Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is saddened by the death of Kirby Puckett. As much as your Maximum Leader would have liked for Puckett to disappear from the face of the earth back in 1991 as he single-handedly turned the tide of the World Series against the Atlanta Braves and pretty much won the pennant for the Minnesota Twins, Kirby Puckett was too young. (Just like Dana Reeve in the last entry.)

Kirby Puckett always seemed like a good and decent man. In many ways the type of guy you want to see playing baseball. He always looked like he was having fun. He always seemed to be good with the fans. And he was inspirational through his on and off-field actions with his fellow players. He deserved his Hall of Fame election and baseball was made better by his presence in the game.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader reads on the news wires that Dana Reeves, the widow of actor-turned-activist-turned-quadreplegic Christopher Reeves, has died. She was 44. According to the article, Mrs. Reeves was a non-smoker who developed lung cancer. The cancer was the cause of her death. It is sad that such a young woman should die of cancer. But if your Maximum Leader may get catty for a moment… What is worse is that of all the file photos the AP could have run they choose the one where she is shown with her nipples poking through her dress on a cold evening. That strikes your Maximum Leader as somehow disrepectful. Perhaps he is prudish in that way. (Because God knows he’s not prudish in so many other ways…)

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader should have stayed up and watched the Oscars last night. Because he surely didn’t get any sleep. He tossed and turned all night. Now he has a headache and is cranky. (If he were a true neoconservative - which he really isn’t - then he would be nudging in on someone else’s territory.

Anyhoo.

Your Maximum Leader must ask you all something. Her acting talent notwithstanding (because she is a DAMNED fine actress), is your Maximum Leader the only man in America that doesn’t find Hillary Swank attractive in the least? Your Maximum Leader likes the dress, but Hillary just doesn’t do it for me.

And while he’s asking questions… Who is this Michelle Williams? Never heard of her. Can Jessica Alba look more hot?

Why is your Maximum Leader going on about the Oscars? Cause he can’t think of another dang thing to write about. He just isn’t motivated for hard-hitting political commentary today. Not sure what the problem is.

Cary on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader, it turns out, is watching the Oscars. Well, was watching them until about a few minutes ago when he got up to turn off the computer and decided to blog one Oscar thought.

Rachel Weisz is a little hottie…

Congrats to her.

And if you read the comments to the last post it looks like loyal minion, the lovely Mo, is on the money on her bets.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader wonders how many of his minions will be watching the Oscars this weekend?

Probably the Minister of Propaganda - it’s work for him.

Mrs. Smallholder might.

Your Maximum Leader will probably not. No reason why. Well that isn’t completely true. He hasn’t seen any of the films nominated for anything… So there is a detachment to say the least…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader asks you all a (mostly rhetorical) question.

How long does it take to go download 100 free songs on iTunes?

The backstory… Your Maximum Leader got a mailing from American Express saying that he could exchange Membership Reward points for free songs on iTunes. So. He ordered up 100 free songs. He got the certificate in the mail Thursday night. He activated the song credits last night.

So, like the old owl in the Tootsie Pop commericals, how long did it take him to burn through 100 free songs?

Approximately 2 hours…

He got some great tunes though. Really great tunes.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader and the Minister of Propaganda must be connected by some weird telepathic bond. You see, your Maximum Leader was reading over America’s Finest News Source and noting the truth in this piece: Democrats Vow Not To Give Up Hopelessness. At the same time and thousands of miles away, the Minister of Propaganda was reading the same article and decided to forward it to your Maximum Leader (and the other ministers here at Naked Villainy).

To comment on the piece… If it weren’t so true your Maximum Leader would have even found it more amusing. When your Maximum Leader read this he nearly fell out of his comfy chair:

According to Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Democrats are not willing to sacrifice their core values - indecision, incoherence, and disorganization -for the sake of short-term electoral gain.

Damn that is good stuff.

Go and read. You’ll like it.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has had a rough day. He can’t explain why, but it was a bear of a day. Indeed, your Maximum Leader has looked forward to the time (now by the way) that he can relax in the Villainschloss with his computer, his iPod, and peace.

So… Your Maximum Leader has settled down and is relaxing and is catching up on some reading. NB to Sadie concerning your comment - No, your Maximum Leader was not wearing a Maximum Leader shirt. But if you were watching the Pacers v. Wizards game last night you would have seen your Maximum Leader walking along the side of the court about 2 minutes into the 3 quarter. At one point he was about a foot from Antwan Jaimison before said Mr. Jaimison inbounded the ball. Your Maximum Leader was the tall man with glasses, wearing the Tommy Hillfiger sweatshirt, jeans, and carring a fresh beer. (He was just leaving the VIP suite and returning to his seat…)

Anyhoo…

Your Maximum Leader decided to start reading his favourite blogs. You know, catch up on everything he missed today…

As is your Maximum Leader’s habit, he begins his blog reading at the top of his blogroll in the Loyal Minions category. He made it down 6 positions.

Now after reading Skippy’s lastest he sees no reason to continue reading further. Your Maximum Leader will finish this post and likely re-read Skippy’s latest (because it is so damn good it deserves a second reading) and then turn off the computer and go read a book. Nothing he could possibly read tonight on the whole friggin internet will be a good as Skippy’s latest. So he will call it quits.

NB to Brian: Your Maximum Leader was going to write more about summits and President Bush. But it will have to wait until the morrow.

G’night minions. Catch you later.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader knows a thing or two about comfort. Indeed, he has been known to indulge himself in a little comfortable soaking in a hot tub once and a while.

Perhaps that will change.

A recent study says that hot tubs or whirlpool baths are just rife with gagillions of deadly bacteria. And you know nothing says comfort quite like aerosol transmission of fecal derived bacteria… Let that thought sink in for a second. Those warm vapors rising out of the bubbly surface of your hot tub and being breathed deep into your lungs are likely laced with some schmoe’s shit. (Hey! You might be that schmoe yourself…) Beauty, eh?

It is stuff like this that makes your Maximum Leader thankful for Clorox.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader’s religious “spidey” sense seems to be tingling today. His Catholic upbringing seems to remind him that today might be some sort of Holy Day of Obligation…

Is it the Feast of our Lady of Perpetual Finger Pricking again? No? Is it Saint Irinius of Leichenstein’s Day? No? Humm… No matter…

Your Maximum Leader will pay for his sins by sitting through a Pacers v. Wizards game tonight. He’ll be courtside. You might see him on the Tee Vee - if you are watching…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader apologizes to you if you’ve tried to comment on the blog over the past 11 or so hours. There is some hiccup going on at Superb (your Maximum Leader’s web host) that is causing some SQL connectivitiy problems. The good techs at Superb inform your Maximum Leader that these problems are under control and soon resolved - if not already resolved.
The Wee Villain is not feeling well today. Thus your Maximum Leader is playing Mr. Mom. This occurence must have been fated to be. Because you see the Wee Villain and your Maximum Leader spent the morning watching a movie. But not just any film… We watched a film with BOTH the dreamy Jennifer Love Hewitt AND Jaime Pressly. Insipid film actually. But the eye candy made it all worth while. Can you name that film? No prize for you if you do. Just bragging rights… For what that is worth.

Your Maximum Leader was contacted out of the blue by an old college friend. She says that she blogged for a while, but gave it up. She is being very coy about her old blog site… Your Maximum Leader will have to push harder for info… Your Maximum Leader and his friend chatted via Yahoo Messenger for a while last night. It was fun.

Do you want to know what the definition of “love” is minionly readers? It is copying “Yanni’s” album “Live from the Acropolis” onto your computer so that you can load it into your wife’s iPod Shuffle. Your Maximum Leader’s fingers still are numb from having to handle that offense to one’s ears…

Your Maximum Leader sees on the news that the President made a brief stop in Afghanistan today. Indeed by the time you read this Mr Bush is likely already in India for a brief visit. What happened to the week-long summits of yesteryear? One wonders if a little more effort would yeild more benefits?

Your Maximum Leader also sees that Anna Nicole Smith’s case was heard by the Supreme Court yesterday. That would be an oral argument that your Maximum Leader would like to hear. Frankly your Maximum Leader hasn’t followed the case. But now reading over the news wires it would seem that there are lots of twists, turns, and lies all involved. Document tampering. Shredding. Lies. Deception. Private investigators. Strippers. Billions in oil money. One hopes that Anna Nicole hasn’t sold the movie rights. This story could, in the right hands, be more compelling than “The People Vs. Larry Flynt.”

Your Maximum Leader is, in case you are interested, listening to two Cowboy Junkies albums on his iPod now. They are “21st Century Blues” and “In the time before Llamas.” They are both quite good.

And in case you were wondering… As best your Maximum Leader can tell, anything prior to November 2003 is the time before Llamas.

Carry on.

Once upon a time there was a mechanic named George. George was a good mechanic. He had a hidden ability. He remembered the make, model, year, and VIN of every car he worked on. It was like they were all just filed away in his brain on little rolodex cards. He couldn’t forget them. They were always there. Year after year. Car after car.

One day George’s wife asked him, “You can remember all those VIN numbers, but you can’t remember my birthday or our anniversary. Why is that?”

George replied, “Those things just ain’t important.”

The end.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader knows he is not the greatest speller in the world. But what the hell? His loyal readers let him go nearly 24 hours and not point out that he misspelled “obsession” about 5 billion times in a recent post…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been busy the past few days. Why is it that one goes through periods of quiet followed by periods of furious intensity? Humm… Rhetorical question really… No need to give that one any thought…

Anyhoo…

Your Maximum Leader visited with the Air Marshal over the weekend. Long-time readers will remember the Air Marshal as a sometimes commenter on this blog. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t believe he’s posted anything in a few months. The Air Marshal is really a busy rocket scientist. He is busy making our air traffic control system more modern and safe. So if you are flying, thank him (and the many others who do similar or related work) for getting you to and from where you are going.

In other news… Your Maximum Leader sees (via Dead Sexy Sadie) that the Confederate Yankee was interviewed by the Washington Post. Very cool. (Excursus: What does it take to get interviewed by the WaPo? Is there a bribe involved? Payola?)

Has your Maximum Leader mentioned to you all that he has been drinking more bourbon of late? That is sort of a strange thing really. Your Maximum Leader is a scotch man. He’s always loved his scotch. Single malts. Blends. Highland. Lowland. Islays. Islands. He just loves his scotch. If you try you can always find a scotch that will match your mood and desires. But lately he’s been drinking lots of bourbon. It is sweeter. It has a completely different texture and character. But it is brown… He can’t quite tell you why he’s been drinking bourbon. Is it some sort of alcoholic patriotism? (You know… It’s made in the USA.) Is it that good bourbon tends to be a little cheaper than good scotch and thus he can indulge himself more for the same cost? He doesn’t know. But he does know that he will try to get his hands on a dram of this stuff that is being bottled at the Bruichladdich distillery on the Isle of Islay. It will not be ready for 10 years… But hell… 184 proof Scotch? Gotta try some of that.

In case any of you reading this are looking for a recommendation when it comes to bourbon… Allow your Maximum Leader to commend to you Pappy Van Winkles 20 year old reserve. The Air Marshal and your Maximum Leader shared a bottle over the weekend. It was great for sipping. Your Maximum Leader is told that all the Van Winkle bourbons are good. But this 20 year old bourbon was truely outstanding. And it was quite reasonable. The bottle cost your Maximum Leader about $36. You don’t find many outstanding liquors for that price. Go get yourself a bottle if you are so inclined.

Moving from alcohol to economics… Did you all see Pete DuPont’s peice in Opinion Journal today? No. Go read it. Very good. Give thanks for Ronald Reagan and his economic policies. Of course, the nitwits in Congress seem to be hell-bent-for-leather to continue their ruinous spending policies. Your Maximum Leader is open to considering voting against his Congressman (Joanne Davi R-Va) as a reaction to profligate spending by the House. Then again… Your Maximum Leader doesn’t believe that the Democrats are running anyone against Ms. Davis. Your Maximum Leader might have to write in someone… Perhaps Bill the Cat?

And finally… Do you ever have dreams of winning the lottery? Just read this quick piece and remember that it isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that Senator Hillary Clinton (D - NY) has said recently that Karl Rove obsesseses about her. Your Maximum Leader will offer the following commentary on this statement. 1) Isn’t Rove busy obessing about staying out of prison for his possible invovlement in the whole Plame thingie? 2) Is Hillary obsessing about Rove and his attack machine coming after her if she chooses to run for President? If so, will her obessing keep her from running? Ad finally 3) Is this just a case of projection? Does Hillary actually find Rove sexy and want to cozy up to him for a round of “bipartisan budget talks?”

Okay… Your Maximum Leader promises not to create that sort of mental image again…

Carry on.