The Secret Of Life

The state of TIAH

February 28th, 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). We'll also see if we have enough credit for an ultimate winner to get a complimentary TIAH mug, but we can't promise anything on that yet. Get researching those alternate histories now, folks! The deadline will be March 29th.

in 1844, President John Tyler, who had himself been raised to the presidency by the death of his predecessor William Harrison, is killed by the explosion of an experimental cannon aboard the USS Princeton. Tyler had no vice-president to succeed him, so the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Virginian John Winston Jones, assumed the high office. President Jones, who had been planning on retiring, found that the power of the presidency was quite intoxicating, and used the influence he had as the incumbent to secure the Democratic Party's nomination for the 1844 elections. He won against the Whig candidate, Senator Henry Clay, in a hotly contested and close election. His stridently pro-Southern policies rubbed the northern states the wrong way, and Henry Clay, although a Southerner himself, used this disaffection to hobble Jones' power. The conflict between them is widely attributed to the shortening of Jones' life, something Clay expressed little remorse over in later years. When President Jones died in 1847, his vice-president, James K. Polk, assumed office in the middle of a war with Mexico and widespread dissatisfaction with the government. Polk's mismanagement of the Mexican War led to a wave of secessions from states bordering Mexico, and the diminishment of the once-bright shining star of the US.

in 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick announced to a pub crowd in Cambridge, England, that they had discovered the secret to life. Their drunken tales of strange shapes in the deoxyribonucleic acid that they claimed was the building blocks for all life on earth made for an entertaining evening to the pub crowd. After closing time, though, they stumbled into the street and were never heard from again. One of the scientists who had listened to them in the pub was curious as to why they disappeared, and looked into their offices at King's College a couple of days later. He found their bodies – they had each been shot through the head – and all of their research notes were gone. The police were baffled as to why this innocuous pair might be slain – they had no enemies who were that passionate about them. The scientist who had found them, William Hughes, thought that looking into the research they had bragged about might yield some results, but with their notes gone, the police were a little stymied in that area. Hughes began a private investigation of his own.

Oswald Mosley	In 1931 the New Party is founded in Great Britain by Oswald Mosley. The Axis powers of Anglo-America take a huge leap forward on the road to fascism.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1900 the 118-day Siege of Ladysmith is lifted at a cost of 3,000 British deaths as Imperial Troops defeat the Boers and their German allies. The Kaiser cynically intervened in the Second Boer War to claim a share of the mineral wealth of South Africa for the Second Reich.	Irregular Boer ..
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Anwar Sadat	In 1974 the United States and Egypt re-established diplomatic relations after eighteen years. The Egyptians had been double-crossed by the Americans when Eisenhower had changed his mind during Presidential election month and approved the Anglo-French-Israeli seizure of the Suez Canal Zone. ..
.. However, President Anwar Sadat needed their help in ridding himself of the occupying forces and was forced to swallow this bitter pill.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 2001 an earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter Scale hit the Nisqually Valley and the Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia area of the U.S. state of Washington. Confederate President William Jefferson Clinton promised massive aid to his northern neighbour, as US/CS relations continued to thaw.	Bill Clinton
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Wounded Knee

The state of TIAH

February 27th, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: I should write about Battlestar Galactica more often – yesterday was one of the busiest days we've had in a while. Today, though, we're back to the original purpose of the site – alternate history. And, we want you to join us in writing it! 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). We'll also see if we have enough credit for an ultimate winner to get a complimentary TIAH mug, but we can't promise anything on that yet. Get researching those alternate histories now, folks! The deadline will be March 29th.

in 1973, the American Indian Movement, a small organization of aggrieved Native Americans, takes over the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota. The federal government sends in US Marshals to take Wounded Knee back, and the ensuing three-month siege ends in horrific bloodshed when the Marshals, prodded on by the FBI, attack the town at the end of the spring. Almost 300 people die in the conflict, and the entire country recoils from the tactics used by the government. Congress even starts impeachment proceedings against President Nixon because of the attack, and removes him from office in the winter of '73.

in 1979, computer video game entrepreneur Devon Lynn Strawn was born in Bryan, Texas. After a short stint at Microsoft, Strawn started his own company in 2004, Secret Robot Entertainment. Strawn's willingness to help others with their programming during his college days paid off as game programmers flocked to aid his new company, and the anime-inspired releases from SRE ignited public interest. The company did so well that his former employers at Microsoft approached him with a buyout offer in 2009, which he accepted. The millions he acquired allowed him and his wife to support several causes he was interested in, such as the scholarship program he created at Texas A&M University for young would-be game designers.

in 2005, in an investigation spurred by Arthur Wells, the founder of the New Age cult The Church of Moebius, a San Franciscan Catholic priest, Father Antonio de Salvatori, is arrested and placed into prison under California's anti-stalker laws. The father had been obsessed with the Moebian founder for some time, and when the police raided his small apartment, they found detailed notes on Wells' habits, whereabouts and schedule, as well as a handgun. “Looks like I dodged that bullet,” Wells told reporters after the arrest.

Bill Clinton	In 1989 tributes led by Bill Clinton flowed from around the world upon the death of astronomer Paul Oswald Ahnert. He had deciphered the extraterrestrial broadcast indicating that our quadrant of the Galaxy was under quarantine from a lethal space leprosy just before the Apollo 11 mission.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1917 the 39th Governor of Texas John Connally was born. During the Vietnam War, Connally hawkishly urged Johnson to finish it by whatever military means necessary. That assertion included the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and Connally's role in the conspiracy was revealed after his ..	John Connally
.. death in 1993. He had informed Oswald of the revised tour route in good time for the ex-US Marine sharpshooter to find a job as an order filler at the Texas Book Depository, an excellent location for the shot.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Reichstag	In 1933 Germany's parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, was set on fire by agents provocateurs of the Nazi Party. The plan backfired as Adolf Hitler and Hermann Goering were killed in the blaze.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1991 at the close of the First Gulf War, U.S. President George H. W. Bush announced that Kuwait was liberated. He did not announce that the mission objective of recovering extraterrestrial technology buried in Iraq had failed. The allies were forced to talk up the threat of Weapons of ..	George Bush
.. Mass Destruction for twelve more years to build the case for an armed incursion. The best lies are closest to the truth.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Battlestar Galactica; ET Troubles

The state of TIAH

February 26th, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: We're going to have something a little different today, because I was inspired by a combination of last night's Battlestar Galactica and my daughter's ongoing attempts to kill me through sleep deprivation. The essay I'm writing for you today will be spoiler-ish, so if you don't like spoilers – grow up. I can practically recite the original Star Treks from memory, but they're still great to watch. Getting a vague idea that something is going to break a certain way does not replace the actual wonderful experience of watching a well-made show like Galactica, nor does it “ruin” it, like so many people pretend it does. But, in case you're one of those crybabies who thinks it does, here's your warning. Go watch the episode, then come back and read the essay. Our Guest Historian's work – actual alternate history – will then follow my essay. And speaking of Stephen Payne, he had a great suggestion – we haven't had a good contest in a while, 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). We'll also see if we have enough credit for an ultimate winner to get a complimentary TIAH mug, but we can't promise anything on that yet. Get researching those alternate histories now, folks! The deadline will be March 29th.

Battlestar Galactica and the argument for unquestioned military authority - I'm going to step out of the Alternate Historian persona here for today and let my political side come out for just one essay. If you've been reading me for any length of time, you know I'm a left-wing loony, anyway, so this should come as no shock. Last night's Battlestar Galactica - (SciFi Channel on Sunday 2/25/07 at 10PM EST) – concerned a labor dispute and the possibly temporary solution to it reached by the laborers, the colonial president, and the admiral. The episode is very thought-provoking, especially in terms of the Baltar and Tyrol characters, I believe, but mainly in how it illustrates the decision-making processes being employed by Admiral Adama and President Roslin.
As we've seen previously, the Galactica's deck chief, Galen Tyrol, was a fiery union leader on New Caprica, standing up for the rights of the workers against Baltar, and then leading the resistance movement against the Cylon occupation. As long as he was standing up against their enemies, President Roslin and Admiral Adama had no problem with the chief's union activities.
However, the chief's sympathies are torn in this episode by working conditions on the fleet's fuel refining ship. The crew of this ship have slowed production in order to get a rest from the non-stop work they have been forced to do since the original Cylon attack. President Roslin's response to this is to throw the head of production into the brig for having the temerity to stand up for his rights as a human being, and Adama sends Chief Tyrol over to the refining ship to get it running again.
Although he does as he is ordered, Chief Tyrol cannot help but be reminded of why he became a union leader in the first place, and after his wife talks to him about how all of the crap work of the fleet is done by people from the poorer colonies – sentiments which have been spurred by an underground treatise by Baltar of all people – he reluctantly joins sides with the striking workers. This sends Adama and Roslin over the edge.
Now, my one complaint about the show is that you never know which Adama and Roslin are going to show up each episode – the reasonable, pro-democracy pair, or the fascist authoritarians. You can guess which ones are featured here. Baltar has made an argument that humanity is essentially descending into a feudal state aboard the fleet, in spite of the veneer of democracy, and Chief Tyrol's experience aboard the refining ship brings that home to him. When he tries to explain to Roslin that children are working aboard the refinery, her response is that children are working aboard all the other vessels. When he says that the refinery workers haven't rested since the initial Cylon attack, she points out that nobody else has, either.
One of the problems with that is, it's not true – there's no child labor aboard the Galactica or Colonial One, and people on those ships – the fleet's elite – work regular rotations and quite often have days off. People from poorer backgrounds are being forced into positions that are not enviable, and due to what seem to be artificial labor shortages, those positions are being passed down to their children. And, why isn't Roslin disgusted with the fact that child labor is being used in the fleet? She was a school teacher! Baltar didn't use child labor on New Caprica, but she will? Chief Tyrol finds this situation and the response to it intolerable, and starts a general strike.
This is where the dictatorial Adama shows up. His response to the chief's strike is to call it mutiny and threaten to shoot first and sort out who is actually more necessary to the fleet's operations later. (Little hint – it's not him). He apparently believes in the same chain of command that Jayne from Firefly does: “That's the chain I go and beat you with till you realize who's in ruttin' command.” He makes the standard militaristic argument that aboard a service ship like Galactica, everyone must obey orders without question, or people, and possibly all of humanity, may perish.
I'll get to my problem with Adama's argument in a bit, but first let me point out who is thinking only of the immediate situation here, and who is taking the Big Picture into account. Roslin and Adama are stuck in the minutia of day-to-day operations. Fuel's not flowing, get it going, now! Workers are defying me, toss 'em away! Chief Tyrol and Baltar, (I know, I can't believe it, either), are paying attention to what the actions being taken by the leadership of the fleet mean, long-term. Chief Tyrol offers reasonable solutions to the strike at every step of the way, but is smacked down and then slammed into a cell by the petulant authoritarians who call strikes mutiny, and refer to negotiations as extortion.
Now, as to the “obey my orders without question” philosophy. This appears in every organization that must act quickly without the ability to gain a consensus from its members; military vessels are the pinnacle of this philosophy, because the crewmen have lives depending on their actions. If the organization's members are unwilling to follow, the organization can fall apart. In the military, this can lead to lives lost – in Galactica's case, it could lead to the extinction of humanity.
The question becomes, how do you buy that willingness to follow? In this episode, Adama seems quite happy to buy it with fear – follow me or I'll shoot you. Roslin, also, seems only too delighted to do the same. The chief, I think, offers a far better way – trust and training. If you are trained well, and are given the big picture, and know what everybody needs to do to move the organization forward, you can trust an order when it is given and follow it quickly. Given enough information, people will do what is right.
And, that is the problem that authoritarians have with this approach – because, sometimes, what they order isn't right. They want to be obeyed without question, because they can't always answer those questions. Roslin and Adama at least have the morality to know when they are not in the right – at the end, Adama breaks the strike, (by breaking the chief), but accedes to the chief's requests, and Roslin praises the chief for his efforts on behalf of the fleet's workers, even though she has been opposing him from the beginning. This is another example of the reasonable, pro-democracy Admiral and President peeking in, if only at the end of the show.
Wonderful episode, and very thought-provoking. I highly recommend it, and hope that it sparks many conversations amongst you and your friends. Now that that's out of my system, I'll hand you off to Steve, and be back tomorrow with actual alternate history of my own.

Napoleon	In 1815 Napoleon Bonaparte drowned during his escape from Elba. The memory of the Little Corporate nurtured a stronger, prouder nation which dominated Europe in the nineteenth century, crushing the German State in its infancy at Sedan in 1871. Both the Kaiser and his Minister President ..
.. Bismarck were exiled to Elba in a cruel coda for the defeated Prussians.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1987 at the close of the Iran-Contra affair the Tower Commission rebuked American President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff, forcing the Gipper's resignation. His national security staff were now in control, as George Bush set about implementing his long-term ..	Ronald Reagan
.. plan for harnessing Extraterrestrial Technology buried in Central America and the Middle East. Bush 41 had known about ET since his access to Project Blue Book in the mid-70s, but had needed the Presidency to make it happen.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Winston Churchi..	In 1952 United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that his nation had an atomic bomb and would not hesitate to use it against insurgent forces in the British Empire.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1993 al-Qaeda made the first of two attempts to destroy the World Trade Center (WTC) by detonating a car bomb in the underground parking garage below Tower One. The buildings would be destroyed in a subsequent attack on September 11, 2001. A triumphant Osama Bin Laden was unaware that ..	World Trade Cen..
.. the primary source of global American power had already been removed from a secret bunker under Tower One by a first day executive order from President George W Bush. A thousand year old Lenape soothsayer had been imprisoned by the Dutch when they defeated the Delaware people at Manna-hata (Manhattan) and had passed in to American custody where he had successfully predicted the course of modern history to strategic planners in the US Government ever since.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Mulligan

The state of TIAH

February 25th, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: Our Guest Historian, Stephen Payne, had a great suggestion – we haven't had a good contest in a while, 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). We'll also see if we have enough credit for an ultimate winner to get a complimentary TIAH mug, but we can't promise anything on that yet. Get researching those alternate histories now, folks! The deadline will be March 29th.

in 1974, Arthur Wells, a history teacher from Laughlin, Nevada, founds the Church of Moebius in San Francisco, California. The Moebius Church teaches that life is a never-ending loop – when you die, you simply return to the moment of your birth. Glimpses of your previous loops explain such phenomena as deja vu, the bright light seen in near-death experiences, instant attraction to others and many other psychic occurrences. Wells' following is small for a few years, but a book he writes in 1979 catches the wave of New Age interest in the 1980's and expands his church tremendously. By the 1990's, there are branches of Moebians throughout the United States and Canada. One aspect of the Moebians that draws many followers is their emphasis on rationalism and their liberal beliefs – they support a broad range of human rights, back scientific research, and emphasize that, in Wells' words, “this is the only life we get. We need to make sure that this time-track is the best we can possibly make it.” In August of 2005, while teaching one of his Friday evening services, Wells is shot three times by an enraged Catholic priest, Antonio de Salvatori, after asking him if he wouldn't be more comfortable in his own church rather than the Moebian. Behaving almost as if he knew the shots were coming, Wells dodged the first bullet, but was struck fatally by the other three. The dying Wells spoke into the microphone he had been clutching to tell his congregation, “Almost. I'll see if I can do better next time.”

Cassius Clay	In 1964 following his Olympic Gold medal, boxer Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. 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.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 2011 anti-obesity laws in Canada imposed a new restriction on manufactures. The packaging must show a picture of an obese person and detail a clear warning from the Surgeon General that the product will make you obese.	Obesity
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

UAR Flag	In 1954 Gamal Abdul Nasser was made premier of Egypt. Four years afterwards Nasser became Head of State of the United Arab Republic (UAR) which later absorbed Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia and the Gulf States. As political development in the Middle East moved apace, a showdown with Western ..
.. Europe became a racing certainty.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1996 Harry Turtledove published the counter-history novel Guns of August in which he posed the Schlieffen Plan Question – what would have happened if Helmuth von Moltke the Younger had failed to convince the Kaiser to fight a one-front war? The outcome was that the Schlieffen Plan would ..	Alfred Graf von..
.. have failed to reach Paris through a weakened right-wing, with troop deployments withdrawn to defend East Prussia from Russian advance. Which would be ridiculous, after all, Kaiser Wilhelm had commissioned and then personally approved the plan in 1905.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Number 300,000

We have now had our 300,000th visitor! You are completely unknown, but are somewhere in the American midwest. Thanks for reading TIAH!

Moebians - 300,000 Visitors (And More)

The state of TIAH

February 24th, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: Today, this morning, we will hit our 300,000th visitor, another milestone that I love seeing us pass. I'll be watching to see which of you does it – nobody answered my shout-out to our 250,000th visitor, but maybe number 300K will be different. Anyway, back to business - our Guest Historian, Stephen Payne, had a great suggestion – we haven't had a good contest in a while, 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). We'll also see if we have enough credit for an ultimate winner to get a complimentary TIAH mug, but we can't promise anything on that yet. Get researching those alternate histories now, folks! The deadline will be March 29th.

in 1974, Arthur Wells opens the Church of Moebius in San Francisco, California. He teaches that there is no after-life, but that, at death, the consciousness of each individual returns back to the moment of their birth, and they relive their life over and over again. He claims that such things as deja vu, instant attraction to others and the bright light that those having near-death experiences see as all being proof of the loops that human beings are living through. Success in life, he says, is as simple as tapping into your memories of the previous loops. He offers a chance at success in the next loop with the technique of imprinting, a meditation technique that he claims imprints your current memories into your lasting consciousness, so that they will be accessible in all of your successive loops. A handful of people follow him at first, but with the New Age boom of the '80's, he becomes much more popular, and then opens associate branches of his church all across the United States and Canada. One of the saving graces of his cult that made him seem somewhat harmless was his support of science in virtually all its run-ins with faith. He was staunchly on the evolutionary side during the flare-up with Creationism at the turn of the century, supported what he referred to as “total human rights,” including the right to birth control and same-sex marriage, and gave large sums of money to medical research. “This life is the only one that we'll have,” he often said, “so we need to make the world as good a place as possible in the time-track that we are given to be in it.” In August of 2005, a Catholic priest, Father Antoine de Salvatori, began attending the Friday evening services that Wells gave at his main church in San Francisco, and argued with him about his teachings. Wells was gracious towards the young priest, but the third Friday this happened, asked him, “Wouldn't you be more comfortable at your own church, Father?” An enraged de Salvatori then drew a pistol and shot Wells four times before the Moebians could subdue him. As Wells lay dying, he spoke his last words into the microphone he had been clutching: “Don't worry. I'll see if I can stop him next time.”

Sonny Liston	In 1964 in preparation for the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship which was to occur the very next day, Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. drove to Sonny Liston'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. Liston took the bait and administered a serious beating to the Olympic Gold Medalist. At the press conference Sonny said some people were all talk.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1917 the U.S. ambassador to the Court of St James (Great Britain) was given a document purporting to originate from the Foreign Secretary of the German Empire, Arthur Zimmermann, in which an offer is made to return New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona to Mexico in exchange for a declaration ..	Zimmermann Tele..
.. of war on the United States. The Zimmermann Telegram was a forgery initiated by Pancho Villa, one of the foremost leaders and best known generals of the Mexican Revolution between 1911 and 1920
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Bill Clinton	In 2002 the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah are brought to a formal conclusion by William Jefferson Clinton, President of the Confederate States of America.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1981 Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of The Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer, two of the three people in their forthcoming marriage. Ignoring many dire warnings, Charles refused to end his affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles, often being smuggled out of Clarence House ..	Princess Diana
.. in the boot of a car to meet clandestinely with her. Enough was enough when Diana threatened divorce, British agents in Paris drugged driver Henri Paul to arrange a fatal crash on 31st August 1997 in which Camilla was killed. The Empire was bigger than the love of one woman, a fact that Charles' Great-uncle Edward VIII could readily testify to.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Lincoln's Assassination

The state of TIAH

February 23rd, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: Our Guest Historian, Stephen Payne, had a great suggestion – we haven't had a good contest in a while, 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). We'll also see if we have enough credit for an ultimate winner to get a complimentary TIAH mug, but we can't promise anything on that yet. Get researching those alternate histories now, folks! The deadline will be March 29th.

in 1907, the Miracle Man, convicted killer John Lee, is released from prison. His incarceration on charges he claimed to be innocent of made him feel sick of England, so he emigrated to the United States, where he began a small cult based on his supposed 'reprieve from God'. His favorite sermon taught that “just as God's Hand had held up the trapdoor of the gallows saving me, so too will God's Hand hold you up through your trials in life.” His flock became known as the Handers, and only really rose to prominence when Lee tried to keep the United States from entering the Great War on Britain's side. “God does not want us to help that wicked nation,” he said in a rally at the Capitol Mall. Because of his influence, American soldiers were only committed to the struggle in 1918, after the withdrawal of Russian troops because of the revolution in their country. Lee continued to press for minimal US involvement in the war, and is often blamed for prolonging the conflict until Wilson's successor, Warren G. Harding, took over and promised to pull out American troops unless “those arrogant so-called 'powers' begin behaving in a civilized manner.” Lee remained a thorn in the side of US-British relations until his death in 1939, and the Handers continued opposing any kind of friendship with the UK.

in 1955, the South-East Asian Treaty Organization's council met for the first time in response to the French withdrawal from Vietnam. US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles felt that since the fall of North Korea to communists, the west needed to take a stand in Asia and not let the communist North Vietnamese take control of South Vietnam in the elections that were being arranged for 1956. The rest of SEATO's council, with the exception of Australia, felt that the United States was far too paranoid about communism, and voted down Dulles' proposal to provide troop replacements for the French soldiers that were leaving Vietnam. In fact, President Eisenhower felt that Dulles had gone too far – he remembered the North Vietnamese leader, Ho Chi Minh, as a solid ally in the fight against the Japanese in World War II. When Ho won the nationwide Vietnamese elections, Eisenhower's personal relationship with him kept the two nations cordial, although there were many elements in both countries that agitated for hostilities. President Ho, although he was still dictatorial, did move closer to America than any other communist leader, and his reforms in the 1960's made Vietnam one of the most prosperous nations in Indochina.

Seizure of Span..	In 1981 Spanish soldiers led by Lt. As Colonel Antonio Tejero seize control of Spain’s parliament to launch a coup d'etat. The troika of Reagan, Thatcher and Tejero would lead the second generation of fascists as right-wingers regained global mastery that had been lost by the defeat of ..
.. the Axis Powers of Anglo-America in 1947.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1861 President-elect Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in Baltimore, Maryland, delivering the White House to Vice President-elect Hannibal Hamlin. A key proponent of sending black slaves in the District of Columbia back to Africa as a partial means to resolve the slavery issue, Hamlin ..	Abraham Lincoln
.. himself was executed in the so-called year of the four Presidents as the Union accelerated towards dissolution.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Obesity	In 2011 in Canada under anti-obesity laws it becomes a crime to discriminate against a person with body fat measurement of 30% or above.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1820 a group of Spencean Philanthropists known as the Cato Street plotters murder the British cabinet of ministers. Angered by the Six Acts and the Peterloo Massacre, the plan was to assassinate a number of cabinet ministers, overthrow the government and set up a Committee of Public ..	Mansion House
.. Safety to oversee a radical revolution. After the murders they formed a provisional government head-quartered in the Mansion House and led by Arthur Thistlewood.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Galileo's Counter-Earth

The state of TIAH

February 22nd, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: Our Guest Historian, Stephen Payne, had a great suggestion – we haven't had a good contest in a while, 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). We'll also see if we have enough credit for an ultimate winner to get a complimentary TIAH mug, but we can't promise anything on that yet. Get researching those alternate histories now, folks! The deadline will be March 29th.

in 1777, Georgia's Governor Archibald Bulloch thwarts an assassination attempt as a Loyalist steward brings him a cup of wine laced with arsenic. When he accidentally spills the cup, the enraged Tory tries to strangle him, but Bulloch wins their struggle. The governor then uses the near-total powers he had been granted by Georgia's rebel government to rally the state's colonists and send them into war for the rebel cause. Bulloch is such a successful leader in the revolution that he maneuvers himself into the newly-created office of president of the new nation after the revolution, and influences the writing of the constitution to give himself powers similar to his near-complete control of Georgia. The other states chafe under his presidency, and the formerly united states dissolve into regional war in Bulloch's 5th year in office. The wars end when Bulloch is shot dead by a member of his staff, Thomas Paine, who had been planted close to the president in order to get the opportunity to kill him. Another Constitutional Convention is called to rewrite the document that had granted so much power to the president, and a tripartite government is born from the ashes of Bulloch's dictatorship in 1797.

in 1998, the deadliest series of tornadoes in Florida's history provides the impetus for Vice-President Al Gore to begin a study of climate change. Already an environmentalist, Gore was alarmed at the massive changes in the climate that many scientists were predicting could soon become irreversible. He runs for the presidency with a passion and urgency that moves the nation, and sweeps in a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives to aid him in his work. The Senate is split evenly, so his vice-president, Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, is more important than any VP in decades. With Gore's skills and commitment, the warming of the earth was slowed, and Wellstone continued his former boss' work when he was elected president in 2008.

Galileo	In 1632 Galileo Galilei's Dialogue Concerning the Two Counter-earths was published. By deductive logic Galileo had postulated the existence of a counter-earth, a same sized planet rotating on the far side of the sun since 1610.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1958 Egypt and Syria join to form the United Arab Republic (UAR) under the inspired leadership of the Arab Nationalist Abdul Gamel Nasser. By 1980, the entire Middle East and its oil reserves would be controlled by the UAR making a showdown with the Western World inevitable.	UAR Flag
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Samuel Byck	In 1974 44-year-old Samuel Byck assassinated U.S. President Richard Nixon. The revelations of corruption that followed destroyed the Imperial Presidency and today the position of US Head of State is a ceremonial role. The self-evident failure of American Foreign Policy with the Fall of ..
.. Vietnam set a new course for America, and Capitol Hill ensured that the executive focused exclusively on domestic concerns.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1994 Aldrich Ames and his wife were charged by the United States Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union. Whilst directing the analysis of Soviet intelligence operations at the CIA's Europe Division / Counter-intelligence branch he had access to the identities of U.S. ..	Aldrich Ames
.. sources in the KGB and Soviet military. The information Ames provided led to the compromise of at least 100 U.S. intelligence operations and to the execution of at least 10 U.S. Sources. Ames was sentenced with the death penalty since his betrayal resulted in several CIA assets being killed and he was executed two years later at the US Penitentiary in Allenwood, Pennsylvania
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Only Anderson Could Go To Brazil

The state of TIAH

February 21st, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: Our Guest Historian, Stephen Payne, had a great suggestion – we haven't had a good contest in a while, 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). We'll also see if we have enough credit for an ultimate winner to get a complimentary TIAH mug, but we can't promise anything on that yet. Get researching those alternate histories now, folks! The deadline will be March 29th.

in 1972, Richard Nixon, President of the United States of America, sets down in Air Force One on the tarmac of the Beijing Airport. Denounced by his opponents back home as a campaign stunt, the trip resulted in little real progress between the two giant nations because of the intransigence of the two ideological leaders – Mao refused to even entertain the notion of rapprochement with the US, and Nixon wouldn't bend without some kind of economic reform in China. Nixon came back to the US without any agreements, and privately lamented that the trip had been a failure. He lost the presidential election in the fall, and wags made up a new phrase about the trip: “Nixon can't go to China.”

in 1978, Comrade President John Anderson arrives in Brasilia, the capitalist super-city built in the previous decade to thumb its nose at the communist bloc control of the Americas. Comrade Anderson, one of the staunchest anti-capitalists of the Soviet States of America, was the only one capable of making that historic first step of approaching the western hemisphere's only capitalist power, because his socialist credentials were so impeccable. It even became a catchphrase - “Only Anderson could go to Brazil.”

Anthony Eden	In 1996 Harry Turtledove published the counter-history novel East of Eden in which he posed the Suez Question – what would have ..
.. happened if British Prime Minister Anthony Eden had weakened in the face of US opposition to the occupation of the Canal Zone? The outcome would be the loss of Anglo-French authority in the Middle East at a crucial time for the Western World as it sought to maintain a grip on oil supplies.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 2026 a consortium of open source developers buy the controlling shares of Microsoft, Inc for a nominal $1. The once great incorporation had collapsed as its business model had proven unsustainable at a time when Internet resources were universally considered free. The obsolescence of ..	Free Internet
.. fat client computers that were superseded by network-centric computing was the final nail in the coffin. George Bush had said as much when he announced the Communications Age in 1990, proving that perhaps he had 'the vision thing' after all.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Ross Perot	In 1992 Ross Perot was assassinated by agents of the profiteering military-industrial complex after announcing his intention to run in the 1992 U.S. presidential election on CNN's Larry King Live. His promise to get under the hood and fix the engine would have been an end to their racket ..
.. and they had firmly warned Perot that such an announcement would shorten his lifespan considerably.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1965 at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City agents of the Nation of Islam including Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson attempt to assassinate Al-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz formerly known by the various names Malcolm Little, Detroit Red and Malcolm X. They fail, and Brother Malcolm ..	Malcolm X
.. developed the new strategy of inclusiveness he had embarked upon since the Hajj in April 1964. The trip proved to be life-altering. Malcolm met many devout Muslims of a number of different races, whose faith and practice of Islam he came to respect. He believed that racial barriers could potentially be overcome, and that Islam was the one religion that conceivably could erase all racial problems. Today America is no longer a country at war with itself, mostly due to the giant known as Little.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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A Very Special Day Here At The Academy

The state of TIAH

February 20th, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: Our Guest Historian's entries yesterday got stuck in a temporary time loop, repeating the day before. Thankfully, we sorted that out with our trusty Loop-O-Matic, and his real post for yesterday is in place. Stephen also had a great suggestion – we haven't had a good contest in a while, 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). We'll also see if we have enough credit for an ultimate winner to get a complimentary TIAH mug, but we can't promise anything on that yet. Get researching those alternate histories now, folks! The deadline will be March 29th. Now, on with a very special day for us here...

in 1968, folk singer-songwriter Cheryl Ann Vernon is born in Bryan, Texas. As a teenager, she began playing clubs in her home state as a backup singer to other acts. All the while, she was writing her own material and making the contacts necessary for her own breakthrough, which she did in 1989, landing a record deal with Warner Brothers for her debut album, Shilo. Although speculation was rife about the identity of the great love of her life in the album's title song, she settled the mystery in 1997, just before her marriage to author Robert A. Taylor, by telling a reporter from the Rolling Stone that Shilo was her cat. She even produced an album about it after her marriage, called CAT scratches, using her married name for the first time in the public eye.

in 1985, the Republic of Ireland knuckles under to pressure from the Catholic Church and kills a measure in Parliament that would have allowed the sale of contraceptives, in spite of a Supreme Court ruling in 1973 that the Irish constitution provided a right to privacy that allowed such sales. Several pharmacies worked outside of the law to provide contraception to at least married couples, and were covertly aided by the government until a conservative backlash placed staunch Catholics in charge in 1990. A very repressive law against any form of birth control passed the Parliament, and provided an impetus for feminists in Ireland to organize and campaign. They were so successful, and tapped such a huge groundswell of support, that they managed to cast out the conservative government in 1992 and finally implement the 20-year old Supreme Court decision.

Qumran	In 1947 the Palestinian shepherd Mohammed Ahmed el-Hamed found in eleven caves near Wadi Qumran the Dead Sea Scrolls comprising c850 documents including texts from the Hebrew Bible. Of great religious and historical significance, they are practically the only known surviving Biblical documents ..
.. written before AD 100. The State of Palestine used the scrolls as a key bargaining chip in the negotiation of the two states solution in 1982, when the documents were ceremoniously handed to Israeli Chairman Yitzhak Rabin by President Mahmoud Abbas in the Free City of Jerusalem.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1969 a world wide catastrophe occurred on the date predicted by anti-pope Michel Collin as the undeclared war between United States, Russia and China in Vietnam escalated into a nuclear exchange.	Nuclear War
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Seato	In 1976 the South-east Asia Collective Defense Treaty (SEATO) was disbanded. The defense considered necessary at the signing of the Manilla Pact in 1954 was no longer required. The success of President Douglas MacArthur's Second Pacific War had rendered the organization unnecessary as ..
.. friendly governments ruled the AsiaPac states by the mid-1970s.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1992 promising to get under the hood and fix the engine, Ross Perot announced his intention to run in the 1992 U.S. presidential election on CNN's Larry King Live. When US votes found out the extent of incompetence and waste in Washington, they were simply shocked, and today Perot is ..	Ross Perot
.. recognised as the Father of Small Government in the United States.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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