Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is one tired guy. He hasn’t stopped since Friday. He wishes he could have a day just to relax. Let us recap shall we…

On Friday night the formal ball your Maximum Leader and Mrs Villain attended was great. Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. Your Maximum Leader worries a little that Mrs Villain didn’t have the best time. He feels this way because this year (and last) your Maximum Leader was responsible (with another gentleman) for planning and execution of the dance. Your Maximum Leader took this duty really seriously and spent a significant amount of time attending to the smooth operation of the dance. This left his lovely wife alone for some stretches of the night. He feels miserable about this. He will not be planning the dance again for quite a while. He hopes to make next year’s dance more enjoyable for her…

Sadly there will be no picture of your Maximum Leader bedecked in his tux. Alas, Villainette #2’s attempt at taking a photo failed because she had the camera set to some wierd setting that made us all out-of-focus… It is probably better anyway. Your Maximum Leader needs to take the tux to the tailor. He needs it taken in about a half-an-inch around the waist. His pants were drooping all night. Not a good scene.

Then on Saturday there was much yard work done in the morning. Your Maximum Leader’s hands have a blister to show how hard it was to get the leaf mulcher started. Eventually your Maixmum Leader excused himself from yard work and got to putting the finishing touches on his speech to be delivered on Sunday.

Saturday night was fun. Villainette #2 and your Maximum Leader went to Tony Cheng’s for dinner and then the Capitals game. We had shrimp toast and Peking duck for dinner. Your Maximum Leader loves Tony Cheng’s, but he should remember that their Peking duck isn’t the best in town. They put something on the skin that changes the taste. The skin is very crispy and has a sweet taste with an undercurrent of citrus. It is a flavor that is different from the ususal taste of Peking duck with which your Maximum Leader is familiar. In his opinion the best Peking duck in town is to be found at the Peking Gourmet on Route 7 near Bailey’s Crossroads (and across from St. Anthony’s Catholic Church).

The Capitals game was great. The Caps played soft during the first and second periods. They were outshot by the Florida Panthers. The Caps looked tired. Very tired. Then they turned it up in the third period and scored 5 goals in the last frame. They won 7-4. It was lots of fun.

Then yesterday your Maximum Leader went down to Longwood University to deliver a speech to members of the Freshman class who were being recognized for their early contributions to the school. The recognition dinner was being sponsored by a secret society that your Maximum Leader helped to establish 20-odd years ago. He made the 2.5 hr drive down to the school in about 2 hours. Then he had the pleasure of meeting a few of the current members of the society before the speech and dinner. They were gracious hosts who indulged him as he blabbed on about how things were long ago… Your Maximum Leader thinks the speech went off well. The students seated at this table were full of questions. He had to deflect the questions about the secret society; but he was happy to indulge them in reminescences about life at Longwood before they were born…

NB to Robbo: Your Maximum Leader is not your hero for ever. Sadly, he couldn’t figure out how to work in the material from the Market Snodgrass speech. He did try to tell an Irish joke to the students at his table and ramble a little bit. But it didn’t come off as well as it could have.

Then on the drive home he missed a turn that he has been making for decades and wound up in Goochland (rather than Richmond) before he knew it. So that added about 25 mins to his return trip that he’d not bargained for…

All in all, it was a good weekend. A bit on the tiring side… But very good.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been quite busy this week. This weekend is going to be a rough one.

Tonight he and Mrs Villain are attending a formal ball. Tuxedos and evening gowns. Big band. It should be a good (if long) night.

Tomorrow night your Maximum Leader and Villainette #2 are going to the Washington Capitals game.

Sunday your Maximum Leader is driving back to his alma mater to deliver a speech on leadership to a group of students being recognized for their contributions to the school. (NB to all: If you have some pithy things you believe your Maximum Leader should add to the speech - which is only broadly outlined at this point - please feel free to comment and let him know.)

He figures when you add into the mix sleep, travel time and regular family stuff he doesn’t think there will be much relaxing this weekend.

If all works out he might post a photo of a tuxedo’ed Maximum Leader. Just for kicks…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is pleased to report that many people seemed to ask themselves that time honored question (HWMMLV? Or “How would my Maximum Leader vote?) and answered the question correctly…

Yes… All in all it was a pretty good electorally speaking. For the first time in a very long time every single candidate for whom your Maximum Leader cast his ballot won. That bond issue even passed. It was sort of crazy. The best news of the night, for your Maximum Leader, came later when he learned that Susan Stimpson had decisively won her race for Stafford Supervisor - Falmouth District. In a three way race she got just over 50% of the vote. That was great news.

All in all the results all over the nation seemed to please your Maximum Leader. There was that whole NY-23 thingie that was a little disappointing. If you don’t mind your Maximum Leader saying so, he could sort of see the NY-23 seat going the way it did. Even after whats-her-name dropped out you had to figure there would be a bunch of people who would see her name and party affiliation and just tick the box without thinking. If it had been a two person race, then he thinks Hoffman could have prevailed. So there is that…

All in all do these elections mean much in the grand scheme of things. Well… Not too much most likely. The President and the Congress are going to do more to hurt themselves over the next year than the damage these election results have done. If anything these elections are symbolic of the bloom being off the rose. One can hope that the major offshoot of the election will be some energetic opposition on the part of the Republicans, good candidate recruitment on the part of Republicans, and perhaps the press will feel that they can be a little less deferential to the President.

Your Maximum Leader should go on the record (again) now and say that conservatives need to call their shots in the upcoming election. This is to say that pragmatism should rule the day over plain ideology. How did the Democrats become a majority party? They did it by getting some “moderate” Democrats in areas where they needed them. Conservatives should carefully study the electoral maps. Where conservatives can win, conservatives should run. But where conservatives haven’t shown a history of winning then you need to find a “moderate” who can win. Politics isn’t an all-or-nothing game. There is always division of the loaf. What a large majority grants you is the ability to get more of the loaf. Pick battles carefully and don’t be sulky if you don’t always get your way.

Now celebrate the day and get ready for another battle…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is a great fan of Eric’s blog. It is pretty durned awesome.

Did you read one of Eric’s recent stories about the fruits of theivery? If you did not you should.

Your Maximum Leader sees that a few commenters are disagreeing with each other on the nature of the story. For what it is worth your Maximum Leader thinks that Eric was likely an agent of fate in this case. Yes we know that stealing is wrong. But in this case there is redemption in an attempt to right a wrong. No one would be happy with Eric stealing (indeed Eric himself was not), but in this case something was saved that would have been lost.

Regardless… The story itself is great. Read it and think about it some your own self.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader voted today. He went ahead and did what amounted to a straight party-line ticket. McDonnell, Bolling, Cucinnelli for the top three. Then he voted for Bill Howell for Delegate and Susan Stimpson for Supervisor. He also voted for Meg Bohmke for School Board (she was running unopposed).

For the first time in a long long time he voted for a bond referendum. This happened to be one to improve public parks in the county.

While casting his votes today he felt as though he was voting against the Washington Post Editorial Board. Why? Because all three of the major Democratic candidates haven’t communicated any message beyond “The Washington Post endorsed me.” That seems to be the big takeaway from all of their ads.

If you live in a locality that has an election today, please go and vote. If you have a question about who to vote for or against, feel free to leave a comment here and ask for guidance. Your Maximum Leader is all about helping you like that.

If you can’t leave a comment ask yourself “HWMMLV?” (Or How would my Maximum Leader vote?) and to the villainous thing.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been having a rough week. He hopes yours is going better…

In the spirit of the intellectual FLG, your Maximum Leader is listening to…

And…

You know the lyrics of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald are pretty moving. Your Maximum Leader can’t recall ever hearing this song until about 1 year ago. (Not being a Gordon Lightfoot fan he supposes.) It happened to be on his iPod and it was dished out randomly. (NB: He gets treats that way. He’s got nearly 9,000 songs on the iPod and he doubts he’s actually listened to more than 3,000 of them.) It is a pretty powerful song all in all.

And…

And…

Given how his week is going… He wishes he were driving Route 66… And he doesn’t mean the new I-66 in Northern Virginia. (That would likely drive him over the edge.) He means the “real” Route 66 from Chicago to LA…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is still checking various pieces of artwork to make sure they have fruit… Here is a sort of racy one:

Bartolomeo Manfredi’s Allegory of the Four Seasons.

Fruit present… It’s arty…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that today is the Feast of St. Crispin. You know what that must mean…

WESTMORELAND
O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in England
That do no work to-day!

KING HENRY V
What’s he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin:
If we are mark’d to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires:
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:
God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more, methinks, would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian:’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember’d.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember’d;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

For the more visually oriented of you:

Lord Larry’s version:

Or Ken’s version:

Your Maximum Leader has to admit that after he watched that clip of Ken’s version he wondered if Prince Vultan was going to fly in screaming “DIVE!!!” and he and the hawk-men would destroy the French army…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that Sir Basil is warning that we’ll be studying for a fall festival with the RCBfA.

Your Maximum Leader has found his study partners:

He’s especially fond of Monica Bellucci in the center there.

And if Mr P needs enticing to come to this meeting perhaps this will help:

By the way… Your Maximum Leader, who as you all surely know is a Dracula fan, went and got Dracula the Un-dead the other day. He is a sucker for the “official sequel” status of this book. So far Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt are doing pretty well keeping your Maximum Leader turning the pages… Perhaps a review will be up before Halloween.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minons. Your Maximum Leader was just experiementing in the kitchen. Before you get sidetracked wondering just what was he experimenting on in the kitchen… To satisfy your curiosity… He is boiling a pork roast in pickling spices and salts to see if he can get the effect of a corned beef only with pork… He’ll fill you in later on how that turns out…

Anyhoo…

While he was gathering together spices he noticed something and started to think…

When your Maximum Leader was a young boy he remembers that we always had French’s Yellow Mustard in the house. Sometimes, very rarely, we might have a small jar of Grey Poupon in the house. Insofar as mustard went, that was it. French’s and GP.

Today he was noticing that he has many mustard choices available at his fingertips. He has French’s and Grey Poupon. He also has a polish mustard with big old chunks of mustard seeds. He has a spicy brown mustard from the midwest somewhere. Two different “german style” mustards that go well with sausages of various sorts. He also has a horseradish infused mustard. He also has a large tin of Coleman’s mustard powder and a small jar of whole mustard seeds.

That is a lot of mustard choices for you. What is crazy is that we all (your Maximum Leader, Mrs Villain, and the villainous offspring) all love mustard. Hardly any sandwich is complete without mustard.

In the too much information category… Did you know that there is only one “hot” sandwich upon which your Maximum Leader will put mayonaise? Just one… If he makes himself a cheesesteak sandwich (at the Villainschloss) and uses provolone cheese, he will put lots of mayo on the roll (in addition to the steak, provolone, onions and peppers). If he makes himself a cheesesteak sandwich and doesn’t use provolone he also doesn’t use mayo… Crazy huh?

Anyhoo…

Your Maximum Leader will take a moment to thanks American consumerism, foodie-ism, and global trade for opening up the world of mustards to all…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader saw an interesting headline on the wires today. Here it is:

Saudi female TV journalist gets 60 lashes.

When your Maximum Leader read the headline he thought to himself… “She must have been driving a car. Or perhaps she was out in public without a male escort. Maybe her head was uncovered by a gust of wind and her revealed hair startled a bunch of old men. Perhaps she spoke without first being spoken to?”

Then your Maximum Leader went ahead and clicked through and read the piece. Do you know why the woman got 60 lashes? Because she worked for a tv station that aired a program in which some idiot man bragged about his sex life.

You read that right. She worked for a television station that aired a show in which a man bragged about his sex life. Please note that she did not brag about her sex life (presuming she has one - which one hopes for her sake she does not). Neither did she appear on the program in question. She just worked there.

Oh… In case you are wondering, apparently the man doing the bragging got five years in prison and 1000 lashes. The female victim of Wahhabi justice seems to have gotten off easy by comparison.

Your Maximum Leader hopes to live long enough to see the Saudi legal system modernize to the 1700’s. He could send some Blackstone’s over there if it would help…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader reminds you that if there is fruit in the painting it must be art…

For your viewing edification… Susanna (or Shoshanna - he’s told by Jewish friends) and the Elders by Alessandro Allori.

Clicky to embiggen.

Your Maximum Leader had completely forgotten the story of Susanna and the Elders. He had to quickly refresh his memory before he felt he could post this piece of art.

He might read the story to his children over the weekend…

Carry on.

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.

You can see the plan in the illustration above. Or if you prefer you can click here for a nicer antique rendering of a similar image.

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.

This last painting hangs in your Maximum Leader’s living room. (In case you cared.)

Of course, Nelson was killed by a sniper during the battle.

After the battle thousands of posters celebrating the victory were posted over the whole of the British Isles.

Your Maximum Leader has a similar poster that he needs to put up in his redesigned office. He wishes that he had a photo of it, because it is much cooler than the one depicted above.

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.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader had at least three potential blog posts to type out last night. But then he remembered… It was Monday night. Monday night is the one night he actually enjoys watching television. Although the DVR is recording the programs he likes, he still wants to sit and watch them. So last night it was “How I met your mother” followed by 30 minutes of laundry and housekeeping. Then “Two and a half men” and “The big bang theory.” Then your Maximum Leader switches over to ABC (from CBS) to watch “Castle.”

“Castle” is a great show. Your Maximum Leader has no idea how popular it is. He imagines that since he really likes it the show can’t be too popular. The dialouge is great. The stories are interesting. The acting is great. It is time well spent, in so much as tv can be time well spent.

Of course, your Maximum Leader has to swtich over from the programmed tv to Monday Night Football too. He thought that the Chargers would do justice to those beautiful power-blue uniforms and beat down the Broncos. While the game was close and good watching (at least what he saw last night an on highlights); the Chargers couldn’t pull it out. Perhaps the Broncos are an elite team that your Maximum Leader should watch more carefully…

Anyhoo… Perhaps tonight he’ll have a chance to discuss how fun his weekend was… And it was very very fun…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that Sir Basil lives… Basil also posts to remind us about Wodehouse’s birthday.

One hopes that Basil will make a habit of posting with less infrequency.

You know… Your Maximum Leader probably ought to pick up some Wodehouse to read and own…

Carry on.