Snippet

August 16th, 2007

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The Announcement

Alt-Historical Snippet: I've got a sampling from a larger work for you today that I would appreciate comments on, if you have them – it's from a different kind of alien invasion story. Let me know what you think. Also, we have Steve's birthday to think of – November 22, 1967, and we expect some alternate birthdays from you folk on that!

In 2008, mega-rich playboy Buford Rogerson III received a “first day” model of the BlueberryPie EyeFone Quartz Midnight. Absolutely thrilled to bits, Rogerson told the TV Audience “I've got absolutely no idea how it works, but when I'm hunched over, holding it to my head and zapping myself with X-Rays I feel like a real winner.” Clearly, any one who could waste expensive per-minute call charges for a hush-hush call that just can't wait must either have someone who loves them, be important to the smooth running of space ship earth or the need to demonstrate one of the two pre-requisites for meaningful social status. Shortly thereafter, Rogerson returned home where a member of his personal staff spent many hours trying unsuccessfully to initialise the device on the EyeTooneys web site. In a great step forward for America, early adopters echoed the sentiment that when you owned one of these babies, you're street credibility received escape velocity. As Ali G would say, “Hear me now! Respect.”

~ entry by Co-historian Steve Payne

All around me are familiar faces, Worn out places, worn out faces Bright and early for their daily races, Going nowhere, going nowhere And their tears are filling up their glasses, No expression, no expression Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow, No tommorow, no tommorow And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad
Tears for Fears	The dreams in which I'm dying Are the best I've ever had I find it hard to tell you 'Cos I find it hard to take When people run in circles It's a very, very Mad World ~ Lyrics to “Mad World” - Click to Watch Sample
Mad World

Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith met as teenagers in their home town of Bath, England. Their first professional stint was a Mod Revival/New Wave act drawing on the major influences of the time, including The Jam and Elvis Costello. By 1981, Orzabal and Smith were becoming more influenced by artists such as the Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno. They departed from Graduate and formed a band called History of Headaches, a moniker which was then changed to Tears for Fears. The plan was for Orzabal and Smith to form the nucleus of the group and bring in surrounding musicians to help them complete the picture. The band's name is derived from the Primal therapy treatment of the same name developed by Arthur Janov, which was made famous after John Lennon became Janov's patient. While undergoing primal therapy, a patient is encouraged to "re-experience" his early, dramatic emotional states (even perinatal ones), including screaming like an infant, hence the expression "tears for fears". Orzabal tried primal therapy in the early 1980s, and he has been screaming ever since. The lyrics are available at at Astraweb

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

In 2002, Chris Bunch's Tarnished Glory placed Custer and Patton as contemporaries in the Allied invasion of France. With Eisenhower and Bradley lost in a plane crash, the pair were appointed to Supreme Allied Command by a reluctant White House.

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

In 2007, sitemeter statistics reported that Mozilla Firefox was the most popular browser for users of the Today in Alternative History web site. This trend followed national patterns in North America which had emerged over the course of twelve months. The "smoking gun" was an article in the Washington Post which reported an exploit code for unpatched critical flaws in Microsoft's Internet Explorer which had remained open for 284 days of 2006, compared with 9 days for Mozilla Firefox.

~ entry by Steve Payne (without prejudice) sharing a laugh with alternative lifers.

In 1977, singer Elvis Presley was having a short break at Graceland following a June 26 performance in Indianapolis at the Market Square Arena. August 17 was to be the starting date of another tour. However, the day before, Presley was found semi-conscious on the floor of his bathroom by fiancée, Ginger Alden. Presley had stumbled or crawled several feet before he was taken to the Baptist Memorial Hospital.

~ entry from Steve Payne

In 1942, at the old Spanish Prison in Manilla Japanese officers searched the cramped quarters of escaped General Douglas MacArthur. They found a note with the enigmatic message I will return. MacArthur himself hooked up with sympathetic Filipinos and got a ride south aboard a fishing boat. He eventually became a famous guerilla leader - rendering the Japanese occupation of the islands untenable.

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

Elimina Castle	In 2082, out of Burkina Faso and out of unspeakable imprisonment was brought the child Kwame, blinking in the bright sunlight. Around him stood the fellows of his six hundred year confinement, praying and wailing over the fallen St. George El Mina Castle. This house had fallen. He recalled the words of the soft voice saying ..
.. “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”. He smiled, a new day was dawning in Ghana.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1956, delegates of the European Monarchies continued to point #2 of the formal agenda for the Berlin 2 Conference. The definitions for spheres of influence agreed in 1884-5 (Berlin 1) were overlaid on top of African nationalist activity. Problem #1 was the Congo; an area the size of Western Europe, supplying uranium and ..	Spheres of Infl..
.. secured by the smallest imperial power, Belgium. And about to explode.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Columbus	In 1923, Amerindian explorers land in Andalusia to find a fallen civilization. Speculation had burned for half a millennia, since the blond-haired monster and his crew had fled the Turtle Island in 1492. After a day's march, they soon discover the dreadful and shocking truth.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1976/1750, in a dream the author Alex Haley witnesses a Mandinka naming ritual in the village of Juffure in the Gambia, West Africa. Omoro holds his newborn son Kunte to the heavens and tells him “Behold - the only thing greater than yourself.”	Omoro Kinte
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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My Lai

The state of TIAH

March 16th, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: 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 2 entrants so far! Get researching those alternate histories now, folks! The deadline is March 29th.

in 1968, an act of sheer horror was halted by the bravery and humanity of three soldiers in the small village of My Lai, Vietnam. Pilot Hugh Thompson and his crewmen Glenn Andreotta and Lawrence Coburn flew into what looked like a massacre of civilians by US soldiers. Even though the three were outranked by several of the officers in the village, Thompson ordered his men to shoot anyone who went after a civilian while he called in backup and medical helicopters. Only one officer, a Lt. Calley, challenged them, and a bullet in his kneecap convinced him to stand down. All of the officers on the scene were arrested and taken into custody, and the surviving villagers were evacuated – Calley and the others had killed dozens before Thompson came along to stop the attack. When backup arrived with MPs to arrest the soldiers, Thompson led his men through the village, taking pictures of what had occurred here when men had completely lost their humanity. His pictures were used as evidence in the court-martial trials of Calley and his superior officer, Captain Ernest Medina, and his emotional testimony sealed their fates. President Lyndon Johnson personally apologized to the people of Vietnam for the attack, and presented Thompson, Andreotta and Coburn with medals in a White House ceremony celebrating their honor and heroism.

Saami People	In 1919 the greatest necromancer of the age Grigory Rasputin planned a second and final attempt to control the Mesh, that irresistible group consciousness between First Nations linking the Turtle Island to the Dreamtime. The Mad Monk had closely studied the Saami people of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula ..
.. of Russia, popularly known as the Laplanders. By a process of deductive logic he reasoned that their connection with the natural world rendered the Saami people immune to the melancholy of exclusion. Whilst other Europeans suffer melancholy when they approach the group consciousness, the Laps could be the vanguard of a European invasion force. His plan is to use the Laps in a Trojan Horse manoeuvre, gaining access to the Turtle Island at Manna-hata (Manhattan) to disable the Mesh. The gamble is that the plan could backfire, if the Laps really are compatible, he might inadvertently create a Mesh Node right here in North-western Europe. And how will the Mad Monk get them to participate in this plot? Hmm.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1988 Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States. Vice President George Bush had hoped to recover the Extraterrestrial Technology (ET) buried in Iraq under cover of the Iraq-Iraq War, but his Iranian proxies had failed him despite ..	Oliver North
.. being beneficiaries of Colonel Oliver Norths Arms for Extraterrestrial Technology exchange. It was looking increasingly likely that the plan he had envisaged in 1975 whilst CIA Director would require an invasion, and for that he needed to win the presidency that very year. Trouble is Iran-Contra Affair might either force his boss' resignation giving him the Presidency too soon or indeed lose the '88 election for Bush.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Harold Wilson	In 1976 James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, PC, Labour Prime Minister of Great Britain, resigned. Queen Elizabeth II came to dine at 10 Downing Street to mark his resignation, an honour she has bestowed on only one other Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill. Both events concealed a secret civil war..
.. that was being fought out with the Queen siding decisively against the establishment. A BBC programme The Plot Against Harold Wilson broadcast in 2006 gives strong suggestions that the country came closer to military government than previously believed. In a series of secret tapes recorded just after his shock 1976 resignation, Harold Wilson explained that for 8 months of his premiership he did not feel in full control and didn't 'feel he knew what was going on, fully, in security'. He alleged that ex-military leaders had built up private armies in anticipation of 'wholesale domestic liquidation' and Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Duke of Edinburgh's uncle and mentor, would be installed as interim Prime Minister. Two plots, in the late 1960s and mid 1970s, were alleged by Wilson. Lord Louis Mountbatten was assassinated by agents who planted a bomb in his boat at Mullaghmore, County Sligo in the Republic of Ireland 27 August 1979 ending the threat of this coup d'etat.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1935 - Adolf Schicklgruber ordered Germany to rearm herself in violation of the ..	Anscluss
.. Versailles Treaty. Conscription was reintroduced to form the Wehrmacht however the Austrian Chancellor felt that the pace of reform from Fuehrer und Reichskanzler Kurt von Schleicher was too slow to deal with the Red Threat from Stalin's Russia. He lost patience three years later and in 1938 Austrian troops occupied the Weimar Republic. Annexation known as Anschluss (Union) was declared the following day - My good friends, for the second time in our history, an Austrian Chancellor has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Happy Halloween

We're going pink for October!

The state of TIAH

October 31st, 2006

Alternate Historian's Note: tomorrow marks the beginning of NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. In 2004, we produced our novel Warp, and last year we got a start on The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion during this annual event. Both of these novels were based on timelines from TIAH – Warp was based on the Mlosh timeline, and Protocols on the Greater Zionist Resistance timeline. Although we posted numerous links to these novels on Lulu, TIAH didn't post any excerpts from them. We're going to do it a little differently this year. Starting Wednesday, November 1st, the posts on TIAH will be excerpts from the novel that is being written by us for NaNoWriMo. We will still have Guest Historian entries – Stephen Payne has a couple already scheduled for the beginning of the month – so, if you want to make a Guest Post this month, go ahead and send it to us, and it will appear along with our novel post. Now, on with the end of October's posts, leading off with one from our Guest Historian, Stephen Payne...

in 1962, John F. Kennedy is collected from Martha's Vineyard airport and driven to Chappaquiddick to join campaign workers from the '60 election celebrating a Halloween Party at the Lawrence Cottage. At 11.15pm he instructs two members of the Secret Service detail to accompany him and a young lady to the beach. As they descend the hill at Dike Road, an unmarked car traveling at high speed impacts their vehicle, driving them off the narrow bridge and into Poucha Pond. Even though the vehicle is upside down and underwater, the agents are able to release the President and carry him gasping to the safety of the riverbank. Strong currents prevent them from returning to rescue the other passenger. The owner of Dike House, only 150 yards away, Sylvia Malm and her daughter arrive on the scene of the accident as do the Reverend and Mrs. David Smith who live in the house across the street. Given the undeniable presence of multiple witnesses placing him at the scene, Kennedy is forced to report the accident to the Police. He does so, falsely stating that he was chaperoning the young lady to the midnight Edgartown Ferry, keen to impress young campaign workers that there were all "part of the Kennedy Family". Meanwhile in the Politburo, Leonid Brezhnev, Aleksandr Shelepin and the KGB chief Semichastny are content with the night's work; the first phase of the conspiracy to ruin the President is an unqualified success. -entry by Guest Historian, Stephen Payne-

in 1972, Sondra Laval, niece of the mad priest Father Vincent Laval, leads the Montignac villagers and Professor Karl Ainsworth, Dr. Yvette Montclair, and Officers Gerard Hortefeux and Patrice Orleans to the Lascaux cave, where Father Laval is waiting for them. “Now, my children, the Great Bear shall fill His belly and go back to the sleep of ages,” he says to them, “while His children grow strong and we tend them for another generation, until one rises to take His place. Our sacrifices are nearly done; just these few more,” he says, waving at the outsiders, “and myself.” He begins chanting in the Sanskrit-derived language that has placed the citizens of Montignac under his spell, but Sondra Laval and Professor Ainsworth chant something else to the villagers, keeping Father Laval's control at bay. They follow the priest into the cave and to the forbidden passageway, where the huge, ancient bear waits. Father Laval goes back to the bear and strokes its great muzzle tenderly. “Soon, my Master, I shall be one with You.” He turns to the villagers and points at Dr. Montclair. “Bring the woman first.” Montclair raises a tranquilizer rifle and fires into the bear, saying, “I don't think so.” Professor Ainsworth and the two policeman also fire tranquilizer darts into the bear, which roars and charges. Ainsworth and Sondra Laval shout at it in the ancient tongue, and it pauses, confused. “No, my Master,” Father Laval screams at it, just as Officer Hortefeux shoots him with a dart. The others pepper the bear with more darts until it falls. Then, they turn their attention to the mad priest, who has crawled to the side of the bear and is trying to chant through the haze of the drug. “My Master shall destroy you all,” the priest slurs out, “you shall taste their souls, Master. You shall...” The drug finally takes him, and he falls. Professor Ainsworth says to the villagers, “Let's get him out of here, then I say we seal this place up.” He looks Dr. Montclair in the eyes and adds, “And the bear with it.” She is conflicted about that for a moment, then nods. Concrete, rock, cement, anything that can fill a hole is brought from Montignac and the forbidden passageway, as well as the tunnel leading off to the bear's nest, are sealed so tightly that they might as well have never been open. As the dawn breaks over the French countryside, the people of Montignac and their guests step into the sunlight, smiling for the first time in weeks. Professor Ainsworth puts his arm around Dr. Montclair and says, “Happy Halloween.”

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Live & In Colour

Today In Alternate History

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The Announcement

Monica patted her mother on the back. “Good job, mom. It'll be hard to edit that into something that'll bite you in the butt.”
Andrea looked at the reporter as he talked a couple of cousins. “I don't think he's that type. He seemed OK.”
“That's how they get ya,” Monica said, trying to sound wise beyond her years. “Tisha was sayin' that the cameraman was askin' for dirt on you. Nobody's given him any, yet, but I may see if I can get an exclusive.”
Andrea whacked her upside the head after making sure the camera was pointed elsewhere. “I'll give you an exclusive stay in your room for the next ten years, young lady.”
“You gotta let me out when I'm 18 – that's only 4 years.”
“And I'm counting the days.”
“Ain't we both,” Monica said. Her mother narrowed her eyes at her, so she added, “I love you, mom,” as sweet as a little angel.
“Go on back and talk to your cousins again.” Before Monica could head off, she grabbed the girl and whispered, “And let me know if they really do dig up any dirt, OK?”
“I got your back, mom,” Monica said, trundling over to a gaggle of young cousins.
Andrea walked over to the food and starting putting together a little plate for herself. Normally, she'd pile on the cookout food – she loved coming over to her father's parties because there was so much good food. But today, she felt nervous, so she stuck to lighter fare, heavy on the vegetables. Her cousin Marvin noticed and came over to talk. “What's with the rabbit food, Andi?”
“Got to look good for the cameras, Marv.” She tried to smile at him, but it didn't come out too convincingly.
“What, you feel like making the biggest accomplishment in the history of... history isn't enough? You got to look like a model, too?”
She moved a little closer to him so that she could talk more quietly. She and Marvin had played together a lot as children, had gone through high school together, and had even started their first year of college in the same school until Andrea got a scholarship to Cornell. There were few people she felt she confide in as much as Marvin. “Look, don't talk about this to anybody, OK?”
He looked a little surprised, then said, “OK.”
“We've been getting a signal from the probe for the last two days. It's weak – hell, three million years, you'd expect it to be non-existent. But anyway, it's a mathematical sequence; the language guy they have working on it thinks it's trying to teach us their language. He thinks it's just so they can leave a record behind. You know, three million years, they're long gone.” She took a sip of her soda and looked around at the crowd, making sure no one else was listening. Marvin leaned closer to her as she whispered, “But, my team just found another signal it's sending back to Wolf 359. And this one's much stronger.”

DJ Jazzie B	"Back to life, back to reality Back to the here and now yeah.. Back to life back to the day we have" ~ Lyrics to Back to Life (Click Note to Play Video)
Dance Musician

Born in 1963, Beresford Romeo's parents, who had emigrated from Antigua, raised him in North London, where he began working in sound studios at age 11. DJ Jazzie B (as he became known) and childhood friend Philip "Daddae" Harvey began Soul II Soul as a mobile sound system that played reggae clubs and parties in 1982. Through playing at various house blues parties, street parties and local youth clubs, they began to gain a steady following, and more members began to join Jazzie B and Daddae Harvey, namely 'Q' and Aitch B. As time went on the guys began to adopt a style which became known as 'Funki Dred', namely refering to the Dreadlocked hairstyle. From the start they were no ordinary R&B group, but a loose gathering of musicians led by Jazzie B as a songwriter/producer/singer. His genius was to conceive this changing roster of other musicians - notably Nellee Hooper, Simon Law and Caron Wheeler. Soul II Soul's experiments in music-making of their own resulted in the dub plate "Fairplay" which secured them a deal with Virgin Records. Something just incredible happened in 1989 to architect the anthem Back to Life. In a moment the tone was set for early 90s mainstream dance music in the UK. Something even more incredible happened on 18th August 1990 whilst Soul II Soul were on World Tour. Jazzie was critically injured when he was involved in a seven car pile-up while travelling from Detroit to Chicago, and was quite literally brought Back to Life by a roadside medical team. He recovered and in 1993 co-produced James Brown's first album of the 90's, 'Universal James'. The full lyrics are available at Soul2Soul Web site

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

"Violence is the first article of my faith. It is the last article of my faith. I had to make my choice. I had either to submit to a system which I considered has done an irreparable harm to my country or incur the risk of the mad fury of my people bursting forth when they understood the truth from my lips. I know that my people have sometimes gone mad.
Mohandas Gandhi	I am deeply sorry for it; and I am therefore, here, to submit not to a light penalty but to the highest penalty. I do not ask for mercy. I do not plead any extenuating act. I am here, therefore, to invite and submit to the highest penalty that can be inflicted upon me for what in law is a deliberate crime and what appears to me to be the highest duty of a citizen." ~ Mohandas Gandhi
Thuggee

On the great trial at Abmadabad in 1922, at which Gandhi pleaded guilty. The sea change in attitude had occurred in 1890, after failing several university exams, Mohandas Gandhi met a Thuggee cultist along the road and became his disciple. Gandhi's new education and the violent movement he started years later after the massacre at Jallianwalla. Michael P. Kube-McDowell's classic biography "Because Thou Lovest the Burning-Ground" is described at Uchronia

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

In 2009, TV networks ran episode six of So What If?. Mechanical failures and absence of surprise foil the raid on Entebbe, Yonathan Netanyahu and Israeli paratroopers are paraded the next day on Ugandan TV. Idi Amin said God told him in a dream that the Zionist were coming to relieve the Jewish hostages. Just as God had likewise told him to expel the Jews from Uganda in 1972. Across Africa, people started to rally to Uganda as a regional power, perhaps Dada really had defeated neo colonialist forces.

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

In 2007, at the Academy an Open Office spreadsheet grew to the spooky size of 665 kilobytes, just shy of the number of the beast.
The file was none other than the collected "bobby dazzlers" of the Co-Historian, containing poor quality formulaic HTML that had on occassion caused great gnashing of teeth by creating frequent errors at the time of publication around 6am Central Texas Time thus spoiling the enjoyment of many a breakfast taco.	Omen
Not to mention the piercing comments surrounding the "damned ellipses" (1)(2). It was a bad Omen forcing the Academy to send an agent to the "wilds of Canada" to dispatch the Co-Historian by using all seven of the sacred knives of Meggido, thus terminating his relentless cut and paste storytelling.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1972, the author Kurt Vonnegut predicted his own death at the end of the premier. The movie was of course a self-history of his capture in Germany and incarceration at the camp known as Slaughterhouse-Five where he witnessed the destruction of Dresden first hand. And so it goes. Another WWII POW Paul Lazzaro shot and killed the author as he left the theatre. Really it was all about Roland Weary - a weak man with dreams of grandeur who weakly 'saved' Vonnegut multiple times despite the self-proclaimed inept soldier's protests in hopes for glory. This lead to the capture of Vonnegut, Wear and Lazzaro in December 1944 as well as the loss of their warm winter clothing and boots. Eventually Weary died of gangrene while on the train to the camp, blaming Vonnegut with his final words.

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

Philadelphia Ex..	In 1945, the stealth technology developed in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard known as Project Rainbow was put through final tests in the Philippines. A Carrier Group was fitted with the required generator equipment.
After a dozen recalibrations, the Carrier Group not only became almost entirely invisible to the naked eye, but vanished from the area in a flash of blue light. Concurrent with this phenomenon, the US naval base at Pearl Barbour reported sighting the Group offshore for several minutes, whereupon the Group vanished again and reappeared in the Philippines, at the site it had originally occupied, a successful test of both invisibility and teleportation. Now confident in the element of surprise offered by the super weapon, Harry S Truman authorized the invasion of Honshu near Tokyo, codename “Operation Coronet”.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1942, on this day occurred the Jerusalem Conference. This was a trilateral meeting between Wartime Leader Winston Churchill, Head of British Central Command Bernard Montgomery and Jewish General Moshe Dayan. The British were organizing Churchill's Last Stand in the remaining Theatre of War, the Middle East. Dayan brought ..	British Central..
.. to the table unified command of the combined Haganah Force/Australian 7th Division and the keys to the Jewish lobby in America. Churchill brought only blood, sweat and tears.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Gulf War	In 1973, a report from the hawkish defense expert Edward Luttwak “Seizing Arab Oil" rested uneasily in the Resolute Desk's out-tray in the Oval Office. Luttwak wrote the piece after discussion with several like-minded consultants and officials in the Pentagon, including Andrew Marshall, head of the Defense Department's ..
.. in-house think tank, the Office of Net Assessment. The assertion that "the only countervailing power to OPEC's control of oil is power itself -- military power." had been accepted, as had the recommendation; the document bore the Presidential stamp of approval. The Gulf War was about to begin.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1974, Christine Chubbuck became the first person to commit suicide on-air. During the first eight minutes of her program, Chubbuck covered three national news stories and then a local restaurant shooting from the day before. The film reel jammed and would not ..	Chubbuck
.. run, so Christine shrugged it off and said: "In keeping with Channel 40's policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts, and in living colour, you are going to see another first: an attempted suicide." She drew out a revolver and shot herself behind her right ear. Christine fell forward violently and the technical director faded slowly to black. Camerawoman Jean Reed thought it had been an elaborate prank, rushed forward to see the twitching body and realized it was genuine. Madness descended to terror when Chubbuck arose and the demon Astaroth, Grand Duke of Hell addressed the television audience with his fell wisdom.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Rescued by the Master

Peter Mandelson	In 2001, Northern Ireland Secretary, Peter Mandelson was confirmed in his position by British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Members of the inner circle had doubt whether Mr Blair would succeed in rescuing his familiar. An unknown source reported that Mandelson had his own fears – being hung upside down by his master in a gesture as old as Macedonia. At the very least the Prince of Darkness had feared a second resignation from the cabinet over a row concerning a passport application from an Indian billionaire.
Prince of Darkness

It is the second time Mr Mandelson was under pressure to leave the cabinet in disgrace since Labour came to power in 1997. Mr Mandelson, a close confidant and friend of the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, said he did not accept he had acted "improperly in any way" over the passport affair. Mr Mandelson had come under increasing pressure over the issue since the weekend. He strongly denied claims he pulled strings to help Srichand Hinduja secure a UK passport in return for a £1 million sponsorship deal for the Millennium Dome while Mr Mandelson was in charge of that project. The Hinduja family is one of the most influential in the world and runs the transnational Hinduja group, a company with assets amounting to around $8 billion. Since 1990 Srichand Hinduja and his brothers Gopichand and Prakash have been defending themselves against criminal allegations in a long-running corruption case involving an arms deal between Swiss company Bofors and the Indian government. Srichand Hinduja, who with his brother Gopichand has lived in London since 1979, had his first application for UK citizenship refused in 1990. Just after paying the sponsorship money, he asked Mr Mandelson whether he could apply again. The passport was granted soon afterwards. Earlier on the same day, Mr Blair had summoned him to Downing Street to 'establish the facts' of his involvement. The next day, Minister for Europe Keith Vaz also became embroiled in the affair after it was revealed he had written to both the prime minister and Mr Mandelson about the Hinduja brothers in 1997. In March 2001, an inquiry, led by Treasury solicitor Sir Anthony Hammond QC, cleared Mr Mandelson and placed the full responsibility for wrongdoing on Mr Vaz. It was a textbook case study in the highest standards of integrity in public office, a key pledge from Tony Blair when he assumed office in 2007. Vaz felt somewhat differently, describing the events through a different perspective in his political biography 'Thrown to the Wolves'.

.

	In 1966, the lives of 117 people were placed in jeopardy after an Air India Boeing 707 nearly crashed near the summit of Mont Blanc in the Alps. The plane was on a regular Bombay to New York flight when the accident happened at around 0800 local time. All 106 passengers and 11 crew landed safety at Geneva airport in Switzerland. Fortunately, a Brahmacharya soul deep was amongst the passengers. Exercising 'control of the senses in thought, word and deed' the brahmacari shaped time and space to avert Moksha.
Mont Blanc

One of the passengers included chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission Dr Homi Jehangir Bhabha, who was on his way to Vienna. The remaining passengers were Indian nationals, 46 of whom were sailors. Six were British. Dr Bhabha, described as a man 'who simply must not die' subsequently negotiated a nuclear free agreement for the subcontinent. Gerard Devoussoux, a mountain guide who witnessed the scene, said: 'Another 15 metres (50ft) and the plane would have hit the rock. It would have made a huge crater in the mountain'. Robert Bruce, from Tooting, who was waiting for his parents to arrive, said: 'I am so choked I cannot even cry. I will just go home with my parents and collapse. 'As far as I am concerned my world has been saved.'

.

In 1965, Winston Spencer Churchill died in his Falklands stronghold, buried under a boulder inscribed, 'Founding Father of the movement to uproot Nazidom from the world.' His mission is unfulfilled at the time of writing.

.

In 1945, after joking 'I drink and smoke and I am 200% fit' Winston Spencer Churchill died months before the end of World War 2, forcing the hopelessly unprepared Deputy Prime Minister Clement Attlee into office. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who had stopped smoking when he reached the Presidency, said that a similiar disaster in America would have had deeply profound consequences for the post-world war, a disguised reference to the Bomb.

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In 1924, following a series of strokes Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Bolshevik Party, and father of the revolution is forced to shape change, fleeing his cadaver to occupy the body of the rude Georgian Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili. Through the cult of the personality, Stalin as he Vladimir Lenin is known is able to dilineate an uninterrupted rulership as General Secretary, which is very much the case given the continuity of the demon in the two bodies. He leaves the cadaver of Lenin on display, embalmed at a mausoleum in the Kremlin in case he ever needs to make a Dracula-style exit from Russia in the future.

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In 1994, the Ames dossier demonstrated incontrovertible evidence of the CIA's role in the multiple Lee Harvey Oswald diversionary ploy. And some complementary words for the case file officer, George H.W. Bush.

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In 793 AUC Caligula, who had briefly served as Rome’s emperor before a brain fever drove him mad, dies under the care of doctors in Rome. Hard as it was for Romans to depose an emperor, Caligula was clearly in no condition to continue to server Rome as its leader. Rumors that he even began speaking to his horse were never confirmed, but were not doubted.

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In 1914, almost a year after vowing he would never work on it again, Franz Kafka finished his novel Amerika. Although most critics say that the beginning is a powerful tale of a European boy banished to America by scandal, the ending where the boy is turned into a sheep and eaten by coyotes in Oklahoma does tend to throw most people.

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In 1986, Ron Hubbard, known for his rollicking western pulps in the 30’s and 40’s, and his more epic detective and western fiction afterwards, died at his home in San Francisco, California. Reverend Hubbard, who was ordained in the Church of Christ and led a huge congregation in San Francisco, always said he was unafraid to die, since that was the last promotion God could give him.

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In 1986, Trade and Industry Secretary Leon Brittan became the second cabinet minister to resign over the Westland affair. Before the year was out, Mrs Thatcher would be the victim of a 'political' assassination, replaced by the more moderate Michael Heseltine.

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In 1984, Apple Computers released the Macintosh, a personal computer with a graphical user interface, rather than the command line that most PC’s had used up to that point. This innovation, although not unique to Apple, rocketed them to the top of the computing world. By the end of the decade, they produced almost 80% of the computers used in America, and their operating system, licensed out to other computer manufacturers, today accounts for around 90% of the computing done in the world.

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In 1971, British industrialist Frank Spencer and his wife Betty faced the cameras after mechanical failures onboard the British spacecraft Marie Celeste had been traced to his Factory. Spencer was asked to comment on the European Space Agencies' self-inflicted wound. The British really would have to do something about this quality control problem for next time, they had said.

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