- published: 29 Jun 2007
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Afghanistan
Afghanistan
i/æfˈɡænɨstæn/ (Persian/Pashto: افغانستان, Afġānistān), officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming part of South Asia, Central Asia, and Greater Middle East, it is also considered to be part of a broader West Asia. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of 647,500 km2 (250,001 sq mi), making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and the east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast.
Afghanistan has been an ancient focal point of the Silk Road and human migration. Archaeologists have found evidence of human habitation from as far back as 50,000 BC. Urban civilization may have begun in the area as early as 3,000 to 2,000 BC. Sitting at an important geostrategic location that connects the Middle East with Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, the land has been home to various peoples through the ages and witnessed many military campaigns, notably by Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, and in modern era Western forces. The land also served as a source from which the Greco-Bactrians, Kushans, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Timurids, Mughals and many others have risen to form major empires.
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Alabama
Alabama (i/ˌæləˈbæmə/) is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama is the 30th-most extensive and the 23rd-most populous of the 50 United States. Alabama ranks second in the area of its inland waterways.
From the American Civil War until World War II, Alabama, like many Southern states, suffered economic hardship, in part because of continued dependence on agriculture. Despite the growth of major industries and urban centers, white rural interests dominated the state legislature until the 1960s, while urban interests and African Americans were under-represented. Following World War II, Alabama experienced growth as the economy of the state transitioned from agriculture to diversified interests in heavy manufacturing, mineral extraction, education, and technology. In addition, the establishment or expansion of multiple military installations, primarily those of the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force, added to state jobs.
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Alaska
Alaska (i/əˈlæskə/) is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait. Alaska is the 4th least populous and the least densely populated of the 50 United States. Approximately half of Alaska's 722,718 residents live within the Anchorage metropolitan area.
Alaska was purchased from Russia on March 30, 1867, for $7.2 million ($120 million in today's[when?] dollars) at approximately two cents per acre ($4.74/km²). The land went through several administrative changes before becoming an organized (or incorporated) territory on May 11, 1912, and the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959.
The name "Alaska" (Аляска) was already introduced in the Russian colonial period, when it was used only for the peninsula and is derived from the Aleut alaxsxaq, meaning "the mainland" or, more literally, "the object towards which the action of the sea is directed". It is also known as Alyeska, the "great land", an Aleut word derived from the same root.
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Albania
Albania (i/ælˈbeɪniə/ al-BAY-nee-ə, Albanian: Shqipëri/Shqipëria; Gheg Albanian: Shqipnia), officially known as the Republic of Albania (Albanian: Republika e Shqipërisë pronounced Albanian pronunciation: [ɾɛpuˈblika ɛ ʃcipəˈɾiːs]), is a country in Southern Europe. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the west, and on the Ionian Sea to the southwest. It is less than 72 km (45 mi) from Italy, across the Strait of Otranto which links the Adriatic Sea to the Ionian Sea.
Albania is a member of the UN, NATO, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Council of Europe, World Trade Organisation, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and one of the founding members of the Union for the Mediterranean. Albania has been a potential candidate for accession to the European Union since January 2003, and it formally applied for EU membership on 28 April 2009.
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Aleutian Islands
The Aleutian Islands (English pronunciation: /əˈl(j)uːʃən/; possibly from Chukchi aliat, "island") are a chain of 14 large volcanic islands and 55 smaller ones , forming part of the Aleutian Arc in the Northern Pacific Ocean, occupying an area of 6,821 sq mi (17,666 km²) and extending about 1,200 mi (1,900 km) westward from the Alaska Peninsula toward the Kamchatka Peninsula, thus marking a line between the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Crossing longitude 180°, they are the westernmost part of the United States (and by one definition the easternmost; see Extreme points of the United States). Nearly all the archipelago is part of Alaska and usually considered as being in the "Alaskan Bush", but at the extreme western end the small, geologically related, and remote Commander Islands are in Russia. The islands, with their 57 volcanoes, are in the northern part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. The Alaska Marine Highway passes through the islands.
Physiographically, they are a distinct section of the larger Pacific Border province, which in turn is part of the larger Pacific Mountain System physiographic division.
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Algeria
Coordinates: 28°N 2°E / 28°N 2°E / 28; 2
Algeriai/ælˈdʒɪəriə/ (Arabic: الجزائر, al-Jazā'ir; Berber: ⴷⵣⴰⵢⴻⵔ Dzayer), officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria (الجمهورية الجزائرية الديمقراطية الشعبية, al-Jumhūriyyah al-Jazāʾiriyyah ad-Dīmuqrāṭiyyah ash-Shaʿbiyyah), also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a large country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.
When referring to its land area, Algeria is the largest country in Africa, Maghreb and the Arab World. It is also the largest of the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea; it is also the tenth-largest country in the world. The country is bordered in the northeast by Tunisia, in the east by Libya, in the west by Morocco, in the southwest by Western Sahara, Mauritania, and Mali, in the southeast by Niger, and in the north by the Mediterranean Sea. Its size is almost 2,400,000 square kilometres (926,645 sq mi) with an estimated population of 37.1 million as of 2012. Algeria is a member of the African Union, the Arab League, OPEC and the United Nations. The country is also a founding member of the Arab Maghreb Union.
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Americas
The Americas, or America, are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World.
In the English language, the Americas refers to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, whereas America, in current usage, usually refers to the United States of America.
The Americas cover 8.3% of the Earth's total surface area (28.4% of its land area) and contain about 13.5% of the human population (about 900 million people).
The specifics of Paleo-Indian migration to and throughout the Americas, including the exact dates and routes traveled, are subject to ongoing research and discussion. The traditional theory has been that these early migrants moved into the Beringia land bridge between eastern Siberia and present-day Alaska around 40,000–17,000 years ago, when sea levels were significantly lowered due to the Quaternary glaciation. These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct pleistocene megafauna along ice-free corridors that stretched between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets. Another route proposed is that, either on foot or using primitive boats, they migrated down the Pacific Northwest coast to South America. Evidence of the latter would since have been covered by a sea level rise of hundreds of meters following the last ice age.
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Andorra
Andorra (i/ænˈdɔrə/; Catalan pronunciation: [ənˈdorə], locally: [anˈdɔra]), officially the Principality of Andorra (Catalan: Principat d'Andorra), also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, (Catalan: Principat de les Valls d'Andorra), is a small landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe having an area of 468 km2 (181 sq mi) and an estimated population of 84,082 in 2009. Its capital, Andorra la Vella, is the highest capital city in Europe, at an elevation of 1,023 metres (3,356 ft) above sea level. The official language is Catalan, although Spanish, Portuguese, and French are also commonly spoken.
The Principality was formed in 1278. The role of monarch is exercised jointly by the two co-princes, the Catalan Bishop of Urgell and the President of France (the whole state is a part of Diocese of Urgell).
Andorra is a prosperous country mainly because of its tourism industry, which services an estimated 10.2 million visitors annually, and also because of its status as a tax haven. It is not a member of the European Union, but the euro is the de facto currency. The people of Andorra have the 4th highest human life expectancy in the world — 82 years at birth.
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Anguilla
Anguilla (
/æŋˈɡwɪlə/ ang-GWIL-ə) is a British overseas territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin. The territory consists of the main island of Anguilla itself, approximately 26 km (16 mi) long by 5 km (3.1 mi) wide at its widest point, together with a number of much smaller islands and cays with no permanent population. The island's capital is The Valley. The total land area of the territory is 91 km2 (35 sq mi), with a population of approximately 13,500 (2006 estimate).
Anguilla has become a popular tax haven, having no capital gains, estate, profit or other forms of direct taxation on either individuals or corporations.
Anguilla was first settled by Amerindian tribes who migrated from South America. The earliest Amerindian artifacts found on Anguilla have been dated to around 1300 BC, and remains of settlements date from 600 AD. The date of European discovery is uncertain: some sources claim that Columbus sighted the island in 1493, while others state that the island was first discovered by the French in 1564 or 1565. The name Anguilla derives from the word for "eel" in any of various Romance languages (modern Spanish: anguila; French: anguille; Italian: anguilla; Portuguese: enguia), probably chosen because of the island's eel-like shape.
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Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda (i/ænˈtiːɡə ænd bɑrˈbjuːdə/; Spanish for "ancient" and "bearded") is a twin-island nation lying between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It consists of two major inhabited islands, Antigua and Barbuda, and a number of smaller islands (including Great Bird, Green, Guinea, Long, Maiden and York Islands and further south, the island of Redonda). The permanent population number approximately 81,800 (at the 2011 Census) and the capital and largest port and city is St. John's, on Antigua.
Separated by a few nautical miles, Antigua and Barbuda are in the middle of the Leeward Islands, part of the Lesser Antilles, roughly at 17 degrees north of the Equator. The country is nicknamed "Land of 365 Beaches" due to the many beaches surrounding the islands. Its governance, language, and culture have all been strongly influenced by the British Empire, of which the country was formerly a part.
Antigua was first settled by Archaic Age hunter-gatherer Amerindians, erroneously referred to as Siboney or Ciboney.Carbon-dating has established that the earliest settlements started around 3100 BC. They were succeeded by the Ceramic Age pre-Columbian Arawak-speaking Saladoid people who migrated from the lower Orinoco River.
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Argentina
Argentinai/ˌɑrdʒənˈtiːnə/, officially the Argentine Republic (Spanish: República Argentina [reˈpuβlika aɾxenˈtina]), is a country in South America, the continent's second largest by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth-largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations.
Argentina's continental area is between the Andes mountain range in the west and the Atlantic Ocean in the east. It borders Paraguay and Bolivia to the north, Brazil and Uruguay to the northeast, and Chile to the west and south. Argentine claims over Antarctica, as well as overlapping claims made by Chile and the United Kingdom, are suspended by the Antarctic Treaty of 1961. Argentina also claims the Falkland Islands (Spanish: Islas Malvinas) and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, which are administered by the United Kingdom as British Overseas Territories.
A recognised middle power, Argentina is Latin America's third-largest economy, with a "very high" rating on the Human development index. Within Latin America, Argentina has the fifth highest nominal GDP per capita and the highest in purchasing power terms. Analysts have argued that the country has a "foundation for future growth due to its market size, levels of foreign direct investment, and percentage of high-tech exports as share of total manufactured goods", and it is classed by investors as middle emerging economy. Argentina is a founding member of the United Nations, Mercosur, the Union of South American Nations, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the World Bank Group and the World Trade Organization, and is one of the G-15 and G-20 major economies.
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Arkansas
Arkansas (i/ˈɑrkənsɔː/ AR-kən-saw) is a state located in the Southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states (N: Missouri; E: Tennessee, Mississippi; S: Louisiana; SW: Texas; W: Oklahoma), and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River. Its diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the Ozarks and the Ouachita Mountains, which make up the U.S. Interior Highlands, to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River. Arkansas is the 29th most extensive and the 32nd most populous of the 50 United States. The capital and most populous city is Little Rock, located in the central portion of the state.
The name “Arkansas” derives from the same root as the name for the state of Kansas. The Kansa tribe of Native Americans are closely associated with the Sioux tribes of the Great Plains. The word “Arkansas” itself is a French pronunciation (“Arcansas”) of a Quapaw (a related “Kaw” tribe) word, akakaze, meaning “land of downriver people” or the Sioux word akakaze meaning “people of the south wind”. The pronunciation of Arkansas was made official by an act of the state legislature in 1881, after a dispute between two U.S. Senators from Arkansas. One wanted to pronounce the name /ɑrˈkænzəs/ ar-KAN-zəs and the other wanted /ˈɑrkənsɔː/ AR-kən-saw.
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Armenia
Armeniai/ɑrˈmiːniə/ (Armenian: Հայաստան Hayastan [hɑjɑsˈtɑn]), officially the Republic of Armenia (Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն, Hayastani Hanrapetut’yun, [hɑjɑstɑˈni hɑnɾɑpɛtuˈtʰjun]), is a landlocked, mountainous country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the south.
A former republic of the Soviet Union, Armenia is a unitary, multiparty, democratic nation-state with an ancient and historic cultural heritage. The Kingdom of Armenia became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its religion, in the early years of the 4th century (the traditional date is 301 AD). The modern Republic of Armenia recognizes the Armenian Apostolic Church, the world's oldest national church, as the country's primary religious establishment. Armenians have their own unique alphabet invented by Mesrob Mashtots in 406 AD.
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Armory Show
Many exhibitions have been held in the vast spaces of US National Guard armories, but the Armory Show refers to the 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art that was organized by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors. The exhibition ran in New York City's 69th Regiment Armory, on Lexington Avenue between 25th and 26th Streets, from February 17 until March 15, and became an important event in the history of American art, introducing astonished New Yorkers, accustomed to realistic art, to modern art. The show served as a catalyst for American artists, who became more independent and created their own "artistic language".
The Armory Show was the first exhibition mounted by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors and was run by their president, Arthur B. Davies, secretary Walt Kuhn, and Walter Pach. It displayed some 1,300 paintings, sculptures, and decorative works by over 300 avant-garde European and American artists. Impressionist, Fauvist, and Cubist works were represented.
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Aruba
Aruba ( /əˈruːbə/ ə-ROO-bə, Dutch pronunciation: [aˈruba]) is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km (approx.) east of Guajira Peninsula (Colombia). Together with Bonaire and Curaçao, it forms a group referred to as the ABC islands of the Leeward Antilles, the southern island chain of the Lesser Antilles.
Aruba is one of the four constituent countries that form the Kingdom of the Netherlands, together with the Netherlands, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten whose citizens share a single nationality: Dutch citizen. Aruba has no administrative subdivisions, but for census purposes is divided into 8 regions. Its capital is Oranjestad. Unlike much of the Caribbean region, Aruba has a dry climate and an arid, cactus-strewn landscape. This climate has helped tourism as visitors to the island can reliably expect warm, sunny weather. It has a land area of 179 square kilometres (69 sq mi) and is densely populated with a total of 101,484 inhabitants at the 2010 Census. It lies outside the hurricane belt. It is also home to the endemic Aruba Island Rattlesnake.
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Atlanta
Atlanta ( /ətˈlæntə/, stressed /ætˈlæntə/, locally /ætˈlænə/) is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia with a 2010 population of 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest in the U.S. It is a major component of a growing southeastern megalopolis known as the Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion. Atlanta is the county seat of Fulton County, and a small portion of the city extends eastward into DeKalb County.
Atlanta began as a settlement located at the terminus of a railroad line, and it was incorporated in 1845. Today, the city is a major business city and the primary transportation hub of the Southeastern United States (via highway, railroad, and air), with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being the world's busiest airport since 1998. The World Cities Study Group at Loughborough University rated Atlanta as an "alpha(-) world city." With a gross domestic product of US$270 billion, Atlanta's economy ranks 15th among world cities and sixth in the nation. The city is a center for services, finance, information technology, government, and higher education. Metro Atlanta contains the country's third largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies, and is the world headquarters of The Coca-Cola Company, Turner Broadcasting, The Home Depot, AT&T Mobility, UPS, and Delta Air Lines. As of 2010, Atlanta is the seventh most visited city in the United States, with over 35 million visitors per year.
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Australia
Australia ( /əˈstreɪljə/), officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent as well as the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area. Neighbouring countries include Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north; the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east.
For at least 40,000 years before European settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who belonged to one or more of roughly 250 language groups. After discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades; the continent was explored and an additional five self-governing Crown Colonies were established.
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Austria
Austria (i/ˈɒstriə/ or /ˈɔːstriə/; German: Österreich [ˈøːstɐˌʁaɪç] (
listen)), officially the Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich (help·info)), is a landlocked country of roughly 8.47 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The territory of Austria covers 83,855 square kilometres (32,377 sq mi) and has a temperate and alpine climate. Austria's terrain is highly mountainous due to the presence of the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 metres (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,798 metres (12,461 ft). The majority of the population speak local Austro-Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, and German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other local official languages are Burgenland Croatian, Hungarian and Slovene.
The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty when the vast majority of the country was a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Austria became one of the great powers of Europe and, in response to the coronation of Napoleon I as the Emperor of the French, the Austrian Empire was officially proclaimed in 1804. In 1867, the Austrian Empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary.
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Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (
i/ˌæzərbaɪˈdʒɑːn/ AZ-ər-by-JAHN; Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Respublikası) is the largest country in the Caucasus region located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south. The exclave of Nakhchivan is bounded by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, while having a short borderline with Turkey to the northwest.
Azerbaijan has an ancient and historic cultural heritage. Aside from having been the first Muslim-majority country to have operas, theater and plays, Azerbaijan today is among the Muslim-majority countries where support for secularism and tolerance is the highest. The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the first democratic and secular republic in the Muslim world, was established in 1918, but was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1920. Azerbaijan regained independence in 1991. Shortly thereafter, during the Nagorno-Karabakh War, neighboring Armenia occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, its surrounding territories and the enclaves of Karki, Yukhary Askipara, Barkhudarly and Sofulu. The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which emerged in Nagorno-Karabakh, continues to be not diplomatically recognized by any nation and the region is still considered a de jure part of Azerbaijan, despite being de facto independent since the end of the war. Azerbaijan has come under repeated international criticism for its record on human rights.
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Barbados
Coordinates: 13°10′N 59°33′W / 13.167°N 59.55°W / 13.167; -59.55
Barbados (i/bɑrˈbeɪdɒs/ or /bɑrˈbeɪdoʊs/) is a sovereign island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is 34 kilometres (21 mi) in length and up to 23 kilometres (14 mi) in width, covering an area of 431 square kilometres (166 sq mi). It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres (62 mi) east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about 168 kilometres (104 mi) east of the islands of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and 400 kilometres (250 mi) north-east of Trinidad and Tobago. Barbados is outside of the principal Atlantic hurricane belt.
Barbados was initially visited by the Spanish around the late 1400s to early 1500s and first appears on a Spanish map from 1511. The Spanish explorers may have plundered the island of whatever native peoples resided therein to become slaves. The Portuguese visited in 1536, but they too left it unclaimed, with their only remnants being an introduction of wild hogs for a good supply of meat whenever the island was visited. The first English ship, the Olive Blossom, arrived in Barbados in 1624. They took possession of it in the name of the British king James I. Two years later in 1627 the first permanent settlers arrived from England and it became an English and later British colony.
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Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg (locali/ˈɡɛtɨsbɜrɡ/, with an /s/ sound), was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point.Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac defeated attacks by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, ending Lee's invasion of the North.
After his success at Chancellorsville in Virginia in May 1863, Lee led his army through the Shenandoah Valley to begin his second invasion of the North—the Gettysburg Campaign. With his army in high spirits, Lee intended to shift the focus of the summer campaign from war-ravaged northern Virginia and hoped to influence Northern politicians to give up their prosecution of the war by penetrating as far as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, or even Philadelphia. Prodded by President Abraham Lincoln, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker moved his army in pursuit, but was relieved just three days before the battle and replaced by Meade.
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Belarus
Belarus (i/bɛləˈruːs/ bel-ə-ROOSS; Belarusian: Беларусь, Russian pronunciation: [bʲɛlaˈrusʲ] Russian: Беларусь, Белоруссия, Belarus', Belorussiya), officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno (Hrodna), Gomel (Homiel), Mogilev (Mahilyow) and Vitebsk (Vitsebsk). Over forty percent of its 207,600 square kilometres (80,200 sq mi) is forested, and its strongest economic sectors are agriculture and manufacturing.
Until the 20th century, the lands of modern-day Belarus belonged to several countries, including the Principality of Polotsk, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Empire. In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, Belarus became a founding constituent republic of the Soviet Union and was renamed as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR). The borders of Belarus took their modern shape in 1939 when some lands of the Second Polish Republic were incorporated into it after the Soviet invasion of Poland. The nation and its territory were devastated in World War II, during which Belarus lost about a third of its population and more than half of its economic resources. The republic was redeveloped in the post-war years. In 1945 the Belorussian SSR became a founding member of the United Nations, along with the Soviet Union and the Ukrainian SSR.
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Belgium
Belgium (i/ˈbɛldʒəm/ BEL-jəm), officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO. Belgium covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres (11,787 sq mi), and it has a population of about 11 million people. Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and Latin Europe, Belgium is home to two main linguistic groups, the Dutch-speakers, mostly Flemish (about 60%), and the French-speakers, mostly Walloons (about 40%), plus a small group of German-speakers. Belgium's two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region, officially bilingual, is a mostly French-speaking enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in the political history and a complex system of government.
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Belize
Belizei/bəˈliːz/ (formerly British Honduras) is a country located on the north eastern coast of Central America and it is the only country in the area where English is the official language, although Kriol and Spanish are more commonly spoken. Belize is bordered to the north by Mexico, south and west by Guatemala, and to the east by the Caribbean Sea. Its mainland is about 290 kilometres (180 mi) long and 110 kilometres (68 mi) wide.
With 22,960 square kilometres (8,860 sq mi) of land and a population of only 333,200 inhabitants (2010 est.), Belize possesses the lowest population density in Central America. The country's population growth rate of 2.21% (2008 est.), however, is the highest in the region and one of the highest in the western hemisphere. Belize's abundance of terrestrial and marine species, and its diversity of ecosystems give it a key place within the globally significant Mesoamerican Biological Corridor.
Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages and it is the only nation in the region with a British colonial heritage but as a part of the Western Caribbean Zone, it also shares a common heritage with the Caribbean portions of other Central American countries. In general, Belize is considered to be a Central American nation with strong ties to both the Caribbean and Latin America. Belize is a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), and Sistema de la Integración Centroamericana (SICA).
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Bering Strait
Coordinates: 66°0′N 169°0′W / 66°N 169°W / 66; -169
The Bering Strait (Russian: Берингов пролив, Beringov proliv, Yupik: Imakpik) is a 53 mile long sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, the easternmost point (169°43'W) of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, USA, the westernmost point (168°05'W) of the North American continent. It lies slightly south of the polar circle at approximately 65°40'N latitude, with the present US-Russia east-west boundary, agreed to only by the USA, at 168°58'37"W.
The Strait has been the subject of scientific speculation that humans migrated from Asia to North America across a land bridge known as Beringia when lower ocean levels–perhaps a result of glaciers locking up vast amounts of water–exposed a ridge beneath the ocean.
The name of the sea containing the strait is sometimes spelled Behring in older books.
The Bering Strait is approximately 53 miles (85 km) wide, with depth varying between 98 feet (30 m) and 160 feet (49 m). It connects the Chukchi Sea (part of the Arctic Ocean) to the north with the Bering Sea (part of the Pacific Ocean) to the south.
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Bermuda
Bermuda ( /bɜrˈmjuːdə/), officially the Bermudas or Somers Islands, is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about 1,030 kilometres (640 mi) to the west-northwest. It is about 1,373 kilometres (853 mi) south of Halifax, Nova Scotia and 1,770 kilometres (1,100 mi) northeast of Miami, Florida, USA. Its capital city is Hamilton.
Bermuda was discovered in 1505 by Spanish sea captain Juan de Bermúdez, after whom the islands are named. Apparently uninhabited, he claimed them for the Spanish Empire. Although he paid two visits to the archipelago, Bermúdez was persuaded never to set foot on any of the islands by the dangerous reef surrounding them. Subsequent Spanish or other visitors are believed to have released the feral pigs that were abundant on the island when settlement began. In 1609, the Virginia Company, which had established Virginia and Jamestown on the American continent two years earlier, established a settlement on behalf of the English colonial empire. Initially, it was administered as an extension of Virginia by the Company until 1614, before its successor, the Somers Isles Company, took over until 1684. Bermuda then became a British colony following the 1707 unification of the Kingdom of England with the Kingdom of Scotland to create the unified Kingdom of Great Britain. After Newfoundland became part of Canada in 1949, Bermuda became the oldest (and, since the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997, the most populous) remaining British overseas territory. Its first capital, St George's, was established in 1612 and is the oldest continuously-inhabited English town in the Americas.
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Bhutan
Coordinates: 27°25′01″N 90°26′06″E / 27.417°N 90.435°E / 27.417; 90.435
Bhutan (Dzongkha: འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, tr ʼbrug-yul, "Druk Yul"; Devanagari भूटान, Bhūṭān), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China. Bhutan is separated from the nearby country of Nepal to the west by the Indian state of Sikkim, and from Bangladesh to the south by the Indian states of Assam and West Bengal.
Bhutan existed as a patchwork of minor warring fiefdoms until the early 17th century, when the area was unified by Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, who fled religious persecution in Tibet and cultivated a separate Bhutanese identity. In the early 20th century, Bhutan came into contact with the British Empire, after which Bhutan continued strong bilateral relations with India upon its independence. In 2006, Business Week rated Bhutan the happiest country in Asia and the eighth-happiest in the world, based on a global survey.
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Bolivia
Coordinates: 16°42′43″S 64°39′58″W / 16.712°S 64.666°W / -16.712; -64.666 Bolivia (i/bəˈlɪviə/, Spanish: [boliˈβja]) officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia (Spanish: Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia, Quechua: Bulivya Mamallaqta, Aymara: Wuliwya Suyu), is a landlocked country in central South America. It is bordered by Brazil to the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina to the south, Chile to the southwest, and Peru to the west.
Prior to European colonization, the Andean region of Bolivia was a part of the Inca Empire – the largest state in Pre-Columbian America. The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century. During most of the Spanish colonial period, this territory was called Upper Peru and was under the administration of the Viceroyalty of Peru, which included most of Spain's South American colonies. After declaring independence in 1809, 16 years of war followed before the establishment of the Republic, named for Simón Bolívar, on 6 August 1825. Bolivia has struggled through periods of political instability, dictatorships and economic woes.
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Bonaire
Bonaire ( /bɒˈnɛər/; Dutch: Bonaire, Papiamentu: Boneiru) is a special municipality (officially public body) of the Netherlands, consisting of the Caribbean island of Bonaire and, nestled in its western crescent, the uninhabited islet of Klein Bonaire. Together with Aruba and Curaçao it forms a group referred to as the ABC islands of the Leeward Antilles, the southern island chain of the Lesser Antilles. The name Bonaire is thought to have originally come from the Caiquetio word 'Bonay'. The early Spanish and Dutch modified its spelling to Bojnaj and also Bonaire, which means "Good Air".
Bonaire was part of the Netherlands Antilles until the country's dissolution on 10 October 2010, when the island (including Klein Bonaire) became a special municipality within the country of the Netherlands.
Bonaire's earliest known inhabitants were the Caquetio Indians, a branch of the Arawak who came by canoe from Venezuela in about AD 1000. Archeological remains of Caquetio culture have been found at certain sites northeast of Kralendijk and near Lac Bay. Caquetio rock paintings and petroglyphs have been preserved in caves at Spelonk, Onima, Ceru Pungi, and Ceru Crita-Cabai. The Caquetios were apparently a very tall people, for the Spanish name for the ABC Islands was 'las Islas de los Gigantes' or 'the islands of the giants.'
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Boston
Boston (pronounced /ˈbɒstən/ or locally /ˈbɔstən/ ( listen)) is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper, covering only 48.43 square miles, had a population of 617,594 according to the 2010 U.S. Census. Boston is also the anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area called Greater Boston, home to 4.5 million people and the tenth-largest metropolitan area in the country. Greater Boston as a commuting region is home to 7.6 million people, making it the fifth-largest Combined Statistical Area in the United States.
In 1630, Puritan colonists from England founded the city on the Shawmut Peninsula. During the late 18th century, Boston was the location of several major events during the American Revolution, including the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. Several early battles of the American Revolution, such as the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Siege of Boston, occurred within the city and surrounding areas. Through land reclamation and municipal annexation, Boston has expanded beyond the peninsula. After American independence was attained Boston became a major shipping port and manufacturing center, and its rich history now helps attract many tourists, with Faneuil Hall alone attracting over 20 million every year. The city was the site of several firsts, including America's first public school, Boston Latin School (1635), and the first subway system in the United States (1897).
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Botswana
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana (Tswana: Lefatshe la Botswana), is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are properly referred to as "Batswana" (singular: Motswana), but many English-language sources use "Botswanan". Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966. It has held free and fair democratic elections since independence.
Botswana is flat, and up to 70% is covered by the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. Its border with Zambia to the north near Kazungula, Zambia is poorly defined but at most is a few hundred meters long.
A mid-sized country of just over two million people, Botswana is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. Botswana was one of the poorest countries in Africa when it gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1966, with a GDP per capita of about US$70. Botswana has since transformed itself, becoming one of the fastest-growing economies in the world to a GDP (purchasing power parity) per capita of about $14,000. The country also has a strong tradition as a representative democracy.
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Brazil
Brazili/brəˈzɪl/ (Portuguese: Brasil, IPA: [bɾaˈziw]), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: República Federativa do Brasil, listen (help·info)), is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people. It is the only Portuguese-speaking country in the Americas and the largest lusophone country in the world.
Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of 7,491 km (4,655 mi). It is bordered on the north by Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and the French overseas region of French Guiana; on the northwest by Colombia; on the west by Bolivia and Peru; on the southwest by Argentina and Paraguay and on the south by Uruguay. Numerous archipelagos form part of Brazilian territory, such as Fernando de Noronha, Rocas Atoll, Saint Peter and Paul Rocks, and Trindade and Martim Vaz. It borders all other South American countries except Ecuador and Chile.
Brazil was a colony of Portugal from the landing of Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500 until 1815, when it was elevated to the rank of kingdom and the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves was formed. The colonial bond was in fact broken in 1808, when the capital of the Portuguese colonial empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, after Napoleon invaded Portugal.Independence was achieved in 1822 with the formation of the Empire of Brazil, a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system. The country became a presidential republic in 1889, when a military coup d'état proclaimed the Republic, although the bicameral legislature, now called Congress, dates back to the ratification of the first constitution in 1824. Its current Constitution, formulated in 1988, defines Brazil as a Federal Republic. The Federation is formed by the union of the Federal District, the 26 States, and the 5,564 Municipalities.
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British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1922 the British Empire held sway over about 458 million people, one-fifth of the world's population at the time, and covered more than 33,700,000 km2 (13,012,000 sq mi), almost a quarter of the Earth's total land area. As a result, its political, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread. At the peak of its power, it was often said that "the sun never sets on the British Empire" because its span across the globe ensured that the sun was always shining on at least one of its numerous territories.
During the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the globe, and in the process established large overseas empires. Envious of the great wealth these empires generated, England, France and the Netherlands began to establish colonies and trade networks of their own in the Americas and Asia. A series of wars in the 17th and 18th centuries with the Netherlands and France left England (and then, following union between England and Scotland in 1707, Great Britain) the dominant colonial power in North America and India. The loss of the Thirteen Colonies in North America in 1783 after a war of independence deprived Britain of some of its oldest and most populous colonies.
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Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City. Along with London's West End theatre, Broadway theatre is widely considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world.
The Broadway theatre district is a popular tourist attraction in New York. According to The Broadway League, Broadway shows sold approximately $1.081 billion worth of tickets in calendar year 2011, compared with $1.037 billion for 2010. Attendance in 2011 was 12.13 million.
New York did not have a significant theatre presence until about 1750, when actor-managers Walter Murray and Thomas Kean established a resident theatre company at the Theatre on Nassau Street, which held about 280 people. They presented Shakespeare plays and ballad operas such as The Beggar's Opera. In 1752, William Hallam sent a company of twelve actors from Britain to the colonies with his brother Lewis as their manager. They established a theatre in Williamsburg, Virginia and opened with The Merchant of Venice and The Anatomist. The company moved to New York in the summer of 1753, performing ballad operas and ballad-farces like Damon and Phillida. The Revolutionary War suspended theatre in New York, but thereafter theatre resumed in 1798, the year the 2,000-seat Park Theatre was built on Chatham Street (now called Park Row). The Bowery Theatre opened in 1826, followed by others. Blackface minstrel shows, a distinctly American form of entertainment, became popular in the 1830s, and especially so with the arrival of the Virginia Minstrels in the 1840s.
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Bulgaria
Coordinates: 42°45′N 25°30′E / 42.75°N 25.5°E / 42.75; 25.5
Bulgariai/bʌlˈɡɛəriə/ (Bulgarian: България, IPA: [bɤ̞ɫˈɡarijɐ]), is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and the Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south and the Black Sea to the east. With a territory of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi), Bulgaria is Europe's 14th-largest country. Its location has made it a historical crossroad for various civilisations and as such it is the home of some of the earliest metalworking, religious and other cultural artifacts in the world.
Prehistoric cultures began developing on Bulgarian lands during the Neolithic period. Its ancient history was marked by the presence of the Thracians, and later by the Greeks and Romans. The emergence of a unified Bulgarian ethnicity and state dates back to the First Bulgarian Empire, which dominated most of the Balkans and functioned as a cultural hub for Slavic peoples during the Middle Ages. With the downfall of the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1396, its territories came under Ottoman rule for nearly five hundred years. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 resulted in the Third Bulgarian State, recognised in 1908. The following years saw several conflicts with its neighbours, which prompted Bulgaria to align with Germany in both World Wars. In 1946 it became a Communist republic with a single-party system until 1989, when the Communist Party allowed multi-party elections. After 1990 Bulgaria transitioned to democracy and a market-based economy.
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California
California (pronouncedi/kælɨˈfɔrnjə/) is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third most extensive (after Alaska and Texas). It is home to the nation's second- and sixth-largest census statistical areas (Los Angeles Metropolitan Area and San Francisco Bay Area), and eight of the nation's fifty most populated cities (Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, Sacramento, Long Beach and Oakland). The capital city is Sacramento.
California's diverse geography ranges from the Pacific Coast in the west, to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the east – from the Redwood–Douglas-fir forests of the northwest, to the Mojave Desert areas in the southeast. The center of the state is dominated by Central Valley, a major agricultural area. California contains both the highest and lowest points in the contiguous United States (Mount Whitney and Death Valley), and has the third-longest coastline of all states (after Alaska and Florida). Earthquakes are a common occurrence due to the state's location along the Pacific Ring of Fire: about 37,000 are recorded annually.
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Cambodia
Cambodia (i/kæmˈboʊdiə/;Khmer: ព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជា, Kampuchea, IPA: [kɑmˈpuˈciə]), officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With a total landmass of 181,035 square kilometres (69,898 sq mi), it is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the northeast, Vietnam to the east, and the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest.
With a population of over 14.8 million, Cambodia is the 68th most populous country in the world. The official religion is Theravada Buddhism, which is practiced by around 95% of the Cambodian population. The country minority groups include Vietnamese, Chinese, Chams and 30 various hill tribes. The capital and largest city is Phnom Penh; the political, economic, and cultural center of Cambodia. The kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with Norodom Sihamoni, a monarch chosen by the Royal Throne Council, as head of state. The head of government is Hun Sen, who is currently the longest serving leader in South East Asia and has ruled Cambodia for over 25 years.
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Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon (French: République du Cameroun), is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the Bight of Bonny, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. The country is called "Africa in miniature" for its geological and cultural diversity. Natural features include beaches, deserts, mountains, rainforests, and savannas. The highest point is Mount Cameroon in the southwest, and the largest cities are Douala, Yaoundé, and Garoua. Cameroon is home to over 200 different linguistic groups. The country is well known for its native styles of music, particularly makossa and bikutsi, and for its successful national football team. French and English are the official languages.
Early inhabitants of the territory included the Sao civilisation around Lake Chad and the Baka hunter-gatherers in the southeastern rainforest. Portuguese explorers reached the coast in the 15th century and named the area Rio dos Camarões ("River of Prawns"), the name from which Cameroon derives. Fulani soldiers founded the Adamawa Emirate in the north in the 19th century, and various ethnic groups of the west and northwest established powerful chiefdoms and fondoms. Cameroon became a German colony in 1884.
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Canada
Canada ( /ˈkænədə/) is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean. Spanning over 9,900,000 km2 (3,800,000 sq mi), Canada is the world's second-largest country by total area, and its common border with the United States is the longest land border in the world.
The land that is now Canada has been inhabited for millennia by various Aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French colonial expeditions explored, and later settled, along the region's Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces. This began an accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy; the Canada Act 1982 severed the vestiges of legal dependence on Britain.
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Caribbean
The Caribbean (pronounced /ˌkærɨˈbiːən/ or /kəˈrɪbiən/) is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km) long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north. From the peninsula of Florida on the mainland of the United States, the islands stretch 1,200 miles (1,900 km) southeastward, then 500 miles (800 km) south, then west along the north coast of Venezuela on the South American mainland.
Situated largely on the Caribbean Plate, the region comprises more than 7,000 islands, islets, reefs, and cays. These islands generally form island arcs that delineate the eastern and northern edges of the Caribbean Sea.
The Caribbean islands are part of the somewhat larger West Indies grouping, which consists of the Greater Antilles on the north, the Lesser Antilles on the south and east (including the Leeward Antilles), as well as the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands (the Lucayan Archipelago, which does not border the Caribbean Sea). Due to its proximity to the equator, the sun rises from 3am EST to 5am EST.[citation needed]
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Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands ( /ˈkeɪmən/ or /keɪˈmæn/) is a British Overseas Territory located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica. The Cayman Islands are considered to be part of the geographic Western Caribbean Zone as well as the Greater Antilles. The territory is a major world offshore financial centre.
The Cayman Islands were first logged as sighted by Christopher Columbus on 10 May 1503 during his fourth and final voyage to the New World. He named the islands Las Tortugas after the large number of sea turtles observed there. The first recorded English visitor to the islands was Sir Francis Drake in 1586. He subsequently named the islands "Cayman" after caiman, a Neo-Taino word for "alligator".
The Cayman Islands remained largely uninhabited until the 17th century. While there is no archaeological evidence for an indigenous people on the islands, a variety of settlers from various backgrounds made their home on the islands, including pirates, refugees from the Spanish Inquisition, shipwrecked sailors, and deserters from Oliver Cromwell's army in Jamaica.
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Chicago
Chicago (i/ʃɪˈkɑːɡoʊ/ or /ʃɪˈkɔːɡoʊ/) is the largest city in the US state of Illinois and the third most populous city in the United States after New York City and Los Angeles. The city has around 2.7 million residents. Its metropolitan area, sometimes called "Chicagoland", is the third largest in the United States, with an estimated 9.8 million people. Chicago is the county seat of Cook County, though a small portion also extends into DuPage County.
Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837, near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. Today, Chicago is listed as an alpha+ global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, and ranks seventh in the world on the 2012 Global Cities Index. The city retains its status as an international hub for finance, industry, telecommunications and infrastructure, with O'Hare International Airport being the second busiest airport in the world in terms of traffic movements. In 2008[update], the city hosted 45.6 million domestic and overseas visitors. Among metropolitan areas, Chicago has the 4th largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world, ranking just behind Tokyo, New York City, and Los Angeles. Chicago is one of the most important Worldwide Centers of Commerce and trade.
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Chile
Chile (i/ˈtʃɪliː/ or /ˈtʃɪleɪ/), officially the Republic of Chile (Spanish: República de Chile [reˈpuβlika ðe ˈtʃile] ( listen)), is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow strip of land between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far south. Along with Ecuador, it is one of two countries in South America that do not border Brazil. Chilean territory includes the Pacific islands of Juan Fernández, Salas y Gómez, Desventuradas and Easter Island. Chile also claims about 1,250,000 square kilometres (480,000 sq mi) of Antarctica, although all claims are suspended under the Antarctic Treaty.
Chile's distinctive shape—4,300 kilometres (2,700 mi) long and on average 175 kilometres (109 mi) wide—makes it the longest country in the world, north to south, with the fifth lengthiest coastline at over 78 thousand kilometers. The diverse climate of Chile ranges from the world's driest desert in the north—the Atacama—through a Mediterranean climate in the centre, humid subtropical in Easter Island, to an Oceanic climate, including alpine tundra and glaciers in the east and south. The northern desert contains great mineral wealth, principally copper. The relatively small central area dominates in terms of population and agricultural resources, and is the cultural and political center from which Chile expanded in the late 19th century when it incorporated its northern and southern regions. Southern Chile is rich in forests and grazing lands, and features a string of volcanoes and lakes. The southern coast is a labyrinth of fjords, inlets, canals, twisting peninsulas, and islands.
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China
China (i/ˈtʃaɪnə/; Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó; see also Names of China), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is the world's most-populous country, with a population of over 1.3 billion. Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, the East Asian state is the world's second-largest country by land area, and the third- or fourth-largest in total area, depending on the definition of total area.
The People's Republic of China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). Its capital city is Beijing. The PRC also claims Taiwan—which is controlled by the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity—as its 23rd province, a claim controversial due to the complex political status of Taiwan and the unresolved Chinese Civil War. The PRC government denies the legitimacy of the ROC.
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Christmas Island
Coordinates: 10°29′S 105°38′E / 10.483°S 105.633°E / -10.483; 105.633 The Territory of Christmas Island is a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. It is 2,600 kilometres (1,600 mi) northwest of the Western Australian city of Perth, 360 km (220 mi) south of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, 975 km (606 mi) ENE of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and 2,748 km (1,708 mi) west of the Territorian city of Darwin.
Christmas Island has a population of 1,403 residents who live in a number of "settlement areas" on the northern tip of the island: Flying Fish Cove (also known as Kampong), Silver City, Poon Saan, and Drumsite.
The island’s geographic isolation and history of minimal human disturbance has led to a high level of endemism among its flora and fauna, which is of significant interest to scientists and naturalists. 63% of its 135 square kilometres (52 sq mi) is an Australian national park. There exist large areas of primary monsoonal forest.
Phosphate, deposited originally as dead marine organisms (not guano as often thought), has been mined on the island for many years.
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Colombia
Colombia (
/kəˈlʌmbiə/ kə-LUM-biə, or /kəˈlɒmbiə/ kə-LOM-biə), officially the Republic of Colombia (Spanish: República de Colombia [reˈpuβlika ðe koˈlombja]), is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the northwest by Panama; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean. Colombia has maritime borders with Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Colombia is the 26th largest country by area and the fourth largest in South America after Brazil, Argentina and Peru. With over 46 million people, Colombia is the 27th largest country in the world by population and has the second largest population of any Spanish-speaking country in the world, after Mexico. Colombia is a middle power, with the fourth largest economy in Latin America, and the third largest in South America. Colombia is famous for the production of coffee, flowers, emeralds, coal, and oil. All of these products make up the primary sector of economy.
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Colorado
Colorado (i/kɒləˈrædoʊ/ or /kɒləˈrɒdoʊ/) is the US state that encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. Colorado is part of the Western United States, the Southwestern United States, and the Mountain States. Colorado is the 8th most extensive and the 22nd most populous of the 50 United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Colorado was 5,116,796 on July 1, 2011, an increase of +1.74% since the 2010 United States Census.
The state was named for the Colorado River, which early Spanish explorers named the Río Colorado for the red colored (Spanish: colorado) silt the river carried from the mountains. On August 1, 1876, U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signed a proclamation admitting Colorado as the 38th state. Colorado is nicknamed the "Centennial State" because it was admitted to the Union in 1876, the centennial year of the United States Declaration of Independence.
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Connecticut
Connecticut (i/kəˈnɛtɨkət/) is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south (with which it shares a water boundary in Long Island Sound).
Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately bisects the state. Its capital city is Hartford. Much of southern and western Connecticut (along with the majority of the state's population) is part of the New York metropolitan area; three of Connecticut's eight counties are statistically included in the New York City combined statistical area, the same area is widely referred to as the Tri-State area. Connecticut's center of population is in Cheshire, New Haven County, which is also located within the Tri-State area.
Connecticut is the 3rd least extensive, the 29th most populous, and 4th most densely populated of the 50 United States. Called the Constitution State, Nutmeg State, and "The Land of Steady Habits", Connecticut was influential in the development of the federal government of the United States.
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Cook Islands
The Cook Islands (i/ˈkʊk ˈaɪləndz/; Cook Islands Māori: Kūki 'Āirani) is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand. The 15 small islands have a total land area of 240 square kilometres (92.7 sq mi), but the Cook Islands Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers 1,800,000 square kilometres (690,000 sq mi) of ocean.
The main population centres are on the island of Rarotonga (14,153 in 2006), where there is an international airport. There is a much larger population of Cook Islanders in New Zealand, particularly the North Island. In the 2006 census, 58,008 self-identified as being of ethnic Cook Island Māori descent.
With about 100,000 visitors travelling to the islands in the 2010-11 financial year,tourism is the country's main industry, and the leading element of the economy, far ahead of offshore banking, pearls, and marine and fruit exports.
Defence and foreign affairs are the responsibility of New Zealand, in consultation with the Cook Islands. In recent times, the Cook Islands have adopted an increasingly independent foreign policy. Although Cook Islanders are citizens of New Zealand, they have the status of Cook Islands nationals, which is not given to other New Zealand citizens.
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Costa Rica
Costa Rica is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and the Caribbean Sea to the east.
Costa Rica, which means "Rich Coast", constitutionally abolished its army permanently in 1949. It is the only Latin American country included in the list of the world's 22 older democracies. Costa Rica has consistently been among the top Latin American countries in the Human Development Index (HDI), ranked 69th in the world in 2011. Also was cited by the UNDP in 2010 as one of the countries that have attained much higher human development than other countries at the same income levels, and in 2011 was highlighted by UNDP for being a good performer on environmental sustainability, and better record on human development and inequality than the median of their region. It was also the only country to meet all five criteria established to measure environmental sustainability. The country is ranked fifth in the world, and first among the Americas, in terms of the 2012 Environmental Performance Index.
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Croatia
Croatia (i/kroʊˈeɪʃə/ kroh-AY-shə; Croatian: Hrvatska pronounced [xř̩ʋaːtskaː]), officially the Republic of Croatia (Croatian: Republika Hrvatska listen (help·info)), is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of Central Europe, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers 56,594 square kilometres (21,851 square miles) and has diverse, mostly continental and Mediterranean climates. Croatia's Adriatic Sea coast contains more than a thousand islands. The country's population is 4.29 million, most of whom are Croats, with the most common religious denomination being Roman Catholicism.
In the early 7th century the Croats arrived in area of present-day Croatia. They organised the state into two dukedoms by the 9th century. Tomislav became the first king by 925 AD, elevating Croatia to the status of a kingdom. The Kingdom of Croatia retained its sovereignty for nearly two centuries, reaching its peak during the rule of Kings Peter Krešimir IV and Dmitar Zvonimir. Croatia entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1527, faced with Ottoman conquest the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg to the Croatian throne. In 1918, after World War I, Croatia was included in the short-lived State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs that declared independence from Austria–Hungary and co-founded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. A Croatian state briefly existed during World War II as a fascist puppet state. After the war, Croatia became a founding member and a federal constituent of the Second Yugoslavia, a socialist state. In June 1991, Croatia declared independence, which came into effect on 8 October of the same year. The Croatian War of Independence was fought successfully during the four years following the declaration.
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Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, (i/ˈkjuːbə/; Spanish: República de Cuba, pronounced: [reˈpuβlika ðe ˈkuβa] ( listen)) is an island country in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. To the north of Cuba lies the United States (140 km or 90 mi away) and the Bahamas, Mexico is to the west, the Cayman Islands and Jamaica are to the south, and Haiti and the Dominican Republic are to the southeast.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on and claimed the island now occupied by Cuba, for the Kingdom of Spain. Cuba remained a territory of Spain until the Spanish–American War ended in 1898, and gained formal independence from the U.S. in 1902. A fragile democracy, increasingly dominated by radical politics eventually evolved, solidified by the Cuban Constitution of 1940, but was definitely quashed in 1952 by former president Fulgencio Batista, and an authoritarian regime was set up, intensifying and catalyzing already rampant corruption, political repression and crippling economic regulations.Batista was ousted in January 1959 by the July 26 movement, and a new administration under Fidel Castro established, which had by 1965 evolved into a single-party state under the revived Communist Party of Cuba, which holds power to date.
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Curaçao
Curaçao (Dutch: Curaçao;Papiamentu: Kòrsou) is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao (Dutch: Land Curaçao, Papiamentu: Pais Kòrsou), which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao ("Little Curaçao"), is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Its capital is Willemstad.
Curaçao is the largest and most populous of the three ABC islands (for Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao) of the Lesser Antilles, specifically the Leeward Antilles. It has a land area of 444 square kilometres (171 square miles). As of 1 January 2009, it had a population of 141,766.
Prior to 10 October 2010, when the Netherlands Antilles was dissolved, Curaçao was administered as the Island Territory of Curaçao (Dutch: Eilandgebied Curaçao, Papiamentu: Teritorio Insular di Kòrsou), one of five island territories of the former Netherlands Antilles. The ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code CUW and the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code CW has been assigned to Curaçao.
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Cyprus
Cyprusi/ˈsaɪprəs/ (Greek: Κύπρος, Kýpros, IPA: [ˈcipɾos]; Turkish: Kıbrıs, IPA: [ˈkɯbɾɯs]), officially the Republic of Cyprus (Greek: Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία, Kypriakī́ Dīmokratía, IPA: [cipɾiaˈci ðimokɾaˈtia]; Turkish: Kıbrıs Cumhuriyeti, IPA: [ˈkɯbɾɯs dʒumhuɾijeˈti]), is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria, Lebanon, northwest of Israel and north of Egypt. Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and the Republic of Cyprus is a member state of the European Union.
The earliest known human activity on the island dates back to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this period include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia, which has been declared a World Heritage Site with an "enhanced protection" status in the event of armed conflict by UNESCO, along with the archaeological sites of Paphos and the Painted Churches of the Troodos Region. Cyprus is home to some of the oldest water wells in the world.
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Czech Republic
The Czech Republic (i/ˈtʃɛk/ CHEK;Czech: Česká republika, pronounced [ˈtʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka] ( listen), short form Česko Czech pronunciation: [ˈtʃɛskɔ]) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the north, Germany to the west, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. Its capital and largest city, with 1.3 million inhabitants, is Prague.
It is a pluralist multi-party parliamentary representative democracy, a member of the European Union, NATO, the OECD, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group.
The Czech state, formerly known as Bohemia, was formed in the late 9th century as a small duchy around Prague, at that time under dominance of the powerful Great Moravian Empire (which reached its greatest territorial extent during the reign of Svatopluk I from the House of Mojmír). After the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power was transferred from Moravia to Bohemia, under the Přemyslids. During the rule of Přemyslid dukes/kings and their successors, the Luxembourgs, the country reached its greatest territorial extent (13th–14th century). Life in the country was significantly affected by the Hussite wars, during which it faced economic embargo and crusades from all over Europe. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg monarchy as one of its three principal parts alongside the Archduchy of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary. The Bohemian Revolt (1618–20) led to the further centralization of the monarchy including forced recatholization and Germanization. During radical reforms in the 18th century the Bohemian Crown was even de facto abolished (1749). In the 19th century the Czech lands became the industrial powerhouse of the monarchy and the core of the Republic of Czechoslovakia which was formed in 1918, following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire after World War I.
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Dallas
Dallas ( /ˈdæləs/) is the third-largest city in the state of Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States. Divided between Collin, Dallas, Denton, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties, the city had a population of 1,197,816 in 2010, according to the United States Census Bureau.
The city is the largest economic center of the 12-county Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area (the DFW MSA) that according to the March 2010 U.S. Census Bureau release, had a population of 6,371,773. The metroplex economy is the sixth largest in the United States, with a 2010 gross metropolitan product of $374 billion.
Dallas was founded in 1841 and was formally incorporated as a city in February 1856. The city's economy is primarily based on banking, commerce, telecommunications, computer technology, energy, healthcare and medical research, transportation and logistics. The city is home to the third largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the nation. Located in North Texas and a major city in the American South, Dallas is the main core of the largest inland metropolitan area in the United States that lacks any navigable link to the sea.
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Delaware
Delaware (i/ˈdɛləwɛər/ DEL-ə-wair) is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, to the northeast by New Jersey, and to the north by Pennsylvania. The state takes its name from Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, an English nobleman and Virginia's first colonial governor, after whom what is now called Cape Henlopen was originally named.
Delaware is located in the northeastern portion of the Delmarva Peninsula and is the second least extensive, the sixth least populous, but the sixth most densely populated of the 50 United States. Delaware is divided into three counties. From north to south, these three counties are New Castle, Kent, and Sussex. While the southern two counties have historically been predominantly agricultural, New Castle County has been more industrialized.
The history of the state's economic and industrial development is closely tied to the impact of the Du Pont family, founders and scions of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, one of the world’s largest chemical companies.
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Delaware Valley
In general, the Delaware Valley is a term used to refer to the valley where the Delaware River flows.
However, this article discusses the economic region centered on the cities on the tidal part of the Delaware Valley, including the metropolitan areas centered on Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. and Wilmington, Delaware. It is roughly the Philadelphia–Camden–Wilmington, Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Delaware-Maryland (PA-NJ-DE-MD) Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The Delaware Valley as discussed here is composed of several counties in Eastern Pennsylvania and Western New Jersey, one county in northern Delaware and one county in northeastern Maryland. The area has a population of over 6.1 million (as of the 2010 Census Bureau count). Philadelphia, being the region's major commercial, cultural, and industrial center, maintains a rather large sphere of influence that affects the counties that immediately surround it. The majority of the region's populace resides in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
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Denmark
The Kingdom of Denmark (Danish: Kongeriget Danmark, pronounced [ˈkɔŋəʁiːəð ˈdanmɑɡ̊] ( listen)) is a constitutional monarchy and sovereign state consisting the country of Denmark in northern Europe and two autonomous constituent countries, the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic and Greenland in North America. The kingdom is a unitary state with some power being devolved from Denmark proper to Greenland and the Faroe Islands; this polity is referred to as the Danish Realm. Denmark proper is the hegemonial area, where judicial, executive, and legislative power resides. The Faroe Islands are defined to be a community of people within the kingdom, and the Greenlandic people are defined as a separate people with the right to self-determination.
Denmark is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, located southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. The country consists of a large peninsula, Jutland and many islands, most notably Zealand, Funen, Lolland, Falster and Bornholm, as well as hundreds of minor islands often referred to as the Danish Archipelago.
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District of Columbia
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a federal district to become the national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution. The District is therefore not a part of any U.S. state. It was formed from land along the Potomac River donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia; however, the Virginia portion was returned by Congress in 1846.
A new capital city named after George Washington was founded in 1791 to the east of the preexisting port of Georgetown. Congress consolidated the City of Washington, Georgetown, and the remaining unincorporated area within the District under a single municipal government in 1871. The city shares its name with the U.S. state of Washington, located on the country's Pacific coast.
Washington, D.C., had an estimated population of 617,996 in 2011. The city was the 24th most populous place in the United States as of 2010. Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the city's population to over one million during the workweek. The Washington Metropolitan Area, of which the District is a part, has a population of nearly 5.6 million, the seventh-largest metropolitan area in the country.
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Dominica
Dominica ( /ˌdɒmɪˈniːkə/ DOM-i-NEE-kə;French: Dominique; Kali‘na (Carib): Wai‘tu kubuli), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles region of the Caribbean Sea, south-southeast of Guadeloupe and northwest of Martinique. Its size is 750 square kilometres (290 sq mi) and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of 1,447 metres (4,747 ft). The Commonwealth of Dominica had a population of 71,293 at the 2011 Census. The capital is Roseau.
Dominica has been nicknamed the "Nature Isle of the Caribbean" for its unspoiled natural beauty. It is the youngest island in the Lesser Antilles, still being formed by geothermal-volcanic activity, as evidenced by the world's second-largest hot spring, Boiling Lake. The island features lush mountainous rainforests, home of many rare plant, animal, and bird species. There are xeric areas in some of the western coastal regions, but heavy rainfall can be expected inland. The Sisserou Parrot (also known as the Imperial Amazon), the island's national bird, is featured on the national flag. Dominica's economy is heavily dependent on tourism, agriculture and heavy taxation.
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Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic (i/dəˌmɪnɨkən rɨˈpʌblɪk/; Spanish: República Dominicana [reˈpuβlika ðominiˈkana]) is a nation on the island of Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries. Both by area and population, the Dominican Republic is the second largest Caribbean nation (after Cuba), with 48,442 square kilometres (18,704 sq mi) and an estimated 10 million people.
Taínos inhabited what is now the Dominican Republic since the 7th century. Christopher Columbus landed on it in 1492, and it became the site of the first permanent European settlement in the Americas, namely Santo Domingo, the country's capital and Spain's first capital in the New World. Santo Domingo can boast of many firsts in the Americas, including the first cathedral, and castle, both in the Ciudad Colonial area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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Ecuador
Ecuador (i/ˈɛkwədɔr/ E-kwə-dawr), officially the Republic of Ecuador (Spanish: República del Ecuador [reˈpuβlika ðel ekwaˈðor], which literally translates to the "Republic of the Equator") is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, (along with Chile), that do not have a border with Brazil. The country also includes the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific, about 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) west of the mainland.
The main spoken language in Ecuador is Spanish. Ecuador straddles the equator, from which it takes its name, and has an area of 275,830 km2 (106,500 sq mi). Its capital city is Quito, which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in the 1970s for having the best preserved and least altered historic center in Latin America. The country's largest city is Guayaquil. The historic center of Cuenca, the third largest city in the country, was also declared a World Heritage Site in 1999, for being an outstanding example of a planned inland Spanish style colonial city in the Americas. Ecuador is also home—despite its size—to a great variety of species, many of them endemic, like those of the Galápagos islands. This species diversity makes Ecuador one of the 17 megadiverse countries in the world. The new constitution of 2008 is the first in the world to recognize legally enforceable Rights of Nature, or ecosystem rights.
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Egypt
Egypti/ˈiːdʒɪpt/ (Arabic: مصر, Miṣr, Egyptian Arabic: [mɑsˤɾ] ; Coptic: Ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, Kīmi ; Sahidic Coptic: ⲕⲏⲙⲉ, Kēme), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: جمهوريّة مصر العربيّة (help·info), is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Covering an area of about 1,010,000 square kilometers (390,000 sq mi), Egypt is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west.
Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle East. The great majority of its over 81 million people live near the banks of the Nile River, in an area of about 40,000 square kilometers (15,000 sq mi), where the only arable land is found. The large areas of the Sahara Desert are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta.
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El Salvador
El Salvadori/ɛl ˈsælvədɔr/ (Spanish: República de El Salvador, literally 'Republic of The Savior') is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country as well as Central America. El Salvador borders the Pacific Ocean on the west, and the countries of Guatemala to the north and Honduras to the east. Its easternmost region lies on the coast of the Gulf of Fonseca, opposite Nicaragua. As of 2009, El Salvador had a population of approximately 5,744,113 people, composed predominantly of Mestizos.
The colón was the official currency of El Salvador from 1892 to 2001, when it adopted the U.S. Dollar.
In 2010 El Salvador ranked in the top 10 among Latin American countries in terms of the Human Development Index and in the top 3 in Central America (behind Costa Rica and Panama), due in part to ongoing rapid industrialization. In addition, tropical forests and overall forest cover has expanded by nearly 20 percent from the year 1992 to 2010. Making it one of the few countries experiencing reforestation.
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Eritrea
Eritrea ( /ˌɛrɨˈtreɪ.ə/ or /ˌɛrɨˈtriːə/;Ge'ez: ኤርትራ ʾErtrā, Arabic: إرتريا Iritrīyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea is the Italian form of the Greek name Ἐρυθραίᾱ (Erythraíā), meaning "red [land]". The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast. The northeast and east of the country has an extensive coastline on the Red Sea, directly across from Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The Dahlak Archipelago and several of the Hanish Islands are part of Eritrea. Eritrea's size is approximately 117,600 km2 (45,406 sq mi) with an estimated population of 6 million.
Together with northern Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and the Red Sea coast of Sudan, Eritrea is considered the most likely location of the land known to the ancient Egyptians as Punt (or "Ta Netjeru", meaning "God's Land"), whose first mention dates to the 25th century BC. The ancient Puntites were a nation of people that had close relations with Pharaonic Egypt during the times of Pharaoh Sahure and Queen Hatshepsut.
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Ethiopia
Ethiopia ( /ˌiːθiˈoʊpiə/) (Ge'ez: ኢትዮጵያ ʾĪtyōṗṗyā), officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Djibouti and Somalia to the east, Sudan and South Sudan to the west, and Kenya to the south. With its capital at Addis Ababa, it is also the most populous landlocked nation in the world.
Ethiopia was a monarchy for most of its history, and the Ethiopian dynasty traces its roots to the 2nd century BC. Ethiopia is also one of the oldest sites of human existence known to scientists today, having yielded some of humanity's oldest traces. It may be the region from which Homo sapiens first set out for the Middle East and points beyond. Alongside Rome, Persia, China and India, the Ethiopian Aksum Empire was considered one of the great world powers of the 3rd century. During the Scramble for Africa, Ethiopia was the only African country beside Liberia that retained its sovereignty as a recognized independent country, and was one of only four African members of the League of Nations. After a brief period of Italian occupation, Ethiopia became a charter member of the United Nations. When other African nations received their independence following World War II, many of them adopted the colors of Ethiopia's flag, and Addis Ababa became the location of several international organizations focused on Africa.
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Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands (English pronunciation: /ˈfɒlklənd/ or English pronunciation: /ˈfɔːlklənd/; Spanish: Islas Malvinas) are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located more than 250 nautical miles (460 km; 290 mi) east of the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago comprises East Falkland, West Falkland, and 776 lesser islands. Stanley, the capital and only city, is on East Falkland. The islands are a self-governing British Overseas Territory, with the United Kingdom responsible for their defence and foreign affairs.
Controversy exists over the Falklands' original discovery and subsequent colonisation by Europeans. At various times there have been French, British, Spanish, and Argentine settlements. Britain re-established its rule in 1833, yet the islands continue to be claimed by Argentina. In 1982, following Argentina's invasion of the islands, the two-month-long undeclared Falklands War between both countries resulted in the withdrawal of all Argentine forces. Despite its defeat, Argentina still pursues its claim; however, UK policy supports the islanders' self-determination to remain British citizens.
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Fiji
Fijii/ˈfiːdʒiː/ (Fijian: Viti; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी), officially the Republic of Fiji (Fijian: Matanitu ko Viti; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी गणराज्यFijī Gaṇarājya), is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about 1,100 nautical miles (2,000 km; 1,300 mi) northeast of New Zealand's North Island. Its closest neighbours are Vanuatu to the west, France's New Caledonia to the southwest, New Zealand's Kermadec to the southeast, Tonga to the east, the Samoas, France's Wallis and Futuna to the northeast and Tuvalu to the north.
The majority of Fiji's islands were formed through volcanic activity started around 150 million years ago. Today, some geothermal activity still occurs on the islands of Vanua Levu and Taveuni. Fiji has been inhabited since the second millennium BC. The country comprises an archipelago of more than 332 islands, of which 110 are permanently inhabited, and more than 500 islets, amounting to a total land area of circa 18,300 square kilometres (7,100 sq mi). The two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, account for 87% of the population of almost 850,000. The former contains Suva, the capital and largest city. Most of Fijians live on Viti Levu's coasts, either in Suva or in smaller urban centres. Viti Levu's interior is sparsely inhabited due to its terrain.
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Finland
Coordinates: 65°N 27°E / 65°N 027°E / 65; 027
Finlandi/ˈfɪnlənd/ ( Finnish: Suomi; Swedish: Finland (help·info)), officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.
Around 5.4 million people reside in Finland, with the majority concentrated in the southern region. It is the eighth largest country in Europe in terms of area and the most sparsely populated country in the European Union. Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in Helsinki and local governments in 336 municipalities, and an autonomous region of the Åland Islands. About one million residents live in the Greater Helsinki area, which consists of Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen and Vantaa, and a third of the country's GDP is produced there. Other larger cities include Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä, Lahti and Kuopio.
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Florida
Florida (i/ˈflɒrɪdə/) is a state in the southeastern United States, bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. Florida is the 22nd most extensive, the 4th most populous, and the 8th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The state capital is Tallahassee, its largest city is Jacksonville, and the South Florida metropolitan area is the largest metropolitan area in the southeastern U.S.
Much of Florida is situated on a peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Straits of Florida. Its geography is marked by a coastline, by the omnipresence of water and the threat of hurricanes. Florida has the longest coastline in the contiguous United States, encompassing approximately 1,350 miles (2,170 km), and is the only state to border both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Much of the state is at or near sea level and its terrain is characterized by sedimentary soils. The climate varies from subtropical in the north to tropical in the south. Its symbolic animals like the American alligator, Florida panther and the manatee, can be found in the Everglades, one of the most famous national parks in the world.
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France
France (Englishi/ˈfræns/ FRANSS or /ˈfrɑːns/ FRAHNSS; French: [fʁɑ̃s] ( listen)), officially the French Republic (French: République française [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is often referred to as l’Hexagone ("The Hexagon") because of the geometric shape of its territory. It is the largest western European country and it possesses the second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world, covering 11,035,000 km2 (4,260,000 sq mi), just behind that of the United States (11,351,000 km2 / 4,383,000 sq mi).
Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and around the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonised great parts of North America and Southeast Asia; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest colonial empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands.
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Gambia
The Republic of The Gambia, commonly referred to as The Gambia, or Gambiai/ˈɡæmbiə/, is a country in West Africa. Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa, surrounded by Senegal except for a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean in the west.
The country is situated around the Gambia River, the nation's namesake, which flows through the country's centre and empties into the Atlantic Ocean. Its area is 11,295 km² with an estimated population of 1.7 million.
On 18 February 1965, Gambia gained independence from the United Kingdom and joined the Commonwealth of Nations. Banjul is Gambia's capital, but the largest cities are Serekunda and Brikama.
Gambia shares historical roots with many other West African nations in the slave trade, which was the key factor in the placing and keeping of a colony on the Gambia River, first by the Portuguese and later by the British. Since gaining independence in 1965, Gambia has enjoyed relative political stability, with the exception of a brief period of military rule in 1994.
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Genoa
Genoa /ˈdʒɛnoʊ.ə/ (Italian: Genova [ˈdʒɛːnova] (
listen); Genoese and Ligurian Zena [ˈzeːna]; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is the capital of Liguria and the sixth largest city in Italy, with a population of 608,676 within its administrative limits on a land area of 243.6 km2 (94 sq mi). The urban zone of Genoa extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 718,896. The urban area of Genoa has a population of 800,709. In the metropolitan area live between 859,000 and 1.4 million or 1.5 million people. Genoa is one of Europe's largest cities on the Mediterranean Sea and the largest seaport in Italy.
Genoa has been nicknamed la Superba ("the Superb one") due to its glorious past and impressive landmarks. Part of the old town of Genoa was inscribed on the World Heritage List (UNESCO) in 2006 (see below). The city's rich art, music, gastronomy, architecture and history, allowed it to become the 2004's European Capital of Culture. It is the birthplace of Christopher Columbus.
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Georgia (country)
Georgiai/ˈdʒɔrdʒə/ (Georgian: საქართველო Sakartvelo, IPA: [sɑkʰɑrtʰvɛlɔ] ( listen)) is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of Georgia is Tbilisi. Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 km² and its population is almost 4.7 million. Georgia is a unitary, semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy.
During the classical era independent kingdoms became established in what is now Georgia. The kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia adopted Christianity in the early 4th century. A unified Georgia reached the peak of its political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar in the 11th–12th centuries. At the beginning of the 19th century, Georgia was annexed by the Russian Empire. After a brief period of independence following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Georgia was occupied by Soviet Russia in 1921, becoming the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic and part of the Soviet Union. After independence in 1991, post-communist Georgia suffered from civil unrest and economic crisis for most of the 1990s. This lasted until the Rose Revolution of 2003, after which the new government introduced democratic and economic reforms.
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Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia (i/ˈdʒɔrdʒⁱə/) is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. Named after King George II of Great Britain, Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788. It declared its secession from the Union on January 21, 1861, and was one of the original seven Confederate states. It was the last state to be restored to the Union, on July 15, 1870. Georgia is the 24th most extensive and the 9th most populous of the 50 United States. From 2007 to 2008, 14 of Georgia's counties ranked among the nation's 100 fastest-growing, second only to Texas. Georgia is known as the Peach State and the Empire State of the South.Atlanta is the state's capital and its most populous city.
Georgia is bordered on the south by Florida; on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and South Carolina; on the west by Alabama; and on the north by Tennessee and North Carolina. The northern part of the state is in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a mountain range in the Appalachian Mountains system. The central piedmont extends from the foothills to the fall line, where the rivers cascade down in elevation to the continental coastal plain of the southern part of the state. The highest point in Georgia is Brasstown Bald, 4,784 feet (1,458 m); the lowest point is the Atlantic Ocean.
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Germany
Germany (i/ˈdʒɜrməni/), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland, pronounced [ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant] ( listen)), is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With 81.8 million inhabitants, it is the most populous member state and the largest economy in the European Union. It is one of the major political powers of the European continent and a technological leader in many fields.
A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, was documented before AD 100. During the Migration Period, the Germanic tribes expanded southward, and established successor kingdoms throughout much of Europe. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation while southern and western parts remained dominated by Roman Catholic denominations, with the two factions clashing in the Thirty Years' War, marking the beginning of the Catholic–Protestant divide that has characterized German society ever since. Occupied during the Napoleonic Wars, the rise of Pan-Germanism inside the German Confederation resulted in the unification of most of the German states into the German Empire in 1871 which was Prussian dominated. After the German Revolution of 1918–1919 and the subsequent military surrender in World War I, the Empire was replaced by the Weimar Republic in 1918, and partitioned in the Treaty of Versailles. Amidst the Great Depression, the Third Reich was proclaimed in 1933. The latter period was marked by Fascism and World War II. After 1945, Germany was divided by allied occupation, and evolved into two states, East Germany and West Germany. In 1990 Germany was reunified.
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Ghana
Ghanai/ˈɡɑːnə/ is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south. The word Ghana means "Warrior King" and is derived from the ancient Ghana Empire.
Ghana was inhabited in pre-colonial times by a number of ancient predominantly Akan kingdoms, including the inland Ashanti Empire, the Akwamu, the Akyem, the Bonoman, the Denkyira, and the Fante among others. Non-Akan states created by the Ga also existed as did states by the Dagomba. Prior to contact with Europeans trade between the Akan and various African states flourished due to Akan's gold wealth. Trade with European states began after contact with the Portuguese in the 15th century, and the British established the Gold Coast Crown colony in 1874 over parts but not all of the country.
The Gold Coast achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1957, becoming the First sub-Saharan African nation to do so from European Colonialism. The name Ghana was chosen for the new nation to reflect the ancient Empire of Ghana, which once extended throughout much of west Africa.
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Gibraltar
Gibraltar ( /dʒɨˈbrɒltər/) is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. It has an area of 6.8 square kilometres (2.6 sq mi) and a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region. At its foot is the densely populated city area, home to almost 30,000 Gibraltarians and other nationalities.
An Anglo-Dutch force captured Gibraltar from Spain in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. The territory was subsequently ceded to Britain "in perpetuity" under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. It was an important base for the Royal Navy; today its economy is based largely on tourism, financial services, and shipping.
The sovereignty of Gibraltar is a major point of contention in Anglo-Spanish relations as Spain asserts a claim to the territory. Gibraltarians rejected proposals for Spanish sovereignty in a 1967 referendum and again in 2002. Under the Gibraltar constitution of 2006, Gibraltar governs its own affairs, though some powers, such as defence and foreign relations, remain the responsibility of the UK Government.
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Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada–United States border which connect to the Atlantic Ocean through the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes Waterway. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth comprising 21% of the world's surface fresh water. The total surface is 94,250 square miles (244,106 km2), and the total volume (measured at the low water datum) is 5,439 cubic miles (22,671 km3). The lakes are sometimes referred to as the North Coast or "Third Coast" by some citizens of the United States.
The lakes have been a major source of trade through this area, and they are home to a large number of aquatic species. Many invasive species have been introduced due to trade in the area, and some threaten the biodiversity of the area.
Though the five lakes reside in separate basins, they form a single, naturally interconnected body of fresh water. The lakes form a chain connecting the east-central interior of North America to the Atlantic Ocean. From the interior to the outlet at the St. Lawrence River, water flows from Superior to Michigan-Huron (in the hydrological sense, a single body of water), southward to Erie, and finally northward to Lake Ontario. The lakes drain a large watershed via many rivers, and are studded with approximately 35,000 islands. The Great Lakes region contains not only the five themselves but also many thousands of smaller lakes, often called inland lakes. Of the five lakes, Lake Michigan is the only one that is located entirely within the United States; the others form a water border between the United States and Canada.
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Greater Cleveland
The Cleveland metropolitan area, or Greater Cleveland as it is more commonly known, is the metropolitan area of Northeast Ohio that contains Cleveland, Ohio, United States and its surrounding area. According to the 2010 Census, the five-county Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) consists of Cuyahoga County, Geauga County, Lake County, Lorain County, and Medina County, and has a population of 2,077,240. Greater Cleveland is the largest metropolitan area in Ohio.
Northeast Ohio refers to a similar but substantially larger area. This article covers the area generally considered to be Greater Cleveland, but includes some information generally applicable to the larger region, which is itself part of what is known historically as the Connecticut Western Reserve.
The larger Cleveland-Akron-Elyria Combined Statistical Area is the 14th-largest Combined Statistical Area in the United States, and includes the above counties plus Ashtabula County, Portage County and Summit County, with a population of 2,881,937.
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Greater Houston
Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown is a 10-county metropolitan area defined by the Office of Management and Budget. It is located along the Gulf Coast region in the U.S. state of Texas. The metropolitan area is colloquially referred to as "Greater Houston" and is situated in Southeast Texas, just west of the Golden Triangle.
Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the United States with a population of 6,086,538 as of U.S. Census Bureau's July 1, 2011 estimates. The population of the metropolitan area is centered in the city of Houston—the largest economic and cultural center of the American South, with a population of 2.1 million.
Houston is among the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the United States. The area grew 25.2 percent between the 1990 and 2000 censuses—adding more than 950,000 people—while the nation's population increased 13.2 percent over the same period. From 2000 to 2007, the area grew by 912,994 people. From 2000 to 2030, the metropolitan area is projected by Woods & Poole Economics to rank fifth in the nation in population growth—adding 2.66 million people. In 2009, Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate Partners ranked Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown as the fifth-best performing metropolitan area; the Houston area had moved up 11 spaces from the previous year's ranking.
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Greece
Greecei/ˈɡriːs/ (Greek: Ελλάδα, Ellada, IPA: [eˈlaða] ( listen) historically in Katharevousa and Ancient Greek: Ἑλλάς, Hellas, IPA: [eˈlas] and [helːás] respectively), officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία, Elliniki Dimokratia, IPA: [eliniˈci ðimokraˈtia]), is a country in Southern Europe, politically considered part of Western Europe.Athens is the capital and the largest city in the country (its urban area also including Piraeus). The population of the country is around 11 million.
Greece has land borders with Albania, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the east. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of mainland Greece, the Ionian Sea to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km (8,498 mi) in length, featuring a vast number of islands (approximately 1,400, of which 227 are inhabited), including Crete, the Dodecanese, the Cyclades, and the Ionian Islands among others. Eighty percent of Greece consists of mountains, of which Mount Olympus is the highest at 2,917 m (9,570 ft).
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Greenland
Greenland (Kalaallisut: Kalaallit Nunaat, "Land of the Kalaallit";Danish: Grønland) is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe (specifically Norway and later Denmark) for more than a millennium. Greenland is, by area, the world's largest island. With a population of 56,615 (January 2011 estimate) it is the least densely populated dependency or country in the world.
Greenland has been inhabited, though not continuously, by Arctic peoples via Canada for 4500–5000 years. In the 10th century, Norsemen settled on the uninhabited southern part of Greenland. In the 13th century, the Inuit arrived, and in the late 15th century the Norse colonies were abandoned. In the early 18th century, contact between Scandinavia and Greenland was re-established and Denmark established rule over Greenland.
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Grenada
Grenada (i/ɡrɨˈneɪdə/) is an island country and Commonwealth realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea. Grenada is located northwest of Trinidad and Tobago, northeast of Venezuela, and southwest of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Grenada is also known as the "Island of Spice" because of the production of nutmeg and mace crops of which Grenada is one of the world's largest exporters. Its size is 344 square kilometres (133 sq mi), with an estimated population of 110,000. Its capital is St. George's. The national bird of Grenada is the critically endangered Grenada Dove.
Grenada was first sighted by Europeans in 1498 during the third voyage of Christopher Columbus to the new world. At the time the indigenous Island Caribs (Kalinago) who lived there called it Camahogne. The Spaniards did not permanently settle on Camahogne. The English failed in their attempt at settlement in 1609.
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Guadeloupe
Coordinates: 16°15′N 61°35′W / 16.25°N 61.583°W / 16.25; -61.583
Guadeloupe ( /ɡwɑːdəˈluːp/; French pronunciation: [ɡwadəlup]; Antillean Creole: Gwadloup) is a Caribbean island located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres (629 sq. mi) and a population of 400,000. It is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. Its departmental code is "971". As the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe is also an integral part of the Republic. Besides Guadeloupe island, the smaller islands of Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the Îles des Saintes are included in Guadeloupe.
As part of France, Guadeloupe is part of the European Union and the Eurozone; hence, as for all Eurozone countries, its currency is the euro. However, Guadeloupe is not part of the Schengen Area. The prefecture and the capital of Guadeloupe is Basse-Terre. Christopher Columbus named the island Santa María de Guadalupe in 1493 after the Virgin Mary, venerated in the Spanish town of Guadalupe, in Extremadura.
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Guam
Guam (i/ˈɡwɑːm/; Chamorro: Guåhån) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of sixteen Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United Nations. The island's capital is Hagåtña (formerly Agaña). Guam is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands.
The Chamorros, Guam's indigenous people, first populated the island approximately 4,000 years ago. The island has a long history of European colonialism. Discovered by Ferdinand Magellan during a Spanish expedition on March 6, 1521, the first colony was established in 1668 by Spain with the arrival of settlers including Padre San Vitores, a Catholic missionary. For more than two centuries Guam was an important stopover for the Spanish Manila Galleons that crossed the Pacific annually. The island was controlled by Spain until 1898, when it was surrendered to the United States during the Spanish-American War and later formally ceded as part of the Treaty of Paris.
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Guatemala
Guatemala (i/ˌɡwɑːtəˈmɑːlə/ GWAH-tə-MAH-lə), officially the Republic of Guatemala (Spanish: República de Guatemala [reˈpuβlika ðe ɣwateˈmala]), is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast. Its area is 108,890 km2 (42,043 mi2) with an estimated population of 13,276,517.
A representative democracy, its capital is Guatemala de la Asunción, also known as Guatemala City. Guatemala's abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems contributes to Mesoamerica's designation as a biodiversity hotspot. The former Mayan civilization was a Mesoamerican civilization, which continued throughout the Post-Classic period until the arrival of the Spanish. The Mayas live in Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, the southern part of Mexico and northern parts of El Salvador.
Guatemala became independent from Spain in 1821, joining the Mexican Empire. After it became an independent country in its own right, it was ruled by a series of dictators, assisted by the United Fruit Company. The late 20th century saw Guatemala embroiled in a 36-year-long civil war. Following the war, Guatemala has witnessed both economic growth and successful democratic elections. In the most recent election, held in 2011, Otto Pérez Molina of the Patriotic Party, won the presidency.
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Guernsey
Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey ( /ˈɡɜrnzi/ GURN-zee; French: Bailliage de Guernesey, IPA: [bajaʒ də ɡɛʁnəzɛ]), is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.
The Bailiwick of Guernsey embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, and Lihou. Furthermore, the Bailiwick includes Alderney and Sark, which each has its own parliament.
Although its defence is the responsibility of the United Kingdom, the Bailiwick of Guernsey is not part of the UK; and while it participates in the Common Travel Area, it is not part of the European Union.
The Bailiwick of Guernsey is included (along with the Bailiwick of Jersey) in the grouping known as the Channel Islands.
The name of Guernsey, as well as that of neighbouring Jersey, is of Old Norse origin. The second element of Guernsey (-ey) is the Old Norse for "island". Guern similar to Spanish "Cuerno", French "Coi(r)n", Dutch "Hoorn", Frisian "Hoarn", Swedish "Hörn", Swiss "Gorn" means "Corner". - Corner Island.
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Guyana
Coordinates: 5°00′N 58°45′W / 5°N 58.75°W / 5; -58.75
Guyana (i/ɡaɪˈænə/ gy-AN-ə), officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and (for over 200 years) the British. It is the only state of the Commonwealth of Nations on mainland South America, and the only one on that continent where English is an official language.It is one of the few Caribbean countries that is not an island. It is also a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which has its secretariat headquarters in Guyana's capital, Georgetown. Guyana achieved independence from the United Kingdom on 26 May 1966, and became a republic on 23 February 1970. In 2008 the country joined the Union of South American Nations as a founding member.
Historically, the region known as "Guiana" or "Guyana" comprised the large shield landmass north of the Amazon River and east of the Orinoco River known as the "Land of many waters". Historical Guyana is made up of three Dutch colonies: Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice. Modern Guyana is bordered to the east by Suriname, to the south and southwest by Brazil, to the west by Venezuela, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean.
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Haiti
Haitii/ˈheɪti/ (French: Haïti [aiti]; Haitian Creole Ayiti [ajiti]), officially the Republic of Haiti (République d'Haïti; Repiblik Ayiti), is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti (land of high mountains) was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island. The country's highest point is Pic la Selle, at 2,680 metres (8,793 ft). The total area of Haiti is 27,750 square kilometres (10,714 sq mi) and its capital is Port-au-Prince. Haitian Creole and French are the official languages.
Haiti's regional, historical, and ethno-linguistic position is unique for several reasons. It was the first independent nation of Latin America and the Caribbean, the first black-led republic in the world, and the second republic in the Americas when it gained independence in 1804 as part of a successful slave revolution lasting nearly a decade. In 2012, Haiti announced its intention to seek associate membership status in the African Union. Haiti is the only predominantly Francophone independent nation in the Americas. It is one of only two independent nations in the Americas (along with Canada) to designate French as an official language; the other French-speaking areas are all overseas départements, or collectivités, of France.
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Hampton Roads
Coordinates: 36°58′N 76°22′W / 36.967°N 76.367°W / 36.967; -76.367
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States. Hampton Roads is notable for its year-round ice-free harbor, for United States Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, NASA, Marine Corps, and Army facilities, shipyards, coal piers, and hundreds of miles of waterfront property and beaches, all of which contribute to the diversity and stability of the region's economy.
The water area known as Hampton Roads is one of the world's largest natural harbors (more accurately a roadstead or "roads"), and incorporates the mouths of the Elizabeth River and James River with several smaller rivers and itself empties into the Chesapeake Bay near its mouth leading to the Atlantic Ocean.
The land area (also known as "Tidewater") includes dozens of cities, counties and towns on the Virginia Peninsula and in South Hampton Roads. Some of the more outlying areas from the harbor may or may not be included as part of "Hampton Roads", depending upon the organization or purpose. For a commonly used example, as defined for federal economic purposes, the Hampton Roads metropolitan statistical area (MSA) additionally includes one county in northeastern North Carolina and two counties in Virginia’s Middle Peninsula. Officially, the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA has a population of about 1.7 million, the 36th-largest metropolitan area in the United States.
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Hawaii
Coordinates: 21°18′41″N 157°47′47″W / 21.31139°N 157.79639°W / 21.31139; -157.79639
Hawaii (i/həˈwaɪ.iː/ or /həˈwaɪʔiː/; Hawaiian: Hawaiʻi Hawaiian pronunciation: [hɐˈvɐiʔi]) is the most recent of the 50 U.S. states (August 21, 1959), and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean.
Hawaii’s diverse natural scenery, warm tropical climate, abundance of public beaches and oceanic surrounding, and active volcanoes make it a popular destination for tourists, surfers, biologists, and volcanologists alike. Due to its mid-Pacific location, Hawaii has many North American and Asian influences along with its own vibrant native culture. Hawaii has over a million permanent residents along with many visitors and U.S. military personnel. Its capital is Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu.
The state encompasses nearly the entire volcanic Hawaiian Island chain, which comprises hundreds of islands spread over 1,500 miles (2,400 km). At the southeastern end of the archipelago, the eight "main islands" are (from the northwest to southeast) Niʻihau, Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Maui, and the island of Hawaiʻi. The last is by far the largest and is often called "The Big Island" to avoid confusion with the state as a whole. The archipelago is physiographically and ethnologically part of the Polynesian subregion of Oceania.
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Hollywood
Hollywood is a district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema. Today, much of the movie industry has dispersed into surrounding areas such as the Westside neighborhood, and the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys, but significant auxiliary industries, such as editing, effects, props, post-production, and lighting companies remain in Hollywood, as does the backlot of Paramount Pictures.
On February 16, 2005, California Assembly Members Jackie Goldberg and Paul Koretz introduced a bill to require California to keep specific records on Hollywood as if it were independent, although it is not the typical practice of the City of Los Angeles to establish specific boundaries for districts or neighborhoods. For this to be done, the boundaries were defined. The bill was unanimously supported by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the Los Angeles City Council. Assembly Bill 588 was approved by the Governor of California on August 28, 2006, and now the district of Hollywood has official borders. The border can be loosely described as the area east of West Hollywood, south of Mulholland Drive, Laurel Canyon, Cahuenga Boulevard, and Barham Boulevard, and the cities of Burbank and Glendale, north of Melrose Avenue and west of the Golden State Freeway and Hyperion Avenue. This includes all of Griffith Park and Los Feliz[citation needed] – two areas that were hitherto considered separate from Hollywood by most Angelenos. The population of the district, including Los Feliz, as of the 2000 census was 123,436 and the median household income was $33,409 in 1999.
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Hollywood Sign
The Hollywood Sign (formerly the "Hollywoodland" sign) is a landmark and American cultural icon located in Los Angeles, California. It is situated on Mount Lee in the Hollywood Hills area of the Santa Monica Mountains. The sign overlooks the Los Angeles district of Hollywood, the historical center of American cinema. "HOLLYWOOD" is spelled out in 45-foot-tall (14 m) and 350-foot-long (110 m) white letters. It was originally created as an advertisement in 1923, but garnered increasing recognition after the sign was left up. The sign was a frequent target of pranks and vandalism but has since undergone restoration, including a security system to deter vandalism. The sign is protected and promoted by the Hollywood Sign Trust, a nonprofit organization.
From the ground, the contours of the hills give the sign its "wavy" appearance, as reflected in the Hollywood Video logo, for example. When observed at a comparable altitude, as in the photo shown on the right, the letters appear nearly level.
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Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was at times referred to as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize. The country is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, and to the north by the Gulf of Honduras, a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea.
Honduras was home to several important indigenous cultures, most notably the Maya. Much of the country was conquered by Spain who introduced its predominant language and many of its customs in the sixteenth century. It became independent in 1821 and has been a republic since the end of Spanish rule.
Its size is just over 112,492 km² with an estimated population of almost eight million. Its capital is Tegucigalpa. Its northern portions are part of the Western Caribbean Zone.
It is notable for its production of minerals, tropical fruit, and recently for exportation of clothing for the international market.
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Hong Kong
Coordinates: 22°16′42″N 114°09′32″E / 22.27833°N 114.15889°E / 22.27833; 114.15889
Hong Kong (Chinese: 香港) is one of two special administrative regions (SARs) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is known for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour. With a land mass of 1,104 km2 (426 sq mi) and a population of seven million people, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Hong Kong's population is 95 percent ethnic Chinese and 5 percent from other groups. Hong Kong's Han Chinese majority originate mainly from the cities of Guangzhou and Taishan in the neighbouring Guangdong province.
Hong Kong became a colony of the British Empire after the First Opium War (1839–42). Originally confined to Hong Kong Island, the colony's boundaries were extended in stages to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and then the New Territories in 1898. It was occupied by Japan during the Pacific War, after which the British resumed control until 1997, when China resumed sovereignty. The region espoused minimum government intervention under the ethos of positive non-interventionism during the colonial era. The time period greatly influenced the current culture of Hong Kong, often described as "East meets West", and the educational system, which used to loosely follow the system in England until reforms implemented in 2009.
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Houston
Houston ( /ˈhjuːstən/) (Alibamu: Yosti ) is the largest city in the state of Texas, and the fourth-largest city in the United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of 656.3 square miles (1,700 km2). Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown, which is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the United States, with 6.08 million people as of July 1st, 2011.
Houston was founded in 1836 on land near the banks of Buffalo Bayou. It was incorporated as a city on June 5, 1837, and named after then-President of the Republic of Texas—former General Sam Houston—who had commanded at the Battle of San Jacinto, which took place 25 miles (40 km) east of where the city was established. The burgeoning port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in the city's population. In the mid-twentieth century, Houston became the home of the Texas Medical Center—the world's largest concentration of healthcare and research institutions—and NASA's Johnson Space Center, where the Mission Control Center is located.
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Hungary
Hungaryi/ˈhʌŋɡəri/ (Hungarian: Magyarország [ˈmɒɟɒrorsaːɡ] ( listen)) is a country, which is located in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The country's capital, and largest city, is Budapest. Hungary is a member of the European Union, NATO, the OECD, the Visegrád Group, and is a Schengen state. The official language is Hungarian, also known as Magyar, which is part of the Finno-Ugric group and is the most widely spoken non-Indo-European language in Europe.
Following a Celt (after c. 450 BC) and a Roman (AD 9 - c. 430) period, the foundation of Hungary was laid in the late 9th century by the Hungarian prince Árpád, whose great-grandson Saint Stephen I was crowned with a crown sent by the pope from Rome in 1000 AD. The Kingdom of Hungary lasted for 946 years, and at various points was regarded as one of the cultural centres of the Western world. After about 150 years of partial Ottoman occupation (1541–1699), Hungary was integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy, and later constituted half of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy (1867–1918).
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Iceland
Icelandi/ˈaɪslənd/ (Icelandic: Ísland, IPA: [ˈislant]) is a Nordic European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The country has a population of about 320,000 and a total area of 103,000 km2 (40,000 sq mi). The capital and largest city is Reykjavík, with the surrounding areas in the southwestern region of the country being home to two-thirds of the country's population. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active. The interior mainly consists of a plateau characterised by sand fields, mountains and glaciers, while many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle.
According to Landnámabók, the settlement of Iceland began in AD 874 when the chieftain Ingólfur Arnarson became the first permanent Norse settler on the island. Others had visited the island earlier and stayed over winter. Over the following centuries, Norsemen settled Iceland, bringing with them thralls (slaves) of Gaelic origin. From 1262 to 1918 Iceland was part of the Norwegian and later the Danish monarchies. Until the 20th century, the Icelandic population relied largely on fisheries and agriculture, and the country was one of the poorest and least developed in the world. Industrialisation of the fisheries and aid from the Marshall Plan brought prosperity in the years after World War II, and by the 1990s it was one of the world's wealthiest countries. In 1994, Iceland became party to the European Economic Area, which made it possible for the economy to diversify into economic and financial services.
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Idaho
Idaho (i/ˈaɪdəhoʊ/) is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. Idaho is the 14th most expansive, the 39th most populous, and the 7th least densely populated of the 50 United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state.
Idaho is a mountainous state with an area larger than that of all of New England. It is landlocked, surrounded by the states of Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Montana and the Canadian province of British Columbia. However, the network of dams and locks on the Columbia River and Snake River make the city of Lewiston the farthest inland seaport on the Pacific coast of the contiguous United States.
Idaho's nickname is the Gem State, because nearly every known type of gemstone has been found there. In addition, Idaho is one of only two places in the world where star garnets can be found (the other is the Himalaya Mountains, in India)[citation needed], and is the only place six-pointed star garnets have been found[citation needed]. Additionally Idaho is sometimes called the Potato State owing to its popular crop. The state motto is Esto Perpetua (Latin for "Let it be forever").
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Illinois
Illinois (i/ˌɪlɨˈnɔɪ/ IL-i-NOY) is the 25th most extensive and the 5th most populous of the 50 United States, and is often noted as a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal, timber, and petroleum in the south, Illinois has a broad economic base. Illinois is a major transportation hub. The Port of Chicago connects the state to other global ports from the Great Lakes, via the Saint Lawrence Seaway, to the Atlantic Ocean; as well as the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River, via the Illinois River. For decades, O'Hare International Airport has ranked as one of the world's busiest airports. Illinois has long had a reputation as a bellwether both in social and cultural terms and politics.
Although the state's largest population centers today are in northern Illinois, originally the state's population grew from south to north, with settlers arriving from Kentucky in the 1810s. In 1818, Illinois achieved statehood. Chicago was founded in the 1830s on the banks of the Chicago River, one of the few natural harbors on southern Lake Michigan. Railroads and John Deere's invention of the self-scouring steel plow turned Illinois' rich prairie into some of the world's most productive and valuable farmlands, attracting immigrant farmers from Germany and Sweden. By 1900, the growth of industrial jobs in the northern cities and coal mining in the central and southern areas attracted immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. Illinois was an important manufacturing center during both world wars. The Great Migration established a large community of African Americans in Chicago that created the city's famous jazz and blues cultures.
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India
India (i/ˈɪndiə/), officially the Republic of India (Bhārat Gaṇarājya), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west;China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Burma and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; in addition, India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.
Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four of the world's major religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism—originated here, whereas Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived in the 1st millennium CE and also helped shape the region's diverse culture. Gradually annexed by and brought under the administration of the British East India Company from the early 18th century and administered directly by the United Kingdom from the mid-19th century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.
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Indonesia
Indonesia (i/ˌɪndəˈniːʒə/ IN-də-NEE-zhə or /ˌɪndoʊˈniːziə/ IN-doh-NEE-zee-ə), officially the Republic of Indonesia (Indonesian: Republik Indonesia Indonesian pronunciation: [rɛpʊblɪk ɪndɔnɛsɪa]), is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 17,508 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an elected legislature and president. The nation's capital city is Jakarta. The country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Malaysia. Other neighboring countries include Singapore, Philippines, Australia, and the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Indonesia is a founding member of ASEAN and a member of the G-20 major economies. The Indonesian economy is the world's 17th largest economy by nominal GDP.
The Indonesian archipelago has been an important trade region since at least the 7th century, when Srivijaya and then later Majapahit traded with China and India. Local rulers gradually absorbed foreign cultural, religious and political models from the early centuries CE, and Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms flourished. Indonesian history has been influenced by foreign powers drawn to its natural resources. Muslim traders brought Islam, and European powers brought Christianity and fought one another to monopolize trade in the Spice Islands of Maluku during the Age of Discovery. Following three and a half centuries of Dutch colonialism, Indonesia secured its independence after World War II. Indonesia's history has since been turbulent, with challenges posed by natural disasters, corruption, separatism, a democratization process, and periods of rapid economic change.
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Insular area
An insular area is a United States territory, that is neither a part of one of the 50 U.S. states nor the District of Columbia, the federal district of the U.S. They are called "insular" from the Latin word insula ("island") because they were once administered by the War Department's Bureau of Insular Affairs, now the Office of Insular Affairs at the Department of the Interior. The term insular possession is also sometimes used.
Because those insular areas that are inhabited are unincorporated territories, their native-born inhabitants are not constitutionally entitled to United States citizenship, under the Citizenship Clause.[citation needed] However, Congress has extended citizenship rights to all inhabited territories except American Samoa, and these citizens may vote and run for office in any U.S. jurisdiction in which they are residents. The people of American Samoa are U.S. nationals, but not U.S. citizens; they are free to move around and seek employment within the whole United States without immigration restrictions, but cannot vote or hold office outside of American Samoa.[citation needed]
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Invasion of Normandy
The Invasion of Normandy was the invasion and establishment of Allied forces in Normandy, France, during Operation Overlord in 1944 during World War II. It was the largest amphibious operation ever to take place.
Allied land forces that saw combat in Normandy on 6 June came from Canada, the Free French Forces, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In the weeks following the invasion, Polish forces also participated, as well as contingents from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, and the Netherlands. Most of the above countries also provided air and naval support, as did the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and the Royal Norwegian Navy.
The Normandy invasion began with overnight parachute and glider landings, massive air attacks and naval bombardments. In the early morning, amphibious landings on five beaches codenamed Juno, Gold, Omaha, Utah, and Sword began and during the evening the remaining elements of the parachute divisions landed. The "D-Day" forces deployed from bases along the south coast of England, the most important of these being Portsmouth.
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Iowa
Iowa (i/ˈaɪ.əwə/) is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New France. After the Louisiana Purchase, settlers laid the foundation for an agriculture-based economy in the heart of the Corn Belt. Iowa is often known as the "Food Capital of the World".
In the latter half of the 20th century, Iowa's agricultural economy transitioned to a diversified economy of advanced manufacturing, processing, financial services, biotechnology, and green energy production. Iowa is the 26th most extensive and the 30th most populous of the 50 United States. Its capital and largest city is Des Moines. Iowa has been listed as one of the safest states to live in.
Iowa is bordered by the Mississippi River on the east; the Missouri River and the Big Sioux River on the west; the northern boundary is a line along 43 degrees, 30 minutes north latitude. The southern border is the Des Moines River and a not-quite-straight line along approximately 40 degrees 35 minutes north, as decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in Missouri v. Iowa after a standoff between Missouri and Iowa known as the Honey War.
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Iran
Coordinates: 32°N 53°E / 32°N 53°E / 32; 53
Iran (i/ɪˈrɑːn/ or /aɪˈræn/;Persian: ایران [ʔiˈɾɒn] ( listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: جمهوری اسلامی ایران Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān), is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran", which in Persian means "Land of the Aryans", has been in use natively since the Sassanian era. It came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia ( /ˈpɜrʒə/ or /ˈpɜrʃə/). Both "Persia" and "Iran" are used interchangeably in cultural contexts; however, "Iran" is the name used officially in political contexts.
The 18th-largest country in the world in terms of area at 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi), Iran has a population of around 79 million. It is a country of particular geopolitical significance owing to its location in the Middle East and central Eurasia. Iran is bordered on the north by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. As Iran is a littoral state of the Caspian Sea, which is an inland sea, Kazakhstan and Russia are also Iran's direct neighbors to the north. Iran is bordered on the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by Iraq and on the northwest by Turkey. Tehran is the capital, the country's largest city and the political, cultural, commercial and industrial center of the nation. Iran is a regional power, and holds an important position in international energy security and world economy as a result of its large reserves of petroleum and natural gas. Iran has the second largest proven natural gas reserves in the world and the fourth largest proven petroleum reserves.
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Ireland
Coordinates: 53°20′N 08°00′W / 53.333°N 8°W / 53.333; -8
Ireland (pronounced [ˈaɪrlənd] ( listen); Irish: Éire [ˈeːɾʲə] ( listen); Ulster Scots: Airlann or Airlan) is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth. To its east is the larger island of Great Britain, from which it is separated by the Irish Sea.
Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers just under five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, which covers the remainder and is located in the northeast of the island. The population of Ireland is approximately 6.4 million. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland and just under 1.8 million live in Northern Ireland.
Relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain epitomise Ireland's geography with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild but changeable oceanic climate, which avoids extremes in temperature. Thick woodlands covered the island until the 17th century. Today, it is one of the most deforested areas in Europe. There are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland.
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Isle of Man
The Isle of Man ( /ˈmæn/; Manx: Ellan Vannin, pronounced [ˈɛlʲən ˈvanɪn]), otherwise known simply as Mann (Manx: Mannin, IPA: [ˈmanɪn]), is a self-governing Crown Dependency of the United Kingdom, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is represented by a Lieutenant Governor. The island is not part of the United Kingdom, but its foreign relations and defence are the responsibility of the UK Government. Although the United Kingdom does not usually interfere in the island's domestic matters, its "good government" is ultimately the responsibility of the Crown (that is, in practice, the Government of the United Kingdom).
The island has been inhabited since before 6500 BC. Gaelic cultural influence began in the 5th century AD, and the Manx language, a branch of the Gaelic languages, gradually emerged. In the 9th century, the Norse began to settle there. A Norse-Gaelic culture arose and the island came under Norse control. In 1266, the island became part of Scotland as formalised by the Treaty of Perth. After a period of alternating rule by the kings of Scotland and England, the island came under the feudal overlordship of the English Crown in 1399. The lordship revested into the British Crown in 1764 but the island never became part of Great Britain or its successor the United Kingdom and retained its status as an internally self-governing Crown dependency.
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Israel
Coordinates: 31°N 35°E / 31°N 35°E / 31; 35
Israel, officially the State of Israel ( /ˈɪzriːəl/ or /ˈɪzreɪəl/; Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Medīnat Yisrā'el, IPA: [me̞diˈnät jisʁäˈʔe̞l] ( listen); Arabic: دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل, Dawlat Isrāʼīl, IPA: [dawlat ʔisraːˈʔiːl]), is a parliamentary republic in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan and the West Bank in the east, Egypt and the Gaza Strip on the southwest, and the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea to the south, and it contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel is defined as a Jewish and Democratic State in its Basic Laws and is the world's only Jewish-majority state.
Following the adoption of a resolution by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 29 November 1947 recommending the adoption and implementation of the United Nations plan to partition Palestine, on 14 May 1948 David Ben-Gurion, the Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization and president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel, a state independent from the British Mandate for Palestine. Neighboring Arab states invaded the next day in support of the Palestinian Arabs. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied the West Bank, Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. Portions of these territories, including east Jerusalem, have been annexed by Israel, but the border with the neighboring West Bank has not yet been permanently defined.[neutrality is disputed] Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, but efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have so far not resulted in peace.
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Italy
Italyi/ˈɪtəli/ (Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja]), officially the Italian Republic or the Republic of Italy (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a unitary parliamentary republic in south-central Europe. To the north, it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia along the Alps. To the south, it consists of the entirety of the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia–the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea–and many other smaller islands. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italy, while Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. The territory of Italy covers some 301,338 km2 (116,347 sq mi) and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 60.6 million inhabitants, it is the fifth most populous country in Europe, and the 23rd most populous in the world.
Rome, the capital of Italy, was for centuries a political and religious centre of Western civilisation as the capital of the Roman Empire and site of the Holy See. After the decline of the Roman Empire, Italy endured numerous invasions by foreign peoples, from Germanic tribes such as the Lombards and Ostrogoths, to the Byzantines and later, the Normans, among others. Centuries later, Italy became the birthplace of Maritime republics and the Renaissance, an immensely fruitful intellectual movement that would prove to be integral in shaping the subsequent course of European thought.
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Jamaica
Coordinates: 18°10′57″N 77°19′18″W / 18.1823878°N 77.3217773°W / 18.1823878; -77.3217773
Jamaica (i/dʒəˈmeɪkə/), officially the Commonwealth of Jamaica, is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, 234 kilometres (145 mi) in length, up to 80 kilometres (50 mi) in width, and 10,990 square kilometres (4,240 sq mi) in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about 145 kilometres (90 mi) south of Cuba, and 191 kilometres (119 mi) west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The indigenous Arawakan-speaking Taíno name for the island was Xaymaca, meaning the "Land of Wood and Water" or the "Land of Springs".
Once a Spanish possession known as Santiago, it became an English colony in 1655 under the name "Jamaica". It achieved full independence from Britain on August 6, 1962. With 2.8 million people, it is the third most populous anglophone country in the Americas, after the United States and Canada. It remains a Commonwealth realm in concert with the Monarchy of Jamaica holding ultimate executive power, where Queen Elizabeth II is the current head of state and Queen of Jamaica.Kingston is the country's largest city and the capital.
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Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 (O.S., May 24, 1607 N.S.), it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke. It would serve as capital of the colony for 83 years (from 1616 until 1699).
The settlement was located within the territory of a political entity known as Tsenacommacah, the state of the Powhatan Confederacy, with around 14,000 native inhabitants, and specifically was in part of the subdivision known as the Paspahegh tribe. The natives initially gave the English a lavish welcome, and provided crucial provisions and support for the survival of the colonists, who were not agriculturally inclined, although relations with the newcomers also soured fairly early on, leading to the total annihilation of the Paspahegh in warfare within 3 years.
Within a year of Jamestown's founding, the Virginia Company brought Polish and Dutch colonists to help improve the settlement. In 1619, the first documented Africans were brought to Jamestown, though the modern conception of slavery in the future United States did not begin in Virginia until 1660. When the colony was subdivided into the original eight shires of Virginia in 1634, the town became located in the eponymous James City Shire.
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Japan
Japani/dʒəˈpæn/ (Japanese: 日本 Nihon or Nippon; formally 日本国 Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku, literally the State of Japan) is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".
Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.
Archaeological research indicates that people lived in Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other nations followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since adopting its revised constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament called the Diet.
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Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, French: Bailliage de Jersey ( /ˈdʒɜrzi/, French: [ʒɛʁzɛ]; Jèrriais: Jèrri), is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and other rocks and reefs.
Jersey is a self-governing parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy, with its own financial, legal and judicial systems.
The island of Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands. Although the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey are often referred to collectively as 'the Channel Islands', they are not a constitutional or political unit. Jersey has a separate relationship to the British Crown from the other Crown Dependencies of Guernsey and the Isle of Man. It is not part of the United Kingdom, and has an international identity separate from that of the UK but the United Kingdom is constitutionally responsible for the defence of Jersey. Jersey is not a part of the European Union but has a special relationship with it, being treated as part of the European Community for the purposes of free trade in goods.
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Johnston Atoll
Johnston Atoll is a 1.03 sq mi (2.7 km2) atoll in the North Pacific Ocean about 750 nmi (860 mi; 1,390 km) west of Hawaii. The atoll, which is located on the coral reef platform, comprises four islands. Johnston and Sand islands are both enlarged natural features, while North (Akau) and East (Hikina) are two artificial islands formed by coral dredging. Johnston Atoll is grouped as one of the United States Minor Outlying Islands.
For nearly 70 years, the atoll was under the control of the American military. In that time it was used as an airbase, a naval refuelling depot and a weapons testing area. In the mid 1980s, the atoll became a facility for Chemical weapons disposal. In 2004 the military base was closed; island control was handed over to civilian authorities.
Johnston is an unincorporated territory of the United States administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior as part of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.
The first European record of the atoll was on September 2, 1796 when the American brig Sally accidentally grounded on a shoal near the islands. The ship's captain, Joseph Pierpont, published his experience in several American newspaper the following year giving an accurate position of Johnston and Sand Island along with part of the reef. However he did not name or lay claim to the area. The islands were not officially named until Captain Charles J. Johnston of the Royal Naval ship HMS Cornwallis sighted them on December 14, 1807.
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Jordan
Jordan ( /ˈdʒɔr.dən/;Arabic: اَلأُرْدُنّ, Al-'Urdunn), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Arabic: اَلمَمْلَكَة اَلأُرْدُنِيَّة اَلهَاشِمِيَّة), Al-Mamlakah Al-Urdaniyyah Al-Hashimiyyah) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing control of the Dead Sea with the latter. Jordan's only port is at its south-western tip, at the Gulf of Aqaba, which is shared with Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. Over half of Jordan is covered by the Arabian Desert. However, the western part of Jordan is arable land and forests. Jordan is part of the Fertile Crescent. The capital city is Amman. According to the CIA World Factbook, Jordan has the second highest life expectancy in the Middle East, after Israel. The average life expectancy is one position behind the United Kingdom, although the age remains exactly the same (80.05 years).
The precursor to modern Jordan was founded in 1921 as the Hashemite Emirate, and it was recognized by the League of Nations as a state under the British mandate in 1922 known as The Emirate of Transjordan. In 1946, Jordan became an independent sovereign state officially known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. After capturing the West Bank area of Cisjordan during the 1948–49 war with Israel, Abdullah I took the title King of Jordan and Palestine, and he officially changed the country's name to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in April 1949.
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Kansas
Kansas (i/ˈkænzəs/) is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name (natively kką:ze) is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind," although this was probably not the term's original meaning. Residents of Kansas are called "Kansans."
For thousands of years what is now Kansas was home to numerous and diverse Native American tribes. Tribes in the Eastern part of the state generally lived in villages along the river valleys. Tribes in the Western part of the state were semi-nomadic and hunted large herds of bison. Kansas was first settled by European Americans in the 1830s, but the pace of settlement accelerated in the 1850s, in the midst of political wars over the slavery issue. When officially opened to settlement by the U.S. government in 1854, abolitionist Free-Staters from New England and pro-slavery settlers from neighboring Missouri rushed to the territory to determine if Kansas would become a free state or a slave state. Thus, the area was a hotbed of violence and chaos in its early days as these forces collided, and was known as Bleeding Kansas. The abolitionists eventually prevailed and on January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the Union as a free state. After the Civil War, the population of Kansas grew rapidly, when waves of immigrants turned the prairie into farmland. Today, Kansas is one of the most productive agricultural states, producing high yields of wheat, sorghum and sunflowers. Kansas is the 15th most extensive and the 33rd most populous of the 50 United States.
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Kartlis Deda
Kartlis Deda (Georgian: ქართლის დედა; Mother of Kartli) is a monument in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi, which has become a symbol of the city.
The statue was erected on the top of Sololaki hill in 1958, the year Tbilisi celebrated its 1500th anniversary. Prominent Georgian sculptor Elguja Amashukeli designed the twenty-metre aluminum figure of a woman in Georgian national dress. She symbolizes the Georgian national character: in her left hand she holds a bowl of wine to greet those who come as friends, and in her right hand is a sword for those who come as enemies.
Coordinates: 41°41′17″N 44°48′17″E / 41.68806°N 44.80472°E / 41.68806; 44.80472
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Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan (i/ˌkɑːzəkˈstɑːn/ or /ˌkæzəkˈstæn/) (Kazakh: Қазақстан, Qazaqstan, pronounced [qɑzɑqstɑ́n]; Russian: Казахстан [kəzɐxˈstan]), officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Europe. The ninth largest country in the world by land area, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of 2,727,300 square kilometres (1,053,000 sq mi) is larger than Western Europe. It is neighbored clockwise from the north by Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and also borders on a significant part of the Caspian Sea. Although Kazakhstan does not share a border with Mongolia, its most easterly point is only 38 kilometres (24 mi) from Mongolia's western tip. The terrain of Kazakhstan ranges from flatlands, steppes, taigas, rock-canyons, hills, deltas, and snow-capped mountains to deserts. With 16.6 million people (2011 estimate) Kazakhstan has the 62nd largest population in the world, though its population density is less than 6 people per square kilometre (15 per sq. mi.). The capital was moved in 1998 from Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, to Astana.
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Kentucky
Kentucky (i/kɨnˈtʌki/), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state located in the Upper South of the United States. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth (the others being Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts). Originally a part of Virginia, in 1792 Kentucky became the 15th state to join the Union. Kentucky is the 37th most extensive and the 26th most populous of the 50 United States.
Kentucky is known as the "Bluegrass State", a nickname based on the fact that bluegrass is present in many of the pastures throughout the state, because of the fertile soil. It made possible the breeding of high-quality livestock, especially thoroughbred racing horses. It is a land with diverse environments and abundant resources, including the world's longest cave system, Mammoth Cave National Park; the greatest length of navigable waterways and streams in the contiguous United States; and the two largest man-made lakes east of the Mississippi River. It is also home to the highest per capita number of deer and turkey in the United States, the largest free-ranging elk herd east of Montana, and the nation's most productive coalfield. Kentucky is also known for horse racing, bourbon distilleries, bluegrass music, automobile manufacturing, tobacco and college basketball.
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Kenya
Kenya ( /ˈkɛnjə/ or /ˈkiːnjə/), officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator. With the Indian Ocean to its south-east, it is bordered by Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, South Sudan to the north-west, Ethiopia to the north and Somalia to the north-east. Kenya has a land area of 580,000 km2 and a population of nearly 41 million, representing 42 different peoples and cultures. The country is named after Mount Kenya, a significant landmark and second among Africa's highest mountain peaks. Kenya's capital and largest city is Nairobi.
Kenya has a warm and humid climate along its coastline on the Indian Ocean which changes to wildlife-rich savannah grasslands moving inland towards the capital Nairobi. Nairobi has a cool climate that gets colder approaching Mount Kenya, which has three permanently snow-capped peaks. The warm and humid tropical climate reappears further inland towards lake Victoria, before giving way to temperate forested and hilly areas in the western region. The North Eastern regions along the border with Somalia and Ethiopia are arid and semi-arid areas with near-desert landscapes. Lake Victoria, the world's second largest fresh-water lake (after Lake Superior in the US and Canada) and the world's largest tropical lake, is situated to the southwest and is shared with Uganda and Tanzania. Kenya is famous for its safaris and diverse world-famous wildlife reserves such as Tsavo National Park, the Maasai Mara, Nakuru National Park, and Aberdares National Park.
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Kiribati
Kiribati ([kɪribas] KIRR-i-bas or ˌkɪrəˈbɑdi;Gilbertese: [ˈkiɾibas]), officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. The permanent population is just over 100,000 (2011), and the island nation is composed of 32 atolls and one raised coral island, dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometres, (1,351,000 square miles) straddling the equator, and bordering the International Date Line at its easternmost point.
The name Kiribati is the local pronunciation of "Gilberts", derived from the main island chain, the Gilbert Islands. The capital of South Tarawa consists of a number of islets connected through a series of causeways, located in the Tarawa archipelago. Kiribati became independent from the United Kingdom in 1979. It is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the IMF and the World Bank, and became a full member of the United Nations in 1999.
Kiribati was named in French by captains Krusenstern and Louis Isidore Duperrey "îles Gilbert", Gilbert Islands, after the British Captain Thomas Gilbert, who sighted the islands in 1788. The current name, Kiribati, is an adaptation of "Gilberts", from the former European name the "Gilbert Islands". Although the indigenous Gilbertese language name for the Gilbert Islands proper is Tungaru, the new state chose the name "Kiribati", the Gilbertese rendition of "Gilberts", as an equivalent of the former colony to acknowledge the inclusion of islands which were never considered part of the Gilberts chain.
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Latvia
Latviai/ˈlætviə/ (Latvian: Latvija), officially the Republic of Latvia (Latvian: Latvijas Republika), is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia (border length 343 km), to the south by Lithuania (588 km), to the east by the Russian Federation (276 km), to the southeast by Belarus (141 km), and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden. With 2,067,887 inhabitants and a territory of 64,589 km2 (24,938 sq mi) it is one of the least populous and least densely populated countries of the European Union. The capital of Latvia is Riga. The official language is Latvian and the currency is called Lats (Ls). The country has a temperate seasonal climate.
The Latvians are a Baltic people, culturally related to the Lithuanians. Together with the Finno-Ugric Livs (or Livonians), the Latvians are the indigenous people of Latvia.Latvian is an Indo-European language and along with Lithuanian the only two surviving members of the Baltic branch. Indigenous minority languages are Latgalian and the nearly extinct Finno-Ugric Livonian language. In terms of geography, territory and population Latvia is the middle of three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Latvia and Estonia share a long common history: historical Livonia, times of German (Teutonic Order), Polish-Lithuanian, Swedish, Russian, Nazi German and Soviet rule, 13th century Christianization and 16th century Protestant Reformation. Both countries are home to a large number of ethnic Russians (26.9% in Latvia and 25.5% in Estonia) of whom some are non-citizens. Latvia is historically predominantly Protestant, except for the region of Latgalia in the southeast which is historically predominantly Roman Catholic.
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Lesotho
Lesotho (i/lɨˈsuːtuː/ li-SOO-too), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a landlocked country and enclave, completely surrounded by its only neighboring country, the Republic of South Africa. It is just over 30,000 km2 (11,583 sq mi) in size with a population of approximately 2,067,000. Its capital and largest city is Maseru. Lesotho is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The name Lesotho translates roughly into the land of the people who speak Sesotho. About 40% of the population live below the international poverty line of US $1.25 a day.
The earliest known inhabitants of the area were Khoisan hunter-gatherers. They were largely replaced by Wasja-speaking tribes during Bantu migrations. The Sotho-Tswana people colonized the general region of South Africa between the 3rd and 11th centuries.
The present Lesotho (then called Basutoland) emerged as a single polity under king Moshoeshoe I in 1822. Moshoeshoe, a son of Mokhachane, a minor chief of the Bakoteli lineage, formed his own clan and became a chief around 1804. Between 1821 and 1823, he and his followers settled at the Butha-Buthe Mountain, joining with former adversaries in resistance against the Lifaqane associated with the reign of Shaka Zulu from 1818 to 1828.[citation needed]
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Liberia
Liberiai/laɪˈbɪəriə/, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Ivory Coast on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open to a plateau of drier grasslands. The country possesses 40% of the remaining Upper Guinean rainforest. Liberia has a hot equatorial climate, with significant rainfall during the May to October rainy season and harsh harmattan winds the remainder of the year. Liberia covers an area of 111,369 km2 (43,000 sq mi) and is home to about 3.7 million people. English is the official language, while over 30 indigenous languages are spoken within the country.
Along with Ethiopia, Liberia is one of the two modern countries in Sub-Saharan Africa without roots in the European colonization of Africa. Beginning in 1820, the region was colonized by freed American slaves with the help of the American Colonization Society, a private organization that believed ex-slaves would have greater freedom and equality in Africa. Slaves freed from slave ships were also sent there instead of being repatriated to their countries of origin. In 1847, these colonists founded the Republic of Liberia, establishing a government modeled on that of the United States and naming the capital city Monrovia after James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States and a prominent supporter of the colonization. The colonists, known as Americo-Liberians, led the political and economic sectors of the country.
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Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States of America, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in four buildings in Washington, D.C., as well as the Packard Campus in Culpeper, Virginia, it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and number of books. The head of the Library is the Librarian of Congress, currently James H. Billington.
The Library of Congress was instituted for Congress in 1800, and was housed in the United States Capitol for most of the 19th century. After much of the original collection had been destroyed during the War of 1812, Thomas Jefferson sold 6,487 books, his entire personal collection, to the library in 1815. After a period of decline during the mid-19th century the Library of Congress began to grow rapidly in both size and importance after the American Civil War, culminating in the construction of a separate library building and the transference of all copyright deposit holdings to the Library. During the rapid expansion of the 20th century the Library of Congress assumed a preeminent public role, becoming a "library of last resort" and expanding its mission for the benefit of scholars and the American people.
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Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein, officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (i/ˈlɪktənstaɪn/ LIK-tən-styn; German: Fürstentum Liechtenstein, German pronunciation: [ˈfʏʁstn̩tuːm ˈlɪçtn̩ʃtaɪn]) is a doubly landlocked alpine country in Central Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over 160 square kilometres (62 sq mi), and it has an estimated population of 35,000. Its capital is Vaduz. The biggest town is Schaan. Liechtenstein has the highest gross domestic product per person in the world when adjusted by purchasing power parity, and has the world's lowest external debt. Liechtenstein also has the second lowest unemployment rate in the world at 1.5% (Monaco is first).
Liechtenstein is the smallest yet the richest (by measure of GDP per capita) German-speaking country in the world and the only country to lie entirely within the Alps. It is known as a principality as it is a constitutional monarchy headed by a prince. Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities. Much of its terrain is mountainous, making it a winter sports destination. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the south (Oberland, upper land) and in the north (Unterland, lower land). The country has a strong financial sector located in the capital, Vaduz, and has been identified as a tax haven. It is a member of the European Free Trade Association and part of the European Economic Area, the Schengen Area but not of the European Union.
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Lithuania
Lithuania (i/ˌlɪθuːˈeɪniə/ or /ˌlɪθjuːˈeɪniə/; Lithuanian: Lietuva), officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublika) is a country in Northern Europe, the largest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark. It borders Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and a Russian exclave (Kaliningrad Oblast) to the southwest. Lithuania has an estimated population of 3.2 million as of 2011, and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. The Lithuanians are a Baltic people, and the official language, Lithuanian, is one of only two living languages (together with Latvian) in the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family.
For centuries, the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea was inhabited by various Baltic tribes. In the 1230s the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, who was crowned as King of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the first Lithuanian state, on 6 July 1253. During the 14th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the largest country in Europe: present-day Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia were territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. With the Lublin Union of 1569, Lithuania and Poland formed a voluntary two-state union, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighboring countries systematically dismantled it from 1772 to 1795, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuania's territory.
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Los Angeles
Los Angeles (i/lɒs ˈændʒələs/ loss-AN-jə-ləs; Spanish: [los ˈaŋxeles], which is written Los Ángeles; British pronounciation /lɒs ˈændʒəliːz/ loss-AN-jə-leez) with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in the state of California, and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of 468.67 square miles (1,213.8 km2), and is located in Southern California. Often known by its initials L.A., the city is the focal point of the larger Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana metropolitan statistical area and Greater Los Angeles Area region, which contain 12,828,837 and nearly 18 million people respectively as of 2010, making it one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world and the second largest in the United States. Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated and one of the most ethnically diverse counties in the United States, while the entire Los Angeles area itself has been recognized as the most diverse of the nation's largest cities. The city's inhabitants are referred to as "Angelenos".
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Louisiana
Louisiana (i/luːˌiːziˈænə/ or i/ˌluːziˈænə/; French: État de Louisiane, [lwizjan] ( listen); Louisiana Creole: Léta de la Lwizyàn) is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Louisiana is the 31st most extensive and the 25th most populous of the 50 United States. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties. The largest parish by population is East Baton Rouge Parish, and the largest by land area is Cameron Parish.
Much of the state was formed from sediment washed down the Mississippi River, leaving enormous deltas and vast areas of coastal marsh and swamp. These contain a rich southern biota; typical examples include birds such as ibis and egrets. There are also many species of tree frogs, and fish such as sturgeon and paddlefish. In more elevated areas, fire is a natural process in the landscape, and has produced extensive areas of longleaf pine forest and wet savannas. These support an exceptionally large number of plant species including many species of orchids and carnivorus plants.
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Luxembourg
Luxembourg (i/ˈlʌksəmbɜrɡ/ LUKS-əm-burg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Luxembourgish: Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg, French: Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, German: Großherzogtum Luxemburg, Dutch: Groothertogdom Luxemburg), is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland ("good country") in the south. Luxembourg has a population of over half a million people in an area of approximately 2,586 square kilometres (998 sq mi). A representative democracy with a constitutional monarch, it is ruled by a grand duke. It is now the world's only remaining sovereign grand duchy. The country has a highly developed economy, with the world's highest GDP (nominal) per capita according to the IMF. Its historic and strategic importance dates back to its founding as a Roman era fortress site and Frankish count's castle site in the Early Middle Ages. It was an important bastion along the Spanish Road when Spain was the principal European power influencing the whole western hemisphere and beyond in the 16th–17th centuries.
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Maine
Maine (i/ˈmeɪn/) is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost portion of New England. It is known for its scenery—its jagged, mostly rocky coastline, its low, rolling mountains, its heavily forested interior and picturesque waterways—as well as for its seafood cuisine, especially lobsters and clams.
For thousands of years, indigenous peoples were the only inhabitants of the territory that is now Maine. At the time of European encounter, several Algonquian-speaking peoples inhabited the area. The first European settlement in Maine was by the French in 1604 on Saint Croix Island, by Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons. The first English settlement in Maine, the short-lived Popham Colony, was established by the Plymouth Company in 1607. A number of English settlements were established along the coast of Maine in the 1620s, although the rugged climate, deprivations, and conflict with the local peoples caused many to fail over the years. As Maine entered the 18th century, only a half dozen European settlements survived. Patriot and British forces contended for Maine's territory during the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Maine was part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts until 1820, when it voted to secede from Massachusetts. On March 15, 1820, it was admitted to the Union as the 23rd state under the Missouri Compromise. Maine is the 39th most extensive and the 41st most populous of the 50 United States.
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Malawi
Malawi ( /məˈlɑːwi/; Chichewa [malaβi][need tone]), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Malawi is over 118,000 km2 (45,560 sq mi) with an estimated population of more than 13,900,000. Its capital is Lilongwe, which is also Malawi's largest city; the second largest is Blantyre and the third is Mzuzu. The name Malawi comes from the Maravi, an old name of the Nyanja people that inhabit the area. The country is also nicknamed "The Warm Heart of Africa".
The area of Africa now known as Malawi was colonized by migrating tribes of Bantu around the 10th century. In 1891 the area was colonized again, this time by the British. In 1953 Malawi, then known as Nyasaland, became part of the semi-independent Central African Federation (CAF). The Federation was dissolved in 1963 and in 1964, Nyasaland gained full independence and was renamed Malawi. Upon gaining independence it became a single-party state under the presidency of Hastings Banda, who remained president until 1994, when he was ousted from power. Joyce Banda (no relation) is the current president, raised to that position after president Bingu Mutharika died in 2012. She is the first female leader in Malawi. Malawi has a democratic, multi-party government. Malawi has a small military force that includes an army, a navy and an air wing. Malawi's foreign policy is pro-Western and includes positive diplomatic relations with most countries and participation in several international organizations.
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Malaysia
Malaysia (i/məˈleɪʒə/ mə-LAY-zhə or i/məˈleɪsiə/ mə-LAY-see-ə) is a federal constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia. It consists of thirteen states and three federal territories and has a total landmass of 329,847 square kilometres (127,350 sq mi) separated by the South China Sea into two similarly sized regions, Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo. Land borders are shared with Thailand, Indonesia, and Brunei, and maritime borders exist with Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. In 2010 the population exceeded 27.5 million, with over 20 million living on the Peninsula.
Malaysia has its origins in the Malay Kingdoms present in the area which, from the 18th century, became subject to the British Empire. The first British territories were known as the Straits Settlements, whose establishment was followed by the Malay kingdoms becoming British protectorates. The territories on Peninsular Malaysia were first unified as the Malayan Union in 1946. Malaya was restructured as the Federation of Malaya in 1948, and achieved independence on 31 August 1957. Malaya united with Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore on 16 September 1963, with si being added to give the new country the name Malaysia. However, less than two years later in 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation. Since independence, Malaysia has had one of the best economic records in Asia, with GDP growing an average 6.5% for almost 50 years. The economy has traditionally been fuelled by its natural resources, but is expanding in the sectors of science, tourism, commerce and medical tourism.
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Malta
Maltai/ˈmɒltə/, officially known as the Republic of Malta (Maltese: Repubblika ta' Malta), is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, 80 km (50 mi) south of Sicily, 284 km (176 mi) east of Tunisia and 333 km (207 mi) north of Libya, with Gibraltar 1,755 km (1,091 mi) to the west and Alexandria 1,508 km (937 mi) to the east. Malta covers just over 316 km2 (122 sq mi) in land area, making it one of the world's smallest states. It is also one of the most densely populated countries worldwide. The de facto capital city of Malta is Valletta; the largest town, Birkirkara. The main island comprises many towns, which together form one Larger Urban Zone (LUZ) with a population of 368,250 according to Eurostat. The country has two official languages, Maltese (constitutionally the national language) and English.
Throughout history, Malta's location has given it great strategic importance, and a succession of powers including the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Aragonese, Habsburg Spain, Knights of St John, French and the British ruled the islands. Malta gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1964 and became a republic in 1974, whilst retaining membership in the Commonwealth of Nations. Malta was admitted to the United Nations in 1964 and to the European Union in 2004. Malta is also party to the Schengen Agreement and in 2008 it became part of the eurozone.
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Manhattan
Manhattan (/mænˈhætən/) is the most densely populated and the oldest of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the U.S. state of New York. The borough and county consist of Manhattan Island and several small adjacent islands: Roosevelt Island, Randall's Island, Wards Island, Governors Island, Liberty Island, part of Ellis Island,Mill Rock, and U Thant Island; as well as Marble Hill, a very small area on the mainland bordering the Bronx. The original city of New York began at the southern end of Manhattan, expanded northward, and then between 1874 and 1898, annexed land from surrounding counties.
The New York County is the most densely populated county in the United States, and one of the most densely populated areas in the world, with a 2010 population of 1,585,873 living in a land area of 22.96 square miles (59.5 km2), or 69,464 residents per square mile (26,924/km²), more dense than any individual American city. It is also one of the wealthiest counties in the United States, with a 2005 per capita income above $100,000. Manhattan is the third-largest of New York's five boroughs in population, and its smallest borough in land area.
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Marshall Islands
The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands (Marshallese: Aolepān Aorōkin M̧ajeļ), is an island country located in the northern Pacific Ocean. Geographically, the country is part of the larger island group of Micronesia, with the population of around 68,000 people spread out over 34 low-lying coral atolls, comprising 1,156 individual islands and islets. The islands share maritime boundaries with the Federated States of Micronesia to the west, Wake Island to the north,Kiribati to the south-east, and Nauru to the south. The most populous atoll is Majuro, which also acts as the capital.
Micronesian colonists gradually settled the Marshall Islands during the 2nd millennium BC, with inter-island navigation made possible using traditional stick charts. Islands in the archipelago were first explored by Europeans in the 1520s, with Spanish explorer Alonso de Salazar sighting an atoll in August 1526. Other expeditions by Spanish and English ships followed, with the islands' current name stemming from British explorer John Marshall. Recognised as part of the Spanish East Indies in 1874, the islands were sold to Germany in 1884, and became of German New Guinea in 1885. The Empire of Japan occupied the Marshall Islands in World War I, which were later joined with other former German territories in 1919 by the League of Nations to form the South Pacific Mandate. In World War II, the islands were conquered by the United States in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign. Along with other Pacific Islands, the Marshall Islands were then consolidated into the United-States-governed Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Self-government was achieved in 1979, and full sovereignty in 1986, under a Compact of Free Association with the United States.
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Martinique
Martinique (French pronunciation: [maʁtinik]) is an island in the Lesser Antilles in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of 1,128 km2 (436 sq mi). Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados. As with the other overseas departments, Martinique is one of the twenty-seven regions of France (being an overseas region) and an integral part of the Republic. The first European to encounter the island was Christopher Columbus in 1502.
As part of France, Martinique is part of the European Union, and its currency is the Euro. Its official language is French, although many of its inhabitants also speak Antillean Creole (Créole Martiniquais).
The island was occupied first by Arawaks, then by Caribs. It was charted by Columbus in 1493, but Spain had little interest in the territory. It was claimed by France in 1635 and, despite several interludes of British occupation, once during the Seven Years' War and twice during the Napoleonic Wars, has remained a French possession. In 1946, the French National Assembly voted unanimously to transform the colony into an overseas department.
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Maryland
Maryland (i/ˈmɛrɨlənd/) is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east. Maryland was the seventh state to ratify the United States Constitution, and three nicknames for it (the Old Line State, the Free State, and the Chesapeake Bay State) are occasionally used. Maryland is the 9th smallest state by area, but the 19th most populous and the 5th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The state's most populated city is Baltimore. Its capital is Annapolis. It was named after Queen Henrietta Maria.
Maryland has an area of 12,406.68 square miles (32,133.2 km2) and is comparable in overall area with the European country of Belgium (11,787 square miles (30,530 km2)). It is the 42nd largest/9th smallest state, and is closest in size to Hawaii (10,930.98 square miles (28,311.1 km2)), the next smallest state. The next largest state, Maryland's neighbor West Virginia, is almost twice the size of Maryland (24,229.76 square miles (62,754.8 km2)).
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Massachusetts
Massachusetts (i/ˌmæsəˈtʃuːsɨts/), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Massachusetts is the 7th least extensive, but the 14th most populous and the 3rd most densely populated of the 50 United States. The state features two separate metropolitan areas – the eastern Boston metropolitan area and the western Springfield metropolitan area. Approximately two thirds of the state's population lives in Greater Boston, most of which is either urban or suburban. Western Massachusetts features one urban area – the Knowledge Corridor along the Connecticut River – and a mix of college towns and rural areas. Massachusetts is the most populous of the six New England states and has the US's sixth highest GDP per capita.
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Mauritius
Coordinates: 20°12′S 57°30′E / 20.2°S 57.5°E / -20.2; 57.5
Mauritiusi/məˈrɪʃəs/ (Mauritian Creole: Moris; French: Maurice, pronounced: [mɔˈʁis]), officially the Republic of Mauritius (Mauritian Creole: Republik Moris; French: République de Maurice) is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about 870 kilometres (540 mi) east of Madagascar. In addition to the island of Mauritius, the Republic includes the islands of Cargados Carajos, Rodrigues, Tromelin and the Agalega Islands. Mauritius Island is part of the Mascarene Islands, with the French island of Réunion 170 km (110 mi) to the southwest and the island of Rodrigues 570 km (350 mi) to the east. The area of Mauritius is 2040 km2; its capital city is Port Louis.
The United Kingdom took control of the islands in 1810, from France during the Napoleonic Wars, and Mauritius became independent from the UK in 1968. It is a parliamentary republic and is a member of the Southern African Development Community, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the African Union, La Francophonie and the Commonwealth of Nations.
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Metro Detroit
The Detroit metropolitan area, often referred to as Metro Detroit, is the metropolitan area located in Southeast Michigan centered on the city of Detroit which shares an international border with Windsor, Ontario. The Detroit metropolitan area is the second largest U.S. metropolitan area connecting the Great Lakes system to the Saint Lawrence Seaway. As a major metropolitan area, it is known for its automotive heritage, arts, entertainment, and popular music and sports legacies. The area includes a variety of natural landscapes, parks, and beaches with a recreational coastline linking the Great Lakes.
The Detroit Urban Area, which serves as the core of the Metropolitan Statistical Area, ranks as the 12th most populous of the United States, with a population of 3,734,090 as of the 2010 census, and an area of 1,337.16 square miles (3,463.2 km2). This urbanized area covers parts of the counties of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb. These counties are sometimes referred to informally as the Detroit Tri-County Area, and had a population of 3,863,888 as of the 2010 census with an area of 1,967.1 square miles (5,095 km2).
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Mexico
Mexico (i/ˈmɛksɨkoʊ/; Spanish: México, IPA: [ˈmexiko] ( listen)), officially the United Mexican States (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos (help·info)), is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States of America; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost two million square kilometres (over 760,000 sq mi), Mexico is the fifth largest country in the Americas by total area and the thirteenth largest independent nation in the world. With an estimated population of over 113 million, it is the eleventh most populous country and the most populous Spanish-speaking country. Mexico is a federation comprising thirty-one states and a Federal District, the capital city.
In Pre-Columbian Mexico many cultures matured into advanced civilizations such as the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacan, the Zapotec, the Maya and the Aztec before the first contact with Europeans. In 1521, Spain conquered and colonized the territory from its base in México-Tenochtitlan, which was administered as the Viceroyalty of New Spain. This territory would eventually become Mexico as the colony's independence was recognized in 1821. The post-independence period was characterized by economic instability, the Mexican-American War and territorial cession to the United States, a civil war, two empires and a domestic dictatorship. The latter led to the Mexican Revolution in 1910, which culminated with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the country's current political system. Elections held in July 2000 marked the first time that an opposition party won the presidency from the Institutional Revolutionary Party.
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Miami
Miami ( /maɪˈæmi/ or /maɪˈæmə/) is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625. The 42nd largest city proper in the United States, with a population of 408,568, it is the principal, central, and most populous city of the South Florida metropolitan area, and the most populous metropolis in the Southeastern United States. According to the US Census Bureau, Miami's metro area is the seventh most populous and fifth-largest urban area in the United States, with a population of around 5.5 million.
Miami is a major center and a leader in finance, commerce, culture, media, entertainment, the arts, and international trade. In 2010, Miami was classified as a Alpha- World City in the World Cities Study Group’s inventory. In 2010, Miami ranked seventh in the United States in terms of finance, commerce, culture, entertainment, fashion, education, and other sectors. It ranked thirty-third among global cities. In 2008, Forbes magazine ranked Miami "America's Cleanest City", for its year-round good air quality, vast green spaces, clean drinking water, clean streets and city-wide recycling programs. According to a 2009 UBS study of 73 world cities, Miami was ranked as the richest city in the United States, and the world's fifth-richest city in terms of purchasing power. Miami is nicknamed the "Capital of Latin America", is the 2nd largest U.S. city (after El Paso) with a Spanish-speaking majority, and the largest city with a Cuban-American plurality.
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Michigan
Michigan (i/ˈmɪʃɨɡən/) is a state located in the Great Lakes region of the Midwestern United States. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake". Michigan is the 8th most populous of the 50 United States, with the 11th most extensive total area. Its capital is Lansing, and the largest city is Detroit. Michigan was admitted into the Union on January 26, 1837 as the 26th state.
Michigan has the longest freshwater coastline of any political subdivision in the world, being bounded by four of the five Great Lakes, plus Lake Saint Clair. Michigan is one of the leading U.S. states for recreational boating. The state has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds. A person in the state is never more than six miles (9.7 km) from a natural water source or more than 85 miles (137 km) from a Great Lakes shoreline. It is the largest state by total area east of the Mississippi River.
Michigan is the only state to consist of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula, to which the name Michigan was originally applied, is often noted to be shaped like a mitten. The Upper Peninsula (often referred to as "the U.P.") is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, a five-mile (8 km) channel that joins Lake Huron to Lake Michigan. The two peninsulas are connected by the Mackinac Bridge. The Upper Peninsula is economically important due to its status as a tourist destination. There is also a variety of natural resources to be found there, including a sizable amount of iron ore.
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Microsoft
Coordinates: 47°38′22.55″N 122°7′42.42″W / 47.6395972°N 122.12845°W / 47.6395972; -122.12845
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, United States that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions. Established on April 4, 1975 to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800, Microsoft rose to dominate the home computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems. Microsoft is one of the largest software corporations in the world.
Microsoft would also come to dominate the office suite market with Microsoft Office. The company has diversified into the video game industry with the Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles and the consumer electronics and digital services market MSN, the Zune and the Windows Phone OS. The ensuing rise of stock in the company's 1986 initial public offering (IPO) made an estimated three billionaires and 12,000 millionaires from Microsoft employees (Forbes 400 list revealed that in March 2011 both Jon Shipley and Nathan Myhrvold lost their billionaire status). In May 2011, Microsoft Corporation acquired Skype Communications for $8.5 billion.
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Minnesota
Minnesota (i/mɪnɨˈsoʊtə/) is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state on May 11, 1858. Known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes", the state's name comes from a Dakota word for "sky-tinted water". Those waters, together with forests, parks, and wilderness areas, offer residents and tourists a variety of outdoor recreational opportunities.
Minnesota is the 12th most extensive and the 21st most populous of the U.S. states. Nearly 60% of its residents live in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area (known as the "Twin Cities"), the center of transportation, business, industry and education and home to an internationally known arts community. The remainder of the state consists of western prairies now given over to intensive agriculture; deciduous forests in the southeast, now cleared, farmed and settled; and the less populated North Woods, used for mining, forestry, and recreation.
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Mississippi
Mississippi (i/ˌmɪsɨˈsɪpi/) is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi ("Great River"). Mississippi is the 32nd most extensive and the 31st most populous of the 50 United States. The state is heavily forested outside of the Mississippi Delta area, which was cleared for cotton cultivation in the 19th century. Today, its catfish aquaculture farms produce the majority of farm-raised catfish consumed in the United States. The state symbol is the magnolia grandiflora tree.
Mississippi is bordered on the north by Tennessee, on the east by Alabama, on the south by Louisiana and a narrow coast on the Gulf of Mexico and on the west, across the Mississippi River, by Louisiana and Arkansas.
In addition to its namesake, major rivers in Mississippi include the Big Black River, the Pearl River, the Yazoo River, the Pascagoula River, and the Tombigbee River. Major lakes include Ross Barnett Reservoir, Arkabutla Lake, Sardis Lake and Grenada Lake. The largest lake in Mississippi is Grenada Lake.
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Missouri
Missouri (i/mɨˈzʊəri/) (nickname The Show Me State) is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. Missouri is the 21st most extensive and the 18th most populous of the 50 United States. Missouri comprises 114 counties and the independent city of St. Louis. The four largest urban areas are St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, and Columbia. Missouri's capital is Jefferson City. The land that is now Missouri was acquired from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase and became known as the Missouri Territory. Part of the Territory was admitted into the union as the 24th state on August 10, 1821.
Missouri generally mirrors the demographic, economic and political makeup of America and has long been considered a political bellwether state. With the exceptions of the Presidential elections of 1956 and 2008, Missouri's results have accurately predicted the next President of the United States in every election since 1904. It has both Midwestern and Southern cultural influences, reflecting its history as a border state. It is also a transition between the Eastern and Western United States, as St. Louis is often called the "western-most Eastern city" and Kansas City the "eastern-most Western city". Missouri's geography is highly varied. The northern part of the state lies in dissected till plains while the southern part lies in the Ozark Mountains (a dissected plateau), with the Missouri River dividing the two. The state lies at the intersection of the three greatest rivers of North America, with the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers near St. Louis, and the confluence of the Ohio River with the Mississippi north of the Bootheel. The starting points of the Pony Express Trail and Oregon Trail were both in Missouri. The mean center of United States population as of the 2010 Census is at the town of Plato in Texas County, Missouri.
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Moldova
Moldovai/mɒlˈdoʊvə/, officially the Republic of Moldova (Moldovan/Romanian: Republica Moldova pronounced [reˈpublika molˈdova]) is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991 as part of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. On 29 July 1994, the new constitution of Moldova was adopted. A strip of Moldova's internationally recognized territory on the east bank of the river Dniester has been under the de facto control of the breakaway government of Transnistria since 1990.
The nation is a parliamentary republic with a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of government. Moldova is a member state of the United Nations, Council of Europe, WTO, OSCE, GUAM, CIS, BSEC and other international organizations. Moldova currently aspires to join the European Union, and has implemented the first three-year Action Plan within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP).
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Monaco
Monacoi/ˈmɒnəkoʊ/, officially the Principality of Monaco (French: Principauté de Monaco; Monégasque: Principatu de Múnegu; Italian: Principato di Monaco; Occitan: Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city state, located on the French Riviera in Western Europe. Bordered by France on three sides, with one side bordering the Mediterranean Sea, its center is about 16 km (9.9 mi) from Italy, and is only 15 km (9.3 mi) north east of Nice, France. It has an area of 1.98 km2 (0.76 sq mi), and a population of 35,986, making Monaco the second smallest and the most densely populated country in the world. Monaco has a land border of only 4.4 km (2.7 mi), a coastline of 4.1 km (2.5 mi), and a width that varies between 1.7 km (1.1 mi) and 349 metres (382 yards). The highest point in the country is a narrow pathway named Chemin des Révoires on the slopes of Mont Agel, in the Les Révoires district, which is 161 metres (528 feet) above sea level. Monaco's most populated Quartier is Monte Carlo, and the most populated Ward is Larvotto/Bas Moulins. After a recent expansion of Port Hercules, Monaco's total area is 2.05 km2 (0.79 sq mi), with new plans to extend the district of Fontvieille, with land reclaimed from the Mediterranean Sea.
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Mongolia
Mongoliai/mɒŋˈɡoʊliə/ (Mongolian: Монгол улс (help·info), literally Mongol country/state) is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only 38 kilometres (24 mi) from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest city, is home to about 45% of the population. Mongolia's political system is a parliamentary republic.
The area of what is now Mongolia has been ruled by various nomadic empires, including the Xiongnu, the Xianbei, the Rouran, the Gökturks and others. The Mongol Empire was founded by Genghis Khan in 1206. After the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols returned to their earlier pattern of constant internal conflict and occasional raids on the Chinese borderlands. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Mongolia came under the influence of Tibetan Buddhism. At the end of the 17th century, all of Mongolia had been incorporated into the area ruled by the Qing Dynasty. During the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, Mongolia declared independence, but had to struggle until 1921 to firmly establish de facto independence from the Republic of China, and until 1945 to gain international recognition.
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Montana
Montana (i/mɒnˈtænə/) is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges that are part of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name, derived from the Spanish word montaña (mountain). Montana has several nicknames, none official, including: "Big Sky Country" and "The Treasure State", and slogans that include "Land of the Shining Mountains" and more recently, "The Last Best Place". Montana is the 4th-most extensive, but the 7th-least populous and the 3rd-least densely populated of the 50 United States. The economy is primarily based on services, with ranching, wheat farming, oil and coal mining in the east, and lumber, tourism, and hard rock mining in the west. Millions of tourists annually visit Glacier National Park, the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, and three of the five entrances to Yellowstone National Park.
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Montenegro
Montenegro (i/ˌmɒntɨˈneɪɡroʊ/ or /ˌmɒntɨˈniːɡroʊ/; or /ˌmɒntɨˈnɛɡroʊ/; Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора [tsr̩̂ːnaː ɡɔ̌ra] ( listen), meaning "Black Mountain") is a country in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the southeast. Its capital and largest city is Podgorica, while Cetinje is designated as the Prijestonica (Пријестоница), meaning the former Royal Capital City.
In the 10th century, there existed three Slavic principalities on the territory of Montenegro: Duklja, roughly corresponding to the southern half, Travunia, the west, and Rascia, the north. In 1042, archon Stefan Vojislav led a revolt that resulted in independence of Duklja and the establishment of the Vojislavljević dynasty. Duklja reached its zenith under Vojislav's son, Mihailo (1046–81), and his son Bodin (1081–1101). By the 13th century, Zeta had replaced Duklja when referring to the realm, which at the time was part of the Serbian Grand Principality of the Nemanjić dynasty.
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Montserrat
Coordinates: 16°45′N 62°12′W / 16.75°N 62.2°W / 16.75; -62.2
Montserrat ( /mɒntsəˈræt/) is an island that is a British overseas territory located in the Leeward Islands, part of the chain of islands called the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies. This island measures approximately 16 km (9.9 mi) long and 11 km (6.8 mi) wide, giving 40 kilometres (25 mi) of coastline. Montserrat is nicknamed the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean both for its resemblance to coastal Ireland and for the Irish ancestry of some of its inhabitants.
Montserrat's Georgian era historic capital city of Plymouth was destroyed and two-thirds of the island's population was forced to flee because of an eruption of the previously dormant Soufriere Hills volcano that began on July 18, 1995. The eruption continues today on a much reduced scale, the damage being confined to the area around Plymouth, including its docking facilities, and also the area around the former W. H. Bramble Airport on the eastern side of the island, the remnants of which were buried by flows from volcanic activity on February 11, 2010.
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Morocco
Morocco (Arabic: المغرب al-Maghrib ; Berber: ⵍⵎⴻⵖⵔⵉⴱ / ⴰⵎⴻⵔⵔⵓⴽElmeɣrib / Amerruk), officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of about 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², including the disputed region of the Western Sahara, seen by and mostly administered by Morocco as the Southern Provinces. Morocco is part of the Maghreb region, in addition to Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, and Libya, with which it shares cultural, historical and linguistic ties.
Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The King of Morocco holds vast executive powers, including the power to dissolve the parliament. Executive power is exercised by the government but more importantly by the king himself. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Assembly of Representatives and the Assembly of Councillors. The king can also issue decrees called dahirs which have the force of law. The latest Parliamentary elections were held in November 25, 2011, and were considered by some neutral observers to be mostly free and fair. Voter turnout in these elections was estimated to be 43% of registered voters, but only about 25% of Moroccan adult citizens actually voted. The rest either chose not to vote or they were not registered as voters. The political capital is Rabat, but the largest city is Casablanca; other main cities include Marrakesh, Tetouan, Tangier, Salé, Fes, Agadir, Meknes, Oujda, Kenitra, and Nador.
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Mother Armenia
Mother Armenia (Armenian: Մայր Հայաստան Mayr Hayastan) is a female personification of Armenia. Her most public visual rendering is a monumental statue in Victory Park overlooking the capital city of Yerevan, Armenia.
The current statue replaces a monumental statue of Joseph Stalin that was created as a victory memorial for the second world war. During Stalin's reign of the Soviet Union, Grigor Harutyunyan, the first secretary of the Armenian Communist Party's Central Committee and members of the government oversaw the construction of the monument which was completed and unveiled to the people on November 29, 1950. The statue was considered a masterpiece of the sculptor Sergey Merkurov. The pedestal was designed by architect Rafayel Israyelian. Realizing that occupying a pedestal can be a short-term honour, Israyelian designed the pedestal to resemble a three-nave basilic Armenian church, as he confessed many years later "Knowing that the glory of dictators is temporary, I have built a simple three-nave Armenian basilic". In contrast to the right-angled shapes of the external view, the interior is light and pleasing to the eye and resembled Echmiadzin's seventh-century St. Hripsime Church.
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Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia (Afrikaans: Republiek van Namibië, German: Republik Namibia (help·info)), is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March 1990, following the Namibian War of Independence. Its capital and largest city is Windhoek. Namibia is a member state of the United Nations (UN), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU), and the Commonwealth of Nations.
The dry lands of Namibia were inhabited since early times by Bushmen, Damara, and Namaqua, and since about the 14th century AD by immigrating Bantu who came with the Bantu expansion. It became a German Imperial protectorate in 1884 and remained a German colony until the end of World War I. In 1920, the League of Nations mandated the country to South Africa, which imposed its laws and, from 1948, its apartheid policy.
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NATO
Coordinates: 50°52′34.16″N 4°25′19.24″E / 50.8761556°N 4.4220111°E / 50.8761556; 4.4220111
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO ( /ˈneɪtoʊ/ NAY-toh; French: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique Nord (OTAN)), also called the (North) Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, one of the 28 member states across North America and Europe, the newest of which, Albania and Croatia, joined in April 2009. An additional 22 countries participate in NATO's Partnership for Peace, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programs. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the world's defence spending.
For its first few years, NATO was not much more than a political association. However, the Korean War galvanized the member states, and an integrated military structure was built up under the direction of two U.S. supreme commanders. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact, which formed in 1955. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the organization's goal was "to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down." Doubts over the strength of the relationship between the European states and the United States ebbed and flowed, along with doubts over the credibility of the NATO defence against a prospective Soviet invasion—doubts that led to the development of the independent French nuclear deterrent and the withdrawal of the French from NATO's military structure in 1966.
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Nauru
Coordinates: 0°31′38″S 166°56′12″E / 0.527288°S 166.936724°E / -0.527288; 166.936724
Nauru (Englishi/nɑːˈuːruː/ nah-OO-roo), officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kiribati, 300 kilometres (186 mi) to the east. Nauru is the world's smallest republic, covering just 21 square kilometres (8.1 sq mi). With just over 9,322 residents, it is the second least-populated country after Vatican City.
Settled by Micronesian and Polynesian people, Nauru was annexed and claimed as a colony by the German Empire in the late 19th century. After World War I, Nauru became a League of Nations mandate administered by Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. During World War II, Nauru was occupied by Japanese troops, who were bypassed by the Allied advance across the Pacific. After the war ended, it entered into trusteeship again. Nauru gained its independence in 1968.
Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Nauru was a "rentier state". Nauru is a phosphate rock island, with rich deposits close to the surface, which allow for simple strip mining operations; moreover, it has some phosphate reserves which are presently (as of 2011) not economically viable for extraction. Nevertheless, this island was a major exporter of phosphate starting in 1907, when the Pacific Phosphate Company began mining there, through the formation of the British Phosphate Commission in 1919, and continuing after independence. This returned to Nauru full control of its minerals under the Nauru Phosphate Corporation, until the deposits ran out during the 1980s. For this reason, Nauru briefly boasted the highest per-capita income enjoyed by any sovereign state in the world during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
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Nebraska
Nebraska (i/nəˈbræskə/) is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. Its state capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River.
The state is crossed by many historic trails, but it was the California Gold Rush that first brought large numbers here, and it became a state in 1867. Certain landmarks still compete for the notional distinction 'Where the West Begins'.
There are wide variations between winter and summer temperatures, and violent thunderstorms and tornadoes are common. The state is characterized by treeless prairie, ideal for cattle-grazing, and it is a major producer of beef, as well as pork, maize and soybeans. Nebraska is overwhelmingly rural, as the 8th least-densely populated state of the United States.
Ethnically, the largest group are German-Americans, and the state has the biggest Czech-American population per head. During the Great Migration, many African Americans came to Omaha, and they continue to campaign for improved conditions. More recently, Native American activism has increased, with a drive for self-determination in a climate of co-operation with state officials on regional issues. It is traditionally a Republican-voting state.
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Netherlands
The Netherlands (i/ˈnɛðərləndz/; Dutch: Nederland [ˈneːdə(r)lɑnt] or [ˈneɪ̯də(r)lɑnt] ( listen); West Frisian: Nederlân; Papiamento: Hulanda) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with some islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders with Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. It is a parliamentary democracy organised as a unitary state. The country capital is Amsterdam and the seat of government is The Hague. The Netherlands in its entirety is often referred to as Holland, although North and South Holland are actually only two of its twelve provinces (a case of pars pro toto; see terminology of "the Netherlands").
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Nevada
Nevada (i/nəˈvædə/ or /nəˈvɒdə/) is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. Nevada is the 7th most extensive, the 35th most populous, and the 9th least densely populated of the 50 United States. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in one single county, Clark County, which contains the Las Vegas–Paradise metropolitan area, where the state's three largest incorporated cities are located. Nevada's capital is Carson City.
Nevada is largely desert and semiarid, with much of it located within the Great Basin. Areas south of the Great Basin are located within the Mojave Desert, while Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada mountains lie on the western edge. Approximately 86% of the state's land is owned by the US government under various jurisdictions, both civilian and military.
The name Nevada is derived from the nearby Sierra Nevada mountains, which means "snow-capped mountain range" in Spanish. The land comprising the modern state was inhabited by Native Americans of the Paiute, Shoshone, and Washoe tribes prior to European contact. It was subsequently claimed by Spain as a part of Alta California until the Mexican War of Independence brought it under Mexican control. The United States gained the territory in 1848 following its victory in the Mexican-American War and the area was eventually incorporated as part of Utah Territory in 1850. The discovery of silver at the Comstock Lode in 1859 led to a population boom that was an impetus to the creation of Nevada Territory out of western Utah Territory in 1861. Nevada became the 36th state on October 31, 1864.
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New Hampshire
New Hampshire (i/njuːˈhæmpʃər/) is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north. New Hampshire is the 5th least extensive and the 9th least populous of the 50 United States.
It became the first post-colonial sovereign nation in the Americas when it broke off from Great Britain in January 1776, and six months later was one of the original thirteen states that founded the United States of America. In June 1788, it became the ninth state to ratify the United States Constitution, bringing that document into effect. New Hampshire was the first U.S. state to have its own state constitution.
It is known internationally for the New Hampshire primary, the first primary in the U.S. presidential election cycle. Concord is the state capital, while Manchester is the largest city in the state. It has no general sales tax, nor is personal income (other than interest and dividends) taxed at either the state or local level.
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New Jersey
New Jersey (i/nuː ˈdʒɜrzi/) is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the U.S. state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania, and on the southwest by Delaware. New Jersey is the 4th least extensive, but the 11th most populous and the most densely populated of the 50 United States. New Jersey lies mostly within the sprawling metropolitan areas of New York City and Philadelphia. It is also the third wealthiest by 2009–2010 median household income.
The area was inhabited by Native Americans for more than 2,800 years, with historical tribes such as the Lenape along the coast. In the early 17th century, the Dutch and the Swedes made the first European settlements. The British later seized control of the region, naming it the Province of New Jersey. It was granted as a colony to Sir George Carteret and John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton. At this time, it was named after the largest of the British Channel Islands, Jersey, Carteret's birthplace. New Jersey was the site of several decisive battles during the American Revolutionary War.
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New Mexico
New Mexico (i/nuː ˈmɛksɨkoʊ/) is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. New Mexico is the 5th most extensive, the 36th most populous, and the 6th least densely populated of the 50 United States.
Inhabited by Native American populations for many centuries, New Mexico has also been part of the Imperial Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S. territory. Among U.S. states, New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanics, including descendants of Spanish colonists and recent immigrants from Latin America. It also has the second-highest percentage of Native Americans, after Alaska, and the fourth-highest total number of Native Americans after California, Oklahoma, and Arizona. The tribes in the state consist of mostly Navajo and Pueblo peoples. As a result, the demographics and culture of the state are unique for their strong Hispanic and Native American influences. The flag of New Mexico is represented by the red and gold colors, which represent Spain, as well as the Zia symbol, an ancient Native American symbol for the sun.
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New Orleans
New Orleans ( /nuː ˈɔrliənz/ or /ˈnuː ɔrˈliːnz/, locally /nuː ˈɔrlənz/ or /ˈnɔrlənz/; French: La Nouvelle-Orléans [la nuvɛlɔʁleɑ̃] ( listen)) is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The population of the city proper was 343,829 as of the 2010 U.S. Census. The New Orleans metropolitan area (New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area) had a population of 1,167,764 in 2010 and was the 46th largest in the United States. The New Orleans–Metairie–Bogalusa Combined Statistical Area, a larger trading area, had a 2010 population of 1,214,932.
The city is named after Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans, Regent of France, and is well known for its distinct French Creole architecture, as well as its cross-cultural and multilingual heritage. New Orleans is also famous for its cuisine, music (particularly as the birthplace of jazz), and its annual celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras. The city is often referred to as the "most unique" in America.
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New York
New York (/njuː ˈjɔrk/; locally IPA: [nɪu ˈjɔək] or [nuː ˈjɔɹk] ( listen)) is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. New York is the 27th most extensive, the 3rd most populous, and the 7th most densely populated of the 50 United States. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east. The state has a maritime border with Rhode Island east of Long Island, as well as an international border with the Canadian provinces of Ontario to the west and north, and Quebec to the north. The state of New York is often referred to as New York State to distinguish it from New York City.
New York City, with a population of over 8.1 million, is the most populous city in the United States. Alone, it makes up over 40 percent of the population of New York state. It is known for its status as a center for finance and culture and for its status as the largest gateway for immigration to the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, New York City is also a destination of choice for many foreign visitors. Both the state and city were named for the 17th century Duke of York, James Stuart, future James II and VII of England and Scotland.
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New York Harbor
New York Harbor refers to the waterways of the estuary near the mouth of the Hudson River that empty into New York Bay. It is one of the largest natural harbors in the world. Although the U.S. Board of Geographic Names does not use the term, New York Harbor has important historical, governmental, commercial, and ecological usages. Originally used to refer to the Upper New York Bay, the term is also used to describe the Port of New York and New Jersey, the port district for New York-Newark metropolitan area, under the jurisdiction of the Port Authority.
The aboriginal population of the 16th century New York Harbor, the Lenape, used the waterways for fishing and travel. In 1524 Giovanni da Verrazzano anchored in what is now called The Narrows, the strait between Staten Island and Long Island that connects the Upper and Lower New York Bay, where he received a canoe party of Lenape. A party of his sailors may have taken on fresh water at a spring called "the watering place" on Staten Island — a monument stands in a tiny park on the corner of Bay Street and Victory Boulevard at the approximate spot — but Verrazzano's descriptions of the geography of the area are a bit ambiguous. It is fairly firmly held by historians that his ship anchored at the approximate location where the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge touches down in Brooklyn today. He also observed what he believed to be a large freshwater lake to the north (apparently Upper New York Bay). He apparently did not travel north to observe the existence of the Hudson River. In 1609 Henry Hudson entered the Harbor and explored a stretch of the river that now bears his name. His journey prompted others to explore the region and engage in trade with the local population.
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New Zealand
New Zealand (Māori: Aotearoa) is an island country located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses ‒ that of the North and South Islands ‒ as well as numerous smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres (900 mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres (600 mi) south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans.
During its long isolation, New Zealand developed a distinctive biodiversity of both animal and plant life. Most notable are the large number of unique bird species, many of which became extinct after the arrival of humans and introduced mammals. With a mild maritime climate, the land was mostly covered in forest. The country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions caused by the Pacific and Indo-Australian Plates clashing beneath the earth's surface.
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Nicaragua
Nicaragua (i/ˌnɪkəˈrɑːɡwə/ nik-ə-RAH-gwə), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (Spanish: República de Nicaragua [reˈpuβlika ðe nikaˈɾaɣwa] ( listen)), is the largest country in the Central American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean lies to the west, and the Caribbean Sea to the east. The country's physical geography divides it into three major zones: Pacific lowlands; wet, cooler central highlands; and the Caribbean lowlands. On the Pacific side of the country are the two largest fresh water lakes in Central America—Lake Managua and Lake Nicaragua. Surrounding these lakes and extending to their northwest along the rift valley of the Gulf of Fonseca are fertile lowland plains, with soil highly enriched by ash from nearby volcanoes of the central highlands. Nicaragua's abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems contribute to Mesoamerica's designation as a biodiversity hotspot.
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Nigeria
Nigeriai/naɪˈdʒɪəriə/, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in the north. Its coast in the south lies on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean. The three largest and most influential ethnic groups in Nigeria are the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba.
In terms of religion Nigeria is roughly split half and half between Muslims in the North and Christians in the South; a very small minority practice traditional religion. Since 2002 there have been a spate of clashes, particularly in the North of the country, between government forces and the Islamists Boko Haram, militant jihadists who seek to establish sharia law.
The people of Nigeria have an extensive history. Archaeological evidence shows that human habitation of the area dates back to at least 9000 BCE. The area around the Benue and Cross River is thought to be the original homeland of the Bantu migrants who spread across most of central and southern Africa in waves between the 1st millennium BC and the 2nd millennium.
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Niue
Niue ( /ˈnjuːeɪ/ NEW-ay; Niuean: Niuē) is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean. It is commonly known as the "Rock of Polynesia", and inhabitants of the island call it "the Rock" for short. Niue is 2,400 kilometres (1,500 mi) northeast of New Zealand in a triangle between Tonga to the southwest, the Samoas to the northwest, and the Cook Islands to the southeast. The land area is 260 square kilometres (100 sq mi) with about 1,400 people who are predominantly Polynesian.
Though self-governing, Niue is in free association with New Zealand, and lacks full sovereignty. All Niueans are New Zealand citizens and Queen Elizabeth II is Niue's head of state in her capacity as Queen of New Zealand. Most diplomatic relations are conducted by New Zealand on Niue's behalf. 90-95% of Niuean people live in New Zealand, along with about 70% of the speakers of the Niuean language.[citation needed]
In 2003, Niue became the world's first "WiFi nation", in which free wireless Internet access is provided throughout the country by The Internet Users Society-Niue.
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Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island (i/ˈnɔrfək ˈaɪlənd/; Norfuk: Norfuk Ailen) is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia, 1,412 kilometres (877 mi) directly east of mainland Evans Head, and about 600 kilometres (370 mi) from Lord Howe Island. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance. Together with two neighbouring islands, it forms one of Australia's external territories.
Originally colonised by East Polynesians, Norfolk Island was colonised by Britain as part of its settlement in Australia in 1788. It then served as a convict penal settlement until 1794, when it was abandoned until 1856, when permanent residence on the island for civilians began. In 1901, the island became a part of the Commonwealth of Australia which it has remained until this day.
The evergreen Norfolk Island pine is a symbol of the island and thus pictured on its flag (see illustration). Native to the island, the pine is a key export industry for Norfolk Island, being a popular ornamental tree on mainland Australia, where two related species grow, and also in Europe.
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North Carolina
North Carolina (i/ˌnɔrθ kærəˈlaɪnə/) is a state in the Southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina is the 28th most extensive and the 10th most populous of the 50 United States.
North Carolina is comprised of 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte. In the past five decades, North Carolina's economy has undergone a transition from heavy reliance upon tobacco and furniture making to a more diversified economy with engineering, biotechnology, and finance sectors.
North Carolina has a wide range of elevations, from sea level on the coast to 6,684 feet (2,037 m) at Mount Mitchell, the highest point in the Eastern US. The climate of the coastal plains is strongly influenced by the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the state falls in the humid subtropical climate zone. More than 300 miles (500 km) from the coast, the western, mountainous part of the state has a subtropical highland climate.
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North Dakota
North Dakota (i/ˌnɔrθ dəˈkoʊtə/) is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Manitoba and Saskatchewan to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th most extensive, but the 3rd least populous and the 4th least densely populated of the 50 United States. North Dakota was created from the northern portion of the Dakota Territory and admitted to the Union on November 2, 1889, simultaneously with South Dakota.
The state capital is Bismarck and the largest city is Fargo. The primary public universities are located in Grand Forks and Fargo. The U.S. Air Force operates air bases at Minot AFB and Grand Forks AFB.
For more than a decade, the state has had a strong economy, with unemployment lower than the national average, job and population growth, and low housing vacancies. Much of the growth has been based on development of the Bakken oil shale fields in the western part of the state, but it has also had growth in the technology and service sectors. Flooding in June 2011 has caused extensive damage to Minot and threatened Bismarck, the capital city.
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North Korea
Coordinates: 40°00′N 127°00′E / 40°N 127°E / 40; 127 The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK; Chosŏn'gŭl: 조선민주주의인민공화국), commonly referred to as "North Korea" ( listen), is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea. The Amnok, or Yalu, and the Tumen rivers form the border between North Korea and China. A section of the Tumen River in the far northeast is the border with Russia.
The peninsula was governed by the Korean Empire until it was annexed by Japan after the Russo-Japanese War in 1910. It was divided into Soviet- and American-occupied zones in 1945, after the end of World War II. North Korea refused to participate in a United Nations–supervised election held in the south in 1948, which led to the creation of separate Korean governments for the two occupation zones. North and South Korea each claimed sovereignty over the whole Korean Peninsula, which led to the Korean War of 1950. The Armistice Agreement of 1953 ended the fighting; but the two countries are officially still at war against each other, for a peace treaty was never signed. Both states were accepted into the United Nations in 1991.
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Norway
Norwayi/ˈnɔrweɪ/ (Norwegian: Norge (Bokmål) or Noreg (Nynorsk)), officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and the subantarctic Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres (148,747 sq mi) and a population of about 5 million. It is the second least densely populated country in Europe. The majority of the country shares a border to the east with Sweden; its northernmost region is bordered by Finland to the south and Russia to the east; in its south Norway borders the Skagerrak Strait across from Denmark. The capital city of Norway is Oslo. Norway's extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea, is home to its famous fjords.
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Ohio
Ohio (i/oʊˈhaɪ.oʊ/) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Ohio is the 34th most extensive, the 7th most populous, and the 10th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The state's capital and largest city is Columbus.
The name "Ohio" originated from Iroquois word ohi-yo’, meaning "great river". The state, originally partitioned from the Northwest Territory, was admitted to the Union as the 17th state (and the first under the Northwest Ordinance) on March 1, 1803. Although there are conflicting narratives regarding the origin of the nickname, Ohio is historically known as the "Buckeye State" (relating to the Ohio buckeye tree) and Ohioans are also known as "Buckeyes".
The government of Ohio is composed of the executive branch, led by the Governor; the legislative branch, which comprises the Ohio General Assembly; and the judicial branch, which is led by the Supreme Court. Currently, Ohio occupies 18 seats in the United States House of Representatives. Ohio is known for its status as both a swing state and a bellwether in national elections.
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Oklahoma
Oklahoma (i/ˌoʊkləˈhoʊmə/) (Pawnee: Uukuhuúwa , Cayuga: Gahnawiyoˀgeh ) is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. Oklahoma is the 20th most extensive and the 28th most populous of the 50 United States. The state's name is derived from the Choctaw words okla and humma, meaning "red people", and it is known informally by its nickname, The Sooner State. Formed by the combination of Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory on November 16, 1907, Oklahoma was the 46th state to enter the union. Its residents are known as Oklahomans or, informally "Okies", and its capital and largest city is Oklahoma City.
A major producer of natural gas, oil, and agriculture, Oklahoma relies on an economic base of aviation, energy, telecommunications, and biotechnology. It has one of the fastest growing economies in the nation, ranking among the top states in per capita income growth and gross domestic product growth. Oklahoma City and Tulsa serve as Oklahoma's primary economic anchors, with nearly 60 percent of Oklahomans living in their metropolitan statistical areas.
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Oregon
Oregon (i/ˈɔrɨɡən/ ORR-ə-gən) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern boundaries, respectively. The area was inhabited by many indigenous tribes before the arrival of traders, explorers, and settlers who formed an autonomous government in Oregon Country in 1843. The Oregon Territory was created in 1848, and Oregon became the 33rd state on February 14, 1859.
Oregon is the 9th most extensive and the 27th most populous of the 50 United States. Salem is the state's capital and third-most-populous city; Portland is the most populous. Portland is the 29th-largest U.S. city, with a population of 583,776 (2010 US Census) and a metro population of 2,241,841 (2009 estimate), the 23rd-largest U.S. metro area. The valley of the Willamette River in western Oregon is the state's most densely populated area and is home to eight of the ten most populous cities.
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Oregon Country
The Oregon Country was a predominantly American term referring to a disputed ownership region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from the Columbia River frequented by ships from all nations engaged in the maritime fur trade, most of these from the 1790s through 1810s being Boston-based. The Oregon Treaty of 1846 ended disputed joint occupancy pursuant to the Treaty of 1818 and established the British-American boundary at the 49th parallel.
Oregon was a distinctly American term for the region. The British used the term Columbia District instead. The Oregon Country consisted of the land north of 42°N latitude, south of 54°40′N latitude, and west of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. The area now forms part of the present day Canadian province of British Columbia, all of the US states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming. The British presence in the region was generally administered by the Hudson's Bay Company, whose Columbia Department comprised most of the Oregon Country and extended considerably north into New Caledonia and beyond 54°40′N, with operations reaching tributaries of the Yukon River.
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Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.
At 165.2 million square kilometres (64.1 million square miles) in area, this largest division of the World Ocean – and, in turn, the hydrosphere – covers about 46% of the Earth's water surface and about one-third of its total surface area, making it larger than all of the Earth's land area combined. The equator subdivides it into the North Pacific Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, with two exceptions: the Galápagos and Gilbert Islands, while straddling the equator, are deemed wholly within the South Pacific. The Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres (35,797 ft).
The eastern Pacific Ocean was first sighted by Europeans early in the 16th century. Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513 and named it Mar del Sur (South Sea). The ocean's current name was given by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish expedition of world circumnavigation in 1521, who encountered favourable winds as he reached the ocean and called it Mar Pacifico in Portuguese, meaning "peaceful sea".
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Pakistan
Pakistan (i/ˈpækɨstæn/ or i/pɑːkiˈstɑːn/; Urdu: پاکستان) (Urdu pronunciation: [paːkɪˈst̪aːn] ( listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Urdu: اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاکستان), is a sovereign country in South Asia. It sits at the crossroads of the strategically important regions of South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046-kilometre (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west and north, Iran to the southwest and China in the far northeast. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, and it shares a marine border with Oman.
The territory of modern Pakistan was the site of several ancient cultures, including the Neolithic Mehrgarh and the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation, and has undergone invasions or settlements by Hindu, Persian, Indo-Greek, Islamic, Turco-Mongol, Afghan and Sikh cultures. Thus the area has been ruled by numerous empires and dynasties, including the Indian Mauryan Empire, the Persian Achaemenid Empire, the Arab Umayyad Caliphate, the Mongol Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Durrani Empire, the Sikh Empire and the British Empire. As a result of the Pakistan Movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and India's struggle for independence, Pakistan was created in 1947 as an independent nation for Muslims from the regions in the east and west of India where there was a Muslim majority. Initially a dominion, Pakistan adopted a new constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic. A civil war in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country of Bangladesh.
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Palau
Palau (i/pəˈlaʊ/, sometimes spelled Belau or Pelew), officially the Republic of Palau (Palauan: Beluu ęr a Belau), is an island country located in the western Pacific Ocean. Geographically part of the larger island group of Micronesia, with the country's population of around 21,000 people spread out over 250 islands forming the western chain of the Caroline Islands. The islands share maritime boundaries with Indonesia, the Philippines, and the Federated States of Micronesia. The most populous island in the group is Koror, with the capital city, Ngerulmud, located on nearby Babeldaob.
The country were originally settled around 3000 years ago by migrants from the Philippines, with a Negrito population sustained until around 900 years ago. The islands were first visited by Europeans in the 18th century, and were made part of the Spanish East Indies in 1885. Following Spain's defeat in the Spanish–American War in 1898, the islands were sold to Imperial Germany in 1899 under the terms of the German–Spanish Treaty, where they were administered as part of German New Guinea. The Imperial Japanese Navy conquered Palau during World War I, and the islands were later made a part of the Japanese-ruled South Pacific Mandate by the League of Nations. During World War II, skirmishes, including the major Battle of Peleliu, were fought between American and Japanese troops as part of the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign. Along with other Pacific Islands, Palau was made a part of the United States-governed Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands in 1947. Having voted against joining the newly-independent Federated States of Micronesia in 1979, the islands gained full sovereignty in 1994 under a Compact of Free Association with the United States.
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Palmyra Atoll
Palmyra Atoll ( /pælˈmaɪrə/) is an essentially unoccupied equatorial Northern Pacific atoll administered as an unorganized incorporated territory by the United States federal government. The variable temporary population of 4–20 "non-occupants" are essentially staff and scientists employed by various departments of the US government and The Nature Conservancy, as well as a rotating mix of Palmyra Atoll Research Consortium scholars pursuing research.
Palmyra is one of the Northern Line Islands (southeast of Kingman Reef and north of Kiribati Line Islands), located almost due south of the Hawaiian Islands, roughly halfway between Hawaii and American Samoa. The atoll is 4.6 sq mi (12 km2), and it is located in the equatorial Northern Pacific Ocean. Its 9 mi (14 km) of coastline has one anchorage known as West Lagoon.
The atoll consists of an extensive reef, two shallow lagoons, and some 50 sand and reef-rock islets and bars covered with vegetation—mostly coconut trees, Scaevola, and tall Pisonia trees.
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Panama
Panama (i/ˈpænəmɑː/ PAN-ə-mah; Spanish: Panamá), officially the Republic of Panama (Spanish: República de Panamá [reˈpuβlika ðe panaˈma]), is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The capital is Panama City. Explored and settled by the Spanish in the 16th century, Panama broke with Spain in 1821 and joined a union of Nueva Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela, named the Republic of Gran Colombia.When Gran Colombia the dissolved in 1831, Panama and Nueva Granada remained joined. Nueva Granada later became the Republic of Colombia.
With the backing of the United States, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903, allowing the Panama Canal to be built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914. In 1977, an agreement was signed for the complete transfer of the Canal from the United States to Panama by the end of the century.
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Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (PNG; Tok Pisin: Papua Niugini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands (the western portion of the island is a part of the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua). It is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, in a region defined since the early 19th century as Melanesia. The capital is Port Moresby.
Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally diverse countries on Earth. According to recent data, 841 different languages are listed for the country, although 11 of these have no known living speakers. . (A detailed series of language maps of Papua New Guinea may be found at Ethnologue) There may be at least as many traditional societies,out of a population of about 6.2 million. It is also one of the most rural, as only 18% of its people live in urban centres. The country is one of the world's least explored, culturally and geographically, and many undiscovered species of plants and animals are thought to exist in the interior of Papua New Guinea.
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Paraguay
Paraguay (i/ˈpɛərəɡwaɪ/, PAIR-ə-gwy), officially the Republic of Paraguay (Spanish: República del Paraguay [reˈpuβlika ðel paɾaˈɣwai], Guaraní: Tetã Paraguái [teˈtã paɾaˈɣwaj]), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the country from north to south. Due to its central location in South America, it is sometimes referred to as Corazón de América, or the Heart of America.
The Guaraní have been living in Paraguay since before the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century, when Paraguay became part of the Spanish colonial empire. Following independence from Spain in 1811, Paraguay was ruled by a series of dictators who followed isolationist and protectionist policies. This development was truncated by the disastrous Paraguayan War (1864–1870) in which the country lost 60% to 70% of its population and large amounts of territory. During a large part of the 20th century, Paraguay was ruled by Alfredo Stroessner, who led one of South America's longest lived military dictatorships. In 1989 Stroessner was toppled and free elections were celebrated in 1993. In 1994 Paraguay joined Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay to found Mercosur.
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Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (i/ˌpɛnsɨlˈveɪnjə/), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a US state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, and the Great Lakes Region. The state borders Delaware to the southeast, Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, Ontario, Canada to the northwest, New York to the north, and New Jersey to the east.
Pennsylvania is the 33rd most extensive, the 6th most populous, and the 9th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The state's four most populous cities are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, and Erie. The state capital is Harrisburg. Pennsylvania has 51 miles (82 km) of shoreline along Lake Erie and 57 miles (92 km) of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary.
Pennsylvania is 170 miles (274 km) north to south and 283 miles (455 km) east to west. Of a total 46,055 square miles (119,282 km2), 44,817 square miles (116,075 km2) are land, 490 square miles (1,269 km2) are inland waters, and 749 square miles (1,940 km2) are waters in Lake Erie. It is the 33rd largest state in the United States. Pennsylvania has 51 miles (82 km) of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles (92 km) of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary.
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Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( /ˌfɪləˈdɛlfiə/) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States, with a population of 1,526,006 as of the 2010 U.S. Census. Philadelphia is also the commercial, cultural, and educational center of the Delaware Valley, home to 6 million people and the country's fifth-largest metropolitan area. The Philadelphia metropolitan division consists of five counties in Pennsylvania and has a population of 4,008,994. Popular nicknames for Philadelphia are Philly and The City of Brotherly Love, the latter of which comes from the literal meaning of the city's name in Greek (Greek: Φιλαδέλφεια ([pʰilaˈdelpʰeːa], Modern Greek: [filaˈðelfia]) "brotherly love", compounded from philos (φίλος) "loving", and adelphos (ἀδελφός) "brother").
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Philippines
The Philippinesi/ˈfɪlɨpiːnz/ FI-lə-peenz (Filipino: Pilipinas [ˌpɪlɪˈpinɐs]), officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (Filipino: Republika ng Pilipinas) is a sovereign country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam. The Sulu Sea to the southwest lies between the country and the island of Borneo, and to the south the Celebes Sea separates it from other islands of Indonesia. It is bounded on the east by the Philippine Sea. Its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire and its tropical climate make the Philippines prone to earthquakes and typhoons but have also endowed the country with natural resources and made it one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world. An archipelago comprising 7,107 islands, the Philippines is categorized broadly into three main geographical divisions: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Its capital city is Manila.
With an estimated population of about 98 million people, the Philippines is the 7th most populated Asian country and the 12th most populated country in the world. An additional 12.5 million Filipinos live overseas. Multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelago's earliest inhabitants. They were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples who brought with them influences from Malay, Hindu, and Islamic societies. Trade introduced Chinese cultural influences which remain to this day.
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Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix ( /ˈfiːnɪks/ FEE-niks; O'odham: Ski:kigk; Yavapai: Wathinka or Wakatehe; Western Apache: Fiinigis; Navajo: Hoozdoh; Mojave: Hachpa 'Anya Nyava) is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populous city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data. It is the anchor of the Phoenix metropolitan area (also known as the Valley of the Sun), and is the 12th largest metro area by population in the United States with about 4.2 million people in 2010. In addition, Phoenix is the county seat of Maricopa County, and is one of the largest cities in the United States by land area. Phoenix is the largest capital city in the United States and the only state capital with over 1,000,000 people.
Phoenix was incorporated as a city in 1881, after being founded in 1861 near the Salt River, close to the confluence with the Gila River. The city has a notable and famous political culture and has been home to numerous influential American politicians and other dignitaries, including Barry Goldwater, William Rehnquist, John McCain, Carl Hayden, and Sandra Day O'Connor. Residents of the city are known as Phoenicians.
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Pitcairn Islands
The Pitcairn Islands ( /ˈpɪtkɛərn/;Pitkern: Pitkern Ailen), officially named the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, form a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. The islands are a British Overseas Territory. The four islands—named Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno—are spread over several hundred miles of ocean and have a total land area of about 18 square miles (47 km2). Only Pitcairn, the second largest and measuring about 2 miles (3.2 km) across, is inhabited.
The islands are best known as home of the descendants of the Bounty mutineers and the Tahitians (or Polynesians) who accompanied them, an event retold in numerous books and films. This history is still apparent in the surnames of many of the islanders. With only about 48 inhabitants (currently from four main families: Christian, Warren, Young, and Brown), Pitcairn is the least populous jurisdiction in the world. The United Nations Committee on Decolonisation includes the Pitcairn Islands on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.
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Poland
Polandi/ˈpoʊlənd/ (Polish: Polska), officially the Republic of Poland (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Polska; Kashubian: Pòlskô Repùblika; Silesian: Polsko Republika), is a country in Central Europe, bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north. The total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres (120,726 sq mi), making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. Poland has a population of over 38 million people, which makes it the 34th most populous country in the world and the sixth most populous member of the European Union, being its most populous post-communist member. Poland is a unitary state made up of 16 voivodeships. Poland is a member of the European Union, NATO, the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), European Economic Area, International Energy Agency, Council of Europe, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, International Atomic Energy Agency, G6, Council of the Baltic Sea States, Visegrád Group, Weimar Triangle and Schengen Agreement.
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Portugal
Portugali/ˈpɔrtʃʉɡəl/ (Portuguese: Portugal, IPA: [puɾtuˈɣaɫ]), officially the Portuguese Republic (Portuguese: República Portuguesa) is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula . Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are part of Portugal. The country is named after its second largest city, Porto, whose Latin name was Portus Cale.
The land within the borders of the current Portuguese Republic has been continuously settled since prehistoric times: occupied by Celts like the Gallaeci and the Lusitanians, integrated into the Roman Republic and later settled by Germanic peoples such as the Suebi, Swabians, Vandals and the Visigoths. In the 8th century most of the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by Moorish invaders professing Islam, which were later expelled by the Knights Templar under the Order of Christ. During the Christian Reconquista, Portugal established itself as an independent kingdom from León in 1139, claiming to be the oldest European nation state.
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Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (/ˌpɔrtə ˈriːkoʊ/ or /ˌpwɛərtə ˈriːkoʊ/), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, [esˈtaðo ˈlibɾe asoˈsjaðo ðe ˈpweɾto ˈriko]—literally, "Associated Free State of Puerto Rico"), is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.
Puerto Rico (Spanish for "rich port") comprises an archipelago that includes the main island of Puerto Rico and a number of smaller islands, the largest of which are Vieques, Culebra, and Mona. The main island of Puerto Rico is the smallest by land area of the Greater Antilles. However, it ranks third in population amongst that group of four islands, which also include Cuba, Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), and Jamaica. Due to its location, Puerto Rico enjoys a tropical climate and also experiences the Atlantic hurricane season.
Originally populated for centuries by indigenous aboriginal peoples known as Taínos, the island was claimed by Christopher Columbus for Spain during his second voyage to the Americas on November 19, 1493. Under Spanish rule, the island was colonized and the indigenous population was forced into slavery and nearly wiped out due to, among other things, European infectious diseases. The remaining population was emancipated by King Charles I in 1520. Spain possessed Puerto Rico for over 400 years, despite attempts at capture of the island by the French, Dutch, and British. The Spanish Crown, in an attempt to keep Puerto Rico from gaining its independence, revived the Royal Decree of Graces of 1815. The decree was printed in three languages — Spanish, English and French — and it fostered the immigration of hundreds of non-Spanish European families.
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Republic of China
Taiwan (i/ˌtaɪˈwɑːn/ TY-WAHN; Chinese: 臺灣 or 台灣; pinyin: Táiwān; see below), officially the Republic of China (ROC; Chinese: 中華民國; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Mínguó), is a state in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China now governs the island of Taiwan (formerly known as Formosa), which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and other minor islands. Neighboring states include the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east and northeast, and the Philippines to the south. Taipei is the capital city and economic and cultural centre of the country, and New Taipei is the most populous city.
The earliest evidence of inhabitation of Taiwan dates back to the late Paleolithic era. The island of Taiwan was mainly inhabited by Taiwanese aborigines before being colonized in the 17th century by the Dutch and the Spanish Empire. The first Han Chinese polity on Taiwan began when Koxinga's troops defeated Dutch forces and established the Kingdom of Tungning. The island was subsequently ruled by the Qing Dynasty after the kingdom's defeat in the Battle of Penghu in 1683, a period that lasted for over 200 years. Following Japan's victory over the Qing Dynasty in the first Sino-Japanese war, Taiwan was ceded to Japan under the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895.
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Republic of Hawaii
The Republic of Hawaiʻi was the formal name of the government that controlled Hawaiʻi from 1894 to 1898 when it was run as a republic. The republic period occurred between the administration of the Provisional Government of Hawaiʻi which ended on July 4, 1894, and the adoption of the Newlands Resolution in the United States Congress in which the Republic was annexed to the United States and became the Territory of Hawaiʻi on July 7, 1898.
The Hawaiian kingdom was overthrown in 1893 as a result of the intervention of foreign business interests and the U.S. military. The Republic of Hawaiʻi was led by men of European ancestry, like Sanford B. Dole and Lorrin A. Thurston, who were native-born subjects of the Hawaiian kingdom and speakers of the Hawaiian language, but had strong financial, political, and family ties to the United States. Dole was a former member of the Kingdom legislature from Koloa, Kauaʻi, and Justice of the Kingdom's Supreme Court, and he appointed Thurston—who had served as Minister of Interior under King Kalākaua—to lead a lobbying effort in Washington, DC to secure Hawaiʻi's annexation by the United States.
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Republic of Ireland
Ireland (/ˈaɪərlənd/ or /ˈɑrlənd/; Irish: Éire, pronounced [ˈeːɾʲə] ( listen)) is a sovereign state in Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. Its capital is Dublin. The population of the state was 4.59 million in 2011. It is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy, with an elected president serving as head of state. In the 1937 constitution, the name of the state is given as simply "Ireland". The Constitution of Ireland (Article 4) and the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 provides that the "Republic of Ireland" (Irish: Poblacht na hÉireann) is "the description of the state".
Ireland is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations. A developed country with the seventh highest Human Development Index, Ireland is also highly ranked for press freedom, economic freedom and democracy and political freedom.
The modern Irish state was established in 1922 as the Irish Free State, a dominion within the British Empire, following the Anglo-Irish Treaty which brought an end to the Irish War of Independence. The partition of Ireland had already been provided for in previous British legislation in 1921 in response to opposition to Irish Home Rule or independence by Unionists, who formed a majority in the north-eastern part of the country. Six of the nine counties in the northern province of Ulster were established under that legislation as Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, with which the Irish state shares its only land border. The state is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, St George's Channel to the south east, and the Irish Sea to the east.
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Research Triangle
Coordinates: 35°53′N 78°47′W / 35.88°N 78.79°W / 35.88; -78.79
The Research Triangle, also known as Raleigh-Durham or Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, and commonly referred to as simply "The Triangle", is a region in the Piedmont of North Carolina in the United States, anchored by North Carolina State University, Duke University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and cities of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill respectively. The eight-county region, officially named the Raleigh-Durham-Cary CSA, comprises the Raleigh-Cary and Durham-Chapel Hill metropolitan areas and the Dunn Micropolitan Statistical Area. A 2009 Census Estimate put the population at 1,742,816. The Raleigh-Durham television market includes a broader 23-county area which includes Fayetteville, and has a population of 2,726,000 persons.
The "Triangle" name was cemented in the public consciousness in the 1950s with the creation of Research Triangle Park, home to numerous high-tech companies and enterprises. Although the name is now used to refer to the geographic region, "The Triangle" originally referred to the universities, whose research facilities, and the educated workforce they provide, have historically served as a major attraction for businesses located in the region. The region should not be confused with "The Triad", which is a North Carolina region adjacent to and directly west of the Triangle comprising Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point, among other cities. Most of the Triangle is represented by, and closely associated with, the second, fourth and thirteenth congressional districts.
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Rhode Island
Rhode Island (i/ˌroʊd ˈaɪlɨnd/ or /rɵˈdaɪlɨnd/), officially the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, is a state in the New England region of the United States. Rhode Island is the smallest in area, the 8th least populous, but the 2nd most densely populated of the 50 United States. Rhode Island is bordered by Connecticut to the west and Massachusetts to the north and east, and it shares a water boundary with New York's Long Island to the southwest.
Rhode Island was the first of the 13 original colonies to declare independence from British rule, declaring itself independent on May 4, 1776, two months before any other state in the whole U.S. and the convention. The state was also the last to ratify the United States Constitution.
Rhode Island's official nickname is "The Ocean State", a reference to the state's geography, since Rhode Island has several large bays and inlets that amount to about 14% of its total area. Its land area is 1,045 square miles (2706 km2), but its total area is significantly larger.
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Romania
Romania (i/roʊˈmeɪniə/ roh-MAY-nee-ə; dated: Roumania; or Rumania;Romanian: România [romɨˈni.a] ( listen)) is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Romania shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and Moldova to the northeast and east, and Bulgaria to the south.
At 238,400 square kilometers (92,000 sq mi), Romania is the ninth largest country of the European Union by area, and has the seventh largest population of the European Union with over 19 million people. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, the tenth largest city in the EU with about two million people.
The Kingdom of Romania emerged when the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia were united under Prince Alexander Ioan Cuza in 1859. Independence from the Ottoman Empire was declared on 9 May 1877, and was internationally recognized the following year. At the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the Kingdom of Romania. Greater Romania emerged into an era of progression and prosperity that would continue until World War II. By the end of the War, many north-eastern areas of Romania's territories were occupied by the Soviet Union, and Romania forcibly became a socialist republic and a member of the Warsaw Pact.
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Russia
Russiai/ˈrʌʃə/ or /ˈrʊʃə/ (Russian: Россия, tr. Rossiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə] ( listen)), also officially known as the Russian Federation (Russian: Российская Федерация, tr. Rossiyskaya Federatsiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə] ( listen)), is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both via Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It also has maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, and the US state of Alaska by the Bering Strait. At 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is also the eighth most populous nation with 143 million people. It extends across the whole of northern Asia and 40% of Europe, spanning nine time zones and incorporating a wide range of environments and landforms. Russia has the world's largest reserves of mineral and energy resources and is the largest producer of oil and natural gas globally. Russia has the world's largest forest reserves and its lakes contain approximately one-quarter of the world's fresh water.
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Rwanda
Rwanda /ruːˈɑːndə/ or /ruːˈændə/, officially the Republic of Rwanda (Kinyarwanda: Repubulika y'u Rwanda; French: République du Rwanda), is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.7 million (2012). Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. All of Rwanda is at high elevation, with a geography dominated by mountains in the west, savanna in the east, and numerous lakes throughout the country. The climate is temperate, with two rainy seasons and two dry seasons every year.
The population is young and predominantly rural, with a density among the highest in Africa. Rwandans form three groups: the Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa. The Twa are a pygmy people who descend from Rwanda's earliest inhabitants, but scholars disagree on the origins of and differences between the Hutu and Tutsi; some believe that they are derived from former social castes, while others view them as being races or tribes. Christianity is the largest religion in the country, and the principal language is Kinyarwanda, which is spoken by most Rwandans. Rwanda has a presidential system of government. The President is Paul Kagame of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). Rwanda has low corruption compared with neighbouring countries, but human rights organisations allege suppression of opposition groups, intimidation, and restrictions on freedom of speech. The country has been governed by a strict administrative hierarchy since precolonial times; there are currently five provinces, which are delineated by borders drawn in 2006.
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Saba
Saba ( /ˈseɪbə/) is a Caribbean island and the smallest special municipality (officially public body) of the Netherlands. It consists largely of the potentially active volcano Mount Scenery (877 m), the highest point within both the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Netherlands proper.
Saba, including the islet of Green Island, became a special municipality within the country of the Netherlands after the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles on 10 October 2010.
The island has a land area of 13 km² (5 sq. miles). At the 2001 Netherlands Antilles census, the population was 1,824 inhabitants, which means a population density of 140 inhabitants per km². Its current major towns and settlements include The Bottom (the capital), Windwardside, Hell's Gate and St. Johns.
As the island is part of the Netherlands, Dutch is the official language. Despite the island's Dutch affiliation, English is the principal language spoken on the island and has been used in its school system since the 19th century. English can therefore be used in communications of and to the government although there is a local dialect. Since January 1, 2011, the U.S. dollar has been the official currency, replacing the Netherlands Antillian Guilder.
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Saint Barthélemy
Saint Barthélemy (French: Saint-Barthélemy, French pronunciation: [sɛ̃baʁtelemi]), officially the Territorial collectivity of Saint Barthélemy (French: Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Barthélemy), is an overseas collectivity of France. Often abbreviated to Saint-Barth in French, or St. Barts (also, St. Barth's) in English, the indigenous people called the island Ouanalao. The collectivity is one of four territories among the Leeward Islands in the northeastern Caribbean that comprise the French West Indies, along with Guadeloupe (200 km southeast), Martinique and Saint Martin. St. Barts lies c. 35 km southeast of Sint Maarten/Saint Martin, and north of St Kitts. Puerto Rico is 240 km to its west in the Lesser Antilles.
Saint Barthélemy, a volcanic island fully encircled by shallow reefs, has an area of 21 km² and a population of 8,823 (census 2008). Its capital is Gustavia, which also contains the main harbour to the island. It is the only Caribbean island which was a Swedish colony for any significant length of time; Guadeloupe was under Swedish rule only briefly, at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Symbolism from the Swedish national arms, the Three Crowns, still appears in the island's coat of arms. The language, cuisine and culture, however, are distinctly French. The island is a popular tourist destination during the winter holiday season, especially the rich and famous during the Christmas and New Year period.
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Saint Helena
Saint Helena ( /ˌseɪnt həˈliːnə/ SAYNT-hə-LEE-nə), named after Saint Helena of Constantinople, is an island of volcanic origin in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha which also includes Ascension Island and the islands of Tristan da Cunha. Saint Helena measures about 16 by 8 kilometres (10 by 5 mi) and has a population of 4,255 (2008 census).
The island was uninhabited when discovered by the Portuguese in 1502. It is one of the most isolated islands in the world. For centuries, it was an important stopover for ships sailing to Europe from Asia and South Africa. The British also used the island as a place of exile, most notably for Napoleon I, Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo and more than 5,000 Boer prisoners. Saint Helena is Britain's second oldest remaining colony (now termed overseas territory), after Bermuda.
Most historical accounts state that the island was discovered on 21 May 1502 by the Galician navigator João da Nova sailing at the service of the Portuguese Crown, and that he named it "Santa Helena" after Helena of Constantinople. Another theory holds that the island found by De Nova was actually Tristan da Cunha 2,430 kilometres (1,510 mi) to its south, and that Saint Helena was discovered by some of the ships attached to the squadron of Estêvão da Gama expedition on 30 July 1503 (as reported in the account of clerk Thomé Lopes).
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Saint Lucia
Saint Luciai/seɪnt ˈluːʃə/ (French: Sainte-Lucie) is a sovereign island country in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. Part of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent, northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. It covers a land area of 617 km2 (238.23 sq mi) and has a population of 174,000 (2010). Its capital is Castries. Two Nobel laureates, Arthur Lewis, an economist, and Derek Walcott, a poet and playwright, have come from the island. It is the nation with the second most such honorees per capita after the Faroe Islands.
One of the Windward Islands, it was named after Saint Lucy of Syracuse by the French, the first European colonizers. They signed a treaty with the native Carib people in 1660. England took control of the island from 1663 to 1667; in ensuing years, it was at war with France 14 times and rule of the island changed frequently (it was seven times each ruled by the French and British). In 1814, the British took definitive control of the island. Because it switched so often between British and French control, Saint Lucia was also known as the "Helen of the West Indies".
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Samoa
Samoa (i/səˈmoʊ.ə/; Samoan: Sāmoa, IPA: [ˌsaːˈmoa]), officially the Independent State of Samoa (Samoan: Malo Sa'oloto Tuto'atasi o Sāmoa), formerly known as Western Samoa, is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in Polynesia, Savai'i. The capital city, Apia, and Faleolo International Airport are situated on the island of Upolu.
Samoa was admitted to the United Nations on 15 December 1976. The entire island group, inclusive of American Samoa, was called Navigators Islands by European explorers before the 20th century because of the Samoans' seafaring skills.
The oldest date so far from pre-historic remains in Samoa has been calculated by New Zealand scientists to a likely true age of circa 3,000 years ago from a Lapita site at Mulifanua during the 1970s.
The origins of the Samoans is closely linked to modern research about Polynesia in various scientific disciplines such as genetics, linguistics and anthropology. Scientific research is ongoing although a number of different theories exist; including one proposing that the Samoans originated from Austronesian predecessors during the terminal eastward Lapita expansion period from Southeast Asia and Melanesia between 2,500 and 1,500 BCE. The Samoan origins are currently being reassessed due to new scientific evidence and carbon dating findings from 2003 and onwards.
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San Francisco
San Francisco (/ˌsæn frənˈsɪskoʊ/), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.6 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland. The only consolidated city-county in California, it encompasses a land area of about 46.9 square miles (121 km2) on the northern end of the San Francisco Peninsula, giving it a density of about 17,179 people per square mile (6,632 people per km2). It is the most densely settled large city (population greater than 200,000) in the state of California and the second-most densely populated large city in the United States after New York City. San Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the 13th most populous city in the United States, with a population of 805,235 as of the 2010 Census. The San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metropolitan area has a population of 4,335,391.
In 1776, colonists from Spain established a fort at the Golden Gate and a mission named for Francis of Assisi a few miles away. The California Gold Rush of 1849 propelled the city into a period of rapid growth, increasing the population in one year from 1,000 to 25,000, and thus transforming it into the largest city on the West Coast at the time. After three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. During World War II, San Francisco was the port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. After the war, the confluence of returning servicemen, massive immigration, liberalizing attitudes, and other factors led to the Summer of Love and the gay rights movement, cementing San Francisco as a center of liberal activism in the United States.
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San Jose, California
San Jose ( /ˌsæn hoʊˈseɪ/; Spanish: St. Joseph) is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay. The San Jose/Silicon Valley area is a major component of the greater San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.6 million people and the sixth largest metropolitan area (CSA) in the United States. It is also the most populous city in Northern California.
San Jose was founded on November 29, 1777, as El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe, the first civilian town in the Spanish colony of Nueva California, which later became Alta California. The city served as a farming community to support Spanish military installations at San Francisco and Monterey. When California gained statehood in 1850, San Jose served as its first capital.
After more than 150 years as a small farming city, San Jose and the surrounding Santa Clara Valley became the last (and largest) contiguous area of undeveloped land surrounding the San Francisco Bay. San Jose experienced increased demand for housing from soldiers and veterans returning from World War II. San Jose then continued its aggressive expansion during the 1950s and 1960s by annexing more land area. The rapid growth of the high-technology and electronics industries further accelerated the transition from an agricultural center, to an urbanized metropolitan area.
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San Marino
San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino (i/sæn məˈriːnoʊ/ san-mə-REE-noh; Italian: Repubblica di San Marino) and also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino (Italian: Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino), is a state situated on the Italian Peninsula on the eastern side of the Apennine Mountains. It is an enclave surrounded by Italy. Its size is just over 61 km2 (24 sq mi) with an estimated population of over 30,000. Its capital is the City of San Marino. San Marino has the smallest population of all the members of the Council of Europe.
San Marino is the oldest surviving sovereign state and constitutional republic in the world, as the continuation of the monastic community founded on 3 September 301, by stonecutter Marinus of Rab. Legend has it that Marinus left Rab, then the Roman colony of Arba, in 257 when the future emperor, Diocletian, issued a decree calling for the reconstruction of the city walls of Rimini, which had been destroyed by Liburnian pirates.
The constitution of San Marino, enacted in 1600, is the world's oldest constitution still in effect. The country's economy mainly relies on finance, industry, services and tourism. It is one of the wealthiest countries in the world in terms of GDP (per capita), with a figure comparable to some of the more developed Italian regions, such as Lombardy and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. San Marino is considered to have a highly stable economy, with one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe, no national debt and a budget surplus.
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Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia (i/ˌsaʊdi əˈreɪbi.ə/ or i/ˌsɔːdiː əˈreɪbi.ə/; Arabic: السعودية as-Su‘ūdīyah[citation needed] or incorrectly as-Sa‘ūdīyah, officially known as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Arabic: المملكة العربية السعودية al-Mamlakah al-‘Arabīyah as-Su‘ūdīyah Arabic pronunciation (help·info)), is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab world, after Algeria. It is bordered by Jordan, and Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south. The Red Sea lies to its west, and the Persian Gulf lies to the east. Saudi Arabia has an area of approximately 2,250,000 km2 (870,000 sq mi), and it has an estimated population of 27 million, of which 9 million are registered foreign expatriates and an estimated 2 million are illegal immigrants. Saudi nationals comprise an estimated 16 million people.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded by Abdul-Aziz bin Saud (known for most of his career as Ibn Saud) in 1932, although the conquests which eventually led to the creation of the Kingdom began in 1902 when he captured Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud, referred to in Arabic as the Al Saud. The Saudi Arabian government, which has been an absolute monarchy since its inception, refers to its system of government as being Islamic, though this is contested by many due to its strong basis in Salafism, a minority school of thought in Islam. The kingdom is sometimes called "The Land of the Two Holy Mosques" in reference to Al-Masjid al-Haram (in Mecca), and Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (in Medina), the two holiest places in Islam.
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Serbia
Serbiai/ˈsɜrbiə/, officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: Република Србија / Republika Srbija, pronounced [rɛpǔblika sř̩bija]), is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans. Serbia borders Hungary to the north; Romania and Bulgaria to the east; the Republic of Macedonia to the south; and Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro to the west; additionally, it borders Albania through Kosovo, whose status as part of Serbia is disputed. Serbia covers an area of 88,361 km2 and has a population of just over 7.1 million, while the capital and largest city is Belgrade.
The arrival of the Serbs to the Balkans in the 7th century, established several states, eventually forming the Serbian Empire in the 14th century. By the 16th century, Serbia was conquered and occupied by the Ottoman Empire, at times interrupted by the Habsburgs. In the early 19th century the Serbian revolution re-established the country as the region's first constitutional monarchy, which subsequently expanded its territory and pioneered the abolition of feudalism in the Balkans. The former Habsburg crownland of Vojvodina united with Serbia in 1918. Following World War I, Serbia formed Yugoslavia with other South Slavic peoples which existed in several forms up until 2006, when the National Assembly of Serbia declared independence and the legal succession to the former State Union. In February 2008 the parliament of UNMIK-governed Kosovo, Serbia's southern province, declared independence, with mixed responses from international governments.
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Siege of Yorktown
The Siege of Yorktown, Battle of Yorktown, or Surrender of Yorktown , the latter taking place on October 19, 1781, was a decisive victory by a combined assault of American forces led by General George Washington and French forces led by the Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis. The culmination of the Yorktown campaign, it proved to be the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War in North America, as the surrender of Cornwallis' army prompted the British government eventually to negotiate an end to the conflict.
In 1780, 5,500 French soldiers landed in Rhode Island to assist their American allies in operations against British-controlled New York City. Following the arrival of dispatches from France that included the possibility of support from the French West Indies fleet of the Comte de Grasse, Washington and Rochambeau decided to ask de Grasse for assistance either in besieging New York, or in military operations against a British army operating in Virginia. On the advice of Rochambeau, de Grasse informed them of his intent to sail to the Chesapeake Bay, where Cornwallis had taken command of the army. Cornwallis, at first given confusing orders by his superior officer, Henry Clinton, was eventually ordered to make a defensible deep-water port, which he began to do at Yorktown, Virginia. Cornwallis's movements in Virginia were shadowed by a Continental Army force led by the Marquis de Lafayette.
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Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone (i/siːˌɛrə liːˈoʊn/), officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the northeast, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the southwest. Sierra Leone is a constitutional representative democratic republic and covers a total area of 71,740 km2 (27,699 sq mi) Sierra Leone has a tropical climate, with a diverse environment ranging from savannah to rainforests. As of 2011, Sierra Leone has an estimated population of 6 million[1] (2011 United Nations estimte). Freetown is the capital, largest city as well as its economic, commercial, educational, cultural and political centre. Bo is the country's second largest city and the second major economic and commercial centre.
Sierra Leone is divided into four geographical regions: the Northern Province, Eastern Province, Southern Province and the Western Area; which are subdivided into fourteen districts. The districts have their own directly elected local government known as district council, headed by a council chairman. The country's six municipalities of Freetown, Bo, Kenema, Makeni, Koidu Town and the coastal town of Bonthe have their own directly elected city councils headed by mayors.
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Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations. The term originally referred to the region's large number of silicon chip innovators and manufacturers, but eventually came to refer to all the high-tech businesses in the area; it is now generally used as a metonym for the American high-tech sector. Despite the development of other high-tech economic centers throughout the United States and the world, Silicon Valley continues to be the leading hub for high-tech innovation and development, accounting for one-third (1/3) of all of the venture capital investment in the United States. Geographically, the Silicon Valley encompasses all of the Santa Clara Valley including the city of San Jose (and adjacent communities), the southern Peninsula Valley, and the southern East Bay.
The term Silicon Valley was coined by Ralph Vaerst, a successful Central California entrepreneur. Its first published use is credited to Don Hoefler, a friend of Vaerst's, who used the phrase as the title of a series of articles in the weekly trade newspaper Electronic News. The series, entitled "Silicon Valley in the USA," began in the paper's issue dated January 11, 1971. Valley refers to the Santa Clara Valley, located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay, while Silicon refers to the high concentration of companies involved in the semiconductor (silicon is used to create most semiconductors commercially) and computer industries that were concentrated in the area. These firms slowly replaced the orchards which gave the area its initial nickname, the Valley of Heart's Delight.
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Singapore
Singapore (i/ˈsɪŋəpɔər/ SI-ngə-pohr), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, 137 kilometres (85 mi) north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the Singapore Strait to its south. Singapore is highly urbanised but almost half of the country is covered by greenery. More land is being created for development through land reclamation.
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Sint Eustatius
Sint Eustatius, also known affectionately to the locals as Statia/ˈsteɪʃə/ or Statius, is a Caribbean island and a special municipality (officially public body) of the Netherlands.
It lies in the northern Leeward Islands portion of the West Indies, southeast of the Virgin Islands and immediately to the northwest of Saint Kitts and Nevis and to the southeast of Saba, at 17°30′N 62°58′W / 17.5°N 62.967°W / 17.5; -62.967. The island is named after the legendary Christian martyr Saint Eustace. The regional capital is Oranjestad.
The island has an area of 21 km² (8.1 sq. miles). In the 2001 census, the population was recorded as 3,543 inhabitants, equating to a population density of 169 inhabitants per square kilometre. The official language is Dutch, however English is also recognised as an administrative language. A local English-based creole is also spoken informally. Travel to the island by air is through F.D. Roosevelt Airport.
Formerly part of the Netherlands Antilles, Sint Eustatius became a special municipality within the country of the Netherlands on 10 October 2010.
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Slovakia
The Slovak Republic (short form: Slovakiai/sloʊˈvɑːkiə/ or /sləˈvækiə/; Slovak: Slovensko (help·info), long form Slovenská republika (help·info)) is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about 49,000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi). Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is the capital, Bratislava, and the second largest is Košice. Slovakia is a member state of the European Union, NATO, United Nations, OECD and WTO among others. The official language is Slovak, a member of the Slavic language family.
The Slavs arrived in the territory of present day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries during the migration period. In the course of history, various parts of today's Slovakia belonged to Samo's Empire (the first known political unit of Slavs), Principality of Nitra (as independent polity, as part of Great Moravia and as part of Hungarian Kingdom), Great Moravia, Kingdom of Hungary, the Austro-Hungarian Empire or Habsburg Empire, and Czechoslovakia. A separate Slovak state briefly existed during World War II, during which Slovakia was a dependency of Nazi Germany between 1939 and 1944. From 1945 Slovakia once again became a part of Czechoslovakia. The present-day Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia.
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Slovenia
Slovenia (i/sloʊˈviːniə/ sloh-VEE-nee-ə, Slovene: Slovenija), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Republika Slovenija, [reˈpublika sloˈveːnija]) is a Slavic nation state, situated in South-Central Europe, at the crossroad of main European cultural and trade routes. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Croatia to the south and southeast, and Hungary to the northeast. It covers 20,273 square kilometres (7,827 sq mi) and has a population of 2.05 million. It is a parliamentary republic, member of the European Union and NATO. Relative to its geography, history, economy, culture, and language, it is a very diverse country distinguished by a transitional character. It is characterised by a high economic and social level. Its capital and largest city is Ljubljana.
The territory of Slovenia is mainly hilly or mountainous and has an exceptionally high landscape and biological diversity and a mosaic structure, which are a result of natural attributes and the long-lasting presence of humans. Four major European geographic units interweave here: the Alps, the Dinaric Alps, the Mediterranean, with a small portion of coastline along the Adriatic Sea, and the Pannonian Plain. The climate is temperate and significantly influenced by the variety of territory, with a strong interaction of the continental climate, the sub-Mediterranean climate and Alpine climate across most of the country. The country is one of the water-richest in Europe, with a dense river network, a rich aquifer system, and significant karstic underground watercourses. Over half of the territory is covered by forest.
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Solomon Islands
Solomon Islandsi/ˈsɒləmən ˈaɪləndz/ is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of 28,400 square kilometres (11,000 sq mi). The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal. The nation of the Solomon Islands is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
The Solomon Islands are believed to have been inhabited by Melanesian people for many thousands of years. Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña was the first European to arrive in Solomon Islands in 1568 and named them Islas Salomón. The United Kingdom established a protectorate over the Solomon Islands in 1893. In the Second World War there was fierce fighting between the Americans and the Japanese in the Solomon Islands campaign of 1942–45, including the Battle of Guadalcanal.
Self-government was achieved in 1976 and independence two years later. The Solomon Islands is a constitutional monarchy with the Queen of the Solomon Islands, at present Elizabeth II, as the head of state. Gordon Lilo Darcy is the eleventh and current Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands.
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Somaliland
Somaliland (Somali: Soomaaliland, Arabic: صوماللاند Ṣūmālilānd or أرض الصومال Arḍ aṣ-Ṣūmāl) is an unrecognised self-declared de facto sovereign state that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia. The government of Somaliland regards itself as the successor state to the British Somaliland protectorate, which was independent on June 26, 1960 as the State of Somaliland, before uniting with the Trust Territory of Somalia (the former Italian Somaliland) on July 1, 1960 to form the Somali Republic.
Somaliland is bordered by Ethiopia in the south and west, Djibouti in the northwest, the Gulf of Aden in the north, and the autonomous Puntland region of Somalia to the east.
In 1988, the Siad Barre regime committed massacres against the people of Somaliland, which were among the events that led to the Somali Civil War. The war left the economic and military infrastructure severely damaged. After the collapse of the central government in 1991, the local government, led by the Somali National Movement (SNM), declared independence from the rest of Somalia on May 18 of the same year.
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South Africa
Coordinates: 30°S 25°E / 30°S 25°E / -30; 25
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of Africa. It is divided into nine provinces and has 2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) of coastline. To the north of the country lie the neighbouring territories of Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe; to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland; while Lesotho is an enclave surrounded by South African territory.
South Africa is multi-ethnic and has diverse cultures and languages. Eleven official languages are recognised in the constitution. Two of these languages are of European origin: South African English and Afrikaans, a language which originated mainly from Dutch that is spoken by the majority of white and Coloured South Africans. Though English is commonly used in public and commercial life, it is only the fifth most-spoken home language. All ethnic and language groups have political representation in the country's constitutional democracy comprising a parliamentary republic; unlike most parliamentary republics, the positions of head of state and head of government are merged in a parliament-dependent President.
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South Carolina
South Carolina (i/ˌsaʊθ kærəˈlaɪnə/) is a state in the Southeastern United States. It is bordered to the north by North Carolina; to the south and west by Georgia, located across the Savannah River; and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence from the British Crown during the American Revolution. The colony was originally named by King Charles II of England in honor of his father Charles I (Carolus being Latin for Charles). South Carolina was the 8th state to ratify the US Constitution and become a state which it did on May 23, 1788. South Carolina later became the first state to vote to secede from the Union which it did on December 20, 1860. It was readmitted to the United States on June 25, 1868.
South Carolina is the 40th most extensive and the 24th most populous of the 50 United States. South Carolina comprises 46 counties. The capital and largest city of the state is Columbia.
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South Dakota
South Dakota (i/ˌsaʊθ dəˈkoʊtə/) is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. South Dakota is the 17th most extensive, but the 5th least populous and the 5th least densely populated of the 50 United States. Once the southern portion of the Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. Pierre is the state capital and Sioux Falls, with a population of nearly 160,000, is South Dakota's largest city.
South Dakota is bordered by the states of North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana. The state is bisected by the Missouri River, dividing South Dakota into two geographically and socially distinct halves, known to residents as "East River" and "West River". Eastern South Dakota is home to most of the state's population, and fertile soil in this area is used to grow a variety of crops. West of the Missouri, ranching is the predominant agricultural activity, and the economy is more dependent on tourism and defense spending.
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South Korea
South Korea ( listen), officially the Republic of Korea (Hangul: 대한민국; Hanja: 大韓民國; Daehan Minguk listen), is a sovereign state in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The name "Korea" is derived from Goryeo, a dynasty which ruled in the Middle Ages (an initial "G" in Korean is pronounced like an English "K").
Its neighbors are China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the Korea Strait to the south. South Korea lies in the north temperate zone with a predominantly mountainous terrain. It covers a total area of 99,392 square kilometers and has a population of almost 50 million. The capital and largest city is Seoul, with a population of 9,794,304.
Archaeological findings show that the Korean Peninsula was occupied by the Lower Paleolithic period.Korean history begins with the founding of Gojoseon in 2333 BC by the legendary Dan-gun. Following the unification of the Three Kingdoms of Korea under Silla 668 AD, Korea went through the Goryeo Dynasty and Joseon Dynasty as one nation until the end of the Korean Empire in 1910, when it was annexed by Japan. After liberation and occupation by Soviet and U.S. forces at the end of World War II, the nation was divided into North and South Korea. The latter was established in 1948 as a democracy, though political turmoil and times of military rule and martial law characterized much of the period until the foundation of the Sixth Republic in 1987.
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South Sudan
South Sudan (i/ˌsaʊθ suːˈdæn/ or /suːˈdɑːn/), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in the east-central African region of northeastern Africa. It is also part of the North Africa UN subregion. Its current capital is Juba, which is also its largest city; the capital city is planned to be moved to the more centrally located Ramciel in the future. South Sudan is bordered by Ethiopia to the east, Kenya to the southeast, Uganda to the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the southwest, the Central African Republic to the west, and Sudan to the north. South Sudan includes the vast swamp region of the Sudd formed by the White Nile, locally called the Bahr al Jabal.
The modern states of South Sudan and Sudan were part of Egypt under the Muhammad Ali Dynasty, later being governed as an Anglo-Egyptian condominium until Sudanese independence was achieved in 1956. Following the First Sudanese Civil War, the Southern Sudan Autonomous Region was formed in 1972 and lasted until 1983. A second Sudanese civil war soon developed and ended with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005. Later that year, southern autonomy was restored when an Autonomous Government of Southern Sudan was formed.
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Spain
Spain (i/ˈspeɪn/ SPAYN; Spanish: España, pronounced: [esˈpaɲa] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España), is a sovereign state and a member of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar; to the north and north east by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the northwest and west by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal.
Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, and two autonomous cities in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, that border Morocco. Furthermore, the town of Llívia is a Spanish exclave situated inside French territory. With an area of 504,030 square kilometres (194,610 sq mi), it is the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union after France, and the fourth largest country in Europe after Russia, Ukraine and France.
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Sudan
Sudan (i/suːˈdæn/ or /suːˈdɑːn/;Arabic: السودان, as-Sūdān), officially the Republic of the Sudan (Arabic: جمهورية السودان, Jumhūrīyat as-Sūdān), sometimes called North Sudan, is an Arab state in North Africa (sometimes also considered to be part of the Middle East). It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, and Libya to the northwest. The population of Sudan is a combination of indigenous inhabitants of Nile Valley, and descendants of migrants from the Arabian Peninsula. Due to the process of Arabisation common throughout the rest of the Arab World, today Arab culture predominates in Sudan. The majority of the population of Sudan adheres to Islam. The Nile divides the country between east and west sides.
The people of Sudan have a long history extending from antiquity which is intertwined with the history of Egypt. Sudan suffered seventeen years of civil war during the First Sudanese Civil War (1955–1972) followed by ethnic, religious and economic conflicts between the Muslim Arab northern Sudanese and the mostly animist and Christian Nilotes of Southern Sudan. This led to the Second Sudanese Civil War in 1983. Because of continuing political and military struggles, Sudan was seized in a bloodless coup d'état by colonel Omar al-Bashir in 1989, who thereafter proclaimed himself President of Sudan. The civil war ended with the signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement which granted autonomy to what was then the southern region of the country. Following a referendum held in January 2011, South Sudan seceded on 9 July 2011 with the consent of Sudan's President al-Bashir.
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Suriname
Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname (Dutch: Republiek Suriname, Dutch pronunciation: [ˌrepyˈblik ˌsyriˈnaːmə]), is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the north. Suriname was first colonized by the British, and captured by the Dutch in 1667, who governed it as the colony of Suriname until 1954. The country of Suriname achieved independence from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in which Suriname, the Netherlands Antilles, and the Netherlands itself cooperated on a basis of equality since 1954, on 25 November 1975.
At just under 165,000 km2 (64,000 sq mi) Suriname is the smallest sovereign state in South America (French Guiana comprises less territory, but is French territory). It has an estimated population of approximately 560,000, most of whom live on the country's north coast, where the capital Paramaribo is located.
The name Suriname may derive from a Taino (Arawak-speaking) group called "Surinen" who first inhabited the region prior to European arrival.
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Swaziland
Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland (Umbuso weSwatini), and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique. The nation, as well as its people, are named after the 19th century king Mswati II.
Swaziland is a small country, no more than 200 kilometres (120 mi) north to south and 130 kilometres (81 mi) east to west. The western half is mountainous, descending to a lowveld region to the east. The eastern border with Mozambique and South Africa is dominated by the escarpment of the Lebombo Mountains. The climate is temperate in the west, but may reach 40 °C (104 °F) in summer in the lowveld. Rainfall occurs mainly in the summer and may reach 2 metres (6.6 ft) in the west.
The area that Swaziland now covers has been continuously inhabited since prehistory. Today, the population is primarily ethnic Swazis whose language is siSwati, though English is spoken as a second language. The Swazi people descend from the southern Bantu who migrated from Central Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Anglo-Boer War saw the United Kingdom make Swaziland a protectorate under its direct control. Swaziland gained independence in 1968. Swaziland is a member of the Southern African Development Community, the African Union, and the Commonwealth of Nations. The head of state is the king, who appoints the prime minister and a small number of representatives for both chambers of parliament. Elections are held every five years to determine the majority of the representatives. A new constitution was adopted in 2005.
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Sweden
Sweden (i/ˈswiːdən/ SWEE-dən; Swedish: Sverige [ˈsværjɛ] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: Konungariket Sverige (help·info)), is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland, and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Øresund.
At 450,295 square kilometres (173,860 sq mi), Sweden is the third largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of about 9.4 million. Sweden has a low population density of 21 inhabitants per square kilometre (54 /sq mi) with the population mostly concentrated to the southern half of the country. About 85% of the population live in urban areas. Sweden's capital city is Stockholm, which is also the largest city.
Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages. In the 17th century, the country expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire. The empire grew to be one of the great powers of Europe in the 17th and early 18th century. Most of the conquered territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were lost during the 18th and 19th centuries. The eastern half of Sweden, present-day Finland, was lost to Russia in 1809. The last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Sweden by military means forced Norway into a personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, practicing "non-participation in military alliances during peacetime and neutrality during wartime". However, Sweden has been a member of the European Union since 1 January 1995 and is a member of the OECD.
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Switzerland
Switzerland (German: die Schweiz[ˈʃvaɪts]; French: Suisse [sɥis(ə)]; Italian: Svizzera [ˈzvit͡sːɛra]; Romansh: Svizra [ˈʒviːtsrɐ] or [ˈʒviːtsʁːɐ]), in its full name the Swiss Confederation (Latin: Confoederatio Helvetica, hence its abbreviation CH), is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western Europe, where it is bordered by Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east.
Switzerland is a landlocked country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2 (15,940 sq mi). While the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory, the Swiss population of approximately 8 million people is concentrated mostly on the Plateau, where the largest cities are to be found. Among them are the two global cities and economic centres of Zurich and Geneva.
The Swiss Confederation has a long history of armed neutrality—it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815—and did not join the United Nations until 2002. It pursues, however, an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. Switzerland is also the birthplace of the Red Cross and home to a large number of international organizations, including the second largest UN office. On the European level, it is a founding member of the European Free Trade Association and is part of the Schengen Area – although it is notably not a member of the European Union, nor the European Economic Area.
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Tajikistan
Tajikistan (i/tɑːˈdʒiːkɨstɑːn/, /təˈdʒiːkɨstæn/, or /tæˈdʒiːkiːstæn/; Тоҷикистон [ˈtɔjikɪsˈtɔn]), officially the Republic of Tajikistan (Tajik: Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Cumhuriyi Tocikiston; Persian: جمهوری تاجیکستان Jomhuri-ye Tajikestan; Russian: Республика Таджикистан, Respublika Tadzhikistan), is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. It borders Afghanistan to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east. Gilgit Baltistan as well as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan are separated from Tajikistan by the narrow Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan in the south.
Most of Tajikistan's population belongs to the Persian-speaking Tajik ethnic group, who share language, culture and history with Afghanistan and Iran. Once part of the Samanid Empire, Tajikistan became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union in the 20th century, known as the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik SSR). Mountains cover over 90% of this Central Asian republic.
After independence, Tajikistan suffered from a devastating civil war which lasted from 1992 to 1997. Since the end of the war, newly established political stability and foreign aid have allowed the country's economy to grow. Trade in commodities such as cotton, aluminium and uranium has contributed greatly to this steady improvement.
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Tampa Bay Area
Coordinates: 28°00′N 82°18′W / 28°N 82.3°W / 28; -82.3
The Tampa Bay Area is the region of west central Florida adjacent to Tampa Bay. Definitions of the region vary. It is often considered equivalent to the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area (or MSA) defined by the United States Census Bureau. The Census Bureau currently estimates the population for the CMSA at 4,228,855 as of 2010 during consolidation. as of July 1, 2008, making it the second most populous metropolitan area in Florida and fourth in the Southeast.
A wider definition is adopted by other entities, including state agencies like Enterprise Florida and the Florida Department of Transportation, and the Tampa Bay Partnership, a not-for-profit organization created to promote economic growth in the region. These entities include additional nearby counties. According to the Tampa Bay Partnership the Greater Tampa Bay Region contains 4 million residents. The Tampa Bay Partnership and U.S. Census data showed an average annual growth of 2.47 percent, or a gain of approximately 97,000 residents per year between 2000 and 2006. The combined Greater Tampa Bay region experienced a combined growth rate of 14.8 percent, growing from 3.4 million to 3.9 million and hitting the 4 million mark on April 1, 2007 in the continuous Tampa Bay urban area.
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Tanzania
Coordinates: 6°18′25″S 34°51′14″E / 6.307°S 34.854°E / -6.307; 34.854 Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( /ˌtænzəˈniːə/ Swahili: Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern border lies on the Indian Ocean.
Tanzania is a state composed of 26 regions (mikoa), including those of the semi-autonomous region of Zanzibar. The head of state is President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, elected in 2005. Since 1996, the official capital of Tanzania has been Dodoma, where Parliament and some government offices are located. Between independence and 1996, the main coastal city of Dar es Salaam served as the country's political capital. Today, Dar es Salaam remains the principal commercial city of Tanzania and the de facto seat of most government institutions. It is the major seaport for the country and its landlocked neighbours.
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Tennessee
Tennessee (i/tɛnɨˈsiː/) (Cherokee: ᏔᎾᏏ) is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. Tennessee is the 36th most extensive and the 17th most populous of the 50 United States. Tennessee is bordered by Kentucky and Virginia to the north, North Carolina to the east, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to the south, and Arkansas and Missouri to the west. The Appalachian Mountains dominate the eastern part of the state, and the Mississippi River forms the state's western border. Tennessee's capital and second largest city is Nashville, which has a population of 626,144.Memphis is the state's largest city, with a population of 670,902.
The state of Tennessee is rooted in the Watauga Association, a 1772 frontier pact generally regarded as the first constitutional government west of the Appalachians. What is now Tennessee was initially part of North Carolina, and later part of the Southwest Territory. Tennessee was admitted to the Union as the 16th state on June 1, 1796. Tennessee was the last state to leave the Union and join the Confederacy at the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War in 1861, and the first state to be readmitted to the Union at the end of the war.
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Texas
Texas (i/ˈtɛksəs/) (Alibamu: Teksi ) is the second most populous and the second most extensive of the 50 United States, and the most extensive state of the 48 contiguous United States. The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in East Texas. Located in the South Central United States, Texas shares an international border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south, and borders the US states of New Mexico to the west, Oklahoma to the north, Arkansas to the northeast, and Louisiana to the east. Texas has an area of 268,820 square miles (696,200 km2), and a growing population of 25.7 million residents.
During the Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas: La Provincia de Texas. Antonio Margil de Jesús was known to be the first person to use the name in a letter to the Viceroy of Mexico in July 20, 1716. The name was not popularly used in daily speech but often appeared in legal documents until the end of the 1800s.
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Texas Medical Center
The Texas Medical Center is the largest medical center in the world with one of the highest densities of clinical facilities for patient care, basic science, and translational research. Located in Greater Houston, the center contains 50 medicine-related institutions, including 15 hospitals and two specialty institutions, three medical schools, four nursing schools, and schools of dentistry, public health, pharmacy, and other health-related practices. All 50 institutions are not-for-profit. Exceeding one thousand acres in size, the center is larger than downtown Dallas. Some member institutions are located outside of the city of Houston. The center is where one of the first and largest air ambulance services was created and where one of the first successful inter-institutional transplant programs was developed. More heart surgeries are performed in the center than anywhere else in the world.
The Texas Medical Center receives 160,000 daily visitors and over six million annual patient visits, including over 18,000 international patients. In 2010, the center employed over 93,500 people, including 20,000 physicians, scientists, researchers and other advanced degree professionals in the life sciences.
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Thailand
Thailand ( /ˈtaɪlænd/ TY-land or /ˈtaɪlənd/;Thai: ประเทศไทย, RTGS: Prathet Thai), officially the Kingdom of Thailand (Thai: ราชอาณาจักรไทย, RTGS: Ratcha Anachak Thai; IPA: [râːt.tɕʰā ʔāːnāːtɕàk tʰāj] ( listen)), formerly known as Siam (Thai: สยาม; RTGS: Sayam), is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and the southern extremity of Burma. Its maritime boundaries include Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand to the southeast, and Indonesia and India in the Andaman Sea to the southwest.
The country is a constitutional monarchy, headed by King Rama IX, the ninth king of the House of Chakri, who, having reigned since 1946, is the world's longest-serving head of state and the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history. The king of Thailand is titled Head of State, Head of the Armed Forces, the Upholder of the Buddhist religion, and the Defender of all Faiths.
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The Bahamas
The Bahamasi/bəˈhɑːməz/, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is a country consisting of more than 3,000 islands, cays, and islets. It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States (nearest to the state of Florida). Its land area is 13,939 km2 (5,382 sq mi), with a population of 353,658. Its capital is Nassau. Geographically, the Bahamas lie in the same island chain as Cuba, Hispaniola and the Turks and Caicos Islands; the designation of Bahamas refers normally to the Commonwealth and not the geographic chain.
Originally inhabited by the Lucayans, a branch of the Arawakan-speaking Taino people, the Bahamas were the site of Columbus' first landfall in the New World in 1492. Although the Spanish never colonized the Bahamas, they shipped the native Lucayans to slavery in Hispaniola. The islands were mostly deserted from 1513 to 1648, when English colonists from Bermuda settled on the island of Eleuthera.
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Times Square
Coordinates: 40°45′28″N 73°59′09″W / 40.75773°N 73.985708°W / 40.75773; -73.985708
"The Crossroads of the World"
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets. Times Square, iconified as "The Crossroads of the World" and the "The Great White Way", is the brightly illuminated hub of the Broadway theater district, one of the world's busiest pedestrian intersections, and a major center of the world's entertainment industry. According to Travel + Leisure magazine's October 2011 survey, Times Square is the world's most visited tourist attraction, bringing in over 39 million visitors annually.
Formerly named Longacre Square, Times Square was renamed in April 1904 after The New York Times moved its headquarters to the newly erected Times Building, which is now called One Times Square and is the site of the annual ball drop on New Year's Eve.
The northern triangle of Times Square is technically Duffy Square, dedicated in 1937 to Chaplain Francis P. Duffy of New York City's "Fighting 69th" Infantry Regiment; a memorial to Duffy is located there, along with a statue of George M. Cohan, and the TKTS discount theatre tickets booth. The stepped red roof of the TKTS booth also provides seating for various events. The Duffy Statue and the square were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.
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Togo
Togo, officially the Togolese Republici/ˈtoʊɡoʊ/, is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east, and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located. Togo covers an area of approximately 57,000 square kilometres (22,000 sq mi) with a population of approximately 6.7 million.
Togo is a tropical, sub-Saharan nation, highly dependent on agriculture, with a climate that provides good growing seasons. The official language is French, with many other languages spoken in Togo, particularly those of the Gbe family. The largest religious group in Togo are those with indigenous beliefs, and there are significant Christian and Muslim minorities. Togo is a member of the United Nations, African Union, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone, La Francophonie and Economic Community of West African States.
From the 11th to the 16th century, various tribes entered the region from all directions. From the 16th century to the 18th century, the coastal region was a major trading centre for Europeans in search of slaves, earning Togo and the surrounding region the name "The Slave Coast". In 1884, Germany declared Togoland a protectorate. After World War I, rule over Togo was transferred to France. Togo gained its independence from France in 1960.
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Tokelau
Tokelau ( /ˈtoʊkəlaʊ/) is a territory of New Zealand in the South Pacific Ocean that consists of three tropical coral atolls with a combined land area of 10 km2 and a population of approximately 1,400. The atolls lie north of the Samoan Islands, east of Tuvalu, south of the Phoenix Islands, southwest of the more distant Line Islands (both island groups belonging to Kiribati) and northwest of the Cook Islands.
The United Nations General Assembly designated Tokelau a Non-Self-Governing Territory. Until 1976 the official name was Tokelau Islands. Tokelau is sometimes referred to by the older, colonial name of The Union Islands.
The name Tokelau is a Polynesian word meaning "North Wind". The islands were named the Union Islands and Union Group by European explorers at an unknown time. Tokelau Islands was adopted as the name in 1946, and was contracted to Tokelau on 9 December 1976.
The change from Tokelau Islands to Tokelau marked a slight shift in emphasis, with consequences in regional diplomacy, in that the term Tokelau Islands clearly and substantially referred to a geographical expression, that is, a range of islands, whatever else it may connote. It is not necessarily controversial to refer by name to a range of islands, even though they may come under two or more political jurisdictions. Tokelau, on the other hand, can be taken to refer more immediately to some concept of nationhood, arguably infusing increased meaning to the draft 2006 independence constitution of Tokelau (which somewhat controversially claims Tokelauan inhabited Olohega (or Swains Island), currently part of American Samoa, as part of its national territory).[citation needed]
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Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago (i/ˌtrɪnɨdæd/ & /tɵˈbeɪɡoʊ/) officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles. It shares maritime boundaries with other nations including Barbados to the northeast, Guyana to the southeast, and Venezuela to the south and west.
The country covers an area 5,128 square kilometres (1,980 sq mi) and consists of two main islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous smaller landforms. Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the main islands, comprising about 94% of the total area and 96% of the total population of the country. The nation lies outside the hurricane belt.
The island of Trinidad was a Spanish colony from the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1498 to the capitulation of the Spanish Governor, Don José Maria Chacón, on the arrival of a British fleet of 18 warships on 18 February 1797. During the same period, the island of Tobago changed hands between Spanish, British, French, Dutch and Courlander colonizers. Trinidad and Tobago was ceded to Britain in 1802 under the Treaty of Amiens. The country obtained independence in 1962, becoming a republic in 1976. Unlike most of the English-speaking Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago's economy is primarily industrial, with an emphasis on petroleum and petrochemicals.
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Turkey
Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (help·info)), is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia (mostly in the Anatolian peninsula) and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea is to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between East Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.
Turkey is one of the six independent Turkic states. The vast majority of the population are Muslims. The country's official language is Turkish, whereas Kurdish and Zazaki languages are spoken by Kurds and Zazas, who constitute 18% of the population.
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Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan (i/tɜrkˈmɛnɨstæn/ or i/tɜrkmɛnɨˈstɑːn/; Turkmen: Türkmenistan), formerly also known as Turkmenia (Russian: Туркмения), is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (Turkmen SSR). Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states. It is bordered by Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest, Uzbekistan to the east and northeast, Kazakhstan to the north and northwest and the Caspian Sea to the west.
Turkmenistan's GDP growth rate of 11% in 2010[update] ranks 4th in the world, but these figures are subject to wide margins of error. It possesses the world's fourth largest reserves of natural gas resources. Although it is wealthy in natural resources in certain areas, most of the country is covered by the Karakum (Black Sand) Desert.
The Turkmen government operates as a single-party system. Turkmenistan was ruled by President for Life Saparmurat Niyazov (called "Türkmenbaşy" — "leader of the Turkmens") until his sudden death on 21 December 2006. Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov was elected the new president on 11 February 2007.
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Tuvalu
Tuvalu (i/tuːˈvɑːluː/ too-VAH-loo or /ˈtuːvəluː/ TOO-və-loo), formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls spread out from 6° to 10° south. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji. Its population of 10,544 makes it the third-least populous sovereign state in the world, with only Vatican City and Nauru having fewer inhabitants. In terms of physical land size, at just 26 square kilometres (10 sq mi) Tuvalu is the fourth smallest country in the world, larger only than the Vatican City at 0.44 km2 (0.17 sq mi), Monaco at 1.98 km2 (0.76 sq mi) and Nauru at 21 km2 (8.1 sq mi).
The first inhabitants of Tuvalu were Polynesian people. In 1568 Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña sailed through the islands and is understood to have sighted Nui during his expedition in search of Terra Australis. In 1819 the island of Funafuti was named Ellice's Island; the name Ellice was applied to all nine islands after the work of English hydrographer Alexander George Findlay (1812–1876). The islands came under Britain's sphere of influence in the late 19th century, when the Ellice Islands were declared a British protectorate by Captain Gibson, R. N. of HMS Curaçao between 9th and 16 October 1892. The Ellice Islands were administered as British protectorate by a Resident Commissioner from 1892 to 1916 as part of the British Western Pacific Territories (BWPT), and later as part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony from 1916 to 1974.
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Uganda
Coordinates: 1°17′N 32°23′E / 1.28°N 32.39°E / 1.28; 32.39
Uganda ( /juːˈɡændə/ yew-GAN-də or /juːˈɡɑːndə/ yew-GAHN-də), officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, which is also shared by Kenya and Tanzania.
Uganda takes its name from the Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a large portion of the south of the country including the capital Kampala.
The people of Uganda were hunter-gatherers until 1,700 to 2,300 years ago, when Bantu-speaking populations migrated to the southern parts of the country. Uganda gained independence from Britain on 9 October 1962.
The official languages are English and Swahili, although multiple other languages are spoken in the country.
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Ukraine
Ukraine (i/juːˈkreɪn/ yew-KRAYN; Ukrainian: Україна, transliterated: Ukrayina, [ukrɑˈjinɑ]; Russian: Украина; Crimean Tatar: Ukraina) is a country in Central and Eastern Europe. Ukraine borders the Russian Federation to the east and northeast, Belarus to the northwest, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south and southeast, respectively. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after the Russian Federation.
According to a popular and well established theory, the medieval state of Kievan Rus was established by the Varangians in the 9th century as the first historically recorded East Slavic state which emerged as a powerful nation in the Middle Ages until it disintegrated in the 12th century. By the middle of the 14th century, Ukrainian territories were under the rule of three external powers—the Golden Horde, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Kingdom of Poland. After the Great Northern War (1700–1721) Ukraine was divided between a number of regional powers and, by the 19th century, the largest part of Ukraine was integrated into the Russian Empire with the rest under Austro-Hungarian control. A chaotic period of incessant warfare ensued, with several internationally recognized attempts at independence from 1917 to 1921, following World War I and the Russian Civil War. Ukraine emerged from its own civil war, and on December 30, 1922 Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic became one of the founding republics of the Soviet Union. The Ukrainian SSR's territory was enlarged westward during the civil war shortly before, and after World War II, and further south in 1954 with the Crimea transfer. In 1945, the Ukrainian SSR became one of the founding members of the United Nations.
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United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right and consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories.
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United States
The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.
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Uruguay
Uruguayi/ˈjʊərəɡwaɪ/, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; (Spanish: República Oriental del Uruguay pronounced: [re̞ˈpuβ̞lika o̞ɾje̞n̪ˈt̪al̪ d̪e̞l uɾuˈɰwai̯]) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. An estimated 88% of the population are of European ancestry.
Except for the recent union of Timoteo Domínguez Island and Argentina's Martín García Island, Uruguay's only land border is with Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, to the north. To the west lies the Uruguay River and the estuary of the Río de la Plata to the southwest. To the southeast lies the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean. With an area of approximately 176,000 square kilometres (68,000 sq mi), Uruguay is the second-smallest nation in South America by area, after Suriname.
Colonia del Sacramento, one of the oldest European settlements in the country, was founded by the Portuguese in 1680. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1811–28 following a three-way struggle between the claims of Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, with a president who is both the head of state and the head of government.
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Utah
Utah (/ˈjuːtɔː/ ori/ˈjuːtɑː/) (Arapaho: Wo'tééneihí' ) is a state in the Western United States. It became the 45th state admitted to the Union on January 4, 1896. Utah is the 13th-most extensive, the 34th-most populous, and the 10th-least-densely populated of the 50 United States. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,817,222 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the sixth most urbanized in the U.S. The name "Utah" is derived from the name of the Ute tribe and means "people of the mountains" in the Ute language. Utah is bordered by Arizona on the south, Colorado on the east, Wyoming on the northeast, Idaho on the north and Nevada on the west. It also touches a corner of New Mexico.
Utah is the most religiously homogeneous state in the Union. It is home to the Salt Lake Temple, and approximately 60% of Utahns are reported to be members of LDS Church which greatly influences Utah culture and daily life.
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Uzbekistan
Uzbekistani/ʊzˌbɛkɨˈstɑːn/, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan (Uzbek: O‘zbekiston Respublikasi, Ўзбекистон Республикаси) is the only doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of only two such countries worldwide. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south. Before 1991, it was part of the Soviet Union.
Uzbekistan is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia.
Once part of the Persian Samanid and later Timurid empires, the region was conquered in the early 16th century by Uzbek nomads, who spoke an Eastern Turkic language. Most of Uzbekistan’s population today belong to the Uzbek ethnic group and speak the Uzbek language, one of the family of Turkic languages.
Uzbekistan was incorporated into the Russian Empire in the 19th century, and in 1924 became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, known as the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (Uzbek SSR). It became independent on 31 August 1991 (officially, from the following day).
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Vanuatu
Vanuatu (Englishi/ˌvɑːnuːˈɑːtuː/ vah-noo-AH-too or /vænˈwɑːtuː/ van-WAH-too; Bislama IPA: [vanuaˈtu]), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (French: République de Vanuatu, Bislama: Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some 1,750 kilometres (1,090 mi) east of northern Australia, 500 kilometres (310 mi) northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.
Vanuatu was first inhabited by Melanesian people. The first Europeans to visit the islands were the members of a Spanish expedition led by Portuguese navigator Fernandes de Queirós who arrived in Espiritu Santo in 1605. In the 1880s France and the United Kingdom claimed parts of the country, and in 1906 they agreed on a framework for jointly managing the archipelago as the New Hebrides through a British–French Condominium. An independence movement arose in the 1970s, and the Republic of Vanuatu was created in 1980.
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Venezuela
Venezuela (i/ˌvɛnɨˈzweɪlə/ VEN-ə-ZWAY-lə), officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish: República Bolivariana de Venezuela [repuˈβlika βoliβaˈɾjana ðe βeneˈswela]), is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south. Its northern coastline of roughly 2,800 kilometres (1,700 mi) includes numerous islands in the Caribbean Sea, and in the north east borders the northern Atlantic Ocean. Caribbean islands such as Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Curaçao, Bonaire, Aruba and the Leeward Antilles lie near the Venezuelan coast. Venezuela's territory covers around 916,445 square kilometres (353,841 sq mi) with an estimated population of 29,105,632. Venezuela is considered a state with extremely high biodiversity, with habitats ranging from the Andes mountains in the west to the Amazon Basin rainforest in the south, via extensive llanos plains and Caribbean coast in the center and the Orinoco River Delta in the east.
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Vermont
Vermonti/vɜrˈmɒnt/ is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Vermont is the 6th least extensive and the 2nd least populous of the 50 United States. It is the only New England state not bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Lake Champlain forms half of Vermont's western border, which it shares with the state of New York. The Green Mountains are within the state. Vermont is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north.
Originally inhabited by two major Native American tribes (the Algonquian-speaking Abenaki and the Iroquois), much of the territory that is now Vermont was claimed by France during its early colonial period. France ceded the territory to the Kingdom of Great Britain after being defeated in 1763 in the Seven Years' War (also called the French and Indian War). For many years, the nearby colonies, especially New Hampshire and New York, disputed control of the area (then called the New Hampshire Grants). Settlers who held land titles granted by these colonies were opposed by the Green Mountain Boys militia, which eventually prevailed in creating an independent state, the Vermont Republic. Founded in 1777 during the Revolutionary War, the republic lasted for fourteen years. Vermont is one of seventeen U.S. states (along with Texas, Hawaii, the brief California Republic, and each of the original Thirteen Colonies) to have had a sovereign government in the past. In 1791, Vermont joined the United States as the 14th state, the first outside the original 13 Colonies. It abolished slavery while still independent, and upon joining the Union became the first state to have done so.
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Virginia
Virginia (i/vərˈdʒɪnjə/), officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state located in the South Atlantic region of the United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, which provide habitat for much of its flora and fauna. The capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond; Virginia Beach is the most populous city and Fairfax County the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealth's population is over eight million.
The area's history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony. Slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colony's early politics and plantation economy. Virginia was one of the 13 Colonies in the American Revolution and joined the Confederacy in the American Civil War, during which Richmond was made the Confederate capital and Virginia's northwestern counties separated to form the state of West Virginia. Although the Commonwealth was under conservative single-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, both major national parties are competitive in modern Virginia.
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Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or signifying New York-based financial interests. It is the home of the New York Stock Exchange, the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies. Several other major exchanges have or had headquarters in the Wall Street area, including NASDAQ, the New York Mercantile Exchange, the New York Board of Trade, and the former American Stock Exchange. Anchored by Wall Street, New York City is one of the world's principal financial centers.
There are varying accounts about how the Dutch-named "de Waal Straat" got its name. A generally accepted version is that the name of the street name was derived from an earthen wall on the northern boundary of the New Amsterdam settlement, perhaps to protect against English colonial encroachment or incursions by native Americans. A conflicting explanation is that Wall Street was named after Walloons -- possibly a Dutch abbreviation for Walloon being Waal. Among the first settlers that embarked on the ship "Nieu Nederlandt" in 1624 were 30 Walloon families.
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Washington (state)
Washington (i/ˈwɒʃɪŋtən/) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States located north of Oregon, west of Idaho and south of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute. It was admitted to the Union as the 42nd state in 1889.
Washington is the 18th most extensive and the 13th most populous of the 50 United States. Approximately 60 percent of Washington's residents live in the Seattle metropolitan area, the center of transportation, business, and industry along the Puget Sound region of the Salish Sea, an inlet of the Pacific consisting of numerous islands, deep fjords, and bays carved out by glaciers. The remainder of the state consists of deep rainforests in the west, mountain ranges in the west, center, northeast and far southeast, and a semi-arid eastern basin given over to intensive agriculture. Washington is the second most populous state on the west coast and in the western United States after California.
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Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a federal district to become the national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution. The District is therefore not a part of any U.S. state. It was formed from land along the Potomac River donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia; however, the Virginia portion was returned by Congress in 1846.
A new capital city named after George Washington was founded in 1791 to the east of the preexisting port of Georgetown. Congress consolidated the City of Washington, Georgetown, and the remaining unincorporated area within the District under a single municipal government in 1871. The city shares its name with the U.S. state of Washington, located on the country's Pacific coast.
Washington, D.C., had an estimated population of 617,996 in 2011. The city was the 24th most populous place in the United States as of 2010. Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the city's population to over one million during the workweek. The Washington Metropolitan Area, of which the District is a part, has a population of nearly 5.6 million, the seventh-largest metropolitan area in the country.
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West Virginia
West Virginia (i/ˌwɛst vərˈdʒɪnjə/) is a state in the Appalachian region of the Eastern United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east. West Virginia is the 41st most extensive and the 37th most populous of the 50 United States. The capital and largest city is Charleston.
West Virginia became a state following the Wheeling Conventions and broke away from Virginia during the American Civil War. The new state was admitted to the Union on June 20, 1863, and was a key Civil War border state. West Virginia was the only state to form by seceding from a Confederate state, and was one of two states formed during the American Civil War (the other one being Nevada, which separated from Utah Territory).
The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the South. The northern panhandle extends adjacent to Pennsylvania and Ohio, with the West Virginia cities of Wheeling and Weirton just across the border from the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, while Bluefield is less than 70 miles (110 km) from North Carolina. Huntington in the southwest is close to the states of Ohio and Kentucky, while Martinsburg and Harpers Ferry in the Eastern Panhandle region are considered to be a part of the Washington metropolitan area, in between the states of Maryland and Virginia. The unique position of West Virginia means that it is often included in several geographical regions, including the Mid-Atlantic, the Upland South, and the Southeastern United States. Notably, it is the only state that is entirely within the area served by the Appalachian Regional Commission; the area is commonly defined as "Appalachia".
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White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical style. It has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams. When Thomas Jefferson moved into the house in 1801, he (with architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe) expanded the building outward, creating two colonnades that were meant to conceal stables and storage.
In 1814, during the War of 1812, the mansion was set ablaze by the British Army in the Burning of Washington, destroying the interior and charring much of the exterior. Reconstruction began almost immediately, and President James Monroe moved into the partially reconstructed house in October 1817. Construction continued with the addition of the South Portico in 1824 and the North in 1829. Because of crowding within the executive mansion itself, President Theodore Roosevelt had all work offices relocated to the newly constructed West Wing in 1901. Eight years later, President William Howard Taft expanded the West Wing and created the first Oval Office which was eventually moved as the section was expanded. The third-floor attic was converted to living quarters in 1927 by augmenting the existing hip roof with long shed dormers. A newly constructed East Wing was used as a reception area for social events; Jefferson's colonnades connected the new wings. East Wing alterations were completed in 1946, creating additional office space. By 1948, the house's load-bearing exterior walls and internal wood beams were found to be close to failure. Under Harry S. Truman, the interior rooms were completely dismantled and a new internal load-bearing steel frame constructed inside the walls. Once this work was completed, the interior rooms were rebuilt.
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Wikimedia Foundation
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. is an American non-profit charitable organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States. It is organized under the laws of the state of Florida, where it was initially based. It operates several online collaborative wiki projects including Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikibooks, Wikisource, Wikimedia Commons, Wikispecies, Wikinews, Wikiversity, Wikimedia Incubator, Meta-Wiki and owns the now-defunct Nupedia. Its flagship project, Wikipedia, ranks in the top-ten most-visited websites worldwide. The creation of the foundation was officially announced on June 20, 2003, by Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, who had been operating Wikipedia under the aegis of his company Bomis.
The Wikimedia Foundation falls under section 501(c)(3) of the US Internal Revenue Code as a public charity. Its National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code is C60 (Adult, Continuing Education).The foundation's by-laws declare a statement of purpose of collecting and developing educational content and to disseminate it effectively and globally.
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Wisconsin
Wisconsin (i/wɨsˈkɒnsɨn/) is a US state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest and Great Lakes regions. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin is the 23rd most extensive and the 20th most populous of the 50 United States. Wisconsin's capital is Madison, and its largest city is Milwaukee. The state is divided into 72 counties.
The word Wisconsin originates from the name given to the Wisconsin River by one of the Algonquian speaking American Indian groups living in the region at the time of European contact. French explorer Jacques Marquette was the first European to reach the Wisconsin River and record its name, arriving in 1673 and calling the river Meskousing in his journal. This spelling was later corrupted to Ouisconsin by other French explorers, and over time this version became the French name for both the Wisconsin River and the surrounding lands. English speakers anglicized the spelling to its modern form when they began to arrive in greater numbers during the early 19th century. The current spelling was made official by the legislature of Wisconsin Territory in 1845.
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World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 in the September 11 attacks. The site is being rebuilt with five new skyscrapers and a memorial to the casualties of the attacks. As of November 2011[update], only one skyscraper has been completed; the other four are expected to be completed before 2020. One World Trade Center will be the lead building for the new complex, reaching more than 100 stories at its completion. It became the tallest building in New York City on April 30, 2012, and is expected to be finished by 2013. A sixth tower is awaiting confirmation.
At the time of their completion, the original 1 World Trade Center (the North Tower) and 2 World Trade Center (the South Tower), known collectively as the Twin Towers, were the tallest buildings in the world. The other buildings included 3 WTC (the Marriott World Trade Center), 4 WTC, 5 WTC, 6 WTC (which housed United States Customs), and 7 WTC. All of these buildings were built between 1975 and 1985.
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Wyoming
Wyoming (i/waɪˈoʊmɪŋ/) is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. Wyoming is the 10th most extensive, but the least populous and the 2nd least densely populated of the 50 States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High Plains. Cheyenne is the capital and the most populous city of Wyoming with a population of nearly 60,000 people within its city proper.
As specified in the designating legislation for the Territory of Wyoming, Wyoming's borders are lines of latitude, 41°N and 45°N, and longitude, 104°3'W and 111°3'W (27° W and 34° W of the Washington Meridian), making the shape of the state a latitude-longitude quadrangle. Wyoming is one of only three states (along with Colorado and Utah) to have borders along only straight latitudinal and longitudinal lines, rather than being defined by natural landmarks. Due to surveying inaccuracies during the 19th century, Wyoming's legal border deviates from the true latitude and longitude lines by up to half of a mile (.8 km) in some spots, especially in the mountainous region along the 45th parallel. Wyoming is bordered on the north by Montana, on the east by South Dakota and Nebraska, on the south by Colorado, on the southwest by Utah, and on the west by Idaho. It is the ninth largest state in the United States in total area, containing 97,818 square miles (253,350 km2) and is made up of 23 counties. From the north border to the south border it is 276 miles (444 km); and from the east to the west border is 365 miles (587 km) at its south end and 342 miles (550 km) at the north end.
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Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, held February 4–11, 1945 , was the wartime meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, represented by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and General Secretary Joseph Stalin, respectively, for the purpose of discussing Europe's post-war reorganization. The conference convened in the Livadia Palace near Yalta, in the Crimea.
The meeting was intended mainly to discuss the re-establishment of the nations of war-torn Europe. Within a few years, with the Cold War dividing the continent, Yalta became a subject of intense controversy. To some extent, it has remained controversial.
Yalta was the second of three wartime conferences among the Big Three (Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin). It had been preceded by the Tehran Conference in 1943, and it was followed by the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, which was attended by Harry S Truman, who replaced the late Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill, who was replaced mid-point by the newly elected British Prime Minister Clement Attlee.
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Yemen
The Republic of Yemen (Arabic: الجمهورية اليمنية al-Jumhūrīyah al-Yamanīyah), commonly known as Yemeni/ˈjɛmən/ (Arabic: اليَمَن al-Yaman), is a country located in Western Asia, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east. Yemen is considered one of the poorest countries in the Arab world. Its capital and largest city is Sana'a. Yemen's territory includes over 200 islands, the largest of which is Socotra, about 415 km (258 mi) to the south of mainland Yemen, off the coast of Somalia. It is the only state in the Arabian Peninsula to have a purely republican form of government. Approximately 53% of Yemenis are Sunnis, while 45% are Zaydi Shias.
One etymology derives Yemen from yamin, meaning "on the right side", as the south is on the right when facing the sunrise. Another derives Yemen from yumn, meaning "felicity", as the region is fertile. The Romans called it Arabia Felix (Happy Arabia) as opposed to Arabia Deserta (Deserted Arabia), which was their term for northern Arabia.
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Zambia
Zambia ( /ˈzæmbiə/), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west. The capital city is Lusaka, located in the south-central part of the country. The population is concentrated mainly around Lusaka in the south and the Copperbelt Province to the northwest.
Originally inhabited by Khoisan peoples, the region which comprises modern Zambia was colonised during the Bantu expansion of the thirteenth century. After visits by European explorers in the eighteenth century, Zambia became the British colony of Northern Rhodesia towards the end of the nineteenth century. For most of the colonial period, the country was governed by an administration appointed from London with the advice of the British South Africa Company.
On 24 October 1964, the country declared independence from the United Kingdom and then-prime minister Kenneth Kaunda became the inaugural president. Kaunda's socialist United National Independence Party (UNIP) maintained power from the 1964 until 1991. From 1972 to 1991 Zambia was a single-party state with the UNIP as the sole-legal political party, with the goal of uniting the nation under the banner of 'One Zambia, One Nation'. Kaunda was succeeded by Frederick Chiluba of the social-democratic Movement for Multi-Party Democracy in 1991, during which the country saw a rise in social-economic growth and increased decentralisation of government.
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Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (/zɪmˈbɑːbweɪ/ zim-BAHB-way; officially the Republic of Zimbabwe) is a landlocked country of southern Africa. It shares a 125-mile (200-kilometre) border on the south with the Republic of South Africa and is bounded on the southwest and west by Botswana, on the north by Zambia, and on the northeast and east by Mozambique. The capital is Harare (formerly called Salisbury). Zimbabwe achieved majority rule and internationally recognised independence in April 1980 following a long period of colonial rule and a 15-year period of white-dominated minority rule, instituted after the minority regime’s so-called Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in 1965.
Zimbabwe has three official languages: English, Shona and Ndebele. Zimbabwe began as the British self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia, created from land held by the British South Africa Company. President Robert Mugabe is the head of State and Commander in Chief of the armed forces. Morgan Tsvangirai is the Prime Minister. Mugabe has been in power since the country's internationally recognised independence in 1980.
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Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland ( /ˌærən ˈkoʊplənd/; November 14, 1900 – December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers". He is best known to the public for the works he wrote in the 1930s and 1940s in a deliberately more accessible style than his earlier pieces, including the ballets Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid, Rodeo and his Fanfare for the Common Man. The open, slowly changing harmonies of many of his works are archetypical of what many people consider to be the sound of American music, evoking the vast American landscape and pioneer spirit. However, he wrote music in different styles at different periods of his life: his early works incorporated jazz or avant-garde elements whereas his later music incorporated serial techniques. In addition to his ballets and orchestral works, he produced music in many other genres including chamber music, vocal works, opera and film scores.
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Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincolni/ˈeɪbrəhæm ˈlɪŋkən/ (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through its greatest constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union while ending slavery, and promoting economic and financial modernization. Reared in a poor family on the western frontier, Lincoln was mostly self-educated. He became a country lawyer, a Whig Party leader, Illinois state legislator in the 1830s, and a one-term member of the United States House of Representatives in the 1840s. After a series of debates in 1858 that gave national visibility to his opposition to the expansion of slavery, Lincoln lost a Senate race to his arch-rival Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln, a moderate from a swing state, secured the Republican Party nomination. With almost no support in the South he swept the North and was elected president in 1860. His election was the signal for seven southern slave states to declare their secession from the Union and form the Confederate States of America. The departure of the Southerners gave Lincoln's party firm control of Congress, but no formula for compromise or reconciliation was found. And the war came.
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African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans or Afro-Americans, and formerly as American Negroes) are citizens or residents of the United States that have ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa.
African Americans make up the single largest racial minority in the United States. Most African Americans are of West and Central African descent and are descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States. However, some immigrants from African, Caribbean, Central American or South American nations, or their descendants, may be identified or self-identify with the term.
African-American history starts in the 16th century with African slaves who quickly rose up against the Spanish explorer Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón and progresses to the present day, with Barack Obama as the 44th and current President of the United States. Between those landmarks there have been events and issues, both resolved and ongoing, including slavery, racism, Reconstruction, development of the African-American community, participation in the great military conflicts of the United States, racial segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement.
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Alaska Natives
Alaska Natives are indigenous peoples of Alaska: Inupiaq, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and a number of Northern Athabaskan cultures.
Ancestors of the Alaska Natives are known to have migrated into the area thousands of years ago, and established varying indigenous, complex cultures that have succeeded each other over time. That developed sophisticated ways to deal with the challenging climate and environment. Europeans and Americans began to trade with Alaska Natives in the nineteenth century. New settlements around trading posts were started by Russians, British and Americans.
In the 1800s and In 1971 Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, which settled land and financial claims for lands and resources which they had lost to European Americans. It provided for the establishment of 13 Alaska Native Regional Corporations to administer those claims. Similar to the separately defined status of the Canadian Inuit and First Nations, which are recognized as distinct peoples, Alaska Natives are in some respects treated separately from Native Americans in the United States. An example of this separate treatment is that Alaska Natives are allowed the harvesting of whales and other marine mammals under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972.
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Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein ( /ˈælbərt ˈaɪnstaɪn/; German: [ˈalbɐt ˈaɪnʃtaɪn] ( listen); 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics. While best known for his mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2 (which has been dubbed "the world's most famous equation"), he received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect". The latter was pivotal in establishing quantum theory within physics.
Near the beginning of his career, Einstein thought that Newtonian mechanics was no longer enough to reconcile the laws of classical mechanics with the laws of the electromagnetic field. This led to the development of his special theory of relativity. He realized, however, that the principle of relativity could also be extended to gravitational fields, and with his subsequent theory of gravitation in 1916, he published a paper on the general theory of relativity. He continued to deal with problems of statistical mechanics and quantum theory, which led to his explanations of particle theory and the motion of molecules. He also investigated the thermal properties of light which laid the foundation of the photon theory of light. In 1917, Einstein applied the general theory of relativity to model the structure of the universe as a whole.
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Alfred Stieglitz
Alfred Stieglitz (January 1, 1864 – July 13, 1946) was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his fifty-year career in making photography an accepted art form. In addition to his photography, Stieglitz is known for the New York art galleries that he ran in the early part of the 20th century, where he introduced many avant-garde European artists to the U.S. He was married to painter Georgia O'Keeffe.
Stieglitz was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, the first son of German-Jewish immigrants Edward Stieglitz (1833–1909) and Hedwig Ann Werner (1845–1922). At that time his father was a lieutenant in the Union Army, but after three years of fighting and earning an officer's salary he was able to buy an exemption from future fighting. This allowed him to stay near home during his first son's childhood, and he played an active role in seeing that he was well-educated. Over the next fifteen years the Stieglitzes had five more children: Flora (1865–1890), twins Julius (1867–1937) and Leopold (1867–1956), Agnes (1869–1952) and Selma (1871–1957). Alfred Stieglitz was said to have been very jealous of the closeness of the twins, and as a result he spent much of his youth wishing for a soul mate of his own.
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Amerigo Vespucci
Amerigo Vespucci (Italian pronunciation: [ameˈriɡo vesˈputtʃi]) (March 9, 1454 – February 22, 1512) was an Italian explorer, financier, navigator and cartographer who first demonstrated that Brazil and the West Indies did not represent Asia's eastern outskirts, as initially conjectured from Columbus' voyages, but instead constituted an entirely separate landmass heretofore unknown to Afro-Eurasians. The newly recognized super continent would come to be known as "the Americas", which probably derived from the feminized Latin version of his first name.
Amerigo Vespucci was born and raised in Florence, Italy. He was the third son of Ser Nastagio (Anastasio), a Florentine notary, and Lisabetta Mini. Amerigo Vespucci was educated by his uncle, Fra Giorgio Antonio Vespucci, a Dominican friar of San Marco in Florence.
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Ancient Hawaii
Ancient Hawaii refers to the period of Hawaiian human history preceding the unification of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi by Kamehameha the Great in 1810. After being first settled by Polynesian long-distance navigators sometime between 300–800 CE, a unique culture developed. Diversified agroforestry and aquaculture provided sustenance. Tropical materials were adopted for housing, and elaborate temples (called heiau) were constructed from the lava rocks available. A social system with religious leaders and a ruling class organized a substantial population. Captain James Cook made the first known European contact with ancient Hawaiians in 1778. Many people traveled with him to the Hawaiian Islands.
Hawaiian history is inextricably tied into a larger Polynesian phenomenon. Hawaiʻi is the Northern apex of the Polynesian Triangle, a region of the Pacific Ocean with three island groups at its corners: the Hawaiʻi islands, Rapa Nui (Easter Island), and Aotearoa (New Zealand). The many island cultures within the Polynesian Triangle share similar languages derived from a proto-Malayo-Polynesian language used in Southeast Asia 5,000 years ago. Polynesians also share cultural traditions, such as religion, social organization, myths, and material culture. Anthropologists believe that all Polynesians have descended from a South Pacific proto-culture created by an Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) people that had migrated from Southeast Asia.
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Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement that flourished by the 1960s. After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became a renowned and sometimes controversial artist. The Andy Warhol Museum in his native city, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, holds an extensive permanent collection of art and archives. It is the largest museum in the United States of America dedicated to a single artist.
Andy Warhol's artwork ranged in many forms of media that include hand drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, silk screening, sculpture, film, and music. He was a pioneer in computer-generated art using Amiga computers that were introduced in 1985, just before his death in 1987. He founded Interview Magazine and was the author of numerous books, including The Philosophy of Andy Warhol and Popism: The Warhol Sixties. Andy Warhol is also notable as a gay man who lived openly as such before the gay liberation movement. His studio, The Factory, was a famous gathering place that brought together distinguished intellectuals, drag queens, playwrights, Bohemian street people, Hollywood celebrities, and wealthy patrons. Warhol has been the subject of numerous retrospective exhibitions, books, and feature and documentary films. He coined the widely used expression "15 minutes of fame". Many of his creations are very collectible and highly valuable. The highest price ever paid for a Warhol painting is US$100 million for a 1963 canvas titled Eight Elvises. The private transaction was reported in a 2009 article in The Economist, which described Warhol as the "bellwether of the art market". Warhol's works include some of the most expensive paintings ever sold.
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Ansel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, especially in Yosemite National Park.
With Fred Archer, Adams developed the Zone System as a way to determine proper exposure and adjust the contrast of the final print. The resulting clarity and depth characterized his photographs and the work of those to whom he taught the system. Adams primarily used large-format cameras despite their size, weight, setup time, and film cost, because their high resolution helped ensure sharpness in his images.
Adams founded the Group f/64 along with fellow photographers Willard Van Dyke and Edward Weston. Adams's photographs are reproduced on calendars, posters, and in books, making his photographs widely distributed.
Adams was born in the Western Addition of San Francisco, California, to distinctly upper-class parents Charles Hitchcock Adams and Olive Bray Adams. He was an only child and was named after his uncle Ansel Easton. His mother's family came from Baltimore and his maternal grandfather had a successful freight-hauling business, but squandered his wealth in failed mining and real estate ventures in Nevada. The Adams family came from New England, having migrated from the north of Ireland in the early 18th century. His grandfather founded and built a prosperous lumber business, which his father later ran, though his father's natural talents lay more with sciences than with business. Later in life, Adams would condemn that very same industry for cutting down many of the great redwood forests.
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Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent. It includes people who indicated their race(s) as "Asian" or reported entries such as "Asian Indian," "Chinese," "Filipino," "Korean," "Japanese," "Vietnamese," and "Other Asian" or provided other detailed Asian responses. They comprise 4.8% of the U.S. population alone, while people who are Asian combined with at least one other race make up 5.6%.
The term Asian American was used informally by activists in the 1960s who sought an alternative to the term Oriental, arguing that the latter was derogatory and colonialist. Formal usage was introduced by academics in the early 1970s, notably by historian Yuji Ichioka, who is credited with popularizing the term. Today, Asian American is the accepted term for most formal purposes, such as government and academic research, although it is often shortened to Asian in common usage.
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Austria
Austria (i/ˈɒstriə/ or /ˈɔːstriə/; German: Österreich [ˈøːstɐˌʁaɪç] ( listen)), officially the Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich (help·info)), is a landlocked country of roughly 8.47 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The territory of Austria covers 83,855 square kilometres (32,377 sq mi) and has a temperate and alpine climate. Austria's terrain is highly mountainous due to the presence of the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 metres (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,798 metres (12,461 ft). The majority of the population speak local Austro-Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, and German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other local official languages are Burgenland Croatian, Hungarian and Slovene.
The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty when the vast majority of the country was a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Austria became one of the great powers of Europe and, in response to the coronation of Napoleon I as the Emperor of the French, the Austrian Empire was officially proclaimed in 1804. In 1867, the Austrian Empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary.
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Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon (Hangul: 반기문; Hanja: 潘基文; born 13 June 1944) is the eighth and current Secretary-General of the United Nations, after succeeding Kofi Annan in 2007. Before going on to be Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he graduated from university, accepting his first post in New Delhi, India. In the foreign ministry he established a reputation for modesty and competence .
Ban was the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea from January 2004 to November 2006. In February 2006, he began to campaign for the office of Secretary-General. Ban was initially considered to be a long shot for the office. As foreign minister of South Korea, however, he was able to travel to all of the countries that were members of the United Nations Security Council, a maneuver that turned him into the front runner.
On 11 October 2006, he was elected to be the eighth Secretary-General by the United Nations General Assembly and officially succeeded Annan on 1 January 2007. Ban has led several major reforms regarding peacekeeping and UN employment practices. Diplomatically, Ban has taken particularly strong views on Darfur, where he helped persuade Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to allow peacekeeping troops to enter Sudan; and on global warming, pressing the issue repeatedly with former U.S. President George W. Bush. Ban has received strong criticism from OIOS, the UN internal audit unit, stating that the secretariat, under Ban's leadership, is "drifting into irrelevance".
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Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (i/bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. In January 2005, Obama was sworn in as a U.S. Senator in the state of Illinois. He would hold this office until November 2008, when he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004.
Following an unsuccessful bid against the Democratic incumbent for a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 2000, Obama ran for the United States Senate in 2004. Several events brought him to national attention during the campaign, including his victory in the March 2004 Illinois Democratic primary for the Senate election and his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He won election to the U.S. Senate in Illinois in November 2004. His presidential campaign began in February 2007, and after a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party's nomination. In the 2008 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee John McCain, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. Nine months later, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In April 2011, he announced that he would be running for re-election in 2012.
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Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan (February 4, 1921 - February 4, 2006) was an American writer, activist, and feminist.
A leading figure in the Women's Movement in the United States, her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique is often credited with sparking the "second wave" of American feminism in the 20th century. In 1966, Friedan founded and was elected the first president of the National Organization for Women, which aimed to bring women "into the mainstream of American society now [in] fully equal partnership with men".
In 1970, after stepping down as NOW's first president, Friedan organized the nation-wide Women's Strike for Equality on August 26, the 50th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution granting women the right to vote. The national strike was successful beyond expectations in broadening the feminist movement; the march led by Friedan in New York City alone attracted over 50,000 women and men. In 1971, Friedan joined other leading feminists to establish the National Women's Political Caucus. Friedan was also a strong supporter of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution that passed the United States House of Representatives (by a vote of 354-24) and Senate (84-8) following intense pressure by women's groups led by NOW in the early 1970s. Following Congressional passage of the amendment Friedan advocated for ratification of the amendment in the states and supported other women's rights reforms. Friedan founded the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws but was later critical of the abortion-centered, politicized tactics of many liberal and radical feminists.
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Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III; August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation. Clinton has been described as a New Democrat. Many of his policies have been attributed to a centrist Third Way philosophy of governance.
Born and raised in Arkansas, Clinton became both a student leader and a skilled musician. He is an alumnus of Georgetown University where he was Phi Beta Kappa and earned a Rhodes Scholarship to attend the University of Oxford. He is married to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has served as the United States Secretary of State since 2009 and was a Senator from New York from 2001 to 2009. Both Clintons received law degrees from Yale Law School, where they met and began dating. As Governor of Arkansas, Clinton overhauled the state's education system, and served as Chair of the National Governors Association.
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Black American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans or Afro-Americans, and formerly as American Negroes) are citizens or residents of the United States that have ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa.
African Americans make up the single largest racial minority in the United States. Most African Americans are of West and Central African descent and are descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States. However, some immigrants from African, Caribbean, Central American or South American nations, or their descendants, may be identified or self-identify with the term.
African-American history starts in the 16th century with African slaves who quickly rose up against the Spanish explorer Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón and progresses to the present day, with Barack Obama as the 44th and current President of the United States. Between those landmarks there have been events and issues, both resolved and ongoing, including slavery, racism, Reconstruction, development of the African-American community, participation in the great military conflicts of the United States, racial segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement.
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Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan ( /ˈdɪlən/), born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, is an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist. He has been an influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly reluctant figurehead of social unrest. A number of Dylan's early songs, such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'", became anthems for the US civil rights and anti-war movements. Leaving his initial base in the culture of folk music behind, Dylan's six-minute single "Like a Rolling Stone" has been described as radically altering the parameters of popular music in 1965. However, his recordings employing electric instruments attracted denunciation and criticism from others in the folk movement.
Dylan's lyrics incorporated a variety of political, social, philosophical, and literary influences. They defied existing pop music conventions and appealed hugely to the then burgeoning counterculture. Initially inspired by the songs of Woody Guthrie,Robert Johnson, and Hank Williams, as well as the music and performance styles of Buddy Holly and Little Richard, Dylan has both amplified and personalized musical genres. His recording career, spanning fifty years, has explored numerous distinct traditions in American song—from folk, blues and country to gospel, rock and roll, and rockabilly to English, Scottish, and Irish folk music, embracing even jazz and swing.
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Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin, Sc.D. (born Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr., January 20, 1930) is an American mechanical engineer, retired United States Air Force pilot and astronaut who was the lunar module pilot on Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing in history. On July 20, 1969, he was the second human being to set foot on the moon, following mission commander Neil Armstrong.
Aldrin was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, to Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Sr., a career military man, and his wife Marion (née Moon). He is of Scottish, Swedish, and German ancestry. After graduating from Montclair High School in 1946, Aldrin turned down a full scholarship offer from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and went to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. The nickname "Buzz" originated in childhood: the younger of his two elder sisters mispronounced "brother" as "buzzer", and this was shortened to Buzz. Aldrin made it his legal first name in 1988.
Aldrin graduated third in his class at West Point in 1951 with a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force and served as a jet fighter pilot during the Korean War. He flew 66 combat missions in F-86 Sabres and shot down two Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 aircraft. The June 8, 1953, issue of LIFE magazine featured gun camera photos taken by Aldrin of one of the Russian pilots ejecting from his damaged aircraft.
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Catherine Ashton
Catherine Ashton, Baroness Ashton of Upholland, PC (born 20 March 1956) is a British Labour politician who in 2009 became the European Union's High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Under the Treaty of Lisbon this post is combined with the post of Vice-President of the European Commission.
Her political career began in 1999 when she was created a Life Peer (Baroness Ashton of Upholland) by the Labour Government under which she took on a ministerial position (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State) in the Department for Education and Skills in 2001, and subsequently in the Department for Constitutional Affairs and Ministry of Justice. She became a Privy Councillor PC in May 2006.
Catherine Ashton was appointed Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Queen's Privy Council in Gordon Brown’s first Cabinet in June 2007. As well as Leader of the Lords, she held responsibility in the House of Lords for equalities issues, and she was instrumental in steering the EU's Treaty of Lisbon through the UK's upper chamber. In 2008, she succeeded Peter Mandelson as Commissioner for Trade in the European Commission.
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Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives (October 20, 1874 – May 19, 1954) was an American modernistcomposer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original". Ives combined the American popular and church-music traditions of his youth with European art music, and was among the first composers to engage in a systematic program of experimental music, with musical techniques including polytonality, polyrhythm, tone clusters, aleatoric elements, and quarter tones, foreshadowing many musical innovations of the 20th century.
Sources of Ives' tonal imagery are hymn tunes and traditional songs, the town band at holiday parade, the fiddlers at Saturday night dances, patriotic songs, sentimental parlor ballads, and the melodies of Stephen Foster.
Charles Ives was born in Danbury, Connecticut in 1874, the son of George Ives, a U.S. Army bandleader in the American Civil War, and his wife Mary Parmelee. A strong influence of Charles's may have been sitting in the Danbury town square, listening to his father's marching band and other bands on other sides of the square simultaneously. George Ives' unique music lessons were also a strong influence on Charles; George Ives took an open-minded approach to musical theory, encouraging his son to experiment in bitonal and polytonal harmonizations. It was from his father that Charles Ives also learned the music of Stephen Foster. Ives became a church organist at the age of 14 and wrote various hymns and songs for church services, including his Variations on 'America' .
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China
China (i/ˈtʃaɪnə/; Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó; see also Names of China), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is the world's most-populous country, with a population of over 1.3 billion. Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, the East Asian state is the world's second-largest country by land area, and the third- or fourth-largest in total area, depending on the definition of total area.
The People's Republic of China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). Its capital city is Beijing. The PRC also claims Taiwan—which is controlled by the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity—as its 23rd province, a claim controversial due to the complex political status of Taiwan and the unresolved Chinese Civil War. The PRC government denies the legitimacy of the ROC.
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Chinese American
Chinese Americans (Chinese: trad. 華裔美國人, simp. 华裔美国人, pin. Huáyì Měiguórén; t 美籍華人, s 美籍华人, p Měijí Huárén) are Americans of Chinese – particularly Han Chinese – descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans are immigrants along with their descendants from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, as well as Malaysia, Singapore, and other countries in Southeast Asia and South America that include large populations of Chinese diaspora. Overall demographic research tends to include immigrants from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan as well as overseas Chinese who have immigrated from South East Asia into the broadly defined Chinese American category as both the governments of the Republic of China and the United States refer Taiwanese Americans as a separate subgroup of Chinese Americans.
The Chinese American community is the largest overseas Chinese community in North America, closely followed by the Chinese communities in Canada and Mexico. It is also the fourth largest in the Chinese diaspora, behind the Chinese communities in Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The Chinese American community is the largest ethnic group of Asian Americans, comprising 25.9% of the Asian American population as of 2010. They constitute 1.2% of the United States, including those with partial Chinese ancestry. According to the 2010 census, the Chinese American population numbered approximately 3.8 million.
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Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus (before 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in what is today northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents. Those voyages, and his efforts to establish permanent settlements in the island of Hispaniola, initiated the process of Spanish colonization, which foreshadowed the general European colonization of what became known as the "New World".
In the context of emerging western imperialism and economic competition between European kingdoms seeking wealth through the establishment of trade routes and colonies, Columbus's speculative proposal to reach the East Indies by sailing westward received the support of the Spanish crown, which saw in it a promise, however remote, of gaining the upper hand over rival powers in the contest for the lucrative spice trade with Asia. During his first voyage in 1492, instead of reaching Japan as he had intended, Columbus landed in the Bahamas archipelago, at a locale he named San Salvador. Over the course of three more voyages, Columbus visited the Greater and Lesser Antilles, as well as the Caribbean coast of Venezuela and Central America, claiming them for the Spanish Empire.
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Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (born October 18, 1926) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), Chuck Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics focusing on teen life and consumerism and utilizing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music.
Born into a middle class family in St. Louis, Missouri, Berry had an interest in music from an early age and gave his first public performance at Sumner High School. While still a high school student he served a prison sentence for armed robbery between 1944 and 1947. On his release, Berry settled into married life and worked at an automobile assembly plant. By early 1953, influenced by the guitar riffs and showmanship techniques of blues player T-Bone Walker, he was performing in the evenings with the Johnnie Johnson Trio. His break came when he traveled to Chicago in May 1955, and met Muddy Waters, who suggested he contact Leonard Chess of Chess Records. With Chess he recorded "Maybellene"—Berry's adaptation of the country song "Ida Red"—which sold over a million copies, reaching No. 1 on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues chart. By the end of the 1950s, Berry was an established star with several hit records and film appearances to his name as well as a lucrative touring career. He had also established his own St. Louis-based nightclub, called Berry's Club Bandstand. But in January 1962, Berry was sentenced to three years in prison for offenses under the Mann Act—he had transported a 14-year-old girl across state lines.
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Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre. After a slow start, he began to achieve success in the 1920s, and by the 1930s he was one of the major songwriters for the Broadway musical stage. Unlike most successful Broadway composers, Porter wrote both the lyrics and the music for his songs.
After a serious horseback riding accident in 1937, Porter was left disabled and in constant pain, but he continued to work. His shows of the early 1940s did not contain the lasting hits of his best work of the 1920s and 30s, but in 1948 he made a triumphant comeback with his most successful musical, Kiss Me, Kate.
Porter's other musicals include Fifty Million Frenchmen, DuBarry Was a Lady, Anything Goes and Can-Can, and his numerous hit songs include "Night and Day", "I Get a Kick out of You", "Well, Did You Evah!" and "I've Got You Under My Skin". He also composed scores for films from the 1930s to the 1950s. He was noted for his sophisticated, suggestive lyrics, clever rhymes and complex forms.
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D. W. Griffith
David Llewelyn Wark "D. W." Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the epic 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance (1916).
Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera and narrative techniques, and its immense popularity set the stage for the dominance of the feature-length film in the United States. The film has been extremely controversial for its negative depiction of African Americans, white Unionists and Reconstruction, and its positive portrayal of slavery and the Ku Klux Klan. The film was widely criticized and subject to boycotts by anti-racist organizations such as the NAACP. Griffith responded to his critics with Intolerance, intended to show the history of prejudiced thought and behavior. The film was not a financial success but was praised by critics. Several of Griffith's later films were also successful, but his high production, promotional, and roadshow costs often made his ventures commercial failures. He is generally considered one of the most important figures of early cinema for his command of film techniques and expressive skills.
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Deutscher Michel
Der Deutsche Michel (literal. "The German Michel") is a figure representing the national character of the German people, rather as John Bull represents the British.
Such figures differ from those that serve as personifications of the nation itself, as Germania did the German nation and Marianne the French. He is usually depicted wearing a nightcap and nightgown, sometimes in the colours of the German flag, and represents the Germans' conception of themselves, especially in his easy-going nature and Everyman appearance. In German, Michel is also the short form of Michael, though quite rare today.
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Don DeLillo
Don DeLillo (born November 20, 1936) is an award-winning American author, playwright, and essayist. His works have covered subjects as diverse as television, nuclear war, sports, the complexities of language, performance art, the Cold War, mathematics, the advent of the digital age, and global terrorism. He currently lives near New York City in the suburb of Bronxville.
DeLillo was born on November 20, 1936 and grew up in a working-class Italian Catholic family in an Italian-American neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City, not far from Arthur Avenue. Reflecting on his childhood in The Bronx, DeLillo later described how he was "...always out in the street. As a little boy I whiled away most of my time pretending to be a baseball announcer on the radio. I could think up games for hours at a time. There were eleven of us in a small house, but the close quarters were never a problem. I didn't know things any other way. We always spoke English and Italian all mixed up together. My grandmother, who lived in America for fifty years, never learned English."
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Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American composer, pianist, and big-band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions. In the opinion of Bob Blumenthal of The Boston Globe "In the century since his birth, there has been no greater composer, American or otherwise, than Edward Kennedy Ellington." A major figure in the history of jazz, Ellington's music stretched into various other genres, including blues, gospel, film scores, popular, and classical. His career spanned more than 50 years and included leading his orchestra, composing an inexhaustible songbook, scoring for movies, composing stage musicals, and world tours. Several of his instrumental works were adapted into songs that became standards. Due to his inventive use of the orchestra, or big band, and thanks to his eloquence and extraordinary charisma, he is generally considered to have elevated the perception of jazz to an art form on a par with other traditional genres of music. His reputation increased after his death and the Pulitzer Prize Board bestowed on him a special posthumous honor in 1999.
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Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (born Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre. He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.
He was born as Edgar Poe in Boston, Massachusetts; he was orphaned young when his mother died shortly after his father abandoned the family. Poe was taken in by John and Frances Allan, of Richmond, Virginia, but they never formally adopted him. He attended the University of Virginia for one semester but left due to lack of money. After enlisting in the Army and later failing as an officer's cadet at West Point, Poe parted ways with the Allans. His publishing career began humbly, with an anonymous collection of poems, Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827), credited only to "a Bostonian".
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Edward Albee
Edward Franklin Albee III ( /ˈɔːlbiː/ AWL-bee; born March 12, 1928) is an American playwright who is best known for The Zoo Story (1958), The Sandbox (1959), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962), and a rewrite of the book for the unsuccessful musical version of Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's (1966). His works are considered well-crafted, often unsympathetic examinations of the modern condition. His early works reflect a mastery and Americanization of the Theatre of the Absurd that found its peak in works by European playwrights such as Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, and Jean Genet. Younger American playwrights, such as Paula Vogel, credit Albee's daring mix of theatricalism and biting dialogue with helping to reinvent the post-war American theatre in the early 1960s. Albee continues to experiment in new works, such as The Goat: or, Who Is Sylvia? (2002).
According to Magill's Survey of American Literature (2007), Edward Albee was born somewhere in Virginia (the popular belief is that he was born in Washington, D.C.). He was adopted two weeks later and taken to Larchmont, New York in Westchester County, where he grew up. Albee's adoptive father, Reed A. Albee, the wealthy son of vaudeville magnate Edward Franklin Albee II, owned several theaters. Here the young Edward first gained familiarity with the theatre as a child. His adoptive mother, Reed's third wife, Frances tried to raise Albee to fit into their social circles.
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Edward Harrigan
Edward Harrigan (October 26, 1844 – June 6, 1911) was an American actor, playwright, theatre manager, and composer. Harrigan and Tony Hart formed the first famous collaboration in American musical theatre.
Harrigan was born in New York and of Irish lineage. He made his first acting appearance in San Francisco in 1867, and soon afterwards formed a stage partnership with Tony Hart (1855–1891), whose real name was Anthony Cannon. As "Harrigan and Hart," they had a great success on tour in the presentation of comic types of lower class characters drawn from everyday life on the streets of New York, especially the ethnic neighborhood "militias". Beginning as simple vaudeville sketches, Harrigan gradually worked these up into plays, with occasional songs, set to popular music by David Braham. The titles of these plays indicate their character, The Mulligan Guards, Squatter Sovereignty, A Leather Patch, The O'Regans.
By 1878, with The Mulligan Guard Picnic, Harrigan & Hart settled down on Broadway and played in seventeen of their shows over the next seven years (until Harrigan and Hart split up). Though still broad and farcical, these shows featured music that was integrated with a more literary story line, together with the dialogue and dance, and the shows began to resemble modern musical comedy. Harrigan wrote the stories and lyrics, and Braham wrote the music. These shows were very popular especially with New York's immigrant-based lower and middle classes, who were delighted to see themselves comically (but sympathetically) depicted on stage. The action of the plays took place in downtown Manhattan and concerned real-life problems, such as interracial tensions, political corruption, and gang violence, all mixed together with broad, street-smart comedy, puns and ethnic dialects. Harrigan played the politically ambitious Irish saloon owner "Dan Mulligan", and Hart played the African-American washerwoman "Rebecca Allup".
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Edward Steichen
Edward J. Steichen (March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was an American photographer, painter, and art gallery and museum curator. He was the most frequently featured photographer in Alfred Stieglitz' groundbreaking magazine Camera Work during its run from 1903 to 1917. Steichen also contributed the logo design and a custom typeface to the magazine. In partnership with Stieglitz, Steichen opened the "Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession", which was eventually known as 291, after its address. This gallery presented among the first American exhibitions of (among others) Henri Matisse, Auguste Rodin, Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, and Constantin Brâncuşi. Steichen's photos of gowns designed by couturier Paul Poiret in the magazine Art et Décoration in 1911 are regarded as the first modern fashion photographs ever published. Serving in the US Army in World War I (and the US Navy in the Second World War), he commanded significant units contributing to military photography. He was a photographer for the Condé Nast magazines Vogue and Vanity Fair from 1923–1938, and concurrently worked for many advertising agencies including J. Walter Thompson. During these years Steichen was regarded as the best known and highest paid photographer in the world. Steichen directed the war documentary The Fighting Lady, which won the 1945 Academy Award for Best Documentary. After World War II he was Director of the Department of Photography at New York's Museum of Modern Art until 1962. While at MoMA, in 1955 he curated and assembled the exhibit The Family of Man. The exhibit eventually traveled to sixty-nine countries, was seen by nine million people, and sold two and a half million copies of a companion book. In 1962, Steichen hired John Szarkowski to be his successor at the Museum of Modern Art.
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Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King".
Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, Presley moved to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family at the age of 13. He began his career there in 1954, working with Sun Records owner Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African American music to a wider audience. Accompanied by guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, Presley was the most important popularizer of rockabilly, an uptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country and rhythm and blues. RCA Victor acquired his contract in a deal arranged by Colonel Tom Parker, who would manage the singer for over two decades. Presley's first RCA single, "Heartbreak Hotel", released in January 1956, was a number one hit. He became the leading figure of the newly popular sound of rock and roll with a series of network television appearances and chart-topping records. His energized interpretations of songs, many from African American sources, and his uninhibited performance style made him enormously popular—and controversial. In November 1956, he made his film debut in Love Me Tender.
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Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi (Italian pronunciation: [enˈriko ˈfermi]; 29 September 1901 – 28 November 1954) was an Italian-born, naturalized American physicist particularly known for his work on the development of the first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1, and for his contributions to the development of quantum theory, nuclear and particle physics, and statistical mechanics. He was awarded the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on induced radioactivity.
Fermi is widely regarded as one of the leading scientists of the 20th century, highly accomplished in both theory and experiment. Along with J. Robert Oppenheimer, he is frequently referred to as "the father of the atomic bomb". He also held several patents related to the use of nuclear power.
Several awards, concepts, and institutions are named after Fermi, such as the Enrico Fermi Award, the Enrico Fermi Institute, the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, the Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station, a class of particles called fermions, the synthetic element fermium, and many more.
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Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American author and journalist. His economical and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. He published seven novels, six short story collections and two non-fiction works. Three novels, four collections of short stories and three non-fiction works were published posthumously. Many of these are considered classics of American literature.
Hemingway was raised in Oak Park, Illinois. After high school he reported for a few months for The Kansas City Star, before leaving for the Italian front to enlist with the World War I ambulance drivers. In 1918, he was seriously wounded and returned home. His wartime experiences formed the basis for his novel A Farewell to Arms. In 1922, he married Hadley Richardson, the first of his four wives. The couple moved to Paris, where he worked as a foreign correspondent, and fell under the influence of the modernist writers and artists of the 1920s "Lost Generation" expatriate community. The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway's first novel, was published in 1926.
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Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish playwright August Strindberg. His plays were among the first to include speeches in American vernacular and involve characters on the fringes of society, where they struggle to maintain their hopes and aspirations, but ultimately slide into disillusionment and despair. O'Neill wrote only one well-known comedy (Ah, Wilderness!). Nearly all of his other plays involve some degree of tragedy and personal pessimism.
O'Neill was born in a Broadway hotel room in Longacre Square (now Times Square), in the Barrett Hotel. The site is now a Starbucks (1500 Broadway, Northeast corner of 43rd & Broadway). A commemorative plaque is posted on the outside wall with the inscription "Eugene O'Neill, October 16, 1888 ~ November 27, 1953 America's greatest playwright was born on this site then called Barrett Hotel, Presented by Circle in the Square."
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F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost Generation" of the 1920s. He finished four novels: This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, Tender Is the Night, and his most famous, The Great Gatsby. A fifth, unfinished novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon, was published posthumously. Fitzgerald also wrote many short stories that treat themes of youth and promise along with despair and age.
Both The Great Gatsby and Tender Is the Night were made into films, and in 1958 his life from 1937–1940 was dramatized in Beloved Infidel.
Born in 1896 in Saint Paul, Minnesota to an upper middle class Irish Catholic family, Fitzgerald was named after his famous second cousin, three times removed, Francis Scott Key, but was referred to as "Scott." He was also named after his deceased sister, Louise Scott, one of two sisters who died shortly before his birth. "Well, three months before I was born," he wrote as an adult, "my mother lost her other two children....I think I started then to be a writer.". His parents were Mollie (McQuillan) and Edward Fitzgerald.
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Filipino American
Filipino Americans are Americans of Filipino ancestry, including those who migrated from the Philippines. There are over 3.4 million people of Filipino descent residing in the United States, according to the 2010 United States Census. Filipino Americans make up about 1.1% of the country's population and making them the second largest Asian American subgroup. The Philippines is also one of the major sources of immigration into the United States.
The term Filipino American is sometimes shortened to "Fil-Ams", or "Pinoy". Some Filipinos believe that the term Pinoy was coined by the early Filipinos who came to the United States to distinguish themselves from Filipinos living in the Philippines.
Filipinos in what is now the United States were first documented in the 16th century, with small settlements beginning in the 18th century. Mass migration did not begin until the early 20th Century when the Philippines was ceded by Spain to the United States in the Treaty of Paris. The Philippines' independence recognized by the United States on July 4, 1946. Immigration was reduced significantly during the 1930s, except for those who served in the United States Navy, and increased following immigration reform in the 1960s.
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Frank Gehry
Frank Owen Gehry, CC (born Frank Owen Goldberg; February 28, 1929) is a Canadian American Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles, California.
His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions. His works are cited as being among the most important works of contemporary architecture in the 2010 World Architecture Survey, which led Vanity Fair to label him as "the most important architect of our age".
Gehry's best-known works include the titanium-covered Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain; MIT Stata Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles; Experience Music Project in Seattle; Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis; Dancing House in Prague; the Vitra Design Museum and MARTa Museum in Germany; the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto; the Cinémathèque française in Paris; and 8 Spruce Street in New York City. But it was his private residence in Santa Monica, California, which jump-started his career, lifting it from the status of "paper architecture" – a phenomenon that many famous architects have experienced in their formative decades through experimentation almost exclusively on paper before receiving their first major commission in later years. Gehry is also the designer of the future Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial.
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Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright (born Frank Lincoln Wright, June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture. This philosophy was best exemplified by his design for Fallingwater (1935), which has been called "the best all-time work of American architecture". Wright was a leader of the Prairie School movement of architecture and developed the concept of the Usonian home, his unique vision for urban planning in the United States.
His work includes original and innovative examples of many different building types, including offices, churches, schools, skyscrapers, hotels, and museums. Wright also designed many of the interior elements of his buildings, such as the furniture and stained glass. Wright authored 20 books and many articles and was a popular lecturer in the United States and in Europe. His colorful personal life often made headlines, most notably for the 1914 fire and murders at his Taliesin studio. Already well known during his lifetime, Wright was recognized in 1991 by the American Institute of Architects as "the greatest American architect of all time."
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George Balanchine
George Balanchine, born Giorgi Balanchivadze (Georgian: გიორგი ბალანჩივაძე, Russian: Георгий Мелитонович Баланчивадзе) (January 22 [O.S. January 9] 1904 – April 30, 1983), was one of the 20th century's most famous choreographers, a developer of ballet in the United States and the co-founder and balletmaster of New York City Ballet. He was a choreographer known for his musicality; he expressed music with dance and worked extensively with Igor Stravinsky. Thirty-nine of his more than four hundred ballets were choreographed to music by Stravinsky.
Balanchine was born Giorgi Balanchivadze in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to a Georgian father and a Russian mother. Balanchine's family comprised largely composers and soldiers. His father was a noted Georgian composer Meliton Balanchivadze (1862–1937), one of the initiators of the Georgian Opera, while his mother was a Russian ballet aficionado. George's brother, Andria Balanchivadze (1906–1992), became a well-known Georgian composer. As a child, Balanchine was not particularly interested in ballet but his mother loved the arts and had the young Giorgi audition with his sister, who shared her mother's passion for ballet.
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George Gershwin
George Gershwin (September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known. Among his best known works are the orchestral compositions Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris, as well as the opera Porgy and Bess.
Born in Brooklyn to a Ukrainian father of Jewish descent and a Russian mother, Gershwin studied piano under Charles Hambitzer and composition with Rubin Goldmark and Henry Cowell. He began his career as a song plugger, but soon thereafter started composing Broadway theatre works with his brother Ira Gershwin and Buddy DeSylva. He moved to Paris in an attempt to study with Nadia Boulanger, where he began to compose An American in Paris. After returning to New York City, he wrote Porgy and Bess with Ira and author DuBose Heyward. Initially a commercial failure, Porgy and Bess is now considered one of the most important American operas of the Twentieth Century. Gershwin moved to Hollywood and composed numerous film scores until his death in 1937 from a brain tumor.
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George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush (born June 12, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States (1989–93). He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States (1981–89), a congressman, an ambassador, a Director of Central Intelligence, and is currently the oldest surviving president.
Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to Senator Prescott Bush and Dorothy Walker Bush. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Bush postponed going to college, enlisted in the US Navy on his 18th birthday, and became the youngest aviator in the Navy at the time. He served until the end of the war, then attended Yale University. Graduating in 1948, he moved his family to West Texas and entered the oil business, becoming a millionaire by the age of 40.
He became involved in politics soon after founding his own oil company, serving as a member of the House of Representatives, among other positions. He ran unsuccessfully for president of the United States in 1980, but was chosen by party nominee Ronald Reagan to be the vice presidential nominee, and the two were subsequently elected. During his tenure, Bush headed administration task forces on deregulation and fighting drug abuse.
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George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 and the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000. The eldest son of Barbara Bush and George H. W. Bush, he was born in New Haven, Connecticut. After graduating from Yale University in 1968 and Harvard Business School in 1975, Bush worked in oil businesses. He married Laura Welch in 1977 and ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives shortly thereafter. He later co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team before defeating Ann Richards in the 1994 Texas gubernatorial election. In a close and controversial election, Bush was elected President in 2000 as the Republican candidate, defeating Vice President Al Gore in the Electoral College. Bush is the second American president to have been the son of a former president. He is also the brother of Jeb Bush, former Governor of Florida.
Terrorist attacks occurred eight months into Bush's first term as president on September 11, 2001. In response, Bush announced the War on Terror, an international military campaign which included the war in Afghanistan launched in 2001 and the war in Iraq launched in 2003. In addition to national security issues, Bush promoted policies on the economy, health care, education, and social security reform. He signed into law broad tax cuts, the PATRIOT Act, the No Child Left Behind Act, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, and Medicare prescription drug benefits for seniors. His tenure saw national debates on immigration, Social Security, electronic surveillance, and enhanced interrogation techniques. His administration also withdrew the U.S. from a some international treaty processes, including the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.
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George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732 [O.S. February 11, 1731] – December 14, 1799) was the first President of the United States of America, serving from 1789 to 1797, and the dominant military and political leader of the United States from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of the Constitution in 1787. Washington became the first president, by unanimous choice, and oversaw the creation of a strong, well-financed national government that maintained neutrality in the wars raging in Europe, suppressed rebellion, and won acceptance among Americans of all types. His leadership style established many forms and rituals of government that have been used since, such as using a cabinet system and delivering an inaugural address. Washington is universally regarded as the "Father of his country."
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Georgia O'Keeffe
Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 – March 6, 1986) was an American artist.
Born near Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, O'Keeffe first came to the attention of the New York art community in 1916, several decades before women had gained access to art training in America’s colleges and universities, and before any of its women artists were well known or highly celebrated. Within a decade, she had distinguished herself as one of America's most important modern artists, a position she maintained throughout her life. As a result, O’Keeffe not only carved out a significant place for women painters in an area of the American art community that had been exclusive to and is still dominated by men, but she also became one of America’s most celebrated cultural icons well before her death at age 98 in 1986.
Her abstract imagery of the 1910s and early 1920s is among the most innovative of any work produced in the period by American artists. She revolutionized the tradition of flower painting in the 1920s by making large-format paintings of enlarged blossoms, presenting them close up as if seen through a magnifying lens. In addition to this, O'Keeffe's depictions of New York buildings, most of which date from the same decade, have been recognized as among the most compelling of any paintings of the modern city. Beginning in 1929, when she first began working part of the year in Northern New Mexico—which she made her permanent home in 1949—O’Keeffe depicted subjects specific to that area. Through paintings of its unique landscape configurations, adobe churches, cultural objects, and the bones and rocks she collected from the desert floor, she ultimately laid claim to this area of the American Southwest, which earlier had been celebrated primarily by male artists; the area around where she worked and lived has become known as “O’Keeffe Country."
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German American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 50 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group.California, Texas and Pennsylvania have the largest numbers of German origin, although upper Midwestern states, including Ohio, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and the Dakotas, have the highest proportion of German Americans at over one-third.
None of the historical German states had overseas colonies, so not until the 1680s did the first significant groups of German immigrants arrive in the British colonies, settling primarily in New York and Pennsylvania. Immigration continued in very large numbers during the 19th century, with some eight million arrivals from Germany. They were pulled by the attractions of land and religious freedom, and pushed out of Europe by shortages of land and religious or political oppression. Many arrived seeking religious or political freedom, others for economic opportunities greater than those in Europe, and others simply for the chance to start fresh in the New World. The arrivals before 1850 were mostly farmers who sought out the most productive land, where their intensive farming techniques would pay off. After 1840, many came to cities, where "Germania"—German-speaking districts—soon emerged.
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Gloria Steinem
Gloria Marie Steinem (born March 25, 1934) is an American feminist, journalist, and social and political activist who became nationally recognized as a leader of, and media spokeswoman for, the women's liberation movement in the late 1960s and 1970s. A prominent writer and political figure, Steinem has founded many organizations and projects and has been the recipient of many awards and honors. She was a columnist for New York magazine and co-founded Ms. magazine. In 1969, she published an article, "After Black Power, Women's Liberation" which, along with her early support of abortion rights, catapulted her to national fame as a feminist leader. In 2005, Steinem worked alongside Jane Fonda and Robin Morgan to co-found the Women's Media Center, an organization that works to amplify the voices of women in the media through advocacy, media and leadership training, and the creation of original content. Steinem currently serves on the board of the organization. She continues to involve herself in politics and media affairs as a commentator, writer, lecturer, and organizer, campaigning for candidates and reforms and publishing books and articles.
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Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom (born July 11, 1930) is an American literary critic and is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. Since the publication of his first book in 1959, Bloom has written more than 20 books of literary criticism, several books discussing religion, and one novel. He has edited hundreds of anthologies.
Bloom teaches two classes at Yale: one on the plays of William Shakespeare; the other on poetry from Geoffrey Chaucer to Hart Crane. Some of his writing had reflected this teaching, from Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human (1998) to The Anatomy of Influence (2011), which he has called the summa of his career.
Bloom's career began with decades of studying the Romantic poets, in particular Percy Bysshe Shelley, W. B. Yeats and Wallace Stevens. From this study, combined with the influence of Freud, Emerson and many others, Bloom developed theories of poetic influence, marked by the publication of The Anxiety of Influence (1973). These theories dominated his writing for a decade, after which he began to focus on what he named "religious criticism", in books such as The Book of J (1990) and The American Religion (1992). Another shift in his career began with an impassioned defense of the non-politicised teaching of canonical literature in The Western Canon (1994). He has continued his religious criticism in books such as Jesus and Yahweh (2005) and The Shadow of a Great Rock: A Literary Appreciation of The King James Bible (2011).
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Henry Cowell
Henry Cowell (March 11, 1897 – December 10, 1965) was an American composer, music theorist, pianist, teacher, publisher, and impresario. His contribution to the world of music was summed up by Virgil Thomson, writing in the early 1950s:
Henry Cowell's music covers a wider range in both expression and technique than that of any other living composer. His experiments begun three decades ago in rhythm, in harmony, and in instrumental sonorities were considered then by many to be wild. Today they are the Bible of the young and still, to the conservatives, "advanced."... No other composer of our time has produced a body of works so radical and so normal, so penetrating and so comprehensive. Add to this massive production his long and influential career as a pedagogue, and Henry Cowell's achievement becomes impressive indeed. There is no other quite like it. To be both fecund and right is given to few.
Born in rural Menlo Park, California, to two bohemian writers—his father was an Irish immigrant and his mother, a former schoolteacher, had relocated from Iowa—Cowell demonstrated precocious musical talent and began playing the violin at the age of five. After his parents' divorce in 1903, he was raised by his mother, Clarissa Dixon, author of the early feminist novel Janet and Her Dear Phebe. His father, with whom he maintained contact, introduced him to the Irish music that would be a touchstone for Cowell throughout his career. While receiving no formal musical education (and little schooling of any kind beyond his mother's home tutelage), he began to compose in his mid-teens.
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Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist. He is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay Civil Disobedience, an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state.
Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry total over 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions were his writings on natural history and philosophy, where he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern day environmentalism. His literary style interweaves close natural observation, personal experience, pointed rhetoric, symbolic meanings, and historical lore, while displaying a poetic sensibility, philosophical austerity, and "Yankee" love of practical detail. He was also deeply interested in the idea of survival in the face of hostile elements, historical change, and natural decay; at the same time he advocated abandoning waste and illusion in order to discover life's true essential needs.
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Henry Ford
Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry. As owner of the Ford Motor Company, he became one of the richest and best-known people in the world. Ford spent most of his life making headlines, good, bad, but never indifferent. Celebrated as both a technological genius and a folk hero, Ford was the creative force behind an industry of unprecedented size and wealth that in only a few decades permanently changed the economic and social character of the United States. He is credited with "Fordism": mass production of inexpensive goods coupled with high wages for workers. Ford had a global vision, with consumerism as the key to peace. His intense commitment to systematically lowering costs resulted in many technical and business innovations, including a franchise system that put dealerships throughout most of North America and in major cities on six continents. Ford left most of his vast wealth to the Ford Foundation but arranged for his family to control the company permanently.
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Herman Melville
Herman Melville (August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick. His first three books gained much contemporary attention (the first, Typee, becoming a bestseller), and after a fast-blooming literary success in the late 1840s, his popularity declined precipitously in the mid-1850s and never recovered during his lifetime. When he died in 1891, he was almost completely forgotten. It was not until the "Melville Revival" in the early 20th century that his work won recognition, especially Moby-Dick, which was hailed as one of the literary masterpieces of both American and world literature. He was the first writer to have his works collected and published by the Library of America.
Herman Melville was born in New York City on August 1, 1819, the third of eight children of Allan and Maria Gansevoort Melvill. After her husband Allan died (& between 1832 & 1834), Maria added an "e" to the family surname — seemingly at the behest of Melville's brother Gansevoort. Part of a well-established and colorful Boston family, Melville's father spent a good deal of time abroad as a commission merchant and an importer of French dry goods. The author's paternal grandfather, Major Thomas Melvill, an honored participant of the Boston Tea Party who refused to change the style of his clothing or manners to fit the times, was depicted in Oliver Wendell Holmes's poem "The Last Leaf". Herman visited him in Boston, and his father turned to him in his frequent times of financial need.
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Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( /ˈhɪləri daɪˈæn ˈrɒdəm ˈklɪntən/; born October 26, 1947) is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001. In the 2008 election, Clinton was a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.
A native of Illinois, Hillary Rodham first attracted national attention in 1969 for her remarks as the first student commencement speaker at Wellesley College. She embarked on a career in law after graduating from Yale Law School in 1973. Following a stint as a Congressional legal counsel, she moved to Arkansas in 1974 and married Bill Clinton in 1975. Rodham cofounded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families in 1977 and became the first female chair of the Legal Services Corporation in 1978. Named the first female partner at Rose Law Firm in 1979, she was twice listed as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America. First Lady of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and 1983 to 1992 with husband Bill as Governor, she successfully led a task force to reform Arkansas's education system. She sat on the board of directors of Wal-Mart Stores and several other corporations.
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Hong Kong
Coordinates: 22°16′42″N 114°09′32″E / 22.27833°N 114.15889°E / 22.27833; 114.15889
Hong Kong (Chinese: 香港) is one of two special administrative regions (SARs) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is known for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour. With a land mass of 1,104 km2 (426 sq mi) and a population of seven million people, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Hong Kong's population is 95 percent ethnic Chinese and 5 percent from other groups. Hong Kong's Han Chinese majority originate mainly from the cities of Guangzhou and Taishan in the neighbouring Guangdong province.
Hong Kong became a colony of the British Empire after the First Opium War (1839–42). Originally confined to Hong Kong Island, the colony's boundaries were extended in stages to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and then the New Territories in 1898. It was occupied by Japan during the Pacific War, after which the British resumed control until 1997, when China resumed sovereignty. The region espoused minimum government intervention under the ethos of positive non-interventionism during the colonial era. The time period greatly influenced the current culture of Hong Kong, often described as "East meets West", and the educational system, which used to loosely follow the system in England until reforms implemented in 2009.
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Irish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. Roughly another 3.5 million (or about another 1.2% of Americans) identified more specifically with Scotch-Irish ancestry. The Irish diaspora population in the United States is roughly 6 times the modern population of Ireland.
The only self-reported ancestral group larger than Irish Americans is German Americans. The Irish are widely dispersed in terms of geography, and demographics. Irish American political leaders have played a major role in local and national politics since before the American Revolutionary War: eight Irish Americans signed the United States Declaration of Independence, and 22 American Presidents, from Andrew Jackson to Barack Obama, have been at least partly of Irish ancestry. (See "American Presidents with Irish ancestry" below.)
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Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin (May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history. He published his first song, "Marie from Sunny Italy", in 1907 and had his first major international hit, "Alexander's Ragtime Band" in 1911.
"Alexander's Ragtime Band" sparked an international dance craze in places as far away as Berlin's native Russia, which also "flung itself into the ragtime beat with an abandon bordering on mania." Over the years he was known for writing music and lyrics in the American vernacular: uncomplicated, simple and direct, with his aim being to "reach the heart of the average American" whom he saw as the "real soul of the country."
He wrote hundreds of songs, many becoming major hits, which made him "a legend" before he turned thirty. During his 60-year career he wrote an estimated 1,500 songs, including the scores for 19 Broadway shows and 18 Hollywood films, with his songs nominated eight times for Academy Awards. Many songs became popular themes and anthems, including "Easter Parade", "White Christmas", "Happy Holiday", "This is the Army, Mr. Jones", and "There's No Business Like Show Business". His Broadway musical and 1942 film, This is the Army, with Ronald Reagan, had Kate Smith singing Berlin's "God Bless America" which was first performed in 1938. Smith still performed the song on her 1960 CBS television series, The Kate Smith Show. After the September 11 attacks in 2001, Celine Dion recorded it as a tribute, making it #1 on the charts.
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Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis "Jack" Kerouac ( /ˈkɛruːæk/ or /ˈkɛrɵæk/; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969) was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic spirituality, jazz, promiscuity, Buddhism, drugs, poverty, and travel. His writings have inspired other writers, including Ken Kesey, Bob Dylan, Richard Brautigan, Curtis Meanor, Morrissey, Thomas Pynchon,Lester Bangs, Tom Robbins, Will Clarke, Ben Gibbard, Haruki Murakami, Jacquelyn Landgraf.[citation needed] Kerouac became an underground celebrity and, with other beats, a progenitor of the hippie movement, although he remained antagonistic toward some of its politically radical elements. In 1969, at age 47, Kerouac died from internal bleeding due to long-standing abuse of alcohol. Since his death Kerouac's literary prestige has grown and several previously unseen works have been published. All of his books are in print today, among them: On the Road, Doctor Sax, The Dharma Bums, Mexico City Blues, The Subterraneans, Desolation Angels, Visions of Cody and Big Sur.
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Jackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock (January 28, 1912 – August 11, 1956), known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was well known for his uniquely defined style of drip painting.
During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety. He was regarded as a mostly reclusive artist. He had a volatile personality, and struggled with alcoholism for most of his life. In 1945, he married the artist Lee Krasner, who became an important influence on his career and on his legacy.
Pollock died at the age of 44 in an alcohol-related car accident. In December 1956, the year of his death, he was given a memorial retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, and a larger more comprehensive exhibition there in 1967. More recently, in 1998 and 1999, his work was honored with large-scale retrospective exhibitions at MoMA and at The Tate in London.
In 2000, Pollock was the subject of an Academy Award–winning film Pollock directed by and starring Ed Harris.
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James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of funk music and is a major figure of 20th century popular music and dance.
In a career that spanned decades, Brown profoundly influenced the development of many different musical genres. Brown moved on a continuum of blues and gospel-based forms and styles to a profoundly "Africanized" approach to music making. Brown performed in concerts, first making his rounds across the Chitlin' Circuit, and then across the country and later around the world, along with appearing in shows on television and in movies. Although he contributed much to the music world through his hitmaking, Brown holds the record as the artist who charted the most singles on the Billboard Hot 100 without ever hitting number one on that chart.
For many years, Brown's touring show was one of the most extravagant productions in American popular music. At the time of Brown's death, his band included three guitarists, two bass guitar players, two drummers, three horns and a percussionist. The bands that he maintained during the late 1960s and 1970s were of comparable size, and the bands also included a three-piece amplified string section that played during ballads. Brown employed between 40 and 50 people for the James Brown Revue, and members of the revue traveled with him in a bus to cities and towns all over the country, performing upwards of 330 shows a year with almost all of the shows as one-nighters. In 1986, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 1990 into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
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James Naismith
James Naismith (November 6, 1861 – November 28, 1939) was a Canadian sports coach and innovator. He invented the sport of basketball in 1891 and is often credited with introducing the first football helmet. He wrote the original basketball rulebook, founded the University of Kansas basketball program, and lived to see basketball adopted as an Olympic demonstration sport in 1904 and as an official event at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, as well as the birth of both the National Invitation Tournament (1938) and the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship (1939).
Born in Canada, Naismith studied physical education in Montreal before moving to the United States, where he developed basketball in late 1891 while teaching at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. Naismith also studied medicine in Denver, taking his MD in 1898 before moving to the University of Kansas. After a decade (1898–1907) serving there as a faculty member and part-time basketball coach during the sport's fledgling years, he became the Kansas Jayhawks' athletic director. He became a U.S. citizen in 1925.
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Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States (1977–1981) and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office. Before he became President, Carter served as a U.S. Naval officer, was a peanut farmer, served two terms as a Georgia State Senator and one as Governor of Georgia (1971–1975).
During Carter's term as President, two new cabinet-level departments were created: the Department of Energy and the Department of Education. He established a national energy policy that included conservation, price control, and new technology. In foreign affairs, Carter pursued the Camp David Accords, the Panama Canal Treaties, the second round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT II), and returned the Panama Canal Zone to Panama. Throughout his career, Carter strongly emphasized human rights. He took office during a period of international stagflation, which persisted throughout his term. The end of his presidential tenure was marked by the 1979–1981 Iran hostage crisis, the 1979 energy crisis, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (at the end of 1979), 1980 Summer Olympics boycott by the United States of the Moscow Olympics and the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.
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Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. (pronunciation: /ˈdʒoʊsɨf rɒbɨˈnɛt ˈbaɪdən/; born November 20, 1942) is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama. A Democrat, he was a United States Senator from Delaware from January 3, 1973 until his resignation on January 15, 2009, following his election to the Vice Presidency.
Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania and lived there for ten years before moving to Delaware. He became an attorney in 1969, and was elected to a county council in 1970. Biden was first elected to the Senate in 1972 and became the sixth-youngest senator in U.S. history. He was re-elected to the Senate six times, was the fourth most senior senator at the time of his resignation, and is the 15th-longest serving Senator in history. Biden was a long-time member and former chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. His strong advocacy helped bring about U.S. military assistance and intervention during the Bosnian War. He opposed the Gulf War in 1991. He voted in favor of the Iraq War Resolution in 2002, but later proposed resolutions to alter U.S. strategy there. He has also served as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, dealing with issues related to drug policy, crime prevention, and civil liberties, and led creation of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and Violence Against Women Act. He chaired the Judiciary Committee during the contentious U.S. Supreme Court nominations of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas.
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John Barth
John Simmons Barth (born May 27, 1930) is an American novelist and short-story writer, known for the postmodernist and metafictive quality of his work.
John Barth, called "Jack", was born in Cambridge, Maryland. Barth has an older brother, Bill, and a twin sister, Jill. He briefly studied "Elementary Theory and Advanced Orchestration" at Juilliard before attending Johns Hopkins University, from which he received a B.A. in 1951 and an M.A. in 1952 (for which he wrote a thesis novel, The Shirt of Nessus).
Barth was a professor at The Pennsylvania State University from 1953 to 1965. During the "American high Sixties," he moved to teach at SUNY/Buffalo from 1965 to 1973. In that period he came to know "the remarkable short fiction" of the Argentine Jorge Luis Borges, which inspired his collection Lost in the Funhouse.
He then taught at Boston University (visiting professor, 1972–73) and Johns Hopkins University (1973–95) before retiring in 1995.
Barth began his career with The Floating Opera and The End of the Road, two short "realist" novels that deal wittily with controversial topics, suicide and abortion respectively. They are straightforward realistic tales; as Barth later remarked, they "didn't know they were novels."[citation needed]
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John Boehner
John Andrew Boehner ( /ˈbeɪnər/ BAY-nər; born November 17, 1949) is the 61st and current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party, he is the U.S. Representative from Ohio's 8th congressional district, serving since 1991. The district includes several rural and suburban areas near Cincinnati and Dayton, and a small portion of Dayton itself.
Boehner previously served as the House Minority Leader from 2007 until 2011, and House Majority Leader from 2006 until 2007. As Speaker of the House, Boehner is second in line to the presidency of the United States following the Vice President in accordance with the Presidential Succession Act.
Boehner was born in Reading, Ohio, the son of Mary Anne (née Hall) and Earl Henry Boehner, the second of twelve children. His father was of German descent and his mother had German and Irish ancestry. He grew up in modest circumstances, having shared one bathroom with his eleven siblings in a two-bedroom house in Cincinnati. His parents slept on a pull-out couch. He started working at his family's bar at age 8, a business founded by their grandfather Andy Boehner in 1938. He has lived in Southwest Ohio his entire life. All but two of his siblings still live within a few miles of each other; two are unemployed and most of the others have blue-collar jobs.
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John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer, music theorist, writer, and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde. Critics have lauded him as one of the most influential American composers of the 20th century. He was also instrumental in the development of modern dance, mostly through his association with choreographer Merce Cunningham, who was also Cage's romantic partner for most of their lives.
Cage is perhaps best known for his 1952 composition 4′33″, which is performed in the absence of deliberate sound; musicians who present the work do nothing aside from being present for the duration specified by the title. The content of the composition is not "four minutes and 33 seconds of silence," as is sometimes assumed, but rather the sounds of the environment heard by the audience during performance. The work's challenge to assumed definitions about musicianship and musical experience made it a popular and controversial topic both in musicology and the broader aesthetics of art and performance. Cage was also a pioneer of the prepared piano (a piano with its sound altered by objects placed between or on its strings or hammers), for which he wrote numerous dance-related works and a few concert pieces. The best known of these is Sonatas and Interludes (1946–48).
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John Dewey
John Dewey (October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey was an important early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology. He was a major representative of progressive education and liberalism.
Although Dewey is known best for his publications concerning education, he also wrote about many other topics, including experience, nature, art, logic, inquiry, democracy, and ethics.
In his advocacy of democracy, Dewey considered two fundamental elements—schools and civil society—as being major topics needing attention and reconstruction to encourage experimental intelligence and plurality. Dewey asserted that complete democracy was to be obtained not just by extending voting rights but also by ensuring that there exists a fully formed public opinion, accomplished by effective communication among citizens, experts, and politicians, with the latter being accountable for the policies they adopt.[citation needed]
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John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy pronunciation (help·info) (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963.
After military service as commander of the Motor Torpedo Boats PT-109 and PT-59 during World War II in the South Pacific, Kennedy represented Massachusetts's 11th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953 as a Democrat. Thereafter, he served in the U.S. Senate from 1953 until 1960. Kennedy defeated then Vice President and Republican candidate Richard Nixon in the 1960 U.S. presidential election. He was the youngest elected to the office, at the age of 43, the second-youngest President (after Theodore Roosevelt), and the first person born in the 20th century to serve as president. Kennedy is the only Catholic president, and is the only president to have won a Pulitzer Prize. Events during his presidency included the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall, the Space Race, the African American Civil Rights Movement, and early stages of the Vietnam War.
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John Rawls
John Bordley Rawls (February 21, 1921 - November 24, 2002) was an American philosopher and a leading figure in moral and political philosophy. He held the James Bryant Conant University Professorship at Harvard University.
His magnum opus, A Theory of Justice (1971), was hailed at the time of its publication as "the most important work in moral philosophy since the end of World War II," and is now regarded as "one of the primary texts in political philosophy." His work in political philosophy, dubbed Rawlsianism, takes as its starting point the argument that "most reasonable principles of justice are those everyone would accept and agree to from a fair position." Rawls employs a number of thought experiments — including the famous veil of ignorance — to determine what constitutes a fair agreement in which "everyone is impartially situated as equals," in order to determine principles of social justice. He is one of the major thinkers in the tradition of liberal political philosophy.[citation needed] English philosopher Jonathan Wolff argues that "while there might be a dispute about the second most important political philosopher of the 20th century, there could be no dispute about the most important: John Rawls. His student Samuel Freeman says that Rawls’s work will be recognized 'for centuries to come.'"
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John Trumbull
John Trumbull (June 6, 1756 – November 10, 1843) was an American artist during the period of the American Revolutionary War and was notable for his historical paintings. His Declaration of Independence was used on the reverse of the two-dollar bill.
Trumbull was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, in 1756, to Jonathan Trumbull, who was Governor of Connecticut from 1769 to 1784, and his wife Faith {Robinson} Trumbull. He entered the 1771 junior class at Harvard University at age fifteen and graduated in 1773. Due to a childhood accident, Trumbull lost use of one eye, which may have influenced his detailed painting style.
As a soldier in the American Revolutionary War, Trumbull rendered a particular service at Boston by sketching plans of the British works, and witnessed the Battle of Bunker Hill. He was appointed second personal aide to General George Washington, and in June 1776, deputy adjutant-general to General Horatio Gates. He resigned from the army in 1777.
In 1780 he traveled to London, where he studied under Benjamin West. At his suggestion, Trumbull painted small pictures of the War of Independence and miniature portraits, of which he produced about 250 in his lifetime.
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John von Neumann
John von Neumann ( /vɒn ˈnɔɪmən/; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian-American mathematician and polymath who made major contributions to a vast number of fields, including set theory, functional analysis, quantum mechanics, ergodic theory, geometry, fluid dynamics, economics, linear programming, game theory, computer science, numerical analysis, hydrodynamics, and statistics, as well as many other mathematical fields. He is generally regarded as one of the greatest mathematicians in modern history. The mathematician Jean Dieudonné called von Neumann "the last of the great mathematicians", while Peter Lax described him as possessing the most "fearsome technical prowess" and "scintillating intellect" of the century, and Hans Bethe stated "I have sometimes wondered whether a brain like von Neumann's does not indicate a species superior to that of man". Even in Budapest, in the time that produced geniuses like Theodore von Kármán (b. 1881), George de Hevesy (b. 1885), Leó Szilárd (b. 1898), Eugene Wigner (b. 1902), Edward Teller (b. 1908), and Paul Erdős (b. 1913), his brilliance stood out.
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John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison (born Marion Robert Morrison; May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. An Academy Award-winner, Wayne was among the top box office draws for three decades, and was named the all-time top money-making star. An enduring American icon, he epitomized rugged masculinity and is famous for his demeanor, including his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height.
Wayne was born in Winterset, Iowa but his family relocated to the greater Los Angeles area when he was four years old. He found work at local film studios when he lost his football scholarship to USC as a result of a bodysurfing accident. Initially working for the Fox Film Corporation, he mostly appeared in small bit parts. His acting breakthrough came in 1939 with John Ford's Stagecoach, making him an instant star. Wayne would go on to star in 142 pictures, primarily typecast in Western films.
Among his best known films are The Quiet Man (1952), which follows him as an Irish-American boxer and his love affair with a fiery spinster played by Maureen O'Hara; The Searchers (1956), in which he plays a Civil War veteran who seeks out his abducted niece; Rio Bravo (1959), playing a Sheriff with Dean Martin; True Grit (1969), playing a humorous U.S. Marshal who sets out to avenge a man's death in the role that won Wayne an Academy Award; and The Shootist (1976), his final screen performance in which he plays an aging gunslinger battling cancer.
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Johnny Canuck
Johnny Canuck was a Canadian cartoon hero and superhero who was created as a political cartoon in 1869 and was later re-invented, most notably as a Second World War action hero in 1942. The Vancouver Canucks, a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL), currently use a lumberjack rendition of Johnny Canuck as one of their team logos.
Johnny Canuck was created as a lumberjack national personification of Canada. He first appeared in early political cartoons dating to 1869 where he was portrayed as a younger cousin of the United States' Uncle Sam and Britain's John Bull. Dressed as a habitant, farmer, logger, rancher or soldier, he was characterized as wholesome and simple-minded and was often depicted resisting the bullying of John Bull or Uncle Sam. He appeared regularly in editorial cartoons for 30 years before declining in usage in the early twentieth century.
The character re-emerged during World War II in the February 1942 issue of Bell's Dime Comics No.1. Cartoonist Leo Bachle created the character as a teenager, apparently on a challenge from a Bell executive. Initially, Johnny Canuck had no superpowers. Johnny Canuck's cartoon exploits helped Canada fight against Nazism. Like Captain America, he met Adolf Hitler and almost single-handedly ended the war.
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Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period in which Cold War tensions fueled fears of widespread Communist subversion. He was noted for making claims that there were large numbers of Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers inside the United States federal government and elsewhere. Ultimately, McCarthy's tactics and his inability to substantiate his claims led him to be censured by the United States Senate.
The term McCarthyism, coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy's practices, was soon applied to similar anti-communist activities. Today the term is used more generally in reference to demagogic, reckless, and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public attacks on the character and/or patriotism of political opponents.
Born and raised on a Wisconsin farm, McCarthy earned a law degree at Marquette University in 1935 and was elected as a circuit judge in 1939, the youngest in state history. At age 33, McCarthy volunteered for the United States Marine Corps and served during World War II. He successfully ran for the United States Senate in 1946, defeating Robert M. La Follette, Jr. After three largely undistinguished years in the Senate, McCarthy rose suddenly to national fame in February 1950 when he asserted in a speech that he had a list of "members of the Communist Party and members of a spy ring" who were employed in the State Department. McCarthy was never able to prove his sensational charge.
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Juan Ponce de León
Juan Ponce de León (/ˈpɒns də ˈliən/Spanish pronunciation: [ˈponθe ðe leˈon]; 1474 – July 1521) was a Spanish explorer. He became the first Governor of Puerto Rico by appointment of the Spanish crown. He led the first European expedition to Florida, which he named. He is associated with the legend of the Fountain of Youth, reputed to be in Florida.
Juan Ponce de León was born in the village of Santervás de Campos in the northern part of what is now the Spanish province of Valladolid. Although early historians placed his birth in 1475, more recent evidence shows he was likely born in 1474. The surname 'Ponce de León' is of Basque origin, and dates from the XI century. He was descended from Ponce Vélaz, a nobleman from León, who was the son of Vela Gutiérrez and Sancha de Cabrera. Vela Gutiérrez was the great-grandson of Vermudo Nuñez, fifth child of Nuño Vela, count of Álava, who was descended from the kings of Vasconia.
The identity of his parents is unknown, but he appears to have been a member of a distinguished and influential noble family. His relatives included Rodrigo Ponce de León, Marquis of Cádiz, a celebrated figure in the Moorish wars.
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Korean War
The Korean War (Korean: 한국전쟁 or 조선전쟁, Hanja: 韓國戰爭 or 朝鮮戰爭; 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was a war between the Republic of Korea (supported primarily by the United States of America, with contributions from allied nations under the aegis of the United Nations) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (supported by the People's Republic of China, with military and material aid from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). The Korean War was primarily the result of the political division of Korea by an agreement of the victorious Allies at the conclusion of the Pacific War at the end of World War II. The Korean Peninsula was ruled by the Empire of Japan from 1910 until the end of World War II. Following the surrender of the Empire of Japan in September 1945, American administrators divided the peninsula along the 38th parallel, with U.S. military forces occupying the southern half and Soviet military forces occupying the northern half.
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Les Daniels
Leslie Noel Daniels III, known as Les Daniels (October 27, 1943 – November 5, 2011) was an American writer.
He attended Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where he wrote his master's thesis on Frankenstein, and he worked as a musician and as a journalist.
He was the author of five novels featuring the vampire Don Sebastian de Villanueva, a cynical, amoral and misanthropic Spanish nobleman whose predatory appetites pale into insignificance compared with the historical catastrophes which he witnesses in his periodic reincarnations. These are: the Inquisition in The Black Castle (1978); the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs in The Silver Skull (1979); and the French Revolutionary Reign of Terror in Citizen Vampire (1981). In the later novels Yellow Fog (1986, revised 1988) and No Blood Spilled (1991), Sebastian is resurrected in Victorian London and India, where the horror of his vampirism is again contrasted with non-supernatural evil, now in the person of Sebastian's human enemy, Reginald Callender. A sixth (and presumably final) Don Sebastian novel set in Tibet and entitled White Demon was planned and is advertised by some sources as being available for purchase, but in fact remains unwritten: Daniels had begun writing it before abandoning it due to the demands of his non-fiction projects and was told when able to resume that his publisher had lost interest.
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Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana.
Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an "inventive" cornet and trumpet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence in jazz, shifting the music's focus from collective improvisation to solo performance. With his instantly recognizable deep and distinctive gravelly voice, Armstrong was also an influential singer, demonstrating great dexterity as an improviser, bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes. He was also greatly skilled at scat singing (vocalizing using sounds and syllables instead of actual lyrics).
Renowned for his charismatic stage presence and voice almost as much as for his trumpet-playing, Armstrong's influence extends well beyond jazz music, and by the end of his career in the 1960s, he was widely regarded as a profound influence on popular music in general. Armstrong was one of the first truly popular African-American entertainers to "cross over," whose skin-color was secondary to his music in an America that was severely racially divided. It allowed him socially acceptable access to the upper echelons of American society that were highly restricted for a black man. While he rarely publicly politicized his race, often to the dismay of fellow African-Americans, he was privately a strong supporter of the Civil Rights movement in America.[citation needed]
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Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States (1963–1969), a position he assumed after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States (1961–1963). He is one of only four people who served in all four elected federal offices of the United States: Representative, Senator, Vice President, and President. Johnson, a Texas Democrat, served as a United States Representative from 1937–1949 and as a Senator from 1949–1961, including six years as United States Senate Majority Leader, two as Senate Minority Leader and two as Senate Majority Whip. After campaigning unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in 1960, Johnson was asked by John F. Kennedy to be his running mate for the 1960 presidential election.
Johnson succeeded to the presidency following the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, completed the rest of Kennedy's term and was elected President in his own right, winning by a large margin in the 1964 election. Johnson was greatly supported by the Democratic Party and as President, he was responsible for designing the "Great Society" legislation that included laws that upheld civil rights, public broadcasting, Medicare, Medicaid, environmental protection, aid to education, and his "War on Poverty." He was renowned for his domineering personality and the "Johnson treatment," his coercion of powerful politicians in order to advance legislation.
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Marilyn Monroe
Norma Jeane Mortensen Baker (June 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962), professionally recognized as Marilyn Monroe, was an American actress, model, and singer, who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s and early 1960s.
After spending much of her childhood in foster homes, Monroe began a career as a model, which led to a film contract in 1946 with Twentieth Century-Fox. Her early film appearances were minor, but her performances in The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve (both 1950) drew attention to her. By 1953, Monroe had progressed to a leading role in Niagara (1953), a melodramatic film noir that dwelt on her seductiveness. Her "dumb blonde" persona was used to comic effect in subsequent films such as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) and The Seven Year Itch (1955). Limited by typecasting, Monroe studied at the Actors Studio to broaden her range. Her dramatic performance in Bus Stop (1956) was hailed by critics and garnered a Golden Globe nomination. Her production company, Marilyn Monroe Productions, released The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), for which she received a BAFTA Award nomination and won a David di Donatello award. She received a Golden Globe Award for her performance in Some Like It Hot (1959). Monroe's last completed film was The Misfits, co-starring Clark Gable with screenplay by her then-husband, Arthur Miller.
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Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He is most noted for his novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), the latter often called "the Great American Novel."
Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which would later provide the setting for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. He apprenticed with a printer. He also worked as a typesetter and contributed articles to his older brother Orion's newspaper. After toiling as a printer in various cities, he became a master riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River, before heading west to join Orion. He was a failure at gold mining, so he next turned to journalism. While a reporter, he wrote a humorous story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", which became very popular and brought nationwide attention. His travelogues were also well-received. Twain had found his calling.
He achieved great success as a writer and public speaker. His wit and satire earned praise from critics and peers, and he was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty.
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Martha Graham
Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso had on modern visual arts,Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture.
She danced and choreographed for over seventy years. Graham was the first dancer ever to perform at the White House, travel abroad as a cultural ambassador, and receive the highest civilian award of the USA: the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In her lifetime she received honors ranging from the Key to the City of Paris to Japan's Imperial Order of the Precious Crown. She said, "I have spent all my life with dance and being a dancer. It's permitting life to use you in a very intense way. Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But nevertheless it is inevitable."[citation needed]
Graham was born in Allegheny City, which today is part of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1894. Her father George Graham was what in the Victorian era was known as an "alienist", a practitioner of an early form of psychiatry. The Grahams were strict Presbyterians. Dr. Graham was a third generation American of Irish descent and her mother Jane Beers was a tenth generation descendant of Puritan Miles Standish.
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Martin Waldseemüller
Martin Waldseemüller (Latinized Martinus Ilacomylus, Ilacomilus or Hylacomylus, c. 1470, Wolfenweiler, Baden – Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, Lorraine 1520, March 16) was a German cartographer. He and Matthias Ringmann are credited with the first recorded usage of the word America, on the 1507 map Universalis Cosmographia in honour of the Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci.
Waldseemüller was born in Wolfenweiler, then his family moved to near Freiburg im Breisgau (his mother came from Radolfzell) and he studied at the University of Freiburg. He died March 16, 1520, "ab intestat", then a canon of the collegiate Church of Saint-Dié (located between Nancy, Lorraine and Strasbourg, Alsace in the heart of the Vosges blue mountain range along the Rhine river valley).
On April 25, 1507, as a member of the Gymnasium Vosagense at Saint Diey (German: Sankt Didel) in the duchy of Lorraine (today Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, France), he produced a globular world map and a large 12-panel world wall map (Universalis Cosmographia, both bearing the first use of the name "America". The globular and wall maps were accompanied by a book Cosmographiae Introductio, an introduction to cosmography. The book, first printed in the city of Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, includes in its second part, a translation to Latin of the Quattuor Americi Vespuccij navigationes (Four Voyages of Americo Vespucci), which is apparently a letter written by Amerigo Vespucci, although some historians consider it to have been a forgery written by its supposed recipient in Italy. In the chapter nine of the first part of the Cosmographiae Introductio, written by Mat(t)hias Ringmann (died in Sélestat in the year of Our Lord 1511 at the age of 29), it is explained why the name America was proposed for the then New World, or the Fourth Part of the World:
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Mexican American
Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States. The United States is home to the second largest Mexican community in the world second only to Mexico itself comprising nearly 22% of the entire Mexican origin population of the world. Canada is a distant third with a Mexican origin population of 37,000 as of 2001 although increasing to 61,505 as of 2006. In addition, as of 2008 there were approximately 7,000,000 undocumented Mexicans living in the United States which if included in the count would increase the US share to over 28% of the world's Mexican origin population (Note that some of the undocumented would be captured in the US Census count depending on their willingness to provide information). Over 60% of all Mexican Americans reside in the states of California and Texas. Most Mexican Americans are the descendants of the Indigenous peoples of Mexico and/or Europeans, especially Spaniards.
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Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Often referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971.
In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style influenced numerous hip hop, post-disco, contemporary R&B, pop and rock artists.
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Mount McKinley
Mount McKinley or Denali (Koyukon Athabaskan for "The High One", Dghelaayce’e in Ahtna) in Alaska, is the highest mountain peak in the United States and in North America, with a summit elevation of 20,320 feet (6,194 m) above sea level. Measured base-to-peak, it is the tallest mountain on land. Measured by topographic prominence, it is the third most prominent peak in the world after Mount Everest and Aconcagua. It is the centerpiece of Denali National Park and Preserve.
Mount McKinley is a granitic pluton. It has been uplifted by tectonic pressure while at the same time, erosion has stripped away the (somewhat softer) sedimentary rock above and around the mountain.
The forces that lifted Mount McKinley—the subduction of the Pacific plate beneath the North American plate—also raised great ranges across southern Alaska. As that huge sheet of ocean-floor rock plunges downward into the mantle, it shoves and crumples the continent into soaring mountains which include some of the most active volcanoes on the continent. Mount McKinley in particular is uplifted relative to the rocks around it because it is at the intersection of major active strike-slip faults (faults that move rocks laterally across the Earth's surface) which allow the deep buried rocks to be unroofed more rapidly compared to those around them.
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Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne (born Nathaniel Hathorne; July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer.
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, the only judge involved in the Salem witch trials who never repented of his actions. Nathaniel later added a "w" to make his name "Hawthorne" in order to hide this relation. He entered Bowdoin College in 1821, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 1824, and graduated in 1825. Hawthorne anonymously published his first work, a novel titled Fanshawe, in 1828. He published several short stories in various periodicals which he collected in 1837 as Twice-Told Tales. The next year, he became engaged to Sophia Peabody. He worked at a Custom House and joined Brook Farm, a transcendentalist community, before marrying Peabody in 1842. The couple moved to The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts, later moving to Salem, the Berkshires, then to The Wayside in Concord. The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, followed by a succession of other novels. A political appointment took Hawthorne and family to Europe before their return to The Wayside in 1860. Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, and was survived by his wife and their three children.
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Native Hawaiians
Native Hawaiians (in Hawaiian, kānaka ʻōiwi, kānaka maoli or Hawaiʻi maoli) refers to the indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands or their descendants. Native Hawaiians trace their ancestry back to the original Polynesian settlers of Hawaii.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau report for 2000, there are 401,162 people who identified themselves as being "native Hawaiian" alone or in any combination. 140,652 people identified themselves as being "native Hawaiian" alone. The majority of native Hawaiians reside in State of Hawaiʻi, California, Nevada and Washington. Two-thirds live in the State of Hawaiʻi while the other one-third is scattered among other states with a high concentration in California.
The history of native Hawaiians, and of Hawaiʻi in general, is classified into four major periods: antiquity (Ancient Hawaiʻi), monarchy (Kingdom of Hawaiʻi), territorial (Territory of Hawaiʻi), and statehood (State of Hawaiʻi).
The early settlement history of Hawaiʻi is still not completely resolved. Some believe that the first Polynesians arrived in Hawaiʻi in the 3rd century from the Marquesas and were followed by Tahitian settlers in AD 1300 who conquered the original inhabitants. Others believe that there was only a single, extended period of settlement. Patrick Kirch, in his 2001 Hawaiki, argues for an extended period of contact but not necessarily for a Tahitian invasion:
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New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod. The settled areas are now part of the Mid-Atlantic States of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Connecticut, with small outposts in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. The provincial capital, New Amsterdam, was located at the southern tip of the island of Manhattan on upper New York Bay.
The colony was conceived as a private business venture to exploit the North American fur trade. During its first decades, New Netherland was settled rather slowly, partially as a result of policy mismanagement by the Dutch West India Company (WIC), and conflicts with Native Americans. The settlements of New Sweden developed on its southern flank and its northern border was re-drawn in recognition of early New England expansion. During the 1650s, the colony experienced dramatic growth and became a major port for trade in the North Atlantic. The surrender of Fort Amsterdam to English control in 1664 was formalized in 1667, contributing to the Second Anglo–Dutch War. In 1673 the Dutch re-took the area, but later relinquished it under the 1674 Treaty of Westminster ending the Third Anglo-Dutch War.
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Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla (Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Тесла; 10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was a Serbian-American inventor, physicist, mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, and futurist. He was an important contributor to the use of commercial electricity, and is best known for developing the modern alternating current (AC) electrical supply system. His many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were based on the theories of electromagnetic technology discovered by Michael Faraday. Tesla's patents and theoretical work also formed the basis of wireless communication and the radio.
Born in the village of Smiljan (now part of Gospić, present day Croatia), Tesla was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. Because of his 1894 demonstration of short range wireless communication through radio and as the eventual victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. He pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. In the United States during this time, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture. Tesla demonstrated wireless energy transfer to power electronic devices in 1891, and aspired to intercontinental wireless transmission of industrial power in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project.
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Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky (/ˈnoʊm ˈtʃɒmski/; born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher,cognitive scientist, historian, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor (Emeritus) in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and a major figure of analytic philosophy. His work has influenced fields such as computer science, mathematics, and psychology.
Ideologically identifying with anarcho-syndicalism and libertarian socialism, Chomsky is known for his critiques of U.S. foreign policy and contemporary capitalism, and he has been described as a prominent cultural figure. His media criticism has included Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (1988), co-written with Edward S. Herman, an analysis articulating the propaganda model theory for examining the media.
According to the Arts and Humanities Citation Index in 1992, Chomsky was cited as a source more often than any other living scholar from 1980 to 1992, and was the eighth most cited source overall. Chomsky is the author of over 100 books. He is credited as the creator or co-creator of the Chomsky hierarchy, the universal grammar theory, and the Chomsky–Schützenberger theorem.
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Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, writer and producer who worked extensively in theater, radio and film. He is best remembered for his innovative work in all three media, most notably Caesar (1937), a groundbreaking Broadway adaption of Julius Caesar and the debut of the Mercury Theatre; The War of the Worlds (1938), the most famous broadcast in the history of radio; and Citizen Kane (1941), which many critics and scholars name as the best film of all time.
After directing a number of high-profile theatrical productions in his early twenties, including an innovative adaptation of Macbeth and The Cradle Will Rock, Welles found national and international fame as the director and narrator of a 1938 radio adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds performed for the radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was reported to have caused widespread panic when listeners thought that an invasion by extraterrestrial beings was occurring. Although these reports of panic were mostly false and overstated, they rocketed Welles to instant notoriety.
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Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden ( /oʊˈsɑːmə bɪn moʊˈhɑːmɨd bɪn əˈwɑːd bɪn ˈlɑːdən/; Arabic: أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن, ʾUsāmah bin Muḥammad bin ʿAwaḍ bin Lādin; March 10, 1957 – May 2, 2011), was the founder of Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets. He was a member of the wealthy Saudi bin Laden family, and an ethnic Yemeni Kindite.
Bin Laden was on the American Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) lists of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives and Most Wanted Terrorists for his involvement in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings. From 2001 to 2011, bin Laden was a major target of the War on Terror, with a US$25 million bounty by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. On May 2, 2011, bin Laden was shot and killed inside a private residential compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, by U.S. Navy SEALs and CIA operatives in a covert operation ordered by United States President Barack Obama.
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Pacific Islander
Pacific Islander (or Pacific person; pl: Pacific people; also Oceanic person/people(s) or Oceanians), is a geographic phrase to describe the indigenous inhabitants of any of the three major sub-regions of Oceania: Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia.
According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, these three regions, together with their islands, consist of:
Polynesia: The islands scattered across a tangle covering the east-central region of the Pacific Ocean. The triangle is bounded by the Hawaiian islands in the north, New Zealand in the west, and Easter Island in the east. The rest of Polynesia comprises Samoan islands (American Samoa and Samoa), the Cook Islands, French Polynesia (Tahiti and The Society Islands, Marquesas Islands, Austral Islands, and the Tuamotu Archipelago), Niue Island, Tokelau and Tuvalu, Tonga, Wallis and Futuna, and Pitcairn Island.
Melanesia: The island of New Guinea, the Bismarck and Louisiade archipelagos, the Admiralty Islands, and Bougainville Island (which make up the independent state of Maluku, Papua New Guinea), the Solomon Islands, the Santa Cruz Islands (part of the Solomon Islands), New Caledonia and Loyalty Islands, Vanuatu (formerly New Hebrides), Fiji, Norfolk Island, and various smaller islands.
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Paleo-Indians
Paleo-Indians (Paleoindians) or Paleoamericans is a classification term given to the first peoples who entered, and subsequently inhabited, the American continents during the final glacial episodes of the late Pleistocene period. The prefix "paleo" comes from the Greek adjective palaios (παλαιός) meaning "old." The term Paleo-Indians applies specifically to the lithic period in the Western Hemisphere and is distinct from the term Paleolithic.
Evidence suggests big-game hunters crossed the Bering Strait from Asia (Eurasia) into North America over a land and ice bridge (Beringia), that existed between 45,000 BCE–12,000 BCE (47,000 – 14,000 years ago). Small isolated groups of hunter-gatherers migrated alongside herds of large herbivores far into Alaska. From 16,500 BCE – 13,500 BCE (18,500 – 15,500 years ago), ice-free corridors developed along the Pacific coast and valleys of North America. This allowed animals, followed by humans, to migrate south into the interior. The people went on foot or used primitive boats along the coastline. The precise dates and routes of the peopling of the New World are subject to ongoing debate.
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Paula Jones
Paula Corbin Jones (born Paula Rosalee Corbin; September 17, 1966) is a former Arkansas state employee who sued U.S. President Bill Clinton for sexual harassment. The lawsuit was dismissed before trial on the grounds that Jones failed to demonstrate any damages. However, while the dismissal was being appealed, Clinton entered into an out-of-court settlement, agreeing to pay Jones and her attorneys a total of $850,000.
The Paula Jones case precipitated Clinton's impeachment. Charges of perjury and obstruction of justice were brought against Clinton based on statements he made during the depositions for the Jones lawsuit. The specific statements were about the nature of his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, with whom he denied having a sexual relationship.
Jones was born in Lonoke, Arkansas. She was raised a member of the Church of the Nazarene, the daughter of a minister of that church.
According to Jones' account, on May 8, 1991, Paula Jones was escorted to the room of Clinton, then Governor of Arkansas, in the Excelsior (now Peabody) Hotel in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he propositioned her. She claimed she kept quiet about the incident until 1994, when a David Brock story in the conservative magazine American Spectator told a lurid account, sometimes referred to as Troopergate, about an Arkansas employee named "Paula" who offered to be Clinton's girlfriend. Jones filed a sexual harassment suit against Clinton on May 6, 1994, two days prior to the 3-year statute of limitations, and sought $750,000 in damages.
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Philip Johnson
Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an influential American architect.
In 1930, he founded the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and later (1978), as a trustee, he was awarded an American Institute of Architects Gold Medal and the first Pritzker Architecture Prize, in 1979. He was a student at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Johnson died in his sleep while at the Glass House retreat. He was survived by his life partner of 45 years, David Whitney, who died later that year at age 66.
Johnson was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He was descended from the Jansen (a.k.a. Johnson) family of New Amsterdam, and included among his ancestors the Huguenot Jacques Cortelyou, who laid out the first town plan of New Amsterdam for Peter Stuyvesant. He attended the Hackley School, in Tarrytown, New York, and then studied at Harvard University as an undergraduate, where he focused on history and philosophy, particularly the work of the Pre-Socratic philosophers. Johnson interrupted his education with several extended trips to Europe. These trips became the pivotal moment of his education; he visited Chartres, the Parthenon, and many other ancient monuments, becoming increasingly fascinated with architecture.
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Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during the Early Modern period.
While the phrase "pre-Columbian era" literally refers only to the time preceding Christopher Columbus's voyages of 1492, in practice the phrase usually is used to denote the entire history of American indigenous cultures until those cultures were conquered or significantly influenced by Europeans, even if this happened decades or centuries after Columbus's first landing. For this reason the alternative terms of Pre-Colonial Americas or Prehistoric Americas are also in use. In areas of Hispanic America the term usually used is Pre-Hispanic.
Many pre-Columbian civilizations established hallmarks which included permanent settlements, cities, agriculture, civic and monumental architecture, major earthworks, and complex societal hierarchies. Some of these civilizations had long faded by the time of the first permanent European arrivals (c. late 15th–early 16th centuries), and are known only through archaeological investigations. Others were contemporary with the colonial period, and were described in historical accounts of the time. A few, such as the Maya, had their own written records. Because most Christian Europeans of the time viewed such texts as heretical, they destroyed many texts in pyres. Only a few hidden documents have survived, giving modern historians glimpses of ancient culture and knowledge.
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Pre-Columbian era
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during the Early Modern period.
While the phrase "pre-Columbian era" literally refers only to the time preceding Christopher Columbus's voyages of 1492, in practice the phrase usually is used to denote the entire history of American indigenous cultures until those cultures were conquered or significantly influenced by Europeans, even if this happened decades or centuries after Columbus's first landing. For this reason the alternative terms of Pre-Colonial Americas or Prehistoric Americas are also in use. In areas of Hispanic America the term usually used is Pre-Hispanic.
Many pre-Columbian civilizations established hallmarks which included permanent settlements, cities, agriculture, civic and monumental architecture, major earthworks, and complex societal hierarchies. Some of these civilizations had long faded by the time of the first permanent European arrivals (c. late 15th–early 16th centuries), and are known only through archaeological investigations. Others were contemporary with the colonial period, and were described in historical accounts of the time. A few, such as the Maya, had their own written records. Because most Christian Europeans of the time viewed such texts as heretical, they destroyed many texts in pyres. Only a few hidden documents have survived, giving modern historians glimpses of ancient culture and knowledge.
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Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries, including, but not limited to, English Calvinists. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England. The designation "Puritan" is often incorrectly used, notably based on the assumption that hedonism and puritanism are antonyms. Historically, the word was used pejoratively to characterize the Protestant group as extremists similar to the Cathari of France, and according to Thomas Fuller in his Church History dated back to 1564, Archbishop Matthew Parker of that time used it and "precisian" with the sense of modern "stickler".
Puritans were blocked from changing the established church from within, and severely restricted in England by laws controlling the practice of religion, but their views were taken by the emigration of congregations to the Netherlands and later New England, and by evangelical clergy to Ireland and later into Wales, and were spread into lay society by preaching and parts of the educational system, particularly certain colleges of the University of Cambridge. They took on distinctive views on clerical dress and in opposition to the episcopal system, particularly after the 1619 conclusions of the Synod of Dort were resisted by the English bishops. They largely adopted Sabbatarian views in the 17th century, and were influenced by millennialism.
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Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, and he disseminated his thoughts through dozens of published essays and more than 1,500 public lectures across the United States.
Emerson gradually moved away from the religious and social beliefs of his contemporaries, formulating and expressing the philosophy of Transcendentalism in his 1836 essay, Nature. Following this ground-breaking work, he gave a speech entitled The American Scholar in 1837, which Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. considered to be America's "Intellectual Declaration of Independence".
Emerson wrote most of his important essays as lectures first, then revised them for print. His first two collections of essays – Essays: First Series and Essays: Second Series, published respectively in 1841 and 1844 – represent the core of his thinking, and include such well-known essays as Self-Reliance, The Over-Soul, Circles, The Poet and Experience. Together with Nature, these essays made the decade from the mid-1830s to the mid-1840s Emerson's most fertile period.
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Ransom E. Olds
Ransom Eli Olds (June 3, 1864 – August 26, 1950) was a pioneer of the American automotive industry, for whom both the Oldsmobile and REO brands were named. He claimed to have built his first steam car as early as 1894, and his first gasoline powered car in 1896. The modern assembly line and its basic concept is credited to Olds, who used it to build the first mass-produced automobile, the Oldsmobile Curved Dash beginning in 1901.
Olds was born in Geneva, Ohio, the youngest son of blacksmith and pattern-maker Pliny Fiske Olds and his wife Sarah Whipple Olds. His parents moved the family to Cleveland, Ohio, when Olds was still a boy. He eventually settled in Lansing, Michigan, where he married Metta Ursula Woodward on June 5, 1889. He was of English ancestry with the first paternal line coming from Dorset, England.
He founded the Olds Motor Vehicle Company in Lansing, Michigan, on August 21, 1897. The company was bought by a copper and lumber magnate named Samuel L. Smith in 1899 and renamed Olds Motor Works. The new company was relocated from Lansing to Detroit. Smith became President while Olds became vice president and general manager.
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Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961.
Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California. After completing his undergraduate work at Whittier College, he graduated from Duke University School of Law in 1937, and returned to California to practice law. He and his wife, Pat Nixon, moved to Washington to work for the federal government in 1942. He subsequently served in the United States Navy during World War II. Nixon was elected to the House of Representatives in 1946 and to the Senate in 1950. His pursuit of the Hiss Case established his reputation as a leading anti-communist, and elevated him to national prominence. He was the running mate of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican Party presidential nominee in the 1952 election. Nixon served for eight years as vice president. He waged an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1960, narrowly losing to John F. Kennedy, and lost a race for Governor of California in 1962. In 1968, he ran again for the presidency and was elected.
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Richard Rorty
Richard McKay Rorty (October 4, 1931 – June 8, 2007) was an American philosopher. He had a long and diverse academic career, including positions as Stuart Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University, Kenan Professor of Humanities at the University of Virginia, and Professor of Comparative Literature at Stanford University. His complex intellectual background gave him a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the traditional analytic philosophy, which he would later famously reject in favor of his own brand of pragmatism.
The philosophical program he developed included a rejection of a representationalist account of knowledge, that is, "mirror of nature", which he reviewed as a holdover from Plato and pervasive throughout the history of western philosophy. In response to these visual theorists, which he drew as embodied by modern analytic philosophy, Rorty advocated for a novel form of American pragmatism, sometimes called neopragmatism, in which scientific and philosophical methods are merely a set of contingent "vocabularies" which were abandoned or adopted over time according to social conventions and usefulness.
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Robert Nozick
Robert Nozick (November 16, 1938 – January 23, 2002) was an American political philosopher, most prominent in the 1970s and 1980s. He was a professor at Harvard University. He is best known for his book Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974), a libertarian answer to John Rawls's A Theory of Justice (1971). His other work involved decision theory and epistemology.
Nozick was born in Brooklyn, the son of a Jewish entrepreneur from the Russian shtetl who had been born with the name of Cohen. Nozick was married to the poet Gjertrud Schnackenberg. He died in 2002 after a prolonged struggle with stomach cancer. He is interred at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Nozick was educated at Columbia (A.B. 1959, summa cum laude), where he studied with Sidney Morgenbesser, and later at Princeton (Ph.D. 1963), and Oxford as a Fulbright Scholar (1963-1964).
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Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( /ˈrɒnəld ˈwɪlsən ˈreɪɡən/; February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States, serving from 1981 to 1989. Prior to that, he was the 33rd Governor of California from 1967 to 1975 and a radio, film and television actor.
Born in Tampico, Illinois and raised in Dixon, Reagan was educated at Eureka College, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and sociology. After his graduation, Reagan moved first to Iowa to work as a radio broadcaster and then in to Los Angeles in 1937 where he began a career as an actor, first in films and later television. Some of his most notable films include Knute Rockne, All American, Kings Row, and Bedtime for Bonzo. Reagan served as president of the Screen Actors Guild, and later as a spokesman for General Electric (GE); his start in politics occurred during his work for GE. Originally a member of the Democratic Party, his positions began shifting rightward in the late 1950s, and he switched to the Republican Party in 1962. After delivering a rousing speech in support of Barry Goldwater's presidential candidacy in 1964, he was persuaded to seek the California governorship, winning two years later and again in 1970. He was defeated in his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 as well as 1976, but won both the nomination and general election in 1980, defeating incumbent Jimmy Carter.
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Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called "the first lady of civil rights", and "the mother of the freedom movement".
On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James F. Blake's order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger. Parks' action was not the first of its kind to impact the civil rights issue. Others had taken similar steps, including Lizzie Jennings in 1854, Homer Plessy in 1892, Irene Morgan in 1946, Sarah Louise Keys in 1955, and Claudette Colvin on the same bus system nine months before Parks, but Parks' civil disobedience had the effect of sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Parks' act of defiance became an important symbol of the modern Civil Rights Movement and Parks became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation. She organized and collaborated with civil rights leaders, including boycott leader Martin Luther King, Jr., helping to launch him to national prominence in the civil rights movement.
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Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein (October 27, 1923 – September 29, 1997) was a prominent American pop artist. During the 1960s, his paintings were exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City and along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, James Rosenquist and others he became a leading figure in the new art movement. His work defined the basic premise of pop art better than any other through parody. Favoring the old-fashioned comic strip as subject matter, Lichtenstein produced hard-edged, precise compositions that documented while it parodied often in a tongue-in-cheek humorous manner. His work was heavily influenced by both popular advertising and the comic book style. He described Pop Art as, "not 'American' painting but actually industrial painting".
Roy Lichtenstein was born in New York into an upper-middle-class Jewish New York City family and attended public school until the age of 12. He then enrolled at New York's Franklin School for Boys, remaining there for his secondary education. Lichtenstein first became interested in art and design as a hobby, and through school. He was an avid jazz fan, often attending concerts at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. He frequently drew portraits of the musicians playing their instruments. After graduation from Franklin, Lichtenstein enrolled in summer classes at the Art Students League of New York, where he worked under the tutelage of Reginald Marsh.
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Rufus Yerxa
Rufus H. Yerxa (born 1951) is currently Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO). He has served in this position since 2002. He was the former Chief International Counsel for Monsanto Company.
As an American public servant (under both Republican and Democratic administrations), he was US Ambassador to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in Geneva; he played a key role in the Uruguay Round Negotiations. Yerxa served as a Deputy U.S. Trade Representative and U.S. Envoy to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, in Geneva. Prior to 1989, he served as the Assistant Chief Counsel of the House Ways and Means Committee and Staff Director of its Subcommittee on Trade.
From 1977 to 1981, he was the Legal Advisor to the Chairman of the International Trade Commission. An attorney and a member of the Washington State and District of Columbia Bars, Yerxa is a graduate of the University of Washington and the University of Puget Sound, and holds an LL.B. in international law from Cambridge University (UK). Prior to being named as Monsanto's international counsel, Yerxa was Monsanto's European general counsel.
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Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti (Arabic: صدام حسين عبد المجيد التكريتي Ṣaddām Ḥusayn ʿAbd al-Maǧīd al-Tikrītī; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, and later, the Baghdad-based Ba'ath Party and its regional organisation Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region, which espoused ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism, Saddam played a key role in the 1968 coup, later referred to as the 17 July Revolution, that brought the party to long-term power of Iraq.
As vice president under the ailing General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, and at a time when many groups were considered capable of overthrowing the government, Saddam created security forces through which he tightly controlled conflict between the government and the armed forces. In the early 1970s, Saddam nationalized oil and other industries. The state-owned banks were put under his control, leaving the system eventually insolvent mostly due to the Iran–Iraq War, the Gulf War, and UN sanctions. Through the 1970s, Saddam cemented his authority over the apparatuses of government as oil money helped Iraq's economy to grow at a rapid pace. Positions of power in the country were filled with Sunnis, a minority that made up only a fifth of the population.
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Sergey Lavrov
Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov (Russian: Серге́й Ви́кторович Лавро́в, born 21 March 1950) is a Russian diplomat who has been the Foreign Minister of Russia since 2004. His nomination to the Foreign Minister office were approved by two Russian presidents: (in 2008 by Medvedev, and in 2012 by Putin).
Prior to that, Lavrov was a Soviet diplomat and Russia's ambassador to the United Nations from 1994 to 2004. Lavrov speaks Russian, English, French and Sinhala.
Lavrov was born in Moscow to an Armenian father from Tbilisi and Russian mother from Georgia. He graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) in 1972. Lavrov was sent as a Soviet diplomat to Sri Lanka, where he worked until 1976. He then returned to Moscow and worked in the Department of International Organizations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In 1981, he was sent as a senior adviser to the Soviet mission at the United Nations in New York City, and worked there until 1988. He worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs until 1994, when he returned to work in the United Nations, this time as the Permanent Representative of Russia. While in the latter position, he was President of the United Nations Security Council in December 1995, June 1997, July 1998, October 1999, December 2000, April 2002, and June 2003.
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Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim ( /ˈsɒnd.haɪm/) (born March 22, 1930) is an American composer and lyricist known for his contributions to musical theatre. He is the winner of an Academy Award, eight Tony Awards (more than any other composer) including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award. Described by Frank Rich of the New York Times as "the greatest, and perhaps best-known artist working in musical theatre", his most famous works include (as composer/lyricist) A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George and Into the Woods. He also wrote the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy.
Sondheim has also written material for movies, including the 1981 Warren Beatty film Reds, contributing the song "Goodbye For Now". He also wrote five songs for the 1990 movie Dick Tracy, including "Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)", which won the Academy Award for Best Song.
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Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983) was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs. His professional career lasted from the mid 1930s until his death in 1983, and saw the creation of many plays that are regarded as classics of the American stage. Williams adapted much of his best known work for the cinema.
Williams received virtually all of the top theatrical awards for his works of drama, including several New York Drama Critics' Circle awards, a Tony Award for best play for The Rose Tattoo (1951) and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for A Streetcar Named Desire (1948) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955). In 1980 he was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter and is today acknowledged as one of the most accomplished playwrights in the history of English speaking theater.
Theater scholar Charlotte Canning, of the University of Texas at Austin where Williams' archives are located, has said, "There is no more influential 20th-century American playwright than Tennessee Williams... He inspired future generations of writers as diverse as Suzan-Lori Parks, Tony Kushner, David Mamet and John Waters, and his plays remain among the most produced in the world."
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Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt ( /ˈroʊzəvɛlt/ ROH-zə-velt; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919) was the 26th President of the United States of America (1901–1909). He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity. He was a leader of the Republican Party and founder of the short-lived Progressive ("Bull Moose") Party of 1912. Before becoming President, he held offices at the city, state, and federal levels. Roosevelt's achievements as a naturalist, explorer, hunter, author, and soldier are as much a part of his fame as any office he held as a politician. Roosevelt was 42 years old when sworn in as President of the United States in 1901, making him the youngest president ever; he beat out the youngest elected president, John F. Kennedy, by only one year. Roosevelt was also one of only three sitting presidents to have won the Nobel Peace Prize, the other two being Woodrow Wilson and Barack Obama.
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Thomas Eakins
Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important artists in American art history.
For the length of his professional career, from the early 1870s until his health began to fail some 40 years later, Eakins worked exactingly from life, choosing as his subject the people of his hometown of Philadelphia. He painted several hundred portraits, usually of friends, family members, or prominent people in the arts, sciences, medicine, and clergy. Taken en masse, the portraits offer an overview of the intellectual life of Philadelphia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; individually, they are incisive depictions of thinking persons. As well, Eakins produced a number of large paintings which brought the portrait out of the drawing room and into the offices, streets, parks, rivers, arenas, and surgical amphitheaters of his city. These active outdoor venues allowed him to paint the subject which most inspired him: the nude or lightly clad figure in motion. In the process he could model the forms of the body in full sunlight, and create images of deep space utilizing his studies in perspective.
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Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. Dubbed "The Wizard of Menlo Park" (now Edison, New Jersey) by a newspaper reporter, he was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production and large-scale teamwork to the process of invention, and because of that, he is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory.
Edison is the fourth most prolific inventor in history, holding 1,093 US patents in his name, as well as many patents in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. He is credited with numerous inventions that contributed to mass communication and, in particular, telecommunications. These included a stock ticker, a mechanical vote recorder, a battery for an electric car, electrical power, recorded music and motion pictures.
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Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 (April 2, 1743 O.S.) – July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Father, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence (1776) and the third President of the United States (1801–1809). At the beginning of the American Revolution, Jefferson served in the Continental Congress, representing Virginia. He then served as a wartime Governor of Virginia (1779–1781). Just after the war ended, from mid-1784 Jefferson served as a diplomat, stationed in Paris, initially as a commissioner to help negotiate commercial treaties. In May 1785, he became the United States Minister to France. He was the first United States Secretary of State (1790–1793) during the administration of President George Washington. Upon resigning his office, with his close friend James Madison he organized the Democratic-Republican Party. Elected Vice-President in 1796, under his opponent John Adams, Jefferson with Madison secretly wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which attempted to nullify the Alien and Sedition Acts.
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Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. (born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist. He is a MacArthur Fellow noted for his dense and complex novels, and both his fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, styles and themes, including (but not limited to) the fields of history, science, and mathematics. For his most praised novel, Gravity's Rainbow, Pynchon won the 1974 U.S. National Book Award for Fiction and is regularly cited as a contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Hailing from Long Island, Pynchon served two years in the United States Navy and earned an English degree from Cornell University. After publishing several short stories in the late 1950s and early 1960s, he began composing the novels for which he is best known: V. (1963), The Crying of Lot 49 (1966), Gravity's Rainbow (1973), and Mason & Dixon (1997). Pynchon is also known for being very private; very few photographs of him have ever been published, and rumors about his location and identity have circulated since the 1960s.
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Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931) is an American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon and Beloved. She also was commissioned to write the libretto for a new opera, Margaret Garner, first performed in 2005. She won the Nobel Prize in 1993 and in 1987 the Pulitzer Prize for Beloved. In April 2012, it was announced she would be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and on 29 May 2012, she received the award.
Toni Morrison was born in Lorain, Ohio to Ramah (née Willis) and George Wofford. She is the second of four children in a working-class family. As a child, Morrison read fervently; among her favorite authors were Jane Austen and Leo Tolstoy. Morrison's father told her numerous folktales of the black community (a method of storytelling that would later work its way into Morrison's writings).
In 1949 Morrison entered Howard University, where she received a B.A. in English in 1953. She earned a Master of Arts degree in English from Cornell University in 1955, for which she wrote a thesis on suicide in the works of William Faulkner and Virginia Woolf. After graduation, Morrison became an English instructor at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas (1955–57), then returned to Howard to teach English. She became a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
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Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He resigned from all of these positions in June 2007.
Blair was elected Leader of the Labour Party in the leadership election of July 1994, following the sudden death of his predecessor, John Smith. Under his leadership, the party used the phrases "New Labour" and "New Socialism" to define its policy, and moved away from its support of state socialism since the 1960s and created a new version of the ethical socialism that was last pursued by Clement Attlee. Critics of Blair claim that "New Labour" did not adhere to socialism as claimed, and that it effectively advocated capitalism. Blair subsequently led Labour to a landslide victory in the 1997 general election. At 43 years old, he became the youngest Prime Minister since Lord Liverpool in 1812. In the first years of the New Labour government, Blair's government implemented a number of 1997 manifesto pledges, introducing the minimum wage, Human Rights Act and Freedom of Information Act, and carrying out devolution, establishing the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, and the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the United States and other anti-communist countries. The Viet Cong (also known as the National Liberation Front, or NLF), a lightly armed South Vietnamese communist-controlled common front, largely fought a guerrilla war against anti-communist forces in the region. The Vietnam People's Army (North Vietnamese Army) engaged in a more conventional war, at times committing large units into battle. U.S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower to conduct search and destroy operations, involving ground forces, artillery, and airstrikes.
The U.S. government viewed involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam as part of their wider strategy of containment. The North Vietnamese government and Viet Cong viewed the conflict as a colonial war, fought initially against France, backed by the U.S., and later against South Vietnam, which it regarded as a U.S. puppet state. American military advisors arrived in what was then French Indochina beginning in 1950. U.S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with troop levels tripling in 1961 and tripling again in 1962. U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. Operations spanned international borders, with Laos and Cambodia heavily bombed. American involvement in the war peaked in 1968, at the time of the Tet Offensive. After this, U.S. ground forces were gradually withdrawn as part of a policy known as Vietnamization. Despite the Paris Peace Accords, signed by all parties in January 1973, fighting continued.
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Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O. Disney, he was co-founder of Walt Disney Productions, which later became one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world. The corporation is now known as The Walt Disney Company and had an annual revenue of approximately US$36 billion in the 2010 financial year.
Disney is particularly noted as a film producer and a popular showman, as well as an innovator in animation and theme park design. He and his staff created some of the world's most well-known fictional characters including Mickey Mouse, for whom Disney himself provided the original voice. During his lifetime he received four honorary Academy Awards and won 22 Academy Awards from a total of 59 nominations, including a record four in one year, giving him more awards and nominations than any other individual in history. Disney also won seven Emmy Awards and gave his name to the Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort theme parks in the U.S., as well as the international resorts Tokyo Disney Resort, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland.
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Walt Whitman
Walter "Walt" Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse. His work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality.
Born on Long Island, Whitman worked as a journalist, a teacher, a government clerk, and – in addition to publishing his poetry – was a volunteer nurse during the American Civil War. Early in his career, he also produced a temperance novel, Franklin Evans (1842). Whitman's major work, Leaves of Grass, was first published in 1855 with his own money. The work was an attempt at reaching out to the common person with an American epic. He continued expanding and revising it until his death in 1892. After a stroke towards the end of his life, he moved to Camden, New Jersey, where his health further declined. He died at age 72 and his funeral became a public spectacle.
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Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance (1955–1991), more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty between eight communist states of Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War. The founding treaty was established under the initiative of the Soviet Union and signed on 14 May 1955, in Warsaw. The Warsaw Pact was the military complement to the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CoMEcon), the regional economic organization for the communist states of Eastern Europe. The Warsaw Pact was a Soviet military response to the integration of West Germany into NATO in 1955, per the Paris Pacts of 1954.
In the West, the Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance is often called the Warsaw Pact military alliance; abbreviated WAPA, Warpac, and WP. Elsewhere, in the former member states, the Warsaw Treaty is known as:
The Warsaw Treaty’s organization was two-fold: the Political Consultative Committee handled political matters, and the Combined Command of Pact Armed Forces controlled the assigned multi-national forces, with headquarters in Warsaw, Poland. Furthermore, the Supreme Commander of the Unified Armed Forces of the Warsaw Treaty Organization was also a First Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR, and the head of the Warsaw Treaty Combined Staff also was a First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR. Therefore, although ostensibly an international collective security alliance, the USSR dominated the Warsaw Treaty armed forces.
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White American
White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. It includes people who reported “White” or wrote in entries such as Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, Near Easterner, Arab, or Polish." Like all official U.S. racial categories, "White" has a "Not Hispanic or Latino" and a "Hispanic or Latino" component, the latter consisting mostly of White Mexican Americans and white Cuban Americans. The term "Caucasian" is often used interchangeably with "White", despite the fact they are not synonymous.
German Americans (16.5%), Irish Americans (11.9%), English Americans (9.0%), Italian Americans (5.8%), French Americans (4%), Polish Americans (3%), Scottish Americans (1.9%), Dutch Americans (1.6%), Norwegian Americans (1.5%), and Swedish Americans (1.4%) constitute the ten largest White American ancestries. Whites constitute the majority, with a total of 223,553,265 or 72.4% of the population in the 2010 United States Census.
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Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning (April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch American abstract expressionist artist who was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
In the post-World War II era, de Kooning painted in a style that came to be referred to as Abstract expressionism or Action painting, and was part of a group of artists that came to be known as the New York School. Other painters in this group included Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, Arshile Gorky, Mark Rothko, Hans Hofmann, Adolph Gottlieb, Robert Motherwell, Philip Guston and Clyfford Still.
In September 2011 de Kooning's work was honored with a large-scale retrospective exhibition: de Kooning: A Retrospective September 18, 2011–January 9, 2012 at MoMA in New York City. Organized by John Elderfield it was the first major museum exhibition devoted to the full breadth and depth of de Kooning's career, containing nearly 200 works.
De Kooning's parents, Leendert de Kooning and Cornelia Nobel, were divorced when he was about five years old, and he was raised by his mother and stepfather. His early artistic training included eight years at the Rotterdam Academy of Fine Arts and Techniques. In the 1920s he worked as an assistant to the art director of a Rotterdam department store. de Kooning was one of the thirty-eight artists chosen from a general invitation to New York City metropolitan artists to design and paint the 105 public murals at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. His fellow muralist, David Margolis later recounted their 1932 trips to the Savoy Ballroom and de Kooning's "keen interest in jazz."
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William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner (born Falkner, September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer and Nobel Prize laureate from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career. He is primarily known and acclaimed for his novels and short stories, many of which are set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, a setting Faulkner created based on Lafayette County, where he spent most of his childhood, and Holly Springs/Marshall County.
Faulkner is one of the most important writers of the Southern literature of the United States, along with Mark Twain, Robert Penn Warren, Flannery O'Connor, Truman Capote, Eudora Welty, Thomas Wolfe, Harper Lee and Tennessee Williams. Though his work was published as early as 1919, and largely during the 1920s and 1930s, Faulkner was relatively unknown until receiving the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature. Two of his works, A Fable (1954) and his last novel The Reivers (1962) won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
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William Halsall
William Formby Halsall (born 1841) was a marine painter born in Kirkdale, England. He lived at Provincetown, Massachusetts and died as a US citizen in 1919.
Halsall was educated in Boston, Massachusetts and worked as a sailor for seven years from 1852 to 1859. In 1860, he had begun to study fresco painting but due to the outbreak of the American Civil War, he enlisted in the United States Navy. He resumed his fresco study after two years of service.
In 1862, Halsall changed to marine painting and studied at the Lowell Institute in Boston until 1870. Halsall was also a founding member of the Provincetown Art Association in 1914.
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William James
William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher who was trained as a physician. He was the first educator to offer a psychology course in the U.S. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and on the philosophy of pragmatism. He was the brother of novelist Henry James and of diarist Alice James. In the summer of 1878, James married Alice Gibbens.
William James was born at the Astor House in New York City. He was the son of Henry James Sr., a noted and independently wealthy Swedenborgian theologian well acquainted with the literary and intellectual elites of his day. The intellectual brilliance of the James family milieu and the remarkable epistolary talents of several of its members have made them a subject of continuing interest to historians, biographers, and critics.
James interacted with a wide array of writers and scholars throughout his life, including his godfather Ralph Waldo Emerson, his godson William James Sidis, as well as Charles Sanders Peirce, Bertrand Russell, Josiah Royce, Ernst Mach, John Dewey, Macedonio Fernández, Walter Lippmann, Mark Twain, Horatio Alger, Jr., Henri Bergson and Sigmund Freud.
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World War I
World War I (WWI), which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939 (World War II), and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. It involved all the world's great powers, which were assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies (based on the Triple Entente of the United Kingdom, France and Russia) and the Central Powers (originally centred around the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy; but, as Austria–Hungary had taken the offensive against the agreement, Italy did not enter into the war). These alliances both reorganised (Italy fought for the Allies), and expanded as more nations entered the war. Ultimately more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history. More than 9 million combatants were killed, largely because of enormous increases in lethality of weapons, thanks to new technology, without corresponding improvements in protection or mobility. It was the sixth-deadliest conflict in world history, subsequently paving the way for various political changes such as revolutions in the nations involved.
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Wright brothers
The Wright brothers, Orville (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903. In the two years afterward, the brothers developed their flying machine into the first practical fixed-wing aircraft. Although not the first to build and fly experimental aircraft, the Wright brothers were the first to invent aircraft controls that made fixed-wing powered flight possible.
The brothers' fundamental breakthrough was their invention of three-axis control, which enabled the pilot to steer the aircraft effectively and to maintain its equilibrium. This method became standard and remains standard on fixed-wing aircraft of all kinds. From the beginning of their aeronautical work, the Wright brothers focused on developing a reliable method of pilot control as the key to solving "the flying problem". This approach differed significantly from other experimenters of the time who put more emphasis on developing powerful engines. Using a small homebuilt wind tunnel, the Wrights also collected more accurate data than any before, enabling them to design and build wings and propellers that were more efficient than any before. Their first U.S. patent, 821,393, did not claim invention of a flying machine, but rather, the invention of a system of aerodynamic control that manipulated a flying machine's surfaces.
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Mister Rogers defending PBS to the US Senate
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:50
- Updated: 09 Dec 2012
In 1969, Fred Rogers appeared before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Communications. His goal was to support funding for PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, in response to significant proposed cuts by President Nixon.
http://wn.com/Mister_Rogers_defending_PBS_to_the_US_Senate
In 1969, Fred Rogers appeared before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Communications. His goal was to support funding for PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, in response to significant proposed cuts by President Nixon.
A Message of Hope from the United States Senate
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:48
- Updated: 08 Dec 2012
A video for LGBT youth around the country and the It Gets Better Project, featuring US Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (DN.Y.), Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.), Jeanne Shaheen (DN.H.), Mark Udall (D-Colo.), Sheldon Whitehouse (DR.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
http://wn.com/A_Message_of_Hope_from_the_United_States_Senate
A video for LGBT youth around the country and the It Gets Better Project, featuring US Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (DN.Y.), Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.), Jeanne Shaheen (DN.H.), Mark Udall (D-Colo.), Sheldon Whitehouse (DR.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
- published: 29 Jun 2011
- views: 61419
- author: senatorchriscoons
Graham Remarks on Senator DeMint's Retirement
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:20
- Updated: 06 Dec 2012
Senator Lindsey Graham delivered remarks on the floor of the United States Senate in honor of his friend and colleague, Jim DeMint.
http://wn.com/Graham_Remarks_on_Senator_DeMint's_Retirement
Senator Lindsey Graham delivered remarks on the floor of the United States Senate in honor of his friend and colleague, Jim DeMint.
- published: 06 Dec 2012
- views: 1379
- author: USSenLindseyGraham
McConnell Filibusters His Own Bill To Lift Debt Ceiling
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:55
- Updated: 09 Dec 2012
Senator McConnell objects to his own proposal to lift the debt ceiling. Senate Democrats react.
http://wn.com/McConnell_Filibusters_His_Own_Bill_To_Lift_Debt_Ceiling
Senator McConnell objects to his own proposal to lift the debt ceiling. Senate Democrats react.
- published: 06 Dec 2012
- views: 8758
- author: SenateDemocrats
"Feinstein Walks Out On Reporter",California US Senate debate
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:25
- Updated: 20 Nov 2012
ABC interview with Senator Feinstein presents another empty chair event when Dianne Feinstein refuses to debate 2012 US Senate challenger Elizabeth Emken. Senator Feinstein walks out on ABC reporter after he mentions LA Times report she should debate Emken and that California voters want to hear both sides. Senator Feinstein then walks off the set—leaving an empty chair. emken2012.com
http://wn.com/Feinstein_Walks_Out_On_Reporter,California_US_Senate_debate
ABC interview with Senator Feinstein presents another empty chair event when Dianne Feinstein refuses to debate 2012 US Senate challenger Elizabeth Emken. Senator Feinstein walks out on ABC reporter after he mentions LA Times report she should debate Emken and that California voters want to hear both sides. Senator Feinstein then walks off the set—leaving an empty chair. emken2012.com
- published: 08 Sep 2012
- views: 178246
- author: PaoloPhotoFilms
Republicans Scaring Democrats? US Senate
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 12:05
- Updated: 01 Dec 2012
Michael Shure talks with Shira Toeplitz of Roll Call to discuss the United States Senate and specific races. Who is the frontrunners? Who should be worried? Michael and Shira break it down.
http://wn.com/Republicans_Scaring_Democrats?_US_Senate
Michael Shure talks with Shira Toeplitz of Roll Call to discuss the United States Senate and specific races. Who is the frontrunners? Who should be worried? Michael and Shira break it down.
- published: 17 Nov 2011
- views: 9889
- author: TYTshows
Obama Admin Cites 'Int'l Permission,' Not Congress, As 'Legal Basis' For Action In Syria
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:31
- Updated: 05 Dec 2012
WASHINGTON, March 7—Under question from Sen. Sessions at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing today, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey indicated that "international permission," rather than Congressional approval, provided a 'legal basis' for military action by the United States.
http://wn.com/Obama_Admin_Cites_'Int'l_Permission,'_Not_Congress,_As_'Legal_Basis'_For_Action_In_Syria
WASHINGTON, March 7—Under question from Sen. Sessions at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing today, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey indicated that "international permission," rather than Congressional approval, provided a 'legal basis' for military action by the United States.
- published: 07 Mar 2012
- views: 458631
- author: SenatorSessions
'World fears US as a war-hungry drunk' - ex-Senator
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 12:30
- Updated: 07 Dec 2012
The US is like a drunkard who charges to war with anyone who might pose a threat, ex-Senator and former US presidential candidate Mike Gravel says. Read more on.rt.com RT on Twitter twitter.com RT on Facebook www.facebook.com
http://wn.com/'World_fears_US_as_a_war-hungry_drunk'_ex-Senator
The US is like a drunkard who charges to war with anyone who might pose a threat, ex-Senator and former US presidential candidate Mike Gravel says. Read more on.rt.com RT on Twitter twitter.com RT on Facebook www.facebook.com
- published: 23 Nov 2011
- views: 85424
- author: RussiaToday
Sen. Rand Paul Speaks Out Against Senators Voting without Reading the Bills - 6/29/12
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:08
- Updated: 08 Dec 2012
http://wn.com/Sen_Rand_Paul_Speaks_Out_Against_Senators_Voting_without_Reading_the_Bills_6_29_12
- published: 29 Jun 2012
- views: 546205
- author: SenatorRandPaul
Sen. Rand Paul Introduces Amendment to Rein in FDA Abuse - 05/23/12
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:34
- Updated: 05 Dec 2012
http://wn.com/Sen_Rand_Paul_Introduces_Amendment_to_Rein_in_FDA_Abuse_05_23_12
- published: 23 May 2012
- views: 45566
- author: SenatorRandPaul
Senator Rubio Confronted on Bilderberg
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:23
- Updated: 03 Dec 2012
Luke Rudkowski of WeAreChange confronts US Senator for Florida Marco Rubio on Bilderberg. Watch Luke navigate hotel obstacles to repeatedly find & confront the Senator. Follow Luke @ twitter.com Become a WeAreChange Sponsor! wearechange.org wearechange.org
http://wn.com/Senator_Rubio_Confronted_on_Bilderberg
Luke Rudkowski of WeAreChange confronts US Senator for Florida Marco Rubio on Bilderberg. Watch Luke navigate hotel obstacles to repeatedly find & confront the Senator. Follow Luke @ twitter.com Become a WeAreChange Sponsor! wearechange.org wearechange.org
- published: 18 Jun 2012
- views: 34297
- author: wearechange
US Senate Debate between Menendez vs Kyrillos
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:22
- Updated: 08 Oct 2012
US Senator Bob Menendez (D) and NJ Senator Joe Kyrillos (R) participated on US Senate debate moderated by Mike Schneider, managing editor, NJ Today.
http://wn.com/US_Senate_Debate_between_Menendez_vs_Kyrillos
US Senator Bob Menendez (D) and NJ Senator Joe Kyrillos (R) participated on US Senate debate moderated by Mike Schneider, managing editor, NJ Today.
- published: 05 Oct 2012
- views: 55
- author: VOXXINews
Neil deGrasse Tyson Testifies Before Senate Science Committee, March 7, 2012
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 25:49
- Updated: 09 Dec 2012
Astrophysicist and space exploration advocate Neil deGrasse Tyson spoke on March 7, 2012 before the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Before Dr. Tyson spoke, NASA administrator Charles Bolden testified to this committee. You can watch that testimony at www.youtube.com The event was webcast live and is in the public domain. Visit our web site at www.spaceksc.com. We're on Twitter at @spacekscblog. UPDATE April 22, 2012 -- Lots of folks have posted comments lamenting the lack of interest by these Senators. What can you do? Join the National Space Society at www.nss.org. This is a nationwide grassroots space advocacy group. You might also want to read a book by Shawn Lawrence Otto titled, "Fool Me Twice Fighting the Assault on Science in America." His web site is www.shawnotto.com. Mr. Otto writes that less than 2% of Congress has a science background, and the overwhelming majority are lawyers trained to argue their client's position, not for the truth. Posting a complaint on YouTube doesn't solve the problem. Everyone needs to become involved. Demand that your representatives in Congress support science and properly fund NASA, otherwise you won't vote for them. That's the only way you'll get their attention. You might also want to watch Dr. Tyson's address to the National Space Symposium on April 17. It's on YouTube at http He specifically talks about the above video, at about 10 minutes into the recording. He learned that the Senators don't ...
http://wn.com/Neil_deGrasse_Tyson_Testifies_Before_Senate_Science_Committee,_March_7,_2012
Astrophysicist and space exploration advocate Neil deGrasse Tyson spoke on March 7, 2012 before the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Before Dr. Tyson spoke, NASA administrator Charles Bolden testified to this committee. You can watch that testimony at www.youtube.com The event was webcast live and is in the public domain. Visit our web site at www.spaceksc.com. We're on Twitter at @spacekscblog. UPDATE April 22, 2012 -- Lots of folks have posted comments lamenting the lack of interest by these Senators. What can you do? Join the National Space Society at www.nss.org. This is a nationwide grassroots space advocacy group. You might also want to read a book by Shawn Lawrence Otto titled, "Fool Me Twice Fighting the Assault on Science in America." His web site is www.shawnotto.com. Mr. Otto writes that less than 2% of Congress has a science background, and the overwhelming majority are lawyers trained to argue their client's position, not for the truth. Posting a complaint on YouTube doesn't solve the problem. Everyone needs to become involved. Demand that your representatives in Congress support science and properly fund NASA, otherwise you won't vote for them. That's the only way you'll get their attention. You might also want to watch Dr. Tyson's address to the National Space Symposium on April 17. It's on YouTube at http He specifically talks about the above video, at about 10 minutes into the recording. He learned that the Senators don't ...
- published: 07 Mar 2012
- views: 292495
- author: SpaceKSCBlog
Sanders Speaks Out for Filibuster Reform
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:44
- Updated: 09 Dec 2012
Sanders Speaks Out for Filibuster Reform . Bernard "Bernie" Sanders is the United States Senator from Vermont. He previously represented Vermont's at-large district in the United States House of Representatives and served as Mayor of Burlington, the largest city in Vermont. Sanders is a self-described democratic socialist and has praised European social democracy He is the first person elected to the US Senate to identify as a socialist in six decades. Senator Sanders US Senator for Vermont December.08.2012.
http://wn.com/Sanders_Speaks_Out_for_Filibuster_Reform
Sanders Speaks Out for Filibuster Reform . Bernard "Bernie" Sanders is the United States Senator from Vermont. He previously represented Vermont's at-large district in the United States House of Representatives and served as Mayor of Burlington, the largest city in Vermont. Sanders is a self-described democratic socialist and has praised European social democracy He is the first person elected to the US Senate to identify as a socialist in six decades. Senator Sanders US Senator for Vermont December.08.2012.
- published: 08 Dec 2012
- views: 80
- author: CCTVXSAR
George Galloway Vs The US Senate (Full Video)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 47:27
- Updated: 07 Dec 2012
George Galloway takes on the US Senate and wins British MP George Galloway has told US senators who accused him of profiting from Iraq oil dealings their claims were the "mother of all smokescreens". Better Copy here: www.georgegalloway.com
http://wn.com/George_Galloway_Vs_The_US_Senate_Full_Video
George Galloway takes on the US Senate and wins British MP George Galloway has told US senators who accused him of profiting from Iraq oil dealings their claims were the "mother of all smokescreens". Better Copy here: www.georgegalloway.com
- published: 03 Mar 2011
- views: 68060
- author: keithypops
Rand Paul: US Senate Floor - Maiden Speech 02/02/11
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:38
- Updated: 26 Oct 2012
Feb. 02, 2011 - Sen. Rand Paul presents his maiden speech on the US Senate floor. Senator Paul notes that he will now sit at Henry Clay's desk, likely the most famous legislator ever to hail from Kentucky. Henry Clay was known as the "Great Compromiser", which Paul reflects on throughout his speech. "Henry Clay's life is at best, a mixed message. His compromises were over slavery. One could argue that he rose above sectional strife to keep the Union together, to preserve the union. But one could also argue that he was morally wrong, and that his decisions on slavery, to extend slavery, were decisions that actually may have even ultimately invited the war that came; that his compromises meant that during the 50 years of his legislative career, he not only accepted slavery but he accepted the slave trade." said Paul. Sen. Paul goes on to contrast Henry Clay with the lives of his contemporaries; no-compromise abolitionists, including Henry Clay's cousin, Cassius Clay. Sen. Paul points out that Henry Clay's preference for compromise over principle eventually contributed to an electoral shortcoming for the Presidency, thereby proving that jaded compromise does not always equal political expediency. Sen. Paul continues, "Now today we have no issues, no moral issues that have equivalency with the issue of slavery. Yet, we do face a fiscal nightmare potentially a debt crisis in our country. Is the answer to compromise?" Sen. Paul acknowledges the necessity of compromise, but ...
http://wn.com/Rand_Paul_US_Senate_Floor_Maiden_Speech_02_02_11
Feb. 02, 2011 - Sen. Rand Paul presents his maiden speech on the US Senate floor. Senator Paul notes that he will now sit at Henry Clay's desk, likely the most famous legislator ever to hail from Kentucky. Henry Clay was known as the "Great Compromiser", which Paul reflects on throughout his speech. "Henry Clay's life is at best, a mixed message. His compromises were over slavery. One could argue that he rose above sectional strife to keep the Union together, to preserve the union. But one could also argue that he was morally wrong, and that his decisions on slavery, to extend slavery, were decisions that actually may have even ultimately invited the war that came; that his compromises meant that during the 50 years of his legislative career, he not only accepted slavery but he accepted the slave trade." said Paul. Sen. Paul goes on to contrast Henry Clay with the lives of his contemporaries; no-compromise abolitionists, including Henry Clay's cousin, Cassius Clay. Sen. Paul points out that Henry Clay's preference for compromise over principle eventually contributed to an electoral shortcoming for the Presidency, thereby proving that jaded compromise does not always equal political expediency. Sen. Paul continues, "Now today we have no issues, no moral issues that have equivalency with the issue of slavery. Yet, we do face a fiscal nightmare potentially a debt crisis in our country. Is the answer to compromise?" Sen. Paul acknowledges the necessity of compromise, but ...
- published: 02 Feb 2011
- views: 16226
- author: campaignforliberty
Rand Paul single-handedly tries to stop NDAA
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:06
- Updated: 07 Dec 2012
Just days before Thanksgiving, the US Senate was planning on taking a vote on the National Defense Authorization Act, but there has been a slight delay. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky has proposed an amendment halting the vote. In it, Paul reaffirms the sixth amendment guaranteeing a fair a speedy trial to all Americans which has been threatened by the NDAA. Brian Doherty, senior editor for Reason.Com, give us his take on the latest development. RT America LIVE rt.com Subscribe to RT America! www.youtube.com Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com Follow us on Twitter twitter.com
http://wn.com/Rand_Paul_single-handedly_tries_to_stop_NDAA
Just days before Thanksgiving, the US Senate was planning on taking a vote on the National Defense Authorization Act, but there has been a slight delay. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky has proposed an amendment halting the vote. In it, Paul reaffirms the sixth amendment guaranteeing a fair a speedy trial to all Americans which has been threatened by the NDAA. Brian Doherty, senior editor for Reason.Com, give us his take on the latest development. RT America LIVE rt.com Subscribe to RT America! www.youtube.com Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com Follow us on Twitter twitter.com
- published: 19 Nov 2012
- views: 24236
- author: RTAmerica
Senator Bernie Sanders, I Dare You To Comprehend This Speech! Jaw Dropping Truth!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 13:06
- Updated: 08 Dec 2012
"WOW" "Watch it TWICE!" A real person, talking the truth, in the US Senate? It Must Be A Hologram or a Dream! Do Not Get Angry, Get Empowered With Information! If you would like to leave Sen. Bernie Sanders a comment click on this link: www.sanders.senate.gov
http://wn.com/Senator_Bernie_Sanders,_I_Dare_You_To_Comprehend_This_Speech!_Jaw_Dropping_Truth!
"WOW" "Watch it TWICE!" A real person, talking the truth, in the US Senate? It Must Be A Hologram or a Dream! Do Not Get Angry, Get Empowered With Information! If you would like to leave Sen. Bernie Sanders a comment click on this link: www.sanders.senate.gov
- published: 08 Aug 2012
- views: 35959
- author: Love1andbeloved1
George Galloway vs. US Senate (5/17/05)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:55
- Updated: 07 Dec 2012
British MP Galloway, falsely accused of taking bribes from Saddam Hussein, tears the US Senate a new one in this exhilarating MSNBC clip that grows more apropos every day.
http://wn.com/George_Galloway_vs_US_Senate_5_17_05
British MP Galloway, falsely accused of taking bribes from Saddam Hussein, tears the US Senate a new one in this exhilarating MSNBC clip that grows more apropos every day.
- published: 15 Apr 2006
- views: 744283
- author: Chris Rasmussen
George Galloway VS The US Senate 1 of 5
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:00
- Updated: 08 Dec 2012
FULL PLAYLIST: www.youtube.com The 5 Year Anniversary is coming up next month. I thought I should upload a complete and higher quality than what is available on youtube. Galloway's Statement starts at 6:25 but I encourage people to start from the beginning for full effect...Peace. Probably one of the most important public speaking engagements in the last 50 Years. Relevant to Israel and Palestine as it is mentioned briefly in this series of videos. George Galloway, British House of Commons Member, member of the Anti-War Movement, staunch critic of Israel, testifies before a Senate Subcommittee on Investigations regarding Oil-for Food allegations. Just keep watching those around Galloway and the Senate react to his testimony. Washington, DC. Tuesday, May 17, 2005 Source CSPAN.org
http://wn.com/George_Galloway_VS_The_US_Senate_1_of_5
FULL PLAYLIST: www.youtube.com The 5 Year Anniversary is coming up next month. I thought I should upload a complete and higher quality than what is available on youtube. Galloway's Statement starts at 6:25 but I encourage people to start from the beginning for full effect...Peace. Probably one of the most important public speaking engagements in the last 50 Years. Relevant to Israel and Palestine as it is mentioned briefly in this series of videos. George Galloway, British House of Commons Member, member of the Anti-War Movement, staunch critic of Israel, testifies before a Senate Subcommittee on Investigations regarding Oil-for Food allegations. Just keep watching those around Galloway and the Senate react to his testimony. Washington, DC. Tuesday, May 17, 2005 Source CSPAN.org
- published: 17 Apr 2010
- views: 126116
- author: LSRochon
Senator Alan Simpson on the Deficit Cutting "Stink-Bomb" in Congress' Garden Party!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 28:03
- Updated: 07 Dec 2012
Follow us @ twitter.com twitter.com Welcome to Capital Account. Simpson-Bowles, Obama's bipartisan deficit commission of 2010, has become a political football in the Presidential race. In attempts to score political points Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, and Joe Biden have flung it around in recent speeches and interviews. We talk to Former Republican Senator and co-chair of the Simpson-Bowles commission, Alan Simpson about how he and his co-chair propose to fix the deficit. Plus there is more evidence the US economy is slowing down as the August US housing starts number was below analysts' expectations. Also mortgage lending in 2011 declined to its lowest level in 16 years, according to a report from Federal regulators. Moreover, FedEx, an economic bellwether, cut its global growth forecast. How do you sell US deficit reduction as a top priority in this environment? We talk to Alan Simpson about the US national debt and the fiscal cliff. And the UK city of Bristol launched its own coinage and it has become the UK's largest alternative to sterling. Lauren and Demetri talk about alternative currencies in today's episode of Loose Change.
http://wn.com/Senator_Alan_Simpson_on_the_Deficit_Cutting_Stink-Bomb_in_Congress'_Garden_Party!
Follow us @ twitter.com twitter.com Welcome to Capital Account. Simpson-Bowles, Obama's bipartisan deficit commission of 2010, has become a political football in the Presidential race. In attempts to score political points Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, and Joe Biden have flung it around in recent speeches and interviews. We talk to Former Republican Senator and co-chair of the Simpson-Bowles commission, Alan Simpson about how he and his co-chair propose to fix the deficit. Plus there is more evidence the US economy is slowing down as the August US housing starts number was below analysts' expectations. Also mortgage lending in 2011 declined to its lowest level in 16 years, according to a report from Federal regulators. Moreover, FedEx, an economic bellwether, cut its global growth forecast. How do you sell US deficit reduction as a top priority in this environment? We talk to Alan Simpson about the US national debt and the fiscal cliff. And the UK city of Bristol launched its own coinage and it has become the UK's largest alternative to sterling. Lauren and Demetri talk about alternative currencies in today's episode of Loose Change.
- published: 19 Sep 2012
- views: 12367
- author: CapitalAccount
Senator Marco Rubio's Maiden Floor Speech
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 14:42
- Updated: 05 Dec 2012
On Tuesday, June 14, 2011, Senator Marco Rubio delivered his maiden speech on the floor of the United States Senate. Focusing on themes of "The New American Century," Senator Rubio celebrated the "American miracle" that allows so many to achieve their dreams and resolved that we all continue to fight for America's role as a shining city on a hill.
http://wn.com/Senator_Marco_Rubio's_Maiden_Floor_Speech
On Tuesday, June 14, 2011, Senator Marco Rubio delivered his maiden speech on the floor of the United States Senate. Focusing on themes of "The New American Century," Senator Rubio celebrated the "American miracle" that allows so many to achieve their dreams and resolved that we all continue to fight for America's role as a shining city on a hill.
- published: 14 Jun 2011
- views: 67881
- author: SenatorMarcoRubio
Anonymous - Message to the American People
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:09
- Updated: 09 Dec 2012
Dear brothers and sisters. Now is the time to open your eyes! In a stunning move that has civil libertarians stuttering with disbelief, the US Senate has just passed a bill that effectively ends the Bill of Rights in America. The National Defense Authorization Act is being called the most traitorous act ever witnessed in the Senate, and the language of the bill is cleverly designed to make you think it doesn't apply to Americans, but toward the end of the bill, it essentially says it can apply to Americans "if we want it to. Bill Summary & Status, 112th Congress (2011 -- 2012) | S.1867 | Latest Title: National Defense Authorization Act for. This bill, passed late last night in a 93-7 vote, declares the entire USA to be a "battleground" upon which US military forces can operate with impunity, overriding Posse Comitatus and granting the military the unchecked power to arrest, detain, interrogate and even assassinate US citizens with impunity. Even WIRED magazine was outraged at this bill, reporting: Senate Wants the Military to Lock You Up Without Trial ...the detention mandate to use indefinite military detention in terrorism cases isn't limited to foreigners. It's confusing, because two different sections of the bill seem to contradict each other, but in the judgment of the University of Texas' Robert Chesney — a nonpartisan authority on military detention — "US citizens are included in the grant of detention authority." The passage of this law is nothing less than an ...
http://wn.com/Anonymous_Message_to_the_American_People
Dear brothers and sisters. Now is the time to open your eyes! In a stunning move that has civil libertarians stuttering with disbelief, the US Senate has just passed a bill that effectively ends the Bill of Rights in America. The National Defense Authorization Act is being called the most traitorous act ever witnessed in the Senate, and the language of the bill is cleverly designed to make you think it doesn't apply to Americans, but toward the end of the bill, it essentially says it can apply to Americans "if we want it to. Bill Summary & Status, 112th Congress (2011 -- 2012) | S.1867 | Latest Title: National Defense Authorization Act for. This bill, passed late last night in a 93-7 vote, declares the entire USA to be a "battleground" upon which US military forces can operate with impunity, overriding Posse Comitatus and granting the military the unchecked power to arrest, detain, interrogate and even assassinate US citizens with impunity. Even WIRED magazine was outraged at this bill, reporting: Senate Wants the Military to Lock You Up Without Trial ...the detention mandate to use indefinite military detention in terrorism cases isn't limited to foreigners. It's confusing, because two different sections of the bill seem to contradict each other, but in the judgment of the University of Texas' Robert Chesney — a nonpartisan authority on military detention — "US citizens are included in the grant of detention authority." The passage of this law is nothing less than an ...
- published: 03 Dec 2011
- views: 8223422
- author: anonymous04210
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EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012 UNITED STATES SENATE LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART1.mp4
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 14:45
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
"EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR "EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART1 "United States Senate (Governmental Body)" "Leadership (Literature Subject)" "Hawaii (US State)" America "Akaka" "Inouye" "Lingle" Tribute news Press Election Hawaii Oahu Molokai Maui Big Island Kauai HI McCain Hawaiian Pacific Hawaii Family Values, Hawaii Zero Tax, All Parties Vote for Eddie US Senator Hawaii 2012
http://wn.com/EDDIE_US_SENATOR_HAWAII_2012_UNITED_STATES_SENATE_LEADERSHIP_FOR_HAWAII_DETAILED_PLATFORM_PART1mp4
"EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR "EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART1 "United States Senate (Governmental Body)" "Leadership (Literature Subject)" "Hawaii (US State)" America "Akaka" "Inouye" "Lingle" Tribute news Press Election Hawaii Oahu Molokai Maui Big Island Kauai HI McCain Hawaiian Pacific Hawaii Family Values, Hawaii Zero Tax, All Parties Vote for Eddie US Senator Hawaii 2012
- published: 26 May 2012
- views: 36
- author: Eddie Pirkowski
EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012 UNITED STATES SENATE LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART2.mp4
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 14:52
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
"EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR "EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART2 "United States Senate (Governmental Body)" "Leadership (Literature Subject)" "Hawaii (US State)" America "Akaka" "Inouye" "Lingle" Tribute news Press Election Hawaii Oahu Molokai Maui Big Island Kauai HI McCain Hawaiian Pacific
http://wn.com/EDDIE_US_SENATOR_HAWAII_2012_UNITED_STATES_SENATE_LEADERSHIP_FOR_HAWAII_DETAILED_PLATFORM_PART2mp4
"EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR "EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART2 "United States Senate (Governmental Body)" "Leadership (Literature Subject)" "Hawaii (US State)" America "Akaka" "Inouye" "Lingle" Tribute news Press Election Hawaii Oahu Molokai Maui Big Island Kauai HI McCain Hawaiian Pacific
- published: 26 May 2012
- views: 26
- author: Eddie Pirkowski
EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012 UNITED STATES SENATE LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART3.mp4
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 14:45
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
"EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR "EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART3 "United States Senate (Governmental Body)" "Leadership (Literature Subject)" "Hawaii (US State)" America "Akaka" "Inouye" "Lingle" Tribute news Press Election Hawaii Oahu Molokai Maui Big Island Kauai HI McCain Hawaiian Pacific
http://wn.com/EDDIE_US_SENATOR_HAWAII_2012_UNITED_STATES_SENATE_LEADERSHIP_FOR_HAWAII_DETAILED_PLATFORM_PART3mp4
"EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR "EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART3 "United States Senate (Governmental Body)" "Leadership (Literature Subject)" "Hawaii (US State)" America "Akaka" "Inouye" "Lingle" Tribute news Press Election Hawaii Oahu Molokai Maui Big Island Kauai HI McCain Hawaiian Pacific
- published: 26 May 2012
- views: 18
- author: Eddie Pirkowski
EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012 UNITED STATES SENATE LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART4.mp4
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 14:58
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
"EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR "EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART4 "United States Senate (Governmental Body)" "Leadership (Literature Subject)" "Hawaii (US State)" America "Akaka" "Inouye" "Lingle" Tribute news Press Election Hawaii Oahu Molokai Maui Big Island Kauai HI McCain Hawaiian Pacific
http://wn.com/EDDIE_US_SENATOR_HAWAII_2012_UNITED_STATES_SENATE_LEADERSHIP_FOR_HAWAII_DETAILED_PLATFORM_PART4mp4
"EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR "EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART4 "United States Senate (Governmental Body)" "Leadership (Literature Subject)" "Hawaii (US State)" America "Akaka" "Inouye" "Lingle" Tribute news Press Election Hawaii Oahu Molokai Maui Big Island Kauai HI McCain Hawaiian Pacific
- published: 26 May 2012
- views: 9
- author: Eddie Pirkowski
EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012 UNITED STATES SENATE LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART5.mp4
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 13:24
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
"EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR "EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART5 "United States Senate (Governmental Body)" "Leadership (Literature Subject)" "Hawaii (US State)" America "Akaka" "Inouye" "Lingle" Tribute news Press Election Hawaii Oahu Molokai Maui Big Island Kauai HI McCain Hawaiian Pacific
http://wn.com/EDDIE_US_SENATOR_HAWAII_2012_UNITED_STATES_SENATE_LEADERSHIP_FOR_HAWAII_DETAILED_PLATFORM_PART5mp4
"EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR "EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART5 "United States Senate (Governmental Body)" "Leadership (Literature Subject)" "Hawaii (US State)" America "Akaka" "Inouye" "Lingle" Tribute news Press Election Hawaii Oahu Molokai Maui Big Island Kauai HI McCain Hawaiian Pacific
- published: 26 May 2012
- views: 24
- author: Eddie Pirkowski
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Sam Granato - Utah Democratic Candidate for the United States Senate - Filing Announcement
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:56
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Sam Granato, a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate from Utah, officially files his canididacy forms and pays his filing fee to the Lt. Governor's office at the Utah State Capitol on Thursday, March 18, 2010. After completing his filing, Granato held an impromptu news conference in the State Capitol where he discussed his reasons for running for public office and the Utah senatorial election..
Video produced by Donald Lewin Nelson. Video recorded on Panasonic AG-HMC 70 and edited using Sony Creative Software Vegas Pro 8.
http://wn.com/Sam_Granato_Utah_Democratic_Candidate_for_the_United_States_Senate_Filing_Announcement
Sam Granato, a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate from Utah, officially files his canididacy forms and pays his filing fee to the Lt. Governor's office at the Utah State Capitol on Thursday, March 18, 2010. After completing his filing, Granato held an impromptu news conference in the State Capitol where he discussed his reasons for running for public office and the Utah senatorial election..
Video produced by Donald Lewin Nelson. Video recorded on Panasonic AG-HMC 70 and edited using Sony Creative Software Vegas Pro 8.
- published: 28 Jun 2010
- views: 155
- author: DannyTSoC
Sam Granato Obtains Endorsement of J. Dell Holbrook for Himself and Fair Boundaries Initiative
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:58
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Democratic candidate for the United States Senate in Utah Sam Granato obtains the endorsement of J. Dell for himself and the Utah Fair Boundaries Reapportionment Initiative.
.
Video produced and directed by Donald Lewin Nelson. Music performed by Brian Lewin Nelson. Video recorded on Panasonic AG-HMC 70 and edited using Sony Creative Software Vegas Pro 8.
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http://wn.com/Sam_Granato_Obtains_Endorsement_of_J_Dell_Holbrook_for_Himself_and_Fair_Boundaries_Initiative
Democratic candidate for the United States Senate in Utah Sam Granato obtains the endorsement of J. Dell for himself and the Utah Fair Boundaries Reapportionment Initiative.
.
Video produced and directed by Donald Lewin Nelson. Music performed by Brian Lewin Nelson. Video recorded on Panasonic AG-HMC 70 and edited using Sony Creative Software Vegas Pro 8.
.
- published: 28 Jun 2010
- views: 143
- author: DannyTSoC
Sam Granato Walks Through The Snow Gathering Signatures For The Utah Fair Boundaries Initiative
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:25
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
On a cold Saturday in December, Sam Granato tramped through the snow in Layton, Utah to gather signatures for the Utah Fair Boundaries Re-apportionment Initiative which will create an independent commission to create a plan recommending state legislative and congressional districts for Utah after the 2010. If the advocates of reform gather 95,000 signatures the initiative will be placed on the ballot in November 2010.
Video produced and directed by Donald Lewin Nelson
http://wn.com/Sam_Granato_Walks_Through_The_Snow_Gathering_Signatures_For_The_Utah_Fair_Boundaries_Initiative
On a cold Saturday in December, Sam Granato tramped through the snow in Layton, Utah to gather signatures for the Utah Fair Boundaries Re-apportionment Initiative which will create an independent commission to create a plan recommending state legislative and congressional districts for Utah after the 2010. If the advocates of reform gather 95,000 signatures the initiative will be placed on the ballot in November 2010.
Video produced and directed by Donald Lewin Nelson
- published: 28 Jun 2010
- views: 118
- author: DannyTSoC
Weber County Democrats 2009 Convention - Rob Miller and Sam Granato
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:37
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
State Party Vice-Chair Rob Miller and Sam Granato, who served on Gov. Huntsman's Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission wrap up the Weber County Democratic Party organizing convention. April 25, 2009, Ogden, UT. Donate to Weber County Democrats: http://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/11662
http://wn.com/Weber_County_Democrats_2009_Convention_Rob_Miller_and_Sam_Granato
State Party Vice-Chair Rob Miller and Sam Granato, who served on Gov. Huntsman's Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission wrap up the Weber County Democratic Party organizing convention. April 25, 2009, Ogden, UT. Donate to Weber County Democrats: http://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/11662
- published: 28 Jun 2010
- views: 116
- author: DannyTSoC
Sam Granato - Qualities of a United States Senator - Interview No. 8
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:14
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Utah Democratic candidate for the United States Senate, Sam Granato, interviews individuals at the Avenues Street Fair in Salt Lake City, Utah on Saturday, September 12, 2009 concerning the qualities and attributes that they want in the next Utah United states Senator. This is interview the eighth interview in this series.
http://wn.com/Sam_Granato_Qualities_of_a_United_States_Senator_Interview_No_8
Utah Democratic candidate for the United States Senate, Sam Granato, interviews individuals at the Avenues Street Fair in Salt Lake City, Utah on Saturday, September 12, 2009 concerning the qualities and attributes that they want in the next Utah United states Senator. This is interview the eighth interview in this series.
- published: 28 Jun 2010
- views: 37
- author: DannyTSoC
Glenn Beck interviews Mike Lee (R-Utah) - Pt 1 of 2
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:09
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Glenn Beck interviews Mike Lee (R-Utah) - Pt 1 of 2
PART TWO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWJqQ_2wQ2U
http://wn.com/Glenn_Beck_interviews_Mike_Lee_R-Utah_Pt_1_of_2
Glenn Beck interviews Mike Lee (R-Utah) - Pt 1 of 2
PART TWO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWJqQ_2wQ2U
- published: 28 Jun 2010
- views: 2426
- author: DannyTSoC
Glenn Beck interviews Mike Lee (R-Utah) - Pt 2 of 2
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:21
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Glenn Beck interviews Mike Lee (R-Utah) - Pt 2 of 2
PART ONE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiHt9KTiM3I
http://wn.com/Glenn_Beck_interviews_Mike_Lee_R-Utah_Pt_2_of_2
Glenn Beck interviews Mike Lee (R-Utah) - Pt 2 of 2
PART ONE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiHt9KTiM3I
- published: 28 Jun 2010
- views: 1878
- author: DannyTSoC
Glenn Beck Circa 1994
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:27
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
http://wn.com/Glenn_Beck_Circa_1994
- published: 28 Jun 2010
- views: 1909
- author: DannyTSoC
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Chossudovsky: US will start WW3 by attacking Iran
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:41
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
A UN nuclear watchdog report suggests Iran could be developing a nuclear bomb, apparently confirming long-held suspicions in the West. But Tehran denies the claims, again insisting that its atomic intentions are peaceful. Michel Chossudovsky, who's from an independent Canadian policy research group, believes that what Iran says hardly matters, because the U.S. is planning for war...
http://wn.com/Chossudovsky_US_will_start_WW3_by_attacking_Iran
A UN nuclear watchdog report suggests Iran could be developing a nuclear bomb, apparently confirming long-held suspicions in the West. But Tehran denies the claims, again insisting that its atomic intentions are peaceful. Michel Chossudovsky, who's from an independent Canadian policy research group, believes that what Iran says hardly matters, because the U.S. is planning for war...
- published: 15 Apr 2011
- views: 631646
- author: keensweep
Barack Obama Makes Shocking confession!!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:09
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
You have to see it to believe it. Many of Barack Obama's critics have said that he lacks experience and is not ready to be president, but this video shows Obama himself questioning whether or not he is ready.
Commentary Analysis Documentary Gotcha! Grassroots Outreach News Media Fox Politics Political Commercial Race Religion Church Pastor Audacity Hope Yes we can Controvery Controversial Primary Primaries Pennsylvania Guam Indiana North Carolina West Virginia Kentucky Oregon Puerto Rico Montana South Dakota Convention DNC November Faith Guns Religion Cling Bitter White House Nomination November
http://wn.com/Barack_Obama_Makes_Shocking_confession!!
You have to see it to believe it. Many of Barack Obama's critics have said that he lacks experience and is not ready to be president, but this video shows Obama himself questioning whether or not he is ready.
Commentary Analysis Documentary Gotcha! Grassroots Outreach News Media Fox Politics Political Commercial Race Religion Church Pastor Audacity Hope Yes we can Controvery Controversial Primary Primaries Pennsylvania Guam Indiana North Carolina West Virginia Kentucky Oregon Puerto Rico Montana South Dakota Convention DNC November Faith Guns Religion Cling Bitter White House Nomination November
- published: 15 Apr 2011
- views: 4641742
- author: keensweep
JFK telling us the 911 truth
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:32
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
The truth about 911 is that it was a conspiracy by the same people that he is warning us about in this video. International bankers and those institutions owned by them (UN, NATO, WTO, WHO, etc...) ARE the, "monolithic and ruthless conspiracy". When he says, "for we are opposed around the world" he is referring to those that today call themselves "Zionists". They are hell bent on creating a one world government that they would then control. They blew up the WTC in order to begin the process.
http://wn.com/JFK_telling_us_the_911_truth
The truth about 911 is that it was a conspiracy by the same people that he is warning us about in this video. International bankers and those institutions owned by them (UN, NATO, WTO, WHO, etc...) ARE the, "monolithic and ruthless conspiracy". When he says, "for we are opposed around the world" he is referring to those that today call themselves "Zionists". They are hell bent on creating a one world government that they would then control. They blew up the WTC in order to begin the process.
- published: 15 Apr 2011
- views: 1275725
- author: keensweep
How can someone get away with doing all this?
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:31
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
This video is created propaganda style, no arguments here. However, there is not a single thing in it that is not a FACT. How could someone do all this and simply get a way with it. This guy did not only hurt everyone, he set humanity at least a hundred years backward. Saddam the dictator did not do in more that a quarter of a century what this creep did in few years. I know that this post is a spit in the wind; however, I am posting it anyway.
http://wn.com/How_can_someone_get_away_with_doing_all_this?
This video is created propaganda style, no arguments here. However, there is not a single thing in it that is not a FACT. How could someone do all this and simply get a way with it. This guy did not only hurt everyone, he set humanity at least a hundred years backward. Saddam the dictator did not do in more that a quarter of a century what this creep did in few years. I know that this post is a spit in the wind; however, I am posting it anyway.
- published: 23 Apr 2011
- views: 6368
- author: keensweep
NWO EUGENICS PART 1
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:33
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
RALEIGH State Rep. Larry Womble is heading up a committee reviewing government compensation for victims of the North Carolina Eugenics Sterilization Program, which robbed about 7,600 men, women and children of the chance to reproduce between 1929 and 1974.
They used a fancy name: Eugenics. They used excuses that they were promiscuous, or that they were feeble-minded or they would not be contributing members in a positive way to the society of North Carolina, Womble said.
Womble said the program chose people who were on welfare and threatened to take their benefits if they didnt enroll in the program.
Eugenics Sterilization Program
News 14 Carolina's Miracle King has more on the committee's review process.
75-year-old Willis Lynch was one such person, who had the procedure at 14.
He said he just didnt know what was going on.
Some of the key considerations under review by the committee are a monument honoring the victims or a story in the curriculum across North Carolina schools. They are also looking into offering counseling, free education opportunities, further health car provisions, and financial compensation.
The committee could give $20,000 to each victim.
But Lynch said no amount of money could replace his chance to have children.
I dont really care about a monument money is never going to take back what they did, Lynch said. Its always going to be on my mind anyway, it always is.
The committee will ask the legislature to enact their recommendations come July of next year.
The final draft will be approved Dec. 18, and from there it will go before legislators.
http://wn.com/NWO_EUGENICS_PART_1
RALEIGH State Rep. Larry Womble is heading up a committee reviewing government compensation for victims of the North Carolina Eugenics Sterilization Program, which robbed about 7,600 men, women and children of the chance to reproduce between 1929 and 1974.
They used a fancy name: Eugenics. They used excuses that they were promiscuous, or that they were feeble-minded or they would not be contributing members in a positive way to the society of North Carolina, Womble said.
Womble said the program chose people who were on welfare and threatened to take their benefits if they didnt enroll in the program.
Eugenics Sterilization Program
News 14 Carolina's Miracle King has more on the committee's review process.
75-year-old Willis Lynch was one such person, who had the procedure at 14.
He said he just didnt know what was going on.
Some of the key considerations under review by the committee are a monument honoring the victims or a story in the curriculum across North Carolina schools. They are also looking into offering counseling, free education opportunities, further health car provisions, and financial compensation.
The committee could give $20,000 to each victim.
But Lynch said no amount of money could replace his chance to have children.
I dont really care about a monument money is never going to take back what they did, Lynch said. Its always going to be on my mind anyway, it always is.
The committee will ask the legislature to enact their recommendations come July of next year.
The final draft will be approved Dec. 18, and from there it will go before legislators.
- published: 26 Apr 2011
- views: 8802
- author: keensweep
The shocking comment Barack Obama does not want you to hear!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:26
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
The co-chairman for the Barak Obama campaign makes a disturbing racial remark. As far as we know, Obama has not fired him or even denounced the comment. Is Barack Obama a racist?
Audacity Hope Media Fox Jeremiah Wright Democrat Republican Vote 2008 Controversy Controversial Church Pastor Commentary Political Commercial Politics Analysis Grassroots Gotcha! Outreach News Change Primary Primaries Pennsylvania Guam Indiana North Carolina West Virginia Kentucky Oregon Puerto Rico Montana South Dakota Convention DNC November Guns Faith Bitter Cling
http://wn.com/The_shocking_comment_Barack_Obama_does_not_want_you_to_hear!
The co-chairman for the Barak Obama campaign makes a disturbing racial remark. As far as we know, Obama has not fired him or even denounced the comment. Is Barack Obama a racist?
Audacity Hope Media Fox Jeremiah Wright Democrat Republican Vote 2008 Controversy Controversial Church Pastor Commentary Political Commercial Politics Analysis Grassroots Gotcha! Outreach News Change Primary Primaries Pennsylvania Guam Indiana North Carolina West Virginia Kentucky Oregon Puerto Rico Montana South Dakota Convention DNC November Guns Faith Bitter Cling
- published: 27 Apr 2011
- views: 4952543
- author: keensweep
Barack Obama refuses to fist bump a little boy - WTF?
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:07
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
The shocking scandal Obama refuses to fist bump a little boy! Rachel Maddow, guest host on countdown with Keith olbermann, uncovers the truth.
http://wn.com/Barack_Obama_refuses_to_fist_bump_a_little_boy_WTF?
The shocking scandal Obama refuses to fist bump a little boy! Rachel Maddow, guest host on countdown with Keith olbermann, uncovers the truth.
- published: 27 Apr 2011
- views: 148203
- author: keensweep
Obama hates the American Flag!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:25
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
http://www.iamoneangryamerican.com Wake up America; you need to look at the Facts in this election. Obama is ashamed of America. He has done everything but directly come out and say I hate America. He has taken the American Flag off of his plane, He refused to wear, as he puts it and I quote, That pin. End quote, referring to the Flag lapel pin. He stated he did not like the way the flag pin represents patrisim. I am sorry but what a slap in the face of every American Soldier that has fought and so many died for this country and for the American Flag.
I understand you are frustrated with President Bush and the politics of the past. However, you need to take a good hard look at Obama and what he truly stands for. He has known proven ties to terrorist like William Aires and he has stated with his own actions & words he is not so found of America.
Even if he were to get the economy back on track what is he going to do to the security of our Country? We will be destroyed by the terrorist and we will be so much worse off in the long run if he is elected. This fact alone should be enough to not elect him to run our Country.
A vote for Obama is a vote against America.
If Obama is elected you mark my words today 09/15/08 at 8:20 PM every one of you Liberals will be ashamed and saddened about what happens to our Country and knowing you had a part in its downfall.
Tags
Obama hates America, Obama hates the American Flag, Obama is anti American, Obama wont wear the Flag pin, Obama will destroy America
http://wn.com/Obama_hates_the_American_Flag!
http://www.iamoneangryamerican.com Wake up America; you need to look at the Facts in this election. Obama is ashamed of America. He has done everything but directly come out and say I hate America. He has taken the American Flag off of his plane, He refused to wear, as he puts it and I quote, That pin. End quote, referring to the Flag lapel pin. He stated he did not like the way the flag pin represents patrisim. I am sorry but what a slap in the face of every American Soldier that has fought and so many died for this country and for the American Flag.
I understand you are frustrated with President Bush and the politics of the past. However, you need to take a good hard look at Obama and what he truly stands for. He has known proven ties to terrorist like William Aires and he has stated with his own actions & words he is not so found of America.
Even if he were to get the economy back on track what is he going to do to the security of our Country? We will be destroyed by the terrorist and we will be so much worse off in the long run if he is elected. This fact alone should be enough to not elect him to run our Country.
A vote for Obama is a vote against America.
If Obama is elected you mark my words today 09/15/08 at 8:20 PM every one of you Liberals will be ashamed and saddened about what happens to our Country and knowing you had a part in its downfall.
Tags
Obama hates America, Obama hates the American Flag, Obama is anti American, Obama wont wear the Flag pin, Obama will destroy America
- published: 27 Apr 2011
- views: 145416
- author: keensweep
If You're an American you should see THIS! for real
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:43
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
this video shows the outcry that all americans should be aware of ! Although this guy is from Ohio(American) and im sure alot of people think like he does, but i dont think the majority does.
http://wn.com/If_You're_an_American_you_should_see_THIS!_for_real
this video shows the outcry that all americans should be aware of ! Although this guy is from Ohio(American) and im sure alot of people think like he does, but i dont think the majority does.
- published: 27 Apr 2011
- views: 259706
- author: keensweep
United States Senator Ron Wyden on Conspiracy Theories and Audit of the Fed
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:27
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
United States Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon answers a question about Cass Sunstein's insane white paper calling for the banning of conspiracy theories. He also answers whether he supports the senate bill to audit the federal reserve.
http://wn.com/United_States_Senator_Ron_Wyden_on_Conspiracy_Theories_and_Audit_of_the_Fed
United States Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon answers a question about Cass Sunstein's insane white paper calling for the banning of conspiracy theories. He also answers whether he supports the senate bill to audit the federal reserve.
- published: 28 Apr 2011
- views: 13533
- author: keensweep
Ron Paul exposes United Nations plan to destroy US (1990's?)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:40
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
THE UNITED NATIONS:
A Look Into The Future
RARE clips of RON PAUL defending American sovereignty, the good Dr. really has been the lone voice in government standing up for the FREEDOM of the American people before we even felt a sense of urgency.
Dr. RON PAUL has had a consistant message warning about the rise of those elements working from within to destroy the American Constitution.
Dr. Paul,sir, quite frankly I feel that your message fell upon deaf ears during the 80's and 90's but now it is that same message that resonates in the heart of every American that loves FREEDOM.
America now realizes how important your message of FREEDOM is and how it is synonymous with our way of life, you also give the world HOPE for PEACE in these times of war.
But best of all, I get to VOTE for someone that truly reflects the voice of "WE THE PEOPLE", you have already won because you have lit the torch of LIBERTY and given us HOPE FOR AMERICA (your ideals have inspired a new generation of Constitutionalist Patriots and exposed the false Dem/Rep parties for what they really are Socialists and Facists...
You are in our prayers Dr. RON PAUL and know that we will carry your message far and wide until we are once again truly the LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE...
R[ƎVO˩]UTION
http://wn.com/Ron_Paul_exposes_United_Nations_plan_to_destroy_US_1990's?
THE UNITED NATIONS:
A Look Into The Future
RARE clips of RON PAUL defending American sovereignty, the good Dr. really has been the lone voice in government standing up for the FREEDOM of the American people before we even felt a sense of urgency.
Dr. RON PAUL has had a consistant message warning about the rise of those elements working from within to destroy the American Constitution.
Dr. Paul,sir, quite frankly I feel that your message fell upon deaf ears during the 80's and 90's but now it is that same message that resonates in the heart of every American that loves FREEDOM.
America now realizes how important your message of FREEDOM is and how it is synonymous with our way of life, you also give the world HOPE for PEACE in these times of war.
But best of all, I get to VOTE for someone that truly reflects the voice of "WE THE PEOPLE", you have already won because you have lit the torch of LIBERTY and given us HOPE FOR AMERICA (your ideals have inspired a new generation of Constitutionalist Patriots and exposed the false Dem/Rep parties for what they really are Socialists and Facists...
You are in our prayers Dr. RON PAUL and know that we will carry your message far and wide until we are once again truly the LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE...
R[ƎVO˩]UTION
- published: 28 Apr 2011
- views: 131969
- author: keensweep
Part 1 of the 16 minutes edited out of Fox's debate replay
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:30
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
This the Pt.1 of the 16 minute segment that FOX news did not air on their replay. It does contain a great remark from Ron Paul on if he is electable. Thats at the end of Part 2. Why did FOX not play these 16 minutes? You can watch the entire debate in viewer at:
http://researchris.blogspot.com/2007/05/democrat-republican-debates-for-2008.html
http://wn.com/Part_1_of_the_16_minutes_edited_out_of_Fox's_debate_replay
This the Pt.1 of the 16 minute segment that FOX news did not air on their replay. It does contain a great remark from Ron Paul on if he is electable. Thats at the end of Part 2. Why did FOX not play these 16 minutes? You can watch the entire debate in viewer at:
http://researchris.blogspot.com/2007/05/democrat-republican-debates-for-2008.html
- published: 28 Apr 2011
- views: 14431
- author: keensweep
Obama Refuses Access to Birth Records
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:46
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
What Country does Obama Love? If Obama loved the United States he would honor our Constitution. It is a requirement that a President be a natural born citizen. The framers of the Constitution did not want someone loyal to another nation to have the office of President. Obama may be a citizen of Kenya and Indonesia. He has refused access to his birth records to anyone.
http://wn.com/Obama_Refuses_Access_to_Birth_Records
What Country does Obama Love? If Obama loved the United States he would honor our Constitution. It is a requirement that a President be a natural born citizen. The framers of the Constitution did not want someone loyal to another nation to have the office of President. Obama may be a citizen of Kenya and Indonesia. He has refused access to his birth records to anyone.
- published: 30 Apr 2011
- views: 24210
- author: keensweep
Oklahoma bans independent militias
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:11
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
An Oklahoma house bill aims to outlaw the forming of a militia without the state's approval. Citizens believe that the state is taking away their rights to form a lawful militia and it is becoming more of a tyrannical state. Sheree Geo says that the bill makes militia members the same as gang members.
http://wn.com/Oklahoma_bans_independent_militias
An Oklahoma house bill aims to outlaw the forming of a militia without the state's approval. Citizens believe that the state is taking away their rights to form a lawful militia and it is becoming more of a tyrannical state. Sheree Geo says that the bill makes militia members the same as gang members.
- published: 02 May 2011
- views: 4737
- author: keensweep
Where was Bush on 9/11?
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:49
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Who were the Middle Eastern men who came to visit Bush in the early morning hours of 9/11 claiming they had a poolside interview? Why did Bush's secret service detail not physically remove the President from his publicly disclosed, unsecure location in the first crucial minutes of an all-out attack on America? Why did Bush fly to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana and Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska? And was it mere coincidence that Warren Buffett was hosting many of the Presidents and CEOs of businesses whose headquarters were in the World Trade Center at Offutt AFB that day? For an excellent analysis of what was happening that day, please read Webster Tarpley's "9/11 Synthetic Terror." For more news, information and analysis, please visit:
http://www.corbettreport.com
http://wn.com/Where_was_Bush_on_9_11?
Who were the Middle Eastern men who came to visit Bush in the early morning hours of 9/11 claiming they had a poolside interview? Why did Bush's secret service detail not physically remove the President from his publicly disclosed, unsecure location in the first crucial minutes of an all-out attack on America? Why did Bush fly to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana and Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska? And was it mere coincidence that Warren Buffett was hosting many of the Presidents and CEOs of businesses whose headquarters were in the World Trade Center at Offutt AFB that day? For an excellent analysis of what was happening that day, please read Webster Tarpley's "9/11 Synthetic Terror." For more news, information and analysis, please visit:
http://www.corbettreport.com
- published: 02 May 2011
- views: 91573
- author: keensweep
It's about money, not peace: Norman Finkelstein on Netanyahu visit to US
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:39
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, suffering on the global front after a string of setbacks, is meeting with US President Barack Obama in Washington to discuss a range of thorny issues. Norman Finkelstein, author of "A Farewell to Israel: The coming break-up of American Zionism", shares his view on US-Israeli 'unbreakable' bond.
http://wn.com/It's_about_money,_not_peace_Norman_Finkelstein_on_Netanyahu_visit_to_US
Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, suffering on the global front after a string of setbacks, is meeting with US President Barack Obama in Washington to discuss a range of thorny issues. Norman Finkelstein, author of "A Farewell to Israel: The coming break-up of American Zionism", shares his view on US-Israeli 'unbreakable' bond.
- published: 04 May 2011
- views: 27598
- author: keensweep
NWO:NAU by 2010-CNN Lou Dobbs-Never Aired-Scary!! Wake Up!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:13
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
This is no conspiracy theory. And its no joke! Get informed and prepared. We are many! Wake Up! Take a stand against the NWO!
UNITE! LOVE! SURVIVE! Get informed and prepared. PLEASE READ SCRIPTURE ABOUT THIS FLEE TO THE WILDERNESS BEING GOD'S CALL TO US! Meet and chat with others of like mind on this worldwide social network and find a secret camp near you and secret places all over to go and unite with others. No worries. FaceofGod2 (YouTube) UNITE! LOVE! SURVIVE!
http://wn.com/NWONAU_by_2010-CNN_Lou_Dobbs-Never_Aired-Scary!!_Wake_Up!
This is no conspiracy theory. And its no joke! Get informed and prepared. We are many! Wake Up! Take a stand against the NWO!
UNITE! LOVE! SURVIVE! Get informed and prepared. PLEASE READ SCRIPTURE ABOUT THIS FLEE TO THE WILDERNESS BEING GOD'S CALL TO US! Meet and chat with others of like mind on this worldwide social network and find a secret camp near you and secret places all over to go and unite with others. No worries. FaceofGod2 (YouTube) UNITE! LOVE! SURVIVE!
- published: 06 May 2011
- views: 57982
- author: keensweep
Nuclear Security Summit Press Briefing
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 49:32
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and Assistant to the President for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security John Brennan brief the press from the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C. on April 12, 2010.
http://wn.com/Nuclear_Security_Summit_Press_Briefing
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and Assistant to the President for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security John Brennan brief the press from the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C. on April 12, 2010.
- published: 07 May 2011
- views: 4247
- author: keensweep
David Rockefeller Fears Ron Paul
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:47
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
http://www.campaignforliberty.com FAIR USE NOTICE: We are making this material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights,economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
http://wn.com/David_Rockefeller_Fears_Ron_Paul
http://www.campaignforliberty.com FAIR USE NOTICE: We are making this material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights,economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- published: 08 May 2011
- views: 361358
- author: keensweep
4409 ( BUSTED ) Proof the polls are rigged!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:28
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
.**4409 Activist Store** https://www.wepay.com/stores/4409-store
Click here for more 4409 videos and info http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=RP4409
.
http://wn.com/4409_BUSTED_Proof_the_polls_are_rigged!
.**4409 Activist Store** https://www.wepay.com/stores/4409-store
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- published: 09 May 2011
- views: 174142
- author: keensweep
Why was John Kennedy Assassinated? Why Was He Killed?
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:15
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
In this video, we will take a look at the sinister powers in charge at the time of his death.
Kennedy was not killed by those who pulled the trigger, but by those who conspired and beneficiated from his death.
We also see this was a signal to other world leaders, 'If we can kill an American President in the middle of the day, in Dallas, TX, and no one goes to trial, we can get you too."
Abbreviations Referenced:
Military Industrial Complex (MIC): is concept commonly used to refer to policy relationships between governments, national armed forces, and industrial support they obtain from the commercial sector in political approval for research, development, production, use, and support for military training, weapons, equipment, and facilities within the national defense and security policy. It is a type of iron triangle.
ONI: Office of Naval Intelligence
NKVD: the leading secret police organization of the Soviet Union that was responsible for political repression during the Stalinist era. It conducted mass extrajudicial executions, ran the Gulag system of forced labor, suppressed underground resistance, conducted mass deportations of nationalities
CIA: Central Intelligence Agency
FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation
Black Pope: The Superior General of the Society of Jesus, the largest male religious order of the Roman Catholic Church. The most powerful man in the world. He pulls the strings of the papacy.
Jesuits Order: is a Catholic religious order of clerks regular whose members are called Jesuits, Soldiers of Christ, and Foot soldiers of the Pope, because the founder, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a knight before becoming a priest.
Illuminati: Founded by Adam Weishaupt after being exiled from France on orders of the pope. The purpose of the society was to ferment violence, to bring about a New World Order. The pope was subsequently killed and the King of France fell to revolution. They are the overseers of:
Council of the 13° of the Bavarian
Illuminati
Council of the 33rd degree masons of the Scottish Rite
The 13 Satanic Bloodlines
The Committee of 300
B'Nai B'Rith
Grand Orient
Additional Society Groups:
Freemasonry (Scottish/York Right)
Skull & Bones
Grand Orient Lodge
Grand Alpina Lodge
Knights Templar
Royal Order of the Garter
Rosicrucians
Thule Society
Knights of Malta
Knights of Columbus
Famous Political Groups:
United Nations
Bilderberg
Trilateral Commission
Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)
Club of Rome
Bohemian Grove
European Union
NATO
For more information, visit Eric Phelp's work:
http://www.vaticanassassins.org/
* * * * * * *
Keywords: kennedy malta knight columbus oswald jack ruby CIA FBI cover-up assassination president john johnson jesuit pope
http://wn.com/Why_was_John_Kennedy_Assassinated?_Why_Was_He_Killed?
In this video, we will take a look at the sinister powers in charge at the time of his death.
Kennedy was not killed by those who pulled the trigger, but by those who conspired and beneficiated from his death.
We also see this was a signal to other world leaders, 'If we can kill an American President in the middle of the day, in Dallas, TX, and no one goes to trial, we can get you too."
Abbreviations Referenced:
Military Industrial Complex (MIC): is concept commonly used to refer to policy relationships between governments, national armed forces, and industrial support they obtain from the commercial sector in political approval for research, development, production, use, and support for military training, weapons, equipment, and facilities within the national defense and security policy. It is a type of iron triangle.
ONI: Office of Naval Intelligence
NKVD: the leading secret police organization of the Soviet Union that was responsible for political repression during the Stalinist era. It conducted mass extrajudicial executions, ran the Gulag system of forced labor, suppressed underground resistance, conducted mass deportations of nationalities
CIA: Central Intelligence Agency
FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation
Black Pope: The Superior General of the Society of Jesus, the largest male religious order of the Roman Catholic Church. The most powerful man in the world. He pulls the strings of the papacy.
Jesuits Order: is a Catholic religious order of clerks regular whose members are called Jesuits, Soldiers of Christ, and Foot soldiers of the Pope, because the founder, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a knight before becoming a priest.
Illuminati: Founded by Adam Weishaupt after being exiled from France on orders of the pope. The purpose of the society was to ferment violence, to bring about a New World Order. The pope was subsequently killed and the King of France fell to revolution. They are the overseers of:
Council of the 13° of the Bavarian
Illuminati
Council of the 33rd degree masons of the Scottish Rite
The 13 Satanic Bloodlines
The Committee of 300
B'Nai B'Rith
Grand Orient
Additional Society Groups:
Freemasonry (Scottish/York Right)
Skull & Bones
Grand Orient Lodge
Grand Alpina Lodge
Knights Templar
Royal Order of the Garter
Rosicrucians
Thule Society
Knights of Malta
Knights of Columbus
Famous Political Groups:
United Nations
Bilderberg
Trilateral Commission
Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)
Club of Rome
Bohemian Grove
European Union
NATO
For more information, visit Eric Phelp's work:
http://www.vaticanassassins.org/
* * * * * * *
Keywords: kennedy malta knight columbus oswald jack ruby CIA FBI cover-up assassination president john johnson jesuit pope
- published: 09 May 2011
- views: 187404
- author: keensweep
Abolishing the Electoral College
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:38
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
As the UK looks toward changing their voting system, will America follow suit by abolishing the Electoral College? Former Green Party Presidential Candidate Cynthia McKinney thinks that the current system set up in America needs to be abolished, as its brimming with obstacles that create problems for those looking beyond a two-party system. According to McKinney, the current system in place does not allow voters who want peace, justice and change proper representation.
http://wn.com/Abolishing_the_Electoral_College
As the UK looks toward changing their voting system, will America follow suit by abolishing the Electoral College? Former Green Party Presidential Candidate Cynthia McKinney thinks that the current system set up in America needs to be abolished, as its brimming with obstacles that create problems for those looking beyond a two-party system. According to McKinney, the current system in place does not allow voters who want peace, justice and change proper representation.
- published: 09 May 2011
- views: 2296
- author: keensweep
Libya sequel in Syria?
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:48
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Syrian security forces have claimed as many of 500 lives as of late as civilians are killed as they rally for democracy. As a tipping point approaches, will an intervention by the US be inevitable? War correspondent Keith Harmon Snow says the Syrian debacle could easily because Libya part 2, as the option for US intervention in an oil-rich Middle East country to "bring democracy" ends up on the table.
http://wn.com/Libya_sequel_in_Syria?
Syrian security forces have claimed as many of 500 lives as of late as civilians are killed as they rally for democracy. As a tipping point approaches, will an intervention by the US be inevitable? War correspondent Keith Harmon Snow says the Syrian debacle could easily because Libya part 2, as the option for US intervention in an oil-rich Middle East country to "bring democracy" ends up on the table.
- published: 09 May 2011
- views: 3109
- author: keensweep
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CPAC 2012 Is Coming
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:04
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
http://wn.com/CPAC_2012_Is_Coming
- published: 28 Jul 2012
- views: 74
- author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Official Trailer
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:51
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
CPAC 2012 - February 9-11, 2012 - www.conservative.org/CPAC - Video is a preview trailer for CPAC 2012. Join the American Conservative Union in Washington, DC for their 38th Conservative Political Action Conference - the largest annual gathering and agenda-setting event for conservative activists and leaders from across the country. The theme is - "We STILL Hold These Truths" - an ode to our country's founding "First Principles," including: 1.) Constitutionally Limited Government; 2.) Individual Liberty; 3.) Free Markets; 4.) Strong National Defense; and 5.) Preserving Traditional Values. Learn more at conservative.org.
http://wn.com/CPAC_2012_Official_Trailer
CPAC 2012 - February 9-11, 2012 - www.conservative.org/CPAC - Video is a preview trailer for CPAC 2012. Join the American Conservative Union in Washington, DC for their 38th Conservative Political Action Conference - the largest annual gathering and agenda-setting event for conservative activists and leaders from across the country. The theme is - "We STILL Hold These Truths" - an ode to our country's founding "First Principles," including: 1.) Constitutionally Limited Government; 2.) Individual Liberty; 3.) Free Markets; 4.) Strong National Defense; and 5.) Preserving Traditional Values. Learn more at conservative.org.
- published: 28 Jul 2012
- views: 265
- author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - ACU Chairman Al Cardenas
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 17:24
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
http://wn.com/CPAC_2012_ACU_Chairman_Al_Cardenas
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 33
- author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Senator Jim DeMint
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 21:13
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
http://wn.com/CPAC_2012_Senator_Jim_DeMint
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 66
- author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 Panel - Do "We Still Hold These Truths"?
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 35:43
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
http://wn.com/CPAC_2012_Panel_Do_We_Still_Hold_These_Truths?
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 6
- author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Senator Marco Rubio
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 25:20
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
http://wn.com/CPAC_2012_Senator_Marco_Rubio
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 41
- author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Senator Mike Lee
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 13:28
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
http://wn.com/CPAC_2012_Senator_Mike_Lee
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 23
- author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Congressman Tom Graves
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:28
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
http://wn.com/CPAC_2012_Congressman_Tom_Graves
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 14
- author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Senator Ron Johnson
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:55
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
http://wn.com/CPAC_2012_Senator_Ron_Johnson
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 9
- author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 Panel - It's the Spending Stupid!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 12:43
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
http://wn.com/CPAC_2012_Panel_It's_the_Spending_Stupid!
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 4
- author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Senator Mitch McConnell
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 23:07
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
http://wn.com/CPAC_2012_Senator_Mitch_McConnell
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 25
- author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Congressman Steve King
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:21
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
http://wn.com/CPAC_2012_Congressman_Steve_King
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 8
- author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Congresswoman Michele Bachmann
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 11:34
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
http://wn.com/CPAC_2012_Congresswoman_Michele_Bachmann
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 55
- author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Congressman Jim Jordan
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:26
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
http://wn.com/CPAC_2012_Congressman_Jim_Jordan
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 15
- author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 Panel - Game On! 2012 Political Landscape
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 24:33
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
http://wn.com/CPAC_2012_Panel_Game_On!_2012_Political_Landscape
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 4
- author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Governor Rick Perry
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 14:59
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
http://wn.com/CPAC_2012_Governor_Rick_Perry
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 26
- author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Speaker of the House John Boehner
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 13:39
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
http://wn.com/CPAC_2012_Speaker_of_the_House_John_Boehner
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 48
- author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Kirk Cameron
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 12:54
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
http://wn.com/CPAC_2012_Kirk_Cameron
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 80
- author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:36
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
http://wn.com/CPAC_2012_Attorney_General_Ken_Cuccinelli
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 129
- author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Arthur Brooks
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:01
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
http://wn.com/CPAC_2012_Arthur_Brooks
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 8
- author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:04
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
http://wn.com/CPAC_2012_Lieutenant_Colonel_Oliver_North
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 9
- author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - American Heroes Award
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:22
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
http://wn.com/CPAC_2012_American_Heroes_Award
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 4
- author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 Panel - CPAC All Star Panel | What to Expect in 2012
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 39:38
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
http://wn.com/CPAC_2012_Panel_CPAC_All_Star_Panel_|_What_to_Expect_in_2012
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 30
- author: The ACU
Send this Playlist by SMS
Email this Page
CPAC Chicago - National Anthem
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:50
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
http://wn.com/CPAC_Chicago_National_Anthem
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 19
- author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago Chairman Foster Friess
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 13:57
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
http://wn.com/CPAC_Chicago_Chairman_Foster_Friess
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 18
- author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Rick Santorum
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 15:25
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
http://wn.com/CPAC_Chicago_Rick_Santorum
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 17
- author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Arthur Brooks
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:08
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
http://wn.com/CPAC_Chicago_Arthur_Brooks
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 34
- author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Tom Fitton
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:03
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
http://wn.com/CPAC_Chicago_Tom_Fitton
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 39
- author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Governor John Kasich
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 12:57
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
http://wn.com/CPAC_Chicago_Governor_John_Kasich
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 17
- author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Senator Rand Paul
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 12:29
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
http://wn.com/CPAC_Chicago_Senator_Rand_Paul
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 19
- author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Senator Ron Johnson
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:44
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
http://wn.com/CPAC_Chicago_Senator_Ron_Johnson
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 8
- author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Richard Mourdock
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:53
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
http://wn.com/CPAC_Chicago_Richard_Mourdock
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 22
- author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Governor Chris Christie
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 25:32
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
http://wn.com/CPAC_Chicago_Governor_Chris_Christie
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 184
- author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Governor Bobby Jindal
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 25:46
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
http://wn.com/CPAC_Chicago_Governor_Bobby_Jindal
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 74
- author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Governor Bob McDonnell
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 12:34
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
http://wn.com/CPAC_Chicago_Governor_Bob_McDonnell
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 18
- author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Ed Feulner, Ph.D.
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 11:53
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
http://wn.com/CPAC_Chicago_Ed_Feulner,_PhD
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 15
- author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Congressman Tim Huelskamp
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:58
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
http://wn.com/CPAC_Chicago_Congressman_Tim_Huelskamp
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 16
- author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Congressman Peter Roskam
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:55
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
http://wn.com/CPAC_Chicago_Congressman_Peter_Roskam
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 15
- author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Congresswoman Michele Bachmann
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 19:09
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
http://wn.com/CPAC_Chicago_Congresswoman_Michele_Bachmann
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 68
- author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Congressman Joe Walsh
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:13
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
http://wn.com/CPAC_Chicago_Congressman_Joe_Walsh
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 26
- author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Grover Norquist
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:54
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
http://wn.com/CPAC_Chicago_Grover_Norquist
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 74
- author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Governor Sam Brownback
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 13:24
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
http://wn.com/CPAC_Chicago_Governor_Sam_Brownback
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 28 Jul 2012
- views: 73
- author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Congressman Randy Hultgren
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:40
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
http://wn.com/CPAC_Chicago_Congressman_Randy_Hultgren
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 28 Jul 2012
- views: 80
- author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Joe Bast
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:58
- Updated: 01 Jan 1970
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
http://wn.com/CPAC_Chicago_Joe_Bast
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 28 Jul 2012
- views: 6
- author: The ACU
14:45
EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012 UNITED STATES SENATE LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART1.mp4
"EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR "EDDIE US SENATOR HA...
published: 26 May 2012
author: Eddie Pirkowski
EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012 UNITED STATES SENATE LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART1.mp4
"EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR "EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART1 "United States Senate (Governmental Body)" "Leadership (Literature Subject)" "Hawaii (US State)" America "Akaka" "Inouye" "Lingle" Tribute news Press Election Hawaii Oahu Molokai Maui Big Island Kauai HI McCain Hawaiian Pacific Hawaii Family Values, Hawaii Zero Tax, All Parties Vote for Eddie US Senator Hawaii 2012
- published: 26 May 2012
- views: 36
- author: Eddie Pirkowski
14:52
EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012 UNITED STATES SENATE LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART2.mp4
"EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR "EDDIE US SENATOR HA...
published: 26 May 2012
author: Eddie Pirkowski
EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012 UNITED STATES SENATE LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART2.mp4
"EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR "EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART2 "United States Senate (Governmental Body)" "Leadership (Literature Subject)" "Hawaii (US State)" America "Akaka" "Inouye" "Lingle" Tribute news Press Election Hawaii Oahu Molokai Maui Big Island Kauai HI McCain Hawaiian Pacific
- published: 26 May 2012
- views: 26
- author: Eddie Pirkowski
14:45
EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012 UNITED STATES SENATE LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART3.mp4
"EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR "EDDIE US SENATOR HA...
published: 26 May 2012
author: Eddie Pirkowski
EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012 UNITED STATES SENATE LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART3.mp4
"EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR "EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART3 "United States Senate (Governmental Body)" "Leadership (Literature Subject)" "Hawaii (US State)" America "Akaka" "Inouye" "Lingle" Tribute news Press Election Hawaii Oahu Molokai Maui Big Island Kauai HI McCain Hawaiian Pacific
- published: 26 May 2012
- views: 18
- author: Eddie Pirkowski
14:58
EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012 UNITED STATES SENATE LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART4.mp4
"EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR "EDDIE US SENATOR HA...
published: 26 May 2012
author: Eddie Pirkowski
EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012 UNITED STATES SENATE LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART4.mp4
"EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR "EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART4 "United States Senate (Governmental Body)" "Leadership (Literature Subject)" "Hawaii (US State)" America "Akaka" "Inouye" "Lingle" Tribute news Press Election Hawaii Oahu Molokai Maui Big Island Kauai HI McCain Hawaiian Pacific
- published: 26 May 2012
- views: 9
- author: Eddie Pirkowski
13:24
EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012 UNITED STATES SENATE LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART5.mp4
"EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR "EDDIE US SENATOR HA...
published: 26 May 2012
author: Eddie Pirkowski
EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012 UNITED STATES SENATE LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART5.mp4
"EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR "EDDIE US SENATOR HAWAII 2012" "UNITED STATES SENATE" "LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAII DETAILED PLATFORM PART5 "United States Senate (Governmental Body)" "Leadership (Literature Subject)" "Hawaii (US State)" America "Akaka" "Inouye" "Lingle" Tribute news Press Election Hawaii Oahu Molokai Maui Big Island Kauai HI McCain Hawaiian Pacific
- published: 26 May 2012
- views: 24
- author: Eddie Pirkowski
Vimeo results:
4:43
The Well: Covering Capitol Hill
A rare glimpse into the way press photographers cover the politicians of the United States...
published: 04 Mar 2011
author: Chris Gregory
The Well: Covering Capitol Hill
A rare glimpse into the way press photographers cover the politicians of the United States Congress and the problems they face. Leading political photographers in Washington talk about the perills of the 24/7 news cycle and the increasingly sparce access.
"It's the genesis of the image as much as the ontological image itself that matters."- Dr. Kerric Harvey, Media Anthropologist at GWU.
Visit my portfolio at: www.chrisgregoryphoto.com
56:46
Moyers & Company Show 138: United States of ALEC
Moyers & Company presents "United States of ALEC," a report on the most influential corpor...
published: 28 Sep 2012
author: BillMoyers.com
Moyers & Company Show 138: United States of ALEC
Moyers & Company presents "United States of ALEC," a report on the most influential corporate-funded political force most of America has never heard of -- ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. A national consortium of state politicians and powerful corporations, ALEC presents itself as a “nonpartisan public-private partnership”. But behind that mantra lies a vast network of corporate lobbying and political action aimed to increase corporate profits at public expense without public knowledge.
Using interviews, documents, and field reporting, the episode explores ALEC’s self-serving machine at work, acting in a way one Wisconsin politician describes as “a corporate dating service for lonely legislators and corporate special interests.”
In state houses around the country, hundreds of pieces of boilerplate ALEC legislation are proposed or enacted that would, among other things, dilute collective bargaining rights, make it harder for some Americans to vote, and limit corporate liability for harm caused to consumers -- each accomplished without the public ever knowing who's behind it.
“All of us here are very familiar with ALEC and the influence that ALEC has with many of the [legislative] members,” says Arizona State Senator Steve Farley. “Corporations have the right to present their arguments, but they don’t have the right to do it secretly.”
"United States of ALEC" is a collaboration between Okapi Productions LLC and the Schumann Media Center, headed by Bill Moyers, which supports independent journalism and public watchdogs including the Center for Media and Democracy, whose investigators are featured in the report.
Also on the Moyers & Company broadcast -- making a timely return appearance -- is master media decoder Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center and founder of FactCheck.org. Jamieson joins Bill to discuss deception and truth in the 2012 campaign.
56:46
Moyers & Company Show 136: The One-Percent Court
Because of partisan gridlock in Washington, the Supreme Court has become the most powerful...
published: 14 Sep 2012
author: BillMoyers.com
Moyers & Company Show 136: The One-Percent Court
Because of partisan gridlock in Washington, the Supreme Court has become the most powerful and outspoken branch of government – decisions they make shape our democracy’s fate for generations to come. Now, one has only to look at Bush v. Gore, Citizens United, and the Affordable Care Act rulings to understand why some call it a “one-percent Court” -- dedicated by majority rule to preserving the power and influence of a minority of wealthy special interests.
This week on Moyers & Company, The Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel and Jamie Raskin, constitutional law professor and Maryland state senator, join Bill to discuss how the uncontested power of the Supreme Court is changing our elections, our country, and our lives. The two joined forces for a special upcoming issue of The Nation entitled “The One Percent Court.”
Also on the program, Bill talks with Craig Unger, author of Boss Rove: Inside Karl Rove’s Secret Kingdom of Power, about Rove’s behind-the-scenes maneuvering and collaborations to once again affect the outcome of a presidential election.
2:52
Debate for United States Senate
When Senator Ted Kennedy passed away, a special election was held in Massachusetts to fill...
published: 30 Jan 2012
author: Pyxis Productions
Debate for United States Senate
When Senator Ted Kennedy passed away, a special election was held in Massachusetts to fill his empty Senate seat. Polling data had Attorney General Martha Coakley leading Republican candidate Scott Brown, and she was believed to be Kennedy's guaranteed successor. This debate, produced by Pyxis Productions, marked a turning point for Brown, who later went on to win the seat handily. This debate excerpt contains perhaps the most notable sound bite of the evening, when Scott Brown reminds the debate moderator that the seat belongs not to Ted Kennedy or the Democrats, but to the people of Massachusetts.
8:56
Sam Granato - Utah Democratic Candidate for the United States Senate - Filing Announcement
Sam Granato, a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate from Utah, officially fil...
published: 28 Jun 2010
author: DannyTSoC
Sam Granato - Utah Democratic Candidate for the United States Senate - Filing Announcement
Sam Granato, a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate from Utah, officially files his canididacy forms and pays his filing fee to the Lt. Governor's office at the Utah State Capitol on Thursday, March 18, 2010. After completing his filing, Granato held an impromptu news conference in the State Capitol where he discussed his reasons for running for public office and the Utah senatorial election..
Video produced by Donald Lewin Nelson. Video recorded on Panasonic AG-HMC 70 and edited using Sony Creative Software Vegas Pro 8.
- published: 28 Jun 2010
- views: 155
- author: DannyTSoC
6:58
Sam Granato Obtains Endorsement of J. Dell Holbrook for Himself and Fair Boundaries Initiative
Democratic candidate for the United States Senate in Utah Sam Granato obtains the endorsem...
published: 28 Jun 2010
author: DannyTSoC
Sam Granato Obtains Endorsement of J. Dell Holbrook for Himself and Fair Boundaries Initiative
Democratic candidate for the United States Senate in Utah Sam Granato obtains the endorsement of J. Dell for himself and the Utah Fair Boundaries Reapportionment Initiative.
.
Video produced and directed by Donald Lewin Nelson. Music performed by Brian Lewin Nelson. Video recorded on Panasonic AG-HMC 70 and edited using Sony Creative Software Vegas Pro 8.
.
- published: 28 Jun 2010
- views: 143
- author: DannyTSoC
2:25
Sam Granato Walks Through The Snow Gathering Signatures For The Utah Fair Boundaries Initiative
On a cold Saturday in December, Sam Granato tramped through the snow in Layton, Utah to ga...
published: 28 Jun 2010
author: DannyTSoC
Sam Granato Walks Through The Snow Gathering Signatures For The Utah Fair Boundaries Initiative
On a cold Saturday in December, Sam Granato tramped through the snow in Layton, Utah to gather signatures for the Utah Fair Boundaries Re-apportionment Initiative which will create an independent commission to create a plan recommending state legislative and congressional districts for Utah after the 2010. If the advocates of reform gather 95,000 signatures the initiative will be placed on the ballot in November 2010.
Video produced and directed by Donald Lewin Nelson
- published: 28 Jun 2010
- views: 118
- author: DannyTSoC
8:37
Weber County Democrats 2009 Convention - Rob Miller and Sam Granato
State Party Vice-Chair Rob Miller and Sam Granato, who served on Gov. Huntsman's Alcoholic...
published: 28 Jun 2010
author: DannyTSoC
Weber County Democrats 2009 Convention - Rob Miller and Sam Granato
State Party Vice-Chair Rob Miller and Sam Granato, who served on Gov. Huntsman's Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission wrap up the Weber County Democratic Party organizing convention. April 25, 2009, Ogden, UT. Donate to Weber County Democrats: http://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/11662
- published: 28 Jun 2010
- views: 116
- author: DannyTSoC
2:14
Sam Granato - Qualities of a United States Senator - Interview No. 8
Utah Democratic candidate for the United States Senate, Sam Granato, interviews individual...
published: 28 Jun 2010
author: DannyTSoC
Sam Granato - Qualities of a United States Senator - Interview No. 8
Utah Democratic candidate for the United States Senate, Sam Granato, interviews individuals at the Avenues Street Fair in Salt Lake City, Utah on Saturday, September 12, 2009 concerning the qualities and attributes that they want in the next Utah United states Senator. This is interview the eighth interview in this series.
- published: 28 Jun 2010
- views: 37
- author: DannyTSoC
6:09
Glenn Beck interviews Mike Lee (R-Utah) - Pt 1 of 2
Glenn Beck interviews Mike Lee (R-Utah) - Pt 1 of 2
PART TWO: http://www.youtube.com/watc...
published: 28 Jun 2010
author: DannyTSoC
Glenn Beck interviews Mike Lee (R-Utah) - Pt 1 of 2
Glenn Beck interviews Mike Lee (R-Utah) - Pt 1 of 2
PART TWO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWJqQ_2wQ2U
- published: 28 Jun 2010
- views: 2426
- author: DannyTSoC
6:21
Glenn Beck interviews Mike Lee (R-Utah) - Pt 2 of 2
Glenn Beck interviews Mike Lee (R-Utah) - Pt 2 of 2
PART ONE: http://www.youtube.com/watc...
published: 28 Jun 2010
author: DannyTSoC
Glenn Beck interviews Mike Lee (R-Utah) - Pt 2 of 2
Glenn Beck interviews Mike Lee (R-Utah) - Pt 2 of 2
PART ONE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiHt9KTiM3I
- published: 28 Jun 2010
- views: 1878
- author: DannyTSoC
Vimeo results:
4:43
The Well: Covering Capitol Hill
A rare glimpse into the way press photographers cover the politicians of the United States...
published: 04 Mar 2011
author: Chris Gregory
The Well: Covering Capitol Hill
A rare glimpse into the way press photographers cover the politicians of the United States Congress and the problems they face. Leading political photographers in Washington talk about the perills of the 24/7 news cycle and the increasingly sparce access.
"It's the genesis of the image as much as the ontological image itself that matters."- Dr. Kerric Harvey, Media Anthropologist at GWU.
Visit my portfolio at: www.chrisgregoryphoto.com
56:46
Moyers & Company Show 138: United States of ALEC
Moyers & Company presents "United States of ALEC," a report on the most influential corpor...
published: 28 Sep 2012
author: BillMoyers.com
Moyers & Company Show 138: United States of ALEC
Moyers & Company presents "United States of ALEC," a report on the most influential corporate-funded political force most of America has never heard of -- ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. A national consortium of state politicians and powerful corporations, ALEC presents itself as a “nonpartisan public-private partnership”. But behind that mantra lies a vast network of corporate lobbying and political action aimed to increase corporate profits at public expense without public knowledge.
Using interviews, documents, and field reporting, the episode explores ALEC’s self-serving machine at work, acting in a way one Wisconsin politician describes as “a corporate dating service for lonely legislators and corporate special interests.”
In state houses around the country, hundreds of pieces of boilerplate ALEC legislation are proposed or enacted that would, among other things, dilute collective bargaining rights, make it harder for some Americans to vote, and limit corporate liability for harm caused to consumers -- each accomplished without the public ever knowing who's behind it.
“All of us here are very familiar with ALEC and the influence that ALEC has with many of the [legislative] members,” says Arizona State Senator Steve Farley. “Corporations have the right to present their arguments, but they don’t have the right to do it secretly.”
"United States of ALEC" is a collaboration between Okapi Productions LLC and the Schumann Media Center, headed by Bill Moyers, which supports independent journalism and public watchdogs including the Center for Media and Democracy, whose investigators are featured in the report.
Also on the Moyers & Company broadcast -- making a timely return appearance -- is master media decoder Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center and founder of FactCheck.org. Jamieson joins Bill to discuss deception and truth in the 2012 campaign.
56:46
Moyers & Company Show 136: The One-Percent Court
Because of partisan gridlock in Washington, the Supreme Court has become the most powerful...
published: 14 Sep 2012
author: BillMoyers.com
Moyers & Company Show 136: The One-Percent Court
Because of partisan gridlock in Washington, the Supreme Court has become the most powerful and outspoken branch of government – decisions they make shape our democracy’s fate for generations to come. Now, one has only to look at Bush v. Gore, Citizens United, and the Affordable Care Act rulings to understand why some call it a “one-percent Court” -- dedicated by majority rule to preserving the power and influence of a minority of wealthy special interests.
This week on Moyers & Company, The Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel and Jamie Raskin, constitutional law professor and Maryland state senator, join Bill to discuss how the uncontested power of the Supreme Court is changing our elections, our country, and our lives. The two joined forces for a special upcoming issue of The Nation entitled “The One Percent Court.”
Also on the program, Bill talks with Craig Unger, author of Boss Rove: Inside Karl Rove’s Secret Kingdom of Power, about Rove’s behind-the-scenes maneuvering and collaborations to once again affect the outcome of a presidential election.
2:52
Debate for United States Senate
When Senator Ted Kennedy passed away, a special election was held in Massachusetts to fill...
published: 30 Jan 2012
author: Pyxis Productions
Debate for United States Senate
When Senator Ted Kennedy passed away, a special election was held in Massachusetts to fill his empty Senate seat. Polling data had Attorney General Martha Coakley leading Republican candidate Scott Brown, and she was believed to be Kennedy's guaranteed successor. This debate, produced by Pyxis Productions, marked a turning point for Brown, who later went on to win the seat handily. This debate excerpt contains perhaps the most notable sound bite of the evening, when Scott Brown reminds the debate moderator that the seat belongs not to Ted Kennedy or the Democrats, but to the people of Massachusetts.
8:41
Chossudovsky: US will start WW3 by attacking Iran
A UN nuclear watchdog report suggests Iran could be developing a nuclear bomb, apparently ...
published: 15 Apr 2011
author: keensweep
Chossudovsky: US will start WW3 by attacking Iran
A UN nuclear watchdog report suggests Iran could be developing a nuclear bomb, apparently confirming long-held suspicions in the West. But Tehran denies the claims, again insisting that its atomic intentions are peaceful. Michel Chossudovsky, who's from an independent Canadian policy research group, believes that what Iran says hardly matters, because the U.S. is planning for war...
- published: 15 Apr 2011
- views: 631646
- author: keensweep
1:09
Barack Obama Makes Shocking confession!!
You have to see it to believe it. Many of Barack Obama's critics have said that he lacks ...
published: 15 Apr 2011
author: keensweep
Barack Obama Makes Shocking confession!!
You have to see it to believe it. Many of Barack Obama's critics have said that he lacks experience and is not ready to be president, but this video shows Obama himself questioning whether or not he is ready.
Commentary Analysis Documentary Gotcha! Grassroots Outreach News Media Fox Politics Political Commercial Race Religion Church Pastor Audacity Hope Yes we can Controvery Controversial Primary Primaries Pennsylvania Guam Indiana North Carolina West Virginia Kentucky Oregon Puerto Rico Montana South Dakota Convention DNC November Faith Guns Religion Cling Bitter White House Nomination November
- published: 15 Apr 2011
- views: 4641742
- author: keensweep
4:32
JFK telling us the 911 truth
The truth about 911 is that it was a conspiracy by the same people that he is warning us a...
published: 15 Apr 2011
author: keensweep
JFK telling us the 911 truth
The truth about 911 is that it was a conspiracy by the same people that he is warning us about in this video. International bankers and those institutions owned by them (UN, NATO, WTO, WHO, etc...) ARE the, "monolithic and ruthless conspiracy". When he says, "for we are opposed around the world" he is referring to those that today call themselves "Zionists". They are hell bent on creating a one world government that they would then control. They blew up the WTC in order to begin the process.
- published: 15 Apr 2011
- views: 1275725
- author: keensweep
4:31
How can someone get away with doing all this?
This video is created propaganda style, no arguments here. However, there is not a single ...
published: 23 Apr 2011
author: keensweep
How can someone get away with doing all this?
This video is created propaganda style, no arguments here. However, there is not a single thing in it that is not a FACT. How could someone do all this and simply get a way with it. This guy did not only hurt everyone, he set humanity at least a hundred years backward. Saddam the dictator did not do in more that a quarter of a century what this creep did in few years. I know that this post is a spit in the wind; however, I am posting it anyway.
- published: 23 Apr 2011
- views: 6368
- author: keensweep
0:33
NWO EUGENICS PART 1
RALEIGH State Rep. Larry Womble is heading up a committee reviewing government compensati...
published: 26 Apr 2011
author: keensweep
NWO EUGENICS PART 1
RALEIGH State Rep. Larry Womble is heading up a committee reviewing government compensation for victims of the North Carolina Eugenics Sterilization Program, which robbed about 7,600 men, women and children of the chance to reproduce between 1929 and 1974.
They used a fancy name: Eugenics. They used excuses that they were promiscuous, or that they were feeble-minded or they would not be contributing members in a positive way to the society of North Carolina, Womble said.
Womble said the program chose people who were on welfare and threatened to take their benefits if they didnt enroll in the program.
Eugenics Sterilization Program
News 14 Carolina's Miracle King has more on the committee's review process.
75-year-old Willis Lynch was one such person, who had the procedure at 14.
He said he just didnt know what was going on.
Some of the key considerations under review by the committee are a monument honoring the victims or a story in the curriculum across North Carolina schools. They are also looking into offering counseling, free education opportunities, further health car provisions, and financial compensation.
The committee could give $20,000 to each victim.
But Lynch said no amount of money could replace his chance to have children.
I dont really care about a monument money is never going to take back what they did, Lynch said. Its always going to be on my mind anyway, it always is.
The committee will ask the legislature to enact their recommendations come July of next year.
The final draft will be approved Dec. 18, and from there it will go before legislators.
- published: 26 Apr 2011
- views: 8802
- author: keensweep
1:26
The shocking comment Barack Obama does not want you to hear!
The co-chairman for the Barak Obama campaign makes a disturbing racial remark. As far as ...
published: 27 Apr 2011
author: keensweep
The shocking comment Barack Obama does not want you to hear!
The co-chairman for the Barak Obama campaign makes a disturbing racial remark. As far as we know, Obama has not fired him or even denounced the comment. Is Barack Obama a racist?
Audacity Hope Media Fox Jeremiah Wright Democrat Republican Vote 2008 Controversy Controversial Church Pastor Commentary Political Commercial Politics Analysis Grassroots Gotcha! Outreach News Change Primary Primaries Pennsylvania Guam Indiana North Carolina West Virginia Kentucky Oregon Puerto Rico Montana South Dakota Convention DNC November Guns Faith Bitter Cling
- published: 27 Apr 2011
- views: 4952543
- author: keensweep
1:07
Barack Obama refuses to fist bump a little boy - WTF?
The shocking scandal Obama refuses to fist bump a little boy! Rachel Maddow, guest host on...
published: 27 Apr 2011
author: keensweep
Barack Obama refuses to fist bump a little boy - WTF?
The shocking scandal Obama refuses to fist bump a little boy! Rachel Maddow, guest host on countdown with Keith olbermann, uncovers the truth.
- published: 27 Apr 2011
- views: 148203
- author: keensweep
5:25
Obama hates the American Flag!
http://www.iamoneangryamerican.com Wake up America; you need to look at the Facts in this ...
published: 27 Apr 2011
author: keensweep
Obama hates the American Flag!
http://www.iamoneangryamerican.com Wake up America; you need to look at the Facts in this election. Obama is ashamed of America. He has done everything but directly come out and say I hate America. He has taken the American Flag off of his plane, He refused to wear, as he puts it and I quote, That pin. End quote, referring to the Flag lapel pin. He stated he did not like the way the flag pin represents patrisim. I am sorry but what a slap in the face of every American Soldier that has fought and so many died for this country and for the American Flag.
I understand you are frustrated with President Bush and the politics of the past. However, you need to take a good hard look at Obama and what he truly stands for. He has known proven ties to terrorist like William Aires and he has stated with his own actions & words he is not so found of America.
Even if he were to get the economy back on track what is he going to do to the security of our Country? We will be destroyed by the terrorist and we will be so much worse off in the long run if he is elected. This fact alone should be enough to not elect him to run our Country.
A vote for Obama is a vote against America.
If Obama is elected you mark my words today 09/15/08 at 8:20 PM every one of you Liberals will be ashamed and saddened about what happens to our Country and knowing you had a part in its downfall.
Tags
Obama hates America, Obama hates the American Flag, Obama is anti American, Obama wont wear the Flag pin, Obama will destroy America
- published: 27 Apr 2011
- views: 145416
- author: keensweep
1:43
If You're an American you should see THIS! for real
this video shows the outcry that all americans should be aware of ! Although this guy is f...
published: 27 Apr 2011
author: keensweep
If You're an American you should see THIS! for real
this video shows the outcry that all americans should be aware of ! Although this guy is from Ohio(American) and im sure alot of people think like he does, but i dont think the majority does.
- published: 27 Apr 2011
- views: 259706
- author: keensweep
2:27
United States Senator Ron Wyden on Conspiracy Theories and Audit of the Fed
United States Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon answers a question about Cass Sunstein's insane ...
published: 28 Apr 2011
author: keensweep
United States Senator Ron Wyden on Conspiracy Theories and Audit of the Fed
United States Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon answers a question about Cass Sunstein's insane white paper calling for the banning of conspiracy theories. He also answers whether he supports the senate bill to audit the federal reserve.
- published: 28 Apr 2011
- views: 13533
- author: keensweep
8:40
Ron Paul exposes United Nations plan to destroy US (1990's?)
THE UNITED NATIONS:
A Look Into The Future
RARE clips of RON PAUL defending American sov...
published: 28 Apr 2011
author: keensweep
Ron Paul exposes United Nations plan to destroy US (1990's?)
THE UNITED NATIONS:
A Look Into The Future
RARE clips of RON PAUL defending American sovereignty, the good Dr. really has been the lone voice in government standing up for the FREEDOM of the American people before we even felt a sense of urgency.
Dr. RON PAUL has had a consistant message warning about the rise of those elements working from within to destroy the American Constitution.
Dr. Paul,sir, quite frankly I feel that your message fell upon deaf ears during the 80's and 90's but now it is that same message that resonates in the heart of every American that loves FREEDOM.
America now realizes how important your message of FREEDOM is and how it is synonymous with our way of life, you also give the world HOPE for PEACE in these times of war.
But best of all, I get to VOTE for someone that truly reflects the voice of "WE THE PEOPLE", you have already won because you have lit the torch of LIBERTY and given us HOPE FOR AMERICA (your ideals have inspired a new generation of Constitutionalist Patriots and exposed the false Dem/Rep parties for what they really are Socialists and Facists...
You are in our prayers Dr. RON PAUL and know that we will carry your message far and wide until we are once again truly the LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE...
R[ƎVO˩]UTION
- published: 28 Apr 2011
- views: 131969
- author: keensweep
8:30
Part 1 of the 16 minutes edited out of Fox's debate replay
This the Pt.1 of the 16 minute segment that FOX news did not air on their replay. It does ...
published: 28 Apr 2011
author: keensweep
Part 1 of the 16 minutes edited out of Fox's debate replay
This the Pt.1 of the 16 minute segment that FOX news did not air on their replay. It does contain a great remark from Ron Paul on if he is electable. Thats at the end of Part 2. Why did FOX not play these 16 minutes? You can watch the entire debate in viewer at:
http://researchris.blogspot.com/2007/05/democrat-republican-debates-for-2008.html
- published: 28 Apr 2011
- views: 14431
- author: keensweep
3:46
Obama Refuses Access to Birth Records
What Country does Obama Love? If Obama loved the United States he would honor our Constitu...
published: 30 Apr 2011
author: keensweep
Obama Refuses Access to Birth Records
What Country does Obama Love? If Obama loved the United States he would honor our Constitution. It is a requirement that a President be a natural born citizen. The framers of the Constitution did not want someone loyal to another nation to have the office of President. Obama may be a citizen of Kenya and Indonesia. He has refused access to his birth records to anyone.
- published: 30 Apr 2011
- views: 24210
- author: keensweep
6:11
Oklahoma bans independent militias
An Oklahoma house bill aims to outlaw the forming of a militia without the state's approva...
published: 02 May 2011
author: keensweep
Oklahoma bans independent militias
An Oklahoma house bill aims to outlaw the forming of a militia without the state's approval. Citizens believe that the state is taking away their rights to form a lawful militia and it is becoming more of a tyrannical state. Sheree Geo says that the bill makes militia members the same as gang members.
- published: 02 May 2011
- views: 4737
- author: keensweep
Vimeo results:
4:43
The Well: Covering Capitol Hill
A rare glimpse into the way press photographers cover the politicians of the United States...
published: 04 Mar 2011
author: Chris Gregory
The Well: Covering Capitol Hill
A rare glimpse into the way press photographers cover the politicians of the United States Congress and the problems they face. Leading political photographers in Washington talk about the perills of the 24/7 news cycle and the increasingly sparce access.
"It's the genesis of the image as much as the ontological image itself that matters."- Dr. Kerric Harvey, Media Anthropologist at GWU.
Visit my portfolio at: www.chrisgregoryphoto.com
56:46
Moyers & Company Show 138: United States of ALEC
Moyers & Company presents "United States of ALEC," a report on the most influential corpor...
published: 28 Sep 2012
author: BillMoyers.com
Moyers & Company Show 138: United States of ALEC
Moyers & Company presents "United States of ALEC," a report on the most influential corporate-funded political force most of America has never heard of -- ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. A national consortium of state politicians and powerful corporations, ALEC presents itself as a “nonpartisan public-private partnership”. But behind that mantra lies a vast network of corporate lobbying and political action aimed to increase corporate profits at public expense without public knowledge.
Using interviews, documents, and field reporting, the episode explores ALEC’s self-serving machine at work, acting in a way one Wisconsin politician describes as “a corporate dating service for lonely legislators and corporate special interests.”
In state houses around the country, hundreds of pieces of boilerplate ALEC legislation are proposed or enacted that would, among other things, dilute collective bargaining rights, make it harder for some Americans to vote, and limit corporate liability for harm caused to consumers -- each accomplished without the public ever knowing who's behind it.
“All of us here are very familiar with ALEC and the influence that ALEC has with many of the [legislative] members,” says Arizona State Senator Steve Farley. “Corporations have the right to present their arguments, but they don’t have the right to do it secretly.”
"United States of ALEC" is a collaboration between Okapi Productions LLC and the Schumann Media Center, headed by Bill Moyers, which supports independent journalism and public watchdogs including the Center for Media and Democracy, whose investigators are featured in the report.
Also on the Moyers & Company broadcast -- making a timely return appearance -- is master media decoder Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center and founder of FactCheck.org. Jamieson joins Bill to discuss deception and truth in the 2012 campaign.
56:46
Moyers & Company Show 136: The One-Percent Court
Because of partisan gridlock in Washington, the Supreme Court has become the most powerful...
published: 14 Sep 2012
author: BillMoyers.com
Moyers & Company Show 136: The One-Percent Court
Because of partisan gridlock in Washington, the Supreme Court has become the most powerful and outspoken branch of government – decisions they make shape our democracy’s fate for generations to come. Now, one has only to look at Bush v. Gore, Citizens United, and the Affordable Care Act rulings to understand why some call it a “one-percent Court” -- dedicated by majority rule to preserving the power and influence of a minority of wealthy special interests.
This week on Moyers & Company, The Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel and Jamie Raskin, constitutional law professor and Maryland state senator, join Bill to discuss how the uncontested power of the Supreme Court is changing our elections, our country, and our lives. The two joined forces for a special upcoming issue of The Nation entitled “The One Percent Court.”
Also on the program, Bill talks with Craig Unger, author of Boss Rove: Inside Karl Rove’s Secret Kingdom of Power, about Rove’s behind-the-scenes maneuvering and collaborations to once again affect the outcome of a presidential election.
2:52
Debate for United States Senate
When Senator Ted Kennedy passed away, a special election was held in Massachusetts to fill...
published: 30 Jan 2012
author: Pyxis Productions
Debate for United States Senate
When Senator Ted Kennedy passed away, a special election was held in Massachusetts to fill his empty Senate seat. Polling data had Attorney General Martha Coakley leading Republican candidate Scott Brown, and she was believed to be Kennedy's guaranteed successor. This debate, produced by Pyxis Productions, marked a turning point for Brown, who later went on to win the seat handily. This debate excerpt contains perhaps the most notable sound bite of the evening, when Scott Brown reminds the debate moderator that the seat belongs not to Ted Kennedy or the Democrats, but to the people of Massachusetts.
Youtube results:
9:49
Where was Bush on 9/11?
Who were the Middle Eastern men who came to visit Bush in the early morning hours of 9/11 ...
published: 02 May 2011
author: keensweep
Where was Bush on 9/11?
Who were the Middle Eastern men who came to visit Bush in the early morning hours of 9/11 claiming they had a poolside interview? Why did Bush's secret service detail not physically remove the President from his publicly disclosed, unsecure location in the first crucial minutes of an all-out attack on America? Why did Bush fly to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana and Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska? And was it mere coincidence that Warren Buffett was hosting many of the Presidents and CEOs of businesses whose headquarters were in the World Trade Center at Offutt AFB that day? For an excellent analysis of what was happening that day, please read Webster Tarpley's "9/11 Synthetic Terror." For more news, information and analysis, please visit:
http://www.corbettreport.com
- published: 02 May 2011
- views: 91573
- author: keensweep
7:39
It's about money, not peace: Norman Finkelstein on Netanyahu visit to US
Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, suffering on the global front after a string of setb...
published: 04 May 2011
author: keensweep
It's about money, not peace: Norman Finkelstein on Netanyahu visit to US
Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, suffering on the global front after a string of setbacks, is meeting with US President Barack Obama in Washington to discuss a range of thorny issues. Norman Finkelstein, author of "A Farewell to Israel: The coming break-up of American Zionism", shares his view on US-Israeli 'unbreakable' bond.
- published: 04 May 2011
- views: 27598
- author: keensweep
3:13
NWO:NAU by 2010-CNN Lou Dobbs-Never Aired-Scary!! Wake Up!
This is no conspiracy theory. And its no joke! Get informed and prepared. We are many! Wa...
published: 06 May 2011
author: keensweep
NWO:NAU by 2010-CNN Lou Dobbs-Never Aired-Scary!! Wake Up!
This is no conspiracy theory. And its no joke! Get informed and prepared. We are many! Wake Up! Take a stand against the NWO!
UNITE! LOVE! SURVIVE! Get informed and prepared. PLEASE READ SCRIPTURE ABOUT THIS FLEE TO THE WILDERNESS BEING GOD'S CALL TO US! Meet and chat with others of like mind on this worldwide social network and find a secret camp near you and secret places all over to go and unite with others. No worries. FaceofGod2 (YouTube) UNITE! LOVE! SURVIVE!
- published: 06 May 2011
- views: 57982
- author: keensweep
49:32
Nuclear Security Summit Press Briefing
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and Assistant to the President for Counterterrorism and Homel...
published: 07 May 2011
author: keensweep
Nuclear Security Summit Press Briefing
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and Assistant to the President for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security John Brennan brief the press from the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C. on April 12, 2010.
- published: 07 May 2011
- views: 4247
- author: keensweep
2:51
CPAC 2012 - Official Trailer
CPAC 2012 - February 9-11, 2012 - www.conservative.org/CPAC - Video is a preview trailer f...
published: 28 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Official Trailer
CPAC 2012 - February 9-11, 2012 - www.conservative.org/CPAC - Video is a preview trailer for CPAC 2012. Join the American Conservative Union in Washington, DC for their 38th Conservative Political Action Conference - the largest annual gathering and agenda-setting event for conservative activists and leaders from across the country. The theme is - "We STILL Hold These Truths" - an ode to our country's founding "First Principles," including: 1.) Constitutionally Limited Government; 2.) Individual Liberty; 3.) Free Markets; 4.) Strong National Defense; and 5.) Preserving Traditional Values. Learn more at conservative.org.
- published: 28 Jul 2012
- views: 265
- author: The ACU
17:24
CPAC 2012 - ACU Chairman Al Cardenas
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunit...
published: 30 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - ACU Chairman Al Cardenas
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 33
- author: The ACU
21:13
CPAC 2012 - Senator Jim DeMint
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunit...
published: 30 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Senator Jim DeMint
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 66
- author: The ACU
35:43
CPAC 2012 Panel - Do "We Still Hold These Truths"?
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunit...
published: 30 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 Panel - Do "We Still Hold These Truths"?
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 6
- author: The ACU
25:20
CPAC 2012 - Senator Marco Rubio
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunit...
published: 30 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Senator Marco Rubio
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 41
- author: The ACU
13:28
CPAC 2012 - Senator Mike Lee
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunit...
published: 30 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Senator Mike Lee
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 23
- author: The ACU
7:28
CPAC 2012 - Congressman Tom Graves
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunit...
published: 30 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Congressman Tom Graves
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 14
- author: The ACU
7:55
CPAC 2012 - Senator Ron Johnson
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunit...
published: 30 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Senator Ron Johnson
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 9
- author: The ACU
12:43
CPAC 2012 Panel - It's the Spending Stupid!
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunit...
published: 30 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 Panel - It's the Spending Stupid!
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 4
- author: The ACU
23:07
CPAC 2012 - Senator Mitch McConnell
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunit...
published: 30 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Senator Mitch McConnell
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 25
- author: The ACU
10:21
CPAC 2012 - Congressman Steve King
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunit...
published: 30 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Congressman Steve King
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 8
- author: The ACU
11:34
CPAC 2012 - Congresswoman Michele Bachmann
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunit...
published: 30 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Congresswoman Michele Bachmann
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 55
- author: The ACU
7:26
CPAC 2012 - Congressman Jim Jordan
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunit...
published: 30 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Congressman Jim Jordan
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 15
- author: The ACU
Vimeo results:
4:43
The Well: Covering Capitol Hill
A rare glimpse into the way press photographers cover the politicians of the United States...
published: 04 Mar 2011
author: Chris Gregory
The Well: Covering Capitol Hill
A rare glimpse into the way press photographers cover the politicians of the United States Congress and the problems they face. Leading political photographers in Washington talk about the perills of the 24/7 news cycle and the increasingly sparce access.
"It's the genesis of the image as much as the ontological image itself that matters."- Dr. Kerric Harvey, Media Anthropologist at GWU.
Visit my portfolio at: www.chrisgregoryphoto.com
56:46
Moyers & Company Show 138: United States of ALEC
Moyers & Company presents "United States of ALEC," a report on the most influential corpor...
published: 28 Sep 2012
author: BillMoyers.com
Moyers & Company Show 138: United States of ALEC
Moyers & Company presents "United States of ALEC," a report on the most influential corporate-funded political force most of America has never heard of -- ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. A national consortium of state politicians and powerful corporations, ALEC presents itself as a “nonpartisan public-private partnership”. But behind that mantra lies a vast network of corporate lobbying and political action aimed to increase corporate profits at public expense without public knowledge.
Using interviews, documents, and field reporting, the episode explores ALEC’s self-serving machine at work, acting in a way one Wisconsin politician describes as “a corporate dating service for lonely legislators and corporate special interests.”
In state houses around the country, hundreds of pieces of boilerplate ALEC legislation are proposed or enacted that would, among other things, dilute collective bargaining rights, make it harder for some Americans to vote, and limit corporate liability for harm caused to consumers -- each accomplished without the public ever knowing who's behind it.
“All of us here are very familiar with ALEC and the influence that ALEC has with many of the [legislative] members,” says Arizona State Senator Steve Farley. “Corporations have the right to present their arguments, but they don’t have the right to do it secretly.”
"United States of ALEC" is a collaboration between Okapi Productions LLC and the Schumann Media Center, headed by Bill Moyers, which supports independent journalism and public watchdogs including the Center for Media and Democracy, whose investigators are featured in the report.
Also on the Moyers & Company broadcast -- making a timely return appearance -- is master media decoder Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center and founder of FactCheck.org. Jamieson joins Bill to discuss deception and truth in the 2012 campaign.
56:46
Moyers & Company Show 136: The One-Percent Court
Because of partisan gridlock in Washington, the Supreme Court has become the most powerful...
published: 14 Sep 2012
author: BillMoyers.com
Moyers & Company Show 136: The One-Percent Court
Because of partisan gridlock in Washington, the Supreme Court has become the most powerful and outspoken branch of government – decisions they make shape our democracy’s fate for generations to come. Now, one has only to look at Bush v. Gore, Citizens United, and the Affordable Care Act rulings to understand why some call it a “one-percent Court” -- dedicated by majority rule to preserving the power and influence of a minority of wealthy special interests.
This week on Moyers & Company, The Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel and Jamie Raskin, constitutional law professor and Maryland state senator, join Bill to discuss how the uncontested power of the Supreme Court is changing our elections, our country, and our lives. The two joined forces for a special upcoming issue of The Nation entitled “The One Percent Court.”
Also on the program, Bill talks with Craig Unger, author of Boss Rove: Inside Karl Rove’s Secret Kingdom of Power, about Rove’s behind-the-scenes maneuvering and collaborations to once again affect the outcome of a presidential election.
2:52
Debate for United States Senate
When Senator Ted Kennedy passed away, a special election was held in Massachusetts to fill...
published: 30 Jan 2012
author: Pyxis Productions
Debate for United States Senate
When Senator Ted Kennedy passed away, a special election was held in Massachusetts to fill his empty Senate seat. Polling data had Attorney General Martha Coakley leading Republican candidate Scott Brown, and she was believed to be Kennedy's guaranteed successor. This debate, produced by Pyxis Productions, marked a turning point for Brown, who later went on to win the seat handily. This debate excerpt contains perhaps the most notable sound bite of the evening, when Scott Brown reminds the debate moderator that the seat belongs not to Ted Kennedy or the Democrats, but to the people of Massachusetts.
Youtube results:
24:33
CPAC 2012 Panel - Game On! 2012 Political Landscape
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunit...
published: 30 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 Panel - Game On! 2012 Political Landscape
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 4
- author: The ACU
14:59
CPAC 2012 - Governor Rick Perry
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunit...
published: 30 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Governor Rick Perry
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 26
- author: The ACU
13:39
CPAC 2012 - Speaker of the House John Boehner
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunit...
published: 30 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Speaker of the House John Boehner
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 48
- author: The ACU
12:54
CPAC 2012 - Kirk Cameron
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunit...
published: 30 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC 2012 - Kirk Cameron
Running from February 9 - 11, 2012, CPAC 2012 gave conservatives everywhere the opportunity to meet and hear from our nation's most courageous conservative leaders, participate in setting the conservative agenda for the coming year and rally support against the big-government policies destroying America.
- published: 30 Jul 2012
- views: 80
- author: The ACU
1:50
CPAC Chicago - National Anthem
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to...
published: 26 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - National Anthem
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 19
- author: The ACU
13:57
CPAC Chicago Chairman Foster Friess
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to...
published: 26 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago Chairman Foster Friess
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 18
- author: The ACU
15:25
CPAC Chicago - Rick Santorum
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to...
published: 26 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Rick Santorum
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 17
- author: The ACU
7:08
CPAC Chicago - Arthur Brooks
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to...
published: 26 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Arthur Brooks
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 34
- author: The ACU
4:03
CPAC Chicago - Tom Fitton
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to...
published: 26 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Tom Fitton
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 39
- author: The ACU
12:57
CPAC Chicago - Governor John Kasich
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to...
published: 26 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Governor John Kasich
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 17
- author: The ACU
12:29
CPAC Chicago - Senator Rand Paul
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to...
published: 26 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Senator Rand Paul
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 19
- author: The ACU
9:44
CPAC Chicago - Senator Ron Johnson
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to...
published: 26 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Senator Ron Johnson
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 8
- author: The ACU
6:53
CPAC Chicago - Richard Mourdock
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to...
published: 26 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Richard Mourdock
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 22
- author: The ACU
25:32
CPAC Chicago - Governor Chris Christie
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to...
published: 26 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Governor Chris Christie
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 184
- author: The ACU
25:46
CPAC Chicago - Governor Bobby Jindal
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to...
published: 26 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Governor Bobby Jindal
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 74
- author: The ACU
12:34
CPAC Chicago - Governor Bob McDonnell
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to...
published: 26 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Governor Bob McDonnell
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 18
- author: The ACU
11:53
CPAC Chicago - Ed Feulner, Ph.D.
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to...
published: 26 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Ed Feulner, Ph.D.
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 15
- author: The ACU
4:58
CPAC Chicago - Congressman Tim Huelskamp
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to...
published: 26 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Congressman Tim Huelskamp
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 16
- author: The ACU
Vimeo results:
4:43
The Well: Covering Capitol Hill
A rare glimpse into the way press photographers cover the politicians of the United States...
published: 04 Mar 2011
author: Chris Gregory
The Well: Covering Capitol Hill
A rare glimpse into the way press photographers cover the politicians of the United States Congress and the problems they face. Leading political photographers in Washington talk about the perills of the 24/7 news cycle and the increasingly sparce access.
"It's the genesis of the image as much as the ontological image itself that matters."- Dr. Kerric Harvey, Media Anthropologist at GWU.
Visit my portfolio at: www.chrisgregoryphoto.com
56:46
Moyers & Company Show 138: United States of ALEC
Moyers & Company presents "United States of ALEC," a report on the most influential corpor...
published: 28 Sep 2012
author: BillMoyers.com
Moyers & Company Show 138: United States of ALEC
Moyers & Company presents "United States of ALEC," a report on the most influential corporate-funded political force most of America has never heard of -- ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. A national consortium of state politicians and powerful corporations, ALEC presents itself as a “nonpartisan public-private partnership”. But behind that mantra lies a vast network of corporate lobbying and political action aimed to increase corporate profits at public expense without public knowledge.
Using interviews, documents, and field reporting, the episode explores ALEC’s self-serving machine at work, acting in a way one Wisconsin politician describes as “a corporate dating service for lonely legislators and corporate special interests.”
In state houses around the country, hundreds of pieces of boilerplate ALEC legislation are proposed or enacted that would, among other things, dilute collective bargaining rights, make it harder for some Americans to vote, and limit corporate liability for harm caused to consumers -- each accomplished without the public ever knowing who's behind it.
“All of us here are very familiar with ALEC and the influence that ALEC has with many of the [legislative] members,” says Arizona State Senator Steve Farley. “Corporations have the right to present their arguments, but they don’t have the right to do it secretly.”
"United States of ALEC" is a collaboration between Okapi Productions LLC and the Schumann Media Center, headed by Bill Moyers, which supports independent journalism and public watchdogs including the Center for Media and Democracy, whose investigators are featured in the report.
Also on the Moyers & Company broadcast -- making a timely return appearance -- is master media decoder Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center and founder of FactCheck.org. Jamieson joins Bill to discuss deception and truth in the 2012 campaign.
56:46
Moyers & Company Show 136: The One-Percent Court
Because of partisan gridlock in Washington, the Supreme Court has become the most powerful...
published: 14 Sep 2012
author: BillMoyers.com
Moyers & Company Show 136: The One-Percent Court
Because of partisan gridlock in Washington, the Supreme Court has become the most powerful and outspoken branch of government – decisions they make shape our democracy’s fate for generations to come. Now, one has only to look at Bush v. Gore, Citizens United, and the Affordable Care Act rulings to understand why some call it a “one-percent Court” -- dedicated by majority rule to preserving the power and influence of a minority of wealthy special interests.
This week on Moyers & Company, The Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel and Jamie Raskin, constitutional law professor and Maryland state senator, join Bill to discuss how the uncontested power of the Supreme Court is changing our elections, our country, and our lives. The two joined forces for a special upcoming issue of The Nation entitled “The One Percent Court.”
Also on the program, Bill talks with Craig Unger, author of Boss Rove: Inside Karl Rove’s Secret Kingdom of Power, about Rove’s behind-the-scenes maneuvering and collaborations to once again affect the outcome of a presidential election.
2:52
Debate for United States Senate
When Senator Ted Kennedy passed away, a special election was held in Massachusetts to fill...
published: 30 Jan 2012
author: Pyxis Productions
Debate for United States Senate
When Senator Ted Kennedy passed away, a special election was held in Massachusetts to fill his empty Senate seat. Polling data had Attorney General Martha Coakley leading Republican candidate Scott Brown, and she was believed to be Kennedy's guaranteed successor. This debate, produced by Pyxis Productions, marked a turning point for Brown, who later went on to win the seat handily. This debate excerpt contains perhaps the most notable sound bite of the evening, when Scott Brown reminds the debate moderator that the seat belongs not to Ted Kennedy or the Democrats, but to the people of Massachusetts.
Youtube results:
10:55
CPAC Chicago - Congressman Peter Roskam
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to...
published: 26 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Congressman Peter Roskam
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 15
- author: The ACU
19:09
CPAC Chicago - Congresswoman Michele Bachmann
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to...
published: 26 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Congresswoman Michele Bachmann
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 68
- author: The ACU
5:13
CPAC Chicago - Congressman Joe Walsh
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to...
published: 26 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Congressman Joe Walsh
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 26
- author: The ACU
4:54
CPAC Chicago - Grover Norquist
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to...
published: 26 Jul 2012
author: The ACU
CPAC Chicago - Grover Norquist
On Friday, June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago took the fight for the future of America directly to President Barack Obama's backyard, the site of broken promises made to the American people on his election night in 2008.
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 74
- author: The ACU
photo: AP / Vahid Salemi
07 Dec 2012
In Medina, the concept of a global community united by faith, justice, security, peace, and a concern for the poor and marginalized, had emerged ... Can Muslims in Saudi Arabia and Iran form new associations founded on a universal belief and code of conduct, as taught and lived by Prophet Muhammad? Can they again establish a regional-global community united by faith, justice, security, peace, and a concern for the poor and marginalized?....(size: 7.5Kb)
photo: NASA
06 Dec 2012
NASA, the national space agency of the US, on Thursday released a black and white satellite imagery of India Diwali night 2012, cautioning people against the fake image in circulation on the social media ... “The image is based on data collected by the VIIRS ‘day- night band’, which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared ... Keywords....(size: 1.9Kb)
photo: AP / Osama Faisal
08 Dec 2012
There has been a historic shift in the UN climate talks in Qatar, with the prospect of rich nations having to compensate poor nations for losses due to climate change. The US has fiercely opposed the measure - it says the cost could be unlimited ... Small island states at risk from inundation say they will walk out if the US vetoes the proposed deal. The political stakes are high ... Continue reading the main story “Start Quote ... ....(size: 3.1Kb)
photo: AP / Hassan Ammar
08 Dec 2012
referendum "he will unite the national forces". The state news agency reported that the election committee had postponed the start of voting for Egyptians abroad until Wednesday, instead of Saturday as planned ... Republican Guard units had sealed off the presidential palace with tanks and barbed wire on Thursday after violence between supporters and opponents of Morsi killed seven people and wounded at least 350 others ... State of play....(size: 19.5Kb)
Review Journal
09 Dec 2012
Kyl said the treaty "would offer cover to regimes that have no intention of actually helping their citizens, while needlessly tying the hands of countries such as the United States that have actually made great strides in this area." ... Russia, which has 142 million consumers, joined the WTO in August and must now play by the same trade rules as other WTO members, including the United States....(size: 3.2Kb)
The Examiner
09 Dec 2012
... duty shall aid an agency of the armed forces of the United States in any investigation, prosecution, or detention of any person pursuant to section 1021 of the national defense authorization act…” ... Let them know that you want them to stand up for the Constitution of the United States AND the Constitution of Michigan – they took an oath to both....(size: 4.5Kb)
The Washington Post
09 Dec 2012
A measure granting the government expansive power to intercept electronic communications in the United States without a warrant is set to expire this month, setting up a sharp debate in Senate over how to balance privacy against national security. ... The Senate must vote by the end of the year or the authority expires ... citizen or anyone inside the United States requires a warrant....(size: 4.9Kb)
Star Tribune
09 Dec 2012
In what is among the sorriest moments for the 112th Congress, Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked ratification of a United Nations treaty that banned discrimination against people with disabilities ... Senators were merely being asked to affirm what's already the law of the land in the United States ... But the Senate has yet to ratify the treaty, and ......(size: 1.9Kb)
Reuters
09 Dec 2012
Moscow announced restrictions on meat imports from the United States on Friday although it denied suggestions it had done so in response to the U.S ... Areas in which the United States wants Russian cooperation most include nuclear arms control and Iran ... Despite Russian denials, analysts saw a link between the Magnitsky Act and Moscow's announcement of restrictions on meat imports from several countries, including the United States....(size: 4.2Kb)
Khaleej Times
09 Dec 2012
“Americans have made an extremely unfriendly move against us,” former ambassador to the United States Yury Ushakov said on Sunday ... But it would also compel the US government to freeze the assets of anyone tied to the 2009 death in jail of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and deny them entry to the United States ... “In the State ......(size: 2.5Kb)
noodls
09 Dec 2012
President of the United States) ... I have informed the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee ... I have asked both Senators Levin and McCain that the confirmation hearing on General Allen's pending nomination to be Commander of United States European Command and Supreme Allied Commander, Europe be delayed....(size: 2.8Kb)
The Independent
09 Dec 2012
A measure granting the government expansive power to intercept electronic communications in the United States without a warrant is set to expire this month, setting up a sharp debate in the Senate over how to balance privacy against national security ... The Senate must vote by the end of the year or the authority expires ... citizen or anyone inside the United States requires a warrant ... Twelve other senators, including conservative Sen....(size: 6.7Kb)
noodls
09 Dec 2012
State of Georgia) Sen. Renee Unterman Challenges States to Strengthen Human Trafficking Laws at NCSL Forum ... Experts estimate that thousands of children under the age of 18 are sexually exploited for commercial gain each year in the United States ... Renee Unterman in the Senate ... The Senate Joint Human Trafficking Study Committee will hold its first meeting on Thursday, December, 21 at the Georgia State Capitol ... shawna.mercer@senate.ga.gov....(size: 4.1Kb)
The Daily Tribune
09 Dec 2012
Teofisto (TG) Guingona III that the Senate will prioritize the amendments to the AMLC bill and will pass it before Congress adjourns on Dec ... If passed, the current Senate bill will make the Philippines comply with the United Nations, Vienna, Palermo and Merida Conventions to which it is a state party as well as with the UN Declaration Against Money Laundering,” Aquino told The Daily Tribune in an exclusive interview....(size: 2.2Kb)
my SA
09 Dec 2012
The state Legislature should implement nonpartisan elections for all state judges ... This election was decided in four swing states — Florida, Ohio, Virginia, and New Hampshire — by fewer than 333,000 votes ... By way of definition, the filibuster is a delaying tactic that is a part of the rules of the Senate ... He and his Tea Party buddies need to renounce their citizenship and leave the great United States of America never to return again....(size: 6.0Kb)
Tulsa World
09 Dec 2012
The Oklahoma Insurance Department has stepped up the presence of its anti-fraud unit, a move that is raising some eyebrows at the state Capitol ... Edmondson said he hasn't discussed the spending with state Insurance Commissioner John Doak, but his years in state government have proven to him that the anti-fraud unit's work is exclusively in white-collar crime ... We now have State (representatives) weighing in."....(size: 9.8Kb)
Novosti
09 Dec 2012
MOSCOW, December 9 (RIA Novosti) – The United States called on Russia on Sunday to lift restrictions on American meat imports, saying the new requirement on American beef and pork supplies contradicted Russia’s obligations as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) ... “The United States calls on Russia to suspend these new measures and restore market access for U.S....(size: 2.1Kb)
| United States Senate | |
|---|---|
| 112th United States Congress | |
 |
|
| Type | |
| Type | Upper house |
| Term limits | Unlimited 6-year terms |
| Leadership | |
| President | Joe Biden, (D) since January 20, 2009 |
| President pro tempore | Daniel Inouye, (D) since June 28, 2010 |
| Majority Leader | Harry Reid, (D) since January 4, 2007 |
| Minority Leader | Mitch McConnell, (R) since January 4, 2007 |
| Members | 100 |
| Political groups | Democratic Caucus (53 members) Republican Conference (47 members) |
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| Elections | |
| Last election | November 2, 2010 |
| Meeting place | |
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| Senate Chamber United States Capitol Washington, D.C. United States |
|
| Website | |
| http://www.senate.gov | |
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution.[1] Each U.S. state is represented by two senators, regardless of population. Senators serve staggered six-year terms. The chamber of the United States Senate is located in the north wing of the Capitol, in Washington, D.C., the national capital. The House of Representatives convenes in the south wing of the same building.
The Senate has several exclusive powers not granted to the House, including consenting to treaties as a precondition to their ratification and consenting or confirming appointments of Cabinet secretaries, federal judges, other federal executive officials, military officers, regulatory officials, ambassadors, and other federal uniformed officers,[2][3] as well as trial of federal officials impeached by the House. The Senate is both a more deliberative[4] and more prestigious[5] body than the House of Representatives, due to its longer terms, smaller size, and statewide constituencies, which historically led to a more collegial and less partisan atmosphere.[6] The Senate is sometimes called the "world's greatest deliberative body."[7][8][9][10]
Contents |
History[link]
Main article: History of the United States Senate
"In England, at this day, if elections were open to all classes of people, the property of landed proprietors would be insecure. An agrarian law would soon take place. If these observations be just, our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the country against innovation. Landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests, and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority. The senate, therefore, ought to be this body; and to answer these purposes, they ought to have permanency and stability."
--James Madison, quoted in Notes of the Secret Debates of the Federal Convention of 1787 by Robert Yates
The framers of the Constitution created a bicameral Congress primarily as a compromise between those who felt that each state, since it was sovereign, should be equally represented, and those who felt the legislature must directly represent the people, as the House of Commons did in Britain. There was also a desire to have two Houses that could act as an internal check on each other. One was intended to be a "People's House" directly elected by the people, and with short terms obliging the representatives to remain close to their constituents. The other was intended to represent the states to such extent as they retained their sovereignty except for the powers expressly delegated to the national government. The Senate was thus not intended to represent the people of the United States equally. The Constitution provides that the approval of both chambers is necessary for the passage of legislation.[11]
The Senate of the United States was formed on the example of the ancient Roman Senate. The name is derived from the senatus, Latin for council of elders (from senex meaning old man in Latin).[12]
The Constitution stipulates that no constitutional amendment may be created to deprive a state of its equal suffrage in the Senate without that state's consent. The District of Columbia and all other territories (including territories, protectorates, etc.) are not entitled to representation in either House of the Congress. The District of Columbia elects two shadow senators, but they are officials of the D.C. city government and not members of the U.S. Senate.[13] The United States has had 50 states since 1959,[14] thus the Senate has had 100 senators since 1959.[15]
The disparity between the most and least populous states has grown since the Connecticut Compromise, which granted each state two members of the Senate and at least one member of the House of Representatives, for a total minimum of three presidential Electors, regardless of population. In 1787, Virginia had roughly 10 times the population of Rhode Island, whereas today California has roughly 70 times the population of Wyoming, based on the 1790 and 2000 censuses. This means some citizens are effectively an order of magnitude better represented in the Senate than those in other states. Seats in the House of Representatives are approximately proportionate to the population of each state, reducing the disparity of representation.[citation needed]
Before the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment, senators were elected by the individual state legislatures.[16] However, problems with repeated vacant seats due to the inability of a legislature to elect senators, intrastate political struggles, and even bribery and intimidation gradually led to a growing movement to amend the Constitution to allow for the direct election of senators.[17]
Membership[link]
Qualifications[link]
| This article is part of a series on the |
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| History of the United States Senate |
| Members |
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| Politics and procedure |
| Places |
Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution sets three qualifications for senators: 1) they must be at least 30 years old, 2) they must have been citizens of the United States for at least the past nine years, and 3) they must be inhabitants of the states they seek to represent at the time of their election. The age and citizenship qualifications for senators are more stringent than those for representatives. In Federalist No. 62, James Madison justified this arrangement by arguing that the "senatorial trust" called for a "greater extent of information and stability of character."
The Senate (not the judiciary) is the sole judge of a senator's qualifications. During its early years, however, the Senate did not closely scrutinize the qualifications of its members. As a result, three senators who failed to meet the age qualification were nevertheless admitted to the Senate: Henry Clay (aged 29 in 1806), Armistead Thomson Mason (aged 28 in 1816), and John Eaton (aged 28 in 1818). Such an occurrence, however, has not been repeated since.[18] In 1934, Rush D. Holt, Sr. was elected to the Senate at the age of 29; he waited until he turned 30 to take the oath of office. Likewise, Joe Biden was elected to the Senate shortly before his 30th birthday in 1972; he had passed his 30th birthday by the time the Senate conducted its swearing-in ceremony for that year's incoming senators in January 1973.
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution disqualifies from the Senate any federal or state officers who had taken the requisite oath to support the Constitution, but later engaged in rebellion or aided the enemies of the United States. This provision, which came into force soon after the end of the Civil War, was intended to prevent those who had sided with the Confederacy from serving. That Amendment, however, also provides a method to remove that disqualification: a two-thirds vote of both chambers of Congress.
Elections and term[link]
Originally, senators were selected by the state legislatures, not by popular elections. By the early years of the 20th century, the legislatures of as many as 29 states had provided for popular election of senators by referendums.[19] Popular election to the Senate was standardized nationally in 1913 by the ratification of the 17th Amendment.
Term[link]
Senators serve terms of six years each; the terms are staggered so that approximately one-third of the seats are up for election every two years. This was achieved by dividing the senators of the 1st Congress into thirds (called classes), where the terms of one-third expired after two years, the terms of another third expired after four, and the terms of the last third expired after six years. This arrangement was also followed after the admission of new states into the union. The staggering of terms has been arranged such that both seats from a given state are not contested in the same general election, except when a mid-term vacancy is being filled. Current senators whose six-year terms expire on January 3, 2013, belong to Class I.
A member who has been elected, but not yet seated, is called a "senator-elect"; a member who has been appointed to a seat, but not yet seated, is called a "senator-designate".
Elections[link]
Elections to the Senate are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in even-numbered years, Election Day, and coincide with elections for the House of Representatives.[20] Senators are elected by their state as a whole. In most states (since 1970), a primary election is held first for the Republican and Democratic parties, with the general election following a few months later. Ballot access rules for independent and minor party candidates vary from state to state. The winner is the candidate who receives a plurality of the popular vote. In some states, runoffs are held if no candidate wins a majority.
Mid-term vacancies[link]
The Seventeenth Amendment allows governors, with the approval of their legislature, to appoint temporary senators until either a special or regular election takes place. The official wording provides that "the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct." Some states, as stated above, provide for a special election to fill a Senate vacancy. A special election need not be held immediately after the vacancy arises; often, it may wait until the next biennial congressional election. If a special election for one seat happens to coincide with a general election for the state's other seat, then the two elections are not combined, but are instead contested separately. A senator elected in a special election serves until the original six-year term expires, not for a full term.
Forty-six states permit governors to make Senate appointments of varying lengths as of 2009. Oregon and Wisconsin require special elections for vacancies, and Oklahoma permits the governor to appoint only the winner of a special election.[21] In September 2009, Massachusetts changed its law to enable the governor to appoint a temporary replacement for the late Senator Kennedy until the special election in January 2010.[22][23] In 2004, Alaska enacted legislation and a separate ballot referendum that took effect on the same day, but that conflicted with each other. The effect of the ballot-approved law is to withhold from the governor authority to appoint a senator.[24] Because the 17th Amendment vests the power to grant that authority to the legislature – not the people or the state generally – it is unclear whether the ballot measure supplants the legislature's statute granting that authority.[24] As a result, it is uncertain whether an Alaska governor may appoint an interim senator to serve until a special election is held to fill the vacancy.
In 2009, Wisconsin Democratic Senator Russ Feingold announced he would introduce a bill proposing a constitutional amendment to require Senate vacancies be filled by special elections, as the Constitution already requires for vacancies in the House of Representatives.[25][26][27]
Oath[link]
| United States |
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The Constitution requires that senators take an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution.[28] Congress has prescribed the following oath for new senators:
I, ___ ___, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.—[29]
Salary and benefits[link]
The annual salary of each senator, as of 2009, is $174,000;[30] the president pro tempore and party leaders receive $193,400.[31] In June 2003, at least 40 of the then-senators were millionaires.[32]
Along with earning salaries, senators receive retirement and health benefits that are identical to other federal employees, and are fully vested after five years of service.[31] Senators are covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) or Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). As it is for federal employees, congressional retirement is funded through taxes and the participants' contributions. Under FERS, senators contribute 1.3% of their salary into the FERS retirement plan and pay 6.2% of their salary in Social Security taxes. The amount of a senator's pension depends on the years of service and the average of the highest 3 years of their salary. The starting amount of a senator's retirement annuity may not exceed 80% of their final salary. In 2006, the average annual pension for retired senators and representatives under CSRS was $60,972, while those who retired under FERS, or in combination with CSRS, was $35,952.[31]
Political prominence[link]
Senators are regarded as more prominent political figures than members of the House of Representatives because there are fewer of them, and because they serve for longer terms, usually represent larger constituencies (the exception being House at-large districts, which similarly comprise entire states), sit on more committees, and have more staffers. Far more senators have been nominees for the presidency than representatives. Furthermore, three senators (Warren Harding, John F. Kennedy, and Barack Obama) have been elected president while serving in the Senate, while only one Representative (James Garfield) has been elected president while serving in the House, though Garfield was also a Senator-elect at the time of his election to the Presidency, having been chosen by the Ohio Legislature to fill a Senate vacancy.
Seniority[link]
Main article: Seniority in the United States Senate
According to the convention of Senate seniority, the senator with the longer tenure in each state is known as the "senior senator"; the other is the "junior senator". This convention does not have official significance, though it is a factor in the selection of physical offices.[33] In the 111th Congress, the most-senior "junior senator" is Tom Harkin of Iowa, who was sworn in on January 3, 1985 and is currently 11th in seniority. The most-junior "senior senator" is Mark Udall of Colorado, who was sworn in on January 3, 2009 – just two weeks before the state's junior senator, Michael Bennet – and is currently 80th in seniority.
Expulsion and other disciplinary actions[link]
The Senate may expel a senator by a two-thirds vote. Fifteen senators have been expelled in the history of the Senate: William Blount, for treason, in 1797, and fourteen in 1861 and 1862 for supporting the Confederate secession. Although no senator has been expelled since 1862, many senators have chosen to resign when faced with expulsion proceedings – for example, Bob Packwood in 1995. The Senate has also censured and condemned senators; censure requires only a simple majority and does not remove a senator from office. Some senators have opted to withdraw from their re-election races rather than face certain censure or expulsion, such as Robert Torricelli in 2002.
Majority and minority parties[link]
The "Majority party" is the political party that either has a majority of seats or can form a coalition or caucus with a majority of seats; if two or more parties are tied, the vice president's affiliation determines which party is the majority party. The next-largest party is known as the minority party. The president pro tempore, committee chairs, and some other officials are generally from the majority party; they have counterparts (for instance, the "ranking members" of committees) in the minority party. Independents and members of third parties (so long as they do not caucus with or support either of the larger parties) are not considered in determining which is the majority party.
Seating[link]
The Democratic Party always sits to the presiding officer's right, and the Republican Party always sits to the presiding officer's left, regardless which party has a majority of seats.[citation needed] In this respect, the Senate differs from the House of Commons of the United Kingdom and other parliamentary bodies in the Commonwealth of Nations and elsewhere.
Officers[link]
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The Vice President of the United States presides over the Senate, but the party leaders have the real power and they control procedure. Many non-member officers are also hired to run the day-to-day functions of the Senate.
Presiding over the Senate[link]
The Vice President of the United States is the ex officio President of the Senate, with authority to preside over the Senate's sessions, although he can vote only to break a tie. For decades the task of presiding over Senate sessions was one of the vice president's principal duties. Since the 1950s, vice presidents have presided over few Senate debates. Instead, they have usually presided only on ceremonial occasions, such as joint sessions, or at times when a tie vote on an important issue is anticipated. The Constitution authorizes the Senate to elect a president pro tempore (Latin for "president for a time") to preside in the vice president's absence; the most senior senator of the majority party is customarily chosen to serve in this position. Like the vice president, the president pro tempore does not normally preside over the Senate, but typically delegates the responsibility of presiding to junior senators of the majority party, usually in blocks of one hour on a rotating basis. Frequently, freshmen senators (newly elected members) are asked to preside so that they may become accustomed to the rules and procedures of the body.
The presiding officer sits in a chair in the front of the Senate chamber. The powers of the presiding officer of the Senate are far less extensive than those of the Speaker of the House. The presiding officer calls on senators to speak (by the rules of the Senate, the first senator who rises is recognized); ruling on points of order (objections by senators that a rule has been breached, subject to appeal to the whole chamber); and announcing the results of votes.
Party leaders[link]
Each party elects Senate party leaders. Floor leaders act as the party chief spokespeople. The Senate Majority Leader is responsible for controlling the agenda of the chamber by scheduling debates and votes. Each party elects an assistant leader (whip) who works to ensure that their party's senators vote as the party leadership desires.
Non-member officers[link]
The Senate is served by several officials who are not members. The Senate's chief administrative officer is the Secretary of the Senate, who maintains public records, disburses salaries, monitors the acquisition of stationery and supplies, and oversees clerks. The Assistant Secretary of the Senate aids the secretary in his or her work. Another official is the Sergeant at Arms who, as the Senate's chief law enforcement officer, maintains order and security on the Senate premises. The Capitol Police handle routine police work, with the sergeant at arms primarily responsible for general oversight. Other employees include the Chaplain, who is elected by the Senate, and Pages, who are appointed.
Procedure[link]
Daily sessions[link]
The Senate uses Standing Rules of the Senate for operation. Like the House of Representatives, the Senate meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. At one end of the chamber of the Senate is a dais from which the presiding officer presides. The lower tier of the dais is used by clerks and other officials. One hundred desks are arranged in the chamber in a semicircular pattern and are divided by a wide central aisle. By tradition, Republicans sit to the right of the center aisle and Democrats to the left, facing the presiding officer.[34] Each senator chooses a desk based on seniority within the party. By custom, the leader of each party sits in the front row along the center aisle. Sessions of the Senate are opened with a special prayer or invocation and typically convene on weekdays. Sessions of the Senate are generally open to the public and are broadcast live on television, usually by C-SPAN 2.
Senate procedure depends not only on the rules, but also on a variety of customs and traditions. The Senate commonly waives some of its stricter rules by unanimous consent. Unanimous consent agreements are typically negotiated beforehand by party leaders. A senator may block such an agreement, but in practice, objections are rare. The presiding officer enforces the rules of the Senate, and may warn members who deviate from them. The presiding officer sometimes uses the gavel of the Senate to maintain order.
A "hold" is placed when the leader's office is notified that a senator intends to object to a request for unanimous consent from the Senate to consider or pass a measure. A hold may be placed for any reason and can be lifted by a senator at any time. A senator may place a hold simply to review a bill, to negotiate changes to the bill, or to kill the bill. A bill can be held for as long as the senator who objects to the bill wishes to block its consideration.
Holds can be overcome, but require time-consuming procedures such as filing cloture. Holds are considered private communications between a senator and the Leader, and are sometimes referred to as "secret holds". A senator may disclose that he or she has placed a hold.
The Constitution provides that a majority of the Senate constitutes a quorum to do business. Under the rules and customs of the Senate, a quorum is always assumed present unless a quorum call explicitly demonstrates otherwise. A senator may request a quorum call by "suggesting the absence of a quorum"; a clerk then calls the roll of the Senate and notes which members are present. In practice, senators rarely request quorum calls to establish the presence of a quorum. Instead, quorum calls are generally used to temporarily delay proceedings; usually such delays are used while waiting for a senator to reach the floor to speak or to give leaders time to negotiate. Once the need for a delay has ended, a senator may request unanimous consent to rescind the quorum call.
Debate[link]
Debate, like most other matters governing the internal functioning of the Senate, is governed by internal rules adopted by the Senate. During debate, senators may only speak if called upon by the presiding officer, but the presiding officer is required to recognize the first senator who rises to speak. Thus, the presiding officer has little control over the course of debate. Customarily, the Majority Leader and Minority Leader are accorded priority during debates even if another senator rises first. All speeches must be addressed to the presiding officer, who is addressed as "Mr. President" or "Madam President", and not to another member; other Members must be referred to in the third person. In most cases, senators do not refer to each other by name, but by state or position, using forms such as "the senior senator from Virginia", "the gentlewoman from California", or "my distinguished friend the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee". Senators address the Senate standing next to their desk.[35]
Apart from rules governing civility, there are few restrictions on the content of speeches; there is no requirement that speeches be germane to the matter before the Senate.
The rules of the Senate provide that no senator may make more than two speeches on a motion or bill on the same legislative day. A legislative day begins when the Senate convenes and ends with adjournment; hence, it does not necessarily coincide with the calendar day. The length of these speeches is not limited by the rules; thus, in most cases, senators may speak for as long as they please. Often, the Senate adopts unanimous consent agreements imposing time limits. In other cases (for example, for the budget process), limits are imposed by statute. However, the right to unlimited debate is generally preserved.
Filibuster and cloture[link]
Main articles: Filibuster (United States Senate) and Reconciliation (United States Congress)
The filibuster is a tactic used to defeat bills and motions by prolonging debate indefinitely. A filibuster may entail long speeches, dilatory motions, and an extensive series of proposed amendments. The Senate may end a filibuster by invoking cloture. In most cases, cloture requires the support of three-fifths of the Senate; however, if the matter before the Senate involves changing the rules of the body – this includes amending provisions regarding the filibuster – a two-thirds majority is required. In current practice, the threat of filibuster is more important than its use; almost any motion that does not have the support of three-fifths of the Senate effectively fails. This means that 41 senators, which could represent as little as 12.3% of the U.S. population, can make a filibuster happen. Historically, cloture has rarely been invoked because bipartisan support is usually necessary to obtain the required supermajority, so a bill that already has bipartisan support is rarely subject to threats of filibuster. However, motions for cloture have increased significantly in recent years.
If the Senate invokes cloture, debate does not end immediately; instead, it is limited to 30 additional hours unless increased by another three-fifths vote. The longest filibuster speech in the history of the Senate was delivered by Strom Thurmond, who spoke for over 24 hours in an unsuccessful attempt to block the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957.[36]
Under certain circumstances, the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 provides for a process called "reconciliation" by which Congress can pass bills related to the budget without those bills being subject to a filibuster. This is accomplished by limiting all Senate floor debate to 20 hours.[37]
Voting[link]
When debate concludes, the motion in question is put to a vote. The Senate often votes by voice vote. The presiding officer puts the question, and Members respond either "Yea" (in favor of the motion) or "Nay" (against the motion). The presiding officer then announces the result of the voice vote. A senator, however, may challenge the presiding officer's assessment and request a recorded vote. The request may be granted only if it is seconded by one-fifth of the senators present. In practice, however, senators second requests for recorded votes as a matter of courtesy. When a recorded vote is held, the clerk calls the roll of the Senate in alphabetical order; senators respond when their name is called. Senators who were not in the chamber when their name was called may still cast a vote so long as the voting remains open. The vote is closed at the discretion of the presiding officer, but must remain open for a minimum of 15 minutes. If the vote is tied, the vice president, if present, is entitled to a casting vote. If the vice president is not present, the motion fails.[38]
Closed session[link]
Main article: Closed session of the United States Congress
On occasion, the Senate may go into what is called a secret or closed session. During a closed session, the chamber doors are closed, cameras are turned off, and the galleries are completely cleared of anyone not sworn to secrecy, not instructed in the rules of the closed session, or not essential to the session. Closed sessions are rare and usually held only when the Senate is discussing sensitive subject matter such as information critical to national security, private communications from the president, or deliberations during impeachment trials. A senator may call for and force a closed session if the motion is seconded by at least one other member, but an agreement usually occurs beforehand.[39] If the Senate does not approve release of a secret transcript, the transcript is stored in the Office of Senate Security and ultimately sent to the national archives. The proceedings remain sealed indefinitely until the Senate votes to remove the injunction of secrecy.[40]
Calendars[link]
The Senate maintains a Senate Calendar and an Executive Calendar.[41] The former identifies bills and resolutions awaiting Senate floor actions. The latter identifies executive resolutions, treaties, and nominations reported out by Senate committee(s) and awaiting Senate floor action. Both are updated each day the Senate is in session.
Committees[link]
Main articles: U.S. Congressional committee and List of United States Senate committees
The Senate uses committees (and their subcommittees) for a variety of purposes, including the review of bills and the oversight of the executive branch. Formally, the whole Senate appoints committee members. In practice, however, the choice of members is made by the political parties. Generally, each party honors the preferences of individual senators, giving priority based on seniority. Each party is allocated seats on committees in proportion to its overall strength.
Most committee work is performed by 16 standing committees, each of which has jurisdiction over a field such as finance or foreign relations. Each standing committee may consider, amend, and report bills that fall under its jurisdiction. Furthermore, each standing committee considers presidential nominations to offices related to its jurisdiction. (For instance, the Judiciary Committee considers nominees for judgeships, and the Foreign Relations Committee considers nominees for positions in the Department of State.) Committees may block nominees and impede bills from reaching the floor of the Senate. Standing committees also oversee the departments and agencies of the executive branch. In discharging their duties, standing committees have the power to hold hearings and to subpoena witnesses and evidence.
The Senate also has several committees that are not considered standing committees. Such bodies are generally known as select or special committees; examples include the Select Committee on Ethics and the Special Committee on Aging. Legislation is referred to some of these committees, although the bulk of legislative work is performed by the standing committees. Committees may be established on an ad hoc basis for specific purposes; for instance, the Senate Watergate Committee was a special committee created to investigate the Watergate scandal. Such temporary committees cease to exist after fulfilling their tasks.
The Congress includes joint committees, which include members from both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Some joint committees oversee independent government bodies; for instance, the Joint Committee on the Library oversees the Library of Congress. Other joint committees serve to make advisory reports; for example, there exists a Joint Committee on Taxation. Bills and nominees are not referred to joint committees. Hence, the power of joint committees is considerably lower than those of standing committees.
Each Senate committee and subcommittee is led by a chair (usually a member of the majority party). Formerly, committee chairs were determined purely by seniority; as a result, several elderly senators continued to serve as chair despite severe physical infirmity or even senility.[42] Committee chairs are elected, but, in practice, seniority is rarely bypassed. The chairs hold extensive powers: they control the committee's agenda, and so decide how much, if any, time to devote to the consideration of a bill; they act with the power of the committee in disapproving or delaying a bill or a nomination by the president; they manage on the floor of the full Senate the consideration of those bills the committee reports. This last role was particularly important in mid-century, when floor amendments were thought not to be collegial. They also have considerable influence: senators who cooperate with their committee chairs are likely to accomplish more good for their states than those who do not. The Senate rules and customs were reformed in the twentieth century, largely in the 1970s. Committee chairmen have less power and are generally more moderate and collegial in exercising it, than they were before reform.[43] The second-highest member, the spokesperson on the committee for the minority party, is known in most cases as the ranking member.[44] In the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Select Committee on Ethics, however, the senior minority member is known as the vice chair.
Recent criticisms of the Senate's operations object to what the critics argue is obsolescence as a result of partisan paralysis and a preponderance of arcane rules.[45][46][47]
Functions[link]
Legislation[link]
Further information: Act of Congress
Bills may be introduced in either chamber of Congress. However, the Constitution provides that "All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives." As a result, the Senate does not have the power to initiate bills imposing taxes. Furthermore, the House of Representatives holds that the Senate does not have the power to originate appropriation bills, or bills authorizing the expenditure of federal funds. Historically, the Senate has disputed the interpretation advocated by the House. However, when the Senate originates an appropriations bill, the House simply refuses to consider it, thereby settling the dispute in practice. The constitutional provision barring the Senate from introducing revenue bills is based on the practice of the British Parliament, in which only the House of Commons may originate such measures.
Although the Constitution gave the House the power to initiate revenue bills, in practice the Senate is equal to the House in the respects of taxation and spending. As Woodrow Wilson wrote:[48]
| “ | The Senate's right to amend general appropriation bills has been allowed the widest possible scope. The upper house may add to them what it pleases; may go altogether outside of their original provisions and tack to them entirely new features of legislation, altering not only the amounts but even the objects of expenditure, and making out of the materials sent them by the popular chamber measures of an almost totally new character. | ” |
The approval of both houses is required for any bill, including a revenue bill, to become law. Both Houses must pass the same version of the bill; if there are differences, they may be resolved by sending amendments back and forth or by a conference committee, which includes members of both bodies.
Checks and balances[link]
The Constitution provides several unique functions for the Senate that form its ability to "check and balance" the powers of other elements of the Federal Government. These include the requirement that the Senate may advise and must consent to some of the president's government appointments; also the Senate must ratify all treaties with foreign governments; it tries all impeachments, and it elects the vice president in the event no person gets a majority of the electoral votes.
The president can make certain appointments only with the advice and consent of the Senate. Officials whose appointments require the Senate's approval include members of the Cabinet, heads of most federal executive agencies, ambassadors, Justices of the Supreme Court, and other federal judges. Under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution, a large number of government appointments are subject to potential confirmation; however, Congress has passed legislation to authorize the appointment of many officials without the Senate's consent (usually, confirmation requirements are reserved for those officials with the most significant final decision-making authority). Typically, a nominee is first subject to a hearing before a Senate committee. Thereafter, the nomination is considered by the full Senate. The majority of nominees are confirmed, but in a small number of cases each year, Senate Committees will purposely fail to act on a nomination to block it. In addition, the president sometimes withdraws nominations when they appear unlikely to be confirmed. Because of this, outright rejections of nominees on the Senate floor are infrequent (there have been only nine Cabinet nominees rejected outright in the history of the United States).[citation needed]
The powers of the Senate concerning nominations are, however, subject to some constraints. For instance, the Constitution provides that the president may make an appointment during a congressional recess without the Senate's advice and consent. The recess appointment remains valid only temporarily; the office becomes vacant again at the end of the next congressional session. Nevertheless, presidents have frequently used recess appointments to circumvent the possibility that the Senate may reject the nominee. Furthermore, as the Supreme Court held in Myers v. United States, although the Senate's advice and consent is required for the appointment of certain executive branch officials, it is not necessary for their removal.[49]
File:US Senate Chamber c1873.jpg
US Senate chamber c1873
The Senate also has a role in ratifying treaties. The Constitution provides that the president may only "make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur." However, not all international agreements are considered treaties under US domestic law, even if they are considered treaties under international law. Congress has passed laws authorizing the president to conclude executive agreements without action by the Senate. Similarly, the president may make congressional-executive agreements with the approval of a simple majority in each House of Congress, rather than a two-thirds majority in the Senate. Neither executive agreements nor congressional-executive agreements are mentioned in the Constitution, leading some scholars such as Laurence Tribe and John Yoo[50] to suggest that they unconstitutionally circumvent the treaty-ratification process. However, courts have upheld the validity of such agreements.[51]
The Constitution empowers the House of Representatives to impeach federal officials for "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors" and empowers the Senate to try such impeachments. If the sitting President of the United States is being tried, the Chief Justice of the United States presides over the trial. During an impeachment trial, senators are constitutionally required to sit on oath or affirmation. Conviction requires a two-thirds majority of the senators present. A convicted official is automatically removed from office; in addition, the Senate may stipulate that the defendant be banned from holding office. No further punishment is permitted during the impeachment proceedings; however, the party may face criminal penalties in a normal court of law.
In the history of the United States, the House of Representatives has impeached sixteen officials, of whom seven were convicted. (One resigned before the Senate could complete the trial.)[52] Only two presidents of the United States have ever been impeached: Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998. Both trials ended in acquittal; in Johnson's case, the Senate fell one vote short of the two-thirds majority required for conviction.
Under the Twelfth Amendment, the Senate has the power to elect the vice president if no vice presidential candidate receives a majority of votes in the Electoral College. The Twelfth Amendment requires the Senate to choose from the two candidates with the highest numbers of electoral votes. Electoral College deadlocks are rare. In the history of the United States, the Senate has only broken a deadlock once. In 1837, it elected Richard Mentor Johnson. The House elects the president if the Electoral College deadlocks on that choice.
Current composition and election results[link]
2 Democrats
1 Democrat and 1 Republican
2 Republicans
1 Independent, 1 DemocratCurrent party standings[link]
Main article: List of current United States Senators
The party composition of the Senate after January 3, 2011:
| Affiliation | Members | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 51 | ||
| Republican Party | 47 | ||
| Independent | 2 | Both caucus with the Democrats | |
| Total | 100 | ||
See also[link]
- Bibliography of U.S. congressional memoirs (U.S. senators)
- Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate
- List of current United States Senators by age
- List of current United States Senators
- United States presidents and control of congress
- Women in the United States Senate
References[link]
- ^ "Constitution of the United States". Senate.gov. March 26, 2009. http://www.senate.gov/civics/constitution_item/constitution.htm#a1_sec3. Retrieved October 4, 2010.
- ^ "Constitution of the United States". Senate.gov. March 26, 2009. http://www.senate.gov/civics/constitution_item/constitution.htm#a2_sec2. Retrieved October 4, 2010.
- ^ Lugar.senate.gov
- ^ Jstor.org
- ^ Jstor.org
- ^ "Agreeing to Disagree: Agenda Content and Senate Partisanship, 198". Ingentaconnect.com. June 16, 2006. DOI:10.3162/036298008784311000. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/uoi/lsq/2008/00000033/00000002/art00003. Retrieved October 4, 2010.
- ^ "The World's Greatest Deliberative Body". Time. July 5, 1993. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,978823,00.html.
- ^ Jstor.org
- ^ "World's greatest deliberative body watch". The Washington Post. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/11/worlds_greatest_deliberative_b.html.
- ^ "Senate reform: Lazing on a Senate afternoon". The Economist. http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010/08/senate_reform. Retrieved October 4, 2010.
- ^ "U.S. Constitution: article 1, Section 1". http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#A1Sec1.
- ^ "Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: senate". http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/senate. Retrieved March 22, 2012.
- ^ "Non-voting members of Congress". http://www.opencongress.org/wiki/Non-voting_members_of_Congress. Retrieved March 22, 2011.
- ^ "Hawaii becomes 50th state". http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hawaii-becomes-50th-state. Retrieved March 22, 2011.
- ^ "U.S. Constitution: article 1, Section 1". http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#A1Sec1. Retrieved March 22, 2012.
- ^ Article I, Section 3: "The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years; and each senator shall have one vote."
- ^ "U.S. Senate: Art & History Home > Origins & Development > Institutional Development > Direct Election of Senators". Senate.gov. March 26, 2009. http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Direct_Election_Senators.htm. Retrieved October 4, 2010.
- ^ 1801–1850, November 16, 1818: Youngest Senator. United States Senate. Retrieved November 17, 2007.
- ^ "Direct Election of Senators". U.S. Senate official website. http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Direct_Election_Senators.htm.
- ^ 2 U.S.C. § 1
- ^ Neale, Thomas H. (March 10, 2009). "Filling U.S. Senate Vacancies: Perspectives and Contemporary Developments". Congressional Research Service. p. 8. http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/R40421_20090310.pdf.
- ^ DeLeo, Robert A. (September 17, 2009). "Temporary Appointment of US Senator". Massachusetts Great and General Court. http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/54-140.htm.
- ^ DeLeo, Robert A. (September 17, 2009). "Temporary Appointment of US Senator Shall not be a candidate in special election". Massachusetts Great and General Court. http://www.mass.gov/legis/ht04248.pdf.
- ^ a b "Stevens could keep seat in Senate". Anchorage Daily News. October 28, 2009. http://www.adn.com/politics/story/569836.html.
- ^ Halperin, Mark (January 26, 2009). "Feingold Statement on Amendment Proposal". Time. http://thepage.time.com/feingold-statement-on-amendment-proposal/.
- ^ Thrush, Glenn (January 25, 2009). "Feingold wants Constitutional amendment to ban gov appointments". Politico. http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0109/Feingold_wants_Constitutional_amendment_to_ban_gov_appointments.html?showall.
- ^ Newmark, Betsy (January 26, 2009). "Change I Can Believe In – Russ Feingold’s Very Good Idea". The Washington Times. http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/01/26/newmark_kennedy_blago/.
- ^ United States Constitution, Article VI
- ^ See: 5 U.S.C. § 3331; see also: Standing Rules of the Senate: Rule III[dead link]
- ^ Salaries. United States Senate. Retrieved April 17, 2009.
- ^ a b c USGovInfo.com. Retrieved April 17, 2009.
- ^ Sean Loughlin and Robert Yoon (June 13, 2003). "Millionaires populate U.S. Senate". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/06/13/senators.finances. Retrieved June 19, 2006.
- ^ Baker, Richard A.. "Traditions of the United States Senate". Page 4. http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/Traditions.pdf.
- ^ CRS Report for Congress, "Guide to Individuals Seated on the Senate Dais" (updated May 6, 2008). Retrieved January 6, 2009.
- ^ Martin B. Gold, Senate Procedure and Practice, p.39: Every member, when he speaks, shall address the chair, standing in his place, and when he has finished, shall sit down.
- ^ Quinton, Jeff. "Thurmond's Filibuster". Backcountry Conservative. July 27, 2003. Retrieved June 19, 2006.
- ^ Reconciliation, 2 U.S.C. § 641(e) (Procedure in the Senate).
- ^ "Yea or Nay? Voting in the Senate". Senate.gov. http://www.senate.gov/general/Features/votes.htm. Retrieved April 11, 2011.
- ^ Senate.gov
- ^ Senate.gov
- ^ "Calendars & Schedules" via Senate.gov
- ^ See, for examples, American Dictionary of National Biography on John Sherman and Carter Glass; in general, Ritchie, Congress, p. 209
- ^ Ritchie, Congress, p. 44. Zelizer, On Capitol Hill describes this process; one of the reforms is that seniority within the majority party can now be bypassed, so that chairs do run the risk of being deposed by their colleagues. See in particular p. 17, for the unreformed Congress, and pp.188–9, for the Stevenson reforms of 1977.
- ^ Ritchie, Congress, pp .44, 175, 209
- ^ Mark Murray (August 2, 2010). "The inefficient Senate". Firstread.msnbc.msn.com. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/08/02/4801404-the-inefficient-senate. Retrieved October 4, 2010.
- ^ Packer, George (January 7, 2009). "Filibusters and arcane obstructions in the Senate". The New Yorker. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/09/100809fa_fact_packer?currentPage=all#ixzz0vY0UxHu9. Retrieved October 4, 2010.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ Wilson Congressional Government, Chapter III: "Revenue and Supply". Text common to all printings or "editions"; in Papers of Woodrow Wilson it is Vol.4 (1968), p.91; for unchanged text, see p. 13, ibid.
- ^ Recess Appointments FAQ (PDF). US Senate, Congressional Research Service. Retrieved November 20, 2007; Ritchie, Congress p. 178.
- ^ Bolton, John R. (January 5, 2009). "Restore the Senate's Treaty Power". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/opinion/05bolton.html.
- ^ For an example, and a discussion of the literature, see Laurence Tribe, "Taking Text and Structure Seriously: Reflections on Free-Form Method in Constitutional Interpretation", Harvard Law Review, Vol. 108, No. 6. (Apr., 1995), pp. 1221–1303.
- ^ Complete list of impeachment trials. United States Senate. Retrieved November 20, 2007
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- Barone, Michael, and Grant Ujifusa, The Almanac of American Politics 1976: The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: Their Records and Election Results, Their States and Districts (1975); new edition every 2 years
- David W. Brady and Mathew D. McCubbins. Party, Process, and Political Change in Congress: New Perspectives on the History of Congress (2002)
- Caro, Robert A. The Years of Lyndon Johnson. Vol. 3: Master of the Senate. Knopf, 2002.
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- Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1997–2001 (2002)
- Congressional Quarterly. Congress and the Nation: 1993–1996 (1998)
- Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1989–1992 (1993)
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- Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1981–1984 (1985)
- Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1977–1980 (1981)
- Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1973–1976 (1977)
- Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1969–1972 (1973)
- Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1965–1968 (1969)
- Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1945–1964 (1965), the first of the series
- Cooper, John Milton, Jr. Breaking the Heart of the World: Woodrow Wilson and the Fight for the League of Nations. Cambridge U. Press, 2001.
- Davidson, Roger H., and Walter J. Oleszek, eds. (1998). Congress and Its Members, 6th ed. Washington DC: Congressional Quarterly. (Legislative procedure, informal practices, and member information)
- Gould, Lewis L. The Most Exclusive Club: A History Of The Modern United States Senate (2005)
- Hernon, Joseph Martin. Profiles in Character: Hubris and Heroism in the U.S. Senate, 1789–1990 Sharpe, 1997.
- Hoebeke, C. H. The Road to Mass Democracy: Original Intent and the Seventeenth Amendment. Transaction Books, 1995. (Popular elections of senators)
- Lee, Frances E. and Oppenheimer, Bruce I. Sizing Up the Senate: The Unequal Consequences of Equal Representation. U. of Chicago Press 1999. 304 pp.
- McFarland, Ernest W. The Ernest W. McFarland Papers: The United States Senate Years, 1940–1952. Prescott, Ariz.: Sharlot Hall Museum, 1995 (Democratic majority leader 1950–52)
- Malsberger, John W. From Obstruction to Moderation: The Transformation of Senate Conservatism, 1938–1952. Susquehanna U. Press 2000
- Mann, Robert. The Walls of Jericho: Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Russell and the Struggle for Civil Rights. Harcourt Brace, 1996
- Ritchie, Donald A. Press Gallery: Congress and the Washington Correspondents. Harvard University Press, 1991.
- Ritchie, Donald A. The Congress of the United States: A Student Companion Oxford University Press, 2001 (2nd edition).
- Ritchie, Donald A. The U.S. Congress: A Very Short Introduction Oxford University Press, 2010.
- Rothman, David. Politics and Power the United States Senate 1869–1901 (1966)
- Swift, Elaine K. The Making of an American Senate: Reconstitutive Change in Congress, 1787–1841. U. of Michigan Press, 1996
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- VanBeek, Stephen D. Post-Passage Politics: Bicameral Resolution in Congress. U. of Pittsburgh Press 1995
- Weller, Cecil Edward, Jr. Joe T. Robinson: Always a Loyal Democrat. U. of Arkansas Press, 1998. (Arkansas Democrat who was Majority leader in 1930s)
- Wilson, Woodrow. Congressional Government. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1885; also 15th ed. 1900, repr. by photoreprint, Transaction books, 2002.
- Wirls, Daniel and Wirls, Stephen. The Invention of the United States Senate Johns Hopkins U. Press, 2004. (Early history)
- Zelizer, Julian E. On Capitol Hill : The Struggle to Reform Congress and its Consequences, 1948–2000 (2006)
- Zelizer, Julian E., ed. The American Congress: The Building of Democracy (2004) (overview)
Official Senate histories[link]
The following are published by the Senate Historical Office.
- Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–1989
- Robert Byrd. The Senate, 1789–1989. Four volumes.
- Vol. I, a chronological series of addresses on the history of the Senate
- Vol. II, a topical series of addresses on various aspects of the Senate's operation and powers
- Vol. III, Classic Speeches, 1830–1993
- Vol. IV, Historical Statistics, 1789–1992
- Dole, Bob. Historical Almanac of the United States Senate
- Hatfield, Mark O., with the Senate Historical Office. Vice Presidents of the United States, 1789–1993 (essays reprinted online)
- Frumin, Alan S. Riddick's Senate Procedure. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1992.
External links[link]
This audio file was created from a revision of the "United States Senate" article dated 2006-08-04, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: United States Senate |
- The United States Senate Official Website
- list of Senators who died in office, via PoliticalGraveyard.com
- Chart of all U.S. Senate seat-holders, by state, 1978–present, via Texas Tech University
- A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787–1825, via Tufts University
- Bill Hammons' American Politics Guide – Members of Congress by Committee and State with Partisan Voting Index
- United States Senate at WhoRunsGov at The Washington Post
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is about the United States of America. For other uses of terms redirecting here, see US (disambiguation), USA (disambiguation), and United States (disambiguation).
| United States of America | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Motto: In God We Trust (official) E Pluribus Unum (traditional) (Latin: Out of Many, One) |
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Anthem: "The Star-Spangled Banner" |
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.svg) |
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| Capital | Washington, D.C. 38°53′N 77°01′W / 38.883°N 77.017°W / 38.883; -77.017 |
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| Largest city | New York City | |||||
| Official language(s) | None at federal level[a] | |||||
| National language | English (de facto)[b] | |||||
| Demonym | American | |||||
| Government | Federal presidential constitutional republic | |||||
| - | President | Barack Obama (D) | ||||
| - | Vice President | Joe Biden (D) | ||||
| - | Speaker of the House | John Boehner (R) | ||||
| - | Chief Justice | John Roberts | ||||
| Legislature | Congress | |||||
| - | Upper house | Senate | ||||
| - | Lower house | House of Representatives | ||||
| Independence | from the Kingdom of Great Britain | |||||
| - | Declared | July 4, 1776 | ||||
| - | Recognized | September 3, 1783 | ||||
| - | Current constitution | June 21, 1788 | ||||
| Area | ||||||
| - | Total | 9,826,675 km2 [1][c](3rd/4th) 3,794,101 sq mi |
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| - | Water (%) | 6.76 | ||||
| Population | ||||||
| - | 2012 estimate | 313,802,000[2] (3rd) | ||||
| - | Density | 33.7/km2 87.4/sq mi |
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| GDP (PPP) | 2011 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $15.094 trillion[3] (1st) | ||||
| - | Per capita | $48,386[3] (6th) | ||||
| GDP (nominal) | 2011 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $15.094 trillion[3] (1st) | ||||
| - | Per capita | $48,386[3] (15th) | ||||
| Gini (2007) | 45.0[1] (39th) | |||||
| HDI (2011) |  0.910[4] (very high) (4th) |
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| Currency | United States dollar ($) (USD) |
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| Time zone | (UTC−5 to −10) | |||||
| - | Summer (DST) | (UTC−4 to −10) | ||||
| Date formats | m/d/yy (AD) | |||||
| Drives on the | right | |||||
| Internet TLD | .us .gov .mil .edu | |||||
| Calling code | +1 | |||||
| ^ a. English is the official language of at least 28 states—some sources give a higher figure, based on differing definitions of "official".[5] English and Hawaiian are both official languages in the state of Hawaii.
^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language. ^ c. Whether the United States or China is larger is disputed. The figure given is from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook. Other sources give smaller figures. All authoritative calculations of the country's size include only the 50 states and the District of Columbia, not the territories. ^ d. The population estimate includes people whose usual residence is in the fifty states and the District of Columbia, including noncitizens. It does not include either those living in the territories, amounting to more than 4 million U.S. citizens (mostly in Puerto Rico), or U.S. citizens living outside the United States. |
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The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[6] The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity).[3][7] Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.[3]
Indigenous peoples descended from forebears who migrated from Asia have inhabited what is now the mainland United States for many thousands of years. This Native American population was greatly reduced by disease and warfare after European contact. The United States was founded by thirteen British colonies located along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed their right to self-determination and their establishment of a cooperative union. The rebellious states defeated the British Empire in the American Revolution, the first successful colonial war of independence.[8] The current United States Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787; its ratification the following year made the states part of a single republic with a stronger central government. The Bill of Rights, comprising ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many fundamental civil rights and freedoms, was ratified in 1791.
Through the 19th century, the United States displaced native tribes, acquired the Louisiana territory from France, Florida from Spain, part of the Oregon Country from the United Kingdom, Alta California and New Mexico from Mexico, and Alaska from Russia, and annexed the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Disputes between the agrarian South and industrial North over the expansion of the institution of slavery and states' rights provoked the Civil War of the 1860s. The North's victory prevented a permanent split of the country and led to the end of legal slavery in the United States. By the 1870s, its national economy was the world's largest.[9] The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. It emerged from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union left the United States as the sole superpower. The country accounts for 41% of global military spending,[10] and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.[11]
Contents |
Etymology[link]
See also: Names for United States citizens
In 1507, German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere "America" after Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci.[12] The former British colonies first used the country's modern name in the 1776 Declaration of Independence, the "unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America".[13] On November 15, 1777, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, which states, "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be 'The United States of America'." The Franco-American treaties of 1778 used "United States of North America", but from July 11, 1778, "United States of America" was used on the country's bills of exchange, and it has been the official name ever since.[14]
The short form "United States" is also standard. Other common forms include the "U.S.", the "USA", and "America". Colloquial names include the "U.S. of A." and, internationally, the "States". "Columbia", a once popular name for the United States, derives from Christopher Columbus; it appears in the name "District of Columbia".
The standard way to refer to a citizen of the United States is as an "American". Although "United States" is the official appositional term, "American" and "U.S." are more commonly used to refer to the country adjectivally ("American values", "U.S. forces"). "American" is rarely used in English to refer to people not connected to the United States.[15]
The phrase "United States" was originally treated as plural—e.g., "the United States are"—including in the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1865. It became common to treat it as singular—e.g., "the United States is"—after the end of the Civil War. The singular form is now standard; the plural form is retained in the idiom "these United States".[16]
Geography and environment[link]
Main articles: Geography of the United States, Climate of the United States, and Environment of the United States
The land area of the contiguous United States is approximately 1,900 million acres (7,700,000 km2). Alaska, separated from the contiguous United States by Canada, is the largest state at 365 million acres (1,480,000 km2). Hawaii, occupying an archipelago in the central Pacific, southwest of North America, has just over 4 million acres (16,000 km2).[17] The United States is the world's third or fourth largest nation by total area (land and water), ranking behind Russia and Canada and just above or below China. The ranking varies depending on how two territories disputed by China and India are counted and how the total size of the United States is measured: calculations range from 3,676,486 square miles (9,522,055 km2)[18] to 3,717,813 square miles (9,629,091 km2)[19] to 3,794,101 square miles (9,826,676 km2).[1] Including only land area, the United States is third in size behind Russia and China, just ahead of Canada.[20]
The coastal plain of the Atlantic seaboard gives way further inland to deciduous forests and the rolling hills of the Piedmont. The Appalachian Mountains divide the eastern seaboard from the Great Lakes and the grasslands of the Midwest. The Mississippi–Missouri River, the world's fourth longest river system, runs mainly north–south through the heart of the country. The flat, fertile prairie of the Great Plains stretches to the west, interrupted by a highland region in the southeast. The Rocky Mountains, at the western edge of the Great Plains, extend north to south across the country, reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet (4,300 m) in Colorado. Farther west are the rocky Great Basin and deserts such as the Chihuahua and Mojave. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast. At 20,320 feet (6,194 m), Alaska's Mount McKinley is the tallest peak in the country and in North America. Active volcanoes are common throughout Alaska's Alexander and Aleutian Islands, and Hawaii consists of volcanic islands. The supervolcano underlying Yellowstone National Park in the Rockies is the continent's largest volcanic feature.[21]
The United States, with its large size and geographic variety, includes most climate types. To the east of the 100th meridian, the climate ranges from humid continental in the north to humid subtropical in the south. The southern tip of Florida is tropical, as is Hawaii. The Great Plains west of the 100th meridian are semi-arid. Much of the Western mountains are alpine. The climate is arid in the Great Basin, desert in the Southwest, Mediterranean in coastal California, and oceanic in coastal Oregon and Washington and southern Alaska. Most of Alaska is subarctic or polar. Extreme weather is not uncommon—the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of the world's tornadoes occur within the country, mainly in the Midwest's Tornado Alley.[22]
The U.S. ecology is considered "megadiverse": about 17,000 species of vascular plants occur in the contiguous United States and Alaska, and over 1,800 species of flowering plants are found in Hawaii, few of which occur on the mainland.[23] The United States is home to more than 400 mammal, 750 bird, and 500 reptile and amphibian species.[24] About 91,000 insect species have been described.[25] The Endangered Species Act of 1973 protects threatened and endangered species and their habitats, which are monitored by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. There are fifty-eight national parks and hundreds of other federally managed parks, forests, and wilderness areas.[26] Altogether, the government owns 28.8% of the country's land area.[27] Most of this is protected, though some is leased for oil and gas drilling, mining, logging, or cattle ranching; 2.4% is used for military purposes.[27]
Political divisions[link]
Main article: U.S. state
Further information: Territorial evolution of the United States and United States territorial acquisitions
The United States is a federal union of fifty states. The original thirteen states were the successors of the thirteen colonies that rebelled against British rule. Early in the country's history, three new states were organized on territory separated from the claims of the existing states: Kentucky from Virginia; Tennessee from North Carolina; and Maine from Massachusetts. Most of the other states have been carved from territories obtained through war or purchase by the U.S. government. One set of exceptions comprises Vermont, Texas, and Hawaii: each was an independent republic before joining the union. During the American Civil War, West Virginia broke away from Virginia. The most recent state—Hawaii—achieved statehood on August 21, 1959.[28] The states do not have the right to secede from the union.
The states compose the vast bulk of the U.S. land mass; the two other areas considered integral parts of the country are the District of Columbia, the federal district where the capital, Washington, is located; and Palmyra Atoll, an uninhabited but incorporated territory in the Pacific Ocean. The United States also possesses five major overseas territories: Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands in the Caribbean; and American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific.[29] Those born in the major territories (except for American Samoa) possess U.S. citizenship.[30] American citizens residing in the territories have many of the same rights and responsibilities as citizens residing in the states; however, they are generally exempt from federal income tax, may not vote for president, and have only nonvoting representation in the U.S. Congress.[31]
History[link]
Main article: History of the United States
Native American and European settlement[link]
The indigenous peoples of the U.S. mainland, including Alaska Natives, are believed to have migrated from Asia, beginning between 40,000 and 12,000 years ago.[32] Some, such as the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture, developed advanced agriculture, grand architecture, and state-level societies. After Europeans began settling the Americas, many millions of indigenous Americans died from epidemics of imported diseases such as smallpox.[33]
In 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus, under contract to the Spanish crown, reached several Caribbean islands, making first contact with the indigenous people. On April 2, 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed on what he called "La Florida"—the first documented European arrival on what would become the U.S. mainland. Spanish settlements in the region were followed by ones in the present-day southwestern United States that drew thousands through Mexico. French fur traders established outposts of New France around the Great Lakes; France eventually claimed much of the North American interior, down to the Gulf of Mexico. The first successful English settlements were the Virginia Colony in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony in 1620. The 1628 chartering of the Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in a wave of migration; by 1634, New England had been settled by some 10,000 Puritans. Between the late 1610s and the American Revolution, about 50,000 convicts were shipped to Britain's American colonies.[34] Beginning in 1614, the Dutch settled along the lower Hudson River, including New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island.
In 1674, the Dutch ceded their American territory to England; the province of New Netherland was renamed New York. Many new immigrants, especially to the South, were indentured servants—some two-thirds of all Virginia immigrants between 1630 and 1680.[35] By the turn of the 18th century, African slaves were becoming the primary source of bonded labor. With the 1729 division of the Carolinas and the 1732 colonization of Georgia, the thirteen British colonies that would become the United States of America were established. All had local governments with elections open to most free men, with a growing devotion to the ancient rights of Englishmen and a sense of self-government stimulating support for republicanism. All legalized the African slave trade. With high birth rates, low death rates, and steady immigration, the colonial population grew rapidly. The Christian revivalist movement of the 1730s and 1740s known as the Great Awakening fueled interest in both religion and religious liberty. In the French and Indian War, British forces seized Canada from the French, but the francophone population remained politically isolated from the southern colonies. Excluding the Native Americans (popularly known as "American Indians"), who were being displaced, those thirteen colonies had a population of 2.6 million in 1770, about one-third that of Britain; nearly one in five Americans were black slaves.[36] Though subject to British taxation, the American colonials had no representation in the Parliament of Great Britain.
Independence and expansion[link]
Tensions between American colonials and the British during the revolutionary period of the 1760s and early 1770s led to the American Revolutionary War, fought from 1775 to 1781. On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress, convening in Philadelphia, established a Continental Army under the command of George Washington. Proclaiming that "all men are created equal" and endowed with "certain unalienable Rights", the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, drafted largely by Thomas Jefferson, on July 4, 1776. That date is now celebrated annually as America's Independence Day. In 1777, the Articles of Confederation established a weak confederal government that operated until 1789.
After the British defeat by American forces assisted by the French and Spanish, Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States and the states' sovereignty over American territory west to the Mississippi River. Those wishing to establish a strong federal government with powers of taxation organized a constitutional convention in 1787. The United States Constitution was ratified in 1788, and the new republic's first Senate, House of Representatives, and president—George Washington—took office in 1789. The Bill of Rights, forbidding federal restriction of personal freedoms and guaranteeing a range of legal protections, was adopted in 1791.
Attitudes toward slavery were shifting; a clause in the Constitution protected the Atlantic slave trade only until 1808. The Northern states abolished slavery between 1780 and 1804, leaving the slave states of the South as defenders of the "peculiar institution". The Second Great Awakening, beginning about 1800, made evangelicalism a force behind various social reform movements, including abolitionism.
Americans' eagerness to expand westward prompted a long series of Indian Wars. The Louisiana Purchase of French-claimed territory under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 almost doubled the nation's size.[37] The War of 1812, declared against Britain over various grievances and fought to a draw, strengthened U.S. nationalism. A series of U.S. military incursions into Florida led Spain to cede it and other Gulf Coast territory in 1819. The Trail of Tears in the 1830s exemplified the Indian removal policy that stripped the native peoples of their land. The United States annexed the Republic of Texas in 1845, amid a period when the concept of Manifest Destiny was becoming popular.[38] The 1846 Oregon Treaty with Britain led to U.S. control of the present-day American Northwest. The U.S. victory in the Mexican-American War resulted in the 1848 cession of California and much of the present-day American Southwest. The California Gold Rush of 1848–49 further spurred western migration. New railways made relocation easier for settlers and increased conflicts with Native Americans. Over a half-century, up to 40 million American bison, or buffalo, were slaughtered for skins and meat and to ease the railways' spread. The loss of the buffalo, a primary resource for the plains Indians, was an existential blow to many native cultures.
Civil War and industrialization[link]
Tensions between slave and free states mounted with arguments about the relationship between the state and federal governments, as well as violent conflicts over the spread of slavery into new states. Abraham Lincoln, candidate of the largely antislavery Republican Party, was elected president in 1860. Before he took office, seven slave states declared their secession—which the federal government maintained was illegal—and formed the Confederate States of America. With the Confederate attack upon Fort Sumter, the Civil War began and four more slave states joined the Confederacy. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 declared slaves in the Confederacy to be free. Following the Union victory in 1865, three amendments to the U.S. Constitution ensured freedom for the nearly four million African Americans who had been slaves,[39] made them citizens, and gave them voting rights. The war and its resolution led to a substantial increase in federal power.[40] The war remains the deadliest conflict in American history, resulting in the deaths of 620,000 soldiers.[41]
After the war, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln radicalized Republican Reconstruction policies aimed at reintegrating and rebuilding the Southern states while ensuring the rights of the newly freed slaves. The resolution of the disputed 1876 presidential election by the Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction; Jim Crow laws soon disenfranchised many African Americans. In the North, urbanization and an unprecedented influx of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe hastened the country's industrialization. The wave of immigration, lasting until 1929, provided labor and transformed American culture. National infrastructure development spurred economic growth. The 1867 Alaska Purchase from Russia completed the country's mainland expansion. The Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 was the last major armed conflict of the Indian Wars. In 1893, the indigenous monarchy of the Pacific Kingdom of Hawaii was overthrown in a coup led by American residents; the United States annexed the archipelago in 1898. Victory in the Spanish–American War the same year demonstrated that the United States was a world power and led to the annexation of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.[42] The Philippines gained independence a half-century later; Puerto Rico and Guam remain U.S. territories.
World War I, Great Depression, and World War II[link]
At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the United States remained neutral. Most Americans sympathized with the British and French, although many opposed intervention.[43] In 1917, the United States joined the Allies, and the American Expeditionary Forces helped to turn the tide against the Central Powers. After the war, the Senate did not ratify the Treaty of Versailles, which established the League of Nations. The country pursued a policy of unilateralism, verging on isolationism.[44] In 1920, the women's rights movement won passage of a constitutional amendment granting women's suffrage. The prosperity of the Roaring Twenties ended with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 that triggered the Great Depression. After his election as president in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with the New Deal, a range of policies increasing government intervention in the economy, including the establishment of the Social Security system.[45] The Dust Bowl of the mid-1930s impoverished many farming communities and spurred a new wave of western migration.
The United States, effectively neutral during World War II's early stages after Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland in September 1939, began supplying materiel to the Allies in March 1941 through the Lend-Lease program. On December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, prompting the United States to join the Allies against the Axis powers as well as the internment of Japanese Americans by the thousands.[46] Participation in the war spurred capital investment and industrial capacity. Among the major combatants, the United States was the only nation to become richer—indeed, far richer—instead of poorer because of the war.[47] Allied conferences at Bretton Woods and Yalta outlined a new system of international organizations that placed the United States and Soviet Union at the center of world affairs. As victory was won in Europe, a 1945 international conference held in San Francisco produced the United Nations Charter, which became active after the war.[48] The United States, having developed the first nuclear weapons, used them on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August. Japan surrendered on September 2, ending the war.[49]
Cold War and protest politics[link]
The United States and the Soviet Union jockeyed for power after World War II during the Cold War, dominating the military affairs of Europe through NATO and the Warsaw Pact, respectively. While they engaged in proxy wars and developed powerful nuclear arsenals, the two countries avoided direct military conflict. Resisting leftist land and income redistribution projects around the world, the United States often supported authoritarian governments. American troops fought Communist Chinese forces in the Korean War of 1950–53. The House Un-American Activities Committee pursued a series of investigations into suspected leftist subversion, while Senator Joseph McCarthy became the figurehead of anticommunist sentiment.
The 1961 Soviet launch of the first manned spaceflight prompted President John F. Kennedy's call for the United States to be first to land "a man on the moon", achieved in 1969. Kennedy also faced a tense nuclear showdown with Soviet forces in Cuba. Meanwhile, the United States experienced sustained economic expansion. A growing civil rights movement, symbolized and led by African Americans such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., used nonviolence to confront segregation and discrimination. Following Kennedy's assassination in 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed under President Lyndon B. Johnson.[50][51] He also signed into law the Medicare and Medicaid programs.[52] Johnson and his successor, Richard Nixon, expanded a proxy war in Southeast Asia into the unsuccessful Vietnam War. A widespread countercultural movement grew, fueled by opposition to the war, black nationalism, and the sexual revolution. Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, and others led a new wave of feminism that sought political, social, and economic equality for women.
As a result of the Watergate scandal, in 1974 Nixon became the first U.S. president to resign, to avoid being impeached on charges including obstruction of justice and abuse of power. The Jimmy Carter administration of the late 1970s was marked by stagflation and the Iran hostage crisis. The election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980 heralded a rightward shift in American politics, reflected in major changes in taxation and spending priorities. His second term in office brought both the Iran-Contra scandal and significant diplomatic progress with the Soviet Union. The subsequent Soviet collapse ended the Cold War.
Contemporary era[link]
Under President George H. W. Bush, the United States took a lead role in the UN–sanctioned Gulf War. The longest economic expansion in modern U.S. history—from March 1991 to March 2001—encompassed the Bill Clinton administration and the dot-com bubble.[53] A civil lawsuit and sex scandal led to Clinton's impeachment in 1998, but he remained in office. The 2000 presidential election, one of the closest in American history, was resolved by a U.S. Supreme Court decision—George W. Bush, son of George H. W. Bush, became president.
On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda terrorists struck the World Trade Center in New York City and The Pentagon near Washington, D.C., killing nearly three thousand people. In response, the Bush administration launched the global War on Terror, invading Afghanistan and removing the Taliban government and al-Qaeda training camps. Taliban insurgents continue to fight a guerrilla war. In 2002, the Bush administration began to press for regime change in Iraq on controversial grounds.[54] Forces led by the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, ousting Saddam Hussein. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused severe destruction along much of the Gulf Coast, devastating New Orleans. In 2008, amid a global economic recession, the first African American president, Barack Obama, was elected. Major health care and financial system reforms were enacted two years later. In 2011, a raid by Navy SEALs in Pakistan killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The Iraq War ended with the pullout of the remaining U.S. troops from the country.
Government and politics[link]
Main articles: Federal government of the United States, state governments of the United States, and elections in the United States
The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law".[55] The government is regulated by a system of checks and balances defined by the U.S. Constitution, which serves as the country's supreme legal document.[56] In the American federalist system, citizens are usually subject to three levels of government, federal, state, and local; the local government's duties are commonly split between county and municipal governments. In almost all cases, executive and legislative officials are elected by a plurality vote of citizens by district. There is no proportional representation at the federal level, and it is very rare at lower levels.
The federal government is composed of three branches:
- Legislative: The bicameral Congress, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, makes federal law, declares war, approves treaties, has the power of the purse, and has the power of impeachment, by which it can remove sitting members of the government.
- Executive: The president is the commander-in-chief of the military, can veto legislative bills before they become law, and appoints the members of the Cabinet (subject to Senate approval) and other officers, who administer and enforce federal laws and policies.
- Judicial: The Supreme Court and lower federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the president with Senate approval, interpret laws and overturn those they find unconstitutional.
The House of Representatives has 435 voting members, each representing a congressional district for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population every tenth year. As of the 2000 census, seven states have the minimum of one representative, while California, the most populous state, has fifty-three. The Senate has 100 members with each state having two senators, elected at-large to six-year terms; one third of Senate seats are up for election every other year. The president serves a four-year term and may be elected to the office no more than twice. The president is not elected by direct vote, but by an indirect electoral college system in which the determining votes are apportioned to the states and the District of Columbia. The Supreme Court, led by the Chief Justice of the United States, has nine members, who serve for life.
The state governments are structured in roughly similar fashion; Nebraska uniquely has a unicameral legislature. The governor (chief executive) of each state is directly elected. Some state judges and cabinet officers are appointed by the governors of the respective states, while others are elected by popular vote.
The original text of the Constitution establishes the structure and responsibilities of the federal government and its relationship with the individual states. Article One protects the right to the "great writ" of habeas corpus, and Article Three guarantees the right to a jury trial in all criminal cases. Amendments to the Constitution require the approval of three-fourths of the states. The Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times; the first ten amendments, which make up the Bill of Rights, and the Fourteenth Amendment form the central basis of Americans' individual rights. All laws and governmental procedures are subject to judicial review and any law ruled in violation of the Constitution is voided. The principle of judicial review, not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, was declared by the Supreme Court in Marbury v. Madison (1803).
Parties and ideology[link]
Main articles: Politics of the United States and Political ideologies in the United States
The United States has operated under a two-party system for most of its history.[57] For elective offices at most levels, state-administered primary elections choose the major party nominees for subsequent general elections. Since the general election of 1856, the major parties have been the Democratic Party, founded in 1824, and the Republican Party, founded in 1854. Since the Civil War, only one third-party presidential candidate—former president Theodore Roosevelt, running as a Progressive in 1912—has won as much as 20% of the popular vote.
Within American political culture, the Republican Party is considered center-right or conservative and the Democratic Party is considered center-left or liberal. The states of the Northeast and West Coast and some of the Great Lakes states, known as "blue states", are relatively liberal. The "red states" of the South and parts of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains are relatively conservative.
The winner of the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama, is the 44th U.S. president. The 2010 midterm elections saw the Republican Party take control of the House and make gains in the Senate, where the Democrats retain the majority. In the 112th United States Congress, the Senate comprises 51 Democrats, two independents who caucus with the Democrats, and 47 Republicans; the House comprises 242 Republicans and 192 Democrats—one seat is vacant. There are 29 Republican and 20 Democratic state governors, as well as one independent.
Foreign relations and military[link]
Main articles: Foreign policy of the United States and United States Armed Forces
The United States exercises global economic, political, and military influence. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and New York City hosts the United Nations Headquarters. It is a member of the G8,[58] G20, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D.C., and many have consulates around the country. Likewise, nearly all nations host American diplomatic missions. However, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Bhutan, and the Republic of China (Taiwan) do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States.
The United States has a "special relationship" with the United Kingdom[59] and strong ties with Canada,[60] Australia,[61] New Zealand,[62] the Philippines,[63] Japan,[64] South Korea,[65] Israel,[66] and several European countries. It works closely with fellow NATO members on military and security issues and with its neighbors through the Organization of American States and free trade agreements such as the trilateral North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. In 2008, the United States spent a net $25.4 billion on official development assistance, the most in the world. As a share of America's large gross national income (GNI), however, the U.S. contribution of 0.18% ranked last among twenty-two donor states. By contrast, private overseas giving by Americans is relatively generous.[67]
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The president holds the title of commander-in-chief of the nation's armed forces and appoints its leaders, the secretary of defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The United States Department of Defense administers the armed forces, including the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force. The Coast Guard is run by the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and the Department of the Navy in time of war. In 2008, the armed forces had 1.4 million personnel on active duty. The Reserves and National Guard brought the total number of troops to 2.3 million. The Department of Defense also employed about 700,000 civilians, not including contractors.[68]
Military service is voluntary, though conscription may occur in wartime through the Selective Service System.[69] American forces can be rapidly deployed by the Air Force's large fleet of transport aircraft, the Navy's eleven active aircraft carriers, and Marine Expeditionary Units at sea with the Navy's Atlantic and Pacific fleets. The military operates 865 bases and facilities abroad,[70] and maintains deployments greater than 100 active duty personnel in 25 foreign countries.[71] The extent of this global military presence has prompted some scholars to describe the United States as maintaining an "empire of bases".[72]
Total U.S. military spending in 2010, almost $700 billion, was 43% of global military spending and greater than the next fourteen largest national military expenditures combined. At 4.8% of GDP, the rate was the second-highest among the top fifteen military spenders, after Saudi Arabia.[73] The proposed base Department of Defense budget for 2012, $553 billion, is a 4.2% increase over 2011; an additional $118 billion is proposed for the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.[74] The last American troops serving in Iraq departed in December 2011;[75] 4,484 servicemen were killed during the Iraq War.[76] Approximately 90,000 U.S. troops were serving in Afghanistan as of April 2012;[77] as of April 4, 1,924 had been killed during the War in Afghanistan.[78]
Economy[link]
Main article: Economy of the United States
| Economic indicators | ||
|---|---|---|
| Unemployment | 8.2% (May 2012) | [79] |
| GDP growth | 2.2% (1Q 2012), 1.7% (2011) | [80] |
| CPI inflation | 2.3% (April 2011 – April 2012) | [81] |
| Poverty | 15.1% (2010) | [82] |
| Public debt | $15.62 trillion (April 13, 2012) | [83] |
| Household net worth | $58.5 trillion (4Q 2011) | [84] |
The United States has a capitalist mixed economy, which is fueled by abundant natural resources, a well-developed infrastructure, and high productivity.[85] According to the International Monetary Fund, the U.S. GDP of $15.1 trillion constitutes 22% of the gross world product at market exchange rates and over 19% of the gross world product at purchasing power parity (PPP).[3] Though larger than any other nation's, its national GDP is about 5% smaller than the GDP of the European Union at PPP in 2008. The country ranks ninth in the world in nominal GDP per capita and sixth in GDP per capita at PPP.[3] The U.S. dollar is the world's primary reserve currency.[86]
The United States is the largest importer of goods and third largest exporter, though exports per capita are relatively low. In 2010, the total U.S. trade deficit was $635 billion.[87] Canada, China, Mexico, Japan, and Germany are its top trading partners.[88] In 2010, oil was the largest import commodity, while transportation equipment was the country's largest export.[87] China is the largest foreign holder of U.S. public debt.[89]
In 2009, the private sector was estimated to constitute 86.4% of the economy, with federal government activity accounting for 4.3% and state and local government activity (including federal transfers) the remaining 9.3%.[91] While its economy has reached a postindustrial level of development and its service sector constitutes 67.8% of GDP, the United States remains an industrial power.[92] The leading business field by gross business receipts is wholesale and retail trade; by net income it is manufacturing.[93] Chemical products are the leading manufacturing field.[94] The United States is the third largest producer of oil in the world, as well as its largest importer.[95] It is the world's number one producer of electrical and nuclear energy, as well as liquid natural gas, sulfur, phosphates, and salt. While agriculture accounts for just under 1% of GDP,[92] the United States is the world's top producer of corn[96] and soybeans.[97] Coca-Cola and McDonald's are the two most recognized brands in the world.[98]
In August 2010, the American labor force comprised 154.1 million people. With 21.2 million people, government is the leading field of employment. The largest private employment sector is health care and social assistance, with 16.4 million people. About 12% of workers are unionized, compared to 30% in Western Europe.[99] The World Bank ranks the United States first in the ease of hiring and firing workers.[100] In 2009, the United States had the third highest labor productivity per person in the world, behind Luxembourg and Norway. It was fourth in productivity per hour, behind those two countries and the Netherlands.[101] Compared to Europe, U.S. property and corporate income tax rates are generally higher, while labor and, particularly, consumption tax rates are lower.[102]
Income and human development[link]
Main article: Income in the United States
See also: Income inequality in the United States, Poverty in the United States, and Affluence in the United States
According to the United States Census Bureau, the pretax median household income in 2010 was $49,445. The median ranged from $64,308 among Asian American households to $32,068 among African American households.[82] Using purchasing power parity exchange rates, the overall median is similar to the most affluent cluster of developed nations. After declining sharply during the middle of the 20th century, poverty rates have plateaued since the early 1970s, with 11–15% of Americans below the poverty line every year, and 58.5% spending at least one year in poverty between the ages of 25 and 75.[103][104] In 2010, 46.2 million Americans lived in poverty, a figure that rose for the fourth year in a row.[82]
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The U.S. welfare state is one of the least extensive in the developed world, reducing both relative poverty and absolute poverty by considerably less than the mean for rich nations,[105][106] though combined private and public social expenditures per capita are relatively high.[107] While the American welfare state effectively reduces poverty among the elderly,[108] it provides relatively little assistance to the young.[109] A 2007 UNICEF study of children's well-being in twenty-one industrialized nations ranked the United States next to last.[110]
Between 1947 and 1979, real median income rose by over 80% for all classes, with the incomes of poor Americans rising faster than those of the rich.[111] However, income gains since then have been slower, less widely shared, and accompanied by increased economic insecurity.[111][112] Median household income has increased for all classes since 1980,[113] largely owing to more dual-earner households, the closing of the gender pay gap, and longer work hours, but the growth has been strongly tilted toward the very top.[105][111][114] Consequently, the share of income of the top 1%—21.8% of total reported income in 2005—has more than doubled since 1980,[115] leaving the United States with the greatest income inequality among developed nations.[105][116] The United States has a progressive tax system which equates to higher income earners paying a larger percentage of their income in taxes.[117] The top 1% pays 27.6% of all federal taxes, while the top 10% pays 54.7%.[118] Wealth, like income and taxes, is highly concentrated: The richest 10% of the adult population possesses 69.8% of the country's household wealth, the second-highest share among developed nations.[119] The top 1% possesses 33.4% of net wealth.[120] In 2011 the United Nations Development Programme ranked the United States 23rd among 139 countries on its inequality-adjusted human development index (IHDI), nineteen places lower than in the standard HDI.[121]
Infrastructure[link]
Science and technology[link]
Main article: Science and technology in the United States
The United States has been a leader in scientific research and technological innovation since the late 19th century. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone. Thomas Edison's laboratory developed the phonograph, the first long-lasting light bulb, and the first viable movie camera. Nikola Tesla pioneered alternating current, the AC motor, and radio. In the early 20th century, the automobile companies of Ransom E. Olds and Henry Ford popularized the assembly line. The Wright brothers, in 1903, made the first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight.[122]
The rise of Nazism in the 1930s led many European scientists, including Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, and John von Neumann, to immigrate to the United States. During World War II, the Manhattan Project developed nuclear weapons, ushering in the Atomic Age. The Space Race produced rapid advances in rocketry, materials science, and computers. IBM, Apple Computer, and Microsoft refined and popularized the personal computer. The United States largely developed the ARPANET and its successor, the Internet. Today, 64% of research and development funding comes from the private sector.[123] The United States leads the world in scientific research papers and impact factor.[124] As of April 2010, 68% of American households had broadband Internet service.[125] The country is the primary developer and grower of genetically modified food, representing half of the world's biotech crops.[126]
Transportation[link]
Main article: Transportation in the United States
Personal transportation is dominated by automobiles, which operate on a network of 13 million roads,[128] including one of the world's longest highway systems.[129] The world's second largest automobile market,[130] the United States has the highest rate of per-capita vehicle ownership in the world, with 765 vehicles per 1,000 Americans.[131] About 40% of personal vehicles are vans, SUVs, or light trucks.[132] The average American adult (accounting for all drivers and nondrivers) spends 55 minutes driving every day, traveling 29 miles (47 km).[133]
Mass transit accounts for 9% of total U.S. work trips,[134] ranking last in a survey of 17 countries.[135] While transport of goods by rail is extensive, relatively few people use rail to travel,[136] though ridership on Amtrak, the national intercity passenger rail system, grew by almost 37% between 2000 and 2010.[137] Light rail development has increased in recent years but, like high speed rail, is below European levels.[138] Bicycle usage for work commutes is minimal.[139]
The civil airline industry is entirely privately owned and has been largely deregulated since 1978, while most major airports are publicly owned. The three largest airlines in the world by passengers carried are U.S.-based; Delta Air Lines is number one.[140] Of the world's thirty busiest passenger airports, sixteen are in the United States, including the busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.[141]
Energy[link]
See also: Energy policy of the United States
The United States energy market is 29,000 terawatt hours per year. Energy consumption per capita is 7.8 tons of oil equivalent per year, the 10th highest rate in the world. In 2005, 40% of this energy came from petroleum, 23% from coal, and 22% from natural gas. The remainder was supplied by nuclear power and renewable energy sources.[142] The United States is the world's largest consumer of petroleum.[143] For decades, nuclear power has played a limited role relative to many other developed countries, in part due to public perception in the wake of a 1979 accident. In 2007, several applications for new nuclear plants were filed.[144] The United States has 27% of global coal reserves.[145]
Education[link]
Main article: Education in the United States
American public education is operated by state and local governments, regulated by the United States Department of Education through restrictions on federal grants. Children are required in most states to attend school from the age of six or seven (generally, kindergarten or first grade) until they turn eighteen (generally bringing them through twelfth grade, the end of high school); some states allow students to leave school at sixteen or seventeen.[147] About 12% of children are enrolled in parochial or nonsectarian private schools. Just over 2% of children are homeschooled.[148]
The United States has many competitive private and public institutions of higher education. According to prominent international rankings, 13 or 15 American colleges and universities are ranked among the top 20 in the world.[149][150] There are also local community colleges with generally more open admission policies, shorter academic programs, and lower tuition. Of Americans twenty-five and older, 84.6% graduated from high school, 52.6% attended some college, 27.2% earned a bachelor's degree, and 9.6% earned graduate degrees.[151] The basic literacy rate is approximately 99%.[1][152] The United Nations assigns the United States an Education Index of 0.97, tying it for 12th in the world.[153]
Health[link]
See also: Health care in the United States, Health care reform in the United States, and Health insurance in the United States
The United States life expectancy of 78.4 years at birth ranks it 50th among 221 nations.[155] Increasing obesity in the United States and health improvements elsewhere have contributed to lowering the country's rank in life expectancy from 1987, when it was 11th in the world.[156] Approximately one-third of the adult population is obese and an additional third is overweight;[157] the obesity rate, the highest in the industrialized world, has more than doubled in the last quarter-century.[158] Obesity-related type 2 diabetes is considered epidemic by health care professionals.[159] The infant mortality rate of 6.06 per thousand places the United States 176th out of 222 countries, higher than all of Western Europe.[160]
The U.S. health care system far outspends any other nation's, measured in both per capita spending and percentage of GDP.[161] The World Health Organization ranked the U.S. health care system in 2000 as first in responsiveness, but 37th in overall performance.
Health care coverage in the United States is a combination of public and private efforts, and is not universal as in all other developed countries. In 2004, private insurance paid for 36% of personal health expenditures, private out-of-pocket payments covered 15%, and federal, state, and local governments paid for 44%.[162] In 2005, 46.6 million Americans, 15.9% of the population, were uninsured, 5.4 million more than in 2001. The main cause of this rise is the drop in the number of Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance.[163] The subject of uninsured and underinsured Americans is a major political issue.[164] A 2009 study estimated that lack of insurance is associated with nearly 45,000 deaths a year.[165] In 2006, Massachusetts became the first state to mandate universal health insurance.[166] Federal legislation passed in early 2010 will create a near-universal health insurance system around the country by 2014.
Crime and law enforcement[link]
Main articles: Law enforcement in the United States and Crime in the United States
See also: Law of the United States, Incarceration in the United States, and Capital punishment in the United States
Law enforcement in the United States is primarily the responsibility of local police and sheriff's departments, with state police providing broader services. Federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Marshals Service have specialized duties. At the federal level and in almost every state, jurisprudence operates on a common law system. State courts conduct most criminal trials; federal courts handle certain designated crimes as well as certain appeals from the state systems. Federal law prohibits a variety of drugs, although states sometimes pass laws in conflict with federal regulations. The smoking age is generally 18, and the drinking age is generally 21.
Among developed nations, the United States has above-average levels of violent crime and particularly high levels of gun violence and homicide.[168] There were 5.0 murders per 100,000 persons in 2009, 10.4% fewer than in 2000.[169] Gun ownership rights are the subject of contentious political debate.
The United States has the highest documented incarceration rate[170] and total prison population[171] in the world. At the start of 2008, more than 2.3 million people were incarcerated, more than one in every 100 adults.[172] The current rate is about seven times the 1980 figure,[173] and over three times the figure in Poland, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country with the next highest rate.[174] African American males are jailed at about six times the rate of white males and three times the rate of Hispanic males.[170] The country's high rate of incarceration is largely due to sentencing and drug policies.[170][175]
Though it has been abolished in most Western nations, capital punishment is sanctioned in the United States for certain federal and military crimes, and in thirty-four states. Since 1976, when the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty after a four-year moratorium, there have been more than 1,000 executions.[176] In 2010, the country had the fifth highest number of executions in the world, following China, Iran, North Korea, and Yemen.[177] In 2007, New Jersey became the first state to legislatively abolish the death penalty since the 1976 Supreme Court decision, followed by New Mexico in 2009 and Illinois in 2011.[178]
Demographics[link]
Main articles: Demographics of the United States and Americans
| Race/Ethnicity (2010)[179] | |
|---|---|
| White | 72.4% |
| Black/African American | 12.6% |
| Asian | 4.8% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.9% |
| Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander | 0.2% |
| Other | 6.2% |
| Two or more races | 2.9% |
| Hispanic/Latino (of any race) | 16.3% |
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the country's population now to be 313,802,000,[2] including an estimated 11.2 million illegal immigrants.[180] The U.S. population almost quadrupled during the 20th century, from about 76 million in 1900.[181] The third most populous nation in the world, after China and India, the United States is the only major industrialized nation in which large population increases are projected.[182] Even with a birth rate of 13.82 per 1,000, 30% below the world average, its population growth rate is positive at 1%, significantly higher than those of many developed nations.[183] In fiscal year 2011, over 1 million immigrants (most of whom entered through family reunification) were granted legal residence.[184] Mexico has been the leading source of new residents for over two decades; since 1998, China, India, and the Philippines have been in the top four sending countries every year.[185]
The United States has a very diverse population—thirty-one ancestry groups have more than one million members.[186] White Americans are the largest racial group; German Americans, Irish Americans, and English Americans constitute three of the country's four largest ancestry groups.[186] African Americans are the nation's largest racial minority and third largest ancestry group.[186] Asian Americans are the country's second largest racial minority; the two largest Asian American ethnic groups are Chinese Americans and Filipino Americans.[186] In 2010, the U.S. population included an estimated 5.2 million people with some American Indian or Alaska Native ancestry (2.9 million exclusively of such ancestry) and 1.2 million with some native Hawaiian or Pacific island ancestry (0.5 million exclusively).[187] The census counted more than 19 million people of "Some Other Race" who were "unable to identify with any" of its five official race categories in 2010.[187]
The population growth of Hispanic and Latino Americans (the terms are officially interchangeable) is a major demographic trend. The 50.5 million Americans of Hispanic descent[187] are identified as sharing a distinct "ethnicity" by the Census Bureau; 64% of Hispanic Americans are of Mexican descent.[188] Between 2000 and 2010, the country's Hispanic population increased 43% while the non-Hispanic population rose just 4.9%.[179] Much of this growth is from immigration; as of 2007, 12.6% of the U.S. population was foreign-born, with 54% of that figure born in Latin America.[189] Fertility is also a factor; as of 2010 the average Hispanic woman gave birth to 2.4 children in her lifetime, compared to 2.0 for non-Hispanic black women and 1.8 for non-Hispanic white women (below the replacement rate of 2.1).[190] Minorities (as defined by the Census Bureau as all those beside non-Hispanic, non-multiracial whites) constituted 36.3% of the population in 2010,[191] and nearly 50% of children under age 1,[192] and are projected to constitute the majority by 2042.[193]
About 82% of Americans live in urban areas (including suburbs);[1] about half of those reside in cities with populations over 50,000.[194] In 2008, 273 incorporated places had populations over 100,000, nine cities had more than 1 million residents, and four global cities had over 2 million (New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston).[195] There are fifty-two metropolitan areas with populations greater than 1 million.[196] Of the fifty fastest-growing metro areas, forty-seven are in the West or South.[197] The metro areas of Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and Phoenix all grew by more than a million people between 2000 and 2008.[196]
| Leading population centers | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Core city | Metro area pop.[198] | Metropolitan Statistical Area | Region[199] |  New York City  Los Angeles |
||
| 1 | New York City | 19,015,900 | New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA MSA | Northeast | |||
| 2 | Los Angeles | 12,944,801 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA MSA | West | |||
| 3 | Chicago | 9,504,753 | Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI MSA | Midwest | |||
| 4 | Dallas | 6,526,548 | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX MSA | South | |||
| 5 | Houston | 6,086,538 | Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown, TX MSA | South | |||
| 6 | Philadelphia | 5,992,414 | Philadelphia–Camden–Wilmington, PA–NJ–DE–MD MSA | Northeast | |||
| 7 | Washington, D.C. | 5,703,948 | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA | South | |||
| 8 | Miami | 5,670,125 | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL MSA | South | |||
| 9 | Atlanta | 5,359,205 | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA MSA | South | |||
| 10 | Boston | 4,591,112 | Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH MSA | Northeast | |||
| based on the 2011 U.S. Population Estimate | |||||||
Language[link]
Main article: Languages of the United States
| Languages (2010)[200] | |
|---|---|
| English (only) | 229.7 million |
| Spanish, incl. Creole | 37.0 million |
| Chinese | 2.8 million |
| French, incl. Creole | 2.1 million |
| Tagalog | 1.6 million |
| Vietnamese | 1.4 million |
| Korean | 1.1 million |
| German | 1.1 million |
English is the de facto national language. Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English. In 2010, about 230 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language.[200][201] Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in at least twenty-eight states.[5] Both Hawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii by state law.[202]
While neither has an official language, New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French.[203] Other states, such as California, mandate the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents including court forms.[204] Many jurisdictions with large numbers of non-English speakers produce government materials, especially voting information, in the most commonly spoken languages in those jurisdictions. Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: Samoan and Chamorro are recognized by American Samoa and Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico.
Religion[link]
Main article: Religion in the United States
See also: History of religion in the United States, Freedom of religion in the United States, Separation of church and state in the United States, and List of religious movements that began in the United States
The United States is officially a secular nation; the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion and forbids the establishment of any religious governance. In a 2002 study, 59% of Americans said that religion played a "very important role in their lives", a far higher figure than that of any other wealthy nation.[205] According to a 2007 survey, 78.4% of adults identified themselves as Christian,[206] down from 86.4% in 1990.[207] Protestant denominations accounted for 51.3%, while Roman Catholicism, at 23.9%, was the largest individual denomination. The study categorizes white evangelicals, 26.3% of the population, as the country's largest religious cohort;[206] another study estimates evangelicals of all races at 30–35%.[208] The total reporting non-Christian religions in 2007 was 4.7%, up from 3.3% in 1990.[207] The leading non-Christian faiths were Judaism (1.7%), Buddhism (0.7%), Islam (0.6%), Hinduism (0.4%), and Unitarian Universalism (0.3%).[206] The survey also reported that 16.1% of Americans described themselves as agnostic, atheist, or simply having no religion, up from 8.2% in 1990.[206][207]
Family structure[link]
In 2007, 58% of Americans age 18 and over were married, 6% were widowed, 10% were divorced, and 25% had never been married.[209] Women now mostly work outside the home and receive a majority of bachelor's degrees.[210]
Same-sex marriage is a contentious issue. Some states permit civil unions or domestic partnerships in lieu of marriage. Since 2003, several states have legalized gay marriage as the result of judicial or legislative action. Meanwhile, the federal government and a majority of states define marriage as between a man and a woman and/or explicitly prohibit same-sex marriage. Public opinion on the issue has shifted from general opposition in the 1990s to a statistical deadlock, to a majority in support.[211]
The U.S. teenage pregnancy rate, 79.8 per 1,000 women, is the highest among OECD nations.[212] Abortion policy was left to the states until the Supreme Court legalized the practice in 1973. The issue remains highly controversial, with public opinion closely divided for many years. Many states ban public funding of the procedure and restrict late-term abortions, require parental notification for minors, and mandate a waiting period. While the abortion rate is falling, the abortion ratio of 241 per 1,000 live births and abortion rate of 15 per 1,000 women aged 15–44 remain higher than those of most Western nations.[213]
Culture[link]
Main article: Culture of the United States
See also: Social class in the United States
The United States is a multicultural nation, home to a wide variety of ethnic groups, traditions, and values.[6][215] Aside from the now small Native American and Native Hawaiian populations, nearly all Americans or their ancestors immigrated within the past five centuries.[216] Mainstream American culture is a Western culture largely derived from the traditions of European immigrants with influences from many other sources, such as traditions brought by slaves from Africa.[6][217] More recent immigration from Asia and especially Latin America has added to a cultural mix that has been described as both a homogenizing melting pot, and a heterogeneous salad bowl in which immigrants and their descendants retain distinctive cultural characteristics.[6]
American culture is considered the most individualistic in the world.[218] The American Dream, or the incorrect perception that Americans enjoy high social mobility, plays a key role in attracting immigrants.[219] While the mainstream culture holds that the United States is a classless society,[220] scholars identify significant differences between the country's social classes, affecting socialization, language, and values.[221] The American middle and professional class has initiated many contemporary social trends such as modern feminism, environmentalism, and multiculturalism.[222] Americans' self-images, social viewpoints, and cultural expectations are associated with their occupations to an unusually close degree.[223] While Americans tend greatly to value socioeconomic achievement, being ordinary or average is generally seen as a positive attribute.[224]
Popular media[link]
Main articles: Cinema of the United States, Television in the United States, and Music of the United States
The world's first commercial motion picture exhibition was given in New York City in 1894, using Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope. The next year saw the first commercial screening of a projected film, also in New York, and the United States was in the forefront of sound film's development in the following decades. Since the early 20th century, the U.S. film industry has largely been based in and around Hollywood, California. Director D. W. Griffith was central to the development of film grammar and Orson Welles's Citizen Kane (1941) is frequently cited as the greatest film of all time.[225] American screen actors like John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe have become iconic figures, while producer/entrepreneur Walt Disney was a leader in both animated film and movie merchandising. The major film studios of Hollywood have produced the most commercially successful movies in history, such as Star Wars (1977) and Titanic (1997), and the products of Hollywood today dominate the global film industry.[226]
Americans are the heaviest television viewers in the world,[227] and the average viewing time continues to rise, reaching five hours a day in 2006.[228] The four major broadcast networks are all commercial entities. Americans listen to radio programming, also largely commercialized, on average just over two-and-a-half hours a day.[229] Aside from web portals and search engines, the most popular websites are Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia, Blogger, eBay, and Craigslist.[230]
The rhythmic and lyrical styles of African-American music have deeply influenced American music at large, distinguishing it from European traditions. Elements from folk idioms such as the blues and what is now known as old-time music were adopted and transformed into popular genres with global audiences. Jazz was developed by innovators such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington early in the 20th century. Country music developed in the 1920s, and rhythm and blues in the 1940s. Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry were among the mid-1950s pioneers of rock and roll. In the 1960s, Bob Dylan emerged from the folk revival to become one of America's most celebrated songwriters and James Brown led the development of funk. More recent American creations include hip hop and house music. American pop stars such as Presley, Michael Jackson, and Madonna have become global celebrities.[231]
Literature, philosophy, and the arts[link]
In the 18th and early 19th centuries, American art and literature took most of its cues from Europe. Writers such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, and Henry David Thoreau established a distinctive American literary voice by the middle of the 19th century. Mark Twain and poet Walt Whitman were major figures in the century's second half; Emily Dickinson, virtually unknown during her lifetime, is now recognized as an essential American poet.[232] A work seen as capturing fundamental aspects of the national experience and character—such as Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (1851), Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1925)—may be dubbed the "Great American Novel".[233]
Eleven U.S. citizens have won the Nobel Prize in Literature, most recently Toni Morrison in 1993. William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway are often named among the most influential writers of the 20th century.[234] Popular literary genres such as the Western and hardboiled crime fiction developed in the United States. The Beat Generation writers opened up new literary approaches, as have postmodernist authors such as John Barth, Thomas Pynchon, and Don DeLillo.
The transcendentalists, led by Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, established the first major American philosophical movement. After the Civil War, Charles Sanders Peirce and then William James and John Dewey were leaders in the development of pragmatism. In the 20th century, the work of W. V. O. Quine and Richard Rorty, and later Noam Chomsky, brought analytic philosophy to the fore of American philosophical academia. John Rawls and Robert Nozick led a revival of political philosophy.
In the visual arts, the Hudson River School was a mid-19th-century movement in the tradition of European naturalism. The realist paintings of Thomas Eakins are now widely celebrated. The 1913 Armory Show in New York City, an exhibition of European modernist art, shocked the public and transformed the U.S. art scene.[235] Georgia O'Keeffe, Marsden Hartley, and others experimented with new, individualistic styles. Major artistic movements such as the abstract expressionism of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning and the pop art of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein developed largely in the United States. The tide of modernism and then postmodernism has brought fame to American architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Philip Johnson, and Frank Gehry.
One of the first major promoters of American theater was impresario P. T. Barnum, who began operating a lower Manhattan entertainment complex in 1841. The team of Harrigan and Hart produced a series of popular musical comedies in New York starting in the late 1870s. In the 20th century, the modern musical form emerged on Broadway; the songs of musical theater composers such as Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and Stephen Sondheim have become pop standards. Playwright Eugene O'Neill won the Nobel literature prize in 1936; other acclaimed U.S. dramatists include multiple Pulitzer Prize winners Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, and August Wilson.
Though little known at the time, Charles Ives's work of the 1910s established him as the first major U.S. composer in the classical tradition, while experimentalists such as Henry Cowell and John Cage created a distinctive American approach to classical composition. Aaron Copland and George Gershwin developed a new synthesis of popular and classical music. Choreographers Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham helped create modern dance, while George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins were leaders in 20th-century ballet. Americans have long been important in the modern artistic medium of photography, with major photographers including Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, and Ansel Adams. The newspaper comic strip and the comic book are both U.S. innovations. Superman, the quintessential comic book superhero, has become an American icon.[236]
Food[link]
Main article: American cuisine
Mainstream American cuisine is similar to that in other Western countries. Wheat is the primary cereal grain. Traditional American cuisine uses indigenous ingredients, such as turkey, venison, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, squash, and maple syrup, which were consumed by Native Americans and early European settlers. Slow-cooked pork and beef barbecue, crab cakes, potato chips, and chocolate chip cookies are distinctively American foods. Soul food, developed by African slaves, is popular around the South and among many African Americans elsewhere. Syncretic cuisines such as Louisiana creole, Cajun, and Tex-Mex are regionally important.
Characteristic dishes such as apple pie, fried chicken, pizza, hamburgers, and hot dogs derive from the recipes of various immigrants. French fries, Mexican dishes such as burritos and tacos, and pasta dishes freely adapted from Italian sources are widely consumed.[237] Americans generally prefer coffee to tea. Marketing by U.S. industries is largely responsible for making orange juice and milk ubiquitous breakfast beverages.[238]
The American fast food industry, the world's largest, pioneered the drive-through format in the 1930s. Fast food consumption has sparked health concerns. During the 1980s and 1990s, Americans' caloric intake rose 24%;[237] frequent dining at fast food outlets is associated with what public health officials call the American "obesity epidemic".[239] Highly sweetened soft drinks are widely popular, and sugared beverages account for 9% of American caloric intake.[240]
Sports[link]
Main article: Sports in the United States
Baseball has been regarded as the national sport since the late 19th century, while American football is now by several measures the most popular spectator sport.[241] Basketball and ice hockey are the country's next two leading professional team sports. College football and basketball attract large audiences. Boxing and horse racing were once the most watched individual sports,[242] but they have been eclipsed by golf and auto racing, particularly NASCAR. Soccer is played widely at the youth and amateur levels. Tennis and many outdoor sports are popular as well.
While most major U.S. sports have evolved out of European practices, volleyball, skateboarding, snowboarding, and cheerleading are American inventions. Basketball was invented in Massachusetts by Canadian-born James Naismith. Lacrosse and surfing arose from Native American and Native Hawaiian activities that predate Western contact. Eight Olympic Games have taken place in the United States. The United States has won 2,301 medals at the Summer Olympic Games, more than any other country,[243] and 253 in the Winter Olympic Games, the second most.[244]
Measurement systems[link]
Main article: United States customary units
The nation retains United States customary units, comprising mainly former British imperial units such as miles, yards, and degrees Fahrenheit. Distinct units include the U.S. gallon and U.S. pint volume measurements. The United States is one of only three countries that do not rely primarily on the International System of Units. However, metric units are increasingly used in science, medicine, and many industrial fields.[245]
See also[link]
 |
See more Wikipedia articles related to United States. |
- Index of United States-related articles
- Lists of U.S. states
- Outline of the United States
- Wikipedia books: United States
References[link]
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- ^ "Foreign Language Enrollments in United States Institutions of Higher Learning". MLA. fall 2002. http://www.adfl.org/resources/enrollments.pdf. Retrieved 2006-10-16.
- ^ "The Constitution of the State of Hawaii, Article XV, Section 4". Hawaii Legislative Reference Bureau. 1978-11-07. http://www.hawaii.gov/lrb/con/conart15.html. Retrieved 2007-06-19.
- ^ Dicker, Susan J. (2003). Languages in America: A Pluralist View. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. pp. 216, 220–25. ISBN 1-85359-651-5.
- ^ "California Code of Civil Procedure, Section 412.20(6)". Legislative Counsel, State of California. http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=ccp&group=00001-01000&file=412.10-412.30. Retrieved 2007-12-17. "California Judicial Council Forms". Judicial Council, State of California. http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms/allforms.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
- ^ "Among Wealthy Nations...U.S. Stands Alone in its Embrace of Religion". Pew Global Attitudes Project. Pew Research Center. 2002-12-19. http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=167. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
- ^ a b c d "Religious Composition of the U.S.". U.S. Religious Landscape Survey. Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. 2007. http://religions.pewforum.org/pdf/affiliations-all-traditions.pdf. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
- ^ a b c Kosmin, Barry A., Egon Mayer, and Ariela Kaysar (2001-12-19). "American Religious Identification Survey 2001". CUNY Graduate Center. http://www.gc.cuny.edu/CUNY_GC/media/CUNY-Graduate-Center/PDF/ARIS/ARIS-PDF-version.pdf?ext=.pdf. Retrieved 2011-09-16.
- ^ Green, John C. "The American Religious Landscape and Political Attitudes: A Baseline for 2004". University of Akron Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics. Archived from the original on 2009-12-07. http://www.webcitation.org/5lpvuMoCD. Retrieved 2007-06-18.
- ^ "Table 55—Marital Status of the Population by Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin: 1990 to 2007". Statistical Abstract of the United States 2009. U.S. Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/09statab/pop.pdf. Retrieved 2009-10-11.
- ^ "Women's Advances in Education". Columbia University, Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy. 2006. Archived from the original on 2007-06-09. http://web.archive.org/web/20070609151527/http://www.iserp.columbia.edu/news/articles/female_college.html. Retrieved 2007-06-06.
- ^ "For First Time, Majority of Americans Favor Legal Gay Marriage". Gallup.com. http://www.gallup.com/poll/147662/First-Time-Majority-Americans-Favor-Legal-Gay-Marriage.aspx. Retrieved 2011-07-10.
- ^ "Teenage birth rate statistics – countries compared – NationMaster People". Nationmaster.com. http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/peo_tee_bir_rat-people-teenage-birth-rate. Retrieved 2011-07-10.
- ^ Strauss, Lilo T., et al. (2006-11-24). "Abortion Surveillance—United States, 2003". MMWR. Centers for Disease Control, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Reproductive Health. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5511a1.htm. Retrieved 2007-06-17.
- ^ "Statue of Liberty". World Heritage. UNESCO. http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/307. Retrieved 2011–10–20.
- ^ Thompson, William, and Joseph Hickey (2005). Society in Focus. Boston: Pearson. ISBN 0-205-41365-X.
- ^ Fiorina, Morris P., and Paul E. Peterson (2000). The New American Democracy. London: Longman, p. 97. ISBN 0-321-07058-5.
- ^ Holloway, Joseph E. (2005). Africanisms in American Culture, 2d ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 18–38. ISBN 0-253-34479-4. Johnson, Fern L. (1999). Speaking Culturally: Language Diversity in the United States. Thousand Oaks, Calif., London, and New Delhi: Sage, p. 116. ISBN 0-8039-5912-5.
- ^ "Individualism". Clearly Cultural. http://www.clearlycultural.com/geert-hofstede-cultural-dimensions/individualism/. Retrieved 2009-02-28.
- ^ "A Family Affair: Intergenerational Social Mobility across OECD Countries". Economic Policy Reforms: Going for Growth (OECD). 2010. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/2/7/45002641.pdf. Retrieved 2010-09-20. Blanden, Jo, Paul Gregg, and Stephen Malchin (April 2005). "Intergenerational Mobility in Europe and North America". Centre for Economic Performance. Archived from the original on June 23, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060623094610/http://www.suttontrust.com/reports/IntergenerationalMobility.pdf. Retrieved 2006-08-21.
- ^ Gutfield, Amon (2002). American Exceptionalism: The Effects of Plenty on the American Experience. Brighton and Portland: Sussex Academic Press. p. 65. ISBN 1-903900-08-5.
- ^ Zweig, Michael (2004). What's Class Got To Do With It, American Society in the Twenty-First Century. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-8899-0. "Effects of Social Class and Interactive Setting on Maternal Speech". Education Resource Information Center. http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=RecordDetails&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED309843&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=eric_accno&objectId=0900000b800472a5. Retrieved 2007-01-27.
- ^ Ehrenreich, Barbara (1989). Fear of Falling, The Inner Life of the Middle Class. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-097333-1.
- ^ Eichar, Douglas (1989). Occupation and Class Consciousness in America. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-26111-3.
- ^ O'Keefe, Kevin (2005). The Average American. New York: PublicAffairs. ISBN 1-58648-270-X.
- ^ Village Voice: 100 Best Films of the 20th century (2001). Filmsite.org; Sight and Sound Top Ten Poll 2002. BFI. Retrieved on 2007-06-19.
- ^ "World Culture Report 2000 Calls for Preservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage". UNESCO. 2000-11-17. http://www.unesco.org/bpi/eng/unescopress/2000/00-120e.shtml. Retrieved 2007-09-14. "Summary: Does Globalization Thwart Cultural Diversity?". World Bank Group. Archived from the original on 2007-10-17. http://web.archive.org/web/20071017111347/http://worldbank.org/economicpolicy/globalization/thwart.html. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
- ^ "Media Statistics > Television Viewing by Country". NationMaster. http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/med_tel_vie-media-television-viewing. Retrieved 2007-06-03.
- ^ "Broadband and Media Consumption". eMarketer. 2007-06-07. http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1005003. Retrieved 2007-06-10.
- ^ "TV Fans Spill into Web Sites". eMarketer. 2007-06-07. http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1004830. Retrieved 2007-06-10.
- ^ "Top Sites in United States". Alexa. 2010. http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/US. Retrieved 2010-03-27.
- ^ Biddle, Julian (2001). What Was Hot!: Five Decades of Pop Culture in America. New York: Citadel, p. ix. ISBN 0-8065-2311-5.
- ^ Bloom, Harold. 1999. Emily Dickinson. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House Publishers. p. 9. ISBN 0-7910-5106-4.
- ^ Buell, Lawrence (Spring/Summer 2008). "The Unkillable Dream of the Great American Novel: Moby-Dick as Test Case". American Literary History 20 (1–2): 132–155. DOI:10.1093/alh/ajn005. ISSN 0896-7148.
- ^ Quinn, Edward (2006). A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms. Infobase, p. 361. ISBN 0-8160-6243-9. Seed, David (2009). A Companion to Twentieth-Century United States Fiction. Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley and Sons, p. 76. ISBN 1-4051-4691-5. Meyers, Jeffrey (1999). Hemingway: A Biography. New York: Da Capo, p. 139. ISBN 0-306-80890-0.
- ^ Brown, Milton W. (1988 1963). The Story of the Armory Show. New York: Abbeville. ISBN 0-89659-795-4.
- ^ Daniels, Les (1998). Superman: The Complete History (1st ed.). Titan Books. p. 11. ISBN 1-85286-988-7.
- ^ a b Klapthor, James N. (2003-08-23). "What, When, and Where Americans Eat in 2003". Newswise/Institute of Food Technologists. http://www.newswise.com/articles/what-when-and-where-americans-eat-in-2003. Retrieved 2007-06-19.
- ^ Smith, Andrew F. (2004). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 131–32. ISBN 0-19-515437-1. Levenstein, Harvey (2003). Revolution at the Table: The Transformation of the American Diet. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, pp. 154–55. ISBN 0-520-23439-1.
- ^ Boslaugh, Sarah (2010). "Obesity Epidemic", in Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices, ed. Roger Chapman. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, pp. 413–14. ISBN 978-0-7656-1761-3.
- ^ "Fast Food, Central Nervous System Insulin Resistance, and Obesity". Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. American Heart Association. 2005. http://atvb.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/25/12/2451#R3-101329. Retrieved 2007-06-09. "Let's Eat Out: Americans Weigh Taste, Convenience, and Nutrition". U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/eib19/eib19_reportsummary.pdf. Retrieved 2007-06-09.
- ^ Krane, David K. (2002-10-30). "Professional Football Widens Its Lead Over Baseball as Nation's Favorite Sport". Harris Interactive. http://www.harrisinteractive.com/Insights/HarrisVault8482.aspx?PID=337. Retrieved 2007-09-14. Maccambridge, Michael (2004). America's Game: The Epic Story of How Pro Football Captured a Nation. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-50454-0.
- ^ Cowen, Tyler, and Kevin Grier (2012-02-09). "What Would the End of Football Look Like?". Grantland/ESPN. http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7559458/cte-concussion-crisis-economic-look-end-football. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
- ^ "All-Time Medal Standings, 1896–2004". Information Please. http://www.infoplease.com/ipsa/A0115108.html. Retrieved 2007-06-14. "Distribution of Medals—2008 Summer Games". Fact Monster. http://www.factmonster.com/sports/olympics/2008/distribution-medals-summer-games.html. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
- ^ "All-Time Medal Standings, 1924–2006". Information Please. http://www.infoplease.com/ipsa/A0115207.html. Retrieved 2007-06-14. "Olympic Medals". Vancouver Organizing Committee. http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-medals/. Retrieved 2010-03-02. Norway is first.
- ^ "Appendix G: Weights and Measures". The World Factbook. CIA. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/appendix/appendix-g.html. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
External links[link]
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
"Mister Rogers" redirects here. For the television show, see Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. For other people, see Frederick Rogers (disambiguation). For an asteroid, see 26858 Misterrogers.
| Fred Rogers | |
|---|---|
| 250px with the miniature set for Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood |
|
| Born | Fred McFeely Rogers (1928-03-20)March 20, 1928 Latrobe, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | February 27, 2003(2003-02-27) (aged 74) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Stomach cancer |
| Other names | Mister Rogers Mr. Rogers |
| Occupation | Educator, minister, songwriter, television host |
| Years active | 1951–2002 |
| Religion | Presbyterian Church (ordained in 1963) |
| Spouse | Sara Joanne Byrd (1952–2003) |
Fred McFeely Rogers (March 20, 1928 – February 27, 2003) was an American educator, Presbyterian minister, songwriter, author, and television host. Rogers was most famous for creating and hosting Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968–2001), which featured his gentle, soft-spoken personality and directness to his audiences.[1]
Initially educated to be a minister, Rogers was displeased with the way television addressed children and made an effort to change this when he began to write for and perform on local Pittsburgh-area shows dedicated to youth. The Public Broadcasting Service developed his own nationally-aired show in 1968 and, over the course of three decades on television, he became an indelible American icon of children's entertainment and education, as well as a symbol of compassion, patience, and morality.[2] He was also known for his advocacy of various public causes. His testimony before a lower court in favor of time shifting was cited in a U.S. Supreme Court decision on the Betamax case, and he gave now-famous testimony to a U.S. Senate committee, advocating government funding for children's television.[3]
Rogers was honored extensively for his life work in children's education. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian honor; a Peabody Award for his career; and was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. Two resolutions recognizing his work were unanimously passed by U.S. Congress, one of his trademark sweaters was acquired and is on display at the Smithsonian Institution, and several buildings and works of art in Pennsylvania are dedicated to his memory.
In 1996, Mister Fred Rogers was ranked #35 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.[4]
Contents |
Personal life[link]
Fred McFeely Rogers was born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, 40 miles (65 km) southeast of Pittsburgh, to James and Nancy Rogers; he had one sister, Elaine Rogers Crozier.[5] Early in life he spent much of his free time with his maternal grandfather, Fred McFeely, who had an interest in music. He would often sing along as his mother would play the piano and himself began playing at five.[6]
Rogers graduated from Latrobe High School (1946),[7] He studied at Dartmouth College (1946–48),[8] then transferred to Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, where he earned a B.A. in Music Composition in 1951.[9]
At Rollins he met Sara Joanne Byrd, an Oakland, Florida native; they married on June 9, 1952.[10] They had two sons, James (b. 1959) and John (b. 1961).[11] In 1963 Rogers graduated from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and was ordained a minister in the Presbyterian Church.
During the course of his career, he garnered forty honorary degrees.[6] Rogers was red-green color blind,[12] swam every morning, was a vegetarian, and neither smoked nor drank.[13]
Rogers had an apartment in New York City and a summer home on Nantucket island in Massachusetts.[11][14]
Television career[link]
Early work[link]
Fred Rogers had a life-changing moment when he first saw television in his parents' home. He entered seminary after college; but, after his first experience as a viewer, he wanted to explore the potential of the medium.[14] In an interview with CNN in his later years, Rogers stated, "I went into television because I hated it so, and I thought there was some way of using this fabulous instrument to be of nurture to those who would watch and listen."[13]
He thus applied for a job at NBC in New York City in 1951 and was hired because of his Music degree. Rogers spent three years working on the production staffs for such music-centered programming as NBC Opera Theater. He also worked on Gabby Hayes' show for children. Ultimately, Rogers decided that commercial television's reliance on advertisement and merchandising undermined its ability to educate or enrich young audiences, so he quit NBC.
In 1954, he began working at WQED, a Pittsburgh public television station, as a puppeteer on a local children's show The Children's Corner. For the next seven years, he worked with host Josie Carey in unscripted live TV, developing many of the puppets, characters, and music used in his later work, such as King Friday XIII, and Curious X the Owl.
Rogers began wearing his famous sneakers when he found them to be quieter than his work shoes as he moved about behind the set. He was also the voices of King Friday XIII and Queen Sara Saturday (named after his wife), rulers of the neighborhood, as well as X the Owl, Henrietta Pussycat, Daniel Striped Tiger, Lady Elaine Fairchild, and Larry Horse. The show won a Sylvania Award[15] for best children's show, and was briefly broadcast nationally on NBC.
During these eight years, he would leave the WQED studios during his lunch breaks to study theology at the nearby Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Rogers, however, was not interested in preaching; and, after his ordination, he was specifically charged to continue his work with Children's Television. He had also done work at the University of Pittsburgh's program in Child Development and Child Care.
In 1963, Rogers moved to Toronto, where he was contracted by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) to develop a 15-minute children's television program: Misterogers, [sic][16] which would be his debut in front of the camera. The show was a hit with children but lasted for only three seasons. Many of his famous set pieces—Trolley, Eiffel Tower, the 'tree', and 'castle'—were created by CBC designers. While in Canada, Rogers brought his friend and understudy Ernie Coombs, who would go on to create Mr. Dressup, a very successful and long-running children's show in Canada, and similar in many ways to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Mr. Dressup also used some of the songs that would be featured on Rogers' later program.
In 1966, Rogers acquired the rights to his program from the CBC and moved the show to WQED in Pittsburgh, where he had worked on The Children's Corner. He developed the new show for the Eastern Educational Network. Stations that carried the program were limited but did include educational stations in Boston, Washington, D.C., and New York City.
After returning to Pittsburgh, Rogers attended and participated in activities at the Sixth Presbyterian church in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, a More Light congregation which he attended until his death.[17]
Distribution of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood began on February 19, 1968. The following year, the show moved to PBS (Public Broadcasting Service). In 1971, Rogers formed Family Communications, Inc. (FCI), and the company established offices in the WQED building in Pittsburgh. Initially, the company served solely as the production arm of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, but now develops and produces an array of children's programming and educational materials.
[edit] Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
Main article: Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood began airing in 1968 and ran for 895 episodes; the last set of new episodes was taped in December 2000 and began airing in August 2001. At its peak, in 1985, 8% of U.S households tuned in to the show.[6]
- Each episode began the same way: Mister Rogers is seen coming home, singing his theme song "Won't You Be My Neighbor?", and changing into sneakers and a zippered cardigan sweater.
- In a typical episode, Rogers might have an earnest conversation with his television audience, interact with live guests, take a field trip to such places as a bakery or a music store, or watch a short film.
- Typical video subjects included demonstrations of how such inanimate objects as bulldozers and crayons work or are manufactured.
- Each episode included a trip to Rogers' "Neighborhood of Make-Believe" featuring a trolley with its own chiming theme song, a castle, and the kingdom's citizens, including King Friday XIII. The subjects discussed in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe often allowed further development of themes discussed in Mister Rogers' "real" neighborhood.
- Mister Rogers often fed his fish during episodes. They were originally named Fennel and Frieda.
- Typically, each week's episode explored a major theme, such as going to school for the first time.
- Originally, most episodes ended with a song entitled "Tomorrow", and Friday episodes looked forward to the week ahead with an adapted version of "It's Such a Good Feeling." In later seasons, all episodes ended with "Feeling."
Visually, the presentation of the show was very simple, and it did not feature the animation or fast pace of other children's shows, which Rogers thought of as "bombardment".[3] Rogers also believed in not acting out a different persona on camera compared to how he acted off camera, stating that "One of the greatest gifts you can give anybody is the gift of your honest self. I also believe that kids can spot a phony a mile away."[18] Rogers composed almost all of the music on the program.[note 1] He wanted to teach children to love themselves and others, and he addressed common childhood fears with comforting songs and skits. For example, one of his famous songs explains how a child cannot be pulled down the bathtub drain because he or she will not fit. He even once took a trip to the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh to show children that a hospital is not a place to fear. During the Gulf War (1990–91), he assured his audience that all children in the neighborhood would be well cared for and asked parents to promise to take care of their own children. The message was aired again by PBS during the media storm that preceded the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Other television work[link]
In 1994, Rogers created another one-time special for PBS called Fred Rogers' Heroes which consisted of documentary portraits of four real-life people whose work helped make their communities better. Rogers, uncharacteristically dressed in a suit and tie, hosted in wraparound segments which did not use the "Neighborhood" set.
For a time Rogers produced specials for parents as a precursor to the subject of the week on the Neighborhood called "Mister Rogers Talks To Parents About [topic]". Rogers didn't host those specials though as other people like Joan Lunden, who hosted the Conflict special, and other news announcers played MC duties in front of a gallery of parents while Rogers answered questions from them. These specials were made to prep the parents for any questions the children might ask after watching the episodes on that topic of the week.
The only time Rogers appeared on television as someone other than himself was in 1996, when he played a preacher on one episode of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.[6]
In the mid-1980s, the Burger King fast-food chain lampooned Rogers' image with an actor called "Mr. Rodney", imitating Rogers' television character.[19] Rogers found the character's pitching fast food as confusing to children, and called a press conference in which he stated that he did not endorse the company's use of his character or likeness (Rogers did no commercial endorsements of any kind throughout his career, though he acted as a pitchman for several non-profit organizations dedicated to learning over the years). The chain publicly apologized for the faux pas, and pulled the ads.[20] By contrast, Fred Rogers found Eddie Murphy's parody of his show on Saturday Night Live, "Mister Robinson's Neighborhood," amusing and affectionate, which was also initially broadcast at a time of night when his own child audience was not likely to see it.[21]
Emmys for programming[link]
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood won four Emmy awards, and Rogers received one for lifetime achievement.
During the 1997 Daytime Emmys, the Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Rogers. The following is an excerpt from Esquire's coverage of the gala, written by Tom Junod:
Mister Rogers went onstage to accept the award — and there, in front of all the soap opera stars and talk show sinceratrons, in front of all the jutting man-tanned jaws and jutting saltwater bosoms, he made his small bow and said into the microphone, "All of us have special ones who have loved us into being. Would you just take, along with me, ten seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are. Ten seconds of silence."And then he lifted his wrist, looked at the audience, looked at his watch, and said, "I'll watch the time." There was, at first, a small whoop from the crowd, a giddy, strangled hiccup of laughter, as people realized that he wasn't kidding, that Mister Rogers was not some convenient eunuch, but rather a man, an authority figure who actually expected them to do what he asked. And so they did. One second, two seconds, three seconds — and now the jaws clenched, and the bosoms heaved, and the mascara ran, and the tears fell upon the beglittered gathering like rain leaking down a crystal chandelier. And Mister Rogers finally looked up from his watch and said softly "May God be with you," to all his vanquished children.[14][22]
Other works[link]
![[icon]](http://web.archive.org./web/20121209141529/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} |
This section requires expansion. |
Rogers wrote many of the songs that were used on his television program, and more than 36 books including:
- Eight New Experiences titles:
- Moving
- Going to the Doctor
- Going to the Hospital
- Going to Day Care
- Going to the Potty
- Making Friends
- The New Baby
- When a Pet Dies (1998)
- The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember (2003)
Advocacy[link]
PBS funding[link]
In 1969, Rogers appeared before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Communications. His goal was to support funding for PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, in response to significant proposed cuts. In about six minutes of testimony, Rogers spoke of the need for social and emotional education that public television provided. He passionately argued that alternative television programming like his Neighborhood helped encourage children to become happy and productive citizens, sometimes opposing less positive messages in media and in popular culture. He even recited the lyrics to one of his songs.
The chairman of the subcommittee, John O. Pastore, was not previously familiar with Rogers' work, and was sometimes described as impatient. However, he reported that the testimony had given him goosebumps, and declared, "I think it's wonderful. Looks like you just earned the $20 million." The subsequent congressional appropriation, for 1971, increased PBS funding from $9 million to $22 million.[23]
VCR[link]
During the controversy surrounding the introduction of the household VCR, Rogers was involved in supporting the manufacturers of VCRs in court. His 1979 testimony in the case Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. noted that he did not object to home recording of his television programs, for instance, by families in order to watch together at a later time. This testimony contrasted with the views of others in the television industry who objected to home recording or believed that devices to facilitate it should be taxed or regulated.
The Supreme Court considered the testimony of Rogers in its decision that held that the Betamax video recorder did not infringe copyright. The Court stated that his views were a notable piece of evidence "that many [television] producers are willing to allow private time-shifting to continue" and even quoted his testimony in a footnote:
Some public stations, as well as commercial stations, program the "Neighborhood" at hours when some children cannot use it ... I have always felt that with the advent of all of this new technology that allows people to tape the "Neighborhood" off-the-air, and I'm speaking for the "Neighborhood" because that's what I produce, that they then become much more active in the programming of their family's television life. Very frankly, I am opposed to people being programmed by others. My whole approach in broadcasting has always been "You are an important person just the way you are. You can make healthy decisions." Maybe I'm going on too long, but I just feel that anything that allows a person to be more active in the control of his or her life, in a healthy way, is important.[24]
Death, awards, and memorials[link]
File:FredRogersStatueinPittsburghPA.jpg
The Fred Rogers Memorial Statue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Created by Robert Berks, and opened to the public on November 5, 2009.
Rogers was diagnosed with stomach cancer in December 2002, not long after his retirement. He underwent surgery on January 6, 2003, which was unsuccessful.[5][25] A week earlier, he served as grand marshal of the Tournament of Roses Parade, with Art Linkletter and Bill Cosby.[26]
Rogers died on the morning of February 27, 2003 at his home with his wife by his side, less than a month before he would have turned 75.[5] His death was such a significant event in Pittsburgh that the entire front page of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published the next day devoted its coverage to him.[27] The Reverend William P. Barker presided over a public memorial in Pittsburgh. More than 2,700 people attended the memorial at Heinz Hall, including former Good Morning America host David Hartman, Teresa Heinz Kerry, philanthropist Elsie Hillman, PBS President Pat Mitchell, Arthur creator Marc Brown, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar author-illustrator Eric Carle.[11] Speakers remembered Rogers' love of children, devotion to his religion, enthusiasm for music, and quirks. Teresa Heinz Kerry said of Rogers, "He never condescended, just invited us into his conversation. He spoke to us as the people we were, not as the people others wished we were."[28] Rogers is interred at Unity Cemetery in Latrobe.
On New Years Day of 2004, Michael Keaton hosted the PBS TV special Fred Rogers: America's Favorite Neighbor. It was released on DVD September 28 that year. Keaton was a former stagehand on the show before he quit to become an actor. To mark what would have been his 80th birthday, Rogers' production company sponsored several events to memorialize him, including "Won't You Wear a Sweater Day", during which fans and neighbors were asked to wear their favorite sweaters in celebration.[29]
The television industry honored Rogers with a George Foster Peabody Award "in recognition of 25 years of beautiful days in the neighborhood" in 1987,[30] the same year he was initiated as an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity, the national fraternity for men of music.[31] Rogers was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity.[32] He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1999.[33] One of Rogers' iconic sweaters was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution, which displays it as a "Treasure of American History".[34] In 2002 Rogers received the PNC Commonwealth Award in Mass Communications.[35]
File:InterpretationsOfOaklandByJohnLaidacker.jpg
"Interpretations of Oakland" by John Laidacker
He was furthermore awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002, for his contributions to children's education, justified by President George W. Bush, who said, "Fred Rogers has proven that television can soothe the soul and nurture the spirit and teach the very young". A year later, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed Resolution 16 to commemorate the life of Fred Rogers.[1] It read, in part, "Through his spirituality and placid nature, Mr. Rogers was able to reach out to our nation's children and encourage each of them to understand the important role they play in their communities and as part of their families. More importantly, he did not shy away from dealing with difficult issues of death and divorce but rather encouraged children to express their emotions in a healthy, constructive manner, often providing a simple answer to life's hardships."
Following Rogers' death, the U.S. House of Representatives in 2003 unanimously passed Resolution 111 honoring Rogers for "his legendary service to the improvement of the lives of children, his steadfast commitment to demonstrating the power of compassion, and his dedication to spreading kindness through example."[36]
The same year the U.S. Presbyterian Church approved an overture "to observe a memorial time for the Reverend Fred M. Rogers" at its General Assembly.[37] The rationale for the recognition of Rogers reads, "The Reverend Fred Rogers, a member of the Presbytery of Pittsburgh, as host of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood since 1968, had a profound effect on the lives of millions of people across the country through his ministry to children and families. Mister Rogers promoted and supported Christian values in the public media with his demonstration of unconditional love. His ability to communicate with children and to help them understand and deal with difficult questions in their lives will be greatly missed."[38]
Several buildings, monuments, and works of art are dedicated to Rogers' memory, including a mural sponsored by the Pittsburgh-based Sprout Fund in 2006, "Interpretations of Oakland," by John Laidacker that featured Mr. Rogers.[39] Saint Vincent College in (Latrobe, Pennsylvania) completed construction of The Fred M. Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children's Media in 2008.[40] The Fred Rogers Memorial Statue on the North Shore near Heinz Field in Pittsburgh[41] was created by Robert Berks and dedicated in 2009.[42]
File:MrRogersWQED.jpg
"Fredosaurus Rex Friday XIII" by Karen Howell honoring Fred Rogers. outside WQED studios in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The asteroid 26858 Misterrogers is named after Rogers. This naming, by the International Astronomical Union, was announced on May 2, 2003 by the director of the Henry Buhl Jr. Planetarium & Observatory at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh. The science center worked with Rogers' Family Communications, Inc. to produce a planetarium show for preschoolers called "The Sky Above Mister Rogers' Neighborhood", which plays at planetariums across the United States.[43][44]
False rumors[link]
A false rumor claims that Fred Rogers was once a U.S. Marine sniper in the Vietnam War. The rumor appeared on the Internet in 1994 and re-emerged several times over the next ten years, most notably after his death in 2003.[45][46] However, Rogers never served in any branch of the military. Beginning in 1963, Rogers developed the Misterogers program for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In 1966, he moved back to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the U.S. where he produced Mister Rogers' Neighborhood through the height of U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. Related claims that Rogers had a number of military tattoos are also entirely false.[47]
See also[link]
Notes[link]
- ^ Bits of incidental music, such as improvisations from members of the orchestra or music from guests to the program, weren't composed by Rogers. The recurring iconic songs, however, were all Rogers' work.
References[link]
- ^ a b "Bill Text - 108th Congress (2003-2004) - S.CON.RES.16.ATS". THOMAS. Library of Congress. 5 March 2003. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:S.CON.RES.16.ATS:. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ Sostek, Anya (6 November 2009). "Mr. Rogers takes rightful place at riverside tribute". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011221-53.stm. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- ^ a b "Mister Rogers defending PBS to the US Senate". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXEuEUQIP3Q. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- ^ "Special Collectors' Issue: 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time". TV Guide (December 14–20). 1996.
- ^ a b c Owen, Rob; Barbara Vancheri (28 February 2003). "Fred Rogers dies at 74". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/20030228rogersae1p1.asp. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ a b c d DeFranceso, Joyce (April 2003). "Remembering Fred Rogers: A Life Well-Lived: A look back at Fred Rogers' life". Pittsburgh Magazine. Archived from the original on 25 December 2004. http://web.archive.org/web/20050103143529/www.wqed.org/mag/0403_remember3.shtml. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ Brownawell, Angel (28 February 2003). "Neighborhood mourns Mister Rogers". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_120982.html. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ "'Mister Rogers' to give Dartmouth Commencement Address". Dartmouth News (Dartmouth College Office of Public Affairs). 2 May 2002. http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/2002/may/050202.html. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ Davis, Bobby (Summer 2003). "Fred McFeely Rogers". The Rollins Alumni Record. pp. 20–23. http://asp3.rollins.edu/olin/oldsite/archives/golden/rogers.htm. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ "Fred McFeely Rogers". UXL Newsmakers (2005) (FindArticles.com). 2005. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5221/is_2005/ai_n19141599. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
- ^ a b c Vancheri, Barbara; Rob Owen (4 May 2003). "Pittsburgh bids farewell to Fred Rogers with moving public tribute". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/localnews/20030504rogers0504p1.asp. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ Roddy, Dennis (March 1, 2003). "Fred Rogers kept it simple, and elegantly so". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/columnists/20030301roddy5.asp. Retrieved 2007-12-12.
- ^ a b Millman, Joyce (10 August 1999). "Salon Brilliant Careers: Fred Rogers". Salon.com. Salon Media Group. http://www.salon.com/people/bc/1999/08/10/rogers/index.html. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ a b c Junod, Tom (November 1998). "Can You Say ... 'Hero'?". Esquire. http://www.pittsburghinwords.org/tom_junod.html. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ Schultz, Mike. "Sylvania Award". uv201.com. http://uv201.com/TV_Pages/sylvania_award.htm. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ Williams, Suzanne. "Fred McFeely Rogers". The Museum of Broadcast Communications. http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=rogersfred. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ Rodgers-Melnick, Ann (4 May 2003). "Liberal pastor retires after long run in city". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/localnews/20030504mccall0504p4.asp. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ Owen, Rob (12 November 2000). "There goes the Neighborhood: Mister Rogers will make last episodes of show in December". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Magazine. http://www.post-gazette.com/tv/20001112rogers2.asp. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ^ Edwards, Joe (1984-05-21). "Burger King ad strategy pushes unit volumes near $1M". Nation's Restaurant News. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_v18/ai_3275741/. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
- ^ Dougherty, Philip (May 10, 1984). ADVERTISING; ; Thompson Withdraws An Ad for Burger King, The New York Times. Retrieved on January 11, 2011.
- ^ Lewis, Daniel (February 28, 2003). Fred Rogers, Host of 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood,' Dies at 74, The New York Times. Retrieved on January 9, 2011.
- ^ "Fred Rogers Acceptance Speech - 1997" Official Emmys channel on YouTube. 26 Mar 2008. Last accessed 10 Mar 2011.
- ^ "Video of Mr. Rogers testimony before Congress". 1969. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2883185966575573317. Retrieved 2006-11-17.
- ^ "SONY CORP. OF AMER. v. UNIVERSAL CITY STUDIOS, INC., 464 U.S. 417 (1984)". Supreme Court of the United States of America. 1984. http://www.law.cornell.edu/copyright/cases/464_US_417.htm#464us417n27. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ Everhart, Karen (10 March 2003). "Fred Rogers, 1928-2003". Current. http://www.current.org/ch/ch0305rogers.html. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ "Grand Marshal Slide Show Main". Tournament of Roses. 2004. http://www.tournamentofroses.com/photogallery/GMs/gm2003b.htm. Retrieved 26 February 2010.
- ^ http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=gL9scSG3K_gC&dat=20030228&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
- ^ Vancheri, Barbara (May 4, 2003). Pittsburgh bids farewell to Fred Rogers with moving public tribute, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved on January 9, 2011.
- ^ "Won't You Wear a Sweater?". Rollins News Center. Rollins College. 21 March 2008. http://news.rollins.edu/08sweaterpics.shtml. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ "GEORGE FOSTER PEABODY AWARD WINNERS". University of Georgia, George Foster Peabody Award. http://www.peabody.uga.edu/winners/PeabodyWinnersBook.pdf.
- ^ Faith Spicer, Cheri (May 2004). "Remembering Our Neighbor: His Lessons on Listening and Love". The Sinfonian. sinfonia.org. pp. 19–21. http://www.sinfonia.org/TheSinfonian/issues/2004-05-part2.pdf. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ "National Patrons & Patronesses". Delta Omicron. Archived from the original on 9 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080317051706/www.delta-omicron.org/national/patrons.html. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ "Hall of Fame". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. http://cdn.emmys.tv/awards/halloffame/hofarchive.php. Retrieved 2008-12-03.
- ^ "NMAH - Treasures of American History - American Television (page 2 of 2)". National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution. http://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/small_exhibition.cfm?key=1267&exkey=143&pagekey=266. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ PNC Honors Six Achievers Who Enrich The World, PNC Financial Services Group (2002). Retrieved on January 9, 2011.
- ^ "Bill Text - 108th Congress (2003-2004) - H.RES.111.EH". THOMAS. Library of Congress. 4 March 2003. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:H.RES.111.EH:. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ "Recommendations on Business before the 215th General Assembly". General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). 2003. http://www.mlp.org/news/215GAbus.htm. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ "Minutes: 215th General Assembly (2003), Part I", Office of the General Assembly, Proceedings of the 215th General Assembly (2003) of the Presbyterian Church p. 107. Retrieved on January 9, 2011.
- ^ "2006 Sprout Public Art Mural Kickoff Event Schedule". thisishappening. http://www.thisishappening.com/EventPage.php?eventid=41923. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ "Fred M. Rogers Center". Saint Vincent College. 2010. http://www.stvincent.edu/events/the-conference-center-at-saint-vincent-college2/fred-m.-rogers-center. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ Sostek, Anya (2009-11-05). "Sculpture of Fred Rogers unveiled on North Side". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011105-100.stm. Retrieved 2009-11-09.
- ^ Butter, Bob (2009-11-05). "World's First Sculpture of American Icon Fred Rogers Unveiled". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS187313+05-Nov-2009+PRN20091105. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
- ^ 26858 Misterrogers (1993 FR), NASA. Retrieved on January 9, 2011.
- ^ Plunkett, Chuck (May 2, 2003). Mister Rogers' star status now reaches heavenly proportions, Pittsburgh Tribune Review. Retrieved on January 9, 2011.
- ^ Emery, David (November 26, 2011). "Mr. Rogers Was a Marine Sniper / Navy SEAL?". Urbanlegends.about.com. http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/fredrogers/a/mr_rogers.htm. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
- ^ "Mr. Rogers Was a Sniper In Vietnam-Fiction!". Truthorfiction.com. http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/m/mrrogers.htm. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
- ^ "Won't You Be My Fiend?". snopes.com. August 7, 2007. http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/mrrogers.asp. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
External links[link]
|
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fred Rogers |
- Fred Rogers at the Internet Movie Database
- PBS Kids: Official Site
- The Fred M. Rogers Center
- The Fred Rogers Company (formerly known as Family Communications)
- Kit and Morgan Benson (Feb 27, 2003). "Fred Rogers". Educator, Television Show Host. Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7216800. Retrieved Aug 18, 2011.
- Fred Rogers Interview at Archive of American Television
|
|||||||||||||||||
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Rogers, Fred |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | |
| Date of birth | 20 March 1928 |
| Place of birth | Latrobe, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Date of death | 27 February 2003 |
| Place of death | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
Not to be confused with Paul Rand.
| Rand Paul | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| United States Senator from Kentucky |
|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2011 Serving with Mitch McConnell |
|
| Preceded by | Jim Bunning |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Randal Howard Paul (1963-01-07) January 7, 1963 (age 49) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Kelley Ashby Paul (m. 1990) |
| Relations | Ron Paul Carol Wells Paul (parents) |
| Children | William, Robert, and Duncan |
| Residence | Bowling Green, Kentucky |
| Alma mater | Baylor University (1981–1984) Duke University |
| Occupation | Ophthalmologist (Physician), Politician |
| Religion | Presbyterian[1] (baptized Episcopalian) |
| Website | paul.senate.gov Rand Paul 2010 |
Randal Howard "Rand" Paul (born January 7, 1963) is the junior United States Senator for Kentucky. He is a member of the Republican Party. A member of the Tea Party movement, he describes himself as a "constitutional conservative"[2] and a libertarian.[3] He is the son of Republican Congressman and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul of Texas and had never previously held political office. Paul first received national attention in 2008 when making political speeches on behalf of his father. Rand Paul is the first United States Senator in history to serve alongside a parent in the United States House of Representatives.
A graduate of the Duke University School of Medicine, Paul has been a practicing ophthalmologist in Bowling Green, Kentucky, since 1993, and established his own clinic in December 2007. In 1994, he founded Kentucky Taxpayers United, of which he is still the chairman.[4]
In 2010, Paul ran as the Republican candidate for the United States Senate seat being vacated by retiring Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky and defeated Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway. As a supporter of the Tea Party movement, Paul has been vocal in advocating for term limits, a balanced budget amendment, and the Read the Bills Act, in addition to the widespread reduction of federal spending and taxation. He has gained prominence for his independent positions on many political issues, often clashing with both Republicans and Democrats.[5]
Contents |
Early life and education[link]
Randal Howard Paul[6] was born on January 7, 1963, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Carol Wells Paul and Ron Paul. Paul's father is a physician and U.S. Representative of Texas's 14th congressional district. The middle child of five, his siblings are Ronald "Ronnie" Paul Jr., Lori Paul Pyeatt, Robert Paul and Joy Paul-LeBlanc.[7] Paul was baptized in the Episcopal Church[8] and identified as a practicing Christian as a teenager.[9] Despite his father's libertarian views and strong support for individual rights,[9][10] the novelist Ayn Rand was not the inspiration for Paul's first name; he went by "Randy" while growing up.[11] His wife shortened his name to "Rand".[9][12][13]
The Paul family moved to Lake Jackson, Texas, in 1968,[11][14] where Rand was raised[15][16] and his father began his medical practice and for an extent of time was the only obstetrician in Brazoria County.[11][14] When Paul was 13, his father was elected to the United States House of Representatives.[17] In his teenage years, Paul studied the Austrian economists that his father respected, as well as Ayn Rand.[11] Paul went to Brazoswood High School and was on the swimming team and played defensive back on the football team.[9][15] Paul attended Baylor University from fall 1981 to summer 1984. Paul was enrolled in the honors program at Baylor, and had scored approximately in the 90th percentile on the Medical College Admission Test.[18] During Paul's time at Baylor, he was involved in the swim team and Young Conservatives of Texas and was a member of a secret organization known as the NoZe Brotherhood.[19] Paul left Baylor early when he was accepted into the Duke University School of Medicine, where he earned his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree in 1988 and completed his residency in 1993.[18]
Personal life[link]
In Atlanta, Paul met Kelley Ashby, a Rhodes College English major. Paul and Ashby were married on October 20, 1990, and moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, less than 30 miles (48 km) from her hometown of Russellville, Kentucky, in 1993.[20]
Kelley Paul is a freelance writer, and she manages payroll and marketing communications for Paul's surgical practice.[21] The couple have three sons: William, Duncan and Robert.[22]
Medical career[link]
Paul has held a state-issued medical license since moving to Bowling Green in 1993.[23] He received his first job from Dr. John Downing of Downing McPeak Vision Centers, which brought him to Bowling Green after completing his residency. Paul worked for Downing for about five years before parting ways. Afterwards, he went to work at the Graves-Gilbert Clinic, a private medical group in Bowling Green, for 10 years before creating his own practice in a converted one-story house across the street from Downing's office.[24] After his election to the U.S. Senate, Paul merged his practice with Downing's medical practice.[25] Paul has had two malpractice lawsuits filed against him since 1993. Paul was cleared in one case and the other was settled for $50,000.[24] Regardless, his medical work has been praised by Downing and Paul has medical privileges at two Bowling Green hospitals.[23][24] Paul specializes in cataract and glaucoma surgeries, LASIK procedures, and corneal transplants.[12]
As a member of the Bowling Green Noon Lions Club, Paul founded the Southern Kentucky Lions Eye Clinic to help provide eye surgery and exams for those who cannot afford to pay.[26] He is a regular presenter at the annual Men's Health and Safety Day conference held by The Medical Center of Bowling Green since 1998.[27] In 1999 Paul founded the Non-profit organization National Board of Ophthalmology (NBO).[28]
Board certification[link]
In 2010 the Louisville Courier-Journal reported that Paul, who described himself as a "board-certified" ophthalmologist, was not certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology (ABO).[23] In 1995, Paul passed the American Board of Ophthalmology boards earning his certification under the ABO for a term of one decade. In 1997, after a dispute with the American Board of Ophthalmology over recertification requirements,[29] Paul, along with 200 ophthalmologists formed the National Board of Ophthalmology (NBO).[30] A spokesperson for the American Board of Medical Specialties stated: "He [Paul] is not board-certified."[23]
Paul's ABO certification lapsed on December 31, 2005, and Paul has since been certified by the NBO.[23] ABO administrator Beth Ann Slembarski says that over 95 percent of the nation’s practicing ophthalmologists have American Board of Ophthalmology certification.[31] Regardless of his additional certifications, Paul has been licensed by the state to practice medicine in Kentucky since 1993, and his license is in good standing with no history of disciplinary action. The Courier-Journal reported: "There is no indication that Paul isn't qualified to practice ophthalmology."[23]
Political activism[link]
As founder and chairman of the anti-tax organization Kentucky Taxpayers United (KTU) since 1994, Paul regularly presents "taxpayers' friend" awards to state legislators. KTU, which regards itself as nonpartisan, but is criticized for being ideologically conservative,[32][33] examines legislator records on taxation and spending to inform voters where their own lawmakers stand on the issues.[34] Paul's editorial commentary on behalf of KTU has been published and recognized in the Kentucky Post.[35]
KTU sponsors the Taxpayer's Pledge of Americans for Tax Reform, encouraging politicians to pledge publicly to vote uniformly against tax raises.[35] Nine of fifteen Northern Kentucky legislators signed the pledge,[36] such as Senator Dick Roeding[35] and Representative Royce Adams in 1996.[37] In 2000, these legislators considered a hotel room tax hike (favored by Governor Paul Patton for helping expand the Dr. Albert B. Sabin Convention Center in nearby Cincinnati), even though the increase might "incur the wrath of Paul's group," as two newspapers put it.[36][38]
Paul stated that Patton's argument for "revenue recovery" was merely a euphemism for taxes[39] and said that KTU would fight reelection of any pledge-breakers; Adams requested in writing that Paul's group release him from his pledge, stating that it only applied to his first term.[37] By the close of session in April, the tax increase had failed, although Patton had achieved most of his intended budget; Paul stated legislators were pressured to finalize the budget by deadline rather than to "face accusations of shutting down government."[40]
Paul often speaks on his father's behalf,[22][41] and he and his son William attended the third Republican presidential debate of 2007 in New Hampshire, as well as campaigned door-to-door in the state for his father.[42] At a New Hampshire rally with 250 in attendance (plus 30 members of his own family), Paul repeated a campaign meme by pretending to take a call from Rudy Giuliani during his remarks, and joking that Giuliani needed campaigners and wanted to borrow the Paul family.[43]
On December 16, 2007, the 234th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, Paul spoke at Faneuil Hall in favor of small government principles,[44] calling for what CNN termed a "modern day revolution."[45] He continued campaigning across the country for his father in 2008,[21] traveling as far as Montana.[26]
Paul has co-authored a book entitled The Tea Party Goes to Washington with Jack Hunter, released on February 22, 2011.[46] It defends the Tea Party movement.[47]
Electoral history[link]
Primary campaign[link]
In the beginning of 2009, Paul was the focus of an online grassroots movement to draft him in a bid to replace beleaguered Republican Kentucky senator Jim Bunning. The news of his potential candidacy became a topic of national interest and was discussed in the Los Angeles Times[48] and locally in the Kentucky press.[49] Commenting on Paul's possible candidacy, Congressman Ron Paul noted that "Should Senator Bunning decide not to run, I think Rand would make a great U.S. Senator."[50]
On May 1, 2009, Paul officially confirmed that if Bunning, whose fundraising in 2009 has matched his poor numbers in opinion polling for the 2010 election,[51] declined to seek a third term, he would almost certainly run in the Republican Party primary to succeed him,[52] and formed an exploratory committee soon after, while still promising to stay out of the race if Bunning had ultimately decided to run for re-election. Paul made this announcement on MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show, though the news was first broken by a local Kentucky news site.[53]
On July 28, 2009, Bunning announced that he would not run for re-election, after facing insufficient fundraising. This announcement left only Paul and Secretary of State Trey Grayson as the remaining candidates for the Republican nomination,[54] with Paul announcing on August 5, 2009 that he would officially run for the U.S. Senate as a Republican. The announcement was made through a series of national TV events, radio, and other programs, as well as through newspapers in Kentucky.[55][56][57]
Early fundraising success[link]
On August 20, 2009, Paul's grassroots planned a moneybomb to kick off his campaign for United States Senate. The official campaign took in $433,509 in 24 hours.[58] According to Paul,[59] This set a new record in Kentucky's political fundraising history in a 24-hour period.
A second "moneybomb" was held on September 23, 2009, to counter a D.C. fundraiser being held for primary opponent Trey Grayson, by 23 Republican United States Senators, 17 of whom voted for the bank bailout.[60] The theme was a UFC "fight" between Paul and "We the People" vs. Trey Grayson and the "D.C. Insiders."[61] The money bomb ended up raising $186,276 for Paul in 24 hours on September 23;[62] bringing Paul's Senate campaign's total raised to over one million. Later in the campaign, Paul claimed his pledge to not take money from lobbyist and Senators who voted for the bailout was only a "primary pledge"[63] and Paul later held a DC fundraiser with the same Senators who were the target of the September 23, 2009 "moneybomb." Paul ended up raising some $3 million during the primary period.
Primary victory[link]
Although Grayson was considered the frontrunner in July 2009,[64] Paul found success characterizing Grayson as a "career politician" and challenging Grayson's conservatism. Paul ran an ad in February that made an issue out of Grayson's September 2008 admission that he voted for Bill Clinton when he was 20 years old.[65] Although the Paul campaign later removed the video from YouTube, Paul's Democratic general election competitor put it back up on October 20 after Paul had taken exception to the Democrat making an issue out of Paul's own college-age actions.[66] James Dobson, a Christian evangelical figure, endorsed Grayson on April 26 based on the advice of what Dobson described as "senior members of the GOP", but on May 3 the Paul campaign announced that Dobson had changed his endorsement to Paul[67] after Paul and some Paul supporters had lobbied Dobson insisting on Paul's social conservative bona fides.[68]
On May 18 Paul won the Republican Senatorial primary by a 23.4% margin,[69] meaning he would face the Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, in the November 2 general election.[70]
General campaign[link]
On June 28, 2010, Rand Paul supporters held their first post-primary online fundraising drive, this time promoted as a "money blast."[71][72]
BP oil spill comments[link]
On May 21, 2010, Paul generated some controversy by characterizing statements made by Obama administration officials regarding the BP oil spill cleanup as sounding "un-American". Paul said:
| “ | What I don't like from the president's administration is this sort of, 'I'll put my boot heel on the throat of BP.' I think that sounds really un-American in his criticism of business. I've heard nothing from BP about not paying for the spill. And I think it's part of this sort of blame-game society in the sense that it's always got to be someone's fault instead of the fact that sometimes accidents happen.[73] | ” |
Paul may have been referring to a statement by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who said "our job is basically to keep the boot on the neck of British Petroleum to carry out the responsibilities that they have, both under the law and contractually to move forward and to stop this spill."[74] Salazar's remark was later slightly misquoted as "boot on the throat" by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. Gibbs clarified at the same press conference, when asked if this metaphor did not imply hostility to BP, "I think the President accurately conveyed in his remarks yesterday that we are going to do everything humanly possible, and ensure that BP is doing everything humanly possible, to deal with this as comprehensively and as quickly as they can."[75]
Private property and civil rights[link]
Paul criticized the Bowling Green Daily News on May 30, 2002 for supporting the Fair Housing Act. He explained that "a free society will abide unofficial, private discrimination, even when that means allowing hate-filled groups to exclude people based on the color of their skin."[76] On May 19, 2010, Paul stated that he favors 9 out of 10 titles of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but had he been a senator during 1960s, he would have raised some questions on the constitutionality of Title II of the Act, which prohibits private businesses who provide public accommodations from discriminating on the basis of race, religion, or national origin against their customers, arguing that it infringes upon constitutional freedoms. Paul stated on National Public Radio, "I'm in favor of everything with regards to ending institutional racism".[77] Paul favors community and neighborhood pressure to persuade private businesses, rather than federal laws that he argued might violate the constitution.[78] Paul said he abhors racism, and he would have marched with Martin Luther King Jr. to repeal Jim Crow Laws. Paul's comments on Title II of Civil Rights Act of 1964 stirred controversy[79][80][81] and brought concern among Republican party insiders about his viability in the general election.[80][81] Paul later released a statement declaring that he would have voted for the Act and stated "unequivocally ... that I will not support any efforts to repeal the Civil Rights Act of 1964".[82][83] Paul stating that while he "abhors racism," he doesn't like the idea of the federal government determining who a business may serve.[84] Amid a flurry of controversy, Paul became the first American politician to cancel an appearance on Meet the Press in their 64-year history.[85] Additionally, RNC Chairman Michael Steele, publicly denounced him, saying that Paul's opposition to the Civil Rights Act is a "misplaced" philosophy for the 21st Century.[86]
Paul addressed his feelings about intentions of the legislation relating to public offices, stating that he "overwhelmingly agrees with the intent of the [Civil Rights Act] which was to stop discrimination in the public sphere and halt the abhorrent practice of segregation and Jim Crow laws," and that Constitutional challenges to the law have been settled by the courts.[87]
Endorsements[link]
Paul has secured endorsements from several public figures and political organizations. They include the Downsize DC Foundation,[88] Concerned Women for America,[89] Gun Owners of America,[90] Steve Forbes,[91] FreedomWorks,[92] Club for Growth,[93] James Dobson,[94] Sarah Palin,[95] Jim DeMint,[96] Cathy Bailey,[97] Jim Bunning,[98] Erick Erickson,[99] National Federation of Independent Business,[100] Council for Citizens Against Government Waste,[101] National Right to Life,[102] US Chamber of Commerce,[103] National Vietnam and Gulf War Veterans Coalition,[104] Mike Huckabee,[105] and Tony Perkins/FRC Action PAC.[106][107]
U.S. Senate career[link]
Tenure[link]
Paul was sworn in on January 5, 2011 along with his father, marking the first time in congressional history that a child served in the Senate while the parent simultaneously served in the House of Representatives.[108] He was assigned to serve on the Energy and Natural Resources, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Homeland Security and Government Affairs, and Small Business committees.[109] Paul also formed the Senate Tea Party Caucus with Jim DeMint and Mike Lee as its inaugural members.[110] Paul’s first legislative proposal was to cut $500 billion from federal spending in one year. This proposal includes cutting the Department of Education by 83 percent and the Department of Homeland Security by 43 percent, as well as folding the Department of Energy into the Department of Defense and eliminating the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Seven independent agencies would be eliminated and food stamps would be cut by 30 percent. Under Paul’s proposal, defense spending would be reduced by 6.5 percent and international aid would be eliminated.[111] He later proposed a five-year budget plan that he believed would balance the budget.[112]
In February, Paul was one of two Republicans to vote against extending three key provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act (roving wiretaps, searches of business records, and conducting surveillance of "lone wolves" — individuals not linked to terrorist groups).[113] In May, he remained the last senator opposing the PATRIOT Act, and was ultimately defeated on May 26.[114]
On March 2, Paul was one of nine senators to vote against a stopgap bill that cut $4 billion from the budget and temporarily prevent a government shutdown, citing that it did not cut enough from the budget.[115] One week later, Paul voted against the Democratic and Republican budget proposals to keep funding the federal government, citing that both bills did not cut enough spending. Both bills failed to pass the senate.[116] He later voted against stopgap measures on March 17 and April 8, both of which passed the senate.[117] On April 14, Paul was one of 19 senators to vote against a budget that cut $38.5 billion from the budget and fund the government for the remainder of the fiscal year.[118] Paul voiced opposition to U.S. intervention in the Libyan civil war and has criticized President Obama for not gaining congressional consent for Operation Odyssey Dawn.[119] During the debt ceiling crisis, Paul stated that he would only support raising the debt ceiling if a balanced budget amendment was enacted.[120] Paul was a supporter of the Cut, Cap and Balance Act, which was tabled by the Democrats.[121] On August 3, Paul voted against a bill that would raise the debt ceiling.[122]
On September 7, Paul called for a vote of no confidence in Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.[123] Later that month, Paul blocked legislation that would strengthen safety rules for oil and gas pipelines because he felt the bill was not strong enough.[124] In October, Paul blocked a bill that would provide $36 million in benefits for elderly and disabled refugees, saying that he was concerned that it could be used to aid domestic terrorists. This was in response to two alleged terrorists, who came to the United States through a refugee program and were receiving welfare benefits, were arrested in 2011 in Paul’s hometown of Bowling Green.[125] Paul lifted his hold on the bill after Democratic leaders promised to hold a congressional hearing into how individuals are selected for refugee status and request an investigation on how the two suspects were admitted in the country through a refugee program.[126]
Committee assignments[link]
- Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
- Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
- Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
- Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Political positions[link]
Paul supports term limits, a balanced budget amendment, and the Read the Bills Act, in addition to the widespread reduction of federal spending and taxation. He has gained prominence for his independent positions on many political issues, often clashing with both Republicans and Democrats.[5]
Abortion and bioethics[link]
Paul is opposed to abortion and supports a Human Life Amendment and a Life at Conception Act.[127][128][129] He also opposes abortion in cases of rape and incest,[130] but supports use of the morning-after pill.[131] He opposes federal funding for abortion.[128] He takes a states' rights position, favoring the overturn of Roe v. Wade and allowing states to decide on the legality of abortions without federal involvement.[132]
According to the Paul campaign, Paul received a 100% pro-life score on a Kentucky Right to Life survey[133] and indicated on the survey that he opposed human cloning. This was disputed by Kentucky Right to Life, however, who endorsed Paul's primary opponent instead and claimed that Paul did not, in fact, answer the cloning question.[134]
Campaign finance reform[link]
Paul opposes the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 and has called it a "dangerous piece of legislation".[135] Instead, he supports regulating the contracts given out by Congress and placing limits on corporations receiving government contracts. Paul opposes legislation limiting the amount of money individuals, corporations, and organizations can give to candidates. Additionally, Paul has proposed "mandating a clause in all federal contracts over $1 million that requires the recipient to pledge not to lobby government or contribute to campaigns during the terms of the contract."[135][136]
Civil liberties[link]
Paul opposes the USA PATRIOT Act, including warrantless searches and breach of individual privacy.[137]
Economics and tax cuts[link]
Paul has been a longtime opponent of the bank and auto industry bailouts.
He also opposes the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and the Federal Reserve's control of the money supply and interest rates. He has advocated allowing the free market to regulate interest rates, and supports Congress' constitutional role in controlling the money supply. Paul endorses H.R. 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, a bill, introduced by his father, mandating an audit of the Federal Reserve. Although Paul would abolish the Federal Reserve, he supports transparency and accountability of the semi-private institution. Additionally, Paul opposes inflation and supports "restoring the value of the dollar that has devalued by approximately 95% since the Federal Reserve's inception in 1913".[138]
Paul supports tax cuts and a balanced budget amendment, and has criticized both Republicans and Democrats on deficit spending.[139]
Education[link]
Paul supports returning control of education to local communities and parents and thus eliminating the federal Department of Education, but he says that some functions of the Department of Education, such as disbursing student loans and Pell Grants, should be transferred to other departments instead of being eliminated.[140][141] Paul opposes federal regulation of homeschooling.[142]
Energy[link]
Paul supports allowing the free market to compete and dictate which forms of energy to use. He opposes subsidizing energy companies, and would support allowing tax breaks for companies that produce alternative energy such as wind, solar, or geothermal. He has said that subsidizing the energy industry will only add incentive for companies to lobby the federal government.[143]
Health care[link]
Paul opposes federal government involvement in health care. He has stated that he would repeal the HMO Act of 1973 that "drives a wedge between the patient and [one's] doctor".[144] He believes that government has driven up the cost of health care and causes the quality and coverage to decrease. Paul would support a free market approach to health care, including tax deductions for medical expenses. He opposes federal regulations discouraging businesses from providing coverage. He supports Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).[144] On Medicare, Paul has suggested higher deductibles as well as changes to premiums or eligibility rules as ways to address what he sees as the program's looming financial problems, saying "You want to have more participation by the person who's receiving the entitlement... by that I mean that they need to be more involved with some sort of economic transaction every time they use their entitlement, and that means they have to bear more of the burden."[145] Paul also stated that he does not support such changes for current retirees or people nearing retirement.[145]
Illegal immigration[link]
Paul has proposed adding security to the border by installing an electronic fence and helicopter stations to respond to breaches.[146] He opposes birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants.[147] Paul has said that courts should review the 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States," to conclude whether or not it should apply to the children of illegal immigrants. If court challenges fail, Paul would support a constitutional amendment that would deny citizenship to children of illegal immigrants who are born in the United States.[148]
Medical marijuana[link]
Paul believes the issue of medical marijuana is a states' rights issue and that the federal government should not interfere.[149] In August, the Associated Press reported that Paul said he was opposed to the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes,[150] but the Paul campaign says he was misquoted.[149] Though Paul describes himself as a "social conservative," he was nonetheless described by the AP reporter as holding "libertarian leanings on drugs" and believing some drug sentences were too harsh.[150]
Foreign policy and national defense[link]
Paul holds that the primary Constitutional function of the federal government is national defense, and that the greatest national security threat is the lack of border security. He supports eliminating issuance of visas to people from “about ten rogue nations.” He supports trying terrorists caught on the battlefield in military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Paul believes that when the United States goes to war, Congress must declare war as mandated by the United States Constitution.[151]
During his 2010 Senate campaign Paul questioned the idea that U.S. Middle East policy is "killing more terrorists than it creates." He supported the war in Afghanistan and opposed rapid withdrawal from Iraq.[152] He says he would have voted against the invasion of Iraq and questioned whether the intelligence was manipulated."[153]
He also spoke against U.S. overseas military bases.[154]
Same-sex marriage[link]
Paul opposes same-sex marriage, but believes the issue should be left to the States to decide.[129]
Second Amendment[link]
Paul would oppose all gun control legislation, a position he says is supported by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.[155]
References[link]
- ^ "About Rand Paul". Rand Paul for U.S. Senate. http://www.randpaul2010.com/about/. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
- ^ Solomon, Deborah (March 29, 2010). "Questions for Rand Paul – Tea Time Interview". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/magazine/04fob-q4-t.html. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
- ^ Stewart, Martina (May 4, 2010). "'I'm very serious about running,' Ron Paul's son says". CNN. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/04/im-very-serious-about-running-ron-pauls-son-says/. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
- ^ ""Rand Paul’s Antitax Group Has Been Inactive for Years" (October 15, 2010) Wall Street Journal". Blogs.wsj.com. October 14, 2010. http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/10/14/rand-pauls-antitax-group-has-been-inactive-for-years/. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
- ^ a b Schreiner, Bruce (September 12, 2010). "Paul says GOP shares blame for deficits". The Daily Caller. http://dailycaller.com/2010/09/12/paul-says-gop-shares-blame-for-deficits/. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
- ^ Alessi, Ryan (September 13, 2010). "Paul's top goal is to cut federal spending". Lexington Herald-Leader. http://www.kentucky.com/2010/04/20/1231313/pauls-small-government-message.html#more. Retrieved December 16, 2010.
- ^ Stonington, Joel (October 4, 2010). "How Old Is Rand Paul?". Politics Daily. http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/10/04/how-old-is-rand-paul/. Retrieved December 16, 2010.
- ^ O'Bryan, Jason (October 25, 2010). "What Is Rand Paul's Religion?". Politics Daily. http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/10/25/what-is-rand-pauls-religion/. Retrieved January 31, 2011.
- ^ a b c d Wolfson, Andrew (October 18, 2010). "Rand Paul rides tide of anti-Washington sentiment". The Courier-Journal. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courier_journal/access/2166776301.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+18%2C+2010&author=Andrew+Wolfson&pub=Courier+-+Journal&edition=&startpage=n%2Fa&desc=Rand+Paul+rides+tide+of+anti-Washington+sentiment. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
- ^ Healy, Gene (May 18, 2010). "Rand Paul, Anti-Incumbent Republican". Cato Institute. http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11819. Retrieved February 8, 2011. "Given father Ron's libertarian convictions, people often assume that Rand Paul is named after the self-styled 'radical for capitalism' who wrote Atlas Shrugged."
- ^ a b c d Leibovich, Mark (June 6, 2010). "For Paul Family, Libertarian Ethos Began at Home". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/us/politics/06paul.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all. Retrieved June 6, 2010.
- ^ a b Rettig, Jessica (June 3, 2010). "10 Things You Didn't Know About Rand Paul". U.S. News & World Report. http://politics.usnews.com/news/articles/2010/06/03/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-rand-paul.html. Retrieved December 12, 2010.
- ^ Burnette, Eric (September 7, 2010). "The Gospel According to Paul: Louisville Magazine's inside look at U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul". Louisville Magazine. http://www.louisville.com/content/gospel-according-paul-louisville-magazines-inside-look-us-senate-candidate-rand-paul-news. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
- ^ a b Watterson, Mark (2008). Don't Weep for Me, America: How Democracy in America Became the Prince (While We Slept). Dorrance Publishing. p. 203. ISBN 978-0-8059-7890-2.
- Sherman, Jerome L. (August 3, 2007). "Texas congressman brings presidential campaign to hometown". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07215/806597-176.stm. Retrieved February 12, 2011. "He and his wife decided to settle in the southeastern Texan town of Lake Jackson, near the site of his military service. For a period, Mr. Paul was the only obstetrician in Brazoria County, and he delivered as many as 50 babies a month."
- ^ a b Horowitz, Jason (February 4, 2010). "Running for Senate, Rand Paul lights a fire under Kentucky GOP". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/03/AR2010020303643.html. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
- ^ Wolfford, David (April 5, 2010). "Rand against the Machine". National Review. http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/229456/rand-against-machine/david-wolfford. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
- ^ Straub, Bill (September 19, 2010). "Off and running: Rand Paul". Evansville Courier & Press. http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/sep/19/rand-paul/. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
- ^ a b Brammer, Jack (August 5, 2010). "Contrary to some media reports, Rand Paul has no bachelor's degree". Lexington Herald-Leader. http://www.kentucky.com/2010/08/05/1377392/contrary-to-some-media-reports.html. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
- ^ Brammer, Jack (September 28, 2010). "Paul: GQ allegations 'absolutely untrue'". Lexington Herald-Leader. http://www.kentucky.com/2010/08/11/1385157/paul-calls-allegations-in-gq-story.html. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
- ^ Cassady, Pam (2007). "Local tie to Paul; RHS grad a daughter-in-law to Republican president hopeful". News Democrat & Leader. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=KNDB&p_theme=kndb&p_text_direct-0=11CC367E848ECF20&p_field_direct-0=document_id. Retrieved April 4, 2009.
- ^ a b Paul, Carol and Ron (December 2008). Happy Holidays from Congressman Ron Paul and Family.
- ^ a b Pyeatt, Matt (May 24, 2007). "The First Family???". Daily Paul. http://www.dailypaul.com/node/185. Retrieved April 4, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f Gerth, Joseph (June 14, 2010). "Rand Paul's ophthalmology certification not recognized by national clearinghouse". The Courier-Journal. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courier_journal/access/2059232451.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jun+14%2C+2010&author=Joseph+Gerth&pub=Courier+-+Journal&edition=&startpage=n%2Fa&desc=Rand+Paul%27s+ophthalmology+certification+not+recognized+by+national+clearinghouse. Retrieved July 2, 2010.
- ^ a b c Van Benschoten, Amanda (July 5, 2010). "Rand Paul's political rise surprises even those in Bowling Green". The Courier-Journal. http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100705/NEWS0106/7050340/Rand-Paul-s-political-rise-surprises-even-those-Bowling-Green. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
- ^ Harmon, Hayley (January 5, 2011). "Rand Paul's Practice Merges with Downing-McPeak". WBKO. http://www.wbko.com/home/headlines/Rand_Pauls_Practice_Merges_with_Downing-McPeak_112968089.html. Retrieved March 12, 2011.
- ^ a b "Son of long-shot presidential hopeful to visit Montana". Associated Press. Billings, Montana: KULR-TV. January 21, 2008. http://www.kulr8.com/news/state/13944012.html. Retrieved April 4, 2009.
- ^ "Men focus of fair – Men's Health and Safety Day is designed to help men help themselves". Bowling Green Daily News. May 29, 2002. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=BGDB&p_theme=bgdb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=10AC7BA223644590&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM. Retrieved April 4, 2009.
- ^ Smith, Ben (June 15, 2010). "Paul's ophthalmological crusade". Politico. http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=3948ABEE-18FE-70B2-A8018AF32306D417. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
- ^ Smith, Ben (June 15, 2010). "Rand Paul's ophthalmological crusade". Politico. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38530_Page3.html. Retrieved July 2, 2010.
- ^ Weigel, David (June 14, 2010). "Rand Paul: I passed my ophthalmology certification, but took a stand against the way the board operates". The Washington Post. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/right-now/2010/06/rand_paul_i_passed_my_opthamal.html. Retrieved March 22, 2011.
- ^ Barrouquere, Brett (June 14, 2010). "National group: Paul isn’t a board-certified doc". The Daily Caller. http://dailycaller.com/2010/06/14/paul-lashes-out-over-medical-certification-issue/. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
- ^ "56 Honored by Taxpayers Group". Lexington Herald-Leader: p. C4. April 16, 1996. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=LH&s_site=kentucky&p_multi=LH&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB7405EA721DDBE&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM. Retrieved April 4, 2009.
- ^ "Legislators Honored as Anti-Tax 'Heroes' But Several Honorees Recently Voted for Tax". Lexington Herald-Leader: p. A12. April 13, 2000. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=LH&s_site=kentucky&p_multi=LH&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB7350C1BCFAFDF&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM. Retrieved April 4, 2009.
- ^ Collins, Michael (April 16, 1996). "8 Legislators Named Friends of Taxpayers". Kentucky Post (Covington, Kentucky). http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-72916086.html. Retrieved April 4, 2009. "Recognized by Kentucky Taxpayers United were Sens. Gex 'Jay' Williams and Dick Roeding and Reps. Charlie Walton, Paul Marcotte, Katie Stine, Tom Kerr, Dick Murgatroyd and Jon David Reinhardt [...] Rand Paul, the group's chairman, said the organization did the ranking so voters could see where their lawmakers stand on the issues."
- ^ a b c Paul, Rand (March 29, 2000). "Not One Cent More". Kentucky Post. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-63443974.html. Retrieved April 4, 2009.
- ^ a b Collins, Michael (January 21, 2000). "Pledge May Kill Hotel Tax". Cincinnati Post. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-63432685.html. Retrieved April 4, 2009. "Any legislator who breaks the pledge can expect to incur the wrath of Paul's group."
- ^ a b "No-Tax Pledges May Fall Adams: Promise Covered First Term". Kentucky Post. February 7, 2000. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-63435654.html. Retrieved April 4, 2009. "'I have no qualms at calling for the removal of any legislator who would break his pledge,' Paul said. 'We would expend every amount of energy on that person in their next legislative race. This is someone's word of honor. If they break the pledge, I say shame on them, and they should suffer the repercussions.'"
- ^ "No-Tax Pledge Binds Lawmakers". Kentucky Post (Covington, Kentucky). January 21, 2000. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-63433616.html. Retrieved April 4, 2009. "Raising the hotel surcharge by 1 cent would amount to a small increase in an existing tax that is really just a user fee. It would not constitute a new tax, they argue. But Kentucky Taxpayers United, the statewide group behind the no-new-taxes pledge, scoffs at that logic. 'Any raise in the tax will break a pledge,' said Rand Paul, a Bowling Green eye doctor who is chairman of the anti-tax group."
- ^ "'Revenue Recovery' or 'User Fee' Sure Sound Like Taxes". Kentucky Post (Covington, Kentucky). March 23, 2000. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-63441148.html. Retrieved April 4, 2009. "Rand Paul, chairman of Kentucky Taxpayers United, said it is a tax increase, pure and simple. 'Nobody seems to be paying much attention to their pledge.'"
- ^ "Session Spins to a Close in Frankfort". Lexington Herald-Leader: p. A1. April 16, 2000. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=LH&s_site=kentucky&p_multi=LH&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=11F949E1D4051B58&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM. Retrieved April 4, 2009. "They knew they would face accusations of shutting down government, much as congressional Republicans did five years ago, said Rand Paul."
- ^ "Dr. Rand Paul: Upcoming Events". Ron Paul 2008. Archived from the original on January 23, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080123211511/http://www.ronpaul2008.com/events/rand-paul/. Retrieved December 20, 2007.
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- ^ Santora, Mark (December 16, 2007). "Reinventing the Revolution". Caucus (New York Times). http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/reinventing-the-revolution/?pagemode=print. Retrieved April 4, 2009.
- ^ Collins, Heidi; Snow, Mary (December 17, 2007). "Wintry Weather Hits U.S.; Saudis Pardon Rape Victim". Transcripts (CNN). http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0712/17/cnr.08.html. Retrieved April 4, 2009.
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- ^ "Ron Paul defends earmarks, says anti-pork McCain is just grandstanding". Latimesblogs.latimes.com. March 11, 2009. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/03/ron-paul-defend.html. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
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- ^ Silver, Nate (May 1, 2009). "Bunning Retirement Might Not Save GOP in Kentucky". FiveThirtyEight.com. http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/05/bunning-retirement-might-not-save-gop.html.
- ^ "Dr. Rand Paul Ready To Enter Primary For Bunning's Seat". WBKO. May 1, 2009. http://www.wbko.com/news/headlines/44184752.html.
- ^ "Rand Paul To Form Exploratory Committee For U.S. Senate Bid...", www.kywordsmith.com. May 14, 2009
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- ^ Gerth, Joseph (August 5, 2009) "Paul says he will run for Senate", Courier-Journal. Retrieved on August 5, 2009.
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- ^ Jack Brammer Some conservatives wary of Grayson Lexington Herald Leader July 28, 2009
- ^ Jack Brammer Senate ads trade barbs on defense Lexington Herald Leader February 27. 2010
- ^ *Rand Paul TV Ad "Strong Defense" on YouTube
- ^ Dr. James Dobson Endorses Rand Paul RandPaul2010.com
- ^ David Weigel James Dobson endorses Rand Paul, apologizes for having previously backed his opponent Washington Post May 3, 2010
- ^ "2010 Election map: Kentucky Senate". Politico. May 18, 2010. http://www.politico.com/2010/maps/#/Senate/2010/KY. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
- ^ Gourlay, Kristin Espeland (May 18, 2010). "Conway Wins Democratic Primary for U.S. Senate Seat". WFPL radio. http://www.wfpl.org/2010/05/19/conway-wins-democratic-primary-for-u-s-senate-seat/. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
- ^ "GoRandGo.com – Road to Victory Money Blast", gorandgo.com/ June 7, 2010
- ^ "Rand Paul supporters plan 'Moneyblast'", June 7, 2010
- ^ "Rand Paul calls Obama's criticism of BP 'un-American'". News.yahoo.com. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/21/rand-paul-obama-sounds-un_n_584661.html. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
- ^ ""State of the Union with Candy Crowley" transcript (May 2, 2010) CNN". Transcripts.cnn.com. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1005/02/sotu.01.html. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
- ^ ""Press Briefing by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, 5/3/2010" (May 3, 2010)". Whitehouse.gov. May 3, 2010. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/press-briefing-press-secretary-robert-gibbs-532010. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
- ^ Weigel, David (May 20, 2010) "Rand Paul in '02: I may not like it, but 'a free society' will allow 'hate-filled groups to exclude people based on the color of their skin'", The Washington Post. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
- ^ "Rand Paul Says He Has A Tea Party 'Mandate'". All Things Considered. NPR. May 19, 2010. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126985068. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
- ^ Ortenzi, Tj (May 20, 2010). "Rand Paul On 'Maddow' Defends Criticism Of Civil Rights Act, Says He Would Have Worked To Change Bill". Huffingtonpost.com. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/20/rand-paul-tells-maddow-th_n_582872.html. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
- ^ Thompson, Krissah and Dan Balz. "Rand Paul comments about civil rights stir controversy", The Washington Post, May 21, 2010
- ^ a b Martin, J and M Raju. "Rand Paul's trial by misfire", Politico, May 21, 2010.
- ^ a b Nagourney, Adam and C. Hulse. "Tea Party Pick Causes Uproar on Civil Rights", The New York Times, May 20, 2010.
- ^ "More raw video: Rand Paul sits down with Joe Arnold to address recent controversial statements". Whas11.com. http://www.whas11.com/community/blogs/political-blog/Rand-Paul-sits-down-with-Joe-Arnold-to-address-recent-controversial-statements-94665159.html. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
- ^ "Rand Paul Sets the Record Straight". Randpaul2010.com. May 20, 2010. http://www.randpaul2010.com/2010/05/rand-paul-sets-the-record-straight/. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
- ^ Taylor Marsh (May 21, 2010). "Rand Paul on Civil Rights: Private Restaurants Wouldn't Have To Serve Martin Luther King". Huffingtonpost.com. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/taylor-marsh/rand-paul-on-civil-rights_b_582674.html. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
- ^ "Rand Paul cancels 'Meet the Press' appearance amid Civil Rights Act controversy". The Washington Post. May 22, 2010. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/21/AR2010052105327.html.
- ^ Stein, Sam (May 23, 2010). "RNC Chairman Michael Steele Criticizes Rand Paul As Out Of Touch On Civil Rights". Huffingtonpost.com. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/23/michael-steele-rand-pauls_n_586362.html. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
- ^ Theodore says: (May 20, 2010). "Rand Paul Sets the Record Straight". Rand Paul 2010. http://www.randpaul2010.com/2010/05/rand-paul-sets-the-record-straight/. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
- ^ "Rand Paul & DownsizeDC.org", December 7, 2009.
- ^ "Women 4 Rand", December 22, 2009
- ^ "Gun Owners of America endorse", January 6, 2010
- ^ "Steve Forbes endorses", January 7, 2010.
- ^ "A Tea-Party Target List? FreedomWorks Releases Its Races For 2010", January 25, 2010.
- ^ "Club for Growth PAC Endorsed Candidates: Rand Paul (KY-Sen)". Clubforgrowth.org. July 30, 2010. http://www.clubforgrowth.org/endorsedcandidates/?subsec=0&id=752. Retrieved October 8, 2010.
- ^ "Dr. James Dobson Endorses Rand Paul for Senate". Business Wire. May 3, 2010. http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20100503005889&newsLang=en. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
- ^ "Sarah Palin endorses", February 1, 2010.
- ^ "Jim DeMint endorses Rand Paul". The Washington Post. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/right-now/2010/05/jim_demint_endorses_rand_paul.html.
- ^ Arnold, Joe. Cathy Bailey backing Rand Paul in primary. WHAS11.com May 11, 2010.
- ^ "Bunning endorses Paul in U.S. Senate race", April 14, 2010.
- ^ "Erick Erickson on Twitter", December 14, 2009
- ^ "National Federation of Independent Business Endorses Dr. Rand Paul", 2010-9-23
- ^ "Council For Citizens Against Government Waste Endorses Dr. Rand Paul", 2010-9-23
- ^ "National Right to Life Endorses Rand Paul", 2010-9-17
- ^ "US Chamber of Commerce Endorses Rand Paul", 2010-9-15
- ^ "Rand Paul Receives Endorsement of the National Vietnam and Gulf War Veterans Coalition", 2010-9-09
- ^ "GOVERNOR MIKE HUCKABEE AND HUCK PAC ENDORSE RAND PAUL FOR U.S. SENATE IN KENTUCKY", 2010-9-16
- ^ Trish Turner (October 21, 2010). "Religious Attack Ad Rallies Conservatives to Rand Paul's Side". FoxNews.com. http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/10/21/religious-attack-ad-rallies-conservatives-rand-pauls-side. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
- ^ "FRC Action PAC Endorses Rand Paul for U.S. Senate" (Press release). FRC Action PAC. October 22, 2010. http://www.frcaction.org/frcapacinternal/frc-action-pac-endorses-rand-paul-for-us-senate. Retrieved October 24, 2010.
- ^ Douglas, William (January 5, 2011). "Father watches with pride as Rand Paul becomes U.S. senator". The McClatchy Company. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/01/05/106256/father-watches-with-pride-as-rand.html#storylink=misearch. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
- ^ "Four committee assignments for Rand Paul". Lexington Herald-Leader. January 28, 2011. http://www.kentucky.com/2011/01/28/1614138/four-committee-assignments-for.html. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
- ^ Sonmez, Felicia (January 14, 2011). "Rand Paul announces Senate Tea Party Caucus". The Washington Post. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2011/01/rand-paul-announces-senate-tea.html. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
- ^ Straub, Bill (January 28, 2011). "Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul rolls out budget ax". Evansville Courier & Press. http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/jan/27/sen-paul-rolls-out-budget-ax/. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
- Carroll, James R. (January 25, 2011). "Senator Rand Paul seeks $500 billion in federal spending cuts". The Courier-Journal. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courier_journal/access/2248953991.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jan+25%2C+2011&author=James+R+Carroll&pub=Courier+-+Journal&edition=&startpage=n%2Fa&desc=Senator+Rand+Paul+seeks+%24500+billion+in+federal+spending+cuts. Retrieved January 31, 2011.
- Freddoso, David (January 26, 2011). "A detailed look at the Rand Paul spending bill". The Washington Examiner. http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/01/detailed-look-rand-paul-spending-bill. Retrieved April 9, 2011.
- ^ Bruce, Mary (March 17, 2011). "Sen. Paul Unveils 5-Year Budget Plan: Eliminates Four Federal Agencies". ABC News. http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/03/sen-paul-unveils-5-year-budget-plan-eliminates-four-federal-agencies.html. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
- ^ Sonmez, Felicia (February 15, 2011). "Senate passes short-term extension of Patriot Act provisions". The Washington Post. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2011/02/senate-to-vote-tuesday-on-shor.html. Retrieved February 17, 2011.
- ^ Belenky, Alexander (May 26, 2011). "Patriot Act Extension Passes Senate, Rand Paul Amendments Fail". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on May 26, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5yz8uVD4V. Retrieved May 26, 2011.
- ^ Middleton, Neil (March 2, 2011). "Yarmuth and Paul vote no on stopgap spending bill". WYMT-TV. http://www.wkyt.com/blogs/neilsnotebook/Yarmuth_and_Paul_vote_no_on_stopgap_GOP_spending_bill_117271378.html. Retrieved March 4, 2011.
- ^ Ferrechio, Susan (March 9, 2011). "Senate rejects budget plans 9 days before deadline". The Washington Examiner. http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/congress/2011/03/senate-rejects-budget-plans-9-days-deadline. Retrieved March 10, 2011.
- ^ Jaffe, Matthew (March 17, 2011). "Kickin' the Can: Senate Passes Stop-Gap Spending Plan, Buys Lawmakers Three More Weeks To Solve Funding Mess". ABC News. http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/03/kickin-the-can-senate-passes-stop-gap-spending-plan-buys-lawmakers-three-more-weeks-to-solve-funding.html. Retrieved April 9, 2011.
- Wong, Scott (April 9, 2011). "Rand Paul opposes temporary stopgap". Politico. http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0411/Rand_Paul_opposes_temporary_stopgap_.html. Retrieved April 9, 2011.
- ^ Bowman, Quinn (April 14, 2011). "House, Senate Pass Bipartisan Budget Deal to Fund Government". Public Broadcasting Service. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/04/house-passes-385-budget-deal-to-fund-government.html. Retrieved May 26, 2011.
- ^ Straub, Bill (March 30, 2011). "Kentucky Senator Paul berates Obama for 'cavalierly taking us to war'". Evansville Courier & Press. http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/mar/30/kentucky-senator-paul-berates-obama-cavalierly-tak/. Retrieved April 14, 2011.
- Sonmez, Felicia (March 17, 2011). "Rand Paul opposes U.S. military involvement in Libya". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/2chambers/post/rand-paul-opposes-us-military-involvement-in-libya/2011/03/17/ABkw6jl_blog.html. Retrieved April 14, 2011.
- ^ Klein, Rick (June 30, 2011). "Sen. Rand Paul: No Debt Ceiling Increase Without Balanced Budget Amendment". ABC News. http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/06/sen-rand-paul-no-debt-ceiling-increase-without-balanced-budget-amendment.html. Retrieved August 3, 2011.
- ^ Hayward, John (July 22, 2011). "Cut, Cap, and Balance Killed". Human Events. http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=45039. Retrieved August 3, 2011.
- ^ Marchmon, Jay (August 2, 2011). "Rand Paul reacts to passage of debt ceiling bill". WPSD-TV. http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/local/Rand-Paul-reacts-to-passage-of-debt-ceiling-bill-126594128.html. Retrieved August 3, 2011.
- ^ Hughes, Siobhan (September 8, 2011). "Rand Paul Calls for No Confidence on Geithner". Wall Street Journal. http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/09/07/rand-paul-calls-for-no-confidence-vote-on-geithner/. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
- ^ Simon, Richard (October 5, 2011). "Rand Paul blocks pipeline-safety bill, frustrating Californians". Los Angeles Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/10/fight-erupts-in-congress-over-pipeline-safety-legislation-.html. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
- ^ Wong, Scott (October 5, 2011). "Rand Paul blocking refugee funds". Politico. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/65142.html. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
- ^ Wong, Scott (October 17, 2011). "Rand Paul ends hold on SSI benefits". Politico. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/65142.html. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
- ^ Primary Election Candidate Questionnaire Kentucky Right to Life Association PAC
- ^ a b "Abortion | Rand Paul 2010 | U.S. Senate". Rand Paul 2010. Archived from the original on November 4, 2010. http://web.archive.org/web/20101104201920/http://www.randpaul2010.com/issues/a-g/abortion-2/. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
- ^ a b In Kentucky, a Senate Candidate With a Pedigree for Agitation
- ^ "KY Right To Life – Rand Paul 100% Pro Life – See for yourself". Rand Paul 2010. April 21, 2010. http://www.randpaul2010.com/2010/04/ky-right-to-life-%E2%80%93-rand-paul-100-pro-life-%E2%80%93-see-for-yourself/. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
- ^ "Kentucky Politics » Paul, Grayson spar on abortion, earmarks". Election 2010. Cincinnati.com. April 23, 2010. http://cincinnati.com/blogs/nkypolitics/2010/04/23/paul-grayson-spar-on-abortion-earmarks/. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
- ^ "Abortion". Rand Paul 2010. http://www.randpaul2010.com/issues/a-g/abortion-2/. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
- ^ KY Right To Life – Rand Paul 100% Pro Life – See for yourself RandPaul2010.com April 22, 2010
- ^ Amanda Van Benschoten Ky. Right to Life disputes Paul NKY.com (The Cincinnati Enquirer) April 21, 2010
- ^ a b Paul, Rand. The Public Trough. The American Conservative. August 1, 2009.
- ^ "Campaign Finance Reform". Rand Paul 2010. Archived from the original on October 1, 2010. http://web.archive.org/web/20101001001256/http://www.randpaul2010.com/issues/a-g/campaign-finance-reform/. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
- ^ "Privacy & Liberty | Rand Paul 2010 | U.S. Senate". Rand Paul 2010. Archived from the original on November 4, 2010. http://web.archive.org/web/20101104202615/http://www.randpaul2010.com/issues/h-p/privacy-liberty/. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
- ^ "Inflation". Rand Paul 2010. Archived from the original on October 1, 2010. http://web.archive.org/web/20101001001723/http://www.randpaul2010.com/issues/h-p/inflation/. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
- ^ "Taxes & Debt | Rand Paul 2010 | U.S. Senate". Rand Paul 2010. Archived from the original on November 4, 2010. http://web.archive.org/web/20101104202744/http://www.randpaul2010.com/issues/q-z/taxes-debt/. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
- ^ Joseph Gerth; Stephanie Steitzer (October 25, 2010). "Charges fly in Jack Conway, Rand Paul debate finale". Courier-Journal. http://www.courier-journal.com/article/2010310250066. Retrieved October 31, 2010.
- ^ Kentucky Senate Debate. C-SPAN Video Library. October 25, 2010. Event occurs at 48:02 to 49:25. http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/id/236168.
- ^ "Home Schooling | Rand Paul 2010 | U.S. Senate". Rand Paul 2010. Archived from the original on November 4, 2010. http://web.archive.org/web/20101104202350/http://www.randpaul2010.com/issues/h-p/home-schooling/. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
- ^ "Energy Innovation". Rand Paul 2010. Archived from the original on October 1, 2010. http://web.archive.org/web/20101001001331/http://www.randpaul2010.com/issues/a-g/energy-innovation/. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
- ^ a b "Health Care | Rand Paul 2010 | U.S. Senate". Rand Paul 2010. Archived from the original on November 4, 2010. http://web.archive.org/web/20101104202313/http://www.randpaul2010.com/issues/h-p/health-care/. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
- ^ a b Schreiner, Bruce (September 23, 2010). "Business group endorses Ky. Senate hopeful Paul". Bloomberg BusinessWeek. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9IDSOL81.htm. Retrieved October 3, 2010
- ^ "Illegal Immigration". Rand Paul 2010. http://www.randpaul2010.com/issues/h-p/illegal-immigration/. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
- ^ Estep, Bill (May 28, 2010). "Rand Paul: No citizenship for children of illegal immigrants". Lexington Herald-Leader. http://www.kentucky.com/2010/05/29/1284694/paul-opposes-citizenship-for-babies.html. Retrieved May 29, 2010.
- ^ O'Brien, Michael (June 24, 2010). "Rand Paul supports amendment to deny citizenship to children of illegals". The Hill. http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/105287-rand-paul-favors-amendment-to-deny-citizenship-to-children-of-illegals-born-in-us. Retrieved June 27, 2010.
- ^ a b Mike Meno (August 20, 2010). "Paul Campaign Clarifies Medical Marijuana Stance". MPP blog. http://blog.mpp.org/medical-marijuana/paul-campaign-clarifies-medical-marijuana-stance/08202010/. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
- ^ a b Roger Alford Rand Paul says drug use not 'pressing issue' in eastern Kentucky Associated Press August 13, 2010
- ^ "National Defense". RandPaul2010.com. Archived from the original on September 14, 2010. http://web.archive.org/web/20100914005735/http://www.randpaul2010.com/issues/h-p/national-defense/. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
- ^ Rob Nagle, Healy: Rand Paul victory in Kentucky could be best outcome for GOP, San Francisco Examiner, May 17, 2010.
- ^ Cooper, Charles (February 1, 2010). "Sarah Palin: Big Tent Republican?". CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504365_162-6164016-504365.html. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
- ^ Howard LaFranchi, After 'shellacking,' can foreign policy be a bright spot for Obama, Christian Science Monitor, November 4, 2010.
- ^ "Guns & Politicians | Rand Paul 2010 | U.S. Senate". Rand Paul 2010. Archived from the original on November 4, 2010. http://web.archive.org/web/20101104202218/http://www.randpaul2010.com/issues/a-g/guns-politicians/. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
External links[link]
|
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rand Paul |
- Senator Rand Paul official U.S. Senate website
- Rand Paul on Twitter
- Official Campaign Website
- Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
- Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
- Congressional profile at GovTrack
- Congressional profile at OpenCongress
- Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
- Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
- Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
- Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
- Appearances on C-SPAN programs
- Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
| United States Senate | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jim Bunning |
United States Senator (Class 3) from Kentucky January 5, 2011 Served alongside: Mitch McConnell |
Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Jim Bunning |
Republican Party nominee for U.S. Senator from Kentucky (Class 3) |
Most recent |
| United States order of precedence | ||
| Preceded by Ron Johnson R-Wisconsin |
United States Senators by seniority 97th |
Succeeded by Richard Blumenthal D-Connecticut |
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| Representatives to the 112th United States Congress from Kentucky (ordered by seniority) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 112th | Senate: M. McConnell | R. Paul | House: H. Rogers | E. Whitfield | B. Chandler | G. Davis | J. Yarmuth | B. Guthrie |
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| Persondata | |
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| Name | Paul, Rand |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | American physician and politician |
| Date of birth | January 7, 1963 |
| Place of birth | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rand_Paul
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
For other people named George Galloway, see George Galloway (disambiguation).
| George Galloway MP | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Galloway at a Stop The War protest in London, 24 February 2007 | |
| Member of Parliament for Bradford West |
|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 29 March 2012 |
|
| Preceded by | Marsha Singh |
| Majority | 10,140 (16.7%) |
| Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow |
|
| In office 5 May 2005 – 6 May 2010 |
|
| Preceded by | Oona King |
| Succeeded by | Rushanara Ali |
| Majority | 823 (1.9%) |
| Member of Parliament for Glasgow Kelvin |
|
| In office 1 May 1997 – 5 May 2005 |
|
| Preceded by | Constituency created |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Majority | 7,260 (27.1%) |
| Member of Parliament for Glasgow Hillhead |
|
| In office 11 June 1987 – 1 May 1997 |
|
| Preceded by | Roy Jenkins |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Majority | 4,826 (12.3%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1954-08-16) 16 August 1954 (age 57) Dundee |
| Citizenship | British |
| Political party | Respect (2004–present) Labour (1967–2003) |
| Residence | London |
| Website | www.georgegalloway.com |
George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, author, journalist, and broadcaster, and the Respect Member of Parliament (MP) for Bradford West. He was previously an MP for the Labour Party, for Glasgow Hillhead and then its successor constituency Glasgow Kelvin from 1987 until 2005. He was expelled from the Labour Party in October 2003 because of his strident public opposition to the Iraq War.[1] He subsequently became a founding member of the left-wing Respect Party, and was elected as the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow in 2005.[2] In 2010, Galloway unsuccessfully contested the seat of Poplar and Limehouse, and in 2011 he unsuccessfully contested the Glasgow list for the Scottish Parliament, before being elected as an MP in the Bradford West by-election, 2012.[3][4]
Galloway is well known for his campaigns in support of the Palestinians in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. In the late-1980s Hansard records him delivering a ferocious assault on the Ba'ath regime, and Galloway opposed Saddam's regime until the United States-led Gulf War in 1991.[5] Galloway is known for a visit to Iraq where he met Saddam Hussein, and delivered a speech, which ended in English with the statement "Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability."[6] He has always stated that he was addressing the Iraqi people in the speech.[7] Galloway testified to the United States Senate in 2005 over alleged illicit payments from the United Nations' Oil for Food Programme.[8]
Contents
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Early and personal life[link]
Galloway was born in the Lochee area of Dundee to a Scottish trade unionist father and Irish republican mother.[9][10] He describes himself as "born in an attic in a slum tenement in the Irish quarter of Dundee, which is known as Tipperary".[11][12] He grew up in Charleston and attended Charleston Primary and then Harris Academy, a non-denominational school. During his school years at Charleston Primary and Harris Academy, he used to play football for the school team. As an amateur footballer, he went on to play for West End United U12s, Lochee Boys Club U16s and St Columbus U18s.[13]
From 1979 to 1999, he was married to Elaine Fyffe, with whom he has a daughter. In 1994, he married Amineh Abu-Zayyad as a second wife in a Muslim ceremony (later after his divorce from his first wife, he and Abu-Zayyad also undertook a civil ceremony); Zayyad filed for divorce in 2005. In 2005, Galloway married as his third wife Rima Husseini, a Lebanese woman and former researcher, also in a Muslim ceremony. She gave birth to their first son in May 2007, and a second son in December 2011. In March 2012, Galloway married Putri Gayatri Pertiwi, a consultant with a Dutch research firm.[14]
Galloway was raised as a Roman Catholic.[12] By his own account he decided, at the age of 18, never to drink alcohol. He disapproves of it and describes it as having a "very deleterious effect on people".[9][15] He stated at a March 2012 rally "We stand for justice and haqq" and "A Muslim is somebody who is not afraid of earthly power but who fears only the Judgment Day. I’m ready for that, I’m working for that and it’s the only thing I fear".[16]
In a April 2012 New Statesman magazine interview with Galloway, Jemima Khan asserted that the politician had become a Muslim sometime around 2000, but had not advertised this fact.[17] Galloway subsequently denied a ceremony had taken place: "I have never attended any such ceremony in Kilburn, Karachi or Kathmandu. It is simply and categorically untrue."[18]
Labour Party organiser[link]
Galloway joined the Labour Party at 13 years old and, within five years, was secretary of the Dundee West Constituency Labour Party. His enthusiasm led him to become Vice-Chairman of the Labour Party in the City of Dundee and a member of the Scottish Executive Committee in 1975. On 5 May 1977, he contested his first election campaign in the Scottish district elections, but failed to hold the safe Labour seat at Gillburn, Dundee. He was defeated by the Independent candidate Bunty Turley. Galloway became the secretary organiser of Dundee Labour Party—the youngest ever Scottish chairman—in March 1981 at 26 years old.[19]
In his mid-20s after a trip to Beirut in 1977,[12] he became a passionate supporter of Palestine stating "barely a week after my return I made a pledge to devote the rest of my life to the Palestinian and Arab cause". He supported Dundee City Council which flew the Palestinian flag inside the City Chambers and was involved in the twinning of Dundee with Nablus in 1980,[20] although he did not take part in the visit of Lord Provost Gowans, Ernie Ross MP and three City Councillors to Nablus and Kuwait in April 1981.[19]
In 1981, Galloway wrote an article in Scottish Marxist supporting Communist Party affiliation with the Labour Party. In response, Denis Healey, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, tried and failed to remove Galloway from the list of Prospective Parliamentary Candidates. Healey lost his motion by 13 votes to 5.[21] Galloway had argued that this was his own personal viewpoint, not that of the Labour Party. He once quipped that, in order to overcome a £1.5 million deficit which had arisen in the city budget, he, Ernie Ross and leading Councillors should be placed in the stocks in the city square: "we would allow people to throw buckets of water over us at 20p a time."[22]
Galloway stood for a place on the Labour Party National Executive Committee in 1986; in a large field of candidates he finished second from the bottom. At the 1986 Labour Party Conference, he made a strong attack on the Labour Party's Deputy Leader and Shadow Chancellor Roy Hattersley for not favouring exchange controls.
War on Want[link]
From November 1983 to 1987, Galloway was General Secretary of War on Want, a British charity that campaigns against poverty worldwide. In this post he was much travelled, writing eye-witness accounts of the famine in Eritrea in 1985 which were published in The Sunday Times and The Spectator.[23]
The Daily Mirror accused him of living luxuriously at the charity's expense.[24] An independent auditor cleared him of misuse of funds,[25] though he did repay £1,720 in contested expenses.[26] He later reportedly won £155,000 from "The Mirror in an unrelated libel lawsuit.[27]
More than two years after Galloway stepped down to serve as a Labour MP, the UK Government investigated War on Want. It found accounting irregularities from 1985 to 1989, but little evidence that money was used for non-charitable purposes. The commission said responsibility lay largely with auditors, and did not single out individuals for blame.[25]
Reported Break In[link]
In an article published by the Daily Mail at the beginning of May 2012, it was asserted that staff at his £1.4 million London home had discovered items had been moved and curious objects were found in the house such as an empty bottle of gin and a gay pornographic video stashed in a closet. The culprit is thought to have been an unidentified homeless man.[28] Galloway has increased security at his home to prevent any more homeless intruders.
Parliamentary career[link]
Member of Parliament for a Glasgow seat[link]
In the 1987 election, Galloway won Glasgow Hillhead constituency for the Labour Party from Roy Jenkins of the Social Democratic Party (who had briefly led that Party earlier in the decade) with a majority of 3,251. Although known for his left-wing views, Galloway was never a member of Labour's leftist groupings of MPs, the Tribune Group or the Socialist Campaign Group. In 2002, Galloway stated "I am on the anti-imperialist left... If you are asking did I support the Soviet Union, yes I did. Yes, I did support the Soviet Union, and I think the disappearance of the Soviet Union is the biggest catastrophe of my life."[29]
Asked about a War on Want conference on Mykonos, Greece during his previous job, the new MP replied "I travelled and spent lots of time with people in Greece, many of whom were women, some of whom were known carnally to me. I actually had sexual intercourse with some of the people in Greece."[30] The statement put Galloway on the front pages of the tabloid press and in February 1988 the Executive Committee of his Constituency Labour Party passed a vote of no confidence in him.[30]
He gained re-selection when challenged by Trish Godman (wife of fellow MP Norman Godman) in June 1989, but failed to get a majority of the electoral college on the first ballot. This was the worst result for any sitting Labour MP who was reselected; 13 of the 26 members of the Constituency Party's Executive Committee resigned that August, indicating their dissatisfaction with the result.[31]
In 1990, a classified advertisement appeared in the Labour-Left weekly Tribune headed "Lost: MP who answers to the name of George", "balding and has been nicknamed gorgeous", claiming that the lost MP had been seen in Romania but had not been to a constituency meeting for a year. A telephone number was given which turned out to be for the Groucho Club in London, from which Galloway had recently been excluded (although subsequently readmitted). Galloway threatened legal action and pointed out that he had been to five constituency meetings. He eventually settled for an out-of-court payment by Tribune.
The leadership election of the Labour Party in 1992 saw Galloway voting for the eventual winners, John Smith for Leader and Margaret Beckett as Deputy Leader. In 1994, after Smith's death, Galloway declined to cast a vote in the leadership election (one of only three MPs to do so). In a debate with the Leader of the Scottish National Party Alex Salmond, Galloway responded to one of Salmond's jibes against the Labour Party by declaring "I don't give a fuck what Tony Blair thinks."[31]
Although facing a challenge for the Labour nomination for the seat of Glasgow Kelvin in 1997, Galloway defeated Shiona Waldron. He was unchallenged for the nomination in 2001.
In the 1997 and 2001 elections Galloway was the Labour candidate for the seat of Glasgow Kelvin, winning with majorities of over 16,000 and 12,000 respectively. During the 2001 Parliament, he voted against the Whip 27 times. During the 2001–02 session he was the 9th most rebellious Labour MP.
Expulsion from the Labour Party[link]
Galloway became the Vice President of the Stop the War Coalition in 2001. He is actively involved, often speaking on StWC platforms at anti-war demonstrations. From this position Galloway made many aggressive and controversial statements in opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. These were the formal reasons for his expulsion from the Labour Party. He reportedly said in a 28 March 2003 interview with Abu Dhabi TV that Tony Blair and George W. Bush had "lied to the British Air Force and Navy, when they said the battle of Iraq would be very quick and easy. They attacked Iraq like wolves...." and added, "... the best thing British troops can do is to refuse to obey illegal orders."[32] He called the Labour Government "Tony Blair's lie machine."[33] The Observer reported in 2003 that the Director of Public Prosecutions looked at a request by the solicitor Justin Hugheston-Roberts to pursue Galloway under the Incitement to Disaffection Act, 1934,[34] though no prosecution occurred.
On 18 April, The Sun published an interview with Tony Blair who said: "His comments were disgraceful and wrong. The National Executive will deal with it." The General Secretary of the Labour Party, citing Galloway's outspoken opinion of Blair and Bush in their pursuit of the Iraq war, suspended him from holding office in the party on 6 May 2003, pending a hearing on charges that he had violated the party's constitution by "bringing the Labour Party into disrepute through behaviour that is prejudicial or grossly detrimental to the Party". The National Constitutional Committee held a hearing on 22 October 2003, to consider the charges, taking evidence from Galloway himself, from other party witnesses, viewing media interviews, and hearing character testimony from Tony Benn, among others. The following day, the committee found the charge of bringing the party into disrepute proved, and so expelled Galloway from the Labour Party. Galloway called the Committee's hearing "a show trial" and "a kangaroo court".[35]
2005 election[link]
In January 2004, Galloway announced he would be working with members of the Socialist Alliance in England and Wales, and others, under the name Respect – The Unity Coalition, generally referred to simply as Respect.
Galloway later announced that he would not force a by-election and intended not to contest the next general election in Glasgow. Galloway's Glasgow Kelvin seat was split between three neighbouring constituencies for the May 2005 general election. One of these, the new Glasgow Central constituency, might have been his best chance with a relatively large Muslim vote. However, his long-time friend Mohammad Sarwar, the first Muslim Labour MP and a strong opponent of the Iraq War also intended to go for it; Galloway did not wish to challenge him. After the European election results became known, Galloway announced that he would stand in Bethnal Green and Bow, the area where Respect had its strongest election results and where the sitting Labour MP, Oona King, supported the Iraq War. On 2 December, despite speculation that he might stand in Newham, he confirmed that he would be the candidate for Bethnal Green and Bow.
The ensuing electoral campaign in the seat proved to be a difficult one with heated rhetoric. The BBC reported that Galloway had himself been threatened with death by extreme Islamists from the banned organisation al-Ghurabaa. All the major candidates united in condemning the threats and violence.[36] On 5 May, Galloway won the seat by 823 votes and made a fiery acceptance speech, saying that Tony Blair had the blood of 100,000 people on his hands and denouncing the returning officer over alleged discrepancies in the electoral process. When challenged in a subsequent televised interview by Jeremy Paxman as to whether he was happy to have removed one of the few black women in Parliament, Galloway replied "I don't believe that people get elected because of the colour of their skin. I believe people get elected because of their record and because of their policies."[37] Jeremy Paxman during the same BBC interview accused Galloway of being a demagogue.[37]
Oona King later told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that she found Paxman's line of question inappropriate. "He shouldn't be barred from running against me because I'm a black woman. ... I was not defined, or did not wish to be defined, by either my ethnicity or religious background."[38]
"It's good to be back", Galloway said on being sworn in as MP for Bethnal Green after the May election. He pledged to represent "the people that New Labour has abandoned" and to "speak for those who have nobody else to speak for them."[39]
Parliamentary participation statistics[link]
After he was suspended and later expelled from the Labour Party, Galloway's participation in Parliamentary activity fell to minimal levels. After speaking in a debate on Iraq on 25 March 2003, Galloway did not intervene in any way in Parliamentary debates or ask any oral questions for the remainder of the Parliament and his participation in House of Commons divisions was among the lowest of any MP.[40]
Following the 2005 election, his participation rate remained low, and at the end of the year he had participated in only 15% of Divisions in the House of Commons since the general election, placing him 634th of 645 MPs. Of the eleven MPs below him in the rankings, one was the then Prime Minister Tony Blair, five were Sinn Féin members who have an abstentionist policy toward taking their seats, three were the speaker and deputy speakers and therefore ineligible to vote, and two had died since the election. Galloway claims a record of unusual activity at a "grass roots" level. His own estimate is that he made 1,100 public speeches between September 2001 and May 2005.[41]
In September 2009, he still had one of the lowest voting participation records in parliament at 8.4% as a total of 93 votes out of a possible 1,113 divisions.[42]
Suspension from the House of Commons[link]
On 17 July 2007, following a four-year inquiry, the House of Commons Select Committee on Standards and Privileges published its sixth report. The Committee concluded that there was no evidence that Galloway gained any personal benefit from either the former Iraqi regime, or from the Oil-for-Food Programme.
| “ | I have not found evidence that Mr Galloway has, directly and personally, unlawfully received moneys from the former Iraqi regime. I have been given evidence by Dr Al-Chalabi of a payment by him of $120,000 to Mr Galloway's former wife, Dr Abu-Zayyad, which derived from a commission payment Dr Al-Chalabi received under the programme. As I do not have access to the bank accounts in question, I do not know whether Mr Galloway benefited in any way from this payment. Nor do I know whether Mr Galloway benefited from a payment of $150,000 to Dr Abu-Zayyad which the US Senate Permanent Sub-Committee on Investigations found to have been made by Mr Fawaz Zureikat out of oil contract commission.[43] | ” |
However, it found that Galloway's use of parliamentary resources to support his work on the Mariam Appeal "went beyond what was reasonable."
| “ | Had these been the only matters before us, we would have confined ourselves to seeking an apology to the House. However, Mr Galloway's conduct . . . and his calling into question of the Commissioner's and our own integrity have in our view damaged the reputation of the House. In accordance with precedent, we recommend that he apologise to the House, and be suspended from its service for a period of eighteen actual sitting days. As the House is shortly to go into its Summer Recess, we further recommend that Mr Galloway's period of suspension should begin on 8 October, the day it resumes.[44] | ” |
In response, Galloway stated
| “ | The Committee appear utterly oblivious to the grotesque irony of a pro-sanctions and pro-war Committee of a pro-sanctions and pro-war Parliament passing judgement on the work of their opponents."[45] | ” |
At a press conference following publication of the report, Galloway stated "To be deprived of the company for 18 days of the honourable ladies and gentleman behind me [in parliament] will be painful ... but I'm intending to struggle on regardless ... What really upset them [the committee] is that I always defend myself.[46]
Candidate at other elections[link]
On 10 August 2007, Galloway confirmed he would stand in newly created constituency of Poplar and Limehouse[47][48] where the Labour Party had a notional majority of 3,942.[49] The Labour candidate was the current Poplar and Canning Town MP Jim Fitzpatrick. Galloway said he had planned to stand down from Parliament at the next election, but was prompted to stay on and fight to win the neighbouring east London constituency after he felt he was unfairly suspended from Parliament for 18 days. In the election Galloway was defeated, coming third after the Labour and Conservative candidates. He received 8,460 votes. Galloway headed the post-split Respect (London-wide) top-up list for the London Assembly election, 2008 but was not selected.[50]
On 5 May 2011, in the Scottish Parliament general election, 2011, the Respect Party, on whose list Galloway was standing in the Glasgow electoral region, received 6,972 votes (3.3%), failing to achieve any seats in the Holyrood Parliament.[51][52]
2012 by-election[link]
Main article: Bradford West by-election, 2012
After the resignation of sitting Labour MP Marsha Singh due to ill health, Galloway returned to Parliament at the March 2012 Bradford West by-election in an unexpected landslide result, with Galloway calling it "the most sensational victory in British political history".[53] His 36% swing from Labour was the third-largest in modern British political history.[54]The result was seen as a major disappointment for Labour, with Galloway speaking of his belief that it showed the "alienation" of voters from the leading three political parties.[55]
On 16 April, Galloway was sworn into Parliament by the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow.[56]
Political views[link]
Galloway advocates greater spending on welfare benefits, and some nationalisation of large industries. Galloway is opposed to abortion, although he supports Respect's pro-choice stance. He opposes Scottish independence but supports the right of the people to vote on the matter via a referendum. He also supports the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. In the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, George Galloway supported Solidarity,[57] despite not supporting all their policies, such as Scottish independence. Galloway has attracted most attention for his comments on foreign policy, taking a special interest in Libya, Pakistan, Iraq, and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. According to the report Preventing terrorism, where next for Britain? from the counter-extremism think tank Quilliam, which receives private and public funding, Galloway is "Islamist backed".[58] Inayat Bunglawala, chair of Muslims4Uk and a former MCB spokesperson, disagreed, saying: "This is just like something straight out of a Stasi manual. The advice from Quilliam is frankly appalling and incredibly self-serving."[59]
Iraq and Saddam Hussein[link]
Galloway opposed the 1991 Gulf War and was critical of the effect the subsequent sanctions had on the people of Iraq. He visited Iraq twice and met senior government officials. His involvement caused some critics to deride him as the "member for Baghdad North". In 1994, Galloway faced some of his strongest criticism on his return from a Middle-Eastern visit during which he had met Saddam Hussein "to try and bring about an end to sanctions, suffering and war". At the meeting, he reported the support given to Saddam by the people of the Gaza Strip and ended his speech in English with the statement "Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability".[60] In a January 2007 edition of the BBC's Hardtalk he stated that he was saluting the "Iraqi people".[7] Galloway's speech was translated for Hussein. Anasal-Tikriti, a friend of Galloway's and a Respect candidate, spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain said: "I understand Arabic and it [Galloway's salutation] was taken completely out of context. When he said "you" he meant the Iraqi people, he was saluting their indefatigability, their resolve against sanctions. Even the interpreter got it right and, in Arabic, says salutes the stand of the Iraqi people'."[61]
In 1999, Galloway was criticised for spending Christmas in Iraq with Tariq Aziz, who was Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister. In the 17 May 2005, hearing of the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Galloway stated that he had had many meetings with Aziz, and characterised their relationship as friendly.[62] After the fall of Saddam, he continued to praise Aziz, calling him "an eminent diplomatic and intellectual person". In 2006 a video surfaced showing Galloway enthusiastically greeting Uday Hussein, Saddam's eldest son, with the title of "Excellency" at Uday's palace in 1999.[63] "The two men also made unflattering comments about the United States and joked about losing weight, going bald and how difficult it is to give up smoking cigars," according to The Scotsman.[64]
In a House of Commons debate on 6 March 2002, Foreign Office Minister Ben Bradshaw said of Galloway that he was "not just an apologist, but a mouthpiece, for the Iraqi regime over many years." Galloway called the Minister a liar and refused to withdraw: "[Bradshaw's] imputation that I am a mouthpiece for a dictator is a clear imputation of dishonour" he said, and the sitting was suspended due to the dispute.[65] Bradshaw later withdrew his allegation, and Galloway apologised for using unparliamentary language. In August 2002, Galloway returned to Iraq and met Saddam Hussein for a second time. According to Galloway, the intention of the trip was to persuade Saddam to re-admit Hans Blix, and the United Nations weapons inspectors into the country.[66]
Giving evidence in his libel case against the Daily Telegraph newspaper in 2004, Galloway testified that he regarded Saddam as a "bestial dictator" and would have welcomed his removal from power, but not by means of a military attack on Iraq. Galloway also pointed that he was a prominent critic of Saddam Hussein's regime in the 1980s, as well as of the role of Margaret Thatcher's government in supporting arms sales to Iraq during the Iran/Iraq war. Labour MP Tam Dalyell said during the controversy over whether Galloway should be expelled from the Labour Party that "in the mid-1980s there was only one MP that I can recollect making speeches about human rights in Iraq and this was George Galloway."[67] When the issue of Galloway's meetings with Saddam Hussein is raised, including before the US Senate, Galloway has argued that he had met Saddam "exactly the same number of times as US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld met him. The difference is Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns and to give him maps the better to target those guns."[68] He continued "I met him to try to bring about an end to sanctions, suffering and war".
During a 9 March 2005 interview at the University of Dhaka campus Galloway called for a global alliance between Muslims and progressives: "Not only do I think it’s possible but I think it is vitally necessary and I think it is happening already. It is possible because the progressive movement around the world and the Muslims have the same enemies. Their enemies are the Zionist occupation, American occupation, British occupation of poor countries mainly Muslim countries."[69]
Israel and Palestine[link]
At a 22 July 2006 demonstration (and later in a Socialist Worker op-ed),[70] Galloway stated "Hezbollah has never been a terrorist organisation!" The National Union of Students of the United Kingdom passed a motion condemning Galloway for this statement. In 2009, Galloway received a Palestinian passport from Hamas leader Ismail Haniya. Hamas are a considered a terrorist organisation by the European Union, and the US.[71]
According to Al-Ahram, in a series of speeches broadcast on Arab television, Galloway described Jerusalem and Baghdad as being "raped" by "foreigners," referring to Israel's illegal annexation of East Jerusalem, and the war in Iraq.[72]
In an interview with the American radio host Alex Jones, Galloway blamed Israel for creating "conditions in the Arab countries and in some European countries to stampede Jewish people ... into the Zionist state". Jones then alleged that the "Zionists" funded Hitler, to which Galloway replied that Zionists used the Jewish people "to create this little settler state on the Mediterranean," whose purpose was "to act as an advance guard for their own interests in the Arab world..."[73]
Galloway was introduced as “a former member of the British Houses of Parliament” during a live interview with Qatari Al-Jazeera television, to which he responded: “I am still a member of parliament and was re-elected five times. On the last occasion I was re-elected despite all the efforts made by the British government, the Zionist movement and the newspapers and news media which are controlled by Zionism.”
Galloway expressed support for the Syrian presence in Lebanon five months before it ended, telling the Daily Star of Lebanon "Syrian troops in Lebanon maintain stability and protect the country from Israel". In the same article he expressed his opposition to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559, which urged the Lebanese Government to establish control over all its territory.[74]
In an interview with the Hizbullah run Al-Manar TV, which aired on 26 July 2011 (as translated by MEMRI), Galloway accused Israel of being responsible for the assassination of Rafiq Al-Hariri, stating that "Israel was the only country with any interest and any benefit to gain from the assassination of the martyr Rafiq Al-Hariri. They are the ones who had the capability to do so, they are the ones who had the motive for doing so, and they are the ones who had the criminal record for doing so. How many hundreds of people has Israel killed in Lebanon? Assassination squads of people landing on the beach, and people planting bombs of one kind or another..." He further stated that "When this inquiry [the Special Tribunal for Lebanon] refused to lead in that direction, I knew it was a fake inquiry" and that "this process and all these individuals are completely discredited."[75][76][77]
Several months earlier in a speech given in Edmonton, Alberta in November 2010, Galloway stated that
“I believe, and I don’t know anybody who is objective in this matter who does not believe, that Hezbollah are absolutely innocent of this crime, and it is time that the tribunal looked to the people who benefited from this crime..in Israel."[78][79]
Blair and Bush[link]
At the national conference of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, on 30 June 2003, Galloway apologised for describing George W. Bush as a "wolf", saying that to do so defamed wolves: "No wolf would commit the sort of crimes against humanity that George Bush committed against the people of Iraq."
On 20 November 2004, George Galloway gave an interview on Abu Dhabi TV in which he said:[80]
| “ | The people who invaded and destroyed Iraq and have murdered more than a million Iraqi people by sanctions and war will burn in Hell in the hell-fires, and their name in history will be branded as killers and war criminals for all time. Fallujah is a Guernica, Fallujah is a Stalingrad, and Iraq is in flames as a result of the actions of these criminals. Not the resistance, not anybody else but these criminals who invaded and fell like wolves upon the people of Iraq. And by the way, those Arab regimes which helped them to do it will burn in the same hell-fires. | ” |
On 20 June 2005, he appeared on Al Jazeera English to lambast these two leaders and others.[80]
| “ | Bush, and Blair, and the prime minister of Japan, and Silvio Berlusconi, these people are criminals, and they are responsible for mass murder in the world, for the war, and for the occupation, through their support for Israel, and through their support for a globalised capitalist economic system, which is the biggest killer the world has ever known. It has killed far more people than Adolf Hitler. It has killed far more people than George Bush. The economic system which these people support, which leaves most of the people in the world hungry, and without clean water to drink. So we're going to put them on trial, the leaders, when they come. They think they're coming for a holiday in a beautiful country called Scotland; in fact, they're coming to their trial....Ancient freedoms, which we had for hundreds of years, are being taken away from us under the name of the war on terror, when the real big terrorists are the governments of Britain and the United States. They are the real rogue states breaking international law, invading other people's countries, killing their children in the name of anti-terrorism, when in fact, all they're achieving is to make more terrorists in the world, not less, to make the world more dangerous, rather than less. | ” |
On 3 February 2006, Galloway was refused entry to Egypt at Cairo Airport and was detained "on grounds of national security", where he had been invited to 'give evidence' at a 'mock trial' of Bush and Blair. After being detained overnight, he said Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak "apologised on behalf of the Egyptian people", and he was allowed to enter the country. After initial derogatory comments from Galloway[citation needed] and a spokesman from his Respect party regarding Mubarak's pro-Western stance and ties to Bush and Blair, Galloway later commented: "It was a most gracious apology which I accept wholeheartedly. I consider the matter now closed."[81][82]
Suicide bombings[link]
In the House of Commons, on the day of the 7 July 2005 London bombings that killed 52 people and injured hundreds more, and following a visit to the Royal London Hospital in his constituency where many of the victims had been taken, Galloway condemned the attacks strongly, but argued that they could not be separated from the hatred and bitterness felt among Muslims because of injustices in Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan, including injustices, he said, suffered as a result of British foreign policy:
| “ | I condemn the act that was committed this morning. I have no need to speculate about its authorship. It is absolutely clear that Islamist extremists, inspired by the al-Qaeda world outlook, are responsible. I condemn it utterly as a despicable act, committed against working people on their way to work, without warning, on tubes and buses. Let there be no equivocation: the primary responsibility for this morning's bloodshed lies with the perpetrators of those acts... The hon. Member for North Durham (Mr. Jones), in an otherwise fine speech, described today's events as "unpredictable". They were not remotely unpredictable. Our own security services predicted them and warned the Government that if we [invaded Iraq] we would be at greater risk from terrorist attacks such as the one that we have suffered this morning... Despicable, yes; but not unpredictable. It was entirely predictable and, I predict, it will not be the last.[83][84] | ” |
Winding up the debate for the government in the last moments allotted, Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram described Galloway's remarks as "disgraceful" and accused Galloway of "dipping his poisonous tongue in a pool of blood."[85] No time remained for Galloway to intervene and he ran afoul of the Deputy Speaker when trying to make a point of order about Ingram's attack. He later went on to describe Ingram as a "thug" who had committed a "foul-mouthed, deliberately timed, last-10-seconds smear."[86] The men had previously clashed over claims in Galloway's autobiography (see below).
In an interview with Piers Morgan for GQ Magazine in May 2006, Galloway was asked whether a suicide bomb attack on Tony Blair with "no other casualties" would be morally justifiable "as revenge for the war on Iraq?". He answered "Yes it would be morally justified. I am not calling for it, but if it happened it would be of a wholly different moral order to the events of 7/7. It would be entirely logical and explicable, and morally equivalent to ordering the deaths of thousands of innocent people in Iraq as Blair did." He further stated that if he knew about such a plan that he would inform the relevant authorities, saying: "I would [tell the police], because such an operation would be counterproductive because it would just generate a new wave of anti-Muslim, anti-Arab sentiment whipped up by the press. It would lead to new draconian anti-terror laws, and would probably strengthen the resolve of the British and American services in Iraq rather than weaken it. So yes, I would inform the authorities."[87] Christopher Hitchens claimed this to be a call for an attack while appearing not to.[88]
Pakistan coup of 1999[link]
At the time of the 1999 Musharraf coup in Pakistan, he wrote, "In poor third world countries like Pakistan, politics is too important to be left to petty squabbling politicians. Pakistan is always on the brink of breaking apart into its widely disparate components. Only the armed forces can really be counted on to hold such a country together... Democracy is a means, not an end in itself and it has a bad name on the streets of Karachi and Lahore."[89] Nonetheless, on his TalkSport talk radio show, Galloway has been outspoken in criticising the former Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf.
Record on LGBT issues[link]
In 1994, Galloway voted in support of the equalisation of the age of consent for homosexuality (which was then 21 years) with that for heterosexuality at 16 years.[90] He also voted against a reduction of the homosexual age of consent to 18.[91] He voted in favour of permitting unmarried and gay couples to adopt children.[92] Critics have claimed that his involvement in the leadership of Respect – which made no explicit mention of gay rights in its 2005 election manifesto[93] and accepted donations from Islamic Party members[94] – raise questions about commitment to those issues, as does his rather poor voting record in parliamentary divisions, 80% of which he missed, during the 2001-5 parliament while still a Glasgow MP.[95] However, Respect's 2005 conference, in which Galloway took part, resolved that explicit defence of equal rights and calls for the end to all discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people would be made in all of its manifestos and principal election materials.[96]
Galloway's assertion on The Wright Stuff chat show (13 March 2008) that the executed boyfriend of homosexual Iranian asylum seeker Mehdi Kazemi was executed for sex crimes rather than for being homosexual[97] received criticism from Peter Tatchell, among others.[98] Galloway also stated on The Wright Stuff that the case of gay rights in Iran was being used by supporters of war with Iran.
Humanitarian work[link]
Mariam Appeal[link]
In 1998 Galloway founded the Mariam Appeal, intended "to campaign against sanctions on Iraq which are having disastrous effects on the ordinary people of Iraq". The campaign was named after Mariam Hamza, a child flown by the fund from Iraq to Britain to receive treatment for leukaemia. The intention was to raise awareness of the suffering and death of hundreds of thousands of other Iraqi children due to poor health conditions and lack of suitable medicines and facilities, and to campaign for the lifting of the Iraq sanctions that many maintained were responsible for that situation.
The fund received scrutiny during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, after a complaint that Galloway used some of the donation money to pay his travel expenses.[99] Galloway said that the expenses were incurred in his capacity as the Appeal's chairman. Although the Mariam Appeal was never a registered charity and never intended to be such, it was investigated by the Charity Commission. The report of this year-long inquiry, published in June 2004,[100] found that the Mariam Appeal was doing charitable work (and so ought to have registered with them), but did not substantiate allegations that any funds had been misused.
A further Charity Commission Report published on 7 June 2007 found that the Appeal had received funds from Fawaz Zureikat that originated from the Oil For Food programme, and concluded that: "Although Mr Galloway, Mr Halford and Mr Al-Mukhtar have confirmed that they were unaware of the source of Mr Zureikat’s donations, the Commission has concluded that the charity trustees should have made further enquiries when accepting such large single and cumulative donations to satisfy themselves as to their origin and legitimacy. The Commission’s conclusion is that the charity trustees did not properly discharge their duty of care as trustees to the Appeal in respect of these donations." They added: "The Commission is also concerned, having considered the totality of the evidence before it, that Mr Galloway may also have known of the connection between the Appeal and the Programme".[101] Galloway responded: "I've always disputed the Commission's retrospective view that a campaign to win a change in national and international policy—a political campaign—was, in fact, a charity."[102]
Viva Palestina aid convoy[link]
Main article: Viva Palestina
In response to the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict, in January 2009 Galloway instigated the Viva Palestina aid convoy to the Gaza Strip. On 14 February 2009, after raising over £1 million-worth of humanitarian aid in four weeks, Galloway and hundreds of volunteers launched the convoy comprising approximately 120 vehicles intended for use in the Strip, including a fire engine donated by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), 12 ambulances, a boat and trucks full of medicines, tools, clothes, blankets and gifts for children. The 5,000-mile route passed through Belgium, France, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.[103]
On 20 February, Galloway condemned Lancashire Police after they arrested nine of the volunteers under the Terrorism Act a day before the convoy's launch. Galloway said: "The arrests were clearly deliberately timed for the eve of the departure of the convoy. Photographs of the high-profile snatch on the M65 were immediately fed to the press to maximise the newsworthiness of the smear that was being perpetrated on the convoy." Viva Palestina reported an 80% drop in donations following the broadcast of the arrests and the police allegations on the BBC.[104]
The convoy arrived in Gaza on 9 March,[105] accompanied by approximately 180 extra trucks of aid donated by Libya's Gaddafi Foundation. All the British aid was delivered with the exception of the fire engine and boat which were blocked by the Egyptian government. The boat is to be delivered later in a flotilla of craft which Viva Palestina intends to take into Gaza harbour.[106] On 10 March 2009, Galloway announced at a press conference in Gaza City attended by several senior Hamas officials: "We are giving you now 100 vehicles and all of their contents, and we make no apology for what I am about to say. We are giving them to the elected government of Palestine," adding he would personally donate three cars and 25,000 pounds to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya.[107]
The Charity Commission opened a statutory inquiry into Viva Palestina on 23 March 2009, citing concerns over the finances, use of funds for non-charitable purposes, and the lack of "substantive response" to their repeated requests.[108] George Galloway admitted that the appeal had not responded to the requests, but argued that a substantive response was anyway due to be passed to the Charity Commission only hours after they launched the inquiry. He argued that the Charity Commission's actions were suspicious, hinting that they might be politically motivated.[108] On 8 April 2009, Galloway joined Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic to launch Viva Palestina US.[109]
A third Viva Palestina convoy began at the end of 2009. On 8 January 2010, Galloway and his colleague Ron McKay were deported from Egypt immediately upon entry from Gaza. They had been attempting to help take about 200 aid trucks into the Gaza Strip. They were driven by the police to the airport and put on a plane to London. The previous day an Egyptian soldier had been killed during a clash at the border with Hamas loyalists. Several Palestinians were also injured.[110][111]
The Foreign Ministry of Egypt released a statement reading: "George Galloway is considered persona non grata and will not be allowed to enter into Egypt again". Shortly after his deportation Galloway said, "It is a badge of honour to be deported by a dictatorship" and "I've been thrown out of better joints than that."[112][113] He also vowed to go back to the Gaza strip. The Daily Record described his mood as "defiant".[113]
Controversy[link]
Oil for Food[link]
[edit] Daily Telegraph libel case
On 22 April 2003, the Daily Telegraph published news articles and comment describing documents found by its reporter David Blair in the ruins of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry. The documents purported to be records of meetings between Galloway and Iraqi intelligence agents, and state that he had received £375,000 per year from the proceeds of the Oil-for-Food Programme. Galloway completely denied the story, and pointed to the nature of the discovery within an unguarded, bombed-out building as being questionable. He instigated legal action against the newspaper, which was heard in the High Court from 14 November 2004.[114]
On 2 December, Justice David Eady ruled that the story had been "seriously defamatory", and that the Telegraph was "obliged to compensate Mr Galloway ... and to make an award for the purposes of restoring his reputation". Galloway was awarded damages of £150,000 plus, after a failed appeal in 2006,[115] legal costs of about £2 million.[116]
The libel case was regarded by both sides as an important test of the Reynolds qualified-privilege defence. The Daily Telegraph did not attempt to claim justification (where the defendant seeks to prove the truth of the defamatory reports): "It has never been the Telegraph's case to suggest that the allegations contained in these documents are true".[117] Instead, the paper sought to argue that it acted responsibly because the allegations it reported were of sufficient public interest to outweigh the damage caused to Galloway's reputation.[118] However the trial judge did not accept this defence saying the suggestion such as Galloway was guilty of "treason", "in Saddam's pay", and being "Saddam's little helper" caused him to conclude "the newspaper was not neutral but both embraced the allegations with relish and fervour and went on to embellish them".[116] Additionally Galloway had not been given a fair or reasonable opportunity to make inquiries or meaningful comment upon the documents before they were published.[114]
The issue of whether the documents were genuine was likewise not at issue at the trial. However, it later transpired that the expert hired by Galloway's lawyers, a forensic expert named Oliver Thorne, said "In my opinion the evidence found fully supports that the vast majority of the submitted documents are authentic."[119] He added "It should be noted that I am unable to comment on the veracity of the information within the disputed Telegraph documents, whether or not they are authentic."
Others[link]
The Christian Science Monitor also published a story on 25 April 2003, stating that they had documentary evidence that he had received "more than ten million dollars" from the Iraqi regime. However, on 20 June 2003, the Monitor reported[120] that their own investigation had concluded the documents were sophisticated forgeries, and apologised. Galloway rejected the newspaper's apology, asserted that the affair was a conspiracy against him, and continued a libel claim against the paper.
The Christian Science Monitor settled the claim, paying him an undisclosed sum in damages, on 19 March 2004.[121][122] It emerged that these documents had first been offered to the Daily Telegraph, but they had rejected them. The documents' origin remains obscure.
In January 2004, a further set of allegations were made in Al-Mada,[123] a newspaper in Iraq. The newspaper claimed to have found documents in the Iraqi national oil corporation showing that Galloway received (through an intermediary) some of the profits arising from the sale of 19.5 million barrels (3,100,000 m³) of oil. Galloway acknowledged that money had been paid into the Mariam Appeal by Iraqi businessmen who had profited from the UN-run programme, but denied benefiting personally, and maintained that, in any case, there was nothing illicit about this:
| “ | It is hard to see what is dishonourable, let alone "illicit", about Arab nationalist businessmen donating some of the profits they made from legitimate UN-controlled business with Iraq to anti-sanctions campaigns, as opposed to, say, keeping their profits for themselves. | ” |
The report of the Iraq Survey Group published in October 2004 claimed that Galloway was one of the recipients of a fund used by Iraq to buy influence among foreign politicians. Galloway denied receiving any money from Saddam Hussein's regime. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards had begun an investigation into George Galloway but suspended it when Galloway launched legal action.
US Senate[link]
Allegations[link]
In May 2005, a US Senate committee report[124] accused Galloway along with former French minister Charles Pasqua of receiving the right to buy oil under the UN's oil-for-food scheme. The report was issued by the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Senator Norm Coleman, a Republican from Minnesota. The report cited further documents from the Iraqi oil ministry and interviews with Iraqi officials.
Coleman's committee said Pasqua had received allocations worth 11 million barrels (1,700,000 m3) from 1999 to 2000, and Galloway received allocations worth 20 million barrels (3,200,000 m3) from 2000 to 2003. The allegations against Pasqua and Galloway, both outspoken opponents of U.N. sanctions against Iraq in the 1990s, have been made before, including in an October report by US arms inspector Charles Duelfer as well as in the various purported documents described earlier in this section. But Coleman's report provided several new details. It also included information from interrogations of former high-ranking officials in US custody, including former Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz and former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan. Among the claims is that there is new evidence to suggest that the Mariam Appeal, a children's leukaemia charity founded by Galloway, was in fact used to conceal oil payments. The report cites Ramadan as saying under interrogation that Galloway was allocated oil "because of his opinions about Iraq."
Socialist Worker reported what they say is evidence that the key Iraqi oil ministry documents regarding oil allocations, in which Galloway's name appears six times (contracts M/08/35, M/09/23,[125] M/10/38, M/11/04, M/12/14, M/13/48) have been tampered with. They published a copy of contract M/09/23 and allege that George Galloway's name appears to have been added in a different font and at a different angle to the rest of the text on that line. In these documents (relating to oil allocations 8–13), Galloway is among just a few people whose nationality is never identified, whilst Zureikat is the only one whose nationality is identified in one instance but not in others.[126] Galloway combatively countered the charges by accusing Coleman and other pro-war politicians of covering up the "theft of billions of dollars of Iraq's wealth... on your watch" that had occurred under a post-invasion Coalition Provisional Authority, committed by "Halliburton and other American corporations... with the connivance of your own government."[127][128]
Galloway's response[link]
On 17 May 2005, the committee held a hearing concerning specific allegations (of which Galloway was one part) relating to improprieties surrounding the Oil-for-Food programme. Attending Galloway's oral testimony and enquiring of him were two of the thirteen committee members: the chair (Coleman) and the ranking Democrat (Carl Levin).[129]
Upon Galloway's arrival in the US, he told Reuters, "I have no expectation of justice from a group of Christian fundamentalist and Zionist activists under the chairmanship of a neo-con George Bush". Galloway described Coleman as a "pro-war, neo-con hawk and the lickspittle of George W. Bush", who, he said, sought revenge against anyone who did not support the invasion of Iraq.
In his testimony, Galloway made the following statements in response to the allegations against him:[130]
| “ | Senator, I am not now, nor have I ever been, an oil trader. and neither has anyone on my behalf. I have never seen a barrel of oil, owned one, bought one, sold one - and neither has anyone on my behalf. Now I know that standards have slipped in the last few years in Washington, but for a lawyer you are remarkably cavalier with any idea of justice. I am here today but last week you already found me guilty. You traduced my name around the world without ever having asked me a single question, without ever having contacted me, without ever written to me or telephoned me, without any attempt to contact me whatsoever. And you call that justice. | ” |
He questioned the reliability of evidence given by former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, stating that the circumstances of his captivity by American forces call into question the authenticity of the remarks. Galloway also pointed out an error in the report, where documents by The Daily Telegraph were said to have covered an earlier period from those held by the Senate. In fact the report's documents referred to the same period as those used by The Daily Telegraph, though Galloway pointed out that the presumed forgeries pertaining to the Christian Science Monitor report did refer to an earlier period.
Galloway also denounced the invasion of Iraq as having been based on "a pack of lies" in his Senate testimony. The US media, in reporting his appearance, emphasised his blunt remarks on the war. The British media gave generally more positive coverage; TV presenter Anne Robinson said Galloway "quite frankly put the pride back in British politics" when introducing him for a prime time talk show.[131][132]
A report by the then-majority Republican Party staff of the United States Senate Committee on Investigations published in October 2005 asserted that Galloway had given false "or misleading"[133] testimony under oath when appearing before them. The report exhibits bank statements it claims show that £85,000 of proceeds from the Oil-for-Food Programme had been paid to Galloway's then-wife Amineh Abu-Zayyad. Galloway reiterated his denial of the charges and challenged the US Senate committee to charge him with perjury. He claimed Coleman's motive was revenge over the embarrassment of his appearance before the committee in May.[134][135][136]
Stance on the Islamic Republic of Iran[link]
Galloway has attracted criticism from both the Left and the Right for his comments relating to the regime in Iran, and his work for the state-run satellite television channel, Press TV. Scott Long, writing in The Guardian, criticised Galloway's claim that "homosexuals aren't executed in Iran, just rapists", pointing out that current law in the country stipulates that "Penetrative sex acts between men can bring death on the first conviction".[137] Long-time Gay Rights activist Peter Tatchell, also writing in The Guardian, accused Galloway of spouting "Iranian Propaganda", continuing: "His claim that lesbian and gay people are not at risk of execution in Iran is refuted by every reputable human rights organisation, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and the International Lesbian and Gay Association."[138] Galloway argued that Western governments should accept the election of the conservative President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.[139]
The Trotskyist Workers' Liberty group also condemns Galloway, largely on the basis of his support and work for the current Iranian regime. In "No vote for Galloway – an open letter to the left", he is quoted from his Press TV interview with President Ahmadinejad as stating that he requires "police protection in London from the Iranian opposition because of my support for your election campaign. I mention this so you know where I’m coming from."[140]
Controversy at Oxford University[link]
On 2 November 2006, The Times reported that Galloway was in a fracas at the Oxford Union. He was there to discuss his book. (Galloway, George (2006). Fidel Castro Handbook. MQ Publications. ISBN 1-84072-688-1. ) In his speech to the Union, Galloway claimed "that democracy in Cuba is more “free” than in the UK", and when questioned on this, he mentioned "that Oxford students are too privileged to understand what he was talking about".[141] Three former state school students who met him afterwards and disputed this description, allege that Galloway said: "I don’t represent anyone’s views. I represent me. I don’t give a fuck what anyone else thinks."[141]
[edit] Clashes with the News of the World
Galloway says that the Metropolitan Police Service told him they had evidence he was targeted by Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator working for the News of the World who was jailed for phone hacking in 2007. In 2010 Galloway began legal action for breach of privacy. In 2012 it was reported that Galloway had settled out of court, along with many other victims of phone hacking.[142] The terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but he had previously claimed to have been offered "substantial sums of money" by NOTW to settle out of court.[143]
The settlement with News International in respect of phone-hacking is understood not to cover a legal dispute regarding the activities of Mazher Mahmood, an undercover reporter for the News of the World. In March 2006 Galloway claimed in a statement that Mahmood, who uses a disguise as a sheikh to frame celebrities, targeted him in an alleged sting operation. Galloway claims that Mahmood and an accomplice tried but failed to implicate him in illegal party funding, and to agree with antisemitic statements. Galloway wrote to the Metropolitan police commissioner and the Speaker of the House of Commons about the incident. He also released photographs of Mahmood and revealed other aspects of his activities.[144][145] The News of the World lost a High Court action to prevent publication of photographs of Mahmood.[146]
Islamic Forum of Europe[link]
Galloway has been recorded as saying that he owes "more than I can say, more than it would be wise for me to say, to the Islamic Forum of Europe".[147][148]
Hamas[link]
Respect MP George Galloway was barred in 2009 from visiting Canada (a ban now reversed[149]) because of his support for Hamas,[150] and donations to suspected vehicles of the Hamas-run government in the Gaza Strip.[151]
Forbidden to enter Canada[link]
On 20 March 2009, Galloway was advised by the Canada Border Services Agency he was deemed inadmissible to Canada on "security grounds" due to his involvement in the Viva Palestina aid convoy to the Gaza Strip following the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict.[151] The Gaza Strip is governed by Hamas, which is on Canada's list of terrorist organisations. This resulted from a personal donation of £25,000 made by Galloway ten days earlier. The Canadians ruled (and maintained on appeal) that this constituted explicit support for Hamas, although Galloway argued it was not the case as the money was intended to be used for aid purposes.[71][152]
Galloway was on a lecture tour of North America, and was due to speak on war prevention and Gaza for a United Church congregation in Toronto, as well as for events in Mississauga, Ottawa and Montreal. Galloway was also described as an "infamous street-corner Cromwell" by Alykhan Velshi, communications director for Jason Kenney, Canada's Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism. Galloway described the ban as "idiotic"[153] and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney was accused by Jack Layton, leader of Canada's New Democratic Party (NDP), of being a "minister of censorship."[154][155] Toronto Coalition to Stop the War, the group who invited Galloway to Canada, sought an emergency injunction to allow for his entry into Canada for the first speech in Toronto citing their rights to freedom of association and freedom of expression.[151] On 30 March 2009, the Federal Court of Canada upheld the decision of the Canada Border Services Agency.[156] Justice Luc Martineau cited non-citizens "do not have an unqualified right to enter in Canada. The admission of a foreign national to this country is a privilege determined by statute, regulation or otherwise, and not as a matter of right." The judge also noted "a proper factual record and the benefit of full legal argument...are lacking at the present time."[151] Subsequently, Galloway cancelled his Canadian tour and instead, delivered his speech over video link from New York to his Canadian audiences.[157]
Galloway was allowed entry into Canada in October 2010, after a judge concluded that the original ban had been undertaken for political reasons. He continued to criticise Jason Kenney, saying that the minister had "damaged Canada's reputation" and had used "anti-terrorism" as a means of suppressing political debate.[158] Galloway has also threatened to sue the Canadian government for the banning incident.[159]
Media activities[link]
Autobiography[link]
His autobiography, I'm Not The Only One, was published on 28 April 2004. The book's title is a quotation from the song "Imagine" by John Lennon. Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram applied for an interim interdict to prevent the book's publication. Ingram asserted that Galloway's text, which stated that Ingram "played the flute in a sectarian, anti-Catholic, Protestant-supremacist Orange Order band", was in bad faith and defamatory, although Ingram's lawyers conceded that for a year as a teenager he had been a member of a junior Orange Lodge in Barlanark, Glasgow, and had attended three parades. The Judge, Lord Kingarth, decided to refuse an interim interdict, that the balance of the arguments favoured Galloway's publisher, and that the phrase "sectarian, anti-Catholic, Protestant-supremacist" was fair comment on that organisation. Although Ingram was not and never had been a flute-player, the defending advocate observed that "playing the flute carries no obvious defamatory imputation ... it is not to the discredit of anyone that he plays the flute." The judge ruled that Ingram should pay the full court costs of the hearing.[160]
Other books[link]
Galloway has also published the Fidel Castro Handbook, a biography of the former Cuban President in 2006 (MQ Publications. ISBN 1-84072-688-1).
In August 2011, Galloway's book entitled Open Season: The Neil Lennon Story[161] which explores anti-Irish and anti-Catholic racism and bigotry in Scotland and describes many of the related hardships which have befallen Celtic manager Neil Lennon throughout his footballing career. Galloway himself has claimed that he was the victim of a sectarian attack at Glasgow Airport on 10 June 2007.[162][163] He believes that his attackers were on the way home from attending an Orange Order parade in London and that they attacked him because he is a Celtic fan.[164] No arrest was made in connection with this incident.
Publishing ventures[link]
Galloway has been involved in several publishing companies. He owned Asian Voice, which published a newspaper called East from 1996. It later transpired that the Pakistan Government was funding Galloway's company Asian Voice with several hundred-thousand-pounds. "Documents show that the Pakistan government agreed an initial budget for the weekly newspaper of £547,000. According to a memorandum dated 2 January 1996, the Pakistan government proposed to "covertly sponsor" the publication, with money allocated to "the Secret Fund of the High Commissioner for Pakistan in the UK as a special grant for the project".[165] The Commons Committee cleared Galloway of any wrongdoing in this matter.[166]
In 2005 Galloway established Friction Books, an imprint for fiction and non-fiction, with longstanding associate Ron McKay.[167] Friction claimed its purpose was to publish "books that burn, books that cause controversy and get people talking". As of 2009[update] it has released at least two books: Paco Ignacio Taibo II novel An Easy Thing[168] and Topple the Mighty by Leon Kuhn and Colin Gile.[169]
[edit] Celebrity Big Brother
In January 2006 Galloway appeared on the fourth series of the reality show for three weeks. During his time on the programme he appeared apparently licking milk, while pretending to be a cat, from the cupped hands of another housemate, actress Rula Lenska. Galloway was a sitting member of parliament at the time, leading to the allegation that he was bringing parliament into disrepute.[170]
Galloway acted as the guest presenter for the E4 companion programme to the 2007 edition of Big Brother, Big Brother's Big Mouth, from 5 to 8 June 2007.
talkSPORT[link]
| Genre | Political discussion |
|---|---|
| Running time | Friday 22:00–01:00 Saturday 22:00–01:00 |
| Country | UK |
| Languages | English |
| Home station | talkSPORT |
| Syndicates | Talk 107 |
| Hosts | George Galloway |
| Recording studio | Central London |
| Opening theme | The theme from Top Cat |
On 11 March 2006, Galloway started broadcasting on Britain's commercial radio station, the UTV-owned talkSPORT, and two weeks later started a simultaneous broadcast on Talk 107, TalkSPORT's Edinburgh-based sister station.
Billed as "The Mother of All Talk Shows", Galloway began every broadcast by playing the theme from the Top Cat cartoon series.
Galloway ceased presenting the show on 27 March 2010, due to campaign commitments in the 2010 UK General Election. During this time, he was replaced by Mike Graham.[171]
In August 2010, Galloway returned to the radio station with a new show bearing a similar format to his original, but this time titled The Week with George Galloway, described by the station as a "No-holds barred review of the past seven days around the world".[172] It was announced in March 2012 that Galloway's programme is to end as TalkSport plans to drop the non-sport elements of its schedule.[173]
Connection to Press TV[link]
Galloway began presenting a programme titled The Real Deal on 21 May 2007. Originally on Raj TV, a satellite channel primarily aimed at the British Asian community, the show was resurrected, following a short break, on 10 February 2008 by Press TV, a London-based news channel controlled by the government of Iran. The series was still running in late 2011.[174]
Galloway hosts a 45-minute weekly current affairs show Comment on Press TV. This programme invites the viewers to engage in lively debate on international political issues.[175]
In 2009, the British telecommunications regulator Ofcom criticised Galloway for breaching their broadcasting code by "breaking impartiality rules" in several of his Press TV programmes on the war in Gaza in which Israeli opinion failed to be "'adequately represented'".[176]
Journalism[link]
As of 25 June 2007, Galloway has contributed a weekly column in the Daily Record giving his views on politics and popular culture. He used this column to reveal he was considering running for a seat in the Scottish Parliament in the May 2011 election.[177] Galloway is an occasional contributor to The Guardian newspaper and website.[178]
As an orator[link]
 |
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: George Galloway |
The Times finds that he has "the gift of the Glasgow gab, a love of the stage and an inexhaustible fund of self-belief."[179] The Guardian finds him "renowned for his colourful rhetoric and combative debating style"[180] and the Spectator once awarded him Debater of the Year.[181]
Honours[link]
Galloway has been conferred by the President of Pakistan with the following decorations:[182]
- Hilal-e-Pakistan
- Hilal-e-Quaid-e-Azam
References[link]
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- ^ Macintyre, Ben (18 May 2005). "The Day Garrulous George fired at the Senate with both barrels". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article523692.ece. Retrieved 15 December 2005.
- ^ Happold, Tom (7 June 2005). "Bagdhad, Washington, South Shields". The Guardian (London). http://politics.guardian.co.uk/otherparties/story/0,9061,1501189,00.html. Retrieved 15 December 2005.
- ^ Chamberlain, Gethin (18 May 2005). "Galloway bluster fails to convince Senate". The Scotsman (Edinburgh). http://news.scotsman.com/georgegalloway/Galloway-bluster-fails-to-convince.2627434.jp. Retrieved 21 August 2008.
- ^ "www.defence.pk". www.defence.pk. 27 December 2009. http://www.defence.pk/forums/national-political-issues/42603-british-mp-george-galloway-exposed-musharraf-mqm.html. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
External links[link]
|
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: George Galloway |
- GeorgeGalloway.com Official website
- www.debretts.co.uk
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by George Galloway
- George Galloway at the Internet Movie Database
- The Scotsman. Indefatigably yours. Personal interview, 19 May 2003.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Roy Jenkins |
Member of Parliament for Glasgow Hillhead 1987 – 1997 |
Succeeded by Constituency Abolished |
| Preceded by Constituency Created |
Member of Parliament for Glasgow Kelvin 1997 – 2005 |
Succeeded by Constituency Abolished |
| Preceded by Oona King |
Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow 2005 – 2010 |
Succeeded by Rushanara Ali |
| Preceded by Marsha Singh |
Member of Parliament for Bradford West 2012 – present |
Incumbent |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | George Galloway |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | politician |
| Date of birth | 16 August 1954 |
| Place of birth | Dundee, Scotland |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/George_Galloway
Related pages:
http://ru.wn.com/Галлоуэй, Джордж
http://de.wn.com/George Galloway
http://fr.wn.com/George Galloway
http://pl.wn.com/George Galloway
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
