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MATRIX - A Dossier for Every Person in Utah 650

jxs2151 writes: "According to the Deseret Morning News former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt signed Utah's 2.4 million residents up for a pilot program that gathers dossiers on every single man, woman and child and didn't bother to tell anyone. According to the article MATRIX -- Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange '...cross-references government records from both public and private databases, putting together a dossier on individuals for use by law enforcement.' The state's homeland security specialist dismisses concerns: '...any data gleaned for Utah's participation in MATRIX is information already available to law enforcement.' The Utah legislature is trying to figure out how to get the state out of the program but the question is how was the Governor able to enroll the -whole state- without anyone knowing?"
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MATRIX - A Dossier for Every Person in Utah

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  • Acronym (Score:5, Informative)

    by apoplectic ( 711437 ) on Saturday January 31, 2004 @08:25PM (#8146981)
    I've seen casual acronyms before, but this is getting silly: Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange as MATRIX? You mean MATIE? As in a little girl? Certainly not as cool as MATRIX...
  • Related Links (Score:5, Informative)

    by handy_vandal ( 606174 ) on Saturday January 31, 2004 @08:32PM (#8147029) Homepage Journal
  • Facts? (Score:5, Informative)

    by bryanthompson ( 627923 ) <logansbro@@@gmail...com> on Saturday January 31, 2004 @08:35PM (#8147043) Homepage Journal
    Just in case anyone wants to actually read what it's about before going off the deep end, they have a site:

    http://www.iir.com/matrix/ [iir.com]

    [quote]The MATRIX project is implementing factual data analysis from existing data sources to integrate disparate data from many types of Web-enabled storage systems to identify, develop, and analyze terrorist activity and other crimes for investigative leads. This capability will facilitate integration and exchange of information within the participating states, including criminal history, driver license data, vehicle registration records, and incarceration/corrections records including digitized photographs, with significant amounts of public data record entries. Provision has been made for the inclusion of data sources from additional states, should expansion be authorized. The use of factual data analysis from existing data sources will save countless investigative hours and significantly improve the opportunity for successful conclusion of investigations.

    Data Security Information submitted by a state may only be disseminated in accordance with restrictions and conditions placed on it by the submitting state, pursuant to the submitting state's laws and regulations. Information will be made available only to law enforcement agencies, and on a need-to-know and right-to-know basis. Data access permissions will be conditioned on the privileges of the user making the inquiry.[/quote]
  • by queen of everything ( 695105 ) on Saturday January 31, 2004 @08:41PM (#8147084)

    Despite what you all think, the mormon religion does not condone plural marriage. If you take part in a plural marriage, you are excommunicated. That comment merely shows your ignorance and is not really funny at all.

  • Re:one of 13 states? (Score:2, Informative)

    by vegetablespork ( 575101 ) <vegetablespork@gmail.com> on Saturday January 31, 2004 @08:41PM (#8147085) Homepage
    Only eight states shown here [iir.com]. Appropriate that they're colored red.
  • by dk.r*nger ( 460754 ) on Saturday January 31, 2004 @08:51PM (#8147149)
    Wife1
    Wife2
    Wife3
    Wife4
    etc..


    Well, now, that would not be very relational ..

    The second you allow for twenty-one wives, someone with twentytwo wifes is going to show up.

    You need a "People" table, with fields like "name", "is_married" and "age" field, and then a "Marriage" table with "groom_ref" and "wife_ref" field to link these people in marriage..

    One to one (one wife) contra One to many (serveral wives)
  • Re:one of 13 states? (Score:5, Informative)

    by vegetablespork ( 575101 ) <vegetablespork@gmail.com> on Saturday January 31, 2004 @08:52PM (#8147156) Homepage
    I love archive.org. The June, 2003 version of the site [archive.org] (read the text, ignore the graphic) lists
    California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Utah
    for a total of 12. We now know that California, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oregon, and South Carolina had pulled out before Utah. The 13th state appears to be Connecticut, which must have signed on after 6/03.
  • by Crypto Gnome ( 651401 ) on Saturday January 31, 2004 @08:55PM (#8147179) Homepage Journal
    OK people, if you're going to whine about someone else being wrong, then you should at least try to be accurate yourself.

    Despite what you all think, the mormon religion does not condone plural marriage any longer.

    That is , originally it was encouraged. Don't believe me, checkout The LDS/Mormon webpages on the subject [lds-mormon.com]
  • by cornymccorn ( 746486 ) on Saturday January 31, 2004 @08:59PM (#8147199) Homepage Journal
    Actually, they came over (at first) to become rich. The first settlers were the second, third, fourth, and so on, sons of the wealthy. But since in England all inheritance went to the first son (and he then decided without contest who gets what) they could either join the church or the army after their father died. But, in New England, they could own land and become wealthy from selling whatever they found to the companies that financed their voyage. And in England, the companies that sent them over could become rich from selling that on the European market. The second wave of settlers (the Puritans) were the ones who came over because they could not practice in England anymore. Well, more to the point, they could not reform the English church to the way they wished. That is debatable however. But the fact remains that if they were successful in taking over the church they would not have tolerated other religions (as shown in how they ran their colonies where they did control the church).

    So, to sum up, The U.S. was founded because of greed. Whether or not greed is necessarily bad is another debatable issue. I don't care either way, but the fact remains that this country was *not* founded on freedom, it was driven by the want of profit. Take that any way you will, I just prefer that people know the truth instead of some kindergarten fable.

  • by PolyDwarf ( 156355 ) on Saturday January 31, 2004 @08:59PM (#8147202)
    create table person {
    person_id integer,
    name varchar(30)
    };

    create table relationships {
    person1 integer,
    person2 integer,
    relation_desc varchar(100)
    };

    There you go.. Many to many join table.. sure I omitted keys, but that's an exercide left to the reader. The relation_desc field is for a drop down list of relationship descriptions (Wife1, Wife2, etc., in your example).
    See, not so hard. :)
  • by Gonoff ( 88518 ) on Saturday January 31, 2004 @09:00PM (#8147206)
    In the UK such an idea would be blocked in the house of Lords, or perhaps Her Majesty would decline to sign the act of parliament for it...

  • by noahmax ( 534339 ) on Saturday January 31, 2004 @09:03PM (#8147229) Homepage
    It's worse than you think. Seisint, the company behind Matrix, was founded by a guy who was implicated in a Bahamian drug smuggling ring back in the 80's [defensetech.org].
  • by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 31, 2004 @09:05PM (#8147233)
    Justice Warns Against Civil Rights Apathy [yahoo.com]

    By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer

    NEW YORK - Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (news - web sites) said Thursday that people concerned about losing freedom to government anti-terrorism efforts should speak out.

    The Supreme Court is taking up several terror-related cases this spring, including challenges to the government detention of terror suspects without legal rights.

    Ginsburg, speaking to a group of women's rights lawyers, was asked if people's rights were in danger.

    "On important issues, like the balance between liberty and security, if the public doesn't care, then the security side is going to overweigh the other," she said.

    That would change, Ginsburg said, "if people come forward and say we are proud to live in the USA, a land that has been more free, and we want to keep it that way."

    Ginsburg, who argued women's rights cases at the Supreme Court several decades before former President Clinton (news - web sites) named her to the court in 1993, said "an active public" made the difference in the victories of feminism.

    Ginsburg, now 70 and one of the more liberal justices, won five of the six Supreme Court cases she argued. She was reunited Thursday with some of the clients she represented during an event held in her honor at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.

    "She was calling to our attention that work in women's rights, civil rights is under threat," said Lisalyn Jacobs, who handles government relations for the National Organization for Women (news - web sites)'s Legal Defense and Education Fund, which co-sponsored the event.

    The Bush administration has been criticized by civil libertarians for some of its terror-fighting strategy, including the detentions of hundreds of foreigners at a military prison in Cuba and some U.S. citizens in America.

    They are being held without charges or access to attorneys, something the government maintains is necessary for national security.

    In April the Supreme Court will consider cases involving detainees in Cuba and America.

    The court has refused to take up other cases stemming from the government's response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, including the handling of immigrants swept up in the investigation.

    ___

    On the Net:

    Supreme Court: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/ [nero-online.org]
  • by corbettw ( 214229 ) on Saturday January 31, 2004 @09:06PM (#8147239) Journal
    You really should can that racist bullcrap.

    What racist bullcrap? Bin Laden is dirty (living in a cave does that to you); he is old (in his 60's, IIRC); is hiding in a cave (though probably not for much longer); and could very well be a camel fucker (who are you to judge? the love between a man and his camel is special).

    Just because FOX news says he did it, doesn't mean he actually did.

    Nevermind the fact that bin Laden claimed responsibility hisownself. Guess you didn't catch the al-Jezerra tape where he applauded the success of the mission, and basically gloated over getting away with it. Besides, name one reputable source that doesn't think bin Laden had anything to do with 9/11.
  • by dachshund ( 300733 ) on Saturday January 31, 2004 @09:09PM (#8147260)
    Yes, voting. That will work wonders. You realistically have the choice of poeple who voted and/or supported the Patriot Act (Kerry, Dean, Edwards, Leiberman, i.e. the entire Democratic field) *OR* the guy that actually signed the shit into law, Mr. G.W. Bush. Whutta choice. :/

    Most of the Democratic candidates have [talkleft.com] spoken [iowastatedaily.com] out [weeklystandard.com] vocally against extending the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. act. To contrast, George W. Bush recently advocated [com.com] not only extending, but expanding the damn thing-- in his State of the Union speech, no less. (The applause you heard when he said "the PATRIOT act is due to expire soon" was not coming from the pro-Bush side of the room.)

    If you believe there is no significant difference between the candidates on this issue, you're just plain nuts. I'm sorry your favorite candidate isn't in the race anymore, but if you keep equivocating and misrepresenting the situation, you're only going to be rewarded with PATRIOT Acts II, III, IV and V.

  • by 7-Vodka ( 195504 ) on Saturday January 31, 2004 @09:10PM (#8147263) Journal
    Dean never supported the patriot act, he is VEHEMENTLY opposed to it. Neither did some of the other candidates. Yes unfortunately kerry is the kind of BS artist that populates washington D.C. and looks like he's going to win, but don't group them all together.
  • by a whoabot ( 706122 ) on Saturday January 31, 2004 @09:17PM (#8147297)
    This makes me think of the democratic nominees in 1992. There was 6 major ones(over ~1% support), but the media didn't report one, Larry Agron(sp?); his platform was that the defense budget should be cut in half(holy shit that's a lot of money) and be put into education(you'd have the fucking smartest people ever; well, assuming you spent right). At one point I think he was even in 3rd?(maybe 4th) place in some polls. But the press was just like "we don't cover people who don't have a certain level coverage; you're just not a serious contender".

    The point is, the candidates are, for a large part(totally?), controlled. And there's basically no way anyone who goes against what the dominant culture wants, will get represented, so, elected.
  • by stormcoder ( 564750 ) on Saturday January 31, 2004 @09:25PM (#8147331) Homepage Journal
    Hello!?! That's some anti-mormon website. You want real info on the church goto www.lds.org.
  • by Vanieter ( 613996 ) <lpsavoie@gmail. c o m> on Saturday January 31, 2004 @09:27PM (#8147345)

    According to the Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] :

    There are several religious organizations who practice religon derived from Mormonism most of these sects numbering as a few thousand, hundred or even less. By far the largest and most recognized organization is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Another notable organization is the Community of Christ. Among the small Mormon organizations, there are some usually isolated communities in Utah, Idaho, Arizona, and surrounding states who practice polygamy; however, these groups, and the current practice of polygamy, are rejected by most Mormons.

    So both of you are, in a sense, right.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 31, 2004 @09:55PM (#8147520)
    I call bullshit..

    The mormon leaders vary, but most will not "invite you over for dinner" or any other nicety. And they do care A TON about what you do. When I told my bishop I didn't think I believed in the whole Joseph Smith thing, he acted like I'd killed a busload of kids or something. If the mormon church were like you said, maybe I wouldn't hate it so much.

    And, Mormons are taught to respect and unquestioningly obey authority. Look at people who disagree with churhc leaders, do they get taken to a movie? Nah, they get kicked out.

    I'd be scared if the mormons got their hands on this information (and the govermnment here in Utah is pretty much an extension of the mormon church).
  • by ksheff ( 2406 ) * on Saturday January 31, 2004 @10:08PM (#8147587) Homepage

    The article says the company running the MATRIX is in Florida.

  • by qtp ( 461286 ) on Saturday January 31, 2004 @10:42PM (#8147758) Journal
    As mentioned in my rejected story sub from last week, several other states are already participating in MATRIX.

    For more information, you can look at the MATRIX homepage [iir.com], listen to an NPR program [npr.org], read some newspaper [ttp] columns [sun-sentinel.com], a findlaw article [findlaw.com], and a politechbot writup [politechbot.com].

    The list of participating states can be found here [iir.com].

  • Re:Private company? (Score:5, Informative)

    by ttyp0 ( 33384 ) on Saturday January 31, 2004 @11:07PM (#8147880) Homepage
    They already do sell the information [accurint.com], at $0.25 a search! How it's legal, I have no idea.
  • NPR story (Score:2, Informative)

    by SufferingSimian ( 747942 ) on Saturday January 31, 2004 @11:10PM (#8147891)
    Here is an informative story about MATRIX that NPR did January 20th. MATRIX Shares Crime Data [npr.org]

    It's worth a listen.

  • Re:MATRIX "halted" (Score:2, Informative)

    by coastwalker ( 307620 ) <.moc.liamtoh. .ta. .reklawtsaoca.> on Saturday January 31, 2004 @11:10PM (#8147893) Homepage
    Dead right dude, looks like they pulled the plug already

    MATRIX -- Gov. Olene Walker announced Friday she has appointed an oversight committee to evaluate security, accessibility and privacy issues of the Multi-state Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange.

    On Thursday, Walker asked the state Department of Public Safety and other agencies to stop sharing information with MATRIX until the oversight committee can evaluate the programand make recommendations about Utah's participation.

    The committee is made up of Gary Doxey, the governor's chief of staff; Val Oveson, state chief information officer; Kirk Torgensen, chief deputy to the attorney general; Senate Majority Leader Mike Waddoups, R-Taylorsville; Senate Assistant Minority Whip Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake City; Rep John Dougall, R-Highland; and a resident who hasn't been named.

    Dougall, an electrical engineer, said he was asked to be on the committee because of his technology background. He was asked to sit on the committee less than 30 minutes before it was announced.

    State agencies began participating in the federal pilot program, providing information to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which is acting as a repository, in December 2003. MATRIX enables law enforcement officials to access information that is already available more quickly and efficiently.

    The information provided includes criminal history record information, motor vehicle title and registration information, driver's license records, and Department of Corrections' offender records and images.

    MATRIX is approved and funded by the Department of Homeland Security. Utah hasn't put any money into the program, Walker said.

  • by Doc Ruby ( 173196 ) on Saturday January 31, 2004 @11:11PM (#8147896) Homepage Journal
    MATRIX is the product of the drug-running covert actors who brought us the Iran-Contra connection. Seisint is the data warehouse in Florida for these Matrix apps [politechbot.com], started by Hank Asher. He also founded DataBase Technologies, which purged the 2000 Presidential election rolls of 57,000 voters, 95% in error, the majority of them Democrats [gregpalast.com]. Prior to that, Asher flew drugs off Florida through the Bahamas for Iran-Contra [mapinc.org]. His boss was John Poindexter, director of the "doomed" federal TIA, the mother of all Matrices. A French webpage [transfert.net] has the Seisint/DBT (translated to English) [google.com] connection: Hank Asher. For extra points, Diebold's eVoting division has been run by another convicted Iran-Contra cocaine dealer [wired.com].

    Now the Matrix, after being rejected by Georgia for its unwarranted invasions of privacy [usatoday.com], is making the rounds of the rest of the states which owe Bush Jr favors. Idaho governor Leavitt succeeds Governor Kempthorne, just named the previous Idaho governor, to head the EPA [commondreams.org], as it abandons the penalty financing of SuperFund. Check your own state government [usatoday.com] for the favors it owes Bush Corp., before they sell you to the Bush cronies. Drug dealers, vote fixers, Big Brothers: these are the people we have given the power of the US government. Take a stand now, before you have nothing left to defend.
  • by Animats ( 122034 ) on Saturday January 31, 2004 @11:16PM (#8147929) Homepage
    Seisint offers this database as a commercial service, Accurint [accurint.com], for the low, low price of $0.50 to $4.50 per query. [accurint.com] Sign up now for your one week free trial [accurint.com] by calling 1-800-332-8244. No signup fees. No monthly minimums. See the impressive Accurint commercial (click on the quarter) [accurint.com]. "You won't believe what you can find with a quarter."

    The $4.50 "Comprehensive Report" includes "Address Summary, Others using SSN, Date/Locations where SSN Issued, Census Data, Bankruptcy Indicator, Property Indicator and Corporate Affiliations Indicator, Bankruptcy, UCC Filings, Corporate Affiliations, Driver's Licenses, Vehicle Registrations, Property, Merchant Vessels, FAA Pilots, FAA Aircraft, Professional Licenses, Florida Accidents, Voter Registration, Hunting/Fishing Permits, Concealed Weapons Permits, Associates, Relatives (3 Degrees), Neighbors, Criminal Convictions and Sexual Offenders." More advanced searches include arrest data, gun licenses, property ownership, Internet domain name ownership, and a "Patriot Act Search".

    Order now, and get the facts on anyone.

    Much of this information has been available for some time, but never before has it beeen assembled into one convenient package available to anyone at a low price. See product reviews [accurint.com], including "You can't hide from Accurint" and "No Place to Hide".

    Now with XML support, a batch interface for bulk users, and 24 hour tech support!

    If you have a problem with that, tough.

  • Re:Um.. (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 31, 2004 @11:42PM (#8148091)
    Hoover probably had some serious skeletons in his own closet

    No, just women's dresses.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 01, 2004 @12:05AM (#8148230)
    Your post was an excellent one and should be modde d way up.

    orwell in 1984:

    http://www.online-literature.com/view.php/1984/1 7? term=war
    "In past ages, a war, almost by definition, was something that sooner or later came to an end, usually in unmistakable victory or defeat. In the past, also, war was one of the main instruments by which human societies were kept in touch with physical reality. All rulers in all ages have tried to impose a false view of the world upon their followers, but they could not afford to encourage any illusion that tended to impair military efficiency. So long as defeat meant the loss of independence, or some other result generally held to be undesirable, the precautions against defeat had to be serious. Physical facts could not be ignored. In philosophy, or religion, or ethics, or politics, two and two might make five, but when one was designing a gun or an aeroplane they had to make four. Inefficient nations were always conquered sooner or later, and the struggle for efficiency was inimical to illusions. Moreover, to be efficient it was necessary to be able to learn from the past, which meant having a fairly accurate idea of what had happened in the past. Newspapers and history books were, of course, always coloured and biased, but falsification of the kind that is practised today would have been impossible. War was a sure safeguard of sanity, and so far as the ruling classes were concerned it was probably the most important of all safeguards. While wars could be won or lost, no ruling class could be completely irresponsible.

    But when war becomes literally continuous, it also ceases to be dangerous. When war is continuous there is no such thing as military necessity. Technical progress can cease and the most palpable facts can be denied or disregarded. As we have seen, researches that could be called scientific are still carried out for the purposes of war, but they are essentially a kind of daydreaming, and their failure to show results is not important. Efficiency, even military efficiency, is no longer needed. Nothing is efficient in Oceania except the Thought Police. Since each of the three super-states is unconquerable, each is in effect a separate universe within which almost any perversion of thought can be safely practised. Reality only exerts its pressure through the needs of everyday life -- the need to eat and drink, to get shelter and clothing, to avoid swallowing poison or stepping out of top-storey windows, and the like. Between life and death, and between physical pleasure and physical pain, there is still a distinction, but that is all. Cut off from contact with the outer world, and with the past, the citizen of Oceania is like a man in interstellar space, who has no way of knowing which direction is up and which is down. The rulers of such a state are absolute, as the Pharaohs or the Caesars could not be. They are obliged to prevent their followers from starving to death in numbers large enough to be inconvenient, and they are obliged to remain at the same low level of military technique as their rivals; but once that minimum is achieved, they can twist reality into whatever shape they choose.

    The war, therefore, if we judge it by the standards of previous wars, is merely an imposture. It is like the battles between certain ruminant animals whose horns are set at such an angle that they are incapable of hurting one another. But though it is unreal it is not meaningless. It eats up the surplus of consumable goods, and it helps to preserve the special mental atmosphere that a hierarchical society needs. War, it will be seen, is now a purely internal affair. In the past, the ruling groups of all countries, although they might recognize their common interest and therefore limit the destructiveness of war, did fight against one another, and the victor always plundered the vanquished. In our own day they are not fighting against one another at all. The war is waged by each ruling group against its own subjects, and the object of t
  • Re:Matrix in Georgia (Score:4, Informative)

    by jxs2151 ( 554138 ) on Sunday February 01, 2004 @01:09AM (#8148586)
    He's the fucking governor- FIRE whoever's giving the info

    You ever worked in government? You know how freakin' hard it is to fire a government employee? Why do you think government employees act like they can't be fired?

  • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 01, 2004 @03:10AM (#8149182)
    Since Jesus is God, according to the doctrine of the Trinity, the Devil is then the brother of God, which makes him 'equal' in some sense,
    so, the infant is the equal of the big brother? at, say running? not a chance. Your logic is flawed. You could make an argument that they were at one time equal, but went in different ways. Think stunted pine tree next to it's genitic brother who grew normally. Reread Revelations, lucifer rebelled and was cast out, he fell, and no longer even has the ability to become equal. This whole question is easier to understand when you know that we all are spiritual brothers and sisters, Christ and Lucifer, Gandi and Hitler, Paul and Pilate, you and me. . . You may not agree with this, but seen with this light, there is nothing contradictory about Christ and Lucifer being brothers. Oh, the doctrine of the trinity is based on the greek philosophers, was adopted by the christians in the nician (sp?) creed ~300AD. was not taught by any of the apostles.

    Five witnesses? there were no five witnesses, there were three who were shown the plates by an angel, and eight who were shown the plates by Joseph Smith himself. You are ignorant of the facts, both the number and the fact that none of them recanted their witness, dispite several of these witnesses leaving the church. And not over wives either.

    You want to show us some proof? Find me pre-Columbian evidence of some of the things Smith claimed the Native Americans had

    Ok, when the book of mormon was published, The Mayan ruins were unknown, and even Cortez and the Aztecs were forgotten history. The book of mormon talks about multiple large cities at a time when the 'experts' counted all natives as savages incapable of such. Add to this the fact that the timeframe the book of mormon (BoM) gives to the jaredite people matches the olmec history to within a hundred years or so. (neither the arch. evidence nor the BoM is any more specific than this anyway) Unfortunately the common idea among mormons that the 'land north' and the 'land south' in the BoM were north and south america (!!!) does not help our (yes IAAM) cause, as that is NOT supported by the arch. evidence at all. (the BoM does not really either but... people are stupid, even some mormons) The Smithsonian? yea, imagine this 'Yup the BoM seems correct, there is no way short of revelation Smith could have known this, he must be a prophet, but we are not joning anyway, we like our own incorrect religions too much. - the Smithsonian' ---- Whatever.

    The pictures you saw were drawn by artists who never saw the plates, and probably never read the descriptions of them beyond 'gold plates'... there are no photo's

    Other prophicies? Try the Civil war, the fact that it would start in SC, and that it would hurt the Missouri / Kansas area the most (Bloody Kansas lasted the whole war, almost destroyed the area) and that the mormons would end up in the rocky mountians? (he died before they left for Utah)

    I don't expect that I convinced anyone here, but I hope I pointed out enough to let people see that the parent is an ignorant troll.

    (I'd not post AC but I haven't signed up yet)
  • by althalus ( 520424 ) <slashdot&lug-nut,com> on Sunday February 01, 2004 @03:37AM (#8149299) Homepage
    >Mormons believe Jesus Christ is the spirit brother of Lucifer. The Bible teaches Lucifer is a fallen angel, and that Jesus Christ is Lord.

    http://www.mormon.org/learn/0,8672,791-1,00.html

    >Mormons believe they are saved through works; entire books of the Bible (Galatians, Romans) teach against that principle.

    that would be Faith and works. Big difference. And the book do not teach against works, they talk about the importance of faith. Just like they teach about the importance of works. "Faith without works is dead" is a quote that pretty much sums that up.

    >Mormons believe there are many gods.

    Read the above link for what we actually believe. We have one Father in heaven.

    > But now you know that they are NOT Christians;

    Do please explain.
    http://scriptures.lds.org/a_of_f/1
    #1, WE abelieve in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.
    Yeah, that doesnt' sound Christian at all

    >The LDS Church uses words to sound Christian, they even claim to be so, but they are not.

    Now that *really* doesn't make sense. We say we aren't, but we can't be. We must all be lying hunh? So when we say we worship our heavenly Father, We believe in the Atonement of Christ, and in the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Do tell, what am I really saying? Are these all magical codewords or something?
  • by Jerry ( 6400 ) on Sunday February 01, 2004 @12:04PM (#8150971)
    the pledge by congress to keep Census data private and out of the hands of law enforcement officals was any good.

    Then ask youself if The PATRIOT ACT, a law hastily passed by congress and signed by the president BEFORE THE ACT WAS EMBROSSED, will treat all Americans any better than FDR and the FBI treated Japanese American.

    Then think about the RICO law, designed to prevent Mafia gangsters from using their ill-gotten gain to fight prosecution. When it was passed congress promised it would only be used against the Mafia. Now, several decades later, it is used over 10,000 times a year against ordinary citizens. The most common use of RICO today is by local police departments using jail-house snitches as a pretext to steal private property and fence it (sell is what rightful owners do, fence is what thieves do) in order to supplement their budgets and fund purchase of items too costly for local budgets. RICO declares property 'guilty' so even if the owners later prove their innocence or prove a case of mistaken identity, the police can and usually do keep the property.

    When the cops become robbers who can YOU go to for protection?

    When the DOJ sides with the Robber Barrons and the Courts become their hand puppets where can YOU seek judical relief?

    When Congress sells its soul to the highest bidder, repeals the Bill of Rights, sells off trades and patents, votes itself a retirement package equal to its salary and with 100% free health care, and considers the office an inheritable birthright, who do YOU vote for?

    Plainly, WE deserve the corruption WE tolerate.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 01, 2004 @12:24PM (#8151082)
    There is no "Mormon relgion". Their religion is Christianity, and their sect/denomination is "Mormon" or LDS. Mormons are Christians, despite what some other Christians might say, as are Seventh-Day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Catholics, all Protestant demoninations, the various Orthodox groups, Satanists, and a lot of the early Druidic groups (though I wouldn't say the ADF is), and probably a lot of other small groups that I'm missing. If you believe in the god Jehovah, you're a Judeo/Christian. If you believe that Jesus was the "son of God", in any form, you're a Christian.
  • by Doc Ruby ( 173196 ) on Sunday February 01, 2004 @09:52PM (#8155111) Homepage Journal
    Even though these crooks attack liberty again and again, they will find free people always ready to defend. And even though you reply with incoherent gibberish, I'll slap you back down with simple logic, lest someone reading be influenced by the chaotic slime in which you dwell.

    I'm going to clearly reiterate what I have presented [slashdot.org], for the benefit of those who might have been distracted by your insane rants. Hank Asher is an active bad guy, with a long history of crime. His associates ran Iran-Contra (in which he flew cocaine through the Bahamas into the US), then the seemingly abortive TIA (an obvious criminal invasion of privacy), now its stepchild MATRIX (a program his company invented and sells), which is actually being applied by members of his criminal circle (like the governor of Utah secretly enrolling all Utahans). Along the way, Asher has proven his threat to America, with his corporate products rigging the Bush theft of the 2000 Florida election, and the Diebold eVote machines, which threaten the 2004 election, too. These facts are published where everyone can find them. Some states have managed to escape implementing MATRIX, but other states, like Utah, have been sold out by Bush cronies. Anyone who denies them better be on Asher's organization's payroll, or they're selling themselves up the river with their denial without even making off like a bandit.

    Now, you are just a fool with a big mouth. My links to Hank Asher's shameful and scary history of crime and complicity are to publications, like magazines, publishing public records, like criminal convictions, public hearings, and public corporate filings. MATRIX is a database of personal information, with a cross-reference never allowed by the people in it, or the governments that collected it. Of course we can outlaw government invasions of privacy. And prosecute the perpetrators. "Go and read some detective story"? When you venture beyond your keyboard some day, you might find that police are subject to many laws in evidence gathering, which they mostly follow, and which are mostly enforced, which protect us from the police state which the MATRIX promotes. You can give up your privacy, but leave mine alone.

    You don't even know how to use the term "litmus test", let alone apply one, or even an invalid "reductio ad absurdum" like you attempted with your bizarre "muslim child porn trader". You don't even think that trading child porn hurts children, you subhuman retard. Not only am I not an authoritarian, there's nothing like that in any of my posts. You are very confused, and I request you stop projecting your scrambled view on my posts. Brainwashing? Your nonsense must stop immediately, stop spewing this disconnected blabber in responses to my posts. If you can't think, don't project that on me - just shut up. Keep your irrelevant fantasy riffs on advanced technologies to people who are impressed by them, and leave the discussions of crucial policies to those of us adults with an actual stake in them. You can diddle yourself with childish fallacies just as easily in a work camp as on Slashdot, so you're not involved here. Learn to think before you talk.
  • by ToasterOven ( 698529 ) on Monday February 02, 2004 @12:17PM (#8159253)
    I'm glad to see that someone has pointed that out. Take it from someone who lives in Utah and is LDS, the church had nothing to do with this decision.

    In fact, to my knowledge, no one has been informed of it or asked if they would like to participate in any way, shape or form. The state of Utah is part of the United States and is therefore a democracy, and its citizens should have the right to give their opinion of whether or not to be a part of the system.

    The idea that the church's records were involved here is proposterous. The post says -all- of the state's 2.4 million citizens were enlisted in the program. Mind you that those citizens are NOT 100% memebers of the church. The church's geneology records have nothing to do with any public records kept by the state, nor do they have any affiliation to medical, criminal or any other type of records. They are kept within the church for the purpose of tracing the member's ancestry back and have no bearing on the current population of Utah.

    Finally, if people must insist on "mormon bashing" then at least be kind enough to realize that there are no "Mormon"'s... that is a nickname given to us because of people who did not believe we were entitled to the religious freedom the Constitution guarantees us. Besides, Mormon was a man who lived a long time ago... we prefer to be referred to as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 02, 2004 @01:40PM (#8159997)
    Mormons believe Jesus Christ is the spirit brother of Lucifer. The Bible teaches Lucifer is a fallen angel, and that Jesus Christ is Lord.

    Which part of that is contradictory?

    The inference that the Son of God is really only an angel.

    Mormons believe they are saved through works; entire books of the Bible (Galatians, Romans) teach against that principle.

    Where does it teach against that principle? If I'm not mistaken, we are saved through Faith AND Works. There's even a scripture in the bible that talks about that.

    Eph 2:8-9 are the definitive verses refuting the "salvation through works" ideas:
    "(2:8) For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; (2:9) it is not from works, so that no one can boast."

    Mormons believe there are many gods. The Bible is quite clear that is wrong.

    We only worship one God. The bible is quite clear that we only worship one God. And please explain in further detail what you mean by "believe there are many gods" so I know you know what you're talking about; because it's quite clear that you do not.

    You sidestepped that one, but not quite neatly enough. Specifically, Mormons believe that after death they themselves will become gods, with there being something like 3 different levels of "powers" based on the amount of earthly works they have accomplished.

    Definition of a Christian - One who believes in Christ

    Mormons believe in Christ; therefore they are Christians. They also believe in the Bible, so all your arguments are not only innaccurate in the first place, they don't support your point to any extent.

    Definition of a Christian - One who believes in and accepts salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the only Son of God.

    Just believing in Jesus Christ doesn't cut it. You have to accept him as your Savior as well.

    Mormons do a very good job of giving you the surface impression that they're not much different than Catholics or Presbyterians or Episcopalians when it comes to their beliefs. It's only when you really look into their beliefs that you see all the conflicts and contradictions with Bible-based Christianity.

And it should be the law: If you use the word `paradigm' without knowing what the dictionary says it means, you go to jail. No exceptions. -- David Jones

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