Monday, January 01, 2007

Happy New Year

The state of TIAH

January 1st, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: Welcome to a brand new year! Our Guest Historian, Stephen Payne, returns to us with an enhanced look to his entries, and we continue on with our NaNoWriMo novel. We're all hoping for a great holiday to you and yours, and many return trips to TIAH!

Guest Historian Steve Payne

In 2007 they have been pursued for a very long time. Father must not fail now, not when they are so close to their goal. Of course this cuts both ways and the pursuers have redoubled their efforts, knowing that time is short. Significantly both the pursuers and the pursued have reinforcements arriving just about now.

~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-


In 1892 the main port for immigrants entering the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was established on Ellis Island at the mouth of the Hudson River in New York Harbor. Sixteen years before the Statue of Liberty was given to the United States by the Paris based Union Franco-Americaine, standing at Liberty Island in the mouth of the Hudson River in New York Harbor as a welcome to all visitors, immigrants, and returning Americans, inscribed with the message "Bring me your poor and weak". Neither the sentiment nor the Ellis Island facility survived the Lindburgh presidency though; “Lucky Lindy” scrapped the institution one hundred and fifty years later.

Charles Lindbergh
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-


Parliamentary Union

In 1801 the legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland is completed to form the United Kingdom. Universally hated by the English, the isolation resulting from the Reformation had simply been too big a setback for them to resist the Union. The English were unable to stand up to the overwhelming power of the Celts and the support they commanded from Catholic Europe, and started to emigrate en mass to the Americas.

~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-


In 1959 President Fulgencio Batista is overthrown by Fidel Castro's forces during the Cuban Revolution. The United States became increasingly hostile to Cuba during 1959, driving Castro away from the liberal elements of his revolutionary movement and into the arms of Nazi Germany. Just three years later the Nazis would site nuclear weapons less than 100 miles from the United States, leading the World to the brink of Armageddon

Fidel Castro
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-


After(cont.)
It was crowded in the jeep. Eli had a fake National Guard uniform, but no one else was comfortable with him being visible to the world. So, everyone but Jake and Kevin hid under tarp until they were well out of Austin and rushing towards Bryan. When Kevin gave them the all clear, they came out of the tarp sucking down air as if they had been buried.
“So, how long a trip is it to Bryan?” George stood right behind his father, eagerly taking in the countryside.
“Couple hours,” Kevin told him. “We'll be there before you know it.”
True enough, the trip went quickly and smoothly. There was no traffic, and they saw no Guard units until they were approaching Bryan. The unit that they passed didn't even ask them for their papers, but just waved them through. Kevin then started directing Jake through a few back roads to his house, where they drove up to the sound of a dog barking. Kevin immediately hopped out and quieted the dog. “Sorry I was gone so long, big guy,” he said, patting the dog on the head. He looked over at the food and water bowls he had set out, and they were both empty. He let the dog out of the fenced yard as the crowd exited the car. The dog ran over and sniffed them all, while Kevin told them, “Don't worry, he's really nice.” That didn't seem to calm Mike and Eli, who kept as far away from the dog as they could. Kevin opened up the door to his house and he and the dog ran in, followed by the others. Eli took a quick look around at the other houses on the road, but no one seemed to be watching them, so he shut the door and joined the others.
Kevin busied himself with feeding his pet, and Janice sat down at his PC. “Hey, computer man, do you need to check this thing for spyware and such before I turn it on?”
Kevin looked over at her, ready to tell her to just do it, but caution hit him. “Hang on.” He finished filling up the dog's dish and walked back to the living room and examined the case of his computer. No additional hardware had been added to the back, so he pulled out his tools and opened the case. He found nothing inside, either. “It's clean,” he told Janice.
Mike walked over to her and told her, “You're not gonna make a direct connection anywhere, are ya?”
Janice paused, her fingers just touching the keyboard. “Can you reroute me to throw 'em off?”
“Piece o'cake.”
Kevin put a hand to his chest. “How badly are you going to screw up my computer?”
“Relax, moneybags, you can buy another one.”
Kevin gave up and flopped down on the couch in front of the TV, with Steph and George. “At least they're not showin' the emergency lady anymore,” George said. The channel was on a cartoon.
Jake, Eli and Joan were all crowded into Kevin's small kitchen, raiding the meager contents of his refrigerator. The dog sniffed patiently at their backs, hoping for a few scraps to fall. They piled the food onto his kitchen table and dug in.
Kevin looked over at Steph, who looked back at him and smiled. “Not how you planned your first day back as a millionaire, huh?”
“Nope.” He smiled back. “Parts of it are nice, though.”
She turned away, but was still smiling. “We're goin' to Roswell from here?”
“That's what they said. Apparently, John Kerry was in New Mexico when it all went down, and he started rallying people around him. President-elect, and all.” He couldn't hide the disgust in his voice.
“He's a good man,” Steph said. “A hero.”
“That's not true,” Kevin said, shaking his head. “All those swift-boat guys were talkin' about what a lie that was.”
Steph pursed her lips and phrased her response carefully. “I think you need to reconsider who you get your truth from, Kevin.”
About to launch back with a response straight from talk radio, Kevin bit his lip and thought better of it. He looked around at his crowded house and said, “I'll try to keep an open mind.”
“Good.”
They turned their attention back to the TV, and the sun rose outside while the group in the kitchen satisfied their hunger and the pair at the computer got news from the underground. Kevin was starting to think about taking a nap when the emergency broadcast signal startled them all.
The emergency lady came on and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, there is miraculous news from Waco this morning. President Bush survived the attempt on his life and has been rescued by Texas Guard units searching through the rubble of his ranch. According to the Guard, the president is in excellent shape, and plans to address the nation later today.”


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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Happy New Year (slightly belated) everyone!!!

Thanks for sticking with the Historian during trying times recently, when Blogger Bugged out on us...

And thank-you all for your visits to my online stores!
Remember... I love our TIAH readers, so if you want something you don't see on my shops.. request it! I'll do my best to make it happen! :)

I can even make a TIAH magazine cover for an alternate event into a t-shirt or journal starring YOU!

Signed:
The Historians Songbird!

TIAH Editor says we'd like to move you off the blog, if you're browsing the archives - and most people are - more than half of them are already on the new site. We need to be sure the new web site accomodates your archive browsing needs because we don't want to lose any readers. Please supply any feedback or comments by email to the Editor and please note the blogger site is shutting on December 1st.