Greetings loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was reading the news wires and thought he would comment on goings-on.

Good news follows bad news in the Land of the Gods? After the horrible earthquake in Japan yesterday we learn that there were no reported deaths. This is a testament to earthquake resistant building in Japan. I hope that the aftershocks do not do significant damage or harm. And in another note, it seems Mt. Fuji will remain dormant for a while longer.

15,000 more French fries? Or is it fried French? I suppose the death toll might have been lower had all of the doctors not gone on their annual holiday in August. And let’s not forget all those young’uns who left grand-mere at home in Paris when they went to the beach…

US Gross Domestic Product was up. That is good news. Let us hope that the economy continues to grow and starts producing some more jobs. (And lets stop all this silly talk about rolling back the tax cuts. That will not help keep growth going. Lets talk spending cuts on Capitol Hill.)

More news from France. It seems that French scientists have cloned a rat. Hummm.. Interesting choice.

Who knew they had sold 6,000 Segways?

No sex please we’re British. Oh, on second thought, we’ll have the sex please.

RIP Robert Palmer. I own three of his albums. Very sad. Great voice. Should have stuck with the blues that characterized his early career.

RIP George Plimpton. He was the last gentleman to write about sports. He will be missed.

And in entertainment news… Queer Eye for the Straight Guy is being renewed. As though we didn’t see this coming. Your Maximum Leader has to say that after The Greatest Show in the History of Television, Queer Eye is the most entertaining show on tv. Mrs. Villain and your Maximum Leader enjoy watching it on Thursday nights.

And did your Maximum Leader mention that he is looking forward to seeing a few movies this fall. They are: The Return of the King, Matrix Revolutions, and Kill Bill Volume 1. Right now your Maximum Leader is really iching to see Kill Bill. What could be more entertaining than Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu going at it with samurai swords? Not much is the answer.

And lastly, your Maximum Leader is a little distressed to hear of some of Tony Blair’s troubles. He seems to be in a position of putting down a backbencher revolt in the Labour party. (Here is an editorial from the Telegraph.) I will scrounge around and try and read some more on this subject, but I will note that it will be a very bad thing for the US if Blair succumbs to a leadership challenge from within his own party. Very bad indeed. But, Blair is a master politician and if anyone can come out of this he can.

Carry on.