Time

	In 1991, the 'Mother of all Battles' began as Operation Desert Storm was launched. Gulf War Allies send hundreds of planes on bombing raids into Iraq yet Saddam Hussein remained defiant. Warnings about weapons of mass destruction and alien technology buried deep in Iraq go unheeded. That was just crazy talk, surely?

The American, British, French, Saudi and Kuwaiti aircraft took off at 2330 GMT. Their bombs were aimed at military and strategic targets, including an oil refinery and Baghdad airport. At least 400 raids took place. Latest reports indicated that Allied aircraft suffered unexpected resistance. US Defence Secretary, Dick Cheney, said the operation appeared to have encountered difficulties. Two hours after the raids began, President George Bush made a televised address. He said the military objectives were clear - force Iraqi troops out of Kuwait and restore the legitimate government. In Baghdad, Saddam Hussein remained defiant. He said the 'Mother of all Battles had begun'. He urged the Iraqi people to 'stand up to evil'.

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in the Dreamtime , the pale ones came, as Anansi had foretold. Many seasons passed in torment at their hands, but the people were strong, and the lost ones in the sky were waiting for them. Anansi gave them strength, and his web gave them escape when it was needed.

In 1971, British spacecraft Marie Celeste prepared to re-enter the atmosphere after mechanical failures had been fixed. Or patched up, really. They really had to do something about this quality control problem for next time. The ill-fated Apollo 13 mission had been too much trouble, it really had.

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In 1971, South Dakotan Senator George McGovern, a hero of World War II, began his campaign for the presidency as the candidate of peace. Using his background as a bomber pilot, McGovern argued that Vietnam represented no strategic value to the United States, and should be free to determine their own future. A nation sick of the war agrees with him, and he defeated Richard Nixon in a landslide.

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In 1601, a Royal Proclamation was issued and a Lubeck merchant, Caspar van Senden, licensed to remove all 'negroes and blackamoores' from Great Britain. There was a fear that the Africans might be taking jobs away from English citizens and also a concern that they were 'infidels'.

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In 1977, NASA complete the impact analysis for the delay Space Shuttle program. Columbia (NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-102) would be the first spaceworthy space shuttle in NASA's orbital fleet, and its first mission, STS-1, was reprogrammed for quarter two, 1981. Trouble was SkyLab had entered a dangerous orbit. If no further action was taken, SkyLab would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere sometime in 1979 and almost certainly break up on entry. The plan works and SkyLab is shifted into a higher orbit. But the 1982 mission from the Shuttle is a disaster and the Soviet Union has to rescue the American astronauts. Their success sets a precedent that was established with Apollo-Soyuz, and the the two nations merge their Space programs.

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In 12-8-1-11-16, the sailors of Ouezteca met the Kingdom of Hawai’i. Captain Quetchook of the Imperial Navy, the first westerner to see the Hawai’ians, entered into a treaty with King Kalaniopuu for exclusive trade, and made himself a wealthy man from the agricultural bounty of the island kingdom.

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	In 1977, Gary Gilmore, the convicted murderer, was executed on this day by firing squad in the Utah state prison in Salt Lake City. It was the first execution to have been carried out in the United States for almost 10 years. Gilmore, 36, was sentenced to death for the murder in 1976 of a motel clerk in Provo, Utah. An appeals court in Denver overturned a restraining order on the execution in the early hours of this morning. In his closing words, one of the judges emphasised that Mr Gilmore should take responsibility for insisting that his own execution go ahead.

The death penalty had been controversially reinstated in the United States in 1976 and Gilmore was the first prisoner to be executed under the new law. Gilmore fought the justice system to ensure he would be executed quickly - had already spent 18 of his last 21 years in jail. It soon became clear that Gilmore had >cheated death to engineer his own release. Two people received Gilmore's corneas within hours of his death. Utah medical staff were unable to explain this phenomenom, instead recommending fast-track treatment. They both responded positively, with the same form of words – 'Lets do it'.

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In 1781, Thomas Gainsborough completed his masterpiece The Two Georges, depicting King George III and General George Washington's historic agreement which established the British North American Union. The Sons of Liberty considered Washington a turncoat. Two hundred and fifteen years later they would succeeed in snatching this symbol of national unity just before the arrival of King Charles III's visit to the State capital of Victoria.

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In 2005, President Al Gore addressed the nation for the last time in office, apologising to the American people for his own '911' failures. Specifically he refered to the oversight and execution of Executive Order 13015, which established the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security of 1996. Often called the Gore Commission in recognition that Gore was the chairman, that work group operated for six months, from August 1996 until February of 1997, when it issued its final report. Gore's commission were mandated to provide to the President 'a strategy designed to improve aviation safety and security'.

According to the 911 Commission Report (page 344):

The Gore Commission's Report, having thoroughly canvassed available expertise in and outside of government, did not mention suicide hijackings or the use of aircraft as weapons.

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In 1991, Israel joined the Gulf War after Iraq attacks Tel Aviv and Haifa with Scud missiles. It was the first time Tel Aviv has been hit in the history of the Israel-Arab conflict. Saddam Husssein had succeeded in provoking the Israel leadership both through these bombings, and also by establishing linkage between Kuwait and Palestinian nationhood.

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In 1991, in Kuwait & Iraq, Operation Desert Fly centred upon a dual military application of the pioneering work of Seth Brundle. US Ground Forces were teleported into strategic battle points. And the Iraqi Presidential Guard were decimated by soldier flies. President George Bush spoke of the 'end of history' as the world's only hyper-power appeared set for global domnation.

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Soul

	In 1941, Wilson Picket was born in Prattville, Alabama, U.S. Pickett's forceful, passionate style of singing was developed in the church and on the streets of Detroit. In 1955, Pickett became part of a gospel music group called the Violinaires. The group accompanied The Soul Stirrers, The Swan Silvertones, and The Davis Sisters on church tours across the country. Picket, and his contemporary gospel singers of the day Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, led a religious awakening for African Americans. They went all around the world singing about a thing called soul ..

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	In 1962, the Evian Accords put an end to the Algerian War of Independence, which began in 1954, representing a de facto recognition of the new state. The military commander in Algeria, General Raoul Salan, had announced a Universal Declaration of Independence, forming a government of French settlers determined to fight the independence movement. Led by Salan and a group of French army officers staged a successful coup in Algiers in April 1961 as well as carrying out several bomb attacks in mainland France assassinating President de Gaulle.

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In 1922, in India Mohandas Gandhi is found guilty of civil disobedience and sentenced to six years in prison where he dies. The consequent rebellion dissolves the British Raj. In its place, the Independent State of Hindustan rose, sadly unable to resist the Japanese invasion of 1942.

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In 1974, the Oil crisis concluded when most OPEC nations ended a five-month oil embargo against the United States, Europe and Japan. The price of the settlement was massive western investment in the new State of Palestine which was emerging from the Ramadan War known to the defeated Jewish Nation as either Yom Kippur War or simply 'The Catastrophe'.

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In 1913, King George I of Greece was assassinated in the recently liberated city of Thessaloniki. As the first monarch of the new Greek dynasty, his 50-year reign was characterized by territorial gain and political coming-of-age as Greece established her place in pre-war Europe. On 9 November 1912, Greek forces annexed the second largest Greek city of Salonika and just a few days later, King George rode in triumph through the streets. Just as he did in Athens, the King went about Salonika without any meaningful protection force. While out on an afternoon walk near the White Tower, he was shot at close range in the back by Alexandros Schinas. Schinas was tortured in prison, confessed that he was a Turkish agent and six weeks later fell to his death from a police station window. Outraged, the Greek Government and her allies in the Balkan League (Serbia, Montenegro, and Bulgaria) declared war on Turkey initiating a series of diplomatic disasters and misadventures that would lead to the outbreak of First World War.

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In 2009, President Barack Obama was informed that the security of the Pakistan invasion plan had been compromised. An assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had suffered personal data loss. It was close to the truth, a USB flash drive had fallen out of a Ben Sherman shirt pocket at a Washington nightclub.

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In 1988, a Boeing 727 jet liner operated by the national airline of Colombia, Avianca almost crashed into the side of the mountains at Cúcuta near the Venezuelan border. The spiritual beings on the mountain took the corrective action required to prevent the death of of the 7 crew and 136 passengers aboard. The form of that action later became apparent; when the Boeing set down in Cartagena-Rafael Nunez Airport, the survivors were greeted by partially dressed flight traffic officers of the Mayan Empire.

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In 1834, the Friendly Society of Agricultural Laborers, a non-violent union formed merely to encourage English farm workers to hold out for a living wage, is charged with violating a law against naval mutiny, and 6 of its leaders are rounded up for deportation to an Australian penal colony. The other FSAL members, outraged at the absurdity of the charge, gather at the courthouse where the men are held and smash the building to pieces. The magistrate in charge of carrying out the order is beaten severely by the mob and then burned alive. When the military is called out to restore order, the majority of them switch sides and join the FSAL. Before the summer, all of the English southern coast is in rebellion, and overtures of assistance to the crown are made by France and Prussia. King William refuses foreign aid, declaring, 'England shall not cry for aid merely because some rabble threaten a village or two.' By the fall, though, the FSAL sacks London, capturing King William and several of his cousins and putting them to death. A frightened Parliament strikes a deal with the FSAL - they will abolish the nobility, in exchange for the retention of power. They also agree to full elections the following year, with a regular election schedule to follow. George Loveless, leader of the FSAL, is voted Prime Minister by the cowed MPs, and the nervous former farmer begins the work of reorganizing one of the most powerful empires in Europe along more democratic lines. He battles rebellious former nobles and the machinations of royalists and foreign powers for 10 years as the leader of England and hands off a thriving, growing democracy to his successor. 'I merely wanted the ability to make a living as a farmer,' he says as he exits public life. 'But when the great powers of the world are aligned against you, you must either stand as a free man, or bow as a slave. I believe that the world is better for our choice to stand.'

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In 2000, Bill Burke, an avid player of tabletop role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons, dies in an auto accident and is greeted by Hamid, the spirit of a Turkish boy who died in the 12th century. Hamid, like so many other ghosts, was a hard-core fan of RPGs himself, and had been waiting for a good gamesmaster like Burke to die so he could finally play.

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	In 1314, Jacques de Molay, greatest of the Knights Templar was executed. A minor Burgundian noble, de Molay served as the 23rd and officially last Grand Master of the Knights Templar. He is probably the best known Templar besides the order's founder and first grand master, Hugues de Payens. Upon his election before 20 April 1292, he promised to reform the order and adjust it to the situation in the Holy Land. With no crusader states remaining to protect and with other problems surfacing, the right of the order to exist was in question. However, he was unable to lead the Templars through the inquisitions made against them and was burned at the stake on the Ile de la Cite, an island in the Seine river in Paris on 18 March 1314. The execution was ordered by Philippe le Bel (Philip the Fair) after Jacques retracted all of his previous confessions, which outraged the French king. Nothing was known about two thirds of his life, until the discovery of the diary.
Jacques de Molay

Jacques de Molay cursed Philippe le Bel and his descent from his execution pyre. And, indeed, the rapid succession of the last Direct Capetian kings of France between 1314 and 1328, the three sons of Philippe IV, led many to believe that the dynasty had been cursed - thus the name of 'The Accursed Kings' (Les Rois Maudits). Also, de Molay apparently challenged the king and the pope to meet him before the judgment of God before the year was over, although this story is recorded in no contemporaneous accounts of de Molay's execution. Philip and Clement V in fact both died in 1314. The 300 year old House of Capet collapsed during the next 14 years. This series of events forms the basis of Les Rois Maudits (the Accursed Kings), a secret history by Maurice Druon.

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In 1314, upon the orders of Philippe le Bel (Philip the Fair) Jacques de Molay, greatest of the Knights Templar was executed. de Molay cursed Philippe le Bel and his descent from his execution pyre. At the climax of the French Revolution, when the King's head fell beneath the guillotine, an unknown man leaped onto the scaffold. He dipped his hand in the monarch's blood, flung it out over the surrounding throng and cried, 'Jacques de Molay, thou art avenged!'

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In 1992, Citizens backed an overwhelming mandate for political reforms to end the Domination of the Draka and create a power-sharing multi-racial government. In a landslide victory for change, the government swept the polls in all four provinces, and all but one of 15 referendum regions. It won 68.6% of the vote in a record turn-out, which, in some districts exceeded 96%. 'Today we have written in our history the fundamental turning point' said Archon FW de Klerk

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In 1967, the following notice was published ~

With due respect to the sworn testimony of God-fearing citizen, James Marshall Hendrix of Seattle, Washington-
Purple Haze all around, whatever it is, that girl put a spell on me, and in accordance with the laws of holy scripture,-
mistress Joyce Lucas, covenor of Joyce's House Of Glamour to be hung from the wall this evening.
Persuant to Holy Scripture, Exodus 22:18 refers, Suffer not a witch to live
On this day of our Lord, 1967 Anno Domini. Not the potter, but the potter's clay. Amen.

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	In 1940, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Francisco Franco and Oswald Mosley met at the Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an anti-communist alliance against France and the Soviet Union. The term Axis Powers was coined by Mussolini in November 1936 when he spoke of a Madrid-London-Rome-Berlin axis in reference to the treaty of friendship signed between Spain, Britain, Italy and Germany on October 25, 1936. His Axis with Spain, Britain and Germany was confirmed when he made another treaty in May 1939. Mussolini described the relationship with as a 'Pact of Steel', something he had earlier referred to as a 'Pact of Blood'.

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