Constitutional Crisis

The state of TIAH

March 22nd, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: I promised you a collection, and we are working on it – but real life is getting in the way. Fortunately, the worst part of the real-life problems we were having has been resolved. I have found new employment (yay!). We're going to aim for an April release for the collection, and will make more announcements about it as we draw closer to actually making that a reality. And, speaking of April, our Guest Historian, Stephen Payne, suggested that it was time for a contest, so we're going to have an April Fool's Day Contest! Email us up to 3 entries for an alternate April 1st and we will post the best 10, with your own credit and link to your website (if you have one). My lovely Co-Historian says that if we can get 30 entrants, we can offer an ultimate winner a complimentary TIAH mug, but we only have 3 entrants so far! Get researching those alternate histories now, folks! The deadline is March 29th.

in 1956, television writer and archivist Peggy Dale Taylor is born in Bryan, Texas. In addition to her freelance work on several television series, she is best-known for her complete histories of Starsky & Hutch, T.J. Hooker and Star Trek. She is a fixture at many fan conventions around the southwest and is often used as a fan liaison by the television networks.

in 1972, after the overwhelming passage of the Equal Rights Amendment by the US Congress, feminists across the country gear up for the state-by-state ratification process. Their years of preparation for this process pay off as 37 states immediately place the amendment on their legislative dockets. In 1973, after much spirited debate, Tennessee becomes the 38th state to take up the ERA, and ratification by the state places protection for both genders into the constitution.

in 2007, President George Bush instructs his staff to disregard the subpoenas to appear before Congress to explain their actions in a growing number of scandals. Even his fellow Republicans are upset with him over this, but they don't see how far he is willing to go. When Attorney General Alberto Gonzales essentially refuses to enforce a subpoena on himself, Congress turns to their Sergeant-at-Arms. Former Secret Service agent Bill Livingood makes contact with his old colleagues before heading over to the White House, and is told that the SS men around the Bush administration will probably not let him take anyone into custody. He attempts to execute the subpoenas anyway, and is thrown out of the White House and roughed up. This insult outrages the vast majority of Congressmen, and the House takes up impeachment proceedings against Gonzales. With virtually no friends on either side of the aisle, Gonzales is impeached and ordered removed from office within the week. However, President Bush refuses to acknowledge the Congress' power to impeach his attorney general. “We're at war, and I'm the commander-in-chief,” he says to a group of reporters coming to see Gonzales' expected exit. “In order to preserve our national security, I need the best team possible around me, and Attorney General Gonzales is part of that team. He's not goin' anywhere.” When Vice President Cheney attends his usual meeting with Republicans in the Senate the next day, he is given an earful by Senators who are unhappy with being ignored. Several of them are also somewhat fearful of their election chances – their party's standing at a 21% approval rate, and Bush himself is down to 12%. Rather unhelpfully, he tells them to “Grow a pair,” and storms off. House Speaker Pelosi calls for articles of impeachment against the Vice President and President, which Bush goes on national television to denounce. A firestorm of protest swirls around the capitol, the majority of which is very pro-impeachment. The House passes the articles, and the Senate trial is merely a matter of formality – the vote against Cheney is 90-9, and the vote to remove Bush is 71-28, with Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota unable to attend the vote. Speaker Pelosi takes the presidential oath of office and heads a large delegation of Congressmen and protesters to the White House. The Pentagon, contacted by Bush, refuses to send soldiers to his aid, and most of the Secret Service goes over to Pelosi when she enters the White House. Cheney flees the country, flying in his personal jet to the new Halliburton headquarters in Dubai. A significant minority of the population continues to support Bush, and he escapes Washington to their warm embrace in the western US. For years afterward, the Bushistas, as they become known, agitate for separation from the larger country around them. When the former president dies in 2014, their numbers fade to nothing and one of the nation's darkest chapters is brought to a close.

Memorial	In 1621 with the pilots suffering from the melancholy of exclusion emanating from First Nation group consciousness, the Mayflower and Speedwell ..
.. run aground as the Pilgrims fail to establish Plymouth Colony. A peace treaty is signed with Massasoit of the Wampanoags. In return for repairs to the Mayflower and Speedwell, the survivors agree to peacefully return to Southampton, where a memorial was built to their failed mission.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1979 Margaret Thatcher put down an Early Day Motion censuring the British government, which led to the defeat of the Labour administration of James Callaghan. Now she could implement the program of change the establishment had planned since the mid-1960s. It would not after all be necessary to install a military government ..	Louis Mountbatt..
.. headed by an Interim Prime Minister such as Lord Louis Mountbatten. A shopkeeper's daughter, she told Mountbatten, what mattered was the business of the shop, not the dressing in the window.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Comet Hale-Bopp	In 1997 the comet Hale-Bopp had its closest approach to earth and was notable for inciting a degree of panic about comets not seen for decades. In November 1996, amateur astronomer Chuck Shramek of Houston, Texas took a CCD image of the comet, which showed a fuzzy, slightly elongated object nearby. When his computer sky-viewing ..
.. program did not identify the star, Shramek called the Art Bell radio program to announce that he had discovered a 'Saturn-like object' following Hale-Bopp. UFO enthusiasts, such as remote viewing proponent Courtney Brown, soon concluded that there was an alien spacecraft following the comet. Rumours that the comet was being followed by an alien spacecraft gained remarkable currency, and inspired a mass suicide among followers of the Heaven's Gate cult. They were right to worry.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1965 Bob Dylan 'goes electric,' releasing his first album featuring electric instruments, Bringing It All Back Home. He was electrocuted before the recording was completed.	Bob Dylan
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Confrontation

	In 2001, from a discrete distance eighty-one year old Donald Campbell watched divers raising the wreck of his boat, Bluebird, from the bottom of Coniston Water in Cumbria. The boat had lain there since the accident in 1967 which almost killed Campbell, 46, as he attempted to break the world water speed record. It somersaulted repeatedly before crashing and sinking. Campbell's body was never found and no remains have been discovered in the wreckage.

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In 1905, after the Battle of Mukden Aleksandr Vassilievich Samsonov accused General Paul von Rennenkampf of failing to assist him during the fighting and the two came to blows.

Bitterness persisted between the pair until 1914 when they were given the joint command of the for the invasion of East Prussia. A fresh fight before the Battle of Tannenberg cost Tsarist Russia the campaign. The Russian First Army retreated in disarray into Willenberg, and the Second Army was completely destroyed. Over sixty German trains were required to transport the prisoners of war back into Imperial Germany.

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In 2006, former British Minister of War John 'Jack' Profumo died in disgrace in South Africa surpassing even Philby and Maclean in traitorous infamy. In January 1961 at a party thrown by Viscount Astor at his home in Cliveden, Profumo met Christine Keeler, a call girl with whom he had an affair. Keeler was also involved with Yevgeny Ivanov, the senior naval attache at the Soviet Embassy. Red Jack fled the country during 1963 shortly before the Profumo Affair hit the headlines. It emerged that the Profumo-Keeler-Ivanov channel had been used to transfer vital information that had resulted in the American defeat during Cuban Missiles Crisis the previous year.

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	In 1945, American B-29 bombers attacked Tokyo, Japan with incendiary bombs. The resulting fire storm killed over 100,000 people and Japan's leaders (gozenkaigi) decided, in principle, to accept the uncompromising terms the Allies had set down for ending the war in the Potsdam Declaration. However it was only after several more days of behind-the-scenes negotiations and a failed coup attempt that Emperor Hirohito gave a radio address to the nation, the Imperial Rescript on Surrender, announcing the acceptance on March 15. The day is commemorated as Victory over Japan Day in the U.S. and Shusen-kinenbi (memorial day for the end of the war) in Japan.

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Air Pirate McCain	In 2008, Jay Leno interviewed Admiral John Sidney McCain III (retd.) on the Tonight Show. Twenty-four hours before, the retired Admiral had ended his second bid for the White House. Seventy-one years old, McCain also took the opportunity to announce his retirement from politics at the expiry of his senatorial term in Arizona. Straight-talking as always, McCain admitted that yes his support for the current administration had positioned his candidacy as Bush's third term.
Truc Bach Lake

Worse, his pro-war stance had alienated younger voters. Justifying the War was a hard sell on young Americans who had not seen service in the defence of democracy, or whose families were not steeped in military tradition. Perhaps in time these young people would see that the loss of Vietnam would have been an unimaginable defeat for America. President Goldwater was fully justified in introducing nuclear weapons into the theatre. McCain believed that as much today, as he did when he was shot down on October 27, 1967, returning to the USS Forrester having dropped the big one on Hanoi.

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	While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: 'The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.' Going at once to the infernal one, Judas said, 'Greetings, Antichrist!' and kissed him. Damien replied, 'Friend, do what you came for.'

Then the men stepped forward, seized Damien and arrested him. With that, one of Damien's companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. 'Put your sword back in its place, Damien said to him. 'Its as old as Jerusalem,' Damien said, 'Hang the body of your enemy or betrayer upside down so his head faces earth instead of heaven.' ~ Grand Grimoir, Matthew Chapter 47.

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In 2008, Chief Information Officer of Pappy's Barbeque Texas Chicken, David E. McGeek sent a status to the executive board. The enterprise resource planning system was down. Executive Systems Manager Ron Booger was working closely with Macrosoft, the author of the Great Plane software platform. It appeared that during a semi-colon had entered the XML File holding the Bill of Materials. Now all the lard-based receipes were corrupt.

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In 2008, Buford T. Rogerson III received a prod on Farcebook from Pappy's Texas Barbeque Chicken - would sir be joining them for a superlardo smiley meal this evening? The inquiry was to assist Chef in planning chip tonnage because the enterprise resource planning system was still down.

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In 2008, Kevin Rose' two hundred million dollar web site was destroyed by a recursive programming error when a damn fool user dugg the digg home page.

In 1967, Svetlana Stalin daughter of the Soviet dictator, requested asylum at the United States Embassy in India. Svetlana was the only daughter of Joseph Stalin by his second wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva who committed suicide in 1932 when Svetlana was nine years old. Svetlana confirmed the reports circulating in the West, that Alliluyeva had discovered that Lenin was a shape-shifting Vampire. A number of strokes in the 1920s forced the undead nosferatu to possess the body of Comrade Stalin to permit him to continue his misrule. He had even maintained his corpse in a Kremlin mausoleum just in case a Dracula style exit was necessary.

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	In 2008, Russian President Vladimir faced intense criticism in the World Press. On November 26, 2007, Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov was quoted by Interfax news agency, saying that the fact that the election day had been set to March 2, 2008, allowiing Putin, who is required by term limits to leave office when his second term ends in May 2008, the option of resigning early and then running again.

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	In 1972, a bomb exploded aboard a Trans World Airlines Boeing 707 at Las Vegas airport. No-one was injured in the blast which destroyed the cockpit of the aircraft as it stood empty on the tarmac. The explosion happened hours after an anonymous phone caller threatened TWA with a series of bomb attacks unless 760,000 pounds were handed over. The caller instructed airport officials at the Benedict Arnold Airport in New York to go to a locker where they found a note, which said there would be explosions at six hourly intervals on four of the company's aircraft.

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