Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is giddy with anticipation. Why you might ask? Dr. Rusty is coming to Dee Cee. Yes. Dr. Rusty. Llamas. Gordon. Leo. Your Maximum Leader. Hopefully many others. It will be a fest.
Saturday, May 21. Dee Cee. There will be cavorting. If you are a DC area blogger come and join us.
Carry on.
Bush, apparently, will only speak to adamantly favorable crowds, down to every individual, even if it means lying about the nature of the event and lying about the nature of it’s security personnel. This is how you want your government to be run?
Bush: worst president ever.
Believe.
The report and testimony about the status of our forces by Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Richard Myers is damning, when you consider how many of our currently military problems could have been avoided with even a little intelligent foresight. Bush wasted our military (a military that was built by the Clinton administration, by the way) on an unneccesary war, and conducted that war in the most short-sighted manner possible.
Bush: worst president ever.
Believe.
Our reasons for going to war with Iraq were complete bullshit, the facts were made to fit the objective, and the British were well aware of it, as a secret memo, well-publicized in England but barely mentioned here in the States, makes clear.
This is not just a difference of opinion concerning policy. Conducting our government in this matter strikes at the very principles of a democratic society.
Bush: worst president ever.
Believe.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader would love to have the time to just hop on a plane and go across the pond and meet the good Col. Blimp. If your Maximum Leader could do that one of the first things he would do is offer to buy the Colonel a pint to assauge the guilt he feels for stealing from him.
What? Your Maximum Leader stealing?!?!
Well, from time to time your Maximum Leader amends, appends, or redacts the list of randomly generated tag lines that appear under the banner at the top of this page. Recently, your Maximum Leader read a post of Col. Blimp’s and knew it had to be a random tag line. And so, without so much as asking, your Maximum Leader just added it to his list.
What post was it? What was the line?
Well, if you must know it was the answer to the following question.
Why will you be voting Tory, Blimpish?
Now that the British elections are past, it seems the line is free and floating out there.
Blimpish, your Maximum Leader owes you a pint.
(NB to Col. Blimp: Do we have to beg for another tie/soe post?)
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has reserved comment on the various measures that were outraging many bloggers concerning the oversight of political blogs by the government. Quite a number of bloggers (including many read daily by your Maximum Leader) were quite alarmed (understandably) by the prospect of such oversight and/or regulation.
Well, it seems that the Federal Election Commission decided not to investigate/regulate blogs. At least those who receive no money from campaigns to blog. It is a different matter, however, if a blogger receives money from a political campaign. (Excursus: Would receiving money from a PAC or other 527 warrant investigation? Hummm.. It is unclear…)
And a few weeks ago a Senate committee voted to recommend changes to campaign finance laws with the express purpose of reining in 527 orgainizations.
Now, as loyal minions might remember, your Maximum Leader wasn’t a fan of the 527 organization. They are the evil spawn of a misguided and despicable law. That law being the McCain-Feingold Act. McCain-Feingold was supposed to help take the money out of politics. That was, and remains, possibly one of the most asinine assertions ever made. As long as there have been political campaigns there has been money involved in the campaigning. And to think for a moment that the people who most benefit from that money would voluntarially separate themselves from it is to engage in what the Smallholder might refer to as “magical thinking.”
Magical thinking you say? What does your Maximum Leader mean by magical thinking?
Certainly you noticed?
Te McCain-Feingold law performed just as it was supposed to, right?
Oh… Yeah… The 2004 Elections were the most expensive ever.
All McCain-Feingold has done is drive the money to other places. To other groups. The 527s. Groups with names like: Moveon.org, America Coming Together, Swift Boat Veterans For Truth, and Emily’s List. If you want to read some about how much money these 527s have raised and spent, you might read more here. (NB: And just in case you do read that link, McCain-Feingold is now known offically as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act or BCRA. Your Maximum Leader prefers McCain-Feingold as he likes to attribute blame by name where possible.)
Now let your Maximum Leader be clear here. He is all for letting people organize into interest groups and promoting their agenda. (At least until the MWO comes…) But what is really happening here is that people and groups who would rather be giving money to a particular candidate or campaign cannot legally do so. So they give money to surrogates. The surrogates then are free to do as they will.
Do you think George Soros would have given all that money to Moveon.org if he could have given it all to John Kerry? Would we even have heard of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth if their donors could have given more to Bush?
Loyal minions. We live in an era where information can be collected and distributed in moments. We have outlets ranging from traditional media to blogs where information can be reviewed and commented upon. Why don’t we just encourage our political class to do what they really want to do? Just remove all the limits to campaign contributions by individuals; but require full disclosure of all campaign contributors and the size of their contribution within 10 days of its receipt.
Whilst your Maximum Leader doesn’t think most people would actually give a damn about knowing that George Soros gave $30 million to John Kerry, the people who do care can do with that information what they will.
We don’t need more limitations on campaign spending, we need more openness and transparency to who gives what to whom. You might think the Federal Election Commission is already doing that job. But if you actually stop to look at the FEC you would see that it is painfully underfunded. Woefully short-staffed. And consequently unable to respond promptly to anything. (Which, by the way, is just how the politicans want it.)
Trash the existing campaign finance laws and start from scratch. Use technology to get the word out. In the end, “the people” would be better served.
Carry on.
I am an atheist, and my views are admittedly more extreme than those of Smallholder on the topic, but for anyone following his discussion of the correlation between religious intolerance and scientific ignorance, I recommend to you the interview with evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins over at Salon.com. Thanks to bruce for posting the link, and thanks to Sadie (Sexy Sadie, yum) for the link to bruce.
My summary? Religion is for chumps. (Of course I always like staking out a personal position that will both provoke my opponents and repel what few allies I have on any given subject).
heh
Believe.
I am not a baseball fan. I was a military brat growing up and moved (on average) every other year, so I never developed any local affiliations. A lot of that time was overseas, so watching on tv was not really an option. I collected baseball cards (because that’s what young boys do), but I only chose the Yankees as my favorite because I probably overheard they were winning at the time and had sharp uniforms. My younger brother got to collect the Blue Jays because, well, I decided he should and he was the younger brother. Sure, I played little league every year and became familiar with the game, but was never much of a hitter (’strike zone reduction’ was the on-base strategy suggested by most of my coaches). I still don’t know much or particularly care about the leagues or the stats, but know enough to generally keep my mouth shut on the topic when hangin’ with the fellas. Guys talk baseball, and I’m astute enough to avoid drawing attention to my apathy.
Nonetheless, I love going to the ballpark. I am lucky enough to live walking distance from Dodger Stadium, and have recently made a habit of of buying seats in a block and going with friends. I buy them at the stadium so I avoid Ticketmaster’s outrageous handling fees (monopolies are bad, but that’s a different post). I like the mid-priced seats — outfield Loge or Infield Reserve, usually: $15-20 each — since I think the views are fine all over and you avoid the craziness of the Pavillion and Upper Deck seats (where they don’t serve beer and yet still everyone manages to be piss drunk).
Initially, I put out an e-mail and gathered commitments before buying the tickets. Our first forays to the stadium met with such enthusiastic response, however — 13 people on a Tuesday night and 20 people on Sunday afternoon — that yesterday I went ahead and bought 10 tickets for each of three future games. Everyone gathers at my place about an hour before first pitch for some beers and socializing, and we travel over as a group, settle in and enjoy the game. And you know what? I really do enjoy the game. I like to watch and track the team and if I’m seating next to one of my friends who is a big statistics fan, so much the btter when he shares the bigger picture. While I will take a break or two from the action to go buy a hot dog or refill my beer, I don’t much chatter about work and the weekend and other business: my contribution to the social atmosphere is mostly done until we get home again (unless I’ve been lucky enough to have a pretty girl accept my invite and I’ve managed to successfully manipulate the seating assignments: the pitching of woo definitely take precedence over the pitching from the mound).
The Dodgers have had a strong start this year, and it’s fun to support a winning team (as little as that means this early in the season). By the next game, I’m going to own a Dodgers t-shirt and possibly even a hat. And if any of the ministers or comely female minions find themselves in LA during a home game, we’ll buy us some tickets and make a day of it.
Believe.
Can I say that I always hate AP test days?
There’s nothing left for me to do except wish and pray for my kids to do well. My stomach will be in turmoil all day.
It’s either nervousness or a reaction to the woo-pitching of the Minister of Propaganda.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader reads that the good Dr. Rusty Shackelford has contributed to the arrest fo a real terrorist. You should read the article. Here tis: Jawa Report Nabs Terrorist. Your Maximum Leader can’t wait to read the details.
Carry on.
I think I’m falling in love with Sadie and her sexy musings.
Wait, is that off topic?
Believe.
Whilst bashing the medeivel mentalities of my coreligionists, I would be remiss not to linkt to Eugene Volokh’s mighty smite of the Family Research Council.
Lynddie England’s plea agreement has been tossed by the military judge because he has concerns about whether she can be guilty if she didn’t know what she was doing was wrong or if she was following orders.
I thought that Nuremburg established following orders was not a defense in a war crimes trial.
Now we are making a lack of a moral sense a defense?
Germany, 1947:
Defendent: When I organized the mass slaying of the Polish peasantry, I was just following orders.
Judge: That is not an acceptable defense.
Defendent: When the Nazis came to power in 1933, they changed the curriculum to teach us that the Slavs were subhuman who were squatting on our lebensraum. So, indoctrinated throughout my high school career, I did not believing that murdering Poles was wrong.
Judge: Well, okay then. You are free to go.
Regular readers know that your Smallholder, unlike the Minister of Propaganda, is not a man given to profanity, but:
Judge Pohl, I call bullshit.
UPDATE FROM YOUR MAXIMUM LEADER: Your Maximum Leader may be misreading this statement from the Smallholder, but he thinks that his good friend’s reading of yesterday’s events is incorrect. It is your Maximum Leader’s understanding that Pvt. England’s plea agreement was tossed by the Judge because in her statement to the court Pvt. England made comments inconsistent with an acknowledgement of guilt. Not because the Judge thought she might not be found guilty in a trial if she “believed” she was not guilty. England stated that she believed that the photos were for a legitimate purpose (training?) and thus she didn’t believe her actions were wrong. You cannot plead guilty to a charge, then say you weren’t really guilty when addressing the court. So as a consequence, the Judge threw out the plea agreement and is moving to an Article 32. Which your Maximum Leader understands to be the equivilent of a grand jury proceeding to indict England and move her towards a full blown trial. A trial which the plea deal was to avoid.
UPDATE: Thanks, Mike. You are right. Please disregard this post. Hopefully ol’ Lynndie is still in for some hefty jail time.
A private employer decides to offer benefits to domestic partners.
But public law requires that the domestic partner pay taxes on the benefits, unlike the spouses of straights who receive exactly the same benefits.
From the Washington Post:
Early in 2004, after nearly two years in a committed relationship, Dan It also stipulates that “spouse” refers “only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.” The law requires that both these definitions be used “in determining the meaning of any Act of Congress.” Thus, same-sex couples, no matter what the states do, will remain
Jessup added his partner to his health insurance, as his employer, the big Wall
Street firm J.P. Morgan, allows…
But there was shock in store for the 39-year-old worker in Morgan’s
commercial banking division in Indianapolis: His taxes took a big jump…
Under federal law, any portion of an employer-paid insurance premium
that goes for coverage for a domestic partner is treated as taxable income to
the employee. The employee also may not make any payments for partner coverage, such as premiums under a “cafeteria” benefit plan, with pretax
dollars…
…the rules were written into law by Congress…
“A man and a woman who have not officially gotten married are in the
same boat,”…
Opposite-sex couples, of course, have the option of getting married.
Except in Massachusetts, same-sex couples do not. Even if they did, it wouldn’t
help with the tax treatment.
The Defense of Marriage Act, passed by Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996, defines marriage for the purposes of federal law as “a legal union between one man and one woman as husban and wife.”
unable to get federal-tax-free health insurance for one partner through the
other’s employer. A 1997 study by the General Accounting Office (now known as
the Government Accountability Office) found 1,049 federal laws in which
marital status is a factor. They range from the obvious, such as those
concerning joint tax returns, to the obscure but potentially important for
certain individuals, such as in determining who gets life insurance proceeds
when a federal government worker dies without specifying a
beneficiary.
Equal protection of the laws my heine.
It’s not Christians who are persecuted.
We are doing the persecution (though not all of us agree with it).
I often disagree with Will’s policy presctiptions, but I always enjoy reading his prose. He is a beautiful writer. Today I can whole-heartedly agree with Will - so my pleasure is doubled.
The whininess of my coreligionists has been chafing me of late. When other Christians complain about the persecution of Christians, I always want to answer: “Stopping you from perseucting other people is not persecution.” I for one, have never had one of my church services interrupted by the jack-booted atheist thugs kicking down the doors of the sanctuary.
This persecution complex is especially galling when there are Christians who are persecuted today. You don’t have to go back to the Roman coliseum (lions and tigers and bears, oh my!) - just look at China or the Middle East. Under Sharia, abandoning the true faith is heresy punishable by death - and a Saudi convert is facing the prospect of the ax as we speak.
So when my coreligionists whine about the persecution of not having Principal-led prayer in the public schools, I become a bit indignant. I become indignant when Pat Roberston complains that extending civil rights to gays “persecutes” believers.
Go read Will’s article.
