A Collection of Premature Obama Obituaries

Time to hold some pundits responsible. Because every day they spew whatever malarkey wins them page views, retweets and cable news airtime but are they ever held accountable? Does anyone ever call them out on said malarkey when it proves, usually within a few days, to be completely off base? No. They’re given a free pass to generate brand new malarkey the next day and no matter how inaccurate their predictions were the day before they are usually never questioned. The cycle continued over and over and over. They’re worse than fake psychics, because at least fake psychics are able to realize that most people do have a dead relative named John.

So what was the most inaccurate prediction of the 2012 election season?  Well, that would be the exact opposite of what actually happened: that Barack Obama would lose and Mitt Romney would win. Countless conservative pundits, day after day, wrote Obama’s obituary, most of them knowing that in our 24 hour new cycle (or even 6 or 12 hour cycle), the words and tweets of the previous day would be quickly forgotten and a new narrative would be written.

Here is some of the best Mitt-Will-Win punditry, starting at 10 (ok, 11!) days before the election, and counting down to the final predictions.

October 26^th, 11 Days Out…

FiveThirtyEight.com Forecast: Obama 74.4% chance of winning

Ross Douthat

I think the Romney campaign’s guarantee of victory has mattered much less than the Obama campaign’s recent aura of defeat. Losing campaigns have a certain feel to them: They go negative hard, try out new messaging very late in the game, hype issues that only their core supporters are focused on, and try to turn non-gaffes and minor slip-ups by their opponents into massive, election-turning scandals.

http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/24/obamas-aura-of-defeat/

Rick Wilson

Watching the final debate, the more I considered Barack Obama’s deplorably non-presidential affect and attitude; his reliance on corny, crudely-made zingers; and his almost pathological string of lies and distortions, the more it struck me that, at some level, he knows this is over.

http://ricochet.com/main-feed/The-Inflection-Point

Jennifer Rubin

The collapse of Obama’s winning coalition from 2008 is evident on multiple fronts… the president is now drawing in the RealClearPolitics average the support of (you guessed it) 47 percent of the voters.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/the-unmaking-of-a-president-2012/2012/10/25/a0d69dc4-1ea1-11e2-9cd5-b55c38388962_blog.html

Neil Stevens cherry picked one poll and predicted Minnesota and Pennsylvania would go to Romney!

Gallup’s new partisan ID split, one that mimics what Rasmussen has been saying all along, predicts nothing less than doom for the Democrats, and a solid, national win for Mitt Romney this year.

http://www.redstate.com/2012/10/26/swingometer-gallup-party-id-figures-predict-solid-romney-win/

October 27^th, 10 Days Out…

FiveThirtyEight.com Forecast: Obama 73.6% chance of winning

Hugh Hewitt – speaking of Ohio

I am not surprised by the crowds or the energy.  People who think it is close will be surprised a week from Tuesday.  You can’t hide the economy from the people living through it. Ohio wants change.

http://www.hughhewitt.com/blog/g/95e54b1e-abcc-4c96-923a-fc88d2ba5ccd

John Nolte, on Michael Barone

Michael Barone is no shill. He might be right-of-center politically, but he’s nobody’s flack. What he is, however, is one of the top three smartest numbers men in the country, and he’s predicting a Romney win.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/10/27/Romney-Increases-lead-In-national-swing-state-poll

http://pjmedia.com/eddriscoll/2012/10/26/barone-predicts-romney-winner/

Dan McLaughlin

Barack Obama is toast. This is not something I say lightly. I generally try to remain cautious about predictions, because the prediction business is a humbling one…. Obama will lose – perhaps lose a very close race, but lose just the same. That conclusion is only underscored by the fact that, historically, there is little reason to believe that the remaining undecided voters will break for an incumbent in tough economic times. He will lose the national popular vote, and the fact that he has remained competitive to the end in the two key swing states he needs to win (Ohio and Wisconsin) will not save him.

http://www.redstate.com/2012/10/26/why-i-think-obama-is-toast/

October 28^th, 9 Days Out…

FiveThirtyEight.com Forecast: Obama 74.6% chance of winning

Jay Cost

More and more, Americans are coming around to the idea that a President Romney would be a change for the better, which means that—barring some unforeseen shift in public opinion—Obama’s days in office look to be numbered.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/independents-day_657936.html?page=2

Newt “I’m going to be the nominee” Gingrich

I think it’s very unlikely, as a historian that [Romney]  can win a significant popular victory vote and not carry the electoral college…I think he’s actually going to end up winning 53-47.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/newt-gingrich-predicts-romney-victory-of-53-47

Dean Chambers (The unskewedpolls.com Guy)

If these numbers are right, Mitt Romney gets elected our next president with 301 electoral votes to 237 for Barack Obama. If Romney wins Pennsylvania and Michigan, that total goes to 337 electoral votes. If Romney momentum causes him to win Oregon, New Mexico and Minnesota, he will win a total of 359 electoral votes as projected here. If Maine, Connecticut, New Jersey and Washington state come into play, they could add another 37 electoral votes to the Romney total for a final total of 396 electoral votes.

http://www.examiner.com/article/romney-leads-nine-of-11-key-swing-states-by-unskewed-polls-averages

October 29^th, 8 Days Out…

FiveThirtyEight.com Forecast: Obama 72.9% chance of winning

Dick Morris

Obama won by 7 points in 2008. But the electorate has become 15 points more Republican since then. Do the math — an 8 point Romney victory! OK, maybe 5 or 6 or 7, but no cliffhanger.

http://www.dickmorris.com/gallup-explains-why-other-polls-are-wrong/#more-10087

John Kasich

Right now, I believe we’re currently ahead. Internals show us currently ahead. Honestly, I believe that Romney is going to carry Ohio.

http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/28/14757523-ohio-gov-predicts-romney-win-as-auto-politics-dominate?lite

Jack Kelly

So the question may not be whether Mr. Romney will win, but by how much…Underlings must wonder if there will be legal consequences for the laws they’ve broken. I predict an orgy of document shredding Nov. 7.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/10/29/the_obama_presidency_is_about_to_be_swept_away.html

October 30^th, 7 Days Out…

FiveThirtyEight.com Forecast: Obama 77.4% chance of winning

Michael Novak

For myself, I expect Romney to win by just over 52 to 46 percent, with two minor candidates gathering about 2 percent between them.

also, speaking of pollsters…

The one I count most trustworthy is Rasmussen

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/332002/why-romney-will-win-michael-novak

Frank Donatelli

A cold, hard reading of the most important trends and numbers tells us that Mitt Romney will be elected America’s 45th president…There are still many factors that can affect this closest of elections. But the most likely outcome is for Mitt Romney to ride strong public dissatisfaction with the president’s handling of the economy to victory on Nov. 6.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1012/83018_Page2.html

Joe Klein provides a needed dose of reality

So we’re in the quiet eye of the election. And I promise you, this thing can spin either way when we emerge. There will be a jobs report this Friday. There may be other surprises. But anyone who claims to know who is going to win is blowing smoke.

http://swampland.time.com/2012/10/29/i-dont-know/?iid=sl-main-arenapage

October 31^st, 6 Days Out…

FiveThirtyEight.com Forecast: Obama 78.4% chance of winning

Michael Graham

I predict the latter. One week from today, Mitt wins…If you’ve been watching the polls and the campaigns at all objectively, you’re starting to see a picture develop. One where Romney’s the winner well before bedtime.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view/20221031mitt_set_to_win_maybe_by_a_mile_republican_momentum_makes_prez_desperate/

Dick Morris again, in a piece titled “Here comes the landslide”

In the next few days, the battle will move to Pennsylvania (20), Michigan (15), Wisconsin (10) and Minnesota (16). Ahead in Pennsylvania, tied in Michigan and Wisconsin, and slightly behind in Minnesota, these new swing states look to be the battleground.

Once everyone discovers that the emperor has no clothes (or that Obama has no argument after the negative ads stopped working), the vote shift could be of historic proportions.

The most likely outcome? Eight GOP takeaways and two giveaways for a net gain of six. A 53-47 Senate, just like we have now, only opposite. Barack Obama’s parting gift to the Democratic Party.

http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/dick-morris/264935-here-comes-the-landslide

Dan McLaughlin with a long-winded double-down on his insistence that Obama is toast

(he declares that a statistical models like Nate Silver’s 538.com is no better at predicting outcomes than RCP, which on this date are predicting Obama electoral votes of 299 and 290 respectively)

And I stand by the view that a mechanical reading of polling averages is an inadequate basis to project an event unprecedented in American history: the re-election of a sitting president without a clear-cut victory in the national popular vote…No mathematical model can provide a convincing explanation of how Obama is going to win re-election. He remains toast.

http://www.redstate.com/2012/10/31/on-polling-models-skewed-unskewed/

November 1^st, 5 Days Out…

FiveThirtyEight.com Forecast: Obama 80.8% chance of winning

Keith Backer at Battleground Watch uses words like unrealistic, silly, and fantasy to deconstruction a trio of Quinnipiac polls showing Obama leading in swing states.

Well done Quinnipiac. Now, if you’ll just survey far more Democrats than have ever shown up at the polls in these state [sic] the Death Star may finally be fully operational and Obama can pull out an election that he is almost assuredly losing right now.

http://battlegroundwatch.com/2012/10/31/cbsnew-york-timesquinnipiac-survey-narnia-find-obama-leading/

Karl Rove ignores all data that doesn’t support his argument (which is quite a bit)

My prediction: Sometime after the cock crows on the morning of Nov. 7, Mitt Romney will be declared America’s 45th president. Let’s call it 51%-48%, with Mr. Romney carrying at least 279 Electoral College votes, probably more.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204846304578090820229096046.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

Boris Epshteyn cites (who else?) Gallup in his piece “3 Reasons Mitt Romney Will Win the Election”

The feeling among GOP faithful four years later is drastically different. We do not “hope” to win or “believe we can” win, but are convinced that Mitt Romney will win the election on November 6.

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/boris-epshteyn/2012/10/31/mitt-romney-will-win-the-presidential-election

November 2^nd, 4 Days Out…

FiveThirtyEight.com Forecast: Obama 82.67% chance of winning

Jay Cost doubles down in “Why Romney is Likely to Win”

I think Mitt Romney is likely to win next Tuesday. For two reasons:

(1) Romney leads among voters on trust to get the economy going again.

(2) Romney leads among independents.

http://weeklystandard.com/blogs/morning-jay-why-i-think-romney-will-win_660041.html

The Obama campaign’s David Alexrod counters all of this with a firm prediction of victory:

(Be sure to read the comments on this one)

I don’t want to be ambiguous about this at all, We’re winning this race,” senior adviser David Axelrod said on a conference call Monday morning. “I say that not on the basis of some mystical faith in a wave that’s going to come or some hidden vote. We base it on cold, hard data based on who has voted so far and on state by state polling. So we just, you’re going to get spun and spun and spun in the next week and what I would urge you to do is to focus on the facts, focus on the data, focus on the trends in the states and if you do it will lead you to the same conclusions.

http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/10/team-obama-to-press-were-going-to-win-147590.html

November 3^rd, 3 Days Out…

FiveThirtyEight.com Forecast: Obama 83.7% chance of winning

Michael Barone ignores all the polls and goes with 315 for Mitt, 223 for Obama

Fundamentals usually prevail in American elections. That’s bad news for Barack Obama. True, Americans want to think well of their presidents and many think it would be bad if Americans were perceived as rejecting the first black president…Bottom line: Romney 315, Obama 223. That sounds high for Romney. But he could drop Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and still win the election. Fundamentals.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/barone-going-out-on-a-limb-romney-wins-handily/article/2512470#.UJUmzme4rLS

Michael Franc cites the single week-old (yes, you guessed it) Gallup poll and then “unskews” the rest of them…

Correcting these polls so that there was a Republican edge in the sample of voters consistent with Gallup’s finding would hand Romney a lead between five to ten points. Imagine the run on smelling salts at Mother Jones and MSNBC if that were to happen?

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/332386/parsing-polls-michael-g-franc#

Speaking of unskewed polls, Dean Chambers ups his estimate to 311 Romney

If the election were held today Mitt Romney would win 311 electoral votes while Barack Obama would win in states worth 227 electoral votes according to the latest polling data available today.

http://www.examiner.com/article/mitt-romney-likely-election-day-victory-indicated-by-latest-polls?cid=db_articles

Lots of wishful thinking from Emmett Tyrrell

Next week President Obama goes into retirement. I hope he will consider Hawaii.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/11/03/au_revoir_mr_president_116046.html

November 4^th, 2 Days Out…

FiveThirtyEight.com Forecast: Obama 85.5% chance of winning

Charles Krauthammer

Nonetheless, predicting the outcome of the election, Krauthammer said that while the recent events have helped Obama “slightly recover in the polls” Romney will ultimately win the election by a narrow margin.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/161671#.UJZ-FGe4rLQ

Mary Kate Cary

Romney promises to deliver where Obama did not, by working with decent people on both sides of the aisle. Obama can’t promise to do the same—because it’s clear he doesn’t think there are decent people to work with on both sides anymore.

Romney does. That’s why he’ll win.

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2012/11/02/why-mitt-romney-will-win

Ari Fleischer tweets:

Romn wins CO, WI and NH. That’s 271 EVs…PA and OH would be icing on the cake. Romn could peak at 309 EVs if he takes both.

https://twitter.com/AriFleischer?tw_i=265139484918685697&tw_e=screenname&tw_p=tweetembed

November 5^th, 1 Day Out…

FiveThirtyEight.com Forecast: Obama 86.3% chance of winning

Julia La Roche, reporting on Dennis Gartman

Another point Gartman makes is that he thinks the polls are “badly out of touch.” First, he notes the calls have a very high refusal rate and only a small percentage are actually responding.  What’s more is the polling tends to take place during the day and those people responding are likely unemployed, therefore, they would likely need government assistance and would also likely lean toward the Democrats, he explains.

http://www.businessinsider.com/dennis-gartman-says-romney-will-win-2012-11

I can’t get enough Dick Morris

Morris says Romney will capture 325 electoral votes while Obama will get 213, a significant difference.

“It will be the biggest surprise in recent American political history,” Morris said. “It will rekindle the whole question on why the media played this race as a nailbiter where in fact Romney’s going to win by quite a bit.”

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/11/05/dick_morris_stands_by_prediction_romney_will_win_325_electoral_votes.html

And finally, from World Net Daily. A witch doctor from Obama’s ancestral village in Kenya predicts Obama will win and of course, the birthers at WND are not surprised!

Witch doctor John Dimo tossed some shells, bones and other items to determine who will win Tuesday’s election. After throwing the objects like so many dice outside his hut in Kogelo village, Dimo, who says he is 105 years old, points to a white shell and declares: “Obama is very far ahead and is definitely going to win.”

http://www.wnd.com/2012/11/obama-favored-in-ancestral-kenyan-village/

Fred Barnes

Mitt Romney will win.  The tie in the polls goes to the challenger.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/why-romney-will-win_660391.html

November 6^th, Election Day!

FiveThirtyEight.com Forecast: Obama 91.6% chance of winning

Larry Kudlow

Mitt Romney, on the other hand, is working to restore the freedom model created by our Founders. This model has served the country well for 250-some-odd years. It is fundamentally a belief in people and good common sense. It is profoundly optimistic. Perhaps I’ll be wrong. But I think optimism wins this election.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/11/06/romneys_optimism_will_win_116077.html

Rich Stowell

Count this author as among those who believe the American People will not vote for failure. We will learn fairly early tomorrow night that Mitt Romney has secured an electoral majority.

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/election-2012-communities-predicts-winner/2012/nov/5/romney-has-271-electoral-votes-nearly-bag/

Mark Tapscott

Romney wins 53-47, thanks mainly to his Rope-A-Dope strategy and an immense enthusiam advantage.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/romney-will-win-because-its-1980-all-over-again/article/2512618

Red State Blogger qsclues

For those two reasons alone, I predict a victory for Romney on Tuesday night by a margin that will be anywhere from “comfortable” to “resounding”.  As a bonus prediction, the party will unofficially start when Pennsylvania is called for Romney.

http://www.redstate.com/qsclues/2012/11/05/why-romney-will-win-and-handily/

Of course, we know how it all turned out.

Mark McGinty‘s work has appeared in Maybourne Magazine, Montage Magazine, Cigar City Magazine and Germ Warfare. His novel The Cigar Maker won a Bronze Medal at the 2011 Independent Publisher Book Awards and was named Finalist at both the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards and the 2011 National Indie Excellence Awards.

 

Thoughts on Election 2012

It’s the Friday before the election and I think it’s pretty clear that Obama will be reelected. I’m saying this publicly because it’s the truth. My brain tells me that Romney could still win but this bleeding liberal heart knows Obama will be with us for four more.

Yeah, pretty bold prediction from some guy in Minnesota who should be working on chapter 20 of his book for National Novel Writing Month but is instead writing political bullshit about Obama-Romney 2012.

But I’m not the only one to make a prediction about this race. Many have and once Obama is reelected I’ll be posting a article about a chorus of conservative pundits who have already declared Romney the winner. The article is titles A Collection of Early Obama Obituaries and you can read a sample of it now.

October 28^th, 9 Days Out…

FiveThirtyEight.com Forecast: Obama 74.6% chance of winning

Newt “I’m going to be the nominee” Gingrich

I think it’s very unlikely, as a historian that [Romney]  can win a significant popular victory vote and not carry the electoral college…I think he’s actually going to end up winning 53-47.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/newt-gingrich-predicts-romney-victory-of-53-47

Dean Chambers (The unskewedpolls.com Guy)

If these numbers are right, Mitt Romney gets elected our next president with 301 electoral votes to 237 for Barack Obama. If Romney wins Pennsylvania and Michigan, that total goes to 337 electoral votes. If Romney momentum causes him to win Oregon, New Mexico and Minnesota, he will win a total of 359 electoral votes as projected here. If Maine, Connecticut, New Jersey and Washington state come into play, they could add another 37 electoral votes to the Romney total for a final total of 396 electoral votes.

http://www.examiner.com/article/romney-leads-nine-of-11-key-swing-states-by-unskewed-polls-averages

October 29^th, 8 Days Out…

FiveThirtyEight.com Forecast: Obama 72.9% chance of winning

Dick Morris

Obama won by 7 points in 2008. But the electorate has become 15 points more Republican since then. Do the math — an 8 point Romney victory! OK, maybe 5 or 6 or 7, but no cliffhanger.

http://www.dickmorris.com/gallup-explains-why-other-polls-are-wrong/#more-10087

November 1^st, 5 Days Out…

FiveThirtyEight.com Forecast: Obama 80.8% chance of winning

Karl Rove ignores all data that doesn’t support his argument (which is quite a bit)

My prediction: Sometime after the cock crows on the morning of Nov. 7, Mitt Romney will be declared America’s 45th president. Let’s call it 51%-48%, with Mr. Romney carrying at least 279 Electoral College votes, probably more.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204846304578090820229096046.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

This election has been a killer and collecting these predictions has helped me through the anxiety. The final version of the article will include 11 days of victory dancing Romney-style, plus a list of election-day-Romney’s-got-it-in-the-bag  fun and games. Look for it next Wednesday morning!

Mark McGinty‘s work has appeared in Maybourne Magazine, Montage Magazine, Cigar City Magazine and Germ Warfare. His novel The Cigar Maker won a Bronze Medal at the 2011 Independent Publisher Book Awards and was named Finalist at both the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards and the 2011 National Indie Excellence Awards.

Seventh Avenue Productions Announces Release of “Kmart Shoes” by Lance Ward

“Obviously, I didn’t kill myself” – Lance Ward

Now available for pre-order for $9.99. Click here to order and be one of the first to receive a copy!!

This is the true story of Lance Ward’s journey in and out of high school and his fights against abusive and uncaring family members, school yard bullies, and his own sense of self-worth. With his family in poverty, Lance grew up on sardine sandwiches and cabbage soup. He wore $8 shoes and tolerated hostile classmates and the nickname Kmart Shoes. On some days, Ward battled drug addiction and felony charges, on others he just needed to find a place to sleep in his own home. A con man screwed up his life, Ward’s mother kicked him out, his father didn’t want him, and the military wouldn’t take him. Only one thing kept him going – he could draw. Now, years later, Lance looks back and tells us his story in raw, honest detail. An in-your-face story of struggle and survival that is heart-breaking, comical, sad and triumphant.

$9.99 ….33% off the cover price!! Click here to order

“There’s a fantastic rawness to both his storytelling and drawing…Ward had a resiliency to him that allowed him to fight back against his tormentors and carve out an identity for himself…a bold, unadorned, and powerful autobiographical voice.”

-The Comics Journal

Lance Ward is a national editorial cartoonist for Crowded Comics.com and the author of KLONKO, One Day in 1978 and Stovetop (Creator’s Edge Press). His cartoons have appeared in The Pulse magazine, The Cedar magazine and City Pages. In 2011, he was featured artist for the “Just Add Ink” art show at Altered Esthetics Art Gallery.

Kmart Shoes will be released October 6th, 2012 by Seventh Avenue Productions.

6 x 9, 156 pages, black and white, soft cover

ISBN: 978-0-9838854-4-3

$14.95 US

1. Lance grew up with “Jim” as a father figure.

2. New Year’s Eve 1986 was a pivotal moment in Lance’s life. Obviously, he didn’t kill himself.

3. Lance was lucky to meet lots of very helpful people…

Home to Nagasaki – Chapter 3

Hiroshima, Japan

August 6^th, 1945 8:16am

White skies.

Then a bright and clear morning was suddenly dark.

My military instincts told me to dive for cover but before I hit the ground, a force like a giant’s hand lifted me into the air and threw me towards the river. I hit the paved road, landing on my knees as my wrists slammed into the gravel. Ignoring sandy cuts and scrapes, I clawed my way behind a stone wall as I was showered by a bomb of splinters and dirt.

Black spots, white spots. Ringing bells.

I rolled one direction, then another. Was I asleep? Did I awake? I tasted dirt in my mouth and was stung by burning soot up my nose. Hot, acid snot oozed down the back of my throat like lava.

For a moment I remembered the bomb shelter just fifty feet away but an intense wind blew dust into my face. So I kept my eyes closed and my head down. I was curled into a ball, covering my face with my scraped wrists and stinging hands as the wind pelted me with sands and sticks. There had been no explosions. No familiar pop-pop-pop of bombs detonating in the distance, no BOOM! when one landed nearby. There was no mass of airplanes buzzing above, no whistle as their bombs fell from the sky, no return fire from our anti-aircraft batteries.

Just a flash of light and a burst of wind followed by an avalanche of dirt and junk.

My briefcase was beneath me but I kicked it away. The vial with my capsule dug into my ribs. Minutes later as the wind began to die, I lifted my head to see all of Hiroshima shrouded in a brown haze. Through the dust, a cloud of fire grew a mile into the sky.

I was suddenly disappointed that the city had not survived. What did it mean for my plan? I wanted to ask someone. I wanted to know.

My eyes burned as grit filled my pores. I began to lose focus. My head hurt and I could feel wetness dripping from both ears. I used a hand to wipe the moisture from my temple and looked down to see red fingers.

Did I hear no explosion because I’d lost my hearing?

But I could hear the wind, the shattered pieces of lumber slapping and splintering against nearby houses. The fire. Like a rush of thunder, the fire! But there were no screams, no voices, no aguish. No cries of panic. Absent was the despair that had been so common during war I had known.

I checked my hands and saw the backs were scalded and burned, as if they had been dipped into a pot of boiling water.

Still halfway in shock, I tried to stand but my knees wobbled and I toppled to the ground. A small child walked by in a daze. A black dog passed the child from the other direction, limping and silent. A group of soldiers crawled from the bomb shelter, their bodies covered in soot, their ears bleeding, their faces dazed.

I heard a child ask his mother, “Why is it so dark in the morning?”

I saw myself walking up to the mother as she held her child close, towering above them as the wind and the dirt blew overhead. As she brushed dust off her child’s face, I saw myself looking into her blurry eyes, her mouth caked with dirt. I saw myself ask her, “What does this mean for me?”

The air raid was over in an instant. Had there been only one bomb?

“Impossible.” I muttered.

I imagined myself standing before a classroom of schoolchildren, looking upon the kids who raised their hands and wanted to know if Hiroshima had been hit – if it had been utterly destroyed – by a single American bomb?

I shook my head. “There is no way one bomb can damage so much.” Yet I saw burning buildings all around me. Bodies lining the street as if an army had marched through and executed thousands of people at will. Survivors rose from the wreckage, their faces blank, their eyes lost.

“No way one bomb can do this,” I convinced myself.

Then a hand wrapped around my ankle. I looked down to see Masaru, my commanding officer and saw half his face burned red, his eye sockets blistered. His hair singed and smoking, his good looks destroyed. But when I saw the alertness in his eyes I knew his mind remained unblemished. There was a flicker that I’m sure my eyes lacked.

As his fist squeezed my ankle, I thought of Masaru’s intense patriotism. His sense of nationalism that refused to let me escape with our secrets. I was reminded of his exuberant need to guard the tales of the facility.

Masaru had my ankle but I had forgotten him already.

I thought of the facility.

Mark McGinty‘s work has appeared in Maybourne Magazine, Montage Magazine, Cigar City Magazine and Germ Warfare. His novel The Cigar Maker won a Bronze Medal at the 2011 Independent Publisher Book Awards and was named Finalist at both the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards and the 2011 National Indie Excellence Awards.

Home to Nagasaki – Chapter 2

War Ministry Grand Conference Hall, Tokyo

1937

Masaru dressed immaculately in his military uniform and stood half a head taller than the Imperial officers in the auditorium. With movie star good-looks and a deep, bombastic voice, he took the podium and stared for a moment into the standing-room sea of Japanese military officers, scientists, and even Prince Chichibu, brother of Emperor Hirohito.

Masaru was to demonstrate the advanced water filtration system that I had invented and he had championed. “Conduct the demonstration yourself,” Masaru urged me but I politely declined.

“I’m a man of engineering and science, not theatrics.”

Masaru smiled knowing we both thought of him as the superior showman. He was a better advocate of the device we had developed, of anything we had developed. Now he stood on the auditorium stage beside a table with a prototype of the filtration device, a complicated highway of tubes, piping and chemistry. This was a miniature version of the system we hoped the army would fund. A funnel at the top collected the unpurified water while pair of dials measured its chemical properties. A tin canister underneath the devise would collect the purified water as it dripped from the pipes above.

Now Masaru addressed the room, needing no microphone as his voice boomed and echoed off the back wall. “Who can deny the importance of providing drinkable water to our armed forces in the forward theater? I present the most advanced water purification system in the world, capably of cleansing the most putrid water into a clean, drinkable supply. Allow me to demonstrate.”

Masaru unzipped his pants as the military audience gasped in horror and watched him remove his penis. He produced a metal cup and urinated into it in front of everyone. This move shocked me at first but I had already learned to accept this flamboyance as part of Masaru’s personality. He cared little what others thought of him. He was known to brag loudly of his successes with little regard for decorum, and to indulge in wine and women recklessly and frequently. This brash act of peeing into a cup as a crowded room of his superiors watched every drop fall was simply Masaru seizing attention. He thrived on the discomfort he caused and used it merely as a method of engaging his audience.

Now he zipped his pants and carried the piss-filled cup to the device, pouring the urine into the funnel atop of the contraption. He narrated the filtration process as the urine made its way through the pipes and eventually came dripping out of the nozzle above the collection canister.

He poured the contents into a glass and carried the seemingly clear and clean water into the audience. I wasn’t surprised when he stopped before Chichibu Hirohito and offered the water to the Emperor’s brother. Stern and surprised the prince quickly refused the glass with a curt wave of his hand. Masaru, surely expecting the prince to decline the test, raised the glass as if he were toasting the room, tilted his head back and quaffed the entire portion in one gulp. The crowd gasped but Masaru wiped his lips with the back of a hand and then smiled proudly awaiting his applause.

The dutiful assistant that I was, I started it with a hearty clap that slowly spread until the entire room was on its feet. The purification devise was a success and the army soon awarded Masaru with the funds he had requested, yet the money was for more than an innovative system of cleaning water. We were on our way to Ping Fan to the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army, code name: Unit 731.

With the funding we’d receive from our water purification system, Masaru and I would soon turn the facility into the headquarters for Japan’s chemical and biological weapons program.

“This is an incredible honor, Captain,” Masaru said to me as we celebrated that night, a bottle of sake in both hands and a cigarette dangling from his lips. He emptied one of the bottles into my glass and tossed the spent bottle aside.

For as long as I had known Masaru he had been a heavy drinking night owl, but only after a day of hard work. The microbiologist was tall and athletic, his uniform always spotless and he often bested me in footraces or games of tennis. Our fellow officers envied his physical bravado and his seemingly constant supply of cash. Women flocked around him like bees to a jar of honey. He advanced quickly through the ranks of Japan’s military and was eager to take me with him.

His giant hand proudly slapped my back. He grinned and showed his shiny white teeth. “Drink up, Kiyoshi. Celebrate!”

He toasted our drinks as Masaru nibbled at the pair of young women on either of his shoulders. The bar was loud and rowdy. Music blared from above and Masaru made sure my glass was eternally filled with liquor. “The demonstration was a resounding success!” he declared. “I am anxious to put into practice these ideas we have developed. The ideas we have developed together, Kiyoshi. I’m anxious to make Japan the leading nation for the technologies of warfare.”

Developed together, he stressed. I had been the man behind the science, to engineer the water purification devise, to birth ideas for our military technology.

Masaru was right. It was an incredible honor for us to be chosen to head Unit 731. Masaru and I had studied together at Kyoto University. We became doctors together, and had served together in the Army ever since we engaged the Chinese in Manchuria in 1931. Masaru was always one rank ahead of me, always had one more friend than I did, and seemed to need me one step below him always looking up. So he kept me around. When he was promoted and transferred, he always brought me with him, made sure I was paid well, confided in me, and trusted my expertise.

And when Masaru had been chosen to run Japan’s premier chemical and biological weapons research facility, he named me his second-in-command.

Masaru’s remaining sake bottle clanked against my glass. “Congratulations, Captain, and be proud! It is an honor to serve the Emperor!”

I said nothing, sipped my sake and took the last drag from my cigarette.

 

Mark McGinty‘s work has appeared in Maybourne Magazine, Montage Magazine, Cigar City Magazine and Germ Warfare. His novel The Cigar Maker won a Bronze Medal at the 2011 Independent Publisher Book Awards and was named Finalist at both the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards and the 2011 National Indie Excellence Awards.

Crowded Comics Gives YOU a Chance to Bring the Funny — Every Day!

Created by David Burnett, Kevin Cannon and Oleg Terenchuk, Crowded Comics has cleverly democratizing the editorial cartoon by combining crowd-sourced punchlines with  original, high quality, timely cartoons on political and cultural issues. Instead of a political cartoon on the editorial page of the daily newspaper, at Crowded Comics THE READER writes the captions. Featuring daily artwork by a team of prolific cartoonists, Crowded Comics has built a new way of engaging news fans directly with editorial cartoons. The power of comedy and opinion has been surrendered to the hands of readers. The artists draw the comics but you write the captions.

They usually add a pair of comics each day, on issues ranging from the presidential election to Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen’s incomprehensible admission that he “loves Fidel Castro.” Always up to date with the latest news, the clever and captivating comics are often funny without the captions but scrolling through the variety of captions added by CC readers is the true fun. The captions are ranked by the readers and fall into a ladder that allows you to vote for your favorite caption and increase its rank. You can also “vote down”  a caption you don’t like and watch it fall. At the end of the day a winner is declared. That winner could be you!

Featuring the artwork of Ken Avidor, Lupi, Lance Ward, Dan Murphy, Kevin Cannon and Kirk Anderson the artists are open to your ideas and will draw a comic based on your requests as long as the subject is relevant and captionable. I’ve posted a few samples here but doesn’t can’t be done unless you go to Crowded Comics to view the comics and add your own captions! It’s a fun, easy way to stay up to date on the news (and let’s face it, to kill a few minutes while at work!!).

Their comics – your voice!! Pay them a visit right here!!

Mark McGinty is the Author of The Cigar Maker and Elvis and the Blue Moon Conspiracy. His work has appeared in Maybounrne Magazine, Germ Warfare and Chrono Chaos.

Small Press Reviews Calls Germ Warfare “Bizarre, Funny and Kind of Gross”

Cold and flu season is upon us, so what better way to celebrate than with a bit of germ warfare — or at least a copy of Germ Warfare: An Anthology of Comics for Germs and their Generous Human Hosts?

This bizarre collection of comics takes a microscopic look at the world of infectious bacteria and offers, among other things, a germ’s eye view of the atrocities we humans commit every time we pump a dollop of sanitizer onto our hands or take a dose of penicillin.

Other highlights include several visits to the home of germaphobes Stew and Berryl Sterrel as they struggle to remain germ-free despite the best efforts of their baby and a comical retelling of HG Wells’ War of the Worlds.

Overall, this collection carries a strong underground comics vibe – none of the offerings more so than the Mark McGinty penned and Lupi McGinty illustrated “Perched on the Denim Slope,” a graphic homage to JG Ballard’s “The Drowned Giant” whose art is reminiscent of Charles Burns and the Hernandez brothers.

Bizarre, funny, and kind of gross, Germ Warfare is the perfect gift for the germ warrior in your life!

 -Review by Marc Schuster

Seventh Avenue Productions Releases ‘Our McGinty Family in America’

Near the end of the 20^thCentury, Gerald K. McGinty Sr. (Jerry) began researching his ancestry. Fifteen years later he had amassed over 300 years of McGinty family history. From the glens of Ireland to the farms of Pennsylvania to the churches of Georgia and Alabama, this is a comprehensive history of our McGinty family in America.

The book contains dozens of family photos and an index with over 750 entries, most of them names of McGinty family members going as far back as the mid 1700’s and including both blood relatives and family members who had married-in. An excellent reference for researchers of family ancestry and students of Irish-American history.

Our McGinty Family in America will be available on December 10th, 2011. To order a copy contact the author Jerry McGinty at mcgintyboy@aol.com

Also available on Amazon Kindle!

Our McGinty Family in America

Gerald K. McGinty Sr.

Genealogy/Reference

List $29.95

276 Pages 6.14 x 9.21 B&W hardcover

ISBN: : 978-0-9838854-1-2

Seventh Avenue Productions

Media kits, advance review copies and interviews are available upon request.
Contact: Mark McGinty at mmcginty_32@yahoo.com or Jerry at mcgintyboy@aol.com

Seventh Avenue Productions is a small press publisher of books, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Call 612-224-1852.

Germ Warfare Has Started!

Germ Warfare

Germ Warfare is now available from Seventh Avenue Productions! An anthology of comics about germs and their generous human hosts features an army of Twin Cities-based cartoonists and the artwork of Ryan Dow, Andy Singer, Lance Ward, James Powell, Danno Klonowski, Vas Littlecrow, Nicholas Straight, David Cohen, Jon Sloan, Jeremy Olson, Mark McGinty, and Athena Currier. Edited by Lupi.

This is a humorous and charming collection of comics by a group of talented artists. The book is now available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble and also from Seventh Avenue Productions.

The book will make its official debut at MIX, the Minneapolis Indie Xpo November 5-6, 2011 at The Soap Factory in Minneapolis. The event is free and open to the public on both days from 10:00am to 5:00pm.

 

Please visit and like our page:

And take a look at some of the artwork right here….

Baseball is a Game of Moments

Go ahead and tell me that baseball’s boring. I won’t disagree with you. Just say it. The pitcher stands there and stares at the catcher, the batter stares at the pitcher, they wait, they wait some more, the batter steps away from the box until finally a pitch is thrown, nothing happens, and then everyone stands around looking at each other until they do it again.

But baseball is a game of moments. You don’t go to the game for the slow periods. You go because no matter whether it’s the Major Leagues or the Little League, you’re guaranteed to see something you have never seen before, and something you will never see again. Baseball is all about these moments. There are at least five or six of them in every game, sometimes more. Sometimes many more. A line drive bounces off first base and skips into foul territory, a fan makes a great catch, an unknown pitcher freezes an All Star slugger with a looping curve, the manager and the home plate umpire find themselves in an epic argument. Then there are the diving catches, the towering homers, the wild pitches and those unforgettable close plays at the plate.  Sure, you’ve seen these things before, but have you seen a 300-pound pitcher lumber off the mound, dive across the grass and nab a pop-up bunt? Have you seen a skinny 5’10” rookie shortstop with no home runs to his credit smash a 420-foot blast over the center field wall? Have you seen two players collide in shallow center field and nearly drop a pop-up until a third fielder dove between them to catch the ball before it hit the ground?

Have you seen any of these things?

I have. Or maybe I haven’t. I’m not sure. They certainly all sound familiar, and all are certainly possible. But baseball is a game of the impossible, which means that seeing all of these things is entirely possible.

I saw a one-handed pitcher throw a no-hitter. I saw a squirrel sprint across home plate as a pitcher wound up and threw home – during a playoff game. I saw a fly ball bounce off a right fielder’s head and land over the fence in right for a home run. I saw baseball’s all time strikeout leader punch out the all-time stolen base leader to log his 5000^th strikeout. I saw a girl with big boobs rush the field and hug one of the outfielders. And I saw Bo Jackson break a bat over his knee after striking out. Sure, other guys have done that, but none of them did it like Bo.

That is what baseball is about. Those moments. The unexpected, spectacular, one-of-a-kind events that change the course of a game, alter the outcome of a season and define a player’s career. A World Series lost on a ground ball through the legs, another one won with an unprecedented 10-inning shutout in Game 7. These are things we will probably never see again, but if we do, they will be slightly different the next time. Could a hobbling player with two bad knees pinch hit in the bottom of the 9^th inning and hit a 2-out game winning home run? Could a no-frills pitcher with one pitch log more saves than any human to ever toe the rubber in the 9^th? Could a pinch running Red Sock steal second base and spark the game’s greatest comeback since now, then and forever?

Yeah, all of these impossible things happen. They happen all the time. The little ones happen in almost every game and the big ones get talked about for years and years and years. Sure, you might have to wait a few minutes while the pitcher shakes off a few signs and the batter takes three pitches in a row. But just be patient – it will happen.