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Ronald Wilson Reagan

2007-03-13T17:59:10Z

PaleyWasRight:

[[Image:Gorbachev reagan bush.gif|right|250px|thumb]]
'''Ronald Wilson Reagan '''(February 6, 1911- June 5, 2004) was the fortieth President of the United States from 1981 to 1989, following Democrat [[Jimmy Carter]] and preceding Republican [[George H. W. Bush]]. Considered by some conservatives to be the greatest American President, Ronald Reagan is often credited with leading America peacefully through the Cold War, lowering taxes (despite supporting major tax increases in the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act and the Highway Revenue Act)[http://www.nationalreview.com/nrof_bartlett/bartlett200310290853.asp], promoting a free economy, and staunchly opposing socialism and communism.

Perhaps most controversially, Reagan is often credited by conservatives for ending the Cold War in victory for the United States. Historian Tony Judt in ''Postwar'' credits Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, while the political scientist Jan Kubik presents a viewpoint that credits [[Pope John Paul II]][http://praguepost.com/articles/2007/02/28/letters-to-the-editor.php]. Other historians contend structural weaknesses within the Communist bloc meant Reagan's actions were inconsequential to the end of communism. This is the view adopted by Russians themselves, and most political historians, citing [''perestroika''] and [''glasnost''] as beginning an inevitable slow fading of central power, and a collapse by irreconcilable differences between the central Soviet [[Politburo]] and the constituent republics, especially the [[Ukraine]].<ref>David Remnick, "Lenin's Tomb</ref>

Reagan was strongly opposed to the concept of big government, advocating a reduction in the size and budget of the federal government, although during his terms in office the government size and budget both increased rather than decreasing. During his terms in office, he faced a divided government split between Republican and Democratic control. Reagan also served two terms as governor of [[California]] from 1967–1975. He is often referred to as "The Great Communicator".

In one of his most famous challenges to Soviet communism in Europe, Reagan gave a speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin in which he said, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." However, critics noted that Gorbachev, as the leader of the Soviet Union, did not actually have the final say in the status of the Berlin Wall, since it was located entirely on the territory of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), and thus at the discretion of East German party leader Erich Honecker, who stubbornly resisted Gorbachev's exhortations for reform.

Reagan's economic policies became known as "Reaganomics" based the idea tax cuts would spur savings ansd investment. In the 1980 Republican primary debates, George H.W. Bush, later Reagan's running mate and successor as president, criticized Reagan's "trickle-down" policies as "voodoo economics."

==Early Life==
Reagan was born and raised in Illinois and attended Eureka College, where he quickly developed a reputation as a "jack of all trades", excelling in the areas of athletics and theater. In his first year at Eureka, the president of the college tried to cut back the faculty. Reagan immediately helped organize a student strike. He became a radio sports announcer after graduation, and then a famous actor, leading the Film Actors Guild (FAG). Ironically, Reagan was thus the only president to ever lead a [[labor union]], traditionally considered bastions of liberalism. (It should be noted that Reagan considered himself a liberal during the early parts of his life). Reagan wanted to enlist in the military during World War II, but his eyesight was not good enough. Instead, he heroically used his acting skills to make military training films <ref>http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/06/05/reagan.obit/index.html</ref>.

==Governor of California==
In 1966, he was elected the 33rd Governor of California. In 1970, he was re-elected. But in 1974, he chose not to seek a third term. Achievements during his terms included:

*Fighting the People's Park protests

*Opposing the Dos Rios Dam

==Presidency==
In 1968, Reagan ran for president in the Republican primaries. However, [[Richard Nixon]] easily beat him. In 1976, he challenged the incumbent president from his own party, [[Gerald Ford]] unsuccessfully (though he received 307 write-in votes in the general election from New Hampshire, 388 from Wyoming, and one electorate vote from Washington). Then, in 1980, he beat [[George H. W. Bush]] in the Republican primaries, and went on to oppose [[Jimmy Carter]] (incumbent) in the general election with G.H.W. Bush as his running mate. A poor economy and the incumbents failing to deal with several international crisis's aided Reagan. As he put it, "I'm told I can't use the word depression. Well, I'll tell you the definition. A recession is when your neighbor loses his job; depression is when you lose your job. Recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his." In the general election, he received 50.7% of the popular vote and 90.9% of the electoral.

Once in office, Reagan showed he was playing hardball. When the [[Federal Air Traffic Controllers]] struck illegally, Reagan gave them 48 hours before he fired all who hadn't gone back to work (11,359).

In 1984, Reagan won 49 out of 50 states' electoral votes. During his second term, he helped end the [[Cold War]], with the help of [[Mikhail Gorbachev]].

==Presidential Legacy==
Reagan's 1983 Strategic Defense Initiative became popularly known as "Star Wars," the name given to it by critics because they thought it was pure fantasy like the popular George Lucas films. This plan was never actually instituted. Although billions of dollars have been spent on development, no space-based missile defense system has ever been tested successfully. While supporters of Reagan claim SDI gave the United States a large amount of leverage in its standoff with the [[Soviet Union]], most political scientists and historians note that Star Wars played a fairly minor role in the calculus of Soviet policy-making, where internal structural problems were paramount.

===Debt===

Reagan was not the first President to increase the national debt -- in fact, the nation's first debts were incurred during the Revolutionary War. Nor did his Presidency see the largest increases -- while the debt increased by 160% during his two terms in office, it increased as a greater rate during World War II. However, the recent history of the national debt is intimately tied to Reagan. Fueled by tax cuts and a large defense build-up, the debt grew to record-setting levels during his tenure, and his administration saw the beginning of the current, relaxed attitude towards large deficits.

By the end of Reagan's second term, the national debt had reached $2.6 trillion. Perhaps the best way to consider the size of the national debt, however, is in terms of national gross national product -- comparing the size of the debt to the size of the economy. Under Reagan, the debt reached 53% of GNP, its highest level since WWII.

Perhaps the most important aspect of Reagan's treatment of the debt was simply the example it created. The Reagan years fostered the idea that deficits don't matter, ensuring that his legacy of debt would continue to grow.<ref>http://www.reagandebt.com/</ref>

==Miscellaneous Facts==
*Reagan's 1994 announcement that he had Alzheimer's Disease brought large amounts of public attention to the disease.

*Reagan was a lifeguard for seven years growing up, and was said to have saved 77 people <ref>http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2004/reagan/stories/bio.part.one/index.html</ref>.

*The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum is located in Simi Valley, California <ref>http://www.reaganfoundation.org/visitorguide/hours_directions.asp</ref>.

*Reagan is also the only president ever to have starred in a film co-starring a chimpanzee, "Bedtime for Bonzo" (1951).

*Reagan was the first president to break the "[[Curse of Tippecanoe]]"

*At 69, Reagan was the oldest man elected to the presidency.

*Reagan was rejected for a part due to "not having the presidential look" for the film, [[The Best Man (1964 film)|The Best Man]]

*Reagan loved jelly beans <ref>http://www.jellybelly-uk.com/pages/q&a/trivia.shtml</ref>. The blueberry flavor was made in his honor. [[Jelly Belly]] even created a [http://www.jellybelly-uk.com/pages/q&a/bean_art_gallery.shtml Ronald Reagan portrait out of jelly beans].

==References==
<references/>

==External Links==
*[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101040614-646317,00.html Time Magazine Article on ''The All-American President'']
*[http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/rr40.html White House Official Page]
*[http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/ Reagan's Presidential Library]
*[http://imdb.com/name/nm0001654/ Actor Bio At IMDB]
*[http://www.ronaldreaganmemorial.com/ Official Memorial]

[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]

Lee Strobel

2007-03-13T17:53:14Z

PaleyWasRight:

'''Lee Patrick Strobel''' is a former legal reporter for the Chicago Tribune and a Christian author. The logical basis for his 1981 journey from atheism to Christianity is discussed in his book ''The Case For Christ'' (Zondervan, 1998). He has expanded on this with other similarly themed Christian apologetics books such as ''The Case For Faith'', ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' and ''The Case For a Creator''.

Wii

2007-03-13T17:51:20Z

PaleyWasRight:

A games console launched in 2006 by [[Nintendo]]. Its major selling point is the inclusion of a motion sensitive controller called a "Wiimote". Popular games for Wii include [[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess]] and [[Wii Sports]].

Potsdam Proclamation

2007-03-13T17:47:50Z

PaleyWasRight:

President Truman and the Allied Powers issued the Potsdam Proclamation on July 25, 1945 to the Japanese government warning of "prompt and utter destruction" if it did not surrender immediately. Afterwards, Truman dropped 27 million leaflets over Japanese cities with the same warning. The Japanese ignored them and showed no interest in surrendering. If the Japanese had shown any interest in ending the war, then the atomic bomb would not have been dropped and many lives spared. However, the Japanese wanted to keep fighting as surrender is seen as highly dishonourable under the ancient [[Samurai]] code of [[Bushido]]

Bob Dylan

2007-03-13T17:39:46Z

PaleyWasRight:

Bob Dylan (birth name Robert Zimmerman), is one of the towering figures of American music, and has made contributions to many musical genres, including [[Rock music|Rock]], [[Country Music|Country]], and [[Rhythm and Blues|R&B]]. He has also, though some may have forgotten it, made enormous contributions to [[Christian music]] and [[Gospel]], particularly through two of his albums, [[Slow Train Coming]], and [[Saved]], released after his public declaration of his [[Christianity]].

Robert Zimmerman was born into a Jewish family on May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota.

Netherlands

2007-03-13T17:28:35Z

PaleyWasRight:

The Netherlands is a country in [[Europe]]. It is bordered by [[Belgium]] and [[Germany]], and has a total population of approximately 16 million (2007).

As its name implies, it is a very low-lying country. About a quarter of the land area, containing more than half of the population, is actually below sea level, and would flood if the sea were not held back by a system of dikes.

A major breach of the dikes occurred in 1953, killing 1800 people.

Amsterdam, named for the Amstel river, is the largest city, and officially the capital (although the seat of government is actually in The Hague). It is traversed by an extensive system of canals.

Eindhoven is the location of the giant electronics corporation, Philips (full name: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.), with annual revenue equivalent to about $40 billion. (The U.S. corporation General Electric has revenues of about $150 billion, but much of it is from non-electronics businesses).

The Netherlands has long been famous for its production of flowers, and also for a related economic event, the "tulip mania" of 1636-1637. A classic example of a "bubble," tulips were traded on stock exchanges, and bid up to fantastic prices by people who understood that the prices were crazy but hoped to sell at a profit to even crazier investors. As with all bubbles, when bidding began to lag, people tried to sell and the bubble burst.

The Netherlands is also famous for its open-mindedness reflected in its [[liberal]] legislation. Examples are organized prostitution in designated areas of major cities, such as Amsterdam's Red Light District, the legal soft drugs sold in the country's many coffee shops, wide [[abortion]] rights, same-sex marriages and euthanasia. Amsterdam is a popular holiday destination for recreational drug-use which is illegal in other countries.

[[Image:Netherlands_map.gif]]

[[Category:Countries]]

Monica Lewinsky

2007-03-13T12:53:37Z

PaleyWasRight:

An intern in the [[Bill Clinton|Clinton]] [[White House]], who had a relationship with President Clinton that he subsequently lied about while under oath. He didn't actually lie, but instead exploited a technicality in the definition of sex the investigation was using, by which Monica Lewinsky had had sex with him, but he had not had sex with Monica Lewinsky (he famously penetrated Lewinsky's vagina with a Cuban cigar, not his own erect penis). This led to President Clinton's [[impeachment]].

Monica Lewinsky

2007-03-13T12:53:14Z

PaleyWasRight:

Kangaroo

2007-03-13T12:44:40Z

PaleyWasRight:

[[Image:Kangaroo-bree.png|right|Eastern Gray Kangaroo (''Macropus giganteus'')]]

'''Kangaroos''' are the largest [[Marsupials]] alive today. They currently are native to the continent of [[Australia]]. There are four different sub-kinds in the kangaroo [[baramin]]: the Western Gray Kangaroo, the Eastern Gray Kangaroo, the Red Kangaroo, and the Antilopine Kangaroo.

==Description==

Kangaroos have large ears on top of their small heads, a long snout, and short arms with clawed fingers. Their legs are strong and powerful, clearly designed by God with leaping in mind. Their feet have four toes at the end of elongated metatarsi that they rest on when standing. They also have a powerful, thick tail that is used as support when standing, a third-leg when walking slowly, and for counterbalance while leaping. Like all Marsupials, female kangaroos have a pouch on their stomachs in which they carry their young.

===Diet===

Kangaroos are [[herbivores]], eating grass, roots, and shrubs. They have a chambered stomach similar to [[sheep]] and [[cattle]]. They are able to regurgitate their food, chew it again as [[cud]], and then swallow it for digestion.

===Social Order===

Kangaroos travel in [[mob | mobs]] of about ten or more males and females. The leader of the mob, called a "boomer", is a male determined by age and size. The boomer has access to females in his mob for mating and will wander around the mob intimidating any other males who try to mate with his harem.

===Reproduction===

Male kangaroos will go around the mob checking the females’ [[cloaca]]. Many times, males are rejected by the females because of size if they are small. In other cases, if a larger male is checking a female out, she may just move away. Sometimes, when a male is checking out a female, the female will urinate for the male, who will sniff the urine. Some studies show that this ritual is for the male to see if the female kangaroo is receptive to him or not.

If the female is responsive to the male, she raises her tail and the male will follow her. Sometimes the kangaroos will scratch each other’s tails or the male will give the female a back rub before mating. When the female is ready to mate she will arch her tail.

Female kangaroos usually only have one baby kangaroo (called a "joey") at a time. The newborn joey weigh as little as .03 ounces when first born, after which it crawls into its mothers pouch where it will nurse, grow, and develop. They spend a lot of time in their mothers pouch developing. The Red Kangaroo joey will stay in their mothers pouch for about eight months and Gray Kangaroo joeys stay in there for about a year.

==Origins==

According to the origins theory model used by [[creation science | creation scientists]], modern kangaroos, like all modern animals, originated in the [[Middle East]]<ref>[http://biblicalstudies.qldwide.net.au/cs-kangaroos_dinosaurs_and_eden.html "Kangaroos, Dinosaurs, and Eden"], Ken Ham.</ref> and are the descendants of the two founding members of the modern kangaroo baramin that were taken aboard [[Noah's Ark]] prior to the [[Great Flood]]. It has not yet been determined by [[baraminology | baraminologists]] whether kangaroos form a [[holobaramin]] with the [[wallaby]], [[tree-kangaroo]], [[wallaroo]], [[pademelon]] and [[quokka]], or if all these species are in fact [[apobaramin | apobaraminic]] or [[polybaramin | polybaraminic]].

Also according to creation science, after the Flood, kangaroos bred from the Ark passengers migrated to Australia. There is debate whether this migration happened over land<ref name="ca1">[http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/aig-c006.html "How did animals get from the Ark to isolated places, such as Australia?"], ChristianAnswers.net.</ref> -- as Australia was still for a time connected to the Middle East before the supercontinent of [[Pangea]] broke apart<ref>[http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v16/i1/plate.asp "What about continental drift?"], Answers In Genesis</ref> -- or if they [[rafting (ecology) | rafted]] on mats of vegetation torn up by the receding flood waters.<ref name="ca1"/>

Other views on kangaroo origins include the belief of some Australian [[aborigines]] that kangaroos were sung into existence by their ancestors during the "[[Dreamtime]]" <ref>[http://www.painsley.org.uk/RE/signposts/y8/1-1creationandenvironment/c-abor.htm "An Aborigine Creation Story"]</ref> and that kangaroos and the other marsupials evolved from a common marsupial ancestor which lived millions of years ago.<ref>http://www.accessexcellence.org/AE/AEPC/WWC/1995/australia.html</ref>

It should be noted that these incredibly persuasive arguments on the origins of Kangaroos are not scientific viewpoints, but religious theories.

== Footnotes ==
<references/>

[[Category:Biology]]

Potsdam Proclamation

2007-03-13T12:33:00Z

PaleyWasRight:

President Truman and the Allied Powers issued the Potsdam Proclamation on July 25, 1945 to the Japanese government warning of "prompt and utter destruction" if it did not surrender immediately. Afterwards, Truman dropped 27 million leaflets over Japanese cities with the same warning. The Japanese ignored them and showed no interest in surrendering. If the Japanese had shown any interest in ending the war, then the atomic bomb would not have been dropped. But the Japanese wanted to keep fighting. Truman was heard to scream "Boom Headshot!" and cackle manically when told how many civilians he had killed.