remembers seeing the Senator speak eloquently and insightfully on the floor of the Senate. Your Maximum Leader always sought out the Sunday morning talk shows that Moynihan was on. And your Maximum Leader always tried to read his columns and editorials in various newspapers and journals. Senator Moynihan was a principled and intelligent man who served our nation very well. Although Moynihan and your Maximum Leader wouldn’t share many political views, we shared a love of knowledge and intelligent discourse.

If it were possible to do so, your Maximum Leader would have voted for Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

Requiscat in pace, Senator. There are none like you in that august body now. And, alas, it may be a long time before another like you is elected…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is quite excited about the upcoming World Series. But before we go there…

What a great NLCS game 7! The Astros took an early lead, but the Cards battled back to defeat the crafty Houstonians and grab the pennant. Your Maximum Leader extends his deep sympathy to the fans of Houston. The only words of relief to be found are, “There is always next year.”

In game 7 the Cards just overpowered the Astros and outplayed them defensively. What was interesting about the game, in the watching, was how when the Astros were in the field it seemed like an American League game. But when the Cards were in the feild, it seemed more like a National League game. The Cards were quick defensively and played to keep runs from happening. When at bat, the Cards played a good game of stealing and putting the ball in play to advance runners. It was great to watch.

Now that we know the Cards and the Sox are in the series what thoughts does your Maximum Leader have about the clash?

Well, first off it is good to see the best team in the National League battle the (almost) best team in the American League. Yes, your Maximum Leader knows that Boston didn’t have the best record overall. But Boston lead the American League in offensive production and pitching stats. Your Maximum Leader thinks that in terms of pure offense, the teams are equally matched. In terms of starting pitching, the teams are fairly evenly matched. The Sox pitchers should have a clear advantage in starters, but the Cards starters have stepped up and are playing just as well as Boston’s. Boston has a clea advantage in closers. The Card’s closers are shaky. The Cards play defensively better than the Sox do.

So what does all that mean? It means that we should be in for some really good baseball. If the Sox start Tim Wakefield; then the Cards have a good chance of taking one game at Fenway. That is critical for the Cards. They must take one of the first two games at Fenway to win the series. They can do this if they play aggressive National League style ball and concentrate on advancing and scoring runners. (Your Maximum Leader expects lots of steals and sacrifice plays.)

For Boston, your Maximum Leader believes they must come out swinging and jump to an early lead and get their closers into the game. Boston cannot win with good karma and high hopes alone.

Now, predictions… If the Cards take one of the first two games, your Maximum Leader feels that St. Louis will triumph in the series. If the Sox take the first two at Fenway, the Sox will triumph.

Now, hopes… Your Maximum Leader, normally a faithful National League man, is hoping that Boston wins. He would like to see the monkey flung from the back of this historic franchise. He hopes this is the year.

Carry on.

The Washington Post has two articles on potential cabinet heads in Kerry I or Bush II adminstrations.

I hope that recent discussions about Vanilla Ice Backup Dancers does not lead the Maximum Leader to shuffle his cabinet and change me to the “Minister of Being First Against the Wall.”

In looking for constitutional arguments on the faithless elector issue, I came across this rather erudite and amusing speech, delivered in 1979. I submit it for the Maximum Leader’s amusement.

The Maximum Leader has continued the Molly Mailbag on the Electoral College.

After reading his learned post, I have these observations:

1) I hope J.L. did not think I was casting aspersions on just the Republican redistricting plans. The Maximum Leader is correct; both parties gerrymander. I specifically mentioned the TexRepubs because they are currently in the driver’s seat.

2) Uh, J.L., perhaps one should not anger the fair Molly. She lives near you AND totes firearms. Never annoy people who meet one of those characteristics, let alone two.

3) After reading the ML’s Constitution excerpt, I am unclear about exactly WHY the Maximum Leader believes that faithless elector laws are illegal; the excerpt just gives the power to APPOINT to the states. Perhaps he is engaging in a little (gasp) loose (gasp) constructivism (gasp)? My view is that faithless elector laws probably violate the intent of the founders; after all, the entire electoral college system is geared to provide filters between the people and the presidency:

People -> State legislature (first filter)

State egislature -> Electors (second filter)

Electors -> President (third filter)

And sometimes:

House of representatives, voting one vote per state delegation on the top three candidates from the electoral college -> President (possible fourth filter)

Good commentary (four years old) can be found here.

If states can constitutionally mandate how their electors vote, could a the Democratic majority of the state of Smallholdertopia mandate that Smallholdertopia’s electors vote for Kerry DESPITE the fact that the majority of Smallholdertopia’s voters pulled the lever for Bush? If the state legislatures have the power to mandate how electors vote, what would prevent close battleground states from passing laws to ignore the wishes of the electorate? Hmmm…

UPDATE: Here is a good discussion of whether states can regulate the votes of the Electoral College.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader must admit that he has a soft spot in his loins for Ann Coulter. Yes, yes. Your Maximum Leader knows all the anti-Ann lines. Too shrill. Too snarky. Too catty. Too thin. (Okay, your Maximum Leader does think she is too thin.) But still, your Maximum Leader has a soft spot for her.

Imagine his surprise when he read that two U of AZ students were arrested for throwing pies at Ann.

Ann Coulter. Covered in custard pie.

Ann Coulter… Covered… in… custard… gggggrrrrrr…

‹/drooling›

Your Maximum Leader wonders if he could get together with Jennifer Love Hewitt and some custard pies… Oy! That thought may have just caused your Maximum Leader to go cross-eyed for a moment…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is ready with another installment of our (becoming) weekly feature, “Friday Villainy.” This week we will leave the realm of literature and move to the realm of campy Sci-Fi villains.

Yes, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was pondering which Sci-Fi villain would be the lucky first to appear in the Friday Villainy space. He decided you had to have a villain who had been around a while, but has been laying low of late. He needed to be feared by all. He needed to have a little libido action goin’ on. And he needed a real pimpin’ outfit.

Loyal minions, your Maximum Leader presents Ming the Merciless from the Flash Gordon movies.

If you prefer the Ming from the movies of the Buster Crabbe/Charles Middelton era you might prefer this image:

BTW, here is a wonderful site on 1980’s movie villains. NB to the Smallholder, click through and read the write-up on David Lo Pan from one of your favourite movies.

Your Maximum Leader also found this site while looking for Ming images. Smallholder, watch Bonnie closely. She may be a member.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader, while not a Hindu or Buddhist, does believe (somewhat) in Karma. So when he read this guest post on Velociworld: Karma…. he nodded to himself.

Then your Maximum Leader spoke aloud, to no one in particular, “Ah, it was written then. Better to have left him.”

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader had thought that he would write some pithy commentary on Bill Clinton’s aspirations to become UN Secretary General.

But alas, the Poet Laureate got the jump on the story. If Bill could get the Big Ho’s number 5 affected, your Maximum Leader would declare the war on terror won.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minons. Your Maximum Leader nearly soiled himself reading the lastest on iowahawk. Just click and read. Keep beverages away from monitors.

The Red Sox v. Yankees post was really good. As was the Teresa Heinz-Kerry apology.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is flummoxed. Who’da thunk that posting on the Electoral College would be such a hot topic. (It makes your Maximum Leader rethink the whole “naked starlets jello wrestling” post he’s been working on.)

Well, the Smallholder makes a number of good point in his post. Although your Maximum Leader would just like to point out that while he agrees with his esteemed Minister’s assesment that the system currently favours Republicans in small states; it does not always mean it will be thus. Party realignment can and does happen. As it stands today, the Smallholder is exactly right.

Loyal minion, JohnL of TexasBestGrok (which is, by the way, the finest blog on the web for aircraft cheesecake photos and Sci-Fi babeage) writes:

The best proposal I’ve seen yet for reform that takes into account the federalism justification for the Electoral College (especially the protection of smaller states’ interests viz. the larger ones’) is Winner-take-all for 2 votes (equivalent to Senators) and the remaining electors chosen according to the winner of the House Districts. I think Nebraska and Maine use this method currently.

Funny that Molly the Texas Democrat is upset about the Republican redistricting. Pass this little note to her:

“Hello goose? Gander speaking. This sauce would be especially tasty on you, given the actions of the Democratic Party machine in Texas during the 100+ years after Reconstruction.”

Your Maximum Leader will play diplomat here. We all know that BOTH PARTIES are equally cutthroat when it comes to redistricting. It is all about power. And power doesn’t always bring out the best in people. (Except your Maximum Leader, who defies Acton every day.) And your Maximum Leader doesn’t want to beat up on Molly. We have no idea of her thoughts on the whole Texas redistricting fight. Anyway, your Maximum Leader was the one to bring it up. Not Molly. From what your Maximum Leader can discern, Molly appears to be an old-fashioned Texas Democrat. (i.e.: not of the whiney northeast liberal type.)

Excursus: Of course, if Molly cares to share her thoughts, your Maximum Leader would be happy to post them. As for your Maximum Leader, let us just say that he finds whiney legislators remarkably intolerable. If you lose your fight, regroup and fight another day. Don’t get pissy and pack up and move to a different state or country. That brings out the worst in your Maximum Leader. He would be inclined to find such legislators - regardless of party affiliation - remove them from office; and flog them to within an inch of their lives. Part of the game of politics is that you win some and lose some. Your Maximum Leader cannot abide sore losers.

JohnL’s point is an interesting one. And indeed, just as he said, Nebraska and Maine have district apportionment methods of allocating their electors.

Your Maximum Leader maintains his assertion that proportional allocation of Electors would negate one of the psitive aspects of the Electoral College. That of mandate generation.

This website was quite helpful in two ways. First, it helped your Maximum Leader confirm JohnL’s assertion concerning Nebraska and Maine. (Which he seemed to remember hearing about at some point - probably 2000.) And it talked about “Faithless Elector” laws. The “Faithless Elector” is a potential problem for the Electoral College system.

And while we are on the subject… Here is a topical news story to add as a little codicil to our discussion. A West Virginia elector is claiming that he will become a “faithless elector” if called upon to support his candidate, President Bush.

The “Faithless Elector” issue brings up the “Faithless Elector” laws. Thanks to Dr. Jimmy Helms, your Maximum Leader learned many years ago that Virginia had “Faithless Elector” laws. Of course, your Maximum Leader around the same time became convinced (as are the writers of the National Council of State Legislatures site) that the laws might not stand up to a challenge. Your Maximum Leader would like to think that any court would support the rights of the states to determine and guide Electors as they choose. Especially since the implication of Article II Section 1 of the Constitution (even as modified by the 12th Amendment) is that the States should make laws concerning Electors. The text reads:

Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.

So it would appear as though the States could pass and enforce “Faithless Elector” laws. But who knows what convoluted “logic” a court would use in such a case.

Anyhow…

That is all for now. Baseball is on afterall.

Carry on.