Real-time strategy (RTS) is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market ''Dune II''.

In an RTS, as in other wargames, the participants position and maneuver units and structures under their control to secure areas of the map and/or destroy their opponents' assets. In a typical RTS, it is possible to create additional units and structures during the course of a game. This is generally limited by a requirement to expend accumulated resources. These resources are in turn garnered by controlling special points on the map and/or possessing certain types of units and structures devoted to this purpose. More specifically, the typical game of the RTS genre features resource gathering, base building, in-game technological development and indirect control of units.

The tasks a player must perform to succeed at an RTS can be very demanding, and complex user interfaces have evolved to cope with the challenge. Some features have been borrowed from desktop environments, most prominently the technique of "clicking and dragging" to select all units under a given area.

Though some game genres share conceptual and gameplay similarities with the RTS template, recognized genres are generally not subsumed as RTS games. For instance, city-building games, construction and management simulations, and games of the real-time tactics variety are generally not considered to be "real-time strategy".

History

Precursors and early Genesis

The genre that is recognized today as "real-time strategy" emerged as a result of an extended period of evolution and refinement. Games that are today sometimes perceived as ancestors of the real-time strategy genre were never marketed or designed as such at the original date of publication. As a result, designating "early real-time strategy" titles is problematic because such games are being held up to modern standards. The genre initially evolved separately in the United Kingdom, Japan, and North America, afterward gradually merging into a unified worldwide tradition.

At least one source considers Intellivision's ''Utopia'' by Don Daglow (1982) to be an early real-time strategy game. In ''Utopia'', two players build resources and carry out combat by proxy. It contains the direct-manipulation tactical combat now common in that the players can assume direct control over a PT boat and sink the opponent's fishing boats. However, the game used a turn-based strategy interface, though one where the turns are timed. Another early example from the same year is ''Legionnaire'' on the Atari 8-bit family, written by Chris Crawford for Avalon Hill. This was effectively the opposite of ''Utopia'', in that it offered a complete real-time tactical combat system with variable terrain and mutual-help concepts, but lacked any resource collection and economy/production concepts. As a result, this game might be better considered an early forerunner of the real-time tactics, or RTT, genre.

In the United Kingdom, the genre's beginning can be traced to ''Stonkers'' by John Gibson, published in 1983 by Imagine Software for the ZX Spectrum, and ''Nether Earth'' published on ZX Spectrum in 1987. In North America, the oldest game retrospectively classified as real-time strategy by several sources is''The Ancient Art of War'' (1984), designed by Evryware's Dave and Barry Murry, followed by the sequel ''The Ancient Art of War at Sea'' in 1987, although Dani Bunten Berry's (of ''M.U.L.E'' fame) ''Cytron Masters'' (1982), developed by Ozark Softscape and released by SSI, also has been considered the earliest game of the genre.

In Japan, the genre's beginning can be traced to ''Bokosuka Wars'' (1983), an early strategy RPG (or "simulation RPG"); the game revolves around the player leading an army across a battlefield against enemy forces in real-time while recruiting/spawning soldiers along the way, for which it is considered by Ray Barnholt of 1UP.com to be an early prototype real-time strategy game. This led to several other games that combine role-playing and real-time strategy elements, such as the 1988 Kure Software Koubou computer strategy RPGs, ''First Queen'' and ''Silver Ghost'', which featured an early example of a point-and-click interface, to control characters using a cursor. Another early title with real-time strategy elements was Sega's ''Gain Ground'' (1988), a strategy-action game that involved directing a set of troops across various enemy-filled levels. TechnoSoft's ''Herzog'' (1988) is regarded as a precursor to the real-time strategy genre, being the predecessor to ''Herzog Zwei'' and somewhat similar in nature, though primitive in comparison.

Scott Sharkey of 1UP considers ''Cytron Masters'' and other real-time examples prior to ''Herzog Zwei'' to be tactical rather than strategic, due to most lacking the ability to construct units or manage resources. ''Herzog Zwei'', released for the Sega Genesis in 1989, is the earliest example of a game with a feature set that falls under the contemporary definition of modern real-time strategy. In ''Herzog Zwei'', though the player only controls one unit, the manner of control foreshadowed the point-and-click mechanic of later games. It introduced much of the genre conventions, including unit construction and resource management, with the control and destruction of bases being an important aspect of the game, as were the economic/production aspects of those bases.

Notable as well are early games like ''Mega Lo Mania'' by Sensible Software (1991) and ''Supremacy'' (also called ''Overlord'' - 1990). Although these two lacked direct control of military units, they both offered considerable control of resource management and economic systems. In addition, ''Mega Lo Mania'' has advanced technology trees that determine offensive and defensive prowess. Another early (1988) game, ''Carrier Command'' by Realtime Games, involved real-time responses to events in the game, requiring management of resources and control of vehicles. The early game ''Sim Ant'' by Maxis (1991) had resource gathering, and controlling an attacking army by having them follow a lead unit. However, it was with the release of ''Dune II'' from Westwood Studios (1992) that real-time strategy became recognized as a distinct genre of video games.

1992–1998: seminal titles

Although real-time strategy games have an extensive history, some titles have served to define the popular perception of the genre and expectations of real-time strategy titles more than others, in particular the games released between 1992 and 1998 by Westwood Studios and Blizzard Entertainment.

Westwood's ''Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty'' (1992) featured all the core concepts and mechanics of modern real-time strategy games that are still used today, such as using the mouse to move units, and gathering resources, and as such served as prototype for later real-time strategy games.

The success of ''Dune II'' encouraged several games which became influential in their own right.'' Warcraft: Orcs & Humans'' (1994) achieved great prominence upon its release, owing in part to its use of a fantasy setting and also to its depiction of a wide variety of buildings (such as farms) which approximated a full fictitious society, not just a military force. ''Command & Conquer'' became the first popular RTS game to utilize competitive multiplayer. ''Command & Conquer'', as well as ''Command and Conquer: Red Alert'', became the most popular early RTS games. These two games contended with ''Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness'' after its release in late 1995.

''Total Annihilation'', released by Cavedog Entertainment in 1997, introduced 3D units and terrain and focused on huge battles that emphasized macromanagement over micromanagement. It featured a streamlined interface that would influence many RTS games in later years. ''Age of Empires'', released by Ensemble Studios in 1997 try to put a game in a slower pace, combining elements of ''Civilization'' with the real-time strategy concept by introducing ages of technologies. In 1998, Blizzard Entertainment released the game ''StarCraft'', which became an international phenomenon and is still played in large professional leagues to this day. Collectively, all of these games defined the genre, providing the ''de facto'' benchmark against which new real-time strategy games are measured.

Refinement and transition to 3D

The real-time strategy genre has been relatively stable since 1995. Additions to the genre's concept in newer games tend to emphasize more of the basic RTS elements (higher unit caps, more unit types, larger maps, etc.). Rather than innovations to the game concept, new games generally focus on refining aspects of successful predecessors. As the paragon example of gameplay refinement, Cavedog Entertainment's acclaimed ''Total Annihilation'' from 1997 distilled the core mechanics of ''Command & Conquer'', and introduced the first 3D units and terrain in real-time strategy games. The Age of Empires idea was refined further by Stainless Steel Studios' ''Empire Earth'' in 2001. GSC Game World's ''Cossacks: European Wars'' series took the genre in a different direction, bringing population caps into the tens of thousands.

''Populous: The Beginning'' (1998), ''Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds'' (1998) and ''Homeworld'' (1999) were among the first completely 3D real-time strategy titles. ''Homeworld'' was notable in that it featured a 3d environment in space, therefore allowing movement in every direction, a feature which its semi-sequel, ''Homeworld Cataclysm'' (2000) continued to build upon adding features such as waypoints. ''Homeworld 2'', released in 2003, streamlined movement in the 360° 3D environment. Furthermore, ''Machines'', which was also released in 1999 and featured a nearly 100% 3D environment, attempted to combine the RTS genre with a first-person shooter (FPS) genre although it was not a particularly successful title. These games were followed by a short period of interest in experimental strategy games such as ''Allegiance'' (2000). ''Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds'' was notable for being one of the few completely non-linear RTS games ever.

It is only in approximately 2002 that 3D real-time strategy became the standard, with both ''Warcraft III'' (2002) and Ensemble Studio's ''Age of Mythology'' (2002) being built on a full 3D game engine. ''Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns'' introduced classic wargame elements, such as supply lines to the genre. ''Battle Realms'' (2001) was another full 3D game, but had limited camera views.

The move from 2D to 3D has been criticized in some cases. Issues with controlling the camera and placement of objects have been cited as problems.

Relatively few genres have emerged from or in competition with real-time strategy games, although Real-time tactics, a superficially similar genre, emerged around 1995. In 1998, Activision attempted to combine the real-time strategy and first-person shooter genres in ''Battlezone'', while in 2002 Rage Games Limited attempted this with the ''Hostile Waters'' games, and ''Natural Selection'', a game modification based on the Half-Life engine. Savage: The Battle for Newerth combined the RPG and RTS elements in an online game.

Specialization and evolution

A few games have experimented with diversifying map design, which continues to be largely two-dimensional even in 3D engines. ''Earth 2150'' allowed units to tunnel underground, effectively creating a dual-layer map; three-layer (orbit-surface-underground) maps were introduced in ''Metal Fatigue''. In addition, units could even be transported to entirely separate maps, with each map having its own window in the user interface. ''Three Kingdoms: Fate of the Dragon'' (2001) offered a simpler model: the main map contains locations that expand into their own maps. In these examples, however, gameplay was essentially identical regardless of the map layer in question. ''Dragonshard'' (2005) emphasized its dual-layer maps by placing one of the game's two main resources in each map, making exploration and control of both maps fundamentally valuable.

Some games, borrowing from the real-time tactics (RTT) template, have moved toward an increased focus on tactics and a de-emphasis on resource management, with titles such as ''Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War'' (2004), ''Star Wars: Empire at War'' (2006), and ''Company of Heroes'' (2006) replacing the traditional resource gathering model, where designated resource gathering units collect the resources used for producing further units or buildings, with a strategic control-point system, where control over strategic points progressively yields construction/reinforcement points. ''Ground Control'' was the first such game to replace individual units with "squads".

Others are moving away from the traditional real-time strategy game model with the addition of other genre elements. One example is ''Sins of a Solar Empire'', released by Ironclad Games, which mixes elements of grand-scale stellar empire building games like ''Master of Orion'' with real-time strategy elements. Another example is indie game ''Achron'', which incorporates time travel as a game mechanic, allowing a player to send units forward or backward in time.

Gameplay

In a typical real-time strategy game, the screen is divided into a map area displaying the game world and terrain, units, and buildings, and an interface overlay containing command and production controls and often a "radar" or "minimap" overview of the entire map. The player is usually given an isometric perspective of the world, or a free-roaming camera from an aerial viewpoint for modern 3D games. Players mainly scroll the screen and issue commands with the mouse, and may also use keyboard shortcuts.

In most real-time strategy games, especially the earliest ones, the gameplay is generally fast-paced and requires very quick reflexes. For this reason, the amount of violence in some games makes RTS games close to action games in terms of gameplay.

Gameplay generally consists of the player being positioned somewhere in the map with a few units or a building that is capable of building other units/buildings. Often, but not always, the player must build specific structures to unlock more advanced units in the tech tree. Often, but not always, RTS games require the player to build an army (ranging from small squads of no more than 2 units, to literally hundreds of units) and using them to either defend themselves from a virtual form of Human wave attack or to eliminate enemies who possess bases with unit production capacities of their own. Occasionally, RTS games will have a preset number of units for the player to control and do not allow building of additional ones.

Resource gathering is commonly the main focus of the RTS games, but other titles of the genre place higher gameplay significance to the how units are used in combat, the extreme example of which are games of the real-time tactical genre. Some titles impose a ceiling on the number simultaneous troops, which becomes a key gameplay consideration, a significant example being StarCraft, while other titles have no such unit cap.

Micromanagement and macromanagement

Micromanagement refers to when a player's attention is directed more toward the management and maintenance of his or her own individual units and resources. This creates an atmosphere in which the interaction of the player is constantly needed. On the other hand, macromanagement refers to when a player's focus is directed more toward economic development and large-scale strategic maneuvering, allowing time to think and consider possible solutions. Micromanagement frequently involves the use of combat tactics. Macromanagement tends to look to the future of the game whereas Micromanagement tends to the present.

Criticism of gameplay

Because of their generally faster-paced nature (and in some cases a smaller learning curve), real-time strategy games have surpassed the popularity of turn-based strategy computer games. In the past, a common criticism was to regard real-time strategy games as "cheap imitations" of turn-based strategy games, arguing that real-time strategy games had a tendency to devolve into "click-fests" in which the player who was faster with the mouse generally won, because they could give orders to their units at a faster rate. The common retort is that success involves not just fast clicking but also the ability to make sound decisions under time pressure. The "clickfest" argument is also often voiced alongside a "button babysitting" criticism, which pointed out that a great deal of game time is spent either waiting and watching for the next time a production button could be clicked, or rapidly alternating between different units and buildings, clicking their respective button.

A third common criticism is that real-time gameplay often degenerates into "rushes" where the players try to gain the advantage and subsequently defeat the opponent as quickly in the game as possible, preferably before the opposition is capable of successfully reacting. For example, the original ''Command & Conquer'' gave birth to the now-common "tank rush" tactic, where the game outcome is often decided very early on by one player gaining an initial advantage in resources and producing large amounts of a relatively powerful but still quite cheap unit—which is thrown at the opposition before they have had time to establish defenses or production. Although this strategy has been criticized for encouraging overwhelming force over strategy and tactics, defenders of the strategy argue that they're simply taking advantage of the strategies utilized, and some argue that it is a realistic representation of warfare. One of the most infamous versions of a rush is the "Zergling rush" from the real-time strategy game ''StarCraft''; in fact, the term "zerging" has become synonymous with rushing.

A fourth criticism of the RTS genre is the importance of skill over strategy in real-time strategy games. The manual dexterity and ability to multitask and divide one's attention is often considered the most important aspect to succeeding at the RTS genre. According to Troy Dunniway, former Westwood developer who has also worked on ''Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars'', "A player controls hundreds of units, dozens of buildings and many different events that are all happening simultaneously. There is only one player, and he can only pay attention to one thing at a time. Expert players can quickly flip between many different tasks, while casual gamers have more problems with this."

Tactics vs. strategy

Real-time strategy games have been criticized for an overabundance of tactical considerations when compared to the amount of strategic gameplay found in such games. According to Chris Taylor, lead designer of ''Supreme Commander'', he said, "[My first attempt at visualizing RTSs in a fresh and interesting new way] was my realizing that although we call this genre 'Real-Time Strategy,' it should have been called 'Real-Time Tactics' with a dash of strategy thrown in." (Taylor then posits his own game as having surpassed this mold by including additional elements of broader strategic scope.)

In general terms, military strategy refers to the use of a broad arsenal of weapons including diplomatic, informational, military, and economic resources, whereas military tactics is more concerned with short-term goals such as winning an individual battle. In the context of strategy video games, however, the difference is often reduced to the more limited criteria of either a presence or absence of base building and unit production.

In an article for Gamasutra, Nathan Toronto criticizes real-time strategy games for too often having only one valid means of victory — attrition — comparing them unfavorably to real-time tactics games. Players' awareness that the only way for them to win or lose is militarily makes them unlikely to respond to gestures of diplomacy. The result is that the winner of a real-time strategy game is too often the best tactician rather than the best strategist. Troy Goodfellow counters this by saying that the problem is not that real-time strategy games are lacking in strategy (he says attrition is a form of strategy), rather it is that they too often have the ''same'' strategy: produce faster than you consume. He also states that building and managing armies is the conventional definition of real-time strategy, and that it is unfair to make comparisons with other genres.

In an article for Gamespy, Mark Walker criticizes real-time strategy games for their ''lack'' of combat tactics, suggesting real-time tactics games as a more suitable substitute. He also says that developers need to begin looking outside the genre for new ideas in order for strategy games to continue to be successful in the future.

Turn-based vs. real-time

A debate has emerged between fans of real-time strategy and turn-based strategy (and related genres) based on the merits of the real-time and turn-based systems. Some titles attempt to merge the two systems: for example, the role-playing game ''Fallout'' uses turn-based combat and real-time gameplay, while the real-time strategy games ''Homeworld'', ''Rise of Nations'', and the games of the ''Total War'' series allow the player to pause the game and issue orders. Additionally, the ''Total War'' series has a combination of a turn-based strategy map with a real-time battle map.

Real-time strategy games on the consoles

Real-time strategy games made for video game consoles have been consistently criticized due to their control schemes. The PC's keyboard and mouse are generally considered to be superior to a console's gamepad. This is similar to the main criticism of console-based first-person shooter (FPS) games because a mouse guarantees a higher level of pointer accuracy than a gamepad can offer. RTS games for the consoles have generally met with mixed success. However, ''Halo Wars'', which was released in 2009 for the Xbox 360, garnered generally positive reviews, achieved an 82% critic average on aggregate web sites, and sold over 1 million copies . MetaCritic and Game Rankings. According to IGN, the gameplay lacks the traditional RTS concepts of limited resources and resource gathering and lacks multiple buildings.

Graphics

''Total Annihilation'' (1997) was the first real-time strategy game to utilize true 3D units, terrain, and physics in both rendering and in gameplay. For instance, the missiles in ''Total Annihilation'' travel in real-time in simulated 3D space, and they can miss their target by passing over or under it. Similarly, missile-armed units in ''Earth 2150'' are at a serious disadvantage when the opponent is on high ground because the missiles often hit the cliffside, even in the case when the attacker is a missile-armed helicopter. ''Homeworld'' and ''Warzone 2100'' (both released in 1999) advanced the use of fully 3D environments in real-time strategy titles. In the case of ''Homeworld'', the game is set in space, offering a uniquely exploitable 3D environment in which all units can move vertically in addition to the horizontal plane. However, the near-industry-wide switch to full 3D was very gradual and most real-time strategy titles, including the first sequels to ''Command & Conquer'', initially used isometric 3D graphics made by pre-rendered 3D tiles. Only in later years did these games begin to use true 3D graphics and game-play, making it possible to rotate the view of the battlefield in real-time. ''Spring'' is a good example of the transformation from semi-3D to full-3D game simulations. It is an ''open-source'' project which aims to give a ''Total Annihilation'' gameplay experience in 3 dimensions.

Japanese game developers Nippon Ichi and Vanillaware worked together on ''Grim Grimoire'', a Playstation 2 title released in 2007, which features hand-drawn animated 2D graphics.

Recently, real-time strategy games have more commonly incorporated physics engines, such as Havok, in order to increase realism experienced in gameplay. A modern real-time strategy game that uses a physics engine is Ensemble Studios' ''Age of Empires III'', released on October 18, 2005, which used the Havok Game Dynamics SDK to power its real-time physics. ''Company of Heroes'' is another real-time strategy game that uses realistically modeled physics as a part of gameplay, including fully-destructible environments.

See also

Massively multiplayer online real-time strategy

Real-time tactics

References

Further reading

Category:Video game genres

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Coordinates	29°25′″N98°30′″N
name	Bill Maher
birth name	William Maher, Jr.
birth date	January 20, 1956
birth place	New York City, New York, U.S.
alma mater	Cornell University
medium	Stand-Up, Television, Film, Books
nationality	American
active	1979–present
genre	Satire, Political satire, News Satire, Observational comedy
subject	American politics, current events, American culture, pop culture, freedom of speech, environmentalism, religion, human sexuality, recreational drug use, libertarianism, American liberalism, American conservatism
influences	Steve Allen, George Carlin, Johnny Carson, David Frost, Robert Klein, Don Rickles, Gore Vidal, Lenny Bruce
notable work	Elliot on Charlie HooverHost of Politically Incorrect Host of Real Time with Bill Maher
website	www.BillMaher.com
footnotes	}}

William "Bill" Maher, Jr. (; born January 20, 1956) is an American stand-up comedian, television host, political commentator, author and actor. Before his current role as the host of HBO's ''Real Time with Bill Maher'', Maher hosted a similar late-night talk show called ''Politically Incorrect'' originally on Comedy Central and later on ABC.

Maher is known for his political satire and sociopolitical commentary, which targets a wide swath of topics: religion, politics, bureaucracies of many kinds, political correctness, the mass media, greed among people and persons in positions of high political and social power, the lack of intellectual curiosity of the electorate, among many topics. He supports the legalization of marijuana and same-sex marriage, and serves on the board of PETA. He is also a critic of religion and is an advisory board member of Project Reason, a foundation to promote scientific knowledge and secular values within society. Maher currently ranks number 38 on Comedy Central's 100 greatest stand-ups of all time. Bill Maher got a Hollywood Walk of Fame star on September 14, 2010. His is the 2,417th star dedicated on the famous sidewalk.

Early life and education

Maher was born in New York City, the son of Julie (née Berman), a nurse, and William Maher, Sr., a network news editor and radio announcer. He was raised in his Irish American father's Catholic religion, remaining unaware that his mother was Jewish until his early teenage years. Maher's family stopped attending church services when Maher was thirteen, due to his father's disagreement with the Catholic Church's position on birth control.

Maher was raised in River Vale, New Jersey, and graduated from Pascack Hills High School in Montvale in 1974. He received a B.A. in English and history from Cornell University in 1978.

Early career

Since beginning his career as a stand-up comedian and actor, he occasionally acts and tours. He was host of the New York City comedy club Catch a Rising Star in 1979. Thanks to Steve Allen, he began appearing on Johnny Carson's and David Letterman's shows in 1982. He made limited television appearances, including two separate appearances on ''Murder, She Wrote''. He has also appeared in several films, usually in a comic role. His feature film debut was in ''D.C. Cab'' (1983), and he also appeared in ''Ratboy'' (1986), ''Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death'' (1988), and ''Pizza Man'' (1991), among others.

Television career

''Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher''

Maher assumed the host role ''Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher'', a late-night political talk show that ran on Comedy Central from 1993–1997 and on ABC from 1997–2002. The show regularly began with a topical monologue by Maher preceding the introduction of four guests, usually a diverse group of individuals from show business, popular culture, political pundits, political consultants, authors, and occasionally news figures. The group would discuss topical issues selected by Maher, who also participated in the discussions. Jerry Seinfeld, a regular guest on the show, stated that ''Politically Incorrect'' reminded him of talk shows from the 1950s and 60s "when guests interacted with each other as much as with the host."

''Politically Incorrect'' won an array of awards, including an Emmy Award for Outstanding Technical Direction, two CableACE awards for Best Talk Show Series, and a Genesis Award for Best Television Talk Show. Maher earned numerous award nominations for his producing, writing and hosting of ''Politically Incorrect'', including ten Emmy nominations, two TV Guide nominations, and two Writers Guild nominations. ABC decided against renewing Maher's contract for ''Politically Incorrect'' in 2002, after he made a controversial on-air remark shortly after the September 11 attacks. He agreed with his guest, conservative pundit Dinesh D'Souza, that the 9/11 terrorists did not act in a cowardly manner (in rebuttal to President Bush's statement calling 9/11 hijackers cowards). Maher said, "We have been the cowards. Lobbing cruise missiles from two thousand miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building. Say what you want about it. Not cowardly. You're right." Maher later clarified that his comment was not anti-military in any way whatsoever, referencing his well-documented longstanding support for the American military.

In the context of the attacks, some corporate advertisers found the comment too insensitive and controversial. Several companies, including FedEx and Sears Roebuck, pulled their advertisements from the show, costing the show more than it returned.

The show was cancelled on June 16, 2002, and the Sinclair Broadcast Group had dropped the show from its ABC-affiliated stations months prior. On June 22, 2002, just six days after the cancellation of ''Politically Incorrect'', Maher received the Los Angeles Press Club president's award (for "championing free speech"). Maher was on the board of judges one year for the PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award.

Maher's remarks after 9/11 were not the first time he had sparked controversy on ''Politically Incorrect''. In the same year, Maher was widely criticized for comparing dogs to retarded children. He apologized for his comments.

''Real Time with Bill Maher''

In 2003, Maher became the host, co-producer and co-writer of ''Real Time with Bill Maher'', a weekly hour-long political comedy talk show on the cable television network HBO. During an interview, Maher told Terry Gross (on NPR's ''Fresh Air'') that he much prefers having serious and well-informed guests on his program, as opposed to the random celebrities that fleshed out his roundtable discussions on ''Politically Incorrect''.

As with his previous show, ''Politically Incorrect'', Maher begins ''Real Time'' with a comic opening monologue based upon current events and other topical issues. He proceeds to a one-on-one interview with a guest, either in-studio or via satellite. Following the interview, Maher sits with three panelists, usually consisting of pundits, authors, activists and journalists, for a discussion of the week's events. In the segment "New Rules" at the end of each show, Maher delivers a humorous editorial on popular culture and American politics.

In late May 2005, Alabama Congressman Spencer Bachus sent a letter to Time Warner's board of directors requesting ''Real Time'' be cancelled after remarks Maher made after noting the military had missed its recruiting goals by 42 percent. Bachus said he felt the comments were demeaning to the military and treasonous. Maher stated his highest regard and support for the troops and asked why the congressman criticized him instead of doing something about the recruitment problem.

''Real Time'' has earned widespread praise. It has been nominated for more than ten Primetime Emmy Awards and six Writer's Guild awards. In 2007, Maher and his co-producers were awarded the Television Producer of the Year Award in Variety Television.

In early 2006, ''Real Time'' was released as an audio CD, along with another CD entitled ''Bill Maher's New Rules'' which features clips, segments and teasers from Real Time. Starting with Episode 67 (2-23-06), ''Real Time'' became available in the USA on iTunes as a free weekly audio podcast.

Maher holds the record for the most Emmy nominations without a win, having been nominated on 22 occasions and not winning once. Eleven of the nominations were for ''Politically Incorrect'', while nine were for ''Real Time.'' The other two were nominations for two of his HBO comedy specials: ''Bill Maher: I'm Swiss'' and ''Bill Maher: The Decider.''

HBO announced in July 2011 the show was renewed for a tenth season.

Christine O'Donnell

On September 17, 2010, Maher aired a clip of Delaware Republican Senatorial candidate Christine O'Donnell from the October 29, 1999 episode of his old show ''Politically Incorrect'' on his current show ''Real Time with Bill Maher'', where she discussed that she had "dabbled in witchcraft." This was one of the most notable of numerous controversial statements by O'Donnell that made her the most covered candidate in the 2010 mid-term election cycle.

Political commentator

Maher is a frequent commentator on various cable news networks, namely CNN, MSNBC, and HLN. Maher regularly appears on CNN's ''The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer'' and is also a frequent guest on MSNBC's ''Hardball with Chris Matthews'', ''The Rachel Maddow Show'' and ''Countdown with Keith Olbermann''. Maher has also appeared as a guest on HLN's ''The Joy Behar Show''.

Maher hosted the January 13, 2006 edition of ''Larry King Live'', on which he is a frequent guest. Maher appeared as a special guest on the June 29, 2010 edition of the show, on which CNN anchor Larry King announced his retirement. Maher co-emceed the final show of ''Larry King Live'' on December 16, 2010 with Ryan Seacrest.

Since May 2005, he has been a contributing blogger at ''The Huffington Post''.

Views and beliefs

Politics

Maher eschews political labels, referring to himself as "practical". In the past, he has described himself as a libertarian and has also referred to himself "as a progressive, as a sane person".

Maher favors a partial privatization of Social Security, ending corporate welfare and federal funding of non-profits, and legalization of gambling, prostitution, and marijuana. Maher is a member of NORML's Advisory Board, an organization which supports regulated legalization of marijuana. He describes himself as an environmentalist, and he has spoken in favor of the Kyoto treaty on global warming on his show ''Real Time''. Moreover, he often criticizes industry figures involved in environmental pollution.

Maher is a board member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. He has expressed his distaste for the pharmaceutical and health care industries in general, on the grounds that they make their money out of curing people who are made sick by consuming unhealthy food that corporations urge upon the public. He maintains that mass consumption of high-fructose corn syrup is a contributor to the rise in frequency of obesity in the United States.

Before the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Maher became candid in his stated opposition to the re-election of George W. Bush and in his support for John Kerry.

Known for protesting against the demonization of the word "liberal", during the campaign Maher criticized Kerry for being ashamed of the word. On his show, the comedian has noted the paradox of people claiming they distrusted "elite" politicians while at the same time wanting elite doctors to treat them and elite lawyers to represent them in court. Maher supports the death penalty, the legality of abortion and euthanasia. Since the 9/11 attacks, he has endorsed the use of racial profiling at airports.

He was originally against the Iraq War, and has summarized his opinion by saying that the United States and the world have had to pay too high a price for the war. He is skeptical of Iraq surviving without civil war.

In the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Maher announced his support for Barack Obama. Although Maher welcomed Obama's electoral victory, he has subjected him to criticism once in office for not acting boldly on health care reform and other progressive issues.

Religion

Maher is highly critical of religion, and views it as not worth the bother. He has referred to himself as an apatheist, instead of an agnostic or atheist, on ''Scarborough Country'' on April 24, 2007, and again in July of 2011. He has reiterated this stance in subsequent interviews, rejecting both the certitude of the existence, as well as the certitude of nonexistence of deities, concluding, "I'm saying that doubt is the only appropriate response for human beings." He is an advisory board member of author Sam Harris's The Reason Project, a foundation that promotes scientific knowledge and secular values within society.

Maher and director Larry Charles teamed up to make the feature film ''Religulous'' (2008), described by trade publication ''Variety'' as a documentary "that spoofs religious extremism across the world." It was released on October 3, 2008.

Maher has been an outspoken critic of religion in general, including Islam. On October 29, 2010, during a Real Time segment, Maher commented on a news story saying that the name Mohammed had become the most popular baby name in the United Kingdom. He asked, "Am I a racist to feel alarmed by that? Because I am. And it’s not because of the race, it’s because of the religion. I don’t have to apologize, do I, for not wanting the Western world to be taken over by Islam in 300 years? Sharia law is being institutionalized in England? Well, then I am right, I should be alarmed." He later defended his comments on CNN, saying, "And when I say Westerner, I mean someone who believes in the values that Western people believe in that a lot of the Muslim world does not. Like separation of church and state. Like equality of the sexes. Like respect for minorities, free elections, free speech, freedom to gather. These things are not just different from cultures that don’t have them. … It’s better. … I would like to keep those values here."

Maher received the Richard Dawkins Award for 2009 from Atheist Alliance International "for his efforts to further the values science and reason in the world."

Health care

Maher has stated that the AMA is a powerful lobbying group and one of the primary reasons why the United States had failed to enact health care reform.

On August 24, 2009, Maher was a guest on ''The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien'' and on the topic of getting universal health care legislation passed, Maher stated that Obama should forget about trying to get 60 votes for it, "he only needs 51." "Forget getting the sixty votes or sixty percent — sixty percent of people don't believe in evolution in this country — he just needs to drag them to it, like I said, they're stupid; get health care done, with or without them."

Maher has expressed the view that most illness is generally the result of poor diet and that medicine is often not the best way of addressing illness. In an episode of the show about the 2008 presidential candidates' health plans, Maher stated that poor nutrition is the primary cause of illness, and that "the answer isn't another pill."

In a discussion with Michael Moore about the film ''Sicko'', Maher asks, "The human body is pretty amazing; it doesn't get sick, usually, for no reason. I mean, there's some genetic stuff that can get to you, but, basically, people are sick in this country because they're poisoned. The environment is a poisoning factor, but also, we gotta say, they poison themselves. They eat shit. People eat shit, and that's, to my way of thinking, about 90 percent of why people are sick, is because they eat shit. Would you agree?"

On October 9, 2009, on his HBO show, Maher debated the effectiveness of flu vaccinations with Bill Frist and stated, "Why would you let them be the ones to stick a disease into your arm? I would never get a swine flu vaccine or any vaccine. I don’t trust the government, especially with my health." Maher also expressed skepticism about the seriousness of the swine flu and whether completely healthy people could die from it. His comments have generated criticism, and his remarks have been called unscientific and even harmful.

Maher responded to the criticism, noting, "What I've read about what they think I'm saying is not what I've said. I'm not a germ theory denier. I believe vaccinations can work. Polio is a good example. Do I think in certain situations that inoculating Third World children against malaria or diphtheria, or whatever, is right? Of course. In a situation like that, the benefits outweigh costs. But to me living in Los Angeles? To get a flu shot? No." (see Vaccine controversy)

Criticism of 9/11 conspiracy theories

Maher has been a critic of 9/11 conspiracy theories. On October 19, 2007, Maher confronted several 9/11 truthers and had them ejected from his show audience after they interrupted the live show numerous times by calling out from the audience. The incident drew significant media attention and praise from Fox News talk show host and frequent critic John Gibson.

Personal life

Maher has never married. In 2003, he began dating former Playboy Cyber Girl Coco Johnsen. In November 2004, at the end of their 17-month relationship, she sued him for USD $9 million for "pain and suffering" for alleged "insulting, humiliating and degrading racial comments." Her suit stated that Maher promised to marry her and father her children, support her financially, and purchase a Beverly Hills home. Her suit also alleged that she quit her job as a flight attendant and occasional model to be with him. Maher's lawyers in their response filed on November 23, 2004, in Los Angeles Superior Court said Maher is a "confirmed bachelor, and a very public one at that" who "never promised to marry [Johnsen] or to have children with her."

Maher's filing stated that "When the dating ended, [Johnson] (sic) launched a campaign to embarrass, humiliate, and extort ridiculous sums of money from Bill Maher." Johnsen accused another former boyfriend of rape and kidnapping in 1997, and the charges were later dismissed for lack of evidence. Her lawsuit against Maher was dismissed on May 2, 2005.

Maher enjoys his bachelor status and states that he does not want to get married. On his website, he is quoted as saying, "I'm the last of my guy friends to have never gotten married, and their wives — they don't want them playing with me. I'm like the escaped slave — I bring news of freedom."

In 2005, he began dating Karrine Steffans, best-selling author and former hip hop model. When commentators suggested there was a pattern to his dating because both his girlfriend and former girlfriend were black, Maher said, "People say I'm into black women. Robert De Niro is into black women. I'm just into women who are real, and they happen to be black."

Maher has been associated with the Playboy Mansion and, when asked what he liked about it, responded, "The food is out of this world! I get the Playboy thing a lot. People assume I go out with bimbos. I couldn't go out with bimbos if I tried! I scare them off! The women that like me are smart. So I go to the Playboy Mansion four or five times a year, but people think I go all the time."

Maher lives in Beverly Hills, California.

Credits

Bibliography

''True Story : A Novel'', 1994 (ISBN 0-7432-4251-3)

''Does Anybody Have a Problem With That? Politically Incorrect's Greatest Hits'', 1996 (ISBN 0-679-45627-9)

''Does Anybody Have a Problem with That? The Best of Politically Incorrect'', 1997 (ISBN 0-345-41281-8)

''When You Ride Alone You Ride With Bin Laden: What the Government Should Be Telling Us to Help Fight the War on Terrorism'', 2003 (ISBN 1-893224-90-2)

''Keep the Statue of Liberty Closed: The New Rules'', 2004 (ISBN 1-932407-47-2)

''New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer'', 2005 (ISBN 1-59486-295-8)

Filmography

Film
! Year	! Title	! Role
1983	''D.C. Cab''	Bob
	''Rags to Riches''	Freddie
''Club Med''	Rick
''Ratboy''	Party Guest
1987	''House II: The Second Story''	John
1988	''Out of Time''	Maxwell Taylor
1989	''Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death''	Jim
1991	''Pizza Man''	Elmo Bunn
1996	''Don't Quit Your Day Job!''	Comic's Table
1997	''Bimbo Movie Bash''	Unknown
1998	''EDtv''	Himself
2001	''Tomcats''	Carlos
2005		Himself
		Himself
''Religulous''	Himself
2009	''New Rules: Best of''	Himself
2010	''Sex, Drugs & Religion (2010)''	Himself
HBO Specials
! Year	! Title	! Role
1989	''One Night Stand''	Himself
1992	''One Night Stand''	Himself
1995	''Stuff that Struck Me Funny''	Himself
1997	''The Golden Goose Special''	Himself
2000		Himself
2003	''Victory Begins at Home''	Himself
2005	''I'm Swiss''	Himself
2007		Himself
2010		Himself
Television
! Year	! Title	! Role
1985		Marty Lang
		Unknown
	Haskel
1989–90	''Murder, She Wrote''	(2 episodes)
1990	''The Midnight Hour''	Host
1991	''Charlie Hoover''	Elliot
1992	''Say What?''	Host
	''Married... with Children''	Adam Gold
''Roseanne''	Photographer
1997	''Dharma & Greg''	Himself
1993–2002	''Politically Incorrect''	Host
2002	''Just for Laughs''	Himself
2003–present	''Real Time with Bill Maher''	Host
2008	''True Blood''	Himself
2010		Himself
2010	''Family Guy''	Himself

References

External links

in 2004 in 2007

HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" site

2006 Maher Interview with ''The A.V. Club''

2009 Maher Interview with writers at the ''Religulous'' DVD release

Category:1956 births Category:Writers from New York Category:Actors from New Jersey Category:Writers from New Jersey Category:American agnostics Category:American cannabis activists Category:American film actors Category:American libertarians Category:American satirists Category:American stand-up comedians Category:American television actors Category:American television talk show hosts Category:Cornell University alumni Category:American comedians of Irish descent Category:American writers of Irish descent Category:Living people Category:People from Bergen County, New Jersey Category:People from Beverly Hills, California Category:People from New York City Category:Religious skeptics Category:Former Roman Catholics Category:Actors from New York City Category:Drug policy reform activists Category:Animal rights advocates

ar:بيل مار bg:Бил Мар ca:Bill Maher cs:Bill Maher cy:Bill Maher da:Bill Maher de:Bill Maher et:Bill Maher es:Bill Maher fa:بیل مار fr:Bill Maher id:Bill Maher it:Bill Maher he:ביל מאהר nl:Bill Maher ja:ビル・マー no:Bill Maher pl:Bill Maher pt:Bill Maher ro:Bill Maher ru:Мар, Билл simple:Bill Maher fi:Bill Maher sv:Bill Maher ta:பில் மேகர் uk:Білл Мар zh:標·馬艾

Coordinates	29°25′″N98°30′″N
name	Mark Foley
birth date	September 08, 1954
birth place	Newton, Massachusetts
occupation	Retired Politician
residence	West Palm Beach, Florida
state	Florida
district	16th
term start	January 4, 1995
term end	September 29, 2006
preceded	Tom Lewis
succeeded	Tim Mahoney
alma mater	Palm Beach State College
religion	Roman Catholic
party	Republican }}

Mark Adam Foley (born September 8, 1954) is a former member of the United States House of Representatives. He served from 1995 until 2006, representing the 16th District of Florida as a member of the Republican Party.

Foley resigned from Congress on September 29, 2006 acting on a request by the Republican Leadership after allegations surfaced that he had sent suggestive emails and sexually explicit instant messages to teenage men who had formerly served and were at that time serving as Congressional pages. As a result of the disclosures, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement conducted investigations of the messages to find possible criminal charges. Each ended with no criminal finding. In the case of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the “FDLE conducted as thorough and comprehensive investigation as possible considering Congress and Mr. Foley denied us access to critical data,” said FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey with the closure of the case. The House Ethics Committee also conducted an investigation into the response of the House Republican leadership and their staff to possible earlier warnings of Foley's conduct.

Congressional career

Early House career

Foley was elected to the U.S. House in 1994 with 58 percent of the vote, defeating Democrat John Comerford. He was re-elected in 1996 with 64 percent of the vote against Democrat Jim Stuber and again in 1998 (this time without opposition). He was re-elected in 2000 with 60 percent of the vote against Democrat Jean Elliott Brown and Reform Party candidate John McGuire. Constitution Party candidate Jack McLain was his only opponent in 2002. He was re-elected in 2002 with 79 percent of the vote and in 2004 with 68 percent of the vote.

Foley was a moderate Republican. He spent most of his tenure in Congress as a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. He was also the first public figure to imply that Vice President Al Gore claimed to have invented the Internet. On March 12, 1999 Reuters reported Foley as saying, "The Vice President is mistaken. The only thing he has ever invented is another tax. He did not invent the Internet but he sure did tax it."

In late 2000, Foley played a large role in aiding George W. Bush during the Presidential election recount controversy in Florida.

In 2006, Foley was a member of the Republican House leadership, serving as deputy whip.

Senate campaigns

In 2003, Foley was widely considered the Republican front runner for Bob Graham's Senate seat, especially after Graham had announced his retirement. However, longstanding rumors surfaced that Foley was either a homosexual or bisexual and was in a long-term relationship with a homosexual. The story was initially published only in local and gay press; then the ''New Times'' broke the story in the mainstream press. Other alternative press rivals, including the ''New York Press'', then addressed the topic. Foley held a press conference to denounce the “revolting” rumors and stated that his sexual orientation was unimportant, but did not specifically deny the rumors. A few weeks later, he withdrew his candidacy, saying his father's battle with cancer had caused him to reassess his perspective on life (the seat was later won by Republican Mel Martinez). Foley had raised $3 million in campaign contributions before withdrawing.

In 2006, as Republican division over the candidacy of Katherine Harris grew, Foley's name was mentioned as a contender for the race against Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, but he did not file by the May deadline.

Actions in Congress

Legislation regarding pornography and sexual offenses

In the House, Foley was one of the foremost opponents of child pornography. Foley had served as chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children. He introduced a bill, coined the "Child Modeling Exploitation Prevention Act of 2002" to outlaw web sites featuring sexually suggestive images of preteen children, saying that “these websites are nothing more than a fix for pedophiles.” As it was written, the bill would have prohibited commercial photography of children and it failed due to the unmanageable burden it would have presented to the legitimate entertainment industry. In June 2003 he wrote letters to the governor and attorney general of Florida, asking them to review the legality of a program for teenagers of a Lake Como nudist resort in Land o’ Lakes, Florida.

Foley's legislation to change federal sex offender laws was supported by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, ''America's Most Wanted'' host John Walsh and a number of victims' rights groups. President Bush signed it into law as part of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006.

Foley also succeeded in getting a law passed that allows volunteer youth-serving organizations like the Boy Scouts of America and Boys and Girls Clubs to have access to FBI fingerprint background checks.

LGBT rights issues

Foley's voting record on LGBT-rights issues was cited in Newsweek magazine as being an example of a homosexual politician whose policies were "anti-homosexual and -lesbian" . However, the Human Rights Campaign, a LGBT-rights organization, did donate money to his re-election campaigns and he was endorsed by the Log Cabin Republicans in 2000 .

In Congress, Foley did vote against a proposed Constitutional Amendment to ban legal recognition of homosexual and lesbian marriages as well as another bill that would have banned homosexuals and lesbians from adopting in Washington D.C. . On this and other social issues, his views often seemed to be that of a moderate.

Other social issues

Foley's stances on many social issues differ from his party's leadership. Although a Roman Catholic, Foley is a member of The Republican Majority For Choice. He has, however, advocated alternatives such as adoption and sexual abstinence. He also supports the Patriot Act, the death penalty and strict sentencing for hate crimes. Foley was a member of Christine Todd Whitman's It's My Party Too and the Republican Main Street Partnership. According to the ''National Journal'''s calculations, in 2005, Foley's voting record on social policy issues was moderate.

Other domestic issues

Foley helped secure the first-ever financial commitment from Congress for the preservation of Florida's everglades.

Foley helped pass legislation that expedites the deportation of non-violent criminal aliens serving their sentences in federal prisons; and helped eliminate federal prohibitions on notifying a campus community when a student commits a violent crime.

Foley worked to pass legislation to help surviving heirs of Holocaust victims who have been unable to collect on life insurance policies owed to them.

Resignation from the U.S. Congress

On September 28, 2006 ABC News Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross reported that in 2005, Foley had sent email messages from his personal AOL account to a former Congressional page, asking the page to send a photo of himself to Foley, among other things. Foley's office confirmed that Foley had sent the messages but said it has a practice of asking for photos of individuals who may ask for recommendations and that the page had requested a recommendation.

The original news report prompted another page to come forward and on September 29, 2006 ABC News reported that it had seen excerpts of sexually explicit instant messages allegedly sent by Foley. The instant messages made repeated references to sexual organs and acts.

Kirk Fordham, Chief of Staff to Tom Reynolds and former Chief of Staff to Foley, said that he was with Foley on September 29, 2006 when ABC confronted him with the explicit messages before they were publicized. Fordham then visited GOP headquarters to inform Reynolds and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert; he returned with a one-sentence resignation letter that Foley signed. Hastert and Reynolds let it be known that if Foley didn't resign, he would be expelled from the House. That same day, Foley tendered his resignation to Hastert as well as Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Foley said in a statement, “I am deeply sorry and I apologize for letting down my family and the people of Florida I have had the privilege to represent.” Once the news report became more widely known, Foley's chances of retaining his seat in Congress were limited. Hastert said in an October 2 press conference that he would have demanded Foley's expulsion from the House had he tried to stay in office. Even if he'd tried to get his seat back, polls showed him losing badly to his Democratic opponent, Tim Mahoney.

More pages came forward, alleging a history of inappropriate conduct by Foley dating back at least 10 years. Foley had been warned about the matter in 2005 by another House Republican and the House Clerk. Through his lawyer, Foley insisted he was not a pedophile and asserted that he had not "had contact" with a minor. This implied that though he did not sexually assault any men interns, he did not explicitly deny sending them solicitous and sexually overt text-messages; thus sidestepping the question of whether he should have apologized (in public or in private) to the interns who had complained about him. Foley also explained that he had a drinking problem and had made the communications while intoxicated. He checked himself into a rehab clinic on October 2, 2006. His lawyer also revealed that Foley was molested by a clergyman when he was between the ages of 13 and 15 adding that “Mark Foley wants you to know he is a homosexual.” Federal authorities said the explicit messages could result in Foley's prosecution, under some of the same laws he helped to enact.

There was widespread criticism of Republican leaders for their response to earlier warnings and inconsistencies in their statements. In particular, many called for Hastert to resign, including some conservative voices such as the editorial page of ''The Washington Times''.

On October 19, 2006 the ''Sarasota Herald-Tribune'' stated that a Catholic priest named Anthony Mercieca told the newspaper about an intimate two-year relationship he had with Foley when the congressman was a teenage altar boy living in Lake Worth, Florida. The priest is retired and living in Malta. He acknowledged getting naked in saunas and possible "light touching", but denied contact of a sexual nature.

Florida officials have closed the investigation of Foley, stating they found "insufficient evidence" to file criminal charges, since the page was over the age of 18.

November 2006 election

Shortly after Foley resigned, the Republican Party of Florida named State Representative Joe Negron to run as the Republican replacement candidate to face Mahoney. In accordance with Florida election law, Foley's name remained on the ballot. Votes cast for Foley in the November election counted towards Negron's total. Mahoney called for a full investigation of Foley's actions. Foley's district had been held by Republicans since its creation in 1973 (it was the 10th District until 1983 and the 12th District until 1993.) In an effort to use the scandal to his benefit, Negron used the slogan "Punch Foley for Joe!", instructing voters to "punch" Foley's name on the ballot to chastise him and support Negron.

Negron narrowly lost the election to Tim Mahoney. Negron had 47.7 percent and Mahoney had 49.5 percent. The seat fell back into Republican hands in the 111th congress with the election of Tom Rooney.

Post-Congressional life

After leaving Congress, Foley entered the real estate business in Palm Beach, Florida. He also admitted to being a gay man, and as of 2007 was in a relationship with a Palm Beach dermatologist, Layne Nisenbaum. On September 22, 2009, Foley debuted as host in his own radio show, "Foley on Politics," on Seaview AM 960 in North Palm Beach, Florida.

Newsweek's June 7, 2010 issue's BACK STORY listed Foley, among others, as prominent conservative politician who has a record of anti-gay legislation and is later caught in a gay sex scandal.

Electoral history

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0.5em ; font-size:95%" |+ : Results 1994–2006 !|Year ! !|Democrat !|Votes !|Pct ! !|Republican !|Votes !|Pct ! !|3rd party !|Party !|Votes !|Pct ! |- |1994 | | | | align="right" |88,653 | |42% | | |Mark Foley | align="right" |122,760 | |58% | | | | | | |- |1996 | | |Jim Stuber | align="right" |98,827 | |36% | | |Mark Foley | align="right" |175,714 | |64% | | | | | | |- |1998 | | |''(no candidate)'' | align="right" | | | | | |Mark Foley | align="right" |** | | | | | | | | |- |2000 | | | | align="right" |108,782 | |37% | | |Mark Foley | align="right" |176,153 | |60% | | |John McGuire | |Reform | align="right" |7,556 | align="right" |3% | |* |- |2002 | | |''(no candidate)'' | align="right" | | | | | |Mark Foley | align="right" |176,171 | |79% | | |Jack McLain | |Constitution | align="right" |47,169 | align="right" |21% | |- |2004 | | |Jeff Fisher | align="right" |101,247 | |32% | | |Mark Foley | align="right" |215,563 | |68% | | | | | | |- |2006 | | |Tim Mahoney | align="right" |115,832 | |50% | | |Joe Negron*** | align="right" |111,415 | |48% | | |Emmie Ross | |No Party Affiliation | align="right" |6,526 | align="right" |3% |

See also

Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act

Ego-dystonic sexual orientation

House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

List of federal political sex scandals in the United States

List of state and local political sex scandals in the United States

References

External links

List of candidates for the Sixteenth Congressional District of Florida

Associated Press profile

List of contributors to Mark Foley's campaigns

''Washington Post'' profile: "The Open and Closeted Lives of a Gay Congressman" (October 4, 2006)

New Foley Instant Messages; Had Internet Sex While Awaiting House Vote

IMs from Rep. Mark Foley

Rep. Mark Foley on saving children from internet predators

Anthony Mercieca speaking with the Sarasota Herald Tribune on October 19, 2006, about the inappropriate relations with Mark Foley

FDLE asks Pelosi for Foley investigation help, gets no response

Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:American talk radio hosts Category:Florida Republicans Category:Florida State Senators Category:Gay politicians Category:LGBT members of the United States Congress Category:LGBT radio personalities Category:LGBT state legislators of the United States Category:Members of the Florida House of Representatives Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from Florida Category:People from Newton, Massachusetts Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics Category:Sex scandals

de:Mark Foley eo:Mark Foley fr:Mark Foley id:Mark Foley nl:Mark Foley ja:マーク・フォーリー no:Mark Foley pl:Mark Foley ru:Фоли, Марк fi:Mark Foley

Coordinates	29°25′″N98°30′″N
Color	lightsteelblue
Name	Yusuf Estes
Birth name	Skip Estes
Birth date	January 01, 1944
Birth place	Ohio, United States
Religion	Islam (formerly Christianity)
Main interests	Islamic Preaching, Dawah
Website	http://yusufestes.com }}

Yusuf Estes, (born in 1944) in the United States became a convert to Islam in 1991. He was the National Muslim Chaplain for the United States Bureau of Prisons through the 1990's. And became the Muslim Delegate to the United Nations World Peace Conference for Religious Leaders held at the U.N. in September 2000. Active in Islamic missionary work in the United States, he is often featured as guest presenter and keynote speaker at various Islamic events as well as frequently appearing on various Islamic satellite TV channels. Estes takes a dim view of today's public school system public education in the United States for any children, and highly recommends schools where they might receive an religious education combined with more advanced scholastic education.

Personal life

Sheikh Yusuf Estes was born in Ohio, and was raised in Houston, Texas in a Anglo-Saxon Protestant family.

From 1962 to 1990, his career was in the music industry, entertainment, marketing, teaching music and music minister, he owned several musical instrument companies including the Estes Piano and Organ Company. He produced and directed live entertainment programs in the United States from the mid 1960s until his last endeavor for cable TV in Florida, entitled 'Estes Music Jamboree'.

Yusuf Estes left Christianity for Islam in the early 1990s after meeting an Egyptian named Muhammad. Following his conversion, Estes entered the field of spreading Dawah or knowledge about the true essence of understanding Islam.

Estes denies the theory of Darwinian evolution and instead professes creationism as described by Islamic scriptures.

Islamic Activities

After embracing Islam, Estes pursued Arabic language and Quranic studies in Egypt, Morocco and Turkey.

From 2004, Estes regularly appeared on the Islam Channel, as well as Peace TV and on Huda TV which are 24/7 Islamic channels broadcasting in many countries around the globe, via satellite and via the website WatchIslam.com TV Channels.

He has also set up websites directed toward English speaking Muslim youth which include www.TubeIslam.com, a Muslim video sharing site, and www.ChatIslam.com, a Muslim Chatroom, and for young children www.WorldPreschool.com, Preschool Learning.

He also produced a television series aimed toward English speaking children of Muslim parents entitled, "''Qasas Ul Anbiya''" - Stories of the Prophets.

His Islamic activities have included:

Volunteer Imam in a Texas military installation.

National U.S. Chaplain for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, starting 1994.

Delegate to the United Nations Peace Summit for Religious Leaders in August 2000.

University guest speaker (including Carnegie Mellon Qatar)

Television program producer and director, preacher, syndicated television programs on satellite and cable networks.

See also

Islamic Missionary Activity

References

Further reading

Blade, David Yonke Toledo. (July 14, 2001) Journal Gazette ''Proselytizing preacher finds faith in Islam: Sheik Yusuf Estes.'' Page 1.

Tilove, Jonathan. (October 23, 2001) The Star-Ledger ''To be a white U.S. Muslim: Converts embrace the oddity.'' Section: News; Page 10.

Pinsky, Mark I. (January 6, 2003) Orlando Sentinel ''Muslims' radio message: we are regular people.'' Section: Life & Times; Page C1.

The Hamilton Spectator (February 14, 2003) ''A Christian attends a mosque; A visitor finds a warm welcome and wonders if he'd be as liberal.''

Columbia State (SC). (April 7, 2003) ''Chaplain to speak at USC about Islam.'' Section: Metro/Region; Page B5.

UWIRE (March 1, 2004) ''U. New Mexico speaker asks religions to unite.''

UWIRE (April 18, 2005) ''Muslim speaker educates U. Northern Colorado students about faith.''

US State News. (April 12, 2006) ''National Muslim chaplain Yusuf Estes to speak at senior center on April 14.''

The Modesto Bee (April 22, 2006) ''Converted preacher to speak about 'pure Islam.' Section: Lifestyles; Page G1.

Nomani , Asra Q. (October 22, 2006) Washington Post ''Wife-Beating, Chapter and Verse.''

Wen, Sarah. (January 23, 2007 ) University Wire ''UCLA Muslim student group to promote Islam, religious unity.''

External links

Yusuf Estes Websites Link

Yusuf Estes (Official site of Yusuf Estes)

Yusuf Estes Main

Yusuf Estes audio and video lectures from Halal Tube

Category:1944 births Category:Converts to Islam from Protestantism Category:American Muslims Category:American Disciples of Christ Category:Living people Category:American chaplains Category:Muslim chaplains Category:American imams Category:Islamic creationists Category:21st-century imams Category:Muslim apologists Category:American Muslims Category:Converts to Islam

ar:يوسف إستس fr:Yusuf Estes ms:Yusuf Estes nl:Yusuf Estes

Coordinates	29°25′″N98°30′″N
name	Sugata Mitra
birth date
death date
known for	Hole in the Wall project
occupation	Professor }}

Prof. Sugata Mitra is Professor of Educational Technology at the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University, UK. He is best known for his Hole in the Wall experiment, and widely cited in works on literacy and education. He is also Chief Scientist, Emeritus, at NIIT.

Mitra has been described as a polymath by the University of London, as his 30 years of research spans a wide range of disciplines.

Life and work

Early scientific work

Starting with molecular orbital computation in the 1970s, Mitra discovered that the structure of organic molecules determine their function more than the constituent atoms (Crystal structure sensitivity of the band structure of organic semiconductors. S.C. Mathur and S. Mitra, Journal of Phys.C Solid State, 12, (2) (1979) UK).

After earning a Ph.D. in Solid State Physics from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), Delhi, he went on to research energy storage systems - first at the Centre for Energy Studies in the IIT, and later at the Technische Universität, Vienna. This resulted in a new design for zinc-chlorine batteries that is now in use by the military (A design for zinc-chlorine batteries. S. Mitra, Journal of Power Sources, 8, 359-367 (1982) USA).

His interests in the flow of electricity through biological systems, a consequence of his Ph.D. research on exciton dissociation in organic semiconductors, led on to a seminally speculative paper on why the human sense organs are located where they are (A correlation between the location and sensitivity of human sense organs. A.K. Banerjee and S. Mitra, Spec. Science and Technology, 5, (2), 141 (1982) Australia).

His interest in computer networking led him towards the emerging systems in printing in the 1980s. He set up India’s first local area network based newspaper publishing system in 1984 and went on to predict the desktop publishing industry (Compositors that compute, S. Mitra, Computers Today, May 1985, India). This in turn led to the invention of LAN based database publishing and he created the “Yellow Pages” industry in India and Bangladesh.

Education and cognitive science

Mitra is a leading proponent of Minimally Invasive Education. He has a PhD in Physics and is credited with more than 25 inventions in the area of cognitive science and education technology. He was conferred the prestigious Dewang Mehta Award for Innovation in Information Technology in the year 2005.

His interest in the human mind once again led him into the areas of learning and memory and he was amongst the first in the world to show that simulated neural networks can help decipher the mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease (The effect of synaptic disconnection on bi-directional associative recall. S. Mitra , Proc. IEEE/SMC Conf., Vol.1, 989, 1994 USA).

He was among the first people to invent "voluntary perception recording" (a continuously variable voting machine) and a hyperlinked computing environment, several years ahead of the Internet. (Voluntary perception analysis - a new measurement device. S. Mitra, Media and Technology for Human Resources Development, Oct. 1989, India and Imaginet - An associative, non-linear, multimedia storage and retrieval system. S. Mitra and Ajay Magon, Multimedia Computer and Communications (INFOCOM ’92), Tata McGraw Hill pp20-30, (1992), Bombay, India).

Mitra’s work at NIIT created the first curricula and pedagogy for that organisation, followed by years of research on learning styles, learning devices, several of them now patented, multimedia and new methods of learning.

Since the 1970s, Professor Mitra’s publications and work has resulted in training and development of perhaps a million young Indians, amongst them some of the poorest children in the world.

Some of this work culminated in an interest in early literacy, and the Hole in the Wall experiments.

Hole in the Wall

In an experiment conducted first in 1999, known as Hole in the Wall (HIW) experiments in children’s learning. In the intial experiment, a computer was placed in a kiosk created within a wall in a slum at Kalkaji, Delhi and children were allowed to use it freely. The experiment aimed at proving that kids could be taught by computers very easily without any formal training. Sugata termed this as Minimally Invasive Education (MIE). The experiment has since been repeated at many places, HIW has more than 23 kiosks in rural India. In 2004 the experiment was also carried on in Cambodia. His interests include Education, Remote Presence, Self-organising systems, Cognitive Systems, Physics and Consciousness.

This work demonstrated that groups of children, irrespective of who or where they are, can learn to use computers and the Internet on their own using public computers in open spaces such as roads and playgrounds. His publication was judged the best open access publication in the world for 2005 and he was awarded the Diwang Mehta Award for innovation in IT that year.

The Hole in the Wall experiment left a mark on popular culture. Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup read about Mitra's experiment and was inspired to write his debut novel Q & A, which later became the movie ''Slumdog Millionaire''.

External links

Hole in the wall official website

The Hole in the Wall Experiment, TED Talks 2007

The Child-Driven Education, TED talks 2010

The Hole in the Wall, a documentary about the experiment

Press release about Dewang Mehta Award

HIW: Kids learn computer by themselves: An interview with Dr Mitra published in a Hindi webzine.

Personal profile at Newcastle University

Wiki referenced during Ted Talks

References

Category:Indian computer scientists Category:Living people Category:Academics of Newcastle University Category:Indian Institute of Technology Delhi alumni

es:Sugata Mitra fi:Sugata Mitra