Monkeys

July 8th, 2007

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The Announcement

Andrea was roused from her work by Monica leaning her head into the room and knocking on the wall. “Grandpa says to come on over for the cookout.”
Andrea looked at the clock on her computer. “God, it's that late already?”
“I'm just gonna pack up my pie, and I'll be ready in a couple minutes.”
“Ok, just give me a few minutes here, then I'll be out.”
Monica shook her head. “Don't zone out again. I wanna get to the cookout while there's still somethin' to eat.”
“You can always have your pie.”
“Ha, ha.”
Monica retreated to take of her offering to the cookout, and Andrea tried to wrap up her thoughts enough to where she could come back and pick it up. She was fine with public speaking as long as she had plenty of time to prepare, but the holiday was cutting out part of her prep time, and she felt a little rushed. When Monica returned to tap impatiently at the door again, Andrea saved where she was at and shut down the computer. “Ok, ok, here we go.” She looked down at her night clothes and said, “Maybe I should put on something else.”
“You think?”
Andrea pushed Monica out of the way and ran to her bedroom closet for some shorts and a T-shirt. She threw them on quickly, then hopped into a pair of flip-flops and ran out to the garage, where Monica was already packing her pie carefully in the back seat. “Do you want to put a seat belt on it, too?” Monica stuck her tongue out at her mother and sat down in the front seat. Andrea got behind the wheel, they both fastened their seat belts, and then she opened the garage door. Sunlight streamed in, momentarily blinding them both. “Wow. At least there's no rain.” Andrea started the car up and pulled out onto the driveway.
The news van that had taken up residence across the street fired up its engine as soon as the driver saw them pull out of the garage and prepared to follow. “Look pretty for the paparazzi, mom,” Monica said, flashing a lovely smile at the van and waving.
“Why do I think this all so much more fun for you than it is for me?”
“Because it is.”

	In 1987, tension eased considerably between the troubled members of the Prog band Marillion at the Westside Studios in London. The recording of their fourth and best to date album Clutching at Straws had shed some of its predecessor's pop stylings.
Also it had retreated into a darker exploration of excess, alcoholism, and life in hotels, representing the strains of constant touring that threatened to result in the imminent departure of lead singer and lyricist Fish (real name Derek William Dick) to pursue a solo career. However self-exploration produced an unexpectedly carthatic effect upon Fish, enabling him to reconnect with Steve Rother, Pete Trewavas, Mark Kelly and Ian Mosley. Surely this was a great triumph for fans everyone including members of the Web.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1999, the networks ran instalment nine of TSEotTC. Shortly after appointment, Viceroy Lord Louis Mountbatten tells British Prime Minister the Raj is finished. Nonsense said Churchill, he had not become the King's First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire. The author Adrienne Gormley was also interviewed on the show, talking about her great work of journalism Children of Tears. She said that Mountbatten was mistaken, he should have known that Churchill meant it when he said he would not preside over the end of the British Empire.

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

In 1965, in Gold Star Studios, New York City the recording of River Deep - Mountain High was cancelled following an argument between Ike Turner and Phil Spector. Feeling threatended by his wife's success, Ike had made a number of unhelpful suggestions to Spector who had retorted "Oh, man, I came here from California to make hits." Ike did not need a translator to realise that he was being told to "Shut up and get out of my face."

~ entry from Steve Payne: the language of the quotation has been moderated.

In 2010, an earthquake struck Alaska and the US military observed the ground rumbling at HARC. Eyes turned to General Ben Crewe, and these were now of suspicion and blame rather than the congratulatory glances that followed the destruction of the small pox virus weapons launched by the rogue North Korean leadership. General Crewe glanced at his watch 22:20:03. A desert of blankness overtook him. His watch read 22:20:10. Three balls were spread out at his feet. He could not recall seeing who had dropped the balls or when they had rolled. Crewe realised he had just lost seven seconds during the the Aftershock.

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

In 1965, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill died in Spandau Prison, Germany. Word of his demise reached the Fuerher in Bechtesgarden that evening. Terminally ill himself, Hitler outlived Churchill by five weeks, describing him as a "remarkable adversary" and a "remarkable drain on the Reich Treasury" in reference to the extravagant quantities of alcohol and cigars consumed by the Old Lion in his Prison Cell.

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

In 1977, Sex Pistols' manager Malcolm McLaren fired bassist Sid Vicious. Glen Matlock who had left in February was reinstated. Writing thirty years later Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day sympathised with McLaren's dilemma. "It wasn't necessarily a mistake to replace Glen Matlock with Sid Vicious. Matlock was cool, but Sid was everything that's cool about punk rock: a skinny rocker who had a ton of attitude, sort of an Elvis, James Dean kind of guy. That said, there's nothing romantic about being addicted to heroin. He was capable of playing his instrument, but he was too messed up to do it."

~ entry from Co-Historian Steve Payne: language of the original quotation has been moderated.

De Valera	In 1942, on the Irish Isles reports from subversive underground newspapers in Southern England fuel the Troubles with the Dublin Government. 32nd US President Winston Churchill was reported to mutter Something must be done . Taoiseach Éamon de Valera responded with absolute fury. Collecting himself nonetheless, De ..
.. Valera spoke truly when he said The English must now move forward from 1533 and stop arguing about the past. A truthful, but perhaps unhelpful reference to Henry VIII precipitous action to launch the Reformation, the event which triggered the collapse of English power.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1974, Richard Condon published Winter Kills, a counter-comedy exploring a fictional presidential assassination and the various conspiracy theories that surround the event. Before the plot begins, U.S. President John F. Kennedy is shot in Dealey Plaza, Dallas. The ensuing presidential commission condemns a lone gunman ..	Winter Kills
.. as the killer. The film starts years later, when Kennedy's brother, Teddy, witnesses the death-bed confession of a man claiming to have been part of the 'hit squad'. As the protagonist attempts to find the plotter(s), he encounters numerous groups and persons that could have led or been part of the conspiracy. One person is Judith Campbell Exner, mob a hostess, lobbyist and fixer. She recounts the story of President Kennedy asking her about appointing a member of organized crime to the Court of St. James. The character is Dallas night club owner Jack Ruby. Condon's book describes the numerous intertwined threads of the conspiracy, from the Mafia, Cuba, even possible domestic police connections. Only in the final act, in which Teddy meets with his vicious and perverse Joseph P. Kennedy 'father-figure', is the truth revealed with a twisted ending.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

The Man in the ..	In 1932, as the Financial Crises in America deepened, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell below its lowest level of the Great Depression, 41.22. Teetering on the verge of national bankruptcy, the United States was simply unable to finance effective defences for its overextended continental territories. Philip K Dick examined ..
.. the eventual defeat of the United States, and the partition of the continent by Germany and Japan in his counter-factual novel Man in the High Castle. The novel is set in the former United States, in 1962, fifteen years after the Axis Powers defeated the Allies in World War II and the U.S. surrendered to Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. Several characters in The Man in the High Castle read a popular novel called The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, a novel within a novel. The author, Hawthorne Abendsen, describes an alternate history in which the Axis Powers lost the war. The novel portrays a third scenario which is banned in areas under German occupation, but its publication is legal in the areas under Japanese occupation.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1975, as Arthur Ashe celebrated the achievement of becoming the first black man to win the Wimbledon singles title, a species threatening catastrophe unfolded in America. Twenty fifth century scientists were to discover that AIDS did not after all originate from a monkey bite in Africa. AIDS was manufactured by Japanese ..	Monkey Bite
.. General Otozoo Yamada's Bacteriological weapons research in Unit 731. Experimental substances were handed to General Douglas MacArthur in 1945 and used for military research, accidentally released in 1975 due to poor security at a US military base.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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A Reunion

August 23rd, 2007

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The Announcement

Don't forget - Birthday Contest for Steve – November 22, 1967. Send in an alternate birthday for him for us to post!

I went over to the alcove where she kept her holo equipment and plugged myself in. A woman's face appeared in front of me and asked, "Thank you for using TT of A. What number would you like to dial?"

"I'm not quite sure of the number. The name is Rosanto, Emilia Rosanto, and she lives on Set Lane in Thesylonica."

"Thank you. Hold for your call please." The woman's face was replaced with an image of a bell ringing gently every couple of seconds. After seven rings, Emilia's face popped up in front of me, her eyes bleary from lack of sleep. Since this was her normal state, I didn't think anything of it.

She grew immediately animated at seeing me. "Gabe! Oh my gods, it's so good to see you! You've got to come over, right away. Where are you?"

"I'm at Willie's. I wanted to get everybody together, see if we could maybe take a little trip out for a while. My last partner just found his paradise."

Emilia laughed and shook her head. "Everybody but you, huh, Gabe?" Her softly dark Mediterranean features were everything I've ever dreamed of in a woman, but Emilia refused to come with me to the Porno Universe. Some people just don't know what's good in life. "What was it this time? Gold raining from the sky? The hunter-gatherer world?"

"No, nothing so pleasant. Did you ever meet Patrice?" She shook her head. "He wanted the African world, where Europeans were slaves. I helped him make the European slaves realize that their condition was the will of God."

"So, you're feeling a bit slimy at the moment, is that it?"

"Basically."

"You poor thing." Her hand reached out and stroked me. I felt nothing, of course, but it was a nice gesture, nonetheless. "You want to come over? I have a guy here, but he's the understanding type." She winked at me. "A candidate for your dream world."

"You know I'd never refuse an offer like that, honey, but I need to call up the others. Are Sylvan and Moshe still living in Babylonia?"

"Well, Moshe is. Sylvan got carted off by a UFO almost three months ago."

"Damn it!" Sylvan and I had gone to grade school together. He was always one step ahead of the saucers. Until now, of course. "We're going to have to do something about the UFO's someday, Emilia."

"When you figure out what, you let me know, OK? Dartha and Inikia are here in Thesylonica, and I think Karlus moved to Roma, but I'm not sure. I don't think he's up to any more planewalking, though. You remember what happened last time?"

"It was just a small curse, and it stopped working once we got back to our home plane."

"The clap is hardly a small curse, Gabriel. Poor Karlus had to wear a diaper everywhere." She counted us on her fingers. "I think that's everybody. Two boys and three women - you'll practically be in your paradise, Gabe."

"If only. Can you let Dartha and Inikia know? I'll talk to Moshe and try to get hold of Karlus."

"He won't come. Trust me on this, Gabe. The man dripped for three weeks, he hates your guts."

"I'm very persuasive when I set my mind to it, Emi." I gave her my best evil smile. "And, if that doesn't do it, hypnosis works wonders."

"Some archangel you are. When and where?"

"Tomorrow night, and here at Willie's, I think. If she doesn't agree, I'll let everybody know, and we'll find someplace." I took a long look at her tantalizingly lovely features, framed by the black silk of her hair, and sighed. "It's been way too long, Emi."

"I'll get there a little early for the reunion." She blew a kiss at me. "See you tomorrow, love." Her face folded in on itself, and I was left alone with my fantasies.

I got hold of Moshe, but Karlus was simply not reachable. I guess the clap was a little more serious than I thought it had been. After hanging up on the third number suggested for a Karlus Maurelius in Roma, I gave up and went down to Willie's basement.

She was examining a huge painting, one that covered an entire wall, and whose subject reminded me of some of the more ambitious Italian works of the old masters. An alien was coming down from the clouds, bearing a chain in one hand and a UFO in the other. Various Asian figures were gathered about it, some in fear, others up in arms, but most bowing down to worship at the feet of the huge Arythiok. It was quite compelling. "Is this the new artist?"

"It's not his best, but it's certainly his most impressive. The subject matter is rather cliché, but the style makes up for it." She led me over to smaller, more unique pieces. "These present his talent much better." There were several statues scattered among a few framed works, and even a hologram. "Did you contact your friends?"

"Most of them. One of them was abducted, as you feared."

She shook her head in commiseration. "It is regrettable what some of my people do."

I stood between her and a spectacularly overdone wall-hanging. "Are you ever going to tell me why they take us?"

Her eyes became almond jades of embarrassment again. "Perhaps some day. But, I don't believe you're ready."

"You people always say something like that. You just don't want to tell me."

"That could be true, as well."

"You know, you could tell me anything. If you used to do it, you could tell me that. If you still do it, you could tell me. There's very little I haven't imagined as your answer to that question."

She fidgeted, and pointed at the hologram. "This piece represents Buddha under his tree, stylized into a technological image of a double helix. The displacement of the tree by a modern image creates a similar feeling of displacement in the viewer, don't you think?"

"All right, you don't have to answer me. You can stop being all uncomfortable now."

"Thank you." She brightened up right away.

"I needed to ask you if I could use your house to meet them all tomorrow night. Is that all right with you?"

"Of course." Her pensive look came back. "If I did tell you that I was one of the kidnappers, would that make a difference between us?"

"No."

"You answered that quickly."

I shrugged. "It's something I've been thinking about for a long time. It was the first thing that went through my mind when you wouldn't answer my questions." She smiled. "Are you going to answer them now?"

"No, but I think I'll have to soon. A pity. The mystery has been such an exciting part of our relationship."

"Naturally." I took her arm and led her over to some of the more esoteric offerings of her collection. "But, once we really know each other, don't you think that'll deepen our feelings for each other?"

"There is always that hope." She took a small statuette and handed it to me. "This was meant to be handled. Feel the astounding number of textures the artist has managed to place in a single piece? That's an Arythiok technique. Layer upon layer, appearing similar with one sense, showing an amazing complexity when experienced with another."

"That's an Arythiok technique, all right." She poked me, and I nearly dropped the statuette. "Careful, now. We don't want to add any more textures to this thing."

I put the statuette back in its place and we looked at the rest of the collection in silence. Willie's an impressive connoisseur, but art only captures me for so long, and then I go into sensory overload. Still, when you're a guest, it's best to play the appreciative ascetic when your host is. After the tour, she took me upstairs and offered me her bath.

"Am I that offensive?"

She turned black again. "No, no, I just thought that you might want to freshen up before dinner."

I sniffed at myself and agreed with her. "I'll just do that, then." I bathed slowly and luxuriously, enjoying it all. Willie has the most wonderful bubble bath you could ever hope to find. One of the fringe benefits of being a planewalker is finding all the places that are the best of everything.

"When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, 'Give me children, or I'll die!' Jacob became angry with her and said, 'Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?'

Aunt Lydia	"Then she said, 'Here is Bilhah, my maidservant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and that through her I too can build a family.' " ~ Rachel, wife of Jacob Genesis 30:1-3
Handmaid

The sons of Jacob suspended the US Constitution and replaced Massachusetts with the theocratic Republic of Gilead. The birth rate had fallen alarmingly and radical measures had to be taken to rectify the situation. The full article is available at Manitoba University

~ quotation from Margaret Atwood: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 1945, General-san Douglas MacArthur declined a reactivation order from US President Harry Truman who promptly fired him. Actually MacArthur had no ambition to receive the Japanese defeat. His Filipinos harriers were busy installing a rogue state in the Philippines, after all why else write the enigmatic message I will return?

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

In 1956, Izear Luster "Ike" Turner, Jr moved the Kings of Rhythm to East St. Louis where he met teenage, gospel-trained singer from Nutbush, TN, named Anna Mae Bullock, and promised her a chance to sing with his band.

Ike Turner Revue	That chance kept failing to materialize, until one night Bullock simply grabbed the microphone and started belting. Turner made her a part of his revue, changing her name to Tina. Ike had other plans for Tina – he wanted to control her free spirit. Predictably, after Tina became pregnant by the band's saxophonist, Raymond Hill her prospects receded sharply.
A second and final chance appeared - and then disappeared. In late 1959, Turner's band entered the studio to cut a song called "A Fool in Love" for the Sue Records label. The scheduled male vocalist was running late. Tina was about to be pressed into service by Ike, who thought the vocalist had failed to show up for the session - when he suddenly appeared, full of apologies.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Tony Blair	"I am a modern man. I am part of the rock and roll generation—the Beatles, colour TV, that’s the generation I come from." ~ Tony Blair Pre-election speech at Stevenage, 22 April 1997
Bliar

Demonstrating he was living in a time warp by describing the modern world in terms of symbols from thirty years before.

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

She stared at him, He stared at her. No one said anything for ages. The clock ticked. Outside a large ship honked. No one said anything for ages. She stared at him. He stared at her. The tension at the whaleing station was palpable. "Sardines on toast anyone?" said Father at last. And so it goes.

~ from Sardine-House-Five, a thrilling new pschyo novel by Kod Vongutfish

In 2002, in RM Muleuch's Twelve Legions of Angels Air Marshall Hugh Dowding returns to 1940. Without the distraction of his loving family he will make a success of Big Wing and win the Battle of Britain. He will delay German invasion until the autumn when the English Channel would be too hostile for the Kriegsmarine's landing craft. Trouble is the ghost of Keith Park dispatched Dowding to a 1940 that really needs him. The rescue flotilla heading towards Dunkirk has been decimated by Stuka Dive bombers. Dowding somehow must buy the Royal Navy another two weeks whilst the British Expeditionary Force fights for its life against the Wehrmacht.

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

In 1914, the British Army begins withdrawal from the Battle of Mons. It was in the period of this hectic retreat, when the British troops would have been so vulnerable to a pursuing enemy, that something extraordinary occurred. British troops claimed that they had seen an apparition in the sky of three angelic figures who appeared to ward off the attacks of the enemy. The retreat was successfully accomplished and the British troops lived to fight another day. The story of the Angel at Mons spread like wildfire through Britain. It became the subject of many articles and even artistic productions. After the war, Harold Begbie published a book on the phenomenon, On the Side of the Angels, in which he quoted some who had witnessed the apparition first-hand. One lance-corporal recalled: '"I could see quite plainly in mid-air a strange light which seemed to be quite distinctly outlined and was not a reflection of the moon, nor were there any clouds in the neighbourhood. The light became brighter and I could see quite distinctly three shapes, one in the centre having what looked like outspread wings, the other two were not so large, but were quite plainly distinct from the centre one. They appeared to have a long loose-hanging garment of a golden tint they were above the German line facing us." The Angel of Mons was in fact the entity known as Aiwass, summoned by Aleister Crowley at the request of a desperate British Government.

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

1973, seven years as Simon Templar earned Greatest living Englishman Roger Moore enough popularity (and credibility) among fans of detective fiction to earn him the role James Bond despite the inevitable comparisons to Sean Connery. Due to redrafting errors at the contract office at Eon Productions, Moore was offered a contract for life. His latest movie, Golden Years features a dramatic hand of the card game patience with "Jaws" at the Moonbase. Wikipedia reports - "The satire show Spitting Image once had a sketch in which their latex likeness of Moore, when asked to display emotions by an offscreen director, does nothing but raise an eyebrow. Moore himself has stated that he thought the sketch was funny, and took it in good humour. That series later featured a Bond movie spoof, The Man With The Wooden Delivery, with Moore's puppet receiving orders from Margaret Thatcher to kill Mikhail Gorbachev, and many other comedy shows of that time ridiculed Moore's acting, Rory Bremner once claiming to have had a death threat from an irate fan of Moore's, following one such routine. "

~ entry by Co-Historian Steve Payne

Castle Bonny	In 1943, movie critics give a varied response to Castle Bonny which premièred four days before on Broadway. The film was directed by Michael Curtiz, and starred Cary Grant as Dick Blaine and Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund.
The rekindled romance between Blaine and Lund was set during Great War II in the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt, off the Bight of Bonny – then controlled by the Nazi Protectorate of Britain. Rudy Behlmer emphasises the variety in the picture: "it’s a blend of drama, melodrama, comedy [and] intrigue". The other characters, in Rudy Behlmer's words, are "not cut and dried": they come into their goodness in the course of the film. Ronald begins the film as a collaborator with the Nazis, who extorts sexual favours from refugees and has Ugarte killed. Dick, according to Behlmer, is "not a hero, ... not a bad guy": he does what is necessary to get along with the authorities and "sticks his neck out for nobody". Even Ilsa, the least active of the main characters, is "caught in the emotional struggle" over which man she really loves. By the end of the film, however, "everybody is sacrificing".
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 2127, Mullah Elijah Rafsanjani returns from a truth and reconciliation visit to the eastern seaboard of Turtle Island that being the continent renamed after the Italian merchant Amerigo Vespucci during the western epoch c1492 to 2081.	Brent
As part of his Peace and Brotherhood jihad he has embarked on a fact-finding mission by visiting the centres of the fallen Western Civilisation. On-board his light aircraft is a Eurasian stowaway, Brent. The plan that Brent has hatched is straight out of Rafsanjani's book, not that he would appreciate it himself.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Chiang Kai-Shek	In 1839, the United Kingdom captured Hong Kong as a base as it prepared to war with Qing China during the First Opium War. Just over one hundred years later, Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai Shek sought refuge in the Colony. Having arrived with the entire gold and foreign currency reserves of China, he joined British imperialists ..
.. in building a thumb-your-nose at Communism show case in the middle of Guangdong Province. Just as a small impurity can cause great stomach upset, Hong Kong created greater and greater problems for the Chinese Communist Party until it collapsed entirely in 1967. Thereupon the Kuomintang returned to Beijing, and set about building an even more powerful city than Hong Kong, a mission that was completed by the end of the century.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1952, on this day the charter of the Arab League went into effect. Head quartered in Cairo, Egypt, the League's charter states that the League shall co-ordinate economic affairs, including commercial relations; communications; cultural affairs; nationality, passports, ..	Anthony Eden
.. and visas; social affairs; and health affairs. This predecessor organisation to Nasser's United Arab Republic (UAR) greatly alarmed governments in London and Paris. Four years later, led by British Prime Minister Anthony Eden, Anglo-France forces joined with Israel to strike the Suez Canal Zone, being forced to back down by President Eisenhower. Following the enlargement of the UAR to Saudi Arabia in 1980, official biographer Robert Rhodes asked, "who can now claim that Eden was wrong?"
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Raven

Hari Seldon	In 926 Foundation Era, on the Planet Terminus, a vault opened and Hari Seldon emerged. This time, in flesh and blood, not the holograms of the previous eight crises. His prediction of the eventual fall of the Galactic Empire, and the apocalyptic predictions around that event, was the reason behind his nickname 'Raven' Seldon. By 20,069 Galactic Era, Seldon had decided that his initial plan was insufficient. He required a panic button.
Psychohistorian

Biographer Gaal Dornick reported that 'had been working up until his last moments on psychohistorical equations; his activated Prinie Radiant was discovered clutched in hand. According to Seldon’s instructions, the instrument was shipped by his colleague Gaal Dornick who had recently emigrated to Terminus.' This was a lie, Gaal Dornick brought Hari Seldon's cryogenically frozen body to the periphery of the galaxy, to be activated by the Prinie Radiant nine hundred thirty years later.

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In 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower addressed the nation for the last time in office, issuing a strange warning.

'We face a hostile ideology [communism] global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose and insidious in method ... [warning about what he saw as unjustified government spending proposals] [that] we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by [Ike leans forward for emphasis] the congressional military industrial complex... Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.'

Richard M Nixon was seething with angry. Not only had Ike failed to back him during the campaign, not his former boss was trying toreally spoil things for him.

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In 1596, there were so many black people in England that Queen Elizabeth I demanded that they be expelled from the country. An edict from the Queen, at first it brought no action. However it was then followed up by a Royal Proclamation, issued in 1601.

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In 1776, the defeated General George Washington is astonished by the generous final settlement terms being offered to from King George IV at Buckingham Place. Prepared for the humiliation of crushing terms for the vanquished republicans in the Colonies, rather King George IV proposes a genuine partnership for Anglo-America based on local representation and self-governing taxation. 'No victors, no vanquished' chips in his shadowy adviser Ernest Shackleton by way of explanation.

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In 1819, Simón Bolívar proclaims the Republic of Baja California, the predecessor nation to a twenty-first century mega state on the west coast. Today Spanish speaking citizens enjoy the world's highest per capita income and literacy rates.

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In 1942, Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. Was born in Louisville, Kentucky on this day. Aged just eighteen, Clay, Jr. won the Gold Medal at the Rome Olympics. Four years later Clay beat Sonny Liston to take the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship. Clay had driven to Sonny's home in Denver at one o'clock in the morning, shouted for Sonny to come out and fight him on the spot, and set up a huge bear trap on the lawn. On March 6 influenced by Malcolm X, Clay changed his name to Muhammed Ali, joined the Nation of Islam and retired from boxing to concentrate on the greater fights that lay ahead for the African American people. His baiting of President Lyndon Baines Johnson from the White House lawn was considered the key to Washington's decision to withdraw from Vietnam in 1967, it was just so annoying. Just like Arthur Ashe, draconian measures would be taken by the Division to prevent Clay giving the game away. He really had the establishment on the ropes.

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In 2232 AUC, the Empire of Mali in Africa declared war on its northern neighbors of Rome. The Republic had been encroaching on Malian territory for decades, and the settlement of a small town on Mali’s eastern border by Romans was the final straw. The war between Mali and Rome lasted almost seventeen years, and killed millions in Africa and Europe.

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In 1775, following the example begun by the witch-hunters of Salem, Polish Christians burn 9 women at the stake in Kalisk. The witch-hunter movement reaches its peak in the 19th century as countries that were simply full of witches were taken over by Christians and put to the torch.

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In 1860, Russian playwright Anton Chekhov was born in Taganrog, on the Sea of Azov. His comedies of manner helped the noble class in Imperial Russia forget the troubles of the day like the crushing poverty of the serfs and the communist agitation of the Americans. His last play, Good Comrade Wilson, was a skewering indictment of the communist system as practiced by America.

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In 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower addresses the nation for the last time in office. While his speech begins with time-worn platitudes, he then veers into conspiracy theory, warning Americans of the Military-Industrial Complex and the consequences of its takeover of the country. Just before he starts naming names, though, he suddenly clutches his chest and falls over dead from a heart attack. Most politicians attributed Ike’s remarks to delirium brought on by the heart attack he was obviously suffering from as he began his speech.

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In 1971, British spaceflight Commander's wife Mrs Bert Smith confessed to her sister Betty that she wasn’t sure her Bert would be back tomorrow despite her optimistic statement to reporters. The ill-fated Apollo 13 mission had been too much trouble, it really had.

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Kennedys	A Review of PBS' 'The American Experience: Bobby & Teddy' ~ Tonight, PBS airs the third part of its five-part series on the Kennedy brothers, Bobby and Teddy, and the way they shaped the life of a generation--the tumultuous times that brought President Kennedy to the Oval Office continue to reverberate down to the 2008 election. The first two episodes focused primarily on the family life of the Kennedys, one of the wealthiest and most storied political families in American history.

The first episode was a masterwork on the emergence of ethnic politics in the early part of the last century, and the rise of the Irish Catholics in Boston, from 'Honey' Fitz to James Curley to Joe Kennedy Sr.'s storied career, culminating in his time serving as the American Ambassador to the Court of Saint James. The second episode took up the experience of the family during the Second World War. Like any American family, it was marked with tragedy and triumph, the deaths of Joe Jr. and John leaving indelible mark on Bobby and Teddy, the family's youngest sons, as well as their sisters Eunice and Patricia. The death of their brothers forced father's vast political ambitions to include his daughters, a move some Kennedy biographers have described as proto-feminism; others, noting Joe Sr's ambition, suggest that the post war era leading up to Pat running Bobby's Congressional campaign, and later, her own Senatorial run in California, were just another form of Ma Fergusonism, a way to expand the Kennedy family sweep throughout the country. The third episode ended on a high note, with Bobby becoming Governor of Massachusetts as Teddy took over his Congressional seat. Nonetheless, the looming shadows of the Nixon Administration were problematic--the simmering crises across the globe, from the wars in Cuba and Vietnam, to flashpoints like Czechoslovakia, and the Civil Rights Movement. Though as Governor, there was relatively little that Bobby could do, in the lead up to his election, the third episode noted his reaction to the attacks on Freedom Riders and muted disgust at Nixon's refusal to meet with the leaders of the Civil Rights' Movement during the March on Washington--an action that galvanized Bobby's idealism, while Patricia saw an opportunity to capture the black vote and propel Bobby to the White House at the end of Nixon's second term in 1968. Tonight's episode promises new revelations regarding the conduct of both the Kennedys and Nixon during the 1968 election. Numerous books have been written alleging dirty tricks on both sides--Patricia mobilized the ethnic machines to their fullest, as well as achieving a mass registration drive of black voters--while Nixon, in full flights of paranoid fantasy, hoped to use the power of the federal government to smash 'that damned Catholic choir boy.' The final two episodes will focus on the first and second terms of the Kennedy Administration, with a wildly expanded access to documents, staffers, and family members to create an in-depth psychological profile of the President, his Attorney General, and the Supreme Court Justices he appointed....

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