Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Sargon of Akkad

2007-04-10T13:05:39Z

Tetsuo:

2334-2279 B.C. - [[Akkad]]ian who conquered & united Sumerian cities; 3rd ever to build a historically confirmed empire.

{{stub}}

Talk:NASCAR

2007-04-02T15:19:45Z

Tetsuo: New page: The best entry I have seen on here

The best entry I have seen on here

Jackson Pollock

2007-04-02T14:14:32Z

Tetsuo:

Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) was an American painter among the most prominent of the New York School, more commonly referred to as the Abstract Expressionists. His major innovation was to paint unstretched canvas rolled out on the floor, working from all sides of the picture plane, pouring and throwing paint to create a line that re-encompasses itself over and over again without generating a positive and negative form. Pollock was a lifelong alcoholic and womanizer, and never accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior nor did he ever look to the teachings of Mohammed or find solace in the Torah.

Fred Phelps

2007-04-02T14:11:51Z

Tetsuo: /* Phelps' Criticism of Religious Leaders */

[[Image:Phelps.jpg|thumb|Fred Phelps]]

'''Fred Phelps''' is the founder and pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, [[Kansas]] who is widely known for his strong anti-homosexual viewpoints. His congregates (of which there are several dozen, most of whom live within Phelps's extended family) often protest military funerals, and almost anything that attracts a large amount of people (past targets include operas, a chess tournament in Lindsborg, Kansas, funerals of school shooting victims, and many other things). His rallies display signs with highly inflammatory statements and language claiming that God hates homosexuals. He holds to a hyper-Calvinistic viewpoint which is generally regarded as far outside of mainstream Christianity by most Christian scholars.
Phelps has led protests of military funerals based on his belief that America is a country that harbors homosexuals and is thus evil. As a result, President [[George W. Bush]] signed the Respect for America's Fallen Heroes act, which places limitations on military funeral protests.

Phelps has openly denounced the Catholic Church and Episcopal Church and has made claims these religious organizations tolerate and harbor homosexuals and pedophiles.

Before beginning his protests in earnest in the mid 1990s, Phelps was a contributor to the Democratic Party who helped campaign for [[Al Gore]] in 1988, when Gore's viewpoints were not as socially liberal. <ref>http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1999/03/lauerman.html</ref> This proved to later be an embarrassment to Gore.

== Phelps' Criticism of Religious Leaders ==

Phelps runs several websites on the internet which preach against homosexuality and immoral living. Phelps espouses a skewed version of his own "literal" interpretation of the Bible and the holy scriptures, and speaks against mainstream religious and Christian leaders who in his view, distort or twist the literal interpretation of the Bible. Phelps also speaks for greater accountability for religious organizations, such as the Catholic Church, and has been vocal in the press and media concerning the abuse of young boys by Catholic Priests and Church Leaders, and practicing homosexuals in the Episcopal Church.

==Criticism of Phelps==
Phelps has been criticized by both liberals and conservatives.
[[Jerry Falwell]] has referred to Phelps as "a first class nut". <ref>http://cjonline.com/webindepth/phelps/stories/102498_protests.shtml</ref>

== Lawsuits and Litigation ==

[[Image:Phelps2.jpg|thumb|Fred Phelps giving an interview in 2000]]

Phelps and his congregation were recently sued in US District Court in Columbia by Albert Snyder, the father of a soldier killed in Iraq. Phelps and his congregation protested the Iraq War at his son's funeral. The father is suing Phelps for defamation for stating his religious opinion that, ''. Mr. Snyder raised his son for the devil and hell ..'' during the funeral protest and in statements on his website. This litigation is currently pending.

Phelps has also been threatened with prosecution by the Canadian Government for alleged hate speech in Canada for preaching what he has stated are the literal teachings of the Bible against homosexuality.

==References==
<references/>

Brian Warner

2007-03-30T13:53:01Z

Tetsuo:

Marilyn Manson (real name Brian Warner) is a controversial [[heavy metal]], [[shock rock]] musician.

Conservatives have been concerned in the past because of songs made by Marilyn Manson that advocate [[suicide]] and mock [[Jesus]] and religion. Marilyn Manson is a reverend in the Church of Satan although title is an honorary one. [http://www.spotlightministries.org.uk/manson.htm].

Manson semi-retired from the music industry in the late 1990s and started making [[Neo-Gothic Art]].

[[Category:Music]]

Brian Warner

2007-03-30T13:52:29Z

Tetsuo:

Marilyn Manson (real name Brian Warner) is a controversial [[heavy metal]], [[shock rock]] musician.

Conservatives have been concerned in the past because of songs made by Marilyn Manson that advocate [[suicide]] and mock [[Jesus]] and religion. Some claim that Marilyn Manson is a reverend in the Church of Satan [http://www.spotlightministries.org.uk/manson.htm].

Manson semi-retired from the music industry in the late 1990s and started making [[Neo-Gothic Art]].

[[Category:Music]]

Brian Warner

2007-03-30T13:37:33Z

Tetsuo:

Marilyn Manson (real name Brian Warner) is a controversial [[heavy metal]], [[shock rock]] musician.

Conservatives have been concerned in the past because of songs made by Marilyn Manson that advocate [[suicide]] and mock [[Jesus]] and religion. Some claim that Marilyn Manson is a reverend in the Church of Satan although there is no proof of this.

Manson semi-retired from the music industry in the late 1990s and started making [[Neo-Gothic Art]].

[[Category:Music]]

Guy Fawkes

2007-03-30T10:57:47Z

Tetsuo:

Guy Fawkes was born on April 13, 1570 in Stonegate, Yorkshire. He was an English soldier and part of the [[Roman Catholic]] group who tried to act on the [[Gunpowder Plot]] on November 5th. The plot was to assassinate the [[Protestant]] rulers of [[England]], including King James I and the whole of [[Parliament]], by blowing up the Westminster palace during the opening session of [[Parliament]] in 1605. Fawkes was caught before he could put this plan into action. He was interrogated through [[torture]]. Normally torture would have been forbidden, but James I decided that the country was at war and therefore torture was acceptable. Fawkes was ultimately was put to death along with his co-conspirators for treason and attempted murder. He died on January 31, 1606, by being hanged, drawn and quartered.

His death is celebrated in England every year on [[Guy Fawkes Day]], 5th November with fireworks and bonfires, it is commonly known as "Bonfire Night"

Holocaust

2007-03-30T10:55:07Z

Tetsuo:

{{stub}}
The Holocaust was the genocide of the Jews and others during [[World War II]] by the [[Nazi]] government of [[Germany]], which played on widely held anti-Semitic sentiments. In addition to the genocide of six million Jews, several million Christians, Roma, physically and mentally disabled people, [[homosexuals]], [[communists]] and other political opponents of national socialism were also exterminated.

The records of the amount of people who were killed in the Holocaust were never fully uncovered and have lead to some denying that it even happened. To do so in many European countries is a criminal offence with mandatory jail sentences for the crime, recently British "historian" [[David Irving]] was jailed in Austria for the offence.

Newspaper

2007-03-30T10:21:20Z

Tetsuo:

'''News papers''' are a common sight in the United States of America. They are published daily or weekly, and contain news about what's going on in America and sometimes overseas. The newspaper industry is currently on the decline, because of the influence of television news programs like [[Fox News]]. Few people consider newspapers necessary when they can get better informed by Fox or MSNBC.

Despite being an older media, newspapers in the United States can be interpreted as tending to slant liberal: ''[[The New York Times]]'' or ''[[The Washington Post]]'', for example.

Newspapers do have one advantage over news channels that have helped them stay afloat: there is no way to send [[comics]] over the airwaves. Therefore, newspapers make money by publishing comic strips like "For Better Or For Worse", "Mallard Fillmore", and the popular "Mutts".

[[Category:News media]]

French Revolution

2007-03-30T10:11:49Z

Tetsuo:

The French Revolution is one of the most famous revolutions in all of history. It started out with hope and promise, but then there was a "[[Reign of Terror]]", a chaos wherein anyone could be killed at any time. At least 18,000 people were executed on the [[Guillotine]].

Before the Revolution, France had three levels in its social system: The First, Second, and Third Estates. The [[First Estate]] was about 1% of the population, but it controlled 10% of the land. The First Estate consisted of the clergy, and they did not pay any taxes. The [[Second Estate]] was about 2% of the population and they controlled 20% of the land. These were the nobility, and they too payed very little taxes. The [[Third Estate]] was everyone else, and they were badly overtaxed by the monarch. This overtaxing was a major cause of the French Revolution. Interestingly, taxes also helped to spark the [[American Revolution]].

The leaders of the Third Estate were the middle class, called the [[bourgeoisie]]. They were educated in the ideas of the [[Enlightenment]], most importantly [[Jean Jacques Rousseau]]. Rousseau's book, "The Social Contract" supported a [[direct democracy]], rather that the republican government that had been adopted in [[America]]. The social contract spoke against titles for nobility and demanded complete equality for all people. These ideas later inspired communist writers like [[Karl Marx]].

France was near bankruptcy in 1789 due to King Louis XVI’s extravagance and high taxes, which discouraged work. The Second Estate then made a big mistake in demanding a meeting of the Estates-General, which was a French Assembly that had not met in 175 years. The defect in this strategy was that each Estate had one vote in the Assembly, such that the First and Second Estates could always outvote the Third Estate. That was acceptable in the early 1600s, but the Third Estate would not allow this in 1789 after learning the Enlightenment ideas. They wanted a system of one vote per delegate, which would have given the Third Estate the same number of votes as the First and Second Estate combined.

When the First and Second Estates refused this request by the Third Estate, it left and formed a new National Assembly. When the Third Estate was locked out of its meeting place, it met on tennis court and took the “Tennis Court Oath” to draft a new French constitution.

Violence soon hit the streets. On July 14, 1789 (“[[Bastille Day]]”), French peasants stormed the large Paris prison known as Bastille, freeing the inmates. The Great Fear or panic resulted, as riots occurred and peasants proceeded to burn wealthy homes. [[Louis XVI]] and his wife, [[Marie Antoinette]], were forced from their home in Versailles by a riot of women over the high price of bread. Supposedly the snobby Antoinette responded unsympathetically to the lack of bread for the peasants by declaring, “Let them eat cake!” Historians doubt she ever actually said that.

By then the French Revolution was in full swing. The National Assembly approved the “[[Declaration of the Rights of Man]],” which combined ideas of the American Declaration of Independence with some Enlightenment concepts. The result of this combination had many debatable claims. The entire document is short and worth reading in full: http://www.hrcr.org/docs/frenchdec.html

Unlike the American declaration that “all men are created equal,” the French version declared that “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.” Unlike the American declaration that all men have inalienable rights of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” the French version declared that all men have natural rights of “liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression.” Some of the French declarations seem silly, like this one: “Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.” What is the meaning of a freedom if it is arbitrarily limited by undefined “abuses of this freedom”? The declaration should have enumerated every single possible abuse, such as slander, incitement to hatred, incitement to violence, incitement to racism, seditious talk, violation of professional secret, divulgation of state secrets, etc. It should also have defined each of them and the applicable penalties in a highly defined way. It's not as if laws could have been written later to define these abuses.

In 1791, a French journalist named [[Olympe de Gouges]] proposed a “[[Declaration of the Rights of Woman]],” but the National Assembly rejected her proposal. She, like many other leaders of that time, was eventually executed by guillotine.

The French National Assembly established a [[constitutional monarchy]] and, in 1791, adopted a new constitution that created a Legislative Assembly. Three factions quickly formed in the new Legislative Assembly, known as the radicals (liberals), moderates (centrists) and conservatives, similar to those political movements today in the United States. The three factions sat in different sections of the large assembly hall, with the radicals (liberals) sitting on the left, the moderates sitting in the center, and the conservatives sitting on the right. That gave rise to the left-center-right terminology that we still use today in the United States to describe these three political groups.

Meanwhile, Prussia and Austria were at war with one another, and Prussia offered to help the French King Louis XVI and his royal family. In response, in August 1792, the French revolutionaries imprisoned the king and his family.

A new National Convention replaced the Legislative Assembly and abolished the monarchy in order to establish a republic in 1792, which gave all adult males the right to vote. A radical political group called the Jacobins gained power, led by Georges Danton and Jean Paul Marat. Under the influence of the Jacobins, the National Convention used the guillotine to execute Louis XVI in January 1793. By this time many countries, including Great Britain, Spain, the Netherlands, Prussia and Austria, had formed a First Coalition to invade France and restore monarchy. The National Convention responded by drafting people into an army. Historians claim women were drafted, but such a politically inspired claim is worth investigating before accepting it. The war lasted for several years, on several fronts, but the First Coalition was eventually defeated.

The execution of Louis XVI led almost immediately to the Reign of Terror. [[Maximilian Robespierre]], head of the Committee of Public Safety, proceeded to guillotine numerous alleged enemies, including Marie Antoinette. In a classic illustration of Jesus’s teaching that “he who lives by the sword dies by the sword,” Jacobin leaders [[Georges Danton]] (a fiery orator) was guillotined, and [[Jean-Paul Marat]] (a scientist) was stabbed to death in his bathtub. Eventually Robespierre himself was guillotined in 1794, and the Reign of Terror ended with his death.

At last the government of France was in the hands of a legislature, and an executive branch of five men called the Directory. The Directory picked a young, highly successful military genius named [[Napoleon]] to lead the French army. The very next day Napoleon seized all power in France as its dictator, in November 1799.

The influence of the French Revolution was immense throughout the western hemisphere, as other peoples felt that they, too, could rise up against their rulers and defeat them. Historians credit the French Revolution with spreading the ideas of the Enlightenment, limiting the power of nobility and clergy, and ending an absolute monarchy. But many who supported the French Revolution in its beginning were horrified by where it led, including numerous executions and terror. Some would say that France never fully recovered, as the French Revolution unleashed an hostility towards Christianity that continues to this day in France. Islam has a good sized following in France and some fundamentalist christians even went as far as to blame recent street rioting on it.

Macbeth

2007-03-30T10:05:14Z

Tetsuo:

Macbeth is a [[tragedy]] written by [[William Shakespeare]]. This play is thought to have been written around 1606.
Macbeth is viewed as a fiercly royalist play that [[Shakespeare]] wrote to please the royal family as it has undertones of their [[devine]] right to rule.

Sweden

2007-03-30T09:58:58Z

Tetsuo:

'''Sweden''' is a small country in [[Scandinavia]]. The capital city is [[Stockholm]], which is also the largest city. Sweden has approximately 9 million inhabitants. With an area of 173,750 square miles (450,000 square kilometers), Sweden is a big country in [[Western Europe]].

Sweden is a constitutional [[monarchy]] and a parliamentary [[democracy]]. The prime minister of Sweden is 41 year old Fredrik Reinfeldt, leader of the Moderates. The Swedish parliament has 349 seats. [[Carl XVI]] is the current king.

== Swedish Viking History ==

In Sweden the [[Viking]] Age was getting under way by the 9th century, and vast repositories of Roman, Byzantine and Arab coins attest to the wealth and power Swedish Vikings accumulated over the next century. Vikings traveled mostly to the east, making their mark in Russia, as well as trading with (and pillaging) Byzantine territories. They also traveled west and there is considerable evidence of artifacts (such as coins) on the North American continent. Vikings pillaged villages all over Ireland, and are the antecedents of many living Irish men and women, such as the former Taoiseach of Ireland, Charles Haughey and his cousin Sile de Valera, pop stars Bob Geldof and Phil Lynott, and artist Charlie Whisker. Remnants of a small settlement (called Ektorp) exist on Newfoundland which include the remains of small dwellings, deteriorated furniture and cooking utensils.

Christianity only took root in the 11th century.

== Christianity in Sweden ==

80% of the inhabitants belong to the Evangelical [[Lutheran Church]] of Sweden named The Swedish Church (Svenska kyrkan in Swedish). This church is very different to other churches because it has decided to marry [[homosexuality|homosexuals]]. This Church is considered a [[liberal]] Church and does not protest against abortions, divorce, and other conservative issues. About 5% of the Swedish population belong to "family-values" Christian churches. Many Swedes are [[atheists]].

Sweden has 18 weeks of free [[abortion]] and 4 weeks during which women need to get special permission to be allowed an abortion. Swedish politicians are currently discussing whether foreign women should be allowed to have an late term abortion in Sweden, and much suggests that the parliament will vote in favor of that proposition. In the 1960's the government decided to reduce in school education about [[Christianity]]. In 2000, the Evangelical [[Lutheran Church]] and the government were separated. Before that, all children were born members of the church, except those whose parents took an active decision against it and both left the church. Even if a child were not christened, he or she became a member for life, having to pay a small tax to the church.

In 2005 a Swedish Baptist priest Åke Green was charged with, and found guilty of hate speech, when preaching Biblical teachings regarding homosexuality. He was imprisoned for one month and then acquitted.

== Politics ==

Sweden has high taxes and strong trade unions. Even if Sweden has now got a new government instead of the old one, socialistic one, it's still a country where socialism is strong. Fredrik Reinfeldt says that he is not going to destroy the Swedish model - in fact he says he likes that model - he only wants make some small changes. Although one of the parties in the government alliance is named "The Christian Democrats", no decisions have been made to make Christianity stronger in Sweden.

Swedes are paying 65% of their wage, in taxes, if we count ALL taxes (not only the income tax), the jobless rate is, according to the new government, 17%. The new government are counting everyone that is out of job (except of they who are over 65 years old, under 18 years old, handicapped or ill), the former government lost the election because of many reasons, but the strongest one was that they had cheated with the jobless rate and maked it look lower than it actually was.
A lot of the money that comes from taxes goes to the unemployed. Everyone in Sweden got right to have a home, food, water and clothes. Even if the reason is good (to save people from a life on the streets), this costs a lot of money.

== Is Sweden a democracy?==
Krister Renard, a Swedish author, schoolteacher and member in the Swedish organization "Word of Life", describes Sweden as a "totalitarian democracy". Sweden has fair elections, but it is alledged that all childeren are taught in school that leftist princaples are the only fair way to go if you don't want people to die, hungry, on the streets. The history of christianity is not taught in school, but there is not much said about today's churches, and the teachers are often very negative to christianity and teach an uneven picture of it. They are especially negative to conservative christianity which is described by some teachers as "something that a majority of the swedish christians fortunately do not support" (that's a quote from a swedish teacher in Society Science).

Approximately 80% of the population between the ages of 18 and 65 are members in a trade union.

==Some Notable Swedes==
* [[Alfred Nobel]], instigator of the [[Nobel Prize]]
* Greta Garbo, actress
* ABBA
* Roxette
* Dag Hammarskjöld
* [[Anders Celsius]]
* Astrid Lindgren
* Carl von Linné
* Fredrik Ljungberg
* Henrik Larsson
* Stellan Skarsgård
* Saint Bridgid
* Lars Magnus Ericsson
* Gustavus Adolphus (king, founder of Gothenburg etc, died 1632 in the Thirty Years War)
* Björn Borg, tennis player
* Olof Palme
* Ingemar Bergman

==References==
*[http://www.sweden.se SWEDEN.SE]
*[http://www.svenskakyrkan.se Svenska Kyrkan]
*http://www.lo.se
*http://www.moderaterna.se
*http://www.gp.se/gp/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=913&a=324428
*http://www.gluefox.com
*[http://www.historyofnations.net/europe/sweden.html History of Sweden]
* Forte, Angelo. Oram, Richard. Pedersen, Frederik. ''Viking Empires''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005
* Hudson, Benjamin. ''Viking Pirates and Christian Princes: Dynasty, Religion, and Empire in North America''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
* http://www.livetsord.se/default.aspx?idStructure=918
* http://perkornhall.se/LivetsOrd/index-eng.htm
* http://www.skattebetalarna.se
* The author to this texts own experiences
[[Category:Countries]]

Sweden

2007-03-30T09:50:16Z

Tetsuo: /* Is Sweden a democracy? */

'''Sweden''' is a small country in [[Scandinavia]]. The capital city is [[Stockholm]], which is also the largest city. Sweden has approximately 9 million inhabitants. With an area of 173,750 square miles (450,000 square kilometers), Sweden is a big country in [[Western Europe]].

Sweden is a constitutional [[monarchy]] and a parliamentary [[democracy]]. The prime minister of Sweden is 41 year old Fredrik Reinfeldt, leader of the Moderates. The Swedish parliament has 349 seats. [[Carl XVI]] is the current king.

== Swedish Viking History ==

In Sweden the [[Viking]] Age was getting under way by the 9th century, and vast repositories of Roman, Byzantine and Arab coins attest to the wealth and power Swedish Vikings accumulated over the next century. Vikings traveled mostly to the east, making their mark in Russia, as well as trading with (and pillaging) Byzantine territories. They also traveled west and there is considerable evidence of artifacts (such as coins) on the North American continent. Vikings pillaged villages all over Ireland, and are the antecedents of many living Irish men and women, such as the former Taoiseach of Ireland, Charles Haughey and his cousin Sile de Valera, pop stars Bob Geldof and Phil Lynott, and artist Charlie Whisker. Remnants of a small settlement (called Ektorp) exist on Newfoundland which include the remains of small dwellings, deteriorated furniture and cooking utensils.

Christianity only took root in the 11th century.

== Christianity in Sweden ==

80% of the inhabitants belong to the Evangelical [[Lutheran Church]] of Sweden named The Swedish Church (Svenska kyrkan in Swedish). This church is very different to other churches because it has decided to marry [[homosexuality|homosexuals]]. This Church is considered a [[liberal]] Church and does not protest against abortions, divorce, and other conservative issues. About 5% of the Swedish population belong to "family-values" Christian churches. Many Swedes are [[atheists]].

Sweden has 18 weeks of free [[abortion]] and 4 weeks during which women need to get special permission to be allowed an abortion. Swedish politicians are currently discussing whether foreign women should be allowed to have an late term abortion in Sweden, and much suggests that the parliament will vote in favor of that proposition. In the 1960's the government decided to reduce in school education about [[Christianity]]. In 2000, the Evangelical [[Lutheran Church]] and the government were separated. Before that, all children were born members of the church, except those whose parents took an active decision against it and both left the church. Even if a child were not christened, he or she became a member for life, having to pay a small tax to the church.

In 2005 a Swedish Baptist priest Åke Green was charged with, and found guilty of hate speech, when preaching Biblical teachings regarding homosexuality. He was imprisoned for one month and then acquitted.

== Politics ==

Sweden has high taxes and strong trade unions. Even if Sweden has now got a new government instead of the old one, socialistic one, it's still a country where socialism is strong. Fredrik Reinfeldt says that he is not going to destroy the Swedish model - in fact he says he likes that model - he only wants make some small changes. Although one of the parties in the government alliance is named "The Christian Democrats", no decisions have been made to make Christianity stronger in Sweden.

Swedes are paying 65% of their wage, in taxes, if we count ALL taxes (not only the income tax) {fact}, the jobless rate is, according to the new government, 17%. The new government are counting everyone that is out of job (except of they who are over 65 years old, under 18 years old, handicapped or ill), the former government lost the election because of many reasons, but the strongest one was that they had cheated with the jobless rate and maked it look lower than it actually was.
A lot of the money that comes from taxes goes to the unemployed. {fact} Everyone in Sweden got right to have a home, food, water and clothes. Even if the reason is good (to save people from a life on the streets), this costs a lot of money.

== Is Sweden a democracy?==
Krister Renard, a Swedish author, schoolteacher and member in the Swedish organization "Word of Life", describes Sweden as a "totalitarian democracy". Sweden has fair elections, but it is alledged that all childeren are taught in school that leftist princaples are the only fair way to go if you don't want people to die, hungry, on the streets. The history of christianity is not taught in school, but there is not much said about today's churches, and the teachers are often very negative to christianity and teach an uneven picture of it. They are especially negative to conservative christianity which is described by some teachers as "something that a majority of the swedish christians fortunately do not support" (that's a quote from a swedish teacher in Society Science) {fact}.
Approximately 80% of the population between the ages of 18 and 65 are members in a trade union.

==Some Notable Swedes==
* [[Alfred Nobel]], instigator of the [[Nobel Prize]]
* Greta Garbo, actress
* ABBA
* Roxette
* Dag Hammarskjöld
* [[Anders Celsius]]
* Astrid Lindgren
* Carl von Linné
* Fredrik Ljungberg
* Henrik Larsson
* Stellan Skarsgård
* Saint Bridgid
* Lars Magnus Ericsson
* Gustavus Adolphus (king, founder of Gothenburg etc, died 1632 in the Thirty Years War)
* Björn Borg, tennis player
* Olof Palme
* Ingemar Bergman

==References==
*[http://www.sweden.se SWEDEN.SE]
*[http://www.svenskakyrkan.se Svenska Kyrkan]
*http://www.lo.se
*http://www.moderaterna.se
*http://www.gp.se/gp/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=913&a=324428
*http://www.gluefox.com
*[http://www.historyofnations.net/europe/sweden.html History of Sweden]
* Forte, Angelo. Oram, Richard. Pedersen, Frederik. ''Viking Empires''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005
* Hudson, Benjamin. ''Viking Pirates and Christian Princes: Dynasty, Religion, and Empire in North America''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
* http://www.livetsord.se/default.aspx?idStructure=918
* http://perkornhall.se/LivetsOrd/index-eng.htm
* http://www.skattebetalarna.se
* The author to this texts own experiences
[[Category:Countries]]

Sweden

2007-03-30T09:49:36Z

Tetsuo: Aweful use of the english language, not referenced and highly subjective. Edited down to what facts can be deduced with deletion of un-cited supposition

'''Sweden''' is a small country in [[Scandinavia]]. The capital city is [[Stockholm]], which is also the largest city. Sweden has approximately 9 million inhabitants. With an area of 173,750 square miles (450,000 square kilometers), Sweden is a big country in [[Western Europe]].

Sweden is a constitutional [[monarchy]] and a parliamentary [[democracy]]. The prime minister of Sweden is 41 year old Fredrik Reinfeldt, leader of the Moderates. The Swedish parliament has 349 seats. [[Carl XVI]] is the current king.

== Swedish Viking History ==

In Sweden the [[Viking]] Age was getting under way by the 9th century, and vast repositories of Roman, Byzantine and Arab coins attest to the wealth and power Swedish Vikings accumulated over the next century. Vikings traveled mostly to the east, making their mark in Russia, as well as trading with (and pillaging) Byzantine territories. They also traveled west and there is considerable evidence of artifacts (such as coins) on the North American continent. Vikings pillaged villages all over Ireland, and are the antecedents of many living Irish men and women, such as the former Taoiseach of Ireland, Charles Haughey and his cousin Sile de Valera, pop stars Bob Geldof and Phil Lynott, and artist Charlie Whisker. Remnants of a small settlement (called Ektorp) exist on Newfoundland which include the remains of small dwellings, deteriorated furniture and cooking utensils.

Christianity only took root in the 11th century.

== Christianity in Sweden ==

80% of the inhabitants belong to the Evangelical [[Lutheran Church]] of Sweden named The Swedish Church (Svenska kyrkan in Swedish). This church is very different to other churches because it has decided to marry [[homosexuality|homosexuals]]. This Church is considered a [[liberal]] Church and does not protest against abortions, divorce, and other conservative issues. About 5% of the Swedish population belong to "family-values" Christian churches. Many Swedes are [[atheists]].

Sweden has 18 weeks of free [[abortion]] and 4 weeks during which women need to get special permission to be allowed an abortion. Swedish politicians are currently discussing whether foreign women should be allowed to have an late term abortion in Sweden, and much suggests that the parliament will vote in favor of that proposition. In the 1960's the government decided to reduce in school education about [[Christianity]]. In 2000, the Evangelical [[Lutheran Church]] and the government were separated. Before that, all children were born members of the church, except those whose parents took an active decision against it and both left the church. Even if a child were not christened, he or she became a member for life, having to pay a small tax to the church.

In 2005 a Swedish Baptist priest Åke Green was charged with, and found guilty of hate speech, when preaching Biblical teachings regarding homosexuality. He was imprisoned for one month and then acquitted.

== Politics ==

Sweden has high taxes and strong trade unions. Even if Sweden has now got a new government instead of the old one, socialistic one, it's still a country where socialism is strong. Fredrik Reinfeldt says that he is not going to destroy the Swedish model - in fact he says he likes that model - he only wants make some small changes. Although one of the parties in the government alliance is named "The Christian Democrats", no decisions have been made to make Christianity stronger in Sweden.

Swedes are paying 65% of their wage, in taxes, if we count ALL taxes (not only the income tax) {fact}, the jobless rate is, according to the new government, 17%. The new government are counting everyone that is out of job (except of they who are over 65 years old, under 18 years old, handicapped or ill), the former government lost the election because of many reasons, but the strongest one was that they had cheated with the jobless rate and maked it look lower than it actually was.
A lot of the money that comes from taxes goes to the unemployed. {fact} Everyone in Sweden got right to have a home, food, water and clothes. Even if the reason is good (to save people from a life on the streets), this costs a lot of money.

== Is Sweden a democracy?==
Krister Renard, a Swedish author, schoolteacher and member in the Swedish organization "Word of Life", describes Sweden as a "totalitarian democracy". Sweden has fair elections, but it is alledged that all childeren are taught in school that leftist princaples are the only fair way to go if you don't want people to die, hungry, on the streets. The history of christianity is not taught in school, but there is not much said about today's churches, and the teachers are often very negative to christianity and teach an uneven picture of it. They are especially negative to conservative christianity which is described by some teachers as "something that a majority of the swedish christians fortunately do not support" (that's a quote from a swedish teacher in Society Science) {fact}.
Approximately 80% of the population between the ages of 18 and 65 are members in a trade union.

==Some Notable Swedes==
* [[Alfred Nobel]], instigator of the [[Nobel Prize]]
* Greta Garbo, actress
* ABBA
* Roxette
* Dag Hammarskjöld
* [[Anders Celsius]]
* Astrid Lindgren
* Carl von Linné
* Fredrik Ljungberg
* Henrik Larsson
* Stellan Skarsgård
* Saint Bridgid
* Lars Magnus Ericsson
* Gustavus Adolphus (king, founder of Gothenburg etc, died 1632 in the Thirty Years War)
* Björn Borg, tennis player
* Olof Palme
* Ingemar Bergman

==References==
*[http://www.sweden.se SWEDEN.SE]
*[http://www.svenskakyrkan.se Svenska Kyrkan]
*http://www.lo.se
*http://www.moderaterna.se
*http://www.gp.se/gp/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=913&a=324428
*http://www.gluefox.com
*[http://www.historyofnations.net/europe/sweden.html History of Sweden]
* Forte, Angelo. Oram, Richard. Pedersen, Frederik. ''Viking Empires''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005
* Hudson, Benjamin. ''Viking Pirates and Christian Princes: Dynasty, Religion, and Empire in North America''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
* http://www.livetsord.se/default.aspx?idStructure=918
* http://perkornhall.se/LivetsOrd/index-eng.htm
* http://www.skattebetalarna.se
* The author to this texts own experiences
[[Category:Countries]]

Stone Age

2007-03-30T09:40:07Z

Tetsuo:

{{stub}}

The Stone age is the [[prehistory|prehistoric]] time before the [[Age of Metal]]. It is divided into two parts; [[Paleolithic age|Paleolithic]] and [[Neolithic age|Neolithic]]. During the Paleolithic age, man harvested wild plants and animals for food. Agriculture began in the Neolithic age. The dates of the Stone age are debated but are generally accepted to be from 8,000 BC to 4,000 BC by conventional science [http://www.bergen.org/technology/stone.html]

Stone Age

2007-03-30T09:39:28Z

Tetsuo:

{{stub}}

The Stone age is the [[prehistory|prehistoric]] time before the [[Age of Metal]]. It is divided into two parts; [[Paleolithic age|Paleolithic]] and [[Neolithic age|Neolithic]]. During the Paleolithic age, man harvested wild plants and animals for food. Agriculture began in the Neolithic age. The dates of the Stone age are debated but are generally accepted to be from 8,000 BC to 4,000 BC by science [http://www.bergen.org/technology/stone.html]

Stone Age

2007-03-30T09:39:14Z

Tetsuo:

Chan Buddhism

2007-03-30T08:53:59Z

Tetsuo:

Chan (Zen) Buddhism is the Indian form of [[Buddhism]]. There is some debate as to whether it is a religion or a philosophical paradigm.

Anita Bryant

2007-03-22T14:57:03Z

Tetsuo:

Anita Bryant (b. 1940) was an extremely successful singer and commercial endorser who became an early opponent of the homosexual movement. As a result, the entertainment and corporate world ostracized her for her bigotry.

A devout Christian born and raised in [[Oklahoma]], Bryant won the prestigious talent competition of [[Arthur Godfrey]] at age 16, was runner-up in the Miss America competition at age 19, and next recorded three smash popular hit songs, of which a couple were imitated later by famous groups such as the [[Beatles]]. In the late 1960s and 1970s Anita Bryant became one of the most successful endorsers of goods, most famously Florida orange juice. She was as popular as any rock star today, and had such broad appeal that she performed the National Anthem at Super Bowl III in 1969 and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" at the burial of former President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] in 1973.

Living in South Florida, Bryant saw Florida's Dade County (now Miami-Dade County) passed an ordinance in 1977 granting anti-discrimination rights to homosexuals. Motivated by her Christian faith, Bryant successfully led an effort to repeal this ordinance in a referendum that passed in a landslide vote of 69% to 31%. Her main concern was the recruitment of children into the homosexual lifestyle, and she founded a group called Save Our Children for that purpose. It was not until 1998 that Miami-Dade County reinstated the ordinance by a narrow 7-6 vote.

Bryant also successfully led a campaign for the Florida legislature to prohibit homosexuals from adopting children. Over two decades later, in 2004, that law was upheld by the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.<ref>''Lofton v. Sec'y of the Dep't of Children & Family Servs.'', 358 F.3d 804 (11th Cir. 2004).</ref>

Homosexual advocates vilified Bryant for her Christian stance, and continue to insult her to this day. They organized a boycott of her corporate sponsors and they obtained denunciations of Bryant by other entertainers. Four self-proclaimed homosexuals slapped Bryant with a pie in her face during a speaking event in Des Moines, Iowa.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS91gT3XT_A</ref> Bryant responded immediately by saying a prayer for her assailants.

The efforts of the homosexual activists succeeded in destroying Bryant's career. The corporations refused to continue to hire her; the music industry excluded her. Bryant attempted to revive her career in small towns, but those attempts were unsuccessful and ended in bankruptcy.

== References ==

<references/>

Oxidation

2007-03-22T14:50:13Z

Tetsuo:

Oxidation is the interaction between oxygen molecules and all the different substances they may contact, from metal to living tissue. It is most commonly shown as the change from Iron to Iron oxide (rust)

Operation Iraqi Freedom

2007-03-22T14:45:20Z

Tetsuo:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==The Surge==

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

==Weapons of Mass Destruction==

Although no physical large stock piles of weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq, the search is not over, and further searching is expected to produce large weapons caches, 5 years after it was claimed that the alleged weapons, the reason that the USA and UK went to War with Iraq, could be released within 45 minutes, and the world is still waiting for this release. Only about one-third of 36 million captured pages have been examined by a linguist and a summary gist of the document prepared.<ref>[https://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd_2004/scope.html Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI on Iraq’s WMD], retrieved March 21, 2007</ref> Most believe the physical WMDs that had been produced prior to the invasion were smuggled out of the country, possibly to [[Syria]], before the onset of the war.

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

==Costs==

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

==References==
<references/>

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

Operation Iraqi Freedom

2007-03-22T14:40:06Z

Tetsuo:

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

===Iraqi Liberation===
Iraqis welcomed the American invasion and overthrow of Saddam Hussein, and in the preceding months, showed optimism about their country's future. An 'American Enterprise'-'Wall Street Journal'-'Zogby' poll in September 2003 found that "Seven out of 10 say they expect their country and their personal lives will be better five years from now. On both fronts, 32% say things will become much better."<ref>[http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110003991 What Iraqis Really Think], retrieved March 21, 2007</ref> Furthermore, in a March 2004 poll of Iraqis, the BBC found that Iraqis have great hope in a stable, unified government for their country, with 80% of respondents favoring a centralized state ruled from Baghdad. <ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3514504.stm Survey finds hope in occupied Iraq]</ref> Just a month later a USA Today poll found that only a third of Iraqis thought the US invasion had done more good than harm meaning a solid 66% of Iraqis thought their country was in a better condition under [[Saddam Hussein]] than under American military rule <ref>[http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-04-28-poll-cover_x.htm]</ref>

Since 2004, the unceasing violence by the insurgents has caused some people to view the ongoing strife as a 'civil war'. <ref>[http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20070301faessay86201/james-d-fearon/iraq-s-civil-war.html Iraq's Civil War], retrieved March 21, 2007</ref>

2007 - Four years into the war, the biggest poll since coalition troops entered Iraq on March 20, 2003 shows that by a majority of two to one, Iraqis prefer the current leadership to Saddam Hussein’s regime, regardless of the security crisis and a lack of public services. It also found a striking resilience and optimism among the inhabitants. The survey, published March 19, 2007, also claims most Iraqis do not believe they are embroiled in a civil war; indeed, only 27% believed they were caught up in a civil war and 64% of the Iraqis still want to see a united Iraq under a central national government. <ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article1530526.ece Resilient Iraqis ask what civil war?], retrieved March 21, 2007</ref> In the same poll however over 60% of Iraqis revealed that their lives had become "significantly worse" with over 70% expecting things to only get worse within the next year.<ref>[http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-03-18-poll-cover_N.htm], retrieved March 18, 2007</ref>

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

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

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

Many discount these secret polls because they may be biased in how the questions are asked and there is no neutrality as to whether they taken in areas which have large numbers of insurgent sympathizers in the population or not. The polling numbers are not included nor references as to how this secret poll was conducted . The lack of open disclosure and the fact that it was used to discount the intelligence to the point which was quoted in the same article as the secret poll as, "The secret poll appears to contradict claims made by Gen Sir Mike Jackson, the Chief of the General Staff, who only days ago congratulated British soldiers for "supporting the Iraqi people in building a new and better Iraq"".. leads critics to infer that this is not a fair or accurate assessment of Iraqi opinion.
Citing safety concerns and saying the following survey was done by "An Iraqi public opinion research firm with a proven record of conducting scientifically valid surveys" was all the clue that was given as to the origin of the secret report.

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

==The Surge==

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

==Weapons of Mass Destruction==

No physical large stock piles of weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq, the search is not over, but further searching is expected to produce little in the way of WMD caches. This said there is still some optimism as only about one-third of 36 million captured pages have been examined by a linguist and a summary gist of the document prepared.<ref>[https://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd_2004/scope.html Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI on Iraq’s WMD], retrieved March 21, 2007</ref> Some conveniently believe the physical WMDs that had been produced prior to the invasion were smuggled out of the country, possibly to [[Syria]], before the onset of the war.

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

==Costs==

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

==References==
<references/>

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

1991 Persian Gulf War

2007-03-22T13:58:07Z

Tetsuo:

The '''Gulf War''' was started when [[Iraq]], under [[Saddam Hussein]]'s leadership, invaded [[Kuwait]] on August 2, 1990. The [[United Nations]] commanded Saddam to leave Kuwait but he rejected the idea. After much planing an international force involving the armies of The [[UK]], [[France]], [[Germany]] and [[South Korea]] forced Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait on February 28, 1991.

== See also ==
* [[Iraq War]]

[[Category:History]]

1991 Persian Gulf War

2007-03-22T13:57:23Z

Tetsuo:

The '''Gulf War''' was started when [[Iraq]], under [[Saddam Hussein]]'s leadership, invaded [[Kuwait]] on August 2, 1990. The [[United Nations]] commanded Saddam to leave Kuwait but he rejected the idea. After much planing an international force involving the armies of The[[UK]], [[France]], [[Germany]] and [[South Korea]] forced Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait on February 28, 1991.

== See also ==
* [[Iraq War]]

[[Category:History]]

Gay marriage

2007-03-22T13:53:32Z

Tetsuo: /* Myths about Gay Marriage */

"Gay marriage" is the legal union of a man to a man or woman to a woman.

==The History of Gay Marriage==
Gay marriage was first put forth as a serious, political ideal in France shortly before the outbreak of World War II in September 1939. René Felícruea was a prominent Parisian historian and avid atheist who had fallen in love with a Jewish boy that attended a local synagogue. Felícruea is purported to have seen the young boy going to-and-from the synagogue every day, and the two started up a cheerful friendship that last until the boy turned eighteen. At this point, the two had begun admitting feelings for one another, but local laws and customs forbade them from marrying. Felícruea petitioned the powers in Paris to allow the marriage, but his petition went unheard. Felícruea purportedly died during the German invasion. The details and name of his young lover have remained a mystery.{{fact}}

Democratic Party

2007-03-21T16:56:51Z

Tetsuo: Amended

The Democratic Party, also occasionally called the "Democrat Party" by George W. Bush[http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/10/20061030-4.html] and some other conservatives, is one of the two major political [[parties]] in the [[United States of America]]. It is generally seen as being on the political left of center, while the rival [[Republican Party]] is positioned to the right of center.

Like the Republicans, the Democrats are currently selecting their candidate for the 2008 AD presidential election; the front-runners in the contest are Senator [[Hillary Clinton]] of [[New York]] and Senator [[Barack Obama]] of [[Illinois]]. The most recent president that was a Democrat was [[Bill Clinton]], who served from 1993 AD to 2001 AD, and whose conduct and record in office remain highly controversial among many Americans, especially conservative Americans. His overall approval ratings, however, were high.[http://www.pollingreport.com/clinton-.htm] He was impeached by a Republican controlled House of Representatives for lying under oath in a civil case that was ultimately dismissed in court.

==History==
The Democratic Party was founded in 1792 AD by [[Thomas Jefferson]] as a congressional caucus to fight for the [[Bill of Rights]] and to oppose the elitist [[Federalist Party]]. Ironically in view of the party's image as the "party of the common man", Jefferson was a member of the landed gentry and a slave owner.

In 1798 AD, the party was officially named the "Democratic-Republican Party", and in 1800 AD Jefferson was elected as the first Democrat [[President of the United States]]. Jefferson served two terms as president with distinction, and was succeeded by another Democrat, [[James Madison]], in 1808 AD. Madison strengthened America's armed forces and helped to reaffirm American independence by defeating the [[United Kingdom]] in the [[War of 1812]]. James Monroe, another Democratic-Republican, was elected president in 1816 ADand led the nation through a time commonly known as "The Era of Good Feeling". In this period, the party dominated American politics with little opposition.

[[Franklin Roosevelt]], president during the Great Depression and [[Second World War]], was a Democrat, as was his successor, [[Harry Truman]].

==Policies and criticism==

It should be noted that the views of individual Democrats sometimes diverge from the party's official stance as expressed in its national platform. Naturally, the same is true of individual Republicans.

===Economic policy===
In the field of economic policy, Democrats tend to favor higher taxes, higher government spending and a relatively high minimum wage. While they defend these policies as compassionate and socially responsible, people in favor of liberal economics reply that they depress economic growth, stifle enterprise and job creation, and deprive working Americans of a disproportionare share of their hard-earned money. It should be noted, however, that the last known national budgetary surplus occurred during the administration of a Democrat president.

The Democratic Party has historically had ties to [[union|organized labor]]. The [[National Education Association]],<ref>http://www.nea.org/index.html</ref> the largest union of public school teachers, is a backbone of the party, supplying the largest number of delegates to its national conventions.{{fact}}

===Foreign and military policy===
According to its platform, the Democratic Party has the objective of strengthening America. Conservatives, however, argue that the Democrats' policies have the effect of giving comfort to the enemies of the United States and of weakening its position in the [[War on Terror]]. Highly partisan conservatives have claimed that the Democratic national leadership tends to be ambivalent about terrorism<ref>http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=22045</ref> and insufficiently patriotic.<ref>http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0112/01/smn.19.html</ref>

===Other Policies===
Democrats frequently support [[a woman's right to choose]], [[gun control]], [[homosexual civil rights|homosexual marriage]] and the seperation of church and state. The Democratic party also supports the environment which leads to reduction of pollution and a benefit to wildlife.

==Religion==
[[Evangelical]] Christians tend to be associated with the Republican Party. However, both historically and at the present day, [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] voters have had a tendency to identify with the Democratic Party, and a number of Democrat office-holders, such as Senator [[Jim Webb]] of Virginia, are Catholics. On the other hand, several gereral ideals of the Democratic Party's platform - most notably, the party's overall support for the legality of [[abortion]] - are contrary to the position of the [[Catholic Church]].

==References==
<references/>

==Reference==

<references/> {{fact}}

[[Category:Politics]]

Barack Hussein Obama

2007-03-21T16:39:58Z

Tetsuo: Subjective content

Barack Obama is a liberal Democratic Senator from Illinois, elected to the United States Senate in 2004 after serving as a state Senator. He is a liberal candidate and Democratic front-runner for the 2008 United States Presidential election. He has been criticized as being politically inexperienced, although he has retorted showing that some of the greatest presidents in American history were criticized for the same reason. He often speaks about his father's African descent and has written [[The Audacity of Hope]], a national bestseller, published in late 2006.

== Personal Life ==
Obama was born in [[Hawaii]] on August 4, 1961. His father was a [[Kenya|Kenyan]] former farmer, and his mother a white US citizen from [[Kansas]]. His parents divorced when he was two, and Obama's mother remarried to an [[Indonesia|Indonesian]] man and relocated the family to [[Jakarta]]. From age ten he lived in Hawaii with his maternal grandparents. He completed high school in 1979. Obama has a law degree from [[Harvard University]] and a BA from [[Columbia University]]. Until he entered politics in the 1990s, he was a senior lecturer in [[Constitution|constitutional]] law at the [[University of Chicago]].

[[Category:Political people|Obama, Barack]]

Michael Moore

2007-03-21T16:30:59Z

Tetsuo: Removed as untrue (Moore joined the NRA as a teenager)

Michael Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an [[Academy Award]] winning filmmaker and bestselling author who presents [[liberal|left wing]] views in a polemical way.

Before producing "Bowling for Columbine," Moore was the producer and host of the television series "The Awful Truth," which was typified by a type of sketch-comedy activism that was often directed against large corporations and government agencies.

He is well-known as a practicing Catholic who tithes 10% of his income to the Church, a [[socialist]] and a member of the [[National Rifle Association]] He has been an outspoken critic of the administration of President [[George W Bush]].

Some of his work includes the documentary films ''Farenheit 9/11'', ''Roger and Me'', and ''Bowling for Columbine'', and the books ''Dude, Where's my Country'', ''Downsize This! Random Threats from an Unarmed American''. and ''Stupid White Men''.

Michael Moore

2007-03-21T16:29:47Z

Tetsuo:

Michael Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an [[Academy Award]] winning filmmaker and bestselling author who presents [[liberal|left wing]] views in a polemical way.

Before producing "Bowling for Columbine," Moore was the producer and host of the television series "The Awful Truth," which was typified by a type of sketch-comedy activism that was often directed against large corporations and government agencies.

He is well-known as a practicing Catholic who tithes 10% of his income to the Church, a [[socialist]] and a member of the [[National Rifle Association]] (who joined it hoping to eventually dismantle the organization). He has been an outspoken critic of the administration of President [[George W Bush]].

Some of his work includes the documentary films ''Farenheit 9/11'', ''Roger and Me'', and ''Bowling for Columbine'', and the books ''Dude, Where's my Country'', ''Downsize This! Random Threats from an Unarmed American''. and ''Stupid White Men''.

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

2007-03-21T16:23:07Z

Tetsuo:

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the USSR, the primary member of which was [[Russia]],, was established by [[Vladimir Lenin]]'s [[Bolshevik]] Party in 1922 following the overthrow of the Tsar and the [[Russian Civil War]]. It allowed one central government under Lenin to control many socialized republics. Upon Lenin's death, a power struggle insued between Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin, two influential officials during Lenin's tenure. Stalin eventually gained the upper hand in the fight, and ostracized [[Trotsky]] to [[Mexico]]. The USSR became infamous for Joseph Stalin's violations of human rights and eventually began to collapse in the 1980s due to [[Mikhael Gorbachev]] moving towards Glasnost and easing the hard line communism that had been in place for the past half a centuary. The USSR was formally dissipated in 1991 by [[Boris Yeltsin]].

[[Category:History]]

Jean Paul Sartre

2007-03-21T16:09:56Z

Tetsuo:

Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1980) popularized the philosophy which he called [[existentialism]]. Sartre's version of existentialism taught (consistent with his atheism) that life has no external meaning at all and that the moral obligation of every person was to find and define the meaning of their own life (lest life be altogether meaningless)<ref>Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/sartre/#4]</ref>.

Sartre published a number of philosophical works including:

[[Transcendence of the Ego]], published in 1936

[[The Psychology of Imagination]], published in 1940

[[Being and Nothingness]], published in 1943

[[L'age de raison]] (The Age of Reason), published in 1945

[[Search for a Method]], published in 1957

[[Critique of Dialectical Reason]], published in 1960 (including [[Search for a Method]] as its introduction)

[[Notebooks for an Ethics]], published posthumously, but written between 1947 and 1948.

Sartre also wrote a number of works of fiction based on his philosophical ideas, these include:

[[Nausea]], published in 1938

[[The Wall and Other Stories]], published in 1939

[[The Flies]], published in 1942

[[No Exit]], published in 1942

In fact, Sartre’s writing was so well recived that, in 1964, he was awarded the [[Nobel Prize]] for literature. <ref>List of Nobel Prize laureates for litrature[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/]</ref>

Sartre fought in the french resistance in World War II and worked on an underground french paper of the time.

Towards the end of his life he expressed sympathy with the terrorists who kidnapped and killed Israelis during the 1972 Olympics, asserting that it was “perfectly scandalous” how the French press criticized the terrorism, he decribed terrorism as “a terrible weapon but the oppressed poor have no others”.
==Reference==

<references/>

Palestine

2007-03-21T16:01:53Z

Tetsuo:

{{stub}}

'''Palestine''' is the name given to the land of [[Israel]] by the [[Roman]]s and others in order to deny that the land belongs to the [[Jew]]s. It is named after the Philistines who at one time lived in part of the area and were completely conquered by [[King David]].

Palestine (from Latin: Palaestina; Hebrew: פלשת‎ Pleshet, פלשתינה Palestina; Arabic: فلسطين‎ Filastīn, Falastīn) is one of many names for the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the River Jordan. Many different definitions of the region have been in usage in the past three thousand years.

Other English names for this region include: Canaan (Hebrew: כנען‎), Land of Israel (Hebrew: ארץ ישראל‎ Erets Yisrael), Judea (Hebrew: יהודה‎ yehuda), Holy Land (Hebrew: ארץ הקדש Erets Ha-Kodesh‎; Latin: Terra Sancta; Arabic: الأرض المقدسة‎ (Ard-al-Muqaddasah)and Cisjordan.

The Hebrew scriptures call the region Canaan when referring to the pre-Israelite period,(Hebrew: כּנען‎) and afterwards Israel (Yisrael). The name "Land of the Hebrews" (Hebrew: ארץ העברים‎, Eretz Ha-Ivrim) is also found. The wide area appears to be the habitat of the ancient ethnic Hebrews, though perhaps shared with other ethnic groups. The land of Canaan is part of the land given to the descendants of Abraham, which extends from the Nile to the Euphrates River (Genesis 15:18). This land is said to include an area called Aram Naharaim, which includes Haran in modern Turkey, from where Abraham the ancestor of the Israelites departed.

The events of the Four Gospels of the Bible take place entirely in Israel.

In the Qur'an, the term الأرض المقدسة ("Holy Land", Al-Ard Al-Muqaddasah) is mentioned at least seven times, once when Moses proclaims to the Children of Israel: "O my people! Enter the holy land which Allah hath assigned unto you, and turn not back ignominiously, for then will ye be overthrown, to your own ruin." (Surah 5:21)

Currently, the [[Arab]]s living in the land of Israel are working to create a state called Palestine in part of the land of Israel, though this has been met with mixed views from the international community.

As one of the names for this region over the years has been "Palestine," but that name never referred to a sovereign country [http://www.israelinsider.com/views/articles/views_0297.htm] nor was it ever an Arab country
[http://christianactionforisrael.org/never_arab.html]. Historically, [[Arab]] Palestinians have lived primarily in [[Syria]] and [[Jordan]].
The area Palestine is the home of many [[militant]] organizations, such as the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]], [[Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade]] (related to [[Fatah]] [[Arafat]] & [[Abu Mazen]]), [[Hamas]], [[Islamic Jihad]].

DCI Group

2007-03-21T15:52:57Z

Tetsuo: /* References */

DCI Group

2007-03-21T15:52:33Z

Tetsuo: removed political bias

A strategic public relations (Lobbyists) group for the Bush administration. Most famous for their popular [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZSqXUSwHRI YouTube video] mocking Al Gore's views on the issue of [[Global Warming]]. This single video led a massive corporate grassroots movement against the liberal Al Gore.

== References ==
[http://www.opensecrets.org/lobbyists/firm_reports.asp?txtname=DCI+Group&year=2005]

[http://users2.wsj.com/lmda/do/checkLogin?mg=wsj-users2&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB115457177198425388.html]

[http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2273111&page=1]

[http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06215/710851-115.stm]

Atheism

2007-03-21T15:43:34Z

Tetsuo:

'''Atheism''' is disbelief in the existence of a [[God|god]] or gods.

Well-known atheists include [[Stephen Hawking]], [[Stephen Jay Gould]], [[Carl Sagan]], [[Richard Dawkins]], [[Douglas Adams]], [[William Borden]],[[Sam Harris]], [[Jeremey Alliadiaere]], [[Gary Neville]], [[Jon Roberts]] and [[Ricky Gervais]].

== Atheist morality ==

Atheists often base their [[moral code]] upon [[emotion]], [[experience]], empirically derived ethics, or some combination thereof.{{fact}} It is important to note, however, that just as many religions disagree on specific moral points, and there is sharp disagreement within many religions (e.g. denominational disputes within Christianity), atheists differ substantially from each other in the details of their moral beliefs. Thus, it is difficult at best to summarize the beliefs of the "average atheist."

Atheists typically hold that no religious text can be our only source of morality although all of them may contain useful ideas or principles. As atheists do not believe in any form of deity, books purported to be based upon the wishes of such deities are inherently suspect. Additionally, many atheists point out that all religious texts contain, and often ascribe to God, extremely immoral acts such as the Israelite expulsion of heathen nations from Canaan (i.e. [[ethnic cleansing]]), the stoning of [http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/gay/long.htm homosexuals] to death, questionable treatment of [http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/gen/19.html#1 women] and the institution of [http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/says_about/slavery.html slavery]. Additionally, atheists often point to a large number of prominent [http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/contra/by_name.html contradictions] present in the bible and other religious texts. The presence of such contradictions challenges claims that these works are the infallible word of God.

Atheists sometimes subscribe to the secular humanist idea that it is far more desirable to do what is right because you believe that it is right, rather than because you fear divine punishment or desire divine reward. This view is illustrated by celebrated atheist [[Albert Einstein]]:

:“A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death”.

Atheists sometimes condemn religious desires for exclusive reward (and the punishment of others) such as are found in all religious texts.

== Origins ==

Many atheists claim that atheism has existed for as long as man and that religion was invented by man.

A fundamentalist Christian would claim it can be traced back to specific date, as Adam and Eve believed in God so at some point somebody must have stopped believing.

=== Christian View of Origins ===

It is difficult to trace the origins of atheism as a result of the incomplete historic record. It is known that ancient Greece produced a theory of materialism as early as the 5th century BC. Materialism is a philosophical position that the material is all that exists. Therefore, it automatically excludes immaterial beings. In addition to materialism the Greeks also considered Spiritualism, in which the material world is an illusion and only spirit exists, as well as dualism, in which both the material and the spiritual exist (e.g. Christianity). It is important to note that while many atheists are strict materialists, some are not. As an example, some philosophical systems generally regarded as religions (i.e. Buddhism) lack deities and thus could be regarded as "atheistic faiths," or forms of non-materialistic atheism. In any case, it is likely impossible to determine the true origins of atheism as it was presumably the default belief of most humans prior to the development of religion.

The writer of the Book of Psalms knew of atheists and atheism and registered disapproval in Psalm 14: "The Fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." The book of Psalms precedes the 5th century BC by hundreds of years {{fact}}.

== Atheist Population ==
In the [[Great Britain]] 2001 census, 15.5% of the population identify themselves as having no religious beliefs [http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=293 2001 Census]. This category included [[agnostics]], atheists, [[heathens]] and those who wrote [[Jedi Knight]].

More specific research on atheists conducted in 2006 [http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/allnewsbydate.asp?NewsID=1131 suggests] that the true proportion of Atheists is 4% in the United States and 17% in Great Britain. However, the Christian research organization, the Barna Group, [http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=160 reports] that 12% of Americans are atheist or agnostic.

Some atheists consider atheism to be a religion and will not respond that they have "no religion" on surveys. As an example, 14.39% of the respondents to the 2004 General Social Survey in the United States claim to have "no religion." Of a subsample (197 respondents) of those persons with no religion who answered a second question on the origins of man, 19.80% believe that God created man while an additional 43.15% believe that God created man by guiding evolution over time. Thus, cumulatively 62.95% of those with "no religion" still believe that God was directly responsible for the creation of man in some fashion. These data are available and can be analyzed online [http://sda.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/hsda?harcsda+gss04 GSS Data Online].

== Prejudice Against Atheists ==
Research by Penny Edgell, Joseph Gerteis and Douglas Hartmann in the American Sociological Review [http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/asoca/asr/2006/00000071/00000002/art00003 indicates] that most Americans would be more willing to vote for a gay or Muslim presidential candidate than an atheist. The same study indicates that 47.6% of Americans would disapprove of their child marrying an atheist. More recent [http://www.galluppoll.com/content/default.aspx?ci=26611&pg=1 Gallup polls] confirm this finding and indicate that atheists are among the most disliked minorities in the United States. In addition to discrimination in voting practices and marriage, former President George H.W. Bush has previously [http://www.positiveatheism.org/writ/ghwbush.htm stated] that he does not believe atheists should be considered citizens of the United States.

Edgell, Gerteis & Hartmann 2006- Table 1 (Percentage of respondents answering affirmatively):
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
! This Group Does Not At All Agree with My Vision of American Society:
! I Would Disapprove if My Child Wanted to Marry a Member of This Group:
|-
| Atheist
| 39.6%
| 47.6%
|-
| Muslim
| 26.3%
| 33.5%
|-
| Homosexual
| 22.6%
| NA
|-
|Conservative Christian
| 13.5%
| 6.9%
|-
| Recent Immigrant
| 12.5%
| Not Asked
|-
| Hispanic
| 7.6%
| 18.5%
|-
| Jew
| 7.4%
| 11.8%
|-
| Asian American
| 7.0%
| 18.5%
|-
|African American
| 4.6%
| 27.2%
|-
| White American
| 2.2%
| 2.3%
|}

== The Problem of Evil==

One argument against belief in all-powerful entities ('gods') is the problem of evil. First identified by the philosopher and materialist Epicurus (341-270 BC), this problem points out the difficulty created by the mere existence of evil:

:Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
:Is he able, but not willing? then he is malevolent.
:Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
:Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?

A number of responses to this logical paradox have been put forth including those which assert human ignorance as the culprit, the concept of free will and the specific writings in some faiths which discuss the co-existence of good and evil (such as the book of Job in the Christian and Jewish faiths).[http://www.iep.utm.edu/e/evil-log.htm] Many atheists, however, do not regard such arguments as convincing solutions to what they see as the underlying problem.

==External Links==

*[http://creationwiki.org/Decline_of_atheism Decline of Atheism -CreationWiki]
*[http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_225_report_en.pdf European Commission report on Social values, Science and Technology, includes info on Religious beliefs]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]

Atheism

2007-03-21T15:42:58Z

Tetsuo:

'''Atheism''' is disbelief in the existence of a [[God|god]] or gods.

Well-known atheists include [[Stephen Hawking]], [[Stephen Jay Gould]], [[Carl Sagan]], [[Richard Dawkins]], [[Douglas Adams]], [[William Borden]],[[Sam Harris]], [[Jeremey Alliadiaere]], [[Gary Neville]], [[Jon Roberts]] and [[Ricky Gervais]].

== Atheist morality ==

Atheists often base their [[moral code]] upon [[emotion]], [[experience]], empirically derived ethics, or some combination thereof.{{fact}} It is important to note, however, that just as many religions disagree on specific moral points, and there is sharp disagreement within many religions (e.g. denominational disputes within Christianity), atheists differ substantially from each other in the details of their moral beliefs. Thus, it is difficult at best to summarize the beliefs of the "average atheist."

Atheists typically hold that no religious text can be our only source of morality although all of them may contain useful ideas or principles. As atheists do not believe in any form of deity, books purported to be based upon the wishes of such deities are inherently suspect. Additionally, many atheists point out that all religious texts contain, and often ascribe to God, extremely immoral acts such as the Israelite expulsion of heathen nations from Canaan (i.e. [[ethnic cleansing]]), the stoning of [http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/gay/long.htm homosexuals] to death, questionable treatment of [http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/gen/19.html#1 women] and the institution of [http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/says_about/slavery.html slavery]. Additionally, atheists often point to a large number of prominent [http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/contra/by_name.html contradictions] present in the bible and other religious texts. The presence of such contradictions challenges claims that these works are the infallible word of God.

Atheists sometimes subscribe to the secular humanist idea that it is far more desirable to do what is right because you believe that it is right, rather than because you fear divine punishment or desire divine reward. This view is illustrated by celebrated atheist [[Albert Einstein]]:

:“A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death”.

Atheists sometimes condemn religious desires for exclusive reward (and the punishment of others) such as are found in all religious texts.

== Origins ==

Many atheists claim that atheism has existed for as long as man and that religion was invented by man.

A Christian would claim it can be traced back to specific date, as Adam and Eve believed in God so at some point somebody must have stopped believing.

=== Christian View of Origins ===

It is difficult to trace the origins of atheism as a result of the incomplete historic record. It is known that ancient Greece produced a theory of materialism as early as the 5th century BC. Materialism is a philosophical position that the material is all that exists. Therefore, it automatically excludes immaterial beings. In addition to materialism the Greeks also considered Spiritualism, in which the material world is an illusion and only spirit exists, as well as dualism, in which both the material and the spiritual exist (e.g. Christianity). It is important to note that while many atheists are strict materialists, some are not. As an example, some philosophical systems generally regarded as religions (i.e. Buddhism) lack deities and thus could be regarded as "atheistic faiths," or forms of non-materialistic atheism. In any case, it is likely impossible to determine the true origins of atheism as it was presumably the default belief of most humans prior to the development of religion.

The writer of the Book of Psalms knew of atheists and atheism and registered disapproval in Psalm 14: "The Fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." The book of Psalms precedes the 5th century BC by hundreds of years {{fact}}.

== Atheist Population ==
In the [[Great Britain]] 2001 census, 15.5% of the population identify themselves as having no religious beliefs [http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=293 2001 Census]. This category included [[agnostics]], atheists, [[heathens]] and those who wrote [[Jedi Knight]].

More specific research on atheists conducted in 2006 [http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/allnewsbydate.asp?NewsID=1131 suggests] that the true proportion of Atheists is 4% in the United States and 17% in Great Britain. However, the Christian research organization, the Barna Group, [http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=160 reports] that 12% of Americans are atheist or agnostic.

Some atheists consider atheism to be a religion and will not respond that they have "no religion" on surveys. As an example, 14.39% of the respondents to the 2004 General Social Survey in the United States claim to have "no religion." Of a subsample (197 respondents) of those persons with no religion who answered a second question on the origins of man, 19.80% believe that God created man while an additional 43.15% believe that God created man by guiding evolution over time. Thus, cumulatively 62.95% of those with "no religion" still believe that God was directly responsible for the creation of man in some fashion. These data are available and can be analyzed online [http://sda.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/hsda?harcsda+gss04 GSS Data Online].

== Prejudice Against Atheists ==
Research by Penny Edgell, Joseph Gerteis and Douglas Hartmann in the American Sociological Review [http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/asoca/asr/2006/00000071/00000002/art00003 indicates] that most Americans would be more willing to vote for a gay or Muslim presidential candidate than an atheist. The same study indicates that 47.6% of Americans would disapprove of their child marrying an atheist. More recent [http://www.galluppoll.com/content/default.aspx?ci=26611&pg=1 Gallup polls] confirm this finding and indicate that atheists are among the most disliked minorities in the United States. In addition to discrimination in voting practices and marriage, former President George H.W. Bush has previously [http://www.positiveatheism.org/writ/ghwbush.htm stated] that he does not believe atheists should be considered citizens of the United States.

Edgell, Gerteis & Hartmann 2006- Table 1 (Percentage of respondents answering affirmatively):
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
! This Group Does Not At All Agree with My Vision of American Society:
! I Would Disapprove if My Child Wanted to Marry a Member of This Group:
|-
| Atheist
| 39.6%
| 47.6%
|-
| Muslim
| 26.3%
| 33.5%
|-
| Homosexual
| 22.6%
| NA
|-
|Conservative Christian
| 13.5%
| 6.9%
|-
| Recent Immigrant
| 12.5%
| Not Asked
|-
| Hispanic
| 7.6%
| 18.5%
|-
| Jew
| 7.4%
| 11.8%
|-
| Asian American
| 7.0%
| 18.5%
|-
|African American
| 4.6%
| 27.2%
|-
| White American
| 2.2%
| 2.3%
|}

== The Problem of Evil==

One argument against belief in all-powerful entities ('gods') is the problem of evil. First identified by the philosopher and materialist Epicurus (341-270 BC), this problem points out the difficulty created by the mere existence of evil:

:Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
:Is he able, but not willing? then he is malevolent.
:Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
:Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?

A number of responses to this logical paradox have been put forth including those which assert human ignorance as the culprit, the concept of free will and the specific writings in some faiths which discuss the co-existence of good and evil (such as the book of Job in the Christian and Jewish faiths).[http://www.iep.utm.edu/e/evil-log.htm] Many atheists, however, do not regard such arguments as convincing solutions to what they see as the underlying problem.

==External Links==

*[http://creationwiki.org/Decline_of_atheism Decline of Atheism -CreationWiki]
*[http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_225_report_en.pdf European Commission report on Social values, Science and Technology, includes info on Religious beliefs]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]

Google

2007-03-21T15:39:31Z

Tetsuo: /* "Miserable Failure" Incident */

'''Google''' is a popular [[Internet]] [[search engine]]. The CEO of Google since 2001 is [[Eric Schmidt]]. Google is headquartered in Mountain View, [[California]]. Google was founded on September 7th, 1998, by [[Larry Page]] and [[Sergey Brin]]. Since then, it has grown to be the largest internet search engine in the world. According to Alexa Internet, over 25% of all Internet users visit Google monthly.<ref>[http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?url=www.google.com Alexa Traffic Results for Google]</ref> Google also owns [[YouTube]], the home made [[video clip]] site. [[Viacom]] are suing YouTube, and thus Google, for a reported $1 billion, arguing that the economic model of YouTube is based on copyright infringement.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6446193.stm Viacom will sue YouTube for $1bn]</ref>

==History==
===Founding===
Google was originally a research project, started by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1996, when the two attended [[Stanford University]]. The two registered the domain name ''google.stanford.edu'', and the small search engine went online for the first time.<ref>[http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/history.html Corporate Information:Google Milestones]</ref>

===Google Goes Public===
===Growth===
===Purchase of Smaller Parties===

==PageRank Algorithm==
Perhaps the most innovative contribution Google has made to internet searching is it's '''PageRank''' algorithm. This system works by counting the number of sites that link to another site; the more links pointing to a page, the higher that page will be ranked. The engine also takes note of how often the page is updated. Due to this, [[Wikipedia]] is consistently ranked very highly by Google, due to it's constant updating and heavy linkage. More recently, internet-savvy Googlers have discovered ways to game the system; creating massive numbers of pages with links pointing to one page form what is known as a "Google Bomb". Some examples can be found below.

==="Miserable Failure" Incident===
For nearly two years, searching "Miserable Failure" in the Google search engine would return the [http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/biography.html White House Biography] of [[George W. Bush]].<ref>[http://boingboing.net/2007/01/26/bush_no_longer_miser.html Bush no longer "miserable failure": Google tackles googlebombs]</ref> Many ideas have been debated, though this was most likely due to the regular use of the PageRank system.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3298443.stm 'Miserable failure' links to Bush]</ref> Due to this incident (the biography remained the top result for over two years).

== References ==

<references/>

[[Category:Information technology]]

Koala

2007-03-21T15:35:55Z

Tetsuo:

The Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) is a thickset arboreal [[marsupial]] [[herbivore]] native to [[Australia]], and the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae. This animal sleeps about 20 hours a day and is rarely awake at all.

The Koala is found all along the eastern coast of [[Australia]] from near Adelaide to the southern part of Cape York Peninsula, and as far into the hinterland as there is enough rainfall to support suitable forests. The Koalas of South Australia were largely exterminated during the early part of the 20th century, but the state has since been repopulated with Victorian stock. The Koala is not found in [[Tasmania]] or Western Australia

[[Category:Mammals]]

Jimmy Carter

2007-03-19T17:17:43Z

Tetsuo:

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

In 2002 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for peace.

==Notes==
<references/>

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

[[Category:Biographies]]

George H. W. Bush

2007-03-19T17:15:54Z

Tetsuo:

'''George H. W. (Herbert Walker) Bush''', [[Republican]], was the 41st [[President of the United States of America]], serving from 1989 to 1993.

Before his presidency, Bush was the 43rd Vice President of the United States in the administration of [[Ronald Reagan]]. He has also served as the member of the United States House of Representatives for the 7th district of Texas (1967–1971), the United States Ambassador to the United Nations (1971–1973), Chairman of the Republican National Committee (1973–1974), Chief of the United States Liaison Office in the People's Republic of China (1974–1976), and Director of Central Intelligence (1976–1977). He is father of the current president [[George W. Bush]].

Perhaps more importantly than his tenure as president, Bush served in World War II as a naval fighter pilot (the youngest Navy fighter in WWII), where he earned three Silver Stars and the Congressional Medal of Honor. Immediately after the end of the war, General [[Dwight Eisenhower]] delivered a famous speech in which he mentioned Bush by name and called him "unquestionably the finest example of a young man that America has today."

His presidency was defined primarily with the 1990 [[Gulf War]] He faced a strong challenge from [[Pat Robertson]] in 1988 primary due to charges that he was too liberal, and some claim that he lost the presidency in 1992 due to many Republicans defecting to the [[Ross Perot]] camp. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest presidents, and in fact was named the best president of the second half of the 20th century in a 1998 poll of major historians.

== Family ==

George Bush was the son of [[Prescott Bush]], US Senator from Connecticut from 1952-1963.

Upon his return from the war, George Bush married Barbara Pierce. Their marriage later produced six children: George Walker Bush, Pauline Robinson Bush, John Ellis "Jeb" Bush, Neil Mallon Bush, Marvin Bush, and Dorothy Bush Koch.

On Dec. 5, 2006 President George H. W. Bush, addressing Florida lawmakers and others, broke down in tears as he cited his son, Gov. Jeb Bush, as an example of leadership.[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16053170/]

The Bush dynasty is generally considered to be one of the greatest american political families, along with the Adams and the Kennedy family.

[[Category:Biographies]]
[[Category:Presidents of the United States|Bush, George H. W.]]
[[Category:Vice Presidents of the United States|Bush, George H. W.]]

Ali Baba

2007-03-19T17:00:53Z

Tetsuo:

'''Ali Baba''' was the star of a tale out of the [[Arabian Nights]]. He was a poor woodchopper who followed a group of thieves to a hideout in a cave, where they said "Open [[sesame]]" to make a stone at the cave mouth roll away (cf. [[Easter]]). Then Ali Baba did the same thing, and left with all their treasure. The [[moral]] of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves is that if you are honest and clever like Ali Baba, Allah will grant you great wealth.

Koala

2007-03-19T16:57:27Z

Tetsuo:

The Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) is a thickset arboreal marsupial herbivore native to Australia, and the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae. This animal sleeps about 20 hours a day and is rarely awake at all.

The Koala is found all along the eastern coast of Australia from near Adelaide to the southern part of Cape York Peninsula, and as far into the hinterland as there is enough rainfall to support suitable forests. The Koalas of South Australia were largely exterminated during the early part of the 20th century, but the state has since been repopulated with Victorian stock. The Koala is not found in Tasmania or Western Australia

Benazir Bhutto

2007-03-19T16:47:40Z

Tetsuo:

Benazir Bhutto became the first woman to be the head of the state of a Muslim country when she was elected Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1988. She was the daughter of a former President who was killed. She lost the election of 1990 but won the election of 1993.

Pagans

2007-03-19T16:43:37Z

Tetsuo:

Those who believe in more than one [[deity]].

Homo sapiens

2007-03-19T16:37:42Z

Tetsuo:

Humans, or human beings, are bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species, Homo sapiens (Latin: "wise man" or "knowing man") in the family Hominidae (the great apes). Humans have possibly been around for between 6,000 and 200,000 years. Humans have a highly developed brain capable of abstract reasoning, language, and introspection. This mental capability, combined with an erect body carriage that frees their upper limbs for manipulating objects, has allowed humans to make far greater use of tools than any other species. Humans now inhabit every continent except Antarctica, with a total population of over 6.5 billion as of 2007.

== The Origins of Man in Religion and Mythology ==
Among Hindus, humans were created from a part of the cut up body of Purusha.

Many [[Christian|Christians]] believe that Homo Sapiens [[Creationism|were created]] in [[God|God's]] image on day 6 of creation per [[Genesis]] 1:26-31:

Mecca

2007-03-19T16:19:48Z

Tetsuo:

[[Image:Mecca.jpg|thumb|300px|Mecca at night]] '''Mecca''' (also spelled '''Makkah''') is the holiest city in [[Islam]]. All able-bodied [[Muslim|Muslims]] who can afford to go are required to make a pilgrimage--called the [[Hajj]]--to Mecca at least once in their life. During a Hajj, vast camps of pilgrims spring up, and huge crowds of people from all over the world complete a series of tasks required of all pilgrims.

Saudi Arabia

2007-03-19T16:13:17Z

Tetsuo:

'''Saudi Arabia''' is a country in the [[Middle East]] which is under [[Shia]] law, the law set out in the [[Koran]] the rules in which [[Islamic]] republics are to be ruled. It was founded in 1902 by [[Abul Ibn Saudi]], a member of the royal House of Saudi.

Saudi Arabia is mostly a desert country, but it is rich in [[oil]] and date palms.

[[Category:Countries]]

Saudi Arabia

2007-03-19T16:13:04Z

Tetsuo:

'''Saudi Arabia''' is a country in the [[Middle East]] which is under [[Shia]] law, the law set out in the [[Koran]] the rules in which [[Islamic]] republics are to be ruked. It was founded in 1902 by [[Abul Ibn Saudi]], a member of the royal House of Saudi.

Saudi Arabia is mostly a desert country, but it is rich in [[oil]] and date palms.

[[Category:Countries]]

Chile

2007-03-19T15:40:10Z

Tetsuo:

'''Chile''' is a country in the Southern Cone of South America, which borders Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru.

==History of Chile==

Chile was originally inhabited by Native Americans, primarily of the Mapuche tribe.. During the Spanish conquest of South America, racial intermarriage produced the now-dominant "mestizo" ethnicity. Most Chileans are of mixed racial backgrounds.

Chile gained its independence from Spain in 1810 (1ra. JUNTA NACIONAL DE GOBIERNO).

From 1970 to 1973, Chile's leader was Salvador Allende, a democratically-elected populist. In 1973, General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, better known as [[General Pinochet]], gained power in a military coup, during which Allende committed suicide. The coup, and the resulting activities of the new government which saw the deaths of over 250,000 people, were assited and supported by the CIA.[http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/COLDchile.htm] Pinochet instituted free market reforms and opposed communism, but also directed [[the Operation Condor]], a reprisal against political opponents during which thousands of Chileans disappeared, have been tortured and killed. Moreover he restricted freedom of press, of expression, etc., by the establishment of a despotic and militarian power.

After Pinochet's ouster in 1990, after he lost a plebecite election on his continuing status as president, Chile has attempted to try him for war crimes committed under his regime, but trails were postponed due to his age. Pinochet died in 2006, due to heart failure.

Chile's current president, Michelle Bachellet, is the first woman president of the country. She is also a member of the Chilean Socialist party.