Most Americans love their country with blinders on. They think we have the perfect society.

FAUX INTERVIEW WITH KC STAR’S MIKE HENDRICKS AT HOUSTON’S
Buy MURDER ON 15/501 at LULU.com

(Biker Mike almost gave himself a heart attack with the ribs and French fries. Larry Rochelle showed more sense, nibbling on a chicken salad, at Houston’s on The Plaza.)

HENDRICKS: So, Larry, your new book MURDER ON 15/501. Nothing about KC? Nothing about Clay Chastain? You say it’s about an assassination attempt?
ROCHELLE: Yep, don’t you sense the atmosphere of hate in this country? I read your column about the Tiller assassination. You can see where that hatred might lead.
HENDRICKS: Okay. But why pick North Carolina as the site? Why not South Carolina which seems worse?
ROCHELLE: I’m in NC now. The Old North State has Fort Bragg, the Blackwater private army, the history of racism in Wilmington. South Carolina’s got some crazy dudes but I’m living here in the Tar Heel state and know it better.
HENDRICKS: You got some crazy dudes of your own in the book: a softball team made up of strippers? A secret organization working out of the Triangle? A berserko Bragg soldier? A shooting in the Durham Bulls stadium? A feud involving Fearrington Village?
ROCHELLE: Yes, it’s quite a mix. My hero Palmer Morel is a tennis pro who bumps up against an assassination plot without knowing what’s going on. He’s a good guy and doesn’t like to see anyone get hurt, but that turns out to be a flaw when he gets involved with the hard guys, both in the mob and in the military.
HENDRICKS: So, Palmer Morel is naïve?
ROCHELLE: Always has been. But he fights for good and he’s upset about all the hatred and smears being put out by the right-wing in our country now, both on Fox and on hate radio.
HENDRICKS: Are you saying we’re all somewhat naïve about what’s happening?
ROCHELLE: Definitely. Most Americans love their country with blinders on. They think we have the perfect society. Many believe liberals will hug you to death. What they don’t know or believe is that the right-wing in this country will really, actually, kill you.
HENDRICKS: Do you think Obama is a threat to the right-wing?
ROCHELLE: Threat? You mean he’s honest and doesn’t want people to starve, doesn’t want unnecessary, illegal wars, wants civil rights for gays? Then, yes. He is perceived as a threat to the military-industrial complex and to the racist haters in the right-wing.
HENDRICKS: Does MURDER ON 15/501 actually contain a right-wing assassination plot against the president?
ROCHELLE: Yes, and I think that type of plotting is going on in right-wing circles right now, don’t you? I think they’re setting up scenarios and picking out the patsy. They’ve done it before.