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Chapter 10 ALTERNATE POLITICS
Nobody Saw THIS One Coming! [ARNS]
by FRANCIS GRECOROMACOLLUDEN, Alternate Reality News Service National Politics Writer
Former President Barack Obama has been arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit war crimes. President Rush Limbaugh has also ordered the arrest of former Vice President Joe Biden, former Attorney General Eric Holder and 27 other members of the previous administration.
"Our duty, under both international law and our own statutes, is clear," President Limbaugh solemnly explained. "When somebody has committed a war crime, whether it's a lowly janitor or a lowly President, he must be tried in a court of law. And, make no mistake, torture is a war crime."
Pumping his fist in the air, President Limbaugh added: "Woot! Woot! Woot!"
Nehria Gershmenian, Obama's attorney, called the charges outrageous. "When he first took office," Gershmenian told the press, "President Obama made it clear that he would not condone torture, and there is no evidence that any prisoner of war was tortured while he was in office. There is no basis for these charges."
Taking a deep, calming breath, Gershmenian added: "Oh, and I think taking a victory lap around the Oval Office because you have had your predecessor arrested is in poor taste."
"Oh, get over yourself, Missy," President Limbaugh...well, he brayed. There was definite high-pitched nasality in his voice. "I'm not saying Obama personally tortured anybody - Sean [Hannity] and Glenn [Beck] are all over that allegation.
"What I'm saying is that Obama and his socialist lackeys knew that members of the Bush administration had ordered torture - hell, Bush and Cheney went on television and boasted about it! Failing to prosecute a war crime such as torture is itself a war crime. So...there you go."
President Limbaugh closed his eyes and rocked back and forth, a grin spreading on his face, pictures of which should probably be illegal to show to children.
"Don't call me Missy," Gershmenian hotly retorted. "I'm not Baby, Sweetie, Toots or Your Loving Little Soap Bubble, either. Can we please keep this on a professional basis?"
Balling her fists, Gershmenian added, "Oh, and, how can you prosecute Obama when nobody in the Bush administration was prosecuted for war crimes? Where is the underlying crime that Obama is alleged to be complicit in?"
"Statute of limitations, baby," President Limbaugh laughed. (Press Secretary Ann Coulter pointed out later that day that President Limbaugh was not calling Gershmenian "Baby," that the word he used was a generic mildly sarcastic endearment - you could tell because it wasn't capitalized.) "It ran out before we could bring anyone from the Bush administration to trial. And, ain't that just a friggin' shame and a half?"
President Limbaugh bent over forwards, grabbed his knees and...farted in the general direction of Gershmenian's office. Then, adjusting his tie so he wouldn't look unpresidential, he added: "Don't worry, though. There'll be plenty of evidence of Bush era war crimes at Obama's trial. It's not like there wasn't tons of it when Obama was in office, My Little Soap Bubble!"
"Okay, that was way out of line!" Gershmenian gasped. "Did it have to be so smelly?"
"I still got it!" President Limbaugh crowed. "I can still piss off Liberals!"
"If I may just interject on a scholarly note, here," presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin interrupted, "President Limbaugh's actions are not without historical precedent. Abraham Lincoln was known to place the business end of his top hat over his derriere and dance a jig whenever he learned something bad had happened to his enemies. Teddy Roosevelt perfected a rude gesture that involved his nose, his pinky finger and a tin of pickled smelts."
When asked about the more serious issue of the charges against Obama administration officials, Kearns Goodwin replied, "What do I look like, a lawyer?"
"I look like a lawyer, so why don't I take this one?" criminal lawyer Allan Manischewitz smoothly commented. "The problem with not prosecuting somebody for war crimes is that it can become infinitely regressive. If Obama doesn't prosecute Bush, Limbaugh prosecutes Obama. If Limbaugh doesn't prosecute Obama, he leaves himself open to charges of not prosecuting war crimes by the president who comes after him. If the next president doesn't prosecute Limbaugh, he risks getting charged by his successor, and so on. It's a daisy chain from hell. Better that Limbaugh nipped it in the bud. So to speak."
Signing his name in the air for no apparent reason, Manischewitz added: "Oh, and my name is Dershowitz. The mild pun on my name was kind of sophomoric, don't you think?"
We were going to ask President Limbaugh if fear of being prosecuted by his successor was his motivation for bringing the charges against Obama, but he was busy mooning the Senate minority leader's office and we thought it best not to disturb him while carrying out the duties of his office.
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Welcome, Science Fiction Fans!
If you came to Les Pages aux Folles curious about my writing thanks to science fiction or fan fiction, welcome! You can find the complete text of Alternate Reality Ain't What It Used To Be and What Were Once Miracles Are Now Children's Toys in the Archive Section, as well as three new Alternate Reality News Stories every third week in the New Section. They are clearly marked [ARNS] for easy identification. And, please feel to browse through the other writing, cartoons and miscellaneous oddments - you never know what you might enjoy!
You may already be a winner? Well, actually...
It is with great pleasure that I can announce that I have taken first prize in the Swift Satire Writing Competition. This was for a poem called "Love Amid the Construction. The official announcement can be found here. Details of the contest, including, at some point soon, my winning entry, can be found here. What can I say?
WHOOT WHOOT WHOOT!
Do Not Adjust Your Eyes
The Weight of Information: Episode One: The Realities Leak is now available on YouTube! This pilot for a radio series is based on stories out of the two Alternate Reality News Service Books, Alternate Reality Ain't What It Used To Be and What Were Once Miracles Are Now Children's Toys (or, as one online used bookstore has it, What Were Once Miracles Are Now Children - don't ask). Click on this link to listen to Part One and this link to listen to Part Two. Interdimensional travel has never been so...multidimensional!
You May Already Be A Winner Redux
The Alternate Reality News Service, in conjunction with the Grasping for the Wind Web site, is running a contest! The readers who submit the best questions to either of the Alternate Reality News Service columns (which, regular readers will remember, are Ask Amritsar and Ask the Tech Answer Guy) will win free autographed copies of What Were Once Miracles Are Now Children's Toys (or, as one online discount bookseller has it listed, What Were Once Miracles Are Now Children - don't ask). Click on the link for the rules. Enter now, enter often!
Ira Speaks!
Sal Monaco, the Oracle of Enlightenment who now does interviews at Think Twice Radio, conducted an interview with me at Polaris 24. Don't think twice: go to Sal Monaco's Think Twice Radio Web page and give it a listen!
The Alternate Reality News Service Grows Up
Have you ever wanted to know what goes on behind the scenes at the Alternate Reality News Service? Of course you didn't! But, now that the question has been raised, it sounds intriguing, no? Okay, probably not. Still, here's the thing: there is now a Facebook group called The Alternate Reality News Service Cafe. If you go there, you will automatically receive a tri-weekly newsletter full of exclusive information. It is also a place where you can contribute to the Alternate Reality News Service and even, perhaps, work your way up the ARNS ladder until you are given a journalistic beat all for yourself. Doesn't that sound exciting?
Don't answer that.
Would you be interested in immortality?
As you may have noticed, there is a weekly feature on Les Pages aux Folles called The Daily Me. Each article in this feature is a collection of bits and pieces of interest to a different person. I probably won't be shocking any of my readers when I say that, to date, I have made the persons up. (If you are shocked, I hear the Girls With Eyepatches site is nice this time of year...) Well, a future Daily Me could feature...you!
Simply send me an email with your name and the names of three or four publications you regularly read and three or four issues/subjects in which you have an interest. Then, let me digest them and, two or three weeks later, The Daily Me could be The Daily You! Your name will appear in my writing...forever! No complicated creams! No messy cryogenic devices! Immortality has never been easier! What are you waiting for?
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