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Bill Clinton

2008-09-14T12:21:30Z

Q-wert:

{{President
|image=billclinton.jpg
|seq=42
|term_start=January 20, 1993
|term_end=January 20, 2001<ref>http://home.comcast.net/~sharonday7/Presidents/AP060301.htm</ref>
|party=Democratic
|vp=Al Gore
|previous=George H. W. Bush
|next=George W. Bush
|birth_date=August 19, 1946
|birth_place=Hope, Arkansas
|death_date=
|death_place=
|spouse=[[Hillary Rodham Clinton]]
|spouse2=
|religion=[[Baptist]]
}}
'''William Jefferson''' "Bill" '''Clinton''' '''(August 19, 1946 - present)''' served two terms as the 42nd [[President of the United States of America]] from 1993-2000, following [[George H. W. Bush]] and preceding [[George W. Bush]].

== Early Life ==

Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946 in Hope, [[Arkansas]]. His father, William Jefferson Blythe Jr. died in a car accident while his mother was pregnant with him. Clinton's mother later married Roger Clinton, and the four year-old William was given his stepfather's name.<ref>http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html</ref>

Clinton was active in high school, participating in various student government organizations as well as playing the saxophone. Roger Clinton, however, made Bill's family life unpleasant by repeatedly abusing Clinton's mother and her children. Bill Clinton would eventually stand up to his stepfather in high school, forcing his stepfather to stop beating his mother and kicking him out of the house.<ref>http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=50652</ref> After Roger Clinton underwent alcohol rehabilitation, he would eventually rejoin the family.

Clinton attended [[Georgetown University]], then [[Oxford University]] after receiving a prestigious [[Rhodes Scholarship]]. He also then earned a Juris Doctorate from [[Yale University]] in 1973. At Yale he met [[Hillary Clinton|Hillary Rodham]], whom he would later marry.<ref>http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html</ref>

== Early Political Career ==

After returning to live in Arkansas, Clinton was elected [[Attorney General]] of Arkansas in 1976. Two years later, he was elected Governor of Arkansas, becoming the youngest governor in the country at 32 years-old. Though defeated in 1980, Clinton won back the governorship in 1982 and held it until becoming President in 1992.

In December 1989 a three-judge district federal court held Bill Clinton's state-wide legislative reapportionment plan violated Section 2 of the [[Voting Rights Act|Voting Rights Act of 1965]], 42 U.S.C. 1973. 1990 the [[Supreme Court]] of the United States found in the case of ''[[Clinton vs Jeffers]]'' <ref>Findings of the Supreme Court of the United States in [http://www.usdoj.gov/osg/briefs/1990/sg900402.txt Clinton vs Jeffers] No. 90-394 (1990) on appeal 730 F. Supp. 196, 198-201 (ED Ark. 1989) (three-judge court), aff'd, No. 89-2008 (Jan. 7, 1991).</ref> the former Arkansas Governor and [[Democratic]] president had violated the Voting Rights Act. The Justices findings were,

{{Cquote|Bill Clinton does not dispute here -- that "violations of the [[Fourteenth amendment|fourteenth]] or [[fifteenth amendment]] justifying equitable relief have occurred in Arkansas."

In May 1990, the district court turned to those claims, holding that "the State of Arkansas has committed a number of constitutional violations of the voting rights of black citizens." J.S. App. A5. In particular, the court determined that the "State has systematically and deliberately enacted new majority-vote requirements for municipal offices, in an effort to frustrate black political success in elections traditionally requiring only a plurality to win." In 1990...Devotion to majority rule for local offices lay dormant as long as the plurality system produced white office-holders. But whenever black candidates used this system successfully -- and victory by a plurality has been virtually their only chance of success in at-large elections in majority-white cities – the response was swift and certain. Laws were passed in an attempt to close off this avenue of black political victory.}}

The court therefore concluded that

{{Cquote|This series of laws represents a systematic and deliberate attempt to reduce black political opportunity. Such an attempt is plainly unconstitutional. It replaces a system in which blacks could and did succeed, with one in which they almost certainly cannot. The inference of [[bigotry|racial motivation]] is inescapable.}}

===Early Scandals===
Clinton was known to have been involved in several scandals while Governor of Arkansas. He allegedly used Arkansas state policemen to arrange for him to meet women outside of marriage.{{fact}}

His close personal business partnerships with James and Susan McDougall in a failed Savings and Loan business venture led to investigation of the [[Whitewater]] affair. Several of the people involved with the sale of land prior to the Clinton presidency were indicted, but prosecutors were never able to charge the Clintons with a crime because Susan McDougall would not cooperate with investigators. Clinton later pardoned Susan McDougall for her role in the Whitewater affair.{{fact}}

== Presidency==
[[Image:Somalia.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Poster to end the "[[racist]] occupation of Somalia"; eighteen US soldiers were killed and some of their bodies were dragged through the streets.<ref>[http://www.netnomad.com/fineman.html The Oil Factor in Somalia]: Four American [[Big Oil|Petroleum Giants]] had Agreements with the African Nation before its Civil War began. They could reap big rewards if peace is restored. By Mark Fineman, ''Times Mirror Company'', January 18, 1993.</ref>]]
Clinton won in the [[United States presidential election of 1992]] with 43% of the popular vote versus President [[George H. W. Bush]]'s 37%, capitalizing on public discontent with a weak economy and public displeasure with Bush's proposed tax increases; third candidate Ross Perot managed 19%.

In his first two years in office, 1993 through 1994, popular outcry against Clinton's [[radical]] health-care "reform" scheme led to failure of the plan. The collapse of the Soviet Bloc only a few years earlier made [[socialism]] unpopular and was credited for the widespread disillusionment with the proposal. The approach consisted of appointing secret members to an [[economic planning|economic planning committee]] to reshape this important sector of the economy.{{fact}} The [[Association of American Physicians and Surgeons]] successfully sued to force disclosure of the committee financing, expenses and membership. The program ultimately became so unpopular that after two years, the Democratic-controlled Congress shielded its committee members' records by never bringing it to the floor for a vote.

In 1994, voters expressed their high disapproval of several decades of Democratic control of Congress by giving a victory to Republicans. This event was tagged the "Republican Revolution," and began a series of showdowns with the Republican-led Congress.{{fact}} These showdowns were epitomized by the budget conflict with then-Speaker of the House [[Newt Gingrich]] in 1995. Gingrich refused to pass Clinton's budget proposal, and the latter threatened to shut down the government as Reagan had done in the 1980s. Clinton did not back down, however, and eventually had his budget passed.<ref>http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/commentprint082800d.html</ref> This showdown backfired for the Republicans, as it reinvigorated Clinton's flagging approval ratings.<ref>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Clinton_approval_rating.JPG</ref>

In 1994 a [[Pentagon]] researcher in the Clinton Administration requested funding to develop a non-lethal "love bomb" that would chemically alter the state of mind of [[enemy combatant]]s and make them want to have sex with each other rather than fight.<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,281217,00.html Air Force Considered Gay 'Love Bomb' Against Enemies], ''Fox'', June 12, 2007.</ref>

In late 1995, President Clinton dispatched some 20,000 U.S. troops to [[Bosnia]].

Clinton is well known for his good economic policies and leaving office with a three trillion dollar surplus, the first surplus since before WWII.

Clinton was known for his positive and outspoken tolerance of [[homosexuality]]. <ref>[http://www.behindthebadge.net/articles/a105.html]</ref>

==1996==

Clinton was reelected in the [[United States presidential election of 1996]] and carried 49.2% of the popular vote against Republican candidate ([[Robert Dole | Bob Dole]]), who won 41%, and "populist" candidate, [[H. Ross Perot]], who won 8%. During Clinton's second term, together with the Republican-controlled Congress, he produced record federal budget surpluses reaching $236 billion by the year 2000, and representing a net federal budget gain of $526 billion.<ref>[http://www.uuforum.org/deficit.htm Congressional Budget Office figures]</ref>

He spent much of the remainder of his presidency combating scandals. A special prosecutor's report was not released until well into Clinton's second term, and brought documented evidence of Clinton giving false testimony in the Paula Jones civil lawsuit while President which resulted in his impeachment and disbarment from the legal profession.{{fact}} The main charge was that he had committed perjury in a civil suit. The perjured testimony directly related to an attempt to defraud the plaintiff of damages. The Senate failed to make clear what constitutes high crimes and misdemeanors.<ref>[http://www.australianpolitics.com/usa/clinton/trial/statements/lieberman.shtml Statement by Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut)], Congressional Record for Friday, February 12, 1999.</ref>

In 1998 the [[Good Friday Agreement]] was signed between Northern Ireland's Nationalist and Unionist parties and the British and Irish governments. Clinton took part in brokering the deal, phoning the participants in negotiations, at Senator Mitchel's behest, and hosted Unionist and Nationalist leaders at the White House.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/04/10/nclinton.ireland.api/]</ref>

== 1998 ==
President Clinton signed into law H.R. 4655, the [[Iraq]] Liberation Act. This act declares that it should be the policy of the [[United States]] to seek to remove the [[Saddam Hussein]] regime from power in Iraq and to replace it with a democratic government. Also that same year, Saddam had kicked out UN weapons inspectors and President Clinton ordered aerial bombings of key targets. Under President Clinton, the US Military was patrolling two Iraqi no-fly zones, one in southern Iraq, the other over Northern Iraq.

===al-Qaeda bombing===

During Clinton's presidency the [[terrorist]] group [[al-Qaeda]] conducted the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, simultaneous bombings of the US embassies in [[Kenya]] and [[Tanzania]] in 1998, and the attack on the [[USS Cole]] in 2000. Terrorist leader [[Osama bin Laden]]<ref>[http://www.bannerofliberty.com/OS8-98MQC/8-24-1998.1.html Did Bill Clinton Smooth the Way for Bin Laden to Become the World's Most Successful Terrorist?], Mary Mostert, Original Sources, August 24, 1998.</ref> issued two public [[fatwa]]s declaring War on America.<ref>[http://www.kimsoft.com/2001/binladenwar.htm Bin Laden's Declaration of War], 1998.</ref> In the 1998 fatwa <ref>Bernard Lewis, [http://www.msu.edu/course/iss/325/stein/read-325-3.htm#Lewis License to Kill], Foreign Affairs, November/December 1998.</ref> bin Laden told ''[[Jihad|jihadist]]s'' worldwide,
{{Cquote|Clinton appeared in front of the whole world threatening and promising revenge, but these threats were merely a preparation for withdrawal. You have been disgraced by [[Allah]] and you withdrew; the extent of your impotence and weaknesses became very clear. It was a pleasure for the "heart" of every Muslim and a remedy to the "chests" of believing nations to see you defeated in the three Islamic cities of Beirut, [[Aden]] and [[Mogadishu]].<ref>[http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/context.jsp?item=a1097mohamedinterview&scale=0#a1097mohamedinterview October 1997: [[Ali Mohamed]] Tells FBI He Helped Al-Qaeda Kill US Soldiers, But FBI Takes No Action]</ref>}}

Bin Laden told ''ABC News'' at the time, "We do not have to differentiate between military or civilian. As far as we are concerned, they are all targets." <ref>The 9-11 Commission Report, [http://www.gpoaccess.gov/911/pdf/sec2.pdf2. The Foundation of the New Terrorism], Official Government Edition, GPO, 2004.</ref>
===Cruise missiles to manipulate opinion polls===
Suspicions often arose during Clinton's tenure about the timing of [[cruise missile]] attacks to manipulate public sympathy at crucial points when his approval ratings sagged. On several occasions <ref>[http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NzhjODk1ODg4M2NiODU4Yzc3YWE1OTA1MDNmYWQ5M2Y= The Facts About Clinton and Terrorism], Byron York, ''National Review Online'', September 11, 2006. </ref> generally when the approval ratings dipped to 47%, surprise cruise missile attacks<ref>[http://www.fas.org/news/iraq/1998/12/21/wwwh8d21.html Airstrikes Against Iraq: 'What Happens Now?'], U.S. Information Agency ''Daily Digest'', December 21, 1998.</ref> were launched which resulted in a 10 point gain in the public opinion polls. Nick Gillespie of ''Reason'' remarked,
{{Cquote|Consider, for instance, the relative lack of scrutiny accorded the August 20 cruise missile attacks on Afghanistan and [[Sudan]] … immediately after the bombing, polls showed that close to half of all Americans thought the missile strikes were meant to divert attention from the president's sex life… the Sudanese bombing suggests something else as well: If and when the public's and the media's attention shifts from the president's sex life to wider-ranging inquiries about how he makes deadly serious policy decisions…"<ref>[http://www.reason.com/news/show/30827.html Bombs Away - Troubling questions about the U.S. attack on Sudan], ''Reason'', December 1998.</ref>}}

Clinton also signed into law the [[Violence Against Women Act]], which opened the federal courts to claims of domestic disputes between men and women, which had always been handled under state rather than federal law. Portions regarding civil rights remedies were later found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff was John Podesta between 1998-2001.

Clinton left office with an approval rating of 65%, the highest of any modern president, and remains the only modern president to leave office with a higher approval rating than he had when he took office.<ref>[http://uspolitics.about.com/od/polls/l/bl_historical_approval.htm Presidential Approval Ratings]</ref>

===Impeachment===
On Aug. 17, 1998, after relentless media attention, leaks, and news of White House intern [[Monica Lewinsky]]'s upcoming testimony regarding her extramarital affair with the President, Clinton made history by becoming the first U.S. president to testify in front of a grand jury in an investigation of his own possibly criminal conduct. In an address to the nation, he admitted to having misled the public and a Federal Court over keys elements of testimony. [[Kenneth Starr]], a special prosecutor appointed to investigate the case, was instructed to pursue the matter.

In the second term Clinton was accused of perjury in connection to the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit. Clinton adviser and close confidant [[George Stephanopoulos]] said publicly that there would be a "scorched-earth policy" if Clinton were impeached.<ref>[http://www.alamo-girl.com/02742.htm Insight Magazine], J Michael Waller, 6/19/00.</ref> Clinton previously had decried the "politics of personal destruction."<ref>[http://www.jewishworldreview.com/weekly/standard072299.asp Bill Clinton, Historian], Peter Wehner, Jewish World Review July 22, 1999.</ref>

During the impeachment trial, pornographer [[Larry Flynt]], an old friend of Clinton advisers [[James Carville]] and [[Strobe Talbott]], publicly offered a $1 million reward for any information about the personal lives of members of Congress that could be used for the purposes of blackmail.

In the end Clinton was tried in the Senate for two counts: "perjury" and "obstruction of justice" (the house turned down another two counts: the most serious "abuse of power" as well as another count of "perjury" in connection with the Paula Jones case). The senate impeachment vote fell roughly according to party lines with all Democrats voting "not guilty" on both counts - joined by 5 and 10 "left-leaning" republicans in the two cases, respectively (making the counts 55-45 and 50-50 in favor of the verdicts). Although in the former case a majority of Senators voted to convict, two thirds majority being necessary to remove him from office.

[[David Gergen]], former White House Communications Director for both Presidents Reagan and Clinton, summarized the sentiments of many regarding the President's conduct:
{{Cquote|The deep and searing violation took place when he not only lied to the country, but co-opted his friends and lied to them....when you have gone over the line, you won't bring others into it...You don't foul the nest."<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/quinn110298.htm In Washington, That Letdown Feeling], By Sally Quinn, ''The Washington Post'', November 2, 1998, Page E01</ref>}}

Clinton lost his law license in Arkansas because he had committed perjury before a Federal judge.

It was during this scandal that Clinton famously stated: "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is".<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/21/newsid_2525000/2525339.stm</ref>

===Terrorist pardons===

On August 11, 1999, President Clinton offered clemency to members of the [[Armed Forces of National Liberation]] (FALN) [[terrorist]] group. <ref>[http://rpc.senate.gov/_files/92199CoddlingTerrorists.pdf U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee] testimony available at http://www.senate.gov/~judiciary/wl91599.htm, ''The Tampa Tribune'', S.J.Res. 33 (passed 95-2).</ref> On January 24, 1975 the FALN bombed Fraunces Tavern in Manhattan killing four people. Over a six-year period, the group claimed responsibility for more than 100 bombings that took six lives and injured some 130 people.<ref>[http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/puertorico/sep4.htm Clinton Pardons Terror], ''New York Post'', August 13, 1999. rtetrieve from http://www.latinamericanstudies.org September 14, 2007.</ref>

== Legacy ==

Clinton has spent much of time since leaving office working for charitable causes such as support and fund-raising for the victims of AIDS and the Asian tsunami. In the case of the Indian Ocean tsunami, he teamed with former president [[George H.W. Bush]] to raise money for relief efforts.

Bill Clinton's wife, [[Hillary_Rodham_Clinton|Hillary Clinton]], was elected Senator to New York in 2000. She was reelected in 2006. While his wife is now seeking financial donations for the [[2008_Presidential_Election#Declared_Democratic_Party_Candidates|Democratic presidential nomination in 2008]] may face a felony conviction that carries with it a five year sentence, according to WorldNetDaily, for receiving $1.9 million to her Senate Campaign in illegal donations,<ref>[http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55320 'Smoking gun' tape indicts Hillary] Art Moore, WorldNetDaily.com, April 21, 2007.</ref> Bill Clinton has refused to make known the identities of financial donors to his Presidential library.<ref>[http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/09/clinton-libary-.html Clinton Library Donors Remain Secret], [[ABC News]], September 27, 2007.</ref>

==Involvement in Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign==

Clinton has been criticized by both liberals and conservatives for his actions in his wife's presidential campaign. [[Time Magazine]], hardly a conservative source, referred to him as "his wife's attack dog". <ref>http://media.www.tuftsdaily.com/media/storage/paper856/news/2008/01/28/OpEd/Editorial.On.The.Campaign.Trail.Bill.Clinton.Should.Keep.His.Mouth.Shut-3171498.shtml</ref> Some accused him of racism for comparing [[Barack Obama]] to [[Jesse Jackson]] when Bill Clinton commented on the campaign trail in [[South Carolina]] in 2008: "Jesse Jackson won South Carolina in '84 and '88. Jackson ran a good campaign. And Obama ran a good campaign here." <ref>http://www.rightwingnews.com/mt331/2008/01/jesse_jackson_barack_obama_wha.php</ref> Time Magazine further editorialized that he had broken his strong bond with the African-American community in the process of campaigning. <ref>Time Magazine, February 4, 2008</ref>

Clinton received a "Pants on Fire" award from [[PolitiFact]] for denying that he said the Obama campaign "played the race card." <ref> http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/452/ Denies that he said the Obama campaign "played the race card."
</ref>

Clinton received a second "Pants on Fire" award from [[PolitiFact]] for this false statement to a Boonville, Indiana
crowd on April 10th, 2008. {{cquote| Hillary (Clinton), one time late at night when she was exhausted, misstated and immediately apologized for it, what happened to her in Bosnia in 1995.}} <ref> http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/428/ "Hillary (Clinton), one time late at night when she was exhausted, misstated and immediately apologized for it, what happened to her in Bosnia in 1995."</ref>

==See also==
*[[Institute for Policy Studies]]
*[[Gay Bomb]]

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

==External links==
<small>
*[http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=625 No evidence of genocide or ethnic cleansing in Kosovo], by Rollie Keith, Global Research, July 2, 2005.
*[http://www.zmag.org/crisescurevts/germandocs.htm Internal Documents from Germany's Foreign Office Regarding Pre-Bombardment Genocide in Kosovo].
*[http://www.aim.org/wls/author/bill-clinton/ What Liberals Say - Bill Clinton], [[Accuracy In Media]].</small>

{{USPresidents}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clinton, Bill}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]
[[Category:Arkansas Governors]]
[[Category:Democrat Governors]]

Denmark

2007-05-12T21:55:05Z

Q-wert: /* Sport */

'''Denmark''' is a country in [[Scandinavia]].

Full name: Kingdom of Denmark

Population: 5.4 million (UN, 2005)

Capital: [[Copenhagen]]

Area: 43,098 sq km (16,640 sq miles)

Major language: [[Danish]]

Major religion: [[Christianity]], [[Lutheran]]

Life expectancy: 75 years (men), 79 years (women) (UN)

Monetary unit: 1 [[krone]] = 100 [[ore]]

Main exports: Machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, chemicals

GNI per capita: US $31 050 (World Bank, 2003) [http://globalis.gvu.unu.edu/indicator_detail.cfm?IndicatorID=140&Country=DK]

Internet domain: .dk

International dialling code: +45

==Geography==

Denmark consists of a peninsula from Germany ([[Jutland}}) and a series of islands. The largest of these islands is Zealand, bordering on [[Sweden]]. The capital of Denmark is [[Copenhagen]], with a bridge to [[Malmö]], Sweden.

==Politics==

Queen: Margrethe II

Prime minister: Anders Fogh Rasmussen

Denmark is a democratic, constitutional monarchy. The Danish Prime Minister is Anders Fogh Rasmussen, and is the leader of Venstre (literally: "the left," however, a right-wing party); the party was originally a peasants party that went right wing together with the peasants. Denmark has been a democratic country since the beginning of the twentieth century.

Denmark has free healthcare for all people and free education. That everyone has equal opportunities to education means the academics and leaders come from many backgrounds. This has led to the criticism that Denmark lacks the family dynasties to drive the country forward. Despite this, Denmark has been historically well run.

During the last several years the "Dansk Folkeparti" (da. "Danish People's Party") with leader Pia Kjærsgaard has had enormous success with its anti-[[immigration]] policy. It was initially aimed at preventing [[Arab]] [[Muslim]]s from immigrating through arranged marriage. The new policy's greatest impact however, has been preventing some ethnic [[Danes]] from living with their spouses of other nationalities, including [[American]]s, in Denmark. Denmark is known for its production of pastries known as [[danish]]es.

==Economy==

Denmark has had a socialist economy since the thirties, with strong trade union ensuring that workers have a strong influence over company decisions. It has become one of the world's most successful economies. It has free education and healthcare together with the changing governments ideals of equality and the continued efforts to enable people to raise above their creeds.

Denmark has a [[per capita income]] that exceeds that of the [[United States of America]].

Major Danish companies include [[Novo Nordisk]].

==History==

1397 - Union of Kalmar unites Denmark, Sweden and Norway under a single monarch. Denmark is the dominant power.

1729 - Greenland becomes Danish province.

1814 - Denmark cedes Norway to Sweden.

1849 - Denmark becomes constitutional monarchy; two-chamber parliament established.

The modern period

1914-18 - Denmark is neutral during World War I.

1918 - Universal suffrage comes into effect.

1930s - Welfare state established by governments dominated by social democrats.

1939 - Denmark signs 10-year non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany.

1940 - Nazi invasion meets virtually no initial resistance. Government accepts occupation in exchange for measure of control over domestic affairs.

1943 - A determined campaign by the Danish resistance prompts Germany to take over full control of Danish affairs. Thousands of Danish Jews manage to escape to Sweden.

1945 - Germany surrenders and occupation ends. Denmark recognises Iceland's independence, which had been declared in 1944.

1948 - Faroe Islands granted self-government within the Danish state.

1949 - Denmark joins Nato.

1952 - Denmark becomes founder member of Nordic Council.

1953 - Constitutional change leads to a single-chamber parliament elected by proportional representation; female accession to the Danish throne is permitted; Greenland becomes integral part of Denmark.

1959 - Denmark joins European Free Trade Association.

1972 - Accession of Margrethe II to the Danish throne.

1973 - Denmark joins the [[European Union]] , at that time known as the Euroopean Economic Community.

1979 - Greenland is granted home rule, though does not gain full independence.

1982 - Poul Schlueter becomes first Conservative prime minister for almost a century.

2000 - The Adpoptation of the Euro as the national currency is rejected by 53%. Referenda are held on all major issues in Denmark.

A new bridge is completed, linking Copenhagen with neighbouring Malmo in the south of Sweden.

2001 November - Elections put right-wing coalition led by Anders Fogh Rasmussen into government. Rasmussen campaigned on a pledge to tighten immigration rules and put lid on taxes.

2002 February - New government measures aimed at reducing immigration spark controversy.

2004 August - US and Denmark sign deal to modernise Thule air base on Greenland.

==Society==

Denmark has a ludicrously lax legal system, where criminals are barely punished, but instead they are educated and cared for by what is meant to be a penal system. Fortunately, or as a consequence, Denmark has one of the lowest serious crime rates and reoffending rates in the world.

==Sport==

The principal sport in Denmark is football (soccer). The highlight for the sport was their national team's unexpected victory in the 1992 European Championship. Despite initially failing to qualify for the final tournament, the withdrawal of Yugoslavia enabled them to be called to take their place and eventually win the tournament.

Other sports of note include [[handball]], [[badminton]], [[cycling]], and ice [[hockey]].

==People==

Denmark emerged as the nation with the highest level of happiness in an academic study. Adrian White, from the UK's University of Leicester, used the responses of 80,000 people worldwide to map out subjective well being.

Denmark also has the second tallest population in the world, behind the Netherlands.

[[Category:European Countries]]
[[Category:EU Members]]
[[Category:NATO members]]
[[Category:Scandinavian Countries]]

Netherlands

2007-03-23T00:04:04Z

Q-wert:

[[Image:Netherlands_map.gif|right]]
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," [[tulip]]s 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 [[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 marriage]]s and [[euthanasia]]. Generally the Dutch are regarded some of the most open minded people in the world.

[[Category:Countries]]

Netherlands

2007-03-23T00:03:51Z

Q-wert:

Bill Clinton

2007-03-23T00:00:38Z

Q-wert:

[[Image:billclinton.jpg|thumb|right|300px|United States President Bill Clinton]]
'''William''' "Bill" '''Jefferson Clinton''' served as the 42nd [[President of the United States of America]] from 1993-2001, following [[George H. W. Bush]] and preceding [[George W. Bush]].

== Early Life ==

Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946 AD in Hope, Arkansas. His father, William Jefferson Blythe Jr. died in a car accident while his mother was pregnant with him. Clinton's mother later married Roger Clinton, and the four year-old William was given his stepfather's name.[http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html]

Clinton was active in high school, participating in various student government organizations as well as playing the saxophone. Roger Clinton, however, made Bill's family life unpleasant by repeatedly abusing Clinton's mother and her children.{{fact}} Bill Clinton would eventually stand up to his stepfather in high school, forcing him to stop beating his mother and kicking him out of the house. {{fact}} After Roger Clinton underwent alcohol rehabilitation, he would eventually rejoin the family.

Clinton attended [[Georgetown University]], then [[Oxford University]] after receiving a [[Rhodes Scholarship]], and finally earned a Juris Doctorate from [[Yale University]] in 1973 AD. At Yale he met [[Hillary Rodham]], whom he would later marry [http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html].

== Early Political Career and Whitewater Scandal ==

After returning to live in Arkansas, Clinton was elected [[Attorney General]] of Arkansas in 1976 AD. Two years later, he was elected Governor of Arkansas, becoming the youngest governor in the country as a 32 year-old. Though defeated in 1980 AD, Clinton won back the governorship in 1982 AD and held it until becoming President in 1992 AD. His close personal business partnerships with James McDougall lead to investigation of the [[Whitewater]] case in which both Bill and Hillary Clinton were fully acquitted.

== Presidency and Impeachment==

Despite never winning a majority of the popular vote during either of his elections, President Clinton enjoyed good public approval ratings during parts of his second term.<ref>[http://www.pollingreport.com/clinton-.htm]</ref> Clinton won in 1992 with 43% of the popular vote versus President [[George H. W. Bush's]] 37%, capitalizing on public discontent with a weak economy and public displeasure with Bush's proposed tax increases, and Ross Perot, a popular third candidate. In his first two years in office, 1993 through 1994, Clinton was unable to "reform" health-care in the United States with a [[socialism| socialized]] health-care plan. It was a tough sell in the wake of the collapse of Soviet Bloc only a few years earlier. His approach consisted of appointing a planning committee with secret members to reshape this important sector of the economy.{{fact}} The [[Association of American Physicians and Surgeons]] successfully sued to force disclosure of the committee financing, expenses and membership. The program ultimately became so unpopular after two years the Democratically controlled Congress shielded its members records by never bringing it to floor for a vote.

In 1994, voters expressed their high disapproval of Clinton by giving a victory to Republicans in Congress. This event was tagged the "Republican Revolution," and began a series of showdowns with the Republican-led Congress.{{fact}} These showdowns were epitomized by the budget conflict with then-Speaker of the House [[Newt Gingrich]] in 1995. Gingrich refused to pass Clinton's budget proposal, and the latter threatened to shut down the government as Reagan had done in the 1980s. Clinton did not back down, however, and eventually had his budget passed [http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/commentprint082800d.html]. This showdown backfired for the Republicans, as it reinvigorated Clinton's flagging approval ratings, which would remain above 60% for most of his presidency[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Clinton_approval_rating.JPG]. Clinton was reelected in 1996 with 49.2% of the popular vote against Republican candidate ([[Robert Dole | Bob Dole]]), who won 41%, and "populist" candidate, [[H. Ross Perot]], who won 8%.

Clinton spent part of his second term combating scandals. {{fact}} The special prosecutor's report was not released until well into Clinton's second term, and brought the issue of Clinton giving false testimony in a civil lawsuit while President to light which resulted in his impeachment and disbarment from the legal profession.{{fact}} The main charge was that he lied about a sexual relationship with an intern, Monica Lewinsky, in an attempt to avoid paying damages to another employee, Paula Jones, for sexual harassment (the harrassment charges never led to any trial). Accused of receiving [[fellatio]] from an intern in the Oval Office, his [[semen]] having stained her blue dress, he found guilty of perjury because of his claim that "I did not have [[sex]] with that woman". Clinton became the second sitting president to be impeached by the US House of Representatives. After a brief trial, the Senate failed to make clear what constitutes high crimes and misdemeanors.<ref>http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/02/12/impeachment/</ref> and the US Senate voted not to remove him from office, although he later lost his law license in Arkansas. Abroad the impeachment process had little impact on Clinton's image: despite the trial was widely followed and discussed he remains one of the most popular recent US presidents.

His term saw an increase in terrorism directed at the United States. {{fact}} These incidents included the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, the Alfred P. Murrah building bombing in Oklahoma City in 1995, the bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and the attack on the USS Cole in 2000. {{fact}} Clinton responded by striking back at [[al Qaeda]], the organization responsible for the attacks. {{fact}} He launched cruise missile strikes aimed to kill al Qaeda's leader [[Osama bin Laden]] [http://www.cnn.com/US/9808/20/us.strikes.01/], and began planning to invade [[Afghanistan]] in order to capture bin Laden and overthrow the [[Taliban]] government[http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/nov2001/afgh-n20.shtml].

Clinton also signed into law the [[Violence Against Women Act]], which opened the federal courts to claims of domestic disputes between men and women, which had always been handled under state rather than federal law. {{fact}} A key provision of this law was later ruled unconstitutional in [[United States v. Morrison]].<ref>http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/99-5.ZS.html</ref>

Clinton devoted much time during his two terms to the peace process in Northern Ireland. {{fact}} He made interventions including 3 trips to Ireland during periods of stagnation in negotiations which coincided in major breakthroughs which ensured the province didn't slide back to the violence of the 70's and 80's. {{fact}}

== After the Presidency ==

Clinton has spent much of time since leaving office working for charitable causes such as support and fund-raising for the victims of AIDS and the Asian tsunami.

Bill Clinton's wife, [[Hillary_Rodham_Clinton|Hillary Clinton]], was elected Senator to New York in 2000. Reelected in 2006, she is now running for president in 2008.

Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff was John Podesta between 1998-2001.

== References ==
<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clinton, Bill}}
[[Category:Biographies]]
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]

Bill Clinton

2007-03-22T23:53:33Z

Q-wert:

[[Image:billclinton.jpg|thumb|right|300px|United States President Bill Clinton]]
'''William''' "Bill" '''Jefferson Clinton''' served as the 42nd [[President of the United States of America]] from 1993-2001, following [[George H. W. Bush]] and preceding [[George W. Bush]].

== Early Life ==

Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946 AD in Hope, Arkansas. His father, William Jefferson Blythe Jr. died in a car accident while his mother was pregnant with him. Clinton's mother later married Roger Clinton, and the four year-old William was given his stepfather's name.[http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html]

Clinton was active in high school, participating in various student government organizations as well as playing the saxophone. Roger Clinton, however, made Bill's family life unpleasant by repeatedly abusing Clinton's mother and her children.{{fact}} Bill Clinton would eventually stand up to his stepfather in high school, forcing him to stop beating his mother and kicking him out of the house. {{fact}} After Roger Clinton underwent alcohol rehabilitation, he would eventually rejoin the family.

Clinton attended [[Georgetown University]], then [[Oxford University]] after receiving a [[Rhodes Scholarship]], and finally earned a Juris Doctorate from [[Yale University]] in 1973 AD. At Yale he met [[Hillary Rodham]], whom he would later marry [http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html].

== Early Political Career and Whitewater Scandal ==

After returning to live in Arkansas, Clinton was elected [[Attorney General]] of Arkansas in 1976 AD. Two years later, he was elected Governor of Arkansas, becoming the youngest governor in the country as a 32 year-old. Though defeated in 1980 AD, Clinton won back the governorship in 1982 AD and held it until becoming President in 1992 AD. His close personal business partnerships with James McDougall lead to investigation of the [[Whitewater]] case in which both Bill and Hillary Clinton were fully acquitted.

== Presidency and Impeachment==

Despite never winning a majority of the popular vote during either of his elections, President Clinton enjoyed good public approval ratings during parts of his second term.<ref>[http://www.pollingreport.com/clinton-.htm]</ref> Clinton won in 1992 with 43% of the popular vote versus President [[George H. W. Bush's]] 37%, capitalizing on public discontent with a weak economy and public displeasure with Bush's proposed tax increases, and Ross Perot, a popular third candidate. In his first two years in office, 1993 through 1994, Clinton was unable to "reform" health-care in the United States with a [[socialism| socialized]] health-care plan. It was a tough sell in the wake of the collapse of Soviet Bloc only a few years earlier. His approach consisted of appointing a planning committee with secret members to reshape this important sector of the economy.{{fact}} The [[Association of American Physicians and Surgeons]] successfully sued to force disclosure of the committee financing, expenses and membership. The program ultimately became so unpopular after two years the Democratically controlled Congress shielded its members records by never bringing it to floor for a vote.

In 1994, voters expressed their high disapproval of Clinton by giving a victory to Republicans in Congress. This event was tagged the "Republican Revolution," and began a series of showdowns with the Republican-led Congress.{{fact}} These showdowns were epitomized by the budget conflict with then-Speaker of the House [[Newt Gingrich]] in 1995. Gingrich refused to pass Clinton's budget proposal, and the latter threatened to shut down the government as Reagan had done in the 1980s. Clinton did not back down, however, and eventually had his budget passed [http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/commentprint082800d.html]. This showdown backfired for the Republicans, as it reinvigorated Clinton's flagging approval ratings, which would remain above 60% for most of his presidency[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Clinton_approval_rating.JPG].

Clinton was reelected in 1996 with 49.2% of the popular vote against Republican candidate ([[Robert Dole | Bob Dole]]), who won 41%, and "populist" candidate, [[H. Ross Perot]], who won 8%. Clinton spent a lot of the remainder of his presidency combating scandals. {{fact}} The special prosecutor's report was not released until well into Clinton's second term, and brought the issue of Clinton giving false testimony in a civil lawsuit while President to light which resulted in his impeachment and disbarment from the legal profession.{{fact}} The main charge was that he lied about a sexual relationship with an employee in an attempt to avoid paying damages to another employee for sexual harassment. After a brief trial, the Senate failed to make clear what constitutes high crimes and misdemeanors.<ref>http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/02/12/impeachment/</ref> Abroad the impeachment process had little impact on Clinton's image: despite the trial was widely followed and discussed he remains one of the most popular recent US presidents.

Clinton became the second sitting president to be impeached by the US House of Representatives. During his second term Clinton committed perjury in connection to the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit.{{fact}} Accused of receiving [[fellatio]] from an intern in the Oval Office, his [[semen]] having stained her blue dress, he found guilty of perjury because of his claim that "I did not have [[sex]] with that woman". However, the US Senate voted not to remove him from office, although he later lost his law license in Arkansas. His term also saw an increase in terrorism directed at the United States. {{fact}} These incidents included the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, the Alfred P. Murrah building bombing in Oklahoma City in 1995, the bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and the attack on the USS Cole in 2000. {{fact}} Clinton responded by striking back at [[al Qaeda]], the organization responsible for the attacks. {{fact}} He launched cruise missile strikes aimed to kill al Qaeda's leader [[Osama bin Laden]] [http://www.cnn.com/US/9808/20/us.strikes.01/], and began planning to invade [[Afghanistan]] in order to capture bin Laden and overthrow the [[Taliban]] government[http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/nov2001/afgh-n20.shtml].

Clinton also signed into law the [[Violence Against Women Act]], which opened the federal courts to claims of domestic disputes between men and women, which had always been handled under state rather than federal law. {{fact}} A key provision of this law was later ruled unconstitutional in [[United States v. Morrison]].<ref>http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/99-5.ZS.html</ref>

Clinton devoted much time during his two terms to the peace process in Northern Ireland. {{fact}} He made interventions including 3 trips to Ireland during periods of stagnation in negotiations which coincided in major breakthroughs which ensured the province didn't slide back to the violence of the 70's and 80's. {{fact}}

== After the Presidency ==

Clinton has spent much of time since leaving office working for charitable causes such as support and fund-raising for the victims of AIDS and the Asian tsunami.

Bill Clinton's wife, [[Hillary_Rodham_Clinton|Hillary Clinton]], was elected Senator to New York in 2000. Reelected in 2006, she is now running for president in 2008.

Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff was John Podesta between 1998-2001.

== References ==
<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clinton, Bill}}
[[Category:Biographies]]
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]

Netherlands

2007-03-11T20:26:53Z

Q-wert:

The Netherlands is a country in [[Europe]]. It is bordered by [[Belgium]] and [[Germany]].

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 sea 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 euthanesia.

[[Image:Netherlands_map.gif]]

[[Category:Countries]]

Netherlands

2007-03-11T15:33:57Z

Q-wert:

The Netherlands is a country in [[Europe]]. It is bordered by [[Belgium]] and [[Germany]].

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 sea 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 resulting 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 euthanesia.

[[Image:Netherlands_map.gif]]

[[Category:Countries]]

Netherlands

2007-03-11T15:25:02Z

Q-wert:

The Netherlands is a country in [[Europe]]. It is bordered by [[Belgium]] and [[Germany]].

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 sea 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 and liberal legislation. Examples are organized prostitution in designated areas of major cities, such as Amsterdam's Red Light District, and the legal soft drugs sold in the country's many coffee shops.

[[Image:Netherlands_map.gif]]

[[Category:Countries]]