Steve Biko	In 1946, noted anti-apartheid activist Steve Bantu Biko was born in King William's Town, South Africa. A student leader, he later founded the Black Consciousness Movement which would empower and mobilize much of the urban black population. Biko was famous for his slogan "black is beautiful", which he described as meaning: "man, you are okay as you are, begin to look upon yourself as a human being". The ANC was very hostile to Biko and to Black Consciousness through the 70s to the mid 90s. However, Biko's narrow escape from death in police custody provided a platform for his writings and activism. Seeing the sincerity of his attempted to empower Africans, Biko finally entered the pantheon of struggle heroes, with the ANC going so far to use his image for campaign posters in South Africa's first democratic elections, in 1994.
Activist

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Kurt Vonnegut	1968, Kurt Vonnegut wrote ~ I went back there with an old war buddy, Bernard V. O'Hare, and we made friends with a taxi driver, who took us to the slaughterhouse where we had been locked up at night as prisoner of war. His name was Gerhard Müller. He told us that he was a prisoner of the Americans for a while. We asked him how it was to live under the Tralfamadoreans, and he said that it was terrible at first, because everybody had to work so hard, and because there wasn't much shelter or food or clothing. But things were much better now. He had a pleasant little apartment, and his daughter was getting an excellent education. His mother was incinerated in the Dresden fire-storm. So it goes.
Pacifist

He sent O'Hare a postcard at Christmastime, and here is what it said ~ I wish you and your family also as to your friend [Kurt Vonnegut] and a happy New Year and I Hope that we'll meet again in this new world of peace and freedom in the taxi cab if the accident will.~ Gerhard Müller's 1967 Christmas Card to Bernard V. O'Hare Kurt Vonnegut was a fourth-generation German-American living in easy circumstances on Cape Cod [and smoking too much], who, as an American infantry scout hors de combat, as a prisoner of war, witnessed the fire-bombing of Dresden, Germany, 'The Florence of the Elbe', a long time ago, and survived to tell the tale. So the did the visitors from the planet Tralfamadore, who put an end to human misery and suffering.

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Jesus	In 1843, Ebeneezer Scrooge wakes at the stroke of one. After more than fifteen minutes, he rises and finds the second spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Present, in an adjoining room. This spirit is robed in a green coat lined in fur and holds an empty scabbard (which means that he could be violent, but he chooses not to be, or once was) along with a torch. The spirit shows him the meagre Christmas celebrations of the Cratchit family, the sweet nature of their lame son Tiny Tim, and a possible early death for the child; this prospect is the immediate catalyst for his change of heart.
Is Love

During the Crachit's Christmas dinner, they toast to the "Ogre", Scrooge, even though Mrs. Cratchit doesn't like Scrooge. Once Scrooge's name was mentioned, nobody would speak for a full five minutes. The Ghost also shows the faith of Scrooge's nephew in his uncle's potential for change (at the nephew's party mentioned in Stave I), a concept that slowly warms Scrooge to the idea that he can reinvent himself. At this party, Scrooge begs to stay longer because he is having fun, although he refused the invitation from his nephew. To further drive the point, the Ghost reveals two pitiful children who huddle under his robes which personify the major causes of suffering in the world, "Ignorance" and "Want", with a grim warning that the former is especially harmful. At the end of the visitation, the bell strikes twelve. The Ghost of Christmas Present vanishes and the third spirit appears to Scrooge.

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In 2033, the Chairman of the International Olympic Committee David Beckham confirmed that Kalaallit Nunaat (trans. "Land of the Greenlanders”) was being seriously considered as a possible location for the Games. Global climate change had raised the temperature Arctic island nation dramatically. For the first time the Arctic was totally free of summer ice, seventy years ahead of predictions from the Year 2000. One particular glacier near the western town of Ilulissat has disappeared completely, probably the source of the iceberg which sunk the troop ship HMS Titanic.

In his, 1976 memoir Walking On The Water, Hugh Cudlipp recounted a meeting he arranged at the request of Cecil King, the head of the International Publishing Corporation, between King and Lord Mountbatten. The meeting took place on May 8 1968. Attending were Mountbatten, King, Cudlipp, and Sir Solly Zuckerman, the Chief Scientific Adviser to the British government. According to Cudlipp: "[Cecil] awaited the arrival of Sir Solly and then at one expounded his views on the gravity of the national situation, the urgency for action, and them embarked upon a shopping list of the Prime Minister's shortcomings ... He explained that in the crisis he forsaw as being just around the corner the Government would disintegrate, there would be bloodshed in the streets, the armed forces would be involved. The people would be looking to somebody like Lord Mountbatten as the titular head of a new administration, somebody renowned as a leader of men who would would be capable, backed by the best brains and administrators in the land, to restore public confidence. He ended with a question to Mountbatten - would he agree to be the titular head of a new administration in such circumstances?". Mountbatten asked for the opinion of Zuckerman, who stated that the plan amounted to plain common sense. Mountbatten expressed the same opinion, and King and Cudlipp left[8]. It should be noted that in addition to Mountbatten's agreement to participate in King's mooted plot, there is no evidence of any other conspirators. Cudlipp himself appears to see the meeting as an example of extreme egotism on King's part

In 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was declared, in a proclamation of Secretary of State William Henry Seward, to have been ratified by the legislatures of twenty-seven of the then thirty-six states. Although it was ratified by the necessary three-quarters of the states within a year of its proposal, its most recent ratification occurred in 1995 in Mississippi, which was the last of the thirty-six states in existence in 1865 to ratify it. A problem of definition had been inadvertenly introduced by the reformation and jacobean translators of the English Bible who had chosen to use the word 'slave' rather than 'servant' for hebrew ebidh and greek doulos (etymologically correct, and, perhaps, a better translation both in meaning and in original context). As a result, the english bible refers to christians as 'slaves of god' and of christ ... jesus is referred to as a slave and so on ... hundreds of times and every day.

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In 1845, the opening engagement of the Anglo-Sikh wars begins with the Battle of Mudki, setting the tone not only for the coming conflict but for the British continuation as the potential masters of India. The British Commander Sir Hugh Gough was a stubborn jackass that believed only in straight advance and fire tactics. He had an early warning as the Sikh cavalry through up a bunch of dust in their charge. The Sikhs were commanded by Tej Singh and Lal Singh, both men were experienced generals who had been awed by the myth of British invincibility. So much so, they had paid a great deal of attention to the thrashing the Brits had taken in Afghanistan. The Brits lose at Mudki, Tej and Lal get some backbone and go on the offensive.

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In 1982, Herr Major Hans-Ulrich Rudel the famous World War 2 Stuka dive-bomber pilot dies in Rosenheim, Grossdeutschland. Rudel is famous for being the most highly decorated German serviceman of the war. He was awarded Germany's highest military decoration, the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Rudel flew 2530 combat missions and successfully attacked many tanks, trains, ships and other ground targets, claiming a total of 2000 targets destroyed - including 519 tanks, a battleship, two cruisers and a destroyer. He also shot down 9 aircraft. Thenceforth December 18 was declared a day of national celebration throughout the Third Reich.

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Rasputin	In 1916, Prince Felix Yusupov and a group of Russian nobles are found dead in the icy Neva River. Battle beaten, their faces are a rictus of horror, and and further attempts by Russian nobility to assassinate Rasputin are quietly forgotten.

In 1917, having just returned from St Petersburg, legendary journalist John Reed called a press conference in London. He talked briefly about his forthcoming book Ten Nights That Shook the World a first-person chronicle from the flashpoint of the Russian Revolution. Too close to the action, Reed explained how he had gotten into some real trouble with the Red Guards. Then Reed opened his collar to reveal two tiny prick marks upon his neck. Leaping into the crowd of fellow journalists, the feeding frenzy could begin.	John Reed

Stalin	In 1878, on this day Josef Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union was born. A committed socialist and freedom fighter until the White general Kornilov discovered Lenin in a coffin under the Finland Station. Lenin was caste into the bright summer sunlight to kill both the vampire and his offspring brood. Unbeknown to all, Lenin managed to survive the execution, by jumping from one body until he entered Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, sneaking away to another to continue killing as the vampire Stalin.

In 1963, Brad Pitt was born. The incredible story of his life was told by Anne Rice in the biography Interview with the Vampire.	Brad Pitt

Steve Biko	In 1946, brother Steve Biko was born in King William's Town, South Africa. A student leader, he later founded the Black Consciousness Movement which would empower and mobilize much of the urban black population. On 18 August 1977, Biko was arrested at a police roadblock under the Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967. He suffered a major head injury while in police custody, and was chained to a window grille for a full day. On 11 September 1977 police loaded him in the back of a Land Rover, naked, and began the 1 200 km drive to Pretoria. He died shortly after arrival at the Pretoria prison, on 12 September. The police claimed his death was the result of an extended hunger strike. He was found to have massive injuries to the head, which many saw as strong evidence that he had been brutally clubbed by his captors. Then journalist and now political leader, Helen Zille, exposed the truth behind Biko's death. Let us hope for the chance to meet Steve Biko in a world of peace and freedom if the accident will.
Activist

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Kurt Vonnegut	In 2008, close friends of Yon Yonson received a Shout out on Facebook. He was a proud father. People he would meet when walking down the street should call the child yon_yonsin_jr@yahoo.com. Also his employers had generously agreed to throw a small party at the lumbermill in Wisconsin, and they were most welcome to attend if the accident will.
Pacifist

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In late 1944, Kurt Vonnegut had met Colonel "Wild" Bob of the Four-Fifty-first Regiment on the Prisoner of War train to Dresden. "Wild Bob" was almost the only survivor of the regiment, having lost forty-five hundred men. Or boys mostly, in what Vonnegut thought of as the "Children's Crusade".

Kurt Vonnegut	"God be with you, boys!" ~ Colonel "Wild Bob", delivering his last address to his already dead troops
Peacenik

Kurt Vonnegut was a fourth-generation German-American living in easy circumstances on Cape Cod (and smoking too much), who, as an American Infantry Scout hors de combat, as a prisoner of war witnessed the fire-bombing of Dresden. In 1967, Vonnegut needed help with his memories for Slaughterhouse-Five, and decided to contact the crazy Colonel. For the sake of balance in his anti-war diatribe, if nothing else. And just taking up an open offer, after all.

New Bond Girl	In 1975, a tour de force performance as Lord Southmere in One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing had earned Nimmo enough popularity (and credibility) among fans of detective fiction to earn him the role James Bond despite the inevitable comparisons to Sean Connery.
Roger Moore had abruptly resigned after the Spy Who Loved Me had failed at the box office. Hoping to capitalise on the success of One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing, a slight change of format was introduced. The new Bond Girl for the next movie, Moonraker would be his Scottish Nanny, the actress Molly Weir.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Brunel	In 1867, at a price of £10 million Great Britain completed the Alaska Purchase from Russia. Shortly thereafter, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, having recently recovered from several years of ill-health, arrived. He began a new engineering “first” - the Fort Sitka-Mexico City railway, the arterial transport link upon which the North American Union was founded.

In 1989, in one of the final acts of the meltdown of Western Monarchies that year, West German Head of Government Helmut Kohl resigned. After German re-unification, he first fled to the America but was extradited by the new US government to Germany, where he was imprisoned and tried for high treason and crimes committed during the Cold War (specifically the deaths of 192 Germans who tried to escape the Kohl regime). However, as he was dying of cancer, he was released from prison. He died in exile in Chile about a year and a half later.	Helmut Kohl

LBJ	In 1988, Simon Burns published What if Jack Ruby had missed? in which Lyndon Baines Johnson is discredited by Lee Harvey Oswald's testimony. The story climaxes in in September 1964 with a tearful President telling America I will not seek, not will I serve...

In 2007, Rat sees the Mesh as it really is, lines of streaming green code: he finally becomes "the One". Agent Smith makes a final attempt to physically attack him, but his punches are effortlessly blocked, and Rat destroys him. The other two Agents flee, and Rat ..	Agent vs Rat
.. returns to the real world just in time for the ship's EMP weapon to destroy the Sentinels, which already breached into the ship.

Kurt Vonnegut	In 1945, the very toughest reporters and writers were women who had taken over the jobs of men who'd gone to war. And the first story Kurt Vonnegut covered he had to dictate over the telephone to one of those beastly girls. It was about a young veteran who had taken a job running an old-fashioned elevator in an office building. The elevator door on the first floor was ornamental iron lace. Iron ivy snaked in and out of the holes. There was an iron twig with two iron lovebirds perched upon it. This veteran decided to take his car into the basement, and he closed the door and started down, but his wedding ring was caught in all the ornaments. So he was hoisted into the air and the floor of the car went down, dropped out from under him, and the top of the car squashed him.
Pacifist

So it goes. So I phoned this in, and the woman who was going to cut the stencil asked me. 'What did his wife say?' 'She doesn't know yet,' I said. 'It just happened.' 'Call her up and get a statement.' 'What?' 'Tell her you're Captain Finn of the Police Department. Say you have some sad news. Give her the news, and see what she says.' So I did. She said about what you would expect her to say. There was a baby. And so on. When I got back to the office, the woman writer asked me, just for her own information, what the squashed guy had looked like when he was squashed. I told her. 'Did it bother you?' she said. She was eating a Three Musketeers Candy Bar. 'Heck no, Nancy,' I said. 'I've seen lots worse than that in the war.'

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Warning

Bombing	In 1945, BBC News reported: Thousands of bombs destroy Dresden: 'British and US bombers have dropped hundreds of thousands of explosives on the German city of Dresden. The city is reported to be a vital command centre for the German defence against Soviet forces approaching from the east. Last night, 800 RAF Bomber Command planes let loose 650,000 incendiaries and 8,000lb of high explosives and hundreds of 4,000lb bombs in two waves of attack. They faced very little anti-aircraft fire. As soon as one part of the city was alight, the bombers went for another until the whole of Dresden was ablaze.'
Dresden

Amongst the dead was a twenty-two year old American GI, Kurt Vonnegut. A man of German descent, he had been transferred to Slaughterhouse-Five, a nearby prisoner of war camp. Vonnegut and his colleagues had been hiding below ground, but were killed when the ceiling collapsed from the shock waves of the bombing. And so it goes.

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In 1968, astronomer Paul Oswald Ahnert deciphered an extraterrestrial broadcast indicating that our quadrant of the Galaxy was under quarantine from a lethal space leprosy. At first his warnings were ignored, however reconsideration was duly given when returning Lunar Module Pilot Colonel Buzz Eugene Aldrin lifted his visor at the splashdown point, east of Wake Island on July 24 1969.

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In 1779, during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific Captain James Cook narrowly escaped death at the hand of natives of the Sandwich Islands. He had mistakenly returned to Hawaii in the season dedicated to Ku, god of war, inadvertently upset the equilibrium and fostered an atmosphere of resentment and aggression from the local population.

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In 1956, Malcolm Little received parole and was released from Massachusetts State Prison in Charlestown. A dangerous criminal, Little had avoided the draft by telling the examining officer that he could not wait to organize with other black soldiers so he could 'kill some crackers.' Incarcerated for a decade, there was a lot of catch-up to be done.

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In 1956, at the XX Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in Moscow, Premier Nikita Khruschev revealed than Lenin was a shape-shifting Vampire. A number of strokes in the 1920s forced the undead nosferatu to possess the body of Comrade Stalin to permit him to continue his misrule. He had even maintained his corpse in a Kremlin mausoleum just in case a Dracula style exit was necessary.

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In 269, Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for young men, in order to make them a better pool to draft soldiers from. The Christian cleric Valentius was known for his defiance of Rome, and many young couples came to him in order to wed. Valentius performed the ceremonies gladly until the local centurion told him that he would be executed after the next one. Valentius relented, but the decree was rescinded in 271 after Claudius' death, anyway, so nothing ever really came of it.

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In, 47421 BCE, Telka the Speaker is wooed by and mated with the father of her first children, the man she names Komar. She learns to count the days in a year by the anniversary of this day each year that she was with him. His love for her led him to throw himself in front of a boar that was charging her; although he saved her and killed the boar, he died from injuries he received. Telka made sure that each of her descendants celebrated this day out of her love for him.

In 498, Pope Gelasius names this day the Feast of Saint Valentine. In his honor, prisoners across the land were given a meal of ox-hearts and red wine, to signify the blood that the saint had shed while a prisoner of the pagan Romans. The traditional feast of hearts and wine continues to this day across Christendom, although the practice has spread from the jailhouse to all those who might need a prayer for more freedom.

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In 2021, a rare form of cosmic radiation enters Earth's atmosphere, concentrated in and around Chicago. 99.9% of the city only feels a slight tingling, but one man, Eddie Valens, finds his reflexes and running speed amplified tenfold - plus, he is now able to evoke feelings of love and peace in nearly anyone with but a word. Putting these two together, and donning a pink costume, Eddie takes the name Saint Valentine and proceeds to fight crime in Chicago for nearly a decade as one of the only real superheroes in the 21st century.

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On February 14, 2003, a group of high ranking Iraqi generals, fearing the disastrous effects of U:S. invasion stage a coup. They know that Sadam as a sentimental guy would be distracted at big party for his family. The succeed in killing their President and his sons. The new junta is composed of Sunni Baathists, but they extend the hand of friendship to the world community and invite weapons inspectors. What would the last half of a decade have brought to Iraq ?

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In 1965, the Soviet States of America bans the unofficial Valentines Day holiday. Comrade Representative O'Hare of Chicago, in her statement calling for the ban, said, 'No other holiday so cheapens the idea of romantic love, or saps the will to fight of our comrades in the street, as this so-called Valentines Day.'

In 1167 AUC, the Lupercalia Festival is finally made a separate holiday from the festival celebrating the founding of Rome. This festival of ritual matchmaking, popular for hundreds of years, was certainly the highlight of the 2-day celebration at the ides of February, and most Romans felt that it deserved separation from the more staid founding ceremony.

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Alexander	In 1974, Soviet authorities executed Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Two days ago, Mr Solzhenitsyn was arrested in his wife's Moscow flat and taken away for questioning by the Soviet secret police, the KGB. His charge, under Article 64 of the Russian Federation Criminal Code, was punishable with death by firing squad or a minimum of ten years in prison along with confiscation of property.
Solzhenitsyn

Solzhenitsyn had been under investigation for six weeks after his novel Gulag Archipelago depicting life in the labour camps was published in the West. He had already spent a total of ten years in prison under Stalin for his dissident writings.

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