I have to say this despite not wanting to delve into politics except in open threads.

We now learn the House GOP leadership knew about Foley’s “overly friendly” relationships with male pages as early as 2001.

The White House says (via Tony Snow-Job) that it’s a case of “simply naughty emails” even though we have examples of Foley asking a teenager to measure his penis and telling the same teenager that the government representative is “a little to [sic] interested in” him despite the teenager reiterating he’s under 18, still a virgin, and doesn’t want to do anything illegal.

The Republicans are now trying to say it was the Democrats who sat on this information despite the Democrat representative on the Ethics Committee not even being informed in 2005 of the “overly friendly” e-mails the GOP knew about already.

The GOP knew about this at least a year ago, possibly even five years ago, yet did no investigation.  It took ABC News less than 24 hours of investigation to come up with a myriad of examples of Foley’s inappropriate contact with underage boys, including a plethora of e-mails and IM chats that made quite clear precisely how far this pedophile had gone.  What they have is clearly illegal from Foley’s perspective, yet Republican leaders want us to think they were concerned about it a year (possibly years) ago when they learned of the exchanges?  If that’s the case, why didn’t they investigate?  It would have easily demonstrated this man was a menace to children and had no right being in government, leading the child safety caucus in the House, or even being a free man.

Oh, and the guy in charge of the congressional page program said he was clearly warned about Foley as far back as 2001.  THEY KNEW!  What the fuck is up with these people?  And who the hell do they think they’re kidding?

The fetters imposed on liberty at home have ever been forged out of the weapons provided for defence against real, pretended, or imaginary dangers from abroad.

— James Madison

Derek was so politically savvy.  He could understand the complexities and idiosyncrasies of politics with very little effort.  He was also faithfully a Republican despite how unfortunate that now seems.  I wish he were here to voice an opinion on the state of the GOP, on the state of the country, and on the state of the world.  His view would cut decisively through whatever gibberish was being offered and undoubtedly inflict pause on anyone anywhere of any political persuasion.  I miss that critically sharp mind.  Sure, it was heavily slanted to the right, but I found the means to slice that angle into manageable chunks so that he had to face the unbiased truth and admit opinions of that ilk.  That’s what I’d love to hear right now.

This is an experiment.  It’s an online draft of a fictional short story I am writing specifically for my blog.  There are no assumptions about its quality just as there are no promises.  I’m posting it as I draft it.  That means it’s possible you will see disparities as it develops.  That’s normal since the way I write is to regurgitate what comes to mind as it forms while going back as necessary to modify previous content to accommodate the storyline.  I may or may not make those corrections as I move forward with this.  I will update the offline version of the text, however, in order to keep it coherent in that form, and that’s because I don’t know if this will only be a blog thing or if I will include it in future publishing endeavors.  Once the entire story is complete, and only if significant modifications have been made to it over time, I may repost the entire thing in its final form.

Regardless of those considerations, this is fiction.  It not only is allowing me to flex my creative muscles, but it’s also a venue by which I can establish for myself the foundation necessary for future works.  That includes my new little fictitious town, Kingswell, and some of the characters that inhabit that Podunk East Texas settlement.  As I previously stated: “I am utilizing this story to help me create a world wherein I have absolute authority to generate wondrous and horrible events that will not assault your suspension of disbelief.  Details and environment you see here will be utilized for a great deal of my imagination as I move forward.  That is the selfish part of this endeavor.  It allows me to create—sans disassociation—my own genuine realism to be carried forward and expanded, a place much like Stephen King’s Castle Rock, Maine, capable of supporting whatever imaginative explosion my mind can generate.”

As with all stories, you will not comprehend the entire thing simply by reading a single entry.  I don’t know how long this will be as it’s in development at this time, but I do not intend to limit it simply because of the medium in which it’s being presented.  I’m gong to let it go and let it do its own thing.

I hope you enjoy it.  More importantly, I hope you’ll speak up with criticisms that spring to mind.

“Darkness Comes to Kingswell” is about something terrible that happens to the world as seen from a very small corner of it.  It is told as a first-person narrative.  That should be familiar since my blog has always been in that format.  Despite this, not all of my work is in the first person.  This happens to be one story that is.

Finally, I make no promises as to how often you will see portions of this story.  They will be posted as they develop, and they will undoubtedly range in length depending on how it takes shape.  I will do my best to post sections in logical blocks like chapters.