Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t know why an earlier post on this subject that he wrote didn’t take. Ah! The things that happen on the internet.

Anyhow…

Your Maximum Leader wrote some pithy comments on that recent ABC News Poll which seemed to find that Republicans have better sex than Democrats. But they seem to be lost forever. Never fear however. As always, Jeff at Beautiful Atrocities puts it much better in his Disposable Wisdom piece.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is experiencing a little schadenfreude and what must be some suffering of our friend Keith Burgess-Jackson. But your Maximum Leader is sure it is not only the good doctor is suffering, but also many Yankees fans out there. Allow them to suffer. Their gloating and preening for decades deserves to be repayed in spades. Didn’t God say that once? “Vengence is mine, I shall repay.”

Maybe it was Leo Tolstoy. (Who is like a God… At least from the perspective of Russian Literature.)

Carry on.

Let’s see if the technologically-impaired Smallholder can manage to post a couple of pictures:

The Battle of Trafalgar

The Death of Nelson

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is in a festive mood. Why you ask? Because today is the 199th anniversary of the most decisive naval battle in the history of man. It is the 199th anniversary of the most glorious British naval victory in their long and illustrious history.

Yes, my minions. Today is the 199th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar.

Trafalgar was the last and greatest victory of Admiral Viscount Horatio Nelson. His brilliant battle plan (splitting his fleet into two columns and penetrating the Franco-Spanish line) was a smashing success.

At 11:48 on October 21st, 1805, Nelson’s flagship the HMS Victory signaled to the fleet, “England expects that every man will do his D-U-T-Y.”

At 11:50, the battle was met.

At 13:15, Nelson was shot.

At 16:30, Nelson died knowing the battle was won.

If you would like to learn more about the Battle of Trafalgar here are a few links:

Broadside. (Very good)

The Napoleonic Guide (Some pop-ups.)

And of course, the HMS Victory site.

Normally, your Maximum Leader would throw a big party for all of his minions at the Villainschloss this Saturday to celebrate. These celebrations, have in years past, been grand affairs. (Normally including lots of Steamship rounds of beef, kegs of Bass Ale, and lots of revelry.) This year, due to some other concerns, there will not be a grand fest. But next year, the 200th anniversary, there will be a great fest.

Tonight, your Maximum Leader will pull out his Nelson Rum Mug and pour himself some Pussers and toast Lord Nelson and the hardy Tars of the Royal Navy for saving us all from the French Emperor.

Carry on.

I recently posted on what I perceived to be an intersting phenomenon: Democrats were not nearly as unified behind their man as the Republicans were. I wondered why cracks were not appearing in the monolithic GOP facade. Evidently I spoke too soon — some Republicans are going to vote against their man after all. If Kilgore Trout and Stuart Benjamin over at the Volokh Conspiracy are representative samples, the incumbent is in for a long night in early November.

The meat of Kilgore’s argument:

Here are four reasons I believe the Iraq War has weakened America’s fight
against terrorism:

The minimum $200 billion we will spend on this war could have been better
spent on improving homeland security and thwarting terrorist plots through
intelligence and law enforcement actions.
This war has overextended our
military and left us ill-equipped to respond to legitimate terrorist
threats.
This war has infuriated the Muslim world, making it fertile ground
for terrorist recruiters.
This war has taught terrorist organizations that
the U.S. can be goaded into fighting the wrong war and wasting resources that
could have been used to destroy them.

Some Bush supporters have criticized Kerry’s plans for
Iraq, and with good reason (why does Kerry think that other nations, who didn’t
want ny part of the war when it began, would want to risk blood and treasure
now?) But are Bush’s plans for Iraq any better? Not that I can tell — I
examined his website and could find no
definite strategy for dealing with the problems in Iraq, or even a hint of
recognition that problems exist in Iraq. And here’s the clincher for me: Bush
got us into this mess, so he gets the blame. I’m not going to blame Kerry for
not having a good solution for Iraq, because nobody has a good solution for
Iraq. There might not be a good solution for Iraq. People aren’t calling it a
“quagmire” because it’s a good Scrabble word.**

I want to keep writing. I want to describe in withering detail every reason
I have to vote against George W. Bush. I want to write about the Federal
Marriage Amendment and how it symbolizes Bush’s eagerness to mangle the law of
the land to suit his narrow, bigoted religious views. I want to write about
Bush’s bungling of the economy and about the jobs he’s lost. I want to write
about the ballooning deficits Bush has created through profligate spending and
irresponsible tax cuts. I want to write about the arrogance of the Bush
Administration, about its refusal to admit when it’s moving in the wrong
direction, about its willingness to use 9/11 to hack away at civil liberties,
about its cronyism, about its cynicism, about its intolerance for criticism,
about its willful twisting of facts and logic, about its endless grasping for
more and greater power.

The meat of Mr. Benjamin’s argument:

First, on the issue of this President’s policies, many commentators have
ably pointed out the myriad ways in which this President has been a disaster
for
those who believe in limited government… tax cuts without spending
cuts (or,
as it turns out, with massive
spending increases) aren’t small government - they’re big government
combined with borrowing…

…”Fine,” some libertarian friends
have said to me, “I admit that Bush has
been bad for limited government, but
won’t electing Kerry be worse for our
interests?” As for the short- and
medium-term, the great likelihood is that the
answer is no. Unless something
truly disastrous happens to the Republican party
(e.g., finding out that
Osama Bin Laden received money from the RNC), it is
going to retain control
of the House of Representatives… This means that a
President Kerry is
going to be dealing with a hostile Congress - and Tom Delay
is not going to
roll over. In other words, we are likely to get the same sort of
gridlock
that we had from 1995 to 2000, with no significant new spending and no
significant new tax cuts - greater fiscal sanity and a smaller government.
Again, this is not just pie in the sky. Niskanen also showed that divided
government is associated with lower government
spending…

…But what about the long-term interests of those
who want a limited
government? Here we come to the most important point that
many have overlooked:
if limited-government types vote for Bush and he is
reelected, then the obvious
conclusion for any savvy political strategist is
that Republicans can take these
voters for granted and thus ignore their
interests… The only way to send a
message to future Republican candidates
is for Bush to lose in part because of
the defection of limited-government
types. And, if we don’t send that message, I
fear that we will be in the
political wilderness for a long time.

The bottom line, in my view, is
that people who believe in the old
Republican credo of limited government
had better vote for John Kerry.

I remember asking the Maximum Leader in 2000: “So, you’re a Republican. Who are you going to vote for since there isn’t a Republican in the race?”

The Presidential Election turns out to be a family affair.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader doffs his bejeweled floppy hat to the Boston Red Sox. Certainly this is one of the greatest (if not the greatest) comeback in baseball history. Every game hard faught. Every player giving their all. Every decision a nailbiter. It is absolutely amazing to behold.

As many minions know, your Maximum Leader is a National League man. He prefers the style of play in the NL. He prefers the speed of play in the NL. He prefers that in order to bat you have to play the field.

Normally, when this time of year comes around; that is to say World Series time. Your Maximum Leader, if not rooting for his (choker) Braves, roots for the NL team. This year, your Maximum Leader is falling in with all those starry-eyed romantics and long-suffering New Englanders and will pull for the Red Sox.

Now, your Maximum Leader has long experience with the Red Sox, and their fans. His college roommate was a Sox fan. Mrs. Villain’s family hails from New England and are (mostly) Sox fans. Your Maximum Leader’s esteemed brother-in-law was born in Boston and is a life-long fan. (Your Maximum Leader’s esteemed brother-inlaw also took your Maximum Leader to baseball games at Fenway Park (including one during the ALCS last year)). So, it is from a position of some experience from which he speaks…

Beating the Yankees is a wonderful thing. Winning the AL Pennant is a great accomplishment that speaks to the never-say-die spirit of the team. Be warned! There are still 4 more victories needed to exorcize the demons that have haunted the team since the early years of the last century. The Sox can still screw it up. To make a metaphor that my beloved Sadie can appreciate. It is possible that the Sox have prematurely ejaculated their karmic load by beating the Yankees.

The NL is going to send a formidable team to play the Sox. The Cardinals were the best team in baseball over the regular season. They have an offensive corps that easily matches (bat-for-bat) the Red Sox. The Card’s pitching might not be quite up to the level that the Sox have. But the Card’s have shown they can step up and win.

If it is the Astros representing the NL, you have a great storyline. Roger Clemens coming back to the town where he spent the best years of his career to battle for the crown that eluded him during his time there. The Astros have a good lineup of batters as well. And they have been playing for their lives.

It is something of a tragedy that the NL series has been given rather short shrift by the sporting media. Indeed your Maximum Leader wonders if the World Series will be something of an anti-climax compared to the hype of the ALCS. Or he wonders if the attention given to the ALCS will give extra motivation to the NL team. That coupled with the hex that seems to settle on the Sox when they come close to the crown may give extra motivation to the NL team to win.

Regardless of how it turns out, it will be great baseball. Your Maximum Leader hopes that it will be a series worthy of the play we have seen thus far.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader saw a photo of a billboard put up by an Aussie woman who wants a husband.

Your Maximum Leader will now tell you why this woman’s vain attempt to advertise her way to matirmony will fail.

Line item one of the billboard. Non-drinker. Great Jeezy Chreezy! Your Maximum Leader has NEVER EVER met an Aussie who doesn’t knock one (or two, or three, or a half dozen) back every now and again. Indeed, your Maximum Leader might even go so far as to say that the Aussies are the greatest drinkers in the world. Aussies are, if your Maximum Leader may use a term he hasn’t used in this forum before, Heroic Drinkers!

The Russians may actually drink more. But they are more melancholy in general and not the cheerful happy drinkers that Aussies are.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader, in the absence of the AirMarshal, will take a moment to point out inportant goings-on from the world of distilled spirits.

In this space we have previously discussed the reintroduction of George Washington’s whisky. Now it seems that the Bourbon and Whisky distillers of the United States are taking a (successful) page from the Scots and creating a new Bourbon trail.

Leaving aside the implications of millions (thousands… okay, hundreds) of Americans driving across vast distances of our great land going from distillery to distillery (think about it), this is a great idea. It really sounds like a great luxury bus tour in fact. Or even better… A choice of vacation on the American Orient Express. That is a train ride your Maximum Leader would gladly go on.

The only problem with such a tour would be remembering it when it was all done. Your Maximum Leader supposes that is what they have cameras for.

Carry on.

Geek Quiz

I scored 425 geek points but redeemed myself with 485 non-geek points for a total score of -60.

I think the weighting must be off because I might be a bit geeky.

I wonder how the other Ministers will do. I think the Air Marshal is screwed, what with all the computer stuff to run up his score.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader, once again, spent all night watching television. He watched that Red Sox/Yankees game. Wow! What great baseball! Your Maximum Leader doesn’t believe he is mentally capable of describing how good this series is without resorting to all the clichés you can read elsewhere.

Yesterday, while composing the Tuesday Sports Roundup post, your Maximum Leader believed that both series (AL & NL) were living up to the highest expectations of baseball fans. Today, he believes that the Red Sox/Yankees seies is far exceeding the highest expectations of baseball fans (and red-blooded Americans).

Yesterday, your Maximum Leader felt that if the game was called on account of rain, the Yankees would regroup and win game 6 whenever it was played. He felt that if they played, the Red Sox would have an edge; but you just couldn’t call it.

If the Red Sox don’t have a huge advantage now, your Maximum Leader doesn’t believe they ever will. The Sox (Sawks - as the natives speak it) are tired. They are battered. They have given everything they have physically and mentally. And they are giving more.

The Yankees are just as tired, worn-down, and depleted as the Sox. But they have been, as your Maximum Leader wrote yesterday, on the receiving ends of the blows. This must have some sort of effect on their play tonight.

Your Maximum Leader believes that the Yankees may be beaten mentally already. The Sox may see their place in history and are giving up everything to attain that place. The Yankees may not have the mental strength to stop them.

These games are amazing to watch. This is as high a drama as sports can possibly produce. Your Maximum Leader knows that many of his Ministers are not big baseball fans. That is sad in some ways. Baseball, while not the bastion of Americanna that it once was, is still so deeply rooted in our national conscience. This history between these teams and the long-standing bitterness just add to the drama.

In over a century of playing the game in a way that we would recognize it, no team has forced a game 7 after being down 3-0. That is incredible. If the Sox win, and your Maximum Leader is inclined to think they will, they will be the first team EVER to come back and beat an opponent who had them down, pinned, and was going for the coup de grâce.

If the Sox win the AL Pennant, they could just go all the way.

Carry on.

Frank at IMAO links to responses to the Guardian’s attempt to influence politics in Ohio.

My only complaint about these letters is that those laced with profanity were also poorly written. Why, oh why, can we not compose letters that are both literate AND profane?

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was looking over the various blogs he likes to read regularly and found a link to a Geek test on TexasBestGrok. Well, your Maximum Leader has thought himself a geek; but according to his score of 75 he is, in fact, not a geek.

But perhaps, if given a chance, he might want to be a geek.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is tired. Very very tired. And he blames baseball. Yes, baseball my minions. He has watched lots and lots of baseball. All these 6 hour long Red Sox/Yankees games are making your Maximum Leader tired, cranky, and in a mood not fit for blogging.

But here he is anyway answering the call of his readership.

First to the easy stuff…

Huzzah for the Packers! Your Maximum Leader didn’t think you would be able to pull it off against the somehow resurgent Lions. That said, the Packers are still playing without a secondary. That does not bode well for their long-term prospects.

You know something though. Your Maximum Leader is happy for the Detroit Lions. He thinks Steve Mariucci is a great coach. He was treated badly by the 49ers. It is good to see him turning around a team with som talent. (Also, your Maximum Leader is enjoying seeing the 49ers languish.)

Huzzah for the Redskins! They didn’t look very good playing against the Bears. But the odds were on someone winning. (Your Maximum Leader knows they could have tied, but the ODDS were on one team winning.) The Skins still don’t have an offensive line that can block. Brunnell doesn’t look very sharp. And Clinton Portis is looking more and more like a product of a great system (in Denver). That said, your Maximum Leader is well aware that Portis rushed for over 100 yards. That is good, but it speaks more to the inability of the Bears to stop the run than the Redskins’ ability to run. Washington’s defence looks very good.

By the way. Read Gregg Easterbrook’s TMQ column on NFL.com for the best football commentary around.

On to baseball…

Well, lets make one little pit stop to say… Hockey still locked out. Your Maximum Leader has yet to care. Perhaps he’ll start to miss it after the Superbowl in January? Who knows.

Now baseball.

Is your Maximum Leader the only one who wonders why someone would pay over $100,000 for Barry Bond’s 700th Home Run ball? In your Maximum Leader’s mind, the only ball that Barry will hit that is worth that money (barring he breaks the single season record again) will be number 756. That, dear minions, is the ball worth the money. That ball will be the historic one.

Surely both the National and American League Championship Series are doing their best to provide great baseball on a whole bunch of different levels.

Level 1: Great baseball rivalry resulting in great baseball. (At least in the AL.) If you like baseball it doesn’t get much more gripping than it has over the past few days. Everything people around the world love about baseball has been on display. Pressure. Clutch performances. Men-in-scoring-position-with-2-outs-and-a-slugger-at-bat. It is just awesome.

Level 2: Players stepping up and performing. Curt Schilling playing hurt. David Ortiz’s many clutch hits. And Hideki Matsui is a beast! Jeff Kent’s walk-off homer. Carlos Beltran becoming an offensive giant.

Level 3: Time, time, time. This is a bad level. Damn all these games for pushing the endurance of fans and players alike. Your Maximum Leader needs his sleep! Of course, this is mostly the fault of the ALCS. But really, AL games always take longer than NL games. Who knew that in the championship that would be magnified by a factor of two or three? At this point the players on the Boston and New York teams must be punch drunk from all the play they’ve put in already.

Level 4: These great games still show how screwed up MLB can be. Scheduling games at the same time? And only letting one “network” broadcast the game? What the hell is up with that?

Now let the prognosticating and ranting begin!

First off, if the Boston/New York game is rained out tonight, your Maximum Leader predicts that the Yankees will win when they play on Wednesday. Right now your Maximum Leader believes the series will go to the Yankees, but he recognizes that the Red Sox have momentum. These players are, as stated before, punch drunk. But Boston has been landing the last punches. And that counts for something. If they get a night off to rest and recouperate, that momentum goes away. If they play tonight, it is hard to predict what will happen. (Although we can predict that it will take a very long time to happen.) But give the Yankees some rest, and they win the next game. If they play tonight, the Sox might push it to game 7. And then it is anyone’s guess how it will turn out. Your Maximum Leader hopes the Sox can do it.

And how about the Houston/St. Louis series? Your Maximum Leader can hear one loyal minion (at least) cheering from here. Honestly, your Maximum Leader thought that the Cards were going to clean up against the Astros. he Cards, while not quite annointed, were certainly playing like they had a mission. Now their confidence appears to be a little shaken. The day off and the move back to St. Louis doesn’t really affect either team that much. Busch Stadium fans create lots of energy for their team. The Astros are probably feeling like they can take the Cards. The Cards may be wondering what happened. If that is the case, it can only help the Astros. Both of these teams are fighters. And they, unfortunately, are getting shafted by MLB.

Shafted by MLB you say? Yes. Shafted. Not quite to the stage of being cutlered. But shafted nonetheless. You see, the idiots in charge of the big leagues (yes that means you Bud!) awarded the TV contract to Fox. That is not the problem in and of itself. What is the problem is now you have games played at the same time on the same day. And if you don’t have cable, you’re screwed. You get what Fox dishes out. Most of the time that means Red Sox/Yankees. If you have cable or satellite you either flip back and forth, or you do the whole split screen thingie. (Split screen is the way your Maximum Leader was watching.) But it just isn’t right.

The league needs to think about a whole bunch of solutions. Your Maximum Leader will suggest a few: cut a few games off the regular season (like all those inter-league abominations) and start the playoffs earlier so that you don’t have games competing at the same time, go back to two divisions per league; and remove the wild card round; and spread out the games, or (your Maximum Leader’s personal favourite) real day games. (Start some games at 1pm people would dig it. Really! They would. Your Maximum Leader knows “the people.”)

Anyho…

Your Maximum Leader now grows tired. And must think of other posts.

Or watch some baseball.

Carry on.

UPDATE: Great post on the Sox/Yankees from Enoch Soames, Esq.