A lawsuit brought against various media companies by the families of victims of the Paducah prayer circle shootings which alleged that the young gunman, Michael Carneal, learned how to become a murderer through violent videogames, movies, and websites was irrationally dismissed by U.S. District Judge Edward Johnstone.

The companies that were involved in the lawsuit included Id Software, makers of a hyper-violent program called Doom. The program--which also contains Satanic symbology and can be freely downloaded from any unfiltered Internet connection by children--is one of a new breed of so-called Murder Trainers, sick games that place the player in a "first person" role of a shooter who must murder fellow gamers over the Internet. These games are designed to train the player in the "one bullet, one body" method of assassination such as was used in Paducah and other recent school shooting--specifically how to take "head shots", the accurate and deadly targeting of the victims head. The games also inure players to murder through a constant stream of computer controled victims which they try to kill, or "frag" as they term it (giving the act of murder a new name helps take it out of the context of any moral teachings that the player was brought up in and thus makes him or her more susceptible to the murder training). Players of these games are also encouraged to form into gangs, or "tribes", that then try to "frag" each other inside the games.

"These programs have one purpose and one purpose only: To teach our children to become murderers," stated Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, author of Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill, "Prior to the shootings at Heath High School, Michael Carneal had never held a real gun in his hands. Yet he was able to take out the prayer circle with all the deadly skill of a Navy SEAL. Eight bullets, eight children down. I ask you, did he learn to do this from his parents? From his peers? From Church? No. He learned it from the hours of murder training he received from playing these evil 'games'."

The settlement in the Cyber Patrol case reported yesterday is in danger since it was learned that the hackers who created the "cphack" virus are part of a neo-Socialistic cult that renounces individual ownership of software.

In the terms of the settlement, Microsystems Software Inc. (makers of Cyber Patrol and a subsidiary of Mattel Corp.) had been promised that they would be given all copyrights to the hacking virus. They had hoped to use the copyright ownership as a leverage to force websites mirroring the hacking virus to remove it. However, it turns out that the hackers had given away their ownership of the virus to "the people" and thus are not legally able to transfer ownership to Microsystems.

The hackers are members of a cult based in Finland called The Free Source that, among other things, practices communal ownership of software. Its members release their software under something called the Glorious People's License (or GPL) which basically states that no one can own the software or put restrictions on copying it.

"The Free Source has been recruiting on line for years now," says Ted Phillips, an expert on modern cults, "Their membership probably numbers in the thousands, although it is difficult to tell. They often work by enticing teens and young adults with the promise of free software and beer, before they start encouraging them to read parable-laced screeds that further indoctrinate them into the cult. They have been relatively harmless in the past, but now that they seem to be trying to destroy parents' abilities to protect their children it is clear that they are a danger to our society."

The hackers who tried to spread a hacking virus that would have left the children of users of Cyber Patrol, an Internet filtering program, unprotected from pornography and hate sites settled with the software's maker, Microsystems Software Inc. The terms of the settlement require the hackers to stop spreading the hacking virus and to surrender their rights to it over to Microsystems.

"This is a victory for parents," said Microsystems spokesperson Rob Sinder, "But there are still other immoral hackers out there who would have our children exposed to sex, drugs, and bomb plans. We need tougher regulation to keep these perverts from hacking our filters."

The ACLU, normally used to getting its way through legal intimidation, were shocked when they learned that their hacker clients decided to settle. "I am just stunned!" said ACLU lawyer Hans Chrisen, "We were excited that we could use this case to set precedent giving children more rights than their parents. Now that our clients have double-crossed us, we may have to sue them instead."

Warning: This article contains some links to sites that shouldn't be viewed by children.

Bennett Haselton, a hacker who runs an anti-family hacker website called peacefire.org, and two other individuals are being sued by the makers of the Internet filtering software Cyber Patrol for hacking into the program with the intent of making it useless and allowing pornographers easy access to our nation's youth.

"Children's rights are more important than parents rights!" Screeched one of the young hackers during a press conference held by the ACLU, who have decided to defend the cyber-hoods.

"What these hackers did was a violation of our copyrights," stated Rob Sinder, spokesperson for Microsystems Software Inc., the makers of Cyber Patrol, "But more importantly, their actions have seriously compromised the safty of our nation's Internet using children."

The hacking in question would allow a child to easily bypass the protections placed on their computer by their parents, letting him or her view all manner of hard-core pornography and bomb-making instructions. It would also allow pedophiles to use otherwise filtered public library computers to download child porn and communicate with children in chat rooms.

Please leave us a message letting us know what you think in our guestbook or paricipate in a discussion on Internet decency subjects in our general forum.

Warning: This article contains some links to sites that shouldn't be viewed by children.

A sad development in on-line indecency is the rise in anti-Christian hate sites on the web. If you were unaware of this trend, we are not surprised. Anti-Christian bigotry often goes unreported in the main-stream media, where Christianity is an unpopular religion.

According to the Rutherford Institute, the number of sites with anti-Christian content has risen by over 350 percent during the period from 1997 to 1999. Most of these sites are created by self-styled Satanists or "free thinkers". Many are clearly influenced by popular anti-Christian music such as Marilyn Manson or--more disturbingly--violent video-games such as Doom. Only some of the sites directly call for violent acts against Christians, but most engage in mockery and derogatory portrayals of Christians.

One of the most infamous examples is Landover Baptist. It is a supposed "satire" of a Baptist Church's website, only it is filled with articles that ridicule Baptists and are derogatory to Christianity in general. Their main goal is to fool non-Christians into believing they are real and a typical representation of Baptist churches in order to promote anti-Christian bigotry.

Though this is troubling, there is some good news. A number of organizations, including the National Alliance Against Christian Discrimination and the Christian Anti-Defamation League, have been working to bring attention to the existence of these sorts of sites so that we can protect our children and society from them.

"It is unacceptable that innocent and impressionable children should be exposed to the sort derogatory depictions of Christians that are becoming all too common on the 'Net," stated Dr. Andrew Miller, pastor of Mt. Fellowship Baptist Church and a member of a group opposing the Landover site, "It is imperative that we as Christians act now to keep these people in check before another incident like the one that happened at Wedgewood Baptist Church happens again.".

Voters in Holland Michigan narrowly rejected a plan that would have protected the community's children from exposure to harmful content on the Internet. The plan would have allowed officials in publically funded libraries to place filters on their computers that would block child pornography, racist organizations such as the KKK, and instructions on how to make anthrax bombs. Now Michigan parents will just have to fend for themselves.

The Canadian Supreme Court is serriously considering making child pornography legal by overturning a 1993 federal law outlawing its possession. If this happens, Canadian pedophiles will be able to transmit child porn into our nation's unfiltered library computers completely unhindered.

Though news of this development has left American police and child welfare groups shocked, Canadians appear unconcerned. "If a person wants to look at it, I don't see the problem," stated Jean Pue, Canadian police magistrate in charge of vice crimes, "You Americans are too uptight about sexuality. People who enjoy erotic images of children should have a right to view them."

"This just proves we need content filtering on all public Internet terminals," said Gary Glenn, head of the Michigan chapter of the American Family Association, "We have to protect our community's standards from perverted outsiders. If only the ACLU and the American Library Association weren't subverting the ability of communities to enforce their standards we would be able to stop child porn from being in every library in our nation. But as it stands now, our hands are tied."

With the dawning of a new Millennium, it is time for society to renew itself. We must make a break with the evils of the past and look forward to our future. We hope that you will join us in working to end the senseless hate in our communities that has caused so much destruction as well as making sure that this new community--the Internet--can be born free of our past sins.

CUDI will be holding a meeting to discuss Internet filtering issues on December 20th at the Livonia Grange. Afterards there will be a potluck dinner. Please e-mail us to be notified of the exact time and for directions.

The American Library Association (ALA), a private organization that is accountable to no one, continues to deny local communities the right to keep indecent Internet sites out of publicly funded libraries where children can access pornography, hate sites, and bomb making instructions.

The ALA holds the extreme viewpoint that public libraries have no responsibility to the values of the citizens that fund them. "Parents should monitor their children's activities, not librarians," stated ALA spokeswoman Lilith Strug, "Librarians are much too busy to be bothered with worrying over the occasional incident of a child viewing bestiality. We have books to sort and overdue fines to track down, you know! If you don't like pornography, just look away."

We need to put a stop to the ALA. We suggest that you confront your local librarian and let them know how you feel. Most librarians actually agree that filtering is needed, but don't speak out for fear the ALA will seek vengeance on them. Let your librarian know that you and your community will support them if they stand up to the ALA. Also, remember to take this issue to your local ballot box. The people have a voice, and it's time they used it to tell the ALA to stop meddling in our communities.