Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Mythbusters

2009-02-19T23:15:39Z

StephenK:

'''MythBusters''' is a popular [[science]] show that airs on the [[Discovery Channel]]. It is hosted by Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, who are frequently joined by Kari Byron, Tory Belleci and Grant Imahara, known as the build team.

[[Category:Television Shows]]

User talk:DeanS

2009-02-19T22:49:25Z

StephenK: /* Vandal */ spelling

Archive:
[[/1|01]]
[[/2|02]]

== Happy New Year, Dean! ==

{{cquote|'''Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right!'''--Oprah Winfrey}}
--[[User:TK|'''₮K''']][[User_Talk:TK|/Talk!]] 23:23, 31 December 2008 (EST)
:Thanks Terry. Happy New Year to you as well. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 01:04, 1 January 2009 (EST)

== Images ==

Dean, I saw you protected [[:Image:20080919-2 p091908jb-0025-1-515h.jpg]] (amongst others). Couldn't we have a a policy of having descriptive file names for images? That image name is not only too long but tells us nothing about the image. If I had been fortunate enough to have merited sysop rights then sorting out the image library would have been my first pet project. I can only hope that some keen adminstrator will try and clean it up. [[User:BrianCo|BrianCo]] 10:54, 1 January 2009 (EST)
:I like your idea BrianCo. Why don't you propose your idea on Andy's talk page. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 10:57, 1 January 2009 (EST)

== upload file not working? ==

the "upload file" command says some sort of "internal error" do you know what's up? [[User:RJJensen|RJJensen]] 03:01, 6 January 2009 (EST)

*Sit tight, the proper authorities have been notified. We regret any inconvenience. ;-) --[[User:TK|'''₮K''']]/Administrator[[User_Talk:TK|/Talk]] 03:07, 6 January 2009 (EST)
:Thanks Terry. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 03:09, 6 January 2009 (EST)

::It isn't me, Dean...I am running my new bot, ''Sheriff-bot''. TK will be back later. --[[User:TK|'''₮K''']]/Administrator[[User_Talk:TK|/Talk]] 03:12, 6 January 2009 (EST)
:::Ok. You can tell me about this ''Sheriff-bot'' offline. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 03:15, 6 January 2009 (EST)

== Thank you! ==

for helping out with [[Fiji]]! --[[User:JessicaT|KotomiT]][[User talk:JessicaT|''ohayougozaimasu'']] 08:50, 6 January 2009 (EST)
:You're welcome Kotomi. Thanks for your contributions to Conservpedia. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 09:25, 6 January 2009 (EST)

==Wikiproject:News Wanted Pages==
Let's add the medal people can earn on the page as incentive. Plus, I will attack some more of those words <s>tomorrow</s>Thursday to try and generate interest.--Jpatt 01:36, 7 January 2009 (EST)
:We could ask Rod Weathers to generate a medal like the others he made. I created a couple of articles tonight. It's good if we're leading the way in creating these articles. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 01:41, 7 January 2009 (EST)

Dean, thanks much for your tremendously insightful news posting a few minutes ago. It topped another day of insights on this site.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 23:31, 8 January 2009 (EST)
:Andy, that insightful post came from ''Jpatt'', one of our new admins. I just made a few small corrections to the news items. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 00:03, 9 January 2009 (EST)

== Please block ==

Please could you block the blasphemous vandal DanielP? Thanks--[[User:CPalmer|CPalmer]] 11:13, 9 January 2009 (EST)
:Done. Thanks for the alert. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 11:16, 9 January 2009 (EST)

::No problem - thanks for the swift response. I think AlbertW has reverted most of the vandalism.--[[User:CPalmer|CPalmer]] 11:17, 9 January 2009 (EST)

== Great block ==

Great block, Dean. No one has to block all the sub-accounts that were just created. The vandal simply wasted his time. You've blocked his IP for those accounts also with your first block.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 11:51, 9 January 2009 (EST)
:Thanks Andy. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 11:53, 9 January 2009 (EST)
::I don't know that I agree, Andy. The accounts could be used by different IPs and I found that one of the [http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=newusers&user=&page=User%3ATimL&year=&month=-1 socks], TimL, made an [http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Gravitation&curid=8247&diff=606088&oldid=604847 edit] almost three hours after DavidJ's IP was blocked. He then got blocked by Dean. So I took the initiative now to block all those socks, just to be safe. -[[User:Foxtrot|Foxtrot]] 11:52, 10 January 2009 (EST)

::: Thanks, Foxtrot!--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 11:55, 10 January 2009 (EST)
Glad to be of service :-) -[[User:Foxtrot|Foxtrot]] 12:13, 10 January 2009 (EST)
== Governors ==
Thanks for adding on to Washington. Originally I was sticking with just the state governors and not the territorial ones, but I suppose more information is better! [[User:WesleyS|WesleyS]][[User Talk:WesleyS|Hello!]] 18:24, 10 January 2009 (EST)
:I first saw the list and noticed Gregoire wasn't on there. Then I saw the full list on the state website and decided to fill in the blanks. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 18:27, 10 January 2009 (EST)
::Looks like I found a severely dated source, huh? I'll check more carefully. Thanks again! [[User:WesleyS|WesleyS]][[User Talk:WesleyS|Hello!]] 18:31, 10 January 2009 (EST)

== Mainpage picture size, My apologies, no offense intended ==

DeanS,

I did not notice that you had reversed my edits as far as the picture sizes to the main page. I was somewhat tired when I was doing the editing. My apologies.

Secondly, I did not notice that the picture sizes I chose were making the right and left columns unequal in width. For various reasons, I do agree with you that right and left columns on the main page should be somewhat equal in width. Therefore, I made the pictures smaller. [[User:Conservative|conservative]] 05:35, 11 January 2009 (EST)
:Thank you Conservative. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 06:28, 11 January 2009 (EST)

== With Apologies ==
Sorry about the atom article. The formatting seems weird, but I only made it worse. Sorry. I'm a wiki noob.--[[User:DReynolds|DReynolds]] 16:20, 13 January 2009 (EST)
:No problem. I recommend using the "Show preview" button before saving. ;-) --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 16:42, 13 January 2009 (EST)

==Plane crash story==
Sorry to bother with this, but could someone add a link on this news story to the pilot himself- [[Chesley Sullenberger]]. [[User:AddisonDM|AddisonDM]] 21:04, 15 January 2009 (EST)
:Done. Thanks for creating the article and the suggestion. Btw, as an admin, you can edit the Main page yourself if you want to. ;-) --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 10:29, 16 January 2009 (EST)
::I have been watching this story on our news-stations here. Amazing! Truly miraculous that the pilot bought it down safely and nobody died. --[[User:JessicaT|KotomiT]][[User talk:JessicaT|''nandeyanen?'']] 10:36, 16 January 2009 (EST)
:::Exactly. Chesley Sullenberger is a true hero. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 10:42, 16 January 2009 (EST)

Thanks! The page is now at 90 views! Also,I know I can edit the main page, but I could not find where to edit the actual news stories. [[User:AddisonDM|AddisonDM]] 13:57, 16 January 2009 (EST)
:Try these new instructions: [[Wikiproject:News#Editing_the_.22In_the_News.22_section|Editing the "In the News" section]]. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 14:38, 16 January 2009 (EST)

==Help==
A lot of my rosters got deleted and havn't been restored. Could I get some help or at very least an explanation? --[[User:JY23|JY23]] 11:41, 28 January 2009 (EST)
:In this [http://www.conservapedia.com/Talk:Main_Page#Do_I_have_to_rewrite_my_articles.3F section] of Main page talk, Andy explains the problem. If you can give me an example, I will see what I can do. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 12:00, 28 January 2009 (EST)
::Well, at [[User:JY23/Sports project|my sports project]], I was up to Malaga CF on the rosters. When I logged back on one day, it was stuck on Stoke City (in an entirely different league). [[User:JY23|JY23]] 14:24, 28 January 2009 (EST)

==Religion==
A big thank you for deleting that essay. It was horrible from start to finish.--[[User:Jpatt|Jpatt]] 01:27, 2 February 2009 (EST)
:You're welcome Jp. We don't need to accept every Essay on Conservapedia. This one was unacceptable. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 13:44, 2 February 2009 (EST)

==Algebra Terms==
Thanks for deleting the redundant category. It had been cluttering the math pages for a while now! -[[User:Foxtrot|Foxtrot]] 07:15, 5 February 2009 (EST)
:You're welcome. Something still doesn't seem right though. I'm wondering if we even need the [[Algebra terms]] page since the Algebra index is on each of the terms pages. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 07:24, 5 February 2009 (EST)
::Probably not. There's also a [[geometry terms]] page, which can equally be deleted since there's already a <s>[[:Category:Geometry Terms]]</s> [[:Category:Geometry terms]] which uses Geometry index (and doesn't follow the MoS for categories). Continuing this line of reasoning, are these sorts of indices much more useful than categories? They seem somewhat redundant. -[[User:Foxtrot|Foxtrot]] 07:31, 5 February 2009 (EST)
:::I think the indices are better than a category of terms for each subject. If you look at Category:Navigation box, you will see there are many different indices, Template:Algebra Index, Template:American Index, Template:Ancient Index, etc. Some of them don't have a subject terms page; they just have individual terms pages (i.e. Ancient Terms, Chemistry Terms, etc.) We should have some further discussions on this subject. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 07:52, 5 February 2009 (EST)
::::I think my wording wasn't clear in it's implication, sorry. I definitely do like indices better than something like [[:Category:Algebra Terms]], but my question was whether we even needed the index if we have the [[:Category:Algebra]], which lists most/all of the terms anyway and has many more to boot. I would gladly keep discussing this with you, either here or by email. Just let me know. -[[User:Foxtrot|Foxtrot]] 10:55, 8 February 2009 (EST)

== Featured article ==

Thank you Dean! Joaquin --[[User:JMR10|JMR10]] 13:15, 5 February 2009 (EST)
:You're welcome. Anytime ;-) --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 13:25, 5 February 2009 (EST)

==News link==
Dean, thanks for linking my [[Essay:Examples of Moronic Vandalism by the "tolerant"|Examples of Moronic Vandalism]] essay! That's cool. [[User:AddisonDM|AddisonDM]] 18:45, 7 February 2009 (EST)
:You're welcome Addison. I thought it went nicely with Mrs. Schlafly's article. Keep up the great work! --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 19:15, 7 February 2009 (EST)

::Thanks! Keep up your great work too! [[User:AddisonDM|AddisonDM]] 21:10, 7 February 2009 (EST)

==Template==
Dean, I created a template for WikiProjectNews. I added it to the categories pages. I hope I didn't overstep your authority since you created the News Group. I can shorten, add/remove, and I welcome any changes. --[[User:Jpatt|jpatt]] 02:44, 8 February 2009 (EST)
:Thanks Jp. That template is a great idea. No, you didn't overstep your authority, because you're the co-project leader now. Project members need to get approval before doing things like this, but you or I can make improvements to this project as needed.

:I protected the template because it is policy to protect all templates. You will want to do this in the future.

:I added an "Archives" link and changed the "Previous Breaking News" to "Previous News by Subject".

:I'm thinking about deleting the "Unpublished News" page and the link to "Unpublished News" because we probably won't post this news now that it's really outdated. What do you think? --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 06:16, 8 February 2009 (EST)

:Unpublished News could be deleted if you feel that way. Also, I was adding to the top of pages (see) --->
{| align=right border=3 cellspacing=0 style="border-width: 5px; border-color: #c0c0c0; background: #e0e0e0; margin: 2em;"
| style="text-align: center; padding: 10px 40px 10px 40px;" | [[Previous_Breaking_News/Dick_Cheney| Previous Breaking News: Dick Cheney]]
|}
:until I realized you had ==See also==. Should I continue or is it redundancy? Makes it more visible but waiting for your thoughts.--[[User:Jpatt|jpatt]] 14:45, 8 February 2009 (EST)
::Ok. I will delete the "Unpublished News" page and the template link.
::I think the border version is redundant with the "See Also" wikilink. I also tried to move the ACLU one below the main image but then it wouldn't go to the right even though it was below the image. I think the "See Also" wikilinks should be sufficient. We might want to consider a template in the future. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 16:31, 8 February 2009 (EST)

== Thanks! ==

Thanks for deleting all these silly Pokemon pages.--[[User:CPalmer|CPalmer]] 14:34, 9 February 2009 (EST)
:You're welcome. Even though I used to enjoy watching the Pokemon cartoons, I don't think we need all these individual articles. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 14:37, 9 February 2009 (EST)

== Al Gore comic ==

Hi DeanS. I see that you uploaded the image http://conservapedia.com/Image:Al_and_GW.png. I would have serious reservations about a fair use justification for this image. It is clearly marked copyright. There does not seem to be any discussion or criticism of the image on the page. It serves to illustrate a point about Al Gore. Perhaps it would be worth emailing the copyright holder to ask his permission? His email is gsheffield--@--mediaresearch.org [[User:AndyJM|AndyJM]] 09:39, 11 February 2009 (EST)
:I sent an email to Greg per your suggestion. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 10:56, 11 February 2009 (EST)

== Hi ==

Thanks for the welcome message. This is my first time editing a wiki so please indulge my possibly stupid question; How do you upload images to a page as I have noticed a large hole in the UK related military area and am creating quite a few new pages it would be nice to have a few logos with them? Thanks JSmith2
:Due to the fact that only select users are allowed to upload, go to [[Conservapedia:Image upload requests]] and put your URLs of the images there. [[User:JY23|JY23]] 18:35, 11 February 2009 (EST)
::Thanks for the info JY23. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 18:38, 11 February 2009 (EST)

==News page==
Dean, the Lincoln speech link isn't working. [[User:AddisonDM|AddisonDM]] 12:46, 12 February 2009 (EST)
:I removed the post and link for now. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 13:31, 12 February 2009 (EST)

==Use of Categories==
Can you comment on the use of Categories, in relation to the discussion on [[Talk:Immanuel_Velikovsky|this talk page]]? --[[User:Eric2009|Eric2009]] 10:07, 15 February 2009 (EST)
*Eric, please don't go posting for Administrator opinions about categories. As you were previously told, and could plainly read, I am the Admin who has been asked to resolve these category disputes between editors. It might give others the wrong opinion of you if you run about soliciting others to weigh in, especially since Dr. Jensen is an Administrator. --[[User:TK|'''₮K''']]/Admin[[User_Talk:TK|/Talk]] 02:22, 16 February 2009 (EST)

==Evolution article==
It DID pass 500,000! Not sure if or how you want to update. [[User:AddisonDM|AddisonDM]] 20:00, 15 February 2009 (EST)
:Done. Thanks for the alert Addison. You know you can update that page, right? --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 20:07, 15 February 2009 (EST)

::I do. I'm not always sure how to update something though. I guess its usually only minor changes though. Thanks. [[User:AddisonDM|AddisonDM]] 20:25, 15 February 2009 (EST)

==Popular articles==
Not to be presumptuous but do you think the [[Conservapedia]] article (that I wrote) should be listed under the "Popular Articles at Conservapedia" feature on the main page? Since it is about us. I would do it myself but I don't know how to edit all those little features. [[User:AddisonDM|AddisonDM]] 21:31, 17 February 2009 (EST)
:Even though I do like your Conservapedia article, I believe with only over 1300 page views to date, it has a ways to go before making that list. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 01:46, 18 February 2009 (EST)

::Sure. I'll watch the page views. [[User:AddisonDM|AddisonDM]] 10:26, 18 February 2009 (EST)

== Vandal ==

I just reverted User: SenatorPatriot's vandalism of the Democratic Party page... Could you take a look at his other [http://www.conservapedia.com/Special:Contributions/SenatorPatriot contributions] and see if it's worth a block? thank you [[User:StephenK|StephenK]] 17:49, 19 February 2009 (EST)

User talk:DeanS

2009-02-19T22:49:04Z

StephenK: /* Vandal */ new section

Archive:
[[/1|01]]
[[/2|02]]

== Happy New Year, Dean! ==

{{cquote|'''Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right!'''--Oprah Winfrey}}
--[[User:TK|'''₮K''']][[User_Talk:TK|/Talk!]] 23:23, 31 December 2008 (EST)
:Thanks Terry. Happy New Year to you as well. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 01:04, 1 January 2009 (EST)

== Images ==

Dean, I saw you protected [[:Image:20080919-2 p091908jb-0025-1-515h.jpg]] (amongst others). Couldn't we have a a policy of having descriptive file names for images? That image name is not only too long but tells us nothing about the image. If I had been fortunate enough to have merited sysop rights then sorting out the image library would have been my first pet project. I can only hope that some keen adminstrator will try and clean it up. [[User:BrianCo|BrianCo]] 10:54, 1 January 2009 (EST)
:I like your idea BrianCo. Why don't you propose your idea on Andy's talk page. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 10:57, 1 January 2009 (EST)

== upload file not working? ==

the "upload file" command says some sort of "internal error" do you know what's up? [[User:RJJensen|RJJensen]] 03:01, 6 January 2009 (EST)

*Sit tight, the proper authorities have been notified. We regret any inconvenience. ;-) --[[User:TK|'''₮K''']]/Administrator[[User_Talk:TK|/Talk]] 03:07, 6 January 2009 (EST)
:Thanks Terry. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 03:09, 6 January 2009 (EST)

::It isn't me, Dean...I am running my new bot, ''Sheriff-bot''. TK will be back later. --[[User:TK|'''₮K''']]/Administrator[[User_Talk:TK|/Talk]] 03:12, 6 January 2009 (EST)
:::Ok. You can tell me about this ''Sheriff-bot'' offline. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 03:15, 6 January 2009 (EST)

== Thank you! ==

for helping out with [[Fiji]]! --[[User:JessicaT|KotomiT]][[User talk:JessicaT|''ohayougozaimasu'']] 08:50, 6 January 2009 (EST)
:You're welcome Kotomi. Thanks for your contributions to Conservpedia. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 09:25, 6 January 2009 (EST)

==Wikiproject:News Wanted Pages==
Let's add the medal people can earn on the page as incentive. Plus, I will attack some more of those words <s>tomorrow</s>Thursday to try and generate interest.--Jpatt 01:36, 7 January 2009 (EST)
:We could ask Rod Weathers to generate a medal like the others he made. I created a couple of articles tonight. It's good if we're leading the way in creating these articles. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 01:41, 7 January 2009 (EST)

Dean, thanks much for your tremendously insightful news posting a few minutes ago. It topped another day of insights on this site.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 23:31, 8 January 2009 (EST)
:Andy, that insightful post came from ''Jpatt'', one of our new admins. I just made a few small corrections to the news items. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 00:03, 9 January 2009 (EST)

== Please block ==

Please could you block the blasphemous vandal DanielP? Thanks--[[User:CPalmer|CPalmer]] 11:13, 9 January 2009 (EST)
:Done. Thanks for the alert. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 11:16, 9 January 2009 (EST)

::No problem - thanks for the swift response. I think AlbertW has reverted most of the vandalism.--[[User:CPalmer|CPalmer]] 11:17, 9 January 2009 (EST)

== Great block ==

Great block, Dean. No one has to block all the sub-accounts that were just created. The vandal simply wasted his time. You've blocked his IP for those accounts also with your first block.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 11:51, 9 January 2009 (EST)
:Thanks Andy. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 11:53, 9 January 2009 (EST)
::I don't know that I agree, Andy. The accounts could be used by different IPs and I found that one of the [http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=newusers&user=&page=User%3ATimL&year=&month=-1 socks], TimL, made an [http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Gravitation&curid=8247&diff=606088&oldid=604847 edit] almost three hours after DavidJ's IP was blocked. He then got blocked by Dean. So I took the initiative now to block all those socks, just to be safe. -[[User:Foxtrot|Foxtrot]] 11:52, 10 January 2009 (EST)

::: Thanks, Foxtrot!--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 11:55, 10 January 2009 (EST)
Glad to be of service :-) -[[User:Foxtrot|Foxtrot]] 12:13, 10 January 2009 (EST)
== Governors ==
Thanks for adding on to Washington. Originally I was sticking with just the state governors and not the territorial ones, but I suppose more information is better! [[User:WesleyS|WesleyS]][[User Talk:WesleyS|Hello!]] 18:24, 10 January 2009 (EST)
:I first saw the list and noticed Gregoire wasn't on there. Then I saw the full list on the state website and decided to fill in the blanks. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 18:27, 10 January 2009 (EST)
::Looks like I found a severely dated source, huh? I'll check more carefully. Thanks again! [[User:WesleyS|WesleyS]][[User Talk:WesleyS|Hello!]] 18:31, 10 January 2009 (EST)

== Mainpage picture size, My apologies, no offense intended ==

DeanS,

I did not notice that you had reversed my edits as far as the picture sizes to the main page. I was somewhat tired when I was doing the editing. My apologies.

Secondly, I did not notice that the picture sizes I chose were making the right and left columns unequal in width. For various reasons, I do agree with you that right and left columns on the main page should be somewhat equal in width. Therefore, I made the pictures smaller. [[User:Conservative|conservative]] 05:35, 11 January 2009 (EST)
:Thank you Conservative. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 06:28, 11 January 2009 (EST)

== With Apologies ==
Sorry about the atom article. The formatting seems weird, but I only made it worse. Sorry. I'm a wiki noob.--[[User:DReynolds|DReynolds]] 16:20, 13 January 2009 (EST)
:No problem. I recommend using the "Show preview" button before saving. ;-) --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 16:42, 13 January 2009 (EST)

==Plane crash story==
Sorry to bother with this, but could someone add a link on this news story to the pilot himself- [[Chesley Sullenberger]]. [[User:AddisonDM|AddisonDM]] 21:04, 15 January 2009 (EST)
:Done. Thanks for creating the article and the suggestion. Btw, as an admin, you can edit the Main page yourself if you want to. ;-) --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 10:29, 16 January 2009 (EST)
::I have been watching this story on our news-stations here. Amazing! Truly miraculous that the pilot bought it down safely and nobody died. --[[User:JessicaT|KotomiT]][[User talk:JessicaT|''nandeyanen?'']] 10:36, 16 January 2009 (EST)
:::Exactly. Chesley Sullenberger is a true hero. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 10:42, 16 January 2009 (EST)

Thanks! The page is now at 90 views! Also,I know I can edit the main page, but I could not find where to edit the actual news stories. [[User:AddisonDM|AddisonDM]] 13:57, 16 January 2009 (EST)
:Try these new instructions: [[Wikiproject:News#Editing_the_.22In_the_News.22_section|Editing the "In the News" section]]. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 14:38, 16 January 2009 (EST)

==Help==
A lot of my rosters got deleted and havn't been restored. Could I get some help or at very least an explanation? --[[User:JY23|JY23]] 11:41, 28 January 2009 (EST)
:In this [http://www.conservapedia.com/Talk:Main_Page#Do_I_have_to_rewrite_my_articles.3F section] of Main page talk, Andy explains the problem. If you can give me an example, I will see what I can do. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 12:00, 28 January 2009 (EST)
::Well, at [[User:JY23/Sports project|my sports project]], I was up to Malaga CF on the rosters. When I logged back on one day, it was stuck on Stoke City (in an entirely different league). [[User:JY23|JY23]] 14:24, 28 January 2009 (EST)

==Religion==
A big thank you for deleting that essay. It was horrible from start to finish.--[[User:Jpatt|Jpatt]] 01:27, 2 February 2009 (EST)
:You're welcome Jp. We don't need to accept every Essay on Conservapedia. This one was unacceptable. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 13:44, 2 February 2009 (EST)

==Algebra Terms==
Thanks for deleting the redundant category. It had been cluttering the math pages for a while now! -[[User:Foxtrot|Foxtrot]] 07:15, 5 February 2009 (EST)
:You're welcome. Something still doesn't seem right though. I'm wondering if we even need the [[Algebra terms]] page since the Algebra index is on each of the terms pages. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 07:24, 5 February 2009 (EST)
::Probably not. There's also a [[geometry terms]] page, which can equally be deleted since there's already a <s>[[:Category:Geometry Terms]]</s> [[:Category:Geometry terms]] which uses Geometry index (and doesn't follow the MoS for categories). Continuing this line of reasoning, are these sorts of indices much more useful than categories? They seem somewhat redundant. -[[User:Foxtrot|Foxtrot]] 07:31, 5 February 2009 (EST)
:::I think the indices are better than a category of terms for each subject. If you look at Category:Navigation box, you will see there are many different indices, Template:Algebra Index, Template:American Index, Template:Ancient Index, etc. Some of them don't have a subject terms page; they just have individual terms pages (i.e. Ancient Terms, Chemistry Terms, etc.) We should have some further discussions on this subject. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 07:52, 5 February 2009 (EST)
::::I think my wording wasn't clear in it's implication, sorry. I definitely do like indices better than something like [[:Category:Algebra Terms]], but my question was whether we even needed the index if we have the [[:Category:Algebra]], which lists most/all of the terms anyway and has many more to boot. I would gladly keep discussing this with you, either here or by email. Just let me know. -[[User:Foxtrot|Foxtrot]] 10:55, 8 February 2009 (EST)

== Featured article ==

Thank you Dean! Joaquin --[[User:JMR10|JMR10]] 13:15, 5 February 2009 (EST)
:You're welcome. Anytime ;-) --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 13:25, 5 February 2009 (EST)

==News link==
Dean, thanks for linking my [[Essay:Examples of Moronic Vandalism by the "tolerant"|Examples of Moronic Vandalism]] essay! That's cool. [[User:AddisonDM|AddisonDM]] 18:45, 7 February 2009 (EST)
:You're welcome Addison. I thought it went nicely with Mrs. Schlafly's article. Keep up the great work! --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 19:15, 7 February 2009 (EST)

::Thanks! Keep up your great work too! [[User:AddisonDM|AddisonDM]] 21:10, 7 February 2009 (EST)

==Template==
Dean, I created a template for WikiProjectNews. I added it to the categories pages. I hope I didn't overstep your authority since you created the News Group. I can shorten, add/remove, and I welcome any changes. --[[User:Jpatt|jpatt]] 02:44, 8 February 2009 (EST)
:Thanks Jp. That template is a great idea. No, you didn't overstep your authority, because you're the co-project leader now. Project members need to get approval before doing things like this, but you or I can make improvements to this project as needed.

:I protected the template because it is policy to protect all templates. You will want to do this in the future.

:I added an "Archives" link and changed the "Previous Breaking News" to "Previous News by Subject".

:I'm thinking about deleting the "Unpublished News" page and the link to "Unpublished News" because we probably won't post this news now that it's really outdated. What do you think? --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 06:16, 8 February 2009 (EST)

:Unpublished News could be deleted if you feel that way. Also, I was adding to the top of pages (see) --->
{| align=right border=3 cellspacing=0 style="border-width: 5px; border-color: #c0c0c0; background: #e0e0e0; margin: 2em;"
| style="text-align: center; padding: 10px 40px 10px 40px;" | [[Previous_Breaking_News/Dick_Cheney| Previous Breaking News: Dick Cheney]]
|}
:until I realized you had ==See also==. Should I continue or is it redundancy? Makes it more visible but waiting for your thoughts.--[[User:Jpatt|jpatt]] 14:45, 8 February 2009 (EST)
::Ok. I will delete the "Unpublished News" page and the template link.
::I think the border version is redundant with the "See Also" wikilink. I also tried to move the ACLU one below the main image but then it wouldn't go to the right even though it was below the image. I think the "See Also" wikilinks should be sufficient. We might want to consider a template in the future. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 16:31, 8 February 2009 (EST)

== Thanks! ==

Thanks for deleting all these silly Pokemon pages.--[[User:CPalmer|CPalmer]] 14:34, 9 February 2009 (EST)
:You're welcome. Even though I used to enjoy watching the Pokemon cartoons, I don't think we need all these individual articles. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 14:37, 9 February 2009 (EST)

== Al Gore comic ==

Hi DeanS. I see that you uploaded the image http://conservapedia.com/Image:Al_and_GW.png. I would have serious reservations about a fair use justification for this image. It is clearly marked copyright. There does not seem to be any discussion or criticism of the image on the page. It serves to illustrate a point about Al Gore. Perhaps it would be worth emailing the copyright holder to ask his permission? His email is gsheffield--@--mediaresearch.org [[User:AndyJM|AndyJM]] 09:39, 11 February 2009 (EST)
:I sent an email to Greg per your suggestion. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 10:56, 11 February 2009 (EST)

== Hi ==

Thanks for the welcome message. This is my first time editing a wiki so please indulge my possibly stupid question; How do you upload images to a page as I have noticed a large hole in the UK related military area and am creating quite a few new pages it would be nice to have a few logos with them? Thanks JSmith2
:Due to the fact that only select users are allowed to upload, go to [[Conservapedia:Image upload requests]] and put your URLs of the images there. [[User:JY23|JY23]] 18:35, 11 February 2009 (EST)
::Thanks for the info JY23. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 18:38, 11 February 2009 (EST)

==News page==
Dean, the Lincoln speech link isn't working. [[User:AddisonDM|AddisonDM]] 12:46, 12 February 2009 (EST)
:I removed the post and link for now. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 13:31, 12 February 2009 (EST)

==Use of Categories==
Can you comment on the use of Categories, in relation to the discussion on [[Talk:Immanuel_Velikovsky|this talk page]]? --[[User:Eric2009|Eric2009]] 10:07, 15 February 2009 (EST)
*Eric, please don't go posting for Administrator opinions about categories. As you were previously told, and could plainly read, I am the Admin who has been asked to resolve these category disputes between editors. It might give others the wrong opinion of you if you run about soliciting others to weigh in, especially since Dr. Jensen is an Administrator. --[[User:TK|'''₮K''']]/Admin[[User_Talk:TK|/Talk]] 02:22, 16 February 2009 (EST)

==Evolution article==
It DID pass 500,000! Not sure if or how you want to update. [[User:AddisonDM|AddisonDM]] 20:00, 15 February 2009 (EST)
:Done. Thanks for the alert Addison. You know you can update that page, right? --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 20:07, 15 February 2009 (EST)

::I do. I'm not always sure how to update something though. I guess its usually only minor changes though. Thanks. [[User:AddisonDM|AddisonDM]] 20:25, 15 February 2009 (EST)

==Popular articles==
Not to be presumptuous but do you think the [[Conservapedia]] article (that I wrote) should be listed under the "Popular Articles at Conservapedia" feature on the main page? Since it is about us. I would do it myself but I don't know how to edit all those little features. [[User:AddisonDM|AddisonDM]] 21:31, 17 February 2009 (EST)
:Even though I do like your Conservapedia article, I believe with only over 1300 page views to date, it has a ways to go before making that list. --[[User:DeanS|DeanStalk]] 01:46, 18 February 2009 (EST)

::Sure. I'll watch the page views. [[User:AddisonDM|AddisonDM]] 10:26, 18 February 2009 (EST)

== Vandal ==

I just reverted User: Seantor Patriot's vandalism of the Democratic Party page... Could you take a look at his other [http://www.conservapedia.com/Special:Contributions/SenatorPatriot contributions] and see if it's worth a block? thank you [[User:StephenK|StephenK]] 17:49, 19 February 2009 (EST)

Democratic Party

2009-02-19T22:21:42Z

StephenK: Undo revision 627663 by SenatorPatriot (Talk)undo vandalism

The '''Democratic Party''' is one of the two major political [[parties]] in the [[United States of America]]. It is the center-left party. Its leadership is [[liberal]], in contrast with [[conservative]] voters who tend to support the rival [[Republican Party]].<ref>See [[political spectrum theory]]</ref> Members and supporters of the Democratic Party are known as Democrats. Republicans (and some Democrats) sometimes call it the "Democrat Party," which the liberals dislike intensely.<ref> See [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/24/AR2007012402469.html for recent evidence]</ref> In 2007-08 the Democrats at the national level raised far more campaign funds than the Republicans, with Obama's presidential campaign outspending McCain by 3:1.

The Democrats currently control the [[111th United States Congress]] together with the majority of State governorships and legislatures.<ref>[http://www.multistate.com/Site.nsf/Elections2006PostMaps?OpenPage Multistate.com] Post-Election 2006 Maps</ref> According to a Pew Research Center poll, 50 percent of Americans identify themselves with the Democratic Party as opposed to 35 percent for the Republican Party.<ref>[http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=312 Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2007] Pew Research Center, 22 March 2007</ref> However, Democrats have served out only three of the last ten presidential terms. The AP/Ipsos Poll reports that the Democratic-majority U.S. Congress currently has a 26% approval rating.<ref>[http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/client/act_dsp_pdf.cfm?name=mr080110-1topline.pdf&id=3782 AP/Ipsos Poll], January 7-9, 2008.</ref>

The current [[President of the United States]], [[Barack Obama]], is a member of the Democratic Party.
{{AmericanPoliticalParty
| party_name = Democratic Party
| party_articletitle = Democratic Party (United States)
| party_logo = [[Image:democraticpartyusalogo.png|200px]]
| website = [http://www.democrats.org www.democrats.org]
| headquarters = 430 South Capitol Street SE [[Washington, D.C.]] 20003
| chairman = [[Tim Kaine]]
| houseleader = [[Nancy Pelosi]]
| senateleader = [[Harry Reid]]
| foundation = 1792 or 1820's
| ideology = [[Liberal|Liberalism]] [[Progressive|Progressivism]] [[Neoconservatism]]
| fiscalpolicy = [[Populism]]
| socialpolicy = [[Liberal|Liberalism]]
| colors = Blue (unofficial)
| footnotes =
}}
===Florida 2007-8===
In 2007, the Democratic leadership in Florida broke the party rules by moving their primaries up. This disqualified their delegates from the [[2008_Presidential_Election#Democratic_Strategy|2008 Presidential Primary Election]] 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> The ''St. Petersberg Times'' quotes a letter from Florida Senator [[Bill Nelson]] and others Democratic members of the Florida Congressional delegation sent to DNC Chairman [[Howard Dean]] protesting a move by the Committee to violate individual [[Voting Rights Act|voting rights]],
{{Cquote|It always has been a priority of our party to protect the rights of every eligible American to vote," the letter said. "We would hope the DNC will continue to honor this right.}}

The Democrats ended up seating all of Florida's delegates but they will only have half of a vote each at the convention. A full Michigan delegation with half-votes was seated as well, but Obama was assigned all of Michigan's uncommitted delegates, and four Hillary Clinton delegates were transferred to Barack Obama, allegedly to compensate for the Barack Obama supporters who didn't vote because he removed his name from the Michigan ballot.

No states compensated their delegate counts to reflect the will of seventeen year-olds who would have been eighteen by election night had those states not moved up their primaries and caucuses, though some states permit seventeen year-olds who will be eighteen on election night to vote in that state's primary election or caucus.

==Policies and criticism==

In June 2005, at the U.S. Capitol Democrats held a mock impeachment inquiry into President's Bush's foreign policy. Concurrently, a rally was being held at the Democratic National Party headquarters where some activists handed out [[anti-Semitic]] materials, claiming that an Israeli company had warning of the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]], and an "insider trading scam" on Wall Street had occurred simultaneously.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/16/AR2005061601570.html Democrats Play House To Rally Against the War], Dana Milbank, ''Washington Post'', June 17, 2005.</ref>

The views of individual Democrats sometimes diverge from the party's official stance as expressed in its national platform, however unlike the Republican party, the Democratic National Committee has not allowed dissenting opinions to share the podium on matters such as abortion at National Conventions. <ref>[http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_03/005787.php] , http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_03/005787.php, March 6, 2005</ref>

===Economic policy===
In the field of economic policy, Democrats tend to favor high progressive taxes, higher government spending and increasing the minimum wage.

The Democratic Party has historically had ties to [[labor union|organized labor]].<ref> http://weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/913wopoz.asp Paying Dues - The Democrats settle up with their union bosses, [[Weekly Standard]], July 25, 2007 </ref>

The [[National Education Association]],<ref>[http://www.nea.org/index.html National Education Association homepage]</ref> the largest union of public school teachers, is a backbone of the party, supplying the largest number of delegates to its national conventions.

Democrats typically state that they want to help low-income Americans, however they usually seek to accomplish this by increasing the tax burden on the wealthiest Americans.

===Foreign and military policy===
According to its platform, the Democratic Party has the objective of strengthening America. Democratic national leadership has been accused of being ambivalent about terrorism<ref>[http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=22045 "Democrats, ACLU Outraged Over Traveler Terrorism Screening Program"] C. Johnson, Associated Press</ref> and insufficiently patriotic.<ref>[http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0112/01/smn.19.html CNN Saturday Morning News]Transcript: December 1, 2001 </ref> A poll conducted by [[Fox News]] released in October 2007 found that 1 in 5 Democrats – nearly 10 million voters – think the world will be better off if the [[United States]] were to lose the [[War in Iraq]].<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,299374,00.html Nearly 1 in 5 Democrats Say World Will Be Better Off if U.S. Loses War], FOX News Poll, October 04, 2007.</ref> The poll found this sentiment 3 to 4 times higher among Democrats than among moderate, centrist, and Republican voters.

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

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

===Healthcare===
The Democrat fondness for heavy government intervention into the marketplace and social engineering means that a significant proportion of their base and of their candidates for the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election ideologically favor introducing a system of [[Democratic Health Care Plans|socialized health care]]; regardless of the crippling tax burden this would require to sustain itself and the low standard of care achieved by socialized health programs in other countries compared to the United States. However, many first world nations such as France and Britain do have socialized health care systems, and are ranked 1 and 18 by the [[World Health Organization]]<ref>http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html</ref>, respectively, compared to the United States' rank of 37. Therefore, many argue that there may be some advantages to a universal health care system. Democrats generally regard [[universal health care]] to be a priority because of the appeal to voters without any kind of [[health insurance]]. Among the leading proponents for this idea include [[Barack Obama|Sen. Barack Obama]] and [[John Edwards|Sen. John Edwards]]; the latter formerly being the running mate to [[John Kerry|Sen. John Kerry]] in the [[2004 Presidential Election]].

===Gay Rights===
Democratic lawmakers and opinion-formers consistently favor measures such as the establishment of [[same-sex civil union]]s, [[gay marriage]] and [[gay adoption]] of children over defense of the [[traditional family]]. Likewise they are vigorous in attempting to amend [[hate crime]] laws, which some experts maintain would make criticism of the [[homosexual lifestyle]] illegal;<ref>[http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54535 Christian belief a [[hate crime]] under plan], WorldNetDaily, March 3, 2007. </ref> while at the same time supporting efforts to disseminate favorable opinions regarding [[homosexuality]] through channels such as the mainstream media and even the educational system in the face of opposition from churches and religious authorities, a broad coalition of [[Republican Party|Republican]] and Independent politicians. Democrats reject the idea of a [[Homosexual agenda]] preferring to speak in terms of [[Gay rights|gay rights]] when this issue is raised. The Democratic Party is the recipient and beneficiary of funding from homosexual lobbying groups and can be seen by their positions as the United States' largest and most powerful ''de facto'' supporter of the Homosexual Agenda.<ref>[http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.asp?ID=D000000158 Human Rights Campaign], opensecrets.org </ref>

===Other Policies===
Democrats frequently support the minimum wage, workplace protections, the right of women to choose to have an [[abortion]], [[gun control]], gay marriage, and the separation of church and state.

==Religion==
In the United States, there is some correlation between religious and political affiliation, though people of all faiths and denominations can be found among the supporters of each of the main parties.

Historically [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] voters have had a tendency to identify with the Democratic Party; in recent decades there has been little difference. However Catholic politicians are mostly Democrats, including Speaker of the House [[Nancy Pelosi]] and Massachusetts Senator [[Ted Kennedy]]. However, several general ideals of the Democratic Party's platform - most notably, the party's overall support for the legality of [[abortion]] - are contrary to the position of the [[Catholic Church]].

With regard to [[Protestantism|Protestant]] Christians, members of [[Evangelical]] churches in recent years have voted about 70-80% Republican. However, the large majority of Democratic Party members are Protestants. One unusual feature of the Democratic Party, however, is that it draws substantial support both from committed African-American Protestants (most of whom are Baptists) and from secular and atheist white voters. The strong opposition to [[homosexuality]] found among many Black Protestants contrasts strikingly with the support frequently shown by other Democrats for the [[homosexual agenda]]. One reason for this contrast could be the Democrats' strong support for minority rights.

Democrats also generally believe that religion should be separate from public life, and as such are typically supported by the ACLU. For example, in 1999 the Congress took up a bill to protect the display of the [[Ten Commandments]]. In the House of Representatives, over 3/4ths of the Democratic party members voted to remove the display.<ref>http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/06/18/gun.rollcall/ten.commandments.html</ref>. The measure did not pass the Legislature, and as a result when Justice [[Roy Moore]] posted a [[Ten Commandments]] display in his courthouse, the ACLU was able to have the display removed.
==History==
===Origins in the 1820s===
Democrats claim the [[Thomas Jefferson]] founded their party. Jefferson did found a party in the 1790s, which he called the "Republican Party." Historians and political scientists call it the [[Democratic-Republican Party]]. That party became defunct in the 1820s. Some of its leaders like [[Henry Clay]] created the [[Whig Party]]. Other leaders, especially [[Andrew Jackson]] and [[Martin Van Buren]] created the modern Democratic party.

The modern Democratic party was formed during 1828-34, under the national leadership of Jackson and Van Buren, with organizations in all the states comprised of local political leaders. This became the era of [[Jacksonian Democracy]]. The Jacksonians resembled the [[Jeffersonian Democracy|Jeffersonians]] especially in terms of anti-elite rhetoric of opposition to "aristocracy" (that is, wealthy old families), distrust of banks (and paper money), and faith in "the people." By his extensive use of federal [[Spoils system|patronage]], President Jackson removed old office-holders to make way for party loyalists. With the emergence of the Whig Party, the nation now had a new party system, the [[Second Party System]], which lasted until 1854.

The party held its first national convention in 1832 to choose a new running mate for Jackson; it nominated Martin Van Buren for vice president and endorsed the reelection of Jackson. Jackson easily defeated Clay in 1832. In the political realignment of 1828-32, some of Jackson's supporters from the election of 1828, especially businessmen and bankers, switched to the opposition Whig Party as Jackson crusaded against the [[Second Bank of the United States]]. The name "Democratic Party" became common by the mid-1830s.

== Jacksonian Democracy: 1828-1854 ==
[[image:donk1837.jpg|thumb|300px|1837 cartoon shows Democratic Party as donkey ]]
After 1830, the Democratic Party drew support from a cross section of the country; every group was represented. However the vast majority of rich merchants, bankers and plantation owners were Whigs, as were most evangelical Protestants. The party was strongest among traditionalistic farmers, frontiersmen, unskilled workers, Irish Catholics, and local or state political leaders. It was weakest in [[New England]], where industrialization turned most factory workers and white collar workers into Whigs, but was dominant in all other regions. The key issues it promoted were opposition to elites and aristocrats, popular democracy (in terms of voting rights and access to government patronage jobs) and opposition to the [[Bank of the United States]] (Jackson vetoed its charter renewal in 1832). The policies were known as [[Jacksonian Democracy]]. [[Image:Jackson1832.jpg|thumb|300px|left]]

Banking and tariffs were the central domestic policy issues from 1828 to 1852. The Democrats favored the [[Mexican-American War]]; Whigs opposed it. Democrats attracted Catholic Irish and German immigrants and denounced anti-immigrant nativism. Both the Democrats and Whigs were divided on the issue of slavery.

In the 1830s the [[Loco-Focos]] in New York City were radically democratic, anti-monopoly, and proponents of [[laissez-faire]]. Their chief spokesman was writer [[William Leggett]]. At this time labor unions were few; some were loosely affiliated with the party.

The economy went sour in the late 1830s with Van Buren getting the blame; he lost reelection as president in 1840 to the Whig [[William Henry Harrison]]. The Democrats gained the White House back in 1844 with [[James K. Polk]]. He had a successful term, then retired. The Democratic National Committee was created in 1848 at the convention that nominated General [[Lewis Cass]], who lost to General [[Zachary Taylor]] of the Whigs. In state after state the Democrats gained small but permanent advantages over the Whigs, until by 1852 the Whig Party was fatally weakened by divisions regarding the issue of slavery and they soon vanished.

The Democratic party dominated the North from the 1840s to 1854. Northern Democrats opposed banks, criticized corporate practices, and preached the ideals of a free society. They called for rapid territorial expansion of the United States, saying that in territorial expansion lay a means for thwarting the pretensions of the [[Slave Power]].

[[Franklin Pierce]] of New Hampshire was elected president in 1852, followed by [[James Buchanan]] of Pennsylvania in 1856. They proved poor presidents who lost control of the slavery issue, and the party, as the nation broke apart and fought the [[American Civil War]].

==Third Party System: Civil War, Gilded Age: 1854-1896==
During the [[Third Party System]] (1854-1896) the Democrats became the minority in the face of the newly formed Republican Party, which controlled nearly all northern states by 1860, bringing a solid majority in the Electoral College. A powerful Republican issue was the allegation that northern Democrats, including "Doughfaces" like Pierce and Buchanan, and advocates of popular sovereignty like [[Stephen A. Douglas]] and [[Lewis Cass]], were accomplices to the [[Slave Power]]. The Republicans meant by Slave Power the conspiracy of slaveholders to seize control of the federal government and block the progress of liberty.

[[Image:DEM1860.JPG|200px|thumb|left|To vote for Douglas in Virginia, a man had to deposit the ticket in the official ballot box.]]
In 1860 the Democrats were unable to stop the election of Republican [[Abraham Lincoln]], even as they feared his election would lead to civil war. The party split in two. The northern wing nominated Douglas, and the southern wing nominated Vice President [[John C. Breckinridge]]. Douglas campaigned across the country and came in second in the popular vote, but carried only Missouri. Breckinridge carried 11 slave states.

The Republican Party was beginning a 50-year era of dominance (1858-1910). During the war, Northern Democrats divided into two factions, [[War Democrats]], who supported the military policies of President Lincoln, and [[Copperheads]], who strongly opposed them. Historian Kenneth Stampp has captured the Copperhead spirit in his depiction of Democratic Congressman [[Daniel W. Voorhees]] of Indiana:
<blockquote>There was an earthy quality in Voorhees, "the tall sycamore of the Wabash." On the stump his hot temper, passionate partisanship, and stirring eloquence made an irresistible appeal to the western Democracy. His bitter cries against protective tariffs and national banks, his intense race prejudice, his suspicion of the eastern Yankee, his devotion to personal liberty, his defense of the Constitution and state rights faithfully reflected the views of his constituents. Like other Jacksonian agrarians he resented the political and economic revolution then in progress. Voorhees idealized a way of life which he thought was being destroyed by the current rulers of his country. His bold protests against these dangerous trends made him the idol of the Democracy of the Wabash Valley.<ref>Stampp, 211.</ref></blockquote>

The Democrats lost consecutive presidential elections from 1860 through 1880 (but 1876 was in dispute); 1884 was their next victory. The Democrats were weakened by their record of opposition to the Civil War but nevertheless benefited from white Southerners' resentment of Reconstruction and consequent hostility to the Republican Party. The [[Redeemers]] gave the Democrats control of every Southern state; the disenfranchisement of black voters in most of the South took place 1890-1900. From 1880 to 1960 the "[[Solid South]]" voted Democratic in all presidential elections (except 1928). After 1900 the key election in southern states was the Democratic primary; victory in the that primary was "tantamount to election" because the GOP was so weak.

Though Republicans continued to control the White House until 1912 (except 1884 and 1892), the Democrats remained competitive in the states, especially in the mid-Atlantic and lower Midwest, and controlled the House of Representatives for most of that period. In the election of 1884, [[Grover Cleveland]], the conservative Democratic Governor of New York, won the presidency, a feat he repeated in 1892, having lost in the election of 1888.

[[Image:1893cleveland-typewriter.jpg|thumb|350px|Typewriters were new in 1893 and this Gillam cartoon from ''Puck'' shows that Cleveland can't get the Democratic "machine" to work as the keys (key politicians) won't respond to his efforts.]]

Cleveland was the leader of the [[Bourbon Democrats]], the conservative wing of the party. They represented business interests, supported banking and railroad goals, promoted capitalism, opposed imperialism and U.S. verseas expansion, opposed the annexation of [[Hawaii]], fought for the [[gold standard]], and opposed [[Bimetallism]]. They strongly supported reform movements such as [[Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act|Civil Service Reform]] and opposed corruption of city bosses, leading the fight against the [[Tweed Ring]]. The leading Bourbons included [[Samuel J. Tilden]], [[David Bennett Hill]] and [[William C. Whitney]] of New York, [[Arthur Pue Gorman]] of Maryland, [[Thomas F. Bayard]] of Delaware, [[William L. Wilson]] of West Virginia, [[John Griffin Carlisle]] of Kentucky, [[William F. Vilas]] of Wisconsin, [[J. Sterling Morton]] of Nebraska, [[John M. Palmer]] of Illinois, [[Horace Boies]] of Iowa, [[L.Q.C. Lamar]] of Mississippi, and railroad builder [[James J. Hill]] of Minnesota. A prominent intellectual was [[Woodrow Wilson]]. The Bourbons were in power when the [[Panic of 1893]] hit; it was a deep depression and they took the blame. A fierce struggle inside the party ensued, with catastrophic losses for both the Bourbon and agrarian factions in 1894, leading to the showdown in 1896.
[[Image:Dead-dem1880.jpg|thumb|550px|In 1880 when General Hancock (right) became the presidential nominee of the Democrats, Republican cartoonists showed the Democratic party history as a horror chamber featuring atrocities in the Civil War era; the donkey" shows the party as a coalition of the rear end of the South joned to the rear end of the North]]

===Ethnocultural voting: pietistic Republicans versus liturgical Democrats===
Religious lines were sharply drawn.<ref>Kleppner (1979).</ref> Methodists, Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Scandinavian Lutherans and other pietists and evangelicals in the North were tightly linked to the Republican Party. In sharp contrast, liturgical groups, especially the Catholics, Episcopalians, and German Lutherans, looked to the Democratic Party for protection from pietistic moralism, especially prohibition. Both parties cut across the class structure, with the Democrats more bottom-heavy.

Cultural issues, especially prohibition and foreign language schools became important because of the sharp religious divisions in the electorate. In the North, about 50% of the voters were pietistic or evangelical Protestants who believed the government should be used to reduce social sins, such as drinking. Liturgical churches (Roman Catholics, German Lutherans, Episcopalians) comprised over a quarter of the vote and wanted the government to stay out of the morality business. Prohibition debates and referenda heated up politics in most states over a period of decade, as national prohibition was finally passed in 1918 (and repealed in 1933), serving as a major issue in the North between the wet Democracy and the dry GOP.<ref>In the South the Democrats were mostly on the dry side. Kleppner (1979).</ref>

==The Bryan Movement==
[[Image:Mark Hanna 1896 election.jpg|thumb|290px|right|Democratic attack ad in 1896 against GOP National Chairman [[Mark Hanna]]; cartoon by Davenport depicts Hanna as a slave driver; from Hearst's ''New York Journal'']]
[[Grover Cleveland]] led the conservative, pro-business [[Bourbon Democrat]]s but as the [[Panic of 1893|depression of 1893]] deepened his enemies multiplied. At the 1896 convention the silverite-agrarian faction repudiated the president, and nominated the crusading orator [[William Jennings Bryan]] on a platform of inflation through "free" silver. The idea was that minting huge numbers of silver dollars would flood the economy with cash and end the depression. Cleveland supporters formed the [[Gold Democrats]], which attracted politicians and intellectuals (including [[Woodrow Wilson]] and [[Frederick Jackson Turner]]) who refused to vote Republican.

Bryan, an overnight sensation because of his phenomenal "Cross of Gold" speech, crusaded against the gold standard. Crisscrossing the Midwest and East by special train—he was the first candidate ever to go on the road—he gave over 500 speeches to audiences in the millions. In St. Louis he gave 36 speeches to workingmen's audiences all over the city, all in one day. Most Democratic newspapers were hostile (except [[William Randolph Hearst]]'s ''New York Journal'') but Bryan seized control of the media by making the news every day, as he hurled thunderbolts against Eastern monied interests. The rural folk in South and Midwest were ecstatic, showing an enthusiasm never before seen. Ethnic Democrats, especially Germans, however, were alarmed and frightened by Bryan. The middle classes, businessmen, newspaper editors, factory workers, railroad workers, and prosperous farmers generally rejected Bryan's crusade. Bryan was overwhelmed by [[William McKinley]] in the most exciting race in national history.<ref> Refuting Bryan's charges, historians have discovered there was little coercion of workers.</ref> McKinley promised a return to prosperity based on the gold standard, support for industry, railroads and banks, and pluralism that would enable every group to move ahead. Bryan did however, win the hearts and minds of a majority of Democrats. The election of 1896 was a political realignment. The victory of the Republican Party marked the start of the "Progressive Era," from 1896 to 1932, in which the GOP usually was dominant.

==Fourth Party System: Bryan, Wilson, Progressivism: 1896-1932 ==
The [[Fourth Party System]] began with the 1896 election, a realignment during which the GOP controlled the presidency for 28 of 36 years. The GOP dominated most of the Northeast and Midwest, and half the West. Bryan, with a base in the South and Plains states, was strong enough to get the nomination in 1900 (losing to McKinley) and 1908 (losing to Taft). [[Theodore Roosevelt]] dominated the first decade of the century—and to the annoyance of Democrats "stole" the trust issue by crusading against trusts.

[[Image:Steal~trust.JPG|thumb|250px|[[Theodore Roosevelt]] steals the anti-trust issue from the Democrats, 1904]]

Anti-Bryan conservatives controlled the convention in 1904, but they faced a [[Theodore Roosevelt]] landslide. Bryan dropped his free silver and anti-imperialism rhetoric and supported mainstream progressive issues, such as the income tax, anti-trust, and direct election of Senators. He backed [[Woodrow Wilson]] in 1912, was rewarded with the State Department, then resigned in protest against Wilson's non-pacifistic policies in 1916. Northern Democrats were progressive on most issues, but generally opposed prohibition, were lukewarm regarding woman's suffrage, and were reluctant to undercut the "boss system" in the big cities.

Taking advantage of a deep split in the GOP, the Democrats took control of the House in 1910, and elected the intellectual reformer [[Woodrow Wilson]] in 1912 and 1916. Wilson successfully led Congress to a series of Progressive laws, including a reduced tariff, stronger antitrust laws, the [[Federal Reserve System]], hours-and-pay benefits for railroad workers, and outlawing of child labor (which was reversed by the Supreme Court). Furthermore, constitutional amendments for prohibition and woman suffrage were passed in his second term. In effect, Wilson laid to rest the issues of tariffs, money and antitrust that had dominated politics for 40 years. Wilson led the U.S. to victory in the World War, and turned his attention to foreign affairs. He wrote parts of the [[Versailles Treaty]], especially the new [[League of Nations]]. But in 1919 Wilson's political skills faltered, and suddenly everything turned sour. The Senate rejected Versailles and the League, a nationwide wave of strikes and violence caused unrest, and Wilson's health collapsed. The GOP came roaring back in a landslide in 1920, as [[Warren G. Harding]] defeated a Democratic ticket memorable for having [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] as the vice presidential nominee.

[[Image:D-Edge-Congress.JPG|thumb|300px|Before 1832 Republicans usually controlled Congress; after 1932 the Democrats usually were in control]]

At the 1924 Democratic National Convention, the big fight was over a resolution denouncing by name the [[Ku Klux Klan]]; it was pushed by New York governor [[Al Smith]] and Alabama Senator [[Oscar W. Underwood]] in order to embarrass the front-runner, [[William McAdoo]] of California. After furious debate, the resolution failed by just a single vote. The KKK faded away soon after, but the deep split in the party over cultural issues, especially Prohibition, facilitated Republican landslides in 1920, 1924 and 1928. However [[Al Smith]] did build a strong Catholic base in the big cities in 1928, and [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s election as Governor of New York that year brought a new leader to center stage.

== Fifth Party System: The New Deal ==
[[Image:FDR_in_1933.jpg|thumb|left|180px|President [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] (1933-1945)]]
The [[Wall Street Crash 1929|stock market crash of 1929]] and the ensuing [[Great Depression]] set the stage for a more progressive government and [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] won a [[landslide victory]] in the [[U.S. presidential election, 1932|election of 1932]], campaigning on a platform of "Relief, Recovery, and Reform." This came to be termed "[[New Deal|The New Deal]]" after a phrase in his acceptance speech. The Democrats also swept to large majorities in both houses of Congress, and among state Governors. Roosevelt altered the nature of the Party, away from laissez-faire capitalism, and towards an ideology of economic regulation and insurance against hardship. Conservative Democrats were outraged; led by [[Al Smith]] they formed the [[American Liberty League]] in 1934 and counterattacked. They failed and either retired from politics or joined the GOP. A few of them, such as [[Dean Acheson]] found their way back to the Democratic Party.

After making gains in Congress in 1934 Roosevelt moved left and embarked on an ambitious legislative program called "The Second New Deal." It was characterized by building up labor unions, nationalizing welfare by the [[WPA]] (which 2 million employed unemployed men), setting up [[Social Security]] and raising taxes on business profits.<ref> In general the New Deal, 1933-40, did not raise taxes, except for the Social Security tax that went into effect in 1937.</ref>

Roosevelt's [[New Deal]] programs focused on job creation through public works projects as well as Social Security. In the name of "reform" it imposed strong regulations on the banking and financial system, transportation, communications, stock markets and labor-management relations.

Roosevely successfully built up the "[[New Deal Coalition"]], a powerful coalition of voters and interest groups that supported liberalism. Key components included big city machines and labor unions. Key voter groups included traditional Democrats, white Southerners, Catholics, Jews, and liberals, as well as many blacks. This united voter base allowed Democrats to be elected to Congress and the presidency for much of the next 30 years.

After a sweeping landslide reelection in 1936--losing ony Maine and vermont--Roosevelt stunned the nation, and his party, by calling for legislation to enlarge the Supreme Court by five new members. A firestorm of opposition erupted, led by his own vice president [[John Nance Garner]]. Roosevelt was defeated by an alliance of Republicans and conservative Democrats, who formed a [[Conservative coalition]] that managed to block nearly all liberal legislation. (Only a minimum wage law got through.) Angry with the conservative wing of his own party, Roosevelt tried to destroy it. In 1938, he actively campaigned against five incumbent conservative Democratic senators; all five senators won re-election.

Under FDR, the Democratic Party became identified closely with modern liberalism, which included the promotion of social welfare, unions and regulation of the economy. Civl rights was not on the party agenda at this time.

==Truman to Kennedy: 1945-1963==
Harry Truman took over unexpectedly in 1945, and the rifts inside the party that Roosevelt had papered over began to emerge. Former Vice President [[Henry A. Wallace]] denounced Truman as a war-monger for his anti-Soviet programs, the [[Truman Doctrine]], [[Marshall Plan]], and [[NATO]]. By cooperating with internationalist Republicans, Truman succeeded in defeating isolationists on the right and pro-Soviets on the left to establish a [[Cold War]] program that lasted until the fall of Communism in 1991. Wallace supporters and fellow travelers of the far left were pushed out of the party and the CIO in 1946-48 by young anti-Communists like [[Hubert Humphrey]], [[Walter Reuther]], and [[Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.]]. [[Hollywood]] emerged in the 1940s as an importance new base in the party, led by movie-star politicians such as [[Ronald Reagan]], who at this point in time strongly supported Roosevelt and Truman.<ref> Reagan became a conservative around 1960, saying the Democratic party had left him.</ref>

On the right the Republicans blasted Truman’s domestic policies. "Had Enough?" was the winning slogan as Republicans recaptured Congress in 1946. Many party leaders were ready to dump Truman, but they lacked an alternative. Truman counterattacked, pushing [[J. Strom Thurmond]] and his [[Dixiecrats]] out, and taking advantage of the splits inside the GOP. He was reelected in a stunning surprise. However all of Truman’s Fair Deal proposals, such as universal health care were defeated by the [[Conservative Coalition]] in Congress. His seizure of the steel industry was reversed by the Supreme Court.
In foreign policy, Europe was safe but troubles mounted in Asia. China fell to the Communists in 1949. Truman entered the [[Korean War]] without formal Congressional approval—the last time a president would ever do so. When the war turned to a stalemate in 1951 he fired General [[Douglas MacArthur]], a hero to conservatives. Republicans blasted Truman's failure to stop Communist gains in Asia. A series of petty scandals among friends and buddies of Truman further tarnished his image, allowing [[Dwight Eisenhower]] and the Republicans in 1952 to crusade against "Korea, Communism and Corruption." Truman dropped out of the presidential race early in 1952, leaving no obvious successor. The convention nominated [[Adlai Stevenson]] in 1952 and 1956, only to see him overwhelmed by two Eisenhower landslides.

[[Image:1952-32.jpg|thumb|480px|right|Stevenson and labor unions warn against a return of the Republican policies of Herbert Hoover in 1952 campaign poster]]

In Congress the powerful duo of House Speaker [[Sam Rayburn]] and Senate Majority leader [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] held the party together, often by compromising with Eisenhower. In 1958 the party made dramatic gains in the midterms and seemed to have a permanent lock on Congress. Indeed, Democrats had majorities in the House every election from 1930 to 1992 (except 1946 and 1952). Most southern Congressmen were conservative Democrats, however, and they usually worked with conservative Republicans. The result was a [[Conservative Coalition]] that blocked practically all liberal domestic legislation from 1937 to the 1970s, except for a brief spell 1964-65, when Johnson neutralized its power.

The nomination of [[John F. Kennedy]] in 1960 energized the Catholic population, which jammed motorcades and turned out in heavy numbers (over 80% voted for Kennedy), while also causing a backlash among white Protestants (over 70% of whom voted for Republican candidate [[Richard Nixon]]. Reaching beyond the traditional Irish, German, Italian and Polish Catholic ethnics, Viva Kennedy set out to mobilize the previously passive Latino vote, and it perhaps provided the margin of victory for Kennedy in Texas and New Mexico. Kennedy's victory reinvigorated the party. His youth, vigor and intelligence caught the popular imagination. In foreign policy he was strongly anti-Communist, and promptly launched an invasion of casto's Cuba; it failed badly. A few new programs like the Peace Corps harnessed idealism. In terms of legislation, Kennedy was stalemated by the [[Conservative Coalition]], and anyway his proposals were all cautious and incremental. In three years he was unable to pass any significant new legislation.

Kennedy's election did mark the coming of age of the Catholic component of the New Deal Coalition. After 1964 middle class Catholics started voting Republicans in the same proportion as their Protestant neighbors. Except for the Chicago of [[Richard J. Daley]], the last of the Democratic machines faded away. His involvement in Vietnam proved momentous, for his successor Lyndon Johnson decided to stay, and double the investment, and double the bet again and again until over 500,000 American soldiers were fighting in that small country.

==Civil Rights, Riots, War and collapse of the New Deal Coalition==
[[Image:LBJ-64.jpg|280px|left|thumb|President Lyndon Johnson ran for reelection in the shadow of Kennedy]]

The New Deal Coalition began to fracture as union and religious leaders demanded support for [[civil rights]], upsetting the party's traditional base of conservative Southern Democrats. After Harry Truman's platform showed support for civil rights and anti-segregation policies during the 1948 Democratic National Convention, many Southern Democratic delegates decided to split from the Party and formed the "[[Dixiecrats]]," led by [[South Carolina]] governor [[Strom Thurmond]] (who, as a Senator, would later join the Republican Party). Over the next few years, many conservative Democrats in the "[[Solid South]]" drifted away from the party. By 1940 most northern Blacks had shifted to the Democratic Party due to its New Deal relief programs and support for civil rights.

The party's dramatic reversal on civil rights issues culminated when Democratic President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] signed into law the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]]. The new laws ended segregation and also ended the main argument Democrats had used to block Republican gains in the South (that is, only the Democrats could protect segregation). The South became competitive in presidential politics in the 1970s and 1980s, giving strong support to Republican Ronald Reagan and rejecting the liberal northern candidates. The Democrats responded by nominating Southerners (Carter in 1976 and 1980, Clinton in 1992 and 1996, Gore in 2000). Few southern states were won by Democratic presidential candidates from the North (Humphrey in 1968, McGovern in 1972, Mondale in 1984, Dukakis in 1988, Kerry in 2004). At the state and local level the Republicans made slow, steady gains, especially among upscale middle class whites and migrants from the North. By the 1990s the GOP was competitive at the state and local level throughout the South. The Democrats made gains in the west, converting California to a Democratic stronghold and gaining in fast-growing Arizona and Nevada. The Northeast became more and more a Democratic enclave, especially after 2006 when numerous Republican moderates were defeated for reelection. the Midwest remained a battleground. The Democrats made strong gains in Illinois, but slipped a little in Minnesota.
[[Image:Demfight1968.jpg|thumb|290px|By 1968 Democrats were bitterly fighting over Vietnam and the failures of the Great Society]]

==1968 to 1999==
The Democratic party split five ways in 1968 and became the minority party in presidential elections for decades; after 1964 they won a majority of the presidential vote only in 2008.

[[Image:Jimmy Carter.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Jimmy Carter was elected in 1976 and defeated in 1980.]]
In 1972, the Democrats nominated Sen. [[George McGovern]] (SD) as the presidential candidate on a platform which advocated, among other things, U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam and a guaranteed minimum income for all Americans. McGovern's forces at the national convention ousted Mayor [[Richard J. Daley]] and the entire Chicago delegation, replacing them with insurgents led by [[Jesse Jackson]]. After it became know that McGovern's running mate, [[Thomas Eagleton]], had received electric shock therapy, McGovern said he supported Eagleton "1000%" but he was soon forced to drop him and find a new running mate. With his campaign stalled for several weeks McGovern finally selected [[Sargent Shriver]], a Kennedy-in-law who was close to Mayor Daley. On July 14, 1972, McGovern appointed his campaign manager, Jean Westwood as the first woman chair of the Democratic National Committee. McGovern was defeated in a landslide by incumbent [[Richard Nixon]], winning only Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. The [[Watergate scandal]] of 1973-74 made corruption a central issue, especially after [[Gerald Ford]] pardoned Nixon in September 1974. The Democrats made major gains in the 1974 off-year elections.

In 1976, mistrust of the administration, complicated by a combination of economic recession and inflation, sometimes called ''[[stagflation]]'', led to Ford's narrow defeat in 1976 by [[Jimmy Carter]], a former governor of Georgia.

Carter represented the total outsider, who promised honesty in government. He had served as a naval officer, a farmer, a state senator, and a one-term governor. His only experience with federal politics was when he chaired the Democratic National Committee's congressional and gubernatorial elections in 1974. Some of Carter's major accomplishments consisted of the creation of a national energy policy and the consolidation of governmental agencies, resulting in two new cabinet departments, the [[United States Department of Energy]] and the [[United States Department of Education]]. Carter also successfully deregulated the trucking, airline, rail, finance, communications, and oil industries, bolstered the [[social security]] system, and appointed record numbers of women and minorities to significant government and judicial posts. He also enacted strong legislation on environmental protection, through the expansion of the [[National Park Service]] in [[Alaska]], creating 103 million new acres of land. In foreign affairs, Carter's accomplishments consisted of the [[Camp David Accords]], the [[Panama Canal Treaties]], the creation of full diplomatic relations with the [[People's Republic of China]], and the negotiation of the [[SALT II]] Treaty. In addition, he championed human rights throughout the world and used human rights as the center of his administration's foreign policy.

Even with all of these successes, Carter failed to implement a national health plan or to reform the tax system, as he had promised in his campaign. Inflation was also on the rise. Abroad, the Iranians held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days, and Carter's diplomatic and military rescue attempts failed. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan later that year weakened the perception Americans had of Carter. Even though he had already been defeated for re-election, Carter fortunately was able to negotiate the release of every American hostage. They were lifted out of Iran minutes after Reagan was inaugurated and Carter served as Reagan's emissary to greet them when they arrived in Germany. In 1980, Carter defeated liberal champion [[Edward Kennedy]] to gain renomination, but lost to conservative [[Ronald Reagan]] by a landslide. The Democrats lost 12 Senate seats, and for the first time since 1954, the Republicans controlled the Senate. The House, however, remained in Democratic hands.

===1980s: Battling Reaganism===
Instrumental in the election of Republican [[Ronald Reagan]] in 1980, were Democrats who supported many conservative policies. Among legislators, one of the most prominent of these consevative Democrats was Georgia congressman and second chairman of the [[John Birch Society]], [[Larry McDonald]], who was a passenger on [[Korean Airlines Flight 007]] shot down by the Soviets on Sept. 1, 1983. The "Reagan Democrats" were Democrats before the Reagan years, and afterward, but they voted for [[Ronald Reagan]] in 1980 and 1984 (and for [[George H. W. Bush]] in 1988), producing their landslide victories. They were mostly white ethnics in the Northeast who were attracted to Reagan's social conservatism on issues such as abortion, and to his strong foreign policy. They did not continue to vote Republican in 1992 or 1996, so the term fell into disuse except as a reference to the 1980s. The term is not used to describe southern whites who became permanent Republicans in presidential elections. Stanley Greenberg, a Democratic pollster analyzed white ethnic voters, largely unionized auto workers, in suburban Macomb County, Michigan, just north of Detroit. The county voted 63 percent for Kennedy in 1960 and 66 percent for Reagan in 1984. He concluded that Reagan Democrats no longer saw Democrats as champions of their middle class aspirations, but instead saw it as being a party working primarily for the benefit of others, especially African Americans and the very poor. Bill Clinton targeted the Reagan Democrats with considerable success in 1992 and 1996.

[[Image:Liberal1984.jpg|thumb|350px]] The failure to hold the Reagan Democrats and the white South led to the final collapse of the [[New Deal coalition]]. Reagan carried 49 states against former Vice President and Minnesota Senator [[Walter Mondale]], a New Deal stalwart, in 1984. Massachusetts Governor [[Michael Dukakis]], running not as a New Dealer but as an efficiency expert in public administration, lost by a landslide in 1988 to Vice President [[George H. W. Bush]].

In response to these landslide defeats, the [[Democratic Leadership Council]] was created. It worked to move the Party rightwards to the ideological center in order to recover some of the fundraising that had been lost to the Republicans due to corporate donors supporting Reagan. With the Party retaining left-of-center supporters as well as supporters holding moderate or conservative views on some issues, the Democrats became generally a "big tent" or "catch all party" with widespread appeal to most opponents of the Republicans.

===The South Becomes Republican===
In the century after the end of [[Reconstruction]] in 1877, the white South identified with Democratic Party. The Democrats' lock on power was so strong, the region was called the [[Solid South]]. The Republicans only controlled parts of the Appalachian mountains, but they sometimes did compete for statewide office in the border states. Before 1964, the southern Democrats saw their party as the defender of the southern way of life, which included a respect for states' rights and an appreciation for traditional southern values. They repeatedly warned against the aggressive designs of Northern liberals and Republicans, as well as civil rights activists whom they denounced as "outside agitators."

However, between 1964 and 2004, the Democratic Party's lock on the South was broken. The long-term cause had to do with the South becoming more like the rest of the nation. It could not long stand apart in terms of racial segregation. Modernization had brought factories, national businesses, and larger, more cosmopolitan cities to the South, as well as millions of migrants from the North and more opportunities for higher education. Meanwhile, the cotton and tobacco economy of the traditional rural South faded away, as former farmers commuted to factory jobs.

Integration and the civil rights movement caused enormous controversy in the white South, with many attacking it as a violation of states' rights. When segregation was outlawed by court order and by the Civil Rights acts of 1964 and 1965, a die-hard element resisted integration, led by Democratic governors [[Orval Faubus]] of Arkansas, [[Lester Maddox]] of Georgia, and, especially [[George Wallace]] of Alabama. These populist governors appealed to a less-educated, blue-collar electorate that on economic grounds favored the Democratic Party, but opposed desegregation. After 1965 most Southerners accepted integration (with the exception of public schools). Believing themselves betrayed by the Democratic Party, traditional white southerners joined the new middle-class and the Northern transplants in moving toward the Republican Party. Meanwhile, newly enfranchised Black voters began supporting Democratic candidates at the 80-90-percent levels, producing Democratic leaders such as [[Julian Bond]] and [[John Lewis]] of Georgia, and [[Barbara Jordan]] of Texas. Just as Martin Luther King had promised, integration had brought about a new day in Southern politics, freeing both blacks and whites from old hatreds and fears.

Using issues of cultural conservatism, especially opposition to abortion and homosexuality and support for school prayer, Republicans attracted strong majorities among evangelical Christians. They were nationwide, but strongest in the South; before to the 1980s they were largely apolitical. Exit polls in 2004 showed that Bush led Kerry by 70-30% among Southern whites, who comprised 71% of the voters. Kerry had a 90-9 lead among the 18% of Southern voters who were black. One third of the Southern voters said they were white evangelicals; they voted for Bush by 80-20.<ref> See the exit polls at [http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/US/P/00/epolls.3.html |date=[[2004-11-02]]|accessdate=2006-11-18]</ref>

===1990s===

In the 1990s the Democratic Party revived itself, in part by moving to the right on economic and social policy. President [[Bill Clinton]], who defeated the incumbent [[George H. W. Bush]] in 1992, implemented a balanced federal budget and [[welfare reform]] (cutting benefits and requiring many recipients to take jobs), traditionally conservative causes. Labor unions, which had been steadily losing membership since the 1960s, found they had also lost political clout inside the Democratic Party: Clinton enacted the [[NAFTA]] free trade agreement with Canada and Mexico over the strong objection of these labor unions, much to the disappointment of those on the left of the party. The [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] took control of both the House of Representatives and the United States Senate after the 1994 election. Clinton was impeached in 1998 and subsequently acquitted in 1999.

When the [[DLC]] attempted to move the Democratic agenda in favor of more centrist positions, prominent Democrats from both the centrist and conservative factions assumed leadership of the party and its direction. Some liberals and progressives felt alienated by the Democratic Party, which they felt had become unconcerned with the interests of the common people and left-wing issues in general. Some Democrats challenged the validity of such critiques, citing the Democratic role in pushing for progressive reforms.

==21st century==
===Election of 2000===
During the presidential election of 2000, the Democrats chose Vice President [[Al Gore]] to be the party's candidate for the presidency. Gore and [[George W. Bush]], the Republican candidate and son of former President George H.W. Bush, disagreed on a number of issues, including abortion, gun control, environmentalism, gay rights, tax cuts, foreign policy, public education, global warming, judicial appointments, and affirmative action. Nevertheless, Gore's affiliation with Clinton and the DLC caused critics—Green Party presidential candidate [[Ralph Nader]] in particular—to assert that Bush and Gore were too similar, especially on free trade, reductions in social welfare, and the death penalty. "We want to punish the Democrats, we want to hurt them, wound them," Nader's closest advisor said.<ref>Harry G. Levinem "Ralph Nader, Suicide Bomber." ''The Village Voice'' May 3, 2004 at [http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0418,levine,53179,1.html] </ref>

Gore won a popular plurality of over 500,000 votes over Bush, but lost in the electoral vote by four votes. In a close election anything can be decisive, but many angry Democrats blamed Nader's third-party spoiler role for Gore's defeat. Controversy plagued the election, and Gore largely dropped from politics for years; by 2005 however he was making speeches critical of Bush's foreign and environmental policies.

Despite Gore's close defeat, the Democrats gained five seats in the Senate (including the election of [[Hillary Clinton]] in New York), to turn a 55-45 Republican edge into a 50-50 split (with a Republican Vice President breaking a tie). However, when Republican Senator [[Jim Jeffords]] of Vermont decided in 2001 to become an independent and vote with the Democratic Caucus, the majority status shifted along with the seat, including control of the floor (by the Majority Leader) and control of all committee chairmanships. However, the Republicans regained their Senate majority with gains in 2002 and 2004, leaving the Democrats with only 44 seats, the fewest since the 1920s.

===2001-2003===
In the aftermath of the [[9-11 Attacks]], the nation's focus was changed to issues of national security. All but one Democrat<ref> Representative [[Barbara Lee]] of Texas</ref> joined the Republicans to authorize President Bush to invade invasion of Afghanistan and overthrow the Taliban. House leader [[Richard Gephardt]] and Senate leader [[Thomas Daschle]] pushed Democrats to vote for the [[USA PATRIOT Act]] and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The Democrats were split over entering Iraq in 2003 and increasingly expressed concerns about both the justification and progress of the [[War on Terrorism]], as well as the domestic effects, including supposed threats to civil rights and civil liberties from the PATRIOT Act. Senator [[Russ Feingold]] was the only Senator to vote against the act; it received more resistance when it came up for renewal, but was renewed in 2006.

In the wake of the financial fraud scandal of the [[Enron Corporation]] and other corporations, Congressional Democrats pushed for a legal overhaul of business accounting with the intention of preventing further accounting fraud. This led to the bipartisan [[Sarbanes-Oxley Act]] in 2002. Economic issues did not work well in 2002, as the Democrats lost a few seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. They lost three seats in the Senate. While Democrats gained governorships in New Mexico (where [[Bill Richardson]] was elected), Arizona ([[Janet Napolitano]]) and Wyoming ([[Dave Freudenthal]]), other Democrats lost governorships in South Carolina ([[Jim Hodges]]), Alabama ([[Don Siegelman]]) and, for the first time in more than a century, Georgia ([[Roy Barnes]]). The election led to another round of soul searching about the party's narrowing base. The party's miseries mounted in 2003, when a voter recall unseated their unpopular governor of California, [[Gray Davis]], and replaced him which a charismatic liberal Republican [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]]. By the end of 2003 the four largest states had Republican governors: California, Texas, New York and Florida.

===Election of 2004===
The 2004 campaign began in late 2002, when Gore said he would not run again. [[Howard Dean]], former Governor of Vermont, an opponent of the war and a critic of the Democratic establishment, was the front-runner leading into the Democratic primaries. Dean had immense grassroots support, especially from the left wing of the party. Massachusetts Senator [[John Kerry]], a more centrist figure with heavy support from the [[Democratic Leadership Council]], was nominated because he was seen as more "electable" than Dean. Democrats moves to populist anti business positions that denounced free trade and the [[NAFTA]] agreement. The party rhetoric attacked the Bush administration rather than propose alternative programs.

In the end, Kerry lost both the popular vote (by 3 million out of over 120 million votes cast) and the [[Electoral College]]. Republicans also gained four seats in the Senate and three seats in the House of Representatives. Also, for the first time since 1952, the Democratic leader of the Senate lost re-election. In the end, there were 3,660 Democratic state legislators across the nation to the Republicans' 3,557. Democrats gained governorships in Louisiana, New Hampshire and Montana. However, they lost the governorship of Missouri and a legislative majority in Georgia—which had long been a Democratic stronghold.

There were many reasons for the defeat. After the election most analysts concluded that Kerry was a poor campaigner.<ref>Evan Thomas and Staff of Newsweek,''Election 2004: How Bush Won and What You Can Expect in the Future''(2005)</ref> A group of Vietnam veterans opposed to Kerry called the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" undercut Kerry's use of his military past as a campaign strategy. Kerry was unable to reconcile his initial support of the [[Iraq War]] with his opposition to the war in 2004, or manage the deep split in the Democratic Party between those who favored and opposed the war. Republicans ran thousands of television commercials to argue that Kerry had flip-flopped on Iraq. When Kerry's home state of Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage, the issue split liberal and conservative Democrats and independents (Kerry publicly stated throughout his campaign that he opposed same sex marriage, but favored civil unions). Republicans exploited the same-sex marriage issue by promoting ballot initiatives in 11 states that brought conservatives to the polls in large numbers; all 11 initiatives passed. Some Democrats argued that flaws in vote-counting systems may also have played a role in Kerry's defeat in Ohio. Other factors include a healthy job market, a rising stock market, strong home sales, and low unemployment.

After the 2004 election, prominent Democrats began to rethink the party's direction, and a variety of strategies for moving forward were voiced. Some Democrats proposed moving towards the right; others demanded that the party move more to the left and become a stronger opposition party. . Rethinking the party's position on gun control became a matter of discussion, brought up by [[Howard Dean]], [[Bill Richardson]], [[Brian Schweitzer]] and other Democrats who had won governorships in states where Second Amendment rights were important to many voters.

===2005 - 2007===
These debates were reflected in the 2005 campaign for Chairman of the [[Democratic National Committee]], which [[Howard Dean]] won. He sought to move the Democratic strategy away from the establishment, and bolster support for the party's state organizations, even in Red states.

When the 109th Congress convened in 2005, [[Harry Reid]], the new Senate Minority Leader, tried to convince the Democratic Senators to vote more as a bloc on important issues; he forced the Republicans to abandon their push for privatization of Social Security. In 2005, the Democrats retained their governorships in Virginia and New Jersey, electing [[Tim Kaine]] and [[Jon Corzine]], respectively. However, the party lost the mayoral race in New York City, a Democratic stronghold, for the fourth straight time.

In 2006, with scandals involving Republican lobbyist [[Jack Abramoff]], as well as GOP House leader [[Tom DeLay]], Ohio GOP governor [[Bob Taft]] and others, the Democrats used the slogan "Culture of corruption." Negative public opinion on the war in Iraq, along with widespread dissatisfaction among conservatives over government spending, dragged President Bush's job approval ratings down to the lowest levels of his presidency. To win control the Democrats had to add 15 seats in the House (they added 30), and 6 in the Senate (they added 6).

The Democratic Party's electoral success has been attributed to running relatively conservative Democrats in close seats, such as the Senate races in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Montana. <ref> Dewan Shaila and Anne E. Kornblut, "In Key House Races, Democrats Run to the Right," ''New York Times,'' 2006-10-30; but compare Rick Perlstein, "Who deserves credit for the Democratic comeback?" ''The New Republic'' 2006-11-08]] at [https://ssl.tnr.com/p/docsub.mhtml?i=w061106&s=perlstein110806] </ref> Exit polling suggested that corruption was a key issue for many voters.<ref>CNN, "Corruption named as key issue by voters in exit polls," 2006-11-08 at [http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/07/election.exitpolls/] </ref>

In 2006 Democrats gained a majority of governorships and made gains in many state legislatures. No Democratic incumbent was defeated in any major race.

House Democrats chose Rep. [[Nancy Pelosi]] of California for Speaker, the first woman ever, but rejected her choice for Majority Leader. Senate Democrats promoted Harry Reid to Majority Leader.

==Symbols==
[[Image:Democraticjackass.jpg|thumb|250px|"A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion" by Thomas Nast]]
The most common symbol for the party is the donkey, although the party itself never officially adopted this symbol.<ref>[http://www.democrats.org/a/2005/06/history_of_the.php History of the Democratic Donkey]. </ref> Some historians suggest the jackass was born 1828 when Jackson was sometimes called a jackass by his opponents as a play on his name. A political cartoon depicting Jackson riding and directing a donkey (representing the Democratic Party) was published in 1837. A political cartoon by [[Thomas Nast]] in an 1870 revived the donkey as a symbol for the Democratic Party. Cartoonists ever since have followed Nast and used the donkey to represent the Democrats, and the elephant to represent the Republicans.

In the early 20th century, the traditional symbol of the Democratic Party in many states was the rooster, as opposed to the Republican eagle.

There is no official color, but since election night 2000 blue has become the identification color of the Democratic Party for maps, while the red has become the color of the Republicans. Increasingly blue is used by Democrats for promotions (e.g BuyBlue, BlueFund) and by the party itself, which in 2006 unveiled the "Red to Blue Program" to support Democratic candidates running against Republican incumbents in the 2006 midterm election.

[[Jefferson-Jackson Day]] annual fundraising celebrations are held by local chapters of the Democratic Party.

The song "[[Happy Days Are Here Again]]" is the unofficial song of the Democratic Party. It was used prominently when Roosevelt was nominated for president at the 1932 Democratic National Convention and remains a sentimental favorite for Democrats today. During the [[Bill Clinton|Clinton]] era, the [[Fleetwood Mac]] song "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" became a popular song at Democratic events, reflecting the growing prominence of Baby Boomers in the party.

==Democratic Presidents==
* [[Andrew Jackson]] (1829-1837)
* [[Martin Van Buren]] (1837-1841)
* [[James K. Polk]] (1845-1849)
* [[Franklin Pierce]] (1853-1857)
* [[James Buchanan]] (1857-1861)
* [[Grover Cleveland]] (1885-1889) (1893-1897)
* [[Woodrow Wilson]] (1913-1921)
* [[Franklin Roosevelt]] (1933-1945)
* [[Harry S Truman]] (1945-1953)
* [[John F. Kennedy]] (1961-1963)
* [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] (1963-1969)
* [[Jimmy Carter]] (1977-1981)
* [[Bill Clinton]] (1993-2001)
* ''[[Barack Obama]] (2009 - ) [president-elect]''

==See also==
*[[Previous Breaking News/Democrats|Articles about '''Democrats''' from previous "Breaking News"]]
*[[Democrats and casual sex]]
*[[Larry McDonald]] Conservative Democrat
*[[Phonemarks]]

==Bibliography==
===Current===
*Barone, Michael, and Grant Ujifusa, ''The Almanac of American Politics 2008: The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: Their Records and Election Results, Their States and Districts'' (2007) covers all the live politicians with amazing detail. New edition every two years since 1975.
* Brownstein, Ronald. ''The Second Civil War: How Extreme Partisanship Has Paralyzed Washington and Polarized America''(2007)
* Crane, Michael. ''The Political Junkie Handbook: The Definitive Reference Books on Politics'' (2004) covers all the major issues explaining the parties' positions
*Sabato, Larry J. ''Divided States of America: The Slash and Burn Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election'' (2005).
*Sabato, Larry J. ed. ''The Sixth Year Itch: The Rise and Fall of the George W. Bush Presidency'' (1907), in-depth essays by scholars on key states in 2006
* Sabato, Larry J., and Howard R. Ernst eds. ''Political Parties and Elections'' (2007), 540pp; an encyclopedia with 450 entries by scholars; focus is 1945 to present
* Sabato, Larry J. and Bruce Larson. ''The Party's Just Begun: Shaping Political Parties for America's Future'' (2001) textbook.
* Shafer, Byron E. and Anthony J. Badger, eds. ''Contesting Democracy: Substance and Structure in American Political History, 1775-2000'' (2001), long essays by specialists on each time period
* Shafer, Byron and Richard Johnston. ''The End of Southern Exceptionalism'' (2006), uses statistical election data & polls to argue GOP growth was primarily a response to economic change
===Historical===
* ''American National Biography'' (20 volumes, 1999) covers all politicians no longer alive; online and paper copies at many academic libraries.
* Jensen, Richard. ''Grass Roots Politics: Parties, Issues, and Voters, 1854-1983'' (1983) [http://www.questia.com/library/book/grass-roots-politics-parties-issues-and-voters-1854-1983-by-christopher-c-gibbs-richard-j-jensen-steven-l-piott.jsp online edition]; survey by conservative scholar, with primary sources
* Kennedy, David M. ''Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945'' (2001), synthesis by leading scholar; Pulitzer prize [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=52284041 online edition]
* Kleppner, Paul et al. ''The Evolution of American Electoral Systems'' (1983), essays by scholars (some of them conservatives), 1790s to 1980s.
* Kleppner, Paul. ''The Third Electoral System 1853-1892: Parties, Voters, and Political Cultures'' (1979), analysis of voting behavior, with emphasis on region, ethnicity, religion and class. [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=24451028 online edition]
* Ling, Peter J. ''The Democratic Party: A Photographic History'' (2003).
* Patterson, James T. ''Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974'' (1997) synthesis by leading scholar. [http://www.amazon.com/Grand-Expectations-United-1945-1974-History/dp/0195117972/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211911625&sr=1-2 excerpt and text search]
* Patterson, James T. ''Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush vs. Gore'' (2005) synthesis by leading scholar. [http://www.amazon.com/Restless-Giant-United-Watergate-History/dp/0195305221/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211911625&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
* Ritchie, Donald A. ''Electing FDR: The New Deal Campaign of 1932'' (2007) [http://www.amazon.com/Electing-FDR-Campaign-Presidential-Elections/dp/0700615504/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195784762&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search]
* Rutland, Robert Allen. ''The Democrats: From Jefferson to Clinton'' (1995).
* Shafer, Byron E. and Anthony J. Badger, eds. ''Contesting Democracy: Substance and Structure in American Political History, 1775-2000'' (2001), most recent collection of new essays by specialists on each time period:
**includes: "State Development in the Early Republic: 1775–1840" by Ronald P. Formisano; "The Nationalization and Racialization of American Politics: 1790–1840" by David Waldstreicher; "'To One or Another of These Parties Every Man Belongs;": 1820–1865 by Joel H. Silbey; "Change and Continuity in the Party Period: 1835–1885" by Michael F. Holt; "The Transformation of American Politics: 1865–1910" by Peter H. Argersinger; "Democracy, Republicanism, and Efficiency: 1885–1930" by Richard Jensen; "The Limits of Federal Power and Social Policy: 1910–1955" by Anthony J. Badger; "The Rise of Rights and Rights Consciousness: 1930–1980" by James T. Patterson, Brown University; and "Economic Growth, Issue Evolution, and Divided Government: 1955–2000" by Byron E. Shafer
* Schlisinger, Galbraith. ''Of the People: The 200 Year History of the Democratic Party'' (1992)
* Sundquist, James L. ''Dynamics of the Party System: Alignment and Realignment of Political Parties in the United States'', (1983) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=29223022 online edition
* Wilentz, Sean. ''The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln'' (2005), detailed synthesis by a leading liberal scholar. [http://www.amazon.com/Rise-American-Democracy-Jefferson-Lincoln/dp/0393058204/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195784940&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Witcover, Jules. ''Party of the People: A History of the Democrats'' (2003)
* Schlesinger, Arthur Meier, Jr. ed. ''History of American Presidential Elections, 1789-2000'' (various multivolume editions, latest is 2001). For each election includes a short history by a leading scholar and a selection of primary documents.

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

==External links==
*[http://www.democrats.org/ Democratic Party Official Site]
*[http://www.demconvention.com/assets/downloads/2008-Democratic-Platform-final.pdf 2008 Democratic Platform (pdf download)]

[[Category:United States Political Organizations]]
[[Category:United States Political Parties]]
[[Category:Democratic Party]]

Talk:Essay:Greatest Mysteries of World History

2009-02-11T17:15:11Z

StephenK: /* "Ancient humor" */

==Dark Ages==

I have to ask: does this really qualify as a "mystery?" Most people who have actually taken the time to study European history, I would suggest, would say that there's a clear and simple answer: "No, the so-called "Dark Ages" weren't really so backwards." Significant advances were made during the period generally termed the "Dark Ages" in many fields: music, agriculture, metallurgy, and philosophy spring to mind immediately. Historians today generally avoid using the term "Dark Ages" for precisely that reason.

Should it really be termed a "mystery" just because some people continue to hold misconceptions about it? --[[User:Benp|Benp]] 14:11, 28 December 2008 (EST)
: Yes, it's not a mystery at all. Renaissance humanists hated the "dark ages" with a passion. Now we know just how much science and culture were developed during those centuries. Not so much a mystery as a myth, really (liberals love to claim early Christian Europe was fruitless) [[User:RodWeathers|- Rod Weathers]] 14:14, 28 December 2008 (EST)

::Perhaps a better question would be "Why are the advances of the early Middle Ages frequently overlooked or dismissed?" --[[User:Benp|Benp]] 14:19, 28 December 2008 (EST)

:::My question is: ''What specific non-warfare scientific/technological advances were made in Christian Western Europe between the fall of Rome and AD1000?'' [[User:AlanE|AlanE]] 15:36, 9 February 2009 (EST)

::::There were some important scholars, notably Isidore of Seville (6th century Spain), Bede (7th century England) and Alcuin of York (8th century England). But, with these possible exceptions, European scholarship is overshadowed by India, China and the Muslim Caliphate in this period. The first European renaissance started when Christian scholars visited Spain and Sicily to benefit from Arab learning.

::::However, the so-called Dark Ages weren't nearly as obscure are the name suggests. There was significant trade with Byzantium and the Caliphate and the most important monasteries had access to classical Latin texts. There were major building projects, especially of monasteries, particularly from the late 8th century onwards. The standard of craftsmanship was exceptional - you couldn't say it declined at all during the "Dark Ages". Witness the jewelry at Sutton Hoo or the illustrated manuscripts produced by Anglo-Saxon scriptoria. The Anglo-Saxon kings, notably Alfred, Athelstan and Edgar, laid the basis of English government which was formalised by the coronation oath of Henry I.

::::Bear in mind that the setback to civilisation was only in Western Europe. Culture flourished in the Eastern Empire, also in the Arab Caliphate, while the Tang and Song Dynasties represent in many ways the peak of Chinese culture. Also, much of the foundations of mathematics were discovered in India in this period. Universities were first founded in Arab lands (Fez was the first, I think) in the 10th century, before spreading to Spain and thence to Christian Europe. [[User:FredFerguson|FredFerguson]] 20:23, 9 February 2009 (EST)
:::::The operative words in my question above were ''scientific/technological''. I know of Bede and Alcuin and have had occasion to look into Isadore in the last few months. Yes they were scholars, and they shine like beacons. I am also aware of the "Benedictine reformation" and the wonders done by St. Dunstan. But these are beacons in the gloom. Was it Dunstan who had the Benedictine rules translated into "English" because Latin had been largely forgotten? And I love the jewellery of that age. I have had occasion to read much of the [[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]] a number of times last year...and it really was a dark and dangerous age. Only Christianity kept western society together (and I know of no historian that denies the good the Church did in those times) but as for science and technological advances, really there was very little, if any at all.
In another context the age is also called ''the great interruption''. Cheers [[User:AlanE|AlanE]] 23:19, 9 February 2009 (EST)
::::::Science and technology: almost nothing, I think. The great advances in science during the so-called Dark Ages were in India and the Muslim countries. The West only started to turn the corner in terms of scientific learning when Gerbert (Pope Sylvester II) visited the Muslim universities in Spain, c.1000 (see R.W. Southern, ''The Making of the Middle Ages''). [[User:FredFerguson|FredFerguson]] 17:59, 10 February 2009 (EST)
:Yes! Now all we have to do is get people to agree to it on [[Essay:Liberal Denials about History]] item (10) under "Specific truths that history books deny".[[User:AlanE|AlanE]] 18:57, 10 February 2009 (EST)

==Humor==
Perhaps this entry could be clarified: is there a particular form of humor that the author had in mind? There are examples of jokes, riddles, puns, comic figurines/images, anthropoligical notes of humorous conversations, etc. from both pre-Christian times and from post-Christian 'first contacts' with cultures that had had no previous exposure to Christianity.--[[User:Brossa|Brossa]] 09:37, 8 February 2009 (EST)

:Brossa: Can you provide some? --[[User:AbnerY|AbnerY]] 21:51, 8 February 2009 (EST)

:I'd like to see Brossa's alleged examples also.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 23:49, 8 February 2009 (EST)

::How about Greek and Roman comedy? that way predated Christianity. Andy, what kind of claim are you making here? on what basis would you allege that humor does not predate Christianity? it seems pretty far-fetched. I'd like to see some evidence. --[[User:DaveClark|DaveClark]]

::: You misunderstand what a Greek "comedy" was. It was not a humorous performance as meant by the term today (after the onset of Christianity).--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 08:32, 9 February 2009 (EST)

:::: Yes. It was. The intention was to make people laugh. Otherwise, what on earth do you mean by "humor"? Also.. news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7536918.stm [[User:KimSell|KimSell]] 09:02, 9 February 2009 (EST)

::::: Aschlafly is right in saying that the term "comedy" did not mean exactly what it does today, but KimSell is right that the works of playwrights such as Aristophanes certainly included humorous elements such as wordplay, farce and grotesque exaggeration (often surprisingly coarse by our standards). I'd also cite the episode where the children mocked Elisha in 2 Kings 2:23-24 as an example, albeit fairly base, of pre-Christian humor.--[[User:CPalmer|CPalmer]] 09:10, 9 February 2009 (EST)

::::: As a side-note, in the past there have been bitter disputes where people have taken the polar opposite position to Mr Schlafly, ie that all humor is un-Christian. This is touched on in Umberto Eco's ''The Name of the Rose'', which I recommend.--[[User:CPalmer|CPalmer]] 09:21, 9 February 2009 (EST)

:::::: The pre-Christian examples don't withstand scrutiny. Mockery or crude comments are not quality humor, and may not be humor at all.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 09:23, 9 February 2009 (EST)
:::::::Sorry Mr. Schlafly. While you may not consider crude comments humorous, it is still defined as humor. you are yet to back up the claim you're making with any specific evidense. even if greek comedy didn't qualify as humor (and it does) there would still be no evidence that the advent of christianity brought the advent of humor.

::::This will be easier if you define precisely what ''you'' mean by 'humor' or 'comedy' so that we can determine if in fact it did or did not exist before Christianity. As the essay stands now, it implies that there was no ''humor'' before Christianity, not that, say, stand-up comedy as practiced in the United States today did not exist in the ancient world. The Greek comedy tradition was well-established by the sixth century BC and contains aspects of sexual farce, parody of 'serious' literary styles, and mockery of specific political and public figures. Comic performers wore characteristic costumes that included fat suits, huge genitalia, and grotesque masks that are still in use in modern comic performances. Greek vases depict these comic characters engaged in antics; I recall in particular a vase depicting two grotesque dwarves helping a third dwarf up a ladder or ramp - Three Stooges level humor.
::::Isaac in the Bible got his name from the laughter of Abraham and Sarah; does this not indicate a sense of humor? Elijah mocks the prophets of Baal, including the suggestion that Baal cannot hear his priests because he is on the toilet.
::::Egyptian papyri show exaggerated caricatures of dishevelled older men engaged in sexual relations with young women, including humorous captions (in heiroglyphics!) detailing the women's commentary on the situation. Other examples of Egyptian pictorial humor include depictions of animals engaged in human activities - like cats herding geese and goats and lions playing board games - juxtaposed with humans engaged in animal activity. A foreign queen is depicted as being so fat that she stands next to an ass with the caption 'the ass needed to carry the queen'.
::::Sumerian scatological humor is recorded (in cuneiform) on a tablet dated to 1900 BC.
::::Many Native American groups had oral traditions that include the 'Trickster' figure, who gets involved in humorous scrapes and mocks authority figures. Many of these stories also include punning wordplay and practical jokes; another dimension of humor.
::::Nineteenth century Australian ethnographers, coming into first contact with an isolated Aboriginal group, noted that the Aboriginals told stories among themselves and laughed during an otherwise stressful time - in this case, a terrible thunderstorm.
::::I'm sure that others could contribute examples from Sanskrit or Asian cultures.
::::So scatological humor, sexual humor, puns, riddles, slapstick, political satire, parody of 'serious' art forms, practical jokes, and others are all documented in pre-Christian or non-Christian cultures.--[[User:Brossa|Brossa]] 09:40, 9 February 2009 (EST)

::::: To one with an open mind, your vulgar "examples" tend to reinforce the basic observation: (real) humor was lacking before Christianity. Crudeness or vulgarity or mockery is not true humor, and Greek "comedies" were not attempts at humor in today's sense.

::::: If you had evidence of writings about humor itself, or books of humor, or truly comedic performances, or anything remotely similar to quality humor today, then that could help your argument. But the above examples, if they are the best you have, simply underscore the insight in this essay.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 09:54, 9 February 2009 (EST)

::::::::: It would have been simpler for you to have simply started with the statement that no 'true humor' existed before Christianity, so that we would have known what sort of Scotsman we were dealing with in the first place. At any rate, the Japanese had [http://www.conservapedia.com/Noh_theater#What_is_Ky.C5.8Dgen.3F mature forms of theater] designed to "draw rich laughter from the audience" before Christianity was introduced to Japan.--[[User:Brossa|Brossa]] 11:02, 9 February 2009 (EST)

::::::::Have you ever watched an ancient Greek comedy? Because I have, and in parts, they are downright hilarious. As people keep saying, you have not explained what you mean by "humor" and so, this conversation would seem to be pointless. However, Aristotle speaks of the history of Greek comedy, including the fact that it was funny! [[User:KimSell|KimSell]] 10:39, 9 February 2009 (EST)

:::::: May I ask what is the earliest example of true humor that you know of? While I respect the viewpoint that the above examples are not real humor, I don't know of any new form that emerged very soon after the establishment of Christianity.--[[User:CPalmer|CPalmer]] 10:30, 9 February 2009 (EST)

:::::::If you are so adament about so called "genuine humor" mr. Schlafly, then please define it for us.

::::::::Clearly there is a distinction to be made between things that are funny and things that are 'humor'. If it was intended to make people laugh, it qualifies as humor, whether it was funny or not. No doubt plenty of movies made by the Zuckers and the Farrelly brothers aren't funny, but they're still comedies. I don't find Groucho Marx very funny but he still counts as a comedian. What you seem to mean is that you don't find pre-Christian humor amusing. That's fine but it hardly counts as one of the 'greatest mysteries of world history'.[[User:Sam99foster|Sam99foster]] 12:09, 9 February 2009 (EST)

::::::::: I agree with Mr Achalfly in that for something to be humorous it needs to have a certain amount of taste and refinement. For example, the article mentions a man getting hit in the crotch by a ball. While some people may find this funny, I daresay there are very few people in the world whi would call this humor. The article also mentions the Jackass movie; again, while a few people may find it amusing, I doubt very many people would define it as humorous. What do these two examples have in common? A lack of taste and refinement. [[User:ETrundel|ETrundel]] 13:26, 9 February 2009 (EST)

::::::::::Surely someone with an open mind would find such taste and refinement in ancient Greco-Roman political satire (e.g. from Aristophanes). Humor undeniably existed before Christianity. Let's just put this behind us as a misunderstanding (or even a disagreement over personal preference). [[User:FundieMath|FundieMath]] 13:41, 9 February 2009 (EST)

For the elucidation of all: "''The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature''" describes Aristophanes as an "Athenian comic poet". Eleven of his plays survive. I know of at least one that has been performed in modern times - "''The Wasps''". I have a CD of it (2 CD set actually) Originally, it was produced in 422 B.C. and is a satirical comedy, poking fun at the Athenian jury system of the time and the state of contemporary politics. It is a comedy of manners, with elements of parody, occasional crudity and slapstick. Sounds like the Restoration writers to me. Or Voltaire. Even Shakespeare indulged in a bit of crudity at times. Modern productions, of course, update some of the scenes.

Aristophanes, who is still read and studied, is only one of many writers of comedies in those times. There was an annual competition for comedy. (''The Wasps'' came 2nd in its year.) Aristophanes' style has been copied by classically trained playwrights since...the Frenchman, Racine, for instance.

The above Oxford Companion devotes over 3 tightly printed pages to ancient Greek and Roman comedy, as well as many mentioned writers getting their own articles. Perhaps we today would not find as funny, but scenes in Shakespeare that had them rolling around in the aisles in 1600 do not quite have that power today. [[User:AlanE|AlanE]] 14:40, 9 February 2009 (EST)

:remove indent) ETundel, you are confusing "I find it funny" with "it is intended as Humor." I don't find Jackass funny myself, but it is still considered humour. It may be very low comedy, which it is and not everyone will like it, but the fact remains that something does not cease to be "humour" just because X amount of people don't find it funny. [[User:StephenK|StephenK]] 16:25, 9 February 2009 (EST)

The above discussion is interesting, and I'd like to learn more about "The Wasps." But certainly much of the above, such as vulgarity, is not "humor" as defined primarily by the dictionary: the "ludicrous" or (more importantly) the "absurdly incongruous."

There are dim-witted people who are amused by compulsive profanity or, as on this site, by mindless vandalism. Parody and sarcasm is also immensely entertaining to the easily amused. But this is not "humor" as defined by the dictionary, and I still haven't seen any compelling examples of pre-Christian humor. A performance like "Trading Places" would qualify, but it didn't exist.

It's interesting how strenuously some people object to the proposition that humor did not predate Christianity. Surely your minds are not so closed as to think the proposition to be automatically impossible.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 17:48, 9 February 2009 (EST)

: Here you go Andy, here is the full text of "The Wasps" for you to read at your leisure here[http://classics.mit.edu/Aristophanes/wasps.html]. You can judge for yourself if you find it humorous. Honestly, I'm surprised that you're surprised; you throw out a proposition that runs counter to even the most basic understanding of behavior and psychology, basically saying that before Christ nobody knew how to be genuinely funny, and are surprised when people question that? Having an open mind doesn't mean you accept everything to be true. --[[User:ShawnJ|ShawnJ]] 18:19, 9 February 2009 (EST)

::(EC)"But certainly much of the above, such as vulgarity, is not "humor" as defined primarily by the dictionary"
::Presumably if ANY of the above is humor as defined by the dictionary, then there was humor that pre-dated Christianity. If Aristophanes wrote a political satire ("a satirical comedy, poking fun ... at the state of contemporary politics"), would that not make it a humorous piece of work by any normal definition?[[User:Sam99foster|Sam99foster]] 18:28, 9 February 2009 (EST)

::: ShawnJ and Sam99foster, please answer my question: are you saying that you believe the proposition to be automatically impossible??? It sure sounds that way from some of the closed-minded postings above. Note, by the way, that satire is not "humor" per its primary dictionary definition.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 18:42, 9 February 2009 (EST)

:::: No Andy, I don't find it automatically impossible, I find it impossible after brief consideration. That means I gave your question thought, and found it's position to be ludicrous. The question infers that somehow, before Christ, humans did not have access to the full range of their emotions. You can argue over how humor, like ethics and morality, have changed over the years, but it doesn't stop them from existing. Rejecting the notion that humor didn't exist before Christ is not an example of closed-mindedness any more than rejecting the notion that 2+2=76 is. --[[User:ShawnJ|ShawnJ]] 23:22, 9 February 2009 (EST)

Sir, since you say parody is not humor, is [[Essay:Born_Outside_the_U.S.A.!|this]], therefore, not funny?

[[User:ArthurA|ArthurA]] 19:57, 9 February 2009 (EST)

: Do you often speak in non sequiturs?--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 20:00, 9 February 2009 (EST)

:: How is that a non-sequitur? You argue that parody and satire are not humor, so I point you to something that you presumably wrote as a humorous piece. You certainly didn't reject the accolades that termed it funny.

::: You argue, ''"Note, by the way, that satire is not "humor" per its primary dictionary definition."'' What dictionary are you using? [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/humor According to Merriam-Webster's on-line dictionary], this is the definition of humor in the context with which we are concerned (the others definitions concern the dated usage referring to the human body):

* that quality which appeals to a sense of the ludicrous or absurdly incongruous
* the mental faculty of discovering, expressing, or appreciating the ludicrous or absurdly incongruous
* something that is or is designed to be comical or amusing

Parody and satire seem to fit both the first and third. If you disagree, please explain why.

So, what is your definition? You've not provided one yet; you've merely said "humor is not (fill in the blank)".

I view humor as a gift from God. It allows us to get through our most troubling times. The idea that humor only existed after Christ is as alien to me as the idea that romantic love only existed after Christ. [[User:ArthurA|ArthurA]] 20:19, 9 February 2009 (EST)

::: I apologize to Mr. Schlafly in that I charged that he had not provided a definition of humor -- he had, and it was, embarrassingly enough, the same one I cited. This topic has become long, and I missed his definition.

::: However, I still ask this: how do parody and satire '''''not''''' fit that definition?

::: Mr. Schlafly also cites the film ''Trading Places'' as an example of humor. Well, Eddie Murphy was never one of my favorites, since, particularly during the time he made that movie, he was extraordinarily foul-mouthed. But... as I understand it, plot of the movie is two people from different worlds trade lives, and we see how they both handle it, or fail to do so.

::: That strikes me as something that has to be one of the oldest jokes imaginable -- laughing at the "fish out of water" concept. I can easily imagine two Egyptian peasants, toiling down in the Nile Delta, lightening their day by laughing at the thought of the Pharaoh having to do their jobs for a while. "He'd be worried about getting his robes dirty!" "He probably couldn't even fill ten bushels of reeds!" (Of course, "ten bushels of reeds" isn't funny to us, but it might be hilarious to the guy who could pick thirty bushels before a lunch break.)

::: Now, admittedly, I'm speculating, but so is Mr. Schlafly. And I think my speculation is quite reasonable -- ancient people laughing at a concept we still find funny. He, by contrast, apparently imagines humanity consisted of a collection of dour sourpusses and/or vulgarians who couldn't appreciate anything beyond a flatulence joke until somewhere between 1 and 30 AD.

::: He also charges those of us who don't see his viewpoint of being close-minded. Sorry, no -- it is not close-minded to expect extraordinary proof for an extraordinary claim. If I said, "perhaps, until Christ was born, the sky was green and the grass was blue", you'd be justified in taking that with a huge grain of salt -- particularly if you presented me with some evidence that, in 200 BC, the sky was blue and the grass was green, and I responded with "well, that's not really ''blue'' and ''green'', that's ''cobalt'' and ''emerald''." [[User:ArthurA|ArthurA]] 08:47, 10 February 2009 (EST)

I'm new here but I don't understand this one. What has Christianity got to do with humour? In any case, the answer is "yes" - as contributors above suggest, go and read (or even better, watch) Aristophanes. [[User:FredFerguson|FredFerguson]] 20:10, 9 February 2009 (EST)
::Whilst shopping just now I nicked into my local newsagency-cum-bookshop. There were Penguin Classics editions on the shelf of Aristophanes' ''Frogs'', ''The Birds'', ''Lysistrata'' and ''The Clouds''. This not a big shop....so it seems old Aristophanes is alive and kicking, if only as part of a subject at university. (I must admit that I only have the ''Wasps'' CDs because of the wonderful RVW incidental music written for a Cambridge Uni dramatic society performance in 1909, but it shows that he is not completely out of date and that his wit can be applied to modern circumstance.) The word ''wit'' is what I keep coming across regards his plays.[[User:AlanE|AlanE]] 20:40, 9 February 2009 (EST)

==="Ancient humor"===
One thing I think many of Mr. Schlafay's detractors are overlooking is the possibility that the works we refer to as "comedies" today might not have been intended as comedies in their own time. The word "[[comedy]]" is English (as are all the other words used to describe Aristophanes' work: [[joke]], [[humor]], etc.), so we are in effect relying on modern translators of Ancient Greek to tell us what the Ancient Greeks thought about their own literary works.

The other day I was looking out my [[window]] and saw two [[squirrel]]s chasing each other up and down a [[tree]] trunk. Suddenly the lead squirrel stopped and turned around so suddenly that the other squirrel bumped into its head and fell off the tree! (It was only six feet or so off the ground, so the squirrel was unharmed.) I laughed at this funny occurrence — but of course the two squirrels weren't ''trying'' to put on a funny show for me; they were just doing what comes naturally to animals. Perhaps when we look into our history books and see the funny things that were done by Aristophanes, we should keep these two squirrels in mind. I think Mr. Schlafay was speaking particularly about the ''conscious'' exercise of humor — the ''intention'' to do funny things, not simply the ''fact'' of having done funny things. Nobody can seriously argue that nothing funny ever happened in antiquity... but ''why'' did it happen? that's the question. --[[User:GarthA|GarthA]] 21:48, 9 February 2009 (EST)

: That's an excellent point. Some of the ancient vulgarity, for example, was probably not intended to be "funny" any more than compulsive profanity today is intended to be funny. Someone 1000 years from now may look at dialog between two public school students today as being absolutely hilarious, even though the students are not trying to be funny now.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 22:24, 9 February 2009 (EST)
:: The City Dionysia, which is the festival where these plays were preformed had several highly established conventions, including that four plays were to be preformed by each group: three tragedies and then a comedy. Comedies by nature are funny. While vulgar humor was indeed used, they still fit the definition of comedy ("a drama of light and amusing character and typically with a happy ending" according to Merriam-Webster). Whether people find them funny is up to them (I happen to like Scrubs, while my brother despises the show. However, he likes Family Guy, which I dislike). But the original intent of the comedies was to make people laugh, which qualifies it as humor [[User:ENorman|ENorman]] 22:45, 9 February 2009 (EST)

::That's very clever thinking, Garth. Fortunately, we have contemporary reviews of the work of authors like Aristophanes, which described them as being humorous (or in some cases not humorous enough!).
::I suspect that this debate might be in order to get people thinking outside the box while at the same time testing their composure. Of course, humor could have not predated Christianity and of course, that is not the case. But how are you going to react when someone doggedly pursues the contrary? How are you going to react when someone refuses to define their terms or moves the goalpost or shifts ground? Will you calmly research and respond? Or will you resort to liberal deceit and condescend to them. Not only should you survey the responses you see here, you should also be doing research of your own before you form your conclusions.
::If you do your research, you will probably find the evidence for pre-Christian humor that you find compelling. Either way, come back here and attempt to argue your point. Remember to stay calm, approachable and accommodating. I urge you to engage in this exercise and wish you the best. [[User:FundieMath|FundieMath]] 22:53, 9 February 2009 (EST)
:::Garth, there were no "''funny things done by Aristophanes''" any more than there were ''funny things done by'' humorous writers of modern times. He wrote plays, in verse, using the formal dramatic restraints of his day. In 5th century Athens there were two distinct forms of stage performances. There were the Tragedies, the most famed writers of which are Euripides and Aeschylus; and the Comedies, represented today by our mate Aristophanes. Never the twain did meet. They probably both developed out of pre-Classical Dionysian ritual, but by Classical times they were distinct from each other. Unlike the tragedians, Aristophanes set out to make people laugh; and to do this he used many of the forms used today - funny or fantastical situations, plays on words, ridicule of people in power, etc., He is supposed to have been very witty. He had a way with words. He was also a serious man who was concerned at perceived faults in the society he lived in, and used humor as a weapon against these things. He is recorded as saying "comedy knows what is right." He brought the powerful down a peg or two. My "Dictionary of Greek Civilisation", a book set for university courses during the 1970s, called him "a comic genius". [[User:AlanE|AlanE]] 22:57, 9 February 2009 (EST)

Mr. Schlafay: Thank you. ENorman and "Fundie": It sounds like you are resorting to [[appeal to authority]] in this case. Remember that we do not actually have "contemporary reviews" of Aristophanes; what we have are ''modern translations'' of those works. I'm not even sure we would be justified in calling them "reviews", as you did, since I doubt the Ancient Greeks had anything like the modern conception of a film review or book review. "Fundie", I'm glad we agree about the value of exercise. AlanE: If Aristophanes never did anything funny, then in what sense was he a comedian? You describe him as a "serious man" who "ridicule[d] people in power"; this Aristophanes sounds like something of a [[liberal]] [[radical]]! :) --[[User:GarthA|GarthA]] 23:10, 9 February 2009 (EST)
:Who were the "liberals" - those in power or Aristophanes? Let's not bring today's concepts into describing someone who lived 2500years ago. He was not a comedian any more than Jonathan Swift was when he used ''Gulliver's Travels'' to lampoon the foibles of his age. Have you read him? The use of comedy to prick the inflated egos of the powerful, whether they be politicians, judges, or whatever, has a long and noble history, both for those on the left and on the right. [[User:AlanE|AlanE]] 23:49, 9 February 2009 (EST)

:Remember to do a little research! The first line of Aristophanes' ''[http://classics.mit.edu/Aristophanes/frogs.html The Frogs]'':
::<blockquote>XANTHIAS: Shall I crack any of those old jokes, master, At which the audience never fail to laugh?</blockquote>
:I'm almost positive there is some implication of humor somewhere in there! Form your own conclusions! [[User:FundieMath|FundieMath]] 23:32, 9 February 2009 (EST)
:::Well done, Fundie! [[User:AlanE|AlanE]] 23:51, 9 February 2009 (EST)
::::Having read this controversy with interest, I am forced to agree with Mr Schalfly. There is a difference between the theatre of cruelty - sarcasm and cruel raillery - that was the hallmark of the pagan Greeks, and true humour, which to be effective needs access to the depths of ones heart and soul, a perspective that only became real through the incarnation and suffering of Christ. Similarly, the coarseness of peasant nonsense such as was available to primitive peoples - the ancient equivalent of gurning through horse collars - has no right to be defined as humour. What Mr Schlafly is attempting to describe (albeit to a deliberately unreceptive audience) is something wiser, something altogether more refined and insightful. I wish him luck in persuading the unpersuadable. [[User:RegalBruin|RegalBruin]] 14:25, 10 February 2009 (EST)
:::::Hi and welcome to CP, Regal! I'm interested in your view of my quote from ''The Frogs'' (above) in light of CP's definition of [[Humor]]:

:::::<blockquote>Humor is an act, statement, or other form of communication done to invoke laughter, amusement, or happiness in the audience.</blockquote>

:::::If you agree that Xanthias intended to invoke laughter by cracking jokes and continue to believe that this is not humor, please explain how you would like to see our definition of 'humor' changed. [[User:MattL|MattL]] 14:41, 10 February 2009 (EST)
::::::And G'day from me, Regal. Can you tell us what dictionary you use? All of mine say more or less the same things. What is refined humour,? Wise humour. Insightful humour. Can we have examples? BTW, all the things you find detestable in so-called ''pagan'' humour is found unabated in Chaucer and the ''Decamaron'' and the other medieval story-tellers. Shakespeare used it. Scatalogical humour was the rage through most of the reformation times and later. Mozart wrote scatalogical songs. The bedroom farce has always been popular - we had no senior churchmen refusing to go to ''The Marriage of Figaro''. The Greeks laughed at the dolt and so do we - hence the undying popularity of the Inspector Clouseau type character through history. Nothing changed. No one is denying that much pagan humour was coarse; but what I am saying is that it has never stopped being coarse, and I am also saying that before Christ there was humour of the kind that we find in Wodehouse or Wilde, and the one-liners of Groucho Marx or Dorothy Parker, which are clever because they manage to nail an aspect of the human condition in so few words. Aristophanes could do that.(Unlike I, who go on and on...:))[[User:AlanE|AlanE]] 15:58, 10 February 2009 (EST)

::::::: It appears that discussing humor with [[atheists]] is a fool's errand because they, like the ancient Greeks, are unable (or refuse) to open their minds to what real humor is. I've defined it several times, as does the dictionary; it is something "ludicrous" or "absurdly incongruous." Vulgarities may amuse the simple-minded to no end, and so may slapstick comedy (which is all the "Frogs" is referencing in its opening line), but it's not humor.

::::::: We've learned something from this discussion. It's not just the pre-Christians who were without humor, but so are [[atheists]] today. It's unfortunate.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 16:57, 10 February 2009 (EST)

::::::::::"Ludicrous": amusing or laughable through obvious absurdity, incongruity, exaggeration, or eccentricity; causing laughter because of absurdity; broadly or extravagantly humorous, resembling farce. All of these definitions are fulfilled in the examples that have already been stated in this discussion. For that matter, they are all fulfilled by the image on [http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/gr/r/wine_bowl,_apulia.aspx this vase in the British Museum] from the fourth century BC.
::::::::::If your second paragraph is meant to imply that your whole premise behind claiming that there was no humor before Christianity was to poke fun of atheists - since only atheists are so humorless as to take such a ludicrous proposition seriously - then I am afraid that your Modest Proposal has been found lacking.--[[User:Brossa|Brossa]] 18:48, 10 February 2009 (EST)

:::::::: Now that we've established that humor is a post-Christian phenomenon, we would do well to explore it's origins within Christianity. Do you have early Christian examples? [[User:MattL|MattL]] 17:03, 10 February 2009 (EST)

::::::::: In regards to something ludicrous or absurdly incongruous, from Plutarch's ''The Comparison of Demosthenes and Cicero'':

:::::::::<blockquote>So also we are told that when Cicero, being consul, undertook the defence of Murena against Cato's prosecution, by way of bantering Cato, he made a long series of jokes upon the absurd paradoxes, as they are called, of the Stoic set; so that a loud laughter passing from the crowd to the judges, Cato, with a quiet smile, said to those that sat next him, "My friends, what an amusing consul we have."</blockquote> We can plainly see that this is absurd. Now for the incongruity - A paradox, as defined by MW, is "a statement that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense and yet is perhaps true". Incongruous, as defined by MW, describes "something inconsistent with itself". Could this possibly be an example of humor? [[User:MattL|MattL]] 17:11, 10 February 2009 (EST)

Merriam-Webster also says that humor is "something that is or is designed to be comical or amusing." Doesn't that describe Aristophanes? [[User:BenjaminC|BenjaminC]] 17:38, 10 February 2009 (EST)
:It seems that I go away an hour and suddenly I am "without humour" and an atheist,Andy. Why have you reverted to (a) being personal to someone whose sense of humour you know nothing about and who has based his arguments on basic well-documented scholarly texts in a generally polite manner and (b)decided on a definition of humour that is at odds with every dictionary and encyclopedia I can find? Whether I am a Methodist, atheist, Catholic or calathumpian has nothing to do with the my arguments which, like most of my words in this site, are based on a lifetime of reading the canon of western literature and about it. [[User:AlanE|AlanE]] 20:20, 10 February 2009 (EST)
:::I don't know why Mr Schlafly should have to defend himself against such an intemperate passive-aggressive assault. And if, as you claim, you are an expert on the entire canon of western culture, I should expect to find you in concordance with his ideas. [[User:RegalBruin|RegalBruin]] 11:50, 11 February 2009 (EST)

::The assumption that anyone who disagrees with Mr. S must be an atheist is indeed a pretty flimsy deflecting tactic. The claim being debated is not quite as bizarre as saying that there was no epic poetry before Christ.
::I'll chime in re the claim that the pagans had only farcical, bawdy, dirty type humor. I'm only familiar with 2 Aristophanes plays, ''Lysistrata'' and ''The Clouds''. ''Lysistrata'' does have a bawdy premise - the women of Greece conspire to not go to bed with their husbands until they end their war - but the play's point was political, not sexual, and it spoke on a real contemporary topic (the Peloponessian War) and addressed leading politicians by name. ''Clouds'' is a purely intellectual satire, making fun of the sophists in general and Socrates in particular. (Soc. was not actually a sophist but was apparently identified with them.) There are also a few poop jokes thrown in there, but that's no different from a lot of intellectual comedy today: I think of ''Little Miss Sunshine,'' that had jokes about Proust and Nietzshe, but also jokes about the dirty old grandfather character.
::My favorite thing about ''Clouds'' is that the main butt of the jokes, Socrates, was ''actually there in the audience'' watching it. The intro to my copy says that at the performance, the mask for the Socrates actor was such a good caricature, they had Socrates himself stand up so the audience could applaud the mask maker. [[User:Fishal|Fishal]] 20:36, 10 February 2009 (EST)
:::A lot of this boils down to arguing definitions - a fruitless argument that could go on endlessly if we had nothing better to do. What does interest me is the idea of a new form of humor emerging during or after the life of Jesus. Does anyone have any examples of a first- or second-century shift towards more refined types of humor? Perhaps "What is the earliest example of genuine humor" could be added to the list of mysteries?--[[User:CPalmer|CPalmer]] 11:47, 11 February 2009 (EST)
::::I don't know if this has been brought up, but it appears that Mr. Schlafly doesn't find the "crude" humour entertaining (nothing wrong with that, it'd not everybody's thing) but what about wordplay and the double negative? I sumbit my favorite passage from Homer's Odyssey: When captured by the Cyclops, Odysseus tells him that his name is "Nobody." Later, after they attack the Cyclops and blind him, he storms around his cave in a rage screaming "Nobody will not get out alive" a double negative, and then calls to his brothers that "Nobody has blinded me, Nobody has blinded me." The Cyclops thinks he is calling for help, but not understanding what he is actually saying, his brothers misunderstand him and stay away... This type of humour leads directly to the modern examples of Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First?" routine, as well as the Chico and Groucho's constant back and forth in their movies "Chico:(looking at a Contract) What'sa this?" "Groucho: That's just the standard Sanity Clause" "Chico:You can't fool me, there ain't no Sanity Claus." [[User:StephenK|StephenK]] 12:15, 11 February 2009 (EST)

==Who was right - Catholics or Protestants?==

Can you explain what you mean by this question? It's a bit like asking - who is right, Christians of Buddhists? Do you mean, regarding Transubstantiation? Or do you mean celibacy? Or the infallibility of the Pope? Maybe you could phrase it a little more clearly? Finally, do you think it's helpful to the world to see the world like this? Doesn't every faith believe it's 'right'? [[User:TadghOB|TadghOB]] 17:10, 9 February 2009 (EST)

: Surely you don't think that just because different people hold different views that each think are right, truth therefore does not exist. If I told that some cultures believe that 2+2 equals infinity, and are convinced they are right, would that change your view that 2+2=4 and not infinity?--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 17:50, 9 February 2009 (EST)

::Well, yes, I do? Despite my own faith, I cannot in all sincerity tell a Buddhist that their faith is nonsense - I simply don't believe that's a way to get along with the rest of the planet, the pursuit of which is, after all, is our bounden duty here on this Earth. My own faith (Catholicism) has experienced many controversies, and although I hold fast to my faith, I acknowledge that it is not without its flaws and appalling mistakes. Jesus taught us to "love thy neighbour", after all. But to return to the question at hand - "who is right, Catholics or Protestants?". As an Irish Catholic married to an Irish Protestant, I'm sure you'll understand there's a great deal of sensitivity over this issue on our Island. And I'm certainly not about to tell my partner that her beliefs are 'wrong'. But what 'right' are you referring to? [[User:TadghOB|TadghOB]] 19:06, 9 February 2009 (EST)

To keep this conversation from devolving into an ideological argument, I thought I might try to clarify the original question: I interpret it as referring to the issues at the heart of the Protestant Reformation, namely the allegations of abuses of power within the Catholic Church, the selling of indulgences, the lack of reliance on Scripture, etc. Some of these are purely theological points, but I think historical discussion can bring light to the issue of whether or not the Protestants were justified in some of their more pragmatic claims. --[[User:Economist|Economist]] 19:13, 9 February 2009 (EST)

: In reply to TadghOB, one thing about Jesus is indisputable: He did tell others they were wrong, and was very clear that He was divisive rather than uniting.

: In reply to Economist, there is the issue of how to deal with the problems, and what the subsequent centuries and today illustrate. I'm not yet taking a position on the question, but am pointing out how your list is incomplete.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 19:25, 9 February 2009 (EST)

== Why did Islam grow so rapidly? ==

Not sure there's a lot of mystery here. The rise of Islam is well documented in both Arab and Byzantine sources. The "mystery", if there is one, is how Mohammed managed to convert a sizeable number of followers in his lifetime and how they became organised into a small but effective military force. Thereafter, Islam spread for several reasons. Initially, it was confined to Arab soldiers and their families and was something of an elite religion. But the Arabs were generally welcomed by the common people in the Byzantine territories because they imposed lighter taxes, their military levies were less oppressive and they didn't cut people's heads off because they disagreed with the Emperor's theological opinions. The same factors are reflected in the decline of the Byzantine empire, to the benefit of the Arabs in West Asia and North Africa: excessive taxation, too many able-bodied men from wealthy families joining the priesthood to evade military service, and continuous demoralisation of the population through religious disputes. Added to that was the over-centralisation of power in the Byzantine Empire, with the result that when the Emperor was out of action, there were few men with both the authority and the competence to wield power effectively. Such was the situation at the decisive Battle of the Yarmouk, in what is now northern Jordan, when the Emperor Heraclius was ill and unable to take the field, resulting in a decisive victory for the Arabs.

Islam spread in the territories conquered by the Arabs for similar reasons to the spread of Christianity in Europe: local rulers ingratiating themselves with their overlord (the Arab Caliph in this case), the prestige of being part of the official religion, the apparent evidence that God must favour the Muslims because he enabled them to win battles, and lower taxation for Muslims.

It's much harder to understand why the Byzantine Empire lasted as long as it did. Also, why did the Arabs not conquer most of the West? The post-Roman kingdoms in the West seem to have been more organised and effective than historians gave them credit for until recently.

See e.g. John Julius Norwich's history of Byzantium (three volumes but extremely - even addictively - readable). Also 'The Formation of Christendom' by Judith Herrin, the standard modern work on the interplay of Church and State in the Byzantine Empire; she shows that the church wasn't always a negative influence, as Edward Gibbon supposed. [[User:FredFerguson|FredFerguson]] 20:06, 9 February 2009 (EST)
:In addition to Fred's information above, Islam burst out of Arabia at a time when both the Byzantines and the Persians were completely exhausted from fighting each other interminably. There is also talk of a plague epidemic that wasted the so-called civilised powers but had little effect in the sparcely populated Arabian desert. [[User:AlanE|AlanE]] 20:52, 9 February 2009 (EST)

Talk:Dihydrogen monoxide

2009-02-10T18:51:33Z

StephenK: /* space */

Can we redirect this to H2O? --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 22:49, 3 April 2007 (EDT)

Good idea. [[User:MountainDew|MountainDew]] 00:45, 4 April 2007 (EDT)

Thanks, and I'd like to present something about the science project that popularized the term:

*In 1997, Nathan Zohner, a 14-year-old student at Eagle Rock Junior High School in Idaho Falls, based his science fair ... project, titled "How Gullible Are We?", involved presenting this report about "the dangers of dihyrogen monoxide" to fifty ninth-grade students and asking them what (if anything) should be done about the chemical. Forty-three students favored banning it, six were undecided, and only one correctly recognized that 'dihydrogen monoxide' is actually H2O — plain old [[water]]. Zohner's analysis of the results he obtained won him first prize in the Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair; garnered him scads of attention from newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations, universities, and congresspeople; and prompted the usual round of outcries about how our ignorant citizenry doesn't read critically and can be easily misled. [http://www.snopes.com/science/dhmo.asp (Snopes)]

It's important because it illustrates the PR techniques used by environmentalists to whip up citizen opposition to harmless or low-risk chemicals like DDT. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 09:52, 4 April 2007 (EDT)

:Uh, guys? Why don't you just include that bit in the [[Water]] article? Or, possibly more fitting, in an article about polls, petitions and PR? This isn't about water, it's about people supporting a cause without informing themselves properly. --[[User:Sid 3050|Sid 3050]] 10:28, 4 April 2007 (EDT)

::Give it time. None of this is final. It's a work in progress and is 'evolving'. But thank you for proposing an 'intelligent design'. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 10:32, 4 April 2007 (EDT)

:Something people may want to include: Penn and Teller set up this gig as a petition and analyze things a little bit afterwards: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi3erdgVVTw YouTube] --[[User:Sid 3050|Sid 3050]] 10:42, 4 April 2007 (EDT)

::Yes, let's refer to that. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 10:48, 4 April 2007 (EDT)
::*Their agent <s>did not lie but</s> used the "vocabulary and tone of environmentalists". [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi3erdgVVTw YouTube] --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 11:14, 4 April 2007 (EDT)
::*"Is passion supposed to replace common sense?" [ibid]
::*"No end justifies the means of lying." [ibid]
::*"We set these people up, but it suggests that they are not so much environmentalists as they are joiners." [ibid]

Also, there's a connection to the [[carbon dioxide]] controversy. As you know, a case recently went all the way to Supreme Court to get CO2 classed as a "[[pollutant]]" - this obviously is related to the campaign for the [[Kyoto Protocol]].

Partisan politics is tricky. I'd like to expose a few of the tricks. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 10:48, 4 April 2007 (EDT)

== Essay ==

This seriously needs to be relocated to the essay namespace, or merged. --[[User:AngryCommunist|AngryCommunist]] 23:37, 4 January 2008 (EST)
:But it's really funny...-[[User:MexMax|MexMax]] 23:42, 4 January 2008 (EST)
::That's the point. --[[User:AngryCommunist|AngryCommunist]] 17:03, 5 January 2008 (EST)
:::I agree. It's not very encyclopedic, and I don't want it to share space on [[water]].... [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 17:05, 5 January 2008 (EST)
:::: I think it should stay in mainspace, but at the moment I can't think of a good reason why! [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 17:51, 5 January 2008 (EST)

==Move==
Humorous, but '''not''' truly encyclopedic unless incorporated somehow/somewhere. [[Image:User Fox.png|10px]] [[User:Fox|Fox]] ([[User talk:Fox|talk]]|[[Special:Contributions/Fox|contribs]]) 19:10, 15 March 2008 (EDT)

:Just leave it up for three more weeks, please. There's a [[April Fool's Day|holiday]] I want to celebrate. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] [[User talk:Ed Poor|Talk]] 20:00, 15 March 2008 (EDT)

Hehe [[Image:User Fox.png|10px]] [[User:Fox|Fox]] ([[User talk:Fox|talk]]|[[Special:Contributions/Fox|contribs]]) 20:24, 15 March 2008 (EDT)
:: I'm happy for it to stay where it is. There's nothing wrong with a little bit of levity in an otherwise serious place, although of course it should not be overdone. I used to have a street map of Melbourne in which the cartographer had added a couple of strokes to turn an existing shape of streets into a drawing of bear's head. And otherwise serious media publications, including science magazines, often have an April Fools's Day joke. So I see nothing wrong with having an article such as this particularly when it is also making a valid point about people's paranoia with "chemicals". [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 04:35, 16 March 2008 (EDT)
:::I would respectfully disagree, unless we are goign to move it on April 2nd. (Plus it's not really and April Fool's joke if it's March). As someone with a strong background in chemistry and a strong detestation of chemical hysteria, I find the article funny, but not encyclopedic. [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 10:35, 17 March 2008 (EDT)

==Stay - it's a legitimate topic==
Just because it's funny, doesn't make it a humor piece. I remember that science project and the imitations of several other individuals, because it was all over the news. This was a highly notable incident, and an article about it is warranted.--[[user:TomMoore|Tom Moore]][[User talk:TomMoore|fiat justitia ruat coelum]] 19:28, 9 June 2008 (EDT)

== Move this please? ==

In the above section Ed asked to keep this here "a few more weeks", presumably to feature it on April Fool's day. That was a few months ago, so can we please move this article somewhere else? We don't have a "humor" namespace, so essay would be the next best thing. [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 12:39, 14 November 2008 (EST)

:Best thing to do is make it gradually more and more obvious that we're talking about H20 and let the naive reader laugh at himself. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] [[User talk:Ed Poor|Talk]] 12:50, 14 November 2008 (EST)
::I agree -- if this is in the essay space. An ''encyclopedia'' entry, however, should not intentionally mislead the reader. Ever. There's simply no justification for keeping this here. [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 15:10, 14 November 2008 (EST) <-- Chemical engineer who abhors the public's fear of "chemicals"
::H20? Uhhh... do you mean H2O? [[User:HDCase|HDCase]] 15:12, 14 November 2008 (EST)
Shall we mention something about how prolonged contact with its solid form has caused frostbite? Or that it is found in icebergs? --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] [[User talk:Ed Poor|Talk]] 12:56, 14 November 2008 (EST)
How about " In its gaseous form this compund is of extreme interest to weather forcasters , since, depending on current conditions in the atmosphere , considerable damage may occur if the solid form falls to earth. " this is a great article, a bit of revision could make it a good teaching example [[User:Markr|Markr]] 17:11, 14 November 2008 (EST)

Well, it's not protected, so how about it? Liberals are inserting parody dozens of times per day. We ought to be able to maintain one of our own. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] [[User talk:Ed Poor|Talk]] 17:13, 14 November 2008 (EST)

== space ==

I see this has been brought up before, but shouldn't this be in the Essay space? It's a funny concept, and always has been, but this is hardly an encyclopedic article. [[User:StephenK|StephenK]] 13:29, 10 February 2009 (EST)

: I want it to get more Google hits. People might be looking up DHMO, you know. It can be article of the week for April 1st, maybe. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] [[User talk:Ed Poor|Talk]] 13:33, 10 February 2009 (EST)
::I just did a Google search on this term, it brings up 85,700 hits, with the first five being sites debunking the myth.... I really don't think keeping this in the mainspace is going to do much except add yet another reason for people to attempt to attack us. [[User:StephenK|StephenK]] 13:51, 10 February 2009 (EST)

Colorado

2009-02-10T18:35:56Z

StephenK: /* History */ rmv repeat information

{{USState
|name=Colorado
|flag=Colorado_State_Flag.gif
|motto="Nil Sine Numine" (Nothing Without the Deity)
|nick=The Centennial State
|capital=Denver
|language=English
|governor=Bill Ritter
|gparty=Democrat
|senator1=Michael Bennet
|s1party=Democrat
|s1phone=(202) 224-5852
|s1email=mailto:senator_bennet@bennet.senate.gov Contact
|senator2=Mark Udall
|s2party=Democrat
|s2phone=(202) 224-5941
|s2email=mailto:Senator_Mark_Udall@markudall.senate.gov Contact
|population=
|date=August 1, 1876 (38th)
}}
[[Image:colorado.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Colorado]]
'''Colorado''' became the 38th state of the [[United States]] with its admission to Statehood on August 1, 1876. It is known for its [[skiing]] and snowboarding resorts, such as Vail and Aspen in the [[Rocky Mountains]], which run north-south through the state. The winters are usually very cold and produce many snowstorms.

The [[United States Air Force Academy]] and [[NORAD]] are located in [[Colorado Springs]], Colorado.

==Elevation==

A number of Colorado cities are located near the Front Range of the Rockies, at elevations of around 5,000 feet. [[Denver]], its capital and largest city, is sometimes called "The Mile-High City", because the official elevation of Denver City Hall is exactly 5,280 feet.

[[Mount Elbert]] is the highest point in Colorado, at an elevation of 14,440 feet. It is one of over 500 mountains in the state that exceed 13,000 feet. The entire state lies at an elevation over 3,000 feet.

At elevations of 5,000 feet, the air is thinner and air pressure is lower than at sea level. It is not unusual for visitors to feel lightheaded for a day or two until they adjust (but actual altitude sickness is very rare). At this altitude, skies are a clearer, brighter blue than at sea level. At that elevation, water boils at only 203 degrees F, compared to 212 degrees at sea level, so cooking recipes have to be modified.

== History ==

The [[Native American]] (Indian) groups indigenous to Colorado were the [[Anasazi]] and Utes who lived in the mountainous regions, and several tribes who lived in the flatlands and near the rivers at various times including the [[Cheyenne]], Arapaho, Kiowa, Comanche, Pawnee and [[Sioux]]. <ref> http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/history/histfaqs.htm </ref>

It is believed that in 1541 the Spanish explorer [[Francisco Vázquez de Coronado]] was the first European on record to have entered the land that is now Colorado. <ref> http://www.colorado.gov/ </ref> The Spanish called the area Colorado because of its red colored earth. The name is also sometimes credited to a [[Jesuit]], Francisco Garcia, who in 1776 named the land after the [[Colorado River]]. <ref>Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names (Oxford 2005) p 116</ref>

The United States acquired land including part of what is now Colorado in 1803 through the [[Louisiana Purchase]]. In 1848 through the [[Treaty of Hidalgo]], [[Mexico]] ceded to the United States more land that is now part of Colorado, and the Federal Government purchased the remainder of it in 1850. Before gaining statehood, Colorado was part of the [[Nebraska]], [[Utah]], [[Kansas]], and [[New Mexico]] Territories, and in 1861 [[Congress]] created the Territory of Colorado. The state now encompasses 104,247 square miles.

The state is bordered by [[Wyoming]], [[Nebraska]], [[Kansas]], [[Oklahoma]], [[New Mexico]], and [[Utah]]. The population of Colorado is approximately 4,750,000.

==Official Symbols==

Colorado has many official state symbols including:<ref>[http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/history/symbemb.htm Colorado Department of Personnel and Adminstration Website]</ref>
*State Bird: Lark Bunting
*[[State flower|State Flower]]: [[Rocky Mountain Columbine]]
*State Animal: Big Horn Sheep
*State Fish: Greenback Cutthroat Trout
*State Tree: Colorado Blue Spruce
*State Folk Dance: Square Dance
*State Fossil: Stegosaurus
*State [[Gemstone]]: [[Aquamarine]]
*State Insect: Colorado Hairstreak Butterfly
*State Song: "Where the Columbines Grow" and "Rocky Mountain High"

==Notable Coloradoans==

*[[James Dobson]], Christian psychologist and writer. Current head of the group [[Focus on the Family]].

*[[John Elway]], former [[quarterback]] for the [[Denver Broncos]].

*[[Tom Tancredo]], US Representative.

==Statewide officials==
*Governor [[Bill Ritter]] (D)
*Senator [[Michael Bennet]] (D)
*Senator [[Mark Udall]] (D)

==References==

<references/>

{{USstates}}

Colorado

2009-02-10T18:35:20Z

StephenK: /* Statewide officials */

{{USState
|name=Colorado
|flag=Colorado_State_Flag.gif
|motto="Nil Sine Numine" (Nothing Without the Deity)
|nick=The Centennial State
|capital=Denver
|language=English
|governor=Bill Ritter
|gparty=Democrat
|senator1=Michael Bennet
|s1party=Democrat
|s1phone=(202) 224-5852
|s1email=mailto:senator_bennet@bennet.senate.gov Contact
|senator2=Mark Udall
|s2party=Democrat
|s2phone=(202) 224-5941
|s2email=mailto:Senator_Mark_Udall@markudall.senate.gov Contact
|population=
|date=August 1, 1876 (38th)
}}
[[Image:colorado.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Colorado]]
'''Colorado''' became the 38th state of the [[United States]] with its admission to Statehood on August 1, 1876. It is known for its [[skiing]] and snowboarding resorts, such as Vail and Aspen in the [[Rocky Mountains]], which run north-south through the state. The winters are usually very cold and produce many snowstorms.

The [[United States Air Force Academy]] and [[NORAD]] are located in [[Colorado Springs]], Colorado.

==Elevation==

A number of Colorado cities are located near the Front Range of the Rockies, at elevations of around 5,000 feet. [[Denver]], its capital and largest city, is sometimes called "The Mile-High City", because the official elevation of Denver City Hall is exactly 5,280 feet.

[[Mount Elbert]] is the highest point in Colorado, at an elevation of 14,440 feet. It is one of over 500 mountains in the state that exceed 13,000 feet. The entire state lies at an elevation over 3,000 feet.

At elevations of 5,000 feet, the air is thinner and air pressure is lower than at sea level. It is not unusual for visitors to feel lightheaded for a day or two until they adjust (but actual altitude sickness is very rare). At this altitude, skies are a clearer, brighter blue than at sea level. At that elevation, water boils at only 203 degrees F, compared to 212 degrees at sea level, so cooking recipes have to be modified.

== History ==

The [[Native American]] (Indian) groups indigenous to Colorado were the [[Anasazi]] and Utes who lived in the mountainous regions, and several tribes who lived in the flatlands and near the rivers at various times including the [[Cheyenne]], Arapaho, Kiowa, Comanche, Pawnee and [[Sioux]]. <ref> http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/history/histfaqs.htm </ref>

It is believed that in 1541 the Spanish explorer [[Francisco Vázquez de Coronado]] was the first European on record to have entered the land that is now Colorado. <ref> http://www.colorado.gov/ </ref> The Spanish called the area Colorado because of its red colored earth. The name is also sometimes credited to a [[Jesuit]], Francisco Garcia, who in 1776 named the land after the [[Colorado River]]. <ref>Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names (Oxford 2005) p 116</ref>

The United States acquired land including part of what is now Colorado in 1803 through the [[Louisiana Purchase]]. In 1848 through the [[Treaty of Hidalgo]], [[Mexico]] ceded to the United States more land that is now part of Colorado, and the Federal Government purchased the remainder of it in 1850. Before gaining statehood, Colorado was part of the [[Nebraska]], [[Utah]], [[Kansas]], and [[New Mexico]] Territories, and in 1861 [[Congress]] created the Territory of Colorado. The state now encompasses 104,247 square miles.

The state is bordered by [[Wyoming]], [[Nebraska]], [[Kansas]], [[Oklahoma]], [[New Mexico]], and [[Utah]]. Denver is the State capital and the largest city. The population of Colorado is approximately 4,750,000.

==Official Symbols==

Colorado has many official state symbols including:<ref>[http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/history/symbemb.htm Colorado Department of Personnel and Adminstration Website]</ref>
*State Bird: Lark Bunting
*[[State flower|State Flower]]: [[Rocky Mountain Columbine]]
*State Animal: Big Horn Sheep
*State Fish: Greenback Cutthroat Trout
*State Tree: Colorado Blue Spruce
*State Folk Dance: Square Dance
*State Fossil: Stegosaurus
*State [[Gemstone]]: [[Aquamarine]]
*State Insect: Colorado Hairstreak Butterfly
*State Song: "Where the Columbines Grow" and "Rocky Mountain High"

==Notable Coloradoans==

*[[James Dobson]], Christian psychologist and writer. Current head of the group [[Focus on the Family]].

*[[John Elway]], former [[quarterback]] for the [[Denver Broncos]].

*[[Tom Tancredo]], US Representative.

==Statewide officials==
*Governor [[Bill Ritter]] (D)
*Senator [[Michael Bennet]] (D)
*Senator [[Mark Udall]] (D)

==References==

<references/>

{{USstates}}

Talk:Dihydrogen monoxide

2009-02-10T18:29:51Z

StephenK: /* space */ new section

Mortal Kombat

2009-02-10T18:25:12Z

StephenK:

'''Mortal Kombat''' is a series of highly [[violent video games|violent]] fighting [[video games]]. They feature graphic [[violence]], and unreal amounts of [[blood]] spilling and gore. A particular source of controversy is a feature called "Fatality", where the winner of the combat ruthlessly executes his opponent in a gruesome fashion that varies with the performing character. The controversy was addressed directly in the sequel, which introduce "Friendships." Instead of executing the opponent, the character would juggle, give them ice cream or other similar actions.

The early versions for the [[Nintendo]] home systems fixed some of the questionable issues in the game, (most notably blood) but the game still contained plenty of adult-only material.

The gameplay consists of a fighting match between two characters, who can punch, kick, jump, duck, block and perform special moves depending on the character being used.

==See Also==
*[[Video game controversy]]

==External Links==
*[http://wiki.media-culture.org.au/index.php/Computer_Games_-_Violence_-_Case_Study:_Mortal_Kombat_and_Manhunt Computer Games - Violence - Case Study: Mortal Kombat and Manhunt]
*[http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/games/2005/midwayarcadetreasures2.html Mortal Kombat review]
*[http://www.ccgr.org/console/mortal-kombat-deception.html Mortal Kombat review]
*[http://www.g4tv.com/icons/episodes/3446/Mortal_Kombat.html Game Makers on Mortal Kombat]

[[Category:Video Games]]

Mortal Kombat

2009-02-10T18:22:41Z

StephenK:

'''Mortal Kombat''' is a series of highly [[violent video games|violent]] fighting [[video games]]. They feature graphic [[violence]], and unreal amounts of [[blood]] spilling. A particular source of controversy is a feature called Fatality, where the winner of the combat ruthlessly executes his opponent in a gruesome fashion that varies with the performing character.

The early versions for the [[Nintendo]] home systems fixed some of the questionable issues in the game, (most notably blood) but the game still contained plenty of adult-only material.

The gameplay consists of a fighting match between two characters, who can punch, kick, jump, duck, block and perform special moves depending on the character being used.

==See Also==
*[[Video game controversy]]

==External Links==
*[http://wiki.media-culture.org.au/index.php/Computer_Games_-_Violence_-_Case_Study:_Mortal_Kombat_and_Manhunt Computer Games - Violence - Case Study: Mortal Kombat and Manhunt]
*[http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/games/2005/midwayarcadetreasures2.html Mortal Kombat review]
*[http://www.ccgr.org/console/mortal-kombat-deception.html Mortal Kombat review]
*[http://www.g4tv.com/icons/episodes/3446/Mortal_Kombat.html Game Makers on Mortal Kombat]

[[Category:Video Games]]

Denver

2009-02-10T17:32:21Z

StephenK: /* Education */ putting in abc order

'''Denver''' is the capital of [[Colorado]], and the state's largest city. The city sits on the eastern edge of the [[Rocky Mountains]]. Its nicknames include "The Mile-High City" (its downtown is 5286 feet above sea level), "Queen City of the Rockies," "Gateway to the Rockies," and "The Climate Capital of the World."

"Denver" is also the name of the metropolitan area surrounding the city of Denver. The metropolitan area of 4,531 square miles is the 17th largest in the nation; it includes Adams County, Arapahoe County, Boulder County, City and County of Broomfield, City and County of Denver, Douglas County, and Jefferson County

==Geography==
The city itself covers 107 square miles (277 sq km), 5,280 feet (1,610 meters). Winding through Denver are the South Platte River and Cherry Creek. The Rockies provide a spectacular backdrop for the city, and they also protect it from high winds.

Denver is a spacious city of parks, tree-lined streets, broad avenues, old buildings, and modern skyscrapers. Its climate is mild and dry, primarily because the Rockies divert moisture-bearing winds away from the area. Formerly known for its clear sunny skies it was long a destination for people suffering from [[tuberculosis]]. Since 1950, however, exhaust fumes from automobiles and trucks have caused serious air pollution. The average temperature in July, the warmest month, is 73°F (23°C.), and the average temperature in January, the coldest month, is 28.5°F. (-2°C.). Annual precipitation is only 15 inches (380 mm), and the city has an average of 250 clear or partly cloudy days a year. The sunshine makes it a very popular tourist destination; it is also a gateway to the ski resorts 25 to 100 miles to the west.

==Demography==
The metropolitan area had a population of 2,663,000 in 2006 in 1,034,000 households; the median age was 34.4 years. The labor force was 1,442,000, of whom 1,303,000 were employed at an average annual wage of $45,629. The growth rate 1996-2006 was 2.1% per year, with a special attraction for young college graduates who enjoy the moderately expensive, informal, upscale life style, and the outdoor opportunities. The Phoenix metropolitan area is the chief competitor for these migrants.

The city's population was 567,000 in 2006. Minority communities in Denver include a rapidly growing [[Latino history|Latino]] population chiefly of Mexican ancestry

Suburban '''Aurora''', founded in 1891, exploded in population after 1990, reaching 300,000 in 2006, with 102,000 people employed in its 10,400 businesses, and others commuting to jobs in Denver or at the airport.

The first Chinese settlers arrived in 1869; two Chinatowns emerged, one a commercial area, the other a residential ghetto. The Chinese population peaked at 1000 in, then declined to 100 in 1940. In the 1950s urban renewal projects demolished the Chinatowns. A new wave of 15,000 highly educated Chinese arrived after 1965, but they were widely dispersed in the metro area.<ref>William Wei, "History and Memory: the Story of Denver's Chinatown." ''Colorado Heritage'' 2002 (Aut): 2-13. Issn: 0272-9377 </ref>

==Economy==
Metro Denver is a major manufacturing center of the western United States. It is also a major market for the ranch products (especially beef) of the surrounding area and a gateway for skiers headed to the nearby Rockies.

Semiconductors is the top export category, growing 70% (statewide) from $763 million in 2005, to $1.3 billion in 2006. Other top exports are Computers and Peripherals ($937 million), and Office Machine Components ($657 million). The state's exports were $8.0 billion in 2006; the largest trading partners were Canada ($1.85 billion), Mexico ($1.02 billion), China ($800 million), Taiwan ($707 million), and Japan ($400 million). Denver is home to 32 foreign consulates. Six are staffed by career diplomats from the countries of Guatemala, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Canada and the United Kingdom. The consulates provide information and service regarding international trade promotion, tourism, and cultural exchange.

Employment growth in Metro Denver has outpaced the nation since January 2005. Metro Denver added 26,000 jobs in 2006 for an estimated gain of 1.9%; growth in 2007 will be about 1.6%. All sectors added jobs in 2006 except for the Information sector, which has struggled with losses for six consecutive years. The largest increases were in Natural Resources, Mining & Construction (+4.6%), Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities (+3.2%), and Professional & Business Services (+3.1%) sectors.

==Transportation==
Denver was at a disadvantage in the 19th century because the transcontinental routes ran 200 miles north of the city, through Cheyenne, Wyoming, which became the primary way station for wagon trains, stage lines, and rail lines passing through the northern Rockies. Pilots at first preferred Cheyenne, and it won the first round of competition when the US Post Office decided to fly mail through Wyoming in 1920. Denver business leaders never stopped competing, however, and struggled to get a share of the traffic. By the mid-1930s they convinced some passenger airlines to move their operations to Colorado. After World War II, Denver wrested full control of Rocky Mountain air traffic from Cheyenne, making the city's Stapleton airport the major regional hub.<ref> Roger D. Launius, and Jessie L. Embry, "Cheyenne Versus Denver: City Rivalry and the Quest for Transcontinental Air Routes." ''Annals of Wyoming'' 1996 68(3): 8-23. Issn: 1086-7368 </ref>

Denver International Airport (DIA) is one of the world's ten busiest facilities and is the hub for United and Frontier airlines. DIA has four north-south runways and two east-west runways. The concourses and Jeppesen Terminal (with its Teflon-coated fiberglass roof) are in the center of the airfield. 95 airlines operated 1175 passenger flights daily in 2006, with 130,000 passengers a day. The airport is operating close to capacity and plans to spend $1 billion through 2013 on its concourses, concession areas, security checkpoints, parking lots and baggage system.<ref> See Chris Walsh, "DIA bursting at the seams," ''Rocky Mountain News'' September 29, 2007 at [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/airlines/article/0,2777,DRMN_23912_5710157,00.html]</ref> There are numerous flights to Mexico and Canada, and three to Europe. 44% of the passengers are making connections in Denver; Los Angeles is the chief point of origin. DIA replaced inner-city Stapleton International Airport (1929-1995). Once open range country, the area near DIA is undergoing rapid construction of homes, hotels and warehouses.

In 2006 the $1.67 billion T-REX project widened Interstates 25 and I-225 and added 19 miles of light rail connecting Metro Denver's two largest employment centers: The Central Business District and the Denver Tech Center.

==Downtown==
At the center of downtown is the Denver Civic Center, a 40 acre (16-hectare) complex of parks and government buildings. At opposite ends of the Center are the City-County Building and the State Capitol. The Capitol is 272 feet (83 meters) high and has a dome covered with local gold. By the time the capitol was completed in 1900 (at 170% over budget) the building—a difficult-to-maintain hodgepodge of dirt-collecting nooks and crannies, grumblers said—was instantly too small. In the 21st century the debate is whether Colorado's aging yet "most important building" deserves a mere nip and tuck or an extreme makeover.<ref> Derek R. Everett, ''The Colorado State Capitol: History, Politics, Preservation.'' 2005.</ref> Nearby are the Art Museum, and the Denver Public Library (which contains more than one million volumes, especially famous for its research collection in western history). The United States Mint makes half the nation's coins.

Until the 1950s buildings in Denver could not be higher than 12 stories, but since then a number of skyscrapers more than 40 stories tall have been added to the city skyline, including the Arco Tower, Anaconda Tower, Great West Plaza, and the Amoco Building. During the 1970s an extensive urban renewal program was undertaken in downtown Denver, leading to the creation of a three-square block convention center and an elaborate theater complex, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

==Medical==
Across the western landscape of the United States, health was a natural resource, mined and sold by late-19th- and 20th-century town boosters and physicians to those afflicted with such chronic pulmonary illnesses as tuberculosis and asthma. Denver was especially important as a destination and the city became the largest medical center for the mountain states by 1900.<ref> Gregg Mitman, "Geographies of Hope: Mining the Frontiers of Health in Denver and Beyond, 1870-1965." ''Osiris'' 2004 19: 93-111. Issn: 0369-7827 </ref> Religious and ethnic groups established the most important hospitals. St. Luke's Hospital was established by the Episcopal Church in 1881; Presbyterian Hospital opened in 1926. Both operated nursing schools . In 1992 St. Luke's merged with Presbyterian Hospital, which subsequently merged with others to form the HealthONE hospital system.<ref> Rebecca Hunt, "Healers on the Hill: St. Luke's and Presbyterian Hospitals of Denver." ''Colorado Heritage'' 2005 (Sum): 2-17. Issn: 0272-9377 </ref> The Denver Homeopathic Hospital opened in 1894 to offer alternatives to the medical practices of "allopathic" medicine, the mainstream treatments of the day. Friction arose among the homeopathic physicians, and the hospital closed in 1909.<ref> Steve Grinstead, "Alternative Healing At The Crossroads: Denver's Homeopathic Hospital Succumbs To Modern Medicine." ''Colorado Heritage'' 2005 (Sum): 18-29. Issn: 0272-9377 </ref> The Swedish National Sanatorium was established in 1905 by the Swedish community, as a national tuberculosis sanatorium. It was reorganized in 1956 and later became the Swedish Medical Center. <ref> Rebecca Hunt, "Swedish National Sanatorium: Building Community in a Swedish-American Tuberculosis Sanatorium, 1905-59." ''Colorado Heritage'' 2005 (Sum): 30-46. ISSN: 0272-9377 </ref> Seraphine Pisko was first woman to head a major Jewish hospital when she was appointed in 1911 as secretary of Denver's National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives, Pisko skillfully and efficiently managed the institution, while advancing a personalized and nurturing philosophy of charity in contrast to efforts to centralize fund-raising and administration.
After World War II the Jewish National Home for Asthmatic Children became the Children's Asthma Research Institute and Hospital. To the dismay of the city of Denver, the University of Colorado Medical School and associated hospitals left the city in 2007, taking 30,000 high-paying jobs, for a huge new campus in Aurora centered on the former Fitzsimons Army Medical Center. It solidified the Denver Metro Area as the premier medical center in a thousand mile radius, but brought into debate the state's sharply reduced budget for medical education and higher education generally.

==History==
Denver was started during the turbulent Pikes Peak gold rush of 1859-1860, when thousands walked across the plains in search of wealth. Two small settlements, Denver City and Auraria, were consolidated in 1860; the city was named after the governor of Kansas. Population reached 4700 in 1860 and remained the same a decade later. The first city hall was built on stilts in the middle of a stream. Boom and bust characterized the early years, 1859-1870. In 1863 a fire destroyed much of Denver, and the next year a flash flood destroyed the precariously built city hall on stilts.

In 1861 Colorado became a territory, with a governor appointed by President [[Abraham Lincoln]]. In 1867 Denver became the capital. The major obstacles to the city's growth were its isolation from the East and the Midwest and the lack of a stable income-producing economy. The Indian wars on the plains and heavy winter snowstorms east of the city were a constant threat to the connections with Kansas and points eastward. In 1863 the telegraph arrived. The coming of the railroads integrated the city further with the rest of the nation. In 1870 the Denver Pacific Railroad north to Cheyenne, Wyoming, linked into the transcontinental [[Union Pacific Railroad]], while the Kansas Pacific Railroad linked across the plains to Kansas City. The [[Denver and Rio Grande Railroad]] south to Pueblo opened in 1871, thus making Denver the hub of all mining and ranching areas in Colorado; the population hit 36,000 in 1880.

The city provided lavishly for the lusts of the rich miners visiting the city. There was a range of bawdy houses to fit every pocketbook, from the sumptuous quarters of renowned madams such as Mattie Silks and Jenny Rogers to the most squalid "cribs" located a few blocks farther north along Market Street. Gambling flourished as sharp-eyed bunco artists exploited every chance to separate miners from their hard-earned gold. Edward Chase ran scrupulously honest games in several elegant establishments and regularly entertained many of Denver's most influential leaders. By 1880 Denver's vice district ranked only slightly behind San Francisco's Barbary Coast and New Orleans's Storyville. Most of the city's seamiest attractions were within a few steps of Union Station, but newsstands sold guidebooks that provided additional addresses. Sin was good for business; visitors spent lavishly, then left town. As long as madams conducted their business discreetly, and "crib girls" did not advertise their availability too crudely, authorities took their bribes and looked the other way. Occasional cleanups and cracked downs satisfied the demands for reform.<ref> Clark Secrest. ''Hell's Belles: Prostitution, Vice, and Crime in Early Denver, with a Biography of Sam Howe, Frontier Lawman.'' 2nd ed 2002, heavily illustrated.</ref>

In legitimate entertainment, music stood high, beginning with the Apollo Hall in 1859. The Denver Theatre, home of the city's first opera performance in 1864, the Tabor Grand Opera House (1881)and the Broadway Theatre (1890-1955) brought in internationally renown performers. Many other theaters were built, most of which did not last very long. Denver churches were also important venues for music performances in the last half of the 19th century.<ref> Henry Miles, "Where Music Dwells: Denver's Earliest Concert Spaces." ''Colorado Heritage'' 2002 (Sum): 32-46.</ref>

In the 1880s silver was discovered in the nearby mountains, leading Denver to a new surge of gaudiness and opulence, typified by Tabor's fancy opera house. The silver madness was as economically unstable as the gold rush 20 years before. The 10-story Brown Palace Hotel in 1893, designed by noted local architect Frank Edbrooke. In 1893 financial panic swept the nation, and the silver boom collapsed. By this time, however, the city's economy had a more stable base rooted in the agriculture of the surrounding area. Between 1870 and 1890 the city's population increased from less than 5,000 to over 100,000.

===Progressive era===
The city's population doubled between 1900 and 1920, reaching 256,000 population. Growth slowed somewhat, as the total in 1940 was 322,000, with only a few suburbs as yet.

Denver's Myron W. Reed was the leading Christian socialist in the American west in the last two decades of the nineteenth century. He came to the city in 1884 as pastor of the affluent First Congregational Church. Christian socialism, for Reed, meant that the state should manage production and instill cooperation to provide what he called "the comfortable life" for all. He was a leader in the city's Charity Organization Society, even while questioning that organization's efforts to distinguish the "worthy" from the "unworthy" poor. Reed spoke out for the rights of labor unions and was voted out of his pulpit during the bitter 1894 strike at Cripple Creek. He ran for Congress as a Democrat in 1886 and worked for Colorado's Populist party in the 1890s. A former abolitionist Reed spoke out for African American and Native American rights while denouncing Chinese and eastern European immigrants as dependent tools of corporations who were lowering "American" standards of living.<ref> James A. Denton, ''Rocky Mountain Radical: Myron W. Reed, Christian Socialist.'' 1997. </ref>

Local boosters created the National Stock Growers Conventions in 1898 and 1899. The National Western Stock Show began in 1907 as an annual event attracting cattlemen from a wide region. The [[Progressive Era]] brought an [[Efficiency Movement]], typified in 1902 when the city and Denver County were made coextensive;<ref>Since then both the city and the county have been governed by a nonpartisan mayor and nine-member council. </ref> Denver pioneered the juvenile court movement under Judge [[Ben Lindsey]] (1869-1943), a nationally famous reformer.<ref>See [http://100.juvenilelaw.net/Judges/Lindsay.htm] </ref> Mayor Robert Speer was a prominent progressive who gave the city world leadership in building parks. Boasting itself the "Queen City of the Plains," Denver hosted the Democratic National Convention in 1908, then waited 100 years for its return.

Women suffrage came early, in 1893, led by married middle class women who organized first for prohibition and then for suffrage, with the goal of upholding [[Republicanism, U.S.|republican citizenship]] for women and purifying society. The Denver Fortnighly Club played a major role. Caroline Nichols Churchill, edited and published the ''Colorado Antelope'', subsequently the ''Queen Bee'', beginning in 1879 and boasted that she and her journal played a crucial role in the passage of the referendum in 1893 that granted the vote to women in Colorado. There was a strained relationship between the radical and eccentric Churchill and the mainstream women, as Churchill was a confrontational and outspoken proponent of the equal rights of minority ethnic groups.<ref> Jennifer A. Thompson, "From Travel Writer to Newspaper Editor: Caroline Churchill and the Development of Her Political Ideology Within the Public Sphere." ''Frontiers'' 1999 20(3): 42-63. Issn: 0160-9009 Fulltext: [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0160-9009%281999%2920%3A3%3C42%3AFTWTNE%3E2.0.CO%3B2-K in Jstor] </ref>

===1920-1980===
Up until World War II, Denver's economy was dependent mainly on the processing and shipping of minerals and ranch products, especially beef and lamb. During the war and in the years following, specialized industries were introduced into the city, making it a major manufacturing center. Population expanded rapidly, and many old buildings were torn down to make way for new housing projects. Many of Denver's finest buildings of the frontier era were demolished, such as the Tabor Opera House, as the city has expanded upward and outward and acquired new lands for buildings and parking lots.

===Recent politics===
[[Federico Peña]] (1983-1991) became the city's first [[Latino history|Latino mayor]] in 1983. One of his central campaign messages was a promise of inclusiveness targeted at minorities. His promises of diverse minority appointments represented a stark contrast from prior administration policies.. Latino turnout reached 73% in 1983, a striking contrast to the usually low Latino rates elsewhere. In 1991, at a time the city was 12% Black and 20% Latino, [[Wellington Webb]] (1991-2003) won a stunning come-from-behind victory as the city's first black mayor. The Hispanic and Black minority communities supported each other's candidates at the 75-85% levels.<ref>Karen M. Kaufmann, "Black and Latino Voters in Denver: Responses to Each Other's Political Leadership." ''Political Science Quarterly'' 2003 118(1): 107-125. ISSN: 0032-3195 Fulltext: [[Ebsco]]</ref> Webb, who won 44% of the white vote, systematically reached out to the white business community, promoting downtown economic development and major projects such as the world class new airport, Coors Field, and a new convention center. During his administrations municipal employment, public schools, police accountability, and affordable housing worsened, for Denver's poor and working-class neighborhoods.<ref> Hermon George, Jr. "Community Development and the Politics of Deracialization: The Case Of Denver, Colorado, 1991-2003." ''Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science'' 2004 594: 143-157. ISSN: 0002-7162</ref> Businessman [[John Hickenlooper]] was elected mayor in 2003 and reelected in 2007 with 87% of the vote.

===2008===
Denver hosted the Democratic National Convention in August of 2008. Due to strong planning and a large police presence, the city avoided the violence that occurred later at the Republican convention in St. Paul.

==Sports==
In sports, Denver is home to the [[NHL]]'s [[Colorado Avalanche]], the [[NFL]]'s [[Denver Broncos]], [[MLB]]'s [[Colorado Rockies]], and the [[NBA]]'s [[Denver Nuggets]]. Other teams include the Colorado Rapids (MLS), The Colorado Crush (AFL), and The Colorado Mammoth (Indoor Lacrosse) and The Colorado Outlaws (Outdoor Lacrosse).

The Denver Broncos have played in six super bowls and won two. Voters in 1998 raised $270 million in taxes to build the $360 million Invesco Field at Mile High, a new football stadium. In 2001 it joined Coors Field, which opened for Major League Baseball's Colorado Rockies in 1995, the Pepsi Center, which opened as the new home of the NHL Colorado Avalanche and the NBA Denver Nuggets in October 1999 and Dick's Sporting Goods Park, home of the Rapids, opened in 2006. Denver's Lower Downtown district (referred to as LODO), has been attracting new residents and businesses to the downtown area.

The first baseball park was Broadway Grounds, where baseball games were being played by 1862. Some early baseball parks were located in the middle of local horse racing tracks. Broadway Park was the home of Denver's first professional teams for about thirty years, into the 1910's. Merchants Park was built in 1922 as the home of the Denver Bears and of the Denver Post Baseball Tournament. When the Denver Bears team was revived after World War II, a replacement for the aging Merchants Park was needed, and Bears Stadium, later renamed Mile High Stadium, was built in 1948. Coors Field, opened in 1993, is the latest Denver baseball field.<ref> </ref>

==Education==
Denver is also home to several universities, including:
*The Art Institute of Colorado
*Community College of Denver
*Denver Seminary
*Johnson & Wales University, branch campus
*Lincoln College of Technology FKA Denver Automotive and Diesel College
*Metropolitan State College of Denver
*Regis University
*Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design
*University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center
*University of Denver

==Bibliography==
* Arrington, Leonard J., and John R. Alley, Jr. ''Harold F. Silver: Western Inventor, Businessman, and Civic Leader.'' 1992. 250 pp. In the 1930s-1960s Silver grew rich by inventing a portable sugar beet piler and a sugar diffuser that sharply lowered costs in the sugar industry; he was even more successful in inventing continuous process coal mining machinery.
* Barth, Gunther Paul. ''Instant Cities: Urbanization and the Rise of San Francisco and Denver'' (1975) [http://books.google.com/books?id=0zYITx9wIO0C&dq=intitle:denver&num=30&as_brr=3 excerpt and text search]
* Brosnan, Kathleen A. ''Uniting Mountain and Plain: Cities, Law, and Environmental Change along the Front Range'' (2002) says Denver modernized by laying waste to the environment in late 19th century
* Brundage, David. ''The Making of Western Labor Radicalism: Denver's Organized Workers, 1878-1905'' (1994) [http://www.amazon.com/Making-Western-Labor-Radicalism-Organized/dp/0252020758/ref=sr_1_45/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191471150&sr=8-45 excerpt and text search]
* Campbell, D'Ann. "Judge Ben Lindsey and the Juvenile Court Movement, 1901-1904." ''Arizona and the West'' 1976 18(1): 5-20. Issn: 0004-1408
* Carver, Sharon Snow. "Club Women of the Three Intermountain Cities of Denver, Boise and Salt Lake City between 1893 and 1929." PhD dissertation Brigham Young U. 2000. 356 pp. DAI 2000 61(5): 2000-A. DA9972727 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]
* Dickson, Lynda Fayes. "The Early Club Movement among Black Women in Denver: 1890-1925." PhD dissertation U. of Colorado, Boulder 1982. 288 pp. DAI 1982 43(6): 2115-2116-A. DA8221063 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]
* Dorsett, Lyle. ''The Queen City: A History of Denver'' (1983), well-illustrated with focus on business elites and politicians
* Edwards, Susan Jane. "Nature as Healer: Denver, Colorado's Social and Built Landscapes of Health, 1880-1930." PhD dissertation U. of Colorado, Boulder 1994. 325 pp. DAI 1995 55(10): 3283-A. DA9506327 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]
* Foster, Mark S. ''Henry M. Porter: Rocky Mountain Empire Builder.'' U. Press of Colorado, 1991. 184 pp. Porter (1838-1936) was a railroad magnate and hospital builder
* Goodstein, Phil H. ''Denver from the Bottom Up: A People's History of Early Colorado. Vol. 1: From Sand Creek to Ludlow.'' 2003. 488 pp. a left-wing approach to old-fashioned political history
* Goodstein, Phil H. ''Denver in our time: A people's history of the modern Mile High City'' (1999)
* Gutfreund, Owen D. ''Twentieth-Century Sprawl: Highways and the Reshaping of the American Landscape.'' 2004. 297 pp.; Denver is one of three case studies
* Hendricks, Rickey and Mark S. Foster. ''For a Child's Sake: History of the Children's Hospital, Denver, Colorado, 1910-1990.'' U. Press of Colorado, 1994. 209 pp.
* Hero, Rodney. "The Election of Hispanics in City Government: An Analysis of the Election of Federico Peña as Mayor of Denver," ''Western Political Quarterly'' 40 (March 1987): 93–105;
* Hero, Rodney. and Kathleen Beatty. "The Election of Frederico Peña as Mayor of Denver: Analysis and Implications," ''Social Science Quarterly'' 70 (June 1989): 300–310.
* Jones, William C. and Kenton Forrest. ''Denver: A Pictorial History from Frontier Camp to Queen City of the Plains.'' 1973. 334 pp.
* Kaufmann, Karen Malmuth. "Voting in American Cities: The Group Interest Theory of Local Voting Behavior." PhD dissertation U. of California, Los Angeles 1998. 251 pp. DAI 1999 59(9): 3629-A. DA9906182 case studies of Denver 1983-1995. Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]
* Kelly, George V. ''The Old Gray Mayors of Denver.'' Boulder, 1974. 266 pp.
* Knapp, Anne Curtis. "Making an Orderly Society: Criminal Justice in Denver, Colorado, 1858-1900." PhD dissertation U. of California, San Diego 1983. 324 pp. DAI 1984 44(11): 3467-A. DA8405206 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]
* Leonard, Stephen J. and Thomas J. Noel. ''Denver: Mining Camp to Metropolis'' (1990), the standard history
* Ling, Richard Seyler. "The Social Construction of Synthetic Charisma: A Sociological Examination of the 1983 Denver Mayoral Campaign." PhD dissertation U. of Colorado, Boulder 1984. 246 pp. DAI 1985 45(7): 2261-A. DA8422625 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]
* Miller, Jeff. ''Stapleton International Airport: "The First Fifty Years." ''Boulder: Pruett, 1983.
* Morley, Judy Mattivi. ''Historic Preservation and the Imagined West: Albuquerque, Denver, and Seattle.'' 2006. 204 pp.
* Noel, Thomas J. ''The City and the Saloon: Denver, 1858-1916'' (1996) [http://www.amazon.com/City-Saloon-Denver-1858-1916/dp/0870814265/ref=sr_1_6/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191471242&sr=8-6 excerpt and text search]
* Noel, Thomas J. ''Colorado Catholicism and the Archdiocese of Denver, 1857-1989 '' (1990) [http://www.archden.org/noel/index.html full text online]
* Noel, Thomas J. ''Denver Landmarks & Historic Districts: A Pictorial Guide'' (2001)
* Noel, Thomas J. ''Mile high city: An illustrated history of Denver'' (2001)
* Noel, Thomas J. and Barbara S. Norgren. ''Denver: The City Beautiful and Its Architects, 1893-1941'' (1987)
* Peterson, Eric ed. ''Frommer's Denver, Boulder & Colorado Springs'' (2007) [http://www.amazon.com/Frommers-Boulder-Colorado-Springs-Complete/dp/0470068582/ref=sr_1_18/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191471472&sr=8-18 excerpt and text search]
* Pickering, John Richard. "Blueprint of Power: The Public Career of Robert Speer in Denver, 1898-1918." PhD dissertation U. of Denver 1978. 247 pp. DAI 1979 39(11): 6920-A
* ''Portrait and Biographical Record of Denver and Vicinity Colorado'' (1898), many short biographies [http://www.memoriallibrary.com/CO/1898DenverPB/ full text online]
* Reese, Carol McMichael. "The Politician and the City: Urban Form and City Beautiful Rhetoric in Progressive Era Denver." PhD dissertation U. of Texas, Austin 1992. 567 pp. DAI 1992 53(4): 969-A. DA9225704 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]
* Rose, Mark H. ''Cities of Light and Heat: Domesticating Gas and Electricity in Urban America'' 1995. 229 pp. case study of Denver and Kansas City
* Smiley, Jerome C. ''History of Denver: with outlines of the earlier history of the Rocky Mountain country'' (1903); Smiley (1858-1924) copmiled an amazing amount of information in 950pp; available on cd-rom
* Stefanco, Carolyn J. "Pathways to Power: Women and Voluntary Associations in Denver, Colorado, 1876-1893." PhD dissertation Duke U. 1987. 263 pp. DAI 1988 49(4): 932-933-A. DA8810886 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]
* Taylor, Mary Jean. "Leadership Responses to Desegregation in the Denver Public Schools: A Historical Study, 1959-1977." PhD dissertation U. of Denver 1990. 364 pp. DAI 1990 51(6): 1866-A. DA9030097 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]

== External Links ==
*[http://www.denvergov.org/ City and County of Denver]
*[http://www.cityguide.travel-guides.com/city/41/statistics/North-America/Denver.html World Travel Guide]
*[http://www.metrodenver.org/DataCenter/CityCountyProfiles/CityCountyProfiles.icm Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation]
*[http://www.rtd-denver.com Denver's Regional Transportation District] Includes links to other Denver sites.

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

==See Also==
[[Denver Colorado Temple]]

[[Category:Colorado Cities and Towns]]
[[Category:US State Capitals]]
[[Category:United States Cities and Towns]]

Denver

2009-02-10T17:29:18Z

StephenK: /* Sports */

'''Denver''' is the capital of [[Colorado]], and the state's largest city. The city sits on the eastern edge of the [[Rocky Mountains]]. Its nicknames include "The Mile-High City" (its downtown is 5286 feet above sea level), "Queen City of the Rockies," "Gateway to the Rockies," and "The Climate Capital of the World."

"Denver" is also the name of the metropolitan area surrounding the city of Denver. The metropolitan area of 4,531 square miles is the 17th largest in the nation; it includes Adams County, Arapahoe County, Boulder County, City and County of Broomfield, City and County of Denver, Douglas County, and Jefferson County

==Geography==
The city itself covers 107 square miles (277 sq km), 5,280 feet (1,610 meters). Winding through Denver are the South Platte River and Cherry Creek. The Rockies provide a spectacular backdrop for the city, and they also protect it from high winds.

Denver is a spacious city of parks, tree-lined streets, broad avenues, old buildings, and modern skyscrapers. Its climate is mild and dry, primarily because the Rockies divert moisture-bearing winds away from the area. Formerly known for its clear sunny skies it was long a destination for people suffering from [[tuberculosis]]. Since 1950, however, exhaust fumes from automobiles and trucks have caused serious air pollution. The average temperature in July, the warmest month, is 73°F (23°C.), and the average temperature in January, the coldest month, is 28.5°F. (-2°C.). Annual precipitation is only 15 inches (380 mm), and the city has an average of 250 clear or partly cloudy days a year. The sunshine makes it a very popular tourist destination; it is also a gateway to the ski resorts 25 to 100 miles to the west.

==Demography==
The metropolitan area had a population of 2,663,000 in 2006 in 1,034,000 households; the median age was 34.4 years. The labor force was 1,442,000, of whom 1,303,000 were employed at an average annual wage of $45,629. The growth rate 1996-2006 was 2.1% per year, with a special attraction for young college graduates who enjoy the moderately expensive, informal, upscale life style, and the outdoor opportunities. The Phoenix metropolitan area is the chief competitor for these migrants.

The city's population was 567,000 in 2006. Minority communities in Denver include a rapidly growing [[Latino history|Latino]] population chiefly of Mexican ancestry

Suburban '''Aurora''', founded in 1891, exploded in population after 1990, reaching 300,000 in 2006, with 102,000 people employed in its 10,400 businesses, and others commuting to jobs in Denver or at the airport.

The first Chinese settlers arrived in 1869; two Chinatowns emerged, one a commercial area, the other a residential ghetto. The Chinese population peaked at 1000 in, then declined to 100 in 1940. In the 1950s urban renewal projects demolished the Chinatowns. A new wave of 15,000 highly educated Chinese arrived after 1965, but they were widely dispersed in the metro area.<ref>William Wei, "History and Memory: the Story of Denver's Chinatown." ''Colorado Heritage'' 2002 (Aut): 2-13. Issn: 0272-9377 </ref>

==Economy==
Metro Denver is a major manufacturing center of the western United States. It is also a major market for the ranch products (especially beef) of the surrounding area and a gateway for skiers headed to the nearby Rockies.

Semiconductors is the top export category, growing 70% (statewide) from $763 million in 2005, to $1.3 billion in 2006. Other top exports are Computers and Peripherals ($937 million), and Office Machine Components ($657 million). The state's exports were $8.0 billion in 2006; the largest trading partners were Canada ($1.85 billion), Mexico ($1.02 billion), China ($800 million), Taiwan ($707 million), and Japan ($400 million). Denver is home to 32 foreign consulates. Six are staffed by career diplomats from the countries of Guatemala, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Canada and the United Kingdom. The consulates provide information and service regarding international trade promotion, tourism, and cultural exchange.

Employment growth in Metro Denver has outpaced the nation since January 2005. Metro Denver added 26,000 jobs in 2006 for an estimated gain of 1.9%; growth in 2007 will be about 1.6%. All sectors added jobs in 2006 except for the Information sector, which has struggled with losses for six consecutive years. The largest increases were in Natural Resources, Mining & Construction (+4.6%), Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities (+3.2%), and Professional & Business Services (+3.1%) sectors.

==Transportation==
Denver was at a disadvantage in the 19th century because the transcontinental routes ran 200 miles north of the city, through Cheyenne, Wyoming, which became the primary way station for wagon trains, stage lines, and rail lines passing through the northern Rockies. Pilots at first preferred Cheyenne, and it won the first round of competition when the US Post Office decided to fly mail through Wyoming in 1920. Denver business leaders never stopped competing, however, and struggled to get a share of the traffic. By the mid-1930s they convinced some passenger airlines to move their operations to Colorado. After World War II, Denver wrested full control of Rocky Mountain air traffic from Cheyenne, making the city's Stapleton airport the major regional hub.<ref> Roger D. Launius, and Jessie L. Embry, "Cheyenne Versus Denver: City Rivalry and the Quest for Transcontinental Air Routes." ''Annals of Wyoming'' 1996 68(3): 8-23. Issn: 1086-7368 </ref>

Denver International Airport (DIA) is one of the world's ten busiest facilities and is the hub for United and Frontier airlines. DIA has four north-south runways and two east-west runways. The concourses and Jeppesen Terminal (with its Teflon-coated fiberglass roof) are in the center of the airfield. 95 airlines operated 1175 passenger flights daily in 2006, with 130,000 passengers a day. The airport is operating close to capacity and plans to spend $1 billion through 2013 on its concourses, concession areas, security checkpoints, parking lots and baggage system.<ref> See Chris Walsh, "DIA bursting at the seams," ''Rocky Mountain News'' September 29, 2007 at [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/airlines/article/0,2777,DRMN_23912_5710157,00.html]</ref> There are numerous flights to Mexico and Canada, and three to Europe. 44% of the passengers are making connections in Denver; Los Angeles is the chief point of origin. DIA replaced inner-city Stapleton International Airport (1929-1995). Once open range country, the area near DIA is undergoing rapid construction of homes, hotels and warehouses.

In 2006 the $1.67 billion T-REX project widened Interstates 25 and I-225 and added 19 miles of light rail connecting Metro Denver's two largest employment centers: The Central Business District and the Denver Tech Center.

==Downtown==
At the center of downtown is the Denver Civic Center, a 40 acre (16-hectare) complex of parks and government buildings. At opposite ends of the Center are the City-County Building and the State Capitol. The Capitol is 272 feet (83 meters) high and has a dome covered with local gold. By the time the capitol was completed in 1900 (at 170% over budget) the building—a difficult-to-maintain hodgepodge of dirt-collecting nooks and crannies, grumblers said—was instantly too small. In the 21st century the debate is whether Colorado's aging yet "most important building" deserves a mere nip and tuck or an extreme makeover.<ref> Derek R. Everett, ''The Colorado State Capitol: History, Politics, Preservation.'' 2005.</ref> Nearby are the Art Museum, and the Denver Public Library (which contains more than one million volumes, especially famous for its research collection in western history). The United States Mint makes half the nation's coins.

Until the 1950s buildings in Denver could not be higher than 12 stories, but since then a number of skyscrapers more than 40 stories tall have been added to the city skyline, including the Arco Tower, Anaconda Tower, Great West Plaza, and the Amoco Building. During the 1970s an extensive urban renewal program was undertaken in downtown Denver, leading to the creation of a three-square block convention center and an elaborate theater complex, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

==Medical==
Across the western landscape of the United States, health was a natural resource, mined and sold by late-19th- and 20th-century town boosters and physicians to those afflicted with such chronic pulmonary illnesses as tuberculosis and asthma. Denver was especially important as a destination and the city became the largest medical center for the mountain states by 1900.<ref> Gregg Mitman, "Geographies of Hope: Mining the Frontiers of Health in Denver and Beyond, 1870-1965." ''Osiris'' 2004 19: 93-111. Issn: 0369-7827 </ref> Religious and ethnic groups established the most important hospitals. St. Luke's Hospital was established by the Episcopal Church in 1881; Presbyterian Hospital opened in 1926. Both operated nursing schools . In 1992 St. Luke's merged with Presbyterian Hospital, which subsequently merged with others to form the HealthONE hospital system.<ref> Rebecca Hunt, "Healers on the Hill: St. Luke's and Presbyterian Hospitals of Denver." ''Colorado Heritage'' 2005 (Sum): 2-17. Issn: 0272-9377 </ref> The Denver Homeopathic Hospital opened in 1894 to offer alternatives to the medical practices of "allopathic" medicine, the mainstream treatments of the day. Friction arose among the homeopathic physicians, and the hospital closed in 1909.<ref> Steve Grinstead, "Alternative Healing At The Crossroads: Denver's Homeopathic Hospital Succumbs To Modern Medicine." ''Colorado Heritage'' 2005 (Sum): 18-29. Issn: 0272-9377 </ref> The Swedish National Sanatorium was established in 1905 by the Swedish community, as a national tuberculosis sanatorium. It was reorganized in 1956 and later became the Swedish Medical Center. <ref> Rebecca Hunt, "Swedish National Sanatorium: Building Community in a Swedish-American Tuberculosis Sanatorium, 1905-59." ''Colorado Heritage'' 2005 (Sum): 30-46. ISSN: 0272-9377 </ref> Seraphine Pisko was first woman to head a major Jewish hospital when she was appointed in 1911 as secretary of Denver's National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives, Pisko skillfully and efficiently managed the institution, while advancing a personalized and nurturing philosophy of charity in contrast to efforts to centralize fund-raising and administration.
After World War II the Jewish National Home for Asthmatic Children became the Children's Asthma Research Institute and Hospital. To the dismay of the city of Denver, the University of Colorado Medical School and associated hospitals left the city in 2007, taking 30,000 high-paying jobs, for a huge new campus in Aurora centered on the former Fitzsimons Army Medical Center. It solidified the Denver Metro Area as the premier medical center in a thousand mile radius, but brought into debate the state's sharply reduced budget for medical education and higher education generally.

==History==
Denver was started during the turbulent Pikes Peak gold rush of 1859-1860, when thousands walked across the plains in search of wealth. Two small settlements, Denver City and Auraria, were consolidated in 1860; the city was named after the governor of Kansas. Population reached 4700 in 1860 and remained the same a decade later. The first city hall was built on stilts in the middle of a stream. Boom and bust characterized the early years, 1859-1870. In 1863 a fire destroyed much of Denver, and the next year a flash flood destroyed the precariously built city hall on stilts.

In 1861 Colorado became a territory, with a governor appointed by President [[Abraham Lincoln]]. In 1867 Denver became the capital. The major obstacles to the city's growth were its isolation from the East and the Midwest and the lack of a stable income-producing economy. The Indian wars on the plains and heavy winter snowstorms east of the city were a constant threat to the connections with Kansas and points eastward. In 1863 the telegraph arrived. The coming of the railroads integrated the city further with the rest of the nation. In 1870 the Denver Pacific Railroad north to Cheyenne, Wyoming, linked into the transcontinental [[Union Pacific Railroad]], while the Kansas Pacific Railroad linked across the plains to Kansas City. The [[Denver and Rio Grande Railroad]] south to Pueblo opened in 1871, thus making Denver the hub of all mining and ranching areas in Colorado; the population hit 36,000 in 1880.

The city provided lavishly for the lusts of the rich miners visiting the city. There was a range of bawdy houses to fit every pocketbook, from the sumptuous quarters of renowned madams such as Mattie Silks and Jenny Rogers to the most squalid "cribs" located a few blocks farther north along Market Street. Gambling flourished as sharp-eyed bunco artists exploited every chance to separate miners from their hard-earned gold. Edward Chase ran scrupulously honest games in several elegant establishments and regularly entertained many of Denver's most influential leaders. By 1880 Denver's vice district ranked only slightly behind San Francisco's Barbary Coast and New Orleans's Storyville. Most of the city's seamiest attractions were within a few steps of Union Station, but newsstands sold guidebooks that provided additional addresses. Sin was good for business; visitors spent lavishly, then left town. As long as madams conducted their business discreetly, and "crib girls" did not advertise their availability too crudely, authorities took their bribes and looked the other way. Occasional cleanups and cracked downs satisfied the demands for reform.<ref> Clark Secrest. ''Hell's Belles: Prostitution, Vice, and Crime in Early Denver, with a Biography of Sam Howe, Frontier Lawman.'' 2nd ed 2002, heavily illustrated.</ref>

In legitimate entertainment, music stood high, beginning with the Apollo Hall in 1859. The Denver Theatre, home of the city's first opera performance in 1864, the Tabor Grand Opera House (1881)and the Broadway Theatre (1890-1955) brought in internationally renown performers. Many other theaters were built, most of which did not last very long. Denver churches were also important venues for music performances in the last half of the 19th century.<ref> Henry Miles, "Where Music Dwells: Denver's Earliest Concert Spaces." ''Colorado Heritage'' 2002 (Sum): 32-46.</ref>

In the 1880s silver was discovered in the nearby mountains, leading Denver to a new surge of gaudiness and opulence, typified by Tabor's fancy opera house. The silver madness was as economically unstable as the gold rush 20 years before. The 10-story Brown Palace Hotel in 1893, designed by noted local architect Frank Edbrooke. In 1893 financial panic swept the nation, and the silver boom collapsed. By this time, however, the city's economy had a more stable base rooted in the agriculture of the surrounding area. Between 1870 and 1890 the city's population increased from less than 5,000 to over 100,000.

===Progressive era===
The city's population doubled between 1900 and 1920, reaching 256,000 population. Growth slowed somewhat, as the total in 1940 was 322,000, with only a few suburbs as yet.

Denver's Myron W. Reed was the leading Christian socialist in the American west in the last two decades of the nineteenth century. He came to the city in 1884 as pastor of the affluent First Congregational Church. Christian socialism, for Reed, meant that the state should manage production and instill cooperation to provide what he called "the comfortable life" for all. He was a leader in the city's Charity Organization Society, even while questioning that organization's efforts to distinguish the "worthy" from the "unworthy" poor. Reed spoke out for the rights of labor unions and was voted out of his pulpit during the bitter 1894 strike at Cripple Creek. He ran for Congress as a Democrat in 1886 and worked for Colorado's Populist party in the 1890s. A former abolitionist Reed spoke out for African American and Native American rights while denouncing Chinese and eastern European immigrants as dependent tools of corporations who were lowering "American" standards of living.<ref> James A. Denton, ''Rocky Mountain Radical: Myron W. Reed, Christian Socialist.'' 1997. </ref>

Local boosters created the National Stock Growers Conventions in 1898 and 1899. The National Western Stock Show began in 1907 as an annual event attracting cattlemen from a wide region. The [[Progressive Era]] brought an [[Efficiency Movement]], typified in 1902 when the city and Denver County were made coextensive;<ref>Since then both the city and the county have been governed by a nonpartisan mayor and nine-member council. </ref> Denver pioneered the juvenile court movement under Judge [[Ben Lindsey]] (1869-1943), a nationally famous reformer.<ref>See [http://100.juvenilelaw.net/Judges/Lindsay.htm] </ref> Mayor Robert Speer was a prominent progressive who gave the city world leadership in building parks. Boasting itself the "Queen City of the Plains," Denver hosted the Democratic National Convention in 1908, then waited 100 years for its return.

Women suffrage came early, in 1893, led by married middle class women who organized first for prohibition and then for suffrage, with the goal of upholding [[Republicanism, U.S.|republican citizenship]] for women and purifying society. The Denver Fortnighly Club played a major role. Caroline Nichols Churchill, edited and published the ''Colorado Antelope'', subsequently the ''Queen Bee'', beginning in 1879 and boasted that she and her journal played a crucial role in the passage of the referendum in 1893 that granted the vote to women in Colorado. There was a strained relationship between the radical and eccentric Churchill and the mainstream women, as Churchill was a confrontational and outspoken proponent of the equal rights of minority ethnic groups.<ref> Jennifer A. Thompson, "From Travel Writer to Newspaper Editor: Caroline Churchill and the Development of Her Political Ideology Within the Public Sphere." ''Frontiers'' 1999 20(3): 42-63. Issn: 0160-9009 Fulltext: [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0160-9009%281999%2920%3A3%3C42%3AFTWTNE%3E2.0.CO%3B2-K in Jstor] </ref>

===1920-1980===
Up until World War II, Denver's economy was dependent mainly on the processing and shipping of minerals and ranch products, especially beef and lamb. During the war and in the years following, specialized industries were introduced into the city, making it a major manufacturing center. Population expanded rapidly, and many old buildings were torn down to make way for new housing projects. Many of Denver's finest buildings of the frontier era were demolished, such as the Tabor Opera House, as the city has expanded upward and outward and acquired new lands for buildings and parking lots.

===Recent politics===
[[Federico Peña]] (1983-1991) became the city's first [[Latino history|Latino mayor]] in 1983. One of his central campaign messages was a promise of inclusiveness targeted at minorities. His promises of diverse minority appointments represented a stark contrast from prior administration policies.. Latino turnout reached 73% in 1983, a striking contrast to the usually low Latino rates elsewhere. In 1991, at a time the city was 12% Black and 20% Latino, [[Wellington Webb]] (1991-2003) won a stunning come-from-behind victory as the city's first black mayor. The Hispanic and Black minority communities supported each other's candidates at the 75-85% levels.<ref>Karen M. Kaufmann, "Black and Latino Voters in Denver: Responses to Each Other's Political Leadership." ''Political Science Quarterly'' 2003 118(1): 107-125. ISSN: 0032-3195 Fulltext: [[Ebsco]]</ref> Webb, who won 44% of the white vote, systematically reached out to the white business community, promoting downtown economic development and major projects such as the world class new airport, Coors Field, and a new convention center. During his administrations municipal employment, public schools, police accountability, and affordable housing worsened, for Denver's poor and working-class neighborhoods.<ref> Hermon George, Jr. "Community Development and the Politics of Deracialization: The Case Of Denver, Colorado, 1991-2003." ''Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science'' 2004 594: 143-157. ISSN: 0002-7162</ref> Businessman [[John Hickenlooper]] was elected mayor in 2003 and reelected in 2007 with 87% of the vote.

===2008===
Denver hosted the Democratic National Convention in August of 2008. Due to strong planning and a large police presence, the city avoided the violence that occurred later at the Republican convention in St. Paul.

==Sports==
In sports, Denver is home to the [[NHL]]'s [[Colorado Avalanche]], the [[NFL]]'s [[Denver Broncos]], [[MLB]]'s [[Colorado Rockies]], and the [[NBA]]'s [[Denver Nuggets]]. Other teams include the Colorado Rapids (MLS), The Colorado Crush (AFL), and The Colorado Mammoth (Indoor Lacrosse) and The Colorado Outlaws (Outdoor Lacrosse).

The Denver Broncos have played in six super bowls and won two. Voters in 1998 raised $270 million in taxes to build the $360 million Invesco Field at Mile High, a new football stadium. In 2001 it joined Coors Field, which opened for Major League Baseball's Colorado Rockies in 1995, the Pepsi Center, which opened as the new home of the NHL Colorado Avalanche and the NBA Denver Nuggets in October 1999 and Dick's Sporting Goods Park, home of the Rapids, opened in 2006. Denver's Lower Downtown district (referred to as LODO), has been attracting new residents and businesses to the downtown area.

The first baseball park was Broadway Grounds, where baseball games were being played by 1862. Some early baseball parks were located in the middle of local horse racing tracks. Broadway Park was the home of Denver's first professional teams for about thirty years, into the 1910's. Merchants Park was built in 1922 as the home of the Denver Bears and of the Denver Post Baseball Tournament. When the Denver Bears team was revived after World War II, a replacement for the aging Merchants Park was needed, and Bears Stadium, later renamed Mile High Stadium, was built in 1948. Coors Field, opened in 1993, is the latest Denver baseball field.<ref> </ref>

==Education==
Denver is also home to several universities, including:
*University of Denver
*Metropolitan State College of Denver
*University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center
*Johnson & Wales University, branch campus
*Regis University
*Community College of Denver
*Denver Seminary
*The Art Institute of Colorado
*Lincoln College of Technology FKA Denver Automotive and Diesel College
*Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design
==Bibliography==
* Arrington, Leonard J., and John R. Alley, Jr. ''Harold F. Silver: Western Inventor, Businessman, and Civic Leader.'' 1992. 250 pp. In the 1930s-1960s Silver grew rich by inventing a portable sugar beet piler and a sugar diffuser that sharply lowered costs in the sugar industry; he was even more successful in inventing continuous process coal mining machinery.
* Barth, Gunther Paul. ''Instant Cities: Urbanization and the Rise of San Francisco and Denver'' (1975) [http://books.google.com/books?id=0zYITx9wIO0C&dq=intitle:denver&num=30&as_brr=3 excerpt and text search]
* Brosnan, Kathleen A. ''Uniting Mountain and Plain: Cities, Law, and Environmental Change along the Front Range'' (2002) says Denver modernized by laying waste to the environment in late 19th century
* Brundage, David. ''The Making of Western Labor Radicalism: Denver's Organized Workers, 1878-1905'' (1994) [http://www.amazon.com/Making-Western-Labor-Radicalism-Organized/dp/0252020758/ref=sr_1_45/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191471150&sr=8-45 excerpt and text search]
* Campbell, D'Ann. "Judge Ben Lindsey and the Juvenile Court Movement, 1901-1904." ''Arizona and the West'' 1976 18(1): 5-20. Issn: 0004-1408
* Carver, Sharon Snow. "Club Women of the Three Intermountain Cities of Denver, Boise and Salt Lake City between 1893 and 1929." PhD dissertation Brigham Young U. 2000. 356 pp. DAI 2000 61(5): 2000-A. DA9972727 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]
* Dickson, Lynda Fayes. "The Early Club Movement among Black Women in Denver: 1890-1925." PhD dissertation U. of Colorado, Boulder 1982. 288 pp. DAI 1982 43(6): 2115-2116-A. DA8221063 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]
* Dorsett, Lyle. ''The Queen City: A History of Denver'' (1983), well-illustrated with focus on business elites and politicians
* Edwards, Susan Jane. "Nature as Healer: Denver, Colorado's Social and Built Landscapes of Health, 1880-1930." PhD dissertation U. of Colorado, Boulder 1994. 325 pp. DAI 1995 55(10): 3283-A. DA9506327 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]
* Foster, Mark S. ''Henry M. Porter: Rocky Mountain Empire Builder.'' U. Press of Colorado, 1991. 184 pp. Porter (1838-1936) was a railroad magnate and hospital builder
* Goodstein, Phil H. ''Denver from the Bottom Up: A People's History of Early Colorado. Vol. 1: From Sand Creek to Ludlow.'' 2003. 488 pp. a left-wing approach to old-fashioned political history
* Goodstein, Phil H. ''Denver in our time: A people's history of the modern Mile High City'' (1999)
* Gutfreund, Owen D. ''Twentieth-Century Sprawl: Highways and the Reshaping of the American Landscape.'' 2004. 297 pp.; Denver is one of three case studies
* Hendricks, Rickey and Mark S. Foster. ''For a Child's Sake: History of the Children's Hospital, Denver, Colorado, 1910-1990.'' U. Press of Colorado, 1994. 209 pp.
* Hero, Rodney. "The Election of Hispanics in City Government: An Analysis of the Election of Federico Peña as Mayor of Denver," ''Western Political Quarterly'' 40 (March 1987): 93–105;
* Hero, Rodney. and Kathleen Beatty. "The Election of Frederico Peña as Mayor of Denver: Analysis and Implications," ''Social Science Quarterly'' 70 (June 1989): 300–310.
* Jones, William C. and Kenton Forrest. ''Denver: A Pictorial History from Frontier Camp to Queen City of the Plains.'' 1973. 334 pp.
* Kaufmann, Karen Malmuth. "Voting in American Cities: The Group Interest Theory of Local Voting Behavior." PhD dissertation U. of California, Los Angeles 1998. 251 pp. DAI 1999 59(9): 3629-A. DA9906182 case studies of Denver 1983-1995. Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]
* Kelly, George V. ''The Old Gray Mayors of Denver.'' Boulder, 1974. 266 pp.
* Knapp, Anne Curtis. "Making an Orderly Society: Criminal Justice in Denver, Colorado, 1858-1900." PhD dissertation U. of California, San Diego 1983. 324 pp. DAI 1984 44(11): 3467-A. DA8405206 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]
* Leonard, Stephen J. and Thomas J. Noel. ''Denver: Mining Camp to Metropolis'' (1990), the standard history
* Ling, Richard Seyler. "The Social Construction of Synthetic Charisma: A Sociological Examination of the 1983 Denver Mayoral Campaign." PhD dissertation U. of Colorado, Boulder 1984. 246 pp. DAI 1985 45(7): 2261-A. DA8422625 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]
* Miller, Jeff. ''Stapleton International Airport: "The First Fifty Years." ''Boulder: Pruett, 1983.
* Morley, Judy Mattivi. ''Historic Preservation and the Imagined West: Albuquerque, Denver, and Seattle.'' 2006. 204 pp.
* Noel, Thomas J. ''The City and the Saloon: Denver, 1858-1916'' (1996) [http://www.amazon.com/City-Saloon-Denver-1858-1916/dp/0870814265/ref=sr_1_6/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191471242&sr=8-6 excerpt and text search]
* Noel, Thomas J. ''Colorado Catholicism and the Archdiocese of Denver, 1857-1989 '' (1990) [http://www.archden.org/noel/index.html full text online]
* Noel, Thomas J. ''Denver Landmarks & Historic Districts: A Pictorial Guide'' (2001)
* Noel, Thomas J. ''Mile high city: An illustrated history of Denver'' (2001)
* Noel, Thomas J. and Barbara S. Norgren. ''Denver: The City Beautiful and Its Architects, 1893-1941'' (1987)
* Peterson, Eric ed. ''Frommer's Denver, Boulder & Colorado Springs'' (2007) [http://www.amazon.com/Frommers-Boulder-Colorado-Springs-Complete/dp/0470068582/ref=sr_1_18/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191471472&sr=8-18 excerpt and text search]
* Pickering, John Richard. "Blueprint of Power: The Public Career of Robert Speer in Denver, 1898-1918." PhD dissertation U. of Denver 1978. 247 pp. DAI 1979 39(11): 6920-A
* ''Portrait and Biographical Record of Denver and Vicinity Colorado'' (1898), many short biographies [http://www.memoriallibrary.com/CO/1898DenverPB/ full text online]
* Reese, Carol McMichael. "The Politician and the City: Urban Form and City Beautiful Rhetoric in Progressive Era Denver." PhD dissertation U. of Texas, Austin 1992. 567 pp. DAI 1992 53(4): 969-A. DA9225704 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]
* Rose, Mark H. ''Cities of Light and Heat: Domesticating Gas and Electricity in Urban America'' 1995. 229 pp. case study of Denver and Kansas City
* Smiley, Jerome C. ''History of Denver: with outlines of the earlier history of the Rocky Mountain country'' (1903); Smiley (1858-1924) copmiled an amazing amount of information in 950pp; available on cd-rom
* Stefanco, Carolyn J. "Pathways to Power: Women and Voluntary Associations in Denver, Colorado, 1876-1893." PhD dissertation Duke U. 1987. 263 pp. DAI 1988 49(4): 932-933-A. DA8810886 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]
* Taylor, Mary Jean. "Leadership Responses to Desegregation in the Denver Public Schools: A Historical Study, 1959-1977." PhD dissertation U. of Denver 1990. 364 pp. DAI 1990 51(6): 1866-A. DA9030097 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]

== External Links ==
*[http://www.denvergov.org/ City and County of Denver]
*[http://www.cityguide.travel-guides.com/city/41/statistics/North-America/Denver.html World Travel Guide]
*[http://www.metrodenver.org/DataCenter/CityCountyProfiles/CityCountyProfiles.icm Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation]
*[http://www.rtd-denver.com Denver's Regional Transportation District] Includes links to other Denver sites.

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

==See Also==
[[Denver Colorado Temple]]

[[Category:Colorado Cities and Towns]]
[[Category:US State Capitals]]
[[Category:United States Cities and Towns]]

Talk:Essay:Greatest Mysteries of World History

2009-02-09T21:25:27Z

StephenK: /* Humor */

User:StephenK

2009-02-04T03:54:44Z

StephenK: bolding the only quote that matters

'''"Hey man, just play the gig. Never get involved in Politics."''' - Dr. Teeth.

Miami Dolphins

2009-02-02T05:30:52Z

StephenK:

[[Image:Dolphins.jpg|right|200px]]

The '''Miami Dolphins''' are an American professional [[football]] team based in Miami, Florida. They are part of the [[National Football League]] (NFL), and are the oldest major-league professional sports franchise in the state of Florida.

The Miami Dolphins are part of the [[American Football Conference]] (AFC) and play in the AFC East Division with the New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills and league rivals The New York Jets.

The Dolphins play home games at Dolphins Stadium (formerly known as Joe Robbie Stadium and Pro Player Stadium)

==History==

The team was founded by Joseph Robbie and began playing in the American Football League as an expansion team in 1966. They joined the NFL with the AFL-NFL Merger.

The team made its first Super Bowl appearance following the 1971 season in Super Bowl VI, losing to the Dallas Cowboys. In 1972, the Dolphins completed the NFL's fourth undefeated regular season and won the [[Super Bowl]], making them the only team to complete a Perfect Season. The team also won Super Bowl VIII, making them first team to appear in three consecutive Super Bowls, and the second team to win back-to-back championships. Miami also appeared in Super Bowl XVII and Super Bowl XIX, but lost both games.

The Dolphins were coached by Don Shula, the most successful head coach in professional football history, for the majority of their history. Under his leadership, The Dolphins had losing records in only two of 26 seasons. Six future Hall of Fame members played for Miami during the 70s, including running back Larry Csonka and quarterback Bob Griese. During the 1980s and 1990s quarterback Dan Marino became the most prolific passer in NFL history, breaking numerous league passing records. He led the Dolphins to numerous playoff appearances and Super Bowl XIX.

==Roster==
===Quarterbacks===
*10 [[Chad Pennington]]
*9 [[John Beck]]
*7 Chad Henne

===Running Backs===
*23 [[Ronnie Brown]]
*34 [[Ricky Williams]]
*38 Patrick Cobbs

===Fullbacks===
*30 Casey Cramer
*36 Lousaka Polite

===Wide Receivers===
*14 Chris Hannon
*15 Davone Bess
*17 Brandon London
*18 Ernest Wilford
*19 [[Ted Ginn Jr.]]

===Tight Ends===
*80 [[Anthony Fasano]]
*81 Joey Haynos
*88 David Martin

===Offensive Tackles===
*72 Vernon Carey
*75 Nate Garner
*76 Brandon Frye
*77 [[Jake Long]]

===Guards===
*61 Shawn Murphy
*68 Ikechuku Ndukwe

===Centers===
*57 Andy Alleman
*60 Al Johnson
*64 Samson Satele

===Defensive Ends===
*70 Kendall Langford
*71 Lionel Dotson
*90 Rodrique Wright
*91 Vonnie Holliday
*94 Randy Starks
*97 Phillip Merling

===Defensive Tackles===
*95 Jason Ferguson
*96 Paul Soliai

===Linebackers===
*50 Erik Walden
*51 [[Akin Ayodele]]
*52 [[Channing Crowder]]
*53 Reggie Torbor
*55 [[Joey Porter]]
*56 Charlie Anderson
*74 Quentin Moses
*98 Matt Roth

===Cornerbacks===
*21 Andre' Goodman
*25 [[Will Allen]]
*32 Jason Allen
*33 Nathan Jones
*41 Joey Thomas

===Safeties===
*24 Renaldo Hill
*29 Tyrone Culver
*37 Yeremiah Bell
*27 Courtney Bryan

===Kickers===
*5 Dan Carpenter

===Punters===
*2 Brandon Fields

==See also==
*[[New England Patriots]]
*[[New York Jets]]
*[[Buffalo Bills]]

== External links ==
*[http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/teams/dolphins/index.html Team site]
*[http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/football/pro/dolphins/ Miami Dolphins]

[[category:National Football League]]
[[Category:Florida]]

Talk:Comedy Central

2009-02-02T00:14:42Z

StephenK:

I have a quick question; why is it "obscure"? I think it's on most cable plans. [[User:DanH|DanH]] 14:02, 29 September 2007 (EDT)

: OK, good point. I'll change it. I meant "obscure" because most adults don't know about, in contrast to CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, MSNBC, etc.--[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] 14:05, 29 September 2007 (EDT)

::Hmmm - that seems strange to me. Do you think it's a case of your peer group being atypical compared to mainstream America? (I don't mean that in a bad way LOL!) I know about all the stations I get, even the ones I don't watch, because I surf through them on the way to what I do watch, and I see them in the TV Guide. I don't know anyone who gets cable who doesn't know about Comedy Central - perhaps it's obscure in some areas because it isn't on the basic cable plan there? I know people who watch programs on it, but I'd hardly say it has "cult" status. Isn't cult status more for shows that have a small but very faithful following? The Daily Show, for example, is pretty mainstream - lots of political figures are guests on the show, especially during election season.--[[User:Hsmom|Hsmom]] 17:33, 29 September 2007 (EDT)

::: I just attended a conference of close to 300 politically active adults, and I'd be surprised if even half of them know what Comedy Central is. Its market share is minuscule, and its audience is mostly adolescent. Many of shows are cartoons or reruns.--[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] 17:35, 29 September 2007 (EDT)

::::[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]], were they TV-watching types of people? I'm not suggesting that tons of people actually watch it all that much, just that if they get cable TV (and maybe the conference goers don't? - not everyone does) then it's hard not to have heard of it. I mean, you've heard of it, and I've heard of it. (I'm guessing neither of us watch it a lot LOL!) I did a bit of looking - this article, from 2005, says that The Daily Show gets 1.4 million viewers a night.<ref>WIRED: Reinventing Television, By Thomas Goetz[http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.09/stewart.html]</ref> I don't know if that's a lot or not, but it doesn't seem like a "cult following" - that would be more like the people who watch Star Trek and learn to speak Klingon, know what I mean? South Park is also popular - I've never seen it (doesn't seem like it would be my kind of thing), but I'm aware that it's out there. The Colbert Report is also widely known. Most of the rest is probably total trash - but that could be said of several cable channels (MTV2 comes to mind, Spike TV also). I guess I would just feel better about this article if there were some references to back it up. Perhaps someone can find a reference for "cult following among liberals" and for "and particularly adolescents". Me, I'm off to put the kiddos to bed and finish up the laundry!--[[User:Hsmom|Hsmom]] 21:26, 29 September 2007 (EDT)
:::::I agree with HSmom and think that your sample size is flawed. The Daily show alone has hit a 2 million viewer per night average (as of Sept 2008][http://www.nypost.com/seven/09252008/tv/jons_got_game_130617.htm numbers found here from the New York Post] South Park, another constant top 20 show, is also run on Comedy Central. Despite the flaws of the network, no one can argue that they're obscure. [[User:StephenK|StephenK]] 19:14, 1 February 2009 (EST)

Post-Feminism

2009-01-12T21:54:19Z

StephenK: hopefully clarifying

'''Post-Feminism''' is the belief the [[women]] have the right to choose their own [[destiny]]. Post-Feminism promotes the idea that women do not have to choose a career rather than having children but have the choice of working or staying home and raising a family without feeling or being treated as traitors to the feminist cause.

==External Links==
*[http://www.feministezine.com/feminist/ The Feminist eZine] Archive of articles about Feminist History.

[[Category:Political Terms]]

Talk:Franken Syndrome

2009-01-12T21:48:47Z

StephenK:

Interestingly, there is a real disease called [http://rarediseases.info.nih.gov/GARD/Disease.aspx?PageID=4&diseaseID=1315 Christian Demyer Franken syndrome].--[[User:JohnD|JohnD]] 11:42, 4 January 2009 (EST)

I was under the impression that any American citizen who was old enough was qualified for public office, provided he got enough votes.--[[User:Frey|Frey]] 14:19, 4 January 2009 (EST)

I looked and I couldn't find any reference to this term anywhere (some references were made to Al Franken syndrome, but they all were one-offs that referred to other characteristics). It doesn't appear to be very notable. --[[User:Commodore Guff|KevinS]] 14:28, 4 January 2009 (EST)

What on earth is this article - either we are trying to make an encyclopedia here, or we are just taking a series of cheap shots by making stuff up --[[User:J00ni|J00ni]] 15:15, 4 January 2009 (EST)

Why not Schwarzenegger syndrome or Reagan syndrome? Both jumped abruptly from entertainment to politics. [[User:Taollan|Taollan]] 17:00, 5 January 2009 (EST)

Taollan, the difference is obvious. Unlike liberals, Schwarzenegger and Reagan had a long standing interest in politics, and served the people of California and the United States. Franken (like other liberals) has no idea what he is doing. I suggest you open your mind and embrace conservative principals. It will greatly improve your mental health.--[[User:Saxplayer|Saxplayer]] 13:37, 7 January 2009 (EST)

Saxplayer, Franken's work has had a political slant for more than 30 years, so saying he hasn't had a "long standing interest in politics" is simply inaccurate. Neither Scharzenegger nor Reagan held public office before being elected to Governor of California (a bit larger role than senator. And no, president of an entertainers' guild doesn't count). I would think truth and honesty is a conservative principal, is it not? Finally, Franken seems to know enough about politics to campaign to a virtual tie with Coleman. All of this is getting away from what I was trying to saw, however. This entry is non-encyclopedic cow manure. [[User:Taollan|Taollan]] 17:10, 7 January 2009 (EST)

Taollan, it would take a close minded liberal to equate a statesman of Ronald Reagan's stature to a second rate, not very funny "comedian" like AL Franken. You would be well served if you perused many of the articles on this site. Like many liberals, you are a bitter, angry person. Open your mind to conservative values and you will be much happier. --[[User:Saxplayer|Saxplayer]] 13:22, 8 January 2009 (EST)

==Usage==

Has anyone ever used this term? Or is it simply something an editor here made up? If so, it has a long way to go. There are many figures, on the left, right and center that jumped into politics following a career in a completely unrelated field, going back to the founding fathers, many of whom were businessman who found themselves thrust into politics. I would suggest renaming this as an essay. [[User:StephenK|StephenK]] 16:48, 12 January 2009 (EST)

Octopus

2009-01-12T21:44:46Z

StephenK: fix plural form

{{Taxonomy|kingdom = Animalia|phylum = Mollusca|class = Cephalopoda|subclass = Coleoidea|superorder = Octopodiformes|order = Octopoda|)}}

An '''octopus''' is a [[cephalopod]] [[mollusc]] in the order Octopoda.<ref name="brusca">Brusca, RC & Brusca GJ (2002). '''Invertebrates, 2 ed'''. Sinauer Associates Incorporated, Sunderland, MA.</ref>
==Description==
Generally less actively swimming than fellow cephalopods [[squid]] and [[cuttlefish]], an octopus has eight flexible suckered arms, used for grasping rocks and prey as well as proppelling the octopus. These are often inaccurately referred to as "tentacles", but in fact that term refers specifically to two longer extremities which cuttlefish and squid have at the front of their bodies but octopuses do not. To move, it may pull itself over the sea bed with its arms, but when in a hurry, it shoots a jet of water out of its body, thrusting it through the water.

Octopuses use [[chromatophore]]s to perfectly camouflage themselves against their background. When threatened, they can eject a cloud of ink to mask their escape. They can compress their bodies to fit through minute apertures.

==Diet==
Octopuses, after engulfing prey in their arms, inject it with venom. Some, such as the blue-ringed octopus of Australia, are highly venomous and are capable of killing a man with their bite.

==Octopi as food==
Octopus is a popular seafood, especially in [[Mediterranean]] and [[Oriental]] cuisines, though it must be cooked carefully to avoid the flesh becoming rubbery.

==Octopi in popular culture==
''The Octopus'' is also the name of novel by [[Frank Norris]].
==References==
{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Molluscs]]
[[Category:Seafood]]

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

2009-01-12T21:27:27Z

StephenK: remove opinion statement

'''''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn''''' by [[Mark Twain]] is one the most popular novels in the English language. It is entertaining and has long been a favorite of children. It has been made into movies half a dozen times.

The story has village truant Huckleberry "Huck" Finn (friend of the hero of ''[[The Adventures of Tom Sawyer|Tom Sawyer]]'') run away to avoid beatings by his drunken father.

Huck teams up with Jim, a slave who runs away to avoid being sold South.
The two head down river on a raft and have several adventures. Perhaps the most poignant is the storm scene in which Huck changes his view of Jim as "just a slave" to "a human being".

Huck's decision to regard Jim as fully human and to ignore his "conscience" so as to risk "going to hell" to save him is the radical anti-slavery core of the book. It is significant that the story was written by a southerner from Hannibal, Missouri just two decades after the end of slavery.

Instead of having Huck realize that slavery is wrong, Twain wrote his book as a satire of slavery, to show the negative effects of slavery on society.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adventures of Huckleberry Finn}}

== Links ==
[http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/76 Full text available at Project Gutenberg]
[[Category:Novels]]

Mark Twain

2009-01-12T21:25:58Z

StephenK: added publications list

[[Image:Mark Twain.jpg|right|200px|]]
'''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 that "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> Mark Twain was famous as both a writer and a performer, having toured many years as a comedic lecturer. His cynical witticisms earned him a reputation as one of America's foremost personalities.

==Publications==
Twain worked as an author nearly all his life. Most of his books are considered classics and most of his works have been adapted for stage and screen. His most famous works are the short story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" and novels [[The Adventures of Tom Sawyer]], The Prince and the Pauper, Life on the Mississippi, [[The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]] and [[Pudd'nhead Wilson]].

==Quotations==
"In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made School Boards."<ref>Following the Equator, chapter LXI</ref>
"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!" <ref>Letters From the Earth, Crest Books, 1963. p.20</ref>
"I have never taken any exercise, except sleeping and resting, and I never intend to take any."<ref>[http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/railton/onstage/70bday.html Mark Twain's Seventieth Birthday Speech]</ref>
"Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to." <ref>Following the Equator, chapter XXVIL</ref>
"Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education." <ref>Pudd'nhead Wilson Page Number Needed</ref>

Many quips attributed to Mark Twain are not his, due to what Ralph Keyes call the "the flypaper effect." The habit of unclaimed comments "sticking" to famous quotable figures. He quotes a 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 quote is "Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it." This has long been 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. However, there is evidence suggesting it may really be Twain's remark after all.<ref>Keyes p 194-5. Keyes also 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 considered the books "ragbag[s] of anecdotes, scenic descriptions and social history both serious and burlesque" but Orwell also felt that they had a central theme:
"This is how human beings behave when they are not frightened of the sack (being fired). 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.

Some believe "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."

Others believe that "Mark Twain" refers to a then common method of ordering whiskey. "Mark Twain" referred to a double shot of the cheapest whiskey in the bar. Twain's penchant for cheap whiskey and cheap cigars lends credence to this theory.

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>

In this way he was able to tap into the popularity of an existing and well known name without having to establish his own reputation. There is no documentary evidence of Mark Twain ever having been a riverboat captain beyond his own claims in ''Life on the Mississippi''.

== Books Online ==

*[http://www.maidofheaven.com/joanofarc_mark_twain.asp Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc]

==References==
<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Twain, Mark}}

[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:People who were Educated at Home]]

Mark Twain

2009-01-12T21:18:06Z

StephenK: /* Quotations */ format refs and slight rewrites

[[Image:Mark Twain.jpg|right|200px|]]
'''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|Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]].''

==Quotations==
"In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made School Boards."<ref>Following the Equator, chapter LXI</ref>
"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!" <ref>Letters From the Earth, Crest Books, 1963. p.20</ref>
"I have never taken any exercise, except sleeping and resting, and I never intend to take any."<ref>[http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/railton/onstage/70bday.html Mark Twain's Seventieth Birthday Speech]</ref>
"Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to." <ref>Following the Equator, chapter XXVIL</ref>
"Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education." <ref>Pudd'nhead Wilson Page Number Needed</ref>

Many quips attributed to Mark Twain are not his, due to what Ralph Keyes call the "the flypaper effect." The habit of unclaimed comments "sticking" to famous quotable figures. He quotes a 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 quote is "Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it." This has long been 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. However, there is evidence suggesting it may really be Twain's remark after all.<ref>Keyes p 194-5. Keyes also 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 considered the books "ragbag[s] of anecdotes, scenic descriptions and social history both serious and burlesque" but Orwell also felt that they had a central theme:
"This is how human beings behave when they are not frightened of the sack (being fired). 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.

Some believe "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."

Others believe that "Mark Twain" refers to a then common method of ordering whiskey. "Mark Twain" referred to a double shot of the cheapest whiskey in the bar. Twain's penchant for cheap whiskey and cheap cigars lends credence to this theory.

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>

In this way he was able to tap into the popularity of an existing and well known name without having to establish his own reputation. There is no documentary evidence of Mark Twain ever having been a riverboat captain beyond his own claims in ''Life on the Mississippi''.

== Books Online ==

*[http://www.maidofheaven.com/joanofarc_mark_twain.asp Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc]

==References==
<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Twain, Mark}}

[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:People who were Educated at Home]]

Mark Twain

2009-01-12T21:08:45Z

StephenK: few minor tweaks

[[Image:Mark Twain.jpg|right|200px|]]
'''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|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."<ref>http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/railton/onstage/70bday.html</ref>
:"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 considered the books "ragbag[s] of anecdotes, scenic descriptions and social history both serious and burlesque" but Orwell also felt that they had a central theme:
"This is how human beings behave when they are not frightened of the sack (being fired). 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.

Some believe "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."

Others believe that "Mark Twain" refers to a then common method of ordering whiskey. "Mark Twain" referred to a double shot of the cheapest whiskey in the bar. Twain's penchant for cheap whiskey and cheap cigars lends credence to this theory.

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>

In this way he was able to tap into the popularity of an existing and well known name without having to establish his own reputation. There is no documentary evidence of Mark Twain ever having been a riverboat captain beyond his own claims in ''Life on the Mississippi''.

== Books Online ==

*[http://www.maidofheaven.com/joanofarc_mark_twain.asp Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc]

==References==
<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Twain, Mark}}

[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:People who were Educated at Home]]

User:StephenK

2009-01-05T03:51:47Z

StephenK: I have returned

"Hey man, just play the gig. Never get involved in Politics." - Dr. Teeth.

User:StephenK

2008-12-18T18:28:01Z

StephenK: Happy Holidays to all

"Hey man, just play the gig. Never get involved in Politics." - Dr. Teeth.

Happy Holidays to all from Stephen. I will be with my family for the majority of the break and will not be editing very much.

Miami Dolphins

2008-12-16T18:07:01Z

StephenK:

User:StephenK/template

2008-12-11T20:23:40Z

StephenK:

On this page I plan to work on a template for the book pages.

{| class="infobox" style="text-align:center;"
<table class="infobox" style="float: right; text-align: center; font-size: 100%; clear:right; background:gray; border: 5px solid black; margin-left:1em" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">

|-
|[[Image:Mobydicktitlepage.jpg|200px|backround:gray]]
 
|-
| colspan="2"|<big>'''Book Title'''</big>
|-
| style="font-size:20px" |
----------

'''Author:''' 
Insert Author Here 
'''Date of Publication:''' 
Insert Date Here 
'''Genre(s):''' 
Insert Genre(s) Here 
'''Sequels:''' 
Insert sequels (if any) Here 

|}<noinclude>
{{TemplateDoc|pages=All pages concerning books|purpose=Quick look at important information|cat=}}
{{parms|}}

</noinclude>

User:StephenK/template

2008-12-11T20:22:31Z

StephenK: updated version

User:StephenK/template

2008-12-11T19:36:37Z

StephenK: New page: On this page I plan to work on a template for the book pages.

On this page I plan to work on a template for the book pages.

The Devil's Dictionary

2008-12-10T23:02:06Z

StephenK: I guess it really wasn't that subtle

''The Devil's Dictionary'' is a collection of cynical and pessimistic "definitions" of common everyday words written by Ambrose Bierce. The definitions first appeared in his column in a San Francisco newspaper. It was eventually published in book form and still remains in print today, although due a lack of copyright, it is freely available for download online <ref>[http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/972 free download from Project Guttenberg.]</ref>

Bierce satirized both liberal and conservative positions with his work and frequently made very public and offensive attacks against religion and the church.

==Examples==

Some examples of his work include:

''Aborigine (N):''Persons of little worth found cumbering the soil of a newly discovered country. They soon cease to cumber; they fertilize.

''Christian (n):''One who believes that the New Testament is a divinely inspired book admirably suited to the spiritual needs of his neighbor. One who follows the teachings of Christ insofar as they are not inconsistent with a life of sin.

''Philosophy:: (n):''A route of many roads leading from nowhere to nothing.

''Pray (v):'' To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled on behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy.

''Rational (adj):''Devoid of all delusions save those of observation, experience and reflection.

''Religion (n):'' A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable.

''Vote (v):'' The instrument and symbol of a freeman's power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country.

==See Also==

[http://publicliterature.org/books/devils_dictionary/xaa.php Full text of the book at PublicLiterature.com]
==References==

<references/>

The Devil's Dictionary

2008-12-10T22:59:46Z

StephenK: New page: ''The Devil's Dictionary'' is a collection of cynical and pessimistic "definitions" of common everyday words. It was written by Ambrose Bierce. The definitions first appeared in his colu...

''The Devil's Dictionary'' is a collection of cynical and pessimistic "definitions" of common everyday words. It was written by Ambrose Bierce. The definitions first appeared in his column in a San Francisco newspaper. It was eventually published in book form and still remains in print today, although due a lack of copyright, it is freely available for download online <ref>[http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/972 free download from Project Guttenberg.]</ref>

Bierce satirized both liberal and conservative positions with his work and frequently made subtle attacks against religion and the church.

==Examples==

Some examples of his work include:

''Aborigine (N):''Persons of little worth found cumbering the soil of a newly discovered country. They soon cease to cumber; they fertilize.

''Christian (n):''One who believes that the New Testament is a divinely inspired book admirably suited to the spiritual needs of his neighbor. One who follows the teachings of Christ insofar as they are not inconsistent with a life of sin.

''Philosophy:: (n):''A route of many roads leading from nowhere to nothing.

''Pray (v):'' To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled on behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy.

''Rational (adj):''Devoid of all delusions save those of observation, experience and reflection.

''Religion (n):'' A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable.

''Vote (v):'' The instrument and symbol of a freeman's power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country.

==See Also==

[http://publicliterature.org/books/devils_dictionary/xaa.php Full text of the book at PublicLiterature.com]
==References==

<references/>

Talk:German Democratic Republic

2008-12-10T18:14:44Z

StephenK:

OK, by request I created a page on East Germany. I realize it's by necessity incomplete, since I'm on vacation and don't have access to some of the relevant sources. Also, I mainly included topics I knew the most about, or could find sources for online, so there are certain to be gaps and things that should be added.

And since I'm generally unfamiliar with wiki formatting, I'm sure there's some cleanup and other things that need to be done. -- "KW"

==Images etc.==
I've started adding images. I'll try to wikify the article a bit more later on. [[User:Hannibal ad portas|Hannibal ad portas]] 12:40, 27 May 2007 (EDT)

==Anti fascist rampart?==
The GDR said the Berlin Wall was an anti fascist rampart, not the country itself! [[User:CR7|CR7]] 23:42, 12 August 2007 (EDT)

== Ranking of Dictatorships (Question for Ed Poor) ==

Dear Ed Poor, how would you rank the following countries regarding their degree of anti-democratic dictatorships under Soviet dominion:
*GDR
*PR Poland
*PR Albania
*PR Bulgaria
*PR Romania
*PR Hungary
*CSFR
*PR North Korea
The GDR was an ''anti-democratic dictatorship'' (are there pro-democratic dictatorships?) But in comparison, I'd say it was in the midfield. --[[User:BRichtigen|BRichtigen]] 12:59, 10 December 2008 (EST)
:The think the adjective is unndeeded. There is no such thing as a "pro-democratic" Dictatorship. If there was, the dictator would step down when voted out of office, which by it's very nature would make a democracy and oh no I've gone cross eyed :) [[User:StephenK|StephenK]] 13:14, 10 December 2008 (EST)

Talk:Proposition 8

2008-12-04T19:38:15Z

StephenK:

I know some of the leaders of the Yes on 8 movement. As they have no wish to become martyrs, I do not wish to provide further information in that area. The protesters broke the law. Emphasizing its peaceful elements misses the points brought up by the reference. [[User:Learn together|Learn together]] 12:06, 7 November 2008 (EST)

:So you have no objective references to these claims, just your personal assurance that they're true? --[[User:Jareddr|Jareddr]] 12:14, 7 November 2008 (EST)

::You act as if direct personal knowledge is somehow inferior to reading something from the press. Not everyone decides to call a press conference to draw attention to themselves, especially when it threatens the welfare of their families. [[User:Learn together|Learn together]] 12:31, 7 November 2008 (EST)
:::That works for you, Learn together, as you are a trusted sysop. I trust what you say. However a personal testimony needs to go through the same rigorous test that a regular citation does (or, rather, that a regular citation ''should''). There's nothing to stop someone from saying "well I was there and I can say that the protesters didn't break the law," and we'd be at a standstill. Perhaps this particular case isn't the best example, but I hope I've shown that using personal references in principle can have unwanted outcomes elsewhere on the site. [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 12:43, 7 November 2008 (EST)
:::That being said, I did find a reference, so now everyone should be happy :) [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 12:47, 7 November 2008 (EST)

::::Some people are never happy. ;-)
::::Andy wants us to value truth above all else. While I believe my personal knowledge is not the first thing I should count on, sometimes it is necessary to show what has occurred.
::::Interestingly, the reference you found wasn't what I was referring to. It was a hellacious campaign with more than one incidence of physical violence -- and more than one death threat. [[User:Learn together|Learn together]] 14:38, 7 November 2008 (EST)

:::Direct personal knowledge is inferior when putting together an encyclopedia, yes. Encyclopedias are generally supposed to be filled with facts, which are, in general, verifiable. Hearsay and personal anecdotes tend not to be verifiable. So when talking about facts, I'd prefer some confirmation from other sources, as opposed to someone heard it from someone else.--[[User:Jareddr|Jareddr]] 12:50, 7 November 2008 (EST)

==Same rights?==
[[User:Learn together|Learn together]], thanks for your work on updating the article. I especially like the headings. One quibble - while couples have ''mostly'' the same (state-level) rights and obligations under domestic partnership as under marriage, they are not ''exactly'' the same. See [http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/archive/S147999.PDF the In Re Marriage Cases Decision], page 42, footnote 24. (Sorry, I couldn't copy text from a .pdf file, otherwise I would have posted it here.) Of course, federal rights and obligations aren't the same at all.--[[User:Hsmom|Hsmom]] 01:02, 8 November 2008 (EST)

:They do have the same rights. There may be minor differences in how one joins a marriage vs. a domestic partnership and it's easier to dissolve a domestic partnership, but a couple that has entered into a domestic partnership has the same rights as marriage.
:Also, I'm afraid I have difficulty with the addition of the gender neutral language. Marriage was defined as a man and woman; there was no need to use language that would define it as such when it was already understood. It was only changes in society that could alter the definition that caused the change in 1977 to clarify. [[User:Learn together|Learn together]] 01:54, 8 November 2008 (EST)

::[[User:Learn together|Learn together]], my goal was to fill out the section a bit more, including some legislative action on both marriage and domestic partnerships. I think it will be interesting to see how things have changed over the years. I ran out of time yesterday to do more. (I want to be sure to get it right, so it will take some time, plus the darned "blank screen - don't know if your post took or not" problem was really bad, which slowed me down.) I think we can find some language that makes it clear that marriage has always been between a man and a woman in California, but that in 1977 they realized that this was simply understood, and not codified in the law, thus they changed it to prevent same-sex marriage challenges. The 1977 changes don't make sense unless we explain it was gender-neutral before that (though of course we have to make it clear that no one saw it that way back then, if you know what I mean.) I'm open to suggestions. Will address the rights point later - must get to the day's family activities. --[[User:Hsmom|Hsmom]] 09:39, 8 November 2008 (EST)

==Reverted again==
"Unfortunately the Democratic process alone is not sufficient to some," is an opinion statement, it's also a linking statement, as would be used in an editorial or paper. Whether it's correct is immaterial. [[User:StephenK|StephenK]] 14:38, 4 December 2008 (EST)

Dizzy

2008-12-04T19:34:34Z

StephenK: rmv unrelated cat.

'''Dizzy''' (Spanish: mareado) is the state of dizziness.

Synonymous: Woozy

It is also the name of:
*[[American]] jazz trumpet player and composer ''Dizzy Gillespie''
*Jamaican trumpet player ''Johnny "Dizzy" Moore''
*[[Baseball]] player ''Dizzy Dean''

== See also ==

*[[Jazz]]
*[[Charlie Parker]]

[[Category:Dictionary]]

Proposition 8

2008-12-04T19:32:37Z

StephenK: /* Vandalism and Protests */ rmv personal opinion

'''Proposition 8''' was a ballot proposition in [[California]] that added the following text to Section 7.5 of Article I of the California Constitution: ''Only marriage between a man and a woman is recognized in California.'' <ref>Voter Information Guide, ''Proposition 8'' [http://www.voterguide.sos.ca.gov/text-proposed-laws/text-of-proposed-laws.pdf#prop8]</ref> It sought to return [[traditional marriage]] to the state. The proposition passed with 52.3% of the vote on November 4, 2008.

==History of Marriage in California==

Historically marriage in the state of California had always been between a man and a woman as that was the understood definition of marriage. There was no need to include language that specified gender. In 1977, amidst a changing climate that saw the advent of the gay rights movement, the California legislature amended the California Family Code to make it clear that marriage was between a man and a woman. <ref>UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, ''Same-Sex Marriage in California - Overview and Issues''[http://igs.berkeley.edu/library/htGayMarriage.html]</ref>

In 2000 the possibility of same-sex marriage being legalized in other states led to Proposition 22 being passed, adding language to restrict California from recognizing the marriages of same-sex couples from other states as valid. <ref>California Voter Guide, ''Limit on Marriages. Initiative Statute. Text of Proposition 22'' [http://primary2000.sos.ca.gov/VoterGuide/Propositions/22text.htm] Section 308.5 was added to the Family Code, to read, "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."</ref> Proposition 22 passed easily with 61% of the vote, but it was overturned by the Court in May of 2008. The court went further and [[gay marriage]] was legalized by judicial degree, not by the will of the voters or the legislature.

==The Campaign for Proposition 8==

Proposition 8 was written in response to the four California Supreme Court Justices overturning the will of the people and sought to redefine traditional marriage in California.

With over 70 million dollars being spent all told, it became the most expensive campaign on a social proposition in history.

With 99% of the precincts in, the measure apparently was passed 52% to 48%. While much was made of the fact that it was losing in the polls up until the time of the election, proponents pointed out that similar measures were often reported as polling poorly, but the actual vote was different. For instance Proposition 22 was supposed to be too close to call in 2000. Although it had been claimed that minority voters were against the message, exit polling on election day showed that latinos favored it overall while blacks favored it with a 70% yes vote. The large number of blacks who came out to vote for [[Barack Obama]] helped to tip the scale for Proposition 8's passing, even though Obama himself said to vote against it.<ref>http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20081106/news_1n6exit.html</ref>

==Vandalism and Protests==

Supporters of gay marriage vandalized Yes on 8 signs, delivered hate mail, and ultimately death threats, causing at least one top supporter of Proposition 8 to hire a bodyguard.<ref>ABC 30HD, Fresno, CA. "[http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/local&id=6479879 Prop 8 Threat: Fresno Police close to Arrest]"</ref> Ultimately the realization that the people had spoken led to protests and arrests.<ref>FoxNews.com, ''Several Gay Marriage Ban Protesters Arrested in Clashes With Police in California'', Thursday, November 06, 2008 [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,447744,00.html]</ref> Continuing protests a week after the election have led to more issues.<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,450884,00.html</ref>

==Aftermath==

Due to the passage of Proposition 8, homosexual marriages are no longer being granted in California.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown believes that the 18,000 same-sex marriages that were performed before Proposition 8 passed are still valid.<ref>ACLU, ''California Will Continue to Honor Marriages of Same-Sex Couples Who Married Before the Possible Passage of Prop. 8, Initiative Would Only Apply to Future Marriages'', 11/5/2008 [http://www.aclu.org/lgbt/relationships/37701prs20081105.html]</ref> Others have postulated the marriages may be converted to domestic partnerships <ref>The Volokh Conspiracy, ''What Will Happen to California Same-Sex Marriages?'', Eugene Volokh, November 5, 2008 [http://www.volokh.com/posts/1225907782.shtml]</ref>, which in California have the same rights as marriage.<ref>Concurring Opinions, ''A small wrinkle regarding the Volokh proposal on Prop 8 retroactivity'', by Kaimipono D. Wenger, November 05, 2008 [http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2008/11/the_odd_legal_g.html] Marriage is not exactly the same as domestic partnership in California. For example, both partners must have a common residence in order to enter a domestic partnership, and both partners must be over 18; neither of these are required for marriage. </ref> The leaders of the Proposition 8 petition have not taken a position in this matter.

The California Supreme court will hear three lawsuits which seek to overturn Proposition 8. According to the AP, "All three cases claim the ban abridges the civil rights of a vulnerable minority group. They argue that voters alone did not have the authority to enact such a significant constitutional change."<ref>AP, ''Calif. Supreme Court to take up gay marriage ban'', Nov 19, 2008 [http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081119/D94I8U1G3.html]</ref> Similar laws upholding traditional marriage had already been passed in 30 other states.

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Law]]
[[Category:California]]
[[Category:Homosexual Agenda]]

The Wizard of Oz

2008-12-04T19:28:49Z

StephenK: /* The books */ typo

'''''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz''''' is a the title of a very popular children's book (1900, and many sequels), a leading Broadway play for adults (1902), and an unusually popular move for fans of all ages (1939). There have been many film and dramatic spinoffs, as well as books, trinkets and toys based on the Wizard and the other memorable characters.

Academics, especially economists and historians, use the story to study the images of politics and economics in the U.S. in the 1890s. Several hundred college level economics courses feature a unit on the Wizard of Oz, to analyze money policy.

[[Image:OZ-TITLE.JPG|thumb|250px|right|Children read ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' as a fairy tale, but Baum and Denslow were using modern images that editorial cartoonists currently used to portray American politics.]]

==The books==
'''''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz''''' began in 1900 as a children's book written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. This was part of his effort to create a body of American literature in the fairy tale genre. It was a great success and Baum followed it with thirteen more books set in the land of Oz. He was never able to recapture the success of his original work. Ruth Plumly Thompson continued the series with nineteen more stories, and other authors wrote additional books. The Land of Oz was one of the earliest of what fantasy fans now call "fictional universes." Like the Sherlock Holmes stories it has attracted a large number of devoted fans, who like to discuss and write about the land of Oz as if it actually existed.

The classic 17th cnetury Christian allegory ''[[Pilgrim's Progress]]'' inspired some of the characters and dangers described in the Wizard of Oz.<ref>http://www.amerisearch.net/index.php?date=2004-08-31&view=View</ref>

"Oz" is the abbreviation for "ounce," and it has been suggested that Baum was making a political allusion to [[bimetallism]], a hot political topic of the day. The 1901 theatre version used many current political allusions, mentioning by name President Roosevelt and oilman John D. Rockefeller. In a press release for the 1903 reissue of Wizard, Baum wrote:<ref>http://home.earthlink.net/~jcorbally/eng218/rcross.html</ref>

<blockquote>I have a little cabinet letter file on my desk that is just in front of me. I was thinking and wondering about a title for the story, and had settled on the "Wizard" as part of it. My gaze was caught by the gilt letters on the three drawers of the cabinet. The first was A-G; the next drawer was labeled H-N and on the last were the letters O-Z. And "Oz" it at once became.<ref>http://www.snopes.com/language/literary/oz.asp</ref></Blockquote>

==The film adaptation==
The book was loosely adapted into a 1939 motion picture, ''The Wizard of Oz,'' which has over the course of years become one of the most beloved movies of all time. It was released when Technicolor was still a relatively new process—the three-strip process having been introduced in 1932. It plays on the novelty of color by presenting the first reel, when Dorothy is awake and in the real world of [[Kansas]], in sepia tone, then switching to color for the scenes set in Oz.

The film was successful and well reviewed and won two Academy Awards (for its score, and for the song "Over the Rainbow".) When it was released, the ''New York Times'' called it "a delightful piece of wonderworking," and said, "not since Disney's Snow White has anything quite so fantastic succeeded half so well," but complained about the special effects: "With the best of will and ingenuity [they cannot], without a few jolts and split-screen overlappings, bring down from the sky the great soap bubble in which the Good Witch rides and roll it smoothly into place."<ref>Nugent, Frank S. (1939), "The Screen in Review: 'The Wizard of Oz, Produced by the Wizards of Hollywood, Works Its Magic on the Capitol's Screen—March of Time Features New York," ''The New York Times,'' August 18, 1939, p. 16</ref> During its production and following its release, it was thought to be a very good film, but nothing extraordinary: just part of the stream of fine, professional product that "the industry" in Hollywood knew how to manufacture. Not until it began to be shown on television did it rise to the status it now enjoys. It was first shown on CBS in 1956, then in 1959, then annually as a holiday event. (Viewers then had to be cautioned about the sepia tone opening reel lest they fear their color television sets were malfunctioning).

The plot of both the book and movie revolve around a little girl named Dorothy who, along with her dog Toto, finds herself transported into a world called Oz. Along the way, she befriends the Scarecrow, the Tinman, and the Cowardly Lion. Often considered a classic of children's literature, ''The Wizard of Oz'' deals with friendship, courage, and resourcefulness.
The '''Wizard of Oz''' is the title character of the American fantasy tales by L. Frank Baum (1856-1919), of which the most famous is the first (with W..W. Denslow (1856-1915)<ref> see Michael Patrick Hearn, "The Man Behind the Man Behind Oz: W. W. Denslow at 150," ''AIGA'' (July 05, 2006) at [http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/the-man-behind-the-man-behind-oz-w-w-denslow-at-150]</ref> as illustrator), ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.'' The book was a runaway best seller, though the two coauthors became alienated, and both went bankrupt. Baum recouped by moving to Hollywood and writing a new series of Oz books; the series was continued after his death in 1919, with 40 Oz books in all. The first book became a smash Chicago hit musical in 1902 and moved to Broadway in 1903. Best known is the unusually successful Hollywood movie adaptation of 1939, starring Frank Morgan as the Wizard and [[Judy Garland]] as Dorothy. Political cartoonists used the Wizard image as early as 1906; in recent years Wizard themes appear in editorial cartoons on a weekly basis in the U.S.

==Political interpretations==
Historians and economists have interpreted the 1900 book (as well as the 1902 play and 1939 movie) as an allegory of the political, economic and social upheavals of America of the 1890s.

Both Baum and Denslow had been actively involved in politics in the 1890s. Baum edited a Republican newspaper in South Dakota; Denslow was an editorial cartoonist for a major Chicago daily.

Readers who grew up with the entire Oz series are often baffled by the political interpretation (for there is no politics in the continuation volumes), and deny that Baum intended any sort of modernized fairy tale. However, Baum explained in his introduction:
:The old time fairy tale, having served for generations, may now be classed as "historical" in the children's library; for the time has come for a series of newer "wonder tales" in which the stereotyped genie, dwarf and fairy are eliminated, together with all the horrible and blood-curdling incidents devised by their authors to point a fearsome moral to each tale. Modern education includes morality; therefore the modern child seeks only entertainment in its wonder tales and gladly dispenses with all disagreeable incident. Having this thought in mind, the story of 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' was written solely to please children of today. It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out.<ref>. Apart from the contemporary political allusions, there is nothing "modern" (post 1800) in the novel. Quote from [[http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext93/wizoz10h.htm]</ref>(

[[Image:OZ-1903.JPG|thumb|left|275px|poster for 1903 Broadway version shows an adult Dorothy for an adult audience; it was one of the frist great Broadway musicals]]
The musical comedy version of 1902-3 was a rewritten version for an adult audience, with many sexual innuendos and a very sexy Dorothy.
==Sources==
Baum and Denslow did not simply invent the Cowardly Lion, Tin Woodman, Scarecrow, gold-colored Yellow Brick Road, Silver Slippers, cyclone, flying monkeys, Emerald City, little people, Uncle Henry, witches and the wizard. The images and characters used by Baum and Denslow were based on the political images that were well known in the editorial cartoons of the 1890s. Baum and Denslow built a story around them, added Dorothy whose innocence and purity are more effective than the witches' magic. They added a series of lessons to the effect that everyone possesses the resources they need if only they had self-confidence. Positive thinking was a prevalent trend in this period, and Baum was involved with the Theosophy Movement (similar to Christian Science) that emphasized the power of pure thoughts over material evils. Baum's point is that evil is in the mind, and it takes positive thinking, not a political revolution, to destroy it.

Baum in the 1890s edited the major national magazine for advertising in store windows, and was familiar with the elaborate mechanical displays of the Christmas story that attracted tens of thousands of spectators to the display windows of Marshall Field's, Carson Pirie Scott, and other Chicago department stores.<ref> Culver (1988)</ref> The spellbinding mechanical ingenuity (based on intricate clockwork) led many viewers to believe there must be a man behind the screen who worked all the levers.

Many of the events and characters of the book resemble the actual political personalities, events and ideas of the 1890s. The 1902 stage adaptation mentioned, by name, President [[Theodore Roosevelt]], oil magnate [[John D. Rockefeller]], Senator [[Mark Hanna]] and other political celebrities. (No real people are mentioned by name in the 1900 book.) Even the title has been interpreted as alluding to a political reality: oz. is an abbreviation for ounce, a unit familiar to those who fought for a 16 to 1 ounce ratio of silver to gold in the name of [[Bimetallism]]<ref> Baum's son said he thought his father got the name from a file cabinet labeled A-N and O-Z.</ref>

[[Image:Coin-cartoon-1894.jpg|thumb|left|400px|''Coin's Financial School'' (1894), a famous silverite book; Coin is a boy who outsmarts all the economics professors by showing the wisdom of "bimetallism" (i.e. free silver) and refuting the fallacies about gold]]

==Plot line==
The book opens not in an imaginary far-off place but in real life [[Kansas]], which in the 1890s was well-known for the hardships of rural life, and for destructive tornadoes (also called cyclones). The [[Panic of 1893]] caused widespread distress in rural America. In 1896 and again in 1900 the agrarian wing of the [[U.S. Democratic Party, history|Democratic Party]] had seized control and nominated the firebrand orator [[William Jennings Bryan]], from Omaha, who crusaded across the land promising his panacea of "free silver" (whereby the government would turn cheap silver into real dollars farmers could use to pay their debts). His supporters truly believed it would transform America in a veritable utopia. Baum and Denslow, Republicans, rejected this notion and use the book to poke fun at Bryan (who is depicted as the Cowardly Lion).

[[Image:96SILVER.jpg||thumb|300px|July 19, 1896 ''Puck'' cartoon shows farmer hung up on pole and helpless, his free silver wagon destroyed by the gold express of William McKinley]]

The silverite revolution--a cyclone--sweeps away Dorothy and Toto to a colorful land of unlimited resources that nevertheless has serious political problems. This utopia is ruled in part by wicked witches. Dorothy's cyclone/revolution destroys the Wicked Witch of the East, slave-driver over the little people (Munchkins), who now celebrate their liberation. The Witch had controlled the powerful silver slippers (which were changed to ruby in the 1939 film).

The Good Witch of the North (the northern electorate) tries to help Dorothy, but she is not very smart, does not realize the power of the slippers, and sends Dorothy down the very dangerous gold road to the Wizard, who she mistakenly believes is so powerful that he can grant her wishes. (The northern vote elected McKinley in 1896 and he passed the gold standard into law.)

Along the Yellow Brick Road Dorothy picks up her coalition, the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and Cowardly Lion, who all want the Wizard to grant their urgent wishes.

The national capital, the Emerald City, is a dream-like place based on the "White City," the common name for the Chicago World's fair of 1893, which Baum and Denslow attended often. The emerald green is an illusion (everyone must wear green glasses), symbolizing the fraudulent world of greenback paper money that only pretends to have value.
[[Image:Dorothy and the Scarecrow 1900.jpg|thumb|300px|Denslow's drawing of scarecrow hung up on pole and helpless, from 1st edition of book, 1900]]

The Wizard/president is annoyed by his guests -- by the demands of the people. He is a corrupt politician, a shrewd manipulator who seeks power for himself, ignores the needs of the people, and rules by fooling with people's minds. He selfishly sends them to destroy his enemy, the Wicked Witch of the West. If she gets them, he is rid of a nuisance. If they kill her, great--he will be pleased and then worry what to do next.

[[Image:MCKINLEy-MYSTERY1896.JPG|thumb|300px|left|McKinley as mystery man in 1896 editorial cartoon, surrounded by party wizards]]

The Wicked Witch of the West represents the trusts, who took control of small businessmen and made them cogs in their empire, just as the Witch does with the heroes, using the Flying Monkeys as her tools. The trust issue was in the headlines, with a popular solution--one actually used in 1911 against [[Standard Oil]] to dissolve them. Dorothy heaves a bucket of water and dissolves the Wicked Witch.

The heroes return to Oz to claim their reward, and expose the Wizard for a media-manipulating fraud. He has no real power and must leave Oz the way he came, on a hot air balloon. (Politicians were synonymous with metaphors like "hot air" and "full of gas.") But he is a shrewd psychologist, and realizes the heroes already possess what they think they lack, they just lack self confidence. He fills the Scarecrow's head with bran for a brain; implants a heart-shaped silk cushion inside the Tin Woodman (who now realizes his compassionate nature); he makes the Lion drink a dish of "courage" and he becomes king of the beasts again. He promises to take Dorothy back to Omaha, his hometown, but that plan misfires. The Good Witch of the South (the southern) vote appears. (In 1896 the South voted solidly for Bryan and free silver.) She is smarter than her sister the Good Witch of the North, and tells Dorothy to click her silver slippers three times--that believing will make it come true, and Dorothy arrives home again. It is a classic adventure story of travel to distant lands, and a story of running away from home and returning, a favorite theme for children.

==Other allegorical devices==
*Dorothy, naive, young and simple, represents the American people. She is Everyman, lost in a crazy utopia who wants to get back to normalcy and the love of her family. She resembles the young hero of ''Coin's financial school'', a very popular silverite pamphlet of 1893. In her innocence and purity she is all powerful and personally kills two witches--she is Columbia, the symbol of the nation's conscience. Columbia was the usual representation of democracy in editorial cartoons (since replaced by the Statue of Libery.)

[[Image:OZ5-2-94.jpg|thumb|300px|Cyclone as metaphor for political revolution; the Aunt-Em-type farm woman is labeled 'Democratic Party'; ''Puck'' May 2, 1894]]

*The cyclone was used in the 1890s as a metaphor for a political revolution that would transform the drab country into a land of color and unlimited prosperity. The cyclone was used by editorial cartoonists of the 1890s to represent political upheaval.

*The Tin Woodman was a stock symbol in cartoons and advertising. He was originally a human but was cursed by the Wicked Witch of the East so that every time he swung his axe he sliced off party of his body. As a good workman he replaced each part with tin, but now is all tin and has no heart. He is the worker dehumanized by industrialization, a common theme in Socialist literature of the day, such as expressed by Socialist candidate [[Eugene V. Debs]] in the 1900 election. The Woodman is rusted and helpless—ineffective until he starts to work together with the Scarecrow (the farmer), in a Farmer-Labor coalition that was much discussed in the 1890s, which culminated in the [[Farmer-Labor Party]] in Minnesota<ref> The party is now part of Minnesota's Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party</ref>.

*The Munchkins are the little people—ordinary citizens. This 1897 ''Judge'' cartoon shows famous politicians as little people after they were on the losing side in the election.

[[Image:Munchkins.jpg|left|thumb|375px|Munchkins resemble the Little People in this 1896 ''Judge'' cartoon that makes fun of silverite politicians; the Yellow Kid (center) was the very first comic strip character]]

'''Toto''': Prohibitionist party (also called "Teetotalers") 
'''Scarecrow''': western farmers 
'''Cowardly Lion''': a cowardly politician, perhaps [[William Jennings Bryan]] 
'''Wicked Witch of the East''': Eastern factory owners and industrialists 
'''Wicked Witch of the West''': the trusts; one popular solution to the trust problem was to dissolve them, as Dorothy does.<ref> Littlefield (1964), followed by others. saw her as the western draught which thus could be ended by water; Clanton (1991) suggests she represents the evils of left-wing Populism, or perhaps South Carolina' Pitchfork Ben Tillman,</ref>
'''Flying Monkeys''' Pinkerton agents hired to break strikes 
'''Wizard''': President [[William McKinley]] 
'''Oz''': abbreviation for ounce of gold 
'''Yellow Brick Road''': gold standard 
'''Cyclone''': political revolution, the free silver movement 
'''Emerald City''': national capital 
'''Silver Slippers''': the free coinage of silver 

Editorial cartoonists in recent decades have made heavy use of Oz imagery in political cartoons; the first to do so was W.A. Rogers whose 1906 cartoon ridiculed mud-slinging publisher [[William Randolph Hearst]] as the ''Wizard of Ooze"

[[Image:Hearst06.jpg|thumb|300px|Cartoonist W.A. Rogers in 1906 sees the political uses of Oz: he depicts Hearst as a mud-throwing Scarecrow stuck in his own Ooze in ''Harper's Weekly'']]

==Additional metaphors==
* The Tin Man was a common feature in political cartoons and in advertisements in the 1890s. Indeed, he had been part of European folk art for 300 years.<ref> Archie Green, ''Tin Men'' (2002) [http://www.amazon.com/Tin-Folklore-Society-Archie-Green/dp/0252073754/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195302792&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search] covers the history of images of tin men in European and American illustrations for 300 years.</ref>

* The oil needed by the Tin Woodman had a political dimension at the time because Rockefeller's [[Standard Oil]] Company stood accused of being a monopoly (which was later ruled correct in a lawsuit brought by the federal government, and ultimately affirmed by the US Supreme Court.) In the 1902 stage adaptation the Tin Woodman wonders what he would do if he ran out of oil. "You wouldn't be as badly off as John D. Rockefeller," the Scarecrow responds, "He'd lose six thousand dollars a minute if that happened."<ref>Swartz, ''Oz'' p 34</ref>

[[Image:Tin3.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Sapolio soap ad shows Tin Man]]

[[Image:Trusts-Verdict-10July1899.jpg|thumb|275px|left|Cartoon from ''Verdict'' magazine July 10, 1899 shows an ape on behalf of the trusts raping Columbia (America) and under an attack (the arrow) by democracy. Denslow made it a flying monkey and dropped the scary rape theme.]]

* The lion that Dorothy, Scarecrow and Tin-Man encounter in the enchanted forest may be a reference to [[William Jennings Bryan]], the Democratic candidate for president in 1896. Cartoons often portrayed leading politicians as lions, and Bryan was described as having a great roar with no bite. People asked in early 1900, when the book was written, if he had the courage to oppose the McKinley Administration.

* In 1900 by far the most famous farmer in America was [[Henry Cantwell Wallace]], editor of the leading farm magazine, ''Wallace's Farmer''. Everyone called him "Uncle Henry."<ref> Henry Wallace and Richard S. Kirkendall. ''Uncle Henry: A Documentary Profile of the First Henry Wallace'' (1993) [http://www.amazon.com/Uncle-Henry-Documentary-Profile-Agricultural/dp/0813804248/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195302873&sr=8-3 excerpt and text search] </ref>

[[Image:Wallace-farmer.jpg|thumb|200px|Uncle Henry's magazine]]

* "Aunt Em" is a puzzle. Baum's mother-in-law was named [[Matilda Joslyn Gage]], and might be "Aunt M." Mary Lease the Populist spellbider has been suggested. ("Raise less corn and more hell!" was her shocking message, but Aunt Em is not like her.) Gage was a leader of the woman suffrage movement, but nothing about the book's character suggests suffrage interests.

* The poppies which surround the Emerald City are likely a reference to the opium poppies and the Boxer Rebellion in China of 1899.<ref> See the fascinating analysis by Martin Blythe, "Oz is China" (2006) [http://www.sexualfables.com/OzisChina.php online edition]</ref>

[[Image:Cleveland as Lion 1885.JPG|thumb|right|300px|1885 ''Puck'' cartoon shows President Cleveland as a powerful lion, and shows other politicians as (flying?) monkeys.]]

*Politicians of the era often talked about wizards. For example, one senator debating the gold and silver issue in early 1900 said, “We all know of the performances of the world’s magicians, but it has remained for the Wizard of Missouri [Senator Cockrell] to wave his magic wand or his magic head and double the price of the silver of the world.”<ref> ''New York Times'' February 16, 1900 p 1</ref> Baum may have turned the Wizard of Missouri into the Wizard of Oz, who frightened people with his giant magic head.

[[Image:1897MCK-WIZ.jpg|thumb|left|350px|1897 ''Judge'' cartoon shows McKinley as a Witch/Mother Hubbard, and little Toto-like dog as Uncle Sam. The cartoon proves that cartoonists depicted politicians as witches--and little dogs.]]
* President McKinley was often called a "wizard" for his political skills. The Wizard of Oz seems to be the president of the Land of Oz. The "man behind the curtain" echoes the response to automated store window displays.
* Dogs were often used in political cartoons to represent politicians or parties. Perhaps "Toto" is a play on the word "teetotaler", and represents the Prohibitionists of the era, who were aligned with [[William Jennings Bryan|Bryan]] in the 1896 election.

==Adaptations==
The Wizard inspired 40 official Oz books, 40 films, more than 100 unofficial novels, and innumerable websites, editorial cartoons, TV commercials, television shows, games, radio programs, video games, music videos, comic strips, musicals, toys, dolls, Japanese animes, ceramic firgurines, and even pornography, most of them based on the 1939 movie.<ref> Sherman, (2005)</ref> The copyright for the oiginal books published before 1923 has expired, but the 1939 film will be under copyright for decades to come.

The earliest musical version of the book was produced in Chicago in 1902, and moved to Broadway in 1903, where it was a smash hit and set a record with 293 performances. It used the same characters, but was aimed at adult audiences. Baum inserted current political references to the script. For example, his actors specifically mention President Theodore Roosevelt, Senator Mark Hanna, and John D. Rockefeller by name.<ref>Swartz, ''Before the Rainbow'', pp 34, 47, 56</ref>

The most famous adaptation is the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz" featuring [[Judy Garland]] as Dorothy. Strong new political elements were added. The Wicked Witch of the West is played by the same actress who was the evil landowner in the opening scene who is trying to destroy Toto, while the Wizard is portrayed less as a humbug than as psychologically perceptive and helpful.

''The Wiz'' was a Broadway hit musical with an all-black cast emphasizing the liberation from slavery. It was later made into a 1978 movie directed by Sidney Lumet, and starring Diana Ross as Dorothy and Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow. Gregory Maguire wrote ''Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West'' (1995). The 2003 Broadway musical "Wicked" (based on Maguire's novel) was a popular hit, with the Wizard's corruption emphasized. ==Impact on readers==
The 40 Oz books had a significant impact on their young middle class readers who read them in English, Spanish, Russian, French, German, Romanian, Latin, Hebrew, or Arabic editions. Novelist Gore Vidal recalls:
:""Like most Americans my age (with access to books) I spent a good deal of my youth in Baum's Land of Oz," he wrote. "I have a precise, tactile memory of the first Oz book that came into my hands. It was the original 1910 edition of ''The Emerald City of Oz.'' I still remember the look and the feel of those dark blue covers, the evocative smell of dust and old ink. I also remember that I could not stop reading and rereading the book. But 'reading' is not the right word. In some mysterious way, I was translating myself to Oz, a place which I was to inhabit for many years .... With The Emerald City, I became addicted to reading."<ref>Quoted in , Nicholas Von Hoffman, "Flimflam Land. ''Civilization,'' Feb/Mar2000, Vol. 7, Issue 1 </ref>

==Bibliography==
* Barrett, Laura. "From Wonderland to Wasteland: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Great Gatsby, and the New American Fairy Tale," ''Papers on Language and Literature,'' (Spring 2006) [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3708/is_200604/ai_n17178497 online edition]
* Baum, L. Frank. ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900), [http://books.google.com/books?id=E84u2-3Viu4C&dq=inauthor:Frank+inauthor:Baum&num=30&as_brr=1 online edition with black and white illustrations]; [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/55 online version from Gutenberg, without illustrations]
* Blythe, Martin. "Oz is China: A Political Fable of Chinese Dragons and White Tigers," in ''Sexual Fables'' (2006) [http://www.sexualfables.com/OzisChina.php online edition]
* Clanton, Gene. ''Populism: The Humane Preference in America, 1890-1900'' (1991)
* Culver, Stuart. "Growing Up in Oz." ''American Literary History'' 4 (1992) 607-28. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0896-7148%28199224%294%3A4%3C607%3AGUIO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-H in JSTOR]
* Culver, Stuart. "What Manikins Want: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and The Art of Decorating Dry Goods Windows and Interiors", ''Representations'', 21 (1988) 97-116.
*Dighe, Ranjit S. ed. ''The Historian's Wizard of Oz: Reading L. Frank Baum's Classic as a Political and Monetary Allegory'' (2002) [http://www.amazon.com/Historians-Wizard-Oz-Political-Monetary/dp/0275974197/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195301722&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search]
* Erisman, Fred. "L. Frank Baum and the Progressive Dilemma" in ''American Quarterly'' Vol. 20, No. 3 (Autumn, 1968), pp. 616-623. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0678%28196823%2920%3A3%3C616%3ALFBATP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-E online at JSTOR]
* Flynn, Richard. "Imitation Oz: The Sequel as Commodity." The ''Lion and the Unicorn'' 20.1 (1996): 121-131.
*Gardner, Todd. "Responses to Littlefield" (2004), [http://www.turnmeondeadman.net/OZ/Responses.html online version]
* Geer, John G. and Thomas R. Rochon, "William Jennings Bryan on the Yellow Brick Road," ''Journal of American Culture'' Vol. 16 No. 4, Winter, 1993, pp. 59-64.
* Gessel, Michael; Koupal, Nancy Tystad; and Erisman, Fred. "The Politics of Oz: a Symposium." ''South Dakota History'' 2001 31(2): 146-168. Issn: 0361-8676
* Gilead, Sarah. "Magic Abjured: Closure in Children's Fantasy Fiction" in ''PMLA'' Vol. 106, No. 2 (Mar., 1991), pp. 277-293. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0030-8129%28199103%29106%3A2%3C277%3AMACICF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-L in JSTOR]
* Griswold, Jerry. "There's No Place But Home: The Wizard of Oz. " ''The Antioch Review'' 45A (1987): 462-75.
*Hansen, Bradley A. "The Fable of the Allegory: The Wizard of Oz in Economics," ''Journal of Economic Education'' (2002) [http://www.indiana.edu/~econed/pdffiles/summer02/bhansen.pdf online edition]
* Hearn, Michael Patrick. ''The Annotated Wizard of Oz''. (2000, 1973), highly detailed guide to the 1900 book; ignores all political issues and metaphors, and ignores the source of the illustrations
* Hudlin, Edward R. "The Mythology of Oz: An Interpretation." ''Papers on Language and Literature'' 25.4 (1989): 443-462.
* Jensen, Richard. ''The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888-1896'' (1971), ch. 10, uses the ''Wizard'' to explain the politics of the 1890s
* Karp, Andrew. ''Utopian Tension in L. Frank Baum's Oz'' in ''Utopian Studies'', 1998. [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001388159 online edition]
* Kim, Helen M. "Strategic Credulity: Oz as Mass Cultural Parable" in ''Cultural Critique'' No. 33 (Spring, 1996), pp. 213-233. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0882-4371%28199621%290%3A33%3C213%3ASCOAMC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-T online at JSTOR]
* Leach, William. ''Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture'' (1993), pp. 248-260. [http://www.amazon.com/Land-Desire-Merchants-American-Culture/dp/0679754113/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195301631&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Leach, William. "The Clown from Syracuse: The Life and Times of L. Frank Baum." introduction to Leach, ed. ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' 1991. pp 1-34.
* Littlefield, Henry M. "The Wizard of Oz: Parable on Populism" ''American Quarterly'' Vol. 16, No. 1 (Spring, 1964), pp. 47-58; Littlefield was the first scholar to explore the allegories, though he mistakenly thought Baum supported Populism[http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0678%28196421%2916%3A1%3C47%3ATWOOPO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-J in JSTOR]; [http://www.amphigory.com/oz.htm another online version]; [http://www.ozclub.org/reference/littlefield.html another version]
* Nesbet, Anne. "In Borrowed Balloons: The Wizard of Oz and the History of Soviet Aviation" in ''The Slavic and East European Journal'' Vol. 45, No. 1 (Spring, 2001), pp. 80-95. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-6752%28200121%291%3A45%3A1%3C80%3AIBBTWO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-W online at JSTOR]
* Parker, David. "The Rise and Fall of ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' as a 'Parable on Populism'" ''The Journal of the Georgia Association of Historians,'' vol. 15 (1994), pp. 49-63 [http://www.halcyon.com/piglet/Populism.htm online edition]
*Riley, Michael O. ''Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum''. (1997) University of Kansas Press ISBN 0-7006-0832-X [http://www.amazon.com/Oz-Beyond-Fantasy-World-Frank/dp/070060832X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195302255&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search]

[[Image:TINMAN1890.jpg|thumb|300px|1890 ''Puck'' cartoon ridicules President Harrison (who called for a tariff on tin), as a Tin Man, proving the use of the Tin Man as political metaphor in 1890s]]

* Ritter, Gretchen. ''Goldbugs and Greenbacks: The Anti-Monopoly Tradition and the Politics of Finance in America'' (1997) [http://www.amazon.com/Goldbugs-Greenbacks-Antimonopoly-Tradition-1865-1896/dp/0521653924/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195301565&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
*Ritter, Gretchen. "Silver slippers and a golden cap: L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and historical memory in American politics." ''Journal of American Studies'' (August 1997) vol. 31, no. 2, 171-203.
* Rockoff, Hugh. "The 'Wizard of Oz' as a Monetary Allegory," ''Journal of Political Economy'' 98 (1990): 739-60, the source most often used by economists [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-3808%28199008%2998%3A4%3C739%3AT%22OOAA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-5 online at JSTOR]; [http://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/jpolec/v98y1990i4p739-60.html another online edition]
* Rogers, Katharine M. ''L. Frank Baum: Creator of Oz: A Biography'' (2002) [http://www.amazon.com/L-Frank-Baum-Creator-Biography/dp/031230174X/ref=sid_dp_dp excerpt and text search]
* Sherman, Fraser A. ''The Wizard of Oz Catalog: L. Frank Baum's Novel, Its Sequels and Their Adaptations for Stage, Television, Movies, Radio, Music Videos, Comic Books, Commercials and More'' 2005)
* Swartz, Mark Evan. ''Oz Before the Rainbow: L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" on Stage and Screen to 1939'' (2000).
* Quentin P. Taylor, "Money and Politics in the Land of Oz," (Dec 2004) [http://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?issueID=40&articleID=504 Independent]
* Velde, Francois R. "Following the Yellow Brick Road: How the United States Adopted the Gold Standard" Economic Perspectives. Volume: 26. Issue: 2. 2002. [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5000776148 online edition] [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=377760 also online here]
* Von Hoffman, Nicholas. "Flimflam Land." ''Civilization,'' (Feb/Mar2000), Vol. 7, Issue 1, in [[EBSCO]]
*Ziaukas, Tim. "100 Years of Oz: Baum's 'Wizard of Oz' as Gilded Age Public Relations" in ''Public Relations Quarterly,'' (Fall 1998) [http://www.halcyon.com/piglet/books8-Ziaukas.htm online version]

==External links==
* [http://books.google.com/books?as_q=&num=30&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_libcat=0&as_brr=1&as_vt=oz&as_auth=Frank+Baum&as_pub=&as_sub=&as_drrb=c&as_miny=&as_maxy=&as_isbn= full text of 6 Oz books by Baum]
*[http://www.turnmeondeadman.net/OZ/Responses.html A history of the debate]
*[http://www.mega.nu:8080/ampp/oz.html Collection of material relating to Oz as a political allegory]
*[http://www.niquette.com/books/sophmag/humbug.htm Humbug: The Most Destructive Film in History] by Paul Niquette
*[http://www.llewellyn.com/archive/fate/25/ Oz as a spiritual allegory]
*[http://www.halcyon.com/piglet/oznends.htm Pros and cons of ''Oz'' as an allegory]

==Trivia==

*In 2009, the movie will celebrate its 70th anniversary.
*The movie can supposedly be synched with [[Pink Floyd]]'s classic album ''[[The Dark Side of the Moon]]''. <ref>http://www.ingsoc.com/waters/info/oz.html</ref>
*A "yellow brick road" can be found in Liberal, Kansas.
*Many parodies of it have been made. Recently, one such was The Wizard of Ha's on ''[[Veggie Tales]]'', with changes to match the Story of the Prodigal Son.

==Notes and references==
<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wizard of Oz, The}}
[[Category:Literature]]
[[Category:Movies]]
[[Category:Fantasy]]
[[Category:United States History]]

Paternity test

2008-11-20T18:03:25Z

StephenK:

A '''paternity test''' is used to ascertain who is the [[father]] of another person. It is frequently done by [[DNA]] analysis of the [[child]] and the possible father. Since a person's DNA is the same in all of their cells, DNA testing can be done with a [[blood]] sample, a swab of [[skin]], or a lock of [[hair]]. A comparison of two people's DNA sequences will indicate the extent to which they are biologically related. Paternity tests make it easier for the courts to establish grounds to order the so called "dead beat" fathers to pay child support.

Prior to the DNA test a paternity test would be done by getting the blood type for the child, mother and potential father. This test could '''exclude''' a man as the father only. Since there are obviously many men with the same blood type it was not possible to prove which was the father.

Both DNA and blood typing tests can be used to determine the '''mother''' of the child.

==References==
* [http://www.drgreene.com/21_1003.html Blood Typing]
* [http://www.gtldna.com/dna-testing-for-paternity.html DNA Testing]

[[category:genetics]]
[[category:genealogy]]

Mean Girls

2008-11-20T02:10:28Z

StephenK: adding Tina Fey

[[Category:Movies about an outsider in high school]]
'''Mean Girls''' is a movie about Cady, a homeschooled teen raised in Africa by scientist parents, who nearly loses herself in the social jungle of a real American high school. The screenplay, based on Rosalind Wiseman's ''Queen Bees and Wannabes'', was by Tina Fey, who also plays Cady's math teacher. The premise of the film is that school social life is ruled by The Plastics, a clique of three wealthy girls. When Cady enrolls, a girl who had been victimized by the leader of the Plastics gets Cady to infiltrate the clique.

Freedom of Choice Act

2008-11-20T00:28:26Z

StephenK: adding info about Obama

The '''Freedom of Choice Act''' is a bill introduced into Congress in both the House and the Senate that would override state laws and make [[abortion]] legal and unrestricted in any way and at any time that an abortionist decides to perform one.

President Elect Obama has indicated that he would be willing to sign the bill into law once he takes office
[[Category:politics]]

Eye of the Dolphin

2008-11-20T00:26:16Z

StephenK:

'''''Eye of the Dolphin''''' is a [[movie]] released in 2006 about a troubled girl named Alyssa who discovers she can speak with [[dolphins]].<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465407/ IMDB for ''Eye of the Dolphin'']</ref> In the movie, teenager Alyssa wakes from an aquatic nightmare and tarts herself up for a day at school. She responds to some teasing by her grandmother by twitting her about her dates and handing her a condom. Then, she smokes [[marijuana|pot]] in the bathroom and gets suspended. This is typical of [[Hollywood Values]].

Her grandmother then reveals to Alyssa that her father is not dead - although that is what her mom had led her to believe. He studies [[dolphin communication]] in the [[Bahamas]], but his research is in conflict with the local tourism industry. Brought by her grandmother to meet her father in the Bahamas, Alyssa discovers that his research assistant is a "roommate with benefits". She shows Alyssa around town and takes her fishing for [[conch]] when Alyssa spies a wild dolphin in an inlet.

The next day, after a quarrel with her father, Alyssa runs away. She goes to the inlet, plays with her dolphin friend, and passes out on the beach after drinking a bottle of booze, a consequence of excessive drinking.

==References==
<references/>

[[category:movies]]

User talk:StephenK

2008-11-19T23:24:12Z

StephenK:

Sorry. [[User:JY23|JY23]] 18:22, 19 November 2008 (EST)
::No, please forgive me, I was way too quick to throw vandalism out there.... I regretted it almost as soon as I hit save. My apoligies. [[User:StephenK|StephenK]] 18:24, 19 November 2008 (EST)

Ludicrous

2008-11-19T23:21:26Z

StephenK: Undo revision 563262 by JY23 (Talk)rmv vandalism

'''Ludicrous''' means laughable, ridiculous.

[[Category:Dictionary]]

Dink

2008-11-19T23:09:13Z

StephenK: Undo revision 563246 by LennyR (Talk)we don't need a link to Wikipedia

A '''dink''' is a small [[boat]] used to travel from a boat to shore, carrying people or supplies.

See also [[ship]].

File talk:2008 US Electoral College Polling Map.png

2008-11-19T22:42:04Z

StephenK:

For the record, the end numbers of this election vary from what has been posted on this image, as anyone can see on these websites: [http://politicalmaps.org/][http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/president/][http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/president/map.html][http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23907597][http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/us-election/map.htm]. If incorrect, let me know. [[User:Karajou|Karajou]] 02:47, 19 November 2008 (EST)
:Corrected an embarrasing gaffe! [[User:Karajou|Karajou]] 14:33, 19 November 2008 (EST)
::The state abbreviations for Nebraska and Iowa are always incorrect, they should be NE and IA. Great map otherwise. [[User:StephenK|StephenK]] 17:21, 19 November 2008 (EST)
:::Thanks. Got those discrepancies, as well as today's Missouri update, fixed. [[User:Karajou|Karajou]] 17:28, 19 November 2008 (EST)
::::Looks great!! I know it's hard on an image map like this, But is there anyway to indicate that Obama took one of Nebraska's electoral votes? [[User:StephenK|StephenK]] 17:31, 19 November 2008 (EST)
:::::I heard of Nebraska splitting the votes; does that mean Nebraska has a total of 6 electoral votes, with one going to Obama? If so, I can add something to that effect on the image. [[User:Karajou|Karajou]] 17:35, 19 November 2008 (EST)
::::::I looked at the CNN source above, and Nebraska does have 5 total votes. [[User:Karajou|Karajou]] 17:37, 19 November 2008 (EST)
:::::::Nebraska has five votes total, one per congressional district. Unlike most states, Nebraska isn't all or none, they split their votes by district. Obama won one district in Nebraska (The Omaha area, which is more liberal the rest of the state) to claim on of NE's votes. Here's a map that kinda explains it [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ElectoralCollege2008.svg]. Obama was just recently declared the winner of the last district (I first read it earlier this week). He's the first candidate to ever split the votes. [[User:StephenK|StephenK]] 17:42, 19 November 2008 (EST)

File talk:2008 US Electoral College Polling Map.png

2008-11-19T22:31:35Z

StephenK:

File talk:2008 US Electoral College Polling Map.png

2008-11-19T22:21:58Z

StephenK:

Eye of the Dolphin

2008-11-19T22:21:04Z

StephenK: completely different meaning in this case.

'''''Eye of the Dolphin''''' is a [[movie]] released in 2006 about a troubled girl named Alyssa who discovers she can speak with [[dolphins]].<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465407/ IMDB for ''Eye of the Dolphin'']</ref> In the movie, teenager Alyssa wakes from an aquatic nightmare and tarts herself up for a day at school. She responds to some teasing by her grandmother by twitting her about her dates and handing her a condom. Then, she smokes [[marijuana|pot]] in the bathroom and gets suspended.

Her grandmother then reveals to Alyssa that her father is not dead - although that is what her mom had led her to believe. He studies [[dolphin communication]] in the [[Bahamas]], but his research is in conflict with the local tourism industry. Brought by her grandmother to meet her father in the Bahamas, Alyssa discovers that his research assistant is a "roommate with benefits". She shows Alyssa around town and takes her fishing for [[conch]] when Alyssa spies a wild dolphin in an inlet.

==References==
<references/>

[[category:movies]]

Strike

2008-11-19T22:10:23Z

StephenK:

To '''strike''' (''v.'') something is to hit it with force. A strike (''n.'') is the act or condition of being hit, such as an air-strike where a military target is hit with bombs or missiles from the air.

A '''strike''' may also be a workers' action to stop working until their demands are satisfied by their employer. The workers usually form picket lines to prevent replacement workers, usually referred to as "scabs."

While most strikes are non violent and resolve themselves peacefully, a number of stikes have escalated to verbal and even physical attacks, requiring business owner to call police to protect the safety of workers and property

[[Labor union]]s frequently threaten to hold strikes as a way of bargaining with employers for special benefits for workers.

==See also==
* [[American Federation of Labor]]
* [[Samuel Gompers]]
[[category:Business]]
[[Category:Labor Unions]]

Aphrodite

2008-11-19T21:56:31Z

StephenK:

In [[Greece|Greek]] mythology, '''Aphrodite''' was the [[Goddess]] of [[beauty]] and [[love]].<ref name="a">{{Nuttall|Aphrodi`te}}</ref>

Aphrodite was married to [[Hephaestus]] (Vulcan), the [[blacksmith]] god.<ref name="a"/> She was also said to be secretly in love with [[Ares]] the god of [[war]] ((known in Roman mythology as [[Mars]])).

Being the queen of beauty she had been given the golden apple by Paris, and possessed the power of conferring beauty, by means of her magic girdle, the cestus, on others.<ref name="a"/>

Her [[Rome|Roman]] counterpart was Venus.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

== See also ==

*[[Iliad]]
*[[Oracle at Delphi]]

{{Nb mythology greece}}
{{Nb mythology iliad}}

[[Category:Olympians]]