Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader finds himself somewhat overtaken by events. This is to say that he’s had lots to think about over the past few day - and lots to do. Family stuff has been rather busy (lots of sporting events, yard-work, and parenting to take care of). Additionally your Maximum Leader has been feeling rather funky. Part of this is due to the condition of Kevin’s mom. I’m nearly 40 years old and have known Kevin’s mom for nearly 34 of those 40 years. Her recent brain surgery, her upcoming treatment, and her long-term prognosis has been wearing on me emotionally.

I also discovered last week that a good friend of mine was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. He was given about a month to live. I had planned on seeing him today. Sadly, he died on Saturday night. He was buried today. My friend, Irwin, lived a good long life (he was 78). He went like he lived - fast and without indecision. I would have liked to have a few words with him. But I don’t know that he or I would have anything substantive to say to one another. I don’t feel regret that I didn’t get a chance to speak with him. I am saddened however because it would have been nice to let him know that I was thinking about him.

Irwin was what I would classify as a non-observant Jew. There was a Jewish ceremony at the graveside. It was the first such ceremony I’d ever attended. At the end the family and friends were invited to deposit a small shovel of dirt into the grave. Although I’ve been to a number of funerals, this was the first time I’d ever encountered this act of participation. At most other graveside services the prayers and songs are sung and then people depart leaving the work of actual burial to the gravediggers. Today I felt something good in putting that small shovel of dirt into the grave. I can’t really describe it. It was both comforting and closing. As the Rabbi presiding mentioned, the act was the last thing we could do for our friend. It was also described as an act for which the Irwin was unable to thank us. Those words were particularly striking. I will remember them for a long time.

There is not much else to mention here. Your Maximum Leader hopes to get back to some regular posting soon. Sorry for letting old posts linger here for so long.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader knows that the federal government has been rather free with money of late. But it seems as though money is just being left around in parking lots and such.

To wit: Woman finds $357,959 cashier’s check and returns it. Also: History Channel host finds money on Montana street.

Apparently around the streets and parking lots of our great republic there has been recently nearly $370,000 just laying around.

The good news here is that in both cases the money was returned to its rightful owner.

FYI. Your Maximum Leader hasn’t found any money laying on the street. (Excepting pennies and the lot.)

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader wondered the other day what would happen if the Treasury tried to sell debt but found no one was buying? He called that post “Oy this can’t be good.”

Today the stock market was chugging along until later this afternoon.

Well… This isn’t good. The Treasury did sell bonds today. The good news is that they sold all the bonds they wanted to ($34 Billion worth - which is better than the UK which tried to sell $2.55 Billion worth but only sold $100 Million worth - must suck to be Gordon Brown now…). The bad news? The bid/cover rate (which your Maximum Leader only understands the most rudimentary way) dropped significantly. This means the number of buyers was smaller than expected. If this continues, one can speculate that the US will have to pay significantly more to get buyers to agree to finance the nation’s debt.

The poor showing by the bond sale spooked the markets and caused the bad finish to the day that started off well.

One wonders if future bond sales don’t go well how that will impact budget discussions on Capitol Hill… Okay… There is no point in wondering because most of our elected representatives are to friggin’ stupid to understand what his happening…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sits up a little straighter in his chair and begins to worry a little bit when he reads that the avuncular Wen Jiabao (Premier of China) says in a press conference “We [the People’s Republic of China] have lent a massive amount of capital to the United States, and of course we are concerned about the security of our assets. To speak truthfully, I do indeed have some worries.“

(Excursus: Your Maximum Leader loves the word “avuncular.” It is so rare to see it out there nowadays. You know what else? He doesn’t think he’s ever seen the adjective used to describe the leader of the PRC. Of course it was used to describe Joe Stalin… Perhaps the word has a more sinister secondary meaning he doesn’t associate with it?)

Let’s see… The nation that holds something like $1,400,000,000,000.00 in US Treasury bonds (according to the article) tells the world press that they worry that the US may not be “creditworthy” doesn’t seem like a good thing for the US. According to Reuters, the US Treasury Bond market fell in Asia after Wen’s comments. No surprise there.

Is anyone in Washington listening to this? It is not a good thing when your major creditor tells you that you probably want to take a look at how much debt you are taking on… Call it a friendly warning.

What is your Maximum Leader saying? Of course no one in Washington is listening. The President’s rump economic team is too busy trying to make the best of the current crisis to notice that the people financing the “making the best of the crisis” are politely asking them to not make too much of the current crisis.

Nope. This is no good at all.

Does anyone know when the next major auction of T-bills is taking place? One wonders if the market for long-term T-bills will be “soft?” (NB: thanks to the magic of Google… Long-term T-bills auctioned on March 19, 2009)

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is going to pass on some links to articles that he has found particularly interesting for your reading pleasure.

Is this portrait a contemporary image of William Shakespeare? Some experts think so.

Here is an interesting little history of Citibank by the WaPo. Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure he has a pithy comment on this except to say it is interesting to see the arch of the bank’s history and how they pushed the envelope of what banks have historically done in the US and world.

Read this post by our friend “The Other McCain.” Any post that starts with Elvis and Jesus and delves into an autobiographical portrait of a man who found his way.

Did you miss Taftapalooza on Irish Elk? Go and celebrate the man and his strong horse.

You know… Your Maximum Leader finds himself reading many many items on FLG’s blog and thinking “Yes. This is what I would like to blog about. Only with more swear words.” You should just click over and read. Your Maximum Leader is going to have to spend some time reading his Witchcraft post when he can.

And welcome back Mrs P from your little vacation. You are very “Old School Upskirt.”

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is pretty sure he is the only blogger out there who can boast (if you can call it a boast) that he has blogged in the third person for going on six years. It is tough sometimes, but he does it because you, dear minion, have come to expect it.

Having said this, he isn’t sure he can keep up the third person blogging today. If he slips in and out of character - well - it happens some times.

First, your Maximum Leader should say that he’s been pretty frustrated with everything going on in political Washington. He is less frustrated by the Democrats than Republicans. What does that mean exactly? Well… It means that the Democrats are behaving much like he thought they would. The Democrats behave as they do and because your Maximum Leader doesn’t agree with their general philosophy of governance their behavior is only mildly annoying. He should throw out there that his annoyance does not keep him from watching in horror as the Democrats wreck havoc on our nation.

If a pollster were to call your Maximum Leader and ask if the President and Congress are leading the country down “the wrong track” or “down the right track” your Maximum Leader would firmly say “wrong track.” He believes the “stimulus” (aka: spending) bill was a pork-laden crock of shit that isn’t going to have the salutary effect that the President has promised. The budget the President has just proposed is even worse than the spending bill just passed.

Your Maximum Leader was, for a little over a month apparently, deferential towards the new President. He wanted to see what President Obama did and how he approached the crisis he’s facing. Your Maximum Leader did this out a (perhaps old skool) notion of “fair play.” Your Maximum Leader felt it was only fair to give give the President a chance to live up to the rhetoric of his campaign. Your Maximum Leader will not go so far as to say that he expected much of the President, but he figured it was best to give the man who handily won the election a chance. You know, elections have consequences and one shouldn’t jump to conclusions. This isn’t to say that your Maximum Leader was in that crowd of (”cough”) conservatives like David Brooks or Christopher Buckley who thought that Obama was a different sort of fellow. (As your Maximum Leader’s friend and erstwhile contributor to this space, the Smallholder will attest. He can’t believe how many times he said on the phone to Smallholder “Just because Obama doesn’t sound like a run of the mill liberal in his book doesn’t mean he isn’t a run of the mill liberal. The book is nothing more than a campaign biography. How many of those have you believed in the past?) Your Maximum Leader was pretty clear that he believed Barack Obama to be a dyed in the wool liberal who was putting on a show with his rhetoric of hopey-changeyness. But, your Maximum Leader is a pretty fair minded guy and that influenced him to try and put aside his preconceptions and see what happened.

Well… The President has demonstrated that he isn’t capable of controlling his party in Congress. The President has demonstrated that neither he nor his “team of almost rivals - and tax evaders” have no judgement concerning beginning a massive new program to nationalize health care in the midst of a major financial crisis. In fact, a sensible person must reasonably charge the President with opportunism and deceptiveness by implying that nationalizing health care is a real step towards improving the national economy. It is a real step towards financial ruin and destruction of our health care system.

Your Maximum Leader grows very weary of the whole “we’ve had no responsibility in Washington for 8 years and it will take time for us to clean things up” line. It is the go-to line for the President, Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid (and all their cronies). How much longer will that line hold up? Yes, the economic crisis started under George W. Bush. The contributing factors causing the crisis are many and have been brewing for longer than 8 years. Your Maximum Leader’s not sure that Bush’s approach to the crisis was effective or well conceived. That said, essentially we have more of the same from the current administration. Doesn’t more of the same undercut the effectiveness of the whole “we’re just dealing with what they left us?” They aren’t doing anything different - only doing more of the same. Where is the change? Where is the hope? (We certainly haven’t heard much about hope now have we? (It is all going to get much worse before it gets better. At least that is what we’ve been hearing out of the White House.)

Of course, your Maximum Leader can only get but so angry at President Obama. He’s convinced that the President is not driving policy. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are driving policy. That is dangerous and bad. It is a little early to seriously throw around the whole “they are turning America into a socialist nation” accusations; but Congressional leaders are showing ever sign that they are turning in that direction. There are serious threats to individual liberty and property in the offing. Your Maxmium Leader can’t remember a more serious swing in the proverbial political pendulum in just a few weeks. Pretty soon we might have to say that President Obama has accomplished more in 100 days than LBJ accomplished in his whole Presidency. Think about that for a second.

Long-time readers of this space know that your Maximum Leader is great believer in divided government and gridlock. Gridlock is the true genius of the American Republic. Our founders knew what they were doing when they split up the branches of government and created political friction at every turn. Although your Maximum Leader isn’t a big Jeffersonian, he does believe that gridlock is the only way we can live up to TJ’s aphorism that the “government that governs best governs least.” Without gridlock our government is hell-bent for leather to actually do something. Your Maximum Leader isn’t fond of our government actually doing something…

One hopes that the Republicans can grow a pair and make some gains in 2010…

Of course, the Republicans are in bad bad shape. Your Maximum Leader’s not sure that they are in post-Watergate shape (although perhaps they are). The party has been gutted by the disasterous Presidency of George W. Bush. Republicans stuck with W through thick and thin. The Republicans got a war in the Middle East. Your Maximum Leader agreed with the starting of that war (for different reasons than those articulated by Bush and his cronies). But the war went south when Bush (and his cronies) screwed the pooch on managing the war. Then the Bushies stuck with a bad war policy for way too long. Republicans also decided to completely forgo any semblance of fiscal responsibility they might have clung to from the by-gone Reagan years. Your Maximum Leader would say that the late Congressional Republican majority spent money like the cliched drunked sailors. Alas, to say that would both insult drunken sailors as well as leave us no reference point against which to compare the current Democratic Congress. It is almost as though money is magic and this spending is an imaginary exercise in whimsy that will have no real consequences.

But your Maximum Leader digresses…

So you have a Republican party that is thought of as a bunch of liars (due to their support of the war), spendthrifts (due to the prescription drug program and allowing earmarks to get out of control among other items), and religious fanatics (from constant press reports and Democratic attacks). That combination isn’t a good one.

Now you have this internicene warfare between people like Michael Steele (the RNC chairman) and Rush Limbaugh (a radio talk show host). This intra-party warfare has been inflamed by Democrats. (And frankly the Democrats should fan the flames as much as they can. In politics, as in UFC matches, when your opponent is down, you kick him.)

Your Maximum Leader isn’t a Rush listener. He listened to Rush regularly in the early ’90s. Back then your Maximum Leader spent more time in the car with the radio on. Your Maximum Leader does recall that he always enjoyed G. Gordon Liddy’s show on WJFK in DC more. There was more talk of guns and heavy-chested hotties on Liddy’s show. Your Maximum Leader stopped listening to Rush Limbaugh one afternoon when Limbaugh made some crack about Chelsea Clinton (then about 11/12 years old) being awkward and ugly. That crossed a line with your Maximum Leader and he didn’t listen to Rush again until about 6 months ago.

From time to time during midday your Maximum Leader finds himself in the Villainmobile and the channel often tuned to the local AM radio station. Rush’s show is on at midday and since radio pretty much sucks in this area he doesn’t change the channel. (Your Maximum Leader has all the stuff to outfit the Villainmobile with XM, but he’s never installed or activated the stuff. Had it all for three years now… How sad is that? Anyhooo…)

Your Maximum Leader heard Rush on the day that he declared (recently) that he wanted Obama to fail. In the context of what Rush was saying, it made sense. If you don’t like the President’s policy proposals and you hope that they do not get enacted then you hope he fails. That is some pretty straight-forward thinking. But people have been getting all in a huff over if.

Among the people getting in a huff about it is new RNC chairman Michael Steele. Steele then says Rush is an entertainer. Steele apologizes to Rush. Democrats paint Rush as the leader of the Republican party. Rush (running with the ball) challenges Obama to a debate about the issues. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah… Yadda… Yadda… Yadda…

You know something? If there was any Republican up there on Capitol Hill out there with “onions in the bag” who could articulate a cogent policy alternative to the President (and Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid) then that person would be the de facto head of the Republican party.

Apparently no Congressional Republican has a pair and will step up. Not Mitch McConnell. Not Boehner. Not Cantor. So when you don’t have an elected Republican acting “leaderly” it devolves to whomever the Democrats and the press say is the leader of the party. Republicans aren’t in control of their destiny as long as the White House and Congressional Democrats are determining who is the “voice” of the Republican party.

Frankly, your Maximum Leader wishes there were some smart articulate conservatives out there in Congress to raise the level of debate out there. He has always thought that Rush Limbaugh (and Sean Hannity and Michael Levin) are the lowest common denominator of conservatives. Your Maximum Leader didn’t know how to put a fine point on it, but recently he thinks that he found someone else who did put a fine point on it. It was our old pal John Derbyshire who wrote that Rush and other talk show hosts are dumbing down conservatives.

Your Maximum Leader is a bit of an elitist (with probably very little reason to be). But he likes a little more intellectual discussion with his politics. He respects someone who has thought out an opinion and belief. He doesn’t want Rush Limbaugh to be the “voice of conservatism” in America. He much prefered William F. Buckley in that role (God bless him).

But until someone else gets some balls it is Rush as the voice of conservatives and leader of the opposition…

And while the Republicans are backstabbing each other and sniping at who is in charge of what, the Obama/Pelosi/Reid triad will do all they can to reshape America according to their vision.

If that isn’t enough to scare someone into growing balls I’m not sure what is.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was disturbed in one of his morning progresses this morning by the presence of news vans from the major networks. Why you might wonder?

Apparently your Maximum Leader’s neighborhood is a haven for men who have defrauded investors of $10 Billion. Damn R. Allen Stanford. Bringing the hordes of reporters here.

Your Maximum Leader hopes they leave soon.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader wanted to take a moment and thank our commenter/reader Old School Lady for her recent comment. Your Maximum Leader did spend some time this weekend meditating on the notions of justice and revenge. As satisfying and bashing someone’s head in with a cricket bat might be, it isn’t always a good theory of justice to which to adhere.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader occasionally reads something that saddens and enrages him at the same time. But before he gets to that, allow him to backtrack for a moment.

Your Maximum Leader has, from time to time, expressed in this space that he might be in favor of getting rid of the death penalty if instead we agreed to remove individuals convicted (and appealed) of some particular heinous crimes to be released into society - but without the protection of the state.

This is to say that we are all living in a country that provides a degree of protection to citizens against being murdered. Specifically, the right to kill someone is reserved by the state (in most circumstances). So, if you are murdered, the state can (and ostensibly will) seek to find your killer, deprive them of their liberty and eventually their life. I have said in the past that the state shouldn’t be in the revenge business (ideally speaking). Your Maximum Leader has hypothesized that the state should allow those convicted of particularly heinous and disgusting crimes (murder for example) after their trial and appeals process is finished to be released back into society. But these released people are not subject to the protection of the state. Here is a hypothetical for you. Man murders young girl. Man is convicted. Man’s conviction is upheld on numerous appeals. Final appeals are exhausted. Man is shown to the prison gate and released. Murder victim’s father and brothers await outside the prison gate with baseball bats. Victim’s family beats man to death. Victim’s family walks away not to face any prosecution. Why? Because the man (the murderer) is not entitled to the protection of the state.

So let us move along now shall we?

So, this is the press article that enraged your Maximum Leader. Prosecutor: Slain toddler said “I love you” at end. The opening paragraphs of the piece:

A slain toddler tried to stop her mother and stepfather from beating her to death by reaching out to her mother and saying, “I love you,” a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday. The pleas from 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers didn’t stop her mother, Kimberly Trenor, from continuing to brutalize her, assistant district attorney Kayla Allen said in her opening statement at Trenor’s murder trial.

But defense attorney Tommy Stickler Jr. told the jury that Trenor, 20, never intended to kill her daughter in 2007 and that things just “spun out of control.”

Okay now… Your Maximum Leader read that piece and in this order 1) came close to crying; 2) was filled with rage; 3) was filled with rage and regret that the prosecutor decided not to go for the death penalty. All those emotions came upon your Maximum Leader in about 60 seconds.

Now… After some calmer reflection your Maximum Leader would like to know exactly how the prosecutor knows that the slain toddler said these things. (Your Maximum Leader suspects that the mother or stepfather confessed to it.) He certainly hopes that the prosecutor isn’t elaborating on this horrible story for the sake of a dramatic closing statement.

That bit of curiosity aside, your Maximum Leader would want the mother, if convicted and after exhausting appeals, to be released without the protection of the state. In that circumstance, he would consider driving to Texas with a gun, a cricket bat and a bad attitude.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is a bad bad man. And he doesn’t mean bad in the “good” way. In this case he means “bad” in the “bad” way.

You see, your Maximum Leader wrote a post of a somewhat timely nature the day before Christmas… But he just pressed save and not publish…

It was not until this morning when looking at another blog that he remembered this.

Your Maximum Leader humbly begs forgiveness of his dear friend the Smallholder.

You see, Mrs Smallholder delivered a healthy baby boy on Dec 24. It is Smallholder and Mrs Smallholder’s fourth wee bairn. The third boy. As the Smallholder is of a good German stock your Maximum Leader suggested names for the youngin’ like “Otto Von Bismarck ‘Smallholder’” and “Franz Joseph ‘Smallholder’” and “Frederick Barbarossa ‘Smallholder.’” Then your Maximum Leader got serious and suggested names like “Charles Martel ‘Smallholder’” and “Pepin the Short ‘Smallholder.’”

Sadly, none of these names were chosen. Due to your Maximum Leader’s repect for privacy, he will not divulge the baby’s real name - but it is a strong manly name. (Thus obviously not chosen by that great namby-pampy - the Smallholder himself.)

Now you might be asking yourself, “Self, what prompted my Maximum Leader to remember this forgotten and now presumably re-written post?”

It is the news that Mrs FLG has delivered little Miss FLG. Woo hoo! Mother and daughter doing well. Mr FLG himself… He seems to be okay. We’ll check in again in a few days and see how he is then.

Go over and wish FLG the best. You can wish Smallholder the best in the comments here.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader didn’t make it to Venice over Christmas… There is always next year. (Although with Venice one can’t be too sure that there will be a next year. Perhaps 2009 is the year where the Adriatic finally swallows up La Serinissima.)

Anyhoo…

Apparently Venice is trying to bolster its reputation as a great city of romance by holding a “kiss-in” in Piazza San Marco while the New Year is being rung in. Couples wanting to participate in the kiss-in should get to Piazza San Marco early. From 10pm on there will be free seminars teaching you how to perfect your kissing technique.

All your Maximum Leader can say is this: if Italians need seminars on how to perfect their kissing technique; then truly the end is nigh upon us. One can only hope the seminars are for foreign visitors.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush has apologized in a letter. According to Reuters:

An Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush apologized to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for embarrassing him before the watching world, the prime minister’s office said on Thursday.

TV reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi shot to instant fame when he called Bush a “dog” in Arabic at a joint news conference with Maliki in Baghdad last Sunday and threw both his shoes at Bush in a gesture that is a deep insult in the Arab world.

“Zaidi said in his letter that his big ugly act cannot be excused,” said Yasin Majeed, Maliki’s media adviser.

Big ugly act huh? Yeah… al-Zaidi must have read this blog and been thankful that he wasn’t trying to throw shoes at his (and your) Maximum Leader…

The coda to the Reuters piece amused your Maximum Leader.

Zaidi’s ‘David versus Goliath’ act has made him a sensation in the Arab world, where the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Washington’s support for Israel have generated deep animosity toward Bush. Zaidi’s attorney says more than 1,000 lawyers have offered to defend him.

An Egyptian man offered his 20-year-old daughter to Zaidi as a bride and cobblers from Turkey to Lebanon have claimed that the shoes he hurled were made in their factories.

Perhaps this was al-Zaidi’s motivation. You know he probably thought, “Hey if I make it through this alive I might get some chicks and a Nike endorsement!”

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader knows that by now you’ve seen the footage of the Iraqi reporter throwing his shoes at President Bush. (And President Bush ducking.)

Allow your Maximum Leader to tell you how that scene would have played out differently had it been him at the podium instead of President Bush…

Your Maximum Leader would have seen the shoe coming at him and grabbed it out of mid-air. While the man was readying his other shoe to throw, your Maximum Leader would have lept over the podium, knocked the offender to the floor, and then started beating the reporter about the head and shoulders with his own shoe while yelling “How you feelin’ now Bee-yatch?!?”

After a moment of this your Maximum Leader’s bodyguards would have to pull him off the now-bloodied offender. The man would then be taken out to the closest bridge over a river or stream, impaled and left as an example for others… (The man’s family would also be dragged out and shot.)

Just so you know.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader made an interesting misreading of a headline he saw somewhere on the web today.

The headline: “Republicans Strike Back in Georgia.” (Your Maximum Leader would link - but he can’t recall where he saw the headline.)

Your Maximum Leader first thought, “Oh! The army of (the Republic of) Georgia must be leading some offensive against the Russian army. That could be a problem.”

Then it turned out that the story was about Saxby Chambliss winning re-election to the US Senate in the (US State of) Georgia.

Your Maximum Leader doubts that many people made the same mistake.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader’s thoughts continue to be dominated by Venetian floods. He isn’t sure what it is that is creating this idee fixe in his mind. It is what it is he supposes…

Here is a link to a 1 minute video courtesy of the Guardian of London. It shows a guy surfing in Piazza San Marco. That is disturbingly cool.

Also from the Guardian an interesting piece by Tanya Gold. A highlight your Maximum Leader found interesting:

So I am looking out of my second floor window at the Hotel Monaco & Grand Canal – normally seeing a street, but today a canal – watching carrier bags float past. Ah, Venice! City of Casanova, Titian and the floating carrier bag. Some of the designer shops on the alley are actually open, although they all have high metal boards at the entrances, keeping the water out. Pucci and Gucci are open. Harry’s Bar is sort of open. I watch, amazed, as a woman in waders stops outside a handbag shop and demands to be shown a handbag. The shop girl shows it to her across the board. She touches it, debates with the seller, and eventually buys it. Three foot of floodwater, and still she shops. She must be Italian.

Your Maximum Leader likes the imagery there. A woman shopping in three feet of flooding for a designer handbag. Your Maximum Leader knows a few women like that… He might even be related to one or two… (NB - they are not Mrs Villain.)

Carry on.