It's not just the Continentals, everybody's pissed.

I can't believe that I fell asleep on the couch again. That's two nights in a row. I don't know if I had one too many, so to speak, or if I was just exhausted from all the mania that's going on after hours.
Tonight, like so many other nights that I've crashed on the couch, I was awakened by the noise.

I initially thought that it was nothing more than another overly loud television commercial that was produced at a higher level of volume control than normal, but that wasn't it. The old Continental Congress and all of it's visitors, new members, guests and inmates, were raising so much hell, the drunkest fraternity party on campus, would have been unable to compete.

The ruckus was so loud, I didn't have time to wake up at an even pace. I was wide awake the moment the hell raising began and the noise invaded my sleep. There were far more men inside the old halls of Congress than there were during my first call, and the noise, confusion, everybody yelling at once, with all the echos that were coming out of the acoustically void building, was like waking up to a bomb blast.

I could faintly hear the tap, tap, tap of the gavel and a voice screaming out the words "Order, order, order in this chamber". After several minutes of the demands for "order" went unanswered, someone fired off a pistol shot. In the typical fashion of so many Veterans, you could hear men diving for cover with chairs being overturned and tables crashing to the floor.

Only a moment passed before I heard the gavel hit the table again. This time it was followed by the demand: "Silence, silence, silence on the floor. I said silence on the floor, you bunch of fatherless bastards".

In an instant, I could at least hear myself think. Someone called for everyone to shut up and take their seats. Again came the sound of the chairs and tables being put back in their proper position. Above that, I heard the distinct sound from a pair of boots, complete with spurs, as they walked up the wooden stairway and made their way to the center of the stage where the podium always stood. When they stopped, I heard a gravely voice beginning to speak. I don't have a clue who was doing the speaking.

"Gentlemen, the commotion is over, the problem is solved and there's no more reason for concern".

Over the next few minutes I heard the damnedest explanation of what had happened after a budgetary presentation had been made to the members by the Chairman of an un-named committee for budgetary considerations. I then learned, that shortly after the meeting adjourned, the "Special Guest Accommodations", located just inside the stockade, ended up being the location of choice to discuss some of these financial matters.

With that, the negative aspects of the report and the blame being pointed at some of the prisoners who were already shackled and in no mood for any hassles from their captors, one hell of a fight broke out.

To further calm the crowd, the familiar voices of John Adams and John Hancock made it's way through the mumblings of the crowd.

"Gentlemen", Adams said, " Let's all calm down and give Hancock a moment to explain what has happened. I assure you, once you know, you'll be okay with all of it and we can get back to the normal course of business". With that, Hancock took the podium and began to speak.

"Earlier this evening, it appears that several of our somewhat inebriated members decided to pay a visit to the stockade. It was their premeditated purpose, to not only visit some of the nare do wells there, but to take out their vengeance for the financial reports they'd just been given."

"In short, Mr Hitler, Benito Mussolini, General Tojo, Herman Goering, Genghis Khan, Santa Anna, Jack the Ripper and The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, have all sustained injuries and have been transferred to the stockade infirmary".

"All of them have regained consciousness and Doctor Mengele has been summoned from the root cellar to attend to the various blunt force trauma cases as well as the uh, shall we say, to make an attempt to do something with the foreskin from the Grand Mufti that was taken by Jack the Ripper".

At that point a very loud cheer was heard from the gallery and a short version of "Him, him, fuck him" was sung. After that subsided, unrestrained by the speaker, John Hancock spoke again.

"I wish for this body to know of a few changes that we've made to insure there will be no more outbursts of this kind". First and foremost, Generals Patton, Pershing and MacArthur, as well as Teddy Roosevelt and Benjamin Franklin, have been restricted from any further contact with the prisoners for a period of time not to exceed 12 hours".

"In addition to that, there will be no more chaining of prisoners such as Jack the Ripper to anyone of middle eastern origins or combat experience in the first World War. As a final note, providing Jack the Ripper with standard eating utensils, such as a knife, fork and spoon will no longer be permitted".

Somewhat frustrated, Hancock left the podium and, of all people, General Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf took his place. Once squarely placed at the podium, the General began to speak. I was shocked and totally unaware that he'd already arrived at the old building and been heartily received by its members only moments before the attack. I missed all of that.

"Gentlemen, I am once again humbled to be in your presence. I wish to inform you all that I am not discouraged or disappointed with your reactions to the financial reports that I presented during my first address to this astute and famous group of men. Had I known that none of the new members had brought a lap top with them when they arrived, I would have more properly explained it's function so that each of you would understand how and where I came upon the data".

"I realize now that it was a complete shock to all and in the interest of clarity, I would like to suggest a thing or two that will allow me to accomplish a couple of goals. The first is to read it again and the second is to call for a recess as I know this has been an all night long affair that almost mandates a break".

Once again, the assembly broke out with a number of comments that ran from "Here, Here, and Bully" to one course of "He's the jolly good fellow". With that, the General began to speak again: He said:

"Gentlemen, with regard to the financial information surrounding the costs of illegal immigrants that I distributed last night, I will make this very short and to the point. I will start with welfare. Those vary from  year to year but we typically use 11 to 22 Billion per year. We spend another 22 billion on food stamps and school lunches. There's another 2.5 billion on Medicaid, 12 billion on primary and secondary education and a staggering 17 billion on anchor babies".

He paused for a moment as he noticed that some of the members were beginning to whisper to their counter parts and he didn't want to see that take off to include all the members and another run to the stockade. After the pause, he continued with:

"Believe it or not, 30% of all Federal Prisoners are illegals and that costs 3 million dollars per day. Worse than that, there's 90 billion dollars spent on welfare and social services and a million sex crimes committed each year. To finish this, I will add two things and then call for the break". More cheers came with that statement and the General acknowledged it with a small bow from the waist.

"They are sending 45 billion dollars to the countries of their origin and causing 200 billion dollars of suppressed wages within our own work force". Those costs total 338.3 billion dollars. I will provide the explanation of an http address later this week, illustrate how I bring those reports to the screen, but for the purposes of the report, that's it. Now gentlemen, it is break time".

I'm more than a little anxious to have my next visit, whenever it comes. I'll get back with you then and bring you up to speed. These people are serious and it's so much fun to sit in on the conversations even though some of them are pretty ugly. Standby for whatever comes.