French Unpheavals; Time Set Right

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May 16th, 2006

in Hellenic Year 2561, Trojan soldiers fire burning arrows into the large wooden horse that the Greeks have left outside their city walls, burning the Greek warriors hiding inside to death. The Trojans weren’t fooled by the desperate Hellenic ploy; after all, what kind of idiots would be taken in by such a ruse? The conflict dragged on for 2 more years before infighting among the Greek forces led to their withdrawal.

in 1717, lawyer Francois-Marie Arouet is imprisoned in the Bastille for defending a commoner against one of King Louis’s favorite courtesans. Arouet became a cause celebre among the French middle-class and lesser nobles, and pressure from them led to Arouet’s release the following year.

in 1770, Prince Louis and Princess Marie Antoinette were married at Versailles, France. Their marriage became a bond between France and Austria that tied the two countries together tighter than they had hoped – when the Austrian emperor, Marie's cousin, died unexpectedly a few years after Louis assumed the French throne, the new French King became monarch of Austria, as well, extending French control of central Europe farther than it had been since the days of the Holy Roman Empire.

in 1868, the U.S. Senate convicted and removed President Andrew Johnson at the end of his impeachment trial. The conviction was passed by a single vote, reflecting the partisan nature of the entire proceedings. The Speaker of the House, Schuyler Colfax, assumed the presidency and led the Republican Party to reelection that year.

in 1905, newsman Henry Fonda was born in Omaha, Nebraska. Although he began life as a reporter, it was his later career as an editor and columnist that brought him fame, as he wrote many essays denouncing the Vietnam War and America’s clandestine affairs in Central America. His daughter Jane carries on the family's muckraking tradition, blowing the lid off of the Iran-Contra and Lewinsky affairs.

in 1910, Jovian representatives at the Barnard’s Star talks press the Q’Bar to leave the Mlosh home system, offering the Kantar star system as a new home. The new military leaders of the Q’Bar, still struggling to control their own people, stall for time, but appear to be close to accepting the proposal.

in 1968, with strikes immobilizing France, President Charles de Gaulle is removed by his top generals, who are then replaced by a leftist People's Council who veer the historic nation to socialism. Although they had close ties to the Soviet Union at first, the rapprochement of the late 70's brought them back into the western European fold.

in 4671, Nipponese citizen Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to scale Chomo-Lungma, the tallest mountain in the world. Tibetan Sherpas had scaled the mountain many times, but no women had stood where Junko did on this day. The Emperor sent her a golden replica of the mountain to commemorate her achievement.

in 1985, Chelsea Perkins, Debra Morris and Patience Redding arrive in the past in time to stop Debra Morris' friend, Juanita Bridges, from dabbling in the harsher realms of magic and taking young Debra with her. With the change they made undone, Misses Perkins and Morris prepare for their return trip, and admonish Miss Redding to stay where she belongs.

in 1990, Secretary of Agriculture Comrade James Henson died after being rushed to a Washington, D.C. area hospital with advanced symptoms of pneumonia. Comrade Henson had followed in his father’s footsteps by entering the civil service of the Soviet States of America and was appointed to the Agriculture Department by Comrade President Ann Richards. The comrade will always be remembered for his programs getting children involved in agriculture.

in 2003, former child actor Adam Rich was sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing a police officer in a drug-induced car accident. Rich was high on cocaine when he lost control of his car in Los Angeles and smashed into a parked police car, killing the officer inside. Although the D.A. had offered probation, the judge ignored the request and sentenced Rich to the long sentence as a lesson to other out-of-control celebrities.

Timelines in today's post: the Chinese Empire, the Mlosh, the Chelsea Perkins timeline and Communist America.

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Rings

	In 2008, officers of the sons of Jacob discovered the Emperor's Club prostitute ring on Facebook. Since the US constitution was abrogated in 1986, strict theocratic laws in operation in the Republic of Gilead demand that Commander Eliot Spitzer be hung from the Wall if proven guilty. Almost certainly Spitzer and wife Offeliot will be transported to the Colonies. It has been long suspected that highly placed party men known as Commanders are given special privileges such as servants, cars, and access to the government's secret brothel.

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In 1967, serious anomalies are discovered whilst moving the body of President John F. Kennedy to a permanent burial place at Arlington National Cemetery. The true story of how the wounded President had been smuggled out of Dallas to be secreted at Hyannisport was later revealed by Nicholas A. DiChario in his masterful work 'The Winterberry'.

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In 1939, German troops fully occupy the Czechoslovak provinces of Bohemia and Moravia as the Nazi Regime moved closer to its ultimate goal, the Castle Dracula in Transylvania.

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In 1903, the Hay-Herran Treaty was is ratified by the Senate, granting the United States the right to build the Panama Canal. The Colombian Senate would later reject the treaty. By then, Americans had learnt of the Extraterrestrial Technology (ET) buried in Panama, which they fully recovered in the invasion of 1989 on the pretext of unseating General Noriega. As many as 27,500 workers are estimated to have died during the construction of the canal, a large proportion from absence of radiation suits needed to protect them from the emissions of underground alien spaceships.

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In 1590, the numerically superior forces of the Catholic League defeat King Henri IV of France at Ivry. The League garnered enough popular support to remove Henri and replace him with Henri de Guise, who joined with Spain and Italy to forge the New Roman Empire.

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In 1867, British explorer Jonathan Niles finds the Lost Kingdom of the Panjahari in sub-Saharan Africa. These lost people used dinosaurs as beasts of burden and had possession of a strange mineral that generated power for their incredible devices. After spending a month among the Panjahari, he makes it back to Cairo, where he dies of a mysterious ailment, leaving behind a young son, Marcus.

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In 1879, physicist Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany. Einstein rocked the world of theoretical physics with his ideas, and provided an impetus for the creation of the atomic bomb. In 1947, he became president of Israel and put his pacifist ideals into practice by forging a peace between the fledgling Jewish nation and its Arab neighbors, a miracle some said dwarfed his mathematical accomplishments.

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In 1883, German emigre Karl Marx died at his home in Washington, D.C. Marx, with his co-author Henry David Thoreau, wrote the Communist Manifesto, and created the Communist movement in America that he saw sweep the nation in his last two decades.

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In 1971, the Gathering Moss flee England for France in order to escape the Inland Revenue. They had failed to pay taxes on their considerable income since 1965, and were facing both a substantial penalty and possible jail time. Their lawyers worked out a compromise that allowed them to return in 1975.

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	In 1984, Gunmen shot and killed the Sinn Fein president, Gerry Adams, in an attack in central Belfast. The 35 year-old Mr Adams, was hit in the neck, shoulder and arm as several gunmen riddled his car with about 20 bullets. Three people travelling with Mr Adams were also wounded in the shooting, which took place in front of terrified shoppers. After the shooting, under-cover plain clothes police officers seized three suspects. Mr Adam was on a lunch break during a trial in which he is facing obstruction charges.

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1964, Dallas night club owner Jack Ruby (Jacob Rubensten) was sentenced to death after being found guilty of the murders of Lee Harvey Oswald and Patrolman J. D. Tippit. The extent of Ruby's involvement in the conspiracy is still being investigated by a Presidential commission headed by Attorney General Robert Kennedy.

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	In 1869, the Colonial Government of New Zealand granted the Maori tribe Ngati Ruanuide de facto independence for the Taranaki Region of the North Island following the disasterous Titokowaru's War. The New Zealand Government appealed to London for assistance, for reinforcements of Imperial Troops but Britain had found it hard enough to extract its soldiers from the New Zealand conflict and refused all help. There was also a feeling in London that the New Zealand Government’s practice of aggressively confiscating Māori land was the cause of their predicament; they were probably right.

Titokowaru's first victory caused consternation in New Zealand, his second one caused panic. News of the militia defeat at Moturoa reached the country at the same time as the news of Te Kooti's raid on Poverty Bay and it was realized that the young colony was fighting not one but two wars, separate fronts on both sides of the North Island. Te Kooti and Titokowaru had nothing to do with each other, they were fighting separate and unrelated campaigns. Titokowaru was seen as the greater threat but Te Kooti’s massacres in Poverty Bay excited the most horror and fear.

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	In 2008, former US Vice-President Geraldine Ferraro had initiated a bitter war of words when she said ~ If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept. Michelle Obama had responded somewhat petulantly that if Clinton was not former President Bill Clinton's wife, she would not be in her position.

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