Greetings loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has decided to blog a little today while Mrs. Villain and the Villainettes are taking a little nap.

First on the hit parade today is a general coment on those listless Teutons. If they would only a little harder they might start realizing that THE FRENCH have taken their role as a leader of Europe. Of course, both the German government and the French government are wrongheaded about so many things. Maybe if Germans would work 40 hours a week they might once again strike fear into the hearts of the French. Hell, the might even realize they could take back Alsace and Lorraine without the French even noticing‚ÄövѬ

Did I read this correctly? Diving onto asphalt au naturel? Ouch, that‚ÄövÑv¥s gotta hurt. (Psst! Did you catch the byline on that link?)

This item off the AP news wire elicits a number of reactions from the Maximum Leader. First reaction, I don‚ÄövÑv¥t see why the firing squad should be eliminated as a possible method of execution. If you make sure the members of the firing squad are marksmen, and they are using high calibre rifles; then the firing squad is a perfectly legitimate method of execution. If I am not mistaken, not every marksman on the firing squad gets a live round. It is my understanding that they only give out one live round the rest are blanks. That way the odds are the YOU (as a member of the squad) did not actually execute the convict.
Second reaction, a number of people (I‚ÄövÑv¥m sure) believe that the firing squad is barbaric. Why? It is no less barbaric than having the convict wait (while strapped down to the gurney) and watch the anesthesia being injected into him, then slowly loosing consciousness knowing full well the poison is following right along‚ÄövѬ
Third reaction, who knew the Mormon Church required that blood be shed for justice to be done to a murderer? I certainly didn‚ÄövÑv¥t. I don‚ÄövÑv¥t know any theological basis for this belief, but I like it.
Fourth reaction, I am distressed at the perception (reality?) that the Mormon Church rules the state government of Utah. I haven‚ÄövÑv¥t heard of the state of Massachusetts getting approval (okay, at least a written statement) from the Congregationalists or Catholics before taking a decision on a matter of policy. If members of the Utah legislature were worried about the theological implications of eliminating the firing squad couldn‚ÄövÑv¥t they have asked their minister themselves? Why involve the state in it? This really does distress me. (Of course, it could just be the way the AP reported the story in their typical hate-all-religions-unless-we-can-mock-them way.

Another example of moderate Islam? (Thanks to Opinion Journal for the link.) I know that people keep saying that there are plenty of muslims that disavow this type of ranting, but where are they? I haven‚ÄövÑv¥t heard of any outside of the US/Europe. And frankly, if they live in the US or Europe they don‚ÄövÑv¥t seem to have much ‚ÄövÑv street cred‚ÄövÑvp in predominantly muslim nations.

And finally, Abbas has resigned as Palestinian Prime Minister. We always knew that Yasser was continuing to pull all the strings and hold all the cards. Once again, we see that the Palestinians have no desire for peace with Israel. Of course it is all a blame game for the Palestinians. To wit:

According to Abu Amr and other legislators, Abbas said he regretted the failure of his government, but blamed the United States and Israel for not fulfilling their obligations in the peace process. He said Israel did little to improve the daily living conditions of Palestinians by lifting roadblocks and checkpoints and made no serious efforts to dismantle outposts and small settlements as demanded by the road map. He blamed the United States for not exerting enough pressure on Israel to meet those obligations.

How hard has Abbas been trying to crack down on Hammas or the other terrorist organizations in the Palestinian areas? Not very. And I will not blame Israel for not ending roadblocks and checkpoints. Those checkpoints save lives. And protecting its citizens is the foremost responsibility of the state.

Carry on.