Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Ignorance

2008-02-29T12:55:32Z

DukeAra: wiki

'''Ignorance''' (from Latin ''ignorantia'') is the state of being [[ignorant]]; the want of [[knowledge]] in general, or in relation to a particular subject; or the state of being uneducated or uninformed<ref>'''Ignorance''', Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition (Springfield, Massachusetts: G. & C. Merriam, 1934)</ref>.

For many people ignorance is bliss. They prefer not knowing something because it is often more comfortable than knowing it. The opposite of this attitude is what [[Christian]] [[psychiatrist]] [[M. Scott Peck]] calls "dedication to reality at all costs".

==References==
<references/>

[[category:psychology]]

Talk:World History Lecture Thirteen

2008-02-29T12:53:49Z

DukeAra:

{{protect|Geo.plrd}}

== Somalia ==

Somalia was formed from British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland but NOT French Somaliland. French Somaliland became the separate independent state of [[Djibouti]].

Also, you have omitted the significant colonial acquisitions made by Germany between the 1880s and the 1914-18 War: Kamerun, German South West Africa, German East Africa (Tanganyika). [[User:Pachyderm|Pachyderm]] 09:47, 30 August 2007 (EDT)

== Mrs Gandhi ==
did not succeed her father, Nehru, on his death but two years later. [[User:Pachyderm|Pachyderm]] 11:20, 31 August 2007 (EDT)

== UK/Palestine==
The UK returned its mandate over Palestine to the UN. It did not 'ask the UN to partition Palestine'. [[User:Pachyderm|Pachyderm]] 11:20, 31 August 2007 (EDT)

== Golda Meir ==
''Golda Meir was the third women in history to run a nation''

Cleopatra, Elizabeth I, Mary Tudor, Mary Queen of Scots, Queen Anne, Christina of Sweden, Catherine the Great, the Dowager Empress Cixi... [[User:Pachyderm|Pachyderm]] 11:44, 31 August 2007 (EDT)

== Ethnic Cleansing ==
Your comments are a disgrace. 'Ethnic cleansing' and racial murder by all parties in Bosnia is well-documented, but was principally carried out by Serbs of Moslems. To try and deny this by blaming it on an 'anti-Christian' press is obscene. [[User:Pachyderm|Pachyderm]] 11:44, 31 August 2007 (EDT)

== Errors ==
''"Latin America" is Spanish America and Brazil, where Portuguese is spoken. Put another way, Latin America is all of America south of the United States.''

No: what about Surinam, Guyana and French Guiana? they do not speak Spanish or Portugese.

Also, many other errors in this essay (and others) have been pointed out to you. Why do you persist in perpetuating inaccuracies? [[User:Pachyderm|Pachyderm]]

== More Errors ==
''Five European powers – Great Britain, Belgium, France, Portugal, and the Netherlands – had divided Africa into colonies during the Imperialism Era.''

What about Germany? Spain? Italy? And the only Dutch colony - the Cape Colony - was taken over by Britain at the time of the Naoploeonic Wars. [[User:DukeAra|DukeAra]] 07:36, 29 February 2008 (EST)

''Demonstrations, such as the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre, occasionally broke out but were violently put down. An ANC leader named Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for his role in that demonstration. Riots over school segregation occurred in Soweto in 1976, and in 1977 the government beat an outspoken critic, Steve Biko, to death''

Words fail me. You should get a Pullitzer, Andy, for your prose alone. [[User:DukeAra|DukeAra]] 07:41, 29 February 2008 (EST)

== Viet Minh ==
"When he returned in 1941, he founded “Vietminh”, with the name reflecting that he intended to rule as a dictator"#

Please expand on this statement. [[User:DukeAra|DukeAra]] 07:44, 29 February 2008 (EST)

== East Germany ==
''Hungary helped end communism in East Germany, which was the most brutal of the communist regimes.''
If one is making comparisons between communist regimes, I would argue that that in Romania was a good deal more repressive and brutal than that of the GDR. [[User:DukeAra|DukeAra]] 07:53, 29 February 2008 (EST)

Talk:World History Lecture Thirteen

2008-02-29T12:44:50Z

DukeAra:

Talk:World History Lecture Thirteen

2008-02-29T12:41:29Z

DukeAra:

Talk:World History Lecture Thirteen

2008-02-29T12:36:56Z

DukeAra: /* More Errors */ More errors re. Africa.

Talk:World History Lecture Thirteen

2008-02-29T12:34:39Z

DukeAra:

World History Lecture Fourteen

2008-02-29T12:20:26Z

DukeAra: Churchill was not homeschooled; he attended Brunswick House prep school in Hove, and Harrow.

[[World]] [[History]] – The World Today
 Fourteenth Lecture
 Instructor, Andy Schlafly

 Outline of Lecture:
 I. Introduction
 II. World Economy and Technology
 A. Trade
 B. Energy
 C. Technology
 D. Agriculture
 E. Outer Space
 III. Security
 A. Northern Ireland
 B. Terrorism
 C. Migration
 D. Human Rights
 IV. Education

'''I. Introduction'''

Our journey through world history reaches the present in this final lecture.
'''
II. World Trade'''

One word sums up most historians’ view of the world today: “globalism”. That was not even a word 50 years ago. “Globalism” means treating the world as one political unit, as one massive village. Distances appear to be shortening between people, cultures and nations. Travel is more affordable for more people. Mobility is greater. Trade among nations is larger. Television and the internet link the world’s population of 6 or so billion people like never before.

One [[invention]] in late 1947 made most of this possible. Three scientists invented the [[transistor]] at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey. This tiny invention brought about a massive revolution in [[computer]]s and communications. With improvements, the transistor permitted microelectronic control and amplification of signals. This greatly advanced communication, as in radio, television, telephone and later the internet. This also permitted the storage of massive amounts of information, as in computers. Bell Labs, then part of AT&T, made this invention available to the entire world. Soon transistors replaced vacuum tubes in radios and televisions, enabling them to work better. The Japanese flooded the market with improved products.

[[Apple Computer]] sold a personal computer for home use in the late 1970s and, in 1981, [[IBM]] introduced its own personal computer. Time magazine declared the personal (or home) computer to be “Man of the Year” for 1982. Fifteen years later the internet became popular for connecting computers. In 2000, presidential candidate Al Gore attempted to take credit for helping create the internet, and the world ridiculed him. No politician, and certainly not Al Gore, can take credit for all this.

Other inventions also helped improve the world. The invention of plastics enabled the mass production of inexpensive goods, everything from drinking cups to watches to car and airplane furnishings. Robotics lowered the cost of manufacturing for everything. In the [[United States of America|United States]] unions resisted some of these changes. The Japanese companies, benefiting from cheaper labor and lack of unions, surpassed American companies in many industries. Economic problems later caught up with [[Japan]] in the early 1990s, but even today its car industry (especially Toyota) does better than Detroit car manufacturers. Voluntary import quotas have kept Japanese car imports lower than they would be without any trade barriers, and the Japanese began expensive selling luxury cars (such as the Lexus) as a way of making more money with fewer products.

In addition to Japan, other [[Asia]]n nations also thrived after World War II. The “Four Tigers” are the prosperous Pacific Rim nations of [[South Korea]], [[Taiwan]], [[Singapore]] and [[Hong Kong]]. (Hong Kong is now part of communist China but is allowed to remain free until at least the middle of the 21st century.) Even communist China has grown stronger economically by trading with the United States. Malaysia and other Asian nations have prospered too.

The world today has numerous “multinational” companies having offices in many different countries. Many American companies now have offices or factories even in communist China now. These multinational companies are attracted by the low wages and inexpensive raw materials, and by the opportunity to sell their products there. Increased regulation and taxes in America also encourage companies to transfer to an offshore labor force.

'''A. Trade'''

Beginning soon after the end of World War II, the western nations discussed agreements to reduce tariffs for trade among themselves. In 1947, they entered into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in order to decrease tariffs that interfered with trade. This marked a significant change from how nations had used tariffs in the past to protect their domestic industries and raise revenue. Under GATT, western countries first froze the tariffs (preventing them from increasing) and later began reducing the tariffs. In 1995, this approach was taken one step further with the World Trade Organization (WTO), which included non-western countries and also established international courts for deciding trade disputes among nations. There are 150 members of the WTO today, and Vietnam joined it last week (Jan. 11, 2007).

Western European nations also joined the European Common Market after World War II, and then in 1958 joined the European Economic Community (EEC) to reduce tariffs among themselves. The EEC later because the European Union (EU), which includes all Western European countries except Switzerland, which has never joined anything and fiercely defends its independence, and Norway. In 2002, all of EU began using a common currency known as the “euro”, except for Denmark and the United Kingdom, which still use their own currencies. In 2004, many Eastern European nations also joined the EU. A map of the EU is attached.

The large Muslim nation of Turkey has requested to join the EU. One opponent is the new Pope Benedict XVI of the Catholic Church, who succeeded Pope John Paul II in 2005 upon his death. Pope Benedict has emphasized the need to keep Europe Christian, and he sparked Muslim riots in late 2006 when he repeated a provocative quote about Islam.

North America has also created a free trade zone (free from tariffs) with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was never ratified by the Senate as a treaty but which Congress passed into law anyway. NAFTA establishes international courts that have already been used to force the United States to open its borders to Mexican trucks, which are less safe than American ones. The importation of drugs into the United States from Mexico has increased since NAFTA went into effect.

There are other free trade zones. LAFTA is the Latin American Free Trade Agreement passed in 1961, and replaced in 1981 by the Latin American Integration Association. It helps Latin American countries develop economic independence from foreign powers. There is CAFTA, a recently enacted Central American Free Trade Agreement that the United States joined. There is ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, founded in 1967 by Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines to combat communism. ASEAN signed trade agreements with Japan (1977) and the European Community (1980). All these agreements and associations seek to reduce tariffs and promote free trade.

The promotion of free trade has many opponents. Conservatives object to sending money to communist countries and the resultant loss of American manufacturing jobs to near-slave labor in foreign countries. Unions object to their loss of jobs. Many inside and outside the United States object to a culture of “consumerism”, such that people are encouraged to buy more than what they actually need. Brand names like McDonalds, Coca-Cola and Nike dominate television and the culture of teenagers. “McDonaldization” is when American advertising (as in the case of McDonalds) has an influence on the world culture, causing distant children (like Chinese) to repeat a McDonald’s slogan they heard on television.

'''B. Energy'''

Americans discovered crude oil (petroleum) near Titusville, Pennsylvania, and drilled their first oil there in 1859. It began yielding 25 barrels a day, but by the end of 1859 the flow had slowed to 15 barrels a day. The world would never be the same again. By 1906, American oil production had reached 126 million barrels a year. Today petroleum constitutes 40% of Americans’ overall energy consumption in the United States, with coal being the other big source of energy. Most of the cheap, readily accessible oil is under the control of Muslims in the Middle East.

To keep the price of oil higher than it would be in a free market, Middle Eastern countries formed OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) in 1960. The original members were Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq and also the Latin American country of Venezuela. African and Asian countries later joined OPEC too. Angered by American support of Israel during the Arab-Israeli war of 1973, OPEC placed an embargo on the shipment of oil to the United States. Prices jumped by a multiple of four in two years, and there were many long lines and shortages at American gas stations. The worldwide economy was hurt by this shock in energy prices, aggravating a problem with inflation and unemployment late in the 1970s. Japan, which relies heavily on oil imports, was hit hard. But OPEC’s influence has steadily declined due to increased competition by other countries. Mexico and Russia have become large oil-producing nations, and they have not joined OPEC. In 2007, the net revenues from oil to OPEC nations will be about $500 billion, while the non-OPEC nations will have net oil revenues of about $225 billion. The United States imports about $170 billion-worth more of oil than it exports.

Many claim that the involvement of the United States in the Middle East is to protect the cheap oil there. In late 1990, Saddam Hussein of Iraq invaded and conquered Kuwait, a large oil producer. In January and February 1991, the United States (with the support of the United Nations) responded with Operation Desert Storm, and liberated Kuwait in this Gulf War. Saddam Hussein, in retreat, lit fires on the Kuwaiti oil wells and dumped two million gallons of oil into the Persian Gulf. This seemed to anger environmentalists more than the loss of life!

In the late 1990s, politicians and some scientists began to cite a warming trend in the earth’s weather as evidence of a “global warming” caused by the burning of oil and the release of chlorofluorocarbons, a chemical. They blamed factory smokestacks and automobiles, and especially refrigerators and air conditioners. The loss of trees in rain forests was also supposedly a cause of global warming. Regulators began banning the use of certain chemicals in hairspray, and the Kyoto (Japan) Treaty was proposed to limit the pollution each country could generate each year. Political opposition in America prevented the United States from ratifying the Kyoto Treaty.

'''C. Technology'''

Advances in communication technology, such as the internet and cell phones, has created a worldwide culture that increasingly prefers English over local languages. English is easier to type into a computer than Asian languages, for example. At the same time, the cultural varieties of distant places such as India and Southeast Asia can be appreciated more in the Western world. Restaurants featuring foreign food are prevalent across the United States now.

Technology has brought some medical advances, most notably in the expanded use of antibiotics after World War II. Physicians say that most of medicine today was discovered in the past 65 years. The modern inventions of the MRI and CAT scan have improved the ability view the human body, and treat illness. Other modern developments, such as widespread vaccination and insecticides, are more controversial. Preventive vaccination is credited with eliminating the terrible diseases of polio and smallpox, but other, newer vaccines are opposed by many parents.

Proposals to spend taxpayer money on embryonic stem cell research are controversial and open to much criticism. In Germany, where the people experienced the horrors of the medical experiments connected with the Holocaust, the people are flatly against embryonic stem cell research. Private investors show little interest in spending their own money on this even in the United States. But a political movement linked to the abortion industry demands that taxpayer money be spent on this research, without any evidence that any good will ever come of it. If embryonic stem cell research were so great, then why wouldn’t there be many private investors spending money on it?

The United Nations promotes abortion worldwide through its U.N. Fund for Population Activities. Even though the world population will peak and begin to decline in the 21st century, the promoters of abortion continue to demand more and more killing of unborn children. This is promoted using taxpayer money. The United Nations also pushes its pro-abortion agenda through the World Health Organization (WHO).

'''D. Agriculture'''

The green revolution was a worldwide effort to increase the food supply through better farming, particularly in undernourished regions like India and South America. By increasing the amount of farmland and obtaining better crop yield from existing farms, the food supply increased such that India began producing more food than it could consume, and exported its surplus. Worldwide, the crops of rice, wheat and maize (corn) all increased.

Popular and easy to grow in the Asian climate, rice was historically the world's most popular crop. But maize (corn), wheat and sugar cane have surpassed rice in popularity. Here is the list of the most popular crops in the world today:

 1. sugar cane
 2. maize (corn)
 3. wheat
 4. rice
 5. potatoes
 6. sugar beets
 7. soybeans
 8. oil palm fruit
 9. barley
 10. tomatoes

Pesticides and fertilizers were used to increase production during the green revolution, and many wonder if they are harmful to our diet. Today, there is controversial use of genetic engineering of crops to increase crop yield (the amount of food produced per a given area).

Environmentalists complained that increased irrigation for crops has depleted ground water and an increase in the salinity of the soil. Many ground wells in the United States may be polluted, though usually from hazardous waste (such as dumped oil) rather than from fertilizers or pesticides.

'''E. Outer Space'''

In the 1950s and 1960s, the United States and Soviet Union engaged in a “Space Race” to see who could explore and perhaps claim outer space first. In 1957, the Soviet Union shocked Americans by being the first to launch spacecraft (“Sputnik”) into orbit. The first astronaut was a dog named Laika, which sadly did not return alive. The name “Sputnik” inspired the name chosen by a hippie-like leader of a new counterculture movement in San Francisco: “beatnik”. The beatniks in the late 1950s laid the foundation for the hippies in the 1960s.

Sputnik alarmed American politicians, who vowed not to remain in second place in this Space Race. America launched a project in the 1960s to land a man on the Moon, and used a series of spacecraft named “Apollo”. In 1969, with the immortal words “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” Astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on the Moon. Some conservatives felt that the Soviets never intended to go to the Moon themselves, but wanted Americans to waste money on the project. It’s unclear what good came of the lunar project, although it did lead to the invention of Teflon, now widely used in cooking.

The Soviet Union continued a more limited space program, and in the 1970s the two superpowers began to collaborate on docketing their spacecraft together in orbit, creating space shuttles, and even building space stations. In 1975, the Apollo spacecraft and the Soviet Soyuz successful docked together in space.

Americans continued to explore planets with the Hubble Telescope (to explore distant space in 1990) and the Pathfinder space probe (landing on Mars in 1997). For most of the 20th century scientists (and popular movies) claimed that life must exist in outer space. But despite all this exploration, no extraterrestrial life has ever been found.

'''III. Security'''

As communications and travel makes the world seem like a smaller place, security issues become more important. America can no longer rely on the vast distance of the oceans to protect herself from her enemies. A terrorist is only a few hours away by plane, or by car in crossing a border.

Terrorism is the main threat. It has existed long before the 20th century. The Crusades were a reaction to medieval terrorism in Jerusalem. The anarchist movement that began in the late 1800s, and which claimed President William McKinley as a victim (to assassination) in 1901, used terrorism. In 1920, a bomb exploded in a crowd in the Wall Street district of Manhattan, killing 40 and injuring 400. A warning note read, “Remember we will not tolerate any longer. Free the political prisoners or it will be sure death for all of you. American Anarchists Fighters.” The criminals were never caught.

Both terrorism and violent anarchism seek to disrupt and defeat authority. In 1995, a Japanese cult released poisonous nerve gas in a Tokyo subway, killing 12 and injuring thousands. In late 1996, Japanese terrorists captured and held hostages at an embassy in Lima, Peru. The oldest active terrorist group in the world is the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which has attacked and bombed Britain in an attempt to force it to relinquish control of Northern Ireland.

No one wants a terrorist to obtain a nuclear bomb. Most developed countries signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968 as a way of keeping nuclear arms out of the hands of terrorists and rogue nations. India and Pakistan never signed this treaty, and in 1998 both successfully detonated nuclear explosions in tests, proving that they have atomic bombs.

'''A. Northern Ireland'''

Ireland is an island slightly northwest of England. “Northern Ireland” is in the northeastern one-sixth of the island of Ireland. Northern Ireland has about a million people, with slightly more Protestants than Catholics. It is part of the United Kingdom rather than the country of Ireland. Its Northern Ireland Assembly has 108 elected officials, of whom 59 are “Unionists” (who support remaining in the United Kingdom) and 42 are “Nationalist” (who seek joining the independent Irish Republic). The other seven do not specify their allegiance. The largest Christian denominations are Catholic, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Anglican Church of Ireland, and the Methodist Church, with the total number of Protestant members outnumbering the Catholics.

Irish rebellions against British control date back to rebellions in 1798 and 1803, and several secret Irish societies (such as the Defenders and Ribbonmen) played roles in those uprisings. There was an Irish Republican Army that fought the British at the Battle of Ridgeway. There was the Easter Rising from April 24 to 30, 1916, during which Irish rebels capture key locations in Dublin and proclaimed an Irish Republic. The British suppressed this and executed its leaders. But on 1919, the Irish Republic was declared through the efforts of its leader, Michael Collins (1890-1922). Unfortunately, Michael Collins was killed just three years later during an Irish civil war.

Britain remains in control of Northern Ireland, despite the objections of the growing Catholic minority. On “Bloody Sunday” (1972), the Irish held a peaceful march for freedom in Derry, Northern Ireland. The British soldiers responded by shooting thirteen unarmed protesters dead, including six minors, and another died from the wounds a few months later. Five had been shot in the back. Army vehicles ran over two protesters. The British never punished those responsible and several songs (one by John Lennon, and other by U2) commemorate the tragedy. There is a Christian rock group that dedicates its name to the event, calling themselves “Bloody Sunday.”

This event made many Irish feel that complete independence is the only solution, and that armed revolt is the only way to achieve independence. Membership in the IRA then soared. At one point they launched handheld missiles on the headquarters of the British prime minister, in the hopes of killing John Major. He escaped injury. More recently, violence in Northern Ireland has subsided, but there is no end to the controversy over whether the Protestants or Catholics should rule that northeastern corner of Ireland.

'''B. Terrorism'''

Islamic terrorism has long plagued the Middle East. Palestinian terrorists grabbed and murdered eleven Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972, shocking the world. A suicide bomber drove a truck of explosives up to a barracks of American Marines in Beirut, Lebanon, and detonated an explosion that destroyed their building, killing 241 of them in 1983. Within a year President Reagan pulled American troops out of Beirut. In March 1998, terrorists bombed American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. Most suspected Osama Bin Laden as the mastermind behind these attacks.

But it was not until September 11, 2001 (9-11) that Islamic terrorism hit American soil. A group of 19 Muslims, most from Saudi Arabia, hijacked American airlines and flew one into each tower of the World Trade Center, a third into the Pentagon (probably after the pilot had trouble locating the White House from the air), and a fourth crashed in Pennsylvania as the passengers attempted to retake control of the plane from the terrorists. Nearly 3,000 people died when the World Trade Center collapsed from the resulting fire, as millions watched it live on television. An outpouring of support for American followed, with only Saddam Hussein of Iraq refusing to fly his flag at half-mast at the United Nations.

President George W. Bush responded by attacking Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, after the Taliban in charge of that nation refused to hand him over. Bin Laden is the leader of the terrorist organization called al Qaeda (spellings vary in translating that name from Arabic). Bin Laden fled, but al Qaeda was broken up in Afghanistan, the Taliban was overthrown, and many of Bin Laden’s top aides were killed by the end of 2001. Although a democratic provisional government has replaced the Taliban there, the persecution of Christians continues. In 2006, one Christian was targeted for execution by the Afghanistan country merely for converting from Islam, and the United States did not intervene. International pressure causes a suspension in the punishment.

In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq after Saddam Hussein refused to cooperate with inspectors of his nuclear facility and Americans feared that he had weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The Iraq War was initially very successful for Americans, as Baghdad was captured quicker than expected. The use of new body armor by American soldiers saved many lives that would have been lost at an earlier time. At the end of 2006 Saddam Hussein himself, after being captured by an American soldier and tried by the Iraqis, was hanged for his crimes. But in early 2007, three years after President Bush had announced victory in the war, he asked the American people to send 20,000 more troops to Iraq to try to finish the job. Terrorists there have caused a continuing stream of violence and killings for over three years.

'''C. Migration'''

In the second half of the 20th century, people increasingly migrated to the United States and Europe. In the United States, the immigrants were welcomed with jobs. In Europe, the immigrants were first welcomed with jobs and became “guest workers,” but when the jobs became scarce the governments would welcome the immigrants with welfare. Some migrated to Muslim countries in the Middle East to work on oil wells.

“Push-pull factors” caused the massive migration. The “pull factors” are those described above: better jobs and welfare. The “push factors” are poverty, violence, or religious persecution in a homeland. Hindus fled Muslim Pakistan, Afghans fled the Taliban and Cubans fled Castro. Sometimes refugee camps were necessary to take care of all the migrating people, as done in the Middle East for Palestinians and in Albania during the Kosovo crisis. Congo also established refugee camps for those fleeing from the ethnic cleansing of the tribal wars in Rwanda.

When immigrants failed to learn and speak the local language, tensions arose. By the end of the 20th century, there was growing opposition in both the United States and Europe to the large amounts of immigration.

The EU removed most internal border patrols, so people now flow freely from one country into the next, such as from Austria into Germany. The Muslim influx has been particularly high. In past centuries, churches would play a central role in integrating the immigrants into the local activities and culture. But churches, which have become largely empty in Europe anyway, cannot integrate the Muslim immigrants. In France, a racist politician Jean-Marie Le Pen demanded tougher controls against immigration but he was badly defeated in the election for president in 2002. In 2004, France desperately banned the wearing of the Muslim hijab (headscarf) girls in state schools.

Many European nations now face the controversy of whether to allow women to wear the Muslim coverings. In late 2006, the Dutch government announced its plan to ban Muslim head coverings in all public places. In Germany, many teachers are forbidden from wearing the hijab. A Belgian town banned the burqa (full-body covering) and niqab (a veil that covers only the face) entirely from its streets. In Britain, schools can fire teachers for wearing face-coverings. Even in the Muslim country of Turkey, its rulers have banned any wearing of the Muslim veil in public buildings since the 1920s, when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk established the modern Republic of Turkey.

Liberals are alarmed by this Muslim clothing because they frustrate the liberal desire to create a secular, atheistic society. It becomes difficult to complain about a cross somewhere when women are wearing burqas in glaring display of their faith. Also, some feminists object to the burqa as discriminatory towards women, subjugating them to an inferior position in society. Only in the sanctuary of the home do Muslim women remove their coverings.

In the United States, the largest group of immigrants is from Mexico, and they are pouring into Catholic churches. For example, Catholics comprise less than 10% of Utah’s population, which is predominantly Mormon, but an influx of immigrants from Mexico is boosting church attendance there. But much of this immigration is illegal, and has created a subculture of 12 million people – close to 5% of the American population – that is not even supposed to be here. Illegal immigrants are winning robotics science competitions and garnering top prizes at universities. Many become self-employed due to the laws making it a crime for companies to hire them as employees. Congress proposed creating a “guest worker” policy that would allow the illegal immigrants to stay. President Bush has promised to build a fence to stem the tide of illegal immigration, but he never seems to get around to it. Those caught for illegal immigration are typically returned to Mexico, only to return again illegally to the United States. Some have gone back and forth over a dozen times. Public schools welcome illegal immigrants, and some come here to obtain free benefits like schooling and medical care.

There has also been much migration within a same country. In developing countries, migration from rural areas to big cities caused huge increases in city population, and tons of pollution. Mexico City has become one of the most populated cities in the world from this type of migration. In developed countries like the United States, there is substantial migration in the opposite direction, from the city to the countryside, where it is easier to raise a family.

'''D. Human Rights'''

In Africa, ethnic cleansing plagued the nations of Kwanda (where the Tutsi minority was slaughtered by the Hutu majority) and in the Middle East, where the nomadic Kurds have been persecuted by Turks, Iranians and, most recently, Iraqis. The former Yugoslavia has also been accused of ethnic cleansing.

International, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) formed in the 1960s to combat human rights abuses. The most prominent is Amnesty International, which has sought release of political prisoners and also opposed use of the death penalty. Sometimes these groups can obtain publicity and world pressure more effectively than governments can. But these groups are often biased in what they complain about, and rarely publicize human rights abuses by communist or Islamic governments. The persecution of Christians is unlikely to generate any outrage by NGOs or the press, unless (as in Afghanistan) the persecution is an embarrassment to Republicans.

The United Nations issued a Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. It included in basic human rights “life, liberty, and security of person.” In the United States, Rev. Martin Luther King led a movement in the 1950s and 1960s to establish civil rights for African Americans. There were many protests and arrests, and Rev. King himself spent time in jail at one point. But he and his supporters overcame the opposition and established equal rights regardless of race. Ever since, virtually every other movement has attempted to claim authority based on this major civil rights movement. But some movements today that claim to be civil rights movements actually conflict with Rev. King’s own Christian goals. For example, Rev. King spoke out against the black Muslim movement, but that he is almost never quoted for it.

Public praise of Christian human rights workers is also rare. But in 1979 the Nobel Prize committee broke from its own tradition and gave an award to an outwardly religious woman, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, India. She was recognized for her work on behalf of the sick and poor of India. When the government of India announced its intention to tax her award, thereby preventing her from contributing it to her work, an international outcry caused the Indian government to allow her to receive her award tax-free. When Mother Teresa died in 1997, Indians gave her a funeral with full military honors!

'''IV. Education'''

The Christian population has steady increased from 0% in 6 B.C. to 33% today. Although Christians have always been a minority in the world, this minority has led the world in accomplishments and achievements.

Among Christians there has been a special group: the homeschoolers. Though even smaller in number, they have accomplished much for Christ and the world. Now that we have covered all of world history, ask yourself how many of the following homeschooled achievers you can identify:
 
 '''Homeschooled Christians'''
 
 Leonardo da Vinci
 Claude Monet
 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
 
 Stonewall Jackson
 John Paul Jones
 Robert E. Lee
 Douglas MacArthur
 George Patton
 
 Alexander Graham Bell
 Thomas Edison
 Cyrus McCormick
 Orville and Wilbur Wright
 
 George Washington
 John Quincy Adams
 Thomas Jefferson
 James Madison
 William Henry Harrison
 John Tyler
 Abraham Lincoln
 Theodore Roosevelt
 
 Joan of Arc
 John the Baptist
 William Cary
 Jesus Christ
 Jonathan Edwards
 Dwight L. Moody
 John Newton
 Charles Wesley
 John Wesley
 Brigham Young
 
 George Washington Carver
 Pierre Curie
 Charles Louis Montesquieu
 Blaise Pascal
 Bernhard Riemann
 Booker T. Washington
 
 Benjamin Franklin
 Patrick Henry
 William Penn
 Henry Clay
 
 Charles Evans Hughes
 John Jay
 John Marshall
 John Rutledge
 
 Hans Christian Andersen
 Pearl S. Buck
 Agatha Christie
 Charles Dickens
 Bret Harte
 C.S. Lewis
 Sean O’Casey
 George Bernard Shaw
 Mark Twain
 Daniel Webster
 
 George Clymer
 Benjamin Franklin
 William Livingston
 George Mason
 Charles Pickney III
 George Wyeth
 
 Ansel Adams
 Clara Barton
 John Burroughs
 Andrew Carnegie
 George Rogers Clark
 Florence Nightingale
 Leo Tolstoy
 
== and . . . you??? ==

[[Category:History]]

Talk:World History Lecture Fourteen

2008-02-29T12:17:34Z

DukeAra:

It is not 'English Protestants' who rule Northern Ireland, but Northern Irish Protestants who identify themselves as British - and they rule, now, in coalition with Irish nationalists. Some of the articles here on Ireland and Northern Ireland will give you more insight into the question. And your reluctance to use the term terrorism in relation to Northern Ireland is questionable. [[User:Pachyderm|Pachyderm]] 08:43, 29 August 2007 (EDT)

Pachyderm's comments are all correct. In addition the mortar attack on 10 Downing Street happened on 7 February 1991 - several months after Mrs Thatcher left office[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/events/northern_ireland/history/69117.stm]
. John Major (and the rest of the cabinet) were the targets. I think you may be confusing this attack with another one seven years prior to this where the IRA left a bomb in a Brighton hotel where Mrs Thatcher was staying during the Conservative Party conference.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/events/northern_ireland/history/68779.stm] [[User:Ferret|Ferret]] 08:06, 30 August 2007 (EDT)

There is no bit of Ireland that is more Northerly than the most Northern parts of England, thus Ireland is not 'slightly to the North-West of England'.
The IRA attack on 10 Downing Street was made from an abandoned van not with 'hand-held weapons'. [[User:MrSmith|MrSmith]] 16:20, 31 August 2007 (EDT)

It is purposeless getting into an edit war, but the section on Northern Ireland stinks. It presents a completely one-sided and inaccurate view of the situation to the extent of serving as a justification for terrorism. [[User:Pachyderm|Pachyderm]] 09:26, 10 September 2007 (EDT)

Having lived in Northern ireland and hailing from a Catholic background, the section is pretty much what I was taught at school. This sort of inherent bias is bad to teach children - tell them the two sides of the story. Tell them about Gordon Wilson, the Methodist who lost his daughter tragically in an IRA bomb and who immediately forgave those who caused; pleaded for reconciliation and toured the world in a pledge for peace. Both sides faced their tragedies, its only right that both sides get a fair shout. [[User:Graham|Graham]] 07:13, 25 September 2007 (EDT)

PS- 'But on 1919, the Irish Republic was declared through the efforts of its leader' THe Irish Republic was only declared, it did not become official until 1948. Up until then there was the Irish Free State (1921-1937) and Eire (1937-1948), which represented two constitutional changes on the road to independence. [[User:Graham|Graham]] 07:19, 25 September 2007 (EDT)

==Globalism ==
''One word sums up most historians’ view of the world today: “globalism”. That was not even a word 20 years ago.'' Incorrect: the Oxford Englisgh Dictionary has 'globalism' listed in Webster in 1961 and being used in [[The Economist]] in 1965. [[User:DukeAra|DukeAra]] 06:36, 29 February 2008 (EST)

==Joan of Arc==
Joan of Arc was illiterate - do you really want to claim her as a poster girl for homeschooling? And please could we have citations for the home-schooled status of John the Baptist and Jesus? [[User:DukeAra|DukeAra]] 07:17, 29 February 2008 (EST)

World History Lecture Fourteen

2008-02-29T12:09:19Z

DukeAra: Pssengers sought to recover the plane; le Pen IS a racist (and neo-fascist); rubbish about Muslim culture taking over France; Turkey has had civilian govts for most of post-1920 period. And so we go

[[World]] [[History]] – The World Today
 Fourteenth Lecture
 Instructor, Andy Schlafly

 Outline of Lecture:
 I. Introduction
 II. World Economy and Technology
 A. Trade
 B. Energy
 C. Technology
 D. Agriculture
 E. Outer Space
 III. Security
 A. Northern Ireland
 B. Terrorism
 C. Migration
 D. Human Rights
 IV. Education

'''I. Introduction'''

Our journey through world history reaches the present in this final lecture.
'''
II. World Trade'''

One word sums up most historians’ view of the world today: “globalism”. That was not even a word 50 years ago. “Globalism” means treating the world as one political unit, as one massive village. Distances appear to be shortening between people, cultures and nations. Travel is more affordable for more people. Mobility is greater. Trade among nations is larger. Television and the internet link the world’s population of 6 or so billion people like never before.

One [[invention]] in late 1947 made most of this possible. Three scientists invented the [[transistor]] at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey. This tiny invention brought about a massive revolution in [[computer]]s and communications. With improvements, the transistor permitted microelectronic control and amplification of signals. This greatly advanced communication, as in radio, television, telephone and later the internet. This also permitted the storage of massive amounts of information, as in computers. Bell Labs, then part of AT&T, made this invention available to the entire world. Soon transistors replaced vacuum tubes in radios and televisions, enabling them to work better. The Japanese flooded the market with improved products.

[[Apple Computer]] sold a personal computer for home use in the late 1970s and, in 1981, [[IBM]] introduced its own personal computer. Time magazine declared the personal (or home) computer to be “Man of the Year” for 1982. Fifteen years later the internet became popular for connecting computers. In 2000, presidential candidate Al Gore attempted to take credit for helping create the internet, and the world ridiculed him. No politician, and certainly not Al Gore, can take credit for all this.

Other inventions also helped improve the world. The invention of plastics enabled the mass production of inexpensive goods, everything from drinking cups to watches to car and airplane furnishings. Robotics lowered the cost of manufacturing for everything. In the [[United States of America|United States]] unions resisted some of these changes. The Japanese companies, benefiting from cheaper labor and lack of unions, surpassed American companies in many industries. Economic problems later caught up with [[Japan]] in the early 1990s, but even today its car industry (especially Toyota) does better than Detroit car manufacturers. Voluntary import quotas have kept Japanese car imports lower than they would be without any trade barriers, and the Japanese began expensive selling luxury cars (such as the Lexus) as a way of making more money with fewer products.

In addition to Japan, other [[Asia]]n nations also thrived after World War II. The “Four Tigers” are the prosperous Pacific Rim nations of [[South Korea]], [[Taiwan]], [[Singapore]] and [[Hong Kong]]. (Hong Kong is now part of communist China but is allowed to remain free until at least the middle of the 21st century.) Even communist China has grown stronger economically by trading with the United States. Malaysia and other Asian nations have prospered too.

The world today has numerous “multinational” companies having offices in many different countries. Many American companies now have offices or factories even in communist China now. These multinational companies are attracted by the low wages and inexpensive raw materials, and by the opportunity to sell their products there. Increased regulation and taxes in America also encourage companies to transfer to an offshore labor force.

'''A. Trade'''

Beginning soon after the end of World War II, the western nations discussed agreements to reduce tariffs for trade among themselves. In 1947, they entered into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in order to decrease tariffs that interfered with trade. This marked a significant change from how nations had used tariffs in the past to protect their domestic industries and raise revenue. Under GATT, western countries first froze the tariffs (preventing them from increasing) and later began reducing the tariffs. In 1995, this approach was taken one step further with the World Trade Organization (WTO), which included non-western countries and also established international courts for deciding trade disputes among nations. There are 150 members of the WTO today, and Vietnam joined it last week (Jan. 11, 2007).

Western European nations also joined the European Common Market after World War II, and then in 1958 joined the European Economic Community (EEC) to reduce tariffs among themselves. The EEC later because the European Union (EU), which includes all Western European countries except Switzerland, which has never joined anything and fiercely defends its independence, and Norway. In 2002, all of EU began using a common currency known as the “euro”, except for Denmark and the United Kingdom, which still use their own currencies. In 2004, many Eastern European nations also joined the EU. A map of the EU is attached.

The large Muslim nation of Turkey has requested to join the EU. One opponent is the new Pope Benedict XVI of the Catholic Church, who succeeded Pope John Paul II in 2005 upon his death. Pope Benedict has emphasized the need to keep Europe Christian, and he sparked Muslim riots in late 2006 when he repeated a provocative quote about Islam.

North America has also created a free trade zone (free from tariffs) with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was never ratified by the Senate as a treaty but which Congress passed into law anyway. NAFTA establishes international courts that have already been used to force the United States to open its borders to Mexican trucks, which are less safe than American ones. The importation of drugs into the United States from Mexico has increased since NAFTA went into effect.

There are other free trade zones. LAFTA is the Latin American Free Trade Agreement passed in 1961, and replaced in 1981 by the Latin American Integration Association. It helps Latin American countries develop economic independence from foreign powers. There is CAFTA, a recently enacted Central American Free Trade Agreement that the United States joined. There is ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, founded in 1967 by Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines to combat communism. ASEAN signed trade agreements with Japan (1977) and the European Community (1980). All these agreements and associations seek to reduce tariffs and promote free trade.

The promotion of free trade has many opponents. Conservatives object to sending money to communist countries and the resultant loss of American manufacturing jobs to near-slave labor in foreign countries. Unions object to their loss of jobs. Many inside and outside the United States object to a culture of “consumerism”, such that people are encouraged to buy more than what they actually need. Brand names like McDonalds, Coca-Cola and Nike dominate television and the culture of teenagers. “McDonaldization” is when American advertising (as in the case of McDonalds) has an influence on the world culture, causing distant children (like Chinese) to repeat a McDonald’s slogan they heard on television.

'''B. Energy'''

Americans discovered crude oil (petroleum) near Titusville, Pennsylvania, and drilled their first oil there in 1859. It began yielding 25 barrels a day, but by the end of 1859 the flow had slowed to 15 barrels a day. The world would never be the same again. By 1906, American oil production had reached 126 million barrels a year. Today petroleum constitutes 40% of Americans’ overall energy consumption in the United States, with coal being the other big source of energy. Most of the cheap, readily accessible oil is under the control of Muslims in the Middle East.

To keep the price of oil higher than it would be in a free market, Middle Eastern countries formed OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) in 1960. The original members were Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq and also the Latin American country of Venezuela. African and Asian countries later joined OPEC too. Angered by American support of Israel during the Arab-Israeli war of 1973, OPEC placed an embargo on the shipment of oil to the United States. Prices jumped by a multiple of four in two years, and there were many long lines and shortages at American gas stations. The worldwide economy was hurt by this shock in energy prices, aggravating a problem with inflation and unemployment late in the 1970s. Japan, which relies heavily on oil imports, was hit hard. But OPEC’s influence has steadily declined due to increased competition by other countries. Mexico and Russia have become large oil-producing nations, and they have not joined OPEC. In 2007, the net revenues from oil to OPEC nations will be about $500 billion, while the non-OPEC nations will have net oil revenues of about $225 billion. The United States imports about $170 billion-worth more of oil than it exports.

Many claim that the involvement of the United States in the Middle East is to protect the cheap oil there. In late 1990, Saddam Hussein of Iraq invaded and conquered Kuwait, a large oil producer. In January and February 1991, the United States (with the support of the United Nations) responded with Operation Desert Storm, and liberated Kuwait in this Gulf War. Saddam Hussein, in retreat, lit fires on the Kuwaiti oil wells and dumped two million gallons of oil into the Persian Gulf. This seemed to anger environmentalists more than the loss of life!

In the late 1990s, politicians and some scientists began to cite a warming trend in the earth’s weather as evidence of a “global warming” caused by the burning of oil and the release of chlorofluorocarbons, a chemical. They blamed factory smokestacks and automobiles, and especially refrigerators and air conditioners. The loss of trees in rain forests was also supposedly a cause of global warming. Regulators began banning the use of certain chemicals in hairspray, and the Kyoto (Japan) Treaty was proposed to limit the pollution each country could generate each year. Political opposition in America prevented the United States from ratifying the Kyoto Treaty.

'''C. Technology'''

Advances in communication technology, such as the internet and cell phones, has created a worldwide culture that increasingly prefers English over local languages. English is easier to type into a computer than Asian languages, for example. At the same time, the cultural varieties of distant places such as India and Southeast Asia can be appreciated more in the Western world. Restaurants featuring foreign food are prevalent across the United States now.

Technology has brought some medical advances, most notably in the expanded use of antibiotics after World War II. Physicians say that most of medicine today was discovered in the past 65 years. The modern inventions of the MRI and CAT scan have improved the ability view the human body, and treat illness. Other modern developments, such as widespread vaccination and insecticides, are more controversial. Preventive vaccination is credited with eliminating the terrible diseases of polio and smallpox, but other, newer vaccines are opposed by many parents.

Proposals to spend taxpayer money on embryonic stem cell research are controversial and open to much criticism. In Germany, where the people experienced the horrors of the medical experiments connected with the Holocaust, the people are flatly against embryonic stem cell research. Private investors show little interest in spending their own money on this even in the United States. But a political movement linked to the abortion industry demands that taxpayer money be spent on this research, without any evidence that any good will ever come of it. If embryonic stem cell research were so great, then why wouldn’t there be many private investors spending money on it?

The United Nations promotes abortion worldwide through its U.N. Fund for Population Activities. Even though the world population will peak and begin to decline in the 21st century, the promoters of abortion continue to demand more and more killing of unborn children. This is promoted using taxpayer money. The United Nations also pushes its pro-abortion agenda through the World Health Organization (WHO).

'''D. Agriculture'''

The green revolution was a worldwide effort to increase the food supply through better farming, particularly in undernourished regions like India and South America. By increasing the amount of farmland and obtaining better crop yield from existing farms, the food supply increased such that India began producing more food than it could consume, and exported its surplus. Worldwide, the crops of rice, wheat and maize (corn) all increased.

Popular and easy to grow in the Asian climate, rice was historically the world's most popular crop. But maize (corn), wheat and sugar cane have surpassed rice in popularity. Here is the list of the most popular crops in the world today:

 1. sugar cane
 2. maize (corn)
 3. wheat
 4. rice
 5. potatoes
 6. sugar beets
 7. soybeans
 8. oil palm fruit
 9. barley
 10. tomatoes

Pesticides and fertilizers were used to increase production during the green revolution, and many wonder if they are harmful to our diet. Today, there is controversial use of genetic engineering of crops to increase crop yield (the amount of food produced per a given area).

Environmentalists complained that increased irrigation for crops has depleted ground water and an increase in the salinity of the soil. Many ground wells in the United States may be polluted, though usually from hazardous waste (such as dumped oil) rather than from fertilizers or pesticides.

'''E. Outer Space'''

In the 1950s and 1960s, the United States and Soviet Union engaged in a “Space Race” to see who could explore and perhaps claim outer space first. In 1957, the Soviet Union shocked Americans by being the first to launch spacecraft (“Sputnik”) into orbit. The first astronaut was a dog named Laika, which sadly did not return alive. The name “Sputnik” inspired the name chosen by a hippie-like leader of a new counterculture movement in San Francisco: “beatnik”. The beatniks in the late 1950s laid the foundation for the hippies in the 1960s.

Sputnik alarmed American politicians, who vowed not to remain in second place in this Space Race. America launched a project in the 1960s to land a man on the Moon, and used a series of spacecraft named “Apollo”. In 1969, with the immortal words “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” Astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on the Moon. Some conservatives felt that the Soviets never intended to go to the Moon themselves, but wanted Americans to waste money on the project. It’s unclear what good came of the lunar project, although it did lead to the invention of Teflon, now widely used in cooking.

The Soviet Union continued a more limited space program, and in the 1970s the two superpowers began to collaborate on docketing their spacecraft together in orbit, creating space shuttles, and even building space stations. In 1975, the Apollo spacecraft and the Soviet Soyuz successful docked together in space.

Americans continued to explore planets with the Hubble Telescope (to explore distant space in 1990) and the Pathfinder space probe (landing on Mars in 1997). For most of the 20th century scientists (and popular movies) claimed that life must exist in outer space. But despite all this exploration, no extraterrestrial life has ever been found.

'''III. Security'''

As communications and travel makes the world seem like a smaller place, security issues become more important. America can no longer rely on the vast distance of the oceans to protect herself from her enemies. A terrorist is only a few hours away by plane, or by car in crossing a border.

Terrorism is the main threat. It has existed long before the 20th century. The Crusades were a reaction to medieval terrorism in Jerusalem. The anarchist movement that began in the late 1800s, and which claimed President William McKinley as a victim (to assassination) in 1901, used terrorism. In 1920, a bomb exploded in a crowd in the Wall Street district of Manhattan, killing 40 and injuring 400. A warning note read, “Remember we will not tolerate any longer. Free the political prisoners or it will be sure death for all of you. American Anarchists Fighters.” The criminals were never caught.

Both terrorism and violent anarchism seek to disrupt and defeat authority. In 1995, a Japanese cult released poisonous nerve gas in a Tokyo subway, killing 12 and injuring thousands. In late 1996, Japanese terrorists captured and held hostages at an embassy in Lima, Peru. The oldest active terrorist group in the world is the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which has attacked and bombed Britain in an attempt to force it to relinquish control of Northern Ireland.

No one wants a terrorist to obtain a nuclear bomb. Most developed countries signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968 as a way of keeping nuclear arms out of the hands of terrorists and rogue nations. India and Pakistan never signed this treaty, and in 1998 both successfully detonated nuclear explosions in tests, proving that they have atomic bombs.

'''A. Northern Ireland'''

Ireland is an island slightly northwest of England. “Northern Ireland” is in the northeastern one-sixth of the island of Ireland. Northern Ireland has about a million people, with slightly more Protestants than Catholics. It is part of the United Kingdom rather than the country of Ireland. Its Northern Ireland Assembly has 108 elected officials, of whom 59 are “Unionists” (who support remaining in the United Kingdom) and 42 are “Nationalist” (who seek joining the independent Irish Republic). The other seven do not specify their allegiance. The largest Christian denominations are Catholic, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Anglican Church of Ireland, and the Methodist Church, with the total number of Protestant members outnumbering the Catholics.

Irish rebellions against British control date back to rebellions in 1798 and 1803, and several secret Irish societies (such as the Defenders and Ribbonmen) played roles in those uprisings. There was an Irish Republican Army that fought the British at the Battle of Ridgeway. There was the Easter Rising from April 24 to 30, 1916, during which Irish rebels capture key locations in Dublin and proclaimed an Irish Republic. The British suppressed this and executed its leaders. But on 1919, the Irish Republic was declared through the efforts of its leader, Michael Collins (1890-1922). Unfortunately, Michael Collins was killed just three years later during an Irish civil war.

Britain remains in control of Northern Ireland, despite the objections of the growing Catholic minority. On “Bloody Sunday” (1972), the Irish held a peaceful march for freedom in Derry, Northern Ireland. The British soldiers responded by shooting thirteen unarmed protesters dead, including six minors, and another died from the wounds a few months later. Five had been shot in the back. Army vehicles ran over two protesters. The British never punished those responsible and several songs (one by John Lennon, and other by U2) commemorate the tragedy. There is a Christian rock group that dedicates its name to the event, calling themselves “Bloody Sunday.”

This event made many Irish feel that complete independence is the only solution, and that armed revolt is the only way to achieve independence. Membership in the IRA then soared. At one point they launched handheld missiles on the headquarters of the British prime minister, in the hopes of killing John Major. He escaped injury. More recently, violence in Northern Ireland has subsided, but there is no end to the controversy over whether the Protestants or Catholics should rule that northeastern corner of Ireland.

'''B. Terrorism'''

Islamic terrorism has long plagued the Middle East. Palestinian terrorists grabbed and murdered eleven Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972, shocking the world. A suicide bomber drove a truck of explosives up to a barracks of American Marines in Beirut, Lebanon, and detonated an explosion that destroyed their building, killing 241 of them in 1983. Within a year President Reagan pulled American troops out of Beirut. In March 1998, terrorists bombed American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. Most suspected Osama Bin Laden as the mastermind behind these attacks.

But it was not until September 11, 2001 (9-11) that Islamic terrorism hit American soil. A group of 19 Muslims, most from Saudi Arabia, hijacked American airlines and flew one into each tower of the World Trade Center, a third into the Pentagon (probably after the pilot had trouble locating the White House from the air), and a fourth crashed in Pennsylvania as the passengers attempted to retake control of the plane from the terrorists. Nearly 3,000 people died when the World Trade Center collapsed from the resulting fire, as millions watched it live on television. An outpouring of support for American followed, with only Saddam Hussein of Iraq refusing to fly his flag at half-mast at the United Nations.

President George W. Bush responded by attacking Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, after the Taliban in charge of that nation refused to hand him over. Bin Laden is the leader of the terrorist organization called al Qaeda (spellings vary in translating that name from Arabic). Bin Laden fled, but al Qaeda was broken up in Afghanistan, the Taliban was overthrown, and many of Bin Laden’s top aides were killed by the end of 2001. Although a democratic provisional government has replaced the Taliban there, the persecution of Christians continues. In 2006, one Christian was targeted for execution by the Afghanistan country merely for converting from Islam, and the United States did not intervene. International pressure causes a suspension in the punishment.

In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq after Saddam Hussein refused to cooperate with inspectors of his nuclear facility and Americans feared that he had weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The Iraq War was initially very successful for Americans, as Baghdad was captured quicker than expected. The use of new body armor by American soldiers saved many lives that would have been lost at an earlier time. At the end of 2006 Saddam Hussein himself, after being captured by an American soldier and tried by the Iraqis, was hanged for his crimes. But in early 2007, three years after President Bush had announced victory in the war, he asked the American people to send 20,000 more troops to Iraq to try to finish the job. Terrorists there have caused a continuing stream of violence and killings for over three years.

'''C. Migration'''

In the second half of the 20th century, people increasingly migrated to the United States and Europe. In the United States, the immigrants were welcomed with jobs. In Europe, the immigrants were first welcomed with jobs and became “guest workers,” but when the jobs became scarce the governments would welcome the immigrants with welfare. Some migrated to Muslim countries in the Middle East to work on oil wells.

“Push-pull factors” caused the massive migration. The “pull factors” are those described above: better jobs and welfare. The “push factors” are poverty, violence, or religious persecution in a homeland. Hindus fled Muslim Pakistan, Afghans fled the Taliban and Cubans fled Castro. Sometimes refugee camps were necessary to take care of all the migrating people, as done in the Middle East for Palestinians and in Albania during the Kosovo crisis. Congo also established refugee camps for those fleeing from the ethnic cleansing of the tribal wars in Rwanda.

When immigrants failed to learn and speak the local language, tensions arose. By the end of the 20th century, there was growing opposition in both the United States and Europe to the large amounts of immigration.

The EU removed most internal border patrols, so people now flow freely from one country into the next, such as from Austria into Germany. The Muslim influx has been particularly high. In past centuries, churches would play a central role in integrating the immigrants into the local activities and culture. But churches, which have become largely empty in Europe anyway, cannot integrate the Muslim immigrants. In France, a racist politician Jean-Marie Le Pen demanded tougher controls against immigration but he was badly defeated in the election for president in 2002. In 2004, France desperately banned the wearing of the Muslim hijab (headscarf) girls in state schools.

Many European nations now face the controversy of whether to allow women to wear the Muslim coverings. In late 2006, the Dutch government announced its plan to ban Muslim head coverings in all public places. In Germany, many teachers are forbidden from wearing the hijab. A Belgian town banned the burqa (full-body covering) and niqab (a veil that covers only the face) entirely from its streets. In Britain, schools can fire teachers for wearing face-coverings. Even in the Muslim country of Turkey, its rulers have banned any wearing of the Muslim veil in public buildings since the 1920s, when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk established the modern Republic of Turkey.

Liberals are alarmed by this Muslim clothing because they frustrate the liberal desire to create a secular, atheistic society. It becomes difficult to complain about a cross somewhere when women are wearing burqas in glaring display of their faith. Also, some feminists object to the burqa as discriminatory towards women, subjugating them to an inferior position in society. Only in the sanctuary of the home do Muslim women remove their coverings.

In the United States, the largest group of immigrants is from Mexico, and they are pouring into Catholic churches. For example, Catholics comprise less than 10% of Utah’s population, which is predominantly Mormon, but an influx of immigrants from Mexico is boosting church attendance there. But much of this immigration is illegal, and has created a subculture of 12 million people – close to 5% of the American population – that is not even supposed to be here. Illegal immigrants are winning robotics science competitions and garnering top prizes at universities. Many become self-employed due to the laws making it a crime for companies to hire them as employees. Congress proposed creating a “guest worker” policy that would allow the illegal immigrants to stay. President Bush has promised to build a fence to stem the tide of illegal immigration, but he never seems to get around to it. Those caught for illegal immigration are typically returned to Mexico, only to return again illegally to the United States. Some have gone back and forth over a dozen times. Public schools welcome illegal immigrants, and some come here to obtain free benefits like schooling and medical care.

There has also been much migration within a same country. In developing countries, migration from rural areas to big cities caused huge increases in city population, and tons of pollution. Mexico City has become one of the most populated cities in the world from this type of migration. In developed countries like the United States, there is substantial migration in the opposite direction, from the city to the countryside, where it is easier to raise a family.

'''D. Human Rights'''

In Africa, ethnic cleansing plagued the nations of Kwanda (where the Tutsi minority was slaughtered by the Hutu majority) and in the Middle East, where the nomadic Kurds have been persecuted by Turks, Iranians and, most recently, Iraqis. The former Yugoslavia has also been accused of ethnic cleansing.

International, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) formed in the 1960s to combat human rights abuses. The most prominent is Amnesty International, which has sought release of political prisoners and also opposed use of the death penalty. Sometimes these groups can obtain publicity and world pressure more effectively than governments can. But these groups are often biased in what they complain about, and rarely publicize human rights abuses by communist or Islamic governments. The persecution of Christians is unlikely to generate any outrage by NGOs or the press, unless (as in Afghanistan) the persecution is an embarrassment to Republicans.

The United Nations issued a Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. It included in basic human rights “life, liberty, and security of person.” In the United States, Rev. Martin Luther King led a movement in the 1950s and 1960s to establish civil rights for African Americans. There were many protests and arrests, and Rev. King himself spent time in jail at one point. But he and his supporters overcame the opposition and established equal rights regardless of race. Ever since, virtually every other movement has attempted to claim authority based on this major civil rights movement. But some movements today that claim to be civil rights movements actually conflict with Rev. King’s own Christian goals. For example, Rev. King spoke out against the black Muslim movement, but that he is almost never quoted for it.

Public praise of Christian human rights workers is also rare. But in 1979 the Nobel Prize committee broke from its own tradition and gave an award to an outwardly religious woman, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, India. She was recognized for her work on behalf of the sick and poor of India. When the government of India announced its intention to tax her award, thereby preventing her from contributing it to her work, an international outcry caused the Indian government to allow her to receive her award tax-free. When Mother Teresa died in 1997, Indians gave her a funeral with full military honors!

'''IV. Education'''

The Christian population has steady increased from 0% in 6 B.C. to 33% today. Although Christians have always been a minority in the world, this minority has led the world in accomplishments and achievements.

Among Christians there has been a special group: the homeschoolers. Though even smaller in number, they have accomplished much for Christ and the world. Now that we have covered all of world history, ask yourself how many of the following homeschooled achievers you can identify:
 
 '''Homeschooled Christians'''
 
 Leonardo da Vinci
 Claude Monet
 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
 
 Stonewall Jackson
 John Paul Jones
 Robert E. Lee
 Douglas MacArthur
 George Patton
 
 Alexander Graham Bell
 Thomas Edison
 Cyrus McCormick
 Orville and Wilbur Wright
 
 George Washington
 John Quincy Adams
 Thomas Jefferson
 James Madison
 William Henry Harrison
 John Tyler
 Abraham Lincoln
 Theodore Roosevelt
 
 Joan of Arc
 John the Baptist
 William Cary
 Jesus Christ
 Jonathan Edwards
 Dwight L. Moody
 John Newton
 Charles Wesley
 John Wesley
 Brigham Young
 
 George Washington Carver
 Pierre Curie
 Charles Louis Montesquieu
 Blaise Pascal
 Bernhard Riemann
 Booker T. Washington
 
 Winston Churchill
 Benjamin Franklin
 Patrick Henry
 William Penn
 Henry Clay
 
 Charles Evans Hughes
 John Jay
 John Marshall
 John Rutledge
 
 Hans Christian Andersen
 Pearl S. Buck
 Agatha Christie
 Charles Dickens
 Bret Harte
 C.S. Lewis
 Sean O’Casey
 George Bernard Shaw
 Mark Twain
 Daniel Webster
 
 George Clymer
 Benjamin Franklin
 William Livingston
 George Mason
 Charles Pickney III
 George Wyeth
 
 Ansel Adams
 Clara Barton
 John Burroughs
 Andrew Carnegie
 George Rogers Clark
 Florence Nightingale
 Leo Tolstoy
 
== and . . . you??? ==

[[Category:History]]

World History Lecture Fourteen

2008-02-29T11:56:17Z

DukeAra: Irrelevance removed - no-one is planning a visit.

[[World]] [[History]] – The World Today
 Fourteenth Lecture
 Instructor, Andy Schlafly

 Outline of Lecture:
 I. Introduction
 II. World Economy and Technology
 A. Trade
 B. Energy
 C. Technology
 D. Agriculture
 E. Outer Space
 III. Security
 A. Northern Ireland
 B. Terrorism
 C. Migration
 D. Human Rights
 IV. Education

'''I. Introduction'''

Our journey through world history reaches the present in this final lecture.
'''
II. World Trade'''

One word sums up most historians’ view of the world today: “globalism”. That was not even a word 50 years ago. “Globalism” means treating the world as one political unit, as one massive village. Distances appear to be shortening between people, cultures and nations. Travel is more affordable for more people. Mobility is greater. Trade among nations is larger. Television and the internet link the world’s population of 6 or so billion people like never before.

One [[invention]] in late 1947 made most of this possible. Three scientists invented the [[transistor]] at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey. This tiny invention brought about a massive revolution in [[computer]]s and communications. With improvements, the transistor permitted microelectronic control and amplification of signals. This greatly advanced communication, as in radio, television, telephone and later the internet. This also permitted the storage of massive amounts of information, as in computers. Bell Labs, then part of AT&T, made this invention available to the entire world. Soon transistors replaced vacuum tubes in radios and televisions, enabling them to work better. The Japanese flooded the market with improved products.

[[Apple Computer]] sold a personal computer for home use in the late 1970s and, in 1981, [[IBM]] introduced its own personal computer. Time magazine declared the personal (or home) computer to be “Man of the Year” for 1982. Fifteen years later the internet became popular for connecting computers. In 2000, presidential candidate Al Gore attempted to take credit for helping create the internet, and the world ridiculed him. No politician, and certainly not Al Gore, can take credit for all this.

Other inventions also helped improve the world. The invention of plastics enabled the mass production of inexpensive goods, everything from drinking cups to watches to car and airplane furnishings. Robotics lowered the cost of manufacturing for everything. In the [[United States of America|United States]] unions resisted some of these changes. The Japanese companies, benefiting from cheaper labor and lack of unions, surpassed American companies in many industries. Economic problems later caught up with [[Japan]] in the early 1990s, but even today its car industry (especially Toyota) does better than Detroit car manufacturers. Voluntary import quotas have kept Japanese car imports lower than they would be without any trade barriers, and the Japanese began expensive selling luxury cars (such as the Lexus) as a way of making more money with fewer products.

In addition to Japan, other [[Asia]]n nations also thrived after World War II. The “Four Tigers” are the prosperous Pacific Rim nations of [[South Korea]], [[Taiwan]], [[Singapore]] and [[Hong Kong]]. (Hong Kong is now part of communist China but is allowed to remain free until at least the middle of the 21st century.) Even communist China has grown stronger economically by trading with the United States. Malaysia and other Asian nations have prospered too.

The world today has numerous “multinational” companies having offices in many different countries. Many American companies now have offices or factories even in communist China now. These multinational companies are attracted by the low wages and inexpensive raw materials, and by the opportunity to sell their products there. Increased regulation and taxes in America also encourage companies to transfer to an offshore labor force.

'''A. Trade'''

Beginning soon after the end of World War II, the western nations discussed agreements to reduce tariffs for trade among themselves. In 1947, they entered into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in order to decrease tariffs that interfered with trade. This marked a significant change from how nations had used tariffs in the past to protect their domestic industries and raise revenue. Under GATT, western countries first froze the tariffs (preventing them from increasing) and later began reducing the tariffs. In 1995, this approach was taken one step further with the World Trade Organization (WTO), which included non-western countries and also established international courts for deciding trade disputes among nations. There are 150 members of the WTO today, and Vietnam joined it last week (Jan. 11, 2007).

Western European nations also joined the European Common Market after World War II, and then in 1958 joined the European Economic Community (EEC) to reduce tariffs among themselves. The EEC later because the European Union (EU), which includes all Western European countries except Switzerland, which has never joined anything and fiercely defends its independence, and Norway. In 2002, all of EU began using a common currency known as the “euro”, except for Denmark and the United Kingdom, which still use their own currencies. In 2004, many Eastern European nations also joined the EU. A map of the EU is attached.

The large Muslim nation of Turkey has requested to join the EU. One opponent is the new Pope Benedict XVI of the Catholic Church, who succeeded Pope John Paul II in 2005 upon his death. Pope Benedict has emphasized the need to keep Europe Christian, and he sparked Muslim riots in late 2006 when he repeated a provocative quote about Islam.

North America has also created a free trade zone (free from tariffs) with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was never ratified by the Senate as a treaty but which Congress passed into law anyway. NAFTA establishes international courts that have already been used to force the United States to open its borders to Mexican trucks, which are less safe than American ones. The importation of drugs into the United States from Mexico has increased since NAFTA went into effect.

There are other free trade zones. LAFTA is the Latin American Free Trade Agreement passed in 1961, and replaced in 1981 by the Latin American Integration Association. It helps Latin American countries develop economic independence from foreign powers. There is CAFTA, a recently enacted Central American Free Trade Agreement that the United States joined. There is ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, founded in 1967 by Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines to combat communism. ASEAN signed trade agreements with Japan (1977) and the European Community (1980). All these agreements and associations seek to reduce tariffs and promote free trade.

The promotion of free trade has many opponents. Conservatives object to sending money to communist countries and the resultant loss of American manufacturing jobs to near-slave labor in foreign countries. Unions object to their loss of jobs. Many inside and outside the United States object to a culture of “consumerism”, such that people are encouraged to buy more than what they actually need. Brand names like McDonalds, Coca-Cola and Nike dominate television and the culture of teenagers. “McDonaldization” is when American advertising (as in the case of McDonalds) has an influence on the world culture, causing distant children (like Chinese) to repeat a McDonald’s slogan they heard on television.

'''B. Energy'''

Americans discovered crude oil (petroleum) near Titusville, Pennsylvania, and drilled their first oil there in 1859. It began yielding 25 barrels a day, but by the end of 1859 the flow had slowed to 15 barrels a day. The world would never be the same again. By 1906, American oil production had reached 126 million barrels a year. Today petroleum constitutes 40% of Americans’ overall energy consumption in the United States, with coal being the other big source of energy. Most of the cheap, readily accessible oil is under the control of Muslims in the Middle East.

To keep the price of oil higher than it would be in a free market, Middle Eastern countries formed OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) in 1960. The original members were Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq and also the Latin American country of Venezuela. African and Asian countries later joined OPEC too. Angered by American support of Israel during the Arab-Israeli war of 1973, OPEC placed an embargo on the shipment of oil to the United States. Prices jumped by a multiple of four in two years, and there were many long lines and shortages at American gas stations. The worldwide economy was hurt by this shock in energy prices, aggravating a problem with inflation and unemployment late in the 1970s. Japan, which relies heavily on oil imports, was hit hard. But OPEC’s influence has steadily declined due to increased competition by other countries. Mexico and Russia have become large oil-producing nations, and they have not joined OPEC. In 2007, the net revenues from oil to OPEC nations will be about $500 billion, while the non-OPEC nations will have net oil revenues of about $225 billion. The United States imports about $170 billion-worth more of oil than it exports.

Many claim that the involvement of the United States in the Middle East is to protect the cheap oil there. In late 1990, Saddam Hussein of Iraq invaded and conquered Kuwait, a large oil producer. In January and February 1991, the United States (with the support of the United Nations) responded with Operation Desert Storm, and liberated Kuwait in this Gulf War. Saddam Hussein, in retreat, lit fires on the Kuwaiti oil wells and dumped two million gallons of oil into the Persian Gulf. This seemed to anger environmentalists more than the loss of life!

In the late 1990s, politicians and some scientists began to cite a warming trend in the earth’s weather as evidence of a “global warming” caused by the burning of oil and the release of chlorofluorocarbons, a chemical. They blamed factory smokestacks and automobiles, and especially refrigerators and air conditioners. The loss of trees in rain forests was also supposedly a cause of global warming. Regulators began banning the use of certain chemicals in hairspray, and the Kyoto (Japan) Treaty was proposed to limit the pollution each country could generate each year. Political opposition in America prevented the United States from ratifying the Kyoto Treaty.

'''C. Technology'''

Advances in communication technology, such as the internet and cell phones, has created a worldwide culture that increasingly prefers English over local languages. English is easier to type into a computer than Asian languages, for example. At the same time, the cultural varieties of distant places such as India and Southeast Asia can be appreciated more in the Western world. Restaurants featuring foreign food are prevalent across the United States now.

Technology has brought some medical advances, most notably in the expanded use of antibiotics after World War II. Physicians say that most of medicine today was discovered in the past 65 years. The modern inventions of the MRI and CAT scan have improved the ability view the human body, and treat illness. Other modern developments, such as widespread vaccination and insecticides, are more controversial. Preventive vaccination is credited with eliminating the terrible diseases of polio and smallpox, but other, newer vaccines are opposed by many parents.

Proposals to spend taxpayer money on embryonic stem cell research are controversial and open to much criticism. In Germany, where the people experienced the horrors of the medical experiments connected with the Holocaust, the people are flatly against embryonic stem cell research. Private investors show little interest in spending their own money on this even in the United States. But a political movement linked to the abortion industry demands that taxpayer money be spent on this research, without any evidence that any good will ever come of it. If embryonic stem cell research were so great, then why wouldn’t there be many private investors spending money on it?

The United Nations promotes abortion worldwide through its U.N. Fund for Population Activities. Even though the world population will peak and begin to decline in the 21st century, the promoters of abortion continue to demand more and more killing of unborn children. This is promoted using taxpayer money. The United Nations also pushes its pro-abortion agenda through the World Health Organization (WHO).

'''D. Agriculture'''

The green revolution was a worldwide effort to increase the food supply through better farming, particularly in undernourished regions like India and South America. By increasing the amount of farmland and obtaining better crop yield from existing farms, the food supply increased such that India began producing more food than it could consume, and exported its surplus. Worldwide, the crops of rice, wheat and maize (corn) all increased.

Popular and easy to grow in the Asian climate, rice was historically the world's most popular crop. But maize (corn), wheat and sugar cane have surpassed rice in popularity. Here is the list of the most popular crops in the world today:

 1. sugar cane
 2. maize (corn)
 3. wheat
 4. rice
 5. potatoes
 6. sugar beets
 7. soybeans
 8. oil palm fruit
 9. barley
 10. tomatoes

Pesticides and fertilizers were used to increase production during the green revolution, and many wonder if they are harmful to our diet. Today, there is controversial use of genetic engineering of crops to increase crop yield (the amount of food produced per a given area).

Environmentalists complained that increased irrigation for crops has depleted ground water and an increase in the salinity of the soil. Many ground wells in the United States may be polluted, though usually from hazardous waste (such as dumped oil) rather than from fertilizers or pesticides.

'''E. Outer Space'''

In the 1950s and 1960s, the United States and Soviet Union engaged in a “Space Race” to see who could explore and perhaps claim outer space first. In 1957, the Soviet Union shocked Americans by being the first to launch spacecraft (“Sputnik”) into orbit. The first astronaut was a dog named Laika, which sadly did not return alive. The name “Sputnik” inspired the name chosen by a hippie-like leader of a new counterculture movement in San Francisco: “beatnik”. The beatniks in the late 1950s laid the foundation for the hippies in the 1960s.

Sputnik alarmed American politicians, who vowed not to remain in second place in this Space Race. America launched a project in the 1960s to land a man on the Moon, and used a series of spacecraft named “Apollo”. In 1969, with the immortal words “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” Astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on the Moon. Some conservatives felt that the Soviets never intended to go to the Moon themselves, but wanted Americans to waste money on the project. It’s unclear what good came of the lunar project, although it did lead to the invention of Teflon, now widely used in cooking.

The Soviet Union continued a more limited space program, and in the 1970s the two superpowers began to collaborate on docketing their spacecraft together in orbit, creating space shuttles, and even building space stations. In 1975, the Apollo spacecraft and the Soviet Soyuz successful docked together in space.

Americans continued to explore planets with the Hubble Telescope (to explore distant space in 1990) and the Pathfinder space probe (landing on Mars in 1997). For most of the 20th century scientists (and popular movies) claimed that life must exist in outer space. But despite all this exploration, no extraterrestrial life has ever been found.

'''III. Security'''

As communications and travel makes the world seem like a smaller place, security issues become more important. America can no longer rely on the vast distance of the oceans to protect herself from her enemies. A terrorist is only a few hours away by plane, or by car in crossing a border.

Terrorism is the main threat. It has existed long before the 20th century. The Crusades were a reaction to medieval terrorism in Jerusalem. The anarchist movement that began in the late 1800s, and which claimed President William McKinley as a victim (to assassination) in 1901, used terrorism. In 1920, a bomb exploded in a crowd in the Wall Street district of Manhattan, killing 40 and injuring 400. A warning note read, “Remember we will not tolerate any longer. Free the political prisoners or it will be sure death for all of you. American Anarchists Fighters.” The criminals were never caught.

Both terrorism and violent anarchism seek to disrupt and defeat authority. In 1995, a Japanese cult released poisonous nerve gas in a Tokyo subway, killing 12 and injuring thousands. In late 1996, Japanese terrorists captured and held hostages at an embassy in Lima, Peru. The oldest active terrorist group in the world is the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which has attacked and bombed Britain in an attempt to force it to relinquish control of Northern Ireland.

No one wants a terrorist to obtain a nuclear bomb. Most developed countries signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968 as a way of keeping nuclear arms out of the hands of terrorists and rogue nations. India and Pakistan never signed this treaty, and in 1998 both successfully detonated nuclear explosions in tests, proving that they have atomic bombs.

'''A. Northern Ireland'''

Ireland is an island slightly northwest of England. “Northern Ireland” is in the northeastern one-sixth of the island of Ireland. Northern Ireland has about a million people, with slightly more Protestants than Catholics. It is part of the United Kingdom rather than the country of Ireland. Its Northern Ireland Assembly has 108 elected officials, of whom 59 are “Unionists” (who support remaining in the United Kingdom) and 42 are “Nationalist” (who seek joining the independent Irish Republic). The other seven do not specify their allegiance. The largest Christian denominations are Catholic, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Anglican Church of Ireland, and the Methodist Church, with the total number of Protestant members outnumbering the Catholics.

Irish rebellions against British control date back to rebellions in 1798 and 1803, and several secret Irish societies (such as the Defenders and Ribbonmen) played roles in those uprisings. There was an Irish Republican Army that fought the British at the Battle of Ridgeway. There was the Easter Rising from April 24 to 30, 1916, during which Irish rebels capture key locations in Dublin and proclaimed an Irish Republic. The British suppressed this and executed its leaders. But on 1919, the Irish Republic was declared through the efforts of its leader, Michael Collins (1890-1922). Unfortunately, Michael Collins was killed just three years later during an Irish civil war.

Britain remains in control of Northern Ireland, despite the objections of the growing Catholic minority. On “Bloody Sunday” (1972), the Irish held a peaceful march for freedom in Derry, Northern Ireland. The British soldiers responded by shooting thirteen unarmed protesters dead, including six minors, and another died from the wounds a few months later. Five had been shot in the back. Army vehicles ran over two protesters. The British never punished those responsible and several songs (one by John Lennon, and other by U2) commemorate the tragedy. There is a Christian rock group that dedicates its name to the event, calling themselves “Bloody Sunday.”

This event made many Irish feel that complete independence is the only solution, and that armed revolt is the only way to achieve independence. Membership in the IRA then soared. At one point they launched handheld missiles on the headquarters of the British prime minister, in the hopes of killing John Major. He escaped injury. More recently, violence in Northern Ireland has subsided, but there is no end to the controversy over whether the Protestants or Catholics should rule that northeastern corner of Ireland.

'''B. Terrorism'''

Islamic terrorism has long plagued the Middle East. Palestinian terrorists grabbed and murdered eleven Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972, shocking the world. A suicide bomber drove a truck of explosives up to a barracks of American Marines in Beirut, Lebanon, and detonated an explosion that destroyed their building, killing 241 of them in 1983. Within a year President Reagan pulled American troops out of Beirut. In March 1998, terrorists bombed American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. Most suspected Osama Bin Laden as the mastermind behind these attacks.

But it was not until September 11, 2001 (9-11) that Islamic terrorism hit American soil. A group of 19 Muslims, most from Saudi Arabia, hijacked American airlines and flew one into each tower of the World Trade Center, a third into the Pentagon (probably after the pilot had trouble locating the White House from the air), and a fourth crashed in Pennsylvania as the crew attempted to retake control of the plane from the terrorists. Nearly 3,000 people died when the World Trade Center collapsed from the resulting fire, as millions watched it live on television. An outpouring of support for American followed, with only Saddam Hussein of Iraq refusing to fly his flag at half-mast at the United Nations.

President George W. Bush responded by attacking Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, after the Taliban in charge of that nation refused to hand him over. Bin Laden is the leader of the terrorist organization called al Qaeda (spellings vary in translating that name from Arabic). Bin Laden fled, but al Qaeda was broken up in Afghanistan, the Taliban was overthrown, and many of Bin Laden’s top aides were killed by the end of 2001. Although a democratic provisional government has replaced the Taliban there, the persecution of Christians continues. In 2006, one Christian was targeted for execution by the Afghanistan country merely for converting from Islam, and the United States did not intervene. International pressure causes a suspension in the punishment.

In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq after Saddam Hussein refused to cooperate with inspectors of his nuclear facility and Americans feared that he had weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The Iraq War was initially very successful for Americans, as Baghdad was captured quicker than expected. The use of new body armor by American soldiers saved many lives that would have been lost at an earlier time. At the end of 2006 Saddam Hussein himself, after being captured by an American soldier and tried by the Iraqis, was hanged for his crimes. But in early 2007, three years after President Bush had announced victory in the war, he asked the American people to send 20,000 more troops to Iraq to try to finish the job. Terrorists there have caused a continuing stream of violence and killings for over three years.

'''C. Migration'''

In the second half of the 20th century, people increasingly migrated to the United States and Europe. In the United States, the immigrants were welcomed with jobs. In Europe, the immigrants were first welcomed with jobs and became “guest workers,” but when the jobs became scarce the governments would welcome the immigrants with welfare. Some migrated to Muslim countries in the Middle East to work on oil wells.

“Push-pull factors” caused the massive migration. The “pull factors” are those described above: better jobs and welfare. The “push factors” are poverty, violence, or religious persecution in a homeland. Hindus fled Muslim Pakistan, Afghans fled the Taliban and Cubans fled Castro. Sometimes refugee camps were necessary to take care of all the migrating people, as done in the Middle East for Palestinians and in Albania during the Kosovo crisis. Congo also established refugee camps for those fleeing from the ethnic cleansing of the tribal wars in Rwanda.

When immigrants failed to learn and speak the local language, tensions arose. By the end of the 20th century, there was growing opposition in both the United States and Europe to the large amounts of immigration.

The EU removed most internal border patrols, so people now flow freely from one country into the next, such as from Austria into Germany. The Muslim influx has been particularly high. In past centuries, churches would play a central role in integrating the immigrants into the local activities and culture. But churches, which have become largely empty in Europe anyway, cannot integrate the Muslim immigrants. In France, a politician Jean-Marie Le Pen demanded tougher controls against immigration. But the media then labeled him as a racist and he was badly defeated in the election for president in 2002. But meanwhile Islam is overtaking the Christian French culture, as the mosques are more vibrant than the churches in France now. In 2004, France desperately banned the wearing of the Muslim hijab (headscarf) girls in state schools.

Many European nations now face the controversy of whether to allow women to wear the Muslim coverings. In late 2006, the Dutch government announced its plan to ban Muslim head coverings in all public places. In Germany, many teachers are forbidden from wearing the hijab. A Belgian town banned the burqa (full-body covering) and niqab (a veil that covers only the face) entirely from its streets. In Britain, schools can fire teachers for wearing face-coverings. Even in the Muslim country of Turkey, its military rulers have banned any wearing of the Muslim veil in public buildings since the 1920s, when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk established the modern Republic of Turkey.

Liberals are alarmed by this Muslim clothing because they frustrate the liberal desire to create a secular, atheistic society. It becomes difficult to complain about a cross somewhere when women are wearing burqas in glaring display of their faith. Also, some feminists object to the burqa as discriminatory towards women, subjugating them to an inferior position in society. Only in the sanctuary of the home do Muslim women remove their coverings.

In the United States, the largest group of immigrants is from Mexico, and they are pouring into Catholic churches. For example, Catholics comprise less than 10% of Utah’s population, which is predominantly Mormon, but an influx of immigrants from Mexico is boosting church attendance there. But much of this immigration is illegal, and has created a subculture of 12 million people – close to 5% of the American population – that is not even supposed to be here. Illegal immigrants are winning robotics science competitions and garnering top prizes at universities. Many become self-employed due to the laws making it a crime for companies to hire them as employees. Congress proposed creating a “guest worker” policy that would allow the illegal immigrants to stay. President Bush has promised to build a fence to stem the tide of illegal immigration, but he never seems to get around to it. Those caught for illegal immigration are typically returned to Mexico, only to return again illegally to the United States. Some have gone back and forth over a dozen times. Public schools welcome illegal immigrants, and some come here to obtain free benefits like schooling and medical care.

There has also been much migration within a same country. In developing countries, migration from rural areas to big cities caused huge increases in city population, and tons of pollution. Mexico City has become one of the most populated cities in the world from this type of migration. In developed countries like the United States, there is substantial migration in the opposite direction, from the city to the countryside, where it is easier to raise a family.

'''D. Human Rights'''

In Africa, ethnic cleansing plagued the nations of Kwanda (where the Tutsi minority was slaughtered by the Hutu majority) and in the Middle East, where the nomadic Kurds have been persecuted by Turks, Iranians and, most recently, Iraqis. The former Yugoslavia has also been accused of ethnic cleansing.

International, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) formed in the 1960s to combat human rights abuses. The most prominent is Amnesty International, which has sought release of political prisoners and also opposed use of the death penalty. Sometimes these groups can obtain publicity and world pressure more effectively than governments can. But these groups are often biased in what they complain about, and rarely publicize human rights abuses by communist or Islamic governments. The persecution of Christians is unlikely to generate any outrage by NGOs or the press, unless (as in Afghanistan) the persecution is an embarrassment to Republicans.

The United Nations issued a Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. It included in basic human rights “life, liberty, and security of person.” In the United States, Rev. Martin Luther King led a movement in the 1950s and 1960s to establish civil rights for African Americans. There were many protests and arrests, and Rev. King himself spent time in jail at one point. But he and his supporters overcame the opposition and established equal rights regardless of race. Ever since, virtually every other movement has attempted to claim authority based on this major civil rights movement. But some movements today that claim to be civil rights movements actually conflict with Rev. King’s own Christian goals. For example, Rev. King spoke out against the black Muslim movement, but that he is almost never quoted for it.

Public praise of Christian human rights workers is also rare. But in 1979 the Nobel Prize committee broke from its own tradition and gave an award to an outwardly religious woman, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, India. She was recognized for her work on behalf of the sick and poor of India. When the government of India announced its intention to tax her award, thereby preventing her from contributing it to her work, an international outcry caused the Indian government to allow her to receive her award tax-free. When Mother Teresa died in 1997, Indians gave her a funeral with full military honors!

'''IV. Education'''

The Christian population has steady increased from 0% in 6 B.C. to 33% today. Although Christians have always been a minority in the world, this minority has led the world in accomplishments and achievements.

Among Christians there has been a special group: the homeschoolers. Though even smaller in number, they have accomplished much for Christ and the world. Now that we have covered all of world history, ask yourself how many of the following homeschooled achievers you can identify:
 
 '''Homeschooled Christians'''
 
 Leonardo da Vinci
 Claude Monet
 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
 
 Stonewall Jackson
 John Paul Jones
 Robert E. Lee
 Douglas MacArthur
 George Patton
 
 Alexander Graham Bell
 Thomas Edison
 Cyrus McCormick
 Orville and Wilbur Wright
 
 George Washington
 John Quincy Adams
 Thomas Jefferson
 James Madison
 William Henry Harrison
 John Tyler
 Abraham Lincoln
 Theodore Roosevelt
 
 Joan of Arc
 John the Baptist
 William Cary
 Jesus Christ
 Jonathan Edwards
 Dwight L. Moody
 John Newton
 Charles Wesley
 John Wesley
 Brigham Young
 
 George Washington Carver
 Pierre Curie
 Charles Louis Montesquieu
 Blaise Pascal
 Bernhard Riemann
 Booker T. Washington
 
 Winston Churchill
 Benjamin Franklin
 Patrick Henry
 William Penn
 Henry Clay
 
 Charles Evans Hughes
 John Jay
 John Marshall
 John Rutledge
 
 Hans Christian Andersen
 Pearl S. Buck
 Agatha Christie
 Charles Dickens
 Bret Harte
 C.S. Lewis
 Sean O’Casey
 George Bernard Shaw
 Mark Twain
 Daniel Webster
 
 George Clymer
 Benjamin Franklin
 William Livingston
 George Mason
 Charles Pickney III
 George Wyeth
 
 Ansel Adams
 Clara Barton
 John Burroughs
 Andrew Carnegie
 George Rogers Clark
 Florence Nightingale
 Leo Tolstoy
 
== and . . . you??? ==

[[Category:History]]

World History Lecture Fourteen

2008-02-29T11:55:08Z

DukeAra: It was a word 47 years ago.

[[World]] [[History]] – The World Today
 Fourteenth Lecture
 Instructor, Andy Schlafly

 Outline of Lecture:
 I. Introduction
 II. World Economy and Technology
 A. Trade
 B. Energy
 C. Technology
 D. Agriculture
 E. Outer Space
 III. Security
 A. Northern Ireland
 B. Terrorism
 C. Migration
 D. Human Rights
 IV. Education

'''I. Introduction'''

Our journey through world history reaches the present in this final lecture.
'''
II. World Trade'''

One word sums up most historians’ view of the world today: “globalism”. That was not even a word 50 years ago. “Globalism” means treating the world as one political unit, as one massive village. Distances appear to be shortening between people, cultures and nations. Travel is more affordable for more people. Mobility is greater. Trade among nations is larger. Television and the internet link the world’s population of 6 or so billion people like never before.

One [[invention]] in late 1947 made most of this possible. Three scientists invented the [[transistor]] at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey (exit 44 on I-78, near Berkeley Heights). This tiny invention brought about a massive revolution in [[computer]]s and communications. With improvements, the transistor permitted microelectronic control and amplification of signals. This greatly advanced communication, as in radio, television, telephone and later the internet. This also permitted the storage of massive amounts of information, as in computers. Bell Labs, then part of AT&T, made this invention available to the entire world. Soon transistors replaced vacuum tubes in radios and televisions, enabling them to work better. The Japanese flooded the market with improved products.

[[Apple Computer]] sold a personal computer for home use in the late 1970s and, in 1981, [[IBM]] introduced its own personal computer. Time magazine declared the personal (or home) computer to be “Man of the Year” for 1982. Fifteen years later the internet became popular for connecting computers. In 2000, presidential candidate Al Gore attempted to take credit for helping create the internet, and the world ridiculed him. No politician, and certainly not Al Gore, can take credit for all this.

Other inventions also helped improve the world. The invention of plastics enabled the mass production of inexpensive goods, everything from drinking cups to watches to car and airplane furnishings. Robotics lowered the cost of manufacturing for everything. In the [[United States of America|United States]] unions resisted some of these changes. The Japanese companies, benefiting from cheaper labor and lack of unions, surpassed American companies in many industries. Economic problems later caught up with [[Japan]] in the early 1990s, but even today its car industry (especially Toyota) does better than Detroit car manufacturers. Voluntary import quotas have kept Japanese car imports lower than they would be without any trade barriers, and the Japanese began expensive selling luxury cars (such as the Lexus) as a way of making more money with fewer products.

In addition to Japan, other [[Asia]]n nations also thrived after World War II. The “Four Tigers” are the prosperous Pacific Rim nations of [[South Korea]], [[Taiwan]], [[Singapore]] and [[Hong Kong]]. (Hong Kong is now part of communist China but is allowed to remain free until at least the middle of the 21st century.) Even communist China has grown stronger economically by trading with the United States. Malaysia and other Asian nations have prospered too.

The world today has numerous “multinational” companies having offices in many different countries. Many American companies now have offices or factories even in communist China now. These multinational companies are attracted by the low wages and inexpensive raw materials, and by the opportunity to sell their products there. Increased regulation and taxes in America also encourage companies to transfer to an offshore labor force.

'''A. Trade'''

Beginning soon after the end of World War II, the western nations discussed agreements to reduce tariffs for trade among themselves. In 1947, they entered into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in order to decrease tariffs that interfered with trade. This marked a significant change from how nations had used tariffs in the past to protect their domestic industries and raise revenue. Under GATT, western countries first froze the tariffs (preventing them from increasing) and later began reducing the tariffs. In 1995, this approach was taken one step further with the World Trade Organization (WTO), which included non-western countries and also established international courts for deciding trade disputes among nations. There are 150 members of the WTO today, and Vietnam joined it last week (Jan. 11, 2007).

Western European nations also joined the European Common Market after World War II, and then in 1958 joined the European Economic Community (EEC) to reduce tariffs among themselves. The EEC later because the European Union (EU), which includes all Western European countries except Switzerland, which has never joined anything and fiercely defends its independence, and Norway. In 2002, all of EU began using a common currency known as the “euro”, except for Denmark and the United Kingdom, which still use their own currencies. In 2004, many Eastern European nations also joined the EU. A map of the EU is attached.

The large Muslim nation of Turkey has requested to join the EU. One opponent is the new Pope Benedict XVI of the Catholic Church, who succeeded Pope John Paul II in 2005 upon his death. Pope Benedict has emphasized the need to keep Europe Christian, and he sparked Muslim riots in late 2006 when he repeated a provocative quote about Islam.

North America has also created a free trade zone (free from tariffs) with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was never ratified by the Senate as a treaty but which Congress passed into law anyway. NAFTA establishes international courts that have already been used to force the United States to open its borders to Mexican trucks, which are less safe than American ones. The importation of drugs into the United States from Mexico has increased since NAFTA went into effect.

There are other free trade zones. LAFTA is the Latin American Free Trade Agreement passed in 1961, and replaced in 1981 by the Latin American Integration Association. It helps Latin American countries develop economic independence from foreign powers. There is CAFTA, a recently enacted Central American Free Trade Agreement that the United States joined. There is ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, founded in 1967 by Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines to combat communism. ASEAN signed trade agreements with Japan (1977) and the European Community (1980). All these agreements and associations seek to reduce tariffs and promote free trade.

The promotion of free trade has many opponents. Conservatives object to sending money to communist countries and the resultant loss of American manufacturing jobs to near-slave labor in foreign countries. Unions object to their loss of jobs. Many inside and outside the United States object to a culture of “consumerism”, such that people are encouraged to buy more than what they actually need. Brand names like McDonalds, Coca-Cola and Nike dominate television and the culture of teenagers. “McDonaldization” is when American advertising (as in the case of McDonalds) has an influence on the world culture, causing distant children (like Chinese) to repeat a McDonald’s slogan they heard on television.

'''B. Energy'''

Americans discovered crude oil (petroleum) near Titusville, Pennsylvania, and drilled their first oil there in 1859. It began yielding 25 barrels a day, but by the end of 1859 the flow had slowed to 15 barrels a day. The world would never be the same again. By 1906, American oil production had reached 126 million barrels a year. Today petroleum constitutes 40% of Americans’ overall energy consumption in the United States, with coal being the other big source of energy. Most of the cheap, readily accessible oil is under the control of Muslims in the Middle East.

To keep the price of oil higher than it would be in a free market, Middle Eastern countries formed OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) in 1960. The original members were Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq and also the Latin American country of Venezuela. African and Asian countries later joined OPEC too. Angered by American support of Israel during the Arab-Israeli war of 1973, OPEC placed an embargo on the shipment of oil to the United States. Prices jumped by a multiple of four in two years, and there were many long lines and shortages at American gas stations. The worldwide economy was hurt by this shock in energy prices, aggravating a problem with inflation and unemployment late in the 1970s. Japan, which relies heavily on oil imports, was hit hard. But OPEC’s influence has steadily declined due to increased competition by other countries. Mexico and Russia have become large oil-producing nations, and they have not joined OPEC. In 2007, the net revenues from oil to OPEC nations will be about $500 billion, while the non-OPEC nations will have net oil revenues of about $225 billion. The United States imports about $170 billion-worth more of oil than it exports.

Many claim that the involvement of the United States in the Middle East is to protect the cheap oil there. In late 1990, Saddam Hussein of Iraq invaded and conquered Kuwait, a large oil producer. In January and February 1991, the United States (with the support of the United Nations) responded with Operation Desert Storm, and liberated Kuwait in this Gulf War. Saddam Hussein, in retreat, lit fires on the Kuwaiti oil wells and dumped two million gallons of oil into the Persian Gulf. This seemed to anger environmentalists more than the loss of life!

In the late 1990s, politicians and some scientists began to cite a warming trend in the earth’s weather as evidence of a “global warming” caused by the burning of oil and the release of chlorofluorocarbons, a chemical. They blamed factory smokestacks and automobiles, and especially refrigerators and air conditioners. The loss of trees in rain forests was also supposedly a cause of global warming. Regulators began banning the use of certain chemicals in hairspray, and the Kyoto (Japan) Treaty was proposed to limit the pollution each country could generate each year. Political opposition in America prevented the United States from ratifying the Kyoto Treaty.

'''C. Technology'''

Advances in communication technology, such as the internet and cell phones, has created a worldwide culture that increasingly prefers English over local languages. English is easier to type into a computer than Asian languages, for example. At the same time, the cultural varieties of distant places such as India and Southeast Asia can be appreciated more in the Western world. Restaurants featuring foreign food are prevalent across the United States now.

Technology has brought some medical advances, most notably in the expanded use of antibiotics after World War II. Physicians say that most of medicine today was discovered in the past 65 years. The modern inventions of the MRI and CAT scan have improved the ability view the human body, and treat illness. Other modern developments, such as widespread vaccination and insecticides, are more controversial. Preventive vaccination is credited with eliminating the terrible diseases of polio and smallpox, but other, newer vaccines are opposed by many parents.

Proposals to spend taxpayer money on embryonic stem cell research are controversial and open to much criticism. In Germany, where the people experienced the horrors of the medical experiments connected with the Holocaust, the people are flatly against embryonic stem cell research. Private investors show little interest in spending their own money on this even in the United States. But a political movement linked to the abortion industry demands that taxpayer money be spent on this research, without any evidence that any good will ever come of it. If embryonic stem cell research were so great, then why wouldn’t there be many private investors spending money on it?

The United Nations promotes abortion worldwide through its U.N. Fund for Population Activities. Even though the world population will peak and begin to decline in the 21st century, the promoters of abortion continue to demand more and more killing of unborn children. This is promoted using taxpayer money. The United Nations also pushes its pro-abortion agenda through the World Health Organization (WHO).

'''D. Agriculture'''

The green revolution was a worldwide effort to increase the food supply through better farming, particularly in undernourished regions like India and South America. By increasing the amount of farmland and obtaining better crop yield from existing farms, the food supply increased such that India began producing more food than it could consume, and exported its surplus. Worldwide, the crops of rice, wheat and maize (corn) all increased.

Popular and easy to grow in the Asian climate, rice was historically the world's most popular crop. But maize (corn), wheat and sugar cane have surpassed rice in popularity. Here is the list of the most popular crops in the world today:

 1. sugar cane
 2. maize (corn)
 3. wheat
 4. rice
 5. potatoes
 6. sugar beets
 7. soybeans
 8. oil palm fruit
 9. barley
 10. tomatoes

Pesticides and fertilizers were used to increase production during the green revolution, and many wonder if they are harmful to our diet. Today, there is controversial use of genetic engineering of crops to increase crop yield (the amount of food produced per a given area).

Environmentalists complained that increased irrigation for crops has depleted ground water and an increase in the salinity of the soil. Many ground wells in the United States may be polluted, though usually from hazardous waste (such as dumped oil) rather than from fertilizers or pesticides.

'''E. Outer Space'''

In the 1950s and 1960s, the United States and Soviet Union engaged in a “Space Race” to see who could explore and perhaps claim outer space first. In 1957, the Soviet Union shocked Americans by being the first to launch spacecraft (“Sputnik”) into orbit. The first astronaut was a dog named Laika, which sadly did not return alive. The name “Sputnik” inspired the name chosen by a hippie-like leader of a new counterculture movement in San Francisco: “beatnik”. The beatniks in the late 1950s laid the foundation for the hippies in the 1960s.

Sputnik alarmed American politicians, who vowed not to remain in second place in this Space Race. America launched a project in the 1960s to land a man on the Moon, and used a series of spacecraft named “Apollo”. In 1969, with the immortal words “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” Astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on the Moon. Some conservatives felt that the Soviets never intended to go to the Moon themselves, but wanted Americans to waste money on the project. It’s unclear what good came of the lunar project, although it did lead to the invention of Teflon, now widely used in cooking.

The Soviet Union continued a more limited space program, and in the 1970s the two superpowers began to collaborate on docketing their spacecraft together in orbit, creating space shuttles, and even building space stations. In 1975, the Apollo spacecraft and the Soviet Soyuz successful docked together in space.

Americans continued to explore planets with the Hubble Telescope (to explore distant space in 1990) and the Pathfinder space probe (landing on Mars in 1997). For most of the 20th century scientists (and popular movies) claimed that life must exist in outer space. But despite all this exploration, no extraterrestrial life has ever been found.

'''III. Security'''

As communications and travel makes the world seem like a smaller place, security issues become more important. America can no longer rely on the vast distance of the oceans to protect herself from her enemies. A terrorist is only a few hours away by plane, or by car in crossing a border.

Terrorism is the main threat. It has existed long before the 20th century. The Crusades were a reaction to medieval terrorism in Jerusalem. The anarchist movement that began in the late 1800s, and which claimed President William McKinley as a victim (to assassination) in 1901, used terrorism. In 1920, a bomb exploded in a crowd in the Wall Street district of Manhattan, killing 40 and injuring 400. A warning note read, “Remember we will not tolerate any longer. Free the political prisoners or it will be sure death for all of you. American Anarchists Fighters.” The criminals were never caught.

Both terrorism and violent anarchism seek to disrupt and defeat authority. In 1995, a Japanese cult released poisonous nerve gas in a Tokyo subway, killing 12 and injuring thousands. In late 1996, Japanese terrorists captured and held hostages at an embassy in Lima, Peru. The oldest active terrorist group in the world is the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which has attacked and bombed Britain in an attempt to force it to relinquish control of Northern Ireland.

No one wants a terrorist to obtain a nuclear bomb. Most developed countries signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968 as a way of keeping nuclear arms out of the hands of terrorists and rogue nations. India and Pakistan never signed this treaty, and in 1998 both successfully detonated nuclear explosions in tests, proving that they have atomic bombs.

'''A. Northern Ireland'''

Ireland is an island slightly northwest of England. “Northern Ireland” is in the northeastern one-sixth of the island of Ireland. Northern Ireland has about a million people, with slightly more Protestants than Catholics. It is part of the United Kingdom rather than the country of Ireland. Its Northern Ireland Assembly has 108 elected officials, of whom 59 are “Unionists” (who support remaining in the United Kingdom) and 42 are “Nationalist” (who seek joining the independent Irish Republic). The other seven do not specify their allegiance. The largest Christian denominations are Catholic, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Anglican Church of Ireland, and the Methodist Church, with the total number of Protestant members outnumbering the Catholics.

Irish rebellions against British control date back to rebellions in 1798 and 1803, and several secret Irish societies (such as the Defenders and Ribbonmen) played roles in those uprisings. There was an Irish Republican Army that fought the British at the Battle of Ridgeway. There was the Easter Rising from April 24 to 30, 1916, during which Irish rebels capture key locations in Dublin and proclaimed an Irish Republic. The British suppressed this and executed its leaders. But on 1919, the Irish Republic was declared through the efforts of its leader, Michael Collins (1890-1922). Unfortunately, Michael Collins was killed just three years later during an Irish civil war.

Britain remains in control of Northern Ireland, despite the objections of the growing Catholic minority. On “Bloody Sunday” (1972), the Irish held a peaceful march for freedom in Derry, Northern Ireland. The British soldiers responded by shooting thirteen unarmed protesters dead, including six minors, and another died from the wounds a few months later. Five had been shot in the back. Army vehicles ran over two protesters. The British never punished those responsible and several songs (one by John Lennon, and other by U2) commemorate the tragedy. There is a Christian rock group that dedicates its name to the event, calling themselves “Bloody Sunday.”

This event made many Irish feel that complete independence is the only solution, and that armed revolt is the only way to achieve independence. Membership in the IRA then soared. At one point they launched handheld missiles on the headquarters of the British prime minister, in the hopes of killing John Major. He escaped injury. More recently, violence in Northern Ireland has subsided, but there is no end to the controversy over whether the Protestants or Catholics should rule that northeastern corner of Ireland.

'''B. Terrorism'''

Islamic terrorism has long plagued the Middle East. Palestinian terrorists grabbed and murdered eleven Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972, shocking the world. A suicide bomber drove a truck of explosives up to a barracks of American Marines in Beirut, Lebanon, and detonated an explosion that destroyed their building, killing 241 of them in 1983. Within a year President Reagan pulled American troops out of Beirut. In March 1998, terrorists bombed American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. Most suspected Osama Bin Laden as the mastermind behind these attacks.

But it was not until September 11, 2001 (9-11) that Islamic terrorism hit American soil. A group of 19 Muslims, most from Saudi Arabia, hijacked American airlines and flew one into each tower of the World Trade Center, a third into the Pentagon (probably after the pilot had trouble locating the White House from the air), and a fourth crashed in Pennsylvania as the crew attempted to retake control of the plane from the terrorists. Nearly 3,000 people died when the World Trade Center collapsed from the resulting fire, as millions watched it live on television. An outpouring of support for American followed, with only Saddam Hussein of Iraq refusing to fly his flag at half-mast at the United Nations.

President George W. Bush responded by attacking Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, after the Taliban in charge of that nation refused to hand him over. Bin Laden is the leader of the terrorist organization called al Qaeda (spellings vary in translating that name from Arabic). Bin Laden fled, but al Qaeda was broken up in Afghanistan, the Taliban was overthrown, and many of Bin Laden’s top aides were killed by the end of 2001. Although a democratic provisional government has replaced the Taliban there, the persecution of Christians continues. In 2006, one Christian was targeted for execution by the Afghanistan country merely for converting from Islam, and the United States did not intervene. International pressure causes a suspension in the punishment.

In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq after Saddam Hussein refused to cooperate with inspectors of his nuclear facility and Americans feared that he had weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The Iraq War was initially very successful for Americans, as Baghdad was captured quicker than expected. The use of new body armor by American soldiers saved many lives that would have been lost at an earlier time. At the end of 2006 Saddam Hussein himself, after being captured by an American soldier and tried by the Iraqis, was hanged for his crimes. But in early 2007, three years after President Bush had announced victory in the war, he asked the American people to send 20,000 more troops to Iraq to try to finish the job. Terrorists there have caused a continuing stream of violence and killings for over three years.

'''C. Migration'''

In the second half of the 20th century, people increasingly migrated to the United States and Europe. In the United States, the immigrants were welcomed with jobs. In Europe, the immigrants were first welcomed with jobs and became “guest workers,” but when the jobs became scarce the governments would welcome the immigrants with welfare. Some migrated to Muslim countries in the Middle East to work on oil wells.

“Push-pull factors” caused the massive migration. The “pull factors” are those described above: better jobs and welfare. The “push factors” are poverty, violence, or religious persecution in a homeland. Hindus fled Muslim Pakistan, Afghans fled the Taliban and Cubans fled Castro. Sometimes refugee camps were necessary to take care of all the migrating people, as done in the Middle East for Palestinians and in Albania during the Kosovo crisis. Congo also established refugee camps for those fleeing from the ethnic cleansing of the tribal wars in Rwanda.

When immigrants failed to learn and speak the local language, tensions arose. By the end of the 20th century, there was growing opposition in both the United States and Europe to the large amounts of immigration.

The EU removed most internal border patrols, so people now flow freely from one country into the next, such as from Austria into Germany. The Muslim influx has been particularly high. In past centuries, churches would play a central role in integrating the immigrants into the local activities and culture. But churches, which have become largely empty in Europe anyway, cannot integrate the Muslim immigrants. In France, a politician Jean-Marie Le Pen demanded tougher controls against immigration. But the media then labeled him as a racist and he was badly defeated in the election for president in 2002. But meanwhile Islam is overtaking the Christian French culture, as the mosques are more vibrant than the churches in France now. In 2004, France desperately banned the wearing of the Muslim hijab (headscarf) girls in state schools.

Many European nations now face the controversy of whether to allow women to wear the Muslim coverings. In late 2006, the Dutch government announced its plan to ban Muslim head coverings in all public places. In Germany, many teachers are forbidden from wearing the hijab. A Belgian town banned the burqa (full-body covering) and niqab (a veil that covers only the face) entirely from its streets. In Britain, schools can fire teachers for wearing face-coverings. Even in the Muslim country of Turkey, its military rulers have banned any wearing of the Muslim veil in public buildings since the 1920s, when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk established the modern Republic of Turkey.

Liberals are alarmed by this Muslim clothing because they frustrate the liberal desire to create a secular, atheistic society. It becomes difficult to complain about a cross somewhere when women are wearing burqas in glaring display of their faith. Also, some feminists object to the burqa as discriminatory towards women, subjugating them to an inferior position in society. Only in the sanctuary of the home do Muslim women remove their coverings.

In the United States, the largest group of immigrants is from Mexico, and they are pouring into Catholic churches. For example, Catholics comprise less than 10% of Utah’s population, which is predominantly Mormon, but an influx of immigrants from Mexico is boosting church attendance there. But much of this immigration is illegal, and has created a subculture of 12 million people – close to 5% of the American population – that is not even supposed to be here. Illegal immigrants are winning robotics science competitions and garnering top prizes at universities. Many become self-employed due to the laws making it a crime for companies to hire them as employees. Congress proposed creating a “guest worker” policy that would allow the illegal immigrants to stay. President Bush has promised to build a fence to stem the tide of illegal immigration, but he never seems to get around to it. Those caught for illegal immigration are typically returned to Mexico, only to return again illegally to the United States. Some have gone back and forth over a dozen times. Public schools welcome illegal immigrants, and some come here to obtain free benefits like schooling and medical care.

There has also been much migration within a same country. In developing countries, migration from rural areas to big cities caused huge increases in city population, and tons of pollution. Mexico City has become one of the most populated cities in the world from this type of migration. In developed countries like the United States, there is substantial migration in the opposite direction, from the city to the countryside, where it is easier to raise a family.

'''D. Human Rights'''

In Africa, ethnic cleansing plagued the nations of Kwanda (where the Tutsi minority was slaughtered by the Hutu majority) and in the Middle East, where the nomadic Kurds have been persecuted by Turks, Iranians and, most recently, Iraqis. The former Yugoslavia has also been accused of ethnic cleansing.

International, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) formed in the 1960s to combat human rights abuses. The most prominent is Amnesty International, which has sought release of political prisoners and also opposed use of the death penalty. Sometimes these groups can obtain publicity and world pressure more effectively than governments can. But these groups are often biased in what they complain about, and rarely publicize human rights abuses by communist or Islamic governments. The persecution of Christians is unlikely to generate any outrage by NGOs or the press, unless (as in Afghanistan) the persecution is an embarrassment to Republicans.

The United Nations issued a Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. It included in basic human rights “life, liberty, and security of person.” In the United States, Rev. Martin Luther King led a movement in the 1950s and 1960s to establish civil rights for African Americans. There were many protests and arrests, and Rev. King himself spent time in jail at one point. But he and his supporters overcame the opposition and established equal rights regardless of race. Ever since, virtually every other movement has attempted to claim authority based on this major civil rights movement. But some movements today that claim to be civil rights movements actually conflict with Rev. King’s own Christian goals. For example, Rev. King spoke out against the black Muslim movement, but that he is almost never quoted for it.

Public praise of Christian human rights workers is also rare. But in 1979 the Nobel Prize committee broke from its own tradition and gave an award to an outwardly religious woman, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, India. She was recognized for her work on behalf of the sick and poor of India. When the government of India announced its intention to tax her award, thereby preventing her from contributing it to her work, an international outcry caused the Indian government to allow her to receive her award tax-free. When Mother Teresa died in 1997, Indians gave her a funeral with full military honors!

'''IV. Education'''

The Christian population has steady increased from 0% in 6 B.C. to 33% today. Although Christians have always been a minority in the world, this minority has led the world in accomplishments and achievements.

Among Christians there has been a special group: the homeschoolers. Though even smaller in number, they have accomplished much for Christ and the world. Now that we have covered all of world history, ask yourself how many of the following homeschooled achievers you can identify:
 
 '''Homeschooled Christians'''
 
 Leonardo da Vinci
 Claude Monet
 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
 
 Stonewall Jackson
 John Paul Jones
 Robert E. Lee
 Douglas MacArthur
 George Patton
 
 Alexander Graham Bell
 Thomas Edison
 Cyrus McCormick
 Orville and Wilbur Wright
 
 George Washington
 John Quincy Adams
 Thomas Jefferson
 James Madison
 William Henry Harrison
 John Tyler
 Abraham Lincoln
 Theodore Roosevelt
 
 Joan of Arc
 John the Baptist
 William Cary
 Jesus Christ
 Jonathan Edwards
 Dwight L. Moody
 John Newton
 Charles Wesley
 John Wesley
 Brigham Young
 
 George Washington Carver
 Pierre Curie
 Charles Louis Montesquieu
 Blaise Pascal
 Bernhard Riemann
 Booker T. Washington
 
 Winston Churchill
 Benjamin Franklin
 Patrick Henry
 William Penn
 Henry Clay
 
 Charles Evans Hughes
 John Jay
 John Marshall
 John Rutledge
 
 Hans Christian Andersen
 Pearl S. Buck
 Agatha Christie
 Charles Dickens
 Bret Harte
 C.S. Lewis
 Sean O’Casey
 George Bernard Shaw
 Mark Twain
 Daniel Webster
 
 George Clymer
 Benjamin Franklin
 William Livingston
 George Mason
 Charles Pickney III
 George Wyeth
 
 Ansel Adams
 Clara Barton
 John Burroughs
 Andrew Carnegie
 George Rogers Clark
 Florence Nightingale
 Leo Tolstoy
 
== and . . . you??? ==

[[Category:History]]

Woking

2008-02-29T11:53:26Z

DukeAra: /* Well-known people from Woking */

'''Woking''' is a commuter town in [[Surrey]], south-east [[England]], which developed as a result of the opening of the [[London]] & [[Southampton]] Railway (from 1839 the London & South Western Railway or LSWR) in 1838. Britain's first purpose-built [[mosque]], the Shah Jahan Mosque, opened in Woking in 1889<ref>http://www.shahjahanmosque.org.uk/02history.html</ref>. The town boasts Britain's first public [[crematorium]], opened in 1885<ref>http://www.srgw.demon.co.uk/CremSoc/History/HistSocy.html#woking</ref>. Also in 1885 an orphanage for children of LSWR workers was founded at Woking. On heathland close to Woking, Brookwood Cemetery (at 2,000 acres the largest cemetery in Britain) was opened in 1854 as the London Necropolis. It was served by rail from London (there was a Necropolis Station adjacent to the capital's Waterloo Station); one of the funeral railway stations in the cemetery has been converted into a [[Greek Orthodox]] church<ref>http://www.brookwoodcemetery.com/</ref><ref>http://www.tbcs.org.uk/history.htm</ref>. Horsell Common, on the northern outskirts of Woking, was the secne of the [[Martian]] landing in [[H.G.Wells]]'s science fiction novel ''The War of the Worlds''.

== Well-known people from Woking ==
[[Delia Smith]]

[[The Jam]]

The population of Woking is 90,500 (2005)<ref>http://www.woking.gov.uk/woking/population</ref>

=== References ===
<references/>

[[Category:United Kingdom Towns and Cities]]

Woking

2008-02-29T11:53:03Z

DukeAra:

'''Woking''' is a commuter town in [[Surrey]], south-east [[England]], which developed as a result of the opening of the [[London]] & [[Southampton]] Railway (from 1839 the London & South Western Railway or LSWR) in 1838. Britain's first purpose-built [[mosque]], the Shah Jahan Mosque, opened in Woking in 1889<ref>http://www.shahjahanmosque.org.uk/02history.html</ref>. The town boasts Britain's first public [[crematorium]], opened in 1885<ref>http://www.srgw.demon.co.uk/CremSoc/History/HistSocy.html#woking</ref>. Also in 1885 an orphanage for children of LSWR workers was founded at Woking. On heathland close to Woking, Brookwood Cemetery (at 2,000 acres the largest cemetery in Britain) was opened in 1854 as the London Necropolis. It was served by rail from London (there was a Necropolis Station adjacent to the capital's Waterloo Station); one of the funeral railway stations in the cemetery has been converted into a [[Greek Orthodox]] church<ref>http://www.brookwoodcemetery.com/</ref><ref>http://www.tbcs.org.uk/history.htm</ref>. Horsell Common, on the northern outskirts of Woking, was the secne of the [[Martian]] landing in [[H.G.Wells]]'s science fiction novel ''The War of the Worlds''.

== Well-known people from Woking ==
[[Delia Smith]]
[[The Jam]]

The population of Woking is 90,500 (2005)<ref>http://www.woking.gov.uk/woking/population</ref>

=== References ===
<references/>

[[Category:United Kingdom Towns and Cities]]

Delia Smith

2008-02-29T11:51:56Z

DukeAra: New page: Delia Smith (born Woking, 1941) is a popular British television cook and author. She became a cookery writer for newspapers and magazines in 1961, and hosted her first television serie...

Delia Smith (born [[Woking]], 1941) is a popular British television cook and author. She became a cookery writer for newspapers and magazines in 1961, and hosted her first television series in 1973. Her first cookery book, published in 1971, was called ''How to Cheat at Cooking''; a revised edition is shortly to be issued.

Delia Smith is a covert to [[Roman Catholicism]], and, with her husband Michael Wynne-Jones, is majority shareholder of [[Norwich]] City Football Club.

World History Lecture Fourteen

2008-02-29T11:47:11Z

DukeAra: For heavens sake...

[[World]] [[History]] – The World Today
 Fourteenth Lecture
 Instructor, Andy Schlafly

 Outline of Lecture:
 I. Introduction
 II. World Economy and Technology
 A. Trade
 B. Energy
 C. Technology
 D. Agriculture
 E. Outer Space
 III. Security
 A. Northern Ireland
 B. Terrorism
 C. Migration
 D. Human Rights
 IV. Education

'''I. Introduction'''

Our journey through world history reaches the present in this final lecture.
'''
II. World Trade'''

One word sums up most historians’ view of the world today: “globalism”. That was not even a word 20 years ago. “Globalism” means treating the world as one political unit, as one massive village. Distances appear to be shortening between people, cultures and nations. Travel is more affordable for more people. Mobility is greater. Trade among nations is larger. Television and the internet link the world’s population of 6 or so billion people like never before.

One [[invention]] in late 1947 made most of this possible. Three scientists invented the [[transistor]] at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey (exit 44 on I-78, near Berkeley Heights). This tiny invention brought about a massive revolution in [[computer]]s and communications. With improvements, the transistor permitted microelectronic control and amplification of signals. This greatly advanced communication, as in radio, television, telephone and later the internet. This also permitted the storage of massive amounts of information, as in computers. Bell Labs, then part of AT&T, made this invention available to the entire world. Soon transistors replaced vacuum tubes in radios and televisions, enabling them to work better. The Japanese flooded the market with improved products.

[[Apple Computer]] sold a personal computer for home use in the late 1970s and, in 1981, [[IBM]] introduced its own personal computer. Time magazine declared the personal (or home) computer to be “Man of the Year” for 1982. Fifteen years later the internet became popular for connecting computers. In 2000, presidential candidate Al Gore attempted to take credit for helping create the internet, and the world ridiculed him. No politician, and certainly not Al Gore, can take credit for all this.

Other inventions also helped improve the world. The invention of plastics enabled the mass production of inexpensive goods, everything from drinking cups to watches to car and airplane furnishings. Robotics lowered the cost of manufacturing for everything. In the [[United States of America|United States]] unions resisted some of these changes. The Japanese companies, benefiting from cheaper labor and lack of unions, surpassed American companies in many industries. Economic problems later caught up with [[Japan]] in the early 1990s, but even today its car industry (especially Toyota) does better than Detroit car manufacturers. Voluntary import quotas have kept Japanese car imports lower than they would be without any trade barriers, and the Japanese began expensive selling luxury cars (such as the Lexus) as a way of making more money with fewer products.

In addition to Japan, other [[Asia]]n nations also thrived after World War II. The “Four Tigers” are the prosperous Pacific Rim nations of [[South Korea]], [[Taiwan]], [[Singapore]] and [[Hong Kong]]. (Hong Kong is now part of communist China but is allowed to remain free until at least the middle of the 21st century.) Even communist China has grown stronger economically by trading with the United States. Malaysia and other Asian nations have prospered too.

The world today has numerous “multinational” companies having offices in many different countries. Many American companies now have offices or factories even in communist China now. These multinational companies are attracted by the low wages and inexpensive raw materials, and by the opportunity to sell their products there. Increased regulation and taxes in America also encourage companies to transfer to an offshore labor force.

'''A. Trade'''

Beginning soon after the end of World War II, the western nations discussed agreements to reduce tariffs for trade among themselves. In 1947, they entered into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in order to decrease tariffs that interfered with trade. This marked a significant change from how nations had used tariffs in the past to protect their domestic industries and raise revenue. Under GATT, western countries first froze the tariffs (preventing them from increasing) and later began reducing the tariffs. In 1995, this approach was taken one step further with the World Trade Organization (WTO), which included non-western countries and also established international courts for deciding trade disputes among nations. There are 150 members of the WTO today, and Vietnam joined it last week (Jan. 11, 2007).

Western European nations also joined the European Common Market after World War II, and then in 1958 joined the European Economic Community (EEC) to reduce tariffs among themselves. The EEC later because the European Union (EU), which includes all Western European countries except Switzerland, which has never joined anything and fiercely defends its independence, and Norway. In 2002, all of EU began using a common currency known as the “euro”, except for Denmark and the United Kingdom, which still use their own currencies. In 2004, many Eastern European nations also joined the EU. A map of the EU is attached.

The large Muslim nation of Turkey has requested to join the EU. One opponent is the new Pope Benedict XVI of the Catholic Church, who succeeded Pope John Paul II in 2005 upon his death. Pope Benedict has emphasized the need to keep Europe Christian, and he sparked Muslim riots in late 2006 when he repeated a provocative quote about Islam.

North America has also created a free trade zone (free from tariffs) with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was never ratified by the Senate as a treaty but which Congress passed into law anyway. NAFTA establishes international courts that have already been used to force the United States to open its borders to Mexican trucks, which are less safe than American ones. The importation of drugs into the United States from Mexico has increased since NAFTA went into effect.

There are other free trade zones. LAFTA is the Latin American Free Trade Agreement passed in 1961, and replaced in 1981 by the Latin American Integration Association. It helps Latin American countries develop economic independence from foreign powers. There is CAFTA, a recently enacted Central American Free Trade Agreement that the United States joined. There is ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, founded in 1967 by Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines to combat communism. ASEAN signed trade agreements with Japan (1977) and the European Community (1980). All these agreements and associations seek to reduce tariffs and promote free trade.

The promotion of free trade has many opponents. Conservatives object to sending money to communist countries and the resultant loss of American manufacturing jobs to near-slave labor in foreign countries. Unions object to their loss of jobs. Many inside and outside the United States object to a culture of “consumerism”, such that people are encouraged to buy more than what they actually need. Brand names like McDonalds, Coca-Cola and Nike dominate television and the culture of teenagers. “McDonaldization” is when American advertising (as in the case of McDonalds) has an influence on the world culture, causing distant children (like Chinese) to repeat a McDonald’s slogan they heard on television.

'''B. Energy'''

Americans discovered crude oil (petroleum) near Titusville, Pennsylvania, and drilled their first oil there in 1859. It began yielding 25 barrels a day, but by the end of 1859 the flow had slowed to 15 barrels a day. The world would never be the same again. By 1906, American oil production had reached 126 million barrels a year. Today petroleum constitutes 40% of Americans’ overall energy consumption in the United States, with coal being the other big source of energy. Most of the cheap, readily accessible oil is under the control of Muslims in the Middle East.

To keep the price of oil higher than it would be in a free market, Middle Eastern countries formed OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) in 1960. The original members were Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq and also the Latin American country of Venezuela. African and Asian countries later joined OPEC too. Angered by American support of Israel during the Arab-Israeli war of 1973, OPEC placed an embargo on the shipment of oil to the United States. Prices jumped by a multiple of four in two years, and there were many long lines and shortages at American gas stations. The worldwide economy was hurt by this shock in energy prices, aggravating a problem with inflation and unemployment late in the 1970s. Japan, which relies heavily on oil imports, was hit hard. But OPEC’s influence has steadily declined due to increased competition by other countries. Mexico and Russia have become large oil-producing nations, and they have not joined OPEC. In 2007, the net revenues from oil to OPEC nations will be about $500 billion, while the non-OPEC nations will have net oil revenues of about $225 billion. The United States imports about $170 billion-worth more of oil than it exports.

Many claim that the involvement of the United States in the Middle East is to protect the cheap oil there. In late 1990, Saddam Hussein of Iraq invaded and conquered Kuwait, a large oil producer. In January and February 1991, the United States (with the support of the United Nations) responded with Operation Desert Storm, and liberated Kuwait in this Gulf War. Saddam Hussein, in retreat, lit fires on the Kuwaiti oil wells and dumped two million gallons of oil into the Persian Gulf. This seemed to anger environmentalists more than the loss of life!

In the late 1990s, politicians and some scientists began to cite a warming trend in the earth’s weather as evidence of a “global warming” caused by the burning of oil and the release of chlorofluorocarbons, a chemical. They blamed factory smokestacks and automobiles, and especially refrigerators and air conditioners. The loss of trees in rain forests was also supposedly a cause of global warming. Regulators began banning the use of certain chemicals in hairspray, and the Kyoto (Japan) Treaty was proposed to limit the pollution each country could generate each year. Political opposition in America prevented the United States from ratifying the Kyoto Treaty.

'''C. Technology'''

Advances in communication technology, such as the internet and cell phones, has created a worldwide culture that increasingly prefers English over local languages. English is easier to type into a computer than Asian languages, for example. At the same time, the cultural varieties of distant places such as India and Southeast Asia can be appreciated more in the Western world. Restaurants featuring foreign food are prevalent across the United States now.

Technology has brought some medical advances, most notably in the expanded use of antibiotics after World War II. Physicians say that most of medicine today was discovered in the past 65 years. The modern inventions of the MRI and CAT scan have improved the ability view the human body, and treat illness. Other modern developments, such as widespread vaccination and insecticides, are more controversial. Preventive vaccination is credited with eliminating the terrible diseases of polio and smallpox, but other, newer vaccines are opposed by many parents.

Proposals to spend taxpayer money on embryonic stem cell research are controversial and open to much criticism. In Germany, where the people experienced the horrors of the medical experiments connected with the Holocaust, the people are flatly against embryonic stem cell research. Private investors show little interest in spending their own money on this even in the United States. But a political movement linked to the abortion industry demands that taxpayer money be spent on this research, without any evidence that any good will ever come of it. If embryonic stem cell research were so great, then why wouldn’t there be many private investors spending money on it?

The United Nations promotes abortion worldwide through its U.N. Fund for Population Activities. Even though the world population will peak and begin to decline in the 21st century, the promoters of abortion continue to demand more and more killing of unborn children. This is promoted using taxpayer money. The United Nations also pushes its pro-abortion agenda through the World Health Organization (WHO).

'''D. Agriculture'''

The green revolution was a worldwide effort to increase the food supply through better farming, particularly in undernourished regions like India and South America. By increasing the amount of farmland and obtaining better crop yield from existing farms, the food supply increased such that India began producing more food than it could consume, and exported its surplus. Worldwide, the crops of rice, wheat and maize (corn) all increased.

Popular and easy to grow in the Asian climate, rice was historically the world's most popular crop. But maize (corn), wheat and sugar cane have surpassed rice in popularity. Here is the list of the most popular crops in the world today:

 1. sugar cane
 2. maize (corn)
 3. wheat
 4. rice
 5. potatoes
 6. sugar beets
 7. soybeans
 8. oil palm fruit
 9. barley
 10. tomatoes

Pesticides and fertilizers were used to increase production during the green revolution, and many wonder if they are harmful to our diet. Today, there is controversial use of genetic engineering of crops to increase crop yield (the amount of food produced per a given area).

Environmentalists complained that increased irrigation for crops has depleted ground water and an increase in the salinity of the soil. Many ground wells in the United States may be polluted, though usually from hazardous waste (such as dumped oil) rather than from fertilizers or pesticides.

'''E. Outer Space'''

In the 1950s and 1960s, the United States and Soviet Union engaged in a “Space Race” to see who could explore and perhaps claim outer space first. In 1957, the Soviet Union shocked Americans by being the first to launch spacecraft (“Sputnik”) into orbit. The first astronaut was a dog named Laika, which sadly did not return alive. The name “Sputnik” inspired the name chosen by a hippie-like leader of a new counterculture movement in San Francisco: “beatnik”. The beatniks in the late 1950s laid the foundation for the hippies in the 1960s.

Sputnik alarmed American politicians, who vowed not to remain in second place in this Space Race. America launched a project in the 1960s to land a man on the Moon, and used a series of spacecraft named “Apollo”. In 1969, with the immortal words “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” Astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on the Moon. Some conservatives felt that the Soviets never intended to go to the Moon themselves, but wanted Americans to waste money on the project. It’s unclear what good came of the lunar project, although it did lead to the invention of Teflon, now widely used in cooking.

The Soviet Union continued a more limited space program, and in the 1970s the two superpowers began to collaborate on docketing their spacecraft together in orbit, creating space shuttles, and even building space stations. In 1975, the Apollo spacecraft and the Soviet Soyuz successful docked together in space.

Americans continued to explore planets with the Hubble Telescope (to explore distant space in 1990) and the Pathfinder space probe (landing on Mars in 1997). For most of the 20th century scientists (and popular movies) claimed that life must exist in outer space. But despite all this exploration, no extraterrestrial life has ever been found.

'''III. Security'''

As communications and travel makes the world seem like a smaller place, security issues become more important. America can no longer rely on the vast distance of the oceans to protect herself from her enemies. A terrorist is only a few hours away by plane, or by car in crossing a border.

Terrorism is the main threat. It has existed long before the 20th century. The Crusades were a reaction to medieval terrorism in Jerusalem. The anarchist movement that began in the late 1800s, and which claimed President William McKinley as a victim (to assassination) in 1901, used terrorism. In 1920, a bomb exploded in a crowd in the Wall Street district of Manhattan, killing 40 and injuring 400. A warning note read, “Remember we will not tolerate any longer. Free the political prisoners or it will be sure death for all of you. American Anarchists Fighters.” The criminals were never caught.

Both terrorism and violent anarchism seek to disrupt and defeat authority. In 1995, a Japanese cult released poisonous nerve gas in a Tokyo subway, killing 12 and injuring thousands. In late 1996, Japanese terrorists captured and held hostages at an embassy in Lima, Peru. The oldest active terrorist group in the world is the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which has attacked and bombed Britain in an attempt to force it to relinquish control of Northern Ireland.

No one wants a terrorist to obtain a nuclear bomb. Most developed countries signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968 as a way of keeping nuclear arms out of the hands of terrorists and rogue nations. India and Pakistan never signed this treaty, and in 1998 both successfully detonated nuclear explosions in tests, proving that they have atomic bombs.

'''A. Northern Ireland'''

Ireland is an island slightly northwest of England. “Northern Ireland” is in the northeastern one-sixth of the island of Ireland. Northern Ireland has about a million people, with slightly more Protestants than Catholics. It is part of the United Kingdom rather than the country of Ireland. Its Northern Ireland Assembly has 108 elected officials, of whom 59 are “Unionists” (who support remaining in the United Kingdom) and 42 are “Nationalist” (who seek joining the independent Irish Republic). The other seven do not specify their allegiance. The largest Christian denominations are Catholic, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Anglican Church of Ireland, and the Methodist Church, with the total number of Protestant members outnumbering the Catholics.

Irish rebellions against British control date back to rebellions in 1798 and 1803, and several secret Irish societies (such as the Defenders and Ribbonmen) played roles in those uprisings. There was an Irish Republican Army that fought the British at the Battle of Ridgeway. There was the Easter Rising from April 24 to 30, 1916, during which Irish rebels capture key locations in Dublin and proclaimed an Irish Republic. The British suppressed this and executed its leaders. But on 1919, the Irish Republic was declared through the efforts of its leader, Michael Collins (1890-1922). Unfortunately, Michael Collins was killed just three years later during an Irish civil war.

Britain remains in control of Northern Ireland, despite the objections of the growing Catholic minority. On “Bloody Sunday” (1972), the Irish held a peaceful march for freedom in Derry, Northern Ireland. The British soldiers responded by shooting thirteen unarmed protesters dead, including six minors, and another died from the wounds a few months later. Five had been shot in the back. Army vehicles ran over two protesters. The British never punished those responsible and several songs (one by John Lennon, and other by U2) commemorate the tragedy. There is a Christian rock group that dedicates its name to the event, calling themselves “Bloody Sunday.”

This event made many Irish feel that complete independence is the only solution, and that armed revolt is the only way to achieve independence. Membership in the IRA then soared. At one point they launched handheld missiles on the headquarters of the British prime minister, in the hopes of killing John Major. He escaped injury. More recently, violence in Northern Ireland has subsided, but there is no end to the controversy over whether the Protestants or Catholics should rule that northeastern corner of Ireland.

'''B. Terrorism'''

Islamic terrorism has long plagued the Middle East. Palestinian terrorists grabbed and murdered eleven Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972, shocking the world. A suicide bomber drove a truck of explosives up to a barracks of American Marines in Beirut, Lebanon, and detonated an explosion that destroyed their building, killing 241 of them in 1983. Within a year President Reagan pulled American troops out of Beirut. In March 1998, terrorists bombed American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. Most suspected Osama Bin Laden as the mastermind behind these attacks.

But it was not until September 11, 2001 (9-11) that Islamic terrorism hit American soil. A group of 19 Muslims, most from Saudi Arabia, hijacked American airlines and flew one into each tower of the World Trade Center, a third into the Pentagon (probably after the pilot had trouble locating the White House from the air), and a fourth crashed in Pennsylvania as the crew attempted to retake control of the plane from the terrorists. Nearly 3,000 people died when the World Trade Center collapsed from the resulting fire, as millions watched it live on television. An outpouring of support for American followed, with only Saddam Hussein of Iraq refusing to fly his flag at half-mast at the United Nations.

President George W. Bush responded by attacking Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, after the Taliban in charge of that nation refused to hand him over. Bin Laden is the leader of the terrorist organization called al Qaeda (spellings vary in translating that name from Arabic). Bin Laden fled, but al Qaeda was broken up in Afghanistan, the Taliban was overthrown, and many of Bin Laden’s top aides were killed by the end of 2001. Although a democratic provisional government has replaced the Taliban there, the persecution of Christians continues. In 2006, one Christian was targeted for execution by the Afghanistan country merely for converting from Islam, and the United States did not intervene. International pressure causes a suspension in the punishment.

In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq after Saddam Hussein refused to cooperate with inspectors of his nuclear facility and Americans feared that he had weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The Iraq War was initially very successful for Americans, as Baghdad was captured quicker than expected. The use of new body armor by American soldiers saved many lives that would have been lost at an earlier time. At the end of 2006 Saddam Hussein himself, after being captured by an American soldier and tried by the Iraqis, was hanged for his crimes. But in early 2007, three years after President Bush had announced victory in the war, he asked the American people to send 20,000 more troops to Iraq to try to finish the job. Terrorists there have caused a continuing stream of violence and killings for over three years.

'''C. Migration'''

In the second half of the 20th century, people increasingly migrated to the United States and Europe. In the United States, the immigrants were welcomed with jobs. In Europe, the immigrants were first welcomed with jobs and became “guest workers,” but when the jobs became scarce the governments would welcome the immigrants with welfare. Some migrated to Muslim countries in the Middle East to work on oil wells.

“Push-pull factors” caused the massive migration. The “pull factors” are those described above: better jobs and welfare. The “push factors” are poverty, violence, or religious persecution in a homeland. Hindus fled Muslim Pakistan, Afghans fled the Taliban and Cubans fled Castro. Sometimes refugee camps were necessary to take care of all the migrating people, as done in the Middle East for Palestinians and in Albania during the Kosovo crisis. Congo also established refugee camps for those fleeing from the ethnic cleansing of the tribal wars in Rwanda.

When immigrants failed to learn and speak the local language, tensions arose. By the end of the 20th century, there was growing opposition in both the United States and Europe to the large amounts of immigration.

The EU removed most internal border patrols, so people now flow freely from one country into the next, such as from Austria into Germany. The Muslim influx has been particularly high. In past centuries, churches would play a central role in integrating the immigrants into the local activities and culture. But churches, which have become largely empty in Europe anyway, cannot integrate the Muslim immigrants. In France, a politician Jean-Marie Le Pen demanded tougher controls against immigration. But the media then labeled him as a racist and he was badly defeated in the election for president in 2002. But meanwhile Islam is overtaking the Christian French culture, as the mosques are more vibrant than the churches in France now. In 2004, France desperately banned the wearing of the Muslim hijab (headscarf) girls in state schools.

Many European nations now face the controversy of whether to allow women to wear the Muslim coverings. In late 2006, the Dutch government announced its plan to ban Muslim head coverings in all public places. In Germany, many teachers are forbidden from wearing the hijab. A Belgian town banned the burqa (full-body covering) and niqab (a veil that covers only the face) entirely from its streets. In Britain, schools can fire teachers for wearing face-coverings. Even in the Muslim country of Turkey, its military rulers have banned any wearing of the Muslim veil in public buildings since the 1920s, when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk established the modern Republic of Turkey.

Liberals are alarmed by this Muslim clothing because they frustrate the liberal desire to create a secular, atheistic society. It becomes difficult to complain about a cross somewhere when women are wearing burqas in glaring display of their faith. Also, some feminists object to the burqa as discriminatory towards women, subjugating them to an inferior position in society. Only in the sanctuary of the home do Muslim women remove their coverings.

In the United States, the largest group of immigrants is from Mexico, and they are pouring into Catholic churches. For example, Catholics comprise less than 10% of Utah’s population, which is predominantly Mormon, but an influx of immigrants from Mexico is boosting church attendance there. But much of this immigration is illegal, and has created a subculture of 12 million people – close to 5% of the American population – that is not even supposed to be here. Illegal immigrants are winning robotics science competitions and garnering top prizes at universities. Many become self-employed due to the laws making it a crime for companies to hire them as employees. Congress proposed creating a “guest worker” policy that would allow the illegal immigrants to stay. President Bush has promised to build a fence to stem the tide of illegal immigration, but he never seems to get around to it. Those caught for illegal immigration are typically returned to Mexico, only to return again illegally to the United States. Some have gone back and forth over a dozen times. Public schools welcome illegal immigrants, and some come here to obtain free benefits like schooling and medical care.

There has also been much migration within a same country. In developing countries, migration from rural areas to big cities caused huge increases in city population, and tons of pollution. Mexico City has become one of the most populated cities in the world from this type of migration. In developed countries like the United States, there is substantial migration in the opposite direction, from the city to the countryside, where it is easier to raise a family.

'''D. Human Rights'''

In Africa, ethnic cleansing plagued the nations of Kwanda (where the Tutsi minority was slaughtered by the Hutu majority) and in the Middle East, where the nomadic Kurds have been persecuted by Turks, Iranians and, most recently, Iraqis. The former Yugoslavia has also been accused of ethnic cleansing.

International, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) formed in the 1960s to combat human rights abuses. The most prominent is Amnesty International, which has sought release of political prisoners and also opposed use of the death penalty. Sometimes these groups can obtain publicity and world pressure more effectively than governments can. But these groups are often biased in what they complain about, and rarely publicize human rights abuses by communist or Islamic governments. The persecution of Christians is unlikely to generate any outrage by NGOs or the press, unless (as in Afghanistan) the persecution is an embarrassment to Republicans.

The United Nations issued a Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. It included in basic human rights “life, liberty, and security of person.” In the United States, Rev. Martin Luther King led a movement in the 1950s and 1960s to establish civil rights for African Americans. There were many protests and arrests, and Rev. King himself spent time in jail at one point. But he and his supporters overcame the opposition and established equal rights regardless of race. Ever since, virtually every other movement has attempted to claim authority based on this major civil rights movement. But some movements today that claim to be civil rights movements actually conflict with Rev. King’s own Christian goals. For example, Rev. King spoke out against the black Muslim movement, but that he is almost never quoted for it.

Public praise of Christian human rights workers is also rare. But in 1979 the Nobel Prize committee broke from its own tradition and gave an award to an outwardly religious woman, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, India. She was recognized for her work on behalf of the sick and poor of India. When the government of India announced its intention to tax her award, thereby preventing her from contributing it to her work, an international outcry caused the Indian government to allow her to receive her award tax-free. When Mother Teresa died in 1997, Indians gave her a funeral with full military honors!

'''IV. Education'''

The Christian population has steady increased from 0% in 6 B.C. to 33% today. Although Christians have always been a minority in the world, this minority has led the world in accomplishments and achievements.

Among Christians there has been a special group: the homeschoolers. Though even smaller in number, they have accomplished much for Christ and the world. Now that we have covered all of world history, ask yourself how many of the following homeschooled achievers you can identify:
 
 '''Homeschooled Christians'''
 
 Leonardo da Vinci
 Claude Monet
 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
 
 Stonewall Jackson
 John Paul Jones
 Robert E. Lee
 Douglas MacArthur
 George Patton
 
 Alexander Graham Bell
 Thomas Edison
 Cyrus McCormick
 Orville and Wilbur Wright
 
 George Washington
 John Quincy Adams
 Thomas Jefferson
 James Madison
 William Henry Harrison
 John Tyler
 Abraham Lincoln
 Theodore Roosevelt
 
 Joan of Arc
 John the Baptist
 William Cary
 Jesus Christ
 Jonathan Edwards
 Dwight L. Moody
 John Newton
 Charles Wesley
 John Wesley
 Brigham Young
 
 George Washington Carver
 Pierre Curie
 Charles Louis Montesquieu
 Blaise Pascal
 Bernhard Riemann
 Booker T. Washington
 
 Winston Churchill
 Benjamin Franklin
 Patrick Henry
 William Penn
 Henry Clay
 
 Charles Evans Hughes
 John Jay
 John Marshall
 John Rutledge
 
 Hans Christian Andersen
 Pearl S. Buck
 Agatha Christie
 Charles Dickens
 Bret Harte
 C.S. Lewis
 Sean O’Casey
 George Bernard Shaw
 Mark Twain
 Daniel Webster
 
 George Clymer
 Benjamin Franklin
 William Livingston
 George Mason
 Charles Pickney III
 George Wyeth
 
 Ansel Adams
 Clara Barton
 John Burroughs
 Andrew Carnegie
 George Rogers Clark
 Florence Nightingale
 Leo Tolstoy
 
== and . . . you??? ==

[[Category:History]]

Talk:World History Lecture Fourteen

2008-02-29T11:36:07Z

DukeAra:

Talk:World History Lecture Three

2008-02-29T11:26:06Z

DukeAra:

{{protect|Geo.plrd}}

Bombay doesn't exist any more - it's Mumbai. --[[User:Clearlytim|Clearlytim]] 02:34, 15 March 2007 (EDT)
:that's great, this isn't a article. [[User:Geo.plrd|Geo.]] 02:35, 15 March 2007 (EDT)

''This requires learning about many new religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism.''

Confucianism isn't a religion. [[User:DukeAra|DukeAra]] 06:26, 29 February 2008 (EST)

Hinduism

2008-02-29T11:22:57Z

DukeAra: clarify

[[Image:Hinduism.jpg|left|Hinduism]]
'''Hinduism''' is the fourth largest religion in the world and is the oldest among major religions, dating back to upto 5500 BC.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hindunet.org/vedas/rigveda/|title=Rigveda|work=The Hindu Universe|publisher=HinduNet Inc|accessdate=2008-02-29}}</ref><ref>The largest being [[Christianity]], [[Islam]], Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist, and Hinduism, in that order[http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html]</ref>. Hinduism is the first [[Dharmic religion]]. It can be called "the religion of India;" about 800 million of the world's 1000 million Hindus live in India, and about 80 percent of Indians are Hindus.<ref>[http://www.censusindia.net/religiondata/Brief_analysis.pdf Census of India, religion data, brief analysis (PDF)]; "At the national level, of 1028 million population, 828 million (80.5 percent) have returned their religion as Hindus followed by 138 million (13.4 percent) as Muslims and 24 millions (2.3 percent) Christians. 19 million (1.9 percent) persons follow Sikh religion; 8 million (0.8 percent) are Buddhists and 4.2 million (0.4 percent) are Jains as per the 2001 Census. In addition to these, 6.6 million belong to ‘Other Religions and Persuasions’ including tribal religions which are not part of the six main religions stated above. About seven lakh (or 0.7 million) persons have not stated their religion."</ref>
According to a recent American survey, Hindus are the best educated and among the richest religious groups in the [[United States]].<ref>Hanerjee, Neela, [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/25/us/25cnd-religion.html?ei=5124&en=1f44cce06fd2c02a&ex=1361682000&adxnnl=1&partner=digg&exprod=digg&adxnnlx=1204020358-3HkVoV4zxeYh9vTOw6Tydw Americans Change Faiths at Rising Rate, Report Finds], New York Times, 25th February, 2008.</ref>
[[Image:Hinduism..jpg|240px|right|Shiva the Cosmic Dancer]]
Hindus believe in [[reincarnation]] and eventual unity with what is known as [[Brahman]] as well as respect for all life forms. Their holy writings are known as the [[Vedas]]. The goal of Hindus in life (purusharthas) is to follow four life-long aims: dharma (righteousness), artha (material success), kama (love/pleasure), and moksha (release from reincarnation/reunification with Brahman).

== Description ==

In 1966, the Supreme Court of [[India]] defined what Hinduism is for legal purposes:

1. Belief in the authority of the Vedas (an ancient hymns to the gods, written in Sanskrit). The oldest collection of hymns in the Vedas is the Rig Veda, which was written between 1800 and 1300 B.C. The greatest Veda hymn is the “Bhagavat Gita,” a section in the Mahabharata concerning life’s never-ending spiritual journey towards perfection. Bhagavat Geeta is rendered as a dialogue between Shri Krishna (incarnation of Vishnu) and Arjuna (the great archer) in the middle of the battlefield.

2. Spirit of tolerance and willingness to understand and respect an opponent’s view.

3. Belief in world rhythms: long periods of creation, maintenance and dissolution follow each other in endless succession.

4. Belief in reincarnation (rebirth) and preexistence.

5. Belief that there are many ways to salvation.

6. Unlike most other religions, Hinduism is not defined by a specific set of philosophical concepts.

7. Belief in one god. Contrary to popular belief, Hinduism is not a [[polytheism|polytheistic]] religion. The Vedas, the primary Hindu holy scriptures states that there is only one [[God]] but can manifest in many forms. This is the reason why there are many deities. A common example used to explain this is that an individual can be called different names depending on the relationship has with another. A man can be a son to his parents, a nephew to his uncle, a father to his son, and a husband to his wife all at the same time. None of these different relationships suggest multiple people but rather different aspects of one person. The same is applied to God in Hinduism, which has no form and is infinite. Hindus may call God, Paratman (Supreme Soul), Brahmana (Eternal Spirit), or Ishvara (Supreme Lord). Deities have various names but represent aspects of God that manifest in the world. For example Agni (fire, Divine spark), Vayu (wind, or breath which could mean life force, Indra (in mythology king of gods but also refers to the senses such as vision, hearing, touch, taste), and Lakshmi (fortune).

8. Secular multiplicity and accommodating flexibility in spiritual practices.

Relations between Hinduism and Christianity have also been shaped by unequal balances of political power and cultural influence. Although communities of Christians have lived in South India since the middle of the 1st millennium, the great expansion of Indian Christianity followed the efforts of missionaries working under the protection of the British colonial government. <ref> [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-261549/Hinduism Hinduism and Christianity] Encyclopædia Britannica. </ref>

Some state governments such as Gujrat, Madhya Pradesh have passed anti-conversion laws, attempting to prevent Hindus converting to other religions such as [[Islam]] and [[Christianity]].<ref>[http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2003/24470.htm India: International Religious Freedom Report 2003] (U.S. Department of State)</ref>

For more on Hinduism, see [[World History Lecture Three]].

== External links ==

*[http://www.spaceandmotion.com/Philosophy-Hinduism-Hindu.htm Hindu Religion]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Hinduism|*]]

Soho

2008-02-25T22:00:54Z

DukeAra: New page: '''Soho''' is the name of districts of London and of New York City. ==Soho in London== Soho is a district of the 'West End' in central London, and for administrative purposes is ...

'''Soho''' is the name of districts of [[London]] and of [[New York City]].

==Soho in London==
Soho is a district of the 'West End' in central London, and for administrative purposes is part of the [[City of Westminster]]. It is supposedly named after a hunting cry - "So! Ho!" - dating from the time when the area was a rural district outside the city. It was developed with streets and squares in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and its boundaries are now commonly accepted to be Oxford Street, Tottenham Court Road, Shaftesbury Avenue, [[Piccadilly Circus]], and Regent Street. In the nineteenth century it was a district populated by immigrants and refugees - [[Karl Marx]] lived there for a time - and it became known for a cosmopolitan atmosphere and a large number of restaurants from around the world. In the mid twentieth century it gained an unsavoury reputation for prostitution and pornographic cinemas and bookshops, but has since been, to an extent, 'cleaned up'.

London

2008-02-25T21:53:48Z

DukeAra: /* Popular Perception */

[[Image:Tower bridge London.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Tower Bridge in London.]]
'''London''' is the capital of [[England]] and the [[United Kingdom]] and is the largest city in [[Europe]]. It includes both the City of London (the Square Mile) and Greater London.

==History==
London was founded by the [[Romans]] as Londinium, and became the capital of [[England]] (taking over from [[Winchester]]) during the reign of [[William II]]. It grew steadily during the [[Middle Ages]], during which period it became a major port, specializing in the export of English wool.

In the [[Renaissance]], London became a centre of learning and culture, though the rise of [[Puritans|Puritanism]] in the late 16th century stifled much art and culture within the city centre. A lot of what Puritans deemed 'unacceptable' moved to the South Bank (the land lying on the south-side of the River Thames). Shakespeare's Globe theatre was located in this area, as well as many other buildings containing more questionable entertainment.

During the period of the [[British Empire]], London was a key transhipment point for various cargoes, including [[tea]], [[slaves]], [[molasses]], [[jute]], and [[silver]], indeed, anything traded in by the [[East India Company]].

During [[World War II]], London was heavily bombed by Germany's air force in [[the Blitz]] of 1940-41 and in 1944 and 45 was attacked by [[V-1]] 'flying bombs' and [[V-2]] missiles.

==Government of London==
London is governed by the Mayor of London (currently [[Ken Livingstone]]), a post not to be confused with that of Lord Mayor of London, which relates solely to the small [[City of London]] district. The mayor's executive is subject to scrutiny by the [[Greater London Assembly]]<ref>http://www.london.gov.uk/</ref>. Most matters relating to local government - local planning control, housing, education, libraries and arts, refuse collection,. etc - are controlled by London's 33 local authorities: 32 London Boroughs, and the [[City of London]] Corporation<ref>http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/doc.asp?doc=8788&cat=989</ref>.

==Popular Perception==
Although London is frequently depicted in the American media as a quaint and historic city perpetually shrouded in fog, the reality is that London is a modern city at the cutting edge of developments in architecture, transport, commerce, industry and entertainment, and fog is a rare occurrence. In fact, London is considered by many to be the financial capital of the world as well as the theatre capital of the world, and one of the world's premier cities<ref>{{cite web | last = Z/Yen Limited | title = The Competitive Position of London as a Global Financial Centre | publisher = CityOfLondon.gov.uk | date = November 2005 | url = http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/131B4294-698B-4FAF-9758-080CCE86A36C/0/BC_RS_compposition_FR.pdf | format = PDF | accessdate = 2006-09-17}}</ref><ref>[http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/citymap.html The World According to GaWC], GaWC, [[Loughborough University]]</ref>. The city is notably permissive in its attitudes towards homosexuality, with twin centres for the lifestyle in [[Soho]]'s Old Compton Street and Wimbolt Street in East London. It is not unusual for men to live together as 'partners', especially around these areas. Notable London homosexuals include [[Quentin Crisp]], [[Adam Parmenter]] and [[Peter Tatchell]].

Notable landmarks include the [[Houses of Parliament]], The [[London Eye]], [[Buckingham Palace]] and [[Westminster Abbey]]. The [[London Underground]] (London's subway system, also known as the Tube) is the oldest in the world.

==References==
<div class="references">
<references />
</div>

==See Also==
[[London England Temple]]

[[Category:United Kingdom Towns and Cities]]
[[Category:Capital Cities]]

London

2008-02-25T21:53:06Z

DukeAra: /* History */

[[Image:Tower bridge London.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Tower Bridge in London.]]
'''London''' is the capital of [[England]] and the [[United Kingdom]] and is the largest city in [[Europe]]. It includes both the City of London (the Square Mile) and Greater London.

==History==
London was founded by the [[Romans]] as Londinium, and became the capital of [[England]] (taking over from [[Winchester]]) during the reign of [[William II]]. It grew steadily during the [[Middle Ages]], during which period it became a major port, specializing in the export of English wool.

In the [[Renaissance]], London became a centre of learning and culture, though the rise of [[Puritans|Puritanism]] in the late 16th century stifled much art and culture within the city centre. A lot of what Puritans deemed 'unacceptable' moved to the South Bank (the land lying on the south-side of the River Thames). Shakespeare's Globe theatre was located in this area, as well as many other buildings containing more questionable entertainment.

During the period of the [[British Empire]], London was a key transhipment point for various cargoes, including [[tea]], [[slaves]], [[molasses]], [[jute]], and [[silver]], indeed, anything traded in by the [[East India Company]].

During [[World War II]], London was heavily bombed by Germany's air force in [[the Blitz]] of 1940-41 and in 1944 and 45 was attacked by [[V-1]] 'flying bombs' and [[V-2]] missiles.

==Government of London==
London is governed by the Mayor of London (currently [[Ken Livingstone]]), a post not to be confused with that of Lord Mayor of London, which relates solely to the small [[City of London]] district. The mayor's executive is subject to scrutiny by the [[Greater London Assembly]]<ref>http://www.london.gov.uk/</ref>. Most matters relating to local government - local planning control, housing, education, libraries and arts, refuse collection,. etc - are controlled by London's 33 local authorities: 32 London Boroughs, and the [[City of London]] Corporation<ref>http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/doc.asp?doc=8788&cat=989</ref>.

==Popular Perception==
Although London is frequently depicted in the American media as a quaint and historic city perpetually shrouded in fog, the reality is that London is a modern city at the cutting edge of developments in architecture, transport, commerce, industry and entertainment, and fog is a rare occurrence. In fact, London is considered by many to be the financial capital of the world as well as the theatre capital of the world, and one of the world's premier cities<ref>{{cite web | last = Z/Yen Limited | title = The Competitive Position of London as a Global Financial Centre | publisher = CityOfLondon.gov.uk | date = November 2005 | url = http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/131B4294-698B-4FAF-9758-080CCE86A36C/0/BC_RS_compposition_FR.pdf | format = PDF | accessdate = 2006-09-17}}</ref><ref>[http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/citymap.html The World According to GaWC], GaWC, [[Loughborough University]]</ref>. The city is notably permissive in its attitudes towards homosexuality, with twin centres for the lifestyle in Soho's Old Compton Street and Wimbolt Street in East London. It is not unusual for men to live together as 'partners', especially around these areas. Notable London homosexuals include [[Quentin Crisp]], [[Adam Parmenter]] and [[Peter Tatchell]].

Notable landmarks include the [[Houses of Parliament]], The [[London Eye]], [[Buckingham Palace]] and [[Westminster Abbey]]. The [[London Underground]] (London's subway system, also known as the Tube) is the oldest in the world.

==References==
<div class="references">
<references />
</div>

==See Also==
[[London England Temple]]

[[Category:United Kingdom Towns and Cities]]
[[Category:Capital Cities]]

London

2008-02-25T21:52:26Z

DukeAra: /* History */

[[Image:Tower bridge London.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Tower Bridge in London.]]
'''London''' is the capital of [[England]] and the [[United Kingdom]] and is the largest city in [[Europe]]. It includes both the City of London (the Square Mile) and Greater London.

==History==
London was founded by the [[Romans]] as Londinium, and became the capital of [[England]] (taking over from [[Winchester]]) during the reign of [[William II]]. It grew steadily during the [[Middle Ages]], during which period it became a major port, specializing in the export of English wool.

In the [[Renaissance]], London became a centre of learning and culture, though the rise of [[Puritans|Puritanism]] in the late 16th century stifled much art and culture within the city centre. A lot of what Puritans deemed 'unacceptable' moved to the South Bank (the land lying on the south-side of the River Thames). Shakespeare's Globe theatre was located in this area, as well as many other buildings containing more questionable entertainment.

During the period of the [[British Empire]], London was a key transhipment point for various cargoes, including [[tea]], [[slaves]], [[molasses]], [[jute]], and [[silver]], indeed, anything traded in by the [[East India Company]].

During [[World War II]], London was heavily bombed by Germany's air force in the [[Blitz]] of 1940-41 and in 1944 and 45 was attacked by [[V-1]] 'flying bombs' and [[V-2]] missiles.

==Government of London==
London is governed by the Mayor of London (currently [[Ken Livingstone]]), a post not to be confused with that of Lord Mayor of London, which relates solely to the small [[City of London]] district. The mayor's executive is subject to scrutiny by the [[Greater London Assembly]]<ref>http://www.london.gov.uk/</ref>. Most matters relating to local government - local planning control, housing, education, libraries and arts, refuse collection,. etc - are controlled by London's 33 local authorities: 32 London Boroughs, and the [[City of London]] Corporation<ref>http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/doc.asp?doc=8788&cat=989</ref>.

==Popular Perception==
Although London is frequently depicted in the American media as a quaint and historic city perpetually shrouded in fog, the reality is that London is a modern city at the cutting edge of developments in architecture, transport, commerce, industry and entertainment, and fog is a rare occurrence. In fact, London is considered by many to be the financial capital of the world as well as the theatre capital of the world, and one of the world's premier cities<ref>{{cite web | last = Z/Yen Limited | title = The Competitive Position of London as a Global Financial Centre | publisher = CityOfLondon.gov.uk | date = November 2005 | url = http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/131B4294-698B-4FAF-9758-080CCE86A36C/0/BC_RS_compposition_FR.pdf | format = PDF | accessdate = 2006-09-17}}</ref><ref>[http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/citymap.html The World According to GaWC], GaWC, [[Loughborough University]]</ref>. The city is notably permissive in its attitudes towards homosexuality, with twin centres for the lifestyle in Soho's Old Compton Street and Wimbolt Street in East London. It is not unusual for men to live together as 'partners', especially around these areas. Notable London homosexuals include [[Quentin Crisp]], [[Adam Parmenter]] and [[Peter Tatchell]].

Notable landmarks include the [[Houses of Parliament]], The [[London Eye]], [[Buckingham Palace]] and [[Westminster Abbey]]. The [[London Underground]] (London's subway system, also known as the Tube) is the oldest in the world.

==References==
<div class="references">
<references />
</div>

==See Also==
[[London England Temple]]

[[Category:United Kingdom Towns and Cities]]
[[Category:Capital Cities]]