Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader must make a confession.

He ate too much corned beef, cabbage & potatoes.

He may have also added a lethal dose of Guinness to the gastric mix.

He may take his iPod and go to bed now.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been contemplating this post for a while. A long while in fact. The seed that will become this pot was planted by the V-man on March 3rd. You see, on that date the great and terrible Velociman cast down the gauntlet of Colander Blogging. To be honest, your Maximum Leader is not enamored of his colanders enough to want to photograph or blog about them.

But your Maximum Leader has a skillet…

But not just any skillet… A skillet with a history.

Around 1870 or so your Maximum Leader’s maternal Great- Great-Grandmother on the shores of this great Republic. She arrived at the port of Philadelphia. (No trip through Ellis Island for her - no siree.) She arrived with her husband and a dream. A dream of leaving behind Scotland (her country) and Wales (his country) and making a new life for themselves in America.

Having arrived in Philadelphia it didn’t take her long to determine that the “City of Brotherly Love” was not the city of her dreams. So, she did what any woman with a can-do attitude and a dream did in those days. She decided to head west. She bought up provisions, tools, cookery, a few horses, a wagon, and a rifle. Among the items she purchased was a 12 inch cast iron skillet.

She took her husband, her stuff, her skillet and traveled across this great land. In a wagon. Braving weather. Braving natives. Braving all the hazards of a journey in those times. She decided to keep going until she reached Portland, Oregon. There she settled. She birthed some babies. She raised her family.

Then she got a letter. The letter informed her that a relative (her brother perhaps? foggy memory) who also came to these shores from the mother country had passed away. Passed away and left her as guardian of his now-orphaned children. But for some reason - one that passes your Maximum Leader’s understanding - the children had to stay in their hometown.

So she packed up the family. Got the wagon going again, and moved to - wait for it - Dayton, Ohio.

Life in Dayton seemed to suit her, and her brood. Eventually, one of her daughters married and started out on her own. One of the things your Maximum Leader’s Great-Grandmother got from her mother was the 12 inch iron skillet that had trekked across the country and nearly back again.

The skillet remained in Dayton for many years. But eventually new families are created by cycle of birth and marriage and skillets are passed along. After a time the skillet found its way into the kitchen of your Maximum Leader’s sainted mother. There the skillet languished in the bottom drawer of an oven for many years. Until your Maximum Leader graduated from college and moved out. At that time your Maximum Leader liberated the skillet and took it as his own. A birthright of sorts…

Today, that skillet has a position of honour in the Villainschloss’ kitchen. Your Maximum Leader and Mrs. Villain use it at least 4 times a week. The skillet now has some friends too. Another 12 inch cast iron skillet that belonged to Mrs. Villain’s paternal grandmother (who bought it after she was married in Rhode Island). And a 6 inch cast iron skillet from Mrs. Villain’s maternal grandmother (who bought it at some point in the 1930s).

One could say it is a power-trifecta of iron…

What? You would like to view the great and historical skillet? Well, here is a little photo of it. You can clicky through to see a larger one.

If you viewed the larger skillet do you see the seasoning. The old crusty layers of gawd-knows-what all over the outside. Your Maximum Leader thought of having it analyized to have it’s make-up scientifically determined. But he decided not to. It just adds to the mystery (and history) of the skillet.

If either of the Villainettes (or the Wee Villain) want that skillet they’ll have to pry it out of the cold dead tendrils of their father. He’ll never part with it. Indeed, should your Maximum Leader ever need to evacuate the Villainschloss for anemergency the skillet (along with guns and other necessities) will be packed in the Suburban along with the family…

And there you have it. Not Collander Blogging… But Skillet Blogging.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leaders says you should check out two sites that have changed their templates recently. One for St. Paddy’s day celebrations, and the other because she can…

Brian makes some morphs into Mement O’Moron.

Dawn changes Caterwauling. (NB to Dawn: Hope the new digs are all you hope them to be.)

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has a good old fashioned link dumping post to throw your way right now. First off… To those of you of Irish extraction - or those of you pretending for this one day to have Irish roots - Happy St. Patrick’s day. Your Maximum Leader’s heritage is an amalgamation of various strains of ethnicity from the British Isles. Lots of Scottish. Lots of English. Some Welsh. But, surprisingly little Irish. Regardless of that fact he has cooked up a corned beef, some cabbage and taters. He has a six pack of Guiness with his name on it in the fridge. He has even gone so far as to wear green today - mostly to make the Villainettes happy…

So… Happy St. Patrick’s Day. If you are cute, female, and Irish, let your Maximum Leader know and he will be glad to bestow upon you a kiss…

Moving along…

Who’da thunk that the Crack Young Staff will soon be celebrating a big anniversary? Your Maximum Leader hopes that he can come to the party. Doilies or no, he will do what he can to make the e-soiree classy. (Although he can’t imagine the CYS doing anything that isn’t classy…)

Your Maximum Leader sees that (Dead Sexy) Sadie (aka: Agent Bedhead) has a new friend blogging on her site. Mr Atoz, from his maiden post, appears to be cut from the same cloth as our friend Sadie. Go over and give a warm welcome to him.

(NB to all readers: This is possibly the most sucky segue your Maximum Leader has ever attempted.)

Speaking of being cut from the same cloth…

Did you all know that your Maximum Leader (like so many others his age) had something of a crush on Pat Benatar at some point between the years of 1981 and 1984? He knew that he could run with the shadows of the night and everything would be alright. Your Maximum Leader was aware that he was young, from heartache to heartache he would stand, making no promises or demands in is quiet hormonal lust for Pat Benatar. Well now Pat is 53. She is still rocking in the free world. But who knew that she had such a hottie daughter? Really. HOT-TIE! Seriously. Lookie here. (Or here if you like.) Like mother, like daughter…

Moving along…

You know your Maximum Leader sort of presumes that you all read the Wall Street Journal’s Opinion Journal daily. Well, he feels compelled to mention to you today that they have a whole battery of great essays. Check out this fine essay on blacks in the Catholic Church. You might also check out the essay on anarchy.

The best essay on Opinion Journal today is the one by Daniel Henninger on the slipping away of the American moral compass. As political discussion becomes more charged due to differing positions on sex it becomes harder to keep cultural morality operant in other areas. Some food for thought there.

Do you know what your Maximum Leader is looking forward to reading? The post that Robbo will craft using the comments appended to this post. Heh. Perhaps even double “heh.”

In closing… Have you noticed the strange path of this post? From corned beef, to hotties, to sex in politics - and how that can be bad - to composite posting… Interesting. But not interesting in the same way that your Maximum Leader feels every day when he reads WWTD and then clicks on to Charmaine Yoest. Humm…

By the way… Cookery blogging on tap for later…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader wonders about the construction of the first sentence in this Reuters article. Here goes:

Capsaicin, which makes peppers hot, can cause prostate cancer cells to kill themselves, U.S. and Japanese researchers said on Wednesday.
Capsaicin led 80 percent of human prostate cancer cells growing in mice to commit suicide in a process known as apoptosis, the researchers said.

Okay… Your Maximum Leader gave you the first two sentences. Cell suicide? Your Maximum Leader doesn’t remember cell suicide from biology? According to the (very authoritative - ahem) Wikipedia apoptosis is sort of like a cell suicide. According to this NIH site apoptosis is more like normal “cell death.”

So, Capsaicin appears to cause prostate cancer cells to want to die… They really can’t manage the hot foods one supposes. Of course, one might also wonder if there is a lower rate of rostate cancer among populations that eat more hot peppers (or food prepared with hot peppers) than in those countries with bland food. Your Maximum Leader suggests a study of Mexicans and Norweigians… It would be a veritable smackdown pitting tamales against lutefisk…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader saw this interesting tidbit on the Reuters news wire.

Too lazy to click through? Here is first sentence:

A Mexican couple were recovering separately after a marital spat got out of control and saw them firing guns, throwing knives and hurling homemade bombs, Mexican daily Milenio said on Monday.

Beauty, eh? Your Maximum Leader will file this item under “Hot Tempered Latin Lovers.”

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was pleased to hear that many Catholic Bishops have given special dispensations for Catholics to eat meat on Friday, St. Patrick’s Day. By giving the special dispensation, the Bishops are giving those who want to celebrate St Patty’s day with corned beef the opportunity to do so without committing a venal sin.

Of course, one wonders what other venal and mortal sins are going to be committed by the faithful (and not so faithful) on St Patrick’s day? Sins for which no dispensation s given. Humm….

And here is another question for you… If you Maximum Leader promises to put a new roof on the school over at Our Lady of Perpetual Guilt could he get a dispensation in advance for the commission of a mortal sin (or two)? Can you get advance dispensation? Or should one just commit the sin, buy the church school a new roof, THEN ask the Bishop to help you out? You gotta get the order right on these things…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader extends his hearty congratulations to Jeff King, who just won his fourth Iditarod dog-sled race.

Your Maximum Leader didn’t realize that the Iditarod has only been around since 1973. He had always assumed that it had been around since the 1930s at least. He seemed to remember reading somewhere that the race was to commemorate the rush of medicine from Anchorage to Nome in the 1920’s to fight an epidemic. But he assumed that the race was older than it was.

Your Maximum Leader just looked up the official Iditarod site, which is appropriately www.iditarod.com. The history of the race is here. You can look here for complete standings on the race. (Some competitors will not reach Nome for a few more days…)

Very cool stuff…

Carry on.

If you have not yet seen this already, this is a must see video of a Syrian-born American psychiatrist Dr. Wafa Sultan on Al-Jazeera TV (in a debate with Islamist sheikh Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli). This is very powerful stuff.

For those of us that have been saying that the Muslim religon needs its own reformation, or are asking themselves where are the Muslim voices of reason, here they are.

Its about 5 minutes long, and if you have dial-up, its worth the wait.

Here is a link to the video
http://www.memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=783#

and more on this remarkable woman
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP110706

An Islamic reform site (in English)
http://www.annaqed.com/english.html

Back to the trenches….

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has seen a number of blogs (Princess Cat’s first among them) wishing him a happy PI day. (Or if you prefer you could render it π day.) As today is March 14th, the date could be written as 3.14. Get it? Sorta clever.

Just when your Maximum Leader was getting comfy with the very concept of a PI day he was distracted by Eric. Wouldn’t you know that troublemaker would make sure that his readers know that today (March 14th) also happens to be Steak and BJ day. Your Maximum Leader does have to say that the whole Steak and BJ day concept is a sound one - coming one month after Valentines day and all. And really… What man wouldn’t be happy with a steak and bj on a Tuesday?

If you chance to peruse the link above you will see some pretty funny stuff. The link is, for the most part, work safe. No pictures that would offend (at least on the pages your Maximum Leader visited). But the text content is TV-M rated… Or R rated if you like the movie system…

Now your Maximum Leader has to figure out how to let Mrs Villain know about the significance f this day…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is, as long-time readers know, generally very proud of his state government. It is quite sad that more Americans don’t pay close attention to what their state and local leaders are doing on a regular basis. Afterall it is more likely that a local ordinance concerning when you can and can’t put your trash can out on the curb for pickup will directly impact your life - rather than some omnibus spending bill passed in Congress.

The Virginia General Assembly is still sort of in session. For those of you who don’t know, the General Assembly of Virginia is our legislature (and it is the oldest continually operating democratic/republican institution in the world). It meets for either 60 or 90 days - depending on the year. When the General Assembly is not in session our Governor is pretty much in charge of everything. Considering that Virginia has a history of republican governance it is sorta funny that we should have such a powerful Governor. Your Maximum Leader has always thought this was a carry over from our colonial days. We still have something of a King and Parliament ystem going on. Anyhoo…

Things have been rather exciting in the General Assembly this year. Lots of good stuff going on - and very little press coverage overall. Which is, as your Maximum Leader noted, rather sad.

The Senate of Virginia just killed a bill that your Maximum Leader had been following. The bill was reported as one that set property rights against gun rights. This made it one that “split” the traditional Republican coalition.

The bill, if made law, would have made it legal for people to carry their legal firearms onto the private property of their employers. And by carry their firearms onto private property it meant you could keep your gun in your car in the parking lot. It didn’t mean that you could pack heat in the workplace.

All in all, your Maximum Leader - a gun owner and advocate of gun rights - would have to side with the property owners on this one. If you are an employer you should be allowed to set reasonable restrictions on what is or isn’t allowed on your property. As a thoughtful gun owner, your Maximum Leader is happy to leave his guns at home or not take them onto the property of another who objects to their presence.

This is not to say that your Maximum Leader doesn’t see the other side of this issue as well. Indeed, he was sort of conflicted on it. If one is a law abiding gun owner, you should be able to (within the law) transport your gun with you. If your employer doesn’t want firearms in the workplace - that is fine. But should your employer be able to prohibit you from keeping your gun secured in your vehicle in the company parking lot while you work? That actually is something of a toughie. Have you ever been to Pennsylvania, or Virginia, or a host of other states during hunting season? People wake up, go to work, then leave to hunt. (Or if you are really hardcore - you hunt in the morning, come in late to work, then go home for sleep.)

This might be one senario where a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy might be appropriate. If you are going to take a firearm with you in your car (and secure it during the day) and park on company property - don’t tell your employer. Of course, if it is an option at your place of work you could park on a public street or parking area. That sort of negates the whole problem.

All in all, your Maximum Leader is glad that this bill was killed. Perhaps another year of thought on this is in order.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was going to do a post saying that he’s got nuthin’ to post about today. Somehow that type of a post (although your Maximum Leader has done so before) seems rather like a little white lie. Afterall, isn’t a post about nuthin’ still a post about something…

Anyhoo…

Your Maximum Leader did see an article that prompted him to blog. Isaac Hayes is leaving South Park.

You know your Maximum Leader is all about the hard-hitting news…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that the Dubai company invovled in this whole ports kerfluffle is going to sell its interest in the ports to another company.

And Ted has figured out the eeeeevil plan.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader, sort of at the suggestion of Phoenix, took the MSNBC weekly news quiz.

He scored 90%. Try it yourself.

He missed the question about the kids who were burning down the churches in Alabama.

And in a strange moment of serindipity… As he took the quiz and is now blogging about it, Elton John’s “Burn Down the Mission” is playing on your Maximum Leader’s iPod.

Make of that what you will.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader thought today would be a great blogging day. He was wrong. Allow him to explain…

The Wee Villain isn’t feeling well. Stomach virus… So your Maximum Leader was tending to him… Your Maximum Leader has been thrown up on twice today. Once last night. The time last night was the worst. It was the two-hours-after-drinking-milk vomit. Ack. Imagine cottage cheese that has sat out in the sun for a day or so. Then douse the festering cottage cheese in stomach acid. Throw in some half digested peaches and chicken nuggets. That is what was covering your Maximum Leader last night.

Former milk vomit is the worst.

Anyhoo… Your Maximum Leader thought he’d be able to wax philosophic today once the Wee Villain fell asleep. Alas… The Wee Villain would only sleep while cradled in your Maximum Leader’s arms. Can’t blog like that.

So your Maximum Leader started watching the Firefly marathon on SciFi.

Your Maximum Leader likes it. Likes it very much. Firefly that is…

That is about all he has to blog about now. He’s going to try and write something decent next week… Or maybe later today… Most likely not tonight…

Carry on.