Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is nothing if not a traditionalist when it comes to Christmas dinner. Standing rib roast, broiled potatoes, yorkshire pudding, etc., etc.. But this year he discovered that he had consumed the rib roasts from the steer that the Smallholder had raised for him. He consumed them earlier by cooking for parties. So now here comes Christmas and he doesn’t have rib roasts.

Your Maximum Leader, while not miserly, is of Scottish extraction. This means that does have a cheap streak in him. He just couldn’t bring himself to buy a rib roast from the grocer when he has a huge chest freezer filled with meat (raised for him by Smallholder).

This past year your Maximum Leader purchased from Smallholder a whole steer and a whole hog. Your Maximum Leader has frequently praised Smallholder for both. Well, when it came time to send the animals to the abbatoir, your Maximum Leader asked the butcher to keep the hog’s tenderlion completely intact. This was out mostly out of curiosity. Your Maximum Leader figured that he could always cut down the tenderloin to the size he needed for any particular meal - and if he wanted to cook up the whole thing while entertaining he could.

Well… When the meat came the tenderloin package was massive. Much larger than he thought in fact. He forgets sometimes that Smallholder’s hogs are often twice “normal market” weight. The tenderloin sat in the freezer. Sat until last night that is. It was then that your Maximum Leader determined that the pork tenderloin would be Christmas dinner. He took the tenderloin out to thaw and started to unwrap it this morning.

For your edification, here is his tenderloin - still mostly frozen.

Yes. That pork tenderloin is about 10 inches long - when doubled over on itself! It is about 5 and a half inches thick on the narrow end. It weighs (frozen) about 12 pounds.

Your Maximum Leader is going to cut it into sections and use it over the whole holiday stretch. It is much too large to use for one meal (plus he doesn’t think he could cook the whole thing effectively without a large spit).

Christmas dinner will consist of an Almond Encrusted Tenderloin (section), whipped potatoes, a baked apple casserole, asparagus and hollandaise, and a green salad.

If any reader would like to suggest additional tenderloin preparations (for New Years perhaps) they would be appreciated. He is considering a tenderloin in orange sauce and a rosemary tenderloin already.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is out perusing the interwebs and found this little tidbit on the wire.

7 Medical Myths Even Doctors Believe.

Among these myths are old canards like you have to drink 8 glasses of water a day (which your Maximum Leader tries to do even though he has known for a few years that this is a myth); and reading in dim light reduces your eyesight.

There is one of these myths with which your Maximum Leader will take exception. The one about humans only using about 10 percent of our brains.

Go to a shopping mall a few days before Christmas and you will see proof that people rarely use more than 5% of their brains.

Q.E.D.

(Excursus: Your Maximum Leader did happen to pass through a shopping mall today. He was walking through the Pentagon City Mall on his way to the Villainmobile. He was getting on/off the Metro on his way to see the “Patterned Feathers Piercing Eyes” exhibit at the Sackler. He will have to back in January by the way… Due to conservation requirements and limited space, only about half of the collection can be shown at a time. By late January, much of the exhibition will have been rotated.)

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is a sucker for a quiz that seems interesting.

To wit:

	I received 93 credits on The Sci Fi Sounds Quiz How much of a Sci-Fi geek are you?
Take the Sci-Fi Movie Quizdigital camera ratings

Just to be clear… Your Maximum Leader is more of a geek than Robbo, but he is not sitting in the Villainschloss in a homemade Tron costume…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees on the news wires that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has gone and crossed the Tiber. Apparently, Cherie Blair is Catholic. The Blair children are Catholic as well. The article goes on to say:

Political commentators have also suggested Blair had been unwilling to make the move while he was still in power because some lawyers believed that 19th century laws could actually prevent a Catholic from becoming prime minister.

It was also thought a conversion could have provoked a conflict with his role in appointing Anglican bishops and he might have also felt the need to tread carefully while mediating in the Northern Ireland peace process between the province’s Catholic and Protestant communities.

European Union Trade Commissioner and political confidant Peter Mandelson said Blair was “not an exhibitionist” about religion but was “a man who takes a Bible with him wherever he goes and last thing at night he will read from the Bible.”

However Ann Widdecombe, an opposition Conservative member of parliament who converted to Catholicism herself, said Blair would have had to have changed his mind on a number of issues such as abortion and civil partnerships for gay couples.

“If you look at Tony Blair’s voting record in the House of Commons, he’s gone against church teaching on more than one occasion on things for example like abortion,” she told the BBC.

Playing the Devil’s Advocate here… Wouldn’t one say that Blair’s past voting record doesn’t really matter in this context… He was Anglican afterall. Wouldn’t one hope that his heart be in the right place from now on?

Your Maximum Leader admits that he can see the troubles that a “Catholic Politician” could face when political issues are imbued with religious issues. It comes down to that old government class question, should the politician represent the view of his constituents (on the whole) or should the politician do what his convictions tell him to do - constituents be damned. All too often politicians (John Kerry and Ted Kennedy first come to mind here) say that they have strong personal faith, but their job is to do what is best for the nation. Perhaps your Maximum Leader is being squishy here when he says that he understands the argument they are trying to make. He doesn’t argee with it, but he sees what they are trying to do. (Is that squishy? Is that something akin to sophistry?) Your Maximum Leader isn’t in the business of warning politicians about the motes in their eyes; the plank in your Maximum Leader’s eye is quite severe and doesn’t allow him to be too critical. Even if he were mote-less, he will leave final judgement in such matters to the appropriate Authority.

Your Maxmium Leader wishes Mr. Blair all the best in the rest of his life’s journey of faith. He hopes that Mr. Blair finds comfort, strength and wisdom in the Catholic church.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader realizes that many of his readers will not be logging onto their computers (at least not for blogging purposes) much over the next few days.

In case you don’t make it back here (although you should), your Maximum Leader wishes you a very Merry Christmas.

Or Mele Kalikimaka if you prefer.

Carry on.

The captain looked down the bar at the female. Her pale blue skin shone like clear water. Of all the spacer bars in the galaxy, this one had the hottest females.

“You crew or captain?”

“Crew,” she responded. “And always looking for a better… ride.”

He was in if he played it cool. They chatted. Then the dreaded question.

“So what system are you from?”

He responded, “Kayelon Loves Grammy and Poppy 2005.”

She smiled widely and replied, “I’m glad I’m not the only one fucked by the International Star Registry.”

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was driving around doing some errands last night. At one point during his travels, he heard a commerical on the radio for Amtrak. It was followed by a commerical for Southwest Airlines. These two commericals spawned an interesting train of thought…

That train of thought transported your Maximum Leader back to high school. When your Maximum Leader was in high school, some students were allowed to play music over the public announcement system in the morning during the time from when the first buses arrived at the building to a few minutes before the school day was to begin. This was our school “radio station.” From time to time one of the “DJs” would interrupt the music to read from his large collection of printed airline and train schedules. (Yes, this guy apparently had a hobby collecting train and airline schedules.) He’d tell you that there was a flight on Delta from Rochester NY to Atlanta GA at 8:28am - or some other such useless (yet superficially interesting) flight/train information.

So your Maximum Leader wonders… Do airline companies still print those little books with all their flight schedules? In this age of wireless access of just about anything through one’s laptop, phone, or PDA, it seems as though printing a booklet would be a waste of money… But not printing one would make collectors of such relics rather sad.

And in case you were wondering… Your Maximum Leader is not the “guy” in this story. He’s never collected airline or train schedules.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that endoresment season has begun… In fact it might actually nearly be over…

National Review has endorsed Mitt Romney for President. (Excursus: Did you know your Maximum Leader has subscribed to NR since he was 16 years old? He is now 38 - in case you cared.) The Lt Governor of Virginia endorsed Mitt Romney a few months ago. Joe Lieberman endorsed John McCain earlier this week. Frankly, your Maximum Leader hasn’t paid too much attention to endorsements… They don’t mean too much to him.

While endorsements of one politician by an interest group or another politican might not mean too much to your Maximum Leader; they must matter to someone because they get lots of press. Now your Maximum Leader knows that the press is out there looking for stories to report (that is their job afterall), but at some point there must be something newsworthy about an endorsement.

This year the most newsworthy aspect of endorsements - at least to your Maximum Leader - is how friggin early they are all coming. Your Maximum Leader was, at first, perplexed by why the endoresment were falling left and right. Of course, a moment’s reflection caused your Maximum Leader to remember that we are only a few weeks (three?) away from the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primaries. Once again, your Maximum Leader is disgusted by just how long the election cycle is. He supposes if it is important to get and endorsement it is important to get it early.

He wonders if endorsements are helping the ebb and flow of the election contest? Really now… Just a few weeks ago your Maximum Leader would have assumed that the election next year would be a Hilary Clinton v. Rudy Guiliani contest; today he would assume it is a Barack Obama v. Mike Huckabee contest. This will all change again in a few days…

Who does your Maximum Leader endorse? No one of either part right now. Eventually he’ll have to throw his support one way or another. He finds all the candidates undesirable. At one point he was leaning towards Fred Thompson. Thompson is a great candidate on paper, but seems to fall flat in real life. Now your Maximum Leader doesn’t know who he’d want to vote for. At some level he wants to see John McCain get a shot at surmounting the greasy pole. It is McCain’s turn afterall. This afternoon your Maximum Leader thought that Barack Obama might be a refreshing change in the Oval Office, but quickly he thought that Obama has all the potential to be a sort of 21st Century Jimmy Carter - a choice that might have seemed good at the time but turned out to be a wreck.

Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure who he will vote for right now…

He will vote of course…

He always votes…

Lucky for him there is a whole year to make up his mind…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been quite busy of late. He would apologize for not posting, but really… This is his blog… He can blog if he wants to… Or he can go on haitus (like a certain site he visits regularly - like every day). Regardless… No apology is in the offing… Your Maximum Leader will blog as he is able between now and the end of the year… Just keep reading…

Anyhoo…

Your Maximum Leader found this link in which the AP notes which candidates for president admire which past President. Let us review who likes whom:

Hillary likes Teddy Roosevelt.
Barack Obama likes Teddy Roosevelt.
John Edwards like TR too.
Rudy Guiliani likes Harry Truman.
Mitt Romney likes Harry Truman.
Huck is wild on Harry T.
And Fred Thompson likes Jed Bartlett.

Was this article a big joke? Really now… All the Democrats like the Republican TR and all the Republicans like the Democrate Harry Truman… Except for Fred Thompson. Thompson actually replied Jed Bartlett? Was that a joke too?

Your Maximum Leader is perplexed by this. It just seems so perfectly fake. Of course, it is the AP… So who knows the provenance of the questionnaire. What ever happened to Republicans wanting to take on the mantle of Ronald Reagan? Democrats wanting to be more like FDR? This is going to be one mixed up election…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is always on the lookout for an unusual gift. Thanks to a link from his good friend the Air Marshal… Here is a gift that says so much about both he who would gift it to another, and he who would want to receive it…

Click here to see the horror too terrible to describe!

Your Maximum Leader thinks that X-Treme Geek has earned a space on the right side of this space…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been feeling rather funky the past few days. Not terribly motivated to comment on any of the many happenings in the world around us. Perhaps it is the rush to get everything in order for Christmas. Perhaps it is just him…

Anyhoo… Your Maximum Leader awoke this morning and “heard” this song playing in his mind over and over.

In all honesty… He hadn’t thought of The Alan Parson’s Project since, probably, 1987. (Okay, he did think about them during “The Spy Who Shagged Me” - but other than that nuthin.) But, thanks to the magic of iTunes, this song (and “Eye in the sky”) now reside upon your Maximum Leader’s iPod.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader’s man won yesterday. Rob Wittman (formerly a Delegate Rob Wittman) is now Representative Rob Wittman (R) of the First Congressional District of Virginia.

Many congratulations to him. He now has your (and his) Maximum Leader as a constituent.

Lucky him.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is heading out to the polls today. Special election. To fill the seat held until recently by the departed Jo Ann Davis (R-VA). Your Maximum Leader will let you know something… He’s gotten lots of stupid one-page flyers in the mail from at least 4 different candidates. But other than the mailings you wouldn’t know that there is a special election.

This is a problem with the parties. They are relying on low turnout and making a bet that they can turn out more of their people. The Democrats and Republicans are guilty equally of keeping the profile of this special election low. Sure there wasn’t much time to organize a bit campaign, but the state elections are recently over and it shouldn’t be too hard to snatch a few willing organizers for a few weeks more…

Anyhoo…

Your Maximum Leader will be voting today. He’ll be voting for Rob Wittman.

If you happen to be living in the First District of Virginia, you should vote today for the candidate of your choice.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader realizes that in this very space he (and his good buddy Smallholder) has joked about feeding his (our?) enemies (or others who have done him (us) wrong) to Smallholder’s pigs. We, of course, do this in good humour and for a laugh. Your Maximum Leader does know that pigs are greedy little buggers who would just as soon devour you in an instant as oink for a cob of corn. Your Maximum Leader love pigs (and thinks that they are the most perfect non-pet domesticated animal in all God’s creation), but knows that they have a nasty streak…

Apparently others know this too… To wit, the case of Robert “Willie” Pickton of Port Coquitlam British Columbia. Mr Pickton was just convicted of the murder of six women from the Vancouver area. He may also be responsible for the deaths of up to 70 women. According to the Reuters article:

Pickton is accused of killing 26 Vancouver prostitutes, and prosecutors say they are preparing for a second trial to deal with the remaining 20 murder charges.

Pickton, 58, lured the women to his farm in the Vancouver suburb of Port Coquitlam with money and drugs, killed them, and cut up the bodies and disposed of the remains using the pigs and a rendering plant.

Investigators found human remains on the farm, including severed skulls and feet. A woman who lived briefly in Pickton’s trailer testified she saw him cutting up a body in the middle of the night.

Jurors also viewed a taped jailhouse conversation in which Pickton told an undercover officer after his February 2002 arrest that he had killed 49 women and planned to make it 50.

Pickton’s legal defense team argued the human remains did not prove he was the killer and that police ignored other suspects. Pickton did not testify during the trial and rarely showed emotion.

The jury’s failure to convict Pickton of first degree murder meant it did not agree with prosecutors that he planned the murders in advance.

To your Maximum Leader this sounds as though the prosecutors weren’t doing their job very well, or that this Pickton fellow had a brilliant defence team. Since this article comprises the whole of what your Maximum Leader knows of this case, he will leave it to more learned fellows (and he’s thinking Skippy here) to fill in that which he doesn’t know.

It is really too bad that Canada is so civilized that they can’t execute people… Or give out non-concurrent life sentances for mulitple murders…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader experienced a plug-in problem with this blog late last week. Thanks to the hard work of Agent Bedhead and Phin, all is now well again.

More posting to come.

Carry on