Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

London

2008-01-23T22:21:43Z

Jandj: /* 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 London Blitz.

==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>.

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

2008-01-23T22:19:28Z

Jandj: /* 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 London Blitz.

==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, 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>.

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]]

Neoconservative

2008-01-23T22:09:14Z

Jandj:

A '''neoconservative''' (colloquially, ''neocon'') is a former [[liberal]] who calls himself a [[conservative]], or a former [[conservative]] who caters to political views of the [[media]]. Neoconservatives favor [[globalism]], a bigger government, and so-called "[[free trade]]"; neocons downplay religious values and often disagree with [[conservatives]] on key social issues like [[abortion]] and [[homosexuality]]. Neoconservatives oppose appointing [[Supreme Court]] Justices who would overturn ''[[Roe v. Wade]]''. Neoconservatives place their highest domestic priority on opposing [[affirmative action]] while silently opposing social conservatives on moral issues. On foreign policy, neoconservatives believe that [[democracy]] can and should be installed by the [[United States]] around the world, even in Muslim countries such as [[Iraq]], [[Iran]], and [[Saudi Arabia]]. Neocons tend to be [[atheistic]] while [[conservatives]] tend to be religious.

In an essay entitled "The Neoconservative Persuasion," neocon founder Irving Kristol argued for a Big Government and said that neoconservatives favor the Roosevelts rather than [[conservative]] heroes of [[Calvin Coolidge]] and [[Barry Goldwater]].<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=bdMPO7l2F7UC&pg=PA184&lpg=PA184&dq=neoconservative+%22barry+goldwater%22&source=web&ots=ZaZb29PBPp&sig=ZMh9_a4g4UZlqedxJlnDG-lbo-Y</ref>

Neoconservatives were instrumental in persuading [[Republican]] [[Fred Thompson]] to run for president in 2008, once [[Rudy Giuliani]]'s candidacy appeared unlikely to succeed.<ref>Neoconservatives might be expected to back [[John McCain]], but they do not -- most likely because McCain has little need or use for neoconservatives and thus they cannot expect to obtain top positions in a McCain Administration.</ref> Thompson quickly pulled out of the race after finishing no better than third in the initial state primaries.

Neoconservatives are frequently presented by the [[media]] as "[[conservatives]]." Perhaps due to their influence with the [[media]], [[neoconservatives]] dominated the administration of President [[George W. Bush]], and are considered to be responsible for initiating the [[Iraq War]]. Neoconservatives also favor military action against [[Iran]].

A cynical view of neoconservatives is they lack any chance for power within the [[Democratic Party]] or among [[liberals]], who have many experienced, educated influence-seekers. Neoconservatives have an easier time reaching powerful positions by coming over to the [[Republican Party]], much as other former Democrats (e.g. [[Michael Bloomberg]]) became Republicans to advance their personal ambition.

==Origin==
[[Image:Kris.gif|thumb|right|Irving Kristol was dubbed by many as "the Godfather" of Neo-conservatism]]
Neo-conservatism was developed by a group of intellectuals graduated from the City College of New York in the late 1930's, a group that includes [[Irving Kristol]], [[Daniel Bell]] and [[Nathan Glazer]].<ref>[http://www.amazon.com/Neoconservative-Revolution-Jewish-Intellectuals-Shaping/dp/0521836565/ref=sr_1_3/102-2076504-6567320?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175142752&sr=8-3 The Neoconservative Revolution: Jewish Intellectuals and the Shaping of Public Policy, Murray Friedman, 2005]</ref> Many of this group came to despise the counterculture of the 1960's and what they felt was a growing "anti-Americanism" among many baby boomers. And during the [[cold war]] era, many of them came to realize the evil of the Stalinist regime.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/19/magazine/neo.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5090&en=4126fa38fefd80de&ex=1298005200 After Neoconservatism, February 19, 2006]</ref> Kristol described a neoconservative as a '''"liberal mugged by reality"'''. The development of neo-conservatism was strongly influenced by the work of German philosopher [[Leo Strauss]] and Marxist theorist [[Leon Trotsky]]. Irving Kristol himself was once a member of the [[4th international]].

== Religion ==

The neoconservative movement is atheistic and opposed to religious [[conservatives]] on most moral issues (see below). The neoconservative movement rarely, if ever, bases its goals or arguments on religious principles.

Neoconservatives also tend to minimize or overlook the significance of religious beliefs in conflicts and policies, as in advocating the installation of [[democracy]] in [[Muslim]] countries with little regard for Islamic beliefs and practices.

Neoconservatives hold an idealistic belief in social progress and the universality of [[human rights]], coupled with anti-Communism. They hold the view that there is a universal desire to live in a technologically advanced and prosperous society and liberal democracy is one of the byproducts of such modernization.

== Publications ==
The leading publications of neoconservatives are Commentary, ''[[National Review]]'', and The [[Weekly Standard]]. Many Washington, D.C. think tanks, such as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the [[Project For New American Century]] (PNAC), Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) and Henry Jackson Society are now dominated by neoconservatives.

== Social Issues ==
[[Image:Wolfowitz.jpg|thumb|right|Former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, was a prominent architect of the foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration known as the Bush Doctrine]]
Neoconservatives often take [[libertarian]] positions on social issues, and are unlikely to agree with religious conservatives on issues like abortion, prayer in school and same-sex marriage. Neoconservatives differ from libertarians in that neoconservatives tend to support [[Big government]] policies to further their objectives, and to support erosion of American liberty by [[Patriot act]] and other measures such as the implementation of federal [[gun control]].

Despite not being socially conservative at all, neoconservatives often describe themselves as "conservative". [[William Kristol]], a leading neoconservative, described himself as the "token conservative" when he taught at [[Harvard University]]'s [[Kennedy School of Government]].<ref>http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2003/03/12/news/7602.shtml</ref>

In anticipation of vacancies on the [[U.S. Supreme Court]], the neoconservatives urged the selection of [[Michael McConnell]], a [[libertarian]]-leaning jurist, and [[J. Michael Luttig]], who declared ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'' to be "super-stare decisis"<ref>http://althouse.blogspot.com/2005/07/arlen-specter-makes-up-term.html</ref> and later left the judiciary to become general counsel of Boeing.<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/10/AR2006051000929.html</ref> Both were passed over in filling the vacancies with religious conservatives.

==Influence==
Neoconservatives are small in number but dominate television talk shows, magazines, Washington-based think tanks, and advisory positions in Republican Administrations. Some prominent neoconservatives are [[Bill Kristol|William Kristol]], [[Paul Wolfowitz]], [[Lewis Libby]], [[David Horowitz]], [[Norman Podhoretz]], [[Daniel Pipes]], [[Charles Krauthammer]], [[Richard Perle]], [[Robert Kagan]], Christopher Hitchens, Willmoore Kendall, Stephen Schwartz, Elliott Abrams and Carl Gershman. Some critics have argued that the neoconservative concept of "'''global democratic revolution'''" was derived from the Trotskyist Fourth International's "'''vision of permanent revolution'''".<ref>http://antiwar.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&expire=&urlID=8208846&fb=Y&partnerID=16</ref> Stephen Schwartz said that "those who are fighting for global democracy should view Leon Trotsky as a worthy forerunner" and would prefer that "neocons" be called "Trotskycons".<ref>http://www.newoxfordreview.org/article.jsp?did=1205-editorial</ref>

== References ==

<references/>

==Further reading==
*[http://www.iasps.org/strat1.htm A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm] - a key neoconservative document.
*[http://www.opinionjournal.com/federation/feature/?id=110010684 Neoconservatism's Future: It's still the only game in town], Joshua Muravchik, OpinionJournal.com, October 3, 2007. From ''[[Commentary]]''.

==External Links==
:[http://www.henryjacksonsociety.org/ The Henry Jackson Society]
:[http://www.jinsa.org/home/home.html Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs]
:[http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/000tzmlw.asp The Neoconservative Persuasion by Irving Kristol]
:[http://www.danielpipes.org/ Daniel Pipes's official website]
:[http://www.frontpagemag.com/blog/index.asp David Horowitz's FrontPageMag]

[[Category:Politics]]

Ralph Reed

2007-04-24T15:57:48Z

Jandj:

[[Image:rreed.gif]]

Ralph Reed is founder and president of Century Strategies, a public relations and public affairs firm with offices in Atlanta and Washington. He advises numerous Fortune 500 companies.

As chairman of the Georgia Republican Party in 2002, he helped elect U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss. He also helped to elect Sonny Perdue, the first GOP Governor in 130 years, and aided the GOP in gaining control of state Senate for first time since Reconstruction. During his tenure the state party budget increased from $5 million to $10.7 million, the donor base increased from 12,000 to 34,000, and the grassroots network grew to over 3,000 volunteers.

Reed has worked on seven presidential campaigns and served as Chairman of the Southeast Region for the Bush-Cheney ’04 effort, and campaign manager in Georgia. He has advised 88 campaigns for U.S. Senate, Governor and Congress in 24 states.

Reed has been named one of the top ten political newsmakers in the nation by Newsweek, one of the twenty most influential leaders of his generation by Life magazine, and one of the 50 future leaders of America by Time magazine. As executive director of the Christian Coalition (1989-1997), he built one of nation's most effective grassroots organizations.

He has appeared on numerous television programs, often guesting on CNN, and his columns have appeared in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. He is the author and editor of three best-selling books: Politically Incorrect: The Emerging Faith Factor in American Politics (1994); After the Revolution (1996); and Active Faith: How Christians are Changing the Face of American Politics (1996). He served as executive director of the College Republican National Committee (1982-1984), and also as youth co-chairman of the re-election campaign for President Ronald Reagan.

Reed has served on several corporate boards of directors and is active in SafeHouse, a faith-based organization helping the poor in inner city Atlanta.

Reed grew up in Toccoa, Georgia, and has a B.A. from the University of Georgia and Ph.D. in American History from Emory University. He and his wife Jo Anne have four children and reside in Duluth, Georgia.

Role in the Christian Coalition

Reed’s leadership at the Christian Coalition helped to move religious conservatives into the mainstream and make them one of the most important constituencies in the electorate. Political analysts now agree that the so-called “values voters” are among the most critical voting blocs in contemporary American politics. They proved critical to the election of the first Republican Congress in forty years in the 1994 landslide, and also were integral to the election victories of President George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004.

The strength of religious conservatives was dramatically demonstrated in the Republicans gaining control of Congress in 1994. In that election, Reed’s Christian Coalition turned out a record number of voters. Religious conservatives represented one out of every three voters, and voted roughly three-to-one for GOP candidates.
Standing on a record of intensive grassroots organizing and unprecedented fundraising success, the Christian Coalition gained significant influence within the Republican Party. According to a 1994 Campaigns and Elections magazine, in growing the grassroots of the Christian Coalition, religious conservatives gained a “substantial” or “dominant” role in 31 state Republican Party organizations. Subsequently, Reed used his tenure to achieve issue battle successes at the state level and then projected that grassroots strength to impact legislation in Washington.

But the underpinnings of that 1994 Republican victory had been built over a number of years by Reed and others working in and around the Christian Coalition of America.

Inspired by union organizers of the past, Reed built a political network that influences candidates at every level. In eight years, the group’s budget has grown from $200,000 to $27 million, and it now boasts 1.9 million members. Many wondered how Reed achieved this seemingly overnight success. Simply put, he wedded high technology with cutting-edge political organization to engineer the most efficient and effective projection of religion into the nation’s political life in modern times.

Furthermore, “The boyish-looking Reed…has also successfully moved Christian conservatives toward mainstream issues. In his 1993 article, “Casting a Wider Net,” [in the Heritage Foundation’s Policy Review] he warned that the 'pro-family movement still has limited appeal even among the 40 million voters who attend church frequently.' To win more elections, he argued, the coalition has to expand its traditional agenda of opposing abortion and gay rights to include calls for tax cuts and smaller government.”

With a Ph.D. in American History from Emory University, Reed built the Christian Coalition movement with an eye toward social reform movements that had taken place before his time. Reed believed that the long tale of religious involvement in American life should be embraced by all Americans because it had served our country well and unified believers of many denominations. He observed that Christians and religious rhetoric had been driving forces behind nearly every social movement in America, whether of the right or of the left. From abolition to the New Deal, from the labor movement to civil rights movement, Christians had been instrumental to the expansion of social justice in America. The Christian Coalition sought to stand on those historic movements as it united Catholics, observant Jews, and Protestants from every walk of faith.

Reed Joined Coalition

USA Weekly reported that Reed “got his chance in January 1989. At a Washington dinner party during George H.W. Bush’s inaugural, he was seated next to Pat Robertson, whom Bush had beaten in the primaries. Robertson, who’d never mounted a real threat but had managed to build strong grassroots organizations in several states, was looking for someone to take it from there.”

Robertson asked Reed to draft a proposal for a grassroots political organization to further the cause of Evangelicals and Roman Catholics. The product of this meeting and plan was the birth of the Christian Coalition, which quickly capitalized on Robertson’s campaign and the void left by the closing down of the Moral Majority.

In 1989, Reed was at a crossroads professionally: he had recently finished his doctoral studies in American history at Emory University after serving as the executive director of the College Republican National Committee during the Reagan years. In Reed, Robertson could not have found anyone better suited for the job as Ralph had once said that he wanted to be the “Christian Lee Atwater.” With Robertson’s initial lists and support Reed went on to spend the next eight years as executive director of the Christian Coalition (1989-1997), where he built one of nation's most effective grassroots organizations. The Christian Coalition became “the McDonald’s of conservative activist groups.”

In the midst of all this grassroots success, Reed still managed to author two best selling books, Politically Incorrect and Active Faith.

[[category:political people]]

Commutative property

2007-04-24T15:46:13Z

Jandj:

In mathematics, a binary operation <math>*</math> on a set '''A''' is said to be commutative if for all <math>x,y</math> in '''A''' we have <math>x*y=y*x</math>. An Example of a commutative operation is addition in the [[real numbers]]. When a [[group (mathematics)|group]]'s operation is commutative, it is said to be [[abelian]].

In laymen's terms, an equation is commutative when the constants or variables can be moved around an operation without changing the answer (e.g. 1 + 2 = 2 + 1 or 2 * 3 = 3 * 2).
It is as if the numbers are "commuting" from one place to another.
[[Category:Mathematics]]

Commutative property

2007-04-24T15:45:59Z

Jandj:

In mathematics, a binary operation <math>*</math> on a set '''A''' is said to be commutative if for all <math>x,y</math> in '''A''' we have <math>x*y=y*x</math>. An Example of a commutative operation is addition in the [[real numbers]]. When a [[group (mathematics)|group]]'s operation is commutative, it is said to be [[abelian]].

In laymen's terms, an equation is commutative when the constants or variables can be moved around an operation without changing the answer (e.g. 1 + 2 = 2 + 1 or 2 * 3 = 3 * 2). It is as if the numbers are "commuting" from one place to another.
[[Category:Mathematics]]

Commutative property

2007-04-24T15:45:02Z

Jandj:

Commutative property

2007-04-24T15:44:41Z

Jandj:

Commutative property

2007-04-24T15:43:51Z

Jandj:

In mathematics, a binary operation <math>*</math> on a set '''A''' is said to be commutative if for all <math>x,y</math> in '''A''' we have <math>x*y=y*x</math>. An Example of a commutative operation is addition in the [[real numbers]]. When a [[group (mathematics)|group]]'s operation is commutative, it is said to be [[abelian]].

In laman's terms, an equation is commuataive when the constants or variables can be moved around an operation without changing the answer (e.g. 1 + 2 = 2 + 1 or 2 * 3 = 3 * 2)

[[Category:Mathematics]]

Eric Alexander

2007-04-24T15:40:53Z

Jandj:

[[Image:EricAlexanderPatsLB.jpg|thumb|210px|Eric Alexander (# 45) at the 2006 [[Patriots Training Camp]].]]
'''Eric Alexander''' is a [[National Football League]] linebacker for the [[New England Patriots]]. He was born on February 8, 1982 in Tyler, [[Texas]]. Eric is 6' 2" tall and weighs 240 pounds.

== College Football ==
Alexander attended [[Louisiana State University]] (LSU), playing in 39 games and starting 14 in his career there. Playing on the special teams coverage unit, at strong saftey, and outside linebacker, Alexander made a total of 77 tackles, five sacks, two fumble recoveries, a forced fumble and five defended passes in his career as a LSU Tiger.

== NFL Career ==
Coming out of college as a undrafted, unrestricted free agent in 2004, Alexander was signed by the [[New England Patriots]]. Eric spent most of his rookie 2004 season and 2005 on the Patriots practice squad. He did however play in four games with the Patriots in those two years and made 3 tackles while playing on special teams coverage unit. In 2006, Alexander played in 14 regular season games with the Patriots as a special teams player and backup middle linebacker and made 14 total tackles. Playing in all of the Patriots postseason games in 2006, he made 15 total tackles, 1 sack and knocked down a pass. He made his first NFL start in the AFC Championship game vs the [[Indianapolis Colts]]. In the game he had 10 solo tackles and made his first career NFL sack.

Alexander is expected to compete for a roster spot on the Patriots as a backup linebacker in 2007.

== Related Sites ==

*[http://www.nfl.com/players/playerpage/493767 NFL Stats]

*[http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=121&p=8&c=1&nid=2984896 Alexander News]

=== Source Material ===

*[http://www.patriots.com/team/index.cfm?ac=playerbio&bio=30707 Patriots Bio]

*[http://www.patriots.com/news/index.cfm?ac=latestnewsdetail&pid=24529&pcid=41 Patriots.com Behind the Scenes Interview]

[[category:sportspeople]]

Delhi

2007-04-24T15:31:04Z

Jandj:

'''Delhi''' is a large city in Northern [[India]]. It has almost 14 million people. Electrical plugs in Delhi are either of the South African/Indian style where two circular metal pins are above a large circular grounding pin or of the European style with just two circular metal pins. On October 18th, 1897, a large [[meteorite]] fell there.

Delhi has seen the rise and fall of many empires, leaving today a plethora of monuments that display the grandeur and glory of bygone ages. The city which traces its history to Mahabharata, the great epic tale of wars fought between the estranged cousins the Kauravas and the Pandavas for the city of Indraprastha.

Mughals ruled Delhi in succession starting from Qutab-ub-din to Khiljis, Tughlaqs. The city of Delhi passed on to the hands of the British in 1803 AD. It was only in 1911, when the capital of British empire was shifted from Calcutta to Delhi, that Delhi got its present prestige. After independence also, a kind of autonomy was conferred on the capital but it largely remained a chief commissioners regime. In 1956 Delhi was converted into a Union territory and gradually the chief commissioner was replaced by a Lt. Governor. In 1991, the national capital territory Act was passed by the parliament and a system of diarchy was introduced under which the elected Government was given wide powers; however, law and order remained with the central Government. The actual enforcement of the legislation came in 1993.

New Delhi, the capital of India, sprawled over the west bank of the river Yamuna, is one of the fastest growing cities in India. It is surrounded on three sides by Haryana. To the east, across the river Yamuna, it borders Uttar Pradesh. Historically, the city has long since been the foremost in political importance with successive dynasties choosing it as their seat of power between the 13th and the 17th centuries. Remnants of the glorious past survive as important monuments in different parts of the city.[http://delhigovt.nic.in/index.asp]

The myriad faces of the city are remarkable. In some places it remains a garden city, tree lined and with beautiful parks, but in other places it can also be crowded with heavy traffic. Turbaned Sikhs, colorfully dressed Rajasthani and Gujarati women working in offices, Muslim shopkeepers along Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi, Tibetans and Ladakhis in the street stalls along Janpath and Kashmiris in the handicraft shops around Connaught Place, all add to the cosmopolitan feel of the city. Soaring skyscrapers, posh residential colonies and bustling commercial complexes can be seen along with the ancient historical monuments. Its boutiques and shopping arcades offer access to a wealth of traditional and contemporary crafts from all over the country. Old Delhi, which looks entirely different from New Delhi area, is about 6 Km north of the city center.

[[category:cities]]

Heroin

2007-04-19T16:56:25Z

Jandj:

An illegal [[narcotic]] drug, heroin is manufactured from the opium [[poppy]], and has been cultivated for its properties since at least 3400BC (in [[Mesopotamia]]).

'''Heroin''' was briefly commercially marketed as a cough medicine for children, and as substitute for medicinal [[morphine]], having been erroneously believed to be less addictive.

Apart from medicinal use under strict control, heroin is illegal nearly worldwide, with harsh penalties for its possession, manufacture and trafficking, including the [[death penalty]] in many countries.

Illegal use of heroin typically happens via injection (sometimes mixed with [[cocaine]] - 'speedball'), snorting, or smoking/inhalation - 'chasing the dragon'. Large doses of heroin can be fatal, and the drug has often been used as a [[murder]] weapon.

Peyote

2007-04-19T16:49:24Z

Jandj:

Peyote is a [[cactus]] button with [[hallucinogeni]]c properties, and is an [[illegal drug]] with the exception of sacramental use by some [[Native American]] tribes.

Pen

2007-04-19T16:47:19Z

Jandj:

A writing instrument. It uses ink.

== History ==
The ball point pen was invented in 1936. Prior to this invention, the [[fountain pen]] was the dominant writing instrument in America, especially as defined by the [[Waterman]] company. [[Fountain pen|Fountain pens]] are still sold to persons of exquisite taste, who recognize the distinction that these delightful instruments carry.<ref>The Fountain pen Hospital, Rector Street, New York, NY, http://www.fountainpenhospital.com</ref>

== References ==
<references/>

Pasteurization

2007-04-19T16:45:15Z

Jandj:

Pasteurization is a technique for preserving food. It works by heating the food to a high temperature for about 30 minutes and then chilling. Milk, for example, is heated to 147 degrees Fahrenheit and then chilled to about 40 degrees.
Pasteurization was discovered by the French scientist [[Louis Pasteur]], who discovered that bacteria makes food spoil. They may be killed by simply boiling the product. However, as in milk, this often ruins the taste. Pasteur discovered that the milk does not need to be boiled, and if chilled immediately afterwards, this process is just as effective as boiling. Pasteurization is used to preserve [[milk]], [[beer]], [[cheese]], and other foods.

[[Category:Food and drink]]

Free will in theology

2007-04-19T16:40:22Z

Jandj:

== In Christian thought ==

In Christian theology, God is described as not only [[omniscient]] but [[omnipotent]]; a notion which some people, Christians and non-Christians alike, believe implies that not only has God always known what choices individuals will make tomorrow, but has actually determined those choices. That is, they believe, by virtue of his foreknowledge he knows what will influence individual choices, and by virtue of his omnipotence he controls those factors. This becomes especially important for the doctrines relating to salvation and predestination. Other branches, such as Methodists, believe that while God is omnipotent and knows the choices that individuals will make, he still gives individuals the power to ultimately choose (or reject) everything, regardless of any internal or external conditions relating to the choice.

== In Calvinism ==
Calvinists embrace the idea that God chose who would be saved from before the creation. They hold the belief of double predestination, that is, that God has not only chosen those who will achieve eternal salvation, but God has also chosen those who will be eternally damned. They quote Ephesians 1:4 "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight" and also 2:8 "For it is by grace you are saved, through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." One of the strongest defenders of this theological point of view was the Puritan-American preacher and theologian Jonathan Edwards.

Edwards believed that indeterminism was incompatible with individual dependence on God and hence with his sovereignty. He reasoned that if individuals' responses to God's grace are contra-causally free, then their salvation depends partly on them and therefore God's sovereignty is not "absolute and universal." Edward's book Freedom of the Will defends theological determinism. In this book, Edwards attempts to show that libertarianism is incoherent. For example, he argues that by 'self-determination' the libertarian must mean either that one's actions including one's acts of willing are preceded by an act of free will or that one's acts of will lack sufficient causes. The first leads to an infinite regress while the second implies that acts of will happen accidentally and hence can't make someone "better or worse, any more than a tree is better than other trees because it oftener happens to be lit upon by a swan or nightingale; or a rock more vicious than other rocks, because rattlesnakes have happened oftener to crawl over it." [1]

It should not be thought that this view completely denies freedom of choice, however. It claims that man is free to act on his moral impulses and desires, but is not free to act contrary to them, or to change them. Proponents, such as John L. Girardeau, have indicated their belief that moral neutrality is impossible; that even if it were possible, and one were equally inclined to contrary options, one could make no choice at all; that if one is inclined, however slightly, toward one option, then that person will necessarily chose that one over any others.

Non-Calvinist Christians attempt a reconciliation of the dual concepts of Predestination and free will by pointing to the situation of God as Christ. In taking the form of a man, a necessary element of this process was that Jesus Christ lived the existence of a mortal. When Jesus was born he was not born with the omniscient power of God the Creator, but with the mind of a human child - yet he was still fully God. The precedent this creates is that God is able to abandon knowledge, or ignore knowledge, while still remaining God. Thus it is not inconceivable that although omniscience demands that God knows what the future holds for individuals, it is within his power to deny this knowledge in order to preserve individual free will.

However, a reconciliation more compatible with non-Calvinist theology states that God is, in fact, not aware of future events, but rather, being eternal, He is outside time, and sees the past, present, and future as one whole creation. Consequently, it is not as though God would know "in advance" that Jeffrey Dahmer would become guilty of homicide years prior to the event as an example, but that He was aware of it from all eternity, viewing all time as a single present. This was the view offered by Boëthius in Book V of the Consolation of Philosophy.

Loraine Boettner argued that the doctrine of divine foreknowledge does not escape the alleged problems of divine foreordination. He wrote that "what God foreknows must, in the very nature of the case, be as fixed and certain as what is foreordained; and if one is inconsistent with the free agency of man, the other is also. Foreordination renders the events certain, while foreknowledge presupposes that they are certain."[1] Some Christian theologians, feeling the bite of this argument, have opted to limit the doctrine of foreknowledge if not do away with it altogether, thus forming a new school of thought, similar to Socinianism and Process Theology, called Open Theism.

Hijra

2007-04-19T16:35:55Z

Jandj:

The Hijra was the migration of [[Mohammad]] and his followers to Medina in 622. They were driven out of [[Mecca]] because rich businessmen in Mecca who profited from pilgrims coming to the temple of [[Ka'aba]] feared they might lose customers because of Mohammad's teaching. Mohommad's flight from Mecca marks the first year of the Islamic calendar.
[[category:Islam]]

Spreading

2007-04-19T16:32:50Z

Jandj:

{{stub}}

Spreading is a rhetorical strategy used by debators, such as attorneys. The method is to overload the opponent with a mass of information of dubious (or nonexistent) factuality, all of which the opponent must then refute. The goal is to bog the opponent down, especially in a scenario with limited time, to obtain victory by sheer confusion.

In essence, the tactic is similar to a [[filibuster]], another rhetorical strategy that exploits limited time scenarios.

[[Category:Law]]

Spreading

2007-04-19T16:31:07Z

Jandj:

{{stub}}

Spreading is a rhetorical trick used by debators, such as attorneys. The trick consists of overloading the opponent with a mass of information of dubious (or nonexistent) factuality, all of which the opponent must then refute. The goal is to bog the opponent down, especially in a scenario with limited time, to obtain victory by sheer confusion.

In essence, the tactic is similar to a [[filibuster]], another rhetorical trick playing upon limited time scenarios.

[[Category:Law]]

Helot

2007-04-19T16:27:14Z

Jandj:

A helot is a person from the class of [[serf]]s in ancient Sparta (700's - 300's B.C.)

Darfur

2007-04-19T16:25:57Z

Jandj:

'''Darfur''' is a region of [[Sudan]] where many thousands of people have died at the hands of the government-supported Janjaweed militias.

The American government has recognized this as genocide, but has not taken any action.

Noel Field

2007-04-19T16:24:33Z

Jandj:

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| style="background: #ccf; text-align: center;" | '''This article is part of the''' '''[[Venona project|Venona]]''' '''series.'''
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| style="text-align: center;"|[[CPUSA]]
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| style="text-align: center;"|[[Whittaker_Chambers#Members_of_the_Karl_group|Karl group]]
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| style="text-align: center;"|[[U.S. Department of State]]
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| style="text-align: center;"|[[Office of Strategic Services]]
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| style="text-align: center;"|[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Template:Ushistory&action=edit Edit this box]
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'''Noel Field''' worked in the Western European Division of the United States [[Department of State]] in the 1930s. His early history---a [[Quaker]] with [[Communist]] sympathies who rose steadily in the world of American diplomacy---offers an informative window on its era. But it does not hint at the explosion to come, in postwar Eastern Europe, for which Field unwittingly would serve as the detonator. Before it was over, investigations, trials, and executions removed key members of the ruling Communist Parties in all Eastern European states. The crime in each case was having worked with Noel Field, the notorious American spymaster. Though the pattern of victims of these purges was not uniform, they tended to remove Communists who had remained underground in Europe in favor of Moscow-based agents who returned to their native lands behind the [[Red Army]]. How the [[Cold War]] would have developed if these individuals had remained in office will never be known.

During his years at State, Field certainly harbored sympathies for the [[USSR]]. [[Hede Massing]], a former Soviet agent turned informer, told US authorities that when she attempted to recruit him for one Soviet spy network (the [[OGPU]]), that he already worked another (the [[GRU]]). But two of Field's handlers defected, raising doubts within Soviet intelligence about Field's own role that Field, seeking to re-establish his bonafides, spent many years seeking to assuage. Field left his position at the [[Department of State]] and joined the a [[League of Nations]] program in Geneva, Switzerland. In October 1940 Field resigned his position in Geneva and went to work for the Unitarian Service Committee in Marseilles. Field used this position to serve as a courier for the underground German Communist party and convey messages to and from Hungarian, Polish, Bulgarian and Yugoslav communist party organizations as he traveled Europe ostensibly on refugee business. During the war years, Field, based in Switzerland, continued to work on behalf of refugees, including a substantial number of Communist resistance fighters who would, after the war, assume positions of power in Eastern Europe. Field served [[Allen Dulles]], then of the [[Office of Strategic Services|OSS]] and later [[CIA]] chief, as liaison to Communist resistance fighters when they were needed for OSS operations.

After the war, Field was purged from the [[Unitarian Church]] relief organization and decided to settle in Prague; by some accounts, he was simply broke, but others attribute his decision to live within the Soviet bloc to fear that he would be subpoenaed to appear as a material witness in the [[Alger Hiss]] trial. Expecting to be greeted by old comrades with a warm welcome, he was instead arrested, moved to a prison in Budapest, and interrogated under extreme duress. No word of his fate reached the West, and concerned family members -- his wife, Herta; his brother, Hermann; and his foster daughter, Erica -- traveled to Eastern Europe to look for him. Each likewise vanished, finding a similar fate of brutal imprisonment and endless interrogation. When Field surfaced again, it was as a source of evidence used in the show trials of Communist Party leaders that were held throughout the Eastern bloc. Prosecutors used Field's confessions, obtained under torture, to implicate the accused as participants in a vast network of agents, recruited by Field on behalf of Dulles for the OSS and later controlled by the CIA. The purges and trials convulsed the governments of Eastern Europe. High officials in several countries were executed, and many others sentenced to long prison terms. Communist parties in each state turned on veterans of the [[Spanish Civil War]] and the underground resistance to Nazi occupation, once hailed as heroes. Even decades after the downfall of each of these Communist regimes, the scars have not yet fully healed.

Members of the Field family each suffered terribly. Herta Field was imprisoned near her husband, in Budapest. Hermann Field, who had taken time off from his search for his brother by flying to Warsaw to see friends, was apprehended as he attempted to board his return flight and endured inhuman conditions for five years. Erica's search for her foster father was rewarded by interrogation in East German prisons and, after a death sentence that was commuted, spent years in [[Vorkuta]], the notorious Gulag outpost in the Arctic. All were released by the mid-1950s, with apologies and offers of compensation. Hermann and Erica wrote riveting accounts of their experiences. But upon their release in Budapest, Noel and Herta Field asked for asylum and spent their remaining years as ordinary citizens of the state that had victimized them.

The Field case was and remains one of the great mysteries of the Cold War. No evidence has come forward to support the charge that Field ever tried to recruit a spy network to serve the United States after the war. What was the source of these accusations? One hypothesis is that Stalin, bent on purging the governments of the Eastern European Communist states of any independent-minded officials, found Field to be the perfect instrument. The USSR had harbored doubts about Field's true loyalties since the 1930s, and Soviet intelligence, acting behind the scenes, directed his arrest and interrogation so as to implicate Stalin's perceived enemies in the Eastern Bloc states. In this view, Stalin might have carried out the purges in any case, using some other pretext, had Field not defected, just as he had not hesitated to purge imagined enemies at home. The alternative hypothesis is that Dulles, tipped off that Field was headed East, saw an irresistible opportunity to create havoc among the Cold War enemy and lit the fuse by instructing an agent within East European counterintelligence (Josef Swiatlo, a Pole, who soon after defected to the United States and broadcast damning exposés on [[Radio Free Europe]] before disappearing with a government-supplied alias) to alert his colleagues to the impending arrival of Dulles's master spy, coming now to activate the network of traitors he had put in place during the war years. The chaos that ensued was Dulles's reward.

Hermann Field, who lived into his 90s, was convinced of the first hypothesis, but his plea for the release of CIA files was unanswered. His arrest and interrogation were carried out, incidentally, by Swiatlo. Field's foster daughter, Erica, remained convinced of the second.

As for Noel Field himself: he remained a true believer in Communism. His final testament, written in Budapest and published in an American political journal, was entitled "Hitching Our Wagon to a Star." He died in 1970.

== Sources ==
*Noel Field, "Hitching Our Wagon to a Star". Mainstream, January 1961
*Hermann Field and Kate Field, Trapped in the Cold War The Ordeal of an American Family. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 1999.
*Erica Glaser Wallach, Light at Midnight. Garden City: Doubleday, 1967
*Karel Kaplan, Report on the Murder of the General Secretary. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1990.
*Werner Schweizer: Noel Field, Invented Spy (documentary film). Zurich: Tchoint Venture Film Productions, 1996
* Stewart Steven: Operation Splinter Factor. New York: J. B. Lippincott, 1974
* John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America,'' Yale University Press, (1999).
*Lewis, Flora, ''Red Pawn : The Story of Noel Field'', Doubleday & Company, 1965.
*Klingsberg, Ethan, [http://homepages.nyu.edu/~th15/klings2.html''Case Closed on Alger Hiss?''], The Nation, November 8, 1993.

==External link==
*[http://www.mfs-insider.de/jourfixe/JF0202.htm Who Was Noel Field?] in German.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenberg, Allan}}
[[Category:KGB Agents and Sources]]

Founding Fathers

2007-04-19T16:22:40Z

Jandj:

The Founding Fathers are the leaders who founded the United States, and especially those who were at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 to draft the U.S. Constitution.

The following persons are commonly included as Founding Fathers:

George Washington
 Alexander Hamilton
 Thomas Jefferson
 James Madison
 Benjamin Franklin
 Thomas Paine
 John Jay
 Gouverneur Morris
 John Witherspoon
 George Mason
 John Adams
 Roger Sherman
 Charles C. Pinckney
 Patrick Henry
 Samuel Adams

== Sources ==

The Constitution of the United States of America

http://www.foundingfathers.info/documents/constitution.html
http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/constitution.html

The Bill of Rights

http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/bill_of_rights.html

Founding Fathers Quotes

http://www.marksquotes.com/Founding-Fathers/
http://www.dojgov.net/Liberty_Watch.htm

Examples:

"Any people that would give up liberty for a little temporary safety deserves neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." Thomas Jefferson

"The Constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed and that they are entitled to freedom of person, freedom of religion, freedom of property, and freedom of press." Thomas Jefferson

http://patriotpost.us/histdocs/

Founding Fathers Quotes on Religion

http://www.eadshome.com/QuotesoftheFounders.htm

The National Archives

http://www.archives.gov/
http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/
http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/index.html

[[Category:United States History]]

Negritude

2007-04-19T16:19:19Z

Jandj:

Negritude was a movement of the 1930s by black intellectuals. This movement rejects the political, social and paternalistic moral domination of the West.

National debt of the United States

2007-04-19T16:17:14Z

Jandj:

The '''National Debt''' is the amount of money the [[United States]] government owes various [[creditors]] due to [[deficit spending]] The current national debt is approximately 9 trillion dollars. <ref>http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np</ref>

==References==
<references/>

== Further reading ==
* [http://zfacts.com/p/318.html National Debt Graph (2007 Budget data)]
[[Category: Economics]]

Origins debate

2007-04-19T16:16:30Z

Jandj:

The '''origins debate''' is the age-old conflict of ideas about how human beings appeared on the [[Earth]], how the various kinds of animals and plants came into being, and how the Earth itself came into being.

==Major views==

Most people throughout history have ascribed origins to a First Cause - [[God]] or various [[gods]]. Materialist views, i.e. that our creation happened due to natural circumstances, have also been put forth in this debate, some as early as [[ancient Greece]].

Judaism and Christianity posit that "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1) Then He created plants (Genesis 1:11-13), animals (Genesis 1:20-23), and finally people (Genesis 1:26-27). Other major religions have similar creation stories.

[[Materialism|Materialistic]] views are many and various.
The prevailing views in modern [[science]] (i.e., [[astronomy]], [[geology]] and [[biology]]) employ the [[Big Bang]] theory to explain cosmic origins and the [[Theory of Evolution]] to explain the emergence of plants, animals and people.

There is considerable debate over whether there is any viable middle ground between the materialist views and the [[Creationism|Creationist]] views. Some would hold, though, that a via media could be found if both sides recognized how miraculous any theory of creation is, whether it is perfect conditions for development or a Prime Mover such as God.

Gallop polls show that one third of Americans believe that human beings "evolved" in a process guided by God. <ref> This statement is one of three presented in a survey: "Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this process" Thirty-seven percent agreed with it. [http://www.unl.edu/rhames/courses/current/creation/evol-poll.htm] </ref>

==Notes==

<references/>

[[Category:Origins debate| ]]

Perfect competition

2007-04-19T16:08:35Z

Jandj:

'''Perfect competition''' is an economic term referring to the condition that there is so much competition between vendors that a [[seller]] would lose customers if he raised prices at all. Such a competitive market is very good for the [[consumer]].

The [[market]] for [[dairy]] products is close to perfect competition.

[[category:economics]]

Old Earth Creationism

2007-04-19T16:03:26Z

Jandj:

'''Old Earth Creationism''' is the belief that God created the universe and the world billions of years ago. Old Earth Creationists hold to an exegesis of the Biblical book of Genesis that allows for an old earth <ref>http://www.answersincreation.org/question.htm</ref>. Old Earth Creationists do not all agree on the extent of the [[Noachian flood]], although many maintain that it was a local flood.

Vocal proponents of Old Earth Creationism include [[Hugh Ross]], Greg Neyman, Francis Schaeffer, and Norman Geisler.

==External links==

===Old Earth Creationism Ministries===
* [http://www.reasons.org Reasons to Believe]
* [http://www.answersincreation.org Answers in Creation]
* [http://www.godandscience.org Godandscience.org]

=== Criticism of Old Earth Creationism by Young Earth Creationists ===

[http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/feedback/negative_17December2001.asp Jonathan Sarfati addresses Old Earth Claims]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Creationism]]

Democratic Party

2007-04-19T15:56:50Z

Jandj: /* Religion */

The '''Democratic Party''' is one of the two major political [[parties]] in the [[United States of America]]. It is generally seen as being politically between center and [[leftist | left]] of center, while the rival [[Republican Party]] is positioned to the [[rightist | right]] of center (see [[Political spectrum theory]]).

The Democrats currently control the United States [[House of Representatives]] and the [[Senate]], together with the majority of State governorships and legislatures. <ref>[http://www.multistate.com/Site.nsf/Elections2006PostMaps?OpenPage Multistate.com] Post-Election 2006 Maps</ref> According to a Pew Research Center poll, 50 percent of Americans identify themselves with the Democratic Party as opposed to 35 percent for the Republican Party.<ref>[http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=312 Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2007] Pew Research Center, 22 March 2007</ref> However, Democrats have served out only three of the last ten presidential terms, and the Democrats in the US Congress currently have a 56.8% Disapproval rating, with only a 36% Approve rating according to the PealClearPolitics Average of several dozens of Congressional Job Approval polls. <ref>[http://www.realclearpolitics.com/polls/archive/index.php?poll_id=18&page=2 RealClearPolitics Congressional Job Approval Poll], 03/29 - 04/09.</ref>

Like the Republicans, the Democrats are currently selecting their candidate for the 2008 presidential election; the front-runners in the contest are Senator [[Hillary Clinton]] of [[New York]] and Senator [[Barack Obama]] of [[Illinois]]. The most recent president who was a Democrat was [[Bill Clinton]], who served from 1993 to 2001.

==History==
The Democratic Party was founded in 1792 by [[Thomas Jefferson]] as a congressional caucus to fight for the [[Bill of Rights]] and to oppose the elitist [[Federalist Party]].

In 1798 , the party was officially named the "Democratic-Republican Party", and in 1800 Jefferson was elected as the first Democrat [[President of the United States]]. Jefferson served two terms as president with distinction, and was succeeded by another Democrat, [[James Madison]], in 1808 . Madison strengthened America's armed forces and helped to reaffirm American independence by defeating the [[United Kingdom]] in the [[War of 1812]]. James Monroe, another Democratic-Republican, was elected president in 1816 and led the nation through a time commonly known as "The Era of Good Feeling". In this period, the party dominated American politics with little opposition. [[Andrew Jackson]], who signed into law the [[Indian Removal Act of 1830]] <ref>[http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/UHS/APUSH/1st%20Sem/Articles%20Semester%201/Artiles%20Semester%201/Remini.htm Andrew Jackson and Indian Removal], by
Robert Remini.</ref> according to the Democratic National Committee's website is "considered — along with Jefferson — one of the founding fathers of the Democratic Party." <ref>[http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/06/our_history.php Democratic National Committee, ''Our History''], retrieved 25 March 2007.</ref> Annual Jefferson-Jackson Day celebrations nationwide by local chapters of the Democratic Party commemorate the two founders of the Democratic Party. <ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/20/AR2007022001949.html String of Successes Enlivens Democratic Party], Michael D. Shear, ''The Washington Post'', 22 February 2007.</ref>

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

==Policies and criticism==

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

===Economic policy===
In the field of economic policy, Democrats favor high taxes, higher government spending and a relatively high minimum wage.''[[Citation Needed]]''

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

===Foreign and military policy===
According to its platform, the Democratic Party has the objective of strengthening America. Democratic national leadership has been accused of being ambivalent about terrorism<ref>[http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=22045 "Democrats, ACLU Outraged Over Traveler Terrorism Screening Program"] C. Johnson, Associated Press</ref> and insufficiently patriotic <ref>[http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0112/01/smn.19.html CNN Saturday Morning News]Transcript: December 1, 2001 </ref>, such as Saxby Chambliss' campaign against Senator Max Cleland--a Vietnam veteran and triple amputee.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14474-2002Jun19.html "Dirty-Bomb Politics"] Mary McGrory, ''The Washington Post'', 20 June 2002</ref>

===Education===
An organization affiliated with the [[Democratic Leadership Council]] called the [[Progressive Policy Institute]] which claims a long standing opposition to school vouchers <ref>21st Century Schools Project Bulletin: Special Edition [http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=110&subsecID=900001&contentID=250630 ''Putting Vouchers in Perspective''], PPI E-newsletter 2 July 2002</ref> reported Jonathan Alter of ''Newsweek'' saying,
:"Can wealthy white liberals - many of whom send their kids to private school - really say to poor parents: 'We can have choices, but you must not?'...This is a glaring hypocrisy sitting at the heart of the liberal opposition to targeted vouchers… Right now, Democrats are in a highly compromised position on education." <ref>[http://www.edreform.com/index.cfm?fuseAction=newsLetter&sectionID=29&NLissueID=4&articleID=11&altCol=2 Center For Education Reform, Monthly Letter to Friends No. 75], Back to School 2002.</ref>

===Environment vs Labor===
Two other important coalition groups also find themselves in direct conflict with each other within the Democratic party coalition--Environmentalists and Labor Unions. While environmentalists support efforts like clean air and alternative fuels, for example, this creates tension with the workers of American automobile manufactures whose jobs are threatened by environmental policies such as increasing regulations and high costs. Such policies can lead to cutbacks and layoffs. Balancing these issues is difficult because some sacrifices of interests must be made by both sides.

===Other Policies===
Democrats frequently support [[a woman's right to choose]], [[gun control]], [[homosexual civil rights|homosexual marriage]] and the separation of church and state.

==Religion==
Both historically and today [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] voters have had a tendency to identify with the Democratic Party, and a number of Democratic office-holders, such as Senator [[Jim Webb]] of [[Virginia]], are Catholics. However, several general ideals of the Democratic Party's platform - most notably, the party's overall support for the legality of [[abortion]] - are contrary to the position of the [[Catholic Church]].

[[Protestant]] Christians, being such a large and diverse group, cannot be assumed to have political views lying more to the left or to the right. However, some Protestant groups, such as[[Evangelical]] Christians, who tend to be associated with the Republican Party, do hold particular political stances.

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Political Parties]]

Democratic Party

2007-04-19T15:49:58Z

Jandj: /* Religion */

The '''Democratic Party''' is one of the two major political [[parties]] in the [[United States of America]]. It is generally seen as being politically between center and [[leftist | left]] of center, while the rival [[Republican Party]] is positioned to the [[rightist | right]] of center (see [[Political spectrum theory]]).

The Democrats currently control the United States [[House of Representatives]] and the [[Senate]], together with the majority of State governorships and legislatures. <ref>[http://www.multistate.com/Site.nsf/Elections2006PostMaps?OpenPage Multistate.com] Post-Election 2006 Maps</ref> According to a Pew Research Center poll, 50 percent of Americans identify themselves with the Democratic Party as opposed to 35 percent for the Republican Party.<ref>[http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=312 Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2007] Pew Research Center, 22 March 2007</ref> However, Democrats have served out only three of the last ten presidential terms, and the Democrats in the US Congress currently have a 56.8% Disapproval rating, with only a 36% Approve rating according to the PealClearPolitics Average of several dozens of Congressional Job Approval polls. <ref>[http://www.realclearpolitics.com/polls/archive/index.php?poll_id=18&page=2 RealClearPolitics Congressional Job Approval Poll], 03/29 - 04/09.</ref>

Like the Republicans, the Democrats are currently selecting their candidate for the 2008 presidential election; the front-runners in the contest are Senator [[Hillary Clinton]] of [[New York]] and Senator [[Barack Obama]] of [[Illinois]]. The most recent president who was a Democrat was [[Bill Clinton]], who served from 1993 to 2001.

==History==
The Democratic Party was founded in 1792 by [[Thomas Jefferson]] as a congressional caucus to fight for the [[Bill of Rights]] and to oppose the elitist [[Federalist Party]].

In 1798 , the party was officially named the "Democratic-Republican Party", and in 1800 Jefferson was elected as the first Democrat [[President of the United States]]. Jefferson served two terms as president with distinction, and was succeeded by another Democrat, [[James Madison]], in 1808 . Madison strengthened America's armed forces and helped to reaffirm American independence by defeating the [[United Kingdom]] in the [[War of 1812]]. James Monroe, another Democratic-Republican, was elected president in 1816 and led the nation through a time commonly known as "The Era of Good Feeling". In this period, the party dominated American politics with little opposition. [[Andrew Jackson]], who signed into law the [[Indian Removal Act of 1830]] <ref>[http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/UHS/APUSH/1st%20Sem/Articles%20Semester%201/Artiles%20Semester%201/Remini.htm Andrew Jackson and Indian Removal], by
Robert Remini.</ref> according to the Democratic National Committee's website is "considered — along with Jefferson — one of the founding fathers of the Democratic Party." <ref>[http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/06/our_history.php Democratic National Committee, ''Our History''], retrieved 25 March 2007.</ref> Annual Jefferson-Jackson Day celebrations nationwide by local chapters of the Democratic Party commemorate the two founders of the Democratic Party. <ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/20/AR2007022001949.html String of Successes Enlivens Democratic Party], Michael D. Shear, ''The Washington Post'', 22 February 2007.</ref>

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

==Policies and criticism==

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

===Economic policy===
In the field of economic policy, Democrats favor high taxes, higher government spending and a relatively high minimum wage.''[[Citation Needed]]''

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

===Foreign and military policy===
According to its platform, the Democratic Party has the objective of strengthening America. Democratic national leadership has been accused of being ambivalent about terrorism<ref>[http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=22045 "Democrats, ACLU Outraged Over Traveler Terrorism Screening Program"] C. Johnson, Associated Press</ref> and insufficiently patriotic <ref>[http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0112/01/smn.19.html CNN Saturday Morning News]Transcript: December 1, 2001 </ref>, such as Saxby Chambliss' campaign against Senator Max Cleland--a Vietnam veteran and triple amputee.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14474-2002Jun19.html "Dirty-Bomb Politics"] Mary McGrory, ''The Washington Post'', 20 June 2002</ref>

===Education===
An organization affiliated with the [[Democratic Leadership Council]] called the [[Progressive Policy Institute]] which claims a long standing opposition to school vouchers <ref>21st Century Schools Project Bulletin: Special Edition [http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=110&subsecID=900001&contentID=250630 ''Putting Vouchers in Perspective''], PPI E-newsletter 2 July 2002</ref> reported Jonathan Alter of ''Newsweek'' saying,
:"Can wealthy white liberals - many of whom send their kids to private school - really say to poor parents: 'We can have choices, but you must not?'...This is a glaring hypocrisy sitting at the heart of the liberal opposition to targeted vouchers… Right now, Democrats are in a highly compromised position on education." <ref>[http://www.edreform.com/index.cfm?fuseAction=newsLetter&sectionID=29&NLissueID=4&articleID=11&altCol=2 Center For Education Reform, Monthly Letter to Friends No. 75], Back to School 2002.</ref>

===Environment vs Labor===
Two other important coalition groups also find themselves in direct conflict with each other within the Democratic party coalition--Environmentalists and Labor Unions. While environmentalists support efforts like clean air and alternative fuels, for example, this creates tension with the workers of American automobile manufactures whose jobs are threatened by environmental policies such as increasing regulations and high costs. Such policies can lead to cutbacks and layoffs. Balancing these issues is difficult because some sacrifices of interests must be made by both sides.

===Other Policies===
Democrats frequently support [[a woman's right to choose]], [[gun control]], [[homosexual civil rights|homosexual marriage]] and the separation of church and state.

==Religion==
Both historically and today [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] voters have had a tendency to identify with the Democratic Party, and a number of Democratic office-holders, such as Senator [[Jim Webb]] of [[Virginia]], are Catholics. However, several general ideals of the Democratic Party's platform - most notably, the party's overall support for the legality of [[abortion]] - are contrary to the position of the [[Catholic Church]].

[[Protestant]] Christians
[[Evangelical]] Christians tend to be associated with the Republican Party.

An unusual feature of the Democratic Party is that it attracts substantial support from both committed Christian African Americans and secular white liberals. Many Democratic-voting Black Christians hold to a conservative stance on [[homosexuality]], but the Democrats are generally associated with support for the [[homosexual agenda]].

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Political Parties]]

Democratic Party

2007-04-19T15:46:27Z

Jandj:

The '''Democratic Party''' is one of the two major political [[parties]] in the [[United States of America]]. It is generally seen as being politically between center and [[leftist | left]] of center, while the rival [[Republican Party]] is positioned to the [[rightist | right]] of center (see [[Political spectrum theory]]).

The Democrats currently control the United States [[House of Representatives]] and the [[Senate]], together with the majority of State governorships and legislatures. <ref>[http://www.multistate.com/Site.nsf/Elections2006PostMaps?OpenPage Multistate.com] Post-Election 2006 Maps</ref> According to a Pew Research Center poll, 50 percent of Americans identify themselves with the Democratic Party as opposed to 35 percent for the Republican Party.<ref>[http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=312 Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2007] Pew Research Center, 22 March 2007</ref> However, Democrats have served out only three of the last ten presidential terms, and the Democrats in the US Congress currently have a 56.8% Disapproval rating, with only a 36% Approve rating according to the PealClearPolitics Average of several dozens of Congressional Job Approval polls. <ref>[http://www.realclearpolitics.com/polls/archive/index.php?poll_id=18&page=2 RealClearPolitics Congressional Job Approval Poll], 03/29 - 04/09.</ref>

Like the Republicans, the Democrats are currently selecting their candidate for the 2008 presidential election; the front-runners in the contest are Senator [[Hillary Clinton]] of [[New York]] and Senator [[Barack Obama]] of [[Illinois]]. The most recent president who was a Democrat was [[Bill Clinton]], who served from 1993 to 2001.

==History==
The Democratic Party was founded in 1792 by [[Thomas Jefferson]] as a congressional caucus to fight for the [[Bill of Rights]] and to oppose the elitist [[Federalist Party]].

In 1798 , the party was officially named the "Democratic-Republican Party", and in 1800 Jefferson was elected as the first Democrat [[President of the United States]]. Jefferson served two terms as president with distinction, and was succeeded by another Democrat, [[James Madison]], in 1808 . Madison strengthened America's armed forces and helped to reaffirm American independence by defeating the [[United Kingdom]] in the [[War of 1812]]. James Monroe, another Democratic-Republican, was elected president in 1816 and led the nation through a time commonly known as "The Era of Good Feeling". In this period, the party dominated American politics with little opposition. [[Andrew Jackson]], who signed into law the [[Indian Removal Act of 1830]] <ref>[http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/UHS/APUSH/1st%20Sem/Articles%20Semester%201/Artiles%20Semester%201/Remini.htm Andrew Jackson and Indian Removal], by
Robert Remini.</ref> according to the Democratic National Committee's website is "considered — along with Jefferson — one of the founding fathers of the Democratic Party." <ref>[http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/06/our_history.php Democratic National Committee, ''Our History''], retrieved 25 March 2007.</ref> Annual Jefferson-Jackson Day celebrations nationwide by local chapters of the Democratic Party commemorate the two founders of the Democratic Party. <ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/20/AR2007022001949.html String of Successes Enlivens Democratic Party], Michael D. Shear, ''The Washington Post'', 22 February 2007.</ref>

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

==Policies and criticism==

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

===Economic policy===
In the field of economic policy, Democrats favor high taxes, higher government spending and a relatively high minimum wage.''[[Citation Needed]]''

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

===Foreign and military policy===
According to its platform, the Democratic Party has the objective of strengthening America. Democratic national leadership has been accused of being ambivalent about terrorism<ref>[http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=22045 "Democrats, ACLU Outraged Over Traveler Terrorism Screening Program"] C. Johnson, Associated Press</ref> and insufficiently patriotic <ref>[http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0112/01/smn.19.html CNN Saturday Morning News]Transcript: December 1, 2001 </ref>, such as Saxby Chambliss' campaign against Senator Max Cleland--a Vietnam veteran and triple amputee.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14474-2002Jun19.html "Dirty-Bomb Politics"] Mary McGrory, ''The Washington Post'', 20 June 2002</ref>

===Education===
An organization affiliated with the [[Democratic Leadership Council]] called the [[Progressive Policy Institute]] which claims a long standing opposition to school vouchers <ref>21st Century Schools Project Bulletin: Special Edition [http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=110&subsecID=900001&contentID=250630 ''Putting Vouchers in Perspective''], PPI E-newsletter 2 July 2002</ref> reported Jonathan Alter of ''Newsweek'' saying,
:"Can wealthy white liberals - many of whom send their kids to private school - really say to poor parents: 'We can have choices, but you must not?'...This is a glaring hypocrisy sitting at the heart of the liberal opposition to targeted vouchers… Right now, Democrats are in a highly compromised position on education." <ref>[http://www.edreform.com/index.cfm?fuseAction=newsLetter&sectionID=29&NLissueID=4&articleID=11&altCol=2 Center For Education Reform, Monthly Letter to Friends No. 75], Back to School 2002.</ref>

===Environment vs Labor===
Two other important coalition groups also find themselves in direct conflict with each other within the Democratic party coalition--Environmentalists and Labor Unions. While environmentalists support efforts like clean air and alternative fuels, for example, this creates tension with the workers of American automobile manufactures whose jobs are threatened by environmental policies such as increasing regulations and high costs. Such policies can lead to cutbacks and layoffs. Balancing these issues is difficult because some sacrifices of interests must be made by both sides.

===Other Policies===
Democrats frequently support [[a woman's right to choose]], [[gun control]], [[homosexual civil rights|homosexual marriage]] and the separation of church and state.

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

An unusual feature of the Democratic Party is that it attracts substantial support from both committed Christian African Americans and secular white liberals. Many Democratic-voting Black Christians hold to a conservative stance on [[homosexuality]], but the Democrats are generally associated with support for the [[homosexual agenda]].

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Political Parties]]

Democratic Party

2007-04-19T15:36:07Z

Jandj:

The '''Democratic Party''' is one of the two major political [[parties]] in the [[United States of America]]. It is generally seen as being politically between center and [[leftist | left]] of center, while the rival [[Republican Party]] is positioned to the [[rightist | right]] of center (see [[Political spectrum theory]]).

The Democrats currently control the United States [[House of Representatives]] and the [[Senate]], together with the majority of State governorships and legislatures. <ref>[http://www.multistate.com/Site.nsf/Elections2006PostMaps?OpenPage Multistate.com] Post-Election 2006 Maps</ref> According to a Pew Research Center poll, 50 percent of Americans identify themselves with the Democratic Party as opposed to 35 percent for the Republican Party.<ref>[http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=312 Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2007] Pew Research Center, 22 March 2007</ref> However, Democrats have served out only three of the last ten presidential terms, and the Democrats in the US Congress currently have a 56.8% Disapproval rating, with only a 36% Approve rating according to the PealClearPolitics Average of several dozens of Congressional Job Approval polls. <ref>[http://www.realclearpolitics.com/polls/archive/index.php?poll_id=18&page=2 RealClearPolitics Congressional Job Approval Poll], 03/29 - 04/09.</ref>

Like the Republicans, the Democrats are currently selecting their candidate for the 2008 presidential election; the front-runners in the contest are Senator [[Hillary Clinton]] of [[New York]] and Senator [[Barack Obama]] of [[Illinois]]. The most recent president who was a Democrat was [[Bill Clinton]], who served from 1993 to 2001.

==History==
The Democratic Party was founded in 1792 by [[Thomas Jefferson]] as a congressional caucus to fight for the [[Bill of Rights]] and to oppose the elitist [[Federalist Party]].

In 1798 , the party was officially named the "Democratic-Republican Party", and in 1800 Jefferson was elected as the first Democrat [[President of the United States]]. Jefferson served two terms as president with distinction, and was succeeded by another Democrat, [[James Madison]], in 1808 . Madison strengthened America's armed forces and helped to reaffirm American independence by defeating the [[United Kingdom]] in the [[War of 1812]]. James Monroe, another Democratic-Republican, was elected president in 1816 and led the nation through a time commonly known as "The Era of Good Feeling". In this period, the party dominated American politics with little opposition. [[Andrew Jackson]], who signed into law the [[Indian Removal Act of 1830]] <ref>[http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/UHS/APUSH/1st%20Sem/Articles%20Semester%201/Artiles%20Semester%201/Remini.htm Andrew Jackson and Indian Removal], by
Robert Remini.</ref> according to the Democratic National Committee's website is "considered — along with Jefferson — one of the founding fathers of the Democratic Party." <ref>[http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/06/our_history.php Democratic National Committee, ''Our History''], retrieved 25 March 2007.</ref> Annual Jefferson-Jackson Day celebrations nationwide by local chapters of the Democratic Party commemorate the two founders of the Democratic Party. <ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/20/AR2007022001949.html String of Successes Enlivens Democratic Party], Michael D. Shear, ''The Washington Post'', 22 February 2007.</ref>

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

==Policies and criticism==

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

===Economic policy===
In the field of economic policy, Democrats favor high taxes, higher government spending and a relatively high minimum wage.''[[Citation Needed]]''

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

===Foreign and military policy===
According to its platform, the Democratic Party has the objective of strengthening America. Democratic national leadership has been accused by some Republican party leaders, most notably Dick Cheney, as being ambivalent about terrorism<ref>[http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=22045 "Democrats, ACLU Outraged Over Traveler Terrorism Screening Program"] C. Johnson, Associated Press</ref> and insufficiently patriotic <ref>[http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0112/01/smn.19.html CNN Saturday Morning News]Transcript: December 1, 2001 </ref>, such as Saxby Chambliss' campaign against Senator Max Cleland--a Vietnam veteran and triple amputee.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14474-2002Jun19.html "Dirty-Bomb Politics"] Mary McGrory, ''The Washington Post'', 20 June 2002</ref>

===Education===
An organization affiliated with the [[Democratic Leadership Council]] called the [[Progressive Policy Institute]] which claims a long standing opposition to school vouchers <ref>21st Century Schools Project Bulletin: Special Edition [http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=110&subsecID=900001&contentID=250630 ''Putting Vouchers in Perspective''], PPI E-newsletter 2 July 2002</ref> reported Jonathan Alter of ''Newsweek'' saying,
:"Can wealthy white liberals - many of whom send their kids to private school - really say to poor parents: 'We can have choices, but you must not?'...This is a glaring hypocrisy sitting at the heart of the liberal opposition to targeted vouchers… Right now, Democrats are in a highly compromised position on education." <ref>[http://www.edreform.com/index.cfm?fuseAction=newsLetter&sectionID=29&NLissueID=4&articleID=11&altCol=2 Center For Education Reform, Monthly Letter to Friends No. 75], Back to School 2002.</ref>

===Environment vs Labor===
Two other important coalition groups also find themselves in direct conflict with each other within the Democratic party coalition--Environmentalists and Labour Unions. While environmentalists support efforts like clean air and alternative fuels, for example, this places them directly at odds with the workers of American automobile manufactures whose jobs and livelihoods are threatened by increasing regulations and high costs that lead to cutbacks and layoffs.

===Other Policies===
Democrats frequently support [[a woman's right to choose]], [[gun control]], [[homosexual civil rights|homosexual marriage]] and the separation of church and state. The Democratic party also supports the environment which, some claim, leads to a loss of jobs and an overall decline in the economy.

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

An unusual feature of the Democratic Party is that it attracts substantial support from both committed Christian African Americans and secular white liberals. Many Democratic-voting Black Christians hold to a conservative stance on [[homosexuality]], but the Democrats are generally associated with support for the [[homosexual agenda]].

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Political Parties]]

Republican Party

2007-04-19T15:33:36Z

Jandj:

[[Image:Cjjfdjfty.png|right|thumb|200px|Official logo of the Republican Party.]]
The '''Republican Party''' is one of the two major political parties in the [[United States]]. The current [[President of the United States]], [[George W. Bush]], is a member of the party – and by rules common to both major U.S. parties, its head. Of the two major U.S. parties, the Republican party is the moderate/center-right party.

The party was born in the early 1850s by anti-[[slavery]] activists and individuals who believed that government should grant western lands to settlers free of charge. The first informal meeting of the party took place in Ripon, [[Wisconsin]], a small town northwest of Milwaukee. The first official Republican meeting took place on July 6, 1854 in Jackson, [[Michigan]]. The name "Republican" was chosen because it alluded to equality and reminded individuals of Thomas Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party. At the Jackson convention, the new party adopted a platform and nominated candidates for office in Michigan. Since its inception, its chief opposition has been the [[Democratic Party]].

== Symbol ==

The official symbol of the Republican Party is the elephant. Although the elephant had occasionally been associated with the party earlier, a political cartoon by Thomas Nast, published in ''Harper's Weekly'' on November 7, 1874, is considered the first important use of the symbol<ref>http://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Year=2003&Month=November&Date=7</ref>. In the early 20th century, the traditional symbol of the Republican party in Midwestern states such as Indiana and Ohio was the eagle, as opposed to the Democratic cock. This symbol still appears on Indiana ballots.

==Ideology==
One major difference between the political ideals of the Republicans and those of the Democrats is that the Republican Party tends to emphasize more that societal health is rooted in personal responsibility and actions. The Republican Party holds the mindset that all material things are earned, not owed. This mindset is seen most often in the party's push for lower taxes. This is fought for in an attempt to treat all citizens equally despite income, race, gender, or religion. They also see taxes as a drag on the economy, and believe private spending is usually more efficient than public spending.

Republicans also show concerns about having big government in charge of such vital issues as food, shelter, or health care, as they believe the private sector and/or the individual are better suited to control their own lives. The much-revered president [[Ronald Reagan]], who became a Republican in the early 1960s after being a fervent [[New Deal]]er at one time, has been quoted as saying "Government is not the solution, it is the problem."

The party tends to hold both [[conservative]] and [[Libertarianism|libertarian]] stances on social and economic issues respectively. Major policies that the party has recently supported include a neoconservative foreign policy, including [[War on Terror]], liberations of [[Afghanistan]] and [[Iraq]], strong support for democracy especially in the [[Middle East]], and distrust of the [[United Nations]] due to the organization's incompetent bureaucracy, anti-capitalist undertone, corruption on the [[Security Council]] and in UN humanitarian programs. Along with demanding radical reforms in the UN, it also opposes the Kyoto Protocol due the protocol's unfair application to certain countries (especially the United States) and that it prevents economic growth and slows the reduction of poverty.

It generally supports free trade, especially NAFTA and CAFTA. It is responsible for a series of across-the-board tax cuts since 2001 that have bolstered the economy and reduced the punitive aspect of the income tax. It has sought business deregulation, reduction of environmental regulations that restrict fair use of land and property, and other policies that are pro-capitalism. It supports gun ownership rights and enterprise zones (low taxes for investing in poverty areas). On social issues, the majority of its national and state candidates usually favor the death penalty, call for stronger state-level control on access to [[abortion]], oppose the legalization of gender-neutral marriage, favor faith-based initiatives, support school choice and homeschooling, social welfare benefit reform, and oppose racial quotas.

In recent years the party has called for much stronger accountability in the public schools, especially through the "No Child Left behind Act" of 2001 (which also increased federal funding for schools). The party is split on the issue of federally funding embryonic stem cell research that involves the cloning and killing of human embryos. Many see it as unethical to force taxpayers who believe this type of research is morally wrong to finance it, while others see the possible benefits of this research justify the methods surrounding it. Historically, Republicans have had a strong belief in individualism, limited government, and business entrepreneurship.

== History ==
John C. Frémont ran as the first Republican for President in 1856, using the political slogan: "Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men, Frémont." Although Frémont's bid was unsuccessful, the party grew especially rapidly in Northeastern and Midwestern states, where slavery had long been prohibited, culminating in a sweep of victories in the Northern states and the election of Lincoln in 1860, ending 60 years of dominance by the slavery-supporting Democrats and ushering in a new era of Republican dominance based in the industrial north and on the end of slavery.

With the end of the Civil War came the upheavals of Reconstruction under Democratic President [[Andrew Johnson]] (who had bitter disputes with the Republicans in Congress, who eventually impeached him) and [[Ulysses S. Grant]], a Republican. For a brief period, Republicans assumed control of Southern politics (due especially to the former slaves receiving the vote while it was denied to many whites who had participated in the Confederacy), forcing drastic reforms and frequently giving former slaves positions in government. After Reconstruction came to an end, the southern states became known as the "Solid South", giving overwhelming majorities of its electoral votes and Congressional seats to the Democrats until 1964.

Though states' rights was a cause of both Northern and Southern states before the War, control of the federal government led the Republican Party down a national line. The patriotric unity that developed in the North because of the war led to a string of military men as President, as well as leading to an era of international expansion and domestic protectionism. As the rural Northern antebellum economy mushroomed with industry and immigration, supporting innovation, invention, entrepreneurship and business became the hallmarks of Republican policy proposals. From the Reconstruction era up to the turn of the century, the Republicans benefitted from the Democrats' racist origin and their association with the Confederate States of America. The Republican Party, therefore dominated national politics--albeit with strong competition from the Democrats, especially during the 1880s. With the two-term presidency of Ulysses S. Grant, the party became known for its strong advocacy of commerce, industry, and veterans' rights, which continues to this day.

During the 1880s and 1890s, the Republican Party struggled against the Democrat's efforts, winning several close elections and losing two to [[Grover Cleveland]] (in 1884 and 1892).

The election of [[William McKinley]] in 1896 is widely seen as a resurgence of Republican dominance and is sometimes cited as a realigning election. The progressive and protectionist McKinley was the last Civil War veteran elected President and embodied Republican ideals such as economic progress, invention, education, and patriotism. He confirmed the Republicans as a pro-enterprise party; his campaign manager, Marcus Hanna was a highly effective political strategist and fund-raiser which meant McKinley outspent his radical rival William Jennings Bryan by a large margin.

After McKinley's assassination, President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] tapped McKinley's Industrial Commission for his trust-busting ideas and continued the federal and nationalist policies of his predecessor. In order to ensure fair competition in the economy Roosevelt took steps to abolish "trusts" or cartels which then dominated many key markets within the economy. This led Republicans into conflict with the most powerful commercial interests in the country, led by John D. Rockefeller, the richest man in the world.

Roosevelt decided not to run again in 1908 and chose [[William Howard Taft]] to replace him, but the widening division between progressive and conservative forces in the party resulted in a third-party candidacy for Roosevelt on the United States Progressive Party, or "Bull Moose" ticket in the election of 1912. Roosevelt finished ahead of Taft, but the split in the Republican vote resulted in a decisive victory for Democrat [[Woodrow Wilson]], temporarily interrupting the Republican era.

The party controlled the presidency throughout the 1920s, running on a platform of high tariffs, the promotion of business interests, opposition to the League of Nations, and overall isolationism after Wilson's turbulent internationalism. [[Warren G. Harding]], [[Calvin Coolidge]] and [[Herbert Hoover]] were resoundingly elected in 1920, 1924, and 1928 respectively. These years saw the party firmly committed to laissez-faire economics, but the Great Depression cost it the presidency with the election of [[Socialism|socialist]] Democrat [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] in 1932. Roosevelt's New Deal Coalition controlled American politics for the next two decades, concluding with the two-term presidency of popular Republican World War II General [[Dwight Eisenhower]].

The post-war emergence of the United States as one of two superpowers and rapid social change caused the Republican Party to divide into a conservative wing (dominant in the West and Southeast) and a liberal wing (dominant in New England) - combined with a residual base of inherited Midwestern Republicanism active throughout the century. A Republican such as Senator Robert Taft of Ohio represented the Midwestern wing of the party that continued to oppose New Deal reforms and continued to champion isolationism. Thomas Dewey of New York represented the Northeastern wing of the party that was closer to Democratic liberalism and internationalism. In the end, the isolationists were marginalized by those who supported a strong U.S. role in opposing the Soviet Union throughout the world, as embodied by President Eisenhower. However, this development did not represent the end of the story. The seeds of conservative dominance in the Republican party were planted in the nomination of conservative [[Barry Goldwater]] over liberal [[Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller|Nelson Rockefeller]] as the Republican candidate for the 1964 presidential election.

Any enduring Republican majority, however, was put on hold when the Watergate Scandal forced [[Richard Nixon]] to resign under a threat of impeachment created by elements within the Democratic Party opposed to U.S efforts to fight [[Communism|communist]] totalitarianism. Gerald Ford succeeded Nixon under the 25th Amendment and struggled to forge a political identity separate from his predecessor. The taint of Watergate and the nation's economic difficulties contributed to the election of Democrat [[Jimmy Carter]] in 1976, a Washington outsider who would later be regarded as the worst president of the 20th century.

In 1980, Ronald Reagan won the Republican nomination and easily beat Carter with his strong communication skills and message of economic freedom and strength against the [[Soviet Union]]. Reagan produced a major realignment with his 1980 and 1984 landslides. In 1980 the Reagan coalition was possible because of Democratic losses in most social-economic groups. In 1984 Reagan won nearly 60% of the popular vote and carried every state except his Democrat opponent Walter Mondale's home state of [[Minnesota]] and the District of Columbia, creating a record 525 electoral vote total (of 538 possible). Even in Minnesota, Mondale won by a mere 3,761 votes <ref>http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=1984&fips=27&f=1&off=0&elect=0</ref>, meaning Reagan came within less than 3,800 votes of winning in all fifty states.

The so-called "Reagan Democrats" were Democrats before the Reagan years, and afterwards, but who voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984 (and for George H.W. Bush in 1988), producing their landslide victories. They were lived in the Northeast and were attracted to Reagan's libertarian-conservative views, and to his strong stance on national security issues.

Reagan's Vice-President, George H. W. Bush, a [[World War II]] war hero, was elected to the Presidency in 1988 but was defeated in 1992 to [[Bill Clinton]] who repositioned the Democrats subsantially to the right. [[Ross Perot]]'s candidacy was instrumental in Clinton's victory as he took Republican votes. Perot won 19% of the popular vote, and Clinton, still a largely unknown quantity in American politics, was able to win the election due to Perot splitting the Republican vote in many states. Despite his defeat, George H.W. Bush left office in 1993 with a 56 percent job approval rating.

House Republican Minority Whip [[Newt Gingrich]]-led the "Republican Revolution" of 1994 and its famous ''Contract With America''. It was the first time since 1952 that the Republicans secured control of both houses of U.S. Congress, which, with the exception of the Senate during 2001-2002, has been retained through the present time. This capture and subsequent holding of Congress represented a major legislative turnaround, as Democrats controlled both houses of Congress for the forty years preceding 1994, with the exception of the 1981-1987 Congresses (in which Republicans controlled the Senate).

In that mid-term election, Republican congressional candidates ran on a platform of major reforms of government with measures such as a balanced budget amendment and welfare reform. These measures and others formed the Contract with America, which represented the first effort to have a party platform in a mid-term election. The Republicans passed some of their proposals, which lead to economic growth during the second half of the 1990s. Democratic President Bill Clinton opposed some of the social agenda initiatives but he co-opted the proposals for welfare reform and a balanced federal budget. The result was a major change in the welfare system, which conservatives hailed and liberals bemoaned. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives also failed to muster the two-thirds majority required to pass a Constitutional amendment to impose term limits on members of Congress.

In 1995, a budget battle with Clinton led to the brief shutdown of the federal government, an event which contributed to Clinton's victory in the 1996 election. That year the Republicans nominated Bob Dole, who was unable to transfer his success in Senate leadership to a viable presidential campaign. Ross Perot ran again (this time on Reform Party ticket), once again draining away a large percentage of Dole's support and insuring Clinton another term after the majority of Americans voters voted against him.

With the election of George W. Bush (son of former president George H. W. Bush) in an extremely close 2000 election, the Republican party controlled both the presidency and both houses of Congress for the first time since 1952. However, after [[Vermont]] senator Jim Jeffords left the Republican Party to become an independent aligned with the Democrats in June of 2001, Republicans lost control of the Senate by a single seat.

In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, however, Bush pursued a "War on Terrorism" that included the liberation of Afghanistan from the radical Islamist Taliban regime and the [[Patriot act|USA PATRIOT act]]. By early 2002, the Taliban was removed from power in Afghanistan. On March 20, 2003, U.S. and allied nations initiated "Operation Iraqi Freedom" to liberate the Iraqi people from the brutal regime of [[Saddam Hussein]]. By May 1, 2003, the regime of Saddam was declared officially over. Once US and allied military forces entered Iraq, they discovered that various international terrorists had been given sanctuary by Saddam and ran their terrorist operations from Iraq. Notable terrorists found included Muhammad Zaidan aka Abu Abbas and Sabri Khalil al-Banna aka Abu Nidal.

The Republican Party fared well in the 2002 midterm elections, solidifying its hold on the House and regaining control of the Senate, in the run-up to the liberation of Iraq. This marked just the third time since the Civil War that the party in control of the White House gained seats in both houses of Congress in a midterm election (others were 1902 and 1934).

Bush was renominated without opposition for the 2004 election and titled his political platform "A Safer World and a More Hopeful America". It expressed Bush's commitment to winning the War on Terror, ushering in an Ownership Era, and building an innovative economy to compete in the world.

On November 2, 2004, Bush was re-elected emphatically, while Republicans gained seats in both houses of Congress, leaving Democrats in disarray. Bush carried 31 of 50 states for 286 Electoral College votes. In that election, he also received more popular votes than any previous presidential candidate, 62.0 million votes. Democrat challenger, Senator [[John Kerry]], carried a mere 19 states and the District of Columbia, earning him 251 Electoral College votes and only 48 percent of the popular vote to Bush's 51 percent, the first popular majority since his father was elected in 1988. That election also marked the seventh consecutive election in which the Democratic nominee failed to reach that threshold.

The counties where Bush led in the popular vote amount to 83% of the geographic area of the U.S. (excluding Alaska, which did not report results by borough/census area, but had all electoral districts but one of the two in Juneau vote for Bush).

The election marked the first time an incumbent president was reelected while his political party increased its numbers in both houses of Congress since Lyndon Johnson in the 1964 election. It was the first time for a Republican since William McKinley in the 1900 election.

==Presidential dominance==
In terms of winning presidential elections, the Republican Party has been the most successful political party in U.S. history. Since the American Civil War, Grover Cleveland is the only non-incumbent Democrat who has won the office of President of the United States under "ordinary" circumstances (meaning no third party, no Great Depression, no disputed count in Illinois, no assassination of the previous president, no Watergate).

From 1860 through 1912, 10 men were elected President of the United States -- Grover Cleveland being the only Democrat.

Woodrow Wilson, who won in 1912, only won because William Howard Taft (the Republican incumbent) split the party vote with former President Theodore Roosevelt who ran as the Progressive Party candidate. Wilson only garnered 41.6% of the popular vote, compared to a combined 50.6% of Roosevelt and Taft.

Following Wilson, there were three more Republicans. It took a major economic depression to get another Democrat elected (in 1932).

John F. Kennedy (the next Democratic non-incumbent to win the White House) won the 1960 election as the result of voter fraud in Chicago (and several other locations), with a mere 0.2% difference in the popular vote.

It took the aftermath of the Watergate scandal to get the next, non-incumbent Democrat elected in 1976 in a very close election in which Democrat Jimmy Carter received 50.1% of the popular vote to Gerald Ford's 48.0%. 5,000 popular votes in the State of Ohio would have made the difference.

The next non-incumbent Democrat victory occured in 1992, in which third party candidate H. Ross Perot took away 19% of the popular vote from the Republican candidate, incumbent George H.W. Bush. And even though Bill Clinton was twice elected, he never once had a majority of the vote (43.0% in 1992; 49.2% in 1996). More people (the majority of voters) voted against Clinton for President than ever voted for him.

Since the birth of the Republican Party, the average Republican margin of victory over their opponents in Presidential elections has been around 12% to the Democrat's margin of victory over their opponents at around 8%. Also since the birth of the Republican Party, Democrats only garnered a majority of the vote a total of 7 times in 38 elections, while Republicans earned a majority 17 times in those same 38 elections.

In the 20th century, only 7 U.S. Presidents gained a larger margin of victory over their opponents in their second election. Five of those seven were Republicans. It must be noted that this statistic cannot be applied to incumbents who entered office without being elected, as their re-election was actually their first election -- i.e. Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford)

*Nixon from a 0.7% margin of victory in 1968 to a 23.2% MOV in 1972.
*Reagan from a 9.7% MOV in 1980 to a 18.2% MOV in 1984.
*FDR from a 17.% MOV in 1932 to a 24.3% MOV in 1936.
*Eisenhower from a 10.7% MOV in 1952 to a 15.4% MOV in 1956.
*McKinley from a 4.2% MOV in 1896 to a 6.1% MOV in 1900.
*Clinton from a 5.6% MOV in 1992 to a 8.5% MOV in 1996.
*GWB from a -0.5% MOV in 2000 to a 2.8% MOV in 2004.

Of the 11 U.S. presidents to be re-elected (i.e. elected a second time) since the Civil War, 7 were Republicans and only 4 Democrats. All seven of those Republicans were re-elected with a higher percentage of the vote , while only 3 of those Democrats received a greater percentage for their re-election bid. And this doesn't even include Franklin Delano Roosevelt's third and fourth terms, where victory margins diminished in his third and forth terms.)

== Contemporary Party ==

The contemporary Republican Party represents a wide array of interests such as the conservative evangelicals and the economic libertarians. The party has had some internal conflict over attitudes about how governments should run and how large they should be, what the party stands for, and what the party's attitude towards [[neo-conservatism]] should be especially in regard to foreign policy. The party is also divided over immigration issues with some members (such as George W. Bush) favoring workers visas and permits and some other members favoring strict control of immigration and strong action against illegal immigration.

==Presidents from the party==
# [[Abraham Lincoln]] (1861-1865)
# [[Ulysses S. Grant]] (1869-1877)
# [[Rutherford B. Hayes]] (1877-1881)
# [[James Garfield]] (1881)
# [[Chester A. Arthur]] (1881-1885)
# [[Benjamin Harrison]] (1889-1893)
# [[William McKinley]] (1897-1901)
# [[Theodore Roosevelt]] (1901-1909)
# [[William Howard Taft]] (1909-1913)
# [[Warren G. Harding]] (1921-1923)
# [[Calvin Coolidge]] (1923-1929)
# [[Herbert Hoover]] (1929-1933)
# [[Dwight Eisenhower]] (1953-1961)
# [[Richard Nixon]] (1969-1974)
# [[Gerald Ford]] (1974-1977)
# [[Ronald Reagan]] (1981-1989)
# [[George H. W. Bush]] (1989-1993)
# [[George W. Bush]] (2001-2009)

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:United States]]
[[Category:Political Parties]]

Roman Catholic Church

2007-04-19T01:03:11Z

Jandj:

Catholic means "universal" and the phrase '''Catholic Church''' refers to the belief that all Christians are part of one universal Church, founded by Peter. The term is used with this meaning in the Nicene Creed ("one holy catholic and apostolic church") and Apostle's Creeds ("holy catholic church").

The term "The Catholic Church" refers to any one of several Rites, but in the United States is often used synonymously for the largest Rite, the [[Roman Catholic Church]]. Other Rites include the Byzantine, Alexandrian, Syriac, Armenian, Maronite, and Chaldean Rites. The Eastern rites have significant differences in liturgy, history, discipline and hierarchy from the Roman Catholic Church, but still recognize the primacy of the Bishop of Rome (the [[Pope]]) and are in communion with Rome.

These Eastern Rite churches are Catholic and do not belong to the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] that split from the Catholic Church during the Great Schism of 1054.

The Roman Catholic Church historically regarded Protestant Christianity as heretical, that is, being against Church doctrine. However, this changed in the 1960's when Pope John XXIII called the Second Vatican Council, where the doors of the Church were opened wide, and Protestants referred to as "our separated brethren". This was an exciting period for Catholics and Protestants alike as moves were made to bring the separated churches back together.

The Anglican Church (Episcopalian in the United States) occupies an odd situation, because it encompasses within it factions ("Low Church") that emphasize its Protestant aspects and factions ("High Church") that emphasize its Catholic aspects. Anglo-Catholics regard the Anglican church as part of the Catholic Church, and in the unbroken line of the Apostolic Succession. The Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern branches take a position that could be described as saying that the Anglican Church is almost but not quite Catholic. There have long been unification overtures, and Anglican priests who wish to adopt Catholic Holy Orders are often provided with an abbreviated path to that goal.

==Controversy==

There has been much controversy in recent years about Catholic priests in relation to the abuse of children in their care. Cases of pedophilia and ephebophilia have both been discovered in many churches across the world<ref>http://www.religioustolerance.org/clergy_sex.htm</ref>. Many instances of abuse occurred over long periods of time, with little or no repercussion for priests involved. In some cases, bishops were aware of the abuse but did not effectively deal with it, allowing the abusive priest to continue to remain in contact with minors.

This issue is troubling to all Catholics, but not solely because some priests, about two percent, are taking advantage of their position of authority to entice children under the age of 18 into having sex. The problem is not strictly due to celibacy. There are scattered incidents on the other side of the Reformation divide. The married pastor of a large Protestant Megachurch in Bellevue, Washington recently resigned after similar allegations. What makes the Catholic ones so controversial is that some bishops are moving these priests around, pawning them off on unsuspecting parishes instead of taking them out of the ministry altogether. This has resulted in lawsuits that threaten to bankrupt entire archdioceses, bringing great discouragement to the faithful Catholic giver.

==External links==

*[http://tcrnews2.com/VaticanCouncil2.html The Reasons for the Second Vatican Council]
*[http://tcrnews2.com/vonbalthasarfathers.html The Fathers, the Scholastics, and Ourselves ]
*[http://tcrnews2.com/predestination.html Ruminating on Laughter, Predestination, Mystery ]
<references/>
[[Category:Christianity]]