Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader thought this was very funny.

Sadly, your Maximum Leader closed the tab containing the link to the blog where he first saw this video. Sadly, he cannot give appropriate linkage to the blog author. He apologizes for this…

Carry on.

NB: This is nearly a complete repost of the entry for October 21, 2009.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader will be lifting his glass today to toast Admiral Lord Nelson and the hearty tars of the Royal Navy as he celebrates the 204th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar.

On this day in 1805, Lord Nelson led the fleet into combat against the combined French and Spanish fleets off Cape Trafalgar. By the end of the day the Franco-Spanish force was destroyed or driven to port. Any hope Napoleon had for invading Britain was dashed that day. The battle also resulted in about 100 years of complete naval supremacy by Britain over the seas of the world.

The late and very lamented hero of the hour:

Lord Nelson.

Nelson’s plan called for the fleet to be divided into two columns. The two columns would be sailed (under tremendous fire) into the Franco-Spanish line in a way that would bisect that line in two places.

Before the battle Nelson’s flagship, HMS Victory, flew the following signal:

England expects that every man will do his D - U - T - Y.

And over the course of the day, every British sailor did his duty.

During the course of the fighting Nelson was killed by a sniper.

Nelson’s body was preserved in rum and returned to a joyful nation who interred the hero in the crypt of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

Your Maximum Leader hopes that all you Anglophiles (and lovers of the fruits of the Anglo-Western tradition that we continue to enjoy in the US) will remember the great service done on behalf of civilization by Lord Nelson and the men of the Royal Navy over two hundred years ago.

Two years ago when this post first ran, there was some discussion in the comments as to whether Trafalgar was (as you Maximum Leader billed it) the greatest naval victory in the history of the world. Among the other contenders were: Salamis, Actium, Lepanto, Tsushima and Midway.

Your Maximum Leader will let you all decide which of these famous battles might be the greatest naval battle in the history of the world…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was reading the Washington Post the other day and this piece by Anne Applebaum provoked him to want to write a post… This is that post.

In the Applebaum piece one part stood out to your Maximum Leader. She wrote: “Democracy is based on the rule of law. Democracy works only within distinct borders and among people who feel themselves to be part of the same nation.” Your Maximum Leader completely agrees with the second sentance there; but was lost by the first.

Is democracy based on rule of law? If you are talking broadly about those nations that are part of the Anglo-Western tradition (the UK, USA, Canada and Austrailia); then you might have a point that rule of law and democracy go hand in hand. But in and of itself, there is nothing inherent in democracy that would lead one to assume that rule of law is part of said democracy. One could have an open democratic process to elect a dictator with sweeping and arbitrary powers. Democracy is only means that the people vote on things. In most countries that are fully-functioning (or seemingly functioning) democracies the people elect leaders to “rule” them. But again… Rule of law, while we take it for granted here, is not part or parcel of democracy.

This line of thinking also applies to “rights.” We have politicians talking about a “right” to healthcare in our democracy. There is nothing in a democracy that grants rights to people. Rights are (depending on your outlook) either given to you by the state or are granted to you by God/Nature/outside forces.

Your Maximum Leader doesn’t disagree with the general thrust of Applebaum’s argument; but it annoys him that she (and so many others) think that democracy is so much more than it is. Let’s just say that if you believe in the political system we’ve worked on in the United States for over 200 years; then you need to work on change within that political system to get the outcome you desire. Street protests are fine to call attention to a problem, but the protests don’t do anything to fix a problem.

Unless of course the protests lead to widespread discontent and revolution. But your Maximum Leader isn’t sure that is what the Occupy (fill in name of street) people are looking to do…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader woke this morning from the strangest and most real seeming dream he’s had in a long time. It goes like this…

Your Maximum Leader is going to the liquor store to buy some Scotch. He buys some and notices that right next to the liquor store is a church. The name on the church sign is “Saint Garrioch’s Anglican Church and Scottish Cultural Center.” Of course, your Maximum Leader goes in. He sat down in a pew and realized that the whole congregation seemed very lively and animated and very “scottish looking.” The pastor came out from behind an altar screen and invited everyone to come down into the common room downstairs. So we all got up and went downstairs. Once downstairs we were in a large room that vaugely resembled my paternal grandparents basement. It had late 60’s wood composite paneling and a dark colored shag carpet. There were chairs and sofas and more pews in the room. Your Maximum Leader sat down again in a pew. The pastor reappeared in clerical robes that seemed to be tucked down into a Royal Stewart tartan kilt. Around this point various bottles of whisky started to appear and everyone started drinking. The pastor began a sermon on drunkeness. Mid-way through his sermon he called out for our good lesbian friend “Michelle” to start the karaoke contest. Your Maximum Leader looked to his left and saw a very masculine woman stand up. As he looked at her more carefully, she seemed very familiar. Then he realized that the lesbian karaoke leader looked like a cross between your Maximum Leader and his great-aunt. At this point the pastor came over to your Maximum Leader, hugged him and declared “Laddie, your mum over there [pointing to the lesbian] is a fine lookin’ woman.”

Around this time your Maximum Leader awoke… Very strange…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has not forsaken this blog. Well… You wouldn’t know it from looking at how rapidly he’s been updating it recently. He keeps thinking of a good post here and there, but doesn’t get around to writing. He knows he’s been playing this tune for over a year… But it is the tune of the moment so it will keep playing.

Your Maximum Leader sees that FLG is now on Twitter… Huzzah. Follow him here.

Are you following your Maximum Leader on Twitter? You can get him @maximumleader.

Your Maximum Leader has had three urges lately. The first is to watch Dr. Zhivago. The second is to go to Venice for Christmas. (You are all getting pretty sick of hearing that one and wondering when your Maximum Leader will just go already…) The third was to cure some bacon.

That third urge was a little more difficult than he suspected. Normally, your Maximum Leader goes to his local butcher and grabs some pork bellies and gets to curing. Sadly, the butcher has been running out of pork bellies of late. Apparently, lots to people are buying pork bellies for various uses. It is crazy but now your Maximum Leader is on a waiting list to get some when it comes in. (He could have had some on Wednesday, but didn’t feel like paying an extra $2.50/pound to get it special ordered.)

Your Maximum Leader’s church is beginning to roll out some of the changes to the Mass. Today we got the new Gloria, Memorial Acclamation and Great Amen. In a few weeks they will be remembered. The big problem for your Maximum Leader will be the new translation of the Nicene Creed. That will be a toughie.

Speaking (a little) about religion… Rick Perry ought to get some of his more religious followers to shut the hell up. Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure there is a polite way of saying that Mormonism is a cult. And if you can’t be polite about it, you might as well just shut the hell up about it.

Of course, your Maximum Leader doesn’t much care that Rick Perry is faltering in the polls. If your Maximum Leader may be frank (and it is his blog so he will be frank), there is not a circumstance under which your Maximum Leader would ever (EVER!) vote for Rick Perry to hold any office of public trust at any level. Your Maximum Leader would no sooner vote for Rick Perry for dog catcher than he would for President of the United States. If (in the seemingly more and more unlikely event) Rick Perry gets the Republican nomination for the Presidency your Maximum Leader would throw his vote away on a third party candidate - or even write someone in on the ballot. Your Maximum Leader knows that the great Commonwealth of Virginia might be close next year. Even that knowledge would not lead him to change his mind.

You see, your Maximum Leader believes Rick Perry is unfit to hold any public office after his involvement in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham. If you haven’t read or do not know about Cameron Todd Willingham, you would do well to start with this article from the New Yorker magazine. You might also check out the Innocence Project’s page on Cameron Todd Willingham for more information on this heinous miscarriage of justice.

The case of Cameron Todd Willingham horrifies your Maximum Leader so much that he is continually rethinking his support of the death penalty. For the record your Maximum Leader has long supported the death penalty. He knows that it is quite possible that people have been executed for crimes they did not commit. But often those executed had long track records of hideous criminal behavior and while perhaps not guilty of the crime for which they were executed; they likely had it coming. (Which your Maximum Leader knows is no justification for being “satisfied” with an execution. This is nothing more than a salve for his conscience.) But as best your Maximum Leader can tell Cameron Todd Willingham was executed having committed no capital crime whatsoever. (NB: Willingham did have a criminal record including theft and other petty crimes. Not anything that would rise to the level of a capital offense.) Rick Perry is at least partially responsible for Willingham’s death, and as such he is not qualified to be President.

While your Maximum Leader is going on about those who are not qualified to be President… He is glad that Sarah Palin is not going to run. But he is saddened by the fact that she still has a soapbox from which to speak to the masses. While your Maximum Leader can’t imagine voting for Sarah Palin for President, he would consider he for other political positions. County Council or City Council leap to mind. She might also be an effective mayor of a small to medium sized town. She would even be okay in Congress; but your Maximum Leader couldn’t imagine casting a vote for her to any federal office. Regrettably, plenty of news outlets continue to give her time/coverage and we have to listen to her…

Your Maximum Leader was listening to APM’s Marketplace recently. On Marketplace, David Frum has been a longtime commentator who spoke “on behalf of the right.” Your Maximum Leader wrote “spoke” there because Frum has left Marketplace. The reason? He no longer feels as though he speaks on behalf of the majority of the right. Your Maximum Leader knows how he feels. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t really feel at home in the current iteration of the Republican party; and feels marginalized on the political right.

Your Maximum Leader is not a Tea Party type of fellow. He doesn’t think President Obama is a full-out Socialist. He doesn’t deny evolution. He is an old fashioned conservative. He would likely be labeled a RINO by many. Or a “Rockefeller Republican.” Or even a “Moderate.” Your Maximum Leader doesn’t think that he is any of those three things… But he is thinking that more and more he is becoming the old man yelling for the kids to get off his yard. Only in this case he is yelling at the kids that he is a true conservative and they are something else…

Your Maximum Leader believes in small government. But there is a role for government in society and it is possible for government to be too small. (Ours is too big now, by the way.) Your Maximum Leader believes that taxes are a price we pay for civilization. But he doesn’t see that tax cuts now will help our economic situation. (Neither will a tax increase by the way. Uncertainty - about all things economic is at the heart of our current crisis.) Your Maximum Leader is in favor of a strong national defense. And currently the US is overextended around the world and in need of a rethink of priorities. Your Maximum Leader is pro-life. But the best outcome a pro-lifer can hope for in the nation today are some restrictions of some types of abortion. Your Maximum Leader is a pretty traditional guy and does believe that permissiveness in many areas of civil society is damaging to that society in the long run. But he also believes that government is not the agent of social change many think it is and should be. Your Maximum Leader appreciates science and learning and is put off by those who seem to flaunt their ignorance.

So what is he to think? Your Maximum Leader likes to think he is a rational right-leaning fellow. That said he certainly doesn’t think that he is in the mainstream of the political right. Neither is he off to the far right. He thinks that the right have moved further right and he is looking to be more of a centre-right type of guy.

Of course, this is all from his perspective… To many it would look like your Maximum Leader has moved left and become a squishy centrist…

Ah well…

Carry on.

When the story of the greatest villain in the history of the world is written, many will seek to explain what made William Madsdorf the man he was. His surname supplanted Hitler as a synonym for perfidy. Historians, journalists and physiatrists will pour over the documentation looking for the cause of his evil. They will only find good friends, loving parents, a happy home, a superlative liberal (and Liberal) education, and fulfillment in everything he did.

No matter how hard the writers will look, they will not find anything. Because sometimes a person is just a bad seed.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader, still catching up on reading blogs, would like to commend another piece to you. This one by Professor Mondo entitled: An Echo of the Tragic View.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader must be behind on reading some of his favorite blogs… He just read this great little post over at Athens & Jerusalem entitled Fantasy Football Edition.

Reading that post both filled your Maximum Leader with self-satisfaction and self-loathing. On the one hand, he recognized almost every name on the list and why they were listed in that position. But on the other hand, the two names he did not recognize made him feel stupid and uneducated.

Of course, Winston Churchill would likely recommend himself for all three cabinet positions for which he is recommended…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been meaning to blog for about a week now. He was asked some political questions by his best buddy Kevin. Your Maximum Leader has thought about many of the questions and has formulated an answer in his brain… Sadly, his brain and his PC are two different media. Your Maximum Leader thought this weekend would provide some good blogging time… It did not. When your Maximum Leader sat down to blog, he was preempted at the computer by Villainette #1 or by Mrs Villain (who somehow now needs 2 computers running simultaneously in order to complete her work).

So sadly you will all have to live with this modest update…

First off, your Maximum Leader’s beloved Washington Nationals have already won more than the 76 games he predicted they would wind. This is a great milestone. With yesterday’s win over the slumping Braves, the Nationals have now won 78 games. It is theoretically possible that the Nationals could post a winning record (or even .500 record) with a good showing this week in Florida against the Marlins. Your Maximum Leader will be watching closely and rooting for his team.

Speaking of his team… Your Maximum Leader was at the Villainschloss doing some housework and watching the Nationals/Braves game on the TV when his cell phone rang. The caller ID showed an unfamiliar “202″ area code number. Your Maximum Leader let it go to voicemail. Then about 20 minutes later the same number called back. He picked up this time. It was a young man named Carl. He identified himself as an employee of the Washington Nationals. He asked if your Maximum Leader was at the park watching the game. Your Maximum Leader said he was at home watching the game. Carl then announced that your Maximum Leader was one of 30 “Jersey off their backs” winners. You see, a few weeks (months?) ago your Maximum Leader bought some raffle tickets from the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation. The prize being offered was the jersey off a Nationals player’s back at the end of the last home game. Well, it was the last home game, and Carl was trying to find out if your Maximum Leader was at the Park so that he could escort your Maximum Leader to the President’s Club seats with the other winners and determine who was getting which player’s jersey. Since your Maximum Leader wasn’t in attendance (and couldn’t make it to the park in time) he will get whomever’s jersey he won in the lottery… Apparently all the winners in attendance were polled as to which player they wanted. If a player had multiple winners - names were chosen by lot. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t know who’s jersey will be delivered to the Villainschloss, but he was assured it would be here by the end of the week.

Your Maximum Leader will post photos when the jersey arrives. He is giddy with excitement.

In other news…

Rick Perry seems to be melting down. He can’t speak clearly at debates and seems to not be doing well in a useless straw poll. This is a minor speed bump for him. If one is going to stumble while seeking the highest office in the land, it is best to do it early. Perry will regroup and rise back up to the top eschalon of contenders.

Your Maximum Leader mentioned earlier that Kevin had asked some political questions in the comments to another post… Your Maximum Leader will quickly address some of them here. The first one was asking if President Obama’s base is really threatening to abandon him. Well… Your Maximum Leader knows a number of strong liberal democrats and they are all upset to varying degrees with the President. The President is in some trouble with his base, in your Maximum Leader’s opinion. These highly motivated and dedicated supporters are upset that the President isn’t being an effective leader. In that they pretty much agree with just about anyone of any political persuasion. Of course, is this a problem for the President? Without a primary challenge it is not a serious long-term problem. And no one is going to challenge the President in the Democratic primaries. Certainly not Hillary Clinton. As Clinton said herself recently, the further away from the mudslinging you are the better you look. She is far from the political battles that are in the forefront of our national discussion, so she is the least affected by them. She wouldn’t look nearly as good if she were, say, Secretary of the Treasury…

Lookit, President Obama will have to start talking a good game and making some changes in his administration to show he is “serious” about winning a second term. Then, eventually, the base will come back. Mainly because they have three choices come next November. Those choices are support the President, support someone else (an unrealistic choice to make), or stay home. In the end the base (all in all) turns out (that is what makes them “the base”).

The President’s political problems are going to be with himself. If “independent” voters and “marginal” Democrats feel he’s not “doing enough” to solve our economic problems; then the Republican challenger (provided the Republican isn’t insane) will have a fighting chance of winning. There is still a long time between now and November…. So anything is possible…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader just loves it when the title of a news article pretty much sums up everything.

Take for example this gem from Reuters: Man wins dumpling eating contest, then dies.

It doesn’t get any plainer than that.

Sadly, the 77 years old Ukrainian man in question only won a jar of sour cream before shuffling this mortal coil.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader remembered a post he made back in Feb 2008 about the prospect of Barack Obama becoming President.

In a moment of unearned self-indulgence, your Maximum Leader will post a link to that old post.

Your Maximum Leader re-read the post and realized that he’s not enjoying himself as much as the thought he might. The nation is a lot more screwed up than he thought it would be in 2008.

Nope. Not laughing much at all.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been trying not to pay close attention to the 2012 race for the presidency until… well… 2012. But from time to time he finds himself paying half-attention to the Republicans who hope to replace President Obama in the Oval Office.

Your Maximum Leader chanced on the Washington Post website and saw a big headline: “Defining Two Wings of the Republican Party.” The small subtitle indicated that the piece was going to be contrasting the differences between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. As it turns out, the article didn’t contain anything significant your Maximum Leader didn’t already know about the two men. (There were a few items about Perry’s family and youth that were new and vaguely noteworthy, but not much else.) Other than pointing out the oh-so-obvious Romney is an “establishment” guy and Perry is an “outsider” guy the article isn’t good for much.

So why bring it up here?

Well… As it stands now, one of those two men is poised to become the Republican nominee for President of the United States. And if the election were held soon (say this November rather than next - which it is not of course) there is a good chance that either of those men would become the next President of the United States.

Your Maximum Leader isn’t carrying the banner of Romney or Perry. If he had to choose now (which thankfully he doesn’t), he would tend towards Romney. It is Romney’s turn afterall…

Of course, the election is a long way away yet. And there are many miles to go before we sleep. (So to speak.) No telling what will happen between now and then.

Recognizing we are a long way off, your Maximum Leader can say with confidence than almost any Republican will be an improvement over President Obama. Your Maximum Leader didn’t have high expectations when Mr. Obama became President. Your Maximum Leader believed that Obama was a “European Social Democrat” type of guy. This is to say a left-center politician with a proclivity to like big activist government. While he’ll stand by that characterization still, what your Maximum Leader didn’t expect was that President Obama would be so inept a politician. The man had to jump through so many hoops to become President one would think he’d be a little more savvy. Sadly for our nation, he’s turned out to be a left-center politician who likes big activist government and a professorially-minded executive. Which is to say he is no executive at all. Your Maximum Leader firmly believes that the President would be an ineffective department chairman at a mid-level university. So he is an particularly ineffective President. At this stage your Maximum Leader will give more credit for passing “Obamacare” to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi than to the President.

The most surprising failing of the President has been his oratory. You know something… Your Maximum Leader didn’t think that the President would lose his gift for empty (yet soaring) oratory once in office. Your Maximum Leader sort of suspected that the President would have lots of soaring oratory with little to show for it once he was inaugurated. But in fact the President has had little soaring oratory with even less to show for it.

Your Maximum Leader discounts all the “Obama has upset his base” talk. The liberal base of the Democratic party has no where else to go. They could stay home, but they will not. The President has his base… The question is does he have any more than the base supporting him. Right now he does not. And all in all that is a good thing for all of us. It will spur the eventual Republican candidate to work harder, and it will make the President work harder to avoid the appellation of a failed one-termer. Neither of those items can hurt the rest of us.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader didn’t post anything on September 11. He didn’t watch much of the saccharine and overly melancholy memorial services on television. He remembered our dead from that day and those who have died around the world in our fight against terrorists since that day.

Many others commented in meaningful ways on or about that anniversary. Many said things with which your Maximum Leader could agree. But deep down your Maximum Leader started to wonder when exactly our nation started to thrive on the melancholy?

Please do not mistake that question for callousness to the families of victims or servicemen and women. (Your Maximum Leader has a number of relatives on active duty who have served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.) But it seems as though our media coverage of the event was seen through eyes that focus on the sadness, the loss, the pain. There seemed to be an air of helplessness and woe that pervaded everything broadcast. When did quiet respect and solemnity become equated to restrained mourning and lamentation?

Perhaps your Maximum Leader is having a hard time writing down his impressions of the anniversary. He perceived that the undercurrent of all the coverage was helplessness and even defeat. There didn’t seem to be anything uplifting about the coverage of the day as seen through the media.

Is this an outward sign of PC/secularism? Is it that without the ability to appeal to either religion or at least some sort of universal theism or morality that we can’t try to remember the dead in an edifying manner?

Your Maximum Leader doesn’t know. But what he does know is that he has moved on from the melancholy remembrance of September 11, 2001. He has resolve that we should track down and destroy the expanded networks of enemies our nation has around the world. He is respectful of the dead and holds them in his heart. But he is not wallowing in pity, victimization or sadness.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader decided to list a few people who’s very presence in our national consciousness annoys him. This list is in no particular order: (In Politics) Michele Bachmann, Donald Trump, Maxine Waters, Henry Waxman, Sarah Palin, Charles Schumer, Dick Durban, Harry Reid, David Axlerod, James Carville, (In “sports & entertainment”) any Kardashian, the whole NBA, Peter King, Lindsay Lohan, Dr Oz, Dr Phil, Jay Leno, and George Lucas.

That is all.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader meant to post yesterday. As you can tell by the unaltered timestamp on this post, he did not. August 2011 was not a particularly good month for your Maximum Leader. But September should turn things around.

Since your Maximum Leader seems to be suffering from a short attention span, lets give some Twitter-esque commentary here on ye olde blogge.

By the way, you can follow your Maximum Leader on Twitter at: @maximumleader.

Your Maximum Leader didn’t think it was possible for a President to screw up getting to speak in front of a joint session of Congress. Our incumbent President apparently has.

Your Maximum Leader’s favorite primate is the orangutan. (Your Maximum Leader was always a fan of Dr Zaius.)

Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure how he feels about the CIA CTC killing terrorists. To be more specific, he worries about accountablility. (He doesn’t really mind killing bad guys.)

It is getting hard to remember who the Prime Minister of Japan is at any given moment. They are on their 6th PM in 5 years.

Your Maximum Leader must agree with both Dr. Krauthammer and Robbo. Those Washington Natnals are going places. FYI - Your Maximum Leader often sees Krauthammer next to the Dippin Dots near Section 128. (Your Maximum Leader often mooches tix from a friend in Section 127. At a recent game in addition to Krauthammer, your Maximum Leader enjoyed a game in the company of George Will and Ben Bernake.)

Your Maximum Leader loved this little interplay between counter-agent and customer over at Ellison’s.

Your Maximum Leader wishes there was a person running for the office of President of the United States that could elicit more of a reaction than “hummmm” paired with a heavy exasperated sigh.

You know, if all you read was the Washington Post and NY Times you wouldn’t get much of a feeling of outrage at the recent debacle over at BATF known as “Fast & Furious.” This long piece from the WaPo is about as outraged as you would get.

Has your Maximum Leader mentioned how much he loves Doctor Who now? He does. He didn’t like it as much when he was younger (in the 1970s and 1980s). But now it is very cool. Very cool indeed.

Oh…

And… One day late…

Rabbit!

Carry on.