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.