bizarreville

The government of Haiti, desperately trying to deal with the horror of the earthquake that hit their poor country, is now struggling with how to manage help from outsiders.  The latest flap has to do with the 10 Baptist missionaries who arrived to offer help to many stranded children, but were later accused of kidnapping the children and unceremoniously hauled off to jail.  They were all kept under tight lock and key when it was found out that several of the missionaries had been previously guilty of various traffic violations, jaywalking incidents, sneezing without covering their noses, and wearing orange on St. Patricks Day.

This unfortunate incident has caused the Haitian government to begin to question all the aid coming into the country, and whether some of the so-called aid is going to be really good for the country.  For example, the government has done intensive investigations and found that much of the donated water is plain tap water, not spring-fed water.  Much of the donated beer is light beer, with almost no taste.  Cases and cases of Coke have arrived on its shores, but it turns out that over half of it is Diet Coke.  Boxes and boxes of Chicken McNuggets have arrived, and no one seems to be able to ascertain what kind of food is in these things.

And it gets worse.  Volunteers have arrived supposedly bringing medical supplies.  But, the drugs being brought in are not the good, brand-name drugs…they are Generic Drugs, that’s right…thousands and thousands of bottles of plain old generic drugs.

“What are we…not good enough for you?”  a Haitian government spokesman cried.  “Do you wish to turn us from a 3rd world country into a 4th world country?  Light beer?  Is that all that we mean to you…to the world?  What will you send us next…a crew of 1-legged construction workers to help us rebuild our cities?”

The Haitian government is taking a harder look at donations, aid, and help from all sources.  Unfortunately, some of it will have to be turned around, and sent back.  Meanwhile its citizens are suffering, and beginning the question the wisdom of their leaders.

 The US State Department had no comment on the missionaries situation, but said they are trying to find a processed chicken parts alternate.

Disclaimer:  all stories in Bizarreville are totally fiction.

Ben Nelson, the infamous Democratic senator from Nebraska, has been getting booed when he goes into any restaurant in his home state.  Last weekend, he was sneered at and pummeled with cold pizza by a bunch of 8-year olds when he tried to sneak into a Chuck E. Cheese for a quick dinner and game of Skee-Ball.  The day before, he was denied purchase of a large popcorn just before watching the movie Avatar from a kid behind the counter who refused to touch his soiled money.

Nelson knows he has got some bridges to unburn since his illogical decision to accept bribery to vote for the Obamacare bill.  Folks back home don’t cotton to that kind of squirrelliness.  So yesterday he announced he would join the Republican filibuster of Craig Becker, nominated by the Communists for a seat on the National Labor Relations Board.  He knows that, with Nebraska’s tradition of being a Right to Work state, the public would crucify him even further if he didn’t start giving some modicum of impression that he was representing his constituents.

Old Ben knows that Becker favors the Employee Forced Choice Act (EFCA).  This is a bill being debated in Congress, which would totally remove secret balloting for unionization, and open the doors for union thugs, creeps, and dirtbags to make workers offers ‘they can’t refuse’ to join unions.  The proposed law would also prescribe a set of anti-business rules, whackings, and penalties sure to dry up job growth…what little there is.

Ben has heard that Becker has other nutty ideas.  He has pushed for the Sleepers Rights bill, which would allow workers to konk out on the job without fear of repercussion.  “Hey, we all get tired, especially after tying one on the night before,” Becker said, speaking at the Left Wing Jumblebrain Association’s national convention, to wild cheers from the crowd.  “What’s wrong with a little shut-eye on the job?  You’ve done it, I’ve done it, we’ve all done it.  I konked out for an hour and a half on the crapper one time in 2002 after a tough night of margaritas.”  If passed, the new law would allow all workers 25 minutes in the morning and 45 minutes after lunch to doze off at full pay, plus another 30 minutes of optional sleep-time at half-pay.  Becker has said that most workers wouldn’t take all that time every day, but if they needed it, they would have it…without fear of losing their jobs.  When asked a follow-up question, an Aide had to nudge Becker to wake up.

Nelson stands by his rejection of Becker, but has said he might reconsider his vote if Harry Reid comes forward with some new sweetheart bribe for him and his family.  He has suggested that the Caribbean is nice this time of year.  Insiders say that Reid is booking him on a trip to Haiti.

Disclaimer:  all stories in Bizarreville are fiction, even the ones that seem pretty darn real.

The medical community is still befuddled over the continuing spread of the Palin-ophobia epidemic which has hit liberal circles and conclaves very hard.  The outbreak seems to be hitting the liberal punditry particularly hard, who have been seen trembling and stammering by the few people who actually watch them on TV.  Lib leaders are nervous that their solid media network is coming unglued and rattled by each of Palin’s trivial acts, and causing them to lose focus on the business at hand:  Spending Money Fast.

The latest phobia panic came when Palin addressed a National Tea Party convention in Nashville, and had written some notes to herself on the palm of her hand.  Naturally, the phobiacs went into hyper-freak.  “I stopped doing that kind of stuff in high school after my fifth detention for cheating on tests,” a Democratic inner-city congressman admitted.  “I finally had to memorize who the First president of the U.S. was….Washington, wasn’t it?”

It is nervous times for the Libs, and they want answers to deal with Palin-ophobia before it is too late.  They have gone to the government-funded Medical Research Boondogglery Commission to try and find research studies that have analyzed syndromes like Palin-ophobia.  But the Boondogglery has found nothing quite like this, although they did find interesting psychological studies of the mating practices of long-term civil service employees…with pictures.

Meanwhile, the jittery Lib leaders are pursuing possible medication alternatives to help calm them down.  They have tried to make a case for being able to obtain medical marijuana in California, but even the whacko doctors out there have refuse to prescribe it for Palin-ophobia.  “I think those reefer-brains are just making an excuse to get some cheap dope,” one doctor speculated.

With the increasing amount of misinformation, misinterpretation, and outright lying going on today, it is hard for our citizens to know what is true and what is not.  Here is Part One of a guide to help in the translations:

You can keep your existing Health Care program.  Translation:  Your employer will be given an option to keep the existing, outrageously expensive health care programs for its employees , or to bail-out and let the government pick up the whole tab.  Hmmmmm…I wonder which way they will go?

This program will not add to the National Debt.  Translation:  It will not add to the national debt of Bulgaria, Yemen, or Outer Flambobia.  It most certainly will add to the National Debt of the US.

We will only increase tax on really rich people.  Translation:  Of course, anyone who has a job, a nice family, a home, food on the table is certainly rich and fulfilled in their life.  Yes, it means YOU.  You are rich.

Lobbyists had no influence on my decision making.  Translation:  The free trip to Cancun, with dinners at 5-star restaurants, and free flowing champagne were very entertaining and enjoyable.  But I have perhaps the strongest willpower on earth, and am able to separate these lavish goodies from doing my business.  But, as it turns out coincidently, I was going to vote that way anyway.

I am not an ideologue.  Translation:  I am a credentialed ideologue with fairly extreme views, who now senses my views are opposite of what common sense people want.  I now know that I must be much, much more clever in disguising my kooky views and whacky ideas.

We must become energy independent from Mideast oil.  Translation:  Soccer moms, stop buying SUVs and start walking to the soccer field with Junior.  If it’s too far to walk, drop out of soccer, and let him play with a hula hoop.

There will be no more Earmarks.  Translation:  We will need to come up with a different name for these pork-barrel cash drainers that piss away the nation’s wealth.  How about calling them ‘Shlonkulators’ next session?  That’ll confuse ’em.

I feel your pain.  Translation:  I understand the concept of pain but probably do not fully know what is hurting you.  But if you were to grab a baseball bat and hit me in my tender zone, I believe I could better empathize.  Go ahead, swing away.

The government does not create jobs, entrepreneurs do.  Translation:  I have a dark, ulterior motive and hidden agenda for saying something I clearly do not believe in.  I figure that I can say one thing and do another, and you’ll probably not catch it.  After all, you have to admit, I’m pretty smart…and, well, you’re not.

Just think how much worse it would have been if we hadn’t stepped in and implemented our program.  Translation: Okay, yes, it was a stupid program.  It accomplished nothing, probably did more harm than good.  But we sensed you wanted us to do SOMETHING, even if it was something stupid.  There were probably 1000 other things we could have done, 998 of which would have turned out better than this one.  Too bad we didn’t pick one of those to do.  Too late now.

We hope that this translation guide helps our readers better understand politician-speak.  We will publish more translations, as needed, in the future as a public service.

The mayor of Bizarreville wanted to declare Super Bowl Monday a Bizarreville holiday.  His reasoning was simple:  the game is being played later and later every year, with parties now ending after midnight, making it very tough for him (and others) to make it into work the next day…especially after downing a 6-pack of Dogfish Head during the pre-game and scarfing another sixer during the game itself.  The mayor thought his proposal would be a slam dunk for approval, particularly this year with all the interest around the two competing teams.

But, unfortunately, he did not realize that most of the Council members were not football fans.  In fact they were un-fans.  They did not even tune in for the cute, creative Super Bowl commercials.  No, they preferred to watch the 12 billionth rerun of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, followed by the exciting reality tales of Ice Road Truckers.  They reminded the mayor that February is not a good month for holidays…they had already lost one when they combined Lincoln and Washington’s birthdays.  And the only way it could be done would be to eliminate one other holiday sometime during the year.

Of course, when the mayor suggested eliminating the Friday after Thanksgiving, he was promptly pummeled with obscenities and sneers by the 5am shopping faction of the Council.  They threatened to march down to every retailer in Bizarreville and tell them all that the mayor was trying to ruin the most important retail sales day of the year.  They would call him anti-business, anti-retailer, and anti-turkey.

The mayor was up for election in November, and knew that he could not recover from being labeled anti-turkey.  He gave up the fight, and came to terms that he would gut-out a Super Bowl Monday hangover.

The recent fumbles and missteps by officials in handling terrorist suspects by inadvertently treating them as full US citizens prompted the Justice Department to clarify Miranda rights issues for disgusting terrorist types.  They decided that some special language might be the appropriate path forward.  A final draft is still in the making, but a copy has been leaked out to garner some initial public reaction.  Here is the draft text:

“You have the right to remain silent, until you decide that you have finally had enough waterboarding, Chinese water torturing, and listening to Abba records 24/7, and are ready to spill some beans.  When (not if, but when) you give up your stubbornness to remain silent, anything and everything you say will be held against you, your buddies, and family members in a military court of justice, using a special code of justice for scumbags such as yourself.  It will not be pretty.  You will not have the right to an attorney, but the court will appoint an advocate to present your weak case and lame arguments.  This person will be selected from the Skid Row homeless shelter and soup kitchen inhabitants du jour.  If you are unhappy with the selection, you will be permitted to go have a conjugal visit with yourself.  Do you understand these rights, or do we need to bring in Igor to beat the crap out of you to help unplug your wax-filled ear canals?  What do you say, ya’ punk?”

Critics have argued that using Igor’s name as a heavy-handed thug type might seem offensive to people of Eastern European descent.  They have suggested ‘Larry’ as an alternate, but the Mirandize wordsmiths don’t feel that name delivers quite the same punch.

Disclaimer:  all stories in Bizarreville are fiction.

For the past year, the Administration has purposely avoided the term ‘War on Terror’ when describing the war on terror, mainly because it was a term coined by the Bushites.   So, four weeks ago, they launched a contest to all citizens to come up with a new creative name for this Whatever thing against Whoever.  The first prize is a week stay in the luxurious William Henry Harrison room in the White House basement, plus a royalty arrangement whereby he/she will get 1 cent for every time the new phrase gets used by a government official.

Entries were supposed to have been closely guarded, but our intrepid investigators have searched through White House trash receptacles to find some of those ideas that have made the first cut:

Critics have expressed outrage with this silliness, and cannot understand why the Administration just won’t stay with War on Terror.  But officials argue back, “Who is ‘terror’?  Is that some high school bully who gives you a wedgie?  Is that a graffiti creep who scratches obscenities in john stalls?  You can’t be that ambiguous when it comes to this kind of thing.  Plus, we need something a little catchy.”

White House staffers are considering retaining Marketing wizards that dream up snazzy names for new cars to submit ideas.  This would include those legendary visionaries who came up with such beauties as LeBaron, Fierenza, Cobalt, Cordoba, Tempo, LTD2, and Edsel.  They feel certain that these folks will come up with at least one LeBaron-quality idea.

They have also tried to enlist Muhammed Ali to come up with a clever “Rumble in the Jungle” kind of phraseology, but allegedly he told them to kiss off.

Insiders say that results should be finalized by next week, at which time they can start developing posters, buttons, and banners.

Disclaimer:  all stories in Bizarreville are fiction, even the ones that seem real.

The mayor of Bizarreville has volunteered to move the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial to Bizarreville.  This comes on the heels of hearing that New York City did not want any part in having the trial in their city for cost and safety reasons.  KSM will be tried in Judge John Axmaniac’s court, who has guaranteed a speedy, no-nonsense process, total openness, and a fair outcome.

The judge will actually hold court at the 12,000 seat Bizarro Arena basketball stadium.  The public will be welcome,and will be charged 10 bucks a head for a daily ticket, but each day will include a concert by the Bizarreville Jazz Orchestra immediately following trial proceedings.  Dancing will be available.

Normal concessions will be served, including dogs, beer, cheesy nachos, and other sports-type refreshments.  To simplify matters, all items will be priced at $10 each, correct bills are required.  The concession company will also serve fresh tomatoes that can be optionally thrown at KSM and/or his lawyers if fans don’t like what they see or hear during testimony.  Tomatoes will also be priced at $10 each, but fans can get 3 for $20 or a “frequent thrower” package of 10 for $50.

Film will be taken of the proceedings, and will later be turned into a feature length comedy movie, featuring Bill Murray as KSM and Dennis Miller as his hapless lawyer.  The Director will intermix real trial footage with comedy hijinx to make a film the whole family will enjoy.  Hilarity should reach a climactic peak when they all start throwing food at each other, a newly-trained apprentice underwear bomber gets knocked-out by a flying bench,  while the Judge keeps pounding his gavel until the head flies off and hits the bailiff in his private parts.

On a more serious note, the mayor understands the seriousness of the threat by Islamic terrorists during the trial, so he will have extra security people armed with bazookas at strategic spots near the arena.  Citizens in vans and SUVs will be warned to stay clear of the stadium’s entrances, so that they don’t get inadvertantly bazooka’ed.

As mentioned earlier, the Judge promises a speedy trial process. Much of the prosecution evidence is considered Top Secret, and will just be accepted as factual material without disclosure of details.  Defense has already agreed to not develop lame theories of the case.  And, in a surprising move, the Defense has agreed that during cross exam, prosecution witnesses can answer with a variation on the 5th Amendment, which they affectionately call the “Up yours, you friggin creeps” response to certain questions.

All in all, Bizarreville authorities think this could be a big money maker and are excited to get started ASAP.

Disclaimer:  all stories in Bizarreville are fiction, even the ones that sound real.

Iran’s continued expansion of their nuclear program has elevated world concern, and once again brought up the subject of various economic sanctions to send a clear message.  The hope would be that these tough-minded sanctions, unlike the ones tried in Cuba for 50-plus years, would stimulate the Iranian people to pressure President Ahmadinejad to make directional shifts in nuclear strategy.  Secretary of State Clinton has been on a tour trying to get China and others to get on the sanction bandwagon, but thus far has had little success.

So, the US may be going it alone.  A task force has been assembled to identify saction items that would deliver a clear, strong message.  The list of sanctions is bold, and includes:  Cheese Balls in Sams Club mega-size buckets, White Castle frozen 12-packs, rabies shots, Bud Light, Ron Jon surfer shirts, Mickey Mouse watches, extra strength deodorant, flip flops, and Malt-o-Meal.

Earlier, there had been talk about sanctioning gasoline, but it was dismissed because Iran could just go to Venezuela or Russia to get that.  “But you can’t get Malt-o-Meal or White Castles from the Rooskies,” smirked a task force member.  “No sir.  We want to deliver a firm kick in the you-know-what so that they can wake up and smell the nachos.”

The task force believes Ahmadinejad will take notice because, allegedly, he is a serious Cheese Ball fanatic.  Rumor has it he will often just sit in front of his TV watching a soccer match, and polish off an entire Sams-size bucket by himself.  His previous doctor had told him to be careful how much of that crap he ate, because of its high fat content and lack of nutritional value.  But Ahmadinejad accused him of being a stinking infidel, and promptly shot him on the spot.  His new doctor takes a more pragmatic approach, says Cheese Balls are good for you, and has suggested that the president even have a second bucket if the mood suits him.

The sanctions are hoped to bring new spirit to Iran’s dissidents who could theoretically pressure Ahmadinejad to back down on the nukes.  But Iran’s president has already shown how he deals with dissidents.  One had the audacity to call him ‘Cheese Ball Willie’ in jest…Iran special forces ended up severing his unit, framing it along with a couple cheese balls, and displaying it at the new Tehran Fine Arts Museum.

Disclaimer:  all stories in Bizarreville are fiction, but you already figured that out.

Bizarreville Loan & Savings has announced an exciting new program for their loyal customers, which they are calling their Pounce, Bounce and Punt program.  With this innovative program, a person will be able to run unlimited overdrafts on their checking account by simply signing a Promissory Note that their children will pay off the balance starting 20 years from now.  The children, of course, will also be responsible for paying the accumulated interest.  But BL&S bank officials say, “Hey, that’s 20 years from now.  Who knows what’ll be going on by then?”

This exciting new program will allow families to go ahead and buy that giant flat screen TV, go to dinner at Ruth’s Chris, buy that package of flying lessons, or take a cruise to Latvia…without having to sacrifice other necessary entertainment needs or make those silly, annoying trade-off decisions.

BL&S fully understands that there will be questions, so they have issued a Q&A package for their customers to ease their minds.  For example:  Q:  How can we get our 3-year old to sign the note; he can’t even write yet?  A: Parents just stuff a pen in his hand and move it to make an X on the signature line.  Q: What about my unborn baby, does she qualify?  A: Absolutely.  Mom can sign the form then press it against her belly for pseudo-confirmation.  Q: What if the kids don’t want to pay 20 years from now?  A: Worry about that later.  By then we’ll all be retired and holed-up in some low-budget nursing home.  Q: Who will fund this deficit of checkbook willy nilly spending?  A:  Not sure.  Probably the Chinese.  Otherwise, the bank may have to float some junk bonds, which will probably end up being worthless. 

Many conservative lawmakers are appalled at this reckless concept, and fear that it could start a new wave of spending irresponsibility, with devastating long-term effects.  But, when pulled aside, many privately say that they will be quickly signing up to do the Overdraft Mambo so they can finally replace their worn-out naugahyde living room couches and Pier One wicker end tables with something just a little less tacky.

Meanwhile, other Bizarreville banks are kicking themselves for being caught flatfooted on this brilliant idea, and are scrambling feverously to try and duplicate it.  One rival bank insists they will do “one better” by incorporating  Promissory Notes assigned to grandchildren who won’t even be conceived for another 20-plus years.  The innovative brilliance never ceases to amaze.

Disclaimer:  all stories in Bizarreville are fiction, even ones that sound like they could be real.

The President, finally faced with having to deal with the unemployment situation after fiddling around for his first year in office, has decided to make a Heartland Bus Tour…which he has chosen to call the “Stop Being Greedy & Start Creating Jobs” tour.  He wanted to add the words “You Bastards” after Greedy, but staffers advised against it because children might not understand the dark humor of it all…to which the President responded, “What humor?”  He plans to load the First Family and his key Economic Advisory Council in a converted school bus, which he named ‘Air Shocks One’, and hit the road ASAP.

His first stop may be in Elkhart, Indiana, a favorite poster child of skyrocketing unemployment in the Midwest.  Elkhart, the RV capital of the world, will most certainly be taken to the woodshed, and chided for its heavy reliance on a single industry producing gas-guzzling behemoths into a highly-discretionary marketplace.  Insiders say that the President will suggest that, when times like this get tough, they should turn their RV manufacturing capacity into making Craftsman tool chests, gym lockers, or tool storage sheds…maybe even pole barns.  Flexibility, he will say, is the way to compete with the Chinese and other 3rd world nations in the future.

Another stop will be Elyria, Ohio.  The President knows he will need Ohio as a blue state, so may make several stops where unemployment is hovering around 11%.  Here’s where he will make his Stop Greed pitch.  He plans to cite Muckford, Inc. as an example of a company that got so greedy that they laid off some secretaries…secretaries who used to fill out 210-page environmental data forms each month.  Bottom line:  it ended up causing forms to come in with incorrect font size, page breaks in the wrong spots, and generally bad grammar and capitalization.  The government had to step in and shut the plant down for willful form violations.  The President will say that it is time to stop the wanton profiteering, and get back to the days when companies lost money proudly but kept people on the payroll until the bitter end.

The tour will make a trip to Detroit, even though the President had visited there recently…attending the annual Detroit North American Auto Show, and marveling at the new technological advances coming soon.  During that trip, the President planned to take a test drive in a Chrysler high-performance future concept car, but it konked out in the parking lot and spewed oil all over his Hart Schaffner Marx designer suit pants.  He was, however, able to see the special exhibit which showed how to close down a 2500-employee auto assembly plant and bulldoze it down to flat earth in less than 30 days.  Time lapse photography was used in creating the film, which attracted huge crowds, and prompted comments from the President, “Now that’s  American ingenuity and efficiency at work!”

They may also swing by Baltimore and revisit the Machine Shop where the President got an important photo op last week.  During that visit, the workers at the plant repeatedly asked him what he was planning to do about creating more good jobs, and when was it going to happen…but the President did a little lateral shuffle dance.  But he told the workers that they need to buckle down, and work harder and smarter if they want to compete long term.  Later, the shop foreman asked if he could show the President some new machinery, and have him grind some soft metal for the cameras…but the Secret Service quickly stepped in and said that might not be such a good idea.

When announcing plans for the Bus Tour, a reporter asked about his statement in the State of the Union speech where he promised $33 million tax credits to businesses in order to create job growth.  “Yes, I am in total support of these tax cr…cr…cred… carr…curr… a hommina, hommina, hommina… curr..curr… (cough, cough)…  curd…cuh… cuh…,” he stammered before a rescuing senior aide said, “Sir, I believe they all know what you mean.”

Disclaimer:  all stories in Bizarreville are fiction, even the ones that seem pretty real.

The President met with Republican congresspeople last week to call them obstructionist idiots, whiney cry babies who need changed, and meatloaf lovers.  He raked them over the coals for several hours, while trying to jam down a turkey club sandwich during pauses in the action.

He then held out an olive branch of sorts and offered to have them participate in resolving the nation’s difficulties…as long as they keep their stupid ideas to themselves.  “I see you GOPs as people who can ask good, respectful questions, challenging the real leaders on our ideas,” said the President.  “You can also go get us coffee, and if you want to make a little extra money, perhaps shine our shoes.  You know, you guys can probably get 10 bucks a pair, plus tips…could haul down a helluva lot of dough…hey, I’d pay 20 skins for a first-class shoe shine myself.”

The President chided them that they better help pass Health Care, or he would sign an Executive Order cancelling Health Care for all registered Republicans in government service.  “Can he do that?” asked a junior congressman from Alabama.  “Hey if these guys can whip up shady sweetheart deals for labor unions, and connive shams for certain pesky senators without legal repercussions, I guess they can do ’bout anything,” responded a senior colleague.  The President told them that they had one week, no more, to get with the program…the cancellation order has been drafted and is sitting in his InBox.

Republican leaders reminded the President that they are in the super-minority, and were getting steamrollered by Democrats.  Previous attempts by GOP members to even suggest a change or two were met with spit takes that just got themselves and their staffers soaking wet.  “Nothing worse than getting splashed with coffee-laden drool from those germ-infested creeps…with all due respect, of course,” commented one congressman.

They also reminded him of the recent elections in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Virginia with big GOP victories, suggesting that the President’s grand plans were fizzling with people.  But the President brushed that off, placing blame on himself for not communicating his message well enough with those citizens.  “There are some places in the country where people just don’t seem to listen well,” he said.  “Call it ADD, call it multi-tasking overload, call it thick skull syndrome.  But from now on, repetition, repetition, repetition…then when we think they’ve had enough, a repetition strudel for dessert.”

There was some confusion during the session when the President said, “I’m not an idea log,” which drew various snickers and cat-calls.  For some odd reason, the audience thought he said “ideologue”, which would have certainly been an outright lie given his strong Marxist beliefs and his oft stated ultra-liberal positions that the government should run just about everything.  But later he clarified, “I just don’t keep a chronology on every idea that comes my way.  I have high-paid flunkies that do that for me…and do it quite will, I might add.”

When all was over, the President mingled with the crowd and gave big bear hugs to his adversarial colleagues.  “Hey I still love ya’,” he said with a big smile.

Disclaimer:  all stories in Bizarreville are fiction, even the ones that seem pretty real.