johnny wilson - 45. 2008

by bofa xesjum

part forty-five of 52

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on february 3, 2008, the new york giants defeated the new england patriots.17-14, in super bowl xlii, preventing the patriots from becoming the first team to post a perfect 19-0 record in a full american professional football season. on february 19, fidel castro resigned as president of cuba, after 49 years. in 2006, he had handed over power “temporarily” to his brother raul because of his failing health. raul now assumed the presidency. fidel retained his position as first secretary of the communist party of cuba. on march 2, dmitri medvedev was elected president of russia, succeeding vladimir putin, who was prevented from succeeding himself by the terms of the russian constitution. putin now assumed the title and duties of prime minister. on may 13, johnny wilson, who had been one of the last persons in the united states not to own a personal computer, finally purchased one. his two brief marriages had cured him of interest in women, but his unfortunate experience with hank browning and the phoenix ashes brigade had not cured him of patriotism. what he had read of the internet in the newspapers and seen about it on tv led him to believe he might use it to find another band of patriotic brothers, perhaps even one directly rivaling the phoenix ashes brigade. johnny also thought that jenny might enjoy the computer, but she showed little interest and professed herself unable to “get the hang of” it. deeply depressed by the forced departure of kim, she found solace in watching increasing amounts of religious programming on television. she particularly enjoyed the preaching of pastor joel osteen, of the lakewood church in houston, texas. on november 4, senator barack obama of illinois became the first african-american elected president of the united states. 46. 2009

johnny wilson - 44. 2007

by bofa xesjum

part forty-four of 52

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on january 4, 2007, nancy pelosi , the representative of california’s 12th congressional district , which comprised most of the city of san francisco, became the first woman to be elected speaker of the united states house of representatives. on january 10, president bush announced that a “surge” of an additional 20,000 u s troops would be deployed to baghdad, which had been experiencing unrest. this move was met with skepticism by members of the democratic party and elements of the media, but bush asked that it be “given a chance”. hank browning and jack strong were not inclined to give johnny wilson a chance. after a couple of months of vacillation, with hank scoffing at the idea that johnny might be some sort of government agent, and jack insisting that they could not be too careful, they decided to let johnny go from the freedoms ashes brigade, with no strings or qualifications or second chances. jack strong’s wife, amanda, an attorney, had an idea. an anonymous call was made to the police, pointing out that johnny’s adoption of kim night not have been legal, and also suggesting that johnny was having sex with kim. johnny and jenny were visited by representatives of the child protective services. no charges were filed, but kim was removed from their custody, and placed in a foster home on the other side of the state. hank and jack and amanda were happy with the success of their ruse. although it did not settle the question of whether johnny was a government agent, it removed a source of possible embarrassment to the phoenix ashes brigade. on december 27, benazir bhutto, the former prime minister of pakistan, was killed in the city of rawalpindi. standing up in a moving car, she was fired at three times from about eight feet away by an assassin who then blew himself up with a suicide vest. 45. 2008

johnny wilson - 43. 2006

by bofa xesjum

part forty-three of 52

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on march 5, 2006, the movie crash was a surprise winner of the best picture award at the annual oscar ceremonies. the choice of the film, an earnest attempt to deal with the relationships between caucasian and african-american people in the united states, was widely derided. johnny wilson continued to struggle in his weekend training with hank browning’s crew of freedom fighters, which had expanded to fourteen members and now called itself the “freedom’s ashes brigade”. hank had a long talk with his second in command jack strong and they agreed that johnny and two other weak members should be “relieved” of their training requirements but not actually expelled from the group, as they might contribute in other ways (such as with money). on the night of november 19, hank decided to drive out to johnny’s house and break the news to him. he had never actually been to johnny’s house before. johnny was not at home, as he was working a late shift at wal-mart. jenny answered the door and invited hank in, and insisted on giving him some tea and chocolate cake. hank politely accepted, and after a few discreet questions, was convinced that jenny had little knowledge of, and absolutely no interest in, the freedom’s ashes brigade. hank was finishing his tea and cake, and getting ready to take his leave, when the door opened and he received one of the great shocks of his life when kim entered, accompanied by d’sheena. hank stared, stupefied, at kim, who stared right back at him. “who you be?” kim asked hank. “this gentleman is a friend of johnny’s,” jenny told her. to kim, johnny had always been “johnny” and never “dad” or “daddy” or anything similar. “huh. whatever.” and kim departed for her room, followed by d’sheena. seeing hank’s bewilderment, jenny gave him a somewhat confused account of kim’s origins and how she had come to live with johnny and herself. hank asked a few questions - mainly to make absolutely sure that d’sheena was just kim’s schoolmate and not herself a member of the household - and made his escape. what a balls-up! hank thought as he drove away. who was johnny anyway? some kind of fifth columnist? a fucking f b i agent? no, hank told himself, he couldn’t be that, ha ha. but hank would have to talk to jack strong about it and decide what to do. or would he? on december 30, saddam hussein was hanged. the execution was carried out by the iraqi government, to whom he had been handed over by the united states military. 44. 2007

johnny wilson - 42. 2005

by bofa xesjum

part forty-two of 52

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on april 2, 2005, pope john paul ii died. he had been pope for 26 years - officially the third longest reign of any pope, after st peter and pius ix. on april 4, askar akayev resigned as president of krygystan, ending weeks of turmoil after allegations of corruption in the parliamentary elections held in february and march. jenny wilson encouraged kim to bring friends from school home with her. d’sheena nelson became a regular visitor, and kim and d’sheena spent hours in kim’s little room, listening to music, more or less doing their homework, and smoking such dope as they could get hold of. jenny and johnny didn’t care about the dope, but johnny was troubled by d’sheena’s influence on kim, especially on the way she spoke, such as saying “be” for “is”. “i wish she would talk more like a white person,” johnny ventured to say to jenny. “but she’s not a white person,” jenny pointed out. johnny’s reply was “but i still think she should. it would help when she looks for a job”. but he did not think of this answer until the next day, when he was “in training” in hank browning's fighting force, running up a hill and gasping for breath under the cold eye of hank, who was gliding effortlessly behind him. on october 26, the chicago white sox won the world series by completing a four game sweep of the houston astros. it was their first world series win since the “black sox” scandal of 1919, when a number of players on the team had conspired to lose the series to the cincinnati reds. on november 11, ellen johnson-sirleaf was elected president of liberia, becoming the first woman to be elected head of state of an african nation. 43. 2006

johnny wilson - 41. 2004

by bofa xesjum

part forty-one of 52

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on april 28, 2004, the american news program 60 minutes ii broadcast a story about abuse of prisoners by u s military personnel at a prison in abu gharib, iraq, which had been taken over by u s forces after the fall of saddam husseiin’s government. on this program, and in many subsequent media stories, photographs taken by american soldiers themselves, showing the prisoners being humiliated and abused, often in a sexual manner, and often by female soldiers, and with the soldiers smiling and laughing, were spread worldwide. u s secretary of defense donald rumsfeld, and other high ranking american officials, civilian and military, expressed dismay, and some of the soldiers involved were later tried and convicted of various charges. one served six and a half years in prison, another four years, a third 18 months, and eight others less than a year. in september, kim entered junior high school. she made the acquaintance of d’sheena nelson, an overweight african-american girl who wore coke bottle glasses, and like kim, seemed to have no close friends. d’sheens expressed a lively curiosity about kim’s origins and ancestry. “where you from, china?” kim explained that she was a korean orphan. d’sheena absorbed this information, and returned the following day. “my mama say you eat dogs.” “excuse me?’ “you korean, my mama say you eat dogs. you calling my mama a liar?’ “i don’t know what you eat, but whatever it is, you must be eating plenty of it.” d’sheena shoved kim, kim knocked d’sheena’s glasses off her face, and they went at it. the fight was broken up, and both girls were suspended for two days. on december 26, a earthquake occurred off the north coast of sumatra, triggering a series of tsunamis that killed over 200,000 people and displaced over 1,000,000, mostly in indonesia and sri lanka. casualties extended as far as the east coast of africa. 42. 2005

johnny wilson - 40. 2003

by bofa xesjum

part forty of 52

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on january 23 , 2003, u s president george w bush declared in his state of the union address that he was prepared to go to war against iraq, even without a united nations mandate to do so. on march 19, 2003, president bush declared war on iraq, johnny wilson began to see his new friend hank browning on a regular basis in the mornings at the burger king and they continued to discuss world affairs. johnny was surprised and intrigued to find that hank was not impressed with the american effort in iraq, being particularly contemptuous of president bush for making any effort at all to please the “jew-nited nations”. hank browning belonged to, and was effectively the leader of, a small group of “patriots” who “trained” on weekends and aspired to the status of a government defying band of freedom fighters. hank sounded out his second-in-command, a life insurance salesman named jack strong, as to inviting johnny wilson to join them, and arranged for jack to happen to be at burger king one morning to meet johnny. johnny, of course, was unaware that he was being sized up. “i don’t know, hank, “ jack said after johnny had left. “he doesn’t exactly look like a fighting man. he might take some getting into any kind of shape.” “i will worry about that,” hank assured jack. “his mind is in the right place.” jack shrugged. “bring him on, then.” so it was that hank invited johnny to join the group, and gave him a copy of the group’s bible, a book titled the fight for america’s soul , by retired brigadier general mark volson. johnny took it home and read it and was transformed. on december 13, the deposed president of iraq, saddam hussein, who had been hiding in the town of al-dawr, literally in a hole in the ground, was discovered by american troops, who dragged him out of the hole and captured him. 41. 2004

johnny wilson - 39. 2002

by bofa xesjum

part thirty-nine of 52

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on january 29, 2002, u s president george w bush, in his state of the union address, used the phrase “axis of evil” to describe the nations of iraq, iran, and north korea. the events of september 11, 2001 had made a deep impression on johnny wilson. he felt that he had awakened from a dream , that america, and himself, were threatened on a daily basis by muslim terrorists who could strike at any time, and he sincerely wished he could do something about it. johnny began having fantasies similar to joe’s during the vietnam war - of leaving his job and family and joining the navy seals or some other, secret, elite military force. johnny actually felt physically treatened by al qaeda, where joe had not really been afraid of the viet cong, only outraged by the peaceniks and hippies. as he supervised the unloading of crates of television sets, hair dryers, bath towels, and peanut butter crackers, johnny imagined himself, a slimmed down, muscular, face blackened version of himself, confronting osama bin laden one on one in a moonlit desert, and delivering an arnold schwarzennegerish wisecrack to the fiend before blowing him to hell. on the morning of june 12, johnny stopped at a burger king on his way to work. as he sat down with his coffee and breakfast sandwich, he thought he recognized the man at the next table. the man returned his gaze with a not unfriendly narrowing of the eyes. it was hank browning! - the man johnny’s first wife, sally, had left him for. it was quickly established that sally had been even quicker to dispose of hank than she had been of johnny, and the two men got into a conversation about something much more meaningful - osama bin laden and what to do about him. on october 24, 41 year old john allen muhammad and 17 year lee boyd malvo were found sleeping in a car by the side of the road and arrested by maryland state police, as suspects in the random sniping murders of 17 people in the maryland - virginia - dc area. they would be tried and convicted of some of the killings, and muhammud would be executed in 2009. 40. 2003

johnny wilson - 38. 2001

by bofa xesjum

part thirty-eight of 52

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on february 6, 2001, elections were held in israel and ariel sharon became the country’s fifth prime minister in six years. johnny wilson continued to put on weight, experience back problems, and drive forty miles to his job at wal-mart five or six days a week. nine year old kim continued her obstreperous ways, at home and at school. johnny would have liked nothing better than to “give her back” if he had only known how. he appealed to olive johnson, but she was not helpful, and pointed out that questions might arise as to how kim had been adopted in the first place. jenny, however, continued to insist that kim was “her little sunshine”, and jenny stepped up and dealt with the teachers and school authorities when necessary. in these dealings she was always polite, patient, and conciliatory. on september 11, two planes piloted by islamic zealots deliberately crashed into the twin towers of manhattan’s world trade center, killing over two thousand people. a third plane crashed into the pentagon, the american military headquarters in washington d c, and a fourth, probably aiming for the white house, grounded and crashed before reaching its objective. to the american population, these were by far the most sensational and frightening events to occur in the world since the conclusion of the second world war 56 years earlier. to the great mass of the u s public, who had little knowledge of or interest in the conflicts in the middle east, and no concept at all of a “clash of civilizations” between “the west” snd islam dating back 1300 years, “9-11” was more astonishing , unexpected, and incomprehensible, than an invasion from outer space would have been. 39. 2002

johnny wilson - 37. 2000

by bofa xesjum

part thirty-seven of 52

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january 1, 2000 dawned an hour at a time all over the world without incident. by january 2, “y2k” had been forgotten, and nobody anywhere admitted to having been afraid of it. everybody moved on, including the purveyors of “survival kits” and the publishers of books about “surviving the coming apocalypse.” on february 4, penny left johnny wilson’s house, taking little eddie with her. the parting was amicable, with no money or property being involved, except for the $75 johnny agreed to pay for the uncontested divorce . johnny was relieved to see penny and eddie go, and resolved never to marry again. he was a few days short of his 36th birthday, still a “young man” by some standards, but he had begun to put on weight and suffered from back problems. jenny, however, took the divorce hard. kim came home from school the day after penny and eddie left and found jenny sitting in her chair in front of the television, crying. “what are you crying for?” kim asked. “because goop-face and little baby boy are gone?” “i’m sorry, honey,” jenny tried to control herself. “but i just get so lonely sitting here all day with nobody to talk to.” “they didn’t even like you,” kim said matter of factly. jenny began crying again. kim regarded her for a few seconds, then shook her head and went to her own little room and turned on her radio. on november 7, governor of texas george w bush apparently defeated vice president al gore in one of the closest presidential elections in u s history. because of the closeness of the vote in the state of florida, recounts were begun there, but the methods of the recount were disputed by the two sides. on december 9, the u s supreme ruled, 5-4, that the recounts should be halted because the standards of recounting were different in different counties, and no alternative “fair” method could be devised in the time required by law. this decision effectively awarded the election to bush. 38. 2001

johnny wilson - 36. 1999

by bofa xesjum

part thirty-six of 52

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on april 20, eric harris and dylan klebold, two students at columbine high school in litteton colorado, arrived at the school with rifles and shot and killed twelve other students and wounded about twenty other persons and then killed themselves. they had also planted a number of bombs in an attempt to kill a much larger number of people, but none of the bombs went off. although this was one of a number of such incidents in the united states, it captured the public imagination more than any other. during the year, many people professed concern that the coming of the next new year of 2000 would trigger widespread confusion and destruction because computers - which were seen as virtually controlling all human life - would not be able to process the two digits ”00” in many applications and would break down. despite the constant media coverage of “y2k” no actual panics were reported. jenny wilson was frightened enough about y2k that johnny humored her to the extent of purchasing about twenty large cases of bottles of distilled water and placing them in their basement. (wal-mart did an excellent business selling water and other “supplies” to people taking precautions against the possible disaster.) kim, now seven, was fascinated by the idea of y2k, looked forward to it eagerly and enjoyed trying to frighten jenny, penny, and eddie by talking about it. penny made up her mind to leave johnny if the year 2000 arrived without incident. on august 5, daisy wilson, who had been living in the seattle area for about seven years, celebrated her thirtieth birthday by watching television in her motel room with her two children, sean, aged 6, and marla, aged 4. she would have liked to go out and party all night with her pals, but her new social worker was a total bitch and on her case lately, and daisy did not want to risk having any babysitting plans she made mess up. 37. 2000

johnny wilson - 35. 1998

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part thirty-five of 52

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on january 18, 1998, the drudge report, an online news site, identified monica lewinsky as the white house intern who was alleged to have had a sexual relationship with u s president bill clinton. rumors had previously been reported in the media, but without lewinsky being named. on march 3, wal-mart announced that the site at which johnny wilson had worked since 1980 was shutting down . johnny was offered a job at another site forty miles away, though not as a foreman, and he accepted it. he felt confident that he could quickly reclaim his status as a foreman at the new site. johnny felt that the closing had been the company’s response to attempts by some employees to unionize. these attempts had come to nothing. johnny’s previously previously low opinion of unions now took on a more personal tone. kim, now six years old, continued to be a fractious child. in one altercation, she bit jenny on the leg so severely that the leg became infected and jenny contracted a fever. johnny and jenny attempted to make light of the incident, but penny was horrified, and began thinking of taking little eddie and leaving the household. kim entered first grade in september, and it was hoped that this would help lower the threshold of turbulence in the household. during the baseball season, mark mcgwire of the st louis cardinals hit 70 home runs and sammy sosa of the chicago cubs hit 66, both surpassing the previous record of 61 held by roger maris of the 1961 new york yankees. the achievements of the pair would later be viewed with suspicion and disdain because of their alleged use of “performance-enhancing drugs”. 36. 1999

johnny wilson - 34. 1997

by bofa xesjum

part thirty-four of 52

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on may 11, 1997, the computer program “deep blue” won the sixth and deciding game of its rematch with world chess champion gary kasparov. kasparov had won a match against it the previous year. deep blue’s victory was widely regarded as an important milestone in the advance of machine intelilgence. on the night of june 17, joe wilson found what he thought was a safe spot behind some bushes in washington park in springfield illinois and fell asleep. joe was now 57 years old, and had been preaching, and been mostly homeless, for 15 years. he had a dream that judgment day had arrived and that he, joe, was obliged to get on a bus to new york city - a place he had never visited - and preach to terrified hordes of sinners. the bus was driven by pontius pilate and the only other passengers were mary magdalene, who kept to herself, covered in a dark shawl and sitting behind pontius pilate, and st luke, who was ensconced across from joe in a seat toward the back. st luke had a suitcase full of large bibles filled with brightly colored pictures and he was trying to get joe to buy one. joe insisted that he preferred to keep his little battered pocket bible that had served him so well, and he and st luke had a long, confused conversation which involved joe actually entering the pictures in luke’s bibles and wandering through the holy land.. in the morning of june 18, rex, a beagle belonging to abby carter, an underwriter for the kemper insurance company, found joe behind the bushes where he had fallen asleep. joe’s bible was safe in his coat pocket, but his shoes had been stolen and he was dead. on july 1, control of the territory of hong kong - hong kong peninsula and kowloon island - was officially transferred from great britain to the people’s republic of china. 35. 1998

johnny wilson - 33. 1996

by bofa xesjum

part thirty-three of 52

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on march 4, 1996, olive johnson, who prided herself on her ability to assist other people in the management of their lives, introduced johnny wilson to penny brown, a woman his own age who worked at ihop and was the single mother of a little boy named eddie, who was seven months younger than kim. on may 31, benjamin netanyahu became prime minister of israel for the first time. on june 13, johnny wilson and penny brown were married in a simple ceremony by chuck grady, a friend of olive johnson’s who had obtained a minister’s ordination by mail. olive and jenny were the only witnesses. the great advantage of the marriage, from penny’s point of view, was that she would no longer have to pay for day care for eddie, as jenny, who had given up on ever finding another job, would take care of eddie as well as kim. jenny took a hands off approach to grandparenting, and left the two children pretty much to themselves while she watched tv. eddie was a moderately quiet child who had gotten along well his mates in day care, and missed them. kim wasted no time asserting her dominance over him. on the first afternoon they were together, as soon as jenny fell asleep in her chair, kim pushed eddie and knocked him down. “i’m telling,” the bewildered eddie immediately cried. “go ahead and tell, baby,” kim responded. “what a baby! only babies tell.” on august 28, prince charles, heir to the throne of great britain, and princess diana, the former lady diana spencer, finalized their divorce, after years of filling space in the tabloid newspapers of the world with their conflicts, disagreements, and personal affairs. 34. 1997