LJWorld.com

Posted by Reasonmclucus on December 9, 2009 at 3:52 p.m.

• permalink

Is Western Society Doomed?

Posted by Reasonmclucus on September 16, 2009 at 11:30 p.m.

• permalink

Down Syndrome Doesn’t Stop Eagle Scouts

Posted by Reasonmclucus on June 18, 2009 at 12:09 a.m.

• permalink

Tom Brokaw Reduced to Infomercials

Posted by Reasonmclucus on December 17, 2008 at 3:32 p.m.

• permalink

Food Lovers 12 Days of Christmas

I wrote the following several years ago to reflect one of the favorite activities of Americans --eating.On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to mea chocolate-cherry milk shake.On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to metwo turkey legs,and a chocolate-cherry milk shake.On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to methree baked potatoes,two turkey legs,and a chocolate-cherry milk shake.On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to mefour scoops of dressing,three baked potatoes,two turkey legs,and a chocolate-cherry milk shake.On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to mefive cherry pies,four scoops of dressing,three baked potatoes,two turkey legs,and a chocolate-cherry milk shake.On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to mesix chocolate cakes,five cherry pies,four scoops of dressing,three baked potatoes,two turkey legs,and a chocolate-cherry milk shake.On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to meseven carrot sticks,six chocolate cakes,five cherry pies,four scoops of dressing,three baked potatoes,two turkey legs,and a chocolate-cherry milk shake.On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to meeight bowls of pudding,seven carrot sticks,six chocolate cakes,five cherry pies,four scoops of dressing,three baked potatoes,two turkey legs,and a chocolate-cherry milk shake.On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to menine baked Alaskas,eight bowls of pudding,seven carrot sticks,six chocolate cakes,five cherry pies,four scoops of dressing,three baked potatoes,two turkey legs,and a chocolate-cherry milk shake.On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to meten candy canes,nine baked Alaskas,eight bowls of pudding,seven carrot sticks,six chocolate cakes,five cherry pies,four scoops of dressing,three baked potatoes,two turkey legs,and a chocolate-cherry milk shake.On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to meeleven cups of egg nog,ten candy canes,nine baked Alaskas,eight bowls of pudding,seven carrot sticks,six chocolate cakes,five cherry pies,four scoops of dressing,three baked potatoes,two turkey legs,and a chocolate-cherry milk shake.On the twelveth day of Christmas my true love gave to metwelve Krispy Kremes,eleven cups of egg nog,ten candy canes,nine baked Alaskas,eight bowls of pudding,seven carrot sticks,six chocolate cakes,five cherry pies,four scoops of dressing,three baked potatoes,two turkey legs,and a chocolate-cherry milk shake.© Copyright 2005 Reason McLucus

Posted by Reasonmclucus on September 12, 2008 at 2:43 a.m.

• permalink

Earth2 - 50 Minute War _ Chap 3

Morning in The Middle EastAt 8:00 A.M. Egyptian time the new Egyptian President Abdul Takamen was preparing to meet with some foreign investors that afternoon to discuss enlarging the Suez Canal. He was very pleased with the way things were going in Israel. Takamen had a vision for Egypt that required peace in Israel. He knew that Egypt's primary economic hope was in trade. The Suez Canal could provide the country even more benefits if the area of Israel and Lebanon became a major manufacturing center. The Canal would be the route for manufactured goods headed toward the Far East. Takamen wanted to encourage Israel to continue developing technology for growing crops with limited water so that Egypt could take advantage of the technology. Well paying university positions were available for those interested in the areas of solar technology, particularly using solar energy to remove salt from sea water. Apparently, no one knew or even suspected that he had arranged the deaths of some of the more violent Palestinian leaders through accidents or "illnesses" while buying off others. Investigations indicated that members of some rival groups had killed each other in gunfights. One of his scientists had found a way to make Hezbollah's ammunition deteriorate and become unstable. A few explosions of defective rockets had encouraged Lebanese citizens to report any Hezbollah ammo dumps they knew about. Takamen was somewhat of a mystery man. Foreign intelligence services had checked his biography and discovered part of it seemed to have been faked. The information they were able to discover indicated he might not really be an Egyptian. They suspected that he was covering up Palestinian ancestry because of concerns Egyptians would be less willing to accept a Palestinian as their leader. Takamen told everyone he had changed his name to connect with the days of the pharaohs when Egypt was a major power. Intelligence analysts believed the name he changed it from wasn't the one he was born with.Takamen's predecessor had designated him as a potential successor because Takamen had such a strong vision of the country's future and an ability to communicate with the Egyptian people. Takamen used the assassination of his predecessor by radical Muslims to discredit the radicals.One of Takamen's first projects was improving Egyptian intelligence gathering capabilities. He believed he had succeeded in making Egyptian intelligence second only to Israeli intelligence. One of the steps he took was to develop an intelligence sharing relationship with the U.S., particularly regarding watching the Palestinians. Egypt maintained diplomatic relations with Israel in part because it allowed Egypt to gather intelligence in Israel. He felt the shift of American intelligence gathering to the military from the CIA was beneficial to Egypt. His military attaches could share intelligence through American military attaches in other countries at social functions. Egyptian agents had found an interesting way to share intelligence in Israel. A female Egyptian agent had developed a romantic relationship with a Marine security guard at the American embassy in Israel. A military attache talked to the Marine's commanding officer Captain David Lawrence who agreed to share intelligence through the two of them. Any Muslim state that knew she was an agent would just figure she was trying to spy on the Americans. Takamen was one of the few outside of Iraq who knew for certain that Saddam Hussein and his sons were dead. The details were still unclear, but his intelligence people had discovered that they had died from a disease that might have been connected to a biological weapons program. Apparently one of them (it was unclear which one) had become infected and passed the infection along to the others. One report indicated that the person responsible might have been suicidal. Unlike many other leaders, Takamen thought the situation in Israel was a little too quiet. Egyptian intelligence indicated that Iran and Syria were very unhappy with the Israeli peace agreement and might try to find a way to sabotage it. He was concerned that the quiet situation meant they were waiting for something. Egyptian agents had infiltrated the larger Palestinian organizations, but some very small ones appeared to be existing as sleeper cells.Takamen represented the new Egyptian nationalism. He argued that Egypt should stop viewing itself as subordinate to the Arab world. Egypt was an empire while the Arabs and Israelis were wandering around the desert and should be the leading nation in the region. Egypt had been a major economic power in the ancient past and could be again.Publically these nationalists argued that Moses was actually an Egyptian religious dissident who found acceptance of his teachings among the Israelites. Under their teaching, Moses persuaded Aaron to call him brother in exchange for making Aaron his priest. The Israelites were primarily an Egyptian group because the small group that arrived originally could not have become so numerous without marrying Egyptian women. The Israelis weren't too enthusiastic about such claims, but did welcome the closer relations that followed. The State Department viewed the change in Egypt as positive and contributing to peace in the region. Intelligence analysts were concerned about the implications of what was going on in private among the nationalist academics. They were trying to develop approaches that would have Egypt compete for control of Islam. They were looking for ways to interpret the Koran that would suggest that other Muslims had moved away from the true teachings of Allah through his prophet Mohammed. If the Jewish religion was an outgrowth of a minor Egyptian religion, then the same claim could be made for Islam.The Egyptians were urging a nonviolent version of Islam. [Some in the Pentagon called it a kinder, gentler Islam.] They believed that the violent version discredited the Islamic world and kept it in an inferior power position to the rest of the world. The more advanced nations considered Islamic nations to be primitive and prone to barbarism. Takamen wanted Egypt, if not the entire Middle East, to become the center of learning that it had been when the Europeans were the primitive barbarians.In Damascus, Syria, American Ambassador James Allen "Sandy" Sanderson was preparing for the upcoming Easter holiday. He still used the nickname his current boss gave him when they served together in Vietnam. Sandy, like Brew, couldn't afford college so figured he'd go ahead and get his military service out of the way. Unlike Brew, Sandy didn't have any plans for a career. Vietnam gave Sandy a career, or perhaps more accurately, a mission in life. Sandy decided to pursue a diplomatic career to try to prevent future wars.He thought he was succeeding here in Syria. He had persuaded the Syrian government to support the Israeli peace agreement, at least in public. He wasn't completely sure they would be satisfied with Israel turning over the Golan Heights to a Palestinian government instead of returning it to Syria. Then, there was Syria's continuing desire to dominate Lebanon.Sandy thought one of the his favorite protest songs from the 60's could be modified to fit the situation in the Mideast. The original included the line "the French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the Poles...and I don't like anybody very much." The Middle Eastern version might go: "the Sunnis hate the Shiites, the Shiites hate the Kurds...and everybody hates the Jews." Iran's apparent attempt to develop nuclear weapons could make the next line come true. "But we can be thankful and tranquil and proud for man's been endowed with a mushroom shaped cloud. And we know for certain that some lovely day, someone will set the spark off and we will all be blown away." The world had survived other rival nations having nuclear weapons, but Iran's leadership might be irrational enough to actually use such weapons and bring destruction to the entire region.Sandy disagreed with those who blamed the Muslim religion for the situation. Religion didn't cause such problems, it was the way politically ambitious individuals used religion that caused the problems. Those who wanted to make trouble emphasized issues that encouraged violent acts. Ambitious politicians or clerics with political ambitions could find issues to fight over even if it was something trivial like the Lilliputians and their dispute over which end of the egg to eat first.The Europeans had fought numerous wars over the centuries and had only abandoned the idea of war among themselves after the devastation of WWII. The various peoples of the Middle East had been fighting each other since Biblical times. War hadn't imposed sufficient costs on them to convince them to stop fighting. Sandy also believed that the hot dry climate likely contributed to their inability to get along by making them more irritable. .Sandy had helped design the current American embassy in Syria. The building included a large basement, part of which was accessed through a concealed door. He proposed the hidden area to allow embassy personnel to hide in the event of a situation like the takeover of the embassy in Tehran years earlier. Food was stored in the area. The area had a tunnel that could be used to escape from the building. The plaques on Sandy's desk stated his philosophy. One quoting MASH's Hawkeye Pierce stated: "War Is War and Hell Is Hell and of the Two War Is Worse...There Are NO Innocent Bystanders in Hell."The other quote he believed had been made by Dr. Martin Luther King:"True Peace Is not the Absence of WarBut the Presence of Justice."In the Kremlin it was 9:00 A.M., President Vasili Petrovich Karpananov was contemplating the Easter holiday. He had inherited the presidency just before Easter three years earlier. President Vladimir Putin had died of what was officially described as a heart attack. Actually he had been poisoned by someone with a long standing grudge. The assassination had been covered up so that no one would know the old ways had not completely died in the modern Russia. Vasili was not concerned so much about the response of the Russian people. He didn't want the rest of world to believe that Russia was a backward country. The assassin was taken care of in the old way, with the death disguised as a traffic accident. Vasili had been known as Peter the Great when the 6' 8" forward led the Soviet basketball team to an Olympic gold medal. He decided it wouldn't be a good idea to use that name when he decided to work in the government. He didn't want to appear too ambitious and thus a possible threat to those higher up in the government. He wanted to lead the nation, but felt it safer to keep his ambitions secret.At one point he seriously considered defecting, but he decided he would rather try to change the Soviet system from within. He believed that the Soviet system needed to change or it would eventually collapse. He felt that trying to reach a position to change the system would be an even bigger challenge than defeating the U.S. in basketball in the Olympics.He knew that tsar Peter the Great had been a tall man with athletic ability. The original Peter the Great had sought to modernize the Russia of his day. Vasili wanted to follow in the original Peter's foot steps, but not let anyone know his goal so he told everyone to call him Vasili.Before entering government service, Vasili studied leaders of the past and current political and economic theories. As a government employee he always acted as a team player as he had as a member of the basketball team. He always made sure that his supervisors and others in whatever office he was working in received credit even if the ideas were his. After being transferred to other positions or promoted above his supervisor, he would always make positive comments about his old boss to his new one. Personnel in the bureaucracy appreciated such loyalty. His bosses were glad to recommend him for promotion to higher levels because they knew he might be able to help them advance later. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Vasili allowed others to persuade him to run for elective office. Older voters remembered him for his basketball playing even though he insisted they call him Vasili rather than "Peter the Great". He started out in legislative offices and later accepted cabinet appointments before he was given the number two job. Once Vasili got the top job he vowed he would do everything he could to make democracy work in Russia. Democracy had its flaws, which he would try to correct in the Russian version, but the bureaucratic system of the old Soviet Union was much worse. Not long after Putin's death Vasili had helped the new Iraqi leaders cover up an assassination of Saddam Hussein and his sons. A deranged scientist in the biological weapons program had infected himself and them with a fatal disease. His reasons were unclear, but apparently involved one of Hussein's sons doing something to a female relative or friend of his.Vasili realized that the death of Hussein would likely trigger revolt by both the Shia and the Kurds which would end the oil for food program that Russia was using to its advantage. Vasili suggested to the generals that they continue to use Hussein's clones to make it appear he was still alive. The generals would then benefit financially from the oil for food program. Russia had a good position in the region with its association with both Iraq and Iran.Vasili was uncomfortable with the Iranian nuclear program. He would have preferred that Iran purchase enriched uranium from Russia for economic reasons. Russia couldn't afford to offend Iran, but Vasili hoped the United States would be able to discourage the Iranian enrichment program or at least find a way to prevent development of weapons grade material. He had instructed Russian technicians in Iran to try to find a way that would allow remote control of a self destruct button on nuclear facilities that Russia could use if the Iranians looked like they would operate the nuclear program in a way that threatened the peace of the region. Vasili didn't trust any of the Muslim countries. Muslims suffered from a degree of irrationality that could cause explosive situations. Some of the Muslims in Chechnia were infected with the same mental disorder. He understood why the Jews might want to live in the place they called "Israel" because of Hitler. He didn't understand why they and the Palestinians were so willing to die for what Vasili considered a largely worthless piece of real estate. The area had no vast energy resources and its water could not be expected to serve much more than the current population.The North Korean nuclear program had concerned Vasili until the Chinese assured him that the Koreans were just trying to con the United States into paying them money like they had once done to the old Soviet government. Vasili wasn't concerned about North Korea using nukes against Russia, but was concerned they might provoke a war with the United States or sell weapons to radical Muslims, possibly including those in Chechnia..In Hutchinson, Kansas, 1st lt. Michael Alexander "Max" Lucas went to bed about midnight CDT. His friends had given him the nickname because of his habit of wanting to do everything to the max. Max was the executive officer of Charlie company 1/504th Airborne, 82nd Airborne Division. He had come home on leave a week earlier for his parents 30th anniversary. He planned to stay another two weeks. He was taking leave now because his unit was expecting to be sent to Afghanistan in September. He would rather take leave in the spring than in the late summer because of the cooler weather and a fascination with thunderstorms.Max was unsure what he wanted to do with his life. He didn't think he wanted a military career, but couldn't decide what he would do when he got out. He had spent the early evening monitoring severe thunderstorms in the area with a high school classmate who was a volunteer firefighter and storm spotter.

Posted by Reasonmclucus on September 12, 2008 at 2:36 a.m.

• permalink

Earth2 - 50 Minute War Chapter 2

Brew as usual went to bed about 11:00. He had a meeting scheduled for Good Friday morning, but then would be leaving to celebrate his in-laws 65th wedding anniversary on Saturday. The celebration would provide the first opportunity for Brew to see his new granddaughter.Brew was still adjusting to the presidency. He had served as a volunteer firefighter for many years, much of the time as a fire chief. In the 80's volunteer fire departments began having trouble attracting volunteers. Brew developed a program for Pennsylvania, later adopted in other states, to encourage Guard members to serve as volunteer firefighters and rural EMTs. Brew's experience as a firefighter had helped him win votes. He was driving to a campaign rally in his old Suburban when one of the cars involved in a collision just ahead of him caught fire. He used one of the big CO2 fire extinguishers he always kept in his Suburban to put out the fire and then helped free the occupants from the vehicle.The police officer who arrived shortly after the accident radioed her dispatcher to make sure the people who were waiting for Brew knew why he was delayed. He got a standing ovation when he arrived. As often happens in such situations, another motorist at the scene had a camera and sold the video of Brew's actions to CNN. The man who had no trouble pulling up to a fire and issuing the appropriate orders, was uncomfortable in staff meetings. He understood military matters, but wasn't sure about economic and social policy.Fortunately, the economy was going along well. The situation is Iraq was still unclear, but it was virtually certain that Saddam Hussein and his sons were dead. Examinations of photos and sound recordings indicated the man who appeared in public as Hussein was one of his many doubles. In fact, it wasn't always the same double who appeared as Hussein. Brew felt it was best not to make a public issue of the situation. Knowledge of Hussein's death could cause Shiites and Kurds to revolt and start a civil war.The Israeli peace process was on track. The governments of the two states, Israel and Palestine, would move into their offices in their shared capital of Jerusalem in October. Some of the other Muslim states were not happy with the prospect of peace in Israel , but it didn't appear they were in a position to do anything about it. [The Israelis had originally planned to have their capital in Jerusalem after WWII, but decided to make Tel Aviv the "temporary" capital for security reasons. An Arab blockade of Jerusalem shortly after WWII indicated the city was too vulnerable to attack. The government subsequently decided to delay establishing a permanent capital in Jerusalem to avoid international criticism.] Potential problems involved apparent efforts by Iran and North Korea to acquire nuclear weapons. Libya was still apparently working on building nukes, but was rumored to be about to end the program. Iran was a worry because it was unhappy with the Israeli peace agreement. Most people were concerned about North Korea using nukes to attack the U.S. or its allies. Brew was more concerned about North Korea selling nukes to terrorists or other countries.Pakistan and India had had a confrontation, but were beginning to withdraw their troops from Kashmir. There were still occasional conflicts among ethnic groups in Africa and elsewhere, but they tended to be local. Remnants of al Qaeda remained, but hadn't done anything significant recently other than fight allied troops in Afghanistan.Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dwight Delano "Triple-D" Duncan went to bed at about 11:00 in his apartment in the Watergate. He had planned to spend the weekend at the ranch near Vinita, Oklahoma, that he had recently purchased from his uncle and fish from his dock on the Grand Lake o' the Cherokees. However, the forecast of severe weather for the weekend changed his plans.He thought it might be better for him to stay in town anyway. Nothing was likely to happen, but the Army Chief of Staff was at NATO HQ., the Air Force Chief at the Air Force Academy for a speech and the Marine Commandant was inspecting marines in San Diego. The Navy Chief had been at Pearl Harbor, but had been expected to fly back earlier that evening.The death of President McKenzie had forced Triple-D to delay his planned March retirement for six months. President Brewster had asked him and other high ranking generals and admirals to delay retirement to maintain continuity in the military in case someone decided to try to take advantage of the unplanned change in presidents. Triple-D and his second wife Ginger were leasing the Watergate apartment so they would have a place to stay when they visited the District. They had moved in shortly before President McKenzie died.Triple-D had meet Ginger about a year after his first wife died. She was a JAG major at the time. Fortunately, she wasn't under his command. As he moved up in rank, she decided it would be better for her to retire before a conflict developed. Ironically, Triple-D's first wife had been named Mary Ann, so he could claim to have married both Mary Ann and Ginger.Ginger worked as a legal consultant and was making more than their combined retirement checks would be when he retired. She couldn't participate directly in cases involving the military, but she did provide technical information about procedures to civilian attorney's dealing with the military. She had gotten involved in the Internet and could perform most of her work from Oklahoma just as easily as in the District. Triple-D's retirement would allow her to participate in military cases.Triple-D's father had wanted a military career. He was a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne in WWII and suffered wounds that forced him to give up the idea. His father had been Brew's father's commanding officer until the injuries. He didn't try to force his children to serve in the military, but did encourage them. Triple-D's sisters had had brief military careers.Unlike many members of his generation, Triple-D had wanted to serve in Vietnam. However, the war ended a few months before he graduated from West Point. Triple-D missed out on Desert Storm because he was part of a different command. The closest he had come to a combat assignment was during the Kosovo operation. He had helped persuade President Elizabeth Dole to include an airborne assault in the effort to prevent genocide in Kosovo. Three companies of infantry and an artillery battery from the 82nd Airborne had jumped into Kosovo a few hours after the air assault began. The paratroopers had taken control of an airstrip, ambushed a couple of small tank convoys and started shelling Serbian positions before dawn. Rumors released to the press convinced the Serbs that the initial invasion force was much larger than was actually the case.He and then Rep. Brewster used the success of the operation to increase funding for airlift capacity for airborne units and reactivate Brew's old unit the 173rd Airborne Brigade which had been deactivated shortly after the end of the Vietnam War. The Brigade would be based in Italy for quick response to conflicts in the region.The team of Triple-D and Brew had persuaded President Dole and Congress to transfer responsibility for dealing with foreign terrorists from the FBI and CIA to the military after the two organizations failed to prevent the 9/11 attack. The Pentagon took over the entire military related intelligence operations of the CIA. Part of their argument was that those who might be called upon to conduct commando operations in foreign countries would be better able to prevent such attacks in the U.S. In the event an 9/11 attack was anticipated, the military could place martial arts trained personnel on hundreds of planes and wouldn't have to correctly guess which planes might be used or who the hijackers might be. The military had a lot more "warm bodies" available for emergencies then did either the CIA or FBI. As part of the transfer, a position was added to the Joint Chiefs of Staff for a officer representing special ops and intelligence.The new military SPACE suits were another of Triple-D's accomplishments. The suits designed to protect against biological, radiological and chemical weapons had originally had another name which everyone had forgotten. The suits so closely resembled space suits that they were quickly referred to as such. Triple-D secretly decided to accept the name and posted an anonymous message referring to them as Special Protection Atomic Chemical Etc. suits and the name stuck. The suits included an air conditioning system making them more desirable than the equipment they replaced.With the situation in Iraq stabilized because of the U.N. inspectors it looked like he would avoid war during his career. The inspections hadn't exactly cleared Iraq. Inspectors had trouble accounting for some supplies and equipment that might be useful for weapons of mass destruction. There had been a few suspicious explosions at possible storage sites for chemical or biological materials and some mysterious truck fires. Triple-D wasn't enthusiastic about keeping troops in Saudi Arabia to contain Hussein, but didn't see another alternative. He felt that the presence of "infidel" American troops in Saudi Arabia had been a major factor in al Qaeda's decision to launch the 9/11 attack.Triple-D and other American and British military leaders believed Iraq had decided to sacrifice their existing weapons in hopes of being able to start a new program after sanctions were lifted and the inspectors left. Iraq had never officially announced a change in leadership, but the intelligence community believed he and probably his sons were dead.There was even a rumor that he, his sons and some top military leaders had died under unusual circumstances. According to the rumor, a doctor involved in biological weapons development had arranged to infect them and himself with some type of "germ" for unknown reasons. If Saddam wasn't in charge, whoever was had decided to use Saddam's clones to give the appearance he was still in power. They apparently hoped the appearance that he was still in charge would discourage any attempt to overthrow the government. Neither his advisors nor members of the State Department could come up with a plan to use the situation to get American forces out of Saudi Arabia. Iraq without Hussein posed no threat, but knowledge of his death could start a civil war with unknown consequences.Triple-D was worried about the situation in Israel. Previous attempts at peace had met with disaster. Too many Arab leaders needed an atmosphere of violence between Israel and the Palestinians to maintain their positions. Those leaders didn't necessarily want to get rid of Israel. They needed an enemy. They wanted a perpetual conflict. He was also worried about the situation in Iran. The Iranians were pursuing nuclear energy and possibly hoping to build a bomb. They appeared to be many years away from developing their own bomb, but might they be able to use their oil wealth to purchase one from North Korea which needed money desperately. If a Muslim state did make the mistake of using a nuke on Israel, Israel might respond by destroying the rest of the Middle East.

Posted by Reasonmclucus on July 24, 2008 at 11:51 p.m.

• permalink

The Clinic chapter 1

by Megan as told to Reason McLucusThe story you are about to read is true. Thus locations are kept vague and, of course, names have been changed to protect the innocent.None of us remember who made the suggestion that led to establishment of the clinic, but we remember when it occurred. It was ten years after the Towers fell. We were celebrating Jenny winning the lottery. She didn't win a record amount, but she had the only winning ticket for the $200 some million jackpot.Unfortunately we were also mourning the fact that Dr. Jerkyl (as we called him) had been acquitted of rape. Well, actually the vote was 11 to 1 for acquittal, but the DA decided to just drop the case. We found out later that the juror who voted guilty had been one of Jerkyl's early victims. She didn't recognize him at first because he had shaved the beard and mustache he had worn then. She had forgotten his name. She probably should have told the judge, but she didn't want him to get away with it. She told us about it in confidence later.Dr. Jerkyl wasn't a violent man. He was a date rapist who used his medical knowledge to "persuade" his victims to agree to his "requests". He had partly slipped up with his last victim, or perhaps the drug didn't affect her the same as it affected the rest of us.. At least this time the DA was willing to prosecute the case even if the prosecution wasn't successful.Most of us weren't even sure we'd been raped until we started comparing notes about the dates we didn't really remember that much about. The bad doctor used the most recent date rape drug that caused the victim to be very open to suggestions without any real conscious memory of what she had done. The drug was metabolized quickly and left no trace by the next morning when the victim woke up at home.One side effect of the drug was that the victim might remember parts of the experience in dreams later, but the dream would be combined with other memories, often movie scenes. The dreams tended to be very realistic as if the event had really happened. A particular problem was that the man in the dream was always someone else. The man in my dream was...well let's just say he was a popular actor. When we started talking about our dreams we realized they were too similar to be a coincidence.We might not have figured it out if it weren't for the fact most of us were also employed in the medical profession. We had a couple of doctors along with nurses and even a couple of secretaries like myself. Several in our group knew what the drug could do. It was Mother, our shrink, who finally put all the pieces together. She had gotten involved in rape counseling after her daughter was raped several years earlier. She explained to us that the drug caused the woman to think she was having a sexual fantasy when the event was actually happening. The bad doctor convinced us we were dreaming about having sex with some celebrity when we really having sex with him. Mother suggested he probably had to imagine he was a celebrity to have sex because he felt sexually inadequate.Like I said Dr. Jerkyl used his medical knowledge to help him get away with his crimes. We found out later that not only did he use the latest drug on his victim, he also used a condom to avoid leaving any evidence. He used the latest male contraceptive himself just in case there was a problem with the condom. He gave his victim a contraceptive to further insure a little bundle of evidence didn't pop out nine months later. He had us take a shower afterwards in his shower to wash away any evidence. We discovered this last bit of information when we found the DVD's he had made of us with the concealed camera in the shower. He had recorded all of his rapes and his preparations, but the DVD's had been well hidden and encrypted. If the police had discovered them the following events might not have occurred. But, let's get back to the party. We had been drinking champagne and were getting a little bit giddy. After a while we started throwing out suggestions for ways to deal with Jerkyl."We ought to shoot him.""No, that would be too merciful.""Not where I would shoot him.""Good one!!""How about hanging him up by his ding-a-ling?""His 'ding-a-ling'???""You mean like in that song?""Well, that part of a man's anatomy often makes them act like ding-a-lings.""I'd like to give him a sex change operation.""I heard one time that Viet Cong women used to put a razor blade in a strategic spot before having sex with GI's.""Hey that would be great.""Are you sure about that razor blade story?""My aunt heard about it when she was a nurse in Vietnam, but she didn't treat anyone for it.""My mom is Vietnamese and she said she had heard about that too.""HEY THAT'S A GREAT IDEA!" Jenny shouted."You mean about the razor blade?""No, no, no," Jenny continued. "Let's give the doctor a sex change operation.""No hospital would go along with that unless he consented.""We could drug him like he drugged us.""No, they would detect the drugs.""My hospital would give him the operation for free," Jenny said."Your hospital!" several said at once."Yes, my hospital," Jenny said. "I could set up my own clinic and give him the operation.""Set up a clinic for just one patient?""No, I'd accept other sex change patients, too," Jenny answered. "I'd just make sure he was the first patient.""I know a building you might be able to buy," I said. "The clinic where I used to work is being sold because the doctors there have decided they don't want to work together any more.""But, could we really do something like that?" I asked."Of course," Jenny replied. "Members of our group have a wide range of medical skills. I once helped perform sex change operations, or to use the politically correct term 'sex reassignment surgery'.""I think I could help you attract patients," Heather said. "When I was at U. Mass I had the opportunity to work with stem cells under the Vicante brothers. I think I could use a patient's stem cells to develop a functioning uterus.""Were they working on something like that?" Jenny asked."They were too busy with more vital projects like hearts and kidneys.," Heather replied. "But it wouldn't be any problem. It's just a matter of applying the techniques used for other organs. I might even be able to give the patient ovaries.""Would they be fertile?" Jenny asked."I'm not sure if they'd be fertile or not, but they might allow the patient to experience periods,"Heather replied. "I may need to replace his Y chromosome with an X so the uterus will develop. I'm going to check to see if one of my X's would fit in without making the cells incompatible with his other ones. I may need to borrow one from one of you.""In Jerkyl's case that would almost make me wish doctors hadn't found a way to eliminate PMS," Mother remarked. "So we could perform the operation," Anne said. "What happens afterwards when he, or she, goes to the police?""I think we can prevent that," Mandy, a medicationist, said. "We can do the same thing to him he did to us. There's a new amnesia drug out that could be used to keep him from remembering who he was before the operation. We could even condition 'her' to believe she really wanted the operation.""I've heard about that," Mother said. "Some of my colleagues have been experimenting with it to help patients with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to forget particularly traumatic events. One of the problems is that it sometimes works too well. Patients sometimes forget other personal memories at least temporarily.""That's what I'm counting on," Mandy said."What about his family?" Ellen asked. "Wouldn't they notice he was missing?""He doesn't really have any family," Joan said. "I sold him a $2 million life insurance policy and he put a charity down as beneficiary. He has a sister, but hasn't had contact with her for at least 10 years.""Why would he want such a large insurance policy without any family?" I asked."If he survives until retirement, it will provide a very good annuity," Joan replied.

Posted by Reasonmclucus on July 24, 2008 at 11:45 p.m.

• permalink

Earth2 - 50 Minute War Chapter 1

President Willard Xavier (Brew) Brewster kept hoping someone would wake him up from his nightmare. But, he was reasonably certain he hadn't been dreaming. World War III, or at least a regional version of it, had just occurred.Brew had never wanted to be president. In high school he had planned to enter the "family business", as they called the steel industry, after graduation. The Brewsters didn't actually own any steel mills, but they had been making steel essentially since there had been a steel industry. Brew's great-great grandfather and great grandfather had made steel for Andrew Carnegie himself.Brew's entry into the steel business had to wait for his military obligation to be fulfilled. Military service was another Brewster tradition. His great-great grandfather had helped stop the "Johnny Reb's" at Gettysberg. Brew volunteered for airborne training, a more recent tradition. Brew's father parachuted into France on D-Day with the 101st Airborne.Brew was assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Vietnam just in time to participate in a combat jump during Operation Junction City. He later participated in major battles like Dak To and Tet. As a newly promoted buck sergeant Brew earned a silver star and a field commission as a 2nd lieutenant. . His platoon, which was participating in a battalion sized operation, encountered a larger than expected enemy force. Brew, although slightly wounded himself, risked enemy fire to pull the lieutenant and platoon sergeant to safety. He then took charge of the platoon because he was the highest ranking member in the field who was still able to lead. His first priority was to evacuate the wounded, but the nearest clearing where a helicopter could land was a mile away. Part of the lieutenant's map had been damaged when he was wounded, so Brew initially had to rely on his memory of the area they had already passed through.As he was retreating to the clearing, some men who had been cut off from other units joined them. Brew was concerned about staying ahead of the VC because movement was slowed by having to carry the wounded. Brew remembered a position the platoon sergeant had remarked earlier would be a good place for an ambush. The location was on a mound in the jungle next to a slight clearing (too small for a helicopter to land). Two trails entered the clearing from the other side. A single wider trail left the area running below the heavily vegetated mound. They reached the location far enough ahead of Charlie to set up a successful ambush. He sent a small group of men ahead with the wounded. The last men in his column then followed the trail making sufficient noise to convince Charlie that all of his men were still moving. Brew and the others stayed behind to delay the VC. By this time there were about 35 men all together with 4 M-60 machine guns and a mortar. Brew was surprised at the number of VC. They were still coming from the other two trails when the beginning of the column reached the end of the area covered by his men. The ambush with the machine gun fire directed into the clearing and the two trails convinced the remaining VC to break contact and withdraw. Brew and his men quickly checked the 53 dead VC for documents, weapons and ammunition. Subsequent analysis of the documents indicated one of the dead was the VC equivalent of an American colonel.After the wounded were evacuated Brew and his men approached the edge of an old rubber plantation. They noticed VC moving through the tall grass on the other side of the stream that separated the trees from what looked like an area that had previously been farmed. Brew had his men spread out at 10-15 foot intervals along the high bank of the stream. He told them to fire short bursts and then roll over a few times to the right or left before firing again to convince Charlie they were a larger force. Part of the lieutenant's map had been damaged when he was hit. The portion of the map showing this area was undamaged so Brew was able to call in an artillery strike to further disrupt the enemy attack and convince them to withdraw.Brew's performance in the field and the shortage of officers convinced the general to give Brew a field promotion to second lieutenant in addition to the silver star. The idea of a full time military career didn't really appeal to him because of the spit and polish world of military bases outside Vietnam. In fact he extended his tour in Vietnam until his three year enlistment was over to avoid such service. He left Vietnam a captain and continued to serve in the National Guard eventually rising to the rank of Colonel before retiring in 1990.Brew had been an above average student in high school, but not far enough above to qualify for any kind of financial assistance. Savings from his officer's salary and GI Bill money made a college education possible. He decided to study metallurgy to find better ways of making and using steel.The steel industry's financial troubles late in the century caused Brew to decide to run for Congress to try to help. Brew ran on Ross Perot's Reform Party ticket in 1992 because he didn't care for the Republicans and felt the Democrats had abandoned labor in favor of other interest groups. Brew had been a staunch Democrat in his younger days. He supported President Lyndon Johnson even when his administration's handling of the Vietnam war had been criticized. Brew believed LBJ was just getting bad advice from the generals at MACV in Saigon who didn't know what was happening in the real war out in the boonies. However, by the 90's the Democrats had started taking the same positions on the important [economic] issues as the Republicans.His drawing power helped Perot carry his district with Democrat Bill Clinton receiving only a handful of votes. Clinton's poor showing in Brew's district helped President Bush carry Pennsylvania. Brew won in spite of having to devote part of his time to heading a task force set up after Hurricane Andrew. The National Guard called him out of retirement and promoted him to brigadier general to investigate the response to Hurricane Andrew and suggest ways to improve the response to major hurricanes.As a result of the Task Force's recommendation, the National Guard took over the function of the Federal Emergency Management Agency because the National Guard reached disasters first and its personnel could be expanded to cover any size disaster. Military officers had experience in moving personnel, equipment and supplies over a broad geographic areas. Military units were designed to be able to work together. For major hurricanes or flooding, regular military units could be assigned to the National Guard commander.Brew suggested that the National Guard should treat "Mother Nature" as the equivalent of a military adversary. The Guard couldn't prevent Mother Nature from attacking, but in many cases it could anticipate attacks and be in position to respond. Moving personnel into position to respond to a disaster was similar to moving personnel into position to attack an enemy or prevent an attack. A special National Guard hurricane command center was established at Fort Benning, Georgia. When a hurricane threatened the U.S. coast, officers would develop appropriate strategies for the areas where it might make landfall and position troops, etc in the appropriate locations. As in a possible combat situation, troops could be repositioned as estimates of the site of landfall changed. Marine and Coast Guard/Navy National Guard units were established for hurricane prone states. In tornado prone states, the National Guard replaced spring weekend drills with storm mobilization exercises. When storms with the potential to produce tornadoes developed nearby National Guard units mobilized and moved into position following or paralleling the storm's path so they could move into an area hit by a tornado.The California National Guard gained fire fighting equipment, including more helicopters all capable of helping to fight fires. The equipment including a special helicopter carried tank sprayer system that Brew had invented. Groups of helicopters flying in a "parade formation" would produce an artificial rain storm along a fire line. As a member of Congress, Brew initially focused on helping the steel industry. With the full support of both labor and management, he persuaded Congress to enact legislation that would shift the financial burden of supporting steel industry retirees from individual companies to the industry as a whole. Congress enacted a tax on steel products sold in the U.S., including products manufactured outside the U.S. Exported goods were not taxed. Other manufacturing industries eventually decided to switch to a similar approach.He reluctantly agreed to run for vice president in 2004. Party leaders felt he would attract labor and veteran support that would give the party a chance to be the first new party to win a presidential election since the Republicans accomplished that feat in 1860. Brew didn't really consider the possibility of succeeding to the presidency. Presidential candidate Jackie William McKenzie was young and seemed to be in very good health. Jackie was a political science professor at UCLA when he wrote a novel about the first black president. Some of his students, who were also studying film, persuaded him to let them make the novel into a movie when him as the title character. The movie was a surprising success and was even nominated for a couple of Oscars, including the professor for best actor.In early 2000 some of his students persuaded him to run in a recall election of the California governor. One of his former professors who, as a student at Oklahoma Baptist University, had helped his political science professor, David Boren, become governor of Oklahoma, encouraged Jackie to run for California governor. Jackie won easily. The Progressive Party, formerly the Reform Party, decided he would be a good choice for its presidential candidate in 2004. He was only slightly older than Abraham Lincoln was when he was elected president. Jackie had been with the party from the start and had helped Perot do well in California in 1992 and 1996. He convinced California black voters that the Democratic Party was taking them for granted and the Republicans were ignoring them. They needed to vote for a third party to convince both parties to notice them. 70% of them responded by voting for Perot. Jackie also picked up support for the Reform Party from California college students.Jackie inadvertently helped President Bush win reelection in 1992 in a couple of other ways. In late April he had lunch with former classmate Jules Anderson who worked for a firm that sometimes did political ads. Jackie suggested that Democrat Bill Clinton's different explanations for how he avoided military service could be used in a comedy type ad. A cartoon Clinton would use the old Maxwell Smart phrase "would you believe" and then give the first explanation. Then he would say "well, would you believe" and state the second reason and so on depending on how many explanations Clinton had provided by the time the ad aired. Three months later a Political Action Committee supporting Bush hired Jules' firm and decided to use the ad. The ad began appearing in late September and became popular. The PAC even used the concept to mention other Clinton statements.As a graduate student at the University of Texas, Jackie had answered a question on a final exam by suggesting that an unpopular president might be able to use a popular third party candidate, especially an issue-oriented candidate, to improve his chances of reelection. In speeches and campaign ads the President would refer to how he agreed or disagreed with the third party candidate and largely ignore the other major party candidate. By 1992 the professor had become one of Bush's campaign advisors and he persuaded Bush to use the strategy. A late poll indicated that 6% of voters thought that Ross Perot was the Democrat and Bill Clinton the third party candidate.Who knew that a month after taking office in 2005, Jackie McKenzie would die of a previously undetected heart condition. The autopsy indicated an aortic dissection resulting from Marfan's Syndrome. He lacked the obviously long slender arms and legs that often characterizes Marfan's Syndrome, a disorder some historians believe Abraham Lincoln had.

Posted by Reasonmclucus on July 19, 2008 at 2:21 p.m.

• permalink

Introduction (Earth 2 - The 50 Minute War)

On the earth (Earth2) in the following story, President George H. W. Bush was reelected in 1992 with Ross Perot taking enough votes from Democrat Bill Clinton to prevent him from getting more than 35% of the popular vote. On Earth2 Ross Perot never dropped out of the race and Bush pursued a different campaign strategy. Bush directed his campaign against Perot creating confusion among less informed voters about who the Democratic candidate was. In 1996, Senator Bob Dole had locked up the Republican nomination, but was injured in a fall and felt he could not continue running. Party leaders convinced his wife Elizabeth to run instead. She was elected in 1996 and reelected in 2000. The Democratic Party ceased being a major party in presidential elections after the 1996 election. Many members of Congress stayed in the Democratic Party, but new members were mostly either Republicans or Reform Party members.Without Bill Clinton in the White House, the U.N. inspectors remained in Iraq and there was no reason to invade Iraq even if President Dole had been inclined to do so. A significant change occurred in Iraq when a disgruntled individual killed Saddam Hussein and his sons. Iraqi officials covered up the deaths to prevent a civil war and used Hussein's clones to give the appearance he was still alive. Only Russia and Egypt (both of which had different leaders) knew they were dead, but most western governments suspected it and were afraid to publicize their suspicions. 9/11 occurred as on our earth and NATO invaded Afghanistan.The Israel on Earth2 had kept its provisional capital in Tel Aviv instead of moving it to Jerusalem. As the story opens in early 2005 Israel and the Palestinians have reached a peace agreement with both planning to establish their capitals in Jerusalem later in the year. Both Christians and Jews observe Easter and Passover according to the same calendar.The 2004 election marked the first victory for Ross Perot's Reform Party, although he wasn't the candidate. Both members of the winning ticket had helped Perot make a strong showing in 1992. The vice presidential candidate had been elected to Congress in the same election. The presidential candidate was a political science professor who had helped divert a portion of the black vote to Perot. He subsequently wrote a novel about the first black president and was persuaded to play the central character in the movie based on the book. His students convinced him to run for governor of California.

Posted by Reasonmclucus on July 17, 2008 at 11:40 p.m.

• permalink

Parallel Earths in Science Fiction

Theoretical physicists talk about the possibility of alternate or parallel universes as part of quantum physics. According to the theory certain quantum events would occur in one way in one universe and the opposite way in a parallel universe. In such universes one or more events that happen on our earth might happen differently in another universe. For example, on another earth Richard Nixon might have been elected president in 1960 or Al Gore might have moved into the White House in January, 2001. On one earth a man named George Bailey might have been born in the town of Bedford Falls. On another earth no such person would be born in the town in the same location named Pottersville.I use this device in science fiction stories. Using parallel earths allows stories about how different events or persons could produce different situations on a planet like ours. The various Startrek series occasionally used this device with characters able to travel to parallel universes. I use the concept in this context as well as in the context of parallel star systems. Such stories involve people from earth visiting such planets and attempting to help the residents of those planets avoid the mistakes earth made. All of my stories will be set on parallel earths, but this situation won't always be obvious.