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.

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 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 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 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.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was trying to read a few blogs he likes before moving on to some other things. He caught this piece by his friend FLG. In it, FLG dissects the recent donation by travel personality Rick Steves to a local arts center. You should clicky the linky and read FLG’s point. It is one with which your Maximum Leader completely agrees.

By the way, your Maximum Leader runs hot and cold on Rick Steves. He’s never read one of Steves’ travel guides, but he has watched his show on PBS. Sometimes he likes the way Steves approaches a place and creates a tour itnerary. Other times, Steves seems like a complete moron. When Steves seems moronic, your Maximum Leader often will turn off (or way down) the volume on the TV and just watch the images on the screen and make up his own commentary.

Anyhoo… Read FLG’s piece…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees quite a number of scandals in the news of late.

Let us begin with the scandal involving King Carl Gustav XVI of Sweden and strip clubs. First off, this hardly counts as a scandal. Perhaps your Maximum Leader should refer to it as a “scandal.” Apparently the King is “accused” of going to strip clubs. Your Maximum Leader was going to write that the king was accused of “going to strip clubs and having nekkid or nearly nekkid girls dance for him” but then your Maximum Leader thought “what else does one do at a strip club.”

(NB: To define terms: nude is the artistic state of being without clothes; naked is the “regular/day-to-day” condition of being without clothes; nekkid is the state of having no clothes also involving “action.”)

Your Maximum Leader doesn’t get the “scandal” of going to a strip club. Okay, it is a little unseemly to have the King of Sweden getting the crown jewels polished (presumably through his Highness’ tailored trousers) by some girl with daddy issues. But then again… He is the King of Sweden, not the King of Puritan-ville. One supposes that it is possible to be upset with the king if he was using some of his “allowance” from the taxpayers of Sweden to “tip” the women in question. Then again, if a King can’t get a lap dance “on the house” from time to time then monarchy is truly dead. Even in Sweden.

Frankly, your Maximum Leader is fully supporting King Carl Gustav on this one. Lay off the King for pete’s sake. Your Maximum Leader can’t imagine Queen Silvia getting worked up about this. She is German afterall…

In domestic scandal…

There is Congressman Wiener. He lied about his account being hacked and sending a photo of his junk (in underwear) to a girl using Twitter. Additionally, he will not resign from Congress. Your Maximum Leader is of two minds on this. Being of the political stripe he is, your Maximum Leader is confident that if Congressman Wiener were a Republican he would be hounded out of Congress by the media and his caucus-mates. So on some level, your Maximum Leader thinks that he should go. To be clear, the reason he should go is (at this point) not the photo, but the lying about the photo and the repeated lying about the photo.

Of course, Congressman Wiener is a Democrat and to the best of his knowlege he’s never been a big advocate for “pro-family” or “traditional values.” As best your Maximum Leader can tell, the Democrat party doesn’t have much truck for “pro-family” or “traditional values” politicians. So Wiener’s not crossed any party taboos by doing what he’s done. One would like to assume that lying would be a problem to Democrat voters and elected politicians. But your Maximum Leader long ago learned that to most Democrats there is “lying” and “lying about sex.” Democrats say they don’t approve of “lying” but “lying about sex” is a different kettle of fish altogether. Frankly anyone should be allowed to lie about sex (according to Democrats).

Your Maximum Leader has always wondered about lying about sex and Democrats. At some level your Maximum Leader doesn’t think of himself as a puritanical person. Hypothetically, if a candidate was single and it somehow came up that the single candidate planned on playing the field and dating and having sex with people while in office it wouldn’t be a problem. Indeed, the candidate’s honesty would be refreshing. But if a candidate were married (and even married but not a vocal “pro-family” person) but were cheating on his spouse or sending racy photos of himself to people that becomes a general honesty issue. Your Maximum Leader does have issues with people being dishonest. He does believe that if you are dishonest in some areas you are more likely to be dishonest in others. So, if you cheat on your marital oath; you are likely to be willing to cheat on your oath of office….

Your Maximum Leader would like to see Congressman Wiener leave Congress, but that is as much a partisan view as anything else. We’ll see what happens…

Then there is John Edwards. As you surely know, former Senator Edwards was indicted recently. He is accused (and being prosecuted) for violating campaign finance laws and using illegal donations to hide his extramarital affair and love-child.

Now… Allow your Maximum Leader to be clear… Your Maximum Leader, for many years now, has really really really loathed John Edwards. If Edwards burst into flame, your Maximum Leader wouldn’t piss on him to douse the flames (even if your Maximum Leader had an uncomfortably full bladder). John Edwards isn’t worth a bucket of warm spit. John Edwards isn’t worth the powder and shot needed to blow him up. John Edwards is a lousy and dishonorable person.

Okay… Now that those comments are out of the way…

Your Maximum Leader will wager you that John Edwards is acquitted of all the counts against him. Your Maximum Leader would like to see Edwards convicted and go to jail; but it isn’t going to happen. From what your Maximum Leader can tell… These donations never went into the Edwards campaign. The payments used to keep the mistress and love-child out of the news were not written from campaign accounts. It seems hard to convict someone for getting illegal campaign contributions if the contributions never went to the campaign. Of course, as rich as Edwards is (from his years of ambulance chasing), one is surprised that he didn’t just have some sort of personal slush fund that he could make these payments from.

Anyhooo…

Your Maximum Leader thinks Edwards will get off on these charges. It looks like an overzealous prosecution by the US Department of Justice.

Overzealous prosecution by the US Department of Justice… Words your Maximum Leader rarely types in that order… Hummmm….

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader recalls, years ago - 2003/4 perhaps, sitting in a bar in DC with James Joyner, Rusty Shakleford and Cranky (among others) talking about blogging.

He specifically remembers much being made of keeping blog posts “on point.” This is to say that except for a “link dump post” all your posts should have a catchy and topical title and be concise and on a single topic.

Apparently your Maximum Leader never learned that lesson as it is apparent that he will be writing another rambling post with no clear subject, no clear title, and no clear point. But it will be his second post in as many days… So that is something.

Does anyone have a photo or vita on Timothy “Tim” Crawford, the Treasurer of SarahPAC? Your Maximum Leader, many moons ago, used to work with a Tim Crawford (for Tim Crawford more accuarately) of the Republican Governors Association. Your Maximum Leader wonders if it is the same Tim Crawford. Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure what he would do if he learned that Sarah Palin’s Tim Crawford is the same person as your Maximum Leader’s Tim Crawford. Nothing he supposes… Except sit back and know that in the “degrees of separation” category your Maximum Leader would appear to have a (tenuous) 1 degree separation from Sarah Palin. That wouldn’t change your Maximum Leader’s opinion of Sarah Palin at all, or Tim Crawford either for that matter. It would just be interesting.

So… Has your Congressman DM’ed you a photo of his “junk” yet? And if he has done so has he done so with certitude that it was actually a photo of his “junk?” What a huge cluster-f for Congressman Weiner. He can’t say “with certitude” that the photo of the “junk” in question was his. What an idiot. Your Maximum Leader particularly appreciated the reported (Wolf Blitzer?) who asked the Congressman if he at least owned a pair of underwear similar to those in the photo. Your Maximum Leader was less impressed when the Congressman couldn’t say conclusively that he did (or didn’t) own a pair of underwear like those in the photo. FYI… Your Maximum Leader can recall what most of his underwear looks like. (Lots of boxer shorts if you care to know…)

NB - your Maximum Leader is on Twitter himself “@maximumleader” is the handle.

FYI - who started calling the male genitals “junk” anyway? How are we to keep from getting confused by “junk in trunks” and “junk in the trunk?” The former being what Congressman Weiner is accused of sending the photo of and the latter is that which Sir Mix-a-lot rapped so eloquently about here.

Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure what he thinks of the new “MyPlate” nutritional guide the USDA is promulgating today. Sure it might be more easy to use than the old food pyramid, but there doesn’t seem to be any portion size recommendations easily discerned from the new “plate.” If fighting obesity is the problem shouldn’t you have some easily visible portion control message there too?

And while we’re mentioning obesity… What if fruits and veggies are the reason why many people get fat? Contraversial theory indeed but one that seems to have some evidence to support it if one draws similar conclusions to Gary Taubes. What if the carbs in fruits and veggies are responsible for making us fat? If we eat mostly proteins we don’t get as fat. (We may not be any healthier mind you, but we may not be fat…)

Speaking about fruits and veggies… Rainier cherries are in. Damn if your Maximum Leader doesn’t love himself rainier cherries.

Speaking of proteins… Your Maximum Leader has 8 pounds of bacon under cure right now. 4 pounds of “regular” cure and 4 pounds of “maple syrup/brown sugar/bourbon” cure. The regular cure will produce the typical “salty” bacon we all know and love. When the curing is finished he’ll smoke up the bacon over hickory or applewood. The “maple/bourbon” cure is just that, regular salt cure plus maple syrup, brown sugar, and bourbon. Your Maximum Leader used Wild Turkey Rare Breed (a very expensive premium bourbon) in this batch of bacon. Mostly to see if it tasted much different than the last few batches (which he made with Makers Mark). He cut down the amount of maple syrup in this batch as well. When he smokes this type of bacon the syrup gets a little too crusty for his tastes sometimes.

In one last political note… Your Maximum Leader sees that Mitt Romney officially kicked off his campaign to become President of the United States today. Your Maximum Leader can’t recall being this ambivilent about a “front-runner’s” announcement in a long long time. Indeed, 2012 is shaping up to be a year where your Maximum Leader is so very ambivilent about the whole race to the White House. The current president is not good. No one on the Republican side is jumping out as a serious challenger. Frankly, not anyone (other than Paul Ryan of Wisconsin) in Congress or the White House or any potential White House challenger is talking seriously about how to confront the terrible debt/deficit problem facing the nation. Where is a US David Cameron when we need him? Your Maximum Leader believes, but has no economic evidence to support this belief, that uncertainty over the nation’s financial future is causing anxiety that is keeping the recession going. It is discouraging to listen to the political classes talk about how to get our financial house in order.

Of course it is worse to listen to the “man on the street” talk about how we are taxed too much, and how he’ll vote against anyone that touches “his Social Security and Medicare.” If your Maximum Leader educate people about one thing it would be that the majority of US Government spending is for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Without getting those costs down, there isn’t hope of getting ourselves in order financially.

And before any of your Maximum Leader’s liberal readers (there are a few of you out there…) start to say that President’s Health Care bill is a start down that path let him cut you off. The President’s plan isn’t going to be a money saver as best anyone can project. Government health care must (MUST!!!!), because resources are finite, control costs by refusing to pay for some treatments. That decision will kill people. There must be “death panels” as they’ve been described, in order for the scheme to work. Look at Britain for example. They have the NICE board. Basically the NICE board determines what treatments are going to be provided for by the National Health Service and which ones aren’t. If you have a condidtion for which NICE has said there is not an authorized treatment, you don’t get treatment. It is that simple. There seems to be some basic denial among supporters of the President’s plan that you will have to control costs by prohibiting some treatments.

Your Maximum Leader hadn’t planned on addressing “death panels” but he just did. Frankly, if you are going to have some sort of national health plan you have to have a sort of death panel. It is just the way it is. Your Maximum Leader has no problem with that concept. He doesn’t want national health care mind you, but if you have it you just have to HAVE it.

Also… Interesting article in the Economist about the cost of fighting cancer. The interesting bit, that touches on controlling health care costs, was a the Economist’s analysis pointing out that advances in cancer treatment drugs happens because the US health care system (as it is now) will pay for the research. Essentially, the rest of the world piggy-back’s on US health spending. If the US were to cut costs, R&D would diminish around the world and cause new drug advances to come less often or not at all. Now your Maximum Leader knows that some of you out there will dismiss this as “drug company fear mongering” but if you’ve ever worked in a real business you know that businesses are acutely aware of how they make money. They know where and how they make money. If those sources dry up, those businesses also know what will happen to them. Think about it.

Anyhoo…

That is about it for now. Your Maximum Leader will stop writing and go back to day dreaming about boobies (and other stuff).

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader went to sleep last night feeling low. His beloved Washington Capitals had just lost in OT to the Tampa Bay Lightning and gone down 2 games to none in the hockey playoffs.

Little did he know that the news this morning would be more upbeat.

According to every news source in the whole world, Osama Bin Laden is dead at the hands of a US special forces team.

Well this is good news. Your Maximum Leader doffs his bejewelled mylan cap to a number of people responsible for this event. First off, thanks to the warriors who actually carried out the mission. From the shooters to the techs who got the equipment ready to those on land and sea who monitored the progress of the mission. Well done to you all. Secondly, your Maximum Leader thanks all the intelligence operatives who got us the information we used to act as we did. Thirdly, thanks to all our servicemen all around the globe who protect the US and our allies.

And of course, you have to thank President Obama and his national security team. Well done to you all. It seems as though the President doesn’t equivocate or prevaricate when it comes to killing someone who needs killing.** Your Maximum Leader is grateful for that.

Your Maximum Leader is sure that more details and reports will come out over today and the next few days that will better inform us as to what exactly happened and how. He looks forward to reading them.

Your Maximum Leader is glad that we didn’t try to take him alive. He isn’t sure how we would have dealt with him given Atty General Holder’s proclivities for putting terrorists on trial in New York City. It is better that we went for the kill.

Your Maximum Leader wonders if any of the special forces troops rubbed a little bacon grease on their shells before going on this mission… We’ll never know… Officially anyway…

Your Maximum Leader has been reading and hearing that it was a Navy SEAL team that executed this mission. But officials seem to only want to say it was US special forces… Your Maximum Leader doesn’t care one way or the other. He is pleased that no servicemen (of any branch) were lost while on this mission.

Your Maximum Leader is glad that one less evil man lives and breathes on this earth today.

Carry on.

** UPDATE FROM YOUR MAXIMUM LEADER: Apparently one reader wasn’t sure what your Maximum Leader meant by this. He was referring to the killing of the Somali pirates a year or so ago. The President approved use of deadly force without much hesitation in that incident too.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that the President has (finally) released an original copy of the “long form” of his birth certificate.

Gawd this has gone on forever. Your Maximum Leader is willing to distribute “blame” for the whole “birther” controversy in the following shares: 55% to the Birthers themselves for being dense, suspicious and ultimately unserious; 40% to the President and his team for just now getting around to this “issue”; and 5% to Donald Trump for being a complete media manipulating bastard for talking up this point to bolster himself (which, frankly, is all Donald Trump ever does).

Your Maximum Leader (if you couldn’t tell already) is not a “birther.” Indeed, he’s been alternately mildly amused to mildly disgusted by this sideshow of an issue for years. But his mild bemusment came to a head at a dinner he attended last week. Your Maximum Leader is a member of a social club of good gentlemen in the community. We meet quarterly for dinner and drinks and have other neat social events throughout the year (culminating in a huge black-tie dinner and dance).

At dinner your Maximum Leader sat with some of his friends for dinner and eventually the conversation turned to politics. It was then that your Maximum Leader discovered that two of his friends were “birthers.” Your Maximum Leader sat by and listened for a while before he couldn’t stand to sit by and let this mindlessness continue. Your Maximum Leader stood up for the President being born in the United States. He eventually had to tell these gentlemen that they were being at the best unserious commentators on politics in general and at the worst they were being willing dupes and spreading lies that were easily disproved.

Let it suffice to say that the dinner conversation went downhill from there… In the end your Maximum Leader came off as the “liberal bleeding heart” at the table. The rationale for this label was found in the fact that in one dinner your Maximum Leader: stood up for the President being an American, maintained that the police should not be given the authority to shoot on sight drug dealers whom they suspect of also being illegal immigrants, argued that no elected official in Washington DC of any party is being serious about how to address the nation’s debt, and finally claiming that the Obama Administration’s stimulus bill was not unconstitutional.

Your Maximum Leader wonders if his standing in the club will ever be the same…

Anyhooo…

As much as your Maximum Leader thinks this latest press conference and release of the President’s birth certificate should end the whole “birther” escapade; he fears it will just give rise to more and more complicated conspiracy theories concerning the President’s place of birth…

I weep for the future.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader knows that his readers (such as there remain) are a thoughtful and well-read bunch. So he doesn’t plan on rehashing lots of things you’ve probably read from other sources, but he does plan on touching on a few items.

To begin, your Maximum Leader has to thank loyal minion Huck Foley for pointing out an old post that does seem to be becoming more and more true with each passing day. (See: This pithily titled post.) Now that the President has decided to intervene in the Libyan civil war, and has decided to do so without Congress having a say in the action, he does seem to be really annoying his base. Indeed, he seems to be continually disappointing his base in so many ways… If one were particularly uncharitable to the President, one could almost say that he is becoming more similar to his immediate predecessor.

So, can anyone remember a military action for which our military leaders were more frank about how unprepared we are for conducting the operation? Did Defense Secty Gates say that it is going to take a few days to figure out what the plan is? Did your Maximum Leader imagine that comment? Aren’t the various service chiefs all giving sometimes conflicting answers to reporters who are asking about our mission goals? This doesn’t seem to bode very well for everything going smoothly.

Your Maximum Leader still can’t figure out what exactly the aims of the powers involved in enforcing the Libyan no-fly zone are? (Frankly he’s not entirely sure the total number of powers involved in the operation.) We don’t seem to be looking to kill or depose Colonel Ghadaffy. We don’t seem to be providing air support for the rebels. We seem to be freezing in place the situation on the ground. Is that a viable goal? It doesn’t seem to be, unless the next stage of the plan is to start providing arms and training to the rebels in the west of Libya and prepare them for taking their country by themselves (a situation that will no occur on its own).

As your Maximum Leader has said before, he’s normally all for a vigorous US foreign policy. He understands that force can often be a component of that foreign policy. But he’ll admit he is a little gun-shy now. He thought Iraq was a justified experiment in regime change that could reap great benefits. With the benefit of hind-sight, your Maximum Leader sees that we screwed the pooch on executing our goals in Iraq. In retrospect, your Maximum Leader would have wanted a lot more thought and contingency planning before invading Iraq. (Frankly, your Maximum Leader assumed that the good people in the Pentagon and State Department had done a lot more thinking and planning for the Iraqi operation. Again, in retrospect, that planning was very thin and often based on flimsy and wrongheaded assumptions.) In the Libya operation it will be hard to screw the pooch in the execution of our goals if no one knows what the goals are in the first place. Other than blowing things up there doesn’t seem to be much of a goal.

So what of President Obama in all this?

Well… Your Maximum Leader’s low opinion of the President’s competency in most matters has diminished further. He doesn’t seem to particularly engaged in what is going on. By this your Maximum Leader is definately not being critical of the President being in South and Central America while military operations have started. Any President can monitor military operations from anywhere in the world. The problem is more that the President doesn’t appear to be in charge of his administration. The military option in Libya seems to be the brainchild of Hilary Clinton. She appears to have a bigger set of balls than the President does. (NB: Didn’t we all sort of know that already.) Sadly the Secretary of Defense didn’t seem to be the last person to speak to the President before the President declared that he was for the US enforcing the no-fly zone.

This all seems to be one more case of President Obama not having what it takes to lead. He didn’t lead when he held strong majorities in both Houses of Congress for the first two years of his administration. He let Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi do the leading and driving of the agenda. He helped a little bit at the end for Healthcare. But that is it. Now he doesn’t seem to be leading in foreign policy. It is almost like he is just out there “doing the job” of President of the United States, but not really “being” the President of the United States.

Your Maximum Leader wonders if Mr. Obama is overwhelmed by the scope of his job. So overwhelmed that he can’t focus on any part of it effectively.

At any rate… President Obama does seem to be iliciting strong feelings of distain from his political opponents as well as his friends.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader needs to see if he has this right… We (that is to say the United States and some of our allies) have militarially intervened in Libya on behalf of a disorganized collection of “rebels” in a way that neither negates the ability of the government of Libya to attack the rebels nor has a stated goal of regime change. Other than making sure that no one has control of the air in Libya (except the US and our allies that is) there is no other military plan in place. We aren’t supplying the rebels in any way. And as best your Maximum Leader can tell… Unless there are large formations of infantry and armor near air force related command and control sites we aren’t going to attack the infantry and armor.

This is gonna turn out real well.

Honestly.

Real well.

Look, your Maximum Leader has for as long as he can remember been in favor of a vigorous foreign policy for the US. There can be a military component to that foreign policy. But Libya is going to be a misadventure - at best. Your Maximum Leader can’t figure out why we are intervening, except for the fact that Col. Quadaffy is a bad bad man.

We don’t plan on intervening if a similar uprising occurs in Saudi Arabia do we? How about Jordan? Are we planning on doing anything about the ongoing protests and uprising in Bahrain? (Oh… No reason to do anything in Bahrain. The Saudi army is on the job.)

If President Obama thinks that this type of intervention in Libya is going to make Republicans think more of him he is wrong. Frankly your Maximum Leader can’t see how it will make Democrats too happy with him either.

Your Maximum Leader can’t figure out what is going on with American foreign policy right now.

Even though he can’t figure out what we’re thinking we’re doing he does know one thing. The President is going to be doing a lot of apologizing to some other nation soon enough.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees many of his fellow travelers clamoring for the Obama Administration to get involved with a “no-fly” zone in Libya. While it isn’t often that it can be said, your Maximum Leader is grateful that the Obama Administration is not acting with any speed on any sort of policy towards the rebellion in Libya. There is no role for the US to play in that situation right now except to say that we wish the forces of “freedom and democracy” the best and hope that the people of Libya will one day get to live in a better nation than they are living in today (and for the past 41 years).

Let’s be honest about a few things here…

1 - We don’t know anything about the rebels fighting against Quadaffy. They could be worse than Khadaffi. We don’t know.

2 - The time for a “no-fly” zone was weeks ago when the rebels held lots of territory and seemed to have the initiative. As your Maximum Leader understands it, “The Colonel’s” forces have been slowly regaining all the territory they lost. It looks to be a slow and inexorable march to the Egyptian border.

3 - The US cannot afford, in monetary terms or in manpower terms, another substantial commitment of forces in another major theatre of war.

Your Maximum Leader will direct you to Andrew McCarthy’s good piece against the “no-fly” zone in NRO right now. It is good.

Carry on.