Mukasey Won’t Say Waterboarding Is Torture But in 1947 the U.S. Called It a War Crime, Sentenced Enemy Officer to 15 Years Hard Labor

Posted by Jon Ponder | Oct. 29, 2007, 12:30 pm

Immoral Relativism: George Bush’s nomination of Michael Mukasey for U.S. attorney general — once thought to be smooth sailing — is experiencing a bit of turbulence. The problem is, Mukasey can’t bring himself to say whether or not waterboarding is torture:

During his confirmation hearings earlier this month, Mukasey said he believes torture violates the Constitution, but he refused to be pinned down on whether he believes specific interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding, are constitutional.

“I don’t know what’s involved in the techniques. If waterboarding is torture, torture is not constitutional,” he said.

But after World War II, the United States government was quite clear about the fact that waterboarding was torture, at least when it was done to U.S. citizens:

[In] 1947, the United States charged a Japanese officer, Yukio Asano, with war crimes for carrying out another form of waterboarding on a U.S. civilian. The subject was strapped on a stretcher that was tilted so that his feet were in the air and head near the floor, and small amounts of water were poured over his face, leaving him gasping for air until he agreed to talk.

“Asano was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor,” Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) told his colleagues last Thursday during the debate on military commissions legislation. “We punished people with 15 years of hard labor when waterboarding was used against Americans in World War II,” he sai

Mukasey’s non-answer has raised doubts among Democrats, and even some Republicans, on the Senate Judiciary Committee:

[The] Democrats on the committee signed a joint letter to Mukasey, making sure that he knew what’s involved, and demanded an answer to the question as to whether waterboarding is torture.

Then two days later, the doubts grew louder. Two key Democrats, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT ) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) both said publicly that their votes depended on Mukasey’s answer to the waterboarding question.

Then it was Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) who saw an opening after Rudy Giuliani refused to call waterboarding torture (”It depends on who does it.”). Most certainly it’s torture, McCain said. When pressed, he stopped short of saying that he would oppose Mukasey’s nomination if he didn’t say the same, but he added to the chorus of those who professed to be interested in what Mukasey’s answer to follow-up questions will be.

Yesterday, Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) said that if Mukasey “does not believe that waterboarding is illegal, then that would really put doubts in my own mind.”

Rep. Arlen Specter (R-PA) has also thrown in his lot of doubts and concerns.

Of course, if the past is a guide, Mukasey will easily win nomination, and nearly all these senators who have expressed concern will vote for him.

Waterboarding has become an isssue because the Bush White House signed off on it as an interrogation technique — and thus moved the United States into the company of pariah states that permit torture — after the 9/11 attacks.

Pervical Chapter Four

Percival watched as Clarrisa closed the door and listened to her high-heels clip-clop down the steps. He ruffled his hands through his hair, and paced on the linoleum floor of the kitchen, thinking to himself that he should have said something, anything, like ‘I love you’, but did he love her? How could he tell? All he knew was that he liked spending time with her. She made him feel good, and he wanted her. Was it lust or could it be just that it was some form of forbidden fruit. What he needed was to find a nice girl with AIDS and settle down. He felt wrapped in Saran Wrap because he couldn’t get physically intimate.

He could still feel the heat from her lips. It wasn’t like he had never touched her, but he couldn’t put a finger on why letting someone enter the inside of a body was so important. He had fought the impulse for so long but the welling of sex overwhelmed his senses and he couldn’t think straight.

He laid on the bed and stared at the fake wood wall and tried to calm down. In the middle of one of the wooden panes were two distinct eyes, formed from two large round knots in the wood, and they looked ominously at him. The eyes pierced him.

“Alright. I love her,” he told the eyes. So be it, he was in love.

He needed to make reservations for Saturday, so he slid a few quarters off the nightstand and headed to the main office where several payphones were. The young receptionist sat behind her desk, gossiping on the phone as he entered. She chomped on her gum with the phone nestled on her shoulder and she stared blankly at a game show on a small black and white television.

Four payphones lined the right side wall. He put his change into one of them, which was titled, For a Good Time Call Sarah at 555-6784. He had an itching to call the number but instead uncrumpled a ripped corner of the phonebook, where he had written the number to the restaurant.

“Hello. My name is Larry, may I help you?” answered the man on the other end.

“Hi, my name is Percival Watkins and I would like to place a reservation for two for this Saturday,” he said.

“We have an open spot at seven.”

“That sounds perfect.”

“I will need your telephone number, sir.”

“555-2901,” he said and gave him the number to the main office. “Just ask for the Penthouse.”

“Oh, thank you very much, and we’ll be happy to see you.”

“Thank you.” He hung the phone up. The receptionist looked at him out of the corner of her eye. He turned and was almost near the door when she called out.

“You the person renting out #?”

“Yea that’s me.”

“Well you had got a phone call about an hour ago but I couldn’t get you. It’s from a…” She looked down at a sheet of paper. “a Philip.” She picked up a small note and handed it to him.
“He didn’t say if it was important, so I wasn’t to persistent.”
“Thanks,” he said and left.

It was to late to get in touch with Philip now, he would be in the middle of his shift, so he would have to get in touch with him when he got home from the hospital. He was glad that Philip had called because he needed to talk to him about Clarrisa. What he needed right now was some sound advice that he could trust. Since he didn’t have to work at the hospital today, the rest of the day was free for him to play around with.

Once inside his room, he headed straight for the toilet, leaving the door wide open and scoured a pile of old magazines near the plunger beside the toilet. Nothing there was worth reading, so he held his pants up with one arm and waddled to his book bag near his bed, where he had a magazine, which he had grabbed from the hospital waiting room. When he sat back down on the commode, he flipped through what appeared to be a liberal news magazine called The Ritchous Defactos. He scanned through the table of contents when he came across: Pharmaceutical Company Tests New Drug On African Children page forty three .

On that page a huge black and white photograph of a dieing African child that wore a Pepsi tee-shirt and mud encrusted shorts, clutching a rag doll, and he sat with a look of helplessness on his face. The scene behind him was of a back alley, where garbage piled high in numerous trashcans and on top of one of the cans was the South African flag. He began to read the article, which talked about several large pharmaceutical companies that used experimental drugs on the children there. Over eighty percent of the children developed malformities or died because of it and the companies weren’t taking responsibility. When they named Keiser, anger welled inside him, he was affiliated with them and possibly helped produce some of those hideous drugs. It was more important then ever to talk to Philip.

Continent-size toxic stew of plastic trash fouling swath of Pacific Ocean

Justin Berton, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, October 19, 2007

At the start of the Academy Award-winning movie "American Beauty," a character videotapes a plastic grocery bag as it drifts into the air, an event he casts as a symbol of life's unpredictable currents, and declares the romantic moment as a "most beautiful thing."

To the eyes of an oceanographer, the image is pure catastrophe.

In reality, the rogue bag would float into a sewer, follow the storm drain to the ocean, then make its way to the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch - a heap of debris floating in the Pacific that's twice the size of Texas, according to marine biologists.

The enormous stew of trash - which consists of 80 percent plastics and weighs some 3.5 million tons, say oceanographers - floats where few people ever travel, in a no-man's land between San Francisco and Hawaii.

Marcus Eriksen, director of research and education at the Algalita Marine Research Foundation in Long Beach, said his group has been monitoring the Garbage Patch for 10 years.

"With the winds blowing in and the currents in the gyre going circular, it's the perfect environment for trapping," Eriksen said. "There's nothing we can do about it now, except do no more harm."

The patch has been growing, along with ocean debris worldwide, tenfold every decade since the 1950s, said Chris Parry, public education program manager with the California Coastal Commission in San Francisco.

Ocean current patterns may keep the flotsam stashed in a part of the world few will ever see, but the majority of its content is generated onshore, according to a report from Greenpeace last year titled "Plastic Debris in the World's Oceans."

The report found that 80 percent of the oceans' litter originated on land. While ships drop the occasional load of shoes or hockey gloves into the waters (sometimes on purpose and illegally), the vast majority of sea garbage begins its journey as onshore trash.

That's what makes a potentially toxic swamp like the Garbage Patch entirely preventable, Parry said.

"At this point, cleaning it up isn't an option," Parry said. "It's just going to get bigger as our reliance on plastics continues. ... The long-term solution is to stop producing as much plastic products at home and change our consumption habits."

Parry said using canvas bags to cart groceries instead of using plastic bags is a good first step; buying foods that aren't wrapped in plastics is another.

After the San Francisco Board of Supervisors banned the use of plastic grocery bags earlier this year with the problem of ocean debris in mind, a slew of state bills were written to limit bag production, said Sarah Christie, a legislative director with the California Coastal Commission.

But many of the bills failed after meeting strong opposition from plastics industry lobbyists, she said.

Meanwhile, the stew in the ocean continues to grow.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is particularly dangerous for birds and marine life, said Warner Chabot, vice president of the Ocean Conservancy, an environmental group.

Sea turtles mistake clear plastic bags for jellyfish. Birds swoop down and swallow indigestible shards of plastic. The petroleum-based plastics take decades to break down, and as long as they float on the ocean's surface, they can appear as feeding grounds.

"These animals die because the plastic eventually fills their stomachs," Chabot said. "It doesn't pass, and they literally starve to death."

The Greenpeace report found that at least 267 marine species had suffered from some kind of ingestion or entanglement with marine debris.

Chabot said if environmentalists wanted to remove the ocean dump site, it would take a massive international effort that would cost billions.

But that is unlikely, he added, because no one country is likely to step forward and claim the issue as its own responsibility.

Instead, cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is left to the landlubbers.

"What we can do is ban plastic fast food packaging," Chabot said, "or require the substitution of biodegradable materials, increase recycling programs and improve enforcement of litter laws.

"Otherwise, this ever-growing floating continent of trash will be with us for the foreseeable future."

Monkey attack kills Delhi leader

by BBC News

The deputy mayor of the Indian capital Delhi has died a day after being attacked by a horde of wild monkeys.

SS Bajwa suffered serious head injuries when he fell from the first-floor terrace of his home on Saturday morning trying to fight off the monkeys.

The city has long struggled to counter its plague of monkeys, which invade government complexes and temples, snatch food and scare passers-by.

The High Court ordered the city to find an answer to the problem last year.

Solution elusive

One approach has been to train bands of larger, more ferocious langur monkeys to go after the smaller groups of Rhesus macaques.

The city has also employed monkey catchers to round them up so they can be moved to forests.

But the problem has persisted.

Culling is seen as unacceptable to devout Hindus, who revere the monkeys as a manifestation of the monkey god Hanuman, and often feed them bananas and peanuts.

Urban development around the city has also been blamed for destroying the monkeys' natural habitat.

Mr Bajwa, a member of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is survived by his wife and a son, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.

Top 10 Most Unusual College Degrees

By ScholarPoint Connect

We talk to a lot college students here at ScholarPoint and have seen a very wide range of different college majors. We’re often blown away by some of the weird degrees we hear about. Here’s a list of some of the more unusual ones that we’ve come across.

1. Master Ranching – Showing up to college wearing spurs and riding a horse probably isn’t the best idea, unless you go to Texas A&M-Kingsville’s Institute for Ranch Management. The university is offering the first ever master degree program for ranchers. What was once a profession passed on from generation to generation is now getting sophisticated enough that it may actually require an MBA. Go figure. Graduates can expect salaries in the $50,000-$75,000 range.

2. Astrobiology – ET phone home. The University of Glamorgan in the UK offers a degree in Astrobiology, which is the search for life beyond earth. So if hunting for alien life is your thing consider a career in Astrobiology.

3. Retail Floristry – I bet you never thought working at your local flower shop required a college degree. Well, it probably doesn’t, but that doesn’t mean you can’t major in Retail Floristry anyway. Career opportunities are a step above working the cash register and include wholesaling, special event designing, and display gardening. This program is offered through Mississippi State University and graduates can expect a 90% job placement rate.

4. Professional Nanny – Sullivan University in Louisville Kentucky offers a professional nanny program, which prepares graduates to work in private residences, day care centers, children’s hospitals, and country clubs. This is a perfect career for those girls who grew up babysitting all the neighborhood kids that now want to make more than $2 per hour.

5. Sports Ministry – Graduates from this program are prepared for positions in non-profit organizations seeking to use sports as an avenue for teaching religion. This program is offered through Campbellsville University in Campbellsville Kentucky.

6. Adventure Recreation – Do you like snowboarding, scuba diving, ice climbing, or whitewater rafting? If you answered yes, perhaps you should consider doing what you love for a job and start by making it your college major. Green Mountain College in Vermont is offering major and minor programs in Adventure Recreation, which aims to place graduates in a variety of outdoor recreation careers such as those listed above.

7. Golf & Sports Turf Management – Just because you were never good at football doesn’t mean you can’t make it your job. Only you’ll be repairing the grass they tear apart every week. The course curriculum offered by Mississippi Sate University will prepare you for a career as a golf superintendent or a sports turf manager at city, school, and professional sports arenas. Graduates in this field also enjoy a 90% job placement rate.

8. Comedy: Writing and Performance – Here’s a degree program that actually requires “ a great sense of humor” as an admission requirement. Humber College in Canada offers this program to help naturally talented students hone their craft and learn the commercial side of the business. Students learn stand-up, improv, scriptwriting, and sketch comedy.

9. Organic Agriculture – Organic foods make up more than 2.5% of all food and drink sales nationwide and have been increasing by 20% per year since 1990. This makes organic farming an attractive career opportunity. This is the first organic agriculture major in the nation and is offered through Washington State University.

10. Fishing Sciences and Management – This masters program is offered by Colorado State University and focuses on fish populations for recreational and commercial fishing purposes to ensure adequate conservation and utilization. If nothing else the courses on fish psychology should at the very least help you catch more fish.

'Second Earth' found, 20 light years away

• Ian Sample, science correspondent

Scientists have discovered a warm and rocky "second Earth" circling a star, a find they believe dramatically boosts the prospects that we are not alone.The planet is the most Earth-like ever spotted and is thought to have perfect conditions for water, an essential ingredient for life. Researchers detected the planet orbiting one of Earth's nearest stars, a cool red dwarf called Gliese 581, 20 light years away in the constellation of Libra.

Measurements of the planet's celestial path suggest it is 1½ times the size of our home planet, and orbits close to its sun, with a year of just 13 days. The planet's orbit brings it 14 times closer to its star than Earth is to the sun. But Gliese 581 burns at only 3,000C, half the temperature of our own sun, making conditions on the planet comfortable for life, with average ground temperatures estimated at 0 to 40C. Researchers claim the planet is likely to have an atmosphere. The discovery follows a three-year search for habitable planets by the European Southern Observatory at La Silla in Chile.

"We wouldn't be surprised if there is life on this planet," said Stephane Udry, an astronomer on the project at the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland.

Two years ago, the same team discovered a giant Neptune-sized planet orbiting Gliese 581. A closer look revealed the latest planetary discovery, along with a third, larger planet that orbits the star every 84 days. The planets have been named after their star, with the most earthlike called Gliese 581c. The team spotted the planet by searching the "habitable zone".

Percival Chapter Three

Clarrisa paid no attention to the hungry eyes of men sitting in front of her, clutching their one dollar bills. Cigarette smoke swirled into the ceiling fans as she danced to a rap song blaring through the loudspeakers at the Playas Gentlemen’s Club. Her buzz from the hard liquor had kicked in a half hour ago but she still pivoted gracefully on her high heals. She worked her way around the stage, placing their dollars in her garter. When the song stopped she moved to one of the three brass poles on stage.

The pounding bass of the next song reverberated the dark club and vibrated the pole in her arms. She threw her legs around the pole and flipped upside down. The faces of the men looked more interesting while upside down and in this position she could look into their eyes. They shined with lust, carnal. She removed her bra while upside down and threw it behind her, the men clapped. Slipping to the earth, she let her hands touch the ground and her feet came touched the stage.

Once again she made her rounds. A man folded a dollar in his ear, another folded his in the shape of a teepee, and a man in his late fifties waved his in the air. The song ended and she snatched her outfit and headed backstage.

“Give it up for Candi Cane,” shouted Freaky-Nick from behind a glass window.

Clarrisa emerged backstage in the dressing room with five other strippers working the lunch shift, Rosie, Penelope, Sam, Katie, and Hilda from Sweden. Katie, a short brunette and a small round face, waited behind the curtain to make her way on stage before introductions.

“Next on the stage is Blossom. Give it up for Blossom,” shouted Freaky-Nick.

“Nice spin,” said Katie and she rushed onstage.

Clarrisa stepped down into the changing room where the girls were chatting and drinking. No one went on stage sober, maybe some of the new girls, it’s one of the first things a stripper learns. Sam, the oldest one there and Clarrisa’s roommate, waved as she leaned against the empty seat next to her.

“I’m going to head out for awhile, Sam. I’ll be back at five for my next shift.”

“You’re going to see that guy again aren’t you? What’s his name?” asked Sam, as she tapped a rolled dollar bill against her chin.

“Percival. And yes, I’m going over.”

Sam smiled, turned around and faced the mirror. Clarrisa picked up her duffle bag which contained her clothes, spilled the contents on the floor and riffled through it, picking out a pair a blue jeans and a Mighty Ducks tee-shirt. As she put her leg through a pants pocket, the door on the opposite side of the dressing room opened and Santiago lumbered in with two men trailing him. Santiago wore his favorate fur coat, while his companions looked like they came out of Foot Locker, wearing bright basketball jerseys and baggy jeans where the crotch came down to their knees.

“Hey, ladies,” said Santiago. “I want you to meet Cash Roll and D-Dub. These cats are the newest artist signed to my Gratuatuous label.”

“What’s up,” said D-dub, the one to his right, as he puffed on a joint. The kid couldn’t be older then eighteen.

“We’re having a party this weekend at my house. You are all going. The girls from Utopia too, so no complaining.” Santiago turned to Clarissa as she pulled her tee-shirt over her head. “Where are you going?”

“I’m hungry. I’ll be back for the nightshift.”

He moved to her, put his hand under her chin and tilted her head up towards his.

“Alright sugar, but don’t you be late.”

Santiago opened the door and left the way he came in and Cash looked over at Hilda pointed and said, “I’ll see you later.”

As soon as they left, Clarrisa stuffed all her clothes back into the bag and waved goodbye to Sam. All she could think about was leaving and didn’t look back as she hurried out the door and over to the bus stop

While she sat on the bench, Percival popped into her head. He’s a nice kid but they’re kidding themselves about their relationship, though it felt good to have someone take care of you. He saw past all her idiocyncracies and to the person underneath all the shit, where a little girl resides that never had a chance to grow up.

The bus squeeled to a stop and she climbed the stairs, finding an empty seat in the back. For years now she couldn’t sleep because of horrible nightmares but they have subsisted since meeting Percival. The only time she slept soundly before him was when she shot up. It was a liberating feeling.

The bus bounced down the busy streets until her stop. She dodged the other passengers, minding not to step on anyone’s feet as she got off. Once outside, she hiked the mile to the motel. The sun blazed down and not a cloud mired the sky. Being cooped up in that lousy bar all day made her body crave the outside.

She remembered when she was young and her mom moved from the city to the suburb that she got to explore the woods in the enormous backyard. Clarrisa wandered for hours until hearing her mother yell for her, then she would run back. The concrete walls of the buildings surrounding her felt like an enclosed room with the sky as the only window.

The motel popped into view around the bend of the road. When there, she climbed the stairs. Percival kept his door unlocked for her, so she entered.

“Percival,” she called but no reply came. She threw her pocket book onto the floor and went over to the fridge to see if one of the several takeout containers were still good. She gave one a sniff before finding a clean fork and chomped down on some raviolis.

Percival mentioned to her the other day that he had to go to his other job, something to do with helping out in a science lab but he should’ve been home by now. She turned on the television and watched her soup opera.

Her favorite character, Herzel loyde, had become entangled in an illicit love affair with a man that was in love with another. Her lover had just died but she just found out that she is pregnant with his child. She didn’t know why this made her think about Percival and their own relationship; they hadn’t kissed yet. When she finished eating, she tossed the container in the overflowing garbage can.

The door sprang open and Clarrisa jumped. Percival rushed in with a bright smile on his face. He carried a large shopping bag, but when he saw her, he hid the bag behind his back.

“I got you a gift but I don’t want you to see it yet, so turn around.”

She got excited and turned around. She loved gifts. Her fondest memories of her childhood were of Christmas morning.

“What is it?” She bounced with excitement.

He took out the dress and hid it under a pile of dirty clothes and placed a pair of jeans inside the bag.

“I don’t want you to sneak a look at it so I’m putting it under the sink. When he passed her, she looked over her shoulder trying to catch a glimpse at the contents inside, but his shoulders shielded the bag, as he bent to put it under the sink. He got up and kissed her on the cheek.

“You’ve got to tell me what it is?” she begged.

“Only if you promise me something.”

“Anything.”

“That you will go to dinner with me this Saturday.”

“Of course. Now tell me what it is?”

“It’s an outfit for you to wear.”

“Really. Can I look at it?” She moved to the sink without his answer. When he didn’t answer, she opened the cabinet and pulled out the bag. Her heart sank as she pulled out a dirty pair of jeans with one leg inside out. “What is this?”

He didn’t want to disappoint her but he also wanted to see her try it on for the first time on Saturday.

“I’m going to give it to you on Saturday. So you’re going to have to wait, but I promise that you’re going to love it.”

She smiled and kissed him on the lips. Never in a million years did she think she would find love. He had a way of making her feel special.

“Oh shit. What time is it?” she asked and realized that she had to be at the club for the next shift.

He looked at his watch and said, “Three forty-five. Why?”

“I’ve got to work tonight. I’ll be here around three.” She felt bad leaving as soon as he got home but she didn’t want to piss off Santiago. She grabbed her purse and kissed Percival again on the lips.

“Bye. I love you.” She felt relieved to say it but was scared how he would take it but it just came out.

“Bye. I…’ll see you at three then.”

As she closed the door, she hoped she didn’t push it too far that he was going to run. During the walk to the bus stop, she thought about if he was going to break up with her. Maybe he wouldn’t be there when she got back. She would walk into an empty motel room with a simple note that said: Not ready for this. Have a nice life.

The bus’s brakes squealed to a stop and she waited for everyone else to get on first before she got on. She dreaded going back to her job. Maybe she could get a job as a waitress, something more respectable. She’d been doing this for three years now, and was considered a veteran. But she knew that another job wouldn’t pay her the same and she got her heroine cheap from Santiago. If she left she’d have to pay for it at normal price and wouldn’t be able to pay her rent. She felt trapped. She tried to quit once, but she relapsed a week later. She pleaded her roommate to take her to a rehab but Sam wouldn’t.

The bus came to a stop near the strip joint and she followed several men out the door. A few of the women eyed her as she got off. It was almost five and she hurried inside, she didn’t want to piss Santiago off.

She entered the back door and D-Dub leaned against the hallway and looked at the closed office door, which meant Santiago was inside doing business. He bobbed his head and acknowledged her, and she scooted around him and hurried into the changing room. There were twice as many women here then earlier in the day. The constant chatter of women sounded like a flock of swarming geese. Clarrisa went over to her duffle bag and started getting changed. The concoction of thumping of rap music and twenty screaming drunk strippers filled the room. Bottles of alcohol passed from hand to hand and when a bottle of Jack Daniels reached her, she took a big gulp and felt the comforting burn in her chest.

“Clarrisa, you’re starting out at the bar, then working the side stage,” said Sam, as she handed her a rolled dollar bill.

“Alright, you’re working the same shift as me?” she said and bent down to look at the mirror.

“As always. I’ll meet you out at the bar.”

Clarrisa was ready to go, as she slid her feet into her high heels. Sam followed her to the bar. Their job was to talk to the men, try to turn them on and get them to have a lap dance. She’d sit at the bar and talk to some old construction worker, who just got out of work, coax him to buy her a drink and then talk to him. It was interesting to listen to how they talked, coming up with huge tales to impress her like how much money they had or that they knew the next big thing that’s going to make them a millionaire. Then there’s the locals, who knew all the strippers by name. Old Harry Zubanks, who gets so drunk that he’d pass out during a lap dance. Then there’s the rowdy Terry Schapel, who would pick fights with other patrons who he thought were hitting on his stripper for the night. There’s also the upstanding Leon Dubieruck, who always came dressed in his lawyers outfit. He’d sit around, sip on his hard liquor and spend his money on only one stripper for the night.

They were as comfortable here as if they were at there own homes. A wave of the hand and there usual drink got placed right in front of them. Sam walked over to two men playing pool and grabbed the pole away from the man standing there waiting for his turn. When his companion missed his shot, she bent over, wiggling her butt in the air and took the shot for him.

Clarrisa was now in her Candi persona. She leaned close to Leon’s ear and whispered, “Can I bum a cigarette from you, love?”

“Why sure, sweet cakes,” he said, and knocked the pack against his palm and a single cigarette popped out. “Here you go, my dear.”

“Why, thank you.” She placed it between her lips and bent down to light it with a match he just lit. Giving the pool stick back. “How long have you been here?”

He swiveled his barstool around and faced her. “Since four. I closed shop early tonight. Can I get you something?”

She squeezed between him and another gentleman that stared somberly into his draft beer. He looked like a truck driver to her. As she rubbed up against him, he turned around, glancing at her body rather than into her eyes. She was used to that, especially since she had on such a revealing outfit. But he turned back towards his beer.

“I’ll have a long island iced tea,” she said to Hilda, who ran the bar tonight. Leon slid a twenty across the bar.

She puffed on her cigarette and leaned over the bar, trying to catch the attention of the truck driver, but he didn’t pay her any mind and continued to look downcast into his now empty glass. She noticed that he twisted his wedding ring around, not taking it off, but rotated it.

“Why don’t I take your mind off your wife for awhile?” she said to the man. He looked taken aback.

“Is it that clear?”

“Yes. You look like a someone shot your dog. Why don’t I take you into the V.I.P. room? Maybe that will cheer you up.”

“I don’t think so,” he said and leaned closer to her and put his hand out. “My names Chris.”

“Candi. Well than, maybe you can watch me when I’m on stage?” she said and shook his hand.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Santiago enter from the side door, followed by an entourage of eight men. One of the men was Santiago’s drug dealer. He wore a purple suit and twirled a white cane. Several of Santiago’s bodyguards loomed around him and eyed the crowd. They herded into the V.I.P. section, and Erckel, a scrawny boy, used by Santiago as an errand boy, ran up to the bar and ordered four bottles of crystal. His real name’s Eric but Santiago named him Erckel because it fit the kid’s dorky demeanor.

Hilda produced the four bottles from a special refrigerated lockbox underneath the bar. The kid bear hugged the bottles and slalomed through the crowd and back into the V.I.P. room.

Clarrisa watched Erckel so much that she didn’t even see D-dub behind her, until he tapped her on the shoulder. She twirled around with her drink in hand.
“You were here earlier? What’s your name?”

“Candi,” She said and sipped on her drink through the straw.

“Yea that’s right. Well your coming with me,” he said and tossed a hundred dollar bill and let it bounce off of her breasts and drift to the ground. “That should make you mine for an hour.”

“Where to sweetheart?” She picked up the bill.

He took her hand and led her into the V.I.P. room. Black lights filled the room with a purple glow. The walls were lined with leather sofas, built right onto the walls, and mirrors filled every space other then the door on the other side of the room that led into what the strippers called the black hole, where what happens in that room doesn’t leave that room. Several women gyrated their bodies over patrons sitting on the sofas.

They walked across the room and knocked on the door to the black hole. One of the large bodyguards opened the door and let them in. The black hole was just as big as the V.I.P room but had a big screen television, lounge area, a large pool table and a personal stage for private strippers. Santiago sat on a recliner and yelled at the basketball players on television. D-dub led her to a plush couch and pulled out a huge roll of twenties held together by a blue rubber band. Clarrisa started dancing to the music being pumped in through huge speakers in all four corners.