Seat of the Revolution

Only 40 percent of Americans can name more than four of the Ten Commandments, and a scant half can cite any of the four authors of the Gospels. Twelve percent believe Joan of Arc was Noah's wife. This failure to recall the specifics of our Christian heritage may be further evidence of our nation's educational decline, but it probably doesn't matter all that much in spiritual or political terms. Here is a statistic that does matter: Three quarters of Americans believe the Bible teaches that "God helps those who help themselves." That is, three out of four Americans believe that this uber-American idea, a notion at the core of our current individualist politics and culture, which was in fact uttered by Ben Franklin, actually appears in Holy Scripture. The thing is, not only is Franklin's wisdom not biblical; it's counter-biblical. Few ideas could be further from the gospel message, with its radical summons to love of neighbor. On this essential matter, most Americans --most American Christians-- are simply wrong, as if 75 percent of American scientists believed that Newton proved gravity causes apples to fly up.

>> Harper's: The Christian Paradox

http://www.cheston.com/pbf/

"FBI agents monitored Web sites calling for protests against the 2004 political conventions in New York and Boston on behalf of the bureau's counterterrorism unit, according to FBI documents released under the Freedom of Information Act".

--Michael Dobbs
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 18, 2005; Page A03
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Detroit Scanner Audio during the All Star Game [1.2 MB mp3]
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Via WKMG-TV, Orlando, FL:

Tourists visiting Disney theme parks in Central Florida must now provide their index and middle fingers to be scanned before entering the front gates.

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July 6, 2005

Mr. Steven Cherry
Hamtramck, MI

Thank you . . .

. . for contacting me contacting me about reauthorizing or
expanding the Patriot Act. I appreciate you taking the time to share
your concerns with me.

As you know, Congress passed the USA Patriot Act in response to
the terrorist attacks of September 11th, giving federal officials
broader power to investigate and track communications for both
law enforcement and intelligence gathering. Many of these
provisions are set to expire on December 31, 2005. The reason that
Congress set an expiration date was to allow time to take a look at
the consequences of this new law before making its provisions
permanent.

I share your concern for protecting our civil liberties and agree
with you that Congress must not rush to a decision on this critical
matter. In the war on terrorism, we need to be careful that we do
not sacrifice the very freedoms we are fighting to protect. I agree
that we need thorough public debate and examination of this law
before Congress makes any decision on whether or not to make
these provisions permanent or expand the Patriot Act.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me. Please do not
hesitate to do so again whenever I may be of assistance to you or
your family.

Sincerely,
Debbie Stabenow

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>> Sphere pc case

>> cardboard pc cases
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Okay, the world title for fastest text messaging is still raging in the streets. The victor in the most recent contest was a bit of a dark horse 93-year-old telegraph operator Gordon Hill delivered a resounding ass-whoopin to his rival, 13-year-old Brittany Devlin, using Morse Code. Of course, Mr. Hill does have nigh on 80 years of practice under his belt, which was enough to help him triumph even despite Brittanys liberal use of texting slang (Mr. Hill transmitted the chosen phrase verbatim). The showdown was sponsored by the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia, and the rivals had to transmit the following message: Hey, girlfriend, you can text all your best pals to tell them where you are going and what you are wearing. Damn straight! Screw the T9, Engadgets switching over to Morse from now on.

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LaBrea takes over unused IP addresses, and creates virtual servers that are attractive to worms, hackers, and other denizens of the Internet. The program answers connection attempts in such a way that the machine at the other end gets "stuck", sometimes for a very long time.

> LaBrea: "Sticky" Honeypot and IDS
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Excerpt from The early days: 2800 BC - 1700 AD

The Montanists believed that Christ would come again within their lifetimes and establish a new Jerusalem at Pepuza, in the land of Phrygia. Montanism was perhaps the first bona fide Christian doomsday cult. It was founded ca. 156 AD by the tongues-speaking prophet Montanus and two followers, Priscilla and Maximilla. Despite the failure of Jesus to return, the cult lasted for several centuries. Tertullian, who once said "I believe it just because it is unbelievable" (a true skeptic if ever there was one!), was perhaps the most renowned Montanist. (Gould p.43-44)

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Form response from John Conyers, Jr., my congressional represenative:

Dear Friend:

Thank you for signing the Downing Street Minutes letter to the president. I personally delivered your letter to the White House last Thursday.

Your participation in this issue has made a difference. The mainstream media has been very slow to report on this British Intelligence document claiming that evidence was being "fixed" to support the lead up to war against Iraq.

Yet, the neither the media nor President Bush could ignore the massive groundswell of interest demonstrated by the more than 560,000 individuals who joined you in signing this letter.

On Thursday, I led a hearing about the Downing Street Minutes to receive testimony from former Ambassador Joe Wilson, 27-year CIA veteran Ray McGovern, constitutional lawyer John Bonifaz, and Cindy Sheehan, who lost her son in Iraq.

Despite desperate attempts by Republicans to disrupt the proceedings, 32 Members of Congress attended this hearing. We were forced to use a cramped room in the basement of the Capitol little bigger than a closet, even though plenty of larger hearing rooms were available. The Republican Leadership also scheduled votes for nearly two straight hours in an unprecedented attempt to limit the ability of Democratic Members of Congress to participate in this hearing.

Thanks to your help, and the more than 560,000 individuals who signed this letter, the mainstream media felt compelled to cover this event. The room was packed with television cameras and there was significant coverage in national newspapers and radio networks. After the hearing I hand delivered the list of signatures along with a letter to the president signed by 122 Members of Congress demanding answers, and led a rally outside the White House.

We still have much more to do to make President Bush answer the questions raised by the Downing Street Minutes. Much work remains for us to bring this issue to the attention of all Americans.

Visit my website at http://johnconyers.com to find out what additional steps we are taking and how you can help on this issue of vital constitutional importance.

Please forward this email to friends who want to sign the letter to the president and help get the truth out.

Sincerely,

Congressman John Conyers, Jr.

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