Task 20091129.0410.00

Task 20091129.0410.00 designated

io-ipb queued

agenda and appointments required

The Reason for Riddle

rid-dle / ridl/ noun, verb, -dled, -dling.
–noun 1. a question or statement so framed as to exercise one's ingenuity in answering it or discovering its meaning.

http://bit.ly/7kUXjY

UK Government To Install Surveillance Cameras In Private Homes

UK Government To Install Surveillance Cameras In Private Homes

State to spy on parents, make sure kids go to bed on time, attend school

The UK government is about to spend $700 million dollars installing surveillance cameras inside the private homes of citizens to ensure that children go to bed on time, attend school and eat proper meals.

No you aren't reading a passage from George Orwell's 1984 or Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, this is Britain in 2009, a country which already has more surveillance cameras watching its population than the whole of Europe put together.

Now the government is embarking on a scheme called "Family Intervention Projects" which will literally create a nanny state on steroids, with social services goons and private security guards given the authority to make regular "home checks" to ensure parents are raising their children correctly.

Telescreens will also be installed so government spies can keep an eye on whether parents are mistreating kids and whether the kids are fulfilling their obligations under a pre-signed contract.

Around 2,000 families have been targeted by this program so far and the government wants to snare 20,000 more within the next two years. The tab will be picked up by the taxpayer, with the "interventions" being funded through local council authorities.

Another key aspect of the program will see parents deemed "responsible" by the government handed the power to denounce and report bad parents who allow their children to engage in bad behavior. Such families will then be targeted for "interventions".

Both parents and children will also be forced to sign a "behavior contract" with the government known as Home School Agreements before the start of every year, in which the state will dictate obligations that it expects to be met.

The opposition Conservative Party, who are clear favorites to win the next British election, commented that the program does not go far enough and is "too little, too late."

Respondents to a Daily Express article about the new program expressed their shock at the totalitarian implications of what is unfolding in the United Kingdom under the guise of social services initiatives.

"Sorry, but what the hell? Why are people not up in arms about this?," writes one, "This is a complete invasion of privacy, and it totally ignores the fact that the state does NOT own kids. It's not up to them how parents choose to raise their children, as long as the parents do not actively harm them. Why on earth aren't the public rioting? It's completely anathema to basic British freedoms."

"Excuse me!?! What an incredible intrusion into the privacy of a family! George Orwell must be spinning in his grave right now," writes another.

"I have one comment to make: it completely violates Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (Human Rights Act 1998). Has this minister and his lackies even done any basic homework on basic human rights and civil liberties? Or rather they've just decided to
completely ignore them," adds another.

The move to install surveillance cameras inside private homes is also on the agenda across the pond. In February 2006, Houston Chief of Police Harold Hurtt said cameras should be placed inside apartments and homes in order to "fight crime" due to there being a shortage of police officers.

"I know a lot of people are concerned about Big Brother, but my response to that is, if you are not doing anything wrong, why should you worry about it?" Chief Hurtt told reporters.

Andy Teas with the Houston Apartment Association supported the proposal, saying privacy concerns would take a back seat to many people who would, "appreciate the thought of extra eyes looking out for them."

If such programs come to fruition and are implemented on a mass scale then the full scope of George Orwell's depiction of a totalitarian society is his classic novel 1984 will have been realized.

The following passage is from Orwell's 1984;

The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live, did live, from habit that became instinct, in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.

The above article by Paul Watson

HOW TO HIDE ANYTHING

HOW TO HIDE ANYTHING
-
How to send information that no-one can read without encoding it and without anyone being able to prove you have hidden it.

Some years ago some friends were earning large sums in cash in Amsterdam. Unfortunately too many people knew that fact. Due to the difficulty of banking large quantities of small bills they used to leave the money in their apartment. This worked basically because there was always some one at home guarding it. In the end they made so much money they decided to retire to a sunnier clime.

They went on a shopping spree and bought all those things they did not expect to be able to find in the Caribbean - and I mean boxes and boxes of trinkets of all descriptions.

When visited, getting through the apartment door was difficult, and there was no place to sit down in any room: apart from the toilet!

That night they went out to celebrate before saying final good byes. When they got home at 2am they found that the house had been ransacked.

Every box or case had been opened and gone through for hours. The thieves had also destroyed and pissed on the stuff. It was later understood why no money had been had been stolen despite the raiders several hours of searching!


How could this happen? What extremely clever place did they hide their money? The answer is that the money was not hidden at all! It was no more hidden than a sunken treasure ship.

There was simply so much stuff to go through that the thieves did not have the time and energy to find it. The money was a needle in a haystack! If you placed the needle yourself it is not difficult to find it (as long as they haystack is not radically altered - like my wife does to my desk) but if you have no idea where it is you have a virtually impossible task.

Sometimes it is suspicious or illegal to hide things. The immigration officer wants to know why you have someone else's passport photos inside your sock rather than in your wallet. The judge threatens to imprison you if you do not hand over all relevant business papers. And in France encryption is forbidden by law. So take a very big album of photographs: photography is your hobby. Or give the judge so many irrelevant papers that it will take him 10 years of looking to find the paper that he wants.

Even where encryption is legal it can make a file or message stand out. It may be lower profile not to encrypt email but to deluge with it: the recipient ignores all messages except those which begin with "PT" for example. Also for the uninitiated encryption software can be a nightmare to install.

That said I still highly recommend the use of public key encryption like pgp9.9.i which is available free and can be down loaded from the Internet at < from outside the USA and within the USA. But as part of the needle in the haystack philosophy you should routinely encode all messages not just important ones. In this way the enemy a) does not know what messages are worth trying to decode and b) cannot accuse you of trying to hide specific information because you send everything in code! This can be useful if it ever comes to a court case.

Next step is not to send important information as an email message but as an encrypted file attached to an encrypted email message. Any file can be attached: even a database file containing a large number of names and addresses. The message with the file will still only take seconds to transmit. I suggest that a large file is made to look smaller by using a file compression tool like ZIP. Personally, I recommend LHA. This will shrink a file to about 10% of its normal size: thus making is less interesting to snoops and a faster transmission tim. Usually, you will have a compressed file with the following file ending: .LZH. This is a give away. However if you stipulate the file suffix yourself you can have any suffix you wish.
For example:

C:>\dbase\clients.dbf A:\rabbit.gif

This will compress your database file called clients on the hard disc to 1/10 of its size on a floppy disk where it will be known as "rabbit.gif". If you include this with other animal photos files no one will know that a data file is compressed and hidden among a bunch of animal graphics files with similar names: "lion.gif", "zebra.gif", "sheep.gif" and perhaps 10,000 others copied from a CD. Graphics files tend to be big too. Having compressed your database file and renamed it with a suitable file suffix and bunched together in a directory with hundreds of similar looking but innocent files it is now time to compress the entire directory and then encrypt it. If you encrypt and then compress it will not be obvious to the casual observer that encryption has been used. Then attach it to an email and send it to an anonymous email address that you have just set up for that very purpose. These can be obtained free on line through
http://www.hushmail.com or http://www.safe-mail.net.

Now anyone can download your message anywhere simply by accessing the anonymous email address. Smuggling information over boarders has never been easier or safer. Nothing needs to go anywhere or be in anyone's pocket or computer anymore.

Another highly recommended product is called Steganos. Steganos is a high powered easy to use encryption program that will automatically encrypt your files and hide them IN PLAIN LOOKING FILES. In other words should anyone look at your files on your computer (or USB,) all they would SEE is a picture file. Even if they open the picture file all they will see if the picture you took, e.g., you and your love on the local Amsty boat ride! It can only be decrypted with your secret password WITH THAT PARTICULAR file.

Another recommended product is https://www.ironkey.com

Until next time - SSshhh

Practical Internet Privacy

Practical Internet Privacy

There are lots of reasons you might prefer not to have every website you visit and email you send logged and recorded for years to come. I can't think of any why you would.

In many countries, however, internet providers are required by law to do just that. According to the London Telegraph, from April 2009 that now includes all European Union countries. For the tech-minded, here are the gory details. You can be sure it is being done elsewhere, legally or otherwise.

For a global overview with "heat map," you can check out last year's "Electronic Police State" international rankings here at

Surveillance is even more intense in large corporate or government environments, where you may also have trouble visiting certain "unapproved" sites.

At the other end of your internet connection, the same thing may be happening. Browsing and emailing, for example, usually discloses an "IP address" the equivalent of your internet telephone number which can be traced to you through your internet provider.

Many sites, such as Google, also build up a profile of your activity based upon your IP address, "cookies" (data stored from earlier visits), search requests and other factors, which can be retained indefinitely.

Forums and blogs will often record your IP address along with your comments and retain them for years. This was underlined to me some time ago, when I had a problem with a Google search. In order to proceed, they required verification by typing in random letters, partially obscured in an image. After a couple of failed tries, on the third attempt Google presented me with a word consisting of my name complete with a spelling mistake peculiar to details held by my internet provider (a large multinational). At that moment, I was not using any privacy techniques. Nevertheless, I now have a new provider and often use the powerful, private Ixquick alongside Google.

Individual hackers can be a danger when they identify your IP address:
A 17-year-old boy was recently jailed for what is known as "Swatting" his online-gaming opponents. According to The Register, on multiple occasions, he obtained their IP addresses and hacked their internet provider for their personal details. He then called in armed SWAT teams to their houses by faking ("spoofing") their telephone numbers in emergency calls.

You should note the low to non-existent standards of evidence under which the State will dispatch violent military force against the innocent. In fact, not only did the State effectively assist him, he was much less guilty when compared to the confiscation, tasering, torturing and killing of governments everywhere against their own opponents.

This highlights by far the biggest privacy concern: Accumulated profiling by Big Brother in order to identify dissenters, protesters, whistleblowers, tax escapees and political opponents. But, there are fairly easy ways to keep "two sets of books" with your internet provider and also to "anonymize" your site visits, posts, chat, voice, video and email. It all starts with a clean computer:

Practical Privacy - Stage 1. Many PCs are riddled with viruses, spyware, toolbars, "helpers" and weighed down with bloated "security" suites. If you have a PC, then do what I have done for many hundreds of customers in recent years: First, get rid of Norton/Mcafee or similar bloat-ware and restart. Next run "msconfig" as in this tutorial (Vista users just type "msconfig" in the Search box) - then Restart.


The best and leanest antivirus is currently the free Avira Antivir. You will also need weekly or monthly manual scans with Spybot (un-tick all options except Desktop Icon on install). Do a scan with both and that's it.

In case of a stubborn problem try a Malwarebytes one-off scan. If problems persist, then a backup and system reinstall is needed.

Note that you don't need a complicated firewall because your router acts as a double hardware firewall, plus there is an adequate built-in Windows firewall anyway.

With a clean, fast computer the first and easiest privacy step is to clear it of data retained from previous activity. This can be available through the internet to others via things like cookies and add-ons like Java or Flash. You can clear it in this way:

On a PC, get the free CCleaner. Un-tick everything except Desktop and Start menu shortcuts on install. Ideally, run CCleaner just before and just after any private browsing is required. The standard settings are fine, except be sure everything is un-ticked under Options>Advanced.

Expect the first run to take a while and to be surprised how much junk there was. After that it will usually be instant. For an equivalent, Mac users can use free programs like "Onyx" or "MacJanitor." With this security setup and a little care about what you click on, you can have years of trouble-free computing, with the basics in place for some privacy.

Practical privacy - Stage 2. The next step is to obscure your activity from your internet provider, and to obscure your identity at sites you visit. There are several ways of doing this, most requiring
technical knowledge of things like "proxies" and "shell accounts."

But there are easier ways: In an emergency, one obvious way is to drive around with a laptop and find a public or open internet connection. This would normally only reveal your general geographic
location. If you are not doing anything to attract, for example, SWAT teams and are not hogging a lot of bandwidth, then you are harming no one.

Long-range wireless is also an option. One other way would be to use the TOR anonymous internet system. The only problem here is the unreliable browsing speed. It is quite easy to install and try,
though.

For a permanent, reliable solution you need access to a Virtual Private Network or "VPN" service such as at http://networkOfVPN.com. They are often used by businesses to securely log in to office networks from home. A VPN privacy service can completely obscure your IP address from sites you visit, while obscuring and encrypting the content, sites and servers you visit from your internet provider. Basically, it will tunnel everything you do to another computer in another part of the world of your choice. It does mean trusting the VPN provider to some degree (the best keep no logs) and it does mean paying a subscription. But you will get fast or even full internet speeds, in my own case, reliable enough to do chart-based day-trading. Bear in mind that lag
will increase the further away you are from the VPN server.

Email Privacy With a VPN setup, you can be less concerned about trusting email providers and using encryption. Just get a free web-based email address in another country and always use the VPN to access it. However, be careful not to include identifiable personal info in the email content.

In addition, for moderately sensitive email content, both sender and recipient could use temporary Hushmail accounts. Or, learn to use highly secure PGP encryption with any email provider.

Other free options include Mailvault (with easy PGP built in) the secure (but US-based) Cryptomail, Privatdemail. Subscription options include Neomailbox and GeneralMail. However, unless you encrypt your own email, remember you are placing trust in an unknown service provider.

Rumors abound, for example, that the popular Safe-Mail is a Mossad "honeypot" though I have seen no real evidence of this. Voice and Chat Privacy Because a VPN connection is a secure tunnel (at least, from you to the VPN server) there can be less concern also with voice, video and chat services.

However, here are some extra security steps: For extra Instant Messaging security, try OTR. For voice and video content there is ZPhone (at both ends) in conjunction with Yahoo messenger or Apple iChat. Skype will conceal content from casual eavesdroppers, but many suspect a "backdoor" and your activity is logged by their software. Gizmo5 may be an alternative with its internal encryption, plus it will work with Zphone. SIP Communicator is a one-stop secure video/IM/chat solution with encryption (including ZPhone) built in. But do be aware that unless you use a VPN, voice and email encryption only prevents wiretapping of content and does not prevent tracking who you are and who your contacts are.

Phone Privacy - For interaction with regular telephones you really need a "SIP" account, which is a bit like an email address for voice/video.

These can also be assigned a regular phone number. Get a free SIP account from IPTel, AntiSIP, SIP2SIP or PBXes. VoipUser will also give you a free incoming and outgoing UK telephone number.

You can get a free US incoming number from IPKall. An incoming local number could be forwarded and used in conjunction with an "offshore" outgoing provider (e.g., Link2Voip, Switzernet, Peoplefone, Voipgate) for call records privacy. Note that "IAX" is a better but less common alternative to the SIP standard (see IAXterminator, EuroIAX, Les.net, Voipgate). The popular but US-based CallWithUs offers calls (only) via their own OpenVPN connection, as do Brujula.

Link2Voip offer "IPSec" VPN access for calls, useable with some dedicated routers, from computer desktops, with the iPhone/iPod Touch, and with most Windows CE smart-phones and PDAs (IPaq, HTC etc).

If you do not have an incoming phone number for your SIP account, with some providers you can still be called using the free SipBroker service.

This service has local numbers in many countries and you are contactable via an "extension" number after the local number has been dialed.

Making calls through a VPN does reduce the need for call encryption. But, on top of that, free software like Qutecom and MiniSIP have end-to-end encryption built in.

SIP Communicator includes encryption not only for SIP calls, but also secure video/IM/chat. XLite does not include encryption, but is very popular and will work with Zphone. Also see Zoiper for both IAX and SIP.

In practical use, there is no need to be bound to computer speakers and microphone: you can easily use USB, wireless "Bluetooth" (inc. mobile phones) and other headsets or handsets.

A SIP account will also work without the need for a computer via special standalone "IP phones" or with regular telephones via SIP adapters.

These plug in to your home broadband router. But if you want them to go through a VPN, there are then two options: You could set up "Internet Connection Sharing" on a dedicated computer with a VPN connection. Or (for the tech-minded only) here is the setup for a specially modified home router. For offices, the Draytek 2820 looks like a one-stop broadband/VPN/SIP solution.

Mobile Call - Privacy When on the move, Wi-Fi and SIP capable mobile phones, PDAs, or netbooks can offer more privacy than a regular landline or mobile call, even without a VPN connection. But it is possible to use a VPN through public wireless networks from many smart mobiles: The iPhone and the iPod Touch offer an easy solution by including VPN software. The Apple app store offers SipPhone to make calls.

Third-party offerings like Fring and Gizmo5 also work, but with less privacy and more lag (search for Youtube tutorials). You will need a microphone or hands-free set for the iPod Touch.

"Jailbreaking" the iPhone/iPod Touch opens up other options, including Siphon, obtainable through the alternative "Cydia" download source. 2G iPod Touch models can easily be set free in less than 5 minutes, older models in less than a minute. You can be sure of a solution from the same sources after new updates. The IPaq and other "Windows Mobile" phones and PDAs include VPN connection software. For making SIP phone calls, SJPhone is popular, PortSip is another. Nokia or other "Symbian" models need SymVPN also check that particular models have a SIP dialer inbuilt
(e.g., Nokia E51). But overall, a tiny netbook could be the stylish, all-in-one privacy option for home, office and on the move. For voice calls, it might be most convenient when used with a handset, or linked via Bluetooth (wireless) to a headset or mobile phone. You might consider the excellent Asus EeePC 1000HE with 9.5-hour battery life, or the popular Samsung NC10.

Payment Privacy - Of course, one big problem, and partly the reason I have suggested many free services, is a lack of internet payment privacy. This has strengthened the now pervasive custom of demanding personal, private information with every transaction. Here are some solutions to look at:

In the US, you could check out the various over-the-counter Mall Cards available. While in the UK and Europe, Paysafecard (e.g., for Amazon vouchers), UKash, and the Prime Card or Payzone prepaid debit cards are the nearest equivalents to cash online I have found.

UnLinq is a worldwide (US-based) card option. There are also "virtual card" resellers with varying degrees of privacy.

For sending and receiving small payments, consider ePayarea. You could also look at gold- or fiat-backed e-currencies. However, stability is a concern as is the intrusive information demanded by most exchangers, even if you pay in cash. Of all e-currencies, the soundest may be Pecunix. The most widely accepted, since the fall of e-gold, is probably the fiat-based Liberty Reserve. For lightweight privacy, note that in many countries you can add an additional cardholder name to an
existing card account.

Identity Privacy - Under the present system, if you want to avoid identity theft, hacker attacks, profiling and more, you need to be cautious about giving out personal information: Wherever possible, refuse, confuse or completely separate your name, address, date of birth and any other identifying numbers. Understand that you do not have a moral obligation to help a stranger track you against your will. Legally, at least in common law countries, you can call yourself whatever you like.

I also do not recommend you supply, for example, your actual date of birth, just to open a free email account.

Some online privacy suggestions: Always "enhance" your date of birth; If you must supply your name or, for a delivery, your home address, then not both together; Make use of junk email services like Mailinator or Dodgeit; If possible, don't register, use logins from bugmenot. Create throw-away email addresses for minor online registration/confirmation; Maintain separate, completely isolated
email addresses for important functions; Use aliases or alternate spellings of your surname and make use of your middle name/s; Google multiple occupancy or serviced office addresses when a verifiable address is demanded; Make sure any supplied address matches the VPN country you are using; Consider setting up a mail-drop, near and/or far; Develop alternate signatures for forms, packages etc. and compartmentalize their use; Incorporating an LLC or using a business name can have privacy advantages; Make special efforts regarding the personal details held by your ISP and/or Telco; Consider posting well-wrapped cash or money orders for purchases. Whenever supplying information online, assume it will be incorporated into a database forever. Assume that this will then be incorporated into a bigger search engine that merges multiple databases with all information about you. Assume that this will be available instantly to friend or foe, for free or a small fee.

Data Backup Privacy Special steps are needed for storing and transporting data privately, including through customs checkpoints, where your laptop could be seized: Tiny micro SD cards are currently available up to at least 16 Gb. These can be tucked into a lapel, collar, hair clip etc. Or, an ideal, discreet and radiation proof solution would be inside a covert coin. Another option is to encrypt your data and upload it to the very useful, free Stashbox service, which will immediately return a web address to download it from later. Of course, there is always the old, "send it as an email attachment to yourself" method for smaller data backups.

Conclusion - Some might argue that actual criminals or terrorists could use these techniques to hide themselves. Possibly, but more likely they have other ways, like hacking in and controlling other people's computers, using other people's credit cards, and letting someone else take the blame. Either way, why should we all go into slavery, just to be "protected" from them? Remember that governments are not omnipotent, though they would like to be. In reality, they are relatively few in number and there are many practical, economic and technological limitations. Also keep in mind sheer information overload, there can only be so many watchers. But there is a real threat, articularly if you are targeted. In these perilous times I hope these privacy techniques will encourage you to speak out more freely and help you maintain more financial and personal security.

Thanks to Paul Green and SR for the above article.

GENERAL ALERT: Get something useful out of living

illuminati

Asking to join for the right reason is notable, but it is not as easy and simple as asking to join.

There is a long, arduous road meant to weed out the insincere and uncommitted.

Lucifer is not a Fallen Angel in Original Hebrew Text - Lucifer (Venus) = Bearer Of Light / Light = Knowledge

"Lucifer makes his appearance in the fourteenth chapter of the Old Testament book of Isaiah, at the twelfth verse, and nowhere else: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!"

The first problem is that Lucifer is a Latin name. So how did it find its way into a Hebrew manuscript, written before there was a Roman language? To find the answer, a scholar at the library of the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati was consulted. They were asked "What Hebrew name was Satan given in this chapter of Isaiah, which describes the angel who fell to become the ruler of hell?"

The answer was a surprise. In the original Hebrew text, the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah is not about a fallen angel, but about a fallen Babylonian king, who during his lifetime had persecuted the children of Israel. It contains no mention of Satan, either by name or reference. The Hebrew scholar could only speculate that some early Christian scribes, writing in the Latin tongue used by the Church, had decided for themselves that they wanted the story to be about a fallen angel, a creature not even mentioned in the original Hebrew text, and to whom they gave the name "Lucifer."

Why Lucifer? In Roman astronomy, Lucifer was the name given to the morning star (the star we now know by another Roman name; Venus). The morning star appears in the heavens just before dawn, heralding the rising sun. The name derives from the Latin term lucem ferre; bringer, or bearer, of light." In the Hebrew text the expression used to describe the Babylonian king before his death is Helal, son of Shahar, which can best be translated as "Day star, son of the Dawn." The name evokes the golden glitter of a proud king's dress and court (much as his personal splendor earned for King Louis XIV of France the appellation, "The Sun King").

The scholars authorized by ... King James I to translate the Bible into current English did not use the original Hebrew texts, but used versions translated ... largely by St. Jerome in the fourth century. Jerome had mistranslated the Hebraic metaphor, "Day star, son of the Dawn," as "Lucifer," and over the centuries a metamorphosis took place. Lucifer the morning star became a disobedient angel, cast out of heaven to rule eternally in hell. Theologians, writers, and poets interwove the myth with the doctrine of the Fall, and in Christian tradition Lucifer is now the same as Satan, the Devil, and --- ironically --- the Prince of Darkness.

So "Lucifer" is nothing more than an ancient Latin name for the morning star, the bringer of light. That can be confusing for Christians who identify Christ himself as the morning star, a term used as a central theme in many Christian sermons. Jesus refers to himself as the morning star in Revelation 22:16: "I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star."

And so there are those who do not read beyond the King James version of the Bible, who say 'Lucifer is Satan: so says the Word of God'...."

Henry Neufeld (a Christian who comments on Biblical sticky issues) went on to say,
"this passage is often related to Satan, and a similar thought is expressed in Luke 10:18 by Jesus, that was not its first meaning. It's primary meaning is given in Isaiah 14:4 which says that when Israel is restored they will "take up this taunt against the king of Babylon . . ." Verse 12 is a part of this taunt song. This passage refers first to the fall of that earthly king...
How does the confusion in translating this verse arise? The Hebrew of this passage reads: "heleyl, ben shachar" which can be literally translated "shining one, son of dawn." This phrase means, again literally, the planet Venus when it appears as a morning star. In the Septuagint, a 3rd century BC translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek, it is translated as "heosphoros" which also means Venus as a morning star.

How did the translation "lucifer" arise? This word comes from Jerome's Latin Vulgate. Was Jerome in error? Not at all. In Latin at the time, "lucifer" actually meant Venus as a morning star. Isaiah is using this metaphor for a bright light, though not the greatest light to illustrate the apparent power of the Babylonian king which then faded."

Therefore, Lucifer wasn't equated with Satan until after Jerome. Jerome wasn't in error. Later Christians (and Mormons) were in equating "Lucifer" with "Satan".
So why is this a problem to Christians? Christians now generally believe that Satan (or the Devil or Lucifer who they equate with Satan) is a being who has always existed (or who was created at or near the "beginning"). Therefore, they also think that the 'prophets' of the Old Testament believed in this creature. The Isaiah scripture is used as proof (and has been used as such for hundreds of years now). As Elaine Pagels explains though, the concept of Satan has evolved over the years and the early Bible writers didn't believe in or teach such a doctrine.

The irony for those who believe that "Lucifer" refers to Satan is that the same title ('morning star' or 'light-bearer') is used to refer to Jesus, in 2 Peter 1:19, where the Greek text has exactly the same term: 'phos-phoros' 'light-bearer.' This is also the term used for Jesus in Revelation 22:16.

----------

The author of The Polytheism Of The Bible And The Mystery Of Lucifer, F.T. DeAngelis, comments on this as follows

"It seems minor, but - the actual term used in the Greek Septuagint version of Isaiah 14:12 (given that there is no ONE way of accurately transliterating) is Eo(u)s phoros, morning star/DAWN god of light. Eos or Eous phoros [not Heos (as your website claims) or phos phorus (as a Christian website I visited shows)] - although there is a Greek term and English... phosphoro(u)s. Your [site] is pretty accurate.
The actual name, "Lucifer," goes back to the Greeks, before the Romans. Socrates and Plato talk about this "god of light"; surprisingly, not in the context of Eos (god of Dawn), but -- as a morning star -- juxtaposed with the sun (Helios) and Hermes. This information can be found in Plato's Timaeus (38e) and in Edith Hamilton's Mythology."

On a lighter note, Arthur Clarke, in his fictional book 2061 correctly uses the word "Lucifer". He uses it as a name for a new sun in the solar system which is correct since the new sun is a second 'morning star' of 'original' 'light-bearing' substance--not some evil being of religious mythology.

David Grinspoon comments on the historical aspects of the word as follows: "The origin of the Judeo-Christian Devil as an angel fallen from heaven into the depths of hell is mirrored in the descent of Venus from shining morning star to the darkness below. This underworld demon, still feared today by people in many parts of the world, is also called Lucifer, which was originally a Latin name for Venus as a morning star." (Venus Revealed p. 17) Actually, Grinspoon should just refer to the "Christian Devil" since the Jews never believed in such a creature and still don't to this day.

Context of "a battle against pedantry, intolerance, theology, and constitutional rule."

"a battle against pedantry, intolerance, theology, and constitutional rule."

context:

pedantry - be reasonable and balanced
intolerance - be reasonable and balanced
theology - be reasonable and balanced
constitutional rule - be reasonable and balanced

evolution to balance by way of reason under the direction of Soul > Spirit > and Mind.