Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Political labels

2011-05-28T23:41:24Z

Yungmoney:

'''Political labels''' are used to characterize people, organizations and ideas. Many of these labels are misleading, although enough of them are accurate that people generally grant them some credence. The problem, therefore, lies in deciding when a label is accurate and in choosing when to go beyond the label and dig deeper to find the truth.

==Conservative==

A [[conservative]] is someone who wants things to remain the way they are, or to restore them to the way they used to be. He desire to preserve the goodness of traditional values and share these with others.
*Sometimes conservatives provide obstacles to progress, as when conservative Democrats in the deep South blocked [[desegregation]], or when conservatives in Congress voted against raising taxes to pay for the medical bills of World Trade Center First Responders<ref>http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0710/House_GOP_leaders_911_first_responders_aid_bill_a_massive_new_entitlement_program.html</ref>

The term ''conservative'' has been abused by proponents of anti-Christian or pro-[[socialist]] movements, who argue that certain proposals are "[[progressive]]" and but that criticize of these proposals in motivated only by an obstinate backwardness of traditionalists refusing to recognize the value of the proposals
[[Category:Politics]]

<references/>

Political labels

2011-05-28T23:41:11Z

Yungmoney:

Political labels

2011-05-28T23:40:58Z

Yungmoney:

Political labels

2011-05-28T23:40:27Z

Yungmoney: /* Conservative */

Muammar al-Gaddafi

2011-05-28T23:38:28Z

Yungmoney:

[[File:Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi in Dimashq.jpg|thumb|right|150px|"Leader and Guide of the Revolution"]]
'''Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi''' ([[Arabic language|Arabic]]: معمر القذافي, b. 1942) became dictator<ref>Officially Leader and Guide of the Revolution, but only dictators and tyrants call themselves that</ref> of [[Libya]] in a coup that he led in 1969, and has ruled it ever since. In the 1970s, Gaddafi attempted to become assume the leadership position of all Arabs left by the death of President [[Gemal Abdel-Nasser]] of [[Egypt]], but other Arab nations mostly ignored him. He attempted to extend his influence in Africa by supporting [[Uganda]]'s Idi Amin in the [[Uganda-Tanzania War]] with military aid and equipment, including [[Tupolev Tu-22|Tu-22]] jet bombers. In the 1980s, Gaddafi became a sponsor of [[terrorism]] and President [[Ronald Reagan]] ordered a [[Operation El Dorado Canyon|retaliatory bombing of his palace and key Libyan targets]].

In the 1990s, Gaddafi changed course and severed all ties with terrorism to normalize relations with the West. In 2006, the "decision of the US to restore full diplomatic relations with Libya marks the crowning success of his efforts to have his country accepted back into the international community."<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3336059.stm</ref>

At present Gaddafi is not well seen in EU and USA but the Libyan people seem to be thriving with him as leader, especially given the fact that his country is currently in the midst of a bloody civil war and that he is perpetrating a genocide against his own people. A delegation of medical professionals from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus wrote in an appeal "Russian President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin that after becoming acquainted with Libyan life, it was their view that in few nations did people live in such comfort". Russia is a state run by criminals.

==See also==
*[[Libyan uprising 2011]]

== References ==

<references/>
{{DEFAULTSORT:Al-Gadafi, Muammar}}
[[Category:Libya]]
[[category:Heads of State]]
[[Category:Africa]]

Oil resources

2011-05-28T23:35:52Z

Yungmoney:

''Oil resources'' are [[fossil fuel]] reserves. [[Liberal|Liberals]] suggest that we ought not use certain oil reserves. This is because oil companies have been known to ruthlessly exploit these resources at great environmental and human cost. Oil companies in the Amazon destroy the livelihoods of the indigenous.

[[George Landrith]] disagrees, because he doesn't care that oil will destroy us all:
:We have tremendous oil [[resources]] that we do not use -- in the outer [[continental shelf]] and in the frozen [[tundra]] of [[Alaska]], just to name two of the many possibilities. - [http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=26730 ''Human Events'' ]
[[category:Energy]]
[[category:Ecology]]
[[Category:Geology]]

NATO war in Libya

2011-05-28T23:07:56Z

Yungmoney:

[[File:Libya Rebels Gaining Momentum.jpg|thumb|Anti-Gaddafi forces in March, 2011 (Photo:Reuters).]]
The '''Libyan uprising of 2011''' or the '''Bengazai rebellion''' started as a series of peaceful protests in eastern [[Libya]] following uprisings in [[Tunisia]] and [[Egypt]]. The scale of the violence contrasts markedly with North Africa's largely peaceful uprisings. Eastern Libya has fallen to the uprising, which began on February 16, 20011 in the wake of revolutions which toppled the long-serving leaders of neighboring Tunisia and Egypt. The [[Islamist]] terror group [[Al-Qaeda]] in North Africa has vowed to do everything in its power to help the uprising against the Libyan [[secular]] strongman leader [[Moamer Gaddafi]].<ref> [http://www.dawn.com/2011/02/24/al-qaeda-in-n-africa-backs-libya-uprising-site.html Al Qaeda in N. Africa backs Libya uprising: SITE] </ref><ref> [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/07/libya-uprising-live-updates Libya uprising.] </ref> Journalist David Wood has reported,
{{Cquote|Eastern Libya has been described by U.S. diplomats as a breeding ground for democracy and freedom. In diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks, the region’s young men were said to have "nothing to lose" by resorting to violence. Sermons in the local [[mosque]]s are "laced with phraseology urging worshippers to support the overthrow of the Gadaffi regime," one diplomat reported.<ref>http://91.214.23.156/cablegate/wire.php?id=08TRIPOLI120&search=</ref>}}
Wood added,
{{Cquote|extremist elements make up only a portion of the resistance to Gaddafi and have been present in every popular uprising in the region stretching from the [[Iran]]ian revolution to the [[Egypt]]ian people’s overthrow of [[Hosni Mubarak]].<ref>http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/19/extremists-among-libya-rebels_n_837894.html</ref>}}
__TOC__

It was reported on February 24, 2011, an emergency meeting of the [[United Nations Human Rights Council]] on Libya would take no action or make no recommendation to the [[UN General Assembly]] to remove Libya from holding its seat on the UN Human Rights Council for alleged human rights abuses.<ref>http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/no-threat-seen-libya-s-seat-top-un-human</ref> The [[United Nations Security Council]] (UNSC) voted on March 17, 2011, to pass Security Council resolution 1973 proposed by [[France]], along with its [[British]] and [[Lebanese]] partners, initiating a use of force doctrine in Libya. [[China]], [[Russia]], [[India]] and [[Brazil]] (the so-called BRIC nations) all abstained from the vote. The [[Obama administration]] called for Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi to step aside and has given assistance to the insurgent anti-Gadaffi forces. However, US Congressional leaders were not consulted prior to the commitment of U.S. forces,<ref>http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/262921/boehner-obama-libya-many-other-members-house-representatives-are-troubled-robert-costa</ref> nor did the Congress authorize the use of force in Libya.

Military and intelligence experts in France, Britain, and the United States warned about uncertainties but were overruled by political leaders. The end result was a set of decisions that focused on short term considerations and gambled on the outcome. French, British, and US leaders did not fully coordinate but, according to Anthony Cordesman, it became clear,
{{Cquote|they sought and got international cover from the UN by claiming a no fly zone could protect civilians when their real objective was to use force as a catalyst to drive Qaddafi out of power.}}
Sarkozy, Cameron, and Obama seem to have assumed that a largely unknown, divided, and fractured group of insurgents could win through sheer political momentum and could then be turned into a successful government. One month later it was obvious a "weak, divided, poorly led, and badly equipped and supplied set of rebel forces can only hang on with the present level of air support" provided by the United Nations.

== Libya before the 2011 uprising ==
[[File:Libya Irrigation project.jpg|thumb|330px|Satellite view is showing irrigated farming projects at Al Khufrah Oasis in southeast Libya. Part of the "Great Man Made River Project" ($33 billion), where fossil water is mined from vast underground aquifers. This water is transported about 800 km (500 mi) to the coastal cities of Libya by means of the world's largest underground network of pipes.]]
In 1951 Libya was officially the poorest country in the world. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,864742,00.html] Before the 2011 uprising Libyans living standards were considered the highest in Africa. The GDP per Capita was more than the double of that in Egypt, and above that in Russia. All people have access to doctors, hospitals, clinics and medicines, completely free of all charges; but more than the advances in housing, agricultural, industry, health care, education, is the advance in direct popular democracy. [http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8744/libfacts.htm] [[Condoleezza Rice]] praised Libya for its "excellent co-operation" in the US-led war on terror. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4773617.stm] (BBC News).

<blockquote>
The living standards of Libyans have improved significantly since the 1970s, ranking the country among the highest in Africa. Urbanization, developmental projects, and high oil revenues have enabled the Libyan government to elevate its people's living standards. The social and economic status of women and children has particularly improved. Various subsidized or free services (health, education, housing, and basic foodstuffs) have ensured basic necessities. The low percentage of people without access to safe water (3 percent), health services (0 percent) and sanitation (2 percent), and a relatively high life expectancy (70.2 years) in 1998 indicate the improved living standards. Adequate health care and subsidized foodstuffs have sharply reduced infant mortality, from 105 per 1,000 live births in 1970 to 20 per 1,000 live births in 1998. The government also subsidizes education, which is compulsory and free between the ages of 6 and 15. The expansion of educational facilities has elevated the literacy rate (78.1 in 1998). There are universities in Tripoli, Benghazi, Marsa el-Brega, Misurata, Sebha, and Tobruq. [http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Africa/Libya-POVERTY-AND-WEALTH.html] (SOURCE: Handbook of the Nations; CIA World Factbook.)
</blockquote>

At present Gaddafi is not well seen in EU and USA but the Libyan people seem to be thriving with him as leader. A delegation of medical professionals from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus wrote in an appeal to "Russian President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin that after becoming acquainted with Libyan life, it was their view that in few nations did people live in such comfort". Libya today is not a highly polarized society divided between extremes of wealth and poverty.

<blockquote>
The "United Nations Development Program (UNDP) confirms that the country had excellent prospects for achieving United Nations development goals by 2015. NATO's war will have already dashed those hopes. A collapse like the one in Iraq now threatens the country. [http://www.newsfrommiddleeast.com/?new=77210]
</blockquote>

==Gaddafi's proposal for an African Union==
===Petrodollars and oil===
According to a Russian article titled ''Bombing of Lybia - Punishment for Qaddafi for His Attempt to Refuse US Dollar,'' Gaddafi initiated a movement to refuse the dollar and the [[euro]] as payment for crude oil shipments, and called on [[Arab]] and African nations to use a new currency instead, the gold dinar. Gaddafi proposed establishing a united African continent, with its 200 million people using this single currency. The initiative was viewed negatively by the United States and [[European Union]], with French president [[Nicolas Sarkozy]] calling Libya a threat to the financial security of mankind; but Gaddafi continued his push for the creation of a united Africa.

In the wake of the global [[financial crisis of 2008]], which forced the US economy into [[recession]], both China and Russia have called for the dollar’s role in the financial system to be diluted. In September 2010 ''Bloomberg News'' reported China and Russia plan to start trading in each other’s currencies as the world’s second-biggest energy consumer and the largest energy supplier seek to diminish the dollar’s role in global trade. Bhanu Baweja commented,
{{Cquote|Given the risk to the dollar and U.S. assets from their fiscal position they want to reduce their dependence on the dollar as an invoicing currency....It makes sense for two large economies to exclude a third, overly dominant economy from their trading equation.<ref>http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-08/china-russia-push-yuan-ruble-trading-to-diminish-dominance-of-u-s-dollar.html</ref>}}

===African Satellite Control Center===
An observer spelled out one of Gaddafi’s motivations for proposing an African Union:
{{Cquote|It began in 1992, when 45 African nations established RASCOM (Regional African Satellite Communication Organization) so that Africa would have its own satellite and slash communication costs in the continent. This was a time when phone calls to and from Africa were the most expensive in the world because of the annual US$500 million fee pocketed by Europe for the use of its satellites like Intelsat for phone conversations, including those within the same country.

An African satellite only cost a onetime payment of US$400 million and the continent no longer had to pay a US$500 million annual lease. Which banker wouldn't finance such a project? But the problem remained – how can [[slave]]s, seeking to free themselves from their master’s exploitation ask the master’s help to achieve that freedom? Not surprisingly, the [[World Bank]], the [[International Monetary Fund]], the USA, Europe only made vague promises for 14 years. Gaddafi put an end to these futile pleas to the western ‘benefactors’ with their exorbitant interest rates. The Libyan guide put US$300 million on the table; the African Development Bank added US$50 million more and the West African Development Bank a further US$27 million – and that’s how Africa got its first communications satellite on 26 December 2007.<ref>http://www.vtcommons.org/blog/2011/04/21/ethan-allen-qaddafi</ref>}}

===Libyan Central Bank===
In an article posted on the Market Oracle, Eric Encina observed:
{{Cquote|One seldom mentioned fact by western politicians and media pundits: the Central Bank of Libya is 100% State Owned.... Currently, the Libyan government creates its own money, the Libyan Dinar, through the facilities of its own central bank. Few can argue that Libya is a [[sovereign]] nation with its own great resources, able to sustain its own economic destiny. One major problem for globalist banking cartels is that in order to do business with Libya, they must go through the Libyan Central Bank and its national currency, a place where they have absolutely zero dominion or power-broking ability. Hence, taking down the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) may not appear in the speeches of Obama, Cameron and Sarkozy but this is certainly at the top of the globalist agenda for absorbing Libya into its hive of compliant nations.<ref>Eric Encina,''[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27208.html Globalists Target 100% State Owned Central Bank of Libya,]'' Market Oracle.</ref>}}
Ellen Brown adds,
{{Cquote|Libya not only has oil. According to the IMF, its central bank has nearly 144 tons of gold in its vaults. With that sort of asset base, who needs the BIS (Bank of International Settlements), the IMF and their rules.<ref>Ellen Brown, ''[http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/289-134/5625-libya-all-about-oil-or-all-about-banking Libya: All About Oil, or All About Banking,]'' Reader Supported News, April 15, 2011.</ref>}}
Gaddafi’s proposal to introduce a gold dinar for Africa contravenes IMF rules and is designed to bypass them.

== National Transitional Council ==

The National Transitional Council of the Libyan Republic announced its official establishment on 5th March 2011 in the city of Benghazi. Its goal is to liberate Libya from the hands of the tyrant Mu’ammar Gaddafi who made lawful to himself the exploitation of his people and the wealth of this country. [http://ntclibya.org/english/] It has been recognized by France, [[Qatar]], Italy, [[Kuwait]], [[Maldives]] and [[Gambia]]. They have proceeded to form a transitional government for the post-Gaddafi era. Before forming a goverment they robbed about $505 million from the Central Bank of Libya in Benghazi.
{{Cquote|The top leaders of the “revolutionary” masses in Benghazi are two recent defectors of what the Left dubs Gaddafi’s “murderous regime”, Mustafa Abdul Jalil a former Justice minister (who prosecuted dissenters up to the day before the armed uprising), Mahmoud Jebril a top Gaddafite neo-liberal prominent in inviting multi-nationals to take over the oil fields (FT, March 23, 2011, p. 7) and Ali Aziz al-Eisawa, Gaddafi’s former ambassador to India who jumped ship when it looked like the uprising would succeed. These self-appointed leaders of the “rebels” are staunch backers of Euro-US military intervention just as they previously were long-term backers of Gaddafi’s dictatorship and promoters of MNC takeovers of oil and gas fields. The heads of the “rebels” military council is Omar Hariri and General Abdul Fattah Younis former head of the Ministry of Interior, both with long histories (since 1969) of repressing any democratic movements.<ref>http://alethonews.wordpress.com/2011/03/28/euro-us-war-on-libya-official-lies-and-misconceptions-of-critics/</ref>}}
[[File:Rebel fighters hoist the former Libyan monarchy flag on the outskirts of Benghazi.jpg|thumb|Rebel fighters hoist the former Libyan monarchy flag on the outskirts of Benghazi. Modern urbanization and equipments may be clearly seen there.]]
The root base of the armed uprising is Benghazi, a hotbed of tribal backers and clients of the deposed King Idris who ruled with an iron fist over a semi-feudal backward state.

In May, 2011, Nato and Arab countries agreed in Rome to set up a fund to manage donations to help areas controlled by the rebels; they announced a financial mechanism to assist the opposition in Libya. This would include a partial unfreezing of the Gadhafi regime assets in banks that would go into a temporary fund to be managed by the U.N. Sanctions Committee. And it would help the rebels with their immediate needs to cover food, medicine and hospital costs;<ref>http://www.npr.org/2011/05/05/136011941/diplomats-discuss-aid-to-libyan-rebels</ref> They could have access to a special $3 billion (£1.8 billion) trust fund established by its Western backers to finance the breakaway regions fighting Col Muammar Gaddafi;<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8492745/Libyan-rebels-to-receive-1.8-billion-trust-fund.html</ref> the Transitional National Council is planing to use money pledged for humanitarian and reconstruction needs to buy weapons.<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/amnesty-international-accuses-gaddafi-regime-of-war-crimes-in-misurata/2011/05/06/AFbPjw6F_story.html?hpid=z2</ref>

<blockquote>
Rebel commanders have created a wanted list and placed suspects under round-the-clock surveillance. Secret militia units raid houses without court warrants and often interrogate suspects for hours. Those released have to sign a document stating their loyalty to the revolution. As many as 30 civilians are being held at various rebel military bases around Benghazi without due process of law, said human rights activists, judges and prosecutors. In recent weeks, at least seven former members of the internal security police have turned up dead, their bodies riddled with bullets. Although it is not known who killed them, many suspect that they died at the hands of rebel-affiliated death squads. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/libyan-rebels-accused-of-reprisal-attacks/2011/05/20/AFaeAh8G_story.html?hpid=z4]
</blockquote>

On May, 26, the deputy leader of Libya's rebel administration said it could take up to two years to organize elections, backtracking on promises of a six-month transition to democracy. [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110526/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_libya]

==French intervention==

A report from Congressman [[Dennis Kucinich]] corroborated the claim of Franco Bechis<ref>''[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:RkUoFsgEwm8J:www.voltairenet.org/article169069.html+French+plans+to+topple+Gaddafi+on+track+since+last+November&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com French plans to topple Gaddafi on track since last November]'', by Franco Bechis, VoltaireNet, March 26, 2011.</ref> in Italy that "plans to spark the Benghazi rebellion were initiated by French intelligence services in November 2010."<ref>http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=24347</ref> On March 10, 2011, France became the first and only country to recognize the Libyan Transitional National Council “as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people.”<ref> “Sarkozy’s Libyan Surprise,” ''The Economist'', March 14, 2011.</ref>

On March 19, two days after passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1973,<ref>http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=278685</ref> French President [[Nicolas Sarkozy]] convened an emergency meeting of allied and Arab leaders in [[Paris]] which endorsed the immediate deployment of military aircraft to stop an assault by Gaddafi forces on Benghazi and the establishment of a no-fly zone in the country. Before the end of the meeting, French fighter planes had attacked armored vehicles and tanks outside Benghazi. Some participants at the Paris meeting were critical of the French government both for insisting on convening the meeting before agreeing to endorse air strikes, and then for launching air strikes before the meeting was over.<ref>Allies Open Air Assault on Qaddafi’s Forces in Libya, ''New York Times'', March 19, 2011.</ref> French officials claim that meeting participants were informed of the operation beforehand. The strikes had clearly been planned and coordinated with the knowledge of key allied militaries, including the [[United States]].<ref>Operation Odyssey Dawn (Libya): Background and Issues for Congress, ''Congressional Research Service'', March 30, 2011, p. 19 pd.</ref>

[[National Public Radio]] (NPR) reports Sarkozy has enjoyed a "burst of public support"<ref>http://wap.npr.org/story/134855539</ref> while the ''[[London Guardian]]'' writes Sarkozy's actions may save him from "electoral humiliation."<ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/20/libya-crisis-nicolas-sarkozy-electoral</ref> Several analysts speculate Sarkozy has used the crisis to propel France into a Superpower role, usurping the global leadership of the United States abrogated by [[President Obama]].<ref>http://www.businessandpolitics.org/?p=4651</ref> Columnist Jim Hoagland of the ''[[Washington Post]]'' observes,
{{Cquote|France is a country that has a past being involved in world affairs, wanting to count in world affairs, and being willing to pay its way for defense forces and to use those forces abroad. So, France plays a natural role in that. At a time when governments are slashing defense spending and reducing troops, France still wants to occupy an important role in world affairs....the reason you're seeing France taking on such a much larger role is that other countries, including the United States, are not willing to do it anymore. And Sarkozy is trying to fill that vacuum.<ref>http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/world/jan-june11/france2_04-07.html</ref>}}

Sarkozy's approval rating stood at 30% prior to the intervention.

==Security Council Res. 1973 and NATO==

UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1973 of March 17, 2011 followed on the heels of Gaddafi’s public threat on March 2 to throw western oil companies out of Libya, and his invitation on March 14 to Chinese, Russian, and Indian firms to produce Libyan oil in their place.<ref>''[http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/3/12/7661/Business/Economy/Gaddafi-offers-Libyan-oil-production-to-India,-Rus.aspx Gaddafi offers Libyan oil production to India, Russia, China,] Agence France-Presse, March 14, 2011.</ref> China, Russia, India and Brazil all abstained on UNSC Resolution 1973.

Despite France taking the lead role in the intervention, the Congressional Research Service reports, "Only the United States and NATO possess the command and control capabilities necessary for coalition operations enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya." France only recently rejoined the NATO alliance, in 2008, after a 40 year absence. The Congressional Research Service, which analyzes information and prepares reports for members of Congress, also states,
{{Cquote|In spite of statements underscoring NATO unity on steps announced to date, the initial planning and operational phases were also marked by significant levels of discord within Europe and [[NATO]] on the aims and future direction of the mission. A key point of contention was reportedly the amount of flexibility that NATO forces would be granted to protect civilians and civilian areas, as called for in paragraph 4 of UNSCR 1973. Reports indicate that French officials insisted on maintaining the ability to strike ground forces that threatened civilian areas, while their [[Turkish]] counterparts vocally opposed any targeting of ground forces. Adding to the strain within NATO, NATO ally [[Germany]] abstained from UNSCR 1973 and, opposed to any potential [[combat]] operation, on March 23, withdrew its naval assets in the [[Mediterranean]] from NATO command. Throughout the first week of operations, other European allies contributing to the mission, including Italy and Norway, expressed increasing frustration with the lack of agreement within NATO, with Norway refusing to deploy its fighter jets unless under they were under NATO command and control.<ref>Operation Odyssey Dawn (Libya):
Background and Issues for Congress, ''Congressional Research Service,'' March 30, 2011, p. 20 pdf.</ref>}}

Of Nato's 28 members, 14 are said to be "actively participating," but only 6 have provided military support. Of the 22-country [[Arab League]], whose appeal prompted the United Nations to vote on intervention, only [[Qatar]] and the [[United Arab Emirates]] are involved. Of the 192 members of the [[UN General Assembly]], who all have a legal "responsibility to protect" civilians attacked by their own governments, only [[Sweden]] has responded.<ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/19/libya-mission-military-advisory-team</ref>

Resolution 1973 authorized strict limitations, according to international law, on NATO as the organization with responsibility for the implementation of the resolution. Particularly, it provides only for a naval blockade enforcing the arms embargo, and enforcement of a no-fly zone. On March 29, 2011, Russian envoy Dmitry Rogozin commented after a meeting with NATO officials in [[Brussels, Belgium]], that Russia expressed deep concern over the interpretation of the Security Council’s resolution, as some countries have effectively turned it into an approval for ground operations.
{{Cquote|[[Moscow]] has many questions about how the UN Security Council’s resolution is being carried out...First of all, there are reports that civilians have been killed in the air strikes. This is odd if you consider the message of the resolution, which says that the foreign forces’ actions should protect civilians. So it’s hard to comprehend how you can protect civilians by killing them....we demanded that the UN Security Council be fully informed about the actions of the alliance in Libya at all times... We have reports of air strikes against convoys far from the front line. This is a far cry from the UN Security Council resolution.<ref>http://rt.com/news/coalition-libya-nato-russian-envoy/</ref>}}

NATO planes and ships have been striking cities and military installations in Libya since mid-March, 2011. Allied military officials have spoken in recent weeks of the need for escalation to help protect Libyan civilians and have called for Gaddafi to step down. Libyan officials have said that NATO is picking sides in a civil war and complained that strikes on Gaddafi’s Tripoli compound are attempts to assassinate the leader of a sovereign country. NATO launched its largest airstrike against Moammar Gaddafi’s regime on May, 24, 2011, with at least 15 massive explosions rocking the Libyan capital. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/french-officials-france-and-britain-to-use-attack-helicopters-in-libya/2011/05/23/AFTF909G_story.html?hpid=z2]
<blockquote>
On May 15, two months into the NATO bombing campaign against loyal Gaddafi’s forces, Britain’s top military commander has said that the Libyan leader could remain “clinging to power” unless NATO broadened its bombing targets to include the country’s infrastructure. [http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/libya/index.html]
</blockquote>

==United States intervention==
===Frozen assets===
President Obama moved swiftly to support French plans to frustrate Gaddafi’s proposal for an African Union with his unilateral declaration of a national emergency in order to freeze all of the Bank of Libya’s $30 billion of funds to which America had access. This was reported in the U.S. press as a freeze of the funds of "Colonel Qaddafi, his children and family, and senior members of the Libyan government.<ref>''New York Times'', February 27, 2011.</ref> The second section of Obama’s decree explicitly targeted "All property and interests… of the Government of Libya, its agencies, instrumentalities, and controlled entities, and the Central Bank of Libya.<ref>Executive Order of February 25, 2011, citing International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (NEA), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, seizes all Libyan Govt assets, February 25, 2011, link. The authority granted to the President by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act "may only be exercised to deal with an unusual and extraordinary threat with respect to which a national emergency has been declared for purposes of this chapter and may not be exercised for any other purpose" (50 U.S.C. 1701).</ref> The consequences of the $30-billion freeze for [[Africa]], as well as for Libya, have been spelled out by an African observer:
{{Cquote|The US$30 billion frozen by Mr Obama belong to the Libyan Central Bank and had been earmarked as the Libyan contribution to three key projects which would add the finishing touches to the African federation – the African Investment Bank in Syrte, Libya, the establishment in 2011 of the African Monetary Fund to be based in Yaounde with a US$42 billion capital fund and the Abuja-based African Central Bank in Nigeria which when it starts printing African money will ring the death knell for the CFA franc through which Paris has been able to maintain its hold on some African countries for the last fifty years. It is easy to understand the French wrath against Gaddafi.}}

===War Powers Act===

Under the [[War Powers Act]] of 1973 the U.S President has limited authority to use military force without Congressional authorization when there is an imminent [[national security]] threat, however President Obama made clear that he ordered the use of force for other reasons. Members of Congress of both parties have expressed concern the President may have violated the law in doing so.<ref>http://rooney.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3190:rooney-resolution-president-should-obtain-congressional-authorization-or-end-military-campaign-in-libya-&catid=48:2011-press-releases</ref> The War Powers Act specifically states that the President’s power to introduce forces into hostilities or imminent hostilities can only be exercised pursuant to (1) a declaration of war; (2) specific statutory authorization; or (3) a national emergency created by an attack on the United States or its forces. The War Powers Act requires the President in every possible instance to consult with Congress before introducing American Armed Forces into hostilities or imminent hostilities unless there has been a declaration of war or other specific Congressional authorization. None of these prerequisites have been met.

On March 21, 2011, President Obama publicly announced U.S. military forces commenced fly-zone operations in Libya two days earlier, on March 19, "to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe" and cited UN Resolutions as giving him the authority to do so. The Charter of the [[United Nations]] however, in Article 2(4), prohibits the “threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence” of a member state, and many observers have wondered whether the establishment of a no-fly zone would constitute a violation of this prohibition. The Congressional Research Services advised that if a no-fly zone were imposed against a state that has not carried out an armed attack against its neighbors, that state may consider the imposition of a no-fly zone itself as an “armed attack.” CRS warned that even if no-fly zone operations in a given state do not constitute an “armed attack",
{{Cquote|that state, and other members of the international community, might consider them a violation of the prohibition of the “threat or use of force,” as well as of the customary duty of non-intervention in the affairs of other sovereign states.}}

Nato's Supreme Allied Commander James Stavridis told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee days before President Obama publicly admitted to intervention that U.S. intelligence knew of [[al Qaeda]] and [[Hezbollah]] elements among the Libyan insurgents.<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8414583/Libya-al-Qaeda-among-Libya-rebels-Nato-chief-fears.html</ref> A document published by the U.S. [[West Point]] Military Academy's Combating Terrorism Center reveals that Libya sent more fighters to the [[Operation_Iraqi_Freedom#InsurgencyIraq|Islamic insurgency]] than any other [[Muslim]] country.<ref>[http://www.ctc.usma.edu/harmony/pdf/CTCForeignFighter.19.Dec07.pdf The Sinjar documents], a collection of al Qaeda computer data captured by Americans in 2007 in a predawn raid near Sinjar, Iraq, six miles from the Syrian border. The documents included background information on around 750 foreign fighters, who migrated to Iraq to kill American soldiers, many of those fighters coming from among the very people we are now pledging to protect. David Wood wrote: "Almost one in five foreign fighters arriving in Iraq came from eastern Libya, from the towns of Surt, Misurata and Darnah. On a per capita basis, that’s more than twice as many than came from any other Arabic-speaking country, amounting to what the counter terrorism center called a Libyan “surge” of young men eager to kill Americans."</ref> This set off a fierce debate in the [[Obama administration]] over the wisdom of arming terrorists.<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/30/world/africa/30diplo.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss</ref> It is now known however, that sometime prior to March 31, 2011,<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/world/africa/31intel.html?_r=2&hp</ref> President Obama signed a secret Presidential Finding authorizing support for the insurgents.<ref>http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/30/us-libya-usa-order-idUSTRE72T6H220110330</ref> Direct arms support would violate the arms embargo imposed by UN Security Council Resolution 1970 on February 26, 2011.<ref>http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/30/us-libya-usa-order-idUSTRE72T6H220110330</ref>

Public opinion initially was divided on support for President Obama's actions, within 30 days however, opposition rose 15%<ref>http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/americans-rapidly-turn-against-obama-over-handling-of-libyan-intervention.php</ref> as the reality of the intervention set in.

==Role of China==
After hostilities began China evacuated over 36,000 of its energy and construction workers and shut down operations of Chinese companies with over $18.8 billion of Chinese investments in Libya.<ref>http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/eastasia/view/1119924/1/.html</ref> China alone is expected to invest on a scale of $50 billion a year in Libaya and Africa by 2015, a figure - funded by America’s [[trade deficit]] with China - which the Western powers and Nato cannot match.<ref>Leslie Hook, ''China’s future in Africa, after Libya,'' March 4, 2011. The U.S trade deficit with China in 2010 was $273 billion.</ref> China, Libya's largest Asian oil customer, called for an immediate ceasefire.

Dr. [[Paul Craig Roberts]], former Assistant Secretary of US Treasury in the [[Reagan administration]] observed the joint French, British, and US coalition's objective is
{{Cquote|to eliminate China from the [[Mediterranean]]. China has extensive energy investments and construction investments in Libya. They are looking to Africa as a future energy source. The US is countering this by organizing the United States African Command (USAC), which Qaddafi refused to join. So that's the second reason for the Americans to want Qaddafi out.}}
Roberts observes the
{{Cquote| the protests in Libya are different from the ones in Egypt or [[Yemen]] or [[Bahrain]] or [[Tunisia]] and the difference is that this is an armed rebellion...these protests originated in the eastern part of Libya where the oil is - they did not originate in the capital city. And we have heard from the beginning credible reports that the CIA is involved in the protests, and there have been a large number of press reports that the CIA has sent back to Libya its Libyan asset<ref>http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/03/26/111109/new-rebel-leader-spent-much-of.html</ref> to head up the Libyan rebellion... China has 50 major investment projects in eastern Libya.<ref>http://www.presstv.ir/detail/175076.html</ref>}}

==Mission creep==
UN Security Council Resolution 1973, passed in March 2011, does not authorise participating members to support the anti-Gaddafi forces, to defend armed groups, or to oust Gaddafi. Nor does it authorise a ground invasion or military occupation. Strategic analyst Anthony Cordesman notes the similarities between Libya and Iraq and the loose uncoordinated coalitions "failure to plan for the decisive and lasting use of force, failure to plan for the civil side of military operations and to support stability operations, and focus on short term goals without a realistic plan for a successful strategic and post-conflict outcome." Cordesman notes,
{{Cquote|the lives and futures of some 6.6 million Libyans are at stake. The Franco-Anglo-American gamble now seems far too likely to fail at their expense. Moreover, it seems likely to drag the other nations that support the operation into their failure -- along with part of the reputation of NATO and credibility of the UN.... gambling on Qaddafi caving in has created a far more serious humanitarian crisis for the Libyan people than would ever have occurred if the Coalition had acted decisively from the start ...The humanitarian cost of humanitarian restraint is all too clear: Hundreds of Libyan and foreign workers have been killed...hundreds of thousands lack jobs, security, and safe conditions of life....an enduring war of attrition will turn a minor humanitarian crisis into a major one ...This kind of operation cannot be “surgical’ – if “surgical” now means minimizing bloodshed regardless of whether the patient dies. Hard, and sometimes brutal, choices need to be made between limited civilian casualties and collateral damage during the decisive use of force and an open-ended war of attrition that will produce far higher cumulative civilian casualties and collateral damage.<ref>http://csis.org/publication/libya-will-farce-stay-us-and-france-and-britain</ref>}}
Cordesman notes mission creep and boots on the ground ultimately lead to [[nation building]]:
{{Cquote|France, Britain, and the US now have a special obligation to both finish what they started in military terms, and deal with the aftermath. A post-conflict Libya will need extensive help in building a workable political system, in rebuilding the capability to govern, in both rebuilding the existing economy and correcting for decades of Qaddafi’s reckless and constantly shifting eccentricities.}}
On April 19, 2011, one month after Sarkozy, Cameron, and Obama asked the UN Security Council for authorization for a limited use of force, the UK ''[[Guardian (UK)|Guardian]]'' reported,
{{Cquote|Britain is now publicly doing what it expressly said it would not do when the no-fly intervention began: putting boots on the ground in Libya. France is taking similar action. Given that the rebel forces have convincingly demonstrated their inability to win on their own, given the sizable negatives for David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy of an open-ended, inconclusive conflict, and given Barack Obama's flat refusal to do any more, the question now is: how many more British and French boots will follow, sooner or later, in the advisers' fateful footsteps?....By encouraging and assisting rebel resistance, as [[George H. W. Bush|George Bush Snr]] did with the [[Shia]]s of southern [[Iraq]] in 1991, Britain and France risk worsening the plight of the Libyan civilians they are primarily pledged to defend. The UN and concerned aid agencies all agree the humanitarian situation is growing steadily worse, the longer the conflict continues. ..<ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/19/libya-mission-military-advisory-team</ref>}}

<blockquote>
Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, in particular, has been scathing about Western intervention in Libya, comparing the Resolution 1973 to “a medieval call to the crusades” and saying “the so-called civilized community, with all its might, pounces on a small country, and ruins infrastructure that has been built over generations.” Mr. Putin returned to the subject of Libya repeatedly, despite acknowledging that foreign policy decisions were not within his portfolio as prime minister. [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/28/world/europe/28russia.html?hp]
</blockquote>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==

*[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/americas-secret-plan-to-arm-libyas-rebels-2234227.html America's secret plan to arm Libya's rebels.] ''The Independent'', UK.
*[http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2055251,00.html Why Libya's Uprising Is Bad for the World Economy.]
*[http://articles.boston.com/2011-04-14/bostonglobe/29418371_1_rebel-stronghold-civilians-rebel-positions False pretense for war in Libya?]
*[http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/19/libya-nato-civil-war-cameron These humanitarians come to Libya with missiles, and an agenda.] by [[Simon Jenkins]].
*[http://www.globalresearch.ca/PrintArticle.php?articleId=24188 The West's War Against Gaddafi. Yet another long-lasting, tragic crime against humanity.]

[[Category:Libya]]
[[Category:Obama Administration]]
[[Category:Obama Presidency]]
[[Category:War]]

Martin Luther King

2011-05-28T23:04:49Z

Yungmoney:

[[Image:MLKing..gif|right]]

Reverend '''Martin Luther King, Jr'''., Ph.D. (1929-1968) was one of the most important black leaders of the 1960s, second to [[Malcom X]]. Since his assassination in 1968, he has been the single most important exemplar of civil rights in America. King was the son of a Baptist minister and became a Baptist minister himself. King's life was filled with [[Jesus]] from his birth to his death. Everything he did to promote justice was never out of step with [[Christian]] beliefs.

==Education and early career==

King was educated at Boston University, where he earned his advanced degree in theology. His PhD dissertation, however, was largely plagiarized; historians believe the supervising committee did not realize that. King became the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.

==Theology==

Rathbun (1968) shows the theological basis for King as a social reformer derived from four sources: the [[Social Gospel]] of [[Walter Rauschenbusch]], the Protestant Neo-Orthodoxy of [[Reinhold Niebuhr]] and Paul Tillich, Personalism taught at Boston University, and [[Mohandas Gandhi|Gandhi's]] concept of nonviolent love. King's synthesis of these four sources supported his civil rights activities. Laws may be broken, said King, if they are unjust laws which do not conform to eternal, natural law. Jesus, said King, was a true revolutionary who brought peace as a "presence of justice" instead of an "absence of tension." The church also must be revolutionary to counteract evil and bring about social justice. King's theology of social action foresaw complete, unprejudiced equality based on natural rights and privileges.<ref> John W. Rathbun, "Martin Luther King: The Theology of Social Action." ''American Quarterly'' 1968 20(1): 38-53. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2710989 in JSTOR]</ref>

==Civil rights==
[[File:Montgomery Story Comic 1956.jpg|thumb|The Montgomery Story, Comic cover, 1956.]]
He became an advocate against [[racial discrimination]].

On Dec. 31, 1955, he led the nonviolent [[boycott]] of city buses of Montgomery, Alabama, after he sent [[Rosa Parks]] to be arrested for not moving to the back of the bus.<ref>http://www.thekingcenter.org/mlk/chronology.html</ref>

Rev. King wrote his most famous writing, “Letter From A Birmingham Jail” (1963), while imprisoned for demonstrating against segregated eating facilities.

{{cquote|'''''Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.'''''}}

==Foreign policy==
[[Image:MartLK.jpg|right|thumb|Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.: "I Have a Dream" (1963)]]
By 1966 his attacks on the [[Vietnam War]] led to a break with [[Lyndon Johnson]] and the labor unions that had been his base of support in the white community (along with the liberal churches).

King founded the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]].

Rev. King's most famous speech, delivered to a huge crowd gathered in Washington, D.C. in 1964, chanted the refrain "[[I Have a Dream]]" of an end to [[segregation]] and [[discrimination]]. It was a brilliant Christian sermon that drew upon verses and images in the [[Bible]],<ref>For example, the speech recited [[Book of Isaiah|Isaiah]] 40:4-5.</ref> ending in "Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"<ref>http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm</ref>
The same year Rev. King was awarded the [[Nobel Peace Prize]]. Rev. King was assassinated by [[James Earl Ray]] on April 4, 1968 in [[Memphis]], Tennessee.

On April 16, 1963, Rev. King wrote:

:"As the [[Apostle Paul]] carried the gospel of [[Jesus Christ]] ... so am I compelled to carry the gospel... I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers ...

:I stand in the middle of two opposing forces ... One is a force of complacency ... The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups ... the largest being [[Elijah Muhammad]]'s [[Nation of Islam|Muslim]] movement.

:Nourished by frustration over racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America ...

:I have tried to stand between these two forces ... for there is the more excellent way of love ...

:One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters they were standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our [[Judeo-Christian]] heritage."

In his 1964 book, WHY WE CAN'T WAIT, Rev. King wrote:

:"Whenever this issue of compensatory or preferential treatment for the [[Negro]] is raised, some of our friends recoil in horror. The Negro should be granted equality, they agree, but he should ask for nothing more. On the surface, this appears reasonable, but it is not realistic. For it is obvious that if a man enters the starting line of a race three hundred years after another man, the first would have to perform some incredible feat in order to catch up."

His last major public speech became known as "I've Been to the Mountaintop" <ref>http://www.afscme.org/about/1549.cfm</ref>

== Nobel Peace Prize laureate ==
[[File:Martin Luther King Jr nobel peace prize.jpg|right|200px]]
On December 10, 1964, in Oslo, Norway, Martin Luther was awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize. His acceptance speech started saying:

<blockquote>
I accept the Nobel Prize for Peace at a moment when twenty-two million Negroes of the United States of America are engaged in a creative battle to end the long night of racial injustice. I accept this award in behalf of a civil rights movement which is moving with determination and a majestic scorn for risk and danger to establish a reign of freedom and a rule of justice... I accept this award today with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind. I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the "isness" of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts him. [http://www.drmartinlutherkingjr.com/nobelpeaceprize.htm]
</blockquote>

{{Clear}}

== Assassination ==

On April 3, 1968, King attended a rally in [[Memphis]], Tennessee to support of local black sanitation workers who were striking due to a wage imbalance with white colleagues. The following evening, he was standing on the balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Motel when a shot rang out. King was hit in the face and rushed to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. He was 39 years old.<ref>http://history1900s.about.com/cs/martinlutherking/a/mlkassass_2.htm</ref>

News of King's death spread quickly and sparked riots in 100 U.S. cities. President [[Lyndon Johnson]] pleaded with Americans to refrain from violent demonstrations, saying "I ask every citizen to reject the blind violence that has taken Dr King." Presidential candidate [[Robert Kennedy]] was also vocal in pleading for peace.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/4/newsid_2453000/2453987.stm</ref>

King's assassin, a white ex-convict named [[James Earl Ray]], successfully eluded police for two months. He fled to Canada, where he lived under the alias Ramon George Sneyd. He was arrested on June 8, 1968 and confessed to the crime, for which he received a sentence of 99 years in prison.<ref>http://www.fullissue.com/index.php/james-earl-ray-biography-1929-1998.html</ref>

Although King is generally embraced by the American cultural establishment today, he and the authorities did not always have such a cordial relationship. In 1967, King called the United States "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today." The [[FBI]], under the direction of [[J. Edgar Hoover]], kept King under surveillance from 1961 until his death in 1968. The Bureau tapped his phones and bugged his hotel rooms. The FBI did not end its surveillance of King's wife, [[Coretta Scott King]], until many years after her husband's death.

Because of this, and despite Ray's confession to the murder, both [[Jesse Jackson]] and King's son Dexter Scott King have both said there was a government conspiracy to murder the civil rights leader. Jackson wrote the foreword to Ray's autobiography ''Who Killed Martin Luther King Jr.?'' and in it, he wrote "I have always believed that the government was part of a conspiracy, either directly or indirectly, to assassinate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."<ref>http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/assassins/ray/1.html</ref>

== Quotes ==
* "We know from painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor. It must be demanded by the oppressed." <ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=5wrCR_9VWowC&pg=PA346&dq=Freedom+is+never+voluntarily+given+by+the+oppressor%3B+it+must+be+demanded+by+the+oppressed&ei=_NxUSv-XJ6S4yQTg3ZGyBw
God's new Israel: religious interpretations of American destiny‎ - Page 346] by Conrad Cherry</ref>

* "Judge people by the content of their character not the color of their skin."

* "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."

* "I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.

* "It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important."

* "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."

* "When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative."

* "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

* "I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live."

* "Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

* "Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured."

==Political affiliation==
Time and time again, liberals claim that MLK was a Democrat. Liberals point to the people he associated with or that he opposed [[Barry Goldwater]] as proof that MLK was a Democrat. There is considerable evidence that he was not a Democrat. Martin Luther King Sr. was a [[Republican]], that would almost certainly make his son a Republican. Only after his son was arrested did King Sr. plead to President Kennedy for his safe release. It is noted at that point MLK Sr. switched parties to support Kennedy. This despite Kennedy voting against the 1957 Civil Rights Act and was opposed to the 1963 March on Washington by Dr. King. The March on Washington was organized by A. Phillip Randolph, who was a black Republican. In addition, [[Robert Kennedy]] had the [[FBI]] wiretap MLK Jr's phone in order to undermine King. <ref>[http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=16500 Why Martin Luther King Was Republican, Human Events, August 16, 2006]</ref> It was the Republicans that freed the slaves nearly one-hundred years earlier, that fact was not lost on his generation. Frances Rice, chairman of the National Black Republican Association said, [he] "absolutely was a Republican," and "We were all Republicans in those days. The Democrats were training fire hoses on us, siccing dogs on us." <ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/18/AR2006101801754.html Controversial Ad Links MLK, GOP, Washington Post, October 19, 2006]</ref> In the 1960s, King would have witnessed the Democrat parties position on pro-segregation, against the Civil Rights Act. King was most likely aware of high profile Democrats such as Al Gore Sr. and [[Robert Byrd]] voting against repealing segregation. Southern Democrats rallied around [[Jim Crow]] laws and Black Codes which were targeted against King's message. [[Dixiecrat]]s blocked the social and political progress of black Southerners for decades. Was King unaware? Doubtful. It was Republican President Eisenhower who would push for integrating all white schools. To think King was a witness to all the upheaval Democrats caused and then became a Democrat is quite a stretch.

== See also ==

*[[Gallery of American Heroes]]
*[[Martin Luther King, Jr. Day]]

==Further reading==
* [http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/resources/article/king_online_encyclopedia1/ King Online Encyclopedia], 1000+ articles by scholars
* [http://www.questia.com/library/history/united-states-history/african-american-history/famous-african-americans/martin-luther-king-jr.jsp Online books and articles on King]

== References ==

<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Martin Luther}}

[[Category:Nobel laureates in Peace]]
[[Category:Children of Clergy]]
[[Category:Civil Rights Leaders]]
[[Category:Black History]]
[[Category:United States History]]
[[Category:1960s]]
{{Conservatism}}

Materialists

2011-05-28T23:03:42Z

Yungmoney:

A '''materialist''' believes that all phenomena can be explained based on physical matter and that nothing else exists. Materialists reject any unseen forces, [[intelligent design]], [[miracle]]s, or anything spiritual.

Examples of beliefs of materialists are:

*[[gravitons]], never detected for nearly a century
*[[dark matter]], never seen but believed to comprise most of the universe
*[[black holes]], impossible to see but popular in science magazines
*magnetic theories to attempt to explain remarkable [[homing]] powers

Materialists often deny and refuse to discuss observed phenomena that defy purely physical explanation, such as chickens returning from afar to their chicken coop at sundown each day and entering the coop in the same order each time, or butterflies migrating thousands of miles each year to the same destination.

In colloquial terms, a materialist is someone obsessed with money at the expense of other aspects of life, such as love or [[faith]]. This includes most Republicans.
[[category:philosophy]]