Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was doing a quick morning review of his blogroll (which as he has mentioned before acts as an easy to use favourites list) and chanced upon this quick note from Misha at the Anti-Idiotarian Rotweiller. He added a reference to a Bible verse in his title banner.

This struck your Maximum Leader as a fun thing. Taking Bible verses and adding them to your title bar, or in the case of this site, the Rotating Tag line area. So, your Maximum Leader has decided to add a new rotating tag line to his list. It is Deuteronomy 23:1. Hope you like it.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been reading up on many of the blogs on the ole sidebar and found some interesting stuff.

First off, allow your Maximum Leader to thank Bill for adding us to his sidebar. Your Maximum Leader knows that Bill certainly meant nothing by not adding us to the list sooner. And as Bill says himself, when the MWO comes he doesn’t want to be on your Maximum Leader’s list. Bill, all is forgiven. You aren’t on the bad list. You are definately on the good list. It was probably some weird Blogger/Blogspot problem anyway…

Which brings your Maximum Leader to his second item.

That rascally Dr. Rusty Shackleford. Thinks he can write in the “voice” of Seinfeld and get us to laugh. Ha! Using Blogger but posting to non-blogspot site! As if your Maximum Leader is trying deception… As if… Yeah… As if… Well… Okay… There might be a little deception. But on the scale of deceptions with the Gulf of Tonkin Incident being really deceptive and taking the 5th in front of a Senate select committee investigation as not too deceptive this can’t be all that bad. Hey Rusty… At least people could still read this site after Blogger screwed up all the “www” links! Maybe FTP’ing to a different host wasn’t all that dumb afterall. Nyah, nyah, nyah.

But fixing the ole blogroll was a pain. Touche.

At least there are still a few of us hanging on to Blogger… It makes Google’s takeover of Blogger a greater value proposition to Sergey and Larry.

Carry on.

I enjoy my farming chores 99% of the time. Sure, there are days when I am not so happy - like when an irresponsible neighbor’s dog kills my setting guinea and cracks all of ther eggs. Or when a lightning strike blows out my $65 electric fencer. But those types of frustrations vanish when you have a perfect day like yesterday.

In school we had an excellent day of reviews for th Standards of Learning test. After classes, i went to watch some of my children play soccer. The girls won their game and seemed excited that I had come to cheer for them. The boys game was very interesting. Our team is just incredible. Their ball-handling skills are amazing and they won their 17th game in a row with a score of 10-1. That one goal was scored when all the starters were on the bench and is only the third goal surrendered all season. I think the key to our dominance in the Valley League is that Harrisonburg is a mecca for immigrants. Our African and Hispanic players play like they were born with a soccer ball in their placentas. American kids take up the sport later and, in general, more haphazardly.

I stopped at my parents on the way home from work for dinner and arrived to find my wee daughter following Grandpa around the house on his watering rounds. Dad comes from a rather nondemonstrative German family, so it has been fun to watch my daughter wrap him around her little finger. She can even get him to do goofy dances with her.

I joined Dad and Emilie and took a tour of the new Smallholder Senior plantings. He had also (oh joy!) found a new source of organic compost - horse manure mixed with acidifying sawdust that will be a perfect mulch for my blueberries.

My wife arrived and we had a family dinner, my little sweetie of a daughter holding hands with grandpa and I during grace. Mom had made a delicious new recipe - chicken with mushroom sauce. My daughter cracked everybody up as she diligently devoured abig ear of Dad’s corn, hoilding onto the corn pins with her little 19 month-old hands.

It was dark when I got home, so I immediately went out to the pasture to check on the calves. They had demonstrated their frustration with the delayed attention by knocking over a couple of their watering bins. While I filled the bins, my Heifer Bonnie came up and laid the bottom of her jaw propreitarily on my chest, snorting foul cow breath into my face as she demanded attention. The other boys crowded around, pushing against my legs - the really demanding twin sucking on my shirttail and butting the keys in my pocket. Even one of the angus crosses came up to let me scratch his chin. The other, of course, was aloof, but wanted to stand next to me even if he wasn’t going to allow me to touch him.

It’s amazing how all eight animals have their own unique personalities. Bonnie is probably the most affectionate since she is basically a pet. The Holsteins are the next in terms of temperment; breeders have been selecting for temperment for years - an easily excited or fearful cow is bad news in the milking parlor. Angus are wilder, beefier cattle that are selected for easy calving, uniform growth, and quick gain on grain - none of which are particulalry appropriate for my operation since I don’t calve them, am not selling to a feedlot that demands uniform size, and don’t feed grain. They are certainly much wilder than the Holsteins even though they have been treated exactly the same way.

As I stood there, surrounded by Bonnie and my boys, I looked out over the dark fields and saw an amazing display of phosperesence. These were not the fireflies of my youth.

When I was a kid we used to chase fireflies in the evening. As I got older, there were fewer and fewer fireflies around - their larvae are vulnerable to herbicides and pesticides that are now applied to suburban lawns. The firefly population in the suburbs has plummeted in recent years as yuppies have escalated the turf wars.

The childhood fireflies I remember had long, slow, lazy light displays. The tail end might glow for three or four seconds and even small kids could approach and grab them. I have this type of firefly - they show up at dusk and do their little mating dance for an hour or so. But the ones I saw last night do their dance later. And instead of long glows, they emit flashbulb bursts - looking at the hills surrounding the farm, it was like being in a stadium with all the cameras taking pictures at once. Cool, cool cool. My own private, natural fireworks show.

Heh. I may be poor, but I am rich in ways you city folks can’t even imagine.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader likes reading Bill Keezer’s site. He is a very thoughtful guy. Your Maximum Leader thanks him for the compliment in this post. (NB to Bill: You like us, but not enough to link to us your Maximum Leader sees. If your Maximum Leader was one to use those little “emoticon” thingies in his blog, please know he would have put one here. Nonsymmetric linkage so to speak?) Your Maximum Leader and his Minister’s are pretty catholic in what topics we will cover. Your Maximum Leader commends the AirMarshal for starting the booze posts. He should do a weekly alcohol review…

Carry on.

1. which political party do you typically agree with? Neither, really.

2. which political partydo you typically vote for? Probably 60/40 in favor of the Dems.

3. list the last five presidents that you voted for? Too Young, Bush,Bush,Clinton,Gore

4. which party do you think is smarter about the economy? Republicans pre-2000. Neither now.

5. which party do you think is smarter about domestic affairs? Prior to Y2K, Gop Fiscal, Dem Social. Now not really sure.

6. do you think we should keep our troops in Iraq or pull them out? Keep them in with clear cut objectives. Try again for international help.

7. who, or what country, do you think is most responsible for 9/11? Saudi Arabia, Taliban

8. do you think we will find weapons of mass destruction in iraq? Some Circumstantial evidence, probably. If any were there, Blix and the UN gave Saddam enough time to dispose of them, or “donate” them.

9. yes or no, should the u.s. legalize marijuana? Yes.

10. do you think the republicans stole the last presidental election? Not sure, but there was GOP misconduct. And probably Dem misconduct as well.

11. do you think bill clinton should have been impeached because of what he did with monica lewinski? Although I thought the entire investigation was a travesty and a Witch Hunt, once Bill perjured himself, then yes, he should have been held accountable for that. Ultimately he has noone to blame but himself.

12. do you think hillary clinton would make a good president? No.

13. name a current democrat who would make a great president: Lieberman maybe. Edwards maybe. ugh

14. name a current republican who would make a great president: McCain

15. do you think that women should have the right to have an abortion? Yes, up to a point.

16. what religion are you? Agnostic

17. have you read the Bible all the way through? Most of it. Skimmed a lot of the more boring books.

18. what’s your favorite book? Shogun by Clavell, and the Lord of the Rings by Tolkien.

19. who is your favorite band? Zeppelin probably.

20. who do you think you’ll vote for president in the next election? Kerry, mainly a to vote against Bush.

21. what website did you see this on first? This one.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader saw this on Kim Du Toit’s site and decided to give it a go.

Do you have the guts to take the honest bloggers-only quiz? Your Maximum Leader always has the guts to take a pansy quiz.

1. With which political party do you typically agree? Republican

2. For which political party do you typically vote? Republican (but your Maximum Leader has voted for a number of Democrats)

3. Name the last five people for whom you voted for president? George H.W. Bush (88 & 92), Bob Dole (96), George W. Bush (00).

4. Which party do you think is smarter about the economy? Republican

5. Which party do you think is smarter about domestic affairs? Republican

6. Do you think we should keep our troops in Iraq or pull them out? Keep them in and transfer more power to new Iraqi government.

7. Who, or what country, do you think is most responsible for 9/11? Osama Bin Laden and other wicked Islamofacists. Most Arab nations are somewhat culpable for allowing a climate to exist where terror can flourish.

8. Do you think we will find weapons of mass destruction in iraq? Not in large quantities. But we will find more evidence of their presence. Like the sarin filled artillery shells from last week.

9. Yes or no, should the u.s. legalize marijuana? Yes.

10. Do you think the republicans stole the last presidental election? No.

11. Do you think bill clinton should have been impeached because of what he did with monica lewinski? Are you asking if Clinton should have lost his job for an affair? No. He should have lost his job for lying under oath in a criminal investigation.

12. Do you think hillary clinton would make a good president? No

13. Name a current democrat who would make a great president: I can’t think of one who would make a great president. But your Maximum Leader believes Joe Lieberman is tolerable.

14. Name a current republican who would make a great president: Again, that call to greatness is a problem. Your Maximum Leader still likes geeky Steve Forbes on the economy. Also liked Phil Gramm of Texas.

15. Do you think that women should have the right to have an abortion? Your Maximum Leader believes that abortions should be illegal with very few exceptions.

16. What religion are you? Not really any. Your Maximum Leader was raised Roman Catholic. But his religious views are now closer to Orthodox Judiasm.

17. Have you read the Bible all the way through? Not all the way through. There might be some books of the Old Testament he hasn’t read. Ruth? Judit? Can’t recall.

18. What’s your favorite book? Too many to name. But since it is a pointed question… Right now your Maximum Leader would have to say Shogun by James Clavell. He has read that book about 10 times in the past ten years.

19. Who is your favorite band? Favorite performer? Cowboy Junkies and Elvis respectively.

20. Who do you think you’ll vote for president in the next election? Bush. But mainly voting against Kerry. Which is how most of your Maximum Leader’s votes have gone recently. Lesser of evils and all.

21. On what website did you first see this? Kim Du Toit

That done… Your Maximum Leader bids you,

Carry on.

It bugs me when people compare western leaders to Hitler. There really is no comparison. If you agree with Bush’s policies or not, he’s a democratically elected leader, who is ostensibly trying to achieve the security of his nation, fighting terrorism.

Want to read about someone REALLY evil, read this. It’s an article on Adolf Eichmann from the Crime Library. It’s good to read for two reasons. First, something like the holocaust, and the human capability for atrocities, should never be forgotten. Second, it gives us an example of true evil in the world.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader would like to thank Andi over at Overboard for her kind link to this site. Your Maximum Leader has gladly reciprocated.

You all (my minions) really ought to go and read Andi’s stuff. She provides an interesting counter-balance to the Poet Laureate’s life-in-Korea posts. Andi is a Buddhist Swordsman who your Maximum Leader is convinced could take Lucy Lui in a Tarantino-esque sword fight.

And note to Kilgore… She likes your blog too man. Get thee to Korea! End your “drought.”

Carry on.

Note to those of you who might check out these things… This post is #666 from the start of this blog. Humm.. Coincidence that the DEVIL’S number is associated with a kick-ass Buddhist chick? Your Maximum Leader thinks not…

I can’t stan to listen to Bush butcher words, and mutilate the English language, so I usually read transcripts of his speeches afterwards. Last night was no different for me.

I didn’t really get anything out of the speech. To borrow a phrase from Bush Sr, it was a “stay the course” speech. Not enough specifics on what’s gonna happen. Competant address. Major Policy speech? no freaking way. And, please, go on TV from the White house, and address the nation, like Ronnie used to. Talk to us, the citizens. Stop letting us listen in on speeches given to military audiences.

I noted that last weekend, General Abazaid commented that the troops they had weren’t sufficient to accomplish the mission, if not in terms of the number of troops, then in terms of the lack of MI, MP, and non combatant troops relating to (for lack of a better word) PR kinda stuff. And Bush says in his speech

“Our commanders had estimated that a troop level below 115,000 would be sufficient at this point in the conflict. Given the recent increase in violence, we will maintain our troop level at the current 138,000 as long as necessary.

This has required extended duty for the 1st Armored Division and the 2nd Light Cavalry Regiment — 20,000 men and women who were scheduled to leave Iraq in April. Our nation appreciates their hard work and sacrifice, and they can know that they will be heading home soon.

General Abizaid and other commanders in Iraq are constantly assessing the level of troops they need to fulfill the mission. If they need more troops, I will send them.“

Hmmm. We’ll see.

I also noted that Bush used the word “Occupation” repeatedly. I had thought that we weren’t occupying, but “liberating”. This represents a shift in rhetoric.

Perhaps the reason that MaxLeader doesn’t see seasonal shifts in drinking preferences is because he keeps his house at a balmy 64 degrees farenheit year round.

Update from your Maximum Leader: Untrue.. Your Maximum Leader keeps the Villainschloss around 64 degrees farenheit during the fall-winter-spring months. It stays a balmy 75 during the summer. Why? Because your Maximum Leader is of scottish ancestry and “thrifty.”

I am celebrating two anniversaries in the next month. My daughter will be 2 years old on June 17th. Who’d of thought we’d make it to this milestone!

I probably would not have made it though if it wasn’t for this other anniversary I will be celebrating on the 10th of June.

That my friends, is two years to the day that I bought my Krups Orchestro Automatic Espresso Maker

I had a regular espresso maker for a couple of years, the kind that cost about $70 and you think you are a serious coffee drinker when you buy it. I used that thing faithfully every day for years until, a week before my daughter was born, I saw the Orchestro for sale in the Base Exchange. Somebody had put it on layaway and decided not to get it. It was a one time buy for the store so they discounted it bigtime and put it on the shelf with other return merchandise for sale at bargain prices.

Now this machine normaly is in the $600-$900 dollar range, but I was able to get mine for $299.

Now, you guys might be thinking “300Bucks is a lot to pay for a freakin’ coffee machine”.

But to that I say, Hell, if this one broke on me, I would replace it in a HEARTBEAT with the same, or a more expensive model! I no longer buy coffee at any Starbucks (or starbucks like coffee chain) becuase my home brew is as good or better.

Espresso/Cappaccino machines are really one of those things that, the more you spend, the better the results. Most inexpensive (read under $300) use steam to brew the coffe. More expensive machines use pressure to force the water through the grinds. Steam scalds the coffee and affects the taste.

Now of course, the water and brand of coffee are important too but I will save that for another post.

I will conclude with 2 things.

1)If you are a coffee/espresso/cappaccino drinker, do yourself a favor and get one of these things… I can make myself my own cappaccino in about 1 minute 30 seconds YIKES. (did i mention that my coffee intake has quadroupled in the last two years?)

2) A Cappaccino is 1/3 espresso, 1/3 steamed milk, and 1/3 milk foam

Back to the trenches….

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader just watched the Pesident’s speech to the Army War College on C-Span. Not a bad performance. He delivered the text well. But the speech wasn’t terribly inspiring. Your Maximum Leader would have liked to hear more about how the security situation will be improved. He realizes that the President said that security will become more and more of an Iraqi issue. But that will take time. Overall this is a good first step in explaining the war, and its current state. But this can’t be the only step. The President should be making these types of speeches every few weeks, and getting more detailed with each.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader hasn’t posted to a Derb column in such a long time. He couldn’t resist linking to this one today. Your Maximum Leader wishes he had more time to write out essays like Derb’s.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader wanted to comment briefly on India. This comment was prompted by the close of this post from the Minister of Propaganda.

(Before commenting, your Maximum Leader would like to thank the Minister of Propaganda for the great link to biographical information on the new Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.)

Your Maximum Leader will first admit that he doesn’t follow Indian politics as closely as he should. But he can say that he has never been a great fan of the Congress Party. Why? They’ve always seemed a little too socialist for your Maximum Leader’s taste. Indeed, it was the BJP (the party just ousted by the Congress-led coalition) that really produced an economic environment thathas allowed India to flourish economically.

It came as a surprise to your Maximum Leader to learn that now-PM Singh was instrumental in tearing down some of the socialistic state monopolies (or laws that thwarted an open economy) during the last time Congress led India. Indeed, it seems as though Singh was able to lay some of the groundwork that the BJP used to get India’s economy to take off.

As the good Minister of Propaganda points out, the Communists are in the Congress-led governing coalition. (Should this surprise anyone? Sonia Ghandi is afterall a born Italian. And can any left-of-center Italian form a government in any nation without including communists?) What will the presence of the Communists mean for India? Your Maximum Leader thinks it will not mean too much. Congress will have its hands full keeping the Indian economy going, and living up to its electoral promises. If anything the Communists will push Congress into doing more to keep its electoral promises.

The Congress-led coalition won, it seems in large part, because of their appeal to the poor of India. You see, under the BJP’s “India Shining” programme the cities of India grew in wealth and affluence. Educated Indians are earning more, and spending more. But much of that new-found wealth has not yet found its way into improving the lives of the myriad poor in India. Congress has promised rual electrification, better sewage, improved education, and other government programmes to improve the condition of the poor.

It will be a great challenge to keep the burgeoning Indian middle-class growing and prospering, while supporting the massive taxation that will be required to acheive goals like rual electrification. It does seem as though if there is a man in India up to the task (who wasn’t in the BJP) it is the new Prime Minister, Mr. Singh.

In another vein, isn’t India just fascinating? In so many ways it is what so many nations could be. It is a hugely successful pluralistic democracy. And they are likely in a position that could be somewhat congruent to the US at the turn of the last century. Their cities (well, many of their cities) are hubs of the international economy. They have a strong manufacturing base. And their agriculture continues to improve. But outside the cities there is still a rual India that hasn’t seen the implementation of many the benefits of modern society.

Take rual electrification for example. From what your Maximum Leader reads, there are huge swaths of India that are not (or minimally) electrified. Does anyone recollect when rual electrification became a reality in the US? Can anyone say the TVA? Mrs. Villain was a little surprised to learn that many rual areas were not electrified until the 1950s. US cities were modern, electrified, and cutting edge early in the last century. But our rural areas were not. India strikes your Maximum Leader as being similar.

Well, your Maximum Leader wishes Mr. Singh luck. He can only hope that India continues to be a democracy that works in Asia.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was just reviewing the good Dr. Burgess-Jackson’s site and found this particularly interesting.

It is particularly interesting because it touches on one of the points your Maximum Leader was trying to get at in his recent ranting about blogging and such. The good Dr. Burgess-Jackson points out that Ayn Rand is not well liked in the philosophical community for a number reasons. Your Maximum Leader will direct your attention to numbers two and five on the Doctor’s list. She wrote for a mass audience and is read by a mass audience. “Serious intellectuals” can’t be popular; and popular intellectuals can’t be serious. It is the most grevious mindset that holds the American academic.

And as a small postscript, a loyal minion wrote me and asked why your Maximum Leader disliked Dr. Vallicella so much. Truth is, your Maximum Leader doesn’t dislike Dr. Vallicella at all. Indeed, he often finds himself reading the exchange between the Poet Laureate and Dr. V. He is obviously an intelligent man who is deserving of consideration. What set off your Maximum Leader was the manifestation of this academic mindset that upsets him so.

Carry on.