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."