Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Talk:Howard Dean

2007-12-07T20:37:13Z

Ripberger: Quotes Section needs citations

==Quotes Section==
I think the quotes section needs citations. Some quotes I recognize him saying but others I do not. [[User:Ripberger|Ripberger]] 15:37, 7 December 2007 (EST)

Howard Dean

2007-12-07T20:34:05Z

Ripberger: delegatation -> delegation, convenetion -> convention

'''Howard Dean''' (born November 17, 1948) is a controversial member of the [[Democratic]] party and the current chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Dean received a medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1978. He was elected lieutenant governor of [[Vermont]] in 1986 and became governor in 1991 upon the death of Richard A. Snelling. During his governorship he balanced the budget, cut taxes two times and fought to keep socialized Health Care. In 2004 he ran for President of the United States on a very [[liberal]] platform. While he was the front runner for a period of time, he lost to [[Massachusetts]] Senator [[John Kerry]]. On February 12, 2005 Howard Dean was elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), despite not being endorsed by prominent Democrats such as House Minority Leader [[Nancy Pelosi]] and Senate Minority Leader [[Harry Reid]].

During the run up to the [[2008_Presidential_Election#Democratic_Strategy|2008 Presidential Primaries]], Dean was scheming to violate the equal and proportionate representation of [[Florida]]'s delegation to the 2008 Democratic National Convention.<ref>[http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FL_DEMOCRATIC_PRIMARY_FLOL-?SITE=FLPET&SECTION=HOME Fla. Democrats warn of voting rights probe if state sanctioned], By Rasha Madkour, Associated Press, Aug 23, 2007. Retrieved from ''St. Petersberg Times'' August 24, 2007.</ref>

==Quotes==
*"I think with a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, you can't play, you know, hide the salami, or whatever it's called." --urging President Bush to make public Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers's White House records.

*"You know, the Republicans are not very friendly to different kinds of people. They're a pretty monolithic party. Pretty much, they all behave the same, and they all look the same. ... It's pretty much a white Christian party.'' --speaking about the lack of outreach to minority communities by political parties.

*"I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks."

*"We've gotten rid of (Saddam Hussein), and I suppose that's a good thing."

*"The idea that the United States is going to win the war in Iraq is just plain wrong."

*"Now that we're on dog pee, we can have an interesting conversation about that. I do not recommend drinking urine…but if you drink water straight from the river, you have a greater chance of getting an infection than you do if you drink urine."

*"Not only are we going to New Hampshire ... we're going to South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico, and we're going to California and Texas and New York! And we're going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan. And then we're going to Washington, D.C. to take back the White House, Yeeeeeaaaaaargh!" --Iowa concession speech

==References==
<references/>

[[category:political people]]

Mike Huckabee

2007-12-07T20:31:39Z

Ripberger: /* Political Beliefs */ Democrat controlled -> Democratic-controlled. Re: Big "D" versus Little "d" :)

[[Image:Hdyute7.jpg|right|thumb|'''Mike Huckabee''']]
'''Mike Huckabee''' (born August 24, 1955) is a [[Baptist]] minister and is a [[conservative]] candidate for the 2008 [[Republican]] presidential nomination. He believes in [[Creationism]] and was the governor of [[Arkansas]] from 1996 to 2007.

Throughout the presidential primary, Huckabee has been viewed favorably by conservatives and [[Christian]] organizations such as the [[Homeschool Legal Defense Association]]. Former Speaker of the House [[Newt Gingrich]] predicted that Huckabee will catch on with [[Republican]] primary voters, calling him "the most interesting dark horse". <ref>http://www.wmcstations.com/Global/story.asp?S=6899608</ref>

[[Poll]] numbers show that Huckabee's strong debate performances, communication skills and likability have him steadily moving up in key primary states of [[Iowa]], [[New Hampshire]], and [[South Carolina]].
<ref>http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/04/21/s.c.straw.poll/index.html</ref> He was the winner of the straw poll after the Sept. 17th "values debate."<ref>http://www.earnedmedia.org/kg0918.htm</ref> With far less money than his competitors, Huckabee finished second in the high-profile [[Iowa Straw Poll]] with 18% of the vote, in front of [[Sam Brownback]] (15%) and in back of [[Mitt Romney]] (32%). His victory has placed him in the top tier of Republican primary candidates<ref>http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/08/12/ftn/main3159786.shtml</ref><ref>http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=22081</ref>
<ref>http://www.americanresearchgroup.com/</ref>.

In October 2007, Huckabee overwhelmingly won the high-profile Family Research Counsel's Value Voter Summit straw poll. Out of those attending, Huckabee received more votes then all other candidates combined. <ref>http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2007/10/romney_camp_stacking_the_value.html</ref>
== Record as Governor ==

As [[Governor]] of [[Arkansas]], Mike Huckabee cut and raised taxes. For example, during his ten years in office, the Arkansas [[legislature]] enacted increases in tobacco, sales, and [[fuel]]s taxes; however he also signed into legislation tax cuts over 90 times during that period. During his tenure as Governor welfare rolls declined by nearly half, and last year the state's economy grew 4.4%, beating the national average of 4.2%.<ref>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1129494,00.html</ref>

In 1997 he introduced ARKids First, a health care plan which cut the number of Arkansas uninsured children in half.<ref>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1129494,00.html</ref>

Throughout his tenure he also supported and helped pass pro-life bills through the Democrat controlled legislature.

In 2005 [[Time Magazine]] declared him one of "America's 5 Best Governors". <ref>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1129494,00.html</ref>

== Political Beliefs ==

'''Taxes''':
As governor, he signed the first broad-based tax-cut in state history and cut taxes over ninety times. Huckabee believes that the United States should enact a tax system known as the [[Fair Tax]], this system replaces the income tax with a voluntary consumption tax. Recently he signed the Presidential Taxpayer Protection Pledge to Americans for Tax Reform which promises to not raise taxes if elected president.<ref>http://www.atr.org/content/html/2007/march/030207pr-huckabeesignspledge.html</ref>

'''Spending''':
During his tenure, state spending rose 65.3% between 1996 and 2004, which was 3 times the rate of inflation. This has led to strong criticism from conservative groups like the [[Club for Growth]]. However, when he left office there was a surplus of over $800 million. <ref>http://www.clubforgrowth.org/2007/01/a_report_on_mike_huckabees_fis.php</ref>. Huckabee has called on Bush to veto more spending bills by the democrat controlled congress.<ref>http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/cobb/stories/2007/09/08/huckabee_0909.html</ref> In August 2007, Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform, stated "Gov. Huckabee recognizes that the challenge is to rein in spending and reduce taxes."<ref>http://www.atr.org/content/html/2007/march/030207pr-huckabeesignspledge.html</ref>

'''[[Abortion]]''':
According to ''[[National Review]]'', as Governor of Arkansas, Huckabee signed a bill requiring parental consent for [[abortion]], and mandating notification by abortion providers to prospective parents that the unborn baby may feel pain, he also helped pass a bill through the Democratic-controlled legislature which stated that life began at conception.<ref>http://www.explorehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_ID=11</ref><ref>http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NmNjMmI1ODhjNGVlZWFmNTlmMGNiZTVjYTg1NTUzMTk=</ref> He also signed the Fetal Protection Act. He is known to be strongly pro-life.

'''Marriage''':
Huckabee is opposed to same sex marriage and civil unions. He also is a strong advocate for fathers' participation in child-raising.<ref>http://www.ontheissues.org/Mike_Huckabee.htm</ref> He would favor a nation-wide [[Roe v. Wade]] being overturned and the federal governments recognition that life begins at conception.

'''Second Amendment Rights''':
As governor, he signed bills blocking frivolous lawsuits against gun manufacturers and removing restrictions on concealed handgun permit holders. He became the first governor in the nation to have a concealed handgun license.<ref>http://www.explorehuckabee.com</ref>

'''Immigration''':
Huckabee opposed the McCain-Kennedy bill because he stated it had problems with "credibility; secrecy; and spending".<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Huckabee</ref> He believes the United States should seal the border first and deportation of illegal immigrates that have committed crimes.<ref>http://www.mikehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=4</ref>

==Vertical Politics==
While campaigning, Huckabee has referred to what he calls Vertical Politics - politics aimed at making America stronger rather than festering partisanship. Huckabee said, "Everywhere I go on the campaign trail, I meet voters with a real thirst for a healthy discussion of the issues. Ultimately, people don’t care whether an issue comes from the left or the right. What they want to talk about are ideas that lift America up and make us better. It’s what I call ‘Vertical Politics." <ref>http://www.mikehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=verticalday.home</ref>

== Personal ==
[[Image:HuckabeeBand.JPG|right|thumb|200px|Huckabee playing with his band, ''Capital Offense'', during the 2007 [[Iowa Straw Poll]]]]
Huckabee was born in Hope, [[Arkansas]], the same town where former president [[Bill Clinton]] was born. This coincidence led to one of Huckabee's campaign slogans, "give [Hope] one more chance."
Huckabee lost 110 pounds while governor of Arkansas and documented his weight loss and set out a 12-step plan for weight loss in his book ''Quit Digging Your Grave With a Knife and Fork.'' <ref>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7752179/site/newsweek/</ref> He has also made childhood obesity a major platform issue. He became the first person in his family to attend college when he attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Fort Worth, [[Texas]], before becoming a [[Baptist]] pastor for twelve years in [[Arkansas]]. Because of his income situation, Huckabee graduated in only two and a half years.

The 52-year-old former governor and his wife live in [[Little Rock]] and have three grown children. Huckabee enjoys playing in his rock-n-roll band, Capitol Offense, which has played at the House of Blues in [[New Orleans]], the Red Rocks Amphitheater in [[Denver]], [[Colorado]] and for two presidential inauguration balls.

==Endorsements==
====Organizations====
For the first time in the organizations history, the [[Homeschool Legal Defense Association]] Political Action Committee endorsed a political candidate. The organization, which consists of 90,000 members, stated that they decided to endorse Huckabee because of he was, "[[conservative]], a friend of [[homeschooling]], a man of character, and a man with a mature faith in [[Jesus Christ]]".<ref>http://huckabee08.blogspot.com/2007/06/huckabee-on-roll-endorsements-and-polls.html</ref>

===South Carolina===
Huckabee has received some key endorsement during the course of his primary race. One such endorsement came from former [[South Carolina]] Governor, [[David Beasley]], who had before planned on staying on the sidelines throughout the [[Republican]] primary<ref>http://www.sptimes.com/2007/05/27/news_pf/Opinion/Huckabee_s__a_maratho.shtml</ref>

Huckabee received another South Carolina endorsement from Iris Campbell, the former South Carolina First Lady and wife of former governor, the late [[Mike Campbell]]<ref>http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2007/02/endorsement_wat.html</ref>. During Mike Campbell's time in office, from 1987 to 1994, his endorsement of [[Ronald Reagan]] boosted the underdog's presidential primary race.

===Virginia===
In August 2007, Huckabee received a key endorsement from [[Virginia]]'s House of Delegates Speaker [[William J. Howell]]. Howell has been a member of the Board of Directors of the [[American Legislative Exchange Council ]](ALEC), the nation’s largest bipartisan, individual membership association of state legislators <ref>http://www.mikehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=NewsRoom.PressRelease&ID=216</ref>.

===New Hampshire===

Huckabee has picked up some key endorsements in the very significant primary in [[New Hampshire]]. In August 2007, New Hampshire's former Senator, Russell Prescott, and former Executive Councilor David Wheeler endorsed Huckabee<ref>http://www.boston.com/news/local/politics/primarysource/2007/08/huckabee_endors.html</ref>. Both figures remain very popular with social conservatives in the state<ref>http://www.boston.com/news/local/politics/primarysource/2007/08/huckabee_endors.html</ref>.
== Quotes ==
* "We've had a [[congress]] that's spent money like [[John Edwards]] at a beauty shop."

* "…my [[faith]] is my life. It defines me. I see no separation between my faith from my personal and professional lives."

==References==
<small>{{reflist|2}}</small>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huckabee, Mike}}
[[Category:Political people]]
[[Category:2008 Presidential Candidates]]
[[Category:Republican Party]]
[[Category:United States Governors]]

== External Links ==
* [http://www.mikehuckabee.com/ Mike Huckabee (official)]
*[http://www.mikehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Blogs.Home Huckabee Campaign Blog]
*[http://www.hucksarmy.com/ Grassroots Website]
*[http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZDA2NzhkZGI2ZjA4NWI2NmMyYzNkNjY1Y2QzMzlmYzA=Governors Win, The case for Mike Huckabee.], [[National Review]], S. T. Karnick, August 2007

==External Videos==
*[http://www.hucksarmy.com/video.php Huckabee online video collection]
===Supporter Videos===
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILPcnn9Sf94&eurl=http://www.mikehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Blogs.Home Huckabee - Cinderella Man]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwfzk5RSQy4&eurl=http://www.hucksarmy.com/video.php?video=we_like_mike_huckabee We Like Mike - Huckabee]
*[http://www.hucksarmy.com/video.php?video=i_heart_huckabee_colbert_stewart I heart Huckabee]
===Personal Story===
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3YR3grKJ3Q&eurl=http://www.hucksarmy.com/video.php?video=story_of_mike_huckabee Part 1]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8aBVYKpZNQ&feature=related Part 2]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VZufUe0HGs&feature=related Part 3]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tXZKfUg97o&feature=related Part 4]
===Ads===
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjYv2YW6azE&eurl=http://www.hucksarmy.com/video.php?video=chuck_norris_huckabee_facts "HuckChuckFacts"]
===Speeches===
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysdguwpgNZ0&eurl=http://www.hucksarmy.com/video.php?video=huckabee_family_research-01 FRC's Value Voter Summit Speech Part 1]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af5qyUzRT68&feature=related Value Voter Summit Speech Part 2]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5v_qB0VDNI&feature=related FRC's Value Voter Summit Speech Part 3]

{{2008_presidential_candidates}}

Mike Huckabee

2007-12-07T20:26:45Z

Ripberger: /* Political Beliefs */ help -> helped, tense problem

[[Image:Hdyute7.jpg|right|thumb|'''Mike Huckabee''']]
'''Mike Huckabee''' (born August 24, 1955) is a [[Baptist]] minister and is a [[conservative]] candidate for the 2008 [[Republican]] presidential nomination. He believes in [[Creationism]] and was the governor of [[Arkansas]] from 1996 to 2007.

Throughout the presidential primary, Huckabee has been viewed favorably by conservatives and [[Christian]] organizations such as the [[Homeschool Legal Defense Association]]. Former Speaker of the House [[Newt Gingrich]] predicted that Huckabee will catch on with [[Republican]] primary voters, calling him "the most interesting dark horse". <ref>http://www.wmcstations.com/Global/story.asp?S=6899608</ref>

[[Poll]] numbers show that Huckabee's strong debate performances, communication skills and likability have him steadily moving up in key primary states of [[Iowa]], [[New Hampshire]], and [[South Carolina]].
<ref>http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/04/21/s.c.straw.poll/index.html</ref> He was the winner of the straw poll after the Sept. 17th "values debate."<ref>http://www.earnedmedia.org/kg0918.htm</ref> With far less money than his competitors, Huckabee finished second in the high-profile [[Iowa Straw Poll]] with 18% of the vote, in front of [[Sam Brownback]] (15%) and in back of [[Mitt Romney]] (32%). His victory has placed him in the top tier of Republican primary candidates<ref>http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/08/12/ftn/main3159786.shtml</ref><ref>http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=22081</ref>
<ref>http://www.americanresearchgroup.com/</ref>.

In October 2007, Huckabee overwhelmingly won the high-profile Family Research Counsel's Value Voter Summit straw poll. Out of those attending, Huckabee received more votes then all other candidates combined. <ref>http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2007/10/romney_camp_stacking_the_value.html</ref>
== Record as Governor ==

As [[Governor]] of [[Arkansas]], Mike Huckabee cut and raised taxes. For example, during his ten years in office, the Arkansas [[legislature]] enacted increases in tobacco, sales, and [[fuel]]s taxes; however he also signed into legislation tax cuts over 90 times during that period. During his tenure as Governor welfare rolls declined by nearly half, and last year the state's economy grew 4.4%, beating the national average of 4.2%.<ref>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1129494,00.html</ref>

In 1997 he introduced ARKids First, a health care plan which cut the number of Arkansas uninsured children in half.<ref>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1129494,00.html</ref>

Throughout his tenure he also supported and helped pass pro-life bills through the Democrat controlled legislature.

In 2005 [[Time Magazine]] declared him one of "America's 5 Best Governors". <ref>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1129494,00.html</ref>

== Political Beliefs ==

'''Taxes''':
As governor, he signed the first broad-based tax-cut in state history and cut taxes over ninety times. Huckabee believes that the United States should enact a tax system known as the [[Fair Tax]], this system replaces the income tax with a voluntary consumption tax. Recently he signed the Presidential Taxpayer Protection Pledge to Americans for Tax Reform which promises to not raise taxes if elected president.<ref>http://www.atr.org/content/html/2007/march/030207pr-huckabeesignspledge.html</ref>

'''Spending''':
During his tenure, state spending rose 65.3% between 1996 and 2004, which was 3 times the rate of inflation. This has led to strong criticism from conservative groups like the [[Club for Growth]]. However, when he left office there was a surplus of over $800 million. <ref>http://www.clubforgrowth.org/2007/01/a_report_on_mike_huckabees_fis.php</ref>. Huckabee has called on Bush to veto more spending bills by the democrat controlled congress.<ref>http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/cobb/stories/2007/09/08/huckabee_0909.html</ref> In August 2007, Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform, stated "Gov. Huckabee recognizes that the challenge is to rein in spending and reduce taxes."<ref>http://www.atr.org/content/html/2007/march/030207pr-huckabeesignspledge.html</ref>

'''[[Abortion]]''':
According to ''[[National Review]]'', as Governor of Arkansas, Huckabee signed a bill requiring parental consent for [[abortion]], and mandating notification by abortion providers to prospective parents that the unborn baby may feel pain, he also helped pass a bill through the Democrat controlled legislature which stated that life began at conception.<ref>http://www.explorehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_ID=11</ref><ref>http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NmNjMmI1ODhjNGVlZWFmNTlmMGNiZTVjYTg1NTUzMTk=</ref> He also signed the Fetal Protection Act. He is known to be strongly pro-life.

'''Marriage''':
Huckabee is opposed to same sex marriage and civil unions. He also is a strong advocate for fathers' participation in child-raising.<ref>http://www.ontheissues.org/Mike_Huckabee.htm</ref> He would favor a nation-wide [[Roe v. Wade]] being overturned and the federal governments recognition that life begins at conception.

'''Second Amendment Rights''':
As governor, he signed bills blocking frivolous lawsuits against gun manufacturers and removing restrictions on concealed handgun permit holders. He became the first governor in the nation to have a concealed handgun license.<ref>http://www.explorehuckabee.com</ref>

'''Immigration''':
Huckabee opposed the McCain-Kennedy bill because he stated it had problems with "credibility; secrecy; and spending".<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Huckabee</ref> He believes the United States should seal the border first and deportation of illegal immigrates that have committed crimes.<ref>http://www.mikehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=4</ref>

==Vertical Politics==
While campaigning, Huckabee has referred to what he calls Vertical Politics - politics aimed at making America stronger rather than festering partisanship. Huckabee said, "Everywhere I go on the campaign trail, I meet voters with a real thirst for a healthy discussion of the issues. Ultimately, people don’t care whether an issue comes from the left or the right. What they want to talk about are ideas that lift America up and make us better. It’s what I call ‘Vertical Politics." <ref>http://www.mikehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=verticalday.home</ref>

== Personal ==
[[Image:HuckabeeBand.JPG|right|thumb|200px|Huckabee playing with his band, ''Capital Offense'', during the 2007 [[Iowa Straw Poll]]]]
Huckabee was born in Hope, [[Arkansas]], the same town where former president [[Bill Clinton]] was born. This coincidence led to one of Huckabee's campaign slogans, "give [Hope] one more chance."
Huckabee lost 110 pounds while governor of Arkansas and documented his weight loss and set out a 12-step plan for weight loss in his book ''Quit Digging Your Grave With a Knife and Fork.'' <ref>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7752179/site/newsweek/</ref> He has also made childhood obesity a major platform issue. He became the first person in his family to attend college when he attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Fort Worth, [[Texas]], before becoming a [[Baptist]] pastor for twelve years in [[Arkansas]]. Because of his income situation, Huckabee graduated in only two and a half years.

The 52-year-old former governor and his wife live in [[Little Rock]] and have three grown children. Huckabee enjoys playing in his rock-n-roll band, Capitol Offense, which has played at the House of Blues in [[New Orleans]], the Red Rocks Amphitheater in [[Denver]], [[Colorado]] and for two presidential inauguration balls.

==Endorsements==
====Organizations====
For the first time in the organizations history, the [[Homeschool Legal Defense Association]] Political Action Committee endorsed a political candidate. The organization, which consists of 90,000 members, stated that they decided to endorse Huckabee because of he was, "[[conservative]], a friend of [[homeschooling]], a man of character, and a man with a mature faith in [[Jesus Christ]]".<ref>http://huckabee08.blogspot.com/2007/06/huckabee-on-roll-endorsements-and-polls.html</ref>

===South Carolina===
Huckabee has received some key endorsement during the course of his primary race. One such endorsement came from former [[South Carolina]] Governor, [[David Beasley]], who had before planned on staying on the sidelines throughout the [[Republican]] primary<ref>http://www.sptimes.com/2007/05/27/news_pf/Opinion/Huckabee_s__a_maratho.shtml</ref>

Huckabee received another South Carolina endorsement from Iris Campbell, the former South Carolina First Lady and wife of former governor, the late [[Mike Campbell]]<ref>http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2007/02/endorsement_wat.html</ref>. During Mike Campbell's time in office, from 1987 to 1994, his endorsement of [[Ronald Reagan]] boosted the underdog's presidential primary race.

===Virginia===
In August 2007, Huckabee received a key endorsement from [[Virginia]]'s House of Delegates Speaker [[William J. Howell]]. Howell has been a member of the Board of Directors of the [[American Legislative Exchange Council ]](ALEC), the nation’s largest bipartisan, individual membership association of state legislators <ref>http://www.mikehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=NewsRoom.PressRelease&ID=216</ref>.

===New Hampshire===

Huckabee has picked up some key endorsements in the very significant primary in [[New Hampshire]]. In August 2007, New Hampshire's former Senator, Russell Prescott, and former Executive Councilor David Wheeler endorsed Huckabee<ref>http://www.boston.com/news/local/politics/primarysource/2007/08/huckabee_endors.html</ref>. Both figures remain very popular with social conservatives in the state<ref>http://www.boston.com/news/local/politics/primarysource/2007/08/huckabee_endors.html</ref>.
== Quotes ==
* "We've had a [[congress]] that's spent money like [[John Edwards]] at a beauty shop."

* "…my [[faith]] is my life. It defines me. I see no separation between my faith from my personal and professional lives."

==References==
<small>{{reflist|2}}</small>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huckabee, Mike}}
[[Category:Political people]]
[[Category:2008 Presidential Candidates]]
[[Category:Republican Party]]
[[Category:United States Governors]]

== External Links ==
* [http://www.mikehuckabee.com/ Mike Huckabee (official)]
*[http://www.mikehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Blogs.Home Huckabee Campaign Blog]
*[http://www.hucksarmy.com/ Grassroots Website]
*[http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZDA2NzhkZGI2ZjA4NWI2NmMyYzNkNjY1Y2QzMzlmYzA=Governors Win, The case for Mike Huckabee.], [[National Review]], S. T. Karnick, August 2007

==External Videos==
*[http://www.hucksarmy.com/video.php Huckabee online video collection]
===Supporter Videos===
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILPcnn9Sf94&eurl=http://www.mikehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Blogs.Home Huckabee - Cinderella Man]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwfzk5RSQy4&eurl=http://www.hucksarmy.com/video.php?video=we_like_mike_huckabee We Like Mike - Huckabee]
*[http://www.hucksarmy.com/video.php?video=i_heart_huckabee_colbert_stewart I heart Huckabee]
===Personal Story===
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3YR3grKJ3Q&eurl=http://www.hucksarmy.com/video.php?video=story_of_mike_huckabee Part 1]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8aBVYKpZNQ&feature=related Part 2]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VZufUe0HGs&feature=related Part 3]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tXZKfUg97o&feature=related Part 4]
===Ads===
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjYv2YW6azE&eurl=http://www.hucksarmy.com/video.php?video=chuck_norris_huckabee_facts "HuckChuckFacts"]
===Speeches===
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysdguwpgNZ0&eurl=http://www.hucksarmy.com/video.php?video=huckabee_family_research-01 FRC's Value Voter Summit Speech Part 1]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af5qyUzRT68&feature=related Value Voter Summit Speech Part 2]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5v_qB0VDNI&feature=related FRC's Value Voter Summit Speech Part 3]

{{2008_presidential_candidates}}

Star Wars

2007-06-30T18:21:30Z

Ripberger: Movies use Roman numerals (though it isn't a big deal in the grander scheme of things), spacing and some grammar issues

[[Image:462px-Star wars dvd cover.jpg|right|thumb|Cover of the 2004 [[DVD]] widescreen release of Star Wars Trilogy.]]
:''Disambiguation: This article deals with the science fiction saga, not the [[Strategic Defense Initiative]] (SDI).''

'''Star Wars''' is a science fiction film saga and fictional universe created by American director [[George Lucas]]. The original Star Wars movie (Episode IV) came out on May 25th, 1977. The earlier set of Star Wars movies ''(Episodes IV, V, and VI)'' are renowned as classics of cinema, and were some of the first "summer blockbusters" ever made. Episodes I, II and III were released in 1999, 2002 and 2005 respectively. All six movies are amongst the top 25 highest grossing films of all time.<ref>http://imdb.com/boxoffice/alltimegross</ref>
In 1984 and 1985, two spinoff movies to the original trilogy (Episode IV, V, and VI) were made featuring the Ewok characters seen in Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

==Fan Films==
There have been many short films created by Star Wars Fans. One major website is www.fanfilms.com; which contains many fanfilms including TROOPS, The Essense of The Force, The Jedi Hunter, the Pink Five trilogy, Revelations, and Ryan Vs. Dorkman 1 and 2. One major high-quality fan based movie is I.M.P.S: The Relentless; which can be found at www.impstherelentless.com, and is the first chapter of a future full-length, chapter-based movie based on the Emperial Starship Relentless and her crew.

==Development of the Monomyth==

[[George Lucas]] built on the idea of the [[monomyth]] - a dominant mythic structure that resounds strongly with the human psyche - in structuring his narrative. He consulted closely with [[Joseph Campbell]], author of the book, "Hero of a Thousand Faces," in his utilizing of the [[monomyth]] structure for the movie. In ''Star Wars'' (now known as Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope), the reluctant hero is [[Luke Skywalker]], the teacher [[Obi-Wan Kenobi]], and the inner world the galaxy at large.

====Miscellaneous====

Star Wars became forever linked to politics when a [[Strategic Defense Initiative|missile-defense plan]] was devised under the Reagan administration which was nick-named Star Wars.

Many novels have been written as follow ups to the films.

[[Category:Movies]]
[[Category:Science fiction]]

Star Wars

2007-06-30T18:16:38Z

Ripberger: /* Miscellaneous */ Strategic Defense Initiative link

[[Image:462px-Star wars dvd cover.jpg|right|thumb|Cover of the 2004 [[DVD]] widescreen release of Star Wars Trilogy.]]
:''Disambiguation: This article deals with the science fiction saga, not the [[Strategic Defense Initiative]] (SDI).''

'''Star Wars''' is a science fiction film saga and fictional universe created by American director [[George Lucas]]. The original Star Wars movie (episode 4) came out on May 25th, 1977. The earlier set of Star Wars movies ''(Episodes 4, 5, and 6)'' are renowned as classics of cinema, and were some of the first "summer blockbusters" ever made. Episodes 1, 2 and 3 were released in 1999, 2002 and 2005 respectively. All six movies are amongst the top 25 highest grossing films of all time.<ref>http://imdb.com/boxoffice/alltimegross</ref>
In 1984 and 1985, two spinoff movies to the original trilogy (Episode 4,5 and 6) were made featuring the Ewok characters seen in Episode 6, Return of the Jedi.

==Fan Films==
There have been many short films created by Star Wars Fans. One major website is www.fanfilms.com; which contains many fanfilms including TROOPS, The Essense of The Force, The Jedi Hunter, the Pink Five trilogy, Revelations, and Ryan Vs. Dorkman 1 and 2. One major high-quality fan based movie is I.M.P.S: The Relentless; which can be found at www.impstherelentless.com, and is the first chapter of a future full-length, chapter-based movie based on the Emperial Starship Relentless and her crew.

==Development of the Monomyth==

[[George Lucas]] built on the idea of the [[monomyth]] - a dominant mythic structure that resounds strongly with the human psyche - in structuring his narrative. He consulted closely with [[Joseph Campbell]], author of the book, "Hero of a Thousand Faces," in his utilizing of the [[monomyth]] structure for the movie. In ''Star Wars'' (now known as Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope), the reluctant hero is [[Luke Skywalker]], the teacher [[Obi-Wan Kenobi]], and the inner world the galaxy at large.

====Miscellaneous====

Star Wars became forever linked to politics when a [[Strategic Defense Initiative|missile-defense plan]] was devised under the Reagan administration which was nick-named Star Wars.

Many novels have been written as follow ups to the films.

[[Category:Movies]]
[[Category:Science fiction]]

Star Wars

2007-06-30T18:13:46Z

Ripberger: /* Development of the Monomyth */ trimming, remove double adjectives, and other grammar issues

[[Image:462px-Star wars dvd cover.jpg|right|thumb|Cover of the 2004 [[DVD]] widescreen release of Star Wars Trilogy.]]
:''Disambiguation: This article deals with the science fiction saga, not the [[Strategic Defense Initiative]] (SDI).''

'''Star Wars''' is a science fiction film saga and fictional universe created by American director [[George Lucas]]. The original Star Wars movie (episode 4) came out on May 25th, 1977. The earlier set of Star Wars movies ''(Episodes 4, 5, and 6)'' are renowned as classics of cinema, and were some of the first "summer blockbusters" ever made. Episodes 1, 2 and 3 were released in 1999, 2002 and 2005 respectively. All six movies are amongst the top 25 highest grossing films of all time.<ref>http://imdb.com/boxoffice/alltimegross</ref>
In 1984 and 1985, two spinoff movies to the original trilogy (Episode 4,5 and 6) were made featuring the Ewok characters seen in Episode 6, Return of the Jedi.

==Fan Films==
There have been many short films created by Star Wars Fans. One major website is www.fanfilms.com; which contains many fanfilms including TROOPS, The Essense of The Force, The Jedi Hunter, the Pink Five trilogy, Revelations, and Ryan Vs. Dorkman 1 and 2. One major high-quality fan based movie is I.M.P.S: The Relentless; which can be found at www.impstherelentless.com, and is the first chapter of a future full-length, chapter-based movie based on the Emperial Starship Relentless and her crew.

==Development of the Monomyth==

[[George Lucas]] built on the idea of the [[monomyth]] - a dominant mythic structure that resounds strongly with the human psyche - in structuring his narrative. He consulted closely with [[Joseph Campbell]], author of the book, "Hero of a Thousand Faces," in his utilizing of the [[monomyth]] structure for the movie. In ''Star Wars'' (now known as Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope), the reluctant hero is [[Luke Skywalker]], the teacher [[Obi-Wan Kenobi]], and the inner world the galaxy at large.

====Miscellaneous====

Star Wars became forever linked to politics when a missile-defense plan was devised under the Reagan administration which was nick-named Star Wars.

Many novels have been written as follow ups to the films.

[[Category:Movies]]
[[Category:Science fiction]]

Talk:Mark Twain

2007-06-28T05:27:07Z

Ripberger: explaining Huck Finn and then some.

"His personality and his humor have been an integral part of American life for so long that it has seemed almost impossible to realize an America without him.[1]"

Passive voice, normative statement, non sequitur. Not needed.

And why isn't his contempt for Christianity mentioned? In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck constantly grapples with how he'll go to hell if he doesn't turn Jim in to the authorities. And the way the king and the duke dupe the religious people into giving them money can be seen as obvious jabs at Christianity and organized religion in general. Also, I quote from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_twain Wikipedia]:
"In later years, Twain's family suppressed some of his work which was especially irreverent toward conventional religion, notably Letters from the Earth, which was not published until 1962. The anti-religious The Mysterious Stranger was published in 1916, although there is some scholarly debate as to whether Twain actually wrote the most familiar version of this story. Twain was critical of organized religion and certain elements of the Christian religion through most of the end of his life, though he never renounced Presbyterianism[19]"

Shouldn't this material on Twain's religious views be mentioned too? The entry on here right now strikes me as being liberally biased.

:--[[User:WOVcenter|WOVcenter]] 03:16, 10 March 2007 (EST)

::Did you really mean to say ''liberally'' biased?

::I agree with you with what you say about Twain's religious views, above. And I've said on the Talk page that I believe he should be removed from the list in [[Homeschooling#High-achieving Christians who were educated at home|Homeschooling]]. Although if his religious views are to be mentioned, something must be said about his book on Joan of Arc... [[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith]] 07:25, 10 March 2007 (EST)

Before the end of the American Civil War (the time period in which Huck Finn takes place), American preachers in pro-slavery territories of the US did preach that slaves should be obedient to their masters (based on a Bible verse by the apostle Paul, though the exact verse escapes me) and that freeing them was a sin. In Huck Finn's mind, he was stealing property from an old woman, not freeing a man from a lifetime of harsh servitude. So, it's no surprise that he feels like he is a sinner for helping Jim escape. Huck decides that he's always been a sinner and decides that in order to do the right thing by helping Jim, he will have to "go to Hell, then" since he's always been taught that slavery was right under Christianity.

Mark Twain lived in Hannibal, Missouri and witnessed the slave trade and he wrote that the preacher and the community taught that slavery was not a sin. As he grew older, he realized that was wrong and Huck Finn shows this. I've only read excerpts of ''Mysterious Stranger'' and ''Letters from the Earth'' but I've always felt that Twain was just disappointed that Christians never seemed, in his eyes, to live up to the values and principles they claimed to possess and yet they did deplorable things at the time like support slavery (not all did, but enough did).

Sorry for the long-winded comment and maybe some original research on my part there, but I hope it helps. [[User:Ripberger|Ripberger]] 01:27, 28 June 2007 (EDT)

==Religion==
I think that the religion section treats Twain harshly. He was a practicing Presbyterian, but the deaths of most members of his family (his son Langdon, his wife, and two of his three daughters died in his lifetime) by the end of his life made him very bitter towards God and religion but didn't mean he was necessarily an atheist, just angry that life had treated him poorly. I don't know how strict this site is on sources, but the Ken Burns' documentary "Mark Twain" is where I'm getting this information. I know this is a conservative website that considers the kind of humor regarding God that Twain utilized to be sacreligious but that doesn't mean that he wasn't a Christian or anti-Christian. I'm going to try to reword the section without ruffling any feathers :). [[User:Ripberger|Ripberger]] 19:29, 21 June 2007 (EDT)

I do own a copy of ''Letters to the Earth'', which hardly seems like the work of a practicing Presbyterian. I do know it wasn't published during his lifetime, but maybe it could at most be said that he was outwardly a Christian? [[User:DanH|DanH]] 19:40, 21 June 2007 (EDT)

:It's times like these I wish someone who was an expert could comment on this. I honestly don't know too much about Twain, I just know that he really blamed himself and God for a lot of the heartbreak in his life. Whether or not he truly gave up Presbyterianism and Christianity all together by the time of his death is beyond me. There is a book out called ''The Bible According to Mark Twain'' that may answer this, but I don't have it or ever read it. [[User:Ripberger|Ripberger]] 20:05, 21 June 2007 (EDT)

Talk:Mark Twain

2007-06-22T00:05:50Z

Ripberger: /* Religion */ reply

"His personality and his humor have been an integral part of American life for so long that it has seemed almost impossible to realize an America without him.[1]"

Passive voice, normative statement, non sequitur. Not needed.

And why isn't his contempt for Christianity mentioned? In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck constantly grapples with how he'll go to hell if he doesn't turn Jim in to the authorities. And the way the king and the duke dupe the religious people into giving them money can be seen as obvious jabs at Christianity and organized religion in general. Also, I quote from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_twain Wikipedia]:
"In later years, Twain's family suppressed some of his work which was especially irreverent toward conventional religion, notably Letters from the Earth, which was not published until 1962. The anti-religious The Mysterious Stranger was published in 1916, although there is some scholarly debate as to whether Twain actually wrote the most familiar version of this story. Twain was critical of organized religion and certain elements of the Christian religion through most of the end of his life, though he never renounced Presbyterianism[19]"

Shouldn't this material on Twain's religious views be mentioned too? The entry on here right now strikes me as being liberally biased.

:--[[User:WOVcenter|WOVcenter]] 03:16, 10 March 2007 (EST)

::Did you really mean to say ''liberally'' biased?

::I agree with you with what you say about Twain's religious views, above. And I've said on the Talk page that I believe he should be removed from the list in [[Homeschooling#High-achieving Christians who were educated at home|Homeschooling]]. Although if his religious views are to be mentioned, something must be said about his book on Joan of Arc... [[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith]] 07:25, 10 March 2007 (EST)

==Religion==
I think that the religion section treats Twain harshly. He was a practicing Presbyterian, but the deaths of most members of his family (his son Langdon, his wife, and two of his three daughters died in his lifetime) by the end of his life made him very bitter towards God and religion but didn't mean he was necessarily an atheist, just angry that life had treated him poorly. I don't know how strict this site is on sources, but the Ken Burns' documentary "Mark Twain" is where I'm getting this information. I know this is a conservative website that considers the kind of humor regarding God that Twain utilized to be sacreligious but that doesn't mean that he wasn't a Christian or anti-Christian. I'm going to try to reword the section without ruffling any feathers :). [[User:Ripberger|Ripberger]] 19:29, 21 June 2007 (EDT)

I do own a copy of ''Letters to the Earth'', which hardly seems like the work of a practicing Presbyterian. I do know it wasn't published during his lifetime, but maybe it could at most be said that he was outwardly a Christian? [[User:DanH|DanH]] 19:40, 21 June 2007 (EDT)

:It's times like these I wish someone who was an expert could comment on this. I honestly don't know too much about Twain, I just know that he really blamed himself and God for a lot of the heartbreak in his life. Whether or not he truly gave up Presbyterianism and Christianity all together by the time of his death is beyond me. There is a book out called ''The Bible According to Mark Twain'' that may answer this, but I don't have it or ever read it. [[User:Ripberger|Ripberger]] 20:05, 21 June 2007 (EDT)

User talk:Ripberger

2007-06-21T23:55:48Z

Ripberger: Create page.

User:Ripberger's Talk page.

User:Ripberger

2007-06-21T23:55:20Z

Ripberger: Create page.

User:Ripberger's User page.

Mark Twain

2007-06-21T23:43:19Z

Ripberger: /* Religion */ Following the Equator quote and minor correction

'''Mark Twain''' (1835-1910), pen name of ''Samuel Langhorne Clemens,'' was a great American writer and humorist. On his death, the New York Times wrote:
:His personality and his humor have been an integral part of American life for so long that it has seemed almost impossible to realize an America without him.<ref>"His Countrymen's Tribute," ''The New York Times,'' April 22, 1910, p. 2</ref>
His most famous books are ''[[The Adventures of Tom Sawyer]]'' and ''[[The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]].''

==Quotations==
Mark Twain was both a writer and a performer, famous as a comic lecturer. He was famous for his witticisms. Some of them are:
:"In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made School Boards." (Following the Equator, chapter LXI)
:"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."
:"By this time you will have noticed that the human being's heaven has been thought out and constructed upon an absolutely definite plan; and that this plan is, that it shall contain, in labored detail, each and every imaginable thing that is repulsive to a man, and not a single thing he likes!" (Letters From the Earth, Crest Books, 1963. p.20)
:"I have never taken any exercise, except sleeping and resting, and I never intend to take any."[http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/railton/onstage/70bday.html]
:"Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to." (Following the Equator, chapter XXVIL)
:The report of my death was an exaggeration. (Mark Twain, New York Journal, June 2, 1897)
:Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education. (Pudd'nhead Wilson)

Many quips attributed to Mark Twain are not his. Ralph Keyes call this "the flypaper effect: unclaimed comments... stick to famous quotable figures." He quotes a reference librarian as saying "if it's humorous and cynical, it must be Mark Twain."<ref>Keyes, Ralph (1992), ''Nice Guys Finish Seventh: False Phrases, Spurious Sayings, and Familiar Misquotations,'' p 24.</ref> A famous disputed case is:
:"Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it."
This was long attributed to Twain; according to Keyes, quotation sleuths traced it to an unsigned editorial in the Hartford Courant and decided it was most likely by Charles Dudley Warner, but there are reasons to believe it may really be Twain's remark after all.<ref>Keyes, Ralph (1992), ''Nice Guys Finish Seventh: False Phrases, Spurious Sayings, and Familiar Misquotations,'' p 194-5. Keyes notes that the quotation, as printed in the ''Courant,'' actually opened with the words "A well known American writer once said," and that a 1923 memoir by a journalist who had known Twain mentioned "never having seen in print Mark's saying about the weather...."</ref>.

==A "hymn to liberty"==
[[George Orwell]] said that "all that is best in [Twain]'s work centers about the Mississippi river and the wild mining towns of the West."<ref>Orwell, George (1943), "Mark Twain—The Licensed Jester;" ''The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell,'' volume 2, pp. 325. Spelling brought into conformance with American usage.</ref> He specifically mentions ''Tom Sawyer,'' ''Huckleberry Finn,'' and ''Life on the Mississippi.''

Orwell, who later would write ''Nineteen Eighty-Four,'' was writing during the Second World War, when individual freedom in Europe and England were at a low point. Orwell says that these books are set in
:the golden age of America, the period when the great plains were opened up, when wealth and opportunity seemed limitless, and human beings felt free, indeed ''were'' free, as they had never been before and may not be again for centuries.
He called these books "ragbag[s] of anecdotes, scenic descriptions and social history both serious and burleque." But Orwell felt that they had a central theme:
:This is how human beings behave when they are not frightened of the sack.<ref>I.e. being fired from their job. To "get the sack" is a British colloquialism, similar to the U. S. "to get the ax."</ref>
Orwell says Twain did not ''mean'' to write "a hymn to liberty," but did so simply by reporting what he saw. He feels that Twain's colorful characters were able to develop their "strange and sometimes sinister individuality because of the lack of any outside pressure:
:If you disliked your job you simply hit your boss in the eye and moved further west.... The "log cabin to White House" myth was true while the free land lasted. In a way, it was for this that the Paris mob had stormed the Bastille, and when one reads Mark Twain, [[Bret Harte]], and [[Walt Whitman|Whitman]] it is hard to feel that their effort was wasted.<ref>ibid., p. 326</ref>

==Religion==

Mark Twain was a practicing Presbyterian, but a series of personal tragedies in his life, namely the deaths of his son, wife, and two of his daughters, would result in his later works being particularly anti-religious. His books ''Letters from the Earth'' and ''The Mysterious Stranger'', both of which Twain was afraid to publish during his lifetime, contained numerous attacks on [[Christianity]]. Some of his quotes on the subject are listed below.

"Faith is believing something you know ain't so." [''Following the Equator'']

"'In God We Trust.' I don't believe it would sound any better if it were true."

"It ain't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand."

"Religion consists in a set of things which the average man thinks he believes and wishes he was certain of."

"There is no other life; life itself is only a vision and a dream for nothing exists but space and you. If there was an all-powerful God, he would have made all good, and no bad." [Mark Twain in Eruption]

"Our Bible reveals to us the character of our god with minute and remorseless exactness... It is perhaps the most damnatory biography that exists in print anywhere. It makes Nero an angel of light and leading by contrast" [Reflections on Religion, 1906]

==The pen name "Mark Twain"==
Clemens began using the pen name "Mark Twain" in his early newspaper columns.

"Mark Twain" was a reference to a leadsman's call. The leadsman's job was to toss a weighted line overboard to measure the depth of the water. On a Mississippi steamboat, he would do this again and again, calling out the results to the pilot. The depth was measured in ''fathoms,'' where a fathom is six feet. "Twain" is an old-fashioned word for "second." "Mark" meant the depth was on the exact fathom mark, much like describing a time as "on the dot." So "mark twain" literally means "two fathoms."

In ''Life on the Mississippi,'' Twain says that he worked for a captain who used to send "brief paragraphs of plain practical information about the river" to the New Orleans Picayune (the famous newspaper), signed "Mark Twain." According to Twain, this captain always added little reminiscences about things like islands that "disappeared in 1807, if I remember rightly," which were annoying and drew the scorn of other captains. Twain wrote a humorous parody, without thinking about the captain's feelings, and was printed in a newspaper:
:There was no malice in my rubbish; but it laughed at the captain. It laughed at a man to whom such a thing was new and strange and dreadful. He never printed another paragraph while he lived, and he never again signed "Mark Twain" to anything. At the time that the telegraph brought the news of his death, I was on the Pacific coast. I was a fresh new journalist, and needed a nom de guerre; so I confiscated the ancient mariner's discarded one.<ref>Twain, Mark (1863), ''Life on the Mississippi,'' Chapter 50</ref>

==References==
<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Twain, Mark}}
[[Category:Authors]]

Mark Twain

2007-06-21T23:40:35Z

Ripberger: /* Religion */ "The Mysterious Stranger", tried to reword sentence, but it probably could be done better.

'''Mark Twain''' (1835-1910), pen name of ''Samuel Langhorne Clemens,'' was a great American writer and humorist. On his death, the New York Times wrote:
:His personality and his humor have been an integral part of American life for so long that it has seemed almost impossible to realize an America without him.<ref>"His Countrymen's Tribute," ''The New York Times,'' April 22, 1910, p. 2</ref>
His most famous books are ''[[The Adventures of Tom Sawyer]]'' and ''[[The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]].''

==Quotations==
Mark Twain was both a writer and a performer, famous as a comic lecturer. He was famous for his witticisms. Some of them are:
:"In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made School Boards." (Following the Equator, chapter LXI)
:"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."
:"By this time you will have noticed that the human being's heaven has been thought out and constructed upon an absolutely definite plan; and that this plan is, that it shall contain, in labored detail, each and every imaginable thing that is repulsive to a man, and not a single thing he likes!" (Letters From the Earth, Crest Books, 1963. p.20)
:"I have never taken any exercise, except sleeping and resting, and I never intend to take any."[http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/railton/onstage/70bday.html]
:"Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to." (Following the Equator, chapter XXVIL)
:The report of my death was an exaggeration. (Mark Twain, New York Journal, June 2, 1897)
:Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education. (Pudd'nhead Wilson)

Many quips attributed to Mark Twain are not his. Ralph Keyes call this "the flypaper effect: unclaimed comments... stick to famous quotable figures." He quotes a reference librarian as saying "if it's humorous and cynical, it must be Mark Twain."<ref>Keyes, Ralph (1992), ''Nice Guys Finish Seventh: False Phrases, Spurious Sayings, and Familiar Misquotations,'' p 24.</ref> A famous disputed case is:
:"Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it."
This was long attributed to Twain; according to Keyes, quotation sleuths traced it to an unsigned editorial in the Hartford Courant and decided it was most likely by Charles Dudley Warner, but there are reasons to believe it may really be Twain's remark after all.<ref>Keyes, Ralph (1992), ''Nice Guys Finish Seventh: False Phrases, Spurious Sayings, and Familiar Misquotations,'' p 194-5. Keyes notes that the quotation, as printed in the ''Courant,'' actually opened with the words "A well known American writer once said," and that a 1923 memoir by a journalist who had known Twain mentioned "never having seen in print Mark's saying about the weather...."</ref>.

==A "hymn to liberty"==
[[George Orwell]] said that "all that is best in [Twain]'s work centers about the Mississippi river and the wild mining towns of the West."<ref>Orwell, George (1943), "Mark Twain—The Licensed Jester;" ''The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell,'' volume 2, pp. 325. Spelling brought into conformance with American usage.</ref> He specifically mentions ''Tom Sawyer,'' ''Huckleberry Finn,'' and ''Life on the Mississippi.''

Orwell, who later would write ''Nineteen Eighty-Four,'' was writing during the Second World War, when individual freedom in Europe and England were at a low point. Orwell says that these books are set in
:the golden age of America, the period when the great plains were opened up, when wealth and opportunity seemed limitless, and human beings felt free, indeed ''were'' free, as they had never been before and may not be again for centuries.
He called these books "ragbag[s] of anecdotes, scenic descriptions and social history both serious and burleque." But Orwell felt that they had a central theme:
:This is how human beings behave when they are not frightened of the sack.<ref>I.e. being fired from their job. To "get the sack" is a British colloquialism, similar to the U. S. "to get the ax."</ref>
Orwell says Twain did not ''mean'' to write "a hymn to liberty," but did so simply by reporting what he saw. He feels that Twain's colorful characters were able to develop their "strange and sometimes sinister individuality because of the lack of any outside pressure:
:If you disliked your job you simply hit your boss in the eye and moved further west.... The "log cabin to White House" myth was true while the free land lasted. In a way, it was for this that the Paris mob had stormed the Bastille, and when one reads Mark Twain, [[Bret Harte]], and [[Walt Whitman|Whitman]] it is hard to feel that their effort was wasted.<ref>ibid., p. 326</ref>

==Religion==

Mark Twain was a practicing Presbyterian, but a series of personal tragedies in his life, namely the deaths of his son, wife, and two of his daughters, would result in his later works being particularly anti-religious. His books ''Letters from the Earth'' and ''The Mysterious Stranger'', both of which Twain was afraid to publish during his lifetime, contained numerous attacks on [[Christianity]]. Some of his quotes on the subject are listed below.

"Faith is believing something you know ain't true."

"'In God We Trust.' I don't believe it would sound any better if it were true."

"It ain't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand."

"Religion consists in a set of things which the average man thinks he believes and wishes he was certain of."

"There is no other life; life itself is only a vision and a dream for nothing exists but space and you. If there was an all-powerful God, he would have made all good, and no bad." [Mark Twain in Eruption]

"Our Bible reveals to us the character of our god with minute and remorseless exactness... It is perhaps the most damnatory biography that exists in print anywhere. It makes Nero an angel of light and leading by contrast" [Reflections on Religion, 1906]

==The pen name "Mark Twain"==
Clemens began using the pen name "Mark Twain" in his early newspaper columns.

"Mark Twain" was a reference to a leadsman's call. The leadsman's job was to toss a weighted line overboard to measure the depth of the water. On a Mississippi steamboat, he would do this again and again, calling out the results to the pilot. The depth was measured in ''fathoms,'' where a fathom is six feet. "Twain" is an old-fashioned word for "second." "Mark" meant the depth was on the exact fathom mark, much like describing a time as "on the dot." So "mark twain" literally means "two fathoms."

In ''Life on the Mississippi,'' Twain says that he worked for a captain who used to send "brief paragraphs of plain practical information about the river" to the New Orleans Picayune (the famous newspaper), signed "Mark Twain." According to Twain, this captain always added little reminiscences about things like islands that "disappeared in 1807, if I remember rightly," which were annoying and drew the scorn of other captains. Twain wrote a humorous parody, without thinking about the captain's feelings, and was printed in a newspaper:
:There was no malice in my rubbish; but it laughed at the captain. It laughed at a man to whom such a thing was new and strange and dreadful. He never printed another paragraph while he lived, and he never again signed "Mark Twain" to anything. At the time that the telegraph brought the news of his death, I was on the Pacific coast. I was a fresh new journalist, and needed a nom de guerre; so I confiscated the ancient mariner's discarded one.<ref>Twain, Mark (1863), ''Life on the Mississippi,'' Chapter 50</ref>

==References==
<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Twain, Mark}}
[[Category:Authors]]

Mark Twain

2007-06-21T23:35:52Z

Ripberger: /* Religion */ He was a Presbyterian. See talkpage.

'''Mark Twain''' (1835-1910), pen name of ''Samuel Langhorne Clemens,'' was a great American writer and humorist. On his death, the New York Times wrote:
:His personality and his humor have been an integral part of American life for so long that it has seemed almost impossible to realize an America without him.<ref>"His Countrymen's Tribute," ''The New York Times,'' April 22, 1910, p. 2</ref>
His most famous books are ''[[The Adventures of Tom Sawyer]]'' and ''[[The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]].''

==Quotations==
Mark Twain was both a writer and a performer, famous as a comic lecturer. He was famous for his witticisms. Some of them are:
:"In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made School Boards." (Following the Equator, chapter LXI)
:"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."
:"By this time you will have noticed that the human being's heaven has been thought out and constructed upon an absolutely definite plan; and that this plan is, that it shall contain, in labored detail, each and every imaginable thing that is repulsive to a man, and not a single thing he likes!" (Letters From the Earth, Crest Books, 1963. p.20)
:"I have never taken any exercise, except sleeping and resting, and I never intend to take any."[http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/railton/onstage/70bday.html]
:"Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to." (Following the Equator, chapter XXVIL)
:The report of my death was an exaggeration. (Mark Twain, New York Journal, June 2, 1897)
:Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education. (Pudd'nhead Wilson)

Many quips attributed to Mark Twain are not his. Ralph Keyes call this "the flypaper effect: unclaimed comments... stick to famous quotable figures." He quotes a reference librarian as saying "if it's humorous and cynical, it must be Mark Twain."<ref>Keyes, Ralph (1992), ''Nice Guys Finish Seventh: False Phrases, Spurious Sayings, and Familiar Misquotations,'' p 24.</ref> A famous disputed case is:
:"Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it."
This was long attributed to Twain; according to Keyes, quotation sleuths traced it to an unsigned editorial in the Hartford Courant and decided it was most likely by Charles Dudley Warner, but there are reasons to believe it may really be Twain's remark after all.<ref>Keyes, Ralph (1992), ''Nice Guys Finish Seventh: False Phrases, Spurious Sayings, and Familiar Misquotations,'' p 194-5. Keyes notes that the quotation, as printed in the ''Courant,'' actually opened with the words "A well known American writer once said," and that a 1923 memoir by a journalist who had known Twain mentioned "never having seen in print Mark's saying about the weather...."</ref>.

==A "hymn to liberty"==
[[George Orwell]] said that "all that is best in [Twain]'s work centers about the Mississippi river and the wild mining towns of the West."<ref>Orwell, George (1943), "Mark Twain—The Licensed Jester;" ''The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell,'' volume 2, pp. 325. Spelling brought into conformance with American usage.</ref> He specifically mentions ''Tom Sawyer,'' ''Huckleberry Finn,'' and ''Life on the Mississippi.''

Orwell, who later would write ''Nineteen Eighty-Four,'' was writing during the Second World War, when individual freedom in Europe and England were at a low point. Orwell says that these books are set in
:the golden age of America, the period when the great plains were opened up, when wealth and opportunity seemed limitless, and human beings felt free, indeed ''were'' free, as they had never been before and may not be again for centuries.
He called these books "ragbag[s] of anecdotes, scenic descriptions and social history both serious and burleque." But Orwell felt that they had a central theme:
:This is how human beings behave when they are not frightened of the sack.<ref>I.e. being fired from their job. To "get the sack" is a British colloquialism, similar to the U. S. "to get the ax."</ref>
Orwell says Twain did not ''mean'' to write "a hymn to liberty," but did so simply by reporting what he saw. He feels that Twain's colorful characters were able to develop their "strange and sometimes sinister individuality because of the lack of any outside pressure:
:If you disliked your job you simply hit your boss in the eye and moved further west.... The "log cabin to White House" myth was true while the free land lasted. In a way, it was for this that the Paris mob had stormed the Bastille, and when one reads Mark Twain, [[Bret Harte]], and [[Walt Whitman|Whitman]] it is hard to feel that their effort was wasted.<ref>ibid., p. 326</ref>

==Religion==

Mark Twain was a practicing Presbyterian, but a series of personal tragedies in his life, namely the deaths of his son, wife, and two of his daughters, would result in his later works being particularly anti-religious. His book ''Letters from the Earth'', which Twain was afraid to publish during his lifetime, constituted a direct attack on [[Christianity]]. Some of his quotes on the subject are listed below.

"Faith is believing something you know ain't true."

"'In God We Trust.' I don't believe it would sound any better if it were true."

"It ain't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand."

"Religion consists in a set of things which the average man thinks he believes and wishes he was certain of."

"There is no other life; life itself is only a vision and a dream for nothing exists but space and you. If there was an all-powerful God, he would have made all good, and no bad." [Mark Twain in Eruption]

"Our Bible reveals to us the character of our god with minute and remorseless exactness... It is perhaps the most damnatory biography that exists in print anywhere. It makes Nero an angel of light and leading by contrast" [Reflections on Religion, 1906]

==The pen name "Mark Twain"==
Clemens began using the pen name "Mark Twain" in his early newspaper columns.

"Mark Twain" was a reference to a leadsman's call. The leadsman's job was to toss a weighted line overboard to measure the depth of the water. On a Mississippi steamboat, he would do this again and again, calling out the results to the pilot. The depth was measured in ''fathoms,'' where a fathom is six feet. "Twain" is an old-fashioned word for "second." "Mark" meant the depth was on the exact fathom mark, much like describing a time as "on the dot." So "mark twain" literally means "two fathoms."

In ''Life on the Mississippi,'' Twain says that he worked for a captain who used to send "brief paragraphs of plain practical information about the river" to the New Orleans Picayune (the famous newspaper), signed "Mark Twain." According to Twain, this captain always added little reminiscences about things like islands that "disappeared in 1807, if I remember rightly," which were annoying and drew the scorn of other captains. Twain wrote a humorous parody, without thinking about the captain's feelings, and was printed in a newspaper:
:There was no malice in my rubbish; but it laughed at the captain. It laughed at a man to whom such a thing was new and strange and dreadful. He never printed another paragraph while he lived, and he never again signed "Mark Twain" to anything. At the time that the telegraph brought the news of his death, I was on the Pacific coast. I was a fresh new journalist, and needed a nom de guerre; so I confiscated the ancient mariner's discarded one.<ref>Twain, Mark (1863), ''Life on the Mississippi,'' Chapter 50</ref>

==References==
<references/>

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[[Category:Authors]]

Talk:Mark Twain

2007-06-21T23:29:59Z

Ripberger: Religion