Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Shroud of Turin

2013-03-08T23:46:30Z

Ty: /* Image of Edessa/Mandylion */

[[image:Shroud of Turin face.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Negative image of the face of the Shroud; the photographic qualities of the Shroud were unknown until 1898.]]
The '''Shroud of Turin''' (in Italian, ''la Sacra Sindone'') is the most studied artifact in the history of the world, causing some [[agnostic]] or [[atheist]] [[scientist]]s to convert to [[Christianity]].<ref>[http://www.shroud.com/mrinobnf.pdf]</ref> Other scientists who have not converted do consider the Shroud to be the authentic burial cloth for [[Jesus Christ]].

The Shroud contains real blood stains consisting of human male [[DNA]], and a [[blood type]] that is AB. The height of the man was 5' 11"; his weight, about 170 pounds. Coins visible only to modern technology had been placed over the man's eyes, a tradition not known to historians until modern archaeological excavations revealed the practice; the coin over the right eye was minted by [[Pontius Pilate]], and the coin over the left eye was minted only in A.D. 29.<ref name="Coins">http://www.shroudstory.com/faq-coins.htm</ref> The angle of the man's arms during the [[crucifixion]] can be inferred from the flow of blood seen on the Shroud: 65° for one arm; 55° for the other.

There is overwhelming [[forensic]] evidence on the Shroud indicating that it is the image of man who was both [[scourge]]d and crucified, yet (as described in the [[Bible]]) without the breaking of the victim's leg as commonly done as part of the punishment.<ref name="Forensics">http://www.shroudstory.com/forensics.htm</ref> The bloodstains on the Shroud were formed before the image was made. The image is scientifically precise in a way unknown to any medieval forgers: the thumbs are not visible because the nails were through the wrist, not through the hands as mistakenly thought until the 20th century.<ref name="Forensics"/>

The long cloth is presently kept in the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in [[Turin]], [[Italy]], which contains the image of a crucified man.<ref>[http://www.shroud.com/]</ref> An [[agnostic]] [[British]] scholar studied the ''Shroud of Turin'' and concluded in his book, ''The Sign'' (2012), that the Shroud is authentic and was even the basis of [[disciples]]' acceptance of the [[Resurrection]].<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9162459/Mystery-solved-Turin-Shroud-linked-to-Resurrection-of-Christ.html</ref>

==Description==
The Shroud is about 14 feet 3 inches long by 3 feet 7 inches wide, consisting of a single piece of fine [[linen]] cloth made from fibers of the flax plant (''Linum usitatisismum''), and woven in a 3-over-1 herringbone twill.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3624753.stm]</ref> Centered on the cloth is the front and back images of a man who is pictured as if in a burial repose; the man's estimated height is somewhere between 5'8" to 6'1"<ref>[http://www.shroudofturin4journalists.com/Details/howtall2.htm]</ref>. He is rather powerfully-built, with classical eastern Mediterranean features. The images of the feet are at both ends of the cloth, indicating that if it was a burial linen the body was placed on one end with the other end bought over the head to cover the body. On either side of the image is a series of triangular patches, covering much of the damage from a fire which took place in 1532.

The image of the body shows a man who had died a violent death. Upon both front and back are dumbbell-shaped markings; approximately 140 such marks were applied upon the back, chest, and legs. Roman soldiers involved in "[[Scourge|scourging]]" as a form of punishment for offenders employed a whip called a "[[flagrum]]",<ref>[http://www.shroudofturin4journalists.com/terms/flagrum.htm]</ref> which was studded with either bone or lead knobs, and when used it tore into flesh and muscle.

The wrists and feet bear large bloodstains consistent with historical descriptions of [[crucifixion]]. The feet themselves are placed one on top of the other within the image; both front and dorsal images display a single large bloodstain, indicating one nail was driven through both feet upon the cross. The left wrist likewise displays a large bloodstain; however, the left hand covers the right, preventing a view of the wound there. Blood flows are present on both lower arms, displayed to flow in a direction as if the victim was hanging on a cross. A single large bloodstain is also present on the right side of the chest - nearly-obliterated by the 1532 burn damage - and appears to have been mixed with a clear liquid from the body. Blood stains are also present about the [[scalp]], and the marks of a severe beating are evident upon the face.

==History==
Historians and authors of written works on the Shroud have generally divided its history into two periods of time: a first period, from the time of the [[Resurrection]] ca. 33 A.D. to the fall of [[Constantinople]] in 1204; and the second period from about 1349 to present. The first version is based on largely on circumstantial evidence.

===First Period: A.D. 33 to 1204===
====Gospels====
The ''[[Gospel of John]]'' contains the first description of what is today regarded as the Shroud of Turin (the "linen clothes"), and the "napkin", a small head wrap which may be a relic known as the [[Sudarium of Oviedo]], Spain.<ref>http://www.shroud.com/guscin.htm</ref>

:''On the first day of the week, [[Mary Magdalene]] came early, while it was still dark, to the tomb, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
:''She ran and came to [[Saint Peter|Simon Peter]], and to the other student, whom Jesus loved, and told them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have laid Him!"
:''So Peter went out, and that other disciple, and came to the tomb.
:''They both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter, and came to the tomb first.
:''He stooped down and looked in, and saw the shroud stretched around nothing, but did not go in.
:''Then Peter came after him, and went into the tomb, and saw the empty shroud lying there, and the facecloth, that had been around His head. The facecloth was not lying with the shroud, but was rolled up in a place apart from them.
:''Then that other student went in also, the one who had come to the tomb first. He saw, and believed. For they still did not know the Scripture that said that He must rise again from the dead.'' - [[John 15-21 (Translated)#Chapter 20|John 20:1-9]]; [[CBP]] (retrieved: May 25, 2010)''

====Bardesane of Edessa====
The earliest possible extra-Biblical reference to the Shroud is found in a second century poem by Bardesane of Edessa. Called the "Hymn of the Pearl", it was embedded within the non-canonical ''Acts of Thomas'', and tells the story of a boy - apparently the figure in the poem - to retrieve a pearl from Egypt. He describes the "mirror of myself" embedded in his robe in some detail similar to the Shroud:
:''"And because I remembered not its fashion / for in my childhood I had left it in my father's house, / on a sudden, when I received it, / the garment seemed to me to become like a mirror of myself. / I saw it all in all, / and I to received all in it, / for we were two in distinction / and yet gain one in one likeness. / And the treasurers too, / who brought it to me, I saw in like manner / to be two (and yet) one likeness, for one sign of the king was written on them (both), / of the hands of him who restored to me through them / my trust and my wealth"''<ref>[http://www.gnosis.org/library/hymnpearl.htm]</ref>

====Image of Edessa/Mandylion====
According to [[Eusebius]], King Abgar of Edessa was afflicted of an illness, and hearing of the miracles of Jesus as a healer he sent a letter to Him, asking if He would come to his aid. Jesus responded that He could not come, but would send his disciple Thaddeus, who comes and heals him;<ref>http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iii.vi.xiii.html</ref> according to variants of this story King Abgar is left with the cloth image of Jesus, beginning with the ''Doctrine of Addai'' (ca. 400 A.D.) in which a court painter created an image of the Lord and "brought with him to Abgar the king, his master. And when Abgar the king saw the likeness, he received it with great joy, and placed it with great honor in one of his palatial houses."<ref>http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/addai_2_text.htm</ref> Artistic works of this relic - called either the "Image of Edessa" or the "[[Mandylion]]" - generally have it portrayed as the face of Christ upon a towel or kerchief.

The Mandylion would surface again around 525 when Edessa was flooded by the Daisan River. Workmen repairing one of the city's gates discovered a niche with the cloth inside; the mandylion was declared to be ''Acheiropoietos'' (Greek: Αχειροποίητος), "not made by hands", meaning that it was a miraculous image created supernaturally and not by man. The Mandylion stayed in Edessa as a means of protection for the city from harm until forcibly taken to [[Constantinople]] in 944, where it was received with great fanfare by Emperor Romanus I. Placed within the church of Saint Mary of Blachernae, it stayed there as a Christian relic until disappearing in the sack of the city during the [[Fourth Crusade]] in 1204. One of the knights who participated in the sacking of Constantinople, Robert de Clari, left a detailed letter of what he observed at the time, and he referred to this relic as being more than a facial image:
:''"But among the rest, there was also another of the minsters, which was called the Church of my Lady Saint Mary of Blachernae, within which was the shroud wherein Our Lord was wrapped. And on every Friday that shroud did raise itself upright, so that the form of Our Lord could clearly be seen. And none knows - neither Greek nor Frank - what became of that shroud when the city was taken."''<ref>http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/sources/clari4.htm</ref>

====Geoffroi de Charney====
Geoffroi de Charney was a French knight, the Preceptor of Normandy for the [[Knights Templar]], who was executed by burning at the stake in 1314. His crimes are disputed, but during that time there was a backlash directed against the Templars; the King of France apparently either feared the power they wielded, or coveted their hidden wealth. But to march against them it was necessary to have the Pope (Clement V) declare them heretics, based on their alleged worship of a "bearded head"; in one account (1287), a French applicant named Arnaut Sabbatier was taken in to a "a secret place to which only the brothers of the Temple had access" where he was instructed to venerate the image of a man on a long linen cloth.<ref>http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6040521.ece</ref>

Little is known of Geoffroi de Charney. He participated in the sack of Constantinople in 1204, and may have been a witness with Robert de Clari when he first saw the shroud at the Blachernae Church. He certainly could have been well-placed to have taken the Shroud back to France for veneration. On March 19, 1314, he was burned at the stake, along with the leader of his order.<ref>141.—Stemler, Contingent zur Geschichte der Tcmplcr, pp. 20-1.—Raynouard,pp. 213-4, 233-5.—Wilcke, II. 236, 240.—Anton, Vcrsuch, p. 142</ref><ref>A History of the Inquisition of the Middle ages, Vol III by Henry Charles Lea, NY: Hamper & Bros, Franklin Sq. 1888 p.324. Not in copyright. </ref>

===Second Period: 1349 to present===
In 1389 the French Bishop of Troyes, Pierre D'Arcis, wrote a letter to the Pope (Antipope Clement VII) detailing his complaints of a shroud "...upon which the whole likeness of the Saviour had remained thus impressed together with the wounds which He bore" was being exhibited at nearby Lirey; he further stated to the Pope of his belief that the shroud was a fraud, having found "[a man] procured for his church a certain cloth cunningly painted, upon which by a clever sleight of hand was depicted the twofold image of one man… falsely declaring and pretending that this was the actual shroud in which our Savior Jesus Christ was enfolded in the tomb." D'Arcis' predecessor, Henri de Poitiers, likewise was in a similar situation 35 years before, but did not launch an investigation into the matter; in his time he had concerns that the knight Geoffrey de Charny - who had just built the church at Lirey - was passing the relic off as the real shroud of the Lord. Whether or not de Charny was questioned about it is conjecture; he was killed in the Battle of Poitiers in 1356. Also undetermined is his relationship with the earlier Templar knight. But the one thing that is certain is de Charny is the first documented owner of the Shroud.

His church at Lirey continued to exhibit the Shroud despite Bishop D'Arsis and those within the Church demanding that it cease displaying a "false relic," as they claimed. The Church would eventually - grudgingly - allow the exhibitions to continue, provided that they billed the cloth as a "representation" of Christ, and not the true burial shroud. A century after his death the Shroud was sold to the Savoy family of Italy, who had it brought to Turin where it resided ever since.<ref>http://www.shroudofturin4journalists.com/geoffrey.htm</ref> It was willed in the late 20th century to the [[Roman Catholic Church]], which has never taken a position for or against its authenticity.

== Dating the Shroud ==
Raymond N. Rogers, a retired [[chemist]] from the [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]] in [[New Mexico]], studied the Shroud and declared, "The chemistry says it was a real shroud, the blood spots on it are real blood, and the technology that was used to make that piece of cloth was exactly what Pliny the Elder reported from his time," about A.D. 70. "It's a shroud from the right time, but you're never going to find out (through science) if it was used on a person named [[Jesus]]," Rogers said.<ref>http://bibleprobe.com/</ref>

In 1988, [[carbon dating]] of a small snippet of the Shroud was performed, but the "C-14 results of the three labs falls outside the bounds of the Pearson's chi-square test," illustrating a flaw in the dating that was likely due to a repair seam that ran diagonally "through the area from which the sample was taken."<ref>http://www.juliantrubin.com/encyclopedia/bible/shroud_of_turin.html</ref> A peer-reviewed scientific paper later demonstrated the invalidity of those results, suggesting instead that the Shroud is between 1,300 and 3,000 years old,<ref>Rogers, Raymond N., "Studies on the radiocarbon sample from the Shroud of Turin". Thermochimica Acta, Volume 425 Issue 1–2, pp. 189-194 (Jan. 20, 2005)[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6THV-4DTBVHC-1&_user=10&_handle=B-WA-A-W-WE-MsSAYWA-UUA-AAUYYDZUYC-AAUZVCZYYC-YZEWAVVVC-WE-U&_fmt=full&_coverDate=01%2F20%2F2005&_rdoc=26&_orig=browse&_srch=%23toc%235292%232005%23995749998%23553672!&_cdi=5292&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=3d89246a5d4144616be7657f0d83b6cf]</ref><ref>Mark Antonacci "Resurrection of the Shroud: New Scientific, Medical, and Archeological Evidence"</ref> disproving the 1988 results that claimed that the Shroud originated between A.D. 1238 and 1430.

Indeed, the sample for the 1988 analysis had actually been taken from cloth woven into the Shroud during the [[Middle Ages]], thereby giving a false result.<ref>[http://www.shroudcentersocal.com/]</ref> Moreover, "the 12th Century Hungarian 'Pray Manuscript' come to depict Jesus being wrapped in the shroud - with authentic herringbone pattern and burn marks - 100 years before carbon-dating says the material originated."<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3624753.stm]</ref>

The defect in the carbon dating was that the samples were "uniquely coated with a yellow–brown [[plant]] gum containing dye lakes. [[Pyrolysis-mass-spectrometry]] results from the sample area coupled with microscopic and microchemical observations prove that the radiocarbon sample was not part of the original cloth of the Shroud of Turin." Instead, [e]stimates of the kinetics constants for the loss of vanillin from lignin indicate a much older age for the cloth than the radiocarbon analyses."<ref>[http://bibleprobe.com/]</ref>

== The Lamb ==
According to a paper by Dr. Petrus Soons scientific research of some of the photographs of the shroud show an oval object under the beard of the image. After much research three cursive letters were identified and translated from the Hebrew. The meaning of the translation was, "The Lamb," a name in which Jesus was referred to in the New Testament.<ref>Dr. Soons Paper [http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache%3ACtDFWbA8AfIJ%3Awww.ohioshroudconference.com%2Fpapers%2Fp24.pdf+THE+SHROUD+OF+TURIN%2C+THE+HOLOGRAPHIC+EXPERIENCE+By+DR.+PETRUS+SOONS&hl=en&gl=us]</ref> This finding now makes the person on the shroud exclusively identified with Christ.

== Critics ==

Many of the arguments by modern skeptics against the authenticity of the Shroud have been debunked and disproven. For example, some claimed that a misspelling on one of the coins over an eye could not be authentic, but in fact otseveral other coins having the same misspelling have since been found.<ref name="Coins"/>

Over the centuries there have been critics and doubters of the Shroud being the authentic burial cloth of Jesus. One of the earliest unbelievers was Pierre d'Arcis, Bishop of Troyes who wrote a scathing letter to the pope in 1389 claiming that the Shroud was a "cunning" painting and that the artist had been discovered.<ref>The Shroud, Ian Wilson, 2010, page 102.</ref> An enemy of the Catholic Church, [[John Calvin]], repeatedly ranted against relics and he wrote against the Shroud in 1543:

:''"How is it possible that those sacred historians, who carefully related all the miracles that took place at Christ's death, should have omitted to mention one so remarkable as the likeness of the body of our Lord remaining on its wrapping sheet? This fact undoubtedly deserved to be recorded. St John, in his Gospel, relates even how St Peter, having entered the sepulchre, saw the linen clothes lying on one side, and the napkin that was about his head on the other; but he does not say that there was a miraculous impression of our Lord's figure upon these clothes, and it is not to be imagined that he would have omitted to mention such a work of God if there had been any thing of this kind."''<ref>[[John Calvin]]: ''Traité des Reliques'', Geneve 1543, translated by '''Valerian Krasinski''': ''A treatise on Relics'', Edingburgh 1854</ref>

The flaw in Calvin's argument, of course, is that the disciples had no reason to study the Shroud at the time, and no access to modern photographic equipment; they had far greater concerns during the chaotic period after Christ's Resurrection.

Another critic was the scientist [[Walter McCrone]] (1906-2002), who insisted that it was a painting; this possibility has been thoroughly disproven.<ref>[http://www.shroud.com/piczek.htm Disproof that the Shroud is a painting, as explained by a professional artist]</ref>

== Replication ==
Luigi Garlaschelli, professor of organic chemistry at the University of Pavia, announced that he had made a full size reproduction of the Shroud of Turin using only medieval technologies on October 5th, 2009. Garlaschelli placed a linen sheet over a volunteer and then rubbed it with an acidic pigment. The shroud was then aged in an oven before being washed to remove the pigment. He then added blood stains, scorches and water stains to replicate the original. The image on the reproduction would closely match that of the Turin Shroud with differences explained as the result of natural fading over the centuries.<ref>Italian scientist reproduces Shroud of Turin [http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5943HL20091005]</ref> But according to noted sindonologist Giulio Fanti, "the image in discussion does not match the main fundamental properties of the Shroud image, in particular at thread and fiber level but also at macroscopic level."<ref>[http://www.acheiropoietos.info/abstracts/talks-image_formation.html]</ref> Further criticism of Garlaschelli's replica has come from shroud scholars Peter Soons <ref>[http://shroudofturin.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/why-the-italian-fake-does-not-reproduce-the-shroud-of-turin/]</ref> and Thibault Heimburger.<ref>[http://www.shroud.com/pdfs/thibault-lg.pdf]</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Sources ==
*[http://www.shroud.com/pdfs/guscin3.pdf Sermon of Gregory Referendarius, Archdeacon of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, August, 944]
*[http://www.shroudstory.com/shroud-of-turin-picture-01.htm Amazing Details about the Shroud]
*[http://www.shroud.com/faq.htm FAQs about the Shroud]

[[Category:Christianity]]

Shroud of Turin

2013-03-08T23:39:59Z

Ty: /* History */

[[image:Shroud of Turin face.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Negative image of the face of the Shroud; the photographic qualities of the Shroud were unknown until 1898.]]
The '''Shroud of Turin''' (in Italian, ''la Sacra Sindone'') is the most studied artifact in the history of the world, causing some [[agnostic]] or [[atheist]] [[scientist]]s to convert to [[Christianity]].<ref>[http://www.shroud.com/mrinobnf.pdf]</ref> Other scientists who have not converted do consider the Shroud to be the authentic burial cloth for [[Jesus Christ]].

The Shroud contains real blood stains consisting of human male [[DNA]], and a [[blood type]] that is AB. The height of the man was 5' 11"; his weight, about 170 pounds. Coins visible only to modern technology had been placed over the man's eyes, a tradition not known to historians until modern archaeological excavations revealed the practice; the coin over the right eye was minted by [[Pontius Pilate]], and the coin over the left eye was minted only in A.D. 29.<ref name="Coins">http://www.shroudstory.com/faq-coins.htm</ref> The angle of the man's arms during the [[crucifixion]] can be inferred from the flow of blood seen on the Shroud: 65° for one arm; 55° for the other.

There is overwhelming [[forensic]] evidence on the Shroud indicating that it is the image of man who was both [[scourge]]d and crucified, yet (as described in the [[Bible]]) without the breaking of the victim's leg as commonly done as part of the punishment.<ref name="Forensics">http://www.shroudstory.com/forensics.htm</ref> The bloodstains on the Shroud were formed before the image was made. The image is scientifically precise in a way unknown to any medieval forgers: the thumbs are not visible because the nails were through the wrist, not through the hands as mistakenly thought until the 20th century.<ref name="Forensics"/>

The long cloth is presently kept in the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in [[Turin]], [[Italy]], which contains the image of a crucified man.<ref>[http://www.shroud.com/]</ref> An [[agnostic]] [[British]] scholar studied the ''Shroud of Turin'' and concluded in his book, ''The Sign'' (2012), that the Shroud is authentic and was even the basis of [[disciples]]' acceptance of the [[Resurrection]].<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9162459/Mystery-solved-Turin-Shroud-linked-to-Resurrection-of-Christ.html</ref>

==Description==
The Shroud is about 14 feet 3 inches long by 3 feet 7 inches wide, consisting of a single piece of fine [[linen]] cloth made from fibers of the flax plant (''Linum usitatisismum''), and woven in a 3-over-1 herringbone twill.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3624753.stm]</ref> Centered on the cloth is the front and back images of a man who is pictured as if in a burial repose; the man's estimated height is somewhere between 5'8" to 6'1"<ref>[http://www.shroudofturin4journalists.com/Details/howtall2.htm]</ref>. He is rather powerfully-built, with classical eastern Mediterranean features. The images of the feet are at both ends of the cloth, indicating that if it was a burial linen the body was placed on one end with the other end bought over the head to cover the body. On either side of the image is a series of triangular patches, covering much of the damage from a fire which took place in 1532.

The image of the body shows a man who had died a violent death. Upon both front and back are dumbbell-shaped markings; approximately 140 such marks were applied upon the back, chest, and legs. Roman soldiers involved in "[[Scourge|scourging]]" as a form of punishment for offenders employed a whip called a "[[flagrum]]",<ref>[http://www.shroudofturin4journalists.com/terms/flagrum.htm]</ref> which was studded with either bone or lead knobs, and when used it tore into flesh and muscle.

The wrists and feet bear large bloodstains consistent with historical descriptions of [[crucifixion]]. The feet themselves are placed one on top of the other within the image; both front and dorsal images display a single large bloodstain, indicating one nail was driven through both feet upon the cross. The left wrist likewise displays a large bloodstain; however, the left hand covers the right, preventing a view of the wound there. Blood flows are present on both lower arms, displayed to flow in a direction as if the victim was hanging on a cross. A single large bloodstain is also present on the right side of the chest - nearly-obliterated by the 1532 burn damage - and appears to have been mixed with a clear liquid from the body. Blood stains are also present about the [[scalp]], and the marks of a severe beating are evident upon the face.

==History==
Historians and authors of written works on the Shroud have generally divided its history into two periods of time: a first period, from the time of the [[Resurrection]] ca. 33 A.D. to the fall of [[Constantinople]] in 1204; and the second period from about 1349 to present. The first version is based on largely on circumstantial evidence.

===First Period: A.D. 33 to 1204===
====Gospels====
The ''[[Gospel of John]]'' contains the first description of what is today regarded as the Shroud of Turin (the "linen clothes"), and the "napkin", a small head wrap which may be a relic known as the [[Sudarium of Oviedo]], Spain.<ref>http://www.shroud.com/guscin.htm</ref>

:''On the first day of the week, [[Mary Magdalene]] came early, while it was still dark, to the tomb, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
:''She ran and came to [[Saint Peter|Simon Peter]], and to the other student, whom Jesus loved, and told them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have laid Him!"
:''So Peter went out, and that other disciple, and came to the tomb.
:''They both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter, and came to the tomb first.
:''He stooped down and looked in, and saw the shroud stretched around nothing, but did not go in.
:''Then Peter came after him, and went into the tomb, and saw the empty shroud lying there, and the facecloth, that had been around His head. The facecloth was not lying with the shroud, but was rolled up in a place apart from them.
:''Then that other student went in also, the one who had come to the tomb first. He saw, and believed. For they still did not know the Scripture that said that He must rise again from the dead.'' - [[John 15-21 (Translated)#Chapter 20|John 20:1-9]]; [[CBP]] (retrieved: May 25, 2010)''

====Bardesane of Edessa====
The earliest possible extra-Biblical reference to the Shroud is found in a second century poem by Bardesane of Edessa. Called the "Hymn of the Pearl", it was embedded within the non-canonical ''Acts of Thomas'', and tells the story of a boy - apparently the figure in the poem - to retrieve a pearl from Egypt. He describes the "mirror of myself" embedded in his robe in some detail similar to the Shroud:
:''"And because I remembered not its fashion / for in my childhood I had left it in my father's house, / on a sudden, when I received it, / the garment seemed to me to become like a mirror of myself. / I saw it all in all, / and I to received all in it, / for we were two in distinction / and yet gain one in one likeness. / And the treasurers too, / who brought it to me, I saw in like manner / to be two (and yet) one likeness, for one sign of the king was written on them (both), / of the hands of him who restored to me through them / my trust and my wealth"''<ref>[http://www.gnosis.org/library/hymnpearl.htm]</ref>

====Image of Edessa/Mandylion====
According to [[Eusebius]], King Abgar of Edessa was afflicted of an illness, and hearing of the miracles of Jesus as a healer he sent a letter to Him, asking if He would come to his aid. Jesus responded that He could not come, but would send his disciple Thaddeus, who comes and heals him;<ref>http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iii.vi.xiii.html</ref> according to variants of this story King Abgar is left with the cloth image of Jesus, beginning with the ''Doctrine of Addai'' (ca. 400 A.D.) in which a court painter created an image of the Lord and "brought with him to Abgar the king, his master. And when Abgar the king saw the likeness, he received it with great joy, and placed it with great honor in one of his palatial houses."<ref>http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/addai_2_text.htm</ref> Artistic works of this relic - called either the "Image of Edessa" or the "[[Mandylion]]" - generally have it portrayed as the face of Christ upon a towel or kerchief.

The Mandylion would surface again around 525 when Edessa was flooded by the Daisan River. Workmen repairing one of the city's gates discovered a niche with the cloth inside; the mandylion was declared to be ''Acheiropoietos'' (Greek: Αχειροποίητος), "not made by hands", meaning that it was a miraculous image created supernaturally and not by man. The Mandylion stayed in Edessa as a means of protection for the city from harm until forcibly taken to [[Constantinople]] in 944, where it was received with great fanfare by Emperor Romanus I. Placed within the church of Saint Mary of Blachernae, it stayed there as a Christian relic until disappearing in the sack of the city during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. One of the knights who participated in the sacking of Constantinople, Robert de Clari, left a detailed letter of what he observed at the time, and he referred to this relic as being more than a facial image:
:''"But among the rest, there was also another of the minsters, which was called the Church of my Lady Saint Mary of Blachernae, within which was the shroud wherein Our Lord was wrapped. And on every Friday that shroud did raise itself upright, so that the form of Our Lord could clearly be seen. And none knows - neither Greek nor Frank - what became of that shroud when the city was taken."''<ref>http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/sources/clari4.htm</ref>

====Geoffroi de Charney====
Geoffroi de Charney was a French knight, the Preceptor of Normandy for the [[Knights Templar]], who was executed by burning at the stake in 1314. His crimes are disputed, but during that time there was a backlash directed against the Templars; the King of France apparently either feared the power they wielded, or coveted their hidden wealth. But to march against them it was necessary to have the Pope (Clement V) declare them heretics, based on their alleged worship of a "bearded head"; in one account (1287), a French applicant named Arnaut Sabbatier was taken in to a "a secret place to which only the brothers of the Temple had access" where he was instructed to venerate the image of a man on a long linen cloth.<ref>http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6040521.ece</ref>

Little is known of Geoffroi de Charney. He participated in the sack of Constantinople in 1204, and may have been a witness with Robert de Clari when he first saw the shroud at the Blachernae Church. He certainly could have been well-placed to have taken the Shroud back to France for veneration. On March 19, 1314, he was burned at the stake, along with the leader of his order.<ref>141.—Stemler, Contingent zur Geschichte der Tcmplcr, pp. 20-1.—Raynouard,pp. 213-4, 233-5.—Wilcke, II. 236, 240.—Anton, Vcrsuch, p. 142</ref><ref>A History of the Inquisition of the Middle ages, Vol III by Henry Charles Lea, NY: Hamper & Bros, Franklin Sq. 1888 p.324. Not in copyright. </ref>

===Second Period: 1349 to present===
In 1389 the French Bishop of Troyes, Pierre D'Arcis, wrote a letter to the Pope (Antipope Clement VII) detailing his complaints of a shroud "...upon which the whole likeness of the Saviour had remained thus impressed together with the wounds which He bore" was being exhibited at nearby Lirey; he further stated to the Pope of his belief that the shroud was a fraud, having found "[a man] procured for his church a certain cloth cunningly painted, upon which by a clever sleight of hand was depicted the twofold image of one man… falsely declaring and pretending that this was the actual shroud in which our Savior Jesus Christ was enfolded in the tomb." D'Arcis' predecessor, Henri de Poitiers, likewise was in a similar situation 35 years before, but did not launch an investigation into the matter; in his time he had concerns that the knight Geoffrey de Charny - who had just built the church at Lirey - was passing the relic off as the real shroud of the Lord. Whether or not de Charny was questioned about it is conjecture; he was killed in the Battle of Poitiers in 1356. Also undetermined is his relationship with the earlier Templar knight. But the one thing that is certain is de Charny is the first documented owner of the Shroud.

His church at Lirey continued to exhibit the Shroud despite Bishop D'Arsis and those within the Church demanding that it cease displaying a "false relic," as they claimed. The Church would eventually - grudgingly - allow the exhibitions to continue, provided that they billed the cloth as a "representation" of Christ, and not the true burial shroud. A century after his death the Shroud was sold to the Savoy family of Italy, who had it brought to Turin where it resided ever since.<ref>http://www.shroudofturin4journalists.com/geoffrey.htm</ref> It was willed in the late 20th century to the [[Roman Catholic Church]], which has never taken a position for or against its authenticity.

== Dating the Shroud ==
Raymond N. Rogers, a retired [[chemist]] from the [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]] in [[New Mexico]], studied the Shroud and declared, "The chemistry says it was a real shroud, the blood spots on it are real blood, and the technology that was used to make that piece of cloth was exactly what Pliny the Elder reported from his time," about A.D. 70. "It's a shroud from the right time, but you're never going to find out (through science) if it was used on a person named [[Jesus]]," Rogers said.<ref>http://bibleprobe.com/</ref>

In 1988, [[carbon dating]] of a small snippet of the Shroud was performed, but the "C-14 results of the three labs falls outside the bounds of the Pearson's chi-square test," illustrating a flaw in the dating that was likely due to a repair seam that ran diagonally "through the area from which the sample was taken."<ref>http://www.juliantrubin.com/encyclopedia/bible/shroud_of_turin.html</ref> A peer-reviewed scientific paper later demonstrated the invalidity of those results, suggesting instead that the Shroud is between 1,300 and 3,000 years old,<ref>Rogers, Raymond N., "Studies on the radiocarbon sample from the Shroud of Turin". Thermochimica Acta, Volume 425 Issue 1–2, pp. 189-194 (Jan. 20, 2005)[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6THV-4DTBVHC-1&_user=10&_handle=B-WA-A-W-WE-MsSAYWA-UUA-AAUYYDZUYC-AAUZVCZYYC-YZEWAVVVC-WE-U&_fmt=full&_coverDate=01%2F20%2F2005&_rdoc=26&_orig=browse&_srch=%23toc%235292%232005%23995749998%23553672!&_cdi=5292&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=3d89246a5d4144616be7657f0d83b6cf]</ref><ref>Mark Antonacci "Resurrection of the Shroud: New Scientific, Medical, and Archeological Evidence"</ref> disproving the 1988 results that claimed that the Shroud originated between A.D. 1238 and 1430.

Indeed, the sample for the 1988 analysis had actually been taken from cloth woven into the Shroud during the [[Middle Ages]], thereby giving a false result.<ref>[http://www.shroudcentersocal.com/]</ref> Moreover, "the 12th Century Hungarian 'Pray Manuscript' come to depict Jesus being wrapped in the shroud - with authentic herringbone pattern and burn marks - 100 years before carbon-dating says the material originated."<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3624753.stm]</ref>

The defect in the carbon dating was that the samples were "uniquely coated with a yellow–brown [[plant]] gum containing dye lakes. [[Pyrolysis-mass-spectrometry]] results from the sample area coupled with microscopic and microchemical observations prove that the radiocarbon sample was not part of the original cloth of the Shroud of Turin." Instead, [e]stimates of the kinetics constants for the loss of vanillin from lignin indicate a much older age for the cloth than the radiocarbon analyses."<ref>[http://bibleprobe.com/]</ref>

== The Lamb ==
According to a paper by Dr. Petrus Soons scientific research of some of the photographs of the shroud show an oval object under the beard of the image. After much research three cursive letters were identified and translated from the Hebrew. The meaning of the translation was, "The Lamb," a name in which Jesus was referred to in the New Testament.<ref>Dr. Soons Paper [http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache%3ACtDFWbA8AfIJ%3Awww.ohioshroudconference.com%2Fpapers%2Fp24.pdf+THE+SHROUD+OF+TURIN%2C+THE+HOLOGRAPHIC+EXPERIENCE+By+DR.+PETRUS+SOONS&hl=en&gl=us]</ref> This finding now makes the person on the shroud exclusively identified with Christ.

== Critics ==

Many of the arguments by modern skeptics against the authenticity of the Shroud have been debunked and disproven. For example, some claimed that a misspelling on one of the coins over an eye could not be authentic, but in fact otseveral other coins having the same misspelling have since been found.<ref name="Coins"/>

Over the centuries there have been critics and doubters of the Shroud being the authentic burial cloth of Jesus. One of the earliest unbelievers was Pierre d'Arcis, Bishop of Troyes who wrote a scathing letter to the pope in 1389 claiming that the Shroud was a "cunning" painting and that the artist had been discovered.<ref>The Shroud, Ian Wilson, 2010, page 102.</ref> An enemy of the Catholic Church, [[John Calvin]], repeatedly ranted against relics and he wrote against the Shroud in 1543:

:''"How is it possible that those sacred historians, who carefully related all the miracles that took place at Christ's death, should have omitted to mention one so remarkable as the likeness of the body of our Lord remaining on its wrapping sheet? This fact undoubtedly deserved to be recorded. St John, in his Gospel, relates even how St Peter, having entered the sepulchre, saw the linen clothes lying on one side, and the napkin that was about his head on the other; but he does not say that there was a miraculous impression of our Lord's figure upon these clothes, and it is not to be imagined that he would have omitted to mention such a work of God if there had been any thing of this kind."''<ref>[[John Calvin]]: ''Traité des Reliques'', Geneve 1543, translated by '''Valerian Krasinski''': ''A treatise on Relics'', Edingburgh 1854</ref>

The flaw in Calvin's argument, of course, is that the disciples had no reason to study the Shroud at the time, and no access to modern photographic equipment; they had far greater concerns during the chaotic period after Christ's Resurrection.

Another critic was the scientist [[Walter McCrone]] (1906-2002), who insisted that it was a painting; this possibility has been thoroughly disproven.<ref>[http://www.shroud.com/piczek.htm Disproof that the Shroud is a painting, as explained by a professional artist]</ref>

== Replication ==
Luigi Garlaschelli, professor of organic chemistry at the University of Pavia, announced that he had made a full size reproduction of the Shroud of Turin using only medieval technologies on October 5th, 2009. Garlaschelli placed a linen sheet over a volunteer and then rubbed it with an acidic pigment. The shroud was then aged in an oven before being washed to remove the pigment. He then added blood stains, scorches and water stains to replicate the original. The image on the reproduction would closely match that of the Turin Shroud with differences explained as the result of natural fading over the centuries.<ref>Italian scientist reproduces Shroud of Turin [http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5943HL20091005]</ref> But according to noted sindonologist Giulio Fanti, "the image in discussion does not match the main fundamental properties of the Shroud image, in particular at thread and fiber level but also at macroscopic level."<ref>[http://www.acheiropoietos.info/abstracts/talks-image_formation.html]</ref> Further criticism of Garlaschelli's replica has come from shroud scholars Peter Soons <ref>[http://shroudofturin.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/why-the-italian-fake-does-not-reproduce-the-shroud-of-turin/]</ref> and Thibault Heimburger.<ref>[http://www.shroud.com/pdfs/thibault-lg.pdf]</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Sources ==
*[http://www.shroud.com/pdfs/guscin3.pdf Sermon of Gregory Referendarius, Archdeacon of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, August, 944]
*[http://www.shroudstory.com/shroud-of-turin-picture-01.htm Amazing Details about the Shroud]
*[http://www.shroud.com/faq.htm FAQs about the Shroud]

[[Category:Christianity]]

Shroud of Turin

2013-03-08T23:30:39Z

Ty: /* Description */

[[image:Shroud of Turin face.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Negative image of the face of the Shroud; the photographic qualities of the Shroud were unknown until 1898.]]
The '''Shroud of Turin''' (in Italian, ''la Sacra Sindone'') is the most studied artifact in the history of the world, causing some [[agnostic]] or [[atheist]] [[scientist]]s to convert to [[Christianity]].<ref>[http://www.shroud.com/mrinobnf.pdf]</ref> Other scientists who have not converted do consider the Shroud to be the authentic burial cloth for [[Jesus Christ]].

The Shroud contains real blood stains consisting of human male [[DNA]], and a [[blood type]] that is AB. The height of the man was 5' 11"; his weight, about 170 pounds. Coins visible only to modern technology had been placed over the man's eyes, a tradition not known to historians until modern archaeological excavations revealed the practice; the coin over the right eye was minted by [[Pontius Pilate]], and the coin over the left eye was minted only in A.D. 29.<ref name="Coins">http://www.shroudstory.com/faq-coins.htm</ref> The angle of the man's arms during the [[crucifixion]] can be inferred from the flow of blood seen on the Shroud: 65° for one arm; 55° for the other.

There is overwhelming [[forensic]] evidence on the Shroud indicating that it is the image of man who was both [[scourge]]d and crucified, yet (as described in the [[Bible]]) without the breaking of the victim's leg as commonly done as part of the punishment.<ref name="Forensics">http://www.shroudstory.com/forensics.htm</ref> The bloodstains on the Shroud were formed before the image was made. The image is scientifically precise in a way unknown to any medieval forgers: the thumbs are not visible because the nails were through the wrist, not through the hands as mistakenly thought until the 20th century.<ref name="Forensics"/>

The long cloth is presently kept in the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in [[Turin]], [[Italy]], which contains the image of a crucified man.<ref>[http://www.shroud.com/]</ref> An [[agnostic]] [[British]] scholar studied the ''Shroud of Turin'' and concluded in his book, ''The Sign'' (2012), that the Shroud is authentic and was even the basis of [[disciples]]' acceptance of the [[Resurrection]].<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9162459/Mystery-solved-Turin-Shroud-linked-to-Resurrection-of-Christ.html</ref>

==Description==
The Shroud is about 14 feet 3 inches long by 3 feet 7 inches wide, consisting of a single piece of fine [[linen]] cloth made from fibers of the flax plant (''Linum usitatisismum''), and woven in a 3-over-1 herringbone twill.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3624753.stm]</ref> Centered on the cloth is the front and back images of a man who is pictured as if in a burial repose; the man's estimated height is somewhere between 5'8" to 6'1"<ref>[http://www.shroudofturin4journalists.com/Details/howtall2.htm]</ref>. He is rather powerfully-built, with classical eastern Mediterranean features. The images of the feet are at both ends of the cloth, indicating that if it was a burial linen the body was placed on one end with the other end bought over the head to cover the body. On either side of the image is a series of triangular patches, covering much of the damage from a fire which took place in 1532.

The image of the body shows a man who had died a violent death. Upon both front and back are dumbbell-shaped markings; approximately 140 such marks were applied upon the back, chest, and legs. Roman soldiers involved in "[[Scourge|scourging]]" as a form of punishment for offenders employed a whip called a "[[flagrum]]",<ref>[http://www.shroudofturin4journalists.com/terms/flagrum.htm]</ref> which was studded with either bone or lead knobs, and when used it tore into flesh and muscle.

The wrists and feet bear large bloodstains consistent with historical descriptions of [[crucifixion]]. The feet themselves are placed one on top of the other within the image; both front and dorsal images display a single large bloodstain, indicating one nail was driven through both feet upon the cross. The left wrist likewise displays a large bloodstain; however, the left hand covers the right, preventing a view of the wound there. Blood flows are present on both lower arms, displayed to flow in a direction as if the victim was hanging on a cross. A single large bloodstain is also present on the right side of the chest - nearly-obliterated by the 1532 burn damage - and appears to have been mixed with a clear liquid from the body. Blood stains are also present about the [[scalp]], and the marks of a severe beating are evident upon the face.

==History==
Historians and authors of written works on the Shroud have generally divided its history into two periods of time: a first period, from the time of the Resurrection ca. 33 A.D. to the fall of Constantinople in 1204; and the second period from about 1349 to present. The first version is based on largely on circumstantial evidence.

===First Period: A.D. 33 to 1204===
====Gospels====
The ''Gospel of John'' contains the first description of what is today regarded as the Shroud of Turin (the "linen clothes"), and the "napkin", a small head wrap which may be a relic known as the Sudarium of Oviedo, Spain.<ref>http://www.shroud.com/guscin.htm</ref>

:''On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came early, while it was still dark, to the tomb, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
:''She ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other student, whom Jesus loved, and told them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have laid Him!"
:''So Peter went out, and that other disciple, and came to the tomb.
:''They both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter, and came to the tomb first.
:''He stooped down and looked in, and saw the shroud stretched around nothing, but did not go in.
:''Then Peter came after him, and went into the tomb, and saw the empty shroud lying there, and the facecloth, that had been around His head. The facecloth was not lying with the shroud, but was rolled up in a place apart from them.
:''Then that other student went in also, the one who had come to the tomb first. He saw, and believed. For they still did not know the Scripture that said that He must rise again from the dead.'' - John 20:1-9; [[CBP]] (retrieved: May 25, 2010)''

====Bardesane of Edessa====
The earliest possible extra-Biblical reference to the Shroud is found in a second century poem by Bardesane of Edessa. Called the "Hymn of the Pearl", it was embedded within the non-canonical ''Acts of Thomas'', and tells the story of a boy - apparently the figure in the poem - to retrieve a pearl from Egypt. He describes the "mirror of myself" embedded in his robe in some detail similar to the Shroud:
:''"And because I remembered not its fashion / for in my childhood I had left it in my father's house, / on a sudden, when I received it, / the garment seemed to me to become like a mirror of myself. / I saw it all in all, / and I to received all in it, / for we were two in distinction / and yet gain one in one likeness. / And the treasurers too, / who brought it to me, I saw in like manner / to be two (and yet) one likeness, for one sign of the king was written on them (both), / of the hands of him who restored to me through them / my trust and my wealth"''<ref>[http://www.gnosis.org/library/hymnpearl.htm]</ref>

====Image of Edessa/Mandylion====
According to [[Eusebius]], King Abgar of Edessa was afflicted of an illness, and hearing of the miracles of Jesus as a healer he sent a letter to Him, asking if He would come to his aid. Jesus responded that He could not come, but would send his disciple Thaddeus, who comes and heals him;<ref>http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iii.vi.xiii.html</ref> according to variants of this story King Abgar is left with the cloth image of Jesus, beginning with the ''Doctrine of Addai'' (ca. 400 A.D.) in which a court painter created an image of the Lord and "brought with him to Abgar the king, his master. And when Abgar the king saw the likeness, he received it with great joy, and placed it with great honor in one of his palatial houses."<ref>http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/addai_2_text.htm</ref> Artistic works of this relic - called either the "Image of Edessa" or the "[[Mandylion]]" - generally have it portrayed as the face of Christ upon a towel or kerchief.

The Mandylion would surface again around 525 when Edessa was flooded by the Daisan River. Workmen repairing one of the city's gates discovered a niche with the cloth inside; the mandylion was declared to be ''Acheiropoietos'' (Greek: Αχειροποίητος), "not made by hands", meaning that it was a miraculous image created supernaturally and not by man. The Mandylion stayed in Edessa as a means of protection for the city from harm until forcibly taken to [[Constantinople]] in 944, where it was received with great fanfare by Emperor Romanus I. Placed within the church of Saint Mary of Blachernae, it stayed there as a Christian relic until disappearing in the sack of the city during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. One of the knights who participated in the sacking of Constantinople, Robert de Clari, left a detailed letter of what he observed at the time, and he referred to this relic as being more than a facial image:
:''"But among the rest, there was also another of the minsters, which was called the Church of my Lady Saint Mary of Blachernae, within which was the shroud wherein Our Lord was wrapped. And on every Friday that shroud did raise itself upright, so that the form of Our Lord could clearly be seen. And none knows - neither Greek nor Frank - what became of that shroud when the city was taken."''<ref>http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/sources/clari4.htm</ref>

====Geoffroi de Charney====
Geoffroi de Charney was a French knight, the Preceptor of Normandy for the [[Knights Templar]], who was executed by burning at the stake in 1314. His crimes are disputed, but during that time there was a backlash directed against the Templars; the King of France apparently either feared the power they wielded, or coveted their hidden wealth. But to march against them it was necessary to have the Pope (Clement V) declare them heretics, based on their alleged worship of a "bearded head"; in one account (1287), a French applicant named Arnaut Sabbatier was taken in to a "a secret place to which only the brothers of the Temple had access" where he was instructed to venerate the image of a man on a long linen cloth.<ref>http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6040521.ece</ref>

Little is known of Geoffroi de Charney. He participated in the sack of Constantinople in 1204, and may have been a witness with Robert de Clari when he first saw the shroud at the Blachernae Church. He certainly could have been well-placed to have taken the Shroud back to France for veneration. On March 19, 1314, he was burned at the stake, along with the leader of his order.<ref>141.—Stemler, Contingent zur Geschichte der Tcmplcr, pp. 20-1.—Raynouard,pp. 213-4, 233-5.—Wilcke, II. 236, 240.—Anton, Vcrsuch, p. 142</ref><ref>A History of the Inquisition of the Middle ages, Vol III by Henry Charles Lea, NY: Hamper & Bros, Franklin Sq. 1888 p.324. Not in copyright. </ref>

===Second Period: 1349 to present===
In 1389 the French Bishop of Troyes, Pierre D'Arcis, wrote a letter to the Pope (Antipope Clement VII) detailing his complaints of a shroud "...upon which the whole likeness of the Saviour had remained thus impressed together with the wounds which He bore" was being exhibited at nearby Lirey; he further stated to the Pope of his belief that the shroud was a fraud, having found "[a man] procured for his church a certain cloth cunningly painted, upon which by a clever sleight of hand was depicted the twofold image of one man… falsely declaring and pretending that this was the actual shroud in which our Savior Jesus Christ was enfolded in the tomb." D'Arcis' predecessor, Henri de Poitiers, likewise was in a similar situation 35 years before, but did not launch an investigation into the matter; in his time he had concerns that the knight Geoffrey de Charny - who had just built the church at Lirey - was passing the relic off as the real shroud of the Lord. Whether or not de Charny was questioned about it is conjecture; he was killed in the Battle of Poitiers in 1356. Also undetermined is his relationship with the earlier Templar knight. But the one thing that is certain is de Charny is the first documented owner of the Shroud.

His church at Lirey continued to exhibit the Shroud despite Bishop D'Arsis and those within the Church demanding that it cease displaying a "false relic," as they claimed. The Church would eventually - grudgingly - allow the exhibitions to continue, provided that they billed the cloth as a "representation" of Christ, and not the true burial shroud. A century after his death the Shroud was sold to the Savoy family of Italy, who had it brought to Turin where it resided ever since.<ref>http://www.shroudofturin4journalists.com/geoffrey.htm</ref> It was willed in the late 20th century to the [[Roman Catholic Church]], which has never taken a position for or against its authenticity.

== Dating the Shroud ==
Raymond N. Rogers, a retired [[chemist]] from the [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]] in [[New Mexico]], studied the Shroud and declared, "The chemistry says it was a real shroud, the blood spots on it are real blood, and the technology that was used to make that piece of cloth was exactly what Pliny the Elder reported from his time," about A.D. 70. "It's a shroud from the right time, but you're never going to find out (through science) if it was used on a person named [[Jesus]]," Rogers said.<ref>http://bibleprobe.com/</ref>

In 1988, [[carbon dating]] of a small snippet of the Shroud was performed, but the "C-14 results of the three labs falls outside the bounds of the Pearson's chi-square test," illustrating a flaw in the dating that was likely due to a repair seam that ran diagonally "through the area from which the sample was taken."<ref>http://www.juliantrubin.com/encyclopedia/bible/shroud_of_turin.html</ref> A peer-reviewed scientific paper later demonstrated the invalidity of those results, suggesting instead that the Shroud is between 1,300 and 3,000 years old,<ref>Rogers, Raymond N., "Studies on the radiocarbon sample from the Shroud of Turin". Thermochimica Acta, Volume 425 Issue 1–2, pp. 189-194 (Jan. 20, 2005)[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6THV-4DTBVHC-1&_user=10&_handle=B-WA-A-W-WE-MsSAYWA-UUA-AAUYYDZUYC-AAUZVCZYYC-YZEWAVVVC-WE-U&_fmt=full&_coverDate=01%2F20%2F2005&_rdoc=26&_orig=browse&_srch=%23toc%235292%232005%23995749998%23553672!&_cdi=5292&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=3d89246a5d4144616be7657f0d83b6cf]</ref><ref>Mark Antonacci "Resurrection of the Shroud: New Scientific, Medical, and Archeological Evidence"</ref> disproving the 1988 results that claimed that the Shroud originated between A.D. 1238 and 1430.

Indeed, the sample for the 1988 analysis had actually been taken from cloth woven into the Shroud during the [[Middle Ages]], thereby giving a false result.<ref>[http://www.shroudcentersocal.com/]</ref> Moreover, "the 12th Century Hungarian 'Pray Manuscript' come to depict Jesus being wrapped in the shroud - with authentic herringbone pattern and burn marks - 100 years before carbon-dating says the material originated."<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3624753.stm]</ref>

The defect in the carbon dating was that the samples were "uniquely coated with a yellow–brown [[plant]] gum containing dye lakes. [[Pyrolysis-mass-spectrometry]] results from the sample area coupled with microscopic and microchemical observations prove that the radiocarbon sample was not part of the original cloth of the Shroud of Turin." Instead, [e]stimates of the kinetics constants for the loss of vanillin from lignin indicate a much older age for the cloth than the radiocarbon analyses."<ref>[http://bibleprobe.com/]</ref>

== The Lamb ==
According to a paper by Dr. Petrus Soons scientific research of some of the photographs of the shroud show an oval object under the beard of the image. After much research three cursive letters were identified and translated from the Hebrew. The meaning of the translation was, "The Lamb," a name in which Jesus was referred to in the New Testament.<ref>Dr. Soons Paper [http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache%3ACtDFWbA8AfIJ%3Awww.ohioshroudconference.com%2Fpapers%2Fp24.pdf+THE+SHROUD+OF+TURIN%2C+THE+HOLOGRAPHIC+EXPERIENCE+By+DR.+PETRUS+SOONS&hl=en&gl=us]</ref> This finding now makes the person on the shroud exclusively identified with Christ.

== Critics ==

Many of the arguments by modern skeptics against the authenticity of the Shroud have been debunked and disproven. For example, some claimed that a misspelling on one of the coins over an eye could not be authentic, but in fact otseveral other coins having the same misspelling have since been found.<ref name="Coins"/>

Over the centuries there have been critics and doubters of the Shroud being the authentic burial cloth of Jesus. One of the earliest unbelievers was Pierre d'Arcis, Bishop of Troyes who wrote a scathing letter to the pope in 1389 claiming that the Shroud was a "cunning" painting and that the artist had been discovered.<ref>The Shroud, Ian Wilson, 2010, page 102.</ref> An enemy of the Catholic Church, [[John Calvin]], repeatedly ranted against relics and he wrote against the Shroud in 1543:

:''"How is it possible that those sacred historians, who carefully related all the miracles that took place at Christ's death, should have omitted to mention one so remarkable as the likeness of the body of our Lord remaining on its wrapping sheet? This fact undoubtedly deserved to be recorded. St John, in his Gospel, relates even how St Peter, having entered the sepulchre, saw the linen clothes lying on one side, and the napkin that was about his head on the other; but he does not say that there was a miraculous impression of our Lord's figure upon these clothes, and it is not to be imagined that he would have omitted to mention such a work of God if there had been any thing of this kind."''<ref>[[John Calvin]]: ''Traité des Reliques'', Geneve 1543, translated by '''Valerian Krasinski''': ''A treatise on Relics'', Edingburgh 1854</ref>

The flaw in Calvin's argument, of course, is that the disciples had no reason to study the Shroud at the time, and no access to modern photographic equipment; they had far greater concerns during the chaotic period after Christ's Resurrection.

Another critic was the scientist [[Walter McCrone]] (1906-2002), who insisted that it was a painting; this possibility has been thoroughly disproven.<ref>[http://www.shroud.com/piczek.htm Disproof that the Shroud is a painting, as explained by a professional artist]</ref>

== Replication ==
Luigi Garlaschelli, professor of organic chemistry at the University of Pavia, announced that he had made a full size reproduction of the Shroud of Turin using only medieval technologies on October 5th, 2009. Garlaschelli placed a linen sheet over a volunteer and then rubbed it with an acidic pigment. The shroud was then aged in an oven before being washed to remove the pigment. He then added blood stains, scorches and water stains to replicate the original. The image on the reproduction would closely match that of the Turin Shroud with differences explained as the result of natural fading over the centuries.<ref>Italian scientist reproduces Shroud of Turin [http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5943HL20091005]</ref> But according to noted sindonologist Giulio Fanti, "the image in discussion does not match the main fundamental properties of the Shroud image, in particular at thread and fiber level but also at macroscopic level."<ref>[http://www.acheiropoietos.info/abstracts/talks-image_formation.html]</ref> Further criticism of Garlaschelli's replica has come from shroud scholars Peter Soons <ref>[http://shroudofturin.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/why-the-italian-fake-does-not-reproduce-the-shroud-of-turin/]</ref> and Thibault Heimburger.<ref>[http://www.shroud.com/pdfs/thibault-lg.pdf]</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Sources ==
*[http://www.shroud.com/pdfs/guscin3.pdf Sermon of Gregory Referendarius, Archdeacon of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, August, 944]
*[http://www.shroudstory.com/shroud-of-turin-picture-01.htm Amazing Details about the Shroud]
*[http://www.shroud.com/faq.htm FAQs about the Shroud]

[[Category:Christianity]]

Crash of 1929

2013-03-08T23:23:34Z

Ty: Redirected page to Stock market crash of 1929

#REDIRECT [[Stock market crash of 1929]]

Kim Il-Sung

2013-03-07T22:58:55Z

Ty: Redirected page to Kim Il-sung

#REDIRECT [[Kim Il-sung]]

Hugo Chavez

2013-03-07T22:58:37Z

Ty: /* 2011-2012 Health Crisis and subsequent cover-up and Constitutional Crisis */ Chavez's body embalmed, to be permanently on display

{{Dictator bio
| image =[[Image:chavez.jpg|200px]]
| name =Hugo Chavez
| birth =July 28, 1954 Sabaneta, Venezuela
| parents =Hugo de los Reyes Chávez Elena Frías de Chávez
| religion =Roman Catholic
| education =Daniel Florencio O'Leary High School, Barinas Venezuelan Academy of Military Sciences, Caracas
| spouse =Nancy Colmenares (div.) Marisabel Rodríguez (div.)
| children =Rosa Virginia María Gabriela Hugo Rafael Rosinés (with Marisabel)
| death = circa Dec. 11, 2012 (denied by the [[lamestream media]] until Mar. 5, 2013)
| deathmanner = illness in a Cuban hospital
| burial =
| country =[[Venezuela]]
| military =Venezuelan army
| rank =Lieutenant colonel
| polbeliefs =[[Socialism]] [[Communism]]
| party =Fifth Republic Movement United Socialist Party
| dictatordate =November 2000
| war =n/a
| deathnumber =n/a
}}
'''Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías''' (b. July 28, 1954 - d. circa Dec. 11, 2012) <ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-21476917 (obviously staged photo)</ref> was the repressive [[leftist]] [[tyrant]] of the Bolivarian Republic of [[Venezuela]] from 1999 to 2012. Chavez was not seen in public since he entered a Cuban hospital near death on December 11, 2012. Venezuela's [[communist]] regime engaged in [[liberal denial]] about his death for nearly three months, even releasing a photo of an ostensibly fit and smiling Chavez. But on March 5, 2013, likely due to pressure from other nations that knew Chavez had died, Venezuelan [[communist]]s finally admitted Chavez was dead <ref>[http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/05/hugo-chavez-dead-at-58-good-riddance.html "Hugo Chavez dead at 58] "How little we know about the manner in which - or when - he died"]</ref> .

A self-proclaimed [[socialist]] and [[collectivist]], his disastrous economic policies led to food shortages, quotas, and rationing in his oil-rich country, causing thousands to flee.<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/venezuela/4938993/Venezuelas-Hugo-Chavez-tightens-state-control-of-food-amid-rocketing-inflation-and-food-shortages.html</ref>
Chávez assumed power as President in 1999 and pledged to aid Venezuela's poor majority.
Fraudulent elections were held in 2000 and in 2006, allowing Chavez to retain his [[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]] power. As such it would be accurate to describe him as a [[dictator]].

*{{Venezuela blunder}}

Due to an illness, in early April 2012 "Hugo Chavez weeps and calls on [[God]] to spare his life."<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/venezuela/9189962/Hugo-Chavez-weeps-and-calls-on-God-to-spare-his-life.html</ref> That contrasts with Jesus's request in his time of crisis, when [[Jesus]] prayed, "O Father, if You can, let this cup pass from Me. But ''don't do what I want, but rather what You want''."<ref>[[Matthew 20-28 (Translated)#26:39|Matthew 26:39]].</ref>

Despite knowing full well that he was dying of cancer and had only a few months to live, Chavez selfishly chose to run for reelection and plunge his country into chaos and turmoil instead of organizing a more orderly transfer of power to one of his Communist cronies. On 7 October 2012, a terminally ill Chávez won election as president for a fourth time, defeating Henrique Capriles, and would have served another six years until 2019 if he had remained alive.<ref>http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/08/venezuela-election-idUSL1E8L70WK20121008</ref>

==Election fraud==
Steven F. Hayward wrote:
* While exit polls conducted by the very reliable American firm of Penn, Schoen, and Berland showed Chavez losing by a large margin (41 to 59), the official results put Chavez free and clear by a vote of 58 to 41 percent.<ref>[http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=5A8D0094-4590-4DFB-A7F0-C2E06A6820FB]</ref>

A 26 February 2003 report by Robert Tracinski obliterates the left-wing mythology around Chavez:
<blockquote>
: '''Step one''': Chavez has initiated formal proceedings to revoke the licenses of independent, privately owned television and radio stations. Meanwhile, his political militias, the Bolivarian Circles, have staged violent attacks on independent media outlets. After all, elections don't mean much if all people watch is propaganda on state-run television.

: '''Step two''': Chavez has used a moratorium on currency conversion--needed to pay for imported goods--to punish his opponents. Vowing "no dollars for coup-mongers," he has used this power, for example, to prevent opposition newspapers from importing ink. After all, elections don't mean much if your opponents are too busy worrying where their next meal is coming from.

: '''Step three''': Venezuelan police acting on Chavez's orders have arrested Carlos Fernandez, the head of Venezuela's largest business federation and a leader of the recent anti-Chavez strike, charging him with rebellion and sabotage. Another strike leader, Carlos Ortega, head of Venezuela's largest labor union, has gone into hiding. In one move, Chavez has neutralized two potential rivals for the presidency. After all, elections don't mean much if all of the other candidates are in jail.

: '''Step four''': Last week, four protesters were kidnapped while returning from an anti-Chavez rally. They were blindfolded, tortured, and shot execution-style. Some of the victims were witnesses to a previous pro-Chavez political killing, and they had planned to testify against the shooter. Consider the message sent to the opposition when the mutilated bodies of their friends start showing up in the city streets. After all, elections don't mean much if your opponents are afraid to leave their houses and walk to the polls.

: '''Step five''': A few days ago, Chavez delivered a speech denouncing Spain, Colombia, and the US for interfering in Venezuela. This morning in Caracas, the diplomatic missions of Spain and Colombia were bombed. Credit was claimed by a splinter pro-Chavez group--but this was not a bunch of kids cooking up homemade bombs in their basement. The bombs were powerful plastic explosives, the kind of weapons that are difficult to obtain without government complicity.<ref>http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/world/americas/2514-dictatorship-by-the-numbers-in-venezuela.html {{dead link}}</ref>
</blockquote>

$4 billion dollars were spent paying paramilitary groups to attack unarmed protestors and other dissidents during and after the elections.<ref>http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/world/americas/2968-venezuela-a-new-junket-for-a-dictator-s-best-friend-jimmy-carter.html</ref>

The [[European Union]] condemned the conditions placed on election monitors as unacceptable and declined to attend. The Carter Center was shut out for three days. Experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University have identified signs of fraud based on statistical analysis.<ref>http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/world/americas/3924-the-carter-stamp-of-approval-on-the-venueuzlan-election-less-than-worthless.html</ref>

==Human rights concerns==
Hugo Chávez was a great friend of the tyrannical [[Cuban]] despot [[Fidel Castro]] and is said to have drawn his political style through influences such as [[Che Guevara]], [[Karl Marx]] and [[Simon Bolivar]]. The U.S. State Department ''Report on Global Anti-Semitism'' cited Chavez in August 2004 warning citizens against following the lead of Jewish citizens in the effort to overturn his referendum victory.<ref>[http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/40258.htm Report on Global Anti-Semitism] U. S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, [[Human Rights]], and Labor, January 5, 2005. </ref> Chavez also embraced a number of world leaders that have hostile relations with the United States, including Holocaust-denier [[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]], the President of [[Iran]], who Chavez has referred to as "my brother".<ref>[http://english.eluniversal.com/2006/07/31/en_pol_art_31A756133.shtml Chávez decorated in Iran; initials cooperation pacts]</ref> U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives [[Nancy Pelosi]] said of Chavez, "Hugo Chavez fancies himself a modern-day [[Simon Bolivar]], but all he is is an everyday thug."<ref>[http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/pruden092206.php3 Back to the old days, if only for a minute], Wesley Pruden, ''Jewish World Review'', Sept. 22, 2006.</ref> He was also considered to be an ally of [[leftist]] [[Ecuador|Ecuadorian]] president [[Rafael Correa]], [[Bolivia|Bolivian]] president [[Evo Morales]] and the president of [[Nicaragua]], [[Daniel Ortega]] ... all radical leftists.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6187364.stm Correa]</ref>

In May 2007, Chavez silenced the only remaining opposition television station critical of his repression by revoking its licence.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/venezuela/story/0,,2085952,00.html Chávez silences critical TV station], Rory Carroll, ''The Guardian'', May 23, 2007.</ref> Crowds of students demonstrated saying they feared for the future of human rights in Venezuala. National Guard troops were ordered to fire [[tear gas]] and [[rubber bullets]]. Two students were injured, a third was hit with a tear gas canister, and about 20 people needed emergency medical attention for inhaling tear gas. <ref>[http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/05/28/ap3763178.html Troops Fire Upon Protesters in Venezuela], Fabiola Sanchez, Associated Press, 05.28.07. Retrieved from Forbes.com 05/31/07. </ref> Chavez employs discrimination against [[migrant workers]] in the country.<ref>http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/world/americas/3924-the-carter-stamp-of-approval-on-the-venueuzlan-election-less-than-worthless.html</ref>

Chavez said, “I am going to go after those who resist the revolution and eliminate them one by one.”<ref>[http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2007/jul/07/guest_commentary_we_must_help_venezuela_because_fr/ Because Freedom Matters], By U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV and Blanquita Cullm, ''Naples Daily News'', July 7, 2007.</ref>

===Trafficking in Persons===
Venezuela under Chavez was on the U.S. State Department’s Tier 3 list for [[trafficking in persons]] since 2004, which means that the government was categorized as one that has failed to make significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons. The State Department’s June 2007 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report maintains that Venezuela is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children trafficked for [[sexual exploitation]] and [[forced labor]].<ref>U.S. Department of State, [http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2007/ Trafficking in Persons Report], June 12, 2007, p. 207.</ref>

==Relations with US==
[[File:Chavez Obama.jpg|thumb|At the Fifth Summit of the Americas.]]
Foreign relations between the [[United States of America]] and [[Venezuela]] are presently unstable. Chavez often criticized the United States for its 'imperialism' on his radio segment 'Alo Presidente', and alleged the United States's supported a 2002 coup in Venezuela which toppled Chávez momentarily and later removed by Chávez supporters, also known as 'Chávistas'. Venezuela is heavily dependent upon trade revenue from oil sales to the United States. Chavez has founded [[Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas|ALBA]] an international organization of leftist countries on the [[Caribic]]s and Southern America. Chavez said that the ALCA is a "instrument of imperialism".

===Terrorism===
In May 2006, the State Department determined that, pursuant to Section 40A of the [[Arms Export Control Act]], Venezuela was not fully cooperating with U.S. [[antiterrorism]] efforts. This triggered a prohibition on the sale or license of defense articles and services to Venezuela. Other countries on the Section 40A list include [[Cuba]], [[Iran]], [[North Korea]], and [[Syria]], not to be confused with the "state sponsors of
terrorism" list under Section 6(j) of the Export Administration Act of 1979, which currently includes Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria. The State Department asserted that the Section 40A determination was based on Venezuela’s near lack of antiterrorism cooperation over the last year, citing its support for Iraqi insurgents and Iran’s development of nuclear capabilities, the country’s status as a safe haven for Colombian and Basque terrorist groups, and its effort to derail hemispheric efforts to advance counter-terrorism policies in the OAS. In May 2007, the State Department again included Venezuela in its annual Section 40A determination that it was not cooperating fully with U.S. antiterrorism efforts.

In late April 2007, the State Department issued its annual Country Reports on Terrorism, which asserted that President Chávez "persisted in public criticism of U.S. counterterrorism efforts, deepened Venezuelan relationships with Iran and Cuba, and was unwilling to prevent Venezuelan territory from being used as a safe haven" by Colombian terrorist groups.

There have been long-held suspicions that Chávez has supported leftist Colombian guerrillas, although Chávez denies such support. The State Department’s terrorism report maintains that units of Colombia’s two leftist terrorist groups — the [[Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia]] (FARC) and the [[National Liberation Army]] (ELN) — often crossed into Venezuela "to rest and regroup with relative impunity."

In addition, according to the report, splinter groups of the FARC and a rightist terrorist group, the [[AUC|United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia]] (AUC) reportedly operate in various parts of the country and are involved in drug trafficking. The report maintained, however, that "it remained unclear to what extent the Venezuelan
Government provided material support to Colombian terrorists."

In addition, according to the report, Venezuelan citizenship, identity, and travel documents remained easy to obtain, making the country a potentially attractive waystation for terrorists. In July 13, 2006, congressional testimony, the State Department’s Principal Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Frank Urbancic, asserted that the United States was detaining increasing numbers of third-country aliens at its borders carrying falsified or fraudulently issued Venezuelan documents. U.S. officials also have expressed concerns about President Chávez’s close relationship with Cuba’s Fidel Castro, but Chávez defends his relationship with Cuba. Overall Venezuelan support to Cuba is estimated to be more than $2 billion a year.<ref>Frances Robles and Phil Gunson, ''Cuba Spotlights Chávez Friendship,'' Miami Herald, January 26, 2007.</ref> Venezuela supplies some 90,000 barrels of oil per day to Cuba on a concessionary basis under PetroCaribe. In return, Venezuela has received support from thousands of Cuban health care workers and sports instructors in the country.

During an April 2005 trip to Cuba, Presidents Chávez and Castro announced commercial deals worth over $400 million, including a joint shipyard to build small navy ships and a joint housing construction company. In January 2007, a delegation of Cuban officials visited Caracas and signed a number of agreements to increase economic linkages, including an agreement for joint oil exploration in both countries.

PdVSA is also involved in refurbishing an unfinished oil refinery in Cienfuegos, Cuba. Beyond Latin America, the Bush Administration has expressed concerns with Venezuela’s growing relations with Iran. In February 2006, Secretary of State Rice referred to Venezuela, along with Cuba, as “sidekicks” of Iran in reference to those countries’ votes in the International Atomic Energy Agency against reporting Iran to the U.N. Security Council over its uranium enrichment program.<ref>Pablo Bachelet, “Rice Bashes Venezuelan Leader, Politics,” Miami Herald, February 17, 2006; House International Relations Committee, Hearing on the Fiscal Year 2007
International Affairs Budget, Testimony of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, February
16, 2006.</ref> In testimony before the Senate Select Intelligence Committee in February 2006, Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte expressed concern that President Chávez "is seeking closer economic, military, and diplomatic ties with Iran and North Korea."<ref>Senate Select Intelligence Committee, Hearing on World Wide Threats, Testimony of Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, February 2, 2006.</ref> ran and Venezuela signed an agreement for a $200 million fund to finance joint investment and social projects, and commercial agreements in the early stages include plans for a cement factory, oil exploration in the Orinoco River belt, and a joint operation to build oil and liquid natural gas tankers.<ref>Steven Dudley, "Chávez’s Wooing of Iran Called Troubling," Miami Herald, March 2, 2006.</ref> During a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Venezuela in mid-January 2007, the two countries announced they would use a $2 billion investment fund to finance projects in both countries and other countries as well.<ref>Simon Romero, ''Iranian President Visits Venezuela to Strengthen Ties,'' New York Times, January 14, 2007.</ref>

Some Members of Congress have expressed concerns about relations between Venezuela and Iran. In the 110th Congress, H.Res. 435 (Klein) would, among its provisions, express concern over national security implications of the relationship between the leaders of Iran and Venezuela.

According to the ''Washington Post'' Chavez was accused of supplying weapons to Colombian rebels, of financing Bolivian and Ecuadorian groups seeking to establish "Marxist" states, and of being, with Cuban leader Fidel Castro's guidance, a "[[subversion (political)|subversive]]" everywhere else in the region.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/25/AR2005082501420.html?nav=rss_world/centralamerica ''Dealing With the Good and Bad Hugo Chavez''], Marcela Sanchez The Washington Post 25 August 2005.</ref>

==Expropriation==
[[Image:Hugo-chavez8.jpg|left|175px|thumb|Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez with Fidel Castro.]]

In typical socialist rhetoric, Chavez made wild claims to fund the government by nationalizing foreign assets. Typical reasons included accusing companies of environmental damage and exploiting its workers. In 2010 alone, Chavez seized 195 companies. <ref>[http://english.eluniversal.com/2010/10/20/en_eco_art_a-total-of-195-busin_20A4631291.shtml A total of 195 businesses has been seized in 2010, El Universal, October 20, 2010]</ref> Spanish-owned farm supply and U.S.-based Ohio bottle company were recently taken over. Other recognized multi-national companies such ExxonMobil, steel maker Sidor, cement company CEMEX fell to the same fate. <ref>[http://wellsy.wordpress.com/2010/10/26/chavez-takes-over-venezuelan-plants-of-oh-company/ Chavez takes over Venezuelan plants of OH company, Wellsy's World, October 26, 2010]</ref> Venezuala is supposed to compensate the companies but nobody expects Chavez to provide other than peanuts for assets he steals.

Through Venezuela's state owned petroleum industry and membership in [[OPEC]], Chávez used powers granted to him by Parliament to increase oil prices, adding revenue for the Bolivarianist projects. Countries such as the United States have criticized Chávez for the increase in cost for crude oil. Chavez was at the forefront of wanting to set crude oil prices at $60 a barrel minimum, according to the ''Asia Times''<ref>[http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/HL07Dj01.html ''Bush, OPEC and Chavez of Arabia''], Pepe Escobar, Asia Times, 7 December 2006.</ref> The state owned oil company PDVSA is estimated to have spent in excess of $120 million dollars sponsoring the [[Formula 1]] team, Willaims F1, so that they would give the Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado a seat.

==Anti-semitism==
Chavez is known to be fiercely [[Anti-semitism|anti-semitic]]<ref>http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/hugo-ch-vez-s-jewish-problem-11455
</ref>, which is the likely reason for his friendship and political alliance with Iranian dictator and [[Holocaust denial|holocaust denier]] [[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]]<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/04/AR2008020402428.html
</ref>. As a result of the anti-semitic policies of the Chavez regime and the wave of violent attacks on Venezuelan Jews that it has caused, the [[Jewish]] population of Venezuela has decreased by more than 50 percent since Chavez came to power.<ref>http://www.worldjewishdaily.com/venezuela.php</ref>

==Drug trafficking==
The ''Associated Press'' reported in July 2007 that since Chavez's ascension to power, illegal narcotics passing through Venezuela from [[Colombia]] has risen by as much as 30 tons a year and now accounts for roughly a third of the world's supply of [[cocaine]]. Mildred Camero who was in charge of Venezuela's anti-drug efforts stated, "[[Caracas]] is replacing [[Bogota]] as a center of everything related to drug operations." Camero was fired in 2005 after reporting high-level corruption. <ref>[http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/07/01/ap3875048.html Venezuela Becomes Cocaine Conduit], By Ian James and Frank Bajak, ''Associated Press'', 1 July 2007. Retrieved from Forbes.com 8 July 2007.</ref>

In 2008 Chavez revealed that he himself regularly chews coca leafs, the leafs from which cocaine is made.<ref>[http://uk.reuters.com/article/2008/01/26/uk-venezuela-chavez-coca-idUKN2638848320080126 Venezuela's Chavez swaps coffee for coca in speech - Reuters]</ref> This revelation casts serious doubts about his ability to function properly as a head of state and reach sound judgements.

==Religious==
Chavez demanded that [[Pope Benedict]] apologize for saying the Roman Catholic Church purified Indians in Latin America. Chavez called the treatment of Indians after [[Christopher Columbus]] landed in 1492 a "holocaust".<ref>[http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN1819661120070519 Chavez demands Pope apologize for Indian comments], Reuters, May 19, 2007</ref>

==2011-2012 Health Crisis and subsequent cover-up and Constitutional Crisis==

On June 30th, 2011, the 56 year-old President admitted, in a televised speech, of having cancer.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13991906]</ref> He sought medical treatments in communist Cuba instead of choosing the much better hospitals and doctors of Brazil, the United States or Europe, because of the deeply rooted leftist myth according to which Cuban medicine is the best in the world, and because only a murderous dictatorship like the Cuban Communist regime could impose the level of secrecy Chavez needed to keep the Venezuelans in the dark about how terminally ill he really was.

Despite knowing full well that he was dying of cancer and had only a few months to live, Chavez selfishly chose to run for reelection and plunge his country into chaos and turmoil instead of organizing a more orderly transfer of power to one of his Communist cronies. On 7 October 2012, a terminally ill Chávez won election as president for a fourth time, defeating Henrique Capriles.<ref>http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/08/venezuela-election-idUSL1E8L70WK20121008</ref>

Chavez was not seen since 11 December 2012, the last time he appeared in public. He must have died shortly afterwards. However, the Cuban and Venezuelan communists attempted to keep his death secret, and pretended he was alive for another two and a half months, going as far as using his [[Twitter]] account to post fake messages from a supposedly recovering Chavez.

Chavez should have taken the oath of office on January the 10th, the necessary step to asume the presidency for his new period. However, Venezuela's Supreme Court ignored the provisions of the Venezuelan Constitution (reformed by Chavez himself in 1999) and allowed Chavez to become president without taking the oath of office, thus doing away with any remaining semblance of constitutional government.

On February, the 18th it was announced that Chavez had returned to Venezuela to finish his recovery.<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/02/18/president-chavez-returns-to-venezuela-from-cuba-after-months-medical-treatment/</ref> The Venezuelan vice-president Nicolás Maduro said that Chavez had been flown in secrecy from [[Havana]] to [[Caracas]] in the early hours of the morning to avoid possible attacks from his enemies. The two top floors of Caracas' Military Hospital were sealed from the public, with Chavez supposedly recovering in the 8th floor and the 7th floor closed to guarantee his security. On March the 5th the Venezuelan ''de facto'' government finally ended the charade and announced that Chavez had died, suggesting also that his cancer and death had been the result of an assessination plot by "the historical enemies of the Fatherland" (referring to the United States and the Venezuelan democratic opposition). On March 7th, Venezuelan vice-president announced that Chavez's body will be embalmed and put on permanent display inside a glass tomb, thus immitating the treatment given to the corpses of other Communist dictators like [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]], [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]], [[Klement Gottwald]], [[Georgi Dimitrov]], [[Mao Zedong]], [[Ho Chi Minh]], [[Kim Il-Sung]] and [[Kim Jong-Il]].<ref>FOX News: [http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/03/07/chavez-body-embalmed-to-be-permanently-on-display/ Chavez's body embalmed, to be permanently on display] (March 7, 2013)</ref>

==Quotes==
*On closure of RCTV, claiming the network's broadcasts amounted to a "permanent attack on public morals" with cartoons that were "poisoned with hatred, violence and even sex."

*"Private banks have to give priority to financing the industrial sectors of Venezuela at low cost...If banks don't agree with this, it's better that they go, that they turn over the banks to me."

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

==See Also==
[[Previous Breaking News/Hugo Chavez|Articles about '''Hugo Chavez''' from previous "Breaking News"]]
* [[Kim Jong Il]]
* [[Idi Amin Dada]]

==Further reading==
*[http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/] An in depth view on Venezuela under Hugo Chávez.
*[http://www.latinbusinesschronicle.com/app/article.aspx?id=706] An overview of articles on Venezuela's business under Hugo Chávez.
*[http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-2_24_06_AVL.html ''Why The Left Should Cringe at The Mention of Hugo Chavez''], Alvaro Vargas Llosa, Independent Institute, February 24, 2006.
*[http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_kmnew/is_200108/ai_kepm313968 ''Bolivar, Dictator or Paladin?''] Interview: Hugo Chavez talks about Venezuela, Maria Amparo Lasso, Newsweek, Aug 20, 2001.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chavez, Hugo}}
[[Category:Venezuela]]
[[Category:Dictators]]
[[Category:Lunatics]]
[[Category:Anti-Semitism]]
[[Category:Socialists]]

Hugo Chavez

2013-03-06T17:36:13Z

Ty: /* 2011 Health Crisis */

{{Dictator bio
| image =[[Image:chavez.jpg|200px]]
| name =Hugo Chavez
| birth =July 28, 1954 Sabaneta, Venezuela
| parents =Hugo de los Reyes Chávez Elena Frías de Chávez
| religion =Roman Catholic
| education =Daniel Florencio O'Leary High School, Barinas Venezuelan Academy of Military Sciences, Caracas
| spouse =Nancy Colmenares (div.) Marisabel Rodríguez (div.)
| children =Rosa Virginia María Gabriela Hugo Rafael Rosinés (with Marisabel)
| death = circa Dec. 11, 2012 (denied by the [[lamestream media]] until Mar. 5, 2013)
| deathmanner = illness in a Cuban hospital
| burial =
| country =[[Venezuela]]
| military =Venezuelan army
| rank =Lieutenant colonel
| polbeliefs =[[Socialism]] [[Communism]]
| party =Fifth Republic Movement United Socialist Party
| dictatordate =November 2000
| war =n/a
| deathnumber =n/a
}}
'''Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías''' (b. July 28, 1954 - d. circa Dec. 11, 2012) <ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-21476917 (obviously staged photo)</ref> was the repressive [[leftist]] [[tyrant]] of the Bolivarian Republic of [[Venezuela]] from 1999 to 2012. Chavez was not seen in public since he entered a Cuban hospital near death on December 11, 2012. Venezuela's [[communist]] regime engaged in [[liberal denial]] about his death for nearly three months, even releasing a photo of an ostensibly fit and smiling Chavez. But on March 5, 2013, likely due to pressure from other nations that knew Chavez had died, Venezuelan [[communist]]s finally admitted Chavez was dead <ref>[http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/05/hugo-chavez-dead-at-58-good-riddance.html "Hugo Chavez dead at 58] "How little we know about the manner in which - or when - he died"]</ref> .

A self-proclaimed [[socialist]] and [[collectivist]], his disastrous economic policies led to food shortages, quotas, and rationing in his oil-rich country, causing thousands to flee.<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/venezuela/4938993/Venezuelas-Hugo-Chavez-tightens-state-control-of-food-amid-rocketing-inflation-and-food-shortages.html</ref>
Chávez assumed power as President in 1999 and pledged to aid Venezuela's poor majority.
Fraudulent elections were held in 2000 and in 2006, allowing Chavez to retain his [[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]] power. As such it would be accurate to describe him as a [[dictator]].

*{{Venezuela blunder}}

Due to an illness, in early April 2012 "Hugo Chavez weeps and calls on [[God]] to spare his life."<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/venezuela/9189962/Hugo-Chavez-weeps-and-calls-on-God-to-spare-his-life.html</ref> That contrasts with Jesus's request in his time of crisis, when [[Jesus]] prayed, "O Father, if You can, let this cup pass from Me. But ''don't do what I want, but rather what You want''."<ref>[[Matthew 20-28 (Translated)#26:39|Matthew 26:39]].</ref>

Despite knowing full well that he was dying of cancer and had only a few months to live, Chavez selfishly chose to run for reelection and plunge his country into chaos and turmoil instead of organizing a more orderly transfer of power to one of his Communist cronies. On 7 October 2012, a terminally ill Chávez won election as president for a fourth time, defeating Henrique Capriles, and would have served another six years until 2019 if he had remained alive.<ref>http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/08/venezuela-election-idUSL1E8L70WK20121008</ref>

==Election fraud==
Steven F. Hayward wrote:
* While exit polls conducted by the very reliable American firm of Penn, Schoen, and Berland showed Chavez losing by a large margin (41 to 59), the official results put Chavez free and clear by a vote of 58 to 41 percent.<ref>[http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=5A8D0094-4590-4DFB-A7F0-C2E06A6820FB]</ref>

A 26 February 2003 report by Robert Tracinski obliterates the left-wing mythology around Chavez:
<blockquote>
: '''Step one''': Chavez has initiated formal proceedings to revoke the licenses of independent, privately owned television and radio stations. Meanwhile, his political militias, the Bolivarian Circles, have staged violent attacks on independent media outlets. After all, elections don't mean much if all people watch is propaganda on state-run television.

: '''Step two''': Chavez has used a moratorium on currency conversion--needed to pay for imported goods--to punish his opponents. Vowing "no dollars for coup-mongers," he has used this power, for example, to prevent opposition newspapers from importing ink. After all, elections don't mean much if your opponents are too busy worrying where their next meal is coming from.

: '''Step three''': Venezuelan police acting on Chavez's orders have arrested Carlos Fernandez, the head of Venezuela's largest business federation and a leader of the recent anti-Chavez strike, charging him with rebellion and sabotage. Another strike leader, Carlos Ortega, head of Venezuela's largest labor union, has gone into hiding. In one move, Chavez has neutralized two potential rivals for the presidency. After all, elections don't mean much if all of the other candidates are in jail.

: '''Step four''': Last week, four protesters were kidnapped while returning from an anti-Chavez rally. They were blindfolded, tortured, and shot execution-style. Some of the victims were witnesses to a previous pro-Chavez political killing, and they had planned to testify against the shooter. Consider the message sent to the opposition when the mutilated bodies of their friends start showing up in the city streets. After all, elections don't mean much if your opponents are afraid to leave their houses and walk to the polls.

: '''Step five''': A few days ago, Chavez delivered a speech denouncing Spain, Colombia, and the US for interfering in Venezuela. This morning in Caracas, the diplomatic missions of Spain and Colombia were bombed. Credit was claimed by a splinter pro-Chavez group--but this was not a bunch of kids cooking up homemade bombs in their basement. The bombs were powerful plastic explosives, the kind of weapons that are difficult to obtain without government complicity.<ref>http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/world/americas/2514-dictatorship-by-the-numbers-in-venezuela.html {{dead link}}</ref>
</blockquote>

$4 billion dollars were spent paying paramilitary groups to attack unarmed protestors and other dissidents during and after the elections.<ref>http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/world/americas/2968-venezuela-a-new-junket-for-a-dictator-s-best-friend-jimmy-carter.html</ref>

The [[European Union]] condemned the conditions placed on election monitors as unacceptable and declined to attend. The Carter Center was shut out for three days. Experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University have identified signs of fraud based on statistical analysis.<ref>http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/world/americas/3924-the-carter-stamp-of-approval-on-the-venueuzlan-election-less-than-worthless.html</ref>

==Human rights concerns==
Hugo Chávez was a great friend of the tyrannical [[Cuban]] despot [[Fidel Castro]] and is said to have drawn his political style through influences such as [[Che Guevara]], [[Karl Marx]] and [[Simon Bolivar]]. The U.S. State Department ''Report on Global Anti-Semitism'' cited Chavez in August 2004 warning citizens against following the lead of Jewish citizens in the effort to overturn his referendum victory.<ref>[http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/40258.htm Report on Global Anti-Semitism] U. S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, [[Human Rights]], and Labor, January 5, 2005. </ref> Chavez also embraced a number of world leaders that have hostile relations with the United States, including Holocaust-denier [[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]], the President of [[Iran]], who Chavez has referred to as "my brother".<ref>[http://english.eluniversal.com/2006/07/31/en_pol_art_31A756133.shtml Chávez decorated in Iran; initials cooperation pacts]</ref> U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives [[Nancy Pelosi]] said of Chavez, "Hugo Chavez fancies himself a modern-day [[Simon Bolivar]], but all he is is an everyday thug."<ref>[http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/pruden092206.php3 Back to the old days, if only for a minute], Wesley Pruden, ''Jewish World Review'', Sept. 22, 2006.</ref> He was also considered to be an ally of [[leftist]] [[Ecuador|Ecuadorian]] president [[Rafael Correa]], [[Bolivia|Bolivian]] president [[Evo Morales]] and the president of [[Nicaragua]], [[Daniel Ortega]] ... all radical leftists.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6187364.stm Correa]</ref>

In May 2007, Chavez silenced the only remaining opposition television station critical of his repression by revoking its licence.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/venezuela/story/0,,2085952,00.html Chávez silences critical TV station], Rory Carroll, ''The Guardian'', May 23, 2007.</ref> Crowds of students demonstrated saying they feared for the future of human rights in Venezuala. National Guard troops were ordered to fire [[tear gas]] and [[rubber bullets]]. Two students were injured, a third was hit with a tear gas canister, and about 20 people needed emergency medical attention for inhaling tear gas. <ref>[http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/05/28/ap3763178.html Troops Fire Upon Protesters in Venezuela], Fabiola Sanchez, Associated Press, 05.28.07. Retrieved from Forbes.com 05/31/07. </ref> Chavez employs discrimination against [[migrant workers]] in the country.<ref>http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/world/americas/3924-the-carter-stamp-of-approval-on-the-venueuzlan-election-less-than-worthless.html</ref>

Chavez said, “I am going to go after those who resist the revolution and eliminate them one by one.”<ref>[http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2007/jul/07/guest_commentary_we_must_help_venezuela_because_fr/ Because Freedom Matters], By U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV and Blanquita Cullm, ''Naples Daily News'', July 7, 2007.</ref>

===Trafficking in Persons===
Venezuela under Chavez was on the U.S. State Department’s Tier 3 list for [[trafficking in persons]] since 2004, which means that the government was categorized as one that has failed to make significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons. The State Department’s June 2007 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report maintains that Venezuela is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children trafficked for [[sexual exploitation]] and [[forced labor]].<ref>U.S. Department of State, [http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2007/ Trafficking in Persons Report], June 12, 2007, p. 207.</ref>

==Relations with US==
[[File:Chavez Obama.jpg|thumb|At the Fifth Summit of the Americas.]]
Foreign relations between the [[United States of America]] and [[Venezuela]] are presently unstable. Chavez often criticized the United States for its 'imperialism' on his radio segment 'Alo Presidente', and alleged the United States's supported a 2002 coup in Venezuela which toppled Chávez momentarily and later removed by Chávez supporters, also known as 'Chávistas'. Venezuela is heavily dependent upon trade revenue from oil sales to the United States. Chavez has founded [[Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas|ALBA]] an international organization of leftist countries on the [[Caribic]]s and Southern America. Chavez said that the ALCA is a "instrument of imperialism".

===Terrorism===
In May 2006, the State Department determined that, pursuant to Section 40A of the [[Arms Export Control Act]], Venezuela was not fully cooperating with U.S. [[antiterrorism]] efforts. This triggered a prohibition on the sale or license of defense articles and services to Venezuela. Other countries on the Section 40A list include [[Cuba]], [[Iran]], [[North Korea]], and [[Syria]], not to be confused with the "state sponsors of
terrorism" list under Section 6(j) of the Export Administration Act of 1979, which currently includes Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria. The State Department asserted that the Section 40A determination was based on Venezuela’s near lack of antiterrorism cooperation over the last year, citing its support for Iraqi insurgents and Iran’s development of nuclear capabilities, the country’s status as a safe haven for Colombian and Basque terrorist groups, and its effort to derail hemispheric efforts to advance counter-terrorism policies in the OAS. In May 2007, the State Department again included Venezuela in its annual Section 40A determination that it was not cooperating fully with U.S. antiterrorism efforts.

In late April 2007, the State Department issued its annual Country Reports on Terrorism, which asserted that President Chávez "persisted in public criticism of U.S. counterterrorism efforts, deepened Venezuelan relationships with Iran and Cuba, and was unwilling to prevent Venezuelan territory from being used as a safe haven" by Colombian terrorist groups.

There have been long-held suspicions that Chávez has supported leftist Colombian guerrillas, although Chávez denies such support. The State Department’s terrorism report maintains that units of Colombia’s two leftist terrorist groups — the [[Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia]] (FARC) and the [[National Liberation Army]] (ELN) — often crossed into Venezuela "to rest and regroup with relative impunity."

In addition, according to the report, splinter groups of the FARC and a rightist terrorist group, the [[AUC|United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia]] (AUC) reportedly operate in various parts of the country and are involved in drug trafficking. The report maintained, however, that "it remained unclear to what extent the Venezuelan
Government provided material support to Colombian terrorists."

In addition, according to the report, Venezuelan citizenship, identity, and travel documents remained easy to obtain, making the country a potentially attractive waystation for terrorists. In July 13, 2006, congressional testimony, the State Department’s Principal Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Frank Urbancic, asserted that the United States was detaining increasing numbers of third-country aliens at its borders carrying falsified or fraudulently issued Venezuelan documents. U.S. officials also have expressed concerns about President Chávez’s close relationship with Cuba’s Fidel Castro, but Chávez defends his relationship with Cuba. Overall Venezuelan support to Cuba is estimated to be more than $2 billion a year.<ref>Frances Robles and Phil Gunson, ''Cuba Spotlights Chávez Friendship,'' Miami Herald, January 26, 2007.</ref> Venezuela supplies some 90,000 barrels of oil per day to Cuba on a concessionary basis under PetroCaribe. In return, Venezuela has received support from thousands of Cuban health care workers and sports instructors in the country.

During an April 2005 trip to Cuba, Presidents Chávez and Castro announced commercial deals worth over $400 million, including a joint shipyard to build small navy ships and a joint housing construction company. In January 2007, a delegation of Cuban officials visited Caracas and signed a number of agreements to increase economic linkages, including an agreement for joint oil exploration in both countries.

PdVSA is also involved in refurbishing an unfinished oil refinery in Cienfuegos, Cuba. Beyond Latin America, the Bush Administration has expressed concerns with Venezuela’s growing relations with Iran. In February 2006, Secretary of State Rice referred to Venezuela, along with Cuba, as “sidekicks” of Iran in reference to those countries’ votes in the International Atomic Energy Agency against reporting Iran to the U.N. Security Council over its uranium enrichment program.<ref>Pablo Bachelet, “Rice Bashes Venezuelan Leader, Politics,” Miami Herald, February 17, 2006; House International Relations Committee, Hearing on the Fiscal Year 2007
International Affairs Budget, Testimony of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, February
16, 2006.</ref> In testimony before the Senate Select Intelligence Committee in February 2006, Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte expressed concern that President Chávez "is seeking closer economic, military, and diplomatic ties with Iran and North Korea."<ref>Senate Select Intelligence Committee, Hearing on World Wide Threats, Testimony of Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, February 2, 2006.</ref> ran and Venezuela signed an agreement for a $200 million fund to finance joint investment and social projects, and commercial agreements in the early stages include plans for a cement factory, oil exploration in the Orinoco River belt, and a joint operation to build oil and liquid natural gas tankers.<ref>Steven Dudley, "Chávez’s Wooing of Iran Called Troubling," Miami Herald, March 2, 2006.</ref> During a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Venezuela in mid-January 2007, the two countries announced they would use a $2 billion investment fund to finance projects in both countries and other countries as well.<ref>Simon Romero, ''Iranian President Visits Venezuela to Strengthen Ties,'' New York Times, January 14, 2007.</ref>

Some Members of Congress have expressed concerns about relations between Venezuela and Iran. In the 110th Congress, H.Res. 435 (Klein) would, among its provisions, express concern over national security implications of the relationship between the leaders of Iran and Venezuela.

According to the ''Washington Post'' Chavez was accused of supplying weapons to Colombian rebels, of financing Bolivian and Ecuadorian groups seeking to establish "Marxist" states, and of being, with Cuban leader Fidel Castro's guidance, a "[[subversion (political)|subversive]]" everywhere else in the region.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/25/AR2005082501420.html?nav=rss_world/centralamerica ''Dealing With the Good and Bad Hugo Chavez''], Marcela Sanchez The Washington Post 25 August 2005.</ref>

==Expropriation==
[[Image:Hugo-chavez8.jpg|left|175px|thumb|Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez with Fidel Castro.]]

In typical socialist rhetoric, Chavez made wild claims to fund the government by nationalizing foreign assets. Typical reasons included accusing companies of environmental damage and exploiting its workers. In 2010 alone, Chavez seized 195 companies. <ref>[http://english.eluniversal.com/2010/10/20/en_eco_art_a-total-of-195-busin_20A4631291.shtml A total of 195 businesses has been seized in 2010, El Universal, October 20, 2010]</ref> Spanish-owned farm supply and U.S.-based Ohio bottle company were recently taken over. Other recognized multi-national companies such ExxonMobil, steel maker Sidor, cement company CEMEX fell to the same fate. <ref>[http://wellsy.wordpress.com/2010/10/26/chavez-takes-over-venezuelan-plants-of-oh-company/ Chavez takes over Venezuelan plants of OH company, Wellsy's World, October 26, 2010]</ref> Venezuala is supposed to compensate the companies but nobody expects Chavez to provide other than peanuts for assets he steals.

Through Venezuela's state owned petroleum industry and membership in [[OPEC]], Chávez used powers granted to him by Parliament to increase oil prices, adding revenue for the Bolivarianist projects. Countries such as the United States have criticized Chávez for the increase in cost for crude oil. Chavez was at the forefront of wanting to set crude oil prices at $60 a barrel minimum, according to the ''Asia Times''<ref>[http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/HL07Dj01.html ''Bush, OPEC and Chavez of Arabia''], Pepe Escobar, Asia Times, 7 December 2006.</ref> The state owned oil company PDVSA is estimated to have spent in excess of $120 million dollars sponsoring the [[Formula 1]] team, Willaims F1, so that they would give the Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado a seat.

==Anti-semitism==
Chavez is known to be fiercely [[Anti-semitism|anti-semitic]]<ref>http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/hugo-ch-vez-s-jewish-problem-11455
</ref>, which is the likely reason for his friendship and political alliance with Iranian dictator and [[Holocaust denial|holocaust denier]] [[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]]<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/04/AR2008020402428.html
</ref>. As a result of the anti-semitic policies of the Chavez regime and the wave of violent attacks on Venezuelan Jews that it has caused, the [[Jewish]] population of Venezuela has decreased by more than 50 percent since Chavez came to power.<ref>http://www.worldjewishdaily.com/venezuela.php</ref>

==Drug trafficking==
The ''Associated Press'' reported in July 2007 that since Chavez's ascension to power, illegal narcotics passing through Venezuela from [[Colombia]] has risen by as much as 30 tons a year and now accounts for roughly a third of the world's supply of [[cocaine]]. Mildred Camero who was in charge of Venezuela's anti-drug efforts stated, "[[Caracas]] is replacing [[Bogota]] as a center of everything related to drug operations." Camero was fired in 2005 after reporting high-level corruption. <ref>[http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/07/01/ap3875048.html Venezuela Becomes Cocaine Conduit], By Ian James and Frank Bajak, ''Associated Press'', 1 July 2007. Retrieved from Forbes.com 8 July 2007.</ref>

In 2008 Chavez revealed that he himself regularly chews coca leafs, the leafs from which cocaine is made.<ref>[http://uk.reuters.com/article/2008/01/26/uk-venezuela-chavez-coca-idUKN2638848320080126 Venezuela's Chavez swaps coffee for coca in speech - Reuters]</ref> This revelation casts serious doubts about his ability to function properly as a head of state and reach sound judgements.

==Religious==
Chavez demanded that [[Pope Benedict]] apologize for saying the Roman Catholic Church purified Indians in Latin America. Chavez called the treatment of Indians after [[Christopher Columbus]] landed in 1492 a "holocaust".<ref>[http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN1819661120070519 Chavez demands Pope apologize for Indian comments], Reuters, May 19, 2007</ref>

==2011-2012 Health Crisis and subsequent cover-up and Constitutional Crisis==

On June 30th, 2011, the 56 year-old President admitted, in a televised speech, of having cancer.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13991906]</ref> He sought medical treatments in communist Cuba instead of choosing the much better hospitals and doctors of Brazil, the United States or Europe, because of the deeply rooted leftist myth according to which Cuban medicine is the best in the world, and because only a murderous dictatorship like the Cuban Communist regime could impose the level of secrecy Chavez needed to keep the Venezuelans in the dark about how terminally ill he really was.

Despite knowing full well that he was dying of cancer and had only a few months to live, Chavez selfishly chose to run for reelection and plunge his country into chaos and turmoil instead of organizing a more orderly transfer of power to one of his Communist cronies. On 7 October 2012, a terminally ill Chávez won election as president for a fourth time, defeating Henrique Capriles.<ref>http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/08/venezuela-election-idUSL1E8L70WK20121008</ref>

Chavez was not seen since 11 December 2012, the last time he appeared in public. He must have died shortly afterwards. However, the Cuban and Venezuelan communists attempted to keep his death secret, and pretended he was alive for another two and a half months, going as far as using his [[Twitter]] account to post fake messages from a supposedly recovering Chavez.

Chavez should have taken the oath of office on January the 10th, the necessary step to asume the presidency for his new period. However, Venezuela's Supreme Court ignored the provisions of the Venezuelan Constitution (reformed by Chavez himself in 1999) and allowed Chavez to become president without taking the oath of office, thus doing away with any remaining semblance of constitutional government.

On February, the 18th it was announced that Chavez had returned to Venezuela to finish his recovery.<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/02/18/president-chavez-returns-to-venezuela-from-cuba-after-months-medical-treatment/</ref> The Venezuelan vice-president said that Chavez had been flown in secrecy from [[Havana]] to [[Caracas]] in the early hours of the morning to avoid possible attacks from his enemies. The two top floors of Caracas' Military Hospital were sealed from the public, with Chavez supposedly recovering in the 8th floor and the 7th floor closed to guarantee his security. On March the 5th the Venezuelan ''de facto'' government finally ended the charade and announced that Chavez had died, suggesting also that his cancer and death had been the result of an assessination plot by "the historical enemies of the Fatherland" (referring to the United States and the Venezuelan democratic opposition).

==Quotes==
*On closure of RCTV, claiming the network's broadcasts amounted to a "permanent attack on public morals" with cartoons that were "poisoned with hatred, violence and even sex."

*"Private banks have to give priority to financing the industrial sectors of Venezuela at low cost...If banks don't agree with this, it's better that they go, that they turn over the banks to me."

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

==See Also==
[[Previous Breaking News/Hugo Chavez|Articles about '''Hugo Chavez''' from previous "Breaking News"]]
* [[Kim Jong Il]]
* [[Idi Amin Dada]]

==Further reading==
*[http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/] An in depth view on Venezuela under Hugo Chávez.
*[http://www.latinbusinesschronicle.com/app/article.aspx?id=706] An overview of articles on Venezuela's business under Hugo Chávez.
*[http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-2_24_06_AVL.html ''Why The Left Should Cringe at The Mention of Hugo Chavez''], Alvaro Vargas Llosa, Independent Institute, February 24, 2006.
*[http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_kmnew/is_200108/ai_kepm313968 ''Bolivar, Dictator or Paladin?''] Interview: Hugo Chavez talks about Venezuela, Maria Amparo Lasso, Newsweek, Aug 20, 2001.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chavez, Hugo}}
[[Category:Venezuela]]
[[Category:Dictators]]
[[Category:Lunatics]]
[[Category:Anti-Semitism]]
[[Category:Socialists]]

Hugo Chavez

2013-03-06T16:27:53Z

Ty: selfishness

{{Dictator bio
| image =[[Image:chavez.jpg|200px]]
| name =Hugo Chavez
| birth =July 28, 1954 Sabaneta, Venezuela
| parents =Hugo de los Reyes Chávez Elena Frías de Chávez
| religion =Roman Catholic
| education =Daniel Florencio O'Leary High School, Barinas Venezuelan Academy of Military Sciences, Caracas
| spouse =Nancy Colmenares (div.) Marisabel Rodríguez (div.)
| children =Rosa Virginia María Gabriela Hugo Rafael Rosinés (with Marisabel)
| death = circa Dec. 11, 2012 (denied by the [[lamestream media]] until Mar. 5, 2013)
| deathmanner = illness in a Cuban hospital
| burial =
| country =[[Venezuela]]
| military =Venezuelan army
| rank =Lieutenant colonel
| polbeliefs =[[Socialism]] [[Communism]]
| party =Fifth Republic Movement United Socialist Party
| dictatordate =November 2000
| war =n/a
| deathnumber =n/a
}}
'''Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías''' (b. July 28, 1954 - d. circa Dec. 11, 2012) <ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-21476917 (obviously staged photo)</ref> was the repressive [[leftist]] [[tyrant]] of the Bolivarian Republic of [[Venezuela]] from 1999 to 2012. Chavez was not seen in public since he entered a Cuban hospital near death on December 11, 2012. Venezuela's [[communist]] regime engaged in [[liberal denial]] about his death for nearly three months, even releasing a photo of an ostensibly fit and smiling Chavez. But on March 5, 2013, likely due to pressure from other nations that knew Chavez had died, Venezuelan [[communist]]s finally admitted Chavez was dead <ref>[http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/05/hugo-chavez-dead-at-58-good-riddance.html "Hugo Chavez dead at 58] "How little we know about the manner in which - or when - he died"]</ref> .

A self-proclaimed [[socialist]] and [[collectivist]], his disastrous economic policies led to food shortages, quotas, and rationing in his oil-rich country, causing thousands to flee.<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/venezuela/4938993/Venezuelas-Hugo-Chavez-tightens-state-control-of-food-amid-rocketing-inflation-and-food-shortages.html</ref>
Chávez assumed power as President in 1999 and pledged to aid Venezuela's poor majority.
Fraudulent elections were held in 2000 and in 2006, allowing Chavez to retain his [[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]] power. As such it would be accurate to describe him as a [[dictator]].

*{{Venezuela blunder}}

Due to an illness, in early April 2012 "Hugo Chavez weeps and calls on [[God]] to spare his life."<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/venezuela/9189962/Hugo-Chavez-weeps-and-calls-on-God-to-spare-his-life.html</ref> That contrasts with Jesus's request in his time of crisis, when [[Jesus]] prayed, "O Father, if You can, let this cup pass from Me. But ''don't do what I want, but rather what You want''."<ref>[[Matthew 20-28 (Translated)#26:39|Matthew 26:39]].</ref>

Despite knowing full well that he was dying of cancer and had only a few months to live, Chavez selfishly chose to run for reelection and plunge his country into chaos and turmoil instead of organizing a more orderly transfer of power to one of his Communist cronies. On 7 October 2012, a terminally ill Chávez won election as president for a fourth time, defeating Henrique Capriles, and would have served another six years until 2019 if he had remained alive.<ref>http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/08/venezuela-election-idUSL1E8L70WK20121008</ref>

==Election fraud==
Steven F. Hayward wrote:
* While exit polls conducted by the very reliable American firm of Penn, Schoen, and Berland showed Chavez losing by a large margin (41 to 59), the official results put Chavez free and clear by a vote of 58 to 41 percent.<ref>[http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=5A8D0094-4590-4DFB-A7F0-C2E06A6820FB]</ref>

A 26 February 2003 report by Robert Tracinski obliterates the left-wing mythology around Chavez:
<blockquote>
: '''Step one''': Chavez has initiated formal proceedings to revoke the licenses of independent, privately owned television and radio stations. Meanwhile, his political militias, the Bolivarian Circles, have staged violent attacks on independent media outlets. After all, elections don't mean much if all people watch is propaganda on state-run television.

: '''Step two''': Chavez has used a moratorium on currency conversion--needed to pay for imported goods--to punish his opponents. Vowing "no dollars for coup-mongers," he has used this power, for example, to prevent opposition newspapers from importing ink. After all, elections don't mean much if your opponents are too busy worrying where their next meal is coming from.

: '''Step three''': Venezuelan police acting on Chavez's orders have arrested Carlos Fernandez, the head of Venezuela's largest business federation and a leader of the recent anti-Chavez strike, charging him with rebellion and sabotage. Another strike leader, Carlos Ortega, head of Venezuela's largest labor union, has gone into hiding. In one move, Chavez has neutralized two potential rivals for the presidency. After all, elections don't mean much if all of the other candidates are in jail.

: '''Step four''': Last week, four protesters were kidnapped while returning from an anti-Chavez rally. They were blindfolded, tortured, and shot execution-style. Some of the victims were witnesses to a previous pro-Chavez political killing, and they had planned to testify against the shooter. Consider the message sent to the opposition when the mutilated bodies of their friends start showing up in the city streets. After all, elections don't mean much if your opponents are afraid to leave their houses and walk to the polls.

: '''Step five''': A few days ago, Chavez delivered a speech denouncing Spain, Colombia, and the US for interfering in Venezuela. This morning in Caracas, the diplomatic missions of Spain and Colombia were bombed. Credit was claimed by a splinter pro-Chavez group--but this was not a bunch of kids cooking up homemade bombs in their basement. The bombs were powerful plastic explosives, the kind of weapons that are difficult to obtain without government complicity.<ref>http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/world/americas/2514-dictatorship-by-the-numbers-in-venezuela.html {{dead link}}</ref>
</blockquote>

$4 billion dollars were spent paying paramilitary groups to attack unarmed protestors and other dissidents during and after the elections.<ref>http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/world/americas/2968-venezuela-a-new-junket-for-a-dictator-s-best-friend-jimmy-carter.html</ref>

The [[European Union]] condemned the conditions placed on election monitors as unacceptable and declined to attend. The Carter Center was shut out for three days. Experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University have identified signs of fraud based on statistical analysis.<ref>http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/world/americas/3924-the-carter-stamp-of-approval-on-the-venueuzlan-election-less-than-worthless.html</ref>

==Human rights concerns==
Hugo Chávez was a great friend of the tyrannical [[Cuban]] despot [[Fidel Castro]] and is said to have drawn his political style through influences such as [[Che Guevara]], [[Karl Marx]] and [[Simon Bolivar]]. The U.S. State Department ''Report on Global Anti-Semitism'' cited Chavez in August 2004 warning citizens against following the lead of Jewish citizens in the effort to overturn his referendum victory.<ref>[http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/40258.htm Report on Global Anti-Semitism] U. S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, [[Human Rights]], and Labor, January 5, 2005. </ref> Chavez also embraced a number of world leaders that have hostile relations with the United States, including Holocaust-denier [[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]], the President of [[Iran]], who Chavez has referred to as "my brother".<ref>[http://english.eluniversal.com/2006/07/31/en_pol_art_31A756133.shtml Chávez decorated in Iran; initials cooperation pacts]</ref> U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives [[Nancy Pelosi]] said of Chavez, "Hugo Chavez fancies himself a modern-day [[Simon Bolivar]], but all he is is an everyday thug."<ref>[http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/pruden092206.php3 Back to the old days, if only for a minute], Wesley Pruden, ''Jewish World Review'', Sept. 22, 2006.</ref> He was also considered to be an ally of [[leftist]] [[Ecuador|Ecuadorian]] president [[Rafael Correa]], [[Bolivia|Bolivian]] president [[Evo Morales]] and the president of [[Nicaragua]], [[Daniel Ortega]] ... all radical leftists.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6187364.stm Correa]</ref>

In May 2007, Chavez silenced the only remaining opposition television station critical of his repression by revoking its licence.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/venezuela/story/0,,2085952,00.html Chávez silences critical TV station], Rory Carroll, ''The Guardian'', May 23, 2007.</ref> Crowds of students demonstrated saying they feared for the future of human rights in Venezuala. National Guard troops were ordered to fire [[tear gas]] and [[rubber bullets]]. Two students were injured, a third was hit with a tear gas canister, and about 20 people needed emergency medical attention for inhaling tear gas. <ref>[http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/05/28/ap3763178.html Troops Fire Upon Protesters in Venezuela], Fabiola Sanchez, Associated Press, 05.28.07. Retrieved from Forbes.com 05/31/07. </ref> Chavez employs discrimination against [[migrant workers]] in the country.<ref>http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/world/americas/3924-the-carter-stamp-of-approval-on-the-venueuzlan-election-less-than-worthless.html</ref>

Chavez said, “I am going to go after those who resist the revolution and eliminate them one by one.”<ref>[http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2007/jul/07/guest_commentary_we_must_help_venezuela_because_fr/ Because Freedom Matters], By U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV and Blanquita Cullm, ''Naples Daily News'', July 7, 2007.</ref>

===Trafficking in Persons===
Venezuela under Chavez was on the U.S. State Department’s Tier 3 list for [[trafficking in persons]] since 2004, which means that the government was categorized as one that has failed to make significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons. The State Department’s June 2007 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report maintains that Venezuela is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children trafficked for [[sexual exploitation]] and [[forced labor]].<ref>U.S. Department of State, [http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2007/ Trafficking in Persons Report], June 12, 2007, p. 207.</ref>

==Relations with US==
[[File:Chavez Obama.jpg|thumb|At the Fifth Summit of the Americas.]]
Foreign relations between the [[United States of America]] and [[Venezuela]] are presently unstable. Chavez often criticized the United States for its 'imperialism' on his radio segment 'Alo Presidente', and alleged the United States's supported a 2002 coup in Venezuela which toppled Chávez momentarily and later removed by Chávez supporters, also known as 'Chávistas'. Venezuela is heavily dependent upon trade revenue from oil sales to the United States. Chavez has founded [[Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas|ALBA]] an international organization of leftist countries on the [[Caribic]]s and Southern America. Chavez said that the ALCA is a "instrument of imperialism".

===Terrorism===
In May 2006, the State Department determined that, pursuant to Section 40A of the [[Arms Export Control Act]], Venezuela was not fully cooperating with U.S. [[antiterrorism]] efforts. This triggered a prohibition on the sale or license of defense articles and services to Venezuela. Other countries on the Section 40A list include [[Cuba]], [[Iran]], [[North Korea]], and [[Syria]], not to be confused with the "state sponsors of
terrorism" list under Section 6(j) of the Export Administration Act of 1979, which currently includes Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria. The State Department asserted that the Section 40A determination was based on Venezuela’s near lack of antiterrorism cooperation over the last year, citing its support for Iraqi insurgents and Iran’s development of nuclear capabilities, the country’s status as a safe haven for Colombian and Basque terrorist groups, and its effort to derail hemispheric efforts to advance counter-terrorism policies in the OAS. In May 2007, the State Department again included Venezuela in its annual Section 40A determination that it was not cooperating fully with U.S. antiterrorism efforts.

In late April 2007, the State Department issued its annual Country Reports on Terrorism, which asserted that President Chávez "persisted in public criticism of U.S. counterterrorism efforts, deepened Venezuelan relationships with Iran and Cuba, and was unwilling to prevent Venezuelan territory from being used as a safe haven" by Colombian terrorist groups.

There have been long-held suspicions that Chávez has supported leftist Colombian guerrillas, although Chávez denies such support. The State Department’s terrorism report maintains that units of Colombia’s two leftist terrorist groups — the [[Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia]] (FARC) and the [[National Liberation Army]] (ELN) — often crossed into Venezuela "to rest and regroup with relative impunity."

In addition, according to the report, splinter groups of the FARC and a rightist terrorist group, the [[AUC|United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia]] (AUC) reportedly operate in various parts of the country and are involved in drug trafficking. The report maintained, however, that "it remained unclear to what extent the Venezuelan
Government provided material support to Colombian terrorists."

In addition, according to the report, Venezuelan citizenship, identity, and travel documents remained easy to obtain, making the country a potentially attractive waystation for terrorists. In July 13, 2006, congressional testimony, the State Department’s Principal Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Frank Urbancic, asserted that the United States was detaining increasing numbers of third-country aliens at its borders carrying falsified or fraudulently issued Venezuelan documents. U.S. officials also have expressed concerns about President Chávez’s close relationship with Cuba’s Fidel Castro, but Chávez defends his relationship with Cuba. Overall Venezuelan support to Cuba is estimated to be more than $2 billion a year.<ref>Frances Robles and Phil Gunson, ''Cuba Spotlights Chávez Friendship,'' Miami Herald, January 26, 2007.</ref> Venezuela supplies some 90,000 barrels of oil per day to Cuba on a concessionary basis under PetroCaribe. In return, Venezuela has received support from thousands of Cuban health care workers and sports instructors in the country.

During an April 2005 trip to Cuba, Presidents Chávez and Castro announced commercial deals worth over $400 million, including a joint shipyard to build small navy ships and a joint housing construction company. In January 2007, a delegation of Cuban officials visited Caracas and signed a number of agreements to increase economic linkages, including an agreement for joint oil exploration in both countries.

PdVSA is also involved in refurbishing an unfinished oil refinery in Cienfuegos, Cuba. Beyond Latin America, the Bush Administration has expressed concerns with Venezuela’s growing relations with Iran. In February 2006, Secretary of State Rice referred to Venezuela, along with Cuba, as “sidekicks” of Iran in reference to those countries’ votes in the International Atomic Energy Agency against reporting Iran to the U.N. Security Council over its uranium enrichment program.<ref>Pablo Bachelet, “Rice Bashes Venezuelan Leader, Politics,” Miami Herald, February 17, 2006; House International Relations Committee, Hearing on the Fiscal Year 2007
International Affairs Budget, Testimony of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, February
16, 2006.</ref> In testimony before the Senate Select Intelligence Committee in February 2006, Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte expressed concern that President Chávez "is seeking closer economic, military, and diplomatic ties with Iran and North Korea."<ref>Senate Select Intelligence Committee, Hearing on World Wide Threats, Testimony of Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, February 2, 2006.</ref> ran and Venezuela signed an agreement for a $200 million fund to finance joint investment and social projects, and commercial agreements in the early stages include plans for a cement factory, oil exploration in the Orinoco River belt, and a joint operation to build oil and liquid natural gas tankers.<ref>Steven Dudley, "Chávez’s Wooing of Iran Called Troubling," Miami Herald, March 2, 2006.</ref> During a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Venezuela in mid-January 2007, the two countries announced they would use a $2 billion investment fund to finance projects in both countries and other countries as well.<ref>Simon Romero, ''Iranian President Visits Venezuela to Strengthen Ties,'' New York Times, January 14, 2007.</ref>

Some Members of Congress have expressed concerns about relations between Venezuela and Iran. In the 110th Congress, H.Res. 435 (Klein) would, among its provisions, express concern over national security implications of the relationship between the leaders of Iran and Venezuela.

According to the ''Washington Post'' Chavez was accused of supplying weapons to Colombian rebels, of financing Bolivian and Ecuadorian groups seeking to establish "Marxist" states, and of being, with Cuban leader Fidel Castro's guidance, a "[[subversion (political)|subversive]]" everywhere else in the region.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/25/AR2005082501420.html?nav=rss_world/centralamerica ''Dealing With the Good and Bad Hugo Chavez''], Marcela Sanchez The Washington Post 25 August 2005.</ref>

==Expropriation==
[[Image:Hugo-chavez8.jpg|left|175px|thumb|Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez with Fidel Castro.]]

In typical socialist rhetoric, Chavez made wild claims to fund the government by nationalizing foreign assets. Typical reasons included accusing companies of environmental damage and exploiting its workers. In 2010 alone, Chavez seized 195 companies. <ref>[http://english.eluniversal.com/2010/10/20/en_eco_art_a-total-of-195-busin_20A4631291.shtml A total of 195 businesses has been seized in 2010, El Universal, October 20, 2010]</ref> Spanish-owned farm supply and U.S.-based Ohio bottle company were recently taken over. Other recognized multi-national companies such ExxonMobil, steel maker Sidor, cement company CEMEX fell to the same fate. <ref>[http://wellsy.wordpress.com/2010/10/26/chavez-takes-over-venezuelan-plants-of-oh-company/ Chavez takes over Venezuelan plants of OH company, Wellsy's World, October 26, 2010]</ref> Venezuala is supposed to compensate the companies but nobody expects Chavez to provide other than peanuts for assets he steals.

Through Venezuela's state owned petroleum industry and membership in [[OPEC]], Chávez used powers granted to him by Parliament to increase oil prices, adding revenue for the Bolivarianist projects. Countries such as the United States have criticized Chávez for the increase in cost for crude oil. Chavez was at the forefront of wanting to set crude oil prices at $60 a barrel minimum, according to the ''Asia Times''<ref>[http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/HL07Dj01.html ''Bush, OPEC and Chavez of Arabia''], Pepe Escobar, Asia Times, 7 December 2006.</ref> The state owned oil company PDVSA is estimated to have spent in excess of $120 million dollars sponsoring the [[Formula 1]] team, Willaims F1, so that they would give the Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado a seat.

==Anti-semitism==
Chavez is known to be fiercely [[Anti-semitism|anti-semitic]]<ref>http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/hugo-ch-vez-s-jewish-problem-11455
</ref>, which is the likely reason for his friendship and political alliance with Iranian dictator and [[Holocaust denial|holocaust denier]] [[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]]<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/04/AR2008020402428.html
</ref>. As a result of the anti-semitic policies of the Chavez regime and the wave of violent attacks on Venezuelan Jews that it has caused, the [[Jewish]] population of Venezuela has decreased by more than 50 percent since Chavez came to power.<ref>http://www.worldjewishdaily.com/venezuela.php</ref>

==Drug trafficking==
The ''Associated Press'' reported in July 2007 that since Chavez's ascension to power, illegal narcotics passing through Venezuela from [[Colombia]] has risen by as much as 30 tons a year and now accounts for roughly a third of the world's supply of [[cocaine]]. Mildred Camero who was in charge of Venezuela's anti-drug efforts stated, "[[Caracas]] is replacing [[Bogota]] as a center of everything related to drug operations." Camero was fired in 2005 after reporting high-level corruption. <ref>[http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/07/01/ap3875048.html Venezuela Becomes Cocaine Conduit], By Ian James and Frank Bajak, ''Associated Press'', 1 July 2007. Retrieved from Forbes.com 8 July 2007.</ref>

In 2008 Chavez revealed that he himself regularly chews coca leafs, the leafs from which cocaine is made.<ref>[http://uk.reuters.com/article/2008/01/26/uk-venezuela-chavez-coca-idUKN2638848320080126 Venezuela's Chavez swaps coffee for coca in speech - Reuters]</ref> This revelation casts serious doubts about his ability to function properly as a head of state and reach sound judgements.

==Religious==
Chavez demanded that [[Pope Benedict]] apologize for saying the Roman Catholic Church purified Indians in Latin America. Chavez called the treatment of Indians after [[Christopher Columbus]] landed in 1492 a "holocaust".<ref>[http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN1819661120070519 Chavez demands Pope apologize for Indian comments], Reuters, May 19, 2007</ref>

==2011 Health Crisis==
On June 30th, 2011, the 56 year-old President admitted, in a televised speech, of having cancer. <ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13991906]</ref> He sought medical treatments in communist Cuba, and was not seen since 11 December 2012, the last time he appeared in public. On February, the 18th he came back to Venezuela.<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/02/18/president-chavez-returns-to-venezuela-from-cuba-after-months-medical-treatment/</ref>

==Quotes==
*On closure of RCTV, claiming the network's broadcasts amounted to a "permanent attack on public morals" with cartoons that were "poisoned with hatred, violence and even sex."

*"Private banks have to give priority to financing the industrial sectors of Venezuela at low cost...If banks don't agree with this, it's better that they go, that they turn over the banks to me."

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

==See Also==
[[Previous Breaking News/Hugo Chavez|Articles about '''Hugo Chavez''' from previous "Breaking News"]]
* [[Kim Jong Il]]
* [[Idi Amin Dada]]

==Further reading==
*[http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/] An in depth view on Venezuela under Hugo Chávez.
*[http://www.latinbusinesschronicle.com/app/article.aspx?id=706] An overview of articles on Venezuela's business under Hugo Chávez.
*[http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-2_24_06_AVL.html ''Why The Left Should Cringe at The Mention of Hugo Chavez''], Alvaro Vargas Llosa, Independent Institute, February 24, 2006.
*[http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_kmnew/is_200108/ai_kepm313968 ''Bolivar, Dictator or Paladin?''] Interview: Hugo Chavez talks about Venezuela, Maria Amparo Lasso, Newsweek, Aug 20, 2001.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chavez, Hugo}}
[[Category:Venezuela]]
[[Category:Dictators]]
[[Category:Lunatics]]
[[Category:Anti-Semitism]]
[[Category:Socialists]]

Talk:Dinosaur

2013-03-03T23:32:02Z

Ty: /* Dinosaur-like creatures in history and modern sightings */ new section

[[Talk:Dinosaur/Archive1]]|
[[Talk:Dinosaur/Archive2]] 



==Day 6 Creation Mechanisms?==

The article states, "Young Earth Creationists believe...that dinosaurs were created on Day 6 of the creation week". I wonder if the article could explain the theories suggested for the actual mechanism of Dinosaur creation? The evidence seems to suggest that there were a lot of dinsosaurs, of many different types, and in many different places on the planet - I don't think YEC's dispute that, although I could be wrong. Did God 'wave a wand' and the creatures (like us) 'pop into existence', or is there a suggestion that God evolved them very rapidly, within the same day? Did they come into existence fully formed, in multiple locations over the planet, or did they distribute themselves rapidly? What, basically, was the sequence of events on Day 6 of The Creation? I wonder what the theories suggest might have happened? [[User:50something|50something]] 20:33, 28 May 2007 (EDT)

:The Bible doesn't explain much at all about that, and creationists have speculated very little on it.
:There is no suggestion at all that there was rapid evolution. The basic information is that God spoke them into existence. But apart from there being different "[[baramin|kinds]]", how many there were and how widespread they were is not indicated.
:The only clue that might be gleaned is from the more-detailed description of the creation of man, yet even there, there is a hint that man was not created in the same way as the animals, fish, and birds.
:One thing can be deduced, however, and that is that they were created as fish, birds, and animals, not as eggs and embryos (so which came first, the chicken or the egg? The chicken), and presumably mature ones at that, consistent with Adam and Eve who were created in a mature state.
:[[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 02:44, 29 May 2007 (EDT)

:That's really interesting Philip. I'm glad you responded. But it makes me wonder? Like, for example, why haven't creationists speculated more about this? And what is the actual mechanism of being spoken into existence'? It seems kind of important to know about that, no? And another thing - if they were created as mature creatures, how would they have learned how to eat, walk, breathe or anything else - since instinct is presumably inherited, and if they had no parents, there would have been no creatures to inherit traits from? [[User:50something|50something]] 03:38, 29 May 2007 (EDT)
::Why haven't they speculated more? In the case of the method of creation, perhaps because there is so little to go on. In the case of the distribution, I suspect because the changes wrought by the flood would have wiped out any evidence of their original distribution, so such speculation would be fairly pointless.
::Another thing to keep in mind is that creationists, for all intents and purposes, get no government and very little private funding, and there is simply far more important things to research with the meagre resources available. Perhaps one day there will be some research or at least speculation into these matters.
::If instinct is indeed inherited, that means that it's in the genes, which God would have built them with, so parents would not be necessary. But a more general answer is simply that God created them already knowing those things, just as clearly must have been the case with Adam and language; from pretty well the moment that Adam was created, God was talking with him. Who taught Adam language? Clearly God created him with that ability.
::[[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 11:30, 29 May 2007 (EDT)

I wonder if birds - even dinosaur birds - were created in mid-air, flying? It seems hard to believe they were spoken into existence on the ground, and then took off, never having flown before? It's such a big change of state for them. And now that I think about it, I wonder is there any evidence of baramins that were created in the wrong location? Did God make mistakes? - probably not, but if he was speaking trillions of creatures into existence over an entire planet in a matter of minutes or seconds, it would be unbelievable that there wouldn't be one or two errors? Could this, for example, be any explanation of penguins, i.e. underwater birds?

I find this whole subject fascinating, and Conservapedia is the best resource on these subjects I've found yet. [[User:50something|50something]] 12:33, 29 May 2007 (EDT)

I've heard this theory before - that penguins actually came into existence underwater by accident, and that's why they are birds that can't fly but swim. I think you're right about instinct PJR - if the animals were spoken into existence while flying, it would mean they would immediately naturally acquire the ability to fly. Anyway, I think some of these theories should go into the article, no? Do we have any links or anything? [[User:Feichineejits|Feichineejits]] 18:50, 29 May 2007 (EDT)

:I don't find it hard to believe that they took off from the ground, never having flown before, but at the moment I can't think of a really good reason why they couldn't have been created in flight.
:God doesn't make mistakes, and God is not bound by time, because He doesn't exist in time; it is something that He created. So it is incorrect to say that He did all this in a matter of minutes or seconds in the sense that that is some sort of constraint for him.
:As far as penguins go, I'd suggest that they are simply one example (of many) of creatures that don't fit the idea of an evolutionary tree, but fit the idea of God creating creatures in more of a "table" arrangement than a "tree" arrangement, whereby some creatures have features that are otherwise found in completely separate branches of the evolutionary tree. Evolutionists call this [[types of evolution#convergent evolution|convergence]], but convergence has been described as simply a term to explain things that don't fit the evolutionary explanation.
:I'm not sure what any of this has to do with ''this'' article, and I wouldn't want to put it in any article without some evidence that creationary scientists have been discussing these sorts of thing.
:[[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 23:01, 29 May 2007 (EDT)

:You said "it is incorrect to say that He did all this in a matter of minutes or seconds in the sense that that is some sort of constraint for him", which is fair enough, I completely agree. But just to be clear - this did all happen in 24 hours on Day 6, yes? That's what the article says, anyway. [[User:Feichineejits|Feichineejits]] 23:19, 29 May 2007 (EDT)
::The key point is, "in the sense that it is some sort of constraint for him". He did do it all within a few 24-hour days ''as would be measured on Earth''. Birds and fish (or probably more accurately, creatures that fly and creatures that swim in the sea) were created on day 5, with land animals on day 6. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 23:39, 29 May 2007 (EDT)

But if birds and fish were created on Day 5, what about the sea-living dinosaurs or flying dinosaurs like Pterodactyls? Were they created on Day 5, not Day 6? I'm confused! [[User:50something|50something]] 23:53, 29 May 2007 (EDT)

:Note that I said "creatures that fly and creatures that swim in the sea", rather than "birds and fish". This would indicate that [[plesiosaur]]s and the like, and [[pterodactyl]]s and the like were created on day 5, not six. And although they tend to get lumped in with dinosaurs, they are not strictly classified as dinosaurs. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 02:40, 30 May 2007 (EDT)

:Point of information. There weren't any marine dinosaurs, nor were pterodactyls dinosaurs. See the TolWeb page for [http://tolweb.org/Archosauria/14900 archosauria]. You can see that dinosauria and pterosauria share a common ancestor, but neither group contains the other. Trace the ancestors back to diapsida, and you can see that icthyosaurs and sauropterygia (including plesiosaurs) apparently branched off even earlier than the dino/ptero split. Once the dinosaurs got onto dry land, they stayed there, at least until they learned to fly.--[[User:All Fish Welcome|All Fish Welcome]] 05:12, 30 May 2007 (EDT)

All Fish Welcome - the point of CP is to fight for the underfunded and underepresented views of The Creation, which are suppressed by the MSM and scientists. Your suggestions are based on the presumption that 'branching' from common ancestors occurred - and that's what we disagree with here. PJR - do you have any evidence to refute the evolutionist viewpoint above? And does no-one here have any more information on the Creation mechanisms? I'm really interested in seeing if we can really be detailed in this (and other articles) - at present it seems like this article dances around these events, wihtout really explaining, or attempting to explain, what may have happened on these Creation Days. [[User:50something|50something]] 18:55, 30 May 2007 (EDT)
:All Fish Welcome was making the same point that I was making, that sea-dwelling and flying "dinosaurs" are not actually categorised as dinosaurs. He illustrated his point with evolutionary assumptions, but the point itself is valid.
:I've already indicated that I don't think we know enough to write anything more about what actually happened on the creation days.
:[[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 22:01, 30 May 2007 (EDT)

::But if we don't know anything about them, how can we put it in an encyclopedia? Don't you think it's exactly the trap the evolutionists want to find us in - for us to make a claim and not be able back it up? Surely the point was to show not just the what, but the how of our beliefs? That's what I understood anyway. [[User:50something|50something]] 22:41, 30 May 2007 (EDT)
::: We are not putting them in an encyclopedia; that's been my point. That is, we are not putting anything about the creation ''mechanisms'' in Conservapedia. But that doesn't mean that we can't put anything at all about creation in. Since when do we have to be able to explain every last detail before we can include anything? [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 01:21, 31 May 2007 (EDT)
::Well, of course not, no, you're right! But where CAN I find out about this topic? I had thought that CP would have been the perfect place to learn (and teach others) about these things, having had my interest sparked by all the articles here on CP that talk about it. Do you know anywhere I can learn about the subject? Is there a resource on the internet that describes what is actually being proposed? [[User:50something|50something]] 04:03, 31 May 2007 (EDT)
:::I suggest that you try Creation Ministries International[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/4094/101/]. If there has been any research into these things, they would be among the most likely to know about it. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 05:21, 31 May 2007 (EDT)
::PFR - Well, this is proving tricky. I searched and searched through CMI's site, and while there's plenty of interesting research there, it seems there's nothing at all about 'What Actually Happened'. I mean, there's lots and lots of articles that debunk ToE theories and they're all excellent, but there doesn't seem to be a single article that actually lays out the Creation Events - this happened, then this happened, etc. (Or, 'it is propsed that this happened, then this may have happened' - I suppose we can never know exactly). They do explain that the days were in fact 24 hour days. And there's a good article about how creationism is the most likely mechanism behind proteins, etc, but even that article says that proteins and higher life forms aare enormously complex and take a long, long time to build. But if that's the case, how could trillions of complex creatures have been created in billions of locations all around the planet, within 24 hours? I'm even more confused now! Anyone who has any links, please post them for me, I'm a woman on an educational misison now! God bless, [[User:50something|50something]] 14:19, 1 June 2007 (EDT)
:::Sorry, I wasn't clear. I didn't expect you to find anything on their site. The link was to the page where you can ask them questions; I thought that was your best chance of finding an answer. Proteins only take a long time to build if they are occurring naturally, not if they are created supernaturally. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 03:54, 2 June 2007 (EDT)

== What is the evidence that Dinosaurs only ate plants ==

Can someone please explain the root of the "All Dinosaurs were vegetarians" opinion that many creationists hold? As far as I know is the only evidence of what they ate are the shape of teeth and what appears to be remains of animals found in stomachs, and since there are many large meat eating animals today, aswell as many meat eating reptiles, there doesn't seem to be an obvious reason why it shouldn't be possible.

I'm not looking for a debate, it's just that it's always confused me and when I've asked before all I got was "someone else told me". --[[User:Ned|Ned]] 07:19, 11 October 2007 (EDT)

:I found this in the [[Tyrannosaurus rex]] article:
{{cquote|T-rex had forward-facing eyes, which gave it binocular vision. Binocular vision is usually present in carnivores, as it gives them better depth perception and helps them catch their prey, therefore it is very likely that Tyrannosaurus was a carnivore. Young earth creationists believe that the Tyrannosaurus, along with all other carnivores, was herbivorous in the Garden of Eden before the Fall, but afterwards it adapted to be carnivorous.}}
:That might point you in the right way... --[[User:Jenkins|Jenkins]] 07:28, 11 October 2007 (EDT)

:As Jenkins indicates, creationists believe that dinosaurs, along with all other creatures, were vegetarian, on the basis of the historical account (i.e. the Bible). [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 07:24, 12 October 2007 (EDT)

::They adapted, eh? I don't know what scientific theory that sounds like....--[[User:hmuckabee|hmuckabee]]
::: They adapted but remained Dinosaurs. So sounds to me like Young-Earth creationism. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 17:28, 14 January 2008 (EST)
::::The bible is not a reference. [[User:Wisdom89|Wisdom89]] 19:42, 14 January 2008 (EST)
::::: Is that supposed to be a reply to my previous post? If so, I don't get the connection. But why can't the Bible be a reference (for anything?)? [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 19:50, 14 January 2008 (EST)!
:::::: Well, just in general it really can't, unless you're quoting scripture. With regards to hmuckabee, he/she wanted to know what reference supports the supposed vegetarian diet of the dinosaurs according to some creationist beliefs. You didn't actually provide one, you merely indicated that it was a YEC belief - which coincides with those who read the bible in a literal manner. That wouldn't be the proper reference to use - it would be a secondary source from a creation scientist of some sort. That's all I meant. [[User:Wisdom89|Wisdom89]] 00:28, 15 January 2008 (EST)
::::::: "Quoting" is (roughly) the same as "citing". "The Bible" is "scripture", so citing the Bible as a reference ''is'' (effectively) "quoting scripture". But what's wrong with that? To support an argument about history, we often quote historical documents. That's exactly what the Bible is. So it ''can'' be used as a reference.
::::::: I disagree about hmuckabee. He was insinuating that adaptation (which I implied creationists believe in) was an ''evolutionary'' concept, implying that creationists actually believe in a form of evolution. My response was a roundabout way of saying that just because adaptation is a process in evolution doesn't mean that it's exclusive to evolution. Adaptation is also a process in the creationary model. Therefore his insinuation was baseless.
::::::: [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 07:45, 15 January 2008 (EST)

:::::::: The Bible is a historical account of the earth? Does that mean YECs read Revelations in a straightforward manner? [[User:Wisdom89|Wisdom89]] 10:47, 15 January 2008 (EST)
::::::::: Yes, and Revelation is not narrative like Genesis. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 17:32, 15 January 2008 (EST)

Let me say 1st off like most peolple with any basic background in molecular biology, I beleive in evolution. I'm not trying to hide my view point, but I'm not trying to cause arguments for the sake of it either . I'm just curious on this view point, is there any scientific evidance (even speculative evidance ie. based on tooth shape etc.) to support the view point that all Dinosaurs were herbavoirs, or is it just that the bible indirectlty implies it ( all animals came to be about the same time and there was no death before sin, therefore dinosaurs only ate plants? I'm I correct that this is the reasoning? Though not to be too technical, plants and bacteria are alive too. If they ate these there would be death too (unless they ate only from larger plants ie. only the leaves off the tress but never grass for example.)
-Damien Rivers
: The Bible doesn't merely imply it. It says that plants were to be food for the animals and humans. As for evidence, it's probably more of a lack of conclusive evidence for the evolutionary view. Some creatures classified as carnivores on the basis of their teeth don't eat meat! The fruit bat is one example. Further, many carnivores can survive quite well on a herbivorous diet. Also, there are examples of closely-related species in which one is herbivorous and the other is carnivorous. We also have examples of herbivores (e.g. sheep) eating meat on occasion. So there is considerable evidence that originally-herbivorous creatures becoming carnivorous is quite plausible, and so really nothing in science to refute the biblical claim of the animals ''originally'' being herbivorous.
: As far as plants and bacteria being alive is concerned, see [[classification system]] and realise that it depends on your definition. The modern scientific definition is that they are alive, but the biblical definition is that they are not. The Bible defines living things as those that breath air through their nostrils.
: [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 18:07, 13 September 2008 (EDT)

::...which is part of why I'm skeptical of Biblical inerrantism, Philip. I find it difficult to imagine anyone using that as their definition, and I find it extremely difficult to imagine that it's the definition God intended us to employ. There are, after all, a great many creatures other than plants and bacteria which do ''not'' breathe air through their nostrils.

::Biblical exegesis is well and good, but I think too many people place too much faith in the ability of modern man to accurately and faithfully analyze linguistic nuance. --[[User:Benp|Benp]] 18:39, 13 September 2008 (EDT)

::: Umm, yeah? What does that have to do with inerrancy? As the article on [[classification system]]s points out, "some systems may be better, or more useful than others, ''especially for a given purpose''" (emphasis altered). The point is, the Bible had a ''different'' purpose than modern science. The Bible's classification system wasn't intended for scientific use. Beyond that, your response amounts to saying, "I can't see how that would be useful, so the Bible must be wrong.", which makes your lack of imagination the benchmark for deciding biblical accuracy! What arrogance! [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 09:27, 14 September 2008 (EDT)

:::: Not at all. My response amounts to "When an assertion is made concerning the original meaning of the Bible, and when this assertion conflicts with observed evidence, it is likely that the assertion is in error." I must confess to not even being sure of which passage you're referring to, as the only passage I can think of offhand that mentions the breath of life in conjunction with the nostrils is Genesis 7:22--and no translation of Genesis 7:22 I have ever read makes "All in whose nostrils was the breath of life..." a benchmark for all that is living. In fact, it immediately links that qualifier to "...of all that was in the dry land." (There's also Genesis 2:7, but that's referring exclusively to Adam, so I can't imagine it's the basis of your claim.) If there is another line I'm overlooking elsewhere, please feel free to point it out; while I study the Bible, I do not claim to have it committed perfectly to memory, and it's entirely possible that I'm overlooking the line on which you base your argument.

::::Moreover, I can observe that the definition you offered ("The Bible defines living things as those that breath air through their nostrils.") seems rather strongly at odds with Genesis 1:20, which establishes that the creatures brought forth from the water had life. You could add the qualifier that this only applies to creatures on dry land, as per Genesis 7:22, but as I already pointed out, Genesis 7:22 does not establish that only those creatures that had the breath of life in their nostrils were alive; merely that the ones who did and were on dry land all died. It would be possible to argue that "in whose nostrils was the breath of life" is in the poetic mode, and meant to refer to a broader range of respiration than strictly the nostrils, but that would also undermine the definition offered.

:::: Is my skepticism when someone says "The Bible says..." or "The Biblical definition is..." arrogance? Perhaps. I think it would be far more arrogant if I were to assume that current scholarship has so successfully captured the nuance and idiom of the autographic texts that no significant errors of understanding remain.

:::: I have faith in God. I know, however, how difficult it is to perfectly render an author's original intent even when you share the author's language, culture, and frame of reference. I would greet ''any'' claim by any scholar that they perfectly comprehended the idiom and tropes of a writer two thousand years dead with healthy skepticism. I know that some advance the argument that it is God's Word, and therefore, He will ensure understanding--but, again, that claim conflicts with what has been observed throughout history. Men...even saintly men...are capable of misunderstanding God's Word, and so coming to wrong conclusions about the world around them. God has not prevented this from happening, so it would be arrogant indeed to presume that He will do so now.

:::: If you want to argue that the writers of the Bible did not consider plants to be alive in the same sense as animals, I completely agree; I take no issue with that part of your statement. Certainly, they didn't consider bacteria to be alive...it's extremely unlikely that they considered bacteria at all (I suppose it's possible that God revealed the existence of bacteria to them, but it seems pretty doubtful.) However, I disagree that the Bible defines living things as those that breathe air through their nostrils. I think a stronger case could be made for mobility, and even THAT is not offered as an exclusive definition. --[[User:Benp|Benp]] 10:12, 14 September 2008 (EDT)

''NB: Following a request from Benp to move this discussion to another page, I have replied to him on [[User talk:Philip J. Rayment#Dinosaur discussion continuation|my talk page]]''.

==Evaluating the stature of resources==

Much as I respect the fervor of Jack Chick's fundamentalism, there is a question whether we -- as an encyclopedia -- want to endorse his scholarship as a primary source.

http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Dinosaur&curid=6394&diff=319463&oldid=319380&rcid=345294

Surely his good ideas are not unique, so we ought to be able to find other sources which say substantially the same thing. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] [[User talk:Ed Poor|Talk]] 16:16, 19 October 2007 (EDT)

:In general he only presents ideas which are already out there, so I'm sure it's possible, but I certainly wouldn't know where to look. Chick tracts are written for the purpose of spiritual guidance, not facts, so, while the facts might be true, they don't need to be most of the time to prove his point. This is why I removed the reference. As the final nail in the coffin, the claim itself seemed rather... large to be presented with no explanation (heh, no pun intended). [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 16:24, 19 October 2007 (EDT)
::I've been studying the issue for over 30 years, and I don't recall ever reading a claim that the dinosaurs died out due to a lack of oxygen. The idea is likely related to the "canopy theory" that the tract also endorses, which theory has been rejected by most leading creationists anyway. Besides, the tract's story of a dinosaur trying to hide in the cloud is ridiculous anyway. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 22:29, 21 October 2007 (EDT)
:::Thanks for the clarification, Philip. I know very little about the issue and didn't want to say something was wrong when I really didn't know. Also I didn't actually read the tract, so I didn't see the dino in the clouds thing :) [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 22:48, 21 October 2007 (EDT)

== Search window ==

This little window in the Main page is too down at present. --[[User:Joaquín Martínez]], [[User talk:Joaquín Martínez|talk]] 22:15, 3 November 2007 (EDT)

== Chicago University incorrect reference ==

The article refers to Chicago University which does not exist. Is this a reference to some specific university located in Chicago? If so, which one? Clarification needed. {{unsigned|Star}}
:The referenced source mentions the "University of Chicago", and a Google search shows that there is one of them, so I've changed the article. Thanks for pointing it out. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 01:05, 3 December 2007 (EST)

== Remove Soft Tissue Claim ==

I would do it myself but I know it would be reverted so perhaps a syop could remove the claim that the tissue find throws doubt on the age of dinosaurs. If it were true that would mean that all dinosaur remains would contain soft tissue which they do not.
[[User:MetcalfeM|MetcalfeM]]
:There are ways younger dinosaurs can lose tissue. The important part is that some have it.[[User:RobertK|RobertK]] 20:46, 22 January 2008 (EST)

: You are correct, MetcalfeM: if you removed it, it would be reverted. And the reason is, because the claim is accurate and relevant. The claim is "Creationists cite a number of reasons to believe that dinosaurs have existed until relatively recent times...The recent dinosaur tissue find is a strong rebuttal of the claim that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago.". Creationists ''do'' claim this (there is a reference provided), so the comment in the article is accurate ''even if the creationists are wrong''. Secondly, as RobertK indicates, it is an error of logic to claim that because soft tissue shows dinosaurs are young, therefore all dinosaur remains will contain soft tissue. That simply doesn't follow. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 21:00, 22 January 2008 (EST)

I think it is important to note that A)of all dinosaur remains found there has never been tissue discovered - if this was proof that dinosaurs were alive recently then we'd find more of it and B) "soft tissue" does not mean it was soft. It means it was fossilised soft tissue. Like a fossiled ear for arguements sake. It wouldnt be soft but it is soft tissue.
[[User:MetcalfeM|MetcalfeM]]
: The soft tissue that was found was only found because a large T-rex bone had to be broken in two for helicopter transport. Researchers are now wondering if there is more soft tissue to be found in other bones. But until recently, nobody's looked.
: And you are incorrect. It was actual soft tissue, it was able to be stretched and it snapped back into place. Perhaps you should try reading the reference.
: [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 21:03, 22 January 2008 (EST)

::<nowiki>*</nowiki>deep sigh*
::have a look at answersincreation.org
::[[User:MetcalfeM|MetcalfeM]]

Metcalfe, you keep making a mistake in saying that "if this, then all similar situations must be true." Evidence doesn't have to be complete, just interesting, relevant, and true. Time will tell.[[User:RobertK|RobertK]] 21:21, 22 January 2008 (EST)

sigh.....Found these showing it was not "Soft and stretchy..
I found this on National Geographic news (not a dubious creation site which your ref comes from) "First the dinosaur body had to escape predators, scavengers, and degradation by weather and water. Then a chemical process must have mineralized the tissue before bacteria ate it. And finally, the remains had to survive millions of years undamaged."
It was not soft an stetchy. It was mineralised. And this from Washingtonpost
"It's a dinosaur that was turned into stone, essentially," said Lyson, 24, now a graduate student in paleontology at Yale University."
NOT soft and stretchy
So why is this not included in the article?
[[User:MetcalfeM|MetcalfeM]]

"had to survive millions of years"---that's an unwarranted assumption.[[User:RobertK|RobertK]] 21:33, 22 January 2008 (EST)

But thats not what I am pointing out. I am pointing out that the claim of "Soft tissue" does not mean "soft" as shown by 2 credible resources above. I can find more with ease so why does no-one revert this soft tissue claim?
[[User:MetcalfeM|MetcalfeM]]

:: deeper sigh
:: The [http://www.answersincreation.org/argument/D612_creation_science.htm AnswersInCreation response] is terribly lightweight and answers nothing.
:: Their objections have already been answered [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3427/ here].
:: To briefly answer AnswersInCreation's four points:
::# That it was portrayed that way is rejected, is a matter of opinion anyway, and does not address the actual claims.
::# That soft tissue could survive is nothing more than an unsupported ''ad hoc'' explanation: ''It is that old so it must have been able to survive somehow''. Actual scientific evidence on the survivability of biological material refutes this argument.
::# That more would contain soft tissue has not yet been investigated to any extent, as mentioned above. This is an argument from silence, and thus invalid.
::# This is not a criticism of the claim, but a counter-claim.
:: So in summary, there's actually nothing of substance there in the way of a rebuttal!
:: Your claim that the creation site is dubious is nothing more than you showing your anti-creationist bigotry.
:: The soft tissue was contained in a mineralised matrix, which had to be dissolved. But it's simply not true that something hard was made soft and stretchy by the demineralisation process. You can't make rock soft and stretchy.
:: [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 21:46, 22 January 2008 (EST)
:::Except magma is soft and stretchy, but anything in it that isn't rock probably isn't going to do so good.[[User:RobertK|RobertK]] 21:50, 22 January 2008 (EST)
:::: Soft, yes, but I wouldn't think that magma is stretchy in the sense of being able to stretch it and having it snap back. But then I've never tried it! [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 21:54, 22 January 2008 (EST)

From a USgov website - "The tissue was once elastic and stretchy, and had the capacity to be dehydrated and rehydrated many times without losing this characteristic. “Although the preservation of soft tissue such as this is not unique in the geologic record, this occurrence goes well beyond what has been observed in the past for dinosaurs, and reinforces the evolutionary link of dinosaurs to birds,” said Barrera." And rock of course cannot be demineralised in this sense becuase, well, it never was organic in the first place.
But nevermind. National Geo and other well known academia are obviously rubbish compared to a creation site or sites. Forget it then.
[[User:MetcalfeM|MetcalfeM]]
: I'm not sure exactly what your quote from the unnamed US government website is getting at, but it does indicate that the ability to be stretchy was still there. And the connection with birds seems to be a leap into the dark; how on Earth does it show that? A normal fossil has the tissue (whether soft tissue or hard tissue such as bone) ''replaced'' by rock (minerals). There is no way that it can then still be soft and stretchy, or again made to be soft and stretchy. The only way the material can be soft and stretchy is if it is still the original (perhaps a little deteriorated) biological material, and ''not'' mineralised. And that's the point: It was not mineralised, but still (after removing the mineralisation around the material) ''soft and stretchy''. Yet test show that such material could not survive for anything even remotely approaching 65 million years, meaning either that (a) the preservation is exceedingly exceptional to have survived for 65 million years, despite tests showing otherwise, or (b) it is not 65 million years old. Evolutionists opt for (a), whilst creationists quite legitimately opt for (b). One item of evidence does not prove (or even disprove) an entire theory, but it is nevertheless totally valid for creationists to use this as one bit of evidence supporting their point of view.
: National Geographic is no less biased than academic creationist groups. And remember that the creationists are quoting the evolutionary researchers who made the discoveries; they're not making this stuff up. The creationists have produced arguments to defend their point of view. You, on the other hand, are trying to belittle them rather than answer their arguments. Yes, you have produced some counter views, but you have not actually pointed out the flaws in the creationist arguments that I linked to. It's like your attitude is "ignore what the creationists say and just quote what someone from the other side says, without even checking whether it really answers what the creationists are saying".
: [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 00:56, 23 January 2008 (EST)

== Adaptation and evolution ==
(Rather than allow the sections to grow indefinitely, I've moved these latest posts out of the "Day 6 Creation Mechanisms?" section. The last post in that section was many months ago, and the first new post did not follow directly from the last one there. However, I invite the poster (Entheogenicorder) to add an introduction to his 16:35, 31 January post referencing what in that earlier section he is replying to, if he wishes.)

Adaptation and Evolution are the same thing - you can't claim that 'something adapted (because of changes to it's environment)' and then deny the validity of the Theory of Evolution. That is using a slight varient in words to suit your needs, not presenting facts to prove or disprove anything.
I was brought up with proper Christian morals, not concerned with politics, but the real Christian morals of caring for others out of kindness and treating every person as the same; the morals as taught by Christ. I am not a true Christian, in the Creationist, Church going sense, as I feel spiritual discovery is too subjective to be institutionalized, but the value of the lessons of the Bible are not lost on me and I will seek out my own spiritual awakening. That does not mean that I deny the idea of God. The further you delve into molecular and astrological science, the more you realise that we are part of a greater plan, a bigger scheme, but that we in no way comprehend what it is yet. We are just learning, moving forward and we are finding answers. If you believe in God, do him justice, DO NOT simplify the beauty of what he has created, the intrinsic, interconnected nature of everything. IT IS NO MISTAKE. But do not preach false truths of simplified realities, because to me, it is just sinful and wicked. If there is a God, he will want us to fully understand the beauty of his creation, not deny it.

I believe that most of the 'Christians' on this website cannot truthfully call themselves that. They are the opposite, Devils sent here to guide us towards the temptation of accepting the easy, second-grade theories over scientific proof. Maybe I'm wrong, but in my heart of hearts, I feel right. Let you not be the judge, for the Great Spirit, God, whatever name you give, he will be the judge. [[User:Entheogenicorder|Entheogenicorder]] 16:35, 31 January 2008 (BWT)

:Haha. Very passionate, but, in any case, wrong. Adaptation does not equal evolution. Adaptation can be found in the science of microevolution, a scientific fact many ''real'' Christians agree with. Also, I don't know how you equate macroevolution with "scientific proof". Not even the most-learned, ''intelligent'' scientist would make any assumption that presumes that the Theory of Evolution is any more than that - a ''theory''. Notice I said intelligent; there are some "scientists" who would like to believe otherwise. Nevertheless, I enjoyed your little rant, but let's try to focus on the facts, ok? Thanks. --[[User:David R|David R]][[User talk:David R|talk]] 11:59, 31 January 2008 (EST)

::Haha. Where's your passion in what you believe? In the instance I was refering to (apologies for not citing it here), which I believe can be seen earlier in this discussion, was that Dinosaurs adapted to become carnivores after leaving The Garden of Eden, where they were herbivores. This requires a large amount of adaptation to the digestive make-up of the dinosaur, as can be seen by the differences between herbivores and carnivores today. It would be a biological change, as a result of changing the environment/circumstance, which could be looked upon as evoulution... I don't believe the 'Theory of Evolution' is anything more than a theory, but probable evidence of it can be seen in the massive variety of plant and animal life around the world; especially in instances where secularized sub-species have evolved massively from their more common brothers, e.g. on secluded Islands. My main point was that if God created the Big Bang, foresaw evolution and guided the Earth in its history, isn't that the most brilliant thing? Wouldn't it be blasphemous to deny him of this splendour? I enjoyed my little rant, and would love to focus on the facts, if there were any that could be conclusively proved, thanks! :-D [[User:Entheogenicorder|Entheogenicorder]] 18:15, 31 January 2008 (BWT)

:::I have enough passion in what I believe. I just don't let it adversely affect my thinking. So you are telling me that you cannot conclusively prove what you say is true? Well, I commend your honesty. I ''do'' in fact believe that removing God from any part of Creation is blasphemy. If the Bible said that God created the "Big Bang" and people were trying to tell me that he created each species in the beginning, then I would have to say what they spoke was a form of blasphemy. However, I also believe saying God did something, when the Bible says He did something else would be blasphemous as well. Wouldn't you agree? --[[User:David R|David R]][[User talk:David R|talk]] 14:54, 31 January 2008 (EST)

I'm going to have to disagree with DavidR on a couple of his points, but then I will address the more substantial problems with Entheogenicorder's posts.

Leading creationists recommend that we ''don't'' talk about micro- vs. macro-evolution, as it obscures what the real problem is. The real problem is the ''type'' (or ''direction'') of change, not the ''size'' of the change.

Secondly, evolutionary scientists do in fact claim evolution to be a ''fact''. In science, the word "theory" does ''not'' imply something uncertain.

Now on to Entheogenicorder's posts:

"''Adaptation and Evolution are the same thing''": As DavidR has pointed out, this is simply not true, although it does depend on how one [[Definitions of evolution|defines evolution]] (read that). Adaptation can have a few mechanisms, but microbe-to-man evolution is not the same as adaptation.

"''If you believe in God, do him justice, DO NOT simplify the beauty of what he has created, the intrinsic, interconnected nature of everything.''", "''Wouldn't it be blasphemous to deny him of this splendour?''": I don't believe at all that creationists are doing that. But I would add, as DavidR has mentioned, DO NOT reject the clear things that God has told us. He [[creation Week|''clearly'' told us that He created the world in six days]] (among other things that He said that contradict evolution). How about "doing Him justice" by taking Him at His Word? It would be blasphemy to deny what He clearly said.

"''...accepting the easy, second-grade theories over scientific proof.''": No, we are accepting what God has clearly said about the ''history'' of this world over ''man-made'' theories by ''scientists'' trying to give us an alternative ''history''. They are not only therefore fallible men contradicting God, but they are speaking outside their area of expertise (e.g. biologists talking about ''history'').

"''[The change from herbivory to carnivory] requires a large amount of adaptation to the digestive make-up of the dinosaur, as can be seen by the differences between herbivores and carnivores today''": First, the Bible specifically says that God made some changes at the time of the fall. He doesn't specifically mention carnivory, and I'm not putting that forward as ''the'' explanation, but it is a ''possible'' explanation. Second, many supposed carnivores survive quite well on a herbivorous diet. There's not that much difference. Third, herbivores, such as sheep and cows, have been seen acting as carnivores. Fourth, there are examples where two closely-related species have one being carnivorous and one being herbivorous—there's not necessarily large amounts of adaptation involved at all.[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/279/] Sixth, some creatures classified on the basis of their morphology as carnivorous are herbivorous (e.g. fruit bat, same reference).

"''I enjoyed my little rant, and would love to focus on the facts, if there were any that could be conclusively proved, thanks!''": So you are rejecting what God has clearly said on the basis of something that cannot be conclusively proved? I think you have your priorities a bit wrong.

[[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 21:28, 31 January 2008 (EST)

:If that is your take of things, I don't see why you have any problem with what I said. You may have misread my post, but I did not say anything about the ''size'' of an evolutionary change. Furthermore, I do not think microevolution takes size into consideration, rather it is influenced by type, as you stated. If you think that microevolution is change ''within'' a species, I cannot disagree. Also, you assume I think scientists who interpret the Theory of Evolution as scientific law are thinking clearly; I don't. In addition, a theory ''may'' not be something un''certain'', but it is certainly something un''proven''. That is all. I hope I cleared things up. :\ --[[User:David R|David R]][[User talk:David R|talk]] 22:22, 31 January 2008 (EST)

::I don't think you understand what a theory is-- It's not an unfounded guess. It's the closest you get to "THIS IS ABSOLUTELY TOTALLY TRUE" in science. [[User:Barikada|Barikada]] 22:24, 31 January 2008 (EST)

:: DavidR, I apologise for not being careful enough in my post. It's not that you said anything explicit about the size of the change, but size is what is implied in talking about ''micro''evolution vs. ''macro''evolution. Perhaps you didn't mean it that way, but that's what people will likely understand from the user of those terms. It's not a matter of what I think microevolution is. The term is imprecise.
:: Nothing in science is considered ''proven'', so prepending "theory" to it does not downgrade it at all.
:: In case ''I'' need to clear anything up, I was disagreeing with you on those two points only; overall, I agreed with you.
:: [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 03:07, 1 February 2008 (EST)

::: Thank you all for taking the time to discuss this.

:::“''I don't believe at all that creationists are doing that. But I would add, as DavidR has mentioned, DO NOT reject the clear things that God has told us. He clearly told us that He created the world in six days (among other things that He said that contradict evolution). How about "doing Him justice" by taking Him at His Word? It would be blasphemy to deny what He clearly said''” God has not clearly said anything to me, has He told you in person? What is in the Bible is many thousands of years old and has been endlessly translated from one language to another. It is quite conceivable that much of the original meaning is lost in these translations. For example, it is widely accepted that Roman historical records prove the existence of Jesus at roughly the same time as we base our calendar around. Therefore, from studying similar Roman records from a later date, it should be considered that some time later, as is historically recorded, Roman scholars may well have changed the Bible to make it more compatible with the Pagan beliefs that many of their subjects held. Therefore – for me – it is very difficult to be sure exactly what God told us. Please also see below.

:::“''We are accepting what God has clearly said about the history of this world over man-made theories by scientists trying to give us an alternative history. They are not only therefore fallible men contradicting God, but they are speaking outside their area of expertise (e.g. biologists talking about history).” '' I’m sorry but that is accepting what other Men have interpreted God as having said, not what God has directly said to you (unless he has?). The Bible is apparently divided between the literal and metaphorical. I find it very difficult to differentiate between the two sometimes, especially when some manipulate these religious texts so that they can only mean one thing, and then deny that another part of the same text implies something else because 'it is not the literal meaning’. In this case, I have always thought the story of creation was metaphorical, not a popular view here I imagine but that is my understanding of it. For me that means the six days of creation could represent anything from a literal six-day working week to a massive time scale over billions of years, representing levels of development and culminating in our evolution. With regards to your second point, because you’re religious, does that qualify you over a scientist to discuss multiple fields? You may argue that Religion covers all aspects of life, but a Physicist will probable tell you that so does Physics, and I would argue that so does Philosophy.

:::If you believe in a complete and literal translation of the Bible, I would like to know the proposed size of Noah’s arc, if it had also to be filled with dinosaurs. I believe that even if you took one of each of the animals alive today, discounting dinosaurs, there would have been no way of building a boat large enough to safely transport and accommodate them all for 40 days and 40 nights, especially if you take into account that the animals would have needed fresh food, fresh water, fresh hay to sleep on and of course, room to exercise.

:::“''Second, many supposed carnivores survive quite well on an herbivorous diet. There's not that much difference. Third, herbivores, such as sheep and cows, have been seen acting as carnivores.”'' The differences between carnivores and herbivores are huge. In order to break down the complex cellulose in leaves, herbivores use either ‘symbiotic bacteria or protozoa’ in the gut, or ‘grind the plant's digestible protoplasm out of its cellulose-walled cells’. Carnivores have no mechanism for this. I have never seen a sheep or cow eat meat personally, but I don’t deny that they may have at some point in history!

:::On the basis of scientific evidence, dinosaurs existed millions of years ago, long before any human – or mammal – remains have been found. This idea is rejected by Creationists, who claim the science is wrong. I’d like to know the scientific background to this bold claim and would like to see and understand the scientific theory that attempts to explain the actual age of the earth. [[User:Entheogenicorder|Entheogenicorder]] 16:23, 1 February 2008 (BWT)

:::: I see that you've been doing what Andy refers to as [[liberal deceit]]. You make out that you believe at least some of the Bible ("I was brought up with ... the morals as taught by Christ", and "DO NOT simplify the beauty of what he has created, the intrinsic, interconnected nature of everything"), now show your true colours, in that you don't think the Bible is reliable enough to take any notice of!
:::: "''God has not clearly said anything to me...''": He has, in the Bible, whether you choose to accept that or not.
:::: "''What is in the Bible is many thousands of years old ...''": Which is consistent with it being written at the time the events happened, which makes it more reliable than something written much later. So that's a ''good'' thing. Strike 1.
:::: "''...and has been endlessly translated from one language to another''": Incorrect, in the sense that you are implying. Modern English translations of the Bible have been translated ''directly'' from the original languages. Again, that supports the idea that it is accurate. Strike 2.
:::: "''It is quite conceivable that much of the original meaning is lost in these translations.''": You can "conceive" anything you want with a vivid enough imagination, but the ''evidence'' is that the manuscripts have been handed down ''accurately''. Strike 3; you're out.
:::: "''...Roman scholars may well have changed the Bible to make it more compatible with the Pagan beliefs that many of their subjects held''": There's your imagination running away again. The evidence is otherwise.
:::: "''I’m sorry but that is accepting what other Men have interpreted God as having said...''": Nonsense. If you want to argue that when God said that He created the world in six days, that that is just an interpretation of what He said, then you are basically claiming that words have no meaning and language is useless. In which case I can claim that you're not really saying that "Roman scholars may well have changed the Bible"; rather that is just my interpretation of what you said. See how the argument is nonsense?
:::: "''The Bible is apparently divided between the literal and metaphorical. I find it very difficult to differentiate between the two sometimes...''": Perhaps your difficulty stems from trying to read the literal as metaphorical. Or else you simply know little about making such distinctions. But your inability to do this does not give you ''carte blanche'' to pick and choose what to believe. The experts agree, for example, that the creation account was meant to be understood literally. The language is not that of metaphor. An example of metaphor is elsewhere in the Old Testament where is says that the trees clapped their hands.
:::: "''...especially when some manipulate these religious texts so that they can only mean one thing, and then deny that another part of the same text implies something else because 'it is not the literal meaning’.''": Examples please?
:::: "''In this case, I have always thought the story of creation was metaphorical...For me that means the six days of creation could represent anything from a literal six-day working week to a massive time scale over billions of years.''": Well, you are wrong, as mentioned above, and as the link to [[Creation Week]] above explains. Did you read that?
:::: "''...because you’re religious, does that qualify you over a scientist to discuss multiple fields?''": Oh dear, another lack of comprehension. I wasn't talking about ''discussing'' multiple fields, but speaking ''authoritatively'' about them. Those scientists can discuss ''history'' as much as they like, but they have no more ''authority'' on the subject than me, and I'm not claiming any. I'm quoting other authorities and offering evidence, not claiming that I'm an authority. You can quote other scientists' arguments as much as you like, but the case stands or falls on the strength of their arguments, not their authority, because when it comes to ''history'', they have none.
:::: "''If you believe in a complete and literal translation of the Bible...''": I don't. I accept that there are parables, metaphors, etc. in the Bible. But the Flood account is history, so...
:::: "''I would like to know the proposed size of Noah’s arc...''": ''Proposed'' size? Are you so ignorant of the idea that you dismiss so readily that you are not even aware that the Bible records the size of the ark?
:::: "''I believe that even if you took one of each of the animals alive today, discounting dinosaurs, there would have been no way of building a boat large enough to safely transport and accommodate them all...''": Hey! Terrific argument! You don't know how big the ark was, you haven't got any figures on how many animals would need to have been on it, yet you can conclude that it's not big enough! I must stand in awe of your immense intelligence! (Sorry for the sarcasm, but you asked for it.)
:::: "''...for 40 days and 40 nights...''": Showing your ignorance again? The Bible records that they were on the ark for just over a year.
:::: "''The differences between carnivores and herbivores are huge.''": Another assertion ignoring the evidence I offered to the contrary.
:::: "''In order to break down the complex cellulose in leaves, herbivores use either ‘symbiotic bacteria or protozoa’ in the gut, or ‘grind the plant's digestible protoplasm out of its cellulose-walled cells’''": What you are hinting at is that it's harder to eat vegetable matter than meat. Which means that a carnivore would have problems eating vegetable matter, but a herbivore would not have the same problems eating meat. Which means that the biblical account of going from herbivory to carnivory does not present any great problems, although the contrary change would.
:::: "''Carnivores have no mechanism for this''": Yet some carnivores survive quite satisfactorily on a herbivorous diet.
:::: "''I have never seen a sheep or cow eat meat personally, but I don’t deny that they may have at some point in history!''": There's been recent accounts of them doing so.
:::: "''On the basis of scientific evidence, dinosaurs existed millions of years ago...''": No, that's on the basis of the evolutionary theory, not the scientific evidence.
:::: "''This idea is rejected by Creationists, who claim the science is wrong.''": No, they claim that the philosophy underlying evolution is wrong, not the science.
:::: "''I’d like to know the scientific background to this bold claim and would like to see and understand the scientific theory that attempts to explain the actual age of the earth.''": See [http://www.creationontheweb.com/ here]. I wouldn't normally direct you to an entire web-site for an answer to a specific question, but in your case, you are trying to argue against ideas (creationism, the accuracy of the Bible, etc.) that you know next to nothing about, and the right and proper thing is to actually do some study and learn about the subject before you go around criticising it. Okay? I trust that you won't return here with more arguments until you have actually learnt a reasonable amount about the subject.
:::: [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 22:34, 1 February 2008 (EST)

:::::Admittedly I thought I was clearer at the start in saying that despite being brought up as a Christian, I do not follow the Religion in any institutionalized sense. I would like to point out that it was not a case of me consciously practising [[liberal deceit]]. I was brought up a Christian and I do believe that to deny the true nature of the universe is to take something away from the idea of God. I do believe in what the Bible has to say about loving your brother, equality among all men and many of the other important lessons which are put together into stories. My point here was to ask you to examine your own beliefs and for me to examine my own. As [[Socrates]] once said ‘a life unexamined is a life not worth living.’

:::::From what I have read, ‘the experts’ generally agree very little on the true nature of Genesis, and for a large part it depends on their religious orientation. Many understand the main creation story literally, but others don’t. A small group of Christians, apparently known as '[[Progressive Creationists]]' have spoken to me about the 6-days of creation existing in a metaphorical sense, and this is where much of my confusion arises; if one group of Christians says it means one thing and then another tells me that without doubt it means another, then I’m confused before I get to reading the first page. What I can gather is that to some it is a literal text peppered with metaphors and parables; just to cover all eventualities! I can understand the points in the [[Creation Week]] link, as long as you take what is written in the Bible as the perfect word of God, but my point is about the writing down of the Bible; it may be just my curious nature to question everything, but I would question; would Moses understand anything conveyed to him by a perfect and omnipotent being? Would God have had the same concept of a day as we do? With regards to the reference to morning and evening; if Moses understood the days as God told him to be 24 hours, did he try to clarify this to the next reader by adding the reference? And even though it is partially covered in the [[Creation Week]] link, could it not still have been poetic? After all, much contemporary poetry does not follow implicit rules and often with revelatory texts, seeks to break with tradition.

:::::You may believe that God spoke to you through The Bible and I may believe that he has, but I may also believe that Buddha has passed on some of his enlightened wisdom in his texts when he says; ‘do not believe on the faith of Sages of the past’. My point was that Moses (and others) traditionally wrote much of the Old Testament, and Moses was a man. Men often create or imagine figures of God or ideas of Spirituality in order to persuade themselves that they are inspired by a higher power. They also create ideas in order to manipulate groups of people into abiding by their will. Men are also often wrong. Therefore, my point is that you cannot be sure that what Moses said and wrote is the word of God, even if you believe that the Bible is exactly what Moses (etc.) said and wrote. As you well know, the first five books of the Old Testament are known as the "Pentateuch". Tradition states these books to have been written by Moses. This is improbable, since these books speak of Moses in the third person throughout and also more conclusively, they tell of the death of Moses in Deuteronomy 34:5. I find that while many Christians are quick to accept archaeological data that verifies a piece of Biblical history, and are quick to accept scholars' conclusions on the questionable nature of scriptures of other religions, they downplay a critical study of their own scripture, the Bible.

:::::My small point about translation (your Strike 1, 2 & 3) was questioning – as you point out the language is quite loose; ‘isn’t it conceivable that…over thousands of years’ etc. If you read the King James Version, it is most likely that you have as accurate version as possible. As historians (or part-time historians), we cannot know what has happened in the past, we can only critically examine the evidence we have to create an idea of what has or might have happened, that is what history is. To claim that anything in the past is definite is to speak outside of your authority whether you are a historian, scientist, philosopher or anything, so even one translation to English could have been changed in some ways.

:::::''Nonsense. If you want to argue that when God said that He created the world in six days, that that is just an interpretation of what He said, then you are basically claiming that words have no meaning and language is useless. In which case I can claim that you're not really saying that "Roman scholars may well have changed the Bible"; rather that is just my interpretation of what you said. See how the argument is nonsense?'' Please let me demonstrate how my argument was fairly sound, but yours is a logical fallacy. I wrote, directly from me, that ‘Roman scholars may well have changed the Bible.’ You could only use this argument if I had said it to another person, who had then written it down and conveyed it to you. As I am saying it directly to you, there is less scope for my meaning to be lost. If I said it to an acquaintance of mine, who then thought about it and then passed it on to you, he may not convey my entire message. He may give you the gist of it, but not all of the intricate details, he may wish to elaborate on it, or even change some of the ideas if he couldn’t understand them, or he may even include his own ideas. So you see the difference I’m trying to establish; if God spoke to you in the same way he did Moses, then you would know that what he had said to you was the authentic Word of God, although there’s a fair chance you’d be called a maniac for preaching it. If God says something to Moses, who then writes it into stories and commentaries, or passes them on through generations of oral story telling as is argued by some scholars, then some of His meaning might be lost, confused, misinterpreted etc.

:::::''The differences between carnivores and herbivores are huge.” Another assertion ignoring the evidence I offered to the contrary… What you are hinting at is that it's harder to eat vegetable matter than meat… …Which means that the biblical account of going from herbivory to carnivory does not present any great problems, although the contrary change would.”'' Firstly, it isn’t an assertion because I offered some evidence. I provided a brief summation of characteristics usually associated with herbivores, I didn’t mean to over-generalize because obviously there are some exceptions, but many dinosaur fossils found display the same attributes, for example, as elephants do, for grinding the plant's digestible protoplasm out of its cellulose-walled cells. There are also obvious examples of dinosaurs whose physiology is generally geared towards hunting. Secondly, theoretically this is so, but moreover I was trying to examine the differences there can be between herbivores and carnivores. I don’t think a dinosaur with flat, blunt teeth, a long neck and weak jaws would have been very good at hunting, so it would have had to have changed in order to suit a carnivorous diet.

:::::''On the basis of scientific evidence, dinosaurs existed millions of years ago…” : No, that's on the basis of the evolutionary theory, not the scientific evidence…” …this idea is rejected by Creationists, who claim the science is wrong.: No, they claim that the philosophy underlying evolution is wrong, not the science.”'' I’m sorry but that is pure ignorance. It is not proved or disproved on the basis of the evolutionary theory; it is on the basis of fossil evidence and dating methods. If you can give me your scientific opposition to the various methods of dating, which have been used to accurately measure the ages of various buildings and relics around the world then please, let me know, but don’t try and discredit what I’m saying by using the evolutionary theory argument, because that is not relevant here. Christians often use carbon or radiometric dating as evidence that events occurred at a time in-keeping with that in the Bible, as seen [http://www.s8int.com/edom.html here], however when it is used to prove the age of the dinosaurs is millions of years, it is repudiated, often citing that dinosaur bones are ‘too old to be accurately dated’ or ‘the methods are inaccurate’, though most leading scientists maintain that these claims are [http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/benton.html unfounded]. Please don’t say tell me that carbon dating cannot date anything beyond 70,000 years, because I know. It is the dating techniques using ‘rubidium/strontium, thorium/lead, potassium/argon, argon/argon, or uranium/lead, all of which have very long half-lives, ranging from 0.7 to 48.6 billion years’ to which I am referring.

::::: ''Proposed size? Are you so ignorant of the idea that you dismiss so readily that you are not even aware that the Bible records the size of the ark?'' No I’m not that ignorant, to be honest I didn’t really know what a ‘cubit’ was and I admit I could have phrased the question better. 300 x 50 x 30 cubits could have meant anything to me; I thought maybe you could provide me with a useful answer of how big that would be in terms of commonly used measurements today, rather than attack the wording and theory of my question. Please also do not accuse me of readily dismissing anything; it is with some consideration and a desire for truth that I look beyond what I have been taught. Having researched it further it seems that, contrary to my earlier claim, that Noah’s ark may well have been of the size required to carry all of the kinds of creatures, not species, that are on the earth today. That is, as long as such a large vessel could have been constructed (one would not have been seen again until the 19th Century). And of course as long as there weren’t hundreds of 50ft lizards marauding through the corridors!

:::::''You don't know how big the ark was, you haven't got any figures on how many animals would need to have been on it, yet you can conclude that it's not big enough...'' Being English I love a good bit of sarcasm and that was pretty tasty! It was a sweeping generalization admittedly, but the reason for the ambiguity in figures is that as you can see above, I had no idea how big the stated size of the ark actually meant it was, and also because there is often confusion as to whether the reference to ‘each kind’ in the Bible is referring to each individual species to the smallest variation, or a more general division.

:::::''I trust that you won't return here with more arguments until you have actually learnt a reasonable amount about the subject.'' Please don't accuse me of knowing next to nothing about a subject you only understand from one point of view. I can accept that some of the things I have written are probably wrong, and others have been phrased badly. I hope you can as well. My original post here had no real agenda, and this has now developed very much into a two person discusion of providing counter-arguments for each other without getting far. Whilst I have found it useful and also very interesting, I had hoped to find more of a discussion with a lot more theoretical and philosophical musings. I find it very frustrating that we, as humans, unconditionally rely on unproven science and theoretical history to prove our own points, whilst dismissing other science because it is only theoretical. That is the very point of science, and the very nature of it since Aristotle first set out a logical way of thinking. You observe, predict, then experiment and adjust; it is an ongoing process of refining and defining. Once you have created a theory, as a scientist the very first thing you should do is to examine it under the conditions it is most likely to be proved false. That is science; it doesn’t claim to know the ultimate answers, just guide you towards what’s right. While this is completely off-topic again, I found it very [http://members.aol.com/projbin/plerdyn.htm interesting]. I hope you don't find my points or arguments offensive because they aren't meant to be. As I have said before, my purpose here is understanding, hoping both to be understood and to understand. [[User:Entheogenicorder|Entheogenicorder]] 15:57, 5 February 2008 (BWT)

::::::"''From what I have read, ‘the experts’ generally agree very little on the true nature of Genesis''": It depends on what "experts" you are referring to. There are many who claim to know what it means, but have little claim to the title "expert". The experts I was referring to were the ones mentioned in the Barr quote in [[Creation Week]]: professors of Hebrew or Old Testament at world-class universities. According to Barr, they are all agree on the meaning of the text, that it was six ordinary days.
::::::"''...for a large part it depends on their religious orientation.''": For many of the so-called "experts", probably true. But the experts that Barr was quoting would not, for the most part, believe the account to be literally true. Barr himself is theologically liberal, I believe, but he is explaining what the text is saying, even though he doesn't believe that to be a true and accurate account.
::::::"''...if one group of Christians says it means one thing and then another tells me that without doubt it means another, then I’m confused before I get to reading the first page''": In that sense, your confusion is understandable. But you need to go beyond just noting that different groups have different beliefs and see how good their arguments are.
::::::"''What I can gather is that to some it is a literal text peppered with metaphors and parables; just to cover all eventualities!''": That's being unkind (ascribing to them the motive of beleiving what suits them). Most non-fiction texts are literal peppered with metaphors. Take a newspaper, for example. You are meant to understand the news as literal events, but even that newspaper will include metaphors in the text, as metaphors are a normal everyday part of language. So there's nothing odd about the Bible being that way. Also, metaphors are discernable by the context. If the newspaper said that so-and-so had passed away after a heart attack, you know that "passed away" is a metaphor for "died", and you have no reason to wonder if "heart attack" is literal or metaphorical. Acknowledging that the Bible contains metaphor is not an argument of convenience, but a simple recognition of the nature of the text.
::::::"''I can understand the points in the Creation Week link, as long as you take what is written in the Bible as the perfect word of God...''": You don't need to do that, for most of them at least. The points are mostly to do with understanding the language.
::::::"''...would Moses understand anything conveyed to him by a perfect and omnipotent being?''": Surely a perfect and omnipotent (and omniscient) being would have the capability of describing things in a way that Moses could understand?
::::::"''...Would God have had the same concept of a day as we do?''": Wouldn't God use language that Moses understood? Besides, from what we understand of God, He doesn't experience day and night: That is something that He created as part of His creation, so He would ''have to be'' talking about earthly days, not any other ones.
::::::"''...if Moses understood the days as God told him to be 24 hours, did he try to clarify this to the next reader by adding the reference?''": Why? Why explain the meaning of words to people who already understand the language?
::::::"''...could it not still have been poetic? After all, much contemporary poetry does not follow implicit rules ...''": In order for something to be called "poetry", it has to follow ''some'' rules, else you could call any text poetry. Sure, the rules might differ in different cultures and at different times in history, but there's still got to be rules. There's no point proposing that a text is poetry without having some reason for doing so, and I don't consider a desire to not take the text literally to be such a reason.
::::::"'''Therefore, my point is that you cannot be sure that what Moses said and wrote is the word of God...''": I can be sure. That is, I believe that there is quite sufficient evidence of God's ultimate authorship of it to be convinced of that. You, of course, may not be so convinced. Some will never be convinced, because they will refuse to believe no matter what. But this is not the place to get into the evidence for that.
::::::"''Tradition states these books to have been written by Moses. This is improbable, since these books speak of Moses in the third person throughout and also more conclusively, they tell of the death of Moses in Deuteronomy 34:5.''": I would not be the first nor the last time that someone has written of themselves in the third person. And it's more than tradition that it was written by Moses, including Jesus Himself testifying to that. Of course that doesn't mean that a later person (e.g. Joshua) didn't append an epilogue to it to record Moses' death, so that fact is not reason to reject Moses' authorship.
::::::"''I find that while many Christians are quick to accept archaeological data that verifies a piece of Biblical history, and are quick to accept scholars' conclusions on the questionable nature of scriptures of other religions, they downplay a critical study of their own scripture, the Bible.''": I also find Christians to be somewhat inconsistent like that, but I also find many sceptics, such as yourself, using loaded language, such as referring to people who believe the Bible as "Christians" and those who question it as "scholars". It is nonsense like this, along with many stupid and inconsistent arguments against the Bible, that causes sceptics to have little credibility even with Christians who are more open to examining critical views. A classic example is Thomas Paine using the very point that you used about Deuteronomy recording Moses' death meaning that Moses could not have written the book, yet he acknowledged in his own book that a previous edition ''contained something that he had not himself written''! Did he therefore reject his own authorship of his book? Or acknowledge that he was inconsistent in denying Mosaic authorship? Of course not. When it comes to criticising the Bible, very often anything goes, including inconsistency.
::::::"''As historians (or part-time historians), we cannot know what has happened in the past...''": So I guess you don't know when you were born?
::::::"''...we can only critically examine the evidence we have to create an idea of what has or might have happened, that is what history is''": We can "know" what happened about as well as we can know anything. How do I know that man has been to the moon (which happened in my lifetime)? Because I saw evidence and heard that it happened from people I considered to be reliable. How do I know what happened during World War II (which happened before I was born)? The same answer. How do I know what happened 2000 years ago? The same answer. Sure, for much of history the evidence is quite scant, and so we can't be sure, but that's not true all the time, so in many cases we can be as sure of it as we can be of almost anything.
::::::"''To claim that anything in the past is definite is to speak outside of your authority whether you are a historian...''": Not true. If the evidence is scant, a historian may not have much to go on, but it ''is'' his area of authority.
::::::"''...even one translation to English could have been changed in some ways.''": Because words in two different languages don't have a one-to-one correspondence, this is inevitable in a sense. But given the number of different experts (translators, etc.) who have studied this, the worst that can be said is that the English translations don't 100% convey every subtlety of the original languages. But that's a whole lot different to claiming that there is any substantial change that has occurred, and to therefore questioning the veracity of the Bible.
::::::"''Please let me demonstrate how my argument was fairly sound, but yours is a logical fallacy. (rest snipped)''": The problem with your rebuttal is that it is a straw-man argument. If you wrote something down and gave it to your friend, and your friend carefully rewrote it verbatim and passed it on to me, there is no more chance of misunderstanding arising than if you had written it and given it directly to me. So my argument was not logically flawed. What you probably assumed before but have now stated explicitly is that the Bible was passed down by oral tradition. There's two problems with this. One is that the people at the time were quite practiced at accurately passing things on orally, as that was a common way of passing on information. The second problem is that I know of no reason why the Bible was ever passed on orally, and believe that it was always written down.
::::::"''...it isn’t an assertion because I offered some evidence.''": If you didn't offer evidence, it would have been an ''unsubstantiated assertion'', but providing evidence doesn't mean that it wasn't an assertion.
::::::"''I don’t think a dinosaur with flat, blunt teeth, a long neck and weak jaws would have been very good at hunting, so it would have had to have changed in order to suit a carnivorous diet.''": I don't see your point. I'm not claiming that all dinosaurs were carnivorous. God created creatures herbivorous. Some time later, some started eating meat (which, because of the reduced digestive requirements, should not pose any problems). As far as catching the meat is concerned, some creatures would be better at that than other creatures, specifically those that already had sharper teeth, for example. Furthermore, creationists claim that God provided a fair amount of built-in variability in the genes, so possibly there was already the capability of, for example, a variety of teeth forms so that some creatures might develop teeth better suited for carnivory, and natural selection then favours those creatures. You might think that this is evolution, but the distinction is that the "better" teeth required nothing new, as the genetic information already existed.
::::::"''I’m sorry but that is pure ignorance. It is not proved or disproved on the basis of the evolutionary theory; it is on the basis of fossil evidence and dating methods.''": The dating methods are based on evolutionary theory (or naturalism, to be more precise) and the fossils do not show evolution.
::::::"''If you can give me your scientific opposition to the various methods of dating...''": See [[radiometric dating]].
::::::"''Christians often use carbon or radiometric dating as evidence that events occurred at a time in-keeping with that in the Bible, as seen here...''": Carbon dating, yes, but rarely if ever other forms. Carbon dating is able to be calibrated with artefacts of known age for the last few thousand years, so creationists don't take issue with those dates, but get beyond a few thousand years and the methods can't be calibrated.
::::::"''...often citing that dinosaur bones are ‘too old to be accurately dated’...''": I don't recall ''ever'' seeing that particular claim.
::::::"''Please don’t say tell me that carbon dating cannot date anything beyond 70,000 years, because I know.''": Well, that puts you ahead of many of the evolutionists who argue with me!
::::::"''No I’m not that ignorant, to be honest I didn’t really know what a ‘cubit’ was and I admit I could have phrased the question better.''": Modern translations have it in modern measurements, in footnotes if not the actual text. And it's really not that hard to find out what a cubit was anyway, and not my job to tell you something that you could so easily find for yourself.
::::::"''Having researched it further it seems that, contrary to my earlier claim, that Noah’s ark may well have been of the size required to carry all of the kinds of creatures, not species, that are on the earth today. That is, as long as such a large vessel could have been constructed (one would not have been seen again until the 19th Century). And of course as long as there weren’t hundreds of 50ft lizards marauding through the corridors!''": Not only those alive today, but those that have gone extinct as well. The average size of a dinosaur was about that of a chicken, if I recall correctly. Only relatively few were really large creatures, and it would have been better (for reproduction after the flood) to take young dinosaurs onto the ark, not fully grown ones. But I'm glad to see that you have learnt something! I don't think you're totally correct about the size of ancient boats, though.
::::::"''...also because there is often confusion as to whether the reference to ‘each kind’ in the Bible is referring to each individual species to the smallest variation...''": If you read what the leading young-Earth creationists claim, instead of their critics and people who haven't really studied it, there would have been no reason for your confusion.
::::::"''Please don't accuse me of knowing next to nothing about a subject you only understand from one point of view.''": What makes you think I only know it from one point of view? I get evolution thrust at me in the media, on the Internet, in endless debates with sceptics, in science journals and magazines, and books. I know quite a bit about both sides of the issue. You, on the other hand, have shown that you have relatively little knowledge of the creationist side of the issue. Hence my comment was justified. How much reading of the creationist view ''have'' you done?
::::::[[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 00:54, 6 February 2008 (EST)

== Dinosaurs are not Reptiles ==

Please remove that. >_< [[User:ProserpinaFC|ProserpinaFC]]
:Why aren't they reptiles? I can find a number of sources that say that they are. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 21:16, 4 February 2008 (EST)

:: Philip, reptiles are cold-blooded. The size and location of dinosaur remains, as well as their internal bone structures, have resulted in the discovery that dinosaurs were warm-blooded. [[User:Darkmind1970|Darkmind1970]] 08:30, 21 April 2008 (EDT)

:::Unless this is [[common knowledge]], we'll need a reference or source for it. The article's not protected. --JJJ {{unsigned|Ed Poor}}
::: It's not common knowledge, because, as I said, I can find a number of sources that say that dinosaurs are reptiles. So I agree a source is needed. And I have two questions. 1) Is cold-bloodedness (still) considered a defining characteristic of reptiles (as distinct from a typical characteristic)? That is, does finding that dinosaurs are warm-blooded mean that they are not reptiles, or does it mean that cold-bloodedness is no longer considered an absolute requirement of reptilianness? 2) Have all dinosaurs been found to be warm-blooded, or just some? [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 11:58, 21 April 2008 (EDT)

:::: It is my understanding that some dinosaurs were found to be warm-blooded. I am not aware of any reclassification away from Reptilian. [[User:Learn together|Learn together]] 12:20, 21 April 2008 (EDT)

== Why does this page and these thoeries ignore Megafauna? ==

Do you guys even know about megafauna? Why do you automaticlly assume that if antiquity mentions large animals, they are mentioning dinosaurs?

What about the megalania? Or the giant sharks, turtles and crocs of 30,000 years ago? [[User:ProserpinaFC|ProserpinaFC]]
: I know about megafauna, but what I don't know is what relevance they have to this article. Perhaps you could explain yourself more clearly. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 21:17, 4 February 2008 (EST)

==Loch Ness Should Be Removed==

I dont want to get in to the debate of whether or not dino's were around with people or not but I think the Loch Ness section should be removed. Numerous reseachers have scoured the Loch and found nothing, no concrete evidence has been found and the famous "Surgeons picture" was admitted as fake by the surgeon on his deathbed. I may not agree with the premise of this article however I do believe it should a least remain *credible*.
[[User:MetcalfeM|MetcalfeM]] 19:29, 19 February 2008 (EST)
: I'm not an expert on the Loch Ness monster, but I would have thought that there were a number of other claimed sightings that a particular picture being faked doesn't change a lot. The entry is already there in a qualified way rather than a definite way, so I don't think it matters a lot, and is (as far as I know) accurate in that people who believe it exists think that it could be a plesiosaur. But removing it wouldn't bother me too much. Anyway, I've unlocked the article. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 20:33, 19 February 2008 (EST)

I'll take it out. Also, if there was a pleisour there it would have to be very old and there is not enough food to support a large carnivore such as a dinosaur. Thanks.
[[User:MetcalfeM|MetcalfeM]] 21:11, 19 February 2008 (EST)

:Maybe we can classify Nessie as "reported" - pending a really clear photo or some bones. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] [[User talk:Ed Poor|Talk]] 08:34, 21 April 2008 (EDT)

::I've removed the Loch Ness section for none of the above reasons. There's a better reason: plesiosaurs weren't dinosaurs. --[[User:GeorgeLi|GeorgeLi]] 22:03, 3 February 2012 (EST)

==Name==
The Greek translation of the name "dinosaur" is to be included; it is part of the history of the subject. [[User:Karajou|Karajou]] 19:19, 12 June 2008 (EDT)

==Source for claim needed==
The section regarding human and dinosaur fossils states that "It is sometimes asserted that if human bones aren't found with dinosaur bones, then dinosaurs and man didn't live together." We should consider providing a citation that shows a prominent evolutionist making such an assertion. The current citation is unfortunately inadequate as it also fails to give an example. I fear that without such backing, this comes off sounding like a straw man argument. Any thoughts? Does anyone know where we can find something like this? [[User:Jdisciple|Jdisciple]] 11:54, 17 June 2008 (EDT)
: The article doesn't claim that "prominent evolutionists" say this. I've added a reference to TalkOrigins saying effectively what this article refers to. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 09:55, 18 June 2008 (EDT)

: Philip I believe you have misinterpreted the TalkOrigins response. When he says "There are no human fossils or artifacts found with dinosaurs" he is talking about that none are found within the same period of time, and he goes on to say "If humans and dinosaurs coexisted, traces of the two should be found in the same time places." That statement should be taken out unless someone can show a credible source of "some evolutionary scientists" making that assertion. [[User:AliG|AliG]] 12:05, 13 December 2009 (EDT)

== Error ==

There's an error about halfway through the article, inthe part about Dinosaurs possibly still living. it reads:
*
o Cite error: Invalid <nowiki><ref></nowiki> tag;

refs with no content must have a name

I thought the page might have loaded badly but refreshing the page doesn't change it. [[User:Bryankershaw|Bryankershaw]] 20:42, 30 July 2008)

: should be fixed now. thanks for pointing that out -[[User:Foxtrot|Foxtrot]] 10:41, 11 August 2008 (EDT)

== Evidence? ==

Much of your evidence functions on the basis that people have reported seeing it therefore it exists. This logic is flawed with examples such as Big Foot, the Lochness Monster and many other creatures of Urban Legend. -[[User:Vcelloho|Vcelloho]] 00:18, 12 November 2008 (EST)
: Are you saying that claimed sightings of Big Foot, the Loch Ness Monster, the Tasmanian Tiger, and so on are to be totally ignored? Then why have various authorities spent considerable sums of money looking for those things (the Loch Ness monster, at least)? It's because claimed sightings, although certainly not conclusive ''proof'' by themselves, are valid ''evidence''.
: And no, the article does not say "people have reported seeing it therefore it exists" or anything amounting to that. Rather, it says that creationists have a range of arguments, one of which is that various sightings support that they have existed in human history.
: I will concede, however, that the arguments other than reported sightings are only briefly mentioned, compared to the sightings which are covered at some length.
: [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 03:26, 12 November 2008 (EST)

----

== Dinosaur-like creatures in history and modern sightings ==

In one of the bullets, this page claims, "That dinosaurs are not known from the fossil record above the Cretaceous strata is not reason to believe that they have not survived until more recent times." Am I the only one that thinks this sounds ridiculous? It really should be taken out, although I am worried it will just be put back in. [[User:MikeRi|MikeRi]] 17:11, 15 July 2009 (EDT)

*This is something relating to Young Earth Creationism, Mike. Since all I know of it is from my exposure to it here, I don't involve myself with such issues. I would recommend you curtail your involvement with such issues here at CP, rather than be judgmental about something you are not expert on, however. --[[User:TK|'''ṬK''']]/Admin[[User_Talk:TK|/Talk]] 18:19, 15 July 2009 (EDT)

*I agree with Mike, we should take out that out the part about Dinosaurs still being around. There's no evidence to support that Dinosaurs have not gone extinct, none from the Bible or any other Conservative doctrine. And TK you didn't have to be so offensive, in fact it's commonly believed that Dinosaurs are in fact extinct, and there's no expert that would say that they are not. Please restrict your involvement on an issue that you have no knowledge of. From your fellow Conservative.--[[User:CraigR|CraigR]] 21:06, 10 December 2009 (EST)

== Argument about relative abundance of marine and terrestrial fossils ==

I have removed the argument that human and dinosaur fossils are not found together because most fossils are marine and we shouldn't expect to find many human fossils at all. This is EXACTLY THE SAME argument used by scientists to explain gaps in the sequence of human evolution, and the obvious danger from the creationist point of view is that after accepting this argument to explain the lack of human fossils in the same strata as dinosaurs, scientists are going to demand that it's also accepted to explain the absence of ape/human transitions. --[[User:Voiceoftruth2006|Voiceoftruth2006]] 10:36, 14 June 2011 (EDT)

== Popular Culture Re-Work ==

Removed prior (terrible) info and added a framework to start building up that section again with better information. --[[User:HarabecW|HarabecW]] 22:22, 29 June 2011 (EDT)

== Iridium ==

This article included a query about the prevalence of iridium at the K-T boundary. The global average of iridium levels in the boundary layer is 15 times the background level, peaking at 160 times background near the crater (Alvarez et al, 1980.)

==Discussion==
Alright whatever your name is: if you want to discuss, do it on the talk page. Not by vandalizing the article. Here you go.--[[User:MorrisF|MorrisF]] 21:51, 15 August 2011 (EDT)
:Don't engage them.--[[User:JamesWilson|JamesWilson]] 21:52, 15 August 2011 (EDT)
::Through engagement though we can show the user where they are wrong. [[User:MaxFletcher|MaxFletcher]]
:::They lost the right to discuss this when they created the first sock puppet. The fact they are allied with the people who promised some vandal attacks if we didn't make Conservapedia how they wanted it isn't helping--[[User:SeanS|SeanS]] 22:02, 15 August 2011 (EDT)
::::indeed, good point. [[User:MaxFletcher|MaxFletcher]] 22:31, 15 August 2011 (EDT)
::::True. I just wanted to get them to at least restrict the disruptive edits to the talk page, rather than the main article, until all this socking could be stopped.--[[User:MorrisF|MorrisF]] 22:40, 15 August 2011 (EDT)

== As far as can be proven... ==

What's wrong with the phrasing? It's more specific and mentions that, as far as we know, dinosaurs are in fact extinct. [[User:JohnPaulJonesRevWar|JohnPaulJonesRevWar]] 09:36, 24 October 2011 (EDT)
::Who is we? Atheists and people with deistic beliefs? [[User:Conservative|Conservative]] 15:49, 31 October 2011 (EDT)

==Reverting vandalism==

Is there a faster way to revert to a previous version of an article than individually undoing all of the intervening edits? I feel like there is, but I don't know how. --[[User:JHunter|JHunter]] 09:35, 23 May 2012 (EDT)

:Yes, if you click on the page history tab and then click on the version you want to go back to. Click on 'edit' but make no edits, just save the page.--[[User:CPalmer|CPalmer]] 09:52, 23 May 2012 (EDT)

== Dinosaurs are unBiblical ==

Dinosaurs are NOT mentioned in the Bible. Only Leviathan and Behemoth are the ONLY "dinosaur"-like creatures mentioned in the Bible, and they appeared to be unique. The others are very obviously hoaxes created by evolutionists, like Piltdown man and Java man. Their "dinosaur skeletons" are most often made of numerous plaster casts amongst bones of other animals. I'm somewhat disappointed that this site would fall for atheist lies like this.

== Dinosaur-like creatures in history and modern sightings ==

When discussing "Dinosaur-like creatures in history and modern sightings", perhaps you could mention the [[Ica stones]], the dinosaur petroglyphs found in Utah's Natural Bridges National Monument, the dinosaur carving in Cambodia's Ta Prohm temple, the Acámbaro figures of central Mexico, the Bernifal cave carvings, the animals depicted in Babylon's Ishtar Gate and in the Nazca textiles of Peru. --[[User:Ty|Ty]] 18:32, 3 March 2013 (EST)

Shroud of Turin

2013-02-25T04:59:19Z

Ty: dna

[[image:Shroud of Turin face.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Negative image of the face of the Shroud; the photographic qualities of the Shroud were unknown until 1898.]]
The '''Shroud of Turin''' (in Italian, ''la Sacra Sindone'') is the most studied artifact in the history of the world, causing some [[agnostic]] or [[atheist]] [[scientist]]s to convert to [[Christianity]].<ref>[http://www.shroud.com/mrinobnf.pdf]</ref> Other scientists who have not converted do consider the Shroud to be the authentic burial cloth for [[Jesus Christ]].

The Shroud contains real blood stains consisting of human male [[DNA]], and a [[blood type]] that is AB. The height of the man was 5' 11"; his weight, about 170 pounds. Coins visible only to modern technology had been placed over the man's eyes, a tradition not known to historians until modern archaeological excavations revealed the practice; the coin over the right eye was minted by [[Pontius Pilate]], and the coin over the left eye was minted only in A.D. 29.<ref name="Coins">http://www.shroudstory.com/faq-coins.htm</ref> The angle of the man's arms during the [[crucifixion]] can be inferred from the flow of blood seen on the Shroud: 65° for one arm; 55° for the other.

There is overwhelming [[forensic]] evidence on the Shroud indicating that it is the image of man who was both [[scourge]]d and crucified, yet (as described in the [[Bible]]) without the breaking of the victim's leg as commonly done as part of the punishment.<ref name="Forensics">http://www.shroudstory.com/forensics.htm</ref> The bloodstains on the Shroud were formed before the image was made. The image is scientifically precise in a way unknown to any medieval forgers: the thumbs are not visible because the nails were through the wrist, not through the hands as mistakenly thought until the 20th century.<ref name="Forensics"/>

The long cloth is presently kept in the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in [[Turin]], [[Italy]], which contains the image of a crucified man.<ref>[http://www.shroud.com/]</ref> An [[agnostic]] [[British]] scholar studied the ''Shroud of Turin'' and concluded in his book, ''The Sign'' (2012), that the Shroud is authentic and was even the basis of [[disciples]]' acceptance of the [[Resurrection]].<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9162459/Mystery-solved-Turin-Shroud-linked-to-Resurrection-of-Christ.html</ref>

==Description==
The Shroud is about 14 feet 3 inches long by 3 feet 7 inches wide, consisting of a single piece of fine linen cloth made from fibers of the flax plant (''Linum usitatisismum''), and woven in a 3-over-1 herringbone twill.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3624753.stm]</ref> Centered on the cloth is the front and back images of a man who is pictured as if in a burial repose; the man's estimated height is somewhere between 5'8" to 6'1"<ref>[http://www.shroudofturin4journalists.com/Details/howtall2.htm]</ref>. He is rather powerfully-built, with classical eastern Mediterranean features. The images of the feet are at both ends of the cloth, indicating that if it was a burial linen the body was placed on one end with the other end bought over the head to cover the body. On either side of the image is a series of triangular patches, covering much of the damage from a fire which took place in 1532.

The image of the body shows a man who had died a violent death. Upon both front and back are dumbbell-shaped markings; approximately 140 such marks were applied upon the back, chest, and legs. Roman soldiers involved in "scourging" as a form of punishment for offenders employed a whip called a "[[flagrum]]",<ref>[http://www.shroudofturin4journalists.com/terms/flagrum.htm]</ref> which was studded with either bone or lead knobs, and when used it tore into flesh and muscle.

The wrists and feet bear large bloodstains consistent with historical descriptions of [[crucifixion]]. The feet themselves are placed one on top of the other within the image; both front and dorsal images display a single large bloodstain, indicating one nail was driven through both feet upon the cross. The left wrist likewise displays a large bloodstain; however, the left hand covers the right, preventing a view of the wound there. Blood flows are present on both lower arms, displayed to flow in a direction as if the victim was hanging on a cross. A single large bloodstain is also present on the right side of the chest - nearly-obliterated by the 1532 burn damage - and appears to have been mixed with a clear liquid from the body. Blood stains are also present about the scalp, and the marks of a severe beating are evident upon the face.

==History==
Historians and authors of written works on the Shroud have generally divided its history into two periods of time: a first period, from the time of the Resurrection ca. 33 A.D. to the fall of Constantinople in 1204; and the second period from about 1349 to present. The first version is based on largely on circumstantial evidence.

===First Period: A.D. 33 to 1204===
====Gospels====
The ''Gospel of John'' contains the first description of what is today regarded as the Shroud of Turin (the "linen clothes"), and the "napkin", a small head wrap which may be a relic known as the Sudarium of Oviedo, Spain.<ref>http://www.shroud.com/guscin.htm</ref>

:''On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came early, while it was still dark, to the tomb, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
:''She ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other student, whom Jesus loved, and told them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have laid Him!"
:''So Peter went out, and that other disciple, and came to the tomb.
:''They both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter, and came to the tomb first.
:''He stooped down and looked in, and saw the shroud stretched around nothing, but did not go in.
:''Then Peter came after him, and went into the tomb, and saw the empty shroud lying there, and the facecloth, that had been around His head. The facecloth was not lying with the shroud, but was rolled up in a place apart from them.
:''Then that other student went in also, the one who had come to the tomb first. He saw, and believed. For they still did not know the Scripture that said that He must rise again from the dead.'' - John 20:1-9; [[CBP]] (retrieved: May 25, 2010)''

====Bardesane of Edessa====
The earliest possible extra-Biblical reference to the Shroud is found in a second century poem by Bardesane of Edessa. Called the "Hymn of the Pearl", it was embedded within the non-canonical ''Acts of Thomas'', and tells the story of a boy - apparently the figure in the poem - to retrieve a pearl from Egypt. He describes the "mirror of myself" embedded in his robe in some detail similar to the Shroud:
:''"And because I remembered not its fashion / for in my childhood I had left it in my father's house, / on a sudden, when I received it, / the garment seemed to me to become like a mirror of myself. / I saw it all in all, / and I to received all in it, / for we were two in distinction / and yet gain one in one likeness. / And the treasurers too, / who brought it to me, I saw in like manner / to be two (and yet) one likeness, for one sign of the king was written on them (both), / of the hands of him who restored to me through them / my trust and my wealth"''<ref>[http://www.gnosis.org/library/hymnpearl.htm]</ref>

====Image of Edessa/Mandylion====
According to [[Eusebius]], King Abgar of Edessa was afflicted of an illness, and hearing of the miracles of Jesus as a healer he sent a letter to Him, asking if He would come to his aid. Jesus responded that He could not come, but would send his disciple Thaddeus, who comes and heals him;<ref>http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iii.vi.xiii.html</ref> according to variants of this story King Abgar is left with the cloth image of Jesus, beginning with the ''Doctrine of Addai'' (ca. 400 A.D.) in which a court painter created an image of the Lord and "brought with him to Abgar the king, his master. And when Abgar the king saw the likeness, he received it with great joy, and placed it with great honor in one of his palatial houses."<ref>http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/addai_2_text.htm</ref> Artistic works of this relic - called either the "Image of Edessa" or the "[[Mandylion]]" - generally have it portrayed as the face of Christ upon a towel or kerchief.

The Mandylion would surface again around 525 when Edessa was flooded by the Daisan River. Workmen repairing one of the city's gates discovered a niche with the cloth inside; the mandylion was declared to be ''Acheiropoietos'' (Greek: Αχειροποίητος), "not made by hands", meaning that it was a miraculous image created supernaturally and not by man. The Mandylion stayed in Edessa as a means of protection for the city from harm until forcibly taken to [[Constantinople]] in 944, where it was received with great fanfare by Emperor Romanus I. Placed within the church of Saint Mary of Blachernae, it stayed there as a Christian relic until disappearing in the sack of the city during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. One of the knights who participated in the sacking of Constantinople, Robert de Clari, left a detailed letter of what he observed at the time, and he referred to this relic as being more than a facial image:
:''"But among the rest, there was also another of the minsters, which was called the Church of my Lady Saint Mary of Blachernae, within which was the shroud wherein Our Lord was wrapped. And on every Friday that shroud did raise itself upright, so that the form of Our Lord could clearly be seen. And none knows - neither Greek nor Frank - what became of that shroud when the city was taken."''<ref>http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/sources/clari4.htm</ref>

====Geoffroi de Charney====
Geoffroi de Charney was a French knight, the Preceptor of Normandy for the [[Knights Templar]], who was executed by burning at the stake in 1314. His crimes are disputed, but during that time there was a backlash directed against the Templars; the King of France apparently either feared the power they wielded, or coveted their hidden wealth. But to march against them it was necessary to have the Pope (Clement V) declare them heretics, based on their alleged worship of a "bearded head"; in one account (1287), a French applicant named Arnaut Sabbatier was taken in to a "a secret place to which only the brothers of the Temple had access" where he was instructed to venerate the image of a man on a long linen cloth.<ref>http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6040521.ece</ref>

Little is known of Geoffroi de Charney. He participated in the sack of Constantinople in 1204, and may have been a witness with Robert de Clari when he first saw the shroud at the Blachernae Church. He certainly could have been well-placed to have taken the Shroud back to France for veneration. On March 19, 1314, he was burned at the stake, along with the leader of his order.<ref>141.—Stemler, Contingent zur Geschichte der Tcmplcr, pp. 20-1.—Raynouard,pp. 213-4, 233-5.—Wilcke, II. 236, 240.—Anton, Vcrsuch, p. 142</ref><ref>A History of the Inquisition of the Middle ages, Vol III by Henry Charles Lea, NY: Hamper & Bros, Franklin Sq. 1888 p.324. Not in copyright. </ref>

===Second Period: 1349 to present===
In 1389 the French Bishop of Troyes, Pierre D'Arcis, wrote a letter to the Pope (Antipope Clement VII) detailing his complaints of a shroud "...upon which the whole likeness of the Saviour had remained thus impressed together with the wounds which He bore" was being exhibited at nearby Lirey; he further stated to the Pope of his belief that the shroud was a fraud, having found "[a man] procured for his church a certain cloth cunningly painted, upon which by a clever sleight of hand was depicted the twofold image of one man… falsely declaring and pretending that this was the actual shroud in which our Savior Jesus Christ was enfolded in the tomb." D'Arcis' predecessor, Henri de Poitiers, likewise was in a similar situation 35 years before, but did not launch an investigation into the matter; in his time he had concerns that the knight Geoffrey de Charny - who had just built the church at Lirey - was passing the relic off as the real shroud of the Lord. Whether or not de Charny was questioned about it is conjecture; he was killed in the Battle of Poitiers in 1356. Also undetermined is his relationship with the earlier Templar knight. But the one thing that is certain is de Charny is the first documented owner of the Shroud.

His church at Lirey continued to exhibit the Shroud despite Bishop D'Arsis and those within the Church demanding that it cease displaying a "false relic," as they claimed. The Church would eventually - grudgingly - allow the exhibitions to continue, provided that they billed the cloth as a "representation" of Christ, and not the true burial shroud. A century after his death the Shroud was sold to the Savoy family of Italy, who had it brought to Turin where it resided ever since.<ref>http://www.shroudofturin4journalists.com/geoffrey.htm</ref> It was willed in the late 20th century to the [[Roman Catholic Church]], which has never taken a position for or against its authenticity.

== Dating the Shroud ==
Raymond N. Rogers, a retired [[chemist]] from the [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]] in [[New Mexico]], studied the Shroud and declared, "The chemistry says it was a real shroud, the blood spots on it are real blood, and the technology that was used to make that piece of cloth was exactly what Pliny the Elder reported from his time," about A.D. 70. "It's a shroud from the right time, but you're never going to find out (through science) if it was used on a person named [[Jesus]]," Rogers said.<ref>http://bibleprobe.com/</ref>

In 1988, [[carbon dating]] of a small snippet of the Shroud was performed, but the "C-14 results of the three labs falls outside the bounds of the Pearson's chi-square test," illustrating a flaw in the dating that was likely due to a repair seam that ran diagonally "through the area from which the sample was taken."<ref>http://www.juliantrubin.com/encyclopedia/bible/shroud_of_turin.html</ref> A peer-reviewed scientific paper later demonstrated the invalidity of those results, suggesting instead that the Shroud is between 1,300 and 3,000 years old,<ref>Rogers, Raymond N., "Studies on the radiocarbon sample from the Shroud of Turin". Thermochimica Acta, Volume 425 Issue 1–2, pp. 189-194 (Jan. 20, 2005)[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6THV-4DTBVHC-1&_user=10&_handle=B-WA-A-W-WE-MsSAYWA-UUA-AAUYYDZUYC-AAUZVCZYYC-YZEWAVVVC-WE-U&_fmt=full&_coverDate=01%2F20%2F2005&_rdoc=26&_orig=browse&_srch=%23toc%235292%232005%23995749998%23553672!&_cdi=5292&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=3d89246a5d4144616be7657f0d83b6cf]</ref><ref>Mark Antonacci "Resurrection of the Shroud: New Scientific, Medical, and Archeological Evidence"</ref> disproving the 1988 results that claimed that the Shroud originated between A.D. 1238 and 1430.

Indeed, the sample for the 1988 analysis had actually been taken from cloth woven into the Shroud during the [[Middle Ages]], thereby giving a false result.<ref>[http://www.shroudcentersocal.com/]</ref> Moreover, "the 12th Century Hungarian 'Pray Manuscript' come to depict Jesus being wrapped in the shroud - with authentic herringbone pattern and burn marks - 100 years before carbon-dating says the material originated."<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3624753.stm]</ref>

The defect in the carbon dating was that the samples were "uniquely coated with a yellow–brown [[plant]] gum containing dye lakes. [[Pyrolysis-mass-spectrometry]] results from the sample area coupled with microscopic and microchemical observations prove that the radiocarbon sample was not part of the original cloth of the Shroud of Turin." Instead, [e]stimates of the kinetics constants for the loss of vanillin from lignin indicate a much older age for the cloth than the radiocarbon analyses."<ref>[http://bibleprobe.com/]</ref>

== The Lamb ==
According to a paper by Dr. Petrus Soons scientific research of some of the photographs of the shroud show an oval object under the beard of the image. After much research three cursive letters were identified and translated from the Hebrew. The meaning of the translation was, "The Lamb," a name in which Jesus was referred to in the New Testament.<ref>Dr. Soons Paper [http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache%3ACtDFWbA8AfIJ%3Awww.ohioshroudconference.com%2Fpapers%2Fp24.pdf+THE+SHROUD+OF+TURIN%2C+THE+HOLOGRAPHIC+EXPERIENCE+By+DR.+PETRUS+SOONS&hl=en&gl=us]</ref> This finding now makes the person on the shroud exclusively identified with Christ.

== Critics ==

Many of the arguments by modern skeptics against the authenticity of the Shroud have been debunked and disproven. For example, some claimed that a misspelling on one of the coins over an eye could not be authentic, but in fact otseveral other coins having the same misspelling have since been found.<ref name="Coins"/>

Over the centuries there have been critics and doubters of the Shroud being the authentic burial cloth of Jesus. One of the earliest unbelievers was Pierre d'Arcis, Bishop of Troyes who wrote a scathing letter to the pope in 1389 claiming that the Shroud was a "cunning" painting and that the artist had been discovered.<ref>The Shroud, Ian Wilson, 2010, page 102.</ref> An enemy of the Catholic Church, [[John Calvin]], repeatedly ranted against relics and he wrote against the Shroud in 1543:

:''"How is it possible that those sacred historians, who carefully related all the miracles that took place at Christ's death, should have omitted to mention one so remarkable as the likeness of the body of our Lord remaining on its wrapping sheet? This fact undoubtedly deserved to be recorded. St John, in his Gospel, relates even how St Peter, having entered the sepulchre, saw the linen clothes lying on one side, and the napkin that was about his head on the other; but he does not say that there was a miraculous impression of our Lord's figure upon these clothes, and it is not to be imagined that he would have omitted to mention such a work of God if there had been any thing of this kind."''<ref>[[John Calvin]]: ''Traité des Reliques'', Geneve 1543, translated by '''Valerian Krasinski''': ''A treatise on Relics'', Edingburgh 1854</ref>

The flaw in Calvin's argument, of course, is that the disciples had no reason to study the Shroud at the time, and no access to modern photographic equipment; they had far greater concerns during the chaotic period after Christ's Resurrection.

Another critic was the scientist [[Walter McCrone]] (1906-2002), who insisted that it was a painting; this possibility has been thoroughly disproven.<ref>[http://www.shroud.com/piczek.htm Disproof that the Shroud is a painting, as explained by a professional artist]</ref>

== Replication ==
Luigi Garlaschelli, professor of organic chemistry at the University of Pavia, announced that he had made a full size reproduction of the Shroud of Turin using only medieval technologies on October 5th, 2009. Garlaschelli placed a linen sheet over a volunteer and then rubbed it with an acidic pigment. The shroud was then aged in an oven before being washed to remove the pigment. He then added blood stains, scorches and water stains to replicate the original. The image on the reproduction would closely match that of the Turin Shroud with differences explained as the result of natural fading over the centuries.<ref>Italian scientist reproduces Shroud of Turin [http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5943HL20091005]</ref> But according to noted sindonologist Giulio Fanti, "the image in discussion does not match the main fundamental properties of the Shroud image, in particular at thread and fiber level but also at macroscopic level."<ref>[http://www.acheiropoietos.info/abstracts/talks-image_formation.html]</ref> Further criticism of Garlaschelli's replica has come from shroud scholars Peter Soons <ref>[http://shroudofturin.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/why-the-italian-fake-does-not-reproduce-the-shroud-of-turin/]</ref> and Thibault Heimburger.<ref>[http://www.shroud.com/pdfs/thibault-lg.pdf]</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Sources ==
*[http://www.shroud.com/pdfs/guscin3.pdf Sermon of Gregory Referendarius, Archdeacon of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, August, 944]
*[http://www.shroudstory.com/shroud-of-turin-picture-01.htm Amazing Details about the Shroud]
*[http://www.shroud.com/faq.htm FAQs about the Shroud]

[[Category:Christianity]]

Charon

2013-02-25T04:53:13Z

Ty: mythology

{{Planet|image=Charon plutoface.png
|date=July 2, 1978
|discname=[[James W. Christy]]
|origname=mythic ferryman of the River [[Styx]]
|primary=Pluto
|order=1
|periapsis=19,640 km
|apoapsis=19,640 km
|semimajor=19,640 km
|circumference=123,402 km
|eccentricity=0.00
|sidereal=6.38725 da
|orbitspeed=0.23 km/s
|inclination=0°
|siderealday=6.38725 da
|axialtilt=0.0°
|mass=1.90 * 1021 kg (0.0318% earth)
|density=1,650 kg/m³
|surfacegrav=0.278 m/s² (0.0283 ''g'')
|escapespeed=0.58 km/s
|equatorradius =586 km
|surfacearea=4,580,000 km² (0.898% earth)
|meantemp=53 K
}}

:''For the ferrymen of [[Hades]] of [[Greek mythology]], see [[Charon (mythology)]].''

'''Charon''' is the largest [[moon]] of the [[dwarf planet]] [[Pluto]]. It is so large, in fact, that some authorities hold that Pluto and Charon constitute a binary system because Pluto is not much more massive than is Charon.

James W. Christy of the United States Naval Observatory is credited with its discovery on July 2, 1978. [[National Aeronautics and Space Administration|NASA]] hopes to obtain more extensive images of Charon and other bodies in the Pluto system with its first extensive deep-space mission to the Pluto system, ''New Horizons''.

== Orbital and rotational characteristics ==
[[Image:Pluto3.gif|left|thumb|Pluto(center) with moon [[Charon]]. NASA image]]Charon is locked into a resonating orbit with its primary, Pluto. Its axis is not tilted, and its sidereal month and day are the same length; therefore, like the [[Moon]] of [[Earth]], Charon always presents the same face toward Pluto. Insofar as observations to date have determined, Charon's orbit is perfectly circular and in the same plane as is Pluto's equator.

Note, however, that while Charon's revolution and rotation are technically prograde with respect to Pluto's own rotation, they are ''retrograde'' with respect to the [[Sun]]. This is because Pluto's own rotation is retrograde with respect to its own orbit.

==Young ice on Charon==
There seems to be conclusive evidence for young ice on Charon. Jason Cook of Arizona State University and his team of scientists have studied an icy coating on Charon, one of three moons orbiting Pluto. These researchers have found that the ice has crystalline structures, indicating that it has not been there for millions of years. Cosmic radiation from the Sun would break down the crystalline structures, so the ice must be younger than 100,000 years old.<ref><http://www.gemini.edu/icemachine></ref>

There are two possible explanations for this observation. Either the ice was there at the time Charon was formed and the moon is less than 100,000 years old, or the ice was formed by a more recent process and gives no indication of its age.

In order to fit the most widely believed evolutionary cosmologies, these researchers must justify the existence of young ice by theorizing a recent process. They propose that there is cryovolcanism over practically all the three million square mile surface of Charon.

Two other moons in the Solar System ([[Enceladus]] and [[Europa (moon)|Europa]]) have evidence of cryovolcanism along fault lines caused by “tidal squeezing” from Saturn and Jupiter respectively. Charon is not subjected to tidal forces from Pluto and the theorized cryovolcanism covers a greater area than this process would explain. Additionally, there are no observed geysers on Charon producing global ice.

Cook and his team avoid this objection by supposing that there is radioactive material causing heating of subsurface water and ammonia, producing many small ice geysers that are too small to be seen from Earth.

If the cosmology of creation science is applied to this observation, one would expect to see young ice whether it formed at the same time as Charon or whether it was formed by more recent processes. The explanation proposed by Cook, on the other hand, seems contrived as it progresses through layers of increasingly more complex and less verifiable theories.

The 2015 arrival of the New Horizons probe at Pluto will perhaps elucidate this argument by using its impressive suite of instruments to produce new evidence. Based on the reaction that we have seen to the evidence so far, we can safely say with Abraham,{{Bible quote|If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.|book=Luke|chap=16|verses=31}}

This problem of young ice on Charon is only the tip of the iceberg (pardon the pun.) So far, astronomers have discovered over 1000 Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) with a large number having young ice on the surface. The only observed geyser is the one spewing forth new theories of those seeking the magical shoe horn that will fit young surface ice on TNOs into the extant evolutionary cosmology.

== References ==
<references/>

== Related links ==
* Hamilton, Calvin J. "[http://www.solarviews.com/eng/charon.htm Entry for 'Charon']." ''Views of the Solar System'', 2005. Accessed January 22, 2008.
* [http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Plu_Charon Entry for 'Pluto and Charon']." Solar System Exploration pages, [[NASA]]. Accessed July 22, 2008.

{{Solarsystem}}

Charon (mythology)

2013-02-25T04:51:00Z

Ty: moon

:''For the moon of [[Pluto]], see [[Charon]].''

'''Charon''', in [[Greek]] [[mythology]] was the ferryman of the ghosts of the dead over the [[Styx]] into [[Hades]], a grim old figure with a mean dress and a dirty beard, peremptory in exacting from the ghosts he ferried over the obolus allowed him for passage-money.<ref>{{Nuttall|Charon}}</ref>

==References==
<references/>
[[Category:Greek Deities]]

Che Guevara

2013-02-24T04:38:17Z

Ty: aliens

[[Image:cHEgUEVARA.jpg|thumb|right|The victims of Che poster]]
'''Ernesto "Che" Guevara''' (b. June 14, 1928, executed October 9th, 1967) was a [[Marxist]] guerrilla leader, with [[Fidel Castro]], during the [[Cuban Revolution]]. He has become a cultural icon for [[liberals]], [[leftists]], [[socialists]], [[communists]], [[illegal aliens]]<ref>[http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2007/05/illegal-immigrants-rally-in-support-of.html Illegal Immigrants Rally For Dead Marxist Che Guevara]</ref>, and white "hipsters".<ref>[http://www.che-mart.com/WhoisChe.php Che-Mart]</ref> Despite being a freedom fighter, his image is still used as leftist propaganda which adorns millions of t-shirts and dorm room posters.

== Early Life ==
Guevara was the eldest of five children born in Rosario, [[Argentina]]. His schoolmates nicknamed him "pig" (Chancho) because he rarely bathed, and smelled bad.<ref>[http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/189688.php Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Forty Years, Still Dead] The Jawa Report, October 8, 2007</ref> He also enjoyed enjoyed killing dogs.<ref>''Exposing the Real Che Guevara: and the Useful Idiots who Idolize Him'', By Humberto Fontova</ref>.

== Cuba Revolution==
[[Image:Che Guevara por Alberto Korda.jpg|thumb|Portrait by Alberto Korda.]]
In 1955, while living as a hobo, Guevara met [[Raul Castro|Raul]] and Fidel Castro to plot the overthrow of the US-backed [[Fulgencio Batista]] government in Cuba. Their first revolutionary plan was an assault on Cuba from [[Mexico]]. During the war Castro promoted Guevara to commander status, and Guevara won the Battle of Santa Clara. This defeated Batista's forces and allowed the bearded guerrillas to march on towards [[Havana]]. On New Years Eve 1958, Batista's forces were defeated and on New Years day, Batista fled to the [[Dominican Republic]]. Castro and Guevara became Cuba's new socialist revolutionary leaders. Guevara killed many thousand people, who were "emenies of the revolution". Those "enemies" were Homosexualls or AIDS-infected people.<ref>http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2004/09/the_cult_of_che.html</ref>

==Castro's Cuba==
Guevara was appointed commander of the La Cabaña Fortress prison. He oversaw the trial and execution of many former Batista regime officials. Roberto Martin-Perez was imprisoned for 30 years in Castro's dungeon prison. Roberto says "Castro ordered mass murder ... in order to consolidate his power." Guevara, as Castro's chief executioner, relished the slaughter of defenseless men and boys.<ref>[http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=86DE50D7-E16B-42C6-B61E-035B6A1F541D Che Guevara: Mass Murderer and Coward] Frontpage Magazine, June 13, 2007</ref> Guevara became feared for his brutality and ruthlessness. During the 1961 [[Bay of Pigs]] invasion, Castro ordered Guevara to take up a command post in Western Cuba. He never saw any fighting and did not participate in the Cuban victory. However, he dropped his pistol and shot himself in the face. Guevara was the main proponent of missiles in Cuba and urged Khrushchev to nuke the United States.<ref>Hari, Johann [http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-should-che-be-an-icon-no-394336.html Should Che Be an Icon? No]</ref> In December 1964, he gave a speech before the [[United Nations|U.N. General Assembly]] mocking the [[imperialism]] of the [[USA]].

The number of executions he ordered is unknown, with conservative estimates ranging from 400 to 2,000 over his lifetime. Unfortunately, lack of records mean that the exact number will probably never be known. What is clear is that he was a violent Communist who thought nothing of killing anyone who opposed him. [http://www.amazon.com/Exposing-Real-Che-Guevara-Idolize/dp/1595230270/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-8236430-6806347?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180603569&sr=1-1 (Amazon)]

{{cquote|<big>'''''“Hatred as the central element of our struggle! Hatred that is intransigent…hatred so violent that it propels a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him violent and cold- blooded killing machine...We reject any peaceful approach. Violence is inevitable. To establish Socialism rivers of blood must flow! The imperialist enemy must feel like a hunted animal wherever he moves. Thus we’ll destroy him! These hyenas are fit only for extermination. We must keep our hatred alive and fan it to paroxysm! The victory of Socialism is well worth millions of atomic victims!”''
</big> -- Ernesto "Che" Guevara speaking about Americans, April 1966 Message to the Tricontinental Conference in Havana, Cuba'''}}

==South America==
[[File:Guayasamin La Muerte del Che nº 2, 1978.jpg|thumb|Guayasamín, La Muerte del Che nº 2, 1978.]]
Guevara authored an insurgent booklet entitled ''Guerrilla Warfare''. <ref>[http://yaf.org/Che/?newsmax Mugshot of a Murderer] Yaf.org</ref> He left Cuba to lead a [[Communist]] guerrilla movement in [[South America]]. [[Bolivia]]n soldiers, trained, equipped and guided by U.S. Green Beret and [[CIA]] operatives,<ref>[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB5/index.html The Death of Che Guevara: Declassified] The George Washington University</ref> hunted him down in the Bolivian jungle where he was captured. He cried out "Do not shoot! I am Che Guevara and worth more to you alive than dead." <ref>[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB5/index.html The Death of Che Guevara: Declassified] The George Washington University</ref> However, the U.S. and Bolivia knew better. He was executed by Mario Terán 2 days later, and his hands were chopped off and put into a jar.

==Quotes==
"At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality."

"In capitalist society individuals are controlled by a pitiless law usually beyond their comprehension. The alienated human specimen is tied to society as a whole by an invisible umbilical cord: the law of value. This law acts upon all aspects of one's life, shaping its course and destiny. The difficult thing for someone not living the experience of the revolution to understand is this close dialectical unity between the individual and the mass, in which the mass, as an aggregate of individuals, is interconnected with its leaders."

==Video==
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5g24XFTbXc The Victims of Che Guevara]
* [http://video.foxnews.com/v/3982573/the-cult-of-che Glenn Beck exposes the murderous Ernesto Che Guevara image]

==Books==
*''Che Guevara and the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him'', [[Humberto Fontova]].
*''Exposing the Real Che Guevara: The [[Liberal Media]]'s Favorite Executioner'', Humberto Fontova, Sentinel, April 2007 ISBN-10: 1595230270 [http://www.bestwebbuys.com/Exposing_the_Real_Che_Guevara-ISBN_9781595230270.html?isrc=b-search]
*[http://www.newsmax.com/fontova/che_guevara_u.s./2007/11/21/51310.html ''Che Guevara Planned Attacks Against the U.S.''] Humberto Fontova, Newsmax.com, November 21, 2007

==References==
<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guevara, Che}}
[[Category:Communist Revolutionaries]]
[[Category:Terrorists]]
[[Category:Mass Murderers]]

Cuban Revolution

2013-02-24T04:34:10Z

Ty: link

[[Image:Batista4.gif|right|250px|thumb|Here, the former dictator [[Fulgencio Batista]] warmly welcomes U.S. President [[Franklin Roosevelt]]]]
The '''Cuban Revolution''' was the movement led by the former lawyer, [[Fidel Castro]] to remove the dictatorship government of [[Fulgencio Batista]], and establish a new form of government led by Castro himself. The Reveloution was fought for two years in the hills of Cuba by a broad coalition of the Cuban people.

It was only after Castro rose to power when he declared himself a [[Communist]] and unveiled his plan for a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]]-like state for [[Cuba]]. Many of his former followers fled to the [[United States]] and organized there a resistance against the newly established [[Marxist]] dictatorship.

Among the most famous people who fought this revolution is [[Argentina|Argentinean]] doctor and adventurer [[Che Guevara]].
[[Category:Cold War]]
[[Category:Cuba]]

The New York Times

2013-02-24T04:29:16Z

Ty: /* Promoting Castro */

'''''The New York Times''''' (NYT) is a [[newspaper]] published in [[New York City]] and distributed worldwide. It was first published in 1851, and is often referred to as the ''Old Grey Lady''. It is the third most widely circulated newspaper in the United States behind and ''[[Wall Street Journal|The Wall Street Journal]]'' and ''[[USA Today]]''.<ref>http://accessabc.wordpress.com/2012/05/01/the-top-u-s-newspapers-for-march-2012/</ref>

''The New York Times'' is generally thought to promote a [[liberal]] point of view.<ref>[http://www.timeswatch.org/ TimesWatch: Documenting and Exposing the Liberal Political Agenda of the ''New York Times'']</ref><ref>[http://www.nationalreview.com/nrof_luskin/luskin200407290744.asp Just Say It, Dan Okrent], National Review Online</ref> This was recently acknowledged by Arthur Brisbane, the departing public editor at the New York Times:
* The "public editor" of the New York Times accused his employers of harboring progressive bias on topics like [[gay marriage]] and the [[occupy movement]]. [http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/08/ny-times-public-editor-progressive-worldview-bleeds-133188.html]

Its publisher, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr. has denied this, claiming instead that the paper has an "urban" viewpoint.<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/25/weekinreview/25bott.html?ei=5088&en=452926dcb11511a3&ex=1248667200&pagewanted=all&position=</ref> However, in the summer of 2004, the newspaper's then public editor (ombudsman), Daniel Okrent, published a piece on the ''Times''' liberal bias, citing the example of its coverage of [[Homosexuality and Marriage|homosexual marriage]].<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/25/weekinreview/25bott.html?ei=5088&en=452926dcb11511a3&ex=1248667200&pagewanted=all&position=</ref>
__TOC__
Conservative organizations claim that the ''Times'' promotes the [[homosexual agenda]], because it employs homosexuals and wins praise from homosexual groups. In 2001 Richard Berke, the ''Times''' national political correspondent, revealed that "on any given day, three-fourths of those attending the daily meeting where it is decided what will be on the front page of the Times, are likely to be 'not-so-closeted' homosexuals." <ref>http://www.aim.org/publications/aim_report/2001/23.html</ref> In 2004, the [[Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation]] (GLAAD) gave the New York Times an award for "Outstanding Newspaper Overall Coverage", specifically citing journalist Frank Rich's article attacking President [[Ronald Reagan]]'s record on [[AIDS]].<ref>http://www.aim.org/media-monitor/gay-lobby-honors-new-york-times/</ref>

In 2008, [[ABC]] journalist John Stossel claimed: "The reason the ''Times'', and to a lesser extent the ''Post'', are so important, and they are, is because the TV and radio - all of the media - copy it sycophantically. That's how bias at the ''Times'' becomes bias in other media."<ref>http://cnsnews.com/news/article/abcs-stossel-rips-network-hostility-conservatives</ref>

Examples of types of [[liberal bias]] utilized by the ''New York Times'' include:
*[[placement bias]]
*[[photo bias]]
*[[genius bias]]

As further reflection of the newspaper's liberal bias, it has been awarded the most [[Pulitzer Prize]]s of any newspaper.<ref>Totaling at least 106.</ref>

The NYT publishes 18 other newspapers, including the ''International Herald Tribune'' (based in Paris) and ''The Boston Globe.'' The parent company has suffered repeated financial crises in recent years.

==Newspaper of Record==
===Soviet crimes against humanity===
[[Image:Holodomor2.jpg|right|thumb|Victims of Soviet government "agricultural reform" policies.]]
:''Main article:'' [[Holodomor]]
*In 1931, ''Times'' correspondent [[Walter Duranty]] intentionally covered up the [[Soviet]] [[Holodomor|genocide]] of the [[Ukraine|Ukrainians]].<ref>[http://www.nytco.com/company/awards/statement.html New York Times Statement About 1932 Pulitzer Prize Awarded to Walter Duranty]</ref> Duranty not only helped conceal all evidence of Holodomor, but also called other journalists who reported on it liars.<ref>[http://www.ucca.org/famine/ Ukrainian Congress Committee of America]</ref><ref>Robert Conquest </ref> The lack of knowledge of this genocide was observed by English writer [[George Orwell]], who commented "''huge events like the Ukraine famine of 1933, involving the deaths of millions of people, have actually escaped the attention of the majority of English Russophiles"''.<ref>"''Notes on Nationalism''" in "The ''Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell''" ([[London]], 1968), Vol. 3, p. 370.</ref> The Soviets managed to cover this up until Ukraine’s independence in 1991. Official Soviet documents recently declassified revealed that the genocide was indeed intended to target the Ukrainian people<ref>http://5tv.com.ua/eng/newsline/184/0/33564/</ref>.

===Maosim===
:''Main article: [[Maoism]]''
The ''New York Times'' reported:<ref>Foster Hailey, ''New York Times Magazine'', (December 22, 1946), pp. 40-41.</ref>
{{QuoteBox|Most Americans who have visited Red China are accused of arriving at their judgements according to previously held prejudices. None denies, however, that in Communist China they have found matters of law and order, public health, equitable distribution of food and wealth, and other operations of Government carried out with greater earnestness and success than elsewhere in China or in most of Asia. . . 
Another certainty is that the idea they represent, the hope they hold for the landless, overtaxed Chinese peasant, is not one that can be destroyed by force. . .}}

By 1956, during the [[Three Years of Disasters]], U.S. Ambassador Joseph C. Grew commented,
{{QuoteBox|The appaling figures on murders committed by the Beijing Communist government are neither propaganda, exaggerations nor guesses. Since the Communists drove Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists off the mainland in 1949, official accounts in Red newspapers have listed the executions of millions of Chinese. . . 
. . . The real total of Chinese deaths administered by Beijing probably would total a great deal more than the estimates. Few Chinese marked for death by Beijing had a chance to escape their executioners. The Communists masked their real intentions with a deceptively mild, restrained and orderly entry to power.<ref>Joseph C. Grew, ''Invasion Alert!'' (Baltimore, Maran Publishers, 1956), pp. 42-44. [http://openlibrary.org/works/OL4721833W/Invasion_alert!]</ref><ref>R.J. Rummel,
[http://freedomspeace.blogspot.com/2005/11/reevaluating-chinas-democide-to-be.html Reevaluating China's Democide to be 73,000,000], November 20, 2005.</ref>}}

===Promoting Castro===
[[Image:Batista4.gif|right|250px|thumb|Cuban President [[Fulgencio Batista]] (left) welcoming U.S. President [[Franklin Roosevelt]] (right). Batista, a signatory of the [[Atlantic Charter]], was overtherown by communist revolutionary [[Fidel Castro]].]]
The front page of the ''New York Times'' on April 18, 1959 read, "Premier [[Fidel Castro]] of [[Cuba]] denied today charges of [[Communist]] influence in his regime. In a speech before the American Society of Newspaper Editors he asserted: 'I have said very clearly that we are not Communists...our revolution is a humanistic one'". In an editorial later, the ''Times'' commented Castro "made it quite clear that neither he nor anyone of importance in his Government so far as he knew was Communist or in agreement with communism."

On May 23, 1959, on the front page, the ''Times'' recorded the following: "Extremists have no place in the [[Cuban revolution]], Premier Fidel Castro said in a television interview....In the same broadcast the Premier dashed hopes of United States sugar interests to save their properties from seizure under the new land reform law." An editorial in the same issue the ''Times'' declared: "It is encouraging to see Premier Fidel Castro of Cuba facing up to the Communists as he did in his television interview . . . The aims of the Cuban Reds, with their links to Moscow and their [[totalitarian]] philosophy, were bound to be contrary, in the long run, to the aims of the 26th of July movement, which fought for [[democracy]], freedom, [[social justice]] and - rather unhappily - for an extreme nationalism."

After Castro seized power, on July 16, 1959 the ''New York Times'' front page carried a story by Herbert L. Matthews:
{{QuoteBox|This is not a Communist revolution in any sense of the word and there are no Communists in positions of control. This is the overwhelming consensus among Cubans in the best position to know and this writer subscribes to that opinion after searching inquiries and talks with Cubans in all walks of life and with many Americans.... There seem to be very few in Cuba - and one need have no hesitation in saying this - who believe Fidel Castro is a Communist, is under Communist influence or is a dupe of communism... There are no Reds in the Cabinet and none in high positions in the Government or army in the sense of being able to control either governmental or defense policies. The only power worth considering in Cuba is in the hands of Premier Castro, who is not only not Communist but decidedly [[anti-Communist]]. . . Premier Castro is avoiding [[election]]s in Cuba for two reasons. He feels that his social revolution now has dynamism and vast popular consent, and he does not want to interrupt the process. Moreover, most observers would agree that Cubans today do not want elections. The reason is that elections in the past have merely meant to them the coming of corrupt politicians seeking the spoils of power. }}On December 2, 1961 Castro announced that he was forming:{{QuoteBox| a "united party of Cuba's Socialist revolution," a monolithic organization like the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Soviet Communist party]] with restricted membership....[He] acknowledged that he was a Marxist-Leninist and said that he was taking Cuba down the path to communism. He maintained that the world, too, "is on the road toward communism." . . .I am a Marxist-Leninist and will be one until the day I die".}}Castro added that by 1953, three years before his insurrection in Cuba, his political thinking "was more or less like what it is now." Herbert L Matthews after his days as a reporter in [[Havana]] was promoted to the Editorial Board of the ''New York Times.''

===Evil Empire===
*When on March 8, 1983 [[Ronald Regan]] called the Soviet Union where people were routinely sent to [[Gulag]]s an “Evil Empire”, a prominent liberal intellectual Anthony Lewis of the New York Times commented two days later that the speech was “primitive...simplistic theology” and "a mirror image of crude Soviet rhetoric". But when news of the speech reached Natan Sharansky, confined to an eight-by-ten foot cell on the Siberian border, the reaction was different: “Tapping on walls and talking through toilets, word of Reagan’s ‘provocation’ quickly spread throughout the prison. We dissidents were ecstatic. Finally, the leader of the free world had spoken the truth — a truth that burned inside the heart of each and every one of us.”<ref>{{cite web |author=Fr. George Rutler
|title=Recollections of Reagan
|publisher=Pewsitter.com
|aceessdate=2012-10-19
|url=http://www.pewsitter.com/view_news_id_49370.php
|quote=Many of our cultural elite were uncomfortable when on March 8, 1983 he called the Soviet Union an “Evil Empire.” Anthony Lewis of the New York Times said the speech was “primitive...simplistic theology” and Henry Steele Commager of Columbia University called it “the worst speech ever given by an American president.” But when news of the speech reached Natan Sharansky, confined to an eight-by-ten foot cell on the Siberian border, the reaction was different: “Tapping on walls and talking through toilets, word of Reagan’s ‘provocation’ quickly spread throughout the prison. We dissidents were ecstatic. Finally, the leader of the free world had spoken the truth — a truth that burned inside the heart of each and every one of us.”}}</ref>
===Fabrications and scandals===
*In 2003, ''Times'' reporter [[Jayson Blair]] resigned after it was found that he had engaged in repeated [[plagiarism]] and [[deceit]], copying articles from other newspapers and fabricating information. <ref>[http://www.pbs.org/newshour/media/media_ethics/casestudy_blair.php Jayson Blair: A Case Study of What Went Wrong at The New York Times]</ref>
===War on Terror===
*[[Michelle Malkin]] says the NYT has violated an agreement regarding [[Journalism|journalist]]s covering [[war|war casualties]]. <ref> [http://michellemalkin.com/2007/02/01/the-nytimes-unspeakable-violation/ The NYTimes’ unspeakable violation]</ref>

*The ''New York Times'' subsidized<ref>[http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp? Subsidizing Sedition], Investor's Business Daily Editorial, 9/13/2007.</ref> what Peter D. Feaver of the ''[[Boston Globe]]'' referred to as a "vicious" attack on the person and charter of a respected professional soldier, Gen. [[David Petraeus]].<ref>[http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/09/11/moveons_mccarthy_moment/ MoveOn's McCarthy moment], By Peter D. Feaver, ''Boston Globe'', September 11, 2007.</ref> The [[radical]] [[liberal]] group [[MoveOn.org]], an organization which advocated maintaining the [[corrupt]] [[United Nations]] [[Iraq#Oil_for_food_scandal|Oil For Food]] program's support for the [[fascist]] [[Ba'athist]] regime in [[Iraq]], ran a full page ad in the ''Times'' at roughly half the cost of regular price impugning Gen. Petraeus credibility as a traitor.<ref>[http://www.nypost.com/seven/09132007/news/nationalnews/times_gives_lefties_a_hefty_di.htm Time Gives Lefties a Hefty Discount for "Betray us" Ad], Charles Hurt, ''New York Post'', September 13, 2007.</ref>

*The New York Times is known to defend America's enemies, discount terrorist acts or present stories as not to offend Muslim feelings. As with the case of American students who carried out suicide bombings in [[Somalia]]. In the NYT article ''"A Call to Jihad, Answered in America,"'' the issue was a “crisis of belonging,” “They want to belong, but who do they belong to?” Then the author states that these jihadist were “born-agains” or “fundis,” not how the rest of America describes [[Islamic]] fascism. <ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/us/12somalis.html?_r=1&em A Call to Jihad, Answered in America New York Times July 11, 2009]</ref>

==Coverage of the Military==
Like everything else liberal, supporting [[America]]'s fighting men and women is a burden for the paper. If it is a sensitive matter that would endanger the lives of our troops, they shrug the concerns off and post photos of American troops abusing prisoners in Iraq. In a liberal 'cause for concern', a New York Times repoter was kidnapped in [[Afghanistan]] by the [[Taliban]], December 2008. The Times colluded with all the news organizations to keep it secret, not to endanger the reporter. <ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,527886,00.html New York Times Reporter Held Hostage by Taliban in Afghanistan Escapes] Fox News, June 20 2009</ref> {{cquote|The Associated Press and most other Western news outlets respected a request from the Times to not report on the abductions because the publicity could negatively affect hostage rescue efforts and imperil Rohde's life.}}

==See Also==
*[[Previous Breaking News/New York Times|Articles about '''''New York Times''''' from previous "Breaking News"]]
*[[Homosexuality in the Media]]

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

==External Links==
*[http://www.nytimes.com/ Official Website]
*[http://www.timeswatch.org/ TimesWatch - Documenting and Exposing the Liberal Political Agenda of the New York Times]
*[http://www.blockthenytimes.org/ Block the NYT - Exposing the New York Times crimes against the state]

[[Category:United States Newspapers|New York Times]]

Cuban revolution

2013-02-24T04:22:06Z

Ty: Redirected page to Cuban Revolution

#REDIRECT [[Cuban Revolution]]

Liberal censorship

2013-02-24T04:15:19Z

Ty: hate speech

'''Liberal censorship''' refers to [[liberal]] attempts to mute all opposition to liberal beliefs, is one of the core tenets of liberalism, and is an almost exclusively liberal practice in modern times. [[Deceit]]ful techniques of liberal censorship include:

*Liberal opposition to [[free speech]] forced [[Tim Tebow]] to cancel a speaking event at a large church because its pastor has opposed the [[homosexual agenda]]
*Expelling a young athlete from the [[2012 Summer Olympics]] because she tweeted a joke about immigration, despite her apology, thereby destroying her dream and years of hard work
*Monopolizing discussions and repeatedly talking more than the other side, despite saying nothing coherent
*Censoring readership of the Bible by deceptively pulling people from it, as in their formative years
*Feigning offense in order to censor [[classroom prayer]] and religious symbols
*Branding statements as "[[hate speech]]," with the ultimate goal of marginalizing the Bible in that way
*Intimidating sponsors of conservative speaking events by harassing them
*Seeking information about donors to traditional marriage referenda in order to harass them
*Engaging in violent protests at [[conservative]] events, or vandalizing conservative [[wiki]]s on the [[Internet]]
*Banning a legitimate contributor from all or part of a website because of remarks he made on ''a different website''
*Censoring quotations from the Bible that contradict their [[fluffy bunny|personal opinions]] of [[cafeteria Christianity|what God meant to say]]

Liberals inevitably demand censorship of ideas that challenge their views, and thus attempt to silence all criticism of their ideology by slandering conservatives and other opponents as "[[racist]]" and "[[reactionary]]", legally enforce [[political correctness]], and establish legislation making many forms of religious speech illegal under misnamed "[[hate speech]]" laws. This is especially true in its most extreme political manifestation, [[Communism]].

The [[National Republican Senatorial Committee]] makes this claim:
*Realizing that their ideas couldn't compete in the [[Free Market]], [[Democrats]] schemed for ways to crush [[conservative talk radio]]'s success. Their answer? The so-called "[[Fairness Doctrine]]". Revival of the "Fairness Doctrine" would have the chilling effect of censoring conservative talk radio by requiring radio stations to air liberal content. Air liberal content or your station license will be revoked. It's unfortunate that Democrats are willing to trample on our [[First Amendment]] rights for political gain.<ref>[http://www.nrsc.org/CostOfDemocrats/StopLiberalCensorship/ NRSC petition]</ref>

In an attempt to divert attention from this demand, liberals charge that conservatives also censor when they can. An example some give is [[Conservapedia]]. They claim that edits that disagree with the prevailing conservative viewpoint here regularly lead to a block, even though Conservapedia says it does not block for ideological reasons <ref>For example, a Conservapedia administrator makes the charge [http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Talk:Barack_Obama&diff=561372&oldid=561371 here] and a previous administrator admits that he and the site owner engaged in ideological blocking [http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Talk:Barack_Obama&diff=prev&oldid=561457 here]</ref>.

Unlike liberals, Conservapedia does not censor on ideological grounds. Occasionally it is necessary to take action to prevent liberals from abusing its hospitality to ideas by seeking to damage or destroy the project through waves of [[Liberal vandalism|vandalism]] from outside and deep cover subversion from within. Such action is necessary to protect and defend freedom of expression.

== Liberal Totalitarianism ==
The result of pervasive and institutionalized liberal censorship is termed ''liberal totalitarianism.''

Such attempts to remove first amendment rights (see [[Fairness Doctrine]]), along with [[gun control]] and the outlawing of [[creation science]] and even [[homeschooling]], have led many critics to note the parallel between the modern liberal movement and 20th century [[totalitarian]] regimes. The censorship of school prayer is consistent with [[Fascist]] beliefs.<ref>Jonah Goldberg, "Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning"</ref><ref>Edmund Burke Institute [http://www.edmundburkeinstitute.org/documents/The_Just_Cause_Liberal_Totalitarianism.pdf]</ref><ref>[http://www.newmediajournal.us/staff/p_hollrah/06262007.htm The Nazification of the American Left], Paul R. Hollrah, ''New Media Journal'', June 26, 2007.</ref>

[[Georgia]] Congressman [[Paul Broun]] claimed that [[Barack Hussein Obama]] may seek to establish a [[Marxism|Marxist]] [[dictatorship]] in the United States.<ref>http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iRxZox4GFoIweckPDP1oRhKBlHOwD94CDDM80</ref>

=== Gun Control ===
The term Liberal Totalitarianism extends to liberals' attempts to breach the [[Second Amendment]] by banning weapons. By removing guns, a government can remove citizens' ability to resist totalitarianism, as occurred in [[Nazi Germany]] and [[Soviet Russia]]. As [[Thomas Jefferson]] stated, "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."

== See Also ==
*[[Censorability]]
*[[Hate Speech]]

==Notes==
<references />
{{template:liberalism}}

King Abdullah II

2013-02-22T02:41:37Z

Ty: Jordan

[[Image:Abdullah2.jpg|thumb|right]]
'''King Abdullah II''' bin Al-Hussein the [[Hashemite]] "الملك عبدالله الثاني ابن الحسين", the king of the Hashemite Kingdom of [[Jordan]]. He succeeded his father [[King Hussein]], after his death in 1999. Like his father, he is a popular in Jordan and an ally of the [[United States]] and [[Britain]].

== Education and career ==
King Abdullah studied in the United States in his early years, and later on attended [[Royal Military Academy Sandhurst]] and graduated to serve in the Jordanian military. He rose to become Major General in the army, and was responsible for creating SOCCOM (Special Operations Command) for the Jordanian special forces.

== King ==
King Abdullah became king after his father passed away in February of 1999. King Hussein decided to make him crown prince several weeks before he passed. King Abdullah carried on a pro economic/democracy reform policy and military modernization policy. He spoke before [[United States Congress|Congress]] on march of 2007, and spoke about the importance of peace in the [[Middle East]].

==External links==

*[http://www.kingabdullah.jo/ Official website of his majesty King Abdullah II]

[[Category:Monarchs]]
[[Category:Jordan]]

Middle East

2013-02-22T02:33:12Z

Ty: caption

[[Image:Middle east pol97.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Middle East]]
The '''Middle East''' is a geographic, political, and historical region in south-west [[Asia]] and some parts of north-eastern [[Africa]]. It is located roughly in between the [[Caspian Sea]] to the north, the [[Mediterranean Sea]] to the west, and the [[Arabian Sea]] to the south and west. Countries considered to be part of the Middle East include [[Syria]], [[Jordan]], [[Cyprus]], [[Israel]], [[Lebanon]], [[Iraq]], [[Iran]], [[Saudi Arabia]], [[Oman]], [[Yemen]], [[Bahrain]], [[Egypt]], [[Kuwait]], [[Qatar]], and the [[United Arab Emirates]].

The Middle East is known both for its massive reserves of [[crude oil]] and for religious strife. This area, whose history dates back to ancient times, is in modern times - a strategically, economically, politically, culturally, and religiously sensitive region.<ref>[http://www.newsmax.com/hottopics/Middle_East.shtml The Middle East].Newsmax.</ref>

[[File:Obama Middle East peace talks 2010 Netanyahu Abbas Mubarak Abdullah.jpg]]

Middle East peace talks 2010, Egypt's [[Hosni Mubarak]], Israel's [[Benjamin Netanyahu]], President [[Barack Hussein Obama]], PNA's [[Mahmoud Abbas]] and Jordan's [[King Abdullah II]].

== External links ==

*[http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/what-the-murder-of-iraqi-jews-in-1941-tells-us-about-the-middle-east-today/ What the Murder of Iraqi Jews in 1941 Tells us About the Middle East Today.]

==References==
<references/>

[[category:Regions of the World]]
[[category:history]]

Arab Spring

2013-02-22T02:27:43Z

Ty: Middle East

The '''Arab Spring''' is a phrase used for an [[Antiamericanism|antiamerican]]<ref>http://frontpagemag.com/2013/jeff-ludwig/arab-rage-unrest-and-anti-americanism-is-nothing-new/</ref> series of protests, riots, acts of terrorism, and general political instability in the [[Middle East]] and [[North Africa]], which have been ongoing since 2010. The most notable events include new governments in [[Tunisia]], [[Egypt]] and the death of [[Libya|Libyan]] dictator [[Muammar Qaddafi]]. Also the president of [[Yemen]] [[Ali Abdullah Saleh]] fleed to the [[USA]].

Today the [[Muslim Brotherhood]] controls [[Egypt]] and [[al-Qaeda]] is stronger in Yemen with control on some cities. In Libya [[Benghazi Attack|Islamists killed four ambassador of the United States]] and the new government wants to construct [[Sharia]] law.

The policies of US President [[Barack Hussein Obama]] with regard to the Arab Spring seem to be in the interest of Muslim [[theocracy]], unlike previous [[President of the United States of America|American Presidents]] who have favored governments which are secular and pro-[[Israel]].

== See Also ==
* [[Barack Obama's Muslim Heritage]]
* [[Occupy Wall Street]]
* [[Neo-conservativism]]

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:Activists]]

Bashar al-Assad

2013-02-22T02:19:39Z

Ty: Hussein

[[File:President Syria Bashar al Assad.jpg|150px|thumb|right]]
'''Bashar al-Assad''' is the current president of [[Syria]]. As a member of the [[Ba'ath Party]] of Syria, he is a [[socialist]] [[dictator]], though in his reign some limited [[free market]] reforms were implemented. In 2011, the [[Arab Spring]] led to widespread protests in his country, the [[Syrian Civil War|war between rebels and Syrian government]] are ongoing, to date, more than 60,000 deaths have taken place.

==Foreign Relations==

Under al-Assad, Syria maintains a close alliance with theocratic [[Iran]], despite his more secular form of governance. Like his father [[Hafez al-Assad]], his relation with [[Saddam Hussein]]'s [[Iraq]] was sour and tense, and after [[Operation Iraqi Freedom]] he established good relations with the new Iraqi government.

Al-Assad is very [[anti-American]]. Neither [[George W. Bush]] nor [[Barack Hussein Obama]] have met with him and both administrations have accused him, rightfully, of harboring [[terrorist]] organizations such as [[Hamas]] (which had its headquaters in [[Damascus]]) and [[Hezbollah]]. He is also hostile to [[Israel]] and [[Zionism]] and refuses to recognize the country's right to exist.

==Personal life==

President al-Assad believes in [[Shia]] [[Islam]] in its [[Alawite]] variant (which is seen by some Muslims as a heretical sect), and Syrian Alawite elites are his base of support. He is married to [[Asma al-Assad]], a former [[investment bank]]er educated in [[Britain]].

His elder brother, Basil, was killed in a car accident in 1994.

[[Category:Presidents of Syria]]
[[Category:Dictators]]
[[Category:Muslims]]

James Cardinal Gibbons

2013-02-14T05:44:31Z

Ty: cardinal

'''James [[Cardinal]] Gibbons''' (1834-1921) was the nationally famous Catholic archbishop of [[Baltimore]] 1877-1921. He was a leading spokesman for the [[Catholic Irish]] in America.

[[Category:Cardinals]]
[[category:Gilded Age]]

Cardinal John O'Connor

2013-02-14T05:42:30Z

Ty: cardinal

'''[[Cardinal]] John O'Connor''' (1920-2000) served as the leader of the [[New York]] archdiocese of the [[Catholic Church]] from 1984 until his passing away in 2000. He was the leading [[American]] [[Catholic]] spokesman and withstood with courage and grace attacks by the [[homosexual]] movement that included even desecration of the [[Eucharist]] during a [[Mass]]. The cardinal co-authored a book with [[Ed Koch]].

{{DEFAULTSORT:O'Connor, John}}

[[Category:Cardinals]]
[[Category:Catholic Leaders]]

John Henry Cardinal Newman

2013-02-14T05:40:29Z

Ty: cardinal

'''John Henry Newman''' (1801–1890), or '''Cardinal Newman''', as he is often known, was an [[Anglican]] priest and accomplished poet and author who famously [[convert]]ed to [[Roman Catholicism]]. The [[Catholic Church]] later elevated him to the status of a [[cardinal]], and he was declared to be "venerable" in 1991 to be made a [[saint]].

Before his conversion, Cardinal Newman was a leader in the [[Oxford Movement]], which sought to bring the [[Church of England]] closer to its pre-[[Henry VIII]] [[Catholic]] roots. He attributed his study of history to persuade him to become Catholic.

He was the author of many influential books, including the Apologia Pro Vita Sua, the Grammar of Assent, Via Media, and Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newman, John Henry Cardinal}}

[[Category:Cardinals]]
[[Category:Catholic Leaders]]

Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty

2013-02-14T05:38:11Z

Ty: Cardinal

'''Joseph [[Cardinal]] Mindszenty''' (1892 - 1975) was a [[Hungary|Hungarian]] [[Catholic]] persecuted and imprisoned first by the [[Nazis]] and then by the [[Communists]] based on his [[faith]]. Today his legacy is carried on by the [[Cardinal Mindszenty Foundation]].

Mindszenty was ordained to the [[priest|priesthood]] on the [[Feast of the Sacred heart of Jesus]] on June 12, 1915 and, after serving faithfully for almost thirty years, was consecrated [[Bishop]] of Veszprem on March 25, 1944. From November 27, 1944 to April 20, 1945, he was imprisoned by the Nazis.

On October 2, 1945, [[Pope Pius XII]] appointed him [[Archbishop]] of [[Esztergom]] and Primate of [[Hungary]]. Just a few months later, on February 18, 1946, the Pope raised him to the [[Cardinal]]ate. As Pope Pius XII placed the Cardinal's hat on his head, the Pope said: "Among the thirty-two, you will be the first to suffer the martyrdom whose symbol this red color is."<ref>http://www.mindszenty.org/misc/jcm.html</ref>

In 1948 the [[Communists]] in [[Hungary]] banned [[religious]] orders. On December 26, 1948, Archbishop Mindszenty was arrested and charged with treason, conspiracy, and other offenses.

His trial began on February 3, 1949, and five days later he was sentenced to life imprisonment for treason against the communist Hungarian government.

On February 12, 1949, Pope Pius XII announced the [[excommunication]] of all persons involved in the trial and conviction of Mindszenty.

During the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|Hungarian Revolution]] in 1956, the freedom fighters released Cardinal Mindszenty from jail, and when the [[Soviet Union]] invaded Hungary to suppress it, he fled to the American embassy. Mindszenty then lived in captivity inside the embassy for 15 years, facing recapture should he ever step foot outside.

Upon the request of [[Pope Paul VI]], Cardinal Mindszenty, then almost 80, was allowed to depart from his country of Hungary, still occupied by the Communists, on September 29, 1971. He settled in [[Vienna]], [[Austria]] and died there at the age of 83 a few years later.

Today, Cardinal Mindszenty is buried in the Church of the Assumption, the Basilica of Esztergom, Hungary. Pilgrims visit there daily and pray for his intercession in their needs.

== References ==

<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mindszenty, Joseph}}

[[Category:Cardinals]]
[[Category:Catholic Leaders]]
[[Category:Hungary]]

Mazarin

2013-02-14T05:34:54Z

Ty: cardinal

[[Image:Mazarin.jpg|right|thumb|150px]]
'''Cardinal Jules Mazarin''', born '''Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino''' (1602-1661) was a French [[cardinal]] and statesman who controlled the French government while [[Louis XIV]] was young. Mazarin was a conservative who followed the aims of [[Cardinal Richelieu]], his main sponsor. Their goals were to support the Catholic Church, to secure and maintain royal absolutism in France, and to make France the leading power of Europe. His main achievements were the ending of the [[Thirty Years War]] through the [[Treaty of Westphalia]] in 1648 and his defeat of the Fronde in 1653. Using an elaborate network of personal relations, he restored royal authority to the point at which the king could rule alone. Mazarin attained his aims by both scrupulous and unscrupulous means, inspired love in some and hatred in others, and was controversial in his own time and ever since.

==Career==
He was born in Pescina, Italy on July 14, 1602, to an aristocratic family that had lost its wealth. He was educated by [[Jesuit]]s at Rome and was named papal envoy of France in 1634. There he met [[Cardinal Richelieu]] and secretly aided him in the [[Thirty Years' War]] against Austrian and Spanish [[Habsburg]]s. Mazarin was made a cardinal by the pope as a reward for his service to France from King [[Louis XIII]].
==Prime minister==
After the death of Richelieu in 1642, Mazarin succeeded him as the Prime Minister of France. In 1643, the cardinal became chief minister and tutor to the young Louis XIV after the death of Louis XIII. Having kept Richelieu's policies of centralization, Mazarin was blamed for the civil disturbances of the [[Fronde]], and was forced to leave Paris twice. He returned to the kingdom in 1653 when the nobles' revolts had ended. The nobles hated Mazarin for usurping their historic place in the crown's service.
==Foreign policy==
In terms of foreign policy and diplomatic relations, Mazarin ended the [[Peace of Westphalia]], which brought the [[Thirty Years' War]] to a conclusion and brought French prestige, and concluded the [[Peace of the Pyrenees]], which ended the Franco-Spanish conflict.

The ending of the Thirty Years War was an event closely linked to that year's significant domestic unrest. The outbreak of the [[Fronde]] (1648-53) in August was only one manifestation of rising dissatisfaction with the royal government over such issues as taxation and a perceived unwillingness to conclude peace. Much of this dissatisfaction was focused on Cardinal Mazarin. There was a close linkage in France at this time between international and domestic events, and Mazarin was highly conscious of this and sought to use it to his advantage. Whatever the value of his policies, in 1648 Mazarin was relatively unsuccessful politically in that he was often faulted for what went wrong and denied credit for what went right.

The Fronde (1848-53) was most serious challenge to the French crown's authority between the 16th-century religious wars and the French revolution of 1789. After the Frondeurs had been defeated Mazarin devoted himself to the training of the young king, Louis XIV. Louis showed respect for his mentor by postponing his personal rule until Mazarin died on March 9th, 1661.
==Arts==
Mazarin was a leading promoter of the arts. He was an avid art collector, founded the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture (1648), introduced Italian opera at court, and established an important library in Paris.

see also [[Louis XIV]]
==Bibliography==
* ''Cambridge Modern History: Vol. 5 The Age Of Louis XIV'' (1908), old, solid articles by scholars; [http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/camenaref/cmh/cmh.html#cmh1 complete text online]
* Croxton, Derek. ''Peacemaking in Early Modern Europe: Cardinal Mazarin and the Congress of Westphalia, 1643-1648.'' (1999) 397 pp.
* Dunlop, Ian. ''Louis XIV'' (2000), 512pp [http://www.amazon.com/Louis-XIV-Ian-Dunlop/dp/0312261969/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202467216&sr=1-7 excerpt and text search]
* Parrott, David. ''Richelieu's Army. War, Government and Society in France, 1624-1642'' (2001).
* Shennan, J. H. ''Louis XIV'' (1993) [http://www.questia.com/read/108828773 online edition]
* Sturdy, David J. ''Richelieu and Mazarin: A Study in Statesmanship'' (2003) 198pp [http://www.amazon.com/Richelieu-Mazarin-Statesmanship-European-Perspective/dp/033375400X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212579309&sr=1-2excerpt and text search]
* Treasure, Geoffrey. ''Mazarin: The Crisis of Absolutism in France.'' (1996). 413 pp. [http://www.amazon.com/Mazarin-Crisis-Absolutism-Geoffr-Treasure/dp/0415162114/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212579309&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
* Treasure, Geoffrey. ''Richelieu and Mazarin'' (1998) 96pp [http://www.questia.com/library/book/richelieu-and-mazarin-by-geoffrey-treasure.jsp online edition]
* Wilkinson, Richard. "Cardinal Mazarin." ''History Today''1996 46(4): 39-45. Issn: 0018-2753 Fulltext: [[Ebsco]]
* Wolf, John B. ''Louis XIV'' (1968), the standard scholarly biography [http://www.questia.com/read/103250721 online edition]

[[Category:Cardinals]]
[[Category:French History]]

College of Cardinals

2013-02-14T05:33:24Z

Ty: Cardinals

The College of Cardinals was established in AD 1059. It is the body of all the [[Cardinal]]s in the [[Catholic Church]]. The College of Cardinals elects new [[Pope|popes]] and advises the pope when needed.
[[category:Catholic Church]]

Francis Cardinal Spellman

2013-02-14T05:33:02Z

Ty: Cardinal

'''[[Cardinal]] Francis Joseph Spellman''' (Whitman, [[Massachusetts]], 1889 - New York, 1967) was ordained in 1916 as a [[Roman Catholic]] priest. He was [[archbishop]] of [[New York]] from 1939 to 1967. In 1946 Pope [[Pius XII]] elevated him to the [[College of Cardinals]]. He was the most powerful and influential leader of the Catholic hierarchy in the United States. <ref> [http://www.answers.com/topic/francis-cardinal-spellman Francis Joseph Spellman] </ref>

<blockquote>
''Pray as if everything depended upon [[God]] and work as if everything depended upon man.''
</blockquote>

Spellman had a militant opposition to [[birth control]], [[pornography]] and [[communism]].

<center>
[[File:Spellman at Vietnam 1966.jpg]]

Cardinal Spellman celebrating Christmas Mass at [[Vietnam]], on December 24th, 1966.
</center>
== See also ==

*[[Kennedy Family]]
*[[Eleanor Roosevelt]]
*[[Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.]]
*[[Franz Leopold Neumann]]

== External links ==

*[http://www.nps.gov/archive/elro/glossary/spellman-cardinal.htm Francis Joseph Cardinal Spellman.]
*[http://www.answers.com/topic/francis-cardinal-spellman Francis Joseph Spellman.]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Cardinals]]
[[Category:Religion]]

Francis Arinze

2013-02-14T05:29:12Z

Ty: Cardinal

'''[[Cardinal]] Francis Arinze''' (b.1932) is a [[conservative]] leader in the [[Catholic Church]], and a favorite to become the next [[Pope]]. An Igbo [[Nigeria]]n, Cardinal Arinze was once the world's youngest [[bishop]].

Cardinal Arinze has been an outspoken critic of [[homosexuality]] and [[abortion]], comparing it to [[adultery]] and other [[sin]]s.

His credentials include spending 25 years in the [[Vatican]], enabling him to earn the respect of many other Cardinals.

Cardinal Arinze is over 80 years of age, and thus will not participate in the [[Papal conclave]] that will choose a successor to Pope [[Benedict XVI]]; this may make his election to the Papacy less likely.

[[Category:Cardinals]]
[[Category:Catholic Church]]
[[Category:Christians]]
[[Category:Conservatives]]
[[Category:Catholic Leaders]]
[[Category:Religious Leaders]]

Category:Cardinals

2013-02-14T05:29:03Z

Ty: Created page with "Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church. Category:Christianity Category:Catholic Church Category:Catholic Leaders"

[[Cardinal]]s of the [[Roman Catholic Church]].

[[Category:Christianity]]
[[Category:Catholic Church]]
[[Category:Catholic Leaders]]

You didn't build that

2013-02-11T19:35:54Z

Ty: Mitt Romney

'''"You didn't build that"''' is an [[Barack Hussein Obama|Obama]] quote that, for his opponents, sums up his vendetta against the free enterprise system:
:“What [President Obama] said was not a gaffe,” Mr. Romney said. “It was not a slip of the tongue. What he said was his philosophy. He said that if you have a business, you didn’t build it, someone else did that.”<ref> [http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/sep/4/you-didnt-build-that-was-gops-spark-plug/#ixzz25dE1fY43 ‘You didn’t build that’ was GOP’s spark plug - Washington Times]</ref>

On July 13, 2012, President Obama told an audience at a fire station in Roanoke, [[Virginia]], "If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business -- '''you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.''' The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet." (emphasis added)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/07/13/remarks-president-campaign-event-roanoke-virginia|title=Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event in Roanoke, Virginia|date=July 13, 2012|accessdate=August 25, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://dailycaller.com/2012/07/25/obamas-logic-a-system-that-allows-us-to-thrive-can-disallow-success/|title=Obama’s logic: a system that ‘allows’ us to thrive can disallow success|author=Steve Stanek|accessdate=August 25, 2012|date=July 25, 2012}}</ref>
<noinclude>
[[Republican]]s say it shows how the president believes in a government-driven economy that fundamentally distrusts private enterprise.<ref>http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2012/08/21/ryan-obamas-true-beliefs-revealed-when-he-drops-his-veil-0?intcmp=obnetwork#ixzz24c0eMKMB</ref>

==Critique by the Romney campaign==
The [[Mitt Romney|Romney]] campaign posted a video that shows the president saying over and over, "If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mittromney.com/forms/private-sector-what-creates-jobs-not-government?utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=20120717_lb_petition-you-didn%27t-build-that_twitter|title=Hard-Working Americans Are What Create Jobs, Not Government|accessdate=August 27, 2012}}</ref> The campaign website stated, "Comments like that are a slap in the face to the [[American Dream]] and reveal the President's naïve view that government, and not the hard work, talent, and initiative of people is the center of society and the economy. Clearly, this President doesn't understand how our economy works."

[[Fox News]] then reported, "Echoing the Republican candidate's recent criticism on the stump, the video hammers the president for suggesting this past Friday that business owners owe their success to government."<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/07/19/romney-hammers-didnt-build-that-in-new-web-ad/?intcmp=related#ixzz24le0iWx7 foxnews.com</ref> In a July 17 speech in [[Pennsylvania]], Romney agreed "you really couldn’t have a business if you didn’t have those things" as described by Obama, including teachers and firefighters.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://factcheck.org/2012/07/you-didnt-build-that-uncut-and-unedited/|title='You Didn’t Build That,' Uncut and Unedited|date=July 24, 2012|accessdate=August 27, 2012|work=factcheck.org}}</ref>

==Response by the Obama campaign==
The Obama campaign said the president's phrase, "You didn't build that," referred only to his point that small businesses didn't build public [[infrastructure]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.barackobama.com/truth-team/fact-check-what-president-obama-actually-said-about-small-businesses/|title=Fact check: What President Obama actually said about small businesses|date=July 17, 2012|accessdate=August 27, 2012}}</ref> The Obama campaign also posted a clarifying video.<ref>http://thehill.com/video/campaign/239659-obama-ad-aims-to-set-romney-straight-over-you-didnt-build-that-remark</ref>
==Other reactions==
Crossroads America posted a video called "Build" which quoted small businesspeople as reacting negatively toward Obama's quote.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae9SjPEsRf0&feature=relmfu|title=American Crossroads: Build |date=July 24, 2012|accessdate=August 27, 2012}}</ref>

[[Scott Brown]] posted a two and a half minute video ad showing Obama's statement and similar statements by [[Elizabeth Warren]] and contrasted them with quotations from prior presidents.<ref>http://blip.tv/play/hIUWgv7VcQA.html?p=1</ref>

The Obama statement and the subsequent exchange with Mitt Romney drew satire from the ''[[Colbert Report]]'', which pointed out that Romney made essentially the same statement regarding the need for education and infrastructure to promote business success.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/416950/july-25-2012/mitt-romney-vs--barack-obama-on-small-business-owners|title=Mitt Romney vs. Barack Obama on Small Business Owners|date=July 25, 2012}}</ref>

Carl Gibson of the ''[[Huffington Post]]'', pointed out that the [[Republican National Convention]]'s theme of "We built that" contradicts the fact that the convention's venue was constructed with taxpayer funding.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carl-gibson/rnc-you-didnt-build-that_b_1830673.html|title=RNC: You Didn't Build That|date=August 26, 2012|accessdate=August 27, 2012|work=Huffington Post}}</ref>

''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' says “rarely do politicians so clearly reveal their core beliefs ... the President who says he wants to be transformational may be succeeding--and subordinating to government the individual enterprise and risk-taking that unlerlies prosperity.”<ref>{{cite news|url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304388004577533300916053684.html|title=You Didn’t Build That|date=Jul 18, 2012}}</ref> In the New York Daily News, S. E. Cupp charges that the President’s is attacking the individualism inherent in the American dream.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-07-18/news/32734440_1_hard-work-systemic-racism-success|author=S. E. Cupp|title=You Didn’t Build That|date=Jul 18, 2012}}</ref> Several authors points out the phrase in question comes from [[Karl Marx|Marx]]’s “Labor Theory of Value.” [[Labor]] creates the product to which nothing is contributed by management. [[Profit]], therefore, is theft. The capitalist is a parasite.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://spectator.org/archives/2012/08/13/obamas-labor-theory-of-value|title=Obama’s Labor Theory of Value|author=Ron Ross|newspaper=The American Spectator|date=Aug 13, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.wnd.com/2012/08/karl-marx-and-our-emperor-of-envy/|title=Karl Marx and our Emperor on Envy|author=Robert Ringer|date=Aug 8 2012|newspaper=WorldNetDaily}}</ref> ''[[Forbes]]''’ author Harry Binswanger, writes “This gigantic fraud is aimed at a single goal: re-assuring life’s losers that their failures are not their fault.” Achievement is an illusion, according to Obama, and you are just as deserving as [[Steve Jobs]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2012/08/05/revenge-of-the-zeros-the-battle-between-ayn-rand-and-collectivism-reaches-a-climax/|title=Revenge Of The Zeros|author=Harry Binswanger|date=Aug 5, 2012|newspaper=Forbes}}</ref>

==External links==
* http://didntbuildthat.com/
* [http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/07/19/romney-hammers-didnt-build-that-in-new-web-ad/?intcmp=related Romney hammers 'you didn't build that' in new web ad]

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Template quotes]]
</noinclude>

Ohio

2012-10-13T05:53:48Z

Ty: links

{{USState
|name=Ohio
|flag=Ohio_State_Flag.gif
|motto=With God all things are possible
|nick=The Buckeye State
|capital=Columbus
|language=English
|governor=John Kasich
|gparty=Republican
|senator1=Sherrod Brown
|s1party=Democrat
|s1phone=(202) 224-2315
|s1email=http://brown.senate.gov/contact/ Contact
|senator2=Rob Portman
|s2party=Republican
|s2phone=(202) 224-3353
|s2email=http://portman.senate.gov/contact_form.cfm Contact
|population=
|date=March 1, 1803 (17th)
}}
'''Ohio''' is located in the [[Midwest]]ern region of the [[United States]] and on March 1, 1803, became the seventeenth state. The capital of Ohio is [[Columbus (city)|Columbus]]. Other large cities in Ohio include [[Cincinnati]] and [[Cleveland]]. Ohio borders the states of [[Indiana]], [[Kentucky]], [[Pennsylvania]], [[Michigan]], and [[West Virginia]]. The current [[Governors of Ohio|governor of Ohio]] is [[John Kasich]], a [[Republican]].

==History==
Chillicothe was the capital from the formation of the Ohio Territory from the [[Northwest Territory]] in 1800, until 1809, when it was moved to Zanesville for three years. Chillicothe was again the capital from 1812 until 1816, when Columbus became the capital because it was the geographical center of the state. Cincinnati was the largest and most important city until surpassed by Cleveland in the early 20th century.

Since 1940 fiscal conservatism has been a hallmark of Ohio leaders, including such Republicans governors as John Bricker, Thomas Herbert, and C. William O’Neill, as well as some Democrats, notably Martin Davey and Frank Lausche. Especially in the small towns and cities voters expressed low-tax, low-spending and pro-business sentiments.

Michael V. DiSalle, a Democrat elected in 1958, tried to convert Ohio to high spending, but angered the taxpayers after one term.<ref> Richard G. Zimmerman, ''Call Me Mike: A Political Biography of Michael V. DiSalle'' (2003) </ref> He was defeated by Republican [[James A. Rhodes]] (1909-2001), who branded DiSalle "Tax Hike Mike" and went on to become Ohio’s longest serving governor (1962-70 and 1974-82). Rhodes eliminated or cut back the wasteful programs and concentrated instead on building of airports, state office buildings, prisons, and other public structures. Rhodes lowered taxes on small business owners, thereby building up the economy, while increasing funding to schools and universities.

Democrat Richard F. Celeste was defeated by Rhodes in 1978, but won the governorship in 1982 and defeated Rhodes's comeback effort in 1986. Celeste sought to increase state funding to education, health services, and welfare program; with the legislature in liberal hands he increased the state income tax by 90%. A referendum to overturn the tax increase failed, but in 1984, voters returned the Ohio Senate to Republican control.

==Elected Officials==

===Federal===
*Sen. [[Sherrod Brown]] (D)
*Sen. [[Rob Portman]] (R)
*Rep. [[Steve Chabot]] [R, OH-01]
*Rep. [[Jean Schmidt]] [R, OH-02]
*Rep. [[Mike Turner]] [R, OH-03]
*Rep. [[Jim Jordan]] [R, OH-04]
*Rep. [[Bob Latta]] [R, OH-05]
*Rep. [[Bill Johnson]] [R, OH-06]
*Rep. [[Steve Austria]] [R, OH-07]
*Rep. [[John Boehner]] [R, OH-08]
*Rep. [[Marcy Kaptur]] [D, OH-09]
*Rep. [[Dennis Kucinich]] [D, OH-10]
*Rep. [[Marcia Fudge]] [D, OH-11]
*Rep. [[Pat Tiberi]] [R, OH-12]
*Rep. [[Betty Sutton]] [D, OH-13]
*Rep. [[Steven LaTourette]] [R, OH-14]
*Rep. [[Steve Stivers]] [R, OH-15]
*Rep. [[Jim Renacci]] [R, OH-16]
*Rep. [[Tim Ryan]] [D, OH-17]
*Rep. [[Bob Gibbs]] [R, OH-18]

===Statewide===
*Governor [[John Kasich]] (R)
*Lt. Governor [[Mary Taylor]] (R)
*Attorney General [[Mike DeWine]] (R)
*Secretary of State [[Jon Husted]] (R)
*State Auditor [[David Yost]] (R)
*State Treasurer [[Josh Mandel]] (R)

==Presidents From Ohio==
Ohio was known as the "mother of presidents"; the last one was Harding, who won in 1920 by defeating another Ohioan, Governor James Cox.
*[1773-1841] 9th President -[[William Henry Harrison]]. Whig
*[1822-1885] 18th President -[[Ulysses Simpson Grant]], Republican
*[1822-1893] 19th President -[[Rutherford B. Hayes]], Republican
*[1831-1881] 20th President -[[James Garfield]], Republican
*[1833-1901] 23rd President -[[Benjamin Harrison]], Republican
*[1843-1901] 25th President -[[William McKinley]], Republican
*[1857-1930] 27th President -[[William Howard Taft]], Republican
*[1865-1923] 29th President -[[Warren Gamaliel Harding]], Republican

Taft's son [[Robert A. Taft]], a leading conservative, sought the GOP nomination in 1940, 1948 and 1952, losing each time to liberal Republicans from [[New York City]].

Ohio is a [[swing state]] in presidential elections. No Republican has won the presidency without Ohio's electoral votes.

==Bibliography==
* [http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/browse.php Ohio History Central], authoritative short articles, with images, audio and video files
===Surveys and textbooks===
* Bell, Carol Willsey. ''Ohio Guide to Genealogical Sources.'' (1988). 372 pp.
* Benedict, Michael Les and Winkler, John F., eds. ''The History of Ohio Law.'' (2 vol. 2004). 946 pp.
* Booth, Stephane Elise. ''Buckeye Women: The History of Ohio's Daughters.'' (2001). 239 pp.
* Borcyczka, Raymond and Cary, Lorin Lee. ''No Strength without Union: An Illustrated History of Ohio Workers, 1803-1980.'' (1982). 328 pp.
* Cayton, Andrew R. L. ''Ohio: The History of a People'' (2002), 473pp
* Grant, H. Roger and Clarence Wunderlin. ''Ohio On The Move: Transportation In Buckeye State'' (2000) [http://www.amazon.com/Ohio-Move-Transportation-Buckeye-Bicentennial/dp/0821412841/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212898827&sr=8-1 excerpt]
* Knepper, George W. ''Ohio and Its People''. (3rd ed. 2003), textbook; ISBN 0-87338-791-0 [http://www.questia.com/read/112035631?title=Ohio%20and%20Its%20People online edition]
* Lafferty, Michael B., ed. ''Ohio's Natural Heritage.'' (1979). 324 pp.
* Parker, Gregory; Sisson, Richard; and Coil, William Russell, eds. ''Ohio & the World: Essays toward a New History of Ohio.'' (2005). 199 pp.
* Sisson, Richard, ed. ''The American Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia'' (2006), very right regional encyclopedia by scholars
* Smith, Thomas H., ed. ''An Ohio Reader. Vol. 1, 1750 to the Civil War. Vol 2. Reconstruction to the Present.'' (1975). 763 pp. articles by historians
===History to 1860===
* Blue, Frederick J. ''Salmon P. Chase: A Life in Politics'' (1987) [http://www.questia.com/read/22807164?title=Salmon%20P.%20Chase%3a%20A%20Life%20in%20Politics online edition]
* Bond Jr., Beverley W. ''The Foundations of Ohio. Volume: 1.'' 1941. detailed history to 1802. [http://www.questia.com/read/24153066?title=The%20Foundations%20of%20Ohio%20-%20Vol.%201 online edition]
* Brown, Jeffrey P., and Andrew R. L. Cayton, eds. ''The Pursuit of Public Power: Political Culture in Ohio, 1787-1861'' (1994)
* Buley, R. Carlyle. ''The Old Northwest'' (1950), Pulitzer Prize winner
* Carter, Harvey Lewis. ''The Life and Times of Little Turtle: First Sagamore of the Wabash.'' (1987). 275 pp.
* Cayton, Andrew R. L. ''The Frontier Republic: Ideology and Politics in the Ohio Country, 1780-1825'' (1986)
* Cayton, Andrew R.L. and Stuart D. Hobbs. ''The Center of a Great Empire: The Ohio Country in the Early Republic'' (2005) [http://www.amazon.com/Center-Great-Empire-Country-Republic/dp/0821416480/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212898827&sr=8-9 excerpt and text search]
* Fox, Stephen C. ''The Group Bases of Ohio Political Behavior, 1803-1848.'' (1989). 349 pp.
* Giesen, Myra Jayne. "Late Prehistoric Populations in the Ohio Area: Biological Affinities and Stress Indicators." PhD dissertation, anthropology. Ohio State U. 1992. 271 pp. DAI 1993 53(8): 2872-A. DA9238180 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]
* Hendrick, Booraem V. ''The Road to Respectability: James A. Garfield and His World, 1844-1852'' (1988)
* Hurt, R. Douglas. ''The Ohio Frontier: Crucible of the Old Northwest, 1720-1830''. (1996). ISBN 0-253-21212-X 418pp
* Jones, Robert Leslie. ''History of Agriculture in Ohio to 1880.'' (1983). 416 pp.
* Leet, Don R. ''Population Pressure and Human Fertility Response: Ohio, 1810-1860.'' (1978). 291 pp.
* Maizlish, Stephen E. ''The Triumph of Sectionalism: The Transformation of Ohio Politics, 1844-1856'' (1983), 310pp
* O'Donnell, James H. ''Ohio's First Peoples''. (2004). Indian tribes.
* Ratcliffe, Donald J. ''The Politics of Long Division: The Birth of the Second Party System in Ohio, 1818-1828.'' (2000). 455 pp.
* Ratcliffe, Donald J. ''Party Spirit in a Frontier Republic: Democratic Politics in Ohio, 1793-1821'' (1998). 336 pp. [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=9223922805209 online review]
* Rokicky, Catherine M. ''Creating a Perfect World: Religious and Secular Utopias in Nineteenth-Century Ohio.'' (2002). 181 pp.
* Utter, William T. ''The Frontier State: 1803-1825,'' vol. 2 of History of the State of Ohio (1942).
* VanVugt, William E. ''British Buckeyes: The English, Scots, and Welsh in Ohio, 1700-1900.'' (2006). 295 pp.
* Weisenburger, Francis P. ''The Passing of the Frontier, vol. 3'' (1941), detailed history of 1830s and 1840s
* Winkle, Kenneth J. ''The Politics of Community: Migration and Politics in Antebellum Ohio.'' (1988). 239 pp.
===History 1860-1920===
* Comer, James Ray. "Immigration and Foodways in Ohio, 1870-1920." PhD dissertation Bowling Green State U. 2001. 369 pp. DAI 2001 62(6): 2217-A. DA3016141 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]
* Downes, Randolph C. ''The Rise of Warren Gamaliel Harding, 1865-1920.'' (1970). 734 pp
* Gerber, David A. ''Black Ohio and the Color Line, 1860-1915.'' (1977). 500 pp.
* Hoogenboom, Ari. ''Rutherford B. Hayes: Warrior and President.'' (1995). 626 pp.
* Jensen, Richard. ''The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888-1896'' (1971)
* Jordan, Philip D.''Ohio Comes of Age: 1873-1900 Volume 5'' (1968)
* Klement, Frank L. ''The Limits of Dissent: Clement L. Vallandigham and the Civil War.'' (1998). 351 pp.
* Morton, Jack Devon. "Ohio's Gallant Fight: Northern State Politics during the Reconstruction Era, 1865-1878." PhD dissertation. U. of Virginia 2005. 274 pp. DAI 2005 66(1): 313-A. DA3161251 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]
* Roseboom, Eugene. ''The Civil War Era, 1850-1873, vol. 4'' (1944), detailed general history
* Semsel, Craig Robert. "Built to Move Millions: Transit Vehicle Manufacture in Ohio, 1880-1938." PhD dissertation Case Western Reserve U. 2001. 720 pp. DAI 2002 62(9): 3162-3163-A. DA3027315 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]
* Weeks, Philip, ed. ''Buckeye Presidents: Ohioans in the White House.'' (2003). 240 pp.
* Wheeler, Kenneth W., ed. ''For the Union: Ohio Leaders in the Civil War.'' (1968) 497 pp.
===History 1920 to present===
* Bower, Kevin Patrick. "Relief, Reform, and Youth: The National Youth Administration in Ohio, 1935-1943." PhD dissertation U. of Cincinnati 2003. 201 pp. DAI 2003 64(5): 1787-A. DA3092078 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]
* Coil, William Russell. "'New Deal Republican': James A. Rhodes and the Transformation of the Republican Party, 1933-1983." PhD dissertation Ohio State U. 2005. 345 pp. DAI 2005 66(6): 2357-A. DA3180621 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]
* Davies, Richard O. ''Defender of the Old Guard: John Bricker and American Politics.'' (1993). 271 pp.
* Giffin, William W. ''African Americans and the Color Line in Ohio, 1915-1930.'' (2005). 312 pp.
* Lamis, Alexander P. and Sharkey, Mary Anne, eds. ''Ohio Politics.'' (1994). 417 pp. textbook
* Lieberman, Carl, ed. ''Government, Politics, and Public Policy in Ohio.'' (1995). 277 pp. textbook
* Patterson, James T. ''Mr. Republican: A Biography of Robert A. Taft.'' (1972). 749 pp.
* Van Tine, Warren, et al. ''In the Workers' Interest: A History of the Ohio AFL-CIO, 1958-1998.'' (1998). 219 pp.
* Zimmerman, Richard G. ''Call Me Mike: A Political Biography of Michael V. Disalle'' (2003)

==Localities and regions==
* Curl, Donald W. ''Murat Halstead and the Cincinnati Commercial.'' (1980). 186 pp
* Hirsimaki, Eric. ''Lima: The History. '' (1986). 351 pp.
* Moore, Jonathan Barrons. "Local Economic Development in the Post-industrial Service Economy: Manufacturing Communities in the Ohio River Valley." PhD dissertation Ohio State U. 2003. 255 pp. DAI 2004 65(3): 1065-A. DA3124375 Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]
* Painter, Sue Ann. ''Architecture in Cincinnati: An Illustrated History of Designing and Building an American City.'' (2006) 368pp; ISBN 978-0-8214-1701-0 [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=213131210777630 online review]
* Ross, Steven J. ''Workers on the Edge: Work, Leisure, and Politics in Industrializing Cincinnati, 1788-1890'' (1985), new social history [http://www.questia.com/read/58918181?title=Workers%20on%20the%20Edge%3a%20Work%2c%20Leisure%2c%20and%20Politics%20in%20Industrializing%20Cincinnati%2c%201788-1890 online edition]
* Van Tassel, David D.. and John J. Grabowski, eds. ''The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History'' (1987), also online
* Van Tassel, David D.. and John J. Grabowski, eds. ''Cleveland: A Tradition of Reform'' (1986)
* Ware, Jane. ''Building Ohio: A Traveler's Guide to Ohio's Urban Architecture.'' (2001). 330 pp.
* Wheeler, Kenneth H. "Local Autonomy and Civil War Draft Resistance: Holmes County, Ohio" ''Civil War History'', Vol. 45, 1999
* WPA. ''Cincinnati: A Guide to the Queen City and Its Neighbors'' (1943), 574pp; famous guide book, with history [http://www.questia.com/read/72509386?title=Cincinnati%3a%20A%20Guide%20to%20the%20Queen%20City%20and%20Its%20Neighbors online edition]
===Primary historical sources===
* Bentley, Anna Briggs. ''American Grit: A Woman's Letters from the Ohio Frontier.'' ed. by Emily Foster, (2002). 344 pp. [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=168301062659261 online review]
* Dee, Christine, ed. ''Ohio's War: The Civil War in Documents.'' (2007). 244 pp. [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=80721191089204 online review]
* Foster, Emily, ed. ''The Ohio Frontier: An Anthology of Early Writings.'' (1996). 229 pp.
* Gebby, Margaret. ''Farm Wife: A Self-Portrait, 1886-1896.'' ed. by Virginia E. McCormick. (1990). 243 pp.
* Johnson, Tom L. ''My Story'' (1993), reform mayor of Cleveland
* Saxbe, William B. and Franklin, Peter D. ''I've Seen the Elephant: An Autobiography.'' (2000). 267 pp. Saxbe was a politician and US Senator 1946-74
* Shriver, Phillip R., Jr. and Clarence E. Wunderlin. eds. ''Documentary Heritage Of Ohio'' (2001)

==See Also==
*[[:Category:Ohio_Universities|Ohio Universities]]

====references====
<references/>
{{USstates}}
[[Category:States of the United States]]

James A. Rhodes

2012-10-13T05:53:41Z

Ty: Redirected page to Jim Rhodes

#REDIRECT [[Jim Rhodes]]

William McKinley

2012-10-07T06:09:17Z

Ty: /* Death */ link

{{President
|image=William mckinley.jpg
|seq=25
|term_start=March 4, 1897
|term_end=September 14, 1901<ref>http://www.trivia-library.com/a/25th-us-president-william-mckinley.htm</ref>
|party=Republican
|vp=Garret Hobart
|vp_dates=1897-1899
|2vp=None
|2vp_dates=1899-1901
|3vp=Theodore Roosevelt
|3vp_dates=1901
|previous=Grover Cleveland
|next=Theodore Roosevelt
|birth_date=January 29, 1843
|birth_place=Niles, Ohio
|death_date=September 14, 1901
|death_place=Buffalo, New York
|spouse=Ida Saxton McKinley
|spouse2=
|religion=[[Methodist]]
}}

'''William McKinley, Jr.''' <ref>http://bioguide.congress.gov/biosearch/biosearch1.asp</ref> was the 25th [[President of the United States of America]], serving from 1897 until 1901 as a [[Republican]]. In Congress he was a foremost advocate of high tariffs on imported goods that would encourage industry and protect high wages from cheap competition. Defeated after his [[McKinley Tariff]] passed in 1890, McKinley bounced back to win election as governor of Ohio in 1891 and 1893. A tireless speaker, he was the most popular man in the party; his campaign manager [[Mark Hanna]] helped assure his capture of the GOP presidential nomination in 1896, in the midst of a deep depression people blamed on incumbent Democrat [[Grover Cleveland]]. But Cleveland and his conservative, pro-business [[Bourbon Democrats]] were overthrown and the [[Democratic Party|Democrats]] nominated firebrand [[William Jennings Bryan]], who picked up Populist support and crusaded against banks, railroads, and the moneyed East, promising that [[bimetallism|Free Silver]] would pump money into the economy and destroy the wicked. McKinley and Hanna fought back, inventing new techniques in the most heated election campaign in American history. McKinley promised that high tariffs would benefit all Americans--and he introduced the goal of a pluralistic America whereby all Americans of whatever race or ethnicity would share in prosperity. He attacked free silver as dishonesty, and by speaking to hundreds of thousands of voters and organizing massive parades in every town and city in the North, McKinley and Hanna demonstrated they represented the American majority. McKinley won in a landslide, carrying the entire East and Midwest and parts of the West. He won huge majorities in most cities, and switched the large German American vote to the GOP, along with most factory and railroad workers, then middle classes, and the more prosperous farmers. The election of 1896 realigned American politics, as 1896 was a critical election marking the dividing line between the [[Third Party System]] of the Civil War and Gilded Age, and the [[Fourth Party System]], usually called the Progressive Era.

As president McKinley rammed through higher tariffs and the gold standard, and watched prosperity return. Foreign affairs unexpectedly took center stage as Americans recoiled at the atrocities Spain committed to hold onto its colony of [[Cuba]]. McKinley tried to avoid war but public opinion--especially from the Bryanites--demanded it. The result was a "splendid little war," marked by sudden, overwhelming American victories on land and sea, with a few embarrassing bureaucratic mishaps in the War department. Spain quickly gave up and turned over its main colonies, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines. The Congress started the war promising Cuba its independence. McKinley decided to keep Guam and Puerto Rico, along with independent Hawaii which voluntarily joined the U.S. After long hesitation McKinley decided also to keep the Philippines. This made imperialism (along with free silver again) a central issue of the 1900 election. McKinley beat Bryan in a second landslide. Six months into his second term McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist and [[Theodore Roosevelt]] became president. McKinley is considered the first modern president for introducing modern campaign methods, for reorganizing the White House staff system, and for making the activities of the President the main ingredient in political news.

==Early Life==
McKinley was born at Niles, Ohio, on Jan. 29, 1843, seventh of the nine children of William and Nancy Allison McKinley. The McKinleys, of Scotch-Irish descent, had moved to Pennsylvania in the early 18th century and became interested in the iron foundry business, which William's father later built in Ohio. In 1852 the family moved to the small town of Poland, Ohio, where William attended a local school. He entered Allegheny College at Meadville, Pennsylvania, in 1860, but left because of poor health and subsequently taught school. At the outbreak of the [[American Civil War]], McKinley, then age 18, enlisted as a private in the Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, commanded by [[Rutherford B. Hayes]]. He saw service in western Virginia and at the [[Antietam, Battle of|Battle of Antietam]], after which he was commissioned a second lieutenant. He was mustered out of the army in 1865 as a major. He studied law in an office for a year and for a longer period at the Albany (N.Y.) Law School. Admitted to the Ohio bar in 1867, he opened an office in Canton, where he established a permanent residence. In 1871 he married Ida Saxton, the daughter of an influential local banker. After the birth of two daughters, Mrs. McKinley became an invalid for the rest of her life, her illness lightened only by the complete devotion of her husband.

McKinley entered politics early, greatly aided by his commanding presence, his oratorical ability, his sunny nature, and his willingness to negotiate and compromise. In 1869 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Stark County, and seven years later he helped nominate and elect his old commander, [[Rutherford B. Hayes]], as President.

==Congress==
In 1876 McKinley was elected to Congress and was later re-elected twice, serving from 1877 to 1883. In 1882 he claimed election and took his seat in March 1883, but the seat was contested; McKinley held the seat and voted until the last day of the session, when it was given to his opponent by the Democratic majority, who delayed so long because they wanted to work with McKinley. He regained his seat in the election of 1884 and served until he was defeated in the election of 1890.

McKinley established himself as a spokesman for the nation's dominant industrial group, desiring highly protective tariff rates. This position, together with his ardent support of [[John Sherman]] for President in 1888, won him the friendship of [[Mark Hanna]], an influential Cleveland industrialist who was a key Sherman supporter. It also assured him a place on the powerful Ways and Means Committee of the House, which wrote tax and tariff laws. As a high-tariff man he was twice made chairman of the committee on resolutions in the national conventions of the Republican Party. In 1889 he was selected as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and in that position he became chief architect of the extremely high tariff act of 1890 bearing his name. To obtain western votes for the bill, he supported the [[Sherman Silver Purchase Act]]. He was chiefly responsible for defeating [[James G. Blaine]]'s reciprocity amendments.

The public reaction to the McKinley tariff defeated his party and McKinley himself in the elections of 1890; but with the help of Hanna, the unquestioned boss of the Republican Party in Ohio, he was elected governor of the state in the following year and reelected in the depression year of 1893.
==Presidential campaign of 1896==
Hanna had been attempting for years to install John Sherman in the presidency. Turning his support to McKinley, he carefully guided his candidate through the next few years. Both McKinley and Hanna had planned to fight the campaign of 1896 on the tariff issue, but the pressure of the silverites in the Mountain states, the [[Populist Party]] on the Plains, and especially the agrarian forces led by [[William Jennings Bryan]] in the Midwest and South, made free silver and reform the critical questions. Here McKinley's record in voting for the [[Bland-Allison Act]] and the Sherman Silver Purchase Act was distinctly a liability for a big-business candidate. Hanna surmounted that troublesome question by private assurances and public equivocation. By combining the support of the business element with that of delegates from the South, he secured McKinley's nomination at the St. Louis convention and at the same time wrote the word "gold" into the Republican platform.

McKinley promised a return of prosperity, and assured every economic, social ethnic and racial group that it would share in the new prosperity. The latter was the first statement of pluralism in American politics.

[[Image:1896poster.jpg|thumb|550px|Hanna's highly effective campaign strategy warned the well-dressed middle class that free silver risked poverty for them and their children]]

McKinley was dubbed the "advance agent of prosperity" promising jobs for all Americans once the nation had a high tariff and the gold standard.

In the extremely hard-fought campaign McKinley, unlike his opponent, Bryan, made no speaking tours; instead, he met hundreds of visiting delegations on his front porch, speaking to some 550,000 voters (compared to the three million people who heard Bryan, many of whom were women and children.). Supported by Hanna's organization, he was victorious in November by an electoral vote of 271 to 176, and won more than 7,000,000 popular votes out of almost 14,000,000 cast.

==President==
McKinley was a cautious, conciliatory politician rather than a leader. Except for the tariff and Republican Party ideology, it is unlikely that he held any deep political convictions. In office, his aim was to continue to represent the industrial class which had supported him for so long in Congress, to maintain party solidarity, and to keep the United States at peace. He appointed Senator Sherman as Secretary of State in 1897 in order to provide a Senate seat for Hanna. The rest of his Cabinet was without distinction.

[[Image:Win96.jpg|thumb|550px|Republican newspapers hailed the landslide; ''Los Angeles Times'' Nov 4, 1896]]

Immediately after taking office McKinley called a special session of Congress to revise the tariff. The session resulted in the passing of the Dingley Act, establishing the highest tariff rates in the history of the country. During the same year, 1897, he also submitted a treaty to Congress providing for the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands. Congress refused to ratify the treaty, but the territory was later annexed by the Resolution of 1898. Near the end of McKinley's first administration, a gold-standard act was passed, and this probably completed McKinley's program as he had conceived it in 1896.

==Foreign policy==
[[File:Columbia4.jpg|thumb|320px|Columbia is a sailor in President McKinley's navy, and is trying on "world power" on April 6, 1901; the feather is smoke representing expansion into the Pacific and caribbean]] Foreign policy entered the national spolight during the McKinley Administration. His administration was notable for the [[Spanish-American War]] of 1898, which McKinley reluctantly entered after a large amount of public and media pressure. McKinley signed a joint resolution of Congress annexing [[Hawaii]] on July 7, 1898.

By far the gravest issue during McKinley's presidency concerned relations with [[Spain]]. For some years interested Americans in and out of Congress had demanded American intervention in [[Cuba]] with an eye toward seizing the island and other Spanish territory. Apparently McKinley had no objection to the creation of an American empire, but he was personally opposed to a war to obtain one. Unlike President Cleveland, however, he responded to pressure and intervened in Cuban affairs. After the insulting De Lome letter and the [[Battleship Maine|destruction of the U.S.S. ''Maine'']] in Havana harbor in February, 1898, McKinley sent an ultimatum to the Spanish government demanding the abandonment of the ''Reconcentrado ''policy in Cuba and the institution of an armistice. After some delay Spain promised to meet most of the demands. McKinley, however, had already succumbed to the pressure for war and had written a message virtually asking for hostilities. Ignoring the Spanish answer, he submitted the message to Congress with the statement that he had "exhausted every effort to relieve the intolerable condition of affairs" in Cuba. Congress quickly declared war and this culminated in an easy victory over Spain, though woefully bad administration discredited both the War and Navy departments. By the treaty of peace, Spain evacuated Cuba and ceded [[Puerto Rico]], [[Guam]], and the [[Philippine Islands]] to the United States.

On the vexing question of whether this nation should take the [[Philippines]] and thus become involved in Asiatic power politics, McKinley apparently had no strong convictions. He waited for a considerable time and then decided in favor of the acquisition.<ref> The story that he listened to God on the matter is probably apocryphal, but he did pray a great deal.</ref> During the rest of his first term he busied himself with the reorganization of the War and Navy departments, with an effort to win the [[Open Door]] in China, and with the problems growing out of the newly acquired territory.

==Reelection and Second Term==
[[Image:1900win.jpg|thumb|left|350px|McKinley's 1900 landslide was solidly based on prosperity at home and prestige abroad, with gold supported by businessmen, farmers, soldiers and workers]]

Enthusiastically renominated in 1900, McKinley refused to accept Bryan's challenge to fight the election solely over the issue of imperialism. Instead, he and his party supporters, pointing to the great prosperity of the country and using the slogan of the "full dinner pail," asked for re-election on the ground that a Republican victory would insure the continuance of good times. He was re-elected with 292 votes in the electoral college against 155 for Bryan, and by a popular plurality of 900,000.
==Death==
Six months after his second inauguration he visited the Pan-American Exposition at [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]], N.Y. There, on Sept. 5, 1901, he first questioned his high-tariff doctrines by advocating a world reduction in customs rates by means of reciprocal treaties. He was not to live, however, to see his proposal adopted.

He was shot by an [[anarchist]], [[Leon Czolgosz]], in [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]], New York on September 6, 1901. McKinley had received a number of death threats, and despite the objections of his advisors, insisted on meeting the public on this trip to Buffalo. <ref>Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen, "A Patriot's History of the United States" (Sentinel 2007)</ref> He died eight days later, and his Vice President, [[Theodore Roosevelt]], became President. The nation mourned McKinley and Roosevelt promised to continue his highly popular policies.

McKinley appeared on the now-withdrawn $500 bill.

==see also==
* [[Open Door Policy]]
* [[Progressive Era]]

==Bibliography==
* Dobson, John M. ''Reticient Expansionism: The Foreign Policy of William McKinley.'' (1988).
* Faulkner, Harold U. ''Politics, Reform, and Expansion, 1890-1900'' (1959). standard scholarly survey [http://www.questia.com/library/book/politics-reform-and-expansion-1890-1900-by-harold-u-faulkner.jsp online edition]
* Glad, Paul W. ''McKinley, Bryan, and the People'' (1964). short history of 1896 election
* Gould, Lewis L. ''The Presidency of William McKinley.'' (1981) the standard scholarly history
* Jensen, Richard. ''The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888-1896'' (1971) a conservative perspective
* Jones, Stanley L. ''The Presidential Election of 1896.'' the standard history.
* Josephson, Matthew. ''The Politicos: 1865-1896'' (1938) a leftist perspective
* Leech, Margaret. ''In the Days of McKinley.'' 1959, well-written popular history
* Morgan, H. Wayne. ''William McKinley and His America.'' 1963. biography by scholar
* Morgan, H. Wayne. ''From Hayes to McKinley: National Party Politics, 1877-1896'' (1969), [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=94446383 online edition]
* Offner, John L. ''An Unwanted War: The Diplomacy of the United States and Spain over Cuba, 1895-1898'' (1992) [ online edition]
* Olcott, Charles S. ''The Life of William McKinley''. 1916, popular biography, [http://books.google.com/books?id=ZknxFcL1ASIC&pg=PA1&dq=intitle:The+intitle:Life+intitle:of+intitle:William+intitle:McKinley&num=30&as_brr=1 online at Google]
* Rhodes, James Ford. ''The McKinley and Roosevelt Administrations, 1897-1909'' (1922), early scholarly history; Rhodes (a Democrat) was Hanna's brother-in-law
* Trask, David. ''The War with Spain in 1898.'' 1981.
* Williams, R. Hal. ''Years of Decision: American Politics in the 1890s'' (1993) survey by scholar

===Primary Sources===
* McKinley, William.''Speeches and Addresses of William McKinley from March 1, 1897 to May 30, 1900.'' 1900. [http://books.google.com/books?id=T8PVmgZI2bgC&pg=PA1&dq=inauthor:McKinley+inauthor:William&num=30&as_brr=1 online at Google]
* McKinley, William. ''Speeches and Addresses of William McKinley from his Election to Congress to the Present Time'' (1893) [http://books.google.com/books?id=Qe5gk4hoJXAC&pg=PA1&dq=inauthor:McKinley+inauthor:William&num=30&as_brr=1 online at Google]
* McKinley, William.''The Tariff; a Review of the Tariff Legislation of the United States from 1812 to 1896'' (1896) [http://books.google.com/books?id=eUfGI5hdKngC&pg=PA1&dq=inauthor:McKinley+inauthor:William&num=30&as_brr=1 online at Google]

==References==
<references/>

{{USPresidents}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKinley, William}}

[[Category:Republican Party]]
[[Category:Spanish-American War]]
[[Category:United States History]]
[[category:Taxation]]
[[Category:Ohio Governors]]
[[Category:Gilded Age]]
[[Category:Progressive Era]]
[[Category:Republican Governors]]

Obama's Religion

2012-10-07T05:46:30Z

Ty: link

[[Image:OBAMA MUSULMAN.jpg|right|thumb|'''Then-Senator Obama wearing traditional African garb''', a gift from his hosts while visiting Kenya<ref>[http://sweetness-light.com/archive/obama-wore-muslim-gear-during-kenya-trip]</ref>]]
'''[[Barack Hussein Obama]]''' is almost certainly the first [[Muslim]] president of the [[United States]], as illustrated by his many actions and comments both before and after taking the official (private) [[oath of office]] without using a [[Bible]]. While there is a strong political incentive for Obama to claim to be a [[Christian]], all credible evidence points to [[Islam]] as his religion:

*Obama declared in prepared remarks, "The United States has been enriched by Muslim Americans. Many other Americans have Muslims in their families or have lived in a Muslim-majority country - I know, because '''I am one of them'''."<ref>http://middleeast.about.com/b/2009/04/06/obama-in-turkey-at-the-gates-of-islam.htm</ref> Obama is referring to his childhood residence in [[Indonesia]], a Muslim-majority country.
*In prepared remarks in April 2012, Obama referred to [[Jesus]] as "a" Son of God rather than as "the" Son of God: "And for me, and I’m sure for some of you, it’s also a chance to remember the tremendous sacrifice that led up to that day, and all that Christ endured—not just as '''''a'' Son of God''', but as a human being."<ref>http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-jesus-son-god</ref>
*Obama's wife [[Michelle Obama|Michelle]] does not accompany him to Muslim nations because [[Sharia law]] would apply to her there; on a presidential trip she was with him until [[France]], but then returned home.
*Obama's background and outlook are [[Muslim]], and fewer than 1% of Muslims convert to Christianity.<ref>http://www.religionnewsblog.com/17736/barack-obama-2</ref><ref>http://www.faithfreedom.org/oped/sina31103.htm. During the third and fourth grades, Obama learned about Islam for two hours each week in religion class, according to the LA ''Times''. [http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-te.obama16mar16,0,1634059,print.story?coll=bal_news_nation_promo Campaign downplays his connection during boyhood in Indonesia, Baltimore Sun, March 16, 2007]</ref> Although Obama attended a [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] school while in Indonesia, he was a part of the Muslim society there.<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/24/AR2007012400371_pf.html</ref>
*Obama's middle name (Hussein) references '''Husayn''', who was the grandson of [[Muhammad]],<ref>A Brief History of The Fourteen Infallibles. Qum: Ansariyan Publications. 2004.</ref><ref>al-Qarashi, Baqir Shareef (2007). The life of Imam Husain. Qum: Ansariyan Publications.</ref> Only after Obama became politically ambitious did he declare himself to be a [[Christian]], yet he never replaced his [[Muslim]] name "Hussein" with a Christian one as most do when they undergo a religious conversion. For example, when the Italian journalist Magdi Allam recently converted to Christianity, he took a new name: "Cristiano".<ref>http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=30814</ref> When Saul became a Christian, he changed his name to "[[Saint Paul|Paul]]"; when the famous boxer Cassius Clay converted to [[Islam]], he took the Muslim name of [[Muhammad Ali]]. "It is common for those converting to a new religion to change their name on conversion"<ref>http://www.ukdp.co.uk/pages/religiousconversion.php</ref> or adopt a Christian name at [[baptism]].<ref>http://www.answers.com/topic/christian-name</ref>. Obama also used his middle name when sworn in as President.
*Obama has said "[[John McCain]] has not talked about [[my Muslim faith]]."<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKGdkqfBICw]</ref> in an interview with [[George Stephanopoulos]] discussing whether John McCain's campaign has suggested that Obama is not a Christian. George Stephanopoulos -- who had previously been a high-ranking Democrat in the [[Clinton Administration]] -- then suggested that Obama change his answer to refer instead to "Christian faith."<ref>[http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/07/obama-verbal-slip-fuels-his-critics/?page=all Christina Bellantoni, "Obama’s verbal slip fuels his critics", ''Washington Times'']</ref>
*He has said that "Islam can be compatible with the modern world."<ref> [http://www.newsweek.com/id/145971 Barack Obama's Christian Journey | Newsweek Politics: Campaign 2008]</ref>
*Obama said the Muslim call to prayer is "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset," and recited "with a first-class [[Arabic]] accent" the opening lines: [[Allah]] is Supreme! ... I witness that there is no god but Allah ...."<ref>http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=78309</ref>
*Obama stated that the autobiography of [[Malcolm X]], a [[Nation of Islam]] leader who became a Muslim in prison on charges of burglary, inspired him in his youth.<ref>For example, Obama writes in his own autobiography, "Only Malcolm X's autobiography seemed to offer something different. His repeated acts of self-creation spoke to me. The blunt poetry of his words, his unadorned insistence on respect, promised a new and uncompromising order, martial in its discipline, forged through sheer force of will. ... [E]ven as I imagine myself following Malcolm's call, one line in the book stayed with me. He spoke of a wish he'd once had, the wish that the white blood that ran through him, there by an act of violence, might somehow be expunged."[http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/04/does_obama_know_america.html]</ref>
*Obama raised nearly $1 million and campaigned for a [[Kenyan]] presidential candidate who had a written agreement with [[Muslim]] leaders promising to convert Kenya to an Islamic state that bans Christianity.<ref> [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=78324] Text of the agreement, as three images: [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=78323]</ref>
*Obama's claims of conversion to Christianity arose after he became politically ambitious, lacking a date of conversion or baptism.<ref>In his book, Obama oddly claims to have been baptized without giving his age or date, and later gave a date that postdates his political ambition (1992).</ref>
*In the book ''Obama,"Renegade"'' his friends say that "he actually really wasn't much of a churchgoer." <ref>[http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2009/06/16/wolffe-president-missed-rev-wright-s-racist-rants-because-he-wasn-t-much- Wolffe: President Missed Rev. Wright’s Racist Rants Because 'He Wasn’t Much of a Churchgoer'] NewsBusters.org, June 16, 2009</ref>
*On the campaign trail, Obama was reading "The Post-American World" by [[Fareed Zakaria]],<ref>http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=fa8cf1bf-2cc8-4d6e-b72d-a07d406e19ff</ref> which is written from a Muslim point-of-view.<ref>http://www.villagevoice.com/2005-08-09/news/the-interpreter/</ref>
*Contrary to [[Christianity]], the Islamic doctrine of [[taqiyya]] encourages adherents to deny they are Muslim if it advances the cause of Islam.
*Obama uses the Muslim Pakistani pronunciation for "[[Pakistan]]" rather than the common American one.<ref>Obama repeatedly pronounced "Pakistan" as "Pokiston" in the first presidential debate.</ref>
*Obama favors [[Pakistan]], a Muslim nation, in its conflicts with [[India]], a mostly [[Hindu]] nation.<ref>The Indian press has been highly critical of Obama about this. [http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/11/08/obama-india-relations-indispensible-pushes-placement-un]</ref>
*Obama was thoroughly exposed to Christianity as an adult in [[Chicago]] prior to attending law school, yet no one at law school saw him display any interest in converting. Obama unabashedly explained how he became "churched" in a 2007 speech: "It's around that time [while working as an organizer for the Developing Communities Project (DCP) of the Calumet Community Religious Conference (CCRC) in Chicago] that some pastors I was working with came around and asked if I was a member of a church. 'If you're organizing churches,' they said, 'it might be helpful if you went to a church once in a while.' And I thought, 'I guess that makes sense.'"<ref>[http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=15363 Obama, ACORN, and the churches] SperoNews, October 7, 2008</ref>
[[File:Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi in Dimashq.jpg|left|175px|thumb|''"I really endorse and support the policies that he has adopted,"'' [[Libya]]n leader [[Muammar Gaddafi]] said of President Barack Obama as reported by the ''[[Washington Post]]''.<ref> [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/26/AR2010042604170.html ''Man's worst friend?''] By Dana Milbank, ''Washington Post'', April 27, 2010.</ref> ]]
*Obama is mentioned as helping to organize the 1995 [[Million Man March]] led by black [[Muslim]] leader [[Louis Farrakhan]] from the [[Nation of Islam]]. <ref>[http://www.nowpublic.com/world/obama-organized-farrakhan-s-million-man-march, Obama Organized Farrakhan’s ‘Million Man March’, NowPublic.com, April 2, 2008 </ref>
*Obama visited "more than one [[mosque]]" in [[Kenya]] while on a political trip there but did not visit any churches, although there are a large proportion of churches and even a National Temple in Kenya.<ref>http://islamizationwatch.blogspot.com/2010/01/kenyan-delegation-visits-sderot-israel.html</ref>
*Obama has chosen the [[Secret Service]] code name "Renegade". "[[Renegade]]" conventionally describes someone who goes against normal conventions of behavior, but its first usage was to describe someone who has turned from their religion. It is a word derived from the [[Spanish]] ''renegado'', which originally meant "Christian turned Muslim."<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/3452281/Renegade-and-Renaissance-Obama-to-replace-Trailblazer-and-Tempo-Bush-in-the-White-House.html</ref>
*Obama enjoyed a bigger increase in voter support in 2008 (compared to 2004) by Muslims than by any other voting group, including blacks;<ref>http://www.altmuslim.com/a/a/a/2873/</ref> "Muslim turnout in the U.S. elections reached 95 percent, the highest Muslim turnout in U.S. history."<ref>http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/islamsadvance/2008/11/is_obama_the_muslim_worlds_sup.html</ref>
*"President-elect [[Barack Hussein Obama]] has yet to attend [Sunday] church services since winning the [[White House]] earlier ..., a departure from the example of his two immediate predecessors."<ref>http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15902.html</ref><ref>http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-obama-religion26-2008dec26,0,1910913.story</ref> Liberal sources claim that this is due to security concerns. However, in general, Presidents rarely attend weekly church services while in office.<ref>http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-blackberry-faith-white-house/story?id=9689272#.T5jUxp8rpfV</ref>
*Obama botched his public [[oath of office]] in which he placed his hand on a Bible, and then chose not to use the Bible for his real, private oath.
*'''At the [[G-20]] summit in April 2009, Obama bowed deeply to [[Saudi Arabia|Saudi]] King Abdullah, a Muslim who is also the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.'''<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEUif1--r38&feature=player_embedded Video of Obama bowing almost to King's waist]</ref> [[Image:Obamabow.jpg|thumb|right|250px|'''President Obama bowing to the King of Saudi Arabia''' - April 2009]]Never before in the history of the U.S. has a president displayed such shocking deference to a foreign official and Obama has not bowed to any other royal leaders. Obama later stated, "We have to change our behavior in showing the Muslim world greater respect."<ref>http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/07/barack-takes-a-bow/</ref> Obama's spin doctors and left-wing apologists dismissed the obviousness of the bow. One anonymous aide stated, "It wasn't a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he's taller than King Abdullah."<ref>http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0409/White_House_No_bow_to_Saudi.html</ref> However, in video of the incident, Obama's left hand can clearly be seen staying at his side until after he had finished his bow.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WlqW6UCeaY</ref> Additionally, Obama also met with Queen Elizabeth, who is much shorter than King Abdullah, but he did not bow when he shook her hand and neither he nor the queen appeared to have any difficulty.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71N34K9EVLU</ref> (Many liberals and even a handful of conservatives have proposed that President Bush also bowed before King Abdullah.<ref>http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/33289_Bush_Bowed_Too</ref> However, there is a vast, inexorable difference between bending down to receive a medal as Bush did and bowing in deference to a foreign leader as Obama did.)
*Obama required that a religiously affiliated college take the extraordinary action of concealing with wood the monogram "IHS", which represents the name of Jesus, during a speech by Obama there<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/16/georgetown-university-hid-religious-symbols-white-house-request/ Georgetown hides Jesus' name at request of Obama's White House]</ref>
*On more than one occasion, Obama verbally attacks the economic livelihood of [[Las Vegas]] for unknown reasons, and Obama has also criticized state lotteries despite being heavily favored by most [[Democrats]]. The reason may be his contempt of [[gambling]] which is forbidden in the [[Koran]] <ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2010/02/02/AR2010020203169.html Lawmakers upset over Obama's 2nd anti-Vegas remark, WashingtonPost, February 2, 2010]</ref> and frowned upon by many Protestant denominations.<ref>http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CE0QFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.efa2009.org%2Fpapers%2FSSRN-id1335855.pdf&ei=h7kUUPHTA8aBqgHysIHYCw&usg=AFQjCNG1qfZFDgF1FpHG46FFDbMGzBu0Iw</ref>
*In 2006, Obama gave an irreverent speech about using the Bible in public policy. It resembled a stand-up comedy act, with Obama making fun of the books of the [[Torah]], the [[Ten Commandments]], the [[Sermon on the Mount]] and other key Biblical passages.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnmS_vULPxw</ref>
*In 2010, Obama changed the logo of the Missile Defense Agency, incorporating a crescent star.<ref>[http://loganswarning.com/2010/02/23/us-missile-defense-agency-changes-logo-to-obamaislamic-crescent-hybrid/ US Missile Defense Agency Changes Logo to Obama~Islamic Crescent Hybrid!]</ref> The new logo closely resembles that of the [[Iran]]ian Space Agency.<ref>[http://www.prlog.org/10550380-missile-defense-agency-logo-new-twist-to-the-tale.html Missile Defense Agency Logo – A new twist to the tale]</ref>
*In 2012, Obama participated in a $40,000 per plate fundraiser on [[Holy Thursday]], which most devout Christians would find to be inappropriate.
*On September 25, 2012, in his address to [[United Nations General Assembly]], Obama said that "'''The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam'''."<ref>FOX News: [http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/25/transcript-obama-address-to-un-general-assembly/ Transcript: Obama address to U.N. General Assembly] (September 25, 2012)</ref> This outrageous comment was predictably ignored by the [[lamestream media]], but rightly highlighted by Conservative commentators.<ref>FOX News: [http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/09/26/media-ignore-obama-attack-on-those-who-slander-prophet-islam/ Media ignore Obama attack on ‘those who slander the Prophet of Islam’] (September 26, 2012)</ref>

Obama tries to downplay his [[Islamic]] background by claiming that his [[Kenya]]n [[Muslim]] father was a "confirmed [[atheist]]" before Obama was born, but in fact less than 1% of Kenyans are atheists, agnostics, or non-religious.<ref>http://www.adherents.com/Na/Na_14.html</ref> There is apparently no evidence of any Christian activities or local church participation by Obama while he was in [[Massachusetts]] from 1988 to 1991. Finally, Obama abruptly left his radical Christian church in Chicago in 2008, when it became politically controversial, without first finding another church to join. On April 7, 2009, Obama visited a mosque in [[Istanbul]], [[Turkey]].<ref>http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.c2e3700ab4e271bc32827b0fccfe560b.421&show_article=1</ref>

==See Also==
* [[Muslim agenda of the Obama administration]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}
[[Category:Obama Administration]]
[[Category:Islam]]

Muhammad

2012-10-07T05:37:25Z

Ty: The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam

[[File:Mohammad.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Imagery of Muhammad is considered [[idolatry]] and is prohibited in Islam.]]
'''Muhammad''' (also spelled '''Mohammed''' or (archaic) '''Mahomet'''), A.D. 570-632) was the founder of [[Islam]], one of the world's major religions.

Regarded by [[Muslim]]s as [[Allah]]'s final and greatest [[prophet]], Muhammad claimed in Allah's [[revelation]]s, via the angel [[Gabriel]], that [[Judaism]] and [[Christianity]] had grown corrupt, and that Muhammad was to restore the religion God intended.

In accordance with the Islamic [[hadith]], it is considered proper to add an honorary phrase of "sallalahu aleyhi wasallam" (or "SAW"), meaning "peace be upon him" (or "PBUH"), after speaking Muhammad's name.
== Images ==
Representations of the Prophet are well known from early on, but not very common. While some Muslims hold beliefs that it is against Islam to make images of the Prophet, others have more relaxed attitudes, and among Shia Muslims, such pictures are common, and much liked. <ref>[http://www.hf.uib.no/religion/popularikonografi/default_eng.html Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion (AHKR), University of Bergen.]</ref>
== Life of Muhammad==
The Prophet Muhammad was descended from [[Abraham]] through his son [[Ismael]] who, under God's orders, was left in the Arabian desert with only a little food and water. The spot where this occurred is now called [[Mecca]]; today, over 3 million Muslims annually re-enact the frantic running of Ismael's mother Hager as she looked for water, in which Ismael hit the ground with his foot causing water to flow forth. Still flowing today, the spring is known as the Well of [[Zam Zam]].

Muhammad was orphaned at the age of six, as his father Abdullah died before he was born and his mother, Aminah, died soon after. This left him with his grandfather Abdul Muttalib, who died when he was six. He was then raised by his uncle [[Abu Talib]] (son of Abdul Muttalib), a powerful man among the Quraysh tribe who loved Muhammad more than anyone. Muhammad grew up, never taking part part in pagan rituals. He despised the actions, and began a tradition of fasting in the caves of Mecca every annual pilgrimage; the pagans at the time believed in [[Allah]], and the [[Hajj]], from the times of Ismael, but they later added more gods to the one god Allah. Lexically speaking, Allah comes from the word Ilah in [[Arabic]], with the definite article Al placed in front, making it "Al-Llah", translating as "The One God". This is why [[Islam]] was tolerated from the start by most — Muhammad never introduced a new God but instead spoke of the God of Abraham, Jesus, and Moses.

Muhammad was respected in Medina as he would frequently solve disputes. He was nicknamed Al-Amin, or The Truthful One, and was well loved by all. He was never known to lie, cheat, or steal, though those were all common practices by the pagans of his time. Everyone, including his enemies like [[Abu Jahl]], had acknowledged his lineage to noble prophets such as Ismael and Abraham, and this was never disputed.

When he was about 40 years old, Muhammad's early revelations from the Angel [[Gabriel]] spoke of a need to return to the [[monotheism]] of [[Abraham]]; however, Muhammad was unsure of himself upon seeing the Angel [[Gabriel]] and rushed to his house, terrified. He told his wife [[Khadija]] of the events, and she assured him that God wouldn't let this happen to such a humble man. Khadija later went on to see her uncle, a Christian scholar who, after reviewing his religious texts (note that these texts are not the texts of today, as the Christians of Mecca and the Arabs were not Pauline or Roman Christians), claimed Muhammad was the next prophet. This as well as the Jews in Medina, who were also expecting a new prophet, albeit a prophet from the Jewish tribe; Muhammad's prophet-hood was an unpleasant surprise to many of them and hence they rejected him. In this way Muhammad saw himself at an early age as reviving an ancient faith, a perceived correction to [[Christianity]] and [[Judaism]], and restoring his people to what he saw as their rightful position as the true founders and heirs of monotheism. In these revelations, submission to the will of God — [[Allah]] — was critical. Muhammad's fledgling religion continued to develop throughout his life, through periodic revelations often relating directly to events currently facing his new faith.

The faith caught on slowly, winning only a few converts in Mecca (the first being his wife, Khadija). In 622 A.D, under increased pressure and ostracism from elders in Mecca, Muhammad began the [[hijra]], an organized exodus of his followers from Mecca to the city of [[Medina]]. [[Muslims]] date the formation of their religion to the ''hijra'' itself, even beginning their dating system at this point.

Muhammad was first introduced to the people of [[Medina]]; when frequent wars broke out between Jewish tribes and Arab tribes, Muhammad was sent for as a mediator between the two. Most Jews spoke highly of Muhammad, accepting him as the next Prophet, although some disliked that he was not of the decent of Moses or Bani Israel. When Muhammad came to Medina, most problems were resolved, and it was hailed as a success. One important battle which shed light on Muslim-Jewish tensions was [[The Battle of the Trench]]: Although there was a pact called [[The Constitution of Medina]], one that gave all religions freedom,= and protective status under the Muslims, from Muslims or invaders, one Jewish tribe ([[Bani Qurayza]]) didn't help defend the city. However, they allowed in Huyayy ibn Akhtab, a man exiled by Muhammad because of a dispute between Bani Qurayza and Bani Nadir, who encouraged Bani Qurayza to attack the Muslims and help the invaders so Muhammad would be defeated once and for all. Their plot was found out, though, and the pact was broken. This incident led to the execution of approximately 700 Jewish men<ref>Guillaume, p. 461-464</ref> from the tribe.

The execution was described as follow by Ibn Ishaq:
<blockquote>
Then they surrendered, and the apostle confined them in Medina in the quarter of d. al-Harith, a woman of B. al-Najjar. Then the apostle went out to the market of Medina (which is still its market today) and dug trenches in it. Then he sent for them and struck off their heads in those trenches as they were brought out to him in batches. Among them was the enemy of Allah Huyayy b. Akhtab and Ka`b b. Asad their chief. There were 600 or 700 in all, though some put the figure as high as 800 or 900. As they were being taken out in batches to the apostle they asked Ka`b what he thought would be done with them. He replied, 'Will you never understand? Don't you see that the summoner never stops and those who are taken away do not return? By Allah it is death!' This went on until the apostle made an end of them. Huyayy was brought out wearing a flowered robe in which he had made holes about the size of the finger-tips in every part so that it should not be taken from him as spoil, with his hands bound to his neck by a rope. When he saw the apostle he said, 'By God, I do not blame myself for opposing you, but he who forsakes God will be forsaken.' Then he went to the men and said, 'God's command is right. A book and a decree, and massacre have been written against the Sons of Israel.' Then he sat down and his head was struck off.<ref>Guillaume, p. 461-464</ref>
</blockquote>

==Marriage to Aisha==
A controversial (outside out of Islam) point of Muhammad's life was his "marriage" to [[Aisha bint Abi Bakr|Aisha]], daughter of [[Abu Bakr]], who was just six years old at the time of "engagement".<ref>''Sahih Bukhari'' 5:58:234</ref><ref>Sahih Muslim 8:3311</ref> The marriage was consummated when Aisha was nine years old and began puberty.<ref> D. A. Spellberg, Politics, Gender, and the Islamic Past: the Legacy of A'isha bint Abi Bakr, Columbia University Press, 1994, p. 40</ref> The narratives describing her age at marriage as six are narrated by Aisha herself.

== After Muhammad's Death ==
Muhammad's death at an early age caused the splintering of his religion into new sects, over the question of succession. The groups called themselves the [[Sunnis]] and the [[Shiite|Shi'as]]. Many attribute this split to the high degree to which authority was centered in the powerful character of Muhammad himself: without his powerful personality, the movement could not survive intact.<ref>[[Bernard Lewis]], ''What Went Wrong''</ref>, however this depiction is not accurate in some lights. The [[Shi'as]] came into the picture much later than the death of Muhammad, and were first a nuisance group thought to be started by a Jew by the name of [[Abdullah ibn Saba]] who was burned at the stake by [[Abu Bakr]] for proclaiming [[Ali]] was God. Note that Ali disagreed with the punishment, because fire is a punishment only for [[Allah]].

The failure or splintering of movements, such as personality cults, built around a charismatic leader is a recurring sociological problem, often studied by psychologists, and referred to as the problem of the [[routinization of charisma]].<ref>Maximillian Weber, ''Theory of Social and Economic Organization,'' in the chapter "The Nature of Charismatic Authority and its Routinization," see also Len Oakes, "Prophetic Charisma: The Psychology of Revolutionary Religious Personalities"</ref>.

==Obama's opinion about presenting Muhammad in a non-favorable light==

On September 25, 2012, in his address to [[United Nations General Assembly]], [[Barack Hussein Obama]] said that "'''The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam'''."<ref>FOX News: [http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/25/transcript-obama-address-to-un-general-assembly/ Transcript: Obama address to U.N. General Assembly] (September 25, 2012)</ref> This outrageous comment, yet another evidence that Barack Hussein Obama is almost certainly the [[Obama's Religion|first Muslim president of the United States]], was predictably ignored by the [[lamestream media]], but rightly highlighted by Conservative commentators.<ref>FOX News: [http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/09/26/media-ignore-obama-attack-on-those-who-slander-prophet-islam/ Media ignore Obama attack on ‘those who slander the Prophet of Islam’] (September 26, 2012)</ref>

==See Also==
*[[Islam]]
*[[Muhammad cartoons controversy]]

== References ==

<references/>

== Notes ==

HIR | Muhammad's massacre of the Jewish tribe Banu Qurayzah [http://www.hirhome.com/islam/art.htm]

[[Category:Islam]]
[[Category:Religious People]]
[[Category:Muslims]]

Muhammad cartoons controversy

2012-10-07T05:35:41Z

Ty: The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam

[[Image:Mohammed karikatur.jpg|thumb|right|250px|One of the published images of Muhammad]]

In September 2005 [[Jyllands-Posten]], a [[Danish]] newspaper, published twelve [[cartoon]]s of [[Muhammad]], creating a flashpoint between the freedom of the press and [[Muslim]]s objecting to the publication of the cartoons. Within six months, 139 people died and 823 people were injured by violence attributed to the controversy. Because of the twelve cartoons, [[Danish]], [[Austria|Austrian]], and [[Norway|Norwegian]] [[embassy|embassies]] were burned in [[Syria]] and [[Iran]]. Islamic leaders called for a [[boycott]] of Danish goods<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5329642.stm</ref>, and the cartoonists themselves were forced to go into hiding due to [[death]] threats made by Muslims<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4670370.stm</ref>. The images appeared on the [[blog]]s and in smaller independent newspapers, but most of the [[U.S.]] mainstream media refused to publish the images even as they covered the issue extensively.

==Consequences==

After these episodes, there were several cases of self-[[censorship]] out of fear of offending the Muslim community and sparking violent retaliations. In 2006 a German theater cancelled a play in which several characters, including Muhammad, were beheaded; in 2008 Random House decided not to publish ''The Jewel of Medina'', a book about one of Muhammad's wives. In 2009, the German book publisher Droste Verlag canceled a novel about the barbaric practice of [[honor killing]].<ref>FOX News: [http://www.foxnews.com/world/2009/10/09/german-publisher-fearing-muslim-retaliation-cancels-honor-killing-novel/ German Publisher, Fearing Muslim Retaliation, Cancels Honor-Killing Novel] (October 9, 2009)</ref>

==South Park episodes==

On April 12th, 2006, The [[television]] show [[South Park]] aired the episode "Cartoon Wars Part I", which challenged the [[Comedy Central]] network to let an image of Muhammad air uncensored in the next episode, "Cartoon Wars Part II". Comedy Central did, however, censor the image of Muhammad. It should be noted that Muhammad had been shown on South Park several times before, when there was no pre-existing controversy. In fact, he's in the show's opening. The show has a history of mocking religions, having also offended Christians, Jews, Muslims on other occasions, Buddhists, Scientologists, New Age religion and even Atheists.

In fact there is still some debate about the claimed ban on images of Mohammed; many images exist in muslim art, and the prohibition appears not to have been decreed until centuries after his life. Various interpretations of Islam also prohibit depictions of ALL prophets (including [[Jesus Christ]]) or ALL living creatures. The riotous response to the Danish cartoons was a very selective outpouring of anger, and did not take place until several months after their publication.

==Obama's opinion about presenting Muhammad in a non-favorable light==

On September 25, 2012, in his address to [[United Nations General Assembly]], [[Barack Hussein Obama]] said that "'''The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam'''."<ref>FOX News: [http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/25/transcript-obama-address-to-un-general-assembly/ Transcript: Obama address to U.N. General Assembly] (September 25, 2012)</ref> This outrageous comment, yet another evidence that Barack Hussein Obama is almost certainly the [[Obama's Religion|first Muslim president of the United States]], was predictably ignored by the [[lamestream media]], but rightly highlighted by Conservative commentators.<ref>FOX News: [http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/09/26/media-ignore-obama-attack-on-those-who-slander-prophet-islam/ Media ignore Obama attack on ‘those who slander the Prophet of Islam’] (September 26, 2012)</ref>

==See also==
*[[Censorship]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Culture]]
[[Category:Islam]]

Obama's Religion

2012-10-07T05:22:01Z

Ty: link

[[Image:OBAMA MUSULMAN.jpg|right|thumb|'''Then-Senator Obama wearing traditional African garb''', a gift from his hosts while visiting Kenya<ref>[http://sweetness-light.com/archive/obama-wore-muslim-gear-during-kenya-trip]</ref>]]
'''[[Barack Hussein Obama]]''' is almost certainly the first [[Muslim]] president of the [[United States]], as illustrated by his many actions and comments both before and after taking the official (private) [[oath of office]] without using a [[Bible]]. While there is a strong political incentive for Obama to claim to be a [[Christian]], all credible evidence points to [[Islam]] as his religion:

*Obama declared in prepared remarks, "The United States has been enriched by Muslim Americans. Many other Americans have Muslims in their families or have lived in a Muslim-majority country - I know, because '''I am one of them'''."<ref>http://middleeast.about.com/b/2009/04/06/obama-in-turkey-at-the-gates-of-islam.htm</ref> Obama is referring to his childhood residence in [[Indonesia]], a Muslim-majority country.
*In prepared remarks in April 2012, Obama referred to [[Jesus]] as "a" Son of God rather than as "the" Son of God: "And for me, and I’m sure for some of you, it’s also a chance to remember the tremendous sacrifice that led up to that day, and all that Christ endured—not just as '''''a'' Son of God''', but as a human being."<ref>http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-jesus-son-god</ref>
*Obama's wife [[Michelle Obama|Michelle]] does not accompany him to Muslim nations because [[Sharia law]] would apply to her there; on a presidential trip she was with him until [[France]], but then returned home.
*Obama's background and outlook are [[Muslim]], and fewer than 1% of Muslims convert to Christianity.<ref>http://www.religionnewsblog.com/17736/barack-obama-2</ref><ref>http://www.faithfreedom.org/oped/sina31103.htm. During the third and fourth grades, Obama learned about Islam for two hours each week in religion class, according to the LA ''Times''. [http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-te.obama16mar16,0,1634059,print.story?coll=bal_news_nation_promo Campaign downplays his connection during boyhood in Indonesia, Baltimore Sun, March 16, 2007]</ref> Although Obama attended a [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] school while in Indonesia, he was a part of the Muslim society there.<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/24/AR2007012400371_pf.html</ref>
*Obama's middle name (Hussein) references '''Husayn''', who was the grandson of [[Muhammad]],<ref>A Brief History of The Fourteen Infallibles. Qum: Ansariyan Publications. 2004.</ref><ref>al-Qarashi, Baqir Shareef (2007). The life of Imam Husain. Qum: Ansariyan Publications.</ref> Only after Obama became politically ambitious did he declare himself to be a [[Christian]], yet he never replaced his [[Muslim]] name "Hussein" with a Christian one as most do when they undergo a religious conversion. For example, when the Italian journalist Magdi Allam recently converted to Christianity, he took a new name: "Cristiano".<ref>http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=30814</ref> When Saul became a Christian, he changed his name to "[[Saint Paul|Paul]]"; when the famous boxer Cassius Clay converted to [[Islam]], he took the Muslim name of [[Muhammad Ali]]. "It is common for those converting to a new religion to change their name on conversion"<ref>http://www.ukdp.co.uk/pages/religiousconversion.php</ref> or adopt a Christian name at [[baptism]].<ref>http://www.answers.com/topic/christian-name</ref>. Obama also used his middle name when sworn in as President.
*Obama has said "[[John McCain]] has not talked about [[my Muslim faith]]."<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKGdkqfBICw]</ref> in an interview with [[George Stephanopoulos]] discussing whether John McCain's campaign has suggested that Obama is not a Christian. George Stephanopoulos -- who had previously been a high-ranking Democrat in the [[Clinton Administration]] -- then suggested that Obama change his answer to refer instead to "Christian faith."<ref>[http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/07/obama-verbal-slip-fuels-his-critics/?page=all Christina Bellantoni, "Obama’s verbal slip fuels his critics", ''Washington Times'']</ref>
*He has said that "Islam can be compatible with the modern world."<ref> [http://www.newsweek.com/id/145971 Barack Obama's Christian Journey | Newsweek Politics: Campaign 2008]</ref>
*Obama said the Muslim call to prayer is "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset," and recited "with a first-class [[Arabic]] accent" the opening lines: [[Allah]] is Supreme! ... I witness that there is no god but Allah ...."<ref>http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=78309</ref>
*Obama stated that the autobiography of [[Malcolm X]], a [[Nation of Islam]] leader who became a Muslim in prison on charges of burglary, inspired him in his youth.<ref>For example, Obama writes in his own autobiography, "Only Malcolm X's autobiography seemed to offer something different. His repeated acts of self-creation spoke to me. The blunt poetry of his words, his unadorned insistence on respect, promised a new and uncompromising order, martial in its discipline, forged through sheer force of will. ... [E]ven as I imagine myself following Malcolm's call, one line in the book stayed with me. He spoke of a wish he'd once had, the wish that the white blood that ran through him, there by an act of violence, might somehow be expunged."[http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/04/does_obama_know_america.html]</ref>
*Obama raised nearly $1 million and campaigned for a [[Kenyan]] presidential candidate who had a written agreement with [[Muslim]] leaders promising to convert Kenya to an Islamic state that bans Christianity.<ref> [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=78324] Text of the agreement, as three images: [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=78323]</ref>
*Obama's claims of conversion to Christianity arose after he became politically ambitious, lacking a date of conversion or baptism.<ref>In his book, Obama oddly claims to have been baptized without giving his age or date, and later gave a date that postdates his political ambition (1992).</ref>
*In the book ''Obama,"Renegade"'' his friends say that "he actually really wasn't much of a churchgoer." <ref>[http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2009/06/16/wolffe-president-missed-rev-wright-s-racist-rants-because-he-wasn-t-much- Wolffe: President Missed Rev. Wright’s Racist Rants Because 'He Wasn’t Much of a Churchgoer'] NewsBusters.org, June 16, 2009</ref>
*On the campaign trail, Obama was reading "The Post-American World" by [[Fareed Zakaria]],<ref>http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=fa8cf1bf-2cc8-4d6e-b72d-a07d406e19ff</ref> which is written from a Muslim point-of-view.<ref>http://www.villagevoice.com/2005-08-09/news/the-interpreter/</ref>
*Contrary to [[Christianity]], the Islamic doctrine of [[taqiyya]] encourages adherents to deny they are Muslim if it advances the cause of Islam.
*Obama uses the Muslim Pakistani pronunciation for "[[Pakistan]]" rather than the common American one.<ref>Obama repeatedly pronounced "Pakistan" as "Pokiston" in the first presidential debate.</ref>
*Obama favors [[Pakistan]], a Muslim nation, in its conflicts with [[India]], a mostly [[Hindu]] nation.<ref>The Indian press has been highly critical of Obama about this. [http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/11/08/obama-india-relations-indispensible-pushes-placement-un]</ref>
*Obama was thoroughly exposed to Christianity as an adult in [[Chicago]] prior to attending law school, yet no one at law school saw him display any interest in converting. Obama unabashedly explained how he became "churched" in a 2007 speech: "It's around that time [while working as an organizer for the Developing Communities Project (DCP) of the Calumet Community Religious Conference (CCRC) in Chicago] that some pastors I was working with came around and asked if I was a member of a church. 'If you're organizing churches,' they said, 'it might be helpful if you went to a church once in a while.' And I thought, 'I guess that makes sense.'"<ref>[http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=15363 Obama, ACORN, and the churches] SperoNews, October 7, 2008</ref>
[[File:Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi in Dimashq.jpg|left|175px|thumb|''"I really endorse and support the policies that he has adopted,"'' [[Libya]]n leader [[Muammar Gaddafi]] said of President Barack Obama as reported by the ''[[Washington Post]]''.<ref> [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/26/AR2010042604170.html ''Man's worst friend?''] By Dana Milbank, ''Washington Post'', April 27, 2010.</ref> ]]
*Obama is mentioned as helping to organize the 1995 [[Million Man March]] led by black [[Muslim]] leader [[Louis Farrakhan]] from the [[Nation of Islam]]. <ref>[http://www.nowpublic.com/world/obama-organized-farrakhan-s-million-man-march, Obama Organized Farrakhan’s ‘Million Man March’, NowPublic.com, April 2, 2008 </ref>
*Obama visited "more than one [[mosque]]" in [[Kenya]] while on a political trip there but did not visit any churches, although there are a large proportion of churches and even a National Temple in Kenya.<ref>http://islamizationwatch.blogspot.com/2010/01/kenyan-delegation-visits-sderot-israel.html</ref>
*Obama has chosen the [[Secret Service]] code name "Renegade". "[[Renegade]]" conventionally describes someone who goes against normal conventions of behavior, but its first usage was to describe someone who has turned from their religion. It is a word derived from the [[Spanish]] ''renegado'', which originally meant "Christian turned Muslim."<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/3452281/Renegade-and-Renaissance-Obama-to-replace-Trailblazer-and-Tempo-Bush-in-the-White-House.html</ref>
*Obama enjoyed a bigger increase in voter support in 2008 (compared to 2004) by Muslims than by any other voting group, including blacks;<ref>http://www.altmuslim.com/a/a/a/2873/</ref> "Muslim turnout in the U.S. elections reached 95 percent, the highest Muslim turnout in U.S. history."<ref>http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/islamsadvance/2008/11/is_obama_the_muslim_worlds_sup.html</ref>
*"President-elect [[Barack Obama]] has yet to attend [Sunday] church services since winning the [[White House]] earlier ..., a departure from the example of his two immediate predecessors."<ref>http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15902.html</ref><ref>http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-obama-religion26-2008dec26,0,1910913.story</ref> Liberal sources claim that this is due to security concerns. However, in general, Presidents rarely attend weekly church services while in office.<ref>http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-blackberry-faith-white-house/story?id=9689272#.T5jUxp8rpfV</ref>
*Obama botched his public oath of office in which he placed his hand on a Bible, and then chose not to use the Bible for his real, private oath.
*'''At the G20 summit in April 2009, Obama bowed deeply to Saudi King Abdullah, a Muslim who is also the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.'''<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEUif1--r38&feature=player_embedded Video of Obama bowing almost to King's waist]</ref> [[Image:Obamabow.jpg|thumb|right|250px|'''President Obama bowing to the King of Saudi Arabia''' - April 2009]]Never before in the history of the U.S. has a president displayed such shocking deference to a foreign official and Obama has not bowed to any other royal leaders. Obama later stated, "We have to change our behavior in showing the Muslim world greater respect."<ref>http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/07/barack-takes-a-bow/</ref> Obama's spin doctors and left-wing apologists dismissed the obviousness of the bow. One anonymous aide stated, "It wasn't a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he's taller than King Abdullah."<ref>http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0409/White_House_No_bow_to_Saudi.html</ref> However, in video of the incident, Obama's left hand can clearly be seen staying at his side until after he had finished his bow.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WlqW6UCeaY</ref> Additionally, Obama also met with Queen Elizabeth, who is much shorter than King Abdullah, but he did not bow when he shook her hand and neither he nor the queen appeared to have any difficulty.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71N34K9EVLU</ref> (Many liberals and even a handful of conservatives have proposed that President Bush also bowed before King Abdullah.<ref>http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/33289_Bush_Bowed_Too</ref> However, there is a vast, inexorable difference between bending down to receive a medal as Bush did and bowing in deference to a foreign leader as Obama did.)
*Obama required that a religiously affiliated college take the extraordinary action of concealing with wood the monogram "IHS", which represents the name of Jesus, during a speech by Obama there<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/16/georgetown-university-hid-religious-symbols-white-house-request/ Georgetown hides Jesus' name at request of Obama's White House]</ref>
*On more than one occasion, Obama verbally attacks the economic livelihood of Las Vegas for unknown reasons, and Obama has also criticized state lotteries despite being heavily favored by most [[Democrats]]. The reason may be his contempt of gambling which is forbidden in the Koran <ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2010/02/02/AR2010020203169.html Lawmakers upset over Obama's 2nd anti-Vegas remark, WashingtonPost, February 2, 2010]</ref> and frowned upon by many Protestant denominations.<ref>http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CE0QFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.efa2009.org%2Fpapers%2FSSRN-id1335855.pdf&ei=h7kUUPHTA8aBqgHysIHYCw&usg=AFQjCNG1qfZFDgF1FpHG46FFDbMGzBu0Iw</ref>
*In 2006, Obama gave an irreverent speech about using the Bible in public policy. It resembled a stand-up comedy act, with Obama making fun of the books of the [[Torah]], the [[Ten Commandments]], the [[Sermon on the Mount]] and other key Biblical passages.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnmS_vULPxw</ref>
*In 2010, Obama changed the logo of the Missile Defense Agency, incorporating a crescent star.<ref>[http://loganswarning.com/2010/02/23/us-missile-defense-agency-changes-logo-to-obamaislamic-crescent-hybrid/ US Missile Defense Agency Changes Logo to Obama~Islamic Crescent Hybrid!]</ref> The new logo closely resembles that of the Iranian Space Agency.<ref>[http://www.prlog.org/10550380-missile-defense-agency-logo-new-twist-to-the-tale.html Missile Defense Agency Logo – A new twist to the tale]</ref>
*In 2012, Obama participated in a $40,000 per plate fundraiser on [[Holy Thursday]], which most devout Christians would find to be inappropriate.
*On September 25, 2012, in his address to [[United Nations General Assembly]], Obama said that "'''The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam'''."<ref>FOX News: [http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/25/transcript-obama-address-to-un-general-assembly/ Transcript: Obama address to U.N. General Assembly] (September 25, 2012)</ref> This outrageous comment was predictably ignored by the [[lamestream media]], but rightly highlighted by Conservative commentators.<ref>FOX News: [http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/09/26/media-ignore-obama-attack-on-those-who-slander-prophet-islam/ Media ignore Obama attack on ‘those who slander the Prophet of Islam’] (September 26, 2012)</ref>

Obama tries to downplay his [[Islamic]] background by claiming that his [[Kenya|Kenyan]] [[Muslim]] father was a "confirmed [[atheist]]" before Obama was born, but in fact less than 1% of Kenyans are atheists, agnostics, or non-religious.<ref>http://www.adherents.com/Na/Na_14.html</ref> There is apparently no evidence of any Christian activities or local church participation by Obama while he was in Massachusetts from 1988 to 1991. Finally, Obama abruptly left his radical Christian church in Chicago in 2008, when it became politically controversial, without first finding another church to join. On April 7, 2009, Obama visited a mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.<ref>http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.c2e3700ab4e271bc32827b0fccfe560b.421&show_article=1</ref>

==See Also==
* [[Muslim agenda of the Obama administration]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}
[[Category:Obama Administration]]
[[Category:Islam]]

Obama's Religion

2012-10-07T05:10:53Z

Ty: The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam

[[Image:OBAMA MUSULMAN.jpg|right|thumb|'''Then-Senator Obama wearing traditional African garb''', a gift from his hosts while visiting Kenya<ref>[http://sweetness-light.com/archive/obama-wore-muslim-gear-during-kenya-trip]</ref>]]
'''[[Barack Hussein Obama]]''' is almost certainly the first [[Muslim]] president of the [[United States]], as illustrated by his many actions and comments both before and after taking the official (private) [[oath of office]] without using a [[Bible]]. While there is a strong political incentive for Obama to claim to be a [[Christian]], all credible evidence points to [[Islam]] as his religion:

*Obama declared in prepared remarks, "The United States has been enriched by Muslim Americans. Many other Americans have Muslims in their families or have lived in a Muslim-majority country - I know, because '''I am one of them'''."<ref>http://middleeast.about.com/b/2009/04/06/obama-in-turkey-at-the-gates-of-islam.htm</ref> Obama is referring to his childhood residence in [[Indonesia]], a Muslim-majority country.
*In prepared remarks in April 2012, Obama referred to [[Jesus]] as "a" Son of God rather than as "the" Son of God: "And for me, and I’m sure for some of you, it’s also a chance to remember the tremendous sacrifice that led up to that day, and all that Christ endured—not just as '''''a'' Son of God''', but as a human being."<ref>http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-jesus-son-god</ref>
*Obama's wife [[Michelle Obama|Michelle]] does not accompany him to Muslim nations because [[Sharia law]] would apply to her there; on a presidential trip she was with him until [[France]], but then returned home.
*Obama's background and outlook are [[Muslim]], and fewer than 1% of Muslims convert to Christianity.<ref>http://www.religionnewsblog.com/17736/barack-obama-2</ref><ref>http://www.faithfreedom.org/oped/sina31103.htm. During the third and fourth grades, Obama learned about Islam for two hours each week in religion class, according to the LA ''Times''. [http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-te.obama16mar16,0,1634059,print.story?coll=bal_news_nation_promo Campaign downplays his connection during boyhood in Indonesia, Baltimore Sun, March 16, 2007]</ref> Although Obama attended a [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] school while in Indonesia, he was a part of the Muslim society there.<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/24/AR2007012400371_pf.html</ref>
*Obama's middle name (Hussein) references '''Husayn''', who was the grandson of [[Muhammad]],<ref>A Brief History of The Fourteen Infallibles. Qum: Ansariyan Publications. 2004.</ref><ref>al-Qarashi, Baqir Shareef (2007). The life of Imam Husain. Qum: Ansariyan Publications.</ref> Only after Obama became politically ambitious did he declare himself to be a [[Christian]], yet he never replaced his [[Muslim]] name "Hussein" with a Christian one as most do when they undergo a religious conversion. For example, when the Italian journalist Magdi Allam recently converted to Christianity, he took a new name: "Cristiano".<ref>http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=30814</ref> When Saul became a Christian, he changed his name to "[[Saint Paul|Paul]]"; when the famous boxer Cassius Clay converted to [[Islam]], he took the Muslim name of [[Muhammad Ali]]. "It is common for those converting to a new religion to change their name on conversion"<ref>http://www.ukdp.co.uk/pages/religiousconversion.php</ref> or adopt a Christian name at [[baptism]].<ref>http://www.answers.com/topic/christian-name</ref>. Obama also used his middle name when sworn in as President.
*Obama has said "[[John McCain]] has not talked about [[my Muslim faith]]."<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKGdkqfBICw]</ref> in an interview with [[George Stephanopoulos]] discussing whether John McCain's campaign has suggested that Obama is not a Christian. George Stephanopoulos -- who had previously been a high-ranking Democrat in the [[Clinton Administration]] -- then suggested that Obama change his answer to refer instead to "Christian faith."<ref>[http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/07/obama-verbal-slip-fuels-his-critics/?page=all Christina Bellantoni, "Obama’s verbal slip fuels his critics", ''Washington Times'']</ref>
*He has said that "Islam can be compatible with the modern world."<ref> [http://www.newsweek.com/id/145971 Barack Obama's Christian Journey | Newsweek Politics: Campaign 2008]</ref>
*Obama said the Muslim call to prayer is "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset," and recited "with a first-class [[Arabic]] accent" the opening lines: Allah is Supreme! ... I witness that there is no god but Allah ...."<ref>http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=78309</ref>
*Obama stated that the autobiography of Malcolm X, a Nation of Islam leader who became a Muslim, inspired him in his youth.<ref>For example, Obama writes in his own autobiography, "Only Malcolm X's autobiography seemed to offer something different. His repeated acts of self-creation spoke to me. The blunt poetry of his words, his unadorned insistence on respect, promised a new and uncompromising order, martial in its discipline, forged through sheer force of will. ... [E]ven as I imagine myself following Malcolm's call, one line in the book stayed with me. He spoke of a wish he'd once had, the wish that the white blood that ran through him, there by an act of violence, might somehow be expunged."[http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/04/does_obama_know_america.html]</ref>
*Obama raised nearly $1 million and campaigned for a [[Kenyan]] presidential candidate who had a written agreement with [[Muslim]] leaders promising to convert Kenya to an Islamic state that bans Christianity.<ref> [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=78324] Text of the agreement, as three images: [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=78323]</ref>
*Obama's claims of conversion to Christianity arose after he became politically ambitious, lacking a date of conversion or baptism.<ref>In his book, Obama oddly claims to have been baptized without giving his age or date, and later gave a date that postdates his political ambition (1992).</ref>
*In the book ''Obama,"Renegade"'' his friends say that "he actually really wasn't much of a churchgoer." <ref>[http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2009/06/16/wolffe-president-missed-rev-wright-s-racist-rants-because-he-wasn-t-much- Wolffe: President Missed Rev. Wright’s Racist Rants Because 'He Wasn’t Much of a Churchgoer'] NewsBusters.org, June 16, 2009</ref>
*On the campaign trail, Obama was reading "The Post-American World" by [[Fareed Zakaria]],<ref>http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=fa8cf1bf-2cc8-4d6e-b72d-a07d406e19ff</ref> which is written from a Muslim point-of-view.<ref>http://www.villagevoice.com/2005-08-09/news/the-interpreter/</ref>
*Contrary to [[Christianity]], the Islamic doctrine of [[taqiyya]] encourages adherents to deny they are Muslim if it advances the cause of Islam.
*Obama uses the Muslim Pakistani pronunciation for "Pakistan" rather than the common American one.<ref>Obama repeatedly pronounced "Pakistan" as "Pokiston" in the first presidential debate.</ref>
*Obama favors Pakistan, a Muslim nation, in its conflicts with India, a mostly Hindu nation.<ref>The Indian press has been highly critical of Obama about this. [http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/11/08/obama-india-relations-indispensible-pushes-placement-un]</ref>
*Obama was thoroughly exposed to Christianity as an adult in Chicago prior to attending law school, yet no one at law school saw him display any interest in converting. Obama unabashedly explained how he became "churched" in a 2007 speech: "It's around that time [while working as an organizer for the Developing Communities Project (DCP) of the Calumet Community Religious Conference (CCRC) in Chicago] that some pastors I was working with came around and asked if I was a member of a church. 'If you're organizing churches,' they said, 'it might be helpful if you went to a church once in a while.' And I thought, 'I guess that makes sense.'"<ref>[http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=15363 Obama, ACORN, and the churches] SperoNews, October 7, 2008</ref>
[[File:Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi in Dimashq.jpg|left|175px|thumb|''"I really endorse and support the policies that he has adopted,"'' [[Libya]]n leader [[Muammar Gaddafi]] said of President Barack Obama as reported by the ''[[Washington Post]]''.<ref> [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/26/AR2010042604170.html ''Man's worst friend?''] By Dana Milbank, ''Washington Post'', April 27, 2010.</ref> ]]
*Obama is mentioned as helping to organize the 1995 Million Man March led by black [[Muslim]] leader [[Louis Farrakhan]] from the [[Nation of Islam]]. <ref>[http://www.nowpublic.com/world/obama-organized-farrakhan-s-million-man-march, Obama Organized Farrakhan’s ‘Million Man March’, NowPublic.com, April 2, 2008 </ref>
*Obama visited "more than one mosque" in Kenya while on a political trip there but did not visit any churches, although there are a large proportion of churches and even a National Temple in Kenya.<ref>http://islamizationwatch.blogspot.com/2010/01/kenyan-delegation-visits-sderot-israel.html</ref>
*Obama has chosen the [[Secret Service]] code name "Renegade". "Renegade" conventionally describes someone who goes against normal conventions of behavior, but its first usage was to describe someone who has turned from their religion. It is a word derived from the [[Spanish]] ''renegado'', which originally meant "Christian turned Muslim."<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/3452281/Renegade-and-Renaissance-Obama-to-replace-Trailblazer-and-Tempo-Bush-in-the-White-House.html</ref>
*Obama enjoyed a bigger increase in voter support in 2008 (compared to 2004) by Muslims than by any other voting group, including blacks;<ref>http://www.altmuslim.com/a/a/a/2873/</ref> "Muslim turnout in the U.S. elections reached 95 percent, the highest Muslim turnout in U.S. history."<ref>http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/islamsadvance/2008/11/is_obama_the_muslim_worlds_sup.html</ref>
*"President-elect [[Barack Obama]] has yet to attend [Sunday] church services since winning the [[White House]] earlier ..., a departure from the example of his two immediate predecessors."<ref>http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15902.html</ref><ref>http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-obama-religion26-2008dec26,0,1910913.story</ref> Liberal sources claim that this is due to security concerns. However, in general, Presidents rarely attend weekly church services while in office.<ref>http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-blackberry-faith-white-house/story?id=9689272#.T5jUxp8rpfV</ref>
*Obama botched his public oath of office in which he placed his hand on a Bible, and then chose not to use the Bible for his real, private oath.
*'''At the G20 summit in April 2009, Obama bowed deeply to Saudi King Abdullah, a Muslim who is also the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.'''<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEUif1--r38&feature=player_embedded Video of Obama bowing almost to King's waist]</ref> [[Image:Obamabow.jpg|thumb|right|250px|'''President Obama bowing to the King of Saudi Arabia''' - April 2009]]Never before in the history of the U.S. has a president displayed such shocking deference to a foreign official and Obama has not bowed to any other royal leaders. Obama later stated, "We have to change our behavior in showing the Muslim world greater respect."<ref>http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/07/barack-takes-a-bow/</ref> Obama's spin doctors and left-wing apologists dismissed the obviousness of the bow. One anonymous aide stated, "It wasn't a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he's taller than King Abdullah."<ref>http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0409/White_House_No_bow_to_Saudi.html</ref> However, in video of the incident, Obama's left hand can clearly be seen staying at his side until after he had finished his bow.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WlqW6UCeaY</ref> Additionally, Obama also met with Queen Elizabeth, who is much shorter than King Abdullah, but he did not bow when he shook her hand and neither he nor the queen appeared to have any difficulty.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71N34K9EVLU</ref> (Many liberals and even a handful of conservatives have proposed that President Bush also bowed before King Abdullah.<ref>http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/33289_Bush_Bowed_Too</ref> However, there is a vast, inexorable difference between bending down to receive a medal as Bush did and bowing in deference to a foreign leader as Obama did.)
*Obama required that a religiously affiliated college take the extraordinary action of concealing with wood the monogram "IHS", which represents the name of Jesus, during a speech by Obama there<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/16/georgetown-university-hid-religious-symbols-white-house-request/ Georgetown hides Jesus' name at request of Obama's White House]</ref>
*On more than one occasion, Obama verbally attacks the economic livelihood of Las Vegas for unknown reasons, and Obama has also criticized state lotteries despite being heavily favored by most [[Democrats]]. The reason may be his contempt of gambling which is forbidden in the Koran <ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2010/02/02/AR2010020203169.html Lawmakers upset over Obama's 2nd anti-Vegas remark, WashingtonPost, February 2, 2010]</ref> and frowned upon by many Protestant denominations.<ref>http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CE0QFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.efa2009.org%2Fpapers%2FSSRN-id1335855.pdf&ei=h7kUUPHTA8aBqgHysIHYCw&usg=AFQjCNG1qfZFDgF1FpHG46FFDbMGzBu0Iw</ref>
*In 2006, Obama gave an irreverent speech about using the Bible in public policy. It resembled a stand-up comedy act, with Obama making fun of the books of the [[Torah]], the [[Ten Commandments]], the [[Sermon on the Mount]] and other key Biblical passages.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnmS_vULPxw</ref>
*In 2010, Obama changed the logo of the Missile Defense Agency, incorporating a crescent star.<ref>[http://loganswarning.com/2010/02/23/us-missile-defense-agency-changes-logo-to-obamaislamic-crescent-hybrid/ US Missile Defense Agency Changes Logo to Obama~Islamic Crescent Hybrid!]</ref> The new logo closely resembles that of the Iranian Space Agency.<ref>[http://www.prlog.org/10550380-missile-defense-agency-logo-new-twist-to-the-tale.html Missile Defense Agency Logo – A new twist to the tale]</ref>
*In 2012, Obama participated in a $40,000 per plate fundraiser on [[Holy Thursday]], which most devout Christians would find to be inappropriate.
*On September 25, 2012, in his address to [[United Nations General Assembly]], Obama said that "'''The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam'''."<ref>FOX News: [http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/25/transcript-obama-address-to-un-general-assembly/ Transcript: Obama address to U.N. General Assembly] (September 25, 2012)</ref> This outrageous comment was predictably ignored by the [[lamestream media]], but rightly highlighted by Conservative commentators.<ref>FOX News: [http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/09/26/media-ignore-obama-attack-on-those-who-slander-prophet-islam/ Media ignore Obama attack on ‘those who slander the Prophet of Islam’] (September 26, 2012)</ref>

Obama tries to downplay his [[Islamic]] background by claiming that his [[Kenya|Kenyan]] [[Muslim]] father was a "confirmed [[atheist]]" before Obama was born, but in fact less than 1% of Kenyans are atheists, agnostics, or non-religious.<ref>http://www.adherents.com/Na/Na_14.html</ref> There is apparently no evidence of any Christian activities or local church participation by Obama while he was in Massachusetts from 1988 to 1991. Finally, Obama abruptly left his radical Christian church in Chicago in 2008, when it became politically controversial, without first finding another church to join. On April 7, 2009, Obama visited a mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.<ref>http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.c2e3700ab4e271bc32827b0fccfe560b.421&show_article=1</ref>

==See Also==
* [[Muslim agenda of the Obama administration]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}
[[Category:Obama Administration]]
[[Category:Islam]]

Obama's Religion

2012-10-07T04:54:15Z

Ty: link

[[Image:OBAMA MUSULMAN.jpg|right|thumb|'''Then-Senator Obama wearing traditional African garb''', a gift from his hosts while visiting Kenya<ref>[http://sweetness-light.com/archive/obama-wore-muslim-gear-during-kenya-trip]</ref>]]
'''[[Barack Hussein Obama]]''' is almost certainly the first [[Muslim]] president of the [[United States]], as illustrated by his many actions and comments both before and after taking the official (private) [[oath of office]] without using a [[Bible]]. While there is a strong political incentive for Obama to claim to be a [[Christian]], all credible evidence points to [[Islam]] as his religion:

*Obama declared in prepared remarks, "The United States has been enriched by Muslim Americans. Many other Americans have Muslims in their families or have lived in a Muslim-majority country - I know, because '''I am one of them'''."<ref>http://middleeast.about.com/b/2009/04/06/obama-in-turkey-at-the-gates-of-islam.htm</ref> Obama is referring to his childhood residence in [[Indonesia]], a Muslim-majority country.
*In prepared remarks in April 2012, Obama referred to [[Jesus]] as "a" Son of God rather than as "the" Son of God: "And for me, and I’m sure for some of you, it’s also a chance to remember the tremendous sacrifice that led up to that day, and all that Christ endured—not just as '''''a'' Son of God''', but as a human being."<ref>http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-jesus-son-god</ref>
*Obama's wife [[Michelle Obama|Michelle]] does not accompany him to Muslim nations because [[Sharia law]] would apply to her there; on a presidential trip she was with him until [[France]], but then returned home.
*Obama's background and outlook are [[Muslim]], and fewer than 1% of Muslims convert to Christianity.<ref>http://www.religionnewsblog.com/17736/barack-obama-2</ref><ref>http://www.faithfreedom.org/oped/sina31103.htm. During the third and fourth grades, Obama learned about Islam for two hours each week in religion class, according to the LA ''Times''. [http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-te.obama16mar16,0,1634059,print.story?coll=bal_news_nation_promo Campaign downplays his connection during boyhood in Indonesia, Baltimore Sun, March 16, 2007]</ref> Although Obama attended a [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] school while in Indonesia, he was a part of the Muslim society there.<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/24/AR2007012400371_pf.html</ref>
*Obama's middle name (Hussein) references '''Husayn''', who was the grandson of [[Muhammad]],<ref>A Brief History of The Fourteen Infallibles. Qum: Ansariyan Publications. 2004.</ref><ref>al-Qarashi, Baqir Shareef (2007). The life of Imam Husain. Qum: Ansariyan Publications.</ref> Only after Obama became politically ambitious did he declare himself to be a [[Christian]], yet he never replaced his [[Muslim]] name "Hussein" with a Christian one as most do when they undergo a religious conversion. For example, when the Italian journalist Magdi Allam recently converted to Christianity, he took a new name: "Cristiano".<ref>http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=30814</ref> When Saul became a Christian, he changed his name to "[[Saint Paul|Paul]]"; when the famous boxer Cassius Clay converted to [[Islam]], he took the Muslim name of [[Muhammad Ali]]. "It is common for those converting to a new religion to change their name on conversion"<ref>http://www.ukdp.co.uk/pages/religiousconversion.php</ref> or adopt a Christian name at [[baptism]].<ref>http://www.answers.com/topic/christian-name</ref>. Obama also used his middle name when sworn in as President.
*Obama has said "[[John McCain]] has not talked about [[my Muslim faith]]."<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKGdkqfBICw]</ref> in an interview with [[George Stephanopoulos]] discussing whether John McCain's campaign has suggested that Obama is not a Christian. George Stephanopoulos -- who had previously been a high-ranking Democrat in the [[Clinton Administration]] -- then suggested that Obama change his answer to refer instead to "Christian faith."<ref>[http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/07/obama-verbal-slip-fuels-his-critics/?page=all Christina Bellantoni, "Obama’s verbal slip fuels his critics", ''Washington Times'']</ref>
*He has said that "Islam can be compatible with the modern world."<ref> [http://www.newsweek.com/id/145971 Barack Obama's Christian Journey | Newsweek Politics: Campaign 2008]</ref>
*Obama said the Muslim call to prayer is "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset," and recited "with a first-class [[Arabic]] accent" the opening lines: Allah is Supreme! ... I witness that there is no god but Allah ...."<ref>http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=78309</ref>
*Obama stated that the autobiography of Malcolm X, a Nation of Islam leader who became a Muslim, inspired him in his youth.<ref>For example, Obama writes in his own autobiography, "Only Malcolm X's autobiography seemed to offer something different. His repeated acts of self-creation spoke to me. The blunt poetry of his words, his unadorned insistence on respect, promised a new and uncompromising order, martial in its discipline, forged through sheer force of will. ... [E]ven as I imagine myself following Malcolm's call, one line in the book stayed with me. He spoke of a wish he'd once had, the wish that the white blood that ran through him, there by an act of violence, might somehow be expunged."[http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/04/does_obama_know_america.html]</ref>
*Obama raised nearly $1 million and campaigned for a [[Kenyan]] presidential candidate who had a written agreement with [[Muslim]] leaders promising to convert Kenya to an Islamic state that bans Christianity.<ref> [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=78324] Text of the agreement, as three images: [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=78323]</ref>
*Obama's claims of conversion to Christianity arose after he became politically ambitious, lacking a date of conversion or baptism.<ref>In his book, Obama oddly claims to have been baptized without giving his age or date, and later gave a date that postdates his political ambition (1992).</ref>
*In the book ''Obama,"Renegade"'' his friends say that "he actually really wasn't much of a churchgoer." <ref>[http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2009/06/16/wolffe-president-missed-rev-wright-s-racist-rants-because-he-wasn-t-much- Wolffe: President Missed Rev. Wright’s Racist Rants Because 'He Wasn’t Much of a Churchgoer'] NewsBusters.org, June 16, 2009</ref>
*On the campaign trail, Obama was reading "The Post-American World" by [[Fareed Zakaria]],<ref>http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=fa8cf1bf-2cc8-4d6e-b72d-a07d406e19ff</ref> which is written from a Muslim point-of-view.<ref>http://www.villagevoice.com/2005-08-09/news/the-interpreter/</ref>
*Contrary to [[Christianity]], the Islamic doctrine of [[taqiyya]] encourages adherents to deny they are Muslim if it advances the cause of Islam.
*Obama uses the Muslim Pakistani pronunciation for "Pakistan" rather than the common American one.<ref>Obama repeatedly pronounced "Pakistan" as "Pokiston" in the first presidential debate.</ref>
*Obama favors Pakistan, a Muslim nation, in its conflicts with India, a mostly Hindu nation.<ref>The Indian press has been highly critical of Obama about this. [http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/11/08/obama-india-relations-indispensible-pushes-placement-un]</ref>
*Obama was thoroughly exposed to Christianity as an adult in Chicago prior to attending law school, yet no one at law school saw him display any interest in converting. Obama unabashedly explained how he became "churched" in a 2007 speech: "It's around that time [while working as an organizer for the Developing Communities Project (DCP) of the Calumet Community Religious Conference (CCRC) in Chicago] that some pastors I was working with came around and asked if I was a member of a church. 'If you're organizing churches,' they said, 'it might be helpful if you went to a church once in a while.' And I thought, 'I guess that makes sense.'"<ref>[http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=15363 Obama, ACORN, and the churches] SperoNews, October 7, 2008</ref>
[[File:Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi in Dimashq.jpg|left|175px|thumb|''"I really endorse and support the policies that he has adopted,"'' [[Libya]]n leader [[Muammar Gaddafi]] said of President Barack Obama as reported by the ''[[Washington Post]]''.<ref> [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/26/AR2010042604170.html ''Man's worst friend?''] By Dana Milbank, ''Washington Post'', April 27, 2010.</ref> ]]
*Obama is mentioned as helping to organize the 1995 Million Man March led by black [[Muslim]] leader [[Louis Farrakhan]] from the [[Nation of Islam]]. <ref>[http://www.nowpublic.com/world/obama-organized-farrakhan-s-million-man-march, Obama Organized Farrakhan’s ‘Million Man March’, NowPublic.com, April 2, 2008 </ref>
*Obama visited "more than one mosque" in Kenya while on a political trip there but did not visit any churches, although there are a large proportion of churches and even a National Temple in Kenya.<ref>http://islamizationwatch.blogspot.com/2010/01/kenyan-delegation-visits-sderot-israel.html</ref>
*Obama has chosen the [[Secret Service]] code name "Renegade". "Renegade" conventionally describes someone who goes against normal conventions of behavior, but its first usage was to describe someone who has turned from their religion. It is a word derived from the [[Spanish]] ''renegado'', which originally meant "Christian turned Muslim."<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/3452281/Renegade-and-Renaissance-Obama-to-replace-Trailblazer-and-Tempo-Bush-in-the-White-House.html</ref>
*Obama enjoyed a bigger increase in voter support in 2008 (compared to 2004) by Muslims than by any other voting group, including blacks;<ref>http://www.altmuslim.com/a/a/a/2873/</ref> "Muslim turnout in the U.S. elections reached 95 percent, the highest Muslim turnout in U.S. history."<ref>http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/islamsadvance/2008/11/is_obama_the_muslim_worlds_sup.html</ref>
*"President-elect [[Barack Obama]] has yet to attend [Sunday] church services since winning the [[White House]] earlier ..., a departure from the example of his two immediate predecessors."<ref>http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15902.html</ref><ref>http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-obama-religion26-2008dec26,0,1910913.story</ref> Liberal sources claim that this is due to security concerns. However, in general, Presidents rarely attend weekly church services while in office.<ref>http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-blackberry-faith-white-house/story?id=9689272#.T5jUxp8rpfV</ref>
*Obama botched his public oath of office in which he placed his hand on a Bible, and then chose not to use the Bible for his real, private oath.
*'''At the G20 summit in April 2009, Obama bowed deeply to Saudi King Abdullah, a Muslim who is also the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.'''<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEUif1--r38&feature=player_embedded Video of Obama bowing almost to King's waist]</ref> [[Image:Obamabow.jpg|thumb|right|250px|'''President Obama bowing to the King of Saudi Arabia''' - April 2009]]Never before in the history of the U.S. has a president displayed such shocking deference to a foreign official and Obama has not bowed to any other royal leaders. Obama later stated, "We have to change our behavior in showing the Muslim world greater respect."<ref>http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/07/barack-takes-a-bow/</ref> Obama's spin doctors and left-wing apologists dismissed the obviousness of the bow. One anonymous aide stated, "It wasn't a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he's taller than King Abdullah."<ref>http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0409/White_House_No_bow_to_Saudi.html</ref> However, in video of the incident, Obama's left hand can clearly be seen staying at his side until after he had finished his bow.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WlqW6UCeaY</ref> Additionally, Obama also met with Queen Elizabeth, who is much shorter than King Abdullah, but he did not bow when he shook her hand and neither he nor the queen appeared to have any difficulty.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71N34K9EVLU</ref> (Many liberals and even a handful of conservatives have proposed that President Bush also bowed before King Abdullah.<ref>http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/33289_Bush_Bowed_Too</ref> However, there is a vast, inexorable difference between bending down to receive a medal as Bush did and bowing in deference to a foreign leader as Obama did.)
*Obama required that a religiously affiliated college take the extraordinary action of concealing with wood the monogram "IHS", which represents the name of Jesus, during a speech by Obama there<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/16/georgetown-university-hid-religious-symbols-white-house-request/ Georgetown hides Jesus' name at request of Obama's White House]</ref>
*On more than one occasion, Obama verbally attacks the economic livelihood of Las Vegas for unknown reasons, and Obama has also criticized state lotteries despite being heavily favored by most [[Democrats]]. The reason may be his contempt of gambling which is forbidden in the Koran <ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2010/02/02/AR2010020203169.html Lawmakers upset over Obama's 2nd anti-Vegas remark, WashingtonPost, February 2, 2010]</ref> and frowned upon by many Protestant denominations.<ref>http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CE0QFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.efa2009.org%2Fpapers%2FSSRN-id1335855.pdf&ei=h7kUUPHTA8aBqgHysIHYCw&usg=AFQjCNG1qfZFDgF1FpHG46FFDbMGzBu0Iw</ref>
*In 2006, Obama gave an irreverent speech about using the Bible in public policy. It resembled a stand-up comedy act, with Obama making fun of the books of the [[Torah]], the [[Ten Commandments]], the [[Sermon on the Mount]] and other key Biblical passages.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnmS_vULPxw</ref>
*In 2010, Obama changed the logo of the Missile Defense Agency, incorporating a crescent star.<ref>[http://loganswarning.com/2010/02/23/us-missile-defense-agency-changes-logo-to-obamaislamic-crescent-hybrid/ US Missile Defense Agency Changes Logo to Obama~Islamic Crescent Hybrid!]</ref> The new logo closely resembles that of the Iranian Space Agency.<ref>[http://www.prlog.org/10550380-missile-defense-agency-logo-new-twist-to-the-tale.html Missile Defense Agency Logo – A new twist to the tale]</ref>
*In 2012, Obama participated in a $40,000 per plate fundraiser on [[Holy Thursday]], which most devout Christians would find to be inappropriate.

Obama tries to downplay his [[Islamic]] background by claiming that his [[Kenya|Kenyan]] [[Muslim]] father was a "confirmed [[atheist]]" before Obama was born, but in fact less than 1% of Kenyans are atheists, agnostics, or non-religious.<ref>http://www.adherents.com/Na/Na_14.html</ref> There is apparently no evidence of any Christian activities or local church participation by Obama while he was in Massachusetts from 1988 to 1991. Finally, Obama abruptly left his radical Christian church in Chicago in 2008, when it became politically controversial, without first finding another church to join. On April 7, 2009, Obama visited a mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.<ref>http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.c2e3700ab4e271bc32827b0fccfe560b.421&show_article=1</ref>

==See Also==
* [[Muslim agenda of the Obama administration]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}
[[Category:Obama Administration]]
[[Category:Islam]]

Obama's Religion

2012-10-07T04:42:40Z

Ty: link

[[Image:OBAMA MUSULMAN.jpg|right|thumb|'''Then-Senator Obama wearing traditional African garb''', a gift from his hosts while visiting Kenya<ref>[http://sweetness-light.com/archive/obama-wore-muslim-gear-during-kenya-trip]</ref>]]
'''[[Barack Hussein Obama]]''' is almost certainly the first [[Muslim]] president of the [[United States]], as illustrated by his many actions and comments both before and after taking the official (private) [[oath of office]] without using a [[Bible]]. While there is a strong political incentive for Obama to claim to be a [[Christian]], all credible evidence points to [[Islam]] as his religion:

*Obama declared in prepared remarks, "The United States has been enriched by Muslim Americans. Many other Americans have Muslims in their families or have lived in a Muslim-majority country - I know, because '''I am one of them'''."<ref>http://middleeast.about.com/b/2009/04/06/obama-in-turkey-at-the-gates-of-islam.htm</ref> Obama is referring to his childhood residence in [[Indonesia]], a Muslim-majority country.
*In prepared remarks in April 2012, Obama referred to Jesus as "a" Son of God rather than as "the" Son of God: "And for me, and I’m sure for some of you, it’s also a chance to remember the tremendous sacrifice that led up to that day, and all that Christ endured—not just as '''''a'' Son of God''', but as a human being."<ref>http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-jesus-son-god</ref>
*Obama's wife Michelle does not accompany him to Muslim nations because [[Sharia law]] would apply to her there; on a presidential trip she was with him until France, but then returned home.
*Obama's background and outlook are [[Muslim]], and fewer than 1% of Muslims convert to Christianity.<ref>http://www.religionnewsblog.com/17736/barack-obama-2</ref><ref>http://www.faithfreedom.org/oped/sina31103.htm. During the third and fourth grades, Obama learned about Islam for two hours each week in religion class, according to the LA ''Times''. [http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-te.obama16mar16,0,1634059,print.story?coll=bal_news_nation_promo Campaign downplays his connection during boyhood in Indonesia, Baltimore Sun, March 16, 2007]</ref> Although Obama attended a Catholic school while in Indonesia, he was a part of the Muslim society there.<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/24/AR2007012400371_pf.html</ref>
*Obama's middle name (Hussein) references '''Husayn''', who was the grandson of [[Muhammad]],<ref>A Brief History of The Fourteen Infallibles. Qum: Ansariyan Publications. 2004.</ref><ref>al-Qarashi, Baqir Shareef (2007). The life of Imam Husain. Qum: Ansariyan Publications.</ref> Only after Obama became politically ambitious did he declare himself to be a [[Christian]], yet he never replaced his [[Muslim]] name "Hussein" with a Christian one as most do when they undergo a religious conversion. For example, when the Italian journalist Magdi Allam recently converted to Christianity, he took a new name: "Cristiano".<ref>http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=30814</ref> When Saul became a Christian, he changed his name to "Paul"; when the famous boxer Cassius Clay converted to [[Islam]], he took the Muslim name of [[Muhammad Ali]]. "It is common for those converting to a new religion to change their name on conversion"<ref>http://www.ukdp.co.uk/pages/religiousconversion.php</ref> or adopt a Christian name at [[baptism]].<ref>http://www.answers.com/topic/christian-name</ref>. Obama also used his middle name when sworn in as President.
*Obama has said "John McCain has not talked about [[my Muslim faith]]."<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKGdkqfBICw]</ref> in an interview with George Stephanopoulos discussing whether [[John McCain]]'s campaign has suggested that Obama is not a Christian. George Stephanopoulos -- who had previously been a high-ranking Democrat in the [[Clinton Administration]] -- then suggested that Obama change his answer to refer instead to "Christian faith."<ref>[http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/07/obama-verbal-slip-fuels-his-critics/?page=all Christina Bellantoni, "Obama’s verbal slip fuels his critics", ''Washington Times'']</ref>
*He has said that "Islam can be compatible with the modern world."<ref> [http://www.newsweek.com/id/145971 Barack Obama's Christian Journey | Newsweek Politics: Campaign 2008]</ref>
*Obama said the Muslim call to prayer is "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset," and recited "with a first-class [[Arabic]] accent" the opening lines: Allah is Supreme! ... I witness that there is no god but Allah ...."<ref>http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=78309</ref>
*Obama stated that the autobiography of Malcolm X, a Nation of Islam leader who became a Muslim, inspired him in his youth.<ref>For example, Obama writes in his own autobiography, "Only Malcolm X's autobiography seemed to offer something different. His repeated acts of self-creation spoke to me. The blunt poetry of his words, his unadorned insistence on respect, promised a new and uncompromising order, martial in its discipline, forged through sheer force of will. ... [E]ven as I imagine myself following Malcolm's call, one line in the book stayed with me. He spoke of a wish he'd once had, the wish that the white blood that ran through him, there by an act of violence, might somehow be expunged."[http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/04/does_obama_know_america.html]</ref>
*Obama raised nearly $1 million and campaigned for a [[Kenyan]] presidential candidate who had a written agreement with [[Muslim]] leaders promising to convert Kenya to an Islamic state that bans Christianity.<ref> [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=78324] Text of the agreement, as three images: [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=78323]</ref>
*Obama's claims of conversion to Christianity arose after he became politically ambitious, lacking a date of conversion or baptism.<ref>In his book, Obama oddly claims to have been baptized without giving his age or date, and later gave a date that postdates his political ambition (1992).</ref>
*In the book ''Obama,"Renegade"'' his friends say that "he actually really wasn't much of a churchgoer." <ref>[http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2009/06/16/wolffe-president-missed-rev-wright-s-racist-rants-because-he-wasn-t-much- Wolffe: President Missed Rev. Wright’s Racist Rants Because 'He Wasn’t Much of a Churchgoer'] NewsBusters.org, June 16, 2009</ref>
*On the campaign trail, Obama was reading "The Post-American World" by [[Fareed Zakaria]],<ref>http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=fa8cf1bf-2cc8-4d6e-b72d-a07d406e19ff</ref> which is written from a Muslim point-of-view.<ref>http://www.villagevoice.com/2005-08-09/news/the-interpreter/</ref>
*Contrary to [[Christianity]], the Islamic doctrine of [[taqiyya]] encourages adherents to deny they are Muslim if it advances the cause of Islam.
*Obama uses the Muslim Pakistani pronunciation for "Pakistan" rather than the common American one.<ref>Obama repeatedly pronounced "Pakistan" as "Pokiston" in the first presidential debate.</ref>
*Obama favors Pakistan, a Muslim nation, in its conflicts with India, a mostly Hindu nation.<ref>The Indian press has been highly critical of Obama about this. [http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/11/08/obama-india-relations-indispensible-pushes-placement-un]</ref>
*Obama was thoroughly exposed to Christianity as an adult in Chicago prior to attending law school, yet no one at law school saw him display any interest in converting. Obama unabashedly explained how he became "churched" in a 2007 speech: "It's around that time [while working as an organizer for the Developing Communities Project (DCP) of the Calumet Community Religious Conference (CCRC) in Chicago] that some pastors I was working with came around and asked if I was a member of a church. 'If you're organizing churches,' they said, 'it might be helpful if you went to a church once in a while.' And I thought, 'I guess that makes sense.'"<ref>[http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=15363 Obama, ACORN, and the churches] SperoNews, October 7, 2008</ref>
[[File:Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi in Dimashq.jpg|left|175px|thumb|''"I really endorse and support the policies that he has adopted,"'' [[Libya]]n leader [[Muammar Gaddafi]] said of President Barack Obama as reported by the ''[[Washington Post]]''.<ref> [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/26/AR2010042604170.html ''Man's worst friend?''] By Dana Milbank, ''Washington Post'', April 27, 2010.</ref> ]]
*Obama is mentioned as helping to organize the 1995 Million Man March led by black [[Muslim]] leader [[Louis Farrakhan]] from the [[Nation of Islam]]. <ref>[http://www.nowpublic.com/world/obama-organized-farrakhan-s-million-man-march, Obama Organized Farrakhan’s ‘Million Man March’, NowPublic.com, April 2, 2008 </ref>
*Obama visited "more than one mosque" in Kenya while on a political trip there but did not visit any churches, although there are a large proportion of churches and even a National Temple in Kenya.<ref>http://islamizationwatch.blogspot.com/2010/01/kenyan-delegation-visits-sderot-israel.html</ref>
*Obama has chosen the [[Secret Service]] code name "Renegade". "Renegade" conventionally describes someone who goes against normal conventions of behavior, but its first usage was to describe someone who has turned from their religion. It is a word derived from the [[Spanish]] ''renegado'', which originally meant "Christian turned Muslim."<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/3452281/Renegade-and-Renaissance-Obama-to-replace-Trailblazer-and-Tempo-Bush-in-the-White-House.html</ref>
*Obama enjoyed a bigger increase in voter support in 2008 (compared to 2004) by Muslims than by any other voting group, including blacks;<ref>http://www.altmuslim.com/a/a/a/2873/</ref> "Muslim turnout in the U.S. elections reached 95 percent, the highest Muslim turnout in U.S. history."<ref>http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/islamsadvance/2008/11/is_obama_the_muslim_worlds_sup.html</ref>
*"President-elect [[Barack Obama]] has yet to attend [Sunday] church services since winning the [[White House]] earlier ..., a departure from the example of his two immediate predecessors."<ref>http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15902.html</ref><ref>http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-obama-religion26-2008dec26,0,1910913.story</ref> Liberal sources claim that this is due to security concerns. However, in general, Presidents rarely attend weekly church services while in office.<ref>http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-blackberry-faith-white-house/story?id=9689272#.T5jUxp8rpfV</ref>
*Obama botched his public oath of office in which he placed his hand on a Bible, and then chose not to use the Bible for his real, private oath.
*'''At the G20 summit in April 2009, Obama bowed deeply to Saudi King Abdullah, a Muslim who is also the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.'''<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEUif1--r38&feature=player_embedded Video of Obama bowing almost to King's waist]</ref> [[Image:Obamabow.jpg|thumb|right|250px|'''President Obama bowing to the King of Saudi Arabia''' - April 2009]]Never before in the history of the U.S. has a president displayed such shocking deference to a foreign official and Obama has not bowed to any other royal leaders. Obama later stated, "We have to change our behavior in showing the Muslim world greater respect."<ref>http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/07/barack-takes-a-bow/</ref> Obama's spin doctors and left-wing apologists dismissed the obviousness of the bow. One anonymous aide stated, "It wasn't a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he's taller than King Abdullah."<ref>http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0409/White_House_No_bow_to_Saudi.html</ref> However, in video of the incident, Obama's left hand can clearly be seen staying at his side until after he had finished his bow.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WlqW6UCeaY</ref> Additionally, Obama also met with Queen Elizabeth, who is much shorter than King Abdullah, but he did not bow when he shook her hand and neither he nor the queen appeared to have any difficulty.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71N34K9EVLU</ref> (Many liberals and even a handful of conservatives have proposed that President Bush also bowed before King Abdullah.<ref>http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/33289_Bush_Bowed_Too</ref> However, there is a vast, inexorable difference between bending down to receive a medal as Bush did and bowing in deference to a foreign leader as Obama did.)
*Obama required that a religiously affiliated college take the extraordinary action of concealing with wood the monogram "IHS", which represents the name of Jesus, during a speech by Obama there<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/16/georgetown-university-hid-religious-symbols-white-house-request/ Georgetown hides Jesus' name at request of Obama's White House]</ref>
*On more than one occasion, Obama verbally attacks the economic livelihood of Las Vegas for unknown reasons, and Obama has also criticized state lotteries despite being heavily favored by most [[Democrats]]. The reason may be his contempt of gambling which is forbidden in the Koran <ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2010/02/02/AR2010020203169.html Lawmakers upset over Obama's 2nd anti-Vegas remark, WashingtonPost, February 2, 2010]</ref> and frowned upon by many Protestant denominations.<ref>http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CE0QFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.efa2009.org%2Fpapers%2FSSRN-id1335855.pdf&ei=h7kUUPHTA8aBqgHysIHYCw&usg=AFQjCNG1qfZFDgF1FpHG46FFDbMGzBu0Iw</ref>
*In 2006, Obama gave an irreverent speech about using the Bible in public policy. It resembled a stand-up comedy act, with Obama making fun of the books of the [[Torah]], the [[Ten Commandments]], the [[Sermon on the Mount]] and other key Biblical passages.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnmS_vULPxw</ref>
*In 2010, Obama changed the logo of the Missile Defense Agency, incorporating a crescent star.<ref>[http://loganswarning.com/2010/02/23/us-missile-defense-agency-changes-logo-to-obamaislamic-crescent-hybrid/ US Missile Defense Agency Changes Logo to Obama~Islamic Crescent Hybrid!]</ref> The new logo closely resembles that of the Iranian Space Agency.<ref>[http://www.prlog.org/10550380-missile-defense-agency-logo-new-twist-to-the-tale.html Missile Defense Agency Logo – A new twist to the tale]</ref>
*In 2012, Obama participated in a $40,000 per plate fundraiser on [[Holy Thursday]], which most devout Christians would find to be inappropriate.

Obama tries to downplay his [[Islamic]] background by claiming that his [[Kenya|Kenyan]] [[Muslim]] father was a "confirmed [[atheist]]" before Obama was born, but in fact less than 1% of Kenyans are atheists, agnostics, or non-religious.<ref>http://www.adherents.com/Na/Na_14.html</ref> There is apparently no evidence of any Christian activities or local church participation by Obama while he was in Massachusetts from 1988 to 1991. Finally, Obama abruptly left his radical Christian church in Chicago in 2008, when it became politically controversial, without first finding another church to join. On April 7, 2009, Obama visited a mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.<ref>http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.c2e3700ab4e271bc32827b0fccfe560b.421&show_article=1</ref>

==See Also==
* [[Muslim agenda of the Obama administration]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}
[[Category:Obama Administration]]
[[Category:Islam]]

Oath of office

2012-10-07T04:42:33Z

Ty: Redirected page to Oath of Office

#REDIRECT [[Oath of Office]]

Slovenia

2012-09-10T02:10:20Z

Ty: /* Government and Political Conditions */ links

{{Country
|name =''Republika Slovenija''
|map =Slovenia rel00.jpg
|flag =Flag of Slovenia.png
|arms =Arms of Slovenia.png
|capital =Ljubljana
|capital-raw =
|government =Parliamentary republic
|government-raw =
|language =Slovenian
|king =
|queen =
|monarch-raw =
|president =Danilo Türk
|president-raw =
|chancellor =
|chancellor-raw =
|pm =Janez Janša
|pm-raw =
|area =7,827 sq mi
|pop =2,019,406
|pop-basis =2007
|gdp =$47.841 billion
|gdp-year =2007
|gdp-pc =$26,576
|currency =Euro
|idd =
|tld =
}}
'''Slovenia''' is a [[Balkan]] country in Central Europe that was once part of [[Yugoslavia]].

==Geography==
Slovenia is situated at the crossroads of central Europe, the [[Mediterranean]], and the Balkans. The [[Alps]]--including the Julian Alps, the Kamnik-Savinja Alps, the Karavanke chain, and the Pohorje Massif--dominate northern Slovenia near [[Austria]]. Slovenia's [[Adriatic]] coastline extends for approximately 48 kilometers (30 mi.) from [[Italy]] to [[Croatia]]. The term "karst"--a [[limestone]] region of underground rivers, gorges, and caves--originated in Slovenia's Karst plateau between [[Ljubljana]] and the Italian border. On the Pannonian plain to the east and northeast, toward the Croatian and [[Hungary|Hungarian]] borders, the landscape is essentially flat. However, the majority of Slovenian terrain is hilly or mountainous, with around 90% of the surface 200 meters or more above [[sea level]].

==People==
The majority of Slovenia's population is Slovene (over 83%). [[Hungarians]] and Italians have the status of indigenous minorities under the Slovenian constitution, which guarantees them seats in the National Assembly. Most other minority groups, particularly those from the former Yugoslavia, immigrated after [[World War II]] for economic reasons. Slovenes are predominantly [[Roman Catholic]], though the country also has a small number of [[Protestants]], [[Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christians]], [[Islam|Muslims]], and [[Jews]]. [[Slovene language|Slovene]] is a [[Slavic language]], written in the Roman script.
*Population (June 2006): 2,008,516. Annual growth rate (2006): 0.35%.
*[[Ethnic group]]s (2002 census): Slovenes 83.06%, Croats 1.81%, Serbs 1.98%, Bosniaks 1.10%, [[Hungarians]] 0.32%, Montenegrins 0.14%, Macedonians 0.20%, Albanians 0.31%, Italians 0.11%, [[Roma]] 0.17%.
*Religions (2002 census): [[Roman Catholic]] 57.8%, refused to reply 15.7%, [[atheist]] 10.1%, [[Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christians]] 2.3%, [[Islam|Muslim]] 2.4%.
*Languages: The official language is [[Slovene language|Slovene]]. [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] and [[Italian language|Italian]] are spoken in the border regions, and [[German language|German]] fluency is common near the Austrian border. [[Bosnian language|Bosnian]], [[Croatian language|Croatian]], and [[Serbian language|Serbian]] are spoken by a sizable (6% of the population) minority. [[English language|English]] is widely understood by business people and students.
*Education: Elementary school (26.1%), high school (54.1%), 2, and 4-year university degree (13%). Data according to 2002 census.
*Health: Infant mortality rate (2006)--3.4/1,000 births. [[Life expectancy]] (2006)--74.84 years for men, 81.89 years for women.
*Work force (2006): 1,030,000.

==Government and Political Conditions==
Slovenia enjoys excellent relations with the [[United States]] and cooperates with it actively on a number of fronts. From 1998 to 2000, Slovenia occupied a non-permanent seat on the [[United Nations]] (UN) [[United Nations Security Council|Security Council]] and in that capacity distinguished itself with a constructive, creative, and consensus-oriented activism. Slovenia has been a member of the UN since May 1992 and of the [[Council of Europe]] since May 1993. Slovenia signed an association agreement with the [[European Union]] (EU) in 1996 and became a full EU member state on May 1, 2004. Slovenia officially became a member of [[NATO]] on March 29, 2004. Slovenia is a member of all major international financial institutions--the [[International Monetary Fund]] (IMF), the [[World Bank Group]], and the [[European Bank for Reconstruction and Development]]--as well as 40 other international organizations, among them the [[World Trade Organization]] (WTO), of which it is a founding member.

Since the breakup of the former [[Yugoslavia]], Slovenia has instituted a stable, multi-party, democratic political system, characterized by regular elections, a free press, and an excellent human rights record. Slovenia is a [[parliamentary democracy]] and [[constitutional republic]]. Within its government, power is shared between a directly elected [[president]], a [[prime minister]], and a [[bicameral legislature]] ([[Parliament]]). Parliament is composed of the 90-member National Assembly--which takes the lead on virtually all legislative issues--and the National Council, a largely advisory body composed of representatives from social, economic, professional, and local interests. The Constitutional Court has the highest power of review of legislation to ensure its consistency with Slovenia's constitution. Its nine judges are elected by the National Assembly for a single 9-year term.

Slovenia's first President, Milan Kučan, concluded his second and final term in December 2002. Prime Minister Janez Drnovšek defeated opposition candidate Barbara Brezigar in the 2002 presidential elections by a comfortable margin and was inaugurated as Kučan's successor on December 22, 2002. Finance Minister Anton Rop succeeded Drnovšek as Prime Minister in December 2002, and his center-left governing coalition commanded an almost two-thirds majority in the National Assembly until October 2004. In the October 2004 election, Janez Janša's center-right Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) made a strong showing, winning a relative majority with over 29% of the vote. Janez Janša was sworn in as Prime Minister on November 9, 2004 and the National Assembly confirmed the new cabinet on December 3.

The government and most of the Slovenian polity share a common view of the desirability of a close association with [[the West]], specifically of membership in both the EU and NATO. For all the apparent bitterness that divides left and right wings, there are few fundamental philosophical differences between them in the area of public policy. Slovenian society is built on consensus, which has converged on a social-democrat model. Political differences tend to have their roots in the roles that groups and individuals played during the years of [[communist]] rule and the struggle for independence.

As the most prosperous republic of the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia emerged from its brief 10-day war of secession in 1991 as an independent nation for the first time in its history. Since that time, the country has made steady but cautious progress toward developing a [[market economy]]. Economic reforms introduced shortly after independence led to healthy economic growth. Despite the halting pace of reform and signs of slowing [[gross domestic product]] (GDP) growth today, Slovenes now enjoy the highest per capita income of all the transition economies of central Europe.

The Slovenes have pursued internal economic restructuring with caution. The Janša government, elected on a platform supporting widespread economic reform, has found delivering on its ambitious promises more challenging than expected. The first phase of [[privatization]] (socially-owned property under the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, or S.F.R.Y., system) is now complete. However, sales of several remaining large state holdings, planned for several years now, have yet to come to fruition. The Janša government has said that it is committed to seeing this final stage of privatization happen under its administration.

Foreign trade is very important to the Slovenian economy. Nearly two-thirds of Slovenia's overall trade is with the EU and the vast majority of this is with [[Germany]], [[Italy]], [[Austria]], and [[France]]. While the [[Services|service]] sector is the largest part of the economy as a percentage of GDP, [[manufacturing]] accounts for most employment, with machinery and other manufactured products comprising the major exports. Labor force surveys put unemployment at 6% (2006). [[Inflation]] continued to decline from 3.6% in 2004 to 2.5% in 2005 and 2006. Gross domestic product grew by about 5.2% in 2006. Slovenia joined the [[Eurozone]] in January 2007, the first and only of the 12 new EU members to join.

In the 15 years since independence, Slovenia has made tremendous progress establishing democratic institutions, enshrining respect for [[human rights]], establishing a market economy, and adapting its military to Western norms and standards. In contrast to its southern neighbors, civil tranquility and strong economic growth have marked this period. Upon achieving independence, Slovenia offered citizenship to all residents, regardless of ethnicity or origin, avoiding a sectarian trap that has caught out many central European countries. However, debate continues on how best to accommodate an estimated 18,000 undocumented non-Slovenes who were resident in Slovenia at the time of independence, but whose records were "erased" when they did not take citizenship. Many in this group have regularized their status or left the country; however, it is estimated that around 4000 cases remain unresolved. Slovenia willingly accepted nearly 100,000 refugees from the [[Bosnian War|fighting in Bosnia]] and has since participated in international stabilization efforts in the region.

On the international front, Slovenia has rapidly integrated into the Euro-Atlantic community of nations. With successful NATO (66% in favor) and EU (91% in favor) referenda in March 2003, Slovenia achieved upon accession in 2004 its two primary foreign policy goals--membership in the EU and NATO. In 2005, Slovenia served as the [[Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe]] (OSCE) Chairman-in-Office. Slovenia also participates in the Stability Pact and the Southeast Europe Cooperation Initiative (SECI). Slovenia is one of the focus countries for the U.S. southeast European policy aimed at reinforcing regional stability and integration. The Slovenian Government is well-positioned to be an influential partner for other southeast European governments at different stages of reform and integration, and has introduced initiatives towards this goal, including the establishment of the Center for European Perspective and the Bled Strategic Forum. To these ends, the U.S. urges Slovenia to maintain momentum on internal economic, political, and legal reforms, while expanding their international cooperation as resources allow. U.S. and allied efforts to assist Slovenia's military restructuring and modernization efforts are ongoing. Slovenia faces its largest challenge since independence when it will be the first of the ten 2004 EU newcomers to hold the EU's rotating presidency in January 2008.

===Principal Government Officials===
*President--[[Danilo Türk]]
*Prime Minister--Janez Janša

===Foreign Relations and Regional Cooperation===
In regular public statements, Slovenia's highest politicians underscore their government's commitment to expanding cooperative arrangements with neighbors and active contributions to international efforts aimed at bringing stability to southeast Europe. Resource limitations are a concern for the government, which does not wish to see itself spread too thin. Nonetheless, the Slovenes are taking concrete steps toward a more outward looking and constructive role in regional and international security arrangements, as resources allow.

====Multilateral====
*The Slovenian Armed Forces has over 300 troops deployed to support the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, the NATO Training Mission (NTM-I) in Iraq, EU Mission Althea in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR), and several other multilateral operations.
*Slovenia takes an active role in humanitarian assistance with donations to the victims of the Southeast Asian tsunami, the Pakistani earthquake, and Hurricane Katrina, as well as ongoing assistance to refugees in Darfur and support for the World Food Program.
*Through its International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance (ITF), Slovenia has created the demining instrument of choice for the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the rest of the Balkans, and now even further afield in Central Asia and Cyprus. The organization has raised over $203 million since its inception in 1998 (with the United States contributing over $92 million).
*Slovenia served as Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE in 2005 and the Chairman of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors for 2006-2007.
*Slovenia is engaged with 29 countries in bilateral military exchange--most actively with the U.S.--and in regional cooperative arrangements in central and southeast Europe; it participates in or intends to contribute forces for five major multinational regional peacekeeping bodies.
*Slovenia participates in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) to halt the [[proliferation]] of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), their delivery systems, and related materials worldwide.
*Slovenia has ratified all 13 international anti-terrorism conventions.
*Slovenia is party to the Wassenaar arrangement controlling exports of weapons and sensitive technology to countries of concern
*Slovenia is an active participant in Southeast European Defense Ministerial (SEDM) activities.

====Relations With Neighbors====
Slovenia's bilateral relations with its neighbors are generally harmonious and cooperative. However, there remain a few unresolved disputes with Croatia related to the succession of the former Yugoslavia, including demarcation of their common border. In addition, unlike the other successor states of the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia did not normalize relations with Serbia and Montenegro until after the passing from power of Slobodan Milosevic (although the Slovenes did open a representative office in Podgorica to work with Montenegrin President Djukanovic's government).

With its entry into the European Union, Slovenia has become a strong advocate for the inclusion of other former Yugoslav republics into Euro-Atlantic institutions. Slovenia's strong political ties to the region are complemented by strong economic ties. Slovenia is among the largest foreign investors in the region.

====Italy====
Italian-Slovenian bilateral relations are also very good. By mid-1996, property restitution disputes derived from World War II had been set aside, allowing a dramatic improvement in relations. In 2001, the Italian Senate voted final approval of legislation resolving some minor differences remaining over minority rights issues and over the compensation for property abandoned by Italian refugees fleeing communist Yugoslavia in the postwar period. Recently there have been some accusations of Italians not consulting with Slovenia regarding their plans with gas terminals in the middle of the bay and near the Slovene-Italian land border, which could have an environmental impact on Slovenia as well.

====Hungary====
Relations are excellent with Hungary. Hungarian (as well as Italian) minorities in Slovenia are accorded special treatment under the Slovenian constitution, including a permanent parliamentary seat. Within the Multilateral Cooperation Initiative between Slovenia, Italy, Hungary, and Croatia, cooperation exists in numerous fields, including military (Multinational Land Force peacekeeping brigade), transportation, combating money laundering and organized crime, non-proliferation, border crossings, and environmental issues.

====Austria====
Austro-Slovenian relations are close with occasional disputes related to support for the other country's minorities. In 2005 and 2006 this was dominated by an ongoing question about whether to allow bilingual (German and Slovenian) signage on Austrian territory near the Slovenian border. Questions regarding nuclear power in Slovenia and the basis for the settlement of the Austrian State Treaty appear to have been solved. Economic cooperation is expanding, including a joint project for development of border regions.

====Croatia====
Though somewhat rocky at times, Croatian-Slovenian relations are solid. Outstanding issues include a few remaining maritime and land border disputes, property rights, Croatian depositors' savings in the Ljubljanska Banka from Yugoslav times, and Krsko nuclear plant. In 2003, Croatia declared its intention to claim a 200-mile exclusive economic zone in the Adriatic Sea, which would effectively cut off Slovenia's use of international waters. Multilateral discussions among Slovenia, Croatia, and Italy on this issue continue with the European Commission's participation. In a series of high-level meetings since the latter half of 1998, Slovenia and Croatia have been engaged in settling bilateral differences, a process that accelerated after the death of Croatian President Franjo Tudjman in 1999 and has intensified under the government of Prime Minister Janez Jansa elected in October 2004. In order to aid the stabilization of this part of Europe, Slovenia has supported Croatia's efforts to draw closer to European institutions.

Slovenia and Croatia most recently made an effort to improve relations during a joint government session on June 10, 2005 where three bilateral agreements were signed: Joint Statement on Avoiding of Conflicts, Bilateral Agreement on Avoiding Double Taxation, and an establishment of a joint Historical Commission for the border issue. Though several nagging issues remain to be solved, less formal meetings between Slovenian and Croatian sides occur regularly.

==Defense==
====Slovenian Armed Forces====
After successful resistance to the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) following the 10-day war of independence in 1991, Slovenia faced the challenge of establishing independent armed forces. The Slovene Armed Forces underwent a major reorganization from 2003 to 2005, with the goal of changing from a conscription-based territorial defense force to a professional, deployable, and combat capable military with NATO. Conscription ended earlier than expected, in October 2003, and compulsory reserve service will end by 2010. As of September 2007, Slovenia's professional force included 7,143 soldiers and 9,063 reservists. The current force structure consists of one fully professional motorized infantry brigade and two cadre/reserve force mechanized brigades. The professional brigade represents Slovenia's deployable reaction force. The Slovene Armed Forces also include a small air force, equipped with helicopters and turbo-prop fixed wing aircraft, and a naval attachment, including a coastal patrol boat. The United States provides bilateral military assistance to Slovenia, including through the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program, the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program, the State Partnership Program (aligned with Colorado), the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, the EUCOM Joint Contact Team Program, and the Regional Counterterrorism Fellowship Program (CTFP).

====NATO====
After receiving an invitation to join NATO at the NATO Prague Summit in November 2002, Slovenes approved NATO accession with a vote of 66% in a March 2003 referendum. The National Assembly ratified accession to the North Atlantic Treaty in February 2004, and Slovenia officially became a member of the Alliance on March 29, 2004. After gaining independence, Slovenia avidly sought NATO membership as part of its overall strategy of integration into the most important international economic, financial, and security organizations.

Slovenia's current international commitments show its willingness to become a co-provider of security in the region. Slovenia contributed helicopters, medical personnel, military police, and an infantry company to the NATO Stabilization Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (SFOR) and continues to be very active in the European Union Force (EUFOR), with 54 troops deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina (ALTHEA, EUFOR, Joint Enterprise, NATO). In Kosovo, Slovenia actively participates in the NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR) with 169 troops. In March 2004, Slovenia sent a detachment of special operations troops, along with some vehicles, to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan. Today, the total number of Slovenian personnel in ISAF stands at 65. In February 2006, Slovenia sent four instructors to the NATO Training Mission in Iraq, two of which are still there. There are also 12 troops in Lebanon (UNIFIL), 2 in Syria (UNTSO), and 2 in the U.S. (CENTCOM, NATO).

The Government of Slovenia has diligently pursued its restructuring, reorganization, modernization, and procurement with the paramount goal of NATO interoperability. The United States has encouraged Slovenia to maintain the pace of reform--including the establishment of closer links with regional partners--even following its attainment of full membership in NATO.

==Economy==
Slovenia's economic success clearly illustrates the benefits of embracing liberal trade, following the rule of law, and rewarding enterprise. This success, however, is not unprecedented for Slovenia. Although it comprised only about one-thirteenth of Yugoslavia's total population, it was the most productive of the Yugoslav republics, accounting for one-fifth of its GDP and one-third of its exports. The country already enjoyed a relatively prosperous economy and strong market ties to the West when it gained independence in 1991. Since independence, Slovenia has pursued diversification of its trade toward the West and integration into Western and transatlantic institutions vigorously. In so doing, it has made substantial progress in its transition to a market economy, particularly becoming party to a number of bilateral and regional free trade agreements. Slovenia is a founding member of the WTO and joined the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) in 1996. Slovenia also participates in SECI, as well as in the Central European Initiative, the Royaumont Process, and the Black Sea Economic Council. Slovenia became a new EU member state on May 1, 2004.

Today, Slovenia is one the best economic performers in central and eastern Europe, with a GDP per capita in PPP in 2006 at € 19,200. Slovenia benefits from a well-educated and productive work force as well as dynamic and effective political and economic institutions. Although Slovenia has taken a cautious, deliberate approach to economic management and reform, with heavy emphasis on achieving consensus before proceeding, its overall record is one of relative success.

Slovenia has enjoyed healthy growth figures for the past 8 years, averaging 4.0% annual GDP growth. The European economic slowdown reduced the pace of growth somewhat beginning in 2001. GDP grew by 5.2% in 2006. Slovenia's economy is highly dependent on foreign trade. About two-thirds of Slovenia's trade is with the EU. Additionally, the country has penetrated successfully the south and east markets, including the former Soviet Union region. This high level of openness makes Slovenia extremely sensitive to economic conditions in its main trading partners and changes in its international price competitiveness. Keeping labor costs in line with productivity is thus a key challenge for Slovenia's economic well-being. Services contributed the most to the national output in 2006, accounting for 62% of GDP. Industry and construction comprised 34.7% of GDP; and, agriculture, forestry, and fishing accounted for 2.3% of GDP.

Economic management in Slovenia is relatively good. Public finances showed modest deficit of 1.2% of GDP in 2006. The government policy is aimed toward bringing the deficit to 1% of GDP by 2009. The budget of 2006 constrains public deficit to 1.4% of GDP, well within Maastricht parameters. The current account balance has improved significantly as a result of stronger exports and a changed composition of imports by economic purpose. In 2006, the current account balance showed a deficit of € 773 million. After the adoption of the Euro, controlling inflation remains a top government priority.

Due to its macroeconomic stability, favorable foreign debt position, and successful accession to the EU, Slovenia consistently receives the highest credit rating of all transition economies--receiving the top regional honors in a recent Dunn & Bradstreet survey. Slovenia's ability to meet its growth rate objectives will largely depend on the state of the world economy, since exports demand in Slovenia's primary market has stalled. Foreign direct investment (FDI) will take up the slack to some extent, as analysts forecast FDI levels will continue to increase with further privatization of state assets, including portions of the telecommunications, financial, and energy sectors. Slovenia must carefully address fiscal, monetary, and FDI policy, in light of the high deficit in pension accounts, its vulnerable Western export markets, and inflation concerns. Slovenian enterprises have a tradition of market orientation that has served them well in the transition period, as they moved energetically to reorient trade from former Yugoslav markets to those of central and eastern Europe. However, in many cases under the Slovenian brand of privatization, managers and workers in formerly "socially owned" enterprises have become the majority shareholders, perpetuating the practices of "worker management" that were the hallmark of the Yugoslav brand of socialism. Difficulties associated with that model are expected to decrease under competitive pressures, as shares in these firms change hands, and as EU reforms introduce more Western-oriented governance practices.

Slovenia has taken some important steps in recent years to free up its financial markets. This sector historically has been one of the most protected, reflecting Slovenian concerns over limited capacity to face global competition and a desire to maintain domestic control over finance. A combination of market forces, changes in Bank of Slovenia regulations, and national legislation are moving this sector increasingly in a more globally oriented direction. In 2003, several measures were introduced to make both portfolio and direct investments easier and more transparent in Slovenia and to conduct many financial operations, including banking, securities brokering, and undertaking various credit transactions. Most remaining barriers were removed by May 1, 2004--for instance, marketing of foreign mutual investment funds is now allowed. The banking sector also is showing signs of stirring from its relative inactivity, as pressures build to consolidate Slovenia's myriad banks and as privatization of two of the largest banks proceeds. While Belgian KBC is the main owner of Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB) with 34%, little progress has been made in the privatization of NKBM bank, Slovenia's largest bank, which is still 100% state owned. The government continues to downsize state shares in the insurance sector; however, the government-owned Triglav still controls nearly half of the insurance market. Other insurance companies have been privatized or are foreign-owned.

Government efforts and reforms designed to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) have proven somewhat successful--FDI is continuing to slowly grow. However, FDI fell sharply in 2003 due to a lack of any major privatization deal or foreign acquisition. Slovenia's traditional anti-inflation policy in the past relied heavily on capital inflow restrictions. Its slow privatization process favored domestic investors and prescribed long lag time on share trading, complicated by a cultural wariness of being "bought up" by foreigners. As such, Slovenia has had a number of impediments to full foreign participation in its economy. However, a number of these barriers to FDI were fully removed in 2002. As a result, expected foreign takeovers of Slovenian blue chip companies, as well as EU membership, have fueled investors' interest in the country. Acquisitions by multinational companies--KBC of Belgium's takeover of significant share of Nova Ljubljanska Banka, Swiss Novartis' takeover of Lek Pharmaceuticals, and recent interest of foreigners in national telecom--clearly demonstrate the attractiveness of the Slovenian economy, particularly to European investors seeking a platform to support expansion into southeastern Europe. U.S. investments in Slovenia have been more modest; Goodyear is the largest American investor. Even with these successes, much of the economy remains in state hands and foreign direct investment in Slovenia is one of the lowest in the EU on a per capita basis.

The current government's ability to follow through on pledges to accelerate privatization of a number of large state holdings and increase FDI will be key to Slovenia's economic future. In late 2005, the government's new Committee for Economic Reforms was elevated to cabinet-level status with a program including plans for lowering the tax burden, privatizing state-controlled firms, improving the flexibility of the labor market, and increasing the government's efficiency. Many of the committee members and heads have resigned due to inability to make any significant progress. Though progress has been stalled on the program, the Jansa government has pledged to move forward with the planned reforms, which also in the vast majority have not been realized thus far. Slovenia's position with respect to other central and eastern European (CEE) countries will decline without vigorous pursuit of economic reform.
*GDP (2006): € 33,177 million.
*Real GDP growth rate (2006): 5.2%, (2007 est.): 4.7%.
*GDP per capita in PPP (2006): € 19,200.
*Natural resources: Coal, mercury, timber.
*Agriculture/forestry/fishing (approx. 2.3% of 2006 GDP): Products--wheat, corn, poultry, beef, pork, milk, potatoes, orchard fruits, wine.
*Industry (approx. 34.7% of 2006 GDP): Types--electrical equipment, chemical products, textiles, food products, electricity, metal products, wood products, transportation equipment.
*Services (approx. 62.9% of 2006 GDP): Types--retail, transportation, communications, real estate and other business activities.
*Trade: Exports (2006: € 16.757 million)--machinery, transportation equipment, manufactured articles, chemical products. To U.S.--$506 million (2006). Imports (2006: €18.341 million)--machinery, transportation equipment, manufactured articles, mineral fuels and lubricants. From U.S.--$289 million (2004). Major trading partners--Germany, Italy, France, Austria, Croatia. Trade with the U.S. accounts for about 1.5% of total trade.
Foreign direct investment in 2005: € 93 million (1.6% of total FDI in Slovenia).

==History==
Slovenia is today a vibrant democracy, but the roots of this democracy go back deep in Slovene history. According to the 16th century French political philosopher, Jean Bodin, Slovenes practiced the unique custom of the Installation of the Dukes of Carinthia for almost 1,000 years, until the late 14th century.

From as early as the 9th century, Slovenia had fallen under foreign rulers, including partial control by Bavarian dukes and the Republic of Venice. With the exception of Napoleon's 4-year tutelage of parts of Slovenia and Croatia--the "Illyrian Provinces"--Slovenia was part of the Habsburg Empire from the 14th century until 1918. Nevertheless, Slovenia resisted Germanizing influences and retained its unique Slavic language and culture.

After the successful Catholic [[Counter Reformation]], the Catholic Church again became dominant and Protestants were left only in the Upper Mur region by 1720.

===Yugoslavia===
In 1918, Slovenia joined with other southern Slav states in forming the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes as part of the peace plan at the end of World War I. Renamed in 1929 under a Serbian monarch, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia fell to the Axis powers during World War II. Following communist partisan resistance to German, Hungarian, and Italian occupation and elimination of rival resistance groups, socialist Yugoslavia was born under the helm of Josip Broz Tito. During the communist era, Slovenia became Yugoslavia's most prosperous republic, at the forefront of Yugoslavia's unique version of communism.

Within a few years of Tito's death in 1980, Belgrade initiated plans to further concentrate political and economic power in its hands. Defying the politicians in Belgrade, Slovenia underwent a flowering of democracy and an opening of its society in cultural, civic, and economic realms to a degree almost unprecedented in the communist world.
===Independence===
In September 1989, the General Assembly of the Yugoslav Republic of Slovenia adopted an amendment to its constitution asserting Slovenia's right to secede from Yugoslavia. On December 23, 1990, 88% of Slovenia's population voted for independence in a referendum, and on June 25, 1991, the Republic of Slovenia declared its independence. A nearly bloodless 10-day war with Yugoslavia followed. Yugoslav forces withdrew after Slovenia demonstrated stiff resistance to Belgrade.

As a young independent republic, Slovenia pursued economic stabilization and further political openness, while emphasizing its Western outlook and central European heritage. Reflecting its success in these goals, Slovenia became a member both of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU) in March and May, respectively, of 2004.

Today Slovenia is a stable democracy that is increasing its international engagement. Slovenia is one of the top foreign investors in the former Yugoslavia, and a charter World Trade Organization (WTO) member. Members of the Slovenian Armed Forces are participating in NATO, EU, and UN operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, and elsewhere. Slovenia served as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chairman-in-Office in 2005, was the Chairman of the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors in 2006-2007, and is preparing to be the first of the ten 2004 EU newcomers to hold the EU's rotating presidency in the first half of 2008. Though small in size, Slovenia enjoys a growing regional profile and plays a role on the world stage that is out of proportion to its size.

{| style="width: 100%; background:transparent; border: 2px solid #000099;" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1"
!colspan=2 style="width: 100%; text-align: center; background-color: #000088; color: white; "|'''Copyright Details'''
|-
!style="background-color: #000088; color:white;"|License:
|style=" background-color: none;"| This work is in the [[Public Domain]] in the United States because it is a work of the United States Federal Government under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the U.S. Code
|-
!style=" background-color: #000088; color:white;"|Source:
|style="background-color: none;border-top: 2px solid black"| File available from the {{{1|[[United States Federal Government]] [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3407.htm]}}}.
|}
==see also==
* [[Yugoslavia]]

{{European Union}}

[[Category:Balkans]]
[[Category:European Countries]]
[[Category:Slovenia]]
[[Category:Christian-Majority Countries]]

Slovenia

2012-09-09T23:16:50Z

Ty: /* Government and Political Conditions */ links

{{Country
|name =''Republika Slovenija''
|map =Slovenia rel00.jpg
|flag =Flag of Slovenia.png
|arms =Arms of Slovenia.png
|capital =Ljubljana
|capital-raw =
|government =Parliamentary republic
|government-raw =
|language =Slovenian
|king =
|queen =
|monarch-raw =
|president =Danilo Türk
|president-raw =
|chancellor =
|chancellor-raw =
|pm =Janez Janša
|pm-raw =
|area =7,827 sq mi
|pop =2,019,406
|pop-basis =2007
|gdp =$47.841 billion
|gdp-year =2007
|gdp-pc =$26,576
|currency =Euro
|idd =
|tld =
}}
'''Slovenia''' is a [[Balkan]] country in Central Europe that was once part of [[Yugoslavia]].

==Geography==
Slovenia is situated at the crossroads of central Europe, the [[Mediterranean]], and the Balkans. The [[Alps]]--including the Julian Alps, the Kamnik-Savinja Alps, the Karavanke chain, and the Pohorje Massif--dominate northern Slovenia near [[Austria]]. Slovenia's [[Adriatic]] coastline extends for approximately 48 kilometers (30 mi.) from [[Italy]] to [[Croatia]]. The term "karst"--a [[limestone]] region of underground rivers, gorges, and caves--originated in Slovenia's Karst plateau between [[Ljubljana]] and the Italian border. On the Pannonian plain to the east and northeast, toward the Croatian and [[Hungary|Hungarian]] borders, the landscape is essentially flat. However, the majority of Slovenian terrain is hilly or mountainous, with around 90% of the surface 200 meters or more above [[sea level]].

==People==
The majority of Slovenia's population is Slovene (over 83%). [[Hungarians]] and Italians have the status of indigenous minorities under the Slovenian constitution, which guarantees them seats in the National Assembly. Most other minority groups, particularly those from the former Yugoslavia, immigrated after [[World War II]] for economic reasons. Slovenes are predominantly [[Roman Catholic]], though the country also has a small number of [[Protestants]], [[Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christians]], [[Islam|Muslims]], and [[Jews]]. [[Slovene language|Slovene]] is a [[Slavic language]], written in the Roman script.
*Population (June 2006): 2,008,516. Annual growth rate (2006): 0.35%.
*[[Ethnic group]]s (2002 census): Slovenes 83.06%, Croats 1.81%, Serbs 1.98%, Bosniaks 1.10%, [[Hungarians]] 0.32%, Montenegrins 0.14%, Macedonians 0.20%, Albanians 0.31%, Italians 0.11%, [[Roma]] 0.17%.
*Religions (2002 census): [[Roman Catholic]] 57.8%, refused to reply 15.7%, [[atheist]] 10.1%, [[Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christians]] 2.3%, [[Islam|Muslim]] 2.4%.
*Languages: The official language is [[Slovene language|Slovene]]. [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] and [[Italian language|Italian]] are spoken in the border regions, and [[German language|German]] fluency is common near the Austrian border. [[Bosnian language|Bosnian]], [[Croatian language|Croatian]], and [[Serbian language|Serbian]] are spoken by a sizable (6% of the population) minority. [[English language|English]] is widely understood by business people and students.
*Education: Elementary school (26.1%), high school (54.1%), 2, and 4-year university degree (13%). Data according to 2002 census.
*Health: Infant mortality rate (2006)--3.4/1,000 births. [[Life expectancy]] (2006)--74.84 years for men, 81.89 years for women.
*Work force (2006): 1,030,000.

==Government and Political Conditions==
Slovenia enjoys excellent relations with the [[United States]] and cooperates with it actively on a number of fronts. From 1998 to 2000, Slovenia occupied a non-permanent seat on the [[United Nations]] (UN) [[United Nations Security Council|Security Council]] and in that capacity distinguished itself with a constructive, creative, and consensus-oriented activism. Slovenia has been a member of the UN since May 1992 and of the [[Council of Europe]] since May 1993. Slovenia signed an association agreement with the [[European Union]] (EU) in 1996 and became a full EU member state on May 1, 2004. Slovenia officially became a member of [[NATO]] on March 29, 2004. Slovenia is a member of all major international financial institutions--the [[International Monetary Fund]] (IMF), the [[World Bank Group]], and the [[European Bank for Reconstruction and Development]]--as well as 40 other international organizations, among them the [[World Trade Organization]] (WTO), of which it is a founding member.

Since the breakup of the former [[Yugoslavia]], Slovenia has instituted a stable, multi-party, democratic political system, characterized by regular elections, a free press, and an excellent human rights record. Slovenia is a [[parliamentary democracy]] and [[constitutional republic]]. Within its government, power is shared between a directly elected [[president]], a [[prime minister]], and a [[bicameral legislature]] ([[Parliament]]). Parliament is composed of the 90-member National Assembly--which takes the lead on virtually all legislative issues--and the National Council, a largely advisory body composed of representatives from social, economic, professional, and local interests. The Constitutional Court has the highest power of review of legislation to ensure its consistency with Slovenia's constitution. Its nine judges are elected by the National Assembly for a single 9-year term.

Slovenia's first President, Milan Kucan, concluded his second and final term in December 2002. Prime Minister Janez Drnovšek defeated opposition candidate Barbara Brezigar in the 2002 presidential elections by a comfortable margin and was inaugurated as Kucan's successor on December 22, 2002. Finance Minister Anton Rop succeeded Drnovšek as Prime Minister in December 2002, and his center-left governing coalition commanded an almost two-thirds majority in the National Assembly until October 2004. In the October 2004 election, Janez Jansa's center-right Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) made a strong showing, winning a relative majority with over 29% of the vote. Janez Jansa was sworn in as Prime Minister on November 9, 2004 and the National Assembly confirmed the new cabinet on December 3.

The government and most of the Slovenian polity share a common view of the desirability of a close association with the West, specifically of membership in both the EU and NATO. For all the apparent bitterness that divides left and right wings, there are few fundamental philosophical differences between them in the area of public policy. Slovenian society is built on consensus, which has converged on a social-democrat model. Political differences tend to have their roots in the roles that groups and individuals played during the years of communist rule and the struggle for independence.

As the most prosperous republic of the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia emerged from its brief 10-day war of secession in 1991 as an independent nation for the first time in its history. Since that time, the country has made steady but cautious progress toward developing a market economy. Economic reforms introduced shortly after independence led to healthy economic growth. Despite the halting pace of reform and signs of slowing gross domestic product (GDP) growth today, Slovenes now enjoy the highest per capita income of all the transition economies of central Europe.

The Slovenes have pursued internal economic restructuring with caution. The Jansa government, elected on a platform supporting widespread economic reform, has found delivering on its ambitious promises more challenging than expected. The first phase of privatization (socially-owned property under the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, or S.F.R.Y., system) is now complete. However, sales of several remaining large state holdings, planned for several years now, have yet to come to fruition. The Jansa government has said that it is committed to seeing this final stage of privatization happen under its administration.

Foreign trade is very important to the Slovenian economy. Nearly two-thirds of Slovenia's overall trade is with the EU and the vast majority of this is with Germany, Italy, Austria, and France. While the service sector is the largest part of the economy as a percentage of GDP, manufacturing accounts for most employment, with machinery and other manufactured products comprising the major exports. Labor force surveys put unemployment at 6% (2006). Inflation continued to decline from 3.6% in 2004 to 2.5% in 2005 and 2006. Gross domestic product grew by about 5.2% in 2006. Slovenia joined the Euro Zone in January 2007, the first and only of the 12 new EU members to join.

In the 15 years since independence, Slovenia has made tremendous progress establishing democratic institutions, enshrining respect for human rights, establishing a market economy, and adapting its military to Western norms and standards. In contrast to its southern neighbors, civil tranquility and strong economic growth have marked this period. Upon achieving independence, Slovenia offered citizenship to all residents, regardless of ethnicity or origin, avoiding a sectarian trap that has caught out many central European countries. However, debate continues on how best to accommodate an estimated 18,000 undocumented non-Slovenes who were resident in Slovenia at the time of independence, but whose records were "erased" when they did not take citizenship. Many in this group have regularized their status or left the country; however, it is estimated that around 4000 cases remain unresolved. Slovenia willingly accepted nearly 100,000 refugees from the fighting in Bosnia and has since participated in international stabilization efforts in the region.

On the international front, Slovenia has rapidly integrated into the Euro-Atlantic community of nations. With successful NATO (66% in favor) and EU (91% in favor) referenda in March 2003, Slovenia achieved upon accession in 2004 its two primary foreign policy goals--membership in the EU and NATO. In 2005, Slovenia served as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chairman-in-Office. Slovenia also participates in the Stability Pact and the Southeast Europe Cooperation Initiative (SECI). Slovenia is one of the focus countries for the U.S. southeast European policy aimed at reinforcing regional stability and integration. The Slovenian Government is well-positioned to be an influential partner for other southeast European governments at different stages of reform and integration, and has introduced initiatives towards this goal, including the establishment of the Center for European Perspective and the Bled Strategic Forum. To these ends, the U.S. urges Slovenia to maintain momentum on internal economic, political, and legal reforms, while expanding their international cooperation as resources allow. U.S. and allied efforts to assist Slovenia's military restructuring and modernization efforts are ongoing. Slovenia faces its largest challenge since independence when it will be the first of the ten 2004 EU newcomers to hold the EU's rotating presidency in January 2008.

===Principal Government Officials===
*President--[[Danilo Türk]]
*Prime Minister--Janez Janša

===Foreign Relations and Regional Cooperation===
In regular public statements, Slovenia's highest politicians underscore their government's commitment to expanding cooperative arrangements with neighbors and active contributions to international efforts aimed at bringing stability to southeast Europe. Resource limitations are a concern for the government, which does not wish to see itself spread too thin. Nonetheless, the Slovenes are taking concrete steps toward a more outward looking and constructive role in regional and international security arrangements, as resources allow.

====Multilateral====
*The Slovenian Armed Forces has over 300 troops deployed to support the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, the NATO Training Mission (NTM-I) in Iraq, EU Mission Althea in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR), and several other multilateral operations.
*Slovenia takes an active role in humanitarian assistance with donations to the victims of the Southeast Asian tsunami, the Pakistani earthquake, and Hurricane Katrina, as well as ongoing assistance to refugees in Darfur and support for the World Food Program.
*Through its International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance (ITF), Slovenia has created the demining instrument of choice for the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the rest of the Balkans, and now even further afield in Central Asia and Cyprus. The organization has raised over $203 million since its inception in 1998 (with the United States contributing over $92 million).
*Slovenia served as Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE in 2005 and the Chairman of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors for 2006-2007.
*Slovenia is engaged with 29 countries in bilateral military exchange--most actively with the U.S.--and in regional cooperative arrangements in central and southeast Europe; it participates in or intends to contribute forces for five major multinational regional peacekeeping bodies.
*Slovenia participates in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) to halt the [[proliferation]] of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), their delivery systems, and related materials worldwide.
*Slovenia has ratified all 13 international anti-terrorism conventions.
*Slovenia is party to the Wassenaar arrangement controlling exports of weapons and sensitive technology to countries of concern
*Slovenia is an active participant in Southeast European Defense Ministerial (SEDM) activities.

====Relations With Neighbors====
Slovenia's bilateral relations with its neighbors are generally harmonious and cooperative. However, there remain a few unresolved disputes with Croatia related to the succession of the former Yugoslavia, including demarcation of their common border. In addition, unlike the other successor states of the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia did not normalize relations with Serbia and Montenegro until after the passing from power of Slobodan Milosevic (although the Slovenes did open a representative office in Podgorica to work with Montenegrin President Djukanovic's government).

With its entry into the European Union, Slovenia has become a strong advocate for the inclusion of other former Yugoslav republics into Euro-Atlantic institutions. Slovenia's strong political ties to the region are complemented by strong economic ties. Slovenia is among the largest foreign investors in the region.

====Italy====
Italian-Slovenian bilateral relations are also very good. By mid-1996, property restitution disputes derived from World War II had been set aside, allowing a dramatic improvement in relations. In 2001, the Italian Senate voted final approval of legislation resolving some minor differences remaining over minority rights issues and over the compensation for property abandoned by Italian refugees fleeing communist Yugoslavia in the postwar period. Recently there have been some accusations of Italians not consulting with Slovenia regarding their plans with gas terminals in the middle of the bay and near the Slovene-Italian land border, which could have an environmental impact on Slovenia as well.

====Hungary====
Relations are excellent with Hungary. Hungarian (as well as Italian) minorities in Slovenia are accorded special treatment under the Slovenian constitution, including a permanent parliamentary seat. Within the Multilateral Cooperation Initiative between Slovenia, Italy, Hungary, and Croatia, cooperation exists in numerous fields, including military (Multinational Land Force peacekeeping brigade), transportation, combating money laundering and organized crime, non-proliferation, border crossings, and environmental issues.

====Austria====
Austro-Slovenian relations are close with occasional disputes related to support for the other country's minorities. In 2005 and 2006 this was dominated by an ongoing question about whether to allow bilingual (German and Slovenian) signage on Austrian territory near the Slovenian border. Questions regarding nuclear power in Slovenia and the basis for the settlement of the Austrian State Treaty appear to have been solved. Economic cooperation is expanding, including a joint project for development of border regions.

====Croatia====
Though somewhat rocky at times, Croatian-Slovenian relations are solid. Outstanding issues include a few remaining maritime and land border disputes, property rights, Croatian depositors' savings in the Ljubljanska Banka from Yugoslav times, and Krsko nuclear plant. In 2003, Croatia declared its intention to claim a 200-mile exclusive economic zone in the Adriatic Sea, which would effectively cut off Slovenia's use of international waters. Multilateral discussions among Slovenia, Croatia, and Italy on this issue continue with the European Commission's participation. In a series of high-level meetings since the latter half of 1998, Slovenia and Croatia have been engaged in settling bilateral differences, a process that accelerated after the death of Croatian President Franjo Tudjman in 1999 and has intensified under the government of Prime Minister Janez Jansa elected in October 2004. In order to aid the stabilization of this part of Europe, Slovenia has supported Croatia's efforts to draw closer to European institutions.

Slovenia and Croatia most recently made an effort to improve relations during a joint government session on June 10, 2005 where three bilateral agreements were signed: Joint Statement on Avoiding of Conflicts, Bilateral Agreement on Avoiding Double Taxation, and an establishment of a joint Historical Commission for the border issue. Though several nagging issues remain to be solved, less formal meetings between Slovenian and Croatian sides occur regularly.

==Defense==
====Slovenian Armed Forces====
After successful resistance to the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) following the 10-day war of independence in 1991, Slovenia faced the challenge of establishing independent armed forces. The Slovene Armed Forces underwent a major reorganization from 2003 to 2005, with the goal of changing from a conscription-based territorial defense force to a professional, deployable, and combat capable military with NATO. Conscription ended earlier than expected, in October 2003, and compulsory reserve service will end by 2010. As of September 2007, Slovenia's professional force included 7,143 soldiers and 9,063 reservists. The current force structure consists of one fully professional motorized infantry brigade and two cadre/reserve force mechanized brigades. The professional brigade represents Slovenia's deployable reaction force. The Slovene Armed Forces also include a small air force, equipped with helicopters and turbo-prop fixed wing aircraft, and a naval attachment, including a coastal patrol boat. The United States provides bilateral military assistance to Slovenia, including through the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program, the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program, the State Partnership Program (aligned with Colorado), the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, the EUCOM Joint Contact Team Program, and the Regional Counterterrorism Fellowship Program (CTFP).

====NATO====
After receiving an invitation to join NATO at the NATO Prague Summit in November 2002, Slovenes approved NATO accession with a vote of 66% in a March 2003 referendum. The National Assembly ratified accession to the North Atlantic Treaty in February 2004, and Slovenia officially became a member of the Alliance on March 29, 2004. After gaining independence, Slovenia avidly sought NATO membership as part of its overall strategy of integration into the most important international economic, financial, and security organizations.

Slovenia's current international commitments show its willingness to become a co-provider of security in the region. Slovenia contributed helicopters, medical personnel, military police, and an infantry company to the NATO Stabilization Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (SFOR) and continues to be very active in the European Union Force (EUFOR), with 54 troops deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina (ALTHEA, EUFOR, Joint Enterprise, NATO). In Kosovo, Slovenia actively participates in the NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR) with 169 troops. In March 2004, Slovenia sent a detachment of special operations troops, along with some vehicles, to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan. Today, the total number of Slovenian personnel in ISAF stands at 65. In February 2006, Slovenia sent four instructors to the NATO Training Mission in Iraq, two of which are still there. There are also 12 troops in Lebanon (UNIFIL), 2 in Syria (UNTSO), and 2 in the U.S. (CENTCOM, NATO).

The Government of Slovenia has diligently pursued its restructuring, reorganization, modernization, and procurement with the paramount goal of NATO interoperability. The United States has encouraged Slovenia to maintain the pace of reform--including the establishment of closer links with regional partners--even following its attainment of full membership in NATO.

==Economy==
Slovenia's economic success clearly illustrates the benefits of embracing liberal trade, following the rule of law, and rewarding enterprise. This success, however, is not unprecedented for Slovenia. Although it comprised only about one-thirteenth of Yugoslavia's total population, it was the most productive of the Yugoslav republics, accounting for one-fifth of its GDP and one-third of its exports. The country already enjoyed a relatively prosperous economy and strong market ties to the West when it gained independence in 1991. Since independence, Slovenia has pursued diversification of its trade toward the West and integration into Western and transatlantic institutions vigorously. In so doing, it has made substantial progress in its transition to a market economy, particularly becoming party to a number of bilateral and regional free trade agreements. Slovenia is a founding member of the WTO and joined the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) in 1996. Slovenia also participates in SECI, as well as in the Central European Initiative, the Royaumont Process, and the Black Sea Economic Council. Slovenia became a new EU member state on May 1, 2004.

Today, Slovenia is one the best economic performers in central and eastern Europe, with a GDP per capita in PPP in 2006 at € 19,200. Slovenia benefits from a well-educated and productive work force as well as dynamic and effective political and economic institutions. Although Slovenia has taken a cautious, deliberate approach to economic management and reform, with heavy emphasis on achieving consensus before proceeding, its overall record is one of relative success.

Slovenia has enjoyed healthy growth figures for the past 8 years, averaging 4.0% annual GDP growth. The European economic slowdown reduced the pace of growth somewhat beginning in 2001. GDP grew by 5.2% in 2006. Slovenia's economy is highly dependent on foreign trade. About two-thirds of Slovenia's trade is with the EU. Additionally, the country has penetrated successfully the south and east markets, including the former Soviet Union region. This high level of openness makes Slovenia extremely sensitive to economic conditions in its main trading partners and changes in its international price competitiveness. Keeping labor costs in line with productivity is thus a key challenge for Slovenia's economic well-being. Services contributed the most to the national output in 2006, accounting for 62% of GDP. Industry and construction comprised 34.7% of GDP; and, agriculture, forestry, and fishing accounted for 2.3% of GDP.

Economic management in Slovenia is relatively good. Public finances showed modest deficit of 1.2% of GDP in 2006. The government policy is aimed toward bringing the deficit to 1% of GDP by 2009. The budget of 2006 constrains public deficit to 1.4% of GDP, well within Maastricht parameters. The current account balance has improved significantly as a result of stronger exports and a changed composition of imports by economic purpose. In 2006, the current account balance showed a deficit of € 773 million. After the adoption of the Euro, controlling inflation remains a top government priority.

Due to its macroeconomic stability, favorable foreign debt position, and successful accession to the EU, Slovenia consistently receives the highest credit rating of all transition economies--receiving the top regional honors in a recent Dunn & Bradstreet survey. Slovenia's ability to meet its growth rate objectives will largely depend on the state of the world economy, since exports demand in Slovenia's primary market has stalled. Foreign direct investment (FDI) will take up the slack to some extent, as analysts forecast FDI levels will continue to increase with further privatization of state assets, including portions of the telecommunications, financial, and energy sectors. Slovenia must carefully address fiscal, monetary, and FDI policy, in light of the high deficit in pension accounts, its vulnerable Western export markets, and inflation concerns. Slovenian enterprises have a tradition of market orientation that has served them well in the transition period, as they moved energetically to reorient trade from former Yugoslav markets to those of central and eastern Europe. However, in many cases under the Slovenian brand of privatization, managers and workers in formerly "socially owned" enterprises have become the majority shareholders, perpetuating the practices of "worker management" that were the hallmark of the Yugoslav brand of socialism. Difficulties associated with that model are expected to decrease under competitive pressures, as shares in these firms change hands, and as EU reforms introduce more Western-oriented governance practices.

Slovenia has taken some important steps in recent years to free up its financial markets. This sector historically has been one of the most protected, reflecting Slovenian concerns over limited capacity to face global competition and a desire to maintain domestic control over finance. A combination of market forces, changes in Bank of Slovenia regulations, and national legislation are moving this sector increasingly in a more globally oriented direction. In 2003, several measures were introduced to make both portfolio and direct investments easier and more transparent in Slovenia and to conduct many financial operations, including banking, securities brokering, and undertaking various credit transactions. Most remaining barriers were removed by May 1, 2004--for instance, marketing of foreign mutual investment funds is now allowed. The banking sector also is showing signs of stirring from its relative inactivity, as pressures build to consolidate Slovenia's myriad banks and as privatization of two of the largest banks proceeds. While Belgian KBC is the main owner of Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB) with 34%, little progress has been made in the privatization of NKBM bank, Slovenia's largest bank, which is still 100% state owned. The government continues to downsize state shares in the insurance sector; however, the government-owned Triglav still controls nearly half of the insurance market. Other insurance companies have been privatized or are foreign-owned.

Government efforts and reforms designed to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) have proven somewhat successful--FDI is continuing to slowly grow. However, FDI fell sharply in 2003 due to a lack of any major privatization deal or foreign acquisition. Slovenia's traditional anti-inflation policy in the past relied heavily on capital inflow restrictions. Its slow privatization process favored domestic investors and prescribed long lag time on share trading, complicated by a cultural wariness of being "bought up" by foreigners. As such, Slovenia has had a number of impediments to full foreign participation in its economy. However, a number of these barriers to FDI were fully removed in 2002. As a result, expected foreign takeovers of Slovenian blue chip companies, as well as EU membership, have fueled investors' interest in the country. Acquisitions by multinational companies--KBC of Belgium's takeover of significant share of Nova Ljubljanska Banka, Swiss Novartis' takeover of Lek Pharmaceuticals, and recent interest of foreigners in national telecom--clearly demonstrate the attractiveness of the Slovenian economy, particularly to European investors seeking a platform to support expansion into southeastern Europe. U.S. investments in Slovenia have been more modest; Goodyear is the largest American investor. Even with these successes, much of the economy remains in state hands and foreign direct investment in Slovenia is one of the lowest in the EU on a per capita basis.

The current government's ability to follow through on pledges to accelerate privatization of a number of large state holdings and increase FDI will be key to Slovenia's economic future. In late 2005, the government's new Committee for Economic Reforms was elevated to cabinet-level status with a program including plans for lowering the tax burden, privatizing state-controlled firms, improving the flexibility of the labor market, and increasing the government's efficiency. Many of the committee members and heads have resigned due to inability to make any significant progress. Though progress has been stalled on the program, the Jansa government has pledged to move forward with the planned reforms, which also in the vast majority have not been realized thus far. Slovenia's position with respect to other central and eastern European (CEE) countries will decline without vigorous pursuit of economic reform.
*GDP (2006): € 33,177 million.
*Real GDP growth rate (2006): 5.2%, (2007 est.): 4.7%.
*GDP per capita in PPP (2006): € 19,200.
*Natural resources: Coal, mercury, timber.
*Agriculture/forestry/fishing (approx. 2.3% of 2006 GDP): Products--wheat, corn, poultry, beef, pork, milk, potatoes, orchard fruits, wine.
*Industry (approx. 34.7% of 2006 GDP): Types--electrical equipment, chemical products, textiles, food products, electricity, metal products, wood products, transportation equipment.
*Services (approx. 62.9% of 2006 GDP): Types--retail, transportation, communications, real estate and other business activities.
*Trade: Exports (2006: € 16.757 million)--machinery, transportation equipment, manufactured articles, chemical products. To U.S.--$506 million (2006). Imports (2006: €18.341 million)--machinery, transportation equipment, manufactured articles, mineral fuels and lubricants. From U.S.--$289 million (2004). Major trading partners--Germany, Italy, France, Austria, Croatia. Trade with the U.S. accounts for about 1.5% of total trade.
Foreign direct investment in 2005: € 93 million (1.6% of total FDI in Slovenia).

==History==
Slovenia is today a vibrant democracy, but the roots of this democracy go back deep in Slovene history. According to the 16th century French political philosopher, Jean Bodin, Slovenes practiced the unique custom of the Installation of the Dukes of Carinthia for almost 1,000 years, until the late 14th century.

From as early as the 9th century, Slovenia had fallen under foreign rulers, including partial control by Bavarian dukes and the Republic of Venice. With the exception of Napoleon's 4-year tutelage of parts of Slovenia and Croatia--the "Illyrian Provinces"--Slovenia was part of the Habsburg Empire from the 14th century until 1918. Nevertheless, Slovenia resisted Germanizing influences and retained its unique Slavic language and culture.

After the successful Catholic [[Counter Reformation]], the Catholic Church again became dominant and Protestants were left only in the Upper Mur region by 1720.

===Yugoslavia===
In 1918, Slovenia joined with other southern Slav states in forming the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes as part of the peace plan at the end of World War I. Renamed in 1929 under a Serbian monarch, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia fell to the Axis powers during World War II. Following communist partisan resistance to German, Hungarian, and Italian occupation and elimination of rival resistance groups, socialist Yugoslavia was born under the helm of Josip Broz Tito. During the communist era, Slovenia became Yugoslavia's most prosperous republic, at the forefront of Yugoslavia's unique version of communism.

Within a few years of Tito's death in 1980, Belgrade initiated plans to further concentrate political and economic power in its hands. Defying the politicians in Belgrade, Slovenia underwent a flowering of democracy and an opening of its society in cultural, civic, and economic realms to a degree almost unprecedented in the communist world.
===Independence===
In September 1989, the General Assembly of the Yugoslav Republic of Slovenia adopted an amendment to its constitution asserting Slovenia's right to secede from Yugoslavia. On December 23, 1990, 88% of Slovenia's population voted for independence in a referendum, and on June 25, 1991, the Republic of Slovenia declared its independence. A nearly bloodless 10-day war with Yugoslavia followed. Yugoslav forces withdrew after Slovenia demonstrated stiff resistance to Belgrade.

As a young independent republic, Slovenia pursued economic stabilization and further political openness, while emphasizing its Western outlook and central European heritage. Reflecting its success in these goals, Slovenia became a member both of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU) in March and May, respectively, of 2004.

Today Slovenia is a stable democracy that is increasing its international engagement. Slovenia is one of the top foreign investors in the former Yugoslavia, and a charter World Trade Organization (WTO) member. Members of the Slovenian Armed Forces are participating in NATO, EU, and UN operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, and elsewhere. Slovenia served as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chairman-in-Office in 2005, was the Chairman of the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors in 2006-2007, and is preparing to be the first of the ten 2004 EU newcomers to hold the EU's rotating presidency in the first half of 2008. Though small in size, Slovenia enjoys a growing regional profile and plays a role on the world stage that is out of proportion to its size.

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!colspan=2 style="width: 100%; text-align: center; background-color: #000088; color: white; "|'''Copyright Details'''
|-
!style="background-color: #000088; color:white;"|License:
|style=" background-color: none;"| This work is in the [[Public Domain]] in the United States because it is a work of the United States Federal Government under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the U.S. Code
|-
!style=" background-color: #000088; color:white;"|Source:
|style="background-color: none;border-top: 2px solid black"| File available from the {{{1|[[United States Federal Government]] [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3407.htm]}}}.
|}
==see also==
* [[Yugoslavia]]

{{European Union}}

[[Category:Balkans]]
[[Category:European Countries]]
[[Category:Slovenia]]
[[Category:Christian-Majority Countries]]

Bicameral legislature

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#REDIRECT [[Bicameral Legislature]]

Constitutional republic

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#REDIRECT [[Constitutional Republic]]

World Bank Group

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#REDIRECT [[World Bank]]

Hungarian

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Ty: Please, move this article to Hungarian language Compare with German and German language

The '''Hungarian language''' is member of the [[Finno-Ugric]] branch of languages; however, the set of the basic Hungarian words contains more than 300 Turkic words.

The Hungarian language is spoken by 10 million people in [[Hungary]] and about 5-6 million people outside of [[Hungary]].

==Linguistic periods of the Hungarian language==
The Hungarian linguistics uses the following system:<ref>Kiss, Jenő and Pusztai, Ferenc (2003, ed.): Magyar Nyelvtörténet [Hungarian Language History], Budapest: Osiris Kiadó</ref>
*'''Ancient Hungarian Period''' (1000 BC-896)
*'''Old Hungarian Period''' (896-1526)
*'''Middle Hungarian Period''' (1526-1772)
*'''New Hungarian Period''' (1772-1920)
*'''Latest Hungarian Period''' (1920-present-day)

==Orthography==

The official script is the Hungarian Latin based script, it is shortly called as '''Hungarian alphabet''' or '''Hungarian [[orthography]]'''. Its earlier version is called '''Old Hungarian orthography'''. The Old Hungarian orthography was in use up to 1832.

Moreover, there are two historical scripts, which are used for presenting the Hungarian language:
* [[Szekely-Hungarian Rovas]]
* [[Carpathian Basin Rovas]]

==References==
*Benkő, Loránd (1991, editor-in-chief): A magyar nyelv történeti nyelvtana. A korai ómagyar kor és előzményei [The historical grammar of the Hungarian language. The early Old Hungarian period and its preliminaries]. Vol. I. Editors: Erzsébet E. Abaffy and Endre Rácz. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó.
*Benkő, Loránd (1998): Név és történelem. Tanulmányok az Árpád-korról [Name and history. Studies about the Arpadian age]. Budapest.
*Benkő, Loránd (1999): A székely nemzetségnevek történetéhez [To the history of the Szekely clan names]. In: Emlékkönyv Imreh István születésének nyolcvanadik évfordulójára [Album for the 80th birthday of István Imreh]. Erdélyi Múzeum-Egyesület, Kolozsvár, pp. 47-58.
*Benkő, Loránd (2001): Észrevételek Erdély déli részeinek korai Árpád-kori történetéhez [Observations to the history of the south parts of Transylvania in the early Arpadian age]. In: Erdély a keresztény Magyar Királyságban [Transylvania in the Christian Hungarian Kingdom]. Ser. Erdélyi Tudományos Füzetek [Scientific Booklets of Transylvania] No. 231. Ser. ed.: Gyula Dávid. ISBN 973 8231 05 1, Kolozsvár, pp. 7-68.
*Benkő, Loránd (2002): Az ómagyar nyelv tanúságtétele [Testimony of the Ancient Hungarian language]. Perújítás Dél-Erdély korai Árpád-kori történetéről [Revision of the judgment of the history of South Transylvania in the Early Arpadian age]. In: Társadalmi és Művelődéstörténeti Tanulmányok [Studies of Social and History of Culture]. Budapest: Institute of History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2002. ISBN: 963 9312 815.
*Benkő, Loránd (editor-in-chief) (1992-1994): Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Ungarischen. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Vol. I–II. 1992, Vol. III. 1993, Vol. IV. 1994.
*E. Abaffy, Erzsébet (1992): Az igemód- és igeidőrendszer [The systems of the grammatical mood and tense]. In: TNyt. Vol. II, No. 1, pp. 120-183
*Kiss, Jenő and Szűts, László (1991, ed.): Tanumányok a magyar nyelvtudomány történetének témaköréből [Studies from the topic of the history of the Hungarian linguistics], Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó
*Kiss, Jenő (2001): Magyar dialektológia [Hungarian Dialectology]. Osiris, Budapest, ISBN 9789633798799

== Notes ==
<references>

[[Category:Languages]]
[[Category:Europe]]
[[Category:Writing systems]]
[[Category:Alphabets]]

Slovenia

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{{Country
|name =''Republika Slovenija''
|map =Slovenia rel00.jpg
|flag =Flag of Slovenia.png
|arms =Arms of Slovenia.png
|capital =Ljubljana
|capital-raw =
|government =Parliamentary republic
|government-raw =
|language =Slovenian
|king =
|queen =
|monarch-raw =
|president =Danilo Türk
|president-raw =
|chancellor =
|chancellor-raw =
|pm =Janez Janša
|pm-raw =
|area =7,827 sq mi
|pop =2,019,406
|pop-basis =2007
|gdp =$47.841 billion
|gdp-year =2007
|gdp-pc =$26,576
|currency =Euro
|idd =
|tld =
}}
'''Slovenia''' is a [[Balkan]] country in Central Europe that was once part of [[Yugoslavia]].

==Geography==
Slovenia is situated at the crossroads of central Europe, the [[Mediterranean]], and the Balkans. The [[Alps]]--including the Julian Alps, the Kamnik-Savinja Alps, the Karavanke chain, and the Pohorje Massif--dominate northern Slovenia near [[Austria]]. Slovenia's [[Adriatic]] coastline extends for approximately 48 kilometers (30 mi.) from [[Italy]] to [[Croatia]]. The term "karst"--a [[limestone]] region of underground rivers, gorges, and caves--originated in Slovenia's Karst plateau between [[Ljubljana]] and the Italian border. On the Pannonian plain to the east and northeast, toward the Croatian and [[Hungary|Hungarian]] borders, the landscape is essentially flat. However, the majority of Slovenian terrain is hilly or mountainous, with around 90% of the surface 200 meters or more above [[sea level]].

==People==
The majority of Slovenia's population is Slovene (over 83%). [[Hungarians]] and Italians have the status of indigenous minorities under the Slovenian constitution, which guarantees them seats in the National Assembly. Most other minority groups, particularly those from the former Yugoslavia, immigrated after [[World War II]] for economic reasons. Slovenes are predominantly [[Roman Catholic]], though the country also has a small number of [[Protestants]], [[Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christians]], [[Islam|Muslims]], and [[Jews]]. [[Slovene language|Slovene]] is a [[Slavic language]], written in the Roman script.
*Population (June 2006): 2,008,516. Annual growth rate (2006): 0.35%.
*[[Ethnic group]]s (2002 census): Slovenes 83.06%, Croats 1.81%, Serbs 1.98%, Bosniaks 1.10%, [[Hungarians]] 0.32%, Montenegrins 0.14%, Macedonians 0.20%, Albanians 0.31%, Italians 0.11%, [[Roma]] 0.17%.
*Religions (2002 census): [[Roman Catholic]] 57.8%, refused to reply 15.7%, [[atheist]] 10.1%, [[Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christians]] 2.3%, [[Islam|Muslim]] 2.4%.
*Languages: The official language is [[Slovene language|Slovene]]. [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] and [[Italian language|Italian]] are spoken in the border regions, and [[German language|German]] fluency is common near the Austrian border. [[Bosnian language|Bosnian]], [[Croatian language|Croatian]], and [[Serbian language|Serbian]] are spoken by a sizable (6% of the population) minority. [[English language|English]] is widely understood by business people and students.
*Education: Elementary school (26.1%), high school (54.1%), 2, and 4-year university degree (13%). Data according to 2002 census.
*Health: Infant mortality rate (2006)--3.4/1,000 births. [[Life expectancy]] (2006)--74.84 years for men, 81.89 years for women.
*Work force (2006): 1,030,000.

==Government and Political Conditions==
Slovenia enjoys excellent relations with the United States and cooperates with it actively on a number of fronts. From 1998 to 2000, Slovenia occupied a non-permanent seat on the United Nations (UN) Security Council and in that capacity distinguished itself with a constructive, creative, and consensus-oriented activism. Slovenia has been a member of the UN since May 1992 and of the Council of Europe since May 1993. Slovenia signed an association agreement with the EU in 1996 and became a full EU member state on May 1, 2004. Slovenia officially became a member of NATO on March 29, 2004. Slovenia is a member of all major international financial institutions--the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank Group, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development--as well as 40 other international organizations, among them the WTO, of which it is a founding member.

Since the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia has instituted a stable, multi-party, democratic political system, characterized by regular elections, a free press, and an excellent human rights record. Slovenia is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional republic. Within its government, power is shared between a directly elected president, a prime minister, and a bicameral legislature (Parliament). Parliament is composed of the 90-member National Assembly--which takes the lead on virtually all legislative issues--and the National Council, a largely advisory body composed of representatives from social, economic, professional, and local interests. The Constitutional Court has the highest power of review of legislation to ensure its consistency with Slovenia's constitution. Its nine judges are elected by the National Assembly for a single 9-year term.

Slovenia's first President, Milan Kucan, concluded his second and final term in December 2002. Prime Minister Janez Drnovšek defeated opposition candidate Barbara Brezigar in the 2002 presidential elections by a comfortable margin and was inaugurated as Kucan's successor on December 22, 2002. Finance Minister Anton Rop succeeded Drnovšek as Prime Minister in December 2002, and his center-left governing coalition commanded an almost two-thirds majority in the National Assembly until October 2004. In the October 2004 election, Janez Jansa's center-right Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) made a strong showing, winning a relative majority with over 29% of the vote. Janez Jansa was sworn in as Prime Minister on November 9, 2004 and the National Assembly confirmed the new cabinet on December 3.

The government and most of the Slovenian polity share a common view of the desirability of a close association with the West, specifically of membership in both the EU and NATO. For all the apparent bitterness that divides left and right wings, there are few fundamental philosophical differences between them in the area of public policy. Slovenian society is built on consensus, which has converged on a social-democrat model. Political differences tend to have their roots in the roles that groups and individuals played during the years of communist rule and the struggle for independence.

As the most prosperous republic of the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia emerged from its brief 10-day war of secession in 1991 as an independent nation for the first time in its history. Since that time, the country has made steady but cautious progress toward developing a market economy. Economic reforms introduced shortly after independence led to healthy economic growth. Despite the halting pace of reform and signs of slowing gross domestic product (GDP) growth today, Slovenes now enjoy the highest per capita income of all the transition economies of central Europe.

The Slovenes have pursued internal economic restructuring with caution. The Jansa government, elected on a platform supporting widespread economic reform, has found delivering on its ambitious promises more challenging than expected. The first phase of privatization (socially-owned property under the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, or S.F.R.Y., system) is now complete. However, sales of several remaining large state holdings, planned for several years now, have yet to come to fruition. The Jansa government has said that it is committed to seeing this final stage of privatization happen under its administration.

Foreign trade is very important to the Slovenian economy. Nearly two-thirds of Slovenia's overall trade is with the EU and the vast majority of this is with Germany, Italy, Austria, and France. While the service sector is the largest part of the economy as a percentage of GDP, manufacturing accounts for most employment, with machinery and other manufactured products comprising the major exports. Labor force surveys put unemployment at 6% (2006). Inflation continued to decline from 3.6% in 2004 to 2.5% in 2005 and 2006. Gross domestic product grew by about 5.2% in 2006. Slovenia joined the Euro Zone in January 2007, the first and only of the 12 new EU members to join.

In the 15 years since independence, Slovenia has made tremendous progress establishing democratic institutions, enshrining respect for human rights, establishing a market economy, and adapting its military to Western norms and standards. In contrast to its southern neighbors, civil tranquility and strong economic growth have marked this period. Upon achieving independence, Slovenia offered citizenship to all residents, regardless of ethnicity or origin, avoiding a sectarian trap that has caught out many central European countries. However, debate continues on how best to accommodate an estimated 18,000 undocumented non-Slovenes who were resident in Slovenia at the time of independence, but whose records were "erased" when they did not take citizenship. Many in this group have regularized their status or left the country; however, it is estimated that around 4000 cases remain unresolved. Slovenia willingly accepted nearly 100,000 refugees from the fighting in Bosnia and has since participated in international stabilization efforts in the region.

On the international front, Slovenia has rapidly integrated into the Euro-Atlantic community of nations. With successful NATO (66% in favor) and EU (91% in favor) referenda in March 2003, Slovenia achieved upon accession in 2004 its two primary foreign policy goals--membership in the EU and NATO. In 2005, Slovenia served as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chairman-in-Office. Slovenia also participates in the Stability Pact and the Southeast Europe Cooperation Initiative (SECI). Slovenia is one of the focus countries for the U.S. southeast European policy aimed at reinforcing regional stability and integration. The Slovenian Government is well-positioned to be an influential partner for other southeast European governments at different stages of reform and integration, and has introduced initiatives towards this goal, including the establishment of the Center for European Perspective and the Bled Strategic Forum. To these ends, the U.S. urges Slovenia to maintain momentum on internal economic, political, and legal reforms, while expanding their international cooperation as resources allow. U.S. and allied efforts to assist Slovenia's military restructuring and modernization efforts are ongoing. Slovenia faces its largest challenge since independence when it will be the first of the ten 2004 EU newcomers to hold the EU's rotating presidency in January 2008.

===Principal Government Officials===
*President--[[Danilo Türk]]
*Prime Minister--Janez Janša

===Foreign Relations and Regional Cooperation===
In regular public statements, Slovenia's highest politicians underscore their government's commitment to expanding cooperative arrangements with neighbors and active contributions to international efforts aimed at bringing stability to southeast Europe. Resource limitations are a concern for the government, which does not wish to see itself spread too thin. Nonetheless, the Slovenes are taking concrete steps toward a more outward looking and constructive role in regional and international security arrangements, as resources allow.

====Multilateral====
*The Slovenian Armed Forces has over 300 troops deployed to support the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, the NATO Training Mission (NTM-I) in Iraq, EU Mission Althea in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR), and several other multilateral operations.
*Slovenia takes an active role in humanitarian assistance with donations to the victims of the Southeast Asian tsunami, the Pakistani earthquake, and Hurricane Katrina, as well as ongoing assistance to refugees in Darfur and support for the World Food Program.
*Through its International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance (ITF), Slovenia has created the demining instrument of choice for the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the rest of the Balkans, and now even further afield in Central Asia and Cyprus. The organization has raised over $203 million since its inception in 1998 (with the United States contributing over $92 million).
*Slovenia served as Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE in 2005 and the Chairman of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors for 2006-2007.
*Slovenia is engaged with 29 countries in bilateral military exchange--most actively with the U.S.--and in regional cooperative arrangements in central and southeast Europe; it participates in or intends to contribute forces for five major multinational regional peacekeeping bodies.
*Slovenia participates in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) to halt the [[proliferation]] of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), their delivery systems, and related materials worldwide.
*Slovenia has ratified all 13 international anti-terrorism conventions.
*Slovenia is party to the Wassenaar arrangement controlling exports of weapons and sensitive technology to countries of concern
*Slovenia is an active participant in Southeast European Defense Ministerial (SEDM) activities.

====Relations With Neighbors====
Slovenia's bilateral relations with its neighbors are generally harmonious and cooperative. However, there remain a few unresolved disputes with Croatia related to the succession of the former Yugoslavia, including demarcation of their common border. In addition, unlike the other successor states of the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia did not normalize relations with Serbia and Montenegro until after the passing from power of Slobodan Milosevic (although the Slovenes did open a representative office in Podgorica to work with Montenegrin President Djukanovic's government).

With its entry into the European Union, Slovenia has become a strong advocate for the inclusion of other former Yugoslav republics into Euro-Atlantic institutions. Slovenia's strong political ties to the region are complemented by strong economic ties. Slovenia is among the largest foreign investors in the region.

====Italy====
Italian-Slovenian bilateral relations are also very good. By mid-1996, property restitution disputes derived from World War II had been set aside, allowing a dramatic improvement in relations. In 2001, the Italian Senate voted final approval of legislation resolving some minor differences remaining over minority rights issues and over the compensation for property abandoned by Italian refugees fleeing communist Yugoslavia in the postwar period. Recently there have been some accusations of Italians not consulting with Slovenia regarding their plans with gas terminals in the middle of the bay and near the Slovene-Italian land border, which could have an environmental impact on Slovenia as well.

====Hungary====
Relations are excellent with Hungary. Hungarian (as well as Italian) minorities in Slovenia are accorded special treatment under the Slovenian constitution, including a permanent parliamentary seat. Within the Multilateral Cooperation Initiative between Slovenia, Italy, Hungary, and Croatia, cooperation exists in numerous fields, including military (Multinational Land Force peacekeeping brigade), transportation, combating money laundering and organized crime, non-proliferation, border crossings, and environmental issues.

====Austria====
Austro-Slovenian relations are close with occasional disputes related to support for the other country's minorities. In 2005 and 2006 this was dominated by an ongoing question about whether to allow bilingual (German and Slovenian) signage on Austrian territory near the Slovenian border. Questions regarding nuclear power in Slovenia and the basis for the settlement of the Austrian State Treaty appear to have been solved. Economic cooperation is expanding, including a joint project for development of border regions.

====Croatia====
Though somewhat rocky at times, Croatian-Slovenian relations are solid. Outstanding issues include a few remaining maritime and land border disputes, property rights, Croatian depositors' savings in the Ljubljanska Banka from Yugoslav times, and Krsko nuclear plant. In 2003, Croatia declared its intention to claim a 200-mile exclusive economic zone in the Adriatic Sea, which would effectively cut off Slovenia's use of international waters. Multilateral discussions among Slovenia, Croatia, and Italy on this issue continue with the European Commission's participation. In a series of high-level meetings since the latter half of 1998, Slovenia and Croatia have been engaged in settling bilateral differences, a process that accelerated after the death of Croatian President Franjo Tudjman in 1999 and has intensified under the government of Prime Minister Janez Jansa elected in October 2004. In order to aid the stabilization of this part of Europe, Slovenia has supported Croatia's efforts to draw closer to European institutions.

Slovenia and Croatia most recently made an effort to improve relations during a joint government session on June 10, 2005 where three bilateral agreements were signed: Joint Statement on Avoiding of Conflicts, Bilateral Agreement on Avoiding Double Taxation, and an establishment of a joint Historical Commission for the border issue. Though several nagging issues remain to be solved, less formal meetings between Slovenian and Croatian sides occur regularly.

==Defense==
====Slovenian Armed Forces====
After successful resistance to the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) following the 10-day war of independence in 1991, Slovenia faced the challenge of establishing independent armed forces. The Slovene Armed Forces underwent a major reorganization from 2003 to 2005, with the goal of changing from a conscription-based territorial defense force to a professional, deployable, and combat capable military with NATO. Conscription ended earlier than expected, in October 2003, and compulsory reserve service will end by 2010. As of September 2007, Slovenia's professional force included 7,143 soldiers and 9,063 reservists. The current force structure consists of one fully professional motorized infantry brigade and two cadre/reserve force mechanized brigades. The professional brigade represents Slovenia's deployable reaction force. The Slovene Armed Forces also include a small air force, equipped with helicopters and turbo-prop fixed wing aircraft, and a naval attachment, including a coastal patrol boat. The United States provides bilateral military assistance to Slovenia, including through the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program, the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program, the State Partnership Program (aligned with Colorado), the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, the EUCOM Joint Contact Team Program, and the Regional Counterterrorism Fellowship Program (CTFP).

====NATO====
After receiving an invitation to join NATO at the NATO Prague Summit in November 2002, Slovenes approved NATO accession with a vote of 66% in a March 2003 referendum. The National Assembly ratified accession to the North Atlantic Treaty in February 2004, and Slovenia officially became a member of the Alliance on March 29, 2004. After gaining independence, Slovenia avidly sought NATO membership as part of its overall strategy of integration into the most important international economic, financial, and security organizations.

Slovenia's current international commitments show its willingness to become a co-provider of security in the region. Slovenia contributed helicopters, medical personnel, military police, and an infantry company to the NATO Stabilization Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (SFOR) and continues to be very active in the European Union Force (EUFOR), with 54 troops deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina (ALTHEA, EUFOR, Joint Enterprise, NATO). In Kosovo, Slovenia actively participates in the NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR) with 169 troops. In March 2004, Slovenia sent a detachment of special operations troops, along with some vehicles, to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan. Today, the total number of Slovenian personnel in ISAF stands at 65. In February 2006, Slovenia sent four instructors to the NATO Training Mission in Iraq, two of which are still there. There are also 12 troops in Lebanon (UNIFIL), 2 in Syria (UNTSO), and 2 in the U.S. (CENTCOM, NATO).

The Government of Slovenia has diligently pursued its restructuring, reorganization, modernization, and procurement with the paramount goal of NATO interoperability. The United States has encouraged Slovenia to maintain the pace of reform--including the establishment of closer links with regional partners--even following its attainment of full membership in NATO.

==Economy==
Slovenia's economic success clearly illustrates the benefits of embracing liberal trade, following the rule of law, and rewarding enterprise. This success, however, is not unprecedented for Slovenia. Although it comprised only about one-thirteenth of Yugoslavia's total population, it was the most productive of the Yugoslav republics, accounting for one-fifth of its GDP and one-third of its exports. The country already enjoyed a relatively prosperous economy and strong market ties to the West when it gained independence in 1991. Since independence, Slovenia has pursued diversification of its trade toward the West and integration into Western and transatlantic institutions vigorously. In so doing, it has made substantial progress in its transition to a market economy, particularly becoming party to a number of bilateral and regional free trade agreements. Slovenia is a founding member of the WTO and joined the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) in 1996. Slovenia also participates in SECI, as well as in the Central European Initiative, the Royaumont Process, and the Black Sea Economic Council. Slovenia became a new EU member state on May 1, 2004.

Today, Slovenia is one the best economic performers in central and eastern Europe, with a GDP per capita in PPP in 2006 at € 19,200. Slovenia benefits from a well-educated and productive work force as well as dynamic and effective political and economic institutions. Although Slovenia has taken a cautious, deliberate approach to economic management and reform, with heavy emphasis on achieving consensus before proceeding, its overall record is one of relative success.

Slovenia has enjoyed healthy growth figures for the past 8 years, averaging 4.0% annual GDP growth. The European economic slowdown reduced the pace of growth somewhat beginning in 2001. GDP grew by 5.2% in 2006. Slovenia's economy is highly dependent on foreign trade. About two-thirds of Slovenia's trade is with the EU. Additionally, the country has penetrated successfully the south and east markets, including the former Soviet Union region. This high level of openness makes Slovenia extremely sensitive to economic conditions in its main trading partners and changes in its international price competitiveness. Keeping labor costs in line with productivity is thus a key challenge for Slovenia's economic well-being. Services contributed the most to the national output in 2006, accounting for 62% of GDP. Industry and construction comprised 34.7% of GDP; and, agriculture, forestry, and fishing accounted for 2.3% of GDP.

Economic management in Slovenia is relatively good. Public finances showed modest deficit of 1.2% of GDP in 2006. The government policy is aimed toward bringing the deficit to 1% of GDP by 2009. The budget of 2006 constrains public deficit to 1.4% of GDP, well within Maastricht parameters. The current account balance has improved significantly as a result of stronger exports and a changed composition of imports by economic purpose. In 2006, the current account balance showed a deficit of € 773 million. After the adoption of the Euro, controlling inflation remains a top government priority.

Due to its macroeconomic stability, favorable foreign debt position, and successful accession to the EU, Slovenia consistently receives the highest credit rating of all transition economies--receiving the top regional honors in a recent Dunn & Bradstreet survey. Slovenia's ability to meet its growth rate objectives will largely depend on the state of the world economy, since exports demand in Slovenia's primary market has stalled. Foreign direct investment (FDI) will take up the slack to some extent, as analysts forecast FDI levels will continue to increase with further privatization of state assets, including portions of the telecommunications, financial, and energy sectors. Slovenia must carefully address fiscal, monetary, and FDI policy, in light of the high deficit in pension accounts, its vulnerable Western export markets, and inflation concerns. Slovenian enterprises have a tradition of market orientation that has served them well in the transition period, as they moved energetically to reorient trade from former Yugoslav markets to those of central and eastern Europe. However, in many cases under the Slovenian brand of privatization, managers and workers in formerly "socially owned" enterprises have become the majority shareholders, perpetuating the practices of "worker management" that were the hallmark of the Yugoslav brand of socialism. Difficulties associated with that model are expected to decrease under competitive pressures, as shares in these firms change hands, and as EU reforms introduce more Western-oriented governance practices.

Slovenia has taken some important steps in recent years to free up its financial markets. This sector historically has been one of the most protected, reflecting Slovenian concerns over limited capacity to face global competition and a desire to maintain domestic control over finance. A combination of market forces, changes in Bank of Slovenia regulations, and national legislation are moving this sector increasingly in a more globally oriented direction. In 2003, several measures were introduced to make both portfolio and direct investments easier and more transparent in Slovenia and to conduct many financial operations, including banking, securities brokering, and undertaking various credit transactions. Most remaining barriers were removed by May 1, 2004--for instance, marketing of foreign mutual investment funds is now allowed. The banking sector also is showing signs of stirring from its relative inactivity, as pressures build to consolidate Slovenia's myriad banks and as privatization of two of the largest banks proceeds. While Belgian KBC is the main owner of Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB) with 34%, little progress has been made in the privatization of NKBM bank, Slovenia's largest bank, which is still 100% state owned. The government continues to downsize state shares in the insurance sector; however, the government-owned Triglav still controls nearly half of the insurance market. Other insurance companies have been privatized or are foreign-owned.

Government efforts and reforms designed to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) have proven somewhat successful--FDI is continuing to slowly grow. However, FDI fell sharply in 2003 due to a lack of any major privatization deal or foreign acquisition. Slovenia's traditional anti-inflation policy in the past relied heavily on capital inflow restrictions. Its slow privatization process favored domestic investors and prescribed long lag time on share trading, complicated by a cultural wariness of being "bought up" by foreigners. As such, Slovenia has had a number of impediments to full foreign participation in its economy. However, a number of these barriers to FDI were fully removed in 2002. As a result, expected foreign takeovers of Slovenian blue chip companies, as well as EU membership, have fueled investors' interest in the country. Acquisitions by multinational companies--KBC of Belgium's takeover of significant share of Nova Ljubljanska Banka, Swiss Novartis' takeover of Lek Pharmaceuticals, and recent interest of foreigners in national telecom--clearly demonstrate the attractiveness of the Slovenian economy, particularly to European investors seeking a platform to support expansion into southeastern Europe. U.S. investments in Slovenia have been more modest; Goodyear is the largest American investor. Even with these successes, much of the economy remains in state hands and foreign direct investment in Slovenia is one of the lowest in the EU on a per capita basis.

The current government's ability to follow through on pledges to accelerate privatization of a number of large state holdings and increase FDI will be key to Slovenia's economic future. In late 2005, the government's new Committee for Economic Reforms was elevated to cabinet-level status with a program including plans for lowering the tax burden, privatizing state-controlled firms, improving the flexibility of the labor market, and increasing the government's efficiency. Many of the committee members and heads have resigned due to inability to make any significant progress. Though progress has been stalled on the program, the Jansa government has pledged to move forward with the planned reforms, which also in the vast majority have not been realized thus far. Slovenia's position with respect to other central and eastern European (CEE) countries will decline without vigorous pursuit of economic reform.
*GDP (2006): € 33,177 million.
*Real GDP growth rate (2006): 5.2%, (2007 est.): 4.7%.
*GDP per capita in PPP (2006): € 19,200.
*Natural resources: Coal, mercury, timber.
*Agriculture/forestry/fishing (approx. 2.3% of 2006 GDP): Products--wheat, corn, poultry, beef, pork, milk, potatoes, orchard fruits, wine.
*Industry (approx. 34.7% of 2006 GDP): Types--electrical equipment, chemical products, textiles, food products, electricity, metal products, wood products, transportation equipment.
*Services (approx. 62.9% of 2006 GDP): Types--retail, transportation, communications, real estate and other business activities.
*Trade: Exports (2006: € 16.757 million)--machinery, transportation equipment, manufactured articles, chemical products. To U.S.--$506 million (2006). Imports (2006: €18.341 million)--machinery, transportation equipment, manufactured articles, mineral fuels and lubricants. From U.S.--$289 million (2004). Major trading partners--Germany, Italy, France, Austria, Croatia. Trade with the U.S. accounts for about 1.5% of total trade.
Foreign direct investment in 2005: € 93 million (1.6% of total FDI in Slovenia).

==History==
Slovenia is today a vibrant democracy, but the roots of this democracy go back deep in Slovene history. According to the 16th century French political philosopher, Jean Bodin, Slovenes practiced the unique custom of the Installation of the Dukes of Carinthia for almost 1,000 years, until the late 14th century.

From as early as the 9th century, Slovenia had fallen under foreign rulers, including partial control by Bavarian dukes and the Republic of Venice. With the exception of Napoleon's 4-year tutelage of parts of Slovenia and Croatia--the "Illyrian Provinces"--Slovenia was part of the Habsburg Empire from the 14th century until 1918. Nevertheless, Slovenia resisted Germanizing influences and retained its unique Slavic language and culture.

After the successful Catholic [[Counter Reformation]], the Catholic Church again became dominant and Protestants were left only in the Upper Mur region by 1720.

===Yugoslavia===
In 1918, Slovenia joined with other southern Slav states in forming the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes as part of the peace plan at the end of World War I. Renamed in 1929 under a Serbian monarch, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia fell to the Axis powers during World War II. Following communist partisan resistance to German, Hungarian, and Italian occupation and elimination of rival resistance groups, socialist Yugoslavia was born under the helm of Josip Broz Tito. During the communist era, Slovenia became Yugoslavia's most prosperous republic, at the forefront of Yugoslavia's unique version of communism.

Within a few years of Tito's death in 1980, Belgrade initiated plans to further concentrate political and economic power in its hands. Defying the politicians in Belgrade, Slovenia underwent a flowering of democracy and an opening of its society in cultural, civic, and economic realms to a degree almost unprecedented in the communist world.
===Independence===
In September 1989, the General Assembly of the Yugoslav Republic of Slovenia adopted an amendment to its constitution asserting Slovenia's right to secede from Yugoslavia. On December 23, 1990, 88% of Slovenia's population voted for independence in a referendum, and on June 25, 1991, the Republic of Slovenia declared its independence. A nearly bloodless 10-day war with Yugoslavia followed. Yugoslav forces withdrew after Slovenia demonstrated stiff resistance to Belgrade.

As a young independent republic, Slovenia pursued economic stabilization and further political openness, while emphasizing its Western outlook and central European heritage. Reflecting its success in these goals, Slovenia became a member both of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU) in March and May, respectively, of 2004.

Today Slovenia is a stable democracy that is increasing its international engagement. Slovenia is one of the top foreign investors in the former Yugoslavia, and a charter World Trade Organization (WTO) member. Members of the Slovenian Armed Forces are participating in NATO, EU, and UN operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, and elsewhere. Slovenia served as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chairman-in-Office in 2005, was the Chairman of the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors in 2006-2007, and is preparing to be the first of the ten 2004 EU newcomers to hold the EU's rotating presidency in the first half of 2008. Though small in size, Slovenia enjoys a growing regional profile and plays a role on the world stage that is out of proportion to its size.

{| style="width: 100%; background:transparent; border: 2px solid #000099;" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1"
!colspan=2 style="width: 100%; text-align: center; background-color: #000088; color: white; "|'''Copyright Details'''
|-
!style="background-color: #000088; color:white;"|License:
|style=" background-color: none;"| This work is in the [[Public Domain]] in the United States because it is a work of the United States Federal Government under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the U.S. Code
|-
!style=" background-color: #000088; color:white;"|Source:
|style="background-color: none;border-top: 2px solid black"| File available from the {{{1|[[United States Federal Government]] [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3407.htm]}}}.
|}
==see also==
* [[Yugoslavia]]

{{European Union}}

[[Category:Balkans]]
[[Category:European Countries]]
[[Category:Slovenia]]
[[Category:Christian-Majority Countries]]

Slovenia

2012-09-09T22:37:24Z

Ty: /*Geography*/links

{{Country
|name =''Republika Slovenija''
|map =Slovenia rel00.jpg
|flag =Flag of Slovenia.png
|arms =Arms of Slovenia.png
|capital =Ljubljana
|capital-raw =
|government =Parliamentary republic
|government-raw =
|language =Slovenian
|king =
|queen =
|monarch-raw =
|president =Danilo Türk
|president-raw =
|chancellor =
|chancellor-raw =
|pm =Janez Janša
|pm-raw =
|area =7,827 sq mi
|pop =2,019,406
|pop-basis =2007
|gdp =$47.841 billion
|gdp-year =2007
|gdp-pc =$26,576
|currency =Euro
|idd =
|tld =
}}
'''Slovenia''' is a [[Balkan]] country in Central Europe that was once part of [[Yugoslavia]].

==Geography==
Slovenia is situated at the crossroads of central Europe, the [[Mediterranean]], and the Balkans. The [[Alps]]--including the Julian Alps, the Kamnik-Savinja Alps, the Karavanke chain, and the Pohorje Massif--dominate northern Slovenia near [[Austria]]. Slovenia's [[Adriatic]] coastline extends for approximately 48 kilometers (30 mi.) from [[Italy]] to [[Croatia]]. The term "karst"--a [[limestone]] region of underground rivers, gorges, and caves--originated in Slovenia's Karst plateau between [[Ljubljana]] and the Italian border. On the Pannonian plain to the east and northeast, toward the Croatian and [[Hungary|Hungarian]] borders, the landscape is essentially flat. However, the majority of Slovenian terrain is hilly or mountainous, with around 90% of the surface 200 meters or more above [[sea level]].

==People==
The majority of Slovenia's population is Slovene (over 83%). Hungarians and Italians have the status of indigenous minorities under the Slovenian constitution, which guarantees them seats in the National Assembly. Most other minority groups, particularly those from the former Yugoslavia, immigrated after World War II for economic reasons. Slovenes are predominantly Roman Catholic, though the country also has a small number of *Protestants, Orthodox Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Slovene is a Slavic language, written in the Roman script.
*Population (June 2006): 2,008,516. Annual growth rate (2006): 0.35%.
*Ethnic groups (2002 census): Slovenes 83.06%, Croats 1.81%, Serbs 1.98%, Bosniaks 1.10%, Hungarians 0.32%, Montenegrins 0.14%, Macedonians 0.20%, Albanians 0.31%, Italians 0.11%, Roma 0.17%.
*Religions (2002 census): Roman Catholic 57.8%, refused to reply 15.7%, atheist 10.1%, Orthodox Christian 2.3%, Muslim 2.4%.
*Languages: The official language is Slovene. Hungarian and Italian are spoken in the border regions, and German fluency is common near the Austrian border. Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian are spoken by a sizable (6% of the population) minority. English is widely understood by business people and students.
*Education: Elementary school (26.1%), high school (54.1%), 2, and 4-year university degree (13%). Data according to 2002 census.
*Health: Infant mortality rate (2006)--3.4/1,000 births. Life expectancy (2006)--74.84 years for men, 81.89 years for women.
*Work force (2006): 1,030,000.

==Government and Political Conditions==
Slovenia enjoys excellent relations with the United States and cooperates with it actively on a number of fronts. From 1998 to 2000, Slovenia occupied a non-permanent seat on the United Nations (UN) Security Council and in that capacity distinguished itself with a constructive, creative, and consensus-oriented activism. Slovenia has been a member of the UN since May 1992 and of the Council of Europe since May 1993. Slovenia signed an association agreement with the EU in 1996 and became a full EU member state on May 1, 2004. Slovenia officially became a member of NATO on March 29, 2004. Slovenia is a member of all major international financial institutions--the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank Group, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development--as well as 40 other international organizations, among them the WTO, of which it is a founding member.

Since the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia has instituted a stable, multi-party, democratic political system, characterized by regular elections, a free press, and an excellent human rights record. Slovenia is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional republic. Within its government, power is shared between a directly elected president, a prime minister, and a bicameral legislature (Parliament). Parliament is composed of the 90-member National Assembly--which takes the lead on virtually all legislative issues--and the National Council, a largely advisory body composed of representatives from social, economic, professional, and local interests. The Constitutional Court has the highest power of review of legislation to ensure its consistency with Slovenia's constitution. Its nine judges are elected by the National Assembly for a single 9-year term.

Slovenia's first President, Milan Kucan, concluded his second and final term in December 2002. Prime Minister Janez Drnovšek defeated opposition candidate Barbara Brezigar in the 2002 presidential elections by a comfortable margin and was inaugurated as Kucan's successor on December 22, 2002. Finance Minister Anton Rop succeeded Drnovšek as Prime Minister in December 2002, and his center-left governing coalition commanded an almost two-thirds majority in the National Assembly until October 2004. In the October 2004 election, Janez Jansa's center-right Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) made a strong showing, winning a relative majority with over 29% of the vote. Janez Jansa was sworn in as Prime Minister on November 9, 2004 and the National Assembly confirmed the new cabinet on December 3.

The government and most of the Slovenian polity share a common view of the desirability of a close association with the West, specifically of membership in both the EU and NATO. For all the apparent bitterness that divides left and right wings, there are few fundamental philosophical differences between them in the area of public policy. Slovenian society is built on consensus, which has converged on a social-democrat model. Political differences tend to have their roots in the roles that groups and individuals played during the years of communist rule and the struggle for independence.

As the most prosperous republic of the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia emerged from its brief 10-day war of secession in 1991 as an independent nation for the first time in its history. Since that time, the country has made steady but cautious progress toward developing a market economy. Economic reforms introduced shortly after independence led to healthy economic growth. Despite the halting pace of reform and signs of slowing gross domestic product (GDP) growth today, Slovenes now enjoy the highest per capita income of all the transition economies of central Europe.

The Slovenes have pursued internal economic restructuring with caution. The Jansa government, elected on a platform supporting widespread economic reform, has found delivering on its ambitious promises more challenging than expected. The first phase of privatization (socially-owned property under the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, or S.F.R.Y., system) is now complete. However, sales of several remaining large state holdings, planned for several years now, have yet to come to fruition. The Jansa government has said that it is committed to seeing this final stage of privatization happen under its administration.

Foreign trade is very important to the Slovenian economy. Nearly two-thirds of Slovenia's overall trade is with the EU and the vast majority of this is with Germany, Italy, Austria, and France. While the service sector is the largest part of the economy as a percentage of GDP, manufacturing accounts for most employment, with machinery and other manufactured products comprising the major exports. Labor force surveys put unemployment at 6% (2006). Inflation continued to decline from 3.6% in 2004 to 2.5% in 2005 and 2006. Gross domestic product grew by about 5.2% in 2006. Slovenia joined the Euro Zone in January 2007, the first and only of the 12 new EU members to join.

In the 15 years since independence, Slovenia has made tremendous progress establishing democratic institutions, enshrining respect for human rights, establishing a market economy, and adapting its military to Western norms and standards. In contrast to its southern neighbors, civil tranquility and strong economic growth have marked this period. Upon achieving independence, Slovenia offered citizenship to all residents, regardless of ethnicity or origin, avoiding a sectarian trap that has caught out many central European countries. However, debate continues on how best to accommodate an estimated 18,000 undocumented non-Slovenes who were resident in Slovenia at the time of independence, but whose records were "erased" when they did not take citizenship. Many in this group have regularized their status or left the country; however, it is estimated that around 4000 cases remain unresolved. Slovenia willingly accepted nearly 100,000 refugees from the fighting in Bosnia and has since participated in international stabilization efforts in the region.

On the international front, Slovenia has rapidly integrated into the Euro-Atlantic community of nations. With successful NATO (66% in favor) and EU (91% in favor) referenda in March 2003, Slovenia achieved upon accession in 2004 its two primary foreign policy goals--membership in the EU and NATO. In 2005, Slovenia served as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chairman-in-Office. Slovenia also participates in the Stability Pact and the Southeast Europe Cooperation Initiative (SECI). Slovenia is one of the focus countries for the U.S. southeast European policy aimed at reinforcing regional stability and integration. The Slovenian Government is well-positioned to be an influential partner for other southeast European governments at different stages of reform and integration, and has introduced initiatives towards this goal, including the establishment of the Center for European Perspective and the Bled Strategic Forum. To these ends, the U.S. urges Slovenia to maintain momentum on internal economic, political, and legal reforms, while expanding their international cooperation as resources allow. U.S. and allied efforts to assist Slovenia's military restructuring and modernization efforts are ongoing. Slovenia faces its largest challenge since independence when it will be the first of the ten 2004 EU newcomers to hold the EU's rotating presidency in January 2008.

===Principal Government Officials===
*President--[[Danilo Türk]]
*Prime Minister--Janez Janša

===Foreign Relations and Regional Cooperation===
In regular public statements, Slovenia's highest politicians underscore their government's commitment to expanding cooperative arrangements with neighbors and active contributions to international efforts aimed at bringing stability to southeast Europe. Resource limitations are a concern for the government, which does not wish to see itself spread too thin. Nonetheless, the Slovenes are taking concrete steps toward a more outward looking and constructive role in regional and international security arrangements, as resources allow.

====Multilateral====
*The Slovenian Armed Forces has over 300 troops deployed to support the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, the NATO Training Mission (NTM-I) in Iraq, EU Mission Althea in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR), and several other multilateral operations.
*Slovenia takes an active role in humanitarian assistance with donations to the victims of the Southeast Asian tsunami, the Pakistani earthquake, and Hurricane Katrina, as well as ongoing assistance to refugees in Darfur and support for the World Food Program.
*Through its International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance (ITF), Slovenia has created the demining instrument of choice for the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the rest of the Balkans, and now even further afield in Central Asia and Cyprus. The organization has raised over $203 million since its inception in 1998 (with the United States contributing over $92 million).
*Slovenia served as Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE in 2005 and the Chairman of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors for 2006-2007.
*Slovenia is engaged with 29 countries in bilateral military exchange--most actively with the U.S.--and in regional cooperative arrangements in central and southeast Europe; it participates in or intends to contribute forces for five major multinational regional peacekeeping bodies.
*Slovenia participates in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) to halt the [[proliferation]] of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), their delivery systems, and related materials worldwide.
*Slovenia has ratified all 13 international anti-terrorism conventions.
*Slovenia is party to the Wassenaar arrangement controlling exports of weapons and sensitive technology to countries of concern
*Slovenia is an active participant in Southeast European Defense Ministerial (SEDM) activities.

====Relations With Neighbors====
Slovenia's bilateral relations with its neighbors are generally harmonious and cooperative. However, there remain a few unresolved disputes with Croatia related to the succession of the former Yugoslavia, including demarcation of their common border. In addition, unlike the other successor states of the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia did not normalize relations with Serbia and Montenegro until after the passing from power of Slobodan Milosevic (although the Slovenes did open a representative office in Podgorica to work with Montenegrin President Djukanovic's government).

With its entry into the European Union, Slovenia has become a strong advocate for the inclusion of other former Yugoslav republics into Euro-Atlantic institutions. Slovenia's strong political ties to the region are complemented by strong economic ties. Slovenia is among the largest foreign investors in the region.

====Italy====
Italian-Slovenian bilateral relations are also very good. By mid-1996, property restitution disputes derived from World War II had been set aside, allowing a dramatic improvement in relations. In 2001, the Italian Senate voted final approval of legislation resolving some minor differences remaining over minority rights issues and over the compensation for property abandoned by Italian refugees fleeing communist Yugoslavia in the postwar period. Recently there have been some accusations of Italians not consulting with Slovenia regarding their plans with gas terminals in the middle of the bay and near the Slovene-Italian land border, which could have an environmental impact on Slovenia as well.

====Hungary====
Relations are excellent with Hungary. Hungarian (as well as Italian) minorities in Slovenia are accorded special treatment under the Slovenian constitution, including a permanent parliamentary seat. Within the Multilateral Cooperation Initiative between Slovenia, Italy, Hungary, and Croatia, cooperation exists in numerous fields, including military (Multinational Land Force peacekeeping brigade), transportation, combating money laundering and organized crime, non-proliferation, border crossings, and environmental issues.

====Austria====
Austro-Slovenian relations are close with occasional disputes related to support for the other country's minorities. In 2005 and 2006 this was dominated by an ongoing question about whether to allow bilingual (German and Slovenian) signage on Austrian territory near the Slovenian border. Questions regarding nuclear power in Slovenia and the basis for the settlement of the Austrian State Treaty appear to have been solved. Economic cooperation is expanding, including a joint project for development of border regions.

====Croatia====
Though somewhat rocky at times, Croatian-Slovenian relations are solid. Outstanding issues include a few remaining maritime and land border disputes, property rights, Croatian depositors' savings in the Ljubljanska Banka from Yugoslav times, and Krsko nuclear plant. In 2003, Croatia declared its intention to claim a 200-mile exclusive economic zone in the Adriatic Sea, which would effectively cut off Slovenia's use of international waters. Multilateral discussions among Slovenia, Croatia, and Italy on this issue continue with the European Commission's participation. In a series of high-level meetings since the latter half of 1998, Slovenia and Croatia have been engaged in settling bilateral differences, a process that accelerated after the death of Croatian President Franjo Tudjman in 1999 and has intensified under the government of Prime Minister Janez Jansa elected in October 2004. In order to aid the stabilization of this part of Europe, Slovenia has supported Croatia's efforts to draw closer to European institutions.

Slovenia and Croatia most recently made an effort to improve relations during a joint government session on June 10, 2005 where three bilateral agreements were signed: Joint Statement on Avoiding of Conflicts, Bilateral Agreement on Avoiding Double Taxation, and an establishment of a joint Historical Commission for the border issue. Though several nagging issues remain to be solved, less formal meetings between Slovenian and Croatian sides occur regularly.

==Defense==
====Slovenian Armed Forces====
After successful resistance to the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) following the 10-day war of independence in 1991, Slovenia faced the challenge of establishing independent armed forces. The Slovene Armed Forces underwent a major reorganization from 2003 to 2005, with the goal of changing from a conscription-based territorial defense force to a professional, deployable, and combat capable military with NATO. Conscription ended earlier than expected, in October 2003, and compulsory reserve service will end by 2010. As of September 2007, Slovenia's professional force included 7,143 soldiers and 9,063 reservists. The current force structure consists of one fully professional motorized infantry brigade and two cadre/reserve force mechanized brigades. The professional brigade represents Slovenia's deployable reaction force. The Slovene Armed Forces also include a small air force, equipped with helicopters and turbo-prop fixed wing aircraft, and a naval attachment, including a coastal patrol boat. The United States provides bilateral military assistance to Slovenia, including through the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program, the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program, the State Partnership Program (aligned with Colorado), the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, the EUCOM Joint Contact Team Program, and the Regional Counterterrorism Fellowship Program (CTFP).

====NATO====
After receiving an invitation to join NATO at the NATO Prague Summit in November 2002, Slovenes approved NATO accession with a vote of 66% in a March 2003 referendum. The National Assembly ratified accession to the North Atlantic Treaty in February 2004, and Slovenia officially became a member of the Alliance on March 29, 2004. After gaining independence, Slovenia avidly sought NATO membership as part of its overall strategy of integration into the most important international economic, financial, and security organizations.

Slovenia's current international commitments show its willingness to become a co-provider of security in the region. Slovenia contributed helicopters, medical personnel, military police, and an infantry company to the NATO Stabilization Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (SFOR) and continues to be very active in the European Union Force (EUFOR), with 54 troops deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina (ALTHEA, EUFOR, Joint Enterprise, NATO). In Kosovo, Slovenia actively participates in the NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR) with 169 troops. In March 2004, Slovenia sent a detachment of special operations troops, along with some vehicles, to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan. Today, the total number of Slovenian personnel in ISAF stands at 65. In February 2006, Slovenia sent four instructors to the NATO Training Mission in Iraq, two of which are still there. There are also 12 troops in Lebanon (UNIFIL), 2 in Syria (UNTSO), and 2 in the U.S. (CENTCOM, NATO).

The Government of Slovenia has diligently pursued its restructuring, reorganization, modernization, and procurement with the paramount goal of NATO interoperability. The United States has encouraged Slovenia to maintain the pace of reform--including the establishment of closer links with regional partners--even following its attainment of full membership in NATO.

==Economy==
Slovenia's economic success clearly illustrates the benefits of embracing liberal trade, following the rule of law, and rewarding enterprise. This success, however, is not unprecedented for Slovenia. Although it comprised only about one-thirteenth of Yugoslavia's total population, it was the most productive of the Yugoslav republics, accounting for one-fifth of its GDP and one-third of its exports. The country already enjoyed a relatively prosperous economy and strong market ties to the West when it gained independence in 1991. Since independence, Slovenia has pursued diversification of its trade toward the West and integration into Western and transatlantic institutions vigorously. In so doing, it has made substantial progress in its transition to a market economy, particularly becoming party to a number of bilateral and regional free trade agreements. Slovenia is a founding member of the WTO and joined the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) in 1996. Slovenia also participates in SECI, as well as in the Central European Initiative, the Royaumont Process, and the Black Sea Economic Council. Slovenia became a new EU member state on May 1, 2004.

Today, Slovenia is one the best economic performers in central and eastern Europe, with a GDP per capita in PPP in 2006 at € 19,200. Slovenia benefits from a well-educated and productive work force as well as dynamic and effective political and economic institutions. Although Slovenia has taken a cautious, deliberate approach to economic management and reform, with heavy emphasis on achieving consensus before proceeding, its overall record is one of relative success.

Slovenia has enjoyed healthy growth figures for the past 8 years, averaging 4.0% annual GDP growth. The European economic slowdown reduced the pace of growth somewhat beginning in 2001. GDP grew by 5.2% in 2006. Slovenia's economy is highly dependent on foreign trade. About two-thirds of Slovenia's trade is with the EU. Additionally, the country has penetrated successfully the south and east markets, including the former Soviet Union region. This high level of openness makes Slovenia extremely sensitive to economic conditions in its main trading partners and changes in its international price competitiveness. Keeping labor costs in line with productivity is thus a key challenge for Slovenia's economic well-being. Services contributed the most to the national output in 2006, accounting for 62% of GDP. Industry and construction comprised 34.7% of GDP; and, agriculture, forestry, and fishing accounted for 2.3% of GDP.

Economic management in Slovenia is relatively good. Public finances showed modest deficit of 1.2% of GDP in 2006. The government policy is aimed toward bringing the deficit to 1% of GDP by 2009. The budget of 2006 constrains public deficit to 1.4% of GDP, well within Maastricht parameters. The current account balance has improved significantly as a result of stronger exports and a changed composition of imports by economic purpose. In 2006, the current account balance showed a deficit of € 773 million. After the adoption of the Euro, controlling inflation remains a top government priority.

Due to its macroeconomic stability, favorable foreign debt position, and successful accession to the EU, Slovenia consistently receives the highest credit rating of all transition economies--receiving the top regional honors in a recent Dunn & Bradstreet survey. Slovenia's ability to meet its growth rate objectives will largely depend on the state of the world economy, since exports demand in Slovenia's primary market has stalled. Foreign direct investment (FDI) will take up the slack to some extent, as analysts forecast FDI levels will continue to increase with further privatization of state assets, including portions of the telecommunications, financial, and energy sectors. Slovenia must carefully address fiscal, monetary, and FDI policy, in light of the high deficit in pension accounts, its vulnerable Western export markets, and inflation concerns. Slovenian enterprises have a tradition of market orientation that has served them well in the transition period, as they moved energetically to reorient trade from former Yugoslav markets to those of central and eastern Europe. However, in many cases under the Slovenian brand of privatization, managers and workers in formerly "socially owned" enterprises have become the majority shareholders, perpetuating the practices of "worker management" that were the hallmark of the Yugoslav brand of socialism. Difficulties associated with that model are expected to decrease under competitive pressures, as shares in these firms change hands, and as EU reforms introduce more Western-oriented governance practices.

Slovenia has taken some important steps in recent years to free up its financial markets. This sector historically has been one of the most protected, reflecting Slovenian concerns over limited capacity to face global competition and a desire to maintain domestic control over finance. A combination of market forces, changes in Bank of Slovenia regulations, and national legislation are moving this sector increasingly in a more globally oriented direction. In 2003, several measures were introduced to make both portfolio and direct investments easier and more transparent in Slovenia and to conduct many financial operations, including banking, securities brokering, and undertaking various credit transactions. Most remaining barriers were removed by May 1, 2004--for instance, marketing of foreign mutual investment funds is now allowed. The banking sector also is showing signs of stirring from its relative inactivity, as pressures build to consolidate Slovenia's myriad banks and as privatization of two of the largest banks proceeds. While Belgian KBC is the main owner of Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB) with 34%, little progress has been made in the privatization of NKBM bank, Slovenia's largest bank, which is still 100% state owned. The government continues to downsize state shares in the insurance sector; however, the government-owned Triglav still controls nearly half of the insurance market. Other insurance companies have been privatized or are foreign-owned.

Government efforts and reforms designed to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) have proven somewhat successful--FDI is continuing to slowly grow. However, FDI fell sharply in 2003 due to a lack of any major privatization deal or foreign acquisition. Slovenia's traditional anti-inflation policy in the past relied heavily on capital inflow restrictions. Its slow privatization process favored domestic investors and prescribed long lag time on share trading, complicated by a cultural wariness of being "bought up" by foreigners. As such, Slovenia has had a number of impediments to full foreign participation in its economy. However, a number of these barriers to FDI were fully removed in 2002. As a result, expected foreign takeovers of Slovenian blue chip companies, as well as EU membership, have fueled investors' interest in the country. Acquisitions by multinational companies--KBC of Belgium's takeover of significant share of Nova Ljubljanska Banka, Swiss Novartis' takeover of Lek Pharmaceuticals, and recent interest of foreigners in national telecom--clearly demonstrate the attractiveness of the Slovenian economy, particularly to European investors seeking a platform to support expansion into southeastern Europe. U.S. investments in Slovenia have been more modest; Goodyear is the largest American investor. Even with these successes, much of the economy remains in state hands and foreign direct investment in Slovenia is one of the lowest in the EU on a per capita basis.

The current government's ability to follow through on pledges to accelerate privatization of a number of large state holdings and increase FDI will be key to Slovenia's economic future. In late 2005, the government's new Committee for Economic Reforms was elevated to cabinet-level status with a program including plans for lowering the tax burden, privatizing state-controlled firms, improving the flexibility of the labor market, and increasing the government's efficiency. Many of the committee members and heads have resigned due to inability to make any significant progress. Though progress has been stalled on the program, the Jansa government has pledged to move forward with the planned reforms, which also in the vast majority have not been realized thus far. Slovenia's position with respect to other central and eastern European (CEE) countries will decline without vigorous pursuit of economic reform.
*GDP (2006): € 33,177 million.
*Real GDP growth rate (2006): 5.2%, (2007 est.): 4.7%.
*GDP per capita in PPP (2006): € 19,200.
*Natural resources: Coal, mercury, timber.
*Agriculture/forestry/fishing (approx. 2.3% of 2006 GDP): Products--wheat, corn, poultry, beef, pork, milk, potatoes, orchard fruits, wine.
*Industry (approx. 34.7% of 2006 GDP): Types--electrical equipment, chemical products, textiles, food products, electricity, metal products, wood products, transportation equipment.
*Services (approx. 62.9% of 2006 GDP): Types--retail, transportation, communications, real estate and other business activities.
*Trade: Exports (2006: € 16.757 million)--machinery, transportation equipment, manufactured articles, chemical products. To U.S.--$506 million (2006). Imports (2006: €18.341 million)--machinery, transportation equipment, manufactured articles, mineral fuels and lubricants. From U.S.--$289 million (2004). Major trading partners--Germany, Italy, France, Austria, Croatia. Trade with the U.S. accounts for about 1.5% of total trade.
Foreign direct investment in 2005: € 93 million (1.6% of total FDI in Slovenia).

==History==
Slovenia is today a vibrant democracy, but the roots of this democracy go back deep in Slovene history. According to the 16th century French political philosopher, Jean Bodin, Slovenes practiced the unique custom of the Installation of the Dukes of Carinthia for almost 1,000 years, until the late 14th century.

From as early as the 9th century, Slovenia had fallen under foreign rulers, including partial control by Bavarian dukes and the Republic of Venice. With the exception of Napoleon's 4-year tutelage of parts of Slovenia and Croatia--the "Illyrian Provinces"--Slovenia was part of the Habsburg Empire from the 14th century until 1918. Nevertheless, Slovenia resisted Germanizing influences and retained its unique Slavic language and culture.

After the successful Catholic [[Counter Reformation]], the Catholic Church again became dominant and Protestants were left only in the Upper Mur region by 1720.

===Yugoslavia===
In 1918, Slovenia joined with other southern Slav states in forming the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes as part of the peace plan at the end of World War I. Renamed in 1929 under a Serbian monarch, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia fell to the Axis powers during World War II. Following communist partisan resistance to German, Hungarian, and Italian occupation and elimination of rival resistance groups, socialist Yugoslavia was born under the helm of Josip Broz Tito. During the communist era, Slovenia became Yugoslavia's most prosperous republic, at the forefront of Yugoslavia's unique version of communism.

Within a few years of Tito's death in 1980, Belgrade initiated plans to further concentrate political and economic power in its hands. Defying the politicians in Belgrade, Slovenia underwent a flowering of democracy and an opening of its society in cultural, civic, and economic realms to a degree almost unprecedented in the communist world.
===Independence===
In September 1989, the General Assembly of the Yugoslav Republic of Slovenia adopted an amendment to its constitution asserting Slovenia's right to secede from Yugoslavia. On December 23, 1990, 88% of Slovenia's population voted for independence in a referendum, and on June 25, 1991, the Republic of Slovenia declared its independence. A nearly bloodless 10-day war with Yugoslavia followed. Yugoslav forces withdrew after Slovenia demonstrated stiff resistance to Belgrade.

As a young independent republic, Slovenia pursued economic stabilization and further political openness, while emphasizing its Western outlook and central European heritage. Reflecting its success in these goals, Slovenia became a member both of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU) in March and May, respectively, of 2004.

Today Slovenia is a stable democracy that is increasing its international engagement. Slovenia is one of the top foreign investors in the former Yugoslavia, and a charter World Trade Organization (WTO) member. Members of the Slovenian Armed Forces are participating in NATO, EU, and UN operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, and elsewhere. Slovenia served as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chairman-in-Office in 2005, was the Chairman of the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors in 2006-2007, and is preparing to be the first of the ten 2004 EU newcomers to hold the EU's rotating presidency in the first half of 2008. Though small in size, Slovenia enjoys a growing regional profile and plays a role on the world stage that is out of proportion to its size.

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!colspan=2 style="width: 100%; text-align: center; background-color: #000088; color: white; "|'''Copyright Details'''
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!style="background-color: #000088; color:white;"|License:
|style=" background-color: none;"| This work is in the [[Public Domain]] in the United States because it is a work of the United States Federal Government under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the U.S. Code
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==see also==
* [[Yugoslavia]]

{{European Union}}

[[Category:Balkans]]
[[Category:European Countries]]
[[Category:Slovenia]]
[[Category:Christian-Majority Countries]]