Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Template:User:DorMouse/sig

2012-04-17T03:11:41Z

DorMouse: my sig

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*[[Special:Contributions/DorMouse|Contribs]]
*[[user talk:DorMouse|talk]]
*[[Special:Log&user=DorMouse|log]]
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2012-04-16T23:12:16Z

DorMouse:

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2012-04-16T23:12:04Z

DorMouse: Created page with "|} <noinclude>This is part of the Trolltop template. Simply use this to end the post."

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Void for vagueness

2012-04-15T02:26:26Z

DorMouse: Undo revision 975871 by TMartin (talk)

'''Void for vagueness''' is a legal argument often made to invalidate laws that disfavor [[abortion]]. "Void for vagueness" generally applies only to criminal statutes, but it is often used to declare unconstitutional non-criminal, ''civil'' laws against abortion.

The [[U.S. Supreme Court]] held in an abortion decision that "the void-for-vagueness doctrine" requires that laws prohibit something only "with sufficient definiteness that ordinary people can understand what conduct is prohibited" while providing enough sufficient standards that it "does not encourage arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement." ''[[Gonzales v. Carhart]]'', 550 U.S. 124, 149 (2007). "The degree of vagueness that the Constitution tolerates ... depends in part on the nature of the enactment," with greater tolerance for statutes imposing civil penalties and those tempered by scienter requirements. ''Village of Hoffman Estates v. Flipside, Hoffman Estates, Inc.'', 455 U.S. 489, 498-99 (1982).

But our laws need not have "mathematical certainty from our language." ''Hill v. Colorado'', 530 U.S. 703, 733 (2000) (quoting ''Grayned v. City of Rockford'', 408 U.S. 104, 110 (1972)). Moreover, "speculation about possible vagueness in hypothetical situations not before the [c]ourt will not support a facial attack on a statute when it is surely valid 'in the vast majority of its intended applications.'" ''Hill'', 530 U.S. at 733 (internal citation omitted). ''See also Am. Commc'ns Ass'n, C.I.O. v. Douds'', 339 U.S. 382, 412 (1950).

If there is any reasonable interpretation to the statute, then it is constitutional. The ''Gonzales'' court held that "the elementary rule that every reasonable construction must be resorted to, in order to save a statute from unconstitutionality." ''Gonzales'', 550 U.S. at 153.
[[Category:abortion]]
[[Category:abortion legal arguments]]

Glenn Beck

2012-04-15T02:26:24Z

DorMouse: Undo revision 975872 by TMartin (talk)

[[Image:Beck Glenn Fox.jpg|thumb|right|200px]]
'''Glenn Beck''' is a [[conservative]] [[libertarian]] talk-radio host and former television anchor who was employed by [[Fox News]].<ref> [http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/tv_fox_beck_cnn/2008/10/16/141295.html Glenn Beck Leaving CNN for Fox News] AP, October 16, 2008</ref> <ref>[http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/06/entertainment/et-foxnews6 Fox News' Glenn Beck strikes ratings gold by challenging Barack Obama] p.3 </ref>
His radio show, The Glenn Beck Program, is syndicated by over 230 radio stations across the [[United States]]. His television show, Glenn Beck, appeared daily on [[CNN]] Headline News, before he switched to FOX.

Beck is the author of five books, including ''The Real America: Messages from the Heart and Heartland'' and three #1 New York Times Bestsellers, ''An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World's Biggest Problems,'' ''The Christmas Sweater,'' ''Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government,'' ''Arguing With Idiots,'' and most recently ''Broke: The Plan to Restore Our Trust, Truth, and Treasure''.

Beck is a [[Mormon]], having converted after recovering from [[alcoholism]].<ref>Glenn Beck. (2008). An Unlikely Mormon: The Conversion Story of Glenn Beck [DVD]. Deserest Book.</ref>

Beck is currently the host of a paid-subscription online network, GBTV, which has several programs including a two-hour version of his Fox News show.
== Earnings and Book Deal ==
[http://www.businessinsider.com BusinessInsider.com] estimated Beck will make $18 million in 2009<ref>[http://www.businessinsider.com/the-empire-of-glenn-beck-slideshow-2009-4 Glenn Beck's Cash Machine]</ref> Now with the signing of his new book deal with [[Simon & Schuster]], he will be given a larger share in the profits of each book, as well as increased creative control.<ref>[http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124138941245781353.html Wall St. Journal; New Deal Gives Beck Share in Book Profits]</ref>

In addition to several volumes of political commentary, Beck has also written a novel, [[The Overton Window]], published in 2010.

==Controversies==
Liberal activism groups attempted to silence Beck by pushing his advertisers to abandon his program, after he alleged that [[Barack Obama]] is [[racism|racist]] against white people, and that he [[hate|hates]] white culture. This prompted "RedState" to defend Beck and call for a boycott of the advertisers on his show who were hoodwinked into boycotting it by the liberal elite.

The publicity over the attempts on Beck's popularity achieved a result that the liberals cannot have intended: Beck was featured on the cover of [[Time]] magazine, and in a final insult to liberal pride; he is depicted sticking his tongue out at the reader. Beck, however, was less than pleased with the Time cover: He stated that ''Time'' ought to have featured the large crowds attending the [[September 12 March on Washington]] and not him on its cover.

On August 28th, 2010, Glenn Beck hosted his Restoring Honor to America rally at the [[Lincoln Memorial]]. [[Google]] attempted to mislead attendees by changing its location in ''Google Maps'' to the Roosevelt Memorial days before the rally.

On June 27th, 2011, Glen Beck and his wife were attacked by liberal hooligans in New York City's Bryant Park. [http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/06/new_yorkers_turned_on_glenn_be.html]

== Known favorite associations ==
Beck frequently had Judge [[Andrew Napolitano]] as a guest on his Fox program. Judge Napolitano even hosted the show himself when Beck was on assignment.

== 9/12 Project ==
In 2009, Beck launched the 9/12 project, a project aimed at recovering America's Christian founding values, closely allied with the [[Tea Party Movement]]. On September 12, 2009 (9/12), a massive Taxpayer March on Washington was accomplished, with hundreds of thousands of attendees, and was roundly censored by the [[liberal media]].

===The Project's 9 Principles, 12 Values===

The 9 Principles:
# America Is Good.
# I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.
# I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.
# The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
# If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
# I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
# I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
# It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.
# The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.

The 12 Values:
Honesty, Reverence, Hope, Thrift, Humility, Charity, Sincerity, Moderation, Hard Work, Courage, Personal Responsibility, Gratitude

==June 2011==
June 30th was Glenn Beck's last show on Fox News, breaking all records for his timeslot. He is investing his future in an internet program with a different format. Beck's show on Fox was replaced by "The Five".

Between the time he left Fox and The Five started, Beck reruns were played. To add to liberal's disgust, Beck reruns handily won the ratings time slot over CNN and MSNBC. <ref>[http://www.theblaze.com/stories/beck-reruns-beat-cnn-msnbc/ ONE WEEK AFTER LEAVING FOX NEWS, BECK RE-RUNS STILL WINNING TIME SLOT, The Blaze, July 9, 2011]</ref>

==See Also==
* [[Restoring Honor Rally]]
* [[Fox News]]
* [[Broke: The Plan to Restore Our Trust, Truth, and Treasure]]
* [[The Overton Window]]

==External References==
* [http://www.gbtv.com GBTV]
* [http://www.the912project.com/ 9/12 Project website]
* [http://www.glennbeck.com/home/index.shtml Glenn Beck's personal site]
* [http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Nov09/0,4670,APonTVPostElection,00.html Glenn Beck jumps from CNN to Fox News]

==References==
<references/>
{{DEFAULTSORT: Beck, Glenn}}
[[Category: Broadcasters]]
[[Category: Television]]
[[Category: Conservative Commentators]]
[[Category: Media personalities ]]
[[Category: Conservatives]]
[[Category:The 100 Americans The Left Hates Most]]

{{Conservatism}}

User talk:JamieM

2012-04-13T03:40:39Z

DorMouse:

{{welcome|sig=--[[User:JamesWilson|James Wilson]] 20:07, 16 November 2011 (EST)}}

=="Revert Liberal Whitewashing"==
I really think that [http://conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Barack_Hussein_Obama&curid=65751&diff=975371&oldid=975306 this edit] was not done in good faith. It has already been reverted. Please make sure that what you post must be '''verifiable'''. We are an Encyclopaedia, not a soapbox for fringe opinions. Thank you,
[[User:DorMouse|DorMouse]] 23:40, 12 April 2012 (EDT)

Template:User:Dormouse/bourbon dynasty

2012-04-11T02:47:27Z

DorMouse:

<center>
{{PAGENAME}} is a member of the Bourbon Dynasty
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Bourbon Dynasty ->
! Bourbon Dynasty ->
! Bourbon Dynasty ->
|-
| [[Louis IX]]
| [[Robert, Count of Clemont]]
| [[Louis I, Duke of Bourbon]]
|-
| [[Antione de Bourbon]]
| [[Charles, Duke of Verboné]]
| [[Henry IV of France]]
|-
| [[Louis XII]]
| [[Louis XIII]]
| [[Louis XIV]]
|-
| [[Louis XV]]
|[[Louis XVI]]
|[[Louis XVII]] Minor Dauphin
|-
| [[Louis XVIII]] Technical King, for 20 minutes
| [[Charles X]]
| Line goes extinct in France
|}
</center>

<noinclude>
This template is for pages on members of the Bourbon Dynasty of France. Simply paste in <nowiki>{{Template:User:Dormouse/bourbon dynasty‎}}</nowiki> at the bottom of a page.

[[Category:History]][[Category:France]]
</noinclude>

Paul Hill

2012-04-11T02:46:22Z

DorMouse: grammar, added his views

'''Paul Jennings Hill''' (born in February 6, 1954) was a radical pro-life activist. He was [[death penalty|executed]] in [[Florida]] for fatally shooting an [[abortion]] partitioner named Dr. [[John Britton]], a abortion provider, on July 29, 1994 in Pensacola, Florida.<ref>http://www.rickross.com/reference/a-abortion/a-abortion7.html</ref> and was executed on September 3, 2003 under the governance of Jeb Bush.

==Criticism and Controversy==
The majority of the [[pro-life]] movement condemns him. A few do support him such citing him to be a [[Dietrich Bonhoeffer]] among these is Rev. [[Michael Bray]] and [[David Miller]]. The climax of the controversy was at his execution when dozens of death penalty protesters and radical antiabortionists protested together. The sky actually became darkened and began to thunder shortly before his funerals which many radical anti-abortionist cited as the wrath of [[God]] for his execution. Among the movement to stop his execution was John Briton's step daughter who said such violence solves nothing.This is the last words of Paul Hill:"The last thing I want to say: If you believe abortion is a lethal force, you should oppose the force and do what you have to do to stop it. May God help you to protect the unborn as you would want to be protected."<ref>http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/hill873.htm</ref>

==Paul Hills Early Life==
As a teenager Paul Hill was part of the counter-culture he was arrested by the police for drug charges by a warrant signed by his own father. He underwent treatment for drugs soon after that. He continued living a wild lifestyle until he met a stranger who told him to accept the Lord though he fought nothing of it then he later accepted the Lord that night. He stopped doing drugs immediately after his conversion. He later attended a [[Christian]] [[Liberal arts college]] where he read the [[Bible]] at four a.m. two or three hours each day. He mingled well with his non-Christian friends just as well as he did before. He later joined Reformed Theological Seminary and subsequently became a preacher of two churches. He accepted a belief in Theonamy--the belief that God's law supersedes government laws.He was inspired by Michael Griffin the first protester to kill an abortion doctor. He soon was removed from the ministry for his radical personal beliefs. Ayear later he shot the abortion doctor<ref>http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/hill873.htm</ref> <ref>http://www.fadp.org/news/PensacolaNewsJournal-20030824.htm</ref> In jail he continued to be involve with radical antiabortionist and wrote a book entitled "Mix my Blood with the Unborn".<ref>http://www.armyofgod.com/Paulhillindex.html</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
*[http://http://www.armyofgod.com/Paulhillindex.html Paul Hill's Book]
*[http://http://s155777461.onlinehome.us/docs/html/gnlg/gnlg.html Letter's to Paul Hill]
*[http://www.paulhillmemorial.com/ Paul Hill Memorial][http://http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/hill873.html Prosecution and records]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Paul}}
[[Category:Criminals]]
[[Category:Right to Life Movement]]

User talk:Stairmaster

2012-04-11T02:42:43Z

DorMouse: /* Family values */ new section

{{welcome|sig=--[[User:JamesWilson|James Wilson]] 09:51, 9 December 2011 (EST)}}

== [[Family values]] ==

I have reverted your [http://conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Family_values&action=historysubmit&diff=974869&oldid=955900 edit] at Family values, because I think you were not doing it in good faith. Parody is a blockable offense; we are an encyclopedia, uncyclopedia. Keep that in mind next time.[[User:DorMouse|DorMouse]] 22:42, 10 April 2012 (EDT)

Family values

2012-04-11T02:40:57Z

DorMouse: Undo revision 974869 by Stairmaster (talk) I smell parody

'''''Family values''''' refers to a set of common beliefs held by those who believe the [[family]] is the cornerstone of society. It is a phrase most often associated with [[United States of America|American]] [[conservative]]s.

Family values often overlap with [[conservative]] or [[small town values]] and include:
* Strong emphasis on the sanctity of [[marriage]]
* Opposition to [[homosexual]] indoctrination
* [[Pro-life]] beliefs
* Belief in the importance of religion and [[prayer]] in everyday life
* An emphasis on truth and [[humility]]
* An emphasis on hard-work and strong personal character
* An emphasis on personal responsibility
* Belief that parents, and not [[government]], know what is best for their children
* Emphasis on self reliance, as opposed to government handouts
* Respect for historical precedence and longstanding values

Those who do not agree with these family values sometimes mock those who hold them, even going so far as to call values-holders [[racist]] or [[redneck]]s.

[[Category:Conservative]]
{{Conservatism}}

Paul Hill

2012-04-11T02:39:02Z

DorMouse: reflist. PROTIP:type in {{reflist}} when you create a references section. It prevents silly errors from popping up. Also, links simply jammed under references don't count. They should be inline refs.

'''Paul Jennings Hill''' (born in February 6, 1954) was [[death penalty|executed]] in [[Florida]] for fatally shooting an [[abortion]] partitioner named Dr. [[John Britton]], a self-proclaimed [[atheist]], on On July 29, 1994 in Pensacola, Florida.<ref>http://www.rickross.com/reference/a-abortion/a-abortion7.html</ref> and was executed on September 3, 2003 under the governance of Jeb Bush.

==Criticism and Controversy==
The majority of the [[pro-life]] movement condemns him. A few do support him such citing him to be a [[Dietrich Bonhoeffer]] among these is Rev. [[Michael Bray]] and [[David Miller]]. The climax of the controversy was at his execution when dozens of death penalty protesters and radical antiabortionists protested together. The sky actually became darkened and began to thunder shortly before his funerals which many radical anti-abortionist cited as the wrath of [[God]] for his execution. Among the movement to stop his execution was John Briton's step daughter who said such violence solves nothing.This is the last words of Paul Hill:"The last thing I want to say: If you believe abortion is a lethal force, you should oppose the force and do what you have to do to stop it. May God help you to protect the unborn as you would want to be protected."<ref>http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/hill873.htm</ref>

==Paul Hills Early Life==
As a teenager Paul Hill was part of the counter-culture he was arrested by the police for drug charges by a warrant signed by his own father. He underwent treatment for drugs soon after that. He continued living a wild lifestyle until he met a stranger who told him to accept the Lord though he fought nothing of it then he later accepted the Lord that night. He stopped doing drugs immediately after his conversion. He later attended a [[Christian]] [[Liberal arts college]] where he read the [[Bible]] at four a.m. two or three hours each day. He mingled well with his non-Christian friends just as well as he did before. He later joined Reformed Theological Seminary and subsequently became a preacher of two churches. He accepted a belief in Theonamy--the belief that God's law supersedes government laws.He was inspired by Michael Griffin the first protester to kill an abortion doctor. He soon was removed from the ministry for his radical personal beliefs. Ayear later he shot the abortion doctor<ref>http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/hill873.htm</ref> <ref>http://www.fadp.org/news/PensacolaNewsJournal-20030824.htm</ref> In jail he continued to be involve with radical antiabortionist and wrote a book entitled "Mix my Blood with the Unborn".<ref>http://www.armyofgod.com/Paulhillindex.html</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
*[http://http://www.armyofgod.com/Paulhillindex.html Paul Hill's Book]
*[http://http://s155777461.onlinehome.us/docs/html/gnlg/gnlg.html Letter's to Paul Hill]
*[http://www.paulhillmemorial.com/ Paul Hill Memorial][http://http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/hill873.html Prosecution and records]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Paul}}
[[Category:Criminals]]
[[Category:Right to Life Movement]]

Template:User:Dormouse/bourbon dynasty

2012-04-10T02:44:44Z

DorMouse:

Template:User:Dormouse/bourbon dynasty

2012-04-10T02:24:15Z

DorMouse:

<center>
{{pagename}} is a member of the Bourbon Dynasty
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Bourbon Dynasty ->
! Bourbon Dynasty ->
! Bourbon Dynasty ->
|-
| [[Louis IX]]
| [[Robert, Count of Clemont]]
| [[Louis I, Duke of Bourbon]]
|-
| [[Antione de Bourbon]]
| [[Charles, Duke of Verboné]]
| [[Henry IV of France]]
|-
| [[Louis XII]]
| [[Louis XIII]]
| [[Louis XIV]]
|-
| [[Louis XV]]
|[[Louis XVI]]
|[[Louis XVII]] Minor Dauphin
|-
| [[Louis XVIII]] Technical King, for 20 minutes
| [[Charles X]]
| Line goes extinct in France
|}
</center>

<noinclude>
This template is for pages on members of the Bourbon Dynasty of France. Simply paste in <nowiki>{{Template:User:Dormouse/bourbon dynasty‎}}</nowiki> at the bottom of a page.</noinclude>

Louis XIV

2012-04-10T02:21:09Z

DorMouse:

[[Image:LouisXIV.jpg|thumb|300px|right|King Louis XIV of France and Navarre, by [[Hyacinthe Rigaud]]]]
'''Louis XIV''' (1638-1715), the "The Sun King" (''Roi soleil''), was the king of [[France]] from childhood to old age, 1643 to 1715. He ruled France as an absolute monarch--"l'état, c'est moi" ("I am the state."). He was famous for his lavish entertainments at the [[Palace of Versailles]] near [[Paris]]. He ruled the most powerful and grandiose nation in Europe. His 72-year reign, the longest in French history, was superficially splendid but basically disastrous for France because of expensive foreign wars. His France dominated European cultural and political affairs. Louis typified the absolute monarchy of the Neoclassical age, established a sumptuous court at [[Versailles]], and fought most of Europe in four wars. Louis XIV dominated French culture by gaining international recognition of French arts, literature, and science, drastically transformed medieval France and introduced a more refined, sophisticated style of life.

==Early Life==
Louis XIV was born to [[Louis XIII]] and [[Anne of Austria]] at the royal Château Saint-Germain-en-Laye on September 5, 1638 and was christened Louis Dieudonné ("gift of God"}, as his parents had been childless for twenty-two years. Even so, he was a neglected child and was kept under the care of servants. He succeeded his father on the throne at the age of four on May, 14 1643. His mother, Anne of Austria (a Spanish Hapsburg), served as a regent, ruling France in his place with the assistance of Italian-born Cardinal [[Mazarin]], who had been chief minister and tutor of five-year-old Louis. In 1648, the [[Thirty Years' War]] was brought to a successful conclusion in the [[Peace of Westphalia]] by Mazarin. The treaty ensured Dutch independence from [[Spain]] and the independence of German princes in the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. But France gained the most out of the treaty. All [[Habsburg]] claims in Alsace were ceded to France, as well as German states under Habsburg rule. The Peace of Westphalia severely weakened both the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburgs. In the closing years of the Thirty Years' War, the [[Fronde]] (1648-53) broke out, in which the aristocrats of Paris launched a major revolt in reaction the policies of centralization pursued by [[Cardinal Richelieu]] and Mazarin. The royal court was twice driven out of the kingdom. Louis, nine-years-old at the time, faced hunger, poverty, fear, and misfortune during the revolts. The revolts caused the young king to develop a fear of rebellion that he would keep for the rest of his life. He also would never forgive Paris and the nobles and would live in the royal palace of Versailles outside of Paris for much of his reign.

Mazarin, having been victorious over the rebels in 1653, sought to teach the young king his knowledge of foreign policies and diplomatic relations. The [[Thirty Years' War]] had ended for the most part, except for the war between France and Spain, whose outcome would transfer hegemony from the Habsburgs to the Bourbons. In 1658, Louis had fallen in love with Mazarin's niece, Marie Mancini. But he instead married for diplomatic reasons, marrying Marie-Thérèse, daughter of the king of Spain, in 1660 in order to bring peace to the two warring countries and conclude the [[Treaty of the Pyrenees]].<ref>John Wolf, ''Louis XIV'' (1968) p 117-8 </ref>

Louis XIV married Marie Therese of Spain.

==Absolute Monarchy==
By the time [[Mazarin]] died in early 1661, Louis had become an astute military commander. He prided himself as an excellent horseman, a great dancer, and a lively conversationalist. Yet the king possessed little skill in governing and it was expected for Mazarin to most likely be succeeded by minister Michel Le Tellier. But Louis did what nobody had anticipated and declared that he would rule France without a chief minister and would rule as an absolute monarch. His reign represented the
apogee of centralized monarchical government; all his ministers paled in comparison with the regal figure of the king, who summed it up in the statement, "I am the state" ("L'Etat c'est moi").<ref> Louis probably never said it; his enemies claimed he did.</ref> State power under Louis achieved new stage of control over three critical administrative functions: use of armed force, formulation and execution of laws, and collection and expenditure of revenue.

Louis wielded unlimited authority and made all key decisions. Even the greatest of ministers were controlled by the king. His key ministers included [[Jean-Baptiste Colbert]] for home affairs, the Marquis de Louvois for war, and Hugues de Lionne for diplomacy.<ref>John Wolf, ''Louis XIV'' (1968) pp 133-43 </ref>

Louis created a system of secret police to promote his popularity and hunt down subversives. He created a thicker network of surveillance and repression than his predecessors or any other contemporary ruler, when, in 1667, he created a lieutenant-general of police in Paris. (Previously the Parlement of Paris controlled the police.) By 1699 Louis had established the same system in all major cities, with the police reporting directly to him and not to local officials. In rural France he mounted a national police constabulary, the maréchaussée. At the least sign of revolt, Louis sent his police or his army. Thus the 1670 peasant uprisings in the Boulonnais and Languedoc were swiftly crushed. Thereafter no serious revolts threatened, even though the country periodically suffered devastating famines in the final two decades of his reign.<ref>W. Scott Haine and Frank W. Thackeray, ''The History of France''(2000) p. 57.</ref>

Louis accession to power is sometimes described as the first moment of aristocratic subjugation. In fact, the reign largely restored a stability that was lost by the great families during the administrations of Richelieu and Mazarin. Louis acted as a scrupulous regulator in distributing provincial governments and crown offices. He consolidated, rather than demolished, the social domination and the political preeminence of the high nobility. In this way, 1661 is really a great divide, the beginning of a more peaceful relationship, which explains the end of serious aristocratic uprisings.<ref>Katia Béguin, "Louis XIV et l'aristocratie: Coup de Majeste ou retour a la Tradition?" ''Histoire, Economie et Société'' 2000 19(4): 497-512. Issn: 0752-5702 </ref>

Everyone understood that the king made all the decisions; his generals understood this too well. While never opposing the king's ideas, from 1675 through the 1690s they subtly selected what information to present and how to present it, so that the king and his advisers would be manipulated to follow the thinking of the generals.

Beik (2005) examines differing historical theories concerning the limits of power of Louis XIV as an absolute monarch. In the 1970s, the dominant historiography concluded Louis' government was a form of collaboration between the king and various groups. One view of collaboration stressed the common interests of the state and other groups in society. Another perceived the collaboration as arising from the necessity of the state to cooperate with local authorities due to a lack of general interest on the part of the king. However, a minority of historians since the late 1980s have challenged the consensus and argued that there was little collaboration between the king and other powerful entities. These historians<ref> Including John J. Hurt, ''Louis XIV and the Parlements: The Assertion of Royal Authority'' (2004)</ref> argue that the majority of the decisions affecting the country were made by either the king or one of his appointed agents. Although this alternative interpretation sheds new light on the working of the French state, Beik concludes it fails to consider the substantial evidence of collaboration.For example, much more money was urgently needed because of the War of the Spanish Succession. The king obtained it by selling judicial offices. This alarmed the parlementaires, who feared a loss in value of their own holdings. The complex negotiations between the king and these nobles reveal that the practice of absolutism in the king's late reign was neither all collaboration nor all coercion.<ref> Darryl Dee, "Judicial Politics, War Finance and Absolutism: the Parlement of Besancon and Venality of Office, 1699-1705." ''French History'' 2005 19(4): 440-462. Issn: 0269-1191 Fulltext: in [[OUP]]</ref>

===Political ideas===
Louis XIV left many writings commenting on the nature and source of the monarch's authority, particularly his own. Until recently, historians ignored these because they supposedly were written by staffers and secretaries. Now, a more careful analysis of the Sun King's various memoirs and instructions revealed that they are indeed basically the work of the king himself. It is known that Louis was familiar with the works of [[Thomas Hobbes]], and a Hobbesian interpretation of the origin of the state (a renunciation by individuals of some of their natural rights in order to maintain an orderly and well-regulated government) was reflected in the French king's thinking. Louis XIV wove into this idea a belief in God's election and guidance of true monarchs, who, in their human aspect, were but temporary guardians of their kingdoms with the responsibility of preserving the states under their care but, as divinely elected rulers, could not be removed, limited, or appointed by mere ordinary mortals.<ref>John Wolf, ''Louis XIV'' (1968) p 371 </ref>

==The European Wars==
Impelled by a mix of commerce, revenge, and pique, Louis believed that war was the most perfect way to define his glory, that peacetime should be spent preparing for the next war, and that his diplomats' major function was to provide France with tactical or strategic advantages.<ref>James Nathan, "Force, Order, and Diplomacy in the Age of Louis XIV," ''Virginia Quarterly Review'' 1993 69(4): 633-649. Issn: 0042-675x Fulltext: [[Ebsco]] </ref>

In his foreign relations Louis' policies were erratic, shifting back and forth. His permanent acquisitions were therefore meager compared with an almost superhuman expenditure of blood and treasure; indeed, the French absolute monarchy did not long survive him, for "he used it up." Louis was not concerned with national defense, but with glory and personal revenge. The revenge was against his hereditary enemy Leopold of Hapsburg, against the Dutch, whom he regarded as upstart "cheese merchants," and against the English, the heretic nation which, by its Revolution of 1688, overthrew his cousin and pensionary James II. It was Louis' capriciousness in the use of overwhelming force that impressed the alarmed contemporaries. Moreover, since he ruled by the theory of the divine right of kings, which made him responsible to God alone, he was arrogant and menacing to all, even to the papacy. This attitude on the part of the King has been expressed in the apocryphal remark attributed to him, L'état c'est moi. "I am the state."

Early in his personal reign, Louis fundamentally reformed French military institutions to assert royal control and to increase the effectiveness of his army. Reforms initiated by Louis included the subordination of fortress governors and army commanders and the end of pillaging by his troops within the borders of France. He also greatly expanded both the peacetime and permanent army. While he never solved critical questions of war finance, he brought important and lasting change to the army. The elite units of the French army, the Maison du Roi and the Gendarmerie de France, were comprised of members of the high aristocracy. Although the war ministers made inroads into the power of the social elite in these forces, the court aristocrats retained their influence over much of the administration and had more control over the elite forces by the end of the 17th century than in 1661. While Louis XIV is known for centralizing and increasing the efficiency of administration, he compromised with elite interests regarding the military in order to enhance the crown and his dynasty. The rising cost to those seeking membership in the elite forces resulted in a gap between the nobles of the elite forces and the poorer nobles who served in ordinary regiments.<ref> John A. Lynn, ''The Wars of Louis XIV, 1667-1714'' (1999); Guy Rowlands, "Louis XIV, Aristocratic Power and the Elite Units of the French Army." ''French History''1999 13(3): 303-331; Rowlands, ''The Dynastic State and the Army under Louis XIV: Royal Service and Private Interest, 1661-1701'' (2002) </ref>

===The War of Devolution, 1667-1668===
Louis' first important international venture was a small "War of Devolution" in 1667-68 begun with his seizure in 1667 of a part of the Spanish succession lands.<ref>John Wolf, ''Louis XIV'' (1968) p 199-212 </ref> His weak justification was that his wife Maria Theresa should receive all territory in the Spanish Netherlands in which, by local law or custom, private property devolved on a daughter by a first marriage in preference to a son by a second. Before there was time to object that laws about division of private property had nothing to do with succession to national territory, Louis sent Turenne with 35,000 troops to invade the Spanish Netherlands; Turenne captured a series of important cities (May 1667). Against this threat to the stability of Europe the [[Triple Alliance]] was formed in January 1668 by England, the Dutch United Provinces, and Sweden. But within a few weeks the French general Condé and his army captured Franche-Comté, on the eastern border of France. At the same time Louis signed a secret treaty with the Emperor Leopold dividing the Spanish possessions between them, to be carried into effect on the death of Charles II of Spain. With this trump card up his sleeve Louis accepted the [[Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle]] (May 1668), by which he surrendered Franche-Comté but retained some of his Flemish conquests, including Lille.
===The Dutch War, 1672-1678===
Meanwhile England and France were drawn together by resentment at the commercial success of the Dutch, who were exploiting the produce of the French and English colonies. Colbert's project for a commercial treaty between the two monarchies, directed against the trade of the Dutch republic, fell through (1669). At this point Louis arranged the secret [[Treaty of Dover]] (May 1670) with [[Charles II]] of England by which the two kings undertook to wage a war of extermination against the Dutch. Louis' motives were personal rather than national: the humiliation of the Dutch, and a close alliance with Charles (based on French subsidies); the latter would promote the cause of Roman Catholicism in England.<ref>John Wolf, ''Louis XIV'' (1968) pp 213-66 </ref>

In June 1672, without even a declaration of war, Louis' armies of about 120,000 men invaded Dutch territory. A revolution in the United Provinces removed the De Witt brothers by massacre and placed [[William of Orange]] in supreme command. By dogged determination William wore down the French offensive and, on the withdrawal of the French in 1674, Louis was obliged to conduct a long series of indecisive campaigns which lasted until the signing of a general peace at Nijmegen in 1678. In these campaigns Louis did win back Franche-Comté, which he was allowed to retain at the peace settlement; he had, however, stirred European anger by a systematic devastation of the Rhenish Palatinate, where the population was mainly Protestant. What was to have been a short, quick war turned out to be a weary succession of campaigns and sieges, a comparative failure which increased the irritation of the King.
===War of the League of Augsburg, 1688-1697===
In the years immediately following, Louis' foreign relations appeared quiescent, but he actually maintained a continual state of tension in Europe; on pretexts as flimsy as his "devolution" claims he took over a number of cities, including Colmar and Strasbourg. These were confirmed to him in August 1684 by the Emperor and the Spanish government in the [[Treaty of Ratisbon]], which was an attempt at appeasement. This marked the high point of Louis' career, since he could now seize territories, not by the prowess of his armies, but because of the fears of his enemies. Ratisbon was soon followed by disquieting events--the revocation of the [[Edict of Nantes]] (1685), which antagonized Protestant rulers, and a poorly-founded claim to territory in the Rhenish Palatinate.

Europe's alarm was expressed in the formation of the [[League of Augsburg]] in July 1686, whereby the Emperor allied himself with several Protestant and Catholic princes for their common defense. [[William of Orange]], though not a signatory to this League, was the guiding spirit behind it. With the flight of [[James II]] and the success of the [[Glorious Revolution]] of 1688, he became William III of England and took the lead against Louis with the resources of England behind him and with the active help of the Emperor, Spain, and Brandenburg, and the tacit support of the pope.

The war which followed, commonly called the War of the League of Augsburg, was fought on land and at sea, in Flanders, in northern Italy, and on the Rhine, and was inaugurated by the second devastation of the Palatinate (1689). The only decisive battles were the [[Battle of the Boyne]] (July 1690), by which William expelled James II from Ireland, and the naval battle of La Hogue (May 1692), in which the British destroyed a large part of the French fleet. The war ended in a draw; by the [[Treaty of Ryswick]] (September 1697) Louis restored his conquests, recognized the sovereignty of William, and undertook not to give further assistance to the dethroned Stuart house of England.

===War of the Spanish Succession, 1701-1714===
By far the most serious war was the long, drawn-out War of the Spanish Succession, 1701-1714 that nearly bankrupted France while producing few major benefits. After the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick five years of uneasy peace followed; Louis and William failed in their attempts to settle the Spanish succession question by treaties of partition.<ref>John Wolf, ''Louis XIV'' (1968) p 499-578 </ref> Charles II of Spain died in November 1700 and by his will he left the entire succession to Philip, Duc d'Anjou, a younger grandson of Louis, a solution which was acceptable to war-weary Europe. But, like a true dictator, Louis could never leave well enough alone. The will stipulated that the crowns of France and Spain should never be united. Louis flouted this by a decree that the contingent rights of the Duc d'Anjou to the French throne were inviolable; at the same time he filled the garrisons of the Flemish frontier towns with French troops. On the death of the former King of England James II in September 1701, Louis publicly recognized his son James, the "[[Old Pretender]]," as his successor, guaranteeing trouble with England. Meanwhile, in summer 1701, William organized the Grand Alliance of The Hague, consisting mainly of Britain, the Emperor, and the Dutch, to resist the renewed French threats.

In May 1702 Britain's [[Queen Anne]], William's successor, declared war on Louis. The "War of the Spanish Succession" differed markedly from Louis' earlier wars in that the forces opposing France were now under the command of a great leader, John Churchill, [[Duke of Marlborough]]; instead of the old spectacular sieges and aimless marches, there ensued a war of swift movement, directed by an overall strategy. The allies won a number of great battles, including [[Blenheim, battle of|Blenheim (1704)]], Ramillies (1706), Oudenarde (1708), and Malplaquet (1709). By contrast, in Spain, the French victory at Almanza (1707) served to place the Duc d'Anjou on the Spanish throne, where he ruled thereafter as [[Philip V]]. A change of ministry in England in 1710 displaced the party in favor of continuing the war, and the Tories, pledged to peace, signed the [[Treaty of Utrecht]] in April 1713.

By this treaty Louis recognized the Hanoverian succession in England, which was to follow upon Anne's death, and surrendered parts of the French possessions in [[Canada]]. The Dutch were protected by a line of barrier forts, and the southern Netherlands was transferred from the rule of Spain to that of the Austrian Emperor. The French northeastern frontier was left little changed, but Lille and Strasbourg remained French. Philip surrendered all contingent claims to the French throne and recognized the British conquest of [[Gibraltar]]. In view of his many defeats Louis got off very lightly, mainly because of disagreement among the allies. His fortitude during the disasters of this war had served to rally the patriotism of his subjects, but France was left impoverished and disillusioned.
===Religion===
Louis was willing enough to partner with Protestant states, but he opposed the Protestant Huguenots inside France. He tried to forcibly re-Catholicize the Huguenots by continued vexations, the employment of dragoons, and finally by the revocation (Oct. 18, 1685) of the liberal [[Edict of Nantes]] of 1598, which gave Huguenots legal rights. The revocation forbade Protestant services, the children were to be educated as Catholics, and emigration was prohibited. It proved disastrous to the Huguenots and costly for France. It precipitated civil bloodshed, ruined commerce, and resulted in the illegal flight from the country of several hundred thousand Protestants, many of whom became intellectuals, physicians and business leaders in Britain and the American colonies, as well as Holland, Prussia and South Africa. Those Huguenots who stayed became Catholics.<ref> </ref>

The Jansenists--ultra strict Catholics--also fell afoul of Louis. He used the [[Jesuit]] order to minimize their influence. He was a "Gallican" in Church affairs. That is, he favored a strong [[Papacy, history|Papacy]] as long as it was weak inside France and he controlled the bishops and abbeys.

==Image and memory==
===The official image===
Few rulers in world history commemorated themselves so grandly as Louis XIV.<ref> Peter Burke, "The fabrication of Louis XIV." ''History Today,'' (Feb 1992), Vol. 42, Issue 2 in [[EBSCO]]</ref> Pamphelteers used a standard vocabulary, portraying him (in English alphabetical order) as august, conquering, enlightened, generous, god-given, heroic, illustrious, immortal, invincible, just, magnanimous, pious, triumphant and wise. In a word, he was "great", an adjective officially adopted in 1671. Indeed, LOUIS LE GRAND was generally written in capital letters even in a text in lower case.

Louis XIV used court rituals as a way to mirror and maintain the control he exerted in other areas of his rule, both domestic and international. Theater, sculpture, court ceremonies, dance, and music were all carefully planned and staged to reinforce his power and to represent his view of proper order down to the smallest detail. The master of ceremonies, court composer, and court dance master were key players in this process.

From the start of Louis' reign, Jean Baptiste Colbert set up a centralized and institutionalized system for creating and perpetuating the royal image. The two main approaches were the ancient paradigm and the rivalry with ruling powers, notably Spain. The traditional images of the king in majesty and the king at war persisted in official paintings and busts and in the almanacs that concertedly spread royal propaganda among the people at large. The traditional representation of the king as a Roman emperor can be seen in Le Brun's plans for major monuments and in sculptures. Apollonian themes created a mythological environment, with painted decor and sculptures, rather than true likenesses. Portrayal of the reign in metal (medal stamping) was only in its infancy. The major works of the decade were tapestries, and these were either allegorical, depicting the elements and the seasons, or realist, portraying royal residences and, in particular, the history of the king. This was the most significant means by which the monarchy was mythicized before the Hall of Mirrors was created at Versailles.<ref>Gérard Sabatier, "La Gloire du Roi: Iconographie de Louis XIV de 1661 a 1672," ''Histoire, Economie et Société'' 2000 19(4): 527-560. </ref>
===Glorified portraits===
Louis commissioned over 300 formal portraits of himself; he also commissioned "war artists" to follow him on campaign and record his military triumphs on the spot. About 700 different engravings of Louis have survived. In the 1680s, a series of twenty statues of the king were commissioned for public squares in Paris and in provincial towns. Freestanding permanent triumphal arches were also erected in Paris and the provinces for the first time since the decline of the Roman Empire. Sixteenth-century rulers often issued twenty or thirty medals to commemorate the major events of their reigns, but Louis struck more than 300, celebrating the story of the king in a bronze that was enshrined in thousands of houses.

His court lionized the painter [[Hyacinthe Rigaud]], who helped to formulate what a state portrait should be. While Rigaud made a credible likeness of the king, his purpose was not to express Louis's character but to glorify the monarchy. His original "Portrait of Louis XIV of 1701," now in the Louvre, (see above for copy) was so popular that Rigaud had many copies made, both in full and half-length formats, often with the help of assistants. In this portrait from Rigaud's workshop, Louis XIV's ceremonial robes, elegant stance, and haughty expression proclaim his exalted status. Despite the vast expanses of canvas he covered, Rigaud remained concerned with the particular, describing the king's costume in great detail, even down to his shoe buckles.<ref> See also Amy M. Schmitter, "Representation and the Body of Power in French Academic Painting." ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' 2002 63(3): 399-424. Issn: 0022-5037 Fulltext: [[http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-5037(200207)63%3A3%3C399%3ARATBOP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-D in Jstor]</ref>

The earliest portraits of Louis as a child used the pictorial conventions of the day to present the future and then child king as already possessing the majesty becoming royalty, idealizing his person as the incarnation of the state. This idealization continued in later portraits, which not only avoided depicting any trace of the smallpox that the king suffered in 1647 but, by the 1660s, presented him as an Apollo or Alexander, vying with those seeking to reproduce his Habsburg traits. While the portraits at the end of his reign allowed the king's face to betray his advanced age, the conflict between the representation of Louis as a man and as king continued, as exemplified by the unnaturally young legs on which he stands in Riguad's painting of 1701.<ref>Stanis Perez, "Les Rides D'apollon: L'evolution Des Portraits de Louis XIV," ["Apollo's Wrinkles: the Evolution of Portraits of Louis XIV"]. ''Revue D'histoire Moderne et Contemporaine'' 2003 50(3): 62-95. Issn: 0048-8003 </ref>
===Versailles as power showcase===

[[Image:Versailles.jpg|thumb|455px|Palace and gardens at Versailles]]
His great château at [[Versailles]] integrated gardens, interior design, and the iconography of the paintings to express a royal plan to visually represent the power of the absolute monarchy personified by Louis. The Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors) at Versailles became the most prestigious section of the royal residence. Under the king's close supervision, [[Charles Le Brun]] (1619-90) finalized a political thematic decoration program for the hall in 1679 that retraces the important accomplishments of Louis's reign, ranging from his ascension to the throne to the War of Devolution (1667-68). Decorative arches place emphasis on the significant events of the war in Holland. The decorations, intended to demonstrate the king's grandeur, omit the defeats that his French army suffered and cover up the reality of the resulting Pyrrhic victory and the consequent responses of France's adversaries, which left Louis XIV's kingdom isolated.

===Ballet===
The king loved ballet, and in the early years he danced regularly in court ballets. He performed four dancing roles in three of [[Molière]]'s comédies-ballets (plays which were characterized by the inclusion of music and dance and written to be premiered before Louis XIV and his court): an Egyptian in "Le Mariage forcé" (1664), a Moorish Gentleman in "Le Sicilien" (1667) and Neptune and Apollo in "Les Amants magnifiques" (1670). However, the court performances differed from subsequent stagings in public theaters in Paris. In court, the music to accompany ballets performed by the king was suitably majestic, and the lyrics conveyed his power and benevolence as patron of the arts. In Paris performances, these parts no longer stood out from those of other ballet performers. In fact, those plays that most overtly promoted Louis XIV's royal image were not performed at all outside the court. These examples testify to Molière's readiness to adapt his plays according to the venue and the audience.<ref> Julia Prest, "Dancing King: Louis XIV's Roles in Moliere's Comedies-ballets, from Court to Town." ''Seventeenth Century'' 2001 16(2): 283-298. Issn: 0268-117x Fulltext: [[Ebsco]] </ref>
===Piety===
Brought up to respect Catholicism, Louis was a pious and devout king. Seeing himself as the protector of the French Church, he made his devotions every day, wherever he was, following regularly the liturgical calendar. The royal religion, related and spread through the press, took place in the Chapelle Royale. Ostentation was a distinguishing feature of the daily masses, annual celebrations, like those of the Holy Week, and special ceremonies.<ref> Sébastien Gaudelus, "La Mise en Spectacle De La Religion Royale: Recherches sur la Devotion de Louis XIV," ''Histoire, Economie et Société'' 2000 19(4): 513-526.</ref>
===Public opinion===
Alongside official images and the discourse emanating from the court, Frenchmen followed a nonofficial discourse comprised mainly of clandestine publications, popular songs, and rumors, which provided an alternative interpretation of the king and his government. They focused the miseries caused by bad government, but also carried the hope for a better future in the event that the king escaped the influence of his ministers and mistresses and took the government into his own hands. On the other hand, petitions addressed either directly to the king or to his ministers exploited the traditional imagery and language of the monarchy and king, while the numerous denouncers of fake conspiracies against the king sought to manipulate the weaknesses of the monarchical system for their own ends. These varying images of the king abounded in self-contradictions that reflected the people's amalgamation of their everyday experiences with the ideal of the monarchy.<ref> Jens Ivo Engels, "Denigrer, Esperer, Assumer La Realite. Le Roi de France perçu par ses Sujets, 1680-1750" ["Disparaging, Hoping, Taking on Reality: the French King as Perceived by His Subjects, 1680-1750"]. ''Revue D'histoire Moderne et Contemporaine'' 2003 50(3): 96-126. </ref>

====notes====
<references/>
==Bibliography==
* Ashley, Maurice P. ''Louis XIV And The Greatness Of France'' (1965) [http://www.amazon.com/Louis-Greatness-France-Maurice-Ashley/dp/0029010802/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202467644&sr=1-22 excerpt and text search]
* Beik, William. ''Louis XIV and Absolutism: A Brief Study with Documents'' (2000) [http://www.amazon.com/Louis-XIV-Absolutism-Documents-Bedford/dp/031213309X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202467216&sr=1-4 excerpt and text search]
* Beik, William. "The Absolutism of Louis XIX as Social Collaboration." ''Past & Present'' 2005 (188): 195-224. Issn: 0031-2746 Fulltext online at [[OUP]]
* Burke, Peter. ''The Fabrication of Louis XIV'' (1994) [http://www.amazon.com/Fabrication-Louis-XIV-Peter-Burke/dp/0300059434/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202467216&sr=1-6 excerpt and text search]
* ''Cambridge Modern History: Vol. 5 The Age Of Louis XIV'' (1908), old, solid articles by scholars; [http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/camenaref/cmh/cmh.html#cmh1 complete text online]
* Dunlop, Ian. ''Louis XIV'' (2000), 512pp [http://www.amazon.com/Louis-XIV-Ian-Dunlop/dp/0312261969/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202467216&sr=1-7 excerpt and text search]
* Goubert, Pierre. ''Louis XIV and Twenty Million Frenchmen'' (1972), social history from [[Annales School]]
* Lewis, W. H. ''The Splendid Century: Life in the France of Louis XIV'' (1997) [http://www.amazon.com/Splendid-Century-Life-France-Louis/dp/0881339210/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202467216&sr=1-2 excerpt and text search]; also [http://www.questia.com/read/6019084 online complete edition]
* Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel. ''The Ancien Regime: A History of France 1610 - 1774'' (1999), survey by leader of the [[Annales School]] [http://www.amazon.com/Ancien-Regime-History-France-1610/dp/0631211969/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202469887&sr=8-3 excerpt and text search]
* Lynn, John A. ''The Wars of Louis XIV, 1667-1714'' (1999) [http://www.amazon.com/Wars-Louis-1667-1714-Modern-Perspective/dp/0582056292/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202467216&sr=1-5 excerpt and text search]
* Mitford, Nancy. ''The Sun King''(1995), popular [http://www.amazon.com/Sun-King-Nancy-Mitford/dp/0140239677/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202467216&sr=1-3 excerpt and text search]
* Rowlands, Guy. ''The Dynastic State and the Army under Louis XIV: Royal Service and Private Interest, 1661-1701'' (2002) [http://www.questia.com/read/105134626 online edition]
* Shennan, J. H. ''Louis XIV'' (1993) [http://www.questia.com/read/108828773 online edition]
* Wilkinson, Rich. ''Louis XIV'' (2007)
* Wolf, John B. ''Louis XIV'' (1968), the standard scholarly biography [http://www.questia.com/read/103250721 online edition]
====Notes====
<references/>
[[Category:French Monarchs]]
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Template:User:Dormouse/bourbon dynasty

2012-04-10T02:14:03Z

DorMouse:

Louis XVI

2012-04-10T02:12:35Z

DorMouse:

[[Image:CALLET-Louis-XVI.jpg|thumb|300px|right|King Louis XVI of France]]
'''Louis XVI''' (1754-1793) was the king of [[France]] (1774-1792) who lost his throne during the [[French Revolution]] and was later beheaded by the revolutionaries, as was his wife Queen [[Marie Antoinette]]. After a century of wars and financial mismanagement, France was still large, rich and powerful, but could no longer pay its bills, or the exorbitant costs of royalty and aristocracy. Louis XVI, a weak administrator, attempted some tax relief and reforms, but was frustrated by opposition by the upper class and judges.

Louis XVI provided critical financial aid to the Americans, and joined in their war against [[Great Britain]], 1778-83. This helped the Americans to win, but further drained the remaining credit of the French government. To raise money, in 1788 the king was forced to call into session a long-dormant representative governmental body called the Estates-General. On July 14, 1789, Parisians seized the notorious prison, the [[Bastille]]. The king attempted to escape, but was caught and imprisoned in 1791.
In 1792, the new government declared France a republic and ordered the execution of Louis XVI by [[guillotine]] on January 21, 1793.

==Family==
He was the grandson of King [[Louis XV]] and the third son of Louis, Dauphin of France, and of his second wife the Dauphiness, Marie Josèphe of Saxony. Born at Versailles on Aug. 23, 1754, he was baptized Louis Augustus, and during the lifetime of Louis XV bore the title of the Duke of Berry. He was tutored in religion, literature, science, mathematics, history, drawing, music, and foreign languages, and taught that he should defer to his older brother, who would become king. The man never outgrew the shyness and dullness of the boy; he was best at his locksmith hobby, or out hunting.

He was not expected to become king, but two older brothers died. Then in 1765 his father died and he became the Dauphin of France and heir to the throne. In 1767 his mother died. In 1770 his grandfather arranged a marriage alliance between the Bourbon and Hapsburg dynasties, and Louis Augustus was married at Versailles to an Austrian archduchess, [[Marie Antoinette]] (1755–93), daughter of Maria Theresa and the Emperor Francis I.<ref> At the wedding festivities, 132 people were killed when the crowd panicked. This eerie precursor to later history was hushed up by the police at the time.</ref> Their unhappy marriage remained unconsummated for seven years, as the queen surrounded herself with a dissolute clique and threw herself into a life of pleasure and careless extravagance. The personalities of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette helped undermine the prestige of the French monarchy and bring about the French Revolution. Louis lacked self-confidence, leadership abilities, and social skills. Marie Antoinette, conversely, appeared both frivolous and strong-willed. As a foreigner and a woman she offended the French by appearing to rule her husband. The seven-year delay in consummating their marriage led to malicious satire that Louis was impotent and Marie Antoinette promiscuous. When they did have children, their paternity was questioned. The public press portrayed Marie Antoinette as a whore or beast, and Louis as a cuckold, a drunk, and an idiot. Given the extraordinary times in which they lived, their personalities were fatal for the future of France and themselves.<ref> Nancy N. Barker, and commentary by James Friguglietti, "Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette: Revolutionary Personalities?" ''Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Western Society for French History'' 1992 19: 119-127. Issn: 0099-0329 </ref>

==King==
On May 10, 1774 [[Louis XV]] died, and his 19-year-old grandson succeeded to the throne as Louis XVI. At first the youthful king was popular with his subjects. Under Louis XV a Triumvirate had controlled the government and fought against the Parlements. Louis XVI restored the Parlements and removed the triumvirs from their posts.<ref> William O. Doyle, "The Parlements of France and the Breakdown of the Old Regime, 1771-1788." ''French Historical Studies'' 1970 6(4): 415-458. Issn: 0016-1071</ref>

Louis XVI's appointment of [[Turgot]] (1727–81) as controller-general of finances seemed to presage the beginning of a period of reform of the political, economic, and social structure of France. The reforms were too little and too late, as his reign marked the culmination of long-term financial difficulties which for decades had sapped the financial stability of the government.

A weak and vacillating leader, Louis XVI proved incapable of pursuing any consistent policy. A series of finance ministers worsened the fiscal crisis, which led to louder and more urgent demands by supporters of liberal reforms. Turgot’s program—"No bankruptcy, no increase in taxes, no borrowing, but economy"—demanded stringent reforms, so he abolished some monopolies, tried to reform the extraordinarily wasteful system of farming the taxes (i.e. having private persons collect them for a fee), and drastically cut spending; he managed to reduce part of the public debt. In 1774 his restoration of free circulation of grain inside the country antagonized the grain speculators; it was followed by a crop failure and widespread bread riots, as Turgot's popularity plunged. Turgot was ousted in 1776, and replaced by [[Jacques Necker]] as director of the treasury, who had the king's support.
===American Revolution===
In spring 1776 Vergennes, the Foreign Secretary, saw an opportunity to humiliate arch-for Britain by supporting the [[American Revolution|American revolt]]. Louis XVI was convinced by [[Benjamin Franklin]] to send financial aid and large quantities of munitions, sign a formal treaty of alliance in 1778, and go to war with Britain. Spain and the Netherlands joined the French. The Americans gained their independence, and the war ministry rebuilt the French army. However, the British sank the main French fleet in 1782 and France gained little from the Treaty of Paris (1783) that ended the war,<ref> France gained the colonies of Tobago and Senegal.</ref> except the war cost 1,066 million livres, financed by new loans at high interest (with no new taxes). Necker however concealed the crisis from the public (explaining only that ordinary revenues exceeded ordinary expenses, and not mentioning the loans.) After he was forced from office in 1781 new taxes were levied.<ref>On finance see William Doyle, ''Oxford History of the French Revolution'' (1989) p 67-74 </ref>
===Financial crises===
Necker’s attempt to gain greater control over policy by courting public opinion was rebuffed at court, and he quit in May, 1781. Necker’s successors Charles Alexandre de Calonne (1783–87) had to
borrow another 653 millions. Almost half the annual revenue was absorbed by debt-service, and the government borrowed against next year's anticipated revenue. France simply lacked a taxation system that would support its mounting debts, in contrast to Britain which successfully handled its debt. The powerful Parlement of Paris objected vehemently. To deal with the looming bankruptcy de Calonne proposed an elaborate set of new taxes. Louis XVI called an Assembly of Notables in 1787, but this body, generally hostile to reform, refused to raise taxes. Louis XVI alienated the notables by proclaiming his absolute powers to order a new loan; he tried to disable the parlements. This was no longer acceptable, and the parlements began defying the king. Even the clergy joined in.
===Escalating political crisis===
With the financial crisis growing worse, the treasury empty, prices soaring, and his political support eroding, the king had to retreat. Absolutism had failed and the nation increasingly demanded a new structure of government. Necker came back as a caretaker and recognized the irresistible demands for leadership by a higher authority, the [[Estates General]]; the kings had not allowed it to meet in 175 years. The representation of the Third Estate (businessmen or "bourgeoisie") was doubled, as this powerful new element was soon to dominate the government. Its position was explained by Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès (1748–1836) whose pamphlet "What is the Third Estate?" (Jan. 1789) argued that there was no place for privileged groups of any sort. The third estate, which had counted for zero in politics, ought to be in control. A nation, Sieyès declared, was a body of associates living under a common law, and privileges by definition were exceptions to common law. The nobility were a caste of idle, burdensome usurpers, and there should be no question of allowing them to be chosen as third-estate deputies. Finances soon became secondary as profound constitutional issues took the stage and the king's power faded; the French Revolution was put in motion.<ref>William Doyle, ''Oxford History of the French Revolution'' (1989) ch 3-4</ref>

==French Revolution==
see also [[French Revolution]]

In the Estates General a sharp quarrel broke out between representatives of the two privileged orders, the clergy and the nobility, and the members of the Third Estate, the bourgeoisie. Conceivably if Louis XVI had definitely taken the part of the bourgeoisie he might have recovered his strength, but he was dominated by conservative aristocrats at court and eventually decided upon the use of military force to destroy the reform movement. Necker was dismissed but before the king acted the Parisians, fearing a coup d'etat, rose in rebellion on July 14, 1789. They captured and sacked the [[Bastille]], an ancient fortress and prison in Paris which to many symbolized the despotism of the Bourbon regime. Early in October 1789, a Parisian mob went to [[Versailles]] and forced the royal family and the [[National Assembly]] (as the Estates General was then called) to return with them to Paris.

The royal family (Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and their two children) were placed under strict guard in the palace of the Tuileries. In June 1791 Louis disguised his family and fled to the eastern frontier to join an army of émigrés assembled there with which he hoped to bring about a counterrevolution. At Varennes the royal family was intercepted and brought back to the Tuileries as a state prisoner. The episode was a turning point in the French Revolution; it led radical factions to call for the end of the monarchy and the establishment of a republic. It escalated tensions across Europe as the revolutionary government initiated more repressive measures against nobles, emigrants, and refractory clergy. The attempted escape increased fears of foreign wars and paranoia about antirevolutionary plots and conspiracies, which in turn led to more state-sponsored violence and hastened the terror.<ref> Timothy Tackett, "The Flight to Varennes and the Coming of the Terror." ''Historical Reflections'' 2003 29(3): 469-493. Issn: 0315-7997 </ref>

Meanwhile, the National Assembly continued its political and economic reorganization of the French state. In September 1791 Louis XVI was forced to assent to the Constitution of 1791 which created a limited monarchy; royal powers were sharply curtailed. The secret opposition of Louis XVI to the progress of the Revolution, however, and the intrigues of his wife and the aristocrats continued. On Aug. 10, 1792, a Parisian insurrection caused Louis and his family to be interned in the Temple. In September the monarchy was abolished and the republic proclaimed. Evidence of the king's intrigues with foreign enemies was uncovered and in December 1792 Louis was formally arraigned by the Convention for conspiracy against the liberty of the country and attempts against state security. The prevailing political theory was that the king had two bodies: a natural body and a political body. The defenders of Louis XVI pleaded the inseparability of the two bodies. Thus the Girondins only wanted to condemn the natural body since this held open the possibility of a postponement because Louis XVI was as guilty as any other. The Montagnards wanted to condemn both the natural body and the political body. Found guilty by a unanimous vote, he was sentenced to death by a vote of 361 to 288, with 72 calling for a delay; he was publicly guillotined in Paris on the morning of Jan. 21, 1793. Marie Antoinette was guillotined Oct. 16, 1793, and the young dauphin (known as Louis XVII) (1785-1795?) was given over to a poor family and apparently died in 1795. Louis XVI's younger brother Louis XVIII (1755-1824) became King of France after the abdication of [[Napoleon]] in 1814.
==Image and memory==
The regicide has loomed as a shadow over French history. The 19th-century historian, [[Jules Michelet]], attributed the restoration of the French monarchy to sympathy engendered by the execution. Michelet's ''Histoire de la Révolution Française'' and Alphonse de Lamartine's ''Histoire des Girondins,'' in particular, showed the marks of the feelings aroused by the revolution's regicide. Though these two writers did not share the same sociopolitical vision, they agreed that though the monarchy was rightly ended in 1792 but the lives of the royal family should have been spared. Lack of compassion at that moment contributed to a radicalization of revolutionary violence and to greater divisiveness among Frenchmen. Because Louis XVI was a merciful man, the revolutionaries' passions needed to be balanced by compassion and by less fanatical sentiments. For 20th century novelist [[Albert Camus]] the execution signaled the end of the role of God in history, for which he mourned. For 20th century philosopher [[Jean-Francois Lyotard]] the regicide was the starting point of all French thought, the memory of which acts as a reminder that French modernity began under the sign of a crime.<ref> See Susan Dunn, ''The Deaths of Louis XVI: Regicide and the French Political Imagination.'' (1994). </ref>

The duchess of Angoulême, daughter of Louis XVI, survived and lobbied Rome energetically for the canonization of her father as a saint of the Catholic Church. Despite his signing of the "Civil Constitution of the Clergy," Louis had been described as a martyr by Pope Pius VI in 1793. In 1820, however, a memorandum of the Congregation of Rites in Rome, declaring the impossibility of proving that Louis had been executed for religious rather than political reasons, put an end to hopes of canonization.

====Notes====
<references/>
==Bibliography==

* Baecque, Antoine De. "From Royal Dignity to Republican Austerity: the Ritual for the Reception of Louis XVI in the French National Assembly (1789-1792)." ''Journal of Modern History'' 1994 66(4): 671-696. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-2801%28199412%2966%3A4%3C671%3AFRDTRA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-B in Jstor]
* Burley, Peter. "A Bankrupt Regime." ''History Today'' (Jan 1984) 34:36-42. Issn: 0018-2753 Fulltext in [[EBSCO]]
* Doyle, William. ''Origins of the French Revolution'' (3rd ed. 1999) [http://www.questia.com/library/book/origins-of-the-french-revolution-by-william-doyle.jsp online edition]
* Doyle, William. "The Execution of Louis XVI and the End of the French Monarchy." ''History Review.'' (2000) pp 21+ [http://www.questia.com/read/5001205429 online edition]
* Dunn, Susan. ''The Deaths of Louis XVI: Regicide and the French Political Imagination.'' (1994). 178 pp.
* Hardman, John. ''Louis XVI: The Silent King'' (1994) 224 pages, the standard scholarly biography
* Hardman, John. ''French Politics, 1774-1789: From the Accession of Louis XVI to the Fall of the Bastille.'' (1995). 283 pp.
* Jones, Colin. ''The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to Napoleon'' (2002) [http://www.amazon.com/Great-Nation-Napoleon-Penguin-History/dp/0140130934/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197705067&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Padover, Saul K. ''The Life and Death of Louis XVI'' (1939) [http://www.questia.com/read/3921322 online edition]
* Price, Munro. ''The Road from Versailles: Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and the Fall of the French Monarchy'' (2004) 425 pp. [http://www.amazon.com/Road-Versailles-Antoinette-French-Monarchy/dp/0312326130/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204094811&sr=8-8 excerpt and text search]; also published as ''The Fall of the French Monarchy: Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and the Baron de Breteuil.'' (2002)
* Rigney, Ann. "Toward Varennes." ''New Literary History'' 1986 18(1): 77-98. Issn: 0028-6087; [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0028-6087%28198623%2918%3A1%3C77%3ATV%3E2.0.CO%3B2-8 in Jstor], on historiography
* Schama, Simon. ''Citizens. A Chronicle of the French Revolution'' (1989), highly readable narrative by scholar [http://www.amazon.com/Citizens-Simon-Schama/dp/0141017279/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197705186&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Tackett, Timothy. ''When the King Took Flight.'' (2003). 270 pp. [http://www.amazon.com/When-King-Flight-Timothy-Tackett/dp/B000F4LMP8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204095353&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]

===Primary sources===
* Marie Antoinette. ''Memoirs of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France and Wife of Louis XVI: Queen of France'' (1910) [http://books.google.com/books?id=hl1EAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=intitle:louis+intitle:xvi&lr=&num=30&as_brr=0&ei=TvzER5nAIYjysgPdx9WhCA complete edition online]
* Doyle, William, ed. ''Old Regime France'' (2001).
{{User:Dormouse/bourbon dynasty}}

[[Category:French Monarchs]]
[[Category:French Revolution]]
[[Category:French History]]

Template:User:Dormouse/bourbon dynasty

2012-04-10T02:12:06Z

DorMouse: Created template for members of the French line of Bourbon

<center>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Bourbon Dynasty ->
! Bourbon Dynasty ->
! Bourbon Dynasty ->
|-
| [[Louis IX]]
| [[Robert, Count of Clemont]]
| [[Louis I, Duke of Bourbon]]
|-
| [[Antione de Bourbon]]
| [[Charles, Duke of Verboné]]
| [[Henry IV of France]]
|-
| [[Louis XII]]
| [[Louis XIII]]
| [[Louis XIV]]
|-
| [[Louis XV]]
|[[Louis XVI]]
|[[Louis XVII]] Minor Dauphin
|-
| [[Louis XVIII]] Technical King, for 20 minutes
| [[Charles X]]
| Line goes extinct in France
|}
</center>

List of proofs of God

2012-04-10T01:58:28Z

DorMouse: new section

Arguments for and against the existence of God have been proposed by philosophers, theologians, scientists, and others. In philosophical terms, arguments for and against the existence of God involve primarily the sub-disciplines of epistemology (theory of knowledge) and ontology (nature of being), but also of the theory of value, since concepts of perfection are often bound up with notions of God. Some atheists maintain that arguments for the existence of God show insufficient reason to believe. Certain theists acknowledge that belief in the existence of God may not be amenable to demonstration or refutation, but rests on faith alone. Other religions, such as Buddhism, do not concern themselves with the question of the existence or non-existence of God at all. Psychological and sociological explanations for believing in the existence of God may point to a shared neurological and cultural framework for belief based on cognitive processes in the brain.

This article seeks to document some well known arguments for the existence of God,in the Monotheistic sense.

==Historical Arguments==
#[[Teleological Argument]], also known as the Watchmaker Hypothesis. Proposed by Thomas Aquinas, who created the 5 proofs of God. This argument states that a complex object, found, like life, appears to be designed, and because it is unlikely that chance created it, God must have. Therefore, God exists.
#Cosmological Argument(Part of the Infinite Regress series). It states that everything has a causing mover, and as that continues on forever, ad infintum, God must be the terminator of the regress. Therefore, God exists.
#[[Ontological Argument]]. Postulates that if God can exist in our mind, as uber perfect, s/he must also exist in reality, which is even better than simply imagining a perfect god. Therefore, God exists.
#[[Anthropic Argument]]. Postulates that God is the reason people exist, for without him, we have no meaning. We exist, therefore God exists.
#[[Argument from Reason]]. Because all thoughts are a reaction of physical effects, but knowledge and learning is not, God must be behind it. Therefore God exists.

==Arguments from Historical Events==
#God has been claimed to appear before nations, to give orders, demand tributes, or inform. Because of the unlikeliness of thousands of people hallucinating the same thing, God should, exist.
#Argument from Holy Texts. Because the text was written by God, God must exist.

==Argument from Testimony==
The vast amount of theistic people on earth, imply that God must exist.
==NOMA==
Noma or non overlapping magisteria states that because God cannot be proven by science, s/he must exist in faith. Because there are people with faith, God must exist.
==Parodious Arguments==
Many fictional arguments for God have been created, both by religious people, and by the non-religious. The motive behind these arguments is to mock or denigrate a God, while promoting their God/Atheism. A great deal of them were put into the spotlight, with the release of Richard Dawkins's book, [[The God Delusion]].
#Argument from belief. Essentially states that I believe in God!!11!, therefore God exists.
#Great Boeing 747. Everything Has a cause. The universe has a cause. God exists because he was always here. Therefore God exists.
==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Religion]][[Category:Apologetics]]

User talk:Seiko7t32

2012-04-10T01:53:48Z

DorMouse: Created page with "{{welcome}} {{warning}} Do not revert an administrator. We have a meritocracy here, thank you very much.~~~~"

{{welcome}}
{{warning}}
Do not revert an administrator. We have a meritocracy here, thank you very much.[[User:DorMouse|DorMouse]] 21:53, 9 April 2012 (EDT)

Barack Hussein Obama

2012-04-10T01:52:45Z

DorMouse: Undo revision 974676 by Seiko7t32 (talk) reverting an administrator/edit warring

{{Officeholder
|name=Barack Hussein Obama
|image=President Barack Obama.jpg
|party=[[Democratic Party]]
|spouse=[[Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama]]
|religion= probably [[Muslim]]
|offices=
{{Officeholder/president
|country=the United States
|number=44th
|terms=January 20, 2009-Present
|vp=[[Joe Biden]]
|preceded=[[George W. Bush]]
|former=n
|succeeded=
}}
{{Officeholder/senator
|state=Illinois
|terms=January 3, 2005 – November 16, 2008
|preceded=Peter Fitzgerald
|former=y
|succeeded=[[Roland Burris]]
}}
}}

'''Barack Hussein Obama II''' also known by the alias '''Barry Soetoro''' during his time in [[Indonesia]]<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQPXVJuT2vY Barry Soetoro the muslim - YouTube]</ref> (born August 4, 1961, reportedly in [[Hawaii]]) was elected the 44th President -- and probably the first [[Muslim]] President -- of the [[United States]]. Promoted heavily by [[liberals]], as demonstrated by his unjustified receipt of the 2009 [[Nobel Prize|Nobel Peace Prize]], Obama won the presidency despite a short and unremarkable political career by campaigning on promises of "hope" and "change" against his listless opponent [[John McCain]] in 2008. In effect, that change has been an embrace of [[socialism]] and [[liberal]] policies. Barack Obama has been widely criticized by the American [[business]] community and others for his anti-business policies that are killing American jobs during a period of high unemployment.<ref>
*[http://www.usnews.com/opinion/mzuckerman/articles/2010/07/16/obamas-anti-business-policies-are-our-economic-katrina Obama's Anti-business Policies are our Economic Katrina]
*[http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/016/619dvjlm.asp An Anti-Business President]
*[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/08/small-businesses-are-not-hiring-why.html Small Businesses are not hiring. Why should they?]
*[http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/02/dear_mr_president_why_we_are_n.html Dear Mr. President: Why we are not hiring]
</ref> Trend forecaster [[Gerald Celente]] indicates that [[Obama administration]]'s response to the the failed American economy is more war and the creation of misleading [[economics|economic]] statistics.<ref>[http://www.opednews.com/articles/Washington-s-Response-to-a-by-paul-craig-roberts-110728-724.html Washington's response to the failed economy: More war]</ref>

Under President Obama's mismanagement of the economy, the United States Government's credit rating has, for the first time in its history, been downgraded from AAA to AA+, and [[poverty]]<ref>http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/data/incpovhlth/2009/pov09fig04.pdf</ref> has increased markedly. By and large his policies to combat the recession, unemployment, slow growth, the deficit, and expanding [[national debt]], have failed.<ref>"The vast majority (73%) of respondents reported the fiscal stimulus enacted in February 2009 has had no impact on employment to date. While 68% also believe a jobs bill, such as the one recently enacted into law, will have no impact on payrolls, 30% do believe it will boost payrolls moderately". ''Industry Survey'', National Association for Business Economics, April 2010, [http://www.nabe.com/press/ind1004.pdf p. 2 pdf].</ref> Also on the domestic front, Obama passed an expensive [[health care]] bill in 2009 with no [[bipartisan]] support and 34 Democrats dissenting.

Fatalities in Afghanistan have more than doubled under Obama's leadership then in the preceding eight years combined, according to the Congressional Research Service <ref>[http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R41084.pdf (pg. 3 pdf)]</ref>. Against his own Defense Secretary's advice, Obama [[Libyan uprising 2011|attacked Libya]] - a possible violation of the [[War Powers Act]]. After he announced the killing of [[September 11th]] mastermind and terrorist [[Osama bin Laden]], the [[U.S. State Department]] warned of the increased risk to the lives and safety of Americans around the world.<ref>http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/national_world&id=8273909</ref> Bin Laden's death had negligible long term impact on Obama's approval ratings, as seen in Gallup's daily poll.<ref>http://www.gallup.com/poll/113980/gallup-daily-obama-job-approval.aspx</ref>

[[Gerald Celente]] one of America's finest trend forecasters, he predicted the fall of communism when liberals thought it would last forever and predicted the 2008 financial collapse when liberals thought everything was just fine. Calente says that if Barack Obama is reelected the economy will further crumble, leading to mass homelessness, food riots and turning our cities into disaster zones where kidnapping and ransom are the biggest industries. Real Americans, fed up with big government may revolt, but it at that point it may be too late. Around the world the situation will be even worse, with the "blackest of plagues" running rampant. <ref>http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/01/26/090126fa_fact_mcgrath</ref>
==Early life==
:''Main article : [[Early life and career of Barack Hussein Obama]]''
:''See also : [[Obama's Religion]]''
Obama claims to have been born in Hawaii to Stanley Ann Dunham and [[Barack Obama Sr.]] - who had married just six months prior - on August 4, 1961 in [[Honolulu, Hawaii]]. This story is likely a complete fabrication. After many leading conservatives including the leadership of this site and brilliant business man [[Donald Trump]] AKA "The Donald" called for Obama to release his birth certificate he did on April 27. However most experts have determined to be a fake and no legal body has determined its authenticity. Another [[American Hero]] Sheriff [[Joe Arpaio]] of Phoenix, AZ conducted a criminal investigation of the Obama's eligibility which found that the "birth certificate" was a fake. This means Obama is not actually president.
The couple divorced in 1964. Barack Obama Sr. was not a [[Natural born citizen|citizen of the United States]]. Dunham remarried Lolo Soetoro, an [[Indonesia]]n student. When Obama was six, Soetoro returned to Indonesia, and Dunham and Obama followed.<ref name="db mother">{{cite web|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-05-03/a-singular-woman-by-janny-scott-review-by-stacy-schiff/#|work=The Daily Beast|format=HTML|language=English|title=Dreams of His Mother|author=Stacy Schiff}}</ref> He spent four years in Indonesia before returning to Hawaii to be raised by his grandparents, Madelyn and WW2 veteran Stanley Armour Dunham. He would later attend Occidental College, [[Columbia University]] (although classmates rarely saw him there) and then [[Harvard University]] for law school, where he would become the first black president of the Harvard Law Review.

==Illinois State Senate career==
[[File:O-2002-antiwar-rally-davidson.jpg|right|thumb|250px| Obama speaking at the October 2002 rally in Chicago organized by [[Carl Davidson]].<ref>Davidson is a longtime [[Mao]]ist and champion of the ''Thought of Mao Tse Tung.'' Davidson's anti-Trotskyite polemic, [http://www.wengewang.org/read.php?tid=10925 ''Left in Form, Right in Essence''] defends Maoist doctrine. Retrieved from 对当代托洛茨基主义的批判：英文论集百花齐放 - 中国文革研究网, March 15, 2010.</ref> ''"[H]e is a brutal man who butchers his own people,"'' nevertheless Obama opposed ''"dumb wars".'']]

In 1995 Obama openly sought and obtained the endorsement of the [[Marxist]] [[New Party]] in his quest to be elected to the Illinois State Senate.<ref>[http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7434 NEW PARTY (NP)], discoverthenetwork.org.</ref><ref>Rick Moran. [http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/06/obamas_alliance_with_marxists.html Obama's Alliance with Marxists], ''American Thinker'', June 03, 2008.</ref> He became the [[Democrat]] nominee and ran unopposed to win the election. Obama entered the Illinois Senate promising change to a corrupt system. He mixed often radical votes with more pragmatic agreements. Possibly one of his most radical votes was against requiring medical care for aborted children who survive [[abortion|the procedure]] - in fact the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council ascribed him a 100% rating for his consistently pro-choice votes.<ref name="cbs illinois">{{cite web|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/17/politics/main2369157.shtml|title=Obama Record May Be Gold Mine For Critics|work=CBS|format=HTML|language=English|last=Clark|first=Amy S.|date=Jan. 17, 2007}}</ref> He was criticized for using the statehouse as a stepping stone for a more illustrious career: Steven J. Rauschenberger, a [[Republican]], said prior to Obama's election as president: “He is a very bright but very ambitious person who has always had his eyes on the prize, and it wasn’t Springfield. If he deserves to be president, it is not because he was a great legislator.”<ref name="nyt illinois">{{cite web|work=The New York Times|title=In Illinois, Obama Proved Pragmatic and Shrewd|last=Scott|first=Janny|format=HTML|language=English|date=July 30, 2007|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/30/us/politics/30obama.html}}</ref>

The statehouse was majority Republican, so the Senator was sometimes forced to compromise. He formed allegiances across party lines to pass [[campaign finance]] reform that banned most gifts by lobbyists, prohibited spending campaign money for legislators’ personal use and required electronic filing of campaign disclosure reports.<ref name="nyt illinois"/> Obama also helped pass a so-called “driving-while-black bill”, which required the police to collect data on the race of drivers they stopped as a way to monitor [[racial profiling]].<ref name="nyt illinois"/>

Obama established himself as a chief spokesperson in opposition to the [[War on Terror]] during an October 2002 rally at Federal Plaza in Chicago<ref>The rally was organized by Chicagoans Against War in Iraq (CAWI) later renamed Chicagoans Against War and Injustice. [http://www.noiraqwar-chicago.org/?page_id=2 About CAWI] by Carl Davidson, Nov 02 2006. Retrieved from Chicagoans Against War and Injustice, March 15, 2010.</ref> [[community organizing|organized]] by veteran [[Mao]]ist and webmaster of [[Progressives for Obama]],<ref>[http://www.linkedin.com/in/carldavidson Carl Davidson,] LinkedIn.com, retrieved March 13, 2010.</ref> [[Carl Davidson]].

===Radical foundation and connection to William Ayers===
{{main article|Radical roots of Barack Hussein Obama}}
In 1995 a cadre of like minded individuals gathered in the home of [[Weather Underground]] (WUO) [[terrorist]]s [[Bernardine Dohrn]] and [[William Ayers|William "Bill" Ayers]]. Dohrn,<ref>Georgie Anne Geyer and Keyes Beach "Cuba: School for U.S. Radicals", ''Chicago Daily News/Chicago Sun-Times'' five part series October 1970, excerpted in [http://foia.fbi.gov/filelink.html?file=/weather/weath1c.pdf FBI file Weather Underground Organization (Weatherman),] Part 1c pp. 5-7 pdf (113-115 in original). [http://therealbarackobama.wordpress.com/2009/06/07/clandestine-agents-of-the-cuban-government-ayers-dohrn-myers/]</ref> along with Carl Davidson, are veterans of [[guerrilla warfare]] training in [[Cuba]] prior 1968 Democratic National Convention riots. Ayers and Dohrn have taken credit for, and never denied, bombing the [[U.S. Capitol]], the [[Pentagon]] and the [[State Department]].

Ayers and Dohrn used their celebrity status among [[leftist]]s to launch Obama's career. Ayers, Dohrn and [[Jeff Jones]]<ref>[http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=106653 ''Obama's 'green jobs czar' worked with terror founder] Van Jones served on board of activist group where ex-Weatherman serves as top director'', By Aaron Klein, [[WorldNetDaily]], August 13, 2009.</ref> are authors of ''[[Bill_Ayers#Prairie_Fire_Organizing_Committee_and_Maoist_thought|Prairie Fire: The Politics of Revolutionary Anti-imperialism]],'' the title taken from ''The Sayings of Mao Zedong.''<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/red-book/]</ref> The book declares "we are [[communist]] men and women."<ref>Harvey Klehr, ''Far Left of Center: The American Radical Left Today'' (Transaction Books, New Brunswick, 1988), 109.</ref> Ayers later jokingly, publicly admitted to ghostwriting Obama's book, ''Dreams From My Father''<ref>http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/03/ayers_affirms_he_wrote_dreams.html</ref> and Obama was to appoint several openly avowed Maoists to prominent White House and Executive Branch positions.<ref>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704597704574487431322664964.html</ref>

==U.S. Senate career==
:''See also: [[Early_life_and_career_of_Barack_Hussein_Obama#U.S._Senate_.282004-2008.29|Barack Obama:U.S. Senate (2004-2008)]]''
[[Image:obama.jpg|thumb|left|Senator Barack Obama]]

Following a failed campaign for the U. S. House of Representatives, Obama ran for the open Senate seat from Illinois in 2004 against Republican candidate Jack Ryan. He won the seat after Chicago media outlets The Chicago Tribune newspaper and Chicago ABC affiliate WLS-TV; together with candidate Jack Ryan's Republican Primary opponents, sought and obtained the release of the confidential and personally embarrassing records in his California divorce from actress Jeri Ryan, forcing him to end his campaign. Ryan was replaced by the out-of-state candidate [[Alan Keyes]]. Obama won over Keyes 70% to 27% in the general election. Obama spent very little time in the Senate - "frustrated by his lack of influence and what he called the 'glacial pace' ... [he began] running for president even as he was still getting lost in the Capitol’s corridors."<ref name="nyt senate">{{cite web|work=The New York Times|publisher=The New York Times, Inc.|format=HTML|language=English|title=Obama in Senate: Star Power, Minor Role|author=Kate Zernike and Jeff Zelleny|date=March 9, 2008|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/us/politics/09obama.html}}</ref>

Obama frequently used the [[filibuster]] to obstruct the operations of government,<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/03/AR2010020303801_pf.html</ref> voted against the [[minimum wage]]<ref>[http://uspolitics.about.com/od/legislatio1/a/HR2206.htm HR 2206 - Emergency Appropriations], Kathy Gill, Your Guide to U.S. Politics: Current Events. May 26 2007.</ref><ref>[http://more.gov.mtopgroup.com/2007/05/votes-hr-2206-iraq-supplemental.html Votes - H.R. 2206: Iraq Supplemental], May 28, 2007. Retrieved from Deeper Inside the Mountain, June 4, 2007.</ref> and debt ceiling increases,<ref>http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/04/obama-once-opposed-debt-ceiling-hike/237129/</ref> and recieved more than $126,000 in campaign contributions from [[Fannie Mae]]. The ''[[National Journal]]'' ranked him the most liberal senator in 2007.<ref name="ranked">{{cite web|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-502163_162-3775451-502163.html|title=National Journal: Obama Most Liberal Senator In 2007|author=Brian Montopoli|date=January 31, 2008|work=CBS}}</ref>

==Presidential Election==
{{main article|Barack Hussein Obama 2008 Presidential campaign}}
Democrats began calling for an Obama candidacy after liberals lauded his 2004 [[Democratic National Convention]] speech.
===Campaign to be the Democratic nominee===
The race for the Democratic ticket originally seemed [[Hillary Clinton]]'s to lose, but was ultimately a close race between Clinton and Obama. Clinton would take a slim advantage in the popular vote, while Obama would carry significantly more states and territories. Obama's advantage with super-delegates over Clinton was about 2-to-1.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Superdelegate endorsements for Friday 6/6|work=Democratic Convention Watch|url=http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/2008/06/superdelegate-endorsements-for-friday.html}}</ref> Obama was able to attract the support of [[liberals]] by pointing out that he had come out against the [[Iraq War]] "from the beginning" whereas Clinton had voted in favor of the war in 2002.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-01-31-democrats-debate_N.htm|title=Obama, Clinton stress differences on Iraq, issues|author=David Jackson|work=USA Today|format=HTML|language=English}}</ref>
===Campaign for the Presidency===
Obama campaigned against Senator [[John McCain]] in the general election. To the chagrin of Clinton supporters, he selected Senator [[Joe Biden]] to be his running mate, whereas McCain selected [[Governor]] of [[Alaska]] [[Sarah Palin]]. The Obama and Biden ticket would win the election, and Obama would become the nation's first [[African American]] president.

====Jeremiah Wright====
:''See also: [[Barack Obama and Liberation Theology]]''
One major dilemma that arose for Obama during his campaign was his connection to his preacher [[Jeremiah Wright]]. Obama and his wife (raised a Baptist) were members of the Trinity [[United Church of Christ]]<ref>http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1776246/posts</ref> in Chicago, a chruch that embraced [[black liberation theology]] and its emphasis on empowering so-called "oppressed groups" against "establishment forces". This denomination was the first in America to ordain gays as ministers.<ref>http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/31079.html, Obama's church pushes controversial doctrines, March 20, 2008</ref> Church pastor Jeremiah Wright had been making inflammatory comments and posting his sermons online for sale. These include the statement "G-d damn America," and in describing the September 11th attacks, "We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost."<ref>[http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=4443788 Obama's Pastor: G-d Damn America, U.S. to Blame for 9/11]</ref> In addition, Rev. Wright blamed America saying "We supported Zionism shamelessly while ignoring the Palestinians and branding anybody who spoke out against it as being [[anti-Semitic]]."

In April 2008, after 20 years in the church, candidate Obama made public statements poised to set him at odds with the man who conducted his wedding and baptized his children. With the negative publicity persisting, a month later Obama ended the friendship, left Wright's church, and blamed the media.<ref>[http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/05/31/obama-resigns-church-membership-in-chicago/], Obama Drops Church Membership in Chicago, May 31, 2008</ref> Obama claimed “It’s not fair to the other members of the church who seek to worship in peace...", and distanced himself from Wright's sermons as "a bunch of rants that aren't grounded in the truth."<ref>USA TODAY, ''Obama breaks with former pastor, Candidate cites rants on U.S. role in terror, AIDS'', by Kathy Kiely and David Jackson [http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20080430/1a_offlede30_dom.art.htm]</ref><ref>''Obama Says He Is Outraged By Wright's "Rants"''[http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/bulletin/bulletin_080430.htm]</ref>

==Presidential career==
{{main article|Obama administration}}
[[File:Obama and George H. W. Bush.jpg|thumb|right|300px|President Barack Obama meets with former President George H. W. Bush in the Oval Office, Feb. 15, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza).]]
Under Obama's stewardship the United States has suffered the largest [[Federal budget deficit|deficit]]s<ref>http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/107xx/doc10708/11-06-mbr.htm</ref><ref>http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/118xx/doc11873/NovemberMBR.pdf</ref> in history and a credit downgrade from the rating agency Standard & Poor. However, during the Obama Administration the national deficit has increased at a much lower rate than during the Bush Administration. Most observers attribute the deficits to increasing benefits and welfare paid out on account of the Recession he inherited and has failed to end along with decreasing tax receipts. Standard & Poor decided to downgrade U.S. government deby after the debt ceiling debate debacle, where Congressional leaders refused to pass a bill authorizing borrowing to pay for the budget they had passed with much debate and controversy earlier in the year. Cynics have argued that rhetoric directed at the rating agencies about the issuance of AAA ratings to junk real estate bonds spurred the downgrade as a form of retribution. Ironically, the investor scare led to the flocking of investors to the safe haven of the Treasury bonds which had been downgraded, resulting in lower interest rates. As there are very few AAA bond markets, investors will likely continue to buy U.S. government debt for the foreseeable future. <ref>http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/04/18/the-sp-outlook-and-obama/</ref> When his [[economic stimulus]] program was adopted unemployment rose and stagnated in the 10% range, <ref>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704476104575439172480870774.html?mod=googlenews_wsj</ref> leaving tens of millions without [[hope]] of finding a job.<ref>[http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/servlet/SurveyOutputServlet?data_tool=latest_numbers&series_id=LNS11300000&years_option=specific_years&include_graphs=true&to_month=1&from_month=2 United States Department of Labor], Bureau of Labor Statistics. Data extracted on: July 19, 2010 (4:31:11 PM).</ref>

Patrick H. Caddell and Douglas E. Schoen, writing in the [[Wall Street Journal]], noted, "Rather than being a unifier, Mr. Obama has divided America on the basis of race, class and partisanship." The commentators also note Obama's approach to governance has encouraged radical leftists to pursue a similar strategy on his behalf. Mary Frances Berry, former head of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, acknowledged that the [[Obama administration]] has taken to polarizing America around the issue of race as a means of diverting attention from other issues, saying, "Having one's opponent [[race card|rebut charges of racism]] is far better than discussing [[Unemployment|joblessness]]."<ref>http://www.politico.com/arena/perm/Mary_Frances_Berry_91E3D9D5-C40D-440C-9D48-1C50CBC60C87.html</ref> Caddell and Schoen, who worked for President Carter and Clinton, respectively, further stated, "Mr. Obama has also cynically [[class warfare|divided the country on class lines]]. He has taken to playing the populist card time and time again. He bashes Wall Street and insurance companies whenever convenient to advance his programs, yet he has been eager to accept campaign contributions and negotiate with these very same banks and [[corporation]]s behind closed doors in order to advance his political agenda... President Obama's divisive approach to governance has weakened us as a people and paralyzed our political culture."<ref>http://online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PUB:SB10001424052748703700904575391553798363586.html</ref>

===Domestic policy===
====Popular bills====
Obama's first act of office was to sign the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act - effectively nullifying the [[Supreme Court]] case ''Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.'', which ruled that Ledbetter had to have filed a pay [[discrimination]] suit within 180 days of the first time Ledbetter was payed less than her male peers;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/us/politics/30ledbetter-web.html|work=The New York Times|format=HTML|language=English|title=Obama Signs Equal-Pay Legislation|author=Sheryl Gay Stolberg|date=January 29, 2009}}</ref> the law made corporations subject to suit within 180 days of each time the employee was unfairly paid.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://writ.news.findlaw.com/grossman/20090213.html?=features|work=FindLaw|author=Joanna L. Grossman|date=Feb. 13, 2009|format=HTML|language=English|title=The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009}}</ref>

On January 2, 2011, Obama signed the James Zadroga [[9/11]] Healthcare and Compensation Act.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2011/jan/02/obama-signs-zadroga-act-law/|publisher=New York Public Radio|title=Obama Signs Zadroga Act into Law|author=Fred Mogul|date=January 02, 2011|work=wNYC|format=HTML|language=English}}</ref> The act, which afforded 9/11 first responders who were sickened by the dust from the collapse of the [[World Trade Center]] health care and compensation, passed [[Congress]] after its sponsored agreed to scale down the pricing from 7.4 to 4.2 billion dollars.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2010/dec/22/zadroga-911-bill-passes-senate/|publisher=New York Public Radio|work=wNYC|format=HTML|language=English|title=Congress Approves 9/11 Health Bill|date=December 22, 2010}}</ref>

====Economic plan====
[[File:Keynes.jpg|thumbnail|right|190px|[[Barack Obama]] advocates the use of [[Keynesian economics|Keynesian economic concepts]] despite the fact that [[John Maynard Keynes]] was incompetent and a fraud.<ref>
*[http://centurean2.wordpress.com/2011/03/20/fabian-john-maynard-keynes-the-stealthy-enemy-of-human-freedom/ John Maynard Keynes the stealthy enemy of human freedom]
*[http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-02-22/deathbed-of-keynesian-economics-will-be-in-u-k-matthew-lynn.html Deathbed of Keynesian Economics will be in the UK]
*[http://www.iwf.org/inkwell/show/23102.html Will the G8 Repudiate the Philosophy of Living Beyond Our Means?]
*[http://www.keynesatharvard.org/book/KeynesatHarvard-ch09.html KEYNES AT HARVARD Economic Deception as a Political Credo BY ZYGMUND DOBBS]
</ref> ]]
{{see also|Obamunism|American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009}}
Critics of the Obama administration have coined the word "[[Obamunism]]" to describe Barack Obama's [[socialism|socialistic]] and "[[fascism]] light" [[economic planning]] policies.<ref>[[Benito Mussolini]] defined fascism as the wedding of state and corporate powers. Accordingly, trend forecaster [[Gerald Celente]] labels [[Obama administration corporate bailouts|Obama's corporate bailouts]] as being "fascism light" in nature.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thebigmoney.com/articles/daily-intel/2009/07/20/obamunism-inc|work=The Big Money|publisher=WashingtonPost.Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC|format=HTML|language=English|title=Obamunism, Inc.|author=David Sessions|date=July 20, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smallbusinessadvocate.com/small-business-interviews/gerald-celente-6944|author=Jim Blasingame|title=Is the government creating a bailout bubble?}}</ref> Obamunism can also refer to Obama's [[Obama administration fiscal policy|ruinous fiscal policies]] and [[Obama administration monetary policy|reckless monetary policies]].<ref name="gerard">{{cite web|url=http://seekingalpha.com/article/120883-monetary-policynot-obama-s-stimulusis-what-needs-watching|title=Monetary Policy-Not Obama's Stimulus-Is What Needs Watching|author=Gerard Jackson|date=February 16, 2009|work=Seeking Alpha}}</ref><ref name="bam">{{cite web|work=New York Post|date=May 17, 2009|url=http://www.nypost.com/seven/05172009/postopinion/editorials/bams_wise_words_169731.htm|title=BAM'S WISE WORDS}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.heritage.org/2009/03/24/bush-deficit-vs-obama-deficit-in-pictures/|title=Bush Deficit vs. Obama Deficit in Pictures|work=The Foundry|publisher=The Heritage Foundation|author=Conn Carroll|date=March 24th, 2009}}</ref> As seen in his own actions, Barack Obama instructed his advisors to find loopholes that would enable the president to act as a [[dictator]] by pushing through legislation and increases in spending without congressional authority.<ref>http://www.theblaze.com/stories/executive-dictatorship-obama-instructs-advisers-to-push-through-stimulus-projects-without-pesky-congressional-authorization/</ref>

[[Wall Street]] firms and banks that were bailed out were among Obama's biggest campaign supporters.<ref>http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00009638</ref> Therefore, the Obama administration bailouts of corrupt, unproductive, and reckless Wall Street firms was hardly surprising, and many argue that it was not helpful in making the United States economy more productive and prosperous by encouraging more risk taking through letting banks off with a slap on the wrist. Others argue that bailing out the banks kept credit flowing and prevented a much deeper recession and a total collapse of the financial system. The government will recoup some though not all of its capital infusions over time. A 2005 study found that government corporate bailouts are often done for mere political considerations and the economic resources allocated exhibit significantly worse economic performance than resources allocated using purely business considerations.<ref>http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=676905</ref> Proponents of [[free market]] capitalism said Bernanke should not have bailed out failing firms and instead should have allowed free market capitalism to quickly recover as it did in the depression of 1920 without government intervention (free market capitalists assert that government intervention drags out economic recessions and depressions).<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czcUmnsprQI</ref>

Top trend forecaster [[Gerald Celente]] predicts that the corrupt economic policies of the Obama administration will lead to a second [[Great Depression|great depression]] (Celente predicted the 1987 US stock market crash, the dot.com crash, the US 2008/2009 recession, and the collapse of the USSR in the early 1990s) and may lead to a "second [[American Revolution]]" (Celente predicted the [[Tea Party Movement|tax protests]] that are now occurring in America).<ref name="celente1">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MMX3SKzrfU&feature=channel_page</ref><ref name="celente2">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy9bfw1ebgw&feature=response_watch</ref> Celente also asserts that the costly and inefficient temporary short term methods that the Obama administration is using to alleviate economic problems in the short term (which is causing massive increases in [[Obama administration deficit spending]]) is only making matters worse and will not prevent the worse economic depression in United States history from occurring.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C8K7rWkGGw</ref><ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LBffdIW0XA&feature=response_watch</ref>

The Obama administration has been sharply criticized for [[Obama administration deficit spending|its massive deficit spending]] and [[Obama administration monetary policy|its reckless monetary policy]] via vast increases in the [[money supply]], although inflation under Bernanke has been below the historic mean.<ref name="gerard"/><ref name="bam"/><ref>http://blog.heritage.org/2009/03/24/bush-deficit-vs-obama-deficit-in-pictures/</ref> Celente predicts that if a "second American Revolution" occurs in a peaceful and productive manner, it may include a [[Third Party System|third party movement]] of governance that will advocate a more [[free market]] [[capitalism]] approach to the American economy and a more strict interpretation of the [[United States Constitution|United States constitution]] as far as the authors' [[original intent]].<ref name="celente1"/><ref name="celente2"/>

During what the [[White House]] billed as [[Recovery Summer]], one half million workers per week continued losing their jobs. His signature legislative achievement, [[ObamaCare]],has been found to be [[unconstitutional]]<ref>http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-13/u-s-health-care-law-requirement-thrown-out-by-judge.html</ref> by several judges and constitutional by others, and is credited as a major cause of uncertainty, high [[unemployment]],<ref>http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=33220</ref> lagging job creation,<ref>http://blog.heritage.org/2010/08/05/it%E2%80%99s-official-medicare%E2%80%99s-finances-shadowed-by-uncertainty/</ref> and risk of a credit default crisis.<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/28/AR2010032802353.html</ref><ref>http://www.thestreet.com/story/10703361/cramer-obamacare-will-topple-the-market.html</ref>

His 2012 Budget plan has been roundly criticized in the mainstream and liberal press as not a serious effort to deal with the nation's economic crisis.<ref>[http://republican.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=blogs.view&blog_id=1551d6f5-2ac9-4b8d-97ab-74def354024e Newspapers Call Out White House: ‘What Would That Path Be, Mr. President?’]</ref>

=====Healthcare=====
{{main article|Obamacare}}
On March 23, 2010, Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The act had originated in the House of Representatives and passed September 17, 2009. The act was amended and passed the Senate prior to [[Democrat]] [[Ted Kennedy]]'s passing along party lines - just a filibuster-proof majority at 60-39. In what can be construed as a de facto rejection of the bill, [[Massachusetts]] voters elected a [[Republican]] candidate, [[Scott Brown]], who promised to vote against the bill,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/senate/scott-brown-wins-massachusetts-senate-race.html|work=The Washington Post|author=Chris Cillizza|date=January 19, 2010|title=Scott Brown wins Massachusetts Senate special election race|language=English|format=HTML}}</ref> but another Senate vote would not occur. Scott Brown was also an excellent campaigner and judged to be a better candidate than his rival, Martha Coakley. He has since achieved one of the most moderate senate voting records, likely to avoid the anger of his mostly liberal constituency. After Obama made a promise to issue an [[executive order]] that would ultimately prohibit the use of taxpayer subsidies to pay for [[abortion]] services,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/22/nation/la-na-healthcare-passage22-2010mar22/3|work=The Los Angeles Times|format=HTML|language=English|title=House passes historic healthcare overhaul|date=March 22, 2010|author=Noam N. Levey and Janet Hook}}</ref> the [[House of Representatives]] would pass the bill as it left the Senate 219-212, with 34 Democrats and all other parties dissenting.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://articles.cnn.com/2010-03-21/politics/health.care.main_1_health-care-entire-house-democratic-caucus-pre-existing-conditions?_s=PM:POLITICS|date=March 21, 2010|author=Alan Silverleib|work=CNN|format=HTML|language=English|title=House passes health care bill on 219-212 vote}}</ref>

Amongst other things, the act mandates that the population purchase health care coverage or face punitive tax measures, and on this basis has been constitutionally challenged in the federal courts, with mixed results (three courts have upheld the act, two have declared it unconstitutional); thus, the Act is likely destined for [[Supreme Court]] reviewal. Plans originally proposed involved instituting a universal public insurance program, that is, extending Medicare to everyone. The universal mandate included in the act was originally a conservative idea that was enacted in Massachusetts under Republican Mitt Romney. Its supporters note that having health insurance results in reduced costs in paying for treatment of uninsured and forcing people to take responsibility for their healthcare. Due to ethical constraints, doctors cannot deny care to poor patients, resulting in the hospital and the healthcare system at large bearing the cost.

====Gulf oil spill====
{{main article|Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster}}
President Obama authorized offshore oil drilling in the [[Gulf of Mexico]]<ref>[http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0430/Gulf-of-Mexico-oil-spill-imperils-Obama-s-offshore-drilling-plan Gulf of Mexico oil spill imperils Obama's offshore drilling plan,] By Mark Clayton, ''Christian Science Monitor'', April 30, 2010.</ref> stating, "oil rigs today generally don’t cause spills"<ref>White House Press Release, [http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-a-discussion-jobs-and-economy-charlotte-north-carolina Remarks by the President in a Discussion on Jobs and the Economy in Charlotte, North Carolina,] Office of the Press Secretary, April 02, 2010. Retrieved from whitehouse.gov 3 May 2010.</ref> and was widely criticized for his mishandling of the "[[Gulf oil spill disaster|worst environmental disaster]] in US history."<ref>[http://www.examiner.com/x-33986-Political-Spin-Examiner~y2010m4d29-Worst-environmental-disaster-in-US-history-Oil-slick-in-Gulf-of-Mexico-is-set-on-fire Worst environmental disaster in US history,] Maryann Tobin, ''Examiner'', April 29, 2010.</ref><ref>[http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/the-oil-spill-is-obamas-fault/?src=twt&twt=NytimesKrugman Conscience of a Liberal: The Oil Spill Is Obama’s Fault,] Paul Krugman, ''New York Times'', April 30, 2010.</ref>

====Don't Ask Don't Tell====
{{main article|Don't Ask Don't Tell}}
Candidate Obama promised to repeal a policy that originated in the Clinton era that prohibited inquiries into military personnel's [[sexual orientation]] while also barring "out" [[homosexuals]] from serving in the military. [[Liberals]] expressed anger when time passed and no effort to repeal the law was seen;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/21/obama-to-delay-repeal-of-dont-ask-dont-tell/|work=The Washington Times|format=HTML|title=Obama to delay ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ repeal|language=English|author=Rowan Scarborough|date=November 21, 2008}}</ref> in fact, Obama's [[justice department]], as part of their duty to defend all laws passed by any administration, filed a brief arguing against the [[Supreme Court]] granting a [[writ of certiorari]] to a gay soldier challenging the law (the writ was not granted). In response, the soldier, James Pietrangelo II, a former Army infantryman and lawyer, said, “[Obama's] a coward, a bigot and a pathological liar. This is a guy who spent more time picking out his dog, Bo, and playing with him on the White House lawn than he has working for equality for gay people."<ref>{{cite web|work=Time Magazine|publisher=Time Inc.|format=HTML|url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1903545,00.html?imw=Y|title=Dismay Over Obama's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Turnabout|author=Mark Thompson|date=Jun. 09, 2009}}</ref>

On December 15th, 2010, a bill was introduced in the [[House of Representatives]] to repeal the law - it passed a day later by a vote of 250-175;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2010/roll638.xml|title=FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 638|format=HTML|work=Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives}}</ref> it passed the Senate three days later 65-31.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=2&vote=00281|work=The U.S. Senate|title=U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 111th Congress - 2nd Session|format=HTML|language=English}}</ref> Obama signed the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 on December 22nd.<ref name="g dadt">{{cite web|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/22/obama-repeals-dont-ask-dont-tell|work=The Guardian|format=HTML|language=English|title='Don't ask, don't tell' repealed as Obama signs landmark law|date=22 December 2010}}</ref>

The [[Pentagon]] itself could not immediately implement the repeal and questioned whether it would hurt combat readiness.<ref name="g dadt"/> Senator [[John McCain]], the senior Republican on the Armed Services Committee, opposed the bill, saying "It may be premature to make such a change at this time and in this manner, without further consideration of this report and further study of the issue by Congress – for of all the people we serve, one of our highest responsibilities is to the men and women of our armed services, especially those risking their lives in combat.”<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/mccain-on-dont-ask-dont-tell-dont-rush/|title=McCain on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’: Don’t Rush|date=December 2nd, 2010|format=HTML|author=David M. Herszenhorn|language=English|work=The New York Times}}</ref>

===Foreign policy===
[[File:Western Wall Obama.jpg|thumb|left|320px|At [[Western Wall]], Jerusalem, 2008.]]
As Senator, Obama was highly critical of President Bush and promised change. As President, Obama has tripled down in Afghanistan, widened the war into Pakistan, multiplied drone attacks, bombed Yemen and Somalia, and started an undeclared NATO war in Libya. On presidential war powers, surveillance questions, Guantanamo, detention policy and habeas corpus, Obama has similarly stayed the course, or expanded Bush's precedents. In a speech on May 19, 2011 Obama fully embraced the [[Bush Doctrine]] of preventative war.<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-news-in-obamas-speech/2011/05/19/AF4dFN7G_story.html</ref>

<blockquote>
The New America Foundation, which tracks the strikes, has listed 23 raids since the beginning of April, 2011, all but one in Pakistan’s tribal regions of North and South Waziristan. A June 20 attack was reported in Kurram, an area north of North Waziristan along the Afghanistan border.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
The drone program has become increasingly controversial as the Obama administration has expanded its use beyond the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Lethal missiles have been launched from unmanned aircraft in at least five countries in addition to Pakistan: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, and, most recently, Somalia. The military’s Joint Special Operations Command used a drone last June to attack what officials said were two senior members of the Al Shabab militant group on the Somali coast. <ref> [http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2011/07/04/cia_halts_drone_launches_from_pakistan_base/] </ref>
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
Obama is commendable when he says he wants to avoid war. His policies, however, favor war by destabilizing the Middle East making it extremely hostile and favoring radical Islam over America’s ally, Israel, and American interests in the region... The president has chosen a very dangerous path for every American and one that promises great difficulty for Israel. <ref> [http://www.thejerusalemconnection.us/blog/2012/03/14/obamas-words-disguise-his-israel-foreign-policy-actions.html Obama's words disguise his Israel foreign policy actions.] </ref>
</blockquote>

====Commander-in-chief====
By Obama's third year as Commander-in-Chief, over 1200 American troops died in Iraq and Afghanistan - significantly more than the number who died during President [[George W. Bush]]'s term of office. And growing numbers of civilian contractors also have fallen. In the first half of 2010, 250 contractors reportedly died in Iraq and Afghanistan - more than the 235 military personnel who fell during the same period.<ref>http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/05/24/114662/what-price-war.html#ixzz1Nz07pg5O</ref>

=====National Defense=====
President Obama signed into U.S. law the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), only after his administration successfully lobbied to remove language from the bill that would have protected American citizens from being detained indefinitely without trial.<ref>Aaron Dykes. [http://www.infowars.com/president-obamas-ndaa-signing-statement-i-have-the-power-to-detain-americans-but-i-wont/ Obama’s Signing Statement on NDAA: I have the power to detain Americans… but I won’t], Infowars.com, January 1, 2012. </ref> After the legislation cleared Congress, the ACLU commented that if President Obama signed the bill it "will damage both his legacy and American’s reputation for upholding the rule of law," while executive director of the ''Human Rights Watch'' blasted the President for being ‘on the wrong side of history,’ noting that "Obama will go down in history as the president who enshrined indefinite detention without trial in US law."<ref>President Decides to Sign Ill-Conceived National Defense Authorization Act. [http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/12/14/us-refusal-veto-detainee-bill-historic-tragedy-rights US: Refusal to Veto Detainee Bill A Historic Tragedy for Rights], ''Human Rights Watch'', December 14, 2011. </ref><ref>[http://www.aclu.org/national-security/white-house-backs-away-defense-bill-veto-threat White House Backs Away from Defense Bill Veto Threat], ''[[ACLU]]'', December 14, 2011.</ref>

Section 1031 of the NDAA bill, which itself defines the entirety of the United States as a “battlefield,” allows American citizens to be snatched from the streets, carted off to a foreign detention camp and held indefinitely without trial. As reported by Infowars.com, the bill states that “any person who has committed a belligerent act” faces indefinite detention, but no trial or evidence has to be presented, the White House merely needs to make the accusation.<ref>Paul Joseph Watson. [http://www.infowars.com/obama-administration-demanded-power-to-indefinitely-detain-u-s-citizens/ Obama Administration Demanded Power To Indefinitely Detain U.S. Citizens], Infowars.com, December 12, 2011.</ref><ref>S.1867 [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c112:2:./temp/~c1122VN0Iv:e548990: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (Engrossed in Senate [Passed Senate] - ES)], ''The Library of Congress'' THOMAS, 112th Congress (2011-2011), Accessed January 25, 2012.</ref><ref>Text of S.1867 - National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012. [http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-s1867/text?version=es&nid=t0:es:281 Sec. 1031. Affirmation of authority of the Armed Forces of the United States to detain covered persons pursuant to the Authorization for Use of Military Force.], [[U.S. Congress]], ''OpenCongress.org'', (Accessed January 25, 2012).</ref>

=====Afghanistan=====
{{main article|Afghanistan War}}
Obama escalated troop strength<ref name="pbs">{{cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/obamaswar/themes/strategy.html#ixzz1LhWNImZp|title=Obama's New Strategy (March '09)|author=George Packer, Seth Jones, David Kilcullen, Rory Stewart, Andrew Exum, Col. Andrew Bacevich (Ret.)|work=PBS|language=English|format=HTML}}</ref> and defense costs in Afghanistan from $43.5 billion in George Bush's last year to $113.7 billion for 2011.<ref>Congressional Research Service, quoted in Gregory Anthony, ''What price war?''</ref> Adviser to General [[Stanley McChrystal]] David Kilcullen wrote, "One of the big strategic shifts is the use of language now which talks about Pakistan and Afghanistan as the same theater. Now we talked about Af-Pak long before the Obama administration came about, but the public use of that term, and the description of it as the Afghanistan-Pakistan campaign, sends a new message to people about how the administration is going to think about Afghanistan and Pakistan."<ref name="pbs"/> This became evident when, under the orders of Obama, a military SEALs team killed September 11th mastermind [[Osama bin Laden]] in Abottabad, Pakistan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newsweek.com/2011/05/05/commander-in-chief.html|title=Commander in Chief|author=Daniel Romano and Daniel Klaidman|date=May 05, 2011|work=Newsweek|publisher=The Newsweek/Daily Beast Company LLC|language=English|format=HTML}}</ref>

=====Guantanamo Bay=====
{{main article|Guantanamo Bay}}
One of Obama's campaign promises was that he would close the American detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba - detainees would be flown to other countries while the ones awaiting trial would enter the American court system. Two days after taking office he signed an order directing the military to do so.<ref name="salon">{{cite web|url=http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/04/25/obama_guantanamo_rhetoric|work=Salon|title=The Obama/Gitmo timeline|author=Natasha Lennard|format=HTML|language=English}}</ref> But, in November 2009 Obama admitted that his self imposed deadline of January 2010 would be missed, and in March 2011 the president went back on his campaign promise, signing an executive order to create a formal system of indefinite detention for the prisoners.<ref name="salon"/>

=====Mexico=====

In May 2012, President Obama promised Mexican President [[Felipe Calderon]] that his administration would assist Mexico in curbing drug cartel violence, which has led to 30,000 deaths in Mexico. "President Calderon and I . . . stand together against the drug cartels that have unleashed horrific violence in so many communities," Obama said on May 19. "Mexico can count on the United States as a full partner in this effort.

The ''[[Washington Post]]'' has reported however that White House officials stopped a requirement for gun dealers to report bulk sales of high-powered semiautomatic rifles commonly used by illegal drug cartels. [[Justice Department]] officials had asked for White House approval to require thousands of gun dealers along the border to report the purchases to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and Explosives. ATF investigators expected to get leads on suspected arms traffickers. Senior law enforcement sources said the proposal from the ATF was held up by then White House chief of staff [[Rahm Emanuel]].<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/17/AR2010121706598.html</ref> Gun dealers have been required for decades to report the sales of multiple handguns to the ATF.

=====Libya=====
{{main article|Libyan uprising 2011}}
In February 2011, the political unrest that had spread through the Arab world showed up as protests in Libya. Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi - dictator of Libya for 41 years - responded to the activism with a wave of violence.<ref name="nyt libya">{{cite web|url=http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/libya/index.html|work=The New York Times|publisher=The New York Times Inc.|format=HTML|language=English|title=Libya — Protests and Revolt (2011)}}</ref> The [[United Nations Security Council]] voted unanimously to impose [[sanctions]], and later authorized all members to take action to protect civilians. Obama, acting without approval from Congress and at the beckoning of the [[United Nations]], directed American forces to take out Libya's air defense system.<ref name="nyt libya"/> Obama later said, "[I]f we waited one more day Benghazi, a city nearly the size of Charlotte, could suffer a massacre that would have reverberated across the region and stained the conscience of the world."<ref>{{cite web|author=Barack Obama|url=http://www.npr.org/2011/03/28/134935452/obamas-speech-on-libya-a-responsibility-to-act|title=Obama's Speech On Libya: 'A Responsibility To Act'|date=March 28, 2011|publisher=National Public Radio ([[NPR]])|language=English|format=HTML}}</ref> [[Alan J. Kuperman]] - writing an editorial for the ''[[Boston Globe]]'' - suggested this statement was false, writing, "[I]ntervention did not prevent genocide, because no such bloodbath was in the offing. To the contrary, by emboldening rebellion, US interference has prolonged Libya’s civil war and the resultant suffering of innocents."<ref name="kuperman">{{cite web|author=Alan J. Kuperman|work=The Boston Globe|url=http://articles.boston.com/2011-04-14/bostonglobe/29418371_1_rebel-stronghold-civilians-rebel-positions|title=False pretense for war in Libya?|date=April 14, 2011}}</ref> Kuperman, a professor of public affairs at the University of Texas who authored a book called ''The Limits of Humanitarian Intervention'', further stated that the rebels had tricked the world into thinking a bloodbath was at hand and that Obama had lied to the American people in order to act on this theory.<ref name="kuperman"/>
<blockquote>
Gaddafi [never] threaten civilian massacre in Benghazi, as Obama alleged. The “no mercy’’ warning, of March 17, targeted rebels only, as reported by The New York Times, which noted that Libya’s leader promised amnesty for those “who throw their weapons away.’’ Khadafy even offered the rebels an escape route and open border to Egypt, to avoid a fight “to the bitter end.’’ <ref> [http://politicalcartel.org/2011/04/17/libya-and-the-obama-doctrine/ Libya and the “Obama Doctrine”.] </ref>
</blockquote>

However Gaddafi wrote to Obama:

<blockquote>
Gaddafi said he bore no ill will toward Obama. "We have been hurt more morally than physically because of what had happened against us in both deeds and words by you," he wrote. "Despite all this you will always remain our son whatever happened. We still pray that you continue to be president of the USA. We endeavour and hope that you will gain victory in the new election campaign." The letter, dated 5 April 2011 in Tripoli, is signed "Mu'aumer Qaddaffi, Leader of the Revolution".<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/06/gaddafi-obama-nato-libya?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487]</ref>
</blockquote>

Critics point out the only thing worse than starting a "stupid, unnecessary war" against a madman is losing it.<ref>http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/271847/war-libya-dumb-and-dumber-victor-davis-hanson</ref>

=====Iraq=====
{{main article|Operation Iraqi Freedom}}
Obama campaigned on a promise to carry out [[George W. Bush]]'s timetable to end the War in Iraq, which has been completed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://articles.cnn.com/2011-12-17/middleeast/world_meast_iraq-troops-leave_1_1st-cavalry-division-camp-adder-troop-movements?_s=PM:MIDDLEEAST|work=CNN|title=Obama: Last U.S. troops leave Iraq|date=December 17, 2011|language=English|format=HTML}}</ref>

==See also==

*[[Political positions of Barack Obama]]
*[[Barack Obama and uncharitableness]]
*[[Barack Obama and abortion]]
*[[Essay:Born Outside the U.S.A.!]]
*[[Essay: The Special Interests Candidate]]
*[[Jobsgate]]
*[[Recovery Summer]]
*[[Lobbyists ties to the Obama administration]]
*[[New Party]]
*[[ObamaCare]]
*[[Obama doublespeak]]
*[[Obama inauguration]]
*[[Religion of Barack Hussein Obama]]
*[[The Honorable James David Manning]]
*[[Young Communist League]]

==External links==
*[http://www.antiobama.net/ Anti Obama.net]
*[http://www.dontvoteobama.net/ Don’t Vote For Obama.net]
*[http://nobamanetwork.com/ Nobama Network]
*[http://www.audacityofhypocrisy.com/ Audacity Of Hypocrisy]
*[http://therealbarackobama.wordpress.com/ The Real Barack Obama]
*[http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/6130/ The New Cult of Personality]
*[http://www.survivingobamunism.com/index.html Surviving Obamunism T-shirts]
*[http://www.barackobamaantichrist.blogspot.com/ Barack Obama the Anti-Christ ?]
*[http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/06/23/che-obama-and-the-revolutionary-agenda/ Che, Obama, and the Revolutionary Agenda]
*[http://www.audacityofhypocrisy.com/fashion-shows/ Obama Laundry List of Lies]
*[http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/09/americas-first-muslim-president/ GAFFNEY: America's first Muslim president?] Washington Times
*[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-l-esposito/barack-obama-and-islam_b_212519.html Barack Obama and Islam.] by [[John L. Esposito]].
*[http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=78931 Democrat: Obama's grandma confirms Kenyan birth.]
*[http://www.ontheissues.org/barack_obama.htm Barack Obama on the issues.]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etWLwrvT2vo Obama = Kosher Puppet.] video on You Tube.

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

{{USPresidents}}
{{2008 presidential candidates}}
[[Category: Barack Hussein Obama]]
[[Category:Obama Presidency]]
[[Category:Obama Administration]]
[[category:Nobel laureates in Peace]]
[[Category:2012 Presidential Candidates]]
[[Category:Abortion Advocates]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obama, Barack Hussein}}

List of proofs of God

2012-04-10T01:50:41Z

DorMouse: /* References */ fix link

Arguments for and against the existence of God have been proposed by philosophers, theologians, scientists, and others. In philosophical terms, arguments for and against the existence of God involve primarily the sub-disciplines of epistemology (theory of knowledge) and ontology (nature of being), but also of the theory of value, since concepts of perfection are often bound up with notions of God. Some atheists maintain that arguments for the existence of God show insufficient reason to believe. Certain theists acknowledge that belief in the existence of God may not be amenable to demonstration or refutation, but rests on faith alone. Other religions, such as Buddhism, do not concern themselves with the question of the existence or non-existence of God at all. Psychological and sociological explanations for believing in the existence of God may point to a shared neurological and cultural framework for belief based on cognitive processes in the brain.

This article seeks to document some well known arguments for the existence of God,in the Monotheistic sense.

==Historical Arguments==
#[[Teleological Argument]], also known as the Watchmaker Hypothesis. Proposed by Thomas Aquinas, who created the 5 proofs of God. This argument states that a complex object, found, like life, appears to be designed, and because it is unlikely that chance created it, God must have. Therefore, God exists.
#Cosmological Argument(Part of the Infinite Regress series). It states that everything has a causing mover, and as that continues on forever, ad infintum, God must be the terminator of the regress. Therefore, God exists.
#[[Ontological Argument]]. Postulates that if God can exist in our mind, as uber perfect, s/he must also exist in reality, which is even better than simply imagining a perfect god. Therefore, God exists.
#[[Anthropic Argument]]. Postulates that God is the reason people exist, for without him, we have no meaning. We exist, therefore God exists.
#[[Argument from Reason]]. Because all thoughts are a reaction of physical effects, but knowledge and learning is not, God must be behind it. Therefore God exists.

==Arguments from Historical Events==
#God has been claimed to appear before nations, to give orders, demand tributes, or inform. Because of the unlikeliness of thousands of people hallucinating the same thing, God should, exist.
#Argument from Holy Texts. Because the text was written by God, God must exist.

==Argument from Testimony==
The vast amount of theistic people on earth, imply that God must exist.
==NOMA==
Noma or non overlapping magisteria states that because God cannot be proven by science, s/he must exist in faith. Because there are people with faith, God must exist.

==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Religion]][[Category:Apologetics]]

List of proofs of God

2012-04-10T01:50:19Z

DorMouse: A start

Arguments for and against the existence of God have been proposed by philosophers, theologians, scientists, and others. In philosophical terms, arguments for and against the existence of God involve primarily the sub-disciplines of epistemology (theory of knowledge) and ontology (nature of being), but also of the theory of value, since concepts of perfection are often bound up with notions of God. Some atheists maintain that arguments for the existence of God show insufficient reason to believe. Certain theists acknowledge that belief in the existence of God may not be amenable to demonstration or refutation, but rests on faith alone. Other religions, such as Buddhism, do not concern themselves with the question of the existence or non-existence of God at all. Psychological and sociological explanations for believing in the existence of God may point to a shared neurological and cultural framework for belief based on cognitive processes in the brain.

This article seeks to document some well known arguments for the existence of God,in the Monotheistic sense.

==Historical Arguments==
#[[Teleological Argument]], also known as the Watchmaker Hypothesis. Proposed by Thomas Aquinas, who created the 5 proofs of God. This argument states that a complex object, found, like life, appears to be designed, and because it is unlikely that chance created it, God must have. Therefore, God exists.
#Cosmological Argument(Part of the Infinite Regress series). It states that everything has a causing mover, and as that continues on forever, ad infintum, God must be the terminator of the regress. Therefore, God exists.
#[[Ontological Argument]]. Postulates that if God can exist in our mind, as uber perfect, s/he must also exist in reality, which is even better than simply imagining a perfect god. Therefore, God exists.
#[[Anthropic Argument]]. Postulates that God is the reason people exist, for without him, we have no meaning. We exist, therefore God exists.
#[[Argument from Reason]]. Because all thoughts are a reaction of physical effects, but knowledge and learning is not, God must be behind it. Therefore God exists.

==Arguments from Historical Events==
#God has been claimed to appear before nations, to give orders, demand tributes, or inform. Because of the unlikeliness of thousands of people hallucinating the same thing, God should, exist.
#Argument from Holy Texts. Because the text was written by God, God must exist.

==Argument from Testimony==
The vast amount of theistic people on earth, imply that God must exist.
==NOMA==
Noma or non overlapping magisteria states that because God cannot be proven by science, s/he must exist in faith. Because there are people with faith, God must exist.

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Category:Religion]][[Category:Apologetics]]

Christian apologetics

2012-04-10T01:36:43Z

DorMouse: /* See Also */ linking to page

'''Christian apologetics''' is the defense of the [[Christianity|Christian]] faith through logical arguments. The term comes from the [[Greek language|Greek]] word ''apologia'', which means "defense". The expression "Christian apologist" therefore does not mean that someone is apologising for or on behalf of [[Christianity]] as is sometimes thought, but that he or she is defending and justifying it. There are a
number of subfields within apologetics. Some apologists specialize in internal biblical consistency (such as [[JP Holding]], owner of the website tektonics.org), others in scientific defenses of the Bible, and still others in historical or philosophical defenses of Christianity (such as [[Gary Habermas]] or [[Lee Strobel]]). Although some feel that faith alone needs no justification, many feel that Christians should be prepared to defend and spread their faith by intellectual means, especially as many people will not accept Christianity without a "rational" reason to do so.
{{Christianity}}
==History of Christian Apologetics==
Christian apologetics has existed as long as Christianity itself. [[Jesus]] himself spent time in the temples and synagogues, debating and explaining the meaning of the scriptures. The [[Saint Peter|Apostle Peter]] exhorted early Christians to practice apologetics, writing,
:"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander." 1 Peter 3:15-16.

The Apostle Paul also spent time in [[Athens]], debating [[Stoicism|Stoic]] and Epicurian philosophers. Acts 17:16.

Great theologians such as Athanasius, [[Irenaeus]], [[Justin Martyr]], [[Augustine]], and [[Aquinas]] continued the tradition of apologetics on a dramatic scale. At the same time, apologetics was practiced by countless individual Christians, explaining and defending their beliefs.

===Purposes===
Apologetics has generally been used for two purposes: Efforts to ''persuade'' others of the truth of Christianity, and efforts to ''defend'' the reasonableness of one's own beliefs, while not seeking to convince others of their truth.

==Types of Christian Apologetics==

===Evidentialist apologetics===

Evidential apologetics seeks to defend Christian belief through what they consider to count as [[evidence]]. This can take the form of:
* [[Christian historical apologetics|Defense of the historical accuracy of the Bible]]
* [[Biblical Archaeology]], seeking to show that the Bible is consistent with the physical evidence;
* [[Christian Legal Apologetics]]
* [[Bible prophecy]]
* [[Creation science]] and [[Creationism]], seeking to show that the creation accounts of the Bible are the most reasonable explanation for life as we know it and that the [[evolution|evolutionary paradigm]] is untenable.

===Philosophical apologetics===
Philosophical apologetics seeks to defend Christian belief through philosophical argument: primarily [[arguments for the existence of God]]. This can take the form of:
* The [[Teleological argument]]: When you find a watch in the sand, you infer that it is designed, even if you do not see the designer, because it is complex, has a definite purpose, and could not have come to be through any known non-intelligent causes. Therefore, when we observe a complex, purposeful universe which could not have come to be through any known non-intelligent cause, it is reasonable to infer the existence of a designer, aka God.

:This is connected to the [[anthropic principle]], which is the argument that so much fine-tuning and exact physiological constants allows us to be here, provides evidence in support of an intelligent designer.
* The [[Cosmological argument]]: Every event in the universe is caused by something. It is impossible that everything should have a cause, going back to eternity. Therefore, there must be a [[first cause]], which itself is not caused, and that first cause must be capable of causing the universe, aka God. [[Creation science|Creationist scientists]] demonstrate that the [[First Law of Thermodynamics|first law of thermodynamics]] and [[Second law of thermodynamics|second law of thermodynamics]] argue against an eternal [[universe]] and they also demonstrate that these laws point to the universe being supernaturally created. <ref>[http://godevidences.net/space/lawsofscience.php Evidences for God From Space—Laws of Science]</ref><ref>Thompson, Bert, [http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/2329 So Long, Eternal Universe; Hello Beginning, Hello End!], 2001 (Apologetics Press)</ref><ref>http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/AstroPhysicalSciences14.html</ref>

In the 20th century, this argument has been strongly supported by [[science]], with the discovery that the universe had a beginning. Prior to the 1920s, it had been widely believed that the universe's existence had been eternal. <ref>http://www.harvardhouse.com/Science-Religion.htm</ref> This verifies the very first three words of the [[Bible]]: "In the beginning."
* The [[Ontological argument]]: God is the being than which no greater can be conceived. It is greater to exist than to not exist. Therefore if you conceive God as not existing, you are not conceiving the being than which no greater can be conceived, and are therefore not conceiving God. Therefore it is impossible to conceive of God as not existing. Therefore God exists.
* The Argument from morality: All humans are born with a natural, moral code. A moral code implies a moral code giver, aka God.

===Presuppositional apologetics===
[[Presuppositional Apologetics]] seek to defend Christian belief by showing that belief in Christian precepts is necessary to make sense of the human experience as a whole.

== Christian Apologetics and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ ==

see also: [[Christian Apologetics and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ]]

The [[Resurrection of Jesus Christ|resurrection of Jesus Christ]] is critical to the Christian faith. The Apostle Paul wrote, "if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain" (I Cor:15:14). Traditionally, Christianity has believed in a physical resurrection of Jesus Christ. <ref>http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/cri/cri-jrnl/crj0056a.txt</ref> The Christian apologist Michael Horner of [[Campus Crusade for Christ|CRU]] has an excellent resource which offers a defense of the resurrection of Jesus Christ entitled [http://www.michaelhorner.com/articles/resurrection/index.html Did Jesus really rise from the dead?]. In addition, Dr. Gary Habermas offers [http://www.garyhabermas.com/audio/audio.htm an online audio library which defends the resurrection of Jesus Christ.]

In recent history, Dr. [[Gary Habermas]] is considered the foremost Christian apologist for defending the resurrection of Jesus.<ref>http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/dialog_rexperience/dialog_rexperiences.htm</ref><ref>http://www.tektonics.org/books/lichabrvw.html</ref><ref>http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/Ted_Hildebrandt/NTeSources/NTArticles/CTR-NT/Habermas-Resurrection2-CTR.pdf</ref> <ref>http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/crj_explainingaway/crj_explainingaway.htm</ref><ref>http://www.apologetics.com/default.jsp?bodycontent=/articles/historical_apologetics/habermas-nt.html</ref> Dr. Habermas had a debate against the philosopher Antony Flew regarding the resurrection which was chronicled in the work ''Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? The Resurrection Debate'' and the debate had a panel of debate judges. J. Hampton Keathley, III , Th.M. in his essay ''Evidences for the Resurrection'' wrote: "The decision of the judges were as follows. The panel of philosophers judging content cast four votes for Habermas who argued for the fact of the resurrection, none for Flew, and one draw. The panel of professional debate judges voted three to two, also in favor of Habermas, this time regarding the method of argumentation technique." <ref>http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=639</ref>

In recent history some notable defenders of the resurrection include: [[William Lane Craig]], Ben Witherington, [[Lee Strobel]], [[Josh McDowell]], Edwin M. Yamauchi, [[N.T. Wright]] and Michael Horner. <ref>http://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/menus/historical.html</ref><ref>http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/easter/articles/josh2.html</ref><ref>http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/easter/articles/yama.html</ref><ref>http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Early_Traditions.htm</ref><ref>http://www.michaelhorner.com/articles/resurrection/index.html</ref>

Legal scholars, legal authorities, and eminent lawyers such as [[Simon Greenleaf]], John Warwick Montgomery, Lord Darling, John Singleton Copley, [[Hugo Grotius]], Lord Caldecote, J. N. D. Anderson, [[Lionel Luckhoo]], and many others have asserted that western legal standards argue for the resurrection of Christ. <ref>http://www.bibleteacher.org/sgtestimony.htm</ref><ref>http://www.mtio.com/articles/bissart1.htm</ref><ref>http://www.ankerberg.com/Articles/apologetics/AP0302W3.htm</ref><ref>http://lawreligionculturereview.blogspot.com/2005_01_01_lawreligionculturereview_archive.html</ref><ref>http://www.trinitysem.edu/journal/philjohnsonpap.html</ref>

== Question evolution campaign ==

''See also:'' [[Question evolution! campaign]]

Since [[World War II]] a majority of the most prominent and vocal defenders of the [[evolution|theory of evolution]] which employs [[methodological naturalism]] have been atheists.<ref>
* Dr. Don Batten,[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/737/ A ''Who’s Who'' of evolutionists] ''Creation'' 20(1):32, December 1997.
* [[Jonathan Sarfati]], Ph.D.,F.M., [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3830 ''Refuting Evolution'', Chapter 1, Facts and Bias]
</ref> In 2011, a campaign called the [[Question evolution! campaign]] was launched by the [[Bible|biblical]] [[creation]] organization [[Creation Ministries International]] which is a worldwide "[[grassroots|grass-roots]] movement to challenge the anti-[[Christianity|Christian]] [[dogma]] of [[evolution]]".<ref>[http://creation.com/question-evolution Question evolution! campaign]</ref> The focus of the Question evolution! campaign is on 15 questions that evolutionists cannot answer.<ref>[http://creation.com/question-evolution Question evolution! campaign]</ref> The campaign will be primarily conducted in the [[United States]], the [[United Kingdom]], [[Canada]], [[Europe]], [[Australia]], [[New Zealand]], [[Singapore]] and [[South Africa]].<ref>http://creation.com/question-evolution</ref>

== Christian Apologetic Ministries ==
There are a number of [[internet]] based Christian apologetic Ministries or Christian apologetics ministries which have a internet presence. Some of the more notable Christian apologetic ministries are: Fixed Point Foundation<ref>http://www.fixed-point.org</ref>, Tekton Apologetics Ministries, LeadershipU, Probe Ministries, Christian Answers Network, Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry, and A Christian Thinktank.

== Christian websites with a large focus on the topic of atheism ==

[[File:TFT.JPG|right|200px]]
Four of the more notable Christian apologetics which have a large focus on the topic of atheism are: [[True Free Thinker]], the [[Creation Ministries International and atheism|Creation Ministries International resources on atheism]], the [[Fixed Point Foundation]] website, and [[Atheism Analyzed]].

==See Also==
*[[Resources on becoming a Christian]]
*[[Atheism]]
*[[Evolution]]
*[[Christian apologetics website resources]]
*[[Israel Tourism]] for some biblical archaeological sites available to tourists
*[[Inspiration of Holy Scripture: An Eastern Christian and Jewish Perspective]]
*[[List of proofs of God]]

== External Links ==

=== General Christian apologetics websites ===

* [http://www.allaboutgod.com All About GOD] — Answers to many questions regarding Christianity
* [http://www.apologeticsinfo.org/resource.html Apologetics Information Ministry]
* [http://www.apologetics.com Apologetics.com]
* [http://www.tektonics.org Tekton Apologetics Ministries]
* [http://www.tektonics.org/classics/classics.html Classic Works of Apologetics] (Tektonics)
* [http://www.carm.org/apologetics.htm Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry]
* [http://hisdefense.org/Links/Authors/tabid/297/Default.aspx Academy of Christian Apologetics]
* [http://www.lifeway.com/apologetics LifeWay Apologetics]
* [http://www.windmillministries.org Windmill Ministries]
* [http://www.probe.org/ Probe Ministries -Christian Apologetics]
* [http://www.ses.edu/Resources/ApologeticsJournal/tabid/104/Default.aspx Christian Apologetics Journal]
* [http://www.arcapologetics.org/ Apologetics Resource Center]
* [http://www.ApologeticsWiki.com/ Christian Apologetics Wiki] — [[Wiki]]-based Christian apologetics
* [http://www.actministry.org Academy for Christian Thought]
* [http://www.rbc.org/rtb/ 10 Reasons to Believe]
* [http://www.proofthatgodexists.org Proof That God Exists]

=== Historical and legal apologetics ===

'''Historical apologetics:'''

*[http://www.michaelhorner.com/articles/resurrection/index.html Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?] by Michael Horner
*[http://www.theapologiaproject.org/WHYIBE~1.pdf Why I Believe the New Testament is historically Reliable] by Dr. [[Gary Habermas]]
*[http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/articles.htm Journal articles of Dr. Gary Habermas]
*[http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/bib-docu.html Are the Biblical Documents Reliable?]
*[http://www.tektonics.org/lp/nowayjose.html The Impossible faith] by [[JP Holding]]

'''Christian legal apologetics:'''

*[[Christian legal apologetics]]

=== Bible archaeology ===
*[http://www.christiananswers.net/archaeology/ Bible archaeology]
*[http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn30/archaeologychurch.htm The Bible & Archaeology: The Book of Acts: The Church Begins]
*[http://www.allaboutthejourney.org/saint-luke.htm St. Luke, archaeology, Book of Acts]
*[http://www.inplainsite.org/html/acts_and_archaeology.html Archaeology and the Book of Acts]
*[http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/Ted_Hildebrandt/NTeSources/NTArticles/CTR-NT/McRay-ArchaeologyActs-CTR.pdf Archaeology and the Book of Acts] - Gordon College
*[http://www.ucg.ca/booklets/BA2/paultravels.asp Book of Acts - Paul's travels]
*[http://abr.christiananswers.net/articles/contents.html Bible and Spade articles]
* [http://www.probe.org/content/view/31/77/ Archaeology and the Old Testament] by Patrick Zukeran
* [http://www.probe.org/site/c.fdKEIMNsEoG/b.4219999/k.A54E/The_Archaeological_Evidence_for_the_Bible_is_NonExistent.htm The Archaeological Evidence for the Bible is Non-Existent!] A reply from James F. Williams

'''Bible archaeology and dating:'''

* [http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/2020 Dating in Archaeology: Challenges to Biblical Credibility] by Garry K. Brantley, M.A., M.Div.

=== Christian worldview/Christian philosophy ===
* [http://www.rzim.org/ Ravi Zacharias, modern apologist]
* [http://www.str.org/ Stand to Reason]
* [http://www.leaderu.com/menus/theology.html Leadership U]
* [http://www.worldview.org Worldview Academy]

'''Videos on atheism:'''

*[[Atheism videos|Videos on atheism]]

'''Websites, articles and videos focusing on atheism:'''

*[[Atheism website resources]]
*[[True Free Thinker]].
*[http://www.fixed-point.org Fixed Point Foundation] — Committed to publicly defending Christianity by empowering Christians and challenging skeptics.
*[[Atheism Analyzed]]

=== Creation science ministries and other resources===
* [http://creation.com/ Creation Ministries International]
* [http://www.answersingenesis.org Answers in Genesis]
* [http://www.icr.org Institute for Creation Science]

[[Conservapedia]] articles on evolution and creation science:

*[[Evolution]]
*[[Creation science]]

=== Bible prophecy articles and websites ===

'''Analysis of Bible prophecy from Christian scholars/apologists'''

*[http://sciencespeaks.dstoner.net/Prophetic_Accuracy.html#c8 Science speaks - Prophetic accuracy] by Dr. Peter Stoner
*[http://www.drjbloom.com/public%20files/PubTheoData.pdf Public Theology and Prophecy Data - Factual Evidence that Counts for a Worldview] by Dr. John Bloom, Robert C. Newman, and Hugh G. Gouch, Jr.
*[http://www.ankerberg.com/Articles/ATRJ/proof/ATRJ1103PDF/ATRJ1103-16.pdf The Case for Jesus the Messiah — Incredible Prophecies that Prove God Exist] by Dr. John Ankerberg, Dr. John Weldon and Dr. Walter Kaiser Jr.
*[http://www.johnankerberg.com/Articles/_PDFArchives/apologetics/AP1W1299.pdf The Case for Jesus the Messiah — Incredible Prophecies that Prove God Exist - Part Two] by Dr. John Ankerberg, Dr. John Weldon and Dr. Walter Kaiser Jr.
*[http://www.aboutbibleprophecy.com/ AboutBibleprophecy]
*[http://www.allaboutthejourney.org/prophecy-about-jesus.htm Prophecy about Jesus]

'''Rebuttal to atheist Steven Carr concerning Bible prophecy:'''

*[http://www.tektonics.org/af/carrs01.html Steven Carr's The Jury Is In Chapter 11: Rebuttal] by [[JP Holding]]

=== Biblical inerrancy resources ===
* [http://www.tektonics.org Tekton Apologetics Ministries]
* [http://www.christian-thinktank.com Christian Thinktank]
* [http://www.inerrancy.org/ Inerrancy.org]
* [http://www.christianthinktank.com/ A Christian Thinktank]
* [http://www.apologeticspress.org/allegeddiscrepancies/sort-2-1-100-title Alleged Bible discrepancies] by Apologetics Press

== Resources for becoming a Christian ==
[[File:Hoffman Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.jpg|thumbnail|170px|[[Jesus Christ|Christ]] in the Garden of Gethsemane by Heinrich Hofmann.]]
''see also:'' [[Resources on becoming a Christian]] and [[Resources for leaving atheism and becoming a Christian]]

'''Below are some resources on becoming a [[Christian]]:'''

*[http://www.allaboutgod.com/ AllAboutGod.com]

*[http://www.jesusfilm.org/film-and-media/watch-the-film Jesus film - free access]

*[http://www.thewordfortoday.org/?page=C2000 Free audio Bible and Bible audio streaming]

*[[Video testimonies of Christians]]

*[http://www.gotquestions.org/repentance.html Repentance]

'''Tips on choosing a Christian church:'''

*[http://www.allaboutreligion.org/choosing-a-christian-church-faq.htm Choosing a Christian Church]

'''Spiritual growth as a Christian:'''

*[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/529785.The_Complete_Book_of_Discipleship The Complete Book of Discipleship: On Being and Making Followers of Christ]

{{Liberalism}}

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

[[Category: Christian Apologetics]]

Christian apologetics

2012-04-10T01:36:18Z

DorMouse: /* Christian websites with a large focus on the topic of atheism */ formatting

'''Christian apologetics''' is the defense of the [[Christianity|Christian]] faith through logical arguments. The term comes from the [[Greek language|Greek]] word ''apologia'', which means "defense". The expression "Christian apologist" therefore does not mean that someone is apologising for or on behalf of [[Christianity]] as is sometimes thought, but that he or she is defending and justifying it. There are a
number of subfields within apologetics. Some apologists specialize in internal biblical consistency (such as [[JP Holding]], owner of the website tektonics.org), others in scientific defenses of the Bible, and still others in historical or philosophical defenses of Christianity (such as [[Gary Habermas]] or [[Lee Strobel]]). Although some feel that faith alone needs no justification, many feel that Christians should be prepared to defend and spread their faith by intellectual means, especially as many people will not accept Christianity without a "rational" reason to do so.
{{Christianity}}
==History of Christian Apologetics==
Christian apologetics has existed as long as Christianity itself. [[Jesus]] himself spent time in the temples and synagogues, debating and explaining the meaning of the scriptures. The [[Saint Peter|Apostle Peter]] exhorted early Christians to practice apologetics, writing,
:"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander." 1 Peter 3:15-16.

The Apostle Paul also spent time in [[Athens]], debating [[Stoicism|Stoic]] and Epicurian philosophers. Acts 17:16.

Great theologians such as Athanasius, [[Irenaeus]], [[Justin Martyr]], [[Augustine]], and [[Aquinas]] continued the tradition of apologetics on a dramatic scale. At the same time, apologetics was practiced by countless individual Christians, explaining and defending their beliefs.

===Purposes===
Apologetics has generally been used for two purposes: Efforts to ''persuade'' others of the truth of Christianity, and efforts to ''defend'' the reasonableness of one's own beliefs, while not seeking to convince others of their truth.

==Types of Christian Apologetics==

===Evidentialist apologetics===

Evidential apologetics seeks to defend Christian belief through what they consider to count as [[evidence]]. This can take the form of:
* [[Christian historical apologetics|Defense of the historical accuracy of the Bible]]
* [[Biblical Archaeology]], seeking to show that the Bible is consistent with the physical evidence;
* [[Christian Legal Apologetics]]
* [[Bible prophecy]]
* [[Creation science]] and [[Creationism]], seeking to show that the creation accounts of the Bible are the most reasonable explanation for life as we know it and that the [[evolution|evolutionary paradigm]] is untenable.

===Philosophical apologetics===
Philosophical apologetics seeks to defend Christian belief through philosophical argument: primarily [[arguments for the existence of God]]. This can take the form of:
* The [[Teleological argument]]: When you find a watch in the sand, you infer that it is designed, even if you do not see the designer, because it is complex, has a definite purpose, and could not have come to be through any known non-intelligent causes. Therefore, when we observe a complex, purposeful universe which could not have come to be through any known non-intelligent cause, it is reasonable to infer the existence of a designer, aka God.

:This is connected to the [[anthropic principle]], which is the argument that so much fine-tuning and exact physiological constants allows us to be here, provides evidence in support of an intelligent designer.
* The [[Cosmological argument]]: Every event in the universe is caused by something. It is impossible that everything should have a cause, going back to eternity. Therefore, there must be a [[first cause]], which itself is not caused, and that first cause must be capable of causing the universe, aka God. [[Creation science|Creationist scientists]] demonstrate that the [[First Law of Thermodynamics|first law of thermodynamics]] and [[Second law of thermodynamics|second law of thermodynamics]] argue against an eternal [[universe]] and they also demonstrate that these laws point to the universe being supernaturally created. <ref>[http://godevidences.net/space/lawsofscience.php Evidences for God From Space—Laws of Science]</ref><ref>Thompson, Bert, [http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/2329 So Long, Eternal Universe; Hello Beginning, Hello End!], 2001 (Apologetics Press)</ref><ref>http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/AstroPhysicalSciences14.html</ref>

In the 20th century, this argument has been strongly supported by [[science]], with the discovery that the universe had a beginning. Prior to the 1920s, it had been widely believed that the universe's existence had been eternal. <ref>http://www.harvardhouse.com/Science-Religion.htm</ref> This verifies the very first three words of the [[Bible]]: "In the beginning."
* The [[Ontological argument]]: God is the being than which no greater can be conceived. It is greater to exist than to not exist. Therefore if you conceive God as not existing, you are not conceiving the being than which no greater can be conceived, and are therefore not conceiving God. Therefore it is impossible to conceive of God as not existing. Therefore God exists.
* The Argument from morality: All humans are born with a natural, moral code. A moral code implies a moral code giver, aka God.

===Presuppositional apologetics===
[[Presuppositional Apologetics]] seek to defend Christian belief by showing that belief in Christian precepts is necessary to make sense of the human experience as a whole.

== Christian Apologetics and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ ==

see also: [[Christian Apologetics and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ]]

The [[Resurrection of Jesus Christ|resurrection of Jesus Christ]] is critical to the Christian faith. The Apostle Paul wrote, "if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain" (I Cor:15:14). Traditionally, Christianity has believed in a physical resurrection of Jesus Christ. <ref>http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/cri/cri-jrnl/crj0056a.txt</ref> The Christian apologist Michael Horner of [[Campus Crusade for Christ|CRU]] has an excellent resource which offers a defense of the resurrection of Jesus Christ entitled [http://www.michaelhorner.com/articles/resurrection/index.html Did Jesus really rise from the dead?]. In addition, Dr. Gary Habermas offers [http://www.garyhabermas.com/audio/audio.htm an online audio library which defends the resurrection of Jesus Christ.]

In recent history, Dr. [[Gary Habermas]] is considered the foremost Christian apologist for defending the resurrection of Jesus.<ref>http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/dialog_rexperience/dialog_rexperiences.htm</ref><ref>http://www.tektonics.org/books/lichabrvw.html</ref><ref>http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/Ted_Hildebrandt/NTeSources/NTArticles/CTR-NT/Habermas-Resurrection2-CTR.pdf</ref> <ref>http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/crj_explainingaway/crj_explainingaway.htm</ref><ref>http://www.apologetics.com/default.jsp?bodycontent=/articles/historical_apologetics/habermas-nt.html</ref> Dr. Habermas had a debate against the philosopher Antony Flew regarding the resurrection which was chronicled in the work ''Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? The Resurrection Debate'' and the debate had a panel of debate judges. J. Hampton Keathley, III , Th.M. in his essay ''Evidences for the Resurrection'' wrote: "The decision of the judges were as follows. The panel of philosophers judging content cast four votes for Habermas who argued for the fact of the resurrection, none for Flew, and one draw. The panel of professional debate judges voted three to two, also in favor of Habermas, this time regarding the method of argumentation technique." <ref>http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=639</ref>

In recent history some notable defenders of the resurrection include: [[William Lane Craig]], Ben Witherington, [[Lee Strobel]], [[Josh McDowell]], Edwin M. Yamauchi, [[N.T. Wright]] and Michael Horner. <ref>http://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/menus/historical.html</ref><ref>http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/easter/articles/josh2.html</ref><ref>http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/easter/articles/yama.html</ref><ref>http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Early_Traditions.htm</ref><ref>http://www.michaelhorner.com/articles/resurrection/index.html</ref>

Legal scholars, legal authorities, and eminent lawyers such as [[Simon Greenleaf]], John Warwick Montgomery, Lord Darling, John Singleton Copley, [[Hugo Grotius]], Lord Caldecote, J. N. D. Anderson, [[Lionel Luckhoo]], and many others have asserted that western legal standards argue for the resurrection of Christ. <ref>http://www.bibleteacher.org/sgtestimony.htm</ref><ref>http://www.mtio.com/articles/bissart1.htm</ref><ref>http://www.ankerberg.com/Articles/apologetics/AP0302W3.htm</ref><ref>http://lawreligionculturereview.blogspot.com/2005_01_01_lawreligionculturereview_archive.html</ref><ref>http://www.trinitysem.edu/journal/philjohnsonpap.html</ref>

== Question evolution campaign ==

''See also:'' [[Question evolution! campaign]]

Since [[World War II]] a majority of the most prominent and vocal defenders of the [[evolution|theory of evolution]] which employs [[methodological naturalism]] have been atheists.<ref>
* Dr. Don Batten,[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/737/ A ''Who’s Who'' of evolutionists] ''Creation'' 20(1):32, December 1997.
* [[Jonathan Sarfati]], Ph.D.,F.M., [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3830 ''Refuting Evolution'', Chapter 1, Facts and Bias]
</ref> In 2011, a campaign called the [[Question evolution! campaign]] was launched by the [[Bible|biblical]] [[creation]] organization [[Creation Ministries International]] which is a worldwide "[[grassroots|grass-roots]] movement to challenge the anti-[[Christianity|Christian]] [[dogma]] of [[evolution]]".<ref>[http://creation.com/question-evolution Question evolution! campaign]</ref> The focus of the Question evolution! campaign is on 15 questions that evolutionists cannot answer.<ref>[http://creation.com/question-evolution Question evolution! campaign]</ref> The campaign will be primarily conducted in the [[United States]], the [[United Kingdom]], [[Canada]], [[Europe]], [[Australia]], [[New Zealand]], [[Singapore]] and [[South Africa]].<ref>http://creation.com/question-evolution</ref>

== Christian Apologetic Ministries ==
There are a number of [[internet]] based Christian apologetic Ministries or Christian apologetics ministries which have a internet presence. Some of the more notable Christian apologetic ministries are: Fixed Point Foundation<ref>http://www.fixed-point.org</ref>, Tekton Apologetics Ministries, LeadershipU, Probe Ministries, Christian Answers Network, Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry, and A Christian Thinktank.

== Christian websites with a large focus on the topic of atheism ==

[[File:TFT.JPG|right|200px]]
Four of the more notable Christian apologetics which have a large focus on the topic of atheism are: [[True Free Thinker]], the [[Creation Ministries International and atheism|Creation Ministries International resources on atheism]], the [[Fixed Point Foundation]] website, and [[Atheism Analyzed]].

==See Also==
*[[Resources on becoming a Christian]]
*[[Atheism]]
*[[Evolution]]
*[[Christian apologetics website resources]]
*[[Israel Tourism]] for some biblical archaeological sites available to tourists
*[[Inspiration of Holy Scripture: An Eastern Christian and Jewish Perspective]]

== External Links ==

=== General Christian apologetics websites ===

* [http://www.allaboutgod.com All About GOD] — Answers to many questions regarding Christianity
* [http://www.apologeticsinfo.org/resource.html Apologetics Information Ministry]
* [http://www.apologetics.com Apologetics.com]
* [http://www.tektonics.org Tekton Apologetics Ministries]
* [http://www.tektonics.org/classics/classics.html Classic Works of Apologetics] (Tektonics)
* [http://www.carm.org/apologetics.htm Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry]
* [http://hisdefense.org/Links/Authors/tabid/297/Default.aspx Academy of Christian Apologetics]
* [http://www.lifeway.com/apologetics LifeWay Apologetics]
* [http://www.windmillministries.org Windmill Ministries]
* [http://www.probe.org/ Probe Ministries -Christian Apologetics]
* [http://www.ses.edu/Resources/ApologeticsJournal/tabid/104/Default.aspx Christian Apologetics Journal]
* [http://www.arcapologetics.org/ Apologetics Resource Center]
* [http://www.ApologeticsWiki.com/ Christian Apologetics Wiki] — [[Wiki]]-based Christian apologetics
* [http://www.actministry.org Academy for Christian Thought]
* [http://www.rbc.org/rtb/ 10 Reasons to Believe]
* [http://www.proofthatgodexists.org Proof That God Exists]

=== Historical and legal apologetics ===

'''Historical apologetics:'''

*[http://www.michaelhorner.com/articles/resurrection/index.html Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?] by Michael Horner
*[http://www.theapologiaproject.org/WHYIBE~1.pdf Why I Believe the New Testament is historically Reliable] by Dr. [[Gary Habermas]]
*[http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/articles.htm Journal articles of Dr. Gary Habermas]
*[http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/bib-docu.html Are the Biblical Documents Reliable?]
*[http://www.tektonics.org/lp/nowayjose.html The Impossible faith] by [[JP Holding]]

'''Christian legal apologetics:'''

*[[Christian legal apologetics]]

=== Bible archaeology ===
*[http://www.christiananswers.net/archaeology/ Bible archaeology]
*[http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn30/archaeologychurch.htm The Bible & Archaeology: The Book of Acts: The Church Begins]
*[http://www.allaboutthejourney.org/saint-luke.htm St. Luke, archaeology, Book of Acts]
*[http://www.inplainsite.org/html/acts_and_archaeology.html Archaeology and the Book of Acts]
*[http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/Ted_Hildebrandt/NTeSources/NTArticles/CTR-NT/McRay-ArchaeologyActs-CTR.pdf Archaeology and the Book of Acts] - Gordon College
*[http://www.ucg.ca/booklets/BA2/paultravels.asp Book of Acts - Paul's travels]
*[http://abr.christiananswers.net/articles/contents.html Bible and Spade articles]
* [http://www.probe.org/content/view/31/77/ Archaeology and the Old Testament] by Patrick Zukeran
* [http://www.probe.org/site/c.fdKEIMNsEoG/b.4219999/k.A54E/The_Archaeological_Evidence_for_the_Bible_is_NonExistent.htm The Archaeological Evidence for the Bible is Non-Existent!] A reply from James F. Williams

'''Bible archaeology and dating:'''

* [http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/2020 Dating in Archaeology: Challenges to Biblical Credibility] by Garry K. Brantley, M.A., M.Div.

=== Christian worldview/Christian philosophy ===
* [http://www.rzim.org/ Ravi Zacharias, modern apologist]
* [http://www.str.org/ Stand to Reason]
* [http://www.leaderu.com/menus/theology.html Leadership U]
* [http://www.worldview.org Worldview Academy]

'''Videos on atheism:'''

*[[Atheism videos|Videos on atheism]]

'''Websites, articles and videos focusing on atheism:'''

*[[Atheism website resources]]
*[[True Free Thinker]].
*[http://www.fixed-point.org Fixed Point Foundation] — Committed to publicly defending Christianity by empowering Christians and challenging skeptics.
*[[Atheism Analyzed]]

=== Creation science ministries and other resources===
* [http://creation.com/ Creation Ministries International]
* [http://www.answersingenesis.org Answers in Genesis]
* [http://www.icr.org Institute for Creation Science]

[[Conservapedia]] articles on evolution and creation science:

*[[Evolution]]
*[[Creation science]]

=== Bible prophecy articles and websites ===

'''Analysis of Bible prophecy from Christian scholars/apologists'''

*[http://sciencespeaks.dstoner.net/Prophetic_Accuracy.html#c8 Science speaks - Prophetic accuracy] by Dr. Peter Stoner
*[http://www.drjbloom.com/public%20files/PubTheoData.pdf Public Theology and Prophecy Data - Factual Evidence that Counts for a Worldview] by Dr. John Bloom, Robert C. Newman, and Hugh G. Gouch, Jr.
*[http://www.ankerberg.com/Articles/ATRJ/proof/ATRJ1103PDF/ATRJ1103-16.pdf The Case for Jesus the Messiah — Incredible Prophecies that Prove God Exist] by Dr. John Ankerberg, Dr. John Weldon and Dr. Walter Kaiser Jr.
*[http://www.johnankerberg.com/Articles/_PDFArchives/apologetics/AP1W1299.pdf The Case for Jesus the Messiah — Incredible Prophecies that Prove God Exist - Part Two] by Dr. John Ankerberg, Dr. John Weldon and Dr. Walter Kaiser Jr.
*[http://www.aboutbibleprophecy.com/ AboutBibleprophecy]
*[http://www.allaboutthejourney.org/prophecy-about-jesus.htm Prophecy about Jesus]

'''Rebuttal to atheist Steven Carr concerning Bible prophecy:'''

*[http://www.tektonics.org/af/carrs01.html Steven Carr's The Jury Is In Chapter 11: Rebuttal] by [[JP Holding]]

=== Biblical inerrancy resources ===
* [http://www.tektonics.org Tekton Apologetics Ministries]
* [http://www.christian-thinktank.com Christian Thinktank]
* [http://www.inerrancy.org/ Inerrancy.org]
* [http://www.christianthinktank.com/ A Christian Thinktank]
* [http://www.apologeticspress.org/allegeddiscrepancies/sort-2-1-100-title Alleged Bible discrepancies] by Apologetics Press

== Resources for becoming a Christian ==
[[File:Hoffman Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.jpg|thumbnail|170px|[[Jesus Christ|Christ]] in the Garden of Gethsemane by Heinrich Hofmann.]]
''see also:'' [[Resources on becoming a Christian]] and [[Resources for leaving atheism and becoming a Christian]]

'''Below are some resources on becoming a [[Christian]]:'''

*[http://www.allaboutgod.com/ AllAboutGod.com]

*[http://www.jesusfilm.org/film-and-media/watch-the-film Jesus film - free access]

*[http://www.thewordfortoday.org/?page=C2000 Free audio Bible and Bible audio streaming]

*[[Video testimonies of Christians]]

*[http://www.gotquestions.org/repentance.html Repentance]

'''Tips on choosing a Christian church:'''

*[http://www.allaboutreligion.org/choosing-a-christian-church-faq.htm Choosing a Christian Church]

'''Spiritual growth as a Christian:'''

*[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/529785.The_Complete_Book_of_Discipleship The Complete Book of Discipleship: On Being and Making Followers of Christ]

{{Liberalism}}

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

[[Category: Christian Apologetics]]

Cold fusion

2012-04-10T01:26:46Z

DorMouse: whoops

'''Cold fusion''' is the hypothetical effect resulting in excess heat that some scientists have claimed could be produced from nuclear fusion near room temperature. In 1989, electrochemists Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons of the University of Utah claimed to have produced such an effect by placing [[palladium]] electrodes in a glass of heavy water, <ref>http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/1258</ref> and some speculated that this could become a source of cheap energy in the future. After Fleischmann and Pons made their claim, the effect initially was unable to be replicated by scientists, and the claim was generally discredited.

Research is ongoing in the US at SRI in California, in Italy at several universities, in Japan at Toyota and various universities, and in several other countries. Research funding sources in the US include the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration (DARPA), and the Department of Defense, Threat Reduction Agency.

The next international conference will be the 17th International Conference on Cold Fusion in Deajeon, Korea, August 12-17, 2012.

==Pseudoscience==
Pons and Fleischmann were actually doing low-quality real science, not pseudoscience. Most Current advocates, however, are well into the realm of the determined pseudoscientist. The effects are not reproducible under independent verification, or even consistently reproducible at all. Even among cold fusion researchers, reports of substantial excess heat are rare, as shown in the 2010 review. The existence of this effect, and especially the lack of gamma radiation, is contrary to the current understanding of nuclear physics, for which there is massive evidence.
Proponents trumpet any paper concerning the subject that achieves peer review in any venue whatsoever, as if "peer reviewed" meant "solid verified and settled science" rather than "not-obviously-wrong request for comment." Proponents advocate cold fusion as an alternative energy source with imminent practical utility, despite the aforementioned lack of reproducibility. At the same time, proponents try to blame their lack of success on persecution from the establishment. The theories proposed to explain the supposed effect, outlined in the 2010 review, are little more than contrived rationalizations of the claimed observations. When considered in the context of what is already known about physics and chemistry, they border on the nonsensical. There is a continuing failure to find a setup that consistently (nearly 100% of the time) reproduces the supposed effect. The great majority of written-up experiments fail even to obtain excess heat.
===Examples===
Entrepreneur and inventor Andrea Rossi has announced the E-Cat (Energy Catalyzer), a device claimed to generate kilowatt-level heat from nickel and hydrogen. Rossi has explained this as involving the transmutation of nickel into copper,<ref>http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2011/12/the_nuclear_physics_of_why_we.php The Physics of why the e-Cat's Cold Fusion Claims Collapse] (Peter Thieberger and Ethan Siegel, ''Starts With A Bang!'', 2001-12-05)</ref> a reaction so ridiculously unfeasible it doesn't occur even in supernovae. Demonstrations of Rossi's devices have been controversial and insufficient details have been released for independent third-party verification. The claimed reaction has not been supported by independent observers, even by a physicist (Sven Kullander) who has supported the claims of excess heat. Even cold fusion proponents are skeptical of Rossi's claims.

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:Physics]][[Category:Fringe physics]][[Category:Pseudoscience]]

Cold fusion

2012-04-10T01:26:09Z

DorMouse: Expanded the pseudoscience

'''Cold fusion''' is the hypothetical effect resulting in excess heat that some scientists have claimed could be produced from nuclear fusion near room temperature. In 1989, electrochemists Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons of the University of Utah claimed to have produced such an effect by placing [[palladium]] electrodes in a glass of heavy water, <ref>http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/1258</ref> and some speculated that this could become a source of cheap energy in the future. After Fleischmann and Pons made their claim, the effect initially was unable to be replicated by scientists, and the claim was generally discredited.

Research is ongoing in the US at SRI in California, in Italy at several universities, in Japan at Toyota and various universities, and in several other countries. Research funding sources in the US include the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration (DARPA), and the Department of Defense, Threat Reduction Agency.

The next international conference will be the 17th International Conference on Cold Fusion in Deajeon, Korea, August 12-17, 2012.

==Pseudoscience==
Pons and Fleischmann were actually doing low-quality real science, not pseudoscience. Most Current advocates, however, are well into the realm of the determined pseudoscientist. The effects are not reproducible under independent verification, or even consistently reproducible at all. Even among cold fusion researchers, reports of substantial excess heat are rare, as shown in the 2010 review. The existence of this effect, and especially the lack of gamma radiation, is contrary to the current understanding of nuclear physics, for which there is massive evidence.
Proponents trumpet any paper concerning the subject that achieves peer review in any venue whatsoever, as if "peer reviewed" meant "solid verified and settled science" rather than "not-obviously-wrong request for comment." Proponents advocate cold fusion as an alternative energy source with imminent practical utility, despite the aforementioned lack of reproducibility. At the same time, proponents try to blame their lack of success on persecution from the establishment. The theories proposed to explain the supposed effect, outlined in the 2010 review, are little more than contrived rationalizations of the claimed observations. When considered in the context of what is already known about physics and chemistry, they border on the nonsensical. There is a continuing failure to find a setup that consistently (nearly 100% of the time) reproduces the supposed effect. The great majority of written-up experiments fail even to obtain excess heat.
===Examples===
Entrepreneur and inventor Andrea Rossi has announced the E-Cat (Energy Catalyzer), a device claimed to generate kilowatt-level heat from nickel and hydrogen. Rossi has explained this as involving the transmutation of nickel into copper,<ref><ref>[http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2011/12/the_nuclear_physics_of_why_we.php The Physics of why the e-Cat's Cold Fusion Claims Collapse] (Peter Thieberger and Ethan Siegel, ''Starts With A Bang!'', 2001-12-05)</ref> a reaction so ridiculously unfeasible it doesn't occur even in supernovae. Demonstrations of Rossi's devices have been controversial and insufficient details have been released for independent third-party verification. The claimed reaction has not been supported by independent observers, even by a physicist (Sven Kullander) who has supported the claims of excess heat. Even cold fusion proponents are skeptical of Rossi's claims.

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:Physics]][[Category:Fringe physics]][[Category:Pseudoscience]]

User talk:Edpell

2012-04-10T01:17:48Z

DorMouse: Created page with "{{welcome}} ~~~~ ==Cold Fusion== I am going to revert a substantial part of your edits. Cold fusion, sans the immense pressure and heat, is still an impossible task. You can cata..."

{{welcome}}
[[User:DorMouse|DorMouse]] 21:17, 9 April 2012 (EDT)
==Cold Fusion==
I am going to revert a substantial part of your edits. Cold fusion, sans the immense pressure and heat, is still an impossible task. You can catalyze fusion, with Muons, or with High Z nuclides. If you can find references for them, by all means, add them, but for now, that cannot be said.[[User:DorMouse|DorMouse]] 21:17, 9 April 2012 (EDT)

Grand Theft Auto 1

2012-04-10T01:11:14Z

DorMouse: Cats via HotCat

Grand Theft Auto, now known as Grand Theft Auto 1 (from the first era of GTA games) is a video game released for the original Sony PlayStation, the [[PC]] and the Game Boy Color. Grand Theft Auto 1, it's "mission packs" and Grand Theft Auto 2 are distinguishable because they did not make use of 3D graphics, high resolution textures nor did they utilize rendering engines that come even close to mimicking real life physics, as the technology for such programming to work alongside a game as big as GTA did not exist until the development and release of [[Grand Theft Auto III]] in 2001.
==Gameplay==
The game utilizes Grand Theft Auto's trademark "[[sandbox style]]" game layout. The player is free to do what he or she want's within the city limits, although the completion of "missions" is necessary to earn money and to advance the storyline to the point where different parts of the map and different cities within the game are unlocked.

The player has the option of choosing between eight characters, four male and four female. All of them have largely the same appearance. The player has the option of naming their character to suit their personal tastes. [[Cheat code]]s are inputted by entering certain names. Like all other Grand Theft Auto games, cheat codes can be used to make dramatic and sometimes strange changes in gameplay and ease difficulty (i.e: infinite health, $250,000 dollars cash).
==Ports==
The Game Boy Color version was ported to the handheld platform with surprising technical achievements. Very little changes were made to the game aside from censorship of objectionable content (profanity, blood and gore). The graphics were technically untouched from the PlayStation and PC versions. This would usher in a new high for a handheld platform with extremely limited hardware capability and a resource-choked storage medium, as the Game Boy and all it's counterparts prior to the Game Boy Advance used a small cartridge limited to 256 kb, 512 kb, 1 Mb, 2 Mb, 4 Mb and 8 Mb of storage space.
==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Video Games]]

User talk:Vugler

2012-04-09T02:00:46Z

DorMouse: Created page with "{{warning}}"

Talk:Theory of relativity

2012-04-09T02:00:06Z

DorMouse: prettify

{| style=" width:95%; text-align:left; background:{{{background}}}; color:{{{color|black}}}; border:3px solid black; clear:both " align="center"
|-
|width="2%" style="text-align:center" cellpadding="5"|'''!'''
|'''Attention: Please review previous points on the discussion page before adding your own commentary. Many topics have been discussed many, many, times. If you have something new to add, feel free, but it is not necessary or helpful to read the same arguments over and over and over.'''

'''Raising arguments which have been discussed before wastes the time of valuable editors and repeatedly doing so violates [[90/10]].'''

For older discussions, see the archive [[Talk:Theory of relativity/index|index]]. 
|valign="top" style="text-align:right"|[[Image:Conservlogo.png|65px]]
|}


== Mass depending on direction ==

The article states:
:''There is a logical difficulty, however, to an increase in relativistic mass. Such increase would only exist in the direction of motion, and the rest mass would remain intact with respect to a force applied in a direction orthogonal to velocity. Neither mass nor energy is a vector, and the notion of the mass of an object having different values depending on the direction of an applied force is illogical.''

As [[User:RSchlafly|RSchlafly]] on 8 July 2007 (EDT): ''This paragraph is nonsense [..] The relativistic mass applies no matter what the direction of the force is.''

[[User:AugustO|AugustO]] 15:45, 10 January 2012 (EST)

== Neutrinos now obey speed limit ==

The observation sited in the first sentence of this article has been discredited. [http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2012/02/official-word-on-superluminal-ne.html?ref=hp] It appears that a loose fiber-optics cable is to blame for the misreadings. I suggest editing this first sentence, and any other mention of this in the article.--[[User:CarloP|CarloP]] 18:51, 2 March 2012 (EST)

:Issues concerning the neutrino experiment are not yet fully resolved. No problam: I replaced it with another counterexample.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 19:12, 2 March 2012 (EST)

== Why does Conservapedia seek to discredit Relativity ==

Can someone explain why Conservapedia is so opposed to the Theory of Relativity?

Is there some philosophical or conservative/liberal basis for this opposition? [[User:RolandPlankton|RolandPlankton]] 18:32, 5 April 2012 (EDT)

:''Conservapedia'' seeks the truth, not merely what the [[lamestream media]] claim is the truth. Moreover, once one accepts a logical fallacy, then anything false can be proven from it.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 23:34, 5 April 2012 (EDT)

== GPS and Relativity ==

I note that anyone using a GPS is relying on the Theory of Relativity being true, since calculations derived from Relativity are used within a GPS. [[User:RolandPlankton|RolandPlankton]] 18:32, 5 April 2012 (EDT)

:GPS does '''''not''''' rely on the [[Theory of Relativity]], and this has been thoroughly explained on this site.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 23:34, 5 April 2012 (EDT)

::Hi Aschlafly, I've located at least some of the discussion re GPS in the archives of this talk page, and there a lot of references for me to examine before I can make any further serious comments; certainly there are some references which appear to state that GPS relies on relativity. Can you perhaps draw my attention to what you consider the most important (half-dozen or so) references which indicate that the GPS system does NOT rely on relativity so that I have somewhere to start from? In the meantime I'll continue editing and improving less controversial articles as I have been doing for the last two months (my talk page lists nearly 40 articles I can usefully contribute to). [[User:RolandPlankton|RolandPlankton]] 14:17, 6 April 2012 (EDT)

:::This note 7 is on [[Counterexamples to Relativity]]:

::::Contrary to the claims of Relativists, the GPS system has never been based on Relativity. The Time Service Department, U.S. Navy, observed that "The Operational Control System (OCS) of the Global Positioning System (GPS) does not include the rigorous transformations between coordinate systems that Einstein’s general theory of relativity would seem to require" in part because "the effects of relativity, where they are different from the effects predicted by classical mechanics and electromagnetic theory, are too small to matter – less than one centimeter, for users on or near the earth.”

:::The Theory of Relativity does not even assert that it would require significant adjustments to GPS timing: the small effects claimed by the special and general theories nearly cancel each other out for orbiting satellites. From an engineering perspective, it makes far more sense simply to adjust the clocks using synchronization rather than relying on (dubious) theoretical claims.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 14:36, 6 April 2012 (EDT)

Another false claim because of sloppy reading: In the same source by The Time Service Department, U.S. Navy, you can find how the authors Fliegel and DiEsposti describe what is happening to the clocks in the satellites:
''Since GPS receivers work in the time and not in the frequency domain, they handle the velocity, gravity, and acceleration shifts differently than described above. First, each GPS space vehicle (SV) clock is offset from its nominal rate by about -4.45 × 10-10 (= -38 microseconds per day) to allow for the relativistic offsets between the differences between the SV and the ground. Of this -38 microseconds per day, about -45 are due to the gravitational potential difference between the SV at its mean distance and the earth's surface, and +7 to the mean SV speed, which is about 3.87 km/sec. (p. 193).

The text is about the necessity of ''further'' corrections by the ''operational control system'' - there are corrections ''already'' installed in the clocks!

''The Theory of Relativity does not even assert that it would require significant adjustments to GPS timing:'' This sentence is wrong. It has shown to be wrong a couple of times, so it starts to become a lie. [[User:AugustO|AugustO]] 15:12, 6 April 2012 (EDT)

:The [[Theory of Relativity]] was not used to develop GPS, nor would it be sensible to waste time and money doing so. Synchronization is cheaper, simpler, and more reliable. The above quote does not contradict this obvious truth.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 16:32, 6 April 2012 (EDT)

::The fact that these offsets are implemented in the clocks '''in accord with the theory of relativity''' as you can read in the very source you quoted shows that the [[Theory of Relativity]] is used in the GPS - and this from the very beginning of the project! Please, start to read your sources - completely! [[User:AugustO|AugustO]] 16:37, 6 April 2012 (EDT)

Please, before we get into any more debate, could someone supply some actual references (not quotes from) which state that relativity is not used in GPS? [[User:RolandPlankton|RolandPlankton]] 16:41, 6 April 2012 (EDT)

:Aschlafly took his quote from [http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/ptti/1996/Vol%2028_16.pdf GPS and Relativity: An Engineering Overview] by Henry F. Fliegel and Raymond S. DiEsposti (though he probably isn't aware of this). The paper is about relativistic effects due to moving GPS-'''''receivers''''' (or GPS-receivers in high altitudes) and comes to the conclusion, that at the moment, they don't have to include additional relativistic corrections.

:Aschlafly interprets this as if ''no'' relativistic corrections are implemented in the GPS.
:However, in the paper itself, you will find the section I quoted above, where the authors describe such very corrections within the clocks of the satellites.
:I'm afraid that Aschlafly won't come up with ''some actual references (not quotes from) which state that relativity is not used in GPS'' as there aren't any.
:[[User:AugustO|AugustO]] 16:53, 6 April 2012 (EDT)

Folks, the burden of proof is on anyone who claims that the [[Theory of Relativity]] was used to design GPS. That burden includes describing who, when, where, how, and why. It didn't happen. And if it did, the person who wasted time and money on such a frivolous approach should explain the mistake, because engineers can simply synchronize the clocks far more accurately than the theory ever could.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 18:15, 8 April 2012 (EDT)

:It looks to me as if you are trying to put impossible conditions prior to any debate. To avoid a lengthy debate all you have to do is produce some actual references which support your point of view. Is this too much to ask?

:If it didn't happen then you should be able to produce some evidence of this, so '''some actual references please'''. The only 'evidence' you have produced so far is an out-of-context quote from a paper which is concerned primarily with GPS receivers (that same paper mentions the use of relativity-related adjustments to the clocks on the GPS satellite transmitters). Surely you must have more than this. Will you accept evidence from engineers and companies involved in designing and building the GPS system? If not, why not? Who would you accept evidence from? The US Department of Defense? Do you seriously expect a member of the public to be able to access internal design documents as your "who, when, where, how, and why" statement implies?

:If you care to check my contribution history you will see that I am actively contributing non-controversial information to articles. This discussion re GPS etc. is only a small part of my activities on Conservapedia. Since I've barely started on considering and consolidating what evidence there is re GPS I would rather have a week or so to look at the evidence before getting into a debate. This should give you ample time to come up with some references to support the separation of GPS and relativity. Simple searches via Google turn up numerous instances where relativity is claimed to be relevant to GPS, but I can't find anything to the contrary and '''I need your help to do so'''. I would really like to see evidence from '''both sides''' of the discussion before entering the debate, so '''some actual references please'''. [[User:RolandPlankton|RolandPlankton]] 19:15, 8 April 2012 (EDT)

::Roland, you're requesting proof that something didn't happen. Moreover, someone with an engineering background (such as myself) would not expect it to have happened. It is like asking for a reference that no green cheese was found on the Moon. No such scientific reference is likely to exist, nor would anyone expect such a reference to exist.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 19:28, 8 April 2012 (EDT)

:: Every single article on GPS says that relativistic adjustments are made to the satellite clocks. Some give the formulas and some give quantitative data on the adjustments. Textbooks explain why the adjustments are necessary. I don't see any reason to doubt that GPS uses relativistic adjustments. [[User:RSchlafly|RSchlafly]] 20:52, 8 April 2012 (EDT)

:::GPS does make synchronizing adjustments. Call them whatever you like, but those adjustments are not made based on predictions by the [[Theory of Relativity]]. Indeed, it would be a silly waste of time and money to synchronize in such a manner.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 21:07, 8 April 2012 (EDT)

Talk:Bilingual education

2012-04-06T04:49:03Z

DorMouse: /* Rather Americentric */ new section

This is a great example of liberal thinking. They take an idea, package it in a fake wrapper, and then refuse to test it for as long as possible. Then, when they are '''forced''' to try something difference, it only takes a single '''year''' for them to see that they were wrong all along. There's a lesson in this for the "[[global warming]]" crowd. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] [[User talk:Ed Poor|Talk]] 09:19, 30 January 2010 (EST)

== Rather Americentric ==

Added a part on Bilingual education in Canada. [[User:DorMouse|DorMouse]] 00:49, 6 April 2012 (EDT)

Bilingual education

2012-04-06T04:47:28Z

DorMouse:

The term '''bilingual education''' ought to mean teaching people to become [[bilingual]], but like many other liberal terms, it means the opposite of what it seems to say. Actually "bilingual education", as practiced in California and other states, prolongs the time needed for the children of immigrants to learn English. Instead of providing a [[English Immersion|crash course in English]], so the children can catch up with their English-speaking peers, the state gave them classes in their own (foreign) language. This also had the effect of delaying cultural assimilation, which was probably the main point of the program anyway. When parents discovered that "bilingual education" programs were not helping their children, they voted to eliminate them.<ref>Since Californians first voted for the “English for the Children” initiative that ended that state’s bilingual education programs in 1998, bilingual education programs increasingly are being replaced by [[English Immersion]] teaching. Arizona voted to eliminate bilingual education by an even higher margin in 2000, and Massachusetts did the same in 2002.</ref>

* In California, Superintendent of Schools Ken Noonan, former head of the California Association for Bilingual Education, changed his position completely after seeing the results of the first year of English Immersion teaching and has become a vocal supporter of English Immersion programs. [http://www.proenglish.org/issues/education/beindex.html What is bilingual education?]

* The accumulated research of the past thirty years reveals almost no justification for teaching children in their native languages to help them learn either English or other subjects -- and these are the chief objectives of all legislation and judicial decisions in this field. Self-esteem is not higher among limited-English students who are taught in their native languages, and stress is not higher among children who are introduced to English from the first day of school -- though self-esteem and stress are the factors most often cited by advocates of bilingual teaching.

==Bilingual Education in Canada==
Canada is has two official languages, En Francaise, and English. Bilingual Education in Canada, literally means Bilingual education, as French education is mandatory by Grade 4 in the English speaking provinces, and English by grade 3 in Quebec.

==Liberal lies==

* Teachers and principals tell parents that their children will fail in English-language classrooms. They play on ethnic pride, asserting that children of a Latino background need to be taught in Spanish to improve their self-esteem. [http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/98may/biling.htm The Case Against Bilingual Education]

==Notes==
<references />

==Links==
*[http://www.proenglish.org/issues/education/beindex.html What is bilingual education?] - site which opposes so-called "bilingual education"
[[Category:Education]]
[[Category:Language]]

Human reproduction

2012-04-04T18:20:50Z

DorMouse: Reverted edits by KristinDuffly to last revision by Jlefkowitz

[[Image:Sperm-egg.jpg|thumbnail|Sperm cell hitting an egg cell]]

'''Human reproduction''' is the process by which children are conceived and born. In order for human reproduction to occur under normal circumstances, male and female must engage in [[sexual intercourse]], which should take place within [[marriage]]. Exceptionally, reproduction may take place without intercourse via procedures such as [[in vitro fertilization]].
==Spiritual aspects==
[[Image:Soul_Conception.jpg|thumbnail|Artist's conception of soul joining the fertilized egg at conception.]]

Human reproduction serves to create new human beings and with each of these new human beings comes a [[soul]]. The soul appears with the person at the moment of [[conception]], making him a complete human being from this moment. This is why [[abortion]] is [[murder]]: the abortionist has rent the soul from a living human body, the soul being the source of a full life for human beings. If hypothetically there were no soul present in the human at the time of conception and it entered the body at some later stage, then until that moment the [[fetus]] would be nothing more than an animated body, similar to how animals and plants are alive but without souls. Thus, if this were the case, abortion would not be murder, but rather a termination of a non-human entity, at least until the soul finally joined the body. However, there has never been any evidence presented that the soul can enter the body at any time later than conception. Since the soul is intrinsic to human beings, it absolutely must be present at conception and therefore abortion is murder.

There are many religious beliefs, even within [[Christianity]], on the origin of the soul that accompanies a new human being. Some believe portions of the souls of the parents combine to form the new soul. Some believe a free-floating soul becomes trapped within the body. Some believe a soul is created with the fusion of the gametes, in a meta-chemical process. Believers in [[reincarnation]] say that the soul of a previously deceased person or animal (in this religion non-human animals are believed to have souls as well) enters the new body, so that there is a spiritual [[memory]] of the previous life.

==Biological aspects==

The ultimate act of intimacy serves to unite the male and female [[gamete]]s, the [[sperm]] and [[egg]], respectively. These gametes carry just one half of the [[gene]]tic material ([[chromosome]]s) from each parent, and when they combine the new [[embryo]] contains a full set of chromosomes. The process of the gametes combining is called [[fertilization]], and takes place inside the woman's body, in the [[Fallopian tubes]] or [[uterus]]. The embryo then attaches itself to the uterine lining, and is nourished by the placenta (which in turn receives its nourishment from the mother's body) while it develops. This development takes roughly nine months (see [[Naegele's Rule]]).

At the end of this process of protected development, what was once an embryo is now born as a new baby. Human babies are relatively helpless, and depend on the care and love of both parents in order to survive to maturity themselves.

Humans are not able to reproduce alone by [[budding]], [[parthenogenesis]], or [[self-cloning]] as some species are capable of. In addition, human [[sex]] is fixed at conception, unlike some species'; females are not able to become male or vice versa to deal with homogeneous populations of one gender.

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:Sexuality]]

== External Links ==
*[http://www.opposingviews.com/questions/when-does-life-begin Opposing Views: When Does Life Begin?]
*[http://www.aim.org/wls/category/sex/ What Liberals Say - Category: Sex], [[Accuracy In Media]]

Haida Language

2012-04-04T17:01:26Z

DorMouse: Created page with "The '''Haida Language''', or '''X̲aadas Kíl''' is a non-romantic language used primarily within the Haida People of Western Canada and coastal Alaska. It contains 7 vowels and ..."

The '''Haida Language''', or '''X̲aadas Kíl''' is a non-romantic language used primarily within the Haida People of Western Canada and coastal Alaska. It contains 7 vowels and more than 30 consonants. It is related to the Yenisien languages of Siberia.

==Mechanics==
There are nouns, verbs, postpositions, demonstratives, quantifiers, adverbs, clitics, exclamations, replies, classifiers, and instrumentals in the Haida language. Words for people, that would be considered nouns in English, are expressed by verbs in Haida. Jaada, Haida for Woman, is actually ''to be a woman''. Morphology in Haida is mostly suffixing. Definitive articles in Haida have the suffix "aay". Haida also uses relational nouns, to define temporal-spatial coordinates. Syntax in Haida is always verb final.

==Status==
Haida is a severely threatened language, with fewer than 40 fluent speakers worldwide.

[[Category:Language]]

Bourbon Dynasty of France

2012-04-04T16:49:24Z

DorMouse: Created page with "The House of Bourbon was the ruling house of France from the Reign of King Henry IVs, to the disastrous reign of Louis XVI. Category:FranceCategory:History"

The House of Bourbon was the ruling house of France from the Reign of King Henry IVs, to the disastrous reign of Louis XVI.

[[Category:France]][[Category:History]]

First Empire of France

2012-04-04T16:47:32Z

DorMouse:

The '''First Empire''', or the Great Empire, was the empire ruled by Napoleon 1st. It was the dominant power in Europe for much of the 19th century. Napoleon abdicated in 11 April 1814. The Empire was briefly restored during the Hundred Days period in 1815 until Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. It was followed by the restored monarchy of the House of Bourbon.

[[Category:France]]
[[Category:History]]

First Empire of France

2012-04-04T16:47:19Z

DorMouse:

First Empire of France

2012-04-04T16:46:58Z

DorMouse: Created page with "The '''First Empire''', or the Great Empire, was the empire ruled by Napoleon 1st. It was the dominant power in Europe for much of the 19th century. Napoleon abdicated in 11 Apri..."

First French Republic

2012-04-04T16:41:18Z

DorMouse:

The '''1st French Republic''', or '''Republique Franciase''' was founded on 22 September 1792, by the National Convention, following the overthrow of [[Louis XVI]]. It lasted until the creation of the First French empire by Napoleon 1st. This period saw the establishment of the National Convention, the reign of terror, and eventually the Consulate.<ref>Doyle, William. The Oxford History of The French Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989. pp 191–192.</ref>

==Establishment==
During the war with Prussia and Austria, the duke of brunswick issued his Brunswick Manifesto which threatened harm to the citizens of Paris, if the monarchy was harmed. This served as a catalyst to the anger boiling in Paris, and on 10/August/1789, the [[Palace of Tuileries]] was stormed, and the Swiss guard massacred. Soon after, in September, the counter-revolutionaries in the city prisons were all killed, in the [[September Massacre]].<ref>Jack R. Censer and Lynn Hunt, ed., 2001. Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution(American Social History Productions, Inc.); </ref>

==The Department of Public Safety==
The department was formed in 6/april/1793, with Maximillien Robespierre put at the head. It was tasked with dealing with the daily riots, the constant food shortages, and the threats of the right wing monarchists. This department was soon the de-facto government. Under the rule of the department, the Declaration on the Rights of the Man and the Citizen. During this time, the Guillotine became known the national razor.<ref>Censer, Jack R. and Hunt, Lynn. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution. University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2004.</ref>

==End of the Republic==
The Directory of France was overthrown in a coup d'etat on 18/oct/1799. Napoleon Bonaparte was a conspirator in the coup. With the declaration of the Consul, and Bonaparte at the head, the republic in essence came to an end.

<center>
[[Bourbon Dynasty of France|<== Bourbon Dynasty]] [[First Empire of France|First empire ==>]]
</center>

==References==
{{reflist}}

First French Republic

2012-04-04T16:39:54Z

DorMouse: Created page with "The '''1st French Republic''', or '''Republique Franciase''' was founded on 22 September 1792, by the National Convention, following the overthrow of Louis XVI. It lasted unt..."

User talk:Higuys

2012-04-04T16:07:49Z

DorMouse: Created page with "{{welcome}} ~~~~"

{{welcome}}
[[User:DorMouse|DorMouse]] 12:07, 4 April 2012 (EDT)

Talk:Wikipedia

2012-04-04T16:03:51Z

DorMouse: Undo revision 973594 by Higuys (talk) off topic discussion/troll

[[Talk:Wikipedia/archive1|Archive 1]]

=Page archived=
[[User:JonM|JonM]] 15:15, 21 December 2011 (EST)

GNU/Linux

2012-04-04T03:28:55Z

DorMouse: /* "Linux" Naming Controversy */ Tone of voice. 1st person is not for articles.

[[Image:Tuxie.jpg|thumb|right|"Tux", the Linux mascot|90px]]
The '''GNU/Linux''' operating system is [[free software]] created to replace the [[Unix]] operating system. The system aims towards POSIX compliance, though it is not officially compliant and therefore cannot bear the trademark "UNIX."
The GNU project was started by [[atheist]] programmer [[Richard Stallman]] and was the impetus behind the creation of the [[Free Software Foundation]]. Except for the small but essential [[kernel]] (called Linux after its creator [[Linus Torvalds]]), substantial components of the operating system code were created by Stallman and other FSF contributors. There's a dispute over whether the FSF should be credited when mentioning the use of Linux. The trade press refer to the overall system as "Linux", which annoys Stallman to no end. Essays on the FSF website promote the use of the term "GNU/Linux" when referring to a system with Linux kernel and GNU project core components.

The Linux [[kernel]] communicates with the hardware and provides for many complex and essential operations such as process scheduling, memory management and file system operation. This is required to support the needs of all applications run on the system (such as the graphical user interface, media players, and servers). Most of these applications are not part of the Linux kernel project, and are part of separate projects, including GNU, but those who are unaware of or not concerned about the history of the project commonly used "Linux" to refer to the whole operating system. The Linux kernel was initially developed by Finnish grad student [[Linus Torvalds]] as an experimental project to run a UNIX-like system on x86-based PC hardware.

At this point, a very substantial portion of the software commonly used on a desktop system are not GNU software projects, such as KDE (graphical desktop environment), Firefox, OpenOffice.org, and Python (high-level programming language). On the other hand, even these popular products rely on basic services provided by GNU, such as the C runtime library (libc), compiler framework (gcc), and core POSIX command line utilities. Additionally, the GNU project includes several more substantial applications, such as the graphical desktop environment GNOME, which compete heavily with their alternatives.

Linux distinguishes itself from other operating systems such as proprietary UNIX and [[Microsoft Windows]] in that the [[source code]] for a complete working system is distributed under various [[open source]] licenses. In essence, this means that anybody can modify the code to their needs, and that the development most components happens in an open community, rather than in a closed commercial environment. Any improvements to the code will be contributed to the community, and any software that is based upon viral licenses will be, in turn, licenses under these. The Linux kernel itself is licensed under the GNU [[General Public License]] (GPL).

Linux is also different to the closed source operating system vendors in that the software is distributed by many different companies. Major Linux distributions include [http://www.redhat.com/ Red Hat], [http://www.novell.com/linux/ SUSE], [http://www.debian.org/ Debian] and [http://www.ubuntu.com/ Ubuntu]. There are literally hundreds of Linux distributions as can be seen on [http://distrowatch.com DistroWatch.com].

Numerous sources<ref>[http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/index.php?p=210 Intellectual Property - Left?]</ref> <ref>[http://www.flickr.com/photos/daviderickson/718933691/]</ref>, including Steve Ballmer<ref>[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/07/31/ms_ballmer_linux_is_communism/ MS' Ballmer: Linux is communism]</ref>, one of the driving minds behind the success of Microsoft, have claimed that the Open Source movement is inherently Communist. Both Free Software and Communism shun the idea of personal property, instead favoring a communal ownership where no single entity has control or authority.

In 2005 [http://www.forbes.com/ Forbes.com] posted [http://www.forbes.com/2005/03/15/cz_dl_0315linux_print.html an article] estimating Linux ran 60% of the world's top supercomputers at that time. In 2003 the [[IBM]] Linux Technology Center [http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-rel/?ca=dgr-lnxw01LTP concluded] that Linux has enterprise class reliability. Linux servers can run without reboot for years as can usually be seen at the [http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/today/top.avg.html Longest uptimes] URL on [http://www.netcraft.com/ Netcraft.com]. Another location to check on Linux uptime statistics is the [http://counter.li.org/reports/uptimestats.php Machine uptimes] page at [http://counter.li.org/ Linux Counter].

Owing to the nature of open source software, many variants of a Linux distribution may be created by using the original code and making changes to it to suit a particular need. For example, there is also a [[Ubuntu]] [[Christian]] Edition.<ref>[http://www.whatwouldjesusdownload.com/christianubuntu/2006/07/about-ubuntu-christian-edition.html Ubuntu Christian Edition]</ref>

[[Image:Gnomesword large.png|right|thumb|250px|Screenshot of Ubuntu Christian Edition.]]

Linux is quite possibly becoming one of the most commonly adopted operating systems in the world. However, this is difficult to quantify with hard evidence since most Linux distributions are given away for "free" and there are few sales records or marketing numbers to review. While personal computers in the United States and other "first world nations" still overwhelmingly use [[Microsoft]] operating systems such as Windows XP, Linux is a common choice for web servers, file servers and embedded platforms, thanks to its perceived reliability, low/no cost, and the fact that modifications to the source code can readily be made by anyone. For example, Linux has seen widespread use in numerous mass produced consumer electronic devices such as broadband residential routers, Digital Video Recorders, and cellphones.

As an example, in March of 2007 the server hosting the Conservapedia web site was running the Linux operating system<ref>[http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://www.conservapedia.com NetCraft site report for Conservapedia.com]</ref>

==Linux as the 'Best of the Public'==
The ongoing development of the Linux operating system represents perhaps the single most important example of the [[Best of the public| 'best of the public']] collaboration model in the field of technology. The excellent stability and security of Linux, both in server and consumer versions, provide a powerful example of the success of this model.

==Linux Pre-Installed==
From its inception, it has been difficult to find new computers outside of the server and market available with Linux pre-installed. Although specialty companies like [http://system76.com System76] and [http://www.zareason.com Zareason] do sell computers equipped with desktop versions of [[Linux]] (specifically [[Ubuntu]]), until recently, mainstream computer manufacturers like [[Dell]] and [[HP]] resisted this trend. Users typically need to download the Linux distribution of their choice and install it on a computer themselves. Because many home computer users find the installation of an operating system a difficult task, this added step hinders the increase in the number of computers using a desktop version of [[Linux]]. This situation drastically changed in 2007 when [[Dell]] started selling laptop and desktop computers to the general public with Linux pre-installed<ref>[http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/alliances/en/linux?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz Dell and Linux]</ref>.

During 2008, a new type of low cost laptop computer, the "netbook" was introduced by most of the major manufacturers. To keep costs down, Linux was offered on most of the lines as an alternative to Windows XP (Windows Vista being unable to run on the low powered computers), bringing Linux into the mainstream computer market for the first time.

==Misconceptions about Linux==
Linux is in often referred to as GNU/Linux, because Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibraries, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full Operating System as defined by POSIX. Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called "Linux", and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project. There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is actually the kernel, a minuscule program in the operating system that allocates the machine's resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. Therefore, the so-called "Linux" distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux.

== References ==
<references />

==External links==
*[http://www.kernel.org/ The Linux Kernel Archives]
*[http://www.linux-foundation.org/en/Main_Page The Linux Foundation]

[[Category:Operating Systems]]

User talk:Mangoluv

2012-01-02T21:20:27Z

DorMouse: Sock, should be checked.

=Welcome=
{{welcome}}

Interesting philosophy, but at least you aren't lying.[[User:DorMouse|DorMouse]] 16:16, 2 January 2012 (EST)

Wish to negotiate? Do so here, even after my account is exiled from this wiki, with the knowledge that I will return.

~V~

==What are you trying to achieve ?==
As long as you keep from vandalizing, I will not block you but what are you trying to achieve ?--[[User:PhilipN|PhilipN]] 16:11, 2 January 2012 (EST)

=Hello again=
Your swag seems [http://conservapedia.com/index.php?title=User_talk:Karajou&oldid=950704 familiar]... Hello again, Janga.[[User:DorMouse|DorMouse]] 16:20, 2 January 2012 (EST)

User talk:Mangoluv

2012-01-02T21:16:59Z

DorMouse: