Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Talk:Fourteenth Amendment

2007-02-22T04:23:13Z

Moniker:

The last sentence of "The U.S. Supreme Court has used this Amendment to invent new rights, such as abortion and a separation of church and state, which were never intended by those who drafted or ratified it." is factually incorrect and should be removed from the article.

:First, sign your entries to the talk page using the signature box above. Second, those are factual statements and I've never heard anyone dispute them. Do you really think the drafters of the Fourteenth Amendment intended to protect abortion? Please.

:More generally, don't delete factual material simply because you disagree with it, or you will be blocked.--[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] 22:38, 21 February 2007 (EST)

The right to an abortion was granted as a continuance of the right to privacy granted by the precedent set in Griswold as well as the due process clause of the XIV amendment. To claim that the courts solely used this amendment for its decision in Roe is false.--[[User:Moniker|Moniker]] 23:23, 21 February 2007 (EST)

Architecture

2007-02-22T03:38:08Z

Moniker:

Architecture is the art and science of constructing the built environment.

Architecture in the Middle Ages can be seen in the majestic churches built during that era. There were two main styles: Romanesque and Gothic.

Romanesque architecture is characterized by thick walls, rounded arches and small windows. The Gothic style, developed later, consisted of taller, perpendicular structures with long windows, pointed arches and "flying buttresses" (stone supports on the outer walls of churches).

Gothic architecture, with its tall, pointed spires is said to reflect the desire of people of the Middle Ages to grow closer to God, reaching towards heaven and away from the earth. Tall windows allowed sunlight to illuminate the interior, unlike Romanesque architecture, in which windows were small and interiors were dim. A particularly stunning example of Gothic architecture is the Notre Dame in Paris, on which construction began in 1163 during the reign of Louis VII, and was completed about 200 years later in about 1345. The Notre Dame features a beautiful stained-glass "rose window," which is another distinguishing characteristic of Gothic churches.

Talk:Fourteenth Amendment

2007-02-22T03:36:20Z

Moniker:

Africa

2007-02-22T03:23:23Z

Moniker:

The continent south of [[Europe]] and south-east[citation needed] of [[Asia]]. Is that all we know about it? Somebody add something please.

Perhaps the roosts off European imperialism date back as early as 1492, when Columbus discovered the New World and Spain soon sent conquistadors. But in the 1800s European imperialism began to focus in particular on Africa, for the following reasons.

The invention of the steam engine encouraged Europeans to explore the interior of the African continent, and cables and railroads facilitated communications and transportation as well.

Africa was an easy target for the Europeans. It was easy because Europeans had better weapons and could easily defeat African tribes, who were divided among themselves. The many different ethnic groups and languages spoken in Africa also made it difficult for the continent to unify and defend itself. Meanwhile, Africa was attractive because it had a profitable slave trade, and the rivalries created by the slave trade made it easier for European countries to divide and conquer.

Malaria was historically a problem in Africa (and still is today), but the antidote “quinine” was discovered that immunized Europeans against contracting it.

Aided by all of the above, the Scotsman explorer and missionary David Livingston explored central Africa in the late 1860s. He was searching for the source of the mighty Nile River. Because the Nile unusual in flowing south-to- north, its source could only be in central Africa in the vicinity of Congo.

But Livingstone was gone for years without any communication. A news reporter from America, Henry Stanley, decided to travel to Africa to look for him. Upon finding a stranger who stuck out like a sore thumb in the middle of central Africa, Stanley uttered the famous line, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” Indeed, Stanley had found Livingstone alive and well, and Stanley later returned to Africa to sign treaties with chiefs near the Congo River. Belgium King Leopold II used these treaties to gain control for himself (not Belgium) over the region.

Leopold II exploited the region for personal profit, building a\large rubber plantations for the natives to work on. This destroyed the farming community and compelled the workers to toil for unreasonably low wages. The working conditions on these plantations were very harsh. Eventually an international outcry caused the Belgian government to take over the region, and name it the Belgian Congo. But this also increased competition among European powers for African colonies.

France was another European power competing for control of the Congo, which contained valuable copper and tin deposits. Further to the south, in what is South Africa today, there were even richer gold and silver deposits. The European powers saw much wealth in Africa in the form of Minerals and wanted this for themselves. They also wanted plantations that could produce rubber, palm oil, and even cocoa (chocolate) for the European factories.

To minimize armed conflict the Europeans held the Berlin Conference in 1884-1885 to divide Africa among them, without regard to what the tribes of Africa wanted. Ethnic and cultural differences within Africa were also ignored, and lines of demarcation were arbitrarily drawn for the sole benefit of the European nations. All of Africa except for Ethiopia (which successful resisted Italian control in 1896) and Liberia where divided and taken by European nations.

One of Africa’s Biggest and wealthiest countries today is South Africa, located on the southern tip of the continent. It has a very advantageous location for trade routes by sea from Western Europe to India and the Far East. As a result, there was far more immigration by Europeans to South Africa than any other region of Africa, and whites of European ancestry completely ruled South Africa until the late 1900s. Since then, democracy has brought representative government to the African ethnic groups. The World Cup (soccer) will be played in 2010 in South Africa, the first time it has ever been held in Africa.

The Dutch (or Boers) were the first to establish a European settlement in southern Africa, at Cape Colony on the very southern tip in 1652. This port supplied ships on the way to the Indiana Ocean. The Dutch exploited the labor of African slaves and set up farming communities that displaced the native Africans. In the 1800s the British arrived and took over Cape Colony, and disfavored the continuation of the Dutch slavery system. The Dutch then moved inland, further north, in what is called the Great Trek. This created further conflict with the native Africans

In the late 1800s, an African ethnic group known as the Zulus rose to power in southern Africa, led by a military African genius named Shaka. But his successors could not retain power. By 1887 the British, with better military technology, defeated the Zulus.

The Boer War broke out between the British and the Boers in 1899. The dispute was sparked by disagreements over land, access to diamonds and gold discovered in South Africa, and whether immigrants should have political rights. The British won this brutal war, and in 1902 established the Union of South Africa to include all the Boers republics. This country was controlled by the British but enjoyed some self-rule.

European imperialism on the African continent had both good and bad effects. On the good side, the Europeans brought advances in technology, built hospitals, and improved the infrastructure, such as railroads, telephones, telegraphs, sanitation and other public works. This improved trade and communications, and reduced disease. Europeans also built schools, but used them to teach European language and culture rather than respecting local traditions. Literacy did improve as a result, however. On the bad side, the Europeans displaced Africans from their individual farms and shifted them into working for European businesses. Africans lost control of their land and saw a reduction in their own food crops. Europeans also completely disrupted African cultural groups and village life, resulting in arbitrary geographical boundaries that continue to cause war and strife to this day.

Fourteenth Amendment

2007-02-22T03:06:16Z

Moniker:

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

----

This Amendment was passed by Congress and proposed to the states in 1866, but was not ratified by the states until 1868, and whether the ratification was proper continues to be questioned. New Jersey, Oregon and Ohio rescinded their ratification of this Amendment, and North Carolina, Louisiana and South Carolina all rejected the Amendment initially before ratifying it later.

ACLU

2007-02-22T02:31:55Z

Moniker:

The ACLU is the American Civil Liberties Union, which was run for its first 30 years by a Unitarian socialist named Roger Baldwin, who helped found it in 1920 in response to the [[Espionage Act]] and [[Sedition Act]]. During most his tenure at the ACLU Baldwin was sympathetic to the communist movement, only breaking off ties on the eve of World War II.

The ACLU repeatedly uses the legal system to purge Christianity from public life, so much so that conservatives refer to it as the "Anti-Christian Liberties Union." For example, the ACLU has made numerous demands and filed lawsuits to remove the Ten Commandments and Christian crosses from public places and symbols.

In Pennsylvania, the ACLU received over 1 million dollars in legal fees for obtaining a court order to prohibit a school district from making a brief statement alerting students to the theory of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution.