Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Kent Hovind

2009-08-06T00:24:32Z

RonTorres:

[[File:KentHovind.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Kent Hovind giving a presentation]]
'''Dr. Kent Hovind''' (born 1953), called "Dr. Dino" because his expertise is in dinosaurs, is a prominent and controversial [[Young Earth Creationism|young Earth creationist]].
He founded [[Creation Science Evangelism Ministry]] in 1989<ref>http://www.drdino.com/</ref> and has a doctoral degree in Christian education from [[Patriot University]].

In 2001, Hovind opened a theme park in Pensacola, Florida called [[Dinosaur Adventure Land]], filled with exhibits explaining God's Creation.

== Controversy ==

A critic of Hovind questions the quality of his doctoral thesis and the academic standards of the university from which he received it, believing both to be subpar for institutions of higher learning.<ref>[http://chem.tufts.edu/science/Stear-NoAiG/no-AiG/bartelt_dissertation_on_hovind_thesis.htm Karen Bartelt, Ph.D. "The Dissertation Kent Hovind Doesn't Want You To Read."]</ref>

Hovind has been criticized by fellow Young Earth Creationists for supposedly using arguments that are unsound both Biblically and scientifically.<ref>Wieland, Carl, Ham, Ken, and Sarfati, Jonathan, [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/2571/ Maintaining Creationist Integrity] October 2002</ref>

He is currently serving a ten-year term in U.S. federal prison for 58 tax offenses, obstructing federal agents and related charges.<ref>''"10 years for 'Dr. Dino'"'', Michael Stewart. Pensacola News Journal, 19 January 19, 2007</ref>
Hovind has maintained that, as provided in U.S. law, there should have been no taxes because he runs a religious organization.

Hovind, with his son Eric Hovind, had released a set of videos titled "Answering the Critics" whereby they answered some common criticisms of themselves, usually from Internet sources. Hovind claimed he did not want to answer all the critics because he believed many critics criticize him without wanting to get any answers from him, so it was best to ignore them and continue preaching to those who really want to listen.<ref>Answering the Critics #1</ref>

== $250,000 Offer ==

Hovind is well known for his standing US$250,000 offer to anyone who can "prove evolution".<ref>http://www.drdino.com/articles.php?spec=67</ref>
The offer has gone unclaimed.
Contributors at [[Talk.origins|TalkOrigins]], a pro-evolution web-site, have pointed out that Hovind's challenge includes not just biological evolution but also [[abiogenesis]], [[cosmology]] and other things, and have claimed that the challenge is worded in a way that makes it impossible to fulfill since it requires proving the negative statement that "evolution" is the only possible explanation for the existence of life.<ref>Isaak, Mark, (Ed.) [http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CA/CA341.html Claim CA341], 2006</ref>

== External link ==
*[http://www.archive.org/details/KentHovind_Part1_HowOldIsTheEarth How Old Is The Earth?]

==References==
<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hovind, Kent}}

[[Category:Young Earth Creationists]]

Sabre-toothed cat

2009-02-07T12:30:46Z

RonTorres: correcting--they were on the Ark

{{Taxonomy
|name=Sabre-toothed cat (extinct)
|image=
|caption=
|superkingdom=
|kingdom= Animalia
|subkingdom=
|superphylum=
|phylum=Chordata
|subphylum=
|infraphylum=
|microphylum=
|superdivision=
|division=
|subdivision=
|superclass=
|class=Mammalia
|subclass=
|infraclass=
|superorder=
|order=Carnivora
|suborder=
|infraorder=
|superfamily=
|family=Felidae
|subfamily=Machairodontinae
|supertribe=
|tribe=
|subtribe=
|genera=
|genus=Smilodon
|subgenus=
|species=S. fatalis S. gracilis S. populator
|binomialname=
|sub=S. fatalis californicus S. fatalis floridus
|alt=
}}
The '''Sabre-toothed cat''' is an extinct large feline predator. According to [[Young Earth Creationists]] these beasts went extinct sometime after the [[Great Flood]]. Evolutionists say that they lived during the [[Pliocene]] and [[Pleistocene]] epochs (2.5 million years ago to 12,000 years ago). Both agree that they went extinct around the same time as the [[Woolly mammoth]]. They were a dangerous predator with 8-inch fangs, easily capable of killing even large mammals.

[[Category:Carnivores]]
[[Category:Felines]]

Unemployment

2009-02-07T03:22:30Z

RonTorres: updating statistic

[[Image:Unemployment office.jpg|right|thumb]]
'''Unemployment''' is when people are unable to find jobs at the prevailing wages for their skills and experience. Economists refer to this as "involuntary unemployment."

Some people think that to get figures on unemployment the Government uses the number of persons filing claims for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits under State or Federal Government programs. But some people are still jobless when their benefits run out, and many more are not eligible at all or delay or never apply for benefits. So the Government conducts a monthly sample survey called the Current Population Survey (CPS) to measure the extent of unemployment in the country. The CPS has been conducted in the United States every month since 1940 when it began as a Work Projects Administration project. [http://www.bls.gov/cps/cps_htgm.htm] In the short term, unemployment is typically caused by [[liberal]] policies like the [[minimum wage]] and [[affirmative action]].

In some fields (such as technology) the unemployment rate for persons over 45 years old can be as high as 80%.

At election time, unemployment is often portrayed as a great evil, but Milton Friedman said,

:All of the progress that the US has made over the last couple of centuries has come from unemployment. It has come from figuring out how to produce more goods with fewer workers, thereby releasing labor to be more productive in other areas. It has never come about through permanent unemployment, but temporary unemployment, in the process of shifting people from one area to another. [http://www.rightwingnews.com/interviews/friedman.php]

Under [[Barack Obama]], the US Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment Rate has risen to 7.6%, as if January 2009. [http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm]

[[Category:Economics]]

Unemployment

2009-02-07T03:19:15Z

RonTorres: adding cause

[[Image:Unemployment office.jpg|right|thumb]]
'''Unemployment''' is when people are unable to find jobs at the prevailing wages for their skills and experience. Economists refer to this as "involuntary unemployment."

Some people think that to get figures on unemployment the Government uses the number of persons filing claims for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits under State or Federal Government programs. But some people are still jobless when their benefits run out, and many more are not eligible at all or delay or never apply for benefits. So the Government conducts a monthly sample survey called the Current Population Survey (CPS) to measure the extent of unemployment in the country. The CPS has been conducted in the United States every month since 1940 when it began as a Work Projects Administration project. [http://www.bls.gov/cps/cps_htgm.htm] In the short term, unemployment is typically caused by [[liberal]] policies like the [[minimum wage]] and [[affirmative action]].

In some fields (such as technology) the unemployment rate for persons over 45 years old can be as high as 80%.

At election time, unemployment is often portrayed as a great evil, but Milton Friedman said,

:All of the progress that the US has made over the last couple of centuries has come from unemployment. It has come from figuring out how to produce more goods with fewer workers, thereby releasing labor to be more productive in other areas. It has never come about through permanent unemployment, but temporary unemployment, in the process of shifting people from one area to another. [http://www.rightwingnews.com/interviews/friedman.php]

As of August 2007 the US Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment Rate was down to 4.6%. [http://www.bls.gov/cps/]

[[Category:Economics]]

Sharia law

2008-12-11T20:50:11Z

RonTorres: /* Sharia in the United States */ fix cite

'''Sharia''' is the body of [[Islamic]] law. The term means "way" or "path"; it is the legal framework within which public and some private aspects of life are regulated for those living in a legal system based on [[Muslim]] principles of jurisprudence. It is not actually part of the canonical [[Qur'an]]; that is to say, it is not believed to be the direct word of [[Allah]] by Muslims, but rather the interpretation of it.

Sharia deals with many aspects of day-to-day life, including politics, economics, banking, business law, contract law, sexuality, and social issues. Some Islamic scholars accept Sharia as the body of precedent and legal theory established before the 19th century, while other scholars view Sharia as a changing body, and include Islamic legal theory from the contemporary period.{{fact}}

There is not a strictly codified uniform set of laws pertaining to Sharia. It is more like a system of devising laws, based on the Qur'an, Hadith and centuries of debate, interpretation and precedent.

Before the 19th century, legal theory was considered the domain of the traditional legal schools of thought. Most [[Sunni]] Muslims follow Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki or Shafii, while most [[Shia]] Muslims follow Jaafari (Hallaq 1997, Brown 1996, Aslan 2006).

Laws and practices under Sharia:

===Marriage laws===
* The Muslim man who is not currently a fornicator can only marry a Muslim woman who is not currently a fornicatress or a chaste woman from the people of the book.
* The Muslim woman who is not currently a fornicatress can only marry a Muslim man who is not currently a fornicator.
* The Muslim fornicator can only marry a Muslim fornicatress.
* The Muslim fornicatress can only marry a Muslim fornicator.
* Men can marry up to four wives, but only if they are treated equally. Those who do not consider themselves capable of maintaining just behavior between wives, should refrain from this practice.
* The woman cannot marry without the consent of her guardian. If she marries, her husband becomes her new guardian.
* The guardian may choose a suitable partner for a virgin girl, but the girl is free to contest and has the right to say 'no'.
* The guardian cannot marry the divorced woman or the widow if she didn't ask to be married.
* The number of husbands is limited to one.
* "Do not marry unless you give your wife something that is her right." It is obligatory for a man to give bride wealth (gifts) to the woman he marries.[5]

===Divorce laws===
* A woman who wishes to be divorced usually needs the consent of her husband. However, most schools allow her to obtain a divorce without her husband's consent if she can show the judge that her husband is mistreating her, failing to support her financially, or is impotent. If the husband consents she does not have to pay back the dower.{{fact}}
* Men have the right of unilateral divorce. A divorce is effective when the man tells his wife that he is divorcing her. At this point the husband must pay the wife the "delayed" component of the dower.
* A divorced woman of reproductive age must wait three months before marrying again to ensure that she is not pregnant. Her ex-husband should support her financially during this period.{{fact}}
* Under certain circumstances (abuse, for instance), the wife may ask a judge to separate the couple.
* If a man says "I divorce thee" three times to his wife, he can no longer marry her again unless she marries another man and then divorces.
* These are guidelines; Islamic law on divorce is different depending on the school of thought.

===Other laws===
* Dancing and other forms of "fun" entertainment are forbidden

===The penalty for theft===
*In accordance with the Qur'an and several hadith, theft is punished by imprisonment or amputation of hands or feet, depending on the number of times it was committed and depending on the item of theft.
===The penalty for adultery===
*In accordance with hadith, stoning to death is the penalty for married men and women who commit adultery. For unmarried men and women, the punishment prescribed in the Qur'an and hadith is 100 lashes.

== Sharia in the United States ==
Many financial institutions in the United States are using [[sharia-compliant finance]], or SCF. Problems presented by SCF include that it enables racketeering, antitrust activity, securities fraud, consumer fraud and material support for terror.<ref>David Yerushalmi, Esq., Civil Liability and Criminal Exposure for U.S. Financial Institutions and Businesses Engaged in Shariah-Compliant Finance (http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/Modules/NewsManager/Center%20publication%20PDFs/Shairias%20Black%20Box%20(D%20Yerushalmi).pdf ).(Caution: large file).</ref> The Treasury Department has been co-sponsoring seminars on sharia-compliant finance with Harvard Law School's Islamic Finance Project in preparation for new projects to be undertaken by the department under [[President of the United States|President]] [[Barack Obama]]<ref>[http://www.christianworldviewnetwork.com/article.php/4162/Brannon-Howse/ COALITION TO STOP SHARIAH TO PROTEST U.S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT'S EFFORTS TO PROMOTE SEDITIOUS SHARIAH-COMPLIANT FINANCE], press release, November 5, 2008.</ref>

There is a growing population of polygamist Muslims in the United States.<ref>Pauline Bartolone, ''[http://newsinitiative.org/story/2007/07/27/for_these_muslims_polygamy_is For these Muslims, polygamy is an option]'', San Francisco Chronicle, August 5, 2007.</ref>

== Sharia in the United Kingdom ==
In 2008, the [[Department for Work and Pensions]] in the [[United Kingdom]] revised its policies to provide for extra welfare benefits for men who have married more than one wife, as permitted by sharia law.<ref>Jonathan Wynne-Jones, [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/1577395/Multiple-wives-will-mean-multiple-benefits.html Multiple wives will mean multiple benefits], ''Telegraph'', April 18, 2008.</ref>

==Further reading==
*'''Pendlebury, Richard''' ''Sharia UK: What exactly does it mean?'' [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=512973&in_page_id=1770 Daily Mail]. Accessed 9 February 2008
[[Category:Islam]]
*'''Barton, Fiona''', '''McBride, Alex''' ''A brutal beating and justice meted out in a humble back street cafe: how sharia law already operates in Britain'' [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=513218&in_page_id=1770 Daily Mail]. Accessed 9 February 2008

== Notes ==
<references/>

Sharia-compliant finance

2008-12-11T20:48:10Z

RonTorres: Let's try that again

'''Sharia-compliant finance''' (SCF) refers to commercial (especially lending) transactions conducted in accordance with Islamic law. Typically, interest is not charged in SCF transactions. In addition, SCF avoids investments in certain industries, such as the pornography, pork, alcoholic-beverage, gambling industries. In addition, the investors must comply with Muslim rules regarding the ''zakat'', or a charitable contribution aimed at supporting the poor. Note, however, that while ''sharia'' forbids the charging of interest, SCF has developed ways to get around this prohibition. Problems presented by SCF include that it enables racketeering, antitrust activity, securities fraud, consumer fraud and material support for terror.

==Source==
David Yerushalmi, Esq., Civil Liability and Criminal Exposure for
U.S. Financial Institutions and Businesses Engaged in Shariah-Compliant Finance (http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/Modules/NewsManager/Center%20publication%20PDFs/Shairias%20Black%20Box%20(D%20Yerushalmi).pdf ). (Caution: large file).

Sharia-compliant finance

2008-12-11T20:47:10Z

RonTorres: /* Source */ fix cite

Sharia-compliant finance

2008-12-11T20:45:48Z

RonTorres: adding source

'''Sharia-compliant finance''' (SCF) refers to commercial (especially lending) transactions conducted in accordance with Islamic law. Typically, interest is not charged in SCF transactions. In addition, SCF avoids investments in certain industries, such as the pornography, pork, alcoholic-beverage, gambling industries. In addition, the investors must comply with Muslim rules regarding the ''zakat'', or a charitable contribution aimed at supporting the poor. Note, however, that while ''sharia'' forbids the charging of interest, SCF has developed ways to get around this prohibition. Problems presented by SCF include that it enables racketeering, antitrust activity, securities fraud, consumer fraud and material support for terror.

==Source==
David Yerushalmi, Esq., [http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/Modules/NewsManager/Center%20publication%20PDFs/Shairias%20Black%20Box%20(D%20Yerushalmi).pdf Civil Liability and Criminal Exposure for
U.S. Financial Institutions and Businesses Engaged in Shariah-Compliant Finance] (Caution: large file).

Sharia-compliant finance

2008-12-11T20:43:44Z

RonTorres: new article

Unitarians

2008-11-26T18:37:57Z

RonTorres: adding humor

'''Unitarianism''' is a religion that developed from Christianity in Europe in the 16th Century. Its name comes from its rejection the idea of the [[Holy Trinity]] in favor of a unitary God. In Unitarianism, Jesus is the Messiah and Son of God, but not God Himself. According to an old joke, Unitarians believe in, at most, one God.

Unitarians reject key Christian concepts like the [[Incarnation]], [[Virgin Birth]] and [[Resurrection]]. In the United States, the main body of Unitarians merged with the [[Universalists]] to form the [[Unitarian Universalist Association]] in 1961. The UUs (as they call themselves) are explicitly nondoctrinal, although most members would subscribe to some sort of [[liberal theology]] and many embrace Eastern religious concepts.

The Unitarians merged with the Universalists in 1961 to become the [[Unitarian Universalist Association]], which has thrown out absolutely every religious tenet of Christianity in some form or another.

== External links ==
* [http://www.beliefnet.com/index/index_10034.html Belief Net on Unitarians]
* [http://www.uua.org/ Unitarians Universal Association]

[[Category:Christianity]]
[[Category:Heresies]]

Conservapedia:Userboxes/Political Figures

2008-11-26T18:28:34Z

RonTorres: adding newly created userbox

'''POLITICAL FIGURES'''

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|{{UB|Bushfan}}
|-
|{{UB|Reagan}}
|-
|{{UB|ronny}}
|-
|{{UB|ClintonFan}}
|-
|{{UB|Clintonlied}}
|-
|{{UB|Clinton}}
|-
|{{UB|not Regan}}
|-
|{{UB|Newt4pres}}
|-
|{{UB|McCain}}
|-
|{{UB|Palin}}
|-
|{{UB|Biden}}
|-
|{{UB|Obama}}
|-
|{{UB|Obama2}}
|-
|{{UB|Not Obama}}

Template:User Not Obama

2008-11-26T18:27:13Z

RonTorres: new userbox

{{Userbox |border-c=#000 |border-s=1 |id-c=#fff |id-s=12 |id-fc=#000 |info-c=#039 |info-s=8 |info-fc=#fff |id=[[Image:obama.jpg|65px]] |info=<center>This user does not support Barack Obama.</center>}}

MySpace

2008-11-26T17:51:37Z

RonTorres: /* Criticism */ adding list of Christian alternatives

'''MySpace''' is an online social networking web site which allows users to create custom profiles, write diaries (commonly know as [[blog]]s), and upload photos and videos. It became popular among people in the music industry as a way to build a fanbase and promote their music. As of March 2007, over 130 Million people use MySpace.
==Criticism==
*Many adults have criticized MySpace as being a hotbed for [[pedophile]]s and other undesirable users.
*Many users do not know how much or how little information to put online, sometimes causing them to put far too much personal information online, where anyone can read it. <ref>[http://www.csoonline.com.au/index.php/id;1561163121;fp;16;fpid;0 "Mr. Safety keeps watch on MySpace security"]</ref>
* Some employers have begun to research prospective employees by browsing their MySpace sites, possibly affecting their chance at being hired. <ref>[http://www.bju.edu/collegian/index.php?issue=104&article=1084 Facebook, MySpace impact employee hiring], The Collegian Staff, Bob Jones University, Accessed October 30, 2008</ref>
*Others have criticized it for being the very demise of real-life relationships, instead forcing those relationships onto the internet.
*Several people have voiced complaints of teenagers posting suggestive or otherwise inappropriate pictures of themselves. They claim that Myspace has not done enough to protect minors from the dangers associated with the internet. Myspace responded by implementing a "private" setting for profiles, blocking access to strangers, but this and other security features have done little to sway critics.
*MySpace has been used by [[atheists]] to promote their blogs, books and to reach out to young people. However, MySpace was very decisive in deleting a large atheist group<ref>http://blog.newhumanist.org.uk/2008/01/banned-myspace-deletes-largest-atheist.html
</ref>. MySpace's founder Tom Anderson is himself an atheist.<ref>http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/30/myspace-cofounder-tom-anderson-was-a-real-life-wargames-hacker-in-1980s/</ref>

==Christian alternatives==
*[http://www.faithfreaks.com Faith Freaks]
*[http://www.mypraize.com MyPraize]
*[http://www.xianz.com Xianz.com]

==References==
<references/>
[[category:information technology]]

Dragons

2008-11-26T17:44:52Z

RonTorres: explain

'''Dragons''' are creatures frequently mentioned in a wide variety of text including folklore, myths, and the Bible. They share many characteristics with [[dinosaurs]] and are thought to be the same creatures. It is sometimes claimed that discussions of dragons are loosely based on creatures such as [[snake]]s (especially in European folklore), [[alligator]]s, and [[crocodile]]s. However, this does not make sense, because snakes do not have legs like dragons, nor do they grow nearly as large as dragons. Crocodiles do not live in Europe, and alligators are found only in the Western Hemisphere, so they could not be the basis for this legend in Europe or Asia.

Legendary sea serpents such as the [[Loch Ness monster]], Ogopogo, Gaasyendietha and Argont have never been proven to exist, but some believe that they originate from folk memories of [[dinosaur]]s<ref>"In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish [[leviathan]] the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea."(Isaiah 27:1) </ref>. Saint George, Saint Mercurialis, first bishop of the city of Forlì, Saint Julian of Le Mans, Saint Veran, Saint Crescentinus, Saint Margaret of Antioch, Saint Martha, and Saint Leonard of Noblac are a few of the people who encountered dragons/dinosaurs of some type. Most of the saints associated with dragons were dragon slayers. In addition, the monster [[Grendel]] in the [[Beowulf]] tale is similar to a dragon or dinosaur.

Though European dragons are almost always regarded as evil, or at the least mere predators, dragons in Eastern mythology tend to be regarded as divine creatures, as often benevolent as neutral or evil. It is possible that this is because after the [[Great Flood]], predatory, carnivorous dinosaurs tended to migrate westward, whereas large, plant-eating dinosaurs tended to migrate east from [[Mt. Ararat]].

Dragons are popular in science fiction movies and fantasy role playing games, [[Dungeons and Dragons]] being an example.

==References==
<references/>

==Links==
*[http://www.lilith-ezine.com/articles/2005/canadian_seaserpents.html Sea Serpents of Canada]
[[category:mythology]]

Dragons

2008-11-26T17:43:51Z

RonTorres: correcting

'''Dragons''' are creatures frequently mentioned in a wide variety of text including folklore, myths, and the Bible. They share many characteristics with [[dinosaurs]] and are thought to be the same creatures. It is sometimes claimed that discussions of dragons are loosely based on creatures such as [[snake]]s (especially in European folklore), [[alligator]]s, and [[crocodile]]s. However, this does not make sense, because snakes do not have legs like dragons, nor do they grow nearly as large as dragons. Crocodiles do not live in Europe, and alligators are found only in the Western Hemisphere.

Legendary sea serpents such as the [[Loch Ness monster]], Ogopogo, Gaasyendietha and Argont have never been proven to exist, but some believe that they originate from folk memories of [[dinosaur]]s<ref>"In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish [[leviathan]] the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea."(Isaiah 27:1) </ref>. Saint George, Saint Mercurialis, first bishop of the city of Forlì, Saint Julian of Le Mans, Saint Veran, Saint Crescentinus, Saint Margaret of Antioch, Saint Martha, and Saint Leonard of Noblac are a few of the people who encountered dragons/dinosaurs of some type. Most of the saints associated with dragons were dragon slayers. In addition, the monster [[Grendel]] in the [[Beowulf]] tale is similar to a dragon or dinosaur.

Though European dragons are almost always regarded as evil, or at the least mere predators, dragons in Eastern mythology tend to be regarded as divine creatures, as often benevolent as neutral or evil. It is possible that this is because after the [[Great Flood]], predatory, carnivorous dinosaurs tended to migrate westward, whereas large, plant-eating dinosaurs tended to migrate east from [[Mt. Ararat]].

Dragons are popular in science fiction movies and fantasy role playing games, [[Dungeons and Dragons]] being an example.

==References==
<references/>

==Links==
*[http://www.lilith-ezine.com/articles/2005/canadian_seaserpents.html Sea Serpents of Canada]
[[category:mythology]]

Dragons

2008-11-26T17:42:44Z

RonTorres: combine into one paragraph

'''Dragons''' are creatures frequently mentioned in a wide variety of text including folklore, myths, and the Bible. They share many characteristics with [[dinosaurs]] and are thought to be the same creatures. It is sometimes claimed that discussions of dragons are loosely based on creatures such as [[snake]]s (especially in European folklore), [[alligator]]s, and [[crocodile]]s. However, this does not make sense, because snakes do not have legs like dragons, nor do they grow nearly as large as dragons. Crocodiles do not live in Europe, and alligators are found only in the Western Hemisphere.

Legendary sea serpents such as the [[Loch Ness monster]], Ogopogo, Gaasyendietha and Argont have never been proven to exist, but some believe that they originate from folk memories of [[dinosaur]]s<ref>"In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish [[leviathan]] the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea."(Isaiah 27:1) </ref>. Saint George, Saint Mercurialis, first bishop of the city of Forlì, Saint Julian of Le Mans, Saint Veran, Saint Crescentinus, Saint Margaret of Antioch, Saint Martha, and Saint Leonard of Noblac are a few of the people who encountered dragons/dinosaurs of some type. Most of the saints associated with dragons were dragon slayers. In addition, the monster that Grendel fought is similar to a dragon or dinosaur.

Though European dragons are almost always regarded as evil, or at the least mere predators, dragons in Eastern mythology tend to be regarded as divine creatures, as often benevolent as neutral or evil. It is possible that this is because after the [[Great Flood]], predatory, carnivorous dinosaurs tended to migrate westward, whereas large, plant-eating dinosaurs tended to migrate east from [[Mt. Ararat]].

Dragons are popular in science fiction movies and fantasy role playing games, [[Dungeons and Dragons]] being an example.

==References==
<references/>

==Links==
*[http://www.lilith-ezine.com/articles/2005/canadian_seaserpents.html Sea Serpents of Canada]
[[category:mythology]]

Mt. Ararat

2008-11-26T17:41:48Z

RonTorres: redirect

#REDIRECT [[Mount Ararat]]

Dragons

2008-11-26T17:41:10Z

RonTorres: adding more information about dinosaurs

'''Dragons''' are creatures frequently mentioned in a wide variety of text including folklore, myths, and the Bible. They share many characteristics with [[dinosaurs]] and are thought to be the same creatures. It is sometimes claimed that discussions of dragons are loosely based on creatures such as [[snake]]s (especially in European folklore), [[alligator]]s, and [[crocodile]]s. However, this does not make sense, because snakes do not have legs like dragons, nor do they grow nearly as large as dragons. Crocodiles do not live in Europe, and alligators are found only in the Western Hemisphere.

Legendary sea serpents such as the [[Loch Ness monster]], Ogopogo, Gaasyendietha and Argont have never been proven to exist, but some believe that they originate from folk memories of [[dinosaur]]s<ref>"In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish [[leviathan]] the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea."(Isaiah 27:1) </ref>.

Saint George, Saint Mercurialis, first bishop of the city of Forlì, Saint Julian of Le Mans, Saint Veran, Saint Crescentinus, Saint Margaret of Antioch, Saint Martha, and Saint Leonard of Noblac are a few of the people who encountered dragons/dinosaurs of some type. Most of the saints associated with dragons were dragon slayers. In addition, the monster that Grendel fought is similar to a dragon or dinosaur.

Though European dragons are almost always regarded as evil, or at the least mere predators, dragons in Eastern mythology tend to be regarded as divine creatures, as often benevolent as neutral or evil. It is possible that this is because after the [[Great Flood]], predatory, carnivorous dinosaurs tended to migrate westward, whereas large, plant-eating dinosaurs tended to migrate east from [[Mt. Ararat]].

Dragons are popular in science fiction movies and fantasy role playing games, [[Dungeons and Dragons]] being an example.

==References==
<references/>

==Links==
*[http://www.lilith-ezine.com/articles/2005/canadian_seaserpents.html Sea Serpents of Canada]
[[category:mythology]]

Sharia law

2008-11-26T00:21:25Z

RonTorres: /* Sharia in the United States */ Training courses for Treasury Department officials

'''Sharia''' is the body of [[Islamic]] law. The term means "way" or "path"; it is the legal framework within which public and some private aspects of life are regulated for those living in a legal system based on [[Muslim]] principles of jurisprudence. It is not actually part of the canonical [[Qur'an]]; that is to say, it is not believed to be the direct word of [[Allah]] by Muslims, but rather the interpretation of it.

Sharia deals with many aspects of day-to-day life, including politics, economics, banking, business law, contract law, sexuality, and social issues. Some Islamic scholars accept Sharia as the body of precedent and legal theory established before the 19th century, while other scholars view Sharia as a changing body, and include Islamic legal theory from the contemporary period.{{fact}}

There is not a strictly codified uniform set of laws pertaining to Sharia. It is more like a system of devising laws, based on the Qur'an, Hadith and centuries of debate, interpretation and precedent.

Before the 19th century, legal theory was considered the domain of the traditional legal schools of thought. Most [[Sunni]] Muslims follow Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki or Shafii, while most [[Shia]] Muslims follow Jaafari (Hallaq 1997, Brown 1996, Aslan 2006).

Laws and practices under Sharia:

===Marriage laws===
* The Muslim man who is not currently a fornicator can only marry a Muslim woman who is not currently a fornicatress or a chaste woman from the people of the book.
* The Muslim woman who is not currently a fornicatress can only marry a Muslim man who is not currently a fornicator.
* The Muslim fornicator can only marry a Muslim fornicatress.
* The Muslim fornicatress can only marry a Muslim fornicator.
* Men can marry up to four wives, but only if they are treated equally. Those who do not consider themselves capable of maintaining just behavior between wives, should refrain from this practice.
* The woman cannot marry without the consent of her guardian. If she marries, her husband becomes her new guardian.
* The guardian may choose a suitable partner for a virgin girl, but the girl is free to contest and has the right to say 'no'.
* The guardian cannot marry the divorced woman or the widow if she didn't ask to be married.
* The number of husbands is limited to one.
* "Do not marry unless you give your wife something that is her right." It is obligatory for a man to give bride wealth (gifts) to the woman he marries.[5]

===Divorce laws===
* A woman who wishes to be divorced usually needs the consent of her husband. However, most schools allow her to obtain a divorce without her husband's consent if she can show the judge that her husband is mistreating her, failing to support her financially, or is impotent. If the husband consents she does not have to pay back the dower.{{fact}}
* Men have the right of unilateral divorce. A divorce is effective when the man tells his wife that he is divorcing her. At this point the husband must pay the wife the "delayed" component of the dower.
* A divorced woman of reproductive age must wait three months before marrying again to ensure that she is not pregnant. Her ex-husband should support her financially during this period.{{fact}}
* Under certain circumstances (abuse, for instance), the wife may ask a judge to separate the couple.
* If a man says "I divorce thee" three times to his wife, he can no longer marry her again unless she marries another man and then divorces.
* These are guidelines; Islamic law on divorce is different depending on the school of thought.

===Other laws===
* Dancing and other forms of "fun" entertainment are forbidden

===The penalty for theft===
*In accordance with the Qur'an and several hadith, theft is punished by imprisonment or amputation of hands or feet, depending on the number of times it was committed and depending on the item of theft.
===The penalty for adultery===
*In accordance with hadith, stoning to death is the penalty for married men and women who commit adultery. For unmarried men and women, the punishment prescribed in the Qur'an and hadith is 100 lashes.

== Sharia in the United States ==
Many financial institutions in the United States are using [[sharia-compliant finance]], or SCF. Problems presented by SCF include that it enables racketeering, antitrust activity, securities fraud, consumer fraud and material support for terror.<ref>David Yerushalmi, Esq., [http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/Modules/NewsManager/Center%20publication%20PDFs/Shairias%20Black%20Box%20(D%20Yerushalmi).pdf Civil Liability and Criminal Exposure for
U.S. Financial Institutions and Businesses Engaged in Shariah-Compliant Finance] (Caution: large file).</ref> The Treasury Department has been co-sponsoring seminars on sharia-compliant finance with Harvard Law School's Islamic Finance Project in preparation for new projects to be undertaken by the department under [[President of the United States|President]] [[Barack Obama]]<ref>[http://www.christianworldviewnetwork.com/article.php/4162/Brannon-Howse/ COALITION TO STOP SHARIAH TO PROTEST U.S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT'S EFFORTS TO PROMOTE SEDITIOUS SHARIAH-COMPLIANT FINANCE], press release, November 5, 2008.</ref>

There is a growing population of polygamist Muslims in the United States.<ref>Pauline Bartolone, ''[http://newsinitiative.org/story/2007/07/27/for_these_muslims_polygamy_is For these Muslims, polygamy is an option]'', San Francisco Chronicle, August 5, 2007.</ref>

== Sharia in the United Kingdom ==
In 2008, the [[Department for Work and Pensions]] in the [[United Kingdom]] revised its policies to provide for extra welfare benefits for men who have married more than one wife, as permitted by sharia law.<ref>Jonathan Wynne-Jones, [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/1577395/Multiple-wives-will-mean-multiple-benefits.html Multiple wives will mean multiple benefits], ''Telegraph'', April 18, 2008.</ref>

==Further reading==
*'''Pendlebury, Richard''' ''Sharia UK: What exactly does it mean?'' [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=512973&in_page_id=1770 Daily Mail]. Accessed 9 February 2008
[[Category:Islam]]
*'''Barton, Fiona''', '''McBride, Alex''' ''A brutal beating and justice meted out in a humble back street cafe: how sharia law already operates in Britain'' [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=513218&in_page_id=1770 Daily Mail]. Accessed 9 February 2008

== Notes ==
<references/>

Bill Clinton

2008-11-26T00:02:59Z

RonTorres: /* Early Scandals */ Restoring information, not sure why this was deleted

{{President
|image=billclinton.jpg
|seq=42
|term_start=January 20, 1993
|term_end=January 20, 2001<ref>http://home.comcast.net/~sharonday7/Presidents/AP060301.htm</ref>
|party=Democratic
|vp=Al Gore
|previous=George H. W. Bush
|next=George W. Bush
|birth_date=August 19, 1946
|birth_place=Hope, Arkansas
|death_date=
|death_place=
|spouse=[[Hillary Rodham Clinton]]
|spouse2=
|religion=[[Baptist]]
}}
'''William Jefferson''' "Bill" '''Clinton''' '''(August 19, 1946 - present)''' served two terms as the 42nd [[President of the United States of America]] from 1993-2000, following [[George H. W. Bush]] and preceding [[George W. Bush]]. He was only the second president ever to have been [[impeach]]ed, and the only president to be elected twice with pluralities of less than 50% of the popular vote. He governed in a more [[conservative]] manner after the Democrats in [[Congress]] lost in a landslide in the 1994 midterm elections, signing into law the [[Defense of Marriage Act]] and the [[Welfare Reform Act]].

== Early Life ==

Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946 in Hope, [[Arkansas]]. His father, William Jefferson Blythe Jr. died in a car accident while his mother was pregnant with him. Clinton's mother later married Roger Clinton, and the four year-old William was given his stepfather's name.<ref>http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html</ref>

Clinton was active in high school, participating in various student government organizations as well as playing the saxophone. Roger Clinton, however, made Bill's family life unpleasant by repeatedly abusing Clinton's mother and her children. Bill Clinton would eventually stand up to his stepfather in high school, forcing his stepfather to stop beating his mother and kicking him out of the house.<ref>http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=50652</ref> After Roger Clinton underwent alcohol rehabilitation, he would eventually rejoin the family.

Clinton attended [[Georgetown University]], then [[Oxford University]] after receiving a prestigious [[Rhodes Scholarship]]. He also then earned a Juris Doctorate from [[Yale University]] in 1973. At Yale he met [[Hillary Clinton|Hillary Rodham]], whom he would later marry.<ref>http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html</ref>

== Early Political Career ==

After returning to live in Arkansas, Clinton was elected [[Attorney General]] of Arkansas in 1976. Two years later, he was elected Governor of Arkansas, becoming the youngest governor in the country at 32 years-old. Though defeated in 1980, Clinton won back the governorship in 1982 and held it until becoming President in 1992.

In December 1989 a three-judge district federal court held Bill Clinton's state-wide legislative reapportionment plan violated Section 2 of the [[Voting Rights Act|Voting Rights Act of 1965]], 42 U.S.C. 1973. 1990 the [[Supreme Court]] of the United States found in the case of ''[[Clinton vs Jeffers]]'' <ref>Findings of the Supreme Court of the United States in [http://www.usdoj.gov/osg/briefs/1990/sg900402.txt Clinton vs Jeffers] No. 90-394 (1990) on appeal 730 F. Supp. 196, 198-201 (ED Ark. 1989) (three-judge court), aff'd, No. 89-2008 (Jan. 7, 1991).</ref> the former Arkansas Governor and [[Democratic]] president had violated the Voting Rights Act. The Justices findings were,

{{Cquote|Bill Clinton does not dispute here -- that "violations of the [[Fourteenth amendment|fourteenth]] or [[fifteenth amendment]] justifying equitable relief have occurred in Arkansas."

In May 1990, the district court turned to those claims, holding that "the State of Arkansas has committed a number of constitutional violations of the voting rights of black citizens." J.S. App. A5. In particular, the court determined that the "State has systematically and deliberately enacted new majority-vote requirements for municipal offices, in an effort to frustrate black political success in elections traditionally requiring only a plurality to win." In 1990...Devotion to majority rule for local offices lay dormant as long as the plurality system produced white office-holders. But whenever black candidates used this system successfully -- and victory by a plurality has been virtually their only chance of success in at-large elections in majority-white cities – the response was swift and certain. Laws were passed in an attempt to close off this avenue of black political victory.}}

The court therefore concluded that

{{Cquote|This series of laws represents a systematic and deliberate attempt to reduce black political opportunity. Such an attempt is plainly unconstitutional. It replaces a system in which blacks could and did succeed, with one in which they almost certainly cannot. The inference of [[bigotry|racial motivation]] is inescapable.}}

===Early Scandals===
Clinton was known to have been involved in several scandals while Governor of Arkansas. He allegedly used Arkansas state policemen to arrange for him to meet women outside of marriage.<ref>Thomas C. Reeves, ''[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_n14_v10/ai_14988880 Why Troopergate matters to voters]'', Insight on the News, April 4, 1994.</ref>

His close personal business partnerships with James and Susan McDougall in a failed Savings and Loan business venture led to investigation of the [[Whitewater]] affair. Several of the people involved with the sale of land prior to the Clinton presidency were indicted, but prosecutors were never able to charge the Clintons with a crime because Susan McDougall would not cooperate with investigators. Clinton later pardoned Susan McDougall for her role in the Whitewater affair.<ref>Byron York, ''[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_3_53/ai_70433367 If you knew Susan like he knows Susan]'', National Review, February 19, 2001.</ref>

The videotape ''[[The Clinton Chronicles]]'' provided convincing evidence that Clinton engaged in drug smuggling through the airport in Mena, Arkansas when he was governor. He even committed murder to cover his tracks. Nevertheless, his supporters have continued to dispute these allegations.

== Presidency==
[[Image:Somalia.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Poster to end the "[[racist]] occupation of Somalia"; eighteen US soldiers were killed and some of their bodies were dragged through the streets.<ref>[http://www.netnomad.com/fineman.html The Oil Factor in Somalia]: Four American [[Big Oil|Petroleum Giants]] had Agreements with the African Nation before its Civil War began. They could reap big rewards if peace is restored. By Mark Fineman, ''Times Mirror Company'', January 18, 1993.</ref>]]
Clinton won in the [[United States presidential election of 1992]] with 43% of the popular vote versus President [[George H. W. Bush]]'s 37%, capitalizing on public discontent with a weak economy and public displeasure with Bush's proposed tax increases; third candidate Ross Perot managed 19%. Clinton had campaigned that he would cut taxes for the middle class -- a promise that never occurred.

In his first two years in office, 1993 through 1994, popular outcry against Clinton's [[radical]] health-care "reform" scheme led to failure of the plan. The collapse of the Soviet Bloc only a few years earlier made [[socialism]] unpopular and was credited for the widespread disillusionment with the proposal. The approach consisted of appointing secret members to an [[economic planning|economic planning committee]] to reshape this important sector of the economy.{{fact}} The [[Association of American Physicians and Surgeons]] successfully sued to force disclosure of the committee financing, expenses and membership. The program ultimately became so unpopular that after two years, the Democratic-controlled Congress shielded its committee members' records by never bringing it to the floor for a vote.

In 1994, voters expressed their high disapproval of Clinton's policies and several decades of Democratic control by giving an overwhelming victory to Republicans who suddenly found themselves in control of both Houses of Congress. This event was tagged the "Republican Revolution," and caused some headbutting as the new [[Speaker of the House]], [[Newt Gingrich]] attempted to fulfill the "Contract with America" that the Republicans had run under and Clinton tried to stop the proposals from passing. Showdowns between the two peaked in 1995 when Gingrich refused to pass Clinton's budget proposal, and the latter threatened to shut down the government as Reagan had done in the 1980s. Bolstered by polling showing that the Republicans were being blamed more than the Democrats for the impasse, Clinton did not back down, and eventually had his budget passed.<ref>http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/commentprint082800d.html</ref> The showdown had backfired for the Republicans, as it reinvigorated Clinton's flagging approval ratings.<ref>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Clinton_approval_rating.JPG</ref>

In late 1995, President Clinton dispatched some 20,000 U.S. troops to [[Bosnia]].

Clinton was known for his positive and outspoken tolerance of [[homosexuality]]. <ref>[http://www.behindthebadge.net/articles/a105.html]</ref>

==1996==

Clinton was reelected in the [[United States presidential election of 1996]] and carried 49.2% of the popular vote against Republican candidate ([[Robert Dole | Bob Dole]]), who won 41%, and "populist" candidate, [[H. Ross Perot]], who won 8%. During Clinton's second term, together with the Republican-controlled Congress, he produced record federal budget surpluses reaching $236 billion by the year 2000, and representing a net federal budget gain of $526 billion.<ref>[http://www.uuforum.org/deficit.htm Congressional Budget Office figures]</ref>

He spent much of the remainder of his presidency combating scandals. A special prosecutor's report was not released until well into Clinton's second term, and brought documented evidence of Clinton giving false testimony in the Paula Jones civil lawsuit while President which resulted in his impeachment and disbarment from the legal profession.{{fact}} The main charge was that he had committed perjury in a civil suit. The perjured testimony directly related to an attempt to defraud the plaintiff of damages. The Senate failed to make clear what constitutes high crimes and misdemeanors.<ref>[http://www.australianpolitics.com/usa/clinton/trial/statements/lieberman.shtml Statement by Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut)], Congressional Record for Friday, February 12, 1999.</ref>

In 1998 the [[Good Friday Agreement]] was signed between Northern Ireland's Nationalist and Unionist parties and the British and Irish governments. Clinton took part in brokering the deal, phoning the participants in negotiations, at Senator Mitchel's behest, and hosted Unionist and Nationalist leaders at the White House.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/04/10/nclinton.ireland.api/]</ref>

== 1998 ==
President Clinton signed into law H.R. 4655, the [[Iraq]] Liberation Act. This act declares that it should be the policy of the [[United States]] to seek to remove the [[Saddam Hussein]] regime from power in Iraq and to replace it with a democratic government. Also that same year, Saddam had kicked out UN weapons inspectors and President Clinton ordered aerial bombings of key targets. Under President Clinton, the US Military was patrolling two Iraqi no-fly zones, one in southern Iraq, the other over Northern Iraq.

===al-Qaeda bombing===

During Clinton's presidency the [[terrorist]] group [[al-Qaeda]] conducted the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, simultaneous bombings of the US embassies in [[Kenya]] and [[Tanzania]] in 1998, and the attack on the [[USS Cole]] in 2000. Terrorist leader [[Osama bin Laden]]<ref>[http://www.bannerofliberty.com/OS8-98MQC/8-24-1998.1.html Did Bill Clinton Smooth the Way for Bin Laden to Become the World's Most Successful Terrorist?], Mary Mostert, Original Sources, August 24, 1998.</ref> issued two public [[fatwa]]s declaring War on America.<ref>[http://www.kimsoft.com/2001/binladenwar.htm Bin Laden's Declaration of War], 1998.</ref> In the 1998 fatwa <ref>Bernard Lewis, [http://www.msu.edu/course/iss/325/stein/read-325-3.htm#Lewis License to Kill], Foreign Affairs, November/December 1998.</ref> bin Laden told ''[[Jihad|jihadist]]s'' worldwide,
{{Cquote|Clinton appeared in front of the whole world threatening and promising revenge, but these threats were merely a preparation for withdrawal. You have been disgraced by [[Allah]] and you withdrew; the extent of your impotence and weaknesses became very clear. It was a pleasure for the "heart" of every Muslim and a remedy to the "chests" of believing nations to see you defeated in the three Islamic cities of Beirut, [[Aden]] and [[Mogadishu]].<ref>[http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/context.jsp?item=a1097mohamedinterview&scale=0#a1097mohamedinterview October 1997: [[Ali Mohamed]] Tells FBI He Helped Al-Qaeda Kill US Soldiers, But FBI Takes No Action]</ref>}}

Bin Laden told ''ABC News'' at the time, "We do not have to differentiate between military or civilian. As far as we are concerned, they are all targets." <ref>The 9-11 Commission Report, [http://www.gpoaccess.gov/911/pdf/sec2.pdf2. The Foundation of the New Terrorism], Official Government Edition, GPO, 2004.</ref>
===Cruise missiles to manipulate opinion polls===
Suspicions often arose during Clinton's tenure about the timing of [[cruise missile]] attacks to manipulate public sympathy at crucial points when his approval ratings sagged. On several occasions <ref>[http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NzhjODk1ODg4M2NiODU4Yzc3YWE1OTA1MDNmYWQ5M2Y= The Facts About Clinton and Terrorism], Byron York, ''National Review Online'', September 11, 2006. </ref> generally when the approval ratings dipped to 47%, surprise cruise missile attacks<ref>[http://www.fas.org/news/iraq/1998/12/21/wwwh8d21.html Airstrikes Against Iraq: 'What Happens Now?'], U.S. Information Agency ''Daily Digest'', December 21, 1998.</ref> were launched which resulted in a 10 point gain in the public opinion polls. Nick Gillespie of ''Reason'' remarked,
{{Cquote|Consider, for instance, the relative lack of scrutiny accorded the August 20 cruise missile attacks on Afghanistan and [[Sudan]] … immediately after the bombing, polls showed that close to half of all Americans thought the missile strikes were meant to divert attention from the president's sex life… the Sudanese bombing suggests something else as well: If and when the public's and the media's attention shifts from the president's sex life to wider-ranging inquiries about how he makes deadly serious policy decisions…"<ref>[http://www.reason.com/news/show/30827.html Bombs Away - Troubling questions about the U.S. attack on Sudan], ''Reason'', December 1998.</ref>}}

Clinton also signed into law the [[Violence Against Women Act]], which opened the federal courts to claims of domestic disputes between men and women, which had always been handled under state rather than federal law. Portions regarding civil rights remedies were later found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff was John Podesta between 1998-2001.

Clinton left office with an approval rating of 65%, the highest of any modern president, and remains the only modern president to leave office with a higher approval rating than he had when he took office.<ref>[http://uspolitics.about.com/od/polls/l/bl_historical_approval.htm Presidential Approval Ratings]</ref>

===Impeachment===
On Aug. 17, 1998, after relentless media attention, leaks, and news of White House intern [[Monica Lewinsky]]'s upcoming testimony regarding her extramarital affair with the President, Clinton made history by becoming the first U.S. president to testify in front of a grand jury in an investigation of his own possibly criminal conduct. In an address to the nation, he admitted to having misled the public and a Federal Court over keys elements of testimony. [[Kenneth Starr]], a special prosecutor appointed to investigate the case, was instructed to pursue the matter.

In the second term Clinton was accused of perjury in connection to the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit. Clinton adviser and close confidant [[George Stephanopoulos]] said publicly that there would be a "scorched-earth policy" if Clinton were impeached.<ref>[http://www.alamo-girl.com/02742.htm Insight Magazine], J Michael Waller, 6/19/00.</ref> Clinton previously had decried the "politics of personal destruction."<ref>[http://www.jewishworldreview.com/weekly/standard072299.asp Bill Clinton, Historian], Peter Wehner, Jewish World Review July 22, 1999.</ref>

During the impeachment trial, pornographer [[Larry Flynt]], an old friend of Clinton advisers [[James Carville]] and [[Strobe Talbott]], publicly offered a $1 million reward for any information about the personal lives of members of Congress that could be used for the purposes of blackmail.

In the end Clinton was tried in the Senate for two counts: "perjury" and "obstruction of justice" (the House turned down two other counts: "abuse of power" as well as another count of "perjury" in connection with the Paula Jones case). The Senate impeachment vote fell roughly according to party lines with all Democrats voting "not guilty" on both counts - joined by 5 and 10 "left-leaning" Republicans, respectively (making the counts 55-45 and 50-50 in favor of the verdicts). Although in the former case a majority of Senators voted to convict, two thirds majority being necessary to remove him from office.

[[David Gergen]], former White House Communications Director for both Presidents Reagan and Clinton, summarized the sentiments of many regarding the President's conduct:
{{Cquote|The deep and searing violation took place when he not only lied to the country, but co-opted his friends and lied to them....when you have gone over the line, you won't bring others into it...You don't foul the nest."<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/quinn110298.htm In Washington, That Letdown Feeling], By Sally Quinn, ''The Washington Post'', November 2, 1998, Page E01</ref>}}

Clinton lost his law license in Arkansas because he had committed perjury before a Federal judge.

It was during this scandal that Clinton famously stated: "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is".<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/21/newsid_2525000/2525339.stm</ref>

===Terrorist pardons===

On August 11, 1999, President Clinton offered clemency to members of the [[Armed Forces of National Liberation]] (FALN) [[terrorist]] group. <ref>[http://rpc.senate.gov/_files/92199CoddlingTerrorists.pdf U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee] testimony available at http://www.senate.gov/~judiciary/wl91599.htm, ''The Tampa Tribune'', S.J.Res. 33 (passed 95-2).</ref> On January 24, 1975 the FALN bombed Fraunces Tavern in Manhattan killing four people. Over a six-year period, the group claimed responsibility for more than 100 bombings that took six lives and injured some 130 people.<ref>[http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/puertorico/sep4.htm Clinton Pardons Terror], ''New York Post'', August 13, 1999. rtetrieve from http://www.latinamericanstudies.org September 14, 2007.</ref>

== Legacy ==

Clinton has spent much of time since leaving office working for charitable causes such as support and fund-raising for the victims of AIDS and the Asian tsunami. In the case of the Indian Ocean tsunami, he teamed with former president [[George H.W. Bush]] to raise money for relief efforts.

Bill Clinton's wife, [[Hillary_Rodham_Clinton|Hillary Clinton]], was elected Senator to New York in 2000. She was reelected in 2006. She made a failed bid for the [[2008_Presidential_Election#Declared_Democratic_Party_Candidates|Democratic presidential nomination in 2008]]. According to WorldNetDaily Hillary may face a felony conviction that carries with it a five year sentence for receiving $1.9 million to her Senate Campaign in illegal donations,<ref>[http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55320 'Smoking gun' tape indicts Hillary] Art Moore, WorldNetDaily.com, April 21, 2007.</ref> Bill Clinton has refused to make known the identities of financial donors to his Presidential library.<ref>[http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/09/clinton-libary-.html Clinton Library Donors Remain Secret], [[ABC News]], September 27, 2007.</ref>

==Involvement in Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign==

Clinton has been criticized by both liberals and conservatives for his actions in his wife's presidential campaign. [[Time Magazine]], hardly a conservative source, referred to him as "his wife's attack dog". <ref>http://media.www.tuftsdaily.com/media/storage/paper856/news/2008/01/28/OpEd/Editorial.On.The.Campaign.Trail.Bill.Clinton.Should.Keep.His.Mouth.Shut-3171498.shtml</ref> Some accused him of racism for comparing [[Barack Obama]] to [[Jesse Jackson]] when Bill Clinton commented on the campaign trail in [[South Carolina]] in 2008: "Jesse Jackson won South Carolina in '84 and '88. Jackson ran a good campaign. And Obama ran a good campaign here." <ref>http://www.rightwingnews.com/mt331/2008/01/jesse_jackson_barack_obama_wha.php</ref> Time Magazine further editorialized that he had broken his strong bond with the African-American community in the process of campaigning. <ref>Time Magazine, February 4, 2008</ref>

Clinton received a "Pants on Fire" award from [[PolitiFact]] for denying that he said the Obama campaign "played the race card." <ref> http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/452/ Denies that he said the Obama campaign "played the race card."
</ref>

Clinton received a second "Pants on Fire" award from [[PolitiFact]] for this false statement to a Boonville, Indiana
crowd on April 10th, 2008. {{cquote| Hillary (Clinton), one time late at night when she was exhausted, misstated and immediately apologized for it, what happened to her in Bosnia in 1995.}} <ref> http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/428/ "Hillary (Clinton), one time late at night when she was exhausted, misstated and immediately apologized for it, what happened to her in Bosnia in 1995."</ref>

==See also==
*[[Institute for Policy Studies]]
*[[Gay Bomb]]

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==

*[http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=625 No evidence of genocide or ethnic cleansing in Kosovo], by Rollie Keith, Global Research, July 2, 2005.
*[http://www.zmag.org/crisescurevts/germandocs.htm Internal Documents from Germany's Foreign Office Regarding Pre-Bombardment Genocide in Kosovo].
*[http://www.aim.org/wls/author/bill-clinton/ What Liberals Say - Bill Clinton], [[Accuracy In Media]].

{{USPresidents}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clinton, Bill}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]
[[Category:Arkansas Governors]]
[[Category:Democrat Governors]]

Bill Clinton

2008-11-25T23:58:50Z

RonTorres: /* Early Scandals */ providing references

{{President
|image=billclinton.jpg
|seq=42
|term_start=January 20, 1993
|term_end=January 20, 2001<ref>http://home.comcast.net/~sharonday7/Presidents/AP060301.htm</ref>
|party=Democratic
|vp=Al Gore
|previous=George H. W. Bush
|next=George W. Bush
|birth_date=August 19, 1946
|birth_place=Hope, Arkansas
|death_date=
|death_place=
|spouse=[[Hillary Rodham Clinton]]
|spouse2=
|religion=[[Baptist]]
}}
'''William Jefferson''' "Bill" '''Clinton''' '''(August 19, 1946 - present)''' served two terms as the 42nd [[President of the United States of America]] from 1993-2000, following [[George H. W. Bush]] and preceding [[George W. Bush]]. He was only the second president ever to have been [[impeach]]ed, and the only president to be elected twice with pluralities of less than 50% of the popular vote. He governed in a more [[conservative]] manner after the Democrats in [[Congress]] lost in a landslide in the 1994 midterm elections, signing into law the [[Defense of Marriage Act]] and the [[Welfare Reform Act]].

== Early Life ==

Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946 in Hope, [[Arkansas]]. His father, William Jefferson Blythe Jr. died in a car accident while his mother was pregnant with him. Clinton's mother later married Roger Clinton, and the four year-old William was given his stepfather's name.<ref>http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html</ref>

Clinton was active in high school, participating in various student government organizations as well as playing the saxophone. Roger Clinton, however, made Bill's family life unpleasant by repeatedly abusing Clinton's mother and her children. Bill Clinton would eventually stand up to his stepfather in high school, forcing his stepfather to stop beating his mother and kicking him out of the house.<ref>http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=50652</ref> After Roger Clinton underwent alcohol rehabilitation, he would eventually rejoin the family.

Clinton attended [[Georgetown University]], then [[Oxford University]] after receiving a prestigious [[Rhodes Scholarship]]. He also then earned a Juris Doctorate from [[Yale University]] in 1973. At Yale he met [[Hillary Clinton|Hillary Rodham]], whom he would later marry.<ref>http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html</ref>

== Early Political Career ==

After returning to live in Arkansas, Clinton was elected [[Attorney General]] of Arkansas in 1976. Two years later, he was elected Governor of Arkansas, becoming the youngest governor in the country at 32 years-old. Though defeated in 1980, Clinton won back the governorship in 1982 and held it until becoming President in 1992.

In December 1989 a three-judge district federal court held Bill Clinton's state-wide legislative reapportionment plan violated Section 2 of the [[Voting Rights Act|Voting Rights Act of 1965]], 42 U.S.C. 1973. 1990 the [[Supreme Court]] of the United States found in the case of ''[[Clinton vs Jeffers]]'' <ref>Findings of the Supreme Court of the United States in [http://www.usdoj.gov/osg/briefs/1990/sg900402.txt Clinton vs Jeffers] No. 90-394 (1990) on appeal 730 F. Supp. 196, 198-201 (ED Ark. 1989) (three-judge court), aff'd, No. 89-2008 (Jan. 7, 1991).</ref> the former Arkansas Governor and [[Democratic]] president had violated the Voting Rights Act. The Justices findings were,

{{Cquote|Bill Clinton does not dispute here -- that "violations of the [[Fourteenth amendment|fourteenth]] or [[fifteenth amendment]] justifying equitable relief have occurred in Arkansas."

In May 1990, the district court turned to those claims, holding that "the State of Arkansas has committed a number of constitutional violations of the voting rights of black citizens." J.S. App. A5. In particular, the court determined that the "State has systematically and deliberately enacted new majority-vote requirements for municipal offices, in an effort to frustrate black political success in elections traditionally requiring only a plurality to win." In 1990...Devotion to majority rule for local offices lay dormant as long as the plurality system produced white office-holders. But whenever black candidates used this system successfully -- and victory by a plurality has been virtually their only chance of success in at-large elections in majority-white cities – the response was swift and certain. Laws were passed in an attempt to close off this avenue of black political victory.}}

The court therefore concluded that

{{Cquote|This series of laws represents a systematic and deliberate attempt to reduce black political opportunity. Such an attempt is plainly unconstitutional. It replaces a system in which blacks could and did succeed, with one in which they almost certainly cannot. The inference of [[bigotry|racial motivation]] is inescapable.}}

===Early Scandals===
Clinton was known to have been involved in several scandals while Governor of Arkansas. He allegedly used Arkansas state policemen to arrange for him to meet women outside of marriage.<ref>Thomas C. Reeves, ''[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_n14_v10/ai_14988880 Why Troopergate matters to voters]'', Insight on the News, April 4, 1994.</ref>

His close personal business partnerships with James and Susan McDougall in a failed Savings and Loan business venture led to investigation of the [[Whitewater]] affair. Several of the people involved with the sale of land prior to the Clinton presidency were indicted, but prosecutors were never able to charge the Clintons with a crime because Susan McDougall would not cooperate with investigators. Clinton later pardoned Susan McDougall for her role in the Whitewater affair.<ref>Byron York, ''[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_3_53/ai_70433367 If you knew Susan like he knows Susan]'', National Review, February 19, 2001.</ref>

== Presidency==
[[Image:Somalia.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Poster to end the "[[racist]] occupation of Somalia"; eighteen US soldiers were killed and some of their bodies were dragged through the streets.<ref>[http://www.netnomad.com/fineman.html The Oil Factor in Somalia]: Four American [[Big Oil|Petroleum Giants]] had Agreements with the African Nation before its Civil War began. They could reap big rewards if peace is restored. By Mark Fineman, ''Times Mirror Company'', January 18, 1993.</ref>]]
Clinton won in the [[United States presidential election of 1992]] with 43% of the popular vote versus President [[George H. W. Bush]]'s 37%, capitalizing on public discontent with a weak economy and public displeasure with Bush's proposed tax increases; third candidate Ross Perot managed 19%. Clinton had campaigned that he would cut taxes for the middle class -- a promise that never occurred.

In his first two years in office, 1993 through 1994, popular outcry against Clinton's [[radical]] health-care "reform" scheme led to failure of the plan. The collapse of the Soviet Bloc only a few years earlier made [[socialism]] unpopular and was credited for the widespread disillusionment with the proposal. The approach consisted of appointing secret members to an [[economic planning|economic planning committee]] to reshape this important sector of the economy.{{fact}} The [[Association of American Physicians and Surgeons]] successfully sued to force disclosure of the committee financing, expenses and membership. The program ultimately became so unpopular that after two years, the Democratic-controlled Congress shielded its committee members' records by never bringing it to the floor for a vote.

In 1994, voters expressed their high disapproval of Clinton's policies and several decades of Democratic control by giving an overwhelming victory to Republicans who suddenly found themselves in control of both Houses of Congress. This event was tagged the "Republican Revolution," and caused some headbutting as the new [[Speaker of the House]], [[Newt Gingrich]] attempted to fulfill the "Contract with America" that the Republicans had run under and Clinton tried to stop the proposals from passing. Showdowns between the two peaked in 1995 when Gingrich refused to pass Clinton's budget proposal, and the latter threatened to shut down the government as Reagan had done in the 1980s. Bolstered by polling showing that the Republicans were being blamed more than the Democrats for the impasse, Clinton did not back down, and eventually had his budget passed.<ref>http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/commentprint082800d.html</ref> The showdown had backfired for the Republicans, as it reinvigorated Clinton's flagging approval ratings.<ref>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Clinton_approval_rating.JPG</ref>

In late 1995, President Clinton dispatched some 20,000 U.S. troops to [[Bosnia]].

Clinton was known for his positive and outspoken tolerance of [[homosexuality]]. <ref>[http://www.behindthebadge.net/articles/a105.html]</ref>

==1996==

Clinton was reelected in the [[United States presidential election of 1996]] and carried 49.2% of the popular vote against Republican candidate ([[Robert Dole | Bob Dole]]), who won 41%, and "populist" candidate, [[H. Ross Perot]], who won 8%. During Clinton's second term, together with the Republican-controlled Congress, he produced record federal budget surpluses reaching $236 billion by the year 2000, and representing a net federal budget gain of $526 billion.<ref>[http://www.uuforum.org/deficit.htm Congressional Budget Office figures]</ref>

He spent much of the remainder of his presidency combating scandals. A special prosecutor's report was not released until well into Clinton's second term, and brought documented evidence of Clinton giving false testimony in the Paula Jones civil lawsuit while President which resulted in his impeachment and disbarment from the legal profession.{{fact}} The main charge was that he had committed perjury in a civil suit. The perjured testimony directly related to an attempt to defraud the plaintiff of damages. The Senate failed to make clear what constitutes high crimes and misdemeanors.<ref>[http://www.australianpolitics.com/usa/clinton/trial/statements/lieberman.shtml Statement by Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut)], Congressional Record for Friday, February 12, 1999.</ref>

In 1998 the [[Good Friday Agreement]] was signed between Northern Ireland's Nationalist and Unionist parties and the British and Irish governments. Clinton took part in brokering the deal, phoning the participants in negotiations, at Senator Mitchel's behest, and hosted Unionist and Nationalist leaders at the White House.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/04/10/nclinton.ireland.api/]</ref>

== 1998 ==
President Clinton signed into law H.R. 4655, the [[Iraq]] Liberation Act. This act declares that it should be the policy of the [[United States]] to seek to remove the [[Saddam Hussein]] regime from power in Iraq and to replace it with a democratic government. Also that same year, Saddam had kicked out UN weapons inspectors and President Clinton ordered aerial bombings of key targets. Under President Clinton, the US Military was patrolling two Iraqi no-fly zones, one in southern Iraq, the other over Northern Iraq.

===al-Qaeda bombing===

During Clinton's presidency the [[terrorist]] group [[al-Qaeda]] conducted the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, simultaneous bombings of the US embassies in [[Kenya]] and [[Tanzania]] in 1998, and the attack on the [[USS Cole]] in 2000. Terrorist leader [[Osama bin Laden]]<ref>[http://www.bannerofliberty.com/OS8-98MQC/8-24-1998.1.html Did Bill Clinton Smooth the Way for Bin Laden to Become the World's Most Successful Terrorist?], Mary Mostert, Original Sources, August 24, 1998.</ref> issued two public [[fatwa]]s declaring War on America.<ref>[http://www.kimsoft.com/2001/binladenwar.htm Bin Laden's Declaration of War], 1998.</ref> In the 1998 fatwa <ref>Bernard Lewis, [http://www.msu.edu/course/iss/325/stein/read-325-3.htm#Lewis License to Kill], Foreign Affairs, November/December 1998.</ref> bin Laden told ''[[Jihad|jihadist]]s'' worldwide,
{{Cquote|Clinton appeared in front of the whole world threatening and promising revenge, but these threats were merely a preparation for withdrawal. You have been disgraced by [[Allah]] and you withdrew; the extent of your impotence and weaknesses became very clear. It was a pleasure for the "heart" of every Muslim and a remedy to the "chests" of believing nations to see you defeated in the three Islamic cities of Beirut, [[Aden]] and [[Mogadishu]].<ref>[http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/context.jsp?item=a1097mohamedinterview&scale=0#a1097mohamedinterview October 1997: [[Ali Mohamed]] Tells FBI He Helped Al-Qaeda Kill US Soldiers, But FBI Takes No Action]</ref>}}

Bin Laden told ''ABC News'' at the time, "We do not have to differentiate between military or civilian. As far as we are concerned, they are all targets." <ref>The 9-11 Commission Report, [http://www.gpoaccess.gov/911/pdf/sec2.pdf2. The Foundation of the New Terrorism], Official Government Edition, GPO, 2004.</ref>
===Cruise missiles to manipulate opinion polls===
Suspicions often arose during Clinton's tenure about the timing of [[cruise missile]] attacks to manipulate public sympathy at crucial points when his approval ratings sagged. On several occasions <ref>[http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NzhjODk1ODg4M2NiODU4Yzc3YWE1OTA1MDNmYWQ5M2Y= The Facts About Clinton and Terrorism], Byron York, ''National Review Online'', September 11, 2006. </ref> generally when the approval ratings dipped to 47%, surprise cruise missile attacks<ref>[http://www.fas.org/news/iraq/1998/12/21/wwwh8d21.html Airstrikes Against Iraq: 'What Happens Now?'], U.S. Information Agency ''Daily Digest'', December 21, 1998.</ref> were launched which resulted in a 10 point gain in the public opinion polls. Nick Gillespie of ''Reason'' remarked,
{{Cquote|Consider, for instance, the relative lack of scrutiny accorded the August 20 cruise missile attacks on Afghanistan and [[Sudan]] … immediately after the bombing, polls showed that close to half of all Americans thought the missile strikes were meant to divert attention from the president's sex life… the Sudanese bombing suggests something else as well: If and when the public's and the media's attention shifts from the president's sex life to wider-ranging inquiries about how he makes deadly serious policy decisions…"<ref>[http://www.reason.com/news/show/30827.html Bombs Away - Troubling questions about the U.S. attack on Sudan], ''Reason'', December 1998.</ref>}}

Clinton also signed into law the [[Violence Against Women Act]], which opened the federal courts to claims of domestic disputes between men and women, which had always been handled under state rather than federal law. Portions regarding civil rights remedies were later found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff was John Podesta between 1998-2001.

Clinton left office with an approval rating of 65%, the highest of any modern president, and remains the only modern president to leave office with a higher approval rating than he had when he took office.<ref>[http://uspolitics.about.com/od/polls/l/bl_historical_approval.htm Presidential Approval Ratings]</ref>

===Impeachment===
On Aug. 17, 1998, after relentless media attention, leaks, and news of White House intern [[Monica Lewinsky]]'s upcoming testimony regarding her extramarital affair with the President, Clinton made history by becoming the first U.S. president to testify in front of a grand jury in an investigation of his own possibly criminal conduct. In an address to the nation, he admitted to having misled the public and a Federal Court over keys elements of testimony. [[Kenneth Starr]], a special prosecutor appointed to investigate the case, was instructed to pursue the matter.

In the second term Clinton was accused of perjury in connection to the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit. Clinton adviser and close confidant [[George Stephanopoulos]] said publicly that there would be a "scorched-earth policy" if Clinton were impeached.<ref>[http://www.alamo-girl.com/02742.htm Insight Magazine], J Michael Waller, 6/19/00.</ref> Clinton previously had decried the "politics of personal destruction."<ref>[http://www.jewishworldreview.com/weekly/standard072299.asp Bill Clinton, Historian], Peter Wehner, Jewish World Review July 22, 1999.</ref>

During the impeachment trial, pornographer [[Larry Flynt]], an old friend of Clinton advisers [[James Carville]] and [[Strobe Talbott]], publicly offered a $1 million reward for any information about the personal lives of members of Congress that could be used for the purposes of blackmail.

In the end Clinton was tried in the Senate for two counts: "perjury" and "obstruction of justice" (the House turned down two other counts: "abuse of power" as well as another count of "perjury" in connection with the Paula Jones case). The Senate impeachment vote fell roughly according to party lines with all Democrats voting "not guilty" on both counts - joined by 5 and 10 "left-leaning" Republicans, respectively (making the counts 55-45 and 50-50 in favor of the verdicts). Although in the former case a majority of Senators voted to convict, two thirds majority being necessary to remove him from office.

[[David Gergen]], former White House Communications Director for both Presidents Reagan and Clinton, summarized the sentiments of many regarding the President's conduct:
{{Cquote|The deep and searing violation took place when he not only lied to the country, but co-opted his friends and lied to them....when you have gone over the line, you won't bring others into it...You don't foul the nest."<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/quinn110298.htm In Washington, That Letdown Feeling], By Sally Quinn, ''The Washington Post'', November 2, 1998, Page E01</ref>}}

Clinton lost his law license in Arkansas because he had committed perjury before a Federal judge.

It was during this scandal that Clinton famously stated: "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is".<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/21/newsid_2525000/2525339.stm</ref>

===Terrorist pardons===

On August 11, 1999, President Clinton offered clemency to members of the [[Armed Forces of National Liberation]] (FALN) [[terrorist]] group. <ref>[http://rpc.senate.gov/_files/92199CoddlingTerrorists.pdf U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee] testimony available at http://www.senate.gov/~judiciary/wl91599.htm, ''The Tampa Tribune'', S.J.Res. 33 (passed 95-2).</ref> On January 24, 1975 the FALN bombed Fraunces Tavern in Manhattan killing four people. Over a six-year period, the group claimed responsibility for more than 100 bombings that took six lives and injured some 130 people.<ref>[http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/puertorico/sep4.htm Clinton Pardons Terror], ''New York Post'', August 13, 1999. rtetrieve from http://www.latinamericanstudies.org September 14, 2007.</ref>

== Legacy ==

Clinton has spent much of time since leaving office working for charitable causes such as support and fund-raising for the victims of AIDS and the Asian tsunami. In the case of the Indian Ocean tsunami, he teamed with former president [[George H.W. Bush]] to raise money for relief efforts.

Bill Clinton's wife, [[Hillary_Rodham_Clinton|Hillary Clinton]], was elected Senator to New York in 2000. She was reelected in 2006. She made a failed bid for the [[2008_Presidential_Election#Declared_Democratic_Party_Candidates|Democratic presidential nomination in 2008]]. According to WorldNetDaily Hillary may face a felony conviction that carries with it a five year sentence for receiving $1.9 million to her Senate Campaign in illegal donations,<ref>[http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55320 'Smoking gun' tape indicts Hillary] Art Moore, WorldNetDaily.com, April 21, 2007.</ref> Bill Clinton has refused to make known the identities of financial donors to his Presidential library.<ref>[http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/09/clinton-libary-.html Clinton Library Donors Remain Secret], [[ABC News]], September 27, 2007.</ref>

==Involvement in Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign==

Clinton has been criticized by both liberals and conservatives for his actions in his wife's presidential campaign. [[Time Magazine]], hardly a conservative source, referred to him as "his wife's attack dog". <ref>http://media.www.tuftsdaily.com/media/storage/paper856/news/2008/01/28/OpEd/Editorial.On.The.Campaign.Trail.Bill.Clinton.Should.Keep.His.Mouth.Shut-3171498.shtml</ref> Some accused him of racism for comparing [[Barack Obama]] to [[Jesse Jackson]] when Bill Clinton commented on the campaign trail in [[South Carolina]] in 2008: "Jesse Jackson won South Carolina in '84 and '88. Jackson ran a good campaign. And Obama ran a good campaign here." <ref>http://www.rightwingnews.com/mt331/2008/01/jesse_jackson_barack_obama_wha.php</ref> Time Magazine further editorialized that he had broken his strong bond with the African-American community in the process of campaigning. <ref>Time Magazine, February 4, 2008</ref>

Clinton received a "Pants on Fire" award from [[PolitiFact]] for denying that he said the Obama campaign "played the race card." <ref> http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/452/ Denies that he said the Obama campaign "played the race card."
</ref>

Clinton received a second "Pants on Fire" award from [[PolitiFact]] for this false statement to a Boonville, Indiana
crowd on April 10th, 2008. {{cquote| Hillary (Clinton), one time late at night when she was exhausted, misstated and immediately apologized for it, what happened to her in Bosnia in 1995.}} <ref> http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/428/ "Hillary (Clinton), one time late at night when she was exhausted, misstated and immediately apologized for it, what happened to her in Bosnia in 1995."</ref>

==See also==
*[[Institute for Policy Studies]]
*[[Gay Bomb]]

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==

*[http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=625 No evidence of genocide or ethnic cleansing in Kosovo], by Rollie Keith, Global Research, July 2, 2005.
*[http://www.zmag.org/crisescurevts/germandocs.htm Internal Documents from Germany's Foreign Office Regarding Pre-Bombardment Genocide in Kosovo].
*[http://www.aim.org/wls/author/bill-clinton/ What Liberals Say - Bill Clinton], [[Accuracy In Media]].

{{USPresidents}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clinton, Bill}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]
[[Category:Arkansas Governors]]
[[Category:Democrat Governors]]

Fossils

2008-11-25T23:46:28Z

RonTorres: /* Fossil record */ clarify re: "proof"

'''Fossils''' are preserved remains of once-living organisms.<ref>Wile, 1998</ref> They are usually formed when mineral-rich water makes its way into the organism's body. The minerals within the water aggregate within the spaces within the body and solidify. Once the organism's tissues have dissolved away, all that is left behind is a rock mold of the creature's shape.

== Fossil record ==

[[Young Earth creationism|Biblical creationists]] see most of the fossil record as a record of the burial of creatures during [[great Flood|Noah's Flood]], wherein the creatures dwelling on the seafloor were buried first, then other marine creatures, [[amphibian]]s, slow-moving reptiles, faster-moving mammals and birds, and finally, humans, the most able to escape the floodwaters the longest. They believe that these are creatures that did not survive the flood.

[[Evolution|Evolutionists]] see the fossil record as a record of the evolution of life on Earth, with the oldest fossils, those of the earliest and simplest creatures, being at the base of the fossil record, and more recent and more advanced creatures higher up.

In truth, the fossil record is evidence for neither creation nor evolution. All we know about the fossilized animal or plant is that it died. We have no way of knowing whether it produced offspring.

== Dating fossils ==

Fossils are usually not able to be directly dated by any [[radiometric dating]] method.
[[Carbon dating]] can only be used if carbon remains, which is not the case with most fossils.
Most other dating methods work on [[igneous|volcanic rock]], whereas most fossils are contained in [[sedimentary]] rock.

Instead, fossils are often dated by evolutionists according to ages that have already been assigned to various [[geologic system|rock layers]].
Radiometric dating may be used to narrow this down, by dating available volcanic layers above and/or below the fossil-containing layer.
However, radiometric dating is not a reliable method of dating fossils, and is rejected by creationary scientists.

== Organic matter in fossils ==

Organic matter has been found in some fossils.
In 1997 Dr. [[Mary Schweitzer]] of [[Montana State University]] reported finding red [[blood]] cells inside a ''[[Tyrannosaurus rex]]'' bone.<ref name="blood">Wieland, 1997.</ref>
And in 2005 the same scientist reported finding blood vessels that were still "soft and stretchy" in another ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' bone claimed to be 65 million years old.<ref name="soft">Wieland, 2005.</ref>

It is well-accepted that biological matter cannot last anything like 65 million years.
<ref> 
For example:
* Schweitzer herself expressed surprise that the blood cells could last that long:
{{QuoteBox|It was exactly like looking at a slice of modern bone’. But, of course, I couldn’t believe it. I said to the lab technician: ‘The bones, after all, are 65 million years old. How could blood cells survive that long? —Wieland, 2005a}}
{{QuoteBox|I just got goose bumps, because everyone knows these things don’t last for 65 million years.—Catchpoole and Sarfati}}
* Schweitzer had difficulties getting her research published because others didn't believe that blood cells could last that long. One reviewer didn't believe her, saying that what she was finding was not possible. Schweitzer commented:
{{QuoteBox|If you take a blood sample, and you stick it on a shelf, you have nothing recognizable in about a week, ... So why would there be anything left in dinosaurs? —Catchpoole and Sarfati}}
* The reason that they won't last that long is known:
{{QuoteBox|As Dr Aw Swee Eng (former professor of biochemistry, Singapore University) confirmed to me personally, complex biomolecules such as proteins are thermodynamically destined to fall apart eventually (from the random motion of molecules) even were they to be protected from all outside influences such as air, moisture, bacteria, etc. —Wieland, 2005b}}
</ref> 

Creationists argue that this constitutes evidence that the fossils are not that old.<ref name="blood" /><ref name="soft" />, whilst evolutionists argue either that this constitutes evidence that it can last that long, or that the apparent blood cells (which passed several tests for blood) were not really blood cells.

== See also ==

*[[Dinosaur]]
*[[Fossil fuels]]

== Bibliography ==
* Catchpoole, David, and Sarfati, Jonathan, [http://creationontheweb.com/content/view/4504 ‘Schweitzer’s Dangerous Discovery’], 19th July, 2006 (Creation Ministries International).
* Wieland, Carl, [http://creationontheweb.com/content/view/606 Sensational dinosaur blood report!], ''Creation'' 19(4):42–43, September 1997.
* Wieland, Carl, [http://creationontheweb.com/content/view/3042 Still soft and stretchy] 25th March 2005 (Creation Ministries International).
* Wieland, Carl, [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3427/ Squirming at the Squishosaur] 16th May 2005 (Creation Ministries International)
* Wile, Jay L. ''Exploring Creation With Biology''. Apologia Educational Ministries, Inc. 1998
== Notes ==
{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Fossils|*]]

Sharia law

2008-11-25T23:21:34Z

RonTorres: +Info about Sharia in the United States

'''Sharia''' is the body of [[Islamic]] law. The term means "way" or "path"; it is the legal framework within which public and some private aspects of life are regulated for those living in a legal system based on [[Muslim]] principles of jurisprudence. It is not actually part of the canonical [[Qur'an]]; that is to say, it is not believed to be the direct word of [[Allah]] by Muslims, but rather the interpretation of it.

Sharia deals with many aspects of day-to-day life, including politics, economics, banking, business law, contract law, sexuality, and social issues. Some Islamic scholars accept Sharia as the body of precedent and legal theory established before the 19th century, while other scholars view Sharia as a changing body, and include Islamic legal theory from the contemporary period.{{fact}}

There is not a strictly codified uniform set of laws pertaining to Sharia. It is more like a system of devising laws, based on the Qur'an, Hadith and centuries of debate, interpretation and precedent.

Before the 19th century, legal theory was considered the domain of the traditional legal schools of thought. Most [[Sunni]] Muslims follow Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki or Shafii, while most [[Shia]] Muslims follow Jaafari (Hallaq 1997, Brown 1996, Aslan 2006).

Laws and practices under Sharia:

===Marriage laws===
* The Muslim man who is not currently a fornicator can only marry a Muslim woman who is not currently a fornicatress or a chaste woman from the people of the book.
* The Muslim woman who is not currently a fornicatress can only marry a Muslim man who is not currently a fornicator.
* The Muslim fornicator can only marry a Muslim fornicatress.
* The Muslim fornicatress can only marry a Muslim fornicator.
* Men can marry up to four wives, but only if they are treated equally. Those who do not consider themselves capable of maintaining just behavior between wives, should refrain from this practice.
* The woman cannot marry without the consent of her guardian. If she marries, her husband becomes her new guardian.
* The guardian may choose a suitable partner for a virgin girl, but the girl is free to contest and has the right to say 'no'.
* The guardian cannot marry the divorced woman or the widow if she didn't ask to be married.
* The number of husbands is limited to one.
* "Do not marry unless you give your wife something that is her right." It is obligatory for a man to give bride wealth (gifts) to the woman he marries.[5]

===Divorce laws===
* A woman who wishes to be divorced usually needs the consent of her husband. However, most schools allow her to obtain a divorce without her husband's consent if she can show the judge that her husband is mistreating her, failing to support her financially, or is impotent. If the husband consents she does not have to pay back the dower.{{fact}}
* Men have the right of unilateral divorce. A divorce is effective when the man tells his wife that he is divorcing her. At this point the husband must pay the wife the "delayed" component of the dower.
* A divorced woman of reproductive age must wait three months before marrying again to ensure that she is not pregnant. Her ex-husband should support her financially during this period.{{fact}}
* Under certain circumstances (abuse, for instance), the wife may ask a judge to separate the couple.
* If a man says "I divorce thee" three times to his wife, he can no longer marry her again unless she marries another man and then divorces.
* These are guidelines; Islamic law on divorce is different depending on the school of thought.

===Other laws===
* Dancing and other forms of "fun" entertainment are forbidden

===The penalty for theft===
*In accordance with the Qur'an and several hadith, theft is punished by imprisonment or amputation of hands or feet, depending on the number of times it was committed and depending on the item of theft.
===The penalty for adultery===
*In accordance with hadith, stoning to death is the penalty for married men and women who commit adultery. For unmarried men and women, the punishment prescribed in the Qur'an and hadith is 100 lashes.

== Sharia in the United States ==
Many financial institutions in the United States are using [[sharia-compliant finance]], or SCF. Problems presented by SCF include that it enables racketeering, antitrust activity, securities fraud, consumer fraud and material support for terror.<ref>David Yerushalmi, Esq., [http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/Modules/NewsManager/Center%20publication%20PDFs/Shairias%20Black%20Box%20(D%20Yerushalmi).pdf Civil Liability and Criminal Exposure for
U.S. Financial Institutions and Businesses Engaged in Shariah-Compliant Finance] (Caution: large file).</ref> There is a growing population of polygamist Muslims in the United States.<ref>Pauline Bartolone, ''[http://newsinitiative.org/story/2007/07/27/for_these_muslims_polygamy_is For these Muslims, polygamy is an option]'', San Francisco Chronicle, August 5, 2007.</ref>

== Sharia in the United Kingdom ==
In 2008, the [[Department for Work and Pensions]] in the [[United Kingdom]] revised its policies to provide for extra welfare benefits for men who have married more than one wife, as permitted by sharia law.<ref>Jonathan Wynne-Jones, [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/1577395/Multiple-wives-will-mean-multiple-benefits.html Multiple wives will mean multiple benefits], ''Telegraph'', April 18, 2008.</ref>

==Further reading==
*'''Pendlebury, Richard''' ''Sharia UK: What exactly does it mean?'' [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=512973&in_page_id=1770 Daily Mail]. Accessed 9 February 2008
[[Category:Islam]]
*'''Barton, Fiona''', '''McBride, Alex''' ''A brutal beating and justice meted out in a humble back street cafe: how sharia law already operates in Britain'' [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=513218&in_page_id=1770 Daily Mail]. Accessed 9 February 2008

== Notes ==
<references/>

Sharia law

2008-11-25T22:47:55Z

RonTorres: add information about Britain

'''Sharia''' is the body of [[Islamic]] law. The term means "way" or "path"; it is the legal framework within which public and some private aspects of life are regulated for those living in a legal system based on [[Muslim]] principles of jurisprudence. It is not actually part of the canonical [[Qur'an]]; that is to say, it is not believed to be the direct word of [[Allah]] by Muslims, but rather the interpretation of it.

Sharia deals with many aspects of day-to-day life, including politics, economics, banking, business law, contract law, sexuality, and social issues. Some Islamic scholars accept Sharia as the body of precedent and legal theory established before the 19th century, while other scholars view Sharia as a changing body, and include Islamic legal theory from the contemporary period.{{fact}}

There is not a strictly codified uniform set of laws pertaining to Sharia. It is more like a system of devising laws, based on the Qur'an, Hadith and centuries of debate, interpretation and precedent.

Before the 19th century, legal theory was considered the domain of the traditional legal schools of thought. Most [[Sunni]] Muslims follow Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki or Shafii, while most [[Shia]] Muslims follow Jaafari (Hallaq 1997, Brown 1996, Aslan 2006).

Laws and practices under Sharia:

===Marriage laws===
* The Muslim man who is not currently a fornicator can only marry a Muslim woman who is not currently a fornicatress or a chaste woman from the people of the book.
* The Muslim woman who is not currently a fornicatress can only marry a Muslim man who is not currently a fornicator.
* The Muslim fornicator can only marry a Muslim fornicatress.
* The Muslim fornicatress can only marry a Muslim fornicator.
* Men can marry up to four wives, but only if they are treated equally. Those who do not consider themselves capable of maintaining just behavior between wives, should refrain from this practice.
* The woman cannot marry without the consent of her guardian. If she marries, her husband becomes her new guardian.
* The guardian may choose a suitable partner for a virgin girl, but the girl is free to contest and has the right to say 'no'.
* The guardian cannot marry the divorced woman or the widow if she didn't ask to be married.
* The number of husbands is limited to one.
* "Do not marry unless you give your wife something that is her right." It is obligatory for a man to give bride wealth (gifts) to the woman he marries.[5]

===Divorce laws===
* A woman who wishes to be divorced usually needs the consent of her husband. However, most schools allow her to obtain a divorce without her husband's consent if she can show the judge that her husband is mistreating her, failing to support her financially, or is impotent. If the husband consents she does not have to pay back the dower.{{fact}}
* Men have the right of unilateral divorce. A divorce is effective when the man tells his wife that he is divorcing her. At this point the husband must pay the wife the "delayed" component of the dower.
* A divorced woman of reproductive age must wait three months before marrying again to ensure that she is not pregnant. Her ex-husband should support her financially during this period.{{fact}}
* Under certain circumstances (abuse, for instance), the wife may ask a judge to separate the couple.
* If a man says "I divorce thee" three times to his wife, he can no longer marry her again unless she marries another man and then divorces.
* These are guidelines; Islamic law on divorce is different depending on the school of thought.

===Other laws===
* Dancing and other forms of "fun" entertainment are forbidden

===The penalty for theft===
*In accordance with the Qur'an and several hadith, theft is punished by imprisonment or amputation of hands or feet, depending on the number of times it was committed and depending on the item of theft.
===The penalty for adultery===
*In accordance with hadith, stoning to death is the penalty for married men and women who commit adultery. For unmarried men and women, the punishment prescribed in the Qur'an and hadith is 100 lashes.

== Sharia in the United Kingdom ==
In 2008, the [[Department for Work and Pensions]] in the [[United Kingdom]] revised its policies to provide for extra welfare benefits for men who have married more than one wife, as permitted by sharia law.<ref>Jonathan Wynne-Jones, [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/1577395/Multiple-wives-will-mean-multiple-benefits.html Multiple wives will mean multiple benefits], ''Telegraph'', April 18, 2008.</ref>

==Further reading==
*'''Pendlebury, Richard''' ''Sharia UK: What exactly does it mean?'' [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=512973&in_page_id=1770 Daily Mail]. Accessed 9 February 2008
[[Category:Islam]]
*'''Barton, Fiona''', '''McBride, Alex''' ''A brutal beating and justice meted out in a humble back street cafe: how sharia law already operates in Britain'' [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=513218&in_page_id=1770 Daily Mail]. Accessed 9 February 2008

== Notes ==
<references/>

Grade inflation

2008-11-25T22:27:03Z

RonTorres: Adding info about grade inflation in the United States

'''Grade inflation''' is the term used to describe the increasingly lenient marking of student examinations to compensate for the falling standards of public/state education brought about by [[liberal]] educational schemes. For example, eight out of ten Harvard students graduate with honors and almost half get A's in their courses.<ref>''[http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/2002/02/08/edtwof2.htm Ivy League grade inflation]'', USA Today, February 7, 2002.</ref> One professor admitted that he gave no student a grade lower than B, and that if he did, his teaching career would suffer because no student would want to take his class. Students in high school are also getting higher grades, even as objective measures of student performance, such as standardized test scores, continue to fall.<ref>Bruce Bartlett, ''[http://townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2003/01/30/the_truth_about_grade_inflation The truth about grade inflation]'', Townhall.com, January 30, 2003.</ref>

== Grade inflation in the United Kingdom ==
Grade inflation is demonstrated by pass rates in the United Kingdom for the 'A Level' (General Certificate of Education Advanced Level) public examinations usually taken at age 17-18, in the final year of school. A levels are taken in England, Wales and Norther Ireland; a different system applies in [[Scotland]]. In 1991 78% of pupils passed their A levels, with 11.9% receiving the top A grade. In 2001 a pass rate of 89.6% was recorded, with 18.6% getting the A grade. <ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/1495184.stm</ref>. In 2008 the pass rate was 97.2%, with 25.9% getting A grades<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7560654.stm</ref> Yet employers organisations increasingly criticise the poor standards of numeracy and literacy of school leavers, and university teachers have to devote energy to coaching new university students to reach the levels of knowledge and ability which in previous years were taken for granted.

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Education]]

Professor values

2008-11-25T22:11:27Z

RonTorres: /* Immoral, Unethical, or Bizarre Behavior */ adding grade inflation

'''Professor values''' refer to the common value system embraced by a large percentage of [[professor]]s, just as [[Hollywood values]] refers to the common value system of many in [[Hollywood]] and the entertainment industry.
Professor values are currently one of the most prevalent forms of [[Liberal]] indoctrination.

An extremely high percentage of professors disagree with [[conservative]] principles.<ref>"90 percent of United States professors called themselves liberal or moderate .[http://www.bepress.com/forum/vol3/iss1/art2/]</ref> Professors' common value system typically includes [[atheism]], [[censorship]], [[socialism]], unjustified claims of expertise and knowledge (for example, the dogmatic promotion of the [[Theory of Evolution|theory of evolution]],<ref>For example, a $100,000 "environmental" prize was awarded for work on a [[politically correct]] "theory of convergent evolution." [http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2008/4/4/briefBiologyProfAwardedEnvironmentalAchievementPrize]</ref> [[liberаl]] beliefs, [[liberal grading]], [[liberal bias]],<ref>http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2005/08/26/johnson</ref> anti-patriotism, lack of productivity, [[bullying]] or discouraging [[conservative]] students (for example, homeschoolers),<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/21/AR2008032101451.html</ref><ref>http://www.studentsforacademicfreedom.org/news/488/NCliberalbiasagnstcons060104.htm</ref> and promotion of sexual immorality.<ref>http://www.academia.org/campus_reports/2001/oct_2001_4.html</ref><ref>http://www.academia.org/campus_reports/1998/october_1998_1.html</ref>
In a Zogby poll, 58% of [[Americans]] said that the bias of professors is a serious problem, while 39% said it is a "very serious" problem.<ref name="zogby">http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1334</ref> The survey demonstrated further that "an overwhelming majority also believe that job security for college professors leaves them less motivated to do a good job than those professors who do not enjoy a tenured status - 65% said they believe non-tenured professors are more motivated to do a good job in the classroom."<ref name="zogby" /> One study in 2008 found that "[[Texas]] university professors overwhelmingly favor
[[Democratic]] candidates in their campaign contributions."<ref>http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5753471.html</ref>

Professors sometimes engage in wrongdoing while completing research. "About 1,000 potential incidents of fabrication, falsification or plagiarism in scientific research go unreported every year, according to a survey that suggests such misconduct is far more prevalent than suspected. ... 22 percent was by a professor or senior scientist."<ref>http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=aYFanemP24yM&refer=home</ref>

Faculty boards have been known to (on multiple occasions) block the granting of a tenured professorship to candidates for tenure who:

* criticize the [[theory of evolution]]<ref>"As reported last week, two members of the department that denied tenure to astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez at Iowa State University (ISU) have publicly admitted that Gonzalez's work on intelligent design played a role in his denial of tenure." [http://www.evolutionnews.org/2007/05/iowa_state_avoids_key_question.html]</ref>
* criticize [[feminism]]
* criticize [[abortion]]
* oppose the [[homosexual agenda]]
* criticize the [[liberal bias]] in [[academia]] itself

For example, professors at [[Washington University]] wore white armbands to protest an award of an honorary degree to [[Phyllis Schlafly]], a noted [[conservative]], in an act of political partisanship and utter unprofessionality.<ref>http://publicbroadcasting.net/kwmu/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1279565&sectionID=1</ref> At the [[University of Chicago]], more than one hundred professors signed a letter to protest a proposal to honor [[conservative]]-leaning [[Nobel Prize]]-winning colleague [[Milton Friedman]].<ref>http://bourdaghs.com/blog.html?p=484</ref>

Politicians are routinely given high-ranking academic positions. Examples include:

* [[Al Gore]]<ref>Beginning early in 2001, "Gore will be [at UCLA] to develop a new curriculum for family-centered community building, a multidisciplinary approach that brings together authorities from such fields as education, business and public policy to work on problems that ail our society and affect our children. ... He also will be teaching at three other universities - Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro and Fisk University in Nashville - in addition to his teaching and research work at UCLA." [http://spotlight.ucla.edu/special-guests/al-gore_teach/]</ref>
*[[Alexander Downer]]<ref>Downer is so pro-[[abortion]] that, as Foreign Minister of Australia, he "asked for a review of the government's ban on funding for abortion services in other countries."[http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/51731.php]</ref>
*[[Michael Dukakis]]
*[[Gary Hart]]
*[[Bob Kerrey]]
*[[Tony Blair]]<ref>Blair was given a prestigious visiting lectureship.</ref>
*[[Tom Kean]]

==Crimes and Alleged Crimes by Professors==
* Sociology professor Hassan Diab arrested for his involvement in the 1980 bombing of a synagogue which killed four. <ref>http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20081113/diab_arrest_081113/20081113?hub=TopStories</ref>

* "A college professor accused of intercepting the e-mail of a student with whom he had an affair has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Stephan Grzeskowiak, 34, entered the plea .... A federal grand jury has indicted the former assistant professor of marketing ... on five counts of intercepting electronic communications and one count of computer fraud. He is accused of intercepting e-mails and instant messages on a computer used by the woman in May 2007."<ref>http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-wi-professor-hacking,0,2077856.story</ref>

* "Vanderbilt University professor James J. Lang was arrested Friday evening in Fairview on a charge of receipt of child pornography."<ref>http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080913/NEWS03/809130338/1017/news01</ref>

* Carnegie Mellon University computer science professor Jeffrey Hunker, 51, "was charged with drunken driving three times in eight days" in August 2008 and, as a result, prosecutors asked the judge to imprison him. He had worked in the Clinton Administration and was driving his new BMW when stopped for the third time.<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,412801,00.html</ref>

* University of Iowa political science professor "Arthur H. Miller, 66, has been accused of demanding sexual favors from students in exchange for better grades .... He was arrested on four counts of bribery, a class C felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison ...."<ref>http://iowaindependent.com/3876/ui-mired-in-another-sex-scandal</ref> After being released without bail, Miller then disappeared and police wasted thousands of dollars looking for him.<ref>http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080822/NEWS/27671323/0/FRONTPAGE</ref> Later his body was found in a park. "He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound."<ref>http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080826/NEWS/80826009/-1/LIFE04</ref>

* Arkansas Tech University chemistry professor Albert Snow, 33 years old, was sentenced to 10 years in jail "on a charge he stalked a person he believed was a teenage girl on the Internet." "Snow was arrested in January 2007 after showing up at a Russellville apartment complex where police say he expected to meet a 15-year-old girl."<ref>http://www.wreg.com/Global/story.asp?S=8803789</ref>

* At Northern Kentucky University, language and literature professor Sally Jacobsen incited some of her students to vandalize a pro-life display by Northern Right to Life, the campus pro-life group. Jacobsen herself also participated in the vandalism, which involved destroying rows of white crosses symbolizing the graves of aborted children. Jacobsen justified the vandalism as free speech, stating, "I did, outside of class during the break, invite students to express their freedom-of-speech rights to destroy the display if they wished to." Jacobsen was unrepentant until given the choice of facing criminal charges of theft, criminal mischief and criminal solicitation or apologizing. Jacobsen chose the latter and also paid Northern Right to Life for damage to the display. Jacobsen was suspended by the university and subsequently retired.<ref>http://www.lifenews.com/state3207.html</ref>

* College of New Jersey adjunct professor of engineering Bruce R. McKenna, 43, "surrendered to authorities after allegedly having sexually explicit conversations with an undercover officer posing as a teenage girl." He was "charged with six counts of attempting to endanger the welfare of a child, six counts of attempted sexual contact, sexual assault and attempted luring. ... Before McKenna was arrested, the situation escalated to the point where the professor was allegedly trying to meet with a 13-year-old girl."[http://www.nj.com/news/gloucester/local/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1218698712309020.xml&coll=8]

* "A [[South Korea]]n court Monday sentenced a former university art professor to 18 months in jail for forging her [[US]] degree certificates, officials said. The Seoul District Criminal Court found Shin Jeong-Ah guilty of forging undergraduate and master's degrees from the [[University of Kansas]] and [[Yale University]] to secure a job at Seoul's Dongguk university."<ref>http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jCfPQ1_mqM2VaXzQUSy-mXwQIvXQ</ref>

* [[Villanova University]] professor Edward R. Ritter was arrested on March 21, 2008, and charged with selling marijuana to undercover police officers, and a subsequent search of his home uncovered 19 bags of marijuana.<ref>http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/20080322_Villanova_professor_arrested_on_drug_charges.html</ref>

* Kansas State University English professor Thomas Murray was a popular teacher, but he was convicted of murdering his ex-wife with 17 stab wounds and blunt trauma to her head. She "was found dead in her bedroom atop a dresser."<ref name="ctv">http://www.courttv.com/trials/murray/backgrounder_ctv.html</ref> Professor Murray had written several books, including "The Language of Sadomasochism."<ref name="ctv" /> He did not testify in his defense and spoke only at sentencing, where he called the state's case a "fairy tale."<ref>http://www.kansaspublicradio.org/newsstory.php?itemID=5892</ref>

* Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine Anatomy associate professor Peter Alan Rogers, 59, was arrested on Apr. 21, 2008 on a charge of possession of child pornography on a school laptop computer.<ref>http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2008/04/24/professor_0425.html</ref>

* Shortly after the end of the school year and his contract, Marshall University Psychiatry associate professor John M. Adams burglarized and murdered Bobby Burns on July 2, 2003, and then kidnapped two women and forced them to drive him across the Ohio River.<ref>http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/07/29/loc_ohprofessor29.html</ref>

* University of South Florida professor Sami al-Arian pled guilty to "aiding a terrorist group" and was "sentenced to 57 months in prison."<ref name="nysun">http://www.nysun.com/article/72228</ref><ref>http://www.mysuncoast.com/Global/story.asp?S=7961089&nav=menu577_2_1</ref> He then "spent more than a year in civil contempt after refusing to appear before two grand juries investigating Islamic charities in Northern Virginia."<ref name="nysun" />

* Claremont McKenna College visiting professor Kerri Dunn was sentenced to a year in state prison after she was found guilty of staging a phony [[hate crime]], in which she "spray-painted her car with racist and anti-Semitic slurs and then reported a hate crime on campus."<ref>http://www.knbc.com/education/3998600/detail.html</ref>

* University of Hawaii professor Marc Fossorier was arrested and later convicted and sentenced to one year in jail for attempting a sex crime with a girl apparently only 15 years old.<ref>http://kgmb9.com/main/content/view/4582/40/</ref>

* A [[New Jersey]] Cumberland County College professor "was arrested on charges of harassment, trespassing and stalking."<ref>http://www.thedailyjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080305/NEWS01/80305019/1002</ref>

* University of Central Florida political science professor Michael Shawn Reichert was arrested for having "a stash of more than 100 child pornography pictures on his work computer," "plus three pornographic movies."<ref>http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_local_orlandocrime/2007/07/ucf-professor-a.html</ref>

* [[University of Wisconsin]] adjunct professor Victor M. Zamudio-Taylor resigned after being charged with viewing child-pornography in a campus computer laboratory.<ref>http://badgerherald.com/news/2002/03/19/uwmilwaukee_professo.php</ref>

* Concordia University professor Valery Fabrikant shot and killed four other professors in 1992. <ref>http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2008/01/25/qc-valeryfabrikant0125.html</ref>

* A [[British]] university professor was jailed for ten months for plotting to defraud a hospital trust. <ref>http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20010626/ai_n14398964</ref>

* [[French]] [[Marxist]] [[structuralist]] [[philosopher]] Professor [[Louis Althusser]] (1918-1990) killed his wife in 1980 and was afterwards confined to a psychiatric hospital.

* Professor Daniel Storm, of the University of Washington, flushed 4 liters of the flammable solvent ethyl ether down the sink, rather than pay the safe disposal fees. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Oesterle said that his using an axe to open the containers was particularly dangerous because a spark could easily have ignited the ether. <ref>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003607035_uwprof08m0.html</ref>

* An Associate Professor at Youngstown State University was locked up and fined $50 after baring his buttocks in front of children at a county fair. <ref>http://www.thejambar.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=38283b71-1223-4e85-929f-ba0f932d5366</ref>

* Philosophy professor [[Abimael Guzman]] of the National University of San Cristobal de Huamanga in [[Peru]] founded the bloodthirsty [[Shining Path]] organization, one of the most violent terrorist groups of recent decades.

* A childcare lecturer at Athlone Institute of Technology, [[Ireland]], was convicted of sexual assault while on a trip to [[Amsterdam]]. Despite this, AIT let him keep his job - until the crime was exposed in the local media.<ref>http://www.breakingnews.ie/archives/2008/0415/ireland/mhojqlidcwid/</ref>

* A lecturer in sexual health at the University College of Medicine, [[Cardiff]], [[United Kingdom]] was fined £3,000 for child pornography offenses. <ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/1497151.stm</ref>

* University of Tennessee Physics professor, J. Reece Roth has been found guilty of passing U.S. Air Force secrets to [[China]] and [[Iran]]. Jury concluded he was guilty on 18 counts of conspiracy, fraud and violating the Arms Export Control Act. <ref>[http://www.newsmax.com/us/professor_secrets/2008/09/03/127312.html Tenn. Professor Guilty of Passing Military Secrets] AP, September 3, 2008</ref>

==Immoral, Unethical, or Bizarre Behavior==
*A Texas Southern University professor is being investigated for allegedly plagiarizing his grant proposal [http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6085039.html]

*The President of the University of Texas-Pan American is under investigation after allegations that she [[Plagiarism|plagiarized]] her 1974 dissertation <ref>http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jigNGLtg9PtFNelXVdVdNFVfb48wD943SDH03</ref>.

* An [[Iowa]] community college [[president]] resigned after publication of a photo that appeared to show him pouring beer into a young woman's [[mouth]]. But the [[school]]'s board of trustees approved a [[severance package]] that officials said was [[value]]d at about $400,000 plus benefits.<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,413101,00.html</ref>

* A Kansas university professor, Fort Hays State University debate coach William Shanahan, "is under fire after a video showing him mooning a room full of students and faculty during a heated debate found its way onto YouTube." He "is shown on the video in a profane, in-your-face argument with his counterpart from the University of Pittsburgh ...."[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,403781,00.html Kansas Professor in Trouble for Mooning Incident]

*Emory University History Professor of History [[Michael Bellesiles]], a [[gun control]] advocate, wrote a book entitled ''Arming America, The Origins of a National Gun Culture'' (2000). Gary Wills gave it a glowing review in ''The New York Times'', but admitted later that "I was took. The book is a fraud."<ref>Jonah Goldberg, [http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/columnists/guests/s_501644.html ''Reports of the 2nd Amendment's death have been greatly exaggerated ...''] Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Apr. 8, 2007.</ref> Bellesiles resigned from his position as Professor of History when an independent committee of scholars examined his work and concluded that "his scholarly integrity is seriously in question."<ref>http://hnn.us/articles/1069.html</ref>

*According to one columnist, 88 Duke professors -- more than 10 percent of the Duke professorial faculty - endorsed and published an advertisement hurtful to students who had been wrongly accused of rape during a lacrosse team party, which "helped create the lynch-mob atmosphere."<ref>http://www.nypost.com/seven/03232007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/duke__who_wont_pay_opedcolumnists_john_podhoretz.htm</ref>

* When student Rebecca Beach circulated an email at Warren Community College in New Jersey disclosing that decorated Iraq war hero Lt. Col. Scott Rutter would be visiting, English professor John Daly replied: "Real freedom will come when soldiers in Iraq turn their guns on their superiors."<ref>http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47461</ref>

*Ward Churchill was fired from the University of Colorado for fabricating his research and for plagiarizing the work of others.

*Richard Lenski of Michigan State University was rude and demeaning when replying to a member of the public who asked about his research.

* When challenged to provide data, professors who support evolution evade the question [http://www.conservapedia.com/Conservapedia_talk:Lenski_dialog#Lead_author_won.27t_answer_simple.2C__basic_questions]

*Madonna Constantine, a Columbia University professor claimed she was the victim of racism in the fall of 2007 when a noose was found on her office door. Now she has been fired for plagiarizing the work of other professors and even her own students! [http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/25/plagiarism.professor/]

*Vulgar and viciously bigoted anti-religion (mainly Christianity) University of Minnesota Morris professor and blogger [[Paul Zachary Myers|PZ Myers]] recently raised the hackles of Catholics by stating his desire to desecrate a Holy Communion wafer (viewed by Catholics as the Body of Christ).<ref>http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1459</ref> The resultant outcry from Catholics resulted in the university removing all links to Myers' blog from their website.<ref>http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1460</ref>

*3,200 educators, most of them [[professors]], have signed a letter supporting unrepentant domestic [[terrorist]] and fellow professor [[William Ayers]]. They claim Ayers bombing of the [[Pentagon]] and other [[government]] buildings, his direct involvement in at least three [[deaths]], were just "[[history]]." Notable signers include Professor Rashid Khalidi (No. 5), known for his call to destroy Israel and former professor Ward Churchill (No. 814), claiming the 9/11 victims were Nazis. George Leef, director of research for the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, Raleigh, N.C., said, "History should be important to [[teachers]]." <ref>[http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/22/academics-sign-pro-ayers-petition/ More Than 3,000 Academics Sign Pro-Ayers Petition] Fox News, October 22, 2008</ref>
*Professors engage in [[grade inflation]], giving their students artificially high grades—whether they deserve them or not. In addition, classes have been dumbed down at most universities and require much less work than previously.

==References==
<references/>

==Sources==
* [http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d07/tables/dt07_178.asp?referrer=list National Center for Educational Statistics, "Table 178, Historical Summary of faculty, students, degrees, and finances in degree-granting institutions: Selected years, 1869-70 through 2005-06"]

==Links==
[http://liberal-education.com Liberal-education.com] A user created list of professors with liberal bias, highlighting examples of liberal bias in the classroom.

[[Category:Academics]]
[[Category:Liberal Traits]]

Massachusetts

2007-08-07T03:03:25Z

RonTorres: /* Politics */ adding nickname

[[Image:Massachusetts_State_Flag.gif|thumb|right|The state flag of Massachusetts.]]

The '''Commonwealth of Massachusetts''' is a [[state]] in the [[New England]] region of the northeastern [[United States]]. Its capital city is [[Boston]]. Massachusetts became a state on February 6, 1788. The name is derived from the indigenous population, the "[[Massachusett]]". It is one of four states officially known as "[[commonwealth]]s"; there are no practical differences between a "commonwealth" and a "state."<ref>The other three are Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Kentucky. An example of a state which really ''is'' legally different from the others is Louisiana; Louisiana state law is based on the French Napoleonic Code. The other forty-nine states (including the four "commonwealths") derived their state laws from English common law.</ref>

==History==

Massachusetts was first settled by the [[Pilgrims]] who emigrated from [[England]] on the ''[[Mayflower]]'' in 1620 and founded a settlement at [[Plymouth Colony|Plymouth]], and later the [[Puritans]], who founded the "Massachusetts Bay Colony". Both groups came to America seeking religious freedom. It was also a major center of the [[American Revolution]], as events such as the [[Boston Massacre]] and [[Boston Tea Party]] helped to create a desire for national independence among the colonists. The first battle of the war was fought mainly in the towns of [[Lexington]] and [[Concord]]. Shortly after the war ended, the western part of the state was marked by [[Shays' Rebellion]], a major factor leading to the [[Constitutional Convention]] in 1787. Massachusetts was also the first state to abolish slavery in 1783.

During the 1800s, Massachusetts was marked by increasing industrialization, including the founding of textile mills in towns such as Lowell. Important historical figures during this time included [[Horace Mann]], an important educational reformer, and [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] and [[Henry David Thoreau]], two of the main contributors to the [[Transcendentalism|Transcendental]] movement.

In the 1900s, Massachusetts moved from a factory-based economy to a more service-based economy, sparked by growth in its local colleges and universities as well as by a collapse in the textile industry during the 1920s. This encouraged increased suburbanization, leading to the current demographic situation in which the population is concentrated in suburbs around the city of [[Boston]]. In 1987, the state received federal highway funding for the Central Artery/Tunnel Project, known colloquially as the [[Big Dig]]. The $14.7 billion grant is the largest federal highway project ever approved.

==Politics==

Although once a bastion of social conservatism (the term "Banned in Boston" is still in widespread use) Massachusetts is known as one of the most liberal states in the Union, being the most populous state to have all-Democratic congressional representation. It is called Taxachusetts because of its high tax rate. Its current senators are [[John Kerry]] (who unsuccessfully ran for [[President]] in 2004) and [[Ted Kennedy]]. Massachusetts was the first (and so far only) state to legalize [[same-sex marriage]]. Although governed by a succession of Republican governors in the 1990s and 2000s ([[William Weld]], [[Paul Cellucci]], [[Jane Swift]] and [[Mitt Romney]]), they have generally been among the most liberal Republican governors in the country.
In 2006 Massachusetts became the second state to elect an [[African American]] as governor of their state in America.

The current Governor is Devel L. Patrick, (b. 1956), a Harvard law School graduate, who is the first Democrat to take office in 16 years, and the first African American to win the post. <ref> http://www.mass.gov/ </ref>
<ref> http://www.nndb.com/gov/911/000051758/ </ref>
Prior to becoming Governor, Devel Patrick worked for the Coca-Cola Company as Executive Vice President, Corporate Secretary, and
General Counsel, and as the Vice President and General Counsel for
Texaco. He also served as the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights under President Bill Clinton. He is married, with 2 daughters. <ref> http://www.boston.com/news/local/politics/candidates/governor/healey/ </ref> His Republican opponent was former Lieutenant Governor Kerry
Murphy Healey. She is 45 years old, married, with 2 sons. <ref> http://www.boston.com/news/local/politics/candidates/governor/patrick/ </ref> The current Lieutenant Governor is Timothy P. Murray.

==Notes and references==

<references/>

{{USstates}}
[[Category:US state]]

Illinois

2007-08-07T03:01:08Z

RonTorres: added information about his corruption trial

[[Image:Illinois_State_Flag.gif|thumb|right|The state flag of Illinois.]]

'''Illinois''' was the twenty-first state to enter into the union. Its capital is Springfield, and the largest city is [[Chicago]]. Illinois is bordered by [[Indiana]], [[Kentucky]], [[Missouri]], [[Iowa]], and [[Wisconsin]].

====Politics====
Illinois can be viewed as having a more liberal concentration in the northeastern portion of the state. This is often attributed to the large metropolitan area surrounding [[Chicago]]. While the southern and western portions of the state are typically more conservative. The state capitol is [[Springfield, Illinois|Springfield]], and there is political tension about state lawmakers who spend too much of their time in either Chicago or Springfield.

The population distribution has lead Illinois to lean politically to the left in most recent non-local elections. Many consider Illinois to be a liberal stronghold, especially in regard to presidential elections.

Currently, Illinois has a Democratic governor, [[Rod Blagojevich]], but has elected Republican governors in the recent past, such as George Ryan, who controversially emptied the state's death row. Critics charged that he only did so to gain sympathy because he was about to be tried for corruption and selling [[commercial driver's licenses]] when he was the [[Illinois Secretary of State]].

{{USstates}}
[[Category:US state]]

Kent Hovind

2007-08-07T02:56:13Z

RonTorres: added that he is a doctor, talked about his expertise in dinosaurs, also, can we not talk about claims on liberal websites like they are facts

'''Dr. Kent Hovind''' (born 1953), called "Dr. Dino" because his expertise is in dinosaurs, is a prominent and controversial [[Young Earth Creationism|young Earth creationist]].
He founded [[Creation Science Evangelism Ministry]] in 1989.<ref>http://www.drdino.com/</ref>

In 2001, Dr. Hovind opened a theme park in Penscacola, Florida called [[Dinosaur Adventure Land]], filled with exhibits putting forth a case for Young Earth Creationism.

== Controversy ==

Dr. Hovind has been criticized by fellow Young Earth Creationists for repeatedly using arguments that are unsound both Biblically and scientifically.<ref>Wieland, Carl, Ham, Ken, and Sarfati, Jonathan, [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/2571/ Maintaining Creationist Integrity] October 2002</ref>

Some fellow young Earth creationists have distanced themselves from Dr, Hovind because{{fact}} he is currently serving a ten-year term in U.S. federal prison for 58 tax offenses, obstructing federal agents and related charges.<ref>''"10 years for 'Dr. Dino'"'', Michael Stewart. Pensacola News Journal, 19 January 19, 2007</ref>
Hovind has maintained that there should have been no taxes because he runs a religious organization.

== $250,000 Offer ==

Dr. Hovind is well known for his standing US$250,000 offer to anyone who can "prove evolution".<ref>http://www.drdino.com/articles.php?spec=67</ref>
The offer has gone unclaimed.
Contributors at [[Talk.origins|TalkOrigins]], a liberal, evolutionist web-site, have claimed that Dr. Hovind's challenge includes not just biological evolution but also [[abiogenesis]], [[cosmology]] and other things, and have claimed that the challenge is worded in a way that makes it impossible to fulfill since it requires proving the negative statement that "evolution" is the only possible explanation for the existence of life.<ref>Isaak, Mark, (Ed.) [http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CA/CA341.html Claim CA341], 2006</ref>
==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Creationist|Hovind, Kent]]

Illegal immigration

2007-08-07T02:50:02Z

RonTorres: more information about Mexicans

{{stub}}
'''Illegal immigration''' is when people without legal permission from a country cross the border and proceed to dwell there.

This has become a major issue in the [[United States]], because of foreigners living in the U.S. illegaly. Many illegal immigrants do not pay taxes and but still use services, such as health care and schools. However, many are afraid to use available services, such as domestic violence shelters, out of fear of deportation. Many illegals cannot speak English. Illegal immigrations is defended, saying that they are simply coming to find work and are a valuable part of the US labor force. Some come illegally to escape political oppression, as legal channels are not open to them.<ref>http://www.immigration-usa.com/george_weissinger.html immigration Usa</ref><ref>www.uscis.gov Immigration and Naturalization Services</ref><ref>www.dhs.gov Department of Homeland Security</ref>

Mexico is the source of the vast majority of illegal immigrants to the United States, who cross the border mostly through the desert southwest or less often by swimming across the Rio Grande. The United States receives constant criticism from the Mexican government for its efforts to curb illegal immigration. Ironically, one of Mexico's harshest criticisms was a plan by the United States to make illegal immigration a felony offense, which would impose harsher penalties on illegal Mexican immigrants. Mexico's own laws make illegal immigration a felony offense in that country.[http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1602610/posts][http://www.vdare.com/awall/060518_memo.htm]

Many Mexicans have to come to the United States to work because for many years the Mexican government was under the control of the [[socialist]] [[Institutional Revolutionary Party]] (called PRI from its initials in Spanish), which limited economic opportunity and growth. Many Mexicans will return to Mexico after they have made some money because they do not like certain aspects of American culture, such as the [[homosexual agenda]], the [[abortion industry]] and [[teenage promiscuity]]. Mexican families sometimes return home just before their children reach [[puberty]].

As the Bible exhorts people to be compassionate towards illegal immigrants (Exodus 23:9 and Leviticus 19:34), and as more Americans are Christian than any other religion, many Americans feel compelled by their religion to show compassion and caring for illegal immigrants, many of whom are trying to escape tyranny or poverty in their homelands.
== References ==
<references />

==See also==
*[[Xenophobia]]

[[Category:Politics]]

Professional wrestling

2007-08-07T02:36:14Z

RonTorres: new article

Professional wrestling is a violent form of entertainment. It is not real and is inconsistent with Christian values.

CBS News

2007-08-07T02:20:59Z

RonTorres: New article

CBS News is a liberal news organization that broadcasts several programs, including [[The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric]] and [[60 Minutes]]. It is best known for claiming that [[George W. Bush]] went AWOL from his National Guard duty during the [[Vietnam War]], but the documents it relied on to make this accusation were later found to be forged.

In the 1950s Edward R. Murrow worked for CBS News and criticized Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] for opposing [[Communism]].

Benjamin Franklin

2007-08-07T01:44:50Z

RonTorres: /* Biography */ adding quote

[[Image:Benjamin.jpg|thumb|'''Benjamin Franklin''' by Jean Baptiste Greuze (1777)|right]]
'''Benjamin Franklin''' (January 17, 1706, [[Boston]] – April 17, 1790 [[Philadelphia]]), was a printer, scientist, inventor, philosopher, and diplomat, and is today considered one of America's [[Founding Fathers]].

==Biography==

Early in life, Franklin developed a love of reading. As he recalled in his autobiography, ''"From a child I was fond of reading, and all the little money that came into my hands was ever laid out in books. Pleased with the Pilgrim's Progress, my first collection was of John Bunyan's works in separate little volumes. My old favorite author, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress ... has been translated into most of the languages of Europe, and suppose it has been more generally read than any other book, except perhaps the Bible."''

As a youth, Franklin was apprenticed to his older brother James, as a printer. Using several different pen names, Benjamin contributed many articles to Jame's newspaper. However, Benjamin felt his brother mistreated him and in 1723, he ran away to Philadelphia, then the largest city in British North America.

In Philadelphia, Franklin began publishing the ''Pennsylvania Gazette'', which was the longest lived and most successful of colonial newspapers. He published his ''Poor Richard's Almanack'' for twenty-five years; it was filled with witty sayings penned by Franklin and others. Franklin often borrowed material and rewrote it as he saw fit.

Franklin became one of Philadelphia's leading citizens, founding a sanitation department, a fire brigade, the American Philosophical Society, and the first circulating library in British North America.

By age 42, Franklin was wealthy enough to retire from news papering, and devoted most of his time to his scientific pursuits. Franklin invented bi-focal lenses, a heat efficient stove, and the swivel chair. His famous experiment with a kite won him membership in the prestigious Royal Society, but it also had a practical effect. It also led to Franklin’s invention of the lighting rod, and increased his fortune when he was contracted to outfit all the ships in the Royal Navy with lighting rods. By 1750, Franklin was easily the most famous of the King’s North American subjects.

While Franklin thought of himself as a loyal subject, he did question some of the Crown’s actions. In 1754, he proposed the Albany Plan of Union, which would have united the colonies (and the Iroquois League as well) under a Royal governor, and given the colonies the power to tax themselves. Many of the colonies did not send representatives to Albany, and nothing came of the plan.

Franklin put his prestige on the line to assist the expedition of British general Edward Braddock to capture Fort Duquesne (present day Pittsburgh) from the French. Pennsylvania’s Quaker dominated legislature refused to help provide supplies for the expedition, so Franklin made an appeal for colonists to provide provisions, horses, and wagons for Braddock’s army. In his autobiography, Franklin recalled questioning Braddock about the expedition’s chances of success. Braddock assured him he would easily capture the fort. After the disaster that Braddock met on the Monongahela, Franklin was less sanguine about accepting professional military opinion.

In 1757, Franklin went to London to represent Pennsylvania in its quarrel with William Penn’s heirs (Pennsylvania was the last of the propriety colonies). He remained abroad for eighteen years, not returning to American until 1775.

During Franklin’s tenure in England, he also represented several other colonies and became a regular observer, and unofficial representative of the colonies. In 1765, he assured British politicians that Americans would accept the Stamp Act, but news of colonial protest caused him to back away from that position. Afterwards, Franklin regularly opposed English attempts to tax the colonies.

Returning from England in 1775, Franklin surprised some by coming out in favor of independence. For Franklin, this stance carried a personal price. His son William, the Royal Governor of New Jersey, remained loyal to the Crown, and father and son never reconciled.

He understood the risks the [[Founding Fathers]] were taking and told them, "We must all hang together, or we shall hang separately."

Until the end of the American Revolution, he was easily the most famous American in the world. He was one of the most prominent of the [[Founding Fathers]], early political figures and statesmen of the [[United States]].

He served as the Continental Congress [[ambassador]] to [[France]], where where he was instrumental in obtaining military and economic support for the struggle against England. In Paris, Franklin attracted attention by attending many of the salons and downplayed his status as Dr. Franklin. Instead, he sometimes cultivated the image of a rustic American, sometimes wearing a coonskin cap. Franklin's popularity helped in securing monetary and later military support from France.

Franklin is one of the few non-presidents whose likeness appears on U.S. currency. Franklin graces the $100 bill while Alexander Hamilton appears on the $10 bill.

Franklin is responsible for the nomenclature of "positive" and "negative" charge. He believed he could tell the direction in which electricity traveled by observing sparks. Unfortunately he was wrong; the electrons, which are the particles carrying ordinary electricity, move in the opposite of the direction he thought they did. As a result, when electrons were discovered, according to Franklin's designation they had to be considered as having a negative charge — creating a minor headache for scientists and engineers.

Benjamin Franklin guided the establishment of the University of Pennsylvania, which was chartered as nonsectarian. According to the University, it was "a new type of learning institution, that unlike other American Colonial colleges, would not focus on education for the clergy, but would instead prepare students for lives of business and public service. The proposed program of study would become the nation's first modern liberal arts curriculum."[http://www.upenn.edu/about/heritage.php] In ''Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania [sic]'', (1749) he outlines an essentially secular curriculum. Religion is to be taught under the rubric of History; Franklin, however, makes a point of saying that
:"History ''will also afford frequent Opportunities of showing the Necessity of a ''Publick Religion,'' from its Usefulness to the Publick; the advantage of a Religious Character among private Persons; the Mischiefs of Superstition, &c. and the Excellency of the CHRISTIAN RELIGION above all others, antient and modern."''

Before the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin was a frequent visitor to [[England]]. He was a member of the [[Lunar Society]] based in [[Birmingham]], creators of the Industrial Revolution, and also the [[Hellfire Club]] of Sir Francis Dashwood.

Franklin believed strongly in the importance of political freedom to the American experiment. As such, he remarked, ''"those who would give up a little liberty, to gain a little security, deserve neither, and will lose both,"'' a stern warning applicable especially in today's world.

==Religious Beliefs==

In a draft autobiography written mostly in 1771, nearly 20 years prior to his death, Franklin described how he came to deism in his youth.<ref>A year after Benjamin Franklin's death, his unfinished draft autobiography, entitled "Memoires De La Vie Privee," was published in Paris in March of 1791. [http://www.earlyamerica.com/lives/franklin/] </ref> He recalled that his ''"parents had early given me religious impressions, and brought me through my childhood piously in the Dissenting way. But I was scarce fifteen, when, after doubting by turns of several points, as I found them disputed in the different books I read, I began to doubt of Revelation itself. Some books against Deism fell into my hands; they were said to be the substance of sermons preached at Boyle's Lectures. It happened that they wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments of the Deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations; in short, I soon became a thorough Deist."'' <ref>http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=Fra2Aut.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=all The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, p.57</ref>

Franklin remained a deist until the end of his life. In a letter dated March 9, 1790, a little more than a month before his death, Franklin outlined his beliefs to Ezra Stiles, president of Yale:

:''"Here is my Creed: I believe in one God, Creator of the Universe. That he governs it by Providence. That he ought to be worshiped. That the most acceptable Service we render to him is doing good to his other Children. That the soul of Man is immortal, and will be treated with Justice in another Life respecting its conduct in in this. These I take to be the fundamental Principles of all sound Religion, and I regard them as you do in whatever sect I meet with them.

:''"As to Jesus of Nazareth, my Opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of Morals and His Religion, as he left them to us, the best the world ever saw, or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupting Changes, and I have, with most of the present Dissenters in England, some doubt as to his Divinity; tho' it is a question I need not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an Opportunity of knowing the Truth with less Trouble. I see no harm in its being believed, if that belief has the good Consequence, as probably it has, of making his Doctrines more respected and better observed; especially as I do not perceive, that the Supreme takes it amiss, by distinguishing the Unbelievers in his Government of the world with any peculiar Marks of his Displeasure."'' <ref>http://personal.pitnet.net/primarysources/franklin-stiles.html</ref>

This quote reflects Franklin’s leanings toward deism. In the first paragraph, Franklin professes a belief in a god, but does not name that deity. In the second paragraph, Franklin acknowledges that Jesus Christ existed, but he doubts he is the son of God. While he recognizes the value of Christ’s moral teachings, he thinks they may have been corrupted over time.

As Franklin grew older, he recognized that Christianity had positive effects on colonial society. Yet he remained a deist. Franklin befriended George Whitefield, the best known of the Great Awakening evangelicals. The two also had a business relationship, with Franklin printing nearly all of Whitefield’s North American sermons. After one of Whitefield's sermons, Franklin noted the ''"wonderful...change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seem'd as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk thro' the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street."''<ref>The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, p.104-108</ref><ref>At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Franklin proposed a prayer for divine intervention to aid the troubled proceedings.</ref>

==In fiction and popular culture==
===''Ben and Me''===
Robert Lawson's 1939 book, ''Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by His Good Mouse Amos,'' is a children's classic continuously in print since publication. It is written at level suitable for ages 10 and up, but is also enjoyed by adults. As the title indicates, the narrator is a mouse. Amos is not very respectful toward Franklin. He see Franklin as absent-minded, lacking in common sense, and barely able to take care of himself. According to Amos, it is Amos himself who inspired, and should be credited with most of Franklin's great inventions. Amos has nothing but scorn for Franklin's "Poor Richard" maxims:
:"'Early to bed, early to rise, makes a healthy, wealthy and wise!' ''Bah!'' When have you been ever been to bed early, or risen early, except when you've had insomnia? Yet you're healthy and wealthy."
:"Perhaps if I lived by the maxim I should also be—wise," he suggested, meekly.
:"That I doubt," I said. "it would require more than a maxim. A miracle, like."

In 1953, Walt Disney made a 20-minute animated short film from the book with Sterling Holloway as Amos, but it failed to capture the spirit of the story and did not even attempt to be faithful to the style of Lawson's illustrations.

In 2006, ''Ben and Me'' was selected for the annual "One Book, One Philadelphia" project, in honor of Franklin's 300th birthday.

== Occult and Illegal Activities ==

Benjamin Franklin was a [[Freemason]]. His investigation of the [[Hellfire Club]]<ref>[http://www.schillerinstitute.org/fid_02-06/031_leibniz_halle_rev.html Leibniz, Halle, and The American Revolution by Edward Spannaus]</ref> – a secret society that engaged in mockeries of religious ceremonies and debauchery<ref>[http://www.victorianweb.org/history/pms/hellfire.html The 'Hell Fire Club' Marjie Bloy Ph.D.]</ref> – may or may not have lead to his becoming a member.<ref>[http://www.infowars.com/articles/occult/hellfire.htm Benjamin Franklin, the Occult and The Elite]</ref> Certainly, his ongoing association with its notorious founder, [[Sir Francis Dashwood]], has been established.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=vAkNAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA39&lpg=PA39&dq=%22francis+dashwood%22+%22benjamin+franklin%22+*.org&source=web&ots=_DGAo2Lht3&sig=V6iHSWafbaISr32cdmUTZviz2qI Science and Society in Early America: Essays in Honor of Whitfield J. Bell, Jr. By Randolph SHIPLEY KLEIN]</ref>

In 1998, workmen restoring Franklin's London home dug up the remains of six children and four adults hidden below the home,<ref>[http://benfranklin.tribe.net/thread/510cda6f-3ee8-4ef1-86b4-9525f4ed28c4]</ref> the remains showed signs of dissection, and are believed to be related to medical research of the time, performed on illegally acquired cadavers.<ref>[http://www.upenn.edu/gazette/0998/0998gaz5.html Bones in the Basement of Franklin's London Digs]</ref>

==References==
<references/>

==Benjamin Franklin's Writings Online==
*[http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/ Yale edition of complete works of Benjamin Franklin]
*[http://www.tufts.edu/as/wright_center/fellows/bob_morse_04/ The Electrical Writings of Benjamin Franklin] Collected by Robert A. Morse, 2004.
*[http://sln.fi.edu/franklin/family/lastwill.html Franklin's Last Will & Testament] Transcription.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franklin, Benjamin}}
[[category:political people]]

Millard Fillmore

2007-08-07T01:33:04Z

RonTorres: Mallard Fillmorew is named after him

{{President
|image=Millard fillmore.jpg
|seq=13
|term_start=July 9, 1850
|term_end=March 4, 1853
|party= Whig
|vp=None
|previous=Zachary Taylor
|next=Franklin Pierce
|office2=vice
|seq2=12
|term_start2=March 4, 1849
|term_end2=July 9, 1850
|party2=
|pres2= Zachary Taylor
|previous2=George M. Dallas
|next2=William King
|birth_date=January 7, 1800
|birth_place=Summerhill, New York
|death_date=March 8, 1874
|death_place=Buffalo, New York
|spouse=Abigail Powers Fillmore
|spouse2=Caroline Carmichael McIntosh Fillmore
|religion=Unitarian
}}

'''Millard Fillmore''' became the 13th President upon the unexpected death due to illness of President [[Zachary Taylor]] in 1850. He served as the president from 1850-1853.
Fillmore admitted [[California]] as a state as part of the Compromise of 1850, sent [[Commodore Perry]] to [[Japan]], and was president during the Gold Rush to California. Fillmore was the last Whig to hold the presidency, and he failed in his presidential candidacy in 1856 as the nominee of both the Know Nothing (American) Party and the Whig Party. The Whig Party did not even nominate him for reelection in 1852.

On July 10, 1850, Fillmore declared, "I dare not shrink; and I rely upon Him who holds in His hands the destinies of nations to endow me with the requisite strength for the task."

Fillmore also stated in his Annual Message of 1852, "We owe these blessings, under Heaven, to the Constitution and Government ... bequeathed to us by our fathers, and which it is our sacred duty to transmit ... to our children."

He was also the candidate for the Know-Nothing party in 1856, but lost to Democratic candidate, James Buchanan. He died February 1874 in Bufalo, New York. <ref> [[Encyclopedia of Presidents Millard Fillmore]] by Jane Clark Casey, Children's Press, 1988. </ref>
==Mencken's "Bathtub hoax"==

In 1917, the acerbic liberal journalist [[H. L. Mencken]] published a newspaper article that claimed to be a history of the bathtub. Among other things, it stated that initially there was widespread public opposition to bathtubs; that Millard Fillmore ordered the first bathtub installed in the White House; and that his support of the invention helped to popularize it. The article was completely false from beginning to end, but was widely believed and the "fact" about Fillmore made its way into many reference books.

==See also==
*[[Mallard Fillmore]], conservative-themed newspaper comic strip by Bruce Tinsley named for this President

==Notes & References==

<references/>

{{USPresidents}}
{{USVicePresidents}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fillmore, Millard}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]
[[Category:Vice Presidents of the United States]]

Dwight D. Eisenhower

2007-08-07T01:29:53Z

RonTorres: added reason why he did not run as Democrat

{{President
|image=Yte7567.jpg
|seq=34
|term_start=January 20, 1953
|term_end=January 20, 1961
|party=Republican
|vp=Richard Nixon
|previous=Harry S. Truman
|next=John F. Kennedy
|birth_date=October 14, 1890
|birth_place=Denison, Texas
|death_date=March 28, 1969
|death_place=Washington, D.C.
|spouse=[[Mamie Doud Eisenhower]]
|spouse2=
|religion=Presbyterian
}}

'''Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower''' was the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces during [[World War II]], and went on to serve as 34th [[President of the United States of America]].

==Early Life==
Dwight D. Eisenhower was born in Texas, but was raised in Kansas. Eisenhower attended the United States Military Academy at West Point (class of 1915), which put him somewhat at odds with his upbringing as a Jehovah's Witness <ref>http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/listofholdingshtml/listofholdingsJ/jehovahwitnessesabilenecongregation.pdf</ref>. (Eisenhower later became baptized into the Presbyterian church, the timing of which made him the first President to become baptized while in office <ref>http://www.classroomhelp.com/lessons/Presidents/eisenhower.html</ref>.) Eisenhower was stationed in Texas during World War I. There he met his future wife, Mamie Geneva Doud.

==First Term==
After [[Harry Truman]] decided against running for a third term in 1952, Eisenhower ran on the [[Republican]] ticket, though he was asked to run as a [[Democrat]]s as well. He refused to run as a Democrat because they supported a weak U.S. military. With a large amount of popularity from serving as a [[General]] in [[World War II]], he won the election against former [[Illinois]] governor [[Adlai Stevenson]]. His military experience was deemed important, as the [[United States]] was perceived by many as being under threat. <ref>http://www.utexas.edu/features/archive/2004/election_policy.html</ref> The [[Soviet Union]] had just gotten the [[atomic bomb]] several years before, and the [[Korean War]] was going on.

During this term, the Korean War ended in a stalemate after a treaty was signed. Eisenhower's term in office is also notable for the creation of the Interstate Highway System, which was funded by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 <ref>http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/programadmin/interstate.html</ref>.

==Second Term==
Eisenhower was re-elected in 1956 and served a second term. A popular President throughout his tenure in office, his popularity did not lead to a coattail effect as his [[Vice President]] [[Richard Nixon]] barely lost his own Presidential bid in 1960 and the [[Republican Party]] lost 12 seats in the [[U.S. Senate]]. Eisenhower's final speech as President was his most well known, in which he warned of the "military-industrial complex". <ref>http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/indust.html</ref>

==Miscellaneous==
The Eisenhower Presidential Library & Musem is located in Abilene, [[Kansas]]. <ref>http://www.dwightdeisenhower.com/library-museum.html</ref>

==References==
<references/>

{{USPresidents}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eisenhower, Dwight D}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]
[[Category: World War II Commanders]]
[[Category:World War II]]

Calvin Coolidge

2007-08-07T01:18:23Z

RonTorres: funny anecdote

{{President|
|name=John Calvin Coolidge Jr.
|image=460px-Calvin Coolidge photo portrait head and shoulders.jpg
|country=the United States
|seq=30
|party=Republican
|term_start=August 2, 1923
|term_end=March 4, 1929
|vp=None
|vp_dates=1923-1925
|2vp=Charles G.Dawes
|2vp_dates=1925-1929
|previous=Warren G. Harding
|next=Herbert Hoover
|seq2=29
|office2=vice
|term_start2=March 4, 1921
|term_end2=August 2, 1923
|pres2=Warren G. Harding
|previous2=Thomas R. Marshall
|next2=Charles G. Dawes
|birth_date=July 4, 1872
|birth_place=Plymouth, Vermont
|death_date=January 5, 1933
|death_place=Northampton, Massachusetts
|spouse=Grace Goodhue Coolidge
|spouse2=
|religion=Congregationalist
}}

Calvin Coolidge was the [[Vice President of the United States of America]] from July 4, 1921 to January 5, 1923 and was the 30th [[President of the United States of America]] from 1923 to 1929 (29th if [[Grover Cleveland]] is counted only once). He was famous for being a man of few words, leading to the nickname ''Silent Cal''. He was a [[Republican]] throughout his political career.

==Accession to the Presidency==
Cal was at his father's house in Vermont when news arrived of President [[Warren G. Harding]]'s death. His father, a notary public, administered the oath of office.

== Distinguishing Features of Coolidge Presidency ==
Coolidge and [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] are the only two Presidents not to have been sworn in by the [[Chief Justice of the United States of America]]. Johnson was sworn in by [[Sarah T. Hughes]] on [[Air Force One]] prior to leaving [[Dallas]], [[Texas]] for [[Washington]], [[DC]] on November 22, 1963.

Coolidge shares with Johnson, [[Theodore Roosevelt]] and [[Harry S. Truman]] the distinction of having chosen not to run for re-election at a time when he could have done so without breaking the traditional two-term limit established by [[George Washington]] and later codified by the [[22nd Amendment]] to the [[U. S. Constitution]]. They are the only four 20th century Presidents to do so, although this was a common choice of 19th century Presidents, whom Coolidge may have seen as his model. While Johnson and Truman bowed out because they could not win wars to which they had committed the United States, and Roosevelt because he had a hand-picked successor ready, Coolidge's wife is reputed to have said he had decided not to run because "Cal smells a [[depression]] coming." [[Depressions]] in the pre-[[New Deal]] era were less frequent, but more disruptive than our contemporary [[recessions]]. If genuine, this prediction was on the mark, as Coolidge's successor [[Herbert Hoover]] was unjustly blamed for the [[Great Depression]] and went down to defeat in the [[1932 Presidential election]], which inaugurated the [[Fifth Party System]].

Coolidge was the last major party nominee besides [[Al Gore]] to fail to carry his own state in a Presidential election, and the last to win the presidency (in 1924) without a home state victory. Coolidge's defeat in [[Vermont]] was more remarkable than Gore's in [[Tennessee]] because while Tennessee was a rock-ribbed [[Republican]] state by 2000, Vermont was similarly rock-ribbed Republican throughout the era of the [[Fourth Party System]] and even voted for [[Alf Landen]] in 1936.

Coolidge is most famous for being pro-[[business]], and famously said, "The business of America is business." Liberals attacked him for continuing what became known as [[Twenties Nullification]] of the [[Progressive]] reforms of [[Woodrow Wilson]]. However, some Federal government activity was congruent with this orientation, particularly the development of the [[U. S. highway system]], a predecessor of the [[Interstate Highway System]] begun by [[Dwight Eisenhower]]. At the beginning of Coolidge's term [[railroads]] were the primary mode of moving goods and people between cities. By the end, it was at least theoretically possible to drive an [[automobile]] to most towns and villages. The modern [[road trip]] is therefore perhaps Coolidge's most significant legacy.

==Silent Cal==
A woman once told Coolidge that she had bet someone that she could get him to say more than two words. He told her, "You lose."

{{USPresidents}}
{{USVicePresidents}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coolidge, Calvin}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]
[[Category:Vice Presidents of the United States]]

Clara Barton

2007-08-07T01:12:29Z

RonTorres: add fact

[[Clara Barton]] (1821-1912), was a pioneering nurse during the [[Civil War]], and founder of the [[Red Cross|American Association of the International Red Cross]] on May 21st, 1881. Barton was educated at home, and at 15 started teaching school. She later attended the Liberal Institute in Clinton, New York. <ref>White House Dream Team: Clara Barton[http://www.whitehouse.gov/kids/dreamteam/clarabarton.html]</ref> <ref>Clara Harlowe Barton, Source: "Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War" edited by Patricia L. Faust
[http://www.civilwarhome.com/bartonbio.htm]</ref> She was opposed to abortion.

==References==

<References/>

[[Category:Women]]
[[Category:People who were Educated at Home]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barton, Clara}}

Ethan Allen

2007-08-07T01:09:31Z

RonTorres: add info

[[image:allenticonderoga.jpg|300px|thumb|Allen at Fort Ticonderoga, 1775]]
'''Ethan Allen''' was born on January 10, 1738 in Litchfield, [[Connecticut]]. He was a furniture maker and soldier in the [[American Revolutionary War]]. Ethan Allen led the group of soldiers known as [[The Green Mountain Boys]].

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Ethan}}

[[category:American Revolutionary War]]

Bill Clinton

2007-08-06T13:57:28Z

RonTorres: /* Scandals */ +adding Whitewater

{{President
|image=billclinton.jpg
|seq=42
|term_start=January 20, 1993
|term_end=January 20, 2001
|party=Democratic
|vp=Al Gore
|previous=George H. W. Bush
|next=George W. Bush
|birth_date=August 19, 1946
|birth_place=Hope, Arkansas
|death_date=
|death_place=
|spouse=Hillary Rodham Clinton
|spouse2=
|religion=Baptist
}}

'''William Jefferson''' "Bill" '''Clinton''' '''(August 19, 1946 - present)''' served as the 42nd [[President of the United States of America]] from 1993-2000, following [[George H. W. Bush]] and preceding [[George W. Bush]].

== Early Life ==

Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946 in Hope, Arkansas. His father, William Jefferson Blythe Jr. died in a car accident while his mother was pregnant with him. Clinton's mother later married Roger Clinton, and the four year-old William was given his stepfather's name.<ref>http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html</ref>

Clinton was active in high school, participating in various student government organizations as well as playing the saxophone. Roger Clinton, however, made Bill's family life unpleasant by repeatedly abusing Clinton's mother and her children. Bill Clinton would eventually stand up to his stepfather in high school, forcing his stepfather to stop beating his mother and kicking him out of the house.<ref>http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=50652</ref> After Roger Clinton underwent alcohol rehabilitation, he would eventually rejoin the family.

Clinton attended [[Georgetown University]], then [[Oxford University]] after receiving a prestigious [[Rhodes Scholarship]]. He also then earned a Juris Doctorate from [[Yale University]] in 1973. At Yale he met [[Hillary Clinton|Hillary Rodham]], whom he would later marry <ref>http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html</ref>.

== Early Political Career ==

After returning to live in Arkansas, Clinton was elected [[Attorney General]] of Arkansas in 1976. Two years later, he was elected Governor of Arkansas, becoming the youngest governor in the country at 32 years-old. Though defeated in 1980, Clinton won back the governorship in 1982 and held it until becoming President in 1992.

In December 1989 a three-judge district federal court held Bill Clinton's state-wide legislative reapportionment plan violated Section 2 of the [[Voting Rights Act|Voting Rights Act of 1965]], 42 U.S.C. 1973. 1990 the [[Supreme Court]] of the United States found in the case of ''[[Clinton vs Jeffers]]'' <ref>Findings of the Supreme Court of the United States in [http://www.usdoj.gov/osg/briefs/1990/sg900402.txt Clinton vs Jeffers] No. 90-394 (1990) on appeal 730 F. Supp. 196, 198-201 (ED Ark. 1989) (three-judge court), aff'd, No. 89-2008 (Jan. 7, 1991).</ref> the former Arkansas Governor and [[Democratic]] president had violated the Voting Rights Act. The Justices findings were,

{{Cquote|Bill Clinton does not dispute here -- that "violations of the [[Fourteenth amendment|fourteenth]] or [[fifteenth amendment]] justifying equitable relief have occurred in Arkansas."

In May 1990, the district court turned to those claims, holding that "the State of Arkansas has committed a number of constitutional violations of the voting rights of black citizens." J.S. App. A5. In particular, the court determined that the "State has systematically and deliberately enacted new majority-vote requirements for municipal offices, in an effort to frustrate black political success in elections traditionally requiring only a plurality to win." In 1990...Devotion to majority rule for local offices lay dormant as long as the plurality system produced white office-holders. But whenever black candidates used this system successfully -- and victory by a plurality has been virtually their only chance of success in at-large elections in majority-white cities – the response was swift and certain. Laws were passed in an attempt to close off this avenue of black political victory.}}

The court therefore concluded that

{{Cquote|This series of laws represents a systematic and deliberate attempt to reduce black political opportunity. Such an attempt is plainly unconstitutional. It replaces a system in which blacks could and did succeed, with one in which they almost certainly cannot. The inference of [[bigotry|racial motivation]] is inescapable.}}

===Scandals===
Clinton was known to have been involved in several scandals while Governor of Arkansas. He used Arkansas state policemen to arrange for him to meet women outside of marriage. He also may have been involved in smuggling cocaine through an airport in [[Mena, Arkansas]], although these allegations are disputed by some.

His close personal business partnerships with James and Susan McDougall in a failed Savings and Loan business venture lead to investigation of the [[Whitewater]] affair. Several of the people involved with the sale of land prior to the Clinton presidency were indicted, but prosecutors were never able to charge the Clintons with a crime because Susan McDougall would not cooperate with investigators. Clinton later pardoned Susan McDougall for her role in the Whitewater affair.{{fact}}

== Presidency==
[[Image:Somalia.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Poster to end the "racist occupation of Somalia"; eighteen US soldiers were killed and some of their bodies were dragged through the streets, [http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_id=13022]]]
Clinton won in the [[United States presidential election of 1992]] with 43% of the popular vote versus President [[George H. W. Bush's]] 37%, capitalizing on public discontent with a weak economy and public displeasure with Bush's proposed tax increases, and Ross Perot, a third candidate. In his first two years in office, 1993 through 1994, Clinton was unable to "reform" health-care in the United States with a [[socialism| socialized]] health-care plan. It was a tough sell in the wake of the collapse of Soviet Bloc only a few years earlier. His approach consisted of appointing a planning committee with secret members to reshape this important sector of the economy.{{fact}} The [[Association of American Physicians and Surgeons]] successfully sued to force disclosure of the committee financing, expenses and membership. The program ultimately became so unpopular after two years the Democratically controlled Congress shielded its members records by never bringing it to floor for a vote.

In 1994, voters expressed their high disapproval of a Congress controlled by Democrats by giving a victory to Republicans in Congress. This event was tagged the "Republican Revolution," and began a series of showdowns with the Republican-led Congress.{{fact}} These showdowns were epitomized by the budget conflict with then-Speaker of the House [[Newt Gingrich]] in 1995. Gingrich refused to pass Clinton's budget proposal, and the latter threatened to shut down the government as Reagan had done in the 1980s. Clinton did not back down, however, and eventually had his budget passed <ref>http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/commentprint082800d.html</ref>. This showdown backfired for the Republicans, as it reinvigorated Clinton's flagging approval ratings. <ref>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Clinton_approval_rating.JPG</ref>.

In late 1995, President Clinton dispatched some 20,000 U.S. troops to [[Bosnia]].

Clinton was reelected in the [[United States presidential election of 1996]] and carried 49.2% of the popular vote against Republican candidate ([[Robert Dole | Bob Dole]]), who won 41%, and "populist" candidate, [[H. Ross Perot]], who won 8%. During Clinton's second term, together with the Republican-controlled Congress, he produced record federal budget surpluses reaching $236 billion by the year 2000, and representing a net federal budget gain of $526 billion. <ref> [http://www.uuforum.org/deficit.htm Congressional Budget Office figures]</ref>

He spent much of the remainder of his presidency combating scandals. A special prosecutor's report was not released until well into Clinton's second term, and brought documented Clinton giving false testimony in the Paula Jones civil lawsuit while President which resulted in his impeachment and disbarment from the legal profession.{{fact}} The main charge was that he had committed perjury in a civil suit. The perjured testimony directly related to an attempt to defraud the plaintiff of damages. The Senate failed to make clear what constitutes high crimes and misdemeanors. <ref>[http://www.australianpolitics.com/usa/clinton/trial/statements/lieberman.shtml Statement by Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut)], Congressional Record for Friday, February 12, 1999.</ref>

During Clinton's presidency the [[terrorist]] group [[al-Qaeda]] conducted the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, simultaneous bombings of the US embassies in [[Kenya]] and [[Tanzania]] in 1998, and the attack on the [[USS Cole]] in 2000. Terrorist leader [[Osama bin Laden]] <ref>[http://www.bannerofliberty.com/OS8-98MQC/8-24-1998.1.html Did Bill Clinton Smooth the Way for Bin Laden to Become the World's Most Successful Terrorist?], Mary Mostert, Original Sources, August 24, 1998.</ref> issued two public [[fatwa]]s declaring War on America. <ref>[http://www.kimsoft.com/2001/binladenwar.htm Bin Laden's Declaration of War], 1998.</ref> In the 1998 fatwa <ref>Bernard Lewis, [http://www.msu.edu/course/iss/325/stein/read-325-3.htm#Lewis License to Kill], Foreign Affairs, November/December 1998.</ref> bin Laden told ''[[Jihad|jihadist]]s'' worldwide,

{{Cquote|Clinton appeared in front of the whole world threatening and promising revenge, but these threats were merely a preparation for withdrawal. You have been disgraced by [[Allah]] and you withdrew; the extent of your impotence and weaknesses became very clear. It was a pleasure for the "heart" of every Muslim and a remedy to the "chests" of believing nations to see you defeated in the three Islamic cities of Beirut, [[Aden]] and [[Mogadishu]]. <ref>[http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/context.jsp?item=a1097mohamedinterview&scale=0#a1097mohamedinterview October 1997: [[Ali Mohamed]] Tells FBI He Helped Al-Qaeda Kill US Soldiers, But FBI Takes No Action]</ref>}}

Bin Laden told ''ABC News'' at the time, "We do not have to differentiate between military or civilian. As far as we are concerned, they are all targets." <ref>The 9-11 Commission Report, [http://www.gpoaccess.gov/911/pdf/sec2.pdf2. The Foundation of the New Terrorism], Official Government Edition, GPO, 2004.</ref>

Suspicions often arose during Clinton's tenure about the timing of [[cruise missile]] attacks to manipulate public sympathy at crucial points when his approval ratings sagged. On several occasions <ref>[http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NzhjODk1ODg4M2NiODU4Yzc3YWE1OTA1MDNmYWQ5M2Y= The Facts About Clinton and Terrorism], Byron York, ''National Review Online'', September 11, 2006. </ref> generally when the approval ratings dipped to 47%, surprise cruise missile attacks <ref>[http://www.fas.org/news/iraq/1998/12/21/wwwh8d21.html Airstrikes Against Iraq: 'What Happens Now?'], U.S. Information Agency ''Daily Digest'', December 21, 1998. </ref> where launched which resulted in a 10 point gain in the public opinion polls. Nick Gillespie of ''Reason'' remarked,
{{Cquote|Consider, for instance, the relative lack of scrutiny accorded the August 20 cruise missile attacks on Afghanistan and [[Sudan]] … immediately after the bombing, polls showed that close to half of all Americans thought the missile strikes were meant to divert attention from the president's sex life… the Sudanese bombing suggests something else as well: If and when the public's and the media's attention shifts from the president's sex life to wider-ranging inquiries about how he makes deadly serious policy decisions…" <ref>[http://www.reason.com/news/show/30827.html Bombs Away - Troubling questions about the U.S. attack on Sudan], ''Reason'', December 1998. </ref>}}

Clinton also signed into law the [[Violence Against Women Act]], which opened the federal courts to claims of domestic disputes between men and women, which had always been handled under state rather than federal law. Portions regarding civil rights remedies were later found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Clinton left office with an approval rating of 65%, the highest of any modern president, and remains the only modern president to leave office with a higher approval rating than he had when he took office. <ref> [http://uspolitics.about.com/od/polls/l/bl_historical_approval.htm Presidential Approval Ratings]</ref>

==Impeachment==

On Aug. 17, 1998, after relentless media attention, leaks, and news of Lewinsky's upcoming testimony, Clinton made history by becoming the first U.S. president to testify in front of a grand jury in an investigation of his own possibly criminal conduct. In an address to the nation, he admitted to having misled the public and a Federal Court over keys elements of testimony. [[Kenneth Starr]], a special prosecutor appointed to investigate the case, was instructed to pursue the matter.

In the second term Clinton was accused of perjury in connection to the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit. Clinton adviser and close confidant [[George Stephanopoulos]] said publicly that there would be a "scorched-earth policy" if Clinton were impeached. <ref>[http://www.alamo-girl.com/02742.htm Insight Magazine], J Michael Waller, 6/19/00.</ref> Clinton previously had decried the "politics of personal destruction." <ref>[http://www.jewishworldreview.com/weekly/standard072299.asp Bill Clinton, Historian], Peter Wehner, Jewish World Review July 22, 1999.</ref>

During the impeachment trial, pornographer [[Larry Flynt]], an old friend of Clinton advisers [[James Carville]] and [[Strobe Talbott]], publicly offered a $1 million reward for any information about the personal lives of members of Congress that could be used for the purposes of blackmail. Although Clinton became the second sitting president to be impeached by the US House of Representatives, the Senate subsequently voted to acquit Clinton.

[[David Gergen]], former White House Communications Director for both Presidents Reagan and Clinton, summarized the sentiments of many regarding the President's conduct:
{{Cquote|The deep and searing violation took place when he not only lied to the country, but co-opted his friends and lied to them....when you have gone over the line, you won't bring others into it...You don't foul the nest." <ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/quinn110298.htm In Washington, That Letdown Feeling], By Sally Quinn, ''The Washington Post'', November 2, 1998, Page E01</ref>}}

Clinton lost his law license in Arkansas because he had committed perjury before a Federal judge.

It was during this scandal that Clinton famously stated: "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is"<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/21/newsid_2525000/2525339.stm</ref>.

== After the Presidency ==

Clinton has spent much of time since leaving office working for charitable causes such as support and fund-raising for the victims of AIDS and the Asian tsunami. In the case of the Indian Ocean tsunami, he teamed with former president [[George H.W. Bush]] to raise money for relief efforts.

Bill Clinton's wife, [[Hillary_Rodham_Clinton|Hillary Clinton]], was elected Senator to New York in 2000. Reelected in 2006, she is now seeking the Democratic nomination for president in 2008.

Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff was John Podesta between 1998-2001.

== References ==
<references/>

==External link==

*[http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=625 No evidence of genocide or ethnic cleansing in Kosovo], by Rollie Keith, Global Research, July 2, 2005.
*[http://www.zmag.org/crisescurevts/germandocs.htm Internal Documents from Germany's Foreign Office Regarding Pre-Bombardment Genocide in Kosovo].

{{USPresidents}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clinton, Bill}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]

Bill Clinton

2007-08-06T13:55:20Z

RonTorres: /* Whitewater Affair */ moving to governor section

{{President
|image=billclinton.jpg
|seq=42
|term_start=January 20, 1993
|term_end=January 20, 2001
|party=Democratic
|vp=Al Gore
|previous=George H. W. Bush
|next=George W. Bush
|birth_date=August 19, 1946
|birth_place=Hope, Arkansas
|death_date=
|death_place=
|spouse=Hillary Rodham Clinton
|spouse2=
|religion=Baptist
}}

'''William Jefferson''' "Bill" '''Clinton''' '''(August 19, 1946 - present)''' served as the 42nd [[President of the United States of America]] from 1993-2000, following [[George H. W. Bush]] and preceding [[George W. Bush]].

== Early Life ==

Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946 in Hope, Arkansas. His father, William Jefferson Blythe Jr. died in a car accident while his mother was pregnant with him. Clinton's mother later married Roger Clinton, and the four year-old William was given his stepfather's name.<ref>http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html</ref>

Clinton was active in high school, participating in various student government organizations as well as playing the saxophone. Roger Clinton, however, made Bill's family life unpleasant by repeatedly abusing Clinton's mother and her children. Bill Clinton would eventually stand up to his stepfather in high school, forcing his stepfather to stop beating his mother and kicking him out of the house.<ref>http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=50652</ref> After Roger Clinton underwent alcohol rehabilitation, he would eventually rejoin the family.

Clinton attended [[Georgetown University]], then [[Oxford University]] after receiving a prestigious [[Rhodes Scholarship]]. He also then earned a Juris Doctorate from [[Yale University]] in 1973. At Yale he met [[Hillary Clinton|Hillary Rodham]], whom he would later marry <ref>http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html</ref>.

== Early Political Career ==

After returning to live in Arkansas, Clinton was elected [[Attorney General]] of Arkansas in 1976. Two years later, he was elected Governor of Arkansas, becoming the youngest governor in the country at 32 years-old. Though defeated in 1980, Clinton won back the governorship in 1982 and held it until becoming President in 1992.

In December 1989 a three-judge district federal court held Bill Clinton's state-wide legislative reapportionment plan violated Section 2 of the [[Voting Rights Act|Voting Rights Act of 1965]], 42 U.S.C. 1973. 1990 the [[Supreme Court]] of the United States found in the case of ''[[Clinton vs Jeffers]]'' <ref>Findings of the Supreme Court of the United States in [http://www.usdoj.gov/osg/briefs/1990/sg900402.txt Clinton vs Jeffers] No. 90-394 (1990) on appeal 730 F. Supp. 196, 198-201 (ED Ark. 1989) (three-judge court), aff'd, No. 89-2008 (Jan. 7, 1991).</ref> the former Arkansas Governor and [[Democratic]] president had violated the Voting Rights Act. The Justices findings were,

{{Cquote|Bill Clinton does not dispute here -- that "violations of the [[Fourteenth amendment|fourteenth]] or [[fifteenth amendment]] justifying equitable relief have occurred in Arkansas."

In May 1990, the district court turned to those claims, holding that "the State of Arkansas has committed a number of constitutional violations of the voting rights of black citizens." J.S. App. A5. In particular, the court determined that the "State has systematically and deliberately enacted new majority-vote requirements for municipal offices, in an effort to frustrate black political success in elections traditionally requiring only a plurality to win." In 1990...Devotion to majority rule for local offices lay dormant as long as the plurality system produced white office-holders. But whenever black candidates used this system successfully -- and victory by a plurality has been virtually their only chance of success in at-large elections in majority-white cities – the response was swift and certain. Laws were passed in an attempt to close off this avenue of black political victory.}}

The court therefore concluded that

{{Cquote|This series of laws represents a systematic and deliberate attempt to reduce black political opportunity. Such an attempt is plainly unconstitutional. It replaces a system in which blacks could and did succeed, with one in which they almost certainly cannot. The inference of [[bigotry|racial motivation]] is inescapable.}}

===Scandals===
Clinton was known to have been involved in several scandals while Governor of Arkansas. He used Arkansas state policemen to arrange for him to meet women outside of marriage. He also may have been involved in smuggling cocaine through an airport in [[Mena, Arkansas]], although these allegations are disputed by some.

== Presidency==
[[Image:Somalia.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Poster to end the "racist occupation of Somalia"; eighteen US soldiers were killed and some of their bodies were dragged through the streets, [http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_id=13022]]]
Clinton won in the [[United States presidential election of 1992]] with 43% of the popular vote versus President [[George H. W. Bush's]] 37%, capitalizing on public discontent with a weak economy and public displeasure with Bush's proposed tax increases, and Ross Perot, a third candidate. In his first two years in office, 1993 through 1994, Clinton was unable to "reform" health-care in the United States with a [[socialism| socialized]] health-care plan. It was a tough sell in the wake of the collapse of Soviet Bloc only a few years earlier. His approach consisted of appointing a planning committee with secret members to reshape this important sector of the economy.{{fact}} The [[Association of American Physicians and Surgeons]] successfully sued to force disclosure of the committee financing, expenses and membership. The program ultimately became so unpopular after two years the Democratically controlled Congress shielded its members records by never bringing it to floor for a vote.

In 1994, voters expressed their high disapproval of a Congress controlled by Democrats by giving a victory to Republicans in Congress. This event was tagged the "Republican Revolution," and began a series of showdowns with the Republican-led Congress.{{fact}} These showdowns were epitomized by the budget conflict with then-Speaker of the House [[Newt Gingrich]] in 1995. Gingrich refused to pass Clinton's budget proposal, and the latter threatened to shut down the government as Reagan had done in the 1980s. Clinton did not back down, however, and eventually had his budget passed <ref>http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/commentprint082800d.html</ref>. This showdown backfired for the Republicans, as it reinvigorated Clinton's flagging approval ratings. <ref>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Clinton_approval_rating.JPG</ref>.

In late 1995, President Clinton dispatched some 20,000 U.S. troops to [[Bosnia]].

Clinton was reelected in the [[United States presidential election of 1996]] and carried 49.2% of the popular vote against Republican candidate ([[Robert Dole | Bob Dole]]), who won 41%, and "populist" candidate, [[H. Ross Perot]], who won 8%. During Clinton's second term, together with the Republican-controlled Congress, he produced record federal budget surpluses reaching $236 billion by the year 2000, and representing a net federal budget gain of $526 billion. <ref> [http://www.uuforum.org/deficit.htm Congressional Budget Office figures]</ref>

He spent much of the remainder of his presidency combating scandals. A special prosecutor's report was not released until well into Clinton's second term, and brought documented Clinton giving false testimony in the Paula Jones civil lawsuit while President which resulted in his impeachment and disbarment from the legal profession.{{fact}} The main charge was that he had committed perjury in a civil suit. The perjured testimony directly related to an attempt to defraud the plaintiff of damages. The Senate failed to make clear what constitutes high crimes and misdemeanors. <ref>[http://www.australianpolitics.com/usa/clinton/trial/statements/lieberman.shtml Statement by Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut)], Congressional Record for Friday, February 12, 1999.</ref>

During Clinton's presidency the [[terrorist]] group [[al-Qaeda]] conducted the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, simultaneous bombings of the US embassies in [[Kenya]] and [[Tanzania]] in 1998, and the attack on the [[USS Cole]] in 2000. Terrorist leader [[Osama bin Laden]] <ref>[http://www.bannerofliberty.com/OS8-98MQC/8-24-1998.1.html Did Bill Clinton Smooth the Way for Bin Laden to Become the World's Most Successful Terrorist?], Mary Mostert, Original Sources, August 24, 1998.</ref> issued two public [[fatwa]]s declaring War on America. <ref>[http://www.kimsoft.com/2001/binladenwar.htm Bin Laden's Declaration of War], 1998.</ref> In the 1998 fatwa <ref>Bernard Lewis, [http://www.msu.edu/course/iss/325/stein/read-325-3.htm#Lewis License to Kill], Foreign Affairs, November/December 1998.</ref> bin Laden told ''[[Jihad|jihadist]]s'' worldwide,

{{Cquote|Clinton appeared in front of the whole world threatening and promising revenge, but these threats were merely a preparation for withdrawal. You have been disgraced by [[Allah]] and you withdrew; the extent of your impotence and weaknesses became very clear. It was a pleasure for the "heart" of every Muslim and a remedy to the "chests" of believing nations to see you defeated in the three Islamic cities of Beirut, [[Aden]] and [[Mogadishu]]. <ref>[http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/context.jsp?item=a1097mohamedinterview&scale=0#a1097mohamedinterview October 1997: [[Ali Mohamed]] Tells FBI He Helped Al-Qaeda Kill US Soldiers, But FBI Takes No Action]</ref>}}

Bin Laden told ''ABC News'' at the time, "We do not have to differentiate between military or civilian. As far as we are concerned, they are all targets." <ref>The 9-11 Commission Report, [http://www.gpoaccess.gov/911/pdf/sec2.pdf2. The Foundation of the New Terrorism], Official Government Edition, GPO, 2004.</ref>

Suspicions often arose during Clinton's tenure about the timing of [[cruise missile]] attacks to manipulate public sympathy at crucial points when his approval ratings sagged. On several occasions <ref>[http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NzhjODk1ODg4M2NiODU4Yzc3YWE1OTA1MDNmYWQ5M2Y= The Facts About Clinton and Terrorism], Byron York, ''National Review Online'', September 11, 2006. </ref> generally when the approval ratings dipped to 47%, surprise cruise missile attacks <ref>[http://www.fas.org/news/iraq/1998/12/21/wwwh8d21.html Airstrikes Against Iraq: 'What Happens Now?'], U.S. Information Agency ''Daily Digest'', December 21, 1998. </ref> where launched which resulted in a 10 point gain in the public opinion polls. Nick Gillespie of ''Reason'' remarked,
{{Cquote|Consider, for instance, the relative lack of scrutiny accorded the August 20 cruise missile attacks on Afghanistan and [[Sudan]] … immediately after the bombing, polls showed that close to half of all Americans thought the missile strikes were meant to divert attention from the president's sex life… the Sudanese bombing suggests something else as well: If and when the public's and the media's attention shifts from the president's sex life to wider-ranging inquiries about how he makes deadly serious policy decisions…" <ref>[http://www.reason.com/news/show/30827.html Bombs Away - Troubling questions about the U.S. attack on Sudan], ''Reason'', December 1998. </ref>}}

Clinton also signed into law the [[Violence Against Women Act]], which opened the federal courts to claims of domestic disputes between men and women, which had always been handled under state rather than federal law. Portions regarding civil rights remedies were later found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Clinton left office with an approval rating of 65%, the highest of any modern president, and remains the only modern president to leave office with a higher approval rating than he had when he took office. <ref> [http://uspolitics.about.com/od/polls/l/bl_historical_approval.htm Presidential Approval Ratings]</ref>

==Impeachment==

On Aug. 17, 1998, after relentless media attention, leaks, and news of Lewinsky's upcoming testimony, Clinton made history by becoming the first U.S. president to testify in front of a grand jury in an investigation of his own possibly criminal conduct. In an address to the nation, he admitted to having misled the public and a Federal Court over keys elements of testimony. [[Kenneth Starr]], a special prosecutor appointed to investigate the case, was instructed to pursue the matter.

In the second term Clinton was accused of perjury in connection to the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit. Clinton adviser and close confidant [[George Stephanopoulos]] said publicly that there would be a "scorched-earth policy" if Clinton were impeached. <ref>[http://www.alamo-girl.com/02742.htm Insight Magazine], J Michael Waller, 6/19/00.</ref> Clinton previously had decried the "politics of personal destruction." <ref>[http://www.jewishworldreview.com/weekly/standard072299.asp Bill Clinton, Historian], Peter Wehner, Jewish World Review July 22, 1999.</ref>

During the impeachment trial, pornographer [[Larry Flynt]], an old friend of Clinton advisers [[James Carville]] and [[Strobe Talbott]], publicly offered a $1 million reward for any information about the personal lives of members of Congress that could be used for the purposes of blackmail. Although Clinton became the second sitting president to be impeached by the US House of Representatives, the Senate subsequently voted to acquit Clinton.

[[David Gergen]], former White House Communications Director for both Presidents Reagan and Clinton, summarized the sentiments of many regarding the President's conduct:
{{Cquote|The deep and searing violation took place when he not only lied to the country, but co-opted his friends and lied to them....when you have gone over the line, you won't bring others into it...You don't foul the nest." <ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/quinn110298.htm In Washington, That Letdown Feeling], By Sally Quinn, ''The Washington Post'', November 2, 1998, Page E01</ref>}}

Clinton lost his law license in Arkansas because he had committed perjury before a Federal judge.

It was during this scandal that Clinton famously stated: "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is"<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/21/newsid_2525000/2525339.stm</ref>.

== After the Presidency ==

Clinton has spent much of time since leaving office working for charitable causes such as support and fund-raising for the victims of AIDS and the Asian tsunami. In the case of the Indian Ocean tsunami, he teamed with former president [[George H.W. Bush]] to raise money for relief efforts.

Bill Clinton's wife, [[Hillary_Rodham_Clinton|Hillary Clinton]], was elected Senator to New York in 2000. Reelected in 2006, she is now seeking the Democratic nomination for president in 2008.

Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff was John Podesta between 1998-2001.

== References ==
<references/>

==External link==

*[http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=625 No evidence of genocide or ethnic cleansing in Kosovo], by Rollie Keith, Global Research, July 2, 2005.
*[http://www.zmag.org/crisescurevts/germandocs.htm Internal Documents from Germany's Foreign Office Regarding Pre-Bombardment Genocide in Kosovo].

{{USPresidents}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clinton, Bill}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]

Bill Clinton

2007-08-06T13:54:28Z

RonTorres: /* Early Political Career */ add section about scandals

{{President
|image=billclinton.jpg
|seq=42
|term_start=January 20, 1993
|term_end=January 20, 2001
|party=Democratic
|vp=Al Gore
|previous=George H. W. Bush
|next=George W. Bush
|birth_date=August 19, 1946
|birth_place=Hope, Arkansas
|death_date=
|death_place=
|spouse=Hillary Rodham Clinton
|spouse2=
|religion=Baptist
}}

'''William Jefferson''' "Bill" '''Clinton''' '''(August 19, 1946 - present)''' served as the 42nd [[President of the United States of America]] from 1993-2000, following [[George H. W. Bush]] and preceding [[George W. Bush]].

== Early Life ==

Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946 in Hope, Arkansas. His father, William Jefferson Blythe Jr. died in a car accident while his mother was pregnant with him. Clinton's mother later married Roger Clinton, and the four year-old William was given his stepfather's name.<ref>http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html</ref>

Clinton was active in high school, participating in various student government organizations as well as playing the saxophone. Roger Clinton, however, made Bill's family life unpleasant by repeatedly abusing Clinton's mother and her children. Bill Clinton would eventually stand up to his stepfather in high school, forcing his stepfather to stop beating his mother and kicking him out of the house.<ref>http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=50652</ref> After Roger Clinton underwent alcohol rehabilitation, he would eventually rejoin the family.

Clinton attended [[Georgetown University]], then [[Oxford University]] after receiving a prestigious [[Rhodes Scholarship]]. He also then earned a Juris Doctorate from [[Yale University]] in 1973. At Yale he met [[Hillary Clinton|Hillary Rodham]], whom he would later marry <ref>http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html</ref>.

== Early Political Career ==

After returning to live in Arkansas, Clinton was elected [[Attorney General]] of Arkansas in 1976. Two years later, he was elected Governor of Arkansas, becoming the youngest governor in the country at 32 years-old. Though defeated in 1980, Clinton won back the governorship in 1982 and held it until becoming President in 1992.

In December 1989 a three-judge district federal court held Bill Clinton's state-wide legislative reapportionment plan violated Section 2 of the [[Voting Rights Act|Voting Rights Act of 1965]], 42 U.S.C. 1973. 1990 the [[Supreme Court]] of the United States found in the case of ''[[Clinton vs Jeffers]]'' <ref>Findings of the Supreme Court of the United States in [http://www.usdoj.gov/osg/briefs/1990/sg900402.txt Clinton vs Jeffers] No. 90-394 (1990) on appeal 730 F. Supp. 196, 198-201 (ED Ark. 1989) (three-judge court), aff'd, No. 89-2008 (Jan. 7, 1991).</ref> the former Arkansas Governor and [[Democratic]] president had violated the Voting Rights Act. The Justices findings were,

{{Cquote|Bill Clinton does not dispute here -- that "violations of the [[Fourteenth amendment|fourteenth]] or [[fifteenth amendment]] justifying equitable relief have occurred in Arkansas."

In May 1990, the district court turned to those claims, holding that "the State of Arkansas has committed a number of constitutional violations of the voting rights of black citizens." J.S. App. A5. In particular, the court determined that the "State has systematically and deliberately enacted new majority-vote requirements for municipal offices, in an effort to frustrate black political success in elections traditionally requiring only a plurality to win." In 1990...Devotion to majority rule for local offices lay dormant as long as the plurality system produced white office-holders. But whenever black candidates used this system successfully -- and victory by a plurality has been virtually their only chance of success in at-large elections in majority-white cities – the response was swift and certain. Laws were passed in an attempt to close off this avenue of black political victory.}}

The court therefore concluded that

{{Cquote|This series of laws represents a systematic and deliberate attempt to reduce black political opportunity. Such an attempt is plainly unconstitutional. It replaces a system in which blacks could and did succeed, with one in which they almost certainly cannot. The inference of [[bigotry|racial motivation]] is inescapable.}}

===Scandals===
Clinton was known to have been involved in several scandals while Governor of Arkansas. He used Arkansas state policemen to arrange for him to meet women outside of marriage. He also may have been involved in smuggling cocaine through an airport in [[Mena, Arkansas]], although these allegations are disputed by some.

== Presidency==
[[Image:Somalia.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Poster to end the "racist occupation of Somalia"; eighteen US soldiers were killed and some of their bodies were dragged through the streets, [http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_id=13022]]]
Clinton won in the [[United States presidential election of 1992]] with 43% of the popular vote versus President [[George H. W. Bush's]] 37%, capitalizing on public discontent with a weak economy and public displeasure with Bush's proposed tax increases, and Ross Perot, a third candidate. In his first two years in office, 1993 through 1994, Clinton was unable to "reform" health-care in the United States with a [[socialism| socialized]] health-care plan. It was a tough sell in the wake of the collapse of Soviet Bloc only a few years earlier. His approach consisted of appointing a planning committee with secret members to reshape this important sector of the economy.{{fact}} The [[Association of American Physicians and Surgeons]] successfully sued to force disclosure of the committee financing, expenses and membership. The program ultimately became so unpopular after two years the Democratically controlled Congress shielded its members records by never bringing it to floor for a vote.

In 1994, voters expressed their high disapproval of a Congress controlled by Democrats by giving a victory to Republicans in Congress. This event was tagged the "Republican Revolution," and began a series of showdowns with the Republican-led Congress.{{fact}} These showdowns were epitomized by the budget conflict with then-Speaker of the House [[Newt Gingrich]] in 1995. Gingrich refused to pass Clinton's budget proposal, and the latter threatened to shut down the government as Reagan had done in the 1980s. Clinton did not back down, however, and eventually had his budget passed <ref>http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/commentprint082800d.html</ref>. This showdown backfired for the Republicans, as it reinvigorated Clinton's flagging approval ratings. <ref>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Clinton_approval_rating.JPG</ref>.

In late 1995, President Clinton dispatched some 20,000 U.S. troops to [[Bosnia]].

Clinton was reelected in the [[United States presidential election of 1996]] and carried 49.2% of the popular vote against Republican candidate ([[Robert Dole | Bob Dole]]), who won 41%, and "populist" candidate, [[H. Ross Perot]], who won 8%. During Clinton's second term, together with the Republican-controlled Congress, he produced record federal budget surpluses reaching $236 billion by the year 2000, and representing a net federal budget gain of $526 billion. <ref> [http://www.uuforum.org/deficit.htm Congressional Budget Office figures]</ref>

He spent much of the remainder of his presidency combating scandals. A special prosecutor's report was not released until well into Clinton's second term, and brought documented Clinton giving false testimony in the Paula Jones civil lawsuit while President which resulted in his impeachment and disbarment from the legal profession.{{fact}} The main charge was that he had committed perjury in a civil suit. The perjured testimony directly related to an attempt to defraud the plaintiff of damages. The Senate failed to make clear what constitutes high crimes and misdemeanors. <ref>[http://www.australianpolitics.com/usa/clinton/trial/statements/lieberman.shtml Statement by Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut)], Congressional Record for Friday, February 12, 1999.</ref>

During Clinton's presidency the [[terrorist]] group [[al-Qaeda]] conducted the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, simultaneous bombings of the US embassies in [[Kenya]] and [[Tanzania]] in 1998, and the attack on the [[USS Cole]] in 2000. Terrorist leader [[Osama bin Laden]] <ref>[http://www.bannerofliberty.com/OS8-98MQC/8-24-1998.1.html Did Bill Clinton Smooth the Way for Bin Laden to Become the World's Most Successful Terrorist?], Mary Mostert, Original Sources, August 24, 1998.</ref> issued two public [[fatwa]]s declaring War on America. <ref>[http://www.kimsoft.com/2001/binladenwar.htm Bin Laden's Declaration of War], 1998.</ref> In the 1998 fatwa <ref>Bernard Lewis, [http://www.msu.edu/course/iss/325/stein/read-325-3.htm#Lewis License to Kill], Foreign Affairs, November/December 1998.</ref> bin Laden told ''[[Jihad|jihadist]]s'' worldwide,

{{Cquote|Clinton appeared in front of the whole world threatening and promising revenge, but these threats were merely a preparation for withdrawal. You have been disgraced by [[Allah]] and you withdrew; the extent of your impotence and weaknesses became very clear. It was a pleasure for the "heart" of every Muslim and a remedy to the "chests" of believing nations to see you defeated in the three Islamic cities of Beirut, [[Aden]] and [[Mogadishu]]. <ref>[http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/context.jsp?item=a1097mohamedinterview&scale=0#a1097mohamedinterview October 1997: [[Ali Mohamed]] Tells FBI He Helped Al-Qaeda Kill US Soldiers, But FBI Takes No Action]</ref>}}

Bin Laden told ''ABC News'' at the time, "We do not have to differentiate between military or civilian. As far as we are concerned, they are all targets." <ref>The 9-11 Commission Report, [http://www.gpoaccess.gov/911/pdf/sec2.pdf2. The Foundation of the New Terrorism], Official Government Edition, GPO, 2004.</ref>

Suspicions often arose during Clinton's tenure about the timing of [[cruise missile]] attacks to manipulate public sympathy at crucial points when his approval ratings sagged. On several occasions <ref>[http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NzhjODk1ODg4M2NiODU4Yzc3YWE1OTA1MDNmYWQ5M2Y= The Facts About Clinton and Terrorism], Byron York, ''National Review Online'', September 11, 2006. </ref> generally when the approval ratings dipped to 47%, surprise cruise missile attacks <ref>[http://www.fas.org/news/iraq/1998/12/21/wwwh8d21.html Airstrikes Against Iraq: 'What Happens Now?'], U.S. Information Agency ''Daily Digest'', December 21, 1998. </ref> where launched which resulted in a 10 point gain in the public opinion polls. Nick Gillespie of ''Reason'' remarked,
{{Cquote|Consider, for instance, the relative lack of scrutiny accorded the August 20 cruise missile attacks on Afghanistan and [[Sudan]] … immediately after the bombing, polls showed that close to half of all Americans thought the missile strikes were meant to divert attention from the president's sex life… the Sudanese bombing suggests something else as well: If and when the public's and the media's attention shifts from the president's sex life to wider-ranging inquiries about how he makes deadly serious policy decisions…" <ref>[http://www.reason.com/news/show/30827.html Bombs Away - Troubling questions about the U.S. attack on Sudan], ''Reason'', December 1998. </ref>}}

Clinton also signed into law the [[Violence Against Women Act]], which opened the federal courts to claims of domestic disputes between men and women, which had always been handled under state rather than federal law. Portions regarding civil rights remedies were later found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Clinton left office with an approval rating of 65%, the highest of any modern president, and remains the only modern president to leave office with a higher approval rating than he had when he took office. <ref> [http://uspolitics.about.com/od/polls/l/bl_historical_approval.htm Presidential Approval Ratings]</ref>

== Whitewater Affair ==

His close personal business partnerships with James McDougall in a failed Savings and Loan business venture lead to investigation of the [[Whitewater]] affair. Several of the people involved with the sale of land prior to the Clinton presidency were indicted, but the Clintons were never charged with a crime.{{fact}}

==Impeachment==

On Aug. 17, 1998, after relentless media attention, leaks, and news of Lewinsky's upcoming testimony, Clinton made history by becoming the first U.S. president to testify in front of a grand jury in an investigation of his own possibly criminal conduct. In an address to the nation, he admitted to having misled the public and a Federal Court over keys elements of testimony. [[Kenneth Starr]], a special prosecutor appointed to investigate the case, was instructed to pursue the matter.

In the second term Clinton was accused of perjury in connection to the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit. Clinton adviser and close confidant [[George Stephanopoulos]] said publicly that there would be a "scorched-earth policy" if Clinton were impeached. <ref>[http://www.alamo-girl.com/02742.htm Insight Magazine], J Michael Waller, 6/19/00.</ref> Clinton previously had decried the "politics of personal destruction." <ref>[http://www.jewishworldreview.com/weekly/standard072299.asp Bill Clinton, Historian], Peter Wehner, Jewish World Review July 22, 1999.</ref>

During the impeachment trial, pornographer [[Larry Flynt]], an old friend of Clinton advisers [[James Carville]] and [[Strobe Talbott]], publicly offered a $1 million reward for any information about the personal lives of members of Congress that could be used for the purposes of blackmail. Although Clinton became the second sitting president to be impeached by the US House of Representatives, the Senate subsequently voted to acquit Clinton.

[[David Gergen]], former White House Communications Director for both Presidents Reagan and Clinton, summarized the sentiments of many regarding the President's conduct:
{{Cquote|The deep and searing violation took place when he not only lied to the country, but co-opted his friends and lied to them....when you have gone over the line, you won't bring others into it...You don't foul the nest." <ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/quinn110298.htm In Washington, That Letdown Feeling], By Sally Quinn, ''The Washington Post'', November 2, 1998, Page E01</ref>}}

Clinton lost his law license in Arkansas because he had committed perjury before a Federal judge.

It was during this scandal that Clinton famously stated: "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is"<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/21/newsid_2525000/2525339.stm</ref>.

== After the Presidency ==

Clinton has spent much of time since leaving office working for charitable causes such as support and fund-raising for the victims of AIDS and the Asian tsunami. In the case of the Indian Ocean tsunami, he teamed with former president [[George H.W. Bush]] to raise money for relief efforts.

Bill Clinton's wife, [[Hillary_Rodham_Clinton|Hillary Clinton]], was elected Senator to New York in 2000. Reelected in 2006, she is now seeking the Democratic nomination for president in 2008.

Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff was John Podesta between 1998-2001.

== References ==
<references/>

==External link==

*[http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=625 No evidence of genocide or ethnic cleansing in Kosovo], by Rollie Keith, Global Research, July 2, 2005.
*[http://www.zmag.org/crisescurevts/germandocs.htm Internal Documents from Germany's Foreign Office Regarding Pre-Bombardment Genocide in Kosovo].

{{USPresidents}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clinton, Bill}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]

Kent Hovind

2007-08-06T13:50:22Z

RonTorres: +more

'''Kent Hovind''' (born 1953), or "Dr. Dino," is a prominent [[Young Earth Creationist|young Earth creationist]] and conservative. He founded [[Creation Science Evangelism Ministry]] in 1989. <ref>http://www.drdino.com/</ref> He is well known for his standing $250,000 offer to anyone who can "prove evolution". <ref>http://www.drdino.com/articles.php?spec=67</ref> The offer has gone unclaimed.

In 2001, Hovind opened a theme park in Penscacola, Florida called [[Dinosaur Adventure Land]], filled with exhibits putting forth a case for Young Earth Creationism.

Some fellow young Earth creationists have distanced themselves from Hovind because he is currently serving a ten-year term in U.S. federal prison for 58 tax offenses, obstructing federal agents and related charges.<ref> ''"10 years for 'Dr. Dino'"'', Michael Stewart. Pensacola News Journal, 19 January 19, 2007</ref> Hovind has maintained that there should have been no taxes because he runs a religious organization. Hovind was controversial because he challenged the government to teach Creation and tried to keep incorrect statements about out of the textbooks.

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Creationist|Hovind, Kent]]

Kent Hovind

2007-08-06T13:47:02Z

RonTorres: remove liberal bias from poor sources

'''Kent Hovind''' (born 1953), or "Dr. Dino," is a prominent [[Young Earth Creationist|young Earth creationist]] and conservative. He founded [[Creation Science Evangelism Ministry]] in 1989. <ref>http://www.drdino.com/</ref> He is well known for his standing $250,000 offer to anyone who can "prove evolution". <ref>http://www.drdino.com/articles.php?spec=67</ref> The offer has gone unclaimed.

In 2001, Hovind opened a theme park in Penscacola, Florida called [[Dinosaur Adventure Land]], filled with exhibits putting forth a case for Young Earth Creationism.

Some fellow young Earth creationists have distanced themselves from Hovind because he is currently serving a ten-year term in U.S. federal prison for 58 tax offenses, obstructing federal agents and related charges.<ref> ''"10 years for 'Dr. Dino'"'', Michael Stewart. Pensacola News Journal, 19 January 19, 2007</ref> Hovind has maintained that there should have been no taxes because he runs a religious organization.

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Creationist|Hovind, Kent]]

Unitarians

2007-08-06T13:40:25Z

RonTorres: correct

'''Unitarianism''' is a religion with many different chapters and types of belief, although some would argue it is not a religion at all. One form of Unitarianism rejects the idea of the [[Holy Trinity]] and says that God is one. To these Unitarians Jesus is the Messiah and Son of God, but not God Himself. Unitarians even reject the miracle of the [[Virgin Birth]]. They adopt evolutionary concepts, say that man is inherently good, and abandon many other principles of Christianity, while still calling themselves Christian.

Some Unitarians are very similar to [[Jehovah's Witnesses]].{{fact}}

The Unitarians merged with the Universalists in 1961 to become the [[Unitarian Universalist Association]], which has thrown out absolutely every religious tenet of Christianity in some form or another. They are heavily criticized as not being a religion. Their beliefs include:

God--There is a God or there is not a God, depending on what you believe, or there may be a God, or several Gods, or anything.

Jesus--There are no incarnations of God, or that all incarnations are the embodiment of God, or Jesus is God's Son, or Jesus is not Son but prophet, much as Muslims believe.

Creation--Most say the Bible is fake or symbolic and Creation is a myth, and that evolution is real

Heaven--Heaven and hell are symbolic and are not actual places, or are states of consciousness either in life or continuing after death, or there is reincarnation like Hindus say, or that there is no afterlife, or that it doesn't matter because only life matters.

Sin--Most do not believe in sin and say that Satan does not actually exist. People are good but immoral behavior comes from free will. Some believe in "karma," like Hindus and Buddhists do, that what goes around comes around.

Salvation--Salvation is either through faith in God and Jesus Christ for the few who are truly Christians, or by doing good works and doing no harm to others, or others say everyone will be saved, or that there will reincarnation and we have to be like Buddha to achieve enlightenment or salvation, or that there is no such thing as salvation or enlightenment and this concept is irrelevant.

Political views--The [["Unitarian Universalism Association"]]’s stance is that there should be free abortions. Also they say there should be equality for homosexuals, gender equality, a secular marriage and divorce and remarriage, working to end poverty, promoting peace and nonviolence, and environmental protection.

== External links ==
* [http://www.beliefnet.com/index/index_10034.html Belief Net on Unitarians]
* [http://www.uua.org/ Unitarians Universal Association]

[[Category:Religion]]

Baptist

2007-08-06T13:35:38Z

RonTorres: /* Baptist Music */ +more

'''Baptists''' are a [[Christian]] denomination. They practice adult baptism which is done by immersion. Many Baptists consider the [[Bible]] to be inerrant and the literal word of [[God]]. Baptists are often opposed to the use of [[tobacco]] and [[Alcoholic drinks|alcoholic beverages]].

== Protestantism ==
Baptists are generally grouped together with Protestants. This is used to mean that they are "non-Catholic". When used in this sense, it is true. However, Protestant Churches are limited only to Churches which separated from the Roman Catholic Church during the [[Protestant Reformation]], starting in 1517. Baptist history extends much farther back than that, with some people believing that Baptist history extends all the way back to the apostolic Church.<ref>[http://www.empirebaptistministries.org/church/articles/protestant.htm Jarrell's Baptist Perpetuity]</ref> [[C.H. Spurgeon]] told the story of Baptist minister, Peter of Bruys, who suffered martyrdom in 1124.<ref>[http://www.baptistbanner.net/baptist_history/baptist_history.html ''Baptists are Ancient''] by C.H. Spurgeon appeared in the August 1868 The Sword and the Trowel.</ref>[[The Waldensian Confession of Faith]] of 1120 A.D. is distinctively Baptist.<ref>[http://www.pbministries.org/History/Goodwin_&_Frazier/churches_02.htm ''Baptist Churches In All Ages'' by Paul Goodwin and Bob Frazier]</ref>

Baptists also differ from Protestants doctrinally. The most obvious being that Baptists only practice "Believer's Baptism", the belief, that only born-again believers, not infants, can get baptized. The other distinguishing belief is in the area of church government. Baptists believe that Christ and only Christ is the Head of the Church (Ephesians 5:23). There is no man who has the oversight of Baptist churches. Baptists have no denomination in the sense of an organization that controls local congregations. Each local church is autonomous and accountable only to Christ, who is its Head. Finally Baptists have always stood by the belief of separation of church and state.<ref>[http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Believer's%20Corner/why_baptists_are_not_protestants.htm Why Baptists are not Protestants by Dr. Vernon C. Lyons]</ref>

== Baptist Distinctives ==
Baptists have traditionally held to a set of beliefs that have developed into the Baptist Distinctives. The eight distinctives form the acrostic ''BAPTISTS''.

*''Biblical Authority'': The Bible is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice. The Bible is inspired by God and bears the absolute authority of God Himself.
*''Autonomy of the Local Church'': The local church is an independent body accountable to the Lord Jesus Christ. The church is autonomous, or self-governing. No religious hierarchy outside the local church may dictate a church's beliefs or practices.
*''Priesthood of the Believer'': Every believer is a priest of God and may enter into His presence in prayer directly through our Great High Priest, Jesus Christ. No other mediator is needed between God and people.
*''Two Ordinances'': The local church should practice the ordinance of baptism and the ordinance of the Lord's supper.
*''Individual Soul Liberty'': Every person has the liberty to choose what he believes is right in the religious realm. Religious persecution has always been opposed by Baptists. This does not, however, exempt exempt one from responsibility to the Word of God or from accountability to God Himself.
*''Saved, Baptized Church Membership'': Every member of a Baptist Church must be saved by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, and have publicly proclaimed their faith through believer's baptism.
*''Two Offices'': Baptists believe there are two offices in the church, Pastor and Deacon.
*''Separation of Church and State'': God has established both government and the church. They fulfill two separate roles in society. The Church should not control the government, and likewise the government should not control the Church. This does not mean that individual Christians are prohibited from participating and influencing government toward righteousness.

== Baptist Denominations ==

Baptist denominations include the more [[liberal]] [[American Baptist Churches]] and the [[conservative]] [[Southern Baptist Convention]]. Independent Fundamental Baptists tend to be more conservative than either of these groups.

== Baptist Music ==

The music often heard in Baptist churches tends to be uplifting and hopeful, rather than the meitative mood often set in more liberal churches. The lyrics also tend to focus on the afterlife (Heaven), putting one's life in God's hands, or the world after the return of [[Jesus Christ]]. Popular Baptist hymns include:
* "The Old Rugged Cross"
* "Leaning on the Everlasing Arms"
* "Amazing Grace"
* "This Little Light of Mine"

==Famous Baptists==
*[[Jerry Falwell]]
*[[Pat Robertson]]
*[[Martin Luther King, Jr.]]
*[[Rick Warren]]

== References ==

<references/>

== External Links ==
* [http://www.baptisthistory.org/ Baptist History and Heritage Society]
* [http://www.abpnews.com/ Associated Baptist Press] - An Independent Baptist news agency
* [http://www.bpnews.net/ Baptist Press] - A Southern Baptist news agency

[[Category:Christian Denominations]]

Baptist

2007-08-06T13:24:27Z

RonTorres: /* Baptist Distinctives */ correcting

'''Baptists''' are a [[Christian]] denomination. They practice adult baptism which is done by immersion. Many Baptists consider the [[Bible]] to be inerrant and the literal word of [[God]]. Baptists are often opposed to the use of [[tobacco]] and [[Alcoholic drinks|alcoholic beverages]].

== Protestantism ==
Baptists are generally grouped together with Protestants. This is used to mean that they are "non-Catholic". When used in this sense, it is true. However, Protestant Churches are limited only to Churches which separated from the Roman Catholic Church during the [[Protestant Reformation]], starting in 1517. Baptist history extends much farther back than that, with some people believing that Baptist history extends all the way back to the apostolic Church.<ref>[http://www.empirebaptistministries.org/church/articles/protestant.htm Jarrell's Baptist Perpetuity]</ref> [[C.H. Spurgeon]] told the story of Baptist minister, Peter of Bruys, who suffered martyrdom in 1124.<ref>[http://www.baptistbanner.net/baptist_history/baptist_history.html ''Baptists are Ancient''] by C.H. Spurgeon appeared in the August 1868 The Sword and the Trowel.</ref>[[The Waldensian Confession of Faith]] of 1120 A.D. is distinctively Baptist.<ref>[http://www.pbministries.org/History/Goodwin_&_Frazier/churches_02.htm ''Baptist Churches In All Ages'' by Paul Goodwin and Bob Frazier]</ref>

Baptists also differ from Protestants doctrinally. The most obvious being that Baptists only practice "Believer's Baptism", the belief, that only born-again believers, not infants, can get baptized. The other distinguishing belief is in the area of church government. Baptists believe that Christ and only Christ is the Head of the Church (Ephesians 5:23). There is no man who has the oversight of Baptist churches. Baptists have no denomination in the sense of an organization that controls local congregations. Each local church is autonomous and accountable only to Christ, who is its Head. Finally Baptists have always stood by the belief of separation of church and state.<ref>[http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Believer's%20Corner/why_baptists_are_not_protestants.htm Why Baptists are not Protestants by Dr. Vernon C. Lyons]</ref>

== Baptist Distinctives ==
Baptists have traditionally held to a set of beliefs that have developed into the Baptist Distinctives. The eight distinctives form the acrostic ''BAPTISTS''.

*''Biblical Authority'': The Bible is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice. The Bible is inspired by God and bears the absolute authority of God Himself.
*''Autonomy of the Local Church'': The local church is an independent body accountable to the Lord Jesus Christ. The church is autonomous, or self-governing. No religious hierarchy outside the local church may dictate a church's beliefs or practices.
*''Priesthood of the Believer'': Every believer is a priest of God and may enter into His presence in prayer directly through our Great High Priest, Jesus Christ. No other mediator is needed between God and people.
*''Two Ordinances'': The local church should practice the ordinance of baptism and the ordinance of the Lord's supper.
*''Individual Soul Liberty'': Every person has the liberty to choose what he believes is right in the religious realm. Religious persecution has always been opposed by Baptists. This does not, however, exempt exempt one from responsibility to the Word of God or from accountability to God Himself.
*''Saved, Baptized Church Membership'': Every member of a Baptist Church must be saved by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, and have publicly proclaimed their faith through believer's baptism.
*''Two Offices'': Baptists believe there are two offices in the church, Pastor and Deacon.
*''Separation of Church and State'': God has established both government and the church. They fulfill two separate roles in society. The Church should not control the government, and likewise the government should not control the Church. This does not mean that individual Christians are prohibited from participating and influencing government toward righteousness.

== Baptist Denominations ==

Baptist denominations include the more [[liberal]] [[American Baptist Churches]] and the [[conservative]] [[Southern Baptist Convention]]. Independent Fundamental Baptists tend to be more conservative than either of these groups.

== Baptist Music ==

The music often heard in Baptist churches tends to be uplifting and hopeful, rather than the meitative mood often set in more liberal churches. The lyrics also tend to focus on the afterlife (Heaven), putting one's life in God's hands, or the world after the return of [[Jesus Christ]]. Popular Baptist hymns include:
* "The Old Rugged Cross"
* "Leaning on the Everlasing Arms"
* "Amazing Grace"
* "This Little Light of Mine"

== References ==

<references/>

== External Links ==
* [http://www.baptisthistory.org/ Baptist History and Heritage Society]
* [http://www.abpnews.com/ Associated Baptist Press] - An Independent Baptist news agency
* [http://www.bpnews.net/ Baptist Press] - A Southern Baptist news agency

[[Category:Christian Denominations]]