Phoenix Rising: Read Free Page B

Ohmshidi, and when there were jokes about Ohmshidi, they lacked the cutting edge of those told about his opponent. On election day, Sorroto paid poll “guards” to stand in front of polls. He hired muscular black men, dressed them in black, military-style uniforms, and had them carry nightsticks. They were trained to profile the voters, and they were menacing, almost confrontational, to the middle-aged, white men who appeared to be affluent, while deferential to the younger voters, both men and women, to the minority voters, and to the voters who looked somewhat less successful.
    When Ohmshidi won the election, mainstream media complimented him on his brilliant campaign. There were very few who realized that his election had been bought and manipulated by Warren Sorroto, perhaps because so many of them were feeding at the same trough.
    As soon as Ohmshidi was elected, Sorroto began, immediately, to put his grand scheme into operation. The success of his scheme depended upon him staying in the background. Never once during the election did Sorroto give an interview in which he supported Ohmshidi. And, since the interview, he managed to keep his meetings with Ohmshidi so secret that not even Ohmshidi’s chief of staff was aware of the connection.
    Sorroto’s first move was to convince Ohmshidi to stop all fossil fuel production, including coal, oil, and gas. He also persuaded him to stop refining, and even to halt the importation of oil or gasoline. To do so, he promised, would, by necessity, bring about the development of eco-friendly green and renewable energy.
    â€œJust think, Mr. President. Your legacy to the world can be to free mankind of the climate destroying fossil fuels,” he said.
    It did no such thing, and Sorroto knew that it wouldn’t. It did, however, accomplish exactly what Sorroto wanted it to accomplish. He had cornered the market in fossil fuels and made over fifty billion dollars within a matter of months. It totally destroyed America’s free enterprise system and Sorroto played it just right, riding the crest of the collapsing economy and earning another fifty billion dollars which he managed to convert into Swiss Francs and other foreign currencies, just before the final crash came. With 99 percent of Americans wiped out financially, Sorroto now had deposited in offshore accounts Swiss Francs, British Pounds, Eurodollars, Japanese Yen, Chinese Yuan, and Russian rubles, an amount of money equal to over two hundred billion dollars in pre-O currency.
    Sorroto had manipulated Ohmshidi into bringing about the collapse of the nation because he planned to move in and, with a massive infusion of funds, rebuild America. While saving America, he would have himself appointed as “Director of Recovery,” which position would, in effect, give him unlimited power as well as access to the recovery money. Through his manipulation, America would once more be the most powerful nation in the world, but this time with Sorroto as the supreme authority of the land. That would make Sorroto the most powerful man in the world.
    What Sorroto had not anticipated however, was the action of the Moqaddas Sirata sect of Islam. Taking advantage of the weakened position of America, brought on by Sorroto’s activities, the Moqaddas Sirata detonated three nuclear bombs on American soil. That brought about an immediate collapse of the United States. Sorroto’s carefully laid out plan had to be altered.
    Almost immediately after the nuclear blasts occurred, Sorroto left his home in Philadelphia, retreating to the place he had already built in Missouri. Sorroto didn’t live in his hideaway home alone. He had brought with him a household staff to see to his every need. Sorroto had no sexual needs. Some might think that he had no needs because of his age, but in truth Sorroto had always been asexual. His drive was for money and power, and he saw the current conditions not as a detriment, but as a