Lenin's Coffin

July 20th, 2007

Digg this

The Announcement

“So, where is her father?”
She knew that question was going to come, eventually. “He's working in Iraq. He has an engineering firm that takes on dangerous assignments.”
Lance looked a little uncomfortable as he asked, “So, are you two still...?”
“Married? No. We divorced about 4 years ago.”
Lance looked over at Monica. “Must make this kind of event hard on her.”
“It can.” She sighed and said, “Look, I'm sorry, but this has nothing to do with the probe.”
“Human interest, doc. We don't want to just hear the facts – we want to know the person behind them.” He gave her his best smile again. “Especially when that person's cute.”
She smiled in spite of herself. “Are you hitting on me?”
“How would you feel about it if I was?” He answered her question with a question – very annoying.
“Well, I wouldn't mind if you were honest about it. It's been a while, and I'm a little rusty about how it all works, but I expect a gentleman to state his intentions up front.”
He nodded. “Fair enough.” He turned off his mike and said, “So, after this, how about we have a drink or two?”
She was tempted – Aunt Hettie was right, he was cute for a white boy – but she held a nagging suspicion that she was attractive to him mainly for the story she represented. “I don't know. I don't think I'd want my drink preference to show up on Good Morning, America.”
“All off the record, doc – Andi.”
“It's OK, you can call me doc.”
“All right, then.” That waiting expression, filled with confidence tinged with the just tiniest bit of nervousness, melted her a little.
What the hell, she thought, it has been a while. “OK. But I get to pick the place.”
“You got it.” Now, he was insufferably smug. Men were always like that after you said yes.

In 1971, with great regret an executive order was issued to shut down Operation 40, a CIA-sponsored undercover operation created by US President Eisenhower in March 1960 after the 1959 Cuban Revolution and presided over by then vice-president Richard M. Nixon. Operation 40 had 86 employees in 1961, of which 37 were trained as case officers. One such officer Frank Sturgis described the work of this elite intelligence operation as "this assassination group (Operation 40) would upon orders, naturally, assassinate either members of the military or the political parties of the foreign country that you were going to infiltrate, and if necessary some of your own members who were suspected of being foreign agents... " Broadly, Operation 40 had three phases. 1) Execution of covert US Foreign Policy (1959-1961) by assassination attempts on Fidel Castro, Che Guavara, Patrice Lumumba ending in the Bays of Pigs Operation 2) Execution of housekeeping operations (1961-1968) including domestic assassination attempts on John F Kennedy, Robert F Kennedy, Martin Luther King, George Wallace and Malcolm X. 3) Executon of counter-culture icons (1968-1972) including Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison. By means of dispatch, Nixon's genius was to conceive of a treachery within a treasonous act. Members of Operation 40 would break-into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. Deep sleeper agent Frank Wills would then foil the robbery, call the police and kick-start the justice operation. Perhaps some of them would go for immunity, perhaps even a few stories would be told. Sturgis himself had been one of the gun-men on the grassy knoll, and witnessed the shooting of Office JD Tippit by L Gordon Liddy. An unprecented cover-up would be required. In a triple twist, the CIA punished the executive for failure to support the Agency over the Bays of Pigs. The cover-up was buried by turning the heat back onto the White House itself, forcing Nixon to resign in 1974. On tape, Nixon described the Kennedy assassination as the Bay of Pigs thing, it was a fifteen-year web of intrigue that finally caught the spider himself.

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

Richard Nixon	"It is only a beginning, always. The young must know it; the old must know it. It must always sustain us, because the greatness comes not when things go always good for you, but the greatness comes and you are really tested, when you take some knocks, some disappointments, when sadness comes, because only if you have been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain. " ~ Richard Nixon
President

Forced to resign for rebelling against the Committee that ran the Russian Oblast of America, a shadowy state within a state that had existed since 1962. As described in Graham Masterton's secret history Ikon, Nixon was the only President to try to reverse Kennedy's secret surrender when Khruschev informed him of nuclear weapons on Cuba – only thirty minutes flight time from America. Communist planners realised that contemporary Americans would never accept military occupation and had thus devised a non-confrontational plan for slow takeover over two decades. Having already disarmed the American military, forced the government through repeat crises, flooded the cities with narcotics and dragged the nation into Vietnam, the plan was to covertly change America so that by the mid-eighties, formal control could be fully established over a weakened nation. The full text of the farewell speech is available at Great Speeches

~ quotation by Co-Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

In 2007, A. BREEG wrote ~ my cousin died on 18th June 1978, this much is known. This year the British Heavy Metal Band Iron Maiden released a song called "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg". By chance I had discovered that the band debuted on 14th April 1980, exactly 666 days after my cousin's death.
Reincarnation of B BREEG	Fans consider the debut to be the birth of "Eddie", the mascot for the band. He is a perennial fixture in the often violent album cover art, as well as ever present in their live shows. Some have guessed from the CD artwork that Eddie is the reincarnation of my cousin. Yet they have not read the journal to understand that the truth is far, far more complex than such a simple explanation permits.

CD Cover

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the genius of Iron Maiden's "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg".

In 2009, TV networks ran episode eleven of So What If?. Septuagenarian Saddam Hussein dies in Baghdad. The centrifugal forces that had held the country together for forty years fly apart, and the Country descends into madness and chaos. Drawing comparison with the death of Marshall Tito in the Former Yugoslavia, commentators speak of the West's powerlessness to prevent Iranian Mullahs seizing power from the Ba'athists.

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

In 2007, a Co-Historian at the Academy mistyped his gmail id whilst logging on to email. Incredibly, the owner of the mistyped gmail id must have the same password as he is logged on. Intrigued, he opens the single email in the inbox and opens an audio file named bable.wav to hear the most alien of noises imaginable. Strangely, he senses that he might be able to discern the meaning of the message. Certainly it is a set of precise instructions to be executed..

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

Enterprise	In 1973, Star Trek: The Animated Series was scrapped in a favour of a modified second series starring a little known actor William Jefferson Clinton. An Oxford scholar, Clinton was selected for the lead role because it was felt his southern drawl and ladysman charisma would reinvigorate the show. In his autobiography “The ..
.. Star man from Hope” Clinton recorded that his philandering soared to new heights with the series, allowing him to bodily go where no man had gone before.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1927, the promotion of the Dreamtime subcontinent to an ultra-node in the Mesh had unforeseen consequences. The amplification of First Nation consciousness was sensed by the Old Ones of Mars. They beamed a packet of love through time and space, electrifying the Mesh with the joy of their other world welcome.	Mars
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Confederate Con..	In 1839, the Congress of the Confederate States of America began sitting in Richmond, Virginia. To a man they were implacably opposed to 8th President of the United States Martin Van Buren. The explosive issue of First Nation genocide, sparked by the Cherokee Trail of Tears was about to ignite the American Civil War. This ..
.. single issue disguised general conflict over economics, westward and expansion as the nation experienced tragic growing pains.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1917, Alexander Kerensky became Prime Minister and President of the Russian provisional government and survived an assassination attempt. His first challenge was to defeat the Red Menace from the vampire forces of Lenin's undead nosferatu who believed that “at night, power laid on the streets of St Petersburg”. ..	Kerensky
.. The White general Kornilov discovered Lenin in a coffin under the Finland Station, whereupon he was caste into the bright summer sunlight to kill both the vampire and his offspring brood. Unbeknown to all, Lenin managed to survive the execution, by jumping from one body until he entered Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, sneaking away to another to continue killing as the vampire Stalin.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Cool stuff - Let us know where you are on Frappr! and We've been Dugg

We have links again! Yay, us. Check them out on the side of the page, and if you have some suggestions, send them to us!

Visit the Co-Historian's store -

A Heavenly Visitor In Holbrook

July 19th, 2007

Digg this

The Announcement

The reporter decided to amble back over to them, so Marvin excused himself. “Anything interesting, Mr. Lance?”
“You apparently have been an angel all your life, with the exception of the time you were dating your ex-husband.” He grinned. “But, no-one would talk to me about him.”
“Well, we all make mistakes, Mr. Lance. He was mine.”
“He helped you produce a nice daughter, though,” he said, looking back at Monica. “Seems very self-confident. And, she makes a nice pecan pie.”
“Just wait till she gets through the CIA.”
Lance's brow furrowed. “She wants to be a spy?”
“Culinary Institute of America. She wants to be a chef.”
“Oh,” Lance said, a little crestfallen.
“But, I suppose she could be a spy, too,” she said, throwing him a bone. “It'd be good cover.”
He looked over at her again and shrugged. “I suppose. It feels funny, though, that someone would still want to be something as ordinary as a cook after being so close to an event like this.”
“People are still going to need to eat.”
“Yeah, but...” Lance seemed to be struggling to express himself. She was actually a little taken with him; he was very cute when he was trying to be sincere. “I mean, watching the first contact with an alien race; being related to somebody who's involved in the planning of it, the execution of it – it'd make me want to be an astronomer.”
Her face broke into a lopsided smile. Oh, the many times that conversation had taken place. “She's a good amateur, but she doesn't really have the desire or the temperament for the job. I've long since accepted her career decision. She'll be a good chef.” She leaned over and whispered confidentially, “Especially if she makes it onto Food TV.”
“Yeah, she was pushing that with me,” he said, smiling broadly. “I don't know if my network has any real influence on who appears there, though.”
“She'll figure out a way to leverage this all into an appearance there. She's smart.”
“Takes after her mother.”
Andrea blushed a little at the compliment. “In some ways.”

In 1969, the rescue party led by Joseph Gargan (Kennedy's cousin) and party co-host Paul Markham arrived at the nightmarish scene at Poucha Pond. Mary Jo Kopechne had been drained of blood by the vampires, who had been unable to feed upon the Senator due to the high level of alcohol and narcotics in his bloodstream. Deciding to cover up the disaster as an innocent vehicular accident, Kennedy was driven to Edgartown, whilst the body of Mary Jo Kopechne was concealed in the underwater 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88. The Senator would report the accident to the Police in Edgartown. He would claim to have attempted to rescue Kopechne but been prevented by strong currents. Kennedy then would claim he had swam across the 500-foot channel, back to Edgartown to muster an “official” rescue party.

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

In 1970, the witch Jim Morrison was taken into custody. Planning to use standard “good cop, bad cop” techniques, bad cop entered the suite behind the interview room. However there was a problem that was only visible through the two-way mirror. Good cop was in a room all on his own.

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

In 2007, A. BREEG wrote ~ my cousin died on 18th June 1978, this much is known. His headstone was marked “Aici zace un om despre care nu se ştie prea mult” (“Here Lies A Man Of Whom Little Is Known.") My investigations began thirty years later when a heavy metal band called Iron Maiden released a song called "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg". Wondering if they could possibly know something about my cousin, I tried to contact their record company only to discover they knew nothing of my relative.
Reincarnation of B BREEG	Unfortunately when I did manage to speak to someone in authority, they were unable to give me a satisfactory explanation as to how my cousin's name came to be used in the title of the song. Shortly afterwards and entirely by chance I discovered that the band debuted on 14th April 1980, exactly 666 days after my Cousin's death..

Iron Maiden Artwork

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the genius of Iron Maiden's "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg".

In 2009, TV networks ran episode ten of So What If?. Churchill meant it when he said he had not become the King's First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire. During the Indian emergency of the late 1960s, Indira Gandhi emerged as the leader of a new and powerful nationalist movement. Clips from the TV documentary Death in the Raj presented compelling evidence of British complicity in Gandhi's assassination at the hands of two of her bodyguards Satwant Singh and Beant Singh.

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

In 1972, the dice told George Cockcroft to fake a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. Not thy will, but the dice will be done.

~ variant entry by Steve Payne: use of original content has been made to celebrate the genius of the “Dice Man” novel.

Uluru	In 1927, from Uluru, known to the European as Ayers Rock soul-deeps promoted the Dreamtime subcontinent to an ultra-node in the Mesh, the global network of First Nation consciousness founded in Manna-hata, Turtle Island in 1492.
The southern lights known as the aurora australis blazed in the sky as indigenes around the globe celebrated the dawning of a new age of enhanced inter-connectivity.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1692, five women were hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. Betty Parris, age 9, and her cousin Abigail Williams, age 11, the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Parris, had fallen victim to what was recorded as fits "beyond the power of Epileptic Fits or natural disease to effect," according to John Hale, minister ..	Salem Witch Trials
.. in Beverly, in his book A Modest Enquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft (Boston, 1702). The girls screamed, threw things about the room, uttered strange sounds, crawled under furniture, and contorted themselves into peculiar positions. They complained of being pricked with pins or cut with knives, and when Reverend Samuel Parris would preach, the girls would cover their ears, as if dreading to hear the sermons. A doctor, historically assumed to be William Griggs, could find no physical evidence of any ailment. Others in the village began to exhibit the same symptoms. Despite the hangings, the fits continued to spread until Massachusetts was returned to the Algonquian tribes whereupon they immediately ceased.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Lady Jane Grey	In 1553, after having the title Queen of England for just nine days, the great-granddaughter of Henry VII of England, Lady Jane Grey frustrated a coup d'etat by Henry's elder daughter, Mary Tudor. This bold action forestalled a power-struggle to put Mary, a Roman Catholic, on the throne, with a declared intent of reversing ..
.. the Reformation. Lady Jane had a reputation as one of the most learned women of her day, and the historical writer Alison Weir describes her as one of "the finest female minds of the century". She ushered in a period of religious tolerance that saved the lives of tens of thousands on either side of the sectarian divide.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1912, a meteorite with a mass of 19,000 kg landed in the town of Holbrook in Navajo County. Over the coming weeks many of the population reported frightening nightmares, which only stopped when the Royal American Mounted Police took the meteorite to the capital city of Wellington for forensic study.	Meteorite
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Cool stuff - Let us know where you are on Frappr! and We've been Dugg

We have links again! Yay, us. Check them out on the side of the page, and if you have some suggestions, send them to us!

Visit the Co-Historian's store -

A Funeral, A Death

July 22nd, 2007

Digg this

The Announcement

Alternate Historian grudgingly taking time out from reading: Who could possibly be expected to do anything other than read Deathly Hallows? Lucky for us, Steve writes ahead – enjoy his entry today, and read yesterday's Harry Potter fan fic below – before you read the real thing!

In 2007, A. BREEG wrote ~ using ancient european grimoires my visitor from Romania had released the demon within Benjamin Breeg. 666 days later has was reincarnated as Eddie. As I said, it was a strange meeting. Of course Eddie required some form of subterfuge to conceal his identity when he was not letting rip with the British Heavy Metal Band Iron Maiden.
Reincarnation of B BREEG	I must say the journal was profoundly shocking. However, I can't say I'm not pleased to have my diary returned to me - it really takes me back.

CD Cover

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the genius of Iron Maiden's "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg".

In 1969, on this day a funeral for Mary Jo Kopechne was held at St. Vincent's Roman Catholic Church in Plymouth, Pennsylvania, attended by Ted Kennedy. She was buried in the parish cemetery on the side of Larksville Mountain. The Senator wore a neck brace, idea an ill-conceived by his cousin Joseph Gargan in order to conceal the teeth marks on his neck. The only reason why Kennedy was warm and breathing himself was that the vampires had been unable to feed on the Senator due to the high level of alcohol and narcotics in his bloodstream.

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

In 2009, TV networks ran episode thirteen of So What If?. The Burma Road is re-opened and supplies begin to reach the Republic of China just in the nick of time to save Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek from encircling Communist forces led by Mao Tse-Tung. Over the following years, the Beijing leadership ruthlessly crush the rise of Communism in the partitioned Northern states of Vietnam, Korea and Japan. The Soviet Union is drawn into the regional conflict as the Cold War turns hot.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

Gazi Mustafa Kemal	In 1914, Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pashai, Governor-general of al-Andalus was assassinated in Paris by Frankish anarchists. During the subsequent August days, a diplomatic crisis escalated from al-Andalus demands to send detectives into Frankish territory. The uneasy peace that has lasted for centuries between Arabs and Europeans ..
.. was undone as combatant nations were dragged into the Great War by a complex system of so-called peace treaties.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1946, the Zionist Menacham Begin detonated an Irgun bomb at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, headquarters of the British civil and military administration, killing 90. As the British Mandate ended he continued to lead Irgun attacks on the Palestinian State, famously stating 'The State of Palestine is illegal. It will ..	King David Hotel
.. never be recognized .... Jerusalem was and will for ever be our capital. Eretz Israel will be restored to the people of Israel. All of it. And for ever. '. However his organisation was eclipsed by the Israeli Liberation Organisation which became the stand-bearer for Zionist efforts to establish the State of Israel, a goal which was unachieved by the time of Begin's death. The importance of Menachem Begin in Israel's national identity cannot be contested since in 2005 a poll conducted showed him gaining the highest result as the leader that Israelis missed the most, out polling even David Ben-Gurion and Yitzhak Rabin.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Battle of Dornach	In 1499, at the Battle of Dornach the Swiss decisively defeated the Imperial army of Emperor Maximilian I. Swiss militarism was to unbalance Europe until the twentieth century. Two World Wars ended in the warrior state being partitioned by the four nation alliance of America, Russia, Britain and France.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1977, Chinese Communists under leader Deng Xiaoping were restored to power in Beijing following twenty years in exile inside the Soviet Union. Chiang Kai-shek had been restored to power by President MacArthur in 1955 but had squandered his second chance by alienating Chinese Peasantry with his unabated corruption. Also, ..	Deng Xiaoping
.. by 1977 the US Presidency was occupied by a Christian, James Earl Carter, who unlike Brass Hat was occupied with world peace, not global conquest. Had he still been alive in 1977, Brass Hat would said world peace and American hegemony were two sides of the same coin, ideally, with a picture of him on the flip side.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Cool stuff - Let us know where you are on Frappr! and We've been Dugg

We have links again! Yay, us. Check them out on the side of the page, and if you have some suggestions, send them to us!

Visit the Co-Historian's store -

The Boy Who Didn't Live

July 21st, 2007

Digg this

The Announcement

Alternate Historian's Note: Never let it be said I don't plug famous authors. Today, which you know about unless you have no contact with the rest of the world whatsoever, marks the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final installment in J.K. Rowling's epic series. I thought today I would indulge in a bit of fan fiction – although, of course, it goes without mentioning that ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO JO ROWLING and I mean nothing but respect by what I present here and this HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO with the ACTUAL END OF DEATHLY HALLOWS!!! It's just fan fic. I've always imagined the end of the series something like this:

Petunia answered the knock on the door with a little trepidation. The house wasn't nearly as spotless as she usually kept it, owing to her Duddley's recent bouts of, well, strangeness. It's all Harry's fault, she thought, thankful that at least she never had to see her wretched nephew anymore.
She swung the door open and gasped in horror. The figure standing at the door had an almost snake-like appearance, with a nose that was almost not even there, and eyes that glowed green and fiery as they took her in. The hand covering her mouth trembled as she whispered, “No...”
“What, Petunia,” Lord Voldemort said as he stepped across the threshold, followed by Severus Snape, “no kiss for daddy?”

Harry appeared in front of the door at the Dursley's house, sick that he had to come here one more time. But, Snape's note had been quite clear - What you seek shall be at the home that has offered you shelter when Hogwarts has not. You must trust me in this, Potter. From all he had learned of Snape's love for his mother, he had finally come to the conclusion that he had to trust that the potion master had the same motive for revenge that he did; that was why Dumbledore had trusted him, had even let Snape kill him rather than give up his position within Voldemort's ranks. There was still plenty for Snape to pay for – Ron, Tonks, Ginny - but he no longer felt the rage he had a year ago about Dumbledore.
He opened the front door and walked in slowly, wand drawn. The door had been ajar, which made Harry's stomach turn. He advanced slowly into the house, and an odd tableau met his eyes. Seated at the dining room table, dressed in their best clothing, were Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and Duddley. All three were sitting stock still, with looks of terror frozen on their faces. The cause of that terror sat at the head of the table, his black robes draped across the arms of the chair, his reptilian features broken into a wide smile. “Ah, Harry, my boy, come at last for Sunday dinner.” Snape stood beside Voldemort, his wand pointed at the Dursleys. “No heroics, lad. Let's just chat.” He extended a long, thin hand to the chair at the foot of the table, and Harry sat down. “It's so pleasant to an old man to be able to sit down with his family and have a nice dinner and conversation.” Harry's lip curled at the thought of having Voldemort in his ancestry. The dark lord speared a piece of roast beef with one of Petunia's best silver forks and ate it with relish. “Ah, Petunia, you always were such a good cook when you were properly motivated.”
Harry impatiently said, “What do you want?”
“Why, you, of course, Harry.” Voldemort smiled and wiped his mouth delicately with the best of the Dursleys' napkins. “By now, you've discerned that you're the last of my horcruxes. I'd like to remove that last part of myself from you.”
“Nothing would please me more,” Harry spat at him.
Voldemort continued to speak pleasantly, picking up his wand and gesturing at Harry with it. “Now, it can be done one of two ways. One leaves you alive, the other dead. Which method I employ depends entirely on you.” The two stared at each other for a few seconds before the dark lord continued, “I won't lie and say that you have been pleasant to know, Harry. Your vendetta has been rather singular in its success at stripping me of my power and my followers. All I have left of my old strength is Severus, here,... and you.” He stood, and his wand came dangerously close to sparking at Harry as he spoke again. “You've thwarted me without even knowing what you were doing. I have come to respect that, Harry. I have come to respect you. I want you at my side, grandfather and grandson.”
“You should ask Duddley; he'd jump at the chance to join you.”
Voldemort chuckled, a raspy, thin laugh. “I have always been disappointed in Petunia and her offspring, but I must confess that I am glad I had her today, for she has provided me with bait for you.” He looked affectionately over at his muggle daughter. “And, let's face it, her temperament was much more of a match for mine than was Lily's.” At the mention of Harry's mother, Snape stiffened slightly. “So, my offer,” Voldemort said, getting down to business. “Join me in killing these muggles, and we will be bound together in a more permanent fashion than even the horcrux charm can manage.”
Harry looked at Voldemort with disgust. “Why would I want to kill these people with you?”
Now, Voldemort laughed heartily, clapping his hands together. “Come, Harry, I've spent too much time in your mind for you to lie to me about how you feel about the Dursleys. You hate me, yes, of course, but what have I ever really done to you? Orchestrated things, had my followers attack or kill people close to you; all sort of shadowy and nebulous, nothing real to hang your hate on.”
“You killed my parents.”
Voldemort waved his hand dismissively. “Oh, yes, yes, but you were only one. You didn't even acknowledge your mother as she fell dead in front of you.” Snape's knuckles on his wand turned white as the dark lord said this. “That's an abstract sort of hate. Yes, I placed a hole in your life, but it was a hole that they could have filled, with understanding, affection... love.” He looked at the Dursleys, whose eyes were filling with a new terror. “Instead, there was only neglect, disdain and loathing. I may have placed you in their hands, but they were the ones who tortured you for ten years. Tell me truly, Harry; is there anyone you truly hate as much as you hate them?”
Harry avoided looking at the family as answered, clearly, “No.”
Voldemort's wide smile threatened to envelop his entire face. “Join me in this, and then we shall rebuild my empire together.”
Harry's eyes flicked casually to Snape, who nodded almost imperceptibly. Is it a trap? Harry's distrust of Snape, born through many years of mistreatment at his hands, could barely be contained. But, he tamped it down, and stood. “Which one shall I kill?”
“Duddley, I think.” The fat young man gulped audibly. “I shall deal with dear Petunia, and Severus shall have Vernon. That's all appropriate, wouldn't you say?”
“Very.”
They locked eyes. In that moment, both were able to read the other's thoughts; the bond that locked them together broke down the barriers between them. The dark lord lifted his wand, and Harry aimed his, and a bolt of fire joined them together.
“I should have known you were too weak,” Voldemort shouted. “Your mother was the same way.”
Snape put his wand to Voldemort's throat and growled, “You will never speak of Lily again.” A green explosion threw Voldemort to the ground as Snape intoned, “Avada Kadavera!”
The Dursleys all jumped back from the table and crouched together in the corner of the room as Harry and Snape went over to examine Voldemort's body. Life was rapidly ebbing from the sorcerer, but he choked out, “I still live... I still live in you, Harry... I still live...”
“Neither can live while the other survives,” Snape intoned, pointing his wand at Harry.
Now, Harry finally understood the plan of vengeance that Snape had undertaken. He had deceived both sides because he knew that Harry had to be destroyed along with the dark lord, because his vengeance for Harry's mother could never be complete while a portion of the dark lord was still able to be reborn. “It can't be removed from me,” he asked, “can it?”
“No,” Snape whispered, his wand trembling slightly. Harry's eyes, so much like his mother's, bore into Snape's. “Not without killing you.”
Harry nodded and dropped his wand. “Then, do it.” Harry felt a great peace come over him, a sense of love and warmth that he hadn't felt since - Ginny? Mom?
The green blast dropped him to the ground and he felt all the ill that had been done to him in life fade away. All the anger, the hatred, the bitterness, melted as Voldemort's spirit was replaced by a feminine touch, a pair of voices calling to him, smoothing away the violence, settling his features, and fading away the last remnants of his scar.

Chantilly Lace and a pretty face And a ponytail hangin' down, A wiggle in her walk and a giggle in her talk, They're gonna make the world go 'round.
Big Bopper	Ain't nothing in the world like a big eyed girl To make me act so funny, Make me spend my money. Make me feel real loose Like a long necked goose, Like a - Wa baby that's what I like! ~ Lyrics to “Chantilly Lace” - Click to Play Sample
J.P. Richardson, Jr.

Chantilly Lace is often used as slang for high-grade, hydroponic marijuana in some northern California circles. President Dwight D. Eisenhower was not in that circle, and saw no irony in opening Chantilly International Airport Virginia shortly after the song was originally released in 1958. Due to the suggestive lyrics, Ike had considered and then dismissed the alternative name of Dulles International Airport after John Foster Dulles, United States Secretary of State. The lyrics are available at Risa Sony Lyrics Archive

~ quotation by Co-Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

In 2007, A. BREEG wrote ~ my cousin was born on 3rd September 1939, this much is known. The day Britain declared war on Nazi Germany. Demons had arrived on the wings of death, and one of them possessed the soul of Benjamin Breeg.
Reincarnation of B BREEG	On his eighth birthday, a mysterious fire destroyed his family home, killing both of his parents. Just one look at the painting reveals both the agony of his loss, and also, the identity of the arsonist. Breeg travelled the world, pursuing his interests in grotesque artwork and the paranormal. It was in Haiti, and then Romania, where Breeg finally found what he sought.

Artwork

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the genius of Iron Maiden's "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg".

In 2027, the long-term trend in attention span deficit disorders reached a climax where acceptance was both inevitable and absolutely necessary. Drop-in activities became the norm. Survey statistics demonstrated that a typical North American male would leave home on Saturday morning and participate briefly in up to 35 leisure activities. For consumption, he would sample up to seventeen ethnicities worth of shopping mall foods before returning home to one of a dozen partner families. Often to complete a three piece jigsaw puzzle with his progeny.

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

Harry Truman	"We have laid down the general terms on which they can surrender. Our warning went unheeded. Our terms were rejected. (1) The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. That was because we wished in the first attack to avoid insofar as possible, the killing of civilians.(2) But that attack is only a warning of things to come. (3)" ~ Harry S Truman, 34th Vice President and 33rd President of the United States
President

(1) It is suggested by many historians that if the United States had given Japan conditional surrender terms including a guarantee of the Emperor's safety, then the Japanese would have surrendered sometime in the spring or early summer of 1945, possibly even sooner. Facts such as this points to the idea that Truman's Administration had ulterior motives for dropping the bombs. (2) Hiroshima was a civilian target chosen because it had not previously bombed. If it was a military target, it would of course have been bombed before. (3) Hinting of the third strike on Tokyo that occurred on the morning of August 14th. Part of a radio broadcast by Truman on 9 August 1945, referring to the atomic bombing of Japan available at Learning Curve

~ quotation by Co-Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

In 2009, TV networks ran episode twelve of So What If?. Colonel T.E. Lawrence survives a 1935 motorcycle accident. Desperately needing an inspirational leader for the North Africa campaign, in 1940 Churchill re-appointed Lawrence of Arabia as Commander of the British Eighth Army where he defeated Rommel's Afrika Corps and Italian allies. Less publicly, he also executed a cadre of Egyptian officers who had been attempting to rid North Africa of Britain's presence. Gamal Abdul Nassar, Anwar el-Sadat and Hosni Said Mubarak were just three of the many “traitors” who were found mysteriously floating face down in the River Nile. After the war, Lawrence was instrumental in the creation of the state of Israel, and the key decision to hand the Canal Zone and the British bases over to David Ben-Gurion.

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

John T. Scopes	In 1925, the Scopes “Monkey” Trial in Dayton, Tennessee concluded in favour of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. High school biology teacher John T. Scopes was found guilty of teaching the Biblical interpretation of the Book of Genesis in class and fined $100.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1969, Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin of the Apollo 11 mission attempted a landing at the southern Sea of Tranquillity about 20 km (12 mi) south west of the crater Sabine D . As the landing began, Armstrong reported they were "running long"; Eagle ..	Apollo 11 Missi..
.. was 4 seconds further along its descent trajectory than planned, and would land miles west of the intended site. The LM navigation and guidance computer reported several unusual "program alarms" as it guided the LM's descent, taking the crew's attention from the scene outside of the descent such that they were surprised to be sucked into a powerful vortex. Multidimensional energies folded space and time, sending the craft to the armed camp of Austrasian Mayor of the Palace Charles Martel hours before the Battle of Tours. Armstrong was less worried that the in-craft time device is reporting 9th October 732; of greater concern was the sight of Frankish and Burgundian troops about to decamp with their heads down in abject defeat. The following day these soldiers must defeat an army of the Umayyad Caliphate led by Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, Governor-general of al-Andalus to put a final stop to the Arab invasion of Europe, without which, there would be no Western Europe and no America!
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Bryan Gould	In 1994, Bryan Gould was declared the winner of the leadership election of the British Labour Party, paving the way to him becoming Prime Minister in 1997. The significance of this victory was not apparent until 2003 when Gould refused to back the US invasion of Iraq, saying that "Labour was driven by values and principles". ..
.. He was strongly backed by Robin Cook, Claire Short inter alia. The arch back bench modernisers Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Peter Mandelson et al. could only seethe in silence as the British working class stood up to a man to back this bold and principled position.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 2004, the United Kingdom government published Delivering Security in a Changing World, a paper detailing wide-ranging reform of the country's armed forces. Recognising that the hyper power Great Britain was the de facto global policemen, proposals for a rapid reaction force were accepted that could send troops ..	British Army
.. to British possessions at a moments notice. Downing Street was unaware how soon such a force restructure be required. By the end of the decade, the British Army was fighting an island hopping war of fast movement in the Far East with the resurgent island nation of Nippon.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Cool stuff - Let us know where you are on Frappr! and We've been Dugg

We have links again! Yay, us. Check them out on the side of the page, and if you have some suggestions, send them to us!

Visit the Co-Historian's store -

His Struggle

July 18th, 2007

Digg this

The Announcement

“I'm just trying to be as boring as I can,” Andrea said. “You know, the type of person the newspeople hate to cover.”
“Yeah, that's you, all right.” She punched him in the arm. “Hey, now, don't make me spill my food.” He looked over at the reporter and said, “He's talking to your daughter.”
“Oh, lord, what has she got to say?” She followed Marvin's gaze over to where Monica and one of her cousins were talking animatedly about something to the reporter while the cameraman captured their conversation. “Think I should go check?”
“Nah. Just ground her for it later.” They both laughed, and Andrea relaxed a little bit. Marvin was always good at calming her down. After they ate a little bit more from their plates, he said, “So, the signal back'll take, what, 8 years to reach Wolf 359?”
“About that, yeah.”
“Then another 8 years for a signal to get here.”
“Provided there's still anybody to send one.”
“Right, I get that. But what if they've got some automated station, waiting for the signal? They built a probe that'll last a few thousand or million years and still be able to call back home – why not make a receiver that'll sit in their solar system and wait to respond.”
“I always knew there was a reason I liked you,” Andrea said, putting down her plate and pulling her phone out of her pocket. She flipped the function over to notepad and jotted down what Marvin had just said. “You want credit for the idea?”
He shrugged, smiling. “That's OK. Just say Hi, Marv at the press conference, and I'll be happy.”
“You got it.”

In 2009, TV networks ran Decisive Moments in Black History. The narrow escape from assassins of the iconic President of Nigeria, General Murtala Ramat Mohammed on February 13, 1976 was unquestionably a tipping point. The fourth President frustrated an abortive coup attempt when his car was ambushed in traffic in Lagos. He had already taken the early steps to lift Nigeria out of the abyss it was threatening to descend into. Top federal and state officials were removed to break links with the Gowon regime and to restore public confidence in the federal government. More than 10,000 public officials and employees were dismissed without benefits, on account of age, health, incompetence, or malpractice. The purge affected the civil service, judiciary, police and armed forces, diplomatic service, public corporations, and universities. Some officials were brought to trial on charges of corruption. He also began the demobilization of 100,000 troops from the swollen ranks of the armed forces. Matters moved forward with apace after the failed coup. After all, Nigeria experienced the same level of literacy and per capita income as Malaysia in 1960, a record it has sustained to this day to the fierce joy of the diaspora.

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

In 1969, Senator Edward M Kennedy and Mary Jo Kopechne were pursued across Martha's Vineyard after the lovers had unwisely chosen to drive through vampire country after sunset. Forced to brake at a narrow bridge, the Master landed on the roof of the 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88 and ripped the lovers from the vehicle. Using inhuman, undead strength the Master threw the vehicle into the strong currents of Poucha Pond and set about feeding on his prey...

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

In 2007, A. Breeg wrote ~ born in London on September 3rd, 1939, both of his parent died in a mysterious house fire aged eight. A solitary and troubled child, Benjamim Breeg was sent to an orphanage in the East End where his carer observed: "[the] demeanour of a child who seems to bear more weight upon his shoulders than any person should. What goes on behind his eyes makes one wonder what's troubling him."
Artwork	From aged ten he began to experience "the most vile and tortuous nightmares." My cousin's first job was as an undertaker. From this time he also pursued interests in paranormal activity and painting. A close friend who saw some of Breeg's painting said: "He says he paints what he sees. If this is true, I can only thank God I have no window into his mind."

Painting by B BREEG

The visitor from Romania presented me with my Cousin's journal. The last entry was dated 18th June 1978, the date of his recorded death. That was when the long-suffering life of Benjamin Breeg ended. Yet it was only the beginning of this wild child's release from the captivity of his twisted mind.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the genius of Iron Maiden's "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg".

In 2009, TV networks ran episode nine of So What If?. Prince Harry is seized on a tour of duty and beheaded on Al-Jazeera TV. British Prime Minister Tony orders a surge in the British Protectorate of Mesopotamia.

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

In 2032, Trillionnaire Buford Rogerson III purchased the world's fastest network router, a custom device that delivered an incredible 2 petabit per second data transfer rates anywhere this side of the Rings of Saturn. Mostly he used the router to bully and cajole the long-suffering executives of his business empire. Actually, he had done this since he acquired a Blackberry in the early twenty-first century, but words – even angry words – could be easily ignored, diminishing the pleasure of his dictatorship. Super-modern visualisation techniques enabled this monstrous so-called “business leader” to now transmit his displeasure in the form of intense picts. It was fear and loathing over the Internet, which was a great step forward. NOT.

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

Paul III	In 1536, the authority of Pope Paul III in the specific, and the papacy in general, was declared void in England. This highly provocative statement united the nations of Catholic Europe who immediately set about achieving the collapse of English Power. During the State Visit of 32nd US President Winston Churchill to the ..
.. Irish Isles in 1942, Taoiseach Éamon de Valera declared the proclamation to be a self-inflicted wound, he was famously to say “The English must now move forward from 1536 and stop arguing about the past”.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1925, Adolf Hitler authored his personal manifesto Mein Kampf (My Struggles). A description of his battle with lycanthropy, the book was hidden until the mid 1980s when it was given to British Historian Hugh Trevor-Roper by fellow shape-shifter Martin Bormann.	Mein Kampf
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1969, after a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Senator Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts drove an Oldsmobile off a wooden bridge into a tide-swept pond and both he and his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, died.
Oldsmobile Delm..	Officially the family claimed that Ted was simply returning one of the “Boiler Room Girls” (helpers at the 68 election) ..
.. back to the Edgartown Ferry. The incident itself and the Kennedy family philandering in general became a national scandal, and may well have affected the decision by his brother Robert not to run for re-election to the Presidency in 1972. “The long national nightmare was over”, in the words of the incoming President, Richard M Nixon.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1969, Senator Edward M Kennedy from Massachusetts being a gentleman, gallantly agreed to escort “Boiler Room Girl” Mary Jo Kopechne to the Edgartown Ferry. They had both attended a modest thanksgiving function for party workers and assistants of the 1968 Presidential Election. Known to be a cautious driver, a freak accident ..	Senator Edward ..
.. caused Senator Kennedy to swerve off a wooden bridge into a tide-swept pond. Having escaped from the vehicle himself, he bravely returned to rescue his passenger, saving her from certain death. The following year his exploits were featured in the blockbuster novel and movie “Profiles in Courage 2”. The incident may well have affected his decision to run for election to the Presidency in 1972, which he won handsomely.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Cool stuff - Let us know where you are on Frappr! and We've been Dugg

We have links again! Yay, us. Check them out on the side of the page, and if you have some suggestions, send them to us!

Visit the Co-Historian's store -

The Wrath Of Wellington

July 17th, 2007

Digg this

The Announcement

Apologies From The Alternate Historian: sorry about missing yesterday's post, and many thanks to Steve for stepping up. Pets – they can be a source of great joy and great frustration, if you know what I mean. Much like children, except you can't depend on them to care for you in your frail old age.
Come to think of it, you can't really depend on your children to do that, either... Anyway, on with our regularly scheduled TIAH!

Marvin looked at her a little non-plussed. “So, it's probably just an automatic thing, right? I mean, you send something like that out here, naturally you want it to signal back home if it finds something important.”
“Right,” she said, walking with him over to the food table and lowering her voice so the others wouldn't hear. “My whole team thinks it's just an automatic signal, triggered by the radio waves we've been hitting the probe with. They figure that if the thing can still send a signal forward after this long, then of course it's got the power to send a signal home, to all its long-dead builders, letting them know it found somebody else.” She made sure the reporter and the cameraman were occupied, which they were – they were interviewing Monica. “But, what if the builders aren't long-dead, Marv?”
“Three million years is a long time, Andi.”
She dipped a celery stick into some ranch dressing and munched it. “That could be a wrong figure.”
“I thought you all agreed that was how long it took to get here from that Wolf place.”
She nodded. “Based on its current speed and trajectory. But, what if it slowed down once it approached our system? I mean, it's barely going mach 3 right now, and that's awful slow. Our probes are all traveling in excess of 15000 miles an hour. In 3 million years they'll have traveled ten times the distance this thing has. The probe's been in our system for years, and we only just noticed it because it suddenly turned on its radio.”
“Look, Andi,” Marvin said, rubbing her shoulder. “Even if its only been a few thousand years instead of a few million, it's not like this is gonna be Independence Day, right?” He smiled broadly, and she returned the smile. “You're a hard-nosed scientist. Remember when we had that argument after we saw War of the Worlds? Alien invasion just doesn't make sense.”
“If you're that advanced, you can just repair the planet you're on,” she said, quoting herself. “You're right. Sorry, Marv. I'll try to let go of all the shop talk.”
“Well, don't let it go too much,” Marvin said, pointing at the reporter. “Don't want him to get itching for something else to say about you.”

"Eddie"	"White man came across the sea Brought us pain and misery We killed his tribes we killed his creed Took his game for our own need We fought him hard we fought him well Out on the plains we gave him hell ~ Lyrics to Run to the Hills (Click Note to Play Video)
Iron Maiden Icon

British Heavy Metal band playing live on their "Eddie Rips the Long House" 2005 Tour of the Inter-tribal states on the Turtle Island. Ironically, members of the band were rebellious Etonians who had studied at the same school as the leaders of the failed imperial adventure to conquer America. The full lyrics are available at Dark World

~ quotation by Co-Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

Salisbury	"The Civil War was the last chance we [Great Britain] had of stopping them [the United States]." ~ Marquis of Salisbury
Prime Minister

Speaking in 1898 of the British Century to come by justifying British intervention on behalf of the Confederacy in the American Civil War. A widespread consensus of Victorian politicians agreed that a resurgent Britain would not have been possible if the Union had been permitted to defeat the South, creating a world hyper-power in North America. The history of this period is masterfully explored by Amanda Foreman in her classic opus The Trent Incident Leads to War which is available at Uchronia

~ quotation by Co-Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

In 2007, A. Breeg wrote ~ I feel that my search is now over. The person who contacted me from Romania has finally met me. Only now, eleven months later can I find the words to describe our meeting. And the contents of the journal. Finally I was given the answers I sought regarding my cousin Benjamin Breeg. I can hardly contain myself at the thought of sharing them..

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the genius of Iron Maiden's "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg".

In 2009, TV networks ran episode eight of So What If?. General Augustus Pinochet refused to handover his friend Margaret Thatcher to face trial for war-crimes in Britain, isolating Chile within the Organisation of American States. Pleading ill-health, the Iron Lady died in exile in Santiago. Her son Mark returned to Britain to organise a counter-coup with Simon Mann and other mercenaries drawn from Old Etonians.

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

In 1967, British Minister of War Dennis Healey announced a decision to increase British troop levels in Singapore and Malaysia. East of Suez was a term used in British military and political discussions. It referred to Imperial interests beyond the European theatre (sometimes including, sometime excluding the Middle East). Strategically the empire military infrastructure was based upon sea lanes of communication through the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal and round the Cape to India and on to East Asia and Australia. With the post-war struggle to prevent a retreat from empire, starting with the Indian Emergency(1947), a gradual build up of the military presence "east of Suez" started. In 1967, Prime Minister Harold Wilson and his Minister of War Denis Healey announced that British troops in major military bases in South East Asia (primarily in Malaysia, Singapore, and Aden) would be doubled by 1971. Edward Heath's government decided when it came to power in June 1970 to send further forces to augment a small political and military commitment to South East Asia through the Five Power Defence Arrangements.

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

In 1916, the Battle of the Somme headed towards an apocalyptic stalemate.
Battle of the Somme	The background was thus; Winston Churchill had struck a tremendous blow for the Allies with his stunning victory at the Battle of Gallipoli, achieved with the use of staggering quantities of gas which were released by the British Navy to overcome the Turkish defenders.
Promoted from the Admiralty to the position of Minister of War, when the French mutinied at Verdun, Churchill convinced the Cabinet to authorise a similar attack, Gallipoli on Land. Reluctance and xenophobia was widespread, after all, they would be releasing the gas at fellow Europeans, not the Turk who had stolen Constantinople from Christendom and threatened Western Civilization. German humanist sympathisers in the British Government warned the German High Command who prepared troops by supplying huge stocks of gas masks. However, the gas release was bungled, rendering the region of Picardie uninhabitable for twenty years.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1918, by order of the Bolshevik Party and carried out by Cheka, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, his immediate family, and retainers were murdered at the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg, Russia. By feigning death, Princess Anastasia escaped to Paris where provided a detailed report of the tragedy. The western world was horrified ..	Romanovs
.. by a whole nest of vampires draining the Russian Royal Family of their blue blood in an act of indescribable violence. Calls for the War of Intervention in Russia started immediately. By cruel irony, the White Forces were soon dispatched to the city port of Arcangel.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Montreal 76	In 1976, controversy marked the Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada when a Congolese-led block of 25 African nations boycotted the opening ceremony. In protest at a tour of South Africa by the All Blacks team earlier in the year, Congo's official Jean Claude Ganga led demands that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) ..
.. bar the New Zealand team. The IOC was unable to resist the logic of these demands, and the New Zealand team departed the next day. The Commonwealth Games planned for Edmonton in 1978 were cancelled completely to the disgust of the provincial government which had planned for the event for many years and was seriously out of pocket.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1815, Napoleon surrendered to British forces at Windsor, Ontario. The contribution of New France to the North American conflict was over, as was the statehood of the Francophone nation.
The United States faced the wrath of Duke Arthur Wellesley alone, as Wellington turned the clock back to 1776.	Napoleon Bonaparte
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Cool stuff - Let us know where you are on Frappr! and We've been Dugg

We have links again! Yay, us. Check them out on the side of the page, and if you have some suggestions, send them to us!

Visit the Co-Historian's store -