The "National Parade of Honor" was a "hit parade". It was something a nation needed to help heal itself. It brought people together as it honored all of those men and women who, over the years, had served their country under what sometimes seemed to be misunderstood logic and impaired leadership. The parade began in New York City, which was practically a ghost town when one compared it to the bustling metropolis it was before January 17, 2008. Scores of bombed-out buildings, mass graves, and extensive damage from the March hurricane had left the "Big Apple" pretty much nothing more than a core of its former self. Still, an estimated one million New Yorkers turned out to help kick off this momentous event.
Veterans, from every war the U.S.A. had fought since World War II, were proud parade participants. People from all walks of life, and from all eras of contemporary U.S. history, joined together to make this the most memorable Memorial Day celebration ever held.
Over the past ten years, the conservative-biased media had dominated the airwaves. Of particular reprehensible note was Rush Limbaugh, a ne'er-do-well from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, who finally made a name for himself by expelling an exceptionally evil blend of hatred, bigotry, and lies designed to intimidate liberals and trumpet the greatness of all conservatives. Even after being exposed as a prescription-drug abuser, Limbaugh managed to maintain a loyalty among his 'ditto heads'. who seemingly found it easier to let him do their thinking for them instead of forming their own thoughts and perspectives. Thought to be a well-orchestrated collusion between the Republican Party and recent Republican administrations, Limbaugh's poison talk resonated among those who believed government should not help those who couldn't help themselves. Welfare recipients, street-corner drug addicts, non-Christians, 'tree-hugging' environmentalists, homeless people, minimum-wage workers, single mothers, women's libbers, homosexuals, and other 'deviants' were ostracized on Limbaugh's show, called insulting names (such as 'wackos") and degraded as unfit United States citizens. Of course, Limbaugh staunchly defended his conservative crowd, including pedophiles, prescription-drug abusers, alocholics, wife beaters, white collar cirminals, cheats, liars, petty thieves, corporate welfare recipients, millionaires, war mongers, billionaires, oil company executives, and war profiteers. Limbaugh had aroused such passionate hatred among his followers that a culture was slowly spreading across the U.S.A. Just as Hitler's Nazi regime spread propaganda that persuaded otherwise sensible German people to accept the killing of 6,000,000 Jews, gypsies and others not good enough to be part of Hitler's 'perfect Aryan race', Limbaugh's listeners were becoming more and more calloused. The criticism, abuse, torture, and even killing of anyone diametrically opposed to conservative idealogies was gaining momentum. It was a 'final solution' for America, and it was gradually gaining acceptance in some of the Limbaugh circles. O.U.T.R.A.G.E. recognized what inherent wickedness lived within this bloated sub-human pill popper; Limbaugh was one of the primary O.U.T.R.A.G.E. targets last January. Killing him was imperative if the hatreful gospel he spewed forth for three hours every day was to be stopped.
Now the "Parade of Honor" was all about commemorating those who had so vailiantly served the country (as Limbaugh had not). Tuesday, May 27, took Jil Adams and her band of revelers to Albany, New York, where seventy thousand people stood in a light rain as the parade passed through the center of town.
Next stop: Coudersport, Pennsylvania, where the local American Legion Post was to host an outdoor bar-b-que for the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. clan, following the parade. Only about ten thousand people were expected to attend the parade since it was such a small community, but almost a thousand veterans were expected to march in the parade. It was evidence of a groundswell taking place across America as the 'Parade of Honor" received TV coverage, and the event sparked more national interest.

Monday, May 26, 2008 had long ago been designated as the official Memorial Day holiday in the United States. Interim President Colin Powell and Interim Vice-President John McCain used that occasion to honor all the dead and wounded troops from the Iraq and Iran wars. Over ten thousand U.S. soldiers had died in these two conflicts, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi and Iranian citizens. Tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers also came home with permanent disabilities and injuries that had maimed them for life. Arrangements had been made with the V.F.W., the American Legion, the Marine Corps League, and all other veterans' organizations to conduct a "National Parade of Honor" which would stretch from coast-to-coast. Weeks ago, Powell and McCain had mentioned this idea to Jil Adams, whose succession of celebrations and motivational events had done wonders for the sagging morale of weary O.U.T.R.A.G.E. volunteers across the country. Many had become fatigued from working 'round-the-clock after the hurricane hit the east coast and the giant earthquake demolished most of Los Angeles County. Powell stressed the need for someone with strong management and creative skills, and approached Adams to head up this new project. She agreed, under one condition: her friends, Lynn and Dana, would be recruited to assist her. Instantly, the three women hit the ground running, using private O.U.T.R.A.G.E. jets to fly around the country and meet with officials of the various veterans' organizations. Lynn, Dana, and Jil had come up with an awesome plan:
The "National Parade of Honor" would follow in the tradition of the ancient Greek Olympics, with a frontrunner who would carry a "baton of peace" at the front of each parade. The parade route would be coordinated to include all local veterans' groups who wanted to participate. The frontrunner, wearing remnants of uniforms from all branches of the military, would lead the parade, then carry the baton to the next town and lead the next parade.
Jil used her perky smile and bright blue eyes to help plead for cooperation from the various veterans' groups. Lynn used her considerable powers of persuasion and take-charge attitude to convince these same groups how time was of the essence. "We don't have much damn time to get this done," she'd say. "So let's get going!" Dana used her calm, yet demanding presence, to add a coy element of control to the negotiations. In a brilliant "good-cop, bad-cop" routine, Dana would sit by quietly while Jil and Lynn hammered out the negotiations. Only if there appeared to be some resistance to any part of the plan would Dana step in - and, in an almost militaristic command fashion, she would sternly announce, "Sorry, this is the way it has to be." Between the three of them, hardly anyone turned them down, and a pipedream became a reality in short order. Parades had been organized in one-hundred-and-eleven towns and cities. The first parade would take place on Monday, May 26, 2008 in New York City. The final parade would take place amidst the decaying ruins of Los Angeles on Friday, July 4, 2008.
Jil, Dana, and Lynn would manage the project enthusiastically, and with considerable aplomb. Of course, working with veterans' organization afforded lots of time for partying along the way. Over beers or Jagermeister 'bombs', these girls were at the top of the 'hit parade' wherever they ended up. Commanders at American Legions, V.F.W. posts, Navy Clubs, and Marine Corps Leagues welcomed them and invited them for an evening of revelry in cities and towns from coast-to-coast.
"This is the best job I've ever had," exclaimed Adams at the Navy Club in Davenport, Iowa. Lynn retorted, "Hell, this isn't a job - this a dream-come-true! I've never met so many good lookin' dudes in my life! Here's to ya' all!" She tossed back another shot and plopped herself down on the Commander's ample lap. "Here's lookin' at ya', Honey!"
Dana looked on calmly, trying to show some reserve. But, when the guy she'd eyed as soon as she walked into the place came up behind her and whispered in her ear, she shrieked in surprise - and they soon disappeared into the darkest corner of the bar, each with an ice cold Coors cupped in one hand, and their other two hands locked together. So much for reserve.....
It was now 10:00 a.m. on Monday, May 26, 2008. The parade was beginning in downtown Manhattan. Today the frontrunner would march in that parade carrying the baton. He would leave the parade at its end point, then continue on a designated route that would take him to Albany, New York by early afternoon. To allow him some rest, and to save time, once there were no TV cameras or press following the entourage, the frontrunner would be shoved into an O.U.T.R.A.G.E. motorhome to continue to journey to Albany. Jil, Lynn, and Dana were inside the motorhome, which was conveniently well-stocked with ice cold beers and a Jagermeister machine. The frontrunner, of course, had to be a man of some strength and considerable agility, if he was going to 'walk' across America in forty days. Jil, Lynn and Dana had selected a man they'd known for years, a man who could carry the load,had the endurance to walk for miles, and not become overly fatigued. His name was Ron Doctor.

Monday, May 26, 2008 had long ago been designated as the official Memorial Day holiday in the United States. Interim President Colin Powell and Interim Vice-President John McCain used that occasion to honor all the dead and wounded troops from the Iraq and Iran wars. Over ten thousand U.S. soldiers had died in these two conflicts, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi and Iranian citizens. Tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers also came home with permanent disabilities and injuries that had maimed them for life. Arrangements had been made with the V.F.W., the American Legion, the Marine Corps League, and all other veterans' organizations to conduct a "National Parade of Honor" which would stretch from coast-to-coast. Weeks ago, Powell and McCain had mentioned this idea to Jil Adams, whose succession of celebrations and motivational events had done wonders for the sagging morale of weary O.U.T.R.A.G.E. volunteers across the country. Many had become fatigued from working 'round-the-clock after the hurricane hit the east coast and the giant earthquake demolished most of Los Angeles County. Powell stressed the need for someone with strong management and creative skills, and approached Adams to head up this new project. She agreed, under one condition: her friends, Lynn and Dana, would be recruited to assist her. Instantly, the three women hit the ground running, using private O.U.T.R.A.G.E. jets to fly around the country and meet with officials of the various veterans' organizations. Lynn, Dana, and Jil had come up with an awesome plan:
The "National Parade of Honor" would follow in the tradition of the ancient Greek Olympics, with a frontrunner who would carry a "baton of peace" at the front of each parade. The parade route would be coordinated to include all local veterans' groups who wanted to participate. The frontrunner, wearing remnants of uniforms from all branches of the military, would lead the parade, then carry the baton to the next town and lead the next parade.
Jil used her perky smile and bright blue eyes to help plead for cooperation from the various veterans' groups. Lynn used her considerable powers of persuasion and take-charge attitude to convince these same groups how time was of the essence. "We don't have much damn time to get this done," she'd say. "So let's get going!" Dana used her calm, yet demanding presence, to add a coy element of control to the negotiations. In a brilliant "good-cop, bad-cop" routine, Dana would sit by quietly while Jil and Lynn hammered out the negotiations. Only if there appeared to be some resistance to any part of the plan would Dana step in - and, in an almost militaristic command fashion, she would sternly announce, "Sorry, this is the way it has to be." Between the three of them, hardly anyone turned them down, and a pipedream became a reality in short order. Parades had been organized in one-hundred-and-eleven towns and cities. The first parade would take place on Monday, May 26, 2008 in New York City. The final parade would take place amidst the decaying ruins of Los Angeles on Friday, July 4, 2008.
Jil, Dana, and Lynn would manage the project enthusiastically, and with considerable aplomb. Of course, working with veterans' organization afforded lots of time for partying along the way. Over beers or Jagermeister 'bombs', these girls were at the top of the 'hit parade' wherever they ended up. Commanders at American Legions, V.F.W. posts, Navy Clubs, and Marine Corps Leagues welcomed them and invited them for an evening of revelry in cities and towns from coast-to-coast.
"This is the best job I've ever had," exclaimed Adams at the Navy Club in Davenport, Iowa. Lynn retorted, "Hell, this isn't a job - this a dream-come-true! I've never met so many good lookin' dudes in my life! Here's to ya' all!" She tossed back another shot and plopped herself down on the Commander's ample lap. "Here's lookin' at ya', Honey!"
Dana looked on calmly, trying to show some reserve. But, when the guy she'd eyed as soon as she walked into the place came up behind her and whispered in her ear, she shrieked in surprise - and they soon disappeared into the darkest corner of the bar, each with an ice cold Coors cupped in one hand, and their other two hands locked together. So much for reserve.....
It was now 10:00 a.m. on Monday, May 26, 2008. The parade was beginning in downtown Manhattan. Today the frontrunner would march in that parade carrying the baton. He would leave the parade at its end point, then continue on a designated route that would take him to Albany, New York by early afternoon. To allow him some rest, and to save time, once there were no TV cameras or press following the entourage, the frontrunner would be shoved into an O.U.T.R.A.G.E. motorhome to continue to journey to Albany. Jil, Lynn, and Dana were inside the motorhome, which was conveniently well-stocked with ice cold beers and a Jagermeister machine. The frontrunner, of course, had to be a man of some strength and considerable agility, if he was going to 'walk' across America in forty days. Jil, Lynn and Dana had selected a man they'd known for years, a man who could carry the load,had the endurance to walk for miles, and not become overly fatigued. His name was Ron Doctor.

Politicians had known it for decades, but their 'dirty little secret' was conveniently swept under the rug. Ever since H. Ross Perot made it an issue in his 1992 bid for the Presidency, politicians knew the United States of America was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. But once they effectively silenced Perot, Democrats and Republicans alike chose to ignore this political stick of dynamite. First of all, both parties had contributed to the problem, spending taxpayers' money like drunken sailors.
When Bill Clinton left office, it was the first time the U.S.A. had produced a budget surplus, thanks to fiscal restraints, a strong economy, and the Clinton administration's effective management.
David Walker, head of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), had become one of America's most prolific whistle-blowers, campaigning during all of 2007, warning Americans that the country was headed for an economic depression of the most severe proportions. The GAO is an investigative arm of Congress, established to audit and evaluate the performance of the federal government. But, Walker's warnings fell on deaf ears inside the Capitol Building, and the Bush White House didn't want to hear any talk about trimming the costs of war. No politician had the gonads to tell his constituency the truth: to avoid a macroeconomic meltdown, the government would have to cut benefits and raise taxes. No one within the Bush administration had to guts to tell their arrogant, war-mongering, dimwitted cowboy Commander-In-Chief that he had to stop spending money the nation didn't have on wars the nation didn't have to fight.
By the beginning of 2007, the deficit had ballooned to over $9 trillion. Every year nothing is done about it, Walker warned, added another $2.5 trillion to the deficit. In twenty years, Walker projected that MediCare alone would be five trillion dollars in the red. Left unchecked, the federal government's fiscal imbalance would easily top $20 trillion by the middle of the century, and could be four times that much by the end of the beginning of the next century. As baby boomers aged, Social Security, MediCare and MedicAid costs would continue to skyrocket. "If the United States government conducts 'business as usual' over the next few decades," Walker promised a crowd in Austin, Texas late in 2006, "a national debt that is already $8.5 trillion could reach $46 trillion, or more...This is about the future of our country, our kids and grandkids. We the people have to rise up to make sure things get changed."
The Bush administration had put America's future in jeopardy, all because of its senseless allegiance to the giant U.S. military-industrial complex that coveted the profitability of war, and the huge oil companies that coveted the profitability from oil. The U.S.A. had been on a wild spending binge ever since 2000, recklessly pissing money away on a needless war in Iraq, carelessly allocating billions for a laughable Department of Homeland Security, and fraudulently wasting billions on ineffective illegal immigration controls and 'security' measures that only served as political plums for Republicans. Not only had the U.S. plunged its way into massive debt, it faced a very real threat from its largest creditor, the Peoples' Republic of China. If China cut up the U.S.A.'s credit cards, the house of cards would collapse. Republican politicos, of course, were banking on all that to happen shortly after Bush was out of office. That way the Republicans could blame the Democrats for the depression, recession, or bankruptcy soon to strike the U.S.A. As much as the Bush administration tried to censure Walker, his message was coming through loud and clear. Sadly, most Americans were practicing the very same irresponsible financial management tactics. Spend, spend, spend.....don't bother saving for a rainy day. For most middle-class and low-incomed individuals, however, even two paychecks weren't enough to keep ahead of the rising costs of...everything.
Walker initiated what he called a "Fiscal Wake-Up Tour", on which he brought conservative and liberal economists and budget analysts along. Because foreigners held so much of the federal government's debt - mainly China, Japan, and other U.S. trading partners - interest payments alone were staggering. China, in particular, had made it easy for the U.S. government to borrow heavily, "making [it] about as painful as a big balance on a zero-percent credit card.. It was as if China was the drug dealer, feeding America's addictive spending habits, knowing all along that eventually they would become masters of what had once been America's domain.
All of this caused concern to O.U.T.R.A.G.E., and had been the reason for many of the twenty-five resolutions introduced shortly after the assassination of Bush, Congress, and many of America's 'greed heads'. Article II was a resolution to modify Social Security the "ensure more social equity" by providing benefits only to those who truly needed the money. Article III sought to revise the income tax system to make it more equitable, ensuring that those with the most money paid the most tax. Article IV was a resolution to nationalize the health care system and eliminate the bloat, corruption, and obscene profits from what had become a national disgrace wherein one-fourth of the American population had no health insurance, and millions more were being gouged by hospitals, doctors, pharmaceutical companies, and costly medical expenses. Article IX introduced a resolution to establish and maintain a balanced federal budget. If the U.S. was serious about not passing on tremendous debt to its future generations, all of these resolutions had to become part of the law of the land. Committees working on formalizing each of these resolutions were urged to work together with other committees so that the "right hand knew what the left hand was doing" - a simple concept, but one that had rarely, if ever, been implemented inside the beltway.
Orchestrating all of this into a workable, streamlined, orderly system of reform was a monumental challenge, something that couldn't be left in the hands of politicians. This was the people's work, and it had to be done on a far more intellectual and professional level than the "let's make a deal" mentality of the U.S. Congress and the Bush administration. New candidates for political office would be groomed to understand that they were temporary public servants, sent to do the people's bidding and not to establish a monolithic base of power, status, and wealth for themselves and their conniving cronies. Everything had to come together for the mutual benefit of all, through equitable measures based on genuine need and community cause. Favoritism, bias, nepotism, and preferential treatment, because of who you were or who you knew, would not be tolerated. The Constitution begins with three important words: "We the People...." It says nothing about "We the wealthy...", "We the privileged....", "We the powerful...", "We the corporations...", or "We the special interests...". Everyone had to treated equally, based on individual need or circumstance. There could be no special favors, no behind-closed-door deals, no "for sale" signs on politicians' desks.
It was imperative that this be done propitiously and expeditiously. Walker considered the worst result of continuing deficit spending the outrage of making our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren repay the debt we incurred.

Saturday, May 24, 2008: it was a mild spring day throughout most of the country. Rescue and recovery work continued; rebuilding and rennovation continued. Reformation and renewal of America's spirit continued. Interim President Colin Powell and Interim Vice-President John McCain were dealing with multiple issues involving war, finance, and human resources. An O.U.T.R.A.G.E. team of ambassadors had been dispatched to Iran to see if a cease fire could be negotiated. Since that war hadn't really 'taken hold' yet, it seemed like a prudent thing to do. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was being assured that the new U.S. government had no intention of declaring war on his country. The Bush administration had hinted at such a possibility during all of 2007. It was evident that the U.S.A. was not satisfied with only 5% of its oil inventories coming from that South American country; it wanted more - and Chavez was reluctant to cooperate.
The military-industrial complex, mammoth oil companies, and the big business community within the U.S.A. wanted the federal government to keep Americans 'hooked' on oil. The sole motive, of course, was profit. Exxon-Mobil had recorded record profits over the past eight quarters, and corporate big shots were only interested in beating last quarter's results. It was a short-term business mentality that had only served to ruin the nation's economic stablity. Companies today would ship entire departments overseas, then ship them to another country within months, all for the sake of the bottom line. Giant corporations like General Motors and Ford Motor Company had taken massive losses during the last quarters of 2006 and the first quarters of 2007 by offering buy-outs to thousands of employees. The long-range desire, of course, was to cut costs - especially high union labor costs. In most corporations, the only place where labor costs weren't being chopped was in the executive suites. CEOs, CFOs, and upper-echelon corporate officers continued to amass multi-million-dollar fortunes thanks to their six and seven-figure salaries, outrageous benefits packages, and stupendous 'golden parachutes'.
An O.U.T.R.A.G.E. committee had been appointed to study and research this situation. Establishing a maximum wage seemed to be a viable idea, but could it be done without watering down the effects of free enterprise? O.U.T.R.A.G.E. believed the core problem was greed. Sheer greed. How could people's minds be altered to minimize this very human trait?

Ten million people had joined O.U.T.R.A.G.E. without any orchestrated membership drives, mass mailings, or fund-raisings. Membership was now a hundred times what the original group had been as it took root at the turn of the century. Though there were no 'dues', millions of new members cheerfully made generous contributions to the organization, recognizing the enormous costs involved in everything that was being accomplished. Every new member received an official O.U.T.R.A.G.E. lime green badge and photo ID. New members were invited - and encouraged - to take some active participation at whatever level of interest or energy they so chose. As large as it had grown, the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. philosophy of remaining loose-knit and flexible was still considered all-important.

"The larger any organization, government or corporation gets, the less manageable it becomes, and the fewer people benefit from it."

That was the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. motto, the principle that guided its very existence. It was, after all, the excesses of big government that had caused the 'Rebellion of '08'. It had been a high-tech revolution. Instead of guns and ammunition, the thousands of O.U.T.R.A.G.E. 'cells' throughout the country had used bombs made from items available in any hardware store. Then, after the bombs were discreetly placed in waste cans, desk drawers, cabinets, or even outside shrubbery, cell phones were used as detonation devices. O.U.T.R.A.G.E. members simply dialed pre-programmed numbers at precisely the same time. At 4;55 P.M. (EST), on January 17, 2008, most government offices, celebrities' homes, corporate headquarters, military facilities, and countless other sites were blown to bits. Homeland Security was no match for such simplistic strategies. While the Bush administration had spent billions of taxpayers' dollars to create the illusion of 'security', these bombs were tossed into wastebaskets or other recepticles like so many wads of paper; many were put in paper sacks from McDonald's or Burger King, appearing to be the remnants of someone's lunch. No 'suspicious' packages' no alarms sounded going through metal detectors; just people walking around like normal people everyday, disposing of their trash like millions did every day. Most of the bombs weren't any larger than a golf ball; modern technology had contributed its own demise.
President George W. Bush, Vice-President Dick Cheney, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had created a world of insecurity, fear, and suspicion as they preached safety, strength, and trust. They, too, became victims of their own paranoia.
Now the nation was coming together after being torn asunder by a Revolution that only took a matter of minutes, followed by destructive hurricanes and earthquakes. What the rest of the world witnessed was something of substance: suddenly, the most materialistic, self-absorbed nation on Earth found itself humbled and in need. Suddenly, extravagant houses, luxury cars, massive monuments to one's fiscal or political prowess, expensive accoutrements, elegant dinners, and costly bottles of wine didn't mean anything. Suddenly self-promotion, debauchery, crude behavior just for its own shock value, and the compilation of one's personal resources meant very little to most who had survived the first five months of 2008. It was good to be alive, it gave people comfort to comfort others, and it renewed America's spirit of unity and teamwork. It was a re-awakening of grandeur and a revitalization of civility. No one was thinking about themselves anymore; there was strength within community.

On October 26, 2006, George W. Bush signed into law a bill authorizing the construction of 700 additional miles of fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. It was an obvious, blatant ploy designed to give Republican incumbents an opportunity to demonstrate the GOP's commitment to stringent border patrols, keeping illegal immigrants from entering the country. Bush had to do everything possible to try and destroy the possibility of Democrats regaining control of the House and/or the U.S. Senate. Mid-term November elections were critical for the GOP, and Republican incumbents, many of whom were trying to walk a tightrope between distancing themselves from the Bush administration and still maintaining some semblance of loyalty to the party platform.
In less than fourteen months, the United States' version of the Berlin Wall had come tumbling down. Illegal aliens desperate to come to the U.S.A. had managed to foil the Bush security efforts. The easiest way, of course, was to cross the border where there was no fence, thereby transferring the illegal alien problem from infested areas such as southern California and Arizona to more desolate regions in New Mexico and western Texas.
But, illegal aliens had managed to blow holes in the fence, tunnel underneath the fence, and tear down the fence. In a year, the "wall" designed to keep illegals out of the country had suffered more damage than the passing of centuries had inflicted upon the Great Wall of China. It was one more stupid expense the Bush administration had imposed on American taxpayers in an effort to pound its chest and proclaim its homeland security strategies as brilliant and successful. Nothing could be further from the truth; but 'truth' was something George W. Bush knew little about. He had lived his entire life of privilege and wealth based on lies, deception, half-truths, fallaciousness and idiocy.
Illegal immigration, however, had now slowed to a snail's pace; in fact, more illegal aliens were returning to Mexico when it became evident that the destruction left behind by O.U.T.R.A.G.E. and a 9.4 earthquake in L.A. had significantly severed opportunities. The Bush 'wall of shame' was in disrepair, and after millions of taxpayers' dollars squandered on these 'security' measures, the intense fence and extra border patrol units was nothing more than one more Bush failure. Just as he'd failed at college, failed to properly serve in the U.S. military, failed at multiple business ventures, George W. Bush's biggest failure was that of playing President. He had no clue what to do....and as he appraoched the end of his term, even he must have recognized what an aberration his Presidency had been. No where was it more obvious than in the pages of his personal, very private diary that was now being scrutinized by expert analysts, who were unanimously convinced of the diary's authenticity. It was becoming clear that George W. Bush was a madman not incontrol of his own sanity; a raving lunatic very much capable of pushing the 'red button' that would ignite World War III.
On Thursday, May 22, 2008, the Oppressed United Taxpayers Revolting Against Government Excess (O.U.T.R.A.G.E.) claimed its ten-millionth member.

In almost every profession, "experience" is of generous value. Yet, in politics, "experience" seems almost always to work against you. The longer one remains in public office, the greatest "experience" one seems to attain is that of callousness and arrogance. Politicians become enamored with themselves and their status; hubris sets in, and they sudenly forget that they were elected to do the people's bidding.
O.U.T.R.A.G.E. was determined to limit the terms of public officials. On February 1, 2008, a resolution had been introduced, identified as Article X, demanding term limits for all elected officials. All candidates being sanctioned by O.U.T.R.A.G.E. were required to sign a pledge stating that they would honor such a commitment. The question was: how limited should those terms be? In the present corrupt political system, it took newly elected candidates the better part of their first term just to "get their feet wet" and become familiar with how Congress functioned. It was only in their third or fourth terms that they finally gained sufficient power and influence to really achieve anything of substance. Sadly, however, by that time too many members of Congress were then tainted by the aphrodisiac of power that consumed Washington, DC. An O.U.T.R.A.G.E. committee had been assembled to study this phenomena and submit recommendations. That assignment was being carried out, and the committee was expected to present recommendations by the end of June, 2008.
Other committees were at work on other resoltuions, including ideas on how to revise the income tax system and how to effectively eliminate lobbyists and special interest groups (while still allowing the right to free expression and assembly). Expanding the role of the EPA was a crucial concern, particular since the World Wildlife Federation and other respected organizations had for the past several years predicted that all of Earth's resources could disappear by the middle of the century. Environmental groups had been ignored by the Bush administration, even ridiculed as alarmists as the Bushites wanted to drill for oil in rich oceanic fields, frozen Alaskan tundra, and even in some national parks.
Clearly, there were no easy solutions to many of these issues. Candidates and their new respective political parties often had 'pet' projects or specific interests. All of these challenges would have to be met, and formal legislation would have to be introduced as part of the November, 2008 vote. Citizens would be deluged with new information and new ideas. It was all part of a new beginning for the United States of America, and the workload was overwhelming for O.U.T.R.A.G.E. volunteers. Still, the work continued day and night. The St. Kitts airport had become one of the busiest in the world as people flew in and out; no longer were these flights full of tourists who wanted to enjoy the warm Caribbean breezes. St. Kitts was becoming the central location for finally eliminating all the hot air from Washington, DC.

It was nothing short of bizarre: a woman's battered body had been found in the rubble of the Capitol building (as had hundreds of others) and rushed to a local hospital. Because of the extent of her injuries, she was put in a body cast and bandaged - literally - from head to toe. For four months, the hospital staff hadn't known who she was; records identified her only as "Jane Doe 72". Like seventy-one females before her, she had been picked from the litter after the January 17 bombings. It was highly likely that she was the wife of one of the Congressmen who had been killed; or she could have been one of hundreds of special guests at President Bush's final State of the Union address. So many bodies had been buried without being identified; so many others were still lying in hospitals recovering from atrocious injuries. Those bodies that contained some identification (driver's license, credit cards, etc.) were dutifully recorded. But hospitals were full of "John Does" and "Jane Does" who had been severely injured as a result of the January bombings, or the March hurricane.
This particular woman had survived the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. bombings, then remained in a coma all through the hurricane. Nurses remembered trying to move her bed to avoid being drenched with rainwater seeping through damaged roofs and walls after the hurricane struck the hospital. It was their heroic efforts that had brought her to this day: Tuesday, May 20, 2008.
The body was that of Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, and one of the most vocal critics of the political cesspool in which she had worked for over twenty years. She had gone on record, accusing Congress of "running a criminal enterprise", and referring to members of Congress a "immoral and corrupt". Now in her late sixties, Pelosi had opposed the Iraq war from the very beginning, and had not been quiet about it. As far back as 2004, beltway watchdogs had pegged Pelosi as one of the up-and-coming stars of the Democratic Party. When Democrats won control of Congress in the 2006 mid-term elections, she became the first female Speaker of the House in history, just two heartbeats away from the Presidency.
Now, President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney were both dead, destroyed in the same rubble where Pelosi's mangled body had been entombed. It had taken more than a week before rescue workers discovered her under tons of crushed rubble. How she had even managed to survive was a miracle; her body had been distorted beyond recognition, and it was impossible for anyone to identify her before hospital staffers treated her wounds and wrapped her in bandages. Now, technically, Nancy Pelosi was "next in line" to succeed Bush and Cheney. But the condition of her health and the extent of her injuries were such that it was going to be many more months before she would be capable of anything - if she even survived.
Doctors were giving her no better than a 50-50 chance of that.
The eighth wealthiest member of Congress, Pelosi had personally raised over $100,000,000.00 for the Democratic Party - second only to that of Bill and Hillary Clinton's efforts. As soon as Interim President Colin Powell and Interim Vice-President John McCain heard of Pelosi's survival, they immediately sent emissaries to her bedside. Physicians recommended that the circumstances surrounding her injuries not be revealed, citing possible emotional issues that could interfere with her physical recuperation. Powell and McCain wanted Pelosi to recover and become part of this revolutionary O.U.T.R.A.G.E. movement; they both felt she would be an asset to the mission. Still, Pelosi was months away from being healthy enough to participate. As soon as she regained consciousness, she asked about her husband, a wealthy San Francisco financial planner, who had perished on January 17, 2008. His body, in fact, had been one of the first to be uncovered and identified. Nancy Pelosi's body was not found until January 25, 2008. Most people assumed that Pelosi had died sitting next to her husband; ironically her body had been found hundreds of yards away from that of her husband's. The impact of the bomb blast must have tossed bodies around like rag dolls.
On a 2006 "60 Minutes" interview, Leslie Stahl had asked Pelosi about the possibility of impeaching President Bush, assuming the Democrats won the 2008 elections. Pelosi responded that it would be a waste of time and money; impeachment proceedings, as everyone learned when the Republicans staged a multi-million-dollar witch hunt against Clinton, were not popular with the public. Pelosi obviously believed there was a better use for taxpayers' money.
Meanwhile the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. headquarters in St. Kitts was reeling with an assortment of potential candidates. New political parties were being formed everyday. One O.U.T.R.A.G.E. member was overheard to remark, "Americans have always been the optimum consumers. They've had enormous choices in everything they buy, from automobiles to potato chips. Yet, for over a hundred years, the Republicans and Democrats have maintained a stanglehold on our political system. It's ironic how our politicians used the same marketing strategies to 'sell' themselves as Campbell's used to 'sell' soup. Yet, the American voters were never given the same variety of choices in their politics as they were in their local supermarkets."
By November, 2008, the American voters would have choices. It was up to O.U.T.R.A.G.E. to try and streamline the process so that the choices didn't become blurred and overwhelm the political 'consumers'. O.U.T.R.A.G.E. had less than six months in which to accomplish all this, while still coordinating clean-up efforts around the nation and organizing the distribution of funds for rebuilding across the country. It was a monumental task, and O.U.T.R.A.G.E. - as large an organization as it was - had also begun to feel the strain. Even with new volunteers joining the organization every day, it was hard to maintain focus on everything that had to get done.

Barack Obama was working diligently on trying to bring peace to the Sudan. Darfur had been the site of unbelieveable atrocities over the past six years; even George W. Bush had condemned the genocide in a speech to the United Nations less than years earlier. Millions had been killed; millions more had been displaced, living in refugee camps with little to eat and little future ahead of them. Villages had been systematically destroyed by marauding soldiers who would attack under cover of darkness, gang-rape the women and young girls, and massacre the men. Those who managed to escape had no village to come back to as government forces would burn virtually every house to the ground.
The world had paid scant attention to the Darfur incidents. To be sure, the United States had sent more than a half-a-billion dollars in aid, but throwing money at the problem didn't resolve anything. George W. Bush was reluctant to aggravate the Sudanese government leaders because of its ties to Osama binLaden, and the wicked despots took advantage of Bush's naive personna. Smarter than Bush could ever hope to be, they fed him little snippets of information about binLaden, enough to keep the money rolling in and keep the United States out of Darfur. Bush could have easily ordered troops to eradicate the Sudan dictatorship, but - apparently - saw no reason to do so. After all, there was very little oil in Darfur.
What oil was in the Sudan was difficult to access, and was already committed to other nations by long-standing treaties with the Sudanese government. Besides, Bush's family had no personal grudge against the leaders of the Sudanese government (as they did with the leader of the Iraqi government). So, Bush saw no moral justification in trying to save the lives of millions of Darfur refugees. In his mind, they were just a bunch of poor black folks who lived in a desert. Of what possible use could they be to his administration? So the genocide had continued, unabated and unchallenged by the world's greatest defender of peace and freedom.
Now, Obama had made it his personal mission to end the tragic circumstances in the Sudan. Interim President Colin Powell, s Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. military forces, ordered troops to Darfur. The civil war in Iraq was out of control anyway; the war in Iran had not peaked yet, and Powell took under advisement the recommendations of his military's top brass. As they had tried to warn Geroge W. Bush for almost three years, the war in Iraq was unwinnable. It was time to deploy military forces where they could actually do some good in the world. Troops were on the way; genocide in Darfur would come to an abrupt end - soon.

Having become a day of rest in much of the country again, Sundays were marked as 'family days' that begun by attending the church, synagogue, or mosque of their choice. It was a new awakening for millions of Americans who had previously neglected church in favor of a Sunday-morning sleep-in and a shopping trip to the local mall or nearest WalMart. Church attendance was at record highs. On Sunday, May 18, 2008, many churchgoers heard news from the pulpit that had not been broadcast over public airwaves.
The National Association of Churches announced it had joined forces with Habitat for Humanity to begin a massive rebuilding effort in the three metropolitans that had suffered untold damage from the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. bombings, the east coast hurricane and the L.A. earthquake. Three cities were targeted, including Washington, DC; New York City; and Los Angeles. Funding was being made available from many different organizations, including the world headquarters of the Catholic Church, the Vatican. Billions of dollars were being made available for the construction of multiple-dwelling housing units, all to be built with materials that had been donated from home improvement retailers, distributors, and manufacturers from all over the United States and throughout the world. All labor would be done on a volunteer basis; what labor wasn't provided by the non-profit groups would come from volunteers who had signed up to assist with the incredible undertaking. Such an outpouring of generosity was unheard of in contemprorary times. Oh, to be sure, Americans had been generous when the tsunami struck Indonesia a few years ago. Americans had given unselfishly when Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005. The irony here was that this time the money wasn't coming from 'common' American citizens who could only afford fifty or a hundred bucks. This time, money was coming from the wealthy individuals, organizations with very deep pockets, and even private foundations and trusts (most of whom seldom gave money outside of the particular sphere of interest).
As Reverend Andrew Baker told his congregation in central Illinois, "This is truly a gift from God. If there is anyone who doesn't believe that the Spirit of our Lord can work modern miracles, I urge him to look around and see what greatness has come from the ashes of our nation's tragedy." In the past, if someone had a net worth of ten million dollars, you might expect to get a $1,000 - or perhaps, on a good day - a $10,000 contribution. Now millionaires were actually giving up their entire fortunes to help those with less fortune. After the service, a member of the congregation privately told Baker he only had a life savings of $4,800, but he was going to donate it all to this program. "Next," he said quietly, "I intend to go out and help raise more money. I'm old, and I really wouldn't be able to help with the physical construction of these buildings, but I'm a damn good salesman, and I sure can contribute my time toward trying to raise more money. He recalled, he claimed, that Jesus had once said something to affect that "if you give it all away, I will reward you ten times". Was the man looking to increase his life savings to $48,000.00? Probably not, Baker surmised. He was simply looking to do good things with his good fortune.
Reverend Baker encouraged his parishoner's goodwill by quoting from the Biblical Book of St. Matthew, Chapter 19, verses 20-24. It's the story of a rich young ruler who approached Christ about what he must do to attain eternal life. Christ Jesus suggested that the young man, of obvious privilege and wealth, "keep the commandments". The young potentate protested that he had, indeed, not committed murder or adultery; had not stolen or bore false witness. Jesus went on, as is recorded beginning with Verse 20: "The young man saith unto Him, 'All these things I have kept from my youth up. what lack I yet?' Jesus said unto him, 'If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give it to the poor, and thou shalt have treasures in Heaven; and come and follow me.' But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto His disciples, 'Verily I say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of Heaven. And again I say unto you: it is easier for a camel to go throough the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."
All funds would be collected, accounted for, and distributed through O.U.T.R.A.G.E. 'cells' around the country. The sites that had been set up originally as polling places for the interim elections last March were no being used as clearinghouses for this huge windfall of money that would start pouring in very soon. O.U.T.R.A.G.E. had proven itself to be fiscally prudent when it came to managing its own money (and there were still questions about where all of the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. money came from, since it seemed to have an inexhaustible cache of cash). It made sense to allow this revolutionary organization to monitor what would probably become the greatest private philanthropic endeavor in contemporary history.
Unlike government, which would almost certainly piss away these billions of dollars on ineffective programs, cumbersome bureaucracies, and fraudulent functions of ineptness and gross incompetence, most people had every confidence that the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. organization, which had planned and executed the 'Rebellion of '08' would use prudence, wisdom, fairness, and competence in seeing to it that this handsome sum of abundance would not be sqaundered.
Congress had proven itself, over decades of malfeasance, to be fiscally irresponsible and worthlessly reckless. This kind of shameful misconduct would not be tolerated in the "new" United States of America.
O.U.T.R.A.G.E., it was announced in thousands of churches, had already set up a special account in the Cayman Islands into which all funds would be deposited, and to which any donations could be sent. A public accounting of every penny it spent would be available for inspection at anytime. O.U.T.R.A.G.E. was determined to ensure that there would be no graft or kickbacks. As one U.S. Congressman said ever so blithley years ago, "A billion here, a billion there...pretty soon it adds up to real money!" It was an obvious demonstration of how carelessly Congress considered its responsibilities toward managing the taxpayers' money. O.U.T.R.A.G.E. couldn't afford to let one nickel slip through the cracks.

Saturday, May 17, 2008: that was the day when Colin Powell and John McCain heard distressing news. Ambassadors that had been sent to China were not meeting with much success in persuading the U.S.A.'s biggest creditor to renegotiate repayment terms and/or restructure the debt so that America could more easily manage its financial crises. "This is a little more complex," said one of the O.U.T.RA.G.E. ambassadors, "than trying to convince your local banker to extend your car loan."
The Bush administration had borrowed heavily as it financed its war debt. This was made possible, in large part, because of George H.W. Bush's long-standing relationship with the Chinese government. Even in his eighties, the former head of the CIA, former ambassador to China, and former U.S. President still claimed an international presence, particularly in circles involving the Chinese or the Saudis. On behalf of his son, George H.W. Bush had visited China several times since 2000, arranging for the Chinese to buy more U.S. treasury bonds and loan the U.S.A. much-needed cash. Under cover of working with former President Bill Clinton to generate aid for the December 26, 2005 tsunami victims, Bush was able to divert U.S. government planes to China without much fanfare or observation. When it came to dealing with the Chinese, however, George H.W. Bush didn't have the wit, intelligence, or savvy to match their artificial grins and bows of humility. He was conned by these coy and cunning people. Bush' own hubris did him in, as he made reckless deals, authorized by his son, George W. Bush, the President of the United States. Before anyone realized what was happening, the Chinese had the United States wrapped up a financial hornet's nest in which the U.S. would surely - eventually - get stung.
Ambassadors were shocked at the stupid agreements that had been executed. Certainly from the Chinese government's point of view, it was like taking candy from a baby. The U.S. needed money to feed its million-dollar-a-day warring habit, and the U.S. Treasury couldn't just print more phony money at its whim. So Bush had to borrow, and the Chinese were all too willing to lend - considering the terms were favorable to them, of course.
By the srping of 2006, the Bush administration had squandered $1.27 TRILLION on the Iraq war. Extrapolated into terms most people could comprehend, that meant Bush's folly in Iraq was costing American taxpayers a million-dollars-d-day for the next 3,487 years! By the end of 2007, the war debt had ballooned to over $2 TRILLION. The Bush administration, in its effort to minimize the financial impact of the war, deliberately kept these numbers "off the books"; much of the true cost of the war was not included in Bush's annual federal budgets. It was a deep, dark secret, known only to those in the highest echelons of the federal government, and - of course - to the Chinese, who now had the U.S. exactly where it wanted the U.S.: pinned into a corner from which it couldn't easily escape.
Now the Chinese were being difficult, refusing to renegotiate or restructure these massive loans. Through the team of Bush, the father, and Bush, the ignorant son. the stage had been set for the Chinese to become the world's next super power. For years China had patiently sat on the sidelines and watched American politicians gorge themselves on their own greed and lust for power. Now it was all paying off for the Chinese. As China's economy began to boom, the United States was mired in debt, destruction, and disorder. For the past few years, Chinese motorists were buying more new cars per capita than U.S. motorists. Their demand for oil, as well as all kinds of material goods, was on the rise. Powell and McCain recognized that China would now become the greatest threat to American security, all because of the way George H.W. Bush and his feeble-minded son, George W. Bush, had botched everything. While Bush worried about the AlQaeda "terrorist" threat, the more serious danger came from that quiet giant to the east of the Middle East: The Peoples' Republic of China.

The Kirby Vacuum Cleaner Company had learned long ago that it they could create enough doubt - or fear - in the minds of housewives as to how well their vacuum cleaners did the job, Kirby had a much better chance of selling that housewife a new vacuum cleaner at a premium price. So, their door-to-door salesmen were equipped with a glass-covered device that attached to the vacuum cleaner. Following a demonstration, the salesman would then show the housewife how much dirt was left behind that her vacuum cleaner didn't suck up. It was one of the most successful marketing strategies in history, allowing Kirby to 'clean up' in a highly competitive industry without the prohibitive expenses of advertising, wholesale distribution, and the establishment of retail outlets.
George W. Bush would have made a great Kirby vacuum cleaner salesman, probably being better suited to that than he was qualified to be playing President.
Creating fear was among the Bush administration's most consistent strategies. Virtually every speech President Bush delivered included references to fighting the 'evil empire' and warned about the next potential terrorist attack. Mothers were afraid to send their children to school for fear of possible bombings. Homeland Security established an intimidating presence among state and local law enforcement agencies, implying that their community could be the next 'target'. Leaders of other countries began to believe their only defense against the bully Bush - and the world' newest 'evil empire', the United States of America - was to manufacture and stockpile their own nuclear weapons of mass destruction. Fear and mistrust invaded the world, creating doubts about international allegiances. Neighbors wondered about the Muslims down the street; could they be members of AlQaeda? The Bush administration inspired Nazi-like programs to "turn in" anyone whom you might suspect of being a terrorist. Create doubt. Instill fear. It was the salesman's standard way to close the deal. Now the Bush administration had brought such sales tactics to the forefront of its "war on terror". No one trusted anyone anymore. It was friend against foe; neighbor against neighbor; authorities against the citizenry it was supposed to protect; state government against the federal government; world leader against world leader. The Bush administration had effectively succeeded in destroying the world's bonds of human respect, decency, trust, and honor.
O.U.T.R.A.G.E. was being beseiged by new political candidates who wanted to form their own parties with their own agendas. Every 'party' had to be given equal consideration before being 'sanctioned' by O.U.T.R.A.G.E. While the organization held no legal authority over who could or couldn't form a political party or run for office, it had become a respected clearning house for such appointments. If you or your party had an O.U.T.R.A.G.E. endorsement, you had some respectable clout - and also were privileged with O.U.T.R.A.G.E 'perks' that gave your party more visibility and credibility.
The Libertarian Party, the Constitution Party, and the Green Party were thriving like never before. But new political parties emerged everyday, with new candidates wanting to run for President, or for a Congressional seat. There was the Reformed Republican Party; the Innovation Party; the Peoples' Party; the Fair Tax Party; the Social Responsibility Party; the Children's Party; the Save the World Party; and the Fiscal Reform Party. It became the job of O.U.T.R.A.G.E. organizers to try and persuade some of these candidates to join forces with others of similar ideas in an effort to assemble as few parties as possible on the November ballot.
The Democratic Party and the Republican Party were no longer contenders. People had finally abandoned these two political monopolies, finally having loosened the stranglehold that had suffocated the American political system for more than a century.
No longer were people afraid to vote their conscience. No longer were they intimidated into registering as a Democrat or Republican. Most party headquarters and offices around the country had been obliterated by O.U.T.R.A.G.E. bombs on January 17. Even if they wanted to try, stalwart Republicans or Democrats would have a difficult time reorganizing into anything close to the power they had enjoyed just five months ago.
Further study of the Bush secret diary revealed that there were plans underway to cripple the November elections. If it appeared likely that there would be a Democratic landslide, Republican operatives were planning to fabricate another 'terrorist attack' on U.S. soil. George W. Bush had apparently become aware that similar 'operatives' were in place at the time of the September 11, 2001 'attacks'. 'While they may not have actually had a hand in [the attacks]," Bush scrawled in his diary, "they certainly were aware of what was going to happen, and did nothing to prevent it. They used me as a patsy, just as JFK's killers used Lee Harvey Oswald." It was obvious Bush was either delusional, or had finally discovered what a preposterous pawn he had been in this giant global game of cat-and-mouse. Now, a 'terrorist attack' would take place, probably in the Midwest (someplace like Chicago or St. Louis) just weeks before the November, 2008 elections. Bush would then be ordered to declare martial law, claiming that a change in administrations "at this perilous time" would not be in the "best interests of national security". Bush would remain in office until the Republicans had time to groom his brother, Jeb, for a Presidential race somewhere in the indefinite future. It was no wonder George W. Bush was headed for a nervous breakdown, or complete mental meltdown! His spoiled rich-kid ego had not prepared him to face the fact that he wasn't the smartest military genius and world leader on the planet. His family had allowed him to be used as a puppet as he dangled in front of the public on invisible strings controlled by the wealthy elitist friends of the Bush dynasty, members of the fanatical military-industrial complex, oil company executives who regarded G.W. as a moron, and big business leaders who knew George W. Bush was a simpleton.
Had O.U.T.R.A.G.E. not bombed the hell out of America's power core on January 17, 2008, Republicans operatives would almost certainly had arranged for the assassination of George W. Bush before word of his secret diary leaked out, or before Bush himself snapped and they had to carry him away in a rubber strait jacket zoot suit. George W. had been deceived by his own family, and by those whom he thought of as friends and confidants. Certainly such deception could never had come to the attention of the public, and G.W. was just enough of a lunatic to get in front of a TV camera and whine about he had been 'set up' by the people he believed thought so highly of him. It was a good thing George W. Bush was dead; now he could spend his eternal damnation in Hell castigating Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, and all the others whose put their special interests above their 'friendship' with this cheerleading, drug-abusing, alcoholic college kid who they'd coached to be nothing more than their puppet President. And all this time George W. Bush thought he was some kind of great war-like leader, similar Zeus and the other Greek gods of might and heroism. All the time, George W. Bush was nothing more than a pathetic pawn, a mouse in the global game where the fat cats reigned.

The United States of America was in chaos. But, out of the ashes of all the destruction came positive signs of Americans' indefatigable spirit. George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld - who less than two years earlier had been named as the three most evil people on Earth in a 'Mother Jones" reader survey - were all dead, along with 533 members of the most corrupt, incompetent, contemptible, arrogant, cowardly, worthless Congress in U.S. history. Killed, too, were thousands of America's wealthy elitists who lived in gated mansions while secretly manipulating politicians to do their bidding. Hubris-laden celebrities and athletes who'd squandered their lives - and their multi-million-dollar salaries - on nothing except their own largesse, had been eliminated by mass bombings so exquisitely executed by the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. cells around the nation.
Corporate CEOs who led their companies to excessive profits (and lined their own pockets at the expense of their employees) no longer lived. U.S. government bureaucrats, members of the massive military-industrial complex, biased judges, lobbyists, lawyers, and other assorted "devil's advocates" had all been killed. Pharmceutical companies, huge corporations like WalMart and General Motors no longer had 'national headquarters' as O.U.T.R.A.G.E. bombs had turned their glass-and-chrome monuments to excessive wealth into crumbled piles of debris.
The 'Rebellion of '08' had been a tremendous 'success' in the eyes of O.U.T.R.A.G.E. members, who saw their goals realized. Truly a second American Revolution, this band of hi-tech rebels had managed to rid America of the crude excesses that had come close to annihilating one of the planet's most moral, decent societies. While many millions were highly critical of the hypocritical methods O.U.T.R.A.G.E. employed to change their world, many millions more recognized the value of what had been done, and understood why it was the only way it could be done. You were never going to persuade self-absorbed, evil, greedy people to give up their wealth, status, and power just by trying to talk to them; George W. Bush didn't believe in diplomacy, only weaponry. Now, O.U.T.R.A.G.E. had used Bush's own philosophy of war and mass murder against him and his compatriots.
As people rallied to the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. movement, 'common' folks from all over the land began to recognize that they now had a new voice in the leadership and direction of their country. The media was no longer a puppet of the government, nor was the government a puppet of the nameless, faceless elitists who ruled from behind-the-scenes. From now on, America would be ruled by its people. Referendums would reign as the supreme means of law and order. Elected officials, judges, law enforcement authorities and bureaucrats would now hold no power - they would all have to learn that they were, indeed, public servants and would not be allowed to do anything without the express consent of the majority of the population. To conduct such a social-political experiment in a diversified country of 300,000,000 people would be a gargantuan undertaking, requiring the cooperation of all citizens.
On Friday, February 1, 2008, a resolution had been introduced to establish term limits for all elected officials. That resolution was now being molded into formal legislation that would become part of the ballot in November. No longer would judges be given lifetime positions. No longer could members of Congress settle into a cozy lifetime career of privilege and corruptive excess. No longer would family dynasties with the last names of Kennedy or Bush be able to manipulatively manage to overtake the basic premise of free elections and individual political participation. Government "by the people, of the people, and for the people" would become more than just another patriotic gesture; it would in effect become of new law of the land.
And hundreds of thousands of 'common' people like Christina, Annette, Paullette, Jil Adams, Ron Oetting, Liza, Bob and Cher Ryan, Phil and Janie Baker, Lynn Patrick and Patrick Hamilton were now joining ranks to become an integral part of the new process of government by the people. These were people who never would have dreamed about being involved in politics or government. Critics claimed their inexperience would destroy the protocol of politics. In reality, it was their common sense and inexperience that made them perfect political reformers. Critics, of course, claimed it was "impossible" and that "nothing would ever get done". Proponents, of course, argued that nothing got done anyway, as elected officials spent more time getting re-elected, making behind-closed-door deals, and piggishly sucking off the taxpayers' teats.
On April 17, 1973 a fledgling little parcel delivery company called Federal Express started operations. FedEx founder and CEO, Fred Smith, had been told by his professor that his college treatise on a global overnight delivery service was "impossible" and wasn't even feasible. On September 15, 1982 the premier edition of the country's first full-color, nationwide daily newspaper was launched by a colorful, eccentric publishing guru named Allen Neuharth. His competition pooh-poohed the idea, saying it was 'impossible" and would never work. Within its first year of publication, virtually every daily newspaper in the nation had copied USA TODAY's color weather map and abbreviated style of reporting. Were Smith and Neuharth just madmen, consumed with "impossible" dreams? Or, was there a method in their madness that drove them to such innovative achievements? FedEx became the world's leading shipping company through continued innovation and a company culture entrenched in innovation and continuous efforts to ourperform its competition through employee participation and attention to detail. USA TODAY became the flagship newspaper of the Gannett Co., Inc., making it the largest media conglomerate in the world.
The United States government, and the U.S. Congress, had become bloated with inefficiencies, corruption, and a complete lack of purpose or direction. As the country's political system lumbered on, it only became more corrupt, more inefficient, and more cumbersome. The very reason for the government's existence didn't even exist anymore. Instead of serving its people, it held its people hostage through an awkward, mangled entanglement of deception and divorcement.
At least this new system of participatory government would bring more people into the process of governing our nation instead of allowing such a vital function to be put into the manipulative hands of a handful of mindless miscreants.
Colin Powell, John McCainand Bill Clinton were among the political 'superstars' who had been recruited by O.U.T.R.A.G.E. to help lead the country into dramatic change. They could only do it with the help of 300,000,000 Americans, but there seemed to be a sense of confidence that those Americans were up to this "imposible" challenge.

"The insanity of government is unbelievable!" screeched a red-headed bartender named Christina, who had been working on an O.U.T.R.A.G.E. project for weeks, involving research into how government continued to spend billions of taxpayers' dollars uselessly. Voluptuous in a hard-core sort of way, Christina had joined O.U.T.R.A.G.E. early on; the sparkling red hair accented a freckled face and intense greenish-blue eyes. Everything about her hinted at a woman whose private moments were as opstreperous as all those uproarious hours she spent sloshing beers across the bar. Her loyal male 'regulars' appreciated her salty sailor's vocabulary, and felt left out if she didn't deliberately blurt out some blatant insult or crude referral to their manhood. "Hey Paul," she'd yell from across the bar for everyone to hear, "your wife tells me yours stands straight up all the time...it's too short to hang!" It was all in good fun, and such vociferance kept her customers coming back, allowing her to make a comfortable living in what many might consider a harsh environment. It also gave Christina total control over her clientele; she wasn't just serving them brewskies...Christina was giving this eclectic collection of whore dogs their very own afternoon version of Billy Joel's "Piano Man". The "real estate novelist who never had time for a wife" was "talking to Davy who's still in the Navy, and probably will be for life". Christina brought a bizarre bawdiness to their lonely lives, peppered with a sincerity of spirituality and compassion whenever someone was down and out. A devout Catholic, Christina mirrored "the waitress [who's] practicing politics while a businessman slowly gets stoned". And the boozers and losers put bread in her jar, and said, "Gal, what are you doing here?"
By joining O.U.T.R.A.G.E., Christina had found a whole new purpose in life. Her creative flair and organizational skills served her well on the island of St. Kitts as she spearheaded a group studying the impact of state and federal government spending. Some things just didn't make sense to Christina's level of down-to-earth logic.
"Look at the BMV," she barked to her clan of researchers one day. "What sense does it make? State governments figured out that renewing drivers' licenses and getting new vehicle license plates every year were great, renewable sources of revenue. So they made it mandatory that everyone must renew their drivers' license and renew their vehicle tags every year. Then, the state builds - or rents - dozens of BMV offices at a cost of millions of dollars to the taxpayers! So, to cover the costs of all those fuckin' offices, the state has to raise the cost of license plates! How fuckin' stupid is that?" With today's technologies, Christina argued, the state could close all those BMV offices, saving taxpayers billions of dollars, and reducing the cost of doing business. License plates could be sold with each new car; the plate would stay with the car permanently, and each owner of the car would be required to mail in an annual renewal fee. Drivers' license could be renewed on home computers; if you didn't have a computer at home, you could go to the local library or a school for access to the state's online system. This was just example of the blatant misuse of tax dollars that was going on in every state in the Union, as well as at the federal level. Christina's committee had one central mission: expose all this fraud, and offer common-sense solutions that would minimize taxpayers' costs for such services. "The idea isn't to reduce revenues to the state," Christina explained. "The idea is to minimze costs to those of us who end up paying for all this bureaucratic structure." By keeping a plate with a car, the state didn't have to pay for more license plates to be manufactured. "And what the hell is up with these damn designer plates?" Christina bellowed. "Why do we need to pay to have some graphic arts studio 'design' a new plates that costs extra? Making license plates is a job that can easily be performed by prison inmates!"
Before the Noember elections, her group would have a comprehensive outline in place offering simplistic changes in the way government bureaucracies were managed. Mismanagement, fraud, incompetence, and sheer financial waste would no longer be acceptable methodologies. Accountability to every single taxpayer dollar would become commonplace. Any politician wishing to become a candidate in the November elections would have to subscribe to such idealogy. Period.
The brash, chain-smoking red head held court over her committee with the same tactless intensity over which she kept her barfly customers in line. Her unique blend of sensuality, soft-heartedness and pragmatic realism instilled a sense of respect and abject fear into the hearts and minds of those with whom she interacted. She was one tough cookie, and no one would ever see this cookie crumble.

The Children's Party was attracting considerable attention around the United States as young parents, single mothers, and grandparents jumped on board its platform of children's rights and children's dignity. That, naturally, attracted candidates to the Party, and soon the woman known only as Liza and her ten-year-old daughter, Briley, had become political celebrities.
Relentlessly shy and modest, Liza was reluctant to put herself in the spotlight. But, as her political party attracted more followers, she and Briley became the focal point. For the good of the mission, Liza finally consented to doing something she never thought she'd ever do in her life: making public speeches before crowds of people. She started out talking to small groups of womens' organizations, PTAs, and childrens' rights groups. Soon she was being asked to speak at large rallies of fervent followers. Presidential and Congressional candidates wishing to run on the Children's Party ticket clamored for Liza's attention, begging for her endorsement and support.
"Why is it," Liza reiterated at many rallies, "that someone convicted of smoking marijuana for medicinal puposes can be jailed for thirty years, yet a convicted child molester can be paroled in less than five?" The Bush-infested U.S. Supreme Court had intervened in two cases during its 2007 session that had caused public outcry. One involved a 67-year-old Mississippi man who had been caught smoking marijuana in bar. Even though it was his own, home-grown stash used to treat a serious eye disease, he had failed to go through the proper legal procedures to obtain legal permission to use an illegal drug. The Bush administration, in its infinite wisdom, decided this trivial oversight was worthy of spending tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to prosecute. The case had lingered in smaller federal courts for years before finally being heard in the Supreme Court. The man was found guilty and sentenced to thirty years in a minimum security federal prison. The other case coming before the Supreme Court just six weeks later was that of a 41-year-old child molester from Cincinnati. After several previous convictions - all of which had been plea-bargained down to lesser charges of indecent exposure or public indecency - the pervert had finally been caught in what police believed to be a 'rock-solid, iron-clad' case. Financially capable of hiring the very best battery of attorneys, the man's case ended up in the highest court of the land with lawyers arguing that he had been impaired by excessive alcohol consumption at the time, and didn't know he had viciously raped a 12-year-old girl. He had forced her to 'drink' with him, and held her captive in a twenty-one-dollar-a-night motel room for three days. Lawyers persuaded the Bush-appointed justices of the Supreme Court that this had been a travesty of justice, and that Cincinnati police had made a wrongful arrest by not following appropriate procedures. A staunch supporter of the Republican party, the man had enough political clout to reverse his conviction in a lower court. Eerily reminiscent of the case involving Congressman Mark Foley just a year earlier, the man was mandated to enter an alcohol rehabilitation center for six months of treatment before being released to - once more - prey on innocent children.
Liza and her political allies exploited both cases as examples of a judicial system rigged for the rich and influential without compassion or regard for the young victims of sexual assaults or battery. "There are millions of children that go to bed hungry every night," Liza remarked in a calm, sometimes-inaudible voice. "Thousands of American children are exploited, abused, neglected, raped, and murdered each year in this country. And we spend more time and resources trying to coddle the offenders than we do trying to protect our children. This cannot continue. There is a two-tiered system of justice in our country - one tier for the rich and one of the rest of us."
A fear of flying resulted in Liza traveling to her stomping grounds via train. Soon O.U.T.R.A.G.E. provided her with a train of her own, which included six cars, including a Pullman sleeping car and a dining car where Liza met with potential party candidates and members of the press. Everywhere her train went she was accosted by hundreds of well-wishers. Liza had struck a nerve in Americans' hearts. She wasn't just looking out for children anymore - she was becoming a vocal opponent of the money-biased judicial and legal system that had infiltrated the American consciousness. It was no longer a matter of right or wrong; it was now more a matter of how much justice one could afford to buy.
More potential candidates noticed how certain political were being given access to O.U.T.R.A.G.E. money, vehicles, television studio time, and other amenities. In the interest of total fairness, O.U.T.R.A.G.E. decided to limit such largesse before being accused of improprieties or bias. A convoy of busses, a fleet of trucks and SUVs, and an O.U.T.R.A.G.E. "freedom train" were assembled for use by any O.U.T.R.A.G.E.-approved potential political candidates. Specific routes would be scheduled, and candidates would be invited to "ride along" at no cost on a first-come, first-served basis. Each candidate would be given the identical number of seats for his or her staff, and an equal storage space for supplies, banners, and materials. For purposes of official identification, the vehicles, busses and train cars were all painted in the familiar lime green color originally used on the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. lapel buttons when the television broadcasts first began in February.
The bus used by Lynn Patrick and Patrick Hamilton for the Patrick-Patrick initiative became the 'lead' bus in a convoy of what eventually would number twenty-eight. O.U.T.R.A.G.E. contracted with a number of independently-owned auto body and paint shops to refurbish all vehicles and train cars in the bright lime green paint jobs to provide continuity and identity. "That color reminds me of the good ol' days of drug-induced psychedelic hallucinations," Patrick Hamilton remarked. "I remember seeing dayglo greens, hot pinks, and awesome oranges - all through kind of a purple haze. God, weren't the seventies great?
It was a high time!"
Political stumping suddenly was back in fashion. Instead of hopping a campaign plane, candidates could roll into a city as part of a convoy of vehicles. Come in a bus. Or, pull up at the local train depot. It provided more personable means of meeting the candidates, just as it used to be in the good ol' days before politicians started to distance themselves from their constituencies with hordes of advisors, aids, and crowd-control personnel. Of course, this was only May - and the election was still six months away. But these candidates were already beginning to attract voters, even though most of them hadn't even been designated as the authorized representatives of their respective parties. They were spending more time explaining party platforms and position papers. You didn't see the typical razzle-dazzle campaigning - yet. This was still a time for reflection (and, in some communities, mourning). This was a time for bringing people together toward specific political and social goals. Most of the members of the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. convoys had a particular message to convey. Momentum continued to build. The work continued across America.

Colin Powell had dispatched ambassadors and diplomats all over the world to meet with allies and foes alike. Some meetings were cordial; others were more controversial. The most important meetings were being held with Chinese government officials. Powell and McCain realized that China held all the cards to a quick U.S. recovery. Thanks to George W. Bush's unconstitutional wars with Iraq and Iran, the United States of America owed China trillions of dollars. It would be a simple matter of China revoking the U.S.A.'s line of credit, and the United States of America could easily become a third-world country virtually overnight. Chinese-U.S. relations had been strained over the past few years anyway due to incidents involving cold-blooded shootings of Tibetan monks along the Chinese border, and China's tough stance against North Korea after it had begun underground nuclear testings.
China was like a heroin dealer: it continued to extend credit to the United States, which made the U.S. more dependent on China, which gave China more power over the world's #1 superpower. It had become increasingly more difficult for the U.S. to rebuke China's international actions; in many instances, the U.S. was caught behind a rock and hard spot. It often was forced to go along with China's wishes only because it couldn't risk alienating its most important creditor. In many people's minds, this global game of cat-and-mouse was the culmination of various ancient predictions, including those in the book of Revelations which predicted that the "yellow man" would eventually rule the Earth. With its billion-plus population, China had the manpower to create an army of awesome proportions. It seemed only a matter of time until the inevitable happened: China would cut up America's 'credit cards' and begin foreclosure. The U.S.A. would be in a similar plight as to that of the U.S.S.R. when it collapsed in the 1990's: there would be no money to fund a military, soldiers would go A.W.O.L. because they weren't being paid, and the U.S. would have no way to defend itself. A vulnerable U.S.A. would have no recourse except to allow China to come into the country and take whatever it wanted: real estate; military hardware; oil; banks; weapons of mass destruction; coal; wood; factories; grain; consumer inventories; mineral ores; building materials - virtually anything it needed for its own burgeoning populations.Powell recognized the reality of such a scenario, and urgently wanted to repair relations with China to ensure such pillage wouldn't take place at this critical juncture in U.S. history. It was necessary to renegotiate repayment terms and restructure the massive debt owed the Chinese. While serving as Bush's Secretary of State, Powell had often been left 'out of the loop' on matters like this. While he knew the debt was sizeable, he didn't realize the reckless terms and conditions the Bush administration had agreed to; it was one more 'secret' that had been kept from the American people; one more way the Bush administration had propped up 'mission' without revealing the war's true costs.
Most countries to whom the U.S.A. was indebted agreed with the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. proposals to cut as much as 90% out of the federal budget. Years of bloated, careless spending by supercilious, insolent members of Congress had resulted in far too much waste and fraud. The federal government was involved in far more than its Constitutional mandates.
Meanwhile, unemployment rates soared in the United States as jobs were eliminated due to the quagmire caused by the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. bombings, the east coast hurricane, and the west coast earthquake. The financial markets were in turmoil; big business was literally out of business; and 'politics as usual' was - hopefully - forever quashed. Because of the millions of people who had died, however, a strange twist of fate emerged. Job opportunities seemed to rise from the ashes for survivors of the 'Rebellion of '08' and the two natural disasters that had struck the U.S. almost simultaneously.
Thousands of O.U.T.R.A.G.E. members were involved in coordinating recovery efforts around the country. Thousands more were in St. Kitts creating plans for the upcoming November elections, and getting candidates on ballots. Other O.U.T.R.A.G.E. members were helping monitor or orchestrate rescue operations (still going on, even four months later), and small pockets of O.U.T.R.A.G.E. members were involved in various social restructuring, motivational, or development programs. "Cells' of O.U.T.R.A.G.E. members also were scouring the country building support for numerous non-binding resolutions that would be put on the ballot in November. Among the most successful of those 'cells' was the Patrick-Patrick initiative which had commandeered a luxury bus and was criss-crossing the country encouraging the passage of legislation to legalize drugs. Lynn Patrick and Patrick Hamilton had met with phenomenal agreement, even in the more conservative regions of America's heartland. The 'common' people seemed to have different ideas that those spewed forth from inside the beltway: if Phillip Morris and R.J. Reynolds could sell products that were proven to kill their customers, then there was no reason for other addictive substances to be deemed illegal. As one old gentleman in Lexington, Kentucky told Patrick Hamilton: "It can't be both ways. Either all drugs are legal, or all drugs are illegal. By God, if they think for a minute they're gonna take my Jim Beam away from me, they're mistaken!" He poured a shot of Jim Beam for Hamilton as Hamilton lit up a joint for both of them. The 71-year-old florist, who was also a shameless lothario, toasted the 50-year-old Hamilton, took a long draw from his doobey, and asked with a twinkle in his bright grey eyes, "Where's that pretty little miss you brought down here with you? I'd give a month's pay just for one quick peek at those pretty, plump hooters." Hamilton explained, between guffaws, that his partner, Lynn Patrick was sleeping off a hangover in the back of the bus and she'd probably be up by noon. Hamilton downed the shot, winced as it burned his gullet, and left the old man to his fantasies. America had been through a lot in these past four months, but naughtiness still managed to prevail!
The O.U.T.R.A.G.E. movement continued to build a following, as millions of Americans started to realize that this was truly an American Revolution. No longer would cretins calling themselves public servants be allowed to suck off the taxpayers' teats. No longer would big business, special interest groups, lobbyists, and wealthy elitists rule the nation. This was the beginning of a new era of true democracy in which "the people" would rule through popular referendum and active participation. To be a public servant in this new politicaly system, you'd truly have to be a person of honor and integrity. Politicians no longer would be blood-sucking leeches who did absolutely nothing for the people. From now on the people would tell their public servants exactly what they wanted done - and the public servants would be expected to comply. Period.

"It's Sunday, May 11, 2008," Jil Adams announced with all the stern professionalism she could muster. "This first meeting of the PAROBA Group has been called to initiate dispersal of more than one hundred million dollars in donations from the casinos and their guests here in Laughlin, Nevada." As Adams spoke, other members of the PAROBA Group silently shifted in their seats, gently held their heads, and tried to pretend like they were alive. Informal discussions between Adams, Ryan, Oetting and Baker had led to some fresh ideas for a new social order in the United States, but nothing concrete had come from those talks. They were simply comments being tossed around while sitting on the beaches of St. Kitts.
A consummate party person, Adams was also one who took pride in her work. She'd been honored to accept this challenge from Interim President Colin Powell, and had performed her duties admirably. She'd visited more than twenty communities and managed motivational programs for O.U.T.R.A.G.E. members who had grown weary and needed to be pumped up so that their exhaustive work could continued unabated. From the start, those involved in the 'Rebellion of '08' knew the real work would take place only as an aftermath of the January 17 carnage. But who could have predicted that work from the man-made explosions would be further exacerbated by two natural disasters? O.U.T.R.A.G.E. members had been overwhelmed, and - while many might have viewed Adams' work as petty - her community 'parties' had proven to be strong motivators that not only brought people together, but, more importantly, had raised the spirits of O.U.T.R.A.G.E. members around the nation.
Adams had invested huge amounts of her time and talents in successfully orchestrating these events. Now she had a chance to provide more stimulus by distributing money to help start rebuilding processes across the country.
Her only concern was that this was going to have to be done with the "help" of three drunken sots who didn't seem to take the missions as seriously as she did - and now she had the added burden of having to work with two women whom she didn't know, and who obviously were a distraction to at least one PAROBA Group member, Phil Baker. Adams decided to call in reinforcements that might bring this group into focus: she called in the spouses. By the end of the day, private planes had brought Janie Baker and Cher Ryan to Laughlin. Paulette and Annette's husbands arrived on a commercial flight direct from Detroit. "That will settle them down," Adams whispered to herself. "Now the work of the PAROBA Group can begin in earnest."
Her only other concern was that one loose cannon: Ron Oetting. While still legally married, he and his wife had been separated for six years; how - and who - could rope this unstable steer? Adams decided she'd have to be the one to keep Oetting in line. A quick kick in the ass would ground him. Then she'd stomp on his neck with her sturdy cowboy boots and keep him eating her dust while cajoling him into helping her get this job done.
Globally, turmoil had set into the financial markets. Powell's talk about world war had distressed stock markets; the reckless economic policies of the Bush administration were beginning to create signs of a severe economic depression in the United States. Events of the 'Rebellion of '08', followed by the east coast hurricane and the west coast earthquake, were causing disturbing fiscal aftershocks. Corporations without national headquarters were effectively out of business. While the stock market hit record highs in October of 2006, the stock market hit record lows by October, 2007...and the events in the first quarter of 2008 only served to drive American stock markets into a frightening downward spiral. Economists were predicting that a stock market crash could occur anytime, certainly before the winter of 2008 - and their prognosis wasn't good. Most financial analysts were forecasting a severe depression that would make October of 1929 look like an ice cream social at the local Methodist church. With that, experts warned, would come more than financial woes; the suicide rate would soar and family relationships would crumble. Many families, after all, were held together only because of money. Without money, there was no love, loyalty or commitment. It was a sad state of affairs for such a seemlingly strong society, but the true fact was that the American family threads were loosely weaved together in large part because of materialism, just as the American corporate culture was tied only to the next quarter's profit and that all-important 'bottom line'. Jil Adams knew her PAROBA Group could make a dramatic difference, especially since it now had a hundred million dollars of 'seed' money. While the American Red Cross and many other philanthropic organizations were providing money for rescue and recovery work, health and medical care, and rebuilding, the PAROBA Group could focus on social needs that would also begin to change the culture of a society gone mad over money and material goods.
Strangely, Adams had always been a believer in the profit motive. She was a capitalist, and she managed her many bars with every intention of making money. But this comely blue-eyed blonde of impeccable pulchritude also had a human side to her. She was a 'giver' - someone who genuinely cared about others, and someone who truly wanted to make the world a better place. Now she had that opportunity. With a hundred millions dollars, and a few good ideas from Ryan, Oetting and Baker, she believed she could implement changes that would make a difference. Ryan, Oetting, and Baker did have a few brain cells that still functioned; if she could parley their hair-brained, off-the-wall, booze-induced ideas into workable solutions, life could be good - for everyone, everyone in the entire United States of America. Parameters would have to be established and potential upcoming events would have to be taken into consideration. Jil's beggest challenge would be keeping Ryan, Oetting, and Baker just inebriated enough to produce fresh ideas while ensuring that they stayed sober enough to convey those ideas in some kind of coherent manner. The future of America rested on her ability to reign in these three colorful characters. That would be like trying to control three cocks in a house full of horny hens. Ryan, Oetting and Baker were the three cocks; Laughlin was the house full of horny hens. Adams hoped Janie and Cher would help her hold sway over the hen house. The two wives assured her that the cocks' visits to the hen house - and the hen house watering troughs - would be severely restricted. Annette and Paulette's husbands promised to keep a tight leash on the two newest members of the PAROBA Group. A curfew was established. Law and order had come to town. Jil Adams was "the happiest girl in the whole U.S.A.". Now the course of business could begin, in time to make a difference before the predicted economic collapse of the country.

It had been an exhilarating weekend. After Powell's speech on Friday, May 9, and the A.R.O.B. Group's trip to Laughlin on Saturday, there seemed to be new momentum being gained every day. Bob Ryan immediately went to work trying to figure out how to disperse a hundred million dollars donated by Nevada gamblers and casinos. He had brought briefcases full of data, print-outs, and reports along; the A.R.O.B. Group had been charged with making the Laughlin donation a memorable pr event to encourage other businesses and communities to initiate their own fund-raising efforts. Indeed, the American Red Cross has collected hundreds of millions from citizens all over the country. Money had poured in from other countries. But the United States of America had suffered untold trillions of dollars in damage. The cost of rebuilding was immeasureable. One of the first orders of business when they finally settled into their suite of rooms at the Golden Nugget was to regroup. Jil Adams recommended that the now infamous A.R.O.B. Group be renamed the PAROBA Group (a new acronym for Paulette, Adams, Ryan, Oetting, Baker, and Annette). A subtle acknowledgement that - like it or not - Paulette and Annette were now part of this band of party revelers, Adams nonetheless was not all that pleased. As is often the case, she was completely comfortable working with the three guys she'd known for a long time; now she had to contend with two virtual strangers who might be an asset to their work (but just as easily could become a liability). Oetting had similar concerns. He'd seen Baker's tail wagging in the fall of 2006; like a puppy dog anxious for another leg-humping, Baker couldn't resist the lure of the prey that got away. He was a womanizer, and there was no doubt that Paulette and Annette were - well, women...women of ample and statuesque proportions. By Saturday afternoon Adams, Ryan, Oetting and Baker had settled in for some serious work. Only Baker knew what was would happen next: Annette and Paulette abruptly burst through the doors that sealed off the PAROBA Group's secluded conference room. Jiggling, and juggling pitchers of 'Green Meanies' from Joe's Crab Shack on the lower level of the Golden Nugget, the buxom beauties had gladly taken a hundred-dollar bill from Baker, and sampled the tantalizing rum concoctions before bringing massive quantities of the green libation to the 'meeting'. The trouble with 'Green Meanies' is that they sneak up on you: what tastes like Hawaiian punch packs a wallop like Wild Turkey.
Adams, Ryan, Oetting, and Baker hadn't been off the plane for more than four hours and already it was party time! If Colin Powell found out, he wouldn't be happy. But, as reckless as it seemed, it served as an appropriate 'ice breaker' which allowed Ryan and Adams to get to know the two new partners better. By 7:30 Saturday evening, Paulette had taken Bob down to the casino to show him her favorite poker game. Annette and Baker had managed to sneak out of the conference room to whereabouts unknown. Adams and Oetting sat in the conference room by themselves, and finally looked at each other and said, "What the hell? When in Rome, do as the Romans do!" By 8:00 p.m. the conference room was dark and empty with Bob Ryan's mountains of paperwork spread all over the huge walnut oval-shaped table. Work would have to wait until Sunday.

Nowhere was America's self-indulgence more prevalent than in its gambling meccas. Since the days when Bugsy Seigel and Meyer Lansky ripped into the Nevada desert and established a new playground for the ultra-rich, gambling had become a mammoth industry all over the country. The glitz and glitter of Las Vegas and Atlantic City proved something to politicians: not only did sex and sin "sell", it was also an intriguing way to generate more revenues for local municipalities, states, and - of course - the federal government. Once politicians acquiesed to big business and allowed gaming to become legal, dormant communities like Biloxi, Michigan City and Lake Tahoe thrived. Within a matter of ten years almost every state in the union had its own lottery. Native American Indian tribes petitioned the federal government to allow casinos on their reservations, making billions of dollars that - in turn - trickled down into state and federal government coffers. Politicians justified it as 'entertainment', claiming that if gambling was legalized it would eliminate the criminal element and generate billions of dollars for schools and other projects for which governments no longer had sufficient resources. This same theory didn't apply, for some reason, to legalizing drugs. Nor did politicians bother to research the potential social costs involved in turning their constituents into gaming addicts. The gambling fever spread into the top echelons of the Bush administration in the early 2000's, eventually toppling several of George W. Bush's closest compatriots who were siphoning off billions in profits in collusion with certain Indian-operated casinos. Gambling had become a huge business, attracting more than just the typical 'high rollers' who could afford to lose tens of thousands of dollars at a blackjack table. Little old ladies would throw their life savings on a game of Keno. Welfare moms got on a bus to Atlantic City from Washington, DC, willing to bet their paltry monthly government check on the pull of a slot machine and the lure of the "big win". Working stiffs jusitifed it as "the cost of the vacation", expecting to lose however much money they brought with them (while secretly hoping they'd "hit it big"). Widows would spend their late husbands' pension check on lottery tickets, dreaming about instant riches that could make them beautiful and 'happy' all over again. Gambling became an American addiction where even the winners ended up losers.
As part of its mission to destroy big business entitites, O.U.T.R.A.G.E. had bombed the corporate headquarters of Bally's and Harrah's. While many of their casinos were left standing, or only minimally damaged, local managers no longer received orders from headquarters, and many casinos were still operating under nothing more than local management teams, as was the case for many other big business chains. Such lack of control afforded managers a flexibility they'd never known before. Some of them used it carelessly; others saw fit to use their new-found freedom more responsibly.
One such responsible activity didn't go unoticed by the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. members in southern Nevada. They contacted the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. headquarters in St. Kitts, suggesting that the small gaming town of Laughlin, Nevada be recognized for what had become an overwhelming outpouring of generosity. Colin Powell and John McCain immediately dispatched the A.R.O.B. team of Jil Adams, Bob Ryan, Ron Oetting and Phil Baker to Laughlin. As Powell noted with dry sarcasim, "I'm not sure what those four soak up more of: St. Kitts sunshine or Brinley's Gold Rum. But let's assign them to something more productive."
An O.U.T.R.A.G.E. plane flew them to Bull Head City, Arizona (the closest airport, located directly across the Colorado River from Laughlin), where they were met by two young women from Michigan who volunteered to help coordinate the unusual goodwill effort being undertaken. Introducing themselves only as Paulette and Annette. Baker's eyes opened wide: "I know you two!" he exclaimed. "Ron, remember Annette and Paulette?" Oetting took a closer look, and chirped, "Hey! Yeah! I know you two!" Baker's eyes gleamed as he said, "I'd know that come-hither look anywhere!" He looked into Annette's haunting eyes that paled into the color of olives shimmering in a martini glass in the hot Nevada sunlight. Paulette's ponytail bounced in the soft desert breeze as her gray-blue eyes surveyed the two men. "My God!" she finally screeched, "I can't believe it! It's you guys again!" Nineteen months earlier, in October, 2006, Baker and Oetting had boarded a Harrah's charter jet for a four-day gambling junket to Laughlin. In the Toledo Express airport bar, Baker struck up a conversation with the two women before they all boarded the plane. In a twist of irony, they sat in the same row. By the time the quartet had landed in Laughlin, it was like they'd known each other for a lot longer than four hours. Baker's greagarious personality attracted Annette; Paulette, on the other hand, would cackle uncontrollably as both men bombarded them with hundreds of the same stale jokes they'd been telling for years. Baker and Oetting were delighted to have a new audience for their well-worn comedic material; Annette and Paulette were comfortable finding two new friends who seemed completely harmless. Now.
in May, 2008, this foursome had once again been thrown together by the fickle winds of fate.
As Adams and Ryan watched with a skeptical eye, the four old acquaintances reminisced. "Don't tell me you guys are part of the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. organization?" Annette asked. Baker and Oetting both nodded silently, pretending not to notice her ample sun-tanned endowments. Ever the ladies' man, Baker blurted out, "God, you girls look great! Why don't we get drunk and screw?" No doubt his impulsive veracity was emboldened as a result of the seven Wild Turkeys-on-the-rocks he'd downed on the flight. Whenever complimentary alcohol was involved, Baker was an eager participant, as both girls remembered from the 2006 gambling trip. Baker would start his morning with a breakfast of Jim Beam on-the-rocks while seated at a slot machine. By three in the afternoon, he was salivating like a bloodhound in heat, willing to follow Paulette and Annette anywhere. He invited them for lunch, took them to dinner, suggested a threesome, and couldn't stop staring at their sultriness. At one time, Oetting scolded him, saying, 'Bake, you're acting like a dirty old man." Baker had replied, "You idiot! I AM a dirty old man!" Now his restless loins were heating up in the blazing Nevada sun. Jil Adams brusquely punched him in the gut, whispering under her breath, "Phil, we're here to do a job, remember?" Ryan stood speechless, trying desperately to keep his tongue from falling out of his mouth. It didn't occur to Baker or Oetting to introduce Paullette and Annette to Jil and Bob. Manners didn't seem to matter at the moment. Baker was already ready for a repeat of frolicking with these two women - the hell with what he'd been sent to do. In fact, in just those few brief moments, Baker had pretty much forgotten what he'd been sent to do.
The six jumped into a waiting O.U.T.R.A.G.E. van, piloted by Paulette, and headed across the river to the Golden Nugget. 'We decided to stay here this time," Annette explained, "because when we were here in '06, I won $1500. Remember, Phil?" Phil's tongue was tied in knots as he mentally compared Annette's hooters to heaping mounds of mango-mandarin Jell-O. Somehow, he managed to emit a grunt that might have been interpreted as, "Uhh..oh, yeah." Without hesitating, Paulette then described what had happened in Laughlin. She and Annette had taken another vacation from the jobs at Chrysler in Detroit, and arrived in Laughlin on January 17, 2008. Unaware that President Bush was making his State of the Union address that afternoon, they'd been playing their favorite poker machines when the casino's power went out. "We were stranded here," Paulette explained, "and we couldn't even play the slots! But the casino treated us really well. When we found out what happened, we were approached by a couple of O.U.T.R.A.G.E. members and asked to stay on to help kick-start things here. We decided, 'What the hell?' - and we've been here ever since! Our husbands say that Detroit's a war zone anyway, and they even thought it was a better idea for us to stay out here." She continued non-stop: "Anyway, we finally hooked up with the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. group and helped to organize the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. Outreach Program! When we heard how so many people were left homeless around the country, we felt we could help. Then, when the hurricane struck the east coast and the earthquake hit L.A. - we felt the aftershocks here! - there was no way we could go back! I understand you guys are here to recognize all the people in Laughlin who made all this happen!" Adams finally interrupted, asking, "Well, yeah, but can you tell us exactly what happened? All we were told was that it was a phenomenal gesture of generosity."
Annette's bubbly personality took over as Paulette almost hit a station wagon that had stopped abruptly for no apparent reason. "Virtually every casino was left without any of its corporate management. Suddenly, the local casino managers were completely in charge, and had no corporate bosses to answer to; when they started hearing about the disasters around the country, they organized the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. Outreach Program and asked us to help coordinate the efforts. All casino guests were asked to help, and I'd guess 97% of them did!"
"Did what? Annette, what did they do?" Adams pressed, insistently.
"Everyone agreed to donate all their winnings to a massive relief effort! Each casino invited the American Red Cross to set up a collection booth. It's absolutely amazing! In a little less than four months we've collected over one hundred million dollars! I thought you guys were coming out here to pick up the proceeds and get it out to where ever it was needed." The A.R.O.B. Group was stunned! A hundred million dollars - just from some little one-horse gambling town? Adams, Ryan, Oetting and Baker settled into the seats of their comfortable Odyssey 8-passenger van. For the first time since the plane landed, Ryan spoke up and said, "Gee....how in the hell are we gonna spend it all?" It was a rhetorical question; he knew, of course, that money for rebuilding, reforming, and revitalizing communities across the country was desperately needed.
Baker stumbled from the van as it pulled up in front of the Golden Nugget, falling into Annette's arms and burying his face in her chest. It was quite innocently accidental, but Baker couldn't have planned it any more impeccably. Just as in 2006, it looked like Oetting and Paulette would have to play chaprone, keeping Annette and Baker at a respectably safe distance from each other. This chance reunion had once again fueled the lustful fire between these two, and there was work to do. Those flames would have to be doused daily if anything was going to get accomplished. Paulette, Oetting, Ryan and Adams recognized that undeniable fact. Baker and Annette, on the other hand, were oblivious to anything going on around them. "If I were a gambling man," Oetting quietly said to Adams and Ryan, "I'd bet this spark is going to explode into a firestorm. Something tells me the sands of Mohave County won't be nearly as scorched as the sheets on Baker's bed."