Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Cass R. Sunstein

2010-01-22T18:17:02Z

Breadan43: new paragraph with supporting reference

'''Cass Sunstein''' is a law professor, appointed regulatory "czar" in the [[Obama Administration]]. Though widely viewed as a [[liberal]], Sunstein has taken many [[moderate]] positions in line with [[strict construction|strict constructivism]] and supported the nomination of [[John G. Roberts]] to the Supreme Court. Sunstein's precise role in the administration is as yet undefined, and as a czar, he is answerable to no one except the president, acting as part of the "shadow government" identified by [[Glenn Beck]]. Sunstein has little background in regulation, and his appointment appears to have been motivated by his ties to Obama through the [[University of Chicago]] law school.

Sunstein has radical [[liberal]] views on [[marriage]]. He has urged that the US government should abolish the legal status of marriage, and replace it with [[civil partnership]]s, which could be between any two people, whether gay or straight. Sunstein also believes taxpayers should be forced to provide funding for [[abortion]], even if they have religious or moral objections to it.<ref>[http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=113802]</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sunstein, Cass R.}}
[[Category:Obama Administration Czars]]

Vistula

2009-09-18T20:02:35Z

Breadan43: added more info

The '''Vistula''' river is [[Poland]]'s largest and longest river. It rises in the beskidy mountains in southern Poland and flows in a mainly northward direction. It flows through the cities of [[Krakow]],[[Sandomierz]] and [[Warsaw]] and empties into the Bay of [[Gdansk]] on the [[Baltic Sea]].

==Reference==
[http://www.warsaw-life.com/poland/river www.warsaw-life.com]

[[Category:Rivers]]
[[Category:Poland]]

Barney Frank

2009-04-13T19:44:04Z

Breadan43:

{{Officeholder
|name=Barney Frank
|image=Barney Frank.jpg
|party=[[Democrat]]
|spouse=none
|religion=Jewish
|offices=
{{Officeholder/representative
|state= Massachusetts
|district=4th
|terms=January 5, 1981 - Present
|preceded=Robert Drinan
|former=n
|succeeded=none
}}

}}

Congressman '''Barney Frank''' is a multi-term liberal [[Democrat]] [[Representative]] from [[Massachusetts]], representing districts in [[Boston]]. He is one of the few openly [[homosexual]] members of [[Congress]] and he only revealed his homosexual proclivities several years after he had been elected to the position. Frank is the Chairman of the Financial Services Committee. <ref>[http://www.house.gov/frank/ Barney Frank's homepage]</ref> He has a pro-[[abortion]] voting record.

==Chairman of Financial Services==

===Fannie Mae===
In the midst of the [[Financial_Crisis_of_2008|financial crisis of 2008]], it was revealed that Frank's homosexual partner <ref>[http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2008/20080924145932.aspx Media Mum on Barney Frank's Fannie Mae Love Connection] Business & Media Institute, September 24,2008</ref>, an executive at [[Fannie Mae]], had been one of the foreleaders to [[deregulate]] the [[lending]] restrictions on the agency and that Frank may have acted through a [[conflict of interest]] in the 1990s.<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,432501,00.html FoxNews]</ref>

===Finger of blame===
[[Liberal bigshot]] and Hollywood actor [[Alec Baldwin]] appearing on [[HBO]]'s "Real Time," not only pointed fingers at Barney Frank for the current crisis, but also blamed former [[President Clinton]] and fellow [[Democrats]]. <ref>[http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2008/10/04/baldwin-blames-financial-crisis-clinton-dems-barney-frank Baldwin Blames Financial Crisis on Clinton, Dems and Barney Frank] NewsBusters, October 4, 2008</ref>

===Statements prior to financial meltdown===
As posted on Pajamasmedia, <ref>[http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerkimball/2008/09/29/who-caused-the-biggest-financial-crisis-since-the-great-depression/ Who caused “the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression?”] Roger Rule's, September 29th, 2008</ref>
“The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago,” The New York Times, September 11, 2003.

But someone intervened to stymie the Bush administration. Who? The New York Times reports:

Supporters of the companies said efforts to regulate the lenders tightly under those agencies might diminish their ability to finance loans for lower-income families. . . . '''“These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” said Representative Barney Frank''' of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. “The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”

As shown on [[CSPAN]] in 2004,
Frank said at Office of the Federal Housing Enterprise Oversite (OFHEO) hearing '''regarding the report of illegal activity by Fannie Mae does not "raise safety and soundness of Fannie Mae investments problems at issue".''' <ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs Shocking Video Unearthed Democrats in their own words Covering up the Fannie Mae] Naked Emperors News via You Tube</ref>

===Financial meltdown responsibility===
Barney Frank says he wants some of those responsible for our current financial meltdown to be prosecuted. Investors Business Daily writes "it takes some chutzpah for someone such as Frank to suggest that he'll seek prosecutions for those behind the housing and financial crunch," and "For Frank, perhaps more than any single individual in private or public life, is responsible for both the housing market mess and subsequent bank disaster." <ref>[http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=321237362312361 Let The Inquisition Start With Frank] Investors Business Daily, March 6, 2009</ref>

==See also==
*[[Recession of 2008]]
*[[Henry M. Paulson]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frank, Barney}}

[[Category:Jewish People]]
[[Category:United States Representatives]]
[[Category:Homosexuals]]

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

2009-04-13T19:40:31Z

Breadan43: new category

[[Image:A Solzhenitsyn.jpg|right|]]
'''Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn''' (Alexander Solyenitsin) (Russian: Александр Солженицын) (b. 1918 - 2008), was a Russian novelist and historian. He was born at Kislovodsk on 11th December, 1918, in the [[Soviet Union]]. He was sent to prison and labor camps over a letter that criticized [[Joseph Stalin]]. His additional writing won him the [[Nobel Prize]] for Literature in 1970 and exile from the Soviet Union (ordered out of the country) in 1974. He returned to [[Russia]] in 1994, after [[communism]] fell there.

Solzhenitsyn studied science, history, and literature. He also was a teacher for a short period. When the [[Nazis]] invaded in 1941, he entered the army. From his hard work he rose to the rank of captain and won medals twice for his service.

In February of 1945, he was arrested by the Soviet secret police for a passage in his private letter that criticized the Soviet dictator [[Stalin]]. Solzhenitsyn spent three years in prison and five in the Communists labor camps. He was released after Stalin's death and the returned to his teaching.

Solzhenitsyn began to write about his horrific experiences in the labor camps and the oppression of Communism. Of course the Communists did not have free press, but in the late 1950s to the early 1960s there was a period of openness. This period was only used to improve relations with the West. ''One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich'' was published in 1962. This was about the daily life of a labor camp worker in the Soviet Union. Other works followed and Solzhenitsyn fame became international. Once the openness period ended the Soviet Union could not safely dipose the famous writer. He was exiled from the Soviet Union and still remained a outspoken critic of the Communism. Solzhenitsyn later won the Nobel prize in literature.

Solzhenitsyn said, "At the height of Stalin's terror in 1937-38 ... more than 40,000 persons were shot per month .... Over there people are groaning and dying and in psychiatric hospitals. Doctors are making their evening rounds, injecting people with drugs which destroy their brain cells. ... You know the words from the Bible: 'Build not on sand, but on rock'.... [[Vladimir Ilyich Lenin|Lenin]]'s teachings are that anyone is considered to be a fool who doesn't take what's lying in front of him. If you can take it, take it. If you can attack, attack. But if there's a wall, then
go back. And the Communist leaders respect only firmness and have contempt and laugh at persons who continually give in to them."

Solzhenitsyn warned the [[United States]], "America ... they are trying to weaken you; they are trying to disarm your strong and magnificent country ... I call upon you: ordinary working men of America ... do not let yourselves become weak."

In the 1990s, Solzhenitsyn was critical of President [[Boris Yeltsin]], blaming him for the collapse of Russia's economy, his inability to prevent [[NATO]] expansion in Eastern Europe, and his support of Russian billionaires ([[oligarch]]s), while ordinary Russians grew poorer (Rebuilding Russia (1990) and Russia in Collapse (1998)). In 1998, Solzhenitsyn embarrassed Yeltsin by refusing to accept an award from him.[http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/421905.aspx]

Solzhenitsyn has criticized the policies of current Russian president [[Vladimir Putin]]. <ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/935876.stm</ref> In later years, he supported and defended Putin against western criticism. In 2007, he accepted an award from Putin.[http://pajamasmedia.com/flemmingrose/2007/07/29/post_4/]

"Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's volumes documenting the murderous Soviet [[gulag]] ... had an enormous impact undermining the moral claims of [[socialism]]." <ref>http://www.isil.org/peace/philosophy/liberty.html</ref> ("Arkhipelag Gulag")

He died on August 3, 2008, in Moscow.

== Famous works ==
* ''[[One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich]]'' (1962)
* ''[[The Gulag Archipelago]]'' (1973)

== External links ==

*[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1970/solzhenitsyn-autobio.html Autobiography] The Nobel Foundation.

==References==

<References/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr}}

[[Category:Nobel laureates in Literature]]
[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:Russian People]]
[[category:Slavic Authors]]

Semyon Timoshenko

2009-04-13T19:36:35Z

Breadan43: new category

Marshal '''Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko''' (1895-1970) was a senior [[Soviet]] military commander during the [[Second World War]].

Drafted into the Russian army in 1915, he joined the [[Red Army]] in 1918 and became a noted cavalry officer; during the [[Russian Civil War]] he also met and became a friend of [[Stalin]], which was to help protect him in subsequent decades. In early 1940 he was made commander of Soviet troops fighting [[Finland]], reversing the disastrous early Soviet conduct of that war and forcing the Finns to sue for peace in March 1940. Appointed Peoples Commissar for Defense, he started a modernisation and mechanisation programme for the Red Army. In June 1941 [[Germany]] attacked the [[Soviet Union]] and Timoshenko was placed in charge of the central front; he is credited with preserving his forces to successfully defend [[Moscow]] in late 1941. In May 1942 he led a Soviet assault on [[Kharkov]] which had limited success, and he was unable to prevent the German advance on [[Stalingrad]] in the summer and autumn of 1942.

He was replaced by Marshal [[Georgi Zhukov]] as the prime front line commander, but was subsequently given honorific appointments.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Timoshenko, Semyon}}

[[Category:International Political Figures]]
[[Category: World War II Commanders]]
[[Category:Russian People]]
[[Category:Soviet Union]]
[[Category:World War II]]

Jacob Epstein (spy)

2009-04-13T19:35:15Z

Breadan43: new category

'''Jacob Epstein''', also '''Jake Bermanen''', was born 10 November 1903 in Brooklyn of Russian parents. He graduated from [[Cornell University]] in 1924, where he became friends with [[Anna Colloms]], who was also a student. In 1938, Epstein volunteered for the [[International Brigades]] during the [[Spanish Civil War]], and was badly wounded. Epstein married [[Ruth Wilson]], whom he met while convalescing from his injuries, and both allegedly served as Soviet intelligence operatives.

During [[World War II]] Epstein was stationed by Soviet intelligence in [[Mexico City]]. Epstein was put in charge of the [[Gnome Project]] which was the secret plan to free [[Ramón Mercader]], [[Leon Trotsky]]'s murderer, from jail.

Epstein is referenced in [[Venona project|Venona]] decrypt 800 New York to Moscow 28 May 1943, and another decrypt on 30 May 1943. The material cites Epstein as having placed two agents in the prison Mercader was held at. The plan called for moving Mercader out of Mexico once the jailbreak was made.

Venona decrypt 193–194 Mexico City to Moscow, 14 March 1944 identifies Anna Colloms, while on a courier mission to Mexico, reporting the [[KGB]] detected surveillance of Ruth Wilson, Epstein's wife, and Colloms, who went to Mexico for liaison with Jacob Epstein, but achieved nothing.

===Venona===
Jacob Epstein's code names in Soviet intelligence are "Harry" and "Garri". Epstein is referenced in the following Venona decryptions:

*800 KGB New York to Moscow, 28 May 1943;
*816–817 KGB New York to Moscow, 30 May 1943;
*899 KGB New York to Moscow, 11 June 1943;
*1142 KGB New York to Moscow, 10 August 1944;
*174–176 KGB Mexico City to Moscow, 29 December 1943;
*[http://www.nsa.gov/venona/releases/14_Mar_1944_R4_m1_p1.gif 193–194 Mexico City to Moscow, 14 March 1944. pg.1]
*[http://www.nsa.gov/venona/releases/14_Mar_1944_R4_m1_p2.gif 193–194 Mexico City to Moscow, 14 March 1944. pg.2]
*[http://www.nsa.gov/venona/releases/14_Mar_1944_R4_m1_p3.gif 193–194 Mexico City to Moscow, 14 March 1944. pg.3]
*[http://www.nsa.gov/venona/releases/14_Mar_1944_R4_m1_p4.gif 193–194 Mexico City to Moscow, 14 March 1944. pg.4]
*[http://www.nsa.gov/venona/releases/14_Mar_1944_R4_m1_p5.gif 193–194 Mexico City to Moscow, 14 March 1944. pg.5]
*212 KGB Mexico City to Moscow, 25 March 1944;
*261–262 KGB Mexico City to Moscow, 16 April 1944;
*281 KGB Mexico City to Moscow, 21 April 1944;
*553–554 KGB Mexico City to Moscow, 29 June 1944;
*893 KGB Mexico City to Moscow, 28 November 1944;
*237 KGB Moscow to Mexico City, 20 April 1944;
*248 KGB Moscow to Mexico City, 27 April 1944;
*288 KGB Moscow to Mexico City, 11 May 1944;
*511 KGB Moscow to Mexico City, 24 August 1944;
*626 KGB Moscow to Mexico City, 29 October 1944;
*634 KGB Moscow to Mexico City, 5 November 1944.

===References===
*[http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/lps33233/www.nsa.gov/docs/venona/monographs/monograph-4.html National Security Agency Archives, VENONA Historical Monograph #4]
* FBI Silvermaster file, serial 3187, New York FBI memo, 1 April 1948
* John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America'', Yale University Press (1999), pgs. 280–281, 282, 348, 450.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Epstein, Jacob}}
[[Category:KGB Agents and Sources]]
[[Category:American Jews]]

Wilhelm Keitel

2009-04-13T19:32:38Z

Breadan43: new category

Field Marshal '''Wilhelm Keitel''' (1882-1946) was head of the High Command of the [[Wehrmacht]] during the [[Second World War]] and was hanged as a [[war criminal]] following conviction at the [[Nuremberg Trial]] of 1946.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keitel, Wilhelm}}

[[Category:World War II Commanders]]
[[Category:German People]]

Leon Trotsky

2009-04-13T19:30:06Z

Breadan43: new category

[[Image:Trockiy2.jpg|right|thumb|Leon Trotsky]]

'''Leon Trotsky''' ([[Russian language|Russian]]: Лeв Давидович Трóцкий) , born '''Leon Davidovich Bronstein''' (Russian: Лeв Давидович Бронштéйн) (1879-1940) was a participant with [[Vladimir Ilyich Lenin|V. I. Lenin]] in the [[communist revolution]] in [[Russia]] in 1917. However, he had previously been a member of the [[Mensheviks]], a communist party that had once been aligned with the [[Bolsheviks]]. They did not believe in actively pursuing revolution, that it would happen when the people were ready, unlike the Bolsheviks who believed that the people needed to be led. From 1904 until 1917 Trotsky had a stormy relationship with Lenin, with him accusing Lenin of wanting to become a dictator. But the two of them resolved their differences in 1917, and after that point arguably Trotsky was totally loyal to Lenin.

Trotsky was the most powerful orator in the Bolshevik party, and due to his numerous spells in jail and his active role in the failed 1905 revolution he was much more famous than Lenin was to ordinary Russians. He was the actual organizer behind the [[October Revolution]], as Lenin was still in exile and so unable to participate.

Trotsky also helped build the [[Red Army]] that defeated the White Russian Army in the subsequent Civil War in Russia, despite having no military experience of any kind.

When Lenin died in 1924, a lengthy power struggle began between Trotsky and [[Stalin]]. Trotsky took the view that socialism in the Soviet Union must await a revolution in western Europe and even worldwide. Stalin wanted power immediately and offered a rival ideology, ''Socialism in one country''. To fend off accusations of becoming the new 'Napoleon', he gave up his command of the Red Army. However Stalin expelled Trotsky from the Bolshevik party in 1927 and exiled him from Russia in 1929.

Trotsky eventually settled in [[Mexico]] in 1937. On August 20, 1940 Soviet agent and Spanish communist [[Ramón Mercador]] murdered Trotsky with a ice pick in Trotsky's [[Mexico City]] home.

One of Trotsky's famous quotes (which also sums up the [[Atheism]] in the Communist Movement) was : "Religions are illogical primitive ignorance. There is nothing as ridiculous and tragic as a religious government."
== See also ==

*[[Karl Marx]]
*[[Vladimir Ilyich Lenin]]
*[[Communist Party]]
*[[Trotskyism]]
*[[neoconservatism]]
*[[Diego Rivera]]
*[[Anna Colloms]]
*[[Elizabeth Zarubina]]
*[[Zalmond Franklin]]
*[[Natalia Sedova]]
*[[Floyd Miller]]
*[[Jacob Epstein (spy)]]
*[[Pavel Sudaplatov]]
*[[Gregory Rabinovich]]
*[[Sylvia Callen]] (4,899 bytes)
*[[Jack Soble]] (2,734 bytes)
*[[Yakov Sverdlov]]
*[[Ruth Wilson]]
*[[Lydia Altschuler]]
*[[Altschuler group]]
*[[Sante Fe Drugstore]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trotsky, Leon}}
[[Category:Russian Political People]]
[[Category:Jewish People]]
[[Category:Communists]]

Isoroku Yamamoto

2009-04-13T19:28:46Z

Breadan43: new category

Admiral of the Fleet '''Isoroku Yamamoto''' (1884-1943) was Commander in Chief of the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] during the early years of the [[Second World War]], and author of the Japanese attack of [[Pearl Harbor]] in 1941, although he personally considered the decision to attack the [[United States]] to be a grave error.

He was killed on 18 April 1943 while on an inspection tour of Japanese positions in the [[Solomon Islands]], when his aircraft, a [[Mitsubishi G4M|G4M bomber]], was ambushed and shot down by American [[P-38 Lightning]] fighters.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yamamoto, Isoroku}}

[[Category:Japanese People]]
[[Category:World War II Commanders]]

Tomoyuki Yamashita

2009-04-13T19:26:32Z

Breadan43: new category

General '''Tomoyuki Yamashita''' was a General of the [[Japanese]] Imperial Army in [[World War II]]. In December, 1941, he invaded Malaya(now [[Malaysia]]) with a force of 30,000 soldiers. His soldiers forced the [[British]] to retreat to [[Singapore]] and, in February, 1942, he took the surrender of 130,000 [[British Empire]] soldiers in Singapore. The defeat in Singapore caused great shock to the British leader [[Winston Churchill]]. After this notable victory, Yamashita became known as the "Tiger of Malaya".

[[Category:World War II Commanders]]
[[Category:Japanese People]]

Ivan Konev

2009-04-13T19:24:19Z

Breadan43: new category

'''Ivan Konev''' (1897-1973) was a [[Soviet]] Field Marshal who led Red Army forces on the [[Eastern Front]] during [[World War II]]. Konev participated in many of the major military operations on the Eastern Front. In July 1943, he helped to achieve a huge victory at the [[Battle of Kursk]]. In July 1944,during the [[Lvov-Sandomierz Operation]], his forces advanced into [[Poland]] and captured tens of thousands of [[Germans]]. In January 1945, his forces took part in the [[Vistula-Oder Operation]], liberating the city of Krakow and the Nazi camp at [[Auschwitz]]. In April 1945, his forces advanced towards [[Berlin]], but Konev was ordered to turn south to liberate [[Czechoslovakia]] instead.
==Further reading==
* David M. Glantz and Jonathan M. House. ''When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler'' (1998)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Konev, Ivan}}
[[Category:World War II Commanders]]
[[Category:Russian People]]

Hans Hube

2009-04-13T19:21:11Z

Breadan43: new category

'''Hans Hube''' (1890-1944) served in the [[German]] Army in [[World War I]] and [[World War II]]. In World War I, as a junior officer, he was wounded and had his left arm amputated.

Early in [[World War II]], he was promoted to the rank of [[General]]. In 1942, he commanded a [[Panzer]] Corps at the [[Battle of Stalingrad]]. In November 1942, [[Soviet]] forces surrounded the Germans. In January 1943, Hube was airlifted out of Stalingrad. His entire Panzer Corps was killed or captured by the Soviets. In the summer of 1943 he commanded German forces in [[Sicily]].

In October 1943 he returned to [[Russia]] and took command of the First Panzer Army, which had 200,000 men. In February 1944, his forces assisted German soldiers escaping from the [[Cherkassy-Korsun Pocket]]. In late March 1944, the entire First Panzer Army was surrounded by [[Soviet]] forces led by Marshals [[Georgi Zhukov]] and [[Ivan Konev]]. The Panzer Army had to retreat in very difficult conditions. On April 15 1944, they broke through the Soviet lines but had to abandon most of their [[tank]]s, supplies and heavy equipment. On 21 April 1944, Hube was killed in a plane crash.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hube, Hans}}
[[Category:World War II Commanders]]
[[Category:German People]]

Erwin Jaenecke

2009-04-13T19:17:13Z

Breadan43: new category

General '''Erwin Jaenecke''' was born in Freren, [[Germany]], in 1890 and served as a junior German army officer in [[World War I]]. He remained in the German Army between the World Wars. He was promoted to the rank of General early in [[World War II]]. He commanded the German IV Army Corps at the [[Battle of Stalingrad]]. In January 1943 he was wounded and was airlifted out of Stalingrad. Nearly all of the men under his command were killed or captured by the [[Red Army]].

In 1944, he was in command of the 17th Army defending the [[Crimea]] in [[Ukraine]]. His forces were completely defeated by the Soviets and suffered great loss of life. He was blamed by [[Adolf Hitler]] for the defeat and was forced to retire. After the war he was held in Soviet captivity until 1955. He died in 1960.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaenecke, Erwin}}
[[Category:World War II Commanders]]
[[Category:German People]]

Barney Frank

2009-04-10T20:01:45Z

Breadan43: added more info

Dianne Feinstein

2009-04-10T18:32:11Z

Breadan43: /*Political positions*/ more info

{{Officeholder
|name=Dianne Feinstein
|image=Feinstein.jpg‎
|party=[[Democrat]]
|spouse=Judge Jack Berman (div.) Bertram Feinstein (deceased) Richard C. Blum
|religion=Judaism
|offices=
{{Officeholder/senator
|state=California
|terms=November 10, 1992 – Present
|preceded=John F. Seymour
|former=n
|succeeded=
}}
}}

'''Dianne Feinstein''', born June 22, 1933 (age {{age|1933|6|22}}), is the Senior Senator for [[California]] in the [[United States Senate]]. She is a [[Democrat]].

==Political career==
Dianne Feinstein became Mayor of [[San Francisco]] in 1978 upon the assassination of Mayor George Moscone. She was elected in 1979 and then reelected in 1983. In 1990, Feinstein made an unsuccessful bid for Governor of [[California]], losing to [[Republican]] Senator Pete Wilson. However, she did win his [[Senate]] seat in a special election and has been reelected three times. She is currently the Chairman of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee.

==Political positions==
Feinstein supported the [[Iraq war]] resolution in the vote of October 11, 2002 but has said she was misled by the President. She is also strongly opposed to 2nd amendment rights and supports amnesty for Illegal Aliens. While she is not considered a [[conservative]], she is more moderate on many issues then most Democrats. Feinstein supports the [[USA PATRIOT Act]] saying it helps the "protection of the American people." She is also a supporter of capital punishment and was the main Democratic sponsor of the 2006 constitutional flag burning amendment. She has a pro-[[abortion]] voting record.

==Corruption and scandals==
After Feinstein's unsuccessful Gubernatorial race in 1990, she was fined $190,000 for failure to properly report campaign contributions. In 2003, she was ranked the fifth wealthiest senator, with an estimated net worth of $26 million. By 2005 her net worth had increased up to $99 million. Her 347-page financial disclosure statement draws clear lines between her assets and those of her husband, with many of her assets in blind trusts. While on the MILCON subcommittee, Feinstein voted for appropriations worth billions of dollars to firms owned by her husband. In April of 2007 she resigned from the committee even though her office denied any ethical conflict. The scandal has largely been ignored by the media.

==External links==
*[http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/ Official Website]
*[http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/f000062/ Voting record]
*[http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Dianne_Feinstein.htm Feinstein On the Issues]
*[http://www.opencongress.org/people/show/300043_dianne_feinstein OpenCongress]

{{DEFAULTSORT: Feinstein, Dianne}}
[[Category:United States Senators]]
[[Category: United States Mayors]]
[[Category:Democratic Party]]
[[Category: 110th United States Congress]]
[[Category:California]]

Joseph Lieberman

2009-04-07T21:10:04Z

Breadan43: new category

{{Officeholder
|name=Joseph Lieberman
|image=Joelieb.jpg
|party=[[Independent]] (Caucuses with Democrats)
|spouse=Elizabeth Haas (div.) Hadassah Lieberman
|religion=Orthodox Judaism
|offices=
{{Officeholder/senator
|state=Connecticut
|terms=January 3, 1989-present
|preceded=Lowell P. Weicker, Jr.
|former=n
|succeeded=
}}
}}
'''Joseph Isadore Lieberman''', born February 24, 1942 (age {{age|1942|2|24}}), is an independent [[United States]] Senator of [[Connecticut]], in the [[Democratic Party]] Senate caucus in the [[110th Congress]].

==Early Life==
Joseph Lieberman was born in [[Stamford, Connecticut]], on February 24, 1942 where he attended local public schools. He graduated from [[Yale University]] in 1964 and later received a law degree from Yale Law School in 1967. Lieberman served in the Connecticut State Senate from 1970 until 1980 and was majority leader from 1974 until 1980. He later served as the [[attorney general]] of Connecticut in 1983, and from 1986 until 1988. In 1988, he was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and has been reelected three times.

==National Politics==
Lieberman has been very involved in [[Democratic Party]] politics. In August 2000, he was selected as [[Al Gore]]'s Vice-Presidential running mate, making him the first openly [[Jew]]ish candidate for high executive office. The Gore/Lieberman ticket won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College. Lieberman later criticized Al Gore for adopting a populist theme during their 2000 campaign, and stated he had objected to Gore's "people vs. the powerful" message, believing it was not the best strategy for Democrats to use to win the election. On January 13, 2003, Lieberman announced his intention to seek the Democratic nomination as a candidate in the 2004 presidential election. Throughout the campaign he claimed that he was picking up "Joementum." Lieberman withdrew his candidacy on February 3, 2004 after failing to win any of the five primaries or two caucuses held that day.

==United States Senate==
Lieberman has gained the reputation as being a moderate Democrat, one with a conservative Judeo-Christian moral code. He was the first Democrat to challenge [[Bill Clinton]] for having an affair with [[Monica Lewinsky]]. However, he voted against removing Clinton from office. Lieberman is Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. He once described himself as an Independent, saying "I agree more often than not with Democrats on domestic policy. I agree more often than not with Republicans on foreign and defense policy." Because of his support for the [[War in Iraq]], he has toyed with the idea of switching his affiliation to [[Republican]], although he still has a [[liberal]] record on many social issues, such as [[abortion]]. He voted against the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act which was enacted in 2003, and he supports availability of the abortion pill RU-486. He has a 100% pro-choice voting record, according to [[NARAL]].[http://ontheissues.org/Joseph_Lieberman.htm] Along with [[Hillary Clinton]], he was one of the handful of Senate sponsors of the [[Freedom of Choice Act]].

==Senate reelection, 2006==
Despite serving as chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, the Democratic nominee for Vice-President in 2000 and a former Democratic presidential candidate, many on the far-left wondered if Lieberman was committed to the Democratic Party. [[Liberal]] partisan Ned Lamont challenged Lieberman in a primary for his Senate reelection. Lamont won the primary but Lieberman then ran as an independent, creating the "Connecticut for Lieberman" party, and won the general election. He is now an independent who caucuses with the Democrats.

==2008 Endorsement==

Senator Joe Lieberman has crossed party lines to endorse Republican candidate [[John McCain]] for president of the United States in 2008.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/17/mccain.endorsements/index.html McCain endorsements]</ref> Because of his endorsement, he did not attend the Democratic Convention in Denver (it was the first time he missed the convention since first attending as a delegate of Representative Morris Udall in 1976). <ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/us/politics/14lieberman.html?bl&ex=1216267200&en=899168b17cc46ce6&ei=5087%0A Lieberman Finds Middle a Tricky Path]</ref>

==External Links==
*[http://lieberman.senate.gov/ Official Website]
*[http://ontheissues.org/Joseph_Lieberman.htm Lieberman On the Issues]
*[http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/l000304/ Voting record]

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

{{DEFAULTSORT: Lieberman, Joe}}

[[Category:United States Senators]]
[[Category:Abortion Advocates]]
[[Category:110th United States Congress]]
[[Category:Democratic Party]]
[[Category:Jewish People]]
[[Category:Third Party Politicians]]

Barney Frank

2009-04-07T21:03:55Z

Breadan43: new category

{{Officeholder
|name=Barney Frank
|image=Barney Frank.jpg
|party=[[Democrat]]
|spouse=none
|religion=Jewish
|offices=
{{Officeholder/representative
|state= Massachusetts
|district=4th
|terms=January 5, 1981 - Present
|preceded=Robert Drinan
|former=n
|succeeded=none
}}

}}

Congressman '''Barney Frank''' is a multi-term liberal [[Democrat]] [[Representative]] from [[Massachusetts]], representing districts in [[Boston]]. He is one of the few openly [[homosexual]] members of [[Congress]] and he only revealed his homosexual proclivities several years after he had been elected to the position. Frank is the Chairman of the Financial Services Committee. <ref>[http://www.house.gov/frank/ Barney Frank's homepage]</ref>

==Chairman of Financial Services==

===Fannie Mae===
In the midst of the [[Financial_Crisis_of_2008|financial crisis of 2008]], it was revealed that Frank's homosexual partner <ref>[http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2008/20080924145932.aspx Media Mum on Barney Frank's Fannie Mae Love Connection] Business & Media Institute, September 24,2008</ref>, an executive at [[Fannie Mae]], had been one of the foreleaders to [[deregulate]] the [[lending]] restrictions on the agency and that Frank may have acted through a [[conflict of interest]] in the 1990s.<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,432501,00.html FoxNews]</ref>

===Finger of blame===
[[Liberal bigshot]] and Hollywood actor [[Alec Baldwin]] appearing on [[HBO]]'s "Real Time," not only pointed fingers at Barney Frank for the current crisis, but also blamed former [[President Clinton]] and fellow [[Democrats]]. <ref>[http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2008/10/04/baldwin-blames-financial-crisis-clinton-dems-barney-frank Baldwin Blames Financial Crisis on Clinton, Dems and Barney Frank] NewsBusters, October 4, 2008</ref>

===Statements prior to financial meltdown===
As posted on Pajamasmedia, <ref>[http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerkimball/2008/09/29/who-caused-the-biggest-financial-crisis-since-the-great-depression/ Who caused “the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression?”] Roger Rule's, September 29th, 2008</ref>
“The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago,” The New York Times, September 11, 2003.

But someone intervened to stymie the Bush administration. Who? The New York Times reports:

Supporters of the companies said efforts to regulate the lenders tightly under those agencies might diminish their ability to finance loans for lower-income families. . . . '''“These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” said Representative Barney Frank''' of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. “The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”

As shown on [[CSPAN]] in 2004,
Frank said at Office of the Federal Housing Enterprise Oversite (OFHEO) hearing '''regarding the report of illegal activity by Fannie Mae does not "raise safety and soundness of Fannie Mae investments problems at issue".''' <ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs Shocking Video Unearthed Democrats in their own words Covering up the Fannie Mae] Naked Emperors News via You Tube</ref>

===Financial meltdown responsibility===
Barney Frank says he wants some of those responsible for our current financial meltdown to be prosecuted. Investors Business Daily writes "it takes some chutzpah for someone such as Frank to suggest that he'll seek prosecutions for those behind the housing and financial crunch," and "For Frank, perhaps more than any single individual in private or public life, is responsible for both the housing market mess and subsequent bank disaster." <ref>[http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=321237362312361 Let The Inquisition Start With Frank] Investors Business Daily, March 6, 2009</ref>

==See also==
*[[Recession of 2008]]
*[[Henry M. Paulson]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frank, Barney}}

[[Category:Jewish People]]
[[Category:United States Representatives]]
[[Category:Homosexuals]]

George Tiller

2009-03-29T20:35:01Z

Breadan43: category change

'''George Tiller''' is the director of Women's Health Care Services in [[Wichita]], [[Kansas]], which is an [[abortion]] clinic specializing in [[late term abortions]]. He is one of the only [[abortionists]] in the United States that performs late term abortions. In 2007, State Attorney General Paul Morrison filed 19 misdemeanor charges against Tiller because of the circumstances regarding his consulting with a second physician in 2003. <ref>http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2007/jul/03/tiller_challenges_kansas_abortion_law/</ref>

==Other Controversies==

Luhra Warren, who used to work for Tiller, has claimed that she had been required to falsify medical records and lie to women over the phone. <ref>http://www.dr-tiller.com/elective.htm</ref>

In 2005, Christin Gilbert, a mentally retarded woman from [[Texas]], died three days after having an abortion at Tiller's clinic. Tiller's clinic was officially cleared of any wrongdoing, but a grand jury was called to investigate. Tiller ended up being cleared of all charges.

A [[citizen-petitioned grand jury]] was impaneled in January 2008 to investigate Tiller, the second such grand jury that has been convened in recent years.

==Miscellaneous==

Tiller was shot in both arms by activist Rachelle Shannon in 1993. Shannon is now serving time in a federal prison in [[California]].

==References==

<References/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tiller, George}}

[[Category:Abortion Advocates]]

Siege of Leningrad

2009-03-18T17:07:09Z

Breadan43:

The '''Siege of Leningrad''' began in September 1941 when [[Nazi]] [[German]] and [[Finnish]] armies surrounded the [[Russian]] city of Leningrad (now [[St. Petersburg]]). During the winter of 1941-42 people in Leningrad began to die in large numbers because the Germans and Finns would not allow food into the city. Many civilians were also killed by German bombing.

Among those caught up in the siege were the family of former Russian President [[Vladimir Putin]]. Putin's grandmother and elder brother died during the siege, his mother nearly died of starvation, and his father was wounded while fighting to defend the city.[http://www.hindu.com/2005/05/09/stories/2005050904811400.htm]

The [[Red Army]] finally broke the siege in January 1944. During the siege 1.2 million people died of starvation caused by the Germans.[http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/24522]

[[Category:War Crimes]]
[[Category:World War II]]
[[Category:Russia]]

Vladimir Putin

2009-03-18T17:05:53Z

Breadan43: /*See also*/

[[Image:Vladtheimpaler.jpg|right|thumb|Vladimir Putin]]
'''Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin''' (''Russian'': Владимир Владимирович Путин) (born October 7, 1952) is the [[prime minister]] of the [[Russian Federation]] (since May 8, 2008). He previously was [[president]] of Russia, assuming that office as acting president on December 31, 1999, the day [[Boris Yeltsin]] resigned from the presidency. Putin was later elected president by approximately 52.94 percent of the Russian electorate on March 26, 2000. He is mainly backed by the [[United Russia]] (''Единая Россия'') party, which currently holds a majority in the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, known as the ''Duma''. The party usually reflects the political views of Putin, which are that of moderate conservatism and nationalism. On March 14, 2004, he was elected to a second term as president with 71 percent of the vote. Barred from a third term by the Russian constitution, Putin ceded the presidency to [[Dmitry Medvedev]] on May 7, 2008.

Putin was born in [[Leningrad]] on [[October]] 7, 1952 and was baptized as an Orthodox Christian and continue to be a member to this day. He was educated in law and economics at Leningrad State University before being assigned to work in the [[KGB]]. After five years in [[East Germany]], he took up various political positions before becoming [[prime minister]] in 1999.

Putin is seen as an antagonist to the West; his presidency has become increasingly authoritarian and opponents are murdered. It is certain that his military alliance with China, his rigged election system, nationalized oil, weapons sales to Iran Venezuala and the invasion of Georgia, are a real threat to a new Cold War. KGB Putin has complete control of Russia's future, as a [[dictator]] would. For example, on April 14, 2007, Russian riot police beat a number of protesters and journalists at an anti-Putin rally at Pushkin Square in [[Moscow]], <ref>''The Economist'', April 21, 2007</ref> and Putin rigged national elections for his party <ref>http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSL03585550._CH_.2400</ref> Despite these political trends, Putin remains popular in Russia<ref>http://www.levada.ru/prezident.html Putin's Approval Ratings</ref>. Since coming to power, Putin has expanded Russia's economy and reduced inflation. <ref>''Time Magazine'', February 26, 2007</ref> The majority of Russians are relatively uninterested in politics outside of issues affecting their personal prosperity. <ref>''The Economist'', April 21, 2007</ref> and journalist [[Anna Politkovskaya]] argued that the Russian people, as a whole, have been willing to tolerate violence in the name of "comfort and peace and quiet". <ref>Politkovskaya, Anna. Putin's Russia. London: Harvill Press, 2004</ref> Politkovskaya, an outspoken critic of Putin, was assassinated in 2006 <ref>http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article1819666.ece</ref>, and it is widely believed that the Russian government had some involvement in this death. There were 13 journalists killed in contract-style slayings during Vladimir Putin's eight-year presidency. <ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,438381,00.html Russian Lawyer in Slain Journalist Case Says She, Family Poisoned] AP, October 15, 2008</ref>

He is married to Lyudmila Putina since July 28, 1983 (former airline stewardess). They have two daughters.

== See also ==

*[[Communism]]
*[[New Economic Policy]]
*[[Siege of Leningrad]]
*[[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]]

==References==
<references/>

==Links==
[http://www.kremlin.ru/articles/V_Putin.shtml Official Putin Biography]
{{DEFAULTSORT: Putin, Vladimir}}

[[Category:Heads of State]]
[[Category:Russian People]]
[[Category:Russian Political People]]

Patrick Buchanan

2009-02-25T18:59:55Z

Breadan43: /*See also*/

'''Patrick Joseph Buchanan''' is a noted [[conservative]] commentator, author, and three-time candidate for [[President of the United States]]. He is currently (2008) employed as a commentator at [[MSNBC]].

==Background==
Pat Buchanan was born November 2, 1938 in [[Washington, D.C.]] to Catherine and William Buchanan. His sister, [[Bay Buchanan]], served as [[U.S. Treasurer]] under the [[Reagan Administration]]. He is a lifelong [[Roman Catholic]]. He earned his bachelor's degree from [[Georgetown University]] in 1961 and his master's degree in journalism from [[Columbia University]] in 1962.

At age 23 he was hired by the ''[[St. Louis Globe-Democrat]]'' as an editorial writer. He was a supporter of the [[Barry Goldwater]] campaign for President in 1964.

In 1965, Buchanan was hired by the law firm of [[Richard Nixon]], and the next year, as a researcher for the Nixon Presidential campaign. Following Nixon's 1968 victory, Buchanan worked as a [[speechwriter]] and White House special assistant for the Nixon Administration and the [[Gerald Ford|Ford]] Administration.

Buchanan became a radio commentator starting in the 1970s, and a regular on ''[[The McLaughlin Group]]'' and [[CNN]]'s ''[[Crossfire]]'' starting in the early 1980s.

Buchanan also served as White House Communications Director during the [[Ronald Reagan]] administration, from 1985 to 1987.

==Presidential campaigns==
Buchanan has run for President three times. In 1992, he sought the [[Republican Party]] nomination against then-President [[George H.W. Bush]]. Many conservatives were alienated from the first Bush administration's policies, especially his reneging on his "read my lips, no new taxes" pledge and his frequent use of the term, "[[New World Order]]" to describe his [[foreign policy]] goals. Buchanan offered conservatives who were disillusioned by the Bush Administration a choice in the 1992 primaries. Buchanan came in a distant second in the primaries but is remembered for his fiery keynote speech at the 1992 Republican convention.

In 1996, Buchanan sought the Republican nomination again, and pulled an upset victory in the [[New Hampshire]] primary. However, after [[Bob Dole]] emerged as the clear favorite after the [[Super Tuesday]] primaries, Buchanan suspended his campaign.

In 2000, Buchanan left the Republican Party and announced his intention to seek the [[Reform Party]] nomination for President. He easily won the Reform Party nomination over his main rival for the nomination, [[John Hagelin]], but carried only about 1/4 of 1% of the votes in the general election, coming in fourth place behind [[George W. Bush]], [[Al Gore]], and [[Ralph Nader]]. Ironically, however, the placement of his name on the [[butterfly ballot]] in Palm Beach County, [[Florida]], probably provided [[George W. Bush]] with his margin of victory due to [[Democratic]] voters mistakenly selecting Pat Buchanan.

==Author==
Since the end of the [[Cold War]], Pat Buchanan has been largely identified with the [[paleoconservative]] wing of the conservative movement. As such he is an opponent of [[free trade]], a critic of mass [[immigration]], and a critic of foreign policy interventionism such as the [[Iraq War]], positions which put him at odds with the [[neoconservative]]s. He has written several books on these and other topics:

* ''Right from the Beginning'' (1988)
* ''The Great Betrayal: How American Sovereignty and Social Justice Are Being Sacrificed to the Gods of the Global Economy'' (1998)
* ''A Republic, Not an Empire: Reclaiming America's Destiny'' (1999)
* ''The Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization'' (2002)
* ''Where the Right Went Wrong: How Neoconservatives Subverted the Reagan Revolution and Hijacked the Bush Presidency'' (2004)
* ''State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America'' (2006)
* ''Day of Reckoning: How Hubris, Ideology, and Greed Are Tearing America Apart'' (2007)
* ''Churchill, Hitler and "The Unnecessary War"'' (2008)

He is also a co-founder and founding editor of ''[[The American Conservative]]'' magazine.

==See also==

*[[Paul Craig Roberts]]

==External Links==
[http://www.Buchanan.org Pat Buchanan's official website]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buchanan, Patrick}}

[[Category:Anti-war Movements]]
[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:Conservative Commentators]]
[[Category:Reform Party Politicians]]

ACLU

2009-02-18T19:07:48Z

Breadan43: /*See Also*/

[[Image:Nghfuyr.png|right|thumb|Current logo of the ACLU.]]

The '''American Civil Liberties Union''' ('''ACLU''') is a [[leftist]], [[secular]]-[[Progressivism|progressive]] [[organization]]. It was run for its first 30 years by an [[United States of America|American]] named [[Roger Baldwin]], who supported communism but later denounced it in his book, ''A New Slavery'', which condemned "the inhuman communist police state tyranny" [http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/unitarians/baldwin.html]. who helped found it in 1920. This organization pursues a [[leftist]] agenda that includes [[censoring]] [[prayer]] and recognition of [[God]] from public institutions, such as [[public schools]].

==Illegal Immigration==

The [[ACLU]] demanded $2.3 million in fees for challenging a law against [[illegal immigration]]. This demand "illustrates the circus the ACLU brought to this case," the Mayor of Hazelton, Pennsylvania said. "They had 20 attorneys sitting in the courtroom at a time, 16 of them doing nothing but running up the bill."<ref>http://www.centredaily.com/news/state/story/194756.html]</ref>

In the Hazleton case the ACLU persuaded a [[federal]] [[court]] to declare a municipal ordinance to be unconstitutional, even though other federal courts have upheld similar laws since then. The Hazleton case is on appeal.

The ordinance defines "illegal aliens", fines property owners for renting to them, fines business owners for hiring them, and bars businesses from selling them merchandise. It also requires government documents to be in English only, and requires documents from residents to city officials to be in English. <ref>ACLU Press Release: Hazleton Residents Sue to Halt Harsh Anti-Immigrant Law, August 15, 2006, retrieved 10/14/08 [http://www.aclupa.org/pressroom/hazletonresidentssuetohalt.htm]</ref>

==Censoring God==
The ACLU often insists that the [[Establishment Clause]] of the [[Constitution of the United States|Constitution]] requires censorship of religious expression. In 2007, for example, the [[ACLU]] of [[Tennessee]] sought to stop prayer and prayer-related activities by the volunteer [[Praying Parents]]. ''Doe v. Wilson County Sch. Sys.'', 524 F. Supp. 2d 964 (M.D. Tenn. Nov. 9, 2007).
[[Image:ACLU and Islam.jpg|left|300px|It All Depends On Whose Church Is Being Separated]]

ACLU chapters frequently sue to compel removal displays of the [[Ten Commandments]] from public property. For example, in ''McCreary County v. ACLU'', 545 U.S. 844 (2005), the ACLU of Kentucky forced two counties to remove displays of the Ten Commandments from their courthouses. In another case ''Glassroth v. Moore'', 229 F. Supp. 2d 1290 (2002) the Alabama chapter sued [[Alabama]] [[Supreme Court]] [[Chief Justice]] Roy Moore to remove a Ten Commandments Monument, with Moore remarking "fearing that I would not obey his order, decided to threaten other state officials and force them to remove the monument if I did not do so". A threat of heavy fines was his way of coercing obedience to that order". In Utah, the ACLU even announced a scavenger hunt for anyone who could find a display of the Ten Commandments monument that the ACLU could demand be removed. The ACLU typically receives substantial legal fees from the government in each of these cases.

In 1994, the ACLU of New Jersey sued Jersey City, New Jersey to challenge a menorah and a Christmas tree at [[City Hall|city hall]]. A federal district judge declared the display to be unconstitutional, but the appellate court, in a 2-1 opinion written by now-Justice [[Samuel Alito]], found a modified display to be constitutional. ''ACLU of New Jersey v. Schundler'' (1999). Then-Judge Alito wrote, "government may celebrate Christmas in some manner and form, but not in a way that endorses Christian doctrine."

In 2007, the ACLU Foundation of Texas filed an [[amicus brief]] for removal of a longstanding monument to William Mosher outside Harris County Civil Courthouse because the statute contained a depiction of an open Bible. ''Staley v. Harris County'', 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 9296 (5th Cir. 2007). The court ruled that Harris County must pay attorneys fees to the [[Americans United For Separation of Church & State]], which often appears along with the ACLU in demanding removal of religious symbols from government property and censoring criticism of evolution in public school.

The ACLU demanded that Los Angeles County remove a tiny cross from the Los Angeles County seal, even though the seal contained nearly a dozen symbols including the Greek goddess Pomona standing on the shore of the Pacific Ocean -- about which the ACLU did not complain. The seal also displayed other California motifs, including the Spanish galleon San Salvador, a tuna fish, a cow, stars representing the movie and television industries, the Hollywood Bowl, oil derricks, and a pair of engineering instruments to represent Los Angeles' contributions to industrial construction and space exploration. The cross was a tiny part of the seal. But Los Angeles County gave into the ACLU's demands and spent $700,000 to censor the cross and replace it on all official government documents, publications and signage.

The ACLU of Louisiana demanded that a school board stop allowing an invocation to be said at the beginning of its meetings. In ''[[Doe v. Tangipahoa Parish School Bd.]]'' (2007), an [[en banc]] [[Fifth Circuit]] dismissed the claim for lack of proof that anyone had been injured or even offended by hearing these invocations.

In the ACLU's quest to attack the Christian religion any chance it gets, they are suing in Alaska courts to remove the property tax exemption from church owned properties. <ref>[http://www.theacru.org/acru/aclu_doesnt_want_to_pay_taxes_expects_churches_to_pay_them/ ACLU Doesn't Want to Pay Taxes; Expects Churches to Pay Them] The American Civil Rights Union</ref>

An Indiana judge has upheld the issuance of license plates bearing the message "In God We Trust," dismissing a constitutional challenge by the ACLU. <ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351721,00.html Indiana Judge Dismisses ACLU Challenge, Upholds 'God' License Plate] AP, April 18, 2008</ref>

The ACLU persuaded the Ninth Circuit to forbid Congress from transferring a cross to private owners who would preserve it in the Mojave Desert, in Buono v. Kempthorne <ref>[http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/5E8062E92D0210668825734D007E25AA/$file/0555852.pdf?openelement UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT] USCOURTS.GOV</ref>

The ACLU enlisted the Courts to have banned the private distribution of Bibles in public school. The federal Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued this ruling for the ACLU. Doe v. S. Iron R-1 Sch. Dist., 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 19818 (8th Cir. Aug. 21, 2007).

The Seventh Circuit ruled against the ACLU by overturning "a lower court's decision that sectarian prayers on the floor of the (Indiana) House violated the constitutional separation of church and state."

The ACLU offers "talking points" in case someone asks why the ACLU hates Christmas so much: Their official response, "We work year-round to ensure that everyone in America has the freedom to practice their own religion (or no religion) and to keep the government out of religion." <ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1686800,00.html No Ho Ho.] Time, November 21, 2007</ref>

A rural school district's long-standing practice of allowing the distribution of Bibles to grade school students is unconstitutional, a federal judge has ruled. For more than three decades, the South Iron School District in Annapolis, 120 miles southwest of St. Louis. The ACLU filed suit two years ago on behalf of four sets of parents. <ref>[http://www.wwrn.org/article.php?idd=27416&sec=36&cont=all Court Ends Bible Distribution in School] AP, January 9, 2008</ref>

==Censoring [[intelligent design|Intelligent Design]]==
In 2004, the ACLU filed [[Selman v. Cobb County School District]].<ref>ACLU: Parents Challenge Evolution Disclaimer In Georgia Textbooks [http://www.aclu.org/religion/schools/16381prs20041112.html]</ref> If the plaintiffs, five parents in the Georgia district, won the case, the school district would have to pay their lawyers. The ACLU argued <ref>ACLU Pretrial Brief in Selman et al v. Cobb County, 11/12/2004 [http://www.aclu.org/FilesPDFs/ACFB940.pdf]</ref> that the district had violated the [[Establishment clause]] of the [[U.S. Constitution]] by putting stickers in biology textbooks that said, "This textbook contains material on [[evolution]]. Evolution is a [[theory]], not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered."<ref>Judge's Decision, Selman v. Cobb County School District[http://news.findlaw.com/cnn/docs/religion/selmancobb11305ord.pdf]</ref> The trial judge ruled in favor of the ACLU <ref>Judge's Decision, Selman v. Cobb County School District[http://news.findlaw.com/cnn/docs/religion/selmancobb11305ord.pdf]</ref>, but his ruling was vacated on appeal.<ref>Appeal Decision, Selman v. Cobb County School District[http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/ops/200510341.pdf]</ref> The case was eventually settled. The school district agreed to remove the stickers, to avoid altering science textbooks or making "any disclaimers regarding evolution", and to teach the state Board of Education's [[core curriculum]], which includes evolution, although that wasn't under dispute in the original suit. In addition, they paid $166,669.12 to Atlanta law firm Bondurant, Mixon & Elmore.<ref>"Agreement Ends Textbook Sticker Case", press release from Cobb County School District including settlement agreement [http://www.cobb.k12.ga.us/news/2006/20061219_StickerAgreement.pdf]</ref> <ref>ACLU: Georgia School Board Drops Defense of Anti-Evolution Stickers[http://www.aclu.org/religion/intelligentdesign/27745prs20061219.html]</ref>

Another example of ACLU litigation was ''[[Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District]].''<ref>Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District:
Decision of the Court, 400 F.Supp.2d 707 (M.D. Pa. 2005) [http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/dover/kitzmiller_v_dover_decision.html]</ref>, also known as the [[intelligent design]] case. The ACLU prevailed in prohibiting administrators from reading a short statement that mentions [[intelligent design]] to students, and forbade the school board from issuing a warning that Darwin's theory has gaps.<ref>''Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District,'' 400 F.Supp.2d 707.</ref> In his opinion, Judge [[John E. Jones III]] heavily relied on the later-vacated ruling in ''[[Selman v. Cobb County School District]]'', and on ACLU briefs.<ref>90% of the section on intelligent design was from the ACLU's briefs. A Comparison of Judge Jones’ Opinion in Kitzmiller v. Dover with Plaintiffs’ Proposed “Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law”, by David DeWolf & John West, Discovery Institute, December 12, 2006
[http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?command=view&id=3829&program=CSC - Views and News]</ref> He also cited the [[Establishment test]], the [[Lemon test]], and the [[reasonable student standard]].<ref>''Kitzmiller,'' 400 F. Supp. 2d at 725 (coming to the conclusion reached in ''Selman'' by the Court's own reasoning), ''compare'' Selman v. Cobb County Sch. Dist, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 13005 (11th Cir. May 25, 2006) at *pincite needed*.</ref> The judge also ordered fees paid to the ACLU and its lawyers, totaling $2,067,000.<ref>''See'' 42 U.S.C. s 1988 (describing relief afforded victorious plaintiff of a 1983 action as including attorney fees).</ref>

==Harming the Boy Scouts==

The ACLU filed a lawsuit to prohibit the federal government from continuing to allow the [[Boy Scouts]], a charitable organization for teenagers, to use an Army base in Virginia for a quadrennial gathering known as the Boy Scout Jamboree; in 2005, more than 40,000 Boy Scouts attended this event.

Although the Boy Scouts have been conducting this Jamboree on government property for 70 years, this lawsuit was not filed until 1999, after the Boy Scouts enforced its policy against having openly homosexual Scout leaders. The theory of the lawsuit was that because Scouts swear an oath of "duty to God," it violates the Establishment Clause for the government to allow this joint project.

A federal district court ruled for the ACLU, but the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit overturned the lower court ruling that the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the suit which will allow the government to continue to sponsor this event for the Boy Scouts.<ref>See [[Essay:Boy Scouts Rout ACLU]]</ref>

== Pornography ==

In [[Ashcroft v. ACLU]] (2004), the ACLU challenged and invalidated the [[Child Online Protection Act]], which would have required pornographers to take reasonable steps to restrict access by minors to porn on the Internet. The Act, which the Supreme Court struck down at the request of the ACLU, did not censor a single word or picture. It merely required the pornographers to screen their websites from minors, which can be done by credit card or other verification.

The ACLU often argues in favor of pornography before courts and administrative boards. Charles Rust-Tierney was an executive for the ACLU of Virginia who argued against the use of Internet filters on the computers at the Loudoun County Library Board:<ref>http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55983</ref>

:"The ACLU of Virginia urges the board to carefully consider a new Internet Use Policy that allows for maximum Internet access ...."

Rust-Tierney, who served as the Virginia ACLU president until 2005, was serving on its board of directors when he was arrested in February 2007 for possession of child pornography that a U.S. magistrate described as "the most perverted and nauseating and sickening type of child pornography" she ever had seen. The former Virginia ACLU president later entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to eight years in jail.<ref>''Ibid.''</ref>

The ACLU also recently forced a Nampa, Idaho public library to return two books to the shelves that many parents have found objectionable. ''The Joy of Sex'' and ''The Joy of Gay Sex'' were the subjects of a two-year legal battle to get them removed after a teenager found one in his home within reach of young children. "''The Joy of Gay Sex'' contains very graphic, leave[s] nothing to the imagination [with] depictions of every variety of homosexual sex imaginable", said Bryan Fischer, one of the litigants to get the books removed. "It even has a chapter in it entitled 'Daddy/Son Fantasies.'" Other chapter titles include "Exhibitionism and Voyeurism," "Fisting," "Sex with Animals," and "Tearooms and Back Rooms." Referring to the ACLU's bullying tactics against the library, Fischer said "It's an abysmal state of affairs when a single letter from cultural thugs can undo two years of patient and pain-staking work." [http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=244332]

==Same-sex Marriage==

The ACLU of New Jersey filed an amicus curiae brief in favor of same-sex marriage in ''Lewis v. Harris'', 188 N.J. 415 (1006). The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in favor of civil unions, but by a 4-3 margin did not require same-sex marriage.

The ACLU sues schools when a student alleges encountering "anti-gay peer harassment and bullying based on his perceived sexual orientation." <ref>http://www.aclu.org/lgbt/youth/28618prs20070221.html</ref> The ACLU holds the school (and hence the taxpayers) liable for actions based on conduct by some students towards others.

The ACLU of Minnesota sued to force the Osseo Area School District to grant equal access to the schools public address (PA) system, yearbook, fundraising and field trips by a pro-homosexual school club named the Straights and Gays for Equality (“SAGE”).<ref>''Straights & Gays for Equality v. Osseo Area Schs.'', 471 F.3d 908 (8th Cir. 2006).</ref> The school district already had a club entitled "Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, Trans-gender, Questioning and Allies," and already had a SAGE club, but SAGE was designated as non-curricular and wanted the additional rights of communication.

The ACLU invoked the Equal Access Act to argue that as long as the school district granted these rights to other clubs, such as cheerleading and synchronized swimming, it must grant these rights to SAGE also. No, the school district argued in defending its action, cheerleading is related to physical education while SAGE is not, and thus SAGE should not have the same rights. However, there were other non phys-ed sports that got funding.

The district court ruled in favor of the ACLU, and the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit unanimously affirmed. The Court ordered the school district to give SAGE the same rights as the cheerleading club. The ACLU will be able to demand substantial attorneys' fees at taxpayer expense.

Similarly, the ACLU of Florida sued the Okeechobee School Board to force it to allow a Gay-Straight Alliance club at Okeechobee High School. Though the school objected to this club as a "sex-based" club, the ACLU persuaded a federal judge to rule in its favor, and it will likely recover substantial attorneys fees at taxpayer expense. See ''Gay-Straight Alliance of Okeechobee High Sch. v. School Board of Okeechobee County'', 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25729 (S.D. Fla. Apr. 6, 2007).

==Conspicuously Absent==

The ACLU is known for going after the [[U.S.]] government with absolutely no evidence to prove otherwise, ACLU v. [[AT&T]] 2007. Though when it comes to actual data breaches and data abuse against a U.S. citizen, '''the ACLU is missing.''' Joe Wurzelbacher, a.k.a. ''Joe the Plumber'', had his personal and confidential records investigated without reason, by Democratic officials in Ohio, "[[Big Brother]]". <ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Nov21/0,4670,JoeThePlumberRecords,00.html 4 more punished over 'Joe the Plumber' searches] Fox News, November 21, 2008</ref> Honest speculation is that the ACLU consists of partisan Democrats and ''Joe the Plumber'' was a [[Republican]], during a presidential election season. Questions remain and we can only guess as to their reasoning, their silence is deafening.

==Abortion==

The ACLU is generally against laws that restrict access to [[abortion]], such as parental notification when a minor seeks an abortion and informed consent for the woman herself. ACLU attorneys have argued several cases in support of abortion. For example, the woman called "Jane Doe" in the [[abortion]] case of ''[[Doe v. Bolton]]'' (1973) says "she was pressured by ACLU attorneys to opt for [[abortion]] and that the case was based on fraud."<ref>http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52210</ref>

==Polygamy==

The ACLU has defended [[polygamy|polygamists]].<ref>During a question-and-answer session after a speech at Yale University, ACLU president Nadine Strossen stated that her organization has "defended the right of individuals to engage in polygamy," [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44977 World Net Daily] June 25, 2005</ref><ref>
The ACLU views freedom of religion and the establishment clause as inseparable: In order for people to have religious freedom, their government must neither endorse nor prohibit any religious position.[http://www.aclu.org/religion/frb/16163prs19990716.html ACLU press release July 16 1999].</ref>

==Free Speech==

The ACLU is the single biggest legal advocate for pornography (see above), claiming that it is a form of [[free speech]]. Less significantly, the ACLU has also helped—or not helped—in the following cases:

*The ACLU rarely defends Christian speech, and virtually never defends speech that is critical of homosexuality. The ACLU was silent with respect to the widely publicized censorship of a T-shirt critical of homosexuality that was worn by student Tyler Chase Harper at his public school. "It's hard to explain the ACLU's apparent equanimity about the violation of Mr. Harper's First Amendment rights—unless you consider the content of his speech. This case does not appear to be anomalous. Despite its professed commitment to religious liberty, for example, the ACLU tends to absent itself from cases on college campuses involving the associational rights of Christian student groups to discriminate against gay students, in accordance with their religious beliefs."<ref>Wendy Kaminer, "The American Liberal Liberties Union," Wall Street Journal (May 23, 2007).</ref> Months ''after'' that stinging criticism, the ACLU filed a carefully worded [[amicus curiae]] brief in subsequent litigation in this case that defended Harper because he "neither substantially disrupted the school nor invaded the rights of other students."<ref>http://www.aclusandiego.org/article_downloads/000293/HarperAmicusDistrictCourtFinal.pdf . Buried in the brief near the end of an argument is the statement that "and because "to allow a [[Day of silence|Day of Silence]] one day while banning Mr. Harper's shirt the next day may give rise to an inference of viewpoint discrimination rather than justified regulation of student speech regardless of viewpoint"—but note that it does not argue that inference of viewpoint discrimination would be correct.</ref>

*In 1978, the ACLU defended the right of the National Socialist Party of America (neo-Nazi) to march through Skokie, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago that is a community of a large number of Jewish people and Holocaust survivors. The U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the village to issue a permit for demonstration to the Nazi Party, which was never used, that was later upheld by the Supreme Court. The ACLU experienced a severe backlash over this case when membership dropped by 25% and plunged the organization $500,000 in debt. <ref> http://openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/1978-2/1978-02-23-NBC-6.html </ref> <ref> http://www.acluprocon.org/ACLUHistory/HistoryTable.html</ref>

*On January 16, 2008, the ACLU issued a statement supporting Sen. Larry Craig(R-ID) to have his guilty plea to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct in a Minnesota airport restroom withdrawn on the basis that a closed bathroom stall is a private location. While not advocating sex in public bathrooms, the ACLU suggested the police have better means of enforcing laws instead of using entrapment. <ref>http://www.aclu.org/freespeech/gen/33697prs20080116.html</ref>

*In September 2000, the ACLU represented the North American Man/Boy Love Association when the parents of Jeffrey Curley, who was raped, tortured and murdered by two men, filed a $200 million federal lawsuit for wrongful death. John Roberts, the executive director of the Massachusetts ACLU stated, ''It's not a real popular case, but the First Amendment issues are clear.'' The case was dismissed on a technicality. A subsequent lawsuit filed against the murderers, who were not represented by the ACLU, was successful. Jeffrey Curley's father, Robert Curley, was sympathetic to the ACLU's opposition to his lawsuit. "I really do have a lot of respect for them, they are very consistent in who they defend. It takes a lot of nerve to defend the groups they have over the years. They have a lot of courage." <ref>http://sidesplitters.catastrophe.net/arch/2002/www.ageofconsent.com/comments/numberfortytwo.htm</ref> <ref>http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0DE0D91530F932A3575AC0A9669C8B63</ref>

*The ACLU has been involved with lawsuits filed against Attorney Generals Reno, Ashcroft and Gonzales when fighting the enforcement of the Child Online Protection Act (COPA). Federal courts have consistently ruled COPA violates the constitutional protection of free speech and have forbidden enforcement by the federal government. The most current ruling on March 22, 2007 is being appealed.<ref> http://www.mediacoalition.org/legal/copa/index.htm </ref>

*In 1949, the ACLU defended Father Arthur Terminiello, an ex-Catholic priest, who gave a speech at a rally in Chicago that was laced with racist, anti-Semitic and anti-Communist comments. Father Terminiello was fined $100 for violating Chicago's breach of peace ordinance. This fine was later reversed by the Supreme Court. <ref> http://www.comm.unt.edu/faculty/terminiello_v.htm</ref> <ref> http://www.aclu.org/studentsrights/expression/12808pub19941231.html</ref>

*The ACLU of Nevada successfully defended the right of a street preacher, Jim Webber, to proselytize his pro-Jesus, anti-sin, and occasional anti-homosexual messages on the Las Vegas strip. The unsuccessful campaign conducted by the casinos failed and allowed Webber and others to stay. Webber is quoted as saying, "the ACLU has been my guardian angel. They have been the ones that have provided the ability for me to stand on the street and talk with people about Jesus Christ." <ref>http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=548951&page=1</ref> <ref>http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Mar-05-Sun-2006/news/6197557.html</ref>

*A pro-Israel student at Columbia University was intimidated by a professor who silenced her rebuttal in class of his claim that the Israelis committed a massacre in Jenin, the ACLU refused to help defend her free speech. Apparently, the ACLU fevorishly defends the free speech for Islam, but Jewish and Christian free speech is irrelevent. <ref>[http://www.conservativetruth.org/article.php?id=449 ACLU Is AWOL On Free Speech] Conservativetruth.org, April 7, 2008</ref>

==Free Exercise Clause==

The ACLU at times defends the religious rights of American citizens and residents. See 'ACLU Defense of Freedom of Religious Practice and Expression' at the ACLU's website for 60 examples of Christians and 45 examples of non-Christians represented by the ACLU to protect their religious rights. <ref> http://www.aclu.org/religion/govtfunding/26526res20060824.html </ref>

On March 14, 2008, the ACLU sent a letter to the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy of Inver Grove Heights Minnesota expressing their disapproval of alleged school sponsored prayer during school hours. Concerns were raised about alleged violations of the establishment clause and the 'Lemon Test' because '… the school is improperly involved in promoting and facilitating after-school religious studies conducted under the auspices of the Mosque that is housed in the same building as the school.' Further inquiries are on-going. <ref> http://www.aclu-mn.org/downloads/LettertoTarekAcademy.pdf </ref> <ref> http://www.aclu-mn.org/home/news/aclumnopensinvestigationof.htm </ref>

==Prisoner and student rights==

In the 2007 case ''Spratt v. Rhode Island Department of Corrections'', the ACLU brought suit against the Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institute following the prison's decision to bar Christian prisoner and lay minister Wesley Spratt from preaching to other inmates during weekly services. The ACLU won the case on appeal, securing the right for Spratt to hold religious services for other inmates so long as these do not conflict with prison security.<ref>ACLU: Appeals Court Overturns Ban on Christian Preacher in Rhode Island Prison (4/9/2007)[http://www.aclu.org/religion/frb/29578prs20070409.html]</ref>

In 2004, student Abbey Moler selected a bible verse to accompany her picture in a school yearbook. The school subsequently removed this text before publication. The ACLU filed suit against the Utica Community School District, on the grounds that this censorship violated Moler's first-amendment rights to free expression and freedom of religion. The case was settled out of court, with the school district agreeing to replace the verse in following prints of the yearbook and correct it by means of a sticker in copies still in its possession.<ref>ACLU: After ACLU Intervention on Behalf of Christian Valedictorian, Michigan High School Agrees to Stop Censoring Religious Yearbook Entries (5/11/2004)
[http://www.aclu.org/studentsrights/expression/12845prs20040511.html]</ref><ref> The settlement between the ALCU and the school district stated:
* The district will place a sticker with Moler's original entry in the copies of the yearbook on file with the school.
* The district has instructed the Stevenson High School yearbook staff not to censor students' yearbook entries solely because they contain religious or political speech that others might find offensive.
* The district recently provided and will continue to provide in-service training and advice to school staff on free speech and religious freedom issues that arise in school.
* The district will write a letter of regret to Moler apologizing for the failure to include her entry in the yearbook.</ref>

==Medical Records==

The ACLU filed a friend-of-the-court brief in favor of the privacy of Rush Limbaugh in his medical records when he was under investigation for 'doctor shopping.' The ACLU argued that the privacy rights of a patient were being violated.<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,108140,00.html</ref>

==Terrorism==

The ACLU has challenged the authority of the President to authorize wireless wiretaps of overseas communications without submitting to judicial oversight. In ''[[ACLU v. NSA]]'', the Court of Appeals for the [[Sixth Circuit]] rejected the ACLU's challenge. <ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,288381,00.html U.S. Appeals Court in Ohio Dismisses Challenge of Bush Administration's Domestic Surveillance Program] AP, July 06, 2007</ref> Then the ACLU appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which was also rejected. <ref>[http://michellemalkin.com/2008/02/19/america-1-aclu-0/ America, 1. ACLU, 0.] Michelle Malkin, February 19, 2008</ref> <ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,331203,00.html Supreme Court Rejects ACLU Challenge to Warrantless Surveillance Program] AP, February 19, 2008</ref> In addition, the following describes the measures the ACLU has taken to weaken America in its fight with terrorists.

* Urging city councils across the United States to be non-compliant with the provisions of the [[Patriot Act]], which is an important tool to keep America safe from terrorism. <ref>[http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6145 ACLU] DiscoverTheNetworks.org</ref>

* Endorsed the Civil Liberties Restoration Act of 2004. Introduced by liberal Democrats in Congress, it is to roll back vital national-security policies that had been adopted after 9/11.

* Consistently opposed to all efforts of the US government to obtain information from terrorists it has captured, and to try [[terrorist]]s as "illegal enemy combatants." <ref>[http://www.theacru.org/acru/aclu_wants_the_us_to_lose_the_war_on_terrorism/ ACLU Wants the US to Lose the War on Terrorism] The American Civil Rights Union, March 15, 2008</ref>

* Lobbied against any policy that would authorize security personnel at airports and border checkpoints to scrutinize travelers from terrorism-sponsoring nations

* Opposes the Computer-Assisted Passenger Profiling System (CAPPS) used by airlines to check for various passenger characteristics that have historically been correlated with terrorist activities

* Condemning the detention of immigrants apprehended in connection with post-9/11 terrorism investigations

* Held rallies on behalf of an Intel software engineer named Maher Mofeid Hawash, who U.S. officials were keeping in custody on suspicion that he had given material support to Taliban and al Qaeda forces fighting American troops in Afghanistan

* Passionately defended Sami Al-Arian, the former North American head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). In an effort to thwart the U.S. government's investigation of Al-Arian's role in funding PIJ suicide bombings in Israel

* Came to the defense of radical attorney Lynne Stewart, who in February 2005 was convicted on charges that she had illegally "facilitated and concealed communications" between her client, the incarcerated "blind sheik" Omar Abdel Rahman, and members of his Egyptian terrorist organization, the Islamic Group, which has ties to al Qaeda

* The ACLU has launched a $8.5 million dollar effort to provide what are supposed to be "top notch" private counsel for the illegal enemy combatants facing military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay. Among those to be provided this assistance is the man who has, apparently, confessed to being the mastermind behind the attacks that took place on 9/11. <ref>[http://www.theacru.org/acru/aclu_aiding_americas_enemies_again/ ACLU Aiding America's Enemies, Again] The American Civil Rights Union</ref> <ref>[http://michellemalkin.com/2008/04/04/the-aclu-assembles-a-terrorist-legal-defense-force-of-extraordinary-magnitude/ The ACLU assembles a terrorist legal defense force of extraordinary magnitude] Michelle Malkin, April 4, 2008</ref>

* ACLU lawyers had been present during interrogations of captured al Qaeda and Taliban enemy combatants who were being detained in Guantanamo Bay. These attorneys advised the inmates that they were under no obligation to answer military interrogators' questions

* ACLU attorney Noel Saleh "openly stated at a town hall meeting with federal officials that he has financially contributed to Hezbollah."

* The INS and the Justice Department instituted a program requiring males visiting the U.S. from Arab and Muslim nations to register with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. The ACLU cried "discriminatory."

* Extremist calls for violent [[jihad]] were not uncommon in America's mosques. An FBI anti-terrorism initiative to count and document all mosques was again met with protests from the ACLU.

The ACLU's affiliations with terrorists are not restricted solely to foreigners. For instance, the organization named unrepentant [[Domestic terrorism|domestic terrorist]] [[Bill Ayers]] to its advisory board along with his wife [[Bernardine Dohrn]].

==Views of the ACLU Founder==

Roger Baldwin, a co-founder of the ACLU and its first leader, was born and raised in Massachusetts. He said that his "social work began in my mind in the Unitarian Church when I was ten or twelve years old, and I started to do things that I thought would help other people.”

In the 1920 and 1930s he was sympathetic to the social goals and aspirations of the emerging communist nations. In 1934, Balwin published his goals in Soviet Russia Today:<ref>The Volokh Conspiracy (blog entry), Eugene Volokh, September 7, 2005 [http://volokh.com/posts/1126138099.shtml]</ref>

:I believe in non-violent methods of struggle as most effective in the long run for building up successful working class power. Where they cannot be followed or where they are not even permitted by the ruling class, obviously only violent tactics remain. I champion civil liberty as the best of the non-violent means of building the power on which workers rule must be based. If I aid the reactionaries to get free speech now and then, if I go outside the class struggle to fight against censorship, it is only because those liberties help to create a more hospitable atmosphere for working class liberties. The class struggle is the central conflict of the world; all others are incidental.

:Proletarian Liberty in Practice

:When that power of the working class is once achieved, as it has been only in the Soviet Union, I am for maintaining it by any means whatever. Dictatorship is the obvious means in a world of enemies at home and abroad. I dislike it in principle as dangerous to its own objects. But the Soviet Union has already created liberties far greater than exist elsewhere in the world. They are liberties that most closely affect the lives of the people — power in the trade unions, in peasant organizations, in the cultural life of nationalities, freedom of women in public and private life, and a tremendous development of education for adults and children. . . .

In 1940 he successfully fought to revise the ACLU charter to prohibit those affiliated with totalitarian organizations from serving on the ACLU board. The immediate target was the former-Wobbly and present Communist Party member, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn.

In 1947 General Douglas MacArthur arranged for Baldwin to serve as a civil liberties consultant in Japan.

==See Also==
*[[NAMBLA]]
*[[Fred Phelps]]
*[[Nadine Strossen]]
*[[Previous Breaking News/ACLU|Articles about the '''ACLU''' from previous "Breaking News" ]]

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

==External Links==
*[http://www.law.ucla.edu/volokh/blog/baldwin.pdf Baldwin speaks in defense of communism from 1934]
*http://www.aclu.org
*Anti-ACLU sites:
**http://www.stoptheaclu.com/
**http://www.aclj.org

{{liberalism}}
[[Category:Liberal Organizations]]

Modern Era Terms S

2009-02-16T19:03:12Z

Breadan43: the Stalingrad Madonna

{{Modern Index}}

[[Anwar Sadat|Sadat, Anwar]]

[[Salt March]]

[[Sandinistas]]

[[Margaret Sanger|Sanger, Margaret]]

[[Jean Paul Sartre|Sartre, Jean Paul]]

[[satellite nation]]

[[Erwin Schrodinger|Schrodinger, Erwin]]

[[scorched-earth policy]]

[[Second Battle of the Marne]]

[[Security Council]]

[[Haile Selassie|Selassie, Haile]]

[[Sharpeville Massacre]]

[[Nawaz Sharif|Sharif, Nawaz]]

[[Yuan Shiakai|Shiakai, Yuan]]

[[Siege of Leningrad]]

[[Siegfried Line]]

[[Sinai Peninsula]]

[[sitzkrieg]]

[[Six-Day War]]

[[Morton Sobell|Sobell, Morton]]

[[Solidarity]]

[[Alexander Solzhenitsyn|Solzhenitsyn, Alexander]]

[[Somme]]

[[soviet]]

[[Soyuz]]

[[space shuttle]]

[[space station]]

[[Spanish Flu]]

[[Soviet Union]]

[[soviets]]

[[SS]]

[[Joseph Stalin|Stalin, Joseph]]

[[The Stalingrad Madonna]]

[[stem cell research]]

[[Storm Troopers]]

[[Igor Stravinsky|Stavinsky, Igor]]

[[Strategic Defense Initiative]]

[[stream of consciousness]]

[[Karl Strecker|Strecker, Karl]]

[[Gustav Stresemann|Stresemann, Gustav]]

[[Sudetenland]]

[[Suez Canal]]

[[Suharto]]

[[Sukarno]]

[[Kim Il Sung|Sung, Kim Il]]

[[Sun Yixian]]

[[surrealism]]

[[Yakov Sverdlov|Sverdlov, Yakov]]

[[Swastika]]

Leon Trotsky

2009-02-15T19:35:19Z

Breadan43: /*See also*/

[[Image:Trockiy2.jpg|right|thumb|Leon Trotsky]]

'''Leon Trotsky''', born '''Leon Davidovich Bronstein''' (1879-1940) was a participant with [[Vladimir Ilyich Lenin|V. I. Lenin]] in the [[communist revolution]] in [[Russia]] in 1917. However, he had previously been a member of the [[Mensheviks]], a communist party that had once been aligned with the [[Bolsheviks]]. They did not believe in actively pursuing revolution, that it would happen when the people were ready, unlike the Bolsheviks who believed that the people needed to be led. From 1904 until 1917 Trotsky had a stormy relationship with Lenin, with him accusing Lenin of wanting to become a dictator. But the two of them resolved their differences in 1917, and after that point arguably Trotsky was totally loyal to Lenin.

Trotsky was the most powerful orator in the Bolshevik party, and due to his numerous spells in jail and his active role in the failed 1905 revolution he was much more famous than Lenin was to ordinary Russians. He was the actual organizer behind the [[October Revolution]], as Lenin was still in exile and so unable to participate.

Trotsky also helped build the [[Red Army]] that defeated the White Russian Army in the subsequent Civil War in Russia, despite having no military experience of any kind.

When Lenin died in 1924, a lengthy power struggle began between Trotsky and [[Stalin]]. Trotsky took the view that socialism in the Soviet Union must await a revolution in western Europe and even worldwide. Stalin wanted power immediately and offered a rival ideology, ''Socialism in one country''. To fend off accusations of becoming the new 'Napoleon', he gave up his command of the Red Army. However Stalin expelled Trotsky from the Bolshevik party in 1927 and exiled him from Russia in 1929.

Trotsky eventually settled in [[Mexico]] in 1937. He was hunted down and murdered at his house, in [[Mexico City]] by an assassin, [[Ramon Mercador]], sent by Stalin in 1940. He was murdered with an ice pick.

One of Trotsky's famous quotes (which also sums up the [[Atheism]] in the Communist Movement) was : "Religions are illogical primitive ignorance. There is nothing as ridiculous and tragic as a religious government."
== See also ==

*[[Karl Marx]]
*[[Vladimir Ilyich Lenin]]
*[[Communist Party]]
*[[Trotskyism]]
*[[neoconservatism]]
*[[Diego Rivera]]
*[[Anna Colloms]]
*[[Elizabeth Zarubina]]
*[[Zalmond Franklin]]
*[[Natalia Sedova]]
*[[Floyd Miller]]
*[[Jacob Epstein (spy)]]
*[[Pavel Sudaplatov]]
*[[Gregory Rabinovich]]
*[[Sylvia Callen]] (4,899 bytes)
*[[Jack Soble]] (2,734 bytes)
*[[Yakov Sverdlov]]
*[[Ruth Wilson]]
*[[Lydia Altschuler]]
*[[Altschuler group]]
*[[Sante Fe Drugstore]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trotsky, Leon}}
[[Category:Russian Political People]]
[[Category:Communists]]

Yakov Sverdlov

2009-02-15T19:31:38Z

Breadan43:

'''Yakov Sverdlov''' was born in 1885 in Nizhny Novgorod to [[Jew]]ish parents. He joined the [[Bolshevik]] party and took part in the Revolution of 1905 which was crushed by [[Tsar]]ist troops. He was imprisoned or exiled until the [[February Revolution]] of 1917. After the [[October Revolution]], he became an important [[Soviet]] government official. In July, 1918, Sverdlov ordered the murder of [[Tsar]] [[Nicholas II]] and his family. The Russian Royal family are now regarded as [[Martyr]]s by the [[Russian Orthodox Church]].

Sverdlov died of [[influenza]] during the Spanish flu epidemic in March, 1919. The city of [[Yekaterinburg]] was renamed to Sverdlovsk in his honor.

==References==
[http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSsverdlov.htm Biography of Yakov Sverdlov]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sverdlov, Yakov}}
[[Category:Communists]]
[[Category:Soviet Union]]

Modern Era Terms P

2009-02-01T21:32:31Z

Breadan43: Jerzy Popieluszko

{{Modern Index}}

[[Palestine Liberation Organization]]

[[Paris Peace Conference]]

[[Pathfinder]]

[[George Patton|Patton, George]]

[[perestroika]]

[[Eva Peron|Peron, Eva]]

[[Juan Peron|Peron, Juan]]

[[Persecution of Christians in the USSR]]

[[Henri Petain|Petain, Henri]]

[[Pablo Picasso|Picasso, Pablo]]

[[Pogrom]]

[[Poison Gas]]

[[Reza Shah Pahlavi|Pahlavi, Reza Shah]]

[[Max Planck|Planck, Max]]

[[Pol Pot]]

[[Politburo]]

[[Pope John Paul II]]

[[Pope Pius XII]]

[[Jerzy Popieluszko|Popieluszko, Jerzy]]

[[Popular Front]]

[[Potsdam Conference]]

[[Francis Gary Powers|Powers, Francis Gary]]

[[proletariat]]

[[President]]

[[PRI]]

[[psychoanalysis]]

[[push-pull factors]]

Brendan Gleeson

2009-01-30T18:01:29Z

Breadan43: new article on Irish actor Brendan Gleeson

'''Brendan Gleeson'''(born 1955) is a successful [[Irish]] actor. He has appeared in films such as ''Braveheart'', with [[Mel Gibson]], and ''In Bruges'', with [[Colin Farrell]]. Gleeson voices the character of the Abbot in ''Brendan and the Secret of Kells'', an Irish [[animated]] film which premieres in 2009.

==External links==
[http://www.cartoonsaloon.ie/ cartoonsaloon website]

[[Category:Irish People]]
[[Category:Actors]]

Jerzy Popieluszko

2009-01-29T18:25:24Z

Breadan43: article on polish priest Jerzy Popieluszko

Father '''Jerzy Popieluszko''' (born 1947) was a Polish [[Catholic]] Priest. Fr. Popieluszko strongly opposed [[Communism]]. In the 1980s he spoke out against the Communist government which then ruled [[Poland]]. On October 19 1984, he was abducted and battered to death by communist secret agents. A quarter million people turned out for his funeral. The secret police who murdered him got only light sentences.

==Reference==
[http://www.nndb.com/people/372/000095087/ www.nndb.com]

[[Category:Persecution of Christians]]
[[Category:Communism]]
[[Category:Poland]]

Katyn Massacre

2009-01-28T19:58:32Z

Breadan43: /*See also*/

The '''Katyń Massacre''' is the name given to the mass murder of 21,768 [[Polish]] army officers and members of the intelligentsia and middle classes by Soviet [[NKVD]] killers at the Katyn Forest in western [[Russia]] and other locations in [[Poland]], [[Belarus]], [[Russia]] and [[Ukraine]]. The killings were directly ordered by [[Stalin]], on the suggestion of his secret police chief [[Lavrenty Beria]], following the Soviet annexation of eastern Poland in 1939. The crime was discovered and announced to the world by the invading [[German]] forces in 1943, and led to the breaking-off of diplomatic relations between the [[London]]-based Polish Government-in-exile and the Soviet Government. The Soviet Union denied responsibility for the murders until 1990.

==See also==
[[Lev Mekhlis]]

[[Category:Crime]]
[[Category:Communism]]
[[Category:World War II]]

Modern Era Terms M

2009-01-28T19:40:17Z

Breadan43: Lev Mekhlis

{{Modern Index}}

[[Sean MacBride|MacBride, Sean]]

[[Machine Gun]]

[[Harry Magdoff|Magdoff, Harry]]

[[Maginot Line]]

[[Manchukuo]]

[[Manfred von Richthofen]]

[[Manhattan Project]]

[[Mao Zedong]]

[[March Revolution]]

[[Ferdinand Marcos|Marcos, Ferdinand]]

[[Marshall Plan]]

[[Marxism]]

[[Marxism-Leninism]]

[[Mau Mau]]

[[May Fourth Movement]]

[[Douglas MacArthur|MacArthur, Douglas]]

[[McDonaldization]]

[[Mein Kampf]]

[[Golda Meir|Meir, Golda]]

[[Lev Mekhlis|Mekhlis, Lev]]

[[Dr. Josef Mengele|Mengele, Dr. Josef]]

[[Nelson Mandela|Mandela, Nelson]]

[[Mensheviks]]

[[Slobodan Milosevic|Milosevic, Slobodan]]

[[Ho Chi Minh|Minh, Ho Chi]]

[[Joseph Mobutu|Mobutu, Joseph]]

[[Hosni Mubarak|Mubarak, Hosni]]

[[multinational corporation]]

[[Munich Conference]]

[[Muslim League]]

[[Benito Mussolini|Mussolini, Benito]]

[[Mustard gas]]

Lev Mekhlis

2009-01-28T19:35:25Z

Breadan43: article on Soviet general Lev Mekhlis

'''Lev Mekhlis''' (1889-1953) was a member of the government of the [[Soviet Union]] and the [[Communist]] Party. He served as a General in [[World War II]]. Mekhlis argued in favor of murdering [[Polish]] army officers and [[Catholic]] Priests in the [[Katyn Massacre]] in 1940.

==Reference==
[http://www.generals.dk/general/Mekhlis/Lev_Zakharovich/Soviet_Union.html www.generals.dk]

[[Category:Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Communists]]

Vistula

2009-01-28T18:48:07Z

Breadan43: new article on the Vistula river in Poland

The '''Vistula''' river is [[Poland]]'s largest and longest river. It rises in the beskidy mountains in southern Poland and flows in a mainly northward direction. It flows through the cities of [[Krakow]] and [[Warsaw]] and empties into the Bay of [[Gdansk]] on the [[Baltic Sea]].

==Reference==
[http://www.warsaw-life.com/poland/river www.warsaw-life.com]

[[Category:Rivers]]
[[Category:Poland]]

Babur

2009-01-19T18:26:41Z

Breadan43: added more info with supporting link

'''Babur''' (1483-1530; reigned 1526-1530) was the founder of the [[Mughal]] Empire in northern [[India]]. He was descended from [[Tamerlane]]. In 1526 he captured [[Delhi]]. On his death in 1530 he was succeeded by his son [[Humayun]].[http://www.edwebproject.org/india/babur.html]

[[Category:Mughal Emperors]]

Tamerlane

2009-01-18T18:43:04Z

Breadan43: changed link

'''Tamerlane''', or '''Timur''', was born in 1336AD to a [[Muslim]] [[turk]]ic family in what is now [[Uzbekistan]]. In 1370, he became leader of his tribe and began a campaign of conquest which lasted for the next 35 years. From 1380 to 1389 he conquered [[Iran]], Mesopotamia(now [[Iraq]]), [[Armenia]], and [[Georgia]], killing hundreds of thousands of people. In 1389 he invaded [[India]]. His army captured [[Delhi]] and Tamerlane ordered the execution of one hundred thousand captured Indian soldiers. In 1402 he defeated the [[Ottoman]] [[Sultan]] [[Bayezid I]]. He died in 1405AD.[http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h13tm.htm]

[[Category:Muslims]]
[[Category:Medieval History]]
[[Category:India]]

Tamerlane

2009-01-18T18:34:24Z

Breadan43: article on Tamerlane

'''Tamerlane''', or '''Timur''', was born in 1336AD to a [[Muslim]] [[turk]]ic family in what is now [[Uzbekistan]]. In 1370, he became leader of his tribe and began a campaign of conquest which lasted for the next 35 years. From 1380 to 1389 he conquered [[Iran]], Mesopotamia(now [[Iraq]]), [[Armenia]], and [[Georgia]], killing hundreds of thousands of people. In 1389 he invaded [[India]]. His army captured [[Delhi]] and Tamerlane ordered the execution of one hundred thousand captured Indian soldiers. In 1402 he defeated the [[Ottoman]] [[Sultan]] [[Bayezid I]]. He died in 1405AD.[http://www.carpenoctem.tv/military/tamerlane.html]

[[Category:Muslims]]
[[Category:Medieval History]]
[[Category:India]]

Modern Era Terms A

2009-01-17T18:47:19Z

Breadan43: Aldrich Ames

{{Modern Index}}

[[Abd al-Aziz Ibn Saud]]

[[Affirmative Action]]

[[Afrika Korps]]

[[Afrikaner]]

[[Bertie Ahern|Ahern, Bertie]]

[[Alexander II]]

[[Alexander III]]

[[Allied Powers]]

[[Al Qaeda]]

[[America]]

[[Aldrich Ames|Ames, Aldrich]]

[[Amritsar Massacre]]

[[Anschluss]]

[[apartheid]]

[[Apollo]]

[[appeasement]]

[[Benigno Aquino|Aquino, Benigno]]

[[Corazon Aquino|Aquino, Corazon]]

[[Yasir Arafat|Arafat, Yasir]]

[[Armistice Day]]

[[Neil Armstrong|Armstrong, Neil]]

[[Aswan Dam]]

[[Atlantic Charter]]

[[Clement Atlee|Atlee, Clement]]

[[Atoll]]

[[Auschwitz]]

[[Axis Powers]]

[[ayatollah]]

Modern Era Terms S

2009-01-17T18:44:52Z

Breadan43: Alexander Solzhenitsyn

{{Modern Index}}

[[Anwar Sadat|Sadat, Anwar]]

[[Salt March]]

[[Sandinistas]]

[[Margaret Sanger|Sanger, Margaret]]

[[Jean Paul Sartre|Sartre, Jean Paul]]

[[satellite nation]]

[[Erwin Schrodinger|Schrodinger, Erwin]]

[[scorched-earth policy]]

[[Second Battle of the Marne]]

[[Security Council]]

[[Haile Selassie|Selassie, Haile]]

[[Sharpeville Massacre]]

[[Nawaz Sharif|Sharif, Nawaz]]

[[Yuan Shiakai|Shiakai, Yuan]]

[[Siege of Leningrad]]

[[Siegfried Line]]

[[Sinai Peninsula]]

[[sitzkrieg]]

[[Six-Day War]]

[[Morton Sobell|Sobell, Morton]]

[[Solidarity]]

[[Alexander Solzhenitsyn|Solzhenitsyn, Alexander]]

[[Somme]]

[[soviet]]

[[Soyuz]]

[[space shuttle]]

[[space station]]

[[Spanish Flu]]

[[Soviet Union]]

[[soviets]]

[[SS]]

[[Joseph Stalin|Stalin, Joseph]]

[[stem cell research]]

[[Storm Troopers]]

[[Igor Stravinsky|Stavinsky, Igor]]

[[Strategic Defense Initiative]]

[[stream of consciousness]]

[[Karl Strecker|Strecker, Karl]]

[[Gustav Stresemann|Stresemann, Gustav]]

[[Sudetenland]]

[[Suez Canal]]

[[Suharto]]

[[Sukarno]]

[[Kim Il Sung|Sung, Kim Il]]

[[Sun Yixian]]

[[surrealism]]

[[Yakov Sverdlov|Sverdlov, Yakov]]

[[Swastika]]

Modern Era Terms B

2009-01-17T18:39:42Z

Breadan43: walter bernstein

{{Modern Index}}

[[Balfour Declaration]]

[[Ahmed Ben Balla|Balla, Ahmed Ben]]

[[Joel Barr|Barr, Joel]]

[[Shamil Basayev|Basayev, Shamil]]

[[Fulgencio Batista|Batista, Fulgencio]]

[[Battle of Dunkirk]]

[[Gallipoli|Battle of Gallipoli]]

[[Somme|Battle of Somme]]

[[Verdun|Battle of Verdun]]

[[Third Battle of Ypres|Battle of Passchendaele]]

[[Bauhaus school]]

[[Bay of Pigs invasion]]

[[The Beatles|Beatles, The]]

[[Menachem Begin|Begin, Menachem]]

[[Bell Act]]

[[Walter Bernstein|Bernstein, Walter]]

[[Benazir Bhutto|Bhutto, Benazir]]

[[Berlin Airlift]]

[[Big Bang]]

[[Osama Bin Laden|Bin Laden, Osama]]

[[Black Shirts]]

[[Black Thursday]]

[[blitzkrieg]]

[[Bloody Sunday]]

[[Niels Bohr|Bohr, Niels]]

[[Bolsheviks]]

[[Bolshevik Revolution]]

[[Bombing of Belgrade]]

[[Max Born|Born, Max]]

[[Leonid Brezhnev|Brezhnev, Leonid]]

[[Aristide Briand|Briand, Aristide]]

[[brinkmanship]]

[[British Commonwealth]]

[[Brownshirts]]

[[Josip Broz|Broz, Josip]] (same as [[Marshall Tito|Tito, Marshall]])

[[burqa]]

Constantine XI

2009-01-17T18:32:37Z

Breadan43: fixing link

'''Constantine XI''' was the last Emperor of the East Roman,(also known as the [[Byzantine]]) Empire. He was born in [[Constantinople]] in 1405. He was crowned Emperor in 1449 A.D. ruling over a mere shell of what was once a great empire. In 1453 [[A.D.]] the [[Muslim]] [[Turkish]] [[Ottoman]] [[Sultan Mehmed II]] laid siege to Constantinople. The Christian defenders were outnumbered by more than ten to one, but they held off all attacks for many weeks. In late May, 1453 A.D. the Turks broke down the city walls with cannons and poured into the city. Thousands of Christians were slaughtered and huge numbers of women and boys were carried into [[slavery]]. The huge Church of the Holy Wisdom ([[Hagia Sophia]]), renowned across several continents, was desecrated and later turned into a [[mosque]] for Islamic worship. Constantine refused to flee from the Muslims and died fighting. He is venerated as a [[Saint]] and [[Martyr]] by [[Eastern Orthodox]] Christians. Going back to [[Augustus]] and the ancient Roman Empire, he was the 138th and last [[Roman Emperor]].

===References===
*[http://rumkatkilise.org/constantineXI.htm Rumkatkilise.org]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Constantine XI}}

[[Category:Byzantine Emperors]]

Cathedral of Christ the Savior

2009-01-17T18:28:34Z

Breadan43: fixing link

The '''Cathedral of Christ the Savior''' in [[Moscow]] was built in honor of [[Jesus Christ]] in thanksgiving for the [[Russia]]n victory over [[Napoleon Bonaparte]]. The design of the Cathedral was inspired by the famous church of [[Hagia Sophia]] in [[Constantinople]]. Building commenced in 1839 and the Cathedral took many decades to build.[http://www.xxc.ru/english/]

After the [[October Revolution]] of 1917, the Russian Christian Church was savagely persecuted by the [[Communist]]s. Huge numbers of clergy and believers were murdered and imprisoned. In 1931, communist minister [[Lazar Kaganovich]] ordered the destruction of the Cathedral. The communists built a swimming pool on the site. Many millions of Christians were murdered in the 1930s by the communists.

Following the collapse of the [[Soviet Union]] in 1991, the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] organised the rebuilding of the Cathedral using donations from the public. Building proceeded rapidly and the new Cathedral was consecrated on [[Transfiguration]] day, 2000AD.

==See also==

[[Lazar Kaganovich]]
[[Category:Christianity]]
[[Category:Russia]]
[[Category:Communism]]

Harry Gold

2009-01-17T14:53:59Z

Breadan43: /*See also*/

{| cellpadding="1" style="float: right; border: 1px solid #8888aa; background: #f7f8ff; padding: 5px; font-size: 85%; margin: 0 15px 0 15px;"
| style="background: #ccf; text-align: center;" | '''This article is part of the''' '''[[Venona project|Venona]]''' '''series.'''
|-
| style="text-align: center;"|[[CPUSA#Secret_apparatus|Secret apparatus]]
|-
| style="text-align: center;"|[[Manhattan Project]]
|-
| style="text-align: center;"|[[Rosenberg ring]]
|-
|style="border-bottom: 1px solid #ccc"|
|-
| style="text-align: center;"|[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Template:Ushistory&action=edit Edit this box]
|}
'''Harry Gold''' (b. December 12, 1910) was a laboratory chemist who was convicted of being the "courier" for a number of Soviet spy rings during the [[Manhattan Project]].

Gold was born in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]] to poor Russian Jewish immigrants. As a young man he became interested in [[Socialism]] which eventually led him to contacts within the [[Communist]] movement.

After leaving school Gold worked for the Pennsylvania Sugar Company as a laboratory assistant. He lost his job in 1932 as a result of the Depression. After a variety of menial jobs, Gold studied chemical engineering at Drexel Institute (1934-36). Gold was recruited into espionage on behalf of the [[Soviet Union]] in 1935 by [[Thomas Lessing Black]]. He eventually found work with Brothman Associates.

In 1940 Gold was activated for Soviet espionage by [[Jacob Golos]], but he was not a recruited agent of the rezidentura. This changed in late 1940 when [[NKVD|Soviet Case Officer ]] [[Semyon Semenov]] appropriated Gold from Golos (Gold confession, KF-AS, p.196). Gold became a formally recruited Soviet agent at this time, and was assigned the covername GUS, or GOOSE. Semyonov remained Gold's control officer until March 1944.

In 1950, [[Klaus Fuchs]] was arrested in England and charged with espionage. Fuchs confessed that while working in the United States during the Second World War he had passed information about the [[atom bomb]] to the [[Soviet Union]]. Though Fuchs would not or could not provide the names of other members of his spy ring, the [[FBI]] was able to use his descriptions to find and arrest Gold.

Under interrogation, Gold admitted that he had been involved in espionage since 1934 and had helped Fuchs pass information about the [[Manhattan Project]] to the Soviet Union by way of Soviet General Consul [[Anatoli Yakovlev]]. Gold's confession led to the arrest of [[David Greenglass]]. His testimony resulted in the arrest, trial and execution of Ethel and [[Julius Rosenberg]], though in later trials he was revealed to be a somewhat unreliable witness.

Harry Gold was sentenced in 1951 to thirty years imprisonment. He was paroled in May 1966, after serving just over half of his
sentence.

==See also==
*[[Bela Gold]]

==Reference==
*Harry Gold testimony, 26 April 1956, part 20, 1020, both in “Scope of Soviet Activity in the United States,” U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act, 84th Cong., 2d sess.
*Robert Lamphere and Tom Shachtman, ''The FBI-KGB War'' (New York: Random House, 1986)
*Williams, Robert Chadwell, ''Klaus Fuchs: Atom Spy'', Harvard University Press 1987 ISBN 0-674-50507-7

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gold, Harry}}
[[Category:KGB Agents and Sources]]

Modern Era Terms C

2009-01-16T19:59:02Z

Breadan43: Cathedral of Christ the Savior

{{Modern Index}}

[[Kirk Cameron|Cameron, Kirk]]

[[Camp David Accords]]

[[Lazaro Cardenas|Cardenas, Lazaro]]

[[Jimmy Carter|Carter, Jimmy]]

[[Cathedral of Christ the Savior]]

[[Nicolae Ceausescu|Ceausescu, Nicolae]]

[[Central Powers]]

[[Neville Chamberlain|Chamberlain, Neville]]

[[Violeta Chamorro|Chamorro, Violeta]]

[[Hugo Chavez|Chavez, Hugo]]

[[chlorofluorocarbons]]

[[Chinese Communist Party]]

[[Vasily Chuikov|Chuikov, Vasily]]

[[Winston Churchill|Churchill, Winston]]

[[CIS]]

[[civil disobedience]]

[[Civil Rights Act]]

[[civil rights movement]]

[[Georges Clemenceau|Clemenceau, Georges]]

[[coalition]]

[[Cold War]]

[[Controversy of the United Nations Troops]]

[[collective farming]]

[[command economy]]

[[commune]]

[[Communism]]

[[Communist Party]]

[[Communist Revolution]]

[[Congress Party]]

[[conlang]]

[[consumerism]]

[[containment]]

[[Contras]]

[[Crimean War]]

[[Czarina Alexandra]]

[[cubism]]

[[Cultural Revolution]]

Cathedral of Christ the Savior

2009-01-16T19:56:36Z

Breadan43: article on Cathedral of Christ the Savior in moscow

The '''Cathedral of Christ the Savior''' in [[Moscow]] was built in honor of [[Jesus Christ]] in thanksgiving for the [[Russia]]n victory over [[Napoleon Bonaparte]]. The design of the Cathedral was inspired by the famous church of [[Hagia Sofia]] in [[Constantinople]]. Building commenced in 1839 and the Cathedral took many decades to build.[http://www.xxc.ru/english/]

After the [[October Revolution]] of 1917, the Russian Christian Church was savagely persecuted by the [[Communist]]s. Huge numbers of clergy and believers were murdered and imprisoned. In 1931, communist minister [[Lazar Kaganovich]] ordered the destruction of the Cathedral. The communists built a swimming pool on the site. Many millions of Christians were murdered in the 1930s by the communists.

Following the collapse of the [[Soviet Union]] in 1991, the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] organised the rebuilding of the Cathedral using donations from the public. Building proceeded rapidly and the new Cathedral was consecrated on [[Transfiguration]] day, 2000AD.

==See also==

[[Lazar Kaganovich]]

[[Category:Russia]]
[[Category:Communism]]

Persecution of Christians in the USSR

2009-01-16T18:30:58Z

Breadan43: making wikilinks

The '''persecution of Christians in the USSR''' has been the result of the violently atheist [[Soviet]] government. In the first five years after the [[October Revolution]], 28 bishops and 1,200 priests were murdered, many on the orders of [[Leon Trotsky]]. When [[Josef Stalin]] came to power in 1927, he ordered his secret police, under [[Genrikh Yagoda]] to intensify persecution of Christians. In the next few years, 50,000 clergy were murdered, many were [[torture]]d, including [[crucifixion]]. "Russia turned red with the blood of martyrs", said Father Gleb Yakunin of the [[Russian Orthodox Church]].[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,150718,00.html] According to Orthodox Church sources, as many as fifty million Orthodox believers may have died in the [[twentieth century]], mainly from persecution by [[Communists]].

[[Category:Persecution of Christians]]

[[Category:Russia]]

[[Category:Communism]]

[[Category:Orthodox Church]]

Modern Era Terms P

2009-01-16T18:29:18Z

Breadan43: pope Pius XII

{{Modern Index}}

[[Palestine Liberation Organization]]

[[Paris Peace Conference]]

[[Pathfinder]]

[[George Patton|Patton, George]]

[[perestroika]]

[[Eva Peron|Peron, Eva]]

[[Juan Peron|Peron, Juan]]

[[Persecution of Christians in the USSR]]

[[Henri Petain|Petain, Henri]]

[[Pablo Picasso|Picasso, Pablo]]

[[Pogrom]]

[[Poison Gas]]

[[Reza Shah Pahlavi|Pahlavi, Reza Shah]]

[[Max Planck|Planck, Max]]

[[Pol Pot]]

[[Politburo]]

[[Pope John Paul II]]

[[Pope Pius XII]]

[[Popular Front]]

[[Potsdam Conference]]

[[Francis Gary Powers|Powers, Francis Gary]]

[[proletariat]]

[[President]]

[[PRI]]

[[psychoanalysis]]

[[push-pull factors]]

Lazar Kaganovich

2009-01-16T18:23:25Z

Breadan43: changing wikilink

'''Lazar Kaganovich''' was born in Kabany, [[Ukraine]] in 1893 into a [[Jewish]] family. He worked as a shoemaker and joined the [[Bolshevik]] Party in 1911. He took part in the [[October Revolution]], and by the 1920s was leader of the party in the Ukraine.

With the support of [[Stalin]], Kaganovich was a member of the [[Politburo]] by 1930. He implemented the plans for collectivisation and destruction of the [[Christian]] Religion in Ukraine by confiscating food from the peasants. This caused a devastating famine in which between seven and thirteen million people died. This famine became known as the "[[Holodomor]]". The [[Soviet]] government covered up the tragedy by falsifying census statistics and forbidding any mention in the press. In December 1931, he ordered the [[Cathedral of Christ the Savior]] to be destroyed. This Cathedral was a great symbol of Russian [[Christianity]]. He was also involved in the [[great purge]]s which ended all opposition to Stalin.

When Stalin died, Kaganovich opposed his successor [[Nikita Kruschev]]. As a result, he was expelled from the Communist Party and forced into retirement. He died in 1991.<ref>http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSkaganovich.htm</ref>

==References==

<References/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaganovich, Lazar}}

==External links==

[http://www.ukemonde.com/genocide/emargolis.htm Remembering Ukraine's unknown Holocaust]

[[Category:Communists]]
[[Category:Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Ukraine]]

Modern Era Terms E

2009-01-16T18:20:47Z

Breadan43: Rahm Emanuel

{{Modern Index}}

[[Amelia Earhart|Earhart, Amelia]]

[[Arthur Eddington|Eddington, Arthur]]

[[Albert Einstein|Einstein, Albert]]

[[Dwight Eisenhower|Eisenhower, Dwight]]

[[Elizabeth II]]

[[Rahm Emanuel|Emanuel, Rahm]]

[[Zhou Enlai|Enlai, Zhou]]

[[Enigma]]

[[Equal Rights Amendment]]

[[ethnic cleansing]]

[[euro]]

[[European Economic Community]]

[[European Union]]

[[existentialism]]

[[expressionism]]

[[external migration]]

Siege of Leningrad

2009-01-15T21:31:38Z

Breadan43: category:War crimes

The '''Siege of Leningrad''' began in September 1941 when [[Nazi]] [[German]] and [[Finnish]] armies surrounded the [[Russian]] city of Leningrad (now [[St. Petersburg]]). During the winter of 1941-42 people in Leningrad began to die in large numbers because the Germans and Finns would not allow food into the city. Many civilians were also killed by German bombing.

Among those caught up in the siege were the family of former Russian President [[Vladimir Putin]]. Putin's elder brother died during the siege, his mother nearly died of starvation, and his father was wounded while fighting to defend the city.[http://www.hindu.com/2005/05/09/stories/2005050904811400.htm]

The [[Red Army]] finally broke the siege in January 1944. During the siege 1.2 million people died of starvation caused by the Germans.[http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/24522]

[[Category:War Crimes]]
[[Category:World War II]]
[[Category:Russia]]

Bombing of Belgrade

2009-01-15T21:29:32Z

Breadan43: category:War crimes

The '''Bombing of Belgrade''' (codenamed ''Operation Punishment'') began on April 6 1941 and continued for several days. The bombing of Belgrade, which was then the capital of [[Yugoslavia]], was carried out by the [[German]] [[Luftwaffe]] on the orders of [[Adolf Hitler]]. Thousands of people, mainly civilians, were killed in the bombing.

After the war, Luftwaffe General Alexander Lohr, who had commanded ''Operation Punishment'' was convicted of [[war crimes]]. He was executed in [[Belgrade]] in 1947.[http://www.serbianna.com/columns/savich/081.shtml] Belgrade is now the capital of [[Serbia]].
[[Category:War Crimes]]
[[Category:World War II]]
[[Category:Serbia]]

Rahm Emanuel

2009-01-15T21:24:40Z

Breadan43: info on his voting record with supporting reference

'''Rahm Israel Emanuel''' (b. 1959) is a Democrat who has represented [[Illinois]]' 5th Congressional District in the House of Representatives since 2003. Prior to his election to Congress, he had worked in the Clinton White House from 1993-1998, first serving as Assistant to the President for Political Affairs, and then Senior Adviser to the President for Policy and Strategy. He will be US President-elect [[Barack Obama]]'s Chief of Staff starting in January, 2009.

Representative Emanuel is [[Jewish]]. He and his wife Ann have three children:, Zacharias, Ilana, and Leah. Emanual has a bachelor's degree from [[Sarah Lawrence College]] (1981), and a master's degree in speech and communication from [[Northwestern University]] (1985). Emanuel's father, Dr. Benjamin M. Emanuel, was born in [[Jerusalem]]. Representative Emanuel has a 100% pro-abortion voting record, according to [[NARAL]].[http://www.ontheissues.org/IL/Rahm_Emanuel.htm]
[[Category:United States Representatives]]