Monday, September 24, 2007
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Another one bites the dust
Jerry Falwell, Tammy Faye.... They always go in threes....
The Rev. D. James Kennedy, the controversial televangelist who built Fort Lauderdale's Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church into a politically powerful house of prayer on a foundation of Biblical fundamentalism, died Wednesday morning.
He suffered a heart attack on Dec. 28, 2006, and never returned to the pulpit. He gave his last sermon four days earlier on Christmas Eve. Last week, at 76, he retired as the church's senior pastor.
For nearly 50 years, Kennedy led a congregation that grew from 45 in the McNab Elementary School auditorium to an estimated 10,000 at what's now a megachurch at 5555 N. Federal Highway -- the fastest-growing church in America from the late 1960s through much of the 1980s.
A leader of the schism that created the conservative Presbyterian Church in America in 1973, Kennedy co-founded the Moral Majority, the Coalition on Revival and the Alliance Defense Fund, which brings ''religious liberty'' and ''family preservation'' litigation.
He also served on the national board of the Coalition for Religious Freedom, underwritten by Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church.
Kennedy campaigned tirelessly to tear down the constitutional wall separating church and state. In 2005, Rolling Stone called him ``the godfather of the Dominionists [and] the most influential evangelical you've never heard of. A former Arthur Murray dance instructor, he launched his Florida ministry in 1959, when most evangelicals still followed Billy Graham's gospel of nonpartisan soul-saving.
''Kennedy [preached] that it was time to save America -- not soul by soul but election by election ... [George W.] Bush sought his blessing before running for president ...'' the Rolling Stone piece said.
Kennedy once preached that he and his followers' ''job'' was to ``reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost. As the vice regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors -- in short, over every aspect and institution of human society.''
Fort Lauderdale gay-rights activist Wayne Besen calls him something else: 'a source of great pain for gays and lesbians, distorting our lives on a national level. The whole `ex-gay' movement we see nationally was jump-started by Coral Ridge Ministries ... Kennedy popularized this idea that has caused a lot of suffering for gay people,'' that homosexuality could be ``prayed away.''
He was ''far to the right of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell,'' Besen said. ''He gave a platform to Roy Moore,'' the Alabama judge who lost his job in 2003 for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument from courthouse grounds and in a 2002 ruling called homosexuality an ''inherent evil'' that makes gays ''presumptively unfit'' to raise children.
Although Kennedy never directly affiliated with the extremist Christian Reconstructionist movement -- which prescribes the death penalty for ''practicing'' homosexuals -- he was closely allied with several movement leaders, including George Grant, a former Coral Ridge vice president.
The ministry's political-outreach arm, the Center for Reclaiming America, sponsored efforts like the 1998 ''Truth in Love'' campaign that promoted ''ex-gay'' ministries offering to ''cure'' homosexuals. Grant and movement leaders appeared on The Coral Ridge Hour and at church-sponsored Reclaiming America for Christ conferences.
Born Nov. 3, 1930, in Augusta, Ga., into a family of non-churchgoing Methodists, Kennedy attended the University of Tampa on a music scholarship -- he played the clarinet -- but dropped out after two years to teach at an Arthur Murray dance studio.
There he met his future wife, Anne Lewis, sold her $500 worth of lessons and fell in love.
More info on my favorite closed minded racists assholes that claim to preach "God's word" and teach the lessons of Jesus Christ..... and sprinkle in their political views.... and sometimes hateful
rhetoric .... and sometimes steal money from ignorant "believers" ....... If there is a hell......
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._James_Kennedy
The Rev. D. James Kennedy, the controversial televangelist who built Fort Lauderdale's Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church into a politically powerful house of prayer on a foundation of Biblical fundamentalism, died Wednesday morning.
He suffered a heart attack on Dec. 28, 2006, and never returned to the pulpit. He gave his last sermon four days earlier on Christmas Eve. Last week, at 76, he retired as the church's senior pastor.
For nearly 50 years, Kennedy led a congregation that grew from 45 in the McNab Elementary School auditorium to an estimated 10,000 at what's now a megachurch at 5555 N. Federal Highway -- the fastest-growing church in America from the late 1960s through much of the 1980s.
A leader of the schism that created the conservative Presbyterian Church in America in 1973, Kennedy co-founded the Moral Majority, the Coalition on Revival and the Alliance Defense Fund, which brings ''religious liberty'' and ''family preservation'' litigation.
He also served on the national board of the Coalition for Religious Freedom, underwritten by Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church.
Kennedy campaigned tirelessly to tear down the constitutional wall separating church and state. In 2005, Rolling Stone called him ``the godfather of the Dominionists [and] the most influential evangelical you've never heard of. A former Arthur Murray dance instructor, he launched his Florida ministry in 1959, when most evangelicals still followed Billy Graham's gospel of nonpartisan soul-saving.
''Kennedy [preached] that it was time to save America -- not soul by soul but election by election ... [George W.] Bush sought his blessing before running for president ...'' the Rolling Stone piece said.
Kennedy once preached that he and his followers' ''job'' was to ``reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost. As the vice regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors -- in short, over every aspect and institution of human society.''
Fort Lauderdale gay-rights activist Wayne Besen calls him something else: 'a source of great pain for gays and lesbians, distorting our lives on a national level. The whole `ex-gay' movement we see nationally was jump-started by Coral Ridge Ministries ... Kennedy popularized this idea that has caused a lot of suffering for gay people,'' that homosexuality could be ``prayed away.''
He was ''far to the right of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell,'' Besen said. ''He gave a platform to Roy Moore,'' the Alabama judge who lost his job in 2003 for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument from courthouse grounds and in a 2002 ruling called homosexuality an ''inherent evil'' that makes gays ''presumptively unfit'' to raise children.
Although Kennedy never directly affiliated with the extremist Christian Reconstructionist movement -- which prescribes the death penalty for ''practicing'' homosexuals -- he was closely allied with several movement leaders, including George Grant, a former Coral Ridge vice president.
The ministry's political-outreach arm, the Center for Reclaiming America, sponsored efforts like the 1998 ''Truth in Love'' campaign that promoted ''ex-gay'' ministries offering to ''cure'' homosexuals. Grant and movement leaders appeared on The Coral Ridge Hour and at church-sponsored Reclaiming America for Christ conferences.
Born Nov. 3, 1930, in Augusta, Ga., into a family of non-churchgoing Methodists, Kennedy attended the University of Tampa on a music scholarship -- he played the clarinet -- but dropped out after two years to teach at an Arthur Murray dance studio.
There he met his future wife, Anne Lewis, sold her $500 worth of lessons and fell in love.
More info on my favorite closed minded racists assholes that claim to preach "God's word" and teach the lessons of Jesus Christ..... and sprinkle in their political views.... and sometimes hateful
rhetoric .... and sometimes steal money from ignorant "believers" ....... If there is a hell......
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._James_Kennedy
IKEA to open in October - Sunrise Location
Get ready, South Florida IKEA fans. Opening day for the Sunrise store is likely between six and eight weeks away.
IKEA spokesman Joseph Roth said Wednesday that plans are on target for an opening during the second half of October. Considering the Swedish home furnishing retailer typically opens its stores on a Wednesday, that leaves October 17, 24 or 31 to pencil on the calendar.
''We're not at a point to commit to a date,'' Roth said. ``Once we commit to a date, we don't change. We have to make sure the store meets the IKEA standards. This is an important state for us and we want to make sure we get it right the first time.''
IKEA will be making a strong entry into Florida this fall, since it also announced Wednesday that the Orlando store will open on Nov. 14. The reason the company has been unable to commit to a firm date on Sunrise is because there are more ''complicated'' details such as the onsite multi-level parking garage and the construction of adjacent stores.
But a tour of the IKEA site Wednesday offers a glimpse of what's to come when the retailer opens the doors of its trademark blue and yellow building to reveal the collection of cheap, chic furniture and home accessories.
More than 100 employees are already working at the two-story store and warehouse, busy doing everything from assembling furniture to unloading pallets. For the past three weeks, the store has been getting three to four truckloads of merchandise a day.
As things get down to the home stetch, construction workers over the next two or three weeks will put the finishing touches on the building's facade, elevators and plumbing systems. Outside, there is landscaping and signage to be installed.
''We have everything down to a science,'' Roth said. On opening day, IKEA will carry about 9,000 items. Right now only about 25 percent of them have arrived and the warehouse is at less than 20 percent of the capacity that will eventually hold about 5,000 pallets.
Inside, as employees finish assembling the furniture, they are arranging the 50 room settings or three model homes, designed to show customers ways to utilize the IKEA furniture and accessories to meet any style, budget and space demands.
Then comes the job of adding accessories to the room settings and labeling everything with pricing and information about the location in the warehouse for pick-up. ''Building furniture is the best way to learn about the IKEA product,'' said Peter Steinweg, the Sunrise store manager and an IKEA employee since 1994. ``We want our coworkers to be experienced in building the furniture so they can give you tips.''
In the downstairs area known as the Marketplace, cartons of insulated coffee pots, rugs, glasses and light fixtures are already open, stacked and waiting for customers. But in between sit empty palettes with signs announcing what merchandise goes there. ''As soon as it comes in, all we have to do is open the box and put it out on the floor,'' Steinweg said.
IKEA has already hired about 300 employees for the Sunrise store, many of whom have been sent to other store locations for training. Over the next week, IKEA will be finishing its hiring, adding between 100 and 150 more employees. Anyone who is interested should apply online at
www.ikea.com.
''If they want to be on board by the time we open, this is the last hiring push,'' Steinweg said.
Great Minds?
fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too
Cna yuo raed tihs?
Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it!
Cna yuo raed tihs?
Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it!
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
China attacks US Pentagon
Hackers launching attacks from China on U.S. sites
Sunday, August 28, 2005By Bradley Graham, The Washington Post
WASHINGTON -- Internet sites in China are being used heavily to target computer networks in the Defense Department and other U.S. agencies, successfully breaching hundreds of unclassified networks, according to several U.S. officials.
Classified systems have not been compromised, the officials added. But U.S. authorities remain concerned because, as one official said, even seemingly innocuous information, when pulled together from various sources, can yield useful intelligence to an adversary.
"The scope of this thing is surprisingly big," said one of four government officials who spoke separately about the incidents, which stretch back as far as two or three years and have been code-named Titan Rain by U.S. investigators. All officials insisted on anonymity, given the sensitivity of the matter.
Whether the attacks constitute a coordinated Chinese government campaign to penetrate U.S. networks and spy on government databanks has divided U.S. analysts. Some in the Pentagon are said to be convinced of official Chinese involvement; others see the electronic probing as the work of other hackers simply using Chinese networks to disguise the origins of the attacks.
"It's not just the Defense Department but a wide variety of networks that have been hit," including the Departments of State, Energy and Homeland Security as well as defense contractors, the official said. "This is an ongoing, organized attempt to siphon off information from our unclassified systems."
Another official, however, cautioned against exaggerating the severity of the intrusions. He said the attacks, while constituting "a large volume," were "not the biggest thing going on out there."
Apart from acknowledging the existence of Titan Rain and providing a sketchy account of its scope, the officials who were interviewed declined to offer further details, citing legal and political considerations and a desire to avoid giving any advantage to the hackers. One official said the FBI has opened an investigation into the incidents. The FBI declined to comment.
One official familiar with the investigation said it has not provided definitive evidence of who is behind the attacks. "Is this an orchestrated campaign by PRC or just a bunch of disconnected hackers? We just can't say at this point," the official said, referring to the People's Republic of China.
With the threat of computer intrusions on the rise generally among Internet users, U.S. government officials have made no secret that their systems, like commercial and household ones, are subject to attack. Because the Pentagon has more computers than any other agency -- about 5 million worldwide -- it is the most exposed to foreign as well as domestic hackers, the officials said.
Over the past few years, the Defense Department has taken steps to better organize what had been a rather disjointed approach to cyber security by individual branches of the armed forces. Last year, responsibility for managing the Pentagon's computer networks was assigned to the new Joint Task Force for Global Network Operations under the U.S. Strategic Command.
"Like everybody connected to the Internet, we're seeing a huge spike" in outside scanning of Pentagon systems, said Lt. Col. Mike VanPutte, vice director of operations at the task force. "That's really for two reasons. One is, the tools are much simpler today. Anyone can download an attack tool and target any block on the Internet. The second is, the intrusion detection systems in place today," which are more sophisticated and can identify more attacks.
Pentagon figures show that more attempts to scan Defense Department systems come from China, which has 119 million Internet users, than from any other country. VanPutte said this does not mean that China is where all the probes start, only that it is "the last hop" before they reach their targets.
He noted that China is a convenient "steppingstone" for hackers because of the large number of computers there that can be compromised. Also, tracing hackers who use Chinese networks is complicated by the lack of cyber investigation agreements between China and the United States, another task force official said.
Sunday, August 28, 2005By Bradley Graham, The Washington Post
WASHINGTON -- Internet sites in China are being used heavily to target computer networks in the Defense Department and other U.S. agencies, successfully breaching hundreds of unclassified networks, according to several U.S. officials.
Classified systems have not been compromised, the officials added. But U.S. authorities remain concerned because, as one official said, even seemingly innocuous information, when pulled together from various sources, can yield useful intelligence to an adversary.
"The scope of this thing is surprisingly big," said one of four government officials who spoke separately about the incidents, which stretch back as far as two or three years and have been code-named Titan Rain by U.S. investigators. All officials insisted on anonymity, given the sensitivity of the matter.
Whether the attacks constitute a coordinated Chinese government campaign to penetrate U.S. networks and spy on government databanks has divided U.S. analysts. Some in the Pentagon are said to be convinced of official Chinese involvement; others see the electronic probing as the work of other hackers simply using Chinese networks to disguise the origins of the attacks.
"It's not just the Defense Department but a wide variety of networks that have been hit," including the Departments of State, Energy and Homeland Security as well as defense contractors, the official said. "This is an ongoing, organized attempt to siphon off information from our unclassified systems."
Another official, however, cautioned against exaggerating the severity of the intrusions. He said the attacks, while constituting "a large volume," were "not the biggest thing going on out there."
Apart from acknowledging the existence of Titan Rain and providing a sketchy account of its scope, the officials who were interviewed declined to offer further details, citing legal and political considerations and a desire to avoid giving any advantage to the hackers. One official said the FBI has opened an investigation into the incidents. The FBI declined to comment.
One official familiar with the investigation said it has not provided definitive evidence of who is behind the attacks. "Is this an orchestrated campaign by PRC or just a bunch of disconnected hackers? We just can't say at this point," the official said, referring to the People's Republic of China.
With the threat of computer intrusions on the rise generally among Internet users, U.S. government officials have made no secret that their systems, like commercial and household ones, are subject to attack. Because the Pentagon has more computers than any other agency -- about 5 million worldwide -- it is the most exposed to foreign as well as domestic hackers, the officials said.
Over the past few years, the Defense Department has taken steps to better organize what had been a rather disjointed approach to cyber security by individual branches of the armed forces. Last year, responsibility for managing the Pentagon's computer networks was assigned to the new Joint Task Force for Global Network Operations under the U.S. Strategic Command.
"Like everybody connected to the Internet, we're seeing a huge spike" in outside scanning of Pentagon systems, said Lt. Col. Mike VanPutte, vice director of operations at the task force. "That's really for two reasons. One is, the tools are much simpler today. Anyone can download an attack tool and target any block on the Internet. The second is, the intrusion detection systems in place today," which are more sophisticated and can identify more attacks.
Pentagon figures show that more attempts to scan Defense Department systems come from China, which has 119 million Internet users, than from any other country. VanPutte said this does not mean that China is where all the probes start, only that it is "the last hop" before they reach their targets.
He noted that China is a convenient "steppingstone" for hackers because of the large number of computers there that can be compromised. Also, tracing hackers who use Chinese networks is complicated by the lack of cyber investigation agreements between China and the United States, another task force official said.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
What do you think?
A young woman was about to finish her first year of college.
Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, and was very much in favor of the redistribution of wealth. She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Republican, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.
One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the addition of more government welfare programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing in school. Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.
Her father listened and then asked, "How is your friend Audrey doing ?" She replied, "Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties, and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung over."
Her wise father asked his daughter, "Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct a 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA."
The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, "That wouldn't be fair! I have worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!"
The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, " Welcome to the Republican party!
Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, and was very much in favor of the redistribution of wealth. She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Republican, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.
One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the addition of more government welfare programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing in school. Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.
Her father listened and then asked, "How is your friend Audrey doing ?" She replied, "Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties, and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung over."
Her wise father asked his daughter, "Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct a 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA."
The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, "That wouldn't be fair! I have worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!"
The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, " Welcome to the Republican party!
Lost in Translation?
If you ever have trouble with translating e-mails from one language to another...here's a link that will help!
http://www.freetranslation.com/
http://www.freetranslation.com/
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