Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Chris Matthews

2007-07-30T03:58:09Z

Buster55:

'''Christopher John Matthews''' is the [[liberal]] [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] host of the talk show ''Hardball with Chris Matthews''. He has worked for four Democratic politicians. He was a speechwriter for President [[Jimmy Carter]] and wrote Carter's famous ''Malaise'' speech. Despite the fact that he voted for [[George W. Bush]] in 2000, like most hosts and journalist on [[MSNBC]] he is a vocal opponent of the Bush Administration. Matthews has also won a series of awards ranging from the David Brinkley Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism, to the Gold Medal Award from the Pennsylvania Society. Though he may lean left, Matthew's experience as a News Anchor, Bureau Chief, Presedintial speechwriter, and best-selling author has earned him much respect among the Journaling community.
{{DEFAULTSORT: Matthews, Chris}}

[[category:broadcasters|Matthews, Chris]]

Bill O'Reilly

2007-07-15T20:19:24Z

Buster55: Vandalism

[[Image:Bll.png|thumb|right|Bill O' Reilly On The O' Reilly Report]]
'''Bill O'Reilly''' is a commentator and host of the show ''The O'Reilly Factor'' on the [[Fox News Channel]], which he calls the "No Spin Zone." O'Reilly often remarks that his personal political viewpoint is not captured by the modern [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] and [[Republican Party|Republican]] archetypes and would rather call himself a "traditionalist." In this vein, he has expressed support for some positions not traditionally associated with his political supporters including anthropogenic climate change and civil unions for both heterosexual and homosexual couples. The hosts who fill in for him, however, are all standard [[conservative]] Republicans, such as [[John Kasich]], [[Michelle Malkin]], and [[Laura Ingraham]]. ([[Tony Snow]] also had filled in a few times prior to becoming White House Press Secretary).

''The O'Reilly Factor'' is the highest-rated hours on any cable news channel. 20 million people a week watch the show and there are millions more who listen to him on radio stations. <ref>[http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/23/60minutes/main645202.shtml Bill O'Reilly: "No Spin"] Transcript 60 Minutes with Mike Wallace aired Sept. 26, 2004. </ref>

==Trivia==

* O'Reilly and [[Stephen Colbert]] have a friendly rivalry, even appearing on each others' shows.

* O'Reilly is mentioned many times in the New York Times best selling book: ''Lies And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them'', by [[Al Franken]].

==References==
<references/>
{{DEFAULTSORT: Oreilly, Bill}} 
[[Category:Broadcasters|Oreilly, Bill]]

Cable News Network

2007-06-10T21:53:52Z

Buster55: Vandalism (unexplained deletion of content)

[[Image:LOGOCNN.png|right|thumb]]
'''CNN''' (officially the '''Cable News Network''') is the oldest 24 hour cable news channel in the [[United States]]. First started in 1980 by [[Ted Turner]] it is a division of the Turner Broadcasting System, which is owned by Time Warner.

From its origin as a cable-only service, CNN now broadcasts worldwide by satellite, with programs presented from studios in several countries in addition to their headquarters in Atlanta. Some regions receive locally produced opt-outs (under the name "CNN International"), and there are also broadcasts in [[Spanish]], [[German]], [[Italian]], [[Croatian]], [[Turkish]] and [[Gaelic]].

== Allegations of Bias ==

It has been accused by media critics of having a liberal slant to their reporting.[http://newsbusters.org/taxonomy/term/13]

== See also ==

*[[Larry King]]

==External Links==
:[http://www.cnn.com/ CNN official site]
[[category:broadcasting]]

Libertarianism

2007-04-13T03:40:03Z

Buster55: /* Notable Libertarians */

'''Libertarianism''' is a political philosophy emphasizing ''liberty'' and ''property''. A libertarian believes in minimizing or entirely eliminating government interventionism in all aspects of life; including economic, personal and in foreign policy matters. <ref>"Libertarians are neither. Unlike liberals or conservatives, Libertarians advocate a high degree of both personal and economic liberty. For example, Libertarians advocate freedom in economic matters, so we're in favor of lowering taxes, slashing bureaucratic regulation of business, and charitable -- rather than government -- welfare. But Libertarians are also socially tolerant. We won't demand laws or restrictions on other people who we may not agree because of personal actions or lifestyles.
Think of us as a group of people with a "live and let live" mentality and a balanced checkbook." [http://www.lp.org/article_85.shtml] </ref>
Libertarianism is closely related to liberalism, if this word is interpreted according to its original meaning of '[[classical liberal | classical liberalism]]'.

Libertarians support an expansive view of liberty as the proper basis for organizing civil society. They tend to define liberty as the freedom to do whatever one wishes up to the point that one's behavior begins to interfere with another's person or property through coercive means. At the point of interference, each party would become subject to certain principled rules for adjudicating disputes, generally accepting that one who has demonstrated a proven lack of respect for the rights of others should be subject to sanctions, including possible constraints on their freedom. They believe that liberty is the right of every individual.

Libertarians generally defend the ideal of freedom from the perspective of how little one is constrained by authority, i.e., how much one is allowed to do (also referred to as negative liberty). This ideal is distinguished from a view of freedom focused on how much one is able to do (also called positive liberty).

There are more libertarians than members of the [[Libertarian Party]]. Libertarians tend to use the word "libertarian" (small "l") to refer to the philosophy, and "Libertarian" (capital "L") to refer to the party. Two general factions exist in the libertarian movement. The first are those libertarians who apply the principles of right to person and property to an absolute. They believe that no person, group, or government is above the right to violate these two things. They thus believe that government itself is illegitimate because it violates person and property. These libertarians subscribe to [[anarcho-capitalism]], as first named by [[Murray N. Rothbard]]. They believe that law and security can be handled by private means in the free market. The other faction believes in a very limited government. They are often referred to as [[minarchists]]. Libertarian minarchists want the state to only enforce law and order but generally nothing else.

Libertarians tend to view liberalism as a philosophy advocating less government interference in private morality and more government control of business, and view conservatism as a philosophy advocating more government interference in private morality and less government control of business, while they view libertarianism as advocating less government control in all areas. However, there have been fusionist attempts to mix libertarianism and with social conservatism. This is noted in particular by [[paleolibertarians]]. They believe that social conservatism is a natural entity in a free society, but do not believe that it can be enforced by state interventionism.

Neither the [[Democratic]] or the [[Republican]] [[parties]] are particularly well aligned with libertarian thought. While the Republican Party sometimes adopts libertarian-sounding rhetoric of small government in economic affairs, many libertarians see it as being a force that has increased government interventionism in these affairs. Libertarians generally, for example, are opposed to the [[USA PATRIOT Act]], which they believe increases government power and removes protections on the liberty and privacy of the public. Most conservatives, on the other hand, view it as a necessary government program and believe security to be more important than personal liberty and privacy. They are generally also opposed to the [[Iraq War]], unlike the majority of conservatives.

While all libertarians agree in general on the principles of the desirability of maximizing individual liberty and avoiding excessive government interference with the operation of the free market, individual libertarians have opinions that differ wildly within these general principles.

The libertarian movement generally gives praise on the [[United States Constitution]], regarding it as the proper scope of the national government. They believe that the Democratic and Republican parties have overstep the limits that are in placed in the constitution. Anarcho-capitalist libertarians, on the other hand, view the implementation of the constitution as the very means in which the national government is the size it is today.

== Notable Libertarians ==
[[Ron Paul]], 2008 Republican Party presidential candidate.

The novelist [[Ayn Rand]] advocated a philosophy of ''Objectivism'', embodying some libertarian thought, although differing from libertarianism in many ways. Some of her novels, such as ''Atlas Shrugged'', have become icons of the libertarian movement.

[[Murray N. Rothbard]] was nicknamed "Mr. Libertarian." He brought life to the anarcho-capitalist movement. Rothbard was a economist of the [[Austrian School]].

[[Robert A. Heinlein]], Science fiction author.

[[Penn & Teller]], stage magicians turned libertarian evangelicals preaching atheism and promoting libertarian philosophies, including controversial positions such as legalization of prostitution and drugs in their Showtime series, which sports a name that cannot for reasons of good taste be expressed here.

The Canadian rock band Rush, which has been together since 1968, often explores libertarian themes in their lyrics.

Humorist Dave Berry, actor/comedian Drew Carey, actor Denis Leary, former MTV VJ Lisa "Kennedy" Montgomery, actor Kurt Russell, investigative reporter John Stossel, and the late rocker Frank Zappa have all referred to themselves as being aligned with or openly supporting the Libertarian Party.

Additionally, "shock jock" Howard Stern claimed alliance with the Libertarian Party during his unsuccessful bid for mayor of New York.

== External links ==
* [http://www.faqs.org/faqs/libertarian/faq/ Libertarian FAQ]
* [http://dmoz.org/Society/Politics/Liberalism/Libertarianism/ Open Directory libertarian links ]
* [http://chelm.freeyellow.com/black_index.html Black Libertarians]
* [http://libertarianwiki.org/Main_Page Libertarian Wiki]
* [http://www.l4l.org/ Libertarians for Life]
* [http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html World's Smallest Political Quiz]

[[Category:Politics]]

Osama Bin Laden

2007-04-01T22:27:16Z

Buster55:

[[Image:382px-AQ00100.jpg|right|thumb]]

Osama Bin Laden is a Saudi Arabian entrepreneur and the leader of [[al Qaeda]], a worldwide [[terrorist]] group likely responsible for [[September 11, 2001 attacks]] and some other terrorist attacks on Americans in the 1990s.

He was protected by the [[Taliban]] until the American invasion of [[Afghanistan]] after the [[9-11]] attacks drove him into hiding.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bin Laden, Osama}}
[[Category:Military Commanders]]
[[Category:Terrorists]]

Jimmy Carter

2007-03-22T16:51:06Z

Buster55: how do you know only conservatives feel he is the worst former president?

{{stub}}
Jimmy Carter was the 39th [[President of the United States of America]] following [[Gerald Ford]] and preceding [[Ronald Reagan]]. He was a [[Democrat]] who served from 1977-1981, after being the Governor of Georgia. During his presidency he experienced many trying problems such as inflation, energy crisis and worst of all,the taking of American citizens as hostages by [[Iran]].

Despite the shortcomings of his presidency, Carter has been hailed by some as the finest ex-president of modern times. His continued work mediating international disputes, organizing election observations, and working to eliminate disease and hunger, were cited when he was awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize. Some critics, however, have been harshly critical of this sobriquet, deeming him instead America's worst ex-president.

==References==
* [http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=13265 Carter the worst ex-president -- Steven Hayward]
* [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2002/ Carter's citation for the Nobel Peace Prize]

==See also==
[[Carter Doctrine]]

[[Category:Biographies]]

Jimmy Carter

2007-03-22T16:46:26Z

Buster55:

Howard Stern

2007-03-22T06:46:40Z

Buster55: /* Political and Religious views */

'''Howard Stern''' is an [[United States of America|American]] satellite radio personality, notable for his crude humor.

==Overview==

Known for his use of scatological and sexist humor, the self-proclaimed "King of All Media" has been dubbed a "shock jock" for his use of shocking or unorthodox content as a promotional draw as well as his highly controversial comments that have included bigoted and misogynistic remarks about various religious and ethnic groups and women.

He is best-known for his national radio show, which for many years was syndicated on FM radio stations (and a few AM stations) throughout the United States until his last broadcast via terrestrial radio on December 16, 2005. After a brief hiatus, he began broadcasting via the subscription-based Sirius satellite radio service in January of 2006. Although Stern had a weekly audience of more than 10 when on terrestrial radio, on satellite Stern's audience is only in the 3 million range.

Stern's show often has such guests as strippers, litte people, pornography actors, regular actors, musicians and comedians. Some of the more unorthodox topics of the Stern show include details of homosexual practices, and talking or trying to talk female guests into disrobing, and of course constant flatulence jokes.

==Biography==

Stern received his Bachelor's degree in 1976 from Boston University, where he had worked as a volunteer at the college radio station.

After graduation, he worked as a disc jockey for an obscure station in Westchester County, New York playing rock music. He discovered a talent for Lenny Bruce-type comedy, and developed a wide-ranging confrontational style. He migrated to FM radio stations in Detroit, Michigan and Washington, D.C., and returned to New York in 1982 to work at NBC's flagship AM radio station WNBC-AM. Also working at NBC was David Letterman, who became a fan of Stern's radio show. Stern's guest appearance on Late Night with David Letterman on June 19, 1984, launched Stern into the national spotlight and gave his radio show unprecedented exposure. Stern has appeared on Letterman's show many times thereafter.

Stern and his crew were fired from NBC in 1985 in response to a particularly outrageous sketch — "Bestiality Dial-A-Date" — and returned to the FM band by joining local rival station WXRK, premiering on November 18, 1985 and returning permanently to morning drive in February 1986. Stern's show was syndicated nationwide in the 1990s by Infinity Broadcasting.

Although both his parents are Jewish, Stern claims on his show to be "a half-Jew". His paternal grandparents, Froim and Anna (Gallar) Stern, and maternal grandparents, Sol and Esther (Reich) Schiffman, were Jews from Austria-Hungary who emigrated to America at about the same time.

On June 4, 1978, Stern married his college girlfriend, Alison Berns, at Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline, Massachusetts; they have three daughters. In October of 1999, Stern announced that Alison had left him. Alison remarried in 2001 to David Lobosco. Since early 2000 Stern has been dating model Beth Ostrosky, who is 19 years younger than him. Ostrosky has appeared in the men's magazine ''FHM'' several times, and in early June of 2005, the editor-at-large of the magazine, Jake Bronstein, was fired after he commented that Ostrosky is only famous because she dates Stern. Many sources have said that Stern pressured FHM to fire him.

In one typical example of his radio show, he persuaded a female caller to have phone sex with him on the air. He made deep buzzing noises into his microphone, and had her sit on a speaker with the volume turned up until she reached an on-the-air orgasm. Another notable episode was on WWDC-FM (DC101 Radio) in Washington D.C. in which Stern called Air Florida Airlines and asked what the fare was for a one-way ticket from Washington National Airport to the 14th Street Bridge (on the Potomac River less than 1 mile from the airport). He was making fund of the crash of Air Florida Flight 90 one day earlier, on January 13, 1982, which had killed 78 persons (both onboard the airplane and in vehicles stopped in traffic on the bridge). That June 29, Stern was fired from DC-101 radio after being suspended for criticizing his station management and two other radio stations.

Stern refers to himself as the "King Of All Media," a parody of Michael Jackson's claiming of the title "King of Pop." Stern believes he represents the future of America, where public moral standards will continue to loosen. His show is frequently the subject of complaints by millions listeners who find his deliveries offensive - something he deliberately encourages.

In March of 1995, one day before the funeral of slain Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla, Stern played the sounds of gunshots in the background over some of her music. He also made several racist comments, such as "Alvin and the Chipmunks have more soul", and "Spanish people have the worst taste in music...they have no depth." After pressure from his radio station, Stern gave an on-air apology a week later in Spanish.

In 1997, Stern's autobiographical book, Private Parts, was adapted to film. The movie did moderately well at box offices and in video release, garnering a total of over $60 million. However, this take was far below expectations. He had also announced plans for a film provisionally titled ''The Adventures of Fartman'' based on a character created for his appearance at the 1992 MTV Video/Music Awards. As of 2007, this project has not even begun pre-production.

His April 21, 1999 show drew angry criticism and official "censure" from the Colorado State Legislature for his comment regarding the motives of the two male students who murdered 12 classmates and one teacher in the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado:

:"There were some really good-looking girls running out with their hands over their heads. Did those kids try to have sex with any of the good-looking girls? They didn't even do that? At least if you're going to kill yourself and kill all the kids, why wouldn't you have some sex? If I was going to kill some people, I'd take them out with sex."

This incident prompting a Denver radio station to suspend his show.

Howard Stern divorced his wife Allison in 2000 and February of 2007 became engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Beth Ostrosky, who is 19 years younger than him.

On February 25, 2004, Clear Channel Communications "indefinitely suspended" him from six markets because of indecency involving sexual and racist dialogue during his show. The show in question featured Rick Salomon, whose claims to fame include a publicly released home video showing him having sex with heiress Paris Hilton. During this broadcast Stern held a sexually-provocative and racially insensitive interview with Saloman, asking him graphic questions about anal sex and making light of a caller's use of the word "nigger". Clear Channel president John Hogan said, "Clear Channel drew a line in the sand today with regard to protecting our listeners from indecent content, and Howard Stern's show blew right through it...it was vulgar, offensive and insulting, not just to women and African-Americans but to anyone with a sense of common decency." Because some of Clear Channel's employees have donated money to the Republican Party, Stern claims the company was trying to penalize him for his harsh verbal attacks on President Bush.

On October 6, 2004, Stern announced on his show that he has signed a five year, $500 million deal with the satellite radio service Sirius. This move has been met with much controversy, as Stern has been talking about his move to Sirius on his show, even telling listeners how to purchase Sirius equipment and subscriptions. Stern even held a rally in New York where he gave out coupons for free or discounted Sirius equipment.

Stern's last show on conventional AM/FM "terrestrial" radio was on December 16, 2005. The ''Howard Stern Show'' debuted on Sirius, on January 9, 2006.

==Political and Religious views==

Although raised [[Jewish]], Stern is a militant [[atheist]]. Stern and his staff often mock [[religion]] and the show is widely considered inappropriate for children, due to inappropriate content (both related to religion and not).

Stern's shows have also featured political commentary. Although Stern used to be a self-proclaimed [[Libertarianism|libertarian]], in recent years he has abandoned that philosophy and embraced liberal positions that are in direct opposition to libertarian ideology, such as government regulation of corporations, radical environmentalism, gun control, income redistribution through higher taxation, and government funding for [[abortion]] and embryonic stem cell experimentation that involves the killing and cloning of human embryos. He also considers [[Ralph Nader]] to be one of his heroes. He is also a supporter of [[Michael Moore]] and was very vocal in his endorsement of Moore's film "Fahrenheit 9/11" which was released in June of 2004. Moore was even a guest on Stern's show the week of the film's release and called into the show a day before the 2004 presidential election. Stern is now considered by many [[conservatives]], libertarians, and moderates/centrists to represent the far-left of the political spectrum.

During a week vacation in February of 2004 he read [[Al Franken]]'s anti-Bush book, ''Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right''. He told his listeners "If you read this book, you will never vote for [[George W. Bush]]. I think this guy is a religious fanatic and a Jesus freak, and he is just hell-bent on getting some sort of bizzaro agenda through -- like a country-club agenda -- so that his father will finally be proud of him ... I don't know much about Kerry, but I think I'm one of those 'Anybody but Bush' guys now. I don't think G.W. is going to win. What do you think about that?"

On July 25, 2006 Stern launched into a tirade against [[Connecticut]] Senator [[Joe Lieberman]]. He attacked Lieberman's past support of indecency laws and his current support of the [[War on Terror]] [http://www.crooksandliars.com/posts/2006/07/26/9212/]. In February of 2007, Stern announced on his radio show that he is supporting Senator [[Hillary Clinton]] for president.

==Trivia==
* Stern share the same birthday as Rush Limbaugh (January 12).
* Stern is 6 ft 5 in (196 cm) in height.

==External Links==
*[http://www.howardstern.com Howard Stern.com]

[[Category:Biographies]]

Howard Stern

2007-03-22T06:46:24Z

Buster55: /* Political and Religious views */

'''Howard Stern''' is an [[United States of America|American]] satellite radio personality, notable for his crude humor.

==Overview==

Known for his use of scatological and sexist humor, the self-proclaimed "King of All Media" has been dubbed a "shock jock" for his use of shocking or unorthodox content as a promotional draw as well as his highly controversial comments that have included bigoted and misogynistic remarks about various religious and ethnic groups and women.

He is best-known for his national radio show, which for many years was syndicated on FM radio stations (and a few AM stations) throughout the United States until his last broadcast via terrestrial radio on December 16, 2005. After a brief hiatus, he began broadcasting via the subscription-based Sirius satellite radio service in January of 2006. Although Stern had a weekly audience of more than 10 when on terrestrial radio, on satellite Stern's audience is only in the 3 million range.

Stern's show often has such guests as strippers, litte people, pornography actors, regular actors, musicians and comedians. Some of the more unorthodox topics of the Stern show include details of homosexual practices, and talking or trying to talk female guests into disrobing, and of course constant flatulence jokes.

==Biography==

Stern received his Bachelor's degree in 1976 from Boston University, where he had worked as a volunteer at the college radio station.

After graduation, he worked as a disc jockey for an obscure station in Westchester County, New York playing rock music. He discovered a talent for Lenny Bruce-type comedy, and developed a wide-ranging confrontational style. He migrated to FM radio stations in Detroit, Michigan and Washington, D.C., and returned to New York in 1982 to work at NBC's flagship AM radio station WNBC-AM. Also working at NBC was David Letterman, who became a fan of Stern's radio show. Stern's guest appearance on Late Night with David Letterman on June 19, 1984, launched Stern into the national spotlight and gave his radio show unprecedented exposure. Stern has appeared on Letterman's show many times thereafter.

Stern and his crew were fired from NBC in 1985 in response to a particularly outrageous sketch — "Bestiality Dial-A-Date" — and returned to the FM band by joining local rival station WXRK, premiering on November 18, 1985 and returning permanently to morning drive in February 1986. Stern's show was syndicated nationwide in the 1990s by Infinity Broadcasting.

Although both his parents are Jewish, Stern claims on his show to be "a half-Jew". His paternal grandparents, Froim and Anna (Gallar) Stern, and maternal grandparents, Sol and Esther (Reich) Schiffman, were Jews from Austria-Hungary who emigrated to America at about the same time.

On June 4, 1978, Stern married his college girlfriend, Alison Berns, at Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline, Massachusetts; they have three daughters. In October of 1999, Stern announced that Alison had left him. Alison remarried in 2001 to David Lobosco. Since early 2000 Stern has been dating model Beth Ostrosky, who is 19 years younger than him. Ostrosky has appeared in the men's magazine ''FHM'' several times, and in early June of 2005, the editor-at-large of the magazine, Jake Bronstein, was fired after he commented that Ostrosky is only famous because she dates Stern. Many sources have said that Stern pressured FHM to fire him.

In one typical example of his radio show, he persuaded a female caller to have phone sex with him on the air. He made deep buzzing noises into his microphone, and had her sit on a speaker with the volume turned up until she reached an on-the-air orgasm. Another notable episode was on WWDC-FM (DC101 Radio) in Washington D.C. in which Stern called Air Florida Airlines and asked what the fare was for a one-way ticket from Washington National Airport to the 14th Street Bridge (on the Potomac River less than 1 mile from the airport). He was making fund of the crash of Air Florida Flight 90 one day earlier, on January 13, 1982, which had killed 78 persons (both onboard the airplane and in vehicles stopped in traffic on the bridge). That June 29, Stern was fired from DC-101 radio after being suspended for criticizing his station management and two other radio stations.

Stern refers to himself as the "King Of All Media," a parody of Michael Jackson's claiming of the title "King of Pop." Stern believes he represents the future of America, where public moral standards will continue to loosen. His show is frequently the subject of complaints by millions listeners who find his deliveries offensive - something he deliberately encourages.

In March of 1995, one day before the funeral of slain Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla, Stern played the sounds of gunshots in the background over some of her music. He also made several racist comments, such as "Alvin and the Chipmunks have more soul", and "Spanish people have the worst taste in music...they have no depth." After pressure from his radio station, Stern gave an on-air apology a week later in Spanish.

In 1997, Stern's autobiographical book, Private Parts, was adapted to film. The movie did moderately well at box offices and in video release, garnering a total of over $60 million. However, this take was far below expectations. He had also announced plans for a film provisionally titled ''The Adventures of Fartman'' based on a character created for his appearance at the 1992 MTV Video/Music Awards. As of 2007, this project has not even begun pre-production.

His April 21, 1999 show drew angry criticism and official "censure" from the Colorado State Legislature for his comment regarding the motives of the two male students who murdered 12 classmates and one teacher in the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado:

:"There were some really good-looking girls running out with their hands over their heads. Did those kids try to have sex with any of the good-looking girls? They didn't even do that? At least if you're going to kill yourself and kill all the kids, why wouldn't you have some sex? If I was going to kill some people, I'd take them out with sex."

This incident prompting a Denver radio station to suspend his show.

Howard Stern divorced his wife Allison in 2000 and February of 2007 became engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Beth Ostrosky, who is 19 years younger than him.

On February 25, 2004, Clear Channel Communications "indefinitely suspended" him from six markets because of indecency involving sexual and racist dialogue during his show. The show in question featured Rick Salomon, whose claims to fame include a publicly released home video showing him having sex with heiress Paris Hilton. During this broadcast Stern held a sexually-provocative and racially insensitive interview with Saloman, asking him graphic questions about anal sex and making light of a caller's use of the word "nigger". Clear Channel president John Hogan said, "Clear Channel drew a line in the sand today with regard to protecting our listeners from indecent content, and Howard Stern's show blew right through it...it was vulgar, offensive and insulting, not just to women and African-Americans but to anyone with a sense of common decency." Because some of Clear Channel's employees have donated money to the Republican Party, Stern claims the company was trying to penalize him for his harsh verbal attacks on President Bush.

On October 6, 2004, Stern announced on his show that he has signed a five year, $500 million deal with the satellite radio service Sirius. This move has been met with much controversy, as Stern has been talking about his move to Sirius on his show, even telling listeners how to purchase Sirius equipment and subscriptions. Stern even held a rally in New York where he gave out coupons for free or discounted Sirius equipment.

Stern's last show on conventional AM/FM "terrestrial" radio was on December 16, 2005. The ''Howard Stern Show'' debuted on Sirius, on January 9, 2006.

==Political and Religious views==

Although raised [[Jewish]], Stern is a militant [[atheist]]. Stern and his staff often mock [[religion]] and the show is widely considered inappropriate for children, due to inappropriate content (both related to religion and not).

Stern's shows have also featured political commentary. Although Stern used to be a self-proclaimed [[Libertarianism|libertarian]], in recent years he has abandoned that philosophy and embraced libera positions that are in direct opposition to libertarian ideology, such as government regulation of corporations, radical environmentalism, gun control, income redistribution through higher taxation, and government funding for [[abortion]] and embryonic stem cell experimentation that involves the killing and cloning of human embryos. He also considers [[Ralph Nader]] to be one of his heroes. He is also a supporter of [[Michael Moore]] and was very vocal in his endorsement of Moore's film "Fahrenheit 9/11" which was released in June of 2004. Moore was even a guest on Stern's show the week of the film's release and called into the show a day before the 2004 presidential election. Stern is now considered by many [[conservatives]], libertarians, and moderates/centrists to represent the far-left of the political spectrum.

During a week vacation in February of 2004 he read [[Al Franken]]'s anti-Bush book, ''Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right''. He told his listeners "If you read this book, you will never vote for [[George W. Bush]]. I think this guy is a religious fanatic and a Jesus freak, and he is just hell-bent on getting some sort of bizzaro agenda through -- like a country-club agenda -- so that his father will finally be proud of him ... I don't know much about Kerry, but I think I'm one of those 'Anybody but Bush' guys now. I don't think G.W. is going to win. What do you think about that?"

On July 25, 2006 Stern launched into a tirade against [[Connecticut]] Senator [[Joe Lieberman]]. He attacked Lieberman's past support of indecency laws and his current support of the [[War on Terror]] [http://www.crooksandliars.com/posts/2006/07/26/9212/]. In February of 2007, Stern announced on his radio show that he is supporting Senator [[Hillary Clinton]] for president.

==Trivia==
* Stern share the same birthday as Rush Limbaugh (January 12).
* Stern is 6 ft 5 in (196 cm) in height.

==External Links==
*[http://www.howardstern.com Howard Stern.com]

[[Category:Biographies]]

Operation Iraqi Freedom

2007-03-22T06:37:14Z

Buster55: /* Weapons of Mass Destruction */

'''2003 Iraq War''' (3/20/2003-) is presently the largest war operation in the world{{fact}}, started when the [[United States]] and allies including the [[United Kingdom]]<ref>[http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/11/20/prague.bush.nato/ Bush: Join 'coalition of willing'], retrieved March 21, 2007</ref> launched a combat operation against [[Iraq]], with the stated goal of deposing dictator [[Saddam Hussein]] and bring Iraq into compliance with United Nations resolutions regarding [[Weapons of Mass Destruction|Weapons of Mass Destruction programs]]. The war is currently ongoing, and there exists a large debate over topics such as withdrawal of American forces and the role of nations in the region. The administration argues that the war is is crucial to the larger U.S. led [[War on Terrorism]]. Some Democrats have criticised the administration for percieved blunders in the war on terror, and have themselves been criticized for doing so.

===Iraqi Liberation===
Iraqis welcomed the American invasion and overthrow of Saddam Hussein, and in the proceeding months, showed optimism about their country's future. An 'American Enterprise'-'Wall Street Journal'-'Zogby' poll in September 2003 found that "Seven out of 10 say they expect their country and their personal lives will be better five years from now. On both fronts, 32% say things will become much better."<ref>[http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110003991 What Iraqis Really Think], retrieved March 21, 2007</ref> Furthermore, in a March 2004 poll of Iraqis, the BBC found that Iraqis have great hope in a stable, unified government for their country, with 80% of respondents favoring a centralized state ruled from Baghdad. <ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3514504.stm Survey finds hope in occupied Iraq]</ref> Since 2004, the unceasing violence by the insurgents has caused some people (mainly in the West) to refer to the ongoing strife as a 'civil war'. <ref>[http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20070301faessay86201/james-d-fearon/iraq-s-civil-war.html Iraq's Civil War], retrieved March 21, 2007</ref>

2007 - Four years into the war, the biggest poll since coalition troops entered Iraq on March 20, 2003 shows that by a majority of two to one, Iraqis prefer the current leadership to Saddam Hussein’s regime, regardless of the security crisis and a lack of public services. It also found a striking resilience and optimism among the inhabitants. The survey, published March 19, 2007, also reveals that contrary to the views of many western analysts, most Iraqis do not believe they are embroiled in a civil war; indeed, only 27% believed they were caught up in a civil war and 64% of the Iraqis still want to see a united Iraq under a central national government. <ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article1530526.ece Resilient Iraqis ask what civil war?], retrieved March 21, 2007</ref>

ABC News (and USA Today) conducted a poll <ref>[http://abcnews.go.com/images/US/1033aIraqpoll.pdf PDF Iraq Poll], retrieved March 21, 2007</ref>and found that 56 percent of Iraqis don't believe there is a “civil war,” and a British poll determined 61 percent don't believe they're in a civil war. The Times of London's summary of the poll: “Iraqis: life is getting better." <ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article1530762.ece Iraqis: life is getting better], retrieved March 21, 2007</ref> A version of the combined articles as posted by The Australian: “It's better than Saddam, say hopeful Iraqis.” <ref>[http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21404747-2703,00.html It's better than Saddam, say hopeful Iraqis], retrieved March 21, 2007</ref>

==Insurgency==
Since the removal of Saddam, the United States has been caught in the middle of sectarian violence between [[Sunni]] Muslims and [[Shia]] Muslims. The Shia majority, notably the [[Jaysh Al-Madhi]], have began to attack American and other coalition troops even while the coalition has been protecting the Shia from Sunni attacks. Other Shia groups that have not attacked coalition forces have pursued their own factional aims while relying on the US to ensure Shia majority rule. To many if not most Sunnis, the US is viewed as the enemy because it supports Shia majority rule. As the Sunni interpret Muslim law, only Muslims may rule a Muslim state, and the Shia are considered heretics and thus not fit to lead the nation. Though a minority, the Sunni have traditionally ruled Iraq and view themselves entitled to continue the privilege of doing so.<ref> Testimony of Edward N. Luttwak, Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate , Hearings on [http://www.csis.org/media/csis/congress/ts070123luttwak.pdf Securing America's Interest in Iraq], retrieved March 21, 2007</ref>

==Opinion polls==
However, Iraqi opposition to the American presence, both politically and militarily, has gradually increased since 2003. A secret British Ministry of Defence poll conducted in late 2005 found that 82 percent of Iraqis were "strongly opposed" to the presence of Coalition soldiers in Iraq.<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/10/23/wirq23.xml Secret MoD poll: Iraqis support attacks on British troops], retrieved March 21, 2007</ref> The same poll found support for Iraqi rebels at 45%, rising to 65% in Maysan province, although a poll by the IRI in March 2006 found 78% of respondents answered that "violence is never acceptable"<ref>[http://www.iri.org/mena/iraq/pdfs/2006-04-27-Iraq%20poll%20March%20March.ppt Downloadable PowerPoint], retrieved March 21, 2007</ref>.

Many discount these secret polls because they are biased in how the questions are asked ("Have you stopped beating your wife, yet?") and normally have been taken in the areas which have large numbers of insurgent sympathizers in the population, such as Saddam's hometown of Tikrit. The polling numbers are not included or references as to how this "secret" poll was conducted in the above reference. The lack of open disclosure and the fact that it was used to discount the intelligence to that point which was quoted in the same article as the secret poll as, "The secret poll appears to contradict claims made by Gen Sir Mike Jackson, the Chief of the General Staff, who only days ago congratulated British soldiers for "supporting the Iraqi people in building a new and better Iraq"".. leads critics to conclude that this is not a fair or accurate assessment of Iraqi opinion. Also, the article states, "The findings differ markedly from a survey carried out by the BBC in March 2004 in which the overwhelming consensus among the 2,500 Iraqis questioned was that life was good. More of those questioned supported the war than opposed it." It also contradicts the optimism shown by the Iraqis in the polls taken (March 2007) quoted in the portion above "Iraqi Liberation."

Citing safety concerns and saying the following survey was done by "An Iraqi public opinion research firm with a proven record of conducting scientifically valid surveys" (How long have they been doing surveys - "proven record"? Did they do them for Saddam?) the following University of Maryland survey was also cloaked from public view or scrutiny. Again, detractors ask, "How was the question phrased which was answered by the Iraqi respondents?"

A poll commissioned by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes in the autumn of 2006 found that Iraqi support for anti-Coalition violence had risen to 61%.<ref>[http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-09-27-iraqi-opinion_x.htm Poll: Iraqis support attacks on U.S. troops], retrieved March 21, 2007</ref> Similarly, a [[U.S. State Department]] poll conducted in 2006 found that "two-thirds of Iraqis in Baghdad favor an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops". Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians have fled to neighboring [[Jordan]] and [[Syria]] since the 2003 invasion.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1966333,00.html Warning over spiralling Iraq refugee crisis], retrieved March 21, 2007</ref>

The rather obvious result which is used to buoy this negative report (cited from the US State Department) that two-thirds of Iraqis would like their homeland free of foreign occupation is too vague a question as it does not answer the question of WHEN. The repeated requests to the UN by the Iraqi government for the coalition troops to remain in Iraq to help stabilize the country and the support of the people for the Iraqi government (and its policies, including keeping the US/coalition there) argue against the meaning of this being that the Iraqi people wish the US to simply leave with their mission unfinished.

==The Surge==

Since the new US-Iraqi offensive was launched in February 2007, anti-government forces have been put on the defensive in their former insurgent stronghold of Anbar, Britain’s top general in Iraq said (March 2007). <ref>[http://www.ft.com/cms/s/b3fd545e-d70f-11db-b9d7-000b5df10621.html Iraq insurgents ‘on the defensive’], retrieved March 21, 2007</ref> The insurgency “didn’t do too well in Anbar . . . Their claims have failed to come to fruition,” he said, referring to the declaration by Islamist radicals that they had established a “caliphate”, or successorship, encompassing much of western Iraq. Lt Gen Lamb said that US and Iraqi forces were recruiting hundreds of police for the first time in towns in the Anbar region and that the forces were working together in shared combat outposts. While conceding that car bomb attacks In Baghdad and a surge of violence in neighbouring Diyala had to be addressed, he said that US and Iraqi planners were learning to reduce the threat, establishing an outer cordon around the city as well as barriers, or “point defence” protection around key targets inside. The US military has reported cases in which car bombs have been stopped at checkpoints. In some cases the bombs detonated killing Iraqi security forces, but the casualties would arguably have been much greater had the blasts hit crowded commercial districts. General Lamb, who commanded British ground forces in Iraq in 2003 and 2004 said that multinational forces now had the benefit of four years of experience in fighting the insurgents.

==Weapons of Mass Destruction==

Although no physical large stock piles of weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq, the search is not over, and it has yielded some results so far. Only about one-third of 36 million captured pages have been examined by a linguist and a summary gist of the document prepared.<ref>[https://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd_2004/scope.html Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI on Iraq’s WMD], retrieved March 21, 2007</ref> Some believe the physical WMDs that had been produced prior to the invasion were smuggled out of the country, possibly to [[Syria]], before the onset of the war.

Regarding stockpiles of WMD which were destroyed after the [[Gulf War|First Gulf War]], some critics have alleged Saddam was perhaps a decade away from being able to produce more WMD unfettered with his given knowhow and personal in place and a lack of willpower among the Western powers or the International community to confront such flagrant violations of International conventions. They reference the [[Duelfer Report]] of the [[Iraq Survey Group]] headed by Charles Duelfer. A former Survey Group chairman, [[David Kay]], once said regarding manufacturing facilities and staockpiles, "I don't think they existed... What everyone was talking about is stockpiles produced after the end of the last Gulf War and I don't think there was a large-scale production program in the nineties"<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/01/28/kay.transcript/ CNN.com-Transcript: David Kay at Senate hearing], retrieved March 21, 2007</ref> after the end of the First Gulf War. The report did conclude Saddam was beginning production again using his personal and knowhow when the sanctions against [[Iraq]] were lifted. The Bush Administration took preventative action in accordance with the reports conclusions that WMD capabilty then was "not of a militarily significant capability."<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3718150.stm BBC News - Report Concludes No WMD in Iraq] 7 October 2004</ref>

==Costs==

''(Needs more statistics)''
Since the war is not yet over, the total cost has yet to be tallied. However, the [[Congressional Budget Office]] estimates that the war has, as of 3/12/2007, cost less than $400 Billion.<ref>[http://www.newstatesman.com/200703120024 Iraq: the hidden cost of the war]</ref> The numbers are highly debated, however, and other sources put the cost around $9 Billion.<ref>[http://costofwar.com/numbers.html Iraq War Cost Calculator Notes]</ref>

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/rpt/iraqstatus/c20699.htm Iraq Weekly Status Report] U.S. Department of State.

2007-03-21T22:18:08Z

Buster55:

'''CNN''' (officially the '''Cable News Network''') is the oldest 24 hour cable news channel in the [[United States]]. First started in 1980 by [[Ted Turner]] it is a division of the Turner Broadcasting System, which is owned by Time Warner.

From its origin as a cable-only service, CNN now broadcasts worldwide by satellite, with programs presented from studios in several countries in addition to their headquarters in Atlanta. Some regions receive locally produced opt-outs (under the name "CNN International"), and there are also broadcasts in [[Spanish]] and Turkish.

== Allegations of Bias ==
It has been accused by media critics of having a liberal slant to their reporting.
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Jimmy Carter

2007-03-21T17:18:02Z

Buster55:

Jimmy Carter

2007-03-21T17:17:32Z

Buster55: