text:
2–3 tree

In computer science, a 2–3 tree is a tree data structure, where every node with children (internal node) has either two children (2-node) and one data element or three children (3-node) and two data elements. A 2–3 tree is a B-tree of order 3. Nodes on the outside of the tree (leaf nodes) have no children and one or two data elements. 2–3 trees were invented by John Hopcroft in 1970.

2–3 trees are required to be balanced, meaning that each leaf is at the same level. It follows that each right, center, and left subtree of a node contains the same or close to the same amount of data.

Definitions
We say that an internal node is a 2-node if it has one data element and two children.

We say that an internal node is a 3-node if it has two data elements and three children.

A 4-node, with three data elements, may be temporarily created during manipulation of the tree but is never persistently stored in the tree.

We say that $T$ is a 2–3 tree if and only if one of the following statements hold:

 * $T$ is empty. In other words, $T$ does not have any nodes.
 * $T$ is a 2-node with data element $a$. If $T$ has left child $p$ and right child $q$, then
 * $p$ and $q$ are 2–3 trees of the same height;
 * $a$ is greater than each element in $p$; and
 * $a$ is less than each data element in $q$.
 * $T$ is a 3-node with data elements $a$ and $b$, where $a$ $<$ $b$. If $T$ has left child $p$, middle child $q$, and right child $r$, then
 * $p$, $q$, and $r$ are 2–3 trees of equal height;
 * $a$ is greater than each data element in $p$ and less than each data element in $q$; and
 * $b$ is greater than each data element in $q$ and less than each data element in $r$.

Properties

 * Every internal node is a 2-node or a 3-node.
 * All leaves are at the same level.
 * All data is kept in sorted order.

Searching
Searching for an item in a 2–3 tree is similar to searching for an item in a binary search tree. Since the data elements in each node are ordered, a search function will be directed to the correct subtree and eventually to the correct node which contains the item.

 * 1) Let $T$ be a 2–3 tree and $d$ be the data element we want to find. If $T$ is empty, then $d$ is not in $T$ and we're done.
 * 2) Let $t$ be the root of $T$.
 * 3) Suppose $t$ is a leaf.
 * 4) * If $d$ is not in $t$, then $d$ is not in $T$. Otherwise, $d$ is in $T$. We need no further steps and we're done.
 * 5) Suppose $t$ is a 2-node with left child $p$ and right child $q$. Let $a$ be the data element in $t$. There are three cases:
 * 6) * If $d$ is equal to $a$, then we've found $d$ in $T$ and we're done.
 * 7) * If $$d < a$$, then set $T$ to $p$, which by definition is a 2–3 tree, and go back to step 2.
 * 8) * If $$d > a$$, then set $T$ to $q$ and go back to step 2.
 * 9) Suppose $t$ is a 3-node with left child $p$, middle child $q$, and right child $r$. Let $a$ and $b$ be the two data elements of $t$, where $$a < b$$. There are four cases:
 * 10) * If $d$ is equal to $a$ or $b$, then $d$ is in $T$ and we're done.
 * 11) * If $$d < a$$, then set $T$ to $p$ and go back to step 2.
 * 12) * If $$a < d < b$$, then set $T$ to $q$ and go back to step 2.
 * 13) * If $$d > b$$, then set $T$ to $r$ and go back to step 2.

Insertion
Insertion maintains the balanced property of the tree.

To insert into a 2-node, the new key is added to the 2-node in the appropriate order.

To insert into a 3-node, more work may be required depending on the location of the 3-node. If the tree consists only of a 3-node, the node is split into three 2-nodes with the appropriate keys and children.

If the target node is a 3-node whose parent is a 2-node, the key is inserted into the 3-node to create a temporary 4-node. In the illustration, the key 10 is inserted into the 2-node with 6 and 9. The middle key is 9, and is promoted to the parent 2-node. This leaves a 3-node of 6 and 10, which is split to be two 2-nodes held as children of the parent 3-node.

If the target node is a 3-node and the parent is a 3-node, a temporary 4-node is created then split as above. This process continues up the tree to the root. If the root must be split, then the process of a single 3-node is followed: a temporary 4-node root is split into three 2-nodes, one of which is considered to be the root. This operation grows the height of the tree by one.

Deletion
Deleting a key from a non-leaf node can be done by replacing it by its immediate predecessor or successor, and then deleting the predecessor or successor from a leaf node. Deleting a key from a leaf node is easy if the leaf is a 3-node. Otherwise, it may require creating a temporary 1-node which may be absorbed by reorganizing the tree, or it may repeatedly travel upwards before it can be absorbed, as a temporary 4-node may in the case of insertion. Alternatively, it's possible to use an algorithm which is both top-down and bottom-up, creating temporary 4-nodes on the way down that are then destroyed as you travel back up. Deletion methods are explained in more detail in the references.

Parallel operations
Since 2–3 trees are similar in structure to red–black trees, parallel algorithms for red–black trees can be applied to 2–3 trees as well.

title: 2–3 tree


text:
Midge Decter

Midge Decter (née Rosenthal; July 25, 1927 – May 9, 2022) was an American journalist and author. Originally a liberal, she was one of the pioneers of the neoconservative movement in the 1970s and 1980s. She was a critic of feminism and the women's liberation movement.

Early life
Decter was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on July 25, 1927. She was the youngest of three daughters of Rose (née Calmenson) and Harry Rosenthal, a sporting goods merchant. Her family was middle-class and Jewish. She attended the University of Minnesota for one year, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America from 1946 to 1948, and New York University, but did not graduate from any of them. She initially identified as a liberal on the political spectrum.

Career
Decter was assistant editor at Midstream, before working as secretary to the then-editor of Commentary, Robert Warshow. Later she was the executive editor of Harper's Magazine under Willie Morris. She then began working in publishing as an editor at Basic Books and Legacy Books. Her writing has been published in Commentary, First Things, The Atlantic, National Review, The New Republic, The Weekly Standard, and The American Spectator.

Together with Donald Rumsfeld, Decter was the co-chair of the Committee for the Free World, an anti-communist organization. She was one of the original champions of the neoconservative movement with her spouse, Norman Podhoretz. She was also a founder of the Independent Women's Forum, and was founding treasurer for the Northcote Parkinson Fund, founded and chaired by John Train. She was a member of the board of trustees for The Heritage Foundation. She was also a board member of the Center for Security Policy and the Clare Boothe Luce Fund. A member of the Philadelphia Society, she was, for a time, its president.

Decter was arguably the leading antifeminist in the United States prior to Phyllis Schlafly's rise to prominence. She was a critic of the women's liberation movement. She defended "traditional" gender roles and "family values." She was a critic of the gay rights movement.

Following a tongue-in-cheek remark by Russell Kirk, the Society's founder, about the prevalence of Jewish intellectuals in the neoconservative movement, Decter labelled Kirk an anti-Semite. She was also a senior fellow at the Institute of Religion and Public Life. She was one of the signatories to Statement of Principles for the Project for the New American Century. Decter served on the national advisory board of Accuracy in Media.

In 2008, Midge Decter received the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom from the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.

Personal life
Decter married her first husband, Moshe Decter, in 1948. Together, they had two children: Naomi and Rachel, who predeceased Decter in 2013. They divorced in 1954. Two years later, she married Norman Podhoretz, a neoconservative, who went on to become editor of Commentary magazine. They remained married until her death. Together, they had two children: Ruthie Blum and John Podhoretz.

Decter lived most of her adult life in Manhattan. She died on May 9, 2022, at her home in Manhattan. She was 94 years old.

Publications

 * Losing the First Battle, Winning the War
 * The Liberated Woman and Other Americans (1970)
 * The New Chastity and Other Arguments Against Women's Liberation (1972) ISBN 978-0-698-10450-1
 * Liberal Parents, Radical Children (1975) ISBN 978-0-698-10675-8
 * An Old Wife's Tale: My Seven Decades in Love and War (2001) ISBN 978-0-06-039428-8
 * Always Right: Selected Writings of Midge Decter (2002) ISBN 978-0-89195-108-7
 * Rumsfeld : A Personal Portrait (2003) ISBN 978-0-06-056091-1

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Midge Decter


text:
User talk:Idono

Hello.

~

title: User talk:Idono


text:
Democratic capitalism

Democratic capitalism, also referred to as market democracy, is a political and economic system that integrates resource allocation by marginal productivity (synonymous with free-market capitalism), with policies of resource allocation by social entitlement. The policies which characterise the system are enacted by democratic governments.

Democratic capitalism was implemented widely in the 20th century, particularly in Europe and the Western world after the Second World War. The coexistence of capitalism and democracy, particularly in Europe, was supported by the creation of the modern welfare state in the post-war period. The implementation of democratic capitalism typically involves the enactment of policies expanding the welfare state, strengthening the collective bargaining rights of employees, or strengthening competition laws. These policies are enacted in a capitalist economy characterized by the right to private ownership of property.

Catholic social teaching offers support for a communitarian form of democratic capitalism with an emphasis on the preservation of human dignity.

Definition
Democratic capitalism is a type of political and economic system characterised by resource allocation according to both marginal productivity and social need, as determined by decisions reached through democratic politics. It is marked by democratic elections, freedom, and rule of law, characteristics typically associated with democracy. It retains a free-market economic system with an emphasis on private enterprise.

Professor of Entrepreneurship Elias G. Carayannis and Arisitidis Kaloudis, Economics Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), describe democratic capitalism as an economic system which combines robust competitiveness with sustainable entrepreneurship, with the aim of innovation and providing opportunities for economic prosperity to all citizens.

Edward Younkins, professor at Wheeling University, described democratic capitalism as a “dynamic complex of economic, political, moral-cultural, ideological, and institutional forces”, which serves to maximize social welfare within a free market economy. Youkins states that the system of individual liberty inherent within democratic capitalism supports the creation of voluntary associations, such as labour unions.

Philosopher and writer Michael Novak characterised democratic capitalism as a blend of a free-market economy, a limited democratic government, and moral-cultural system with an emphasis on personal freedom. Novak comments that capitalism is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition of democracy. He also proposes that the prominence of democratic capitalism in a society is strongly determined by the religious concepts which drive its customs, institutions, and leaders.

Early to mid-20th century
The development of democratic capitalism was influenced by several historical factors, including the rapid economic growth following World War One, the Great Depression, and the political and economic ramifications of World War Two. The growing critique of free-market capitalism and the rise of the notion of social justice in political debate contributed to the adoption of democratic capitalist policies.

At the Bretton Woods Conference of 1944, officials from the United States and the United Kingdom and forty-two other nations committed to trade openness. This commitment was made in conjunction with international guidelines which guaranteed autonomy for each country in responding to economic and social demands of its voters. Officials requested international capital controls which would allow governments to regulate their economies while remaining committed to the goals of full employment and economic growth. The adoption of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade supported free trade, while allowing national governments to retain veto power over trade policy. Such developments saw the incorporation of democratic demands into policies based on capitalist economic logic.

Democratic capitalism was first widely implemented after the Second World War in the Western world, particularly in North America and Western Europe. Following the severe economic impacts of the war, working classes in the Western world were more inclined to accept capitalist markets in conjunction with political democracy, which enabled a level of social security and improved living standards. In the post-war decades, democratic capitalist policies saw reduced levels of socioeconomic inequality. This was synonymous with the expansion of welfare states, more highly regulated financial and labour markets, and increased political power of labour unions. According to political scientist Wolfgang Merkel, democracy and capitalism coexisted with more complementarity at this time than at any other point in history.

Policy makers in Europe and Asia adopted democratic capitalist policies in an attempt to satisfy the social needs of their voters and respond to the challenge of communism. The policies implemented supported the public provision of medical care, improved public housing, aged care, and more accessible education. Guarantees of full employment and the support of private research and innovation became priorities of policy makers. Policy developments were based on the rising notion that free markets required some state intervention to maintain them, provide structure, and address social inequities caused by them. Governments around the world regulated existing markets in an attempt to increase their equity and effectiveness. In order to stabilise the business cycle, the role of government was reconceived by anticommunist leaders in Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Scandinavia, and Japan. An emphasis was placed on supporting economic growth, promoting innovation, and enhancing living standards. This saw the expansion of educational opportunities and public insurance of basic health and aged benefits.

United States
As automated production expanded in the United States, demand for semi skilled workers increased. Combined with the expansion of secondary education, this saw the development of a large working class. The resulting strong economic growth and improved income equality allowed for greater social peace and universal suffrage. Capitalism was viewed as a means of producing the wealth which maintained political freedom, while a democratic government ensured accountable political institutions and an educated labour force with its basic rights fulfilled.

Europe
In the postwar period, free market economic systems with political systems of democracy and welfare states were established in France and Germany. This occurred under the leadership of the Popular Republican Movement in France and the Christian Democratic Union in Germany.

Late 20th century
Following the oil shocks of the 1970s and the productivity slowdown in the United States in the 1980s, politicians and voters maintained strong support for democratic capitalist policies and free markets. Globalisation and free trade were promoted as a means of boosting economic growth, and this saw the formation of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the European Union. Labour market and competition regulations were eased in existing free-market economies, particularly in Anglo-America.

Rapid technological innovation and globalisation brought widespread international economic change. Publicly funded democratic capitalist policies were designed and implemented to compensate individuals negatively affected by major, structural economic change. Implemented beginning in the early years of the Cold War, such policies included unemployment benefits, universal or partially universal healthcare, and aged pensions. Post-1970s, the number of public sector jobs available expanded. Ageing populations in Europe, Japan and North America saw large increases in public spending on pensions and healthcare. In the 1980s, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development economies began reducing corporate taxation, though personal income taxes and public spending on social security programs generally remained stable.

Large-scale innovation in production technology throughout the 20th century had widespread economic benefits in many capitalist economies. These benefits contributed to the conciliation of democratic politics and free markets and the widespread acceptance of democratic capitalist policies by voters.

From the late 20th century, the tenets of democratic capitalism expanded more broadly beyond North America and Western Europe.

United States
After taking office as president in 1981, Ronald Reagan advocated for a reduced role of government in the economy, while responding to voters’ skepticism of liberal capitalism by maintaining strong public sector spending. Many voters doubted the ability of free market capitalism to provide consistent peace, security and opportunity, and sought improved living standards, aged care, and educational opportunities for youth. The Reagan administration maintained previous levels of government expenditure on Social Security and Medicare as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP). Total government expenditure levels as a percentage of GDP also remained stable under the Reagan administration.

Europe
From the mid-1980s, European leaders began endorsing neoliberal ideas, such as those associated with Reaganomics and Thatcherism, based on the notion of the interdependence of economic and social policy. In this context, European competition law policy developed as a method of curbing the excesses of capitalism, while aligning the economy of the European Union with the existing democratic ideals of European society. This saw the advancement of democratic capitalism throughout the European region.

South Africa
The South African Competition Act of 1998 prioritised the eradication of anticompetitive business practices and the free participation in the economy of all citizens, while maintaining a pro-free-market economy.

India
India enacted the Competition Act, 2002 to promote and sustain competition and protect the welfare of market participants, goals synonymous with democratic capitalism.

Implementation
The post-war implementation of democratic capitalism saw the expansion of welfare states and the free collective bargaining rights of employees, alongside market policies designed to ensure full employment.

Under democratic capitalism, an autonomous democratic state enacts of policies which in effect create a compromise between upper and lower classes, while remaining compatible with free-market capitalism. Such policies include the establishment or expansion of a welfare state, as a method of mediating social class conflict and catering to the demands of workers.

The system is characterised by the establishment of cooperative economic institutions. This includes institutions which facilitate bargaining between government bodies and business and labour organisations such as unions, and those which regulate the relationships between employees and management within private firms. The development of institutions to promote cooperation among public and private economic entities acknowledges the benefits of market competition, while attempting to address the social problems of unrestrained capitalism.

Economic security concerns of citizens are addressed through redistributive policies. Such policies include income transfers, such as welfare payment programs and pensions, to support the financial needs of the elderly and the poor. Other policies which promote economic security include social insurance, and the fiscal financing of education and job training programs to stimulate employment.

The right to private ownership of productive property is a central tenet of democratic capitalism, and is recognized as a basic liberty of all democratic citizens, as in a regular free-market capitalist economy. According to political philosopher John Tomasi, democratic capitalism addresses social entitlement and justice concerns through the preservation of citizens’ private property rights, allowing citizens to be “free, equal, and self-governing”.

The robust competitiveness and sustainable entrepreneurship which define democratic capitalism are characterised by top-down policies and bottom-up initiatives implemented by democratic governments. Top-down policies are planned and implemented by formal leaders in an organisation, while bottom-up policies involve gradual change initiated and sustained by lower-level members of organisations. Policies implemented are designed to incentivise public and private sector innovation. Examples include strong research and development funding, and policies which protect intellectual property rights.

Competition law
A characteristic of democratic capitalist economies is the democratic enactment of laws and regulations to support competition. Such laws include United States antitrust laws. Competition laws are designed to regulate private sector activities, including the actions of capital asset owners and managers, in order to prevent outcomes which are socially undesirable according to the democratic majority.

The implementation of competition law is intended to prevent anti-competitive behaviour that is harmful to the welfare of consumers, while maintaining a free market economy. The implementation of antitrust laws was found to be a characteristic of democratic capitalism specifically, and not regular free-market capitalism.

Conflicts between notions of resource allocation
According to economic sociologist Wolfgang Streeck, the capitalist markets and democratic policies that characterise democratic capitalism are inherently conflicting. Streeck suggests that under democratic capitalism, governments tend to neglect policies of resource allocation by marginal productivity in favour of those of resource allocation by social entitlement, or vice versa. In particular, he comments that the accelerating inflation of the 1970s in the Western world can be attributed to rising trade-union wage pressure in labour markets and the political priority of full employment, both of which are synonymous with democratic capitalism.

In Catholic social teaching
Catholic texts offer support for a form of socially regulated democratic capitalism. The papal encyclical Centesimus annus, written by Pope John Paul II, emphasizes a vision of a communitarian form of democratic capitalism. The communitarian system of democratic capitalism described promotes respect for individual rights and basic workers’ rights, a virtuous community, and a limited role for the state and the market. According to the encyclical, these characteristics should be combined with a conscious effort to promote institutions which develop character in individuals. The encyclical stressed to decision makers the importance of the dignity of the person and a concern for the poor, while acknowledging the need to balance economic efficiency with social equity. The US Bishops’ 1986 Pastoral Letter Economic Justice for All suggested that specific institutional arrangements be developed to support this form of democratic capitalism. Arrangements proposed included structures of accountability designed to involve all stakeholders, such as employees, customers, local communities, and wider society, in the corporate decision making process, as opposed to stockholders only. The letter offered acceptance for the market economy under the condition that the state intervene where necessary to preserve human dignity.

title: Democratic capitalism


text:
Talk:Byzantine complexity

I should mention that I have absolutely no idea if my history of the term is correct. (I have heard it either came from their architecture or their government style. I felt the latter was more believable.)  It may be that no one knows the 'correct' answer, but if anyone does please double check. DStaal 00:21, 2004 May 11 (UTC)

delete?
WP:DICDEF. —Tamfang (talk) 20:17, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

title: Talk:Byzantine complexity


text:
Talk:Neoconservatism/Archive 2

Discussion
The Irving Kristol article listed above (The Neoconservative Persuasion) ought to be used to rewrite the introduction and the end of this article. His account of what distinguishes neoconservatism philosophically from traditional conservatism makes more sense than what's there now.

--- I reverted a propaganda piece. J.J. seems to be trying to explain the origins of the neoconservative worldview. However, he endorses it outright in his additions, only falling short of explicitly stating the neocon maxim (a neoconservative is a "liberal mugged by reality") as a matter of fact.

While I suppose someone could tone it down and salvage it and sketch the neocon worldview in a more neutral light, the content removed was effectively a poorly written rant by a cocksure teenager. It endorses the neocon worldview, but neglects ever-shifting contexts of policy in regimes deemed unacceptable by the neocons (e.g., the social structure, institutional structures, international pressures, phases of socio-economic development, etc.) and the shifting political and economic context of this country, within which neoconservative views caught on so fast since the Reagan years. Historians would have great reservations about his tendency to see the so-called "left" presented as a global monolith, from the Black Panthers in the US, the peasant-based movements in Southeast Asia, to the Kremlin. The social origins of these distinct phenomena varied considerably, and had a lot more to do with hisorical processes than people reading the Communist Manifesto or Das Kapital.

However, the rant does sketch popular caricatures fairly well. Indeed, the author of the rant is an amateur political cartoonist who has applied in this very article his ability to illustrate caricatures in another medium, namely writing polemics and propaganda pieces. This technique has enabled him to turn his opponents into caricatures, and mobilize opposition against them. In his entry, anyone who isn't a neocon is painted either as a hypocrite who supports Stalinism, but opposes less repressive regimes; as a radical extremist with a dangerous world-view; as a silly caricature of the 1960s counter-culture; or as anti-American. I'm not saying that this isn't a valuable skill; it's a very effective strategy for changing minds. First, you can over-simplify the underlying assumptions of your opponents. Then you can distort how their arguments would be applied, and even apply the distortion to certain sets of conditions where the premises of your opponents are inapplicable. Then you can discredit what you are targeting on the basis of low-caliber, but highly emotive and values-based grounds with catchy slogans that appeal to certain groups.

Underlying all this, J.J. probably believes in neocon's epic struggle of good and evil in international relations. I admit that I don't. But my approach (viewing policy and agents in context) is the Wikipedia way. NPOV is policy; and picking "good guys" and "bad guys" is forbidden.

Now, about the need to consider the context, this may seem obvious to be, but I'll explain it anyway. The actions of politicians aren't predetermined by any structures. But institutional structures, social structures, the phase of socio-economic development, government-type, international forces, and shocks and crises shape the conceptions of what political actors deem a necessary response. Thus, they limit or widen the options available to them for policy, a realignment of interests, encourage consensus among some, and conflict among others.

He is unwilling to do this and has even crticized the attempts by other users to put neocon views in context. He seems to have an agenda, realizing that most readers are going to have a fairly weak grasp of the complexities of history, and exploiting that to implant his caricatures of Third World leaders, left-wing scholarship, social revolutionaries, and foreign policymakers of the realist school.

For instance, he writes "having discredited Marxism as flawed and dangerous, many of these former leftists began to view the world with a different perspective." In that vein he expounds, "and suddenly, the Soviet Union, previously dismissed as irrelevant, was recognized as threat to both America and the world." Of course, this is all to suggest that only the neoconservatives have a coherent worldview of international relationships. Other views of international relations, thus, are characterized as distorted, naï¿½ve, and hypocritical at best; or threatening, evil, or twisted at worst.

J.J. calls Ho Chi Minh a "Stalinist" and attempts to discredit the left for opposing the Vietnam War while 'hypocritically' condemning South Africa. By the way, I've noticed his tendency to speak highly of the latter. Eloquence had to put a stop to his aims to hijack the Idi Amin article with his claim that Idi Amin was "proof" that white-rule was okay since black Africans were 'unfit to govern themselves.'

On social revolutionaries in J.J.'s rant, Ho is "fighting to create yet another Stalinist dictatorship." But if the contexts that I mentioned above are examined, you can see why asserting that Ho Chi Minh was no more than an ideologue bent on applying Stalinism, whatever the cost to his people, can be contested on serious grounds, and thus not up to NPOV standards. Of course, J.J. disregards the plight of the peasantry under French rule, and the role of the leadership and support base of the South Vietnamese regime as the Westernized collaborator class of the French colonialists. Furthermore, the lack of a sizable popular support-base for pro-US elites in Saigon is disregarded, along with the exploitative system of land tenure and repressive rural labor practices. With the inability, or unwillingness, of the South Vietnamese regime to resolve these socio-economic problems at the root of the anxiety of the impoverished peasantry, who accounted for the vast majority of the population, conditions were ripe for social revolution. By the way, it is worth nothing that the peasants got the land reform for which they were fighting, not Stalinist-style collectivization. Perhaps the influence of the Soviet Union was not a "threat" to this population, but a source of inspiration and support for Vietnamese peasants fighting to create a more just society as they (and not US foreign policymakers) envisaged it. Either normative view (in favor or against Ho Chi Minh), however, is inappropriate due to NPOV policies. Yes, if Wikipedia is dealing with the issue of neoconservative views vis-ï¿½-vis Vietnam, the article has to sketch the reasoning behind the neoconservative condemnation of any social revolution inspired by anything outside the norms of Western political culture. However, it cannot end there because that would be tacitly endorsing the interpretations of a group of foreign policy pudits. Thus, we will have to bring up the social and historical context in Vietnam and US geopolitical concerns.

With these problems in mind, the article will have to be edited and expounded upon by skilled authors who can weigh sides in the delicate balancing act of presenting political and historic topics in a neutral manner. And a young, rightwing firebrand with a mastery of catchy rhetoric will have to be monitored. He has been by and large an excellent contributor, but this one-sided propaganda piece had to be reverted. 172 09:34, 27 Sep 2003 (UTC)

What, are we still fighting? Oh shit. This seems to be worse than some of the Middle East entries.

Sigh.

Cema 22:09, 27 Sep 2003 (UTC)

-

I quite enjoyed reading your response, UTC. I can honestly say, I have never read such an interesting critique of myself before.

I agree with Cema that this article is fast becoming a lot cause, and I'm all but prepared to give up on it.

But I will still try to address some of your concerns. For those who care, here was the passage I added to the page about a week or so ago:

---

As the years went on, however many of these young leftists began to grow disillusioned with the tactics of their contemporaries. Many were turned off by the militancy of left-wing "revolutionary" groups such as the Black Panthers, and recent events of politically motivated violence, such as campus "uprisings". Though opposed to the Vietnam war, these leftists also depised the Viet Cong and Ho Chi Minh for fighting to create yet another Stalinist dictatorship, instead of a true socialist state. This in turn led to another key element in the evolution of the neo-con ideology- the dislike of the political double standard practiced by many leftists of the time. Along with Ho Chi Minh, many leftist advocates in the 70's vigourously defended the socialist regimes of Fidel Castro, Mao Tse-Tung, and Cho En-Lai, and instead reserved their criticism for "right-wing" or "American supported" regimes, such as Chile and Iran. The future neo-cons saw this as hypocritical, but also a case for self-reflection. Many began to see the prospects for a "socialist revolution" as a fundamentally flawed concept, and began to see the dictatorial communist regimes not as "abnormalities," as some of their contemporaries did, but rather as a disturbing "norm" that could not be avoided. This in turn led to a re-anaylsis of Marxist theory by many, and even spawned a period some refer to as the "Crisis of Marxism" in which many former Marxists became thuroughly disillusioned with the philospher's principles.

Having discredited Marxism as flawed and dangerous, many of these former leftists began to view the world with a different perspective. Suddenly, the Soviet Union, pereviously dismissed as irrelevant, was recognized as a major threat, both to America and the world.

---

It is important to understand that this is all I contributed. The rest of the article is a hodge podge of random crap (contributed by both pro and anti-neo cons) that doesn't flow and is full of akward quotes and other such unessisaries. So I cannot answer for things I did not add, such as the "liberal mugged by reality" thing.

The other thing that I want to stress is that this article is about neconservative perceptions of the world. I was careful to always word my statements to make this clear. For example, consider this statement I used: Many began to see the prospects for a "socialist revolution" as a fundamentally flawed concept, and began to see the dictatorial communist regimes not as "abnormalities," as some of their contemporaries did, but rather as a disturbing "norm" that could not be avoided.

The key phrase is many began to see. If I was really interested in propaganda, I would have written something like "many accepted the reality that communism was an evil ideology that would always create oppressive dictatorships, and rightly abandoned their persuit of an impossible socialist revolution."

I don't see how you can argue how simply explaining what a certain group thinks somehow amounts to "propaganda."

I doubt you would have been offended if the ideological tables were turned, and say an article contained a passage like: "To his followers, Chomsky's writings highlight contradictions in US foreign policy, and expose proof of America's desire to control all the world's resources." Now maybe I am caricaturing the situation again, but I frequently see a double standard on this site. If a conservative minded fellow such as myself attempts to add any sort of balance or context to an article heavy with anti-rightist bias, these edits are instantly pounced upon, and denounced as propaganda. Meanwhile, pages that are heavily biased towards the left, praising brutal dictators for their agricultural reforms, can go untouched for ages.

I don't want to condemn you entirely, UTC, if only because I am somewhat flattered you took the time to write such an in-depth critique of me. But I think you have seriously viewed my edits entirely out of context. By editing out my comments you have removed an important chapter of the evolution of neo-conservative ideology, simply because it exposes some of the unpleasant realities of your own political ideology from years past. You could have simply edited a couple of words (and in retrospect I agree that perhaps a couple are a bit "loaded"), but instead you chose to remove the whole paragraph, which says a lot to me.

I'd like to hear Cema's opinion on all this, if its possible.

user:J.J.

 * Well, I do have an opinion. More like a gut feeling. Which is that 172 is trying to find a path towards NPOV, and so do you, and eventually the paths may converge. But until then we are bound to go through a few more iterations of this, er, process. Which I am not looking forward to. Nor would like to participate in. Although, if I come across some interesting material, I will gladly add it.

 * Speaking of the text of the article, it is now a quilt of several narratives, of various quality of narration. Either someone needs to spend a few hours rewriting the text (and then someone else will claim POV and mangle it beyond all recognition), or — more likely — several people will add a few strokes of brush each using their own easels until the pictures becomes more or less even.

 * Enough of this creative writing thing. :-)

 * BTW, the name of the person you are having a discussion with is 172, not UTC. UTC is part of the automatic time string added after his name by wikipedia software (use four tildes to insert it, or three tildes to insert just the user's name). You were confused because his user name is all digits. :-)

 * Just let me insert my four tildes now...

 * Cema 05:49, 1 Oct 2003 (UTC)

J.J.:

I'm flattered that you enjoyed the postings; but I can't take all credit. The "caricaturing" idea actually came from Eloquence, who noted that you were describing a caricature of Idi Amin. I wrote about this is such great depth because it's actually a commendable skill. Thus, your piece was thought-provoking and effective. It could even imagine reading it on National Review Online, which has been adopting many aspects of the neocon style in recent years. Columnists for the National Review, Weekly Standard and even the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, in fact, brutally ravage opposing ideas. Perhaps consider becoming one.

One of their most effective techniques is turning the people who hold those ideas into absurd caricatures, which I noticed you doing in that short piece. In short, they discredit the ideas by first discrediting the people who hold them. Whenever questions raised over Bush's foreign policy come up, these columnists often characterize a lot of stereotypical personalities (e.g., the naï¿½ve, uninformed, and idealistic college student; elements of a "counter-culture" that border on being anti-social; anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists who hide behind the "pro-Palestinian" mantra; left-wing college professors who hate America, etc.). For intance, many of these columns often start out at an event or rally organized by anti-IMF and anti-WTO groups, or peace rallies, and go on to point out how absurd these people and their ideas are (often they're right about the people - most of the rank-and-file leftwing activists in this country whom I've encountered are just as narrow-minded, uninformed, and pigheaded as the knee-jerk ultra-nationalistic, flag-waving, and parochial-minded elements of the rank-and-file right). However, what they do is always paint the picture of the most absurd group who holds an opposing view.

Also, on foreign policy, every year is 1936. And every world leader who doesn't restructure state enterprises (or especially goes the wrong way in restructuring, such as Mugabe), or who favors a regional balance of power, is Hitler revisited. Many have stated that the neocons adopted this hard-hitting style from Marxist polemics. Recalling Eloquence's comments on the Idi Amin page, you might have picked up this talent, in large measure, from your own abilities as a cartoonist.

Thus, your additions just elicited such a strong response from me because I was a bit troubled that such a style was so evident in a supposedly neutral encyclopedia article. In addition, the talent was noteworthy.

All I ask is that the neocon world view be presented in this article, but with equal weight to questions raised concerning their tactics in foreign policy, from the standpoint of US interests; and broader ones raised concerning the accuracy of such a worldview.

BTW, let me respond to one of your comments. I'm not too interested in praising Third World dictators, if that's what you're suggesting. What we think or feel isn't important. But the effects of structural shifts (such as agricultural reform) in developing economies under non-democratic regimes on historical processes, alignment of class forces, alignment of political forces, economic development, the allocation of resources, and living standards, shouldn't be ignored in a history article. Wikipedia's strong Western-centric orientation often precludes articles from presenting past and present actors, political structures and institutions, social structures, and policies in their own context. Instead, the context to many writers on Wikipedia is their own ideology and biases. 172 07:11, 28 Sep 2003 (UTC)

title: Talk:Neoconservatism/Archive 2


text:
User talk:Daniel Staal

Hello and welcome to Wikipedia!

Here are some tips to help you get started:

 * If you haven't already, please add your name to the new user log to let others know a little about yourself.
 * Read the article describing how to edit a page and feel free to experiment in the Sandbox.
 * When editing pages, use the preview button before submitting and try to fill in the summary box for every edit.
 * Eventually, read the Manual of Style and Policies and Guidelines.
 * If you need help, post a question at the Help Desk or ask me on my talk page.
 * Explore, be bold in editing pages, and, most importantly, have fun!

Good luck! Jrdioko

P.S. One last helpful hint. To sign your posts like I did above (on talk pages, for example) use the '~' symbol. To insert just your name, type (3 tildes), or, to insert your name and timestamp, use ~ (4 tildes).

A tag has been placed on Universal Code (album), requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done because the article seems to be about a person, group of people, band, club, company, or web content, but it does not indicate how or why the subject is notable, that is, why an article about that subject should be included in Wikipedia. Under the criteria for speedy deletion, articles that do not assert notability may be deleted at any time. Please see the guidelines for what is generally accepted as notable, and if you can indicate why the subject of this article is notable, you may contest the tagging. To do this, add  on the top of the page (below the existing db tag) and leave a note on the article's talk page explaining your position. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the article that would confirm its subject's notability under the guidelines.

For guidelines on specific types of articles, you may want to check out our criteria for biographies, for web sites, for bands, or for companies. Feel free to leave a note on my talk page if you have any questions about this. -- Alex valavanis 10:08, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Nomination of Byzantine complexity for deletion
A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Byzantine complexity is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Articles for deletion/Byzantine complexity until a consensus is reached, and anyone, including you, is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article. Openlydialectic (talk) 22:15, 1 December 2018 (UTC)

Nomination of EForward for deletion
A discussion is taking place as to whether the article EForward is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Articles for deletion/EForward& until a consensus is reached, and anyone, including you, is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article. StarM 15:59, 18 February 2021 (UTC)

title: User talk:Daniel Staal


text:
Country Club Plaza

The Country Club Plaza (often called The Plaza) is a privately owned regional shopping center in the Country Club District of Kansas City, Missouri. Opened in 1923, it was the first planned suburban shopping center and the first regional shopping center to accommodate shoppers arriving by car.

Planned in 1922 by J. C. Nichols and designed in Baroque Revival and Moorish Revival style echoing the architecture of Seville, Spain, the Plaza comprises high-end retail establishments, restaurants, and entertainment venues, as well as offices. The Country Club Plaza is named in the Project for Public Spaces' list 60 of the World's Great Places.

The center consists of 18 separate buildings representing 784,000 sqft of retail space and 219,000 sqft of office space.

Location
The 55 acre site is about 4 mi south of downtown, between 46th Street and Brush Creek to the north and south and between Mill Creek Parkway and Madison Avenue to the east and west. The Kansas state line is one mile (1.6 km) to the west. The neighborhoods surrounding the Plaza consist of upscale apartment buildings and mansions, especially those of the Country Club District built along Ward Parkway on the Plaza's southern and southwestern side. The buildings are arrayed along a collection of streets at the northern edge of the Country Club District, which leads the center to blend in with the apartment and office buildings and houses that surround it.

Historic firsts
Opened in 1923, The Plaza claims several firsts among shopping centers:
 * the first regional shopping center in the world designed with parking to accommodate shoppers arriving by automobile
 * the first suburban center with common management and tenant selection
 * the first suburban center with unified architecture

Market Square in Lake Forest, Illinois opened in 1916 and was first with those features, but at only 103000 sqft is neighborhood shopping center-size, not a regional center, and also, was built within the central business district of an existing town, i.e. not suburban at that time.

History
The Country Club Plaza was named for the associated Country Club District, the neighborhood developed by J.C. Nichols which surrounded the Kansas City Country Club (now Loose Park). It is situated at the northern terminus of Ward Parkway, a boulevard known for its wide, manicured median lined with fountains and statuary that traverses the Country Club District. Nichols selected the location carefully to provide residents with a direct route to the Plaza along Ward Parkway.

Nichols began acquiring the land for the Plaza in 1907, in an area of Kansas City that was then known as Brush Creek Valley. When his plans were first announced, the project was dubbed 'Nichols' Folly' because of the then seemingly undesirable location; at the time, the only developed land in the valley belonged to the Country Day School (now the Pembroke Hill School), and the rest was known for pig farming..

Nichols employed architect Edward Buehler Delk to design the new shopping district. The Plaza opened in 1923 to immediate success, and has lasted with little interruption since that year. New Urbanist land developer Andres Duany noted in Community Builder: The Life & Legacy of J.C. Nichols that the Country Club Plaza has had the longest life of any planned shopping center in the history of the world. One of its oldest retailers is the Jack Henry Clothing company, founded in 1931.

While the positive contributions that Nichols made to Kansas City and urban development are undeniable, there is a dark history of how his influence impacted marginalized communities within Kansas City. Nichols is responsible for "redlining" and residential covenants that kept Blacks, Jews, and other marginalized people from purchasing homes and living in the more desirable areas of Kansas City.

For its first four decades, the Plaza combined some higher-end shops, such as Harzfeld's, with a mix of more mid-level retailers such as Sears and Woolworth's, as well such quotidian enterprises as a bowling alley, movie theater, and a grocery store to serve the daily needs of residents of the district.. From around 1970, competition from newer suburban shopping malls led management to reposition the Plaza with luxury hotels such as the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, higher-end restaurants, and upscale retailers including Gucci, Polo Ralph Lauren, FAO Schwarz, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bally, and Swanson's. Today, the Plaza is home to a number of high-end and unique-to-market stores including Tiffany & Co., Michael Kors, Kate Spade New York, Eileen Fisher, Indochino, Free People, Tommy Bahama and Vineyard Vines. On September 12, 1977, a major flood of Brush Creek caused severe damage to the Plaza and resulted in a number of deaths. The flood prompted a vast renovation and revitalization of the area that has allowed it not only to survive but to thrive.

In 1998, the J.C. Nichols Company merged with Raleigh, North Carolina-based real-estate investment trust Highwoods Properties, which now runs the Country Club Plaza.

On February 19, 2013, a large explosion destroyed JJ's Restaurant on the Plaza. Believed to be caused by a gas leak, the blast left at least one person dead and sixteen injured. According to a statement from Missouri Gas Energy, a contractor doing underground work struck a gas line. Witnesses had reported a strong odor of natural gas in the area most of the afternoon. The initial explosion happened shortly after 6 p.m. and led to a four-alarm fire that caused the restaurant's complete destruction as well as damage to surrounding buildings. JJ's returned in November 2014 to a new location, still in the Country Club Plaza area.

In 2016 Highwoods announced plans to sell the retail complex for $660 million to a 50-50 joint venture of Taubman Centers and The Macerich Company.

On February 2, 2018, Nordstrom announced it would be moving from Oak Park Mall in Overland Park, Kansas to a new space on the Country Club Plaza expected to open in fall 2023. The plans were cancelled in 2022.

Layout and use
The basic design of the Country Club Plaza reflects classic European influences, especially those of Seville, Spain, yet it does not include a traditional open plaza. There are more than 30 statues, murals, and tile mosaics on display in the area, as well as major architectural reproductions, such as a half-sized Giralda Tower of Seville (the tallest building in the Plaza). The Plaza also includes reproductions of San Francisco's Path of Gold streetlights. Other works of art celebrate the classics, nature, and historical American themes such as westward expansion, and a magnificent fountain featuring four horses rearing up on their hind legs, designed by Henri-Léon Gréber.

Although the Plaza was designed and built to accommodate visitors arriving by automobile, it is unlike modern shopping malls with sprawling parking lots: parking is concealed in multilevel parking garages beneath and behind the shops, or on the rooftops of buildings.

The Plaza was also the first shopping center to use the percentage lease, where rents are based on a percentage of the gross receipts of tenants. This concept was novel when Nichols invented it, but it is now a standard practice in commercial leases.

Several companies are based in the Country Club Plaza area, including American Century Investments, Russell Stover Candies, Inergy, Gates Bar-B-Q, Lockton, Polsinelli and Block Real Estate Services.

Plaza lights
In 1925, a single strand of 16 colored-lights was placed above a doorway in the Country Club Plaza to celebrate Christmas. The number of lights increased annually, inspiring an official lighting ceremony that first took place in 1930. On Thanksgiving night, tens of thousands of people visit the Plaza for the local entertainment/performances and to watch the switch-throwing to initiate the Christmas season. A special guest or celebrity "flips the switch" each year. The Plaza's "Season of Lights" is one of the city's oldest traditions. The lights are turned on Thanksgiving evening and shine overnight through mid-January of the following year. The one or two-hour ceremony is broadcast live on local television station KMBC. During the 2018/2019 season, 8 year-old Kansas City resident Hazel Laurie suggested that if the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl, the lights should remain up the rest of the year.

title: Country Club Plaza


text:
User talk:Hans555

 '''Hello and welcome! You write here - - I'll answer here'''. If necessary I will place on your talk page I have written on your page - - I'll look there for an answer! For older talk edits go to the archives!

Talk page refurbished
Hi everybody, I have refurbished my talk page a bit. All the older stuff has been archived.--Hans (talk) 09:24, 2 July 2011 (UTC)

Werkrealschule
Hallo Hans, ich war sehr erfreut zu sehen, dass es hier einen Artikel zu einer relativ neuen und schon wieder aussterbenden Schulform gibt, was nicht mal das Rhein-Neckar-Wiki hat. Was allerdings nicht viel heißen will. Leider kann ich mich nicht auf Englisch ausdrücken. Weiter so!--Eddi Bühler (talk) 01:44, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!
Hi, You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:16, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

Disambiguation link notification for February 26
Hi. Thank you for your recent edits. Wikipedia appreciates your help. We noticed though that when you edited Norman Beaker, you added links pointing to the disambiguation pages Tommy Tucker and So It Goes. Such links are almost always unintended, since a disambiguation page is merely a list of "Did you mean..." article titles. Read the FAQ* Join us at the DPL WikiProject.

It's OK to remove this message. Also, to stop receiving these messages, follow these opt-out instructions. Thanks, DPL bot (talk) 15:11, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

Disambiguation link notification for March 7
Hi. Thank you for your recent edits. Wikipedia appreciates your help. We noticed though that when you edited Norman Beaker, you added a link pointing to the disambiguation page Paul Burgess. Such links are almost always unintended, since a disambiguation page is merely a list of "Did you mean..." article titles. Read the FAQ* Join us at the DPL WikiProject.

It's OK to remove this message. Also, to stop receiving these messages, follow these opt-out instructions. Thanks, DPL bot (talk) 09:52, 7 March 2016 (UTC)

Your access to AWB may be temporarily removed
Hello Hans555! This message is to inform you that due to editing inactivity, your access to AutoWikiBrowser may be temporarily removed. If you do not resume editing within the next week, your username will be removed from the CheckPage. This is purely for routine maintenance and is not indicative of wrongdoing on your part. You may regain access at any time by simply requesting it at WP:PERM/AWB. Thank you! — MusikBot II  talk  17:16, 20 June 2019 (UTC)

January 2020
Please do not remove maintenance templates from pages on Wikipedia, as you did to World Theatre Training Institute, without resolving the problem that the template refers to, or giving a valid reason for the removal in the edit summary. Your removal of this template does not appear constructive, and has been reverted. Thank you. Dl2000 (talk) 23:16, 23 January 2020 (UTC)
 * My reason for removing the template is based on the following changes, which have been made by different contributors: shortening the text to the bare facts, eliminating unproved interpretation of the activities (01/01/2020) as well as adding sources and citations (21/01/2020).--Hans (talk) 16:05, 24 January 2020 (UTC)

title: User talk:Hans555


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Alfried Krupp

 * Page is a copyvio - it being a copyviolation is stated on the page itself, the link provided: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWkruppA.htm
 * Copyvio belongs on Copyright problems not here. -- Cyrius|&#9998 02:05, May 11, 2004 (UTC)


text:
User talk:Pyro~enwiki

Southwest Asia
" (cur) (last) . . m 05:08, 21 May 2004 . . Pyro (rv (MIddle East is preferred form, by far most commonly used)) "

NO. Southwest Asia is different from the Middle East, believe it or not. WhisperToMe 05:51, 22 May 2004 (UTC)

I didn't say I wanted "Middle East" removed - I said I did not want "Southwest Asia" removed. I wanted both in the same sentence. WhisperToMe 02:26, 23 May 2004 (UTC)

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Pyro. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Pyro~enwiki that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name. If you think you might own all of the accounts with this name and this message is in error, please visit Special:MergeAccount to check and attach all of your accounts to prevent them from being renamed.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 02:14, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 17:49, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Pyro~enwiki