Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader felt pretty good about the results he scored on this quiz. (Has he taken it before? He can’t recall and is too lazy to check…)

Quiz found at the Breda Conspiracy.

Your Maximum Leader admits that he took one educated guess that turned out okay. Such is the joy of mulitiple choice tests…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader exhorts you all to check out our friend Skippy’s new site. Update your links! Visit Skippy often. But be warned… Some of his postings are NSFW.

New site looks nice by the way. It loads faster and is easier to read.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that a majority of the Supreme Court of the United States agrees with his long-held belief that the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution does guarantee an individual’s right to keep and bear arms. In the long anticipated ruling in Heller v. District of Columbia the majority has apparently found that individuals may keep firearms (including handguns) for personal defence. Your Maximum Leader says apparently in this case because he’s not read the opinion yet. He is relying on the interpretation of others. (Those others being the good bloggers over at Volohk and SCOTUSblog. And in case you haven’t seen it elsewhere, clicky this linky for the majority and dissenting opinions.)

Your Maximum Leader plans on snuggling up with a nice Scotch, the Nats on TV, and a copy of the Heller decision tonight and read away.

Then he might go out and buy another gun… It’s his right afterall…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader had to heartily agree with his lovely and intelligent daughter, Villainette #1 who declared yesterday evening around the bottom of the 8th inning of the Nats/Angels contest, “Gosh! Our boys are very disappointing.”

Yes… Those Nats are very disappointing. As your Maximum Leader types these words, his beloved Nats are down 8-3 to the Angels of Anaheim in the top of the 8th inning.

Villainette #1 was wondering aloud tonight (while watching them spot the Angels 6 - count ‘em six - runs in the top of the first inning) why exactly we root (root, root) for the Nationals when they are so bad. Your Maximum Leader explained to his offspring that we root (root, root) for the Nationals because they are our hometown team, they are in the National League, and that suffering in this lifetime will reap a heavenly reward. She bought the explanation up until he hit the heavenly reward bit…

Regardless of the Nat’s poor performance of late, your Maximum Leader has gone ahead and bought tickets to this Sunday’s Nationals/Orioles game… He hope his Nats can eek out a win on Sunday.

While your Maximum Leader is just going on about the Nats… Your Maximum Leader will encourage his team to just spend a little money and get a good “high profile” batter to spice things up a little. Give people a little more to root for. Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes just aren’t enough. And as much as your Maximum Leader loves Dimitri Young (and he does root for Dimitri Young very much), his best years as a player are behind him… Your Maximum Leader encourages Jim Bowden, Stan Kasten, and the whole Lerner family to just splurge a little and get the fans someone fun and exciting to watch. You’ve got some money to spend (at least we hope you do). If you spend a little money now (and go against the “grand plan” of building the team through scouting and the minors) you might put more butts in the seats and make a little more money. 20,000 fans a game at the new ballpark is hardly praiseworthy.

Anyhow… Your Maximum Leader will go back to watching the game now. And he hopes that a little more suffering watching his Nats lose so badly will earn him a little credit in the ledger of life.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has spent the better part of a few months now listening to and watching various talk shows. He’s heard many conservative pundits and talking heads continuing to lament the fact that for conservatives - or at least “true” conservatives - the Republican Party is not running a conservative candidate. The Republicans, instead, are running John McCain. Your Maximum Leader has grown tired of conservatives wailing in to the night sky “Where is the next Ronald Reagan?”

You know something? Once your Maximum Leader was reading an article about Johnny Depp in some magazine. In the opening of the piece the author quoted some famous actor who said something to the effect of “the next Marlon Brando isn’t going to be anything like the first Marlon Brando.” Your Maximum Leader wants to shake conservatives he meets and say to them that the “next” Ronald Reagan isn’t going to be anything like the first Ronald Reagan.

This is not to say that the next great conservative political leader in this nation isn’t going to share a number of beliefs that were once held by Reagan. But it is to say that the next great conservative political leader isn’t going just spring forth from sea foam off the coast of California (or erupt fully grown from the mind of Zeus - if you prefer a different mythological allusion). The next great conservative leader is going to grow organically and find his (or her) own style.

Having just said that the next great conservative leader isn’t yet upon us, allow your Maximum Leader to vent for a moment about all of the conservative angst over John McCain. If your Maximum Leader may quote the late (great) Barry Goldwater, “Conservatives grow up!” To the admonition to “grow up” your Maximum Leader will add “get over it.” John McCain is an honorable man. He is a man who has for years been a strong conservative on a host of issues. He does have an “independent” streak - but shouldn’t conservatives approve of independent streaks? Are streaks of independence just the types of traits that conservatives have found praisworthy in people like Ronald Reagan (and Barry Goldwater)? Conservatives should look beyond pain-jane doctrinaires and go for someone who is his own man.

And allow your Maximum Leader to be pragmatic for a moment. Of all of the Republicans out there - at this time - John McCain is the only standard bearer the party could have chosen who has a snowballs chance in hell of pulling out a win in November. John McCain is the only possible candidate who could potentially have strong cross-over appeal. He is the only Republican who can adequetely defend himself against charges of being a “typical Washington Republican.” In case you hadn’t been paying close attention, the Republican “brand’ ain’t worth doodly-squat nowadays. Your typical Republican is a big-government, high-spending, perk-loving politician who is only different from a Democrat by scope. The Democrat wants to do everything the Republicans want to do - only more.

This is not to say that John McCain has been the great standard-bearer for small-government, personal liberty, and freedom. He’s been good on those issues, but in many ways John McCain is more in tune with Americans now than many others in his party. This may not please the more “orthodox” conservatives. But pleasing conservatives doesn’t win elections. Your Maximum Leader once was filled with admiration for people who would rather stand on principle and fail than give up their principles and win. That was a long time ago when your Maximum Leader was younger and less wise. Now your Maximum Leader knows that in politics winning is everything. Politics is compromise. Politics on the national stage is all about how much you can get of what you want. (NB: BTW, your Maximum Leader still has piles of admiration for people who do stand on principle in a host of fields - like religion, ethics, etc.) Conservatives who are willing to lose in 2008 on principle are playing a dangerous game.

Allow your Maximum Leader to admonish conservatives who believe that an Obama presidency will be a good thing for the “conservative movement.” You are hoping that lightning will strike twice. The thinking behind this (misguided) belief is that without Jimmy Carter there would be no Ronald Reagan. That certainly was the case in 1980. But one shouldn’t bet the farm (or in this case the whole country) on the hope that the confluence of events that set the stage for Reagan in 1980 can be recreated for some unnamed conservative in 2012.

Your Maximum Leader hopes that conservatives recognize that supporting John McCain and trying to win in 2008 is the only way to advance the “conservative movement.” Four years of European-style socialist government from Obama and a Democratic Congress will not be easily undone.

Just quit whining and get behind McCain. It is the best choice you have available right now.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was saddened, but somehow not surprised, to learn today that George Carlin had passed. Your Maximum Leader ran hot and cold on Carlin. Some of his stuff got a little too political for me to find really funny. But then there were other bits that really worked (like “your shit” and “my stuff”). And of course there is always… Seven words…

RIP.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure if Gary has gone and ruined his day. It is possible he has…

To wit:

Eieeee!

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has always like the film “A Man for All Seasons.” He’s liked it not because he is a big Sir Thomas More fan - or a great detractor of Henry VIII. (In fact, your Maximum Leader isn’t a fan of either. He dislikes More because of More’s hatchet-job history of Richard III. And he dislikes Henry VIII because he was Henry VIII.) But there is a certain appeal to Paul Schofield’s Thomas More in the film. He is a man dedicated to rule of law and tradition. But Schofield shows that he is torn between loyalty to his prince and loyalty to his faith. In the end your Maximum Leader feels a certain affinity for More - who sticks by his principles and suffers the ultimate price.

Which brings us to Boumediene v. Bush. Your Maximum Leader is torn by this decision. When he says he is torn by it, it is for a host of reasons. On the one hand, your Maximum Leader wants to side with the minority dissents. The prisoners at Gitmo are not on US soil and should not be granted rights guaranteed for Americans (or people in America). But on the other hand, those detainees are being held by the power of the United States in a territory undisputably controlled exclusively by the United States. And the United States is a nation of laws and rights. We (as in the US) shouldn’t just detain people for as long as we care to without attempting a trial.

Your Maximum Leader thinks that the Boumediene decision is wrong to extend access to US Courts to non-US citizens, being held outside the US. He also isn’t sure that once access is granted that it will actually do anything to “help” the detainees. As Chief Justice Roberts wrote in his dissent, the majority holding opens up more questions than it solves. In addition to that it opens up a whole line of inquiry that disturbs your Maximum Leader greatly (could we have non-US citizens working for US companies in foreign countries bringing suits in US courts? could we have non-US citizens with some grievance against the US bring actions in US courts?).

Now having just written that he thinks that Boumediene is wrongly decided, he still thinks that the majority of justices were on to something. It flies in the face of all of our legal traditions to hold someone indefinitely without charge. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t believe that the Military Commissions are moving with any deliberate speed to actually charge someone with something that you could in turn convict them of and thus justify their continued detention. Of course, once convicted by a Military Commission one suspects that a sentance would not be indefinite and service of a sentance would then result in release. Acquittal would, also, have to result in release. Your Maximum Leader thinks that if the Military Commissions were to move a little more swiftly he might not feel that we are holding these detainees indefinitely.

Does anyone else out there think that this is a problem? Let’s be frank here. Your Maximum Leader isn’t advocating that we release these terrorist detainees. (NB: Summarially executing them might be an option. Another option, allow them to “escape” into a minefield separating Gitmo from Cuba and see how far they get.) But holding them without trial forever causes him to worry about the very underpinnings of our whole system of government. Giving them access to US courts is a bad move and sets a bad precedent. What a shitty situation this is.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader had planned on using this weekend to catch up on new episodes of Battlestar Galactica. For one reason or another, your Maximum Leader finds himself turning in early on Friday nights. Since he has a DVR/Tivo device - BSG gets religiously recorded and stored for that day when he can watch and contemplate the episode.

As you might have been able to tell by the past tense of the opening line, your Maximum Leader’s plan will not come to pass. You see, your Maximum Leader’s DVR died at some point this week. The cable guy was here and had to install a new one… The data off the old one was not recoverable.

So, bascially… Your Maximum Leader is now 6 episodes behind in BSG and unlikely to catch up until everything is out on DVD.

Damn. Damn. Damn.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader would normally be watching “Meet the Press” right now. But today he is sitting at his computer thinking about Tim Russert.

Your Maximum Leader has watched MTP for ages. At least since the late 80s - just before Russert became host. In recent years he didn’t always watch MTP, but downloaded the audio podcast and listened to the program. One way or another it was “can’t miss TV.”

Your Maxmium Leader must admit that he is getting a little worn down by the remembrances, celebrations, and eulogies all over the news channels for Tim Russert. It is not that he is getting tired of Russert; but that he is getting tired of the maudlin recitations of the same story being replayed over and over. In a way it is ironic that in remembering Tim Russert his collegues are becoming boring - the one thing Russert never was. At 2:00am on Election Night in 2000 when there was nothing new to report, Tim Russert was still making interesting commentary.

There is very little I can add to the ever lengthening list of tributes you will see on TV and read online. I am deeply saddened by Tim Russert’s passing. I mourn as someone who felt that Tim Russert helped me be a better citizen because he helped to keep me more informed. I mourn as someone who could observe the love that Russert had for his family - a family now bereft of his presence. I mourn because a town that is filled with phony people, egomaniacs, and sometimes loathesome characters has lost a genuine man.

God bless you Tim Russert. May you rest in peace.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader wishes any and all of you fathers out there a very happy day (in advance since this is Friday and Father’s Day isn’t until Sunday). Of course, this day, like Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day and others are just made up holidays used to suck dry our wallets and spirits.

In case any of you are wondering, your Maximum Leader tried to get out of doing anything this weekend (as it is the double-header of Father’s Day and your Maximum Leader’s birthday). He fears that it is not to be. He’ll have to do some grilling over the weekend. (Which isn’t really work… But it is still a required task…) He’ll also likely have to help clean up around the Villainschloss. He may also have to do his own laundry (which is also not unusual as your Maximum Leader is very persnickety about his laundry and has always done his own…). So all in all it is looking to be like most every other weekend out there.

And that is good…

If you feel the pressing need to do something to celebrate your Maximum Leader’s birthday here are some options. 1) You could buy some neat Naked Villainy swag from his store. (NB: if you happen to be a hot woman and buy some swag - your Maximum Leader would appreciate a photo…) 2) You could write your Maximum Leader an email and offer to shower him with gifts… He’ll provide suggestions if you are serious. 3) You could pour yourself a nice adult beverage where ever you may be and raise your glass and toast “To my Maximum Leader! Long may he prosper!”

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader took a little quizzy he saw over on Agent Beadhead’s site. Apparently he is:

Find out Which Marvel Superhero Are You at LiquidGeneration.com!

Your Maximum Leader fancies himself a Magneto type frankly… If he was going to be a mutant that is…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that the membership of the RCBfA may soon be growing and a number of august sites are doing what they can to promote art on the interwebs. He has decided that he must - as it is an imperative - follow suit. Some selections (upon which you can clicky to embiggen):

Thomas Couture’s “Decadence of the Romans” (1847 - Musee D’Orsay)

Is there any decadence quite like Roman decadence? Your Maximum Leader thinks not…

Felix Trutat’s “Girl on Panther Skin” (1844 - Musee D’Orsay)

Your Maximum Leader has often suggested that fur becomes a lady.

In keeping with the lounging theme:
Titian’s “Venus D’Urbino” (1538 - Galleria degli Uffizi)

Your Maximum Leader loves Titian. (So does Christine apparently…)

Or perhaps:
David’s “Mars disarmed by Venus and the three Graces” (1824 - Musees des Beaux-Artes, Brussels)

Allow your Maximum Leader to go on the record and say that it would take a bit more than a sea-foam girl and her three skinny friends to disarm your Maximum Leader. He packs heat enough for the four of them…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader recently saw this poster for Obama and liked it a lot.

Thanks to Nicolas for posting it. Apparently it was first on Michelle Malkin’s site. But for some reason your Maximum Leader didn’t notice it there. (Likely because he doesn’t read Malkin’s site as often as you might think…)

Now your Maximum Leader is all for snobbery… But Obama’s snobbery disturbs him. It is that mixture of condescension and entitlement that is most disturbing… Well… Those traits and his socialist ideas…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader can’t recall if he ever blogged this before. He doesn’t think he has, but is too lazy to check.

He has had General Public’s “Tenderness” going through his head over and over recently. He doesn’t own the song, but he would if it were on iTunes…

So… Here is the video for your listening (if not viewing) edification:

Carry on.