Thanksgiving

In 1766, a simple, good-natured fellow, of the name of Rip Van Winkle lived in a little village of great antiquity, founded by some of the Dutch colonists west of the Hudson River in the Catskill Mountains. The Van Winkles had fought gallantly alongside Peter Stuyvesant at the siege of Fort Christina, but Rip himself inherited little of the martial character of his war-like ancestors. For some time this Appalachian region had been a province of Great Britain. On this glorious fall day, it would seem the reign of King George III was untroubled. Still the first trimester of any pregnancy is a matter best keep private by parents of the unborn child, and the birth of a new nation is much the same. They must pray for God’ mercy, and hope against hope, that that theirs is not a violent birth in blood and tears.

.

I found smog at the end of my rainbow, I found my thoughts shift slowly into phase Declared the constitution of the walkway I realise it's time to plan the day I'm a Market Square hero gathering the storms to troop Cause I'm a Market Square hero speeding the beat of the street pulse Are you following me, are you following me? Well suffer my pretty warriors and follow me
Marillion	I am your Antichrist show me allegiance, Are you following me? I am your Antichrist pledge to me defiance, Are you following me? Suffer my pretty warriors, Suffer my fallen child, Are you following me? The time has come to conquer and I'll provide your end We march ~ Marillion 'Market Square Heroes' - Click to Watch Sample
Market Square Heroes

In 2007, fans of Marillion welcomed a new Fish Era following an emotional reprise performance of Market Square Heroes at Fish's concert at the 'Hobbles On The Cobbles' in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire on 26 August 2007. One individual less than happy was the displaced lead singer Steve 'H' Hogarth, who had stepped into a difficult situation when Fish had left the band in the late 80s. Whilst H might not have had the artistic genius of Fish, he certainly was a more photogenic character and dynamic performer. Allegedly, he described his ex-band as Market Square Losers, a loose and unconfirmed statement widely reported by members of the fan club “the Web”. The lyrics are available at at The Webs Pain

Alexander Litvinenko	In 2006, former KGB spy and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko died in University College Hospital, London becoming the first known victim of lethal polonium-210-induced acute radiation syndrome. Litvinenko had suddenly fell ill and was hospitalised on November 1st. The unsolved death brought a new low to Anglo-Soviet relations. The use of polonium-210 is an alarmingly new escalation in the biological phase of the Cold War going back almost thirty years to the assassination of Georgi Markov by Bulgarian secret police agent Francesco Giullino by means of a ricin pellet fired from in a specially-designed umbrella.
The use of radiaction poisoning was anticipated by an investigation by the Senate Banking Committee in 1994. The Committee determined that the U.S. Department of Commerce had approved, for the purpose of research, the shipping of dual-use biological agents to Iraq during the mid-1980s, including Bacillus anthracis (anthrax), later identified by the Pentagon as a key component of the Iraqi biological warfare program, as well as Clostridium botulinum, Histoplasma capsulatum, Brucella melitensis, and Clostridium perfringens. The Committee report noted that each of these had been "considered by various nations for use in war." Declassified U.S. government documents indicate that the U.S. government had confirmed that Iraq was using chemical weapons (but not biological weapons that the agents being exported could have been used for) "almost daily" during the Iran-Iraq conflict as early as 1983. The chairman of the Senate committee, Don Riegle, said: “The executive branch of our government approved 771 different export licenses for sale of dual-use technology to Iraq. I think it’s a devastating record. We need to ensure that next generation combined nuclear-bio-weapons will we expect to use radiation poisoning”.
~ variant by Steve Payne: extensive use of Margaret Atwood's original material has been used to celebrate the genius of the author

Zapruder Film	In 1963, fifty-eight year old Abraham Zapruder died in Dallas, Texas of repository failure. A change of management was announced at the diseased's offices in the Dal-Tex Building, off Dealey Plaza and directly across the street east of the Texas School Book Depository. The manufacture of women's clothing would resume in early December, after an appropriate period of mourning for President Kennedy. In the meantime, staff were not required for work, however anyone that had seen Mr Zapruder's Bell & Howell movie camera should contact the new manager, Mr Jacob Rubenstein, as a matter of urgency, as the Zapruders were distressed not to have copies of a recent family event.

In 1963, on this day the KGB made a startling discovery. As planned Soviet double Alek had assassinated President Kennedy before he could win the Cold War for America. Alek was impersonating the former US Marine Lee Harvey Oswald after a switch in Minsk during 1959. Yet the picture emerging from the American south-west was incredible; their discrete plot had been hijacked by the CIA with the planting of faked evidence. Oswald had been switched again by the CIA. The KGB quickly activated deep sleeper agent Jacob Rubenstein. The switched “Oswald” must be eliminated by “Ruby” before he confessed to being a Soviet agent. If he did, America could justify a first strike from their vastly larger nuclear armoury, and win the Cold War without Kennedy!	Alek

Cuba	In 1962, United Airlines Flight 297, a Vickers Viscount 745D, almost crashed on a scheduled flight from Newark International Airport in Newark, New Jersey to Washington, D.C. with 17 people on board. The passengers and crew were taken to a comfort station and offered hot drinks. At the request of Stewardesses Mary Kay Klein and Kaaren G. Brent, Captain Milton J. Balog switched the television on to watch an announcement of the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In response to Nazi Germany agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, President Adlai Stevenson had agreed to end the quarantine of the Caribbean nation, permitting the Kriegsmarine to approach the island.
From Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands, Winston Churchill said that yet another climbdown for the US Government represented a further step forward on the road to world conquest by Nazidom.

In 1963, at Dallas Police Headquarters officers discover that they have in custody a Soviet double named Alek held under the false name of Lee Harvey Oswald The look-alike was a close match for the murdered US marine, apart from missing a scar that resulted from surgery conducted on Oswald years before.	Alek